The Holy War, Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul

Transcribed from the 1907 Religious Tract Society edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
“I have used similitudes.” Hosea xii. 10
London THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 Bouverie Street and 65 St Paul’s Churchyard 1907
PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD. LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
In the year 1682 there was published by Dorman Newman , ‘ at the King’s Arms in the Poultry ,’ and Benjamin Alsop , ‘ at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry ,’ a volume entitled ‘ The Holy War , made by Shaddai upon Diabolus for the regaining of the Metropolis of the World; or the Losing and Taking again of the Town of Mansoul .’ It was the work of John Bunyan , who , sixteen years before , had published the story of his own spiritual struggle under the title of ‘ Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners ’; and , but four years before , had produced ‘ The Pilgrim’s Progress ’ ( Part I ). Bunyan had speedily followed the issue of the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress ’ with the ‘ Life and Death of Mr. Badman ,’ picture of English life and character as he had seen it , grimly faithful to fact . In ‘ The Holy War ’ Bunyan returned to allegory . As a piece of literature the book is in no way inferior to the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress .’ If Bunyan had written nothing else , ‘ The Holy War ’ would have sufficed to establish his claim to a place amongst the masters of English prose . As an appeal to the conscience it is not a whit less effective than the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress ’; but in the power of seizing and retaining the reader’s attention it is scarcely so successful . Nevertheless Macaulay held that ‘ if there had been no “ Pilgrim’s Progress ” “ The Holy War ” would have been the first of religious allegories .’
In working out the details of ‘ The Holy War ’ Bunyan seems to have kept in mind his own experience . The fortifications of the city , the movements of the opposing forces , the changes in the municipal offices of Mansoul were reproductions of scenes and events that had but recently gone on under Bunyan’s eyes . He adapted them with extraordinary success to the presentation both of the doctrines of grace and of the temptations which attend the Christian life . The characters and the incidents are , in effect , the characters and incidents of every age . It is this which gives to the story of Mansoul its undying freshness , and suits it to the needs of men in all climes . ‘ The Holy War ’ has been translated into many languages , including some of those with the scantiest of literature . Indeed , as this edition is being prepared for the press , assistance is being rendered by the Religious Tract Society in the printing of ‘ The Holy War ’ in Kongo .