Charles Franklin Carter - "Old Mission Stories of California"

John Lothrop Motley - "History of the United Netherlands, 1588"

Annie Hamilton Donnell - "Rebecca Mary"

John Lothrop Motley - "The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1567"

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 3

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 3




[40] For a man to fight his way through infernal enemies, is in
every age a fearful battle; but in addition to this, to enter his
name as a nonconformist in Bunyan's time, demanded intrepidity of
no ordinary degree; their enemies were the throne, the laws, and
the bishops, armed with malignity against these followers of Jesus
Christ. But there were noble spirits, "of very stout countenance," that
by the sword of the Spirit cut their way through all opposition.
Bunyan was one of these worthies-(Ivimey). [41] Verily thou didst,
noble Christian! And who is there that does not know the meaning
of it, and what heart so cold as not to be ravished by it! Yea,
we should think that this passage alone might set any man out on
this pilgrimage, might bring many a careless traveler up to the
gate of this glorious palace to say, Set down my name, Sir! How
full of instruction is this passage! It set Christian's own heart
on fire to run forward on his journey, although the battle was
before him-(Cheever).

[42] All these deeply interesting pictures are intended for every
age and every clime. This iron cage of despair has ever shut up
its victims. Many have supposed that it had a special reference
to one John Child, who, under the fear of persecution, abandoned
his profession, and, in frightful desperation, miserably perished
by his own hand. See Introduction, page 73; see also the sickness
and death of Mr. Badman's brother-(ED).

[43] Bunyan intended not to represent this man as actually beyond
the reach of mercy, but to show the dreadful consequences of
departing from God, and of being abandoned of Him to the misery
of unbelief and despair-(Cheever).

[44] "An everlasting caution"-"God help me to watch." The battle
with Apollyon, the dread valley, the trying scene at Vanity Fair,
the exhilarating victory over By-ends and Demas, dissipated the
painful scene of the iron cage; and want of prayerful caution led
Christian into the dominion of Despair, and he became for a season
the victim shut up in this frightful cage. Reader, may we be ever
found "looking unto Jesus," then shall we be kept from Doubting
Castle and the iron cage-(ED).

[45] "In the midst of these heavenly instructions, why in such
haste to go?" Alas! the burden of sin upon his back pressed him
on to seek deliverance-(ED).

[46] "Rack." Driven violently by the wind-(ED).

[47] We go about the world in the day time, and are absorbed in
earthly schemes; the world is as bright as a rainbow, and it bears
for us no marks or predictions of the judgment, or of our sins;
and conscience is retired, as it were, within a far inner circle
of the soul. But when it comes night, and the pall of sleep is
drawn over the senses, then conscience comes out solemnly, and
walks about in the silent chambers of the soul, and makes her
survey and her comments, and sometimes sits down and sternly reads
the record of a life that the waking man would never look into,
and the catalogue of crimes that are gathering for the judgment.
Imagination walks tremblingly behind her, and they pass through
the open gate of the Scriptures into the eternal world-for thither
all things in man's being naturally and irresistibly tend-and
there, imagination draws the judgment, the soul is presented at
the bar of God, and the eye of the Judge is on it, and a hand of
fire writes, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting!"
Our dreams sometimes reveal our character, our sins, our destinies,
more clearly than our waking thoughts; for by day the energies
of our being are turned into artificial channels, by night our
thoughts follow the bent that is most natural to them; and as man
is both an immortal and a sinful being, the consequences both of
his immortality and his sinfulness will sometimes be made to stand
out in overpowering light, when the busy pursuits of day are not
able to turn the soul from wandering towards eternity-(Cheever).
Bunyan profited much by dreams and visions. "Even in my childhood
the Lord did scare and affright me with fearful dreams, and
did terrify me with dreadful visions." That is a striking vision
of church fellowship in the Grace Abounding, (Nos. 53-56); and
an awful dream is narrated in the Greatness of the Soul-"Once I
dreamed that I saw two persons, 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" (vol. 1, p. 148)-(ED).

[48] Our safety consists in a due proportion of hope and fear.
When devoid of hope, we resemble a ship without an anchor; when
unrestrained by fear, we are like the same vessel under full
sail without ballast. True comfort is the effect of watchfulness,
diligence, and circumspection. What lessons could possibly have
been selected of greater importance or more suited to establish the
new convert, than these are which our author has most ingeniously
and agreeably inculcated, under the emblem of the Interpreter's
curiosities?-(Scott).

[49] This is an important lesson, that a person may be in Christ and
yet have a deep sense of the burden of sin upon the soul-(Cheever).
So also Bunyan-"Every height is a difficulty to him that is loaden;
with a burden, how shall we attain the Heaven of heavens?"-(Knowledge
of Christ's Love).

