were since called Harlots from her name Arlotte yet we find no proof of any Inchastity in her only she could Dance Ala mede de France and if they can prove she was Guilty of any worse and were an Harlot it only makes the President the stronger that the Law and Custom at that time and Countrey was that the Duke's eldest Son though by a Woman taken without any Ceremony of a Priest or Temple ought after the Death of the Duke succeed to the Dukedom neither was this way any other Law or Custom than what is already shewn to have been amongst the Princes of the Hebrews Greeks Romans and all other Nations not inslaved by Superstition to receive the Forms of Marriage and acknowledge the Supreme Jurisdiction of them to be in the Bishop of Rome or their own Prelates or Pontiffs by which Examples it appears That by the Brittish Scottish and Norman Laws the eldest Sons of Kings by Women not Prohibited to be Married by the Law of God though not Joyned by a Priest in a Temple or any other Episcopal Ceremony yet by Right of Primogeniture they succeeded in the Governments of their Fathers Dominions It will be asked how then came the ancient Law of God and the Land to be changed concerning these matters of Marriage Filiation and Succession and the Jurisdiction to be got or pretended to be in Episcopal hands to Judge and Dispose of Marriage Filiation and Successions both to the Crown and Lay-Inheritances according to Canonical Laws and not the Laws of God nor the Land To which is answered Hugh Capet an Usurper of the French Crown to curry favour with the Pope first disinherited natural Children That as to Normandy and other the English Dominions after acquired in France as Bodin says fol. 741. Hugh Capet was the first that made a Law in France That natural Sons that is to say such whose Parents were not Married by the Popish Ceremonies of a Priest in a Temple should not be Heirs nor succeed to the Kingdom And at last strain'd his Law to that Degree of unnatural Cruelty and Folly that it was Enacted That natural Children should not be accounted natural Children which Nonsence in that time of Popery was not only followed by the French but imitated to get Money by the English and Scotish Ecclesiastical and Common Lawyers who as hath been already shewn would not admit natural Children to be Sib Kin of Consanguinity nor Children to the Father who begot or the Mother who bare them as if it had been in the Power of Hugh Capet and them to overthrow or change the Laws of God and Nature Prohibition of Marriage Sans Ceremony a French Toy to disinherit all Protestant Children So likewise by a French Decree as saith Everard p. 24. All Children born in Marriages not Blessed by a Romish Priest are made incapable to succeed to the goods of Father or Mother the Law of Capet was plotted by the French Bishops to get themselves Supremacy of disposing the French Crown which foundation of Power they commonly got from Usurpers to the intent that by their Ecclesiastical pretence of Authority they might protect a false Title and disinherit the true Heirs of the Blood Heylin in his Geography p. 186. saith That Popes strengthen themselves by unlawful Marriages of Princes and not by lawful and p. 101. Popes strengthen themselves by unlawful Marriages and Successions of Princes and not by lawful That Hugh Capet being a Prince of a strange Blood was hoysâ—d up by the People to the Prejudice of Charles of Lorrain the true Heir of France as Brother to Lotherius and Uncle to Lodovicus the last King of the Line of Pepin And p. 129. he saith The occasion why Capet was chosen and Charles of Lorain refused was this Charles Son to Lewis the Fourth King of France being left to the courtesie of his Brother and by him not regarded was by Otho the Emperor invested in the Dutchy of Lorain Anno 984. which containeth one Marquisate five Earldoms and divers Baronies The eldest Son likewise of Lorain is intitled Prince of Barry for which cause that he received Lorain from the Emperor Charles shewed himself so alienated from the French and wedded to the Germans that the French after the Death of his Cousin Lewis the First rejected him and chose Hugh Capet for their King This Charles had one Son named Otho and one Daughter called Hermingrade from her descended Isabel Wife to Phillip the Second uniting the Bloods of Pepin and Capet to the great content of her Grandchild St. Lewis who being a Man of a very tender Conscience is said never to have Joyed in the Crown of France till it was proved that by the Mothers side he was the right Heir of Charles of Lorain whom Hugh Capet had so unjustly dispossessed French and Popish Laws of Marriage seek to destroy all English Heirs and the Protestant Religion So it appears this French Law against Natural Sons was made to disinherit the true Heirs of the Royal Blood of France and to inherit the Certificate Heirs of the French Bishops and the other French Law mentioned against all Succession of the Children whose Parents at their Marriage received not the Benediction of a Romish Priest was made on Design to disinherit all Protestant Children The Law of Theodora against Natural Heirs was to Disinherit the true and Inherit adulterous Heirs The Law of Trent nulling all Marriages without a Priest and Witnesses was to set to Sale Community of Women to raise Rents out of Stews to lay a Tribute on Marriage and inslave the Successions of Kingdoms and private Patrimonies to the will of Popes and Bishops Are there any Degenerous English so much Frenchified as will impose French Laws of Succession on the English Crown Capet's Law not to be compared with the Law of Edw. the 3d. Shall Hugh Capet's Laws dare to contend with this Law of Edward the Third who beat and Conquered the greatest Navies and Armies of France and in tryal by Battel at Cressey proved his Right better