E. Nesbit - "The Enchanted Castle"

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, V9"

Edward S. Ellis - "The Lost Trail"

George Bernard Shaw - "The Inca of Perusalem"

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




For what can be expected to follow from such an issue in law as
this is, but sound and severe snibs from the judge upon him that
hath thus troubled his neighbour, and that hath, in the face of
the country, cast contempt upon the highest act of mercy, justice,
and righteousness, that ever the heavens beheld? 6 And all this
is true with reference to the case in hand, wherefore, "The Lord
rebuke thee," is that which, in conclusion, Satan must have for
the reward of his works of malice against the children, and for
his contemning of the works of the Son of God. Now, our Advocate
having thus established, by the law of heaven, his plea with God
for us against our accuser, there is way made for him to proceed
upon a foundation that cannot be shaken; wherefore, he proceedeth
in his plea, and further urges against this accuser of the brethren.

2. God's interest in this people; and prayeth that God would
remember that: "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; the Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee." True, the church, the saints, are
despicable in the world; wherefore men do think to tread them down;
the saints are, also, weak in grace, but have corruptions that are
strong, and, therefore, Satan, the god of this world, doth think
to tread them down; but the saints have a God, the living, the
eternal God, and, therefore, they shall not be trodden down; yea,
they "shall be holden up, for God is able to make them stand" (Rom
14:4).

It was Haman's mishap to be engaged against the queen, and the
kindred of the queen; it was that that made him he could not prosper;
that brought him to contempt and the gallows. Had he sought to
ruin another people, probably he might have brought his design to
a desired conclusion; but his compassing the death of the queen
spoiled all. Satan, also, when he fighteth against the church,
must be sure to come to the worst, for God has a concern in that;
therefore, it is said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against
it"; but this hindereth not but that he is permitted to make almost
what spoils he will of those that belong not to God. Oh, how many
doth he accuse, and soon get out from God, against them, a license
to destroy them! as he served Ahab, and many more. But this, I say,
is a very great block in his way when he meddles with the children;
God has an interest in them-"Hath God cast away his people? God
forbid!" (Rom 11:1,2). The text intimates that they for sin had
deserved it, and that Satan would fain have had it been so; but
God's interest in them preserved them-"God hath not cast away his
people, which he foreknew." Wherefore, when Satan accuseth them
before God, Christ, as he pleadeth his own worth and merit, pleadeth
also against him, that interest that God has in them.

And though this, to some, may seem but an indifferent plea; for what
engagement lieth, may they say, upon God to be so much concerned
with them, for they sin against him, and often provoke him most
bitterly? Besides, in their best state, they are altogether vanity,
and a very thing of nought-"What is man (sorry man), that thou art
mindful of him," or that thou shouldest be so?

I answer, Thought there lieth no engagement upon God for any
worthiness that is in man, yet there lieth a great deal upon God
for the worthiness that is in himself. God has engaged himself
with his having chosen them to be a people to himself; and by this
means they are so secured from all that all can do against them,
that the apostle is bold, upon this very account, to challenge
all despite to do its worst against them, saying, "Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect?" (Rom 8:33). Who? saith Satan;
why, that will I. Ay, saith he, but who can do it, and prevail? "It
is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" (ver. 34). By
which words the apostle clearly declareth that charges against the
elect, though they may be brought against them, must needs prove
ineffectual as to their condemnation; because their Lord God still
will justify, for that Christ has died for them. Besides, a little
to enlarge, the elect are bound to God by a sevenfold cord, and a
threefold one is not quickly broken.

