{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_3270/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_3270","id":"gutenberg_3270","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3270","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Luke XXIV, 47 -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800","Category: British Literature","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Forgiveness of sin -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800","Salvation","Sermons, English -- 17th century","Sin"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1845 Thomas Nelson edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                    [Picture: Picture of John Bunyan]\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   THE\n                         JERUSALEM SINNER SAVED;\n                                   OR,\n                     GOOD NEWS FOR THE VILEST OF MEN\n\n\n                    BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.\u2014Luke xxiv. 47.\n\nTHE whole verse runs thus: \u201cAnd that repentance and remission of sins\nshould be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at\nJerusalem.\u201d\n\nThe words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from the dead, and they\nare here rehearsed after an historical manner, but do contain in them a\nformal commission, with a special clause therein.  The commission is, as\nyou see, for the preaching of the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted\nin the holy record by Matthew and Mark.  \u201cGo teach all nations,\u201d &c.  \u201cGo\nye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature.\u201d  Matt.\nxxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15.  Only this cause is in special mentioned by\nLuke, who saith, That as Christ would have the doctrine of repentance and\nremission of sins preached in his name among all nations, so he would\nhave the people of Jerusalem to have the first proffer thereof.  Preach\nit, saith Christ, in all nations, but begin at Jerusalem.\n\nThe apostles then, though they had a commission so large as to give them\nwarrant to go and preach the gospel in all the world, yet by this clause\nthey were limited as to the beginning of their ministry: they were to\nbegin this work at Jerusalem.  \u201cBeginning at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nBefore I proceed to an observation upon the words, I must (but briefly)\ntouch upon two things: namely,\n\nI.  Show you what Jerusalem now was.\n\nII.  Show you what it was to preach the gospel to them.\n\nI.  For the first, Jerusalem is to be considered, either,\n\n1.  With respect to the descent of her people: or,\n\n2.  With respect to her preference and exaltation: or,\n\n3.  With respect to her present state, as to her decays.\n\n_First_, As to her descent: she was from Abraham, the sons of Jacob, a\npeople that God singled out from the rest of the nations to set his love\nupon them.\n\n_Secondly_, As to her preference or exaltation, she was the place of\nGod\u2019s worship, and that which had in and with her the special tokens and\nsigns of God\u2019s favour and presence, above any other people in the world.\nHence the tribes went up to Jerusalem to worship; there was God\u2019s house,\nGod\u2019s high-priest, God\u2019s sacrifices accepted, and God\u2019s eye, and God\u2019s\nheart perpetually; Psalm lxxvi. 1, 2; Psalm cxxii.; 1 Kings ix. 3.  But,\n\n_Thirdly_, We are to consider Jerusalem also in her decays; for as she is\nso considered, she is the proper object of our text, as will be further\nshowed by and by.\n\nJerusalem, as I told you, was the place and seat of God\u2019s worship, but\nnow decayed, degenerated, and apostatized.  The word, the rule of\nworship, was rejected of them, and in its place they had put and set up\ntheir own traditions; they had rejected also the most weighty ordinances,\nand put in the room thereof their own little things, Matt. xv.; Mark vii.\nJerusalem was therefore now greatly backsliding, and become the place\nwhere truth and true religion were much defaced.\n\nIt was also now become the very sink of sin and seat of hypocrisy, and\ngulf where true religion was drowned.  Here also now reigned presumption,\nand groundless confidence in God, which is the bane of souls.  Amongst\nits rulers, doctors, and leaders, envy, malice, and blasphemy vented\nitself against the power of godliness, in all places where it was espied;\nas also against the promoters of it; yea, their Lord and Maker could not\nescape them.\n\nIn a word, Jerusalem was now become the shambles, the very slaughter-shop\nfor saints.  This was the place wherein the prophets, Christ, and his\npeople, were most horribly persecuted and murdered.  Yea, so hardened at\nthis time was this Jerusalem in her sins, that she feared not to commit\nthe biggest, and to bind herself by wish under the guilt and damning evil\nof it; saying, when she had murdered the Son of God, \u201cHis blood be upon\nus and our children.\u201d\n\nAnd though Jesus Christ did, both by doctrine, miracles, and holiness of\nlife, seek to put a stop to their villanies, yet they shut their eyes,\nstopped their ears, and rested not, till, as was hinted before, they had\ndriven him out of the world.  Yea, that they might, if possible, have\nextinguished his name, and exploded his doctrine out of the world, they,\nagainst all argument, and in despite of Heaven, its mighty hand, and\nundeniable proof of his resurrection, did hire soldiers to invent a lie,\nsaying, his disciples stole him away from the grave; on purpose that men\nmight not count him the Saviour of the world, nor trust in him for the\nremission of sins.\n\nThey were, saith Paul, contrary to all men: for they did not only shut up\nthe door of life against themselves, but forbade that it should be opened\nto any else.  \u201cForbidding us,\u201d saith he, \u201cto preach to the Gentiles, that\nthey might be saved, to fill up their sins alway;\u201d Matt. xxiii. 35; chap.\nxv. 7\u20139; Mark vii. 6\u20138; Matt. iii. 7\u20139; John viii. 33, 41; Matt. xxvii.\n18; Mark iii. 30; Matt. xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 33, 34; Matt. xxvii. 25;\nchap. xx. 11\u201316; 1 Thess. ii. 14\u201316.\n\nThis is the city, and these are the people; this is their character, and\nthese are their sins: nor can there be produced their parallel in all\nthis world.  Nay, what world, what people, what nation, for sin and\ntransgression, could, or can be compared to Jerusalem! especially if you\njoin to the matter of fact the light they sinned against, and the\npatience which they abused.  Infinite was the wickedness upon this\naccount which they committed.\n\nAfter all their abusings of wise men, and prophets, God sent unto them\nJohn Baptist, to reduce them, and then his Son to redeem them; but they\nwould be neither reduced nor redeemed, but persecuted both to the death.\nNor did they, as I said, stop here; the holy apostles they afterwards\npersecuted also to death, even so many as they could; the rest they drove\nfrom them unto the utmost corners.\n\nII.  I come now to show you what it was to preach the gospel to them.  It\nwas, saith Luke, \u201cto preach to them repentance and remission of sins\u201d in\nChrist\u2019s name; or, as Mark has it, to bid them \u201crepent and believe the\ngospel,\u201d Mark i. 15; not that repentance is a cause of remission, but a\nsign of our hearty reception thereof.  Repentance is therefore here put\nto intimate, that no pretended faith of the gospel is good that is not\naccompanied with it: and this he doth on purpose, because he would not\nhave them deceive themselves: for with what faith can he expect remission\nof sins in the name of Christ, that is not heartily sorry for them?  Or\nhow shall a man be able to give to others a satisfactory account of his\nunfeigned subjection to the gospel, that yet abides in his impenitency?\n\nWherefore repentance is here joined with faith in the way of receiving\nthe gospel.  Faith is that without which it cannot be received at all;\nand repentance that without which it cannot be received unfeignedly.\nWhen therefore Christ says, he would have repentance and remission of\nsins preached in his name among all nations, it is as much as to say, I\nwill that all men every where be sorry for their sins, and accept of\nmercy at God\u2019s hand through me, lest they fall under his wrath in the\njudgment.  For as I had said, without repentance, what pretence soever\nmen have of faith, they cannot escape the wrath to come.  Wherefore Paul\nsaith, God commands \u201call men every where to repent,\u201d (in order to their\nsalvation), \u201cbecause he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge\nthe world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained;\u201d Acts xvii.\n31.\n\nAnd now to come to this clause, \u201cBeginning at Jerusalem;\u201d that is, that\nChrist would have Jerusalem have the first offer of the gospel.\n\n1.  This cannot be so commanded, because they had now any more right of\nthemselves thereto than had any of the nations of the world; for their\nsins had divested them of all self-deservings.\n\n2.  Nor yet, because they stood upon the advance-ground with the worst of\nthe sinners of the nations; nay, rather, the sinners of the nations had\nthe advance-ground of them: for Jerusalem was, long before she had added\nthis iniquity to her sin, worse than the very nations that God cast out\nbefore the children of Israel; 2 Chron. xxxiii.\n\n3.  It must therefore follow, that this clause, Begin at Jerusalem, was\nput into this commission of mere grace and compassion, even from the\noverflowings of the bowels of mercy; for indeed they were the worst, and\nso in the most deplorable condition of any people under the heavens.\n\nWhatever, therefore, their relation was to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob,\nhowever they formerly had been the people among whom God had placed his\nname and worship, they were now degenerated from God, more than the\nnations were from their idols, and were become guilty of the highest sins\nwhich the people of the world were capable of committing.  Nay, none can\nbe capable of committing of such pardonable sins as they committed\nagainst their God, when they slew his Son, and persecuted his name and\nword.\n\nFrom these words, therefore, thus explained, we gain this observation:\n\nThat Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place to the\nbiggest sinners.\n\nThat these Jerusalem sinners were the biggest sinners that ever were in\nthe world, I think none will deny, that believes that Christ was the best\nman that ever was in the world, and also was their Lord God.  And that\nthey were to have the first offer of his grace, the text is as clear as\nthe sun; for it saith, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d  \u201cPreach,\u201d saith he,\n\u201crepentance and remission of sins\u201d to the Jerusalem sinners: to the\nJerusalem sinners in the first place.\n\nOne would a-thought, since the Jerusalem sinners were the worst and\ngreatest sinners, Christ\u2019s greatest enemies, and those that not only\ndespised his person, doctrine, and miracles, but that a little before had\nhad their hands up to the elbows in his heart-blood, that he should\nrather have said, Go into all the world, and preach repentance and\nremission of sins among all nations; and after that offer the same to\nJerusalem; yea, it had been infinite grace, if he had said so.  But what\ngrace is this, or what name shall we give it, when he commands that this\nrepentance and remission of sins, which is designed to be preached in all\nnations, should first be offered to Jerusalem, in the first place to the\nworst of sinners!\n\nNor was this the first time that the grace which was in the heart of\nChrist thus shewed itself to the world.  For while he was yet alive, even\nwhile he was yet in Jerusalem, and perceived even among these Jerusalem\nsinners, which was the most vile amongst them, he still in his preaching\ndid signify that he had a desire that the worst of these worst should in\nthe first place come unto him.  The which he showeth, where he saith to\nthe better sort of them, \u201cThe publicans and harlots enter into the\nkingdom of God before you;\u201d Matt. xxi. 31.  Also when he compared\nJerusalem with the sinners of the nations, then he commands that the\nJerusalem sinners should have the gospel at present confined to them.\n\u201cGo not,\u201d saith he, \u201cinto the way of the Gentiles, and into any of the\ncities of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of\nthe house of Israel;\u201d Matt. x. 5, 6; chap. xxiii. 37; but go rather to\nthem, for they were in the most fearful plight.\n\nThese therefore must have the cream of the gospel, namely, the first\noffer thereof in his lifetime: yea, when he departed out of the world, he\nleft this as part of his last will with his preachers, that they also\nshould offer it first to Jerusalem.  He had a mind, a careful mind, as it\nseems, to privilege the worst of sinners with the first offer of mercy,\nand to take from among them a people to be the first fruits unto God and\nto the Lamb.\n\nThe 15th of Luke also is famous for this, where the Lord Jesus takes more\ncare, as appears there by three parables, for the lost sheep, lost groat,\nand the prodigal son, than for the other sheep, the other pence, or for\nthe son that said he had never transgressed, yea, he shows that there is\njoy in heaven, among the angels of God, at the repentance of one sinner,\nmore than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance;\nLuke xv.\n\nAfter this manner therefore the mind of Christ was set on the salvation\nof the biggest sinners in his lifetime.  But join to this, this clause,\nwhich he carefully put into the apostles\u2019 commission to preach, when he\ndeparted hence to the Father, and then you shall see that his heart was\nvehemently set upon it; for these were part of his last words with them,\nPreach my gospel to all nations, but see that you begin at Jerusalem.\n\nNor did the apostles overlook this clause when their Lord was gone into\nheaven: they went first to them of Jerusalem, and preached Christ\u2019s\ngospel to them: they abode also there for a season and time, and preached\nit to no body else, for they had regard to the commandment of their Lord.\n\nAnd it is to be observed, namely, that the first sermon which they\npreached after the ascension of Christ, it was preached to the very worst\nof these Jerusalem sinners, even to these that were the murderers of\nJesus Christ, Acts ii. 23, for these are part of the sermon: \u201cYe took\nhim, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain him.\u201d  Yea, the next\nsermon, and the next, and also the next to that, was preached to the\nself-same murderers, to the end they might be saved; Acts iii. 14\u201316;\nchap. iv. 10, 11; chap. v. 30; chap. vii. 52.\n\nBut we will return to the first sermon that was preached to these\nJerusalem sinners, by which will be manifest more than great grace, if it\nbe duly considered.\n\nFor after that Peter, and the rest of the apostles, had, in their\nexhortation, persuaded these wretches to believe that they had killed the\nPrince of life, and after they had duly fallen under the guilt of their\nmurder, saying, \u201cMen and brethren, what shall we do?\u201d he replies, by an\nuniversal tender to them all in general, considering them as Christ\u2019s\nkillers, that if they were sorry for what they had done, and would be\nbaptized for the remission of their sins in his name, they should receive\nthe gift of the Holy Ghost; Acts ii. 37, 38.\n\nThis he said to them all, though he knew that they were such sinners.\nYea, he said it without the least stick or stop, or pause of spirit, as\nto whether he had best to say so or no.  Nay, so far off was Peter from\nmaking an objection against one of them, that by a particular clause in\nhis exhortation, he endeavours, that not one of them may escape the\nsalvation offered.  \u201cRepent,\u201d saith he, \u201cand be baptized every one of\nyou.\u201d  I shut out never a one of you; for I am commanded by my Lord to\ndeal with you, as it were, one by one, by the word of his salvation.  But\nwhy speaks he so particularly?  Oh! there were reasons for it.  The\npeople with whom the apostles were now to deal, as they were murderers of\nour Lord, and to be charged in the general with his blood, so they had\ntheir various and particular acts of villany in the guilt thereof, now\nlying upon their consciences.  And the guilt of these their various and\nparticular acts of wickedness, could not perhaps be reached to a removal\nthereof, but by this particular application.  Repent every one of you; be\nbaptized every one of you, in his name, for the remission of sins, and\nyou shall, every one of you, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.\n\n_Object_.  But I was one of them that plotted to take away his life.  May\nI be saved by him?\n\n_Peter_.  Every one of you.\n\n_Object_.  But I was one of them that bare false witness against him.  Is\nthere grace for me?\n\n_Peter_.  For every one of you.\n\n_Object_.  But I was one of them that cried out, Crucify him, crucify\nhim; and desired that Barabbas the murderer might live, rather than him.\nWhat will become of me, think you?\n\n_Peter_.  I am to preach repentance and remission of sins to every one of\nyou, says Peter.\n\n_Object_.  But I was one of them that did spit in his face when he stood\nbefore his accusers.  I also was one that mocked him, when in anguish he\nhanged bleeding on the tree.  Is there room for me?\n\n_Peter_.  For every one of you, says Peter.\n\n_Object_.  But I was one of them that in his extremity said, give him\ngall and vinegar to drink.  Why may not I expect the same when anguish\nand guilt is upon me?\n\n_Peter_.  Repent of these your wickednesses, and here is remission of\nsins for every one of you.\n\n_Object_.  But I railed on him, I reviled him, I hated him, I rejoiced to\nsee him mocked at by others.  Can there be hopes for me?\n\n_Peter_.  There is for every one of you.  \u201cRepent and be baptised every\none of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye\nshall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.\u201d  Oh! what a blessed \u201cEvery one\nof you,\u201d is here!  How willing was Peter, and the Lord Jesus, by his\nministry, to catch these murderers with the word of the gospel, that they\nmight be made monuments of the grace of God!  