to the Title of King of France than the Heir of Capet his and had the same Heir of Capet taken Prisoner in Battel by the Black Prince the Heir of this Statute Are there any so false Protestants as to introduce such Popish Laws as disinherit all Protestant Children Are there any so prophane Christians as will prefer the Ceremonial Laws of Men above the Moral Laws of God It hath been shewn thus far by the Examples of so many Kings of this Island of Great Britain that their Legitimation and Succession thereby to the Crown were by the Moral Law of God and not by the Ceremonial Laws of Romish or Brittish Bishops and none dared in Great Britain though they did in France assume the Supremacy of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction above the Royal and Parliamentary in Declaring the Successors of the Crown or if they did they were overthrown in like manner may
what not and what lyable to the Lawes of Nature Fate and Providence whereas the Laws of Fate and Nature may be Exercised both over these and over Subjects Ignorant Insensible Irrational Foolish Mad-men and deprived of all Intellect alike Secondly in regard of their ability as the Law Moral can be only Exercised on persons able to perform it but the Laws of Nature Fate and Providence over Babes new born Blind Deaf Dumb Maimed and the Dead themselves Thirdly in regard of Liberty as the Law Moral can only be Exercised over free Agents but the Lawes of Nature Fate and Providence may be Exercised over necessary Agents forced Agents Bond-men Slaves Captives Prisoners and persons in Chains and Fetters Though therefore all humane Actions are under one of these four Laws a Man is a necessary Agent as to the Law of Nature and a forced Agent to the Law of Fate and Providence and a free Agent as to the Moral Law yet seeing he may be in many things Ignorant when he is Ruled by Nature when by Fate when by Providence Not revealed to Man by which of these four Laws he doth Act in any particular Action and when by the Moral Law and consequently it may be secret and not revealed unto him when he is a necessary agent when a forced agent and when a free agent or in the more Common word when his Will is free and when Bond In this Ignorance therefore of all the other Three Secret Laws he ought to act according to the Moral Law which God hath revealed and promulgated alwaies and according to the other Three when God hath in particular Acts of his own manifested his Will in them as it is an Act of God that an Eldest Son is born who is an Infant or Minor And a Brother born who is a Major and this Act of God is good and of great Mercy but that on this Act of God Murder should be Committed or Civil Wars be unjustly Raised is Evil and an Act of Man and God is not the Author of this Sin and though no humane Law could have caused or prevented this of the Infancy of a Son or Majority of a Brother yet may and ought human Laws prevent or punish the wicked acts of men which may ensue thereon in attempts to Murder either and seeing God by his Moral Law hath Commanded Powers to be a Terror to Evil Doers it is their Duty therefore And if they neglect it the bear the Sword in vain to make Laws to prevent and punish them and not to leave Infants and Subjects Exposed in such a Wilderness of Dangers as this is of Succession because its possible Fate may destroy them notwithstanding the greatest human care and Providence may without any such care taken at all preserve them Which Stoical and Epicuraean Follies of fata regunt homines fatis agimur Cedite fatis or Res humanas ordine nullo fortuna regit or vita regitur Fortuna non Sapientia to Extend beyond their Bounds prescribed by God or to all humane Actions because ordained and permitted in some were like the Ridiculous Pagan Divinity derived from none but such Authors Not to sow because Fate may destroy the Harvest with it and Providence may give an Harvest without it Not to wear Arms in War because Fate may destroy with them and Providence may preserve without them Not to do good Works because if Predestinated to be Damn'd thou shalt be Damn'd with them And if Predestinated to be Saved thou shalt be saved without them I should not have thought this of Fate worth the objecting or answering had I not found the same Actually press'd in the most Excellent Historian and Statist that ever writ in the Isle of Great Britain for such was Buchanan out of whom I have recited it Answ 4 To the Objection of the Civil Wars between Baliol and Bruce and York and Lancaster notwithstanding the Succession of the Crown ascertained to the Kings Eldest Son Answ 4. As to the Calamities of Civil Wars which followed between Baliol and Bruce in Scotland and the Houses of York and Lancaster in England notwithstanding the Laws in both Kingdoms making the Crown Hereditary to the Eldest Son And that such Lawes did not prevent the same I Answer first As to Scotland the effect of the Law of Primogeniture could not be expected where there was no Eldest Son surviving nor on the Death of Margaret of Norway so much as an Heir Lineal Male or Female left but if there had been an Eldest Son left there is no appearance of any thing against it but the Crown of Scotland had never Returned to the Line of the Earl of Huntingdon but remained in the Line of King Alexander the Third who was the last Possessor which would have prevented all those Ten Competitors to claym from Huntingdon and consequently the Wars between Baliol and Bruce Then as to the Civil Wars in England if Richard the Second had left a Son there appears no probability that ever there had been a Civil War between York and Lancaster Besides if when there is an Eldest Son left as was by Edward the Fourth and an younger Son with him and notwithstanding there followed a new Civil War between York and Lancaster in the Persons of