in proceeding by Bill is so transcendent and absolute as it cannot be confined either for Causes or Persons within any bounds to whose unlimited power the Judge applyes the Verse of Virgil. Hic ego nec metas rerumâ— nec tempora pono Intimating the same I must now to make my position good give you some Examples of their Extravagancies yet binding Acts Jan. 26. An. 14. Edw. 4. It was Enacted that Henry Duke of Buckingham should be to all Intents and purposes reputed and taken a person of full Age of 21 years It may Bastardize a Child that is by Law Legitimate as in Marys Winc. Case 5. 6. Ed. 6. It may Bastardize Secundum quid as to part to bar the Fathers Inheritance and not the Mothers as the late case of the Children of the Lady Anne Pierâ—…nt it can Legitimate Totally or Secundum quid as in the Case of the Children of the â—…ke of Lancaster who were Legitimated to all Capacities but the Crown it can allow â— man to marry another Wife his former being living as the Case of L. R. nay it â—…n dispense with a new intermarriage to both parties no peccancy in the Case as the â—…ng and the Lady Anne of Cleve 23 H. 8. C. 25. If these Examples now be not at least some of them contrary to Gods Law I 'me in the dark what is There being a positive Text in one Case as â—…om God hath joyned together let no man put asunder and the other so sigâ—…ly Anathematized as it may be said by Moses A Bastard shall not enter into the â—…ngregation of the Lord even to the Tenth Generation But of all the Examâ—…es of their Power there is none greater than that of T. Cromwell Earl of Essex whose â—…ory is commonly mistaken but it lyes thus the King Commanded the Earl to attend â—…e Chief Justices To know whether a man that was forthcoming might be Attainted Parliament of Treason and never called to his Answer The Judges made Answer â—…hat it was a dangerous question The High Court of Parliament ought to give Examples Inferiour Courts and none of them could do the like and they thought that the Parliament would never do it but being prest again by a second Message for a Positive Anâ—…wer They said If he be Attainted it could not come in question afterwards whether he â—…as called or no The Earl soon after was sent to Prison Attainted without being called â—…o Answer and Executed accordingly That this Statute was contrary to Gods Law none will Dispute that Considers that sayâ—…ng of Nichodemus Doth our Law Judge any man before it hear him and know what he â—…oth now as much contrarient to use E. F's new Word once more as this Law was and is â—…o Gods Law it s so far from being Voyd in respect of that that it Works to this day that Family Suffering under it yet as deprived by virtue of that harsh Attainder of the Earldom of Essex which no Prince or Parliament ever yet took notice of to the Advantage of that Injured Lord. I shall give you another Instance that Acts of Parliaments against the Law of God quoad forum humanum though not in foro Conscientiae to man-ward though not to God-ward are binding which is to be so understood by my position at the beginning of this Paragraph for though we must chuse rather to Obey God than Man yet to Oppose by force an Act so made viz. contrary to Gods Law is Treason by mans Law as it may be Circumstanced my Presidents are such as both Papists and Protestant E. F. and G. H. will agree to be such The Bloody Statute of the VI Articles which made Popery a Statute Religion as well as some say that Protestanism is made so since was against all the Rules and Methods of Christianity and consequently against the Laws of Gods as all Protestants hold yet it must be allowed to be binding as long as it lasted The Papists viz. E. F. and his Fellow Clubbers at the Compendium of the Plot that bundle of Lyes and Ill manners without doubt think and upon Occasion will say that our Sanguinary Laws against Priests are against the Laws of God yet even they will not deny but they are binding Quoad Forum Humanum to manward Now as Conclusive and in Answer concerning what he says That his Sacred Majesty that now is will not suffer in his time a Pearl of this Magnitude and Oriency to be Ravished by any hands out of the Imperial Diadem of this Realm I shall offer this That a Declarative Act of that Power in the Parliament is the greatest Security to any Prince Regnant in the Case of a contingent remainder as I will put a Case which may but I hope will never be our own admit the now Queen of Spain happen to be the next remainder or Presumptive Heir which God forbid and being Acted by her Husbands and other Popish Councils should without natural Affection which is always with them postpond to Religion attempt to remove the Obstruction by Vile Agents Quis tot referre faâ—inorum formas potest Regnum petentis per gradum omnium scelerum Who can express the Methods of Impieties in them that ambitiously seek after a Kingdom commit insolent overtacts as quartering the Arms of England as Mary of Scotland did when Queen of France which might be the occasion with the continuando of that Act of the 13 of Eliz. so much talked on nay admit her Husband the King of Spain should make open War by attempting an Invasion and Claim the present Possession of the Crown as devolved unto the Pope for Heresy and from him consigned unto that King who without doubt hath