of her own Body but while there was a possibility she might she Declared by 13 Eliz. 1. They should be her Successor and Enacts a Penalty of High Treason against those who should affirm the contrary 3. That Queen Elizabeth doth not think it fit that her Legitimation should be Judged by Popish Laws as she could expect no other would endeavour to be done if she permitted a Contest between her and a Papist What Shall a Virgin Queen be Judged by Laws which as is already shewn came from the Priests of Priapus and Venus Shall a Protestant Queen be Judged and Shot to Death by the Cannons and Constitutions of the Strumpets Theodora Marozia and the Whore of Babylon No she was Judged Legitimate by the Holy Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion to be Successor to her Natural Father and though he forsook her God took her up and by his assistance the Gates of Hell were not able to prevail against the truth of the same And let any Papist now if he can shew any Reason or Scripture why he should with foul mouth asperse the Legitimation of King Edward the Sixth or Queen Elizabeth or the Kings Eldest Son or why the latter ought not to be Successor as well as was the former and Print the same with his Name subscribed And no question there are Protestants enough will answer him Yea The Interest of a Prince Legitimate by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion to maintain both against Popish Ceremony and Superstition let him prove if he can That 't is not only the Greatest Honour to a Protestant Prince himself but a great Mercy and Providence of God to a Protestant People to offer them such a Prince whom he hath made Legitimate by his own Holy Law and the Protestant Religion and permitted him to be Declared Illegitimate by the Papist unholy Law and Superstition and thereby laid on him the highest Obligation of his own Interest to maintain the Holy Moral Law of God and Protestant Religion against the Popish Ceremonial Laws and Superstition and far worse it had been for the Protestants if Queen Elizabeth had not been made Illegitimate by the Papists then that she was To Conclude a full answer hath been therefore already given the Objection That Queen Elizabeth never refused to Declare a Protestant and Lieal Successor but only such as were either Papist or Collateral Obj. 7. A Protestant Successor will not be equal to Papists who are not only a Considerable but a great and potent Party of the People of the Three Kingdoms Answ This is fully answered already before Lib. 2. p. 401 402 403 c. where it is shewn to be the Interest of the Protestant Religion to abolish all Laws of Recusancy equally which are Penal to the Consciences either of Protestants or Papists except as to Mass Idols and Popish Priests This is likewise answered in the following Reasons wherein it is shewn That not only Protestants but Papists themselves except Popish Priests may hope for greater Security and Happiness from a Protestant Successor than they ever had or 't is possible for them to have from Papist Predecessors or Successors to which I therefore desire to refer Reasons for Declaring a Protestant Successor by the King and Parliament HAving answered all Objections against Declaring of a Protestant Successor I shall now only add some few Reasons for the same arising from the Great and manifold Dangers caused by the Neglect 1. Danger to the Conscience of a Prince 1. The first Danger is to the Conscience of a Prince when he shall give Account to God of the Neglect of so great a Duty to him and so great a Trust reposed in him by the People as to which There is none doubts but every private Father is by his Duty to God bound while it shall please God to lend him Life and Health and before Death with a sudden Arrest hurry him hence to give an account of his Stewardship to make Provision according to his Power for the leaving his Family in Peace after his Decease much more it is the Duty of all Princes who ought to be the Publick Father of their Countries who have so great Account to Give not only for their own Families but for Nations and Kingdoms and all the Wars Murders Massacres and Devastations which by their default shall happen after their Death To provide while God gives them Life and Health for prevention of such Calamities amongst their People and for the Peace of Succession in the Government over them And in the Statute of 35 H. 8. cap. 1. This great Trust Reposed in the King by the People is exprest a Chief Consideration of Declaring a Successor and setling the Succession of the Crown by King and Parliament in these words in the Preamble of the Act viz. Forasmuch as our most Dread Soveraign Lord the King upon good and just Grounds and Causes Intendeth by God's Grace to make a Voyage Royal in his most Royal Person into the Realm of France against his ancient Enemy the French King his Highness most Prudently and Wisely Considering and Calling to his Remembrance how this Realm standeth at this present time in the Case of Succession and poising and weighing further in himself the great Trust and Confidence that his Loving Subjects have had and have in him c. And to the Intent his Majestie 's Disposition and Mind therein should be openly Declared and manifestly known and Notified as well to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as to all other his Loving and Obedient Subjects of this Realm to the Intent of their Assent and Consent might appear to Concur with thus far as followeth of his Majestie 's Declaration in the behalf and thereupon makes Provision for the Succession of the Crown in the same Act. In like manner it is provided by the Law of Persia as saith Herod Lib. 7. That whensoever the King goeth to War abroad he ought first to Declare his Successor that he may leave Peace at home 2. Danger by the incertainty of the Laws of Succession of the Crown 2. The Danger caused by Incertainty of the Laws of Succession of the Crown and that this is a Great Danger and necessary to be Remedied by a Declaration by King and Parliament appears likewise by the Preamble of the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 22. in these words viz. Wherefore we your said most humble and Obedient Subjects in this present Parliament Assembled calling to our Remembrance the great Divisions which in time passed have been in this Realm by reason of several Titles pretended to the Imperial Crown of the same which sometime and for the most part insued by Reason of Ambiguity and Doubts then not so perfectly Declared but that men might upon froward intents expound them to every man's sinister Appetite and Affection after their Sons Contrary to the Right Legalty of the Succession and Posterity of the Lawful Kings and
Sons of Zerujah were too hard for her so it was an easie matter for Queen Mary who was a Papist Successor to lose Callice to the French The Possession of Callice once lost could not be again recovered which was done by King Philip's drawing out the Strength of the English Garrison Souldiers in his Wars against other Towns and the neglect of the Queens Council to send Recruits until too late though they had notice of a Seige intended against them The Town of Callice which was first taken by Edward the Third after Eleven Months Siege was esteemed of so high Import that on a Treaty of Marriage by King Edward between his Nephew Richard of Burdeaux and Mary a Daughter of Charles the French King Charles made an offer to King Edward to leave him Fourteen hundred Towns and Three thousand Fortresses in Aquitain upon Condition he would render Callice and all that he held in Picardy But before any thing could be concluded King Edward died And the Lord de Cordes a French Lord would commonly say He would be content to lye in Hell seven years so that Callice were in the French Possession Bak. Hist 240. But it seems since they got it in possession some of them would be content to lie in Hell for ever if Perjury will lay them there so long For there being Anno Dom. 1559. in the First year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth a Treaty of Peace between her and the French King and Commissioners of both sides to that end appointed and the Commissioners meeting accordingly the Chief point in difference was the Restitution of Callice for which the English Commissioners by the Queens Appointment offered to remit Two Millions of Crowns that by just Accompt were due from France to England At last on much Altercation it was Concluded and Agreed Perjury in the French King in not restoring Callice That Callice should remain in possession of the French for the term of Eight years and those Expired it should be delivered unto the English upon the forfeiture of Five hundred thousand Crowns for which Hostages were given But all this notwithstanding though the Conditions were Sealed and Sworn to and though Hostages were assigned to remain in England till one or other were performed yet all was frustrate and came to nothing Bak. Hist 351. So little Faith is there in the Oath of a Papist Prince And the same Danger will be in the delivering the possessions of Garrisons Forts in England to Papists or Papist Successor though on Conditions Sworn to by them the same difficulty yea impossibility for a Protestant Successor to recover again the Possession of Treasure Arms Offices Religion Liberty Propriety as it is of Life it self when once left to a papist Successor though he take an Oath to preserve all these By which and all former Examples appears That a papist Successor if he happen to be is of great Danger and Mischief to all Lay-papists themselves but totally and inevitably Destructive to all Protestants See other Examples of Perjury by Popes Bishops and Papist Princes before Lib. 2. p. 377. Of the Destruction double to Protestants if the Crown happen to fall to a Papist Successor Female and not prevented as before Destruction double to Protestants in a Papist Successor Female It is before spoken of the Destruction inevitable must follow to Protestants if a Male Papist Successor happen But if a Female happen it must be doubly Destructive for she will Marry a Foreign Papist Prince so the Protestants will be left naked and exposed to the rage and Cruelties both of a Papist and a Foreign Sword Hath not God given us already warning fresh in Memory in the late Examples of Queen Mary of England and Queen Mary of Scotland one of whom Married King Philip of Spain the other was sold by Cardinal Beton and Married to the French Dauphin And did not God even by Miracle though we most unthankfully so soon forget it Catch this Island as a Brand kindled at both ends out of the Fire Protestants barr'd of Succession to Papists by Salique Laws yet are not Papists barr'd to succeed to Protestants and hath he in vain given Sense and Reason and Strength to the Dull Protestants so far to tempt him and provoke his Judgment as to cast it thither again while the busie Papist hath barr'd all his Doors of Succession with his Laws against Hereticks and his Salique Laws to exclude alike both Female and Male Protestants 10. The next Danger is If no Successor should be Declared by the King and Parliament in regard of Foreign Princes 10. Danger of Foreign Princes That Danger is likewise very well expressed in the Statute 25 H. 8. Cap. 22. To have been the cause of great Bloodshed in this Realm and to be one of the Causes why the King desired to declare his Successor by Act of Parliament as appears in these words viz. And sometimes other Foreign Princes and Potentates of sundry Degrees minding rather Dissentions and Discord ot continue in this Realm to the utter Desolation thereof than Charity Equity and Vnity have many times supported wrong Titles whereby they might more easily and facily aspire to the Superiority of the same The continuance and sufferance whereof deeply considered and pondered were too Dangerous and Perillous to be suffered within this Realm any longer and too much contrary to the Vnity Peace and Tranquility of the same being greatly Reproachable and Dishonourable to the whole Realm The not Declaring Edgar Atheling Successor by Act of Parliament in the Life of Edward the Confessor William the Conqueror let in by not Declaring Edgar Atheling Successor let in the Foreign pretence of William the Conqueror which if it had been done 't is probable that never any Norman Invador had dared to have set his foot on English Ground So 't is probable the King of Spain had never been able to have seized on the Crown of Portugal had not the Superstitious Portuguese inslaved their Blood Royal to be Judged by the Papal and Episcopal Laws of Marriage and Succession contrary to the Moral Law of God whereby they left it in the Power of Popes or Bishops if the Spaniard or any other Papist Prince would give or promise them Money to Legitimate or Illegitimate whom they would and sell the Succession to the Kingdom at what rate they pleased Philip the Second of Spain seized the Crown of Portugal by the not Declaring Don Antonio Successor for as appears in that Judicious Author though Anonymus who writes The interest of Princes p. 95. The Case was this Henry the Third Son of Emanuel being according to the Papal Law Heir to the Crown of Portugal was accordingly Crowned Anno Dom. 1578. And being an Old Man without Children sensible of the Disputes would arise after his Death about the Succession erected a Judicature to hear and Determine the several Claims pretending to the same Of
