THE CASE OF SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND STATED, In a Letter to a Member of the honourable House of COMMONS.  
Being an Answer to that Pamphlet that pretends to prove the Parliament hath no Power to alter Succession.  
By W. G. Gent.  
Printed, 1679.   

The Case of Succession to the Crown of England Stated, in a Letter to a Member of the honourable House of Commons.  
SIR,  
I Hope that Impudent scurrilous Pamphlet, stuffed with Fallacious Arguments, will have no effect upon you, and the rest of our Noble Patriots, who so Religiously, and with a daring Integrity stands up for the Vindication of our Country, from Popery and Slavery. As for those that are, their Sense was always so, and would be glad of any colourable Pretext, to back their Damnable Opinions, and justify their introducing of absolute Tyranny, under the Title of Divine Right, which consists, neither with the Law of God, nor Nature, the Two Fundamental Points our Author goes on, so as to invallidate those, all he saith falls to the Ground, which I hope I shall make appear in the following Discourse. Our Cunning Sophister begins with the Parliaments Power about Succession, Grounded on the Thirteenth of Elizabeth, Chapter the First, and feign would enforce this Opinion, that it neither affencted him, as he Writ to, being a Member of Parliament, because he had an Interest in the Legislative Power, nor me, speaking of himself, because not Consulted with, and this he pretends to prove from Presidents, wherein the Country was Consulted before the passing of any Extraordinary Act, which would be an Argument, if he could really prove, that it is always absolutely necessary to Consult them, before the passing any important Bill, which he neither doth nor can, it being the constant practise to the Contrary, by reason all persons that are not in the Lords House, are in the House of Commons, partly coagmentive, and partly Representative, that is, in Person, or by Representation, Cookes Institutes 4to Fol. 2. and so need not be Consulted, as absolutely necessary to the passing of any Bill, so much to his first reason, as to his harangue of himself, I shall pass it over and come to those Maxims, which he saith are not to be denied, which in truth are not grantable to him in that sense he takes them.  
The first is, that God, Nature, and the immutable Customs of the Realm have placed things above the influence and coercion of the Power of the Three Estates, Kings, Lords, and Commons, which being meant of the Government is not to be granted for several reasons that ensue hereafter, and here he hath recourse to the Reverend Judges, as so many Delphian Oracles, or infallible expounders of the Statute Laws, which in cases doubtful, i'll admit, but not always their opinion for Law, knowing they always were, and will be influenced according to the times, but of Statutes, positive and plain, there needs no strained Exposition, as all are, that tend to this purpose.  
So that, our scribbling impostor disguising himself, under the pleasing Character of a true Zealot for his Country at this time, the most acceptablest if he can but make these Statutes, be thought intricate, and to contain matters of greater weight, then is obvious to any indifferent Capacity, then comes into play their Conscientious expositors the Judges, who, as he saith, have declared in all ages many Statutes voided, without wronging their Consciences and integrity, it may be so, and God forbid, but that some Judges should be honest in all Ages.  
But then on the other hand, their hath been many bad Judges as in the time of Henry the Second, several Judges Suffered for going contrary to Law; and the like in Richard the Seconds time, for the Expounding of the Statutes, contrary to Law, and yet such as these our Auhotr would have to be Presidents, if we would rely upon him, and not consider that the Law varies according to the times and circumstances.  
For all Laws took their Commencement, from the occasion of making those Laws, which varies almost every Kings Reign; so as to grant him his Opinion is to ensnare us, they presuming upon the Judges favour, let the worst happen( which is to have an Act past against the Duke) in having a favourable Construction upon the Statute, to their advantage, which may be very much feared, since the Chief of them is so ready, as with a daring Confidence to say, that the bringing in of Popery by Blood should not be impeeded by shedding of Innocent Blood. Let the Country say what they would, and so released the poison Doctor, whose Crimes were as fully proved, as any that dyed before upon the same account; Thus he thinks slily to Insinuate his Opinion under the pretence of both Law and Reason, which in itself rightly considered, carries neither. Therefore I hope our Noble Patriots are Wiser then to be gulled out of all they have, by such Fopperies.  
Next, I come to enter upon the Considerations, on which our Pamphletiers grounds the Parliaments disability, which are these, the laws of God and Nature, the Laws of England, Common and Statute, the Cannon and Civil Laws, History, ancient and Modern Records of Parliaments, and other Courts, to prove which he and his Tribe takes it pro Confesso, which none else doth, that the Crown is defendable by the Laws of God, Nature, and the Succession inseparably, and next to proxanimity of Blood, and so all Statute Laws are voided to the Contrary, which being denied and made to appear to the contrary, the Statute stands in force, to clear which, we must see the nature of Monarchy, and how it began.  