How unwilling, I say, was\nhe, that any of these should escape the hand of mercy!  Yea, what an\namazing wonder it is to think, that above all the world, and above every\nbody in it, these should have the first offer of mercy!  \u201cBeginning at\nJerusalem.\u201d\n\nBut was there not something of moment in this clause of the commission?\nDid not Peter, think you, see a great deal in it, that he should thus\nbegin with these men, and thus offer, so particularly, this grace to each\nparticular man of them?\n\nBut, as I told you, this is not all; these Jerusalem sinners must have\nthis offer again and again; every one of them must be offered it over and\nover.  Christ would not take their first rejection for a denial, nor\ntheir second repulse for a denial; but he will have grace offered once,\nand twice, and thrice, to these Jerusalem sinners.  Is not this amazing\ngrace?  Christ will not be put off.  These are the sinners that are\nsinners indeed.  They are sinners of the biggest sort; consequently such\nas Christ can, if they convert and be saved, best serve his ends and\ndesigns upon.  Of which more anon.\n\nBut what a pitch of grace is this!  Christ is minded to amaze the world,\nand to shew, that he acteth not like the children of men.  This is that\nwhich he said of old.  \u201cI will not execute the fierceness of my wrath, I\nwill not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man;\u201d Hos. xi.\n9.  This is not the manner of men; men are shorter winded; men are soon\nmoved to take vengeance, and to right themselves in a way of wrath and\nindignation.  But God is full of grace, full of patience, ready to\nforgive, and one that delights in mercy.  All this is seen in our text.\nThe biggest sinners must first be offered mercy; they must, I say, have\nthe cream of the gospel offered unto them.\n\nBut we will a little proceed.  In the third chapter we find, that they\nwho escaped converting by the first sermon, are called upon again, to\naccept of grace and forgiveness, for their murder committed upon the Son\nof God.  You have killed, yea, \u201cyou have denied, the holy one and the\njust, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the\nPrince of life.\u201d  Mark, he falls again upon the very men that actually\nwere, as you have it in the chapters following, his very betrayers and\nmurderers, Acts iii. 14, 15; as being loath that they should escape the\nmercy of forgiveness; and exhorts them again to repent, that their sins\nmight \u201cbe blotted out;\u201d verses 19, 20.\n\nAgain, in the fourth chapter, he charges them afresh with this murder,\nver. 10; but withal tells them, salvation is in no other.  Then, like a\nheavenly decoy, he puts himself also among them, to draw them the better\nunder the net of the gospel; saying, \u201cThere is none other name under\nheaven given among men, whereby we must be saved;\u201d ver. 12.\n\nIn the fifth chapter you find them railing at him, because he continued\npreaching among them salvation in the name of Jesus.  But he tells them,\nthat that very Jesus whom they had slain and hanged on a tree, him God\nhad raised up, and exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give\nrepentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins: ver. 29\u201331.  Still\ninsinuating, that though they had killed him, and to this day rejected\nhim, yet his business was to bestow upon them repentance and forgiveness\nof sins.\n\n\u2019Tis true, after they began to kill again, and when nothing but killing\nwould serve their turn, then they that were scattered abroad went every\nwhere preaching the word.  Yet even some of them so hankered after the\nconversion of the Jews, that they preached the gospel only to them.  Also\nthe apostles still made their abode at Jerusalem, in hopes that they\nmight yet let down their net for another draught of these Jerusalem\nsinners.  Neither did Paul and Barnabas, who were the ministers of God to\nthe Gentiles, but offer the gospel, in the first place, to those of them\nthat for their wickedness were scattered like vagabonds among the\nnations; yea, and when they rendered rebellion and blasphemy for their\nservice and love, they replied, it was necessary that the word of God\nshould first have been spoken to them; Acts i. 8; chap. xiii. 46, 47.\n\nNor was this their preaching unsuccessful among these people: but the\nLord Jesus so wrought with the word thus spoken, that thousands of them\ncame flocking to him for mercy.  Three thousand of them closed with him\nat the first; and afterwards two thousand more; for now they were in\nnumber about five thousand; whereas before sermons were preached to these\nmurderers, the number of the disciples was not above \u201ca hundred and\ntwenty;\u201d Acts i. 15; chap. ii. 41; chap. iv. 4.\n\nAlso among these people that thus flocked to him for mercy, there was a\n\u201cgreat company of the priests;\u201d chap. vi. 7.  Now the priests were they\nthat were the greatest of these biggest sinners; they were the\nringleaders, they were the inventors and ringleaders in the mischief.  It\nwas they that set the people against the Lord Jesus, and that were the\ncause why the uproar increased, until Pilate had given sentence upon him.\n\u201cThe chief priests and elders,\u201d says the text, \u201cpersuaded (the people)\nthe multitude,\u201d that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus; Matt.\nxxvii. 20.  And yet behold the priests, yea, a great company of the\npriests, became obedient to the faith.\n\nOh the greatness of the grace of Christ, that he should be thus in love\nwith the souls of Jerusalem sinners! that he should be thus delighted\nwith the salvation of the Jerusalem sinners! that he should not only will\nthat his gospel should be offered them, but that it should be offered\nunto them first, and before other sinners were admitted to a hearing of\nit.  \u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nWere this doctrine well believed, where would there be a place for a\ndoubt, or a fear of the damnation of the soul, if the sinner be penitent,\nhow bad a life soever he has lived, how many soever in number are his\nsins?\n\nBut this grace is hid from the eyes of men; the devil hides it from them;\nfor he knows it is alluring, he knows it has an attracting virtue in it:\nfor this is it that above all arguments can draw the soul to God.\n\nI cannot help it, but must let drop another word.  The first church, the\nJerusalem church, from whence the gospel was to be sent into all the\nworld, was a church made up of Jerusalem sinners.  These great sinners\nwere here the most shining monuments of the exceeding grace of God.\n\nThus you see I have proved the doctrine; and that not only by showing you\nthat this was the practice of the Lord Jesus Christ in his lifetime, but\nhis last will when he went up to God; saying, Begin to preach at\nJerusalem.\n\nYea, it is yet further manifested, in that when his ministers first began\nto preach there, he joined his power to the word, to the converting of\nthousands of his betrayers and murderers, and also many of the\nringleading priests to the faith.\n\nI shall now proceed, and shall show you,\n\n1.  The reasons of the point:\n\n2.  And then make some application of the whole.\n\nThe observation, you know, is this: Jesus Christ would have mercy\noffered, in the first place, to the biggest sinners, to the Jerusalem\nsinners: \u201cPreach repentance, and remission of sins, in my name, among all\nnations, beginning at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nThe reasons of the point are:\n\nFirst, Because the biggest sinners have most need thereof.  He that has\nmost need, reason says, should be helped first.  I mean, when a helping\nhand is offered, and now it is: for the gospel of the grace of God is\nsent to help the world; Acts xvi. 9.  But the biggest sinner has most\nneed.  Therefore, in reason, when mercy is sent down from heaven to men,\nthe worst of men should have the first offer of it.  \u201cBegin at\nJerusalem.\u201d  This is the reason which the Lord Christ himself renders,\nwhy in his lifetime he left the best, and turned him to the worst; why he\nsat so loose from the righteous, and stuck so close to the wicked.  \u201cThe\nwhole,\u201d saith he, \u201chave no need of the physician, but the sick.  I came\nnot to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance;\u201d Mark ii. 15\u201347.\n\nAbove you read, that the scribes and pharisees said to his disciples,\n\u201cHow is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?\u201d\nAlas! they did not know the reason: but the Lord renders them one, and\nsuch an one as is both natural and cogent, saying, These have need, most\nneed.  Their great necessity requires that I should be most friendly, and\nshow my grace first to them.\n\nNot that the other were sinless, and so had no need of a Saviour; but the\npublicans and their companions were the biggest sinners; they were, as to\nview, worse than the scribes; and therefore in reason should be helped\nfirst, because they had most need of a Saviour.\n\nMen that are at the point to die have more need of the physician than\nthey that are but now and then troubled with an heart-fainting qualm.\nThe publicans and sinners were, as it were, in the mouth of death; death\nwas swallowing of them down: and therefore the Lord Jesus receives them\nfirst, offers them mercy first.  \u201cThe whole have no need of the\nphysician, but the sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners\nto repentance.\u201d  The sick, as I said, is the biggest sinner, whether he\nsees his disease or not.  He is stained from head to foot, from heart to\nlife and conversation.  This man, in every man\u2019s judgment, has the most\nneed of mercy.  There is nothing attends him from bed to board, and from\nboard to bed again, but the visible characters, and obvious symptoms, of\neternal damnation.  This therefore is the man that has need, most need;\nand therefore in reason should be helped in the first place.  Thus it was\nwith the people concerned in the text, they were the worst of sinners,\nJerusalem sinners, sinners of the biggest size; and therefore such as had\nthe greatest need; wherefore they must have mercy offered to them, before\nit be offered any where else in the world.  \u201cBegin at Jerusalem,\u201d offer\nmercy first to a Jerusalem sinner.  This man has most need, he is\nfarthest from God, nearest to hell, and so one that has most need.  This\nman\u2019s sins are in number the most, in cry the loudest, in weight the\nheaviest, and consequently will sink him soonest: wherefore he has most\nneed of mercy.  This man is shut up in Satan\u2019s hand, fastest bound in the\ncords of his sins: one that justice is whetting his sword to cut off; and\ntherefore has most need, not only of mercy, but that it should be\nextended to him in the first place.\n\nBut a little further to show you the true nature of this reason, to wit,\nThat Jesus Christ would have mercy offered, in the first place, to the\nbiggest sinners.\n\nFirst, Mercy ariseth from the bowels and compassion, from pity, and from\na feeling of the condition of those in misery.  \u201cIn his love, and in his\npity, he saveth us.\u201d  And again, \u201cThe Lord is pitiful, very pitiful, and\nof great mercy;\u201d Isa. lxiii. 9; James v. 11.\n\nNow, where pity and compassion is, there is yearning of bowels; and where\nthere is that, there is a readiness to help.  And, I say again, the more\ndeplorable and dreadful the condition is, the more directly doth bowels\nand compassion turn themselves to such, and offer help and deliverance.\nAll this flows from our first scripture proof; I came to call them that\nhave need; to call them first, while the rest look on and murmur.\n\n\u201cHow shall I give thee up, Ephraim?\u201d  Ephraim was a revolter from God, a\nman that had given himself up to devilism: a company of men, the ten\ntribes, that worshipped devils, while Judah kept with his God.  \u201cBut how\nshall I give thee up, Ephraim?  How shall I deliver thee, Israel?  How\nshall I make thee as Admah?  How shall I set thee as Zeboim? (and yet\nthou art worse than they: nor has Samaria committed half thy sins); Ezek.\nxvi. 46\u201351.  My heart is turned within me, and my repentings are kindled\ntogether;\u201d Hos. xi. 8.\n\nBut where do you find that ever the Lord did thus yearn in his bowels for\nand after any self-righteous man?  No, no; they are the publicans and\nharlots, idolaters and Jerusalem sinners, for whom his bowels thus yearn\nand tumble about within him: for, alas! poor worms, they have most need\nof mercy.\n\nHad not the good Samaritan more compassion for that man that fell among\nthieves (though that fall was occasioned by his going from the place\nwhere they worshipped God, to Jericho, the cursed city) than we read he\nhad for any other besides?  His wine was for him, his oil was for him,\nhis beast for him; his penny, his care, and his swaddling bands for him;\nfor alas! wretch, he had most need; Luke x. 30\u201335.\n\nZaccheus the publican, the chief of the publicans, one that had made\nhimself the richer by wronging of others; the Lord at that time singled\nhim out from all the rest of his brother publicans, and that in the face\nof many Pharisees, and proclaimed in the audience of them all, that that\nday salvation was come to his house; Luke xix. 1\u20138.\n\nThe woman also that had been bound down by Satan for eighteen years\ntogether, his compassions putting him upon it, he loosed her, though\nthose that stood by snarled at him for so doing; Luke xiii. 11\u201313,\n\nAnd why the woman of Sarepta, and why Naaman the Syrian, rather than\nwidows and lepers in Israel, but because their conditions were more\ndeplorable, (for that) they were most forlorn, and farthest from help;\nLuke iv. 25, 27.\n\nBut I say, why all these, thus named? why have we not a catalogue of some\nholy men that were so in their own eyes, and in the judgment of the\nworld?  Alas if at any time any of them are mentioned, how seemingly\ncoldly doth the record of scripture present them to us?  Nicodemus, a\nnight professor, and Simon the pharisee, with his fifty pence; and their\ngreat ignorance of the methods of grace, we have now and then touched\nupon.\n\nMercy seems to be out of his proper channel, when it deals with\nself-righteous men; but then it runs with a full stream when it extends\nitself to the biggest sinners.  As God\u2019s mercy is not regulated by man\u2019s\ngoodness, nor obtained by man\u2019s worthiness; so not much set out by saving\nof any such.  But more of this anon.\n\nAnd here let me ask my reader a question: suppose that as thou art\nwalking by some pond side, thou shouldst espy in it four or five children\nall in danger of drowning, and one in more danger than all the rest,\njudge which has most need to be helped out first?  I know thou wilt say,\nhe that is nearest drowning.  Why, this is the case; the bigger sinner,\nthe nearer drowning; therefore the bigger sinner the more need of mercy;\nyea, of help by mercy in the first place.  And to this our text agrees,\nwhen it saith, \u201cBeginning at Jerusalem.\u201d  Let the Jerusalem sinner, says\nChrist, have the first offer, the first invitation, the first tender of\nmy grace and mercy, for he is the biggest sinner, and so has most need\nthereof.\n\n_Secondly_, Christ Jesus would have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners, because when they, any of them, receive it, it\nredounds most to the fame of his name.\n\nChrist Jesus, as you may perceive, has put himself under the term of a\nphysician, a doctor for curing of diseases: and you know that applause\nand fame, are things that physicians much desire.  That is it that helps\nthem to patients, and that also that will help their patients to commit\nthemselves to their skill for cure, with the more confidence and repose\nof spirit.  And the best way for a doctor or physician to get himself a\nname, is, in the first place, to take in hand, and cure some such as all\nothers have given off for lost and dead.  Physicians get neither name nor\nfame by pricking of wheals, or pricking out thistles, or by laying of\nplaisters to the scratch of a pin; every old woman can do this.  But if\nthey would have a name and a fame, if they will have it quickly they\nmust, as I said, do some great and desperate cures.  Let them fetch one\nto life that was dead; let them recover one to his wits that was mad; let\nthem make one that was born blind to see; or let them give ripe wits to a\nfool; these are notable cures, and he that can do thus, and if he doth\nthus first, he shall have the name and fame he desires; he may lie a-bed\ntill noon.\n\nWhy, Christ Jesus forgiveth sins for a name, and so begets of himself a\ngood report in the hearts of the children of men.  And therefore in\nreason he must be willing, as also he did command, that his mercy should\nbe offered first to the biggest sinners.\n\n\u201cI will forgive their sins, iniquities, and transgressions,\u201d says he,\n\u201cand it shall turn to me for a name of joy, and a praise and an honour,\nbefore all the nations of the earth;\u201d Jer. xxxiii. 8, 9.\n\nAnd hence it is, that at his first appearing he took upon him to do such\nmighty works: he got a fame thereby, he got a name thereby; Matt. iv. 23,\n24.\n\nWhen Christ had cast the legion of devils out of the man of whom you\nread, Mark v., he bid him go home to his friends, and tell it: \u201cGo home,\u201d\nsaith he, \u201cto thy friends, and tell them how great things God has done\nfor thee, and has had compassion on thee;\u201d Mark v. 19.  Christ Jesus\nseeks a name, and desireth a fame in the world; and therefore, or the\nbetter to obtain that, he commands that mercy should first be proffered\nto the biggest sinners, because, by the saving of one of them he makes\nall men marvel.  As \u2019tis said of the man last mentioned, whom Christ\ncured towards the beginning of his ministry: \u201cAnd he departed,\u201d says the\ntext, \u201cand began to publish in Decapolis, how great things Jesus had done\nfor him; and all men did marvel,\u201d ver. 20.\n\nWhen John told Christ, that they saw one casting out devils in his name,\nand they forbade him, because he followed not with them, what is the\nanswer of Christ?  \u201cForbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a\nmiracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.