in England or Scotland makes the Children either of Papist or Protestant born of Marriages not prohibited by the Law of God Illegitimate Therefore all Children born of Marriages not prohibited by the Law of God are Legitimate by the Law of the Land for though some Penal Laws have been by Pontifical pretences procured which have presumed too far to prohibit contrary to the Divine Ordinance Marriages and Meats not prohibited by the Law of God yet none but the Pope and Council of Trent who in their Luciferian Pride pretend to power above God's Law ever transgress'd so far in these Kingdoms as by such penal Laws to null or make void such Marriages or to Illegitimate their Children or though they imposed penalties on the Parents to impose any on the Children as may appear by the Statutes 3 Jac. 5. for England prohibiting Popish Recusants to Marry otherwise than by a Minister lawfully authorized in some open Church or Chappel according to the Orders of the Church of England And the Act Car. 1. Par. 2. Sess 2. Act 8. fol. 88. for Scotland prohibiting any to Marry in another Kingdom without the Banns first proclaimed in Scotland And that the Omission of Ceremonies contrary to a penal Law neither Nulls the Marriage nor Illegitimates the Issue Vid. proved before Lib. 1. p. 110 111. 7. Frustra probatur quod probatum non relevat It were time mispent to prove Ceremonies which when they are proved prove nothing to the Matters in question which are a lawful Lady Companion as intended by this Statute and an eldest Son by her of the Blood of King Charles the Second the rightful present Possessor of the Three Kingdoms and of the Blood and of his two special Predecessors King Edward the Third of England and King Fergusius of Scotland as to which Probation of the Ceremonies of a Marriage proves nothing of the Truth or Lawfulness of the Marriage for many Ladies have been Married with all the Ceremonies the Priest could lay on them yet have their Marriages been utterly unlawful and prohibited by the Law of God nor do they prove the Truth or Lawfulness of the Lineal Blood derived from the Possessors or Predecessors As for Example The Kings of Sparta were to be of no other Blood but of the race of Hercules these were Married with all the Ceremonies accustomed in that Kingdom yet did not those Ceremonies preserve the Chastity of the Queen from being so over-familiar with Alcibiades her Husband 's ingrateful Guest and whom he had hospitably entertain'd when fled from his own Country of Athens but he having got her with Child boasted when he was gone from thence that he had left Heirs of his Blood to the Kingdom of Lacedaemon So Henry of Spain Anno Dom. 1459. having Married his Queen with all the Ceremonies accustomed in that Kingdom but being unable himself perswaded her to be got with Child by Bertrand of Guttua Joan thus gotten is proclaimed Heir but refused by the people Bertrand is made Earl of Ledesma and Duke of Alburquerk Sp. Hist Canutus the Dane Married here in England Algine who was Barren she to oblige the love of her Husband feigned her self with Child and packt one that was Suppositions on her Husband King Canutus was very joyful of his supposed Son and called his Name Sweno and after gave him the Kingdom of Norway Philip the Second of Spain was Ceremoniously Married to Queen Mary for whose being with Child as was supposed a Day of Publick Thanksgiving was kept and the Bells rang with Joy through all England but as is said King Philip was Jealous of the like Issue with Canutus what had the proof of the Ceremonies of Marriage been to the purpose to prove Adulterous Children to be of the race of Hercules or Henry or such as had been Suppositions of the Danish or Spanish Races 8. It were a Dishonour to the Holy Protestant Religion and the Professors thereof to be able to Establish the Lawfulness and Validity of their Marriages on no more Sacred Principles than Ceremonies of so unclean an Original as Popes Common Prostitutes Magicians Aruspices Astrologers Southsayers Priests of Priapus and Venus Pagan Gods and Goddesses and Daemons themselves as is already proved Lib. 1. p. 43 44.51 52. Then as to Witnesses It were an unnecessary Tempting of God to cast what is not the cause of a single person but of all the Protestants in the Three Kingdoms on the hazard of such Witnesses as the Probation of Ceremonies Thirty years since and in a Foreign Catholick Country will require for it is certain the Bishops and Magistrates of that Countrey are Papists and therefore no equal Witnesses may be had thence but such as may think it is Meritorious to overthrow the Protestants right or wrong and the same Danger is of Witnesses at home obnoxious to as great Temptations of Papists here whose Religion is not to keep Faith with Hereticks as they call Protestants whereby they may as is commonly practised be corrupted with Money either in a counterfeit manner to offer their Testimonies and when they have Sworn to Recant and Reprobate themselves whereby the Truth shall be betrayed or a greater Number of false Witnesses be Suborned to Swear against the Truth then may be got to Swear for it whereby the Truth shall be destroyed or such Judges may be as will hear no Witnesses but such as are right for the turn whereby the Truth will be suppressed of which Popish practices too much hath appeared fresh before our Eyes in the Examination of the late Horrid Plot. Therefore no Prudence to give them opportunity to do the like or worse by joyning Issue with them on the Impertinent point of Ceremonies of Marriage wherein only they are able to corrupt Witnesses But it is more secure to stand on the points of Substance of Marriage according to the Law of God which are these viz. Cohabitation Conjugal Society Chastity Children and acknowledgment of them by the Father to be his of which God's Providence hath provided so many Witnesses as will be in vain for them to Suborn or Corrupt false Witnesses to the contrary Besides if Witnesses may be had yet alive after Thirty years time yet they may Die or be Poison'd or otherwise made away when known before they come to Hearing or so terrified that they will not dare to testifie the Truth why then shall all be put in danger by Ceremony when Substance Places all in Security and it were an injust thing Three Kingdoms should be hazarded on the Lives of two or three Witnesses To speak at last in reference to the Judges and Court by whom this Marriage ought to be judged which ought to be only by the King and Parliament both as to the Fact and the Law for as to both the same as alleadged being made beyond Sea in a Foreign Catholick Country not under the Jurisdiction of the King and Parliament nor where his Writ runneth The Archbishop of
of six Years three Months and fourteen Days before the Interdiction could be bought off Neither payment of vast sums of Money and the laying down his Crown Scepter Mantle Sword and Ring at the feet of Pandolfus the Popes Legat and making his Kingdom tributary to Rome during all which time of Interdiction there was no Church open for Marriages or Burials but People were buried like Dogs in Ditches and where they married God knows And in the latter times of Potentates of Interdiction of the Common-Prayer Book and Marriage by it can any I say be so sensless as to censure in such a time those who were excluded from all Mass-Books Common-Prayer Books Priests and Temples if they make use of Gods Ordinance and not of the Priests and married without them 3. There is another Circumstance in this Case which makes it both Unlawful and Impossible to question the Validity of this Marriage because without Mass-Book or Common-Prayer or Ordinance of Parliament for the Lady Mother The Mother being dead the Legitimation of the Child not to be questioned who was the Royal first Companion is now dead And by Law of God and Man none ought to be Censured without hearing and answering for her self which now is impossible for who knowes if Question'd while alive What besides the necessities of War she could have alledged both as to the Fact and Law what Matrimonial Promises or Contracts Verbal or in Writing what Matrimonial Trusts what Witness what Evidence she could have produced For which reason even by our own Laws as appears 39 E. 3.32 If a man Marry his own Sister which is a very unlawful Incestuous Marriage and contrary to the Law of God and hath Issue by her and she dyes if not Judicially Questioned and Sentenced for it in her Life-time the Legitimation of her Issue shall not be questioned after her death because she was not Summon'd to answer while alive Of which see more before in the Preface So Littleton himself though he is much Devoted to the Service of the Laws and Religion of his Holy Father the Pope concerning Marriages yet he confesses Sect. 399.340 That if the Legitimation of a Child is not question'd while alive his Heir shall never be questioned after he is Dead And if a man Marry his Sister and hath Children by her if one Parent dye though Incest the Children are Legitimate 39 E. 3.32 But in this Case where there is no Incest nor any other matter in the least prohibited by the Law of God nor pretence or colour of any but the omission of a Petty Ceremony of a Common-Prayer-Book a human Law and that in a time of War too when abolished to violate the Sanctuary of the Sepulcher and the Deceased seems not only Unchristian but Barbarous How unlawful the Desertion of a Virgin is while alive hath been already shew Lib. 1. p. 88. But far more unlawful is the Desertions of her Children after her Death And how Unlawful Divorce of her is after Procreation of a Child hath been already shewn Lib. 1. p. 94. But far more Unlawful is the Divorce of the Dead Oh ye Romish Monsters ye are more Cruel than Death for death it self Divorceth not quoad praeterita Death a Divorce but no Dissolving of Marriage quoad praeterita but only quoad futura Death it self Nulls not but only Dissolves the Marriage No Dragon but that of the Seven Heads hath a Retrospect in repeal of Lawes No Wolves but those in Sheeps-clothing with their howles disturb the blessed Dead Act of Confirmation of Marriage to persons in Hostility by Ordiance of Parliament ought to have Confirmed Marriages of those who were not in Hostility 4. By the Statute 12 Car. 2.33 It is Enacted That all Marriages by pretence or colour of any Ordinance of Parliament since May 1642. which was during the Times of the War and Usurpation shall be adjudged of the same force and effect as if they had been solemnized according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which is according to the Common Prayer-Book This ACT therefore though it give and intend Right and Justice to those who had been in Hostility and doth take away all Cavils and Scruples might after have arisen concerning the Ordinance Marriage and Legitimation and Succession of Children Yet did it not intend such as were Friends should be left in a worse condition as to their Marriages and Children than those to whom they had given the benefit of this Act or that there should only a Balm be provided for the Wounds of one party and those of the other who were more necessitated to receive them be left bleeding without any for the Royal Party could then neither Marry by the Common Prayer-Books which the Sword had abolished nor according to the Ordinance of Parliament not daring to approach their Quarters Act confirming Marriage according to Ordinance of Parliament ought to have Confirmed Marriage according to the Ordinance of God or to be publickly Banned at Church or Market-Cross Especially Persons of Eminency to Expose themselves to such a Snare as might intrap them and indanger their Lives It was not therefore the Intention of the Protestants in this Parliament That this Act of Confirmation of Marriages should have been partial and only to Confirm one Party but rather to have been as the Act of Confirmation of Judicial Proceedings made in the same Year was general to all Parties and to have Confirmed all Marriages in general made since May 1642. not contrary to the Moral Law of God to be of the same force and effect as if they had been Solemnized according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England or the Common Prayer-Book It is an old Rule that Favores sunt ampliandi Favours are to be inlarged and not restrained and it might be happy for many Families who have Suffer'd for his Majestie in time of the Wars if such a general Act of Confirmation of Marriages then made not contrary to the Moral Law of God were yet Enacted and the Favour not Restrained only to Marriages made by Ordinance of Parliament For as to those many Papists who had free Liberty to Live in the Parliament Quarters when the Royal Party had not took advantage of and first Married before Justices of Peace and after by their own Priests It is not Equal therefore that Protestants that could not have that Safety which Papists had or if they could thought it perhaps against their Conscience to Marry according to the Forms prescribed by Ordinance of Parliament should be Excluded from all Favour or Excuse to the Marriages of themselves and Successions of their Children which is by this Act given to the Marriages and Children of these who were in Hostility and of Papists themselves There was likewise another ACT made 29 Car. 2. 1677 for the Naturalizing of Children of his Majesty's English Subjects born in Forreign Countreys during the Late Troubles
