and that giveth the Kingdoms of men to whom he will as the holy Scriptures tell us And who being the Creator of Nature can alone when it pleaseth him controul her Methods and Operations as appeareth by the Interruptions of the Succession in the cases of David Solomon Jehu and the like And they that from these and other instances of this nature do fancy they may maintain the Lawfulness of impeaching the Succession of the Crown in the true Line may as well infer that they may lawfully rob and spoil their Neighbours because God commanded the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians In those cases we are bound to the Law but not to the Example I come now to Records of Parliament which shall be three in number First that of the 39 H. 6. wherein the daring Rich Plantagenet D. of York by his Council exhibited to the Lords in full Parliam a Writing containing his Right and Claims to the Crowns of England and France Against which Claim it was objected on the King's part That the same Crowns had been entailed by Act of Parliament upon the King's Grandfather King Henry the Fourth and the Heirs of his Body from whence the same King Henry the Sixth did lineally descend The which Act say the King's Friends there is of Autoritee to defeat eny mannere Title made to eny person for so are the words To which Objection the said Duke of York answereth I shall cite the words of the Record as they are entered up in the old English That if King Henry the Fourth might have obteigned and rejoysed the seyd Corones of England and Fraunce by Title of Enheritaunce Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the seyd Act. The which taketh noo place neither is of any force or effect against him that is right Enheritor of the seyd Corones as it accordeth with God's Laws and all natural Laws saith the Roll. And this Answer of the Duke of York to the King's Title and his said Claim is afterwards by express Act of the same Parliament declar'd and recognized to be good true just lawful and suffisaunt as it is there worded And at the same time for preventing Effusion of Bloud an Accord by the free consent of the said Duke is likewise established That King Henry the Sixth shall during his Life enjoy the Crown and that from thenceforth the Duke of York should be reputed Heir Apparent to the Crown The next Record is that of 1 Ed. 4. wherein after that Parliament hath in a long Pedigree disclos'd the Title of the same King Edward to the Crown as being in a right line descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to King Edward the Third and upon the death of his Father the above mentioned Richard Plantagenet next Heir of the Bloud Royal they immediately add these very words Knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity that by God's Law and Law of Nature he i. e. King Edward the Fourth and none other is and ought to be true rightwys and natural Leige and Soveraigne Lord. And that he was in right from the death of the seyd noble and famous Prince his Father very just King of the same Realm of England So here it is most expresly declared by two Parliaments of different Complexion and Interest and therefore the more remarkable that the Succession of the Crown of England is inseparably annexed to Proximity of Bloud by the Laws of God and Nature And that a Title of this Sublimity and Grandeur is not at all impeachable even by Act of Parliament And besides the said Parliament of 39 H. 6. doth make the same Declaration to the manifest prejudice of the Title of the King in possession who was ordained also by the same Accord to reign over them during his Life and whom for that reason it must be presum'd they would have favour'd if they had found but the least colour so to have done The last Record is the Statute of Recognition made in the first year of King James by the whole Parliament in which among other things They do in most humble and lowly manner I shall all along use the very words of the Act beseech His most Excellent Majesty that as a Memorial to all Posterity it might be publickly declar'd and enacted in the High Court of Parliament That they being bound thereunto by the Laws of God and Man did with unspeakable Joy recognize and acknowledge that immediately upon the Decease of Queen Elizabeth the Imperial Crown of the Realm ofEngland c. did by inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to His most Excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Bloud Royal of this Realm And that by the goodness of God Almighty and lawful Right of Descent His Majesty was King of England c. And to this Recognition we do say they most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige our selves and posterities for ever untill the last drop of our bloud be spent And all the Judges of England some time after in the great Case of Calvin in the Exchequer Chamber do resolve That King James his Title to the Crown was founded upon