THE HOLY WAR

Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus

for the Regaining of the Metropolis

of the World

or

The Losing and Taking Again

of the Town of Mansoul

JOHN BUNYAN

BAKER BOOK HOUSE

Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506

TO THE READER

'Tis strange to me, that they that love to tell

Things done of old, yea, and that do excel

Their equals in historiology,

Speak not of Mansoul's wars, but let them lie

Dead, like old fables, or such worthless things,

That to the reader no advantage brings:

When men, let them make what they will their own,

Till they know this, are to themselves unknown.

Of stories, I well know, there's divers sorts,

Some foreign, some domestic; and reports

Are thereof made as fancy leads the writers.

(By books a man may guess at the inditers.)

Some will again of that which never was,

Nor will be, feign (and that without a cause)

Such matter, raise such mountains, tell such things

Of men, of laws, of countries, and of kings;

And in their story seem to be so sage,

And with such gravity clothe every page,

That though their frontispiece says all is vain,

Yet to their way disciples they obtain.

But, readers, I have somewhat else to do,

Than with vain stories thus to trouble you.

What here I say, some men do know so well,

They can with tears and joy the story tell.

The town of Mansoul is well known to many,

Nor are her troubles doubted of by any

That are acquainted with those histories

That Mansoul and her wars anatomise.

Then lend thine ear to what I do relate,

Touching the town of Mansoul and her state:

How she was lost, took captive, made a slave:

And how against him set that should her save;

Yea, how by hostile ways she did oppose

Her Lord, and with his enemy did close.

For they are true: he that will them deny

Must needs the best of records vilify.

For my part, I myself was in the town,

Both when 'twas set up, and when pulling down.

I saw Diabolus in his possession,

And Mansoul also under his oppression.

Yea, I was there when she own'd him for lord,

And to him did submit with one accord.

When Mansoul trampled upon things divine,

And wallowed in filth as doth a swine;

When she betook herself unto her arms,

Fought her Emmanuel, despised his charms;

Then I was there, and did rejoice to see

Diabolus and Mansoul so agree.

Let no men, then, count me a fable-maker,

Nor make my name or credit a partaker

Of their derision: what is here in view,

Of mine own knowledge, I dare say is true.

I saw the Prince's arm'd men come down

By troops, by thousands, to besiege the town;

I saw the captains, heard the trumpets sound,

And how his forces covered all the ground.

Yea, how they set themselves in battle-'ray,

I shall remember to my dying day.

I saw the colours waving in the wind,

And they within to mischief how combined

To ruin Mansoul, and to make away

Her primum mobilewithout delay.

I saw the mounts cast up against the town,

And how the slings were placed to beat it down:

I heard the stones fly whizzing by mine ears,

(What longer kept in mind than got in fears?)

I heard them fall, and saw what work they made,

And how old Mors did cover with his shade

The face of Mansoul; and I heard her cry,

'Woe worth the day, in dying I shall die!'

I saw the battering-rams, and how they play'd

To beat ope Ear-gate: and I was afraid

Not only Ear-gate, but the very town

Would by those battering-rams be beaten down.

I saw the fights, and heard the captains shout,

And in each battle saw who faced about;

I saw who wounded were, and who were slain;

And who, when dead, would come to life again.

I heard the cries of those that wounded were

(While others fought like men bereft of fear),

And while the cry, 'Kill, kill,'was in mine ears,

The gutters ran, not so with blood as tears.

Indeed, the captains did not always fight,

But then they would molest us day and night;

Their cry, 'Up, fall on, let us take the town,'

Kept us from sleeping, or from lying down.

I was there when the gates were broken ope,

And saw how Mansoul then was stripp'd of hope;

I saw the captains march into the town,

How there they fought, and did their foes cut down.

I heard the Prince bid Boanerges go

Up to the castle, and there seize his foe;

And saw him and his fellows bring him down,

In chains of great contempt quite through the town.

I saw Emmanuel, when he possess'd

His town of Mansoul; and how greatly blest

A town his gallant town of Mansoul was,

When she received his pardon, loved his laws.

When the Diabolonians were caught,

When tried, and when to execution brought,

Then I was there; yea, I was standing by

When Mansoul did the rebels crucify.

I also saw Mansoul clad all in white,

I heard her Prince call her his heart's delight.

I saw him put upon her chains of gold,

And rings, and bracelets, goodly to behold.

What shall I say? I heard the people's cries,

And saw the Prince wipe tears from Mansoul's eyes;

And heard the groans, and saw the joy of many:

Tell you of all, I neither will, nor can I.

But by what here I say, you well may see

That Mansoul's matchless wars no fables be.

Mansoul, the desire of both princes was:

One keep his gain would, t'other gain his loss.

Diabolus would cry, 'The town is mine!'

Emmanuel would plead a right divine

Unto his Mansoul: then to blows they go,

And Mansoul cries, 'These wars will me undo.'

Mansoul! her wars seem'd endless in her eyes;

She's lost by one, becomes another's prize;

And he again that lost her last would swear,

'Have her I will, or her in pieces tear.'

Mansoul! it was the very seat of war;

Wherefore her troubles greater were by far

Than only where the noise of war is heard,

Or where the shaking of a sword is fear'd;

Or only where small skirmishes are fought,

Or where the fancy fighteth with a thought.

She saw the swords of fighting men made red,

And heard the cries of those with them wounded:

Must not her frights, then, be much more by far

Than theirs that to such doings strangers are?

Or theirs that hear the beating of a drum,

But not made fly for fear from house and home?

Mansoul not only heard the trumpets sound,

But saw her gallants gasping on the ground:

Wherefore we must not think that she could rest

With them, whose greatest earnest is but jest:

Or where the blust'ring threat'ning of great wars

Do end in parleys, or in wording jars.

Mansoul! her mighty wars, they did portend

Her weal or woe, and that world without end:

Wherefore she must be more concern'd than they

Whose fears begin and end the selfsame day;

Or where none other harm doth come to him

That is engaged, but loss of life or limb,

As all must needs confess that now do dwell

In Universe, and can this story tell.

Count me not, then, with them that, to amaze

The people, set them on the stars to gaze,

Insinuating with much confidence,

That each of them is now the residence

Of some brave creatures: yea, a world they will

Have in each star, though it be past their skill

To make it manifest to any man,

That reason hath, or tell his fingers can.

But I have too long held thee in the porch,

And kept thee from the sunshine with a torch.

Well, now go forward, step within the door,

And there behold five hundred times much more

Of all sorts of such inward rarities

As please the mind will, and will feed the eyes

With those, which, if a Christian, thou wilt see

Not small, but things of greatest moment be.

Nor do thou go to work without my key

(In mysteries men soon do lose their way);

And also turn it right, if thou wouldst know

My riddle, and wouldst with my heifer plough:

It lies there in the window. Fare thee well,

My next may be to ring thy passing-bell.

John Bunyan.

AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER

SOME say the 'Pilgrim's Progress' is not mine,

Insinuating as if I would shine

In name and fame by the worth of another,

Like some made rich by robbing of their brother.

Or that so fond I am of being sire,

I'll father bastards; or, if need require,

I'll tell a lie in print to get applause.

I scorn it: John such dirt-heap never was,

Since God converted him. Let this suffice

To show why I my 'Pilgrim' patronise.

It came from mine own heart, so to my head,

And thence into my fingers trickled;

Then to my pen, from whence immediately

On paper I did dribble it daintily.

Manner and matter, too, was all mine own,

Nor was it unto any mortal known

Till I had done it, nor did any then

By books, by wits, by tongues, or hand, or pen,

Add five words to it, or wrote half a line

Thereof: the whole, and every whit, is mine.

Also for THIS, thine eye is now upon,

The matter in this manner came from none

But the same heart, and head, fingers, and pen,

As did the other. Witness all good men;

For none in all the world, without a lie,

Can say that this is mine, excepting I.

I write not this of my ostentation,

Nor 'cause I seek of men their commendation;

I do it to keep them from such surmise,

As tempt them will my name to scandalise.

Witness my name, if anagram'd to thee,

The letters make-'Nu hony in a B.'

John Bunyan.

A RELATION OF THE HOLY WAR

In my travels, as I walked through many regions and countries, it was my

chance to happen into that famous continent of Universe. A very large

and spacious country it is: it lieth between the two poles, and just

amidst the four points of the heavens. It is a place well watered, and

richly adorned with hills and valleys, bravely situate, and for the most

part, at least where I was, very fruitful, also well peopled, and a very

sweet air.

The people are not all of one complexion, nor yet of one language, mode,

or way of religion, but differ as much as, it is said, do the planets

themselves. Some are right and some are wrong, even as it happeneth to

be in lesser regions.

In this country, as I said, it was my lot to travel; and there travel I

did, and that so long, even till I learned much of their mother tongue,

together with the customs and manners of them among whom I was. And, to

speak truth, I was much delighted to see and hear many things which I

saw and heard among them; yea, I had, to be sure, even lived and died a

native among them (so was I taken with them and their doings), had not

my master sent for me home to his house, there to do business for him,

and to oversee business done.

Now, there is in this gallant country of Universe a fair and delicate

town, a corporation called Mansoul; a town for its building so curious,

for its situation so commodious, for its privileges so advantageous (I

mean with reference to its origin), that I may say of it, as was said

before of the continent in which it is placed, There is not its equal

under the whole heaven.

As to the situation of this town, it lieth just between the two worlds;

and the first founder and builder of it, so far as by the best and most

authentic records I can gather, was one Shaddai; and he built it for his

own delight. He made it the mirror and glory of all that he made, even

the top-piece, beyond anything else that he did in that country. Yea,

so goodly a town was Mansoul when first built, that it is said by some,

the gods, at the setting up thereof, came down to see it, and sang for

joy. And as he made it goodly to behold, so also mighty to have

dominion over all the country round about. Yea, all were commanded to

acknowledge Mansoul for their metropolitan, all were enjoined to do

homage to it. Ay, the town itself had positive commission and power

from her King to demand service of all, and also to subdue any that

anyways denied to do it.

There was reared up in the midst of this town a most famous and stately

palace; for strength, it might be called a castle; for pleasantness, a

paradise; for largeness, a place so copious as to contain all the world.

This place the King Shaddai intended but for himself alone, and not

another with him; partly because of his own delights, and partly because

he would not that the terror of strangers should be upon the town. This

place Shaddai made also a garrison of; but committed the keeping of it

only to the men of the town.

The walls of the town were well built, yea, so fast and firm were they

knit and compact together, that, had it not been for the townsmen

themselves, they could not have been shaken or broken for ever. For

here lay the excellent wisdom of him that builded Mansoul, that the

walls could never be broken down nor hurt by the most mighty adverse

potentate, unless the townsmen gave consent thereto.

This famous town of Mansoul had five gates, in at which to come, out of

which to go; and these were made likewise answerable to the walls, to

wit, impregnable, and such as could never be opened nor forced but by

the will and leave of those within. The names of the gates were these:

Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate.

Other things there were that belonged to the town of Mansoul, which if

you adjoin to these, will yet give further demonstration to all of the

glory and strength of the place. It had always a sufficiency of

provision within its walls; it had the best, most wholesome, and

excellent law, that then was extant in the world. There was not a

rascal, rogue, or traitorous person then within its walls: they were all

true men, and fast joined together; and this, you know, is a great

matter. And to all these, it had always (so long as it had the goodness

to keep true to Shaddai the King) his countenance, his protection, and

it was his delight, etc.

Well, upon a time, there was one Diabolus, a mighty giant, made an

assault upon this famous town of Mansoul, to take it, and make it his

own habitation. This giant was king of the blacks, and a most raving

prince he was. We will, if you please, first discourse of the origin of

this Diabolus, and then of his taking of this famous town of Mansoul.

This Diabolus is indeed a great and mighty prince, and yet both poor and

beggarly. As to his origin, he was at first one of the servants of King

Shaddai, made, and taken and put by him into most high and mighty place;

yea, was put into such principalities as belonged to the best of his

territories and dominions. This Diabolus was made 'son of the

morning,'and a brave place he had of it: it brought him much glory, and

gave him much brightness, an income that might have contented his

Luciferian heart, had it not been insatiable, and enlarged as hell

itself.

Well, he seeing himself thus exalted to greatness and honour, and raging

in his mind for higher state and degree, what doth he but begins to

think with himself how he might be set up as lord over all, and have the

sole power under Shaddai. (Now that did the King reserve for his Son,

yea, and had already bestowed it upon him.) Wherefore he first consults

with himself what had best to be done; and then breaks his mind to some

other of his companions, to the which they also agreed. So, in fine,

they came to this issue, that they should make an attempt upon the

King's Son to destroy him, that the inheritance might be theirs. Well,

to be short, the treason, as I said, was concluded, the time appointed,

the word given, the rebels rendezvoused, and the assault attempted. Now

the King and his Son being all and always eye, could not but discern all

passages in his dominions; and he, having always love for his Son as for

himself, could not at what he saw but be greatly provoked and offended:

wherefore what does he, but takes them in the very nick and first trip

that they made towards their design, convicts them of the treason,

horrid rebellion, and conspiracy that they had devised, and now

attempted to put into practice, and casts them altogether out of all

place of trust, benefit, honour, and preferment. This done, he banishes

them the court, turns them down into the horrible pits, as fast bound in

chains, never more to expect the least favour from his hands, but to

abide the judgment that he had appointed, and that for ever.

Now they being thus cast out of all place of trust, profit, and honour,

and also knowing that they had lost their Prince's favour for ever

(being banished his court, and cast down to the horrible pits), you may

be sure they would now add to their former pride what malice and rage

against Shaddai, and against his Son, they could. Wherefore, roving and

ranging in much fury from place to place, if, perhaps, they might find

something that was the King's, by spoiling of that, to revenge

themselves on him; at last they happened into this spacious country of

Universe, and steer their course towards the town of Mansoul; and

considering that that town was one of the chief works and delights of

King Shaddai, what do they but, after counsel taken, make an assault

upon that. I say, they knew that Mansoul belonged unto Shaddai; for

they were there when he built it and beautified it for himself. So when

they had found the place, they shouted horribly for joy, and roared on

it as a lion upon the prey, saying, 'Now we have found the prize, and

how to be revenged on King Shaddai for what he hath done to us.'So they

sat down and called a council of war, and considered with themselves

what ways and methods they had best to engage in for the winning to

themselves this famous town of Mansoul, and these four things were then

propounded to be considered of.

First. Whether they had best all of them to show themselves in this

design to the town of Mansoul.

Secondly. Whether they had best to go and sit down against Mansoul in

their now ragged and beggarly guise.

Thirdly. Whether they had best show to Mansoul their intentions, and

what design they came about, or whether to assault it with words and

ways of deceit.

Fourthly. Whether they had not best to some of their companions to give

out private orders to take the advantage, if they see one or more of the

principal townsmen, to shoot them, if thereby they shall judge their

cause and design will the better be promoted.

1. It was answered to the first of these proposals in the negative, to

wit, that it would not be best that all should show themselves before

the town, because the appearance of many of them might alarm and

frighten the town; whereas a few or but one of them was not so likely to

do it. And to enforce this advice to take place it was added further,

that if Mansoul was frighted, or did take the alarm, 'It is

impossible,'said Diabolus (for he spake now), 'that we should take the

town: for that none can enter into it without its own consent. Let,

therefore, but few, or but one, assault Mansoul; and in mine

opinion,'said Diabolus, 'let me be he.'Wherefore to this they all

agreed.

2. And then to the second proposal they came, namely, Whether they had

best go and sit down before Mansoul in their now ragged and beggarly

guise. To which it was answered also in the negative, By no means; and

that because, though the town of Mansoul had been made to know, and to

have to do, before now, with things that are invisible, they did never

as yet see any of their fellow-creatures in so sad and rascally

condition as they: and this was the advice of that fierce Alecto. Then

said Apollyon, 'The advice is pertinent; for even one of us appearing to

them as we are now, must needs both beget and multiply such thoughts in

them as will both put them into a consternation of spirit, and

necessitate them to put themselves upon their guard. And if so,'said

he, 'then, as my lord Diabolus said but now, it is in vain for us to

think of taking the town.'Then said that mighty giant Beelzebub, 'The

advice that already is given is safe; for though the men of Mansoul have

seen such things as we once were, yet hitherto they did never behold

such things as we now are; and it is best, in mine opinion, to come upon

them in such a guise as is common to, and most familiar among them.'To

this when they had consented, the next thing to be considered was, in

what shape, hue, or guise Diabolus had best to show himself when he went

about to make Mansoul his own. Then one said one thing, and another the

contrary. At last Lucifer answered, that, in his opinion, it was best

that his lordship should assume the body of some of those creatures that

they of the town had dominion over; 'for,'quoth he, 'these are not only

familiar to them, but, being under them, they will never imagine that an

attempt should by them be made upon the town; and, to blind all, let him

assume the body of one of those beasts that Mansoul deems to be wiser

than any of the rest.'This advice was applauded of all: so it was

determined that the giant Diabolus should assume the dragon, for that he

was in those days as familiar with the town of Mansoul as now is the

bird with the boy; for nothing that was in its primitive state was at

all amazing to them. Then they proceeded to the third thing, which was:

3. Whether they had best to show their intentions, or the design of his

coming, to Mansoul, or no. This also was answered in the negative,

because of the weight that was in the former reasons, to wit, for that

Mansoul were a strong people, a strong people in a strong town, whose

wall and gates were impregnable (to say nothing of their castle), nor

can they by any means be won but by their own consent. 'Besides,'said

Legion (for he gave answer to this), 'a discovery of our intentions may

make them send to their King for aid; and if that be done, I know

quickly what time of day it will be with us. Therefore let us assault

them in all pretended fairness, covering our intentions with all manner

of lies, flatteries, delusive words; feigning things that never will be,

and promising that to them that they shall never find. This is the way

to win Mansoul, and to make them of themselves open their gates to us;

yea, and to desire us too to come in to them. And the reason why I

think that this project will do is, because the people of Mansoul now,

are every one, simple and innocent, all honest and true; nor do they as

yet know what it is to be assaulted with fraud, guile, and hypocrisy.

They are strangers to lying and dissembling lips; wherefore we cannot,

if thus we be disguised, by them at all be discerned; our lies shall go

for true sayings, and our dissimulations for upright dealings. What we

promise them they will in that believe us, especially if, in all our

lies and feigned words, we pretend great love to them, and that our

design is only their advantage and honour.'Now there was not one bit of

a reply against this; this went as current down as doth the water down a

steep descent. Wherefore they go to consider of the last proposal,

which was:

4. Whether they had not best to give out orders to some of their

company to shoot some one or more of the principal of the townsmen, if

they judge that their cause may be promoted thereby. This was carried

in the affirmative, and the man that was designed by this stratagem to

be destroyed was one Mr. Resistance, otherwise called Captain

Resistance. And a great man in Mansoul this Captain Resistance was, and

a man that the giant Diabolus and his band more feared than they feared

the whole town of Mansoul besides. Now who should be the actor to do

the murder? That was the next, and they appointed one Tisiphone, a fury

of the lake, to do it.

They thus having ended their council of war, rose up, and essayed to do

as they had determined; they marched towards Mansoul, but all in a

manner invisible, save one, only one; nor did he approach the town in

his own likeness, but under the shade and in the body of the dragon.

So they drew up and sat down before Ear-gate, for that was the place of

hearing for all without the town, as Eye-gate was the place of

perspection. So, as I said, he came up with his train to the gate, and

laid his ambuscado for Captain Resistance within bow-shot of the town.

This done, the giant ascended up close to the gate, and called to the

town of Mansoul for audience. Nor took he any with him but one Ill-

Pause, who was his orator in all difficult matters. Now, as I said, he

being come up to the gate (as the manner of those times was), sounded

his trumpet for audience; at which the chief of the town of Mansoul,

such as my Lord Innocent, my Lord Willbewill, my Lord Mayor, Mr.

Recorder, and Captain Resistance, came down to the wall to see who was

there, and what was the matter. And my Lord Willbewill, when he had

looked over and saw who stood at the gate, demanded what he was,

wherefore he was come, and why he roused the town of Mansoul with so

unusual a sound.

Diabolus, then, as if he had been a lamb, began his oration, and said:

'Gentlemen of the famous town of Mansoul, I am, as you may perceive, no

far dweller from you, but near, and one that is bound by the King to do

you my homage and what service I can; wherefore, that I may be faithful

to myself and to you, I have somewhat of concern to impart unto you.

Wherefore, grant me your audience, and hear me patiently. And first, I

will assure you, it is not myself, but you-not mine, but your advantage

that I seek by what I now do, as will full well be made manifest, by

that I have opened my mind unto you. For, gentlemen, I am (to tell you

the truth) come to show you how you may obtain great and ample

deliverance from a bondage that, unawares to yourselves, you are

captivated and enslaved under.'At this the town of Mansoul began to

prick up its ears. And 'What is it? Pray what is it?'thought they.

And he said, 'I have somewhat to say to you concerning your King,

concerning his law, and also touching yourselves. Touching your King, I

know he is great and potent; but yet all that he hath said to you is

neither true nor yet for your advantage. 1. It is not true, for that

wherewith he hath hitherto awed you, shall not come to pass, nor be

fulfilled, though you do the thing that he hath forbidden. But if there

was danger, what a slavery is it to live always in fear of the greatest

of punishments, for doing so small and trivial a thing as eating of a

little fruit is. 2. Touching his laws, this I say further, they are

both unreasonable, intricate, and intolerable. Unreasonable, as was

hinted before; for that the punishment is not proportioned to the

offence: there is great difference and disproportion between the life

and an apple; yet the one must go for the other by the law of your

Shaddai. But it is also intricate, in that he saith, first, you may eat

of all; and yet, after forbids the eating of one. And then, in the last

place, it must needs be intolerable, forasmuch as that fruit which you

are forbidden to eat of (if you are forbidden any) is that, and that

alone, which is able, by your eating, to minister to you a good as yet

unknown by you. This is manifest by the very name of the tree; it is

called the "tree of knowledge of good and evil;"and have you that

knowledge as yet? No no; nor can you conceive how good, how pleasant,

and how much to be desired to make one wise it is, so long as you stand

by your King's commandment. Why should you be holden in ignorance and

blindness? Why should you not be enlarged in knowledge and

understanding? And now, O ye inhabitants of the famous town of Mansoul,

to speak more particularly to yourselves, you are not a free people!

You are kept both in bondage and slavery, and that by a grievous threat;

no reason being annexed but, "So I will have it; so it shall be."And is

it not grievous to think on, that that very thing which you are

forbidden to do, might you but do it, would yield you both wisdom and

honour? for then your eyes will be opened, and you shall be as gods.

Now, since this is thus,'quoth he, 'can you be kept by any prince in

more slavery and in greater bondage than you are under this day? You

are made underlings, and are wrapped up in inconveniences, as I have

well made appear. For what bondage greater than to be kept in

blindness? Will not reason tell you, that it is better to have eyes

than to be without them? and so to be at liberty to be better than to

be shut up in a dark and stinking cave?'

And just now, while Diabolus was speaking these words to Mansoul,

Tisiphone shot at Captain Resistance, where he stood on the gate, and

mortally wounded him in the head; so that he, to the amazement of the

townsmen, and the encouragement of Diabolus, fell down dead quite over

the wall. Now when Captain Resistance was dead (and he was the only man

of war in the town), poor Mansoul was wholly left naked of courage, nor

had she now any heart to resist. But this was as the devil would have

it. Then stood forth he, Mr. Ill-Pause, that Diabolus brought with

him, who was his orator; and he addressed himself to speak to the town

of Mansoul; the tenour of whose speech here follows:-

'Gentlemen,'quoth he, 'it is my master's happiness that he has this day

a quiet and teachable auditory; and it is hoped by us that we shall

prevail with you not to cast off good advice. My master has a very

great love for you; and although, as he very well knows, that he runs

the hazard of the anger of King Shaddai, yet love to you will make him

do more than that. Nor doth there need that a word more should be

spoken to confirm for truth what he hath said; there is not a word but

carries with it self-evidence in its bowels; the very name of the tree

may put an end to all controversy in this matter. I therefore, at this

time, shall only add this advice to you, under and by the leave of my

lord'(and with that he made Diabolus a very low congee); 'consider his

words, look on the tree and the promising fruit thereof; remember also

that yet you know but little, and that this is the way to know more: and

if your reasons be not conquered to accept of such good counsel, you are

not the men that I took you to be.'

But when the townsfolk saw that the tree was good for food, and that it

was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they

did as old Ill-Pause advised; they took and did eat thereof. Now this I

should have told you before, that even then, when this Ill-Pause was

making his speech to the townsmen, my Lord Innocency (whether by a shot

from the camp of the giant, or from some sinking qualm that suddenly

took him, or whether by the stinking breath of that treacherous villain

old Ill-Pause, for so I am most apt to think), sank down in the place

where he stood, nor could be brought to life again. Thus these two

brave men died; brave men, I call them; for they were the beauty and

glory of Mansoul, so long as they lived therein; nor did there now

remain any more a noble spirit in Mansoul; they all fell down and

yielded obedience to Diabolus, and became his slaves and vassals, as you

shall hear.

Now these being dead, what do the rest of the townsfolk, but as men that

had found a fool's paradise, they presently, as afore was hinted, fall

to prove the truth of the giant's words. And, first, they did as Ill-

Pause had taught them; they looked, they considered, they were taken

with the forbidden fruit: they took thereof, and did eat; and having

eaten, they became immediately drunken therewith. So they open the

gate, both Ear-gate and Eye-gate, and let in Diabolus with all his

bands, quite forgetting their good Shaddai, his law, and the judgment

that he had annexed, with solemn threatening, to the breach thereof.

Diabolus, having now obtained entrance in at the gates of the town,

marches up to the middle thereof, to make his conquest as sure as he

could; and finding, by this time, the affections of the people warmly

inclining to him, he, as thinking it was best striking while the iron is

hot, made this further deceivable speech unto them, saying, 'Alas! my

poor Mansoul! I have done thee indeed this service, as to promote thee

to honour, and to greaten thy liberty; but, alas! alas! poor Mansoul,

thou wantest now one to defend thee; for assure thyself that when

Shaddai shall hear what is done, he will come; for sorry will he be that

thou hast broken his bonds, and cast his cords away from thee. What

wilt thou do? Wilt thou, after enlargement, suffer thy privileges to be

invaded and taken away? or what wilt resolve with thyself?'

Then they all with one consent said to this bramble, 'Do thou reign over

us.'So he accepted the motion, and became the king of the town of

Mansoul. This being done, the next thing was, to give him possession of

the castle, and so of the whole strength of the town. Wherefore, into

the castle he goes; it was that which Shaddai built in Mansoul for his

own delight and pleasure; this now was become a den and hold for the

giant Diabolus.

Now, having got possession of this stately palace or castle, what doth

he but makes it a garrison for himself, and strengthens and fortifies it

with all sorts of provision, against the King Shaddai, or those that

should endeavour the regaining of it to him and his obedience again.

This done, but not thinking himself yet secure enough, in the next place

he bethinks himself of new modelling the town; and so he does, setting

up one, and putting down another at pleasure. Wherefore my Lord Mayor,

whose name was my Lord Understanding, and Mr. Recorder, whose name was

Mr. Conscience, these he put out of place and power.

As for my Lord Mayor, though he was an understanding man, and one too

that had complied with the rest of the town of Mansoul in admitting the

giant into the town; yet Diabolus thought not fit to let him abide in

his former lustre and glory, because he was a seeing man. Wherefore he

darkened him, not only by taking from him his office and power, but by

building an high and strong tower, just between the sun's reflections

and the windows of my lord's palace; by which means his house and all,

and the whole of his habitation, were made as dark as darkness itself.

And thus, being alienated from the light, he became as one that was born

blind. To this his house, my lord was confined as to a prison; nor

might he, upon his parole, go farther than within his own bounds. And

now, had he had an heart to do for Mansoul, what could he do for it, or

wherein could he be profitable to her? So then, so long as Mansoul was

under the power and government of Diabolus (and so long it was under

him, as it was obedient to him, which was even until by a war it was

rescued out of his hand), so long my Lord Mayor was rather an impediment

in, than an advantage to the famous town of Mansoul.

