and an hater of the blessed town of Mansoul. He has in times of rebellion been at, and lain in my house, my ford, not so little as twenty times together, and we used to talk then (for the substance of talk) as he and his Doubters have talked of late. True, I have not seen him many a day, I suppose that the coming of Emanuel to Mansoul has made him change his lodgings, as this indictment has driven him to change his name; but this is the man, my lord."

Then said the court unto him, Hast thou any more to say?

Yes, quoth the old gentleman, that I have; for all that has yet been said against me, is but by the mouth of one witness, and it is not lawful for the famous town of Mansoul, at the mouth of one witness, to put any man to death.

Then stood forth Mr. Diligence, and said, " My lord, as I was upon my watch such a night at the head of Bad-street, in this town, I chanced to hear a muttering within the gentleman's house; then thought I, What's to do here? So I went up close, but very softly, to the side of the house to listen, thinking, as indeed it fell out, that there I might light of some Diabolonian conventicle. So, as I said, I drew nearer and nearer, and when I was got up close to the wall, it was but a while before I perceived that there were outlandish men in the house (but I understood their speech,* for I have been a traveller myself; now hearing such language in such a tottering cottage this old gentleman dwelt in, I clapt mine ear to a hole in the window, and there heard them talk as followeth. This old Mr. Questioning asked these Doubters what they were, whence they came, and what was their business in these parts? And they answered him to all these questions, yet he entertained them. He also asked what numbers there were of them; and they told him, ten thousand

men.

A prudent christian, ever watchful over his own heart, will, by divine grace, discover the devices of Satan, and be enabled to escape their baneful effects.

men. He then asked them why they made no more manly assault upon Mansoul? and they told him. So he called their general coward, for marching off when he should have fought for his Prince. Further, this old Evil-questioning wished, and I heard him wish, Would all the ten thousand Doubters were now in Mansoul, and himself at the head of them! He bid them also take heed and lie quit; for if they were taken they must die, although they had heads of gold."

Then said the court, Mr. Evil-questioning, here is now another witness against you, and this testimony is full: 1. He swears that you received these men into your house, and that you nourished them there though you knew that they were Diabolonians, and the king's enemies. 2. He swears that you wished ten thousand of them in Mansoul. 3. He swears that you gave them advice to be quiet and close, lest they were taken by the king's servants. All which manifesteth that thou art a Diabolonian; but hadst thou been a friend to the King, thou wouldst have apprehended them.*

answer,

Then said Evil-questioning, To the first of these I The men that came into mine house were strangers, and I took them in; and is it now become a crime in Mansoul for a man to entertain strangers? That I also nourished them, is true; and why should my charity be blamed? As for the reason why I wished ten thousand of them in Mansoul, I never told it to the witnesses, nor to themselves. I might wish them to be taken, and so my wish might mean well to Mansoul, for aught that any yet knows. I also bid them to take

heed that they fell not into the captain's hands, but that might be because I am unwilling that any man should be slain, and not because I would have the king's enemies, as such escape.

My lord mayor then replied, "That though it was a virtue to entertain strangers, yet it was treason to enter

tain

* An enlightened soul, that is the subject of grace, will abhor sin even in thought: and in the Lord's strength constantly fights and strives against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

tain the king's enemies.

And for what else thou hast

said, thou dost by words but labour to evade, and defer the execution of judgment. But could there be no more proved against thee but that thou art a Diabolonian, thou must for that die the death by the law: but to be a receiver, a nourisher, a countenancer, and a harbourer of others of them, yea, of outlandish Diabolonians; yea, of them that came from far, on purpose to cut off and destroy our Mansoul; this must, not be borne."

Then said Evil-questioning, I see how the game will go. I must die for my name, and for my charity. And so held his peace.

Then they called the outlandish Doubters to the bar, and the first of them that was araigned, was the Election- Doubter; so his indictment was read, and because he was an outlandishman, the substance of it was told to him by an interpreter; to wit "That he was there, charged with being an enemy to Emanuel the Prince, a hater of the town of Mansoul, and an opposer of her most wholesome doctrine."

