THE Great Point OF SUCCESSION DISCUSSED With a Full and Particular ANSWER To a late PAMPHLET Intituled A Brief HISTORY OF Succession c. LONDON Printed for H. Rodes next door to the Bear Tavern near Bride-Lane in Fleetstreet 1681. THE Great Point OF SUCCESSION DISCUSSED In a full ANSWER to a late PAMPHLET Intituled A Brief History of the SUCCESSION c. AMONGST all the spurious Brood the Press of late has so numerously spawn'd and wherewith the Town has been so immoderately pester'd perhaps there is scarce a Pamphlet can pretend to have made a greater noyse or met with a more general Applause than THE HISTORY OF THE SUCCESSION c. Insomuch that having heard it so much and so often commended and that some people had so great a value for it that they had taken the pains to get it without Book I grew not a little desirous of reading what I thought would not have had so welcome a Reception if it had not been penn'd with a great deal of Faithfulness and Sincerity for tho' I must confess I have no great opinion of an Argument drawn from matter of Fact since if that were once allow'd a man of very indifferent Parts and as slender Reading would find it no very difficult Task to justifie the blackest Villanies yet I assured my self that if our Author did not industriously avoid being sincere and impartial he could not but conclude the Crown of England to have always gone in the Sacred Channel of Birth-right and proximity of Blood and that uninterrupted too unless put violently out of its Course either by some manifest Force from without or some prevailing Faction from within But alas I soon perceived how mightily I was mistaken in the man for I found him in every Page taking so much pains to catch at every thing that might but any way advance his Design or seem'd but to lean never so little towards his opinion and every where so deligedly wresting and mis-representing those Authors whose Indexes I doubt not but have furnished him with all the Reading he has show'n upon this Occasion for certainly if he had but taken a little more pains in reading the Authors themselves he would not have had the Confidence to have so grosly imposed upon the World as he has done When I say I had perceived with what intollerable dis-ingenuity he had all along managed his Design I could not but conclude with my self that if his very extraordinary Ignorance has not stood in the way of his Preferment he had Malice and In pudence enough to entitle him to the honour of a Pillory Nor can the man deserve less that goes about to make people believe that the Kingdom of England but a few Ages ago was Elective that His Majesty whom God long preserve holds His Crown upon no surer Title than an Act of Parliament and that 't is lawful for the Three Estates of the Realm to depose their King and call him to an Account of his Stewardship if he behave not himself to their content and satisfaction for either this must be the consequâ—â—ce of his Discourse or nothing for all his Arguments are drawn from matter of Fact for the most part falsely represented too and he tells us of two Kings that have been deposed so that if from thence we may conclude that because such things have been done they either were then or may now lawfully be done which either our Author must prove to be true or else acknowledge his whole Discourse an impertinent Scrible I have not falsly accused the Writer of this Discourse I amabout to examine And although this might be allowed to be a sufficient Answer to this whole Pamphlet since every one can tell him à facto ad jus non valere consequentiam yet because there may be a great many people in the World as willing to be deceived as he is to deceive for I can believe none to be so ignorant were they not violently bent upon it as to suffer themselves to be imposed upon by so irrational and illogical a Discourse I suppose it will not be an unwelcome performance to those that are Lovers of Truth or Honesty to see the Mask pull'd off from our Scribler and his many and unpardonable because designed mistakes in his pretended HISTORY OF THE SUCCESSION laid open But before I proceed to examine the particulars I cannot but take notice of one thing that may easily impose upon the unwary Reader in turning over our old Monkish Historians I mean their very frequent mention of the Election of our Kings which expression of theirs has given our Pamphleteer the most colourable pretence of any to assert the Monarchy of this Isle to be an Elective One but he that has taken the pains to look into the Body of their Writings more carefully than this Gentleman has done will I am sure conclude that no good Argument can be drawn from a loose Expression or careless Word let fall from the Pen of any of our Monks who must be confess'd by every one to be extreamly ignorant of Latinity and the true propriety of Words so that both false Grammar and gross Barbarisms are very frequent amongst them besides it will most evidently appear that what they call'd Electing of a King amounted to no more than an open acknowledgement or recognition of his Right and Title since as I shall make appear from the ensuing Discourse they upon several occasions tell us of the right precedent to all manner of Ceremony that Kings of England have to the Crown and both they and several Parliaments of different Complexlous and Interests have declared the Kingdom of England to be Hereditary as appears from several * Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 10 c. Rot. Parl. 1 E. 4. n. 8 c. Rot. Parl. tent ' apud Westm ' die Veneris 23 die Jan. An. Regni Regis Rich. 3. primo c. Records and that the Crown according to the