praesident therof Saul to his woe and David to his ioy had experience And diverse was the successe of King Salomon and of king Asa prosperous whiles they followed the way of the Lord but desperat when they went from them At a word al the Kings of Israell and Iudah did alwaies as it appeareth in the holie storie finde this most true that it was alwaies most profitable for them to obey the Lord and to doe whatsoever hee woulde haue them This setling of the succession that we are therefore now moving you vnto being a thing as doubtlesse it is which the Lord of dutie requireth at your handes and which you haue heard proved so to bee both by places of Scripture examples out of the same and sundrie other strong reasons you are to resolue with your self whatsoever the wit of man can say to the contrarie that it will be most profitable vnto you to yeeld to the Lord both speedie and willing obedience theerein As long as you walke in his waies hee Psal 9◠11. 12. hath given his Angels charge over you that you shall not hurt your feet against a stone and therefore in this you neede not to be afraide You remember we are Proverb 8. 1◠Psal 82. 1. sure that the Lord hath said in his word That by him Kings raigne and that it is written that hee sitteth amongest you Dan. 4. 2◠Gods and iudgeth you yea that he is so King of kings and Lord of Lords that he setteth vp and throweth downe whom when and how it pleaseth him Wherevpon your Grace may perceaue that the moste safe and profitable way for you to preserue your person and honour is by all good meanes to keepe this King of Kings on your side He that hath a good farme and hath none other holde thereof but at his land-lords pleasure A similitude enforcing her Maiestie by naming her successor to obey God the best policie for him wee woulde think is to please his land-lord And this is the case Madame betwixt you and God in respect of your kingdome Wee must needs therefore even of harty good will and of aboundance of desire that we haue that you may long raigne over vs beseech your Maiestie to weigh with your selfe whither it bee not likelie that this your land-lord and soveraigne iudge will be angrie with you and lay to your charge one day all the blood that shall bee shed and all the evils that shall bee committed in this land for want of a knowne successor if you doe not what lieth in you in time by making him known to prevent al those dolefull cruelties that will ensue thereof Even the light of nature coulde teache the heathen Philosopher Cicero to write in his Offices that hee is aswell faultie that letteth not the doing of an evill or iniurie being able to let it as he that doth it himself Oh provoke not the Lord sweet Ladie even in respect of safetie and profite to your self to bee offended with you for this your great vnkindnes towards him Remember that in respect of the present dangerous and evill dayes that we now liue in and in regarde of our enemies neither you nor we had euer more cause to seeke to please him and to keep him on our side Hitherto never Prince had more cause then you nor subiects in respect of their Prince then we to confesse that if he had not beene on our side our enemies long ere this had swallowed vp both you and vs for it is he that hath discovered yea detected and confounded all the devises and conspiracies hitherto of your enemies and ours it is he that giveth vs peace at home and victories abroad It is he that doeth keepe all evils from vs continueth al good things vnto vs. And if he continue on our side stil we need not to be afraide whosoever bee against vs for hee both can and will protect vs and confound them Then an hundreth on our side shall discomforte a thousand and the weakest meanes shall bee strong enough to withstand and to prevaile against the mightiest as the holie stories doe most comfortablie teache vs. But if hee bee occasioned to departe from vs and leaue vs to our selves then al things shall and will fall out cleane contrarilie with vs as there wee learne also Assure your self therefore that to shewe your self a merciful Queene to your subiects in this so waightie a point and this work of great mercie loue the which all your people craue with teares added vnto your former good services of God it will binde God in his mercie for his promise sake not to slake or withdrawe his moste mercifull protection from you but to enlarge his favour everie way towards you Bee hartilie sorie therefore good Prince that you haue not beene provoked by his marvelous former protection of you from evident dangers manie and sundrie times to shewe your self thankfull vnto him in performing this so necessary and profitable a dutie ere this Think not because as yet he hath spared you and not called you to accompt for it that therefore he misliketh it not for his long suffering must bee construed to amendement or else it is an heaping of 〈◊〉 ◠5. vengeance against the day of vengeance They are but flatterers doubtlesse whosoever they be so shall you finde it in the end that would perswade you otherwise neither can they bee the premisses considered either sound friends to their country or loving subiects to you which either haue bred or nourished in your Royall heart an vnwillingnes to yeelde to this moste necessarie and profitable motion But to grow to an end of this our