the King's. Son. He also told the Lord Mayor's errand, both to the King and his Son Emanuel. But the Prince would not come down, nor admit that the gate should be opened, but sent an answer to this effect, Jer. ii. 27, 28. They have turned their back unto me, and not their face, but now in the time of their trouble they say unto me, Arise and save us! But can they not now go to Mr. Carnal-security, to whom they went when they turned from me, and make bim their leader, their lord, and their protection? When now in their trouble do they visit me, since in their prosperity they went astray.

This answer made my Lord Mayor look black in the face; it troubled, it perplexed, it rent him sore, Lam, iv. 7.8. And now he began again to see what it was to be familiar with Diabolians, such as Mr. Carnal-security was, when he saw that at court, as yet, there was little help to be expected, either for himself or friends in Mansoul, be smote upon his breast, and returned weeping, and all the way bewailing the lamentable state of Mansoul. Well, when he was come within sight of the town, the elders and chief of the people of Mansoul went out at the gate to meet him, and to salute him, and to know how he sped at court. But he told them his tale in so doleful a manner, that they all cried out, and mourned, and wept.

Wherefore they threw dust and ashes upon their heads, and put sackcloth upon their loins, and went crying throughout the town of Mansoul; the which, when the rest of the townsfolk saw, they all mourned and wept. This therefore was a day of rebuke and trouble, and of anguish to the town of Mansoul, and also of great distress.

After some time, when they had somewhat refrained themselves, they came together to consult again, what by them was yet to be done; and they asked advice, as they did before, of that reverend Mr. Godly-fear, who

told

told them, that there was no way better than to do as they had done, nor would he that they should be discouraged at all with what they had met with at court; yea, though several of their petitions should be answered with nought but silence or rebuke: For, said he, it is the way of the wise Shaddai, to make men wait, and to exercise patience, and it should be the way of them in want, to be willing to stay bis leisure.

Then they took courage, and sent again, and again, and again, and again; for there was not a day nor au hour that went over Mansoul's head, wherein a man might have not met upon the road one or other riding post from the town of Mansoul to the court of King Shaddai; and all with letters petitioning in behalf of, and for the Prince's return to, Mansoul.

The road, I say, was now full of messengers, going and returning, and meeting one another; some from the court, and some from Mansoul; and this was the work of the miserable town of Mansoul all that long, that sharp, that cold and tedious winter.

Now if you have not forgot, you may yet remember that I told you before, that after Emanuel had taken Mansoul, yea, and after that he had new modelled the town, there remained in several lurking places of the corporation, many of the old Diabolians, that either came with the tyrant, when he invaded and took the town, or that had there, by reason of unlawful mixtures, their birth, breeding, and bringing up. And their holes, dens, and lurking places were in, under, or about the wall of the town. Some of their names are the Lord Fornication, the Lord Adultery, the Lord Murder, the Lord Anger, the Lord Lasciviousness, the Lord Deceit, the Lord Evil-eye, the Lord Blasphemy, and that horrible villain the old and dangerous Lord Covetousness. These with many more, had yet their abode in the town of Mansoul, and that after Emanuel had driven Diabolus

Y

lus out of the castle. Against these the good Prince did grant a commission to the Lord Will-be-will and others, yea, to the whole town of Mansoul to seek, take, secure, and destroy any, or all that they could lay hands of, for that they were Diabolians by nature, enemies to the Prince, and those that sought to ruin the blessed town of Mansoul. But Mansoul did not pursue this warrant, but neglected to apprehend, secure, and destroy those Diabolians. Wherefore what do these villains, but by degrees take courage to shew themselves to the inhabitants of the town. Yea, and as I was told, some of the men of Mansoul grew too familiar with some of them, to the sorrow of the corporation, as you will hear more of in time and place.

