5 Open rebuke is better then secrete loue.
Loue is little woorth and serueth them to no purpose whome we thinke wee loue, or that wee woulde perswade ourselues wee loue, except that wee declare the same by good deedes towardes them, in helping their necessitie. And therefore S. Iohn doeth admo∣nish * 1.1 vs to helpe the necessitie of our brethren. It were better for vs to be openly rebuked, then so to bee loued: as Solomon doeth pro∣nounce it, saying,
Open rebuke or correction, &c. For if wee doe openly rebuke our neighbours, if they are easie to bee taught and tractable, they wil be ashamed, and wil be ware of returning to the like faute, and wil returne vnto God by true repentance: as did Dauid, after that the Prophet Nathan had rebuked him. That rebuke was much more profitable for him, then the secrete loue of Nabal: who sought to do * 1.2 Dauid no hurt, but yet he woulde not helpe his necessitie. As there are many such which wil perswade themselues that they loue their neighbours ynough, when they doe them no wrong nor violence, though they haue no minde at al to doe them any good. Such kinde of loue is so secrete, that it is nothing, but rather hatred: for where there is no loue, there is hatred: seeing there is no meane way be∣tweene both. Moreouer, wee are admonished rather to reprooue and correct, then to dissemble the fautes of our neighbours: and also we are admonished that we shoulde not desire to be flattered, but to be sharply corrected and rebuked.