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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	great_a	life_n	9,573	5	4.2493	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88575	Mr. Love's case: wherein is published, first, his several petitions to the Parliament. Secondly, a full narrative of the late dangerous design against the state, written with Mr. Loves own hand, and by him sent to the Parliament; wherein he setteth down his several meetings and secret actings with Major Alford, Maj. Adams, Col. Barton, Mr. Blackmore, Mr. Case, Mr. Cauton, Dr. Drake, Mr. Drake, Cap. Farr, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Haviland, Major Huntington, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Jaquel, Mr Jackson, Lieut. Col. Jackson, Cap. Massey, Mr. Nalton, Cap. Potter, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Sterks, Colonel Sowton, Colonel Vaughan, and others. Thirdly, Mr. Loves speech and prayer on the scaffold on Towerhil, August 22. 1651. Printed by an exact copy, taken in short-hand by John Hinde. Fourthly, animadversions on the said speech and prayer.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Hinde, John, 17th cent.	1651 (1651)	Wing L3143; Thomason E641_10; Thomason E790_1; ESTC R202750	68,137	69

Mr. LOVE's CASE Wherein is Published First His several Petitions to the Parliament Secondly A full Narrative of the late Dangerous Design against the State written with Mr. Loves own hand and by him sent to the Parliament wherein he setteth down his several Meetings and Secret Actings with Major Alford Maj. Adams Col. Barton Mr. Blackmore Mr. Case Mr. Cauton Dr. Drake Mr. Drake Cap. Farr Mr. Gibbons Mr. Haviland Major Huntington Mr. Jenkins Mr. Jaquel Mr Jackson Lieut. Col. Jackson Cap. Massey Mr. Nalton Cap. Potter Mr. Robinson Mr. Sterks Colonel Sowton Colonel Vaughan and others Thirdly Mr. Loves Speech and Prayer on the Scaffold on Towerhil August 22. 1651. Printed by an Exact Copy taken in Short-hand by JOHN HINDE Fourthly Animadversions on the said Speech and Prayer Whose hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole Congregation Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein And he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him Prov. 26. 26 27. London Printed for R. W. and Peter Cole at the Printing-Press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1651. To the Supream Authority The Parliament of the Commonwealth of England The Humble Petition of Christopher Love a condemned Prisoner in the Tower of London Most humbly sheweth THat your Petitioner having received the Sentence of Death by the High Court of Justice and is preparing himself in all humility and serious submission to drink that bitter Cup the terror whereof though much abated through the pardoning Mercies of God in the blood of sprinkling yet your Petitioner being brought down to the dust of death desires to see the righteous Lord in this Sentence acknowledging it to be just with the Most High to cut him off both in the middest of his days and in the midst of his Ministry He desires to be deeply humbled under the mighty hand of God lying now before the Lord and you putting his mouth in the dust that there may be hope that the Lord will pardon his manifold iniquities and that your Honors will pass by his Offences done contrary to your Laws which as he formerly did so still doth confess renders him culpable for which he is unfeignedly sorry Your Petitioner goeth not about to plead Excuse but with an humble Submission prostrates himself at your feet acknowledging he hath offended against the Acts of this Common-wealth and thereby is fallen under your sore displeasure of which he is very deeply sensible and sorrowful also Your Petitioner therefore having no other refuge left him on earth to redeem his Life from death but the Favor of this Honorable House makes his humble Addresses to you in the day of his deep Distress that you would as the Elect of God put on bowels of Compassion towards him that his life may be given him for a prey that he may give his life for a Sacrifice for the glory of God and good of this Nation and if the Lord shall please to stir up your hearts to remit the Execution and absolve him from the Sentence of Death it will be to him as life from the dead and he shall thankfully acknowledge God as the Author and you as the Instruments and humbly hopes it will be no matter of grief to you in the Great Day of your Accompt to rescue his life from going down to the Pit and he is perswaded that hereby the hearts of many that are godly will be comforted and united and many Thanksgivings from them will redound to God in your behalf and will lay Obligations on your Petitioner the remainder of his days to lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty and a Promise in his place and calling to endeavor the Peace and Welfare of this Commonwealth And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. Christopher Love Read July 9. 1651. To the Supream Authority The Parliament of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND The Humble Petition of Christopher Love a Condemned Prisoner in the Tower of London Most humbly sheweth THat your Petitioner doth with all Thankfulness acknowledge it a singular Providence of God and special Favor of the Parliament that a door of Hope is yet open and opportunity once more offered to prostrate himself at your feet for a Grant of his Life which if you vouchsafe he shall accept as an Act of great Grace and Mercy It is no little grief of heart to your Petitioner that through unadvisedness and weakness he is fallen under your sad and heavy Displeasure and hath offended against the Laws of this Commonwealth and now by the Sentence of the High Court of Justice to which he submits with all Christian meekness and humble acknowledgement of Gods hand therein is in inevitable and sudden danger to lose his Life without your merciful and gracious Interposition And whereas there is a Surmise of a Plot continued against the Peace and Welfare of this Commonwealth he doth protest in the presence of God the Searcher of all hearts that he knoweth no Plot or Design against the present Government nor is he privy in the least to any preparations for or intendments towards any intestine Insurrections or forreign Invasions or to any Correspondencies now held with any in or of the Scotish Nation or any other whatsoever He is not ignorant how much Malignants will triumph at his death nor is he without natural affections to his dear Wife and Children nor without real desires of life to do God and his Countrey service which are powerful Perswasions