The Works of John Bunyan, vol 3, John Bunyan [ebook reader color screen TXT] 📗

commissions, they concluded yet to give to the town, by the hand of the fore-named trumpeter, another summons to hear; but if that shall be refused, said they, and that the town shall stand it out still, then they determined, and bid the trumpeter tell them so, that they would endeavour, by what means they could, to compel them by force to the obedience of their King (Luke 14:23).

So Captain Boanerges commanded his trumpeter to go up to Ear-gate again, and, in the name of the great King Shaddai, to give it a very loud summons, to come down without delay to Ear-gate, there to give audience to the King’s most noble captains. So the trumpeter went and did as he was commanded. He went up to Ear-gate and sounded his trumpet, and gave a third summons to Mansoul; he said, moreover, that if this they should still refuse to do, the captains of his Prince would with might come down upon them, and endeavour to reduce them to their obedience by force (Isa 58:1).

Then stood up my Lord Will-be-will, who was the governor of the town; this Will-be-will was that apostate of whom mention was made before, and the keeper of the gates of Mansoul. He, therefore, with big and ruffling words, demanded of the trumpeter who he was, whence he came, and what was the cause of his making so hideous a noise at the gate, and speaking such insufferable words against the town of Mansoul?

The trumpeter answered, ‘I am servant to the most noble captain, Captain Boanerges, general of the forces of the great King Shaddai, against whom both thyself, with the whole town of Mansoul, have rebelled, and lift up the heel; and my master, the captain, hath a special message to this town, and to thee as a member thereof; the which, if you of Mansoul shall peaceably hear, so;[99] and if not, you must take what follows.’

Then said the Lord Will-be-will, ‘I will carry thy words to my Lord, and will know what he will say.’[100] But the trumpeter soon replied, saying. ‘Our message is not to the giant Diabolus, but to the miserable town of Mansoul. Nor shall we at all regard what answer by him is made, nor yet by any for him. We are sent to this town to recover it from under his cruel tyranny, and to persuade it to submit, as in former times it did, to the most excellent King Shaddai.’

Then said the Lord Will-be-will, ‘I will do your errand to the town.’ The trumpeter then replied, ‘Sir, do not deceive us, lest in so doing, you deceive yourselves much more.’ He added, moreover, ‘For we are resolved, if in peaceable manner you do not submit yourselves, then to make a war upon you, and to bring you under by force. And of the truth of what I now say, this shall be a sign unto you: you shall see the black flag, with its hot-burning thunder-bolts, set upon the mount to-morrow, as a token of defiance against your prince, and of our resolutions to reduce you to your Lord and rightful King.’

So the said Lord Will-be-will returned from off the wall, and the trumpeter came into the camp. When the trumpeter was come into the camp, the captains and officers of the mighty King Shaddai came together to know if he had obtained a hearing, and what was the effect of his errand. So the trumpeter told, saying, ‘When I had sounded my trumpet,[101] and had called aloud to the town for a hearing, my Lord Will-be-will, the governor of the town, and he that hath charge of the gates, came up, when he heard me sound, and looking over the wall, he asked me what I was, whence I came, and what was the cause of my making this noise? So I told him my errand, and by whose authority I brought it. Then, said he, I will tell it to the governor and to Mansoul; and then I returned to my Lords.’

Then said the brave Boanerges, ‘Let us yet for a while lie still in our trenches, and see what these rebels will do.’ Now when the time drew nigh that audience by Mansoul must be given to the brave Boanerges and his companions, it was commanded that all the men of war, throughout the whole camp of Shaddai, should as one man stand to their arms, and make themselves ready, if the town of Mansoul shall hear, to receive it forthwith to mercy, but if not, to force a subjection. So the day being come, the trumpeters sounded, and that throughout the whole camp, that the men of war might be in a readiness for that which then should be the work of the day. But when they that were in the town of Mansoul heard the sound of the trumpets throughout the camp of Shaddai, and thinking no other but that it must be in order to storming the corporation, they at first were put to great consternation of spirit; but after they were a little settled again, they also made what preparation they could for a war, if they did storm, else to secure themselves.

Well, when the utmost time was come, Boanerges was resolved to hear their answer; wherefore he sent out his trumpeter again, to summons Mansoul to a hearing of the message that they had brought from Shaddai. So he went and sounded, and the townsmen came up, but made Ear-gate as sure as they could (Zech 7:11). Now when they were come up to the top of the wall, Captain Boanerges desired to see the Lord Mayor, but my Lord Incredulity was then Lord Mayor, for he came in the room of my Lord Lustings. So Incredulity he came up and showed himself over the wall; but when the Captain Boanerges had set his eyes upon him, he cried out aloud, ‘This is not he, where is my Lord Understanding, the ancient Lord Mayor of the town of Mansoul? for to him I would deliver my message?’

