The Consolidator Part 7

But by quitting the Country, they fix'd a legal Period to their Obedience, he having deserted their Protection, and Defence, and openly laid down the Administration.

But as these sort of Politicks cannot be decided by us, unless we know the Const.i.tutions of those Lunar Regions, so we cannot pretend to make a Decision of what might, or might not have happen'd.

It remains to examine how those Solunarians behav'd themselves, who had so earnedly cryed up the Principles of Obedience, and absolute Submission.

Nothing was so Ridiculous, now they saw what they had done, they began to repent, and upon recollection of Thoughts some were so asham'd of themselves, that having broken their Doctrin, and being now call'd upon to tranfpose their Allegiance, truly they stopt in the mid-way, and so became Martyrs on both sides.

I can liken these to nothing so well as to those Gentlemen of our English Church, who tho' they broke into the Principles of Pa.s.sive Obedience by joining, and calling over the P. of O. yet suffer'd deprivations of Benefices, and loss of their Livings, for not taking the Oath; as if they had not as effectually perjur'd themselves by taking up Arms against their King, and joyning a Forreign Power, as they could possibly do afterward, by Swearing to live quietly under the next King.

But these nice Gentlemen are infinitely outdone in these Countries, for these Solunarians by a true Church turn, not only refuse to transpose their Allegiance, but pretend to wipe their Mouths as to former taking Arms, and return to their old Doctrins of absolute Submission, boast of Martyrdom, and boldly reconcile the contraries of taking up Arms, and Non-Resistance, charging all their Brethren with Schism, Rebellion, Perjury, and the d.a.m.nable Sin of Resistance.

Nor is this all, for as a great many of these Solunarian Church-Men had no affection to this new Prince, but were not equally furnished, or qualify'd for Martyrdom with their Brethren; they went to certain Wise Men, who being cunning at splitting Hairs, and making distinctions, might perhaps furnish them with some mediums between Loyalty and Disloyalty; they apply'd themselves with great dilligence to these Men, and they by deep Study, and long Search, either found or made the quaintest Device for them that ever was heard of.

By this unheard of Discovery, to their great Joy and Satisfaction, they have arriv'd at a Power, which all the Wise Men in our World could never pretend to, and which 'tis thought, could the description of it be regularly made, and brought down hither, would serve for the Satisfaction and Repose of a great many tender Consciences, who are very uneasy at Swearing to save their Benefices.

These great Makers of Distinction, have learn't to distinguish between active Swearing, and pa.s.sive Swearing, between de facto Loyalty, and de jure Loyalty, and by this decent acquirement they obtain'd the Art of reconciling Swearing Allegiance without Loyalty, and Loyalty without Swearing, so that native and original Loyalty may be preserv'd pure and uninterrupted, in spight of all subsequent Oaths, to prevailing Usurpations.

Many are the Mysteries, and vast the Advantages of this new invented Method, Mental Reservations, Inuendoes, and Double Meanings are Toys to this, for they may be provided for in the litteral terms of an Oath, but no Provision can be made against this; for these Men after they have taken the Oath, make no Scruple to declare, they only Swear to be quiet, as long as they can make no Disturbance; that they are left liberty still to espouse the Interest and Cause of their former Prince, they nicely distinguish between Obedience and Submission, and tell you a Slave taken into Captivity, tho' he Swears to live peaceably, does not thereby renounce his Allegiance to his natural Prince, nor abridge himself of a Right to attempt his own Liberty if ever opportunity present.

Had these neat Distinctions been found out before, none of our Solunarian Clergy, no not the Patriarchs themselves surely would have stood out, and suffer'd such Depredations on their Fortunes and Characters as they did; they wou'd never have been such Fools to have been turn'd out of their Livings for not Swearing, when they might have learnt here that they might have swore to one Prince, and yet have retain'd their Allegiance to another; might have taken an Oath to the new, without impeachment of their old Oaths to the absent Prince.------- It is great pity these Gentlemen had not gone up to the Moon for Instruction in this difficult Case.