as good a Title to the Crown of England as Julio II. had to Navarr yet the King of Spain holds upper Navarr that is all in a manner worth holding by Virtue of that Grant to this very day it s well enough known how other Crowns too have been disposed on by the See of Rome what shall we in such a Case sit and Sigh and feed our Fancies with a company of insignificant Wishes Hang up a Rogue or too when we can catch e'm and behave our selves like the foolish Jews who tamely let their Throats be Cut on the Sabbath day without resistance shall we with them say Let us die in our Innocency Heaven and Earth shall testify for us That you put us to Death Wrongfully Spain in the late Marriage with France provided against all Contingencies of that Nature by making the Daughter of Spain renounce all pretensions to the Crown in Case it should happen to be her Right and though it may be Objected it was not Injurious because of her Assent yet whoso Considers Her Young Years will not Argue much from thence If there was no Remedy in such a Case especially when there is a natural impossibility of defeating the Presumptive Heir by natural means as in the Case of the late great Queen what encouragement can any man have to do his Duty in Defending the present Possessour from the practises of the Impatient Heir when he is sure to be at last layd open to all Injuries imaginable The Holy League to prevent that Petitioned the Consistory at Rome That they might have leave to overthrow the Succession in a full Assembly of the States and to make the naming of a Successor Subject unto the said States yet none of that Party concerned themselves much with the unreasonableness of that Petition being satisfied I suppose with the expediency of the thing Therefore since that no Laws can be or has been made but such as shall at some time entrench upon some particulars It rests then naturally in the Supremacy to add what new ones it in reason shall think fit that being the only proper Judge of all Conveniences in that Case to think otherwise were to dismantle and disarm the Government by making it so defective as not to be able to provide either for its own Support or the Subjects Security a Parliament viz. the King and his Three Estates being then the only Remedy in such a Juncture I shall apply for a Conclusion to that uncontroulable and unaccountable Authority the 33. 34. Verses of Job 41. Vpon Earth there is none like him who is made without fear He beholdeth all High things He is a King over all the Children of Pride no more Worthy Sir but I am Your Humble Servant G. H. 13 Eliz. C. g. 2. Sp. Glos L. 1. C. 6. â— E. d 4. C. 1. * L. 1. C. 6. P. 9. 1. Edw. 3. 18. 42 Edw. â— 1 Jac. C. 1. 25 Ed. 1. C. 2. p. 15. Aquinas Inst 4. c. 1. Deut. 23. 2. I. 7. 51 De. 17. 10. 8. 19. 15. The Example of Spain disinheriting the Daughter Mac. L. 1. c. 3. V. 36. 37.
THE POWER OF PARLIAMENTS Asserted By G. H. In a Letter to a Friend lately Chosen a Member of the House of COMMONS In Answer to an Indigested Paper by E. F. Called a Letter from a Gentleman of Quality to his Friend upon his being Chosen a Member to serve in the approaching PARLIAMENT Being an Argument relating to the Point of Succession to the CROWN c. Fort. of the Court of Parliament Si antiquitatem spectes est vetustissima si dignitatem est honor atissima si jurisdictionem est capacissima Printed in the Year 1679. THE POWER OF PARLIAMENTS Asserted In ANSWER to a LETTER from a Gentleman of Quality to his Friend c. SIR if E. F. had kept himself strictly to his Task premised in the Title Page namely of the great difficulty which is the true meaning of his two Epithets of Improbable and Impossible of barring the Right Line in the Succession I should have acquiest knowing it to be a great Truth but when in the height of his Zeal to the Cause he admits of a barring Law to that purpose yet he invalidates it as he would have the Nation believe to all intents and purposes his Reasons for that Worthy Sir may be worthy Consideration the Steps that he makes towards it are in my Opinion not very congruous to his designed End which must be submitted to the scrutiny of your more discerning Judgment He begins first with the Statute of the Queen about Succession Whosoever shall after the Death of the Queen affirm That the Parliament of England hath not full Power to bind the Crown in Point of Descent or Succession shall Forfeit his Goods and Chattels Which he very Learnedly says Doth not affect a Member of the Commons because he is so neither doth it affect any other Person because its natural for any Member freely to advise with his Friend about it with mutual safety and to prove the latter I suppose he tells us what irrefragable Records of Parliament he hath perused that the Members of the Commons in Ancient time have sometimes demurred to Pass certain Bills of extraordinary nature till they had consulted their Countreys they served for And then shewing his ill Nature to the Statute of Eliz. he goes on and tells us he hopes his Friend will find he hath Stabb'd it into the Fifth Rib a man that had not Studied to forget Scripture as the Wicked Jews in Antiochus's time endeavoured to Uncircumcise themselves would have said under or in the Fifth Rib but why should he be quarrell'd with for his unskilfulness in Scripture Language