Kate Douglas Wiggin - "Homespun Tales"

Emile Zola - "Nouveaux Contes a Ninon"

John Kendrick Bangs - "A Rebellious Heroine"

Charles Ives - "Essays Before a Sonata"

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




2. When he saith, This holy city descended out of heaven, he would
have us understand also what a blessing and happiness this city
at her rebuilding will be to the whole world. Never were kind and
seasonable showers more profitable to the tender new-mown grass
than will this city at this day be, to the inhabitants of the
world; they will come as a blessing from heaven upon them. As the
prophet saith, 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many
people, as a dew from the Lord; as the showers upon the grass,
that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men' (Micah
5:7). O the grace, the light and glory that will strike with
spangling beams from this city, as from a sun, into the farthest
parts of the world! 'Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found
in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is
in it: so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy
them all: I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah
an inheritor of my' holy 'mountains: and mine elect shall inherit
it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon [where the
sweet roses grew, (Cant 2:1)], shall be a fold for flocks, and the
valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people
that have sought me' (Isa 65:8-10). 'In that day shall Israel
be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land' (Isa 19:24). 'And it shall come to pass, that
as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house
of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear
not, but let your hands be strong' (Zech 8:13). 'As the dew of
Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the
Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore' (Psa 133:3).

Third. And now for the third particular, namely, What it is to
descend out of heaven from God.

1. To descend out of heaven, that is, out of the church in captivity,
'from God,' is this: The church is the place in which God doth
beget all those that are the children of him; wherefore in that
they are said to descend out of heaven 'from God,' it is as if
he had said, the children of the church are heaven-born, begotten
of God, and brought forth in the church of Christ. For 'Jerusalem
which is above is the mother of us all' (Gal 4:26). 'The Lord shall
count when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there'
(Psa 87:5,6).

2. When he saith he saw this Jerusalem come out of heaven from God,
he means that those of the church in captivity that shall build
this city, they shall be a people peculiarly fitted and qualified
for this work of God. It was not all the children of Israel that
had their hand in building Jerusalem after the captivity of old;
'their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord' (Neh
3:5). Also there were many of Judah that were sworn to Tobiah, the
arch-opposer of the building of the city, because of some kindred
and relation that then was between them and him (Neh 6:17-19). And
as it was then, so we do expect it will be now; some will be even
at the beginning of this work, in Babylon, at that time also some
will be cowardly and fearful, yea, and even men hired to hinder
the work (Neh 6:10-12). Wherefore I say, those of the church that
at that day builded the city, they were men of a particular and
peculiar spirit, which also will so be at the building of New
Jerusalem. They whose light breaks forth as the morning, they that
are mighty for a spirit of prayer, they that take away the yoke,
and speaking vanity, and that draw out their soul to the hungry;
they that the Lord shall guide continually, that shall have fat
bones, and that shall be as a watered garden, whose waters fail
not, &c. (Isa 58:8-14). Of them shall they be that build the old
wastes, and that raise up the foundations of many generations, &c.
It was thus in all ages, in every work of God, some of his people,
some of his saints in special in all ages, have been used to promote,
and advance, and perfect the work of their generations.

3. This city descends or comes out of heaven from God, that is,
by his special working and bringing to pass; it was God that gave
them the pattern even when they were in Babylon; it was God that
put it into their hearts while there, to pray for deliverance;
it was God that put it into the hearts of the kings of the Medes
and Persians to give them liberty to return and build; and it was
God that quailed the hearts of those that by opposing did endeavour
to hinder the bringing the work to perfection; yea, it was God
that did indeed bring the work to perfection; wherefore she may
well be said to descend 'out of heaven from God': as he also saith
himself by the prophet, I will cause the captivity of Judah, and
the captivity of Israel to return, and I will build them as at
the first (Ezra 4:1-4; 7:27; Neh 2:8-18; 4:15; 6:15,16; Jer 33:7;
32:44; Eze 36:33-37; 37:11-15; Amos 9:11).

Lastly, When he saith he saw her descend from God out of heaven,
he may refer to her glory, which at her declining departed from
her, and ascended to God, as the sap returns into the root at the
fall of the leaf; which glory doth again at her return descend,
or come into the church, and branches of the same, as the sap doth
arise at the spring of the year, for indeed the church's beauty
is from heaven, and it either goeth up thither from her, or else
comes from thence to her, according to the natures of both fall
and spring (Cant 2).Thus you see what this heaven is, and what it
is for this city to descend out of it; also what it is for this
city to descend out of it from God.

[This city has the glory of God.]

