Lady Fanshawe - "Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe"

George MacDonald - "The Marquis of Lossie"

Azel Ames - "The Mayflower and Her Log, v6"

Elbert Hubbard - "Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 9"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1




50. Just thus it is we suffer here
For him a little pain,
Who, when he doth again appear,
Will with him let us reign.

51. If all must either die for sin
A death that's natural;
Or else for Christ, 'tis beset with him
Who for the last doth fall.

52. Who now dare say we throw away
Our goods or liberty,
When God's most holy Word doth say
We gain thus much thereby?

53. Hark yet again, you carnal men,
And hear what I shall say
In your own dialect, and then
I'll you no longer stay.

54. You talk sometimes of valour much,
And count such bravely mann'd,
That will not stick to have a touch
With any in the land.

55. If these be worth commending then,
That vainly show their might,
How dare you blame those holy men
That in God's quarrel fight?

56. Though you dare crack a coward's crown,
Or quarrel for a pin,
You dare not on the wicked frown,
Nor speak against their sin.

57. For all your spirits are so stout,
For matters that are vain;
Yet sin besets you round about,
You are in Satan's chain.

58. You dare not for the truth engage,
You quake at prisonment;
You dare not make the tree your stage
For Christ, that King, potent.

59. Know then, true valour there doth dwell
Where men engage for God,
Against the devil, death, and hell,
And bear the wicked's rod.

60. These be the men that God doth count
Of high and noble mind;
These be the men that do surmount
What you in nature find.

61. First they do conquer their own hearts,
All worldly fears, and then
Also the devil's fiery darts,
And persecuting men.

62. They conquer when they thus do fall,
They kill when they do die:
They overcome then most of all,
And get the victory.

63. The worldling understands not this,
'Tis clear out of his sight;
Therefore he counts this world his bliss,
And doth our glory slight.

64. The lubber knows not how to spring
The nimble footman's stage;
Neither can owls or jackdaws sing
If they were in the cage.

65. The swine doth not the pearls regard,
But them doth slight for grains,
Though the wise merchant labours hard
For them with greatest pains.

66. Consdier man what I have said,
And judge of things aright;
When all men's cards are fully played,
Whose will abide the light?

67. Will those, who have us hither cast?
Or they who do us scorn?
Or those who do our houses waste?
Or us, who this have borne?

68. And let us count those things the best
That best will prove at last;
And count such men the only blest,
That do such things hold fast.

69. And what though they us dear do cost,
Yet let us buy them so;
We shall not count our labour lost
When we see others' woe.

70. And let saints be no longer blam'd
By carnal policy;
But let the wicked be asham'd
Of their malignity.


***

THE JERUSALEM SINNER SAVED;

OR,

GOOD NEWS FOR THE VILEST OF MEN;

BEING A HELP FOR DESPAIRING SOULS, SHOWING THAT JESUS CHRIST WOULD
HAVE MERCY IN THE FIRST PLACE OFFERED TO THE BIGGEST SINNERS.

THE THIRD EDITION,

IN WHICH IS ADDED, AN ANSWER TO THOSE GRAND OBJECTIONS THAT LIE
IN THE WAY OF THE THEM THAT WOULD BELIEVE: FOR THE COMFORT OF THEM
THAT FEAR THEY HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.

BY JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD.

London: Printed for Elizabeth Smith, at the Hand and Bible, on
London Bridge, 1691.

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.

THAT Bunyan, who considered himself one of the most notorious of
Jerusalem sinners, should write with the deepest earnestness upon
this subject, is not surprising. He had preached upon it with very
peculiar pleasure, and, doubtless, from many texts; and, as he
says, 'through God's grace, with great success.' It is not probable
that, with his characteristic intensity of feeling, and holy fervour
in preaching, he ever delivered the same sermon twice; but this
was a subject so in unison with his own feelings and experience,
that he must have dilated upon it with even unusual interest and
earnestness. The marrow of all these exercises he concentrated
in this treatise; and when his judgment was, by severe internal
conflicts, fully matured--upon the eve of the close of his earthly
pilgrimage, in the last year of his life, 1688--he published it
in a pocket volume of eight sheets. It was soon translated into
several languages, and became so popular as to pass through ten
editions in English by 1728. Like other favourite books, it was
ornamented with some very inferior wood-cuts.

