Diabolus, then, as if he had been a lamb, began his oration, and said: ‘Gentlemen of the famous town of Mansoul, I am, as you may perceive, no far dweller from you, but near, and one that is bound by the king to do you my homage and what service I can; wherefore, that I may be faithful to myself and to you, I have somewhat of concern to impart unto you.  Wherefore, grant me your audience, and hear me patiently.  And first, I will assure you, it is not myself, but you—not mine, but your advantage that I seek by what I now do, as will full well be made manifest, by that I have opened my mind unto you.  For, gentlemen, I am (to tell you the truth) come to show you how you may obtain great and ample deliverance from a bondage that, unawares to yourselves, you are captivated and enslaved under.’  At this the town of Mansoul began to prick up its ears.  And ‘What is it?  Pray what is it?’ thought they.  And he said, ‘I have somewhat to say to you concerning your King, concerning his law, and also touching yourselves.  Touching your King, I know he is great and potent; but yet all that he hath said to you is neither true nor yet for your advantage.  1. It is not true, for that wherewith he hath hitherto awed you, shall not come to pass, nor be fulfilled, though you do the thing that he hath forbidden.  But if there was danger, what a slavery is it to live always in fear of the greatest of punishments, for doing so small and trivial a thing as eating of a little fruit is.  2. Touching his laws, this I say further, they are both unreasonable, intricate, and intolerable.  Unreasonable, as was hinted before; for that the punishment is not proportioned to the offence: there is great difference and disproportion between the life and an apple; yet the one must go for the other by the law of your Shaddai.  But it is also intricate, in that he saith, first, you may eat of all; and yet after forbids the eating of one.  And then, in the last place, it must needs be intolerable, forasmuch as that fruit which you are forbidden to eat of (if you are forbidden any) is that, and that alone, which is able, by your eating, to minister to you a good as yet unknown by you.  This is manifest by the very name of the tree; it is called the “tree of knowledge of good and evil;” and have you that knowledge as yet? No, no; nor can you conceive how good, how pleasant, and how much to be desired to make one wise it is, so long as you stand by your King’s commandment.  Why should you be holden in ignorance and blindness?  Why should you not be enlarged in knowledge and understanding?  And now, O ye inhabitants of the famous town of Mansoul, to speak more particularly to yourselves you are not a free people!  You are kept both in bondage and slavery, and that by a grievous threat; no reason being annexed but, “So I will have it; so it shall be.”  And is it not grievous to think on, that that very thing which you are forbidden to do might you but do it, would yield you both wisdom and honour? for then your eyes will be opened, and you shall be as gods.  Now, since this is thus,’ quoth he, ‘can you be kept by any prince in more slavery and in greater bondage than you are under this day?  You are made underlings, and are wrapped up in inconveniences, as I have well made appear.  For what bondage greater than to be kept in blindness?  Will not reason tell you that it is better to have eyes than to be without them? and so to be at liberty to be better than to be shut up in a dark and stinking cave?’

And just now, while Diabolus was speaking these words to Mansoul, Tisiphone shot at Captain Resistance, where he stood on the gate, and mortally wounded him in the head; so that he, to the amazement of the townsmen, and the encouragement of Diabolus, fell down dead quite over the wall.  Now, when Captain Resistance was dead, (and he was the only man of war in the town,) poor Mansoul was wholly left naked of courage, nor had she now any heart to resist.  But this was as the devil would have it.  Then stood forth he, Mr. Ill-pause, that Diabolus brought with him, who was his orator; and he addressed himself to speak to the town of Mansoul; the tenour of whose speech here follows:—

‘Gentlemen,’ quoth he, ‘it is my master’s happiness that he has this day a quiet and teachable auditory; and it is hoped by us that we shall prevail with you not to cast off good advice.  My master has a very great love for you; and although, as he very well knows, that he runs the hazard of the anger of King Shaddai, yet love to you will make him do more than that.  Nor doth there need that a word more should be spoken to confirm for truth what he hath said; there is not a word but carries with it self-evidence in its bowels; the very name of the tree may put an end to all controversy in this matter.  I therefore, at this time, shall only add this advice to you, under and by the leave of my lord;’ (and with that he made Diabolus a very low congee;) ‘consider his words, look on the tree and the promising fruit thereof; remember also that yet you know but little, and that this is the way to know more: and if your reasons be not conquered to accept of such good counsel, you are not the men that I took you to be.’

