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
time after left the Crown to this Young Prince another of our unfortunate Kings †P. Virg. lib. 19. 20. and so far is it from being true that his Title to the Crown was questioned by John of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster that he was at the latter end of his Father's Reign intrusted with the Lieutenancy of the Realm and after his Death was Protector to the Young King during his Minority which certainly had never been if John of Gaunt jure propinquitatis had claim'd the Crown it being dangerous to put so great a Trust and Power into the hands of a Competitor Nor was ever the Succession confirm'd to him by Parliament any otherwise than I have mentioned Neither can Polydore's Regem dicunt if you leave out this Gentleman 's disingenuous Addition of by their Common Suffrages for there is no such thing in the Original signifie any more than that he was proclaimed King But it would be well for this unhappy Prince if he might but as quietly quit as he enter'd into the Throne but alas it fell out quite otherwise For King Richard being made Prisoner by his Cousin Henry of Lancaster a Parliament was Summoned by him in the King's Name in the one and twentieth year of his Reign to meet at Westminster An action certainly illegal in it self for if the Kings Summons were necessary as it appears it was I would gladly know how it can be pretended in this Case that this Parliament did convene by his Authority for tho' the Writs were issued out in his Name yet was he so far from consenting to it that if it had lay'n in his power he would have prevented it But this Assembly or Parliament call it what you will being got together I would fain be inform'd upon what Law or Authority I mean Legal they grounded their following Proceedings for if the Breath of the Kings Nostrils was necessary to give them their Being it is a little irrational to suppose they could thence derive a Lawful Power to destroy the Author of their Life besides how can it be supposed they could proceed justly to pass a Final Sentence upon Him whose concurrance was absolutely required to give birth to any Law which might concern his meanest Subjects tho' they thought it ne're so convenient and why should we believe it in the Power of the Estates of the Realm to impose any thing upon the King when he could bind them to observe nothing without their consent first obtained and yet our Pamphleteer is not ashamed to avouch this as a President of Parliamentary Power in the Point of Succession But if we do but examine the matter a little more narrowly we shall find it makes very little for his purpose unless it be his Design and a man must have a great deal of Charity to believe it is not to instruct the people how to proceed in case their King will not do as they would have him for we shall find that tho' they usurped the exorbitant Power of Deposing Richard yet did they not pretend to the power of Electing who they pleas'd but thought themselves in duty bound to submit to him to whom by Right of Blood the Crown did belong And this evidently appears from Henry Duke of Lancaster's manner of laying Claim to the Crown for no sooner was the Throne void by the pretended voluntary Resignation of King Richard but Henry first having fortified himself with the sign of the Cross stood up and made his demand of the Crown in his Mother-Tongue in this form of Word as I have extracted them out of the * Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. memb 20. Parliament Roll In the Name of the Fader Sonne and Holy Gost I Henry of Lancastre challenge this Rewme of Ynglonde and the Corone with all the Membres and the Appurtenances al 's I that am descendit by ryght line of the blode comyng fro the gude Lord King Henry therde By this you may see vvhat it vvas he laid the stress of his Claim on and thorghe that Right that God of his Grace hath sent me He it seems acknovvledges God and not the people for the Author of his Right with the help of my Ryn and of my Friendes to recover it the which Rewme was in point to be ondone for defaut of Governance and undoyng of the gude Lawes After which Chalenge and Claim says the Record as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal all and all the States there present being severally and all interrogated what they thought of the aforesaid Challenge and Claim The above-named States with all the Commonalty without any difficulty or delay unanimously agreed that the aforesaid Duke should reign over them And this being the Naked Truth of the matter I cannot imagine with what propriety of Speech this can be called an Election or what reason this Gentleman had for to say that the above-mentioned Title was the least of all insisted on when it appears from the Roll as I have faithfully translated it that no other was so much as mentioned And thus we have heard how the poor and unfortunate Prince Richard the Second from whose Actions if they be but examined with an impartial Eye we cannot conclude him to have been either very insufficient or evil if we soberly weigh the Imputations that were objected against him we shall find nothing of any truth or at least any moment was in a tempestuous Rage deprived of his Right and upon what Grounds Henry 4. mounted his Throne But how justly even in the Opinion of some at that time you will best be inform'd from Thomas Merks Bishop of Carlisle a wise and Learned man and of no less Courage who when it was moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard He boldly stood up and spoke to this Effect as it is set down by * Bak. Chron. f. 158. Sir Richard Baker and since it is so much to the purpose I hope the reader will not be displeased with the length of it My Lords The matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two points chiefly to be considered The First Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say the Head may how it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by Force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take up Arms and not be Treason If you say by Election of the State you
