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in thine eyes, that our King does offer thee mercy, and that after so many provocations? Yea, he still holdeth out his golden sceptre to thee, and will not suffer his gate to be shut against thee; wilt thou provoke him to do it? Consider of what I say; To thee it shall be opened no more for ever, Job xxxvi. 14, and xxxvi. 18. Psa. ix. 7. Isa.lxvi. 15. If thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judg ment is before bim; therefore trust thou in him: Yea, because there is wrath, beware, lest he take thee away with bis stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. Will be esteem thy riches? No, not gold, nor all the forces of strength. He hath prepared his throne for judgement; for he will come with fire, and with bis ebariats, like a whirlwind, to render bis anger with fury, and rebukes with flames of fire. Therefore, O Mansoul, take beed, lest after thou bast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, justice and judgment should take bold of thee." (Now while that Capt. Judgment was making of this oration to the town of Mansoul, it was observed by some, that Diabolus trembled.) But he proceeded in his parable and said, O thon woeful town of Mansoul! wilt thou not set open the gate to receive us, the deputies of the King, and those that would rejoice to see thee live? Ezek. xxii. 14. Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the day that he shall deal in judgment with thee? I say, canst thou endure to be forced to drink, as one would drink sweet wine, the sea of wrath that our King has prepared for Diabolus and his angels? Consider, betimes consider.

Then stood forth the fourth captain, the noble Capt. Execution, and said, O town of Mansoul! once famous, but now like the fruitless bough; once the delight of the high ones, but now a den for Diabolus! Hearken also to me, and to the words that I shall speak to thee, in the name of the great Shaddai. Bebold the axe is laid to the root of the tree, every tree therefore that bringeth net forth good fruit, is bewn down and cast into the fire..

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Matt. ii. 7 to 10. Thou, O town of Mansoni! hast. hitherto been this fruitless tree, thou barest nonght but thorns and briers, Deut. xxxii. 32. Thy evil fruit forespeaks thee not to be a good tree: thy grapes are grapes of gall, thy clusters are bitterness. Thou hast rebelled against thy King, and lo we, the power and force of Shaddai, are the axe that is laid to thy roots; what sayest thou, wilt thou turn? I say again, tell me before the first blow is given; wilt thou turn? Our axe must first be laid to thy root before it be laid at thy root; it must first be laid to thy root in a way of threatning, before it be laid at thy root by way of execution; and between these two is required thy repentance, and this is all the time thou hast. What wilt thou do? Wilt thou turn, or, shall I smite? If I fetch my blow, Mansoul, down you go: For I have commission to lay my axe at, as well as to, thy root; nor will any thing, but yielding to our King, prevent doing of execution. What art thou fit for, & Mansoul, if mercy preventeth not, but to be hewn down and cast into the fire and burnt? O Mansoul! patience and forbearance do not act for ever: a year or two, or three, they may, but if thou provoke by a three years rebellion, and thou hast already done more than this; then what follows but, cut it down; nay, after that, thou shalt cut it down, Luke xiii. And dost thou think that these are but threatnings, or that our King has not power to execute his words? O Mansoul! thou wilt find that in the words of our King, when they are by sinners made little or light of, there is not only threatning, but burning coals of fire.

Thou hast been a cumber-ground long already, and wilt thou continue so still? thy sin has brought his army to thy walls, and shall it bring in judgment to do execution into thy town? Thou hast heard what the captains have said, but as yet thou shuttest thy gates;

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speak out, Mansoul, wilt thou do so still or wilt thou accept of conditions of peace?

These brave speeches of these four noble captains, the town of Mansoul refused to hear; yet a sound thereof did beat against Ear-gate, though the force thereof could not break it open. In fine, the town desired a time to prepare their answer to these demands. The captains then told them, "That if they would throw out to them one Ill-pause, that was in the town, that they might reward him according to his works, then they would give them time to consider; but if they would not cast him to them over the wall of Mansoul, then they would give them none; for, said they, we know that so long as Ill-pause draws breath in Mansoul, all good consideration will be confounded, and nothing but mischief will come thereon."

