The Freeholder Or Political Essays Author:Joseph Addison Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: dignation ; and gave fo great offence, that he was pub- lickly accufeJ, and brought upon his trial, as one who had fuggefted an evafion of what they thought the ... more »moft holy and indilToluble bond of human fociety. So jealous were thefe virtuous heathens of any the finalleft hint that might open a way to perjury. And here it highly imports us to confider, that we .do not only break our oath of allegiance by actual rebellion, but by all thofe other methods which have a natural and manifeft tendency to it. The guilt may ly upon a man, where the penalty cannot take hold of him. Thofe who fpeak irreverently of the perfon to whom they have fworn allegiance ; who endeavour to alienate from him the hearts of his fubjects ; or to in- Ipire the people with difaffection to his government, cannot be thought to be true to the oath they have taken. And as for thofe who by concerted falfehoods and defamations endeavour to blemifh his character, or weaken his authority, they incur the complicated guilt both of flander and perjury. The moral crime is compleated in fuch offenders, and there are only accidental cir- c:imflances wanting, to work it up for the cognizance of the law. Nor is it diffident for a man, who has given thefe fblemn aflfurances to his prince, to forbear the doing him any evil, unlefs at the fame time he do him all the jjood he can in his proper flatica of life. Loyalty is of an active nature, and ought to difco- Ter itfelf in all the inftances of zeal and afFecflion to our fovereign : and, if we carefully examine the duty of that allegiance which we pledge to his majefly, by the oaths that are tendred to us, we fhall find, that IVe di not only renounce, refiife, and abjure any allegiance or obedience to the Pretender, but fwear to defend king George to the utmoft of ourfo...« less