to him to do whatever he can without wounding his Conscience Your dying Petitioner humbly prays That as the Elect of God you would put on bowels of Compassion and in imitation of your Heavenly Father whose Mercy rejoyceth against Judgement be pleased to absolve him from the Sentence of Death which will be to him as life from the dead and this new Life received from your hands will lay strong Obligations on your Petitioner to endeavor in his place and calling the composing of Differences among the Godly and preserving spiritual Peace and Love throughout the Churches of the Saints as well as the civil Peace and Welfare of the Commonwealth And he further promises neither to Plot Contrive or Design any thing to the hurt of this present Government and if it shall be required to put in further Security for performance hereof and if none of these things should move you to vouchsafe an Absolute Pardon yet let him implore thus much from your hands as his last though very uncomfortable Request That you would be pleased to change the Sentence of death into Banishment into some strange Land where he may sit alone lamenting his sad and deplorable Condition And your Petitioner shall pray c. Christopher Love Read July 11. 1651. To the Supream Authority The Parliament of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND The humble Petition of Christopher Love condemned to die and the hour of Execution drawing near Most humbly sheweth THat whereas there are but very few

were still imputed to medling with State-matters Paul though he did but Preach Jesus Christ yet he must dye if the People might have their will under the pretence that he was a m●ver of Sedition Vpon a civil account my life is pretended to be taken away whereas indeed it is because I pursue my Covenant and will not prostitute my Principles and Conscience to the Ambition and Lusts of men SECT III. Beloved I am this day to make a double exchange I am changing a Pulpit for a Scaffold and a Scaffold for a Throne and I might adde a third I am changing this numerous multitude the presence of this numerous multitude upon Tower-Hill for the innumerable company of Angels in the holy Hill of Zion and I am changing a guard of Soldiers for a guard of Angels which will receive me and carry me into Abrahams bosom This Scaffold it is the best Pulpit I ever preached in for in the Church-Pulpit God through his Grace made me an Instrument to bring others to Heaven but in this Pulpit he will bring me to Heaven These are the last words that I shall speak in this world and it may be this last Speech upon a Scaffold may bring God more glory then many Sermons in a Pulpit SECT IV. Before I lay down my Neck upon the Block I shall lay open my Case unto the people that hear me this day and in doing it I shall avoid all rancer all bitterness of Spirit animosity and Revenge God is my record whom I serve in the spirit I speak the truth and lye not I do not bring a revengeful heart unto the Scaffold this day before I came here upon my bended knees I have begged Mercy for them that denyed mercy to me and I have prayed God to forgive them who would not forgive me I have forgiven from my heart the worst Enemy I have in all the world and this is the worst that I wish to my Accusers and Prosecutors who have pursued my blood That I might meet their souls in Heaven SECT V. I shall divide my Speech into three parts speak something concerning my Charge and a word concerning my Accusers and touching my Judges without any animosity at all and then something concerning my self for my own vindication and then a word of Exhortation and so I shall commit my soul to God Concerning my Charge it is black and hideous many things falsly suggested but nothing capital sufficiently proved by any one act that I am conscious to my self proved against me that I did The Charge was high and full but the Proof empty and low Though there were eight Witnesses that came in against me yet none of them did prove That ever I writ any Letter or directed any man to write a Letter into Scotland or into Forreign parts No man proved That I sent away any Letter that I received any Letter that I collected or gave or lent any Money to assist or promote the Scotish War This is all that was sworn against me That I was present when Letters were read that I made a motion for Money to give to Massey so that Beloved my presence at and concealment of Letters that were received and sent from Forreign parts There being a disturbance amongst the people he said I am amused I must break off things are true But the tumult being appeased he went on saying SECT VI. As concerning my Accusers I shall not say much I do forgive them and I pray God forgive them also yet what the Evangelist observes concerning Christs Accusers I may without vanity or falshood say of mine that they did not agree among themselves yea not onely contradicting one another but sometimes a Witness contradict himself And though their Testimony did condemn my person yet I have condemned their Testimony and truly there are many remarkable Circumstances that I might take notice of either in or before or since the Trial that might be worthy observation but I will not insist upon them onely in the general I will name none of them in the general some of them have sent to me to pray me to forgive them the wrong they have done me One of them hath written to me under his own hand to pray me to forgive him the wrong he hath done me And told me withal That that day that I should die a violent death his life would be no comfort to him because he was an Instrument in taking away mine Others of my witnesses they were some terrified before they would testifie some hired some fined before they would bear witness against me but I will forgive them SECT VII As concerning my Judges I will not judge them and yet I will not justifie them I believe I will say but this of them That what moved John Baptist what moved Herod to cut off John Baptists head moved them to cut off mine and that was for his Oaths sake John Baptist meaning Herod to avoid perjury he would commit murther whereas if John Baptists head had been upon his shoulders he would have been guilty of neither SECT VIII I have something in the second place to speak concerning my self and then I shall come briefly to a Conclusion Concerning my self I have gone through various reports There are many Sons of slander whose mouths are as open Sepulchres to bury my Name before my friends can bury my body My comfort is there will be a Resurrection of Names as well as Bodies at the last Day God will not onely wipe off tears from mine eyes this day but wipe off all blots and