Marie Corelli - "Innocent"

Thomas de Quincey - "The Notebook of an English Opium Eater"

Floyd Dell - "King Arthur's Socks and Other Village Plays"

William Rose Benet - "Perpetual Light"

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




Answer. The greatness of thy undertaking does but show the nobleness
of thy soul, in that it cannot, will not, be content with such low
and dry as the baseborn spirits that are of the world can and do
content themselves withal. And as to the greatness of the things
thou aimest at, though they be, err they are indeed, things that
have not their like, yet they are not too big for God to give, and
He has promised to give them to the soul that seeketh Him; yea, He
hath prepared the kingdom, given the kingdom, and laid up in the
kingdom of heaven, the things that thy soul longeth for, presseth
after, and cannot be content without (Luke 7:32; Matt 25:14; Col
1:5; 1 Peter 1:4). As for thy making a trial of the successfulness
of thy endeavours upon things more interim and base, that is but
a trick of the old deceiver. God has refused to give His children
the great, the brave, and glorious things of this world, a few
only excepted, because He has prepared some better thing for them
(1 Cor 1:27; Heb 11:36-40). Wherefore faint not, but let thy hand
be strong, for thy work shall be rewarded (Gal 6:9). And since thy
soul is at work for soul-things, for divine and eternal things,
God will give them to thee; thou art not of the number of them that
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul; thou shalt receive the end of thy faith, the salvation
of thy soul (Heb 10:39; 1 Peter 1:8,9).

Objection 2. But all my discouragement doth not lie in this. I see
so much of the sinful vileness of my nature, and feel how ready
it is to thrust itself forth at all occasions to the defiling of
my whole man, and more. Now this added to the former, adds to my
discouragement greatly.

Answer. This should be cause of humiliation and of self-abasement,
but not of discouragement; for the best of saints have their
weaknesses, these their weaknesses. The ladies as well as she that
grinds at the mill, know what doth attend that sex; and the giants
in grace as well as the weak and shrubs, are sensible of the same
things, which thou layest in against thy exercising of hope, or as
matter of thy discouragement. Poor David says (Psa 77:2) 'My soul
refused to be comforted,' upon this very account, and Paul cries
out under sense of this, 'O wretched man that I am!' and comes as
it were to the borders of doubt, saying, 'Who shall deliver me?'
(Rom 7:24). Only he was quick at remembering that Christ was his
righteousness and price of redemption, and there he relieved himself.

Again; this should drive us to faith in Christ; for therefore are
the corruptions by Divine permission still left in us; they are not
left in us to drive us to unbelief, but to faith--that is, to look
to the perfect righteousness of Christ for life. And for further
help, consider, that therefore Christ liveth in heaven, making
intercession, that thou mightest be saved by His life, not by thine,
and by His intercessions, not by thy perfections (Rom 5: 6-9; Col
1:20). Let not therefore thy weaknesses be thy discouragements;
only let them put thee upon the duties required of thee by the
gospel--to wit, faith, hope, repentance, humility, watchfulness,
diligence, etc. (1 Peter 1:13; 5:5; 2 Cor 7:11; Mark 13:37; 2 Peter
1:10).

Objection 3. But I find, together with these things, weakness and
faintness as to my graces; my faith my hope, my love, and desires
to these and all other Christian duties are weak; I am like the man
in the dream, that would have run, but could not; that would have
fought, but could not; and that would have fled, but could not.

Answer 1. Weak graces are graces, weak graces may grow stronger;
but if the iron be blunt, put to the more strength (Eccl 10:10).
2. Christ seems to be most tender of the weak: 'He shall gather the
lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently
lead those that are with young.' (Isa 40:11). And again, 'I will
seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven
away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen
that which was sick' (Eze 34:16). Only here will thy wisdom
be manifested--to wit, that thou grow in grace, and that thou use
lawfully and diligently the means to do it (2 Peter 3:18; Phil
2:10,11; 1 Thess 3:11-13).

