Nature and this Realm Cons Rot. Parl. 1. E. 4. Rot. Parl. 1. R. 3. 1 Jac. c. 1. if we may give Credit to the Declarations of so many Parliaments of different Humours and Tempers So that it will prove no very hard Matter to make good what I undertook in the Third place to wit That an Act to Exclude his R.H. would be utterly Unlawful and ipsofacto void because contrary to all Laws Divine Natural and Humane and so it ought to be adjudged when ever it comes to the Question before the Reverend Judges For the Laws of God Nature are the Rays and Emanations of the Divinity they are Undeniable Eternal and Immutable and therefore cannot be Altered or Impeached by any Humane Power or Authority but only by the God of Nature it self who did Originally ordain them and so many and plentiful are the Instances of Statutes expounded void because contrary to the Law of Nature that it would be loss of time to take notice of or enumerate any of them no doubt upon this ground it is that those two great and learned Dectors of the Law Jason and Angelus do positively aver that tho the Eldest Son of a King be either a Fool or a Madman either of which qualifications are as pernicious to the Government every whit as being a Papist yet can he not be excluded from Succession And I doubt not it may be made evidently appear that Succession of the Crown to the next Heir of the Blood Royal is so Fundamental and Primary a Constitution of this Realm so antient and received a Custome that against it There never hath been nor ought to be any dispute as †His Argument of the Case of the Postnati pag. 36. the Lord Chancellor Egerton will inform us and if we look into our Antient Records we shall find more than one Parliament declaring that Jura Sanguinis nullo Jure civili dirimi possunt And it is held by several great Lawyers that a Prerogative in Point of Government cannot be restrained or bound by Act of Parliament And surely then much less can such an Act he of any force in so high a case as this of Succession for certainly if this were once allowed the Government would cease to be Hereditary and degenerate into an Elective One And 't is not to be question'd but such a Power as enables the Parliament to break off one link may give them a sufficient Authority to shatter in pieces the whole sacred Chain and totally exclude the present Line and together with that Monarchy which I pray God may not be the bottom of too many Men's designs let them gild over their proceedings with never so specious and popular Pretences and no doubt out of a provident Foresight of the Calamity and dismal consequence of such designes it was that the Lords and Commons did declare That they could not assent in Parliament to any thing that tended to the Disinherison of the King Rot. Parl. 42. E. 3. Num. 7. and the Crown which this Bill of Exclusion evidently does whereunto they were sworn no tho the King himself should desire it But what comes more home to the point is the answer of Richard Duke of York to the Kings Friends who urged an Act of Parliament against him who told them That such an Act was to take no place Rot. Parl. 39. H. 6. Numb 10 c. nor was of any force or effect against Him the Right Inheritor of the Crown as it accorded with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Answer of the Duke's is by express Act of Parliament then assembled recognized and acknowledged to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient so that in effect we have an ingenuous and full Declaration as can be that the Right of Succession is absolutely unimpeachable by any Humane Power and that the Kings of England in possession their Heirs and Successors in reversion have an indefeasible right to the Crown which they cannot be deprived of by any Authority less than that which invested them therewith Besides 't is a Maxim of our Law That as the King never Dyes which is meant of that Political Capacity which in that very Moment one King Expires is Superadded to the Body Natural of the Next Heir whereby he immediately becomes King And this Political Capacity being of that Sublimity that it is no wayes subject to any Human Imbecilities of Infamy Crime or the like it draweth all Imperfections and Incapacities whatsoever from that Natural Body where with it is Consolidate as it were Consubstantiate so the Crown once gain'd takes away all Defects removes all manner of Bars and Lets laid in the way to the Succession For 't is impossible to hinder the Descent to the Next Heir because that being removed beyond the Reach of a Mortal Arm must go exactly in that Course prescribed by God and Nature and being joyn'd to and indivisible in one Royal Person thereby this later Capacity being added to the former purgeth eo instante all Obstructions of what Nature soever And tho his Natural Body before this Union was subject to the Lash of the Law yet upon