glory of the king Diabolus. He would range throughout all the streets of Mansoul, to cry up his illustrious lord; and would make himself even an object among the base and rascally crew, (n) to cry up his valiant prince. And I say, when and wherefore he found those vassals, he would even make himself as one of them. In all his courses, he would act without bidding, and do mischief without commandment. The lord Will-be-will also had a deputy under him, and his name was Mr. Affection: one that was also greatly debauched in his principles, and answered thereto in his life; Rom. i. 25.: he was only given to the flesh, and therefore they call him Vile-Affection. Now there was he, and one Carnal-Lust, the daughter of Mr. Mind (like to like, quoth the devil to the collier,) that fell in love and made a match, and were married; and, as I take it, they had several children, as Impudence, Blackmouth, and Hate-reproof. These three were black boys; and, besides these three, they had three daughters, as Scorn-truth, Slight-God, and the name of the youngest was Revenge; these were all married in the town, and also begot and yielded many bad brats, too many to be inserted. But to pass by this: When the giant had thus ingarrisoned himself in the town of Mansoul, and had put down and set up whom he thought good, he betakes himself to defacing. Now there was in the market-place of Mansoul, and also up (n) Vain thoughts. on * Here we see the genuine fruit of sin, which is of an impudent, scornful, and revengeful nature, and has made the soul an open and avowed enemy to justice, mercy, and truth. The intent of the gospel is, to destroy the works of Satan in the soul, and erect on their ruins a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy. This is the sole work of Christ by his Spirit, when he becomes our prophet to instruct and direct, our priest to atone for and pardon our sins, and our king to rule in our souls, the Lord of every motion there! Even so, come Lord Jesus! on the gates of the castle, an image of the blessed king Shaddai; this image was so exactly engraven (and it was engraven in gold,) that it did the most resemble Shaddai himself, of any thing that then was extant in the world. This he basely commanded to be defaced, and it was basely done by the hand of Mr. No-truth. Now you must know, that as Diabolus had commanded, and that by the hand of Mr. No-truth, the image of Shaddai was defaced; he likewise gave order that the same Mr. No-truth should set up, in its stead, the horrid and formidable image of Diabolus; to the great contempt of the former King, and debasing his town of Mansoul. Moreover, Diabolus made havock of all remains of the laws and statutes of Shaddai, that could be found in the town of Mansoul; to wit, such as contained either doctrines or morals, with all civil and natural documents: also relative severities he sought to extinguish.* To be short, there was nothing of the remains of good in Mansoul, which he and Will-be-will sought not to destroy; for their design was, to turn Mansoul into a brute, and to make it like to the sensual sow, by the hand of Mr. No-truth. When he had destroyed what law and good orders he could, then further to effect his design, namely, to alienate Mansoul from Shaddai her king, he commands, and they set up his own vain edicts, statutes, and commandments, in all places of resort or concourse in Man soul, * When once the devil has gained full possession of the human heart, he is sure to draw it off from the observance of those duties we owe to God and man; such as ordinances, public and private prayers, obedience and affection to parents and relatives; and also, from that important duty, essential to the welfare of our immortal spirits, self-examination. These being neglected, the sinner becomes at length, by evil courses, reprobate to every good work, Titus i. 16. May the Lord stir us up to use the means of grace, that we may not thus make a shipwreck of faith and conscience! SO, 1 John ii. 16. to wit, such as gave liberty to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life," which are not of Shaddai, but of the world. He encouraged, countenanced, and promoted, lasciviousness and all ungodliness there. Yea, much more did Diabolus to encourage wickedness in the town af Mansoul; he promised them peace, content, joy, and bliss, in doing his commands, and that they should never be called to an account for not doing the contrary. And let this serve to give a taste to them that love to hear of what is done beyond their knowledge, afar off in other countries.