When those of every name can meet, "Let party names no more But all with kindred feelings join'd, "Let ardent faith revive "Thus while we march along CHAPTER XXII. In the morning Thoughtful and Ardent went on their way, leaving the rest of their company to stay longer at the house of Mr. Liberal. Then said Thoughtful: I seldom have any dreams which I think worth mentioning again; but one I had last night is of so singular a character, that I am disposed to relate it. Ard. Pray, tell it. For, though I do not think any confidence is to be placed in mere dreams, I am disposed to think they are sometimes intended to prepare our minds for better meeting the events which are before us. Th. I dreamed that we had already arrived at the town of Vanity, which you know we are to pass through, and which is but a day's journey before us. I thought that Beelzebub, the lord of the place, had just summoned a grand council of all his chief officers, to deliberate upon the state of their affairs, and consult what was to be done to perpetuate their power and influence, and oppose the cause of the Prince Immanuel. I thought I entered with them, unobserved, to the grand court of Pandemonium, and sat down where I could see and hear all that passed. When the doors were shut, and the Prince Beelzebub himself had taken the chair, he began as follows: Beelzebub. I have called you together to avail myself of your united wisdom, in a most important crisis of our affairs. You know that, for more than eighteen hundred years, we have carried on, with various success, the contest in which we are engaged with the Prince Immanuel and his followers. Pre vious to that time, the world was all our own, except a single race in one small territory; and even among them we had far more subjects than he. But when we accomplished his death, in the vain expectation of thereby striking a blow which should be fatal to his interest in the world, we laid the foundation for a series of disasters which followed in rapid succession, till we had lost many a province of our ancient empire. We tried the effect of persecution, by stirring up both Jews and Gentiles to crush the rising kingdom of the crucified Nazarene. But we found, to our dismay, that the more we did in this way, the more his followers increased; so that it became a maxim among them, that "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." We then changed our policy, and bent all our efforts to enlarge and corrupt the Church, by persuading the great ones of the earth to give it their patronage, and load it with wealth and honors. In this way we succeeded better; and for a long time we had the chief direction of affairs in that kingdom which was nominally his. But we overacted a little, in pushing on our instruments and agents to the sale of indulgences to commit sin; which roused the spirit of that bold reformer, Martin Luther. It was in vain, again, that we tried the efficacy of fagots and tortures. And we had the mortification to see, not only the progress of revolt from our dominion in many parts of the European quarter of our town, but the migration of many hardy spirits to the American quarter, where we had, till that time, held an undisturbed sway. Learning wisdom from our past oversights, we again tried the effect of courting those who had revolted, and disposing our friends and subjects to seek alliances with them, and bestow favors upon them. By this policy we had regained much that we had lost, till we imagined the way was prepared for our friends in some streets of the European quarter to cast off the allegiance they had nominally paid to the Prince Immanuel, and avow their opposition to his cause. We have seen that this step has roused the followers of the Prince, our enemy, to make further inroads upon our dominions. We have, indeed, endeavored to retrace our steps, and have persuaded our friends again to assume their former disguise, and to proclaim Immanuel as their Prince, while they still pay to us a real and willing subjection. But those institutions, to which the present age has given birth, for spreading everywhere the copies of the King's Book, and for training and sending out ambassadors into all parts of our dominions, will be likely to occasion us much trouble, unless they can be corrupted, and diverted from their object, or be gained over and brought under our control and direction, which I hope. Besides, you know that there are many ancient prophecies of an age which is expected to come, in which our influence and power shall be entirely destroyed, and the whole of our dominion come under the yoke of our great enemy. And you know also that that period is expected soon to arrive; and that, in order to its introduction, many great changes are looked for throughout our dominions, and mighty revolutions are expected to take place. I have called you together at this time to deliberate on these subjects, and to give counsel according to the wisdom and experience of each one, by what means we can best preserve and increase our influence, and avert the calamities which we fear. Let every one speak his mind freely, both great and small, for no time is to be lost. Spirit of Persecution. I am ready to speak my mind. I think we must stir up all our friends to open and violent opposition. I am not so well acquainted with the practice of secret arts and deep-laid plots. I am not discouraged from the partial failure of our former attempts in this way. We must learn wisdom from defeat, and guard better against the causes of it. Nor am I disposed to admit that we have failed in those attempts to so great an extent as some think. We have at least put out of the way, by such means, great numbers of our active and enterprising opposers. We have cut short their days, and terminated their exertions to destroy our influence. Who knows what they might have accomplished, if they had been suffered to live? And by their fate we have terrified many from pursuing the same course. I take great encouragement from the well known temper of mankind. The Prince Immanuel himself told his followers, "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." Let us take advantage of this, and stir them up to open persecution. And I am the more induced to give this advice, and to hope it will prevail, from an ancient prophecy in the King's book, that when the witnesses shall have ended