As for Mr. Recorder, before the town was taken, he was a man well read

in the laws of his King, and also a man of courage and faithfulness to

speak truth at every occasion: and he had a tongue as bravely hung, as

he had a head filled with judgment. Now, this man Diabolus could by no

means abide, because, though he gave his consent to his coming into the

town, yet he could not, by all the wiles, trials, stratagems, and

devices that he could use, make him wholly his own. True, he was much

degenerated from his former King, and also much pleased with many of the

giant's laws and service; but all this would not do, forasmuch as he was

not wholly his. He would now and then think upon Shaddai, and have

dread of his law upon him, and then he would speak against Diabolus with

a voice as great as when a lion roareth. Yea, and would also at certain

times, when his fits were upon him (for you must know that sometimes he

had terrible fits), make the whole town of Mansoul shake with his voice:

and therefore the now king of Mansoul could not abide him.

Diabolus, therefore, feared the Recorder more than any that was left

alive in the town of Mansoul, because, as I said, his words did shake

the whole town; they were like the rattling thunder, and also like

thunder-claps. Since, therefore, the giant could not make him wholly

his own, what doth he do but studies all that he could to debauch the

old gentleman, and by debauchery to stupefy his mind, and more harden

his heart in the ways of vanity. And as he attempted, so he

accomplished his design: he debauched the man, and, by little and

little, so drew him into sin and wickedness, that at last he was not

only debauched, as at first, and so by consequence defiled, but was

almost (at last, I say) past all conscience of sin. And this was the

farthest Diabolus could go. Wherefore he bethinks him of another

project, and that was, to persuade the men of the town that Mr.

Recorder was mad, and so not to be regarded. And for this he urged his

fits, and said, 'If he be himself, why doth he not do thus always?

But,'quoth he, 'as all mad folks have their fits, and in them their

raving language, so hath this old and doting gentleman.'

Thus, by one means or another, he quickly got Mansoul to slight neglect,

and despise whatever Mr. Recorder could say. For, besides what already

you have heard, Diabolus had a way to make the old gentleman, when he

was merry, unsay and deny what he in his fits had affirmed. And,

indeed, this was the next way to make himself ridiculous, and to cause

that no man should regard him. Also now he never spake freely for King

Shaddai, but also by force and constraint. Besides, he would at one

time be hot against that at which, at another, he would hold his peace;

so uneven was he now in his doings. Sometimes he would be as if fast

asleep, and again sometimes as dead, even then when the whole town of

Mansoul was in her career after vanity, and in her dance after the

giant's pipe.

Wherefore, sometimes when Mansoul did use to be frighted with the

thundering voice of the Recorder that was, and when they did tell

Diabolus of it, he would answer, that what the old gentleman said was

neither of love to him nor pity to them, but of a foolish fondness that

he had to be prating; and so would hush, still, and put all to quiet

again. And that he might leave no argument unurged that might tend to

make them secure, he said, and said it often, '0 Mansoul! consider

that, notwithstanding the old gentleman's rage, and the rattle of his

high and thundering words, you hear nothing of Shaddai himself;'when,

liar and deceiver that he was, every outcry of Mr. Recorder against the

sin of Mansoul was the voice of God in him to them. But he goes on, and

says, 'You see that he values not the loss nor rebellion of the town of

Mansoul, nor will he trouble himself with calling his town to a

reckoning for their giving themselves to me. He knows that though you

were his, now you are lawfully mine; so, leaving us one to another, he

now hath shaken his hands of us.

'Moreover, 0 Mansoul!'quoth he, 'consider how I have served you, even to

the uttermost of my power; and that with the best that I have, could

get, or procure for you in all the world: besides, I dare say, that the

laws and customs that you now are under, and by which you do homage to

me, do yield you more solace and content than did the paradise that at

first you possessed. Your liberty also, as yourselves do very well

know, has been greatly widened and enlarged by me; whereas I found you a

penned-up people. I have not laid any restraint upon you; you have no

law, statute, or judgment of mine to fright you; I call none of you to

account for your doings, except the madman-you know who I mean; I have

granted you to live, each man like a prince in his own, even with as

little control from me as I myself have from you.'

And thus would Diabolus hush up and quiet the town of Mansoul when the

Recorder that was did at times molest them: yea, and with such cursed

orations as these, would set the whole town in a rage and fury against

the old gentleman. Yea, the rascal crew at some times would be for

destroying him. They have often wished, in my hearing, that he had

lived a thousand miles off from them: his company, his words, yea, the

sight of him, and especially when they remembered how in old times he

did use to threaten and condemn them (for all he was now so debauched),

did terrify and afflict them sore.

But all wishes were vain, for I do not know how, unless by the power of

Shaddai, and his wisdom, he was preserved in being amongst them.

Besides, his house was as strong as a castle, and stood hard by a

stronghold of the town: moreover, if at any time any of the crew or

rabble attempted to make him away, he could pull up the sluices, and let

in such floods as would drown all round about him.

But to leave Mr. Recorder, and to come to my Lord Willbewill, another

of the gentry of the famous town of Mansoul. This Willbewill was as

high-born as any man in Mansoul, and was as much, if not more, a

freeholder than many of them were; besides, if I remember my tale

aright, he had some privileges peculiar to himself in the famous town of

Mansoul. Now, together with these, he was a man of great strength,

resolution, and courage, nor in his occasion could any turn him away.

But I say, whether he was proud of his estate, privileges, strength, or

what (but sure it was through pride of something), he scorns now to be a

slave in Mansoul; and therefore resolves to bear office under Diabolus,

that he might (such an one as he was) be a petty ruler and governor in

Mansoul. And, headstrong man that he was! thus he began betimes; for

this man, when Diabolus did make his oration at Ear-gate, was one of the

first that was for consenting to his words, and for accepting his

counsel as wholesome, and that was for the opening of the gate, and for

letting him into the town; wherefore Diabolus had a kindness for him,

and therefore he designed for him a place. And perceiving the valour

and stoutness of the man, he coveted to have him for one of his great

ones, to act and do in matters of the highest concern.

So he sent for him, and talked with him of that secret matter that lay

in his breast, but there needed not much persuasion in the case. For as

at first he was willing that Diabolus should be let into the town, so

now he was as willing to serve him there. When the tyrant, therefore,

perceived the willingness of my lord to serve him, and that his mind

stood bending that way, he forthwith made him the captain of the castle,

governor of the wall, and keeper of the gates of Mansoul: yea, there was

a clause in his commission, that nothing without him should be done in

all the town of Mansoul. So that now, next to Diabolus himself, who but

my Lord Willbewill in all the town of Mansoul! nor could anything now

be done, but at his will and pleasure, throughout the town of Mansoul.

He had also one Mr. Mind for his clerk, a man to speak on every way

like his master: for he and his lord were in principle one, and in

practice not far asunder. And now was Mansoul brought under to purpose,

and made to fulfil the lusts of the will and of the mind.

But it will not out of my thoughts, what a desperate one this Willbewill

was, when power was put into his hand. First, he flatly denied that he

owed any suit or service to his former Prince and liege lord. This

done, in the next place he took an oath, and swore fidelity to his great

master Diabolus, and then, being stated and settled in his places,

offices, advancements, and preferments, oh! you cannot think, unless

you had seen it, the strange work that this workman made in the town of

Mansoul.

First, he maligned Mr. Recorder to death; he would neither endure to

see him, nor hear the words of his mouth; he would shut his eyes when he

saw him, and stop his ears when he heard him speak. Also he could not

endure that so much as a fragment of the law of Shaddai should be

anywhere seen in the town. For example, his clerk, Mr. Mind, had some

old, rent, and torn parchments of the law of Shaddai in his house, but

when Willbewill saw them, he cast them behind his back. True, Mr.

Recorder had some of the laws in his study; but my lord could by no

means come at them. He also thought and said, that the windows of my

old Lord Mayor's house were always too light for the profit of the town

of Mansoul. The light of a candle he could not endure. Now nothing at

all pleased Willbewill but what pleased Diabolus his lord.

There was none like him to trumpet about the streets the brave nature,

the wise conduct, and great glory of the king Diabolus. He would range

and rove throughout all the streets of Mansoul to cry up his illustrious

lord, and would make himself even as an abject, among the base and

rascal crew, to cry up his valiant prince. And, I say, when and

wheresoever he found these vassals, he would even make himself as one of

them. In all ill courses, he would act without bidding, and do mischief

without commandment.

The Lord Willbewill also had a deputy under him, and his name was Mr.

Affection, one that was also greatly debauched in his principles, and

answerable thereto in his life: he was wholly given to the flesh, and

therefore they called him Vile-Affection. Now there was he and one

Carnal-Lust, the daughter of Mr. Mind (like to like), that fell in

love, and made a match, and were married; and, as I take it, they had

several children, as Impudent, Blackmouth, and Hate-Reproof. These

three were black boys. And besides these they had three daughters, as

Scorn-Truth and Slight-God, and the name of the youngest was Revenge.

These were all married in the town, and also begot and yielded many bad

brats, too many to be here inserted. But to pass by this.

CHAPTER 2

When the giant had thus engarrisoned himself in the town of Mansoul, and

had put down and set up whom he thought good, he betakes himself to

defacing. Now there was in the market-place in Mansoul, and also upon

the gates of the castle, an image of the blessed King Shaddai. This

image was so exactly engraven (and it was engraven in gold), that it did

the most resemble Shaddai himself of anything that then was extant in

the world. This he basely commanded to be defaced, and it was as basely

done by the hand of Mr. No-Truth. Now you must know that, as Diabolus

had commanded, and that by the hand of Mr. No-Truth, the image of

Shaddai was defaced, he likewise gave order that the same Mr. No-Truth

should set up in its stead the horrid and formidable image of Diabolus,

to the great contempt of the former King, and debasing of his town of

Mansoul.

Moreover, Diabolus made havoc of all remains of the laws and statutes of

Shaddai that could be found in the town of Mansoul; to wit, such as

contained either the doctrines of morals, with all civil and natural

documents. Also relative severities he sought to extinguish. To be

short, there was nothing of the remains of good in Mansoul which he and

Willbewill sought not to destroy; for their design was to turn Mansoul

into a brute, and to make it like to the sensual sow, by the hand of Mr.

No-Truth.

When he had destroyed what law and good orders he could, then further to

effect his design, namely, to alienate Mansoul from Shaddai her King, he

commands, and they set up his own vain edicts, statutes, and

commandments, in all places of resort or concourse in Mansoul, to wit,

such as gave liberty to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes,

and the pride of life, which are not of Shaddai, but of the world. He

encouraged, countenanced, and promoted lasciviousness and all

ungodliness there. Yea, much more did Diabolus to encourage wickedness

in the town of Mansoul; he promised them peace, content, joy, and bliss,

in doing his commands, and that they should never be called to an

account for their not doing the contrary. And let this serve to give a

taste to them that love to hear tell of what is done beyond their

knowledge afar off in other countries.

Now Mansoul being wholly at his beck, and brought wholly to his bow,

nothing was heard or seen therein but that which tended to set up him.

But now he, having disabled the Lord Mayor and Mr. Recorder from

bearing of office in Mansoul, and seeing that the town, before he came

to it, was the most ancient of corporations in the world; and fearing,

if he did not maintain greatness, they at any time should object that he

had done them an injury; therefore, I say (that they might see that he

did not intend to lessen their grandeur, or to take from them any of

their advantageous things), he did choose for them a Lord Mayor and a

Recorder himself, and such as contented them at the heart, and such also

as pleased him wondrous well.

The name of the Mayor that was of Diabolus'making was the Lord Lustings,

a man that had neither eyes nor ears. All that he did, whether as a man

or an officer, he did it naturally, as doth the beast. And that which

made him yet the more ignoble, though not to Mansoul, yet to them that

beheld and were grieved for its ruin, was, that he never could favour

good, but evil.

The Recorder was one whose name was Forget-Good, and a very sorry fellow

he was. He could remember nothing but mischief, and to do it with

delight. He was naturally prone to do things that were hurtful, even

hurtful to the town of Mansoul, and to all the dwellers there. These

two, therefore, by their power and practice, examples, and smiles upon

evil, did much more grammar and settle the common people in hurtful

ways. For who doth not perceive that when those that sit aloft are vile

and corrupt themselves, they corrupt the whole region and country where

they are?

Besides these, Diabolus made several burgesses and aldermen in Mansoul,

such as out of whom the town, when it needed, might choose them

officers, governors, and magistrates. And these are the names of the

chief of them: Mr. Incredulity, Mr. Haughty, Mr. Swearing, Mr.

Whoring, Mr. Hard-Heart, Mr. Pitiless, Mr. Fury, Mr. No-Truth, Mr.

Stand-to-Lies, Mr. False-Peace, Mr. Drunkenness, Mr. Cheating, Mr.

Atheism-thirteen in all. Mr. Incredulity is the eldest, and Mr.

Atheism the youngest of the company.

There was also an election of common councilmen and others, as bailiffs,

sergeants, constables, and others; but all of them like to those

aforenamed, being either fathers, brothers, cousins, or nephews to them,

whose names, for brevity's sake, I omit to mention.

When the giant had thus far proceeded in his work, in the next place he

betook him to build some strongholds in the town, and he built three

that seemed to be impregnable. The first he called the Hold of

Defiance, because it was made to command the whole town, and to keep it

from the knowledge of its ancient King. The second he called Midnight

Hold, because it was built on purpose to keep Mansoul from the true

knowledge of itself. The third was called Sweet-Sin Hold, because by

that he fortified Mansoul against all desires of good. The first of

these holds stood close by Eye-gate, that, as much might be, light might

be darkened there; the second was built hard by the old castle, to the

end that that might be made more blind, if possible; and the third stood

in the market-place.

He that Diabolus made governor over the first of these was one Spite-

God, a most blasphemous wretch: he came with the whole rabble of them

that came against Mansoul at first, and was himself one of themselves.

He that was made the governor of Midnight Hold was one Love-no-Light: he

was also of them that came first against the town. And he that was made

the governor of the hold called Sweet-Sin Hold was one whose name was

Love-Flesh: he was also a very lewd fellow, but not of that country

where the other are bound. This fellow could find more sweetness when

he stood sucking of a lust, than he did in all the paradise of God.

And now Diabolus thought himself safe. He had taken Mansoul, he had

engarrisoned himself therein; he had put down the old officers, and had

set up new ones; he had defaced the image of Shaddai, and had set up his

own; he had spoiled the old law books, and had promoted his own vain

lies; he had made him new magistrates, and set up new aldermen; he had

builded him new holds, and had manned them for himself: and all this he

did to make himself secure, in case the good Shaddai, or his Son, should

come to make an incursion upon him.

Now you may well think, that long before this time, word, by some or

other, could not but be carried to the good King Shaddai, how his

Mansoul, in the continent of Universe, was lost; and that the runagate

giant Diabolus, once one of his Majesty's servants, had, in rebellion

against the King, made sure thereof for himself. Yea, tidings were

carried and brought to the King thereof, and that to a very

circumstance.

At first, how Diabolus came upon Mansoul (they being a simple people and

innocent) with craft, subtlety, lies, and guile. Item, that he had

treacherously slain the right noble and valiant captain, their Captain

Resistance, as he stood upon the gate with the rest of the townsmen.

Item, how my brave Lord Innocent fell down dead (with grief, some say,

or with being poisoned with the stinking breath of one Ill-Pause, as say

others) at the hearing of his just Lord and rightful Prince, Shaddai, so

abused by the mouth of so filthy a Diabolonian as that varlet Ill-Pause

was. The messenger further told, that after this Ill-Pause had made a

short oration to the townsmen in behalf of Diabolus, his master, the

simple town, believing that what was said was true, with one consent did

open Ear-gate, the chief gate of the corporation, and did let him, with

his crew, into a possession of the famous town of Mansoul. He further

showed how Diabolus had served the Lord Mayor and Mr. Recorder, to wit,

that he had put them from all place of power and trust. Item, he showed

also that my Lord Willbewill was turned a very rebel and runagate, and

that so was one Mr. Mind, his clerk; and that they two did range and

revel it all the town over, and teach the wicked ones their ways. He

said, moreover, that this Willbewill was put into great trust, and

particularly that Diabolus had put into Willbewill's hand all the strong

places in Mansoul; and that Mr. Affection was made my Lord Willbewill's

deputy in his most rebellious affairs. 'Yea,'said the messenger, 'this

monster, Lord Willbewill, has openly disavowed his King Shaddai, and

hath horribly given his faith and plighted his troth to Diabolus.

'Also,'said the messenger, 'besides all this, the new king, or rather

rebellious tyrant, over the once famous, but now perishing town of

Mansoul, has set up a Lord Mayor and a Recorder of his own. For Mayor,

he has set up one Mr. Lustings; and for Recorder, Mr. Forget-Good; two

of the vilest of all the town of Mansoul.'This faithful messenger also

proceeded, and told what a sort of new burgesses Diabolus had made; also

that he had built several strong forts, towers, and strongholds in

Mansoul. He told, too, the which I had almost forgot, how Diabolus had

put the town of Mansoul into arms, the better to capacitate them, on his

behalf, to make resistance against Shaddai their King, should he come to

reduce them to their former obedience.

Now this tidings-teller did not deliver his relation of things in

private, but in open court, the King and his Son, high lords, chief

captains, and nobles, being all there present to hear. But by that they

had heard the whole of the story, it would have amazed one to have seen,

had he been there to behold it, what sorrow and grief, and compunction

of spirit, there was among all sorts, to think that famous Mansoul was

now taken: only the King and his Son foresaw all this long before, yea,

and sufficiently provided for the relief of Mansoul, though they told

not everybody thereof. Yet because they also would have a share in

condoling of the misery of Mansoul, therefore they also did, and that at

a rate of the highest degree, bewail the losing of Mansoul. The King

said plainly that it grieved him at the heart, and you may be sure that

his Son was not a whit behind him. Thus gave they conviction to all

about them that they had love and compassion for the famous town of

Mansoul. Well, when the King and his Son were retired into the privy

chamber, there they again consulted about what they had designed before,

to wit, that as Mansoul should in time be suffered to be lost, so as

certainly it should be recovered again; recovered, I say, in such a way,

as that both the King and his Son would get themselves eternal fame and

glory thereby. Wherefore, after this consult, the Son of Shaddai (a

sweet and comely Person, and one that had always great affection for

those that were in affliction, but one that had mortal enmity in his

heart against Diabolus, because he was designed for it, and because he

sought his crown and dignity)-this Son of Shaddai, I say, having

stricken hands with his Father, and promised that he would be his

servant to recover his Mansoul again, stood by his resolution, nor would

he repent of the same. The purport of which agreement was this; to wit,

that at a certain time, prefixed by both, the King's Son should take a

journey into the country of Universe, and there, in a way of justice and

equity, by making amends for the follies of Mansoul, he should lay a

foundation of perfect deliverance from Diabolus and from his tyranny.

Moreover, Emmanuel resolved to make, at a time convenient, a war upon

the giant Diabolus, even while he was possessed of the town of Mansoul;

and that he would fairly by strength of hand drive him out of his hold,

his nest, and take it to himself to be his habitation.

This now being resolved upon, order was given to the Lord Chief

Secretary to draw up a fair record of what was determined, and to cause

that it should be published in all the corners of the kingdom of

Universe. A short breviate of the contents thereof you may, if you

please, take here as follows:

'Let all men know who are concerned, that the Son of Shaddai, the great

King, is engaged by covenant to his Father to bring his Mansoul to him

again; yea, and to put Mansoul, too, through the power of his matchless

love, into a far better and more happy condition than it was in before

it was taken by Diabolus.'

These papers, therefore, were published in several places, to the no

little molestation of the tyrant Diabolus; 'for now,'thought he, 'I

shall be molested, and my habitation will be taken from me.'

But when this matter, I mean this purpose of the King and his Son, did

at first take air at court, who can tell how the high lords, chief

captains, and noble princes that were there, were taken with the

business! First, they whispered it one to another, and after that it

began to ring out through the King's palace, all wondering at the

glorious design that between the King and his Son was on foot for the

miserable town of Mansoul. Yea, the courtiers could scarce do anything

either for the King or kingdom, but they would mix, with the doing

thereof, a noise of the love of the King and his Son, that they had for

the town of Mansoul.

Nor could these lords, high captains, and princes be content to keep

this news at court; yea, before the records thereof were perfected,

themselves came down and told it in Universe. At last it came to the

ears, as I said, of Diabolus, to his no little discontent; for you must

think it would perplex him to hear of such a design against him. Well,

but after a few casts in his mind, he concluded upon these four things:-

First. That this news, these good tidings (if possible), should be kept

from the ears of the town of Mansoul; 'for,'said he, 'if they should

once come to the knowledge that Shaddai, their former King, and Emmanuel

his Son, are contriving good for the town of Mansoul, what can be

expected by me, but that Mansoul will make a revolt from under my hand

and government, and return again to him?'

Now, to accomplish this his design, he renews his flattery with my Lord

Willbewill, and also gives him strict charge and command, that he should

keep watch by day and by night at all the gates of the town, especially

Ear-gate and Eye-gate; 'for I hear of a design,'quoth he, 'a design to

make us all traitors, and that Mansoul must be reduced to its first

bondage again. I hope they are but flying stories,'quoth he; 'however,

let no such news by any means be let into Mansoul, lest the people be

dejected thereat. I think, my lord, it can be no welcome news to you; I

am sure it is none to me; and I think that, at this time, it should be

all our wisdom and care to nip the head of all such rumours as shall

tend to trouble our people. Wherefore I desire, my lord, that you will

in this matter do as I say. Let there be strong guards daily kept at

every gate of the town. Stop also and examine from whence such come

that you perceive do from far come hither to trade, nor let them by any

means be admitted into Mansoul, unless you shall plainly perceive that

they are favourers of our excellent government. I command,

moreover,'said Diabolus, 'that there be spies continually walking up and

down the town of Mansoul, and let them have power to suppress and

destroy any that they shall perceive to be plotting against us, or that

shall prate of what by Shaddai and Emmanuel is intended.'

This, therefore, was accordingly done; my Lord Willbewill hearkened to

his lord and master, went willingly after the commandment, and, with all

the diligence he could, kept any that would from going out abroad, or

that sought to bring these tidings to Mansoul, from coming into the

town.

Secondly. This done, in the next place, Diabolus, that he might make

Mansoul as sure as he could, frames and imposes a new oath and horrible

covenant upon the townsfolk:-To wit, that they should never desert him

nor his government, nor yet betray him, nor seek to alter his laws; but

that they should own, confess, stand by, and acknowledge him for their

rightful king, in defiance to any that do, or hereafter shall, by any

pretence, law, or title whatever, lay claim to the town of Mansoul;

thinking, belike, that Shaddai had not power to absolve them from this

covenant with death, and agreement with hell. Nor did the silly Mansoul

stick or boggle at all at this most monstrous engagement; but, as if it

had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale, they swallowed it without any

chewing. Were they troubled at all? Nay, they rather bragged and

boasted of their so brave fidelity to the tyrant, their pretended king,

swearing that they would never be changelings, nor forsake their old

lord for a new. Thus did Diabolus tie poor Mansoul fast.

Thirdly. But jealousy, that never thinks itself strong enough, put him,

in the next place, upon another exploit, which was yet more, if

possible, to debauch this town of Mansoul. Wherefore he caused, by the

hand of one Mr. Filth, an odious, nasty, lascivious piece of

beastliness to be drawn up in writing, and to be set upon the castle

gates; whereby he granted and gave licence to all his true and trusty

sons in Mansoul to do whatsoever their lustful appetites prompted them

to do; and that no man was to let, hinder, or control them, upon pain of

incurring the displeasure of their prince.

Now this he did for these reasons:

1. That the town of Mansoul might be yet made weaker and weaker, and so

more unable, should tidings come that their redemption was designed, to

believe, hope, or consent to the truth thereof; for reason says, The

bigger the sinner, the less grounds of hopes of mercy.

2. The second reason was, if perhaps Emmanuel, the Son of Shaddai their

King, by seeing the horrible and profane doings of the town of Mansoul,

might repent, though entered into a covenant of redeeming them, of

pursuing that covenant of their redemption; for he knew that Shaddai was

holy, and that his Son Emmanuel was holy; yea, he knew it by woful

experience, for for his iniquity and sin was Diabolus cast from the

highest orbs. Wherefore what more rational than for him to conclude

that thus, for sin, it might fare with Mansoul? But fearing also lest

this knot should break, he bethinks himself of another, to wit:

Fourthly. To endeavour to possess all hearts in the town of Mansoul

that Shaddai was raising an army, to come to overthrow and utterly to

destroy this town of Mansoul. And this he did to forestall any tidings

that might come to their ears of their deliverance: 'for,'thought he,

'if I first bruit this, the tidings that shall come after will all be

swallowed up of this; for what else will Mansoul say, when they shall

hear that they must be delivered, but that the true meaning is, Shaddai

intends to destroy them?'Wherefore he summons the whole town into the

market-place, and there, with deceitful tongue, thus he addresses

himself unto them:-

'Gentlemen, and my very good friends, you are all, as you know, my legal

subjects, and men of the famous town of Mansoul. You know how, from the

first day that I have been with you until now, I have behaved myself

among you, and what liberty and great privileges you have enjoyed under

my government, I hope to your honour and mine, and also to your content

and delight. Now, my famous Mansoul, a noise of trouble there is

abroad, of trouble to the town of Mansoul; sorry I am thereof for your

sakes: for I received but now by the post from my Lord Lucifer (and he

useth to have good intelligence), that your old King Shaddai is raising

an army to come against you, to destroy you root and branch; and this, O

Mansoul, is now the cause that at this time I have called you together,

namely, to advise what in this juncture is best to be done. For my

part, I am but one, and can with ease shift for myself, did I list to

seek my own ease, and to leave my Mansoul in all the danger; but my

heart is so firmly united to you, and so unwilling am I to leave you,

that I am willing to stand and fall with you, to the utmost hazard that

shall befall me. What say you, O my Mansoul? Will you now desert your

old friend, or do you think of standing by me?'

Then, as one man, with one mouth, they cried out together; 'Let him die

the death that will not.'

Then said Diabolus again, 'It is in vain for us to hope for quarter, for

this King knows not how to show it. True, perhaps, he, at his first

sitting down before us, will talk of and pretend to mercy, that thereby,

with the more ease, and less trouble, he may again make himself the

master of Mansoul. Whatever, therefore, he shall say, believe not one

syllable or tittle of it; for all such language is but to overcome us,

and to make us, while we wallow in our blood, the trophies of his

merciless victory. My mind is, therefore, that we resolve to the last

man to resist him, and not to believe him upon any terms, for in at that

door will come our danger. But shall we be flattered out of our lives?

I hope you know more of the rudiments of politics than to suffer

yourself so pitifully to be served.

'But suppose he should, if he get us to yield, save some of our lives,

or the lives of some of them that are underlings in Mansoul, what help

will that be to you that are the chief of the town, especially you whom

I have set up, and whose greatness has been procured by you through your

faithful sticking to me? And suppose, again, that he should give

quarter to every one of you, be sure he will bring you into that bondage

under which you were captivated before, or a worse, and then what good

will your lives do you? Shall you with him live in pleasure as you do

now? No, no; you must be bound by laws that will pinch you, and be made

to do that which at present is hateful to you. I am for you, if you are

for me; and it is better to die valiantly than to live like pitiful

slaves. But, I say, the life of a slave will be counted a life too good

for Mansoul now. Blood, blood, nothing but blood, is in every blast of

Shaddai's trumpet against poor Mansoul now. Pray, be concerned; I hear

he is coming. Up, and stand to your arms, that now, while you have any

leisure, I may learn you some feats of war. Armour for you I have, and

by me it is; yea, and it is sufficient for Mansoul from top to toe; nor

can you be hurt by what his force can do, if you shall keep it well girt

and fastened about you. Come, therefore, to my castle, and welcome, and

harness yourselves for the war. There is helmet, breastplate, sword,

and shield, and what not, that will make you fight like men.

'1. My helmet, otherwise called an head-piece, is hope of doing well at

last, what lives soever you live. This is that which they had who said,

that they should have peace, though they walked in the wickedness of

their heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. A piece of approved armour

this is, and whoever has it, and can hold it, so long no arrow, dart,

sword, or shield can hurt him. This, therefore, keep on, and thou wilt

keep off many a blow, my Mansoul.

