Alexandre Dumas, Pere - "The Man in the Iron Mask"

J.B. Moyle, Translator - "The Institutes of Justinian"

Samuel Johnson - "Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language"

Grant Allen - "Michael's Crag"

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




They know but little that talk of giving to Christ, except they mean
they would give him blessing and praise. He bids us come freely,
take freely, and tells us that he will give and do freely (Rev
22:17; 21:6). Let him have that which is his own-to wit, thyself;
for thou art the price of his blood. David speaks very strangely
of giving to God for mercy bestowed on him; I call it strangely,
because indeed it is so to reason. "What," says he, "shall I render
to the Lord for all his benefits? I will take the cup of salvation,
and call upon the name of the Lord" for more (Psa 116:12, 13).
God has no need of thy gift, nor Christ of thy bribe, to plead thy
cause; take thankfully what is offered, and call for more; that
is the best giving to God. God is rich enough; talk not then of
giving, but of receiving, for thou art poor. Be not too high, nor
think thyself too good to live by the alms of heaven; and since
the Lord Jesus is willing to serve thee freely, and to maintain
thy right to heaven against thy foe, to the saving of thy soul,
without price or reward, "let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
to the which also ye are called," as is the rest of "the body,
and be ye thankful" (Col 3:15). This, then, is the privilege of a
Christian-"We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous"; one that pleadeth the cause of his people against those
that rise up against them, of his love, pity, and mere good-will.
Lord, open the eyes of dark readers, of disconsolate saints, that
they may see who is for them, and on what terms!

Fourth Objection. But if Christ doth once begin to plead for me,
and shall become mine Advocate, he will always be troubled with me,
unless I should, of myself, forsake him; for I am ever in broils
and suits of law, action after action is laid upon me, and I am
sometimes ten times in a day summoned to answer my doings before
God.

Answer. Christ is not an Advocate to plead a cause or two; nor to
deliver the godly from an accusation or two. "He delivereth Israel
out of all his troubles" (Psa 25:22; II Sam 22:28); and chooses
to be an Advocate for such; therefore, the godly of old did use to
make, from the greatness of their troubles, and the abundance of
their troublers, an argument to the Lord Christ to send and lend
them help-"Have mercy upon me," saith David; "consider my trouble
which I suffer of them that hate me" (Psa 9:13). And again, "Many
are they that rise up against me; many there be which say of my soul,
There is no help for him in God" (Psa 3:1,2). Yea the troubles of
this man were so many and great, that his enemies began to triumph
over him, saying, "There is no help for him in God." But could he
not deliver him, or did the Lord forsake him? No, no; "Thou hast
smitten," saith he, "all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou
hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." And as he delivereth them
from their troublers, so also he pleadeth all their causes; "O
Lord," saith the church, "thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul;
thou hast redeemed my life" (Lam 3:58). Mark, troubled Christian,
thou sayest thou hast been arrested ofttimes in a day, and as often
summoned to appear at God's bar, there to answer to what shall be
laid to thy charge. And here, for thy encouragement, thou readest
that the church hath an Advocate that pleadeth the causes of
her soul; that is, all her causes, to deliver her. He knows that,
so long as we are in this world, we are subject to temptation and
weakness, and through them made guilty of many bad things; wherefore,
he hath prepared himself to our service, and to abide with the
Father, an Advocate for us. As Solomon saith of a man of great
wrath, so it may be said of a man of great weakness, and the best
of saints are such-he must be delivered again and again, (Prov
19:19); yea, "many a time," saith David, "did he deliver them,"
(Psa 106:43); to wit, more than once or twice; and he will do so
for thee, if thou entertain him to be thine Advocate. Thou talkest
of leaving him, but then whither wilt thou go? All else are vain
things, things that cannot profit; and he will not forsake his people,
(I Sam 12:20-23), "though their land be filled with sin against
the Holy One of Israel" (Jer 51:5). I know the modest saint is
apt to be abashed to think what a troublesome one he is, and what
a make-work he has been in God's house all his days; and let him
be filled with holy blushing; but let him not forsake his Advocate.

[THE USE AND APPLICATION.]

