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"Besides," quoth the old gentleman," should the Prince now, as he receives the petition, ask him, and say, 'What is thy name ?' (and nobody knows but he will,) and he should say, 'Old Good-deed,' what, think you, would Emanuel say but this? Ay! is old Good-deed yet alive in Mansoul? then let old Good-deed save you from your distresses.' And if he say so, I am sure we are lost; nor can a thousand of old Good-deeds save Mansoul."

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After the Recorder had given in his reasons why old Good-deed should not go with his petition to Emanuel, the rest of the prisoners and chiefs of Mansoul opposed it also; and so old Good-deed was laid aside, and they agreed to send Mr. Desires-awake again. Accordingly they sent for him, and desired that he would a second time go with their petition to the Prince, and he readily told them he would. But they bid him, that in any wise he should take heed that in no word or carriage he gave offence to the Prince; "for by doing so, for aught we can tell," say they, "you may bring Mansoul into utter destruction."

Now Mr. Desires-awake, when he saw that he must go on this errand, besought that they would grant that Mr. Wet-eyes might go with him. Now this Wet-eyes was a near neighbour of Mr. Desires, a poor man of broken spirit, yet one that could speak well to a petition; so they granted that he should go with him. Wherefore they addressed themselves to their business: Mr. Desires put a rope upon his head, and Mr. Wet-eyes

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went with his hands wringing together. Thus they went to the Prince's pavilion.

Now, when they went to petition this third time, they were not without thoughts that by often coming they might be a burden to the Prince. Wherefore, when they were come to the door of his pavilion, they first made their apology for themselves, and for their coming to trouble Emanuel so often; and they said, that they came not hither to-day for that they delight to hear themselves talk, but for that necessity caused them to come to his Majesty. They could, they said, have no rest day nor night, because of their transgressions against Shaddai and Emanuel his Son. They also thought that some misbehaviour of Mr. Desires-awake, the last time, might give some disgust to his Highness, and so cause that he returned from so merciful a Prince empty, and without countenance. So, when they had made this apology, Mr. Desires-awake cast himself prostrate upon the ground, as at the first, at the feet of the mighty Prince, saying, "Oh! that Mansoul might live before thee!" so he delivered his petition. The Prince, when he had read the petition, turned aside awhile as before; and coming again to the place where the petitioner lay on the ground, he demanded what his name was, and of what esteem in the account of Mansoul, for that he, above all the multitude in Mansoul, should be sent to him on such an errand. Then said the man to the Prince, "O let not my Lord be angry: and why inquirest thou after such a dead dog as I am? Pass by, I pray thee, and take no notice of whom I am, because there is, as thou very well knowest, so great a disproportion between me and thee. Why the townsmen chose to send me on this errand to my Lord, is best known to themselves; but it could not be for that they had thought I had favour with my Lord. For my part, I am out of charity with myself: who, then, should be in love with me? Yet live I would, and so would I that my townsmen should; and because both they and myself are guilty of great transgressions, therefore they have sent me, and I am come in their names to beg of my Lord for mercy. Let it please thee, therefore, to incline to mercy: but ask not what thy servants are."

Then said the Prince, "And what is he that is become thy companion in this so weighty a matter?" So Mr. Desires told Emanuel, that he was a poor neighbour of his, and one of his most intimate associates. And his name," said he, "may it please your most excellent Majesty, is

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Wet-eyes, of the town of Mansoul. I know that there are many of that name that are naught; but I hope it will be no offence to my Lord, that I have brought my poor neighbour with me."

Then Mr. Wet-eyes fell on his face to the ground, and made his apology for coming with his neighbour to his Lord :

O, my Lord," quoth he, "what I am I know not myself, nor whether my name be feigned or true, especially when I begin to think what some have said, namely, that this name was given me, because Mr. Repentance was my father. Good men have bad children, and the sincere do oftentimes beget hypocrites. My mother also called me by this name from my cradle; whether because of the moistness of my brain, or the softness of my heart, I cannot tell. I see dirt in mine own tears, and filthiness in the bottom of my prayers. But I pray thee, (and all this while the gentleman wept,) that thou wouldst not remember against us our transgressions, nor take offence at the unqualifiedness of thy servants, but mercifully pass by the sin of Mansoul, and refrain from the glorifying of thy grace no longer." So at his bidding they arose, and both stood trembling before him, and he spake to them to this purpose:—

"The town of Mansoul hath grievously rebelled against my Father, in that they have rejected him from being their King, and chose for themselves, for their captain, a liar, a murderer, and a runagate slave. For this Diabolus, your pretended prince, though once so highly accounted of by you, made rebellion against my Father and me, even in our palace and highest court there, thinking to become a prince and a king. But being timely discovered and apprehended, and for his wickedness bound in chains, and separated to the pit with those of his companions, he offered himself to you, and you have received him.

"Now this is, and for a long time hath been a high affront to my Father; wherefore my Father sent to you a powerful army to reduce you to your obedience. But you know how these men, their captains, and their counsels, were esteemed of you, and what they received at your hand. You rebelled against them, you shut your gates upon them, you bid them battle, you fought them, and fought for Diabolus against them. So they went to my Father for more power; I, with my men, am come to subdue you. But as you treated the servants, so you treated their Lord. You stood up in hostile manner against me, you shut up your gates against me,

you turned a deaf ear to me, and resisted as long as you could; but now I have made a conquest of you. Did you cry to me for mercy so long as you had hopes that you might prevail against me? But now I have taken the town, you cry: but why did you not cry before, when the white flag of my mercy, the red flag of justice, and the black flag that threatened execution, were set up to cite you to it? Now I have conquered your Diabolus, you come to me for favour; but why did you not help me against the mighty? Yet I will consider your petition, and will answer it so as will be for my glory.

"Go, bid Captain Boanerges and Captain Conviction bring the prisoners out to me into the camp to-morrow; and say you to Captain Judgment and Captain Execution, 'Stay in the castle, and take good heed to yourselves that you keep all quiet in Mansoul, until you shall hear further from me."" And with that he turned himself from them, and went into his royal pavilion.

So the petitioners, having received this answer from the Prince, returned

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MR. DESIRES-AWAKE AND MR. WET-EYES RETURN TO THE TOWN.

as at the first, to go to their companions again. But they had not gone far, but thoughts began to work in their minds, that no mercy as yet was intended by the Prince to Mansoul. So they went to the place where the prisoners lay bound but these workings of mind about what would become

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