Men at the first, before they were associated in Societies had no particular Laws to be ruled by, but the Law of Nature or of Reason, which is all one which Lex Naturae, leaves all things Common which is Status belly, and gives a Man a right to what he can get, there being no public Laws to distinguish and defend properties, and leaving Man to Act as a Man, that is, according to his reason( to which end God gave it him) which is to Act that, which is good and best for himself, for reason is but a faculty to use every thing suitable to it's Nature, and to make it subservient, and profitable to him.  
So, that being a rational understanding Creature by Nature, whose Principal Inclination is to true Knowledge, on which both present and future happiness doth depend, his outward carriage is naturally proportionable to his inward parts, for whatsoever is to be done in a peculiar reference to any thing, is so to be done as shall be most necessary and profitable, for the obtaining of that thing, and Man considering how to make himself happy, and his Life comfortable, which is the effect of his Reason; and knowing he can never attain unto his desires, so long as Men lives without Laws, which should restrain the strongest from invading the weaker. Therefore they enter into a Confederate State of Society, being also induced to it upon several other Reasons, as  
First, for mutual Love and Society, and also God and Nature having so Ordered Man-kind, that no one hath all things sufficient of his own, for his Necessity, but wants the help of his neighbour, and so desireth Mutual Society, and also for Protection sake, both to his Person and good, from one more Powerful and able, who may assault his Person, and invade his Property.  
And, since it is evident, that men are desirous to live together, upon these Considerations, yet cannot they live together quietly upon the reasons aforesaid, unless by some agreement, they choose some wise Person to arbitrate all differences, that should arise. When passion stirreth up Contention, the stronger compelling the weaker to obedience, and thus you see the Nature of Civil Government appear, and the Laws of Man to be established, which is for the good of them for whom it is instituted, according to which, is that of Aquina's Lex Humana est orationis ordinati ad bonum Commune, ab eo qui curam Communitatis habet, praemulgata. As likewise, that of Horace, Sater, 3. Ipsa utilitas justi propè matter & aequi, which is that profit and Common good made Men live first together, both which appears by what hath been said; The People( defined by Cicero according as St. Austin relates, is caetus multitudinis hominum juris conscensu & utilitatis Communione associatus, is pertinent to our discourse) have not only a great interest in the making of Laws, without whom, none can be made according ro this of Demosthenes, who saith, the Law is the Common engagement of Society, that is, of a Society, or as Julian a great Lawyer in the Roman Emperors times, who saith, ipsae leges nullâ alia ex causâ nos tenant quam quod judicio populi receptae sunt.  
From this Discourse is to be gathered this Conclusion, that the end of Civil agreements, is the tranquillity and safety of human Society; and all Laws, that tend not to the public good, nor preserves that right due to the Commonality, are unjust and voided propter defectum justitiae legalis, which always does or ought to intend the public good.  
So that, here you see, that Monarchy is far from being de Jure Divino, or by the Law of Nature, but ariseth by consent; so that the succession is transferable, when the public safety requires it, and so all Statutes tending to that public safety are good, being grounded on the ultimate end of all Laws, and Civil Government, which is common safety: Yet if we had no Law for the Succession, as we have Laws, Aristotle saith, that Laws ought to be accommodated to the times and Customs, and if one change, the other to be changed with them, unless a greater damage come by the new then by the old.  
If Monarchy is by election and agreement, then it is neither de Jure Divino nor de Lege Naturali but it is by election and agreement, as hath been shewed; Ergo, the Conclusion is clear enough: And again, if the Law of Nature Commands Common safety, then it allows the means to attain to it, but it Commands Common safety, Ergo the means are allowed. And the means and way to preserve the Common good and safety is by Parliaments. So that you see by the Law of God and Nature, the Parliament may determine things in dangerous cases, against the power of which, that is, of Parliaments demanding or enacting that, which tends to the public safety; no Statute nor custom can prevail, but is voided and unjust, as being against the Law of Nature itself. Doct. & Student.  
In the next place, let us see, what inconvenience will happen according to his Doctrine. Our Magna Charta is of no force, and all the Laws are but as so many Rules amongst ourselves, but while the King pleases, it cannot be kept within any bounds, but throws off this well Constituted Government, and brings in absolute Tyranny, giving Power to invade any mans Life and property at pleasure, if this be agreeable to reason or to the end of Government, let all men Judge. But I hope the Experiment will never be tried here, whether it is or no; And further it is against the Law of Nature, that Succession is inseparably incident to the next of Blood; for if no safety can be expected from the Successor, as may oftentimes happen; as when the Person is incapable of Government, in either being a natural, that is not fit at all to Govern himself, cannot be thought fit to Rule the Common-wealth; or else one, who minds his own profit more than the publicks: For Civil Government was instituted, primarily, for the public good, which was the ends of its institution and but secondarily to the profit of him, to whom the care of administration was committed.  
