Juliana Horatia Ewing - "Jan of the Windmill"

Jerome K. Jerome - "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow"

Harry Leon Wilson - "Merton of the Movies"

Carolyn Wells - "Patty's Butterfly Days"

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




Second. Now this street or way of holiness, it is on purpose called
not many, but one, to show us the perfection of light, grace,
faith, and spiritual comfort, that the inhabitants of this city
shall then enjoy. Daniel also calleth it one street, to signify
the same thing (Dan 9:25). Wherefore from hence I gather, that
then all saints shall walk-as before I have made appear-even in
one street, in one way, and in one light. It is antichrist that
hath brought in all those crossings, bye-lanes, and odd nooks,
that to this day many an honest heart doth greatly lose itself in;
but at this day they shall be otherwise minded, that is, made all
to savour one thing, and to walk one way, not biting and devouring
each other as now. And indeed there is all reason it should be
thus, for the street itself is but one. There is but ONE God, ONE
Lord Jesus, ONE Spirit, ONE faith, ONE baptism, even as we are
also called in ONE hope of our calling (Eph 4:5,6; Acts 2:27,32,33;
Phil 1:27; Rom 15:6). Now, therefore, when saints have the rubbish
of antichristian darkness and trumpery removed, then they shall
have, as they also had of old, but one heart, one soul, one judgment,
one mind, and shall with one heart and mouth glorify God. The which
also shall be prayed for of all the saints, even of all that have
received the pure language before these things come to pass. They
shall 'call upon the name of the Lord' with One lip, 'to serve him
with One consent' (Zeph 3:9). O! the heavenly spiritual harmony
that will be in the city of God in those days, when the trumpeters
and singers shall be as one, to make one sound, then the house
shall be filled with a cloud' (2 Chron 5:13).[17]

Third. When he saith that the street of the city was pure gold, he
alludes to the floor in Solomon's temple, which was overlaid with
gold (1 Kings 6:30). He alludes to Solomon's chariot also, whose
bottom was paved with love, and overlaid with gold (Can 3:10). By
the floor of the temple, we are to understand the way of holiness;
and by the chariot of Solomon, the triumphant glory of that way.
Again, in that he saith this street is gold, he would have us
to understand the worth and treasure that is laid up in the ways
of God, and of a truly gracious heart. First for the worth and
treasure that is laid up in the ways of God. They beget light (Psa
119:130), they change the heart, they lead from death, the devil,
and hell, to life, God, and the kingdom of heaven (Psa 119:9; Pro
2). In them God walks, and those that walk there also are sure to
meet with him (Isa 64:5). O this way, it is the way which 'no fowl
knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen'; 'It cannot
be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price
thereof.--The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange
of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be
made of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies'
(Job 28:7,15-18,28). All the ways of God they are pleasantness,
and all his paths are peace, and ought to be preferred before our
necessary food (Pro 3:17).

Again, as the ways of God are thus rich, and so far above the gold
and rubies of the world, so also is that sanctified and gracious
heart, without which no man can walk in this golden street. It
is not every clown with his clumping dirty shoes that is admitted
into kings' privy-chambers and private palaces; neither doth, or
will God, at the day of New Jerusalem, suffer any to trace about this
golden street, but such as have golden feet, and that beautified
with goodly shoes. For as for this street, all that walk in it,
they must be golden men, with golden hearts, and with graces that
are 'much more precious than of gold that perisheth' (Cant 7:1;
1 Peter 1:7; Rev 3:18).

Further, in that he saith this street is gold, 'pure gold,' he
giveth us to understand also what great delight and pleasure the
Lord's people will take in his ways and ordinances in that day.
There will not then be that backwardness to do good, and to receive
God, as there is in these more dry and empty days of the gospel.
As gold is pleasing to the covetous man and worldling, so shall the
ways of God be to the saints and godly at that day. Now we have
strong corruptions and weak grace, but then we shall have strong
grace and weak withered corruptions. You that are spiritual, you
know what an high and goodly lifting up of heart one small gale of
the good Spirit of God will make in your souls, how it will make
your lusts to languish, and your souls to love, and take pleasure
in the Lord that saves you. You know, I say, what a flame of love,
and bowels, and compassion, and self-denial, and endeared affection
to God and all saints, it will beget in the soul. O! it is good
to be here, saith the gracious heart. Well, and so thou shalt be
always, if thou live to see New Jerusalem settled in her own place
(Isa 65:17-25).