Then the judge asked him if he would plead ? But he said only this, "That he confessed that he was an Election-Doubter, and that that was the religion that he had ever been brought up in. And said moreover, If I must die for my religion, I trow, I shall die a martyr, and so I care the less."

Then the judge replied, To question election is to overthrow a great doctrine of the gospel; to wit, the omniscience, and power, and will of God, to take away the liberty of God with his creature, to stumble the faith of the town of Mansoul, and to make salvation to depend upon works, and not upon grace. It also belied the word, and disquieted the minds of the men of Mansoul, therefore by the best of laws he must die.

Then was the Vocation-Doubter called, and set to the bar and his indictment for substance was the same with the other, only he was particularly charged with denying the calling of Mansoul.

The

The judge asked him also what he had to say for himself?

So he replied, "That he never believed that there was any such thing as a distinct and powerful call of God to Mansoul, otherwise than by the general voice of the word, nor by that neither, otherwise than as it exhorted them to forbear evil, and to do that which is good, and in so doing a promise of happiness is

annexed."*

Then said the judge, Thou art a Diabolonian, and hast denied a great part of one of the most experimental truths of the Prince of the town of Mansoul; for he has called, and she has heard a most distinct and powerful call of her Emanuel, by which she has been quickened, awakened, and possessed with heavenly grace to desire to have communion with her Prince, to serve him, and to do his will, and to look for her happiness merely of his good pleasure. And for thine abhorrence of this good doctrine, thou must die the death.

Then the Grace- Doubter was called, and his indictment was read, and he replied thereto, That though he was of the land of Doubting, his father was the offspring of a Pharisee, and lived in good fashion among his neighbours, and that he taught them to believe (and believe I do, and will) that Mansoul shall never be saved freely by grace.

Then said the judge, Why, the law of the Prince is plain; 1. Negatively, "not of works;" "not of works;" 2. Positively, "By grace you are saved," Rom. iii. Eph. ii. And thy religion settleth in and upon the works of the flesh; for the works of the law are the works of the flesh. Besides, in saying, "Thou hast done," thou hast robbed God of his glory, and given it to a sinful man; thou hast robbed Christ of the necessity of his undertaking, and the sufficiency thereof, and hast given both these

*This unscriptural leaven of salvation by works is a contagious evil; it is at this day very prevalent.

these to the works of the flesh. Thou hast despised the work of the Holy Ghost, and hast magnified the will of the flesh, and of the legal mind. Thou art a Diabolonian, the son of a Diabolonian; and for thy Diabolonian principles thou must die.

The court then having proceeded thus far with them, sent out the jury, who forthwith brought them in guilty of death. Then stood up the recorder, and addressed himself to the prisoners: You the prisoners at the bar, you have been indicted, and proved guilty of high crimes against Emanuel our Prince, and against the famous town of Mansoul: crimes for which you must be put to death; and die ye accordingly.*

So they were sentenced to the death of the cross: the place assigned them for execution was that where Diabolus drew up his last army against Mansoul; save only that Evil-questioning was hanged at the top of Badstreet, just over against his own door.

When the town of Mansoul had thus far rid themselves of their enemies, and of the troublers of their peace, in the next place a strict commandment was given out, that yet my lord Will-be-will should, with Diligence his man, search for, and do his best to apprehend what town Diabolonians were yet alive in Mansoul. The names of several of them were Mr. Fooling, Mr. Let-good-slip, Mr. Slavish-fear, Mr. No-love, Mr. Mistrust, Mr. Flesh, and Mr. Sloth. It was also commanded that he should apprehend Mr. Evil-questioning's children that he left behind him, and that they should demolish his house there; Mr. Doubt was his eldest son; the next to him was Legal-life, Unbelief, Wrong-thoughts-of-Christ, Clip-promise, Carnal-sense, Live-by-feel, Self-love. All these he had by one wife, and her name was No-hope, she was, the kinswoman of old Incredulity, for he was her uncle, and when her father old Dark was dead, he took her and brought her up,

It is certainly the duty of all Christians to purge away, if pos sible, all sin; for it is evidently a contagious disorder, and conse quently we can never be secure while we are near it.