the period of their prophesying in sackcloth, they shall be slain, and a day of rejoicing be held by our friends over their dead bodies. Let us awake to action, and we shall gain, at least, one more triumph. Spirit of Avarice. I am not altogether opposed to the advice which has now been given. But let us not run too fast. There is an opinion prevailing that men ought not to be put to death for their religious opinions. It will require time to counteract this opinion, and introduce a contrary one. And perhaps it will not be necessary to make men believe that it is proper to put one another to death for their religious opinions. If we can raise the spirit of opposition sufficiently high, and make men believe that the followers of Immanuel are danger And I think I ous members of the civil community, and that their plans and enterprises are injurious to the state, we may then procure oppressive laws to be made, and lay them under restrictions which they must either break through, or violate their duty to their Prince. In that case we shall get an advantage against them, let them take which course they may. If, through fear, they violate their duty to their Prince, they will become an easy prey for us; and if they break through the restrictions of the government under which they live, it will then be easy to direct against them all the strength of the civil power, not under the name of a persecution for their religion, but under the name of preserving good order in the state, and securing good government against disloyal and turbulent subjects. We have done this formerly with much success. see the way in which this end may be attained now. To carry on their enterprises, the followers of Immanuel must raise funds. Copies of the King's book cannot be multiplied for gratuitous distribution, and men be educated and sent forth as ambassadors of the King, without large contributions. Let these be frequently called for, and it will be easy to persuade men that they have nothing to spare for such purposes; that it is unreasonable to tax them for the religious instruction of others; and that it is a useless waste of property which might better be saved. It will not hinder the success of our efforts to raise these objections, for the advocates of these enterprises to reply, that none are obliged to give who do not choose to do it. We well know that those who wish to be respected are not willing to be thought behind others in promoting objects of public utility. To indulge their disposition to withhold, and yet keep themselves in countenance, they must create the belief that these things are not objects of public utility. And this will not be difficult, especially if any of these enterprises are carried on at a distance; as must be the case with many of them. It will be easy to represent that these distant enterprises are draining the country of its wealth; and that those who encourage them are likely to make themselves a public charge, or at least to render themselves so poor that they cannot bear a proper proportion of the public burdens, which will therefore fall more heavily upon the rest. I think much may be done, in this way, to rouse the spirit of opposition against the followers of Immanuel, and render them odious in the public eye, and objects of suspicion and distrust to civil rulers. And the time may not be distant, when the public mind may bear to have some severe enactments made against them, and such restrictions imposed as I have before mentioned. Spirit of Vain Glory. I have no objection to the counsel which has been given; but, it will take time to carry it into effect, and something ought to be doing at once. I would propose that strong efforts be made to gain some influence over those institutions immediately. Perhaps some of them may be brought entirely under our control, and be made to forward our plans. And where this cannot be fully accomplished, much may be done to prevent their accomplishing the ends for which they were instituted. Let us try to persuade those who have the direction of these institutions, that their success depends very much upon rendering them popular, and attracting to them the attention of the wealthy and the great. Let us inspire them with the love of pomp and show. Let us induce them to seek the patronage and countenance of the honorable of the earth, and to grace their list of officers with a multitude of great names. Perhaps we may get many of our friends included in the number. Let us induce them to make great institutions, to hold great meetings, to have great celebrations, to make great speeches, and to get great praises bestowed upon them. It will be easy to make them believe that all this great noise and show will increase their influence, and their power of doing good. And when they once embrace this opinion, it can be turned to advance our purposes many ways. We need not care how much alms any give, if they only do it to be seen of men. If we can once infuse this spirit through these institutions, and get those who have the management of them thoroughly imbued with it, they will be all our own. Besides, when the opinion is once embraced, that it is important to have an institution great and popular, in order to do much good, it will be easy for us to suggest, on every occasion, that the institution must be so managed as not to give offence to those of our friends whose patronage is desired. And in proportion to the number and influence of our friends who are connected with these institutions, we may expect will be the degree of influence we can acquire over them; till they are gradually modified to our wishes, and become useful auxiliaries in promoting our cause. Spirit of Error. I am particularly pleased with the suggestions of the last speaker. Let us, by all means, avail ourselves of them. It is yet too soon to put down these institutions by direct opposition. But it is not too soon to corrupt them. And it is easy to show how almost every one of them can be gained over to our interest, and be made to advance our cause, better than if it were destroyed. There is, indeed, one of them, that for distributing the King's book, which is more difficult for us to control than the rest. But let us once get all the rest under our control, and we can easily destroy the influence of that. For if copies of the King's book are multiplied to ever so great |