the Conjunction of this Political and Immortal Capacity with it they grow inseparable And consequently by reason of those Divine Perfections inherently and indubitably annexed to that Coalition the Prince what ever Crimes he might have formerly been guilty of is now placed above Humane Justice and answerable solely to God Almighty to whom and none other he owes Subjection And thus it has been expresly resolved by all the Judges of England in the Case of Two Princes who were as much Disabled as an Act of Parliament could â—o it The First was when Henry the Sixth by the Assistance of the Great Earl of Warwick re-assumed the Crown for Edward the Fourth had pass'd an Act to disable him from all Regiment and attaint him of High Treason But notwithstanding all this the Judges were of Opinion That in the same Moment that Henry Re-assumed the Crown the said Parliamentary Incapacities were to all Intents discharged and avoided not because as our Pamphletier pag. 17. would have us believe Edward was not Lawful King For if either Right of Blood or an Act of Parliament could give him a Just Title there 's no doubt to be made but he had One But for this very Reason That the Crown once gain'd taketh away all Defects The next Instance is of Henry the Seventh who being once possessed of the Throne the Reversal of his Parliamentary Attainder was unanimously agreed by the Judges to be unnecessary for That the Crown takes away all Defects in Blood and Incapacities by Parliament And that from the Time the King did assume the Crown 1 H. 7.4 Fitz. Parl. pl. 2. Plowdens Com. 238. Co. 1. In. stit 16. a. the Fountain was cleared and all the said Attainders and Corruptions of Blood and other Impediments absolutely discharged And this being constantly received for
speak not Reason For what Power hath the State to elect while any that is living hath Right to succeed But such a Successor is not the Duke of Lancaster as descended from * So call'd from a Cross he used to wear upon his Back Edmund Crouchback the Elder Son of King Henry the Third tho' put by the Crown for Deformity of his Body For who knows not the Falseness of this Allegation Seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the Elder Brother nor yet Crook-back'd but of a goodly Personage and without any Deformity And your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done who it vvas that in the Fourth year of King Richard vvas declared by Parliament to be Heir to the Crovvn in case King Richard should die without Issue But why then is not that Claim made because Silent Leges inter Arma what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But however it is extreme injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence And now my Lords I have spoken thus at this time that you may consider of it before it be too late for as yet it is in your Power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Thus spoke that Loyal and Good Prelate but to little purpose though there was neither Protestation nor Exception made against this Speech which certainly there would have been had there not been as much Truth as Boldness in vvhat he said And tho' Henry the Fourth did afterwards get the Inheritance of the Crown and Realm of England setled upon himself for Life and the Remainder entailed upon his four Sons by Name and the Issue of their Bodies yet that cannot at all make for my Adversaries purpose since it amounted to no more than a Confirmation of him in the Throne or if it did vve may vvell suppose that a Prince that vvas conscious to himself hovv unjustly he had gain'd his Crown would not be very unwilling to take such a way tho' in derogation to his Prerogative to secure himself if possible tho' not out of an Opinion that they could give him a better Right than they had but because 't is natural to suppose they would upon any occasion be ready to defend what they so solemnly had enacted Come we next to Henry the Fifth who this Gentleman says was Elected But how notoriously false that Assertion of his is will appear from hence that first there was no Parliament called till after his Coronation and in the next place that if the Act of Parliament made in the Seventh Year of Henry the Fourth had so great a Force and Vertue as he says it had it was needless nor can he prove any such thing from that careless and negligent Historian Polydore For Concilium Principum with him does not always signifie a Parliament as any one that has read him which I dare say he never did will perceive nor does his Phrase creare Regem import any more than the King's Coronation besides 't is most untrue which he affirms that Allegiance was never sworn before his Time till after a King was Crowned For the contrary appears from King John and Edward the First Nay 't is undeniably true that the Kings of England have exercised all manner of Royal Jurisdiction