(1.) Election is eternal as God himself, and so without variableness
or shadow of change, and hence it is called "an eternal purpose,"
and a "purpose of God" that must stand (Eph 3:11; Rom 9:11). (2.)
Election is absolute, not conditional; and, therefore, cannot
be overthrown by the sin of the man that is wrapped up therein.
No works foreseen to be in us was the cause of God's choosing us;
no sin in us shall frustrate or make election void-"Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth"
(Rom 8:33; 9:11). (3.) By the act of election the children are
involved, wrapped up, and covered in Christ; he hath chosen us in
him; not in ourselves, not in our virtues, no, not for or because
of anything, but of his own will (Eph 1:4-11). (4.) Election includeth
in it a permanent resolution of God to glorify his mercy on the
vessels of mercy, thus foreordained unto glory (Rom 9:15,18,23).
(5.) By the act of electing love, it is concluded that all things
whatsoever shall work together for the good of them whose call to
God is the fruit of this purpose, this eternal purpose of God (Rom
8:28-30). (6.) The eternal inheritance is by a covenant of free and
unchangeable grace made over to those thus chosen; and to secure
them from the fruits of sin, and from the malice of Satan, it
is sealed by this our Advocate's blood, as he is Mediator of this
covenant, who also is become surety to God for them; to wit, to
see them forthcoming at the great day, and to set them then safe
and sound before his Father's face after the judgment is over (Rom
9:23; Heb 7:22; 9:15,17-24; 13:20; John 10:28,29). (7.) By this
choice, purpose, and decree, the elect, the concerned therein, have
allotted them by God, and laid up for them, in Christ, a sufficiency
of grace to bring them through all difficulties to glory; yea, and
they, every one of them, after the first act of faith-the which
also they shall certainly attain, because wrapped up in the promise
for them-are to receive the earnest and first fruits thereof into
their souls (II Tim 1:9; Acts 14:22; Eph 1:4,5,13,14).

Now, put all these things together, and then feel if there be not
weight in this plea of Christ against the devil. He pleads God's
choice and interest in his saints against him-an interest that is
secured by the wisdom of heaven, by the grace of heaven, by the
power, will, and mercy of God, in Christ-an interest in which all
the three Persons in the Godhead have engaged themselves, by mutual
agreement and operation, to make good when Satan has done his all.
I know there are some that object against this doctrine as false;
but such, perhaps, are ignorant of some things else as well as of
this. However, they object against the wisdom of God, whose truth
it is, and against Christ our Advocate, whose argument, as he is
such, it is; yea, they labour, what in them lieth, to wrest that
weapon out of his hand, with which he so cudgelleth the enemy
when, as Advocate, he pleadeth so effectually against him for the
rescuing of us from the danger of judgment, saying, "The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke
thee."

Third. As Christ, as Advocate, pleads against Satan the interest
that his Father hath in his chosen, so also he pleads against
him by no less authority-his own interest in them. "Holy Father,"
saith he, "keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me" (John 17:11). Keep them while in the world from the evil, the
soul-damning evil of it. These words are directed to the Father,
but they are leveled against the accusations of the enemy, and were
spoken here to show what Christ will do for his, against our foe,
when he is above. How, I say, he will urge before his Father his
own interest in us against Satan, and against all his accusations,
when he brings them to the bar of God's tribunal, with design to
work our utter ruin. And is there not a great deal in it? As if
Christ should say, Father, my people have an adversary who will
accuse them for their faults before thee; but I will be their
Advocate, and as I have bought them of thee, I will plead my right
against him (John 10:28). Our English proverb is, Interest will
not lie; interest will make a man do that which otherwise he would
not. How many thousands are there for whom Christ doth not so much as
once open his mouth, but leaves them to the accusations of Satan,
and to Ahab's judgment, nay, a worse, because there is none to
plead their cause? And why doth he not concern himself with them?
but because he is not interested in them-"I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine; and all
mine are thine, and I am glorified in them" (John 17:9,10).

Suppose so many cattle in such a pound, and one goes by whose they
are not, doth he concern himself? No; he beholds them, and goes his
way. But suppose that at his return he should find his own cattle
in that pound, would he now carry it toward them as he did unto the
other? No, no; he has interest here, they are his that are in the
pound; now he is concerned, now he must know who put them there,
and for what cause too they are served as they are; and if he
finds them rightfully there, he will fetch them by ransom; but if
wrongfully, he will replevy7 them, and stand a trial at law with
him that has thus illegally pounded his cattle. And thus it is
betwixt Jesus Christ and his. He is interested in them; the cattle
are his own, "his own sheep," (John 10:3,4), but pounded by some
other, by the law, or by the devil. If pounded by the law, he
delivereth them by ransom; if pounded by the devil, he will replevy
them, stand a trial at law for them, and will be, against their
accuser, their Advocate himself. Nor can Satan withstand his plea,
though he should against them join argument with the law; forasmuch,
as has been proved before, he can and will, by what he has to produce
and plead of his own, save his from all trespasses, charges, and
accusations. Besides, all men know that a man's proper goods are
not therefore forfeited, because they commit many, and them too
great transgressions-"And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Now, the strength of this
plea thus grounded upon Christ's interest in his people is great,
and hath many weighty reasons on its side; as-

