Exercise of the same for the Publick safety 1 In regard the Entail being made to the Eldest Son by Act of Parliament the same declares that what is given by Act of Parliament may be taken by Act of Parliament and that every former Act inacted may by a latter Act be repealed according to the known Rule Vnumquodque dissolvitur eodem modo quo conflatum est Secondly according to the General Examples of Acts of Parliament amongst which nothing is more common than for later Acts to change the Entails of the Crown made by former Acts. Thirdly This Power of Parliaments is expresly declared by Act of Parl. 13 El. 1. still in force by which it is enacted that to affirm that the Laws and Statutes do not bind the Right of the Crown and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Governance thereof is High Treason Fourthly All the Reason alledged of the Antient Custom of New Election of the Successor on every Descent is only lest the Eldest Son should happen to be an Infant or otherwise unfit for Government that the Parliament might choose the fittest which here is satisfied in the Eldest Son who is above all exception known to be the fittest who can be chosen Fifthly though this reserve of Power remain naturally in Parliaments to repeal and change former Acts concerning Succession by new Acts when there is just and necessary cause yet it is necessary likewise there should be a praevious Act to mark out the Heir in whose name the Parliament shall be called to declare the Succession or Guardianship if he happen to be an Infant And what if after a King happens to die there happen a Rebellion or Invasion which makes it impossible to assemble a Parliament will it not be a great safety to the People that a standing Act of Parliament hath before hand appointed the Successor to take care of the Kingdoms till he can call a Parliament to give their assistance therein There is nothing therefore can be justly excepted against these two Acts of Parliament of England and Scotland for ascertaining by Law the Eldest Son to be Heir to the Crown The excellency of the two said Acts of Parliament of England and Scotland which ascertain the Succession of the Crown to the Kings Eldest Son But it were a great unthankfulness to the Providence of God to undervalue such Laws whereby all Accidents are obviated Questions and Doubts resolved and Objections answered by so few words as two Lines in each and the Peace of Succession preserved in Great Britain for so many hundred years which in other Empires and Kingdoms cannot be effected without those horrid Murders of Younger Brothers by Elder or Elder Brothers by Younger of lineal Heirs by collateral or collateral Heirs by lineal of Sons by Fathers or of Fathers by Sons whereby Civil Wars Devastations and Ruines of Kingdoms have ensued and that the want of such Statutes or the Breach of them have been causes of these Evils and Enjoyment of them hath been the Cure will I hope appear in the Objections and Answers following Objections first against the not being of the Kings Eldest Son within these Statutes answered Object Obj. 1. That the Lady his Mother was not a Queen therefore the Kings Eldest Son is not within the Statute Answ Statute false translated in the word Queen Answ To this the answer is easie and clear that the word Madame sa Compaigne are falsly translated our Lady his Queen and ought to have been translated our Lady his Companion which is proved by the Reasons following 1. Because 't is manifest sa Compaigne signifies not the word Queen in specie but any Lady Companion in general 2. Because it is manifest the makers of this Act of Parliament intended not to restrain their several meaning onely to a Queen for they knew Royne was French for Queen as well as Roy for King and if they had intended so could have more certainly and easily said Compas le mort nostre Seignior le Roy sa Royne than Madame sa Compaigne 3. Because at the time of making this Statute the famous Black Prince being the Eldest Son to Edward III. was married to Joan Daughter to Edmund Earl of Kent and had Issue by her Richard of Bourdeaux after King of England and none doubts but it was the intention of the King Edward III. who passionately affected his Grandchild Richard that in case the Princes Wife should happen to die in his life time whereby she should not have been a Queen but that notwithstanding if the Black Prince had happened to have survived him which he did not and been King his Eldest Son Richard should have benefit of this Statute 4. It would have been made doubtful by the Bishops who usurped then the Papal Supremacy over Princes of giving or refusing to give them Coronation when they pleased whether the Kings Wife should be titled Queen if the Bishop refused her Coronation Ralph of Canterbury refuseth to Crown Adeliza Queen unless he should first discrown the King as Ralph Archbishop of Canterbury did to Adeliza the second Wife of H. I. unless the Kings would suffer him to pull off the Crown first from the Kings head and new Crown him in acknowledgment that the Supremacy of the Coronation Office belonged to Ralph the Archbishop Bak. Hist 43. Touching which Office of Coronation of Kings and Queens that it belongs to Parliaments and not to Bishops and that David himself was both crowned and anointed by his Parliament and not by the Priest is shewn lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 169 c. 5. The Law of Saxons and Scots that no Wife of a King should be called Queen Because the Title of Queen was then under Envy and doubtful whether not against the antient Law both of England and Scotland the same not appearing to have been repealed by any Act of Parliament Bak. Hist fol. 6. saith a Law was made by the West Saxons that no Wife of a King should be called a Queen fol. 8. that it was so rigorously observed that when Ethelwolph had married Judith the Beautiful Daughter of the Emperour Charles the Bald in honour of whom in his own Court he ever placed her in a Chair of State with all other Majestical Complements of a Queen contrary to the Law of the West Saxons made to avoid the great Expence of Treasure incident to great Titles and Ceremonies and against other inconveniences and so much displeased his Lords thereby that they were ready to have Deposed him but were prevented by his death not long after Buchanan Rev. Scot. 407. takes notice of this Law and says Saxones lege caverunt ne ulla deinceps Regis Vxor Regina vocaretur aut in sede honoris in publico Regi assideret And 406. mentions the like Law in Scotland Quas Reginas alii suo quisque sermone nos Regum uxores appellamus nec altioris fastigii nomen ullum in iis agnoscimus
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
both in England and Scotland sought to dishonour him with the Name of Nothus for by that name Buchanun Rerum Scot. 175. Stiles him and says Praerat omnibus Anglorum copiis Athelstanus Edwardi Nothus And in the same manner other Writers yet was neither the name nor the thing any bar of his Succession to the Kingdom but he was thereto prefer'd before his younger Brother Edmund whom Papal Laws made Legitimate and accordingly he was Crowned by Athelmus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury at Kingston upon Thames And proved after the most Heroick Victorious Prince that the English ever had before the Conquest for he conquered both the Danes and Scots confederated against him and Subdued the whole Island Edward the Son of Edgar Legitimate per Jus Coronae Ethestede for her excellent Beauty sirnamed the White was a Virgin and not Prohibited by Law of God for King Edgar to Marry but he neglected or despised Pontifical Ceremonies and begot on her without them his eldest Son Edward for which Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury injoyned him seven years Pennance which he underwent for the Fact After Edgar Married Elfrida the only Daughter and Heiress of Ordganus Duke of Devonshire with the Ceremonies of the Church and made her his Queen and likewise Contracted with her That her Children should be Heirs to the Crown and had Issue by her two Sons Edmund who died young and Ethelred who survived him Edgar dies Note here are all the Objections made against the succeeding to the Crown by Edward which are now made and more for here is an Heir by Marriage-Covenant opposed against the Natural Heir Queen Elfrid excepted against the Succession of Edward the eldest Son That his Mother was no Queen nor Wife Married according to the Ceremonies of the Church and that he was therefore Illegitimate That she her self was King Edgar's Queen and Wife whom he Married Solemnly according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church and that by his Marriage-Covenants he bound himself That her Children by him should be Successors to the Kingdom That therefore her Son was both the Legitimate Heir and Heir by Covenant and thereupon drew divers Lords to be of her Party and the two Sons are both produced before the Council assembled to demand their Rights But while the Council sate to Debate the same Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury came in with his Banner and Cross and not staying for dispute of the Title presented Prince Edward the eldest Son as next right Heir to the Crown and their lawful King and the Assembly consisting most of Clergy-Men drew the Approbation of the Rest whereupon Prince Edward was Admitted and Crowned King being but Twelve years old by Archbishop Dunstan at Kingston upon Thames Anno Dom. 975. and so continued till about Three years and Six Months after King Edward Hunting in the Isle of Purbeck not far from Corf Castle where his Mother-in-Law Queen Elfrid with his Brother Ethelred were then Residing he out of his Love to both would needs go to visit them where the cruel Step-mother out of Ambition to make her own Son King caused one to Stab him in the Back with a Knife as he was Drinking a cup of Wine on Horseback at his departing who feeling himself hurt set Spurs to his Horse thinking thereby to get to his Company but the wound being Mortal and he fainting through loss of so much Blood fell from his Horse and one foot being intangled in his Stirrup he was thereby ruefully dragged up and down and lastly left Dead at Corf Gate in Commiseration of which untimely Death he was ever afterward called Edward the Martyr On which may be noted 1. That notwithstanding the Mother of Edward was no Queen Notwithstanding she was never Contracted nor Married by the Rites and Ceremonies of the then Church Notwithstanding Elfrid was a Queen and solemnly Married by all those Rites and Ceremonies notwithstanding the Kingdom was by Marriage-Covenant setled on her Issue by King Edgar Notwithstanding Ethelred appeared with a Company of Lords Competitors Notwithstanding the accompanying of Edgar with Elfred was through Romish Superstition thought so unlawful as not to be Expiated under seven years Pennance Yet the same Archbishop Dunstan who imposed the same on the Father laid none on the Son but he and the Clergy declared him the Right and Lawful Heir by which they did implicitly confess and acknowledge That the Moral Law of God of Marriage and not any Ceremonial Law of Man is the immutable Law which ought to Govern the Succession of the Crown 2. The opinion of the Possession of the Crown to purge all Treason from him who commits it hath been a great incouragement to the committing of the same 3. That Princes disinheriting the Children of the first Wives and entailing their Kingdoms to the Children of the Second destroying thereby their own Houses 4. That none are more Cruel to the Children of the first Mothers than Step-mothers which it seems makes all Poets so out of Charity with them that they never mention them without some odious Epithet of Injustae mala dirae ferae terribiles Novercae and defame them with Stabbing Poisoning and Witchcraft Pocula si quando Saevae infecere Novercae Miscueruntque herbas non innoxia verba Virg. Georg. 2. When Cruel Step-mothers Poys'ning the Cup Add Herbs and Spells for Right Heirs to drink up I find but one kind of Step-mother excepted by Horace as not apt to be Guilty of these Practices which is she that neither brings Portion nor expects Jointure particularly of the Getick Women of whose Chastity and good Nature he thus writes Illic matre carentibus Privignis mulier temperat innocens Nec dotata regit virum Conjux nec infido fidit adultero Dos est magna parentium Virtus metuens alterius viri Certo foedere castitas Et peccare nefas aut pretium mori The innocent and kind Step-mothers there The Orphans Motherless to hurt forbear And not with Portions o're their Husbands rant Helpt by the Gay adulterous Gallant Vertue is Portion great and Chastity Strange man to touch more fearing than to Die 5. That where Marriage by the Ceremonial Laws of Men is preferr'd before a Marriage by the Moral Law of God this makes way for all Murders by Step-mothers of the Children of first Mothers of which see likewise the Example of Roxalana before related at large Lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 245. William the Conqueror succeeded to his Natural Fathers Dukedom his Mother never Married by a Priest in a Temple William the Conqueror was the Son of Rollo Duke of Normandy by Arlotte a mean Woman whom he made Sa Compaigne or Sociam Thalami without any Ceremonies of a Priest or Temple she was a Person how mean soever yet not Prohibited by the Law of God for him to Marry and though some slander her in hatred to her Son as if by some Lightness of hers all such as were of that Trade