Fourth. 'And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were
transparent glass.' Mark, a street of gold like glass, a street
of gold, as it were transparent glass. By glass here, as also in
verse 18, we are to understand the Word (James 1:23-25). Wherefore,
when he saith the street, the golden street, was like unto glass,
he means, that the walking and carriage of the saints at this
day shall be like unto, or according to, the Word, the life of the
saints answering the life of the Word and rule of the Lord Christ.

Again, in that he doth add to glass the word transparent, he would
have us to understand thereby these two things.

1. That the walking and ways of holiness of saints shall be more
in the power and spirit of the Word, than all along in the reign
of Antichrist they have been. For transparent glass, it is the most
clear and excellent glass, and goeth as far beyond other sorts of
glass, as he that walks in the spirit and power of the commandment
goes beyond him that only walks in the letter and outward word
thereof. Alas, the churches of Christ, at their firs assembling,
will be like the coming together of Ezekiel's bones, clothed much
with flesh and sinews, but greatly void of spirit and life (Eze
37:7,8). Wherefore the spirit, power, holiness, and majesty that
now will appear in the church, it will greatly transcend and go
beyond the spirit, power, and holiness that hath accompanied her
in former days. Then shall the sun be ashamed, and the moon confounded,
when the Lord shall reign in Mount Zion, &c. (Isa 24:23). Then
shall the sun be ashamed, that is, then shall that little light
and understanding of the Word, that hath been in the church in
the days when a third part of the glory of the gospel was hid by
the smoke of the pit, be, as it were, laid aside and be useless
(Rev 8:12; 9:2). Every saint shall be under the light of a sun
that shines seven-fold brighter, even as the light of seven days.
We see it is so in some measure at this day; what light, and with
what clearness do the saints in this day see the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God, beyond what the holy and goodly martyrs and
saints did in the days that were before us; Huss, Bilney, Ridley,
Hooper, Cranmer, with their brethren, if they were now in the world,
would cry out and say, Our light and knowledge of the word of the
Testament of Christ was much inferior to the light that at this
day is broken forth, and that will yet daily, in despite of men
and devils, display its rays and beams amongst the sons of men![18]
When the children of Israel were to depart the land of Egypt, the
Lord made known himself to them otherwise than ever he made known
himself either to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, their fathers (Exo 6:3).
The book also, at the recovering the church from under Antichrist,
is to be unlocked and unsealed gradually, first one seal and
afterwards another, and last of all the seventh, before which time
the book will never quite be opened (Rev 5; 6). According to that
of the angel, 'Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up, and
sealed till the time of the end' (Dan 12:9). In which time (which
is the time of New Jerusalem) they shall be opened, and men shall
consider it perfectly (Jer 30:24; 23:20). Wherefore,

2. It must needs be that the church return to her old and primitive
love. For what is the cause of the want of love to Christ and one
another now, but our want of light in the things, mysteries, and
privileges of the glorious gospel of the Son of God? Wherefore
this being come, then love will reign, and have her perfect work
among the godly. Love is the very quintessence of all the graces of
the gospel, and is as transparent to them; 'the greatest of these
is charity' (1 Cor 13:13). It is the 'fulfilling of the law,' 'the
bond of perfectness,' and the most 'excellent way' (1 Cor 12:31;
Rom 13:10; 1 Cor 16:14; Col 3:14). Wherefore the Holy Ghost doth
mean, by this word transparent glass, that the height of light, and
the height of love, will be found in this city; all their things
shall be done without confused smoke and darkness, and also without
spiritual pride and desire of vain-glory: then shall they indeed
do all their things in charity, and in the feeling bowels and
fellowship of the gospel. 'Then shall the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and
as in former years' (Mal 3:4).

