&c. as if whatsoever mischief he did could not make him a
Delinquent, or Traitor: Nor was it Law, only, but those
antiquated Cheats of Clergy too made it pass for good
Divinity, so that the Commonwealth of England; for almost
600. years, hath lain pinion'd like a Captive, with that
twofold Cord of Law and Gospel which the corrupt Professors
have made use of after their own Inventions.
Yet; notwithstanding that this glorious Idol of Royalty was
elevated to such a hight over the Liberties of the Parliament
and set upon the very pinacle of the Temple, wee have lived
so see a noble generation of English hearts, that have fetch't
it down with a vengeance, and cured the land of that Idolatry,
by one of the most heroick and exemplary Acts of Justice,
that ever was done under the sun. As the consequence
then of this famous Action, it should be concluded in every
man's breast; that if Kingly Traitors cannot [unr]scape, surely
it is in vain for any of inferior rank to hope to sit secure from
the reach of Justice; But yet it is strange to consider, that
as many men let out Superstition of one kind, so they often
admitt a Twang of another; and now (it seems) divers, who
made no Bones of a Kingly Traitor, are loth that Justice
should be done upon a Priestly; and the only reason hitherto
observable in the discours of many pious People is,
that they look upon such a man as one that hath bin a very
godly and painfull Preacher. What is this, but to proclaim
Impunity to all of the Ministry, though never so guilty of
Treason and Impiety against their Country? men are not to
be consider'd, in this case, what they have been, but what
they are; a man's generall cours of piety must not exempt him
from the penalty amexed to the Breach of any particular
Law; for, so murther, and Treason, which is a Complex of
all Murthers, might pass unpunished, for the sakes of particular
Persons; which were to pervert Justice, and lose the
end of Government, since one man may with as much reason
expect and claim Exemption, as another, and so in infinitum.
So those People that took upon M. Love, ought not
to consider what he hath been, but what he is; they must not