Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	brother_n	henry_n	son_n	3,295	5	5.0732	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28444	The oracles of reason ... in several letters to Mr. Hobbs and other persons of eminent quality and learning / by Char. Blount, Esq., Mr. Gildon and others.	Blount, Charles, 1654-1693.; Burnet, Thomas, 1635?-1715. Archaeology philosophicae.; Gildon, Charles, 1665-1724.; H. B.	1693 (1693)	Wing B3312; ESTC R15706	107,891	254

and she proves faithful to him he must during five years abstain from the Communion which shews that the Bond of Matrimony still remains inviolable and as we have already said in those Canons which are called Apostolical whosoever marries two Sisters or his Brother's Daughter is only forbid to be Priest which is indeed as near as possible to the words of the Canon set forth by Ioverius in his Collection of Ecclesiastical Constitutions A. D. 1555. Clas p. 3. Apostolorum Canon 18. Qui duas sorores duxit aut Consobrinam Clericus esse non potest Whoever has married two Sisters or his Neece must not be a Priest Now that these ancient Canons retain their Validity is apparent not only from the practice of the learned and judicious Grotius as well as other eminent Civilians who appeal to their Authority but they likewise receive confirmation and encouragement from the Laws of our own Nation it being Enacted 25 H. 8 19. That all Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial not repugnant to the King's Prerogative nor to the Customs Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom shall be used and executed till such time as they shall be otherwise order'd and determined Now upon these preceding Authorities some Queries may be offer'd As 1. Whether the 99th Canon Eccles. Angl. and the Table set forth 1563 concerning the prohibited Degrees of Marriage do not derive their Force from the Sacred Writ so that they are not to be understood or extended farther than the Scriptures do plainly direct 2. Whether the Energy and Force of Levit. 18.18 be not grounded upon the Reasons contain'd in the Text so that cessante Ratione cessat Prohibitio 3. Whether if the Marriage of two Sisters one after the other be not positively against the Law of God it be not adjudg'd lawful and confirm'd by the 32 H. 8.38 4. Whether the Solution of Iustinian in the like Cases of Affinity viz. Privign● Nurus in the first Book of his Institutions Tit. 10. de Nuptiis Paragr 6. be not properly applicable to Levit. 18.18 Si una tibi nupta est ideo Alteram Vxorem ducere non poteris quia duas Sorores eodem tempore habere non licet 5. Whether if any of the Canons Eccles. Angl. be dubious it be not proper and convenient to consult the ancient Canons for Explanation and Illustration 6. And lastly Whether upon these preceding Considerations to marry two Sisters Alteram post Alteram be malum vetitum Lege divin● and so sinful forô Conscientiae and such Marriage void or only inconvenient and obnoxious to Ecclesiastical Censures and Penalties which the Ecclesiastical Court may either inflict or commute Now to conclude with this first and principal Objection Whether it be a Sin against the Levitical Law I shall only make three short Remarques 1. That there are many other Laws in Leviticus that are no more abolish'd by Christ than this of Marriages which yet are wholly neglected and no ways look'd upon as obligatory 2. Many doubt Whether any of the Laws given to the Iews in particular are binding to other Nations excepting only those revived by Christ which this of Marriages never was 3dly and lastly 'T is worth our observation that when the Question was put to Christ by the Sadduces about the Wife that had been married to seven Brethren tho' 't was a common practice among them and he had so fair an opportunity offer'd him yet he never reproves the Custom of one Womans marrying several Brethren but answers only to the plain Question as 't was put That at the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in Marriage Now since he did reprove and abolish all their other evil Customs it may well be suppos'd he thought not this so or otherwise he would have condemn'd it with the rest As for the second Objection That such a Marriage would be against the known Laws of the Land and therefore dangerous to you both I have sufficiently answered this already as likewise the third and last Objection since as well the Statute Laws as Honour and Conscience in this case do wholly depend upon the Legality of such a Match according to the Law of God which point I think has been pretty well clear'd by what has been said before But for the better illustration of the matter I will present you with a short view of the Original and Foundation of these Laws The Statute Laws of this Land never meddled with the Degrees of Kindred in relation to Marriages till Henry the eighth's time which happen'd thus Prince Arthur eldest Son to Henry the 7 th married Katharine the Infanta of Spain in November 1502 but on the second of April following the Prince dyed whose Death says Dr. Burnet was imputed to his using too great an excess in his Love towards her So that it is not likely he left her a Maid as some would have it After which the Princess having watch'd ten Months to see that she was not with Child by Prince Arthur she was married to her Husband 's youngest Brother afterwards Henry the 8 th by whom she had two Sons and one Daughter Mary since Queen of England the two Sons dying young and only his Daughter Mary surviving Now Henry the 8 th growing weary of his Queen as thinking he should have no more Children by her desired a Divorce and then tho' he had be●n married many years by and with the Advice of Fox Bishop of Winchester and several of his chief Clergy he first pretends a scruple of Conscience for being married to his Brothers Wife the Pope nor Church would not allow of his scruple in that kind nor grant him any Divorce but chose rather to forfeit their Interest in these Kingdoms however King Henry's Lust prompting him to make use of any shift to obtain his desires he bribed some few Members among the foreign Universities to give him their opinions● that the Marriage was unlawful and a Divorce but reasonable which accordingly his Commissioners executed in a Clandestine manner at Dunstable After this the Parliament who during his Reign were aw'd into a compliance with him in all things being for the Pope's Supremacy when ever he was for it and as much against it when he was against it made a Law 32 H. 8. ch 38. in compliment and confirmation of his Divorce and second Marriage limiting all Marriages to the Degrees of the Levitical Law so that we see this Law was made not of any Religious or pious Consideration whatsoever but only to serve a turn and gratifie the Lust of an imperious Prince And one consideration further is worthy our Notice viz. that this very Princess Mary was afterwards allow'd and approv'd of by the Judgment of the whole Nation and of all Christendom besides to be undisputably the right and Lawful soveraign Queen of England and so lived and dyed notwithstanding the said Act of Parliament and Divorce to which Title and Dignity she could no

