"Si rerum quaeris fuerit quis finis et ortus, Desine; nam causa est unica solus amor."

"If first and last of anything you wit, Cease; love's the sole and only cause of it."

Love, saith [4499]Leo, made the world, and afterwards in redeeming of it, "G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son for it," John iii. 16. "Behold what love the Father hath showed on us, that we should be called the sons of G.o.d," 1 John iii. 1. Or by His sweet Providence, in protecting of it; either all in general, or His saints elect and church in particular, whom He keeps as the apple of His eye, whom He loves freely, as Hosea xiv. 5. speaks, and dearly respects, [4500]_Charior est ipsis h.o.m.o quam sibi_. Not that we are fair, nor for any merit or grace of ours, for we are most vile and base; but out of His incomparable love and goodness, out of His Divine Nature. And this is that Homer's golden chain, which reacheth down from heaven to earth, by which every creature is annexed, and depends on his Creator. He made all, saith [4501]Moses, "and it was good;"

He loves it as good.

The love of angels and living souls is mutual amongst themselves, towards us militant in the church, and all such as love G.o.d; as the sunbeams irradiate the earth from those celestial thrones, they by their well wishes reflect on us, [4502]_in salute hominum promovenda alacres, et constantes administri_, there is joy in heaven for every sinner that repenteth; they pray for us, are solicitous for our good, [4503]_Casti genii_.

[4504] "Ubi regnat charitas, suave desiderium, Laet.i.tiaque et amor Deo conjunctus."

Love proper to mortal men is the third member of this subdivision, and the subject of my following discourse.

MEMB. II.

SUBSECT. I.--_Love of Men, which varies as his Objects, Profitable, Pleasant, Honest_.

Valesius, _lib. 3. contr. 13_, defines this love which is in men, "to be [4505]an affection of both powers, appet.i.te and reason." The rational resides in the brain, the other in the liver (as before hath been said out of Plato and others); the heart is diversely affected of both, and carried a thousand ways by consent. The sensitive faculty most part overrules reason, the soul is carried hoodwinked, and the understanding captive like a beast. [4506]"The heart is variously inclined, sometimes they are merry, sometimes sad, and from love arise hope and fear, jealousy, fury, desperation." Now this love of men is diverse, and varies, as the object varies, by which they are enticed, as virtue, wisdom, eloquence, profit, wealth, money, fame, honour, or comeliness of person, &c. Leon Hubreus, in his first dialogue, reduceth them all to these three, _utile, jucundum, honestum_, profitable, pleasant, honest; (out of Aristotle belike _8.

moral._) of which he discourseth at large, and whatsoever is beautiful and fair, is referred to them, or any way to be desired. [4507]"To profitable is ascribed health, wealth, honour, &c., which is rather ambition, desire, covetousness, than love:" friends, children, love of women, [4508]all delightful and pleasant objects, are referred to the second. The love of honest things consists in virtue and wisdom, and is preferred before that which is profitable and pleasant: intellectual, about that which is honest.

[4509]St. Austin calls "profitable, worldly; pleasant, carnal; honest, spiritual. [4510]Of and from all three, result charity, friendship, and true love, which respects G.o.d and our neighbour." Of each of these I will briefly dilate, and show in what sort they cause melancholy.

Amongst all these fair enticing objects, which procure love, and bewitch the soul of man, there is none so moving, so forcible as profit; and that which carrieth with it a show of commodity. Health indeed is a precious thing, to recover and preserve which we will undergo any misery, drink bitter potions, freely give our goods: restore a man to his health, his purse lies open to thee, bountiful he is, thankful and beholding to thee; but give him wealth and honour, give him gold, or what shall be for his advantage and preferment, and thou shalt command his affections, oblige him eternally to thee, heart, hand, life, and all is at thy service, thou art his dear and loving friend, good and gracious lord and master, his Mecaenas; he is thy slave, thy va.s.sal, most devote, affectioned, and bound in all duty: tell him good tidings in this kind, there spoke an angel, a blessed hour that brings in gain, he is thy creature, and thou his creator, he hugs and admires thee; he is thine for ever. No loadstone so attractive as that of profit, none so fair an object as this of gold; [4511]nothing wins a man sooner than a good turn, bounty and liberality command body and soul:

"Munera (crede mihi) placant hominesque deosque; Placatur donis Jupiter ipse datis."

"Good turns doth pacify both G.o.d and men, And Jupiter himself is won by them."