The object of the author is fully explained in the title to his
book. It is to display the riches of Divine grace and mercy to the
greatest sinners--even to those whose conduct entitled them to be
called 'Satan's colonels, and captains, the leaders of his people;
and to such as most stoutly make head against the Son of God.' It
is to those who feel themselves to be such, and who make a proper
estimate of their own characters, as in the sight of God, that the
gracious proclamations of the gospel are peculiarly directed. They
to whom much is forgiven, love much; and the same native energies
which had been misdirected to promote evil, when sanctified and
divinely guided, become a great blessing to the church, and to
society at large.

Bunyan does not stoop to any attempt to reconcile the humbling
doctrines of grace to the self-righteous pride of those who,
considering themselves but little sinners, would feel contaminated
by the company of those who had been such great sinners, although
they were pardoned and sanctified by God. His great effort was
directed to relieve the distress and despair of those who were
suffering under deep convictions; still, his whole treatise shows
that the doctrine of salvation by grace, of free gift, is no
encouragement to sin that grace may abound, as some have blasphemously
asserted. It is degrading to the pride of those who have not drunk
so deeply of sin, to be placed upon a level with great sinners.
But the disease is the same--in breaking one commandment, the whole
law is violated; and, however in some the moral leprosy does not
make such fearful ravages as in others, the slightest taint conveys
moral, spiritual, and eternal death. ALL, whether young or old,
great or small, must be saved by grace, or fall into perdition.
The difference between the taint of sin, and its awfully developed
leprosy, is given. Who so ready to fly to the physician as those
who feel their case to be desperate? and, when cured, they must
love the Saviour most.

Comparatively little sins before conviction, when seen in the glass
of God's law, and in his holy presence, become great ones. Those
who feel themselves to be great sinners, are peculiarly invited to
the arms of the Saviour, who saves to the uttermost ALL that come
unto him; and it is thus that peculiar consolation is poured in,
and the broken heart is bound up. We are then called by name, as
Bunyan forcibly describes it, as men called by name before a court.
'Who first cry out, "Here, Sir"; and then shoulder and crowd, and
say, "Pray give way, I am called into the court." This is thy case,
wherefore say, "Stand away, devil, Christ calls me; stand away,
unbelief, Christ calls me; stand away, all ye my discouraging
apprehensions, for my Saviour calls me to him to receive of his
mercy."' 'Wherefore, since Christ says come, let the angels make
a lane, and let all men give place, that the Jerusalem sinner may
come to Jesus Christ for mercy.' How characteristic is this of the
peculiarly striking style of Bunyan! How solemn his warnings! 'The
invitations of the gospel will be, to those who refuse them, the
hottest coals in hell.' His reasonings against despair are equally
forcible: ''Tis a sin to begin to despair before one sets his foot
over the threshold of hell gate. What! despair of bread in a land
that is full of corn! despair of mercy, when our God is full of
mercy! when he goes about by his ministers, beseeching of sinners
to be reconciled unto him! Thou scrupulous fool, where canst thou
find that God was ever false to his promise, or that he ever deceived
the soul that ventured itself upon him?' This whole treatise abounds
with strong consolation to those who are beset with fears, and
who, because of these, are ready to give way to despair; it ought
to be put into the hands of all such, let them belong to what party
they may; for, like our author's other books, nothing of a sectarian
nature can be traced in it, except we so call the distinguishing
truths of evangelical religion. There are some very interesting
references to Bunyan's experience and life, and one rather singular
idea, in which I heartily concur; it is, that the glorified saints
will become part of the heavenly hierarchy of angels, and take the
places of those who fell from that exalted state (Rev 22:8,9).

To those whose souls are invaded by despair, or who fear that they
have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost--to all who pant to
have their faith strengthened, and hopes brightened, this little
work is most earnestly and affectionately commended.

GEORGE OFFOR.

TO THE READER.

COURTEOUS READER,

ONE reason which moved me to write and print this little book was,
because, though there are many excellent heart-affecting discourses
in the world that tend to convert the sinner, yet I had a desire
to try this simple method of mine; wherefore I make bold thus to
invite and encourage the worst to come to Christ for life.

I have been vile myself, but have obtained mercy; and I would have
my companions in sin partake of mercy too: and, therefore, I have
writ this little book.

The nation doth swarm with vile ones now, as ever it did since it
was a nation. My little book, in some places, can scarce go from
house to house, but it will find a suitable subject to spend itself
upon. Now, since Christ Jesus is willing to save the vilest, why
should they not, by name, be somewhat acquainted with it, and bid
come to him under that name?

