of six Years three Months and fourteen Days before the Interdiction could be bought off Neither payment of vast sums of Money and the laying down his Crown Scepter Mantle Sword and Ring at the feet of Pandolfus the Popes Legat and making his Kingdom tributary to Rome during all which time of Interdiction there was no Church open for Marriages or Burials but People were buried like Dogs in Ditches and where they married God knows And in the latter times of Potentates of Interdiction of the Common-Prayer Book and Marriage by it can any I say be so sensless as to censure in such a time those who were excluded from all Mass-Books Common-Prayer Books Priests and Temples if they make use of Gods Ordinance and not of the Priests and married without them 3. There is another Circumstance in this Case which makes it both Unlawful and Impossible to question the Validity of this Marriage because without Mass-Book or Common-Prayer or Ordinance of Parliament for the Lady Mother The Mother being dead the Legitimation of the Child not to be questioned who was the Royal first Companion is now dead And by Law of God and Man none ought to be Censured without hearing and answering for her self which now is impossible for who knowes if Question'd while alive What besides the necessities of War she could have alledged both as to the Fact and Law what Matrimonial Promises or Contracts Verbal or in Writing what Matrimonial Trusts what Witness what Evidence she could have produced For which reason even by our own Laws as appears 39 E. 3.32 If a man Marry his own Sister which is a very unlawful Incestuous Marriage and contrary to the Law of God and hath Issue by her and she dyes if not Judicially Questioned and Sentenced for it in her Life-time the Legitimation of her Issue shall not be questioned after her death because she was not Summon'd to answer while alive Of which see more before in the Preface So Littleton himself though he is much Devoted to the Service of the Laws and Religion of his Holy Father the Pope concerning Marriages yet he confesses Sect. 399.340 That if the Legitimation of a Child is not question'd while alive his Heir shall never be questioned after he is Dead And if a man Marry his Sister and hath Children by her if one Parent dye though Incest the Children are Legitimate 39 E. 3.32 But in this Case where there is no Incest nor any other matter in the least prohibited by the Law of God nor pretence or colour of any but the omission of a Petty Ceremony of a Common-Prayer-Book a human Law and that in a time of War too when abolished to violate the Sanctuary of the Sepulcher and the Deceased seems not only Unchristian but Barbarous How unlawful the Desertion of a Virgin is while alive hath been already shew Lib. 1. p. 88. But far more unlawful is the Desertions of her Children after her Death And how Unlawful Divorce of her is after Procreation of a Child hath been already shewn Lib. 1. p. 94. But far more Unlawful is the Divorce of the Dead Oh ye Romish Monsters ye are more Cruel than Death for death it self Divorceth not quoad praeterita Death a Divorce but no Dissolving of Marriage quoad praeterita but only quoad futura Death it self Nulls not but only Dissolves the Marriage No Dragon but that of the Seven Heads hath a Retrospect in repeal of Lawes No Wolves but those in Sheeps-clothing with their howles disturb the blessed Dead Act of Confirmation of Marriage to persons in Hostility by Ordiance of Parliament ought to have Confirmed Marriages of those who were not in Hostility 4. By the Statute 12 Car. 2.33 It is Enacted That all Marriages by pretence or colour of any Ordinance of Parliament since May 1642. which was during the Times of the War and Usurpation shall be adjudged of the same force and effect as if they had been solemnized according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which is according to the Common Prayer-Book This ACT therefore though it give and intend Right and Justice to those who had been in Hostility and doth take away all Cavils and Scruples might after have arisen concerning the Ordinance Marriage and Legitimation and Succession of Children Yet did it not intend such as were Friends should be left in a worse condition as to their Marriages and Children than those to whom they had given the benefit of this Act or that there should only a Balm be provided for the Wounds of one party and those of the other who were more necessitated to receive them be left bleeding without any for the Royal Party could then neither Marry by the Common Prayer-Books which the Sword had abolished nor according to the Ordinance of Parliament not daring to approach their Quarters Act confirming Marriage according to Ordinance of Parliament ought to have Confirmed Marriage according to the Ordinance of God or to be publickly Banned at Church or Market-Cross Especially Persons of Eminency to Expose themselves to such a Snare as might intrap them and indanger their Lives It was not therefore the Intention of the Protestants in this Parliament That this Act of Confirmation of Marriages should have been partial and only to Confirm one Party but rather to have been as the Act of Confirmation of Judicial Proceedings made in the same Year was general to all Parties and to have Confirmed all Marriages in general made since May 1642. not contrary to the Moral Law of God to be of the same force and effect as if they had been Solemnized according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England or the Common Prayer-Book It is an old Rule that Favores sunt ampliandi Favours are to be inlarged and not restrained and it might be happy for many Families who have Suffer'd for his Majestie in time of the Wars if such a general Act of Confirmation of Marriages then made not contrary to the Moral Law of God were yet Enacted and the Favour not Restrained only to Marriages made by Ordinance of Parliament For as to those many Papists who had free Liberty to Live in the Parliament Quarters when the Royal Party had not took advantage of and first Married before Justices of Peace and after by their own Priests It is not Equal therefore that Protestants that could not have that Safety which Papists had or if they could thought it perhaps against their Conscience to Marry according to the Forms prescribed by Ordinance of Parliament should be Excluded from all Favour or Excuse to the Marriages of themselves and Successions of their Children which is by this Act given to the Marriages and Children of these who were in Hostility and of Papists themselves There was likewise another ACT made 29 Car. 2. 1677 for the Naturalizing of Children of his Majesty's English Subjects born in Forreign Countreys during the Late Troubles
Daughters to the Priest in Auricular Confessions to have their Nakedness discovered their Estates purloined the Secrets of their Houses and oftentimes their Lives betrayed to their Enemies and they shall be compelled to submit to the false Certificate of the Insolent Priest to disinherit their True and Natural Children and Heirs and to appoint false and adulterous Heirs and fils de Prestre to Succeed to their Inheritances and no Probation shall be admitted to the Contrary from which more than Pagan slavery a Protestant Successor will free them but never a Papist 6. If a Papist Successor happen all Lay-Papists shall Suffer for every one Offence two Punishments and shall pay all Fees Fines Taxes and Tributes double one to the Pope and his Officers the other to the King and his Officers one to the Spiritual Court another to the Temporal Court It is said of the Ass in the Fable That when he was let out of the Camp where his Master was to Graze he was admonished by his fellow Ass not to go too near another Camp which was in sight of them because that was the Enemies To which the other answered If the Enemy took him he would lay no worse Burdens on him than his Master did therefore it matter'd not which he went nearest A Lay-Papist therefore though the pamper'd Papist Priest perswade him otherwise would shew less Discretion than that gross-headed Animal should he not less fear to be in the Camp of a Protestant Successor though the supposed Enemy who would Load him but with half the Burden of his Master than to be in the Camp of a Papist Successor though his Master who will assuredly lay double the Punishment and double the Burden on him which a Protestant will do whose Camp will be like the Camp of Alexander the Great where the Persians found as courteous entertainment as the Macedonians And he used to say He would be the Common Father and his Camp should be the Common City of the World Dominicans and Jesuits 7. If a Papist Successor happen he will either favour the Jesuits and their followers or the Dominicans and their followers if he favour the Jesuits the Dominicans will be ruin'd if he favour the Dominicans the Jesuits will be ruin'd and so consequently the Lay-followers of both Again If a Papist Successor happen Guelphs and Gibellins he will either favour the Guelphs or the Gibellins the one being for the Papal the other for the Regal Supremacy if he favour the Guelphs the Gibellins will be ruin'd if he favour the Gibellins the Guelphs will be ruin'd Were not the Lay-Papist better have a Protestant Successor who will free them from both these sorts of Botefeâ— Papist Priests who set their own Papist Flock to tear one another that they may prey on both Were it not more wise for the Lay-Papist to do with their Guelphs and Gibellins as Bodin saith they did in all the Cities of Italy where these two Factions raged namely to Elect Strangers for their Magistrates Judges who were neither Guelphs nor Gibellins of all which Miseries which will assuredly be imposed and continued on them by their Priests and Princes whom no Covenant-Oath or Sacred Obligation of Conscience can tye if they happen to fall into the hands of a Papist Successor Let all Lay-Papists therefore but seriously consider if it be not more happy for them to be freed by a Protestant Successor lay-Lay-Papist to be Prohibited nothing from whence a Protestant is not Prohibited except Publick Offices than inslaved to them by a Papist Let them but consider whether it is not better for them to be permitted to them by the Protestants the same Liberty from all penal Laws Taxes Tributes Oaths and Tests as Protestants have themselves than to have the same taken from both by a Papist Successor It will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor to prohibit the Lay-papist no other Idols no other Priests no other Sacrifice no other Offences Recusancies Crimes Arms Conventions nor any thing else except publick Offices which if really considered are rather Burdens than Benefits in all respects besides that of publick Safety than he prohibits equally his own Protestant Subjects It will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor to Rule by Laws and Love but a papist Successor will believe that it is his Interest to Rule by an Arbitrary power and Fire and Sword To Conclude Let the Lay-papist but consider at what rate they themselves who were Papists were Ruled by H. 8. a Papist King together with the Protestants who hanged the one for not acknowledging him Supreme Head of the Church and burnt the other for not believing Transubstantiation insomuch that a French Papist who came over hither and saw it Cryed out Deus bone quomodo hic vivunt gentes ubi suspenduntur Papistae comburuntur Anti-Papistae Good God said he what shift do people make to live here where Papists are hang'd and Anti-papists burnt And let them consider the more fresh example of Philip the Second of Spain the Son-in-Law of H. 8. after his Death by Marriage with Queen Mary for did he not Rule his Papists as well as Protestants Subjects in Holland and the Vnited Provinces after the same rate as H. 8. had done his here in England for he first by Oath and Agreement bound himself as well to his Papist as Protestant Subjects not to infringe their Laws and Liberties nor to increase the ancient Number of their Bishops which was but three But he notwithstanding his Oath indeavour'd to bring in amongst them the Inquisition increased the Number and Power of their Bishops from three to seventeen for every Province one both of them destructive to their Consciences Laws Liberties and Propriety but being after a long War overthrown by the Vnited Provinces and their Confederates he acknowledged them free and Soveraign States whereby they recover'd again their lost Liberties And though as is noted by Sir William Temple in his Excellent Observation on the Vnited Provinces Cap. 5. p. 200. the Roman Catholick Religion was alone excepted by the States from the Common Protection of their Laws making Men as they believed worse Subjects than the rest by the acknowledging of a Foreign and Superior Jurisdiction for so must all Spiritual Power needs be as grounded on greater Hopes and Fears than any Civil at least where the perswasions from Faith are as strong as from Sense of which there are so many Testimonies Recorded by the Martyrdoms Penalties Conscientious Restraints and Severities suffered by infinite persons in all sorts of Religion besides this Profession seemed still a Retainer of the Spanish Government which was then the greatest Patron of it in the World Yet was the Care of the States to give all Men ease in this point who ask'd no more than to serve God and save their own Souls in their own way and forms Of the great good Effects of not compelling Men to Faith or form of Worship