is commonly call'd going a whoring after Idols because the Priests made the Men and Women the baits to intice one another under pretence of Religion to their Conventions in the Idol Temple where the Priest was the Pander-General and took the fees of all to his great Gain The Original of Certificates of Filiation came from the Priests of Priapus 2. The Original of Certificates by the Bishop or High Priests of Filiation began likewise from the Incertainty Children were cast into by these Promiscuous copulations at their Temples or Groves or other Publick Conventions by the Pander Priest who that he might not lose his fees kept a Register or Toll-Book where these who coupled for that time had their names entred to have paid them their fee. And when the Child got there was grown to discretion to enquire who was his Father his Mother who had play'd the Whore with so many Strangers at the several Sacrifices could not tell unless she sent to the Priest who kept the Priapeian Sacrifice at that time which suited nearest her Child's Age to send a Certificate of the name of the Person or Persons were then entred together with her name in his Toll-Book Which way of Certificate of Filiation by the Pagan Priest The Certificate of the Priest of Priapus better than that of the Bishop was far more Rational than the Certificate thereof by the Bishop For first the Child never sent for a Certificate to the Pagan Priest but when he did not know his Father Secondly The Pagan Priest entred in his Register every time the Woman copulated with a Man for which he had a new Fee But the Bishop will undertake that if it be but once set down in his Register That such a Man and Woman came to his Temple though they never came near one another afterward or the next day deserted one another or the Woman being beforehand with Child by an Adulterer was the next day after she had been thus with the Man at the Temple delivered of such an Adulterous Child or begot with Child or was Delivered of Twenty Children successively by twenty Adulterers for twenty years after yet the Bishop will make a ridiculous beastly and wicked Certificate And Littleton and Coke bear him out in it That in all these cases the Man who went Twenty years since with this Woman to his Temple if he were within the Four Sees at the time of the begetting of these Adulterous Children by the Adulterers yet he the Man within the Four Sees begot them and Probatio non admittitur in contrarium Oh! Excellent Law and excellent Divinity The Certificates of the Priests of Priapus are very bad but these Episcopal Certificates are ten times worse But I must for brevity refer the Reader to what hath been said before Lib. 1 p. 72 73. The original of these Certificates of Filiation by Priests for other causes were likewise either Cheats of the Priests or came from the Actual Response of the Devil So the Priests would anciently attribute the begetting of any Child whose Father was unknown if he proved an Hero The Priest fathered Men on the Gods or had any other Excellence especially if Rich and gave him Money to some of the Gods as Romulus and Remus were fathered on Mars Plato on Apollo and Vulcan they made himself a God because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a Father But the greatest number of them they laid at Jupiter's Door who no question had a great charge upon his hands and sometimes when the Mother was unknown they Mother'd him on some Goddess or other as Achilles on Thetis Aeneas on Venus Oedipus not knowing his Father whom he had slain nor Mother wnom he had Married had a Response from the Oracle or Certificate from the Priest of Apollo which acquainted him with the same And Alexander ambitious to have a greater Father than Philip sent to the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon and for a great Sum of Gold had either a Response from the Devil or a cheating Certificate from the Priest That he was the Son of Jupiter But we never hear amongst the Pagans themselves of any Son who was so wise to know his own Father or was not ashamed of him who went for a Certificate to the Priest or the Devil 3. The final Causes why they so eagerly desire the Jurisdiction of Marriage and Filiation by this Power of making Certificates are their Covetousness and Ambition vid. at Large Lib. 1. p. 53. ad 57. Popery ruin'd if Episcopal Jurisdiction of Marriage were taken away And that the Pope were ruined if Episcopal Jurisdiction of Marriage and Filiation and their Certificates should be taken away Lib. 2. p. 184. It may be said therefore to Bishops Certificates as to the ends they designed them according to the saying of Christ Mat. 6.24 Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Certificates of Bishops condemn Infants without hearing Condemn Children for the Sin of the Parents 4. The Persons they make Certificates against being Infants and not able to answer for themselves in Suits in the Episcopal Courts are Condemn'd without Hearing 5. Infants are Condemn'd by such Certificates contrary to the Law of God for the Sins of their Parents 6. Certificates Judge of Filiation which is acknowledged by the Bishops themselves impossible to be proved according to the old known Rule Filiatio non potest probari A Certificate Episcopal is therefore a Sentence without Probation which is not only in the highest nature injust but void and ridiculous Of this Vid. plus Lib. 1. p. 104 105. Certificate an Usurpation of Jurisdiction of Lay-fee and Free-holds 7. The Certificate indirectly passes judgment on Temporal Inheritance and Lay-fee which is a meer Romish Usurpation assum'd by the Bishops which Bracton fo 420. will not allow the Pope himself to have for he says on a Certificate of Bastardy Cum Index Ecclesiasticus inquisitionem fecerit non erit ab eo appellandum c. and his Reason he gives Quia sic potest causam in insinitum protrahere de Judice in Judicem usque ad Papam sic potest Papa de Laico feodo indirecte cognoscere If therefore for the Pope to Sentence or Certificate Bastardy is indirectly to give Judgment of Lay-fee is not such Certificate of a Bishop in Great Britain as indirect a passing of Judgement on Lay-fee as is that of the Bishop of Rome And do not Lay-fees lye thereby as much under the Arbitrary disposing of the one as ever they did of the other Both Pope and Bishop must claim this Power of Certificate by Conquest or Contract if by Conquest 't is probable they must put it to another Tryal before any Romish Conquest will be granted if by Contract let them shew ever any Act of Parliament made for the same by assent of the House of Commons And if it were possible to shew any such yet all Acts confirming Magna Charta and likewise the Petition of
him Children both the beloved and the hated Yea it may often fall out That the Children of the first Woman may be first born and elder than the Children of the second Woman yet if the first and the Lawful man hath an eldest Daughter and the second and unlawful Woman hath an eldest Son The Son of the second unlawful and hated Woman shall succeed before the Daughter of the first Lawful and beloved Woman à Fortiore shall the eldest Son if born of the first Woman succeed Primogeniture to be in Marriage though without Ceremonies 3. Though there is no Ceremonial but only the Moral Marriage yet shall the eldest Son of the Moral Marriage inherit For it is not mentioned nor is it that the Woman who brought forth the First born should be first carried before a Priest in a Temple before the Woman who had a younger Son for that would be repugnant to the Law of Succession by Primogeniture and impossible to consist with it and the Israelites never used any such Ceremony or other But used the first Solemnity of Marriage when they used any except Sub Dio where they might see the Heavens in Memory of the Promise made to Abraham Gen. 15.5 That his Seed should be in Number as the Stars 4. 'T is to be observed That not an eldest Son by Fiction of an Husband who was within the Four Seas but the truly first begotten Son shall succeed for the words are he may not make the Son of the beloved first born but the Son of the hated which is indeed the first born so not the eldest Son by Fiction but the eldest Son indeed is here only both expressed and intended 5. That the Right of Primogeniture extends not only to Aliment for that all Children elder and younger Sons and Daughters have an equal right to But the right of Primogeniture extends in private Families amongst the Israelites to a double Portion and in Succession to Kingdoms to the whole For the words in Deut. are A double Portion of all that he hath and the words of Chro. are The Kingdom he gave to Jehoram because he was his first born 6. That the reason why a greater Portion is given to the eldest of what is Superalimentary than to the younger Children is That he is the Chief strength of the Family to defend the Father when Aged and the Children when left in Minority and the Inheritance it self when Invaded by Pretenders The words therefore are for he is the beginning of his strength the Right of the first born is his 7. That the Bishop ought not be witness of the Filiation or Primogeniture of the Son Feminine Popes if any and not Male ought to make Certificates of Primogeniture But the Matter being in the Israelites Countrey the same ought to be testified by two or three witnesses as Deut. 19.15 and more modestly by Faeminine witnesses than Per Papas mares as likewise appears by the Example Gen. 38.27 And it came to pass in the time of her Travail that behold Twins were in her womb And it came to pass when she Travailed that the one put out his hand and the Midwife took and bound upon his hand a Skarlet Thread saying This came out first and it came to pass as he drew back his hand that behold his Brother came out and she said How hast thou broken forth This breach be upon thee therefore his name was called Pharez And afterward came out his Brother that had the Skarlet Thread upon his hand and his name was called Zarah 8. That the Bishop ought not to be Judge of the Filiation or Primogeniture but the Father himself for the words are He shall acknowledge the Son of the hated for the first born which is the Natural Father shall acknowledge or Cognosce him to be his first born 9. That in Countries under Arbitrary Power and the Regal Power not limited by Laws both the Royal Issue and Nobles lye commonly under great Danger of being cut off by new Successors unless they are of the true Religion and fear God 10. That such Successors are often set on to great Cruelties by Idolatrous Wives as appears in this Example of Jehoram who as is mentioned in the Text slew all his Brethren with the Sword and divers also of the Princes of Israel And he walked in the way of the Kings of Israel as did the house of Ahab for the Daughter of Ahab was his Wife and he did evil in the Sight of God 11. That in such Countries where Religion and Laws bear not sway the more Rich and Potent the younger Sons of Princes are made the more danger they incur of losing all 1 Because the Treasury of the Crown is thereby Exhausted and Impoverished as here Jehosophat gave his younger Sons great gifts of Silver and Gold and of Pretious things The great value of which after his Death did but accelerate the Resumption of them by him who succeeded in his Throne and shewed the Truth of what is said by Solomon Eccles 5.18 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt 2 Because great Military Power is commonly joyn'd with Treasure as here appears Excess of Treasure and fenced Cities left to younger Sons of Princes commonly destroys them Together with the same he gave them fenced Cities both which many times make the Supreme fearful of such Power not only too great to be subject but greater than his own whereas if they had been left what was Moderate below Envy and above Contempt as the younger Sons of the China Emperors are and thereby enjoy more secure and happy fates than the Sons of the Grand Seignior Persian Negus and Mogul ever attain they might probably have lived and though their Brother Jehoram was wicked never had his hands embrued in their Blood Of the General Custom of Nations of Succession to Kingdoms by Primogeniture and of the Mischief and Civil Wars which have followed by Disinheriting the eldest Son Having shewn the Right of Primogeniture in Successions to Kingdoms from the Law of Nature and Scripture the same likewise appears to be generally the Custom of all Nations That the same Custom was amongst the Aegyptians as we has the Israelites is inferred by Lyra from Exod. 12.29 And it came to pass that at Midnight the Lord smote all the first born of the Land of Aegypt from the first born of Pharoah that sate on his Throne unto the first born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon And that the same Custom continued in the times of the Ptolomies appears Justin 16. So was it amongst the Trojans and Hus succeeded to Troyas as Dares to Phrygius in Lib. De Excid Tro. The same Custom of Succession to Kingdoms by Primogeniture was amongst the Persians Syrians Macedonians Parthians Cretans Rhodians Albans Romans Sicilians Goths Franks Tartars Turks English Scots Hungarians Spaniards and French and the mischiefs
