Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, V7"

Francois Coppee - "A Romance of Youth, v4"

Louisa May Alcott - "Jack and Jill"

Max Nordau - "The Malady of the Century"

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




2. As this casting of them away supposeth God's abhorrence of them,
so it supposeth God's just repaying of them for their wickedness
by way of retaliation.

God all the time of the exercise of His long-suffering and forbearance
towards them, did call upon them, wait upon them, send after them
by His messengers, to turn them from their evil ways; but they
despised at, they mocked, the messengers of the Lord. Also they
shut their eyes, and would not see; they stopped their ears, and
would not understand; and did harden themselves against the beseeching
of their God. Yea, all that day long He did stretch out His hand
towards them, but they chose to be a rebellious and gainsaying
people; yea, they said unto God, 'Depart from us;' and 'what is
the Almighty' that we should pray unto him? (Hosea 6:2; Rev 16:21;
Job 21:14,15; Mal 3:14).

And of all these things God takes notice, writes them down, and seals
them up for the time to come, and will bring them out and spread
them before them, saying, I have called, and you have refused; I
have stretched out Mine hand, and no man regarded; I have exercised
patience, and gentleness, and long-suffering towards you, and in
all that time you despised Me, and cast Me behind your back; and
now the time, and the exercise of My patience, when I waited upon
you, and suffered your manners, and did bear your contempts and
scorns, is at an end; wherefore I will now arise, and come forth
to the judgment that I have appointed.

But, Lord, saith the sinner, we turn now.

But now; saith God, turning is out of season; the day of My patience
is ended.

But, Lord, says the sinner, behold our cries.

But you did not, says God, behold nor regard My cries.

But, Lord, saith the sinner, let our beseeching find place in Thy
compassions.

But, saith God, I also beseeched, and I was not heard.

But Lord, says the sinner, our sins lie hard upon us.

But I offered you pardon when time was, says God, and then you did
utterly reject it.

But, Lord, says the sinner, let us therefore have it now.

But now the door is shut, saith God.

And what then? Why, then, by way of retaliation, God will serve
them as they have served Him; and so the wind-up of the whole will
be this--they shall have like for like. Time was when they would
have none of Him, and now will God have none of them. Time was when
they cast God behind their back, and now He will cast away their
soul. Time was when they would not heed His calls, and now He will
not heed their cries. Time was when they abhorred Him, and now
His soul also abhorreth them (Zech 11:8). This is now by way of
retaliation--like for like, scorn for scorn, repulse for repulse,
contempt for contempt; according to that which is written, 'Therefore
it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so
they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord' (Zech 7:13). And
thus I have also showed you that the loss of the soul is double--lost
by man, lost by God.

But oh! who thinks of this? who, I say, that now makes light
of God, of His Word, His servants, and ways, once dreams of such
retaliation, though God to warn them hath even, in the day of His
patience, threatened to do it in the day of His wrath, saying,
'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My
hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel,
and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as
desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress
and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I
will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find
Me' (Prov 1:24-28). I will do unto them as they have done unto Me;
and what unrighteousness is in all this? But,

[The loss of the soul most fearful.]