\u201d  No; they will\nrather cause his praise to be heard, and his name to be magnified, and so\nput glory on the head of Christ.\n\nBut we will follow a little our metaphor: Christ, as I said, has put\nhimself under the term of a physician; consequently he desireth that his\nfame, as to the salvation of sinners, may spread abroad, and that the\nworld may see what he can do.  And to this end, he has not only\ncommanded, that the biggest sinners should have the first offer of his\nmercy, but has, as physicians do, put out his bills, and published his\ndoings, that things may be read and talked of.  Yea, he has moreover, in\nthese his blessed bills, the holy scriptures I mean, inserted the very\nnames of persons, the places of their abode, and the great cures that, by\nthe means of his salvations, he has wrought upon them to this very end.\nHere is, _Item_, such a one, by my grace and redeeming blood, was made a\nmonument of everlasting life; and such a one, by my perfect obedience,\nbecame an heir of glory.  And then he produceth their names.\n\n_Item_, I saved Lot from the guilt and damnation that he had procured to\nhimself by his incest.\n\n_Item_, I saved David from the vengeance that belonged to him for\ncommitting of adultery and murder.\n\nHere is also Solomon, Manasseh, Peter, Magdalen, and many others, made\nmention of in this book.  Yea, here are their names, their sins, and\ntheir salvations recorded together, that you may read and know what a\nSaviour he is, and do him honour in the world.  For why are these things\nthus recorded, but to show to sinners what he can do, to the praise and\nglory of his grace?\n\nAnd it is observable, as I said before, we have but very little of the\nsalvation of little sinners mentioned in God\u2019s book, because that would\nnot have answered the design, to wit, to bring glory and fame to the name\nof the Son of God.\n\nWhat should be the reason, think you, why Christ should so easily take a\ndenial of the great ones, that were the grandeur of the world, and\nstruggle so hard for hedge-creepers and highwaymen (as that parable, Luke\nxiv., seems to import he doth), but to show forth the riches of the glory\nof his grace to his praise?  This I say, is one reason to be sure.\n\nThey that had their grounds, their yoke of oxen, and their marriage joys,\nwere invited to come; but they made their excuse, and that served the\nturn.  But when he comes to deal with the worst, he saith to his\nservants, Go ye out and bring them in hither.  \u201cGo out quickly, and bring\nin hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind.\u201d  And they did\nso: and he said again, \u201cGo out into the highways and hedges, and compel\nthem to come in, that my house may be filled;\u201d Luke xiv. 18, 19, 23.\nThese poor, lame, maimed, blind, hedge-creepers and highwaymen, must come\nin, must be forced in.  These, if saved, will make his merits shine.\n\nWhen Christ was crucified, and hanged up between the earth and heavens,\nthere were two thieves crucified with him; and behold, he lays hold of\none of them and will have him away with him to glory.  Was not this a\nstrange act, and a display of unthought of grace?  Were there none but\nthieves there, or were the rest of that company out of his reach?  Could\nhe not, think you, have stooped from the cross to the ground, and have\nlaid hold on some honester man if he would?  Yes, doubtless.  Oh! but\nthen he would not have displayed his grace, nor so have pursued his own\ndesigns, namely, to get to himself a praise and a name: but now he has\ndone it to purpose.  For who that shall read this story, but must\nconfess, that the Son of God is full of grace; for a proof of the riches\nthereof, he left behind him, when upon the cross he took the thief away\nwith him to glory.  Nor can this one act of his be buried; it will be\ntalked of to the end of the world to his praise.  \u201cMen shall speak of the\nmight of thy terrible acts, and will declare thy greatness; they shall\nabundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy\nrighteousness.  They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of\nthy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the\nglorious majesty of his kingdom;\u201d Psalm cxlv. 6\u201312.\n\nWhen the word of God came among the conjurers and those soothsayers that\nyou read of, Acts xix., and had prevailed with some of them to accept of\nthe grace of Christ, the Holy Ghost records it with a boast, for that it\nwould redound to his praise, saying, \u201cAnd many of them that used curious\narts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and\ncounted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.\nSo mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed;\u201d Acts xix. 19, 20.  It\nwrenched out of the clutches of Satan some of those of whom he thought\nhimself most sure.\n\n\u201cSo mightily grew the word of God.\u201d  It grew mightily, it encroached upon\nthe kingdom of the devil.  It pursued him, and took the prey; it forced\nhim to let go his hold: it brought away captive, as prisoners taken by\nforce of arms, some of the most valiant of his army: it fetched back\nfrom, as it were, the confines of hell, some of those that were his most\ntrusty, and that with hell had been at an agreement: it made them come\nand confess their deeds, and burn their books before all men: \u201cSo\nmightily grew the word of God, and prevailed.\u201d\n\nThus, therefore, you see why Christ will have mercy offered in the first\nplace to the biggest sinners; they have most need thereof; and this is\nthe most ready way to extol his name that rideth upon the heavens to our\nhelp.  But,\n\n_Thirdly_, Christ Jesus would have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners, because by their forgiveness and salvation, others\nhearing of it, will be encouraged the more to come to him for life.\n\nFor the physician, by curing the most desperate at the first, doth not\nonly get himself a name, but begets encouragement in the minds of other\ndiseased folk to come to him for help.  Hence you read of our Lord, that\nafter, through his tender mercy, he had cured many of great diseases, his\nfame was spread abroad, \u201cThey brought unto him all sick people that were\ntaken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed\nwith devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy,\nand he healed them.  And there followed him great multitudes of people\nfrom Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond\nJordan;\u201d Matt. iv. 24, 25.\n\nSee here, he first by working gets himself a fame, a name, and renown,\nand now men take encouragement, and bring from all quarters their\ndiseased to him, being helped, by what they had heard, to believe that\ntheir diseased should be healed.\n\nNow, as he did with those outward cures, so he does in the proffers of\nhis grace and mercy: he proffers that in the first place to the biggest\nsinners, that others may take heart to come to him to be saved.  I will\ngive you a scripture or two, I mean to show you that Christ, by\ncommanding that his mercy should in the first place be offered to the\nbiggest of sinners, has a design thereby to encourage and provoke others\nto come also to him for mercy.\n\n\u201cGod,\u201d saith Paul, \u201cwho is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he\nloved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with\nChrist (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made\nus sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.\u201d  But why did he do\nall this?  \u201cThat in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches\nof his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus;\u201d Eph. ii.\n4\u20137.\n\nSee, here is a design; God lets out his mercy to Ephesus of design, even\nto shew to the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace, in his\nkindness to them through Christ Jesus.  And why to shew by these the\nexceeding riches of his grace to the ages to come, through Christ Jesus,\nbut to allure them, and their children also, to come to him, and to\npartake of the same grace through Christ Jesus?\n\nBut what was Paul, and the Ephesian sinners? (of Paul we will speak\nanon).  These Ephesian sinners, they were men dead in sins, men that\nwalked according to the dictates and motions of the devil; worshippers of\nDiana, that effeminate goddess; men far off from God, aliens and\nstrangers to all good things; such as were far off from that, as I said,\nand consequently in a most deplorable condition.  As the Jerusalem\nsinners were of the highest sort among the Jews, so these Ephesian\nsinners were of the highest sort among the Gentiles; Eph. ii. 1\u20133, 11,\n12; Acts xix. 35.\n\nWherefore as by the Jerusalem sinners, in saving them first, he had a\ndesign to provoke others to come to him for mercy, so the same design is\nhere set on foot again, in his calling and converting the Ephesian\nsinners, \u201cThat in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of\nhis grace,\u201d says he, \u201cin his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.\u201d\nThere is yet one hint behind.  It is said that God saved these for his\nlove; that is, as I think, for the setting forth, for the commendations\nof his love, for the advance of his love, in the hearts and minds of them\nthat should come after.  As who should say, God has had mercy upon, and\nbeen gracious to you, that he might shew to others, for their\nencouragement, that they have ground to come to him to be saved.  When\nGod saves one great sinner, it is to encourage another great sinner to\ncome to him for mercy.\n\nHe saved the thief, to encourage thieves to come to him for mercy; he\nsaved Magdalen, to encourage other Magdalens to come to him for mercy; he\nsaved Saul, to encourage Sauls to come to him for mercy; and this Paul\nhimself doth say, \u201cFor this cause,\u201d saith he, \u201cI obtained mercy, that in\nme first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern\nto them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting;\u201d 1\nTim. i. 16.\n\nHow plain are the words!  Christ, in saving of me, has given to the world\na pattern of his grace, that they might see and believe, and come, and be\nsaved; that they that are to be born hereafter might believe on Jesus\nChrist to life everlasting.\n\nBut what was Paul?  Why, he tells you himself; I am, says he, the chief\nof sinners: I was, says he, a blaspheme; a persecutor, an injurious\nperson; but I obtained mercy; 1 Tim. i. 14, 15.  Ay, that is well for\nyou, Paul; but what advantage have we thereby?  Oh, very much, saith he;\nfor, \u201cfor this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ\nmight shew all long-suffering for a pattern to them which shall believe\non him to life everlasting.\u201d\n\nThus, therefore, you see that this third reason is of strength, namely,\nthat Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place to the\nbiggest sinners, because, by their forgiveness and salvation, others,\nhearing of it, will be encouraged the more to come to him for mercy.\n\nIt may well therefore be said to God, Thou delightest in mercy, and mercy\npleases thee; Mich. vii. 18.\n\nBut who believes that this was God\u2019s design in shewing mercy of\nold\u2014namely, that we that come after might take courage to come to him for\nmercy; or that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place\nto the biggest sinners, to stir up others to come to him for life?  This\nis not the manner of men, O God!\n\nBut David saw this betimes; therefore he makes this one argument with\nGod, that he would blot out his transgressions, that he would forgive his\nadultery, his murders, and horrible hypocrisy.  Do it, O Lord, saith he,\ndo it, and \u201cthen will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall\nbe converted unto thee;\u201d Psalm li. 7\u201313.\n\nHe knew that the conversion of sinners would be a work highly pleasing to\nGod, as being that which he had designed before he made mountain or hill:\nwherefore he comes, and he saith, Save me, O Lord; if thou wilt but save\nme, I will fall in with thy design; I will help to bring what sinners to\nthee I can.  And, Lord, I am willing to be made a preacher myself; for\nthat I have been a horrible sinner: wherefore, if thou shalt forgive my\ngreat transgressions, I shall be a fit man to tell of thy wondrous grace\nto others.  Yea, Lord, I dare promise, that if thou wilt have mercy upon\nme, it shall tend to the glory of thy grace, and also to the increase of\nthy kingdom; for I will tell it, and sinners will hear on\u2019t.  And there\nis nothing so suiteth with the hearing sinner as mercy, and to be\ninformed that God is willing to bestow it upon him.  \u201cI will teach\ntransgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.\u201d\n\nNor will Christ Jesus miss of his design in proffering of mercy in the\nfirst place to the biggest sinners.  You know what work the Lord, by\nlaying hold of the woman of Samaria, made among the people there.  They\nknew that she was a town sinner, an adulteress, yea, one that after the\nmost audacious manner lived in uncleanness with a man that was not her\nhusband: but when she, from a turn upon her heart, went into the city,\nand said to her neighbours, \u201cCome,\u201d Oh how they came! how they flocked\nout of the city to Jesus Christ!  \u201cThen they went out of the city, and\ncame to him.\u201d  \u201cAnd many of the Samaritans (people perhaps as bad as\nherself) believed on him, for the saying of the woman, which testified,\nsaying, he told me all that ever I did;\u201d John iv. 39.\n\nThat word, \u201cHe told me all that ever I did,\u201d was a great argument with\nthem; for by that they gathered, that though he knew her to be vile, yet\nhe did not despise her, nor refuse to shew how willing he was to\ncommunicate his grace unto her; and this fetched over, first her, then\nthem.\n\nThis woman, as I said, was a Samaritan sinner, a sinner of the worst\ncomplexion: for the Jews abhorred to have ought to do with them, ver. 9;\nwherefore none more fit than she to be made one of the decoys of heaven,\nto bring others of these Samaritan wild-fowls under the net of the grace\nof Christ.  And she did the work to purpose.  Many, and many more of the\nSamaritans believed on him; ver. 40\u201342.  The heart of man, though set on\nsin, will, when it comes once to a persuasion that God is willing to have\nmercy upon us, incline to come to Jesus Christ for life.\n\nWitness those turn-aways from God that you also read of in Jeremiah; for\nafter they had heard three or four times over, that God had mercy for\nbacksliders, they broke out, and said, \u201cBehold, we come unto thee, for\nthou art the Lord our God.\u201d  Or as those in Hosea did, \u201cFor in thee the\nfatherless find mercy;\u201d Jer. iii. 22; Hos. xiv. 1\u20133.\n\nMercy, and the revelation thereof, is the only antidote against sin.  It\nis of a thawing nature; it will loose the heart that is frozen up in sin;\nyea, it will make the unwilling willing to come to Jesus Christ for life.\nWherefore, do you think, was it that Jesus Christ told the adulterous\nwoman, and that before so many sinners, that he had not condemned her,\nbut to allure her, with them there present, to hope to find favour at his\nhands?  (As he also saith in another place, \u201cI came not to judge, but to\nsave the world.\u201d)  For might they not thence most rationally conclude,\nthat if Jesus Christ had rather save than damn an harlot, there was\nencouragement for them to come to him for mercy.\n\nI heard once a story from a soldier, who with his company had laid siege\nagainst a fort, that so long as the besieged were persuaded their foes\nwould shew them no favour, they fought like madmen; but when they saw one\nof their fellows taken, and received to favour, they all came tumbling\ndown from their fortress, and delivered themselves into their enemies\u2019\nhands.\n\nI am persuaded, did men believe that there is that grace and willingness\nin the heart of Christ to save sinners, as the word imports there is,\nthey would come tumbling into his arms: but Satan has blinded their\nminds, that they cannot see this thing.  Howbeit, the Lord Jesus has, as\nI said, that others might take heart and come to him, given out a\ncommandment, that mercy should in the first place be offered to the\nbiggest sinners.  \u201cBegin,\u201d saith he, \u201cat Jerusalem.\u201d  And thus I end the\nthird reason.\n\n_Fourthly_, Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners, because that is the way, if they receive it, most to\nweaken the kingdom of Satan, and to keep it lowest in every age of the\nworld.  The biggest sinners, they are Satan\u2019s colonels and captains, the\nleaders of his people, and they that most stoutly make head against the\nSon of God.  Wherefore let these first be conquered, and his kingdom will\nbe weak.  When Ishbosheth had lost his Abner, his kingdom was made weak:\nnor did he sit but tottering then upon his throne.  So when Satan loseth\nhis strong men, them that are mighty to work iniquity, and dexterous to\nmanage others in the same, then is his kingdom weak; 2 Sam. iii.\nTherefore, I say, Christ doth offer mercy in the first place to such, the\nmore to weaken his kingdom.  Christ Jesus was glad to see Satan fall like\nlightning from heaven, that is, suddenly or head long; and it was,\nsurely, by casting of him out of strong possessions, and by recovering of\nsome notorious sinners out of his clutches; Luke x. 17\u201319.\n\nSamson, when he would pull down the Philistines temple, took hold of the\ntwo main pillars of it, and breaking them, down came the house.  Christ\ncame to destroy the works of the devil, and to destroy by converting\ngrace, as well as by redeeming blood.  Now sin swarms, and lieth by\nlegions, and whole armies, in the souls of the biggest sinners, as in\ngarrisons: wherefore the way, the most direct way to destroy it, is first\nto deal with such sinners by the word of his gospel, and by the merits of\nhis passion.\n\nFor example, though I shall give you but a homely one: suppose a family\nto be troubled with vermin, and one or two of the family to be in chief\nthe breeders, the way, the quickest way to clear that family, or at least\nto weaken the so swarming of those vermin, is, in the first place, to\nsweeten the skin, head, and clothes of the chief breeders; and then,\nthough all the family should be apt to breed them, the number of them,\nand so the greatness of that plague there, will be the more impaired.