[50] This efficacious sight of the cross is thus narrated in
Grace Abounding, (No. 115)-"Traveling in the country, and musing
on the wickedness and blasphemy of my heart, that scripture came
in my mind-"Having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col.
1:20). I saw that day again and again, that God and my soul were
friends by His blood; yea, that the justice of God and my soul
could embrace and kiss each other. This was a good day to me; I
hope I shall not forget it." He was glad and lightsome, and had
a merry heart; he was before inspired with hope, but now he is a
happy believer-(ED).

[51] None but those who have felt such bliss, can imagine the joy
with which this heavenly visitation fills the soul. The Father
receives the poor penitent with, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." The
Son clothes him with a spotless righteousness. "The prodigal when
he returned to his father was clothed with rags; but the best
robe is brought out, also the gold ring and the shoes; yea, they
are put upon him to his rejoicing" (Come and Welcome, vol. 1, p.
265). The Holy Spirit gives him a certificate; thus described by
Bunyan in the House of God--"But bring with thee a certificate, To
show thou seest thyself most desolate; Writ by the Master, with
repentance seal'd; To show also, that here thou would'st be healed
By those fair leaves of that most blessed tree By which alone poor
sinners healed be: And that thou dost abhor thee for thy ways, And
would'st in holiness spend all thy days; And here be entertained;
or thou wilt find To entertain thee here are none inclined!"
(Vol. 2, p. 680). Such a certificate, written upon the heart by
the Holy Spirit, may be lost for a season, as in the arbour on
the hill, but cannot be stolen even by Faith-heart, Mistrust, and
Guilt. For the mark in his forehead, see 2 Corinthians 3:2, 3;
"not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, known and
read of all men"-(ED).

[52] He that has come to Christ, has cast his burden upon Him.
By faith he hath seen himself released thereof; but he that is
but coming, hath it yet, as to sense and feeling, upon his own
shoulders-(Come and Welcome, vol. 1, p. 264).

[53] "Fat"; a vessel in which things are put to be soaked, or to
ferment; a vat-(ED).

[54] No sooner has Christian "received Christ" than he at once
preaches to the sleeping sinners the great salvation. He stays not
for human calls or ordination, but attempts to awaken them to a
sense of their danger, and presently exhorts with authority the
formalist and hypocrite. So it was in the personal experience
of Bunyan; after which, when his brethren discovered his talent,
they invited him to preach openly and constantly. Dare anyone find
fault with that conduct, which proved so extensively useful?-(ED).

[55] The formalist has only the shell of religion; he is hot for
forms because it is all that he has to contend for. The hypocrite
is for God and Baal too; he can throw stones with both hands. He
carries fire in one hand, and water in the other-(Strait Gate,
vol. 1, p. 389). These men range from sect to sect, like wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. They
are barren trees; and the axe, whetted by sin and the law, will
make deep gashes. Death sends Guilt, his first-born, to bring
them to the King of terrors-(Barren Fig-tree).

[56] "We trow"; we believe or imagine: from the Saxon. See Imperial
Dictionary-(ED).

[57] These men occupied the seat of the scorner; they had always
been well dressed. His coat might do for such a ragamuffin as he
had been, but they needed no garment but their own righteousness-the
forms of their church. The mark, or certificate of the new birth,
was an object of scorn to them. Probably they pitied him as a
harmless mystic, weak in mind and illiterate. Alas! how soon was
their laughter turned into mourning. Fear and calamity overwhelmed
them. They trusted in themselves, and there was none to deliver-(ED).

[58] The Christian can hold no communion with a mere formal
professor. The Christian loves to be speaking of the Lord's grace
and goodness, of his conflicts and consolations, of the Lord's
dealings with his soul, and of the blessed confidence which he is
enabled to place in Him-(J. B.).

[59] Such is the fate of those who keep their sins with their
profession, and will not encounter difficulty in cutting them off.
"Not all their pretences of seeking after and praying to God will
keep them from falling and splitting themselves in sunder"-(A Holy
Life the Beauty of Christianity). There are heights that build
themselves up in us, and exalt themselves to keep the knowledge
of God from our hearts. They oppose and contradict our spiritual
understanding of God and His Christ. These are the dark mountains
at which we should certainly stumble and fall, but for one who can
leap and skip over them to our aid-(Saints' Knowledge of Christ's
Love, vol. 2, p. 8).

[60] Pleased with the gifts of grace, rather than with the gracious
giver, pride secretly creeps in; and we fall first into a sinful
self-complacence, and then into indolence and security. This is
intended by his falling fast asleep-(Dr. Dodd).

