Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	lie_v	speak_v	1,709	5	4.3933	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

Conscience being honest and good and rightly informed Whereas Mr Love suffered a beheading if for the discharge of his Conscience which I think to considering men must needs be very questionable yet was it for the discharge of an erroneous conscience as his Petitioners themselves pleaded by way of extenuation of his Crime yea indeed of a conscience so desperate erroneous and corrupt that the like conscience hath scarce been heard of no not among the Heathen themselves much less among Christians viz. That a man stands bound in stead of being subject to the Powers that are which is the express Commandment of God to destroy or practice the destruction of these Powers So that Mr Love's conscience for which as he saith he suffered being truly interpreted was such a conscience by which he judged himself bound to act in a Diametral opposition to the plain and express revealed Will of God And whether such a conscience as this be a Christian foundation of Martyrdom let Mr Love 's greatest Friends judge Concerning Paul and the Saints spoken of in the Revelation they were beheaded for the Word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Whereas Mr Love as himself acknowledged in his Narrative written with his own hand and delivered unto the Parliament was to suffer beheading in case he should not obtain pardon from them for his sundry and great Offences confessing withal that by what he had done he was an object of their just displeasure and again that by their justice they might in one day leave a Flock without a Shepherd a Wife without an Husband Children without a Father c. Doubtless neither Paul nor the Saints mentioned by M. Love were objects of the just displeasure of those who beheaded them nor were they beheaded for their sundry and great Offences nor yet by the justice of those who punished them with death Therefore M. Love being partaker with Iudas in his sin the cause of his death can reap no honor for having Iohn or Paul or the Saints his companions in the kinde of his death And indeed might he not as well yea and much better all this duly considered have prophesied of shame and dishonor likely to acrue unto him by such a kinde of death which had been frequently inflicted upon Papists Priests and Iesuits for treasonable practices against the State and Supream Rulers thereof as indulge himself with a conceit That his death must needs become a Crown of Honor unto him because Iohn Baptist and the great Apostle Paul died the same kinde of death though as the world knoweth upon far different occasions ANIMAD upon Sect. 2. In this Section Mr. Love busieth himself in washing a Blackamoor hoping by that time he hath done to make him as white as Snow That he suffereth for the Word and Conscience and not for medling in State-matters he proves 1. Because it is an old guise of the Devil to impute the cause of Gods Peoples Sufferings to be Contrivements against the State 2. Because the Rulers of Israel would have put Jeremy to death upon a Civil account whereas the true ground was the truth of his Prophesie and that this made them angry with him 3. Because Paul though he did but preach Christ yet the people would have him dye under a pretence that he a was mover of Sedition 4. And lastly because himself saith That his Life is pretended to be taken away upon a Civil account whereas it is indeed because he pursueth his Covenant will not prostitute his Principles c. Light and darkness have in a maner as much communion between them as the three first of these Arguments with his Cause For is any guise of the Devil whatsoever a Demonstration or proof of Mr. Loves Innocency or that he must needs suffer for the Word and Conscience and not for Statizing out of his Sphaer Who is able to finde out the Quadrature of this Circle Or must Mr. Love needs be innocent of the Crimes charged upon him and proved against him because Ieremy and Paul were innocent from those Imputations which without any proof at all were charged upon them Or must those Magistrates who being persons of known godliness and worth at least a great part of them yea and Mr. Loves real and cordial Friends most of them upon Tryal found Mr. Love guilty and passed Sentence upon him accordingly must these I say of necessity be Corrupt Malicious Enemies to the Truth and Word of God because the Rulers of Israel with whom Ieremy had to do and the people with whom Paul had to do were of no better Principles or Temper Certainly neither Satan nor Ieremy nor Paul nor their Adversaries are any Legal or Rational Compurgators for Mr. Love in his Cause now in Agitation Indeed if he or any Advocate for him could as substantially prove as he confidently asserts that which follows in the fourth place viz. That his life was pretended I suppose he would rather have said intended though neither would be very proper to be taken away because he pursues his Covenant and will not prostitute his Conscience to the ambition and lusts of men this would amount somewhat near to a Proof of his Conclusion But alas for him to affirm such things as these not onely without any sufficient yea or tolerable proof or colour of proof but even against his own Concessions and Confessions in his Narrative specified under the former Section wherein he pretends over and over to Ingenuity proves nothing else but that either he wanteth ingenuity or the knowledge of his own heart or both when he spake § 4. thus God is my record whom I serve in the Spirit I speak the truth I lye not I do not bring a revengeful heart to the Scaffold this day c. I marvel what the man means by a revengeful Heart Rancor bitterness of Spirit Animosity c. Surely he is a Barbarian unto me and speaks a Language which I understand not To charge Ingenuous and Conscientious men with taking away his life because he pursues his Covenant will not prostitute his Principles and Conscience to the ambition and lusts of men with much more of like strain of which afterwards is in my understanding as pregnant as express a Symptome of a revengeful Heart Rancor c. as a person in his condition is lightly capable of Can saith Bildad in Iob the Rush grow without mire Or is it possible that such virulency and viperousness of words as those should proceed from any other Principle but from an heightned spirit of Rancor Bitterness and Revenge But what Article in Mr. Loves Covenant was it for his pursuit whereof his Life was taken from him Is there was there any such Article in this Covenant by which he stood in conscience bound to trinket with the declared and professed Enemies of the State and Nation to attempt the undermining or disturbing of the present Government here by Correspondencies and Communication of Councels with Forreign States

