第31章 Part 3(8)

Mr. Ill-Pause also, who was the man that came along with Diabolus when at first he attempted the taking of Mansoul, he also received a grievous wound in the head; some say that his brain-pan was cracked. This I have taken notice of, that he was never after this able to do that mischief to Mansoul as he had done in times past. Also old Prejudice and Mr.

Anything fled.

Now, when the battle was over, the Prince commanded that yet once more the white flag should be set upon Mount Gracious in sight of the town of Mansoul, to show that yet Emmanuel had grace for the wretched town of Mansoul.

When Diabolus saw the white flag hung out again, and knowing that it was not for him, but Mansoul, he cast in his mind to play another prank, to wit, to see if Emmanuel would raise his siege and begone, upon promise of reformation. So he comes down to the gate one evening, a good while after the sun was gone down, and calls to speak with Emmanuel, who presently came down to the gate, and Diabolus saith unto him:

'Forasmuch as thou makest it appear by thy white flag that thou art wholly given to peace and quiet, I thought meet to acquaint thee that we are ready to accept thereof upon terms which thou mayest admit.

'I know that thou art given to devotion, and that holiness pleaseth thee; yea, that thy great end in making a war upon Mansoul is, that it may be a holy habitation. Well, draw off thy forces from the town, and I will bend Mansoul to thy bow.

'First, I will lay down all acts of hostility against thee, and will be willing to become thy deputy, and will, as I have formerly been against thee, now serve thee in the town of Mansoul. And more particularly, '1. I will persuade Mansoul to receive thee for their Lord;and I know that they will do it the sooner when they shall understand that I am thy deputy.

'2. I will show them wherein they have erred, and that transgression stands in the way to life.

'3. I will show them the holy law unto which they must conform, even that which they have broken.

'4. I will press upon them the necessity of a reformation according to thy law.

'5. And, moreover, that none of these things may fail, Imyself, at my own proper cost and charge, will set up and maintain a sufficient ministry, besides lectures, in Mansoul.

'6. Thou shalt receive, as a token of our subjection to thee, year by year, what thou shalt think fit to lay and levy upon us in token of our subjection to thee.'

Then said Emmanuel to him, 'O full of deceit, how movable are thy ways! How often hast thou changed and rechanged, if so be thou mightest still keep possession of my Mansoul, though, as has been plainly declared before, I am the right heir thereof! Often hast thou made thy proposals already, nor is this last a whit better than they. And failing to deceive when thou showedst thyself in thy black, thou hast now transformed thyself into an angel of light, and wouldst, to deceive, be now as a minister of righteousness.

'But know thou, O Diabolus, that nothing must be regarded that thou canst propound, for nothing is done by thee but to deceive. Thou neither hast conscience to God, nor love to the town of Mansoul; whence, then, should these thy sayings arise but from sinful craft and deceit? He that can of list and will propound what he pleases, and that wherewith he may destroy them that believe him, is to be abandoned, with all that he shall say. But if righteousness be such a beauty-spot in thine eyes now, how is it that wickedness was so closely stuck to by thee before? But this is by-the-bye.

'Thou talkest now of a reformation in Mansoul, and that thou thyself, if I will please, wilt be at the head of that reformation; all the while knowing that the greatest proficiency that man can make in the law, and the righteousness thereof, will amount to no more, for the taking away of the curse from Mansoul, than just nothing at all; for a law being broken by Mansoul, that had before, upon a supposition of the breach thereof, a curse pronounced against him for it of God, can never, by his obeying of the law, deliver himself therefrom (to say nothing of what a reformation is like to be set up in Mansoul when the devil is become corrector of vice). Thou knowest that all that thou hast now said in this matter is nothing but guile and deceit;and is, as it was the first, so is it the last card that thou hast to play. Many there be that do soon discern thee when thou showest them thy cloven foot; but in thy white, thy light, and in thy transformation, thou art seen but of a few.

But thou shalt not do thus with my Mansoul, O Diabolus; for Ido still love my Mansoul.

'Besides, I am not come to put Mansoul upon works to live thereby; should I do so, I should be like unto thee: but I am come that by me, and by what I have and shall do for Mansoul, they may to my Father be reconciled, though by their sin they have provoked him to anger, and though by the law they cannot obtain mercy.

'Thou talkest of subjecting of this town to good, when none desireth it at thy hands. I am sent by my Father to possess it myself, and to guide it by the skilfulness of my hands into such a conformity to him as shall be pleasing in his sight. I will therefore possess it myself; I will dispossess and cast thee out; I will set up mine own standard in the midst of them; I will also govern them by new laws, new officers, new motives, and new ways; yea, I will pull down this town, and build it again; and it shall be as though it had not been, and it shall then be the glory of the whole universe.'