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
of his dead Father but his Oath to his Loving Subjects which was his Ruine for his entertainment of French Councels endammaged his English Subjects and his nearest French Relation Isabel his own Queen Persidiously by the help of her Brother the French King raised a Rebellion here of his own Subjects against him which caused him to be Deposed from his Kingdom and shortly after to be Murdered in an hideous manner in Barckly Castle So here are four Kings Great Grandfathor Grandfather Father and Son all Papists all Confirming and Breaking Magna Charta and their Oaths and their Subjects to whom they have broken them have been all Papists Magna Charta no less than Thirty times Sworn or confirmed and forsworn or broken by Papist Kings to Papist Subjects and the same Papist Religion gives no Mutual obligation of an Oath though to Men of the same Religion Yea this Magna Charta of Liberties hath been Thirty times Confirmed by King and Parliament while the Papist Religion lasted which shews the Oath hath been more than Thirty times broken by some or other of their Papist Princes for otherwise it would not need so many new Confirmations and Oaths In the Protestant Religion it is held That once forsworn ever-forlorn In the Papist it appears he is not so thought though Thirty times forsworn but he may still swear and forswear and begin again anew as many times as he will were it not therefore more secure for the Papist himself to Covenant with a Protestant Successor who dares not break his Oath lying under so great a Penalty of Conscience than with a Papist who makes Perjury not to be Penal and whose Religion it self teaches the wicked Doctrine of Lysander that Children ought to be deceived with Promises and Men with Oaths for what Commerce or Humane Society can there be had with those who will keep neither whether they be Kings or Subjects or of what Degree or Religion soever they be 2. Seeing a Papist Successor can be obliged by no Contract or Oath Only two ways of Succession Contract or Conquest therefore he cannot Succeed by Contract And if he Succeed not by Contract then he will Succeed by Conquest for there are but two ways of Succession either by Contract or by Conquest And if he Succeed therefore by Conquest such Power he will say 't is Diis aequa Potestas Deus est Imperator in Coelis and Imperator est Deus in Terris Jure Divino is above all Humane Laws he will therefore be Lawless and no Law shall be but his Will But a Protestant Successor claims only to the Rule according to Laws agreed and assented to by the Subjects themselves by their Representative in Parliament Can any Sober Papist deny it is not better to have his equal Laws than as a Slave to be destroyed at Pleasure by a cruel unjust and lawless Will as they are generally by their Princes in all Catholick Countries Further Examples of the Perfidiousness of Papist Princes to Papist Subjects Henry the Fourth a Papist King forswore himself to papist Subjects HEnry the Fourth was a Papist and a Violent Enemy against the Wicklenite Protestants yet perfidious to his own Papists too as appears Truss Hist fo 73. there are Articles made against him and the first of them is That when he return'd from his Exilement he made Faith only to Challenge and Recover his Inheritance and his Wives and not to intermeddle with the King nor with his Crown by reason of which Oath divers Loyal and good Subjects to King Richard resorted unto him not having any Treasonable intent but after when he saw his Powers so much increased that he might do what he pleased he wickedly brake his Oath and without any Right or colour like Right procured himself to be made and Crowned King Another Article was That no Justice could be expected from his hand because that contrary to the Oath he had taken when he was Crowned he had by Letters sent into sundry Shires thereby procured certain Burgesses of the Parliament Knights of the Shire to be Chosen whom he knew would not fail to serve his turn as occasion should be offered Here we see is a Papist King and Papist Subjects and he takes an Oath to them concerning the greatest Liberty the Subjects can enjoy which is the free Election of their Representative in Parliament yet this Papist King breaks this very Oath not only to his Papist Subjects but to that very party who were of his own party and Crowned him Richard Duke of York a papist Subject forswore himself to Henry the Sixth a papist King Henry the Sixth and Richard Duke of York were both Papists and the Duke of York took his Oath of Allegiance to King Henry After taking King Henry Prisoner He Calleth a Parliament in the King's Name by which Parliament terrified by the Duke's Sword it was agreed and Enacted That Henry during his Life should retain the Name and Honour of a King and that the Duke of York should be proclaimed Heir Apparent to the Crown and Protector to the King's Person his Land Dominions and Countrey And that if at any time King Henry's Friends Allies Favourites in his behalf should attempt the Disanulling this Act that then the Duke should have present possession of the Crown No sooner was the Parliament Dissolved but the Duke by vertue of his Protectorship esteeming himself a King in Office and Power though not in Name dispatcheth Letters to the Queen the Duke of Somerset Exceter and other