There they might have met with excellent Logicians, Men of most sublime Reasons, Dr. Overall, Dr. Sherlock, and all our nice Examiners of these things wou'd appear to be no Body to them; for as the People in these Regions have an extraordinary Eye-sight, and the clearness of the Air contributs much to the help of their Opticks, so they have without doubt a proportion'd clearness of discerning, by which they see as far into Mill-stones, and all sorts of Solids, as the nature of things will permit, but above all, their Faculties are blest with two exceeding Advantages.

1. With an extraordinary distinguis.h.i.+ng Power, by which they can distinguish even Indivisibles, part Unity it self, divide Principles, and distinguish Truth into such and so many minute Particles, till they dwindle it away into a very Nose of Wax, and mould it into any Form they have occasion for, by which means they can distinguish themselves into or out of any Opinion, either in Religion, Politicks or Civil Right, that their present Emergencies may call for.

2. Their reasoning Faculties have this further advantage, that upon occasion they can see clearly for themselves, and prevent others from the same discovery, so that when they have occasion to see any thing which presents for their own Advantage, they can search into the Particulars, make it clear to themselves, and yet let it remain dark and mysterious to all the World besides. Whether this is perform'd by their exceeding Penetration, or by casting an artificial Veil over the Understandings of the Vulgar, Authors have not yet determin'd; but that the Fact is true, admits of no Dispute.

And the wonderful Benefit of these Things in point of Dispute is extraordinary, for they can see clearly they have the better of an Argument, when all the rest of the World think they have not a Word to say for themselves: 'Tis plain to them that this or that proves a thing, when Nature, by common Reasoning, knows no such Consequences.

I confess I have seen some weak Attempts at this extraordinary Talent, particularly in the Disputes in England between the Church and the Dissenter, and between the High and Low Church, wherein People have tollerably well convinc'd themselves when no Body else could see any thing of the Matter, as particularly the famous Mr.

W---ly about the Antimonarchical Principles taught in the Dissenters Accademies; ditto in L----sly, about the Dissenters burning the City, and setting Fire to their own Houses to destroy their Neighbours; and another famous Author, who prov'd that Christopher Love lost his Head for attempting to pull down Monarchy by restoring King Charles the Second.

These indeed are some faint Resemblances of what I am upon; but alas!

these are tender sort of People, that han't obtain'd a compleat Victory over their Consciences, but suffer that Trifle to reproach them all the while they are doing it, to rebel against their resolv'd Wills, and check them in the middle of the Design; from which Interruptions arise Palpitations of the Heart, Sickness and squeamishness of Stomach; and these have proceeded to Castings and Vomit, whereby they have been forc'd sometimes to throw up some such unhappy Truths as have confounded all the rest, and flown in their own Faces so violently, as in spight of Custom has made them blush and look downward; and tho' in kindness to one another they have carefully lickt up one anothers Filth, yet this unhappy squeamishness of Stomach has spoil'd all the Design, and turn'd the Appet.i.tes of their Party, to the no small prejudice of a Cause that stood in need of more Art and more Face to carry it on as it shou'd be with a thoro'-pac'd Case-harden'd Policy, such as I have been relating, is compleatly obtain'd in these Regions, where the Arts and Excellencies of sublime Reasonings are carried up to all the extraordinaries of banis.h.i.+ng Scruples, reconciling Contradictions, uniting Opposites, and all the necessary Circ.u.mstances requir'd in a compleat Casuist.

'Tis not easily conceivable to what extraordinary Flights they have carry'd this strength of Reasoning, for besides the distinguis.h.i.+ng nicely between Truth and Error, they obtain a most refin'd Method of distinguis.h.i.+ng Truth it self into Seasons and Circ.u.mstances, and so can bring any thing to be Truth, when it serves the turn that happens just then to be needful, and make the same thing to be false at another time.

And this method of circ.u.mstantiating Matters of Fact into Truth or Falshood, suited to occasion, is found admirably useful to the solving the most difficult Phanomena of State, for by this Art the Solunarian Church made Persecution be against their Principles at one time, and reducible to Practice at another. They made taking up Arms, and calling in Foreign Power to depose their Prince, consistent with Non-Resistance, and Pa.s.sive Obedience; nay they went farther, they distinguisht between a Crolian's taking Arms, and a Solunarians, and fairly prov'd this to be Rebellion and that to be Non-Resistance.