Thirdly, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to itself, and
a loss double, so, in the third place, it is a loss most fearful,
because it is a loss attended with the most heavy curse of God.
This is manifest both in the giving of the rule of life, and also
in, and at the time of execution for, the breach of that rule. It
is manifest at the giving of the rule--'Cursed be he that confirmeth
not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall
say, Amen' (Deu 27:26; Gal 3:10). It is also manifest that it
shall be so at the time of execution--'Depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matt
25:41). What this curse is, none do know so well as God that giveth
it, and as the fallen angels, and the spirits of damned men that
are now shut up in the prison of hell, and bear it. But certainly
it is the chief and highest of all kind of curses. To be cursed
in the basket and in the store, in the womb and in the barn, in my
cattle and in my body, are but flea-bitings to this, though they
are also insupportable in themselves; only in general it may be
described thus. But to touch upon this curse, it lieth in deprivation
of all good, and in a being swallowed up of all the most fearful
miseries that a holy, and just, and eternal God can righteously
inflict, or lay upon the soul of a sinful man. Now let Reason here
come in and exercise itself in the most exquisite manner; yea, let
him now count up all, and all manner of curses and torments that a
reasonable and an immortal soul is, or can be made capable of, and
able to suffer under, and when he has done, he shall come infinitely
short of this great anathema, this master curse which God has
reserved amongst His treasuries, and intends to bring out in that
day of battle and war, which He purposeth to make upon damned souls
in that day.16 And this God will do, partly as a retaliation, as
the former, and partly by way of revenge. 1. By way of retaliation:
'As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted
not in blessing, so let it be far from him.' Again, 'As he clothed
himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into
his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones; let it be unto
him as a garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he
is girded continually' (Psa 109:17-19). 'Let this,' saith Christ,
17 'be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord' (vs. 20 etc).
2. As this curse comes by way of retaliation, so it cometh by way
of revenge. God will right the wrongs that sinners have done Him,
will repay vengeance for the despite and reproach wherewith they
have affronted Him, and will revenge the quarrel of His covenant.
And the beginning of revenges are terrible, (Deu 31:41,42); what,
then, will the whole execution be, when He shall come in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of Jesus Christ? And, therefore, this curse is executed
in wrath, in jealousy, in anger, in fury; yea, the heavens and the
earth shall be burned up with the fire of that jealousy in which the
great God will come, when He cometh to curse the souls of sinners,
and when He cometh to defy the ungodly, (2 Thess 1: 7-9).

It is little thought of, but the manner of the coming of God to
judge the world declares what the souls of impenitent sinners must
look for then. It is common among men, when we see the form of
a man's countenance changed, when we see fire sparkle out of his
eyes, when we read rage and fury in every cast of his face, even
before he says aught, or doth aught either, to conclude that some
fearful thing is now to be done (Dan 3:19,23). Why, it is said of
Christ when He cometh to judgment, that the heavens and the earth
fly away, as not being able to endure His looks, (Rev 20:11,12);
that His angels are clad in flaming fire, and that the elements melt
with fervent heat; and all this is, that the perdition of ungodly
men might be completed, 'from the presence of the Lord, in the
heat of His anger, from the glory of His power' (2 Pet 3:7; 2 Thess
1:8,9). Therefore, God will now be revenged, and so ease Himself
of His enemies, when He shall cause curses like millstones to fall
as thick as hail on 'the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on
still in his trespasses' (Psa 68:2l). But,

[The loss of the soul a loss everlasting.]

Fourthly, As the loss of the soul is a loss peculiar to itself, a
loss double, and a loss most fearful, so it is a loss everlasting.
The soul that is lost is never to be found again, never to be
recovered again, never to be redeemed again, its banishment from
God is everlasting; the fire in which it burns, and by which it must
be tormented, is a fire that is ever, everlasting fire, everlasting
burnings; the adder, the snake, the stinging worm, dieth not, nor
is the fire quenched; and this is a fearful thing. A man may endure
to touch the fire with a short touch, and away; but to dwell with
everlasting burnings, that is fearful. Oh, then, what is dwelling
with them, and in them, for ever and ever! We use to say, light
burdens far carried are heavy; what, then, will it be to bear
that burden, that guilt, that the law and the justice and wrath of
God will lay upon the lost soul for ever? Now tell the stars, now
tell the drops of the sea, and now tell the blades of grass that
are spread upon the face of all the earth, if thou canst: and yet
sooner mayest thou do this than count the thousands of millions of
thousands of years that a damned soul shall lie in hell. Suppose
every star that is now in the firmament was to burn, by himself,
one by one, a thousand years apiece, would it not be a long while
before the last of them was burned out? and yet sooner might that
be done than the damned soul be at the end of punishment.

There are three things couched under this last head that will fill
up the punishment of a sinner. 1. The first is, that it is everlasting.
2. The second is, that, therefore, it will be impossible for the
souls in hell ever to say, Now we are got half way through our
sorrows. 3. The third is, and yet every moment they shall endure
eternal punishment.