truth in what the Flatterers of Kenneth boast that by this means the Govetousness and Slaughters of Kindred are avoided Neither are the Treacheries of Guardians less to be feared to the Children of Kings left in Minority than of their Kindred wherefore now the Tyrant being fallen who Ravished our Liberty let us valiantly resume the same and his Law Enacted by force and assented to by fear if it be a Law and not rather a selling us for Slaves let us abrogate and repeal the same and Restore again our Ancient Fundamental Laws which brought forth this Kingdom of nothing and from so small beginnings not only advanced to such an height as is inferiour to none of our Neighbours but when cast down hath again raised the same to its former Strength and let us imbrace the present opportunity while it offers it self which if once Elapsed we may in vain seek again The People are by this perswaded and the Twelfth day after the Funeral of Kenneth he is chosen King Anno Domini 994. And was after Slain in Battel in the Town of Vaumond in Louthian in the Second Year of his Reign And though Milcolumbus or Malcolm the second Son of Kenneth the Third who was so tormented in Conscience for Poysoning the first Son of his Brother Duffus to get an Act to Intayl the Grown to his own Posterity made no Conscience to kill Grinius another Son of the same Duffus in Battel Malcolm Son of Kenneth revives and confirms the Law making the Kingdom hereditary and having by the Success gotten the Power of the Sword into his hand in the Same manner as his Father Kenneth had by force Enacted again by force confirmed at the Same Scone by Parliament the Act of Intayl of the Crown to the Issue of Kenneth Buchanan 196. Yet doth Buchanan the same Historian p. 200 201 censure this Act of changing the Ancient Law of Election by Parliament of the Brother or any other person more fit than the Son to be Injust Imprudent and Infortunate Objections against the Reviver 1. Injust 1. Injustice Because he saith Italex enervat vires consilij publici sine quo nullus Legitimus dominatus potest consistere Such a Law enervates the Strength of Parliaments without which no Lawful Government can be for all Government is either by Conquest or Contract As to Conquest there is none demanded or acknowledged on Such a Title As to Contract there can be none without a Parliament who are the Representative of the People to contract for them 2. Imprudent â— Imprudence Because Propinquorum in eos qui Regno potiuntur insidias et Regnantium adversus eos quos et natura et lex voluit â—â—ique esse Charissimos suspitiones nesarias quas narrationis or do Exphrabit tot priorum Seciâ—â—orum clades cum illis collatae calamitatibus quae Alexandri tertij interitum sunt consecutae Leves prae ijs tolerabiles videri possunt The Treacheries of Kindred against those who enjoy the Kingdom and the wicked Suspitions of those who Reign against them who by the Bonds of Nature and Law they ought to esteem most dear as this discourse in order shall declare And the Slaughters of so many former Ages compared with the Calamities which hereby followed the death of Alexander the Third were light and tolerable Note Alexander the Third began his Reign Anno Domini 1649. he Married first Margaret Daughter to Henry the Third King of England by whom he had Alexander the Prince David and Margaret who married Hangonamus or as some call him Ericus Son to Magnus 4th King of Norway who bare him a Daughter commonly called the Maiden of Norway The Maiden of Norway had United England and Scotland if she had lived Skene And concerning this Lady of Norway saith Buchanan Lib. 8. p. 241. Edvardus Anglorum Rex gnarus suae sororis neptem Regis Norvegiae filiam unam Ex Alexandri posteris esse superstitem Eandemque Regni Scotorum Legitimam Heredem Legatos ad eam deposcendam filio suo in Scotiam misit c. Edward the First King of England knowing his Neice the Daughter of the King of Norway to be the only Remaining Issue of Alexander the Third and Lawful Heir to the Crown of Scotland he sent his Ambassadours into Scotland to ask her in Marriage for his Son They when they Argued much in the Publique Gonvention of the Publique Benefit which would ensue such Marriage they found the Minds of the Scots not Dis-inclined from that affinity for Edward was a man of great Courage and of great Power and Ambition of greater And the glory of his Valour in the Holy Warr while his Father was alive and in Subduing Wales after his death shone bright Neither could they ever Remember the Scotish and English name to have been nearer Conjoyned than under the Last Kings Neither could old Hostility be more Commodiously abolished then if there were an Union made of both Nations upon Honest and Equal Conditions The Marriage was therefore Readily Assented unto and Conditions added by Mutual assent of both That the Scots should so long use their own Laws and Magistrates till such Children should be born of the same as were able to Reign And if none should happen to be procreated or being born should dye before their Lawful age Then the Kingdom of Scotland should go to the next of the Blood-Royal Things being thus Agreed Michael or as others mention Daevid Wemes and Michael Scot two Knights of Fife of great Repute for their Prudence with their Country in those Times were sent Embassadors to Norway but they because Margaret for that was the Young Ladies Name dyed before their Arrival returned home sad and nothing done by whose immature death there arose such Controversie as vehemently shook England and almost destroyed the Name of the Scots For to go on with the History as he and other Writers Relate it not withstanding this new Act of Intayling the Crown Ten Competitors arose to the Crown of Scotland notwithstanding the Act of Reviver making the same hereditary there arose Ten Competitors for the Succession Erick King of Norway Florence Earl of Holland Robert Bruce Earl of Anandale John de Baliol Lord of Galloway John de Hastings Lord of Abergaveny John Cumyn Lord of Badenair Patrick de Dunbar Earl of March John de Vesey Nicholas de Hues William de Ross All or the most part of them alledging themselves descended from David Earl of Huntingdon Younger Brother to William King of Scots and Great Uncle to the late King Alexander But the Principal and most Potent Factions which contended were that of Balyol and Bruce On which saith Sir Richard Baker Hist 96. broke out the Mortal Dissention between the Two Nations which consumed more Christian Blood and continued longer And the Wars between the Factions of Baliol and Bruce then any Quarrel we read of ever did between any Two People in the
ea Vxor seu foemina ejus siebat Before the Law given saith he to Moses if a Man had met a Woman in Publick and both he and she agreed to Marry he lead her to his House and when no witnesses saw them he lay with her in private and so she was thereby made his Wife or which is the same his Woman And that this amongst the Ebrews was a Lawful Marriage without any witnesses or Ceremony as well after as before the Law of Moses appears by the Scripture it self and the very Books of Moses Of which take the Texts in order as follows Gen. c. 2.18 And the Lord God said It is not good that the man should be alone I will make him an Help meet for him Gen. 1.27 So God created man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him Male and Female created he them And God blessed them and said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth Gen. 2.24 A man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave unto his Female and they two shall be one flesh Gen. 4.1 And Adam knew Eve his Female and she Conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the Lord. Gen. cap. 5.1 This is the Book of the Generations of Adam In the day that God created man In the likeness of God created he him Male and Female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day that they were created And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a Son in his own likeness after his name and called his name Seth. Gen. c. 6.1 And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth and Daughters were born unto them That the sons of God saw the daughters of men That they were fair and they took them females of all which they chose And Vers 4. There were Giants in the Earth in those days and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bare Children unto them the same became mighty men which were of old men of Renown Of this Vid. Lib. 2.150 Gen. 16.3 And Sarai Abrams Wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt Ten years in the Land of Canaan and gave her to her Husband Abram to be his Wife and he went in unto Hagar and she Conceived And Vers 15. And Hagar bare Abram a Son and Abram called his Son's name which Hagar bare him Ismael Gen. 38.8 Go in to thy Brother's Wife and Marry her Exod. 21.3 If he were married his Wife must go out with him Numb 12.1 Because of the Ethiopian woman he had Married 1 Chron. 2.21 And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the Father of Gilead whom he married when he was Threescore years old and she bare him Shegub Isa 62.5 For as a young man marries a Virgin so shall thy children marry thee Gen. 20.3 As Translated in Latin by Mr. Selden de Jur. Nat. Gent. p. 573. God came to Abimilech in a dream by night and said unto him Behold thou shalt die because of the female whom thou hast taken for her male hath lain with her Ex. 22.16 If a man intice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her he shall surely endow her to be his Wife if her Father utterly refuse to give her to him he shall pay money according to the Dowry of Virgins Deut. 22.28 If a man find a Damsel that is a Virgin which is not betrothed and lay hold on her and lye with her and they be found Then the man that lay with her shall give unto thee Damsels Father fifty shekels of Silver and she shall be his Wife because he hath humbled her he may not put her away all his days Deut. 21.13 Concerning the Marriage of a Captive Woman taken in Wars it is said Thou shalt go in unto her and be her Husband and she shall be thy Wife Mat. 19.3 The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him Is it lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause And he answered and said unto them Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them Male and Female and said For this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Female and they twain shall be one flesh Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh What therefore God hath joyned together let no man put asunder They say unto him Why did Moses then command to give a Writing of Divorcement and put her away He saith to them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your Wives but from the beginning it was not so Deut. 24.4 Her former Husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his Wife after she is defiled 1 Cor. 7.28 If thou marry thou hast not sinned and if a Virgin marry she hath not sinned 1 Tim. c. 4.1 Now the Spirit speaketh expresly That in the later times some shall depart from the Faith Giving heed to seducing spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking lies in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats Mat. 19.9 According to the Original Greek is Whosoever shall put away his Woman except it be for carnal Vncleanness and shall marry another committeth Adultery 1 Cor. c. 7.2 To avoid Fornication Let every man have his own woman and every woman have her own man Let the man render unto the woman Due Benevolence and likewise the woman to the man The woman hath not Power over her omn Body but the man and likewise also the man hath not Power of his own Body but the woman And Vers 9. It is better to marry than to burn 1 Tim. 2.15 She shall be saved in Childbearing if she continues in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety 1 Tim. 5.14 I will therefore That the younger woman marry bear Children On these Foundations therefore premised Of Acts of Parliaments Laws of Nations and above all the Moral Law of God in Scriptures and in Nature if the Lady Companion in this Statute as is said Cant. 8.9 Be a wall we will build upon her a Palace of Silver and Prove That Carnal knowledge between persons not Prohibited by the Moral Law and Chastity and Childbirth of the Woman without Contract Banns Licence Witnesses Priests Temples or any other Ceremony is a Marriage and Matrimony De Facto De Jure Lawful Holy and Indissoluble according to the Law of God First therefore granting there can be no Marriage or Matrimony De Jure where there 's none De Facto for a Modus Entis cannot be without an Ens an Accessary without a Principal nor an Accident without a Substance It is proved on what hath already been shewn That here is a Marriage and a Matrimony De
Illegitimate alike how he pleaseth for Filiation and Legitimation The Power of Alienation by the Father of the Goods neither Legitimates or Illegitimates the Child are Jure naturae and Jura Sanguinis and Jura naturae sunt immutabilia and Jura Sanguinis nullo Jure Civili divini possunt Upon the whole I conclude that were there no other Example but this it utterly overthrows all manner of Objections whatsoever can be invented against the Right of Primogeniture and makes ridiculous all Popish Fictions of Illegitimation The Marriages of the Kings of Judah and Israel and all the Ebrews might be Copulatione without Ceremony Godw. Antiq. Selden As to the Laws of the other Nations besides the Hebrews first to touch on the Greeks Jus Coronae of Greece as to Legitimation Eustatheus on Homer concerning Teucer who was a Natural Son affirms That whosoever is born of a Prince is lawfully Born and so Teucer was held in as great Esteem as any other and injoyed his Inheritance for as Servius saith in Greece Consuetudinis Regiae fuit ut Legitimam Vxorem non habentes aliquam licet Captivam tamen pro Legitima haberent ut Liberi Ex ipsanati succederent The Common Law of Greece was That if a King had not a Lawful Wife any Woman he had a Captive Slave should be accounted Lawful and his Children by her should be his Successors So this was the Jus Coronae of Greece though it was otherwise as to Succession amongst the Subjects Children for they had only a Filial Portion of a Thousand Drachmae which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not Illegitimated or left without Portion Amongst the Roman Emperors there was no such thing ever heard of as Illegitimation of the Emperors Children Jus Coronae of Great Britain as to Succession differs from the Law of Succession as to Subjects till the Papal and Episcopal Laws overtopt the Imperial nor any such thing ever heard of except falsly Translated amongst the Kings of Israel or Judah or in the whole Scripture nor in the Ottoman Empire nor in any Nation except where Popes and Bishops have set their foot and as to the Jus Coronae of Great Britain as 't is well known the same is necessarily in many things as to Succession different from the Common Law of Succession to the Subject So it is as well known that neither the Romish nor Brittish Bishops have dared though they have Usurped on the Subjects to invade the Legitimation of the Crown in Great Britain and if they have as in the famous Prince Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth it hath been fruitless First Constantine the Great was the Natural Son of Constantius Sorus by Helena a Brittish Lady who is called his Concubine and whom after the Birth of his eldest Son the said Constantine he repudiated and after Married Theodora the Daughter-in-Law of Maximinianus the Emperor yet Constantius Clorus dying here in Britain his eldest Son Constantine the Great without Scruple made by any succeeded his Father in the Government of Britain and all other Western Provinces belonging to his Father's share of Empire in Scotland Gillus Nothus Gillus Nothus succeeded to his Father Evenus notwithstanding that false name of Nothus cast on him by the Romish Episcopal Laws contrary to the Law of God which Evenus was a Wife and a good Prince yet he never contracted the Mother of his eldest Son Gillus by the Ceremonies of a Priest or Temple yet was this in a time of Christianity and not of Paganism for Donald was the first Christian King of Scotland Anno Domini 199. which was long before Gillus Buch. Rer. Scot. 103. Et Skene in his Table of Kings Robert the Second of Scotland Robert the Second of Scotland Elizabeth More and Eufemia a good and peaceable Prince for those Atticbules doth Skene in his Table of Kings give him took to him according to the words of this Statute to be the Lady his Companion Elizabeth More the Beautiful Daughter of Sir Adam More his Subject without any Ceremonies of Priest or Temple and had Issue by her John Robert and Alexander after he deserts Elizabeth and Marries her to Giffard a Nobleman of Louthean And by the Ceremonies of a Priest and a Temple Marries Euphemia the Daughter of Hugh Earl of Ross and had Issue by her Walter after Earl of Jearne David after Earl of Athol and Euphemia after Married to James Douglas after Euphemia the Queen dies and much about the same time Gyford dies King Robert resumes Elizabeth and Marries her by the Ceremonies of a Priest and Temple as appears by Buch. Rer. Scot. p. 107. where he saith that after the Death of Euphemia Robertus non tam impatientia Coelibatûs quam Amore filiorum ex Elizabetha Mora prius Genitorum ipsam Vxorem duxit hanc enim eliganti forma Adami Mori illustris Equitis filiam adhuc adolescen◠vehementer amarat Ex eaque tres filios duas filias susceperat eamque Gifardo viro nobili in Lothiana curaverat collocandam verum sub idem fere tempus Eufemia Regina Gifardo Elizabethae Marito Defunctis Rex sene vetere consuetudine Morae inductus sive quod a multis traditur ut filios quos ex ea genuerat Legitimos faceret matrem eorum sibi Matrimonio junxit filios statim divitiis honoribus auxit Johannes natu Maximus Carictae Robertus Tinchi◠Alexander Buchaniae Comites sunt facti adjecta etiam Badenach nec munificatione Contentus Comitiis ad Sconam indictis obtinuit ut praeteritis Eufemiae Liberis in Rege creando gradus aetatis observaretur Whence may be observed 1. That the Sons of a Lady born before any Marriage of her with the Ceremonies of a Priest or Temple succeeded to the Crown of Scotland 2. That she was a Lady not Prohibited by the Law of God for the King to Marry 3. That she was the Daughter of a Subject 4. That the Subsequent Marriage by the Papal Law signified nothing for no stress is laid on it but the Confirmation and Declaration of the Successors sought from the Parliament 5. Though there were other Sons born of Euphemia the Queen who was Ceremoniously Married by a Priest in a Temple yet the Parliament thought just to pass by her Sons and to settle the Succession on the Sons of Elizabeth Athelstanus Nothus Legitimate per Jus Coronae Athelstan was the eldest Son of King Edward the Elder before the Conquest by a Lady his Companion to whom he was never Contracted by the Ceremonies of a Priest in a Temple but a Lady not Prohibited by the Law of God to have Married King Edward had after him five younger Sons by two Wives whom he had Ceremoniously Married by a Priest in a Temple and died after his Death notwithstanding the fourth Son of King Edward by one of his Episcopal Wives was left alive and notwithstanding the Priests and others