Lucan Nobilitas cum plebe perit lateque vagatur Ensis à nullo revocatum est rectore ferrum Stat cruor in Templis multaque rubentia caede Lubrica saxa madent nulli sua profuit aetas Non senis extremum piguit vergentibus annis Praecipitasse diem nec primo in limine vitae Infantis miseri nascentia rumpere fata Crimine quo parui caedem potuere mereri Sed satis est jam posse mori And will any Protestants be Self-Murderers by committing themselves to the Oaths of such a Religion to return home from Foreign Popish perfidiousness and Perjuries to those in Great Britain Queen Mary of England most Cruel and perfidious to Protestants there hath been but one Papist Successor in England since the Reformation which was Queen Mary and she promised but perfidiously Liberty of Conscience to the Protestants and used their help to obtain the Crown which perhaps if they had not afforded her she might have missed but as soon as she became possessed of the Royal Power how faithlesly she broke her promise to them is well known and with what Cruelty incited by the Bishops prodigious in her Sex she delighted to see them Burning with her own Eyes and what a Tophet she made of the Land appears in the Acts and Monuments What eyes can behold the fiery Pictures there or read the bloody Characters of her Butcheries without tears And she had increased the number of them to so many as no Volume could have contained had not God in his Mercy sortned those days Queen Mary of Scotland and her Agents there most perfidious and cruel to Protestants It is known likewise Queen Mary of Scotland likewise broke Promise and Oath the Papist Faith and Oaths were no better kept to Protestants in Scotland than in England of which I shall only mention one Example of Mr. George Wischard persecuted to Death by the Bloody Cardinal Beton as is mentioned in Buchanan Lib. 15. rer Scot. 536. and in the History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland p. 48 Mr. George Wischard a Protestant Minister first indeavoured to be assassinated by Cardinal Beton c. Mr. Wischard was a Diligent Preacher of the Gospel and most acceptable to the people for which reason Cardinal Beton prohibited him to Preach and he not desisting he corrupting with Money a desperate Priest named Sir John Weighton to kill the said Mr. Wischard and upon a Day the Sermon ended and the People departing no man suspecting Danger and therefore not heeding the said Mr. George the Priest that was corrupted stood waiting at the foot of the Steps his Gown loose and his Dagger drawn in his Hand under his Gown the said Mr. George marked him and as he came near he said My friend what would you do and therewith he clapped his hand on the Priests hand where the Dagger was and took it from him the Priest abashed fell down at his feet and being heard by other Company they cryed out Deliver the Traytor to us or we will take him by force and so they burst in at the Gate but Mr. George took him in his Arms and said Whosoever troubles him shall trouble me for he hath hurt me in nothing but hath done great Comfort to you and to me to wit he hath let us understand what we may fear in time to come we will watch better The Gentlemen of the West had written that Mr. George should meet them at Edinburgh for they would require Disputation of the Bishops and that he should be publickly heard whereto he willingly agreed He lays a Second Plot for the same The Cardinal dared not let it come to a publick Dispute therefore he Plots the second time to kill Mr. George as the surest way to defend their Murdering Religion and to that end he causeth a Letter to be Counterfeit in the Name of the Laird of Keimeir Mr. Wischard's familiar Friend which desires him with all possible diligence to come to him for he was strucken with a sudden Sickness and in the way layes an Ambush of Threescore Men with Jacks and Spears to dispatch him but this was likewise discovered the Cardinal vexed to be twice thus disappointed in his wicked design and got Intelligence that Mr. Wischard lodged at the House of John Cockburne Laird of Ormeston Seven miles from Edenburgh whereupon a Party of Horse was sent thither to demand Mr. George to be delivered them as a Prisoner to be carried before the Assembly of Prelates at Edenburgh the Laird made many Excuses and Spun out the time it being late hoping to pass Mr. Wischard out at a private Postern to escape when dark of which the Cardinal having notice by his Spies came together which the Governour thither at an unseasonable hour of Night and beset round all passages whereby none could escape Mr. Wischard betrayed by trusting to the perfidious Faith of Earl Bothwell yet neither by Promises Flatteries or Threats could he get Mr. George delivered into his hands till he called thither the Earl of Bothwell from his Country House which was near at hand to whom it was agreed he should be delivered on which the Earl gave his Solemn Faith and Promised on his Honour that he should be Safe and that it should pass the Power of the Cardinal to do him any harm and that neither the Governour or the Cardinal should have the Custody of him but he would retain him in his own hands and in his own House till either he should make him free or restore him to the same place whence he received him But being Corrupted by the Cardinals Gold and by the Queen he most perfidiously broke his Faith and Honour and delivered him a Prisoner into the hands of his Enemies the Prelates assembled at Edenburgh who having got their long sought for prey send him away to St. Andrews where the Cardinal had a Castle as he thought Impregnable where he was kept in hold in the Sea Tower of the same Castle which was done in the end of January Anno Dom. 1546. The Cardinal delayed no time but caused all the Bishops yea all the Clergymen who had any preheminence to be called to St. Andrews against the Seven and Twentieth day of February that Consultation might be had against this great Protestant who had so dangerously shaken the Foundations of Babel upon the last of February was sent to the Prison where Mr. George Wischard lay bound in Chains the Dean of the Town by Command of the Cardinal to Summon him to be before the Judge the morrow following to give account of his Seditious and Heretical Doctrine upon the next morrow the Lord Cardinal caused his Servants to address themselves in their most Warlike Array with Jack Knapscall Splent Spear and Axe and when these armed Champions marching in Warlike Order had conveyed the Bishops into the Abby Church incontinently they sent for Mr. George who was conveyed into the same by the
of her own Body but while there was a possibility she might she Declared by 13 Eliz. 1. They should be her Successor and Enacts a Penalty of High Treason against those who should affirm the contrary 3. That Queen Elizabeth doth not think it fit that her Legitimation should be Judged by Popish Laws as she could expect no other would endeavour to be done if she permitted a Contest between her and a Papist What Shall a Virgin Queen be Judged by Laws which as is already shewn came from the Priests of Priapus and Venus Shall a Protestant Queen be Judged and Shot to Death by the Cannons and Constitutions of the Strumpets Theodora Marozia and the Whore of Babylon No she was Judged Legitimate by the Holy Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion to be Successor to her Natural Father and though he forsook her God took her up and by his assistance the Gates of Hell were not able to prevail against the truth of the same And let any Papist now if he can shew any Reason or Scripture why he should with foul mouth asperse the Legitimation of King Edward the Sixth or Queen Elizabeth or the Kings Eldest Son or why the latter ought not to be Successor as well as was the former and Print the same with his Name subscribed And no question there are Protestants enough will answer him Yea The Interest of a Prince Legitimate by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion to maintain both against Popish Ceremony and Superstition let him prove if he can That 't is not only the Greatest Honour to a Protestant Prince himself but a great Mercy and Providence of God to a Protestant People to offer them such a Prince whom he hath made Legitimate by his own Holy Law and the Protestant Religion and permitted him to be Declared Illegitimate by the Papist unholy Law and Superstition and thereby laid on him the highest Obligation of his own Interest to maintain the Holy Moral Law of God and Protestant Religion against the Popish Ceremonial Laws and Superstition and far worse it had been for the Protestants if Queen Elizabeth had not been made Illegitimate by the Papists then that she was To Conclude a full answer hath been therefore already given the Objection That Queen Elizabeth never refused to Declare a Protestant and Lieal Successor but only such as were either Papist or Collateral Obj. 7. A Protestant Successor will not be equal to Papists who are not only a Considerable but a great and potent Party of the People of the Three Kingdoms Answ This is fully answered already before Lib. 2. p. 401 402 403 c. where it is shewn to be the Interest of the Protestant Religion to abolish all Laws of Recusancy equally which are Penal to the Consciences either of Protestants or Papists except as to Mass Idols and Popish Priests This is likewise answered in the following Reasons wherein it is shewn That not only Protestants but Papists themselves except Popish Priests may hope for greater Security and Happiness from a Protestant Successor than they ever had or 't is possible for them to have from Papist Predecessors or Successors to which I therefore desire to refer Reasons for Declaring a Protestant Successor by the King and Parliament HAving answered all Objections against Declaring of a Protestant Successor I shall now only add some few Reasons for the same arising from the Great and manifold Dangers caused by the Neglect 1. Danger to the Conscience of a Prince 1. The first Danger is to the Conscience of a Prince when he shall give Account to God of the Neglect of so great a Duty to him and so great a Trust reposed in him by the People as to which There is none doubts but every private Father is by his Duty to God bound while it shall please God to lend him Life and Health and before Death with a sudden Arrest hurry him hence to give an account of his Stewardship to make Provision according to his Power for the leaving his Family in Peace after his Decease much more it is the Duty of all Princes who ought to be the Publick Father of their Countries who have so great Account to Give not only for their own Families but for Nations and Kingdoms and all the Wars Murders Massacres and Devastations which by their default shall happen after their Death To provide while God gives them Life and Health for prevention of such Calamities amongst their People and for the Peace of Succession in the Government over them And in the Statute of 35 H. 8. cap. 1. This great Trust Reposed in the King by the People is exprest a Chief Consideration of Declaring a Successor and setling the Succession of the Crown by King and Parliament in these words in the Preamble of the Act viz. Forasmuch as our most Dread Soveraign Lord the King upon good and just Grounds and Causes Intendeth by God's Grace to make a Voyage Royal in his most Royal Person into the Realm of France against his ancient Enemy the French King his Highness most Prudently and Wisely Considering and Calling to his Remembrance how this Realm standeth at this present time in the Case of Succession and poising and weighing further in himself the great Trust and Confidence that his Loving Subjects have had and have in him c. And to the Intent his Majestie 's Disposition and Mind therein should be openly Declared and manifestly known and Notified as well to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as to all other his Loving and Obedient Subjects of this Realm to the Intent of their Assent and Consent might appear to Concur with thus far as followeth of his Majestie 's Declaration in the behalf and thereupon makes Provision for the Succession of the Crown in the same Act. In like manner it is provided by the Law of Persia as saith Herod Lib. 7. That whensoever the King goeth to War abroad he ought first to Declare his Successor that he may leave Peace at home 2. Danger by the incertainty of the Laws of Succession of the Crown 2. The Danger caused by Incertainty of the Laws of Succession of the Crown and that this is a Great Danger and necessary to be Remedied by a Declaration by King and Parliament appears likewise by the Preamble of the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 22. in these words viz. Wherefore we your said most humble and Obedient Subjects in this present Parliament Assembled calling to our Remembrance the great Divisions which in time passed have been in this Realm by reason of several Titles pretended to the Imperial Crown of the same which sometime and for the most part insued by Reason of Ambiguity and Doubts then not so perfectly Declared but that men might upon froward intents expound them to every man's sinister Appetite and Affection after their Sons Contrary to the Right Legalty of the Succession and Posterity of the Lawful Kings and
is not always necessary he should be his first begotten Son for the Second after the Death of the first begotten without Issue is Fitz-Eigne with the Statute Et sic de caeteris which doth implicitly seem to affirm That till the Issue of the Eldest Son fails the second Son shall not Succeed by this Statute which implicitly prefers the Nephews in Successions before the Uncle but he shewing no Authority therein but his own and that only implicit and not Express and the Common Law and Customs of the Crown being very incertain obscure and as often broken as kept when not Confirmed by Act of Parliament And King Edward himself the Wife Author of this Act when the Black Prince Died and left his Eldest Son Richard of Bindeax who was after R. 2. Doubting of the certainty of the Law in the Point did as the wisest way procure Richard to be Declared Successor by Act of Parliament in his Life-time to secure him against his Uncles Tâ—â—â—aw of Eâ—… not clear in point of Succession of the Crown between Nephew and Uncle where the Father dies before the Grandfather The certainty of the Law of England therefore may be not without Cause doubted in this Point of Succession between Nephew and Uncle and Danger there may be lest the incertainty of the same give the same Pretences to create Civil Wars here as it doth in other Countries unless prevented by an Act of Parliament as in Scotland Vt filio ante patrem Defuncto Nepos Avo Subrogaretur 8. Danger without Assent of the People Danger if the Successor assume the Crown without the Assent of the People by their Representative in Parliament the Right of a Successor is not here Disputed nor the Law whether he is King before Coronation or not until Contract with his Parliament and Coronation received from them Highest a Successor can say is only as Paul saith 1 Cor. 10.23 All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but all things edifie not Though the manner whereby a Successor ascends the Throne may be lawful yet may it not be Expedient neither may it Edifie the Throne H. 8. was a King of great Courage and Wisdom and doubted not the Right of him and his Posterity to the Crown Yea though he had more than any other King Power granted him by Act of Parliament himself to Declare his own Successor either by his Letters Patents or last Will yet he shewed therein his great Wisdom and Moderation and would not do it without Assent of his Subjects as appears in the already mentioned Statute 35 H. 8. cap. 1. in these words viz. And albeit that the King 's most Excellent