USE SIXTH, I come, in the next place, to a use of terror, and so
I shall conclude. Is it so? is the soul such an excellent thing,
and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great? Then this showeth
the sad state of those that lose their souls. We use to count those
in a deplorable condition, that by one only stroke, are stript of
their whole estate; the fire swept away all that he had; or all that
he had was in such a ship, and that ship sunk into the bottom of
the sea; this is sad news, this is heavy tidings, this is bewailed
of all, especially if such were great in the world, and were brought
by their loss from a high to a low, to a very low condition; but
alas! what is this to the loss about which we have been speaking
all this while? The loss of an estate may be repaired, or if not,
a man may find friends in his present deplorable condition to his
support, though not recovery; but far will this be from him that
shall lose his soul. Ah! he has lost his soul, and can never be
recovered again, unless hell fire can comfort him; unless he can
solace himself in the fiery indignation of God; terrors will be
upon him, anguish and sorrow will swallow him up, because of present
misery; slighted and set at nought by God and His angels, he will
also be in this miserable state, and this will add to sorrow,
sorrow, and to his vexation of spirit, howling.

To present you with emblems of tormented spirits, or to draw
before your eyes the picture of hell, are things too light for so
ponderous a subject as this; nor can any man frame or invent words,
be they never so deep and profound, sufficient to the life to set
out the torments of hell.

All those expressions of fire, brimstone, the lake of fire, a fiery
furnace, the bottomless pit, and a hundred more to boot, are all
too short to let forth the miseries of those that shall be damned
souls. 'Who knoweth the power or God's anger?' (Psa 90:11). None
at all; and unless the power of that can be known, it must abide
as unspeakable as the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.

We hear it thunder, we see it lighten; yea, eclipses, comets, and
blazing stars are all subject to smite us with terror; the thought
of a ghost, of the appearing of a dead wife, a dead husband, or the
like, how terrible are these things! 36 But alas, what are these?
mere flea bitings, nay, not so bad, when compared with the torments
of hell. Guilt and despair, what are they? Who understands them unto
perfection? The ireful looks of an infinite Majesty, what mortal
in the land of the living can tell us to the full, how dismal and
breaking to the soul of a man it is, when it comes as from 'the
power of His anger,' and arises from the utmost indignation? Besides,
who knows of all the ways by which the Almighty will inflict His
just revenges upon the souls of damned sinners? When Paul was caught
up to the third heaven, he heard words that were unspeakable; and
he that goes down to hell shall hear groans that are unutterable.
Hear, did I say? they shall feel them, they shall feel them burst
from their wounded spirit as thunderclaps do from the clouds. Once I
dreamed that I saw two (whom I knew) in hell, and methought I saw
a continual dropping from heaven, as of great drops of fire lighting
upon them, to their sore distress. Oh! words are wanting, thoughts
are wanting, imagination and fancy are poor things here; hell is
another kind of place and state than any alive can think; and since
I am upon this subject, I will here treat a little of hell as the
Scriptures will give me leave, and the rather because I am upon a
use of terror, and because hell is the place of torment (Luke 16).

1. Hell is said to be beneath, as heaven is said to be above;
because as above signifieth the utmost joy, triumph, and felicity,
so beneath is a term most fit to describe the place of hell by,
because of the utmost opposition that is between these two; hell
being the place of the utmost sorrow, despair, and misery; there
are the underlings ever trampled under the feet of God; they are
beneath, below, under (Prov 15:24)!

2. Hell is said to be darkness, and heaven is said to be light;
light, to show the pleasureableness and the desireableness of heaven;
and darkness, to show the dolesome and wearisomeness of hell; and
how weary, oh! how weary and wearisomely, as I may say, will damned
souls turn themselves from side to side, from place to place, in
hell, while swallowed up in the thickest darkness, and griped with
the burning thoughts of the endlessness of that most unutterable
misery (Matt 22:13)!

3. Men are said to go up to heaven, but they are said to go down
to hell; up, because of exaltation, and because they must abound
in beauty and glory that go to heaven; down, because of those sad
dejections, that great deformity and vile contempt that sin hath
brought them to that go to hell (Eze 32:18).

4. Heaven is called a hill or mount, (Heb 12); hell is called a pit,
or hole, (Rev 9:2); heaven, a mount, the mount Zion, (Rev 14); to
show how God has, and will exalt them that loved Him in the world;
hell, a pit or hole, to show how all the ungodly shall be buried
in the yawning paunch and belly of hell, as in a hollow cave.

5. Heaven! It is said of heaven, the height of heaven, (Job 22:12).
and of hell, the bottomless pit, (Rev 9:2; 20:3). The height
of heaven, to show that the exaltation of them that do ascend up
thither is both perfect and unsearchable; and hell, the bottomless
pit, to show that the downfall of them that descend in thither
will never be at an end--down, down, down they go, and nothing but
down, down still!