Nay, and which exceeded all the Power of human Art in the highest degrees of Attainment that ever it arriv'd to on our side the Moon; they turn'd the Tables so dexterously, as to argument upon one sort of Crolians, call'd Prestarians; that tho' they repented of the War they had rais'd in former Times, and protested against the violence offer'd their Prince; and after another Party had in spight of them Beheaded him, took Arms against the other Party, and never left contriving their Ruin, till they had brought in his Son, and set him upon the Throne again.

Yet by this most dextrous way of Twisting, Extending, Contracting, and Distinguis.h.i.+ng of Phrases and Reasoning, they presently made it as plain as the Sun at Noon Day; that these Prestarians were King-killers, Common-wealths Men, Rebels, Traytors, and Enemies to Monarchy; that they restor'd the Monarchy only in order to Destroy it, and that they Preach'd up Sedition, Rebellion and the like: This was prov'd so plain by these sublime Distinctions, that they convinc'd themselves and their Posterity of it, by a rare and newly acquir'd Art, found out by extraordinary Study, which proves the wonderful power of Custom, insomuch, that let any Man by this method, tell a Lye over a certain number of times, he shall arrive to a Satisfaction of its certainty, tho' he knew it to be a Fiction before, and shall freely tell it for a Truth all his life after.

Thus the Prestarians were call'd the Murtherers of the Father, tho'

they restor'd the Son, and all the Testimonials of their Sufferings, Protests and Insurrections to prevent his Death, signify'd nothing, for this method of Distinguis.h.i.+ng has that powerful Charm in it, that all those Trifles we call Proofs and Demonstration were of no use in that Case. Custom brought the Story up to a Truth, and in an instant all the Crolians were hookt in under the general Name of Prestarians, at the same time to hook all Parties in the Crime.

Now as it happen'd at last that these Solunarian Gentlemen found it necessary to do the same thing themselves, viz. To lay aside their Loyalty, Depose, Fight against, shoot Bullets at, and throw Bombs at their King till they frighted him away, and sent him abroad to beg his Bread. The Crolians began to take Heart and tell them, now they ought to be Friends with them, and tell them no more of Rebellion and Disloyalty; nay, they carry'd it so far as to challenge them to bring their Loyalty to the Test, and compare Crolian Loyalty and Solunarian Loyalty together, and see who had rais'd more Wars, taken up Arms oftenest, or appear'd in most Rebellions against their Kings; nay, who had kill'd most Kings, the Crolians or the Solunarians, for there having been then newly fought a great Battle between the Solunarian Church-Men under their new Prince, and the Armies of Foreign Succours under their old King, in which their old King was beaten and forc'd to flie a second time, the Crolians told them that every Bullet they shot at the Battle was as much a murthering their King, as cutting off the Head with a Hatchet was a killing his Father.

These Arguments in our World would have been unanswerable, but when they came to be brought to the Test of Lunar Reasoning, alas they signify'd nothing; they distinguisht and distinguisht till they brought the Prestarian War to be meer Rebellion, King-killing, b.l.o.o.d.y and Unnatural; and the Solunarian fighting against their King, and turning him adrift to seek his Fortune, no prejudice at all to their Loyalty, no, nor to the famous Doctrine of Pa.s.sive Obedience and Absolute Subjection.

When I saw this, I really bewail'd the unhappiness of some of our Gentlemen in England, who standing exceedingly in need of such a wonderful Dexterity of Argument to defend their share in our late Revolution, and to reconcile it to their anticedent and subsequent Conduct, should not be furnish'd from this more accurate World with the suitable Powers, in order the better to defend them against the Banter and just Raillery of their ill-natur'd Enemies the Whigs.