Then said the giant—for Diabolus was also come down—to the captain, ‘Mr. Captain, you have by your boldness given to Mansoul, at least, four summonses to subject herself to your King, by whose authority I know not, nor will I dispute that now; I ask, therefore, what is the reason of all this ado, or what would you be at, if you knew yourselves?’

Then Captain Boanerges, whose was the black colours, and whose escutcheon was the three burning thunder-bolts, taking no notice of the giant or of his speech, thus addressed himself to the town of Mansoul: ‘Be it known unto you, O unhappy and rebellious Mansoul, that the most gracious King, the great King Shaddai, my Master, hath sent me unto you with commission,’ aand so he showed to the town his broad seal, ‘to reduce you to his obedience. And he hath commanded me, in case you yield upon my summons, to carry it to you as if you were my friends, or brother; but he also hath bid, that if after summons to submit, you still stand out and rebel, we should endeavour to take you by force.’

Then stood forth Captain Conviction and said—his was the pale colours, and for an escutcheon, he had the book of the law wide open [from whence issued a flame of fire]—‘Hear, O Mansoul! Thou, O

Mansoul, wast once famous for innocency, but now thou art degenerated into lies and deceit (Rom 3:3,10-23, 16:17,18). Thou hast heard what my brother the Captain Boanerges hath said; and it is your wisdom, and will be your happiness, to stoop to, and accept of, conditions of peace and mercy when offered; especially when offered by one against whom thou hast rebelled, and one who is of power to tear thee in pieces, for so is Shaddai our King; nor, when he is angry, can anything stand before him (Psa 1:21,22). If you say you have not sinned, nor acted rebellion against our King, the whole of your doings, since the day that you cast off his service—and there was the beginning of your sin—will sufficiently testify against you. What else means your hearkening to the tyrant, and your receiving him for your king? What means else your rejecting of the laws of Shaddai, and your obeying of Diabolus? Yea, what means this your taking up of arms against, and the shutting of your gates upon us, the faithful servants of your King? Be ruled then, and accept of my brother’s invitation, and overstand not the time of mercy, but agree with thine adversary quickly (Luke 12:58,59). Ah, Mansoul, suffer not thyself to be kept from mercy, and to be run into a thousand miseries, by the flattering wiles of Diabolus. Perhaps that piece of deceit may attempt to make you believe that we seek our own profit in this our service;[102] but know, it is obedience to our King, and love to your happiness, that is the cause of this undertaking of ours.

‘Again, I say to thee, O Mansoul, consider if it be not amazing grace that Shaddai should so humble himself as he doth. Now he, by us reasons with you, in a way of entreaty and sweet persuasions, that you would subject yourselves to him. Has he that need of you, that we are sure you have of him? No, no; but he is merciful, and will not that Mansoul should die, but turn to him and live’ (2 Cor 5:18-21).

Then stood forth Captain Judgment, whose was the red colours, and for an escutcheon he had the burning fiery furnace, and he said, ‘O ye, the inhabitants of the town of Mansoul, that have lived so long in rebellion and acts of treason against the King Shaddai; know that we come not to-day to this place, in this manner, with our message of our own minds, or to revenge our own quarrel; it is the King, my Master, that hath sent us to reduce you to your obedience to him, the which if you refuse in a peaceable way to yield, we have commission to compel you thereto. And never think of yourselves, nor yet suffer the tyrant Diabolus to persuade you to think, that our King, by his power, is not able to bring you down, and to lay you under his feet; for he is the former of all things, and if he touches the mountains, they smoke. Nor will the gate of the King’s clemency stand always open; for the day that shall burn like an oven is before him, yea, it hasteth greatly, it slumbereth not (Mal 4:1; 2 Peter 2:3).

‘O Mansoul! is it little in thine eyes that our King doth offer thee mercy, and that, after so many provocations? Yea, he still holdeth out his golden sceptre to thee, and will not yet suffer his gate to be shut against thee. Wilt thou provoke him to do it? If so, consider of what I say:—To thee it is opened no more for ever (Job 36:14). If thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him. Yea, “because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee” (v 18). Will he esteem thy riches? No; not gold, nor all the forces of strength. “He hath prepared his throne for judgment” (Psa 9:7). For “he will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire” (Isa 66:15).

Therefore, O Mansoul, take heed, lest after thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, justice and judgment should take hold of thee.’

Now, while the Captain Judgment was making this oration to the town of Mansoul, it