6. Heaven! It is called the paradise of God, (Rev 2:7); but hell,
the burning lake (Rev 20:15). A paradise, to show how quiet, harmless,
sweet, and beautiful heaven shall be to them that possess it, as
the garden was at the beginning of the creation; hell, the burning
lake, to allude to Sodom, that since its destruction is turned into
a stinking lake, and to show that as their distress was unutterable,
and to the highest amazement, full of confusion and horror, when
that tempestuous storm of fire and brimstone was rained from the
Lord out of heaven upon them, so, to the utmost degree, shall it
be with the souls that are lost and cast into hell.

7. It is said that there are dwelling houses, or places in the
kingdom of heaven (John 14: 1-3; Zech 3:7; Isa 57:1,2). And also
that there are the cells or the chambers of death in hell (Prov
7:27). There are mansions or dwelling places in heaven, to show
that every one of them that go thither might have his reward,
according to his work; and that there is hell, and the lowest hell
(Deu 32:22; Psa 86:13). And the chambers of death in hell to show
there are places and states in hell too, for sinners to be imprisoned
in, according to their faults; hence it is said of some, These
shall receive greater damnation, (Luke 20:47); and of others, That
it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment
than for them, etc. (Luke 10:12, 14).

The lowest hell. How many hells there are above that, or more
tolerable tormenting places than the most exquisite torments there,
God, and they that are there, know best; but degrees without doubt
there are; and the term 'lowest' shows the utmost and most exquisite
distress; so the chambers of death, the second death in hell, for
so I think the words should be understood--'Her house is the way to
hell, going down to the chambers of death' (Prov 7:27). These are
the chambers that the chambers in the temple, or that the dwelling
places in the house in heaven, are opposed to: and this opposition
shows, that as there will be degrees of glory in heaven, so there
will of torments in hell; and there is all reason for it, since
the punishment must be inflicted by God, the infinitely just. Why
should a poor, silly, ignorant man, though damned, be punished
with the same degree of torment that he that has lived a thousand
times worse shall be punished with? It cannot be; justice will not
admit it; guilt, and the quality of the transgression, will not
admit it; yea, the tormenting fire of hell itself will not admit
it; for if hell fire can kindle upon nothing but sin, and the sinner
for the sake of it, and if sin be as oil to that fire, as the Holy
Ghost seems to intimate, saying, 'Let it come into his bowels like
water, and like oil into his bones' (Psa 109:18). Then as the
quantity of the oil is, so will the fire burn, and so will the
flaming flame ascend, and the smoke of their torment, for ever and
ever. Suppose a piece of timber a little bedaubed with oil, and
another that has been soaking in it many a year, which of these two,
think you, would burn fiercest? and from whence would the flaming
flame ascend highest, and make the most roaring noise? Suppose
two vessels filled with oil, one containing the quantity of a pint,
the other containing the quantity of a hogshead, and suppose that
in one place they were both set on fire, yet so that they might
not intermix flames; nay, though they did, yet all would conclude
that the most amazing roaring flame would be upon the biggest
vessel, and would be the effect of the greatest quantity of oil;
so it will be with the wicked in hell. The lowest hell is for the
biggest sinners, and theirs will be the greater damnation, and the
more intolerable torment, though he that has least of this oil of
sin in his bones, and of the kindlings of hell fire upon him, will
find he has hell enough, and will be weary enough thereof, for
still he must struggle with flames that are everlasting; for sin
is such a thing, that it can never be burned out of the soul and
body of a damned sinner.