SEVENTHLY, Having thus spoken to these objections, let us now come
to make some use of the whole. And,

Use First. I would exhort the children to consider the dignity that
God hath put upon Jesus Christ their Saviour; for by how much God
hath called his Son to offices and places of trust, by so much he
hath heaped dignities upon him. It is said of Mordecai, that he was
next to the king Ahasuerus. And what then? Why, then the greatness
of Mordecai, and his high advance, must be written in the book of
the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, to the end his
fame might not be buried nor forgotten, but remembered and talked
of in generations to come (Esth 10). Why, my brethren, God exalted
Jesus of Nazareth, hath made him the only great one, having given
him a name above every name-a name, did I say?-a name and glory
beyond all names, and above all names, as doth witness both his being
set above all, and the many offices which he executeth for God on
behalf of his people. It is counted no little addition to honour
when men are not only made near to the king, but also entrusted
with most, if not almost with all the most weighty affairs of the
kingdom. Why, this is the dignity of Christ; he is, it is true,
the natural Son of God, and so high, and one that abounds with
honour. But this is not all; God has conferred upon him, as man, all
the most mighty honours of heaven; he hath made him Lord Mediator
betwixt him and the world. This in general. And particularly, he
hath called him to be his High Priest for ever, and hath sworn he
shall not be changed for another (Heb 7:21-24). He hath accepted
of his offering once for ever, counting that there is wholly enough
in what he did once "to perfect for ever them that are sanctified";
to wit, set apart to glory (Heb 10:11-14).

He is Captain-general of all the forces that God hath in heaven and
earth, the King and Commander of his people (ch. 9:25, 28). He is
Lord of all, and made "head over all things to the church," and is
our Advocate with the Father (Eph 1:22). O, the exaltation of Jesus
Christ! Let Christians, therefore, in the first place, consider
this. Nor can it be but profitable to them, if withal they consider
that all this trust and honour is put and conferred upon him in
relation to the advantage and advancement of Christians. If Christians
do but consider the nearness that is betwixt Christ and them, and,
withal, consider how he is exalted, it must needs be matter of
comfort to them. He is my flesh and my bone that is exalted; he
is my friend and brother that is thus set up and preferred. It was
something to the Jews when Mordecai was exalted to honour; they had,
thereby, ground to rejoice and be glad, for that one of themselves
was made lord-chief by the king, and the great governor of the land,
for the good of his kindred. True, when a man thinks of Christ as
severed from him, he sees but little to his comfort in Christ's
exaltation; but when he looks upon Christ, and can say, My Saviour,
my Priest, or the chief Bishop of my soul, then he will see much in
his being thus promoted to honour. Consider, then, of the glories
to which God has exalted our Saviour, in that he hath made him so
high. It is comely, also, when thou speakest of him, that thou name
his name with some additional title, thereby to call thy mind to
the remembrance, and so to the greater reverence of the person of
thy Jesus; as, our Lord Jesus, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
"the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus" (II
Peter 2:20; Heb 3:1, &c). Men write themselves by their titles; as,
John, earl of such a place, Anthony, earl of such a place, Thomas,
lord, &c. It is common, also, to call men in great places by their
titles rather than by their names; yea, it also pleaseth such great
ones well; as, My lord high chancellor of England, My lord privy
seal, My lord high admiral, &c. And thus should Christians make
mention of Jesus Christ our Lord, adding to his name some of his
titles of honour; especially since all places of trust and titles
of honour conferred on him are of special favour to us. I did
use to be much taken with one sect of Christians; for that it was
usually their way, when they made mention of the name of Jesus, to
call him "The blessed King of Glory." Christians should do thus;
it would do them good; for why doth the Holy Ghost, think you, give
him all these titles but that we should call him by them, and so
make mention of him one to another; for the very calling of him by
this or that title, or name, belonging to this or that office of
his, giveth us occasion, not only to think of him as exercising
that office, but to inquire, by the Word, by meditation, and one of
another, what there is in that office and what, by his exercising
of that, the Lord Jesus profiteth his church.

