Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	king_n	parliament_n	repeal_v	4,000	5	12.1621	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63921	Two discourses introductory to a disquisition demonstrating the unlawfulness of the marriage of cousin Germans, from law, reason, Scripture, and antiquity by John Turner ...	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1682 (1682)	Wing T3319; ESTC R11417	26,430	68

TWO DISCOURSES INTRODUCTORY TO A DISQUISITION Demonstrating the UNLAWFULNESS OF THE MARRIAGE OF Cousin Germans From Law Reason Scripture and Antiquity By JOHN TVRNER late Fellow of Christs Colledge in Cambridge Opinionum commenta delet dies Naturae judicia confirmat LONDON Printed by H. H. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1682. TO THE READER THE Design of the two following Discourses is express'd in the Title-page and how they contribute to that Design will be best seen by the Discourses themselves I do profess very solemnly whatever Interpretations may be made either of this Introduction or of those Discourses which are immediately to follow it yet I would not upon any Consideration whatsoever have published my Thoughts upon this Subject did I not think my self obliged in Conscience to do it did I not know certainly that what I am about to write aims not at the Embroilment and Disturbance but at the Peace of the World and were I not equally sure that all this may be done upon such Principles as can give no man any reasonable cause of Offence but on the contrary such as with which all Wise and Good Men ought to be extreamly satisfied and pleased Farewel CHAP. I. Of the true Meaning and Intention of the Statute of 32. H. VIII c. 38. I. THE Act of Parliament still in force concerning this Assair which though repealed 1mo 2do Phil. Mar. c. 8. was again restored to its Ancient Power and Authority 1mo Elizabethae c. 1. is 32. II. 8. c. 38. II. In the Preface to that Act there are these words concerning the Inconveniencies of Dispensations to Marry which had been used in former time to be procured of the Pope in case the Parties concerned were allied to one another in any of the Degrees prohibited by the Canon Law Further also by reason of other Prohibitions than Gods Law admitteth for their Lucre by that Court a The Court of Rome invented the Dispensation whereof they always reserved to themselves as in Kindred or Assinity between Cousin Germans and so to fourth and fourth Degree Carnal Knowledge of any of the same Kin or Affinity before in such outward Degrees which else were lawful and be not prohibited by Gods Law and all because they would get Money by it c. III. And our late Reverend and Learned Mr. Hales in his Miscellaneous Discourses hath among other things a Letter to a Friend in Resolution of this Question concerning the Marriage of Cousin Germans in which he determins on the Affirmative side with what reason we shall see in its due place but that for which I now mentioned his Name is that speaking of this Act of Parliament he saith P. 267. Ed. 1673. That amongst the Degrees specified in that Act as lawful if his Memory fail him not Cousin Germans are expresly mentioned IV. And his Memory did not fail him though he made a wrong use of it at this Time for though it be true that Cousin Germans are mentioned in the words above produced by me as Parties lawfully marriageable with one another and no ways prohibited by the Law of God yet it is here to be considered that this is not the Judgment of the Law it self but only of the men that made it who may possibly be deceived as the Articles of our Church oblige us to believe that even a General Council may err notwithstanding they lay claim to those Divine Assistances to which no Parliament ever pretended for these words are not in the very Act properly and strictly so called but only in the Preface to it in which as in all other Acts of Parliament the Reasons why that Act was made are specified and set down but that which in the true strict and legal Propriety is called the Act and does oblige as the Act and Deed of the King and his Two Houses in Parliament Assembled is of necessity to be supposed to begin at these words Be it therefore Enacted by the King c. and that only which follows these words which otherwise would be in vain and of no signification is that which passeth an Obligation upon the Subject V. It is therefore in the next place to be considered what that is which is by this Act of Parliament prohibited after those words Be it Enacted by the King c. and that is expressed in these following words That all and every such Marriages as within this Church of England shall be contracted between lawful Persons as by this Act we declare all Persons to be lawful that be not prohibited by Gods Law to Marry such Marriages being contracted and solemnized in the Face of the Church and consummate with bodily Knowledge c. shall be by Authority of this present Parliament aforesaid deemed judged and taken to be lawful good just and indissoluble and that no Reservation or Prohibition Gods Law only excepted shall trouble or impeach any Marriage without the Levitical Degrees VI. So that if we will submit our selves to the Conduct and Guidance of that Clue which this Act of Parliament hath given us for our Direction the Levitical Degrees that is to say the Degrees prohibited or allowed by the Law of Moses are to be the Measures of Liberty and Restraint and whatsoever Degree the Law of Moses forbids the same is forbidden by the Laws of England and on the contrary whatsoever Degrees are permitted in the Code of Moses the same are likewise allowed and deemed to be lawful good just and indissoluble by this Act of Parliament and by the Civil Laws of this Nation VII Whence it is plain that the true thing to be enquired into for a clear and solid Resolution of this weighty Question concerning the Marriage of Cousin Germans so far as this Act of Parliament is concerned in it is this what are those Degrees which are prohibited by the Law of Moses And if it shall appear upon a just and impartial Survey of the whole matter that the Marriage of Cousin Germans was absolutely forbidden unless in a Case which shall be mentioned in which our Age and Nation is not concerned and in another which neither doth nor can belong to persons in a private Capacity and Station in which Number I include all but Sovereign Princes or such as have a nigh Relation to the Crown then it follows unavoidably that in all ordinary Cases such Marriages are prohibited by this Act of Parliament VIII Neither will it be sufficient in this Case to say That the King and his Parliament did not intend by this Act to prohibit the Marriage of Cousin Germans but on the contrary their Intention was certainly to make it lawful which I do readily grant yet here I speak it with all Submission to the Judgment of my betters there are two several Intentions to be considered a Paricular and a General by a particular Intention as appears by the Preface to the Act it was designed to make it