Ver. 11. 'Having the glory of God.' These last words do put the
whole matter out of doubt, and do most clearly show unto us that
the descending of this city is the perfect return of the church
out of captivity; the church, when she began at first to go into
captivity, her glory began to depart from her; and now she is
returning again, she receiveth therewith her former glory, 'having
the glory of God.' Thus it was in the type, when Jerusalem went
into captivity under the King of Babylon, which was a figure of
the captivity of our New Testament church under Antichrist, it is
said that then the glory of God departed from them, and went, by
degrees, first out of the temple to the threshold of the house,
and from thence with the cherubims of glory, for that time, quite
away from the city (Eze 10:4-18; 11:22,23 &c.).

Again, As the glory of God departed from this city at her going into
captivity, so when she returned again, she had also then returned
to her the glory of God; whereupon this very prophet that saw the
glory of God go from her at her going into captivity, did see it,
the very same; and that according as it departed, so return at
her deliverance. 'He brought me to the gate,' saith he-that is,
when by a vision he saw all the frame and patterns of the city and
temple, in the state in which it was to be after the captivity.
'He brought me to the gate--that looketh toward the east, and behold
the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east'-the
very same way that it went when it was departed from the city (Eze
11:23). 'His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth
shined with is glory. It was according to the appearance of the
vision which I saw, even according to the vision which I saw when
I came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision
that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face, and the
glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose
prospect is toward the east; so the Spirit took me up, and brought
me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled
the house' (Eze 43:1-5).

Thus you see it was in the destruction and restoration of the Jews'
Jerusalem, by which God doth plainly show us how things will be
in our gospel church; she was to decline and lose her glory, she
was to be trampled-as she was a city-for a long time under the
feet of the unconverted and wicked world. Again, she was after
this to be builded, and to be put into her former glory; at which
time she was to have her glory, her former glory, even the glory
of God, returned to her again. 'He showed me,' saith John, 'that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God, having the glory of God.' As he saith by the prophet, 'I am
returned to Jerusalem with mercies, my house shall be built in it'
(Zech 1:16). And again, 'I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem' (Zech 8:3).

'Having the glory of God.' There is the grace of God, and the glory
of that grace; there is the power of God, and the glory of that
power; and there is the majesty of God, and the glory of that
majesty (Eph 1:6; 2 Thess 1:9; Isa 2:19).

It is true God doth not leave his people in some sense, even in the
worst of times, and in their most forlorn condition (John 14:18),
as he showeth by his being with them in their sad state in Egypt
and Babylon, and other of their states of calamity (Dan 3:25). As
he saith, 'Although I have cast them far off among the heathen,
and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will
I be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall
come' (Eze 2:16). God is with his church, even in her greatest
adversity, both to limit, bound, measure, and to point out to her
quantity and quality, her beginning and duration of distress and
temptation (Isa 27:7-9; Rev 2:10). But yet I say the glory of
God, in the notion of Ezekiel and John, when they speak of the
restoration of this city, that is not always upon his people, though
always they are beloved and counted for his peculiar treasure. She
may then have his grace, but not at the same time the glory of
his grace; his power, but not the glory of his power; she may also
have his majesty, but not the glory thereof; God may be with his
church, even then when the glory is departed from Israel.

The difference that is between her having his grace, power, and
majesty, and the glory of each, is manifest in these following
particulars;-grace, power, and majesty, when they are in the church
in their own proper acts, only as we are considered saints before
God, so they're invisible, and that not only altogether to the
world, but often to the very children of God themselves; but now
when the glory of these do rest upon the church, according to
Ezekiel and John; why then it will be visible and apparent to all
beholders. 'When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall APPEAR in
his glory' (Psa 102:16), as he saith also in another place, 'The
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee'
(Isa 60:1-2).

Now, then, to speak a word or two, in particular to the glory of
God, that at this day will be found to settle upon this city.

First. Therefore, at her returning, she shall not only have his
grace upon her, but the very glory of his grace shall be seen
upon her; the glory of pardoning grace shall now shine in her own
soul, and grace in the glory of it shall appear in all her doings.
Now shall both our inward and outward man be most famously adorned
and beautified with salvation; the golden pipes that are on the
head of the golden candlestick, shall at this day convey, with
all freeness, the golden oil thereout, into our golden hearts and
lamps (Zech 4:2). Our wine shall be mixed with gall no longer, we
shall now drink the pure blood of the grape; the glory of pardoning
and forgiving mercy shall so show itself at this day in this city,
and shall so visibly abide there in the eyes of all spectators,
that all shall be enflamed with it. 'For Zion's sake will I not
hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by
a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name' (Isa 62:1,2).
And again, 'The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes
of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of our God' (Isa 52:10; Psa 98:2). At that day, the
prophet tells us, there shall be holiness upon the very horses'
bridles, and that the pots in the Lord's house shall be like
the bowls before the altar, and every pot in Jerusalem shall be
holiness unto the Lord (Zech 14:20,21). The meaning of all these
places is, that in the day that the Lord doth turn his church and
people into the frame and fashion of a city, and when he shall
build them up to answer the first state of the church, there will
such grace and plenty of mercy be extended unto her, begetting
such faith and holiness and grace in her soul, and all her actions,
that she shall convince all that are about her that she is the
city, the beloved city, the city that the Lord hath chosen; for
after that he had said before, he would return to Zion, and dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem (Zech 8:3), he saith, moreover, that
Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of
the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 'And all the people of the
earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and
they shall be afraid of thee' (Deu 28:10).