How will men stand for that honour that, by superiors, is given to
them, expecting and using all things; to wit, actions and carriages,
so as that thereby their grandeur may be maintained; and saith Christ,
"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am" (John
13:13). Christ Jesus our Lord would have us exercise ourselves in
the knowledge of his glorious offices and relative titles, because
of the advantage that we get by the knowledge of them, and the
reverence of, and love to, him that they beget in our hearts. "That
disciple," saith the text, "whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It
is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he
girt his fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast
himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little
ship": to wit, to shore, to wait upon their Lord (John 21). The
very naming of him under the title of Lord, bowed their hearts
forthwith to come with joint readiness to wait upon him. Let this
also teach us to distinguish Christ's offices and titles, not to
confound them, for he exerciseth those offices, and beareth those
titles, for great reason, and to our commodity. Every circumstance
relating both to Christ's humiliation and exaltation ought to be
duly weighed by us, because of that mystery of God, and of man's
redemption that is wrapped therein; for as there was not a pin,
nor a loop, nor a tack in the tabernacle but had in it use of
instruction to the children of Israel, so there is not any part,
whether more near or more remote to Christ's suffering and exaltation,
but is, could we get into it, full of spiritual advantage to us.

To instance the water that came out of Christ's side, a thing
little taken notice of either by preachers or hearers, and yet John
makes it one of the witnesses of the truth of our redemption, and
a confirmation of the certainty of that record that God, to the
world, hath given of the sufficiency that is in his Son to save
(John 19:34; I John 3:5-9; 5:5-9; I John 4:9-12).

When I have considered that the very timing of Scripture expressions,
and the season of administering ordinances, have been argumentative
to the promoting of the faith and way of justification by Christ,
it has made think that both myself and most of the people of God
look over the Scriptures too slightly, and take too little notice
of that or of those many honours that God, for our good, has
conferred upon Christ. Shall he be called a King, a Priest, a Prophet,
a Sacrifice, an Altar, a Captain, a Head, a Husband, a Father, a
Fountain, a Door, a Rock, a Lion, a Saviour, &c., and shall we not
consider these things? And shall God to all these add, moreover, that
he is an Advocate, and shall we take no notice thereof, or jumble
things so together, that we lose some of his titles and offices;
or so be concerned with one as not to think we have need of the
benefit of the rest? Let us be ashamed thus to do or think, and let
us give to him that is thus exalted the glory due unto his name.

Use Second. As we should consider the titles and offices of Christ
in general, so we should consider this of his being an Advocate
in particular; for this is one of the reasons which induced the
apostle to present him here under that very notion to us-namely,
that we should have faith about it, and consider of it to our
comfort-"If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous." "An advocate"-an advocate, as I said, is
one that hath power to plead for another in this, or that, or any
court of judicature. Be much therefore in the meditation of Christ,
as executing of this his office for thee, for many advantages will
come to thee thereby. As,

1. This will give thee to see that thou art not forsaken when
thou hast sinned; and this has not in it a little relief only, but
yieldeth consolation in time of need. There is nothing that we are
more prone unto than to think we are forsaken when we have sinned,
when for this very thing-to wit, to keep us from thinking so,
is the Lord Jesus become our Advocate-"If any man sin, we have
an Advocate." Christian, thou that hast sinned, and that with the
guilt of thy sin art driven to the brink of hell, I bring thee news
from God-thou shalt not die, but live, for thou hast "an Advocate
with the Father." Let this therefore be considered by thee, because
it yieldeth this fruit.

2. The study of this truth will give thee ground to take courage to
contend with the devil concerning the largeness of grace by faith,
since thy Advocate is contending for thee against him at the bar
of God. It is a great encouragement for a man to hold up his head
in the country, when he knows he has a special friend at court.
Why, our Advocate is a friend at court, a friend there ready to
give the onset to Satan, come he when he will. "We have an Advocate
with the Father"; an Advocate, or one to plead against Satan for
us.

3. This consideration will yield relief, when, by Satan's abuse of
some other of the offices of Christ, thy faith is discouraged and
made afraid. Christ as a prophet pronounces many a dreadful sentence
against sin; and Christ as a king is of power to execute them; and
Satan as an enemy has subtlety enough to abuse both these, to the
almost utter overthrow of the faith of the children of God. But
what will he do with him as he is an Advocate? Will he urge that
he will plead against us? He cannot; he has no such office. "Will
he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put
strength into me"(Job 23:6). Wherefore Satan doth all he may to
keep thee ignorant of this office; for he knows that as Advocate,
when he is so apprehended, the saints are greatly relieved by him,
even by a believing thought of that office.