precedent to all Ceremony or any Formality whatsoever and that the Death of one King has in that very Moment given Livery and Seisin of the Royalty to the next Heir and by vertue of that Richard the First as a Mark of his Sovereignty immediately on his Father's Death restor'd the Earl of Leicester to his whole Estate Henry the Fifth being dead he was without any Opposition admitted to the Throne although but an Infant but in the Thirty Ninth Year of this King in open Parliament Richard Duke of York the true and rightful Heir to the Crown of England and France made his Challenge and Demand of it as being next Heir to Lionell Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John of Gaunt from whom descended the House of Lancaster but to this Claim of his it was answered by the King's Friends That the same Crowns were by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Henry the Fourth and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Henry the Sixth did lineally descend * Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 10. c. The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title made to any Person To which the Duke of York answerably replies That if King Henry the Fourth might have obtained and enjoyed the said Crowns of England and France by title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which taketh no place nor is of any Force or Effect mind that against him that is Right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expresly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient and 't is agreed that Henry shall hold the Crown during his Life and the Duke of York in the mean time to be reputed and proclaimed Heir Apparent So that we have here as much as can be desired a Parliament not only declaring that a Title to the Crown ought to derive it self only from the Laws of God and Nature and not from any Civil Sanction and acknowledging in at the Bargain that it is beyond the Reach of any Humane Legislative Power to debar and exclude any one that justly claims by such a Right But to â— proceed upon Edward the Fourth's coming to the Crown a Parliament conven'd in the first year of his Reign does acknowledge and recognize his Title in these words as the * Rot. Parl. 1 Ed. 4. n. 8. c. Record has it Knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity that by Gods Law and Law of Nature He h. e. Edward the Fourth and none other is and ought to be true right-wise and natural Liege and Sovereign Lord. And that he was in Right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the same Realm of England So here again we have another Parliament of the same mind with the last and I doubt not but we shall meet with more of 'em e're we have done When King Edward the Fourth was droven out of his Kingdom by Henry the Sixth 't is true the Crown was again entail'd if it may be properly so call'd upon him and his Heirs c. but still the proceeding was grounded upon the same Bottom with the former Here our Pamphleteer is pleased to make this drowsie Observation that both the Families of York and Lancaster claim'd a Title by Act of Parliament 't is true the latter did because they
praedicta contenta concedit ac ea pro vero indubio pronunciat decernit declarat So here we have as much as can be desired a Parliament that had assumed a very extravagant Power yet declaring that the Kings of England do derive their Titles from God and Nature only and that this was consonant to the known Custom and Ancient Practice of the Realm But the innocent Blood of this barbarous and cruel Tyrant's Nephews whom he had caus'd inhumanely to be murder'd crying to Heaven for Vengeance God raised up one to deprive him at once both of his Grown and Life I mean Henry Duke of Richmond of whom the judicious * 7 Book in fine Comines says Qu' il n' avoit Croix ne Pile ne nul Droit come Ico croy al a Corone d' Angleterre Come we now to the Consideration of the Methods he used to establish himself in his new-gotten Kingdom after the Death of †Bacon's Hist of H. 7. f. 4. Edit London 1622. Richard and we shall learn that from the best of our Historians in his Life of that wise Prince who tell us that the King after his Victory at Bosworth Field being come to London was very much distracted in his Choice of a Title to the Crown as whether he should claim it by Right of Conquest but that he judged a very dangerous and unsatisfactory way or in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Heiress to the House of York whom he had promised and intended to marry But as to this he considered that he should be a King only by Courtesie and Tho' he should obtain by Parliament says my Lord Bacon to be continued for otherwise he must upon his Queen's Death have resign'd yet he knew there was a very great difference between a King that holdeth his Crown by a Civil Act of the Estates