3.]

ON the death of queen Elizabeth, without issue, the line of Henry VIII
became extinct. It therefore became necessary to recur to the other
issue of Henry VII, by Elizabeth of York his queen: whose eldest
daughter Margaret having married James IV king of Scotland, king James
the sixth of Scotland, and of England the first, was the lineal
descendant from that alliance. So that in his person, as clearly as in
Henry VIII, centered all the claims of different competitors from the
conquest downwards, he being indisputably the lineal heir of the
conqueror. And, what is still more remarkable, in his person also
centered the right of the Saxon monarchs, which had been suspended
from the conquest till his accession. For, as was formerly observed,
Margaret the sister of Edgar Atheling, the daughter of Edward the
outlaw, and granddaughter of king Edmund Ironside, was the person in
whom the hereditary right of the Saxon kings, supposing it not
abolished by the conquest, resided. She married Malcolm king of
Scotland; and Henry II, by a descent from Matilda their daughter, is
generally called the restorer of the Saxon line. But it must be
remembered, that Malcolm by his Saxon queen had sons as well as
daughters; and that the royal family of Scotland from that time
downwards were the offspring of Malcolm and Margaret. Of this royal
family king James the first was the direct lineal heir, and therefore
united in his person every possible claim by hereditary right to the
English, as well as Scottish throne, being the heir both of Egbert and
William the conqueror.

AND it is no wonder that a prince of more learning than wisdom, who
could deduce an hereditary title for more than eight hundred years,
should easily be taught by the flatterers of the times to believe
there was something divine in this right, and that the finger of
providence was visible in it's preservation. Whereas, though a wise
institution, it was clearly a human institution; and the right
inherent in him no natural, but a positive right. And in this and no
other light was it taken by the English parliament; who by statute 1
Jac. I. c. 1. did "recognize and acknowlege, that immediately upon the
dissolution and decease of Elizabeth late queen of England, the
imperial crown thereof did by inherent birthright, and lawful and
undoubted succession, descend and come to his most excellent majesty,
as being lineally, justly, and lawfully, next and sole heir of the
blood roy