Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A50336
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The lawfulness of taking the new oaths asserted
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Maurice, Henry, 1648-1691.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing M1364; ESTC R16133
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6,567
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16
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compliance which promotes them is the very crime they are affraid off And those sufferings which they seem to covet will be neither for their Honour nor the Churches benefit nor can they suffer in this Cause single but the poor Church will suffer not only with but perhaps for them to be an occasion of which woful consequence will scarce by Wise Men be accounted Meritorious To Conclude EIther Men do well to take this Oath or they did very ill who contributed so much toward the present Settlement these later Acts are done in defence of the former and if we had been more early scrupulous things had not gon thus far However if we think the present methods were either strictly lawful or absolutely necessary we may safely comply with them and though we do judge them not exactly regular yet we may rather wonder in so great and strange a Revolution and under so Dire a necessity of a speedy Settlement things are not more amiss than complain of some few deviations from ancient rules and usuages This juncture could not bear nice and accurate proceedings but if we all Unite a little time will bring all things into the former current Extraordinary Cases such as this was must have extraordinary Cures and that necessity which drives us a little out of the Road excuses us for so doing or however from any guilt by submitting to that which is done by others It was generally agreed in our publick Council that a Popish Successor would be dangerous and destructive to this Government and is not a Popish King so also And then is not paying allegiance to him the means to effect that destruction Can our Religion bind us to assist him whose main end was and will be to extirpate it Or can our Conscience oblige us to oppose him who comes to rescue and secure that which we believe in our very Consciences to be God's Holy Truth That small alteration in the Government is but meerly temporary but the consequences of not submitting to it will be as lasting as they are dismal We have brought all the Protestants of the Royal Family into extream danger and if we desert them now we give them and all our hopes under God together into the hands of such as will destroy them We pretend to fear Popery and Fanaticism yet some of us take the ready way to let in one or both of these upon us Nothing but our Union can prevent these mischiefs and nothing promotes both those Interests more effectually than our Divisions 'T is certain those who are of our Church have for the main the same principles and the same reason to desire its welfare yet very many of great Honour and Prudence and of Eminent Piety and Integrity do hold it lawful to take these Oaths And such as differ from this opinion cannot prove it unlawful therefore methinks a little humility might teach us to yield up a disputable point for the safety of our Religion and Country especially when the scandal of our differing is so notorious and the consequences of it so fatal to the whole Community We see the late King hath done more than the generality of Casuists think is necessary to a Forfeiture of his right to our Allegiance And we know he can never be actual King here but by an absolute Conquest which will be to our utter Ruin And do we dote upon that Allegiance to him which his own Acts have both freed us from and rendred as destructive as it is unpracticable Shall we in this Age expect a Miracle to preserve us from that misery from which God hath already once saved us when we wilfully run a second time into it Have we not now as Protestants generally believe the next in Succession on the Throne and by her consent a fit and able Person joyned in the Royal Dignity who aims at nothing more than the safety of Religion and the good of the whole Nation and shall we Ruin all his Glorious Designs by denying him that Allegiance which our Laws say is due to every King de Facto Can we desire the benefit of his Protection and the Priviledges of Subjects and not pay him that Duty and Service which his Dignity requires and his singular Merit deserves Let us but seriously resolve to lay aside all peevishness and pride and that esteem we are so apt to have for our own notions And then I doubt not but it will appear to be both our Duty and our Interest to take this Oath to be lawful reasonable and necessary as well to promise as to Pay our Allegiance to our present KING and QUEEN under whom if their Subjects do agree they cannot but enjoy all the Temporal Happiness they can expect or desire and may certainly escape all those dangers to which they were so lately exposed FINIS