and one mind that that holdeth it Originally by the Law of Nature and Descent of Blood So far he Therefore upon those Considerations he resolv'd to rest upon the Title and Right of the House of Lancaster as the Main as that which would prove his surest Card For tho' he could not be ignorant that upon several Accounts that Title could not stand the Test of a severe and legal Tryal yet he knew very well that it was not only very foolish to dispute such things with a man that had thirty Legions at his Beck but that there could be no occasion for it during the Life of his Queen who was true Heir to the Kingdom and after her Death he might hope the Sence of Filial Duty would deter her Children from any Attempt to disturb him yet however his opportune Death vvas look'd upon by many as his greatest Happiness vvhereby he vvas vvithdravvn from any future Blovv of Fortune which certainly in regard of the great hatred of his People and the Title of his Son being then come to Eighteen years of Age and being a bold Prince and liberal and that gain'd upon the People by his very Aspect and Presence had not been impossible to have come upon him as the Judicious Bacon * Hist of H. 7. f. 231. words it With this Resolution he was Crown'd and having call'd a Parliament you see he did think an Act of theirs necessary to make him King tho' he thought it convenient to confirm him where an Act was pass'd for settling the Crown upon him †Hist of H. 7. f. 11. which he did not press to have pen'd by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoid to have it by new Law or Ordinance but chose rather a kind of middle way by way of Establishment and that under covert and indifferent words That the Inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. which words might equally be applied that the Crown should continue to him but whether as having former Right to it which was doubtful or having then in Fact or Possession which no man denied was left fair to Interpretation either way And this Statute he procured to be confirm'd by the Pope's Bull the year following which is a plain Proof he relied not so much upon the Power of a Parliament as this Gentleman would persuade us nor can there be drawn from this proceeding of King Henry's any thing that makes more for the Authority of a Parliament in these matters than for the Popes which I am sure no Sober man but must allow to be none at all Besides this Prudent King was so conscious of the Weakness of his own Title notwithstanding this Act of Parliament that in the Troubles that happen'd very often in his Reign to prevent the Peoples prying and enquiry into the Justness of it he got an an Act to pass ‖ Lord Bacon's History of H. 7. f. 144. in the Eleventh year of his Reign that no man that assisted him in Wars should afterwards be deem'd or taken for a Traytor nor should be impeach'd therefore or attainted either by the Course of the Law or by Act of Parliament and truly it was agreable to good Conscience that whatsoever the Fortune of the War were the Subject should not suffer for his Obedience His Argument drawn from the Oath of Allegiance and other Publick Test and Securities after what I have said already will appear so ill considered a pretence that I should but lose time in standing to confute it I shall then proceed to Henry the 8th his Son and Successor and see if any thing can be gathered from thence that may make for our Pamphleteer's purpose And I doubt not but it will appear that whatever was done in that Great Prince's Reign was rather the Effect of his extravagant Capricious Lust or Revenge than founded upon the true Maxims of Justice Equity or Lawful Authority For Sir W. R. in his Preface to the History of the World can tell us that his violent Hatred to the Elder House of Scotland was the cause of most of those Acts using says he his sharpest Weapons to cut off and hew down those Branches which sprang from the same Root that himself did but yet that Blood which the same King affirm'd that the Cold Air of Scotland had frozen up in the North God hath diffus'd by the Sun-shine of his Grace from whence His Majesty now living and whom God grant long to live is descended And as for the rest they were consented to or rather to speak Truth forced from the Parliament by the King for he used to make them do what he had a mind to to satisfie some wild Humor of his though to the prejudice of his Prerogative For the legality and unlawfulness of his second Marriage depending upon the validity or weakness of the Popes Dispensation which by the generality of the World was then thought unexceptionable it is no wonder if Henry the Eighth contrary to the natural greatness of his Soul call'd to his Assistance his Parliament with