Richard the Third and Henry the Seventh first though this Law of Primogeniture in Succession did not prevent it And though the Law make it High Treason to Compass the death of the Eldest Son yet could it not prevent the Murder of both the Sons To which I answer That it is not to be Imputed as a fault to the Statute or Law that some wicked persons dare break it but is notwithstanding of greater use as the Statutes which make it High Treason to Counterfeit the Kings Seal or to Clip Money and Felony to Rob on the High-Way Though many have notwithstanding Counterfeited the Seal Clipt Money and Rob'd on the High-way yet are not these Statutes Useless but a great Security to the People for though there are now a few if there were no such Statute at all there would be multitudes of Malefactors Richard the Third designing to Murder his Brother's Sons first slandered them with Illegitimacy Besides as to the Particular Instance of Edward the Fourth it was his Inadvertency and indeed Imprudence to Commit the Guardianship of his Son in Minority to his Brother who thereupon forged Illegitimacy against them and Murdered them And it was done for want of such a Law of Succession as was Enacted by Kenneth the Third and Malcolme Mackenneth the Second in Scotland which according to Buchanan lib. 6. p. 191. was A Guardian by the Law of Scotland to be Elected by Parliament during the Minority of the Prince Vt Rege Impubere Tutor qui pro Rege esset interea Eligeretur vir prudentia opibus insignis qui ad quartodecimum usque Annum Regis nomine rem administraret Ad id aetatis
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
him Children both the beloved and the hated Yea it may often fall out That the Children of the first Woman may be first born and elder than the Children of the second Woman yet if the first and the Lawful man hath an eldest Daughter and the second and unlawful Woman hath an eldest Son The Son of the second unlawful and hated Woman shall succeed before the Daughter of the first Lawful and beloved Woman à Fortiore shall the eldest Son if born of the first Woman succeed Primogeniture to be in Marriage though without Ceremonies 3. Though there is no Ceremonial but only the Moral Marriage yet shall the eldest Son of the Moral Marriage inherit For it is not mentioned nor is it that the Woman who brought forth the First born should be first carried before a Priest in a Temple before the Woman who had a younger Son for that would be repugnant to the Law of Succession by Primogeniture and impossible to consist with it and the Israelites never used any such Ceremony or other But used the first Solemnity of Marriage when they used any except Sub Dio where they might see the Heavens in Memory of the Promise made to Abraham Gen. 15.5 That his Seed should be in Number as the Stars 4. 'T is to be observed That not an eldest Son by Fiction of an Husband who was within the Four Seas but the truly first begotten Son shall succeed for the words are he may not make the Son of the beloved first born but the Son of the hated which is indeed the first born so not the eldest Son by Fiction but the eldest Son indeed is here only both expressed and intended 5. That the Right of Primogeniture extends not only to Aliment for that all Children elder and younger Sons and Daughters have an equal right to But the right of Primogeniture extends in private Families amongst the Israelites to a double Portion and in Succession to Kingdoms to the whole For the words in Deut. are A double Portion of all that he hath and the words of Chro. are The Kingdom he gave to Jehoram because he was his first born 6. That the reason why a greater Portion is given to the eldest of what is Superalimentary than to the younger Children is That he is the Chief strength of the Family to defend the Father when Aged and the Children when left in Minority and the Inheritance it self when Invaded by Pretenders The words therefore are for he is the beginning of his strength the Right of the first born is his 7. That the Bishop ought not be witness of the Filiation or Primogeniture of the Son Feminine Popes if any and not Male ought to make Certificates of Primogeniture But the Matter being in the Israelites Countrey the same ought to be testified by two or three witnesses as Deut. 19.15 and more modestly by Faeminine witnesses than Per Papas mares as likewise appears by the Example Gen. 38.27 And it came to pass in the time of her Travail that behold Twins were in her womb And it came to pass when she Travailed that the one put out his hand and the Midwife took and bound upon his hand a Skarlet Thread saying This came out first and it came to pass as he drew back his hand that behold his Brother came out and she said How hast thou broken forth This breach be upon thee therefore his name was called Pharez And afterward came out his Brother that had the Skarlet Thread upon his hand and his name was called Zarah 8. That the Bishop ought not to be Judge of the Filiation or Primogeniture but the Father himself for the words are He shall acknowledge the Son of the hated for the first born which is the Natural Father shall acknowledge or Cognosce him to be his first born 9. That in Countries under Arbitrary Power and the Regal Power not limited by Laws both the Royal Issue and Nobles lye commonly under great Danger of being cut off by new Successors unless they are of the true Religion and fear God 10. That such Successors are often set on to great Cruelties by Idolatrous Wives as appears in this Example of Jehoram who as is mentioned in the Text slew all his Brethren with the Sword and divers also of the Princes of Israel And he walked in the way of the Kings of Israel as did the house of Ahab for the Daughter of Ahab was his Wife and he did evil in the Sight of God 11. That in such Countries