The Holy war, made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus Part 11

_Clerk_. Crier, call upon the witnesses to stand forth and give their evidence.

_Crier_. Gentlemen, you, the witnesses for the King, come in and give in your evidence for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar.

_Clerk_. Come, Mr. Know-All, look upon the prisoner at the bar; do you know him?

_Know_. Yes, my lord, I know him.

_Clerk_. What is his name?

_Know_. His name is l.u.s.tings; he was the son of one Beastly, and his mother bare him in Flesh Street: she was one Evil-Concupiscence's daughter. I knew all the generation of them.

_Clerk_. Well said. You have heard his indictment; what say you to it?

Is he guilty of the things charged against him, or not?

_Know_. My lord, he has, as he saith, been a great man indeed, and greater in wickedness than by pedigree more than a thousandfold.

_Clerk_. But what do you know of his particular actions, and especially with reference to his indictment?

_Know_. I know him to be a swearer, a liar, a Sabbath-breaker; I know him to be a fornicator and an unclean person; I know him to be guilty of abundance of evils. He has been, to my knowledge, a very filthy man.

_Clerk_. But where did he use to commit his wickedness? in some private corners, or more open and shamelessly?

_Know_. All the town over, my lord.

_Clerk_. Come, Mr. Tell-True, what have you to say for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar?

_Tell_. My lord, all that the first witness has said I know to be true, and a great deal more besides.

_Clerk_. Mr. l.u.s.tings, do you hear what these gentlemen say?

_l.u.s.t_. I was ever of opinion that the happiest life that a man could live on earth was to keep himself back from nothing that he desired in the world; nor have I been false at any time to this opinion of mine, but have lived in the love of my notions all my days. Nor was I ever so churlish, having found such sweetness in them myself, as to keep the commendations of them from others.

Then said the Court, 'There hath proceeded enough from his own mouth to lay him open to condemnation; wherefore, set him by, gaoler, and set Mr.

Incredulity to the bar.'

Incredulity set to the bar.

_Clerk_. Mr. Incredulity, thou art here indicted by the name of Incredulity, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou hast feloniously and wickedly, and that when thou wert an officer in the town of Mansoul, made head against the captains of the great King Shaddai when they came and demanded possession of Mansoul; yea, thou didst bid defiance to the name, forces, and cause of the King, and didst also, as did Diabolus thy captain, stir up and encourage the town of Mansoul to make head against and resist the said force of the King. What sayest thou to this indictment? Art thou guilty of it, or not?

Then said Incredulity, 'I know not Shaddai; I love my old prince; I thought it my duty to be true to my trust, and to do what I could to possess the minds of the men of Mansoul to do their utmost to resist strangers and foreigners, and with might to fight against them. Nor have I, nor shall I, change mine opinion for fear of trouble, though you at present are possessed of place and power.'

Then said the Court, 'The man, as you see, is incorrigible; he is for maintaining his villainies by stoutness of words, and his rebellion with impudent confidence; and therefore set him by, gaoler, and set Mr.

Forget-Good to the bar.

Forget-Good set to the bar.

_Clerk_. Mr. Forget-Good, thou art here indicted by the name of Forget-Good, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou, when the whole affairs of the town of Mansoul were in thy hand, didst utterly forget to serve them in what was good, and didst fall in with the tyrant Diabolus against Shaddai the King, against his captains, and all his host, to the dishonour of Shaddai, the breach of his law, and the endangering of the destruction of the famous town of Mansoul. What sayest thou to this indictment? Art thou guilty or not guilty?

Then said Forget-Good: 'Gentlemen, and at this time my judges, as to the indictment by which I stand of several crimes accused before you, pray attribute my forgetfulness to mine age, and not to my wilfulness; to the craziness of my brain, and not to the carelessness of my mind; and then I hope I may be by your charity excused from great punishment, though I be guilty.'

Then said the Court, 'Forget-Good, Forget-Good, thy forgetfulness of good was not simply of frailty, but of purpose, and for that thou didst loathe to keep virtuous things in thy mind. What was bad thou couldst retain, but what was good thou couldst not abide to think of; thy age, therefore, and thy pretended craziness, thou makest use of to blind the court withal, and as a cloak to cover thy knavery. But let us hear what the witnesses have to say for the King against the prisoner at the bar. Is he guilty of this indictment, or not?'