Gold of all other is a most delicious object; a sweet light, a goodly l.u.s.tre it hath; _gratius aurum quam solem intuemur_, saith Austin, and we had rather see it than the sun. Sweet and pleasant in getting, in keeping; it seasons all our labours, intolerable pains we take for it, base employments, endure bitter flouts and taunts, long journeys, heavy burdens, all are made light and easy by this hope of gain: _At mihi plaudo ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arca_. The sight of gold refresheth our spirits, and ravisheth our hearts, as that Babylonian garment and [4512]

golden wedge did Achan in the camp, the very sight and hearing sets on fire his soul with desire of it. It will make a man run to the antipodes, or tarry at home and turn parasite, lie, flatter, prost.i.tute himself, swear and bear false witness; he will venture his body, kill a king, murder his father, and d.a.m.n his soul to come at it. _Formosior auri ma.s.sa_, as [4513]

he well observed, the ma.s.s of gold is fairer than all your Grecian pictures, that Apelles, Phidias, or any doting painter could ever make: we are enamoured with it,

[4514] "Prima fere vota, et cunctis notissima templis, Divitiae ut crescant."------

All our labours, studies, endeavours, vows, prayers and wishes, are to get, how to compa.s.s it.

[4515] "Haec est illa cui famulatur maximus...o...b..s, Diva potens rerum, domitrixque pecunia fati."

"This is the great G.o.ddess we adore and worship; this is the sole object of our desire." If we have it, as we think, we are made for ever, thrice happy, princes, lords, &c. If we lose it, we are dull, heavy, dejected, discontent, miserable, desperate, and mad. Our estate and _bene esse_ ebbs and flows with our commodity; and as we are endowed or enriched, so are we beloved and esteemed: it lasts no longer than our wealth; when that is gone, and the object removed, farewell friendship: as long as bounty, good cheer, and rewards were to be hoped, friends enough; they were tied to thee by the teeth, and would follow thee as crows do a carca.s.s: but when thy goods are gone and spent, the lamp of their love is out, and thou shalt be contemned, scorned, hated, injured. [4516]Lucian's Timon, when he lived in prosperity, was the sole spectacle of Greece, only admired; who but Timon?

Everybody loved, honoured, applauded him, each man offered him his service, and sought to be kin to him; but when his gold was spent, his fair possessions gone, farewell Timon: none so ugly, none so deformed, so odious an object as Timon, no man so ridiculous on a sudden, they gave him a penny to buy a rope, no man would know him.

'Tis the general humour of the world, commodity steers our affections throughout, we love those that are fortunate and rich, that thrive, or by whom we may receive mutual kindness, hope for like courtesies, get any good, gain, or profit; hate those, and abhor on the other side, which are poor and miserable, or by whom we may sustain loss or inconvenience. And even those that were now familiar and dear unto us, our loving and long friends, neighbours, kinsmen, allies, with whom we have conversed, and lived as so many Geryons for some years past, striving still to give one another all good content and entertainment, with mutual invitations, feastings, disports, offices, for whom we would ride, run, spend ourselves, and of whom we have so freely and honourably spoken, to whom we have given all those turgent t.i.tles, and magnificent eulogiums, most excellent and most n.o.ble, worthy, wise, grave, learned, valiant, &c., and magnified beyond measure: if any controversy arise between us, some trespa.s.s, injury, abuse, some part of our goods be detained, a piece of land come to be litigious, if they cross us in our suit, or touch the string of our commodity, we detest and depress them upon a sudden: neither affinity, consanguinity, or old acquaintance can contain us, but [4517]_rupto jecore exierit Caprificus_. A golden apple sets altogether by the ears, as if a marrowbone or honeycomb were flung amongst bears: father and son, brother and sister, kinsmen are at odds: and look what malice, deadly hatred can invent, that shall be done, _Terrible, dirum, pestilens, atrox, ferum_, mutual injuries, desire of revenge, and how to hurt them, him and his, are all our studies. If our pleasures be interrupt, we can tolerate it: our bodies hurt, we can put it up and be reconciled: but touch our commodities, we are most impatient: fair becomes foul, the graces are turned to harpies, friendly salutations to bitter imprecations, mutual feastings to plotting villainies, minings and counterminings; good words to satires and invectives, we revile _e contra_, nought but his imperfections are in our eyes, he is a base knave, a devil, a monster, a caterpillar, a viper, a hog-rubber, &c. _Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne_;[4518] the scene is altered on a sudden, love is turned to hate, mirth to melancholy: so furiously are we most part bent, our affections fixed upon this object of commodity, and upon money, the desire of which in excess is covetousness: ambition tyranniseth over our souls, as [4519]I have shown, and in defect crucifies as much, as if a man by negligence, ill husbandry, improvidence, prodigality, waste and consume his goods and fortunes, beggary follows, and melancholy, he becomes an abject, [4520]odious and "worse than an infidel, in not providing for his family."