the Law of Nature viz. by inherent Birthright and Descent from the Bloud Royal of this Realm So that this Parliament doth not in the least manner pretend to give any Title to King James or his Posterity by their own Act and Establishment but on the contrary doth expresly recognize that the same King 's Right and Title to the Crown doth accrue to him by the Laws of God and Man onely as the said Judges do by the Law of Nature viz. as next and sole Heir of the Bloud Royal. By all which it doth most manifestly appear That in the Opinion of the three several Parliaments the Succession of the Crown is united to Proximity and Nextness of Blood by the Laws Divine Natural and Human And a threefold Cord of this Sanctimony and Strength is not easily broken to say nothing of the said Resolution of all the Judges of England in the Point which as our Books tell us in matters of Law is of the most sacred Authority next unto the Court of Parliament This being thus made out I come now to prove That Statute-Laws contrariant to the Laws of God and Nature are ipso facto null and void And here I shall first observe That by a profound Polity of our Law the sole Power of expounding Statute-Laws whether relating to Church or State is intrusted and lodged in the Judges of the Common Law as King Charles the first hath noted in his Speech to both Houses upon passing the Bills of 3 d of his Reign And as the Authorities of Law are very clear now the Judges have exerted this constructive Power in expounding Statute-Laws sometimes even null and void
to be legitimated and made inheritable to all Preheminences Honours Dignities c. Exceptâ Regali Dignitate for so are the very words of the Record Excepting the Regal Dignity Besides Margaret Countess of Richmond and Derby the Mother of King Henry the Seventh through whom he must necessarily derive what ever Title he could pretend to died not till 1 H. 8. So then here are four plain Legal Impediments in the Title of King Henry the Seventh 1. He derived from a Bastard Stem or Slip. 2. Though the said Children by Katharine Swinford were legitimated by Parliament yet the Dignity Regal was excepted by the same Parliament and they remained illegitimate as to that 3. His Mother out-liv'd him And 4. which was worst of all the onely true and legal Title remained in Elizabeth eldest Daughter to King Edward the Fourth who descended lineally from Lionel Duke of Clarence John's elder Brother with which Elizabeth the said Henry afterwards married as I have observ'd And therefore this Prince having so many palpable Flaws and Impediments in his Title and well knowing that the Laws Divine Natural and Humane were all against him no man I suppose will wonder that he made his Courtship and Addresses to the People for their favour and good will and was so sollicitous of an Establishment by them And as the most considering and thinking men of that Age had no great opinion of this Prince's Parliamentary Title so it is plain that this King himself laid no great stress upon it which is the more remarkable because all our Historians do with one voice proclaim him one of the wisest and most sagacious Princes that ever sway'd the Scepter in this Realm Now that he himself relied not upon this Statute-Kingship is most plain from two Acts of Parliament which I that produce First by that very Statute Law by which the Crown was establish'd upon him for as my Lord Bacon hath observ'd he did not press to have that Act penn'd by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoided to have it by new Law or Ordinance but chose rather a kind of middle way by way of Establishment and that under covert and indifferent words viz. That the Inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. Which Words might equally be applied That the Crown should continue to him but whether as having former right to it which was doubtful or having it then in fact and possession which no man denied was left fair to Interpretation every way Secondly from that Act of Parliament which he procur'd to be made in the 11th of his Reign in which it was ordain'd That no person that shall serve the King for the time being for so are the very words in his Wars shall therefore be attainted or impeach'd in his Person or Estate what fortune soever fall by chance in Battel against the mind and will of the same King for the time being This Law saith the Lord Chancellour Bacon who comments very handsomly upon it had in it parts of prudent and deep foresight for it took away occasion for the people to busie themselves in prying into the King's Title to the Crown for howsoever that fell out to be good or bad the People's Safety was already provided for And the same Author in the close of this King's Life reckons his opportune and seasonable Death among his greatest Felicities which withdrew him from any future blow of Fortune which certainly continues he in regard of the Title of his Son being