first part lastlie wee advouche that to yeelde your best furtherance to make your successor knowne is an honorable action Princes are no lesse bound to protect their subjects then subiects are bound to obey their Princes both before God man It is honorable for you before man because as it is your subiectes dutie to yeelde you all loue and dutifulnes to the preservation of your noble person and estate so it is your duty againe to yeelde vnto them protection for them theirs by what good meanes you may amongst which this is a principall good meane And who can denie but that it is honorable for a Prince not to be behind with his subiects in any dutie especiallie then not in this which is so necessarie and profitable for them nay we are sure you your selfe will confesse that it were verie dishonorable for a Prince to looke for and willinglie wittinglie to receiue at the hands of his subiects all tokens fruits of perfect loyall loue and to requite them withal to leave them all for want of a knowne successor to extreame confusion and desolation And seeing there ought to bee such true loue indeede and such true mercie extended on your part even towardes them towards whome it is due in equity as certainlie it is in
that Dauid had by diuers wyues and so great perill to the kingdome The comparison of Israell and England and subiects of Dauid The consideration whereof made Dauid carefull to end the controuersie in his life-time But now amongst vs the contention for the crowne when God hath once taken you hence if by like meanes by you it be not preuented is like to bee amongst the children of diuerse families and therfore the more deadlie and consequentlie the more dangerous Wherefore as the state of Israell then mooued Dauid to make his successor knowne so nowe the state of England ought to moue you for herein he did but that which Moses example taught him to doe and therefore that which as a king he was bound to doe Againe it is euident in the story that the Lord did lyke and allowe of his so doing and therefore there was obedience therein to the Lordes will for mans owne will-works he neuer delighteth in An example then it is to follow in the like case to all good Kings and Queenes and as a mirrour it remayneth still to all such to teache them to doe the like when like neede requyreth For whatsoeuer is written in the Scripture Application of the former examples to her Maiestie Rom. 15. 4. is written for our learning Think therefore moste gratious soueraigne that these facts of Moses and Dauid are thus recorded in the holiestoric not onlie that you should knowe that God his Magistrates thus gouerned but especiallie that hereby you may learne to gouerne to the safetie of your subiectes as they did Thus you see that neither perill to their persons nor feare of Eclipsing of their owne present honors could stay either of these from gouerning to the safetie of their people and yet they had sufficient wisdome to foresee what might befall them that way And therefore if it were vertue and obedience to God in them and so no worke of supererogation as sufficientlie it hath alreadie appeared how can it be but a falt and disobedience to his holy will in your Maiestie if vppon so vrgent and iust occasion as they or euer any Prince had you refuse to doe as they did Further we reade that when Esay the Prophet brought Hezekiah word that he should set his house in order for that hee should die that the king wept sore of Esay 38. 1. 2. The fift argument from the example of Ezechiah who wept when he heard that he should die becaus then there was no heire apparant to succeed him which his weeping S. Augustine vppon Esay affirmeth this to bee the principall cause that if theÌ„ he had died he had died without an heyre apparant And very well may it be so for if it had so falne out to his griefe he foresawe that not onely great calamities and troubles therevpon would haue ensued to his people but also that it was some testimonie of the Lords wrath towards him if in him God should haue ceased from performing his promise to Dauid of neuer leauing him without one to sit on his throne after him which caused him rather to weepe then the newes of his death saieth Augustine And to vse a good proofe for the truth heereof this is certaine that Manasses his heire that succeeded him was not either borne or begotten when he so wept For it is said that he was but twelue yeares old when he began to raigne and Ezechiah vppon his repentance had 15. yeares added to his life after thus he had wept Least therefore your Maiesty haue iust cause bitterly to weepe for the denying of this mercie to your naturall people euen then when you woulde moste gladelie haue comfort and consolation and doe moste ferventlie craue it at the Lords hand Sweet Ladie prouide aforehand that there may be one known who of right is to sit vppon your throne after you when you be gone to the Lord. The rather most noble soueraigne The sixt argument from the example of her Maiesties father King Henrie the eight your Maiestie is to take these examples to heart and to imitate them because your owne most noble Father King Henrie the eight of famous memory shewed himself as appeareth not onelie by diverse statutes made in his time and by him produced to that end but also by his wordes yet in Chronicle to his