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:

‘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.’