Majesty for default of such Heirs as are Inheritable by the said Act might by the Authority of the said Act give and dispose the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his Last Will in Writing Signed with his most gracious Hand to any Person or Persons of such Estate therein as should please his Highness to Limit and Appoint Yet to the Intent that his Majestie 's Disposition and Mind therein should be openly Declared and Manifestly known and notified as well to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as to all other his Loving and Obedient Subjects of this his Realm to the intent that their ASSENT and CONSENT might appear to Concur with thus far as followeth of his Majestie 's Declaration in this behalf For so Wise a King well know that let the Right of a Successor be what it will yet if he lose the Love of his People which cannot be obtained without their Assent and Consent he loseth the Chief Defence under God of that and all other Right he hath if therefore a Successor is Declared by Act of Parliament so great a Danger is avoided of not having the Assent and Consent of his Subjects seeing such an Act of Parliament cannot be without the Assent and Consent of the major part of the People included in the plurality of Votes of their Representative 9. Danger of assuming the Crown by a Papist The next great Danger is The assuming of the Crown by Force by a Papist Successor if not prevented by a Declaration of a Protestant Successor by the King and Parliament That a Papist Successor is most Dangerous to all Lay-Papists themselves and that they may Live far more Happy under a Protestant than one of their own Religion A Distinction ought to be made between Lay-Papists and Papist Priests Both Religion Justice and Mercy ingage all those who are affected with the least of any of them to put a great difference betwixt the Deceived and Deceivers and betwixt the Blind and those who mislead them to fall into the Ditch A Distinction is therefore necessary to be made by all Protestants between the Lay Papist and the Papist Priest Mercy is to be shewn the one and Justice the other And if this just Course had been used from the Beginning of the Reformation that no Penal Statute had been made against the Lay-Papists but only against the Papist Priests The Protestant cannot be secure unless the Lay Papist be likewise secure from Penal Laws against Conscience No Bishop Bencroft under pretence of maintaining the Dominicans against the Jesuits and Regulars against Seculars had been able to maintain Legions of both in Secret to Destroy the Protestants in their own Land nor under the blind name of Recusants to turn the edge of all the Penal Laws pretending to be made against Papists to cut off the Protestants And the Sacrament of the Paschal Lamb to be a Destruction to the Israelites and a Passover to the Egyptians those Penal Laws being pursued with the highest Rigour against the Protestants but came not near the Papists Dwellings or if they did they took more easie Pardons from the Exchequer than from the Pope So if the late Act concerning Oaths and Sacraments had been Restrained only to Papists Protestants had not suffered in so high a Degree as now they do But I pass from what is past to what is future to shew what Mischiefs the Papists themselves are to expect from a Papist Successor and what benefit from a Protestant 1. The first Mischiefs they will meet with in a Papist Successor is a most miserable one take what Covenant what Vow what Promise what Oath they can from him yea an Hundred Oaths his Conscience cannot be bound with any of them and the Catholicks themselves shall take as little hold of his Catholick Faith as the most of those whom they think or call Hereticks As for Example William the Conqueror was a Papist and is mentioned Dan. Hist 36. to get Assistance of the King of France who was then young in his Design for England William the Conqueror a Papist King forswore himself to Papist Subjects promised if he obtained the Kingdom to hold it
of him as he did his Dutchy of Normandy and do him Homage for it which would add a great Honour to that Crown Then was he be-before-hand with Pope Alexander to make Religion give Reputation to his Pretended Right he promised likewise to hold it of the Apostolick See if he prevailed in his Enterprize whereupon the Pope sent him a Banner of the Church with an Agnus of Gold and one of the hairs of Saint Peter And he likewise by great Promises got his own Brother Odo Bishop of Baieux to furnish him with Forty Ships for his Expedition After William had with great difficulty got the Battel at Hastings wherein King Herold happen'd to be kill'd with an Arrow in his Eye some of his Nobility with all their Power strove to establish Edgar Atheling the next of the Royal Issue in his Right to the Crown but the false Bishops rather bent to let in a Foreign Enemy being fool'd by him with fair Promises than to assist the Native Prince and by their Example drew in the Nobility to trust to his Personal Oath made at his Coronation before the Altar of St. Peter to defend the Holy Church that was the Papist Church and the Rectors and to Govern the Universal People according to the Laws but this Oath and his Promises were as weak to bind him as the single hair of St. Peter he had got from the Pope for as soon as he had Establish'd himself he was not such a Fool to do Homage for England to the French King nor to hold the same of the Apostolick See nor to defend the Bishops and Abbots in their fat Bishopricks and Abbies but as Cambden saith He made such clear work with them that he did not leave one English Ecclesiastick whom he thrust not out of his place and fill'd their Rooms with Erench Sr. Johns And for the English Nobility he drove some to fly to Scotland some to Norway some to Hungary and any other Places where they could be received till in the end he had totally destroyed them and filled their Places with French Contes and to shew himself no partial Dealer with those who would trust his word he spared not his own Brother Odo the Bishop of Baieux but notwithstanding the Forty Ships with which he had Supplied him on promise of better dealing he seized and Confiscated all his Treasure which he had which was very great and hoarded up with an Intention to have bought the Papacy And it is no wonder if mali Corvi malum ovum And he practised the same deceit against themselves and their false Religion had taught him towards others for let a Papist Prince swear never so many Oaths to Papists of his own Religion and break them all the same Religion fits him with Popes enough at his Elbow to Confess and Absolve him instantly or if he doubts his Trencher-Popes cannot do it he can have for Money his Unholiness himself to Absolve him from any Oath Covenant or League with any other Papist Prince whether of Peace or War and how many Examples are there of the same And more easily can he do it with his own Subjects as Dan. Hist fol. 143. King John a Papist King forswore himself to Papist Subjects being Absolved from his Oath by the Pope King John for the Glory of God and Emendation of the Kingdom in Parliament makes Articles of Agreement between him and the Barons wherein are Confirmed all the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and Mutual Oaths taken on both sides by the King and Barons in Solemn manner for the Observation of the same Articles The King likewise sends his Letters Patents to all Sheriffs of the Kingdom to cause all Men of what degree soever within their several Shires to Swear to observe the Laws and Liberties thus granted by his Charter There we see a Papist King agrees with Papist Subjects on Oath in the highest manner and both the King and Barons and the whole Body of the People of what degree soever are solemnly Sworn before God And the Laws and Liberties are likewise Confirmed by Act of Parliament But the next News in the History we hear of is He hath some Papist evil Councellors who tell him he was now a King without a Kingdom a Lord without a Dominion and a Subject to his Subjects whereon this Papist King sends to the Pope and by Bribery he Absolves the King from his Oath Nullifies the Act of Parliament and Excommunicates the Lords Now therefore let it be shewn how these Papist Lords being laid in the Pickle of Excommunication and not having Personam standi in Judicio could have done to have bound the Conscience of their Papist King to have performed to them his Contract Covenant League and Oath or let it be no wonder if Protestants are very fearful to have a Successor of such a Religion or if they think that these Lords had not been more happy if they had had a Protestant King or of any Religion which would have bound his Conscience to have kept his Word and much more his Oath to his Subjects The Papist Lords grown Desperate of Right from their English Papist King run into the other Extreme and will Trust themselves to the Oath of a Foreign Papist King seeing their own would not keep his they send therefore over-Sea and go in great haft to Louys the French Kings Son to Sollicit him to take upon him the Crown of England who is their tres humble Serviteur and as ready to Swear to them as they to him A French Oath pretended surer than an English and to make wise to them that a French Oath was surer than an English over therefore he comes to England in Person with as great a Fleet and Army as the Power of France could make on so likely hopes of a Conquest incouraged by so great a Power of the English Barons who call'd them in and joyned with them and being Landed in Kent in May the Lords bring him to London where he takes his Solemn Oath to Restore their Laws and Liberties and recover their right for them King John who had first forsworn himself was notwithstanding in the Field with another Army against King Louys but fell into a Feaver and Died or as some say was poisoned On his Death many of the English Lords hoping to find more Truth in the Son than in the Father returned from Louys to their Native King and suddenly Crowned Henry the Third the eldest Son of King John being then but Nine years old in a great Parliament Assembled at Gloucester 28 Octob. by which Parliament his Tutelage by Reason of his Minority was Committed to the Great Marshal William Earl of Pembrook a Man Eminent both in Courage and Council And it is likewise to be noted That this Henry was begotten by King John of Isabel the Daughter and Heir of Aymer Earl of Angloulesm who was before the Marriage pre-contracted to Hugh le Brun Earl of March
the Earl of Warwick he leaves Edward and indeavours to restore again the Title of Henry the Sixth and removes him out of the Tower where he had been a Prisoner almost Nine years and Restores him his Crown and all Imperial Ornaments and Officers and King Edward is proclaimed an Usurper and all his partakers Traitors which forced King Edward to fly to the Duke of Burgoign his Brother-in-Law who had Married his Sister but Warwick sending Forces over to Callice to Infest the Dominions of Burgoign for Entertainment of Edward Burgoign being sensible of the storm likely to fall on him wisely so wrought that he made a Truce with King Henry The Duke of Burgoign a Papist Ally forswore himself to Henry the Sixth a Papist King and Ratisied it by Oath that he would give no Aid to his Brother-in-Law Edward against him Yet this Oath he immediately broke and under-hand furnished him with Eighteen tall Ships Two thousand Dutchmen and Fifteen thousand Florens of Gold Here may be seen what little Trust can be had by an English Papist Prince to the Oath of a Foreign Papist Prince though he pretend the common Obligation of the same Religion See here the next Example how little a Papist King can trust the Oath of a Papist Subject or a Papist Subject him After the Second Battel at St. Albans between the Queen and the Forces of Edward Earl of Marsh the Nobles who in outward shew before seemed for the King withdrew themselves from Attending his Person and the Lord Bonvile coming in a Complemental manner to the King saying It grieved him to leave his Majesty Henry the Sixth a Papist King broke his Promise to two Papist Subjects to the loss of their lives but Necessity for the Safeguard of his Life inforced it But at length he was importuned and Sir Thomas Kyviel likewise by the King to stay he passing his Royal Word that their stay should not indanger their Bodies upon which promise they stayed but to their cost for such was the implacable Fury of the Queen that hearing Baron Thorp was by the Commons Beheaded at Highgate she the day after the Battel being Ash-Wednesday caused both their Heads to be struck off at St. Albans Truss Hist 172. If so Saint-like a Papist King or his Queen for him broke his word to those of his own Religion what is to be expected from them who openly appear in the shape of the Father of Lies and care not for Transforming so much as in shew to Saint or Angel As the Duke of Burgoign had contrary to his Oath aided Edward with a Fleet Men and Money against Henry the Sixth so he himself coming over and Landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire finding but cold Entertainment and having marched to York and finding as little Expression of Welcom he fell on the old Popish shift of swearing and forswearing Edward the Fourth a Papist King forswore himself though he took the Sacrament on it to Papist Subjects He therefore swore deeply and took the Sacrament upon it that he came not to disturb King Henry but only to recover his own Inheritance and for the more shew thereof he wore an Estritch Feather Prince Edward's Livery which Proposition seemed so reasonable that many who resisted him before were as ready to assist him now both Sides seeking to make London their Friend to which end the Earl of Warwick sends to his Brother the Archbishop of York to Labour in it with the City to continue their Fidelity to Henry their King which he did accordingly but could not get above Seven or Eight thousand Men a small proportion to withstand King Edward Comines and Bodin make the Reason why the Citizens were rather inclinable to bring Edward to be because he owed the City great Debts and if he should miss they should lose their Debts Others add another Reason to be Because Edward had been kind to many of the Citizens Wives who importuned their Husbands to receive him but whatever were the cause the Archbishop of York so much doubted of the effect of their being Faithful that he sent secretly to Edward to desire him to receive King Henry into his Grace which on promise of being Faithful thereafcer he obtained and thereupon the Archbishop delivered King Henry into King Edward's