reproaches from my Name before many days be over And though my Body will soon rot under ground yet my hope is my Name will not rot above it I am not ignorant what Calumnies are cast upon me and more likely to be after I am dead and gone The very night before my intended Execution the last moneth there was an insulting Letter written to me to tell me that after I was dead there should be something published against me to my shame I hope you will have so much charity as not to believe Reproaches cast upon a dead man who will be silent in the grave and not able to speak a word in his own justification I am aspersed both as to my Practices and as to my Principles SECT IX I shall begin with the first There are five Aspersions as to my practices that are laid upon me First That I am a Lyar that I am an Extortioner that I am an Adulterer that I am a Murtherer and that I am a turbulent person crimes scandalous in any man but much more abominable in a Minister Now I hope you will believe a dying man who dare not look God in the face with a lye in his mouth I am accused of lying that what I denied before the High Court of Justice that afterwards I should confess or else was proved against me Now in the presence of God I tell you as I would confess

comfortable a livelihood and as loving a people as any people in London a few only excepted I had as much satisfaction amongst them as ever I had in any condition in all my life and should never have parted from them had not now death parted us to which I do submit with all Christian meekness and cheerfulness SECT XXIV I am now drawing to an end of my ●peech and to an end of my life together But before I do expire my last breath I shall desire to justifie God and to condemn my self Here I come to that which you call an untimely end and a shameful death but blessed be God it is my glory and it is my comfort I shall justifie God he is righteous because I have sinned he is righteous though he doth cut me off in the midst of my days and in the midst of my Ministry I cannot complain that Complaint in the Psalmist in the 44 Psalm Thou sellest thy people for nought and dost not increase thy wealth by their price My blood it shall not be spilt for nought I may do more good by my death then by my life and glorifie God more in dying upon a Scaffold then if I had dyed of a Disease upon my bed I bless my God I have not the least trouble upon my spirit but I dye with as much quietness of mind lie down I hope I shall upon the Block as if I were going to lie down upon my Bed to take my rest I see men hunger after my flesh and thirst after my blood which will hasten my happiness and their ruine and greaten their guilt For though I am a man of an obscure Family of mean Parentage so that my blood is not as the blood of Nobles yet I will say mine is a Christians blood a Ministers blood yea it is innocent blood also My blood my body my dead body it will be a morsel which I believe will hardly be digested and my blood it will be bad food for this Infant Commonwealth as Mr Prideaux called it for this Infant Commonwealth to suck on Mine is not Malignant blood though here I am brought as a grievous and a notorious Offender SECT XXV Now Beloved I shall not only justifie God as I do without a Complement for he is very Just that my Prison was not my Hell that this Scaffold is not the bottomless pit I have deserved both I have deserved it I do not only justifie God but I desire this day to magnifie God to magnifie the riches of his glorious grace that such a one as I born in an obscure Country in Wales of obscure Parents that God should look upon me and single me out from among all my kinred single me out to be an Object of his everlasting Love that when for the first fourteen years of my life I never heard a Sermon and yet in the fifteenth year of my life God through his grace did convert me And I here speak it without vanity what should a dying man be proud of for these twenty years though I am accused of many scandalous evils I speak it to the praise and glory of my God for these twenty years God hath kept me I have not fallen into a scandalous sin I have laboured to keep a good Conscience from my youth up I magnifie his grace that he hath not only made me a Christian but made me a Minister judged me faithful and put me into the Ministry and though the Office be troden upon and be disgraced yet it is my glory that I dye a despised Minister I had rather be a Preacher in a Pulpit then a Prince upon a Throne I had rather be an Instrument to bring Souls to Heaven then to have all the Nations to bring in tribute to me I am not only a Christian and a Preacher but what ever men judg me I am a Martyr too I speak it without vanity Would I have renounced my Covenant and debauched my Conscience and ventured my Soul there might have been more hopes of saving my life that I should not have come to this place but blessed be my God I have made the best choyce I have chose affliction rather then Sin and therefore welcome Scaffold and welcome Ax and welcome Death welcome Block welcome all because it will send me to my Fathers House SECT XXVI I have great cause to magnifie Gods Grace that he hath stood by me during my imprisonment It hath been a time of no little temptation to me and yet blessed be his grace he hath strengthened and stood by me I magnifie his grace that though now I come to dye a violent death yet that death is not a terror to me through the blood of sprinkling the fear of Death is taken out of my heart God is not a terror to me therefore Death is not dreadful to me I bless my God I speak it without vanity I have formerly had more fear in the drawing of a tooth then now I have in the cutting off my Head I was for some years five or six under a spirit of bondage and did fear Death exceedingly but then when the fear of Death was upon me Death was not neer me but now Death is neer me blessed be my Saviour he hath the sting of Death in his own sides and so makes the grave a bed of rest to me and makes Death the last Enemy to be a friend though he be a grim friend I bless God further that though I am to be cast out of the world I bless my God though men judg me to be cast out of the world yet that God hath not cast me out of the hearts and prayers of his people I had rather be cast out of the world then be cast out of the heart of any godly man Some think me it is true not worthy to live and yet others judg I do not deserve to dye but God will judg all men I will judg none SECT XXVII I have now done I have no more to say but to desire the help of all your prayers that God would give me the continuance and supply of divine grace to carry me through this great work that I am now to do That I who am to do a work I never did I may have a strength that I never had That I may put off this Body with as much quietness and comfort of minde as ever I put off my clothes to go to bed And now I am to commend my Soul to God and to receive my fatal blow I am comforted in this though men kill me they cannot damn me and though they thrust me out of the world yet they cannot shut me out of Heaven I am now going to my long home and you are going to your short homes but I will tell you I shall be at home before you I shall be at Heaven my Fathers house before you will be at your own Houses Now I am going to the Heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable

hours between your Petitioner and Death he is humbly bold before he breathe out his soul to God to breathe out his Request to the Parliament by making his last Address to you humbly acknowledging he hath incurred your high Displeasure of which he is deeply sensible and violated the Laws of this Commonwealth for which he is unfeignedly sorrowful and now also submitteth to the Sentence of the High Court and promiseth and offereth further Security neither to Plot Contrive or Design the Subversion of this present Government accounting it as a brand of the highest Ingratitude to imploy his life against you if he should by an Act of Grace and Favor receive a new life from you Wherefore your dying Petitioner before he commend his soul to God on the Block he pours out his soul to you at your Bar That you would be pleased by your gracious merciful and seasonable Interposition to prevent this sad stroke now the hand is even lifted up and he is as one giving up the ghost and if he have provoked you so far as to render him uncapable of an Absolute Pardon yet he humbly beseeches you to change the Sentence of death into perpetual Banishment in so doing your Mercy will triumph over Iustice and the greatness and nearness of his danger he being as one free among the dead will exceedingly greaten the freeness of your Grace and Mercy And your Petitioner shall pray c. Christopher Love Read July 15. 1651. To the Supream Authority The Parliament of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND The humble Petition of Mary the Wife of Christopher Love SHEWETH THat your poor Petitioner hath great cause to say Blessed be God and blessed be You for your merciful Vote of the 15th of Iuly a Day never to be forgotten in adding a moneth to the Life of her dear Husband which hath opened a door of Hope to her in the midst of the Valley of Achor and made her glad though she be a woman of a sorrowful Spirit yet your distressed Handmaid is overwhelmed with grief and anguish of Soul and cannot be comforted when she remembers that doleful Day the 15th of August so near approaching her heart doth almost die within her and she is as one giving up the ghost before she is delivered of the fruit of her womb Wherefore your greatly distressed Handmaid doth again pour out her soul with renewed and importunate Requests Beseeching your Honors to commiserate her deplorable Condition by putting on bowels of Pity and Compassion towards her dear condemned Husband that she may not grapple with the intollerable pains of Travel and the unsupportable thoughts of her Husband's death in one day O that the Life of your Handmaid and her Babe might be a Ransom for the Life of her condemned Husband she had rather chuse out of love to die for him then for sorrow of heart to die with him Now the good Lord incline your hearts to give him his life for a Prey wheresoever it shall please your Honors to cast him And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. Mary Love To the Supream Authority The Parliament of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND The humble Petition of Christopher Love a Condemned Prisoner in the Tower of London SHEWETH THat your Petitioner doth humbly adore the wonderful Goodness of God and most thankfully acknowledge the great Mercy of the Parliament for so seasonable and acceptable an Act of Grace to such an offending Suppliant that when there was but a step between him and death the number of his days being accomplished and he almost cut off from the Land of the living then you mercifully interposed and gave him his Life for a moneth longer which was to him as a Resurrection from the dead The consideration whereof melteth the heart of your Petitioner and makes him after a more narrow search into his heart and ways more deeply sensible then ever of his sin against God and more sorrowful for his high Crimes and Offences against the Parliament in his late and great Miscarriages He humbly acknowledgeth he hath so highly violated the Laws of the Commonwealth as that thereby he hath rendered himself guilty of the Sentence of death justly passed on him by the High Court of Justice He doth also herewith humbly offer to your Honors a free and full Narrative under his hand of the whole Design to the best of his remembrance which he leaveth to your grave Wisdoms and favorable Interpretations fully resolving that he will neither plot contrive or design any thing prejudicial to the present Government but will in his place and calling oppose any Designs whatsoever whether in this or the neighbor Nation that may tend to the ruine of this Commonwealth Your dying Petitioner with all humble importunity prostrates himself at your feet puts his mouth in the dust O that there may be hope craving your tender Mercy begging his Life at your hands promising never to imploy that Life against you he shall receive from you but doth hold it his Duty in his place and calling to lay out himself for the glory of God the good of his people the Peace and Safety of this Commonwealth And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. Christopher Love Read August 14. 1651. Reod again August 16. 1651. A Brief and full NARRATIVE Humbly presented with my Petition to the Parliament By me CHRISTOPHER LOVE COnsidering how a clear and full Narrative may satisfie the State although it may prejudice my self I am willing with an Ingenuous Freedom and openness of heart to make known the whole matter so far as I distinctly know and well remember humbly hoping that this large acknowledgement of mine which is more then any in the world can prove against me shall not be taken as an Aggravation of my fault but as a Demonstration of my Ingenuity Before I mention the matters of Fact I humbly crave leave to signifie the time when and maner how I came to be intangled in this unhappy Business As for the time it was after the breaking off the Treaty between the King and the Scots at Jersey for before that time to the best of my remembrance I was not privy to or acquainted with any meetings about the sending of Captain Titus whose face I never saw to Jersey or sending Letters to him or receiving Letters from him whiles he was there or about sending any Letters to or receiving Letters from the King Queen Jermyn Piercy or any other person in Forraign parts during the Treaty at Jersey But after that Treaty was ended Mr. William Drake came to me told me he had News to impart and to that end he desired to know if he could get Friends together whether I was willing that they should meet at my house it being conveniently scituate in the midst of the City that so he might communicate what he heard of Affairs abroad To satisfie my curiosity to hear News I was content to let him with those he should bring to meet