Second. As the glory of the grace of God will, at this day, be
wonderfully manifest in and over his city; so also at that day
will be seen the glory of his power. 'O my people,' saith God,
'that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall
smite thee with a rock, and shall lift up his staff against thee,
after the manner of Egypt,' that is, shall persecute and afflict
thee, as Pharaoh served thy friends of old; but be not afraid,
'For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease,
and mine anger in their destruction: and the Lord of hosts shall
stir up a scourge for him, according to the slaughter of Midian
at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he
lift it up after the manner of Egypt' (Isa 7; 10:24-26). The sum
is, God will, at the day of his rebuilding the New Jerusalem, so
visibly make bare his arm, and be so exalted before all by his
power towards his people, that no people shall dare to oppose-or
stand, if they do make the least attempt to hinder-the stability
of this city. 'I will surely [gather, or] assemble, O Jacob, all
of thee,' saith God: 'I will surely gather the remnant of Israel--as
the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of the fold; they
shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker
is come up before them, they have broken up [the antichristian
siege that hath been laid against them], they have passed through
the gate, and are gone out by it, and their king shall pass before
them, and the Lord on the head of them' (Micah 2:12,13). 'Like as
the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude
of shepherds are called forth against him, he will not be afraid
of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall
the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the
hill thereof' (Isa 31:4). 'The Lord shall go forth as a mighty
man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry,
yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies' (Isa 42:13). But
'not by might, nor yet by power,' that is, the power and arm of
flesh, but by the power of the Word and Spirit of God, which will
prevail, and must prevail, to quash and overturn all opposition
(Zech 12:8; Zeph 3:8; Joel 3:16; Zech 4:6).

Third. [The glory of his majesty.] When God hath thus appeared in
the glory of his grace, and the glory of his power, to deliver
his chosen, then shall the implacable enemies of God shrink and
creep into holes like the locusts and frogs of the hedges, at the
appearance of the glory of the majesty of God. Now the high ones,
lofty ones, haughty ones, and the proud, shall see so evidently the
hand of the Lord towards his servants, and his indignation towards
his enemies, that 'they shall go into the holes of the rocks,
and into the caves of the earth,--and into the tops of the ragged
rocks, for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,
when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth' (Isa 2:19,21).

Where the presence of the Lord doth so appear upon a people, that
those that are spectators perceive and understand it, it must need
work on those spectators one of these two things;-either first
a trembling and astonishment, and quailing of heart, as it doth
among the implacable enemies (Josh 2:8-13), or else a buckling
and bending of heart, and submission to his people and ways (Josh
9:22-25). As saith the prophet, 'The sons also of them that
afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that
despised thee shall fall[2] down at the soles of thy feet; and they
shall call thee The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of
Israel' (Isa 60:14). As Moses said to the children of Israel, 'The
Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the dread of you,
upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto
you' (Deu 11:25).

At this day the footsteps of the Lord will be so apparent and
visible in all his actions and dispensations in and towards his
people, this holy city, that all shall see, as I have said, how
gracious, loving, kind, and good the Lord is now towards his own
children; such glory, I say, will be over them, and upon them,
that they all will shine before the world; and such tender bowels
in God towards them, that no sooner can an adversary peep, or lift
up his head against his servants, but his hand will be in the neck
of them; so that in short time he will have brought his church
into that safety, and her neighbours into that fear and submission,
that they shall not again so much as dare to hold up a hand against
her, no, not for a thousand years (Rev 20:3). 'Thus saith the Lord,
Behold I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have
mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded on her
own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them
that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be
few; and I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small:
Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation
shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress
them' (Jer 30:18-20).

[The light of this city.]

Having the glory of God. 'And her light was like unto a stone most
precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.' Having thus
told us of her glory, even of 'the glory of God,' how it at this
day will rest upon this city, he now comes to touch a second
thing, to wit, 'her light,' and that in which she descends, and
by which, as with the light of the sun, she seeth before her, and
behind her, and on every side. This therefore is another branch of
her duty; she in her descending hath 'the glory of God,' and also
'the light of a stone most precious.'