Laws of God and Nature does descend according to Birth-right and proximity of Blood which how it can do and yet be Elective I cannot for my life understand so that whatever the present use and the propriety of the word Election may make it signifie yet I am assured the meaning of it in our Records and Historians must be what I have assign'd to wit A Recognition and Acknowledgement of the Person said to be elected to be the true Heir to the Crown to whom by Birth-right it is due But to come closer to the point I agree that nothing certain has come down to us of the nature of the Government of this Island before the Romans came hither who found them governed by several petty Princes but if we may give any credit to what is related of the old Britains and some Learned Men †Sheringham de Anglorum gentis Origine c. Hist Britan. Desensio per J. Priseum Eq. Aurat are persuaded we may we shall find the Crown
speak not Reason For what Power hath the State to elect while any that is living hath Right to succeed But such a Successor is not the Duke of Lancaster as descended from * So call'd from a Cross he used to wear upon his Back Edmund Crouchback the Elder Son of King Henry the Third tho' put by the Crown for Deformity of his Body For who knows not the Falseness of this Allegation Seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the Elder Brother nor yet Crook-back'd but of a goodly Personage and without any Deformity And your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done who it vvas that in the Fourth year of King Richard vvas declared by Parliament to be Heir to the Crovvn in case King Richard should die without Issue But why then is not that Claim made because Silent Leges inter Arma what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But however it is extreme injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence And now my Lords I have spoken thus at this time that you may consider of it before it be too late for as yet it is in your Power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Thus spoke that Loyal and Good Prelate but to little purpose though there was neither Protestation nor Exception made against this Speech which certainly there would have been had there not been as much Truth as Boldness in vvhat he said And tho' Henry the Fourth did afterwards get the Inheritance of the Crown and Realm of England setled upon himself for Life and the Remainder entailed upon his four Sons by Name and the Issue of their Bodies yet that cannot at all make for my Adversaries purpose since it amounted to no more than a Confirmation of him in the Throne or if it did vve may vvell suppose that a Prince that vvas conscious to himself hovv unjustly he had gain'd his Crown would not be very unwilling to take such a way tho' in derogation to his Prerogative to secure himself if possible tho' not out of an Opinion that they could give him a better Right than they had but because 't is natural to suppose they would upon any occasion be ready to defend what they so solemnly had enacted Come we next to Henry the Fifth who this Gentleman says was Elected But how notoriously false that Assertion of his is will appear from hence that first there was no Parliament called till after his Coronation and in the next place that if the Act of Parliament made in the Seventh Year of Henry the Fourth had so great a Force and Vertue as he says it had it was needless nor can he prove any such thing from that careless and negligent Historian Polydore For Concilium Principum with him does not always signifie a Parliament as any one that has read him which I dare say he never did will perceive nor does his Phrase creare Regem import any more than the King's Coronation besides 't is most untrue which he affirms that Allegiance was never sworn before his Time till after a King was Crowned For the contrary appears from King John and Edward the First Nay 't is undeniably true that the Kings of England have exercised all manner of Royal Jurisdiction precedent to all Ceremony or any Formality whatsoever and that the Death of one King has in that very Moment given Livery and Seisin of the Royalty to the next Heir and by vertue of that Richard the First as a Mark of his Sovereignty immediately on his Father's Death restor'd the Earl of Leicester to his whole Estate Henry the Fifth being dead he was without any Opposition admitted to the Throne although but an Infant but in the Thirty Ninth Year of this King in open Parliament Richard Duke of York the true and rightful Heir to the Crown of England and France made his Challenge and Demand of it as being next Heir to Lionell Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John of Gaunt from whom descended the House of Lancaster but to this Claim of his it was answered by the King's Friends That the same Crowns were by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Henry the Fourth and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Henry the Sixth did lineally descend * Rot. Parl. 39 H. 6. n. 10. c. The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title made to any Person To which the Duke of York answerably replies That if King Henry the Fourth might have obtained and enjoyed the said Crowns of England and France by title of Inheritance 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 said Act the which taketh no place nor is of any Force or Effect mind that against him that is Right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expresly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient and 't is agreed that Henry shall hold the Crown during his Life and the Duke of