A great sinner, when converted, seems a booty to Jesus Christ; he
gets by saving such an one; why then should both Jesus lose his
glory and the sinner lose his soul at once, and that for want of
an invitation?

I have found, through God's grace, good success in preaching upon
this subject, and perhaps, so I may by my writing upon it too.1 I
have, as you see, let down this net for a draught. The Lord catch
some great fishes by it, for the magnifying of his truth. There
are some most vile in all men's eyes, and some are so in their own
eyes too; but some have their paintings, to shroud their vileness
under; yet they are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do; and for all these, God hath sent a Saviour, Jesus;
and to all these the door is opened.

Wherefore, prithee, profane man, give this little book the reading.
Come; pardon, and a part in heaven and glory, cannot be hurtful to
thee. Let not thy lusts and folly drive thee beyond the door of
mercy, since it is not locked nor bolted up against thee. Manasseh
was a bad man, and Magdalene a bad woman, to say nothing of the thief
upon the cross, or of the murderers of Christ; yet they obtained
mercy; Christ willingly received them.

And dost thou think that those, once so bad, now they are in
heaven, repent them there because they left their sins for Christ
when they were in the world? I cannot believe, but that thou
thinkest they have verily got the best on't. Why, sinner, do thou
likewise. Christ, at heaven gates, says to thee, Come hither; and
the devil, at the gates of hell, does call thee to come to him.
Sinner, what sayest thou? Whither wilt thou go? Don't go into the
fire; there thou wilt be burned! Don't let Jesus lose his longing,
since it is for thy salvation, but come to him and live.

One word more, and so I have done. Sinner, here thou dost hear of
love; prithee, do not provoke it, by turning it into wantonness.
He that dies for slighting love, sinks deepest into hell, and will
there be tormented by the remembrance of that evil, more than by
the deepest cogitation of all his other sins. Take heed, therefore;
do not make love thy tormentor, sinner. Farewell.

GOOD NEWS FOR THE VILEST OF MEN;

OR,

A HELP FOR DESPAIRING SOULS.

'BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.'--LUKE 24:47.

THE whole verse runs thus: 'And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, 'beginning
at Jerusalem.' The words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from
the dead, and they are here rehearsed after an historical manner,
but do contain in them a formal commission, with a special clause
therein. The commission is, as you see, for the preaching of
the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted in the holy record by
Matthew and Mark. 'Go-teach all nations,' &c. (Matt 28:19) 'Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature' (Mark
16:15). Only this clause is in special mentioned by Luke, who saith,
that as Christ would have the doctrine of repentance and remission
of sins preached in his name among all nations, so he would have
the people of Jerusalem to have the first proffer thereof. Preach
it, saith Christ, in all nations, but begin at Jerusalem.

The apostles, then, though they had a commission so large as to give
them warrant to go and preach the gospel in all the world, yet by
this clause they were limited as to the beginning of their ministry;
they were to begin this work at Jerusalem. "Beginning at Jerusalem."

Before I proceed to an observation upon the words, I must, but briefly,
touch upon two things: namely, FIRST, Show you what Jerusalem now
was. SECOND, Show you what it was to preach the gospel to them.

FIRST, Jerusalem is to be considered either, First, With respect
to the descent of her people; or, Second, With respect to her
preference and exaltation; or, Third, With respect to her present
state, as to her decays.

First, As to her descent, she was from Abraham, [by] the sons of
Jacob, a people that God singled out from the rest of the nations,
to set his love upon them.

Secondly, As to her preference or exaltation, she was the place
of God's worship, and that which had in and with her the special
tokens and signs of God's favour and presence, above any other people
in the world. Hence, the tribes went up to Jerusalem to worship;
there was God's house, God's high-priest, God's sacrifices accepted,
and God's eye, and God's heart perpetually (Psa 76:1,2, 122; 1
Kings 9:3). But,

Thirdly, We are to consider Jerusalem also in her decays; for, as
she is so considered, she is the proper object of our text, as will
be further showed by and by.

Jerusalem, as I told you, was the place and seat of God's worship,
but now decayed, degenerated, and apostatized.2 The Word, the rule
of worship, was rejected of them, and in its place they had put
and set up their own traditions: they had rejected, also, the most
weighty ordinances, and put in the room thereof their own little
things (Matt 15; Mark 7). Jerusalem was therefore now greatly
backslidden, and become the place where the truth and true religion
were much defaced.