as free in pardoning as I am in confessing that as by what I have done I am an object of your just displeasure so by what I have confessed I may become an object of your free grace and favor I fully resolving never to ingage again in a business of the like nature if through your clemency you pass by these sundry and great Offences upon my free Confession and full resolution to leave them you will resemble God himself who hath said He that confesseth and forsakes his sins shall finde mercy Having thus laid open my heart in this matter in an ingenuous acknowledgement I humbly crave leave to express my self in a few Particulars for further satisfaction to the Parliament 1. Although I was present at several meetings in my House to hear Letters read yet I used not to be at meetings elsewhere about businesses of this nature it seems there were meetings in other places many Moneths before I knew any thing 2. There are no persons who used these meetings so far as I remember and as I am informed but they are already discovered and made known 3. There is no Intelligence or Correspondencies now held that I know of with any in or of the Scotish Nation or any imployed by them 4. I am not privy to or acquainted with any Plots or Designs now carrying on for raising intestine Insurrections at home or joyning with Forreign Invasions from abroad 5. There was never any money raised that I know of for any of the Scotish Nation to carry on their War yea when Letters were read wherein there were motions to that purpose I utterly refused to do any thing therein 6. I do retain as vehement a Detestation of Malignancy whether in England or in Scotland as ever I did and shall in my Place and Calling oppose such a Design and interest with as much zeal and faithfulness as ever 7. Lastly I do faithfully promise never to ingage in a business of the like nature as this wherein I have been insnared nor shall I Plot Contrive or Design the subversion of this present Government but shall under the same lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty I have no more to say but to make this humble and last request That this my large Confession may not be taken as an Aggravation of my fault but as a Demonstration of my Ingenuity I acknowledge by your Justice you might in one day leave a Flock without a Shepherd a Wife without a Husband Children without a Father and a Body without a Soul But my Hope and Prayer is That your Mercy will triumph over Justice That I shall hear that joyful sound That my life shall see the Light That I shall be rescued from going down to the Grave To which if God shall incline your hearts I shall devote the remainder of my days to the glory of God and good of his people The peace and safety of this Commonwealth against all the Malignant Enemies and Opposers thereof I have but one Request more to make to this Honorable House That if some Passages about these Meetings and Transactions have passed my Observation or slipt my Memory as happily through tract of time some things have That you would not impute it to my Wilfulness but to my Forgetfulness of things done so long ago From the Tower of London July 22. 1651. I Attest the truth of this Narrative under my Hand Christopher Love Mr. Love's Speech made on the Scaffold on Tower-Hill August 22. 1651. Mr. Love being brought upon the Scaffold by the Sheriffs Mr. Sheriff Titchburn shewed him the Warrant directed to the Sheriffs of London for his Execution telling him that he took no pleasure in this Work but it was a Duty laid upon him To which Mr. Love replyed I believe it Sir Sheriff Titchburn I have done my duty for you Mr. Love The Lord bless you Lieutenant of the Tower The Lord strengthen you in this hour of your Temptation Mr. Love Sir I am I bless God my heart is in heaven I am well Sheriff Titchburn I desire you to consider we have the other to execute afterwards and six a clock is our Hour but we shall give you as much time as we can Mr. Love I shall be the briefer Then putting off his Hat two several times to the people he spake as followeth SECTION I. BEloved Christians I am made this day a Spectacle unto God Angels and Men and among men I am made a Grief to the Godly a Laughing-stock to the wicked and a Gazing-stock to all yet blessed be my God not a Terror to my self although there be but a little between me and Death yet this bears up my heart there is but a little between me and Heaven It comforted Doctor Tailor the Martyr when he was going to Execution that there were but two Styles between him and his Fathers house there is a lesser way between me and my Fathers house but two steps between me and Glory it is but lying down upon the Block and I shall ascend upon a Throne I am this day sayling towards the Ocean of Eternity through a rough Passage to my Haven of Rest through a Red-sea to the Promised Land Me thinks I hear God say to me as he did to Moses Go up to Mount Nebo and die there so go thou up to Tower-hill and die there Isaac said of himself that he was old and yet he knew not the day of his death but I cannot say thus I am yong and yet I know the day of my death and I know the kinde of my death also and the place of my death also it is such a kinde of death as two famous Preachers of the Gospel were put to before me John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle they were both beheaded ye have mention of the one in Scripture Story and of the other in Ecclesiastical History And I read in the 20th of the Revelation and the 4th The Saints were beheaded for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus SECTION II. But herein is the disadvantage which I am in in the thoughts of many who judge that I suffer not for the Word or for Conscience but for medling with State matters To this I shall briefly say That it is an old guise of the Devil to impute the cause of Gods Peoples Sufferings to be Contrivements against the State when in truth it is their Religion and Conscience they are persecuted for The Rulers of Israel they would put Jeremiah to death upon a Civil account though indeed it was onely the truth of his Prophesie made the Rulers angry with him yet upon a Civil account they did pretend he must dye because he fell away to the Caldeans and would have brought in Forreign Forces to Invade them The same thing is laid to my charge of which I am as innocent as Jeremiah was I finde other instances in the Scripture wherein men the cause of their Sufferings