But when the townsfolk saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, they did as old Ill-pause advised; they took and did eat thereof.  Now this I should have told you before, that even then, when this Ill-pause was making his speech to the townsmen, my Lord Innocency (whether by a shot from the camp of the giant, or from some sinking qualm that suddenly took him, or whether by the stinking breath of that treacherous villain old Ill-pause, for so I am most apt to think) sunk down in the place where he stood, nor could be brought to life again.  Thus these two brave men died—brave men, I call them; for they were the beauty and glory of Mansoul, so long as they lived therein; nor did there now remain any more a noble spirit in Mansoul; they all fell down and yielded obedience to Diabolus; and became his slaves and vassals, as you shall hear.

Now these being dead, what do the rest of the townsfolk, but, as men that had found a fool’s paradise, they presently, as afore was hinted, fall to prove the truth of the giant’s words.  And, first, they did as Ill-pause had taught them; they looked, they considered they were taken with the forbidden fruit; they took thereof, and did eat; and having eaten, they became immediately drunken therewith.  So they open the gate, both Ear-gate and Eye-gate, and let in Diabolus with all his bands, quite forgetting their good Shaddai, his law, and the judgment that he had annexed, with solemn threatening, to the breach thereof.

Diabolus, having now obtained entrance in at the gates of the town, marches up to the middle thereof, to make his conquest as sure as he could; and finding, by this time, the affections of the people warmly inclining to him, he, as thinking it was best striking while the iron is hot, made this further deceivable speech unto them, saying, ‘Alas, my poor Mansoul!  I have done thee indeed this service, as to promote thee to honour, and to greaten thy liberty; but, alas! alas! poor Mansoul, thou wantest now one to defend thee; for assure thyself that when Shaddai shall hear what is done, he will come; for sorry will he be that thou hast broken his bonds, and cast his cords away from thee.  What wilt thou do?  Wilt thou, after enlargement, suffer thy privileges to be invaded and taken away, or what wilt resolve with thyself?’

Then they all with one consent said to this bramble, ‘Do thou reign over us.’  So he accepted the motion, and became the king of the town of Mansoul.  This being done, the next thing was to give him possession of the castle, and so of the whole strength of the town.  Wherefore, into the castle he goes; it was that which Shaddai built in Mansoul for his own delight and pleasure; this now was become a den and hold for the giant Diabolus.

Now, having got possession of this stately palace or castle, what doth he but makes it a garrison for himself, and strengthens and fortifies it with all sorts of provision, against the King Shaddai, or those that should endeavour the regaining of it to him and his obedience again.

This done, but not thinking himself yet secure enough, in the next place he bethinks himself of new modelling the town; and so he does, setting up one, and putting down another at pleasure.  Wherefore my Lord Mayor, whose name was my Lord Understanding, and Mr. Recorder, whose name was Mr. Conscience, these he put out of place and power.

As for my Lord Mayor, though he was an understanding man, and one too that had complied with the rest of the town of Mansoul in admitting the giant into the town, yet Diabolus thought not fit to let him abide in his former lustre and glory, because he was a seeing man.  Wherefore he darkened him, not only by taking from him his office and power, but by building a high and strong tower, just between the sun’s reflections and the windows of my lord’s palace; by which means his house and all, and the whole of his habitation, were made as dark as darkness itself.  And thus, being alienated from the light, he became as one that was born blind.  To this, his house, my lord was confined as to a prison; nor might he, upon his parole, go farther than within his own bounds.  And now, had he had a heart to do for Mansoul, what could he do for it, or wherein could he be profitable to her?  So then, so long as Mansoul was under the power and government of Diabolus, (and so long it was under him, as it was obedient to him, which was even until by a war it was rescued out of his hand,) so long my Lord Mayor was rather an impediment in, than an advantage to the famous town of Mansoul.

As for Mr. Recorder, before the town was taken, he was a man well read in the laws of his king, and also a man of courage and faithfulness to speak truth at every occasion; and he had a tongue as bravely hung as he had a head filled with judgment.  Now, this man Diabolus could by no means abide, because, though he gave his consent to his coming into the town, yet he could not, by all the wiles, trials, stratagems, and devices that he could use, make him wholly his own.  True, he was much degenerated from his former king, and also much pleased with many of the giant’s laws and service; but all this would not do, forasmuch as he was not wholly his.  He would now and then think upon Shaddai, and have dread of his law upon him, and then he would speak against Diabolus with a voice as great as when a lion roareth.  Yea, and would also at certain times, when his fits were upon him, (for you must know that sometimes he had terrible fits,) make the whole town of Mansoul shake with his voice: and therefore the now king of Mansoul could not abide him.