4. This consideration, or the consideration of Christ as exercising of
this office, will help thee to put by that visor wherewith Christ
by Satan is misrepresented to thee, to the weakening and affrighting
of thee. There is nothing more common among saints than thus to
be wronged by Satan; for as he will labour to fetch fire out of
the offices of Christ to burn us, so to present him to us with so
dreadful and so ireful a countenance, that a man in temptation,
and under guilt, shall hardly be able to lift up his face to God.
But now, to think really that he is my Advocate, this heals all!
Put a visor upon the face of a father, and it may perhaps for a
while fright the child; but let the father speak, let him speak in
his own fatherly dialect to the child, and the visor is gone, if
not from the father's face, yet from the child's mind; yea, the
child, notwithstanding that visor, will adventure to creep into its
father's bosom. Why, thus it is with the saints when Satan deludes
and abuses them by disfiguring the countenance of Christ to their
view. Let them but hear their Lord speak in his own natural dialect
(and then he doth so indeed when we hear him speak as an Advocate),
and their minds are calmed, their thoughts settled, their guilt
made to vanish, and their faith to revive.

Indeed, the advocateship of Jesus Christ is not much mentioned in
the Word, and because it is no oftener made mention of, therefore
perhaps it is that some Christians do so lightly pass it over;
when, on the contrary, the rarity of the thing should make it the
more admirable; and perhaps it is therefore so little made mention
of in the Bible, because it should not by the common sort be abused,
but is as it were privately dropped in a corner, to be found by them
that are for finding relief for their soul by a diligent search of
the Scriptures; for Christ in this office of advocateship is only
designed for the child of God, the world hath nothing therewith to
do.34 Methinks that which alone is proper to saints, and that which
by God is peculiarly designed for them, they should be mightily
taken withal; the peculiar treasure of kings, the peculiar privilege
of saints, oh, this should be affecting to us!-why, Christ, as an
Advocate, is such. "Remember me, O Lord," said the Psalmist, "with
the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with
thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may
rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine
inheritance" (Psa 106:4, 5). The Psalmist, you see here, is crying
out for a share in, and the knowledge of, the peculiar treasure
of saints; and this of Christ as Advocate is such; wherefore study
it, and prize it so much the more, this Advocate is ours.

(1.) Study it with reference to its peculiarity. It is for the
children, and nobody else; for the children, little and great.
This is children's bread; this is a mess for Benjamin; this is to
be eaten in the holy place. Children use to make much of that which,
by way of specialty, is by their relations bestowed on them-"And
Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers to thee" (I Kings 21:3). No, truly will
I not. Why so? Because it was my father's gift, not in common to
all, but to me in special.

(2.) Study this office in the nature of it; for therein lies the
excellency of anything, even in the nature of it. Wrong thoughts of
this or that abuses it, and takes its natural glory from it. Take
heed, therefore, of misapprehending, while thou art seeking to
apprehend Christ as thy Advocate. Men judge of Christ's offices
while they are at too great a distance from them; but "let them
come near," says God, "then let them speak," (Isa 41:1); or as
Elihu said to his friends, when he had seen them judge amiss, "Let
us choose to us judgment, let us know among ourselves what is
good" (Job 34:4). So say I; study to know, rightly to know, the
Advocate-office of Jesus Christ. It is one of the easiest things
in the world to miss of the nature, while we speak of the name and
offices of Jesus Christ; wherefore look to it, that thou study the
nature of the office of his advocateship, of his advocateship for,
for so you ought to consider it. There is an Advocate for, not
against, the children of God-"Jesus Christ the righteous."

(3.) Study this office with reference to its efficacy and prevalency.
Job says, "After my words, they spake not again" (Job 29:22). And
when Christ stands up to plead, all must keep silence before him.
True, Satan had the first word, but Christ the last, in the business
of Joshua, and such a last as brought the poor man off well, though
"clothed with filthy garments" (Zech 3). Satan must be speechless
after a plea of our Advocate, how rampant soever he is afore; or as
Elihu has it, "They were amazed; they answered no more; they left
off speaking." Shall he that speaks in righteousness give place,
and he who has nothing but envy and deceit be admitted to stand
his ground? Behold, the angels cover their faces when they speak
of his glory, how then shall not Satan bend before him? In the days
of his humiliation, he made him cringe and creep, how much more,
then, now he is exalted to glory, to glory to be an Advocate, an
Advocate for his people! "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

(4.) Study the faithfulness of Christ in his execution of this
office, for he will not fail nor forsake them that have entertained
him for their Advocate: "He will thoroughly plead their cause" (Jer
50:34). Faithful and true, is one of his titles; and you shall
be faithfully served by him; you may boldly commit your cause unto
him, nor shall the badness of it make him fail, or discourage him
in his work; for it is not the badness of a cause that can hinder
him from prevailing, because he hath wherewith to answer for all
thy sins, and a new law to plead by, through which he will make
thee a conqueror. He is also for sticking to a man to the end, if
he once engages for him (John 13:1, 2). He will threaten and love,
he will chastise and love, he will kill and love, and thou shalt
find it so. And he will make this appear at the last; and Satan
knows it is so now, for he finds the power of his repulses while
he pleadeth for him at the bar against him. And all this is in very
faithfulness.