\n\nWhy, there are some people that are in chief the devil\u2019s sin-breeders in\nthe towns and places where they live.  The place, town, or family where\nthey live, must needs be horribly verminous, as it were, eaten up with\nvermin.  Now, let the Lord Jesus, in the first place, cleanse these great\nbreeders, and there will be given a nip to those swarms of sins that used\nto be committed in such places throughout the town, house, or family,\nwhere such sin-breeding persons used to be.\n\nI speak by experience: I was one of these verminous ones, one of these\ngreat sin-breeders; I infected all the youth of the town where I was\nborn, with all manner of youthful vanities.  The neighbours counted me\nso; my practice proved me so: wherefore Christ Jesus took me first, and\ntaking me first, the contagion was much allayed all the town over.  When\nGod made me sigh, they would hearken, and enquiringly say, What is the\nmatter with John?  They also gave their various opinions of me: but, as I\nsaid, sin cooled, and failed, as to his full career.  When I went out to\nseek the bread of life, some of them would follow, and the rest be put\ninto a muse at home.  Yea, almost the town, at first, at times would go\nout to hear at the place where I found good; yea, young and old for a\nwhile had some reformation on them; also some of them, perceiving that\nGod had mercy upon me, came crying to him for mercy too.\n\nBut what need I give you an instance of poor I; I will come to Manasseh\nthe king.  So long as he was a ring-leading sinner, the great idolater,\nthe chief for devilism, the whole land flowed with wickedness; for he\n\u201cmade them to sin,\u201d and do worse than the heathen that dwelt round about\nthem, or that was cast out from before them: but when God converted him,\nthe whole land was reformed.  Down went the groves, the idols, and altars\nof Baal, and up went true religion in much of the power and purity of it.\nYou will say, The king reformed by power.  I answer, doubtless, and by\nexample too; for people observe their leaders; as their fathers did, so\ndid they; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 2.\n\nThis, therefore, is another reason why Jesus would have mercy offered in\nthe first place to the biggest sinners, because that is the best way, if\nthey receive it, most to weaken the kingdom of Satan, and to keep it poor\nand low.\n\nAnd do you not think now, that if God would but take hold of the hearts\nof some of the most notorious in your town, in your family, or country,\nthat this thing would be verified before your faces?  It would, it would,\nto the joy of you that are godly, to the making of hell to sigh, to the\ngreat suppressing of sin, the glory of Christ, and the joy of the angels\nof God.  And ministers should, therefore, that this work might go on,\ntake advantages to persuade with the biggest sinners to come into Christ,\naccording to my text, and their commissions; \u201cBeginning at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\n_Fifthly_, Jesus Christ would have mercy offered, in the first place, to\nthe biggest sinners; because such, when converted, are usually the best\nhelps in the church against temptations, and fittest for the support of\nthe feeble-minded there.  Hence, usually, you have some such in the first\nplantation of churches, or quickly upon it.  Churches would do but\nsorrily, if Christ Jesus did not put such converts among them: they are\nthe monuments and mirrors of mercy.  The very sight of such a sinner in\nGod\u2019s house, yea, the very thought of him, where the sight of him cannot\nbe had, is ofttimes greatly for the help of the faith of the feeble.\n\n\u201cWhen the churches (said Paul) that were in Judea, heard this concerning\nme, that he which persecuted them in time past, now preached the faith\nwhich once he destroyed, they glorified God in me;\u201d Gal. i. 20\u201324.\n\n\u201cGlorified God.\u201d  How is that?  Why, they praised him, and took courage\nto believe the more in the mercy of God; for that he had had mercy on\nsuch a great sinner as he.  They glorified God \u201cin me;\u201d they wondered\nthat grace should be so rich, as to take hold of such a wretch as I was;\nand for my sake believed in Christ the more.\n\nThere are two things that great sinners are acquainted with, when they\ncome to divulge them to the saints, that are a great relief to their\nfaith.\n\n1.  The contests that they usually have with the devil at their parting\nwith him.\n\n2.  Their knowledge of his secrets in his workings.\n\nFor the _first_, The biggest sinners have usually great contests with the\ndevil at their partings; and this is an help to saints: for ordinary\nsaints find afterwards what the vile ones find at first, but when at the\nopening of hearts, the one finds himself to be as the other, the one is a\ncomfort to the other.  The lesser sort of sinners find but little of\nthis, till after they have been some time in profession; but the vile man\nmeets with his at the beginning.  Wherefore he, when the other is down,\nis ready to tell that he has met with the same before; for, I say, he has\nhad it before.  Satan is loath to part with a great sinner.  What my true\nservant (quoth he), my old servant, wilt thou forsake me now? having so\noften sold thyself to me to work wickedness, wilt thou forsake me now?\nThou horrible wretch, dost not know, that thou hast sinned thyself beyond\nthe reach of grace, and dost think to find mercy now?  Art not thou a\nmurderer, a thief, a harlot, a witch, a sinner of the greatest size, and\ndost thou look for mercy now?  Dost thou think that Christ will foul his\nfingers with thee?\n\n\u2019Tis enough to make angels blush, saith Satan, to see so vile a one knock\nat heaven-gates for mercy, and wilt thou be so abominably bold to do it?\nThus Satan dealt with me, says the great sinner, when at first I came to\nJesus Christ.  And what did you reply? saith the tempted.  Why, I granted\nthe whole charge to be true, says the other.  And what, did you despair,\nor how?  No, saith he, I said, I am Magdalen, I am Zaccheus, I am the\nthief, I am the harlot, I am the publican, I am the prodigal, and one of\nChrist\u2019s murderers: yea, worse than any of these; and yet God was so far\noff from rejecting of me (as I found afterwards), that there was music\nand dancing in his house for me, and for joy that I was come home unto\nhim.  O blessed be God for grace (says the other), for then I hope there\nis favour for me.  Yea, as I told you, such a one is a continual\nspectacle in the church, for every one to behold God\u2019s grace and wonder\nby.\n\n_Secondly_, And as for the secrets of Satan, such as are suggestions to\nquestion the being of God, the truth of his word, and to be annoyed with\ndevilish blasphemies; none more acquainted with these than the biggest\nsinners at their conversion; wherefore thus also they are prepared to be\nhelps in the church to relieve and comfort the other.\n\nI might also here tell you of the contests and battles that such are\nengaged in, wherein they find the besettings of Satan, above any other of\nthe saints.  At which times Satan assaults the soul with darkness, fears,\nfrightful thoughts of apparitions; now they sweat, pant, cry out, and\nstruggle for life.\n\nThe angels now come down to behold the sight, and rejoice to see a bit of\ndust and ashes to overcome principalities and powers, and might, and\ndominions.  But, as I said when these come a little to be settled, they\nare prepared for helping others, and are great comforts unto them.  Their\ngreat sins give great encouragement to the devil to assault them; and by\nthese temptations Christ takes advantage to make them the more helpful to\nthe churches.\n\nThe biggest sinner, when he is converted, and comes into the church, says\nto them all, by his very coming in, Behold me, all you that are men and\nwomen of a low and timorous spirit, you whose hearts are narrow, for that\nyou never had the advantage to know, because your sins are few, the\nlargeness of the grace of God.  Behold, I say, in me, the exceeding\nriches of his grace!  I am a pattern set forth before your faces, on whom\nyou may look and take heart.  This, I say, the great sinner can say, to\nthe exceeding comfort of all the rest.\n\nWherefore, as I have hinted before, when God intends to stock a place\nwith saints, and to make that place excellently to flourish with the\nriches of his grace, he usually begins with the conversion of some of the\nmost notorious thereabouts, and lays them as an example to allure others,\nand to build up when they are converted.\n\nIt was Paul that must go to the Gentiles, because Paul was the most\noutrageous of all the apostles, in the time of his unregeneracy.  Yea,\nPeter must be he, that after his horrible fall, was thought fittest, when\nrecovered again, to comfort and strengthen his brethren.  See Luke xxii.\n31, 32.\n\nSome must be pillars in God\u2019s house; and if they be pillars of cedar,\nthey must stand while they are stout and sturdy sticks in the forest,\nbefore they are cut down, and planted or placed there.\n\nNo man, when he buildeth his house, makes the principal parts thereof of\nweak or feeble timber; for how could such bear up the rest? but of great\nand able wood.  Christ Jesus also goeth this way to work; he makes of the\nbiggest sinners bearers and supporters to the rest.  This then, may serve\nfor another reason, why Jesus Christ gives out in commandment, that mercy\nshould, in the first place, be offered to the biggest sinners: because\nsuch, when converted, are usually the best helps in the church against\ntemptations, and fittest for the support of the feeble-minded there.\n\n_Sixthly_, Another reason why Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in\nthe first place to the biggest sinners, is, because they, when converted,\nare apt to love him most.\n\nThis agrees both with Scripture and reason.  Scripture says so: \u201cTo whom\nmuch is forgiven, the same loveth much.  To whom little is forgiven, the\nsame loveth little;\u201d Luke vii. 47.  Reason says so: for as it would be\nthe unreasonablest thing in the world to render hatred for love, and\ncontempt for forgiveness; so it would be as ridiculous to think, that the\nreception of a little kindness should lay the same obligations upon the\nheart to love, as the reception of a great deal.  I would not disparage\nthe love of Christ; I know the least drachm of it, when it reaches to\nforgiveness, is great above all the world; but comparatively, there are\ngreater extensions of the love of Christ to one than to another.  He that\nhas most sin, if forgiven, is partaker of the greatest love, of the\ngreatest forgiveness.\n\nI know also, that there are some, that from this very doctrine say, \u201cLet\nus do evil that good may come;\u201d and that turn the grace of our God into\nlasciviousness.  But I speak not of these; these will neither be ruled by\ngrace nor reason.  Grace would teach them, if they know it, to deny\nungodly courses; and so would reason too, if it could truly sense the\nlove of God; Titus ii. 11, 12; Rom. xi. 1.\n\nDoth it look like what hath any coherence with reason or mercy, for a man\nto abuse his friend?  Because Christ died for men, shall I therefore spit\nin his face?  The bread and water that was given by Elisha to his\nenemies, that came into the land of Israel to take him, had so much\ninfluence upon their minds, though heathens, that they returned to their\nhomes without hurting him: yea, it kept them from coming again in a\nhostile manner into the coasts of Israel; 2 Kings vi. 19\u201323.\n\nBut to forbear to illustrate till anon.  One reason why Christ Jesus\nshews mercy to sinners, is, that he might obtain their love, that he may\nremove their base affections from base objects to himself.  Now, if he\nloves to be loved a little, he loves to be loved much; but there is not\nany that are capable of loving much, save those that have much forgiven\nthem.  Hence it is said of Paul, that he laboured more than them all; to\nwit, with a labour of love, because he had been by sin more vile against\nChrist than they all; 1 Cor. xv.  He it was that persecuted the church of\nGod, and wasted it; Gal. i. 13.  He of them all was the only raving\nbedlam against the saints: \u201cAnd being exceeding mad,\u201d says he, \u201cagainst\nthem, I persecuted them, even to strange cities;\u201d Acts xxvi. 11.\n\nThis raving bedlam, that once was so, is he that now says, I laboured\nmore than them all, more for Christ than them all.\n\nBut Paul, what moved thee thus to do?  The love of Christ, says he.  It\nwas not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  As who should say, O\ngrace!  It was such grace to save me!  It was such marvellous grace for\nGod to look down from heaven upon me, and that secured me from the wrath\nto come, that I am captivated with the sense of the riches of it.  Hence\nI act, hence I labour; for how can I otherwise do, since God not only\nseparated me from my sins and companions, but separated all the powers of\nmy soul and body to his service?  I am therefore prompted on by this\nexceeding love to labour as I have done; yet not I, but the grace of God\nwith me.\n\nOh!  I shall never forget his love, nor the circumstances under which I\nwas, when his love laid hold upon me.  I was going to Damascus with\nletters from the high-priest, to make havock of God\u2019s people there, as I\nhad made havock of them in other places.  These bloody letters were not\nimposed upon me.  I went to the high-priest and desired them of him; Acts\nix. 1, 2; and yet he saved me!  I was one of the men, of the chief men,\nthat had a hand in the blood of his martyr Stephen; yet he had mercy on\nme!  When I was at Damascus, I stunk so horribly like a blood-sucker,\nthat I became a terror to all thereabout.  Yea, Ananias (good man) made\nintercession to my Lord against me; yet he would have mercy upon me, yea,\njoined mercy to mercy, until he had made me a monument of grace!  He made\na saint of me, and persuaded me that my transgressions were forgiven me.\n\nWhen I began to preach, those that heard me were amazed, and said, \u201cIs\nnot this he that destroyed them that called on this name in Jerusalem,\nand came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound to the\nhigh-priest?\u201d  Hell doth know that I was a sinner; heaven doth know that\nI was a sinner; the world also knows that I was a sinner, a sinner of the\ngreatest size; but I obtained mercy; 1 Tim i. 15, 16.\n\nShall not this lay obligation upon me?  Is not love of the greatest force\nto oblige?  Is it not strong as death, cruel as the grave, and hotter\nthan the coals of juniper?  Hath it not a most vehement flame? can the\nwaters quench it? can the floods drown it?  I am under the force of it,\nand this is my continual cry, What shall I render to the Lord for all the\nbenefits which he has bestowed upon me?\n\nAy, Paul! this is something; thou speakest like a man, like a man\naffected, and carried away with the love and grace of God.  Now, this\nsense, and this affection, and this labour, giveth to Christ the love\nthat he looks for.  But he might have converted twenty little sinners,\nand yet not found, for grace bestowed, so much love in them all.\n\nI wonder how far a man might go among the converted sinners of the\nsmaller size, before one could find one that so much as looked any thing\nthis wayward.  Where is he that is thus under pangs of love for the grace\nbestowed upon him by Jesus Christ?  Excepting only some few, you may walk\nto the world\u2019s end, and find none.  But, as I said, some there are, and\nso there has been in every age of the church, great sinners, that have\nhad much forgiven them; and they love much upon this account.\n\nJesus Christ therefore knows what he doth, when he lays hold on the\nhearts of sinners of the biggest size.  He knows that such an one will\nlove more than many that have not sinned half their sins.\n\nI will tell you a story that I have read of Martha and Mary; the name of\nthe book I have forgot; I mean of the book in which I found the relation;\nbut the thing was thus: Martha, saith my author, was a very holy woman,\nmuch like Lazarus her brother; but Mary was a loose and wanton creature;\nMartha did seldom miss good sermons and lectures, when she could come at\nthem in Jerusalem; but Mary would frequent the house of sports, and the\ncompany of the vilest of men for lust: And though Martha had often\ndesired that her sister would go with her to hear her preachers, yea, had\noften entreated her with tears to do it, yet could she never prevail; for\nstill Mary would make her excuse, or reject her with disdain for her zeal\nand preciseness in religion.\n\nAfter Martha had waited long, tried many ways to bring her sister to\ngood, and all proved ineffectual, at last she comes upon her thus:\n\u201cSister,\u201d quoth she, \u201cI pray thee go with me to the temple to-day, to\nhear one preach a sermon.\u201d  \u201cWhat kind of preacher is he?\u201d said she.\nMartha replied, \u201cIt is one Jesus of Nazareth; he is the handsomest man\nthat ever you saw with your eyes.  Oh! he shines in beauty, and is a most\nexcellent preacher.\u201d\n\nNow, what does Mary, after a little pause, but goes up into her chamber,\nand with her pins and her clouts, decks up herself as fine as her fingers\ncould make her.\n\nThis done, away she goes, not with her sister Martha, but as much\nunobserved as she could, to the sermon, or rather to see the preacher.\n\nThe hour and preacher being come, and she having observed whereabout the\npreacher would stand, goes and sets herself so in the temple, that she\nmight be sure to have the full view of this excellent person.  So he\ncomes in, and she looks, and the first glimpse of his person pleased her.\nWell, Jesus addresseth himself to his sermon, and she looks earnestly on\nhim.\n\nNow, at that time, saith my author, Jesus preached about the lost sheep,\nthe lost groat, and the prodigal child.  And when he came to shew what\ncare the shepherd took for one lost sheep, and how the woman swept to\nfind her piece which was lost, and what joy there was at their finding,\nshe began to be taken by the ears, and forgot what she came about, musing\nwhat the preacher would make of it.  