where Religion and Laws bear not sway the more Rich and Potent the younger Sons of Princes are made the more danger they incur of losing all 1 Because the Treasury of the Crown is thereby Exhausted and Impoverished as here Jehosophat gave his younger Sons great gifts of Silver and Gold and of Pretious things The great value of which after his Death did but accelerate the Resumption of them by him who succeeded in his Throne and shewed the Truth of what is said by Solomon Eccles 5.18 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt 2 Because great Military Power is commonly joyn'd with Treasure as here appears Excess of Treasure and fenced Cities left to younger Sons of Princes commonly destroys them Together with the same he gave them fenced Cities both which many times make the Supreme fearful of such Power not only too great to be subject but greater than his own whereas if they had been left what was Moderate below Envy and above Contempt as the younger Sons of the China Emperors are and thereby enjoy more secure and happy fates than the Sons of the Grand Seignior Persian Negus and Mogul ever attain they might probably have lived and though their Brother Jehoram was wicked never had his hands embrued in their Blood Of the General Custom of Nations of Succession to Kingdoms by Primogeniture and of the Mischief and Civil Wars which have followed by Disinheriting the eldest Son Having shewn the Right of Primogeniture in Successions to Kingdoms from the Law of Nature and Scripture the same likewise appears to be generally the Custom of all Nations That the same Custom was amongst the Aegyptians as we has the Israelites is inferred by Lyra from Exod. 12.29 And it came to pass that at Midnight the Lord smote all the first born of the Land of Aegypt from the first born of Pharoah that sate on his Throne unto the first born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon And that the same Custom continued in the times of the Ptolomies appears Justin 16. So was it amongst the Trojans and Hus succeeded to Troyas as Dares to Phrygius in Lib. De Excid Tro. The same Custom of Succession to Kingdoms by Primogeniture was amongst the Persians Syrians Macedonians Parthians Cretans Rhodians Albans Romans Sicilians Goths Franks Tartars Turks English Scots Hungarians Spaniards and French and the mischiefs
it be said of all the Kings and Queens which succeeded concerning whom any Question of Legitimation was raised as for Example John of Gaunt the fourth Son of Edward the Third because he was a great favourer of the Wicklenites who were in those days most Zealous Protestants was so hated by the Bishops to whom the Doctrine of Wickliff was then terrible that the then Bishop of Winchester John of Gaunt for favouring Protestants falsly slandred by the Bishop of Winchester to be Illegitimate Confessor to his Mother Queen Phillippa falsly slander'd him to make him Illegitimate That he was the Son of a Flemming and not of King Edward though his Mother Queen Phillippa was the most virtuous Wife of a King that was then in the World and to Illegitimate his Posterity by the Lady Katherine Swinford who was a virtuous Lady and not Prohibited by the Law of God to be Married But yet never was Married to him by the Ceremony of a Priest or Temple and by whom he had Issue John Duke of Somerset Thomas Duke of Exceter Henry Bishop of Winchester and Cardinal and Joan a Daughter which Daughter and all her Brethren were sirnamed Beaufort from Beaufort a Castle which he had in France where they were all Born and in regard thereof bare the Portcullis of a Castle for the Cognizance of the Family and these four Children though they were Legitimated by Act of Parliament in the Twentieth year of King Richard the Second and made capable of all Dignities yet by Episcopal Power there was inserted Excepta dignitate Regali which did as much as lay in an Exception so much Illegitimate them to the Crown that Coke says Part 4. fol. 37. Henry the 7th dâ—riveth â—imselâ— from Katherine Swinford 〈◊〉 Maâ—…d by a Priest in a Temple The best Title of Henry the Seventh who derived himself from John de Beaufort Duke of Somerset Son of John of Gaunt by the Lady Katherine Swinford was by Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth which Episcopal Opinion of his would not have been taken for Law if he had lived in the time of H. 7. himself who notwithstanding this Episcopal Illegitimation assumed the Title of the House of Lancâ—ster as Legitimate by the Law of God Both York and Lancaster derive the Lines from Persons slander'd to be Illegitimate by Laws of Men but made Legitimate by the Law of God and descending from a Lady not Prohibited to have been Married to John of Gaunt by the Law of God In like manner the Lady Elizabeth eldest Daughter to King Edward the Fourth by the Lady Elizabeth Gray from the House of York claims was declared Illegitimate by Richard the Third because as was allâ—adged E. 4. was praecontracted to the Lady Lucy which Lady Elizabeth was her sâ—lf likewise first promised in Marriage to the Daulphin of France before she was Married to H. 7. yet was she Legitimate and her Issue Legitimate by the Law of God and succeeded United to the House of Lancaster to the Kingdom according to the same Law The same hath been before mentioned of the Lady Elizabeth More her Children by Robert the Second King of Scotland were Born before any Ceremonial Marriage of a Priest in a Temple yet were they all Legitimate by the Moral Law of God Edward the Sixth Illigitimated by Papal Laws but Legitimated by the Law of God the eldest succeeded to the Crown In like manner King Edward the Sixth was declared Illegitimate by the Pope and the pretended Ecclesiastical Laws but he was Legitimate by the Moral Law of God and succeeded to the Crown accordingly Lastly Queen Elizabeth