It was also now become the very sink of sin and seat of hypocrisy,
and gulf where true religion was drowned. Here also now reigned
presumption, and groundless confidence in God, which is the bane
of souls. Amongst its rulers, doctors, and leaders, envy, malice,
and blasphemy vented itself against the power of godliness, in all
places where it was espied; as also against the promoters of it;
yea, their Lord and Maker could not escape them.

In a word, Jerusalem was now become the shambles, the very slaughter-shop
for saints. This was the place wherein the prophets, Christ,
and his people, were most horribly persecuted and murdered. Yea,
so hardened at this time was this Jerusalem in her sins, that she
feared not to commit the biggest, and to bind herself, by wish,
under the guilt and damning evil of it; saying, when she had murdered
the Son of God, 'His blood be on us, and on our children.' And
though Jesus Christ did, both by doctrine, miracles, and holiness
of life, seek to put a stop to their villanies, yet they shut
their eyes, stopped their ears, and rested not, till, as was hinted
before, they had driven him out of the world. Yea, that they might,
if possible, have extinguished his name, and exploded his doctrine
out of the world, they, against all argument, and in despite of
heaven, its mighty hand, and undeniable proof of his resurrection,
did hire soldiers to invent a lie, saying, his disciples stole him
away from the grave; on purpose that men might not count him the
Saviour of the world, nor trust in him for the remission of sins.

They were, saith Paul, contrary to all men: for they did not only
shut up the door of life against themselves, but forbade that it
should be opened to any else. 'Forbidding us,' saith he, 'to speak
to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins
alway' (1 Thess 2:14-16; Matt 23:35; 15:7-9; Mark 7:6-8; Matt 3:7-9;
John 8:33,41; Matt 27:18; Mark 3:30; Matt 23:37; Luke 13:33,34;
Matt 27:25; 20:11-16).

This is the city, and these are the people; this is their character,
and these are their sins: nor can there be produced their parallel
in all this world. Nay, what world, what people, what nation,
for sin and transgression, could or can be compared to Jerusalem?
especially if you join to the matter of fact the light they sinned
against, and the patience which they abused. Infinite was the
wickedness upon this account which they committed.

After all their abusings of wise men, and prophets, God sent unto
them John Baptist, to reduce them, and then his Son, to redeem
them; but they would be neither reduced nor redeemed, but persecuted
both to the death. Nor did they, as I said, stop here; the holy
apostles they afterwards persecuted also to death, even so many as
they could; the rest they drove from them unto the utmost corners.

SECOND, I come not to show you what it was to preach the gospel
to them. It was, saith Luke, to preach to them 'repentance and
remission of sins' in Christ's name; or, as Mark has it, to bid them
'repent and believe the gospel' (Mark 1:15). Not that repentance is
a cause of remission, but a sign of our hearty reception thereof.
Repentance is therefore here put to intimate, that no pretended
faith of the gospel is good that is not accompanied with it; and
this he doth on purpose, because he would not have them deceive
themselves: for with what faith can he expect remission of sins
in the name of Christ, that is not heartily sorry for them? Or how
shall a man be able to give to others a satisfactory account of his
unfeigned subjection to the gospel, that yet abides in his impenitency?

Wherefore repentance is here joined with faith, in the way
of receiving the gospel. Faith is that without which it cannot be
received at all; and repentance that without which it cannot be
received unfeignedly. When, therefore, Christ says, he would have
a repentance and remission of sins preached in his name among all
nations, it is as much as to say, I will that all men everywhere
be sorry for their sins, and accept of mercy at God's hand through
me, lest they fall under his wrath in the judgment; for, as
I have said, without repentance, what pretence soever men have of
faith, they cannot escape the wrath to come. Wherefore Paul said,
God commands 'all men everywhere to repent,' (in order to their
salvation): 'because he hath appointed a day, in the which he shall
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained'
(Acts 17:31).