(5.) Study also the need that thou hast of a share in the execution
of the advocateship of Jesus Christ. Christians find that they have
need of washing in the blood of Christ, and that they have need
of being clothed with the righteousness of Christ; they also find
that they have need that Christ should make intercession for them,
and that by him, of necessity, they must approach God, and present
their prayers and services to him; but they do not so well see
that they need that Christ should also be their Advocate. And the
reason thereof is this: they forget that their adversary makes it
his business to accuse them before the throne of God; they consider
not the long scrolls and many crimes wherewith he chargeth them in
the presence of the angels of God. I say, this is the cause that
the advocateship of Christ is so little considered in the churches;
yea, many that have been relieved by that office of his, have not
understood what he has thereby done for them. But perhaps this is
to be kept from many till they come to behold his face, and till
all things shall be revealed, that Christ might have glory given him
in the next world for doing of that for them which they so little
thought of in this. But do not thou be content with this ignorance,
because the knowledge of his advocating it for thee will yield thee
present relief. Study, therefore, thine own weakness, the holiness
of the judge, the badness of thy cause, the subtlety, malice, and
rage, of thine enemy; and be assured that whenever thou sinnest,
by and by thou art for it accused before God at his judgment seat.
These things will, as it were, by way of necessity, instill into
thy heart the need that thou hast of an advocate, and will make thee
look as to the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ to justify
thee, so to Christ as an Advocate to plead thy cause, as did holy
Job in his distresses (Job 16:21).

Use Third. Is Christ Jesus not only a priest of, and a King over,
but an Advocate for his people? Let this make us stand and wonder,
and be amazed at his humiliation and condescension. We read of his
humiliation on earth when he put himself into our flesh, took upon
him our sins, and made them as his own unto condemnation and death.
And to be an advocate is an office reproachful to the malicious,
if any man be such an one, for those that are base and unworthy.
Yea, and the higher and more honourable the person is that pleads
for such, the more he humbles himself. The word doth often in effect
account him now in heaven as a servant for us, and acts of service
are acts of condescension; and I am sure some acts of service have
more of that in them than some; and I think when all things are
considered, that Christ neither doth nor can do anything for us
there, of a more condescending nature, than to become our Advocate.
True, he glories in it; but that doth not show that the work is
excellent in itself. It is also one of his titles of honour; but
that is to show how highly God esteems of, and dignifies all his
acts; and though this shall tend at last to the greatening of his
honour and glory in his kingdom, yet the work itself is amazingly
mean.

I speak after the manner of men. It is accounted so in this world.
How ignoble and unrespectful doth a man make himself, especially to
his enemy, when he undertakes to plead a bad cause, if it happeneth
to be the cause of the base and unworthy! And I am sure we are,
every one, so in ourselves, for whom he is become an Advocate with
the Father. True, we are made worthy in him, but that is no thanks
to us; as to ourselves and our cause, both are bad enough. And let
us now leave off disputing, and stand amazed at his condescension;
"Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven" (Psa
113:6). And men of old did use to wonder to think that God should
so much stoop, as to open his eyes to look upon man, or once so much
as to mind him (Job 7:17; 14:1-3; Psa 8:4; 144:3, 4). And if these
be acts that speak a condescension, what will you count of Christ's
standing up as an Advocate to plead the cause of his people? Must
not that be much more so accounted? O, the condescension of Christ
in heaven! While cavillers quarrel at such kind of language, let
the saints stay themselves and wonder at it, and be so much the
more affected with his grace. The persons are base, the crimes are
base, with which the persons are charged; wherefore one would think
that has but the reason to think, that it is a great condescension
of Christ, now in heaven, to take upon him to be an Advocate for
such a people, especially if you consider the openness of this work
of Christ; for this thing is not done in a corner. This is done in
open court.