general Apostacy Covenant breaking hath brought London low and I fear will bring it lower I tremble to think what evils are coming upon it This City it is the Receptacle of all Errors That as your Commodities have been vented and spread from hence into every corner of the Land so hath Heresies and Blasphemies had their first rise from this great and populous City and spread into all the Country SECT XVIII To the Inhabitants of this City I commend but these few Particulars First Let me beg you to love your painful and your godly Ministers if they be taken away you are like to have worse come in their rooms I know the Presbyterian Ministers are the great eye-sore who have formerly been counted the Chariots and the Horsmen of Israel But I will say to London as was said to Leyden That after Junius was taken away an Orthodox Minister Arminius that pestilent Heretick came in his room if your godly Ministers as there are ten already at one blow taken from you if they be taken away Arminians Anabaptists nay Jesuits are like to supply their rooms if God in mercy prevent not Secondly Submit your selves to Church-Government that would lay a curb and restraint upon your lusts it is a golden and an easie yoke to which if you do not submit God may lay an heavier an iron yoke upon your necks SECT XIX Thirdly Take heed of those Doctrines that come under the Notion of New Lights I have judged that those Doctrines you ought to suspect whether they be true when the brocher of them saith it is New for Truth it is as old as the Bible A remarkable passage I would suggest unto you in Deut. 32. it is said there They chose them new gods that were newly sprung up what were these new gods the next words tell you they were old devils they sacrificed to devils not to God Now their Sacrificing to the old Devil it was called a Sacrificing to deceive the People to new gods that were newly come up new gods they were but the old devils So I say of many of those things that go under the notion of New Lights it is but old darkness old Heresies raked out of the Dunghil which were buried in former ages in the Church with contempt and reproach many hundred years ago Again SECT XX. Fourthly Bewail your great loss that you have in the taking away of so many Ministers out of your City there are ten Ministers if I mistake not that are taken away and removed in one blow those who were burning and shining Lights in their several Candlesticks and bright Stars in their several Orbs though I am not worthy of the world therefore I am taken out of it yet as for my suffering Brethren who are now in Bonds and Banishment the world is not worthy of them Again in the next place take heed how you be forward in ingaging in a War with your godly Brethren in the Scotish Nation for my part I have opposed the Tyranny of a King but I never opposed the Title take heed what you do SECT XXI I have something in the next place to speak to the godly Ministery of this City were it not that I were a dying man I would not speak to such reverend and grave men I would as Elihu being but a yong man I would say Multitudes of years should teach wisdom and I would hold my tongue but the words of a dying man take whether they be discreet or no or so well ordered and managed or no for them I would first desire God to shew them mercy they that have begged for mercy for me at the day of my death I will beg but this of them That as they have not been ashamed of my Chain so they would now wax confident by my Bonds and by my Blood I know they are maligned and threatned yet my Prayer is for them that in Acts 4. 29. Now Lord behold their threatnings and grant that thy Servants may Preach thy word with all boldness Though I am but yong yet I will offer my yong experience to my grave Fathers and Brethren and that is this Now I am to dye I have abundant peace in my own Conscience that I have set my self against the Sins and Apostacies of this present Age It is true my faithfulness hath procured me ill will from men but it hath purchased me peace with God I have lived in peace and I shall dye in peace That which I have to beseech of the Ministers is this To beg them to keep up Church-Government Whatsoever God doth with the Governments of the world turning Kingdoms upside down yet the Government of the Church will stand And of all Governments I dye with this perswasion That the Presbyterial Government makes most for Purity and Vnity throughout the Churches of the Saints I would beg them therefore to keep up Church-Government That they would not let their Elderships fall That they would take heed of too general Admissions to the Lords-Supper That they be not too prodigal of the Blood of Christ by too general Admissions of men to partake of the Supper that Sealing Ordinance And now I am speaking to them I shall speak a word of them and so I have done SECT XXII I have heard many clamors since I came to Prison as if that Plot which it is called that I am condemned for as if all the City Ministers they were engaged in this Design which as a dying man I tell you That all the Ministers that were present at the meeting and had a hand in that business for which I am to be put to death all those Ministers they are either in Prison or they are discovered already and therefore I do here upon my death free the Ministers of the City That those who are not yet in trouble nor discovered to the Committee of Examinations none of them had a hand in that business in which I was ingaged in which my conscience doth tell me I have not sinned SECT XXIII I have now I have done immediatly for I would fain be at my Fathers house but a word to speak to my own Congregation and I do return praises unto God and thanksgiving unto him for the love I have had from them I found them a solid and a judicious people and many of them Religious The Ministery of that learned man Mr. Anthony Burges did much good amongst them though I have cause to be humbled my weak Ministery did but little they afforded me a great deal of love and a liberal maintenance And this is all I desire of them That they would chuse a godly learned and an Orthodox Minister to succeed it would be a great comfort to me before I go to Heaven if I had this perswasion that a learned Orthodox godly man should fill that Pulpit And for encouragement to any godly Minister whose lot it shall be to succeed me I will say this to him That he will have as