hands Edward the Fourth contrary to his Promise suffers Henry the Sixth to be Murdered So here Edward a Papist King promiseth Henry a Papist King on the greatest Consideration one King can give to another the Delivery of his Person into his Competitors hands that he will not hurt him in his Custody yet after he Commands or Suffers him to be Murdered in the Tower by his Brother the Duke of Gloucester where he was Imprisoned A Papist Successor will give no Liberty of Conscience to Papist Subjects 3. A Papist Successor will not give Papists themselves Liberty of Conscience insomuch as a Thought But will force the Conscience either by Imprisonment Inquisitions Racks or Tortures falsly to accuse it self or by Compulsion to Oaths or External Forms and Ceremonies of Worship to betray it self to the Injust punishment of Penal Laws and Statutes He will exercise the Cruelty of the Inquisition on Papists themselves How little the Papist Inquisition spare their own Papists though they have not the least exception against them for their Religion may in part appear by the following Story Father Ephraim a Friar Capuchin was Born at Anxerre in France and was Brother of Monsieur Chateaude Boys Councellor of the Parliament of Paris Father Ephraim was Learned in the Languages and of as great Diligence Learning Eloquence and blind Zeal in Preaching up the Papist Religion as the best of them And to spread the same he Travelled to the Indies and was there entertained at Bagnabar by the Chek who had Married the eldest of the Princesses of Golconda and he Promised to build him an House and a Church gave him an Ox and two Men to carry him to Maslipatan where he stayed to Imbark for Pegu according to the order of his Superiours but finding no Vessel ready to set Sail the English drew him to Madrespatan where they have a Fort called St. George and a General Factory for every thing that Concerns the Countries of Golconda Pegu and Bengala they over-perswaded him that he might reap a fairer Harvest in this place than in any other part of the Indies to which end they built him a very neat House and a Church Madrespatan is but half a League from St. Thomas a Sea-Town on the Coast of Cormandel where was a very great Trade especially for Calecots and a very great Number of Merchants and Workmen lived there the greatest part whereof desired to Inhabit at Madrespatan with the English but that there was no Place for them to Exercise their Religion But when the English had Built a Church and perswaded Father Ephraim to stay many of the Portugueses quitted St. Thomas by reason of
the frequent Preaching of Father Ephraim and his great Care as well of the Natives as of the Portugals and in regard he spoke both the English and Portuguese Languages perfectly well which caused so great Envy in the Clergy of St. Thomas Church that they resolved to ruin him and laid their Plot thus The English and Portugueses being so near Neighbours could not choose but have several Quarrels one with another and still Father Ephraim who was in great Reputation with both was applied to for Composing their Differences Now one day the Portugueses quarrelled on purpose with some English Marriners that were in St. Thomas Road and the English came by the worst The English President resolving to have Satisfaction for the Injury a War brake out between the two Nations which had Ruin'd all the Trade of that Countrey had not the Merchants on both side been very diligent to bring things to an Accommodation not knowing any thing of the wicked contrivance of particular persons against Father Ephraim All the Interposition of Merchants availed nothing the Friar must be concerned in the Affair he must be the Mediator to Act between Party and Party which he readily accepted But he was no sooner entred into St. Thomas but he was seized by Ten or Twelve Officers of the Inquisition who shipt him away in a Frigat that was bound at the same time for Goa They fetter'd and manacled him and kept him Two and twenty Days at Sea before they would once let him put his foot on shoar though the best part of the Marriners lay ashoar every Night When they came to Goa they stayed till Night before they would Land Father Ephraim to carry him to the Inquisition-House for they were afraid if they should Land him in the Day the People should know of it and Rise in Rescue of a Person who was in Veneration over all India The News was presently spread abroad in all Parts that Father Ephraim was in the Inquisition which very much amazed all the Frenchmen but he who was most surprized and troubled at it was Friar Zenon the Capuchin who had been formerly Father Ephraim's Companion who after he had consulted his Friends resolved to go to Goa though he were put into the Inquisition himself for when a Man is once shut up there if any one have the boldness to speak to the Inquisitor or to any of his Counsel in his behalf he is presently put into the Inquisition also and accounted a greater Offender than the other neither the Archbishop nor Vice-Roy themselves dare Interpose though they are the only two Persons over whom the Inquisition hath no Power for if they do any thing to offend them they presently write to the Inquisitor General and his Counsel in Portugal and as the King and the Inquisitor General Commands they either proceed against or send these two great Persons into Portugal Yet Father Ephraim Reports These high and proud Inquisitors and their Counsel are very Ignorant Fellows which he found when they put him to Question and so saith he did not believe that any of them had ever read the Scripture but the more fit they are to be the Butchers in these Bloody and Inhumane Cruelties they Practice Monsieur de Chateau Des Boys Father Ephraim's Brother complained to the Portugal Ambassador who presently wrote to the King his Master to send a Positive Command by his first Ship thither that Father Ephraim should be Discharged The Pope himself also wrote The Inquisition regards neither Pope nor King Declaring that he would Excommunicate all the Clergy of Goa if they did not Set him at Liberty But all this signified nothing for still they kept Father Ephraim in such Duress in a blinded Dungeon with a Window Barred with Iron but half a foot square that he lost thereby the Sight of one of his Eyes And if an Indian King had not relieved him more than the Pope or King of Portugal were able to do he had been there Destroyed for the King of Colconda who was at Wars with the Raga of Carnatica and his Army lay round about St. Thomas on Complaint to him of the Injustice by the Inquisition to Father Ephraim sent order to his General Mirgimola to lay Siege to the Town and put all to Fire and Sword unless the Governor would make him a firm Promise that Father Ephraim should be set at Liberty within two Months which so allarm'd the Governor and Town that they suddenly got him to be set at Liberty at Goa Tavernier Lib. 1. Part 2. cap. 15. p. 85. If therefore the Pope and a Papist King were not able or dared not Protect one of their own Religion and Orders against the Injustice of the Inquisition much less will a Papist Successor be able to do it And if both Pope and Papist King were not able to defend a Papist Priest much less will they the Lay-Papist as to whom they are so Terrible that as is the common Story One of the Lord Inquisitors having a mind to some pleasant Pears in a Countryman's Orchard Sent to have him come to him to buy or beg some of his Pears which put the Man in such a fright that he Digged up the Tree Root and all and carried the same with all the Fruit on it to his Lordship and when he demanded the reason of that Unhusbandly action he told him He would never keep that thing in his House which should give any of their Lordships a further occasion to send for him But it will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor neither to punish Papist or Protestant for Conscience neither to Compel Papist or Protestant to Faith or form of Worship nor to impose Penalties for Recusancy in either lay-Lay-Papist not to be debarr'd any thing a Protestant injoys excep Publick Offices nor to debar the Lay-Papists from any thing from whence the Protestants are not equally debarred except Publick Offices of which the Reasons are at large shewn before Lib. 2. p. 401 402 c. for as to Idols and Mass the Protestant ought to be debarred as well as the Papist 4. It is a great benefit to all Lay-Papists to be protected and freed from the intollerable Exactions and Cheatings of Money from them by their Priest particularly for Offerings to Images for Confessions Penances Absolutions for Baptisms Confirmations Marriages Extreme Unctions Places of Burials Dirges Masses Pardons Redemption from Purgatory all Inventions of their Priest to Cheat them their Wives Children and Families from Generation to Generation of what should pay their Debts and find their Fatherless Children Food and Rayment as likewise from all the Military and Civil Taxes Tributes and Payments they unknown to the Protestant exact from them and exhaust their Estates all which a Protestant Successor will free them from but a Papist will increase upon them 5. If a Papist Successor happen all Lay-Papists living within the four Sees will be Compell'd to prostitute their Wives and
in Holland which shews Protestants better than their words to Papists That what was not provided for by the Constitutions of their Government was so in a very great degree by the Connivance of their Officers who upon certain constant Payments from every Family suffer the exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in their several Jurisdictions as free and as easie though not so cheap and avowed as the rest This I suppose hath been the reason that though those of this Profession are very numerous in the Country amongst the Peasants and considerable in the Cities and not admitted to any Publick Charges yet they seem to be a sound piece of the State and fast-jointed with the rest And have neither given any Disturbance to the Government nor exprest any inclinations to a Change or to any Foreign Powers either upon the former Wars with Spain or the latter Invasions of the Bishop of Munster Of all other Religions every man injoys the free exercise in his own Chamber or in his own House unquestioned and unespied And so far they appear to be free from all Penal Laws of Recusancy and from all Penal Oaths and Penal Tests to rack and punish the Conscience That as the same Author farther mentions p. 205 it is hardly to be imagined how all the Violence and Sharpness which accompanies the difference of Religion in other Countries seem to be appeased and softned here by the general freedom which all Men enjoy either by Allowance or Convenience nor how Faction or Ambition are thereby disabled to colour Ambitious and Seditious Designs with pretences of Religion which have cost the Christian World so much Blood for this last Hundred and fifty years No man can here Complain of Pressure in his Conscience of being forced to any publick Profession of his private Faith of being restrained of his own manner of Worship in his own House or obliged to any other abroad and whoever asks more in point of Religion without the undisputed Evidence of a particular Mission from Heaven may be justly suspected not to ask for God's sake but his own since pretending to Soveraignty instead of Liberty of Opinion is pretending the same in Authority to which consists chiefly in Opinion Let here any Papist shew a reason why in Holland Papists do not live more happily under Protestant Laws Papists in Holland live more happily under Protestant Governors than ever they did before under Papists and Protestant Governors than they did there under King Philip or here in England under Hen. 8th who were Papist Governors and their Episcopal Jurisdiction and then he may pretend a Papist Successor better than a Protestant Of Destruction inevitable to Protestants if the Assuming the Crown by a Papist Successor Male is not prevented by the King and Parliament by declaring a Protestant Successor IT is already shewn how dangerous a Papist Successor is to Papists themselves though there were no other reason in it but that 't is impossible to lay any Obligation of Conscience on him or of Promises Covenants or Oaths But if it be dangerous to Papists it must needs be totally destructive to Protestants if he will break Oaths to his own Papists what will he do to those whom he calls Hereticks and Protestants The Doctrine of his Bishops and Priests is sufficiently known that Fides non est servanda cum Haereticis and the horrid Practicks of that Diabolical Doctrine against Protestants is fitter to be writ in Blood than in Ink and the number of Protestants destroyed by the Papists perjury are innumerable and to touch farther on the same principles it is to be noted That the Pope and his Cardinals have this Proverb Mercatorum est non Regum stare Juramentis It is for Merchants and not for Kings to keep their Oaths Pope Vrban the Second made an ungodly Decree That an Oath is not to be kept with an Excommunicated person Let all the Protestants of England consider by what Oath they think to bind a Papist Successor who have stood Excommunicated by the Pope from Generation to Generation an Oath on a Papist is like a Collar on a Monkey which they will as easily slip which makes Pascentius scoff at the Invention of the Oath of Allegiance for Men of his Religion All which shews that his Holiness his Cardinals and Jesuits are in the Judgment of the Judicious Poet all Atheists Sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponunt Et nullo credunt mundum Rectore moveri Natura volvente vices lucis anni Atque ideo intrepide quaecunque altaria tangunt And these are the Men according to Aristophanes Queis nec fides nec ulla firma Pactio est Minthanes the Persian General charged the like on the Romans that Romanis promittere promtum est promissis autem quamquam Juramento firmatis minime stare Anno 1308. The Pope promised the French King Aid to obtain the Empire but underhand writ and wrought all he could against him Naucler Francis the First the French King bound himself by an Oath to the Emperor Charles the Fifth for performance of Articles but for Money he easily obtained from Pope Clement the Seventh an Absolution from his Oath Sigismond the Emperor having granted Letters of Safe Conduct unto John Hus and Jerome of Prague but by the Bishops of the Council of Constance who decreed that no Faith was to be kept with Hereticks he was perswaded to break his Faith and cruelly to Burn those Martyrs after which time the said Emperor never prospered in any thing he took in hand he died without Issue Male and his Daughters Son Ladislaus died also Childless whereby in one Age his name was quite extinct and his Empress became a dishonour to the Royal place she held and God's Judgments justly followed him for his Perjury Philip the Second of Spain took an Oath when he came to the Government of the Vnited Provinces not to increase the ancient Number of their Bishops who were then only Three and not to change their Church and Laws from the state wherein he found them but the Pope and the Spanish Bishops ruled him to break his Oath and to add Fourteen new Bishops to the Three old to bring in the Inquisition amongst them to cut off the Heads of the Protestant Nobles and Massacre the Protestant People in part of the Execution of which the Duke of Alva going with an Army to Naerden in Holland was peaceably admitted into the Town and himself and his Souldiers feasted by the Burghers after which he commanded them and the rest of the Inhabitants to go into a certain Chappel where they should be made acquainted with such Laws as they were to be regulated by but when they thus Assembled he sent his Souldiers to Murder them without sparing any one The Men were Massacred the Women were first Ravished and then Murdered the Children and Infants had their Throats cut Clark's Martirol 265. like those Heathen Cruelties described by