'2. My breastplate is a breastplate of iron. I had it forged in mine

own country, and all my soldiers are armed therewith. In plain

language, it is a hard heart, a heart as hard as iron, and as much past

feeling as a stone; the which if you get and keep, neither mercy shall

win you, nor judgment fright you. This, therefore, is a piece of armour

most necessary for all to put on that hate Shaddai, and that would fight

against him under my banner.

'3. My sword is a tongue that is set on fire of hell, and that can bend

itself to speak evil of Shaddai, his Son, his ways, and people. Use

this; it has been tried a thousand times twice told. Whoever hath it,

keeps it, and makes that use of it as I would have him, can never be

conquered by mine enemy.

'4. My shield is unbelief, or calling into question the truth of the

word, or all the sayings that speak of the judgment that Shaddai has

appointed for wicked men. Use this shield: many attempts he has made

upon it, and sometimes, it is true, it has been bruised; but they that

have writ of the wars of Emmanuel against my servants, have testified

that he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief. Now,

to handle this weapon of mine aright, it is not to believe things

because they are true, of what sort or by whomsoever asserted. If he

speaks of judgment, care not for it; if he speaks of mercy, care not for

it; if he promises, if he swears that he would do to Mansoul, if it

turns, no hurt, but good, regard not what is said, question the truth of

all, for it is to wield the shield of unbelief aright, and as my

servants ought and do; and he that cloth otherwise loves me not, nor do

I count him but an enemy to me.

'5. Another part or piece,'said Diabolus, 'of mine excellent armour is

a dumb and prayerless spirit, a spirit that scorns to cry for mercy:

wherefore be you, my Mansoul, sure that you make use of this. What!

cry for quarter! Never do that, if you would be mine. I know you are

stout men, and am sure that I have clad you with that which is armour of

proof. Wherefore, to cry to Shaddai for mercy, let that be far from

you. Besides all this, I have a maul, firebrands, arrows, and death,

all good hand-weapons, and such as will do execution.'

After he had thus furnished his men with armour and arms, he addressed

himself to them in such like words as these:-'Remember,'quoth he, 'that

I am your rightful king, and that you have taken an oath and entered

into covenant to be true to me and my cause: I say, remember this, and

show yourselves stout and valiant men of Mansoul. Remember also the

kindness that I have always showed to you, and that without your

petition I have granted to you external things; wherefore the

privileges, grants, immunities, profits, and honours wherewith 1 have

endowed you, do call for, at your hands, returns of loyalty, my lion-

like men of Mansoul: and when so fit a time to show it as when another

shall seek to take my dominion over you into his own hands? One word

more, and I have done. Can we but stand, and overcome this one shock or

brunt, I doubt not but in little time all the world will be ours; and

when that day comes, my true hearts, I will make you kings, princes, and

captains, and what brave days shall we have then!'

Diabolus having thus armed and forearmed his servants and vassals in

Mansoul against their good and lawful King Shaddai, in the next place he

doubleth his guards at the gates of the town, and he takes himself to

the castle, which was his stronghold. His vassals also, to show their

wills, and supposed (but ignoble) gallantry, exercise themselves in

their arms every day, and teach one another feats of war: they also

defied their enemies, and sang up the praises of their tyrant; they

threatened also what men they would be, if ever things should rise so

high as a war between Shaddai and their king.

CHAPTER 3

Now all this time the good King, the King Shaddai, was preparing to send

an army to recover the town of Mansoul again from under the tyranny of

their pretended king Diabolus; but he thought good, at first, not to

send them by the hand and conduct of brave Emmanuel his Son, but under

the hand of some of his servants, to see first by them the temper of

Mansoul, and whether by them they would be won to the obedience of their

King. The army consisted of above forty thousand, all true men, for

they came from the King's own court, and were those of his own choosing.

They came up to Mansoul under the conduct of four stout generals, each

man being a captain of ten thousand men, and these are their names and

their ensigns. The name of the first was Boanerges, the name of the

second was Captain Conviction, the name of the third was Captain

Judgment, and the name of the fourth was Captain Execution. These were

the captains that Shaddai sent to regain Mansoul.

These four captains, as was said, the King thought fit, in the first

place, to send to Mansoul, to make an attempt upon it; for indeed

generally in all his wars he did use to send these four captains in the

van, for they were very stout and rough-hewn men, men that were fit to

break the ice, and to make their way by dint of sword; and their men

were like themselves.

To each of these captains the King gave a banner, that it might be

displayed, because of the goodness of his cause, and because of the

right that he had to Mansoul.

First, to Captain Boanerges, for he was the chief, to him, I say, were

given ten thousand men. His ensign was Mr. Thunder; he bare the black

colours, and his scutcheon was the three burning thunderbolts.

The second captain was Captain Conviction; to him also were given ten

thousand men. His ensign's name was Mr. Sorrow; he did bear the pale

colours, and his scutcheon was the book of the law wide open, from

whence issued a flame of fire.

The third captain was Captain Judgment; to him were given ten thousand

men. His ensign's name was Mr. Terror; he bare the red colours, and

his scutcheon was a burning fiery furnace.

The fourth captain was Captain Execution; to him were given ten thousand

men. His ensign was one Mr. Justice; he also bare the red colours, and

his scutcheon was a fruitless tree, with an axe lying at the root

thereof.

These four captains, as I said, had every one of them under his command

ten thousand men, all of good fidelity to the King, and stout at their

military actions.

Well, the captains and their forces, their men and under officers, being

had upon a day by Shaddai into the field, and there called all over by

their names, were then and there put into such harness as became their

degree and that service which now they were going about for their King.

Now, when the King had mustered his forces (for it is he that mustereth

the host to the battle), he gave unto the captains their several

commissions, with charge and commandment in the audience of all the

soldiers, that they should take heed faithfully and courageously to do

and execute the same. Their commissions were, for the substance of

them, the same in form, though, as to name, title, place, and degree of

the captains, there might be some, but very small variation. And here

let me give you an account of the matter and sum contained in their

commission.

'A commission from the great Shaddai, King of Mansoul, to his trusty and

noble Captain, the Captain Boanerges, for his making War upon the town

of Mansoul.

'O, thou Boanerges, one of my stout and thundering captains over one ten

thousand of my valiant and faithful servants, go thou in my name, with

this thy force, to the miserable town of Mansoul; and when thou comest

thither, offer them first conditions of peace; and command them that,

casting off the yoke and tyranny of the wicked Diabolus, they return to

me, their rightful Prince and Lord. Command them also that they cleanse

themselves from all that is his in the town of Mansoul, and look to

thyself, that thou hast good satisfaction touching the truth of their

obedience. Thus when thou hast commanded them (if they in truth submit

thereto), then do thou, to the uttermost of thy power, what in thee lies

to set up for me a garrison in the famous town of Mansoul; nor do thou

hurt the least native that moveth or breatheth therein, if they will

submit themselves to me, but treat thou such as if they were thy friend

or brother; for all such I love, and they shall be dear unto me; and

tell them that I will take a time to come unto them, and to let them

know that I am merciful.

'But if they shall, notwithstanding thy summons and the producing of thy

authority, resist, stand out against thee, and rebel, then do I command

thee to make use of all thy cunning, power, might, and force, to bring

them under by strength of hand. Farewell.'

Thus you see the sum of their commissions; for, as I said before, for

the substance of them, they were the same that the rest of the noble

captains had.

Wherefore they, having received each commander his authority at the hand

of their King, the day being appointed, and the place of their

rendezvous prefixed, each commander appeared in such gallantry as became

his cause and calling. So, after a new entertainment from Shaddai, with

flying colours they set forward to march towards the famous town of

Mansoul. Captain Boanerges led the van, Captain Conviction and Captain

Judgment made up the main body, and Captain Execution brought up the

rear. They then, having a great way to go (for the town of Mansoul was

far off from the court of Shaddai), marched through the regions and

countries of many people, not hurting or abusing any, but blessing

wherever they came. They also lived upon the King's cost in all the way

they went.

Having travelled thus for many days, at last they came within sight of

Mansoul; the which when they saw, the captains could for their hearts do

no less than for a while bewail the condition of the town; for they

quickly saw how that it was prostrate to the will of Diabolus, and to

his ways and designs.

Well, to be short, the captains came up before the town, march up to Ear

-gate, sit down there (for that was the place of hearing). So, when they

had pitched their tents and entrenched themselves, they addressed

themselves to make their assault.

Now the townsfolk at first, beholding so gallant a company, so bravely

accoutred, and so excellently disciplined, having on their glittering

armour, and displaying of their flying colours, could not but come out

of their houses and gaze. But the cunning fox Diabolus, fearing that

the people, after this sight, should, on a sudden summons, open the

gates to the captains, came down with all haste from the castle, and

made them retire into the body of the town, who, when he had them there,

made this lying and deceivable speech unto them:

'Gentlemen,'quoth he, 'although you are my trusty and well-beloved

friends, yet I cannot but a little chide you for your late uncircumspect

action, in going out to gaze on that great and mighty force that but

yesterday sat down before, and have now entrenched themselves in order

to the maintaining of a siege against the famous town of Mansoul. Do

you know who they are, whence they come, and what is their purpose in

sitting down before the town of Mansoul? They are they of whom I have

told you long ago, that they would come to destroy this town, and

against whom I have been at the cost to arm you with cap-a-pie for your

body, besides great fortifications for your mind. Wherefore, then, did

you not rather, even at the first appearance of them, cry out, Fire the

beacons, and give the whole town an alarm concerning them, that we might

all have been in a posture of defence, and been ready to have received

them with the highest acts of defiance? Then had you showed yourselves

men to my liking; whereas, by what you have done, you have made me half

afraid-I say, half afraid-that when they and we shall come to push a

pike, I shall find you want courage to stand it out any longer.

Wherefore have I commanded a watch, and that you should double your

guards at the gates? Wherefore have I endeavoured to make you as hard

as iron, and your hearts as a piece of the nether millstone? Was it,

think you, that you might show yourselves women, and that you might go

out like a company of innocents to gaze on your mortal foes? Fie, fie!

put yourselves into a posture of defence, beat up the drum, gather

together in warlike manner, that our foes may know that, before they

shall conquer this corporation, there are valiant men in the town of

Mansoul.

'I will leave off now to chide, and will not further rebuke you; but I

charge you, that henceforwards you let me see no more such actions. Let

not henceforward a man of you, without order first obtained from me, so

much as show his head over the wall of the town of Mansoul. You have

now heard me; do as I have commanded, and you shall cause me that 1

dwell securely with you, and that I take care, as for myself, so for

your safety and honour also. Farewell.'

Now were the townsmen strangely altered; they were as men stricken with

a panic fear; they ran to and fro through the streets of the town of

Mansoul, crying out, 'Help, help! the men that turn the world upside

down are come hither also.'Nor could any of them be quiet after; but

still, as men bereft of wit, they cried out, 'The destroyers of our

peace and people are come.'This went down with Diabolus. 'Ah,'quoth he

to himself, 'this I like well: now it is as I would have it; now you

show your obedience to your prince. Hold you but here, and then let

them take the town if they can.'

Well, before the King's forces had sat before Mansoul three days,

Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go down to Ear-gate, and

there, in the name of the great Shaddai, to summon Mansoul to give

audience to the message that he, in his Master's name, was to them

commanded to deliver. So the trumpeter, whose name was Take-heed-what-

you-hear, went up, as he was commanded to Ear-gate, and there sounded

his trumpet for a hearing; but there was none that appeared that gave

answer or regard, for so had Diabolus commanded. So the trumpeter

returned to his captain, and told him what he had done, and also how he

had sped; whereat the captain was grieved, but bid the trumpeter go to

his tent.

Again Captain Boanerges sendeth his trumpeter to Ear-gate, to sound as

before for a hearing; but they again kept close, came not out, nor would

they give him an answer, so observant were they of the command of

Diabolus their king.

Then the captains and other field officers called a council of war, to

consider what further was to be done for the gaining of the town of

Mansoul; and, after some close and thorough debate upon the contents of

their commissions, they concluded yet to give to the town, by the hand

of the forenamed trumpeter, another summons to hear; but if that shall

be refused, said they, and that the town shall stand it out still, then

they determined, and bid the trumpeter tell them so, that they would

endeavour, by what means they could to compel them by force to the

obedience of their King

So Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go up to Ear-gate again,

and, in the name of the great King Shaddai, to give it a very loud

summons to come down without delay to Ear-gate, there to give audience

to the King's most noble captains. So the trumpeter went, and did as he

was commanded: he went up to Ear-gate, and sounded his trumpet, and gave

a third summons to Mansoul. He said, moreover, that if this they should

still refuse to do, the captains of his Prince would with might come

down upon them, and endeavour to reduce them to their obedience by

force.

Then stood up my Lord Willbewill, who was the governor of the town (this

Willbewill was that apostate of whom mention was made before), and the

keeper of the gates of Mansoul. He therefore, with big and ruffling

words, demanded of the trumpeter who he was, whence he came, and what

was the cause of his making so hideous a noise at the gate, and speaking

such insufferable words against the town of Mansoul.

The trumpeter answered, 'I am servant to the most noble captain, Captain

Boanerges, general of the forces of the great King Shaddai, against whom

both thyself, with the whole town of Mansoul, have rebelled, and lift up

the heel; and my master, the captain, hath a special message to this

town, and to thee, as a member thereof; the which if you of Mansoul

shall peaceably hear, so; and if not, you must take what follows.'

Then said the Lord Willbewill, 'I will carry thy words to my lord, and

will know what he will say.'

But the trumpeter soon replied, saying, 'Our message is not to the giant

Diabolus, but to the miserable town of Mansoul; nor shall we at all

regard what answer by him is made, nor yet by any for him. We are sent

to this town to recover it from under his cruel tyranny, and to persuade

it to submit, as in former times it did, to the most excellent King

Shaddai.'

Then said the Lord Willbewill, 'I will do your errand to the town.'

The trumpeter then replied, 'Sir, do not deceive us, lest, in so doing,

you deceive yourselves much more.'He added, moreover, 'For we are

resolved, if in peaceable manner you do not submit yourselves, then to

make a war upon you, and to bring you under by force. And of the truth

of what I now say, this shall be a sign unto you,-you shall see the

black flag, with its hot, burning thunderbolts, set upon the mount to-

morrow, as a token of defiance against your prince, and of our

resolutions to reduce you to your Lord and rightful King.'

So the said Lord Willbewill returned from off the wall, and the

trumpeter came into the camp. When the trumpeter was come into the

camp, the captains and officers of the mighty King Shaddai came together

to know if he had obtained a hearing, and what was the effect of his

errand. So the trumpeter told, saying, 'When I had sounded my trumpet,

and had called aloud to the town for a hearing, my Lord Willbewill, the

governor of the town, and he that hath charge of the gates, came up when

he heard me sound, and, looking over the wall, he asked me what I was,

whence I came, and what was the cause of my making this noise. So I

told him my errand, and by whose authority I brought it. "Then,"said

he, "I will tell it to the governor and to Mansoul;"and then I returned

to my lords.'

Then said the brave Boanerges, 'Let us yet for a while lie still in our

trenches, and see what these rebels will do.'

Now when the time drew nigh that audience by Mansoul must be given to

the brave Boanerges and his companions, it was commanded that all the

men of war throughout the whole camp of Shaddai should as one man stand

to their arms, and make themselves ready, if the town of Mansoul shall

hear, to receive it forthwith to mercy; but if not, to force a

subjection. So the day being come, the trumpeters sounded, and that

throughout the whole camp, that the men of war might be in a readiness

for that which then should be the work of the day. But when they that

were in the town of Mansoul heard the sound of the trumpets throughout

the camp of Shaddai, and thinking no other but that it must be in order

to storm the corporation, they at first were put to great consternation

of spirit; but after they a little were settled again, they also made

what preparation they could for a war, if they did storm; else, to

secure themselves.

Well, when the utmost time was come, Boanerges was resolved to hear

their answer; wherefore he sent out his trumpeter again to summons

Mansoul to a hearing of the message that they had brought from Shaddai.

So he went and sounded, and the townsmen came up, but made Ear-gate as

sure as they could. Now when they were come up to the top of the wall,

Captain Boanerges desired to see the Lord Mayor; but my Lord Incredulity

was then Lord Mayor, for he came in the room of my Lord Lustings. So

Incredulity came up and showed himself over the wall; but when the

Captain Boanerges had set his eyes upon him, he cried out aloud, 'This

is not he: where is my Lord Understanding, the ancient Lord Mayor of the

town of Mansoul? for to him I would deliver my message.'

Then said the giant (for Diabolus was also come down) to the captain,

'Mr. Captain, you have by your boldness given to Mansoul at least four

summonses to subject herself to your King, by whose authority I know

not, nor will I dispute that now. I ask, therefore, what is the reason

of all this ado, or what would you be at if you knew yourselves?'

Then Captain Boanerges, whose were the black colours, and whose

scutcheon was the three burning thunderbolts, taking no notice of the

giant or of his speech, thus addressed himself to the town of Mansoul:

'Be it known unto you, O unhappy and rebellious Mansoul, that the most

gracious King, the great King Shaddai, my Master, hath sent me unto you

with commission'(and so he showed to the town his broad seal) 'to reduce

you to his obedience; and he hath commanded me, in case you yield upon

my summons, to carry it to you as if you were my friends or brethren;

but he also hath bid, that if, after summons to submit, you still stand

out and rebel, we should endeavour to take you by force.'

Then stood forth Captain Conviction, and said (his were the pale

colours, and for a scutcheon he had the book of the law wide open,

etc.), 'Hear, O Mansoul! Thou, O Mansoul, wast once famous for

innocency, but now thou art degenerated into lies and deceit. Thou hast

heard what my brother, the Captain Boanerges, hath said; and it is your

wisdom, and will be your happiness, to stoop to, and accept of

conditions of peace and mercy when offered, specially when offered by

one against whom thou hast rebelled, and one who is of power to tear

thee in pieces, for so is Shaddai, our King; nor, when he is angry can

anything stand before him. If you say you have not sinned, or acted

rebellion against our King, the whole of your doings since the day that

you cast off his service (and there was the beginning of your sin) will

sufficiently testify against you. What else means your hearkening to

the tyrant, and your receiving him for your king? What means else your

rejecting of the laws of Shaddai, and your obeying of Diabolus? Yea,

what means this your taking up of arms against, and the shutting of your

gates upon us, the faithful servants of your King? Be ruled, then, and

accept of my brother's invitation, and overstand not the time of mercy,

but agree with thine adversary quickly. Ah! Mansoul, suffer not

thyself to be kept from mercy, and to be run into a thousand miseries,

by the flattering wiles of Diabolus. Perhaps that piece of deceit may

attempt to make you believe that we seek our own profit in this our

service; but know it is obedience to our King, and love to your

happiness, that is the cause of this undertaking of ours.

'Again I say to thee, O Mansoul, consider if it be not amazing grace

that Shaddai should so humble himself as he doth: now he, by us, reasons

with you, in a way of entreaty and sweet persuasions, that you would

subject yourselves to him. Has he that need of you that we are sure you

have of him? No, no; but he is merciful, and will not that Mansoul

should die, but turn to him and live.'

Then stood forth Captain Judgment, whose were the red colours, and for a

scutcheon he had the burning fiery furnace, and he said, 'O ye, the

inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, that have lived so long in rebellion

and acts of treason against the King Shaddai, know that we come not to-

day to this place, in this manner, with our message of our own minds, or

to revenge our own quarrel; it is the King, my Master, that hath sent us

to reduce you to your obedience to him; the which if you refuse in a

peaceable way to yield, we have commission to compel you thereto. And

never think of yourselves, nor yet suffer the tyrant Diabolus to

persuade you to think, that our King, by his power, is not able to bring

you down, and to lay you under his feet; for he is the former of all

things, and if he touches the mountains, they smoke. Nor will the gate

of the King's clemency stand always open; for the day that shall burn

like an oven is before him; yea, it hasteth greatly, it slumbereth not.

'O Mansoul, is it little in thine eyes that our King doth offer thee

mercy, and that after so many provocations? Yea, he still holdeth out

his golden sceptre to thee, and will not yet suffer his gate to be shut

against thee: wilt thou provoke him to do it? If so, consider of what I

say: to thee it is opened no more forever. If thou sayest thou shalt

not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

Yea, because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his

stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. Will he esteem thy

riches? No, not gold, nor all the forces of strength. He hath prepared

his throne for judgment, for he will come with fire, and with his

chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his

rebukes with flames of fire. Therefore, O Mansoul, take heed lest,

after thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, justice and

judgment should take hold of thee.'

Now while the Captain Judgment was making this oration to the town of

Mansoul, it was observed by some that Diabolus trembled; but he

proceeded in his parable and said, 'O thou woful town of Mansoul, wilt

thou not yet set open thy gate to receive us, the deputies of thy King,

and those that would rejoice to see thee live? Can thine heart endure,

or can thy hands be strong, in the day that he shall deal in judgment

with thee? I say, canst thou endure to be forced to drink, as one would

drink sweet wine, the sea of wrath that our King has prepared for

Diabolus and his angels? Consider betimes, consider.'

Then stood forth the fourth captain, the noble Captain Execution, and

said, 'O town of Mansoul, once famous, but now like the fruitless bough,

once the delight of the high ones, but now a den for Diabolus, hearken

also to me, and to the words that I shall speak to thee in the name of

the great Shaddai. Behold, the axe is laid to the root of the trees:

every tree, therefore, that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down

and cast into the fire.

'Thou, O town of Mansoul, hast hitherto been this fruitless tree; thou

bearest naught but thorns and briers. Thy evil fruit bespeaks thee not

to be a good tree; thy grapes are grapes of gall, thy clusters are

bitter. Thou hast rebelled against thy King; and, lo! we, the power

and force of Shaddai, are the axe that is laid to thy root. What sayest

thou? Wilt thou turn? I say again, tell me, before the first blow is

given, wilt thou turn? Our axe must first be laid tothy root before it

be laid atthy root; it must first be laid tothy root in a way of

threatening, before it is laid atthy root by way of execution; and

between these two is required thy repentance, and this is all the time

that thou hast. What wilt thou do? Wilt thou turn, or shall I smite?

If I fetch my blow, Mansoul, down you go; for I have commission to lay

my axe atas well as tothy roots, nor will anything but yielding to our

King prevent doing of execution. What art thou fit for, O Mansoul, if

mercy preventeth not, but to be hewn down, and cast into the fire and

burned?

'O Mansoul, patience and forbearance do not act for ever: a year, or

two, or three, they may; but if thou provoke by a three years'rebellion

(and thou hast already done more than this), then what follows but, "Cut

it down"? nay, "After that thou shalt cut it down."And dost thou think

that these are but threatenings, or that our King has not power to

execute his words? 0 Mansoul, thou wilt find that in the words of our

King, when they are by sinners made little or light of, there is not

only threatening, but burning coals of fire.

'Thou hast been a cumber-ground long already, and wilt thou continue so

still? Thy sin has brought this army to thy walls, and shall it bring

it in judgment to do execution into thy town? Thou hast heard what the

captains have said, but as yet thou shuttest thy gates. Speak out,

Mansoul; wilt thou do so still, or wilt thou accept of conditions of

peace?'

These brave speeches of these four noble captains the town of Mansoul

refused to hear; yet a sound thereof did beat against Ear-gate, though

the force thereof could not break it open. In fine, the town desired a

time to prepare their answer to these demands. The captains then told

them, that if they would throw out to them one Ill-Pause that was in the

town, that they might reward him according to his works, then they would

give them time to consider; but if they would not cast him to them over

the wall of Mansoul, then they would give them none; 'for,'said they,

'we know that, so long as Ill-Pause draws breath in Mansoul, all good

consideration will be confounded, and nothing but mischief will come

thereon.'

Then Diabolus, who was there present, being loath to lose his Ill-Pause,

because he was his orator (and yet be sure he had, could the captains

have laid their fingers on him), was resolved at this instant to give

them answer by himself: but then changing his mind, he commanded the

then Lord Mayor, the Lord Incredulity, to do it, saying, 'My lord, do

you give these runagates an answer, and speak out, that Mansoul may hear

and understand you.'

So Incredulity, at Diabolus'command, began and said, 'Gentlemen, you

have here, as we do behold, to the disturbance of our prince and the

molestation of the town of Mansoul, camped against it: but from whence

you come, we will not know; and what you are, we will not believe.

Indeed, you tell us in your terrible speech that you have this authority

from Shaddai; but by what right he commands you to do it, of that we

shall yet be ignorant.

'You have also, by the authority aforesaid, summoned this town to desert

her lord, and, for protection, to yield up herself to the great Shaddai,

your King; flatteringly telling her, that if she will do it, he will

pass by and not charge her with her past offences.

'Further, you have also, to the terror of the town of Mansoul,

threatened with great and sore destructions to punish this corporation,

if she consents not to do as your wills would have her.

'Now, captains, from whencesoever you come, and though your designs be

ever so right, yet know ye that neither my lord Diabolus, nor I, his

servant, Incredulity, nor yet our brave Mansoul, doth regard either your

persons, message, or the King that you say hath sent you. His power,

his greatness, his vengeance, we fear not; nor will we yield at all to

your summons.

'As for the war that you threaten to make upon us, we must therein

defend ourselves as well as we can; and know ye, that we are not without

wherewithal to bid defiance to you; and, in short (for I will not be

tedious), I tell you, that we take you to be some vagabond runagate

crew, that having shaken off all obedience to your King, have gotten

together in tumultuous manner, and are ranging from place to place to

see if, through the flatteries you are skilled to make on the one side,

and threats wherewith you think to fright on the other, to make some

silly town, city, or country, desert their place, and leave it to you;

but Mansoul is none of them.

'To conclude: we dread you not, we fear you not, nor will we obey your

summons. Our gates we keep shut upon you, our place we will keep you

out of. Nor will we long thus suffer you to sit down before us: our

people must live in quiet: your appearance doth disturb them. Wherefore

arise with bag and baggage, and begone, or we will let fly from the

walls against you.'

This oration, made by old Incredulity, was seconded by desperate

Willbewill, in words to this effect: 'Gentlemen, we have heard your

demands, and the noise of your threats, and have heard the sound of your

summons; but we fear not your force, we regard not your threats, but

will still abide as you found us. And we command you, that in three

days'time you cease to appear in these parts, or you shall know what it

is once to dare offer to rouse the lion Diabolus when asleep in his town

of Mansoul.'

The Recorder, whose name was Forget-Good, he also added as followeth:

'Gentlemen, my lords, as you see, have with mild and gentle words

answered your rough and angry speeches: they have, moreover, in my

hearing, given you leave quietly to depart as you came: wherefore, take

their kindness and be gone. We might have come out with force upon you,

and have caused you to feel the dint of our swords; but as we love ease

and quiet ourselves, so we love not to hurt or molest others.'

Then did the town of Mansoul shout for joy, as if by Diabolus and his

crew some great advantage had been gotten of the captains. They also

rang the bells, and made merry, and danced upon the walls.

Diabolus also returned to the castle, and the Lord Mayor and Recorder to

their place; but the Lord Willbewill took special care that the gates

should be secured with double guards, double bolts, and double locks and

bars; and that Ear-gate especially might the better be looked to, for

that was the gate in at which the King's forces sought most to enter.

The Lord Willbewill made one old Mr. Prejudice, an angry and ill-

conditioned fellow, captain of the ward at that gate, and put under his

power sixty men, called deaf men; men advantageous for that service,

forasmuch as they mattered no words of the captains, nor of the

soldiers.

Now when the captains saw the answer of the great ones, and that they

could not get a hearing from the old natives of the town, and that

Mansoul was resolved to give the King's army battle, they prepared

themselves to receive them, and to try it out by the power of the arm.

And, first, they made their force more formidable against Ear-gate; for

they knew that, unless they could penetrate that, no good could be done

upon the town. This done, they put the rest of their men in their

places; after which, they gave out the word, which was, 'YE MUST BE BORN

AGAIN.' Then they sounded. the trumpet; then they in the town made them

answer, with shout against shout, charge against charge, and so the

battle began. Now they in the town had planted upon the tower over Ear-

gate two great guns, the one called High-mind, and the other Heady.