fallen on the younger Sons of Jehosaphat by his leaving them overmuch Treasures and fenced Cities to the Diminution and Power of the eldest Son Jehoram 2 Chron. 21.1 2 3 4. Object 6. Queen Elizabeth Refused to Declare a Successor Osburne saith Q. Eliz. why she refused to declare a Suocessor The proposing any thing of Declaring a Successor was so ingrateful to Queen Elizabeth that the moving of the same cost Pigot and Wentmorth their Liberty though they proposed it in Parliament and others Dearer what were her Reasons against it may be partly drawn from Buchanan Lib. 17. p. 603. who saith on an Embassy sent from Scotland to her to desire she would Declare Mary Queen of Scots Successor to the Kingdom of England to which he saith Queen Elizabeth p. 606. answered to this Effect There are many Reasons saith she draw me away from this Transaction Primum quod non ignorem quam sit periculosum hanc movere camarimam ac jure mihi semper abstinuisse videor ne jus Regni in disceptationem vocarem Toties enim jam Sermonibus multorum Jactata est Controversia de Matrimonio justo deque nothis Legitimis Liberis dum pro ingenio quisque aut huic aut illi parti studet ut ego ipsa hactenus ob has Disputationes ad nubendum suerim Cunctatior c. First I am not Ignorant how dangerous it is to move this Contention and I seem to my self most Justly to abstain from Calling a Kingdom in Possession into Dispute concerning the Right for it is so often already Controverted what is Lawful Matrimony who are Legitimate and who are Illegitimate Children according to every man's Opinion and as he favours this or that Party That I my self by Reason of these Disputes have been hitherto more slow to Marry once when I Publickly received the Crown I was Married to my Kingdom and as a pledge of which I always wear this Ring And howsoever these Affairs stand I will as long as I live be Queen of England when I am dead let who hath the best Right be my Successor If your Queen is she I will no way be against her if another hath Right I will not do him wrong If there is a Law against your Queen it is unknown to me for I do not make willingly any curious Inquisition after this matter But if there is any such Law I took an Oath when I took the Kingdom that I will not Change my Subjects Laws without their assent But as to what you have alleadged in the second place That this Declaring a Successor will contract a straighter Friendship between us I rather fear it will sow hatred for do you think that I shall take any Delight to have my Funeral prepared always set before me It is a Peculiar of Kings that they have no friendly mind to Children who by Birth-right claim to be their Successors when they are dead Of what mind was Charles the Seventh the French King against Lewis the Eleventh and he against Charles the Eighth or Francis lately against Henry Of what mind therefore is it likely I shall be against my Neighbour when once Declared my Successor To this may be added what I think of very great weight I know the Peoples inconstancy I know how full they are of the present state of things I know what prying eyes they have into the next Successor The Dangerous Rising Sun is only a younger Brother or a Collateral Heir I know it is natural for more to adore the Rising than the Setting Sun And to omit other Examples I have seen enough in my own Time when my Sister Mary held the Kingdom what Prayers and they make to see me set in her Throne With what eagerness were my Concerns carried on neither am Ignorant to undergo what dangers they would have hazarded if I would have joyned with them according to their desire But now perhaps the same Men have not the same Mind towards me Like Children who in sleep rejoyce for Apples off'red them in a Dream and presently awaked in the Morning when deceived in their hopes Change their Joy into Weeping So they who with great Good will applied to me while I was called Elizabeth and if I beheld any with a more smiling Countenance they forthwith thought with themselves that as soon as I obtained the Kingdom they should be rewarded rather according to the measure of their Desires than of the good they had done me but now when the Event answers not their Expectation many of them would be ready to Change to any state of things so they might but gain a better fortune For no Riches of any Prince though never so great are sufficient to satisfie the insatiable desires of Men. Now if the affections of our People will Languish either for Moderate gifts or any other Light cause what will such Malevalents do if they have a certain Successor to whom to carry their grievances or go themselves when they are angry In what Danger do you think I shall be near so Potent a Prince my Successor to whom how much strength I add so much I take from my own Security This Danger by no Cautions or Bonds of Laws can be averted neither will Princes who fail of their hopes of a Kingdom easily contain themselves within the Bounds of Right and Equity And for my own Part if the world were certain of my Successor I shall never think my Affairs in Safety We see here the very Considerations we are now on of Declaring a Successor is in Debate by Embassador between these two great Queens Elizabeth of England and Mary of Scotland One the Head of the Protestants the other of the Papists in their two Kingdoms Queen Elizabeth was the Lineal Heir to the Kingdom of England to the last Possessor Queen Mary derived her self to be the Collateral Queen Elizabeth as it is before mentioned had been Declared Illegitimate by the Pope and Popish Laws and Canons and by her own Father And a Popish Act of Parliament she was not only Declared Illegitimate but the Marriage of the Lady Ann her Mother to her Father to be void with the Penalty of High Treason added on any who should affirm Contrary to the first or believe Contrary to the latter 1. Therefore it is to be observed That Queen Elizabeth being a Protestant thought it not wise or safe to Declare a Papist for her Successor yet she after Declared King James her Son who was a Protestant her Successor and it pleased God to make him an Happy Instrument to Unite both Kingdoms in the Protestant Religion 2. That she being the Lineal Heir thought it not wise or safe to Declare a Collateral Heir her Successor in her own Life-time Therefore thought she had a great Affection to make King James who was her Godson her Successor yet she forbare to Declare him so till on her Death-Bed she perceived her self past all hopes of having Lineal Heirs
is not always necessary he should be his first begotten Son for the Second after the Death of the first begotten without Issue is Fitz-Eigne with the Statute Et sic de caeteris which doth implicitly seem to affirm That till the Issue of the Eldest Son fails the second Son shall not Succeed by this Statute which implicitly prefers the Nephews in Successions before the Uncle but he shewing no Authority therein but his own and that only implicit and not Express and the Common Law and Customs of the Crown being very incertain obscure and as often broken as kept when not Confirmed by Act of Parliament And King Edward himself the Wife Author of this Act when the Black Prince Died and left his Eldest Son Richard of Bindeax who was after R. 2. Doubting of the certainty of the Law in the Point did as the wisest way procure Richard to be Declared Successor by Act of Parliament in his Life-time to secure him against his Uncles Tâ—â—â—aw of Eâ—… not clear in point of Succession of the Crown between Nephew and Uncle where the Father dies before the Grandfather The certainty of the Law of England therefore may be not without Cause doubted in this Point of Succession between Nephew and Uncle and Danger there may be lest the incertainty of the same give the same Pretences to create Civil Wars here as it doth in other Countries unless prevented by an Act of Parliament as in Scotland Vt filio ante patrem Defuncto Nepos Avo Subrogaretur 8. Danger without Assent of the People Danger if the Successor assume the Crown without the Assent of the People by their Representative in Parliament the Right of a Successor is not here Disputed nor the Law whether he is King before Coronation or not until Contract with his Parliament and Coronation received from them Highest a Successor can say is only as Paul saith 1 Cor. 10.23 All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but all things edifie not Though the manner whereby a Successor ascends the Throne may be lawful yet may it not be Expedient neither may it Edifie the Throne H. 8. was a King of great Courage and Wisdom and doubted not the Right of him and his Posterity to the Crown Yea though he had more than any other King Power granted him by Act of Parliament himself to Declare his own Successor either by his Letters Patents or last Will yet he shewed therein his great Wisdom and Moderation and would not do it without Assent of his Subjects as appears in the already mentioned Statute 35 H. 8. cap. 1. in these words viz. And albeit that the King 's most Excellent Majesty for default of such Heirs as are Inheritable by the said Act might by the Authority of the said Act give and dispose the said Imperial Crown and other the Premisses by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his Last Will in Writing Signed with his most gracious Hand to any Person or Persons of such Estate therein as should please his Highness to Limit and Appoint Yet to the Intent that his Majestie 's Disposition and Mind therein should be openly Declared and Manifestly known and notified as well to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as to all other his Loving and Obedient Subjects of this his Realm to the intent that their ASSENT and CONSENT might appear to Concur with thus far as followeth of his Majestie 's Declaration in this behalf For so Wise a King well know that let the Right of a Successor be what it will yet if he lose the Love of his People which cannot be obtained without their Assent and Consent he loseth the Chief Defence under God of that and all other Right he hath if therefore a Successor is Declared by Act of Parliament so great a Danger is avoided of not having the Assent and Consent of his Subjects seeing such an Act of Parliament cannot be without the Assent and Consent of the major part of the People included in the plurality of Votes of their Representative 9. Danger of assuming the Crown by a Papist The next great Danger is The assuming of the Crown by Force by a Papist Successor if not prevented by a Declaration of a Protestant Successor by the King and Parliament That a Papist Successor is most Dangerous to all Lay-Papists themselves and that they may Live far more Happy under a Protestant than one of their own Religion A Distinction ought to be made between Lay-Papists and Papist Priests Both Religion Justice and Mercy ingage all those who are affected with the least of any of them to put a great difference betwixt the Deceived and Deceivers and betwixt the Blind and those who mislead them to fall into the Ditch A Distinction is therefore necessary to be made by all Protestants between the Lay Papist and the Papist Priest Mercy is to be shewn the one and Justice the other And if this just Course had been used from the Beginning of the Reformation that no Penal Statute had been made against the Lay-Papists but only against the Papist Priests The Protestant cannot be secure unless the Lay Papist be likewise secure from Penal Laws against Conscience No Bishop Bencroft under pretence of maintaining the Dominicans against the Jesuits and Regulars against Seculars had been able to maintain Legions of both in Secret to Destroy the Protestants in their own Land nor under the blind name of Recusants to turn the edge of all the Penal Laws pretending to be made against Papists to cut off the Protestants And the Sacrament of the Paschal Lamb to be a Destruction to the Israelites and a Passover to the Egyptians those Penal Laws being pursued with the highest Rigour against the Protestants but came not near the Papists Dwellings or if they did they took more easie Pardons from the Exchequer than from the Pope So if the late Act concerning Oaths and Sacraments had been Restrained only to Papists Protestants had not suffered in so high a Degree as now they do But I pass from what is past to what is future to shew what Mischiefs the Papists themselves are to expect from a Papist Successor and what benefit from a Protestant 1. The first Mischiefs they will meet with in a Papist Successor is a most miserable one take what Covenant what Vow what Promise what Oath they can from him yea an Hundred Oaths his Conscience cannot be bound with any of them and the Catholicks themselves shall take as little hold of his Catholick Faith as the most of those whom they think or call Hereticks As for Example William the Conqueror was a Papist and is mentioned Dan. Hist 36. to get Assistance of the King of France who was then young in his Design for England William the Conqueror a Papist King forswore himself to Papist Subjects promised if he obtained the Kingdom to hold it
of him as he did his Dutchy of Normandy and do him Homage for it which would add a great Honour to that Crown Then was he be-before-hand with Pope Alexander to make Religion give Reputation to his Pretended Right he promised likewise to hold it of the Apostolick See if he prevailed in his Enterprize whereupon the Pope sent him a Banner of the Church with an Agnus of Gold and one of the hairs of Saint Peter And he likewise by great Promises got his own Brother Odo Bishop of Baieux to furnish him with Forty Ships for his Expedition After William had with great difficulty got the Battel at Hastings wherein King Herold happen'd to be kill'd with an Arrow in his Eye some of his Nobility with all their Power strove to establish Edgar Atheling the next of the Royal Issue in his Right to the Crown but the false Bishops rather bent to let in a Foreign Enemy being fool'd by him with fair Promises than to assist the Native Prince and by their Example drew in the Nobility to trust to his Personal Oath made at his Coronation before the Altar of St. Peter to defend the Holy Church that was the Papist Church and the Rectors and to Govern the Universal People according to the Laws but this Oath and his Promises were as weak to bind him as the single hair of St. Peter he had got from the Pope for as soon as he had Establish'd himself he was not such a Fool to do Homage for England to the French King nor to hold the same of the Apostolick See nor to defend the Bishops and Abbots in their fat Bishopricks and Abbies but as Cambden saith He made such clear work with them that he did not leave one English Ecclesiastick whom he thrust not out of his place and fill'd their Rooms with Erench Sr. Johns And for the English Nobility he drove some to fly to Scotland some to Norway some to Hungary and any other Places where they could be received till in the end he had totally destroyed them and filled their Places with French Contes and to shew himself no partial Dealer with those who would trust his word he spared not his own Brother Odo the Bishop of Baieux but notwithstanding the Forty Ships with which he had Supplied him on promise of better dealing he seized and Confiscated all his Treasure which he had which was very great and hoarded up with an Intention to have bought the Papacy And it is no wonder if mali Corvi malum ovum And he practised the same deceit against themselves and their false Religion had taught him towards others for let a Papist Prince swear never so many Oaths to Papists of his own Religion and break them all the same Religion fits him with Popes enough at his Elbow to Confess and Absolve him instantly or if he doubts his Trencher-Popes cannot do it he can have for Money his Unholiness himself to Absolve him from any Oath Covenant or League with any other Papist Prince whether of Peace or War and how many Examples are there of the same And more easily can he do it with his own Subjects as Dan. Hist fol. 143. King John a Papist King forswore himself to Papist Subjects being Absolved from his Oath by the Pope King John for the Glory of God and Emendation of the Kingdom in Parliament makes Articles of Agreement between him and the Barons wherein are Confirmed all the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and Mutual Oaths taken on both sides by the King and Barons in Solemn manner for the Observation of the same Articles The King likewise sends his Letters Patents to all Sheriffs of the Kingdom to cause all Men of what degree soever within their several Shires to Swear to observe the Laws and Liberties thus granted by his Charter There we see a Papist King agrees with Papist Subjects on Oath in the highest manner and both the King and Barons and the whole Body of the People of what degree soever are solemnly Sworn before God And the Laws and Liberties are likewise Confirmed by Act of Parliament But the next News in the History we hear of is He hath some Papist evil Councellors who tell him he was now a King without a Kingdom a Lord without a Dominion and a Subject to his Subjects whereon this Papist King sends to the Pope and by Bribery he Absolves the King from his Oath Nullifies the Act of Parliament and Excommunicates the Lords Now therefore let it be shewn how these Papist Lords being laid in the Pickle of Excommunication and not having Personam standi in Judicio could have done to have bound the Conscience of their Papist King to have performed to them his Contract Covenant League and Oath or let it be no wonder if Protestants are very fearful to have a Successor of such a Religion or if they think that these Lords had not been more happy if they had had a Protestant King or of any Religion which would have bound his Conscience to have kept his Word and much more his Oath to his Subjects The Papist Lords grown Desperate of Right from their English Papist King run into the other Extreme and will Trust themselves to the Oath of a Foreign Papist King seeing their own would not keep his they send therefore over-Sea and go in great haft to Louys the French Kings Son to Sollicit him to take upon him the Crown of England who is their tres humble Serviteur and as ready to Swear to them as they to him A French Oath pretended surer than an English and to make wise to them that a French Oath was surer than an English over therefore he comes to England in Person with as great a Fleet and Army as the Power of France could make on so likely hopes of a Conquest incouraged by so great a Power of the English Barons who call'd them in and joyned with them and being Landed in Kent in May the Lords bring him to London where he takes his Solemn Oath to Restore their Laws and Liberties and recover their right for them King John who had first forsworn himself was notwithstanding in the Field with another Army against King Louys but fell into a Feaver and Died or as some say was poisoned On his Death many of the English Lords hoping to find more Truth in the Son than in the Father returned from Louys to their Native King and suddenly Crowned Henry the Third the eldest Son of King John being then but Nine years old in a great Parliament Assembled at Gloucester 28 Octob. by which Parliament his Tutelage by Reason of his Minority was Committed to the Great Marshal William Earl of Pembrook a Man Eminent both in Courage and Council And it is likewise to be noted That this Henry was begotten by King John of Isabel the Daughter and Heir of Aymer Earl of Angloulesm who was before the Marriage pre-contracted to Hugh le Brun Earl of March
The Mother of Henry the 3d. pre-contracted when King John Married her So if the World had been so much given to slander the Legitimation of the King 's Eldest Son as it is now here had been a greater Exception against the Succession of the Crown to him than can be now in the least shadow pretended for Isabel being pre-contracted to a former Man was a Woman Prohibited by the Law of God to be Contracted or Married by another Man Yet did neither this nor his Minority nor the amazing Danger of a Foreign Enemy Landed assisted by the Native Nobles possessed of the Royal City and entred into the Bowels of the Kingdom Deter this Wise and Noble Parliament for making use of the Coronation of the King 's Eldest Son Coronation of the King 's eldest Son the best remedy against the Barons calling in the French as the best Remedy against it and to Commit his Guardianship to a Person of Courage and Council they Succeeded accordingly for Louys was beaten in a Battel at Lincoln by the Protector and sending back for Recruits into France which were with great Expedition there provided and sent with a Mighty Fleet which Fleet was likewise met and beaten by the English Fleet at Sea and the Army therein Vanquished by God's great Providence which News coming to the Ears of Lovys made him hopeless of any longer Subsistance here with Safety and thereupon makes a Composition for his passage home abjures his Claim to the Kingdom and returns to France But if Louys had prevailed here wiâ—â— Security had the English Nobles had in his French Oath for within a little while after he had taken it he made spoil and plunder of all he could lay hands on Louys a Papist King breaks his French Oath to the Papist Subjects of England Friend or Foe which made many of the English he breaking his Oath to them to think themselves disobliged thereby from the Oath they had given him and to forsake his Party and more would have forsaken him had it not been for shame of Inconstancy and that he had their Hostages in France whom he would have on their Revolt Destroyed And to shew his Intention of perfecting his Perjury to the height if he could have got Power there was a constant Report and generally divulged concerning the Confession of the Viscount Melun a Frenchman who lying at the point of Death touch't with Compunction is said to reveal the Intention and Vow of Louys which was not only to Destroy the English Nobility but if he could the whole Nation Dan. Hist 148. The like Example is of the French Catholick more properly Papist Faith to the Nobility and People of Scotland Buchan Rer. Scot. Lib. 17. p. 156. where appears The French Papists were called into Scotland by the Scotch Papists to assist them against the Protestants there on Mutual Agreement on Oaths between the Papist of both Nations but when the French Army came they spoyl'd alike both Papist and Protestant And the French Garison at Leith destroy all with Fire and Sword as far as they could reach A French Papist King forsworn to the Papist Nobility of Scotland Clades autem Ex vastatione Agrorum non minus ad Papanos sine discrimine Scotorum Nobilitatem Extinguendam esse in corum autem praediis mille Catraphractos Equites Gallos collocari posse reliquam Multitudinem Servorum Loco habendam id Consilium literis ejus ad Gallum interceptis divulgatum mirum quantum Gallorum odium Jam aliis de Causis natum auxit Ambianus autem Episcopus non modo Romane Cause minus aequos sed etiam Gallorum partibus minus quam ipse Censebat aequum addictos in dicta causa agere rapere truci dare jubebat The Devastation of the Countrey about Leith by the French fell no less on the Papist than Protestant Labross advised that the whole Scottish Nobility was without any Difference made to be destroyed and a Thousand French Barbed Horse to be planted on their Estates and the rest of the Multitude to be kept for Slaves which Council his Letters being intercepted wherein he had sent the same to the French King after it was divulged 't is wonderful how it increased the hatred against the French which for other Causes was already sufficiently begun The Bishop of Amiens likewise without over hearing the Cause Commanded not only those who favoured not the Romish Religion but the French Cause as much as he would have them to be pursued taken by Force and Killed Henry the 3d. a Papist King forsworn to Papist Subjects To return again to England we left where King John having broken his Oath to the Nobility and Parliament being dead the same Oath of preserving the Laws and Liberties was again obtained of his Son Henry the Third who in the Barons Wars wanting Money a Tenth is granted him by the Clergy and a Scutage by the Layity of Three Marks of every Knights Fee yet with this Agreement That the often Confirmed Charter of Magna Charta and Charta Forestae should be again Rectified Confirmed and Sworn to and that in the most Solemn and Ceremonial manner as Religion or State could ever devise to do The Solemn manner of giving his Oath by Henry the Third to confirm his Subjects Liberties The King therefore with all the great Nobility of England all the Bishops and Chief Prelats in their Pontificalibus with burning Candles in their hands assemble to hear and pronounce the Terrible Sentence of by-Excommunication against the Infringers of the Charters and at the lighting of one of those Candles the King having received one in his hand gives it to a Prelate who stood by saying It becomes not me who am no Priest to hold this Candle my heart shall be a greater Testimony and withal laid his hand spread on his Breast the whole time the Sentence was Read which was thus pronounced Authoritate Dei Omnipotentis c. which done he caused the Charter of King John his Father granted by his free Consent to be likewise openly Read in the end having thrown away their Candles which lay smoaking on the ground they cryed out So let them who incur this Sentence be extinct and stink in Hell And the King with a loud voice said As God me help I will as I am a Man a Christian a Knight a King Crowned and Anointed inviolably observe all these things And therewithal the Bells rung out and all the people shouted for Joy Dan. Hist 169. but his Oath came to nothing Henry the 3d. secretly Absolved from his Oath to his Subjects by the Pope for he secretly sent to the Pope for his Absolution from them and the Pope for Money by his Apostolick Sentence Absolves the King from his Oath to his Subjects whence insued great Wars and Miseries in the Land Bac. Hist. 86. and though Magna Charta was in his time granted yet he never kept it but