have been saved but the cruel Executioner threw it in again to be Burnt with the Mother Double deaths Here we see the Romish Bull with his two-horned Miter gores with double Deaths Mr. Wischard with Burning and Strangling Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham with Hanging in Chains and Burning Mrs. Anne Askew with Racking worse than Death and Burning And this poor Woman great with Child to be Burnt once her self and a second time in her Child The Cruel Massacres of Protestants of Merindoll How miserably have our Neighbours the French Protestants suffered from Cruelty of their Bishops Inciting the Temporal Sword against them in the Massacre of Merindoll Anno 1545. the Instrument being Minier the President of the Council of Aix for having Condemned this poor People of Heresie He Mustered a small Army and set Fire to their Villages They of Merindoll to avoid the Flame with their Wives and Children fled into Woods but were there Butchered or sent to the Galleys One Boy they took and placed him to a Tree and shot him to Death with Calivers 25 who had hid themselves in a Cave were some Stifled some Burned Of Chabriers In Chabriers they so Inhumanely dealt with the young Wives and Maids that most of them died-immediately after the Men and Women they put to the Sword 800 Men were Murdered in a Cave and 40 Women put together in an old Barn and Burned Heylin Geogr. 79. Anno 1655. Emanuel Duke of Savoy caused many Cruel Massacres and Out-rages to be Committed by his Souldiers on his Protestant Subjects in the Valleys of Piedmont Of Piedmont for which there were Days of Humiliation kept in England and Collections of Money made for their Relief Bak. Hist 644. And can the Horrid and Perfidious Massacres in the late Civil Wars in Ireland be so soon forgot wherein as estimated no less than Two hundred thousand English Protestants Of Ireland Men and Women and Children were destroyed who lived with the Irish not suspecting the Plots of the Popish Priests under the Trust and Faith of a Peace made with them which was most Treasonably by them broken Of the Parisian Massacre with the horrid Perjury of the French King The most Horrid and Hellish Parisian Massacre of an Hundred thousand of his Protestant Subjects Committed by that Popish and Perjured French King Charles the Ninth Anno Dom. 1572. is already mentioned and the Inhumane barbarousness of the same before Lib. 2. Ch. 1. p. 242 243 244. He Swore and Damned himself and Swore over and over again he would Inviolably keep the League and Peace he had made with his Protestant Subjects but when he had got them thereby to be secure and Trust themselves in his hands Let any see who will but take the pains to read the forementioned History of that Massacre how he used them for trusting of him Let any Papist Prince or Claimant to be a Papist Successor shew by which of his Gods he will Swear No Papist Successor can Swear deeper which Charles the Ninth did not Swear and Forswear himself by That he will give Liberty of Conscience to his Protestant Subjects And let such Protestant Subjects as are willing to have an Hundred thousand of them their Wives and Children Butcher'd with Inhumane and Barbarous Tortures while on trust of his Oath they put themselves into his Power give Faith to Perjury but let them Pardon their weaker Brethren if they are afraid to bear them Company Let Papist Priests transformed into Protestant Angels of Light Preach up blind Obedience and implicit Faith to Perjury But let them Excuse those sheep of their Flock who know the voice of the true Shepheard if they hear a true Protestant Pastor in another Fold Let the true Protestant Pastor hear likewise what is said Ezckiel 32.2 When I bring the Sword upon a Land if the People of the Land take a man of their Coast and set him for their watchman If when he seeth the Sword coming upon the Land he blow the Trumpet and warn the People Then whosoever heareth the sound of the Trumpet and takes not warning if the Sword come and take him away his blood shall be upon his own head He heard the sound of the Trumpet and took not warning his blood shall be upon him but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul But if the watchman see the Sword come and blow not the Trumpet and the people be not warned if the Sword come and take away a person from among them he is taken away in iniquity but his blood will I require at the watchman's hands And do the true Protestant Pashor's Sheep Protestant Ministers to give the People warning against Papist Successors or their Blood will be required at their hands if it should happen the Sword of a Papist Successor should be coming on the Land to act over again in Great Britain all the Murders of Protestants by the two Maries all the Fires and Tortures on such Pious Martyrs as have been in Italy Spain France Germany England and Scotland All the Massacres of Merindol Chabriers Ireland Piedmont and Paris Do they think if they should not awake nor blow the Trumpets nor give the People warning of the Imminent Dangers appearing of the Discoveries of their Secret Plots shewn by God himself and of the Dangers and Destructions ensue thereby that the blood of so many Thousand Innocents shall not be required at the hand of the Watchmen Will this be to follow the Precept of Christ Matth. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as sheep in the middest of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves Is this to be wise as Serpents to suffer the old Romish Serpent to thrust in his head in a Papist Successor will he not quickly get in his Body will this be to follow the Precept of Christ Matth. 4.7 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God To cast down all Protestants from the Pinacles of the Temple into the fiery furnaces of Popish Priests the incidents necessary of a Papist Successor and without warrant to expect God will shew Miracles to deliver them thence is not this most presumptuous wickedness and a tempting of God when God shews lawful means by Declaring a Protestant Successor by Act of Parliament to prevent any Papist Successor whatsoever with all the Train of Appurtenances of Popish Priests and fiery Furnaces at their Tails Let it be considered what these Popish Priests will probably most do as long as they have hopes to advance a Papist Successor to bring in them and all their Instruments of Superstition and Engines of Cruelty with them Have not their Plots and Practices already discovered what they have intended To Pistol Poison or Stab the Protestant King and his Protestant Eldest Son To make way for a Papist Successor A Papist Successor will seize on all the Protestant Treasure Arms Fleets Forts c. And what would a Papist
THE RIGHT OF PRIMOGENITURE In Succession to the Kingdoms of ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND AS DECLARED By the Statutes of 25 E. 3. Cap. 2. De Proditionibus King of ENGLAND AND Of Kenneth the Third and Malcolm Mackenneth The Second Kings of SCOTLAND AS LIKEWISE Of 10 H. 7. made by a Parliament of Ireland With all Objections answered and clear Probation made That to Compass or Imagine the Death Exile or Disinheriting of the KING 's Eldest Son is High Treason To which is added An Answer to all Objections against Declaring him a Protestant Successor with Reasons shewing the Fatal Dangers of Neglecting the same And when the Husbandmen saw the Son they said amongst themselves This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize on his Inheritance Matth. 21.38 London Printed for the Author 1681. THE PREFACE Reader THE General Question now in Agitation amongst the People is Who is next Lawful Heir to the Crown The Protestant saith The King 's Eldest Son The Papist a Collateral Heir The free Statesman None at all The Two incident Questions to the General and Principal are not rightly stated for they are not as they ought to be made Whether here is a Lawful Marriage or a Lawful Filiation But whether there are Witnesses to prove the Papal and Episcopal Ceremonies of a Marriage and a Filiation which false state the Case and are nothing to the purpose But we cannot come to the resolution either of the Principal or Incidents false or true before the Discussion of Two other Preparatory Questions 1. By what Law Marriage Filiation and Succession ought to be judged Lawful or Unlawful 2. By what Judge the same ought to be judged As to which I have already proved at large in the First Book That the same ought to be judged by no other Law than the Moral Law of God And in the Second That the same ought to be judged by no other Judge than the King and Parliament To avoid therefore vain Repetitions I must desire to refer thee to the First and Second Books for thy full Satisfaction and in this Third shall only from the Two other Premisses make this Conclusion That the King 's Eldest Son is the next undoubted Lawful Heir both by the Law of God and of the Land wherein though I wave the false state of the Question Whether Ceremony or no Ceremony and only insist on the true Whether Lawful or Unlawful yet I desire thou wilt accept these following Reasons for my Excuse 1. In reference to the Parties contending 2. The Laws by which they are to be judged 3. The Witnesses 4. The Court by which they are to be judged As to the Parties contending 1. Because as to the Matter of Fact Whether Ceremony or no Ceremony I am altogether a Stranger and know nothing of it and if I did yet all Council are Prohibited by the Law to speak to any Matter of Fact 2. This hinders not any others from using what Probation they shall please of Ceremonies but all Advantages of the same are hereby to them saved by Protestation 3. This seeks not to hinder any from using what Ceremonies in their Marriages they please which suit best with their Consciences and Conveniences only that which is here affirmed is the Lawfulness and Validity of the Marriages of such with whose Consciences or Conveniences such Ceremonies suit not if they are made without them 4. No Liberty of Conscience no not so much as of Opinion is hereby precluded any man touching the Point in Question nor is he hinder'd from opposing any thing here deliver'd but if he differ is invited to do it so it be in Print with Name subscribed whereby the same Liberty may be given to Reply 5. Because I write to Protestants and only desire to give Satisfaction to Conscience concerning Lawful and Unlawful before God and not to Superstition concerning Ceremony and no Ceremony before the Bishop 6. It were more for the Safety and Interest of the Protestant Religion that a Protestant Prince either waved his Legitimacy by the Papal and Episcopal Ceremonies and Law or were totally Illegitimated by the same as King Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth were and as they did Claim his Legitimation and Title from the most Righteous Sacred and Immutable Moral Law of God and the Law of the Land and not from Pontifical Laws To speak next in reference to the Laws by which Marriage and Filiation ought to be judged which are the Laws of God and of the Land agreeing with the same I wave insisting on Ceremonies 1. Because those Laws Civil or Canon of Emperors Popes Bishops Synods or Councils of Trent or other Councils which Impose Ceremonies on Marriage are neither the Laws of God nor of the Land but Usurpations as I have already proved at large Lib. 1. p. 43. Et Lib. 1. p. 31. Et Lib. 2. p. 182 183. 2. To set any value on the Ceremonies of those Laws were to give the Supremacy of the King and Parliament and the Laws enacted by them concerning Marriage Filiation and Succession to Popes and Bishops and their Canons and thereby to give them power to Depose Kings and give or sell the Successions of Kingdoms to whom they please 3. It is cleerly and unanswerably proved in the following Discourse That the Marriage now under consideration was a Lawful Holy and Indissoluble Marriage by the Moral Law of God as declared both in Nature and Scripture To bring a Ceremonial Law therefore where the Moral is so clear were to bring a Candle to give light to the Sun Then next as to the Laws of the Land The Marriage Filiation and Succession are as clear by them as by the Law of God As 1. by this present Statute 2. E. 3. cap. 2. of Treasons as is proved at large and all Objections answered in the following Discourse 2. By the Jus Coronae which is the Common Law of the Land whereby the Law of Succession to the Crown differs from that of Succession to Subjects proved likewise as before 3. By the Law of Necessity which is not only the Law of this but of all Lands and not only of Lands but Seas The time of this Marriage being alleadged to be in a time of War when the Ceremonies of the Common Prayer-Book and it self were abolish'd and prohibited by the Predominant Power of the Sword and the place beyond Sea and in Exile 4. By Presumptions which as to Marriage Filiation and Legitimation are the Law of the Land Praesumptiones Juris de Jure for to speak truly the same are impossible to be proved by Witnesses or any other way than by Presumption as is implyed by the Common Rule Filiatio non potest probari and likewise more fully shewn Lib. 1. p. 104 105. Now the Ground and usual Presumptions of Marriage and Legitimation by the Laws of the Land and of the very Canon and Civil Laws themselves Are 1. Fame and Reputation of Marriage 2.