great â—â—â—â—ton pag. â—â—76 honor and renowne most carefull willing to imitate the same for it is chronicled that hee saide thus in Parliament to his subiects When wee remember our mortalitie and that we must die then do we think that our doings in our life-time are cleerlie defaced and worthie of no memorie if wee leaue you in trouble at the time of our death for if our true heire be not knowne at the time of our death see what mischief and trouble shall succeede to you and your children Marke gracious Queene your deare father in his wisdom fore-saw wonderfull miseries immediatlie and directlie arising from his leaving of his subiectes without succession knowne and established and that of his compassion and commiseration that therein hee had of his naturall subiectes hee was a prouoker of them that therein sufficient order might bee taken to preuent it Marke also that hee contented not himself with ruling of them well and protecting of them in safetie peace whilest hee himself liued but that his care for them stretched to their children childrens children God for his Christs sake grant your grace to proue his naturall childe heerein But that it might appeare that vppon sound aduise and good experience he had spoken the former words he addeth a dole-full president saying vnto his Nobles The experience whereof some of you haue heard what mischief and man slaughter continued in this Realme betwixt the houses of Yorke and Lancaster By which dissention this Realme had like clearlie to haue bene destroied O Christian and sweet words worthie such an heroicall and mightie Potentate of the world truly worthy to be written in letters of gold and alwaies to be carried and drawne in a Table before the eies of all his successors to the worldes end for though the things done by him in his life-time for the good of his people were manie and great euen such as ought neuer to be for gotten yet see he counted al them clearlie defaced and worthie of no memorie if before his death to prevent the mischiefs that otherwise would ensue to his subiects hee did not make knowne vnto them who of right ought to succeede The lamentable euils that befell this land by the dissension of the houses of Yorke and Lancaster proceeded hence that the right of succession was not cleered and established him yea it seemeth by his speach that he was of opinion as indeed it may be well gathered that all the euils that came to this Land by the dissention of the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster whiche were infinite arose even hence that ther had not sufficient care
hearts most deerlie and therefore to backe you against all dangers most couragiouslie faithfullie No no there will be none of them if you take this course but they will evidentlie see thereby that you and your freends are grown so strong that for anie of them to burst out of due order were but even willinglie to bring vppon them-selves and their families vtter destruction Adonijah was vp in armes for the crown when his father David lay on his death bed and hee had gotten Ioab the mightiest captaine of Israell and Abiathar the high Priest on hisside and yet when David had according to the order of the governement setled established Salomon to succeed him though before Adonijah was grown to strength and so by possibilitie able to haue withstoode both his father David and Salomon yet when he heard thereof he and al his partakers were so dasht and crusht that everie one straight ranne home to his house and Adonijah himselfe tooke sanctuary and so this broile notwithstanding David continued out his time in peace and Salomon his sonne raigned manie yeares triumphantlie after him Howe much more if Queene Elizabeth yet in health and prosperity doe once by this orderlie meane establish the succession will all aspiring Adonijahs howe strong soever they haue made themselves before stay from beginning to doe as Adonijah did least they bee inforced with shame as he was to giue over straight againe Let this example encourage you most noble Queene not to bee afraide of the crossing and disappointing in this case of all the proud Adonijahs in the world for no doubt of it if you do herein seeke to please God and benefite all your subiects as he did God beeing the same nowe that hee was then you may confidentlie look for the same blessing at his hands that David had that is peace in your owne daies and for ever after wealth and prosperitie to all your dominions after you Now this obiection drawne from the difficultie of determining this matter thus answered let vs nowe proceede to the rest which are grounded vppon the perill heerby supposed to ensue to your noble person and dignitie And concerning The obiection grounded vppon perill of naming of the successor confirmed by 3. reasons your person first it is feared that the knowne successor partlie through his owne longing after the highest place partlie through the provocation of others will breede perill to your person And it is likelie that in this respect your feare is encreased by your owne experirience in your sisters time when it may be you were provoked by some to hasten your course Another feare may growe also by the sundrie examples of these Princes as namelie of Edward the second deposed by Edward the third King Richard the second by Henry