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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

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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
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
Justice onely but of all sorts of persons in the Land who have not either their hand or their heart in Mr. Love's counsels and practices I mention those whom the Apostle terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without natural affection in reference to Mr. Love because it was the observation of some who were present at his Execution from first to last that though he prayed for his fellow-Traitor and the Scots not onely the profess'd but highly exprest Enemies of his Countrey and Nation yet he made not the least mention either of his wife or children either in his Prayer or Discourse Now if Mr. Love at his death was no better then a person having the Form of Godliness but denying the power thereof there was no good ground for that his confident rejoycing therein 2. The Lord Christ saith expresly That if we forgive not men their trespasses neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us our trespasses Now though Mr. Love pretends fairness and clearness of spirit in this kinde again and again and that he brought no rancor or revengefulness of heart to the Scaffold yet that he was inwardly full of this rottenness his most venemous virulent false and bitter Insinuations against the Parliament and State uttered upon the Scaffold testifie to the face of his greatest Advocates See especially upon this account Sect. 12 where you will finde him so unchristianly and with such insufferable rancor and malice inveighing against the State that one of the present Magistrates acknowledged by Mr. Love himself and not without cause a good Friend of his openly professed that he was not able to endure it Now if Mr. Love died upon such terms that his Heavenly Father could not according to his expresly declared will forgive him his trespasses certainly he could have no sufficient ground for that confidence which he expressed at his death 3. We read in Scripture of many confidences and rejoycings in men and these Professors without sufficiency of ground to justifie or bear them out Paul speaks of some who gloried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the face or in appearance not in the heart And our Savior himself speaketh of many who as he saith will say unto him i. e. think at present that they may with confidence say unto him in that great day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works To whom notwithstanding he will reply and profess that he never knew them Depart from me ye that work iniquity Mat. 7. 22 23. 4. Mr. Love did not could not at his death out-confidence the ordinary sort of Papists Priests and Jesuits amongst us that have from time to time drunk of the same cup with him as well as John Baptist or Paul and upon the same account in which particular John Baptist and Paul separate from him as we shall see presently and leave him in the company of those other 5. It is no very hard matter for a man strongly acted and assisted by a spirit of popularity a spirit with which Mr. Love hath been observed by many to have been one spirit or flesh rather for many years past to harden himself against the fear of Death to suppress smother and keep under those workings of Nature and Conscience which ordinarily discover themselves upon the approaches of Death in such persons who have no design to drive by the smothering or suppressing of them nor any collateral help or aid from any such spirit to enable them to the subduing and vanquishing of them 6. Mr. Love it is more then probable was not onely vehemently exhorted encouraged importuned but even solemnly by all the sacred Interests of high Presbytery conjured by his Clergy-companions to die like a valiant and resolute Champion of the Cause and not to bewray the least grudging of any fear or repentance for any thing he had acted upon the service thereof lest it should be said of Presbytery Her glory was stained and betrayed by the cowardice of her first-born Seventhly and lastly when I consider these passages in Mr. Love's Prayer Sect. 30. O blessed Jesus apply thy blood not onely for my Justification unto life but also for the comfort for the quieting of my Soul that so I might be in the joys of Heaven before c. And farther Hear the Prayers of all thy people that have been made for thy servant and though thou hast denied 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 When I say I seriously consider the express import of these passages they raise this apprehension in me and questionless upon the same terms they will raise the same in any other man that Mr. Love's confidence was not at least as yet I mean in the entrance and beginning of his Speech ascended so high in his heart and soul as his tongue reported it unto the people When Saul was dead David prayed no more for deliverance from him And if Christ as Mr. Love himself confesseth denied Prayer concerning his life why might he not deny it as concerning the quieting of his soul and the bearing up of his heart against the fear of Death And if this be granted evident it is that Mr Love did but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 theatrically act the part of a Confident man upon the Scaffold Several other things there are which much dis-satisfie me touching the legitimacy and well-groundedness of Mr Love 's rejoycing and confidence at his death which I shall not at present for brevities sake mention How matters stood between God and his Soul at his giving up of the Ghost is a secret too hard for my soul to enter into I had rather hope as Mr Ash said unto him that he made a Christian end nor do I desire to leave any touch or tincture of a contrary impression in any man My whole intent in what hath been said hitherto is to put that confidence to rebuke which he brought with him to the Scaffold not to prove that he died in unbelief Concerning that vain-glorious and light Conceit That his Death should turn to such an high Account of Honor unto him because John Baptist and Paul glorified God by the same death and because he read of Saints to be beheaded c. I shall speak little to it supposing that it weighs no more then the dust of the Ballance in the Judgement of any considering man Mr Love well knew that it is not poena but causa quae facit Martyrem not the punishment much less the kinde of punishment that makes a Martyr Which makes me a little to marvel with what face he could say as afterwards we shall hear him saying That whatsoever men may judge yet he died a Martyr Iohn Baptist was beheaded not simply for his Conscience or for the discharge of his Conscience but for the discharge of his