the Earl of Warwick he leaves Edward and indeavours to restore again the Title of Henry the Sixth and removes him out of the Tower where he had been a Prisoner almost Nine years and Restores him his Crown and all Imperial Ornaments and Officers and King Edward is proclaimed an Usurper and all his partakers Traitors which forced King Edward to fly to the Duke of Burgoign his Brother-in-Law who had Married his Sister but Warwick sending Forces over to Callice to Infest the Dominions of Burgoign for Entertainment of Edward Burgoign being sensible of the storm likely to fall on him wisely so wrought that he made a Truce with King Henry The Duke of Burgoign a Papist Ally forswore himself to Henry the Sixth a Papist King and Ratisied it by Oath that he would give no Aid to his Brother-in-Law Edward against him Yet this Oath he immediately broke and under-hand furnished him with Eighteen tall Ships Two thousand Dutchmen and Fifteen thousand Florens of Gold Here may be seen what little Trust can be had by an English Papist Prince to the Oath of a Foreign Papist Prince though he pretend the common Obligation of the same Religion See here the next Example how little a Papist King can trust the Oath of a Papist Subject or a Papist Subject him After the Second Battel at St. Albans between the Queen and the Forces of Edward Earl of Marsh the Nobles who in outward shew before seemed for the King withdrew themselves from Attending his Person and the Lord Bonvile coming in a Complemental manner to the King saying It grieved him to leave his Majesty Henry the Sixth a Papist King broke his Promise to two Papist Subjects to the loss of their lives but Necessity for the Safeguard of his Life inforced it But at length he was importuned and Sir Thomas Kyviel likewise by the King to stay he passing his Royal Word that their stay should not indanger their Bodies upon which promise they stayed but to their cost for such was the implacable Fury of the Queen that hearing Baron Thorp was by the Commons Beheaded at Highgate she the day after the Battel being Ash-Wednesday caused both their Heads to be struck off at St. Albans Truss Hist 172. If so Saint-like a Papist King or his Queen for him broke his word to those of his own Religion what is to be expected from them who openly appear in the shape of the Father of Lies and care not for Transforming so much as in shew to Saint or Angel As the Duke of Burgoign had contrary to his Oath aided Edward with a Fleet Men and Money against Henry the Sixth so he himself coming over and Landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire finding but cold Entertainment and having marched to York and finding as little Expression of Welcom he fell on the old Popish shift of swearing and forswearing Edward the Fourth a Papist King forswore himself though he took the Sacrament on it to Papist Subjects He therefore swore deeply and took the Sacrament upon it that he came not to disturb King Henry but only to recover his own Inheritance and for the more shew thereof he wore an Estritch Feather Prince Edward's Livery which Proposition seemed so reasonable that many who resisted him before were as ready to assist him now both Sides seeking to make London their Friend to which end the Earl of Warwick sends to his Brother the Archbishop of York to Labour in it with the City to continue their Fidelity to Henry their King which he did accordingly but could not get above Seven or Eight thousand Men a small proportion to withstand King Edward Comines and Bodin make the Reason why the Citizens were rather inclinable to bring Edward to be because he owed the City great Debts and if he should miss they should lose their Debts Others add another Reason to be Because Edward had been kind to many of the Citizens Wives who importuned their Husbands to receive him but whatever were the cause the Archbishop of York so much doubted of the effect of their being Faithful that he sent secretly to Edward to desire him to receive King Henry into his Grace which on promise of being Faithful thereafcer he obtained and thereupon the Archbishop delivered King Henry into King Edward's hands Edward the Fourth contrary to his Promise suffers Henry the Sixth to be Murdered So here Edward a Papist King promiseth Henry a Papist King on the greatest Consideration one King can give to another the Delivery of his Person into his Competitors hands that he will not hurt him in his Custody yet after he Commands or Suffers him to be Murdered in the Tower by his Brother the Duke of Gloucester where he was Imprisoned A Papist Successor will give no Liberty of Conscience to Papist Subjects 3. A Papist Successor will not give Papists themselves Liberty of Conscience insomuch as a Thought But will force the Conscience either by Imprisonment Inquisitions Racks or Tortures falsly to accuse it self or by Compulsion to Oaths or External Forms and Ceremonies of Worship to betray it self to the Injust punishment of Penal Laws and Statutes He will exercise the Cruelty of the Inquisition on Papists themselves How little the Papist Inquisition spare their own Papists though they have not the least exception against them for their Religion may in part appear by the following Story Father Ephraim a Friar Capuchin was Born at Anxerre in France and was Brother of Monsieur Chateaude Boys Councellor of the Parliament of Paris Father Ephraim was Learned in the Languages and of as great Diligence Learning Eloquence and blind Zeal in Preaching up the Papist Religion as the best of them And to spread the same he Travelled to the Indies and was there entertained at Bagnabar by the Chek who had Married the eldest of the Princesses of Golconda and he Promised to build him an House and a Church gave him an Ox and two Men to carry him to Maslipatan where he stayed to Imbark for Pegu according to the order of his Superiours but finding no Vessel ready to set Sail the English drew him to Madrespatan where they have a Fort called St. George and a General Factory for every thing that Concerns the Countries of Golconda Pegu and Bengala they over-perswaded him that he might reap a fairer Harvest in this place than in any other part of the Indies to which end they built him a very neat House and a Church Madrespatan is but half a League from St. Thomas a Sea-Town on the Coast of Cormandel where was a very great Trade especially for Calecots and a very great Number of Merchants and Workmen lived there the greatest part whereof desired to Inhabit at Madrespatan with the English but that there was no Place for them to Exercise their Religion But when the English had Built a Church and perswaded Father Ephraim to stay many of the Portugueses quitted St. Thomas by reason of
Daughters to the Priest in Auricular Confessions to have their Nakedness discovered their Estates purloined the Secrets of their Houses and oftentimes their Lives betrayed to their Enemies and they shall be compelled to submit to the false Certificate of the Insolent Priest to disinherit their True and Natural Children and Heirs and to appoint false and adulterous Heirs and fils de Prestre to Succeed to their Inheritances and no Probation shall be admitted to the Contrary from which more than Pagan slavery a Protestant Successor will free them but never a Papist 6. If a Papist Successor happen all Lay-Papists shall Suffer for every one Offence two Punishments and shall pay all Fees Fines Taxes and Tributes double one to the Pope and his Officers the other to the King and his Officers one to the Spiritual Court another to the Temporal Court It is said of the Ass in the Fable That when he was let out of the Camp where his Master was to Graze he was admonished by his fellow Ass not to go too near another Camp which was in sight of them because that was the Enemies To which the other answered If the Enemy took him he would lay no worse Burdens on him than his Master did therefore it matter'd not which he went nearest A Lay-Papist therefore though the pamper'd Papist Priest perswade him otherwise would shew less Discretion than that gross-headed Animal should he not less fear to be in the Camp of a Protestant Successor though the supposed Enemy who would Load him but with half the Burden of his Master than to be in the Camp of a Papist Successor though his Master who will assuredly lay double the Punishment and double the Burden on him which a Protestant will do whose Camp will be like the Camp of Alexander the Great where the Persians found as courteous entertainment as the Macedonians And he used to say He would be the Common Father and his Camp should be the Common City of the World Dominicans and Jesuits 7. If a Papist Successor happen he will either favour the Jesuits and their followers or the Dominicans and their followers if he favour the Jesuits the Dominicans will be ruin'd if he favour the Dominicans the Jesuits will be ruin'd and so consequently the Lay-followers of both Again If a Papist Successor happen Guelphs and Gibellins he will either favour the Guelphs or the Gibellins the one being for the Papal the other for the Regal Supremacy if he favour the Guelphs the Gibellins will be ruin'd if he favour the Gibellins the Guelphs will be ruin'd Were not the Lay-Papist better have a Protestant Successor who will free them from both these sorts of Botefeâ— Papist Priests who set their own Papist Flock to tear one another that they may prey on both Were it not more wise for the Lay-Papist to do with their Guelphs and Gibellins as Bodin saith they did in all the Cities of Italy where these two Factions raged namely to Elect Strangers for their Magistrates Judges who were neither Guelphs nor Gibellins of all which Miseries which will assuredly be imposed and continued on them by their Priests and Princes whom no Covenant-Oath or Sacred Obligation of Conscience can tye if they happen to fall into the hands of a Papist Successor Let all Lay-Papists therefore but seriously consider if it be not more happy for them to be freed by a Protestant Successor Lay-Papist to be Prohibited nothing from whence a Protestant is not Prohibited except Publick Offices than inslaved to them by a Papist Let them but consider whether it is not better for them to be permitted to them by the Protestants the same Liberty from all penal Laws Taxes Tributes Oaths and Tests as Protestants have themselves than to have the same taken from both by a Papist Successor It will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor to prohibit the Lay-papist no other Idols no other Priests no other Sacrifice no other Offences Recusancies Crimes Arms Conventions nor any thing else except publick Offices which if really considered are rather Burdens than Benefits in all respects besides that of publick Safety than he prohibits equally his own Protestant Subjects It will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor to Rule by Laws and Love but a papist Successor will believe that it is his Interest to Rule by an Arbitrary power and Fire and Sword To Conclude Let the Lay-papist but consider at what rate they themselves who were Papists were Ruled by H. 8. a Papist King together with the Protestants who hanged the one for not acknowledging him Supreme Head of the Church and burnt the other for not believing Transubstantiation insomuch that a French Papist who came over hither and saw it Cryed out Deus bone quomodo hic vivunt gentes ubi suspenduntur Papistae comburuntur Anti-Papistae Good God said he what shift do people make to live here where Papists are hang'd and Anti-papists burnt And let them consider the more fresh example of Philip the Second of Spain the Son-in-Law of H. 8. after his Death by Marriage with Queen Mary for did he not Rule his Papists as well as Protestants Subjects in Holland and the Vnited Provinces after the same rate as H. 8. had done his here in England for he first by Oath and Agreement bound himself as well to his Papist as Protestant Subjects not to infringe their Laws and Liberties nor to increase the ancient Number of their Bishops which was but three But he notwithstanding his Oath indeavour'd to bring in amongst them the Inquisition increased the Number and Power of their Bishops from three to seventeen for every Province one both of them destructive to their Consciences Laws Liberties and Propriety but being after a long War overthrown by the Vnited Provinces and their Confederates he acknowledged them free and Soveraign States whereby they recover'd again their lost Liberties And though as is noted by Sir William Temple in his Excellent Observation on the Vnited Provinces Cap. 5. p. 200. the Roman Catholick Religion was alone excepted by the States from the Common Protection of their Laws making Men as they believed worse Subjects than the rest by the acknowledging of a Foreign and Superior Jurisdiction for so must all Spiritual Power needs be as grounded on greater Hopes and Fears than any Civil at least where the perswasions from Faith are as strong as from Sense of which there are so many Testimonies Recorded by the Martyrdoms Penalties Conscientious Restraints and Severities suffered by infinite persons in all sorts of Religion besides this Profession seemed still a Retainer of the Spanish Government which was then the greatest Patron of it in the World Yet was the Care of the States to give all Men ease in this point who ask'd no more than to serve God and save their own Souls in their own way and forms Of the great good Effects of not compelling Men to Faith or form of Worship