in the World And his Predecessors had been fresh in Memory too much turmoyl'd with the Bishop of Rome and their own Bishops and John Stratford Arch-Bishop of Canterbury sent himself though in the Head of a Victorious Army in France an Insolent Letter wherein he charged him with Violation of the Rights of the Church and Magna Charta and many other Matters and threatned to Excommunicate all his Officers Too great Affronts for so Great a Prince not to become sensible how dangerous It would be to suffer Bishops to have to do with the Marriages Filiations and Successions of Kings and thereby to put power into their hands to Depose and Dis-inherit his Successors when they pleased and William Whickham Bishop of Winchester who was Confessor to his Queen Philippa and ingratiated himself by Alice Peirce the King's Concubine An incredible Lie by a Bishop concerning John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Tinsell's Hist 78. for Money shewed after how ready they should be to Act such Feats for Alice Pierce against Sons of first Wives for out of hatred to the Famous John of Gaunt King Edward's Fourth Son for no other cause but because he was a great Favourer of Wickliff's Doctrine the Proto-Protestant of England spread a false fame on him That the Queen Philippa one of the most Vertuous Wives that ever was had confess'd to him at her Death That he was not the King's Son but that she to please the King the more who desired Sons above Daughters she being Delivered of a Daughter caused her Daughter to be secretly conveyed away and this John the Son of a Flemish Priest to be brought and put to Nurse instead of her for the King's Son A most Incredible Lie but such a one as shews what Certificates Kings Sons may happen to have from Bishops for being Favourers of the Protestant Religion It is not therefore to be imagined that it was intended by this Statute in those times the Bishops and their Mass-Books and Certificates should have any thing to do with the Lady Companion of the King or their Eldest Son The King likewise then knew that by the then Laws of the Land A King is Supreme Ordinary of his own Marriage he had in himself the Right of Ecclesiastical Supremacy and that he was the Supreme Ordinary of his own Marriage and did never therefore intend to give away his own Prerogative to Pope or Bishop who being Supreme Ordinary could Self-Marry himself and without the Bishop Certifie his own Marriage 8. Books of Canons Common Prayer-Books Banns Lycenses Priests Temples and all other Ceremonies without which Marriage is forbidden being only Mala Prohibita and the Scripture prohibits the Prohibitions themselves of these Mala Prohibita to Marriage and calls such Prohibitions the Doctrine of Devils which is already proved Lib. 1. p. 52. What is Borum in se by the Law of God cannot be made Malum in se by the. Law of Man 9. Marriage without the Common Prayer-Book and Priest being only Malum Prohibitum by the Law of Man and the same Marriage being Bonum in se by the Moral Law of God Malum Prohibitum by the Law of Man cannot make that Malum in se which is Bonum in se by the Law of God As it was Bonum in se for Daniel to pray to God though Darius Dan. 6.7 by his Decree made it Malum Prohibitum to pray within Thirty Dayes except to the King or if he had said Except by the Book of Common-Prayer or Book of Canons it had been all one And under a great Penalty of being cast into the Den of Lyons yet notwithstanding this had not nor could make it Malum in se in Daniel to pray to God without the King Common Prayer-book or Book of Canons within the Thirty Daies prohibited much Less had it been a Malum in se for Darius himself who had the Supremacy notwithstanding this Ecclesiastical Law of his own whereby he Prohibited prayer or if he had prohibited Marriage to his Subjects to have Prayed or Marryed himself in the Manner himself and not the Law of God had Prohibited 10. Priests use to Self-Sacrament themselves though they have not Supremacy without any other Priest What hinders therefore why they may not Self-Marry themselves A Priest may self marry himself seeing Popery it self could never pretend to Raise Marriage to a higher Pitch then a Sacrament 11. If Priests may Self-Marry themselves there is no Reason why Lay-men should not be allowed the same Liberty of Conscience to Self-Marry themselves without a Priest A Lay-man may self-marry himself As a King who is Supreme Ordinary may Marry himself without Ceremonies by the Law of the Land So the Subject may marry himself by the Law of God which is above the Law of the Land 12. Qui potest majus potest minus And that Act which doth perfect Marriage is greater than any Act which doth only prepare or inchoat and leave it imperfect Now it is not denyed by the Popish Casuists and Schoolmen and the Civilians and Canonists themselves But carnal knowledg only perfects Marriage if therefore a Lay-Man may self-Ly with his Woman which perfects Marriage without a Common-Prayer Book or Book of Canons after the Priest hath first had her before him by his Bell Book and Candle why may not the poor Lay-man save all his Money and Selfe Ring the Bell Selfe take the Book Selfe light the Candle or Torch Selfe contract himselfe per verba de praesenti And then Selfe lye with a Woman or do it first without acting all this impertinent Pageantry and Running Round about Church unless they would bring in again the old Pagan way for the Priest likewise to Do the Act of Perfection of Marriage The Kings of Israel and Judab The Ottoman Emperours and Subjects Self-Marry themselves without a Priest as the Indian Priests and too many of the Popish Priests do Ly with the Woman first before the Husband 13. It is very well known that the Ottoman Emperours and Subjects of their Mighty Dominions self-Marry themselves according to the Moral Law of God without Priest Temple Bell Book or Candle yet to the shame of such as call themselves by the name of Christians may it be said Their Marriages are more Chast their Filiation and Successions more Certain and no such Adulteries Fornications Stewes Brothel-houses and Poxes and Plagues and other Mischiefs thereby as those who use all these and all the Luxuriancy of Papal and Episcopal Ceremonies besides in their Marriages And of the Mischiefs came to Solyman the Magnificent by being seduced by Roxalana to break the Custome of Emperours to Selfmarry themselves to Marry her by a Priest appears at large Lib. 2. p. 245. c. Object 3 Not HIS Companion Object 3. The Third Objection is That though the Lady Mother was a Companion to the King Yet she was not HIS Companion which is the Article of Propriety
Marry again but the Priests might turn off their Courtesans if they suspected a Lay-man had been with them when they pleased So the Priest who was the Malefactor and Adulterer with the Lay-man's Wife was Judge in his own Case of the Lay-man's cause of Divorce and would not allow it if he were within the four Seas but none but himself was Judge of the cause of his Courtesans Divorce which he may do Arbitrarily and only for change at his pleasure But this Prohibition of Marriage to the Clergy nor the mischiefs thereof could not have been without Compulsion to the Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple in Marriage nor could the Canon of Trent have found any other Ceremony by the omission of which to have made all other Marriages null and void because no other Ceremony is in the Power of the Priest to compel men to or can be Testified by him against those who omit it nor can any other Ceremony be raised to so Luciferian an height as to make a Ceremonial Law of Pope or Bishop to overthrow a Marriage by the Moral Law of God But if any Priest should take a Woman and intend to make a Courtesan of her yet get her with Child And Liberty of Conscience were given to such as Marry to use such Ceremony or not use it then would this intended Courtesan deceive the Priest in his filthy bargain to have her only as a Courtesan and follow him as a Wife according to the Moral Law of God with her Children and so spoil his Trade of Confessing other mens Wives in secret and if he kept not at home only with her perhaps penance him as bad as he penanceth others For no other Ceremony designation or mark of difference could have been put between a Woman got with Child by a Priest and his Wife but the omission of this Ceremony which every Priest would omit of purpose to free himself from her and her Children when he pleased though not the Lay-men the more beast he 2 Without this Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple they could not pretend to make Marriage a Sacrament nor could the Pope pretend the Supreme Jurisdiction of Marriage whereby he presumeth to Depose Kings and Dispose of the Succession of Kingdoms 3 Without Compulsion to the Ceremony of a Priest or a Temple in Marriage the Bishop could make no Certificate against any Marriage according to the Moral Law of God to be no Marriage 4 The Theodora's could not put in Adulterous Heirs into their Husband's Inheritance at their pleasure while they are within the four Seas if their Husbands had Liberty of Conscience allowed to marry according to the Moral Law of God without the Ceremony of a Priest and Temple 5 There could be no Transubstantiation of two Persons into one Person whereby all those mischiefs insue mention'd Lib. 1. p. 66. without the Ceremony of a Priest in a Temple Of the Law by which the Law of God of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession ought to be judg'd Marriage ought to be judged by no Law except the Moral Law of God and the Moral Law by no Law but it self As to the true Law and Ordinance of Marriage by which alone the same ought to be judged It is likewise already clearly fully proved to be the Moral Law of God and therefore to avoid Repetition I refer the Reader if he please to Lib. 1. c. 8. p. 130. and for the Tables of the Moral Law Vid. Ib. p. 131. Of the Tables wherein the Moral Law of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession is written and the Witnesses and Judge thereof Commissioned by God and not by Man Vid. ib. 31 32. Of the Judges by which Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession ought not and ought to be Judged Marriage Filiation and Succession ought to be judged by no Judges except the Parents or the King and Parliament Having found the Law by which only we ought to Judge the Law of God of Marriage to be the Moral Law of God we ought next to consider by what Judge it ought not and ought to be Judged by the same Moral Law There have been mentioned before Lib. 2. c. 1. p. 137. Five Competitor Judges of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession 1 The Bishop 2 The Magistrate 3 The Soldier 4 The Parents 5 The King and Parliament 1 And it hath been shewed That the Bishop ought not to be Judge with the several Exceptions against the Abuses of Judges in their forms of Procedure both Ecclesiastical and Temporal of which vid. Lib. 2. cap. 1. 2 That the Magistrate ought not to be Judge of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession vid. Lib. 2. cap. 2. 3 That the Soldier ought not to be Judge of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession vid. Lib. 2. cap. 3. 4 That the Parents ought to be Judge in Reference to their private Patrimonies vid. Lib. 2. cap. 4. 5 That the King and Parliament ought to be Judge in reference to Publick Offices and the Succession of the Crown vid. Lib. 2. c. 5. What is not Marriage by the Moral Law of God That neither Intent Consent Sponsion per verba de praesenti nor such Sponsion by a Priest in a Temple without Carnal knowledge are Marriage but Mock Marriage Vid. Lib. 1. p. 83 84 85 86 87. What is not Matrimony by the Law of God The Civilians Canonists Common-Lawyers Divines Schoolmen and Casuists are as much out in the word Matrimony as they are in the word Marriage And all the Kennels follow with full Crys the first who but opened his mouth without the least search further and as they have thereby falsely made a Contract to Marry to be the very Act of Marriage So have they falsely made the Contract of Matrimony to be the very Act of Matrimony And this Error they fell not into by Ignorance but Fraud And the Popish Priests first took the President from the Pagan For without false naming what is not Mariage to be Marriage and what is Marriage Why Priests false named Marriage Matrimony not to be Marriage and what is not Matrimony to be Matrimony and what is Matrimony not to be Matrimony they could not have call'd Evil Good and Good Evil neither could they have perverted the Moral Law and Text of Scripture to reward Adult'ry and Fornication under the false Name of Marriage and Matrimony and punish Marriage and Matrimony under the false Name of Adultery and Fornication to their great Gains Matrimony therefore every one knows is derived from Matre a Mother Matrimony none without a Child and without a Mother there can be no Matrimony A Contract to make a Woman a Mother is so far from the Act of Performance which is Matrimony that it seems a Presumptuous and void Contract because impossible to be performed by the Contractor for though he may Contract to bye with a Woman which is Marriage and it may be in his Power to perform it yet