Nobility who were then in Scotland with all speed to repair to his presence at London they knowing their own Security lay only in keeping out of his Power marched towards him but Guarded with an Army of Eighteen thousand Men and met him at Wakefield who had there but a small Army of Five thousand to oppose them on whose Valour notwithstanding the Duke relying and though advised by his Council to forbear Fight till his Son the Earl of March could bring up his Forces to joyn with him yet the Pride of his former Victoriâ—s make him deaf to good Advice and therefore rashly joyned 〈◊〉 whereby he hasten'd his own Destiny and was Slain on the place with Three thousand of his Men after which Overthrow of the Father his Son the Earl of March and his Confederates having overthrown the Queens Army at the Battel of Mortimor's Cross and fought the Battel of St. Albans and the Earl of Warwick's Forces joyned with him is proclaimed King but before he could be Crowned he was forced to Fight again with another Army which King Henry had raised in the North which Battel continued doubtful with eager Resolution on both Sides the space of Ten hours whereby there were above Six and thirty thousand Men Slain Bak. Hist 203. But in the end the Day fell to Edward and the King flying to Barwick and her Son to France Edward is Crowned King but after Disobliging
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
injoyed near Threescore years after Had Antonio been allowed equal Judges or the Law of God been the Rule of their Judgment or had he been allowed to have pleaded the Law of the Land and Custom of both Portugal or Spain for Natural Sons to succeed the Crown he needed not have looked for more Examples of Natural Children than those from whom King Philip himself derived his many Spanish Kingdoms and according to the Customs of Portugal Don Antonio a Natural Son Crowned King of Portugal Don Antonio was on the Death of Henry chosen and Crowned King of Portugal at Lisbon their chief City till Philip sent the Duke of Alva thither with a greater Army than the Portuguese had put Don Antonio to flight Overcome by Philip flyes to England whom the People had Elected King and within Seventeen Days subdued all Portugal Don Antonio thereon flyes into England where he is kindly received of Queen Elizabeth as descended of English Blood and of the House of Lancaster and having entertained him here divers years his Title of being right Heir to the Crown of Portugal is so far approved by the Queen and Council Queen Elizabeth approves his Title as right Heir to Portugal and the Protestant Doctrine That she gave leave to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake to undertake an Expedition at their own private Charges requiring nothing of her but a few Ships of War who took along with them Don Antonio the Heir of the Kingdom of Portugal and of Souldiers Eleven Thousand and of Seamen about Fifteen Hundred And setting Sail from Plimouth the Fifth day of April they arrived at the Groyne of Galizia whereof with great Valour they took first the Lower Town and afterwards the Higher and after Sailing towards Portugal they met Robert Earl of Essex who without the Queens leave had put to Sea after two days they arrive at Penycha a Town of Portugal which they took and left the Castle to Don Antonio And from thence they march by Land towards Lisbon Threescore Miles off the Foot Companies led by Norris whom Drake promised to follow with the Fleet being come to the West Suburbs of Lisbon they found no body there but a few poor disarmed Portugals who cryed out God save King Antonio The day following the Spaniards made a Sally in which Skirmish Bret Caresly and Carre three stout Commanders were Slain yet did the Earl of Essex drive the Spaniards to the very Gates of the City And now having tarried here two Days and no likelihood of the Portugals revolting which Don Antonio had hoped but was not probable that the strict hand of the King of Spain then in full Possession on them should give them that Liberty sinding fresh Supplies to come into the Town their own Army Sickly Victuals and Powder failing and what was most of all Sir Francis Drake not bringing the great Ordnance as he promised They departed from the Suburbs of Lisbon towards Caseais a little Town at the Mouth of the River Tagus which Town Drake had taken this mean while who excused his not coming to Lisbon by reason of the Flats he must have passed and the Castle of St. Julian Fortified with Fifty Pieces of great Ordnance Near this Place they found Threescore Hulks of the Hans-Towns of Germany Laden with Corn and all manner of Munition which they took as good Prize towards their Charges in regard the Queen had forbidden them to carry Victual and Munition to the Spaniard From hence they sailed to Virgo a Forlorn Town by the Sea side and Pillaging all along that Quarter returned for England having lost in the Voyage Soldiers and Marriners about Six thousand yet not so much by the Enemy as eating strange Fruit and Distemper of the Climate on which I shall only further observe That Kingdoms are not so easily got again as they are lost and that the Disinheriting of the Natural Heir of the Crown of Portugal was the cause of the seizure and Conquest by the Spaniard of that Kingdom Foreign Princes when the Successor is uncertain will stir up so many antiquated Genealogies