which his ipse dixi was a Law to cut that Gordian Knot asunder which he was not able to unty But it is time now to examine the palpable contradictions of those several mad and extravagant Acts that he made and first in the * Stat. 25. H. 8. c. 22. 25th year of his Reign after he was Divorced from Queen Katherine and had married Queen Anne The Parliament having in the Preamble to the following Act declared what great miseries and how many troubles had befallen this Realm by reason of the ambiguity of the several Titles to the Crown do think themselves bound in duty by a Declaration of the true Heir to avoid the causes of such Distractions for the future It is therefore Enacted and Ordained That the Kings Marriage with the late Queen Katherine is void as directly contrary to the Laws of God and therefore not dispensable with by the Pope or any Humane Power whatsoever They therefore bastardize Mary and declare the Marriage between his Majesty and Queen Anne to be just and lawful and that the Children of their two Bodies begotten shall be and are legitimate and then in default of Issue Male entail the Crown upon the Lady Elizabeth c. and every one by the Sanctimony of an Oath is bound to the observation and performance of this And the next Parliament does Enact a particular Oath for that purpose whereby every one is bound to bear Faith Truth and Obedience only to the King's Majesty and to his Heirs of his Body of his most Dear and entirely beloved lawful Wife Queen Anne begotten or to be begotten But mark what follows a few years after 't is Enacted St. 28. H. 8. c. 7. That the people shall forswear themselves the late Marriage is declared unlawful null and void the Lady Elizabeth is Bastardized as the Lady Mary was in the former Parliament and the King's Marriage with Queen Jane is acknowledged consonant to the Law of God the Crown entailed upon their Issue and for failure of them the King is impowred to dispose of the Crown to whom he please by his Letters Patents or his last Will and the whole Nation was obliged by the Sanctimony of an Oath to the observation of this Law So that you have at once not only Swearing backward and forward but the Crown made Elective if Act of Parliament can make it so which had always hitherto been Hereditary which so many unbiassed Parliaments had declared was due to the next Heir by Inherent Birth-right and by the Laws of God and Nature a Title sure unimpeachable by any Civil Power and all this in open defiance of all Equity Justice and Common Reason on purpose to dis-inherit the House of Scotland which as much as Humane Power could do it was by this Act done and to advance his Bastard Son Henry Fitz-Roy whom he most entirely loved to the Throne But not yet content to put a period to his extravagancy in the 35th year of his Reign he caus'd it to be Enacted That after his Death and the Death of Prince Edward without Issue the Crown should be to the Lady Mary and the Heirs of her Body but subject to such Conditions as the King should limit by his Letters Patents or by his last Will and if the Lady Mary performed not those Conditions that then the Crown should go to the Lady Elizabeth and if the Lady Elizabeth neglected to perform such Conditions then it should go to such other person as the King should appoint And he was again impowred by his Letters Patents or last Will to grant the Remainder or Reversion of the Crown to what person he should appoint and the whole Nation is again bound to the observation thereof By an Oath But surely no man will argue from these contradictory and wild Acts that the King and Parliament have any power to limit and alter the Succession since if we believe those Parliaments I have before mentioned 39 H. 6. 1 E. 4.1 R. 3. we shall find that to be removed beyond the reach of any mortal Arm and reserved to the only disposal of Him by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice And certainly we have as much reason to believe them as can be rationally expected since 't is very natural for those that assume so much power to themselves as they did to screw it up when their hands are in to the highest pin for 't is not likely that they if they could have found the least shadow of Evidence to the contrary would out of a Complement to God Almighty have thrown back that Power into his hands which he had once pleased to bestow upon and invest in them Nor need we at all wonder to find a Prince of King Henry's Spirit and Native greatness of mind fall so beneath his usual Majesty in such things since perhaps no Prince can be met withall in whom there concenter'd a