in Holland which shews Protestants better than their words to Papists That what was not provided for by the Constitutions of their Government was so in a very great degree by the Connivance of their Officers who upon certain constant Payments from every Family suffer the exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in their several Jurisdictions as free and as easie though not so cheap and avowed as the rest This I suppose hath been the reason that though those of this Profession are very numerous in the Country amongst the Peasants and considerable in the Cities and not admitted to any Publick Charges yet they seem to be a sound piece of the State and fast-jointed with the rest And have neither given any Disturbance to the Government nor exprest any inclinations to a Change or to any Foreign Powers either upon the former Wars with Spain or the latter Invasions of the Bishop of Munster Of all other Religions every man injoys the free exercise in his own Chamber or in his own House unquestioned and unespied And so far they appear to be free from all Penal Laws of Recusancy and from all Penal Oaths and Penal Tests to rack and punish the Conscience That as the same Author farther mentions p. 205 it is hardly to be imagined how all the Violence and Sharpness which accompanies the difference of Religion in other Countries seem to be appeased and softned here by the general freedom which all Men enjoy either by Allowance or Convenience nor how Faction or Ambition are thereby disabled to colour Ambitious and Seditious Designs with pretences of Religion which have cost the Christian World so much Blood for this last Hundred and fifty years No man can here Complain of Pressure in his Conscience of being forced to any publick Profession of his private Faith of being restrained of his own manner of Worship in his own House or obliged to any other abroad and whoever asks more in point of Religion without the undisputed Evidence of a particular Mission from Heaven may be justly suspected not to ask for God's sake but his own since pretending to Soveraignty instead of Liberty of Opinion is pretending the same in Authority to which consists chiefly in Opinion Let here any Papist shew a reason why in Holland Papists do not live more happily under Protestant Laws Papists in Holland live more happily under Protestant Governors than ever they did before under Papists and Protestant Governors than they did there under King Philip or here in England under Hen. 8th who were Papist Governors and their Episcopal Jurisdiction and then he may pretend a Papist Successor better than a Protestant Of Destruction inevitable to Protestants if the Assuming the Crown by a Papist Successor Male is not prevented by the King and Parliament by declaring a Protestant Successor IT is already shewn how dangerous a Papist Successor is to Papists themselves though there were no other reason in it but that 't is impossible to lay any Obligation of Conscience on him or of Promises Covenants or Oaths But if it be dangerous to Papists it must needs be totally destructive to Protestants if he will break Oaths to his own Papists what will he do to those whom he calls Hereticks and Protestants The Doctrine of his Bishops and Priests is sufficiently known that Fides non est servanda cum Haereticis and the horrid Practicks of that Diabolical Doctrine against Protestants is fitter to be writ in Blood than in Ink and the number of Protestants destroyed by the Papists perjury are innumerable and to touch farther on the same principles it is to be noted That the Pope and his Cardinals have this Proverb Mercatorum est non Regum stare Juramentis It is for Merchants and not for Kings to keep their Oaths Pope Vrban the Second made an ungodly Decree That an Oath is not to be kept with an Excommunicated person Let all the Protestants of England consider by what Oath they think to bind a Papist Successor who have stood Excommunicated by the Pope from Generation to Generation an Oath on a Papist is like a Collar on a Monkey which they will as easily slip which makes Pascentius scoff at the Invention of the Oath of Allegiance for Men of his Religion All which shews that his Holiness his Cardinals and Jesuits are in the Judgment of the Judicious Poet all Atheists Sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponunt Et nullo credunt mundum Rectore moveri Natura volvente vices lucis anni Atque ideo intrepide quaecunque altaria tangunt And these are the Men according to Aristophanes Queis nec fides nec ulla firma Pactio est Minthanes the Persian General charged the like on the Romans that Romanis promittere promtum est promissis autem quamquam Juramento firmatis minime stare Anno 1308. The Pope promised the French King Aid to obtain the Empire but underhand writ and wrought all he could against him Naucler Francis the First the French King bound himself by an Oath to the Emperor Charles the Fifth for performance of Articles but for Money he easily obtained from Pope Clement the Seventh an Absolution from his Oath Sigismond the Emperor having granted Letters of Safe Conduct unto John Hus and Jerome of Prague but by the Bishops of the Council of Constance who decreed that no Faith was to be kept with Hereticks he was perswaded to break his Faith and cruelly to Burn those Martyrs after which time the said Emperor never prospered in any thing he took in hand he died without Issue Male and his Daughters Son Ladislaus died also Childless whereby in one Age his name was quite extinct and his Empress became a dishonour to the Royal place she held and God's Judgments justly followed him for his Perjury Philip the Second of Spain took an Oath when he came to the Government of the Vnited Provinces not to increase the ancient Number of their Bishops who were then only Three and not to change their Church and Laws from the state wherein he found them but the Pope and the Spanish Bishops ruled him to break his Oath and to add Fourteen new Bishops to the Three old to bring in the Inquisition amongst them to cut off the Heads of the Protestant Nobles and Massacre the Protestant People in part of the Execution of which the Duke of Alva going with an Army to Naerden in Holland was peaceably admitted into the Town and himself and his Souldiers feasted by the Burghers after which he commanded them and the rest of the Inhabitants to go into a certain Chappel where they should be made acquainted with such Laws as they were to be regulated by but when they thus Assembled he sent his Souldiers to Murder them without sparing any one The Men were Massacred the Women were first Ravished and then Murdered the Children and Infants had their Throats cut Clark's Martirol 265. like those Heathen Cruelties described by
in England or Scotland makes the Children either of Papist or Protestant born of Marriages not prohibited by the Law of God Illegitimate Therefore all Children born of Marriages not prohibited by the Law of God are Legitimate by the Law of the Land for though some Penal Laws have been by Pontifical pretences procured which have presumed too far to prohibit contrary to the Divine Ordinance Marriages and Meats not prohibited by the Law of God yet none but the Pope and Council of Trent who in their Luciferian Pride pretend to power above God's Law ever transgress'd so far in these Kingdoms as by such penal Laws to null or make void such Marriages or to Illegitimate their Children or though they imposed penalties on the Parents to impose any on the Children as may appear by the Statutes 3 Jac. 5. for England prohibiting Popish Recusants to Marry otherwise than by a Minister lawfully authorized in some open Church or Chappel according to the Orders of the Church of England And the Act Car. 1. Par. 2. Sess 2. Act 8. fol. 88. for Scotland prohibiting any to Marry in another Kingdom without the Banns first proclaimed in Scotland And that the Omission of Ceremonies contrary to a penal Law neither Nulls the Marriage nor Illegitimates the Issue Vid. proved before Lib. 1. p. 110 111. 7. Frustra probatur quod probatum non relevat It were time mispent to prove Ceremonies which when they are proved prove nothing to the Matters in question which are a lawful Lady Companion as intended by this Statute and an eldest Son by her of the Blood of King Charles the Second the rightful present Possessor of the Three Kingdoms and of the Blood and of his two special Predecessors King Edward the Third of England and King Fergusius of Scotland as to which Probation of the Ceremonies of a Marriage proves nothing of the Truth or Lawfulness of the Marriage for many Ladies have been Married with all the Ceremonies the Priest could lay on them yet have their Marriages been utterly unlawful and prohibited by the Law of God nor do they prove the Truth or Lawfulness of the Lineal Blood derived from the Possessors or Predecessors As for Example The Kings of Sparta were to be of no other Blood but of the race of Hercules these were Married with all the Ceremonies accustomed in that Kingdom yet did not those Ceremonies preserve the Chastity of the Queen from being so over-familiar with Alcibiades her Husband 's ingrateful Guest and whom he had hospitably entertain'd when fled from his own Country of Athens but he having got her with Child boasted when he was gone from thence that he had left Heirs of his Blood to the Kingdom of Lacedaemon So Henry of Spain Anno Dom. 1459. having Married his Queen with all the Ceremonies accustomed in that Kingdom but being unable himself perswaded her to be got with Child by Bertrand of Guttua Joan thus gotten is proclaimed Heir but refused by the people Bertrand is made Earl of Ledesma and Duke of Alburquerk Sp. Hist Canutus the Dane Married here in England Algine who was Barren she to oblige the love of her Husband feigned her self with Child and packt one that was Suppositions on her Husband King Canutus was very joyful of his supposed Son and called his Name Sweno and after gave him the Kingdom of Norway Philip the Second of Spain was Ceremoniously Married to Queen Mary for whose being with Child as was supposed a Day of Publick Thanksgiving was kept and the Bells rang with Joy through all England but as is said King Philip was Jealous of the like Issue with Canutus what had the proof of the Ceremonies of Marriage been to the purpose to prove Adulterous Children to be of the race of Hercules or Henry or such as had been Suppositions of the Danish or Spanish Races 8. It were a Dishonour to the Holy Protestant Religion and the Professors thereof to be able to Establish the Lawfulness and Validity of their Marriages on no more Sacred Principles than Ceremonies of so unclean an Original as Popes Common Prostitutes Magicians Aruspices Astrologers Southsayers Priests of Priapus and Venus Pagan Gods and Goddesses and Daemons themselves as is already proved Lib. 1. p. 43 44.51 52. Then as to Witnesses It were an unnecessary Tempting of God to cast what is not the cause of a single person but of all the Protestants in the Three Kingdoms on the hazard of such Witnesses as the Probation of Ceremonies Thirty years since and in a Foreign Catholick Country will require for it is certain the Bishops and Magistrates of that Countrey are Papists and therefore no equal Witnesses may be had thence but such as may think it is Meritorious to overthrow the Protestants right or wrong and the same Danger is of Witnesses at home obnoxious to as great Temptations of Papists here whose Religion is not to keep Faith with Hereticks as they call Protestants whereby they may as is commonly practised be corrupted with Money either in a counterfeit manner to offer their Testimonies and when they have Sworn to Recant and Reprobate themselves whereby the Truth shall be betrayed or a greater Number of false Witnesses be Suborned to Swear against the Truth then may be got to Swear for it whereby the Truth shall be destroyed or such Judges may be as will hear no Witnesses but such as are right for the turn whereby the Truth will be suppressed of which Popish practices too much hath appeared fresh before our Eyes in the Examination of the late Horrid Plot. Therefore no Prudence to give them opportunity to do the like or worse by joyning Issue with them on the Impertinent point of Ceremonies of Marriage wherein only they are able to corrupt Witnesses But it is more secure to stand on the points of Substance of Marriage according to the Law of God which are these viz. Cohabitation Conjugal Society Chastity Children and acknowledgment of them by the Father to be his of which God's Providence hath provided so many Witnesses as will be in vain for them to Suborn or Corrupt false Witnesses to the contrary Besides if Witnesses may be had yet alive after Thirty years time yet they may Die or be Poison'd or otherwise made away when known before they come to Hearing or so terrified that they will not dare to testifie the Truth why then shall all be put in danger by Ceremony when Substance Places all in Security and it were an injust thing Three Kingdoms should be hazarded on the Lives of two or three Witnesses To speak at last in reference to the Judges and Court by whom this Marriage ought to be judged which ought to be only by the King and Parliament both as to the Fact and the Law for as to both the same as alleadged being made beyond Sea in a Foreign Catholick Country not under the Jurisdiction of the King and Parliament nor where his Writ runneth The Archbishop of
