1

THE

HOLY WAR,

MADE BY

SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS,

FOR THE REGAINING OF

THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD;

OR, TAE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OR

MANSOUL,

BY JOHN BUNYAN,
AUTHOR OF THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

« I Have used Similitudes."-HOS. XII. 10.

LIVERPOOL:
PŘINTED AND SOLD BY SWARBRECK AND PHILLIP,

VERNON-STREET.

'to

VIS

Things done of old, yea, and that do excel
Their equals in historiology,
Speak not of Mansoul's wars, but let them lie
Dead, like old fables, or such worthless things,
That to the reader no advantage brings :
When men, let them make what they will their own,
Till they know this, are to themselves unknown.

Of stories I well know there's divers sorts,
Some foreign, some domestic, and reports
Are thereof made, as fancy leads the writers;
(By books a man may guess at the inditers.)

Some will again of that which never was,
Nor will be, feign, (and that without a cause)
Such matter, raise such mountains, tell such things
Of men, of laws, of countries, and of kings :
And in their story seem to be so sage,
And with such gravity clothe ev'ry page,
That though their frontis-piece says all is vain,
Yet to their way disciples they obtain.

But, readers, I have somewhat else to do, Than with vain stories thus to trouble you ; What here I say, some men do know so well, They can with tears and joy the story tell.

The town of Mansoul is well known to many,
Nor are her troubles doubted of by any,
That are acquainted with those histories
That Mansoul and her wars anatomize.

Then