Willam Patten (Editor) - "The Junior Classics, V4"

Bertrand Russell - "The Problems of Philosophy"

Owen M. Edwards - "A Short History of Wales"

Lyman Abbott - "Laicus"

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 Works of John Bunyan Volume 3

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 3




'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
(Job 36:14). 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" (v 18). Will he esteem thy
riches? No; not gold, nor all the forces of strength. "He hath
prepared his throne for judgment" (Psa 9:7). For "he will come
with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his
anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire" (Isa 66:15).
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.[103]
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 thine hands be strong, in the
days that he shall deal" in judgment "with thee?" (Eze 22:14). 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 unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the
fire" (Matt 3:7-10).

'Thou, O town of Mansoul! hath hitherto been this fruitless tree;
thou bearest nought but thorns and briars. Thy evil fruit fore-bespeaks
thee not to be a good tree. Thy "grapes are grapes of gall, thy
clusters are bitter" (Deut 32:32). Thou hast rebelled against thy
King, and lo! we, the power and force of Shaddai, are the axe that
is laid to thy roots. 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"
(Luke 13:9). 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[104]
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?'[105]

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 loth 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 never 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, to 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 (Luke 11:21); wherefore arise with
bag and baggage, and begone, or we will let fly from the walls
against you.'[106]

This oration, made by old Incredulity, was seconded by desperate
Will-be-will, 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 begone. 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.'[107]

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 Will-be-will 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 Will-be-will 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
Deafmen;[108] men advantageous for that service, forasmuch as they
mattered no words of the captains, nor of their soldiers.[109]


[CHAPTER V.]

[CONTENTS:--The captains resolve to give them battle--The town
resolutely resists, and the captains retire to winter quarters--Tradition,
Human-wisdom, and Man's invention enlist under Boanerges, but
are taken prisoners, and carried to Diabolus; they are admitted
soldiers for him, under Captain Anything--Hostilities are renewed,
and the town much molested--A famine and mutiny in Mansoul--The
town sounds a parley--Propositions made and rejected--Understanding
and Conscience quarrel with Incredulity--A skirmish ensues, and
mischief is done on both sides.]

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.'[110] 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 Highmind, 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.[111] 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 towns-folk 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 Will-be-will, 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:--[112]

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 services 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 Will-be-will'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 Will-be-will'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
Will-be-will's men had done, and whom they had taken prisoners.

Then Diabolus called for Will-be-will, to know the certainty of
this matter. So he asked him, and he told him; then did the giant
send for the prisoners, who, 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, with 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, 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 serjeants, but he made Mr. Man's-invention
his armour-bearer. But thus much for this, and now to return to
the camp.[113]

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 Will-be-will 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.[114]

They also dismounted the two guns that stood upon the tower over
Ear-gate, and laid them flat in the dirt.[115] 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[116] 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.'[117]
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.[118] 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![119]

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 said 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 Will-be-will. 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.[120]

I told you but now that they of the King's army had this winter
sent three times to Mansoul, to submit herself.

First. The first time the trumpeter went, he went with words of
peace, telling of 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.

Second. 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.'

Third. He went again the third time, and dealt with them yet more
roughly; telling of 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 summons, and especially the two last, did so distress
the town, that they presently called a consultation; the result of
which was this, that my Lord Will-be-will 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 Will-be-will sounded upon the wall,
so the captains came up in their harness,[121] 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 Will-be-will, 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.'[122]

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 provisoes
and foolish cavils, you laid the stumbling-block of your iniquity
before your own faces, then 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 (2 Tim 2:19).[123]

'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 of 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?'[124]