was not only declared Illegitimate by the Pope but by the Acts of Parliament of her own Father H. 8. which is above any Declaration or Proclamation of a Privy Council Queen Elizabeth Illegitimated by Papal Laws and Act of Parliament but Legitimated by the Law of God yet no true Protestant doubts but she was Legitimate by Moral Law of God which is above all Laws and happily succeeded to the Crown according to the Law of God to the Comfort of all Protestants From which Examples and Reasons appears the truth of the Thesis before laid down 1. That the Legitimation and Succession of Kings eldest Sons born of Women not Prohibited by the Moral Law of God was never questioned by any Laws except that of Popes and Bishops 2. That Legitimate and lawful Heirs may be Born of unlawful Marriages 3. That the Moral Law of God hath always been and still is the greatest Security of Legitimation and Succession to the Crown of Great Britain and ought to be prefer'd above all Ceremonial Laws of Men. 4. Next to the Moral Law of God the greatest Humane Security of Legitimation and Succession to the Crown is either a general Act of Parliament as this is constituting and ascertaining the Heir by a General or Special Distinction or Description or when any doubt or danger ariseth by Act of Parliament Declaratory of the Particular Successor or Name That 't is High Treason by this Statute for any Subject to slander the King 's eldest Son with Illegitimacy Though Papal and Episcopal Canons have made their ordinary work to Illegitimate the most Sacred Persons of Protestant Princes who disdain to buy their Mercenary Dispensations Faculties Licences and Pardons of Popes or Bishops and particularly the most Pious King Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth And as is said Jude 8. Defile the flesh despise Dominions speak evil of Dignities yet let them know there is this Statute above all their Canons and Synods will punish their wickedness if they presume to Illegitimate any King of England or his eldest Son it seems on these Reasons 1. Because this compasseth the Death of the King himself his Father for who destroys the Kings Armies or Fleets which should defend him compasses his Death but Non legiones non classes aeque firma imperii Munimenta ac numeros Liberorum Not Legions nor Fleets equally defend a Kingdom as Children And above all Children the eldest Son All which is more authentically expressed by a great King and Souldier Psa 127.3 Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so are the Children of the youth happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the Enemies in the Gate And likewise as to the eldest Son the Scripture it self magnifies him as an high defence to the Father as Jacob expresseth of his Gen. 49.3 My first-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of Dignity and the excellency of Power And who hath Vindicated His Majestie 's Honour and Safety in Wars abroad and against Popish Plots Assassinations Pistols Poniards and Poisons at home with such Fidelity Affection Zeal Constancy Vigillancy and Valour as his eldest Son And
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
Answ 'T is acknowledged if the Declaration were to be by the Parliament Sole without the King it might possible make a Kingdom Elective but where by Law the King hath a Negative and the Declaration is not made without his Consent it is otherwise for it is sufficient to make a Kingdom Hereditary if the Law make it descendible to the King's Heirs in Case it be not otherwise by the King himself and Parliament actually disposed of which is seldom done and in Cases of Necessity But yet are they not disabled of the Power to do it when they think necessary as a private Inheritance doth not therefore cease to be Hereditary because the Owner hath Power to Give Sell Alien or otherwise dispose of it 't is sufficient if by Law it descend to his own Heirs unless he Actually happen according to Law to dispose of it from them Obj. 2. Declarations by Act of Parliament are in vain Because Acts of Precedent Parliaments cannot bind the Power of a subsequent Parliament which is shewn by divers Examples Cok. 4 Part. fol. 42. And Grotius speaks to the same intent That Kings Predecessors cannot bind Kings Successors Est autem causa Successionis non subjecta Regi nunc regnanti quod inde apparet quod Rex nunc regnans nulla lege obligare potest Successorem Successio enim Imperii non est de Jure Imperii ac proinde mansit in statn naturali quo nulla erat Jurisdictio Grot. de Jure Bell. Pacis lib. 2. cap. 7. p. 171. That a cause of Succession is not subject to the King now Reigning appears from this that a King now Reigning can by no Law bind his Successor for the Succession to Empire is not of the Right of Empire But the same remains in the state of Nature wherein there was no Jurisdiction Answ Though a King and Parliament present by declaring a Successor cannot bind a Parliament future but they may again Repeal or Abrogate such present Act of Declaration yet doth it not follow that the present Act of Declaration is vain and of no use For first Then by the same Reason it might be said that Magna Charta and the Petition of Right And all the Acts of Parliament we have are vain and of no use because future Parliaments have Power to repeal them notwithstanding which it is manifest such an Act of Declaration would be of great Use and Benefit Secondly An Act though repealable is not vain because such an Act cannot pass without the Major number of Votes which will be an Incouragement to the major number to continue their indeavour to preserve And a Discouragement to the minor part in another Parliament to attempt to repeal Thirdly Because succeeding Parliaments have a Reverence to preceding and though they have Power to repeal yet do they not use to repeal