The right of primogeniture, in succession to the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland as declared by the statutes of 24 E.3 cap 2. De Proditionibus, King of England, and of Kenneth the third, and Malcolm Mackenneth the second, Kings of Scotland : as likewise of 10 H.7 made by a Parliament of Ireland : with all objections answered, and clear probation made : that to compass or imagine the death, exile, or disinheriting of the King's eldest son, is high treason : to which is added, an answer to all objections against declaring him a Protestant successor, with reasons shewing the fatal dangers of neglecting the same.

[Object. 5] * 1.1Obj. 5. The fifth Objection is, That the Lady Mother was no Wife according to the Law of God in Scripture.

The Reasons of this Objection are,

• (1) Because the Scripture calls a Woman taken without Ceremonies, only a Concubine, or half-Wife.
• (2) Because,* 1.2 The word Uxor, signifies only a Woman made a Wife by the Ceremony of Ʋnction of the Husbands Door-Posts, or some other Ceremony.

Ans. 1. Though it were sufficient to shew that there's no such word as Wife, Concubine or half-wife in the Statute; and what is not in the Letter of a Penal Law, cannot be supplied in the Intention, nor extended by Equity; and though it were sufficient to deny the Sequel, yet to display the more the falsity of the Allegations, I shall shew there are no such words in Scripture as alleadged. For the Scripture is falsely Translated by the Bishops, and there's no such word as Concubine different in Signification from a Wife in the whole Originals of the Old Testament or New. Neither is there any middle word between a Wife and a Whore; Neither is there any half-Wife, be∣tween a whole one, or None at all; Neither is there any indif∣ferent Wife, between a Lawful or Unlawful, though there may be between a good and a bad. Lastly, Neither is there any such Wife which can be Translated into the Latine word Ʋxor, so called quasi Ʋnctor, from the Pagan Ceremony of Unction of her Husbands Door Posts; or so called from any Episcopal Ceremony of a Priest and Temple.

* 1.3The word of the Hebrew Text which they have falsly Tran∣slated Concubine, is Pilegesh; which is derived from Palag Di∣visit, and Isha Foemina, and signifies no more than a Divided several, or in plainer English, Another Woman or Wife

added to one or more, which the Husband had before.

The Greek word in the Septuagint which they have Transla∣ted Concubine, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which hath a very innocent Significa∣tion, and signifies no more than Juvencula, a young Woman, or a young Wife, 1 Chro. 1.32. Keturah, is by the Septuagint rendered 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which they have Translated Abra∣ham's Concubine; for which Reflection on Kiturah, they have no pretence or colour; for Abraham Married her not till Sarah was dead; the Marriage of Keturah therefore being Lawful and unblameable, she ought to have been Translated Abraham's young Wife, and not have been toucht with the ignominious and fictitious Name of Concubine. So ought they to have Tran∣slated the Levites Woman, Judges 19.1. Wife, and not Concu∣bine, or half-Wife; for ver. 3. they have Translated the Levite himself by the name of her Husband, and not her half-Husband; and ver. 9. They have Translated the Damosels Father to be his Father-in-Law, and not his half Father-in-Law. And by the same Reason they ought to have Translated her to be his Wife, and not what they would have to be, but his half-Wife; and ver. 2. They have Translated her to play the Whore, and and not half the Whore; and to run away,* 1.4 and not half run away; and though there was in Scripture Pilegesh foemina, or Ʋxor Divisa by a new Marriage; yet there never was any Ʋxor dimidiata or half-wife we hear of therein; until this Levite, cap. 19.29. took a Knife and cut his whole Wife into Twelve peices, and by all probability into two halves first, to make her run away from him after she was dead, further than ever she did while alive.

(2.) There's no middle word between a Wife, and Whore; for if a Woman is taken for life, she is a Wife; if only pro hâc vice; or for a lesser Term than life, she is a Whore; and there's no middle Station for the limits of a Wife between the first time of Marriage, and the end of Life.

(3.) It being shewn before, that Pilegesh signifies only ano∣ther Woman or Wife taken after the first, which they have false Translated Concubine; if therefore a second Woman or Wife is no Concubine, à fortiore the first can be none; and therefore Keturah is false Translated Concubine, who was a

third Wife; yet durst not the Pope and Bishops themselves Translate Sarah, who was Abraham's first Woman, Concubine, though she was according to Moses Law Incestuous, being Abra∣ham's Sister by the Father, (which Keturah was not) and though it be said, Deut. 27.22. Cursed be he that lyeth with his Sister the daughter of his Father; because if they had false Translated the first Woman Concubine, so gross a Repugnancy would have been laught at, and there would have been no foundation whereon to have forged their word Concubine, or Designation or mark, to difference it from such words as they must of force translate Wife.