former Nor let any Advocate either for M. Love or M. Gibbon think to justifie them in their imputation of the said blood spilt upon the State or men in present power by pretending that they sent an Army into Scotland and made war upon the said King and Scotish Nation before they attempted any thing against this For evident it was and is circumstances purporting hostility in that Nation against this standing as then they did that the warlike Preparations and Levies at this time on foot and hastened in that Nation sorely threatned and endangered this So that the war since breaking out between the two Nations was not occasioned or properly begun by the English Army sent into Scotland but by those Levies and formidable Preparations for War which the Scotish King and Nation were advancing with an high hand before the said English Army came amongst them Nor is there the least colour or pretext of Reason to think that in case the said Army had not entred the Scotish Territories the War hereby might have been prevented because the Scotish Nation was now big with this bloody birth ready to cry out and to be delivered when the said Army entred All that can reasonably be imputed to the entrance of the English Army into Scottish quarters before their entrance into English is was That Scotland by this means became the Seat of the War which otherwise England must have been It is the opinion and judgement of Civilians generally That men may lawfully make War when they fear lest themselves should be warred upon We ought not saith Albericus Gentilis a learned Civilian in Oxford in Queen Elizabeth's days we ought not to expect present Force it is more safe if we meet with that which is future with much more to this purpose transcribed by M. Prynne in his third Part of the Soveraign Power of Parliaments and Kingdoms cap. 14. where a judicious Reader may receive plenary satisfaction not simply concerning the Lawfulness but also the Necessity of the Parliaments sending an Army into Scotland under such circumstances as then ruled So that it was unworthiness of spleen and revenge both in M. Love and M. Gibbons though they be both great pretenders to meekness and clearness of spirit towards their Adversaries not goodness of Conscience that prompted them upon the Scaffold with this imputation against those whom they call their Adversaries viz. That they are the men upon whose heads the blood spilt between the two Nations resteth And as the high Priest with the chief Priests took it very hainously at the hand of the Apostles that they should charge them with the crucifying of Christ Ye have filled Jerusalem say they with your Doctrine and intend to bring this mans blood upon us So do M. Love and his fellows swell with indignation against those who entitle them to the late blood-shed between the Nations though their title in this kinde be as unquestionable as that of the Priests to the crucifying of Christ It cannot upon any tolerable account of Reason be said That had not the English Army entred Scotland no blood between the Nations had been spilt but it may upon a very lively and pregnant account be said That had not M. Love M. Gibbons with the rest of the Conspiracy tampered the King of Scots into an Agreement with that Nation by solemn promissory engagement of themselves and their Party in England to stand by him upon that condition and by signifying unto him and his Party their disaffections to the present Government this blood had not been shed And this I have credibly heard to be the acknowledged soul-perswasion of one of the greatest and ablest parts amongst the Conspirators The Conclusion here is That both M. Love and M. Gibbon wash their hands from blood with very foul water and which defiles them yet more when they burthen their Adversaries so called by them with that guilt which sticks so fast and close unto themselves and is the fruit not of the Ambition and Lusts of their Adversaries but of their own Whereas in purging himself from the Aspersion of Lying he saith thus I hope you will believe a dying man who dare not look God in the face with a lie in his mouth intimating as if his being ready to die was a bridle in his lips to restrain him from lying the truth is according to that principle of his formerly mentioned that he who ever once truly believed can never by any sin or wickedness whatsoever lose the love and favor of God his being ready to die in conjunction with a perswasion of his Saintship should rather be a temptation upon him to lie or commit any other wickedness then an engagement upon him to refrain lying For in case he were in hope of living still in the world and should practice lying or any other sin he had cause to fear that though God would not cast him out of his saving Love for such practices yet he might and would severely punish him otherwise But when a person of such a principle certainly knows that he shall presently die he hath no ground to fear any punishment at all from God for whatsoever he shall now either say or do because death according to the said principle delivers him for ever out of his hand Nor am I free from all Jealousie but that the Principle I speak of had some malignant inf●uence upon M. Love's spirit in many of those unworthy strains and misdemeanors which proceeded from him at his death Whereas he pleads to that particular indictment of lying insisted upon by himself That