_Hate_. My lord, I have heard this Forget-Good say, that he could never abide to think of goodness, no, not for a quarter of an hour.

_Clerk_. Where did you hear him say so?

_Hate_. In All-base Lane, at a house next door to the sign of the Conscience seared with a hot iron.

_Clerk_. Mr. Know-All, what can you say for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar?

_Know_. My lord, I know this man well. He is a Diabolonian, the son of a Diabolonian: his father's name was Love-Naught; and for him, I have often heard him say, that he counted the very thoughts of goodness the most burdensome thing in the world.

_Clerk_. Where have you heard him say these words?

_Know_. In Flesh Lane, right opposite to the church.

Then said the Clerk, 'Come, Mr. Tell-True, give in your evidence concerning the prisoner at the bar, about that for which he stands here, as you see, indicted by this honourable Court.'

_Tell_. My lord, I have heard him often say he had rather think of the vilest thing than of what is contained in the Holy Scriptures.

_Clerk_. Where did you hear him say such grievous words?

_Tell_. Where?-in a great many places, particularly in Nauseous Street, in the house of one Shameless, and in Filth Lane, at the sign of the Reprobate, next door to the Descent into the Pit.

_Court_. Gentlemen, you have heard the indictment, his plea, and the testimony of the witnesses. Gaoler, set Mr. Hard-Heart to the bar.

He is set to the bar.

_Clerk_. Mr. Hard-Heart, thou art here indicted by the name of Hard-Heart, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou didst most desperately and wickedly possess the town of Mansoul with impenitency and obdurateness; and didst keep them from remorse and sorrow for their evils, all the time of their apostacy from and rebellion against the blessed King Shaddai. What sayest thou to this indictment?

Art thou guilty, or not guilty?

_Hard_. My lord, I never knew what remorse or sorrow meant in all my life. I am impenetrable. I care for no man; nor can I be pierced with men's griefs; their groans will not enter into my heart. Whomsoever I mischief, whomsoever I wrong, to me it is music, when to others mourning.

_Court_. You see the man is a right Diabolonian, and has convicted himself. Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. False-Peace to the bar.

False-Peace set to the bar.

'Mr. False-Peace, thou art here indicted by the name of False-Peace, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou didst most wickedly and satanically bring, hold, and keep the town of Mansoul, both in her apostacy and in her h.e.l.lish rebellion, in a false, groundless, and dangerous peace, and d.a.m.nable security, to the dishonour of the King, the transgression of his law, and the great damage of the town of Mansoul.

What sayest thou? Art thou guilty of this indictment, or not?

Then said Mr. False-Peace: 'Gentlemen, and you now appointed to be my judges, I acknowledge that my name is Mr. Peace; but that my name is False-Peace I utterly deny. If your honours shall please to send for any that do intimately know me, or for the midwife that laid my mother of me, or for the gossips that were at my christening, they will, any or all of them, prove that my name is not False-Peace, but Peace. Wherefore I cannot plead to this indictment, forasmuch as my name is not inserted therein; and as is my true name, so are also my conditions. I was always a man that loved to live at quiet, and what I loved myself, that I thought others might love also. Wherefore, when I saw any of my neighbours to labour under a disquieted mind, I endeavoured to help them what I could; and instances of this good temper of mine many I could give; as,

'1. When, at the beginning, our town of Mansoul did decline the ways of Shaddai, they, some of them, afterwards began to have disquieting reflections upon themselves for what they had done; but I, as one troubled to see them disquieted, presently sought out means to get them quiet again.

'2. When the ways of the old world, and of Sodom, were in fas.h.i.+on, if anything happened to molest those that were for the customs of the present times, I laboured to make them quiet again, and to cause them to act without molestation.

'3. To come nearer home: when the wars fell out between Shaddai and Diabolus, if at any time I saw any of the town of Mansoul afraid of destruction, I often used, by some way, device, invention, or other, to labour to bring them to peace again. Wherefore, since I have been always a man of so virtuous a temper as some say a peace-maker is, and if a peace-maker be so deserving a man as some have been bold to attest he is, then let me, gentlemen, be accounted by you, who have a great name for justice and equity in Mansoul, for a man that deserveth not this inhuman way of treatment, but liberty, and also a license to seek damage of those that have been my accusers.'

Then said the clerk, 'Crier, make a proclamation.'