Antiquated Genealogies used to be raked up by Foreign Princes that every one may pretend a right to the Crown and it hath been already mentioned that there were no less than Five or Six to the Crown of Portugal no less than Ten Titles Foreign and Domestick in Scotland in the time of Basiel and Bruce and no less than Sixteen in England before the Death of Queen Elizabeth and how far Papist Foreign Princes will go when they have none nearer to draw Genealogies as high as the Man in the Moon and when they have no substance to raise the Ghosts of Titles again from their old Purgatories nor Kif nor Kin to the last Possessors appears by the next Example Hacket endeavours to raise a Papist Title to the Crown Richard Hacket was sent from the English Fugitives beyond Sea in the Reign of Queen Eliz. to perswade Ferdinando Stanly E. of Derby Son to Henry newly Deceased to assume the Title of the Kingdom of England by right of Descent from Mary Daughter to Henry the Seventh and threatning him unless he undertook the Enterprize and withal concealed him the Abettor he should shortly die in a most wretched manner But the Earl fearing a Trap was laid for him revealed it and Hacket was thereon Condemned and Executed for Treason but this Fellow's Threatnings proved not vain four Months after for then the Earl being in the Flower of his Age was miserably Tormented and Vomited Stuff of a dark rusty Colour being thought to be Poisoned or Bewitched There was found in his Chamber a little Image of Wax with Hairs of the Colour of his Hair which some thought was done on purpose that men should not suspect him to be Poisoned his Vomit so stained the Silver Andirons that it could never be gotten out and his Body though put in Cere-Cloths and wrapped in Lead did so stink and putrifie that for long time none could endure to come near where he was Buried Bak. Hist 402. When good Correspondence between Queen Elizabeth and King James of Scotland gave the Papists small hopes that ever he would prove an Instrument to restore the Catholick Religion they begun thereupon to bethink themselves of some English Papist that might succeed the Queen but finding none of their own Sect a fit Person they fixed their thoughts on the Earl of Essex who always seemed a very moderate Man and him they advised to have some right to the Crown by Descent from Thomas of Woodstock King Edward the Third's Son But the English Fugitives were for the Infanta of Spain English Fugitives seek to seâ— up a Title for the Infanta of Spain and to exclude all Protestants from the Crown and desiring to set the King of Scots and the Earl of Essex at odds they set forth a Book which they Dedicated to Essex under the Name of Doleman but
Canterbury cannot be sent unto to certifie because it was made Beyond-sea the Foreign Catholick Bishop cannot be sent unto to certifie because he is out of the Jurisdiction And besides by Acts of Parliament all Foreign Certificates and all other Foreign Acts of Jurisdiction from the Bishop of Rome or any other Foreign Bishop ought not to be admitted here besides no Foreign Witness can either be Summon'd to appear here or to be examin'd there So as to the Fact of Ceremonies were they never so many at the Marriage they are impossible to be brought to an equal Tryal or Probation here and the Ceremony that 't was in a Church consecrated by a Bishop for as Coke says no House can be a Church without such Consecration which is impossible to be Sworn by any Witness For none but God can make place or time Holy and not a Bishop there remains therefore nothing which ought or can as to the Fact of Marriage be proved here but the Substance of Marriage which is Cohabitation Conjugal Society Chastity and Children which are Notorious and need no Foreign Witnesses Then as to to the Law of the Ceremonies the Protestant Ceremonies of Marriage are by the Law in a Catholick Country Heresie and forbidden The Catholick Ceremonies are forbidden here These Ceremonies therefore in a Foreign Marriage can neither be judged here by the Law of the Catholick Country because it concerns Inheritance which lyes in England nor by the Law of England because the Fact was done in a Foreign County it ought therefore only to be judged by the Moral Law of God which judgeth according to Substance and not Ceremonies and is the Universal Law of all Nations and Countries 2. It were impertinent to prove Ceremonies before a Parliament because the same being a Court of Equity ought to judge according to Trust and Intention of Marriage though the Witness of Ceremonies are Dead and Writings lost or burnt whereby any verbal Promise or Ceremonial form of Words cannot be proved 3. God forbid the Representative of the People in Parliament whom they have intrusted with all they have in Matters of such infinite weight should be so Ludicrous as to cast away the safety of the King's Person to Extinguish his Lineal Blood to Destroy the Religion Liberty Propriety and Lives of all his Protestant Subjects in the Three Kingdoms on such Toys as that there are no Witnesses to be got to prove Ceremonies of Verba de Praesenti or With my Body I thee worship or to Swear that the Ring was Gold and not Brass or that it was put on the fourth Finger and not on the fifth or not on the Tumb but on the Finger 4. It is impertinent to prove Ceremonies in a Court of Equity especially in the