which his ipse dixi was a Law to cut that Gordian Knot asunder which he was not able to unty But it is time now to examine the palpable contradictions of those several mad and extravagant Acts that he made and first in the * Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 22. 25th year of his Reign after he was Divorced from Queen Katherine and had married Queen Anne The Parliament having in the Preamble to the following Act declared what great miseries and how many troubles had befallen this Realm by reason of the ambiguity of the several Titles to the Crown do think themselves bound in duty by a Declaration of the true Heir to avoid the causes of such Distractions for the future It is therefore Enacted and Ordained That the Kings Marriage with the late Queen Katherine is void as directly contrary to the Laws of God and therefore not dispensable with by the Pope or any Humane Power whatsoever They therefore bastardize Mary and declare the Marriage between his Majesty and Queen Anne to be just and lawful and that the Children of their two Bodies begotten shall be and are legitimate and then in default of Issue Male entail the Crown upon the Lady Elizabeth c. and every one by the Sanctimony of an Oath is bound to the observation and performance of this And the next Parliament does Enact a particular Oath for that purpose whereby every one is bound to bear Faith Truth and Obedience only to the King's Majesty and to his Heirs of his Body of his most Dear and entirely beloved lawful Wife Queen Anne begotten or to be begotten But mark what follows a few years after 't is Enacted St. 28. H. 8. c. 7. That the people shall forswear themselves the late Marriage is declared unlawful null and void the Lady Elizabeth is Bastardized as the Lady Mary was in the former Parliament and the King's Marriage with Queen Jane is acknowledged consonant to the Law of God the Crown entailed upon their Issue and for failure of them the King is impowred to dispose of the Crown to whom he please by his Letters Patents or his last Will and the whole Nation was obliged by the Sanctimony of an Oath to the observation of this Law So that you have at once not only Swearing backward and forward but the Crown made Elective if Act of Parliament can make it so which had always hitherto been Hereditary which so many unbiassed Parliaments had declared was due to the next Heir by Inherent Birth-right and by the Laws of God and Nature a Title sure unimpeachable by any Civil Power and all this in open defiance of all Equity Justice and Common Reason on purpose to dis-inherit the House of Scotland which as much as Humane Power could do it was by this Act done and to advance his Bastard Son Henry Fitz-Roy whom he most entirely loved to the Throne But not yet content to put a period to his extravagancy in the 35th year of his Reign he caus'd it to be Enacted That after his Death and the Death of Prince Edward without Issue the Crown should be to the Lady Mary and the Heirs of her Body but subject to such Conditions as the King should limit by his Letters Patents or by his last Will and if the Lady Mary performed not those Conditions that then the Crown should go to the Lady Elizabeth and if the Lady Elizabeth neglected to perform such Conditions then it should go to such other person as the King should appoint And he was again impowred by his Letters Patents or last Will to grant the Remainder or Reversion of the Crown to what person he should appoint and the whole Nation is again bound to the observation thereof By an Oath But surely no man will argue from these contradictory and wild Acts that the King and Parliament have any power to limit and alter the Succession since if we believe those Parliaments I have before mentioned 39 H. 6. 1 E. 4.1 R. 3. we shall find that to be removed beyond the reach of any mortal Arm and reserved to the only disposal of Him by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice And certainly we have as much reason to believe them as can be rationally expected since 't is very natural for those that assume so much power to themselves as they did to screw it up when their hands are in to the highest pin for 't is not likely that they if they could have found the least shadow of Evidence to the contrary would out of a Complement to God Almighty have thrown back that Power into his hands which he had once pleased to bestow upon and invest in them Nor need we at all wonder to find a Prince of King Henry's Spirit and Native greatness of mind fall so beneath his usual Majesty in such things since perhaps no Prince can be met withall in whom there concenter'd a greater number of odd and anomalous Circumstances which did incline him to crave in Aid of his Parliament for he being one that would sacrifice every thing to his Humour Lust or Revenge he was forced to take this course to remove all the Letts that stood in his way as far as Humane Power could carry them Therefore I am persuaded these Acts of Parliament