[61] Sinful sloth deprives the Christian of his comforts. What
he intended only for a moment's nap, like a man asleep during
sermon-time in church, became a deep sleep, and his roll fell out
of his hand; and yet he ran well while there was nothing special
to alarm him. Religious privileges should refresh and not puff
up-(Cheever).

[62] But why go back again? That is the next way to hell. Never go
over hedge and ditch to hell. They that miss life perish, because
they will not let go their sins, or have no saving faith-(Bunyan's
Strait Gate, vol. 1, p. 388).

[63] To go forward is attended with the fear of death, but eternal
life is beyond. I must venture. My hill was further: so I slung
away, Yet heard a cry Just as I went, "None goes that way And
lives." If that be all, said I, After so foul a journey, death is
fair And but a chair.--(G. Herbert's Temple-The Pilgrimage)

[64] He is perplexed for his roll; this is right. If we suffer
spiritual loss, and are easy and unconcerned about it, it is a
sad sign that we indulge carnal security and vain confidences-(Mason).

[65] The backslider is attended with fears and doubts such a he
felt not before, built on the vileness of his backsliding; more
dreadful scriptures look him in the face, with their dreadful
physiognomy. His new sins all turn talking devils, threatening
devils, roaring devils, within him. Besides, he doubts the truth
of his first conversion, and thus adds lead to his heels in
returning to God by Christ. He can tell strange stories, and yet
such as are very true. No man can tell what is to be seen and
felt in the whale's belly but Jonah-(Bunyan's Christ a Complete
Saviour, vol. 1, p. 224).

[66] "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is
Mount Zion; God is known in her palaces for a refuge." Those who
enter must joyfully submit to the laws and ordinances of this
house-(Andronicus).

[67] The two lions, civil despotism and ecclesiastical tyranny,
terrified many young converts, when desirous of joining a Christian
church, here represented by the Beautiful Palace. In the reign of
the Tudors they committed sad havoc. In Bunyan's time, they were
chained, so that few suffered martyrdom, although many were ruined,
imprisoned, and perished in dungeons. When Faithful passed they
were asleep. It was a short cessation from persecution. In the
Second Part, Great-heart slew Giant Bloody-man, who backed the
lions; probably referring to the wretched death of that monster,
Judge Jefferies. And in the experience of Mr. Fearing, it is clear
that the Hill Difficulty and the lions were intended to represent
temporal and bodily troubles, and not spiritual difficulties-"When
we came at the Hill Difficulty, he made no stick at that, nor did
he much fear the lions; for you must know that his trouble was not
about such things as these; his fear was about his acceptance at
last"-(ED).

[68] Christian, after feeling the burden of sin, entering by Christ
the gate, taught by the Holy Spirit lessons of high concern in
the Bible or House of the Interpreter; after losing his burden by
faith in his crucified Saviour, his sins pardoned, clothed with
his Lord's righteousness, marked by a godly profession, he becomes
fit for church-fellowship; is invited by Bishop Gifford, the porter;
and, with the consent of the inmates, he enters the house called
Beautiful. Mark, reader, not as essential to salvation; it is by
the side of the road, not across it; all that was essential had
taken place before. Faithful did not enter. Here is no compulsion
either to enter or pay: that would have converted it into the
house of arrogance or persecution. It is upon the Hill Difficulty,
requiring personal, willing efforts to scramble up; and holy
zeal and courage to bear the taunts of the world and the growling
frowns of the lions. Here he has new lessons to learn of Discretion,
Piety, Prudence, and Charity, to bear with his fellow-members,
and they with him; and here he is armed for his journey. Many are
the blessed enjoyments of church-fellowship. "Esther was had to the
house of the women to be purified, and so came to the king. God
also hath appointed that those who come into His royal presence
should first go to the house of the women, the church." (See
Bunyan's Greatness of the Soul, vol. 1, p. 145). Every soul must
be fitted for the royal presence, usually in church fellowship:
but these lovely maidens sometimes wait on and instruct those
who never enter the house Beautiful; who belong to the church
universal, but not to any local body of Christians. John directs
his Revelations to the seven churches in Asia; Paul, his epistles to
the churches in Galatia, or to the church at Corinth-all distinct
bodies of Christians; James to the 12 tribes; and Peter to the
strangers, and "to them that have obtained like precious faith,"
of all churches-(ED).