company of Angels to Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant to the spirits of all men made perfect to God the judg of all in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore I shall conclude But then Mr Sheriff Tichburn telling him that the words were the spirits of just men made perfect Love He then corrected himself saying To the spirits of just men made perfect and to God the Judg of all in whose presence there is fulness of joy and in whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore SECT XXVIII I conclude with that speech of the Apostle I am now in 2 Tim. 4. 6 7. I am now to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand but I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is a crown of righteousness layd up for me and not for me onely but for all them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ through whose blood when I have shed my blood I expect Salvation and remission of sins And so the Lord bless you all Then turning to Mr Sheriff he said May I pray Sheriff Tichburn Yes but consider the time Love I have done Sir Then turning to the people he said Beloved I will but pray a little while with you to commend my Soul to God and I have done Then Mr Ash told him Mr Ash The House is risen and therefore Love To which Mr Love answered I I Sir After which he prayed with an audible voyce saying SECT XXIX Mr Love's Prayer MOst Glorious and Eternal Majesty Thou art righteous and holy in all thou dost to the sons of men though thou hast suffered men to condemn thy servant thy servant will not condemn thee He justifieth thee though thou cuttest him off in the midst of his days and in the midst of his Ministry blessing thy glorious Name that though his name be taken away from the Land of the Living that yet he is not blotted out of the Book of the Living Father my hour is come thy poor creature can say without vanity and falshood he hath desired to glorifie thee upon Earth glorifie thou now him in Heaven He hath desired to bring the Souls of other men to Heaven let his Soul be brought to Heaven O thou blessed God whom thy Creature hath served who hath made thee his hope and his confidence from his youth forsake him not now he is drawing nigh to thee now he is in the valley of the shadow of death Lord be thou life to him smile thou upon him while men frown on him Lord thou hast setled this perswasion in his heart That as soon as ever the blow is given to divide his Head from his Body he shall be united to his Head in Heaven Blessed be God that thy servant dyes in those hopes Blessed be God that thou hast filled the soul of thy servant with joy and peace in beleeving O Lord think upon that poor Brother of mine that is a companion in tribulation with me who is this day to lose his life as well as I O fill him full of the joy of the Holy Ghost when he is to give up the ghost Lord strengthen our hearts that we may give up the ghost with joy and not with grief We intreat thee O Lord think upon thy poor Churches O that England might live in thy sight and O that London might be a faithful City to thee that righteousness might be amongst them that so peace and plenty may be within their walls and righteousness within their habitation Lord heal the breaches of this poor Nation Make England and Scotland as one staff in the Lords hand that Ephraim might not envy Judah nor Judah vex Ephraim but that both might flee upon the shoulders of the Philistins that men of the Protestant Religion engaged in the same Cause and Covenant might not delight to spill each others blood but might engage against the common Adversaries of our Religion and Liberties God shew mercy to all that fear him SECT XXX Think upon our Covenant-keeping Brethren in the Kingdom of Scotland keep them faithful to thee and let not them that have invaded them overspread their whole Land Prevent the shedding of more Christian Blood if it seem good in thine eyes God shew mercy to thy poor Servant who is here now giving up the ghost O blessed Jesus apply thy Blood not only for my Justification unto life but also for my comfort for the quieting of my Soul that so I might be in the joys of Heaven before I come to a possession of Heaven Hear the prayers of all thy people that have been made for thy Servant and though thou hast denyed prayer as to the particular request concerning my life yet let herein the fruit of prayer be seen that thou wilt bear up my heart against the fear of death God shew mercy to all that fear him Shew mercy to all that have engaged for the life of thy Servant let them have mercy at the day of their appearing before Jesus Christ. Preserve thou a godly Ministry in this Nation and restore a godly Ministry and cause yet good days to be the heritage of thy people for the Lords sake Now Lord into thy hands thy Servant committeth his spirit And though he may not with Steven see the Heavens opened let him have the Heavens opened and though he may not see upon a Scaffold the Son of God standing at the right hand of God yet let him come to the glorified Body of Jesus Christ and this hour have an intellectual sight of the glorified Body of his Saviour Lord Jesus receive my spirit and Lord Iesus stand by me thy dying Servant who hath endeavored in his life time to stand for thee Lord hear pardon all his infirmities wipe away his iniquities by the blood of Christ wipe off reproaches from his name wipe off guilt from his person and receive him pure and spotless and blameless before thee in love And all this we beg for the sake of Iesus Christ Amen and Amen SECT XXXI Mr Ash You make a Christian end I hope Mr Love I I bless God Then turning to Mr Sheriff Tichburn said I thank you for this kindness Sir you have expressed a great deal of kindness to me Well I go from a Block to the bosom of my Saviour Then he asked Where is the Executioner When the Executioner came forward he said Art thou the Officer Executioner Yes Love Then lifting up his eyes he said O blessed Iesus that hath kept me from the hurt of death and from the fear of death O blessed be God blessed be God And taking his leave of the Ministers he said Love The Lord be with you all And taking leave of Sheriff Tichburn he kissed his hand Then he kneeled down and made a short prayer privately Then after rising up he said Blessed be God I am full of joy and peace in

