dly person he was. His name was Mr. God's-peace. This man was
set over my Lord Will-be-will, my Lord Mayor, Mr. Recorder, the
subordinate preacher, Mr. Mind, and over all the natives of the town of
Mansoul. Himself was not a native of the town, but came with the Prince
from the court above. He was a great acquaintance of Captain Credence
and Captain Good-hope; some say they were kin, and I am of that opinion
too. This man, as I said, was made governor of the town in general,
especially over the castle, and Captain Credence was to help him there.
And I made great observation of it, that so long as all things went in
the town as this sweet-natured gentleman would have them go, the town was
in a most happy condition. Now there were no jars, no chiding, no
interferings, no unfaithful doings in all the town; every man in Mansoul
kept close to his own employment. The gentry, the officers, the
soldiers, and all in place, observed their order. And as for the women
and the children of the town, they followed their business joyfully. They
would work and sing, work and sing, from morning till night; so that
quite through the town of Mansoul now nothing was to be found but
harmony, quietness, joy, and health. And this lasted all the summer. I
shall step aside at this point and shall let Jonathan Edwards comment on
this sweet-natured gentleman and his heavenly name. 'God's peace has an
exquisite sweetness,' says Edwards. 'It is exquisitely sweet because it
has so firm a foundation on the everlasting rock. It is sweet also
because it is so perfectly agreeable to reason. It is sweet also because
it riseth from holy and divine principles, which, as they are the virtue,
so are they the proper happiness of man. This peace is exquisitely sweet
also because of the greatness of the good that the saints enjoy, being no
other than the infinite bounty and fulness of that God who is the
Fountain of all good. It is sweet also because it shall be enjoyed to
perfection hereafter.' An enthusiastic student has counted up the number
of times that this divine word 'sweetness' occurs in Edwards, and has
proved that no other word of the kind occurs so often in the author of
_True Virtue_ and _The Religious Affections_. And I can well believe it;
unless the 'beauty of holiness' runs it close. Still, this sweet-natured
gentleman will continue to live for us in his government and jurisdiction
in Mansoul and in John Bunyan even more than in