He that so loves, will be hospitable, and distribute to the necessities of the Saints; he will, if it be possible, have peace with all men, feed his enemy if he be hungry, if he be athirst, give him drink, he will perform those seven works of mercy, he will make himself equal to them of the lower sort, rejoyce with them that rejoyce, weep with them that weep, Rom. 12.

he will speak truth to his neighbour, be courteous and tender-hearted, forgiving others for Christs sake, as God forgave him, Eph. 4. 32. he will be like minded, Phil. 2. 2. Of one judgement; be humble, meek, long-suffering, Colos. 3. Forbear, forget and forgive, 12. 13. 23. and what he doth, shall be heartily done to God, and not to men: Be pittiful and courteous, 1 Pet. 3. Seek peace and follow it.

He will love his brother, not in word and tongue, but in deed and truth, Joh. 3. 18. and he that loves God, Christ will love him that is begotten of him Joh. 5. 1. &c. Thus should we willingly do, if we had a true touch of this charity, of this divine love, if we would perform this which we are enjoyned, forget and forgive, and compose our selves to those Christian Laws of Love.

O felix hominum genus, Si vestros animos amor Quo cœlum regitur regat!

Angelical souls, how blessed, how happy should we be, so loving, how might we triumph over the divel, and have another heaven upon earth!

But this we cannot do; and which is the cause of all our woes, miseries, discontent, melancholy, want of this charity,

We do invicem angariare, contemn, consult, vex, torture, molest and hold one anothers noses to the grindstone hard, provoke, rail, scoffe, calumniate, challenge, hate, abuse (hard-hearted, implacable, malicious, peevish, inexorable as we are) to satisfie our lust or private spleen, for toyes, trifles, and impertinent occasions, spend our selves, goods, friends, fortunes, to be revenged on our adversary, to ruin him and his.

’Tis all our study, practice and business, how to plot mischief, mine, countermine, defend and offend, ward our selves, injure others, hurt all; as if we were born to do mischief, and that with such eagerness and bitterness, with such rancor, malice, rage and fury, we prosecute our intended designs, that neither affinity or consanguinity, love or fear of God or men can contain us: no satisfaction, no composition will be accepted, no offices will serve, no submission;

though he fall upon his knees, as Sarpedon did to Glaucus in Homer, acknowledging his error, yield himself with tears in his eyes, beg his pardon, we will not relent, forgive, or forget, till we have confounded him and his, made dice of his bones, as they say, see him rot in prison, banish his friends, followers, & omne invisum genus, rooted him out and all his posterity.

Monsters of men as we are, Dogs, Wolves, Tygers, Fiends, incarnate Divels, we do not only contend, oppress, and tyrannize our selves, but as so many fire-brands, we set on, and animate others: our whole life is a perpetual combate, a conflict, a set battle, a snarling fit: Eris dea is setled in our tents, omnia de lite, opposing wit to wit, wealth to wealth, strength to strength, fortunes to fortunes, friends to friends, as at a sea-fight, we turn our broad sides, or two milstones with continual attrition, we fire our selves, or break anothers backs, and both are ruined and consumed in the end.

Miserable wretches, to fat and inrich our selves, we care not how we get it, Quocunque modo rem, how many thousands we undo, whom we oppress, by whose ruin and downfall we arise, whom we injure, fatherless children, widdows, common societies, to satisfie our own private lust.

Though we have myriads, abundance of wealth and treasure, (pittiless, merciless, remorsless, and uncharitable in the highest degree) and our poor brother in need, sickness, in great extremity, and now ready to be starved for want of food, we had rather, as the Fox told the Ape, his tail should sweep the ground still, then cover his buttocks;

rather spend it idly, consume it with dogs, hawks, hounds, unnecessary buildings, in riotous apparel, ingurgitate, or let it be lost, then he should have part of it; rather take from him that little which he hath, then relieve him.

Like the dog in the manger, we neither use it our selves, let others make use of, or enjoy it; part with nothing while we live: for want of disposing our houshold, and setting things in order, set all the world together by the ears, after our death.

Poor Lazarus lies howling at his gates for a few crums, he only seeks chippings, offals; let him roar and howl, famish, and eat his own flesh, he respects him not.

A poor decayed kinsman of his sets upon him by the way in all his jollity, and runs begging bareheaded by him, conjuring by those former bonds of friendship, alliance, consanguinity, &c. unkle, cosen, brother, father,

—— Per ego has lachrymas, dextramque tuam te, Si quidquam de te merui, fuit aut tibi quidquam Dulce meum, miserere mei.

Shew some pitty for Christs sake, pitty a sick man, an old man, &c. he cares not, ride on: pretend sickness, inevitable loss of limbs, goods, plead suretiship, or shipwrack, fires, common calamities, shew thy wants and imperfections,

Et si per sanctum juratus dicat Osyrim, Credite, non ludo, crudeles tollite claudum.

Swear, protest, take God and all his Angels to witness, quære peregrinum, thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater, he is not touched with it, pauper ubique jacet, ride on, he takes no notice of it.

Put up a supplication to him in the name of a thousand Orphans, an Hospital, a Spittle, a Prison as he goes by, they cry out to him for ayd, ride on, surdo narras, he cares not, let them eat stones, devour themselves with vermine, rot in their own dung, he cares not.

Shew him a decayed haven, a bridge, a school, a fortification, &c. or some publick work, ride on; good your worship, your honour, for Gods sake, your Countries sake, ride on.

But shew him a role wherein his name shall be registred in golden letters, and commended to all posterity, his arms set up, with his devises to be seen, then peradventure he will stay and contribute; or if thou canst thunder upon him, as Papists do, with satisfactory and meritorious works, or perswade him by this means he shall save his soul out of hell, and free it from Purgatory (if he be of any religion) then in all likelihood he will listen and stay;

or that he have no children, no neer kinsman, heir, he cares for at least, or cannot well tell otherwise how or where to bestow his possessions (for carry them with him he cannot) it may be then he will build some School or Hospitall in his life, or be induced to give liberally to pious uses after his death.

For I dare boldly say, vain glory, that opinion of merit, and this enforced necessity, when they know not otherwise how to leave, or what better to do with them, is the main cause of most of our good works.

I will not urge this to derogate from any mans charitable devotion, or bounty in this kinde, to censure any good work; no doubt there be many sanctified, heroical, and worthy minded men, that in true zeal, and for vertues sake (divine spirits) that out of commiseration and pitty, extend their liberality, and as much as in them lies, do good to all men, cloath the naked, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and needy, relieve all, forget and forgive injuries, as true charity requires; yet most part there is simulatum quid, a deal of hypocrisie in this kind, much default and defect.

Cosmus Medices that rich citizen of Florence ingenuously confessed to a neer friend of his, that would know of him why he built so many publike and magnificent palaces, and bestowed so liberally on Scholars, not that he loved learning more then others, but to eternize his own name, to be immortall by the benefit of Scholars; for when his friends were dead, walls decayed, and all Inscriptions gone, books would remain to the worlds end.

The lanthorn in Athens was built by Xenocles, the Theater by Pericles, the famous port Pyræum by Musicles, Pallas Palladium by Phidias, the Pantheon by Callicratidas; but these brave monuments are decayed all, and ruined long since, their builders names alone flourish by mediation of writers.