not as he thought be proved against him I judge it not improbable but that the Ministers of his exemption may be free from all interposure of particularities of advice for the driving on M. Loves designe this word he owns in one of his Petitions though the word Plot grates upon his spirit yea possibly they may be free in respect of the knowledge of the particularities of the method and transactions by which the Designe was carryed on and ripened from time to time by the Arch-Contrivers such works of darkness are in danger of coming abroad into the light before their time and so to mischieve or destroy the workmen in case the number of those who either shall meet frequently for the managing and forming of them or to whom the particulars of them shall be imparted be too great It is seldom seen but that that which is known to many soon after comes to be known unto all Yet I beleeve there is hardly any Minister of the Presbyterian perswasion about the City but knew well enough that there was Scotch-Ale in brewing and that Master Love and his Complices were not asleep as to their Interest and cause Yea and that from time to time though they could not call Master Loves Designe by its proper name yet they prayed heartily in general and covert terms for the prosperity of it But Master Loves Conscience now upon the Scaffold tells him it seems a quite contrary t●le to what it told him a few days before When he was a Petitioner to the Parliament for his life his Conscience told him that he had Sinned against God that his late miscarriages were great his crimes and offences against the Parliament high c. But in the interim it seems the Rabbies of his Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been with him and shin'd a new light into him About the entertainment whereof had he followed his own Counsel directed unto others in the like case formerly mentioned and had taken heed of receiving it it had been much better and safer for him ANIMAD upon Sect. 23. What M. Love gives in honor to his Congregation I shall not take from them Onely what he gives unto himself in this kind as 1. That he should never have parted from them had not death parted them 2. That he submitteth unto death with all Christian meeknesse c. I make some question whether he had right to give it or no. For he that had parted from one Congregation upon a far different occasion from that of death he speaks of why might he not his judgment remaining the same touching a lawfulnesse of parting have parted from another and another after that upon a like occasion Men may be confident of their present intentions and purposes but to prophesie of their future is to run an adventure But whereas he professeth his submission unto death with all Christian meeknesse I leave him to be judged out of his own mouth in this very discourse wherewith he hath avenged himself on his Judges whom he calls his adversaries to the uttermost ANIMAD upon Sect. 24. In the beginning of this Section he professeth his desire to justifie God and to condemne himself A Christian and worthy profession But that which he professeth a desire to do he doth very faintly and by halfs But that which is contrary to what he desires as he saith to do he doth vigorously and with his might In his justifying of God he is very generall and faint and yet more generall and superficiall in condemning himself But in the justifying of himself and condemning others he is inlarg'd beyond his line For the justifying of God he saith only that he is righteous in the condemning of himself he saith no more but onely I have sinned which the most innocent and righteous person under heaven may say truly But for the justifying and commending of himself with a mixture of insinuations against others how copious and eloquent is he First he saith his bloud shall not be spilt for nought wherein he make's himself equall with the Saints he mentioneth from the Psalm 2. That he may do more good by his death then by his life which though it may be true enough in a sence little to his honor yet in his notion must imply either that his Oration which he was now uttering was so effectuall and full of power that many of those that heard it would either be converted or els much edified by it or els that his dying with so much courage in such a worthy cause as he was now to suffer for would make others confident in the further maintenance and prosecution of it whereby God should be much glorified 3. He sings over his former note of confidence I blesse my God I have not the least trouble c. I die with as much quietnesse of mind c. By which he doth not only commend himself as one of the first-born sons of Faith but farther insinuates the goodnesse and justifiablenesse of his cause whereby the people may be the more incens'd against his Judges 4. He saith that he sees that men hunger after his flesh and thirst after his blood which hastens his happinesse and their ruine c. wherein at once he justifieth himself in the highest and condemneth others proportionably 5. He saith his blood is innocent blood is this to condemne himself and not plainly to condemne others by his self-justification 6. He saith that his dead body will be a morsell which he believes will hardly be digested and that his blood will be bad food c. What are these but Rhetoricall flourishes of his own righteousnesse and innocency full of reflexion upon his Judges as men that had sinned with an high hand against the peace and safety of the Common-wealth by sentencing him to die 7. And lastly that he may proclaim his innocency as well in the Negative as Affirmative he saith Mine is not Malignant bloud though c. was Mr. Loves desire to condemn himself in speaking these things or are they the words of a man taking shame unto himself and justifying God thereby The truth is he hath condemn●d himself by speaking them all along calling evill good and good evill putting darknesse for light and light for darknesse bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter stumblings and mistakes of a very sad import so neer the threshold of death ANIMAD upon Sect. 25. In the beginning of this Section he seems in part to repent of the former but his words are of no good consistence He proves God to be very just by this that his prison was not his Hell c. inasmuch as he had deserved it This is an argument to prove him gracious or mercifull but that men have not in punishment what they have deserved in sin hath no face of a proof that God is very just If Mr. Love had here also stood upon his Justification and said I have not deserved it his Argument had been more