Unto these two guns they trusted much: they were cast in the castle by

Diabolus'founder, whose name was Mr. Puff-up, and mischievous pieces

they were. But so vigilant and watchful, when the captains saw them,

were they, that though sometimes their shot would go by their ears with

a whizz, yet they did them no harm. By these two guns the townsfolk

made no question but greatly to annoy the camp of Shaddai, and well

enough to secure the gate; but they had not much cause to boast of what

execution they did, as by what follows will be gathered.

The famous Mansoul had also some other small pieces in it, of the which

they made use against the camp of Shaddai.

They from the camp also did as stoutly, and with as much of that as may

in truth be called valour, let fly as fast at the town and at Ear-gate;

for they saw that, unless they could break open Ear-gate, it would be

but in vain to batter the wall. Now the King's captains had brought

with them several slings, and two or three battering-rams; with their

slings, therefore, they battered the houses and people of the town, and

with their rams they sought to break Ear-gate open.

The camp and the town had several skirmishes and brisk encounters, while

the captains with their engines made many brave attempts to break open

or beat down the tower that was over Ear-gate, and at the said gate to

make their entrance; but Mansoul stood it out so lustily, through the

rage of Diabolus, the valour of the Lord Willbewill, and the conduct of

old Incredulity, the Mayor, and Mr. Forget-Good, the Recorder, that the

charge and expense of that summer's wars, on the King's side, seemed to

be almost quite lost, and the advantage to return to Mansoul. But when

the captains saw how it was, they made a fair retreat, and entrenched

themselves in their winter quarters. Now, in this war, you must needs

think there was much loss on both sides, of which be pleased to accept

of this brief account following.

The King's captains, when they marched from the court to come up against

Mansoul to war, as they came crossing over the country, they happened to

light upon three young fellows that had a mind to go for soldiers:

proper men they were, and men of courage and skill, to appearance.

Their names were Mr. Tradition, Mr. Human-Wisdom, and Mr. Man's-

Invention. So they came up to the captains, and proffered their service

to Shaddai. The captains then told them of their design, and bid them

not to be rash in their offers; but the young men told them they had

considered the thing before, and that hearing they were upon their march

for such a design, came hither on purpose to meet them, that they might

be listed under their excellencies. Then Captain Boanerges, for that

they were men of courage, listed them into his company, and so away they

went to the war.

Now, when the war was begun, in one of the briskest skirmishes, so it

was, that a company of the Lord Willbewill's men sallied out at the

sally-port or postern of the town, and fell in upon the rear of Captain

Boanerges'men, where these three fellows happened to be; so they took

them prisoners, and away they carried them into the town, where they had

not lain long in durance, but it began to be noised about the streets of

the town what three notable prisoners the Lord Willbewill's men had

taken, and brought in prisoners out of the camp of Shaddai. At length

tidings thereof were carried to Diabolus to the castle, to wit, what my

Lord Willbewill's men had done, and whom they had taken prisoners.

Then Diabolus called for Willbewill, to know the certainty of this

matter. So he asked him, and he told him. Then did the giant send for

the prisoners, and, when they were come, demanded of them who they were,

whence they came, and what they did in the camp of Shaddai; and they

told him. Then he sent them to ward again. Not many days after, he

sent for them to him again, and then asked them if they would be willing

to serve him against their former captains. They then told him that

they did not so much live by religion as by the fates of fortune; and

that since his lordship was willing to entertain them, they should be

willing to serve him. Now while things were thus in hand, there was one

Captain Anything, a great doer, in the town of Mansoul; and to this

Captain Anything did Diabolus send these men, and a note under his hand,

to receive them into his company: the contents of which letter were

thus:-

'Anything, my darling,-The three men that are the bearers of this letter

have a desire to serve me in the war: nor know I better to whose conduct

to commit them than to thine. Receive them, therefore, in my name, and,

as need shall require, make use of them against Shaddai and his men.

Farewell.'

So they came, and he received them; and he made of two of them

sergeants; but he made Mr. Man's-Invention his ancient-bearer. But

thus much for this, and now to return to the camp.

They of the camp did also some execution upon the town; for they did

beat down the roof of the Lord Mayor's house, and so laid him more open

than he was before. They had almost, with a sling, slain my Lord

Willbewill outright; but he made a shift to recover again. But they

made a notable slaughter among the aldermen, for with one only shot they

cut off six of them; to wit, Mr. Swearing, Mr. Whoring, Mr. Fury, Mr.

Stand-to-Lies, Mr. Drunkenness, and Mr. Cheating.

They also dismounted the two guns that stood upon the tower over Ear-

gate, and laid them flat in the dirt. I told you before that the King's

noble captains had drawn off to their winter quarters, and had there

entrenched themselves and their carriages, so as with the best advantage

to their King, and the greatest annoyance to the enemy, they might give

seasonable and warm alarms to the town of Mansoul. And this design of

them did so hit, that I may say they did almost what they would to the

molestation of the corporation. For now could not Mansoul sleep

securely as before, nor could they now go to their debaucheries with

that quietness as in times past; for they had from the camp of Shaddai

such frequent, warm, and terrifying alarms, yea, alarms upon alarms,

first at one gate and then at another, and again at all the gates at

once, that they were broken as to former peace. Yea, they had their

alarms so frequently, and that when the nights were at longest, the

weather coldest, and so consequently the season most unseasonable, that

that winter was to the town of Mansoul a winter by itself. Sometimes

the trumpets would sound, and sometimes the slings would whirl the

stones into the town. Sometimes ten thousand of the King's soldiers

would be running round the walls of Mansoul at midnight, shouting and

lifting up the voice for the battle. Sometimes, again, some of them in

the town would be wounded, and their cry and lamentable voice would be

heard, to the great molestation of the now languishing town of Mansoul.

Yea, so distressed with those that laid siege against them were they,

that, I dare say, Diabolus, their king, had in these days his rest much

broken.

In these days, as I was informed, new thoughts, and thoughts that began

to run counter one to another, began to possess the minds of the men of

the town of Mansoul. Some would say, 'There is no living thus.'Others

would then reply, 'This will be over shortly.'Then would a third stand

up and answer, 'Let us turn to the King Shaddai, and so put an end to

these troubles.'And a fourth would come in with a fear, saying, 'I doubt

he will not receive us.'The old gentleman, too, the Recorder, that was

so before Diabolus took Mansoul, he also began to talk aloud, and his

words were now to the town of Mansoul as if they were great claps of

thunder. No noise now so terrible to Mansoul as was his, with the noise

of the soldiers and shoutings of the captains.

Also things began to grow scarce in Mansoul; now the things that her

soul lusted after were departing from her. Upon all her pleasant things

there was a blast, and burning instead of beauty. Wrinkles now, and

some shows of the shadow of death, were upon the inhabitants of Mansoul.

And now, O how glad would Mansoul have been to have enjoyed quietness

and satisfaction of mind, though joined with the meanest condition in

the world!

The captains also, in the deep of this winter, did send by the mouth of

Boanerges'trumpeter a summons to Mansoul to yield up herself to the

King, the great King Shaddai. They sent it once, and twice, and thrice;

not knowing but that at some times there might be in Mansoul some

willingness to surrender up themselves unto them, might they but have

the colour of an invitation to do it under. Yea, so far as I could

gather, the town had been surrendered up to them before now, had it not

been for the opposition of old Incredulity, and the fickleness of the

thoughts of my Lord Willbewill. Diabolus also began to rave; wherefore

Mansoul, as to yielding, was not yet all of one mind; therefore they

still lay distressed under these perplexing fears.

I told you but now that they of the King's army had this winter sent

three times to Mansoul to submit herself.

The first time the trumpeter went, he went with words of peace, telling

them that the captains, the noble captains of Shaddai, did pity and

bewail the misery of the now perishing town of Mansoul, and were

troubled to see them so much to stand in the way of their own

deliverance. He said, moreover, that the captains bid him tell them,

that if now poor Mansoul would humble herself and turn, her former

rebellions and most notorious treasons should by their merciful King be

forgiven them, yea, and forgotten too. And having bid them beware that

they stood not in their own way, that they opposed not themselves, nor

made themselves their own losers, he returned again into the camp.

The second time the trumpeter went, he did treat them a little more

roughly; for, after sound of trumpet, he told them that their continuing

in their rebellion did but chafe and heat the spirit of the captains,

and that they were resolved to make a conquest of Mansoul, or to lay

their bones before the town walls.

He went again the third time, and dealt with them yet more roughly;

telling them that now, since they had been so horribly profane, he did

not know, not certainly know, whether the captains were inclining to

mercy or judgment. 'Only,'said he, 'they commanded me to give you a

summons to open the gates unto them.'So he returned, and went into the

camp.

These three summonses, and especially the last two, did so distress the

town that they presently call a consultation, the result of which was

this-That my Lord Willbewill should go up to Ear-gate, and there, with

sound of trumpet, call to the captains of the camp for a parley. Well,

the Lord Willbewill sounded upon the wall; so the captains came up in

their harness, with their ten thousands at their feet. The townsmen

then told the captains that they had heard and considered their summons,

and would come to an agreement with them, and with their King Shaddai,

upon such certain terms, articles, and propositions as, with and by the

order of their prince, they to them were appointed to propound; to wit,

they would agree upon these grounds to be one people with them.

1. If that those of their own company, as the now Lord Mayor and their

Mr. Forget-Good, with their brave Lord Willbewill, might, under

Shaddai, be still the governors of the town, castle, and gates of

Mansoul.

2. Provided that no man that now serveth under their great giant

Diabolus be by Shaddai cast out of house, harbour, or the freedom that

he hath hitherto enjoyed in the famous town of Mansoul.

3. That it shall be granted them, that they of the town of Mansoul

shall enjoy certain of their rights and privileges; to wit, such as have

formerly been granted them, and that they have long lived in the

enjoyment of, under the reign of their king Diabolus, that now is, and

long has been, their only lord and great defender.

4. That no new law, officer, or executioner of law or office, shall

have any power over them, without their own choice and consent.

'These be our propositions, or conditions of peace; and upon these

terms,'said they, 'we will submit to your King.'

But when the captains had heard this weak and feeble offer of the town

of Mansoul, and their high and bold demands, they made to them again, by

their noble captain, the Captain Boanerges, this speech following:-

'O ye inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, when I heard your trumpet

sound for a parley with us, I can truly say I was glad; but when you

said you were willing to submit yourselves to our King and Lord, then I

was yet more glad; but when, by your silly provisos and foolish cavils,

you laid the stumbling-block of your iniquity before your own faces,

then was my gladness turned into sorrows and my hopeful beginnings of

your return, into languishing fainting fears.

'I count that old Ill-Pause, the ancient enemy of Mansoul, did draw up

those proposals that now you present us with as terms of an agreement;

but they deserve not to be admitted to sound in the ear of any man that

pretends to have service for Shaddai. We do therefore jointly, and that

with the highest disdain, refuse and reject such things, as the greatest

of iniquities.

'But, O Mansoul, if you will give yourselves into our hands, or rather

into the hands of our King, and will trust him to make such terms with

and for you as shall seem good in his eyes (and I dare say they shall be

such as you shall find to be most profitable to you), then we will

receive you, and be at peace with you; but if you like not to trust

yourselves in the arms of Shaddai our King, then things are but where

they were before, and we know also what we have to do.'

Then cried out old Incredulity, the Lord Mayor, and said, 'And who,

being out of the hands of their enemies, as ye see we are now, will be

so foolish as to put the staff out of their own hands into the hands of

they know not who? I, for my part, will never yield to so unlimited a

proposition. Do we know the manner and temper of their King? It is

said by some that he will be angry with his subjects if but the breadth

of an hair they chance to step out of the way; and by others, that he

requireth of them much more than they can perform. Wherefore, it seems,

O Mansoul, to be thy wisdom to take good heed what thou dost in this

matter; for if you once yield, you give up yourselves to another, and so

you are no more your own. Wherefore, to give up yourselves to an

unlimited power, is the greatest folly in the world; for now you indeed

may repent, but can never justly complain. But do you indeed know, when

you are his, which of you he will kill, and which of you he will save

alive; or whether he will not cut off every one of us, and send out of

his own country another new people, and cause them to inhabit this

town?'

This speech of the Lord Mayor undid all, and threw flat to the ground

their hopes of an accord. Wherefore the captains returned to their

trenches, to their tents, and to their men, as they were: and the Mayor

to the castle and to his king.

CHAPTER 4

Now Diabolus had waited for his return, for he had heard that they had

been at their points. So, when he was come into the chamber of state,

Diabolus saluted him with-'Welcome, my lord. How went matters betwixt

you to-day?'So the Lord Incredulity, with a low congee, told him the

whole of the matter, saying, 'Thus and thus said the captains of

Shaddai, and thus and thus said I.'The which when it was told to

Diabolus, he was very glad to hear it, and said, 'My Lord Mayor, my

faithful Incredulity, I have proved thy fidelity above ten times

already, but never yet found thee false. I do promise thee, if we rub

over this brunt, to prefer thee to a place of honour, a place far better

than to be Lord Mayor of Mansoul. I will make thee my universal deputy,

and thou shalt, next to me, have all nations under thy hand; yea, and

thou shalt lay bands upon them, that they may not resist thee; nor shall

any of our vassals walk more at liberty, but those that shall be content

to walk in thy fetters.'

Now came the Lord Mayor out from Diabolus, as if he had obtained a

favour indeed. Wherefore to his habitation he goes in great state, and

thinks to feed himself well enough with hopes, until the time came that

his greatness should be enlarged.

But now, though the Lord Mayor and Diabolus did thus well agree, yet

this repulse to the brave captains put Mansoul into a mutiny. For while

old Incredulity went into the castle to congratulate his lord with what

had passed, the old Lord Mayor, that was so before Diabolus came to the

town, to wit, my Lord Understanding, and the old Recorder, Mr.

Conscience, getting intelligence of what had passed at Ear-gate (for you

must know that they might not be suffered to be at that debate, lest

they should then have mutinied for the captains; but, I say, they got

intelligence of what had passed there, and were much concerned

therewith), wherefore they, getting some of the town together, began to

possess them with the reasonableness of the noble captains'demands, and

with the bad consequences that would follow upon the speech of old

Incredulity, the Lord Mayor; to wit, how little reverence he showed

therein either to the captains or to their King; also how he implicitly

charged them with unfaithfulness and treachery. 'For what less,'quoth

they, 'could be made of his words, when he said he would not yield to

their proposition; and added, moreover, a supposition that he would

destroy us, when before he had sent us word that he would show us

mercy?'The multitude, being now possessed with the conviction of the

evil that old Incredulity had done, began to run together by companies

in all places, and in every corner of the streets of Mansoul; and first

they began to mutter, then to talk openly, and after that they run to

and fro, and cried as they run, 'Oh the brave captains of Shaddai!

would we were under the government of the captains, and of Shaddai their

King!'When the Lord Mayor had intelligence that Mansoul was in an

uproar, down he comes to appease the people, and thought to have quashed

their heat with the bigness and the show of his countenance; but when

they saw him, they came running upon him, and had doubtless done him a

mischief, had he not betaken himself to house. However, they strongly

assaulted the house where he was, to have pulled it down about his ears;

but the place was too strong, so they failed of that. So he, taking

some courage, addressed himself, out at a window, to the people in this

manner:-

'Gentlemen, what is the reason that there is here such an uproar to-

day?'

Then answered my Lord Understanding, 'It is even because that thou and

thy master have carried it not rightly, and as you should, to the

captains of Shaddai; for in three things you are faulty. First, in that

you would not let Mr. Conscience and myself be at the hearing of your

discourse. Secondly, in that you propounded such terms of peace to the

captains that by no means could be granted, unless they had intended

that their Shaddai should have been only a titular prince, and that

Mansoul should still have had power by law to have lived in all lewdness

and vanity before him, and so by consequence Diabolus should still here

be king in power, and the other only king in name. Thirdly, for that

thou didst thyself, after the captains had showed us upon what

conditions they would have received us to mercy, even undo all again

with thy unsavoury, unseasonable, and ungodly speech.'

When old Incredulity had heard this speech, he cried out, 'Treason!

treason! To your arms! to your arms! O ye, the trusty friends of

Diabolus in Mansoul!'

Und.-'Sir, you may put upon my words what meaning you please; but I am

sure that the captains of such an high lord as theirs is, deserved a

better treatment at your hands.'

Then said old Incredulity, 'This is but little better. But, sir,'quoth

he, 'what I spake I spake for my prince, for his government, and the

quieting of the people, whom by your unlawful actions you have this day

set to mutiny against us.'

Then replied the old Recorder, whose name was Mr. Conscience, and said,

'Sir, you ought not thus to retort upon what my Lord Understanding hath

said. It is evident enough that he hath spoken the truth, and that you

are an enemy to Mansoul. Be convinced, then, of the evil of your saucy

and malapert language, and of the grief that you have put the captains

to; yea, and of the damages that you have done to Mansoul thereby. Had

you accepted of the conditions, the sound of the trumpet and the alarm

of war had now ceased about the town of Mansoul; but that dreadful sound

abides, and your want of wisdom in your speech has been the cause of

it.'

Then said old Incredulity, 'Sir, if I live, I will do your errand to

Diabolus, and there you shall have an answer to your words. Meanwhile

we will seek the good of the town, and not ask counsel of you.'

Und.-'Sir, your prince and you are both foreigners to Mansoul, and not

the natives thereof; and who can tell but that, when you have brought us

into greater straits (when you also shall see that yourselves can be

safe by no other means than by flight), you may leave us and shift for

yourselves, or set us on fire, and go away in the smoke, or by the light

of our burning, and so leave us in our ruins?'

Incred.-'Sir, you forget that you are under a governor, and that you

ought to demean yourself like a subject; and know ye, when my lord the

king shall hear of this day's work, he will give you but little thanks

for your labour.'

Now while these gentlemen were thus in their chiding words, down come

from the walls and gates of the town the Lord Willbewill, Mr.

Prejudice, old Ill-Pause, and several of the new-made aldermen and

burgesses, and they asked the reason of the hubbub and tumult; and with

that every man began to tell his own tale, so that nothing could be

heard distinctly. Then was a silence commanded, and the old fox

Incredulity began to speak. 'My lord,'quoth he, 'here are a couple of

peevish gentlemen, that have, as a fruit of their bad dispositions, and,

as I fear, through the advice of one Mr. Discontent, tumultuously

gathered this company against me this day, and also attempted to run the

town into acts of rebellion against our prince.'

Then stood up all the Diabolonians that were present, and affirmed these

things to be true.

Now when they that took part with my Lord Understanding and with Mr.

Conscience perceived that they were like to come to the worst, for that

force and power was on the other side, they came in for their help and

relief; so a great company was on both sides. Then they on

Incredulity's side would have had the two old gentlemen presently away

to prison; but they on the other side said they should not. Then they

began to cry up parties again: the Diabolonians cried Up old

Incredulity, Forget-Good, the new aldermen, and their great one

Diabolus; and the other party, they as fast cried up Shaddai, the

captains, his laws, their mercifulness, and applauded their conditions

and ways. Thus the bickerment went awhile; at last they passed from

words to blows, and now there were knocks on both sides. The good old

gentleman, Mr. Conscience, was knocked down twice by one of the

Diabolonians, whose name was Mr. Benumbing; and my Lord Understanding

had like to have been slain with an arquebuse, but that he that shot did

not take his aim aright. Nor did the other side wholly escape; for

there was one Mr. Rashhead, a Diabolonian, that had his brains beaten

out by Mr. Mind, the Lord Willbewill's servant; and it made me laugh to

see how old Mr. Prejudice was kicked and tumbled about in the dirt; for

though, a while since; he was made captain of a company of the

Diabolonians, to the hurt and damage of the town, yet now they had got

him under their feet, and, I'll assure you, he had, by some of the Lord

Understanding's party, his crown cracked to boot. Mr. Anything also,

he became a brisk man in the broil; but both sides were against him,

because he was true to none. Yet he had, for his malapertness, one of

his legs broken, and he that did it wished it had been his neck. Much

more harm was done on both sides, but this must not be forgotten; it was

now a wonder to see my Lord Willbewill so indifferent as he was: he did

not seem to take one side more than another, only it was perceived that

he smiled to see how old Prejudice was tumbled up and down in the dirt.

Also, when Captain Anything came halting up before him, he seemed to

take but little notice of him.

Now, when the uproar was over, Diabolus sends for my Lord Understanding

and Mr. Conscience, and claps them both up in prison as the ringleaders

and managers of this most heavy, riotous rout in Mansoul. So now the

town began to be quiet again, and the prisoners were used hardly; yea,

he thought to have made them away, but that the present juncture did not

serve for that purpose, for that war was in all their gates.

But let us return again to our story. The captains, when they were gone

back from the gate, and were come into the camp again, called a council

of war, to consult what was further for them to do. Now, some said,

'Let us go up presently, and fall upon the town;'but the greatest part

thought rather better it would be to give them another summons to yield;

and the reason why they thought this to be best was, because that, so

far as could be perceived, the town of Mansoul now was more inclinable

than heretofore. 'And if,'said they, 'while some of them are in a way

of inclination, we should by ruggedness give them distaste, we may set

them further from closing with our summons than we would be willing they

should.'

Wherefore to this advice they agreed, and called a trumpeter, put words

into his mouth, set him his time, and bid him God-speed. Well, many

hours were not expired before the trumpeter addressed himself to his

journey. Wherefore, coming up to the wall of the town, he steereth his

course to Ear-gate, and there sounded, as he was commanded. They then

that were within came out to see what was the matter, and the trumpeter

made them this speech following:-

'O hard-hearted and deplorable town of Mansoul, how long wilt thou love

thy sinful, sinful simplicity? and, ye fools, delight in your scorning?

As yet despise you the offers of peace and deliverance? As yet will ye

refuse the golden offers of Shaddai, and trust to the lies and

falsehoods of Diabolus? Think you, when Shaddai shall have conquered

you, that the remembrance of these your carriages towards him will yield

you peace and comfort, or that by ruffling language, you can make him

afraid as a grasshopper? Doth he entreat you for fear of you? Do you

think that you are stronger than he? Look to the heavens, and behold

and consider the stars, how high are they? Can you stop the sun from

running his course, and hinder the moon from giving her light? Can you

count the number of the stars, or stay the bottles of heaven? Can you

call for the waters of the sea, and cause them to cover the face of the

ground? Can you behold every one that is proud, and abase him, and bind

their faces in secret? Yet these are some of the works of our King, in

whose name this day we come up unto you, that you may be brought under

his authority. In his name, therefore, I summon you again to yield up

yourselves to his captains.'

At this summons the Mansoulians seemed to be at a stand, and knew not

what answer to make. Wherefore Diabolus forthwith appeared, and took

upon him to do it himself; and thus he begins, but turns his speech to

them of Mansoul:-

'Gentlemen,'quoth he, 'and my faithful subjects, if it is true that this

summoner hath said concerning the greatness of their King, by his terror

you will always be kept in bondage, and so be made to sneak. Yea, how

can you now, though he is at a distance, endure to think of such a

mighty one? And if not to think of him while at a distance, how can you

endure to be in his presence? I, your prince, am familiar with you, and

you may play with me as you would with a grasshopper. Consider,

therefore, what is for your profit, and remember the immunities that I

have granted you.

'Further, if all be true that this man hath said, how comes it to pass

that the subjects of Shaddai are so enslaved in all places where they

come? None in the universe so unhappy as they, none so trampled upon as

they.

'Consider, my Mansoul: would thou wert as loath to leave me as I am

loath to leave thee. But consider, I say, the ball is yet at thy foot;

liberty you have, if you know how to use it; yea, a king you have too,

if you can tell how to love and obey him.'

Upon this speech, the town of Mansoul did again harden their hearts yet

more against the captains of Shaddai. The thoughts of his greatness did

quite quash them, and the thoughts of his holiness sunk them in despair.

Wherefore, after a short consult, they (of the Diabolonian party they

were) sent back this word by the trumpeter, That, for their parts, they

were resolved to stick to their king, but never to yield to Shaddai; so

it was but in vain to give them any further summons, for they had rather

die upon the place than yield. And now things seemed to be gone quite

back, and Mansoul to be out of reach or call; yet the captains who knew

what their Lord could do, would not yet be beat out of heart; they

therefore sent them another summons, more sharp and severe than the

last; but the oftener they were sent to, to reconcile to Shaddai, the

farther off they were. 'As they called them, so they went from them-

yea, though they called them to the Most High.'

So they ceased that way to deal with them any more, and inclined to

think of another way. The captains, therefore, did gather themselves

together, to have free conference among themselves, to know what was yet

to be done to gain the town, and to deliver it from the tyranny of

Diabolus; and one said after this manner, and another after that. Then

stood up the right noble the Captain Conviction, and said, 'My brethren,

mine opinion is this:

'First, that we continually play our slings into the town, and keep it

in a continual alarm, molesting them day and night. By thus doing, we

shall stop the growth of their rampant spirit; for a lion may be tamed

by continual molestation.

'Secondly, this done, I advise that, in the next place, we with one

consent draw up a petition to our Lord Shaddai, by which, after we have

showed our King the condition of Mansoul and of affairs here, and have

begged his pardon for our no better success, we will earnestly implore

his Majesty's help, and that he will please to send us more force and

power, and some gallant and well-spoken commander to head them, that so

his Majesty may not lose the benefit of these his good beginnings, but

may complete his conquest upon the town of Mansoul.'

To this speech of the noble Captain Conviction they as one man

consented, and agreed that a petition should forthwith be drawn up, and

sent by a fit man away to Shaddai with speed. The contents of the

petition were thus:-

'Most gracious and glorious King, the Lord of the best world, and the

builder of the town of Mansoul, we have, dread Sovereign, at thy

commandment, put our lives in jeopardy, and at thy bidding made a war

upon the famous town of Mansoul. When we went up against it, we did,

according to our commission, first offer conditions of peace unto it.

But they, great King, set light by our counsel, and would none of our

reproof. They were for shutting their gates, and for keeping us out of

the town. They also mounted their guns, they sallied out upon us, and

have done us what damage they could; but we pursued them with alarm upon

alarm, requiting them with such retribution as was meet, and have done

some execution upon the town.

'Diabolus, Incredulity, and Willbewill are the great doers against us:

now we are in our winter quarters, but so as that we do yet with an high

hand molest and distress the town.

'Once, as we think, had we had but one substantial friend in the town,

such as would but have seconded the sound of our summons as they ought,

the people might have yielded themselves; but there were none but

enemies there, nor any to speak in behalf of our Lord to the town.

Wherefore, though we have done as we could, yet Mansoul abides in a

state of rebellion against thee.

'Now, King of kings, let it please thee to pardon the unsuceessfulness

of thy servants, who have been no more advantageous in so desirable a

work as the conquering of Mansoul is. And send, Lord, as we now desire,

more forces to Mansoul, that it may be subdued; and a man to head them,

that the town may both love and fear.

'We do not thus speak because we are willing to relinquish the wars (for

we are for laying of our bones against the place), but that the town of

Mansoul may be won for thy Majesty. We also pray thy Majesty for

expedition in this matter, that, after their conquest, we may be at

liberty to be sent about other thy gracious designs. Amen.'

The petition, thus drawn up, was sent away with haste to the King by the

hand of that good man, Mr. Love-to-Mansoul.

When this petition was come to the palace of the King, who should it be

delivered to but to the King's Son? So he took it and read it, and

because the contents of it pleased him well, he mended, and also in some

things added to the petition himself. So, after he had made such

amendments and additions as he thought convenient, with his own hand, he

carried it in to the King; to whom, when he had with obeisance delivered

it, he put on authority, and spake to it himself.

Now the King, at the sight of the petition, was glad; but how much more,

think you, when it was seconded by his Son! It pleased him also to hear

that his servants who camped against Mansoul were so hearty in the work,

and so steadfast in their resolves, and that they had already got some

ground upon the famous town of Mansoul.

Wherefore the King called to him Emmanuel, his Son, who said, 'Here am

I, my Father.'Then said the King, 'Thou knowest, as I do myself, the

condition of the town of Mansoul, and what we have purposed, and what

thou hast done to redeem it. Come now therefore, my Son, and prepare

thyself for the war, for thou shalt go to my camp at Mansoul. Thou

shalt also there prosper and prevail, and conquer the town of Mansoul.'