(4.) There's no indifferent Wife between a Lawful and un∣lawful; for though a Lawful Wife is called a Wife, yet is not therefore an unlawful Wife call'd a Concubine, either in Scrip∣ture or our own Laws, as appears 1 Jac. cap. 11. The title of which Act is, That it shall be Felony to Marry a second Husband or Wife, the former being Living; which Act calls this highest sort of unlawful Wife, a Wife, though she be a Whore, and an A∣dulteress; and as there is no such word as Concubine in Scrip∣ture, so there's no such word in the Law of the Land. The Objection therefore is a Chimaera of a word and thing not truly in Rerum naturâ, much less in Scripture, but false Coined and false Translated.

(5.) There's no word in the Scripture which can be Transla∣ted as the Papal Translation is into the Latine word Ʋxor, so called quasi Ʋctor from the Pagan Ceremony of Unction of the Husbands Door-Post;* 1.5 nor can the same be Translated from the Papal Latine word Ʋxor, by the Bishops, into the English word Wife; nor any Woman be so called from Episcopal Ce∣remonies of a Priest in a Temple. It is to be here noted, That this Ceremony of Unction of the Door-Posts which was to be with Wolfs grease, and the Ceremonies of untying the Wo∣man's Girdle, and of stoutly eating and drinking by the Man, which the Priest persuaded the People to be so necessary to Marriage, and to the naming the Parties Man and Wife, (as the Bishops do now, the Priest and Temple and other Ceremo∣nies) That they worshipped four Goddesses or Daemonesses of purpose to praeside and give their Benediction to these Cere∣monies;

and no doubt they got Fees or Offerings for them all. The Goddesses names were Ʋnxia, Cinxia, Victua and Potua, as saith Arnobius, Contra Gent. Lib. 3. O l Egregia Numinum & singularis Interpretatio potestatum, nisi postes virorum adipali unguine oblinerentur à Sponsis, nisi Virginalia vincula jam ferventes Dissolverent at{que} imminentes Mariti, nisi potarent & manderent homines, Dij nomina non haberent. Oh excellent and singular in∣terpretation of the Gods and Powers above, unless the Door-Posts of the Men were well greased by the Woman; unless the hot and eager Husband tore off Mrs. Brides girdle; and eat and drank lustily, the Gods would have no Names, nor could the Wife get the name of a Wife. These are the Ceremonies of Rome Pagan, without which the Woman could not be called Ʋxor a Wife, and the same is done for no other end than filthy Lucre. Yet whom God hath joyned by his immutable Moral Law with a Husband, and hath given them Children, who are the Gift of God, and they have been both all their dayes like John and Elizabeth, Luk. 1.6. walking in all the Command∣ments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless, without the Epis∣copal Ordinances and Ceremonies of a Priest in a Temple, this Wife of God's making shall by him be call'd (though he false Translate Scripture for it) Concubine and Whore. And a Whore and Adulteress of the Bishops making, shall be call'd a Wife of God's making; of which Episcopal Abuses to get Mo∣ney, I shall only cite one Practique in Scotland, and after some others in England, Craig. Feudorum Fo. 230. saith, Memini Robertum Magistrum de Semphil, Patrem Roberti nunc Principem illius familiae, cùm ex concubinatu Joannae Hamiltoniae hunc ipsum filium suscepisset, & ei impensè faveret, in Articulo Mortis cù sibi decedendum videret, ad Aedem sacram se in Lecticâ deferri cura∣ret, ibi{que} nuptiis solemniter peractis cùm domum rediisset Octavo pòst die fatis concessisse. Ex quo subsequente Matrimonio licet in Lecto agritudinis in quo Decessit solemniter peracto, filius antea susceptus non minùs in Haereditate successit quàm si ex legitimo Matrimonio natus fuisset. I remember, that Robert the Master of Semphil, Father of Robert, now chief of that Family, when he had begot∣ten him by his Concubine Madam Joane Hamilton, and intirely loved him, He being at point of Death, when he saw himself past hopes, caused himself to be carried to the Holy Church in a Litter, and there the Ceremonies of Marriage being solemn∣ly

perform'd; when he was brought back again to his House, he died eight dayes after; from which subsequent Marriage al∣though in the bed of Sickness wherein he deceased, the Son begot before did as Lawfully succeed to the Inheritance, as if he had been begot in Lawful Matrimony. And why should not the Lady have been call'd Wife, but Concubine, and the Son have succeeded without so barbarous a Ceremony, as hurrying a Dying Man to a Priest and a Temple, when he was gasping for another world, to get a Wife in this; an Act more proper to hasten his Death and Burial, than Marriage, and to have been abhorred by all Dutiful Children, had they not been compell'd by the Tyranny of such Popish Ecclesiastical Laws, as to the Dishonour of the two so Renown'd Protestant Kingdoms in Great Britain are Tolerated to prey worse than Death on them and their Posterity.

But of the false Translations of Scripture by Bishops, in all other words related to Marriage, see more at large, Lib. 2. cap. 1. 142 ad 162.