ought no more to be urged as Precedents for us to guide our selves by than his Arbitrary and Illegal Methods of bringing those that had the misfortune to fall into his hatred to the Block without being once heard or suffer'd to make their defence And as these are not permitted to be drawn into practice tho' done by the Legislative Power as well as the other because of their manifest injustice and illegality I cannot for my Life see why the other should 't is a Riddle beyond my skill to unfold I shall pass by some of this Gentleman's Paragraphs as not worh insisting upon and come to his Proofs drawn from Queen Elizabeth's Reign and indeed 't is in an Act made the 13th of that Princess that the whole Party place their main strength but I hope I shall be able to make it appear if every Circumstance be duly considered that induced that Glorious Queen to do some things that tended highly to the manifest derogation of her Prerogative which at other times she was so tender of that nothing can be gather'd from thence which will really do any service to my Adversaries Opinion For if as all Casuists hold those Oaths and Promises which are extorted by fear or force are not Obligatory I cannot tell why those things which by meer necessity upon those very accounts she was compell'd to as well for the preservation of her Body Natural as Politick should be denied the priviledge of being dissolved upon that very score that other things of the same Nature are And that they were no other things than what I have before mentioned that caused this Great Queen to fall beneath her self and court her people
clearing of this great and so much agitated Point I shall endeavour to prove First That not only all Government but particularly Monarchy does owe its immediat Foundation and Constitution to God Almighty Secondly That by the Law of God Nature and Nations the Crown ought to descend according to Priority of Birth and Proximity of Blood Thirdly That if an Act of Parliament were obtained to exclude his R. H. would be unjust unlawful and ipso facto void as contrary both to the Law of God and Nature and the known Fundamental Laws of the Land And in the course of my Reasoning I shall not forget any thing this Gentleman has said against any of these things in the Argumentative part of his Discourse I am sensible it will make a great many Smile to see me undertake to prove so many in their own Opinion irrational Tenets And I doubt not but some too will be displeased to find me endeavouring to strike at the Root of their darling Notions they know very well should this be admitted they could find no pretence to adhere to their Republican Principles and not become the scandal and aversion of all Good and Honest Men but 't is not their frowns or their railing will trouble me for 't is not that I measure Truth by but Reason and by that I am content the Cause I have espoused should stand or fall I would not be misunderstood as if I had the Vanity to think it would receive any Advantage by my Management of it but I am so confident of the over-ballance of Reason and Truth I have on my side that I doubt not but it will even make it self appear notwithstanding my want of Parts which no man is more conscious of than my self and Ability to set it out to the best advantage In order then to the first Point it will not be amiss to examine what Reason can be shown to induce a man that has lay'd aside Prejudice and Partiality to embrace that so commonly received Opinion of a Natural Freedom and Equality for my own part I take it to be a Proposition not altogether so clear and self-evident but that it requires a little better Proof than I ever yet saw offer'd for it I am not at all concerned for those many Sentences the Assertors of this Doctrine are able to pelt me withall from Poets Orators Historians and God knows who for I answer with Lactantius they ought not to be so understood as if there were in those early dayes no Property Non ut existimemus nihil omnino tum suisse privati sed more Poetico figuratum ut intelligamus tam liberales suisse homines ut natas sibi fruges non includerent nè soli absconditis incubarent sed pauperes ad communionem proprii laboris admitterent Lactant. de Justit c. 5. nothing that Man could call his own but those expressions are to be look'd upon as Figuratively spoken after the manner of the Poets thereby to give us to understand that men were then so liberal that they did not covetously ingross all their store to themselves but were generously content to admit their poor Neighbours to a communication of their proper Labours and Income Besides 't is very observable that at the very same time we are told of this Community and Natural Freedom the whole World is supposed to be under the Government of Saturn who was succeeded by his Son Jupiter Postquam Saturno tenebrosa ad Tartara misso Sub