Then said the King's Son, 'Thy law is within my heart: I delight to do

thy will. This is the day that I have longed for, and the work that I

have waited for all this while. Grant me, therefore, what force thou

shalt in thy wisdom think meet; and I will go and will deliver from

Diabolus, and from his power, thy perishing town of Mansoul. My heart

has been often pained within me for the miserable town of Mansoul; but

now it is rejoiced, but now it is glad.'And with that he leaped over the

mountains for joy, saying, 'I have not, in my heart, thought anything

too dear for Mansoul: the day of vengeance is in mine heart for thee, my

Mansoul: and glad am I that thou, my Father, hast made me the Captain of

their salvation. And I will now begin to plague all those that have

been a plague to my town of Mansoul, and will deliver it from their

hand.'

When the King's Son had said thus to his Father, it presently flew like

lightning round about at court; yea, it there became the only talk what

Emmanuel was to go to do for the famous town of Mansoul. But you cannot

think how the courtiers, too, were taken with this design of the Prince;

yea, so affected were they with this work, and with the justness of the

war, that the highest lord and greatest peer of the kingdom did covet to

have commissions under Emmanuel, to go to help to recover again to

Shaddai the miserable town of Mansoul.

Then was it concluded that some should go and carry tidings to the camp,

that Emmanuel was to come to recover Mansoul, and that he would bring

along with him so mighty, so impregnable a force, that he could not be

resisted. But, oh! how ready were the high ones at court to run like

lacqueys to carry these tidings to the camp that was at Mansoul. Now,

when the captains perceived that the King would send Emmanuel his Son,

and that it also delighted the Son to be sent on this errand by the

great Shaddai his Father, they also, to show how they were pleased at

the thoughts of his coming, gave a shout that made the earth rend at the

sound thereof. Yea, the mountains did answer again by echo, and

Diabolus himself did totter and shake.

For you must know, that though the town of Mansoul itself was not much,

if at all concerned with the project (for, alas for them! they were

wofully besotted, for they chiefly regarded their pleasure and their

lusts), yet Diabolus their governor was; for he had his spies

continually abroad, who brought him intelligence of all things, and they

told him what was doing at court against him, and that Emmanuel would

shortly certainly come with a power to invade him. Nor was there any

man at court, nor peer of the kingdom, that Diabolus so feared as he

feared this Prince; for, if you remember, I showed you before that

Diabolus had felt the weight of his hand already; so that, since it was

he that was to come, this made him the more afraid.

Well, you see how I have told you that the King's Son was engaged to

come from the court to save Mansoul, and that his Father had made him

the Captain of the forces. The time, therefore, of his setting forth

being now expired, he addressed himself for his march, and taketh with

him, for his power, five noble captains and their forces.

1. The first was that famous captain, the noble Captain Credence. His

were the red colours, and Mr. Promise bare them; and for a scutcheon he

had the holy lamb and golden shield; and he had ten thousand men at his

feet.

2. The second was that famous captain, the Captain Good-Hope. His were

the blue colours ; his standard-bearer was Mr. Expectation, and for his

scutcheon he had the three golden anchors; and he had ten thousand men

at his feet.

3. The third was that valiant captain, the Captain Charity. His

standard-bearer was Mr. Pitiful: his were the green colours, and for

his scutcheon he had three naked orphans embraced in the bosom; and he

had ten thousand men at his feet.

4. The fourth was that gallant commander, the Captain Innocent. His

standard-bearer was Mr. Harmless: his were the white colours, and for

his scutcheon he had three golden doves.

5. The fifth was the truly loyal and well-beloved captain, the Captain

Patience. His standard-bearer was Mr. Suffer-Long: his were the black

colours, and for a scutcheon he had three arrows through the golden

heart.

These were Emmanuel's captains; these their standard-bearers, their

colours, and their scutcheons; and these the men under their command.

So, as was said, the brave Prince took his march to go to the town of

Mansoul. Captain Credence led the van, and Captain Patience brought up

the rear; so the other three, with their men, made up the main body, the

Prince himself riding in his chariot at the head of them.

But when they set out for their march, oh, how the trumpets sounded,

their armour glittered, and how the colours waved in the wind! The

Prince's armour was all of gold, and it shone like the sun in the

firmament; the captains'armour was of proof, and was in appearance like

the glittering stars. There were also some from the court that rode

reformades for the love that they had to the King Shaddai, and for the

happy deliverance of the town of Mansoul.

Emmanuel also, when he had thus set forwards to go to recover the town

of Mansoul, took with him, at the commandment of his Father, fifty-four

battering-rams, and twelve slings to whirl stones withal. Every one of

these was made of pure gold, and these they carried with them, in the

heart and body of their army, all along as they went to Mansoul.

So they marched till they came within less than a league of the town;

there they lay till the first four captains came thither to acquaint

them with matters. Then they took their journey to go to the town of

Mansoul, and unto Mansoul they came; but when the old soldiers that were

in the camp saw that they had new forces to join with, they again gave

such a shout before the walls of the town of Mansoul, that it put

Diabolus into another fright. So they sat down before the town, not now

as the other four captains did, to wit, against the gates of Mansoul

only; but they environed it round on every side, and beset it behind and

before; so that now, let Mansoul look which way it will, it saw force

and power lie in siege against it. Besides, there were mounts cast up

against it. The Mount Gracious was on the one side, and Mount Justice

was on the other. Further, there were several small banks and advance-

grounds, as Plain-Truth Hill and No-Sin Banks, where many of the slings

were placed against the town. Upon Mount Gracious were planted four,

and upon Mount Justice were placed as many, and the rest were

conveniently placed in several parts round about the town. Five of the

best battering-rams, that is, of the biggest of them, were placed upon

Mount Hearken, a mount cast up hard by Ear-gate, with intent to break

that open.

Now when the men of the town saw the multitude of the soldiers that were

come up against the place, and the rams and slings, and the mounts on

which they were planted, together with the glittering of the armour and

the waving of their colours, they were forced to shift, and shift, and

again to shift their thoughts; but they hardly changed for thoughts more

stout, but rather for thoughts more faint; for though before they

thought themselves sufficiently guarded, yet now they began to think

that no man knew what would be their hap or lot.

When the good Prince Emmanuel had thus beleaguered Mansoul, in the first

place he hangs out the white flag, which he caused to be set up among

the golden slings that were planted upon Mount Gracious. And this he

did for two reasons: 1. To give notice to Mansoul that he could and

would yet be gracious if they turned to him. 2. And that he might

leave them the more without excuse, should he destroy them, they

continuing in their rebellion.

So the white flag, with the three golden doves in it, was hung out for

two days together, to give them time and space to consider; but they, as

was hinted before, as if they were unconcerned, made no reply to the

favourable signal of the Prince.

Then he commanded, and they set the red flag upon that mount called

Mount Justice. It was the red flag of Captain Judgment,

whose seutcheon was the burning fiery furnace; and this also stood

waving before them in the wind for several days together. But look how

they carried it under the white flag, when that was hung out, so did

they also when the red one was; and yet he took no advantage of them.

Then he commanded again that his servants should hang out the black flag

of defiance against them, whose scutcheon was the three burning

thunderbolts; but as unconcerned was Mansoul at this as at those that

went before. But when the Prince saw that neither mercy nor judgment,

nor execution of judgment, would or could come near the heart of

Mansoul, he was touched with much compunction, and said, 'Surely this

strange carriage of the town of Mansoul doth rather arise from ignorance

of the manner and feats of war, than from a secret defiance of us, and

abhorrence of their own lives; or if they know the manner of the war of

their own, yet not the rites and ceremonies of the wars in which we are

concerned, when I make wars upon mine enemy Diabolus.'

Therefore he sent to the town of Mansoul, to let them know what he meant

by those signs and ceremonies of the flag; and also to know of them

which of the things they would choose, whether grace and mercy, or

judgment and the execution of judgment. All this while they kept their

gates shut with locks, bolts, and bars, as fast as they could. Their

guards also were doubled, and their watch made as strong as they could.

Diabolus also did pluck up what heart he could, to encourage the town to

make resistance.

The townsmen also made answer to the Prince's messenger, in substance

according to that which follows:-

'Great Sir,-As to what, by your messenger, you have signified to us,

whether we will accept of your mercy, or fall by your justice, we are

bound by the law and custom of this place, and can give you no positive

answer; for it is against the law, government, and the prerogative royal

of our king, to make either peace or war without him. But this we will

do,-we will petition that our prince will come down to the wall, and

there give you such treatment as he shall think fit and profitable for

us.'

When the good Prince Emmanuel heard this answer, and saw the slavery and

bondage of the people, and how much content they were to abide in the

chains of the tyrant Diabolus, it grieved him at the heart; and, indeed,

when at any time he perceived that any were contented under the slavery

of the giant, he would be affected with it.

But to return again to our purpose. After the town had carried this

news to Diabolus, and had told him, moreover, that the Prince, that lay

in the leaguer without the wall, waited upon them for an answer, he

refused, and huffed as well as he could; but in heart he was afraid.

Then said he, 'I will go down to the gates myself, and give him such an

answer as I think fit.'So he went down to Mouth-gate, and there

addressed himself to speak to Emmanuel (but in such language as the town

understood not), the contents whereof were as follow:-

'0 thou great Emmanuel, Lord of all the world, I know thee, that thou

art the Son of the great Shaddai! Wherefore art thou come to torment

me, and to cast me out of my possession? This town of Mansoul, as thou

very well knowest, is mine, and that by a twofold right. 1. It is mine

by right of conquest; I won it in the open field: and shall the prey be

taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be delivered? 2. This

town of Mansoul is mine also by their subjection. They have opened the

gates of their town unto me; they have sworn fidelity to me, and have

openly chosen me to be their king; they have also given their castle

into my hands; yea, they have put the whole strength of Mansoul under

me.

'Moreover, this town of Mansoul hath disavowed thee, yea, they have cast

thy law, thy name, thy image, and all that is thine, behind their back,

and have accepted and set up in their room my law, my name, my image,

and all that ever is mine. Ask else thy captains, and they will tell

thee that Mansoul hath, in answer to all their summonses, shown love and

loyalty to me, but always disdain, despite, contempt, and scorn to thee

and thine. Now, thou art the Just One and the Holy, and shouldest do no

iniquity. Depart, then, I pray thee, therefore, from me, and leave me

to my just inheritance peaceably.

This oration was made in the language of Diabolus himself; for although

he can, to every man, speak in their own language (else he could not

tempt them all as he does), yet he has a language proper to himself, and

it is the language of the infernal cave, or black pit.

Wherefore the town of Mansoul (poor hearts!) understood him not; nor

did they see how he crouched and cringed while he stood before Emmanuel,

their Prince.

Yea, they all this while took him to be one of that power and force that

by no means could be resisted. Wherefore, while he was thus entreating

that he might have vet his residence there, and that Emmanuel would not

take it from him by force, the inhabitants boasted even of his valour,

saying, 'Who is able to make war with.

Well, when this pretended king had made an end of what he would say,

Emmanuel, the golden Prince, stood up and spake; the contents of whose

words follow:-

'Thou deceiving one,'said he, 'I have, in my Father's name, in mine own

name, and on the behalf and for the good of this wretched town of

Mansoul, somewhat to say unto thee. Thou pretendest a right, a lawful

right, to the deplorable town of Mansoul, when it is most apparent to

all my Father's court that the entrance which thou hast obtained in at

the gates of Mansoul was through thy lie and falsehood; thou beliedst my

Father, thou beliedst his law, and so deceivedst the people of Mansoul.

Thou pretendest that the people have accepted thee for their king, their

captain, and right liege lord; but that also was by the exercise of

deceit and guile. Now, if lying, wiliness, sinful craft, and all manner

of horrible hypocrisy, will go in my Father's court (in which court thou

must be tried) for equity and right, then will I confess unto thee that

thou hast made a lawful conquest. But, alas! what thief, what tyrant,

what devil is there that may not conquer after this sort? But I can

make it appear, O Diabolus, that thou, in all thy pretences to a

conquest of Mansoul, hast nothing of truth to say. Thinkest thou this

to be right, that thou didst put the lie upon my Father, and madest him

(to Mansoul) the greatest deluder in the world? And what sayest thou to

thy perverting knowingly the right purport and intent of the law? Was

it good also that thou madest a prey of the innocency and simplicity of

the now miserable town of Mansoul? Yea, thou didst overcome Mansoul by

promising to them happiness in their transgressions against my Father's

law, when thou knewest and couldest not but know, hadst thou consulted

nothing but thine own experience, that that was the way to undo them.

Thou hast also thyself, O thou master of enmity, of spite defaced my

Father's image in Mansoul, and set up thy own in its place, to the great

contempt of my Father, the heightening of thy sin, and to the

intolerable damage of the perishing town of Mansoul.

'Thou hast, moreover (as if all these were but little things with thee),

not only deluded and undone this place, but, by thy lies and fraudulent

carriage, hast set them against their own deliverance. How hast thou

stirred them up against my Father's captains, and made them to fight

against those that were sent of him to deliver them from their bondage!

All these things, and very many more, thou hast done against thy light,

and in contempt of my Father and of his law, yea, and with design to

bring under his displeasure for ever the miserable town of Mansoul. I

am therefore come to avenge the wrong that thou hast done to my Father,

and to deal with thee for the blasphemies wherewith thou hast made poor

Mansoul blaspheme his name. Yea, upon thy head, thou prince of the

infernal cave, will I requite it.

'As for myself, O Diabolus, I am come against thee by lawful power, and

to take, by strength of hand, this town of Mansoul out of thy burning

fingers; for this town of Mansoul is mine, O Diabolus, and that by

undoubted right, as all shall see that will diligently search the most

ancient and most authentic records, and I will plead my title to it, to

the confusion of thy face.

'First, for the town of Mansoul, my Father built and did fashion it with

his hand. The palace also that is in the midst of that town, he built

it for his own delight. This town of Mansoul, therefore, is my

Father's, and that by the best of titles, and he that gainsays the truth

of this must lie against his soul.

'Secondly, O thou master of the lie, this town of Mansoul is mine.

'1. For that I am my Father's heir, his first-born, and the only

delight of his heart. I am therefore come up against thee in mine own

right, even to recover mine own inheritance out of thine hand.

'2. But further, as I have a right and title to Mansoul by being my

Father's heir, so I have also by my Father's donation. His it was, and

he gave it me; nor have I at any time offended my Father, that he should

take it from me, and give it to thee. Nor have I been forced, by

playing the bankrupt, to sell or set to sale to thee my beloved town of

Mansoul. Mansoul is my desire, my delight, and the joy of my heart.

But,

'3. Mansoul is mine by right of purchase. I have bought it, O

Diabolus, I have bought it to myself. Now, since it was my Father's and

mine, as I was his heir, and since also I have made it mine by virtue of

a great purchase, it followeth that, by all lawful right, the town of

Mansoul is mine, and that thou art an usurper, a tyrant, and traitor, in

thy holding possession thereof. Now, the cause of my purchasing of it

was this: Mansoul had trespassed against my Father; now my Father had

said, that in the day that they broke his law they should die. Now, it

is more possible for heaven and earth to pass away than for my Father to

break his word. Wherefore when Mansoul had sinned indeed by hearkening

to thy lie, I put in and became a surety to my Father, body for body,

and soul for soul, that I would make amends for Mansoul's

transgressions, and my Father did accept thereof. So, when the time

appointed was come, I gave body for body, soul for soul, life for life,

blood for blood, and so redeemed my beloved Mansoul.

'4. Nor did I do this by halves: my Father's law and justice, that were

both concerned in the threatening upon transgression, are both now

satisfied, and very well content that Mansoul should be delivered.

'5. Nor am I come out this day against thee, but by commandment of my

Father; it was he that said unto me, "Go down and deliver Mansoul."

'Wherefore be it known unto thee, O thou fountain of deceit, and be it

also known to the foolish town of Mansoul, that I am not come against

thee this day without my Father.

'And now,'said the golden-headed Prince, 'I have a word to the town of

Mansoul.'But so soon as mention was made that he had a word to speak to

the besotted town of Mansoul, the gates were double-guarded, and all men

commanded not to give him audience. So he proceeded and said, 'O

unhappy town of Mansoul, I cannot but be touched with pity and

compassion for thee. Thou hast accepted of Diabolus for thy king, and

art become a nurse and minister of Diabolonians against thy sovereign

Lord. Thy gates thou hast opened to him, but hast shut them fast

against me; thou hast given him a hearing, but hast stopped thine ears

at my cry. He brought to thee thy destruction, and thou didst receive

both him and it: I am come to thee bringing salvation, but thou

regardest me not. Besides, thou hast, as with sacrilegious hands, taken

thyself, with all that was mine in thee, and hast given all to my foe,

and to the greatest enemy my Father has. You have bowed and subjected

yourselves to him, you have vowed and sworn yourselves to be his. Poor

Mansoul! what shall I do unto thee? Shall I save thee?-shall I destroy

thee? What shall I do unto thee? Shall I fall upon thee, and grind

thee to powder, or make thee a monument of the richest grace? What

shall I do unto thee? Hearken, therefore, thou town of Mansoul, hearken

to my word, and thou shalt live. I am merciful, Mansoul, and thou shalt

find me so: shut me not out of thy gates.

'O Mansoul, neither is my commission nor inclination at all to do thee

hurt. Why fliest thou so fast from thy friend, and stickest so close to

thine enemy? Indeed, I would have thee, because it becomes thee to be

sorry for thy sin; but do not despair of life; this great force is not

to hurt thee, but to deliver thee from thy bondage, and to reduce thee

to thy obedience.

'My commission, indeed, is to make a war upon Diabolus thy king, and

upon all Diabolonians with him; for he is the strong man armed that

keeps the house, and I will have him out: his spoils I must divide, his

armour I must take from him, his hold I must cast him out of, and must

make it a habitation for myself. And this, O Mansoul, shall Diabolus

know when he shall be made to follow me in chains, and when Mansoul

shall rejoice to see it so.

'I could, would I now put forth my might, cause that forthwith he should

leave you and depart; but I have it in my heart so to deal with him, as

that the justice of the war that I shall make upon him may be seen and

acknowledged by all. He hath taken Mansoul by fraud, and keeps it by

violence and deceit, and I will make him bare and naked in the eyes of

all observers.

'All my words are true. I am mighty to save, and will deliver my

Mansoul out of his hand.'

This speech was intended chiefly for Mansoul, but Mansoul would not have

the hearing of it. They shut up Ear-gate, they barricaded it up, they

kept it locked and bolted, they set a guard thereat, and commanded that

no Mansoulian should go out to him, nor that any from the camp should be

admitted into the town. All this they did, so horribly had Diabolus

enchanted them to do, and seek to do for him, against their rightful

Lord and Prince; wherefore no man, nor voice, nor sound of man that

belonged to the glorious host, was to come into the town.

CHAPTER 5

So when Emmanuel saw that Mansoul was thus involved in sin, he calls his

army together (since now also his words were despised), and gave out a

commandment throughout all his host to be ready against the time

appointed. Now, forasmuch as there was no way lawfully to take the town

of Mansoul but to get in by the gates, and at Ear-gate as the chief,

therefore he commanded his captains and commanders to bring their arms,

their slings, and their men, and place them at Eye-gate and Ear-gate, in

order to his taking the town.

When Emmanuel had put all things in a readiness to give Diabolus battle,

he sent again to know of the town of Mansoul, if in peaceable manner

they would yield themselves, or whether they were yet resolved to put

him to try the utmost extremity? They then, together with Diabolus

their king, called a council of war, and resolved upon certain

propositions that should be offered to Emmanuel, if he will accept

thereof, so they agreed; and then the next was, who should be sent on

this errand. Now, there was in the town of Mansoul an old man, a

Diabolonian, and his name was Mr. Loth-to-Stoop, a stiff man in his

way, and a great doer for Diabolus; him, therefore, they sent, and put

into his mouth what he should say. So he went and came to the camp to

Emmanuel; and when he was come, a time was appointed to give him

audience. So at the time he came, and after a Diabolonian ceremony or

two, he thus began and said, 'Great sir, that it may be known unto all

men how good-natured a prince my master is, he has sent me to tell your

Lordship that he is very willing, rather than go to war, to deliver up

into your hands one half of the town of Mansoul. I am therefore to know

if your Mightiness will accept of this proposition.'

Then said Emmanuel, 'The whole is mine by gift and purchase, wherefore I

will never lose one half.'

Then said Mr. Loth-to-Stoop, 'Sir, my master hath said that he will be

content that you shall be the nominal and titular Lord of all, if he may

possess but a part.'

Then Emmanuel answered, 'The whole is mine really, not in name and word

only; wherefore I will be the sole lord and possessor of all, or of none

at all, of Mansoul.'

Then Mr. Loth-to-Stoop said again, 'Sir, behold the condescension of my

master! He says that he will be content if he may but have assigned to

him some place in Mansoul as a place to live privately in, and you shall

be Lord of all the rest.'

Then said the golden Prince, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come

to me; and of all that he giveth me I will lose nothing-no, not a hoof

nor a hair. I will not, therefore, grant him, no, not the least corner

of Mansoul to dwell in; I will have all to myself.'

Then Mr. Loth-to-Stoop said again, 'But, sir, suppose that my lord

should resign the whole town to you, only with this proviso, that he

sometimes, when he comes into this country, may, for old

acquaintance'sake, be entertained as a wayfaring man for two days, or

ten days, or a month, or so. May not this small matter be granted?'

Then said Emmanuel, 'No. He came as a wayfaring man to David, nor did

he stay long with him, and yet it had like to have cost David his soul.

I will not consent that he ever should have any harbour more there.'

Then said Mr. Loth-to-Stoop, 'Sir, you seem to be very hard. Suppose

my master should yield to all that your Lordship hath said, provided

that his friends and kindred in Mansoul may have liberty to trade in the

town, and to enjoy their present dwellings. May not that be granted,

sir?'

Then said Emmanuel, 'No; that is contrary to my Father's will; for all,

and all manner of Diabolonians that now are, or that at any time shall

be found in Mansoul, shall not only lose their lands and liberties, but

also their lives.'

Then said Mr. Loth-to-Stoop again, 'But, sir, may not my master and

great lord, by letters, by passengers, by accidental opportunities, and

the like, maintain, if he shall deliver up all unto thee, some kind of

old friendship with Mansoul?'

Emmanuel answered, 'No, by no means; forasmuch as any such fellowship,

friendship, intimacy, or acquaintance, in what way, sort, or mode soever

maintained, will tend to the corrupting of Mansoul, the alienating of

their affections from me, and the endangering of their peace with my

Father.'

Mr. Loth-to-Stoop yet added further, saying, 'But, great sir, since my

master hath many friends, and those that are dear to him, in Mansoul,

may he not, if he shall depart from them, even of his bounty and good-

nature, bestow upon them, as he sees fit, some tokens of his love and

kindness that he had for them, to the end that Mansoul, when he is gone,

may look upon such tokens of kindness once received from their old

friend, and remember him who was once their king, and the merry times

that they sometimes enjoyed one with another, while he and they lived in

peace together?'

Then said Emmanuel, 'No; for if Mansoul come to be mine, I shall not

admit of nor consent that there should be the least scrap, shred, or

dust of Diabolus left behind, as tokens of gifts bestowed upon any in

Mansoul, thereby to call to remembrance the horrible communion that was

betwixt them and him.'

'Well, sir,'said Mr. Loth-to-Stoop, 'I have one thing more to propound,

and then I am got to the end of my commission. Suppose that, when my

master is gone from Mansoul, any that shall yet live in the town should

have such business of high concerns to do, that if they be neglected the

party shall be undone; and suppose, sir, that nobody can help in that

case so well as my master and lord, may not now my master be sent for

upon so urgent an occasion as this? Or if he may not be admitted into

the town, may not he and the person concerned meet in some of the

villages near Mansoul, and there lay their heads together, and there

consult of matters?'

This was the last of those ensnaring propositions that Mr. Loth-to-

Stoop had to propound to Emmanuel on behalf of his master Diabolus; but

Emmanuel would not grant it; for he said, 'There can be no case, or

thing, or matter fall out in Mansoul, when thy master shall be gone,

that may not be solved by my Father; besides, it will be a great

disparagement to my Father's wisdom and skill to admit any from Mansoul

to go out to Diabolus for advice, when they are bid before, in every

thing, by prayer and supplication to let their requests be made known to

my Father. Further, this, should it be granted, would be to grant that

a door should be set open for Diabolus, and the Diabolonians in Mansoul,

to hatch, and plot, and bring to pass treasonable designs, to the grief

of my Father and me, and to the utter destruction of Mansoul.'

When Mr. Loth-to-Stoop had heard this answer, he took his leave of

Emmanuel, and departed, saying that he would carry word to his master

concerning this whole affair. So he departed, and came to Diabolus to

Mansoul, and told him the whole of the matter, and how Emmanuel would

not admit, no, not by any means, that he, when he was once gone out,

should for ever have anything more to do either in, or with any that are

of the town of Mansoul. When Mansoul and Diabolus had heard this

relation of things, they with one consent concluded to use their best

endeavour to keep Emmanuel out of Mansoul, and sent old Ill-Pause, of

whom you have heard before, to tell the Prince and his captains so. So

the old gentleman came up to the top of Ear-gate, and called to the camp

for a hearing, who when they gave audience, he said, 'I have in

commandment from my high lord to bid you tell it to your Prince

Emmanuel, that Mansoul and their king are resolved to stand and fall

together; and that it is in vain for your Prince to think of ever having

Mansoul in his hand, unless he can take it by force.'So some went and

told to Emmanuel what old Ill-Pause, a Diabolonian in Mansoul, had said.

Then said the Prince, 'I must try the power of my sword, for I will not

(for all the rebellions and repulses that Mansoul has made against me)

raise my siege and depart, but will assuredly take my Mansoul, and

deliver it from the hand of her enemy.'And with that he gave out a

commandment that Captain Boanerges, Captain Conviction, Captain

Judgment, and Captain Execution should forthwith march up to Ear-gate

with trumpets sounding, colours flying, and with shouting for the

battle. Also he would that Captain Credence should join himself with

them. Emmanuel, moreover, gave order that Captain Good-Hope and Captain

Charity should draw themselves up before Eye-gate. He bid also that the

rest of his captains and their men should place themselves for the best

of their advantage against the enemy round about the town; and all was

done as he had commanded.

Then he bid that the word should be given forth, and the word was at

that time, 'EMMANUEL.' Then was an alarm sounded, and the battering-rams

were played, and the slings did whirl stones into the town amain, and

thus the battle began. Now Diabolus himself did manage the townsmen in

the war, and that at every gate; wherefore their resistance was the more

forcible, hellish, and offensive to Emmanuel. Thus was the good Prince

engaged and entertained by Diabolus and Mansoul for several days

together; and a sight worth seeing it was to behold how the captains of

Shaddai behaved themselves in this war.

And first for Captain Boanerges (not to undervalue the rest), he made

three most fierce assaults, one after another, upon Ear-gate, to the

shaking of the posts thereof. Captain Conviction, he also made up as

fast with Boanerges as possibly he could, and both discerning that the

gate began to yield, they commanded that the rams should still be played

against it. Now, Captain Conviction, going up very near to the gate,

was with great force driven back, and received three wounds in the

mouth. And those that rode reformades, they went about to encourage the

captains.

For the valour of the two captains, made mention of before, the Prince

sent for them to his pavilion, and commanded that a while they should

rest themselves, and that with somewhat they should be refreshed. Care

also was taken for Captain Conviction that he should be healed of his

wounds. The Prince also gave to each of them a chain of gold, and bid

them yet be of good courage.

Nor did Captain Good-Hope nor Captain Charity come behind in this most

desperate fight, for they so well did behave themselves at Eye-gate,

that they had almost broken it quite open. These also had a reward from

their Prince, as also had the rest of the captains, because they did

valiantly round about the town.

In this engagement several of the officers of Diabolus were slain, and

some of the townsmen wounded. For the officers, there was one Captain

Boasting slain. This Boasting thought that nobody could have shaken the

posts of Ear-gate, nor have shaken the heart of Diabolus. Next to him

there was one Captain Secure slain: this Secure used to say that the

blind and lame in Mansoul were able to keep the gates of the town

against Emmanuel's army. This Captain Secure did Captain Conviction

cleave down the head with a

two-handed sword, when he received himself three wounds in his mouth.