SUBSECT. II.--_Pleasant Objects of Love_.

Pleasant objects are infinite, whether they be such as have life, or be without life; inanimate are countries, provinces, towers, towns, cities, as he said, [4521]_Pulcherrimam insulam videmus, etiam c.u.m non videmus_ we see a fair island by description, when we see it not. The [4522]sun never saw a fairer city, Thessala Tempe, orchards, gardens, pleasant walks, groves, fountains, &c. The heaven itself is said to be [4523]fair or foul: fair buildings, [4524]fair pictures, all artificial, elaborate and curious works, clothes, give an admirable l.u.s.tre: we admire, and gaze upon them, _ut pueri Junonis avem_, as children do on a peac.o.c.k: a fair dog, a fair horse and hawk, &c. [4525]_Thessalus amat equum pullinum, buculum Aegyptius, Lacedaemonius Catulum_, &c., such things we love, are most gracious in our sight, acceptable unto us, and whatsoever else may cause this pa.s.sion, if it be superfluous or immoderately loved, as Guianerius observes. These things in themselves are pleasing and good, singular ornaments, necessary, comely, and fit to be had; but when we fix an immoderate eye, and dote on them over much, this pleasure may turn to pain, bring much sorrow and discontent unto us, work our final overthrow, and cause melancholy in the end. Many are carried away with those bewitching sports of gaming, hawking, hunting, and such vain pleasures, as [4526]I have said: some with immoderate desire of fame, to be crowned in the Olympics, knighted in the field, &c., and by these means ruinate themselves. The lascivious dotes on his fair mistress, the glutton on his dishes, which are infinitely varied to please the palate, the epicure on his several pleasures, the superst.i.tious on his idol, and fats himself with future joys, as Turks feed themselves with an imaginary persuasion of a sensual paradise: so several pleasant objects diversely affect diverse men.

But the fairest objects and enticings proceed from men themselves, which most frequently captivate, allure, and make them dote beyond all measure upon one another, and that for many respects: first, as some suppose, by that secret force of stars, (_quod me tibi temperat astrum_?) They do singularly dote on such a man, hate such again, and can give no reason for it. [4527]_Non amo te Sabidi_, &c. Alexander admired Ephestion, Adrian Antinous, Nero Sporus, &c. The physicians refer this to their temperament, astrologers to trine and s.e.xtile aspects, or opposite of their several ascendants, lords of their genitures, love and hatred of planets; [4528]

Cicogna, to concord and discord of spirits; but most to outward graces. A merry companion is welcome and acceptable to all men, and therefore, saith [4529]Gomesius, princes and great men entertain jesters and players commonly in their courts. But [4530]_Pares c.u.m paribus facillime congregantur_, 'tis that [4531]similitude of manners, which ties most men in an inseparable link, as if they be addicted to the same studies or disports, they delight in one another's companies, "birds of a feather will gather together:" if they be of divers inclinations, or opposite in manners, they can seldom agree. Secondly, [4532]affability, custom, and familiarity, may convert nature many times, though they be different in manners, as if they be countrymen, fellow-students, colleagues, or have been fellow-soldiers, [4533]brethren in affliction, ([4534]_acerba calamitatum societas, diversi etiam ingenii homines conjungit_) affinity, or some such accidental occasion, though they cannot agree amongst themselves, they will stick together like burrs, and bold against a third; so after some discontinuance, or death, enmity ceaseth; or in a foreign place:

"Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit: Et cecidere odia, et tristes mors obruit iras."

