Amelia E. Barr - "The Maid of Maiden Lane"

Ella Wheeler Wilcox - "Poems of Purpose"

Vivia Hemphill - "Down the Mother Lode"

Gua Shen - "Meng Xi Bi Tan, Volume 1 6 [1031 1095 A.D.]"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Holy War

J >> John Bunyan >> The Holy War




'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 I 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 fore-named 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
thunder-bolts, 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 summon
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 for ever.
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 nought but thorns and briars. 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 TO thy root before it be laid AT thy root; it must first be
laid TO thy root in a way of threatening, before it is laid AT thy
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 AT as
well as TO thy 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? O 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 will 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 whiz, 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.