The Holy War

John Bunyan’s other great allegory (1682): the war for the town of Mansoul, the human soul, with its five gates of Ear, Eye, Mouth, Nose and Feel. The giant Diabolus talks his way in and makes the town his own; King Shaddai sends his captains, and then his Son, Emmanuel, who takes Mansoul back, pardons it and sets it in order. But Mansoul grows careless under Mr. Carnal-Security, the Prince withdraws, and Diabolus returns with an army of Doubters. Full of Bunyan’s vivid names and courtroom scenes, it is a soldier’s-eye picture of conversion, backsliding and perseverance.