ove 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 God, which no man can well perform, but
he that is a Christian, and a true regenerate man; this is, [4586]"To love
God 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 God. 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 God'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. T