to the utmost of their Power nor can a former Act be repealed but by another Parliament which if a Protestant Successor is Declared must be called by him and he hath then a sufficient Legal Power to Exclude so far Papists from Elections of Members of Parliament as probably they will have no Power to repeal former Protestant Acts. Fourthly Subsequent Parliaments cannot repeal the Act of a Precedent quoad praeterita for which reason the whole People will act with far greater Courage both in Peace and War in Execution of whatsoever they have a standing Act of Parliament to protect them than where there is none Fifthly Such an Act doth leave the Successor and his Parliament in a Posture and Possession of Arms Lawfully to defend his own Right and the Protestant Religion both against Secret Massacres and Open Rebellions and Invasions by Papists Object 3. Acts of Parliament cannot bind the Power of the Sword or Armies in the Field Answ Though they canot bind such as are Actually Convented without raising other Armies against them Prevents though it binds not the Power of the Sword yet they may take ways both to prevent their Convention and to raise other Armies against them if Convenient and the Success must be left to God Object 4. That a Successor Declared Declaring incites not a Lineal but a Collateral Heir to Rebel and not an eldest Son but a younger wrongfully present before him may prove Rebellious or Disobedient Answ This Objection is made 28 H. 8. cap. 7. But it makes no Danger of it except only in Case it should happen to be of a Collateral Heir when the King should have no Lineal Heir of his Body Concerning which Collateral Heir only and not his Lineal These are the words of the Statute by way of Petition from the Parliament to the King And if your Grace afore it may be certainly known whether ye shall have Heirs or no should suddenly name or declare any Person or Persons to succeed after your Decease and for lack of Heirs of your Body lawfully begotten into the Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of this Realm then it is to be doubted that such Persons that should be named might happen to take great heart and Courage and by Presumption fall into inobedience and Rebellion by Occasion of which Premisses great Divisions and Dissentions may be and is very likely to Arise and Spring in this Realm to the great Peril and Destruction of us Your Majesties most humble and obedient Subjects and of all our Posterities Whereby it appears This Statute is only afraid of Declaring Collateral Heirs If there should be no Lineal Heir of the Body or they should fail In like manner Queen Elizabeth having no Lineal Heir of her Body was afraid to declare the Collateral But she declared the Natural Heirs of her Body should Succeed as appears 13 Eliz. 1. which are the next Lineal and not Collateral Heirs And the Example of Christian Princes in like manner hath been never to Scruple the Natural affection of their own Natural eldest Sons to declare them Successor after their Death for that gives them no Greater present Power than they had before The Heir as is said Gal. 4.1 Differeth nothing from a Servant So Edward the Third did not doubt to Declare his Eldest Son the Famous Black Prince his Successor by the General name of his Eldest Son in this Statute nor likewise by making him Prince of Wales to declare him by name his Heir Apparent and Successor nor did he ever the less Trust him with the Command of great Armies in France with whom he was Victorious yet did the Son so declared never presume to any higher Title than Prince of Wales nor Motto than Ich Dien I serve as if he studied how to testifie his Obedience to God and his Father and to shew that the Heir differeth nothing from a Servant In like manner did the Old Roman Emperors declare their Eldest Sons Caesars and Principes Juventis The Modern Emperors theirs Kings of the Romans The Kings of England theirs Princes of Wales The Kings of Scotland
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
Emperors of this Realm whereby hath insued great Effusion and Destruction of man's Blood as well of a great number of the Nobles as of other Subjects and especially Inheritors in the same and the greatest occasion thereof hath been because no perfect and substantial Provision in Law hath been made within this Realm of it self when Doubts and Questions have been moved and proponed of the Certainty and Legalty of the Succession and Posterity of the Crown By which Statute appears the Judgment of the King and Parliament to be That the great incertainty of the Law in points of Succession of the Crown was one great Cause of the great Mischiefs of effusion of Blood both of Nobles and Commons which insued thereby and the fittest Remedy to be the Declaration of the Successor incertain by the King and Parliament which is accordingly therefore done in the same Statute And it likewise appears that the same Doubt in Law was raised then as to Succession which is now Whether the King's Marriage and Issue by the Mother of Queen Elizabeth was Lawful and Legitimate which is Declared by this Act of Parliament that it was And H. there is first intendency there to Declared a Legitimation of the same Marriage with Queen Ann the said Mother of Queen Elizabeth And that all the Issue had and procreate or to be had procreate without saying Lawfully between the King and Queen Ann shall be his Lawful Children and be Inheritable to the Crown Then is the Crown Declared to be to the King for Life and the Remainder to be to the first Son of his Highness of his said Lawful Wife Queen Ann begotten and to the Heirs of the Body of the said first Son Lawfully begotten and for default of such Issue with divers Remainders over and make it High Treason to slander the King's Marriage in prejudice of the Heirs of the