Jove mundus erat Ovid. Metam l. 1. And tho' the Poets call 'em Gods yet we are surely to understand that Earthly Kings are thereby meant so that from hence nothing can be gathered to favour that Original of Government that those that urge these things are the great Patrons of If indeed a Set of full grown Men had dropt out of the Clouds or like Mushrooms sprung out of the Earth I should not be much averse no the notion of Natural freedom and equality and that those being in some great Wind furnished with a convenient number of Women had propagated their Species but I much fear whether there would not have been many bloody Noses before they could have come to any Agreement if it had not been altogether impossible for How long a time and how great experience would be requisite to put the thoughts of entring into a settled Society into their Heads Or having found out the Conveniency and Method of doing it How easily would such a hopeful project be dash'd in pieces by some surly ill-natur'd fellow or at least a party of such For since no such thing could be effected without the joynt Consent of all How difficult a thing would it prove to bring such a Business about many out of Pride being unwilling to submit themselves to this or that Man they might perhaps have a particular pique against and as many resolved not to admit of any such thing unless they be advanced to that Supreme Magistracy which no doubt others as ambitiously Thirsted after as they and what could be the Issue of this but Blood and Rapine War and their former Confusion But granting that all those Arrived to Maturity should be grown so sensible of those many insupportable Miseries that they were every Minute exposed to should be content to submit to any thing rather than continue in their present Condition What must be done with their Children Must they be enslaved by their Fathers that have according to these Men no more Power over them than any of their Neighbours Surely by that time they should become sensible of that priviledge Nature had so bountifully given them they would be found unwilling to stand to that blind Bargain that had been made without their Knowledge and Consent And how that could ever be had I am altogether to seek unless in those Days they could have spoke as soon as come out of their Mothers Womb which I take to be every whit as likely as the other And no doubt from hence a justifiable pretence may be taken at any time to disturst any Government upon Earth when the inconstant and giddy-headed Multitude or any part of them should in their great Wisdom think fit Besides nothing seems more Derogatory to the Goodness Wisdom and Providence of God Almighty than to send Man into the World and expose him to so many inconveniencies for the want of that without which it is impossible for Mankind long to subsist or answer the Ends of their Creation to leave them Destitute of that which was so necessary to their well being for we cannot without impiety suppose but God foresaw the many Ills that would accompany such a Condition and if so how it can be reconciled to his Goodness and Wisdom I must profess my self Ignorant But to let this Opinion of the Origination of Mankind pass Calculated rather according to the Fancy of the Poets or Notion of some of the old Heathen Philosophers than Truth If we
for her establishment will clearly appear to any one that considers the state of Affairs and the History of those Times the only true Touchstone to try matters of this Nature by For if we consider how questionable Her Birthright was then generally esteemed we cannot at all admire if for her own Interest and Security she attributed much more to an Act of Parliament than otherwise she would have done For tho' in the Act of Recognition 't is said that her Majesty is and in very deed and of most meer Right ought to be by the Laws of God Queen of this Realm yet the dubiousness of her Legitimacy and her being solemny Bastardiz'd by her own Father by Act of Parliament might very well necessitate her to call in the Aid and Assistance of her people for her defence and establishment since the greatest part of Europe did not only look upon the Title of Mary Queen of Scotland to be much the clearer and juster than Hers and therefore since Queen Elizabeth's Title depended so very much upon Statute Law the most part of the World allowing her no other and a great many too disputing the validity of that she was necessitated to make that as strong as possibly she could and therefore made it Treason for any one during her Life to affirm That Our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty that now is with and by the Authority of the Parliament of England is not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof which tho' as we shall afterwards endeavour to prove was not in their power to do yet she knew very well that