greater number of odd and anomalous Circumstances which did incline him to crave in Aid of his Parliament for he being one that would sacrifice every thing to his Humour Lust or Revenge he was forced to take this course to remove all the Letts that stood in his way as far as Humane Power could carry them Therefore I am persuaded these Acts of Parliament ought no more to be urged as Precedents for us to guide our selves by than his Arbitrary and Illegal Methods of bringing those that had the misfortune to fall into his hatred to the Block without being once heard or suffer'd to make their defence And as these are not permitted to be drawn into practice tho' done by the Legislative Power as well as the other because of their manifest injustice and illegality I cannot for my Life see why the other should 't is a Riddle beyond my skill to unfold I shall pass by some of this Gentleman's Paragraphs as not worh insisting upon and come to his Proofs drawn from Queen Elizabeth's Reign and indeed 't is in an Act made the 13th of that Princess that the whole Party place their main strength but I hope I shall be able to make it appear if every Circumstance be duly considered that induced that Glorious Queen to do some things that tended highly to the manifest derogation of her Prerogative which at other times she was so tender of that nothing can be gather'd from thence which will really do any service to my Adversaries Opinion For if as all Casuists hold those Oaths and Promises which are extorted by fear or force are not Obligatory I cannot tell why those things which by meer necessity upon those very accounts she was compell'd to as well for the preservation of her Body Natural as Politick should be denied the priviledge of being dissolved upon that very score that other things of the same Nature are And that they were no other things than what I have before mentioned that caused this Great Queen to fall beneath her self and court her people
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
They would have us believe they only aim at the preservation of His Majesty their Religion Lives and Liberties when in truth they are so resolutely bent upon the Destruction of Monarchy it self that in spight of all their art they are not able to disguise their Intent but let such things slip from their pens unawares that at once makes a perfect Discovery of their Hypocrisie and Villany But if this will not do he can tell us That there is a Supreme Vncontroulable Power lodged in the King and Parliament from whence he collects if he intends to prove any thing That they have a power to command and exact our Obedience to every thing they enjoyn An Opinion I assure you that were there neither Heaven nor Hell God nor Devil would very much conduce to the Peace and good Government of Mankind and you know Mr. Hobbs has done very fair for one towards the driving such Scare-Crows out of the World But you see by this how strangely he is put to it to bouy up his sinking Cause but he does as well as he can Drowning Men catch hold of any thing But above all things I cannot sufficiently admire his Confident challenge of producing any one instance where ever any Nation not under the immediate force of a Conqueror did admit of a Prince of a Religion contrary to that established when Scriptures the History of the Byzantine Empire and the Annals of our own Country could have furnished him with so many examples for how many Idolatrous Kings do we read of its Holy-Writ that without any disturbance of opposition succeeded and governed in Israel tho' their inclinations were well known before their coming to the Crown but we hear not one word of Disinheriting or Deposing them unless by such as are there branâ—ed with the Name of Traytors and Villains except by the immediate and most visible Act and Finger of God himself who being the Creator of Nature can alone when it pleaseth him controul her Methods and Operations and certainly if any such Power there had been lodged any where in the Jewish Government we should have found it put in Execution I doubt not by that People whose Religion was much more inconsistent with the Iâ—olatry of the Heathens than ours with that of Rome and so they had the greater Obligaâ—iâ—ns to endeavour to prevent the Succession of an Idolatrous Prince and if we may taâ—e any measure from the Primitive Christians we shall not find any thing to countenance our present proceedings for after their Religion was become the established one of the Empire I cannot hear that they endeavoured to seclude Julian the Apostate 〈◊〉 the Imperial Diadem tho' they were no less acquainted with his Inclination to these Religion than his natural Temper Nor do I ever find the Orthodox party talking of impeaching the Right of Succession when an Arrian under whom they were somâ—times as severely persecuted as ever their Ancestors were in the time of the Heathens Was the Heir Apparent 't was a Doctrine unheard and unthought of amongst them They had recourse only to the true Christian Arms of Prayers and Tears for their Defeâ—ce For the Church in those dayes was not so literally Militant as it has been of late And in our own Country have we not seen a Mary and Elizabeth Princesses of a contrary Religion to that established Succeed to the Throne without any resistance or at least such as rather strengthen'd than shook