And therefore when these two happen, they are wanting to themselves, if they do not seek there own good and safety; for what hath nature endowed us with reason, but to seek our own safety. Therefore, if we do not, it is the ready way to run into absolute ruin, and destruction, which both the Laws of God, Nature and Man commandeth to the contrary, which is evident by the more particular Laws, according to Times, Places, and Customs, drawn from the General Principles of the Law of God and Nature, only to point out a way of Happiness to Man, all which, would be alterable at the will of the Successor, according as he is good or bad, but these Commanding nothing, but what is morally good are unalterable, by all which it appears, the Imperial Crown is not de Jure Divino, nor, that it is unseparably incident to proximity; but is alterable when necessity requires. For no body will deny.  
But that it shall lineally descend, when the safety of the State enforceth not to the contrary. It much behoveth our Author to make good, what he saith to prove, that he from whom our present King claims, and is descended from, had it de Jure Divino, as for the Britains, who were the true Kings of this iceland, and by Caesar in his Commentaries thought to be Indig●nae except the Southpart, which might be peopled and take there manners and customs from the Gaules; what their Government was is not clearly made out, when Caesar came but after the Romans left this iceland, from Lucius being then King, at the Romans departure to the time of Cadwallador, who was the last of the british Blood, the Britains lost all by degrees to the Saexons, whom, I hope, none will conclude came in by Divine right. For then Conquest is by Divine right, and then I am sure a great many absurdities will follow.  
And the Saxons warred amongst one another, till Egbert the 18th King of the West-Saxons, got the whole Kingdom, and name it, England, whose descendants Married with no British Heirs, or that was likely to be Heirs; for Ethelbold, Ethelwolphs Son, took his Fathers Widow Judith to Wife, but had no Issue by her, and dyed; and she was afterwards Married to the Earl of Flanders, from whom after many descents, came maud Wife to William the Conqueror; from whom our Kings are descended.  
Next comes Ethelbert Ethelbolds Brother, and Reigned a while, and dyed without Issue; next to him succeeded his Brother Ethelred, who dyed also Issueless; to whom succeeded his Brother Alfred; to him succeeded his Son Edward Surnamed the Elder, who hath Three Wifes, by which he had Six Sons, whereof Three of them dyed, and the Eldest Son by Name Alhelston succeeded his Father, who dyed unmarried; to whom succeeded his Brother edmond, who dyed and left two Sons, edwin and Edgar; edwin succeeded and dyed without Issue, to him succeeded his Brother Edgar, who had a Bastard, name Edward, that succeeded him, who dyed without Issue; and another Son called Ethelred, who came to the Crown by the death of his Brother, Killed by his Mother Elfrida, he Married Two Wifes, by the first he had edmond, and by the second, who was Emma, Sister to the Duke of Normandy, he had Edward and Alfred, edmond succeeded his Father, and had two Sons Edward called the outlaw and another, this Son Edward Married the Emperor Henry the second Daughter, by whom he had Edgar Ethling the right Heir to the Crown, though he never had it, from whom our present King claims, and according to our Pamphleteer, joins the british, Saxons, Normands, and Scottish Blood.  
Which to the Three last doth fully appear, but to the first it is not clear, if at all, because the british Blood Royal ended in cadwalader, as History plainly shows, and it doth not appear that the Saxons Married with any of the Blood Royal, that could give them a title more powerful, then that of their Sword, so that the Saxons came in by Conquest, which is not de Jure Divino, and Edgar Ethlyn was a Saxon, from whom our King claims: And therefore claims by descent, according to the Constitution of our Government and no otherwise.  
In the next place it is evident by Scripture, that Proximity is not always inseparably incident to Succession; for Jacob past over Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, and placed the sceptre on Judah, and it was so far from displeasing of God, that to show it was not displeasing to him, he Confirmed it, Gen. 49.10. The sceptre shall not be taken from Juday, nor a Law giver from his Thigh, which is a prophesy of a future Royal dignity of that Tribe; where you may observe that priority and proximity was not Material, being not observed in laying a Foundation of a future Royal Government, and several other remarkable instances; as of David, Solomon, who came to the Crown by a promise made by David to Bathsheba, who was before his Concubine; and Jeroboam, and Jehu which our Pamphleteer would fain avoid, by saying, that the Law and not the Example is to be followed.  