Besides these there was one Captain Bragman, a very desperate fellow,

and he was captain over a band of those that threw firebrands, arrows,

and death: he also received, by the hand of Captain Good-Hope at Eye-

gate, a mortal wound in the breast.

There was, moreover, one Mr. Feeling; but he was no captain, but a

great stickler to encourage Mansoul to rebellion. He received a wound

in the eye by the hand of one of Boanerges'soldiers, and had by the

captain himself been slain, but that he made a sudden retreat.

But I never saw Willbewill so daunted in all my life; he was not able to

do as he was wont, and some say that he also received a wound in the

leg, and that some of the men in the Prince's army have certainly seen

him limp as he afterwards walked on the wall.

I shall not give you a particular account of the names of the soldiers

that were slain in the town, for many were maimed, and wounded, and

slain; for when they saw that the posts of Ear-gate did shake, and Eye-

gate was well-nigh broken quite open, and also that their captains were

slain, this took away the hearts of many of the Diabolonians; they fell

also by the force of the shot that were sent by the golden slings into

the midst of the town of Mansoul.

Of the townsmen there was one Love-no-Good; he was a townsman, but a

Diabolonian; he also received his mortal wound in Mansoul, but he died

not very soon.

Mr. Ill-Pause also, who was the man that came along with Diabolus when

at first he attempted the taking of Mansoul, he also received a grievous

wound in the head; some say that his brain-pan was cracked. This I have

taken notice of, that he was never after this able to do that mischief

to Mansoul as he had done in times past. Also old Prejudice and Mr.

Anything fled.

Now, when the battle was over, the Prince commanded that yet once more

the white flag should be set upon Mount Gracious in sight of the town of

Mansoul, to show that yet Emmanuel had grace for the wretched town of

Mansoul.

When Diabolus saw the white flag hung out again, and knowing that it was

not for him, but Mansoul, he cast in his mind to play another prank, to

wit, to see if Emmanuel would raise his siege and begone, upon promise

of reformation. So he comes down to the gate one evening, a good while

after the sun was gone down, and calls to speak with Emmanuel, who

presently came down to the gate, and Diabolus saith unto him-

'Forasmuch as thou makest it appear by thy white flag that thou art

wholly given to peace and quiet, I thought meet to acquaint thee that we

are ready to accept thereof upon terms which thou mayest admit.

'I know that thou art given to devotion, and that holiness pleaseth

thee; yea, that thy great end in making a war upon Mansoul is, that it

may be a holy habitation. Well, draw off thy forces from the town, and

I will bend Mansoul to thy bow.

'First, I will lay down all acts of hostility against thee, and will be

willing to become thy deputy, and will, as I have formerly been against

thee, now serve thee in the town of Mansoul. And more particularly,

'1. I will persuade Mansoul to receive thee for their Lord; and I know

that they will do it the sooner when they shall understand that I am thy

deputy.

'2. I will show them wherein they have erred, and that transgression

stands in the way to life.

'3. I will show them the holy law unto which they must conform, even

that which they have broken.

'4. I will press upon them the necessity of a reformation according to

thy law.

'5. And, moreover, that none of these things may fail, I myself, at my

own proper cost and charge, will set up and maintain a sufficient

ministry, besides lectures, in Mansoul.

'6. Thou shalt receive, as a token of our subjection to thee, year by

year, what thou shalt think fit to lay and levy upon us in token of our

subjection to thee.'

Then said Emmanuel to him, 'O full of deceit, how moveable are thy ways!

How often hast thou changed and re-changed, if so be thou mightest still

keep possession of my Mansoul, though, as has been plainly declared

before, I am the right heir thereof! Often hast thou made thy proposals

already, nor is this last a whit better than they. And failing to

deceive when thou showedst thyself in thy black, thou hast now

transformed thyself into an angel of light, and wouldest, to deceive, be

now as a minister of righteousness.

'But know thou, O Diabolus, that nothing must be regarded that thou

canst propound, for nothing is done by thee but to deceive. Thou

neither hast conscience to God, nor love to the town of Mansoul; whence,

then, should these thy sayings arise but from sinful craft and deceit?

He that can of list and will propound what he pleases, and that

wherewith he may destroy them that believe him, is to be abandoned, with

all that he shall say. But if righteousness be such a beauty-spot in

thine eyes now, how is it that wickedness was so closely stuck to by

thee before? But this is by-the-by.

'Thou talkest now of a reformation in Mansoul, and that thou thyself, if

I will please, wilt be at the head of that reformation; all the while

knowing that the greatest proficiency that man can make in the law, and

the righteousness thereof, will amount to no more, for the taking away

of the curse from Mansoul, than just nothing at all; for a law being

broken by Mansoul, that had before, upon a supposition of the breach

thereof, a curse pronounced against him for it of God, can never, by his

obeying of the law, deliver himself therefrom (to say nothing of what a

reformation is like to be set up in Mansoul when the devil is become

corrector of vice). Thou knowest that all that thou hast now said in

this matter is nothing but guile and deceit; and is, as it was the

first, so is it the last card that thou hast to play. Many there be

that do soon discern thee when thou showest them thy cloven foot; but in

thy white, thy light, and in thy transformation, thou art seen but of a

few. But thou shalt not do thus with my Mansoul, O Diabolus; for I do

still love my Mansoul.

'Besides, I am not come to put Mansoul upon works to live thereby;

should I do so, I should be like unto thee: but I am come that by me,

and by what I have and shall do for Mansoul, they may to my Father be

reconciled, though by their sin they have provoked him to anger, and

though by the law they cannot obtain mercy.

'Thou talkest of subjecting of this town to good, when none desireth it

at thy hands. I am sent by my Father to possess it myself, and to guide

it by the skilfulness of my hands into such a conformity to him as shall

be pleasing in his sight. I will therefore possess it myself; I will

dispossess and cast thee out; I will set up mine own standard in the

midst of them; I will also govern them by new laws, new officers, new

motives, and new ways; yea, I will pull down this town, and build it

again; and it shall be as though it had not been, and it shall then be

the glory of the whole universe.'

When Diabolus heard this, and perceived that he was discovered in all

his deceits, he was confounded, and utterly put to a nonplus; but having

in himself the fountain of iniquity, rage, and malice against both

Shaddai and his Son, and the beloved town of Mansoul, what doth he but

strengthen himself what he could to give fresh battle to the noble

Prince Emmanuel? So, then, now we must have another fight before the

town of Mansoul is taken. Come up, then, to the mountains, you that

love to see military actions, and behold by both sides how the fatal

blow is given, while one seeks to hold, and the other seeks to make

himself master of the famous town of Mansoul.

Diabolus, therefore, having withdrawn himself from the wall to his force

that was in the heart of the town of Mansoul, Emmanuel also returned to

the camp; and both of them, after their divers ways, put themselves into

a posture fit to give battle one to another.

Diabolus, as filled with despair of retaining in his hands the famous

town of Mansoul, resolved to do what mischief he could (if, indeed, he

could do any) to the army of the Prince and to the famous town of

Mansoul; for, alas! it was not the happiness of the silly town of

Mansoul that was designed by Diabolus, but the utter ruin and overthrow

thereof, as now is enough in view. Wherefore he commands his officers

that they should then, when they see that they could hold the town no

longer, do it what harm and mischief they could, rending and tearing

men, women, and children. 'For,'said he, 'we had better quite demolish

the place, and leave it like a ruinous heap, than so leave it that it

may be an habitation for Emmanuel.'

Emmanuel again, knowing that the next battle would issue in his being

made master of the place, gave out a royal commandment to all his

officers, high captains, and men of war, to be sure to show themselves

men of war against Diabolus and all Diabolonians; but favourable,

merciful, and meek to the old inhabitants of Mansoul. 'Bend,

therefore,'said the noble Prince, 'the hottest front of the battle

against Diabolus and his men.'

So the day being come, the command was given, and the Prince's men did

bravely stand to their arms, and did, as before, bend their main force

against Ear-gate and Eye-gate. The word was then, 'Mansoul is won;'so

they made their assault upon the town. Diabolus also, as fast as he

could, with the main of his power, made resistance from within; and his

high lords and chief captains for a time fought very cruelly against the

Prince's army.

But after three or four notable charges by the Prince and his noble

captains, Ear-gate was broken open, and the bars and bolts wherewith it

was used to be fast shut up against the Prince, were broken into a

thousand pieces. Then did the Prince's trumpets sound, the captains

shout, the town shake, and Diabolus retreat to his hold. Well, when the

Prince's forces had broken open the gate, himself came up and did set

his throne in it; also he set his standard thereby, upon a mount that

before by his men was cast up to place the mighty slings thereon. The

mount was called Mount Hear-well. There, therefore, the Prince abode,

to wit, hard by the going in at the gate. He commanded also that the

golden slings should yet be played upon the town, especially against the

castle, because for shelter thither was Diabolus retreated. Now, from

Ear-gate the street was straight even to the house of Mr. Recorder,

that so was before Diabolus took the town; and hard by his house stood

the castle, which Diabolus for a long time had made his irksome den.

The captains, therefore, did quickly clear that street by the use of

their slings, so that way was made up to the heart of the town. Then

did the Prince command that Captain Boanerges, Captain Conviction, and

Captain Judgment should forthwith march up the town to the old

gentleman's gate. Then did the captains in most warlike manner enter

into the town of Mansoul, and, marching in with flying colours, they

came up to the Recorder's house, and that was almost as strong as was

the castle. Battering-rams they took also with them, to plant against

the castle gates. When they were come to the house of Mr. Conscience,

they knocked, and demanded entrance. Now, the old gentleman, not

knowing as yet fully their design, kept his gates shut all the time of

this fight. Wherefore Boanerges demanded entrance at his gates; and no

man making answer, he gave it one stroke with the head of a ram, and

this made the old gentleman shake, and his house to tremble and totter.

Then came Mr. Recorder down to the gates, and, as he could, with

quivering lips he asked who was there? Boanerges answered, 'We are the

captains and commanders of the great Shaddai and of the blessed

Emmanuel, his Son, and we demand possession of your house for the use of

our noble Prince.'And with that the battering-ram gave the gate another

shake. This made the old gentleman tremble the more, yet durst he not

but open the gate: then the King's forces marched in, namely, the three

brave captains mentioned before. Now, the Recorder's house was a place

of much convenience for Emmanuel, not only because it was near to the

castle and strong, but also because it was large, and fronted the

castle, the den where now Diabolus was, for he was now afraid to come

out of his hold. As for Mr. Recorder, the captains carried it very

reservedly to him; as yet he knew nothing of the great designs of

Emmanuel, so that he did not know what judgment to make, nor what would

be the end of such thundering beginnings. It was also presently noised

in the town how the Recorder's house was possessed, his rooms taken up,

and his palace made the seat of the war; and no sooner was it noised

abroad, but they took the alarm as warmly, and gave it out to others of

his friends, and you know, as a snowball loses nothing by rolling, so in

little time the whole town was possessed that they must expect nothing

from the Prince but destruction; and the ground of the business was

this, the Recorder was afraid, the Recorder trembled, and the captains

carried it strangely to the Recorder. So many came to see, but when

they with their own eyes did behold the captains in the palace, and

their battering-rams ever playing at the castle gates to beat them down,

they were riveted in their fears, and it made them all in amaze. And,

as I said, the man of the house would increase all this; for whoever

came to him, or discoursed with him, nothing would he talk of, tell

them, or hear, but that death and destruction now attended Mansoul.

'For,'quoth the old gentleman, 'you are all of you sensible that we all

have been traitors to that once despised, but now famously victorious

and glorious Prince Emmanuel; for he now, as you see, doth not only lie

in close siege about us, but hath forced his entrance in at our gates.

Moreover, Diabolus flees before him; and he hath, as you behold, made of

my house a garrison against the castle where he is. I, for my part,

have transgressed greatly, and he that is clean, it is well for him.

But I say I have transgressed greatly in keeping silence when I should

have spoken, and in perverting justice when I should have executed the

same. True, I have suffered something at the hand of Diabolus for

taking part with the laws of King Shaddai; but that, alas! what will

that do? will that make compensation for the rebellions and treasons

that I have done, and have suffered without gainsaying to be committed

in the town of Mansoul? Oh! I tremble to think what will be the end of

this so dreadful and so ireful a beginning!'

Now, while these brave captains were thus busy in the house of the old

Recorder, Captain Execution was as busy in other parts of the town, in

securing the back streets and the walls. He also hunted the Lord

Willbewill sorely; he suffered him not to rest in any corner; he pursued

him so hard that he drove his men from him, and made him glad to thrust

his head into a hole. Also this mighty warrior did cut three of the

Lord Willbewill's officers down to the ground: one was old Mr.

Prejudice, he that had his crown cracked in the mutiny. This man was

made by Lord Willbewill keeper of Ear-gate, and fell by the hand of

Captain Execution. There was also one Mr. Backward-to-all-but-Naught,

and he also was one of Lord Willbewill's officers, and was the captain

of the two guns that once were mounted on the top of Ear-gate; he also

was cut down to the ground by the hands of Captain Execution. Besides

these two there was another, a third, and his name was Captain

Treacherous; a vile man this was, but one that Willbewill did put a

great deal of confidence in; but him also did this Captain Execution cut

down to the ground with the rest.

He also made a very great slaughter among my Lord Willbewill's soldiers,

killing many that were stout and sturdy, and wounding many that for

Diabolus were nimble and active. But all these were Diabolonians; there

was not a man, a native of Mansoul, hurt.

Other feats of war were also likewise performed by other of the

captains, as at Eye-gate, where Captain Good-Hope and Captain Charity

had a charge, was great execution done; for the Captain Good-Hope, with

his own hands, slew one Captain Blindfold, the keeper of that gate.

This Blindfold was captain of a thousand men, and they were they that

fought with mauls; he also pursued his men, slew many, and wounded more,

and made the rest hide their heads in corners.

There was also at that gate Mr. Ill-Pause, of whom you have heard

before. He was an old man, and had a beard that reached down to his

girdle: the same was he that was orator to Diabolus: he did much

mischief in the town of Mansoul, and fell by the hand of Captain Good-

Hope.

What shall I say? The Diabolonians in these days lay dead in every

corner, though too many yet were alive in Mansoul.

Now, the old Recorder and my Lord Understanding, with some others of the

chief of the town, to wit, such as knew they must stand and fall with

the famous town of Mansoul, came together upon a day, and after

consultation had, did jointly agree to draw up a petition, and to send

it to Emmanuel, now while he sat in the gate of Mansoul. So they drew

up their petition to Emmanuel, the contents whereof were these:-That

they, the old inhabitants of the now deplorable town of Mansoul,

confessed their sin, and were sorry that they had offended his princely

Majesty, and prayed that he would spare their lives.

Unto this petition he gave no answer at all, and that did trouble them

yet so much the more. Now, all this while the captains that were in the

Recorder's house were playing with the battering-rams at the gates of

the castle, to beat them down. So, after some time, labour, and

travail, the gate of the castle that was called Impregnable was beaten

open, and broken into several splinters, and so a way made to go up to

the hold in which Diabolus had hid himself. Then were tidings sent down

to Ear-gate, for Emmanuel still abode there, to let him know that a way

was made in at the gates of the castle of Mansoul. But, oh! how the

trumpets at the tidings sounded throughout the Prince's camp, for that

now the war was so near an end, and Mansoul itself of being set free.

Then the Prince arose from the place where he was, and took with him

such of his men of war as were fittest for that expedition, and marched

up the street of Mansoul to the old Recorder's house.

Now, the Prince himself was clad all in armour of gold, and so he

marched up the town with his standard borne before him; but he kept his

countenance much reserved all the way as he went, so that the people

could not tell how to gather to themselves love or hatred by his looks.

Now, as he marched up the street, the townsfolk came out at every door

to see, and could not but be taken with his person and the glory

thereof, but wondered at the reservedness of his countenance; for as yet

he spake more to them by his actions and works than he did by words or

smiles. But also poor Mansoul (as in such cases all are apt to do),

they interpreted the carriage of Emmanuel to them as did Joseph's

brethren his to them, even all the quite contrary way. 'For,'thought

they, 'if Emmanuel loved us, he would show it to us by word or carriage;

but none of these he doth, therefore Emmanuel hates us. Now, if

Emmanuel hates us, then Mansoul shall be slain, then Mansoul shall

become a dunghill.'They knew that they had transgressed his Father's

law, and that against him they had been in with Diabolus, his enemy.

They also knew that the Prince Emmanuel knew all this; for they were

convinced that he was an angel of God, to know all things that are done

in the earth; and this made them think that their condition was

miserable, and that the good Prince would make them desolate.

'And,'thought they, 'what time so fit to do this in as now, when he has

the bridle of Mansoul in his hand? 'And this I took special notice of,

that the inhabitants, notwithstanding all this, could not-no, they could

not, when they see him march through the town, but cringe, bow, bend,

and were ready to lick the dust of his feet. They also wished a

thousand times over that he would become their Prince and Captain, and

would become their protection. They would also one to another talk of

the comeliness of his person, and how much for glory and valour he

outstripped the great ones of the world. But, poor hearts, as to

themselves, their thoughts would change, and go upon all manner of

extremes. Yea, through the working of them backward and forward,

Mansoul became as a ball tossed, and as a rolling thing before the

whirlwind.

Now, when he was come to the castle gates, he commanded Diabolus to

appear, and to surrender himself into his hands. But, oh! how loath

was the beast to appear! how he stuck at it! how he shrank! how he

cringed! yet out he came to the Prince. Then Emmanuel commanded, and

they took Diabolus and bound him fast in chains, the better to reserve

him to the judgment that he had appointed for him. But Diabolus stood

up to entreat for himself that Emmanuel would not send him into the

deep, but suffer him to depart out of Mansoul in peace.

When Emmanuel had taken him and bound him in chains, he led him into the

market-place, and there, before Mansoul, stripped him of his armour in

which he boasted so much before. This now was one of the acts of

triumph of Emmanuel over his enemy; and all the while that the giant was

stripping, the trumpets of the golden Prince did sound amain; the

captains also shouted, and the soldiers did sing for joy.

Then was Mansoul called upon to behold the beginning of Emmanuel's

triumph over him in whom they so much had trusted, and of whom they so

much had boasted in the days when he flattered them.

Thus having made Diabolus naked in the eyes of Mansoul, and before the

commanders of the Prince, in the next place he commands that Diabolus

should be bound with chains to his chariot wheels. Then leaving some of

his forces, to wit, Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction, as a guard

for the castle-gates, that resistance might be made on his behalf (if

any that heretofore followed Diabolus should make an attempt to possess

it), he did ride in triumph over him quite through the town of Mansoul,

and so out at and before the gate called Eye-gate, to the plain where

his camp did lie.

But you cannot think, unless you had been there, as I was, what a shout

there was in Emmanuel's camp when they saw the tyrant bound by the hand

of their noble Prince, and tied to his chariot wheels!

And they said, 'He hath led captivity captive, he hath spoiled

principalities and powers. Diabolus is subjected to the power of his

sword, and made the object of all derision.'

Those also that rode reformades, and that came down to see the battle,

they shouted with that greatness of voice, and sang with such melodious

notes, that they caused them that dwell in the highest orbs to open

their windows, put out their heads, and look down to see the cause of

that glory.

The townsmen also, so many of them as saw this sight, were, as it were,

while they looked, betwixt the earth and the heavens. True, they could

not tell what would be the issue of things as to them; but all things

were done in such excellent methods, and I cannot tell how, but things

in the management of them seemed to cast a smile towards the town, so

that their eyes, their heads, their hearts, and their minds, and all

that they had, were taken and held while they observed Emmanuel's order.

So, when the brave Prince had finished this part of his triumph over

Diabolus his foe, he turned him up in the midst of his contempt and

shame, having given him a charge no more to be a possessor of Mansoul.

Then went he from Emmanuel, and out of the midst of his camp, to inherit

the parched places in a salt land, seeking rest, but finding none.

CHAPTER 6

Now, Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction were, both of them, men of

very great majesty; their faces were like the faces of lions, and their

words like the roaring of the sea; and they still quartered in Mr.

Conscience's house, of whom mention was made before. When, therefore,

the high and mighty Prince had thus far finished his triumph over

Diabolus, the townsmen had more leisure to view and to behold the

actions of these noble captains. But the captains carried it with that

terror and dread in all that they did (and you may be sure that they had

private instructions so to do), that they kept the town under continual

heart-aching, and caused (in their apprehension) the well-being of

Mansoul for the future to hang in doubt before them, so that for some

considerable time they neither knew what rest, or ease, or peace, or

hope, meant.

Nor did the Prince himself as yet abide in the town of Mansoul, but in

his royal pavilion in the camp, and in the midst of his Father's forces.

So, at a time convenient, he sent special orders to Captain Boanerges to

summons Mansoul, the whole of the townsmen into the castle-yard, and

then and there, before their faces, to take my Lord Understanding, Mr.

Conscience, and that notable one, the Lord Willbewill, and put them all

three in ward and that they. should set a strong guard upon them there,

until his pleasure concerning them was further known: the which orders,

when the captains had put them in execution, made no small addition to

the fears of the town of Mansoul; for now, to their thinking, were their

former fears of the ruin of Mansoul confirmed. Now, what death they

should die, and how long they should be in dying, was that which most

perplexed their heads and hearts; yea, they were afraid that Emmanuel

would command them all into the deep, the place that the Prince Diabolus

was afraid of, for they knew that they had deserved it. Also to die by

the sword in the face of the town, and in the open way of disgrace, from

the hand of so good and so holy a Prince, that, too, troubled them sore.

The town was also greatly troubled for the men that were committed to

ward, for that they were their stay and their guide, and for that they

believed that, if those men were cut off, their execution would be but

the beginning of the ruin of the town of Mansoul. Wherefore, what do

they, but, together with the men in prison, draw up a petition to the

Prince, and sent it to Emmanuel by the hand of Mr. Would-Live. So he

went, and came to the Prince's quarters, and presented the petition, the

sum of which was this:-

'Great and wonderful Potentate, victor over Diabolus, and conqueror of

the town of Mansoul, we, the miserable inhabitants of that most woful

corporation, do humbly beg that we may find favour in thy sight, and

remember not against us former transgressions, nor yet the sins of the

chief of our town; but spare us according to the greatness of thy mercy,

and let us not die, but live in thy sight. So shall we be willing to be

thy servants, and, if thou shalt think fit, to gather our meat under thy

table. Amen.'

So the petitioner went, as was said, with his petition to the Prince;

and the Prince took it at his hand, but sent him away with silence.

This still afflicted the town of Mansoul; but yet, considering that now

they must either petition or die, for now they could not do anything

else, therefore they consulted again, and sent another petition; and

this petition was much after the form and method of the former.

But when the petition was drawn up, By whom should they send it? was

the next question; for they would not send this by him by whom they sent

the first, for they thought that the Prince had taken some offence at

the manner of his deportment before him: so they attempted to make

Captain Conviction their messenger with it; but he said that he neither

durst nor would petition Emmanuel for traitors, nor be to the Prince an

advocate for rebels. 'Yet withal,'said he, 'our Prince is good, and you

may adventure to send it by the hand of one of your town, provided he

went with a rope about his head, and pleaded nothing but mercy.'

Well, they made, through fear, their delays as long as they could, and

longer than delays were good; but fearing at last the dangerousness of

them, they thought, but with many a fainting in their minds, to send

their petition by Mr. Desires-Awake; so they sent for Mr. Desires-

Awake. Now he dwelt in a very mean cottage in Mansoul, and he came at

his neighbours'request. So they told him what they had done, and what

they would do, concerning petitioning, and that they did desire of him

that he would go therewith to the Prince.

Then said Mr. Desires-Awake, 'Why should not I do the best I can to

save so famous a town as Mansoul from deserved destruction?'They

therefore delivered the petition to him, and told him how he must

address himself to the Prince, and wished him ten thousand good speeds.

So he comes to the Prince's pavilion, as the first, and asked to speak

with his Majesty. So word was carried to Emmanuel, and the Prince came

out to the man. When Mr. Desires-Awake saw the Prince, he fell flat

with his face to the ground, and cried out, 'Oh that Mansoul might live

before thee!'and with that he presented the petition; the which when the

Prince had read, he turned away for a while and wept; but refraining

himself, he turned again to the man, who all this while lay crying at

his feet, as at the first, and said to him, 'Go thy way to thy place,

and I will consider of thy requests.'

Now, you may think that they of Mansoul that had sent him, what with

guilt, and what with fear lest their petition should be rejected, could

not but look with many a long look, and that, too, with strange workings

of heart, to see what would become of their petition. At last they saw

their messenger coming back. So, when he was come, they asked him how

he fared, what Emmanuel said, and what was become of the petition. But

he told them that he would be silent till he came to the prison to my

Lord Mayor, my Lord Willbewill, and Mr. Recorder. So he went forwards

towards the prison-house, where the men of Mansoul lay bound. But, oh!

what a multitude flocked after, to hear what the messenger said. So,

when he was come, and had shown himself at the gate of the prison, my

Lord Mayor himself looked as white as a clout; the Recorder also did

quake. But they asked and said, 'Come, good sir, what did the great

Prince say to you?'Then said Mr. Desires-Awake, 'When I came to my

Lord's pavilion, I called, and he came forth. So I fell prostrate at

his feet, and delivered to him my petition; for the greatness of his

person, and the glory of his countenance, would not suffer me to stand

upon my legs. Now, as he received the petition, I cried, "Oh that

Mansoul might live before thee!"So, when for a while he had looked

thereon, he turned him about, and said to his servant, "Go thy way to

thy place again, and I will consider of thy requests."'The messenger

added, moreover, and said, 'The Prince to whom you sent me is such a one

for beauty and glory, that whoso sees him must both love and fear him.

I, for my part, can do no less; but I know not what will be the end of

these things.'

At this answer they were all at a stand, both they in prison, and they

that followed the messenger thither to hear the news; nor knew they

what, or what manner of interpretation to put upon what the Prince had

said. Now, when the prison was cleared of the throng, the prisoners

among themselves began to comment upon Emmanuel's words. My Lord Mayor

said that the answer did not look with a rugged face; but Willbewill

said that it betokened evil; and the Recorder, that it was a messenger

of death. Now, they that were left, and that stood behind, and so could

not so well hear what the prisoners said, some of them catched hold of

one piece of a sentence, and some on a bit of another; some took hold of

what the messenger said, and some of the prisoners'judgment thereon; so

none had the right understanding of things. But you cannot imagine what

work these people made, and what a confusion there was in Mansoul now.

For presently they that had heard what was said, flew about the town,

one crying one thing, and another the quite contrary; and both were sure

enough they told true; for they did hear, they said, with their ears

what was said, and therefore could not be deceived. One would say, 'We

must all be killed;'another would say, 'We must all be saved;'and a

third would say that the Prince would not be concerned with Mansoul; and

a fourth, that the prisoners must be suddenly put to death. And, as I

said, every one stood to it that he told his tale the rightest, and that

all others but he were out. Wherefore Mansoul had now molestation upon

molestation, nor could any man know on what to rest the sole of his

foot; for one would go by now, and as he went, if he heard his neighbour

tell his tale, to be sure he would tell the quite contrary, and both

would stand in it that he told the truth. Nay, some of them had got

this story by the end, that the Prince did intend to put Mansoul to the

sword. And now it began to be dark, wherefore poor Mansoul was in sad

perplexity all that night until the morning.

But, so far as I could gather by the best information that I could get,

all this hubbub came through the words that the Recorder said when he

told them that, in his judgment, the Prince's answer was a messenger of

death. It was this that fired the town, and that began the fright in

Mansoul; for Mansoul in former times did use to count that Mr. Recorder

was a seer, and that his sentence was equal to the best of orators; and

thus was Mansoul a terror to itself.

And now did they begin to feel what were the effects of stubborn

rebellion, and unlawful resistance against their Prince. I say, they

now began to feel the effects thereof by guilt and fear, that now had

swallowed them up; and who more involved in the one but they that were

most in the other, to wit, the chief of the town of Mansoul?