then 18 years of Age and a bold Prince had not been impossible to have come upon him Because upon the decease of King Henry's Queen in whom as I have often said the true Title lodged and who died some years before the Crown immediately by the Law of England descended upon Prince Henry for there can be no Tenancy by the Courtesie of the Crown So then in the Opinion of the said Lord Chancellour also this King's Title by Statute was of small account in respect of that of his Son by Common Law By all which it plainly appears that this King had no legal or inherent Right of his own to the Crown and therefore full contrary to his own inclination he was constrain'd to stoop and truckle under an Establishment of the People which notwithstanding was invalid and null in Law as I have proved For King Henry the Eighth though no man ever doubted but that he was King de jure as bearing united in his own individual Person his Father's pretended Title of Lancaster and his Mother's legal and undoubted one of York yet there happened to fall out in this Prince's Case certain anomolous and odd Circumstances and Niceties and secret Intrigues which necessitated him contrary to his better knowledge and the native greatness of his Soul to allow his People a share or copartnership as I may say in the ordering the Succession of the Crown that so the matter might go as far as Human Power could carry it And therefore first by the Statute of 25 he confirms his Divorce from Katharine and bastardizeth Mary her Daughter and on the other hand corroborates his Marriage with Anne and legitimates Elizabeth her Daughter and makes her inheritable to the Crown The Legitimation or Bastardy of these two Daughters depending much upon the validity or weakness of the Papal Dispensation in the first Marriage and this point being a Vexata Quaestio in those days he had hoped to have cut this Gordian Knot which he could not untie with the Sword and pretended Omnipotency of a Parliament And then after he had done this he forthwith marries Jane Seymour and by the Statute of the 28 attaints his Wife Anne and bastardizeth Elizabeth her Daughter and so then according to the Poet Qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo And then breaking down the Boundaries of all Law and common Reason and with a prodigious wildness and extravagancy he procures it to be Enacted That in case he had no Issue by Jane he might dispose of the Crown to whatsoever Person he did in his own discretion think fit And the whole Nation was oblig'd by the Sanctimony of an Oath to the defence of this Law This he did that he might advance to the Throne his Natural Son Henry Fitz Roy Duke of Richmond whom he loved most passionately who yet died not long after and so to exclude for ever his Sister Margaret of Scotland and all her Descendents Then by the Statute of 35 he entails the Crown upon himself Prince Edward and the said Mary and Elizabeth and in case they happened to have no Issues of their Bodies then he was again impower'd by the same Act of Parliament to dispose of the Crown to what person or persons soever he pleased by his last Will and Testament And the whole Narion was likewise sworn to the Maintainance
Persons and their Rights that in any wise may or might claim an Interest to the same Crown in Possession or otherwise shall during the Life of the Queen's Majesty be judged a High Traitor and therefore the same Queen had little reason to scruple the passing a Bill of this Nature But I much doubt whether a Common Law-Prince who owes his Title only to God Nature and the immutable Customs of the Nation unless under like Circumstances with King Henry the Eighth would have assented to an Act so derogatory to the Regalties for the manifest Inconveniencies that might insue to himself and posterity by such Assent and Condescention Some of which I have discovered in the beginning of this Discourse in my second Reason why the Succession of the Crown is annexed to Proximity of Blood Secondly Wise men do not only consider Things that are acted but more especially the Season and Junctures of Time when those things were acted and Sir Edward Coke a great Master in the Science of our Law doth frequently admonish us That the true Scope and Design of our Statute-Laws are oftentimes not at all intelligible without the help of the Chronicles and Memoirs of that Age wherein the said Statute-Laws were made Of which there cannot be a more pregnatn Instance than this here And therefore I will in Charity believe That the Contrivers of this Objection did never rightly inform themselves of the History and true Reason of making this Statute which in Truth was this Some time before this Statute Mary Queen of Scots Dowager of France and the Mother of our King James being discomfited in Battel by her own rebellious Vassals of Scotland she like a Dove pursued by Vultures fled into the bosom of her Kinswoman Elizabeth of England