"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God" (1 John 6:7): Saint John Henry Newman, the Role of Friendship and Personal Influence in the Oxford Movement

Abstract:It might be supposed that the Son of God Most High could not have loved one man more than another; or again, if so, that He would not have had only one friend, but, as being All-holy, he would have loved all men more or less in proportion to their holiness. Yet we find our Saviour had a private friend; and this shows us, first, how entirely He was a man, as much as any of us, in His wants and feelings; and next, that there is nothing inconsistent with the fullness of Christian love, in having our affections directed in an especial way towards certain objects, towards those whom the circumstances of our past life, or some peculiarities of character, have endeared to us.