The Holy War by John Bunyan (best way to read an ebook txt) 📖

the captains, some on the right hand, and some on the left, accompanied Emmanuel into Mansoul. And all the while the colours were displayed, the trumpets sounded, and continual shoutings were among the soldiers. The Prince himself rode into the town in his armour, which was all of beaten gold, and in his chariot—the pillars of it were of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it was of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love for the daughters of the town of Mansoul.

Fourthly. When the Prince was come to the entrance of Mansoul, he found all the streets strewed with lilies and flowers, curiously decked with boughs and branches from the green trees that stood round about the town. Every door also was filled with persons, who had adorned every one their fore-part against their house with something of variety and singular excellency, to entertain him withal as he passed in the streets: they also themselves, as Emmanuel passed by, did welcome him with shouts and acclamations of joy, saying, ‘Blessed be the Prince that cometh in the name of his Father Shaddai.’

Fifthly. At the castle gates the elders of Mansoul, namely, the Lord Mayor, the Lord Willbewill, the subordinate preacher, Mr.

Knowledge, and Mr. Mind, with other of the gentry of the place, saluted Emmanuel again. They bowed before him, they kissed the dust of his feet, they thanked, they blessed, and praised his Highness for not taking advantage against them for their sins, but rather had pity upon them in their misery, and returned to them with mercies, and to build up their Mansoul for ever. Thus was he had up straightway to the castle; for that was the royal palace, and the place where his honour was to dwell; the which was ready prepared for his Highness by the presence of the Lord Secretary, and the work of Captain Credence. So he entered in.

Sixthly. Then the people and commonalty of the town of Mansoul came to him into the castle to mourn, and to weep, and to lament for their wickedness, by which they had forced him out of the town.

So when they were come, bowed themselves to the ground seven times; they also wept, they wept aloud, and asked forgiveness of the Prince, and prayed that he would again, as of old, confirm his love to Mansoul.

To the which the great Prince replied, ‘Weep not, but go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nought is prepared; for the joy of your Lord is your strength.

I am returned to Mansoul with mercies, and my name shall be set up, exalted, and magnified by it.’ He also took these inhabitants, and kissed them, and laid them in his bosom.

Moreover, he gave to the elders of Mansoul, and to each town officer, a chain of gold and a signet. He also sent to their wives earrings and jewels, and bracelets, and other things. He also bestowed upon the true-born children of Mansoul many precious things.

When Emmanuel, the Prince, had done all these things for the famous town of Mansoul, then he said unto them, first, ‘Wash your garments, then put on your ornaments, and then come to me into the castle of Mansoul.’ So they went to the fountain that was set open for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in; and there they washed, and there they made their ‘garments white,’ and came again to the Prince into the castle, and thus they stood before him.

And now there was music and dancing throughout the whole town of Mansoul, and that because their Prince had again granted to them his presence and the light of his countenance; the bells also did ring, and the sun shone comfortably upon them for a great while together.

The town of Mansoul did also now more thoroughly seek the destruction and ruin of all remaining Diabolonians that abode in the walls, and the dens that they had in the town of Mansoul; for there was of them that had, to this day, escaped with life and limb from the hand of their suppressors in the famous town of Mansoul.

But my Lord Willbewill was a greater terror to them now than ever he had been before; forasmuch as his heart was yet more fully bent to seek, contrive, and pursue them to the death; he pursued them night and day, and did put them now to sore distress, as will afterwards appear.

After things were thus far put into order in the famous town of Mansoul, care was taken, and order given by the blessed Prince Emmanuel, that the townsmen should, without further delay, appoint some to go forth into the plain to bury the dead that were there,—

the dead that fell by the sword of Emmanuel, and by the shield of the Captain Credence,—lest the fumes and ill savours that would arise from them might infect the air, and so annoy the famous town of Mansoul. This also was a reason of this order, namely, that, as much as in Mansoul lay, they might cut off the name, and being, and remembrance of those enemies from the thought of the famous town of Mansoul and its inhabitants.

So order was given out by the Lord Mayor, that wise and trusty friend of the town of Mansoul, that persons should be employed about this necessary business; and Mr. Godly-Fear, and one Mr.