Lucan Nobilitas cum plebe perit lateque vagatur Ensis à nullo revocatum est rectore ferrum Stat cruor in Templis multaque rubentia caede Lubrica saxa madent nulli sua profuit aetas Non senis extremum piguit vergentibus annis Praecipitasse diem nec primo in limine vitae Infantis miseri nascentia rumpere fata Crimine quo parui caedem potuere mereri Sed satis est jam posse mori And will any Protestants be Self-Murderers by committing themselves to the Oaths of such a Religion to return home from Foreign Popish perfidiousness and Perjuries to those in Great Britain Queen Mary of England most Cruel and perfidious to Protestants there hath been but one Papist Successor in England since the Reformation which was Queen Mary and she promised but perfidiously Liberty of Conscience to the Protestants and used their help to obtain the Crown which perhaps if they had not afforded her she might have missed but as soon as she became possessed of the Royal Power how faithlesly she broke her promise to them is well known and with what Cruelty incited by the Bishops prodigious in her Sex she delighted to see them Burning with her own Eyes and what a Tophet she made of the Land appears in the Acts and Monuments What eyes can behold the fiery Pictures there or read the bloody Characters of her Butcheries without tears And she had increased the number of them to so many as no Volume could have contained had not God in his Mercy sortned those days Queen Mary of Scotland and her Agents there most perfidious and cruel to Protestants It is known likewise Queen Mary of Scotland likewise broke Promise and Oath the Papist Faith and Oaths were no better kept to Protestants in Scotland than in England of which I shall only mention one Example of Mr. George Wischard persecuted to Death by the Bloody Cardinal Beton as is mentioned in Buchanan Lib. 15. rer Scot. 536. and in the History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland p. 48 Mr. George Wischard a Protestant Minister first indeavoured to be assassinated by Cardinal Beton c. Mr. Wischard was a Diligent Preacher of the Gospel and most acceptable to the people for which reason Cardinal Beton prohibited him to Preach and he not desisting he corrupting with Money a desperate Priest named Sir John Weighton to kill the said Mr. Wischard and upon a Day the Sermon ended and the People departing no man suspecting Danger and therefore not heeding the said Mr. George the Priest that was corrupted stood waiting at the foot of the Steps his Gown loose and his Dagger drawn in his Hand under his Gown the said Mr. George marked him and as he came near he said My friend what would you do and therewith he clapped his hand on the Priests hand where the Dagger was and took it from him the Priest abashed fell down at his feet and being heard by other Company they cryed out Deliver the Traytor to us or we will take him by force and so they burst in at the Gate but Mr. George took him in his Arms and said Whosoever troubles him shall trouble me for he hath hurt me in nothing but hath done great Comfort to you and to me to wit he hath let us understand what we may fear in time to come we will watch better The Gentlemen of the West had written that Mr. George should meet them at Edinburgh for they would require Disputation of the Bishops and that he should be publickly heard whereto he willingly agreed He lays a Second Plot for the same The Cardinal dared not let it come to a publick Dispute therefore he Plots the second time to kill Mr. George as the surest way to defend their Murdering Religion and to that end he causeth a Letter to be Counterfeit in the Name of the Laird of Keimeir Mr. Wischard's familiar Friend which desires him with all possible diligence to come to him for he was strucken with a sudden Sickness and in the way layes an Ambush of Threescore Men with Jacks and Spears to dispatch him but this was likewise discovered the Cardinal vexed to be twice thus disappointed in his wicked design and got Intelligence that Mr. Wischard lodged at the House of John Cockburne Laird of Ormeston Seven miles from Edenburgh whereupon a Party of Horse was sent thither to demand Mr. George to be delivered them as a Prisoner to be carried before the Assembly of Prelates at Edenburgh the Laird made many Excuses and Spun out the time it being late hoping to pass Mr. Wischard out at a private Postern to escape when dark of which the Cardinal having notice by his Spies came together which the Governour thither at an unseasonable hour of Night and beset round all passages whereby none could escape Mr. Wischard betrayed by trusting to the perfidious Faith of Earl Bothwell yet neither by Promises Flatteries or Threats could he get Mr. George delivered into his hands till he called thither the Earl of Bothwell from his Country House which was near at hand to whom it was agreed he should be delivered on which the Earl gave his Solemn Faith and Promised on his Honour that he should be Safe and that it should pass the Power of the Cardinal to do him any harm and that neither the Governour or the Cardinal should have the Custody of him but he would retain him in his own hands and in his own House till either he should make him free or restore him to the same place whence he received him But being Corrupted by the Cardinals Gold and by the Queen he most perfidiously broke his Faith and Honour and delivered him a Prisoner into the hands of his Enemies the Prelates assembled at Edenburgh who having got their long sought for prey send him away to St. Andrews where the Cardinal had a Castle as he thought Impregnable where he was kept in hold in the Sea Tower of the same Castle which was done in the end of January Anno Dom. 1546. The Cardinal delayed no time but caused all the Bishops yea all the Clergymen who had any preheminence to be called to St. Andrews against the Seven and Twentieth day of February that Consultation might be had against this great Protestant who had so dangerously shaken the Foundations of Babel upon the last of February was sent to the Prison where Mr. George Wischard lay bound in Chains the Dean of the Town by Command of the Cardinal to Summon him to be before the Judge the morrow following to give account of his Seditious and Heretical Doctrine upon the next morrow the Lord Cardinal caused his Servants to address themselves in their most Warlike Array with Jack Knapscall Splent Spear and Axe and when these armed Champions marching in Warlike Order had conveyed the Bishops into the Abby Church incontinently they sent for Mr. George who was conveyed into the same by the
Successor do He would first seize upon all the Protestant Treasuries and Treasure then on all the Protestant Armories Arms and Magazines on all the Protestant Forts Cittadels and Castles on the Protestant Navy and Land Militia It is wonderful what mighty strength of Foot and Horse Q. Mary kept for the Train in all the Counties of England and Wales to Oppress the Protestants ten times more than what the Protestants now keep to defend themselves against Papists as appears 4 5. P. M. Cap. 2. in Rastall's Statutes The incredible Provision for Arms by Papists in Queen Maries time where it is Enacted That every Person having 400 l. per annum or above and under the value of a 1000 Marks shall have find keep sustein and maintain two Horses or one Horse and one Gelding able for Demy-Lances with sufficient Furniture of Harness Steel Saddles and Weapons for the same and 4 Geldings able for Light-Horsemen with sufficient Harness and Weapons for the same and also 20 Corslets furnished and 20 Almain Rivets furnished and one Stede of Almain Rivets 20 Coats of Plate Corslets or Brigandines furnished 20 Pikes 15 long Bows 15 Sheefs of Arrows 15 Steel Caps or Skulls 6 Harquebusses and 6 Morians or Sallets So the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light Q. Mary a Papist Successor to K. Edward a Protestant provided it seems the proportion of above ten to one more Arms to destroy Protestants than her Protestant Successors have to defend them for there is now but one Horse appointed for 500 l. per annum whereas Q. Mary sets six Horses on 400 l. per annum besides that Mass of Foot Arms appointed in the same Statute And though 400 l. per annum might be in those times according to the intrinsick value of Silver more than 500 l. now yet the proportion of Horse and Foot layd on 400 l. Land then If the Protestant yeild or lose Possession of Treasure or Arms or Offices to the Papists 't is not to be recovered again without a Miracle seems ten times more than now It is further to be Considered That by God's Mercy the Protestant is as yet Possessor of the Treasure Militia and all Publick Offices and the Protestants are by the same Mercy increased and multiplied and grown far more numerous in Great Britain and the same Mercy hath likewise given them Victories against Papists The Protestants have by God's Providence a Protestant King the Rightful Possessor of the Crown whom God grant long to live And hopes of a Protestant Successor the next Lineal right Heir of his Blood according to the Moral Law of God and the Law of the Land and the Protestant Religion And what is likewise a singular Mercy of God derived from a Marriage by the Moral Law of God and contrary and as is hoped inconsistent with the Ceremonial Law of Marriage and Succession Papal or Episcopal and therefore of a contrary Interest to them To yield therefore the right of the Law of God to the Law of Man the right of a Lineal Heir to a Collateral to yield the Possession of a great Number to a lesser Number of a greater power to a lesser power of a victorious Religion to a vanquished of a protestant Successor to a papist Successor were not only against all Piety but Prudence and all Laws either of Right or Possession 9. The Danger of seizing Offices by the Papist or his Trustees in name of Protestants 9. How great a plunge will it put the Protestants to who is now in possession of all publick Offices if through neglect of barring his door of Possession by an Act of Parliament declaring a Protestant Successor a papist Successor seeing the door left open for him should slip in and after he hath Treasure and Arms should likewise seize on the Power of publick Offices For then may he make Sheriffs of Counties Papists Mayors of Cities and Towns Papists He would make all the Military Officers by Land and Sea Papists Then may he cause to be chosen the greatest part of Burgesses and Knights of Shires Papists He may make Bishops Papists all Preachers Papists Lords of Parliaments Papists He may make Judges on the Woolsacks Papists for if the Successor be a Papist as the Supream Officer is so will all Inferior Officers be Papists He may then repeal all former Acts of Parliament made against Papists vacate all Oaths taken against Papists The Inquisition Office of Spiritual Courts and Excommunicato Capiendoes is ready prepared for him and he can as easily restore the Haeretico Comburendo Office again Did not so weak an Instrument as a Woman even Q. Mary her self do all this and more when once she became a Papist Successor to a Protestant King though he had confirmed the Protestant Religion as much as possible by Acts of Parliament How much more is a Masculine Papist Successor then to be feared whose Designs and Accomplishments are of higher and easier Atchievements than any Feminine When he sees all this done and the Abomination of Desolation stand in the Holy place what will then become of the miserable Protestant when by his own Supine Negligence he sees himself dispossessed of Treasure Arms Laws and all these publick Offices and Officers which should under God have protected him and the Judgment of God come upon him for his casting away all those Lawful means vouchsafed him of prevention of so great a Judgment Praestat therefore Cautela quam Medela it were a presumptuous tempting of God for the Protestant to deliver the possession of all his Treasure Arms and Offices to a Papist Successor when God hath given him Lawful means to prevent the same for when all these things are once delivered into the hands of a Papist Successor though God should by a Miracle send again a Protestant Successor how difficult and dangerous a matter it it would be to get again the power out of the Papist possession appears by the Example of Queen Elizabeth her self For when it pleased God to give her the Kingdom the Alteration of Religion Q. Eliz. her self not able to restore the Protestant Religion by more than six Voices after the Papists had got Possession Queen Eliz. not able to remove what did Protestants more harm than Images from Papist to Protestant in Parliament was carried by no greater plurality than only of six Voices and the Protestant party though with a Protestant Queen in the Head of them was able at that time to Enact no more against Popery than only two points viz. The Abolishing of the Mass and the Establishing the Liturgy in the English Tongue After Images were likewise removed out of Churches and broken or burnt Bak. Hist 350. But the High places of the Inquisition in Spiritual Courts The Excommunication Capiendo's and Haeretico Cumburendo's The Romish Altars and Ceremonies which did Protestants more harm than Images she was not able to move the