Diabolus, therefore, feared the Recorder more than any that was left alive in the town of Mansoul, because, as I said, his words did shake the whole town; they were like the rattling thunder, and also like thunder-claps.  Since, therefore, the giant could not make him wholly his own, what doth he do but studies all that he could to debauch the old gentleman, and by debauchery to stupefy his mind, and more harden his heart in the ways of vanity.  And as he attempted, so he accomplished his design: he debauched the man, and by little and little so drew him into sin and wickedness, that at last he was not only debauched, as at first, and so by consequence defiled, but was almost (at last, I say) past all conscience of sin.  And this was the farthest Diabolus could go.  Wherefore he bethinks him of another project, and that was, to persuade the men of the town that Mr. Recorder was mad, and so not to be regarded.  And for this he urged his fits, and said, ‘If he be himself, why doth he not do thus always?  But,’ quoth he, ‘as all mad folks have their fits, and in them their raving language, so hath this old and doating gentleman.’

Thus, by one means or another, he quickly got Mansoul to slight, neglect, and despise whatever Mr. Recorder could say.  For, besides what already you have heard, Diabolus had a way to make the old gentleman, when he was merry, unsay and deny what he in his fits had affirmed.  And, indeed, this was the next way to make himself ridiculous, and to cause that no man should regard him.  Also now he never spake freely for King Shaddai, but also by force and constraint.  Besides, he would at one time be hot against that at which, at another, he would hold his peace; so uneven was he now in his doings.  Sometimes he would be as if fast asleep, and again sometimes as dead, even then when the whole town of Mansoul was in her career after vanity, and in her dance after the giant’s pipe.

Wherefore, sometimes when Mansoul did use to be frighted with the thundering voice of the Recorder that was, and when they did tell Diabolus of it, he would answer, that what the old gentleman said was neither of love to him nor pity to them, but of a foolish fondness that he had to be prating; and so would hush, still, and put all to quiet again.  And that he might leave no argument unurged that might tend to make them secure, he said, and said it often, ‘O Mansoul! consider that, notwithstanding the old gentleman’s rage, and the rattle of his high and thundering words, you hear nothing of Shaddai himself;’ when, liar and deceiver that he was, every outcry of Mr. Recorder against the sin of Mansoul was the voice of God in him to them.  But he goes on, and says, ‘You see that he values not the loss nor rebellion of the town of Mansoul, nor will he trouble himself with calling his town to a reckoning for their giving themselves to me.  He knows that though you were his, now you are lawfully mine; so, leaving us one to another, he now hath shaken his hands of us.

‘Moreover, O Mansoul!’ quoth he, ‘consider how I have served you, even to the uttermost of my power; and that with the best that I have, could get, or procure for you in all the world: besides, I dare say that the laws and customs that you now are under, and by which you do homage to me, do yield you more solace and content than did the paradise that at first you possessed.  Your liberty also, as yourselves do very well know, has been greatly widened and enlarged by me; whereas I found you a penned-up people.  I have not laid any restraint upon you; you have no law, statute, or judgment of mine to fright you; I call none of you to account for your doings, except the madman—you know who I mean; I have granted you to live, each man like a prince in his own, even with as little control from me as I myself have from you.’

And thus would Diabolus hush up and quiet the town of Mansoul, when the Recorder that was, did at times molest them: yea, and with such cursed orations as these, would set the whole town in a rage and fury against the old gentleman.  Yea, the rascal crew at some times would be for destroying him.  They have often wished, in my hearing, that he had lived a thousand miles off from them: his company, his words, yea, the sight of him, and specially when they remembered how in old times he did use to threaten and condemn them, (for all he was now so debauched,) did terrify and afflict them sore.

But all wishes were vain, for I do not know how, unless by the power of Shaddai, and his wisdom, he was preserved in being amongst them.  Besides, his house was as strong as a castle, and stood hard by a stronghold of the town: moreover, if at any time any of the crew or rabble attempted to make him away, he could pull up the sluices, and let in such floods as would drown all round about him.