Alas! though now through grace the saints of God have attained to
more light and knowledge in the mysteries of the kingdom of God
than heretofore they had, yet their light is far inferior to that
which will be when this city is built. Our spiritual union and
fellowship in the very bowels of the grace and gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ also is yet greatly defective. It is said that 'no
man was able to enter into the temple' of God, 'till the seven
plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled' (Rev 15:8). But when
the seven last plagues are spent, and when all the adversaries of
the church, which caused terror in the land of the living, shall
be laid with the uncircumcised in the pit, then look for golden
days, and not till then (Eze 32:18). Then shall this golden street
be finished; that is, then shall the light, faith, love, and
holiness of the gospel be walked in and embraced in a transparent
and transcending way. 'He shall cause them that come of Jacob to
take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the
world with fruit' (Isa 27:6).

[The city has no temple.]

Ver. 22. 'And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.' These words do, in my present
light, point at the end of the days of this Jerusalem here in
this world: and in so doing they signify to us, that when she is
built, she shall stand and continue in this her glorious state
afore-mentioned even until that glory be swallowed up of that which
doth excel. That they do point at the end of her day in this world,
I do gather from these particulars:-

First. Because they are the last words of the description of her
glory,-that is, these and the words ensuing, which is but one and
the same continued speech; and it is easy to conclude that John,
in this description of this city, doth, from first to last, even
from the first appearing of her as she cometh out of Babylon till
she be perfect in glory, give us the relation of it. First, I say,
showing us her descending, then her building, and afterward the
glory of that building; at the end of which also he showeth to us
with what glory he will crown this glory, even by swallowing of
her up with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Second. Because in these words he doth absolutely cut off all
and every whit of her outward and external glory; that is, as to
outward ordinances and temple-worship, which yet was to be most
famous for a long time in this new and goodly city; which he
verifies in the eleventh chapter of this prophecy, which chapter
is a summary collecting of the church in her fall and rise under
Antichrist, which church there in her rise is this city here in
her glory in this world. He tells us there, I say, that when the
kingdoms of this world were become the kingdoms of the Lord, and
of his Christ, that 'then the temple of God was opened in heaven';
that is, temple-worship under the gospel recovered into its former
and primitive state and purity, in which it was before the coming
in of the man of sin (Rev 11:15-19, compared with 15:8). Which
temple he here utterly shutteth out, saying, 'I saw no temple
therein'; in the room of which he setteth the presence of the Lord
Jesus, and God his Father, making them to stand and be in the room
of temple and gospel-worship, in that manner as it is used while
we here live in the flesh. 'For the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it.' It is true, the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of this church in her lowest condition,
therefore much more when she is brought into the condition that
she is in at her rebuilding; but yet, neither in her low estate,
nor yet in her highest, is it proper to say, that so long as she is
in this world, God will be a temple to her, in opposition to her
temple and gospel-worship, in outward and New Testament administrations.
Wherefore when he saith He 'saw no temple therein,' and that from
this reason, because 'the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the
temple of it'; he must needs aim at a state to which the church
cannot attain until her Lord comes. For then will that which is
perfect be come, and that which is in part be done away (1 Cor
13:10).

Now that the temple in this place excluded, can signify nothing
else but the outward orderly way of God's worship, which the saints
ought with conscience, in faith, to be found in till their Lord
comes, consider that our New Testament doth use the word 'temple'
three several ways: 1. For the outward order and worship or
discipline of the Gospel (Rev 11:1-3). 2. For the body of Christ,
which is his church, &c. 3. And lastly, For the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb, which here are said to be the temple of this city.

Now then, when he saith he saw 'No temple therein,' he cannot
exclude the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, for they are here
said to be 'the temple of it.' Neither can he shut out the church,
which is the body of Christ, for that is the city itself; yea, and
the church shall be God's temple, and God and Christ the temple
of the church for ever and ever He must therefore by this word 'no
temple,' exclude only the outward way of gospel-worship, in which
the saints in the times of the New Testament both meet and edify
each other, and also meet their God, and are blessed and refreshed
by him. Again, that this outward gospel-worship should be laid
aside while the church is in this world, before her Lord doth come
to be enjoyed by her, as touching his personal presence; it looks
too like ranting opinions, and contradiction to Scripture, for me
to believe (1 Cor 11:26). For when he comes, but not till then,
shall these things be laid aside.