York in the mean time to be reputed and proclaimed Heir Apparent So that we have here as much as can be desired a Parliament not only declaring that a Title to the Crown ought to derive it self only from the Laws of God and Nature and not from any Civil Sanction and acknowledging in at the Bargain that it is beyond the Reach of any Humane Legislative Power to debar and exclude any one that justly claims by such a Right But to â— proceed upon Edward the Fourth's coming to the Crown a Parliament conven'd in the first year of his Reign does acknowledge and recognize his Title in these words as the * Rot. Parl. 1 Ed. 4. n. 8. c. Record has it Knowing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity that by Gods Law and Law of Nature He h. e. Edward the Fourth and none other is and ought to be true right-wise and natural Liege and Sovereign Lord. And that he was in Right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the same Realm of England So here again we have another Parliament of the same mind with the last and I doubt not but we shall meet with more of 'em e're we have done When King Edward the Fourth was droven out of his Kingdom by Henry the Sixth 't is true the Crown was again entail'd if it may be properly so call'd upon him and his Heirs c. but still the proceeding was grounded upon the same Bottom with the former Here our Pamphleteer is pleased to make this drowsie Observation that both the Families of York and Lancaster claim'd a Title by Act of Parliament 't is true the latter did because they
had no other that would carry Water but as false that the former ever did for they as you have seen before founded their pretences upon the sound Bottom of Divine and Natural Law Besides Richard Duke of York challenged the Crown as his just Right before any Act pass'd in his favour nor was it the want of a Parliamentary Title which he stood in need of that kept him off but because he had not Power and Interest enough to assert the justness of his Title and therefore 't is no wonder he deferr'd the making of his Claim so long for to have done it sooner would but have riveted the Usurper more firmly in his Throne But Edward having regain'd his Kingdom as quickly as he lost it left it at his death to his unfortunate Son Edward the Fifth who was soon deprived both of that and his Life by his barbarous inhumane and ambitious Uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester who having persuaded some and forced others to believe or at least seem to believe that all his Brother Edwad's Children were Bastards did by a kind of pretended Election and at the instance of all the Great Men take or rather usurp the Crown But that the mystery of that subtle Transaction may be fully discovered I shall transcribe that Petition and Election as they call it out of the Parliament Roll as much as is necessary and opitomize the rest and then I will leave the Reader to judge how dis-ingenuously not to call it worse tho' according to his Custom this Gentleman would insinuate as if in the midst of their highest flatteries and courtship to him they tell him only of this great and sure Title by Act of Parliament An untruth if he had had the least grain of Modesty he could not have had the confidence to assert but by this time I suppose you know what a man I have to deal with But I hope the Roll will convince him and make him asham'd of his dis-ingenuity * Rot. Parl. tent apud Weâ—im die Ven. 23 die Jan. 1 R. 3. In this Petition and Election but that Election imports not what he would have it I hope will evidently appear from the sequel they set forth the many Grievances and Oppressions the Kingdom groan'd under through the dissolute Government of the late King Edward the Fourth they say farther That the King was never married to his pretended and reputed Queen or if he was that upon the account of a Precontract to another Lady that Marriage was unlawful and ipso facto void and so either way all his Children were illegitimate They say farther That George the late Duke of Clarence being attainted of High Treason and his Blood corrupted by reason thereof his issue are debarred or all Right and Claim to the Crown But the reasonableness and lawfulness of this Position I shall take the Liberty to examine hereafter Over this I give you the Words of the Record in English We consider that you be the undoubted Son and Heir of Richard late Duke of York very Inheritor of the said Crown and Dignity Royal and as in Right King of England by way of Inheritance how then can the Parliament challenge a power of Election in the modern sense of the words and that at this time the premises duly considered there is none other person living but You only that by Right may Claim the said Crown and Dignity Royal by way of Inheritance And then they go on in a most abject way of Flattery to recount his excellent Parts and extraordinary Qualifications for the Government Wherefore say they these premises by us diligently considered we desiring effectually the Peace Tranquillity and Weal-publick of this Land and the reduction of the same to the ancient honourable Estate and Presperity and having in your great Prudence Justice Princely Courage and excellent Vertue singular Confidence have chosen in all that in us is and by this our Writing choose you High and Mighty Prince our King and Sovereign Lord to whom we know of certain it appertaineth to be chosen From whence it appears that what they call Election amounts to no more than a Ceremony or formality of acknowledging their Prince Therefore they desire him as his true Inheritance which 't is impossible in an Elective Kingdom the