To be brief: when the fame of the fright was out of the town, and the

prisoners had a little recovered themselves, they take to themselves

some heart, and think to petition the Prince for life again. So they

did draw up a third petition, the contents whereof were these:-

'Prince Emmanuel the Great, Lord of all worlds, and Master of mercy, we,

thy poor, wretched, miserable, dying town of Mansoul, do confess unto

thy great and glorious Majesty that we have sinned against thy Father

and thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy Mansoul, but rather to

be cast into the pit. If thou wilt slay us, we have deserved it. If

thou wilt condemn us to the deep, we cannot but say thou art righteous.

We cannot complain whatever thou dost, or however thou carriest it

towards us. But, oh! let mercy reign, and let it be extended to us!

Oh! let mercy take hold upon us, and free us from our transgressions,

and we will sing of thy mercy and of thy judgment. Amen.'

This petition, when drawn up, was designed to be sent to the Prince as

the first; but who should carry it?-that was the question. Some said,

'Let him do it that went with the first;'but others thought not good to

do that, and that because he sped no better Now, there was an old man in

the town, and his name was Mr. Good-Deed; a man that bare only the

name, but had nothing of the nature of the thing. Now, some were for

sending him; but the Recorder was by no means for that. 'For,'said he,

'we now stand in need of, and are pleading for mercy: wherefore, to send

our petition by a man of this name, will seem to cross the petition

itself. Should we make Mr. Good-Deed our messenger, when our petition

cries for mercy?

'Besides,'quoth the old gentleman, 'should the Prince now, as he

receives the petition, ask him, and say, "What is thy name?"as nobody

knows but he will; and he should say, "Old Good-Deed,"what, think you,

would Emmanuel say but this? "Ay! is old Good yet alive in Mansoul?

then let old Good-Deed save you from your distresses."And if he says so,

I am sure we are lost; nor can a thousand of old Good-Deeds save

Mansoul.'

After the Recorder had given in his reasons why old Good-Deed should not

go with this petition to Emmanuel, the rest of the prisoners and chief

of Mansoul opposed it also, and so old Good-Deed was laid aside, and

they agreed to send Mr. Desires-Awake again. So they sent for him, and

desired him that he would a second time go with their petition to the

Prince, and he readily told them he would. But they bid him that in

anywise he should take heed that in no word or carriage he gave offence

to the Prince; 'for by doing so, for aught we can tell, you may bring

Mansoul into utter destruction,'said they.

Now Mr. Desires-Awake, when he saw that he must go on this errand,

besought that they would grant that Mr. Wet-Eyes might go with him.

Now this Mr. Wet-Eyes was a near neighbour of Mr. Desires, a poor man,

a man of a broken spirit, yet one that could speak well to a petition;

so they granted that he should go with him. Wherefore, they address

themselves to their business: Mr. Desires put a rope upon his head, and

Mr. Wet-Eyes went with his hands wringing together. Thus they went to

the Prince's pavilion.

Now, when they went to petition this third time, they were not without

thoughts that, by often coming, they might be a burden to the Prince.

Wherefore, when they were come to the door of his pavilion, they first

made their apology for themselves, and for their coming to trouble

Emmanuel so often; and they said that they came not hither to-day for

that they delighted in being troublesome, or for that they delighted to

hear themselves talk, but for that necessity caused them to come to his

Majesty. They could, they said, have no rest day nor night because of

their transgressions against Shaddai and against Emmanuel, his Son.

They also thought that some misbehaviour of Mr. Desires-Awake the last

time might give distaste to his Highness, and so cause that he returned

from so merciful a Prince empty, and without countenance. So, when they

had made this apology, Mr. Desires-Awake cast himself prostrate upon

the ground, as at the first, at the feet of the mighty Prince, saying,

'Oh that Mansoul might live before thee!'and so he delivered his

petition. The Prince then, having read the petition, turned aside

awhile as before, and coming again to the place where the petitioner lay

on the ground, he demanded what his name was, and of what esteem in the

account of Mansoul, for that he, above all the multitude in Mansoul,

should be sent to him upon such an errand. Then said the man to the

Prince, 'O let not my Lord be angry; and why inquirest thou after the

name of such a dead dog as I am? Pass by, I pray thee, and take not

notice of who I am, because there is, as thou very well knowest, so

great a disproportion between me and thee. Why the townsmen chose to

send me on this errand to my Lord is best known to themselves, but it

could not be for that they thought that I had favour with my Lord. For

my part, I am out of charity with myself; who, then, should be in love

with me? Yet live I would, and so would I that my townsmen should; and

because both they and myself are guilty of great transgressions,

therefore they have sent me, and I am come in their names to beg of my

Lord for mercy. Let it please thee, therefore, to incline to mercy; but

ask not what thy servants are.'

Then said the Prince, 'And what is he that is become thy companion in

this so weighty a matter?'So Mr. Desires told Emmanuel that he was a

poor neighbour of his, and one of his most intimate associates. 'And

his name,'said he, 'may it please your most excellent Majesty, is Wet-

Eyes, of the town of Mansoul. I know that there are many of that name

that are naught; but I hope it will be no offence to my Lord that I have

brought my poor neighbour with me.

Then Mr. Wet-Eyes fell on his face to the ground, and made this apology

for his coming with his neighbour to his Lord:-

'0, my Lord,'quoth he, 'what I am I know not myself, nor whether my name

be feigned or true, especially when I begin to think what some have

said, namely, That this name was given me because Mr. Repentance was my

father. Good men have bad children, and the sincere do oftentimes beget

hypocrites. My mother also called me by this name from the cradle; but

whether because of the moistness of my brain, or because of the softness

of my heart, I cannot tell. I see dirt in mine own tears, and

filthiness in the bottom of my prayers. But I pray thee'(and all this

while the gentleman wept) 'that thou wouldest not remember against us

our transgressions, nor take offence at the unqualifiedness of thy

servants, but mercifully pass by the sin of Mansoul, and refrain from

the glorifying of thy grace no longer.'

So at his bidding they arose, and both stood trembling before him, and

he spake to them to this purpose:-

'The town of Mansoul hath grievously rebelled against my Father, in that

they have rejected him from being their King, and did choose to

themselves for their captain a liar, a murderer, and a runagate slave.

For this Diabolus, your pretended prince, though once so highly

accounted of by you, made rebellion against my Father and me, even in

our palace and highest court there, thinking to become a prince and

king. But being there timely discovered and apprehended, and for his

wickedness bound in chains, and separated to the pit with those that

were his companions, he offered himself to you, and you have received

him.

'Now this is, and for a long time hath been, a high affront to my

Father; wherefore my Father sent to you a powerful army to reduce you to

your obedience. But you know how these men, their captains and their

counsels, were esteemed of you, and what they received at your hand.

You rebelled against them, you shut your gates upon them, you bid them

battle, you fought them, and fought for Diabolus against them. So they

sent to my Father for more power, and I, with my men, are come to subdue

you. But as you treated the servants, so you treated their Lord. You

stood up in hostile manner against me, you shut up your gates against

me, you turned the deaf ear to me, and resisted as long as you could;

but now I have made a conquest of you. Did you cry me mercy so long as

you had hopes that you might prevail against me? But now I have taken

the town, you cry; but why did you not cry before, when the white flag

of my mercy, the red flag of justice, and the black flag that threatened

execution, were set up to cite you to it? Now I have conquered your

Diabolus, you come to me for favour; but why did you not help me against

the mighty? Yet I will consider your petition, and will answer it so as

will be for my glory.

'Go, bid Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction bring the prisoners

out to me into the camp to-morrow, and say you to Captain Judgment and

Captain Execution, "Stay you in the castle, and take good heed to

yourselves that you keep all quiet in Mansoul until you shall hear

further from me."'And with that he turned himself from them, and went

into his royal pavilion again.

So the petitioners, having received this answer from the Prince,

returned, as at the first, to go to their companions again. But they

had not gone far, but thoughts began to work in their minds that no

mercy as yet was intended by the Prince to Mansoul. So they went to the

place where the prisoners lay bound; but these workings of mind about

what would become of Mansoul had such strong power over them, that by

that they were come unto them that sent them, they were scarce able to

deliver their message.

But they came at length to the gates of the town (now the townsmen with

earnestness were waiting for their return), where many met them, to know

what answer was made to the petition. Then they cried out to those that

were sent, 'What news from the Prince? and what hath Emmanuel said?'But

they said that they must, as afore, go up to the prison, and there

deliver their message. So away they went to the prison, with a

multitude at their heels. Now, when they were come to the gates of the

prison, they told the first part of Emmanuel s speech to the prisoners,

to wit, how he reflected upon their disloyalty to his Father and

himself, and how they had chosen and closed with Diabolus, had fought

for him, hearkened to him, and been ruled by him; but had despised Him

and his men. This made the prisoners look pale; but the messengers

proceeded and said, 'He, the Prince, said, moreover, that yet he would

consider your petition, and give such answer thereto as would stand with

his glory.'And as these words were spoken, Mr. Wet-Eyes gave a great

sigh. At this they were all of them struck into their dumps, and could

not tell what to say: fear also possessed them in a marvellous manner,

and death seemed to sit upon some of their eyebrows. Now, there was in

the company a notable, sharp-witted fellow, a mean man of estate, and

his name was old Inquisitive. This man asked the petitioners if they

had told out every whit of what Emmanuel said, and they answered,

'Verily, no.'Then said Inquisitive, 'I thought so, indeed. Pray, what

was it more that he said unto you?'Then they paused awhile; but at last

they brought out all, saying, 'The Prince bade us bid Captain Boanerges

and Captain Conviction bring the prisoners down to him to-morrow; and

that Captain Judgment and Captain Execution should take charge of the

castle and town till they should hear further from him.'They said also

that when the Prince had commanded them thus to do, he immediately

turned his back upon them, and went into his royal pavilion.

But, oh! how this return, and specially this last clause of it, that

the prisoners must go out to the Prince into the camp, brake all their

loins in pieces! Wherefore, with one voice they set up a cry that

reached up to the heavens. This done, each of the three prepared

himself to die (and the Recorder said unto them, 'This was the thing

that I feared'); for they concluded that to-morrow, by that the sun went

down, they should be tumbled out of the world. The whole town also

counted of no other, but that, in their time and order, they must all

drink of the same cup. Wherefore the town of Mansoul spent that night

in mourning, and sackcloth and ashes. The prisoners also, when the time

was come for them to go down before the Prince, dressed themselves in

mourning attire, with ropes upon their heads. The whole town of Mansoul

also showed themselves upon the wall, all clad in mourning weeds, if,

perhaps, the Prince with the sight thereof might be moved with

compassion. But, oh! how the busy-bodies that were in the town of

Mansoul did now concern themselves! They did run here and there through

the streets of the town by companies, crying out as they ran in

tumultuous wise, one after one manner, and another the quite contrary,

to the almost utter distraction of Mansoul.

Well, the time is come that the prisoners must go down to the camp, and

appear before the Prince. And thus was the manner of their going down:

Captain Boanerges went with a guard before them, and Captain Conviction

came behind, and the prisoners went down, bound in chains, in the midst.

So, I say, the prisoners went in the midst, and the guard went with

flying colours behind and before, but the prisoners went with drooping

spirits.

Or, more particularly, thus:-The prisoners went down all in mourning;

they put ropes upon themselves; they went on, smiting themselves on the

breasts, but durst not lift up their eyes to heaven. Thus they went out

at the gate of Mansoul, till they came into the midst of the Prince's

army, the sight and glory of which did greatly heighten their

affliction. Nor could they now longer forbear, but cry out aloud, 'O

unhappy men! O wretched men of Mansoul!'Their chains, still mixing

their dolorous notes with the cries of the prisoners, made the noise

more lamentable.

So, when they were come to the door of the Prince's pavilion, they cast

themselves prostrate upon the place; then one went in and told his Lord

that the prisoners were come down. The Prince then ascended a throne of

state, and sent for the prisoners in; who, when they came, did tremble

before him, also they covered their faces with shame. Now, as they drew

near to the place where he sat, they threw themselves down before him.

Then said the Prince to the Captain Boanerges, 'Bid the prisoners stand

upon their feet.'Then they stood trembling before him, and he said, 'Are

you the men that heretofore were the servants of Shaddai?'And they said,

'Yes, Lord, yes.'Then said the Prince again, 'Are you the men that did

suffer yourselves to be corrupted and defiled by that abominable one,

Diabolus?'And they said, 'We did more than suffer it, Lord; for we chose

it of our own mind.'The Prince asked further, saying, 'Could you have

been content that your slavery should have continued under his tyranny

as long as you had lived?'Then said the prisoners, 'Yes, Lord, yes; for

his ways were pleasing to our flesh, and we were grown aliens to a

better state.'-'And did you,'said he, 'when I came up against this town

of Mansoul, heartily wish that I might not have the victory over you?'-

'Yes, Lord, yes,'said they. Then said the Prince, 'And what punishment

is it, think you, that you deserve at my hand, for these and other your

high and mighty sins?'And they said, 'Both death and the deep, Lord; for

we have deserved no less.'He asked again if they had aught to say for

themselves why the sentence, that they confessed that they had deserved,

should not be passed upon them? And they said, 'We can say nothing,

Lord: thou art just, for we have sinned.'Then said the Prince, 'And for

what are those ropes on your heads?'The prisoners answered, 'These ropes

are to bind us withal to the place of execution, if mercy be not

pleasing in thy sight.'So he further asked if all the men in the town of

Mansoul were in this confession, as they? And they answered, 'All the

natives, Lord; but for the Diabolonians that came into our town when the

tyrant got possession of us, we can say nothing for them.'

Then the Prince commanded that a herald should be called, and that he

should, in the midst and throughout the camp of Emmanuel, proclaim, and

that with sound of trumpet, that the Prince, the Son of Shaddai, had, in

his Father's name, and for his Father's glory, gotten a perfect conquest

and victory over Mansoul; and that the prisoners should follow him, and

say Amen. So this was done as he had commanded. And presently the

music that was in the upper region sounded melodiously, the captains

that were in the camp shouted, and the soldiers did sing songs of

triumph to the Prince; the colours waved in the wind, and great joy was

everywhere, only it was wanting as yet in the hearts of the men of

Mansoul.

Then the Prince called for the prisoners to come and to stand again

before him, and they came and stood trembling. And he said unto them,

'The sins, trespasses, iniquities, that you, with the whole town of

Mansoul, have from time to time committed against my Father and me, I

have power and commandment from my Father to forgive to the town of

Mansoul, and do forgive you accordingly.'And having so said, he gave

them, written in parchment, and sealed with seven seals, a large and

general pardon, commanding my Lord Mayor, my Lord Willbewill, and Mr.

Recorder, to proclaim and cause it to be proclaimed to-morrow, by that

the sun is up, throughout the whole town of Mansoul.

Moreover, the Prince stripped the prisoners of their mourning weeds, and

gave them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment

of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Then he gave to each of the three, jewels of gold and precious stones,

and took away their ropes, and put chains of gold about their necks, and

ear-rings in their ears. Now, the prisoners, when they did hear the

gracious words of Prince Emmanuel, and had beheld all that was done unto

them, fainted almost quite away; for the grace, the benefit, the pardon,

was sudden, glorious, and so big, that they were not able, without

staggering, to stand up under it. Yea, my Lord Willbewill swooned

outright; but the Prince stepped to him, put his everlasting arms under

him, embraced him, kissed him, and bid him be of good cheer, for all

should be performed according to his word. He also did kiss, and

embrace, and smile upon the other two that were Willbewill's companions,

saying, 'Take these as further tokens of my love, favour, and compassion

to you; and I

charge you that you, Mr. Recorder, tell in the town of Mansoul what you

have heard and seen.'

Then were their fetters broken to pieces before their faces, and cast

into the air, and their steps were enlarged under them. Then they fell

down at the feet of the Prince, and kissed his feet, and wetted them

with tears: also they cried out with a mighty strong voice, saying,

'Blessed be the glory of the Lord from this place.'So they were bid rise

up, and go to the town, and tell to Mansoul what the Prince had done.

He commanded also that one with a pipe and tabor should go and play

before them all the way into the town of Mansoul. Then was fulfilled

what they never looked for, and they were made to possess that which

they never dreamed of.

The Prince also called for the noble Captain Credence, and commanded

that he and some of his officers should march before the noble men of

Mansoul with flying colours into the town. He gave also unto Captain

Credence a charge, that about that time that the Recorder did read the

general pardon in the town of Mansoul, that at that very time he should

with flying colours march in at Eye-gate with his ten thousands at his

feet; and that he should so go until he came by the high street of the

town, up to the castle gates, and that himself should take possession

thereof against his Lord came thither. He commanded, moreover, that he

should bid Captain Judgment and Captain Execution to leave the

stronghold to him, and to withdraw from Mansoul, and to return into the

camp with speed unto the Prince.

And now was the town of Mansoul also delivered from the terror of the

first four captains and their men.

CHAPTER 7

Well, I told you before how the prisoners were entertained by the noble

Prince Emmanuel, and how they behaved themselves before him, and how he

sent them away to their home with pipe and tabor going before them. And

now you must think that those of the town that had all this while waited

to hear of their death, could not but be exercised with sadness of mind,

and with thoughts that pricked like thorns. Nor could their thoughts be

kept to any one point; the wind blew with them all this while at great

uncertainties; yea, their hearts were like a balance that had been

disquieted with a shaking hand. But at last, as they with many a long

look looked over the wall of Mansoul, they thought that they saw some

returning to the town; and thought again, Who should they be, too? Who

should they be? At last they discerned that they were the prisoners:

but can you imagine how their hearts were surprised with wonder,

specially when they perceived also in what equipage and with what honour

they were sent home. They went down to the camp in black, but they came

back to the town in white; they went down to the camp in ropes, they

came back in chains of gold; they went down to the camp with their feet

in fetters, but came back with their steps enlarged under them; they

went also to the camp looking for death, but they came back from thence

with assurance of life; they went down to the camp with heavy hearts,

but came back again with pipe and tabor playing before them. So as soon

as they were come to Eye-gate, the poor and tottering town of Mansoul

adventured to give a shout; and they gave such a shout as made the

captains in the Prince's army leap at the sound thereof. Alas! for

them, poor hearts! who could blame them? since their dead friends were

come to life again; for it was to them as life from the dead to see the

ancients of the town of Mansoul shine in such splendour. They looked

for nothing but the axe and the block; but, behold, joy and gladness,

comfort and consolation, and such melodious notes attending them that

was sufficient to make a sick man well.

So, when they came up, they saluted each other with, 'Welcome, welcome!

and blessed be he that has spared you!'They added also, 'We see it is

well with you; but how must it go with the town of Mansoul? And will it

go well with the town of Mansoul?'said they. Then answered them the

Recorder and my Lord Mayor, 'Oh! tidings! glad tidings! good tidings

of good, and of great joy to poor Mansoul!'Then they gave another shout,

that made the earth to ring again. After this, they inquired yet more

particularly how things went in the camp, and what message they had from

Emmanuel to the town. So they told them all passages that had happened

to them at the camp, and everything that the Prince did to them. This

made Mansoul wonder at the wisdom and grace of the Prince Emmanuel.

Then they told them what they had received at his hands for the whole

town of Mansoul, and the Recorder delivered it in these words: 'PARDON,

PARDON, PARDON for Mansoul! and this shall Mansoul know to-morrow!'Then

he commanded, and they went and summoned Mansoul to meet together in the

market-place to-morrow, then to hear their general pardon read.

But who can think what a turn, what a change, what an alteration this

hint of things did make in the countenance of the town of Mansoul! No

man of Mansoul could sleep that night for joy; in every house there was

joy and music, singing and making merry: telling and hearing of

Mansoul's happiness was then all that Mansoul had to do; and this was

the burden of all their song: 'Oh! more of this at the rising of the

sun! more of this to-morrow!''Who thought yesterday,'would one say,

'that this day would have been such a day to us? And who thought, that

saw our prisoners go down in irons, that they would have returned in

chains of gold? Yea, they that judged themselves as they went to be

judged of their judge, were by his mouth acquitted, not for that they

were innocent, but of the Prince's mercy, and sent home with pipe and

tabor. But is this the common custom of princes? Do they use to show

such kind of favours to traitors? No; this is only peculiar to Shaddai,

and unto Emmanuel, his Son!'

Now morning drew on apace; wherefore the Lord Mayor, the Lord

Willbewill, and Mr. Recorder came down to the market-place at the time

that the Prince had appointed, where the townsfolk were waiting for

them: and when they came, they came in that attire and in that glory

that the Prince had put them into the day before, and the street was

lightened with their glory. So the Mayor, Recorder, and my Lord

Willbewill drew down to Mouth-gate, which was at the lower end of the

market-place, because that of old time was the place where they used to

read public matters. Thither, therefore, they came in their robes, and

their tabrets went before them. Now, the eagerness of the people to

know the full of the matter was great.

Then the Recorder stood up upon his feet, and, first beckoning with his

hand for silence, he read out with a loud voice the pardon. But when he

came to these words: 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,

pardoning iniquity, transgressions, and sins, and to them all manner of

sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven,'etc., they could not forbear

leaping for joy. For this you must know, that there was conjoined

herewith every man's name in Mansoul; also the seals of the pardon made

a brave show.

When the Recorder had made an end of reading the pardon, the townsmen

ran up upon the walls of the town, and leaped and skipped thereon for

joy, and bowed themselves seven times with their faces towards

Emmanuel's pavilion, and shouted out aloud for joy, and said, 'Let

Emmanuel live for ever!'Then order was given to the young men in Mansoul

that they should ring the bells for joy. So the bells did ring, and the

people sing, and the music go in every house in Mansoul.

When the Prince had sent home the three prisoners of Mansoul with joy,

and pipe and tabor, he commanded his captains, with all the field

officers and soldiers throughout his army, to be ready in that morning

that the Recorder should read the pardon in Mansoul, to do his further

pleasure. So the morning, as I have showed, being come, just as the

Recorder had made an end of reading the pardon, Emmanuel commanded that

all the trumpets in the camp should sound, that the colours should be

displayed, half of them upon Mount Gracious, and half of them upon Mount

Justice. He commanded also that all the captains should show themselves

in all their harness, and that the soldiers should shout for joy. Nor

was Captain Credence, though in the castle, silent in such a day; but

he, from the top of the hold, showed himself with sound of trumpet to

Mansoul and to the Prince's camp.

Thus have I showed you the manner and way that Emmanuel took to recover

the town of Mansoul from under the hand and power of the tyrant

Diabolus.

Now, when the Prince had completed these, the outward ceremonies of his

joy, he again commanded that his captains and soldiers should show unto

Mansoul some feats of war: so they presently addressed themselves to

this work. But, oh! with what agility, nimbleness, dexterity, and

bravery did these military men discover their skill in feats of war to

the now gazing town of Mansoul!

They marched, they counter-marched; they opened to the right and left;

they divided and sub-divided; they closed, they wheeled, made good their

front and rear with their right and left wings, and twenty things more,

with that aptness, and then were all as they were again, that they took-

yea, ravished, the hearts that were in Mansoul to behold it. But add to

this, the handling of their arms, the managing of their weapons of war,

were marvellously taking to Mansoul and me.

When this action was over, the whole town of Mansoul came out as one man

to the Prince in the camp to thank him, and praise him for his abundant

favour, and to beg that it would please his grace to come unto Mansoul

with his men, and there to take up their quarters for ever: and this

they did in most humble manner, bowing themselves seven times to the

ground before him. Then said he, 'All peace be to you.'So the town came

nigh, and touched with the hand the toy of his golden sceptre; and they

said, 'Oh that the Prince Emmanuel, with his captains and men of war,

would dwell in Mansoul for ever; and that his battering-rams and slings

might be lodged in her for the use and service of the Prince, and for

the help and strength of Mansoul. For,'said they, 'we have room for

thee, we have room for thy men, we have also room for thy weapons of

war, and a place to make a magazine for thy carriages. Do it, Emmanuel,

and thou shalt be King and Captain in Mansoul for ever. Yea, govern

thou also according to all the desire of thy soul, and make thou

governors and princes under thee of thy captains and men of war, and we

will become thy servants, and thy laws shall be our direction.'

They added, moreover, and prayed his Majesty to consider thereof;

'for,'said they, 'if now, after all this grace bestowed upon us, thy

miserable town of Mansoul, thou shouldest withdraw, thou and thy

captains, from us, the town of Mansoul will die. Yea,'said they, 'our

blessed Emmanuel, if thou shouldest depart from us now, now thou hast

done so much good for us, and showed so much mercy unto us, what will

follow but that our joy will be as if it had not been, and our enemies

will a second time come upon us with more rage than at the first!

Wherefore, we beseech thee, O thou, the desire of our eyes, and the

strength and life of our poor town, accept of this motion that now we

have made unto our Lord, and come and dwell in the midst of us, and let

us be thy people. Besides, Lord, we do not know but that to this day

many Diabolonians may be yet lurking in the town of Mansoul, and they

will betray us, when thou shalt leave us, into the hand of Diabolus

again; and who knows what designs, plots, or contrivances have passed

betwixt them about these things already! loath we are to fall again

into his horrible hands. Wherefore, let it please thee to accept of our

palace for thy place of residence, and of the houses of the best men in

our town for the reception of thy soldiers and their furniture.'

Then said the Prince, 'If I come to your town, will you suffer me

further to prosecute that which is in mine heart against mine enemies

and yours?-yea, will you help me in such undertakings?'

They answered, 'We know not what we shall do; we did not think once that

we should have been such traitors to Shaddai as we have proved to be.

What, then, shall we say to our Lord? Let him put no trust in his

saints; let the Prince dwell in our castle, and make of our town a

garrison; let him set his noble captains and his warlike soldiers over

us; yea, let him conquer us with his love, and overcome us with his

grace, and then surely shall he be but with us, and help us, as he was

and did that morning that our pardon was read unto us. We shall comply

with this our Lord, and with his ways, and fall in with his word against

the mighty.

'One word more, and thy servants have done, and in this will trouble our

Lord no more. We know not the depth of the wisdom of thee, our Prince.

Who could have thought, that had been ruled by his reason, that so much

sweet as we do now enjoy should have come out of those bitter trials

wherewith we were tried at the first! But, Lord, let light go before,

and let love come after: yea, take us by the hand, and lead us by thy

counsels, and let this always abide upon us, that all things shall be

for the best for thy servants, and come to our Mansoul, and do as it

pleaseth thee. Or, Lord, come to our Mansoul, do what thou wilt, so

thou keepest us from sinning, and makest us serviceable to thy Majesty.'

Then said the Prince to the town of Mansoul again, 'Go, return to your

houses in peace. I will willingly in this comply with your desires; I

will remove my royal pavilion, I will draw up my forces before Eye-gate

to-morrow, and so will march forwards into the town of Mansoul. I will

possess myself of your castle of Mansoul, and will set my soldiers over

you; yea, I will yet do things in Mansoul that cannot be paralleled in

any nation, country, or kingdom under heaven.'

Then did the men of Mansoul give a shout, and returned unto their houses

in peace; they also told to their kindred and friends the good that

Emmanuel had promised to Mansoul. 'And to-morrow,'said they, 'he will

march into our town, and take up his dwelling, he and his men, in

Mansoul.'

Then went out the inhabitants of the town of Mansoul with haste to the

green trees and to the meadows, to gather boughs and flowers, therewith

to strew the streets against their Prince, the Son of Shaddai, should

come; they also made garlands and other fine works to betoken how joyful

they were, and should be, to receive their Emmanuel into Mansoul; yea,

they strewed the street quite from Eye-gate to the castle-gate, the

place where the Prince should be. They also prepared for his coming

what music the town of Mansoul would afford, that they might play before

him to the palace, his habitation.

So, at the time appointed he makes his approach to Mansoul, and the

gates were set open for him; there also the ancients and elders of

Mansoul met him to salute him with a thousand welcomes. Then he arose

and entered Mansoul, he and all his servants. The elders of Mansoul did

also go dancing before him till he came to the castle-gates. And this

was the manner of his going up thither:-He was clad in his golden

armour, he rode in his royal chariot, the trumpets sounded about him,

the colours were displayed, his ten thousands went up at his feet, and

the elders of Mansoul danced before him. And now were the walls of the

famous town of Mansoul filled with the tramplings of the inhabitants

thereof, who went up thither to view the approach of the blessed Prince

and his royal army. Also the casements, windows, balconies, and tops of

the houses, were all now filled with persons of all sorts, to behold how

their town was to be filled with good.