Supreme Court of Equity which a Parliament is who ought to judge Right Secundum aequum Bonum without any regard to Ceremonies as to make Estates good without Livery of Seisin Attornment Inrolement Fine Common Recovery or the like so likewise ought they to judge without any regard of the Ceremonies and Formalities of Pleadings according to the Truth and Merits of the Cause yea they ought not only to judge without but contrary to all Ceremonies and Formalities if they find them Estopples to Truth and Bars to Equity yea contrary to the Law it self if they find it Summum Jus. 5. In this very point of Legitimation the High Court of Parliament ought to judge according to Truth and Equity though contrary to all Ecclesiastical Laws and contrary to all Episcopal Certificates as appears by Coke expresly Part 4. fol. 36. where he saith The Parliament may Bastard a Child that is by Law Legitimate viz. Begotten by an Adulterer the Husband being within the four Sees as Rot. Parl. 5. Et 6 E. 6. in the Marquess of Winchester's Case and may Legitimate one that is by Law Illegitimate and born before Marriage that is without the Ceremonies of Marriage And this may be done Absolutely or with Exception of which later way take one Example for many John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster had by Katharine Swinford who was not Married with the Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple four Children Slander'd in those Popish Times with the Name of Illegitimate viz. Henry John Thomas and Joan and because they were Born at Beaufort in France they were vulgarly called Henry de Beaufort c. After at a Parliament holden 20 R. 2. The King by Act of Parliament in the form of a Charter doth Legitimate these three Sons and Joan the Daughter with an Exception which is Excepta dignitate Regali which shews that the King and Parliament may when they please Legitimate according to the Moral Law of God and not only without but contrary to Ceremonies And though they shall not yet is the Legitimation by the Law of God above that of all Humane Laws And though a Right thereby Dormit aliquando yet Moritur nunquam as appears in Henry the Seventh who long after derived his Title from John de Beaufort Duke of Somerset the second Son of John of Gaunt by Katharine Swinford who was only Married according to the Moral Law of God and without the Ceremonies of a Priest and a Temple notwithstanding the Exception in the Act R. 2. Excepta dignitate Regali for what that Act denied him a later Act gave him and before he Married with the Lady Elizabeth the Daughter of Edward the Fourth and Heir of the House of York the Crown was by Act of Parliament intailed to Henry the Seventh and the Heirs of his Body and indeed all Settlements of the Crown by Act of Parliament both in the House of York and Lancaster are in themselves Legitimations without any naming the word where there hath been any Scruples concerning the same and though there have been none are the surest and most undisputable Titles of Successors and of the greatest Advantage to the Possessors which is visible in the Examples of the Kings of England and Scotland the greatest part of whom have made use of Acts of Parliament though their Titles have been unquestionable Upon the whole it seems not possible for any Title of Succession to be more clear both in Divinity Law and Equity than the present except by Act of Parliament wherein the Person is particularly named which is only wanting to make known to others what the same is already in it self And to declare by a particular Act what is already declared by this General Act of E. 3. And all other the General Laws of God and the Land before mention'd WILL. LAWRENCE THE CONTENTS OF The Third BOOK CAP. I. THe words of the Statute 25 E. 3. cap. 2. De Proditionibus as in the Original French Page 1. The Statute of Kenneth 3. and Malcolm Mackenneth 2. concerning the Succession to the Crown of Scotland as related by Buchanan Page 2. Objections against these Statutes made chiefly by Buchanan himself and the Policy of them in
doth he not then who compasseth his Death compass the Death of the King himself And doth not he who slanders him to be Illegitimate compass his Death 2. Because this exposeth Majesty and the eldest Son likewise to contempt by depriving both of the hopes of a Lincal Successor And this is complained of by no less a Prince than Alexander the Great who chargeth his Army as related in Curtius p. 6. Orbitas mea quod sine Liberis sum spernitur my being childless causeth your contempt of me which want of Children inheritable put him in the same condition of being despised as was he who said Isa 56.3 I am a dry Tree And the want of a Son capable to succeed him was the Ruine of so great a Monarch his Mother House and Empire his Enemies Poisoning him in the flower of his Age securely as knowing he could leave no Son of himself to revenge his Death 3. Because who affirms the eldest Son Illegitimate doth it to the intention to seize on his Inheritance and who intend to seize on his Inheritance will compass his Death as Matth. 