when he is so notoriously out in other matters he tells his Friend he hath searched Records but that may be questioned when his mistakes about that Statute are so gross for the Words are not as he gives e'm If any shall after the Death of the Queen c. but they are If any shall during the Queens life Claim Right to the Crown c. Or affirm That the Laws and Statutes of this Realm do not bind the Right of the Crown and the Descent Government and Limitation thereof c. Yet though they are Printed in an Italick Character as all expir'd Statutes are he makes so many impertinent flourishes and inferences about his own Sense in the matter that there is no room to lay any fault upon the Printer yet it may be these mistakes arises from his not trusting the Printed Statutes because sometimes faulty but applying himself to the Record which for want of skill in that Obsolete Hand caused these mistakes yet from what he says no man knows what measures to take for having afterwards occasion to have another bout at that Terrible Statute at the end of his Letter he makes it talk at another Rate This Gentleman you see hath but ill luck in his preliminary Attaque how he behaves himself afterwards is now to be examined he lays down for his Maxim That Parliament of England cannot by their Act Exclude or Disable the next Heir of Blood Royal from Succession to the Imperial Crown of this Nation when he hath made out that Erit mihi magnus Apollo For this assertion he gives several Reasons such as they are For his first Reason he alledges That the Succession to the Crown is unseparably annexed to proximity of Blood by the Laws of God and Nature Secondly Statute Laws contrarient to those are Null and Voyd To make good his first Reason he offers at the 27 of Numb which he calls the Statute Law which God himself pronounced for ordering the descent of Honors and Possessions to use the Authors own Words but to so little purpose as I am sorry he lyes under the suspicion of being an English man For the first part of that Chapter Treats onely about directions concerning the disposal of the Inheritance of Zelophehads Daughters which should be a standing Rule or a Statute of Judgment to the Children of Israel The latter part gives an Account about nominating a Successor to Moses in the Kingdom or chief Magistracy upon Gods giving him an Accompt of his approaching Death in which as may appear by the Text proximity of Blood was not at all regarded for though Moses in probability had Sons because no account of their Deaths however he had Nephews yet Joshuah the Son of Nun all others set aside was preferred for his Graces and excellent Endowments And the Lord said unto Moses thou shalt put some of thine Honour upon him that all the Congregation of the Children of Israel may be Obedient Is not this a special Text to prove descent of Honours according to Proximity of Blood but I conclude no great matters from that practise against this Champion for Succession by Blood neither indeed is any part of Moses's Law whether Judicial or Ceremonial at all Argumentative in our Circumstances for if the Statute about Zelophehads Daughters was as binding as the Moral Law then wo worth all Tenants in Copy-hold or Borough English for evermore From hence he goes on to other Scripture Presidents to as little purpose and then falls a citing of Fathers to less for what inference can be made to affect the force of our Laws from any thing the Fathers have said about Government From thence to confirm and fortify this his first reason he had recourse to Bodin a Frenchman who argues strongly for the descent upon the Issue Male of the next of Blood Sic enim ordo non tantum natura Divinae Legis sed etiam omnium ubique gentium postulat for so says he not only the Order of Nature and Divine Right but of all Nations do require it Anotable Advocate for the Kings of England who claim by the Female Then he falls to Cite a Company of Civilians with hard Names as pertinent to his Design as if he had Prayed Aid from the Jewish Talmud or the Old Arabian Doctors but at last as if he was Conscious of some mistakes he is content to
Words of the Statute that may well labour that so they may be compelled to labour for their Living to be a good Statute for it observed the intent of the Law of God there is a later since made that so modifies Almes giving that it is not to be done at all times and all places under a penalty so that Authority makes nothing for his Case his other is like 151 Psalm no such thing in being for the last Act of H. 7. was in the 19 of his Reign as may appear by the Printed Statute which passes in all Courts for Record and uncontraversable Evidence Then Dictator like he concludes after all this foisting that he hath proved his two first Propositions That the Succession of the Crown in England is inseparably annexed to Proximity of Blood by the Laws of God and Nature and that Statutes contrarient to such are Voyd from whence it necessarily follows as he says That the Heir of the Blood Royal cannot be barr'd from Succession by Parliament what need he now say any more but being satisfied I suppose of proving nothing all this while he goes on to his second Reason That the Succession of the Crown to the next Heir of Blood is a Fundamental Constitution to confirm this now which no body will