for Protection Elizabeth who inherited her Father's Malaversion to the House of Scotland and contrary to those Royal Sympathies which one Sovereign Prince ought to have for another in Distress and indeed against the Rules of common Hospitality commits Mary to a loathsom Prison The Pope with some of the Catholick Princes and others of her Friends thought this was no very kind Treatment and therefore endeavour not onely to set her at liberty but also to advance her to the Throne the generality of Mankind in that Age looking upon the said Mary's Title to be much clearer than that of the Queen in possession the later being bastardiz'd and render'd incapable of the Crown by solemn Act of Parliament which still stood unrepeal'd and therefore valid in Law at leastwise but a Statute-Queen as I prov'd before And the former deriving as is shew'd above by the Common Law and a direct true line from Margaret the eldest Daughter of King Henry the Seventh and Elizabeth his Queen And besides in the very year this Statute was made there was a Marriage warmly prosecuted between the said Queen Elizabeth and Henry Duke of Anjou who afterwards became King of France upon the death of his Brother Charles the Ninth and no small care was then taken for Establishment of the Succession upon the Issues proceeding from the same Marriage And there is a remarkable Clause among others in the same Statute of 13 viz. That every person or persons of what Degree and Nation soever they be shall during the Queen's Life declare or publish that they have any right to enjoy the Crown of England during the Queen's Life shall be disenabled to enjoy the Crown in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Queen's Death Which Clause was most apparently contriv'd against the same Mary and her Son King James So that the plain scope and design of this Statute was utterly and for ever to exclude and disinherit the same Mary Queen of Scots and all her Posterity and to extinguish absolutely that Right to the English Crown which the Laws of God and Nature and the Common Law of England had given to her and them And therefore how any man that pretends Loyalty or Allegiance to His Gracious Majesty that now is who derives his Title lineally from the said Mary Queen of Scots can object this Statute was a Precedent for Exclusion of the next Heir by Act of Parliament I cannot understand And the Objector may do well to consider how far he may enforce this Objection without hazard to his Person and Estate for no man can maintain the validity of this Statute without manifest Derogation and Injury unto his Majesty's Title Thirdly To affirm that the Parliament hath no Power to bind the Succession of the Crown in point of Descent and to affirm that the Parliament hath no power to exclude the next Heir of the Bloud Royal is the same Proposition Now I have proved above That the Succession of the Crown is annex'd to Proximity of Bloud by the Laws of God and Nature and that Acts of Parliament contrariant to those Laws are void So then the Case is no more than this An Act of Parliament ordains that no Person under a certain Penalty shall dare to affirm That Statute-Laws contrary to those of God and Nature are null and void I think no man ever did or doth or will doubt but that such Act of Parliament is absolutely void in it self and that the Judges are oblig'd to expound it so when ever it comes before them in Point of Judgment Lastly This Act of 13 being a Law made as I have proved above in diminution or rather in open and hostile Defiance of the Title of Scotland to this Crown it was by tacit and implied consent of the Law and the whole Nation utterly abrogated upon the first moment of the happy Union of the two Crowns in the person of King James or at leastwise by the solemn and express Repeal here of all hostile and unkind Laws between England and Scotland of which I am sure this of 13 was none of the least I shall draw towards a Conclusion with a certain apposite Note which one of our Latin Historians makes upon the nine days Reign of Jane Grey and the easie Admission of Queen Mary to the Crown Tali constanti veneratione nos Angli legitimos Reges prosequimur ut ab corum debito obsequio c. Such and so constant a Veneration saith he have we Englishmen for our lawful Princes that we are not to be drawn from our Allegiance and Loyalty to them by any colours or specious pretences whatsoever no not with the Bait even of Religion it self of which matter this Case of Jane may be a memorable and plain Instance For though the Foundations of her Government were laid as firm as was possible and the Superstructure also wrought with all the Art and Cunning in the world yet as soon as ever the lawful and undoubted Heir of the Crown appear'd and shew'd her self to the People all this fine and curious Frame presently fell to the ground and was ruin'd as it were in the twincle of an Eye and that principally by the