The Holy War, Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul

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 movable are thy ways!  How often hast thou changed and rechanged, 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 wouldst, 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-bye.

‘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, rendering 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 the 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 the 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 of 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 chance, 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 marketplace, 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 sung with such melodious notes, that they caused them that dwell in the highest orbs to open their windows, put out their heads, and look 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.

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: