ADVICE TO THE Tories,
&c.
Price Three Pence.
ADVICE TO THE TORIES Who have Taken the OATHS.
En Dextra, Fidesque!
Virg.
LONDON: Printed by
R. Baldwin
; and sold by
R. Burleigh
in
Amen-Corner.
1715.
ADVICE TO THE Tories,
&c.
T HE Wickedness of the Times hath been a just Complaint in all Ages, Passion having been ever powerful and on the side of Vice, which is the greatest Enemy to Religion. But in the present Age, Vice and Scepticism join their Forces to destroy Christianity. If Men were wicked in former Times, their Wickedness was attended with Remorse and Shame. But now they are openly and couragiously wicked, being so upon Principle, and endeavouring to support themselves by Argument, and by the general Example of the Age. Whatever may occasion this Growth of Impiety, the Zeal you at all Times express for the Church, encourages me to think your Endeavours will not be wanting to put a Stop to it: At least, it is to be hoped, that you will avoid being your selves instrumental to the propagating so great an Evil.
Two Things there are which influence Men with a Regard for Religion; a Sense of its
Truth,
and a Sense of its
Usefulness.
The first of these can affect those alone who are really Christians: The latter may have a more extensive Influence, and cause even Infidels to pay an outward Respect to that whereon they apprehend the common Welfare to depend. In proportion as you lessen either of these Motives, you do a manifest Disservice to Religion. But your being at any Time guilty of Sedition or Rebellion against that Sovereign to whom you have sworn Allegiance, will very much contribute to make both lose their Force upon the Minds of Men. For, If the Christian Religion doth not restrain Men from wicked Actions, such as Fraud, Violence, Perjury, and the like, how is it useful to Mankind? Or if it doth, how can you pretend to believe it, and at the same Time act in direct Opposition to its Precepts? And what Thoughts will other Men be tempted to have of Religion, when its great Assertors shall shew themselves to believe nothing of what they assert?
I have neither so ill an Opinion of you, nor so good a one of your Adversaries, as to believe every Thing which they report to your Disadvantage. But as it is now the general Discourse and Suspicion, that many of you, who are bound by the most solemn Oaths to be true and faithful Subjects to King
George,
do nevertheless, contrary to those Oaths, endeavour to undermine his Government, and introduce that of the Person whom you have abjured; I thought it my Duty to dissuade you from so infamous a Practice, not with any Intention to fix the Scandal, but to remove the Cause of it, if there be any on your Side; or, if there be not, to prevent your being provoked to deserve it by the unmerited Censures and Reproaches of your Enemies.
Those among you, who remain firm to the Allegiance you have sworn, cannot be displeased that I endeavour to make others like your selves: And if this Paper fall into the Hands of any who have betrayed Faith, Honour and Religion, their own Conscience will be the best Justification for the making it Publick; I shall, therefore, not as a Politician, who is carrying on a private Scheme for the Interest of any Prince or Ministry, but as a Christian, who intends the Advancement and Honour of Religion, proceed to lay before you the ill Consequences, which the Violation of your Oaths is like to have upon that Church for whose Interest you profess so great Concern.
It is plain then, that the publick and avowed Breach of your Oaths would prove the greatest Injury to the Church, inasmuch as it would be destructive of all Religion. If Oaths are no longer to be esteemed sacred, what sufficient Restraint can be found for the irregular Inclinations of Men? Common mutual Faith is the great Support of Society; and an Oath, as it is the highest Obligation to keep our Faith inviolate, becomes the great Instrument of Justice and Intercourse between Men. Whatever, therefore, lessens the Sacredness or Authority of an Oath must be acknowledged at the same time to be highly detrimental both to the Church and the Commonwealth.
Men, by concealing other Crimes, may prevent the Scandal of them; but the Perjury of those who should attempt to subvert the Government is an avowed and open Crime. Other Crimes may admit of some Diminution, either on Account of the Inconsiderableness of their Object, or the Infirmity which attends the Commission of them: But this is a Crime of the highest Nature, not only as it affects the Person of the Prince under whose Protection we live, but as it is in a peculiar Manner, above other Crimes, an Insult on the Deity it self. State-Perjury doth not spring from a sudden Gust of Passion; it is no sensual Vice to which you are stimulated by the Frailty of the Flesh. It is a cool, deliberate Crime, and sheweth a stedfast Resolution to do Evil without Regard either to God or Man.
