Christopher Love

1618-1651. Presbyterian divine. Born in Wales and influenced in a Puritan direction by William Erbury, the Independent, he became a “poor scholar” at New Inn Hall, Oxford, graduating in 1639. Disapproving of Laudianism and prelacy, he would not accept episcopal ordination and so sought it from a Scottish presbytery, but without success. On his return he was imprisoned at Newcastle-on-Tyne for his extreme criticisms of the Book of Common Prayer. After his release he became a chaplain in the regiment of Colonel Venn within the army of Parliament in the Civil War. Eventually in 1645 he was ordained by a London presbytery in Aldermanbury Church. A zealous Presbyterian, he had little patience with the Independents and was accused in 1651 of plotting against the Commonwealth-the plot being commonly known as “Love's Plot.” One charge against him was that he had corresponded with the young Charles Stuart and his mother, Henrietta Maria. He was condemned to death and executed on Tower Hill. In his lifetime he published several books, but his executors published many more after his death.