But when he came to the application,\nand shewed, that by the lost sheep was meant a great sinner; by the\nshepherd\u2019s care, was meant God\u2019s love for great sinners; and that by the\njoy of the neighbours, was shewed what joy there was among the angels in\nheaven over one great sinner that repenteth; she began to be taken by the\nheart.  And as he spake these last words, she thought he pitched his\ninnocent eyes just upon her, and looked as if he spake what was now said\nto her: wherefore her heart began to tremble, being shaken with affection\nand fear; then her eyes ran down with tears apace; wherefore she was\nforced to hide her face with her handkerchief; and so sat sobbing and\ncrying all the rest of the sermon.\n\nSermon being done, up she gets, and away she goes, and withal inquired\nwhere this Jesus the preacher dined that day? and one told her, At the\nhouse of Simon the Pharisee.  So away goes she, first to her chamber, and\nthere strips herself of her wanton attire: then falls upon her knees to\nask God forgiveness for all her wicked life.  This done, in a modest\ndress she goes to Simon\u2019s house, where she finds Jesus sat at dinner.  So\nshe gets behind him, and weeps, and drops her tears upon his feet like\nrain, and washes them, and wipes them with the hair of her head.  She\nalso kissed his feet with her lips, and anointed them with ointment.\nWhen Simon the Pharisee perceived what the woman did, and being ignorant\nof what it was to be forgiven much (for he never was forgiven more than\nfifty pence), he began to think within himself, that he had been mistaken\nabout Jesus Christ, because he suffered such a sinner as this woman was,\nto touch him.  Surely, quoth he, this man, if he were a prophet, would\nnot let this woman come near him, for she is a town-sinner (so ignorant\nare all self-righteous men of the way of Christ with sinners.)  But lest\nMary should be discouraged with some clownish carriage of this Pharisee\nand so desert her good beginnings, and her new steps which she now had\nbegun to take towards eternal life, Jesus began thus with Simon.\n\u201cSimon,\u201d saith he, \u201cI have somewhat to say unto thee.  And he saith,\nMaster, say on.  There was,\u201d said Jesus, \u201ca certain creditor had two\ndebtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.  And when\nthey had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.  Tell me therefore\nwhich of them will love him most?  Simon answered and said, I suppose\nthat he to whom he forgave most.  And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly\njudged.  And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this\nwoman?  I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet;\nbut she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of\nher head.  Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came\nin, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.  My head with oil thou didst not\nanoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.  Wherefore I\nsay unto thee, Her sins which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much;\nbut to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.  And he said unto\nher, Thy sins are forgiven;\u201d Luke vii. 36\u201350.\n\nThus you have the story.  If I come short in any circumstance, I beg\npardon of those that can correct me.  It is three or four and twenty\nyears since I saw the book: yet I have, as far as my memory will admit,\ngiven you the relation of the matter.  However Luke, as you see, doth\nhere present you with the substance of the whole.\n\nAlas!  Christ Jesus has but little thanks for the saving of little\nsinners.  \u201cTo whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.\u201d  He gets\nnot water for his feet, by his saving of such sinners.  There are\nabundance of dry-eyed Christians in the world, and abundance of dry-eyed\nduties too; duties that never were wetted with the tears of contrition\nand repentance, nor ever sweetened with the great sinner\u2019s box of\nointment.  And the reason is, such sinners have not great sins to be\nsaved from; or if they have, they look upon them in the diminishing glass\nof the holy law of God.  But I rather believe, that the professors of our\ndays want a due sense of what they are; for, verily, for the generality\nof them, both before and since conversion, they have been sinners of a\nlusty size.  But if their eyes be holden, if convictions are not shewn,\nif their knowledge of their sins is but like to the eye-sight in\ntwilight; the heart cannot be affected with that grace that has laid hold\non the man; and so Christ Jesus sows much, and has little coming in.\n\nWherefore his way is ofttimes to step out of the way, to Jericho, to\nSamaria, to the country of the Gadarenes, to the coasts of Tyre and\nSidon, and also to Mount Calvary, that he may lay hold of such kind of\nsinners as will love him to his liking; Luke xix. 1\u201311; John iv. 3\u201311;\nMark v. 1\u201321; Matt. xv. 21\u201329; Luke xxiii. 33\u201344.\n\nBut thus much for the sixth reason, why Christ Jesus would have mercy\noffered in the first place to the biggest sinners, to wit, because such\nsinners, when converted, are apt to love him most.  The Jerusalem sinners\nwere they that outstripped, when they were converted, in some things, all\nthe churches of the Gentiles.  \u201cThey were of one heart, and of one soul,\nneither said any of them, that aught of the things that they possessed\nwas their own.\u201d  \u201cNeither was there any among them that lacked: for as\nmany as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the\nprice of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles\u2019\nfeet,\u201d &c.; Acts iv. 32\u201335.  Now, shew me such another pattern if you\ncan.  But why did these do thus?  Oh! they were Jerusalem sinners.  These\nwere the men that but a little before had killed the Prince of Life; and\nthose to whom he did, that notwithstanding, send the first offer of grace\nand mercy.  And the sense of this took them up betwixt the earth and the\nheaven, and carried them on in such ways and methods as could never be\ntrodden by any since.  They talk of the church of Rome, and set her in\nher primitive state, as a pattern and mother of churches; when the truth\nis, they were the Jerusalem sinners, when converts, that out-did all the\nchurches that ever were.\n\n_Seventhly_, Christ Jesus would have mercy offered, in the first place,\nto the biggest sinners; because grace when it is received by such, finds\nmatter to kindle upon more freely than it finds in other sinners.  Great\nsinners are like the dry wood, or like great candles, which burn best and\nshine with biggest light.  I lay not this down, as I did those reasons\nbefore, to shew, that when great sinners are converted, they will be\nencouragement to others, though that is true; but to shew that Christ has\na delight to see grace, the grace we receive, to shine.  We love to see\nthings that bear a good gloss; yea, we choose to buy such kind of matter\nto work upon, as will, if wrought up to what we intend, cast that lustre\nthat we desire.\n\nCandles that burn not bright, we like not: wood that is green will rather\nsmother, and sputter, and smoke, and crack, and flounce, than cast a\nbrave light and a pleasant heat: wherefore great folks care not much, not\nso much for such kind of things, as for them that will better answer\ntheir ends.\n\nHence Christ desires the biggest sinner; in him there is matter to work\nby, to wit, a great deal of sin; for as by the tallow of the candle, the\nfire takes occasion to burn the brighter; so by the sin of the soul,\ngrace takes occasion to shine the clearer.  Little candles shine but\nlittle, for there wanteth matter for the fire to work upon; but in the\ngreat sinner, here is more matter for grace to work by.  Faith shines,\nwhen it worketh towards Christ, through the sides of many and great\ntransgressors, and so does love, for that much is forgiven.  And what\nmatter can be found in the soul for humility to work by so well, as by a\nsight that I have been and am an abominable sinner?  And the same is to\nbe said of patience, meekness, gentleness, self-denial, or of any other\ngrace.  Grace takes occasion by the vileness of the man to shine the\nmore; even as by the ruggedness of a very strong distemper or disease,\nthe virtue of the medicine is best made manifest.  Where sin abounds,\ngrace much more abounds; Rom. v. 20.  A black string makes the neck look\nwhiter; great sins make grace burn clear.  Some say, when grace and a\ngood nature meet together, they do make shining Christians: but I say,\nwhen grace and a great sinner meet, and when grace shall subdue that\ngreat sinner to itself, and shall operate after its kind in the soul of\nthat great sinner, then we have a shining Christian; witness all those of\nwhom mention was made before.\n\nAbraham was among the idolaters when in the land of Assyria, and served\nidols with his kindred on the other side of the flood; Jos. xxiv. 2; Gen.\nxi. 31.  But who, when called, was there in the world, in whom grace\nshone so bright as in him?\n\nThe Thessalonians were idolaters before the word of God came to them; but\nwhen they had received it, they became examples to all that did believe\nin Macedonia and Achaia; 1 Thess. i. 6\u201310.\n\nGod the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son, are for having things seen, for\nhaving the word of life held forth.  They light not a candle that it\nmight be put under a bushel, or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that\nall that come in may see the light; Matt. v. 15; Mark iv. 21; Luke viii.\n16; chap. xi. 33.\n\nAnd, I say, as I said before, in whom is light like so to shine, as in\nthe souls of great sinners?\n\nWhen the Jewish Pharisees dallied with the gospel, Christ threatened to\ntake it from them, and to give it to the barbarous heathens and\nidolaters.  Why so?  For they, saith he, will bring forth the fruits\nthereof in their season: \u201cTherefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God\nshall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits\nthereof;\u201d Matt. xxi. 41\u201343.\n\nI have often marvelled at our youth, and said in my heart, What should be\nthe reason that they should be so generally at this day debauched as they\nare?  For they are now profane to amazement; and sometimes I have thought\none thing, and sometimes another; that is, why God should suffer it so to\nbe.  At last I have thought of this: How if the God, whose ways are past\nfinding out, should suffer it so to be now, that he might make of some of\nthem the more glorious saints hereafter.  I know sin is of the devil, but\nit cannot work in the world without permission: and if it happens to be\nas I have thought, it will not be the first time that God the Lord hath\ncaught Satan in his own design.  For my part, I believe that the time is\nat hand, that we shall see better saints in the world than has been seen\nin it this many a day.  And this vileness, that at present does so much\nswallow up our youth, is one cause of my thinking so: for out of them,\nfor from among them, when God sets to his hand, as of old, you shall see\nwhat penitent ones, what trembling ones, and what admirers of grace, will\nbe found to profess the gospel to the glory of God by Christ.\n\nAlas! we are a company of worn-out Christians, our moon is in the wane;\nwe are much more black than white, more dark than light; we shine but a\nlittle; grace in the most of us is decayed.  But I say, when they of\nthese debauched ones that are to be saved shall be brought in, when these\nthat look more like devils than men shall be converted to Christ (and I\nbelieve several of them will), then will Christ be exalted, grace adored,\nthe word prized, Zion\u2019s path better trodden, and men in the pursuit of\ntheir own salvation, to the amazement of them that are left behind.\n\nJust before Christ came into the flesh, the world was degenerated as it\nis now: the generality of the men in Jerusalem, were become either high\nand famous for hypocrisy, or filthy base in their lives.  The devil also\nwas broke loose in a hideous manner, and had taken possession of many:\nyea, I believe that there was never generation before nor since, that\ncould produce so many possessed with devils, deformed, lame, blind, and\ninfected with monstrous diseases, as that generation could.  But what was\nthe reason thereof, I mean the reason from God?  Why one (and we may sum\nup more in that answer that Christ gave to his disciples concerning him\nthat was born blind) was, that the works of God might be made manifest in\nthem, and that the Son of God might be glorified thereby, John ix. 2, 3;\nchap. xi. 4.\n\nNow if these devils and diseases, as they possessed men then, were to\nmake way and work for an approaching Christ in person, and for the\ndeclaring of his power, why may we not think that now, even now also, he\nis ready to come by his Spirit in the gospel to heal many of the\ndebaucheries of our age?  I cannot believe that grace will take them all,\nfor there are but few that are saved; but yet it will take some, even\nsome of the worst of men, and make blessed ones of them.  But, O how\nthese ringleaders in vice will then shine in virtue!  They will be the\nvery pillars in churches, they will be as an ensign in the land.  \u201cThe\nLord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people:\nfor they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon\nhis land;\u201d Zech. ix. 16.  But who are these?  Even idolatrous Ephraim,\nand backsliding Judah; ver. 13.\n\nI know there is ground to fear, that the iniquity of this generation will\nbe pursued with heavy judgments: but that will not hinder what we have\nsupposed.  God took him a glorious church out of bloody Jerusalem, yea,\nout of the chief of the sinners there, and left the rest to be taken and\nspoiled, and sold, thirty for a penny, in the nations where they were\ncaptives.  The gospel working gloriously in a place, to the seizing upon\nmany of the ringleading sinners thereof, promiseth no security to the\nrest, but rather threateneth them with the heaviest and smartest\njudgments; as in the instance now given, we have a full demonstration;\nbut in defending, the Lord will defend his people; and in saving, he will\nsave his inheritance.\n\nNor does this speak any great comfort to a decayed and backsliding sort\nof Christians; for the next time God rides post with his gospel, he will\nleave such Christians behind him.  But I say, Christ is resolved to set\nup his light in the world; yea, he is delighted to see his graces shine;\nand therefore he commands that his gospel should to that end be offered,\nin the first place, to the biggest sinners; for by great sins it shineth\nmost; therefore he saith, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\n_Eighthly_, and lastly, Christ Jesus will have mercy to be offered in the\nfirst place to the biggest sinners; for that by that means the impenitent\nthat are left behind will be at the judgment the more left without\nexcuse.\n\nGod\u2019s word has two edges; it can cut back-stroke and fore-stroke: if it\ndoth thee no good, it will do thee hurt; it is the savour of life unto\nlife to those that receive it, but of death unto death to them that\nrefuse it; 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16.  But this is not all; the tender of grace\nto the biggest sinners in the first place, will not only leave the rest,\nor those that refuse it, in a deplorable condition, but will also stop\ntheir mouths, and cut off all pretence to excuse at that day.  \u201cIf I had\nnot come and spoken unto them,\u201d saith Christ, \u201cthey had not had sin; but\nnow they have no cloak for their sin,\u201d for their sin of persevering in\nimpenitence; Job xv. 22.\n\nBut what did he speak to them?  Why, even that which I have told you; to\nwit, That he has in special a delight in saving the biggest sinners.  He\nspake this in the way of his doctrine; he spake this in the way of his\npractice, even to the pouring out of his last breath before them; Luke\nxxiii. 34.\n\nNow, since this is so, what can the condemned at the judgment say for\nthemselves, why sentence of death should not be passed upon them?  I say,\nwhat excuse can they make for themselves, when they shall be asked why\nthey did not in the day of salvation come to Christ to be saved?  Will\nthey have ground to say to the Lord, Thou wast only for saving of little\nsinners; and therefore because they were great ones, they durst not come\nunto him? or that thou hadst not compassion for the biggest sinners,\ntherefore I died in despair?  Will these be excuses for them, as the case\nnow standeth with them?  Is there not every where in God\u2019s book a flat\ncontradiction to this, in multitudes of promises, of invitations, of\nexamples, and the like?  Alas, alas! there will then be there millions of\nsouls to confute this plea; ready, I say, to stand up, and say, O!\ndeceived world, heaven swarms with such, as were, when they were in the\nworld, to the full as bad as you.\n\nNow, this will kill all plea or excuse, why they should perish in their\nsins; yea, the text says, they shall see them there.  \u201cThere shall be\nweeping, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the\nprophets in the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves thrust out.  And\nthey shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and\nfrom the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God;\u201d Luke xiii. 28,\n29.  Out of which company it is easy to pick such as sometimes were as\nbad people as any that now breathe on the face of the earth.  What think\nyou of the first man, by whose sins there are millions now in hell?  And\nso I may say, What think you of ten thousand more besides?\n\nBut if the world will not stifle and gag them up (I speak now for\namplification\u2019s sake), the view of those who are saved shall.\n\nThere comes an incestuous person to the bar, and pleads, That the bigness\nof his sins was a bar to his receiving the promise.  But will not his\nmouth be stopped as to that, when Lot and the incestuous Corinthian shall\nbe set before him; Gen. xix. 33\u201337; 1 Cor. v. 1, 2.\n\nThere comes a thief, and says, Lord, my sin of theft, I thought, was such\nas could not be pardoned by thee!  But when he shall see the thief that\nwas saved on the cross stand by, as clothed with beauteous glory, what\nfurther can he be able to object?  