Royalty can be to accept of the said Crown and Dignity according to this Election of the Three Estates Surely then the King vvas none They add soon after Albeit that the Right Title and Estate which our Sovereign Lord the King Richard the Third hath to and in the Crown and Royal Dignity of this Realm of England be just and lawful as grounded upon the Laws of God and of Nature mind that and also upon the ancient Laws and landable Customes and therefore not upon any Statute but Common-Lavv of this said Realm and so taken and reputed by all such persons as be Learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customes yet nevertheless Here once for all take notice of the true Reason of the Parliaments medling vvith the Succession for as much as it is considered that the most part of the people is not sufficiently Learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customes whereby the Truth and Right in this behalf of likelyhood may be hid and not clearly known to all the people and thereupon put in doubt and question And over this how that the Court of Parliament is of such Authority and the people of this Land of such a Nature and Disposition as experience teacheth that Manifestation and Declaration of any Truth or Right made by the Three Estates of this Realm Assembled in Parliament maketh before all other things most Faith and Certainty and quieting of Mens Minds removeth the occasion of all Doubts and Seditious Language And therefore at the Request and by the Assent of the three Estates of this Realm the King cannot be one that is to say the Lords Spiritual 't is they are one of the Estates and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same be it pronounced decreed and declared That our said Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very undoubted King of this Realm of England c. as well by right of Consanguinity and Inheritance as by lawful Election Consecration and Coronation And since the two latter as all the World knows do give no new right but are only Ceremonies and bare Formalities of State I can see no reason why what they call Election which certainly must not be strain'd to Propriety should be reputed any other because it not only is joyned with the rest without any Distinction but likewise Election in the usual Sence is incompatible with an Hereditary Monarchy such as this is over and over proved to be To all which the King assented in these words Et idem Dominus Rex de assensis dictorum trium Statuum Regni Authoritate praedicta omnia singula Praemissa in Billa
praedicta contenta concedit ac ea pro vero indubio pronunciat decernit declarat So here we have as much as can be desired a Parliament that had assumed a very extravagant Power yet declaring that the Kings of England do derive their Titles from God and Nature only and that this was consonant to the known Custom and Ancient Practice of the Realm But the innocent Blood of this barbarous and cruel Tyrant's Nephews whom he had caus'd inhumanely to be murder'd crying to Heaven for Vengeance God raised up one to deprive him at once both of his Grown and Life I mean Henry Duke of Richmond of whom the judicious * 7 Book in fine Comines says Qu' il n' avoit Croix ne Pile ne nul Droit come Ico croy al a Corone d' Angleterre Come we now to the Consideration of the Methods he used to establish himself in his new-gotten Kingdom after the Death of †Bacon's Hist of H. 7. f. 4. Edit London 1622. Richard and we shall learn that from the best of our Historians in his Life of that wise Prince who tell us that the King after his Victory at Bosworth Field being come to London was very much distracted in his Choice of a Title to the Crown as whether he should claim it by Right of Conquest but that he judged a very dangerous and unsatisfactory way or in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Heiress to the House of York whom he had promised and intended to marry But as to this he considered that he should be a King only by Courtesie and Tho' he should obtain by Parliament says my Lord Bacon to be continued for otherwise he must upon his Queen's Death have resign'd yet he knew there was a very great difference between a King that holdeth his Crown by a Civil Act of the Estates and one mind that that holdeth it Originally by the Law of Nature and Descent of Blood So far he Therefore upon those Considerations he resolv'd to rest upon the Title and Right of the House of Lancaster as the Main as that which would prove his surest Card For tho' he could not be ignorant that upon several Accounts that Title could not stand the Test of a severe and legal Tryal yet he knew very well that it was not only very foolish to dispute such things with a man that had thirty Legions at his Beck but that there could be no occasion for it during the Life of his Queen who was true Heir to the Kingdom and after her Death he might hope the Sence of Filial Duty would deter her Children from any Attempt to disturb him yet however his opportune Death vvas look'd upon by many as his greatest Happiness vvhereby he vvas vvithdravvn from any future Blovv of Fortune which certainly in regard of the great hatred of his People and the Title of his Son being then come to Eighteen years of Age and being a bold Prince and liberal and that gain'd upon the People by his very Aspect and Presence had not been impossible to have come upon him as the Judicious Bacon * Hist of H. 7. f. 231. words it With this Resolution he was Crown'd and having call'd a Parliament you see he did think an Act of theirs necessary to make him King tho' he thought it convenient to confirm him where an Act was pass'd