The Holy War, Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of MansoulBunyan, John
ReligionChristian
The Holy War, Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul
Bunyan, John
Christian fiction; Soul; Spiritual warfare -- Fiction
Then said the Clerk, ‘Come, Mr. Tell-True, give in your evidence
concerning the prisoner at the bar, about that for which he stands here,
as you see, indicted by this honourable Court.’
_Tell_. My lord, I have heard him often say he had rather think of the
vilest thing than of what is contained in the Holy Scriptures.
_Clerk_. Where did you hear him say such grievous words?
_Tell_. Where?—in a great many places, particularly in Nauseous Street,
in the house of one Shameless, and in Filth Lane, at the sign of the
Reprobate, next door to the Descent into the Pit.
_Court_. Gentlemen, you have heard the indictment, his plea, and the
testimony of the witnesses. Gaoler, set Mr. Hard-Heart to the bar.
He is set to the bar.
_Clerk_. Mr. Hard-Heart, thou art here indicted by the name of
Hard-Heart, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou didst
most desperately and wickedly possess the town of Mansoul with
impenitency and obdurateness; and didst keep them from remorse and sorrow
for their evils, all the time of their apostacy from and rebellion
against the blessed King Shaddai. What sayest thou to this indictment?
Art thou guilty, or not guilty?
_Hard_. My lord, I never knew what remorse or sorrow meant in all my
life. I am impenetrable. I care for no man; nor can I be pierced with
men’s griefs; their groans will not enter into my heart. Whomsoever I
mischief, whomsoever I wrong, to me it is music, when to others mourning.
_Court_. You see the man is a right Diabolonian, and has convicted
himself. Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. False-Peace to the bar.
False-Peace set to the bar.
‘Mr. False-Peace, thou art here indicted by the name of False-Peace, (an
intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou didst most wickedly and
satanically bring, hold, and keep the town of Mansoul, both in her
apostacy and in her hellish rebellion, in a false, groundless, and
dangerous peace, and damnable security, to the dishonour of the King, the
transgression of his law, and the great damage of the town of Mansoul.
What sayest thou? Art thou guilty of this indictment, or not?
Then said Mr. False-Peace: ‘Gentlemen, and you now appointed to be my
judges, I acknowledge that my name is Mr. Peace; but that my name is
False-Peace I utterly deny. If your honours shall please to send for any
that do intimately know me, or for the midwife that laid my mother of me,
or for the gossips that were at my christening, they will, any or all of
them, prove that my name is not False-Peace, but Peace. Wherefore I
cannot plead to this indictment, forasmuch as my name is not inserted
therein; and as is my true name, so are also my conditions. I was always
a man that loved to live at quiet, and what I loved myself, that I
thought others might love also. Wherefore, when I saw any of my
neighbours to labour under a disquieted mind, I endeavoured to help them
what I could; and instances of this good temper of mine many I could
give; as,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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