Ezekiel tells us, that in the vision which he saw when he came to
destroy the city-which vision was the very same that he saw again
at the restoring of it-he saith, I say, that in this vision,
among many other wonders, he saw a fire enfolding itself, and a
brightness about it, and that 'the fire also was bright, and that
out of it went forth lightning'; that 'the likeness of the firmament
upon the--living creatures, was as the colour of the terrible
crystal'; that the throne also, upon which was placed the likeness
of a man, was like, or 'as the appearance of a sapphire-stone'
(Eze 1:4,13,14,22,26). All which words, with the nature of their
light and colour, the Holy Ghost doth in the vision of John comprise,
and placeth within the colour of the jasper and the crystal-stone.
And indeed, though the vision of John and Ezekiel, touching the
end of the matter, be but one and the same, yet they do very much
vary and differ in terms and manner of language; Ezekiel tells
us that the man that he saw come to measure the city and temple,
had in his hand 'a line of flax' (40:3), which line John calls a
golden reed; Ezekiel tells us that the river came out of, or 'from
under the threshold of the house' (47:1); but John saith it came
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Ezekiel tells us that
on either side of this river grew ALL trees for food (v 12); John
calls these ALL trees but ONE tree, and tells us that it stood
on both sides of this river. The like might also be showed you in
many other particulars; as here you see they differ as touching the
terms of the light and brightness that appears upon this city at
her rebuilding, which the Holy Ghost represents to John under the
light and glory of the jasper and crystal-stone; for indeed the
end of Ezekiel's vision was to show us, that as when the glory of
God departed from the city, it signified that he would take away
from them the light of his Word, and their clearness of worship,
suffering them to mourn for the loss of the one, and to grope
for the want of the other; so at his return again he would give
them both their former light of truth, and also the clearness of
spirit to understand it, which also John doth show us shall last
for ever.

'...And her light was like unto a stone most precious...' This
stone it is to represent unto us the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose
light and clearness this city comes out of Babylon; for, as he
saith, she hath the glory of God, that is, his visible hand of
grace, power, and majesty, to bring her forth; so she comes in the
light of this precious stone, which terms, I say, both the prophet
Isaiah and the apostle Peter do apply to the Lord Jesus, and none
else; the one calling him 'a precious corner-stone,' the other
calling him the 'chief corner-stone, elect and precious' (Isa 28:16;
1 Peter 2:6). Now then when he saith this city hath the light of
this stone to descend in, he means that she comes in the shining
wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and influences of Christ, out of
her afflicted and captivated state; and observe it, she is rather
said to descend in the light of this stone, than in the light of
God, though both be true, because it is the man Christ, the stone
which the builders rejected, 'in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge,' of whose fulness we do all receive, and
grace for grace; 'for it pleased the Father that in him should all
fulness dwell' (Col 2:3; John 1:16; Col 1:19. See also Acts 2:33
and Eph 4:10-13).

This showeth us, then, these two things-

First. That the time of the return of the saints to build the
ruinous city is near, yea, very near, when the light of the Lord
Jesus begins to shine unto perfect day in her. God will not bring
forth his people out of Babylon, especially those that are to be
the chief in the building of this city, without their own judgments.
'They shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion'
(Isa 52:8). As he saith also in another place, 'The light of the
moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun
shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that
the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and health the stroke
of their wound' (Isa 30:26). 'And the eyes of them that see shall
not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The
heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue
of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly' (Isa 32:3,4).
The Lord shall be now exalted, and be very high, for he will fill
Zion with judgment and righteousness, and wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of thy times (Isa 33:5,6). When Israel went
out of Egypt, they wanted much of this, they went out blindfolded,
as it were, they went they knew not whither; wherefore they went
not in the glory of that which this city descendeth in; as Moses
said, 'The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, nor eyes
to see, nor ears to hear, unto this day' (Deu 29:4). But these
shall see every step they take; they shall be like the beasts that
had eyes both before and behind: they shall see how far they are
come out of Antichrist, and shall see also how far yet they have
to go, to the complete rebuilding and finishing of this city.

Second. This showeth us how sweet and pleasant the way of this church
will be at this day before them. Light, knowledge, and judgment
in God's matters doth not only give men to see and behold all the
things with which they are concerned, but the things themselves
being good, they do also by this means convey very great sweetness
and pleasantness into the hearts of those that have the knowledge
of them. Every step, I say, that now they take, it shall be as it
were in honey and butter. 'The ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy [see v 2] upon
their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away' (Isa 35:10). As he saith, 'Again I will
build thee, and thou shalt be built; O virgin of Israel, thou shalt
again be adorned with tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of
them that make merry.-For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness
for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye,
praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them
from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together;
a great company shall return thither' (Jer 31:4,7,8).