LOVE, CHRISTOPHER: Presbyterian, b. at
Cardiff, in Glamorganshire, 1618; educated at New
Inn Hall, Oxfort, 1635. After taking the master's
degree he was obliged to leave Oxford for refusing
to subscribe Archbishop Laud's canons. He went
to London, and became domestic chaplain to the
sheriff, and took a bold stand against the errors of
the Book of Common Prayer and the religious
tyranny of the times. He was cast into prison on
account of an aggressive sermon at Newcastle, and
in various ways persecuted in London. At the
outbreak of the Civil War he was made preacher to
the garrison of Windsor Castle, where he gave great
offense to the prelatical party by his pointed
utterances. He was one of the first to receive
presbyterial ordination under the new organization in
Jan. 23, 1644, at Aldermanbury; London; and
became pastor of St. Laurence Jewry in London,
where he was highly esteemed for the eloquence
and vigor of his preaching. He was a strong
Presbyterian, the leader of the younger men of that
party. In this way he became involved in a
treasonable correspondence with the Presbyterians of
Scotland to restore Charles II.; and, with many
others, was arrested May 7, 1651, and chosen to
make an example of, to check the Presbyterian
agitation against Cromwell and in favor of Charles II.
He was condemned and beheaded on Tower Hill,
Aug. 22, 1651. This excited the indignation and
wrath of the entire Presbyterian party, which had
petitioned, by ministerial bodies and parishes, in
vain for his pardon. He went to his death as their
hero and martyr. His funeral sermon was preached
by Thomas Manton to an immense sympathizing
audience. His sermons were published, after his
death, under the auspices of the leading
Presbyterians of London. The most important of his
works are:
Grace, the Truth and Growth, and
different Degrees thereof (226 pp., London, 1652);
Heaven's
Glory, Hell's Terror (350 pp., 1653);
Combate between
the Flesh and the Spirit (292 pp., 1654);
Treatise of
Effectual Calling (218 pp.,1658);
The Natural Man's
Case Stated (8vo, 280 pp., 1658);
Select Works (8vo,
Glasgow, 1806-07, 2 vols.).
C. A. Briggs.
Bibliography:
D. Neal, Hist. of the Puritans, ed. J.
Toulmin, 5 vols., Bath, 1793-97; W. Wilson, Hist. and
Antiquities of the Dissenting
Churches in London, i. 332, iii.
330, 4 vols., London, 1808-14; Memoirs of the Life of
Ambrose Barnes, ed. W. H. D. Longstaffe for the Surtees
Society, no. 50, Durham, 1887; W. A. Shaw, Hist. of the
English Church . . . 1640-1680,ii. 149, 321, 404, London,
1900; DNB, xxxiv. 155-157.
