Books: The Holy War
J >>
John Bunyan >> The Holy War
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21
'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:
'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 neighbour's 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-Deed 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 ought 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, 'Oh let not my
Lord be angry; and why inquirest thou after the name of such a dead
do--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.'
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21