Upright, were to be overseers about this matter: so persons were put under them to work in the fields, and to bury the slain that lay dead in the plains. And these were their places of employment: some were to make the graves, some to bury the dead, and some were to go to and fro in the plains, and also round about the borders of Mansoul, to see if a skull, or a bone, or a piece of a bone of a doubter, was yet to be found above ground anywhere near the corporation; and if any were found, it was ordered, that the searchers that searched should set up a mark thereby, and a sign, that those that were appointed to bury them might find it, and bury it out of sight, that the name and remembrance of a Diabolonian doubter might be blotted out from under heaven; and that the children, and they that were to be born in Mansoul, might not know, if possible, what a skull, what a bone, or a piece of a bone of a doubter was. So the buriers, and those that were appointed for that purpose, did as they were commanded: they buried the doubters, and all the skulls and bones, and pieces of bones of doubters, wherever they found them; and so they cleansed the plains. Now also Mr. God’s-Peace took up his commission, and acted again as in former days.

Thus they buried in the plains about Mansoul the election doubters, the vocation doubters, the grace doubters, the perseverance doubters, the resurrection doubters, the salvation doubters, and the glory doubters; whose captains were Captain Rage, Captain Cruel, Captain Damnation, Captain Insatiable, Captain Brimstone, Captain Torment, Captain No-Ease, Captain Sepulchre, and Captain Past-Hope; and old Incredulity was, under Diabolus, their general.

There were also the seven heads of their army; and they were the Lord Beelzebub, the Lord Lucifer, the Lord Legion, the Lord Apollyon, the Lord Python, the Lord Cerberus, and the Lord Belial.

But the princes and the captains, with old Incredulity, their general, did all of them make their escape: so their men fell down slain by the power of the Prince’s forces, and by the hands of the men of the town of Mansoul. They also were buried as is afore related, to the exceeding great joy of the now famous town of Mansoul. They that buried them buried also with them their arms, which were cruel instruments of death: (their weapons were arrows, darts, mauls, firebrands, and the like). They buried also their armour, their colours, banners, with the standard of Diabolus, and what else soever they could find that did but smell of a Diabolonian doubter.

Now when the tyrant had arrived at Hell-Gate Hill, with his old friend Incredulity, they immediately descended the den, and having there with their fellows for a while condoled their misfortune and great loss that they sustained against the town of Mansoul, they fell at length into a passion, and revenged they would be for the loss that they sustained before the town of Mansoul. Wherefore they presently call a council to contrive yet further what was to be done against the famous town of Mansoul; for their yawning paunches could not wait to see the result of their Lord Lucifer’s and their Lord Apollyon’s counsel that they had given before; for their raging gorge thought every day, even as long as a short for ever, until they were filled with the body and soul, with the flesh and bones, and with all the delicates of Mansoul. They therefore resolve to make another attempt upon the town of Mansoul, and that by an army mixed and made up partly of doubters, and partly of blood-men. A more particular account now take of both.

The doubters are such as have their name from their nature, as well as from the land and kingdom where they are born: their nature is to put a question upon every one of the truths of Emmanuel; and their country is called the land of Doubting, and that land lieth off, and farthest remote to the north, between the land of Darkness and that called the ‘valley of the shadow of death.’ For though the land of Darkness, and that called ‘the valley of the shadow of death,’ be sometimes called as if they were one and the selfsame place, yet indeed they are two, lying but a little way asunder, and the land of Doubting points in, and lieth between them. This is the land of Doubting; and these that came with Diabolus to ruin the town of Mansoul are the natives of that country.

The blood-men are a people that have their name derived from the malignity of their nature, and from the fury that is in them to execute it upon the town of Mansoul: their land lieth under the dog-star, and by that they are governed as to their intellectuals.

The name of their country is the province of Loath-good: the remote parts of it are far distant from the land of Doubting, yet they do both butt and bound upon the hill called Hell-Gate Hill.

These people are always in league with the doubters, for they jointly do make question of the faith and fidelity of the men of the town of Mansoul, and so are both alike qualified for the service of their prince.

Now of these two countries did Diabolus, by the beating of his drum, raise another army against the town of Mansoul, of five-and-twenty thousand strong. There were ten thousand doubters, and fifteen thousand blood-men, and they were put under several captains for the war; and old Incredulity was again made general of the army.

As for the doubters, their captains were five of the seven that were heads of the last Diabolonian army, and these are their names: Captain Beelzebub, Captain Lucifer, Captain Apollyon, Captain Legion, and Captain Cerberus; and the captains that they had before were some of them made lieutenants, and some ensigns of the army.

But Diabolus did not count that, in this expedition of his, these doubters would prove his principal men, for their manhood had been tried before; also the Mansoulians had put them to the worst: only he did bring them to multiply a number, and to help, if need was, at a pinch. But his trust he put in his blood-men, for that they were