the fourth Henrie the sixt by Edward the fourth And of Edward the fift murthered by Richard the third And as for your honour and dignitie perhaps you imagine your successor once knowne it will every day more and more decay in that as you know it to be a proverb that men honor the sunne rysing and withdrawe it from the sunne setting Even so you think subiects are given naturallie to prefer their new maister before their olde mistresse These haue bene the cheef causes reasons that hitherto haue staied you frō listning vnto this motion as we suppose and yet make you afraide to yeelde therevnto Before wee come to the answere to these obiections which in effect we do thinke are al that can be vsed in this case wee protest vnto your Maiestie that such is our tender loue and loyall affection towardes your Maiesties noble person and to the preservation thereof in long life and princely honor that vnlesse we were most fullie perswaded that the yeelding there-vnto notwithstanding these obiections woulde not at all proue perilous but rather very beneficiall and profitable to the safetie and securitie both of your person and honor albeit wee had given leaue vnto our selues some-what to haue thought of this motion yet would we never haue proceeded thus farre therin for we wish your dayes to be extended as far as Methushelahs in all princelie honour and felicitie and we covet not to liue one howre after you This truly faithfully protested to these obiections we answere Answered generallie 3. waies first generallie and then particularlie for generall answere vnto them we say first that the perill vpon these grounds supposed to arise either to your person or honor is but an imagined or supposed perill that also inferred but by probable arguments not by evident demonstratiō which being so doth not discharge you from doing so necessarie profitable and honorable a duty to God to your people as this is where-vnto you are nowe moved Secondlie we say suppose there were asmuch perill vnto your person as is pretended yet the peril of your worthy Realme beeing so great and palpable as it hath beene proved to be through the want of the establishment of a knowne successor it may not therefore be left vndone for never so evident a perill your wisdome knoweth freeth any from doing of that dutie that the Lord enioyned them to doe for obedience to his will is to be preferred before our owne honour Confirmed by the example of Esther and safetie Alwaies Queene Hester the wife of Ahashuerosh king of 127. provinces vnderstanding into what extreame perill her countrie people the Iewes wer brought by the meanes of Haman put her life and honour in evident perill wittinglie and willingly deserving death by law to prevent the danger towardes her naturall people For to the hazard of her life as appeareth in the storie she came into the Kings presence without leaue the which was death by the Lawe to make meanes for their safetie saying that if I perishe I perish therby carrying a resolute minde that though shee did perishe yet not to omit to doe what possiblie shee might for the safetie of her people In deede shee prepared her selfe to this action with long fasting and earnest praier and so wee woulde wishe all such weightie and necessarie services to God our countrie especially when there is feared some danger and difficultie in the accomplishing of them to bee taken in hand But this storie sheweth especially seing this is reported of her in the Canonicall Scripture to her commendation that heerein she did well that others may lawfullie and ought even though they bee Queenes to offer themselves to perill for the good safetie of their countrie when otherwise without their so doing it must needes come to some extreame miserie What doubt can there be of this seing we read that even the light of nature hath taught Codrus Athen Decij Rom. manie heathen Princes to offer themselves to extreame perill for the good of of their country And your Maiestie hath And of King Henry the 8. a Christian and domesticall example of your noble father hereof who
came after then went The Authors opinion concerning the true successor which was the second point that was demanded before a Parliament as I tolde my Lord Chancellor for this matter doth rather require the mouth of all England then of anie one man yet without preiudice to anie second person I will tell you trulie what I doe discerne and what I would speake if I were to reason this matter in a free Parliament But first I must confesse and you and manie of my friendes well know that I haue somewhat fleeted and altered concerning some pointes of this question yet at this present I am of that minde and so as I thinke shal be stil that the right shall be found in this king of Scots to succeede to her to whom we The King of Scots next lawfull successor to her Maiestie proved by the pedegree wish if it may please God the length of Noah or Methuselahs dayes my reasons I will first alleadge and then answere to such obiections as are to be met withall First I take this grounde as yeelded that you and everie loyal true hearted Englishman will freelie confesse if the Ladie Margaret the eldest sister of King Henry 8. were at this present aliue the line of her brother ceasing in our gratious Queene that she I say shoulde without all controversie