Canterbury cannot be sent unto to certifie because it was made Beyond-sea the Foreign Catholick Bishop cannot be sent unto to certifie because he is out of the Jurisdiction And besides by Acts of Parliament all Foreign Certificates and all other Foreign Acts of Jurisdiction from the Bishop of Rome or any other Foreign Bishop ought not to be admitted here besides no Foreign Witness can either be Summon'd to appear here or to be examin'd there So as to the Fact of Ceremonies were they never so many at the Marriage they are impossible to be brought to an equal Tryal or Probation here and the Ceremony that 't was in a Church consecrated by a Bishop for as Coke says no House can be a Church without such Consecration which is impossible to be Sworn by any Witness For none but God can make place or time Holy and not a Bishop there remains therefore nothing which ought or can as to the Fact of Marriage be proved here but the Substance of Marriage which is Cohabitation Conjugal Society Chastity and Children which are Notorious and need no Foreign Witnesses Then as to to the Law of the Ceremonies the Protestant Ceremonies of Marriage are by the Law in a Catholick Country Heresie and forbidden The Catholick Ceremonies are forbidden here These Ceremonies therefore in a Foreign Marriage can neither be judged here by the Law of the Catholick Country because it concerns Inheritance which lyes in England nor by the Law of England because the Fact was done in a Foreign County it ought therefore only to be judged by the Moral Law of God which judgeth according to Substance and not Ceremonies and is the Universal Law of all Nations and Countries 2. It were impertinent to prove Ceremonies before a Parliament because the same being a Court of Equity ought to judge according to Trust and Intention of Marriage though the Witness of Ceremonies are Dead and Writings lost or burnt whereby any verbal Promise or Ceremonial form of Words cannot be proved 3. God forbid the Representative of the People in Parliament whom they have intrusted with all they have in Matters of such infinite weight should be so Ludicrous as to cast away the safety of the King's Person to Extinguish his Lineal Blood to Destroy the Religion Liberty Propriety and Lives of all his Protestant Subjects in the Three Kingdoms on such Toys as that there are no Witnesses to be got to prove Ceremonies of Verba de Praesenti or With my Body I thee worship or to Swear that the Ring was Gold and not Brass or that it was put on the fourth Finger and not on the fifth or not on the Tumb but on the Finger 4. It is impertinent to prove Ceremonies in a Court of Equity especially in the Supreme Court of Equity which a Parliament is who ought to judge Right Secundum aequum Bonum without any regard to Ceremonies as to make Estates good without Livery of Seisin Attornment Inrolement Fine Common Recovery or the like so likewise ought they to judge without any regard of the Ceremonies and Formalities of Pleadings according to the Truth and Merits of the Cause yea they ought not only to judge without but contrary to all Ceremonies and Formalities if they find them Estopples to Truth and Bars to Equity yea contrary to the Law it self if they find it Summum Jus. 5. In this very point of Legitimation the High Court of Parliament ought to judge according to Truth and Equity though contrary to all Ecclesiastical Laws and contrary to all Episcopal Certificates as appears by Coke expresly Part 4. fol. 36. where he saith The Parliament may Bastard a Child that is by Law Legitimate viz. Begotten by an Adulterer the Husband being within the four Sees as Rot. Parl. 5. Et 6 E. 6. in the Marquess of Winchester's Case and may Legitimate one that is by Law Illegitimate and born before Marriage that is without the Ceremonies of Marriage And this may be done Absolutely or with Exception of which later way take one Example for many John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster had by Katharine Swinford who was not Married with the Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple four Children Slander'd in those Popish Times with the Name of Illegitimate viz. Henry John Thomas and Joan and because they were Born at Beaufort in France they were vulgarly called Henry de Beaufort c. After at a Parliament holden 20 R. 2. The King by Act of Parliament in the form of a Charter doth Legitimate these three Sons and Joan the Daughter with an Exception which is Excepta dignitate Regali which shews that the King and Parliament may when they please Legitimate according to the Moral Law of God and not only without but contrary to Ceremonies And though they shall not yet is the Legitimation by the Law of God above that of all Humane Laws And though a Right thereby Dormit aliquando yet Moritur nunquam as appears in Henry the Seventh who long after derived his Title from John de Beaufort Duke of Somerset the second Son of John of Gaunt by Katharine Swinford who was only Married according to the Moral Law of God and without the Ceremonies of a Priest and a Temple notwithstanding the Exception in the Act R. 2. Excepta dignitate Regali for what that Act denied him a later Act gave him and before he Married with the Lady Elizabeth the Daughter of Edward the Fourth and Heir of the House of York the Crown was by Act of Parliament intailed to Henry the Seventh and the Heirs of his Body and indeed all Settlements of the Crown by Act of Parliament both in the House of York and Lancaster are in themselves Legitimations without any naming the word where there hath been any Scruples concerning the same and though there have been none are the surest and most undisputable Titles of Successors and of the greatest Advantage to the Possessors which is visible in the Examples of the Kings of England and Scotland the greatest part of whom have made use of Acts of Parliament though their Titles have been unquestionable Upon the whole it seems not possible for any Title of Succession to be more clear both in Divinity Law and Equity than the present except by Act of Parliament wherein the Person is particularly named which is only wanting to make known to others what the same is already in it self And to declare by a particular Act what is already declared by this General Act of E. 3. And all other the General Laws of God and the Land before mention'd WILL. LAWRENCE THE CONTENTS OF The Third BOOK CAP. I. THe words of the Statute 25 E. 3. cap. 2. De Proditionibus as in the Original French Page 1. The Statute of Kenneth 3. and Malcolm Mackenneth 2. concerning the Succession to the Crown of Scotland as related by Buchanan Page 2. Objections against these Statutes made chiefly by Buchanan himself and the Policy of them in
making the Crown Hereditary to the Eldest Son answered ibid. Objections against the being of the King 's Eldest Son within the Statute of 25 E. 3. cap. 2. De Proditionibus Page 20. Obj. 1. That the Lady Mother was not a Queen ibid. Answ 1. The Statute is false Translated by the Lawyers and the Scripture false Translated by the Bishops in the word Queen ibid. Answ 2. Proved that the Lady Mother was Madam sa Compaign according to the Moral Law of God which is all and more than is required to be proved by the Statute ibid. Obj. 2. No Marriage according to the Mass-Book in the time of E. 3. nor by the Modern Common Prayer-Book or Book of Canons Page 23. Answ 1. No Marriage by any Book required by the Statute but only a Lady Companion according to the Moral Law of God Page 24. Answ 2. Marriage by the Common Prayer-Book not Necessary in a time of War when both Books of Common Prayer and of Canons were Prohibited and Abolished by the Power of the Sword ibid. Answ 3. The Legitimation of Children by the Law of God and of the Land ought not to be question'd after the Death of either Parent where not Judicially question'd and sentenced in their life-time Vid. Praeface Page 25. Answ 4. Not Necessary for a King who is Supreme Ordinary to Marry by the Common Prayer Book or Book of Canons Page 26. Answ 5. A King who is Supreme Ordinary may dispence with his own Canons and with any thing that is only Malum Prohibitum in his own Marriage but not with what is Malum in se by the Moral Law of God Page 28. Obj. 3. The Lady Mother was not HIS Companion which is the Article of Propriety required by the Statute Page 32. Answ She was HIS and he had the sole Propriety according to the Law of God and the Land Page 33. Obj. 4. There was no Marriage according to the Law of God Page 34. Answ 1. Certain Preparatory Considerations are laid down before the contrary is proved to this Negative By what Law and what Judges shall be judged what is the Law of God by which is after proved here was a Marriage according to the Law of God ib. Answ 2. Of the damnable Effects have followed by the Popish Prohibitions and Nulling of all Marriage not made by a Priest in a Temple Page 35. What is not Marriage by the Moral Law of God Page 39. What is not Matrimony by the Moral Law of God ibid. Answ 3. The Statute requires neither a King De Jure nor a Lady Companion De Jure nor a Son De Jure but only De Facto yet are they all here both De Jure and De Facto Page 40. Dangerous to leave the Succession of a Kingdom on so incertain a word as Lawful yet here both the King the Lady Companion and the Son are all Lawful ibid. Answ 4. A Lawful Successor may be of an unlawful Marriage Page 41. Obj. 5. The Lady Mother was not a Wife according to the Scripture Page 42. Answ 1. The Objection is false and it is after proved she was a Wife according to the Scripture ibid. Answ 2. The Statute requires no Wife according to Scripture but only a lawful Companion yet was she both a Wife and a lawful Wife according to Scripture as will hereafter be proved Page 43. Answ 3. The Bishops have falsly Translated the Scripture in all words relating to Marriage ibid. Of certain Differences between a Wife of the Bishop's making and a Wife of God's making Page 46. Obj. 6. There is no Bishop's Certificate to testifie the Marriage and Filiation Page 48. Answ The Statute requires no Certificate of either ibid. The Forms of Bishops Certificates Page 49. Their Original came from the Priests of Priapus Page 50. Of the Damnable Mischiefs insue from Tryal of Marriage and Filiation by Bishops Certificates ibid. The Certificates of Bishops inconsistent with the Right of Primogeniture Page 58. Of the General Custom of Nations of Successions to Kingdoms by Primogeniture and of the Mischiefs and Civil Wars commonly follow the disinheriting of the Eldest Son Page 62. What is Marriage and what Matrimony de Facto Page 66. What is Marriage De Jure according to the Law of God and of the Nations Page 67. Of the three Lawful Marriages amongst the Romans 1 Usu 2 Confarreatione 3 Coemptione Page 68. Of the three Lawful Marriages amongst the Hebrews 1 Copulatione 2 Coemptione 3 Instrumentis ibid. That Carnal knowledge Chastity and Childbirth between a Man and a Woman not prohibited by the Moral Law to Marry makes a Marriage Lawful Holy and Indissoluble without Banns Licence Priest Temple or any other Ceremony whatsoever Page 71. That the Marriage Coemptione Confarreatione or Instrumentis was not intended by Christ but only the Marriage Copulatione Page 86. An Epithalamium on the Marriage of Nature intended by Christ without a Priest or Temple Page 88. Obj. 7. The King 's Eldest Son is not the Heir intended by the Statute Page 90. Answ Proved he is the Heir both in the Letter and Intention of the Statute ibid. That to compass the Exile or Disinheriting of the King 's Eldest Son is High Treason Page 94. Obj. 8. By the Custom of Nations the Succession goes not to the Eldest Son born when the Father is only a Prince but to a younger Son born when he is a King ibid. Answ This Statute was made to prevent incertainty of this and other Customs and prevent all Cavils and Contentions about Succession by ascertaining the same to the Eldest Son Page 95. Obj. 9. The King 's Eldest Son is not yet declared Prince of Wales or of the Scots ibid. Answ The Statute requires no such thing Page 97. Obj. 10. Illegitimacy deprives of the benefit of the Statute ibid. Answ This Statute declares every Eldest Son of a King Legitimate and Heir to the Crown ibid. The Eldest Son of a King of Great Britain is Legitimate by his Birth-right per Jus Coronae ibid. Examples of the same Jus Coronae in other Nations Page 100. Examples of the same Jus Coronae in the Eldest Sons and Daughters of the Kings of England and Scotland who have thereby succeeded as Heirs to their Fathers Kingdoms on Marriages according to the Moral Law of God without the Ceremonies of a Priest or a Temple Page 102 103. That 't is High Treason for any Subject to slander the King 's Eldest Son with Illegitimacy Page 111. A Comparison of the Popish slanders of Illegitimacy against Queen Elizabeth and the King 's Eldest Son Page 112. A Comparison of the Popish slanders of Illegitimacy against King Edward the Sixth Queen Elizabeth the King 's Eldest Son and the Sons and Daughters of the whole Protestant Clergy Page 114. Of the insolent absurdity of Popish Laws Disinheriting the Lawful Sons of Kings according to the Law of God and inheriting the Bastards of Popes by the Law of the Devil
in the World And his Predecessors had been fresh in Memory too much turmoyl'd with the Bishop of Rome and their own Bishops and John Stratford Arch-Bishop of Canterbury sent himself though in the Head of a Victorious Army in France an Insolent Letter wherein he charged him with Violation of the Rights of the Church and Magna Charta and many other Matters and threatned to Excommunicate all his Officers Too great Affronts for so Great a Prince not to become sensible how dangerous It would be to suffer Bishops to have to do with the Marriages Filiations and Successions of Kings and thereby to put power into their hands to Depose and Dis-inherit his Successors when they pleased and William Whickham Bishop of Winchester who was Confessor to his Queen Philippa and ingratiated himself by Alice Peirce the King's Concubine An incredible Lie by a Bishop concerning John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Tinsell's Hist 78. for Money shewed after how ready they should be to Act such Feats for Alice Pierce against Sons of first Wives for out of hatred to the Famous John of Gaunt King Edward's Fourth Son for no other cause but because he was a great Favourer of Wickliff's Doctrine the Proto-Protestant of England spread a false fame on him That the Queen Philippa one of the most Vertuous Wives that ever was had confess'd to him at her Death That he was not the King's Son but that she to please the King the more who desired Sons above Daughters she being Delivered of a Daughter caused her Daughter to be secretly conveyed away and this John the Son of a Flemish Priest to be brought and put to Nurse instead of her for the King's Son A most Incredible Lie but such a one as shews what Certificates Kings Sons may happen to have from Bishops for being Favourers of the Protestant Religion It is not therefore to be imagined that it was intended by this Statute in those times the Bishops and their Mass-Books and Certificates should have any thing to do with the Lady Companion of the King or their Eldest Son The King likewise then knew that by the then Laws of the Land A King is Supreme Ordinary of his own Marriage he had in himself the Right of Ecclesiastical Supremacy and that he was the Supreme Ordinary of his own Marriage and did never therefore intend to give away his own Prerogative to Pope or Bishop who being Supreme Ordinary could Self-Marry himself and without the Bishop Certifie his own Marriage 8. Books of Canons Common Prayer-Books Banns Lycenses Priests Temples and all other Ceremonies without which Marriage is forbidden being only Mala Prohibita and the Scripture prohibits the Prohibitions themselves of these Mala Prohibita to Marriage and calls such Prohibitions the Doctrine of Devils which is already proved Lib. 1. p. 52. What is Borum in se by the Law of God cannot be made Malum in se by the. Law of Man 9. Marriage without the Common Prayer-Book and Priest being only Malum Prohibitum by the Law of Man and the same Marriage being Bonum in se by the Moral Law of God Malum Prohibitum by the Law of Man cannot make that Malum in se which is Bonum in se by the Law of God As it was Bonum in se for Daniel to pray to God though Darius Dan. 6.7 by his Decree made it Malum Prohibitum to pray within Thirty Dayes except to the King or if he had said Except by the