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The Holy War – John Bunyan

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Well, when this pretended king had made an end of what he would say,<br />

Emmanuel, the golden Prince, stood up and spake, the contents of whose<br />

words follow:--<br />

'Thou deceiving one,' said he, 'I have in my Father's name, in mine own<br />

name, and on the behalf and for the good of this wretched town of Mansoul,<br />

somewhat to say unto thee. Thou pretendest a right, a lawful right, to the<br />

deplorable town of Mansoul, when it is most apparent to all my Father's<br />

court, that the entrance which thou hast obtained in at the gates of Mansoul<br />

was through thy lies and falsehood. Thou beliedst my Father, thou beliedst<br />

his law, and so deceivedst the people of Mansoul. Thou pretendest that the<br />

people have accepted thee for their king, their captain, and right liege-Lord,<br />

but that also was by the exercise of deceit and guile. Now, if lying wiliness,<br />

sinful craft, and all manner of horrible hypocrisy, will go in my Father's<br />

court for equity and right, in which court thou must be tried, then will I<br />

confess unto thee that thou hast made a lawful conquest. But alas, what thief,<br />

what tyrant, what devil is there that may not conquer after this sort? But I can<br />

make it appear, O Diabolus, that thou, in all thy pretences to a conquest of<br />

Mansoul, hast nothing of truth to say. Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou<br />

didst put the lie upon my Father, and madest him, to Mansoul, the greatest<br />

deluder in the world? And what sayest thou to thy perverting, knowingly, the<br />

right purport and intent of the law? Was it good also that thou madest a prey<br />

of the innocency and simplicity of the now miserable town of Mansoul? Yea,<br />

thou didst overcome Mansoul by promising to them happiness in their<br />

transgressions against my Father's law, when thou knewest, and couldest not<br />

but know, hadst thou consulted nothing but thine own experience, that that<br />

was the way to undo them. Thou hast also thyself--O thou master of enmity,<br />

of despite--defaced my Father's image in Mansoul, and set up thy own in its<br />

place, to the great contempt of my Father, the heightening of thy sin, and to<br />

the intolerable damage of the perishing town of Mansoul. Thou hast,<br />

moreover--as if all these were but little things with thee--not only deluded<br />

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