Of certain differences between a Wife of the Bishop's making, and Wife of God's making; which make the first neither within the Law of God, nor the Statute.

There's no Protestant Nation in Christendom wherein the Jurisdiction usurped by Bishops, is so high and Extravagant in making other Mens Wives and Children for them, as in England.

(1.) The first difference between a Wife of the Bishop's ma∣king, and of God's making, is, The former lets herself to Hire to him who will give most Jointure, Dower or Thirds for her; but the latter doth neither buy nor sell her Husband, but he keeps his own, and she hers, both Money, Goods, and Lands. Concerning mercenary Marriages, Vid. Lib. 1. cap. 6.113. Ʋs{que} ad 118.

(2.) A Wife of the Bishops making, hath Power to Steal and Esloigne all her Husband's Substance, and to put it into the hands of his Enemies for her own use; and he can have no account against her, because, as is already shewn, Lib. 1. p. 70. The Bishop by his Sacrament of Marriage hath Transubstan∣tiated

two persons into one person: but the Wife of Gods making is under account; and nothing keeps a Steward Faith∣ful, but Account.

(3.) The Wife of the Bishops making, hath Power given her by the Benediction of a Priest in a Temple, if she is not able her self, to hire unknown persons with her Husbands Goods to Rob, Beat and Disseise her Husband, and Esloigne his Goods, and no remedy against her: But a Wife of Gods making, though she hath Gods Benediction, which is above the Priests, hath no such power, but there's remedy against her.

(4.) The Wife of the Bishops making, hath Power to lay all her secret and unknown debts, true and feigned, by her Confe∣derates, and as many as she will, on her husband, and to undo him, and no remedy against her.

(5.) The Wife of the Bishops making, hath Power by the Benediction of a Priest in a Temple, to commit as many Tres∣passes either with Tongue or hand, truly or by Confederacy with complices as often as she pleases, making her husband pay Damages till undone, and he hath no remedy.

(6.) A Wife of the Bishops making, hath full Power, by vir∣tue of the said Benediction, to hire Adulterers with her Hus∣bands Goods and Money to get Children to succeed to them, and he has no remedy.

* 1.6(7.) A Wife of the Bishops making, if she hath a Daughter by her Husband, and Elope and run away from him with ano∣ther man, and hath Issue by her New Companion the Adulte∣rer: her Eldest Son, this Son of the Adulterer, shall be Heir to the Husbands Inheritance, though he were the greatest Peer in the Land: Yea, though he had an Elder Daughter before of his own begetting by her; As appears 7 H. 4. fo. 9. Where the Case was, That Julian took to Husband John de C. in the County of York, and was Married at Fleetsham, and the said John had Issue by her W: After the said Julian Eloped and went into the County of N. and, it being not Felony in those daies, took to Husband W. B. and he had Issue by her W. her Eldest Son, who after sued to be Heir to John; and the true Heir of John objected against him the Elopement of his Mother ••••dian, and his being begotten by the Adulterer, and not by John.

On which Justice Rikhill gives Judgment, That if John were within the Four Seas at the time of the begetting of W. then W. was the Son and right Heir-Male of John.

* 1.7And of this he giveth a good Lusty Reason. For, saith he, who that Bulleth my Cow, the Calf is mine. And my Lord Coke, Com. 244, doth on the Margin refer to this Authority of Justice Rikhill, and agrees with him as right as a Gun; and adds over, That no Proof ought to be admitted to the contrary; and therein I think none will Envy Justice Rikhill or my Lord Coke, (who I think were within the Four Seas, and never out) to enjoy the Liberty of Conscience in disposing their own Goods how they please. But there appears no Reason why they should deny the same Liberty of Conscience to all the rest of their fellow Subjects who live within the same Four Seas, to dispose of their own Goods as they think Just; neither ought they by so un∣equal a Sentence to have given away the Successions of True and Lawful Heirs, without allowing them hearing or witnesses, to those who are false and adulterous. And therefore from such Wives of the Bishops making,* 1.8 and such Judges of Marriage, Filiation and Succession, of the same making, Libera nos Domine. Iniquum est aliquem haeredem invito à Principe dari. Craig. Fe••d. 267. much more must it be for a Judge or Bishop.

Notes

• * 1.1

  No Wife, no uxor.
• * 1.2

  No Concubine or half-Wife, or uxor in Scripture.
• * 1.3

  Scripture fals∣ly Translated by Bishops in the word Con∣cubine.
• * 1.4

  No half-Wife in Scripture.
• * 1.5

  The Scripture Wife false Translated in∣to the Latine word uxor.
• * 1.6

  Adulteresses protected, and the Son of an Adulterer made Heir be∣fore the Law∣ful Child of the Husband by Episcopal Certificat.
• * 1.7

  The Calf his whose Cow is Bull'd by ano∣thers Bull.
• * 1.8

  Injust for a Prince, much more for a Judge or Bi∣shop to force an Heir on another.