for settling the Crown upon him †Hist of H. 7. f. 11. which he did not press to have pen'd by way of Declaration or Recognition of Right as on the other side he avoid 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 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 then in Fact or Possession which no man denied was left fair to Interpretation either way And this Statute he procured to be confirm'd by the Pope's Bull the year following which is a plain Proof he relied not so much upon the Power of a Parliament as this Gentleman would persuade us nor can there be drawn from this proceeding of King Henry's any thing that makes more for the Authority of a Parliament in these matters than for the Popes which I am sure no Sober man but must allow to be none at all Besides this Prudent King was so conscious of the Weakness of his own Title notwithstanding this Act of Parliament that in the Troubles that happen'd very often in his Reign to prevent the Peoples prying and enquiry into the Justness of it he got an an Act to pass ‖ Lord Bacon's History of H. 7. f. 144. in the Eleventh year of his Reign that no man that assisted him in Wars should afterwards be deem'd or taken for a Traytor nor should be impeach'd therefore or attainted either by the Course of the Law or by Act of Parliament and truly it was agreable to good Conscience that whatsoever the Fortune of the War were the Subject should not suffer for his Obedience His Argument drawn from the Oath of Allegiance and other Publick Test and Securities after what I have said already will appear so ill considered a pretence that I should but lose time in standing to confute it I shall then proceed to Henry the 8th his Son and Successor and see if any thing can be gathered from thence that may make for our Pamphleteer's purpose And I doubt not but it will appear that whatever was done in that Great Prince's Reign was rather the Effect of his extravagant Capricious Lust or Revenge than founded upon the true Maxims of Justice Equity or Lawful Authority For Sir W. R. in his Preface to the History of the World can tell us that his violent Hatred to the Elder House of Scotland was the cause of most of those Acts using says he his sharpest Weapons to cut off and hew down those Branches which sprang from the same Root that himself did but yet that Blood which the same King affirm'd that the Cold Air of Scotland had frozen up in the North God hath diffus'd by the Sun-shine of his Grace from whence His Majesty now living and whom God grant long to live is descended And as for the rest they were consented to or rather to speak Truth forced from the Parliament by the King for he used to make them do what he had a mind to to satisfie some wild Humor of his though to the prejudice of his Prerogative For the legality and unlawfulness of his second Marriage depending upon the validity or weakness of the Popes Dispensation which by the generality of the World was then thought unexceptionable it is no wonder if Henry the Eighth contrary to the natural greatness of his Soul call'd to his Assistance his Parliament with
for her establishment will clearly appear to any one that considers the state of Affairs and the History of those Times the only true Touchstone to try matters of this Nature by For if we consider how questionable Her Birthright was then generally esteemed we cannot at all admire if for her own Interest and Security she attributed much more to an Act of Parliament than otherwise she would have done For tho' in the Act of Recognition 't is said that her Majesty is and in very deed and of most meer Right ought to be by the Laws of God Queen of this Realm yet the dubiousness of her Legitimacy and her being solemny Bastardiz'd by her own Father by Act of Parliament might very well necessitate her to call in the Aid and Assistance of her people for her defence and establishment since the greatest part of Europe did not only look upon the Title of Mary Queen of Scotland to be much the clearer and juster than Hers and therefore since Queen Elizabeth's Title depended so very much upon Statute Law the most part of the World allowing her no other and a great many too disputing the validity of that she was necessitated to make that as strong as possibly she could and therefore made it Treason for any one during her Life to affirm That Our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty that now is with and by the Authority of the Parliament of England is not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof which tho' as we shall afterwards endeavour to prove was not in their power to do yet she knew very well that her people would be very apt to defend what they had then so solemnly Enacted and so thereby she should gain her end viz. her Preservation which was the great thing she aimed at as appears by this that the punishment to be inflicted upon them that broke this Law was to abate very much of its rigor after her death for then it was but to be forfeiture of goods a certain Argument that it was only Temporary Enacted pro re nata for if the Reason of it did continue the same so ought surely the Punishment since they should alvvays stand and fall vvith one another tho' no doubt another tho' less considerable reason might be the Malaversions she inherited from her Father to the House of Scotland vvhich thereby she did certainly endeavor for ever to deprive of the Imperial Crown of England As evidently appears from this Clause in it viz. That every person or persons of what Degree and Nation soever they he shall during the Queens Life declare or publish that they have any Right to enjoy the