lawful for Cousin Germans to Marry but the general intention consisted in these two things first they designed to remove all the obstructions of the Canon Law and to make all those Marriages to be good and Lawful which had no other barr but that of Gregory or Gratian and the Practice of those Courts under the See of Rome to which the Cognizance of Marriages whether Lawful or Unlawful appertained The second general intention besides the shaking off the Yoak and preventing the frauds and abuses of the Bishop of Rome and such as were commissioned by him was instead of the Canon Law which made a trade of Incest and would sell the most grievous sins for a Sum of Money by adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all their prohibitions nisi aliter Ecclesia dispenset to substitute another measure in its stead which measure was to be the Law of Moses and therefore whatsoever degrees were forbidden in the Levitical Law or in the unquestionable Practice of the Church of God among the Jews were likewise prohibited forbidden and made unlawful by this their second general intention which being the declared Measure of all particular instances it is manifest they did intend to bind up and restrain Cousin Germans from Marrying one another if it should appear at any time hereafter though it did not then that all such Marriages were Levitically unlawful IX But though this Act of Parliament should in express words have given a Licence for Cousin Germans to Marry which it is very clear it hath not done yet upon supposition that it was prohibited by the Law of God or of Nature which is no less the voice of God then that of Revelation it would still have remained unlawful for any Christian Man or Woman to accept of this liberty which the Parliament had given because in all these cases where the divine Prohibitions interfere with the liberties granted by human Laws we are to obey God rather then men and this may be lay'd down as a maxim of undoubted and universal truth that human Laws may if they please straiten the restraints but they cannot enlarge the liberties of mankind beyond what the Laws of God or Nature do allow which besides that the thing is very plain in it self and if it were otherwise there could be no stable and unalterable Nature of things but the Nature of vertue and vice might be inverted by the variable humours of different times or men I say besides this this is no more than what our English Parliaments have themselves acknowledg'd for so speaks that August and Venerable Assembly concerning incestuous and detestable conjunctions which were used to be dispensed with by the Authority of the See of Rome 25. H. 8. c. 22. Which Marriages albeit they be plainly prohibited and detested by the Laws of God yet nevertheless at sometimes they have proceeded under Colours of dispensations by mans Power which is but usurped and of right ought not to be granted admitted ne allowed for no man of what estate degree or condition soever he be hath power to dispence with Gods Laws as all the Clergy of this Realm and the most part of all the famous Universities of Christendom and we also do affirm and think Which very words are again repeated upon another occasion 28. H. 8. c. 7. And the Universities that did concur in opinion with the Parliament and Church of England besides our own the two most Learned and Judicious in the Christian World were the Universities of Bononia Padua Paris Orleance Tolouse Angiew and divers others To which were likewise added the private writings of many right excellent and well Learned men As it is in the said former Act in these very words expressed and declared and it is likewise further to be considered that this very Act of 32 H. 8. c. 38. was designed only to abolish disannul and repeal the Canon Law and to make all those Marriages and conjunctions Lawful which had no other barr than the canonical Prohibitions founded upon the sole Authority of the Pope without the express warranty of the Scripture it self but if there be any degrees that were Unlawful upon another account whether it be of Nature or of revelation it is the declared intention of this Act of Parliament not to disanul these Prohibitions but to confirm them X. Which things being laid down and premised beforehand for the greater clearness of proceeding in this affair and it being made thus plain both what the Law of England determins in the case and how far human Laws may be of force or may be complyed with in matters of this Nature the next thing to be enquired into is what the Laws of God in the inspired Writings either of the Old Testament or the New have determined or how the light of reason which if appealed to without prejudice or passion is the impartial Oracle of Truth and Justice will decide this great question which hath exercised the Wits and Pens of so many Learned men concerning the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of the Marriage of Cousin Germans and that the arguments which I shall produce from the revealed Law of God may have the greater force I shall endeavour to shew that Nature and Revelation are consistent to each other and as I shall undeniably prove that the Marriage of Cousin Germans was Prohibited the Jews and by consequence as I shall make it appear is in a more especial manner Unlawful to all Christian People so that we may see that the reason of these Laws and consequently their obligation is eternal I will make my entrance upon the decision of this controversie by enquiring how far the Laws of Nature are concerned in it CHAP. II. Of the Laws of Nature and the reasons of their Obligation in the general I. BY the Laws of Nature are meant those standing rules of Life and Practice among men which are of Natural Unalterable and Eternal Obligation or they are such Laws and Rules of life as to the breach of which there is a natural punishment annexed For to say a thing is essentially good or evil to call it by hard names and to affirm that it hath a natural turpitude or to pass a Complement upon it and call it a moral Rectitude and such like fine Scholastick terms invented by men at leisure to pelt at one another for their own diversion that they may admire each other and be proud of themselves without any real benefit or advantage to the World without assigning a particular reason of interest why we should do the one or avoid the other is as much as to say a thing is good for nothing or it is bad but we know not why or it is good or bad for a Womans Reason because it is and this Reason will serve as well to prove that Murder or Adultery are good things as that they are bad ones and such as against which no Laws can be too strict nor any Punishment too exemplary or too