And now, to come to this clause, 'Beginning at Jerusalem'; that
is, that Christ would have Jerusalem have the first offer of the
gospel. 1. This cannot be so commanded because they had now any
more right, of themselves, thereto, than had any of the nations of
the world; for their sins had divested them of all self-deservings.
2. Nor yet because they stood upon the advance-ground with the
worst of the sinners of the nations; nay, rather, the sinners of
the nations had the advance-ground of them: for Jerusalem was, long
before she had added this iniquity to her sin, worse than the very
nations that God cast out before the children of Israel (2 Chron
33). 3. It must, therefore, follow, that this cause, 'Beginning
at Jerusalem,' was put into this commission of mere grace and
compassion, even from the overflowings of the bowels of mercy; for
indeed they were the worst, and so in the most deplorable condition
of any people under the heavens.3

Whatever, therefore, their relation was to Abraham, Isaac, or
Jacob--however they formerly had been the people among whom God had
placed his name and worship, they were now degenerated from God,
more than the nations were from their idols, and were become guilty
of the highest sins which the people of the world were capable of
committing. Nay, none can be capable of committing of such pardonable
sins as they committed against their God, when they slew his Son,
and persecuted his name and Word.

[DOCTRINE.]

From these words, therefore, thus explained, we gain this
observation:--That Jesus Christ. would have mercy offered, in the
first place, to the biggest sinners

That these Jerusalem sinners were the biggest sinners that ever were
in the world, I think none will deny, that believes that Christ was
the best man that ever was in the world, and also was their Lord
God. And that they were to have the first offer of his grace, the
text is as clear as the sun; for it saith, 'Beginning at Jerusalem.'
'Preach,' saith he, 'repentance and remission of sins' to the
Jerusalem sinners: to the Jerusalem sinners in the first place.
One would a-thought, since the Jerusalem sinners were the worst
and greatest sinners, Christ's greatest enemies, and those that
not only despised his person, doctrine, and miracles, but that, a
little before, had had their hands up to the elbows in his heart's
blood, that he should rather have said, Go into all the world, and
preach repentance and remission of sins among all nations; and,
after that, offer the same to Jerusalem; yea, it had been infinite
grace if he had said so. But what grace is this, or what name shall
we give it, when he commands that this repentance and remission
of sins, which is designed to be preached in all nations, should
first be offered to Jerusalem; in the first place to the worst of
sinners!

Nor was this the first time that the grace, which was in the heart
of Christ, thus showed itself to the world. For while he was yet
alive, even while he was yet in Jerusalem, and perceived, even
among these Jerusalem sinners, which was the most vile among them,
he still, in his preaching, did signify that he had a desire that
the worst of these worst should, in the first place, come unto him.
The which he showeth, where he saith to the better sort of them,
'The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before
you' (Matt 21:31). Also when he compared Jerusalem with the sinners
of the nations, then he commands that the Jerusalem sinners should
have the gospel at present confined to them. 'Go not,' saith he,
'into the way of the Gentiles, and into any of the cities of the
Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel' (Matt 10:5,6; 23:37). But go rather to them, for
they were in the most fearful plight. These, therefore, must have
the cream of the gospel, namely, the first offer thereof, in his
lifetime; yea, when he departed out of the world, he left this as
part of his last will with his preachers, that they also should
offer it first to Jerusalem. He had a mind, a careful mind, as it
seems, to privilege the worst of sinners with the fist offer of
mercy, and to take from among them a people, to be the first fruits
unto God and to the Lamb.

The 15th of Luke also is famous for this, where the Lord Jesus
takes more care, as appears there by three parables, for the lost
sheep, lost groat, and the prodigal son, than for the other sheep,
the other pence, or for the son that said he had never transgressed;
yea, he shows that there is joy in heaven, among the angels of God,
at the repentance of one sinner, more than over ninety and nine
just persons which need no repentance. After this manner, therefore,
the mind of Christ was set on the salvation of the biggest sinners
in his lifetime. But join to this, this clause, which he carefully
put into the apostles' commission to preach, when he departed hence
to the Father, and then you shall see that his heart was vehemently
set upon it; for these were part of his last words with them, Preach
my gospel to all nations, but that you begin at Jerusalem.

Nor did the apostles overlook this clause when their Lord was gone
into heaven; they went first to them of Jerusalem, and preached
Christ's gospel to them; they abode also there for a season and
time, and preached it to nobody else, for they had regard to the
commandment of their Lord. And it is to be observed, namely, that
the first sermon which they preached after the ascension of Christ,
it was preached to the very worst of these Jerusalem sinners, even
to those that were the murderers of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:23), for
these are part of the sermon: 'Ye took him, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain him.' Yea, the next sermon, and the next,
and also the next to that, was preached to the self-same murderers,
to the end they might be saved (Acts 3:14-16; 4:10,11; 5:30; 7:52).