Book of Common-Prayer or Book of Canons it had been all one And under a great Penalty of being cast into the Den of Lyons yet notwithstanding this had not nor could make it Malum in se in Daniel to pray to God without the King Common Prayer-book or Book of Canons within the Thirty Daies prohibited much Less had it been a Malum in se for Darius himself who had the Supremacy notwithstanding this Ecclesiastical Law of his own whereby he Prohibited prayer or if he had prohibited Marriage to his Subjects to have Prayed or Marryed himself in the Manner himself and not the Law of God had Prohibited 10. Priests use to Self-Sacrament themselves though they have not Supremacy without any other Priest What hinders therefore why they may not Self-Marry themselves A Priest may self marry himself seeing Popery it self could never pretend to Raise Marriage to a higher Pitch then a Sacrament 11. If Priests may Self-Marry themselves there is no Reason why Lay-men should not be allowed the same Liberty of Conscience to Self-Marry themselves without a Priest A Lay-man may self-marry himself As a King who is Supreme Ordinary may Marry himself without Ceremonies by the Law of the Land So the Subject may marry himself by the Law of God which is above the Law of the Land 12. Qui potest majus potest minus And that Act which doth perfect Marriage is greater than any Act which doth only prepare or inchoat and leave it imperfect Now it is not denyed by the Popish Casuists and Schoolmen and the Civilians and Canonists themselves But carnal knowledg only perfects Marriage if therefore a Lay-Man may self-Ly with his Woman which perfects Marriage without a Common-Prayer Book or Book of Canons after the Priest hath first had her before him by his Bell Book and Candle why may not the poor Lay-man save all his Money and Selfe Ring the Bell Selfe take the Book Selfe light the Candle or Torch Selfe contract himselfe per verba de praesenti And then Selfe lye with a Woman or do it first without acting all this impertinent Pageantry and Running Round about Church unless they would bring in again the old Pagan way for the Priest likewise to Do the Act of Perfection of Marriage The Kings of Israel and Judab The Ottoman Emperours and Subjects Self-Marry themselves without a Priest as the Indian Priests and too many of the Popish Priests do Ly with the Woman first before the Husband 13. It is very well known that the Ottoman Emperours and Subjects of their Mighty Dominions self-Marry themselves according to the Moral Law of God without Priest Temple Bell Book or Candle yet to the shame of such as call themselves by the name of Christians may it be said Their Marriages are more Chast their Filiation and Successions more Certain and no such Adulteries Fornications Stewes Brothel-houses and Poxes and Plagues and other Mischiefs thereby as those who use all these and all the Luxuriancy of Papal and Episcopal Ceremonies besides in their Marriages And of the Mischiefs came to Solyman the Magnificent by being seduced by Roxalana to break the Custome of Emperours to Selfmarry themselves to Marry her by a Priest appears at large Lib. 2. p. 245. c. Object 3 Not HIS Companion Object 3. The Third Objection is That though the Lady Mother was a Companion to the King Yet she was not HIS Companion which is the Article of Propriety
required by the Statute Answ To which is Answered That if she had been the Wife of another man or any other had had a Lawful Propriety in her it is not denied but the Objection might have been material but here was the most Lawful way of Election of a Companion and acquiring Propriety in her not only according to Gods Ordinance but the Lawes of all Nations except the Papal and Episcopal and not Impertinently as expressed by the Poet Elige de vacuis quam non sibi vindicat alter Si nescis Dominum res habet ista suum Take her that 's free if it thou knowest not Think she some unknown Master then hath got Here was Possessio vacua Virgo intacta neither Party Prohibited by any Law of God to take or yield Possession or acquire Propriety one in another All Lawyers which write de modis acquirendi Dominij in a Wife and Children though they lay it as a Fundamental That Contract Sponsions Promises yea Buying and Selling it self only create an obligation but Transfer no Propriety without Tradition of Possession according to the Old Verses Rem Domino vel non Domino vendente duòbus In jute est potior traditione prior And though acquisition of the possession of Women and Children by Tradition or Seizure or other wayes without carnal knowledge and Generation doth only acquire the Propriety of them as of Slaves or Servants but not as of Wives or Children yet they assirm and the whole Scripture assirms with them that carnal knowledge between persons not prohibited by the Law of God is an acquisition of Propriety in the Woman and generation an acquisition of Propriety in children And that all Ceremonies of acquiring Propriety in Wives without carnal knowledge and all Adoptions for acquiring Propriety in children without genoration of them are Fictions and Fopperies The Scripture therefore calls every woman Lawfully laien with by a Man his Wife and every Son he begets his Son which gives a Propriety of all which Texts of Scripture I shall speak more largely in answer to the next Objection Object 4 Not Married according to the Law of God Object 4. That she was not Married according to the Law of God Answ 1 Before the contrary is proved to this Negative and the Truth shewen unanswerably that she was married according to the Law of God It will be necessary to prove by what Law the Law of God concerning marriage ought not and ought to be Judged whether it be the Law of God or no. Secondly By what Judge Marriage ought not and ought to be Judged to be not according or according to the Law of God As to the Law by which it ought not it is clearly and fully already prov'd therefore to avoid repetition I refer the Reader to the former Books Chapters Pages here following quoted viz. That it ought not to be Judged 1. By the Law of Moses and Customes of the Jewes of which Vid. Lib. 1. p. 2. 2. By the Laws and Customes of the Heathen Nations Vide. Lib. 1. p. 10. 3. By the Laws Civil Canon or Feudal Vid. Lib. 1. p. 21. 4. By the Laws of Mahomet Vid. Lib. 1. p. 26. 5. By Ecclesiastical Laws Vid. Lib. 1. p. 31. 6. By such Laws of England Scotland or Ireland as are Reliques of Popery or contrary to the Laws of God Vid. Lib. 1. p. 64. usque ad p. 125. 7. By Ceremonial Laws Vid. Lib. 1. p. 127. Of the Absurd and Ridiculous Ceremonies on which Priests would have Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession to depend Vid. Lib. 1. p. 127. Of the Original of Compulsion to the Ceremonies of a Priest and Temple in Marriage which came from the Priests of Priapus and Venus Pagan Gods and Goddesses Magicians Aruspices Astrologers Daemons with the Strumpets Theodora Marozia and others and Popes and Bishops their Chaplains Vid. Lib. 1. p. 43.45.52.83 of Theodora and Morozia more p. 79. Of the sinal causes of Compulsion to the said Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple viz. the Insatiable Lust Covetousness and Ambition of Priests Vid. Lib. 1. p. 53. Of the most Dismal Effects and Mischiefs insuing Compulsion of the Ceremony of a Priest and Temple in Marriage Vid. Lib. 2. p. 192. usque ad 250. et ultra Of certain other Mischiefs not before Recited Of the damnable Effects ensuing Prohibitions to Marry and nulling Marriage except by a Priest in a Temple contrary to the Moral Law of God Other mischiefs not before recited of Compulsion of the Ceremony of a Priest and Temple in Marriage and the false naming that Marriage which is no Marriage and false nameing that no Marriage which is a Marriage whereby they call Good Evil and Evil Good Light Darkness and Darkness Light so that the whole Mystery of the Romish Antichrist depends on the Compulsion of this Ceremony to Marry Bury and Pray by a Priest in a Temple The wicked Causes of Prohibiting the Clergy to Marry by this Ceremony of a Priest and Temple and compelling the Laity 1 Without this Ceremony they could not prohibit marriage to their Clergy which Militia Togata of theirs to keep unmarried is one of the Arcana Imperij Papalis and was first Decreed by Pope Nicholas the First The sinal causes were 1. That the Priests might have no Dependance or be under command of the Lay-Lords by reason of their Wives and Families for whom if they kept them they would be necessitated to provide Lay-Maintenance the Spiritual being too short Commons for so many 2. That what Wives and Children the Priests had they might sit by other mens Fires and be maintained at other mens Tables and succeed to other mens Inheritances 3. That the Priests might be the Richer and Abler to pay the more Tributes and Taxes to the Pope 4. That they might be provoked to Lye with the more Lay-mens Wives and thereby fish out all the Secrets of their Husbands for Intelligence to Lay their own Plots and discover those against them in Auricular Confession 5. That they might not be put to the usual Cost of Intelligence which is commonly very Dear but might by this way be had for nothing and probably with Rewards to such Gallants 6. That between the Woman and the Priest they might Rob the Lay-man of his Goods and share it between them 7. That when the Lay-man was come to die the Woman to whom her Living man was more pleasant than her Dying might persuade him to make the Priest Overseer of his Goods and of the Children he had got for him And to give Land to Pious that is to say Pontifical Uses 8. That the Lay-men might not Lye with the Priests Wives and return to them the Talio to which end they made themselves Judges of the Causes of Divorce And made strict Canons Prohibiting the Lay Divorce à Vinculo for Adult'ry and that they should give Surety and Bond though Divorced à Mensâ Thoro while either was Living never to
therefore from such Wives of the Bishops making Injust for a Prince much more for a Judge or Bishop to force an Heir on another and such Judges of Marriage Filiation and Succession of the same making Libera nos Domine Iniquum est aliquem haeredem invito à Principe dari Craig Feâ—d 267. much more must it be for a Judge or Bishop Object 6. There is no Bishops Certificate of the Marriage and Filiation The Form of the Bishops Certificate of Marriage Cok. Lib. Intra fo 181. In Dower on a Nunquam fuit in legitimo Matrimonio copulata pleaded A Writ is sent to the Bishop to Certifie who returns this Certificate Et praedictus Episcopus per literas suas Patentes Clausas c. And the foresaid Bishop by his Letters Patents and Close hath Certified to the Justices here That by virtue of the foresaid Writ to him directed Convocating before him such of right as are to be Convocated hath diligently Enquired and Certified the truth of the matter That in the Chappel of B. in the County of G. in the Diocess of L. the Sixth day of Aug. An. 1606. Matrimony true pure and lawful per verba de praesenti according to the Form and Rites of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England between the said A. B. and C. B. was solemnized by one Mr. A. U. Clork in the prosence of J.J. W.B. W. W. R.M. Witnesses in this part by the said Bishop examined and sworn and of other Witnesses then present the said A. B. and C. D. his Wife being of Lawful Age and of all other Matrimonial Contracts free cleer and clean as the Witnesses so sworn and examined believe The Form of the Bishops Certificate of Bastardy Rast Lib. Intra 105. b. On a Plea of Bastardy pleaded and a Writ to the Bishop to Certifie he makes a Return Venerabilibus viris Justiciarijs in Brevi Regio praesentibus annex specific permissione Divinâ C. Episcopus c. Certificamus quòd diligentem solertem fieri fecimus Inquisitionem de materijs in Brevi praedict ' Content ' per quam invenimus per Legitimas in hâc parte probationes alia in hâc parte Canonicè requisit ' quòd infra nominat ' N.H. de T. A. H. de P. J. H. de P. P. H. de P. Bastardi sunt quilibet corum Bastardus est prout praedict ' R. B. in Brevi praedict ' nominat ' placitando allegavit non Legitimè prout praedict ' N. A. J. E. placitando allegarunt hoc idem nobis satis constat We Certify That we have made diligent and cunning Inquisition of the Matters contain'd in the Writ by which we find by Lawful Proofs and other things Canonically in this behalf required that the within named N. H. of T. A. H. of P J.H. of P. and E. H. of P. are Bastards and every of them is a Bastard as the said R. H. in his Writ aforesaid named in Pleading hath alledg'd and not Legitimate as the said N. A. J. and E. have in Pleading alledg'd and this appears cleer enough to us Having shewn the Form of these Certificates what they are I now answer to the Objection 1. That the Letter of the Statute not mentioning either Marriage Legitimation Bishop or Certificate there needs no Proof or use of these at all but it is sufficient to prove a Lady Companion De Facto and an Eldest Son de Facto as mention'd in the Statute 2. Admit there was a Marriage or Legitimation to be proved the Statute doth not limit to any special manner of Probation but leaves liberty to make Probation qu cunque modo as in all other Matters 3. A Penal Statute cannot be extended by Equity to make Treason against an Heir so made only by Certificate of the Bishop feeing the Letter of the Statute makes not any such Treason and it would be of very dangerous Consequence to make any Intentional or Express Statute to give Power to any Bishop or Arch-Bishop to declare Kings or their Successors by Certificates under pain of Treason for then is the old Papal Power and greater than the Papal put into their hands of making and deposing them at their pleasure either under Pain of Excommunication or Treason and the power of Declaring or laying the Penalty of Treason in the Bishop would be greater than it was of Excommunication in the Pope 4. It is manifest that the Wise and Renowned King Edward the Third the Author of this Statute as hath been already shewn never intended they should have thereby any such Power or Pretence which though sufficient to answer the Objection I shall give some further Touch of the Mischiefs that insue by them to the People as well as to Princes Of the Mischiefs that insue of Bishops Certificates of Marriage and Filiation which Certifie other kinds of Heirs than the Heir intended by this Statute The Original of Certificates of Marriage came not from Christ but from the Priests of Priapus and the Devil 1. The Original of Bishops Certificates of Marriage and Filiation came not from Christ or his Apostles for we neither find that he or they ever Contracted or Married any Man and Woman nor gave Certificate of Marriage or Filiation themselves nor Precept to their Successors to do the same 2. The only Original of them which can be found came from the Priests of Priapus who forbid all Marriages except by the Ceremonies of a Priest in a Temple of which kind of unclean Priests I shall only here repeat a short Note before mentioned from Cornelius Agrippa de Van. Scient p. 738. in these words Sordidissimus Priapus pro Deo habitus hunc coluerunt primi illi Religionum artifices Chaldaei Aegyptii Assyrii Babylonii Arabes Scythae Aethiopes ac perinde tota Africa Asia Europa nec fas erat ullum Sacerdotem fiori qui Priapi sacris non crat initiatus Hic est ille Belphegor Idolum omnium antiquissimum quod est Chamos dictum à Chamo filio Noe. The filthy Priapus was reputed a God him worshipped the first Founders of superstiâ—ous Religions The Chaldaeans Egyptians Assyrians Babylonians Arabians Scythians Ethyopians and almost all Africa Asia and Europe neither was it lawful for any to be made a Priest unless he was first Initiated in the Sacred Rites of Priapus This is Belphegor of all other the most ancient Idol which is likewise call'd Chamos from Cham the Son of Noah That these Priests of Priapus who is the same with Baal-Peor and Milcom had their Doctrine of compelling Women and Men to be Married by Priests with Ceremonies from the Devil appears by what use they put it to Numb 25.1 And the People began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and they call'd the People to the sacrifice of their Gods and the People did eat and bowed down to their Gods and Israel joyned himself to Baal Peor And in the Scripture Idolatry
