120 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. ministry ofany of his servants." When God visited the town and castle with the plague, and many were cut off, he still continued in the, place ; and, not afraid of the ravages of death, he visited the abodes of the afflicted and dying where- ever he heard of them. To promote their comfort and sal- vation, he exposed himself to infection and death;. and through this period of extreme danger the Lord protected him from both. Though many fell on the right hand and on the left, his life was precious in the sight of the Lord. Having made the " Lord his refuge, and the Most High his habitation," he was not " afraid of the pestilence that walked in darkness, nor of the destruction that wasted at noon-day." Upon the establishment of the presbyterian government, he was ordained according to their method, in Aldermanbnry church, January 23, 1644, by Mr. Horton, Mr. Bellers, and Mr. Roberts ; which was done by fasting and prayer and laying on of hands. In his examination, being asked whether he thought he could suffer for those truths of Christ, of which he had then made a profession, if he should be called so to do, he thus answered : -" I tremble to think what I should do in such a case, especially when I consider how many have boasted what they could suffer for Christ; and yet when they have come to it, they have denied Christ and his truths, rather than suffered for them. Therefore, I dare not boast what I shall do; but if this power be given me of God, then I shall not only be willing to be bound, but to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus." On this occasion, he received excellent commendations of his gifts and graces, particularly fromMr. Ley, by whom he was examined.. In the year 1645, Mr. Love being called to preach before the commissionersat the treaty of Uxbridge, he addressed his au- dience, saying, " That they were not to expect any good from the treaty; for they (meaning the king's commissioners) came from Oxford with hearts full of blood, and there was as great a distance between the treaty and peace, as between heaven and hell. He inveighed," says the noble historian, " so sedi- tiously against all who followed the king, and against the persons of the commissioners, that he could be understood to intend nothing else but to stir up the people to mutiny ; and therein to do some act of violence to the commissioners."t Another writer says, " That instead of friendship, he vomited out nothing but threateningand vilifying contradictions to the. Moane's MSS. No. 8945. + Clarendon's Hist. vol. ii, p. 445, 446.
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