1. They are mine; therefore in reason at my dispose, not at the
dispose of an adversary; for while a thing can properly be called
mine, no man has therewith to do but myself; nor doth (a man, nor)
Christ close his right to what he has by the weakness of that thing
which is his proper right. He, therefore, as an Advocate, pleadeth
interest, his own interest, in his people, and right must, with
the Judge of all the earth, take place-"Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25).

2. They cost him dear; and that which is dear bought is not easily
parted with (I Cor. 6:20). They were bought with "his blood" (Eph
1:7; I Peter 1:18,19). They were given him for his blood, and
therefore are "dear children" (Eph 5:1); for they are his by the
highest price; and this price he, as Advocate, pleadeth against the
enemy of our salvation; yea, I will add, they are his, because he
gave his all for them (II Cor 8:9). When a man shall give his all
for this or that, then that which he so hath purchased is become
his all. Now Christ has given his all for us; he made himself poor
for us, wherefore we are become his all, his fullness; and so the
church is called (Eph 1:23). Nay, further, Christ likes well enough
of his purchase, though it hath cost him his all-"The lines," says
he, "are fallen to me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage"
(Psa 16:6). Now, put all these things together, and there is a
strong plea in them. Interest, such an interest, will not be easily
parted with. But this is not all; for,

3. As they cost him dear, so he hath made them near to himself,
near by way of relation. Now that which did not only cost dear, but
that by way of relation is made so, that a man will plead heartily
for. Said David to Abner, "Thou shalt not see my face, except thou
first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my
face" (II Sam 3:13,14). Saul's daughter cost me dear; I bought
her with the jeopardy of my life; Saul's daughter is near to me;
she is my beloved wife. He pleaded hard for her, because she was
dear and near to him. Now, I say, the same is true in Christ; his
people cost him dear, and he hath made them near unto him; wherefore,
to plead interest in them, is to hold by an argument that is strong.
(a.) They are his spouse, and he hath made them so; they are his
love, his dove, his darling, and he accounts them so. Now, should
a wretch attempt, in open court, to take a man's wife away from
him, how would this cause the man to plead! Yea, and what judge
that is just, and knows that the man has this interest in the woman
pleaded for, would yield to, or give a verdict for the wretch,
against the man whose wife the woman is? Thus Christ, in pleading
interest-in pleading "thou gavest them me"-pleads by a strong argument,
an argument that the enemy cannot invalidate. True, were Christ to
plead this before a Saul (I Sam 25;44), or before Samson's wife's
father, the Philistine (Judg 14:20), perhaps such treacherous
judges would give it against all right. But, I have told you, the
court in which Christ pleads is the highest and the justest, and
that from which there can be no appeal; wherefore Christ's cause,
and so the cause of the children of God, must be tried before their
Father, from whose face, to be sure, just judgment shall proceed.
But,

(b.) As they are called his spouse, so they are called his flesh,
and members of his body. Now, said Paul to the church, "Ye are the
body of Christ, and members in particular" (I Cor 12:27; Eph 5:30).
This relation also makes a man plead hard. Were a man to plead for
a limb, or a member of his own, how would he plead? What arguments
would he use? And what sympathy and feeling would his arguments
flow from? I cannot lose a hand, I cannot lose a foot, cannot lose
a finger; why, saints are Christ's members, his members are of himself.
With what strength of argument would a man plead the necessariness
of his members to him, and the unnaturalness of his adversary in
seeking the destruction of his members, and the deformity of his
body! Yea, a man would shuck and cringe, and weep, and entreat,
and make demurs, and halts, and delays, to a thousand years, if
possible, before he would lose his members, or any one of them.