what he denied before the High Court of Justice he neither afterwards confessed himself nor was it proved by others against him very possibly in his equivocal sence of the words denying proving and confessing that which he pleads may be true But M. Love had he been ingenuous when he was before a Court of Judicature where the common and known Dialect of the Law useth to be spoken and where critical and captious Formalities of speech are not expected he should have denied onely such things which according to a Law-sense of the words used by him he could truly have denied Upon these terms he could neither have denied that he ever wrote Letter to the King Queen Church or State of Scotland nor yet that he never received any Letter c. Because in the Law-signification of the words writing Letters they are as well said to write Letters who are either advising or consenting to or directing in the writing of them as they who write them with a Pen And I presume That if any man aspersed Mr. Love with the Crime of Lying in this particular by lying they meant equivocating and so used the milder term of the two in their Charge But whereas he presently saith That he came meaning to die upon the Scaffold onely for moving for money for Massey and for being present when Letters were read c. How notorious an

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

Governments is not of so much weight as to counterpoise the lightest Argument in oppositum His affection of hatred equally bent against Court Parasites who would screw up Monarchy into Tyranny and against those who pull it down to bring in Anarchy is praise-worthy Onely I suspect in the latter Clause an evil eye of insinuation against the Parliament as if he desired to infuse this foolish Faith into the people That they pulled down Monarchy not with any intent to set up a better Government in the stead of it but to bring in Anarchy or Confusion Whether he was at any time formerly for putting the King to death or no I cannot positively say if he was not he was an unhappy man to express himself both in words and deeds so like unto a man of such intentions as he did He confesseth his judgement formerly was and still is for the bringing of Malignants who did seduce him and drew him from the Parliament to condign punishment But what if Malignants did not so much seduce him in this kinde as he them who now deserve and this according to the express letter of the Covenant to be brought to condign punishment They that best knew him have often said That himself was the head and not the tayl of those Councels by which he acted against the Parliament I know no alteration in the Cause between what is now and what it was at the time Mr. Love speaks of unless it be in this That the Parliament now both with more Christianity and better Policy causeth the Presbyterian Interest to contain it self in its own proper Channel which before was like the River Jordan in the time of Harvest when he overflows his banks ANIMAD upon Sect. 15. Here M. Love professeth that he dies with his judgement not satisfied to take the Engagement and yet prays God to forgive those who subscribe it What is this being interpreted but to pray to God to forgive those concerning whom he is not satisfied in his judgement whether they sin or no But as Paul having first given this testimony to the Galatians ye did run well then expostulatingly demands of them who hindred you that you should not obey i. e. continue to obey the truth So let me first give this Testimony to M. Love as I have given it already being furnished with it from his own Petitions He did some few days before run well not simply in owning the present Government but also in engaging himself home to it and for it and then expostulate with his friends himself not being in a capacity to answer who hindred him that he should not hold out in so good and commendable a race unto the end He labors in the very fire to purge himself from the Crime as now the Scaffold it seems had made it of his late owning the present Government but the fire he useth is purely elementary and will not purge or burn For if David and Hushai gave the Title of King to Absolom there is little question but in a sense and that intended by them it did of right belong to him Neither the one nor the other of them gave the title of King to him until he was proclaimed King by the men of Israel yea and was possessed of the royal city Jerusalem the Throne So that he was truly and properly King when the Title of King was given by these men unto him though it is true he came to be a King and so to have right to such a Title in a most wicked and treasonable way So that both David and Hushai look'd upon Absolom as a true King though with usurpation when they gave the Title unto him and consequently did nothing contrary to their judgements and consciences herein But M. Love it seems was not perswaded in his judgement or conscience that the Parliament was the Parliament or Supream Authority of the Commonwealth of England when he gave these Titles unto them therefore he sinned against his conscience in so doing So that saying That herein he did not wrong or cross his Principles doth he not plainly imply that his Principles and Conscience thwart and cross the one the other If he had any such Principle which either led him or gave him leave to act or speak against his Conscience it was a Principle of darkness and of death If Calvin judged that the Title Christianissimus did in no sense belong to the French King I know not who can excuse him in giving it unto him And if the Subjects of this Nation did generally give the Title Defender of the Faith unto Henry the eighth knowing no sufficient ground why it should or could with truth be given unto him neither can they be defended or justified in giving it But why doth M. Love insert or insist upon these words In case of Life Doth he suppose that the case he speaks of will alter the case of owning the present Government from sin to righteousness Or is it his Principle That to save his Life he may do any thing whatsoever and yet be blameless But how doth he here