Well, when the Diabolian Lords perceived that Mansoul had through sinning offended Emanuel their Prince, and that he had withdrawn himself and was gone, what do they but plot the ruin of the town of Mansoul. So they met together at the hold of one Mr. Mischief, who was also a Diabolian, and here consulted how they might deliver up Mansoul into the hands of Diabolus again. Now some advised one way, and some another, every man according to his own liking. At last my Lord Lasciviousness propounded whether it might not be best in the first place, for some of those that were Diabolians in Mansoul, to offer themselves for servants to some of the natives of the town; for, said he, if they do so, and Mansoul shall accept of them, they may for us, and for Diabolus our Lord, make the taking of the town of Mansoul more easy than otherwise it would be. But then stood up the Lord Murder, and said, This may not be done at this time, for Mansoul now is in a kind of rage, because by our friend Mr. Carnal-security, she hath been once ensnared already, and made to offend against her Prince, and how can she reconcile herself nnto her Lord again, but by the heads of these men ?

Besides,

Besides, we know that they have in commission to take and slay us wherever they shall find us; let us therefore be wise as foxes; when we are dead we can do no hurt, but while we live we may. Thus when they had tossed the matter to and fro, they jointly agreed that a letter should forthwith be sent away to Diabolus in their name, by which the state of the town of Mansoul should be shewed him, and how much it is under the frowns of their Prince; we may also, said some, let him know our intentions, and ask his advice in the case. So a letter was presently framed, the contents of which was this:

To our great Lord, the Prince Diabolus, dwelling

below in the Infernal Cave.

O great father, and mighty Prince Diabolus, we the true Diabolians yet remaining in the town of Mansoul, having received our beings from thee, and our nourishment at thy hands, cannot with content and quiet endure to behold, as we do this day, how thou art dispraised, disgraced, and reproached among the inhabitants of this town; nor is thy long absence at all delightful to us, because greatly to our detriment.

The reason of this our writing unto our Lord is, that we are not altogether without hope that this town may become thy habitation again; for it is greatly declined from its Prince Emanuel, and he is departed from them; yea, and tho' they send, and send, and send after him, to return to them, yet can they not prevail, nor get good words from him. There has been also of late, and is yet remaining, a very great fainting and sickness among them, and that not only upon the poorer sort of the town, but upon the Lords, Captains, and chief gentry of the place (we only, who are Diabolians by nature, remain well, lively, and strong); so that thro' their great transgression on one hand, and their dangerous sickness on the other, we judge they lie open to thy hand and power.

If therefore it shall stand with thy horrible cunning, and with the cunning of the rest of the Princes with thee, to come and make an attempt to take Mansoul again, send us word, and we shall to our utmost power be ready to deliver it into thy hand. Or if what we have said shall not be thought best, and meet to be most done, send us thy mind in few words, and we are all ready to follow thy counsel, to the hazard of our lives, and what else we have.

Given under our hands the day and date above written, after a close consultation at the house of Mr. Mischief, who is yet alive, and hath his place in our desirable town of Mansoul.

When Mr. Profane (for he was the carrier) was come with this letter to Hellgate-hill, he knocked at the gate for entrance. Then did Cerberus the porter (for he is the keeper of that gate), open to Mr. Profane, to whom he delivered his letter which he had brought from the Diabolians in Mansoul. So he carried it in, and presented it to Diabolus his Lord, and said, Tidings, my Lord, from Mansoul, and from our trusty friends in Mansoul.

Then came together Belzebul, Lucifer, Apollyon, with the rest of the rabble there, to hear what news from Mansoul. So the letter was read, and Cerberus stood by. When the letter was openly read, and the contents thereof spread into all the corners of the den, command was given, that without let or stop, Deadman's-bell should be rung for joy. So the bell was rung, and the Princes rejoiced that Mansoul was like to come to ruin. Now the clapper of the bell went, The town of Mansoul is coming to dwell with us, make room for Mansoul. This bell therefore they did ring, because they did hope that they should have Mansoul again.

Now when they had performed this their horrible ceremony, they got together again, to consult what answer to send to their friends in Mansoul; and some

advised