Wife of God's making shall by him be call'd though he false Translate Scripture for it Concubine and Whore And a Whore and Adulteress of the Bishops making shall be call'd a Wife of God's making of which Episcopal Abuses to get Money I shall only cite one Practique in Scotland and after some others in England Craig Feudorum Fo. 230. saith Memini Robertum Magistrum de Semphil Patrem Roberti nunc Principem illius familiae cùm ex concubinatu Joannae Hamiltoniae hunc ipsum filium suscepisset ei impensè faveret in Articulo Mortis cù sibi decedendum videret ad Aedem sacram se in Lecticâ deferri curaret ibique nuptiis solemniter peractis cùm domum rediisset Octavo pòst die fatis concessisse Ex quo subsequente Matrimonio licet in Lecto agritudinis in quo Decessit solemniter peracto filius antea susceptus non minùs in Haereditate successit quà m si ex legitimo Matrimonio natus fuisset I remember that Robert the Master of Semphil Father of Robert now chief of that Family when he had begotten him by his Concubine Madam Joane Hamilton and intirely loved him He being at point of Death when he saw himself past hopes caused himself to be carried to the Holy Church in a Litter and there the Ceremonies of Marriage being solemnly perform'd when he was brought back again to his House he died eight dayes after from which subsequent Marriage although in the bed of Sickness wherein he deceased the Son begot before did as Lawfully succeed to the Inheritance as if he had been begot in Lawful Matrimony And why should not the Lady have been call'd Wife but Concubine and the Son have succeeded without so barbarous a Ceremony as hurrying a Dying Man to a Priest and a Temple when he was gasping for another world to get a Wife in this an Act more proper to hasten his Death and Burial than Marriage and to have been abhorred by all Dutiful Children had they not been compell'd by the Tyranny of such Popish Ecclesiastical Laws as to the Dishonour of the two so Renown'd Protestant Kingdoms in Great Britain are Tolerated to prey worse than Death on them and their Posterity But of the false Translations of Scripture by Bishops in all other words related to Marriage see more at large Lib. 2. cap. 1. 142 ad 162. Of certain differences between a Wife of the Bishop's making and Wife of God's making which make the first neither within the Law of God nor the Statute There 's no Protestant Nation in Christendom wherein the Jurisdiction usurped by Bishops is so high and Extravagant in making other Mens Wives and Children for them as in England 1. The first difference between a Wife of the Bishop's making and of God's making is The former lets herself to Hire to him who will give most Jointure Dower or Thirds for her but the latter doth neither buy nor sell her Husband but he keeps his own and she hers both Money Goods and Lands Concerning mercenary Marriages Vid. Lib. 1. cap. 6.113 Vsque ad 118. 2. A Wife of the Bishops making hath Power to Steal and Esloigne all her Husband's Substance and to put it into the hands of his Enemies for her own use and he can have no account against her because as is already shewn Lib. 1. p. 70. The Bishop by his Sacrament of Marriage hath Transubstantiated two persons into one person but the Wife of Gods making is under account and nothing keeps a Steward Faithful but Account 3. The Wife of the Bishops making hath Power given her by the Benediction of a Priest in a Temple if she is not able her self to hire unknown persons with her Husbands Goods to Rob Beat and Disseise her Husband and Esloigne his Goods and no remedy against her But a Wife of Gods making though she hath Gods Benediction which is above the Priests hath no such power but there 's remedy against her 4. The Wife of the Bishops making hath Power to lay all her secret and unknown debts true and feigned by her Confederates and as many as she will on her husband and to undo him and no remedy against her 5. The Wife of the Bishops making hath Power by the Benediction of a Priest in a Temple to commit as many Trespasses either with Tongue or hand truly or by Confederacy with complices as often as she pleases making her husband pay Damages till undone and he hath no remedy 6. A Wife of the Bishops making hath full Power by virtue of the said Benediction to hire Adulterers with her Husbands Goods and Money to get Children to succeed to them and he has no remedy Adulteresses protected and the Son of an Adulterer made Heir before the Lawful Child of the Husband by Episcopal Certificat 7. A Wife of the Bishops making if she hath a Daughter by her Husband and Elope and run away from him with another man and hath Issue by her New Companion the Adulterer her Eldest Son this Son of the Adulterer shall be Heir to the Husbands Inheritance though he were the greatest Peer in the Land Yea though he had an Elder Daughter before of his own begetting by her As appears 7 H. 4. fo 9. Where the Case was That Julian took to Husband John de C. in the County of York and was Married at Fleetsham and the said John had Issue by her W After the said Julian Eloped and went into the County of N. and it being not Felony in those daies took to Husband W. B. and he had Issue by her W. her Eldest Son who after sued to be Heir to John and the true Heir of John objected against him the Elopement of his Mother â—â—dian and his being begotten by the Adulterer and not by John On which Justice Rikhill gives Judgment That if John were within the Four Seas at the time of the begetting of W. then W. was the Son and right Heir-Male of John The Calf his whose Cow is Bull'd by anothers Bull. And of this he giveth a good Lusty Reason For saith he who that Bulleth my Cow the Calf is mine And my Lord Coke Com. 244 doth on the Margin refer to this Authority of Justice Rikhill and agrees with him as right as a Gun and adds over That no Proof ought to be admitted to the contrary and therein I think none will Envy Justice Rikhill or my Lord Coke who I think were within the Four Seas and never out to enjoy the Liberty of Conscience in disposing their own Goods how they please But there appears no Reason why they should deny the same Liberty of Conscience to all the rest of their fellow Subjects who live within the same Four Seas to dispose of their own Goods as they think Just neither ought they by so unequal a Sentence to have given away the Successions of True and Lawful Heirs without allowing them hearing or witnesses to those who are false and adulterous And
proved at large Lib. 2. p. 234. to 240. and amount in effect to the wicked Law of Pharoah which was so far from obliging the Conscience that Moses his Parents are commended for not obeying the same as appears Heb. 11.23 where it is said By faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his Parents because they saw he was a proper Child and they not afraid of the Kings Commandment Therefore Marriage is Lawful without them Compulsion to Ceremonies makes the Law of God of Marriage of no effect Thirdly This Prescribing or Compulsion of Ceremonies by men on Marriage and Matrimony commanded by the Moral Law of God destroys and makes the same of no Effect as appears Mark 7.13 For there the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Translated Tradition making the Word of God of no effect by your Traditions ought to have been Translated Ceremonies false Translated Traditions making the Word of God of no effect by your Ceremony For the word Dosis single signifies a Giving Delivery or Tradition and Paradosis a Praeter or Contradiction to the Law of God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Contra Legem and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Contra Naturam Imposing or Compulsion of Ceremonies of Marriage on the Conscience being a thing Praeter et Contra Legem Dei And that the word Paradosis is intended here to be Ceremony appears by the Text it self vers 8. Laying aside the Commandments of God ye hold the Ceremonies of men as the Baptism of pots and cups and ver 4. as before mentioned of Brazen vessels and Tables all which no man doubts to be Ceremonies of Men and not Laws of God which though used to an Intention of Religion or Justice yet cannot make that Religious or Just which is not so by the Law of God The Compulsion therefore to the Ceremonies making the Law of God of Marriage to be of no effect Marriage must be Lawful without them Fourthly Compulsion to Ceremonies destroys Marriage Religion Justice Truth Equity Natural Affection Compulsion or Prohibition of Ceremonies in Religion Justice Marriage and Matrimony destroys the worship in Spirit and truth of God and Truth Nature and Equity towards men therefore Religion Justice Marriage and Matrimony are all Lawful without Ceremonies As to Ceremonies of Worship by a Priest in a Temple See Lib. 2. p. 210 211. As to Truth destroyed by them See Lib. 2. p. 186. to 189. and p. 288. to 305. As to Nature destroyed See Lib. 1.73 to 83. and Lib. 2. p. 154 155 156. As to Equity destroyed Prohibition of Ceremonies not Prohibited by God doth the same See Lib. 2. p. 312. to 329. And hence is to be further noted That seeing the Law of God doth neither command any Ceremonies of Marriage nor Prohibit all No Marriage ought to be Judged unlawful which doth omit such Ceremonies not Commanded or doth use such Ceremonies as are not Prohibited but every person ought to be left to his own Liberty of Conscience to omit such Ceremonies not Commanded or to use such as are not Prohibited as suits most with his Conscience and Convenience the state whereof is best known to every man's self Concerning the Liberty of which private manner of Marriage without Ceremonies or Witnesses See Lib. 1.101 to 109. And concerning Ceremonies and Circumstances and the Difference between them see more Lib. 2. p. 189. to 192. Ceremonies answer not the Ends of Marriage 7. Ceremonies answer not the Lawful and Necessary ends for which God instituted Marriage by Carnal knowledge between Persons not Prohibited Therefore Marriage by Carnal knowledge is lawful without them As the Ends for which God instituted Marriage by Carnal knowledge was 1 Gen. c. 2.18 It is not good for man to be alone I will make him a help meet for him 2 Gen. cap. 1.27 Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth 3 1 Cor. c. 7.2 To avoid Fornication Let every man have his own woman and every woman her own man What do Ceremonies were the whole heap of them used through the whole world Coacervated on two Persons signifie to produce any of these Effects 3. The Lawfulness of such Marriage by Carnal knowledge without Ceremony appears by Express Command of Scripture Carnal Knowledge without Ceremony commanded to be acknowledge Marriage by express Scripture Where the Man is commanded by the Scripture to acknowledge for his Wife whatsoever Woman not Prohibited he Lies with though without Ceremony it is Lawful for such Woman to be his Wife and the Marriage is Lawful without Ceremony But the Man is commanded by Scripture to acknowledge for his Wife whatsoever Woman not Prohibited he lies with though without Ceremonies as Ex. 22.16 It is said If a man entice a maid which is not betrothed and lie with her he shall surely endow her to be his wife If her Father utterly refuse to give her to him he shall pay money according to the Dowry of Virgins And Deut. 22.28 It is said If a man find a Damsel that is a Virgin which is not betrothed and lay hold on her and lie with her and they be found Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the Damsels Father fifty Shekels of Silver and she shall be his wife because he hath humbled her he may not put her away all his days The same Law was at Athens only instead of the Fifty Shekels the Man was to pay the Virgins Father a Thousand Drachms and Marry her besides Here are Lawful Marriages on the Virgins part yet no Ceremony And as for any Traditions or late Customs or Constitutions of Rabbi's contrary to these express Laws of Moses and Scripture they are not to be valued Such Command of God not a thing indifferent to be added to or diminished from by any Laws of Men. The express Command being Deut. 12.32 What thing soever I command you observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereto nor Diminish from it And as is said Jer. 10.3 The Customes of the People are vain And the observing the Commandments of Men against the Law of God being condemned by Christ Mark 7.9 Ye reject the Commandments of God that ye may keep your own Traditions 4. The Lawfulness of such Marriage by Carnal Knowledge between Persons not Prohibited without any Ceremony is acknowledged by Episcopal Translations themselves of Scriptures Carnal Knowledge without Ceremony between Persons not Prohibited acknowledged Marriage by Episcopal Translation of it so in the whole Scripture As Gen. 38.8 It is said Go in to thy Brother's wife and Marry her Where the Hebrew word Bo signifies Ingredere ad Go to bed to thy Brother's Wife and 25 Deut. 5. The word is Jabo and Jabbein derived from the same Root signifies Lye with her which they have Translated Marry her And Exod. 21.3 If he were Married his Wife must go out with him Where the Hebrew word Bagnal signifies one who lay with