Then Diabolus, who was there present, being loth to lose his Ill-pause, because he was his orator, (and yet certainly had, could the captains have laid their fingers on him) was resolved at this instant to give the answer by himself, but then changing his mind, he commanded the then Lord Mayor, the Lord Incredulity, to do it, saying, "My Lord, do you give the runagates an answer, and speak but that Mansoul may hear and understand you..

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So Incredulity, at Diabolus's command, began and said, Gentlemen, you have here, as we do behold, to the disturbance of our prince, and the molestation of the town of Mansoul, camped against it; but from whence you come, we will not know; and what you are, we will not believe. Indeed you tell us, in your terrible speech, that you have this authority from Shaddai; but by what right he commands you to do it, of that we shall yet be ignorant. You have also, by the authority aforesaid, summoned this town to desert her Lord, and, for protection, to yield up herself to the

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great Shaddai your King: Flatteringly telling her, that if she will do it, he will pass by, and not charge her with her past offences. Further, you have also to the terror of Mansoul, threatened with great and sore destruction to punish this corporation, if she consents not to do as your wills would have her. Now, captains, from whence soever you come, and though your designs be never so right, yet know ye, that neither my Lord Diabolus, nor I his servant Incredulity, nor yet our brave Mansoul, doth regard either your persons, message, or the King that you say hath sent you: His power, his greatness, his vengeance, we fear not; nor will we yield at all to your summons. As for the war that you threaten to make upon us, we must therein defend ourselves as well as we can; and know ye, that we are not without wherewithal to bid defiance to you. And in short, for I will not be tedious, I tell you that we take you to be some vagabond runagate crew, that have shaken off all obedience to your King, have gotten together in a tumultuous manner, and are ranging from place to place, to see, if through your flatteries, you are skilled to make on the one side, and threats wherewith you think to fright, on the other, to make some silly town, city, or country, to desert their place, and leave it to you; but Mansoul is none of them. To conclude, We dread you not, we fear you not, nor will we obey your summons; our gates we will keep shut upon you, our place we will keep you out of; nor will we long thus suffer you to sit down before us. Our people must live in quiet; your appearance doth disturb them, Luke xi. 21. Wherefore, arise with bag and baggage, and be gone, or we will let fly from the walls against you.

This oration made by old Incredulity, was seconded by desperate Will-be-will, in words to this effect':

Gentlemen, we have heard your demand, and the noise of your threats, and heard the sound of your sùm

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mons, but we fear not your force, we regard not your threats, but we still abide as you found us. And we command you, that in three days time, you cease to appear in these parts, or you shall know what it is, once to dare to offer to rouze the lion Diabolus, when asleep in the town of Mansoul.

The Recorder, whose name was Forget-good, he also added as followeth; Gentlemen, my Lords, as you see, 'have with mild and gentle words, answered your rough and angry speeches; they have moreover, in my hearing, given you leave quietly to depart as you came. Wherefore take their kindness and be gone; we might have come out with force upon you, and have caused you to feel the dint of our swords: But as we love ease and quiet ourselves; so we love not to hurt or molest others.

Then did the town of Mansoul shout for joy, as if by Diabolus and his crew some great advantage had been gotten of the captains. They also rang the bells, and made merry, and danced upon the walls.

Diabolus also returned to the castle, and the Lord Mayor and Recorder to their place: Bat the Lord Willbe-will took special care that the gates should be secured with double guards, double bolts, and double locks and bars. And that Ear-gate, especially, might be the better looked to, for that was the gate in at which the King's forces sought most to enter. The Lord Will-bewill made one old Mr. Prejudice, an angry and ill-conditioned fellow, captain of the ward at that gate, and put under his power sixty men, called Deaf-men; men advantageous for that service, for as much as they mattered no words of the captains, nor of the soldiers.

Now when the captains saw the answer of the great ones, and that they could not get an hearing from the old natives of the town, and that Mansoul was resolved to give the King's army battle; they prepared

them

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