Till they are lost, and then we see our crime!
We think what worth in them might have been known,
What duties done, what kind affections shown.
Untimely knowledge! bought at heavy cost,
When what we might have better used, is lost.
Wanting to have a friend is altogether different from wanting to be a friend. The former is a mere natural human craving, the other is the life of Christ in the soul.
My friend peers in on me with merry