less an Honour for a Country to be so well represented in Parliament as ours is by you Foreign Courts have no better a taste of the Wisdom and Grandeur of their Neighbouring Princes than from the Ambassadors they send nor● can any thing be a greater Testimony of the Loyalties Prudence and Integrity either of Country City or Corporation than the Election of such Magistrates as are both Loyal Prudent and honest who like your self have no other Intrest but the true service of their King and those whom they represent as well maintaining the Prerogative of the one as supporting the Liberty of the other wherein as by the King's Prerogative I mean not his single Will or as Divines pretend a power to do what he list only the King's Law or a Law relating particularly to himself so likewise by the Peoples Liberty I mean not the Licentiousness of a Mobb but only a Liberty according to Law whereby we might assert our Rights and maintain our Freeholds which Liberty has been too lately in danger of being devour'd not so much by Foreigners and Papists as by our own Natives and those too who have the Impudence to call themselves Protestants even without blushing I mean our late Regulators of Corporations and Surrenderers of Charters in the two former Reigns upon whose account it is that I presume to give you this present trouble as hearing it will be the next Business upon which your House designs to fall and hope the Offences are not so long past but that Parthian like you may yet shoot back some punishments upon the Offenders since 't is but reasonable that they who mortgaged the Kingdom in the last Reign should pay the Intrest of their Crimes in this Therefore Sir with submission I do humbly conceive that to make the Church of England concern'd in the preservation of the late Regulators of Corporations or surrenderers of Charters is one of the greatest Indignities can be put upon her and something like reviving the old Popish Law of Sanctuaries making her once more become as it were an Asylum or place of Refuge for the most notorious Malefactors Pardon me if it be an Error to joyn ●hese Regulators Surrenderers together I do but imitate Nature herein and am unwilling to make a separation between the Arm that gives the strength and the Hand t●at gives the Blow The Charter of each C●rporation was the undoubted Right and F●eehold of the same as well as of every ●ndividual Member of the same where●●re he that had any hand in Surrendring or delivering up such a Charter did what in him lay to betray nay to rob the people of their Inheritances And if the Church of England can be supported only by such ill men the Lord have mercy upon her if a Father of a Family has one Son that proves an Extravagant and sells his Birth-right may not that Son be disinherited without a total Ruin to the whole Family I hope the Church of England has many more Sons and many better Friends to stand by her than those who were concern'd in so foul an Action● And that it does not follow by consequence If we seclude all ill men from the Government none but Fanaticks would be left in No I will not I cannot do so much honour to that Party as to admit of such an Objection Of how great importance an honest impartial and duly elected House of Commons is to this Nation every Body well knows and the ill effects of the contrary I think is unknown to no body My old Lord Burleigh us'd to say We can never be throughly ruin'd but by a Parliament They may cut the Throats of us and our Posterity by a Law whereas all other Arbitrary Acts of Violence or Tyranny in a Prince will either vanish by his Death or blow over with every adverse Gale of Fortune that attacks him And this undoubtedly was well known to those Instruments in the last Reigns who were so zealously affected for the regulating Corporations that they would not have left one man amongst them who should not Iurare in Verba Magistri have done as a Popish King and his Popish Councils had dictated to them So that I confess I cannot but couple these Regulators or Surrenderers together with those Judges and other Gentlemen of the Long Robe who were for the Annihilating and Dispencing Power Since these were the only sort of men who in those times laid the Ax to the Root of the Tree These were the men that were to have hewn down our Government and burnt both it and us in Smithfield Fire These were the men tha● should have plunder'd the Rights of each Corporation and then like so many Catalines to secure the Ills that they had done by doing greater still have sent up such Members to Parliament such Representatives such truly Representatives of themselves as should have confirm'd their own Iniquities by a Law in so much as the honest Subject of England was at that time but like a Traveller fallen into the hands of Thieves who first take away his Money and then to secure themselves take away his Life They Rob him by Providence and then murder him by Necessity The Casuists as one observes do well distinguish when they say He that lies with his Mother commits Incest but he who marries his Mother does worse by applying God's Ordinance to his Sin In like manner He that commits Murder with the Sword of Justice aggravates his Crime to the highest Degree As these Gentlemen of whom I have been speaking would have done in making the Government Felo de se and ●●cessary to its own Ruin Sir all that I can say of this matter is 〈◊〉 certainly never was a greater Rape 〈◊〉 upon any Government and there 〈◊〉 doubt not of your Intrest to have the Delinquents brought to a Condign Punishment for the Exemplary Benefit of future Ages which that they may be is the hearty desire of SIR Your most obliged humble Servant BLOUNT Possibly Sir a motion of a General Punishment may produce a General Pardon wherefore it will be the surest way to rest satisfied with making Example of some few of the most notorious and Capital Offenders And further that all Persons how obnoxious soever in this case who yet refus'd to take away the Penal Laws and Test might be exempt from any Punishment whatever that at the same time you reprove an ill Action you may reward that which was good To Dr. R. B. of a God I Have perus'd your Arguments for the proof of a Deity but think that you undertook a needless trouble since I 'm confident there 's no man of sense that doubts whether there be a God or no. The Philosophers of Old of the Theodorean sect that had spent all their time and study to establish the contrary as a truth when they came to dye confuted all their Arguments by imploring some Deity as Bion in particular I know not whether the Idea