doth he not then who compasseth his Death compass the Death of the King himself And doth not he who slanders him to be Illegitimate compass his Death 2. Because this exposeth Majesty and the eldest Son likewise to contempt by depriving both of the hopes of a Lincal Successor And this is complained of by no less a Prince than Alexander the Great who chargeth his Army as related in Curtius p. 6. Orbitas mea quod sine Liberis sum spernitur my being childless causeth your contempt of me which want of Children inheritable put him in the same condition of being despised as was he who said Isa 56.3 I am a dry Tree And the want of a Son capable to succeed him was the Ruine of so great a Monarch his Mother House and Empire his Enemies Poisoning him in the flower of his Age securely as knowing he could leave no Son of himself to revenge his Death 3. Because who affirms the eldest Son Illegitimate doth it to the intention to seize on his Inheritance and who intend to seize on his Inheritance will compass his Death as Matth. 21.38 They said amongst themselves This is the heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his Inheritance And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son Queen Elizabeth was not only declared and proclaimed Illegitimate by the Pope's Divinity but the Popish Party so far misinformed her own Father H. 8. in Matters of Law and over-wrought on the King as they compell'd him by weariness to rest on Implicit Faith in them and to declare his own Daughter Illegitimate an Error which not only he but many other Princes have been the more easily drawn into in regard by the Subtlety of Ecclesiastical and Temporal Lawyers the Laws of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession and the Comments on them have been increased to so huge heaps and confused Volumes and so many Writers of contrary Religions and contrary Jurisdictions have had their Power and Profit concerned in them as is impossible for Princes who have so many Affairs of State to look after besides to Read them over as long as they live and such faithful Protestant Subjects as have indeavoured humbly to represent the truth as to the Law of God and of the Land have been by the same Popish Party not only intercepted and Prohibited to Write or Publish any thing against but so much as to dispute the Romish as well as Turkish Alcoran of their Laws One great Example of which appears in these two great Descendents of the Blood Royal the Famous and Pious Queen Elizabeth and the Valiant and Virtuous eldest Son of the King To go on therefore in their Comparison of Suffering wrongfully 1. It may be observed that Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant and so is the Kings eldest Son a Protestant 2. Her Prosecutors were Papists so are the Prosecutors of the King 's eldest Son Papists 3. Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison Queen Elizabeth so have Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison the King 's eldest Son 4. The final Cause why Papists would have destroyed Queen Elizabeth was to seize on her Inheritance so the final Cause why Papists would destroy the King's eldest Son is to seize on his Inheritance 5. Queen Elizabeth was Innocent so is the King 's eldest Son Innocent 6. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death so is the King 's eldest Son deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death 7. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Father by the unjust Prosecution of Papists as appears 28 H. 8. cap. 7. by which Act she is declared Illegitimate to all intents and purposes and utterly foreclosed excluded and barred to Claim Challenge or Demand any Inheritance as lawful Heir to the King her Father And it is further Enacted That it shall be High Treason so much as to call the said Lady Elizabeth Legitimate yea the Act of Parliament is so furious against the poor Innocent Lady as if they desired to Destroy and Damn the Conscience of all good Protestants at once with hers and her They Enact further That it shall be High Treason to believe Oh miserable Thought it self is made High Treason the Marriage of the Lady Ann with the King her Father to be good lawful or not void Let it be left to Supreme Authority to consider how far the Papists have endeavour'd to proceed in the same Nature against the King's eldest Son 8. Queen Elizabeth might say as David saith Psal 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up So may the King 's eldest Son say the same 9. Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all this was Legitimate and lawful Heir of Blood by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion and so is Recognized and acknowledged by Parliament 1 Eliz. cap. 3. and accordingly God gave her the happy Succession to the Kingdom So the King 's eldest Son by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion is Legitimate and the next Lineal and Lawful Heres Sanguinis Heir of Blood for Jus Sanguinis is the Law of God and Nature and Jura Sanguinis as hath already been said Nullo Jure Civili divini possunt 10. It was the Interest of Queen Elizabeth when she obtained the Lawful Power to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion So will it be the Interest of the King 's eldest Son to use what lawful Power God gives him to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion against Popish Ceremonial Laws and Superstitious Religions A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against King Edward the Sixth Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son And the Sons and Daughters of the whole Protestant Clergy This Slander against the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy could not have been raised without another Slander first raised against the Marriages of the Mothers Both which are taken notice of by the Statute 5. 6. E. 6. cap. 12. which Statute making first a recital of the Stat. 2. 3. E. 6.21 of Repeal of all Laws of Man against the Marriage of the Clergy proceeds in these words viz. Yet since the making of the said Act divers evil-disposed Persons taking occasion of certain words and Sentences in the said Act comprized have and do untruly and very Slanderously report of Priests Matrimony saying That the same Statute is but a Permission of Priests Matrimony as Usury and other unlawful things be now permitted for the eschewing of greater inconvenience and Evils so that thereby the lawful Matrimony of Priests in the opinion of many and the Children Procreate and Born in such lawful Matrimony rather be of the greater number of the King's Subjects accounted as Bastards than Lawfully Born to the
great Slander Peril and Disherison of such Children which untrue slanderous report of Holy Matrimony doth not only redound to the high dishonour of Almighty God but also to the King's Majesties dishonour and the High Court of Parliament and the Learned Clergy of this Realm who have determined the same to be most lawful by the Law of God in their Convocation as well by the Common consent as by the Subscription of their Hands and that most of all is to be lamented through such uncomely Railings of Matrimony and slanderous Reproaches of the Clergy the Word of God is not heard with Reverence followed with Diligence the Godly proceeding of the King's Majesty not received with due Obedience c. Banns required to the Marriage of the Clergy Provided always That this Act nor any thing therein contained shall extend to give Liberty to any Person to Marry without Asking in the Church or without Ceremonies according to the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments nor shall make any such Matrimony already made or hereafter to be made good which are Prohibited by the Law of God for any other cause The Protestant Clergy by these Acts thought themselves as secure as they do now But Queen Mary immediatly on King Edward's Death repealed this Law and made all the Married Clergy their Wives and Children Rogues Whores and Bastards From whence may be observed 1. That a Marriage and Legitimation which is lawful by the Law of God may be wickedly Slandered by Papists and by Papal and Episcopal Laws to be unlawful 2. It hath been already shewn that the Marriages of the Lady Mothers of King Edward the Sixth and of Queen Elizabeth and of the King 's eldest Son and the Legitimation of Children were and are lawful by the Moral Law of God but the same have been Slandered and still are by the virulent Tongues of Papists 3. That these wicked Slanders of the Legitimation of the King 's eldest Son do produce not only the same evil Effects which the Statute declares to insue from the Slander of the Legitimation of the Sons of the Clergy but greater and more dangerous 4. That the final Cause why the Papists and their Laws Slander the Legitimation of the King 's eldest Son and of all the Sons of the Protestant Clergy is the same which is because they would seize on their Inheritance or Estate and divide the Spoil amongst the Papists 5. It is well known that the Inheritances and Estates of the Descendents of the Protestant Spirituallity and Clergy in which Body are included all Spiritual Persons Doctors of the Civil Law exercising Spiritual Jurisdiction Church-men Ministers all persons within Orders are great and numerous through the Three Kingdoms who will all Suffer if a relapse to Popery 6. That their Wives and their Descendents which have Married have been obnoxious ever since the Time of Reformation the first to Consiscation of their Dowers Jointures and Thirds The other to Illegitimation and thereon Confiscation of their Inheritances Lands and Goods The Law which forbid the Clergy to Marry was made by Pope Nicholas the First to wicked intents which have been before already shewn the Clergy and their Wives and Children are likewise left obnoxious to the same by the Proviso mentioned which requires Banns to make lawful the Marriage of the Clergy but they usually have none but are Married by Licences which makes them likewise obnoxious to the very Letter of the Act which if there should happen a Papist Successor he may take advantage thereof without a Repeal or Repeal the Act and so take advantage either way which he will Let not the Protestant Clergy therefore nor the Bishops be deceived or vainly flatter themselves that they can compound or lay the Obligation of an Oath or an Act of Parliament on a Papist Successor if any happen to be nor think he will lose so infinite heaps of Treasures as this point of the Marriage of the Clergy and the Illegitimation of their Descendents will by Confiscations of all the Jointures Dowers Thirds of all the Archbishops Bishops and inferiour Clergies Wives and of the Successions of their Posterities in the Three Kingdoms will bring into his Treasury Therefore certainly if a Papist Successor happen there will be no living for a Married Clergy-man in England it will be Heresie sufficient to Burn him if he is Married and a cause sufficient will be his Estate and for Provision his Wife must expect none unless like the Indian Wife she Burn with him in hope to find it in another World Queen Mary Illegitimated and Destroyed all the Wives and Children of the Protestant Clergy notwithstanding they were Legitimated by Act of Parliament They need look no further for an Example than of Queen Mary who was a Papist Successor to the Protestant Act of King Edward her Brother who though he confirmed the Marriages of the Clergy and the Legitimation of their Children by two Acts of Parliament left in their highest Vigour and Power and though she had solemnly promised the Protestants without whose help she had not probably come to the Throne that they should injoy Liberty of Conscience yet as soon as ever she obtained the Kingdom she repealed her Brothers two Acts and made Whores of the Wives and Bastards of the Children of all the Protestant Clergy Married Burnt them and Confiscated their Estates And that Pious Martyr Archbishop Cranmer who was Married was Cruelly Burnt amongst the rest 7. There is no way to preserve the Marriages and Legitimations of the Protestant Clergy their Wives and Children from the destruction of a Papist Successor but to have Protection from a Protestant Successor of the Crown and to cast off this Papal Doctrine of Ceremonial Marriage and to teach the truth of Marriage according to the Moral Law of God which is the true Jus Coronae as hath been already shewn and makes the eldest Son of a Protestant King and himself a Protestant to be of the same Interest with the Sons of a Protestant Clergy and to ingage him by God's help to be his Instrument to defend them and the Protestant Religion Liberty and Propriety to the Glory of God and Comfort of the People Can therefore any of the Protestant Clergy be so imprudent as in their Doctrine to destroy the Holy Just True Ancient Eternal and Immutable Moral Law of God of Marriage and Legitimation to bring in the Unclean Adulterous Spurious Illegitimate Injust Lying Upstart new-fangled Ceremonial Laws of Priapusses and Popes and not understand they thereby Slander their own Mothers and Wives to be Whores their Daughters to be Bastards themselves and all their Sons to be Sons of Whores and Bastards Can they be so inconsiderate as to imagine that any Slander they shall raise against the Marriages of the Lady Mothers of Queen Elizabeth King Edward or the King 's eldest Son or the Legitimations of Queen Elizabeth her self King Edward or