Besides, that which yet confirms me more fully in this opinion,
is because herein this New Jerusalem doth most exactly answer the
city and temple, which was built after the captivity; which city
and temple being once built, it stood till Christ our Lord did visit
them in his own personal coming the first time; as the prophets
also said it should. 'The Lord, whom ye seek,' saith one, 'shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts'
(Mal 3:1). And again, 'I will shake all nations, and the desire
of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord of Hosts.' Wherefore 'the glory of this latter
house shall be greater than [that] of the former, saith the Lord
of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of
Hosts' (Hagg 2:7,9).

Now observe, that from the time of the building of the second
temple to the coming of Christ, the worship of the temple order
was to be by all most devoutly and continually observed. But when
the Lord Jesus was come, and had established his own more honourable
and New Testament dispensation, then all the former temple-worship
fell to the ground, and became, with all the instruments of
worship that there unto belonged, null and void. Yea, and it was
a derogation to his gospel to offer to uphold that former way
of worship, after he had by his own personal presence and Spirit
brought in that other dispensation. All which, I say, will be
answered by our second and New Testament New Jerusalem. For as the
Old Jerusalem was built after the Jews were come out of literal
Babylon, so is our New Jerusalem built after our coming out of
the antichristian oppression of spiritual Babylon. Again, as that
city did after she was built continue and retain her temple-worship,
until the personal appearing of Christ the first time, so New
Jerusalem shall retain and hold her outward New Testament worship
till HE comes in person the second time. After all which, as the
second temple was swallowed up of a more heavenly and spiritual
dispensation by the personal presence of Christ, so shall also
the New Jerusalem temple-worship be swallowed up by the glory of
the appearing of the person of Christ the second time; as Paul
saith, for he speaks in the person of Christ, 'Till I come, give
attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,' &c. (1 Tim
4:13).

Thus then, when this holy city doth once again appear upon the
stage, and in her own situation, and when she hath been showed in
the attire of a queen before the face of all nations, and their
kings; and when she hath by the glory of the light of her New
Testament temple, gathered, as with a net, the number of God's
elect; then she is taken into her husband's privy chamber, where
she and he alone shall be in that blessed fellowship and communion
that shall not again be once eclipsed, or in the least interrupted
to eternity.

Thus have I showed you my present light into this portion of the
Holy Scripture. If any can give me further, I hope I shall not
refuse it. But as yet, methinks this should be the genuine sense
of this place, and is the very track of John himself. For after
he had seen the wall for present safety, the foundations for
continuation, the gates for entrance, and the like, then he comes
to tell us of the glory of all, and of the street itself at last;
which indeed is the last and end of all the order of God, and to
continue till an end be put to it by mortality's being swallowed
up of life. As is yet more fully showed you in the next verse of
this description.

[The city needs not the light of sun or moon.]

Ver. 23. 'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb
is the light thereof.'

'And the city had no need of the sun.' That is, after temple-worship
is over: this verse is added therefore for further clearing up
and illustrating of that which he said before. There he tells us
this city had 'no temple,' and here he tells us she needed neither
the light of the sun or moon. There he said, 'The Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it'; and here he saith, they are
the light thereof. The substance of which, in the language of the
Holy Ghost, is this: the reason why temple-worship is now gone
and over, it is because there is now no need in this city of the
light of the sun and the moon; and the reason why she hath now no
need of them, is because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
to it instead of both temple and light. 'For the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.' 'For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Whereby we may note, that
though the light in which she descended, being the purity of
temple-worship, was glorious, yet this city shall, when she is
once built, so advance from glory to glory, that at the last she
shall be more happy without the help of that light, without which
she had been for ever unbuilt, than she was by it in the midst of
the fulness of it.