Yea, the Lord will produce ten\nthousand of his saints at his coming, who shall after this manner execute\njudgment upon all, and so convince all that are ungodly among them, of\nall their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.\nAnd these are hard speeches against him, to say that he was not able or\nwilling to save men, because of the greatness of their sins, or to say\nthat they were discouraged by his word from repentance, because of the\nheinousness of their offences.\n\nThese things, I say, shall then be confuted: he comes with ten thousand\nof his saints to confute them, and to stop their mouths from making\nobjections against their own eternal damnation.\n\nHere is Adam, the destroyer of the world; here is Lot, that lay with both\nhis daughters; here is Abraham, that was sometime an idolater, and Jacob,\nthat was a supplanter, and Reuben, that lay with his father\u2019s concubine,\nand Judah that lay with his daughter-in-law, and Levi and Simeon that\nwickedly slew thee Shechemites, and Aaron that great backslider, and\nManassah that man of blood and that made an idol to be worshipped, and\nthat proclaimed a religious feast unto it.  Here is also Rachab the\nharlot, and Bathsheba that bare a bastard to David.  Here is Solomon a\nwitch.  Time would fail me to tell you of the woman of Canaan\u2019s daughter,\nMagdalen, of Matthew the publican, and of Gideon and Sampson, and many\nthousands more.\n\nAlas! alas!  I say, what will these sinners do, that have, through their\nunbelief, eclipsed the glorious largeness of the mercy of God, and gave\nway to despair of salvation, because of the bigness of their sins?\n\nFor all these, though now glorious saints in light, were sometimes\nsinners of the biggest size, who had sins that were of a notorious hue;\nyet now, I say, they are in their shining and heavenly robes before the\nthrone of God and of the Lamb, blessing for ever and ever that Son of God\nfor their salvation, who died for them upon the tree; admiring that ever\nit should come into their hearts once to think of coming to God by\nChrist; but above all, blessing God for granting of them light to see\nthose encouragements in his testament; without which, without doubt, they\nhad been daunted and sunk down under guilt of sin and despair, as their\nfellow-sinners have done.\n\nBut now they also are witnesses for God, and for his grace against an\nunbelieving world; for, as I said, they shall come to convince the world\nof their speeches, their hard and unbelieving words, that they have\nspoken concerning the mercy of God, and the merits of the passion of his\nblessed Son Jesus Christ.\n\nBut will it not, think you, strangely put to silence all such thoughts,\nand words, and reasonings of the ungodly before the bar of God?\nDoubtless it will; yea and will send them away from his presence also,\nwith the greatest guilt that possibly can fasten upon the consciences of\nmen.\n\nFor what will sting like this?\u2014I have, through mine own foolish, narrow,\nunworthy, undervaluing thoughts, of the love and ability of Christ to\nsave me, brought myself to everlasting ruin.  It is true, I was a\nhorrible sinner; not one in a hundred did live so vile a life as I: but\nthis should not have kept me from closing with Jesus Christ: I see now\nthat there are abundance in glory that once were as bad as I have been:\nbut they were saved by faith, and I am damned by unbelief.\n\nWretch that I am! why did not I give glory to the redeeming blood of\nJesus?  Why did I not humbly cast my soul at his blessed footstool for\nmercy?  Why did I judge of his ability to save me by the voice of my\nshallow reason, and the voice of a guilty conscience?  Why betook not I\nmyself to the holy word of God?  Why did I not read and pray that I might\nunderstand, since now I perceive that God said then, he giveth liberally\nto them that pray, and upbraideth not; Jam. i. 5.\n\nIt is rational to think, that by such cogitations as these the\nunbelieving world will be torn in pieces before the judgment of Christ;\nespecially those that have lived where they did or might have heard the\ngospel of the grace of God.  Oh! that saying, \u201cIt shall be more tolerable\nfor Sodom at the judgment than for them,\u201d will be better understood.  See\nLuke x. 8\u201312.\n\nThis reason, therefore, standeth fast; namely, that Christ, by offering\nmercy in the first place to the biggest sinner now, will stop all mouths\nof the impenitent at the day of judgment, and cut off all excuse that\nshall be attempted to be made (from the thoughts of the greatness of\ntheir sins) why they came not to him.\n\nI have often thought of the day of judgment, and how God will deal with\nsinners at that day; and I believe it will be managed with that\nsweetness, with that equitableness, with that excellent righteousness, as\nto every sin, and circumstance, and aggravation thereof; that men that\nare damned, before the judgment is over shall receive such conviction of\nthe righteous judgment of God upon them, and of their deserts of\nhell-fire, that they shall in themselves conclude that there is all the\nreason in the world that they should be shut out of heaven, and go to\nhell-fire: \u201cThese shall go away into everlasting punishment;\u201d Matt. xxv.\n46.\n\nOnly this will tear them, that they have missed of mercy and glory, and\nobtained everlasting damnation through their unbelief; but it will tear\nbut themselves, but their own souls; they will gnash upon themselves; for\nin that mercy was offered to the chief of them in the first place, and\nyet they were damned for rejecting of it; they were damned for forsaking\nwhat they had a sort of propriety in; for forsaking their own mercy.\n\nAnd thus much for the reasons.  I will conclude with a word of\napplication.\n\n\n\n\nTHE APPLICATION.\n\n\n_First_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to the\nbiggest sinners? then this shews us how to make a right judgment of the\nheart of Christ to men.  Indeed we have advantage to guess at the\ngoodness of his heart, by many things; as by his taking our nature upon\nhim, his dying for us, his sending his word and ministers to us, and all\nthat we might be saved.  But this of beginning to offer mercy to\nJerusalem, is that which heightens all the rest; for this doth not only\nconfirm to us, that love was the cause of his dying for us, but it shews\nus yet more the depth of that love.  He might have died for us, and yet\nhave extended the benefit of his death to a few, as one might call them,\nof the best conditioned sinners, to those who, though they were weak, and\ncould not but sin, yet made not a trade of sinning; to those that sinned\nnot lavishingly.  There are in the world, as one may call them, the\nmoderate sinners; the sinners that mix righteousness with their\npollutions; the sinners that though they be sinners, do what on their\npart lies (some that are blind would think so) that they might be saved.\nI say, it had been love, great love, if he had died for none but such,\nand sent his love to such: but that he should send out conditions of\npeace to the biggest of sinners; yea, that they should be offered to them\nfirst of all; (for so he means when he says, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem;\u201d) this\nis wonderful! this shews his heart to purpose, as also the heart of God\nhis Father, who sent him to do thus.\n\nThere is nothing more incident to men that are awake in their souls, than\nto have wrong thoughts of God; thoughts that are narrow, and that pinch\nand pen up his mercy to scanty and beggarly conclusions, and rigid legal\nconditions; supposing that it is rude, and an intrenching upon his\nmajesty, to come ourselves, or to invite others, until we have scraped\nand washed, and rubbed off as much of our dirt from us as we think is\nconvenient, to make us somewhat orderly and handsome in his sight.  Such\nnever knew what these words meant, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem:\u201d yea, such in\ntheir hearts have compared the Father and his Son to niggardly rich men,\nwhose money comes from them like drops of blood.  True, says such, God\nhas mercy, but he is loath to part with it; you must please him well, if\nyou get any from him; he is not so free as many suppose, nor is he so\nwilling to save as some pretended gospellers imagine.  But I ask such, if\nthe Father and Son be not unspeakably free to shew mercy, why was this\nclause put into our commission to preach the gospel?  Yea, why did he\nsay, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem:\u201d for when men, through the weakness of their\nwits, have attempted to shew other reasons why they should have the first\nproffer of mercy; yet I can prove (by many undeniable reasons) that they\nof Jerusalem (to whom the apostles made the first offer, according as\nthey were commanded) were the biggest sinners that ever did breathe upon\nthe face of God\u2019s earth, (set the unpardonable sin aside), upon which my\ndoctrine stands like a rock, that Jesus the Son of God would have mercy\nin the first place offered to the biggest sinners: and if this doth not\nshew the heart of the Father and the Son to be infinitely free in\nbestowing forgiveness of sins, I confess myself mistaken.\n\nNeither is there, set this aside, another argument like it, to shew us\nthe willingness of Christ to save sinners; for, as was said before, all\nthe rest of the signs of Christ\u2019s mercifulness might have been limited to\nsinners that are so and so qualified; but when he says, \u201cBegin at\nJerusalem,\u201d the line is stretched out to the utmost: no man can imagine\nbeyond it; and it is folly here to pinch and pare, to narrow, and seek to\nbring it within scanty bounds; for he plainly saith, \u201cBegin at\nJerusalem,\u201d the biggest sinner is the biggest sinner; the biggest is the\nJerusalem sinner.\n\nIt is true, he saith, that repentance and remission of sins must go\ntogether, but yet remission is sent to the chief, the Jerusalem sinner;\nnor doth repentance lessen at all the Jerusalem sinner\u2019s crimes; it\ndiminisheth none of his sins, nor causes that there should be so much as\nhalf a one the fewer: it only puts a stop to the Jerusalem sinner\u2019s\ncourse, and makes him willing to be saved freely by grace; and for time\nto come to be governed by that blessed word that has brought the tidings\nof good things to him.\n\nBesides, no man shews himself willing to be saved that repenteth not of\nhis deeds; for he that goes on still in his trespasses, declares that he\nis resolved to pursue his own damnation further.\n\nLearn then to judge of the largeness of God\u2019s heart, and of the heart of\nhis Son Jesus Christ, by the word; judge not thereof by feeling, nor by\nthe reports of thy conscience; conscience is oftentimes here befooled and\nmade to go quite beside the word.  It was judging without the word that\nmade David say, I am cast off from God\u2019s eyes, and shall perish one day\nby the hand of Saul; Psalm xxxi. 22; 1 Sam. xxvii. 1.\n\nThe word had told him another thing; namely, that he should be king in\nhis stead.  Our text says also, that Jesus Christ bids preachers, in\ntheir preaching repentance and remission of sins, begin first at\nJerusalem, thereby declaring most truly the infinite largeness of the\nmerciful heart of God and his Son, to the sinful children of men.\n\nJudge thou, I say, therefore, of the goodness of the heart of God and his\nSon, by this text, and by others of the same import; so shalt thou not\ndishonour the grace of God, nor needlessly fright thyself, nor give away\nthy faith, nor gratify the devil, nor lose the benefit of his word.  I\nspeak now to weak believers.\n\n_Secondly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners, to the Jerusalem sinners? then, by this also, you\nmust learn to judge of the sufficiency of the merits of Christ; not that\nthe merits of Christ can be comprehended, for that they are beyond the\nconceptions of the whole world, being called the unsearchable riches of\nChrist; but yet they may be apprehended to a considerable degree.  Now,\nthe way to apprehend them most, is, to consider what offers, after his\nresurrection, he makes of his grace to sinners; for to be sure he will\nnot offer beyond the virtue of his merits; because, as grace is the cause\nof his merits, so his merits are the basis and bounds upon and by which\nhis grace stands good, and is let out to sinners.\n\nDoth he then command that his mercy should be offered in the first place\nto the biggest sinners?  It declares, that there is sufficiency in his\nblood to save the biggest sinners.  The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth\nfrom all sin.  And again, \u201cBe it known unto you therefore, men and\nbrethren, that through this man (this man\u2019s merits) is preached unto you\nthe forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from\nall things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses;\u201d\nActs xiii. 38.\n\nObserve then thy rule to make judgment of the sufficiency of the blessed\nmerits of thy Saviour.  If he had not been able to have reconciled the\nbiggest sinners to his Father by his blood, he would not have sent to\nthem, have sent to them in the first place, the doctrine of remission of\nsins; for remission of sins is through faith in his blood.  We are\njustified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in\nthe blood of Christ.  Upon the square, as I may call it, of the\nworthiness of the blood of Christ, grace acts, and offers forgiveness of\nsin to men; Eph. i. 7; chap. ii. 13, 14; Col. i. 20\u201322.\n\nHence, therefore, we must gather, that the blood of Christ is of infinite\nvalue, for that he offereth mercy to the biggest of sinners.  Nay,\nfurther, since he offereth mercy in the first place to the biggest\nsinners, considering also, that this first act of his is that which the\nworld will take notice of and expect it should be continued unto thee\nend.  Also it is a disparagement to a man that seeks his own glory in\nwhat he undertakes, to do that for a sport, which he cannot continue and\nhold out in.  This is our Lord\u2019s own argument, \u201cHe began to build,\u201d saith\nhe, \u201cbut was not able to finish;\u201d Luke xiv. 28.\n\nShouldst thou hear a man say, I am resolved to be kind to the poor, and\nshould begin with giving handfuls of guineas, you would conclude, that\neither he is wonderful rich, or must straiten his hand, or will soon be\nat the bottom of his riches.  Why, this is the case: Christ, at his\nresurrection, gave it out that he would be good to the world; and first\nsends to the biggest sinners, with an intent to have mercy on them.  Now,\nthe biggest sinners cannot be saved but by abundance of grace; it is not\na little that will save great sinners; Rom. v. 17.  And I say again,\nsince the Lord Jesus mounts thus high at the first, and sends to the\nJerusalem sinners, that they may come first to partake of his mercy, it\nfollows, that either he has unsearchable riches of grace and worth in\nhimself, or else he must straiten his hand, or his grace and merits will\nbe spent before the world is at an end.  But let it be believed, as\nsurely as spoken, he is still as full as ever.  He is not a jot the\npoorer for all the forgivenesses that he has given away to great sinners.\nAlso he is still as free as at first; for he never yet called back this\nword, Begin at the Jerusalem sinners.  And, as I said before, since his\ngrace is extended according to the worth of his merits, I conclude, that\nthere is the same virtue in his merits to save now, as there was at the\nvery beginning.\n\nOh! the riches of the grace of Christ!  Oh! the riches of the blood of\nChrist!\n\n_Thirdly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners, then here is encouragement for you that think, for\nwicked hearts and lives, you have not your fellows in the world, yet to\ncome to him.\n\nThere is a people that therefore fear lest they should be rejected of\nJesus Christ, because of the greatness of their sins; when, as you see\nhere, such are sent to, sent to by Jesus Christ to come to him for mercy,\n\u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d  Never did one thing answer another more fitly in\nthis world, than this text fitteth such kind of sinners.  As face\nanswereth face in a glass, so this text answereth the necessities of such\nsinners.  What can a man say more, but that he stands in the rank of the\nbiggest sinners? let him stretch himself whither he can, and think of\nhimself to the utmost, he can but conclude himself to be one of the\nbiggest sinners.  And what then?  Why the text meets him in the very\nface, and saith, Christ offereth mercy to the biggest sinners, to the\nvery Jerusalem sinners.  What more can be objected?  Nay, he doth not\nonly offer to such his mercy, but to them it is commanded to be offered\nin the first place; \u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d  Preach repentance and\nremission of sins among all nations.  \u201cBegin at Jerusalem.\u201d  Is not here\nencouragement for those that think, for wicked hearts and lives, they\nhave not their fellows in the world?\n\n_Object_.  But I have a heart as hard as a rock.\n\n_Answ_.  Well, but this doth but prove thee a bigger sinner.\n\n_Object_.  But my heart continually frets against the Lord.\n\n_Answ_.  Well, this doth but prove thee a bigger sinner.\n\n_Object_.  But I have been desperate in sinful courses.\n\n_Answ_.  Well, stand thou with the number of the biggest sinners.\n\n_Object_.  But my grey head is found in the way of wickedness.\n\n_Answ_.  Well, thou art in the rank of the biggest sinners.\n\n_Object_.  But I have not only a base heart, but I have lived a debauched\nlife.\n\n_Answ_.  Stand thou also among those that are called the biggest sinners.\nAnd what then?  Why the text swoops you all; you cannot object yourselves\nbeyond the text.  It has a particular message to the biggest sinners.  I\nsay, it swoops you all.\n\n_Object_.  But I am a reprobate.\n\n_Answ_.  Now thou talkest like a fool, and of that thou understandest\nnot: no sin, but the sin of final impenitence, can prove a man a\nreprobate; and I am sure thou hast not arrived as yet unto that;\ntherefore thou understandest not what thou sayest, and makest groundless\nconclusions against thyself.  