But again; having treated thus of hell, we will now speak a word
or two of sin, for that is it upon which hell fire seizes, and so
on the soul by that. Sin! it is the sting of hell--the sting of
death is sin (1 Cor 15:56). By 'death' in this place we must not
understand that which is natural, but that which is in hell, the
second death, even everlasting damnation; for natural death the
saints die, yea, and also many sinners, without the least touch of
a sting from that; but here is a death that has a sting to hurt,
to twinge, and wound the sinner with, even then when it has the
utmost mastery of him. And this is the death that the saved are
delivered from; not that which is natural, for that is the end
of them as of others (1 Cor 15:55; Eccl 2:15, 16). But the second
death, the death in hell, for that is the portion of the damned, and
it is from that that the saints have a promise of deliverance--'He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death' (Rev 2:11).
And again, 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection; on such the second death hath no power' (Rev 20:6).
It is this death, then, that hath the chambers to hold each damned
soul in: and sin is the twining, winding, biting, poisoning sting
of this death, or of these chambers of hell, for sinners to be
stricken, stung, and pierced with. 'The sting of death is sin.' Sin,
the general of it, 37 is the sting of hell, for there would be no
such thing as torment even there, were it not that sin is there
with sinners; for, as I have hinted already, the fire of hell, the
indignation and wrath of God, can fasten and kindle upon nothing
but for or because of sin; sin, then, as sin, is the sting and the
hell of hells, of the lowest and upmost hells. Sin, I say, in the
nature of it, simply as it is concluded both by God and the damned
to be a breach of His holy law, so it is the sting of the second
death, which is the worm of hell. But then, as sin is such a sting
in itself, so it is heightened, sharpened, and made more keen and
sharp by those circumstances that as concomitants attend it in
every act: for there is not a sin at any time committed by man,
but there is some circumstance or other attends it, that makes it,
when charged home by God's law, bigger and sharper, and more venom
and poisonous to the soul than if it could be committed without
them; and this is the sting of the hornet, the great sting. I sinned
without a cause to please a base lust, to gratify the devil; here
is the sting! Again, I preferred sin before holiness, death before
life, hell before heaven, the devil before God, and damnation before
a Saviour; here is the sting! Again, I preferred moments before
everlastings, temporals before eternals, to be racked and always
slaying before the life that is blessed and endless; here is the
sting! Also, this I did against light, against convictions, against
conscience, against persuasion of friends, ministers, and the godly
lives which I beheld in others; here is the sting! Also, this I
did against warnings, forewarnings, yea, though I saw others fall
before my face by the mighty hand of God for committing of the
same; here is the sting!

Sinners, would I could persuade you to hear me out! A man cannot
commit a sin, but, by the commission of it, he doth, by some
circumstance or other, sharpen the sting of hell, and that to pierce
himself through and through, and through, with many sorrows (1 Tim
6:10) Also, the sting of hell to some will be, that the damnation
of others stand upon their score, for that by imitating of them, by
being deluded by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, they
perish in hell for ever; and hence it is that these principal
sinners must die all these deaths in themselves, that those damned
ones that they have drawn into hell are also to bear in their own
souls for ever. And this God threatened to the prince of Tyrus,
that capital sinner, because by his pride, power, practice, and
policy, he cast down others into the pit; therefore saith God to
him, 'They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the
deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.' And again;
'Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of
strangers; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God' (Eze 28:8,10).
Ah! this will be the sting of them, of those that are principal,
chief and, as I may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners.
Vipers will come out of other men's fire and flames, and settle
upon, seize upon, and for ever abide upon their consciences; and
this will be the sting of hell, the great sting of hell to them.

I will yet add to all this; how will the fairness of some for heaven,
even the thoughts of that, sting them when they come to hell! It
will not be so much their fall into the pit, as from whence they
fell into it, that will be to them the buzzing noise and sharpened
sting of the great and terrible hornet. 'How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer!' there is the sting (Isa 14:12). Thou that art
exalted up to heaven shalt be thrust down to hell, though thou hast
made 'thy nest among the stars,' from thence I will fetch thee down;
there is a sting (Matt 11:23; Oba 4). To be pulled, for and through
love to some vain lust, from the everlasting gates of glory, and
caused to be swallowed up for it in the belly of hell, and made
to lodge for ever in the darksome chambers of death, there is the
piercing sting!

But again, as there is the sting of hell, so there is the strength
of that sting; for a sting though never so sharp, or venom, yet if
it wanteth strength to force it to the designed execution, it doth
but little hurt. But this sting has strength to cause it to pierce
into the soul; 'the sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin
is the law' (1 Cor 15:56). Here then is the strength of the stings
of hell; it is the law in the perfect penalty of it; 'for without
the law, sin is dead' (Rom 7:8). Yea, again he saith, 'where no law
is, there is no transgression' (Rom 4:15). The law then followeth,
in the executive part of it, the soul into hell, and there
strengtheneth sin, that sting of hell, to pierce by its unutterable
charging of it on the conscience, the soul for ever and ever; nor
can the soul justly murmur or repine at God or at His law, for that
then the sharply apprehensive soul will well discern the justness,
righteousness, reasonableness, and goodness of the law, and that
nothing is done by the law unto it, but that which is just and
equal. 38