[69] The true Christian's inmost feelings will best explain these
answers, which no exposition can elucidate to those who are
unacquainted with the conflict to which they refer, the golden
hours, fleeting and precious, are earnests of the everlasting holy
felicity of Heaven-(Scott). [70] The only true mode of vanquishing
carnal thoughts is looking at Christ crucified, or dwelling upon
His dying love, the robe of righteousness which clothes his naked
soul, his roll or evidence of his interest, and the glory and happiness
of Heaven! Happy souls who THUS oppose their corruptions!-(Dr.
Dodd).

[71]This was the fact as it regards Bunyan when he was writing
the "Pilgrim." He had a wife, two sons, and two daughters. This
conversation was first published in the second edition, 1678;
and if he referred to his own family, it was to his second wife,
a most worthy and heroic woman; but she and some of his children
were fellow-pilgrims with him. His eldest son was a preacher 11
years before the Second Part of the "Pilgrim" was published-(ED).

[72] O soul! consider this deeply. It is the life of a Christian
that carries more conviction and persuasion than his words-(Mason).

[73] Those that religiously name the name of Christ, and do not
depart from iniquity, cause the perishing of many. A professor
that hath not forsaken his iniquity is like one that comes out of
a pest-house to his home, with all his plague-sores running. He
hath the breath of a dragon, and poisons the air round about him.
This is the man that slays his children, his kinsmen, his friends,
and himself. O! the millstone that God will shortly hang about
your necks, when you must be drowned in the sea and deluge of
God's wrath-(Bunyan's Holy Life, vol. 2, p. 530).

[74] How beautiful must that church be where Watchful is the
porter; where Discretion admits the members; where Prudence takes
the oversight; where Piety conducts the worship; and where Charity
endears the members one to another! They partake of the Lord's
Supper, a feast of fat things, with wine well refined-(J.B.).

[75] Ah! theirs was converse such as it behooves Man to maintain,
and such as God approves--Christ and His character their only
scope, Their subject, and their object, and their hope. O days of
Heaven, and nights of equal praise! Serene and peaceful as those
heavenly days When souls drawn upwards in communion sweet, Enjoy
the stillness of some close retreat, Discourse, as if releas'd
and safe at home, Of dangers past, and wonders yet to come-(Cowper).

[76] When Christiana and her party arrived at this house Beautiful,
she requested that they might repose in the same chamber, called
Peace, which was granted. The author, in his marginal note, explains
the nature of this resting-place by the words, "Christ's bosom is
for all pilgrims"-(ED).

[77] How suddenly that straight and glittering shaft Shot 'thwart
the earth! In crown of living fire Up comes the day! As if they,
conscious, quaff'd The sunny flood, hill, forest, city, spire,
Laugh in the wakening light. Go, vain Desire! The dusky lights
have gone; go thou thy way! And pining Discontent, like them expire!
Be called my chamber Peace, when ends the day, And let me, with
the dawn, like Pilgrim, sing and pray. Great is the Lord our God,
And let His praise be great: He makes His churches His abode,
His most delightful seat-(Dr. Watts).

[78] Should you see a man that did not go from door to door, but
he must be clad in a coat of mail, and have a helmet of brass
upon his head, and for his life-guard not so few as a thousand
men to wait on him, would you not say, Surely this man has store
of enemies at hand? If Solomon used to have about his bed no less
than threescore of the most valiant of Israel, holding swords, and
being expert in war, what guard and safeguard doth God's people
need, who are, night and day, roared on by the unmerciful fallen
angels? Why, they lie in wait for poor Israel in every hole, and
he is forever in danger of being either stabbed or destroyed-(Bunyan's
Israel's Hope, vol. 1, p. 602).

[79] Christ himself is the Christian's armoury. When he puts on
Christ, he is then completely armed from head to foot. Are his
loins girt about with truth? Christ is the truth. Has he on the
breastplate of righteousness? Christ is our righteousness. Are
his feet shod with the Gospel of peace? Christ is our peace. Does
he take the shield of faith, and helmet of salvation? Christ is
that shield, and all our salvation. Does he take the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God? Christ is the Word of God. Thus
he puts on the Lord Jesus Christ; by his Spirit fights the fight
of faith; and, in spite of men, of devils, and of his own evil
heart, lays hold of eternal life. Thus Christ is all in all-(J.
B.).

[80] The church in the wilderness, even her porch, is full of
pillars-apostles, prophets, and martyrs of Jesus. There are hung
up also the shields that the old warriors used, and on the walls
are painted the brave achievements they have done. There, also, are
such encouragements that one would think that none who came thither
would ever attempt to go back. Yet some forsake the place-(Bunyan's
House of Lebanon).