Say thou art a sinner, and I will hold with\nthee; say thou art a great sinner, and I will say so too; yea, say thou\nart one of the biggest sinners, and spare not; for the text yet is beyond\nthee, is yet betwixt he and thee; \u201cBegin at Jerusalem,\u201d has yet a smile\nupon thee; and thou talkest as if thou wast a reprobate, and that the\ngreatness of thy sins do prove thee so to be, when yet they of Jerusalem\nwere not such, whose sins, I dare say, were such, both for bigness and\nheineousness, as thou art incapable of committing beyond them; unless\nnow, after thou hast received conviction that the Lord Jesus is the only\nSaviour of the world, thou shouldst wickedly and despitefully turn\nthyself from him, and conclude he is not to be trusted to for life, and\nso crucify him for a cheat afresh.  This, I must confess, will bring a\nman under the black rod, and set him in danger of eternal damnation; Heb.\nvi. 6: chap. x. 29.  This is trampling under foot the Son of God, and\ncounting his blood an unholy thing.  This did they of Jerusalem; but they\ndid it ignorantly in unbelief; and so were yet capable of mercy: but to\ndo this against professed light, and to stand to it, puts a man beyond\nthe text indeed; Acts iii. 14\u201317; 1 Tim. i. 13.\n\nBut I say, what is this to him that would fain be saved by Christ?  His\nsins did, as to greatness, never yet reach to the nature of the sins that\nthe sinners intended by the text, had made themselves guilty of.  He that\nwould be saved by Christ, has an honourable esteem of him; but they of\nJerusalem preferred a murderer before him; but as for him, they cried,\nAway, away with him, it is not fit that he should live.  Perhaps thou\nwilt object, That thyself hast a thousand times preferred a stinking lust\nbefore him: I answer, Be it so; it is but what is common to men to do;\nnor doth the Lord Jesus make such a foolish life a bar to thee, to forbid\nthy coming to him, or a bond to his grace, that it might be kept from\nthee; but admits of thy repentance, and offereth himself unto thee\nfreely, as thou standest among the Jerusalem sinners.\n\nTake therefore encouragement, man, mercy is, by the text, held forth to\nthe biggest sinners; yea, put thyself into the number of the worst, by\nreckoning that thou mayst be one of the first, and mayst not be put off\ntill the biggest sinners are served; for the biggest sinners are first\ninvited; consequently, if they come, they are like to be the first that\nshall be served.  It was so with Jerusalem; Jerusalem sinners were they\nthat were first invited, and those of them that came first (and there\ncame three thousand of them the first day they were invited; how many\ncame afterwards none can tell), they were first served.\n\nPut in thy name, man, among the biggest, lest thou art made to wait till\nthey are served.  You have some men that think themselves very cunning,\nbecause they put up their names in their prayers among them that feign\nit, saying, God, I thank thee I am not so bad as the worst.  But believe\nit, if they be saved at all, they shall be saved in the last place.  The\nfirst in their own eyes shall be served last; and the last or worst shall\nbe first.  The text insinuates it, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem;\u201d and reason backs\nit, for they have most need.  Behold ye, therefore, how God\u2019s ways are\nabove ours; we are for serving the worst last, God is for serving the\nworst first.  The man at the pool, that to my thinking was longest in his\ndisease, and most helpless as to his cure, was first healed; yea, he only\nwas healed; for we read that Christ healed him, but we read not then that\nhe healed one more there!  John v. 1\u201310.\n\nWherefore, if thou wouldst soonest be served, put in thy name among the\nvery worst of sinners.  Say, when thou art upon thy knees, Lord, here is\na Jerusalem sinner! a sinner of the biggest size! one whose burden is of\nthe greatest bulk and heaviest weight! one that cannot stand long without\nsinking into hell, without thy supporting hand!  \u201cBe not thou far from\nme, O Lord!  O my strength, haste thou to help me!\u201d\n\nI say, put in thy name with Magdalen, with Manasseh, that thou mayst fare\nas the Magdalen and the Manasseh sinners do.  The man in the gospel made\nthe desperate condition of his child an argument with Christ to haste his\ncure: \u201cSir, come down,\u201d saith he, \u201cere my child die;\u201d John iv. 49, and\nChrist regarded his haste, saying, \u201cGo thy way; thy son liveth;\u201d ver. 50.\nHaste requires haste.  David was for speed; \u201cDeliver me speedily;\u201d \u201cHear\nme speedily;\u201d \u201cAnswer me speedily;\u201d Psalm xxxi. 2; lxix. 17; cii. 2.  But\nwhy speedily?  I am in \u201cthe net;\u201d \u201cI am in trouble;\u201d \u201cMy days are\nconsumed like smoke;\u201d Psalm xxxi. 4; lxix. 17; cii. 3.  Deep calleth unto\ndeep, necessity calls for help; great necessity for present help.\n\nWherefore, I say, be ruled by me in this matter; feign not thyself\nanother man, if thou hast been a filthy sinner, but go in thy colours to\nJesus Christ, and put thyself among the most vile, and let him alone to\nput thee among the children; Jer. iii. 19.  Confess all that thou knowest\nof thyself; I know thou wilt find it hard work to do thus; especially if\nthy mind be legal; but do it, lest thou stay and be deferred with the\nlittle sinners, until the great ones have had their alms.  What do you\nthink David intended when he said, his wounds stunk and were corrupted,\nbut to hasten God to have mercy upon him, and not to defer his cure?\n\u201cLord,\u201d says he, \u201cI am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning\nall the day long.\u201d  \u201cI am feeble and sore broken, by reason of the\ndisquietness of my heart;\u201d Psalm xxxviii. 3\u20138.\n\nDavid knew what he did by all this; he knew that his making the worst of\nhis case, was the way to speedy help, and that a feigning and dissembling\nthe matter with God, was the next way to a demur as to his forgiveness.\n\nI have one thing more to offer for thy encouragement, who deemest thyself\none of the biggest sinners; and that is, thou art as it were called by\nthy name, in the first place, to come in for mercy.  Thou man of\nJerusalem, hearken to thy call; men do so in courts of judicature, and\npresently cry out, Here, Sir; and then they shoulder and crowd, and say,\nPray give way, I am called into the court.  Why, this thy case, thou\ngreat, thou Jerusalem sinner; be of good cheer, he calleth thee; Mark x.\n46\u201349.  Why sitttest thou still? arise: why standest thou still? come\nman, thy call should give thee authority to come.  \u201cBegin at Jerusalem,\u201d\nis thy call and authority to come; wherefore up and shoulder it, man;\nsay, Stand away, devil, Christ calls me; stand away unbelief, Christ\ncalls me; stand away all ye my discouraging apprehensions, for my Saviour\ncalls me to him to receive of his mercy.  Men will do thus, as I said, in\ncourts below; and why shouldst not thou approach thus to the court above?\nThe Jerusalem sinner is first in thought, first in commission, first in\nthe record of names; and therefore should give attendance with\nexpectation, that he is first to receive mercy of God.\n\nIs not this an encouragement to the biggest sinners to make their\napplication to Christ for mercy? \u201cCome unto me all ye that labour and are\nheavy laden,\u201d doth also confirm this thing; that is, that the biggest\nsinner, and he that has the biggest burden, is he who is first invited.\nChrist pointeth over the heads of thousands, as he sits on the throne of\ngrace, directly to such a man; and says, Bring in hither the maimed, the\nhalt, and the blind; let the Jerusalem sinner that stands there behind\ncome to me.  Wherefore, since Christ says, Come, to thee, let thee angels\nmake a lane, and let all men give place, that the Jerusalem sinner may\ncome to Jesus Christ for mercy.\n\n_Fourthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered, in the first place, to\nthe biggest sinners?  Then come thou profane wretch, and let me a little\nenter into an argument with thee.  Why wilt thou not come to Jesus\nChrist, since thou art a Jerusalem sinner?  How canst thou find in thy\nheart to set thyself against grace, against such grace as offereth mercy\nto thee?  What spirit possesseth thee, and holds thee back from a sincere\nclosure with thy Saviour?  Behold God groaningly complains of thee,\nsaying, \u201cBut Israel would none of me.\u201d  \u201cWhen I called, none did answer;\u201d\nPsl. lxxxi. 11; Isa. lxvi. 4.\n\nShall God enter this complaint against thee?  Why dost thou put him off?\nWhy dost thou stop thine ear?  Canst thou defend thyself?  When thou art\ncalled to an account for thy neglects of so great salvation, what canst\nthou answer? or doest thou think thou shalt escape the judgment?  Heb.\nii. 3.\n\nNo more such Christs!  There will be no more such Christs, sinner!  Oh,\nput not the day, the day of grace, away from thee! if it be once gone, it\nwill never come again, sinner.\n\nBut what is it that has got thy heart, and that keeps it from thy\nSaviour?  \u201cWho in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the\nsons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?\u201d  Psl. lxxxix. 6.  Hast\nthou, thinkest thou, found anything so good as Jesus Christ?\n\nIs there any among thy sins, thy companions, and foolish delights, that\nlike Christ can help thee in the day of thy distress?  Behold, the\ngreatness of thy sins cannot hinder; let not the stubbornness of thy\nheart hinder thee, sinner.\n\n_Object_.  But I am ashamed.\n\n_Answ_.  Oh!  Do not be ashamed to be saved, sinner.\n\n_Object_.  But my old companions will mock me.\n\n_Answ_.  Oh!  Do not be mocked out of eternal life, sinner.\n\nThy stubbornness affects, afflicts the heart of thy Saviour.  Carest thou\nnot for this?  Of old he beheld the city, and wept over it.  Canst thou\nhear this, and not be concerned?  Luke xix. 41, 42.  Shall Christ weep to\nsee thy soul going on to destruction, and wilt thou sport thyself in that\nway?  Yea, shall Christ, that can be eternally happy without thee, be\nmore afflicted at the thoughts of the loss of thy soul, than thyself, who\nart certainly eternally miserable if thou neglectest to come to him.\n\nThose things that keep thee and thy Saviour, on thy part asunder, are but\nbubbles; the least prick of an affliction will let out, as to thee, what\nnow thou thinkest is worth the venture of heaven to enjoy.\n\nHast thou not reason?  Canst thou not so much as once soberly think of\nthy dying hour, or of whither thy sinful life will drive thee then?  Hast\nthou no conscience? or having one, is it rocked so fast asleep by sin, or\nmade so weary with an unsuccessful calling upon thee, that it is laid\ndown, and cares for thee no more?  Poor man! thy state is to be lamented.\nHast no judgment?  Art not able to conclude, that to be saved is better\nthan to burn in hell? and that eternal life, with God\u2019s favour, is better\nthan a temporal life in God\u2019s displeasure?  Hast no affection but what is\nbrutish? what, none at all? no affection for the God that made thee?\nwhat! none for his loving Son that has shewed his love, and died for\nthee?  Is not heaven worth thy affection?  O poor man! which is strongest\nthinkest thou, God or thee?  If thou art not able to overcome him, thou\nart a fool for standing out against him; Matt. v. 25, 26.  \u201cIt is a\nfearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.\u201d  He will gripe\nhard; his fist is stronger than a lion\u2019s paw; take heed of him, he will\nbe angry if you despise his Son; and will you stand guilty in your\ntrespasses, when he offereth you his grace and favour?  Exod. xxxiv. 6,\n7; Heb. x. 29\u201331.\n\nNow we come to the text, \u201cBeginning at Jerusalem.\u201d  This text, though it\nbe now one of the brightest stars that shineth in the Bible, because\nthere is in it, as full, if not the fullest offer of grace that can be\nimagined, to the sons of men; yet to them that shall perish from under\nthis word, even this text will be to such, one of the hottest coals in\nhell.\n\nThis text, therefore, will save thee or sink thee: there is no shifting\nof it: if it saves thee, it will set thee high; if it sinks thee, it will\nset thee low.\n\nBut, I say, why so unconcerned?  Hast no soul? or dost think thou mayst\nlose thy soul, and save thyself?  Is it not pity, had it otherwise been\nthe will of God, that ever thou wast made a man, for that thou settest so\nlittle by thy soul?\n\nSinner, take the invitation; thou art called upon to come to Christ: nor\nart thou called upon but by order from the Son of God though thou\nshouldst happen to come of the biggest sinners; for he has bid us offer\nmercy, as to all the world in general, so, in the first place, to the\nsinners of Jerusalem, or to the biggest sinners.\n\n_Fifthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in thee first place, to\nthe biggest sinners? then this shews how unreasonable a thing it is for\nmen to despair of mercy: for those that presume, I shall say something to\nthem afterward.\n\nI now speak to them that despair.\n\nThere are four sorts of despair.  There is the despair of devils; there\nis the despair of souls in hell; there is the despair that is grounded\nupon men\u2019s deficiency; and there is the despair that they are perplexed\nwith that are willing to be saved, but are too strongly borne down with\nthe burthen of their sins.\n\nThe despair of devils, the damned\u2019s despair, and that despair that a man\nhas of attaining of life because of his own deficiency, are all\nunreasonable.  Why should not devils and damned souls despair? yea, why\nshould not man despair of getting to heaven by his own abilities?  I\ntherefore am concerned only with the fourth sort of despair, to wit, with\nthe despair of those that would be saved, but are too strongly borne down\nwith the burden of their sins.\n\nI say, therefore, to thee that art thus, And why despair?  Thy despair,\nif it were reasonable, should flow from thee, because found in the land\nthat is beyond the grave, or because thou certainly knowest that Christ\nwill not, or cannot save thee.\n\nBut for the first, thou art yet in the land of the living; and for the\nsecond, thou hast ground to believe the quite contrary; Christ is able to\nsave to the uttermost them that come to God by him; and if he were not\nwilling, he would not have commanded that mercy, in the first place,\nshould be offered to the biggest sinners.  Besides, he hath said, \u201cAnd\nlet him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water\nof life freely;\u201d that is, with all my heart.  What ground now is here for\ndespair?  If thou sayst, The number and burden of my sins; I answer, Nay;\nthat is rather a ground for faith: because such an one, above all others,\nis invited by Christ to come unto him, yea, promised rest and forgiveness\nif they come; Matt. xi. 28.  What ground then to despair?  Verily none at\nall.  Thy despair then is a thing unreasonable and without footing in the\nword.\n\nBut I have no experience of God\u2019s love; God hath given me no comfort, or\nground of hope, though I have waited upon him for it many a day.\n\nThou hast experience of God\u2019s love, for that he has opened thine eyes to\nsee thy sins: and for that he has given thee desires to be saved by Jesus\nChrist.  For by thy sense of sin thou art made to see thy poverty of\nspirit, and that has laid thee under a sure ground to hope that heaven\nshall be thine hereafter.\n\nAlso thy desires to be saved by Christ, has put thee under another\npromise, so there is two to hold thee up in them, though thy present\nburden be never so heavy, Matt. v. 3, 6.  As for what thou sayst, as to\nGod\u2019s silence to thee, perhaps he has spoken to thee once or twice\nalready, but thou hast not perceived it; Job xxxiii. 14, 15.\n\nHowever, thou hast Christ crucified, set forth before thine eyes in the\nBible, and an invitation to come unto him, though thou be a Jerusalem\nsinner, though thou be the biggest sinner; and so no ground to despair.\nWhat, if God will be silent to thee, is that ground of despair?  Not at\nall, so long as there is a promise in the Bible that God will in no wise\ncast away the coming sinner, and so long as he invites the Jerusalem\nsinner to come unto him John vi. 37.\n\nBuild not therefore despair upon these things; they are no sufficient\nfoundations for it, such plenty of promises being in the Bible, and such\na discovery of his mercy to great sinners of old; especially since we\nhave withal a clause in the commission given to ministers to preach, that\nthey should begin with the Jerusalem sinners in their offering of mercy\nto the world.\n\nBesides, God says, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their\nstrength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; but perhaps it may\nbe long first.  \u201cI waited long,\u201d saith David, \u201cand did seek the Lord;\u201d\nand at length his cry was heard: wherefore he bids his soul wait on God,\nand says, For it is good so to do before thy saints; Psalm xl. 1; lxii.\n5; lii. 9.\n\nAnd what if thou waitest upon God all thy days?  Is it below thee?  And\nwhat if God will cross his book, and blot out the hand-writing that is\nagainst thee, and not let thee know it as yet?  Is it fit to say unto\nGod, Thou art hard-hearted?  Despair not; thou hast no ground to despair,\nso long as thou livest in this world.  It is a sin to begin to despair\nbefore one sets his foot over the threshold of hell-gates.  For them that\nare there, let them despair and spare not; but as for thee, thou hast no\nground to do it.  What! despair of bread in a land that is full of corn!\ndespair of mercy when our God is full of mercy! despair of mercy, when\nGod goes about by his ministers, beseeching of sinners to be reconciled\nunto him!  2 Cor. v. 18\u201320.\n\nThou scrupulous fool, where canst thou find that God was ever false to\nhis promise, or that he ever deceived the soul that ventured itself upon\nhim?  He often calls upon sinners to trust him, though they walk in\ndarkness, and have no light; Isa. 1. 10.\n\nThey have his promise and oath for their salvation, that flee for refuge\nto the hope set before them; Heb. vi. 17, 18.\n\nDespair! when we have a God of mercy, and a redeeming Christ alive!  For\nshame, forbear: let them despair that dwell where there is no God, and\nthat are confined to those chambers of death which can be reached by no\nredemption.