_Enemy_ III. Christian love is often diminished and marred by degenerating into a carnal sort of love, through the prevalency of some carnal vice. Thus they that loved a man for godliness, turn it into a selfish love, for some honour, or favour, or benefits to themselves. And young persons of different sexes begin to love each other for piety, and by undiscreet, and unwary, and sinful familiarities, are drawn before they are aware, to carnal, fond, and sinful love; and these persons think that their holy love is stronger than before; whenas it is stifled, consumed, and languishing, as natural heat by a burning fever, and is overcome and turned into another thing.
_Enemy_ IV. Passion and impatiency is a great enemy to christian love. It is stirring up displeasing words and carriage, and then cannot bear them; it meeteth every where with matter of displeasure and offence, and is still casting water on this sacred fire, and feigning or finding faults in all.
_Enemy_ V. Self-ignorance and partiality is a great enemy to love; when it maketh men overlook their own corruptions, and extenuate all those faults in themselves, which in others they take for heinous crimes; and so they want that compassion to others which would bear with infirmities, because they know not how bad they are themselves, and what need they have of the forbearance of others.
_Enemy_ VI. Censoriousness is an enemy to brotherly love (as is aforesaid): a censorious person will tell you how dearly he loveth all the godly; but he can allow so few the acknowledgment of their godliness, that few are beholden to him for his love. His sinful humour blindeth his mind, that he cannot see another's godliness; he will love them for their sincerity when he can see it, but that will not be till he hath better eyes. Timon was a great lover of wisdom, but a hater of all men, because he took no man to be wise.
_Enemy_ VII. Faction and parties, or siding in religion, is one of the greatest enemies of christian love. For this causeth censoriousness, and maketh men so overvalue the opinions which they have chosen, and the interest of their party, that they hardly see goodness in any that are not of their mind, and quickly find faults (or devise them) in those that are against them.
_Enemy_ VIII. Conversing with malicious, wicked, or censorious persons, is a great hinderance of the love of godly men; for he that heareth them daily slandered, and represented as brain-sick, seditious, self-conceited, humorous, hypocritical people, will easily take them as odious, but hardly as amiable, unless he come nearer them, and know them better than by a liar's words.
_Enemy_ IX. Too high expectations are great enemies to love. When men either look that saints on earth should be like saints in heaven, who have no infirmity; or look for greater parts of nature or art, ingenuity or excellency of speech, than is in other persons, or when selfishness and covetousness or pride doth make men look for great respect, and observance, and esteem, or gifts, or commodity from others; when sin and error raiseth these unreasonable expectations, and the imperfect graces of christians do not answer them, such persons think contemptibly of good men, and call them hypocrites, and as bad as others, because they are not such as they expected.