A third cause of love and hate, may be mutual offices, _acceptum beneficium_, [4535]commend him, use him kindly, take his part in a quarrel, relieve him in his misery, thou winnest him for ever; do the opposite, and be sure of a perpetual enemy. Praise and dispraise of each other, do as much, though unknown, as [4536]Schoppius by Scaliger and Casaubonus: _mulus mulum scabit_; who but Scaliger with him? what encomiums, epithets, eulogiums? _Antistes sapientiae, perpetuus dictator, literarum ornamentum, Europae miraculum_, n.o.ble Scaliger, [4537] _incredibilis ingenii praestantia, &c., diis potius quam hominibus per omnia comparandus, scripta ejus aurea ancylia de coelo delapsa poplitibus veneramur flexis_, &c.,[4538] but when they began to vary, none so absurd as Scaliger, so vile and base, as his books _de Burdonum familia_, and other satirical invectives may witness, Ovid, _in Ibin_, Archilocus himself was not so bitter. Another great tie or cause of love, is consanguinity: parents are clear to their children, children to their parents, brothers and sisters, cousins of all sorts, as a hen and chickens, all of a knot: every crow thinks her own bird fairest. Many memorable examples are in this kind, and 'tis _portenti simile_, if they do not: [4539]"a mother cannot forget her child:" Solomon so found out the true owner; love of parents may not be concealed, 'tis natural, descends, and they that are inhuman in this kind, are unworthy of that air they breathe, and of the four elements; yet many unnatural examples we have in this rank, of hard-hearted parents, disobedient children, of [4540]disagreeing brothers, nothing so common. The love of kinsmen is grown cold, [4541]"many kinsmen" (as the saying is) "few friends;" if thine estate be good, and thou able, _par pari referre_, to requite their kindness, there will be mutual correspondence, otherwise thou art a burden, most odious to them above all others. The last object that ties man and man, is comeliness of person, and beauty alone, as men love women with a wanton eye: which [Greek: kat' exochaen] is termed heroical, or love-melancholy. Other loves (saith Picolomineus) are so called with some contraction, as the love of wine, gold, &c., but this of women is predominant in a higher strain, whose part affected is the liver, and this love deserves a longer explication, and shall be dilated apart in the next section.

SUBSECT. III.--_Honest Objects of Love_.

Beauty is the common object of all love, [4542]"as jet draws a straw, so doth beauty love:" virtue and honesty are great motives, and give as fair a l.u.s.tre as the rest, especially if they be sincere and right, not fucate, but proceeding from true form, and an incorrupt judgment; those two Venus'

twins, Eros and Anteros, are then most firm and fast. For many times otherwise men are deceived by their flattering gnathos, dissembling camelions, outsides, hypocrites that make a show of great love, learning, pretend honesty, virtue, zeal, modesty, with affected looks and counterfeit gestures: feigned protestations often steal away the hearts and favours of men, and deceive them, _specie virtutis et umbra_, when as _revera_ and indeed, there is no worth or honesty at all in them, no truth, but mere hypocrisy, subtlety, knavery, and the like. As true friends they are, as he that Caelius Secundus met by the highway side; and hard it is in this temporising age to distinguish such companions, or to find them out. Such gnathos as these for the most part belong to great men, and by this glozing flattery, affability, and such like philters, so dive and insinuate into their favours, that they are taken for men of excellent worth, wisdom, learning, demiG.o.ds, and so screw themselves into dignities, honours, offices; but these men cause harsh confusion often, and as many times stirs as Rehoboam's counsellors in a commonwealth, overthrew themselves and others. Tandlerus and some authors make a doubt, whether love and hatred may be compelled by philters or characters; Cardan and Marbodius, by precious stones and amulets; astrologers by election of times, &c. as [4543]I shall elsewhere discuss. The true object of this honest love is virtue, wisdom, honesty, [4544]real worth, _Interna forma_, and this love cannot deceive or be compelled, _ut ameris amabilis esto_, love itself is the most potent philtrum, virtue and wisdom, _gratia gratum faciens_, the sole and only grace, not counterfeit, but open, honest, simple, naked, [4545]"descending from heaven," as our apostle hath it, an infused habit from G.o.d, which hath given several gifts, as wit, learning, tongues, for which they shall be amiable and gracious, Eph. iv. 11. as to Saul stature and a goodly presence, 1 Sam. ix. 1. Joseph found favour in Pharaoh's court, Gen. x.x.xix, for [4546]his person; and Daniel with the princes of the eunuchs, Dan. xix. 19. Christ was gracious with G.o.d and men, Luke ii. 52.