terrified others c. that so the blot and shame of a miscarrying tongue may not test upon him Fourthly Because by reason of his swallowing even Camels of untruth so frequently and familiarly as he doth in this Discourse I have ground to be jealous at least lest as the conscience of the Iesuit is moulded into this principle that it is lawful to say or do things otherwise unlawful in ordine ad bonum spirituale so Mr. Love's conscience stood free and large in him to speak and do almost any thing in ordine ad bonum Presbyteriale Fifthly and lastly Because M. Love was rooted to the center of the Earth and built up to the midst of Heaven in such a Principle in Divinity which gives fair quarter to the foulest practices that are in the Saints especially when they certainly know they shall die presently viz. that no perpetration of sin and wickedness whatsoever can separate those from the love of God in Christ who have at any time believed in him ANIMAD upon Sect. 7. I never met with so many senceless and unsavory Contradictions within so small a compass as in this Speech How can Mr. Love say that he will not judge his Judges nor yet justifie them when as in the words immediately following he must of necessity either do the one or the other For if he supposeth the Oath for the sake whereof his Judges as he saith cut off his head to have been justifiable or lawful and they by the tenor and band of this Oath stood bound to do what they did in cutting off his Head then he clearly justifieth them if he supposeth either the said Oath to have been unlawful or their Fact in cutting off his Head to have been besides or contrary to this Oath and that they had no Ingagement upon them otherwise to do it then he judgeth them But the truth is we can upon no better or more favorable account ease Mr. Love in the greatest part of things uttered by him in this Speech then by conceiving that the words spoken by him bear a far differing sence and signification in his understanding from that which they bear in ours For what is it to judge in our sence of the Word then to charge with Injustice Unrighteousness acting contrary to the Word or Laws of God And whither Mr. Love doth not again and again and seven times over in this discourse thus charge his Judges I refer to his Friends themselves to judge and determine Therefore in the ordinary acception of the word Judge when Mr. Love saith he will not judge his Judges he speaks besides the Truth And though here he refuseth to justifie them yet when the Spirit of Ingenuity was upon him as himself once and again professeth it was in the Composure of his Narrative he did fairly and fully justifie them as we have already heard and is further manifest in the Narrative it self Printed herewith By the way of how sad and bleeding a consideration is it that a man whose heart served him to be ingenuous in his life should quench so Christian a Spirit and suffer himself to be hardened at the time of his death Besides did he not fully justifie his Judges in his last Petition to the Parliament in these words He humbly acknowledgeth that he hath so highly violated the Laws of the Common-wealth as that thereby he hath rendred himself guilty of the Sentence of death justly passed on him by the High Court of Justice The words immediately preceding these are of a like import ANIMAD upon Sect. 8. I shall say little upon this Section having already given notice how untruly and unchristianly he calls the Letter here specified an insulting Letter Yet to say that it was written to him for such an end as here he chargeth it with viz. To tell him that after he was dead something should be published against him c. as if this had been either the onely or the principal drift of the Letter is much more dis-ingenuous I presume there is no man that shall please to read this Letter being since printed but will acknowledge the drift and scope of it to have been honorable and Christian and not unworthy the best and dearest Friend M. Love had ANIMAD upon Sect. 9 10 11 12. M. Love here instanceth five Aspersions laid upon him in point of practice As for those of Extortion and Adultery I never so much as heard M. Love and either of them named together I will not say that M. Love prudentially subjecteth himself to such aspersions from which he knows he can sufficiently purge himself But he that lyeth under a suspition of several Crimes and is able fully to assert his innocency in respect of any one or more of them gains an advantage hereby to make the purgation of himself from the rest the more creditable Concerning Murther neither did I ever hear this formally or in the letter of it laid to his charge But that in his Communications with the King of Scots and other persons of his adherency declared Enemies to the State and Government of this Commonwealth he was eminently and transcendently a murtherer hath been sufficiently proved against him upon oath by many witnesses yea his own Confessions in his Narrative and Petitions do not fall much short of such a proof Therefore whereas § 11. he traduceth those who charge him with the guilt of that blood which hath been spilt in the present Wars between the two Nations that they do by him as Nero did by the Christians c. a notion suggested by the same spirit of Revenge unto his fellow Gibbons also he deals by them as Potiphar's wife did by her servant Joseph who being incontinent her self accused him of incontinency to his Lord because he refused to gratifie her lust M. Love Mr. Gibbon and the rest of their Association being desirous that this State and those in present power amongst us should condescend to their impolitique Principles and Humors in admitting the Scotish King to a monarchical Throne over this Nation and herein to own a Scotisb Superintendency over them and the Nation and they refusing to comport with them in such their lusts and desires and attempting by the best and indeed the onely means they had to withstand the said King in his claim to the English Throne together with the Scotish Nation his imperious and proud Abettors in this his Claim upon this Account and this onely Mr. Love and M. Gibbon charge the Blood that hath been spilt in the present Wars between the Nations upon the State and present Powers amongst us Let the world if there be a part of it yet unbewitched and capable of judging give Sentence in case there be blood spilt between a company of Thieves and a like party of harmless Travellers by the way upon occasion of an Assault made by the former upon the latter whether the spilling of this blood be to be charged upon the latter or the