disinherits the true Children and Aliments and Inherits the false For shame take away such wickedness amongst Christians which is not to be found among Infidels This hath already been shewn to be the wicked Practice of Episcopal and Common Lawyers Paâ—oâ—nized by Judge Rikhil Littleton and Coke contrary to the Law of God where the Husband is within the Four Seas at the time of begetting the Child and gives power to disinherit the right and intrude Adulterous Heirs not only into private Families but Kingdoms Of which take a strange attempt emboldened on this absur'd Popish Principle That adulterous Children born within Matrimony are inheritable to the Husband of the Adulteress and not to the Adulterer Anno 1459. Henry of Spain being himself unable for generation persuaded his Queen to be got with Child by Bertrand of Guttua Joane thus gotten is Proclaimed Heir and Bertrand is made Earl of Ledesma and Duke of Albuquerk Hist Hisp The People force him to reject his supposed Daughter and to declare his Brother Alphonsus and he refusing they Depose him and Crown Alphonsus Hist Hisp Henry overcometh Queen Joane hath two Children more by another Minion Alphonsus dieth Isabel the King's Sister refuseth the Kingdom she is declared Heir and Marrieth Ferdinand of Aragon Hist Hisp Anno 1474. Divers joyn for Joane with Alf. of Portugal who meant to Marry her But Anno 1480. she entreth into a Monastery and Alf. of Portugal Here Joane was born within Matrimony and the Certificate of the Bishop and the Doctrine of Judge Rikhil if it had been sent for would have made Joane Heir but the very light of Nature taught the People though in a Countrey blinded with Popish Superstition that she was not the true Heir by the Law of God but by Fiction therefore they would not bear it Bishops Certificates make adulterous Children honorable and true Children base 18. The Certificate slanders and dishonours the true and makes honourable the false and Adulterous Children as appears in the before-mentioned form of Certificate of Bastardy That the under-named N. H. of T. A. H. of P. J. H. of P. and E. H. of P. are Bastards and every of them a Bastard He makes Bastards by Bundles 't is as easie to him as cracking of Nuts and though 1 Cor. 6.10 after other bad Company mentioned it is said No Revilers shall inherit the Kingdom of God yet the mouth of this Certificate is full of Revilings and devours no less than four Innocents at once who against others might have had their Actions of Slander but against a pretended Jure Divino of an Episcopen Slander there 's no Remedy to be had Certificates destroy Truth and found on Fictions and Lies 19. The Certificates undermine the Pillar of Truth and lays the Foundation of Marriage and Filiation on Fictions and Lies As that Sponsa before a Priest in a Temple is Vxor That Verba De Praesenti are Facta de praeterito futuro That Prohibited Marriages are Null and void That feigned and void Marriages are by Licence and Dispensation true and valid That Intention is Contract Contract is Tradition Obligation is Propriety and Promise is Gift Si donare vocas promittere nec dare Cai Vincam te donis muneribúsque mâ—is Mart. That a Child is not Sib or Kin or of Consanguinity or the Child of the Father who begot or the Mother who bare him or they of him of which see more Lib. 2. p. 154 155. That Children begot by Adulterers were begot by the Husband within the four Seas That two Persons are Transubstantiated into one Person by the words of Priests pronouncing them Man and Wife L. 1. p. 66. with many other which I forbear here to repeat All which are meer Fictions and Falsities and to be Abhorred to be Tolerated to support Ceremonial Mock-Marriage against the true Marriage according to the Moral Law of God Bishops Certificates inconsistent with the right of Primogeniture 20. The Certificate disinherits Primogeniture in Succession to Kingdoms contrary to this Statute and contrary to the Law of God and Nature Patritius Lib. 9. De Regn. T. 22. says Jus naturae exigit Gentium Consuetudo confirmat ut Maximus natu Ex filiis Mortuo Regi succedat And Tiraquel in Praefat. de Jure Primog with this agrees the Rule that Deus facit Haeredes And no other sign can be in the Law of Nature interpreted to come from God but Primogeniture of a Son with which likewise agrees the Scripture Deut. 21.15 If a man have two women for that 's the Original and it is falsly Translated Si fuerit alicui duae Vxores one beloved and another hated and they have born him Children both the beloved and the hated And if the first born Son be hers that is hated Then it shall be when he shall make his Sons to inherit that which he hath That he may not make the Son of the beloved First born before the Son of the hated which is indeed the First born But he shall acknowledge the Son of the hated for the First born by giving him a double Portion of all that he hath for he is the beginning of his Strength the Right of the First born is his The other Text of Scripture is Jehosophat gave the Kingdom to his eldest Son and Gifts to his younger 2 Chro. c. 21.1 Now Jehosophat slept with his Fathers and was buried with his Fathers in the City of David and Jehoram reigned in his stead And he had Brethren the Sons of Jehosophat Azariah and Jehiel and Zechariah and Azariah and Michael and Sephatiah all these were the Sons of Jehosophat King of Israel and their Father gave them great Gifts of Silver and of Gold and of precious things with fenced Cities in Judah But the Kingdom he gave to Jehoram because he was his First born Now when Jehoram was risen up to the Kingdom of his Father he strengthned himself and slew all his Brethren with the Sword and divers also of the Princes of Israel And 2 King 8.18 And he walked in the ways 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 the Lord. Which Texts the one for Primogeniture in private Families the other for the same in Successions to Kingdoms make such Right appear very strong in both and these Observations tending to the same may be taken from them 1. That though the Eldest Son be the Son of a second Woman Married after the first yet if the Son of the second be the Son First born before the Son of the first he shall be preferred in the Succession 2. Though the second Woman is an unlawful Woman for here are the highest Circumstances which can make a Woman unlawful for the first Woman is still alive and hath born the Husband Children as well as the second For the words of the Text are They have born
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
First Because the Exiling or Disinheriting the King's eldest Son indangers the King himself Secondly Because to compass the Exile compasseth the Death of the eldest Son by depriving him of the King's Protection and exposing him to Poison or Assassination of his Enemies and to compass to Disinherit him is a manifest design to destroy him without which his Inheritance cannot be taken from him 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 Vinyard and slew him Object 8 Obj. 8. The Son of a King born after he is King is to be prefer'd in Succession before the Son of a King born while he is Prince And of this there are many Examples as Henry the First being the youngest Son of William the Conqueror Born when a Prince and born when a King standing in Competition for the Crown of England against Robert Duke of Normandy his elder Brother made this one of his Objections That Robert was born when his Father was but a Duke but Henry was born when his Father was a King and therefore obtained the Kingdom against Robert his eldest Brother And it is recited by Grot. de Jur. Bel. Pac. p. 171. That the like passed in Persia between Cyrus and Arsica in Judea between Antipater the Son of Herod the Great and his Brother in Hungary when Geissa obtained the Kingdom in Germany between Otto the First and Henry though not without Arms and likewise the same Question was between Xerxes and his Brother Atabarzanes and between Artaxerxes Mnemon and Cyrus the Sons of Darius and Parisatis Artaxerxes being the elder but born during the Private fortune of Darius and the like happened between Bajazet and Zemez contending for the Turkish Empire and many others Answ These were put to the Tryal of Battel and for the greatest part the eldest Son had the Success but if it had been otherwise the Event of War is no Rule of Justice and if it had been without War yet where there is a standing Act of Parliament Judicandum est Legibus non Examplis And this Act of Parliament was made to prevent the present and all other Accidents which might happen to disturb the Peace of Succession of the Kingdom and raise Civil Wars which it could not do without all other Sons and Heirs to the eldest Son and there being no other Son mentioned in the Letter of the Statute but the eldest and not a word of Distinction whether born before or after the Father's obtaining the Kingdom Vbi lex non distinguit ibi nec nos distinguere debemus for then the same mischiefs would insue beforementioned of extending a Statute of Treason by Equity which leaves Treason arbitrary to every Judge who will assume to declare it beyond the Letter and to insert as many kinds of Sons and Heirs as he pleased which would make the Law and all the Care and Wisdom of it in ascertaining the Son Heir to be of no Effect and leave the Kingdom in a dangerous Condition that every Prince Married in his Father's life-time and having then some Children and after his Father's Death others might occasion a Civil War who should succeed to the Crown when he died Object 9 Obj. 9. The next Objection That the King 's eldest Son is not yet Declared Prince of Wales or Prince of the Scots The Original of this Title used to be given to the eldest Sons of the Kings of England was from Henry the Third who gave his eldest Son Edward who was afterward King Edward the First on his Marriage to Elianor the Daughter of Spain amongst other Principalities in France England and Ireland likewise that of Wales Hinc natum ut deinceps unusquisque Rex qui secutus est filium majorem natu principem Walliae facere consuevit And in continuance of this Custom Anno 1610. Prince Henry the eldest Son of King James was solemnly created Prince of Wales by his Father As to the Title designing the Prince of Scotland to be next Successor or Heir apparent it seems to have been by their Investiture of Cumberland for saith Buchanan Rer. Scot. lib. 6. p. 175. That Constantine the Third in the Tenth year of his Reign Milcolumbo proximo Regis filio Cumbriam donavit qui honos velut Augurium Argumentum erat eum proxime regnaturum Ac deinceps in proximis aliquot Regibus id fuisse observaturum manifesta adversus veterem Comitiorum rationem fraude quae omnem Liberorum susfragiorum vim prope tollerit non minus quà m Cossâ—à Caesaribus Designatio Constantine the Third in the Tenth year of his Reign gave Cumberland to Malcoliâ— the Son of the last King which Honour was as it were the Inauguration or Sign of him who was next to succeed in the Kingdom and was after observed by some of the next Kings to that end to take away by Fraud the free Election by Parliament no less than did the Designations of the Consuls by the Caesars and after p. 189. he sath That Kenneth the Third being King by Election of the People to make the Kingdom Hereditary to his own Son Malcolm finding it an Impediment in his way that his Brother Duffus his Son Malcolm Cumbriae tum praefectus erat quam Regionem Scoti beneficio Regum Anglorum it a tenebant ut Cumbriae Praefectura velut omen Regni esset atque ita jam per aliquot aetates observatum erat was then Governor of Cumberland which Region the Scots held by Gift from the Kings of England to that intent that the Presidentship of Cumberland should be for a Sign who should be next Successor to the Kingdom and so for divers Ages the same hath accordingly been observed he to inherit his own Poisoned his Brother's Son and p. 190. he saith Milcolumbus regis filius in natura adhuc ad rerum administrationem aetate Cumbriae praefectus et princeps Scotorum est Declaratus quod nomen perinde est Scotis atque apud Gallos Delfinus apud priores Romanorum Imperatores Caesar apud posterio res Rex Romanorum quibus omnibus Successor superiori Magistratui dari intelligitur Malcolm the King's Son in an unripe Age for Publick Affairs is declared President of Cumberland and Prince of the Scots which Name is with the Scots Equipollent to the Daulphin amongst the French to Caesar amongst the Ancient Romans and amongst the Modern to the King of the Romans by all which Titles the Successor to the Superiour Magistracy is understood but notwithstanding for the most part this hath been the Custom yet it hath been likewise often omitted and Admit it had not yet there being no Law requiring it there is no pretence that such Omissions makes any incapacity in the Heir to succeed at Common Law or to be within this Statute for the Statute making no Distinction between the King 's eldest Son when
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