There is still some peculiar grace, as of good discourse, eloquence, wit, honesty, which is the _primum mobile_, first mover, and a most forcible loadstone to draw the favours and good wills of men's eyes, ears, and affections unto them. When "Jesus spake, they were all astonished at his answers," (Luke ii. 47.) "and wondered at his gracious words which proceeded from his mouth." An orator steals away the hearts of men, and as another Orpheus, _quo vult, unde vult_, he pulls them to him by speech alone: a sweet voice causeth admiration; and he that can utter himself in good words, in our ordinary phrase, is called a proper man, a divine spirit. For which cause belike, our old poets, _Senatus populusque poetarum_, made Mercury the gentleman-usher to the Graces, captain of eloquence, and those charities to be Jupiter's and Eurymone's daughters, descended from above. Though they be otherwise deformed, crooked, ugly to behold, those good parts of the mind denominate them fair. Plato commends the beauty of Socrates; yet who was more grim of countenance, stern and ghastly to look upon? So are and have been many great philosophers, as [4547]Gregory n.a.z.ianzen observes, "deformed most part in that which is to be seen with the eyes, but most elegant in that which is not to be seen."

_Saepe sub attrita lat.i.tat sapientia veste_. Aesop, Democritus, Aristotle, Politia.n.u.s, Melancthon, Gesner, &c. withered old men, _Sileni Alcibiadis_, very harsh and impolite to the eye; but who were so terse, polite, eloquent, generally learned, temperate and modest? No man then living was so fair as Alcibiades, so lovely _quo ad superficiem_, to the eye, as [4548]Boethius observes, but he had _Corpus turp.i.s.simum interne_, a most deformed soul; honesty, virtue, fair conditions, are great enticers to such as are well given, and much avail to get the favour and goodwill of men.

Abdolominus in Curtius, a poor man, (but which mine author notes, [4549]"the cause of this poverty was his honesty") for his modesty and continency from a private person (for they found him digging in his garden) was saluted king, and preferred before all the magnificoes of his time, _injecta ei vestis purpura auroque distincta_, "a purple embroidered garment was put upon him, [4550]and they bade him wash himself, and, as he was worthy, take upon him the style and spirit of a king," continue his continency and the rest of his good parts. t.i.tus Pomponius Atticus, that n.o.ble citizen of Rome, was so fair conditioned, of so sweet a carriage, that he was generally beloved of all good men, of Caesar, Pompey, Antony, Tully, of divers sects, &c. _multas haereditates_ ([4551]Cornelius Nepos writes) _sola bonitate consequutus. Operae, pretium audire_, &c. It is worthy of your attention, Livy cries, [4552]"you that scorn all but riches, and give no esteem to virtue, except they be wealthy withal, Q. Cincinnatus had but four acres, and by the consent of the senate was chosen dictator of Rome." Of such account were Cato, Fabricius, Aristides, Antonius, Probus, for their eminent worth: so Caesar, Trajan, Alexander, admired for valour, [4553] Haephestion loved Alexander, but Parmenio the king: _t.i.tus deliciae humani generis_, and which Aurelius Victor hath of Vespasian, the darling of his time, as [4554]Edgar Etheling was in England, for his [4555]excellent virtues: their memory is yet fresh, sweet, and we love them many ages after, though they be dead: _Suavem memoriam sui reliquit_, saith Lipsius of his friend, living and dead they are all one. [4556]"I have ever loved as thou knowest" (so Tully wrote to Dolabella) "Marcus Brutus for his great wit, singular honesty, constancy, sweet conditions; and believe it"

[4557] "there is nothing so amiable and fair as virtue." "I [4558]do mightily love Calvisinus," (so Pliny writes to Sossius) "a most industrious, eloquent, upright man, which is all in all with me:" the affection came from his good parts. And as St. Austin comments on the 84th Psalm, [4559]"there is a peculiar beauty of justice, and inward beauty, which we see with the eyes of our hearts, love, and are enamoured with, as in martyrs, though their bodies be torn in pieces with wild beasts, yet this beauty shines, and we love their virtues." The [4560]stoics are of opinion that a wise man is only fair; and Cato in Tully _3 de Finibus_ contends the same, that the lineaments of the mind are far fairer than those of the body, incomparably beyond them: wisdom and valour according to [4561]Xenophon, especially deserve the name of beauty, and denominate one fair, _et incomparabiliter pulchrior est_ (as Austin holds) _veritas Christianorum quam Helena Graecorum_. "Wine is strong, the king is strong, women are strong, but truth overcometh all things," Esd. i. 3, 10, 11, 12.

"Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding, for the merchandise thereof is better than silver, and the gain thereof better than gold: it is more precious than pearls, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her," Prov. ii. 13, 14, 15, a wise, true, just, upright, and good man, I say it again, is only fair: [4562]it is reported of Magdalene Queen of France, and wife to Lewis 11th, a Scottish woman by birth, that walking forth in an evening with her ladies, she spied M.

Ala.n.u.s, one of the king's chaplains, a silly, old, [4563]hard-favoured man fast asleep in a bower, and kissed him sweetly; when the young ladies laughed at her for it, she replied, that it was not his person that she did embrace and reverence, but, with a platonic love, the divine beauty of [4564]his soul. Thus in all ages virtue hath been adored, admired, a singular l.u.s.tre hath proceeded from it: and the more virtuous he is, the more gracious, the more admired. No man so much followed upon earth as Christ himself: and as the Psalmist saith, xlv. 2, "He was fairer than the sons of men." Chrysostom _Hom. 8 in Mat._ Bernard _Ser. 1. de omnibus sanctis_; Austin, Ca.s.siodore, _Hier. in 9 Mat._ interpret it of the [4565]beauty of his person; there was a divine majesty in his looks, it shined like lightning and drew all men to it: but Basil, _Cyril, lib. 6.

super. 55. Esay._ Theodoret, Arn.o.bius, &c. of the beauty of his divinity, justice, grace, eloquence, &c. Thomas _in Psal. xliv._ of both; and so doth Baradius and Peter Morales, _lib de pulchritud. Jesu et Mariae_, adding as much of Joseph and the Virgin Mary,--_haec alias forma praecesserit omnes_, [4566]according to that prediction of Sibylla c.u.mea. Be they present or absent, near us, or afar off, this beauty shines, and will attract men many miles to come and visit it. Plato and Pythagoras left their country, to see those wise Egyptian priests: Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia, Persia, to consult with the Magi, Brachmanni, gymnosophists. The Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon; and "many," saith [4567]Hierom, "went out of Spain and remote places a thousand miles, to behold that eloquent Livy:" [4568]_Multi Romam non ut urbem pulcherrimam, aut urbis et orbis dominum Octavianum, sed ut hunc unum inviserent audirentque, a Gadibus profecti sunt._ No beauty leaves such an impression, strikes so deep [4569], or links the souls of men closer than virtue.

[4570] "Non per deos aut pictor posset, Aut statuarius ullus fingere Talem pulchritudinem qualem virtus habet;"

"no painter, no graver, no carver can express virtue's l.u.s.tre, or those admirable rays that come from it, those enchanting rays that enamour posterity, those everlasting rays that continue to the world's end." Many, saith Phavorinus, that loved and admired Alcibiades in his youth, knew not, cared not for Alcibiades a man, _nunc intuentes quaerebant Alcibiadem_; but the beauty of Socrates is still the same; [4571]virtue's l.u.s.tre never fades, is ever fresh and green, _semper viva_ to all succeeding ages, and a most attractive loadstone, to draw and combine such as are present. For that reason belike, Homer feigns the three Graces to be linked and tied hand in hand, because the hearts of men are so firmly united with such graces. [4572]"O sweet bands (Seneca exclaims), which so happily combine, that those which are bound by them love their binders, desiring withal much more harder to be bound," and as so many Geryons to be united into one. For the nature of true friendship is to combine, to be like affected, of one mind,

[4573] "Velle et nolle ambobus idem, satiataque toto Mens aevo"------

as the poet saith, still to continue one and the same. And where this love takes place there is peace and quietness, a true correspondence, perfect amity, a diapason of vows and wishes, the same opinions, as between [4574]

David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias, Pylades and Orestes, [4575]Nysus and Euryalus, Theseus and Pirithous, [4576]they will live and die together, and prosecute one another with good turns. [4577]_Nam vinci in amore turp.i.s.simum putant_, not only living, but when their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will _parentare_ still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal memory. [4578]_Illum coloribus, illum cera, illum aere_, &c. "He did express his friends in colours, in wax, in bra.s.s, in ivory, marble, gold, and silver" (as Pliny reports of a citizen in Rome), "and in a great auditory not long since recited a just volume of his life." In another place, [4579]speaking of an epigram which Martial had composed in praise of him, [4580]"He gave me as much as he might, and would have done more if he could: though what can a man give more than honour, glory, and eternity?" But that which he wrote peradventure will not continue, yet he wrote it to continue. 'Tis all the recompense a poor scholar can make his well-deserving patron, Mecaenas, friend, to mention him in his works, to dedicate a book to his name, to write his life, &c., as all our poets, orators, historiographers have ever done, and the greatest revenge such men take of their adversaries, to persecute them with satires, invectives, &c., and 'tis both ways of great moment, as [4581]