same 3. Danger of Arbitrary disposing the Crown by Rome or Canterbury 3. The other great Danger from the incertainty of the Laws of Succession besides effusion of Blood which is the Arbitrary disposing by Episcopal Sees whether of Rome or Canterbury though only Rome named unless a Successor is Declared by the King and Parliament is likewise mentioned in the said Statute 25 H. 8. cap. 22. in these words viz. By Reason whereof the Bishop of Rome and See Apostolick Contrary to the great and inviolable Grants of Jurisdictions by God immediately to Emperors Kings and Princes in Succession to their Heirs hath Presumed in time past to invest who should please them to Inherit in other mens Kingdoms and Dominions which thing we your most humble Subjects both Spiritual and Temporal do most Abhor and Detest 4. Danger of Predominancy of Papal and Episcopal Laws of Marrlage above the Moral Law of God 4. One great Cause of the incertainty of the Laws of Succession of the Crown is That Papal and Episcopal Ceremonial Laws of Marriage Filiation and Succession are tollerated in the Three Kingdoms to Usurp a Predomination not only over the Law of the Land but the Moral Law of God It is therefore necessary to avoid the Danger mention'd to proceed from the incertainty caused by Papal and Episcopal Laws That a Declaration by King and Parliament be Who shall be Successor in Particular and by Name which clears all Doubts and is the highest Security under God on which any Crown or Succession to it can depend 5. Danger to the King's Person Line and House 5. The not Declaring a Successor is Dangerous to the Person of the King and his House of which we need not look on any other Example than Alexander the Great of whom Justin Lib. 15. relates That he being desired to Declare a Successor though he had a Son called Hercules and though his Wife Roxana were Great with Child yet would he Declare neither but Will'd That he who was most worthy should Succeed which was the same in effect as if he had Will'd they should after his Death destroy one another with Civil Wars and his own House amongst them for so they did And Cassander one of his mean and not Chief Officers destroyed his Mother Olympias and all his Kindred Such was the Fate of so great a Monarch who while alive thought the World too little yet was he himself Poison'd and when Dead nor he nor his Mother nor his Children nor any of his Kindred retained any Spot but their Graves being all destroyed with him of which there appears no second Cause but his Neglect to Declare his Son Hercules his Successor who might have been a Preservative to him according to Tacitus Pravas aliorum spes cohiberi si Successor non in incerto The wicked hopes of Plots against the Possessor are Checkt if the Successor is not incertain 6. Danger of Lineal and Collateral Heirs to destroy one another 6. The Danger of the Lineal and Collateral Heirs destroying one another doth cause all those Murthers Poisoning Strangling Burning out the Eyes or perpetual Imprisonments of the Blood Royal of the Turkish Persian Aethiopian and other Eastern Kings and Emperors but that they have no Parliaments Elected by the people to Declare their Successor and to Protect the Liberty Propriety and Lives of their younger Children by standing Laws but on the Death of the old Emperor the Election or rather Sale of the Empire to the New is left to the Lawless will of the Priest or Soldier 7. The Danger if the King 's Eldest Son should die and leave Children in Minority of Guardians in Majority of Contention for the Crown between Nephews and Uncles This Danger is not so great in Scotland as in England for there as hath been already said as Buchanan mentions their Ancient Act of Parliament Enacts Vt quemadmodum Regi maximus Natu filius in Regnum Succederet ita filio ante Patrem Defuncto Nepos avo subrogaretur That as the Eldest Son of the King should Succeed to him in the Kingdom so the Son being Dead before his Father the Nephew should Succeed in his stead to his Grandfather It hath been already before shewn how dangerous Guardians Uncles are to Nephews in Minority and if in Majority all Histories witness under how great incertainty the Law is in most Nations to determin the Question which ought to be preferred the Uncle or Nephew in Succession to a Kingdom that is to say in such Kingdoms who have no Parliaments Elected by the People to establish the manner of Succession And how great Wars and Devastations have been made between Nephews and Uncles on the incertainty of the Law of the Country in that point And though in Succession to Common Inheritances in England the Nephew is by Custom preferred Jure Representationis to the Uncle and though my Lord Coke likewise in his Exposition on the said Statute of 25. E 3. cap. 2. Coke 3. Part. fol. 8. saith to be the Fitz-Eigne the Eldest Son of the King within that Statute 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
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