Crown of England during the Queen's Life shall be dis-inabled to enjoy the Crown in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Queen's Death For this was most apparently contriv'd against Mary Queen of Scots and her Son K. James For since almost all Europe spoke openly of the greater Right that Mary had to the Crown than Elizabeth it might very probably be expected that not only as she thought so so she might upon an occasion offer'd not only speak but act up to her Persuasion and then by this Statute she was as much disabled as Statute could do it But besides all this I am inclin'd to believe there was something more in the bottom of it than this of the contrivance of that subtle and cunning Statesman the Earl of Leicester which I gather from this Clause That whoever shall affirm during the Queens Life either in Writing or in Print that any one is or ought to be the Queens Heir or Successor besides the NATURAL ISSUE OF HER BODY BEGOTTEN c. SHALL c. For in Law none are call'd the Natural Issue of any one but those that are Illegitimate Vit Eliz. Adeo ut sayes Camden tunc juvenis audiveram dictitantes verbum illud à Leicestrio in Legem ingestum eo consilio ut aliquem ipsius filium spurium pro reginae Sobole naturali Angles tandem aliquando obtruderet Insomuch that when I was a young man sayes he I have often heard it said that Leicester caused that expression to be foisted in that thereby he might have a pretence to impose one time or other upon the English one of his own Bastards for the Queens Natural Issue A Design truly not unlikely for him to have who always measured the Publick by his proper Interest and sacrificed every thing else to his own ends and then certainly it will never be denied but such an Act of Parliament was necessary to give colour of breaking so ancient and fundamental a Law of the Land as the advancing a Bastard must needs be How contrary to all the Obligations of Justice and Humanity the unfortunate Queen of Scots was treated by her Kinswoman Queen Elizabeth upon the pretended breach of a Statute made in the 27th of her Reign I shall not trouble my Reader or my Self with the recital of which rigorous proceeding as it was chiefly grounded upon her violent hatred to the House of Scotland so I could heartily wish for the Honour of that Great and Glorious Queen under whose Reign this Island so long and happily flourished were razed out the Annals of Time so that there might be nothing left to stain the Reputation of that otherwise unblemishable Princess But tho' the Mother had the misfortune to fall so ignominiously yet the Son King James had not the wisdom to strive fruitlesly against the Stream but prudently never gave an opportunity of finding a colour to resist him who never laid Claim to a Crown till Heaven call'd him to the Enjoyment of it But no sooner was he come into England but having call'd a Parliament his Title to the Crown is solemnly acknowledged and recognized in these words 1 Jac. c. 1. We being bound thereunto both by the Laws of God and man do with unspeakable Joy recognize and acknowledge That immediately upon the decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England c. did by inherent Birth-right lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to your Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully do submit and oblige our selves our Heirs and Posterities for ever And now if King James came to the Crown by inherent Birth-right and undoubted Succession I cannot see any thing that makes more against this Gentleman than this for 't is plain the old Entail made by Henry the Seventh cannot be pretended because that Act was tho' not expresly yet tacitly effectually repeal'd by 28. H. 8. c. 7. 35 H. 8. c. 1. for King Henry could not have a power to appoint who he vvould for his Successor if that Act of Henry the Seventh remain'd in
From which Place all the Commentators with one Consent conclude That a Royal Power was due to the Eldest Son by Birth-Right and certainly there must have been something more than ordinary due to the First-Born or Esau could never have deserved the Title of Profane Heb. 12.16 which is bestowed upon him by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews I know 't is generally agreed to be upon the Account of the Priesthood which together with the rest was due to the Eldest And since we have so clear Evidence for this Right due to the Eldest by Birth as appears from Numb 3. Vers 12. where God declares he had made Choice of the Levites instead of the First-Born to be Priests I cannot conceive why that Prerogative of a Superiority and Dominion over their Brethren should be denyed to belong to them by the Law of Nature too since we have such clear Intimation of it For when Jacob blessed his Sons and told 'em what would happen to 'em in the latter Dayes Gen. 49.3 he calls Reuben his First-Born The Excellency of Dignity and the Excellency of Power Whereby is signified the Right he had by Birth to the Priesthood and Kingdom and Double Portion to which Sence the Chaldee Paraphrase exactly agrees But because of his Sins and Transgressions God had deprived him of 'em the Priesthood was given to Levi the Kingdom to Judah and the Double Portion to Joseph Nor are we to look upon Jacob as taking upon him to dispose of these Things himself but only fore-telling what would in due time by God Almighty be brought to pass and of which they were patiently and cheerfully to expect the Event But when Moses by God's Command delivered the Law to the Jews this Precept of Nature Of giving a Double Portion to the First-Born is there again repeated and enjoyn'd and so made