The Holy War – John Bunyan

Then he commanded that Captain Goodhope and Captain Charity, and
my Lord Willbe- will, should take charge of the other side of the town, and I,
said the Prince, will set my standard upon the battlements of your castle, and
do you three watch against the Doubters. This done, he again commanded
that the brave captain, the Captain Experience, should draw up his men in the
market-place, and that there he should exercise them day by day before the
people of the town of Mansoul. Now this siege was long, and many a fierce
attempt did the enemy, especially those called the Bloodmen, make upon the
town of Mansoul, and many a shrewd brush did some of the townsmen meet
with from them, especially Captain Self-denial, who, I should have told you
before, was commanded to take the care of Ear-gate and Eye-gate now
against the Bloodmen. This Captain Self-denial was a young man, but stout,
and a townsman in Mansoul, as Captain Experience also was. And
Emmanuel, at his second return to Mansoul, made him a captain over a
thousand of the Mansoulians, for the good of the corporation. This captain,
therefore, being a hardy man, and a man of great courage, and willing to
venture himself for the good of the town of Mansoul, would now and then
sally out upon the Bloodmen, and give them many notable alarms, and
entered several brisk skirmishes with them, and also did some execution
upon them; but you must think that this could not easily be done, but he must
meet with brushes himself, for he carried several of their marks in his face;
yea, and some in some other parts of his body.[5]
So, after some time spent for the trial of the faith, and hope, and love of
the town of Mansoul, the Prince Emmanuel upon a day calls his captains and
men of war together, and divides them into two companies; this done, he
commands them at a time appointed, and that in the morning very early, to
sally out upon the enemy, saying, Let half of you fall upon the Doubters, and
half of you fall upon the Bloodmen. Those of you that go out against the
Doubters, kill and slay, and cause to perish so many of them as by any means
you can lay hands on, but for you that go out against the Bloodmen, slay
them not, but take them alive.[6]
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