deny he Cites Sir Edward Cooke but now whither that or any other Fundamental or any thing so called be not alterable by Parliament is the Question about which Words the Gentleman seems to be fallacious for if by that Word he means only the major of Lords and Commons excluding the King as he seems to do by so slightly speaking of their Power he is in the right but if by Parliament he means as the Law means he is as I hope to make it appear mistaken now he would run down the reasonableness of their Authority from Consequences for if says he a Parliament may alter such a Constitution then the Monarchy of England will become Elective in a short space but why he does not so much as offer at but he says it and that 's enough well if it should be Elective as long as all parties concern'd are agreed no sin against the Holy Ghost I hope Poland is an Example in this Case which became an Elective Kingdom from Despotical upon the fayling of the Posterity of Crocus in Popielus the second as Denmark hath of late by consent of their Estates become an Hereditary from an Elective Monarchy but nothing of that can be here without the Royal Assent which as in probability it will never be demanded so it will never be granted to that then that fear is out of Doors Then he goes on with a company of lofty words about the Oriency of the Pearl of Succession and tells you that the Kings of England themselves their Chancellors Treasurers and all great Officers of State their Privy Councellors and Judges are all by the Provision of the Law sworn upon the Holy Evangelists to defend and maintain the Rights of the Crown and that they suffer no Disherison or Dammage to accrue thereto and very gravely cites Poulton for his Authority this is very disingeniously done for that President he so much raves on is only the Form of the Oath for Justices by which name Judges were then called to â—ake upon admittance which I suppose they may do at this day to their Offices which was amongst other things That they should not assent to any thing in Damage or Disherison to our Lord the King nor to know any such Damage or Disherison but to reveal or cause it to be revealed unto him not a word of the Rights of the Crown which are I suppose foisted in the better to impose upon the World that the Judges c. are bound by the Tenure of their Oath to hinder any Law to alter the Succession the words do not at all look forward but are only as to what may concern the King Regnant to whom they are sworn 'T is a great fayleur in our Law that there is no punishment for such Impudent mis-citers of Records to serve a turn for without doubt they are within the Equity of the Pillory for their officious pains and industry Next he comes to a great Remarque in Parliament which he cites the Roll for namely that the Lords and Commons being demanded their Advice by the King in a matter relatiâ—g the Crown did Answer with one Voice That they could not Assent to anything in Parliament that tended to the disherison of the King and his Heirs or the Crown whereto they were Sworn This looks like somewhat but will not appear much upon strickt Inspection The Story is thus The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury declared in that Parliament that the Offers of David Bruce of Scotland for Peace were so as he might freely Enjoy to him the whole Realm of Scotland without any subjection c. The Lords and Commons being willed to give their Advice made several Answers That they could not Assent to any such Peace but to the disherison of the King and of his Crown and to the great danger of themselves being Sworn to the same That Answer now resolves only into this it sets forth the ill consequence of such a Peace not much considered it may be before as the Disherison of the King of the Fee of Scotland which his Parliament could not that is were unwilling to Assent to an usual Form of denyal amongst great men it does not at all declare their incapability through want of Power for had that been the Case the Kings Council would not have been so weak as to have put it to them But Sir Edward Cokes Comment upon the Record makes all out as he says in Margine or the Margent of Inst 4. 14 no King can Alien the Crown though by Consent of Lords and Commons then my Author is at his old Ward again for my Lord Cookes Words are not so full but only Declarative what were the Words of the Parliament at that time what his Opinion was of the Power of that High Court I shall shew hereafter Then he comes to a late Example of the recognition to King James in which that Kings Title is acknowledged and the Parliament doth Humbly beseech the King to accept the Recognition not only to himself but to his Heir forever nay they go further they desire that this Recognition may have the Royal Assent c. I Wonder now this should be urged for nothing of Virtue can be conveyed by an Act of Parliament to that Title that 's derived from God and Nature because one Parliament may undo the Acts of any of their Predecessors nay Magna Charta it self is not shotfree notwithstanding the Statute that says all Judgments against Magna Charta shall be Void Next he tells you That the Right Heir of the Crown cannot be Barr'd or Excluded by Act of Parliament Because the descent of the Crown in an Instant absolutely Purgeth and Dischargeth