It may, indeed, seem needless to use any more Arguments in order to convince you, either that the Cause of Virtue and Religion is likely to suffer by the common Practice of Perjury and Breach of Faith, or that the Interest of the Church is inseparable from the Interest of Religion. But I shall insist further on a Point which, how clear soever, is not much attended to. It cannot be denied, that the visible Interest of the Church depends upon her Credit and Reputation; which Men will be apt to measure by the Reputation of those who stand up most zealously in her Defence. If therefore you, who would be thought true Sons of the Church, and warm Assertors of her Priviledges, should lose your own Credit by Perfidiousness and Perjury, how great a Blemish will you throw upon her? How must the Honour of the Church of
England
sink in the Opinion of those among us, who are already
hardly Christians,
when they see the basest Immoralities practised to promote her Interest? There are too many who cannot or will not be at the Pains to inquire into the Merits of the Cause; but, judging only by Appearances, will, from the Lives of Churchmen, form their Idea of the Church it self. Consider therefore what Scandal you give, and how far you participate the Guilt of these Men, whom you encourage and harden in their Contempt of the Church, by making her a Pretext for Hypocrisy and Prevarication.
Besides, you are to reflect that the Ills of Rebellion are certain, but the Event doubtful: And considering the Disadvantages the Rebels must lie under, you ought in Reason to apprehend the worst. In case therefore of a Defeat, what Quarter are you to expect, I will not say for your selves, but for that Church whose Interest you pretend to interweave with your own? One Thing is evident, that if the Rulers among the Whigs are, what by many of you they are represented to be, disaffected to the Church of
England,
they will then have the fairest Pretext, as well as Opportunity, to destroy her. It may be thought necessary to bind those who call themselves the
Church-Party
with something stronger than Oaths.
Dicta nihil metuere nihil perjuria curant.
And with the same Iniquity that her Name was used to sanctify the wicked Actions of her Children, may their Wickedness be then made use of in order to throw an
Odium
upon her. This is
Argumentum ad Hominem,
and should influence those among you who are forward to think the worst of your Adversaries. What Thoughts or Resolutions the Whigs may have with regard to the Church, I know not: But I am sure they give her the deepest Wounds who dishonour her by their. Friendship; who would be thought zealous to promote her Interest, at the same Time that they deny her Power in their Lives and Practices.
That which, in the Eye of Reason, gives any Church or Religion the Advantage above others, is the Influence it hath upon the Lives of its Professors. It is upon this foot that the Church of
England,
ever espousing the Cause of Virtue, Loyalty, and all Things laudable, in opposition to Libertines, Rebels, and Fanaticks, hath maintain'd her Credit and Esteem with wise Men. And if we are really concern'd to support her Honour, the right Way is to put her Principles in practice, to be true to our Oaths and Engagements, and live in every respect as becometh peaceable and loyal Subjects. The Diffenters have been a long time stigmatiz'd for Men of no Loyalty, not acting upon Principle, but govern'd by the narrow unsteady Views of Passion and Interest. But will not the Satyr be doubly keen upon our selves, if ever we are found guilty of those very Things that we so heartily condemn in others?
It is no easy matter to find out Evasions in so plain a Case; and yet it can hardly be suppos'd that a Man, who has any Sense of Religion, should commit Perjury without some Salvo to his Conscience. Perhaps you will say, that if it be never lawful for a Subject to break his Oath of Allegiance to his King, then the Revolution cannot be justified: Or, if it may sometimes be allow'd, why not now as well as then? I answer, when any Person, by Forfeiture or Abdication, loseth Dominion, He is no longer Sovereign: Now the Subject swore Allegiance to the Sovereign, and not to the Person: When therefore the Person ceaseth to be Sovereign, the Allegiance ceaseth to be due to him, and the Oath of course to bind. In the Judgment of most Men this was the Case at the Revolution. But nothing like this can be pretended now. King
George
legally administers that Government to which he came with the joint Consent and Acclamations of his People; there being nothing done by which he is less
King
now than he was at the time you swore to him: And consequently there can be no Parallel between the Revolution and the present Case. I will not undertake to justifie every thing that is now done in point of Policy; but neither will impolitick Measures justify Subjects in taking the same Steps they formerly did on the score of illegal Measures. It is one thing to subvert a State, and another to turn out a Ministry.