* Now Mansoul being wholly at his beck, and brought wholly to his bow, nothing was heard or seen therein, but that which tended to set him up. But now, he having disabled the lord-mayor and Mr. Recorder from bearing any office in Mansoul, and seeing that the town, before he came to it, was the most antient of corporations in the world; and fearing, if he did not maintain greatness, they at any time should object that he had done them an injury: therefore, I say (that they might see that he did not intend to lessen their grandeur, or to take from them any of their advantageous things,) he did chuse for them a lord-mayor and a recorder to himself: and such as contented them to the heart, and such also as pleased him wonderous well. The name of the mayor that was of Diabolus's making, was the lord Lustings, a man that had neither eyes nor ears; all that he did, whether as a man or an offi cer, * Let it be impressed on the mind of every christian, that our first parent fell by wishing to know more than the bounds of their duty. Self-knowledge, i. e. a due sense of our wretchedness and wants, is a blessed means, through grace, of regaining a happier paradise than we lost since it leads to the Saviour, who is the fulness of every desirable blessing. cer, he did it naturally, as doth the beast;* and that which made him yet more ignoble, though not to Mansoul, yet to them that beheld, and were grieved for its ruin, was, that he could never favour good, but evil. The Recorder was one whose name was Forget-good; and a very sorry fellow he was: he could remember nothing but mischief, and to do it with delight. He was naturally prone to do things that are hurtful; even hurtful to the town of Mansoul, and to all the dwellers there. These two, therefore, by their power and practice, examples, and smiles upon evil, did much more mischief, and settled the common people in hurtful ways; for who doth not perceive, that when those that sit aloft are vile and corrupt themselves, they corrupt the whole region and country where they are. Besides these, Diabolus made several burgesses and aldermen in Mansoul; such as out of whom the town, when it needed, might chuse them officers, governors, and magistrates; and these are the names of the chief of *A compound of devilish and beastly lusts and appetites. If we look around, we may see that irregular aims and desires deluge the world. Men in general have no higher object or pursuit than the narrow limits of this vain, perishing world, and are therefore led captive by Satan at his will. And this will be the case 'till sovereign grace effect a change; for at that happy period, a new world arises in the regenerate soul. But they who live and die slaves to their lusts and passions, must perish everlastingly. Since the fall, the memory is become so depraved, that it naturally retains evil, but lets slip that which is good: and the imagination is more apt to be taken with the former, than with the latter: be it therefore our daily prayer to retain divine, things, and that we may grow up in the knowledge, belief, and love of the truth. Reader, attend to the following friendly cautions," Evil communications corrupt good manners," 1 Cor. xv. 33. "Abstain from the least appearance of evil," 1 Thess. v. 22. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," Matt. xxvi. 41. Ever keep a good watch over the thoughts of your heart, which, our Lord tells us, is the source of every abomination, Matt. xv. 19. "Our thoughts are heard in heav'n." YOUNG. "Christ purg'd his temple: so must thou thy heart. HERBERT. of them: Mr. Incredulity, Mr. Haughty, Mr. Swearing, Mr. Whoring, Mr. Hard-heart, Mr. Pitiless, Mr. Fury, Mr. No-truth, Mr. Stand-to-lies, Mr. Falsepeace, Mr. Drunkenness, Mr. Cheating, Mr. Atheism; thirteen in all. Mr. Incredulity is the eldest, and Mr. Atheism the youngest of the company. There was also an election of common-council-men, and others: as bailiff, serjeants, constables, &c. but all of them, like those afore-named, being either fathers, brothers, cousins, or nephews, to them, whose names, for brevity-sake, I omit to mention. When the giant had thus far proceeded in his work, in the next place he betook him to build some strong holds in the town; and he built three that seemed to be impregnable. The first he called the hold of Defiance, because it was made to command the whole town, and to keep it from the knowledge of its ancient King. The second he called Midnight hold, because it was built on purpose to keep Mansoul from the true knowledge of itself. The third was called Sweet-sin-hold, because by that he fortified Mansoul against all desires of good. The first of these holds stood close by Eye-gate, that the light might as much as possible be darkened there. The second was built hard by the old castle, to the end that that might be made more blind, if possible. And the third stood in the market-place.* He that Diabolus made governor over the first of these, was one Spite-Good, a most blasphemous wretch. He came with the whole rabble of them that came against Mansoul at first, and was himself one of themselves. He that was made the governor of Midnighthold was one Love-no-light, he was also one of them that came first against the town. And he that was made * Thus it is that Satan fixes his empire in the soul: 1. by means of its enmity and aversion to divine instruction: 2. by the blindness of the understanding, and perverseness of the will, whereby the knowledge of its lamentable state, and of God, are concealed; and 3. by a habit and delight in sin, rolling it as a sweet morsel under the tongue, all of which, if grace do not intervene and prevent, will drown men in destruction and perdition. |