doth he not then who compasseth his Death compass the Death of the King himself And doth not he who slanders him to be Illegitimate compass his Death 2. Because this exposeth Majesty and the eldest Son likewise to contempt by depriving both of the hopes of a Lincal Successor And this is complained of by no less a Prince than Alexander the Great who chargeth his Army as related in Curtius p. 6. Orbitas mea quod sine Liberis sum spernitur my being childless causeth your contempt of me which want of Children inheritable put him in the same condition of being despised as was he who said Isa 56.3 I am a dry Tree And the want of a Son capable to succeed him was the Ruine of so great a Monarch his Mother House and Empire his Enemies Poisoning him in the flower of his Age securely as knowing he could leave no Son of himself to revenge his Death 3. Because who affirms the eldest Son Illegitimate doth it to the intention to seize on his Inheritance and who intend to seize on his Inheritance will compass his Death as Matth. 21.38 They said amongst themselves This is the heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his Inheritance And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son Queen Elizabeth was not only declared and proclaimed Illegitimate by the Pope's Divinity but the Popish Party so far misinformed her own Father H. 8. in Matters of Law and over-wrought on the King as they compell'd him by weariness to rest on Implicit Faith in them and to declare his own Daughter Illegitimate an Error which not only he but many other Princes have been the more easily drawn into in regard by the Subtlety of Ecclesiastical and Temporal Lawyers the Laws of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession and the Comments on them have been increased to so huge heaps and confused Volumes and so many Writers of contrary Religions and contrary Jurisdictions have had their Power and Profit concerned in them as is impossible for Princes who have so many Affairs of State to look after besides to Read them over as long as they live and such faithful Protestant Subjects as have indeavoured humbly to represent the truth as to the Law of God and of the Land have been by the same Popish Party not only intercepted and Prohibited to Write or Publish any thing against but so much as to dispute the Romish as well as Turkish Alcoran of their Laws One great Example of which appears in these two great Descendents of the Blood Royal the Famous and Pious Queen Elizabeth and the Valiant and Virtuous eldest Son of the King To go on therefore in their Comparison of Suffering wrongfully 1. It may be observed that Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant and so is the Kings eldest Son a Protestant 2. Her Prosecutors were Papists so are the Prosecutors of the King 's eldest Son Papists 3. Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison Queen Elizabeth so have Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison the King 's eldest Son 4. The final Cause why Papists would have destroyed Queen Elizabeth was to seize on her Inheritance so the final Cause why Papists would destroy the King's eldest Son is to seize on his Inheritance 5. Queen Elizabeth was Innocent so is the King 's eldest Son Innocent 6. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death so is the King 's eldest Son deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death 7. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Father by the unjust Prosecution of Papists as appears 28 H. 8. cap. 7. by which Act she is declared Illegitimate to all intents and purposes and utterly foreclosed excluded and barred to Claim Challenge or Demand any Inheritance as lawful Heir to the King her Father And it is further Enacted That it shall be High Treason so much as to call the said Lady Elizabeth Legitimate yea the Act of Parliament is so furious against the poor Innocent Lady as if they desired to Destroy and Damn the Conscience of all good Protestants at once with hers and her They Enact further That it shall be High Treason to believe Oh miserable Thought it self is made High Treason the Marriage of the Lady Ann with the King her Father to be good lawful or not void Let it be left to Supreme Authority to consider how far the Papists have endeavour'd to proceed in the same Nature against the King's eldest Son 8. Queen Elizabeth might say as David saith Psal 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up So may the King 's eldest Son say the same 9. Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all this was Legitimate and lawful Heir of Blood by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion and so is Recognized and acknowledged by Parliament 1 Eliz. cap. 3. and accordingly God gave her the happy Succession to the Kingdom So the King 's eldest Son by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion is Legitimate and the next Lineal and Lawful Heres Sanguinis Heir of Blood for Jus Sanguinis is the Law of God and Nature and Jura Sanguinis as hath already been said Nullo Jure Civili divini possunt 10. It was the Interest of Queen Elizabeth when she obtained the Lawful Power to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion So will it be the Interest of the King 's eldest Son to use what lawful Power God gives him to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion against Popish Ceremonial Laws and Superstitious Religions A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against King Edward the Sixth Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son And the Sons and Daughters of the whole Protestant Clergy This Slander against the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy could not have been raised without another Slander first raised against the Marriages of the Mothers Both which are taken notice of by the Statute 5. 6. E. 6. cap. 12. which Statute making first a recital of the Stat. 2. 3. E. 6.21 of Repeal of all Laws of Man against the Marriage of the Clergy proceeds in these words viz. Yet since the making of the said Act divers evil-disposed Persons taking occasion of certain words and Sentences in the said Act comprized have and do untruly and very Slanderously report of Priests Matrimony saying That the same Statute is but a Permission of Priests Matrimony as Usury and other unlawful things be now permitted for the eschewing of greater inconvenience and Evils so that thereby the lawful Matrimony of Priests in the opinion of many and the Children Procreate and Born in such lawful Matrimony rather be of the greater number of the King's Subjects accounted as Bastards than Lawfully Born to the
great Slander Peril and Disherison of such Children which untrue slanderous report of Holy Matrimony doth not only redound to the high dishonour of Almighty God but also to the King's Majesties dishonour and the High Court of Parliament and the Learned Clergy of this Realm who have determined the same to be most lawful by the Law of God in their Convocation as well by the Common consent as by the Subscription of their Hands and that most of all is to be lamented through such uncomely Railings of Matrimony and slanderous Reproaches of the Clergy the Word of God is not heard with Reverence followed with Diligence the Godly proceeding of the King's Majesty not received with due Obedience c. Banns required to the Marriage of the Clergy Provided always That this Act nor any thing therein contained shall extend to give Liberty to any Person to Marry without Asking in the Church or without Ceremonies according to the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments nor shall make any such Matrimony already made or hereafter to be made good which are Prohibited by the Law of God for any other cause The Protestant Clergy by these Acts thought themselves as secure as they do now But Queen Mary immediatly on King Edward's Death repealed this Law and made all the Married Clergy their Wives and Children Rogues Whores and Bastards From whence may be observed 1. That a Marriage and Legitimation which is lawful by the Law of God may be wickedly Slandered by Papists and by Papal and Episcopal Laws to be unlawful 2. It hath been already shewn that the Marriages of the Lady Mothers of King Edward the Sixth and of Queen Elizabeth and of the King 's eldest Son and the Legitimation of Children were and are lawful by the Moral Law of God but the same have been Slandered and still are by the virulent Tongues of Papists 3. That these wicked Slanders of the Legitimation of the King 's eldest Son do produce not only the same evil Effects which the Statute declares to insue from the Slander of the Legitimation of the Sons of the Clergy but greater and more dangerous 4. That the final Cause why the Papists and their Laws Slander the Legitimation of the King 's eldest Son and of all the Sons of the Protestant Clergy is the same which is because they would seize on their Inheritance or Estate and divide the Spoil amongst the Papists 5. It is well known that the Inheritances and Estates of the Descendents of the Protestant Spirituallity and Clergy in which Body are included all Spiritual Persons Doctors of the Civil Law exercising Spiritual Jurisdiction Church-men Ministers all persons within Orders are great and numerous through the Three Kingdoms who will all Suffer if a relapse to Popery 6. That their Wives and their Descendents which have Married have been obnoxious ever since the Time of Reformation the first to Consiscation of their Dowers Jointures and Thirds The other to Illegitimation and thereon Confiscation of their Inheritances Lands and Goods The Law which forbid the Clergy to Marry was made by Pope Nicholas the First to wicked intents which have been before already shewn the Clergy and their Wives and Children are likewise left obnoxious to the same by the Proviso mentioned which requires Banns to make lawful the Marriage of the Clergy but they usually have none but are Married by Licences which makes them likewise obnoxious to the very Letter of the Act which if there should happen a Papist Successor he may take advantage thereof without a Repeal or Repeal the Act and so take advantage either way which he will Let not the Protestant Clergy therefore nor the Bishops be deceived or vainly flatter themselves that they can compound or lay the Obligation of an Oath or an Act of Parliament on a Papist Successor if any happen to be nor think he will lose so infinite heaps of Treasures as this point of the Marriage of the Clergy and the Illegitimation of their Descendents will by Confiscations of all the Jointures Dowers Thirds of all the Archbishops Bishops and inferiour Clergies Wives and of the Successions of their Posterities in the Three Kingdoms will bring into his Treasury Therefore certainly if a Papist Successor happen there will be no living for a Married Clergy-man in England it will be Heresie sufficient to Burn him if he is Married and a cause sufficient will be his Estate and for Provision his Wife must expect none unless like the Indian Wife she Burn with him in hope to find it in another World Queen Mary Illegitimated and Destroyed all the Wives and Children of the Protestant Clergy notwithstanding they were Legitimated by Act of Parliament They need look no further for an Example than of Queen Mary who was a Papist Successor to the Protestant Act of King Edward her Brother who though he confirmed the Marriages of the Clergy and the Legitimation of their Children by two Acts of Parliament left in their highest Vigour and Power and though she had solemnly promised the Protestants without whose help she had not probably come to the Throne that they should injoy Liberty of Conscience yet as soon as ever she obtained the Kingdom she repealed her Brothers two Acts and made Whores of the Wives and Bastards of the Children of all the Protestant Clergy Married Burnt them and Confiscated their Estates And that Pious Martyr Archbishop Cranmer who was Married was Cruelly Burnt amongst the rest 7. There is no way to preserve the Marriages and Legitimations of the Protestant Clergy their Wives and Children from the destruction of a Papist Successor but to have Protection from a Protestant Successor of the Crown and to cast off this Papal Doctrine of Ceremonial Marriage and to teach the truth of Marriage according to the Moral Law of God which is the true Jus Coronae as hath been already shewn and makes the eldest Son of a Protestant King and himself a Protestant to be of the same Interest with the Sons of a Protestant Clergy and to ingage him by God's help to be his Instrument to defend them and the Protestant Religion Liberty and Propriety to the Glory of God and Comfort of the People Can therefore any of the Protestant Clergy be so imprudent as in their Doctrine to destroy the Holy Just True Ancient Eternal and Immutable Moral Law of God of Marriage and Legitimation to bring in the Unclean Adulterous Spurious Illegitimate Injust Lying Upstart new-fangled Ceremonial Laws of Priapusses and Popes and not understand they thereby Slander their own Mothers and Wives to be Whores their Daughters to be Bastards themselves and all their Sons to be Sons of Whores and Bastards Can they be so inconsiderate as to imagine that any Slander they shall raise against the Marriages of the Lady Mothers of Queen Elizabeth King Edward or the King 's eldest Son or the Legitimations of Queen Elizabeth her self King Edward or
theirs Princes of the Scots The French Kings theirs Dauphins with so little doubt of Danger thereby that they rather look on the same as the greatest Security of themselves their Families and Kingdoms to have their Eldest Sons declared Successors in their Life-time but always as is said this is true only where the Eldest Sons are declared and not where contrary to the order of Nature Younger Sons or Collateral Heirs are prefer'd before them or to disherit them Object 5. The Ottoman Emperors never declare a Successor Answ They are ill Presidents to be followed for the not declaring of a Successor causeth all those Bloody Butcheries of Fathers of their own Sons And Brothers one of another and gives the Janizaries Power to sell the Empire to that Son or Brother who will give most Money for the same which the Emperors would gladly reform if they were able and declare their Successors as other Princes do were they not over-power'd by their own Slaves as appears Turk Hist 479. Selymus The Ottoman Emperors why they declared no Successors a Younger Son of Bajazet the Second was made by his Father Governor of the Kingdom of Trapezond and Married without his Fathers liking the Daughter of Mahometes a mighty King of the Tartars called Precopenses Selymus by the assistance of his Father-in-Law provided a great Fleet and Army Pretending but not Intending War on Hungary Bajazet receiving Advertisement of Selymus his Army and that he had left Trapezond and was come over into Europe suspecting his Design notwithstanding his Pretences to be against himself yet not seeming to take notice thereof sends Embassadors to disswade him from the Hungarian War and to perswade him to return peaceably to his former Government but without effect for he continues his March onwards towards his Father In the mean time Bajazet moved the rather with the fear of Selymus resolved on that which he had long time in his Mind deeply Consider'd in regard he was aged and sickly to resign the Empire to Achomates his eldest Son and proposeth the same to the Soldiers but they being Corrupted before with Money by Selymus Cunningly seeming to commend Achomates yet would neither yield that Bajazet should resign or nominate him for his Successor And the chief Reasons they alleadged were That the same was neither according to the Custom of the Ottoman Kings nor for the behoof of the Men of War who should thereby be defrauded of the Rewards usually granted unto them during the time of vacancy of the Empire arising from the Spoil taking of them who are of Religions different from the Turks for it is a Custom that immediately on the Death of the Turkish Emperors all the Jews and Christians which dwell at Constantinople Pera Hadrianople Thessalonica and Prusa especially Merchants Exposed unto the Injuries of the Turks are by the Janizaries and other Soldiers of the Court spoiled of all their Wares and Goods and became unto them a Prey neither will they give their Oath of Allegiance unto the new Emperor until he grant them their Prey and Swear by his Head to Pardon all their Outrages before Committed When Bajazet saw his Men of War generally to oppose themselves against the Nomination of his Successor he tryed what Money would do with them and promise them Five hundred Thousand Duckets if they would stand favourable to Achomates and accept him for their Soveraign but he could not move them for they assured themselves of greater Rewards in Pay and Plunder from Selymus So with Grief and Patience he put up the Matter hoping for a fitter Opportunity to effect what he desired Selymus in the mean time under divers pretences marcheth on towards his Father and Corrupted the greatest part of his Council with Money and great Promises to betray him and advance Selymus to the Empire only Cherseogleson and old faithful Bassa adviseth Bajazet to Chastise the Rebellion of his unnatural younger Son and to give him Battel wherein Selymus was overthrown and the greatest part of his Army Slain Achomates hearing of all the trouble had happened between his Father and Brother Selymus writes to him desiring him to dispatch his long Determin'd and Promised Resignation of the Empire Bajazet of himself still continued desirous of the Translating the Empire to Achomates and making no great Secret of it Commanded Galleys to be provided to Transport Achomates for that end from Scutari where he then