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
When Captain Credence heard this, away goes he to the rest of the
captains, and tells them what a note he had a while since received from
the hand of Emmanuel. ‘And,’ said he, ‘that which was dark therein hath
my lord the Lord Secretary expounded unto me.’ He told them, moreover,
what by himself and by them must be done to answer the mind of their
Lord. Then were the captains glad; and Captain Credence commanded that
all the King’s trumpeters should ascend to the battlements of the castle,
and there, in the audience of Diabolus and of the whole town of Mansoul,
make the best music that heart could invent. The trumpeters then did as
they were commanded. They got themselves up to the top of the castle,
and thus they began to sound. Then did Diabolus start, and said, ‘What
can be the meaning of this? they neither sound Boot-and-saddle, nor
Horse-and-away, nor a charge. What do these madmen mean that yet they
should be so merry and glad?’ Then answered one of themselves and said,
‘This is for joy that their Prince Emmanuel is coming to relieve the town
of Mansoul; and to this end he is at the head of an army, and that this
relief is near.’
The men of Mansoul also were greatly concerned at this melodious charm of
the trumpets; they said, yea, they answered one another, saying, ‘This
can be no harm to us; surely this can be no harm to us.’ Then said the
Diabolonians, ‘What had we best to do?’ and it was answered, ‘It was best
to quit the town;’ and ‘that,’ said one, ‘ye may do in pursuance of your
last counsel, and by so doing also be better able to give the enemy
battle, should an army from without come upon us. So, on the second day,
they withdrew themselves from Mansoul, and abode in the plains without;
but they encamped themselves before Eye-gate, in what terrene and
terrible manner they could. The reason why they would not abide in the
town (besides the reasons that were debated in their late conclave) was,
for that they were not possessed of the stronghold, and ‘because,’ said
they, ‘we shall have more convenience to fight, and also to fly, if need
be, when we are encamped in the open plains.’ Besides, the town would
have been a pit for them rather than a place of defence, had the Prince
come up and inclosed them fast therein. Therefore they betook themselves
to the field, that they might also be out of the reach of the slings, by
which they were much annoyed all the while that they were in the town.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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