By this they might have attained suitable reserves of Argument to distinguish themselves out of their Loyalty, and into their Loyalty, as occasion presented to dismiss this Prince, and entertain that, as they found it to their purpose; but above all, they might have learnt a way how to justify Swearing to one King and Praying for another, Eating one Prince's Bread and doing another Prince's Work, Serving one King they don't Love and Loving another they don't Serve; they might easily reconcile the Schisms of the Church, and prove they are still Loyal Subjects to King James, while they are only forc'd Bonds-Men to the Act of Settlement, for the sake of that comfortable Importance, call'd Food and Rainment; and thus their Reputation might have been sav'd, which is most unhappily tarnish'd and blur'd, with the malicious Attacks of the Whigs on one Hand, and the Non-Jurants on the other.

These Tax them as above with Rebellion by their own Principles, and contradicting the Doctrin of Pa.s.sive Submission and Non-Resistance, by taking up Arms against their Prince, calling in a Foreign Power, and deposing him: They charge them with killing the Lord's Anointed, by Shooting at him at the Boyn, where if he was not kill'd it was his own fault, at least 'tis plain 'twas none of theirs.

On the other Hand, the Non Jurant Clergy charge them with Schism, declare the whole Church of England Schismaticks, and breakers off from the general Union of the Church, in renouncing their Allegiance, and Swearing to another Power, their former Prince being yet alive.

'Tis confest all the Answers they have been able to make to these things, are very weak and mean, unworthy Men of their Rank and Capacities, and 'tis pity they should not be a.s.sisted by some kind Communication of these Lunar Arguments and Distinctions, without which, and till they can obtain which, a Conforming Jacobite must be the absurdest Contradiction in Nature; a thing that admits of no manner of Defence, no, not by the People themselves, and which they would willingly abandon, but that they can find no side to join with them.

The Dissenting Jacobites have some Plea for themselves, for let their Opinion be never so repugnant to their own Interest, or general Vogue, they are faithful to some thing, and they wont joyn with these People, because they have Perjur'd their Faith, and yet pretend to adhere to it at the same time. The Conforming Whigs won't receive them, because they pretend to rail at the Government they have Sworn to, and espouse the Interest they have Sworn against; so that these poor Creatures have but one way left them, which is to go along with me, next time I Travel to the Moon, and that will most certainly do their Business, for when they come down again, they will be quite another sort of Men, the Distinctions, the Power of Argument, the way of Reasoning, they will be then furnish'd with will quite change the Scene of the World with them, they'll certainly be able to prove they are the only People, both in Justice, in Politicks and in Prudence; that the extremities of every side are in the Wrong, they'll prove their Loyalty preserv'd, untainted, thro' all the Swearings, Fightings, Shootings and the like, and no Body will be able to come to the Test with them; so that upon the whole, they are all distracted if they don't go up to the Moon for Illumination, and that they may easily do in the next Consolidator.

But as this is a very long Digression, and for which I am to beg my Reader's Pardon, being an Error I slipt into from my abundant respect to these Gentlemen, and for their particular Instruction, I shall endeavour to make my Reader amends, by keeping more close to my Subject.

To return therefore to the Historical part of the Solunarian Church-Men, in the World in the Moon.

Having as is related Depos'd their King, and plac'd the Crown upon the Head of the Prince that came to their a.s.sistance, a new Scene began all over the Kingdom.

1. A terrible and b.l.o.o.d.y War began thro' all the parts of the Lunar World, where their banish'd Prince and his new Allie had any Interest; and the new King having a universal Character over all the Northern Kingdoms of the Moon, he brought in a great many Potent Kings, Princes, Emperors and States, to take part with him, and so it became the most general War that had happen'd in those Ages.

I did not trouble my self to enquire into the particular Successes of this War, but at what had a more particular regard to the Country from whence I came, and for whose Instruction I have design'd these Sheets, the Strife of Parties, the Internal Feuds at home, and their a.n.a.logy to ours; and whatever is instructively to be deduced from them, was the Subject of immediate Inquiry.

No sooner was this Prince plac'd on the Throne, but according to his Promises to them that invited him over, he conven'd the Estates of the Realm, and giving them free Liberty to make, alter, add or repeal, all such Laws as they thought fit, it must be their own fault if they did not Establish themselves upon such Foundation of Liberty, and Right, as they desir'd; for he gave them their full Swing, never interpos'd one Negative upon them for several Years, and let them do almost every thing they pleas'd.