Gods will is a Law to us, and therefore by following his Examples we obey his Laws, and therefore these being the Acts of his will, we ought to follow, as being grounded upon that, which is the Eternal Law, that is, Gods will. These Princes were not made Examples of, till many and great transgressions, neither doth this intend any other, then when serious and weighty Considerations debarrs the Succession, else not: And you may see it was too pinching for him, which made him pass it over so slightly, by endeavouring to salue it with such a reason, as makes the Examples the more Valuable upon this account, and renders them above Disputation. Those Authors he quotes, as St. Jerome and St. Chrysostom are only in the affirmative, that proximity and priority is preferable in common cases, which none will deny, but not negatively( which must prove what he intends) that when the safety of the Nation is in danger, that they are not waiveable, for that would be a slat contradiction of the Scripture, if that was their Opinion, as he cites them for. And then I may say whether it is better to believe God or Man; for the Example in the Scripture are to the contrary, and as for Bodine the French Lawyer, the practise of his own Country confutes his Opinion, by reason of the salic Law, which is a most unjust Law, as not agreeable to the Law of God, and but a pretence to justify the Title of an Usurper.  
And moreover, must these Men give Laws of Succession to Princes, when God himself never did, neither to his own People the Israelites, nor to the other Nations of the World, by all which it appears, that the Three Estates of the Kingdom, viz. King, Lords, and Commons, may dispose of the Succession, for the safety of the People, that being the end of Civil Government. And that the Imperial Crown of England, is due only to the present possessor, by descent and Birth-right Confirmed by several Acts of Parliament; and not by Divine right; an opinion exploded not only as false and dangerous, notwithstanding that Act of King James, which in its self cannot oblige against the Common safety, and obliges no further then agrees with public good and general safety, and not to be esteemed of by any, but those who are admirers of Slavery, and who, by my consent, were it not Communicable, should be the first now to feel its Effects.  
The next thing he goes upon, is the fidelity due to the Prince, which is adjudged by the Lord Chancellor, and the Judges in Calvins case, the 6th Jacob's, to be due by the immutable Law of Nature, with fidelity, according to the premised Original of Government, is due by nature to the Prince; so long, as he lives and intends the public good, but when he declines from that, query, for then I am bound patiently to let him Cut my Throat, if he will, which is repugnant to the Law of Nature, which Commands my preservation, which perhaps was the reason, why the Barons in King Johns time took up Arms for their liberties, but this point being a greater Noli me Tangere, Then the Succession de Jure Divino, which may make People loose in their Allegiance.  
I shall say no more of at this time, and as to the Statutes 24. Henry 6th. Chap. 12.34. Henry 8. Chap. 1.23 of Eliz. Chap. 1. which he would being to prove natural Obedience and Allegiance, is to be understood of those that are born in the Kingdom, and of the King in his Natural Capacity, and not politic; and in no other sense it is to be taken; for man by Nature could not have such a power, and exact such an Obedience from another, as is due from a Subject to his Prince. Therefore you see, what Artifices our Author uses to wrest the sense of things, otherwise then what they are, or can naturally bear, on purpose to entrap the Vulgar.  
All those Statutes and Cases, which are Cited to prove the King of England's Title to the Crown, to be by inherent Birth-right, and by descent and priority to take place might be spared; for none contradicts them, if no urgent necessity compels to the Contrary: As where the Fundamental Law of the Nation is broken, as when there can be no safety, but general Ruin and Destruction expected from the next Successor; therefore no Statute Law can oblige to the contrary, but leaves a power in the Parliament, to remedy it, and succession, so far as it goes along with the general safety, is a Fundamental Law and no otherwise.  
Next he comes to take notice of the mutual attainders between York and Lancaster, and that by gaining the Crown each ceaseth. To which I answer, if several descents both from the Saxons and Normans, for their Successions were often interrupted, as appears in History, gives a legal Title to those that claim along time after, which is the ground of our Kings Claim; why might not several descents Create a Title to them of the House of Lancaster; for their Title was as well grounded as the Saxons and Normans, and if their descent shall not Create a title to them, it could not to the Saxon and Normons; for Quod initio non valet id tractu temporis non convalescit, and here are several descents in both; but you may say there is more in one then in the other, but that availeth little, for what is not good at first cannot be good afterwards, unless by Authority of Parliament; which shows how necessary it is, for the King in Possession to be backed by the Parliament, and that it is the Power the King and Parliament hath, takes away the Attainder more then the force of the Law; because there is no Power to put it in Execution, and Execution is the life of the Law.  
The last thing he falls on, is the Statute of 13. Elizabeth, which was the strongest Argument he had to grapple with, as in truth appears by his so weakly arguing against it, and relates the affairs of those times, which were the occasion of that Statute; from whence he would fain urge that it was intended against Scotland only, which could not be, for she declared him Successor on her Death-bed, and if it had been intended in particular against King James, the Parliament would not so willingly have accepted him for their Prince, and that Statute stand still unrepealed; but it was in general, to reserve a Power in the Parliament, to settle the Succession for the greatest advantage of the Nation, when the necessity of it doth so require. Thus I hope I have given you satisfaction in this concern, and should be glad if you received the Contentment, as I wish you,  
Yours W. G.