1. The first I have touched upon already, and, therefore, shall not
enlarge; only I would ask the wanton or unthinking sinner, whether
twenty, or thirty, or forty years of the deceitful pleasures of sin
is so rich a prize, as that a man may well venture the ruin, that
everlasting burnings will make upon his soul for the obtaining
of them, and living a few moments in them. Sinner, consider this
before I go any further, or before thou readest one line more. If
thou hast a soul, it concerns thee; if there be a hell, it concerns
thee; and if there be a God that can and will punish the soul for
sin everlastingly in hell, it concerns thee; because,

2. In the second place, it will be impossible for the damned soul
ever to say, I am now got half way through my sorrows. That which
has no end, has no middle. Sinner, make a round circle, or ring,
upon the ground, of what bigness thou wilt; this done, go thy way
upon that circle, or ring, until thou comest to the end thereof;
but that, sayest thou, I can never do; because it has no end. I
answer, but thou mayest as soon do that as wade half way through
the lake of fire that is prepared for impenitent souls. Sinner,
what wilt thou take to make a mountain of sand that will reach as
high as the sun is at noon? I know that thou wilt not be engaged
in such a work; because it is impossible thou shouldst ever perform
it. But I dare say the task is greater when the sinner has let
out himself to sin for a servant; because the wages is everlasting
burnings. I know thou mayest perform thy service; but the wages,
the judgment, the punishment is so endless, that thou, when thou
hast been in it more millions of years than can be numbered, art
not, nor never yet shalt be, able to say, I am half way through
it. And yet,

3. That soul shall partake every moment of that punishment that
is eternal. 'Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them
in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going
after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire' (Jude 7).

(1.) They shall endure eternal punishment in the nature of punishment.
There is no punishment here wherewith one man can chastise another
that can deserve a greater title than that of transient, or
temporary punishment; but the punishment there is eternal, even in
every stripe that is given, and in every moment that it grappleth
with the soul; even every twinge, every gripe, and every stroke
that justice inflicteth, leaveth anguish that, of their condition
according as will best stand with in the nature of punishment, is
eternal behind it. It is eternal, because it is from God, and lasts
for ever and ever. The justice that inflicts it has not a beginning,
and it is this justice in the operations of it that is always
dealing with the soul.

(2.) All the workings of the soul under this punishment are such
as cause it, in its sufferings, to endure that which is eternal. It
can have no thought of the end of punishment, but it is presently
recalled by the decreed gulf that bindeth them under perpetual
punishment. The great fixed gulf, they know, will keep them in their
present place, and not suffer them to go to heaven (Luke 16:26).
And now there is no other place but heaven or hell to be in; for
then the earth, and the works that are therein, will be burned up.
Read the text, 'But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also
and all the works that are therein, shall be burned up' (2 Peter
3:10). If, then, there will be no third place, it standeth in their
minds, as well as in God's decree, that their punishments shall be
eternal; so, then, sorrows, anguish, tribulation, grief, woe, and
pain, will, in every moment of its abiding upon the soul, not only
flow from thoughts of what has been, and what is, but also from
what will be, and that for ever and ever. Thus every thought that
is truly grounded in the cause and nature of their state will roll,
toss, and tumble them up and down in the cogitations and fearful
apprehensions of the lastingness of their damnation. For, I say,
their minds, their memories, their understandings, and consciences,
will all, and always, be swallowed up with 'for ever;' yea, they
themselves will, by the means of these things, be their own tormentors
for ever.

(3.) There will not be spaces, as days, months, years, and the like,
as now; though we make bold so to speak, the better to present our
thoughts to each other's capacities; for then there shall be time
no longer; also, day and night shall then be come to an end. 'He
hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night
come to an end' (Job 26:10). Until the end of light with darkness.
Now when time, and day, and night, are come to an end, then there
comes in eternity, as there was before the day, and night, or time,
was created; and when this is come, punishment nor glory must none
of them be measured by days, or months, or years, but by eternity
itself. Nor shall those concerned either in misery or glory reckon
of their now new state, as they need to reckon of things in this
world; but they shall be suited in their capacities, in their
understandings and apprehensions, to judge and count of their
condition according as will best stand with their state in eternity.18