toyl and turmoyl himself to salve the honor of his Conscience onely that he might reproach and calumniate the Parliament with the more authority reputation yet he that spent so much of his breath which at such a time when he had so very little of it left should have bin precious to him about vindicating his innocency in owning the present Government though it was it seems as much against his Principles to own it then when he did own it as it is now when he disowns it no change as himself professeth being made in his Principles by the Scaffold hath not a word either here or elsewhere to speak for himself hath not a drop of water to wash off that foul stain and blot from his Conscience which it contracted by casting dirt and mire in the faces of those not onely whom he had a few days before owned in the capacity of their Government and Authority but to whom likewise he had publiquely given a large testimony of Justice Mercy Wisdom Gravity of being the Elect of God c. yea and to whom he had publiquely and solemnly promised and engaged himself neither to plot contrive or design any thing prejudicial to them but to oppose any Design whatsoever against them Doubtless neither David nor Hushai nor Calvin nor any man either of Conscience or Honor would have broken or falsified especially so publiquely and in the face of the Sun such solemn Promises and Engagements made to persons in dignity and to whom they had so immediately before given such large testimony of many worthy Endowments and all this without giving the least accompt of such desultory and fedifragous practices ANIMAD upon Sect. 16. It seems by the Contents of this Section that Mr. Love's Principles stood fair for the Invasion of the English Nation by the Scotish Army but fell foul upon the Invasion of the Scotish

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

truth he could say in the Apostles sence wherein doubtless he would be understood to speak I have kept the Faith I leave to his Great Lord and Master both his and mine to determine ANIMAD upon Sect. 29 30. In these two Sections Mr. Love commends by Prayer both himself and his own Soul as all others whom he judged it meet to pray for unto God In a great part of this Prayer and of the particular Requests made therein I apprehend nothing but what is savory and Christian I trust that these words towards the latter end of this prayer Lord hear pardon all his infirmities wipe away his iniquities by the blood of Christ c. carried in them an implicite Repentance both of that sin against God of those high Crimes and late great miscarriages against the Parliament for which as himself a few days before this Prayer confessed he was justly condemned as likewise of all those most untrue bitter and Unchristian invectives uttered against the Parliament and State in this Speech upon the Scaffold together with all the rest of the sins of his life And when in his last Petition he prayeth to be received by God pure and spotless and blameless before him in love I trust he prayed not to be received by God as any other person then what he really and in truth was and consequently That he was blameless in love If so then was that spirit of spleen and Unchristian bitterness by which he spake so many unseemly things against those who little deserved it at his hand in the foregoing Speech by this time vanished and gone out of him And indeed it was now high time to cast him out because there had been no entrance for Mr. Love into his Fathers house he speaks of in his company When he saith That he had made God his Hope and his Confidence from his youth up I wish that his heart did not deceive him It is not lightly possible that men should labor so in the fire as Mr. Love did to promote or uphold a carnal and worldly Interest who truly make God their Hope and Confidence As in his zeal for God and for the bringing of the souls of men to heaven he was equalized if not exceeded by the Jews in Pauls days and by the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours who compassed Sea and Land to make one Proselyte so was he also in his glorying or boasting in God Foundations not Buildings or Superstructions are the great Oracles in Religion to be consulted about the Spiritual Estates of men After he had gloried this great glorying in God Lord thou hast setled this perswasion in my heart That as soon as ever the blow is given to divide my head from my body I shall be united to my Head in Heaven he prayeth thus O blessed Jesus apply thy blood not onely for my justification unto life but also for my comfort for the quieting of my soul c. And again 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 If the former glorying had succeeded these Petitions and not gone before them the consistence between the one and the other had been of a better and more easie Interpretation When he prayeth for his Covenant-keeping-Brethren in the Kingdom of Scotland he prayeth for a Generation of men that is not Covenant-keepers being several yeers since perished from amongst the Inhabiters of that Nation Covenant-takers are here generally metempsychosed into Covenant-breakers His Petition To make England and Scotland one staff in the Lords hand The Lord I trust will shortly perform That he should pray so particularly for men of a Forraign Nation and for a Brother of remote Blood though of near relation in guilt and not once mention in his Prayer his nearest relations in Nature Wife or Children especially having brought them into an afflicted and sad condition by his Miscarriages was the observation of some sober men present not without offence ANIMAD upon Sect. 31. I have nothing to Animadvert upon this Section but onely that which helps me to hope the better of his present Condition as viz. That I perceive no breathing at all herein of that evil spirit of Wrath and Discontent which had wrought so effectually in him until his Prayer in the two last Sections and the more immediate approaches of Death The departure of this spirit from him before his own is a ground of good hope That this latter shall not be sent thither from whence the former came FINIS