can only be understood where there is a Necessity and no Remedy But where God is pleased to offer a just King and a just Parliament to Judge equally there is no Necessity of using any unjust means though to obtain Right 3. If a Prince buy not with ready Money or Donatives given in Possession but oblige himself in future Promises if he obtain the Kingdom the Mercenaries are so many who will expect to be promised and their Nature so unsatiable That no Prince can be so rich who is to obtain nor can any Kingdom be so rich when it is obtained as to be able to satisfie a small part of them and who fail of their Expectation turn Enemies As Rich. 3. promised the Duke of Buckingham if he obtained the Kingdom very great Rewards but after he was King failed to perform the same the Duke of Buckingham became his Mortal Enemy and King Richard paid his Promises by cutting him off for Treason when he had first ruined Richard by laying the Plot for Henry the Seventh 4. If the Kingdoms are left exposed to Sale a Papist Successor will be richer than a Protestant and so carry it by Money though not by Right Impoverisheth the Prince 5. It impoverisheth and weakens the Prince and his Posterity So the German Emperors have impoverished and weakened themselves by giving away so many Royalties to 7 Electors to buy them in Elections That the Electors are greater than they The Mischiefs as to the People are Mischiefs of buying Crowns to the Subject 1. The Sale of the Successions of the Three Kingdoms and buying of them Destroys all Religion and Justice among the People for your Kingdom-Sellers usually receive a great share of their Money out of the Power they Contract to have of the Sale of all Publick Offices of Gain both Ecclesiastical and Temporal If therefore Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons buy their Offices they will neither Form nor Preach any Divinity but for Gain If Temporal Judges or other Judicial or Ministerial Officers buy their Offices those who buy will sell and take Bribes and none shall have Justice unless he buys In Turky all the great Officers buy their Places of the Grand Seignior whereby they run themselves into great Debts which they rake out again of the poor People by all manner of Rapine and Oppression And though the fame is of the Great Turk's great Severity on the Bribery of Judges yet no Courts in the World are more corrupt for that Vice than they For what colour can the Emperor have to punish those Thieves to whom he himself is accessary by selling their Licences to Rob at so dear a rate as he usually puts them to buy and will afterward take the whole spoil if it grow to any bulk 2. The Exchequer will be ingaged under unsupportable Debts and charged with Pensions to a Multitude of Pretended Claimants of Promises which will totally exhaust the Publick Treasure load the People with insupportable Burdens and Taxes and destroy all the Military Defence of the Kingdoms by Sea and Land for want of Pay 3. Kingdom-Sellers will usually have Commissions to take all Penalties on the Penal Statutes to Dispense and Pardon Offences against those Statutes and to Pardon or make Composition for the Penalties which Penal Statutes concerning both Religion Justice Trade Military Affairs and the whole Policy of the Kingdom will be totally subverted by Money by such said Kingdom-Sellers It Exposes the Kingdom to Conquest 16. Danger of exposing this Kingdom to Conquest For if a Successor is not declared by King and Parliament a Multitude of Competitors may arise and having no Judge of greater Power than themselves do try their right by Battel and Civil Wars wherein he who Joyns will declare himself a Conqueror from which these two Mischiefs will arise 1. There cannot be a free Parliament for the Sword will awe and over-power the Elections both of Burgesses and Knights and when they come to sit the greatest part of the Members will be Military Officers The Conqueror will grant no Law except for Money and the Army will have a Negative Vote on the Parliament 2. All the Nation especially the Rich and Noble which happen to be of the side that is Vanquished whether right or wrong will be either Fined or Confiscated and many of their lives taken by their own Brethren of the same Religion and Nation and therefore it most concerns the Nobles and not the Poor to prevent Civil War as is visible in all the Victories obtained between the Houses of York and Lancaster wherein both Princes and Nobles destroyed one another and set up their Heads upon Poles by turns And it was the usual saying of Edward the Fourth in all the Battels he fought Kill the Nobles but save the People Some further Examples of declaring Successors by Parliament Some further Examples of declaring Successors follow besides what before mentioned To this purpose of declaring a Successor by Parliament Grot. de Jur. Bel. Pac. 111. says Sic Euphaes Rex Messeniis permisit dispicere quem ex Regali Aepitidarum genere Regnaret Et de Xerxis Artabarzanis Controversia Populus Cognovit Et 179 sive in conventu ordinum ut factum in Anglia Scotia teste Cambdeno sive per Delegatos ad id Negotium ut factum in Aragonia teste Mariana lib. 20. So King Euphaes permitted the Messenians to consider who ought to Reign of the Royal race of Epitidae And the People of Persia had Conusans of the Controversie between Xerxes and Artabarzanes Or the same is determined in Parliament as Cambden testifies is done in England and Scotland or by Delegates of the People as Mariana testifies lib. 20. was done in Aragon So King Edward the Third the Wise Author of this great Statute whereon this Discourse hath proceeded to prevent Civil Wars on any doubt arising on Succession to the Crown not only declared his eldest Son by this Statute but likewise he happening to Die in his Father's Life-time caused to prevent all farther Scruples his Grandchild Richard of Bourdeaux to be declared Successor by Act of Parliament Moses Declares a Successor Moses being told that he should die Numb 27.15 desireth God to declare a Successor And Moses spake unto the Lord saying Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a Man over the Congregation which may go out before them and which may go in before them and which may send them out and which may bring them in That the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepheard And the Lord said unto Moses Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun a Man in whom is the Spirit and lay thine hand upon him and set him before Eleazer the Priest and before all the Congregation and give him a Charge in their sight and thou shalt put some of thine Honour upon him that all the Congregation of the Children of
the frequent Preaching of Father Ephraim and his great Care as well of the Natives as of the Portugals and in regard he spoke both the English and Portuguese Languages perfectly well which caused so great Envy in the Clergy of St. Thomas Church that they resolved to ruin him and laid their Plot thus The English and Portugueses being so near Neighbours could not choose but have several Quarrels one with another and still Father Ephraim who was in great Reputation with both was applied to for Composing their Differences Now one day the Portugueses quarrelled on purpose with some English Marriners that were in St. Thomas Road and the English came by the worst The English President resolving to have Satisfaction for the Injury a War brake out between the two Nations which had Ruin'd all the Trade of that Countrey had not the Merchants on both side been very diligent to bring things to an Accommodation not knowing any thing of the wicked contrivance of particular persons against Father Ephraim All the Interposition of Merchants availed nothing the Friar must be concerned in the Affair he must be the Mediator to Act between Party and Party which he readily accepted But he was no sooner entred into St. Thomas but he was seized by Ten or Twelve Officers of the Inquisition who shipt him away in a Frigat that was bound at the same time for Goa They fetter'd and manacled him and kept him Two and twenty Days at Sea before they would once let him put his foot on shoar though the best part of the Marriners lay ashoar every Night When they came to Goa they stayed till Night before they would Land Father Ephraim to carry him to the Inquisition-House for they were afraid if they should Land him in the Day the People should know of it and Rise in Rescue of a Person who was in Veneration over all India The News was presently spread abroad in all Parts that Father Ephraim was in the Inquisition which very much amazed all the Frenchmen but he who was most surprized and troubled at it was Friar Zenon the Capuchin who had been formerly Father Ephraim's Companion who after he had consulted his Friends resolved to go to Goa though he were put into the Inquisition himself for when a Man is once shut up there if any one have the boldness to speak to the Inquisitor or to any of his Counsel in his behalf he is presently put into the Inquisition also and accounted a greater Offender than the other neither the Archbishop nor Vice-Roy themselves dare Interpose though they are the only two Persons over whom the Inquisition hath no Power for if they do any thing to offend them they presently write to the Inquisitor General and his Counsel in Portugal and as the King and the Inquisitor General Commands they either proceed against or send these two great Persons into Portugal Yet Father Ephraim Reports These high and proud Inquisitors and their Counsel are very Ignorant Fellows which he found when they put him to Question and so saith he did not believe that any of them had ever read the Scripture but the more fit they are to be the Butchers in these Bloody and Inhumane Cruelties they Practice Monsieur de Chateau Des Boys Father Ephraim's Brother complained to the Portugal Ambassador who presently wrote to the King his Master to send a Positive Command by his first Ship thither that Father Ephraim should be Discharged The Pope himself also wrote The Inquisition regards neither Pope nor King Declaring that he would Excommunicate all the Clergy of Goa if they did not Set him at Liberty But all this signified nothing for still they kept Father Ephraim in such Duress in a blinded Dungeon with a Window Barred with Iron but half a foot square that he lost thereby the Sight of one of his Eyes And if an Indian King had not relieved him more than the Pope or King of Portugal were able to do he had been there Destroyed for the King of Colconda who was at Wars with the Raga of Carnatica and his Army lay round about St. Thomas on Complaint to him of the Injustice by the Inquisition to Father Ephraim sent order to his General Mirgimola to lay Siege to the Town and put all to Fire and Sword unless the Governor would make him a firm Promise that Father Ephraim should be set at Liberty within two Months which so allarm'd the Governor and Town that they suddenly got him to be set at Liberty at Goa Tavernier Lib. 1. Part 2. cap. 15. p. 85. If therefore the Pope and a Papist King were not able or dared not Protect one of their own Religion and Orders against the Injustice of the Inquisition much less will a Papist Successor be able to do it And if both Pope and Papist King were not able to defend a Papist Priest much less will they the Lay-Papist as to whom they are so Terrible that as is the common Story One of the Lord Inquisitors having a mind to some pleasant Pears in a Countryman's Orchard Sent to have him come to him to buy or beg some of his Pears which put the Man in such a fright that he Digged up the Tree Root and all and carried the same with all the Fruit on it to his Lordship and when he demanded the reason of that Unhusbandly action he told him He would never keep that thing in his House which should give any of their Lordships a further occasion to send for him But it will be the Interest of a Protestant Successor neither to punish Papist or Protestant for Conscience neither to Compel Papist or Protestant to Faith or form of Worship nor to impose Penalties for Recusancy in either Lay-Papist not to be debarr'd any thing a Protestant injoys excep Publick Offices nor to debar the Lay-Papists from any thing from whence the Protestants are not equally debarred except Publick Offices of which the Reasons are at large shewn before Lib. 2. p. 401 402 c. for as to Idols and Mass the Protestant ought to be debarred as well as the Papist 4. It is a great benefit to all Lay-Papists to be protected and freed from the intollerable Exactions and Cheatings of Money from them by their Priest particularly for Offerings to Images for Confessions Penances Absolutions for Baptisms Confirmations Marriages Extreme Unctions Places of Burials Dirges Masses Pardons Redemption from Purgatory all Inventions of their Priest to Cheat them their Wives Children and Families from Generation to Generation of what should pay their Debts and find their Fatherless Children Food and Rayment as likewise from all the Military and Civil Taxes Tributes and Payments they unknown to the Protestant exact from them and exhaust their Estates all which a Protestant Successor will free them from but a Papist will increase upon them 5. If a Papist Successor happen all Lay-Papists living within the four Sees will be Compell'd to prostitute their Wives and