[81] The Delectable Mountains, as seen at a distance, represent
those distinct views of the privileges and consolations, attainable
in this life, with which believers are sometimes favoured. This
is the pre-eminent advantage of Christian communion, and can only
be enjoyed at some special seasons, when the Sun of Righteousness
shines upon the soul-(Scott).

[82] Thus it is, after a pilgrim has been favoured with any special
and peculiar blessings, there is danger of his being puffed up
by them, and exalted on account of them; so was even holy Paul;
therefore, the messenger of Satan was permitted to buffet him (2
Cor. 3:7)-(Mason). We are not told here what these slips were; but
when Christian narrates the battle to Hopeful, he lets us into the
secret-"These three villains," Faint-heart, Mistrust, and Guilt,
"set upon me, and I beginning, like a Christian, to resist, they
gave but a call, and in came their master. I would, as the saying
is, have given my life for a penny, but that, as God would have
it, I was clothed with armour of proof." In the Second Part,
Great-heart attributed the sore combat with Apollyon to have
arisen from "the fruit of those slips that he got in going down
the hill." Great enjoyments need the most prayerful watchfulness
in going down from them, lest those three villains cause us to
slip. Christian's heavenly enjoyment in the communion of saints
was followed by his humbling adventures in the valley-a needful
proof of Divine love to his soul. "Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth"-(ED). "A broken heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."
Has He given it to thee, my reader? Then He has given thee a cabinet
to hold His grace in. True, it is painful now, it is sorrowful,
it bleeds, it sighs, it sobs, well, very well; all this is because
He has a mind that thou mayest rejoice in Heaven-(Bunyan's Acceptable
Sacrifice).

[83] "No armour for his back"; to desist is inevitable ruin. He
sees no safety except in facing his enemy. Fear itself creates
additional courage, and induces him to stand his ground-(Drayton).

[84] The description of Apollyon is terrible. This dreadful imagery
is collected from various parts of Scripture, where the attributes
of the most terrible animals are given him; the attributes
of leviathan, the dragon, the lion, and the bear; to denote his
strength, his pride, his rage, his courage, and his cruelty-(Andronicus).

[85] In our days, when emigration is so encouraged by the state,
it may be difficult for some youthful readers to understand this
argument of Apollyon's. In Bunyan's time, every subject was deemed
to be Crown property, and no one dared depart the realm without a
license. Thus, when Cromwell and his heroes had hired ships, and
were ready to start for America, Charles II providentially detained
them, to work out the great Revolution-(ED).

[86] Promises or vows, whether made by us or by others on our
behalf, before we possessed powers of reason or reflection, cannot
be binding. The confirmation or rejection of all vows made by or
for us in our nonage, should, on arriving at years of discretion,
be our deliberate choice, for we must recollect that no personal
dedication can be acceptable to God unless it is the result of
solemn inquiry-(ED).

[87] Mark the subtlety of this gradation in temptation. The profits
of the world and pleasures of sin are held out as allurements.
The apostasy of others suggested. The difficulties, dangers, and
sufferings of the Lord's people, are contrasted with the prosperity
of sinners. The recollections of our sins and backslidings, under a
profession of religion. The supposition that all our profession is
founded in pride and vain-glory. All backed by our own consciences;
as if Apollyon straddled quite across the way, and stopped us from
going on-(Andronicus).

[88] This dialogue is given, in different words, in the Jerusalem
Sinner Saved, Volume 1, pages 79, 80. Satan is loath to part with
a great sinner. What, my true servant, quoth he, my old servant,
wilt thou forsake me now? Having so often sold thyself to me to
work wickedness, wilt thou forsake me now? Thou horrible wretch,
dost not know that thou hast sinned thyself beyond the reach
of grace, and dost thou think to find mercy now? Art not thou
a murderer, a thief, a harlot, a witch, a sinner of the greatest
size, and dost thou look for mercy now? Dost thou think that
Christ will foul His fingers with thee? It is enough to make angels
blush, saith Satan, to see so vile a one knock at Heaven's gates
for mercy, and wilt thou be so abominably bold to do it? Thus
Satan dealt with me, says the great sinner, when at first I came
to Jesus Christ. And what did you reply? saith the tempted. Why,
I granted the whole charge to be true, says the other. And what,
did you despair, or how? No, saith he, I said, I am Magdalene, I
am Zaccheus, I am the thief, I am the harlot, I am the publican,
I am the prodigal, and one of Christ's murderers-yea, worse than
any of these; and yet God was so far off from rejecting of me, as
I found afterwards, that there was music and dancing in His house
for me, and for joy that I was come home unto Him. When Satan
charged Luther with a long list of crimes, he replied, This is all
true; but write another line at the bottom, "The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin"-(ED).