their Throne Queen Elizabeth met with none and that against Queen Mary was rather an Offer than any thing else But here I cannot sufficiently wonder at the disingenuity of this Pamphleteer who has in more places than one endeavoured to insinuate that all those who either oppose or are perswaded of the Injustice and illegality of the Bill of Exclusion are Patists or at least Popishly Affected and therefore he cites the Opinion of two great Romanists hoping thereby to convince them of the Truth of his Assertion but he either forgets or rather maliciously conceals that the Doctrine of disinheriting and deposing Kings and of the Natural freedom of the People is rank Popery first broached and introduced by the Schoolmen and since zealously maintained by the Jesuits and other great Men of the Papal Faction and I much fear whether if he would ingenuously confess the Truth he must not acknowledge himself beholden to one of them for the greatest part of his Discourse So true is it that tho our Phanaticks amongst whom if I am not misinformed our Author is or at least once was a leading man and the Papists tho they look contrary wayes yet like Sampsons Foxes they are tied together at the tailes they are alike the firebrands and disturbers of all Countryes where they come So that I think I need not be concerned at the Sentiments of men so devoted to the Roman See as †Card. Fisher Sir Thomas More those he mentions But for Sr. W. Raleigh whose Testimony both as a Protestant and a Judicious Learned Man I very highly value I am not at all in pain for if a Man do but look into the Quoted place to which I refer my Reader he will find him of quite another opinion than this Gentleman who has strangely misrepresented him would have us believe from whence you may take the measure of this Man's Ingenuity his Candor and Integrity but by this time I think you are well enough acquainted with him And thus I have run through this whole Pamphlet and I hope given a clear answer to every thing of any moment by him advanced and as for some few little trifling passages not worth considering I have passed them over without taking any notice of them And from a due Consideration of the whole matter every man must infer that the Kingdom of England is an Hereditry Monarchy wherein the Succession of the Crown is inseparably by all Laws Divine Natural and Humane annexed to Proximity of Blood and that all the Humane Acts and Powers in the World cannot hinder the Descent of it to the next Heir And that whoever does but consult and examine impartially the History and Records of this Nation must conclude That nothing can be drawn from thence to savour the contrary opinion which was the thing I undertook to prove FINIS If the Reader will be pleased to take the Pains He is desired to Amend this and what other Errata's that have Occurr'd by Reason of the Author's absence from the Press Page 33. l. 44 between Paid and And Insert Him by Abraham
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
of Stephen to receive Duke Henry as their Natural and Lawful Sovereign And accordingly upon Stephen's Death Henry being both lov'd and fear'd by every one came very calmly to the Throne and he having sufficiently experienc'd what an alluring Temptation a Diadem is and that Men of Pride and Ambition make no Conscience of breaking through all Obligations and Ties that may obstruct their Advances to so glittering a Bait thought the only way to secure the Crown without Dispute to his Eldest Son Henry was to set it upon his Head before his Death but before that time came he had sufficient cause to repent his Choice of this unfortunate Course However this my Antagonist would have thought an Election of the Young Prince to succeed his Father without which he could not pretend to it but if he do but look upon that very Author †Gervas H. 2. f. 1412. Ipsâ die Henricum filium suum qui eadem septimanâ de Normanniâ militem fecit statimque stupentibus cunctis mirantibus in Regem ungui Praecepit coronari coronatus itaque novus rex ex praecepto patris sui succepit fidelitates he has quoted he will find if he have any remains of Modesty in him what Reason he has to blush at his Disingenuity for he will there find that the great men were afraid they were call'd to give an account and suffer the King's Censure for several unjustifiable Neglects they had been guilty of surely either this Council was very far different from what we call a Parliament now or the Times are strangely alter'd with 'em but when they found 't was only to assist at the Coronation of Young Henry they were right glad they all the time being filled with Wonder and Amazement they being so far from pretending to any power of Election that they only look'd on and then sware Fealty Besides ‖ M. Paris vit H. 2. Anno. 1170. M. Paris tells us that the King having call'd his Bishops commanded them to set the Crown upon young Henry's head without taking any notice of any others as if there had been none present but they which he certainly would never have done if so solemn a Ceremony as an Election had been necessary Henry was succeeded by Richard his Eldest Son living at his Death without any provision made in his Fathers life time in order thereto from the consent of the people unless he will call an Article of Peace between King Henry and the King of France one and certainly he must mean that if any thing when he sayes his Father was glad to get the Succession confirm'd to him but by this it was only * Provisum est etiam quod Comes Richardus acciperet Homagia hominum de omnibus terris Patris sui citra mare ultra M. Paris f. 151. Provided That Richard should receive Homage from all his Fathers Subjects but for all this he tells us That he was again Elected after his Fathers Death which to mee seems very strange for one would have thought one Election would have serv'd his turn but 't is like the rest of his incoherent Discourse besides I cannot believe King Richard would afterwards have taken upon himself to declare his Nephew †Flor. Hist Anno 1190. M. Paris vit R. 1. An. 1190. 