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
This oration was made in the language of Diabolus himself; for although
he can, to every man, speak in their own language, (else he could not
tempt them all as he does,) yet he has a language proper to himself, and
it is the language of the infernal cave, or black pit.
Wherefore the town of Mansoul (poor hearts!) understood him not; nor did
they see how he crouched and cringed while he stood before Emmanuel,
their Prince.
Yea, they all this while took him to be one of that power and force that
by no means could be resisted. Wherefore, while he was thus entreating
that he might have yet his residence there, and that Emmanuel would not
take it from him by force, the inhabitants boasted even of his valour,
saying, ‘Who is able to make war with him?’
Well, when this pretended king had made an end of what he would say,
Emmanuel, the golden Prince, stood up and spake; the contents of whose
words follow:—
‘Thou deceiving one,’ said he, ‘I have, in my Father’s name, in mine own
name, and on the behalf and for the good of this wretched town of
Mansoul, somewhat to say unto thee. Thou pretendest a right, a lawful
right, to the deplorable town of Mansoul, when it is most apparent to all
my Father’s court that the entrance which thou hast obtained in at the
gates of Mansoul was through thy lie and falsehood; thou beliedst my
Father, thou beliedst his law, and so deceivedst the people of Mansoul.
Thou pretendest that the people have accepted thee for their king, their
captain, and right liege lord; but that also was by the exercise of
deceit and guile. Now, if lying, wiliness, sinful craft, and all manner
of horrible hypocrisy, will go in my Father’s court (in which court thou
must be tried) for equity and right, then will I confess unto thee that
thou hast made a lawful conquest. But, alas! what thief, what tyrant,
what devil is there that may not conquer after this sort? But I can make
it appear, O Diabolus, that thou, in all thy pretences to a conquest of
Mansoul, hast nothing of truth to say. Thinkest thou this to be right,
that that didst put the lie upon my Father, and madest him (to Mansoul)
the greatest deluder in the world? And what sayest thou to thy
perverting knowingly the right purport and intent of the law? Was it
good also that thou madest a prey of the innocency and simplicity of the
now miserable town of Mansoul? Yea, thou didst overcome Mansoul by
promising to them happiness in their transgressions against my Father’s
law, when thou knewest, and couldest not but know, hadst thou consulted
nothing but thine own experience, that that was the way to undo them.
Thou hast also thyself, O thou master of enmity, of spite defaced my
Father’s image in Mansoul, and set up thy own in its place, to the great
contempt of my Father, the heightening of thy sin, and to the intolerable
damage of the perishing town of Mansoul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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 — John Shaqi
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