Plato gives us to understand. Paulus Jovius, in the fourth book of the life and deeds of Pope Leo Decimus, his n.o.ble patron, concludes in these words, [4582]"Because I cannot honour him as other rich men do, with like endeavour, affection, and piety, I have undertaken to write his life; since my fortunes will not give me leave to make a more sumptuous monument, I will perform those rites to his sacred ashes, which a small, perhaps, but a liberal wit can afford." But I rove. Where this true love is wanting, there can be no firm peace, friendship from teeth outward, counterfeit, or for some by-respects, so long dissembled, till they have satisfied their own ends, which, upon every small occasion, breaks out into enmity, open war, defiance, heart-burnings, whispering, calumnies, contentions, and all manner of bitter melancholy discontents. And those men which have no other object of their love, than greatness, wealth, authority, &c., are rather feared than beloved; _nec amant quemquam, nec amantur ab ullo_: and howsoever borne with for a time, yet for their tyranny and oppression, griping, covetousness, currish hardness, folly, intemperance, imprudence, and such like vices, they are generally odious, abhorred of all, both G.o.d and men.

"Non uxor salvum te vult, non filius, omnes Vicini oderunt,"------

"wife and children, friends, neighbours, all the world forsakes them, would feign be rid of them," and are compelled many times to lay violent hands on them, or else G.o.d's judgments overtake them: instead of graces, come furies. So when fair [4583]Abigail, a woman of singular wisdom, was acceptable to David, Nabal was churlish and evil-conditioned; and therefore [4584]Mordecai was received, when Haman was executed, Haman the favourite, "that had his seat above the other princes, to whom all the king's servants that stood in the gates, bowed their knees and reverenced." Though they flourished many times, such hypocrites, such temporising foxes, and blear the world's eyes by flattery, bribery, dissembling their natures, or other men's weakness, that cannot so apprehend their tricks, yet in the end they will be discerned, and precipitated in a moment: "surely," saith David, "thou hast set them in slippery places," Psal. x.x.xvii. 5. as so many Sejani, they will come down to the Gemonian scales; and as Eusebius in [4585] Ammia.n.u.s, that was in such authority, _ad jubendum Imperatorem_, be cast down headlong on a sudden. Or put case they escape, and rest unmasked to their lives' end, yet after their death their memory stinks as a snuff of a candle put out, and those that durst not so much as mutter against them in their lives, will prosecute their name with satires, libels, and bitter imprecations, they shall _male audire_ in all succeeding ages, and be odious to the world's end.

MEMB. III.

_Charity composed of all three Kinds, Pleasant, Profitable, Honest_.

Besides this love that comes from profit, pleasant, honest (for one good turn asks another in equity), that which proceeds from the law of nature, or from discipline and philosophy, there is yet another love compounded of all these three, which is charity, and includes piety, dilection, benevolence, friendship, even all those virtuous habits; for love is the circle equant of all other affections, of which Aristotle dilates at large in his Ethics, and is commanded by G.o.d, which no man can well perform, but he that is a Christian, and a true regenerate man; this is, [4586]"To love G.o.d above all, and our neighbour as ourself;" for this love is _lychnus accendens et accensus_, a communicating light, apt to illuminate itself as well as others. All other objects are fair, and very beautiful, I confess; kindred, alliance, friendship, the love that we owe to our country, nature, wealth, pleasure, honour, and such moral respects, &c., of which read [4587]copious Aristotle in his morals; a man is beloved of a man, in that he is a man; but all these are far more eminent and great, when they shall proceed from a sanctified spirit, that hath a true touch of religion, and a reference to G.o.d. Nature binds all creatures to love their young ones; a hen to preserve her brood will run upon a lion, a hind will fight with a bull, a sow with a bear, a silly sheep with a fox. So the same nature urgeth a man to love his parents, ([4588]_dii me pater omnes oderint, ni te magis quam oculos amem meos!_) and this love cannot be dissolved, as Tully holds, [4589]"without detestable offence:" but much more G.o.d's commandment, which enjoins a filial love, and an obedience in this kind. [4590]"The love of brethren is great, and like an arch of stones, where if one be displaced, all comes down," no love so forcible and strong, honest, to the combination of which, nature, fortune, virtue, happily concur; yet this love comes short of it. [4591]_Dulce et decorum pro patria mori_, [4592]it cannot be expressed, what a deal of charity that one name of country contains. _Amor laudis et patriae pro stipendio est_; the Decii did _se devovere_, Horatii, Curii, Scaevola, Regulus, Codrus, sacrifice themselves for their country's peace and good.