But to leave Mr. Recorder, and to come to my Lord Willbewill, another of the gentry of the famous town of Mansoul.  This Willbewill was as high-born as any man in Mansoul, and was as much, if not more, a freeholder than many of them were; besides, if I remember my tale aright, he had some privileges peculiar to himself in the famous town of Mansoul.  Now, together with these, he was a man of great strength, resolution, and courage, nor in his occasion could any turn him away.  But I say, whether he was proud of his estate, privileges, strength, or what, (but sure it was through pride of something,) he scorns now to be a slave in Mansoul; and therefore resolves to bear office under Diabolus, that he might (such an one as he was) be a petty ruler and governor in Mansoul.  And, headstrong man that he was! thus he began betimes; for this man, when Diabolus did make his oration at Ear-gate, was one of the first that was for consenting to his words, and for accepting his counsel at wholesome, and that was for the opening of the gate, and for letting him into the town; wherefore Diabolus had a kindness for him, and therefore he designed for him a place.  And perceiving the valour and stoutness of the man, he coveted to have him for one of his great ones, to act and do in matters of the highest concern.

So he sent for him, and talked with him of that secret matter that lay in his breast, but there needed not much persuasion in the case.  For as at first he was willing that Diabolus should be let into the town, so now he was as willing to serve him there.  When the tyrant, therefore, perceived the willingness of my lord to serve him, and that his mind stood bending that way, he forthwith made him the captain of the castle, governor of the wall, and keeper of the gates of Mansoul: yea, there was a clause in his commission, that nothing without him should be done in all the town of Mansoul.  So that now, next to Diabolus himself, who but my Lord Willbewill in all the town of Mansoul! nor could anything now be done, but at his will and pleasure, throughout the town of Mansoul.  He had also one Mr. Mind for his clerk, a man to speak on every way like his master: for he and his lord were in principle one, and in practice not far asunder.  And now was Mansoul brought under to purpose, and made to fulfil the lusts of the will, and of the mind.

But it will not out of my thoughts what a desperate one this Willbewill was when power was put into his hand.  First, he flatly denied that he owed any suit or service to his former prince and liege lord.  This done, in the next place he took an oath, and swore fidelity to his great master Diabolus, and then, being stated and settled in his places, offices, advancements, and preferments, oh! you cannot think, unless you had seen it, the strange work that this workman made in the town of Mansoul.

First, he maligned Mr. Recorder to death; he would neither endure to see him, nor hear the words of his mouth; he would shut his eyes when he saw him, and stop his ears when he heard him speak.  Also he could not endure that so much as a fragment of the law of Shaddai should be anywhere seen in the town.  For example, his clerk, Mr. Mind, had some old, rent, and torn parchments of the law of Shaddai in his house, but when Willbewill saw them, he cast them behind his back.  True, Mr. Recorder had some of the laws in his study; but my lord could by no means come at them.  He also thought and said, that the windows of my old Lord Mayor’s house were always too light for the profit of the town of Mansoul.  The light of a candle he could not endure.  Now nothing at all pleased Willbewill but what pleased Diabolus his lord.

There was none like him to trumpet about the streets the brave nature, the wise conduct, and great glory of the king Diabolus.  He would range and rove throughout all the streets of Mansoul to cry up his illustrious lord, and would make himself even as an abject, among the base and rascal crew, to cry up his valiant prince.  And I say, when and wheresoever he found these vassals, he would even make himself as one of them.  In all ill courses he would act without bidding, and do mischief without commandment.

The Lord Willbewill also had a deputy under him, and his name was Mr. Affection, one that was also greatly debauched in his principles, and answerable thereto in his life: he was wholly given to the flesh, and therefore they called him Vile-Affection.  Now there was he and one Carnal-Lust, the daughter of Mr. Mind, (like to like,) that fell in love, and made a match, and were married; and, as I take it, they had several children, as Impudent, Blackmouth, and Hate-Reproof.  These three were black boys.  And besides these they had three daughters, as Scorn-Truth and 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 here inserted.  But to pass by this.

When the giant had thus engarrisoned 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 in Mansoul, and also upon 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 anything that then was extant in the world.  This he basely commanded to be defaced, and it was as 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 of his town of Mansoul.

Moreover, Diabolus made havoc 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 the doctrines of 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 Willbewill 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 Mansoul, 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 of Mansoul; he promised them peace, content, joy, and bliss, in doing his commands, and that they should never be called to an account for their not doing the contrary.  And let this serve to give a taste to them that love to hear tell 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 up him.