Two great questions determined by the principles of reason & divinity I. whether the right to succession in hæreditary kingdoms, be eternal and unalterable? Neg. : II. whether some certain politick reasons may not be sufficient grounds of divorce? Affirm.

CHAP. II.

That a Disposition in a Prince, proceeding from Opinion or otherwise, to both the Spiritual and Temporal Dammage, and Destruction of a Nation, maketh a Forfeiture of Right to Succession.

HAving Discours'd of the Principle from whence all Humane Power is Derived, Namely God; and of the several wayes by which He Conveys this Authority to Men; that Right and Succession, depends either on the Prince's Will to bestow it on whomsoe∣ver He pleases, whether next of Kin or not; or, in case of Law. to tye it precisely to the next of Kin (which still

is the Princes Will, because his Law) it may depend on the nearness of Alliance, Or, on popular Election; the Question lies thus, whether a Prince having Right to Succession, by those Laws which tye it up precisely to the next in Blood or Kin, may not Lawfully and Rightfully, for some Reasons be Deprived of Succession without Injury done to Him, and both Forfeit and lose his Right to Suc∣cession? And this we shall be able more clearly to De∣cide, after having Considered what Qualifications are necessarily requisite in a Prince, and they are these;

• First, To intend and Design the utmost Good of His Peo∣ple both Spiritual and Temporal.
• Secondly, That Intending and Designing Well, He be not accidentally Disposed either by Opinion or otherwise to both the Spiritual and Temporal Destruction of His People, though contrary to His intent.

Now, I Assert, that either the want of the First of these, or addition of the last, is sufficient Reason and Ground to cut off, and alter Succession, and makes For∣feiture of Right to it, which may be taken without In∣jury or Wrong to the Person so Affected.

For the Proof of this position, I shall first shew, that Hereditary Right to Succession is not of it self in its own Nature Eternal or Unalterable; and Secondly, that the above mentioned Disposition in a Prince, makes a perfect for∣feiture of it.

'Tis used by some as an Argument, to prove that a Right to Succeed to the Soveraign and Monarchical Au∣thority in Hereditary Kingdoms is unalterable and Sacred, because Monarchy, say they, is of Divine Right, and the apparent Heir to it, having his Right from God, His Right is immoveable. I Answer, that I acknowledg not only Monarchy, but all other Forms of Government to be of Divine Right: because there is no Power but is or∣dained of God; (so the Sanhedrim or great Council a∣mong the Jewes being an Aristocracy was by God Constitu∣ted

to be, and continued for a long while the Soveraign Authority on Earth over them) But deny, that any person, who by Ordinary Course or Rule, has a Right to Succes∣sion, has it from God; for Succession is Determinable, ac∣cording to the Will of the Supreme Authority on Earth, and then, He who has Right to Succession, has it by Vertue of those Laws and Determinations of the Supreme Au∣thority which might otherwise have setled it; and not from God; who appointed not Him to Succeed, and there∣fore, gave Him no right to Succession, but he has it from the Supreme Authority on Earth; in which Au∣thority is comprehended a Power of appointing a Suc∣cessor, as I before shewed, that is, of giving the Right of Succession to some Person who can receive that Right from none but Him, and may be deprived of it by Him, because he gave it. But supposing (which I need not) that He has his right to Succession from God, I deny that he has therefore an unalterable Right, because He has his Right from whence He is to have his Power, from God; for neither Right nor any thing else is therefore unchangably appropriated to any Man, because God gave it; for what he gives us, He gives on certain Conditions, on the non-observance of which, the thing given may be impropriated and taken from us; so Life, which I think a Man may as properly call his own as any thing, is given on Condition of obeying God, else our life is Forfeited, and our right to it lost. So that right to Succession is not unalterable supposing it is Gods Gift; but contrariwise, is therefore alterable because it is Gods Gift, that is, bestowed and granted on certain Conditi∣ons to be performed, which not performed do Forfeit it: So that Secondly, the Heir to Succession having no other Reason for His Right to Succession in the Go∣vernment, than there is for Government in general, that is, the safety and welfare of Prince and People; if he be so Disposed as to destroy the Reason of Government, He likewise loses the Reason of Right to Succession in govern∣ment; because no one has right to succeed in Govern∣ment who destroys the very Reason of it, why there

should be any Government at all, even the safety of the People which was the Foundation and Reason of his Right; and he who hath no Reason for a Right hath no Right at all; and being yet a Subject, (for the very words, Heir, and having Right to Succeed, imply, that He is not in actual Possession of the Soveraignty, and therefore in subjection (for between them there is no Medium) He may incur the Forfeiture of every thing he has as a Subject, and so he has the Right of Succession; for, though the Heir to one Kingdom may be Sove∣raign in another, yet is a Subject in the Kingdom to which he is Heir, because he receives Right from ano∣ther; and such an one is less than Him who gives it, and therefore subject; and if he be a Subject, and byassed from the publick good, he is accountable, and may be Censured with Disinheritance. And this the Heir has no great reason to resent in such a Case; For if he be Conscientiously Disposed to both the Spiritual and Temporal Ruine of the Subjects, He then will exact O∣bedience to many things which they will in Consci∣ence know to be Sins, and therefore, be Obliged not to Obey; and so that Prince, had better never have Assumed the Regal Authority, than in his own Opi∣nion be slighted and disrespected, because Disobeyed in what He Commands (though really it be no Disres∣pect to be disobeyed in things not within his Command, but the dishonour lies in enjoyning them) and be forced to turn the Persecutor of his Subjects, to Vindicate the Honour of himself and Commands, and leave his Name to stink upon Earth.

But neither is the Person so Disinherited at all Injured; for, Injury implies Violence to Right, which I have prov'd he Forfeited, and therefore, That Proceeding just; the whole Argument I will thus sum up: He who is a Subject, (and so is every Heir to the Supreme Power as Heir, as I hinted before) is in a capacity of offending the Supreme Power, and then of being punished: He may offend against the present Soveraigns Authority and care of providing for the future welfare of his

people, by intending and purposing to do such things as would hereafter prove extreamly Damageable and Destructive to the Nation; and if He offend in this kind, a more proper Punishment cannot be applied to Him than such an one as will prevent those Mischiefs, the designing of which brings Him to punishment, and that is Disinheritance; for Civil Punishments ought not pro∣perly to be Vindicative, but remedies for preventing Mis∣chief: Or, if His Intentions and Designs are not evi∣dent by any Hint or Prospect He has given of them by Words or Actions, yet if his Prepossessions, which Himself owns, are such as Naturally and Necessarily tend and lead him to such Designs and Intentions, as being most near∣ly conjoyned with them, though outwardly He makes no Declaration of His intentions; He is, as far as Rea∣son can judg, most dangerously Affected, and unca∣pable to attain the end of Government, the general Welfare; Nay, will hereafter, as far as Men can see, do that, which will be Destructive to their Welfare, the end of Government, insomuch as it were the same thing if they had none: Now, He who destroys the end of Government, doth as ill as destroying Government it self, but since that ought to be Eternal, for the same Rea∣son it ever had a beginning, He Forfeits His Right to it, who is disposed to a Nations extreme Hazard or Destruction, to prevent all which is the only Reason he should Succeed in the Government, and that there should be any such thing at all; which if He will not only not prevent, but is the Person who brings it about, there is no Reason He should Succeed in the Government, he has made a Forfeiture of His Right.