a Part of the Positive and Revealed Will of God who gives this Reason for it because He is the Beginning of his Father's Strength Deut. 21.17 and the Right of the First-Born is his Which way of Expression is never used but when something is commanded which by the Law of Nature they were obliged to the Observation of before And of this Opinion is the Great Selden who sayes 'T is injoyned in such a manner ‖ Selden de Successionibus c. cap. 5. Ac si recepto antea in gentem more subniteretur as if it had been the Constant Practice and Custom of the Nation to observe it before And in this Precept 't is not to be question'd Succession to the Royalty is included for in the †Titulo de Regibus Talmud 't is said Qui praecipuum jus habet in Haereditate is in possessione Regni ideo filius natu major praeferur minori i. e. Whoever has the greatest Right to Succeed in any Inheritance he ought to be Advanced to the Throne and therefore the Eldest Son is alwayes prefer'd before the Younger And accordingly we are told That Jehoram succeeded Jehosophat and the Reason given 2 Chron 21.3 Because he was the First-Born Which would not have been added if upon that account the Kingdom had not been his due And if we take the pains to look into History we shall find the Practice of the World agreeable in preferring the Eldest Son before his Younger Brethren ‖ In Polyphm Herodotus can tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was the Custom of all Nations for the First-Born to enjoy the Royalty And consonant to this Lib. 2. is what we are told out of Trogus by Justine Artabazanes Maximus natu aetatis privilegio regnum sibi vindicabat quod ordo Nascendi natura ipsa gentibus dedit Artabazanes the Eldest Son challenged by the Prerogative of Age the Kingdom to which by Priority of Birth and the Law of Nature common to all People he had an Undoubted Right I might here produce a great Multitude of Quotations from these as well as other Authors to shew how Universally this Custom prevailed in all Places how generally it was Received But I shall content my self to take notice of the Unanimous Agreement of the great Doctors of the Civil and Canon Laws in this Matter †Ex hoc jure D. de Justit Jure Baldus sayes positively Semper fuit semper erit ut primogenitus in Regno succedat It alwayes was and ever shall be that the First-Born and next of Blood Succeedeth in the Kingdom And herein he is followed with the full Cry of all the Best and Choice Interpreters of both Laws who with one Voice agree That in Kingdoms and other Dignities which are Indivisible without Dis-membring the Eldest Son doth entirely Succeed And this many of them do call the Law of all Nations derived from the Order of Nature and from the Institution of God and Confirmed by the Canon Civil and other Positive Laws Now what hath been said of Primogeniture in Point of Succession to the Crown doth so evidently by Consequence extend it self to Proximity of blood that I shall say no more of it but proceed to Answer an Objection drawn from the Holy writ For say some If this Birthright be so sacred a thing as I have asserted it to be How comes it to pass that so many have been deprived of it How came the tribe of Judah to get the Scepter from Reuben And Why was Solomon advanced to the Throne to the total disinherison of his elder Brethren I answer That those that make this objection never consider that this was all done by the express command of him who ruleth in the Kingdom of men Dan. 4.25 and giveth it to whomsoever he will t is well known that David of the Tribe of Judah was immediately chosen by God himself and appointed to be Ruler of his own People and it was by an express warrant from the same God 1 Chron. 28.5 that Solomon was made his successor as appears from the mouth of David himself 1 Chron. 28.5 And of all my Sons saith he for the Lord hath given me many Sons 1 Chron. 29.1 he hath chosen Solomon my Son to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the Lord over Israel So that these and the like Instances and none other can be produced signifie nothing to the purpose And if we do but impartially weigh the Recognitions of so many several Parliaments as I have taken notice of above we shall find this great Truth openly and fully acknowledged 't is unanimously agreed That the King 's of England come to the Crown not by any Human Right but by the Laws of God and Nature And thus I think I have effectually proved my Two First Propositions viz. That Monarchy Jure Divino Naturali is Founded in Paternity and in the next place That the Crown of England is and ought to be inseparably annexed to the Proximity of Blood by the Laws of God and
Nature and this Realm Cons Rot. Parl. 1. E. 4. Rot. Parl. 1. R. 3. 1 Jac. c. 1. if we may give Credit to the Declarations of so many Parliaments of different Humours and Tempers So that it will prove no very hard Matter to make good what I undertook in the Third place to wit That an Act to Exclude his R.H. would be utterly Unlawful and ipsofacto void because contrary to all Laws Divine Natural and Humane and so it ought to be adjudged when ever it comes to the Question before the Reverend Judges For the Laws of God Nature are the Rays and Emanations of the Divinity they are Undeniable Eternal and Immutable and therefore cannot be Altered or Impeached by any Humane Power or Authority but only by the God of Nature it self who did Originally ordain them and so many and plentiful are the Instances of Statutes expounded void because contrary to the Law of Nature that it would be loss of time to take notice of or enumerate any of them no doubt upon this ground it is