Could we but come to an understanding of things done in heaven
and hell, as we understand how things are done in this world, we
should be strangely amazed to see how the change of places and of
conditions has made a change in the understandings of men, and in
the manner of their enjoyment of things. But this we must let alone
till the next world, and until our launching into it; and then,
whether we be of the right or left hand ones, we shall well know
the state and condition of both kingdoms. In the meantime, let
us addict ourselves to the belief of the Scriptures of truth, for
therein is revealed the way to that of eternal life, and how to
escape the damnation of the soul (Matt 25:33). But thus much for
the loss of the soul, unto which let me add, for a conclusion,
these verses following:--


These cry alas! But all in vain;
They stick fast in the mire;
They would be rid of present pain,
Yet set themselves on fire.

Darkness is their perplexity,
Yet do they hate the light;
They always see their misery,
Yet are themselves, all night.

They are all dead, yet live they do,
Yet neither live nor die;
They die to weal, and live to woe--19
This is their misery.

Now will confusion so possess,
These monuments of ire,
And so confound them with distress,
And trouble their desire,

That what to think, or what to do,
Or where to lay their head,
They know not: 'tis the damned's woe,
To live, and yet be dead.

These castaways would fain have life,
But know they never shall;
They would forget their dreadful plight.
But that sticks fast'st of all.

God, Christ, and heav'n, they know are best,
Yet dare not on them think;
They know the saints enjoy their rest,
While they their tears do drink.


[OF THE CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF THE SOUL.]

FOURTH, And now I am come to the fourth thing--that is, to show
you the cause of the loss of the soul. That men have souls, that
souls are great things, that souls may be lost, this I have showed
you already; wherefore I now proceed to show you the cause of this
loss. The cause is laid down in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, in
these words--'Behold, all souls,' says God, 'are Mine; as the soul
of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that
sinneth, it shall die' (5:4).

[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]

First, It is sin, then, or sinning against God, that is the cause
of dying, or damning in hell fire, for that must be meant by dying;
otherwise, to die, according to our ordinary acceptation of the
notion, the soul is not capable of, it being indeed immortal, as
hath been afore asserted. So, then, the soul that sinneth--that is,
and persevering in the same--that soul shall die, be cast away, or
damned; yea, to ascertain us of the undoubted truth of this, the
Holy Ghost doth repeat it again, and that in this very chapter,
saying, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' (5:20). Now, the soul
may divers ways be said to sin against God; as,

1. In its receiving of sin into its bosom, and in its retaining and
entertaining of it there. Sin must first be received before it can
act in, or be acted by, the soul. Our first parents first received
it in the suggestion or motion, and then acted it. Now it is not
here to be disputed when sin was received by the soul, so much
as whether ever the soul received sin; for if the soul has indeed
received sin into itself, then it has sinned, and by doing so,
has made itself an object of the wrath of God, and a fire brand of
hell. I say, I will not here dispute when sin was received by the
soul, but it is apparent enough that it received it betimes, because
in old time every child that was brought unto the Lord was to be
redeemed, and that at a month old, (Exo 13:13; 34:20; Num 18:15,
16); which, to be sure, was very early, and implied that then,
even then, the soul in God's judgment stood before Him as defiled
and polluted with sin. But although I said I will not dispute at
what time the soul may be said to receive sin, yet it is evident
that it was precedent to the redemption made mention of just before,
and so before the person redeemed had attained the age of a month.
And that God might, in the language of Moses, give us to see cause
of the necessity of this redemption, he first distinguisheth, and
saith, 'The firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the
firstling of a goat,' did not need this redemption, for they were
clean, or holy. But the firstborn of men, who was taken in lieu
of the rest of the children, and the 'firstling of unclean beasts,
thou shalt surely redeem,' saith He. But why was the firstborn of
men coupled with unclean beasts, but because they are both unclean?
The beast was unclean by God's ordination, but the other was unclean
by sin. Now, then, it will be demanded, how a soul, before it was
a month old, could receive sin to the making of itself unclean?
I answer, There are two ways of receiving, one active, the other
passive; this last is the way by which the soul at first receiveth
sin, and by so receiving, becometh culpable, because polluted and
defiled by it. And this passive way of receiving is often mentioned
in Scripture. Thus the pans received the ashes, (Exo 27:3); thus
the molten sea received three thousand baths, (2 Chron 4:5); thus
the ground receiveth the seed, (Matt 13:20-23); and this receiving
is like that of the wool which receiveth the dye, either black,
white, or red; and as the fire that receiveth the water till it
be all quenched therewith: or as the water receiveth such stinking
and poisonous matter into it, as for the sake of it, it is poured
out and spilt upon the ground. But whence should the soul thus
receive sin? I answer, from the body, while it is in the mother's
belly; the body comes from polluted man, and therefore is polluted
(Psa 51: 5). 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' (Job
14:4). The soul comes from God's hand, and therefore as so is pure
and clean: but being put into this body, it is tainted, polluted,
and defiled with the taint, stench, and filth of sin; nor can this
stench and filth be by man purged out, when once from the body got
into the soul; sooner may the blackamoor change his skin, or the
leopard his spots, than the soul, were it willing, might purge
itself of this pollution. 'Though thou wash thee with nitre, and
take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith
the Lord God' (Jer 2:22).