But, I say, how would he plead and advocate it for his members,
if judge, and law, and reason, and equity, were all on his side,
and if, by the adversary, there could be nothing urged, but that
against which the Advocate had long before made provision for the
effectual overthrow thereof? And all this is true as to the case
that lies before us. Thus we see what strength there lieth in this
second argument, that our Advocate bringeth for us against the
enemy. They are his flesh and bones, his members; he cannot spare
them; he cannot spare this, because, nor that, because, nor any,
because, they are his members. As such, they are lovely to him; as
such, they are useful to him; as such, they are an ornament to him;
yea, though in themselves they are feeble, and through infirmity
weak, much disabled from doing as they should. Thus, "If any man sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
But,

4. As Christ, as Advocate, pleads for us, against Satan, his
Father's interest in us and his own; so he pleadeth against him
that right and property that he hath in heaven, to give it to whom
he will. He has a right to heaven as Priest and King; it is his
also by inheritance; and since he will be so good a benefactor as
to bestow this house on somebody, but not for their deserts, but
not for their goodness, and since, again, he has to that end spilt
his blood for, and taken a generation into covenant relation to
him, that it might be bestowed on them; it shall be bestowed on
them; and he will plead this, if there be need, if his people sin,
and if their accuser seeks, by their sin, their ruin and destruction:
"Father," saith he, "I will that they also, whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me" (John 17:24). Christ's will is the will of heaven,
the will of God. Shall not Christ, then, prevail?

"I will," saith Christ; "I will," saith Satan; but whose will shall
stand? It is true, Christ in the text speaks more like an arbitrator
than an Advocate; more like a judge than one pleading at a bar.
I will have it so; I judge that so it ought to be, and must. But
there is also something of plea in the words both before his Father,
and against our enemy; and therefore he speaketh like one that can
plead and determine also; yea, like one that has power so to do.
But shall the will of heaven stoop to the will of hell? Or the
will of Christ to the will of Satan? Or the will of righteousness
to the will of sin? Shall Satan, who is God's enemy, and whose charge
wherewith he chargeth us for sin, and which is grounded, not upon
love to righteousness, but upon malice against God's designs of
mercy, against the blood of Christ, and the salvation of his people-I
say, shall this enemy and this charge prevail with God against the
well-grounded plea of Christ, and against the salvation of God's
elect, and so keep us out of heaven? No, no; Christ will have it
otherwise, he is the great donator, 8 and his eye is good. True,
Satan was turned out of heaven for that he sinned there, and we
must be taken into heaven, though we have sinned here; this is the
will of Christ, and, as Advocate, he pleads it against the face
and accusation of our adversary. Thus, "If any man sin, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But,

5. As Christ, as Advocate, pleadeth for us, against Satan, his
Father's interest in us, and his own, and pleadeth also what right
he has to dispose of the kingdom of heaven; so he pleadeth against
this enemy, that malice and enmity that is in him, and upon which
chiefly his charge against us is grounded, to the confusion of his
face. This is evident from the title that our Advocate bestows upon
him, while he pleads for us against him: "The Lord rebuke thee,
O Satan, O enemy," saith he; for Satan is an enemy, and this name
given him signifies so much. And lawyers, in their pleas, can make
a great matter of such a circumstance as this; saying, My lord,
we can prove that what is now pleaded against the prisoner at the
bar is of mere malice and hatred, that has also a long time lain
burning and raging in his enemy's breast against him. This, I
say, will greatly weaken the plea and accusation of an enemy. But,
says Jesus Christ, "Father, here is a plea brought in against my
Joshua, that clothes him with filthy garments, but it is brought in
against him by an enemy, by an enemy in the superlative or highest
degree. One that hates goodness worse than he, and that loveth
wickedness more than the man against whom at this time he has brought
such a heinous charge." Then leaving with the Father the value of
his blood for the accused, he turneth him to the accuser, and pleads
against him as an enemy: "O Satan, thou that accusest my spouse,
my love, my members, art SATAN, an enemy." But it will be objected
that the things charged are true. Grant it; yet what law takes notice
of the plea of one who doth professedly act as an enemy? because
it is not done of love to truth, and justice, and righteousness,
nor intended for the honour of the king, nor for the good of the
prosecuted; but to gratify malice and rage, and merely to kill and
destroy. There is, therefore, a great deal of force and strength in
an Advocate's pleading of such a circumstance against an accuser;
especially when the crimes now charged are those, and only those
for which the law, in the due execution of it, has been satisfied
before; wherefore now a lawyer has double and treble ground or
matter to plead for his client against his enemy. And this advantage
against him has Jesus Christ.