This, therefore, will put great strength and force into sin to sting
the soul, and to strike it with the lashes of a scorpion. Add yet
to these the abiding life of God, the Judge and God of this law,
will never die. When princes die, the law may be altered by the
which at present transgressors are bound in chains; but oh! here
is also that which will make this sting so sharp and keen, the God
that executes it will never die. 'It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God' (Heb 10:30, 31).

FOOTNOTES:

1 'Gospellers,' a term of reproach given to our reformers under
Henry VIII; changed to 'Puritan' under Elizabeth and the Stuarts;
and to 'Methodist,' or 'Evangelical' in more recent times. All these
terms were adopted by the reformers as an honorable distinction
from the openly profane.--Ed.

2 Having the most solemn warnings mercifully given to us by God,
whose word is truth itself, how strange it is, nay, how insane,
to neglect the Saviour. Our author, in his 'Grace Abounding to the
Chief of Sinners,' gives a solemn account of his own distracted
feelings, when he, by Divine warnings, contemplated the probable
loss of his never-dying soul; and, believing in the truth of God's
revealed will, he felt, with inexpressible horror, his dangerous
state. He describes his mental anguish, by comparing it with the
acute bodily sufferings of a criminal broken on the wheel. Can we
wonder that he was in 'downright earnest' in seeking salvation. Oh!
reader, may we be thus impelled to fly from the wrath to come.--Ed.

3 Many have been the attempts to define the qualities, nature, and
residence of the soul. The sinful body is the sepulchre in which
it is entombed, until Christ giveth it life. The only safe guide,
in such inquiries, is to follow Bunyan, and ascertain 'what saith
the Lord' upon a subject so momentous and so difficult for mortal
eyes to penetrate.--Ed.

4 The poor soul, under the irresistible constraints of conscience,
bears witness against itself; sits in judgment upon, and condemns
itself; and goeth, without a jailor, to conduct it, into the dread
prison, where it becomes its own tormentor. 'A wounded spirit (or
conscience) who can bear?'--Ed.

5 My Lord Will-be-will was a very eminent captain in the town of
Mansoul, during the Holy War: wherefore Diabolus had a kindness
for him, and coveted to have him for one of his great ones, to act
and do in matters of the highest concern. Bunyan represents him
as having been wounded in the leg, during the seige. 'Some of the
prince's army certainly saw him limp, as he afterwards walked on
the wall.'--Ed.

6 To the unregenerate, unsanctified soul, the language of the Saviour
in John 6:48-58, must appear, as it did to the Jews, perfectly
inexplicable--' He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him.' Blessed mystery! to be one with Christ,
in obedience to His will, and in partaking of His inheritance. To be
enabled to say, 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.'--Ed.

7 Nothing short of a Divine influence can direct the passions of the
soul to a proper use of their energies. 'Godly sorrow worketh
repentance--carefulness--indignation--fear--a vehement
desire--zeal--revenge,' (2 Cor 7:11). Reader, has thy spirit been
thus excited against sin?--Ed.

8 This is perfectly true, but is only felt by those who are taught
of the Holy Spirit rightly to appreciate Divine worship. How many
pay undue respect to buildings in which public prayer is offered
up? It is the worship that consecrates the place and solemnizes the
mind. Very remarkably was this the case with Jacob while wandering
in the open wilderness. He put stones for his pillow, and in a dream
saw the angels visiting the earth, and said, THIS is the house of
God, and the gate of heaven.--Ed.

9 If the body, which is to return to dust, 'is fearfully and
wonderfully made,' past our finding out in its exquisite formation,
how much more so must be that immortal soul which we can only
contemplate by its own powers, and study in the Bible. It never dies,
although it may be dead in sin, in time; and be ever dying--ever
in the agonies of death, in eternity. Solemn consideration! May our
adorning be 'the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible;
a meek and quiet spirit; that which is in the sight of God of great
price' (1 Peter 3:4).--Ed.

10 One of the first revelations to our race was, that 'God breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.'
And this great and important fact has, by tradition, extended over
the whole of the human family.--Ed.