offered the Administration of it to his Enemy without his Consent and against his Will They also obeyed the Prince's Orders and by his Summons came and sate in a Convention not Called by King James his Authority and all this while were well pleased yet these and many other Acts are directly contrary to that Oath so that we must either charitably hope they believed that Oath was not obligatory or suppose them wittingly guilty of such Perjury as their Integrity and Characters forbids us to suspect them for If these Scruples however had been moved soone they might have been serviceable to King James his Interest of which they seem now very tender but as they come too late to serve him so they can now be of no use but to hinder our Settlement and encrease our Divisions The publishing them now being as great disservice to this Government as the concealing them before was to that of the King withdrawn And since Conscience in Wise Men is alwayes Uniform this unseasonable Niceness is by their Adversaries thought to be the effect rather of Passion than tender Conscience But allowing that Censure to be unjust we will suppose their Oath obliged them to defend King James his Title and his Person while he was here which few then endeavoured to do yet it will not follow that therefore It obliges them now to stand by him when he hath deserted them when his Person is withdrawn his Power broken and his Government in Fact dissolv'd since a Souldier who hath sworn Allegiance to his own Prince when the Army is routed may take Quarter from his Enemy and bear Faith to him that preserves him without any breach of his former Oath And I cannot but wish these Gentlemen would be sparing however of urging the obligation of their Oath to King James because that makes it more necessary for the present Government to insist upon a new Security for their Allegiance lest upon any opportunity they should so far pursue their supposed Duty as to joyn with King James to the Ruine of this King. Thirdly They Affirm They will give all imaginable assurance to live Peaceably under the Government of the present KING and QUEEN and this they hope may be sufficient 'T is Replied Though it be not doubted but the best of these scrupulous persons would live peaceably yet if the example should spread it cannot be hoped that all who pretend the like scruple will imitate them in their submission and integrity and if the Government shall need a considerable actual assistance peaceable nutrality is not sufficient in such a case not to assist the Government is to subvert it But to look more narrowly into this offer of assurance to live peaceably it is not easy to apprehend how such as believe themselves to be still obliged by their Allegiance to King James can give security to live peaceably under this KING and QUEEN since they take themselves bound to assist King James and Defend his Title as soon as they have opportunity So that when the present Governors shall stand in most need of their help they must fail them yea and oppose them and therefore this is a promise which ere long they may believe themselves bound in Conscience to break and so it is no security to King William c. but a meer artifice to delude them a promise which may very shortly contradict their former Oath and therefore they cannot in Honour offer it nor the Government in Prudence accept it as a Security or Assurance And if they do intend to assist King James upon the first opportunity they ought not to make this promise if they do not then they actually pay Allegiance to the present King and therefore there is no reason why they may not swear they will bear Faith and true Allegiance who in a case of Danger resolve to keep that Oath And when we consider the brevity and modesty of this New Oath which determines not the New Kings Title to the Crown to be strictly Legal but only supposes him King de Facto and obliges Men to swear they will be in no Plots against him but obey him so far as by LAW they are bound We shall find very little just ground of refusing to take it to him who hath Delivered them and will Defend them for whatever we honestly intend to do we may swear when Authority requires it we will do that especially when the consequence and example of our refusal will create Faction at present and does tend to the Ruin of our Nation hereafter Finally they Alledge That some Men now at the Helm design to Alter the Established Government in Church and State to which they cannot Comply and will rather suffer for opposing such Attempts than sin by promoting them We Answer That if we grant there are some such in our publick Counsels their number is not able to ballance those of better Principles as many late experiments have declared However Nothing contributes more to the accomplishment of these evil Designs than for so many of our Principal Friends in both Houses who love the Monarchy and the Church to desert their Stations in so critical a juncture by this we lose their Advice and Votes in our publick Counsels and the adverse party gains both strength and advantage by their absence Nor will they omit to improve this occasion by representing them as dangerous and disaffected to the present Government which in its own Defence will think it necessary to encourage those who will more readily assist it which may be justly feared will end in giving a greater Liberty to those who dissent from us than is consistent with our safety Wherefore instead of complaining at the growing Interest of others and our own seeming to decline we should consider whether this be not necessity rather than choice in our Governors and if our Stifness and Non-compliance drive them upon that necessity we must not accuse others for the natural and necessary consequences of our own actions 'T is evident the Principles of the Church of England though never so moderatly Stated are more suitable to the Interest of this Monarchy than those of any other Party so that if the Members of this Church would unanimously comply with the present Settlement none would have so great Favour as these Others have been promised Ease and Liberty and on the account of the common Protestant Interest they may justly expect it but if our dissatisfactions hinder not the Church may still flourish and the Monarchy be safe which cannot be supposed to slight its best Friends or seek its own Destruction so that our compliance will not only secure us against the Fears of any dangerous Alterations but keep those who wish us well in such posts that they may have the conduct of such condescentions as ought to be granted in this juncture In a Word if it be in these Mens opinion a Sin to promote the Designs of evil principl'd Men that non