〈◊〉 his Heir unless he had known that the Kingdom was Hereditary for in an Elective Monarchy there can be no such thing But notwithstanding King Richard being kill'd at Chalize he was most unnaturally put by his Right by his Uncle ‖ M. Paris An. 1199. in vit Johan John who immediately seized upon his Brothers Treasure and retaining all his Servants and Stipendiary Souldiers in their former Condition he comes into England after having very generously distributed his Money amongst those that he thought were capable of doing him any Service and having first sent several of his Principal Friends thither who made the people swear Allegiance to him tho' at first he met with some rubs in his way from some Loyal and Brave Persons who adhered to Arthur as their Natural Liege Lord as the ** M. Paris ubi supra Historian expresses it alledging that according to the received Custom Arthur the Son of the Elder Brother ought to succeed into that Hereditary Patrimony his Father Geofry should have enjoy'd had he outliv'd his Brother King Richard but having call'd a Council of all those ††M. Paris ubi supra Qui ejus Coronationi interesse debuerant Archbishop Hubert made such a Speech to 'em as he sayes truly would have startled the Convocation in 1640 but it sounded as strangely to those then present to hear him assert That no one could have any Title to the Crown Nisi ab universitate Regni unanimiter electus and to run on at so notoriously false and extravagant a Rate but he being a very Potent Man both the King and the rest were forced to hear him patiently but with no small concern that a man of his incomparable Wisdom and so considerable a Pillar of the Common-wealth should openly maintain so strange a Doctrine but none were so deeply touched as those good and honest men who being fully persuaded of the justness of Arthur's Title were extreamly surprized to find a Clergy-man and Archbishop the principal *** Aut fraudandi Arthurum optimum Adolescentem avito regno aut contra jus fasque Johannem regem creandi authorem esse Pol. Virg. lib. 15. in princ Actor in depriving the poor Prince of that Hereditary Kingdom which by Birth-right was his due contrary to all Law and Justice setting the Crown on John's Head But the business being over the Achbishop was asked why he would in the face of the Sun offer to deliver such false Principles upon which the Good Man not well knowing how to give an handsome Reply ventures upon defending or at least excusing one Lye by another telling them †††Respondet se praesagâ mente conjecturare a quibusdam oraculis edoctum certificatum fuisse quod ipse Johannes Regnum Coronam aliquando foret corrupturus in magnam Confusionem praecipitaturus ne habeat liberas habenas hoc faciendi ipse Electione non Successione Haereditariâ eligi debere affirmabat That his mind did not only forebode it but he was inform'd in a Dream from God that one day this John would prove a very ill Prince and therefore he delivered that Doctrine tho' false that John remembring by what Tenure he held his Crown might have a Check upon him to prevent his running out too far in his Extravagancies so that he having acknowledged what he then delivered to be false the contrary must needs be true for there is no medium betwixt them and all this consider'd you may see how much Reason you have to admire the Gentleman's Candor and Sincerity in relating this Transaction But King John had not enjoy'd the Crown long but he
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
Law ever since I cannot but wonder this Gentleman should go about to call in question the Judgment of so Many and so Great Lawyers by his Impertinent Cavils for 't was upon this Precedent that the Lord Keeper Bacon did advise Q. Elizabeth not to Repeal that Statute wherein she was made Illegitimate Nor was it upon the Account of any Attainder that the House of York forbore so long time to pursue their Claim to the Crown but want of Interest And when he tells us The King of France was the more inclined to send over his Son Lewis because King John was Attainted of Treason and so uncapable of taking the Crown he must certainly have forgot himself or he would not have made use of an Instance granting it to be true so contrary to his Purpose For it seems the English when he came to the Crown had but a very slender Opinion of such a Bar or else they would never have admitted him But the King of France was glad of any Pretence tho never so Ridiculous So that we see the Judges were not without Precedent to direct their Proceedings by and such a one if the Story be true as had the Approbation of the whole or greatest part of the Kingdom But