Part 13
The Holy War · John Bunyan
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 hellish rebellion, in a false, groundless, and dangerous peace, and damnable 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 fashion, 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.’
Crier. Oyes! Forasmuch as the prisoner at the bar hath denied his name to be that which is mentioned in the indictment, the Court requireth that if there be any in this place that can give information to the Court of the original and right name of the prisoner, they would come forth and give in their evidence; for the prisoner stands upon his own innocency.
Then came two into the court, and desired that they might have leave to speak what they knew concerning the prisoner at the bar: the name of the one was Search-Truth, and the name of the other Vouch-Truth. So the Court demanded of these men if they knew the prisoner, and what they could say concerning him, ‘for he stands,’ said they, ‘upon his own vindication.’
Then said Mr. Search-Truth, ‘My Lord, I—’
Court. Hold! give him his oath.
Then they sware him. So he proceeded.
Search. My lord, I know and have known this man from a child, and can attest that his name is False-Peace. I know his father; his name was Mr. Flatter: and his mother, before she was married, was called by the name of Mrs. Sooth-Up: and these two, when they came together, lived not long without this son; and when he was born, they called his name False-Peace. I was his play-fellow, only I was somewhat older than he; and when his mother did use to call him home from his play, she used to say, ‘False-Peace, False-Peace, come home quick, or I’ll fetch you.’ Yea, I knew him when he sucked; and though I was then but little, yet I can remember that when his mother did use to sit at the door with him, or did play with him in her arms, she would call him, twenty times together, ‘My little False-Peace! my pretty False-Peace!’ and, ‘Oh! my sweet rogue, False-Peace!’ and again, ‘Oh! my little bird, False-Peace!’ and ‘How do I love my child!’ The gossips also know it is thus, though he has had the face to deny it in open court.
Then Mr. Vouch-Truth was called upon to speak what he knew of him. So they sware him.
Then said Mr. Vouch-Truth, ‘My lord, all that the former witness hath said is true. His name is False-Peace, the son of Mr. Flatter, and of Mrs. Sooth-Up, his mother: and I have in former times seen him angry with those that have called him anything else but False-Peace, for he would say that all such did mock and nickname him; but this was in the time when Mr. False-Peace was a great man, and when the Diabolonians were the brave men in Mansoul.
Court. Gentlemen, you have heard what these two men have sworn against the prisoner at the bar. And now, Mr. False-Peace, to you: you have denied your name to be False-Peace, yet you see that these honest men have sworn that that is your name. As to your plea, in that you are quite besides the matter of your indictment, you are not by it charged for evil-doing because you are a man of peace, or a peace-maker among your neighbours; but for that you did wickedly and satanically bring, keep, and hold the town of Mansoul, both under its apostasy from, and in its rebellion against its King, in a false, lying, and damnable peace, contrary to the law of Shaddai, and to the hazard of the destruction of the then miserable town of Mansoul. All that you have pleaded for yourself is, that you have denied your name, etc.; but here, you see, we have witnesses to prove that you are the man. For the peace that you so much boast of making among your neighbours, know that peace that is not a companion of truth and holiness, but that which is without this foundation, is grounded upon a lie, and is both deceitful and damnable, as also the great Shaddai hath said. Thy plea, therefore, has not delivered thee from what by the indictment thou art charged with, but rather it doth fasten all upon thee. But thou shalt have very fair play. Let us call the witnesses that are to testify as to matter of fact, and see what they have to say for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar.
Clerk. Mr. Know-All, what say you for our Lord the King against the prisoner at the bar?
Know. My lord, this man hath of a long time made it, to my knowledge, his business to keep the town of Mansoul in a sinful quietness in the midst of all her lewdness, filthiness, and turmoils, and hath said, and that in my hearing, Come, come, let us fly from all trouble, on what ground soever it comes, and let us be for a quiet and peaceable life, though it wanteth a good foundation.
Clerk. Come, Mr. Hate-Lies, what have you to say?
Hate. My lord, I have heard him say, that peace, though in a way of unrighteousness, is better than trouble with truth.
Clerk. Where did you hear him say this?
Hate. I heard him say it in Folly-yard, at the house of one Mr. Simple, next door to the sign of the Self-deceiver. Yea, he hath said this to my knowledge twenty times in that place.
Clerk. We may spare further witness; this evidence is plain and full. Set him by, gaoler, and set Mr. No-Truth to the bar. Mr. No-Truth, thou art here indicted by the name of No-Truth, (an intruder upon the town of Mansoul,) for that thou hast always, to the dishonour of Shaddai, and the endangering of the utter ruin of the famous town of Mansoul, set thyself to deface, and utterly to spoil, all the remainders of the law and image of Shaddai that have been found in Mansoul after her deep apostasy from her king to Diabolus, the envious tyrant. What sayest thou, art thou guilty of this indictment, or not?