Mansoulians

Who are the Mansoulians?

Mansoulians are the people who live in Mansoul, not the bricks and mortar. We have seen that the bricks and mortar of Mansoul are the bride of Christ, or individual Christians. The inhabitants of Mansoul are the thoughts and desires of the Bride of Christ collectively and individually, both bad (Diabolonians) and good (Mansoulians). Bunyan’s margin notes state that Mansoulian men are good thoughts and women are good conceptions, intentions, and children are good desires. Indeed Bunyan states that Mansoulians were the original inhabitants of Mansoul (characters from before the fall).
On p9 the Mansoulians before the fall are described as “simple and innocent, all honest and true; nor do they yet know what it is to be assaulted with fraud, guile, and hypocrisy. They are strangers to lying and dissembling lips”.

The two most important Mansoulians are Captain Resistance and Lord Innocence. They are known to be brave men, who protected Mansoul from the onslaught of the enemy Diabolus. The first Mansoulian to be named is Captain Resistance (p 9). He is greatly feared by Diabolus and his evil spirits. We are reminded of the verse “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” in James 4 v 7. Resistance is shot dead by Tisiphone (p 12) and Mansoul is left devoid of any courage and resistance to Diabolus. Next to be named are the Mansoulians Lord Innocent, Lord Willbewill and Mr Recorder. Lord Innocent is killed in the attack of Diabolus on Mansoul. He appears to be suffocated by the stinking breath of Ill-pause. The poisonous words of Ill-pause cause Mansoul to sin. Thus mankind looses its innocence and becomes guilty of original sin. With Resistance and Innocence dead, Mansoul eats the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3 v 6).

Lord Willbewill and Mr Recorder (Mr Conscience) and the Lord Mayor, who is called Lord Understanding survive the attack, but are deposed from their offices as the decision makers in the human soul . Each will be looked at in more detail later.



Other Mansoulians are Mr Mind, Mr Affection, the clerks or “yes men” of Mr conscience and Lord Willbewill respectively. Mr Mind had a daughter called Carnal Lust. The name tells us that she was a Diabolonian. It is therefore possible for a Mansoulian to be the parent of a Diabolonian. Remembering Bunyan’s definition that Diabolonian children are evil desires, we see that Mansoulians in their unconverted states have evil desires. Carnal lust marries Mr Affection. Since he also is unconverted, he is called Vile Affection and we must conclude that he marries Carnal Lust from motives of sexual gratification only. This marriage results on the bearing of more children, Impudent, Black-mouth, and Hate-reproof (boys) and Scorn-truth, Slight-God and Revenge. Evil desires give birth to more evil desires. The unconverted soul enters a spiral of sin, leading to worse and worse sins (See the prophet Ballam). This reminds us of Luke 7 v 35 “Wisdom is justified of all her children”. Humanly speaking there is no hope for Mansoul now since the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6 v 23)
Mansoulians who appear later in the narrative are Mr Desires Awake, Mr Wet eyes, Mr Experience, and Godly fear. These represent the soul’s desire to meet with God and be forgiven by Him.