be received and by all England acknowledged to be the onlie righteous and true heire to her Maiestie and that all others should giue place to that her right Now seeing the saide king is the very next in descent from her by a lawfull vnstained vnblemished line by both parents what conscience or reason can warrant vs to defeat him her next heire of that right which by iust devolution is come to him and which we by our own confessions stand bound to haue yeelded to her if shee had at this day beene living to haue received it Now to come to the obiections which Obiections made by Dolman and others aganist the king of Scots answered are made against this reason and which seeme to be of some value they are handled at large by the Bishop of Rosse in his former book but better in a late treatise privilie put out in his name and in my small iudgement wel in that book which at our last conference you had in your hands I will therefore deale with such points as none of the former haue fullie satisfied or were not acquainted with with such as carryes some weight with some of our freinds And these Sir are of two sorts either such as directly assault his right or then such as yeelding that he hath the best right doe notwithstanding maintaine that the Parliament may for great regarde respectes importing this Realme transfer his right from him to some other whome it shal think good to make choise of The impedimentes that are alleadged to barre his right are three the first generall against his countrie and forraine birth the other two are particular against the two braunches of his fathers and mothers lines 1. Obiection of forraine birth The impediment by reason of his birth is grounded vpon a statute made anno 25 Edwar. 3. which though by Rosse and the rest it bee verie well answered yet two difficulties to such as vnderstand not the statute seeme to remain The first is that notwithstanding divers praesidents may bee brought of strangers who haue obtained the crowne before the making of the said statute yet none can be alleadged who since the making of the same hath got it The other is that her Maiestie within these fewe yeeres hath taken the opinion of some Iudges and Sergeants at lawe concerning the meaning of the wordes Enfants du Roy which as is said they expounded to be no further extended then to the first degree For answere to the former the reason is plaine why no stranger came to the crown since the making of this statute not because the statute was or could be anie let but because there was no stranger since that time before the nowe king of Scots that coulde make anie claime to the crowne To the second with reverence to the places of the said Iudges be it spoken if their resolution was such the proviso or exception of Enfants du Roy in the first degree that is the Kings immediat children carries neither sense nor reason for they can not be said in anie respect to be begotten of Parents out of the kings alleageance being indeed begotten of the King himselfe of whome it were verie absurde to say that hee were vnder or out of alleageance but if you say they meant by the first degree the kings sonnes children or his nephewes why I pray you shuld they more be called Enfants du Roy then his Nephewes children or their Nephewes seeing there is the like reason for both Now for ful answere to this obiection of his countrie I will set against this opinion of the Iudges and Sergeants and all other private opinions or expositions of anie men whatsoever a publick iudgement of the Lordes Iustices of both benches given in the Kings bench Term. Michael 13. and 14. of the Queene concerning a Scottish-man who was arrained in the said bench vpon an inditement of rape hee having pleaded not guiltie a Venire facias being adwarded a Iurie retourned and three of his Iurie sworne hee did then pleade that hee was a Scot borne and praied in regarde hee was a stranger as he did alleadge for himselfe the benefite which by our Lawes is afforded to strangers to wit to haue Medietatem linguae that is the halfe of the Iurors to be of his owne countrie-men But by the iudgement of the saides Iustices hee was denied it for that a Scot was not to be accompted in England for a stranger but rather a subiect and also that the language of the Scots is no strange lāguage but meere English c. And this iudgement thus given with these reasons is extant Term. Mich. 13. 14 Reg. Eliz. 51. and to be seene in M. Dyers cases as the meanest studēt in the Innes of Court knoweth Against his Fathers line is obiected that Ladie Margaret Douglas his grandmother The 2. obiection concerneth a staine in his fathers line by alledged bastardise of Lady Margaret Douglas fully answered was base her father Archebald Earle of Angus having a former wife at the time of his mariage with her mother the Ladie Margaret Teuther for which cause also the said Ladie Margaret Teuther did afterwardes sue a divorce and tooke to husband one Henrie Steward who was afterwards created Lord Methven For answere the allegation of the former mariage and it to be the cause of the divorce which ensued cānot choose but seeme ridiculous to everie man that shall heare of it For to what purpose should so noble an Earle without anie cause haue formerly maried in a corner or who will once think that his wife alleadged