Once evil questioning and the doubters were tried and executed, the valiant men of Mansoul sought out more Diabolonians to bring the justice. Then my Lord's self-denial took courage and set to pursue the Diabolonians with my Lord will be will. And they took live by, live by feeling, and they took legal life and put them on hold until they died. But Mr. Unbelief was a nimble jack and a swift, saucy fellow, him they could never lay hold of though they attempted to do it often. He therefore, and a few more of the most subtle of the Diabolonian tribe, still remained in Mansoul until the time Mansoul stopped dwelling any longer in the kingdom of universe. But they kept them to their dens and holes. If one of them appeared or happened to be seen in any of the streets of the town of Mansoul, the whole town would be up in arms after them. Indeed, the very children in Mansoul would cry out after them as if after a thief and would wish that they might stone them to death with stones. And now Mansoul arrived to some good degree of peace and quiet. Her prince lived within her borders, her captains also, and her soldiers did their duties. And Mansoul minded her trade that she had with the country that was afar off. Moreover, she was busy in her manufacture. When the town of Mansoul had thus far rid themselves of so many of their enemies and the troublers of their peace, the prince sent them an appointed day when he would meet the whole people at the marketplace and give them a charge concerning some further matters, that if observed, would guard their further safety and comfort and work toward the condemnation and destruction of their home-bred Diabolonians. So the day appointed had come and the townsmen met together. Emmanuel also came down in his chariot and all his captains in their state attending him on the right hand and on the left. Then was an oyez made for silence. And after some mutual conveyances of love, the prince began and thus proceeded. You young people, you know what oyez are, don't you? Sometimes when you're watching like a sheriff or a bailiff that comes in on a court, he'd say, oyez, oyez, oyez. And everyone would be quiet so that when the judge came in, there was quiet. So now here there's a prince coming in. And so they would go. They still do that to this day in some townships. Oyez, oyez, oyez. It means for everybody to be quiet. And there's about to be an announcement. So they did this for the prince. You, now the prince is speaking, Emmanuel. You, my man's soul and the beloved of my heart. Many and great are the privileges I have bestowed upon you. I have singled you out from others and have chosen you for myself, not for your worthiness, but for my own sake. I have also redeemed you, not only from the dread of my father's law, but from the hand of Diabolus. This I have done because I loved you and because I have set my heart upon you to do you good. I have also taken all things out of the way which might hinder your path to the pleasures of paradise, laid down for you for your soul's full satisfaction, and have bought you for myself, a price paid not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but a price of blood. my own blood which I have freely spilled upon the ground to make you mine. So I have reconciled you, O my man's soul, to my father and entrusted you in the mansion houses that are with my father in the royal city where things are, O my man's soul, that eye has not seen nor has entered into the heart of man to conceive. Besides, O man's soul, you see what I have done and how I have taken you out of the hands of your enemies, unto whom you had deeply revolted from my father, and I by whom you were content to be possessed and also to be destroyed. I came to you first by my law, then by my gospel to awaken you and show you my glory. And you know what you were, what you said, what you did, and how many times you rebelled against my father and me. Yet I had not left you as you see this day. but came to you, have borne your manners, have waited upon you, and after all, accepted you, even of my mere grace and favor. I also surrounded you and afflicted you on every side so I might make you weary of your ways and bring your heart down with molestation, willing to ultimately end with your good and happiness. And when I had gotten complete conquest over you, I turned it to your advantage. You see, also, what a company of my father's hosts I have lodged within your borders, captains and rulers, soldiers and men of war, weapons and excellent devices to subdue and bring down your foes. You know my meaning, O Mansoul, and they are my servants and yours, too, Mansoul. Yes, my plan of possessing you with them and the natural tendency of each of them is to defend, purge, strengthen, and sweeten you for myself, O Mansoul, and to make you suitable for my father's presence, blessing, and glory. For you, my man-soul, are created to be prepared unto these. You see, moreover, my man-soul, how I have passed by your backslidings and have healed you. Indeed, I was angry with you, but I have turned my anger away from you because I loved you still, and my anger and my indignation has ceased in the destruction of your enemies, O man's soul. Nor did your goodness fetch me again unto you after I hid my face from you and withdrawn my presence from you because of your transgressions. The way of backsliding was yours, but the way and means of your recovery was mine. I invented the means of your return. It was I who made a hedge and a wall when you were beginning to turn to things in which I delighted not." And Bunyan used the term invented, which in his day meant made out of nothing. I invented the means of your return. It was I who made a hedge and a wall when you were beginning to turn things in which I delighted not. It was I who made you, it was I who made your sweet bitter, your day night, your smooth way thorny, and who has confounded all that sought your destruction. It was I who set Mr. Godly Fear to work in Mansoul. It was I who stirred up your conscience and understanding, your will and your affections, after your great and woeful decay. It was I who put life into you, O man's soul, to seek me so you might find me. And in your finding, find your own health, happiness, and salvation. It was I who fetched the Diabolonians out of Mansoul the second time, and it was I who overcame them and who destroyed them before your face. And now, my Mansoul, I have returned to you in peace, and your transgressions against me are as if they had not been. Nor shall it be with you as in former days. But I will do better for you than at your beginning. For yet a little while, O my Mansoul, even after a few more times have gone over your head. Now, do not be troubled at what I say. I will take down this famous town of Mansoul. stick and stone to the ground, and I will carry its stones, its timber, its walls, its dust, and its inhabitants into my own country. even into a kingdom of my Father, and will there set it up in such strength and glory as it never had seen in the kingdom where now it is placed. I will even set it up there for my Father's habitation, for it was for that purpose it was at first erected in the kingdom of universe. And there will I make it a spectacle of wonder, a monument of mercy, and the admirer of its own mercy. There shall the natives of Mansoul see all that, of which they have seen nothing here. There shall they be equal to those unto whom they have been inferior here. And there shall you, O my Mansoul, have such communion with me and my father, and with your Lord Secretary, as it is not possible here to be enjoyed. nor ever could be, should you live in universe the space of a thousand years. And there, O my Mansoul, you shall be afraid of murderers no more, of Diabolonians and their threats no more. There, there shall be no more plots, nor contrivances, nor plans against you, O my Mansoul. There you shall no more hear the evil tidings or the noise of the Diabolonian drum. There you shall not see the Diabolonian standard-bearers, nor yet behold the standard of Diabolus. No Diabolonian mount shall be cast up against you there. Nor shall the Diabolonian standard be set up there to make you afraid. There you shall not need captains, weapons, soldiers, and men of war. There you shall meet with no sorrow, no grief, nor shall it be possible that any Diabolonian should again forever be able to be continued. Dun, dun, dun!