Now, when he was come so far into the town as to the Recorder's house,

he commanded that one should go to Captain Credence, to know whether the

castle of Mansoul was prepared to entertain his royal presence (for the

preparation of that was left to that captain), and word was brought that

it was. Then was Captain Credence commanded also to come forth with his

power to meet the Prince, the which was, as he had commanded, done; and

he conducted him into the castle. This done, the Prince that night did

lodge in the castle with his mighty captains and men of war, to the joy

of the town of Mansoul.

Now, the next care of the townsfolk was, how the captains and soldiers

of the Prince's army should be quartered among them; and the care was

not how they should shut their hands of them, but how they should fill

their houses with them; for every man in Mansoul now had that esteem of

Emmanuel and his men that nothing grieved them more than because they

were not enlarged enough, every one of them, to receive the whole army

of the Prince; yea, they counted it their glory to be waiting upon them,

and would, in those days, run at their bidding like lacqueys. At last

they came to this result:-

1. That Captain Innocency should quarter at Mr. Reason's.

2. That Captain Patience should quarter at Mr. Mind's. This Mr. Mind

was formerly the Lord Willbewill's clerk in time of the late rebellion.

3. It was ordered that Captain Charity should quarter at Mr.

Affection's house.

4. That Captain Good-Hope should quarter at my Lord Mayor's. Now, for

the house of the Recorder, himself desired, because his house was next

to the castle, and because from him it was ordered by the Prince that,

if need be, the alarm should be given to Mansoul,-it was, I say, desired

by him that Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction should take up

their quarters with him, even they and all their men.

5. As for Captain Judgment and Captain Execution, my Lord Willbewill

took them and their men to him, because he was to rule under the Prince

for the good of the town of Mansoul now, as he had before under the

tyrant Diabolus for the hurt and damage thereof.

6. And throughout the rest of the town were quartered Emmanuel's

forces; but Captain Credence, with his men, abode still in the castle.

So the Prince, his captains and his soldiers, were lodged in the town of

Mansoul.

Now, the ancients and elders of the town of Mansoul thought that they

never should have enough of the Prince Emmanuel; his person, his

actions, his words and behaviour, were so pleasing, so taking, so

desirable to them. Wherefore they prayed him, that though the castle of

Mansoul was his place of residence (and they desired that he might dwell

there for ever), yet that he would often visit the streets, houses, and

people of Mansoul. 'For,'said they, 'dread Sovereign, thy presence, thy

looks, thy smiles, thy words, are the life, and strength, and sinews of

the town of Mansoul.'

Besides this, they craved that they might have, without difficulty or

interruption, continual access unto him (so for that very purpose he

commanded that the gates should stand open), that they might there see

the manner of his doings, the fortifications of the place, and the royal

mansion-house of the Prince.

When he spake, they all stopped their mouths and gave audience; and when

he walked, it was their delight to imitate him in his goings.

Now, upon a time Emmanuel made a feast for the town of Mansoul; and upon

the feasting-day the townsfolk were come to the castle to partake of his

banquet; and he feasted them with all manner of outlandish food-food

that grew not in the fields of Mansoul, nor in all the whole kingdom of

Universe; it was food that came from his Father's court. And so there

was dish after dish set before them, and they were commanded freely to

eat. But still, when a fresh dish was set before them, they would

whisperingly say to each other, 'What is it?'for they wist not what to

call it. They drank also of the water that was made wine, and were very

merry with him. There was music also all the while at the table; and

man did eat angels'food, and had honey given him out of the rock. So

Mansoul did eat the food that was peculiar to the court; yea, they had

now thereof to the full.

I must not forget to tell you, that as at this table there were

musicians, so they were not those of the country, nor yet of the town of

Mansoul; but they were the masters of the songs that were sung at the

court of Shaddai.

Now, after the feast was over, Emmanuel was for entertaining the town of

Mansoul with some curious riddles of secrets drawn up by his Father's

secretary, by the skill and wisdom of Shaddai: the like to these there

is not in any kingdom. These riddles were made upon the King Shaddai

himself, and upon Emmanuel his Son, and upon his wars and doings with

Mansoul.

Emmanuel also expounded unto them some of those riddles himself; but,

oh! how they were lightened! They saw what they never saw; they could

not have thought that such rarities could have been couched in so few

and such ordinary words. I told you before whom these riddles did

concern; and as they were opened, the people did evidently see it was

so. Yea, they did gather that the things themselves were a kind of a

portraiture, and that of Emmanuel himself; for when they read in the

scheme where the riddles were writ, and looked in the face of the

Prince, things looked so like the one to the other, that Mansoul could

not forbear but say, 'This is the lamb! this is the sacrifice! this is

the rock! this is the red cow! this is the door! and this is the

way!'with a great many other things more.

And thus he dismissed the town of Mansoul. But can you imagine how the

people of the corporation were taken with this entertainment? Oh! they

were transported with joy, they were drowned with wonderment, while they

saw and understood, and considered what their Emmanuel entertained them

withal, and what mysteries he opened to them. And when they were at

home in their houses, and in their most retired places, they could not

but sing of him and of his actions. Yea, so taken were the townsmen now

with their Prince, that they would sing of him in their sleep.

Now, it was in the heart of the Prince Emmanuel to new-model the town of

Mansoul, and to put it into such a condition as might be most pleasing

to him, and that might best stand with the profit and security of the

now flourishing town of Mansoul. He provided also against insurrections

at home, and invasions from abroad, such love had he for the famous town

of Mansoul.

Wherefore he first of all commanded that the great slings that were

brought from his Father's court, when he came to the war of Mansoul,

should be mounted, some upon the battlements of the castle, some upon

the towers; for there were towers in the town of Mansoul, towers new-

built by Emmanuel since he came hither. There was also an instrument,

invented by Emmanuel, that was to throw stones from the castle of

Mansoul, out at Mouth-gate; an instrument that could not be resisted,

nor that would miss of execution. Wherefore, for the wonderful exploits

that it did when used, it went without a name; and it was committed to

the care of, and to be managed by the brave captain, the Captain

Credence, in case of war.

This done, Emmanuel called the Lord Willbewill to him, and gave him in

commandment to take care of the gates, the wall, and towers in Mansoul;

also the Prince gave him the militia into his hand, and a special charge

to withstand all insurrections and tumults that might be made in Mansoul

against the peace of our Lord the King, and the peace and tranquillity

of the town of Mansoul. He also gave him in commission, that if he

found any of the Diabolonians lurking in any corner of the famous town

of Mansoul, he should forthwith apprehend them, and stay them, or commit

them to safe custody, that they may be proceeded against according to

law.

Then he called unto him the Lord Understanding, who was the old Lord

Mayor, he that was put out of place when Diabolus took the town, and put

him into his former office again, and it became his place for his

lifetime. He bid him also that he should build him a palace near Eye-

gate; and that he should build it in fashion like a tower for defence.

He bid him also that he should read in the Revelation of Mysteries all

the days of his life, that he might know how to perform his office

aright.

He also made Mr. Knowledge the Recorder, not of contempt to old Mr.

Conscience, who had been Recorder before, but for that it was in his

princely mind to confer upon Mr. Conscience another employ, of which he

told the old gentleman he should know more hereafter.

Then he commanded that the image of Diabolus should be taken down from

the place where it was set up, and that they should destroy it utterly,

beating it into powder, and casting it into the wind without the town

wall; and that the image of Shaddai, his Father, should be set up again,

with his own, upon the castle gates; and that it should be more fairly

drawn than ever, forasmuch as both his Father and himself were come to

Mansoul in more grace and mercy than heretofore. He would also that his

name should be fairly engraven upon the front of the town, and that it

should be done in the best of gold, for the honour of the town of

Mansoul.

After this was done, Emmanuel gave out a commandment that those three

great Diabolonians should be apprehended, namely, the two late Lord

Mayors, to wit, Mr. Incredulity, Mr. Lustings, and Mr. Forget-Good,

the Recorder. Besides these, there were some of them that Diabolus made

burgesses and aldermen in Mansoul, that were committed to ward by the

hand of the now valiant and now right noble, the brave Lord Willbewill.

And these were their names:-Alderman Atheism, Alderman Hard-Heart, and

Alderman False-Peace. The burgesses were, Mr. No-Truth, Mr. Pitiless,

Mr. Haughty, with the like. These were committed to close custody, and

the gaoler's name was Mr. True-Man. This True-Man was one of those

that Emmanuel brought with him from his Father's court when at the first

he made a war upon Diabolus in the town of Mansoul.

After this, the Prince gave a charge that the three strongholds that, at

the command of Diabolus, the Diabolonians built in Mansoul, should be

demolished and utterly pulled down; of which holds and their names, with

their captains and governors, you read a little before. But this was

long in doing, because of the largeness of the places, and because the

stones, the timber, the iron, and all rubbish, was to be carried without

the town.

When this was done, the Prince gave order that the Lord Mayor and

aldermen of Mansoul should call a court of judicature for the trial and

execution of the Diabolonians in the corporation now under the charge of

Mr. True-Man, the gaoler.

CHAPTER 8

Now, when the time was come, and the court set, commandment was sent to

Mr. True-Man, the gaoler, to bring the prisoners down to the bar. Then

were the prisoners brought down, pinioned and chained together, as the

custom of the town of Mansoul was. So, when they were presented before

the Lord Mayor, the Recorder, and the rest of the honourable bench,

first, the jury was empannelled, and then the witnesses sworn. The

names of the jury were these:-Mr. Belief, Mr. True-Heart, Mr.

Upright, Mr. Hate-Bad, Mr. Love-God, Mr. See-Truth, Mr. Heavenly-

Mind, Mr. Moderate, Mr. Thankful, Mr. Good-Work, Mr. Zeal-for-God,

and Mr. Humble.

The names of the witnesses were-Mr. Know-All, Mr. Tell-True, Mr. Hate

-Lies, with my Lord Willbewill and his man, if need were.

So the prisoners were set to the bar. Then said Mr. Do-Right (for he

was the Town-Clerk), 'Set Atheism to the bar, gaoler.'So he was set to

the bar. Then said the Clerk, 'Atheism, hold up thy hand. Thou art

here indicted by the name of Atheism (an

intruder upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou hast perniciously and

doltishly taught and maintained that there is no God, and so no heed to

be taken to religion. This thou hast done against the being, honour,

and glory of the King, and against the peace and safety of the town of

Mansoul. What sayest thou? Art thou guilty of this indictment, or

not?'

Atheism.Not guilty.

Crier.Call Mr. Know-All, Mr. Tell-True, and Mr. Hate-Lies into the

court.

So they were called, and they appeared.

Then said the Clerk, 'You, the witnesses for the King, look upon the

prisoner at the bar; do you know him?'

Then said Mr. Know-All, 'Yes, my lord, we know him; his name is

Atheism; he has been a very pestilent fellow for many years in the

miserable town of Mansoul.'

Clerk.You are sure you know him?

Know.Know him! Yes, my lord; I have heretofore too often been in his

company to be at this time ignorant of him. He is a Diabolonian, the

son of a Diabolonian: I knew his grandfather and his father.

Clerk.Well said. He standeth here indicted by the name of Atheism,

etc., and is charged that he hath maintained and taught that there is no

God, and so no heed need be taken to any religion. What say you, the

King's witnesses, to this? Is he guilty, or not?

Know.My lord, I and he were once in Villains'Lane together, and he at

that time did briskly talk of divers opinions; and then and there I

heard him say, that, for his part, he did believe that there was no God.

'But,'said he, 'I can profess one, and be as religious too, if the

company I am in, and the circumstances of other things,'said he, 'shall

put me upon it.'

Clerk.You are sure you heard him say thus?

Know.Upon mine oath, I heard him say thus.

Then said the Clerk, 'Mr. Tell-True, what say you to the King's Judges

touching the prisoner at the bar?'

Tell.My lord, I formerly was a great companion of his, for the which I

now repent me, and I have often heard him say, and that with very great

stomachfulness, that he believed there was neither God, angel, nor

spirit.

Clerk.Where did you hear him say so?

Tell.In Blackmouth Lane and in Blasphemers'Row, and in many other places

besides.

Clerk.Have you much knowledge of him?

Tell.I know him to be a Diabolonian, the son of a Diabolonian, and a

horrible man to deny a Deity. His father's name was Never-be-Good, and

he had more children than this Atheism. I have no more to say.

Clerk.Mr. Hate-Lies, look upon the prisoner at the bar; do you know

him?

Hate.My lord, this Atheism is one of the vilest wretches that ever I

came near, or had to do with in my life. I have heard him say that

there is no God; I have heard him say that there is no world to come, no

sin, nor punishment hereafter; and, moreover, I have heard him say that

it was as good to go to a whore-house as to go to hear a sermon.

Clerk.Where did you hear him say these things?

Hate.In Drunkards'Row, just at Rascal-Lane's End, at a house in which

Mr. Impiety lived.

Clerk.Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. Lustings to the bar. Mr.

Lustings, thou art here indicted by the name of Lustings (an intruder

upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou hast devilishly and

traitorously taught, by practice and filthy words, that it is lawful and

profitable to man to give way to his carnal desires; and that thou, for

thy part, hast not, nor never wilt, deny thyself of any sinful delight

as long as thy name is Lustings. How sayest thou? Art thou guilty of

this indictment, or not?

Then said Mr. Lustings, 'My lord, I am a man of high birth, and have

been used to pleasures and pastimes of greatness. I have not been wont

to be snubbed for my doings, but have been left to follow my will as if

it were law. And it seems strange to me that I should this day be

called into question for that, that not only I, but almost all men, do

either secretly or openly countenance, love, and approve of.'

Clerk.Sir, we concern not ourselves with your greatness (though the

higher, the better you should have been); but we are concerned, and so

are you now, about an indictment preferred against you. How say you?

Are you guilty of it, or not?

Lust.Not guilty.

Clerk.Crier, call upon the witnesses to stand forth and give their

evidence.

Crier.Gentlemen, you, the witnesses for the King, come in and give your

evidence for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar.

Clerk.Come, Mr. Know-All, look upon the prisoner at the bar, do you

know him?

Know.Yes, my lord, I know him.

Clerk.What is his name?

Know.His name is Lustings; he was the son of one Beastly, and his mother

bare him in Flesh Street: she was one Evil-Concupiscence's daughter. I

knew all the generation of them.

Clerk.Well said. You have heard his indictment; what say you to it? Is

he guilty of the things charged against him, or not?

Know.My lord, he has, as he saith, been a great man indeed, and greater

in wickedness than by pedigree more than a thousandfold.

Clerk.But what do you know of his particular actions, and especially

with reference to his indictment?

Know.I know him to be a swearer, a liar, a Sabbath-breaker; I know him

to be a fornicator and an unclean person; I know him to be guilty of

abundance of evils. He has been, to my knowledge, a very filthy man.

Clerk.But where did he use to commit his wickedness? in some private

corners, or more open and shamelessly?

Know.All the town over, my lord.

Clerk.Come, Mr. Tell-True, what have you to say for our Lord the King

against the prisoner at the bar?

Tell.My lord, all that the first witness has said I know to be true, and

a great deal more besides.

Clerk.Mr. Lustings, do you hear what these gentlemen say?

Lust.I was ever of opinion that the happiest life that a man could live

on earth was, to keep himself back from nothing that he desired in the

world: nor have I been false at any time to this opinion of mine, but

have lived in the love of my notions all my days. Nor was I ever so

churlish, having found such sweetness in them myself, as to keep the

commendations of them from others.

Then said the Court, 'There hath proceeded enough from his own mouth to

lay him open to condemnation; wherefore, set him by, gaoler, and set Mr.

Incredulity to the bar.'

Incredulity set to the bar.

Clerk.Mr. Incredulity, thou art here indicted by the name of

Incredulity (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou hast

feloniously and wickedly, and that when thou wert an officer in the town

of Mansoul, made head against the captains of the great King Shaddai

when they came and demanded possession of Mansoul; yea, thou didst bid

defiance to the name, forces, and cause of the King, and didst also, as

did Diabolus thy captain, stir up and encourage the town of Mansoul to

make head against and resist the said force of the King. What sayest

thou to this indictment? Art thou guilty of it, or not?

Then said Incredulity, 'I know not Shaddai; I love my old prince; I

thought it my duty to be true to my trust, and to do what I could to

possess the minds of the men of Mansoul to do their utmost to resist

strangers and foreigners, and with might to fight against them. Nor

have I, nor shall I, change mine opinion for fear of trouble, though you

at present are possessed of place and power.'

Then said the Court, 'The man, as you see, is incorrigible; he is for

maintaining his villainies by stoutness of words, and his rebellion with

impudent confidence; and therefore set him by, gaoler, and set Mr.

Forget-Good to the bar.'

Forget-Good set to the bar.

Clerk.Mr. Forget-Good, thou art here indicted by the name of Forget-

Good (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou, when the

whole affairs of the town of Mansoul were in thy hand, didst utterly

forget to serve them in what was good, and didst fall in with the tyrant

Diabolus against Shaddai the King, against his captains, and all his

host, to the dishonour of Shaddai, the breach of his law, and the

endangering of the destruction of the famous town of Mansoul. What

sayest thou to this indictment? Art thou guilty, or not guilty?

Then said Forget-Good, 'Gentlemen, and at this time my judges, as to the

indictment by which I stand of several crimes accused before you, pray

attribute my forgetfulness to mine age, and not to my wilfulness; to the

craziness of my brain, and not to the carelessness of my mind; and then

I hope I may be by your charity excused from great punishment, though I

be guilty.'

Then said the Court, 'Forget-Good, Forget-Good, thy forgetfulness of

good was not simply of frailty, but of purpose, and for that thou didst

loathe to keep virtuous things in thy mind. What was bad thou couldst

retain, but what was good thou couldst not abide to think of; thy age,

therefore, and thy pretended craziness, thou makest use of to blind the

Court withal, and as a cloak to cover thy knavery. But let us hear what

the witnesses have to say for the King against the prisoner at the bar.

Is he guilty of this indictment, or not?'

Hate.My lord, I have heard this Forget-Good say, that he could never

abide to think of goodness, no, not for a quarter of an hour.

Clerk.Where did you hear him say so?

Hate.In All-base Lane, at a house next door to the sign of the

Conscience seared with a hot iron.

Clerk.Mr. Know-All, what can you say for our Lord the King against the

prisoner at the bar?

Know.My lord, I know this man well. He is a Diabolonian, the son of a

Diabolonian: his father's name was Love-Naught; and for him, I have

often heard him say, that he counted the very thoughts of goodness the

most burdensome thing in the world.

Clerk.Where have you heard him say these words?

Know.In Flesh Lane, right opposite to the church.

Then said the Clerk, 'Come, Mr. Tell-True, give in your evidence

concerning the prisoner at the bar, about that for which he stands here,

as you see, indicted by this honourable Court.'

Tell.My lord, I have heard him often say, he had rather think of the

vilest thing than of what is contained in the Holy Scriptures.

Clerk.Where did you hear him say such grievous words?

Tell.Where?-in a great many places, particularly in Nauseous Street, in

the house of one Shameless, and in Filth Lane, at the sign of the

Reprobate, next door to the Descent into the Pit.

Court.Gentlemen, you have heard the indictment, his plea, and the

testimony of the witnesses. Gaoler, set Mr. Hard-Heart to the bar.

He is set to the bar.

Clerk.Mr. Hard-Heart, thou art here indicted by the name of Hard-Heart

(an intruder upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou didst most

desperately and wickedly possess the town of Mansoul with impenitency

and obdurateness; and didst keep them from remorse and sorrow for their

evils, all the time of their apostasy from and rebellion against the

blessed King Shaddai. What sayest thou to this indictment? Art thou

guilty, or not guilty?

Hard.My lord, I never knew what remorse or sorrow meant in all my life.

I am impenetrable. I care for no man; nor can I be pierced with men's

griefs; their groans will not enter into my heart. Whomsoever I

mischief, whomsoever I wrong, to me it is music, when to others

mourning.

Court.You see the man is a right Diabolonian, and has convicted himself.

Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. False-Peace to the bar.

False-Peace set to the bar.

'Mr. False-Peace, thou art here indicted by the name of False-Peace (an

intruder upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou didst most wickedly

and satanically bring, hold, and keep the town of Mansoul, both in her

apostasy and in her hellish rebellion, in a false, groundless, and

dangerous peace, and damnable security, to the dishonour of the King,

the transgression of his law, and the great damage of the town of

Mansoul. What sayest thou? Art thou guilty of this indictment, or

not?'

Then said Mr. False-Peace, 'Gentlemen, and you now appointed to be my

judges, I acknowledge that my name is Mr. Peace; but that my name is

False-Peace I utterly deny. If your honours shall please to send for

any that do intimately know me, or for the midwife that laid my mother

of me, or for the gossips that were at my christening, they will, any or

all of them, prove that my name is not False-Peace, but Peace.

Wherefore I cannot plead to this indictment, forasmuch as my name is not

inserted therein; and as is my true name, so are also my conditions. I

was always a man that loved to live at quiet, and what I loved myself,

that I thought others might love also. Wherefore, when I saw any of my

neighbours to labour under a disquieted mind, I endeavoured to help them

what I could; and instances of this good temper of mine many I could

give; as-

'1. When, at the beginning, our town of Mansoul did decline the ways of

Shaddai, they, some of them, afterwards began to have disquieting

reflections upon themselves for what they had done; but I, as one

troubled to see them disquieted, presently sought out means to get them

quiet again.

'2. When the ways of the old world, and of Sodom, were in fashion, if

anything happened to molest those that were for the customs of the

present times, I laboured to make them quiet again, and to cause them to

act without molestation.

'3. To come nearer home: when the wars fell out between Shaddai and

Diabolus, if at any time I saw any of the town of Mansoul afraid of

destruction, I often used, by some way, device, invention, or other, to

labour to bring them to peace again. Wherefore, since I have been

always a man of so virtuous a temper as some say a peacemaker is, and if

a peacemaker be so deserving a man as some have been bold to attest he

is, then let me, gentlemen, be accounted by you, who have a great name

for justice and equity in Mansoul, for a man that deserveth not this

inhuman way of treatment, but liberty, and also a licence to seek damage

of those that have been my accusers.'

Then said the Clerk, 'Crier, make a proclamation.'

Crier.O yes! Forasmuch as the prisoner at the bar hath denied his name

to be that which is mentioned in the indictment, the Court requireth

that if there be any in this place that can give information to the

Court of the original and right name of the prisoner, they would come

forth and give in their evidence; for the prisoner stands upon his own

innocency.

Then came two into the court, and desired that they might have leave to

speak what they knew concerning the prisoner at the bar: the name of the

one was Search-Truth, and the name of the other Vouch-Truth. So the

Court demanded of these men if they knew the prisoner, and what they

could say concerning him, 'for he stands,'said they, 'upon his own

vindication.'

Then said Mr. Search-Truth, 'My lord, I'-

Court.Hold! give him his oath.

Then they sware him. So he proceeded.

Search.My lord, I know and have known this man from a child, and can

attest that his name is False-Peace. I know his father; his name was

Mr. Flatter: and his mother, before she was married, was called by the

name of Mrs. Sooth-Up: and these two, when they came together, lived

not long without this son; and when he was born, they called his name

False-Peace. I was his playfellow, only I was somewhat older than he;

and when his mother did use to call him home from his play, she used to

say, 'False-Peace, False-Peace, come home quick, or I'll fetch you.'Yea,

I knew him when he sucked; and though I was then but little, yet I can

remember that when his mother did use to sit at the door with him, or

did play with him in her arms, she would call him, twenty times

together, 'My little False-Peace! my pretty False-Peace!'and, 'Oh, my

sweet rogue, False-Peace!'and again, 'Oh, my little bird, False-

Peace!'and 'How do I love my child!'The gossips also know it is thus,

though he has had the face to deny it in open court.

Then Mr. Vouch-Truth was called upon to speak what he knew of him. So

they sware him.

Then said Mr. Vouch-Truth, 'My lord, all that the former witness hath

said is true. His name is False-Peace, the son of Mr. Flatter, and of

Mrs. Sooth-Up, his mother: and I have in former times seen him angry

with those that have called him anything else but False-Peace, for he

would say that all such did mock and nickname him; but this was in the

time when Mr. False-Peace was a great man, and when the Diabolonians

were the brave men in Mansoul.'

Court.Gentlemen, you have heard what these two men have sworn against

the prisoner at the bar. And now, Mr. False-Peace, to you: you have

denied your name to be False-Peace, yet you see that these honest men

have sworn that that is your name. As to your plea, in that you are

quite besides the matter of your indictment, you are not by it charged

for evil-doing because you are a man of peace, or a peacemaker among

your neighbours; but for that you did wickedly and satanically bring,

keep, and hold the town of Mansoul, both under its apostasy from, and in

its rebellion against its King, in a false, lying, and damnable peace,

contrary to the law of Shaddai, and to the hazard of the destruction of

the then miserable town of Mansoul. All that you have pleaded for

yourself is, that you have denied your name, etc.; but here, you see, we

have witnesses to prove that you are the man. For the peace that you so

much boast of making among your neighbours, know that peace that is not

a companion of truth and holiness, but that which is without this

foundation, is grounded upon a lie, and is both deceitful and damnable,

as also the great Shaddai hath said. Thy plea, therefore, has not

delivered thee from what by the indictment thou art charged with, but

rather it doth fasten all upon thee. But thou shalt have very fair

play. Let us call the witnesses that are to testify as to matter of

fact, and see what they have to say for our Lord the King against the

prisoner at the bar.

Clerk.Mr. Know-All, what say you for our Lord the King against the

prisoner at the bar?

Know.My lord, this man hath of a long time made it, to my knowledge, his

business to keep the town of Mansoul in a sinful quietness in the midst

of all her lewdness, filthiness, and turmoils, and hath said, and that

in my hearing, Come, come, let us fly from all trouble, on what ground

soever it comes, and let us be for a quiet and peaceable life, though it

wanteth a good foundation.

Clerk.Come, Mr. Hate-Lies, what have you to say?

Hate.My lord, I have heard him say that peace, though in a way of

unrighteousness, is better than trouble with truth.

Clerk.Where did you hear him say this?

Hate.I heard him say it in Folly Yard, at the house of one Mr. Simple,

next door to the sign of the Self-deceiver. Yea, he hath said this to

my knowledge twenty times in that place.

Clerk.We may spare further witness; this evidence is plain and full.

Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. No-Truth to the bar. Mr. No-Truth,

thou art here indicted by the name of No-Truth (an intruder upon the

town of Mansoul), for that thou hast always, to the dishonour of

Shaddai, and the endangering of the utter ruin of the famous town of

Mansoul, set thyself to deface, and utterly to spoil, all the remainders

of the law and image of Shaddai that have been found in Mansoul after

her deep apostasy from her King to Diabolus, the envious tyrant. What

sayest thou? Art thou guilty of this indictment, or not?

No.Not guilty, my lord.

Then the witnesses were called, and Mr. Know-All did first give in his

evidence against him.

Know.My lord, this man was at the pulling down of the image of Shaddai;

yea, this is he that did it with his own hands. I myself stood by and

saw him do it, and he did it at the commandment of Diabolus. Yea, this

Mr. No-Truth did more than this, he did also set up the horned image of

the beast Diabolus in the same place. This also is he that, at the

bidding of Diabolus, did rend and tear, and cause to be consumed, all

that he could of the remainders of the law of the King, even whatever he

could lay his hands on in Mansoul.

Clerk.Who saw him do this besides yourself?

Hate.I did, my lord, and so did many more besides; for this was not done

by stealth, or in a corner, but in the open view of all; yea, he chose

himself to do it publicly, for he delighted in the doing of it.

Clerk.Mr. No-Truth, how could you have the face to plead not guilty,

when you were so manifestly the doer of all this wickedness?

No.Sir, I thought I must say something, and as my name is, so I speak.

I have been advantaged thereby before now, and did not know but by

speaking no truth, I might have reaped the same benefit now.

Clerk.Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. Pitiless to the bar. Mr.

Pitiless, thou art here indicted by the name of Pitiless (an intruder

upon the town of Mansoul), for that thou didst most traitorously and

wickedly shut up all bowels of compassion, and wouldest not suffer poor

Mansoul to condole her own misery when she had apostatised from her

rightful King, but didst evade, and at all times turn her mind awry from

those thoughts that had in them a tendency to lead her to repentance.

Wh