'And the city had no need of the sun,' &c. The word sun is in
Scripture taken divers ways; sometimes for the true and natural
sun in the firmament; sometimes again for persecution, and the
rage of the enemy, &c. (Josh 10:12; Matt 13:6). But I take 'sun'
here not to be any of these, but for the good and pure word of the
gospel of Christ, unfolded, opened, and explained by the servants of
Christ; which sun is the same that before you find to be darkened
by the Antichristian fog and mist, which was darkened, I say,
even to a third part of it (Rev 8:12; 9:2). This sun, or word of
the gospel, Paul saith it is shadowed forth even by that which
shineth in the firmament of heaven, because as that by its light
and shining, giveth to those that have eyes, to see the glory
and excellency of this world, so by the shining and light of the
gospel is given 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ,' and a view of the excellency of
the things of the world to come (2 Cor 4:3-6). Now, I say, though
while the church is in this world, and on this side the state of
glory, she cannot live and flourish without the shining of this
sun, but would be lifeless and lightless, and without all heat
and comfort-for it is the entrance of the law that giveth light
here, and that lighteneth the eyes, 'making wise the simple' (Psa
19:7,8; 119:130)-yet at the day of the coming of her Lord in person
she shall see far more clearly without the thus shining of the sun
than ever she did or could see with and by it. 'And the city had
no need of the sun.' For when by the light of it the whole body
of the elect have found out the way to this city, and when they
have also by this light accomplished and fulfilled all their work;
yea, when the Lord himself is come, and doth immediately communicate
far more glorious light to this city without it than ever he did
by it; what need is there then of the light of this sun? for that
is to be of use but for the time present, even until the whole of
the body of the Lord Jesus is come to the perfect measure, even
'to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' (Eph
4:10-12). So then, when the body of Christ is in every sense
completed in this life by the light of the sunshine of his holy
gospel, what need of this sun? And hence it is that the word of
the gospel is called 'the word of reconciliation,' 'the word of
faith,' and 'the words of this life' (2 Cor 5:19; Rom 10:8; Acts
5:20). Wherefore, I say, it ceaseth when there is no more to be
reconciled, and when faith in all is perfected, and when this life
is put an end unto by the coming in of another. For 'when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away' (1 Cor 13:8-10).

The ministers of the gospel are of use so long as there is either
elect to be converted, or any converted soul to be perfected by that
measure of perfection that God hath appointed on this side glory;
but when this work is done, their ministry ceaseth. Wherefore,
though like the widow's sons, they are busy to borrow vessels for
the oil so long as it is running, and emptying itself out of the
great and principal barrel; yet when it ceaseth, as it will do, when
there are no more vessels to be found, then let them sit down as
they, and receive of the fruits of their labour, for the reward
of their work is then only to be enjoyed by them (2 Kings 4:1-6).

'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it.' This word moon also, as well as that of the sun, is to be
taken divers ways in the Scriptures of truth; sometimes for the
natural one, sometimes for the world and persecutors, &c. (Josh
10:13; Rev 12:1; Psa 121:6). But moon here is to be taken for the
church of God, with reference to her life, conversation, duties,
and exemplary behaviour, in which she is conversant on this side
glory; according to that of the Song, 'Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners?' (Cant 6:10). When he saith, then, that
at this day there shall be here no need of the shining light of
the moon, he means that this city at this day, in the state she
is in when she hath the person of the Lamb in her, then she shall
have no need of the growth of Christianity, for they shall be all
perfect; nor no need of mortification, for there shall be no sin.
They shall not need now, as in time past, to exhort and encourage
one another to stick fast to the promise, for they shall be
swallowed up of life and open vision (2 Cor 5:4). Here shall be no
need either of prayer, of repentance, of faith, or of good works,
as afore. 'And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the
moon to shine in it.'

Now, I say, the Holy Ghost is pleased to bring in here the shining
virtues of the church under the notion of a shining moon, because,
as the church herself is compared to the moon, so her virtues are
as naturally compared to a shining light; as Christ saith, 'Let
our light so shine' (Matt 5:16); and again, 'Let your loins be
girded about, and your lights burning' (Luke 12:35; Phil 2:15).
For, indeed, while we are here, that church and congregation of
the Lord doth most shine, and most send forth the golden rays and
pleasant beams of Christianity, that is most in the exercise of
the afore-mentioned virtues. Take away the moon, and the night
is doubtful; or though the moon be in the firmament, if she hath
lost her light, the night is not thereby made more comfortable.
And thus, I say, it is first with the world, where here there is
no church to shine, or where there is a church that doth not so
shine that others may see and be lighted. For while the day of
time doth last, even the world itself hath need of the shining of
the church; but at this day this time will be no longer, because
the day of eternity will break, and by that means cause the world
that now is, even the world of the ungodly, to cease to have a
being here any longer. Therefore now no need of the moon, or of
the light thereof, to shine before that which is not.[19]