that those two great and learned Dectors of the Law Jason and Angelus do positively aver that tho the Eldest Son of a King be either a Fool or a Madman either of which qualifications are as pernicious to the Government every whit as being a Papist yet can he not be excluded from Succession And I doubt not it may be made evidently appear that Succession of the Crown to the next Heir of the Blood Royal is so Fundamental and Primary a Constitution of this Realm so antient and received a Custome that against it There never hath been nor ought to be any dispute as †His Argument of the Case of the Postnati pag. 36. the Lord Chancellor Egerton will inform us and if we look into our Antient Records we shall find more than one Parliament declaring that Jura Sanguinis nullo Jure civili dirimi possunt And it is held by several great Lawyers that a Prerogative in Point of Government cannot be restrained or bound by Act of Parliament And surely then much less can such an Act he of any force in so high a case as this of Succession for certainly if this were once allowed the Government would cease to be Hereditary and degenerate into an Elective One And 't is not to be question'd but such a Power as enables the Parliament to break off one link may give them a sufficient Authority to shatter in pieces the whole sacred Chain and totally exclude the present Line and together with that Monarchy which I pray God may not be the bottom of too many Men's designs let them gild over their proceedings with never so specious and popular Pretences and no doubt out of a provident Foresight of the Calamity and dismal consequence of such designes it was that the Lords and Commons did declare That they could not assent in Parliament to any thing that tended to the Disinherison of the King Rot. Parl. 42. E. 3. Num. 7. and the Crown which this Bill of Exclusion evidently does whereunto they were sworn no tho the King himself should desire it But what comes more home to the point is the answer of Richard Duke of York to the Kings Friends who urged an Act of Parliament against him who told them That such an Act was to take no place Rot. Parl. 39. H. 6. Numb 10 c. nor was of any force or effect against Him the Right Inheritor of the Crown as it accorded with God's Laws and all Natural Laws And this Answer of the Duke's is by express Act of Parliament then assembled recognized and acknowledged to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient so that in effect we have an ingenuous and full Declaration as can be that the Right of Succession is absolutely unimpeachable by any Humane Power and that the Kings of England in possession their Heirs and Successors in reversion have an indefeasible right to the Crown which they cannot be deprived of by any Authority less than that which invested them therewith Besides 't is a Maxim of our Law That as the King never Dyes which is meant of that Political Capacity which in that very Moment one King Expires is Superadded to the Body Natural of the Next Heir whereby he immediately becomes King And this Political Capacity being of that Sublimity that it is no wayes subject to any Human Imbecilities of Infamy Crime or the like it draweth all Imperfections and Incapacities whatsoever from that Natural Body where with it is Consolidate as it were Consubstantiate so the Crown once gain'd takes away all Defects removes all manner of Bars and Lets laid in the way to the Succession For 't is impossible to hinder the Descent to the Next Heir because that being removed beyond the Reach of a Mortal Arm must go exactly in that Course prescribed by God and Nature and being joyn'd to and indivisible in one Royal Person thereby this later Capacity being added to the former purgeth eo instante all Obstructions of what Nature soever And tho his Natural Body before this Union was subject to the Lash of the Law yet upon the Conjunction of this Political and Immortal Capacity with it they grow inseparable And consequently by reason of those Divine Perfections inherently and indubitably annexed to that Coalition the Prince what ever Crimes he might have formerly been guilty of is now placed above Humane Justice and answerable solely to God Almighty to whom and none other he owes Subjection And thus it has been expresly resolved by all the Judges of England in the Case of Two Princes who were as much Disabled as an Act of Parliament could â—o it The First was when Henry the Sixth by the Assistance of the Great Earl of Warwick re-assumed the Crown for Edward the Fourth had pass'd an Act to disable him from all Regiment and attaint him of High Treason But notwithstanding all this the Judges were of Opinion That in the same Moment that Henry Re-assumed the Crown the said Parliamentary Incapacities were to all Intents discharged and avoided not because as our Pamphletier pag. 17. would have us believe Edward was not Lawful King For if either Right of Blood or an Act of Parliament could give him a Just Title there 's no doubt to be made but he had One But for this very Reason That the Crown once gain'd taketh away all Defects The next Instance is of Henry the Seventh who being once possessed of the Throne the Reversal of his Parliamentary Attainder was unanimously agreed by the Judges to be unnecessary for That the Crown takes away all Defects in Blood and Incapacities by Parliament And that from the Time the King did assume the Crown 1 H. 7.4 Fitz. Parl. pl. 2. Plowdens Com. 238. Co. 1. In. stit 16. a. the Fountain was cleared and all the said Attainders and Corruptions of Blood and other Impediments absolutely discharged And this being constantly received for