that Objection which has most shew of Force is drawn from the Recognition of Richard the Third's Title which he takes a great deal of Pains to set off to the best Advantage But I think he might have spared his Pains if he had but considered that those Men that to Advance an Usurper to the Throne had contrary to their Knowledge declared all the Late King's Children to be Bastards would scarce stick at Declaring contrary to all Right and Justice which they had already so notoriously violated an Attainder of Treason to be of sufficient Force to debar the Issue of the Duke of Clarence who were not in a Condition to assert their Title for the Crown without considering the Truth of it And it is considerable that all those Acts made in Contradiction of one another were never heeded or esteemed by either Party or ever deter'd either the Heads of 'em from pursuing their Claim or the People from assisting them in it the End of all such Statutes was to vanish into Smoak and come to nothing and for the most part never to have the Honour of a Repeal Besides a Thing done in Tempestuous and Turbulent Times is not to Guide and Direct our Actions now especially since we have the Sense of so many several and different Parliaments and therefore the more Remarkable to the contrary wherein it is declared That the Succession of the Crown of England is inseparably Annexed to Proximity of Blood and That a Title of this Sublimity and Grandeur is not at all Impeachable even by Act of Parliament And besides the Parliament of 39. H. 6. doth make their Declaration to the manifest Prejudice of the King in Possession who was Ordained also by the same Accord then made to Reign over them during his Life and whom for that Reason it must be presum'd they would have favoured if they had found but the least colour so to have done And if the Actual Possession of the Throne as has been so often Recognized by our Antient Parliaments which were neither over-aw'd by a prevailing Faction nor seduced by the plausible Pretences of designing Demagogues be by the Law of God and Nature invested with the Soveraignty it does most evidently follow that the Heir Apparent or Next of Blood is by the same Laws entituled to the Crown and consequently the People have no more Right to Dis-inherit the One than to Depose the Other and doubtless it is the same Sin As to cause the Abortion of an Embryo and to take away the Life of a Child already Born are both alike Murder for both have an equal Right to Life tho they differ in the Time of the Enjoyment of it And so have the Possessor and the Heir to the Throne only One is actually Master of it and the Other in due Time must and ought so to be But to affirm sayes this Gentleman that the King and Parliament have not a Power to Change the Direct Order of Succession is to deny the Government a Power to Defend it self To this I Answer 'T is much more likely that altering the Course of the Legal Descent of the Crown is the more probable way of bringing us into Anarchy and Confusion Besides acording to his Notion of Self-preservation a Prince that Governs not according to the pleasure and good liking of the People may be Deposed or else they would be deprived of a power of preserving themselves A very peaceable Notion I assure you and such as would render every Government where it was admitted most extreamly Happy But it ought to be proved That the admitting of a Popish King would be an Infallible Cause of the Ruin of us all or else I much fear this adored principle of Self-preservation will not Justify the Exclusion of his R.H. For nothing less than absolute Necessity will authorize a Man to kill his Enemy as when he endeavours by violence to Rob him of his Life and 't is then only he can lawfully Kill him se Defendendo But that he should be allow'd to destroy any that out of a Groundless Jealousie he apprehends may do him a Prejudice is the Highest Degree of Madness and Destructive of all Humane Society For if it were allowed for one to Kill all he is afraid of we could expect nothing but Murders and Massacres nothing but unavoydable Confusion and Ruin 'T is convenient I grant to bind such as we have just Ground to be apprehensive of to their good Behaviour and tye up their Hands according to the Laws of the Land And certainly one would think this would be sufficient Security in the Case of his R.H. if too many of those that so zealously stickle for the Bill had not a deeper Design than that they give out even to Lay the Axe to the Root of Monarchy it self 'T is that they aim at and have such a Thirst to destroy under this specious pretence and set up their adored Idol their beloved Common-Wealth And if they had not this colour for their Proceedings I am very much afraid they would be guilty of some what worse Nor am I in this at all Uncharitable since this Gentleman has pag. 19. given a very excellent Hint to Justify such a Design For he tells us That the Crown is not a bare Inheritance but an Inheritance accompanying an Office of Trust that if a Mans Defects render him incapable of the Trust he has also Forfeited the Inheritance Can any thing be more full and plain May not upon this account the King in Possession be Removed as well as an Heir secluded So true is that Observation That all the Pamphlets writ upon this Subject tho they begin with the Duke yet constantly End with the King