They added, moreover, and prayed his Majesty to consider thereof; ‘for,’ said they, ’if now, after all this grace bestowed upon us, thy miserable town of Mansoul, thou shouldest withdraw, thou and thy captains, from us, the town of Mansoul will die.  Yea,’ said they, ’our blessed Emmanuel, if thou shouldest depart from us now, now thou hast done so much good for us, and showed so much mercy unto us, what will follow but that our joy will be as if it had not been, and our enemies will a second time come upon us with more rage than at the first?  Wherefore, we beseech thee, O thou, the desire of our eyes, and the strength and life of our poor town, accept of this motion that now we have made unto our Lord, and come and dwell in the midst of us, and let us be thy people.  Besides, Lord, we do not know but that to this day many Diabolonians may be yet lurking in the town of Mansoul, and they will betray us, when thou shalt leave us, into the hand of Diabolus again; and who knows what designs, plots, or contrivances have passed betwixt them about these things already?  Loath we are to fall again into his horrible hands.  Wherefore, let it please thee to accept of our palace for thy place of residence, and of the houses of the best men in our town for the reception of thy soldiers and their furniture.’

Then said the Prince, ’If I come to your town, will you suffer me further to prosecute that which is in mine heart against mine enemies and yours?—­yea, will you help me in such undertakings?’

They answered, ’We know not what we shall do; we did not think once that we should have been such traitors to Shaddai as we have proved to be.  What, then, shall we say to our Lord?  Let him put no trust in his saints; let the Prince dwell in our castle, and make of our town a garrison; let him set his noble captains and his warlike soldiers over us; yea, let him conquer us with his love, and overcome us with his grace, and then surely shall he be but with us, and help us, as he was and did that morning that our pardon was read unto us.  We shall comply with this our Lord, and with his ways, and fall in with his word against the mighty.

’One word more, and thy servants have done, and in this will trouble our Lord no more.  We know not the depth of the wisdom of thee, our Prince.  Who could have thought, that had been ruled by his reason, that so much sweet as we do now enjoy should have come out of those bitter trials wherewith we were tried at the first!  But, Lord, let light go before, and let love come after:  yea, take us by the hand, and lead us by thy counsels, and let this always abide upon us, that all things shall be the best for thy servants, and come to our Mansoul, and do as it pleaseth thee.  Or, Lord, come to our Mansoul, do what thou wilt, so thou keepest us from sinning, and makest us serviceable to thy Majesty.’