[4593] "Una dies Fabios ad bellum miserat omnes, Ad bellum missos perdidit una dies."

"One day the Fabii stoutly warred, One day the Fabii were destroyed."

Fifty thousand Englishmen lost their lives willingly near Battle Abbey, in defence of their country. [4594]P. Aemilius _l. 6._ speaks of six senators of Calais, that came with halters in their hands to the king of England, to die for the rest. This love makes so many writers take such pains, so many historiographers, physicians, &c., or at least, as they pretend, for common safety, and their country's benefit. [4595]_Sanctum nomen amiciticae, sociorum communio sacra_; friendship is a holy name, and a sacred communion of friends. [4596]"As the sun is in the firmament, so is friendship in the world," a most divine and heavenly band. As nuptial love makes, this perfects mankind, and is to be preferred (if you will stand to the judgment of [4597]Cornelius Nepos) before affinity or consanguinity; _plus in amiciticia valet similitudo morum, quam affinitas_, &c., the cords of love bind faster than any other wreath whatsoever. Take this away, and take all pleasure, joy, comfort, happiness, and true content out of the world; 'tis the greatest tie, the surest indenture, strongest band, and, as our modern Maro decides it, is much to be preferred before the rest.

[4598] "Hard is the doubt, and difficult to deem, When all three kinds of love together meet; And do dispart the heart with power extreme, Whether shall weigh the balance down; to wit, The dear affection unto kindred sweet, Or raging fire of love to women kind, Or zeal of friends, combin'd by virtues meet; But of them all the band of virtuous mind, Methinks the gentle heart should most a.s.sured bind.

For natural affection soon doth cease, And quenched is with Cupid's greater flame; But faithful friendship doth them both suppress, And them with mastering discipline doth tame, Through thoughts aspiring to eternal fame.

For as the soul doth rule the earthly ma.s.s, And all the service of the body frame, So love of soul doth love of body pa.s.s, No less than perfect gold surmounts the meanest bra.s.s."

[4599]A faithful friend is better than [4600]gold, a medicine of misery, [4601]an only possession; yet this love of friends, nuptial, heroical, profitable, pleasant, honest, all three loves put together, are little worth, if they proceed not from a true Christian illuminated soul, if it be not done _in ordine ad Deum_ for G.o.d's sake. "Though I had the gift of prophecy, spake with tongues of men and angels, though I feed the poor with all my goods, give my body to be burned, and have not this love, it profiteth me nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 3. 'tis _splendidum peccatum_, without charity. This is an all-apprehending love, a deifying love, a refined, pure, divine love, the quintessence of all love, the true philosopher's stone, _Non potest enim_, as [4602]Austin infers, _veraciter amicus esse hominis, nisi fuerit ipsius primitus veritatis_, He is no true friend that loves not G.o.d's truth. And therefore this is true love indeed, the cause of all good to mortal men, that reconciles all creatures, and glues them together in perpetual amity and firm league; and can no more abide bitterness, hate, malice, than fair and foul weather, light and darkness, sterility and plenty may be together; as the sun in the firmament (I say), so is love in the world; and for this cause 'tis love without an addition, love [Greek: kat' exochaen], love of G.o.d, and love of men.

[4603]"The love of G.o.d begets the love of man; and by this love of our neighbour, the love of G.o.d is nourished and increased." By this happy union of love, [4604]"all well-governed families and cities are combined, the heavens annexed, and divine souls complicated, the world itself composed, and all that is in it conjoined in G.o.d, and reduced to one." [4605]"This love causeth true and absolute virtues, the life, spirit, and root of every virtuous action, it finisheth prosperity, easeth adversity, corrects all natural enc.u.mbrances," inconveniences, sustained by faith and hope, which with this our love make an indissoluble twist, a Gordian knot, an equilateral triangle, "and yet the greatest of them is love," 1 Cor. xiii.