If you should have the Hardiness to object, that King
George
is in truth no rightful King; and that therefore you are not obliged to pay Obedience to him: I ask, how you came then to acknowledge him and swear to him as rightful
King
? You will surely be ashamed to own, that in so doing you acted against your Opinion; or that since that time your Eyes have been open'd, by the Disgrace of Friends, or the Loss of an Employment. But though we should grant that he had originally no Right to the Crown, yet when a Prince is once in Possession of it, and you have sworn Allegiance to him, you are no longer at liberty to enquire by what unrighteous steps he might have obtain'd it. But there is nothing of that so much as suspected in the present Case; it being known to every body that
King George
came to the Crown without Force or Artifice, meerly in Compliance with the Laws of the Land, and the unanimous Request of his People.
To determine the Rights of Princes is a difficult Point, as requiring more Skill in the Laws, more Knowledge of particular Facts, more Leisure, and more Understanding than most Men are Masters of. But it is an easy matter to know the Obligation and plain Sense of an Oath. You know evidently that you have sworn to King
George,
and abjured the
Pretender,
and that you ought not to forswear your self. But, Do you as evidently know that Hereditary is preferable to Parliamentary Right, and that the Hereditary Right belongs to the
Pretender
? If you do not, as I am sure you cannot, why will you violate the plain manifest Duties of Religion, under pretence of observing what is at best but obscure and dubious? But though the
Pretender
's Right to the Crown were never so clear, it would not therefore be a clear Point that you ought to be assisting to him. On the contrary, it would be clear that you
ought
not, since you have sworn that you
would
not.
I must repeat to you, that what hath been said was not done with a Design to spread or confirm the Reports of your Adversaries; but only to contribute, so far as in me lay, to remove or prevent any just Occasion of them. Least of all was it my Intention to insinuate any thing dishonourable of the Clergy, for whose Character I have a high Respect, and whom I verily take to have been injured by the Reports of warm Men. I shall say no more, but leave you to consider the Oaths which you have taken.
THE OATH OF Allegiance.
I
A. B.
do swear, That I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty King
George.
So help me GOD.
THE OATH OF Abjuration.
I
A. B.
do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testifie and declare, in my Conscience before GOD and the World, That Our Sovereign Lord King
GEORGE
is Lawful and Rightful King of this REALM, and of all other His Majesty's Dominions and Countries thereunto belonging; and I do solemnly and sincerely declare, That I do believe in my Conscience, that the Person pretended to be Prince of WALES during the Life of the late King
James,
and since his Decease pretending to be, and taking upon himself the Stile and Title of King of
England,
by the Name of
James the Third,
hath not any Right or Title to the Crown of this Realm, or any other the Dominions thereunto belonging. And I do renounce, refuse and abjure any Allegiance or Obedience to him. And I do swear, That I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty King GEORGE, and Him will defend to the utmost of my Power, against all Traiterous Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever, which shall be made against His Person, Crown or Dignity; And I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to His Majesty, and Successors, all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know to be against Him, or any of them. And I do faithfully promise, to the utmost of my Power, to support, maintain and defend, the Limitation and Succession of the Crown against him the said
James,
and all other Persons whatsoever, as the same by an Act, Intituled,
An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject,
is, and stands
ited to the Princess SOPHIA, Electress and Dutchess Dowager of HANOVER, and the Heirs of Her Body, being PROTESTANTS. And all these Things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to these express Words by me spoken, and according to the plain and common Sense and Understanding of the same Words, without any Equivocation, mental Evasion, or secret Reservation whatsoever. And I do make this Recognition, Acknowledgment, Abjuration, Renunciation, and Promise, heartily, willingly and truly, upon the true Faith of a Christian.
So help me GOD.
FINIS.