injoyed near Threescore years after Had Antonio been allowed equal Judges or the Law of God been the Rule of their Judgment or had he been allowed to have pleaded the Law of the Land and Custom of both Portugal or Spain for Natural Sons to succeed the Crown he needed not have looked for more Examples of Natural Children than those from whom King Philip himself derived his many Spanish Kingdoms and according to the Customs of Portugal Don Antonio a Natural Son Crowned King of Portugal Don Antonio was on the Death of Henry chosen and Crowned King of Portugal at Lisbon their chief City till Philip sent the Duke of Alva thither with a greater Army than the Portuguese had put Don Antonio to flight Overcome by Philip flyes to England whom the People had Elected King and within Seventeen Days subdued all Portugal Don Antonio thereon flyes into England where he is kindly received of Queen Elizabeth as descended of English Blood and of the House of Lancaster and having entertained him here divers years his Title of being right Heir to the Crown of Portugal is so far approved by the Queen and Council Queen Elizabeth approves his Title as right Heir to Portugal and the Protestant Doctrine That she gave leave to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake to undertake an Expedition at their own private Charges requiring nothing of her but a few Ships of War who took along with them Don Antonio the Heir of the Kingdom of Portugal and of Souldiers Eleven Thousand and of Seamen about Fifteen Hundred And setting Sail from Plimouth the Fifth day of April they arrived at the Groyne of Galizia whereof with great Valour they took first the Lower Town and afterwards the Higher and after Sailing towards Portugal they met Robert Earl of Essex who without the Queens leave had put to Sea after two days they arrive at Penycha a Town of Portugal which they took and left the Castle to Don Antonio And from thence they march by Land towards Lisbon Threescore Miles off the Foot Companies led by Norris whom Drake promised to follow with the Fleet being come to the West Suburbs of Lisbon they found no body there but a few poor disarmed Portugals who cryed out God save King Antonio The day following the Spaniards made a Sally in which Skirmish Bret Caresly and Carre three stout Commanders were Slain yet did the Earl of Essex drive the Spaniards to the very Gates of the City And now having tarried here two Days and no likelihood of the Portugals revolting which Don Antonio had hoped but was not probable that the strict hand of the King of Spain then in full Possession on them should give them that Liberty sinding fresh Supplies to come into the Town their own Army Sickly Victuals and Powder failing and what was most of all Sir Francis Drake not bringing the great Ordnance as he promised They departed from the Suburbs of Lisbon towards Caseais a little Town at the Mouth of the River Tagus which Town Drake had taken this mean while who excused his not coming to Lisbon by reason of the Flats he must have passed and the Castle of St. Julian Fortified with Fifty Pieces of great Ordnance Near this Place they found Threescore Hulks of the Hans-Towns of Germany Laden with Corn and all manner of Munition which they took as good Prize towards their Charges in regard the Queen had forbidden them to carry Victual and Munition to the Spaniard From hence they sailed to Virgo a Forlorn Town by the Sea side and Pillaging all along that Quarter returned for England having lost in the Voyage Soldiers and Marriners about Six thousand yet not so much by the Enemy as eating strange Fruit and Distemper of the Climate on which I shall only further observe That Kingdoms are not so easily got again as they are lost and that the Disinheriting of the Natural Heir of the Crown of Portugal was the cause of the seizure and Conquest by the Spaniard of that Kingdom Foreign Princes when the Successor is uncertain will stir up so many antiquated Genealogies Antiquated Genealogies used to be raked up by Foreign Princes that every one may pretend a right to the Crown and it hath been already mentioned that there were no less than Five or Six to the Crown of Portugal no less than Ten Titles Foreign and Domestick in Scotland in the time of Basiel and Bruce and no less than Sixteen in England before the Death of Queen Elizabeth and how far Papist Foreign Princes will go when they have none nearer to draw Genealogies as high as the Man in the Moon and when they have no substance to raise the Ghosts of Titles again from their old Purgatories nor Kif nor Kin to the last Possessors appears by the next Example Hacket endeavours to raise a Papist Title to the Crown Richard Hacket was sent from the English Fugitives beyond Sea in the Reign of Queen Eliz. to perswade Ferdinando Stanly E. of Derby Son to Henry newly Deceased to assume the Title of the Kingdom of England by right of Descent from Mary Daughter to Henry the Seventh and threatning him unless he undertook the Enterprize and withal concealed him the Abettor he should shortly die in a most wretched manner But the Earl fearing a Trap was laid for him revealed it and Hacket was thereon Condemned and Executed for Treason but this Fellow's Threatnings proved not vain four Months after for then the Earl being in the Flower of his Age was miserably Tormented and Vomited Stuff of a dark rusty Colour being thought to be Poisoned or Bewitched There was found in his Chamber a little Image of Wax with Hairs of the Colour of his Hair which some thought was done on purpose that men should not suspect him to be Poisoned his Vomit so stained the Silver Andirons that it could never be gotten out and his Body though put in Cere-Cloths and wrapped in Lead did so stink and putrifie that for long time none could endure to come near where he was Buried Bak. Hist 402. When good Correspondence between Queen Elizabeth and King James of Scotland gave the Papists small hopes that ever he would prove an Instrument to restore the Catholick Religion they begun thereupon to bethink themselves of some English Papist that might succeed the Queen but finding none of their own Sect a fit Person they fixed their thoughts on the Earl of Essex who always seemed a very moderate Man and him they advised to have some right to the Crown by Descent from Thomas of Woodstock King Edward the Third's Son But the English Fugitives were for the Infanta of Spain English Fugitives seek to seâ— up a Title for the Infanta of Spain and to exclude all Protestants from the Crown and desiring to set the King of Scots and the Earl of Essex at odds they set forth a Book which they Dedicated to Essex under the Name of Doleman but