Besides, it is well known that Satan, as to us, is the original cause
of those very crimes for which he accuses us at the bar of God's
tribunal. Not to say anything of how he cometh to us, solicits
us, tempts us, flatters us, and always, in a manner, lies at us
to do those wicked things for which he so hotly pursues us to the
bar of the judgment of God. For though it is not meet for us thus
to plead,-to wit, laying that fault upon Satan, but rather upon
ourselves,-yet our advocate will do it, and make work of it too
before God. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he might sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31,32). He maketh here mention of
Satan's desires, by way of advantage against him; and, doubtless,
so he did in his prayer with God for Peter's preservation. And
what he did here, while on earth, as a Saviour in general, that he
doth now in heaven as a Priest and an Advocate in special.

I will further suppose that which may be supposed, and that which
is suitable to our purpose. Suppose, therefore, that a father that
has a child whom he loveth, but the child has not half that wit
that some of the family hath, and I am sure that we have less wit
than angels; and suppose, also, that some bad-minded neighbour, by
tampering with, tempting of, and by unwearied solicitations, should
prevail with this child to steal something out of his father's house
or grounds, and give it unto him; and this he doth on purpose to
set the father against the child; and suppose, again, that it comes
to the father's knowledge that the child, through the allurements
of such an one, has done so and so against his father; will he
therefore disinherit this child? Yea, suppose, again, that he that
did tempt this child to steal, should be the first that should come
to accuse this child to its father for so doing, would the father
take notice of the accusation of such an one?-No, verily, we that
are evil can do better than so; how then should we think that the
God of heaven should do such a thing, since also we have a brother
that is wise, and that will and can plead the very malice of our enemy
that doth to us all these things against him for our advantage?-I
say, this is the sum of this fifth plea of Christ our Advocate,
against Satan. O Satan, says he, thou art an enemy to my people;
thou pleadest not out of love to righteousness, not to reform, but
to destroy my beloved and inheritance. The charge wherewith thou
chargest my people is thine own (Job 8:4-6). Not only as to a matter
of charge, but the things that thou accusest them of are thine,
thine in the nature of them. Also, thou hast tempted, allured,
flattered, and daily laboured with them, to do that for which now
thou so willingly would have them destroyed. Yea, all this hast
thou done of envy to my Father, and to godliness; of hatred to me
and my people; and that thou mightest destroy others besides (I Chron
21:1). And now, what can this accuser say? Can he excuse himself?
Can he contradict our Advocate? He cannot; he knows that he is a
Satan, an enemy, and as an adversary has he sown his tares among
the wheat, that it might be rooted up; but he shall not have his
end; his malice has prevented9 him, and so has the care and grace
of our Advocate. The tares, therefore, he shall have returned unto
him again; but the wheat, for all this, shall be gathered into
God's barn (Matt 13:25-30).

Thus, therefore, our Advocate makes use, in his plea against Satan,
of the rage and malice that is the occasion of the enemy's charge
wherewith he accuseth the children of God. Wherefore, when thou
readest these words, "O Satan," say with thyself, thus Christ our
Advocate accuseth our adversary of malice and envy against God and
goodness, while he accuseth us of the sins which we commit, for
which we are sorry, and Christ has paid a price of redemption-"And
(thus) if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous." But,

6. Christ, when he pleads as an Advocate for his people, in the
presence of God against Satan, he can plead those very weaknesses
of his people for which Satan would have them damned, for their
relief and advantage. "Is not this a brand plucked out of the
fire?" This is part of the plea of our Advocate against Satan for
his servant Joshua, when he said, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan"
(Zech3:2). Now, to be a brand plucked out of the fire is to be
a saint, impaired, weakened, defiled, and made imperfect by sin;
for so also the apostle means when he saith, "And others save with
fear, pulling them our of the fire; hating even the garment spotted
by the flesh" (Jude 23). By fire, in both these places, we are to
understand sin; for that it burns and consumes as fire (Rom 1:27).
Wherefore a man is said to burn when his lusts are strong upon him;
and to burn in lusts to others, when his wicked heart runs wickedly
after them (I Cor 7:9).