her people would be very apt to defend what they had then so solemnly Enacted and so thereby she should gain her end viz. her Preservation which was the great thing she aimed at as appears by this that the punishment to be inflicted upon them that broke this Law was to abate very much of its rigor after her death for then it was but to be forfeiture of goods a certain Argument that it was only Temporary Enacted pro re nata for if the Reason of it did continue the same so ought surely the Punishment since they should alvvays stand and fall vvith one another tho' no doubt another tho' less considerable reason might be the Malaversions she inherited from her Father to the House of Scotland vvhich thereby she did certainly endeavor for ever to deprive of the Imperial Crown of England As evidently appears from this Clause in it viz. That every person or persons of what Degree and Nation soever they he shall during the Queens Life declare or publish that they have any Right to enjoy the Crown of England during the Queen's Life shall be dis-inabled to enjoy the Crown in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Queen's Death For this was most apparently contriv'd against Mary Queen of Scots and her Son K. James For since almost all Europe spoke openly of the greater Right that Mary had to the Crown than Elizabeth it might very probably be expected that not only as she thought so so she might upon an occasion offer'd not only speak but act up to her Persuasion and then by this Statute she was as much disabled as Statute could do it But besides all this I am inclin'd to believe there was something more in the bottom of it than this of the contrivance of that subtle and cunning Statesman the Earl of Leicester which I gather from this Clause That whoever shall affirm during the Queens Life either in Writing or in Print that any one is or ought to be the Queens Heir or Successor besides the NATURAL ISSUE OF HER BODY BEGOTTEN c. SHALL c. For in Law none are call'd the Natural Issue of any one but those that are Illegitimate Vit Eliz. Adeo ut sayes Camden tunc juvenis audiveram dictitantes verbum illud à Leicestrio in Legem ingestum eo consilio ut aliquem ipsius filium spurium pro reginae Sobole naturali Angles tandem aliquando obtruderet Insomuch that when I was a young man sayes he I have often heard it said that Leicester caused that expression to be foisted in that thereby he might have a pretence to impose one time or other upon the English one of his own Bastards for the Queens Natural Issue A Design truly not unlikely for him to have who always measured the Publick by his proper Interest and sacrificed every thing else to his own ends and then certainly it will never be denied but such an Act of Parliament was necessary to give colour of breaking so ancient and fundamental a Law of the Land as the advancing a Bastard must needs be How contrary to all the Obligations of Justice and Humanity the unfortunate Queen of Scots was treated by her Kinswoman Queen Elizabeth upon the pretended breach of a Statute made in the 27th of her Reign I shall not trouble my Reader or my Self with the recital of which rigorous proceeding as it was chiefly grounded upon her violent hatred to the House of Scotland so I could heartily wish for the Honour of that Great and Glorious Queen under whose Reign this Island so long and happily flourished were razed out the Annals of Time so that there might be nothing left to stain the Reputation of that otherwise unblemishable Princess But tho' the Mother had the misfortune to fall so ignominiously yet the Son King James had not the wisdom to strive fruitlesly against the Stream but prudently never gave an opportunity of finding a colour to resist him who never laid Claim to a Crown till Heaven call'd him to the Enjoyment of it But no sooner was he come into England but having call'd a Parliament his Title to the Crown is solemnly acknowledged and recognized in these words 1 Jac. c. 1. We being bound thereunto both by the Laws of God and man do with unspeakable Joy recognize and acknowledge That immediately upon the decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England c. did by inherent Birth-right lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to your Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully do submit and oblige our selves our Heirs and Posterities for ever And now if King James came to the Crown by inherent Birth-right and undoubted Succession I cannot see any thing that makes more against this Gentleman than this for 't is plain the old Entail made by Henry the Seventh cannot be pretended because that Act was tho' not expresly yet tacitly effectually repeal'd by 28. H. 8. c. 7. 35 H. 8. c. 1. for King Henry could not have a power to appoint who he vvould for his Successor if that Act of Henry the Seventh remain'd in