speech to

means of thy return; it was I that made a hedge Emmanuel's and a wall, when thou wast beginning to turn to Mansoul. things in which I delighted not. It was I that made thy sweet bitter, thy day night, thy smooth ways thorny, and that also confounded all that sought thy destruction. It was I that set Mr Godly-Fear to work in Mansoul. It was I that stirred up thy conscience and understanding, thy will and thy affections, after thy great and woful decay. It was I that put life into thee, O Mansoul, to seek me, that thou mightest find me, and in thy finding find thine own health, happiness, and salvation. It was I that fetched the second time the Diabolonians out of Mansoul: and it was I that overcame them, and that destroyed them before thy face.

"And now, my Mansoul, I am returned to thee in peace, and thy transgressions against me are as if they had not been. Nor shall it be with thee as in former days, but I will do better for thee than at thy beginning. For yet a little while, O my Mansoul, even after a few more times are gone over thy head, I will (but be not thou troubled at what I say) take down this famous town of Mansoul, stick and stone to the ground. And I will carry the stones thereof, and the timber thereof, and the walls thereof, and the dust thereof, and the inhabitants thereof, into mine own country, even into the kingdom of my Father; and will there set it up in such strength and glory, as it never did see in the kingdom where now it is placed. I will even there set it up for my Father's habitation; for for that purpose it was at first erected in the kingdom of

Y

Emmanuel's Universe; and there will I make it a spectacle of

speech to Mansoul.

wonder, a monument of mercy, and the admirer of
its own mercy.
There shall the natives of Mansoul
see all that of which they have seen nothing here;
there shall they be equal to those unto whom they
have been inferior here. And there shalt thou, O
my Mansoul, have such communion with me, with
my Father, and with your Lord Secretary, as is not
possible here to be enjoyed, nor ever could be,
shouldest thou live in Universe the space of a thou-
sand years.

"And there, O my Mansoul, thou shalt be afraid of murderers no more; of Diabolonians and their threats no more. There there shall be no more plots, nor contrivances, nor designs against thee, O my Mansoul. There thou shalt no more hear the evil tidings, or the noise of the Diabolonian drum. There thou shalt not see the Diabolonian standard-bearers, nor yet behold Diabolus's standard. No Diabolonian mount shall be cast up against thee there; nor shall there the Diabolonian standard be set up to make thee afraid. There thou shalt not need captains, engines, There thou shalt meet

soldiers, and men of war.

nor shall it be possible

with no sorrow, nor grief;
that any Diabolonian should again, for ever, be
able to creep into thy skirts, burrow in thy walls,
or be seen again within thy borders all the days of
eternity. Life shall there last longer than here you
are able to desire it should; and yet it shall always
be sweet and new, nor shall any impediment attend
it for ever.

"There, O Mansoul, thou shalt meet with many

sheech to

of those that have been like thee, and that have Emmanuel's been partakers of thy sorrows; even such as I have Mansoul. chosen, and redeemed, and set apart, as thou, for my Father's court and city-royal. All they will be glad in thee, and thou, when thou seest them, shalt be glad in thine heart.

"There are things, O Mansoul, even things of thy Father's providing and mine, that never were seen since the beginning of the world; and they are laid up with my Father, and sealed up among his treasures for thee, till thou shalt come thither to enjoy them. I told you before, that I would remove my Mansoul, and set it up elsewhere: and where I will set it, there are those that love thee, and those that rejoice in thee now; but how much more when they shall see thee exalted to honour! My Father will then send them for you to fetch you; and their bosoms are chariots to put you in. And you, O my Mansoul, shall ride upon the wings of the wind. They will come to convey, conduct, and bring you to that, when your eyes see more, that will be your desired haven.

"And thus, O my Mansoul, I have shewed unto thee what shall be done to thee hereafter, if thou canst hear, if thou canst understand; and now I will tell thee what at present must be thy duty and practice, until I come and fetch thee to myself, according as is related in the Scriptures of truth.

"First, I charge thee that thou dost hereafter keep more white and clean the liveries which I gave thee before my last withdrawing from thee. Do it, I say, for this will be thy wisdom. They are in themselves fine linen, but thou must keep

speech to Mansoul.

Emmanuel's them white and clean. This will be your wisdom, your honour, and will be greatly for my Glory. When your garments are white, the world will count you mine. Also, when your garments are white, then I am delighted in your ways; for then your goings to and fro will be like a flash of lightning that those that are present must take notice of; also their eyes will be made to dazzle thereat. Deck thyself, therefore, according to my bidding, and make thyself by my law straight steps for thy feet; so shall thy King greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him.

66

Now, that thou mayest keep them as I bid thee, I have, as I before did tell thee, provided for thee an open fountain to wash thy garments in. Look, therefore, that thou wash often in my fountain, and go not in defiled garments; for as it is to my dishonour and my disgrace, so it will be to thy discomfort, when you shall walk in filthy garments. Let not, therefore, my garments, your garments, the garments that I gave thee, be defiled or spotted by the flesh. Keep thy garments always white, and let thy head lack no ointment.

"My Mansoul, I have ofttimes delivered thee from the designs, plots, attempts, and conspiracies of Diabolus; and for all this I ask thee nothing, but that thou render not to me evil for my good; but that thou bear in mind my love, and the continuation of my kindness to my beloved Mansoul, so as to provoke thee to walk in thy measure according to the benefit bestowed on thee. Of old, the sacrifices were bound with cords to the horns

of the altar.

Consider what is said to thee, O my

blessed Mansoul.

"O my Mansoul, I have lived, I have died. I live, and will die no more for thee. I live that thou mayest not die. Because I live, thou shalt live also. I reconciled thee to my Father by the blood of my cross; and being reconciled, thou shalt live through me. I will pray for thee; I will fight for thee; I will yet do thee good.

"Nothing can hurt thee but sin; nothing can grieve thee but sin; nothing can make thee base before thy foes but sin: take heed of sin, my Mansoul.

"And dost thou know why I at first, and do still, suffer Diabolonians to dwell in thy walls, O Mansoul? It is to keep thee wakening, to try thy love, to make thee watchful, and to cause thee yet to prize my noble captains, their soldiers, and my mercy.

"It is also, that yet thou mayest be made to remember what a deplorable condition thou once wast in. I mean when, not some, but all, did dwell, not in thy walls, but in thy castle, and in thy stronghold, O Mansoul.

"O my Mansoul, should I slay all them within, many there be without that would bring thee into bondage; for were all those within cut off, those without would find thee sleeping; and then, as in a moment, they would swallow up my Mansoul. I therefore left thein in thee, not to do thee hurt, (the which they yet will, if thou hearken to them, and serve them,) but to do thee good, the which they must, if thou watch and fight against them.

Emmanuel's sheech to Minsoul.