21.38 They said amongst themselves This is the heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his Inheritance And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son Queen Elizabeth was not only declared and proclaimed Illegitimate by the Pope's Divinity but the Popish Party so far misinformed her own Father H. 8. in Matters of Law and over-wrought on the King as they compell'd him by weariness to rest on Implicit Faith in them and to declare his own Daughter Illegitimate an Error which not only he but many other Princes have been the more easily drawn into in regard by the Subtlety of Ecclesiastical and Temporal Lawyers the Laws of Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession and the Comments on them have been increased to so huge heaps and confused Volumes and so many Writers of contrary Religions and contrary Jurisdictions have had their Power and Profit concerned in them as is impossible for Princes who have so many Affairs of State to look after besides to Read them over as long as they live and such faithful Protestant Subjects as have indeavoured humbly to represent the truth as to the Law of God and of the Land have been by the same Popish Party not only intercepted and Prohibited to Write or Publish any thing against but so much as to dispute the Romish as well as Turkish Alcoran of their Laws One great Example of which appears in these two great Descendents of the Blood Royal the Famous and Pious Queen Elizabeth and the Valiant and Virtuous eldest Son of the King To go on therefore in their Comparison of Suffering wrongfully 1. It may be observed that Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant and so is the Kings eldest Son a Protestant 2. Her Prosecutors were Papists so are the Prosecutors of the King 's eldest Son Papists 3. Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison Queen Elizabeth so have Papists laid Plots to Assassinate and Poison the King 's eldest Son 4. The final Cause why Papists would have destroyed Queen Elizabeth was to seize on her Inheritance so the final Cause why Papists would destroy the King's eldest Son is to seize on his Inheritance 5. Queen Elizabeth was Innocent so is the King 's eldest Son Innocent 6. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death so is the King 's eldest Son deprived of the help of a Mother by her Death 7. Queen Elizabeth was deprived of the help of a Father by the unjust Prosecution of Papists as appears 28 H. 8. cap. 7. by which Act she is declared Illegitimate to all intents and purposes and utterly foreclosed excluded and barred to Claim Challenge or Demand any Inheritance as lawful Heir to the King her Father And it is further Enacted That it shall be High Treason so much as to call the said Lady Elizabeth Legitimate yea the Act of Parliament is so furious against the poor Innocent Lady as if they desired to Destroy and Damn the Conscience of all good Protestants at once with hers and her They Enact further That it shall be High Treason to believe Oh miserable Thought it self is made High Treason the Marriage of the Lady Ann with the King her Father to be good lawful or not void Let it be left to Supreme Authority to consider how far the Papists have endeavour'd to proceed in the same Nature against the King's eldest Son 8. Queen Elizabeth might say as David saith Psal 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up So may the King 's eldest Son say the same 9. Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all this was Legitimate and lawful Heir of Blood by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion and so is Recognized and acknowledged by Parliament 1 Eliz. cap. 3. and accordingly God gave her the happy Succession to the Kingdom So the King 's eldest Son by the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion is Legitimate and the next Lineal and Lawful Heres Sanguinis Heir of Blood for Jus Sanguinis is the Law of God and Nature and Jura Sanguinis as hath already been said Nullo Jure Civili divini possunt 10. It was the Interest of Queen Elizabeth when she obtained the Lawful Power to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion So will it be the Interest of the King 's eldest Son to use what lawful Power God gives him to Maintain and Defend the Moral Law of God and the Protestant Religion against Popish Ceremonial Laws and Superstitious Religions A Comparison of the Popish Slanders of Illegitimation against King Edward the Sixth Queen Elizabeth and the King 's eldest Son And the Sons and Daughters of the whole Protestant Clergy This Slander against the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy could not have been raised without another Slander first raised against the Marriages of the Mothers Both which are taken notice of by the Statute 5. 6. E. 6. cap. 12. which Statute making first a recital of the Stat. 2. 3. E. 6.21 of Repeal of all Laws of Man against the Marriage of the Clergy proceeds in these words viz. Yet since the making of the said Act divers evil-disposed Persons taking occasion of certain words and Sentences in the said Act comprized have and do untruly and very Slanderously report of Priests Matrimony saying That the same Statute is but a Permission of Priests Matrimony as Usury and other unlawful things be now permitted for the eschewing of greater inconvenience and Evils so that thereby the lawful Matrimony of Priests in the opinion of many and the Children Procreate and Born in such lawful Matrimony rather be of the greater number of the King's Subjects accounted as Bastards than Lawfully Born to the
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