This full Liberty had like to have spoil'd all, for as is before noted, this Nation had one unhappy Quality they could never be broke of, always to be falling out one among another.

The Crolians, according to Capitulation, demanded the full Liberty and Toleration of Religion, which the Solunarians had condition'd with them for, when they drew them off from joyning with the old King, and when they promis'd to come to a Temper, and to be Brethren in Peace and Love ever after.

Nor were the Solunarian Church-Men backward, either to remember, or perform the Conditions but by the consent of the King, who had been by agreement made Guarantee of their former Stipulations, an Act was drawn up in full Form, and as compleat, as both satisfy'd the desires of the Crolians, and testify'd the Honesty and Probity of the Solunarians, as they were abstractedly and moderately consider'd.

During the whole Reign of this King, this Union of Parties continu'd without any considerable Interruption, there was indeed brooding Mischiefs which hovered over every accident, in order to generate Strife, but the Candor of the Prince, and the Prudence of his Ministers, kept it under for a long time.

At last an occasion offer'd it self, which gave an unhappy Stroke to the Nation's Peace. The King thro' innumerable Hazards, terrible Battles and a twelve Years War, had reduc'd his powerful Adversary to such a necessity of Peace, that he became content to abandon the fugitive King, and to own the t.i.tle of this Warlike Prince; and upon these, among various other Conditions, very Honourable for him, and his Allies, and by which vast Conquests were surrendred, and disgorg'd to the Losers, a Peace was made to the Universal Satisfaction of all those Parts of the Moon that had been involv'd in a tiresome and expensive War.

This Peace was no sooner made, but the Inhabitants of this unhappy Country, according to the constant Practice of the Place, fell out in the most horrid manner among themselves, and with the very Prince that had done all these great things for them; and I cannot forget how the Old Gentleman I had these Relations from, being once deeply engag'd in Discourse with some Senators of that Country, and hearing them reproach the Memory of that Prince from whom they receiv'd so much, and on the foot of whose Gallantry and Merit the Const.i.tution then subsisted, it put him into some heat, and he told them to their Faces that they were guilty both of Murther and Ingrat.i.tude.

I thought the Charge was very high, but as they return'd upon him, and challeng'd him to make it out, he answer'd he was ready to do it, and went on thus.

His Majesty, said he, left a quiet, retir'd, compleatly happy Condition, full of Honour, belov'd of his Country, Vallu'd and Esteem'd, as well as Fear'd by his Enemies, to come over hither at your own Request, to deliver you from the Encroachments and Tyranny as you call'd it, of your Prince.

Ever since he came hither, he has been your meer Journy-Man, your Servant, your Souldier of Fortune, he has Fought for you, Fatigu'd and Harras'd his Person, and rob'd himself of all his Peace for you; he has been in a constant Hurry, and run thro' a Million of Hazards for you; he has convers'd with Fire and Blood, Storms at Sea, Camps and Trenches ash.o.r.e, and given himself no rest for twelve Years, and all for your Use, Safety and Repose: In requital of which, he has been always treated with Jealousies, and Suspitions, with Reproaches, and Abuses of all Sorts, and on all Occasions, till the ungrateful Treatment of the Solunarians eat into his very Soul, tir'd it with serving an unthankful Nation, and absolutely broke his Heart; for which reason I think him as much Murther'd as his Predecessor was, whose Head was cut off by his Subjects.

I could not when this was over, but ask the Old Gentlemen, what was the reason of his Exclamation, and how it was the People treated their Prince upon this occasion?

He told me it was a grievous Subject, and a long one, and too long to rehea.r.s.e, but he would give me a short Abridgment of it; and not to look back into his Wars, in which he was abominably ill serv'd, his subjects constantly ill treated him in giving him Supplies too late, that he cou'd not get into the Field, nor forward his Preparations in time to be ready for his Enemies, who frequently were ready to insult him in his Quarters.

By giving him sham Taxes and Funds, that raised little or no Mony, by which he having borrow'd Mony of his People by Antic.i.p.ation, the Funds not answering, he contracted such vast Debts as the Nation could never Pay which brought the War into disrepute, sunk the Credit of his Exchequer, and fill'd the Nation with Murmurs and Complaint.