2. But as I said, the soul has not only received sin, but retains
it, holds it, and shows no kind of resistance. It is enough that
the soul is polluted and defiled, for that is sufficient to provoke
God to cast it away; for which of you would take a cloth annoyed
with stinking, ulcerous sores, to wipe your mouth withal, or to
thrust it into your bosoms? and the soul is polluted with far worse
pollution than any such can be. But this is not all; it retains
sin as the wool retains the dye, or as the infected water receives
the stench or poisonous scent; I say, it retains it willingly;
for all the power of the soul is not only captivated by a seizure
of sin upon the soul, but it willingly, heartily, unanimously,
universally falleth in with the natural filth and pollution that
is in sin, to the estranging of itself from God, and an obtaining
of an intimacy and compliance with the devil.

Now this being the state and condition of the soul from the belly,20
yea, from before it sees the light of this world, what can be
concluded but that God is offended with it? For how can it otherwise
be, since there is holiness and justice in God? Hence those that
are born of a woman, whose original is by carnal conception with
man, are said to be as serpents so soon as born. 'The wicked (and
all at first are so) go astray as soon as they be born, speakings
lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like
the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear' (Psa 58:3,4). They go astray
from the belly; but that they would not do, if aught of the powers
of their soul were unpolluted. 'But their poison is like the poison
of a serpent.' Their poison--what is that? Their pollution, their
original pollution, that is as the poison of a serpent--to wit,
not only deadly, for so poison is, but also hereditary. It comes
from the old one, from the sire and dam; yea, it is also now
become connatural to and with them, and is of the same date with
the child as born into the world. The serpent has not her poison,
in the original of it, either from imitation or from other infective
things abroad, though it may by such things be helped forward and
increased; but she brings it with her in her bowels, in her nature,
and it is to her as suitable to her present condition as it is
that which is most sweet and wholesome to other of the creatures.
So, then, every soul comes into the world as poisoned with sin; nay,
as such which have poison connatural to them; for it has not only
received sin as the wool has received the dye, but it retaineth it.
The infection is got so deep, it has taken the black so effectually,
that the tint, the very fire of hell, can never purge the soul
therefrom.

And that the soul has received this infection thus early, and that
it retains it so surely, is not only signified by children coming
into the world besmeared in their mother's blood, and by the
firstborn's being redeemed at a month old, but also by the first
inclinations and actions of children when they are so come into
the world (Exo 26). Who sees not that lying, pride, disobedience to
parents, and hypocrisy, do put forth themselves in children before
they know that they do either well or ill in so doing, or before
they are capable to learn either of these arts by imitation, or
seeing understandingly the same things done first by others? He
that sees not that they do it naturally from a principle, from an
inherent principle, is either blinded, and has retained his darkness
by the same sin as they, or has suffered himself to be swayed by
a delusion from him who at first infused this spawn of sin into
man's nature.