was to Constantinople but the Bassa's and Souldiers Corrupted by Selymus's Money would not suffer him whereupon he writes to Achomates how the matter stood and that he should therefore return from Scutari to his old Charge of Amasia until he might with bounty win the Minds of the Souldiers and great Men to effect his advancement with less Danger Achomates thus deceived of his hopes Complained of his Father how he had deceived him and made him a By-word and Laughing-stock to the World and meditating either Revenge or Defence against his Brother raiseth an Army and on Contumacy when Commanded to Disband is by the Incitation of Selymus with his Party proclaimed Traitor by his Father and Bajazet is so over-persuaded by the Conspirators That he sends home for his younger traiterous Son Selymus Pardons him and makes him General of his Armies against Achomates the elder Son Selymus having received the Army they Corrupted by him Proclaim him Emperor Selymus thereupon Poisons his Aged Father Bajazet being almost Fourscore years of Age and Murders his Brothers and Five of his eldest Brother's Sons From whence may be observed 1. The Great Error of Bajazet who gave his younger Son Selymus a Kingdom and so great Power with it that he was able to be a Competitor against his eldest Son and to raise a Rebellion against himself which is Inconsistent with the Right of Primogeniture and Divides the Empire into many Empires 2. That Excessive Treasure given to a younger Brother gives him Power to Corrupt both the Council and Army of his Father who gave it him 3. Bajazet by setting the younger Son in Contention with he eldest he lost the Fidelity of both and was destroyed between them 4. He did very imprudently to promise his eldest Son the Resignation of the Empire and ought only to have declared him Successor after his Death 1 Bajazet by preferring his younger Son before his eldest exposed him to be Murdered unless he took Arms in defence of his Life but more Imprudently to break his Promise to him and thereby to Expose him a Publick Laughing-stock to the World and a certain mark to be Murdered by his Brother Selymus unless he took Arms in his own Defence to prevent it 5. That by probabillity if he could have effected the Declaring of his eldest Son Successor and given only Moderate Portions to his younger Sons as the Chynoys and Aethiopians Emperors gives theirs such miserable Murders might not have fallen on himself his Sons and Nephews The like Destruction is before observed to have
The Mother of Henry the 3d. pre-contracted when King John Married her So if the World had been so much given to slander the Legitimation of the King 's Eldest Son as it is now here had been a greater Exception against the Succession of the Crown to him than can be now in the least shadow pretended for Isabel being pre-contracted to a former Man was a Woman Prohibited by the Law of God to be Contracted or Married by another Man Yet did neither this nor his Minority nor the amazing Danger of a Foreign Enemy Landed assisted by the Native Nobles possessed of the Royal City and entred into the Bowels of the Kingdom Deter this Wise and Noble Parliament for making use of the Coronation of the King 's Eldest Son Coronation of the King 's eldest Son the best remedy against the Barons calling in the French as the best Remedy against it and to Commit his Guardianship to a Person of Courage and Council they Succeeded accordingly for Louys was beaten in a Battel at Lincoln by the Protector and sending back for Recruits into France which were with great Expedition there provided and sent with a Mighty Fleet which Fleet was likewise met and beaten by the English Fleet at Sea and the Army therein Vanquished by God's great Providence which News coming to the Ears of Lovys made him hopeless of any longer Subsistance here with Safety and thereupon makes a Composition for his passage home abjures his Claim to the Kingdom and returns to France But if Louys had prevailed here wiâ—â— Security had the English Nobles had in his French Oath for within a little while after he had taken it he made spoil and plunder of all he could lay hands on Louys a Papist King breaks his French Oath to the Papist Subjects of England Friend or Foe which made many of the English he breaking his Oath to them to think themselves disobliged thereby from the Oath they had given him and to forsake his Party and more would have forsaken him had it not been for shame of Inconstancy and that he had their Hostages in France whom he would have on their Revolt Destroyed And to shew his Intention of perfecting his Perjury to the height if he could have got Power there was a constant Report and generally divulged concerning the Confession of the Viscount Melun a Frenchman who lying at the point of Death touch't with Compunction is said to reveal the Intention and Vow of Louys which was not only to Destroy the English Nobility but if he could the whole Nation Dan. Hist 148. The like Example is of the French Catholick more properly Papist Faith to the Nobility and People of Scotland Buchan Rer. Scot. Lib. 17. p. 156. where appears The French Papists were called into Scotland by the Scotch Papists to assist them against the Protestants there on Mutual Agreement on Oaths between the Papist of both Nations but when the French Army came they spoyl'd alike both Papist and Protestant And the French Garison at Leith destroy all with Fire and Sword as far as they could reach A French Papist King forsworn to the Papist Nobility of Scotland Clades autem Ex vastatione Agrorum non minus ad Papanos sine discrimine Scotorum Nobilitatem Extinguendam esse in corum autem praediis mille Catraphractos Equites Gallos collocari posse reliquam Multitudinem Servorum Loco habendam id Consilium literis ejus ad Gallum interceptis divulgatum mirum quantum Gallorum odium Jam aliis de Causis natum auxit Ambianus autem Episcopus non modo Romane Cause minus aequos sed etiam Gallorum partibus minus quam ipse Censebat aequum addictos in dicta causa agere rapere truci dare jubebat The Devastation of the Countrey about Leith by the French fell no less on the Papist than Protestant Labross advised that the whole Scottish Nobility was without any Difference made to be destroyed and a Thousand French Barbed Horse to be planted on their Estates and the rest of the Multitude to be kept for Slaves which Council his Letters being intercepted wherein he had sent the same to the French King after it was divulged 't is wonderful how it increased the hatred against the French which for other Causes was already sufficiently begun The Bishop of Amiens likewise without over hearing the Cause Commanded not only those who favoured not the Romish Religion but the French Cause as much as he would have them to be pursued taken by Force and Killed Henry the 3d. a Papist King forsworn to Papist Subjects To return again to England we left where King John having broken his Oath to the Nobility and Parliament being dead the same Oath of preserving the Laws and Liberties was again obtained of his Son Henry the Third who in the Barons Wars wanting Money a Tenth is granted him by the Clergy and a Scutage by the Layity of Three Marks of every Knights Fee yet with this Agreement That the often Confirmed Charter of Magna Charta and Charta Forestae should be again Rectified Confirmed and Sworn to and that in the most Solemn and Ceremonial manner as Religion or State could ever devise to do The Solemn manner of giving his Oath by Henry the Third to confirm his Subjects Liberties The King therefore with all the great Nobility of England all the Bishops and Chief Prelats in their Pontificalibus with burning Candles in their hands assemble to hear and pronounce the Terrible Sentence of by-Excommunication against the Infringers of the Charters and at the lighting of one of those Candles the King having received one in his hand gives it to a Prelate who stood by saying It becomes not me who am no Priest to hold this Candle my heart shall be a greater Testimony and withal laid his hand spread on his Breast the whole time the Sentence was Read which was thus pronounced Authoritate Dei Omnipotentis c. which done he caused the Charter of King John his Father granted by his free Consent to be likewise openly Read in the end having thrown away their Candles which lay smoaking on the ground they cryed out So let them who incur this Sentence be extinct and stink in Hell And the King with a loud voice said As God me help I will as I am a Man a Christian a Knight a King Crowned and Anointed inviolably observe all these things And therewithal the Bells rung out and all the people shouted for Joy Dan. Hist 169. but his Oath came to nothing Henry the 3d. secretly Absolved from his Oath to his Subjects by the Pope for he secretly sent to the Pope for his Absolution from them and the Pope for Money by his Apostolick Sentence Absolves the King from his Oath to his Subjects whence insued great Wars and Miseries in the Land Bac. Hist. 86. and though Magna Charta was in his time granted yet he never kept it but
which were Five viz. 1. Don Antonio Son of Lewis second Son of Emanuel 2. Philip the Second King of Spain Grandchild to Emanuel by his eldest Daughter Isabella 3. Philibert Duke of Savoy Grandchild to Emanuel by his second Daughter Beatrix 4. Mary Dutchess of Rarma eldest Daughter of Edward youngest Son of Emanuel 5. Katherine Dutchess of Brigance youngest Daughter of Edward youngest Son of Emanuel Of the Exceptions Declinatory Don Antonio might have made to this Judicatory 1. That 't was no Convention of Estates Elected by the People 2. That the Judges were Elected by the King who became thereby Judge in his own Case for King Henry was only the third Son of Emanuel whereas Antonio's Father Lewis was second Son to Emanuel so he being Son of Henry's elder Brother Henry would be adjudged to restore the Kingdom to him if the Judges were equal and not of Henry's choosing 3. That the Pope and Bishops were inequal Judges they assuming the only Jurisdiction of Marriage and Succession according to the Papal Laws who take Bribes and Sell the Successions of the Kingdom and so become Judges in their own Causes as 't is well known in the Case of the Natural Son of Henry King of Castile who bought a Legitimation of the Pope and thereby excluded his Brother Peter born of a Canonical Marriage after Peter had been admitted to the Throne and acknowledged for King divers years 4. That Pope Julius the Third put forth a Decree against the Promotion of Bastards without the Assent of Don Antonio or the people of Portugal he ought not to be Judged by the Law of a Foreign Prelate who thereby makes himself a Judge in his own Case The Reasons pretended why King Henry 's Judges Adjudged Don Antonio Illegitimate 1. Because he was a Bastard in Reputation but what is this to the purpose what the vulgar think who are Educated and blinded in Popish Superstition and thereby neither understand what Legitimation or Illegitimation means Judges of Legitimation ought to be Wise men and not Fools 2. Because when Pope Julius the Third put forth a Decree against the Promotion of Bastards Don Antonio sued to be exempted and thereby owned his Bastardy and what is it to the purpose what a Foreign Pope who ought to have no Jurisdiction in Portugal Decrees there without the Assent of the People or what Antonio did terrified with the superstitious fear of his Excommunications 3. Because Lewis his Father declared him by his last Will and Testament his Bastard Son To which it may be said That it was Testamentum inofficiosum against the Law of God and against the Law of Nature and void and he himself was therein worse than an Infidel to Illegitimate him whom in the same Testament he acknowledges to be his Son 4. Because Lewis never acquainted any of his Friends with his Marriage nor told his Brother Henry in his Sickness To which it may be said Marriage or no Marriage is a Matter of Law and not of Fact and Lewis being a Papist understood not what it was but according to the Papist Laws which are contrary to the Law of God But 't is manifest he acquainted his Friends and Lewis himself with what was Marriage and what was not according to the Law of God viz. Carnal Knowledge of the Mother with whom he was not Prohibited to Marry by the Law of God and begetting Don Antonio of her besides Henry was no Competent witness in his own Case of what his Brother told him or not 5. Because the witness brought to prove the Marriage of his Mother with his Father Confessed they were suborned thereunto To which may be said These Witnesses prove themselves to be Witnesses Incompetent and are of no value for a suborned Witness will as well Swear false in his Recantation as in his first Testimony It being the common practice of wicked Persons to hire Knights of the Post to testifie at first the same which true Witnesses or other Lawful Probation have proved and after discover they were suborned to draw Suspition on the true Testimony Too much of the same wicked practices have been to dishonour the true Evidence hath been given against the late Horrid Popish Plotters The Reasons alleadged by the other Pretenders to the Crown of Portugal 1. Grandchild by a Daughter and great Grandchild by a Son Couzin German of the first Degree by a Daughter and of the Second by a Son The King of Spain by his Learned Lawyers alleadged against the Dukes of Parma and Brigance that he was Grandchild to Emanuel whereas the two Dukes were great Grand-children and he was Couzin German of the first Degree to Henry the present King in Possession whereas they were only Couzin Germans of the second Degree and so the next Degree of Consanguinity was to be preferred before a more remote Degree and this the Civilians pretended to be a strong Argument in their Law 2. That when John the Base Son of Pedro was Crowned King of Portugal it was to the Injury of the King of Castile the right being in him as having then Married Beatrix the Legitimate Daughter and Heir of Ferdinando King of Portugal Legitimate Son of Pedro and Bastard Brother to Ferdinando Father to Beatrix 3. Because Portugal was given away by a former King of Castile in Marriage with one of his Daughters contrary to the Law of the Land Son of the eldest Daughter of the Son and Son of the eldest Daughter of the Father The Duke of Parma pleaded by Farneso Bishop of Parma That being Son of the eldest Daughter of Edward fourth Son of Emanuel he ought to be preferred before the King of Spain being but Son of a Daughter of Emanuel and therefore he deriving from the Male Line ought to be preferred before him who derives only from the Female Alien and Native Born The Duke of Brigance pleaded his Cause himself and against Spain alleadged the same as Parma did and to Bar Parma who was descended from the eldest Daughter as himself was from the younger Pleaded that Parma was an Alien because an Italian and he a Natural-born Portuguese The Duke of Savoy pleaded his Cause by Charles Renero afterwards a Cardinal but he being descended from a younger Daughter of Emanuel as the King of Spain was from the eldest he was presently excluded as having no colour of Right Besides these Pretenders Queen Catherine of France would have put in her Claim as descended by her Mother from Alphonse but the Claim being groundless they denyed to receive it and so the dispute remained between the King of Spain and the two Dukes of Parma and Brigance But King Henry dying while the business was in hot debate and before he had decided the Controversie the King of Spain making himself Judge in his own Case King Philip Claimed his own Kingdoms from Natural Children but would not allow it in others seized on the Kingdom which he his Son and Grandson