\n\nA living man despair when he is chid for murmuring and complaining!  Lam.\niii. 39.  Oh! so long as we are where promises swarm, where mercy is\nproclaimed, where grace reigns, and where Jerusalem sinners are\nprivileged with the first offer of mercy, it is a base thing to despair.\n\nDespair undervalues the promise, undervalues the invitation, undervalues\nthe proffer of grace.  Despair undervalues the ability of God the Father,\nand the redeeming blood of Christ his Son.  Oh unreasonable despair!\n\nDespair makes man God\u2019s judge; it is a controller of the promise, a\ncontradicter of Christ in his large offers of mercy: and one that\nundertakes to make unbelief the great manager of our reason and judgment,\nin determining about what God can and will do for sinners.\n\nDespair!  It is the devil\u2019s fellow, the devil\u2019s master; yea, the chains\nwith which he is captivated and held under darkness for ever: and to give\nway thereto in a land, in a state and time that flows with milk and\nhoney, is an uncomely thing.\n\nI would say to my soul, O my soul! this is not the place of despair; this\nis not the time to despair in: as long as mine eyes can find a promise in\nthe Bible, as long as there is the least mention of grace, as long as\nthere is a moment left me of breath or life in this world; so long will I\nwait or look for mercy, so long will I fight against unbelief and\ndespair.\n\nThis is the way to honour God and Christ; this is the way to set the\ncrown on the promise; this is the way to welcome the invitation and\ninviter; and this is the way to thrust thyself under the shelter and\nprotection of the word of grace.  Never despair so long as our text is\nalive, for that doth sound it out,\u2014that mercy by Christ is offered, in\nthe first place, to the biggest sinner.\n\nDespair is an unprofitable thing; it will make a man weary of waiting\nupon God; 2 Kings vi. 33; it will make a man forsake God, and seek his\nheaven in the good things of this world; Gen. iv. 13\u201318.  It will make a\nman his own tormentor, and flounce and fling like a wild bull in a net;\nIsa. ii. 20.\n\nDespair! it drives a man to the study of his own ruin, and brings him at\nlast to be his own executioner; 2 Sam. xvii. 23; Matt. xxvii. 3\u20135.\n\nBesides, I am persuaded also, that despair is the cause that there are so\nmany that would fain be Atheists in the world: For because they have\nentertained a conceit that God will never be merciful to them; therefore\nthey labour to persuade themselves that there is no God at all, as if\ntheir misbelief would kill God, or cause him to cease to be.  A poor\nshift for an immortal soul, for a soul who liketh not to retain God in\nits knowledge!  If this be the best that despair can do, let it go, man,\nand betake thyself to faith, to prayer, to wait for God, and to hope, in\ndespite of ten thousand doubts.  And for thy encouragement, take yet (as\nan addition to what has already been said) the following scripture; \u201cThe\nLord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his\nmercy;\u201d Psal. cxlvii. 11.\n\nWhence note, They fear not God, that hope not in his mercy: also God is\nangry with them that hope not in his mercy: for he only taketh pleasure\nin them that hope.  He that believeth, or hath received his testimony,\n\u201chath set to his seal that God is true,\u201d John iii. 33; but he that\nreceiveth it not hath made him a liar, and that is a very unworthy thing;\n1 John v. 10, 11.  \u201cLet the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous\nman his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy\non him; and to our God, for he will abundantly multiply pardons.\u201d\nPerhaps thou art weary of thy ways, but art not weary of thy thoughts, of\nthy unbelieving and despairing thoughts; now, God also would have thee\ncast away these thoughts, as such which he deserveth not at thy hands;\nfor he will have mercy upon thee, and he will abundantly pardon.\n\n\u201cO fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have\nspoken!\u201d Luke xxiv. 25.  Mark you here, slowness to believe is a piece of\nfolly.  Ay! but sayst thou, I do believe some, and I believe what can\nmake against me.  Ay, but sinner, Christ Jesus here calls thee fool for\nnot believing all.  Believe all, and despair if thou canst.  He that\nbelieves all, believes that text that saith, Christ would have mercy\npreached first to the Jerusalem sinners.  He that believeth all,\nbelieveth all the promises and consolations of the word; and the promises\nand consolations of the word weigh heavier than do all the curses and\nthreatenings of the law; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.  Wherefore\nbelieve all, and mercy will to thy conscience weigh judgment down, and so\nminister comfort to thy soul.  The Lord take the yoke from off thy jaws,\nsince he has set meat before thee; Hos. xi. 4; and help thee to remember\nthat he is pleased in the first place to offer mercy to the biggest\nsinners.\n\n_Sixthly_, Since Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place\nto the biggest sinners, let souls see that they lay right hold thereof,\nlest they, notwithstanding, indeed come short thereof.  Faith only knows\nhow to deal with mercy; wherefore put not in the place thereof\npresumption.  I have observed, that as there are herbs and flowers in our\ngardens, so there are their counterfeits in the field; only they are\ndistinguished from the other by the name of wild ones.  Why, there is\nfaith, and wild faith; and wild faith is this presumption.  I call it\nwild faith, because God never placed it in his garden, his church; it is\nonly to be found in the field, the world.  I also call it wild faith,\nbecause it only grows up and is nourished where other wild notions\nabound.  Wherefore take heed of this, and all may be well; for this\npresumuptuousness is a very heinous thing in the eyes of God: \u201cThe soul,\u201d\nsaith he, \u201cthat doeth ought presumptuously (whether he be born in the\nland, or a stranger), the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall\nbe cut off from among his people;\u201d Numb. xv. 30.\n\nThe thoughts of this made David tremble, and pray that God would hold him\nback from presumptuous sins, and not suffer them to have dominion over\nhim; Psal. xix. 13.\n\nNow this presumption, then, puts itself in the place of faith, when it\ntampereth with the promise for life, while the soul is a stranger to\nrepentance.  Wherefore you have in the text, to prevent doing thus, both\nrepentance and remission of sins to be offered to Jerusalem; not\nremission without repentance: for all that repent not shall perish, let\nthem presume on grace and the promise while they will; Luke xiii. 1\u20133.\n\nPresumption, then, is that which severeth faith and repentance,\nconcluding, that the soul shall be saved by grace, though the man was\nnever made sorry for his sins, nor the love of the heart turned\ntherefrom.  This is to be self-willed, as Peter has it; and this is a\ndespising the word of the Lord, for that has put repentance and faith\ntogether; Mark i. 15.  And \u201cbecause he hath despised the word of the\nLord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut\noff: his iniquity shall be upon him.\u201d  Numb. xv. 31.\n\nLet such therefore look to it, who yet are, and abide in their sins; for\nsuch, if they hope, as they are, to be saved, presume upon the grace of\nGod.  Wherefore presumption and not hearkening to God\u2019s word are put\ntogether; Deut. xvii. 12.\n\nAgain, Then men presume when they are resolved to abide in their sins,\nand yet expect to be saved by God\u2019s grace through Christ.  This is as\nmuch as to say, God liketh sin as well as I do, and careth not how men\nlive, if so be they lean upon his Son.  Of this sort are they that build\nup Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity; that judge for reward,\nand teach for hire, and divine for money, and lean upon the Lord; Mic.\niii. 10, 11.  This is doing things with an high hand against the Lord our\nGod, and a taking him, as it were, at the catch.  This is, as we say\namong men, to seek to put a trick upon God, as if he had not sufficiently\nfortified his proposals of grace by his holy word, against all such kind\nof fools as these.  But look to it.\n\nSuch will be found at the day of God, not among that great company of\nJerusalem sinners that shall be saved by grace, but among those that have\nbeen the great abusers of the grace of God in the world.  Those that say,\nLet us sin that grace may abound, and let us do evil that good may come,\ntheir damnation is just.  And if so, they are a great way off of that\nsalvation that is by Jesus Christ presented to the Jerusalem sinners.\n\nI have therefore these things to propound to that Jerusalem sinner that\nwould know, if he may be so bold as to venture himself upon this grace.\n\n_First_, Dost thou see thy sins?\n\n_Secondly_, Art thou weary of them?\n\n_Thirdly_, Wouldst thou with all thy heart be saved by Jesus Christ?  I\ndare say no less, I dare say no more.  But if it be truly thus with thee,\nhow great soever thy sins have been, how bad soever thou feelest thy\nheart, how far soever thou art from thinking that God has mercy for\nthese: thou art the man, the Jerusalem sinner, that the Word of God has\nconquered, and to whom it offereth free remission of sins, by the\nredemption that is in Jesus Christ.\n\nWhen the jailor cried out, \u201cSirs, What must I do to be saved?\u201d  The\nanswer was, \u201cBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.\u201d\nHe that sees his sins aright, is brought to his wit\u2019s end by them; and he\nthat is so, is willing to part from them, and to be saved by the grace of\nGod.\n\nIf this be thy case, fear not, give no way to despair; thou presumest\nnot, if thou believest to life everlasting in Jesus Christ: yea, Christ\nis prepared for such as thou art.\n\nTherefore take good courage and believe.  The design of Satan is to tell\nthe presumptuous, that their presuming on mercy is good; but to persuade\nthe believer, that his believing is impudent bold dealing with God.  I\nnever heard a presumptuous man in my life say that he was afraid that he\npresumed; but I have heard many an honest humble soul say, that they have\nbeen afraid that their faith has been presumption.  Why should Satan\nmolest those whose ways he knows will bring them to him?  And who can\nthink that he should be quiet when men take the right course to escape\nhis hellish snares?  This, therefore, is the reason why the truly humbled\nis opposed, while the presumptuous goes on by wind and tide.  The truly\nhumble Satan hates, but he laughs to see the foolery of the other.\n\nDoes thy hand and heart tremble?  Upon thee the promise smiles.  \u201cTo this\nman will I look,\u201d says God, \u201ceven to him that is poor, and of a contrite\nspirit, and trembles at my word;\u201d Isa. lxvi. 2.\n\nWhat, therefore, I have said of presumption concerns not the humble in\nspirit at all.  I therefore am for gathering up the stones, and for\ntaking the stumblingblocks out of the way of God\u2019s people: and\nforewarning of them that lay the stumblingblock of their iniquity before\ntheir faces, and that are for presuming upon God\u2019s mercy; and let them\nlook to themselves; Ezek. xiv. 6\u20138.\n\nAlso our text stands firm as ever it did, and our observation is still of\nforce, that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners.  So then let none despair, let none presume; let\nnone despair that are sorry for their sins, and would be saved by Jesus\nChrist; let none presume that abide in the liking of their sins, though\nthey seem to know the exceeding grace of Christ; for though the door\nstands wide open for the reception of the penitent, yet it is fast enough\nbarred and bolted against the presumptuous sinner.  Be not deceived, God\nis not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that he shall reap.  It cannot be\nthat God should be wheedled out of his mercy, or prevailed upon by lips\nof dissimulation; he knows them that trust in him, and that sincerely\ncome to him by Christ for mercy; Nahum i. 7.\n\nIt is then not the abundance of sins committed, but the not coming\nheartily to God by Christ for mercy, that shuts men out of doors.  And\nthough their not coming heartily may be said to be but a sin, yet it is\nsuch a sin as causeth that all thy other sins abide upon thee unforgiven.\n\nGod complains of this.  \u201cThey have not cried unto me with their heart;\nthey turned, but not to the most High.  They turned feignedly;\u201d Jer. iii.\n10; Hos. vii. 14, 16.\n\nThus doing, his soul hates; but the penitent, humble, brokenhearted\nsinner, be his transgressions red as scarlet, red like crimson, in number\nas the sand; though his transgressions cry to heaven against him for\nvengeance, and seem there to cry louder than do his prayers, or tears, or\ngroans for mercy, yet he is safe.  To this man God will look; Isa. i. 18;\nchap lxvi. 2.\n\n_Seventhly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners?  Then here is ground for those that, as to practice,\nhave not been such, to come to him for mercy.\n\nAlthough there is no sin little of itself; because it is a contradiction\nof the nature and majesty of God; yet we must admit of divers numbers,\nand also of aggravations.  Two sins are not so many as three; nor are\nthree that are done in ignorance so big as one that is done against\nlight, against knowledge and conscience.  Also there is the child in sin,\nand a man in sin that has his hairs gray, and his skin wrinkled for very\nage.  And we must put a difference betwixt these sinners also.  For can\nit be that a child of seven, or ten, or sixteen years old, should be such\na sinner\u2014a sinner so vile in the eye of the law as he is who has walked\naccording to the course of this world, forty, fifty, sixty, or seventy\nyears?  Now the youth, this stripling, though he is a sinner, is but a\nlittle sinner, when compared with such.\n\nNow, I say, if there be room for the first sort, for those of the biggest\nsize, certainly there is room for the lesser size?  If there be a door\nwide enough for a giant to go in at, there is certainly room for a dwarf.\nIf Christ Jesus has grace enough to save great sinners, he has surely\ngrace enough to save little ones.  If he can forgive five hundred pence,\nfor certain he can forgive fifty; Luke vii. 41, 42.\n\nBut you said before, that the little sinners must stand by until the\ngreat ones have received their grace, and that is discouraging!\n\nI answer, there are two sorts of little sinners, such as are so, and such\nas feign themselves so.  They are those that feign themselves so, that I\nintended there, and not those that are indeed comparatively so.  Such as\nfeign themselves so may wait long enough before they obtain forgiveness.\n\nBut again, a sinner may be comparatively a little sinner, and sensibly a\ngreat one.  There are then two sorts of greatness in sin; greatness by\nreason of number; greatness by reason of thoroughness of conviction of\nthe horrible nature of sin.  In this last sense, he that has but one sin,\nif such a one could be found, may in his own eyes find himself the\nbiggest sinner in the world.  Let this man or this child therefore put\nhimself among the great sinners, and plead with God as great sinners do,\nand expect to be saved with the great sinners, and as soon and as\nheartily as they.\n\nYea, a little sinner, that comparatively is truly so, if he shall\ngraciously give way to conviction, and shall in God\u2019s light diligently\nweigh the horrible nature of his own sins, may yet sooner obtain\nforgiveness for them at the hands of the heavenly Father, than he that\nhas ten times his sins, and so cause to cry ten times harder to God for\nmercy.\n\nFor the grievousness of the cry is a great thing with God; for if he will\nhear the widow, if she cries at all, how much more if she cries most\ngrievously?  Exod. xxii. 22, 23.\n\nIt is not the number, but the true sense of the abominable nature of sin,\nthat makes the cry for pardon lamentable.  He, as I said, that has many\nsins, may not cry so loud in the ears of God as he that has far fewer;\nhe, in our present sense, that is in his own eyes the biggest sinner, is\nhe that soonest findeth mercy.\n\nThe offer then is to the biggest sinner; to the biggest sinner first, and\nthe mercy is first obtained by him that first confesseth himself to be\nsuch an one.\n\nThere are men that strive at the throne of grace for mercy, by pleading\nthe greatness of their necessity.  Now their plea, as to the prevalency\nof it, lieth not in the counting up of the number, but in the sense of\nthe greatness of their sins, and in the vehemency of their cry for\npardon.  And it is observable, that though the birthright was Ruben\u2019s,\nand, for his foolishness, given to the sons of Joseph, yet Judah\nprevailed above his brethren, and of him came the Messias; 1 Chron. v. 1,\n2.\n\nThere is a heavenly subtilty to be managed in this matter.  \u201cThy brother\ncame with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.\u201d  The blessing\nbelonged to Esau, but Jacob by his diligence made it his own; Gen. xxvii.\n33.  The offer is to the biggest sinner, to the biggest sinner first; but\nif he forbear to cry, the sinner that is a sinner less by far than he,\nboth as to number and the nature of transgression, may get the blessing\nfirst, if he shall have grace to bestir himself well; for the loudest cry\nis heard furthest, and the most lamentable pierces soonest.\n\nI therefore urge this head, not because I would have little sinners go\nand tell God that they are little sinners, thereby to think to obtain\nmercy; for, verily, so they are never like to have it: for such words\ndeclare, that such a one hath no true sense at all of the nature of his\nsins.\n\nSin, as I said, in the nature of it, is horrible, though it be but one\nsingle sin as to act; yea, though it be but a sinful thought; and so\nworthily calls for the damnation of the soul.\n\nThe comparison, then, of little and great sinners, is to go for good\nsense among men.  But to plead the fewness of thy sins, or the\ncomparative harmlessness of their quantity before God, argueth no sound\nknowledge of the nature of thy sin, and so no true sense of the nature or\nneed of mercy.\n\nLittle sinner, when therefore thou goest to God, though thou knowest in\nthy conscience that thou, as to acts, art no thief, no murderer, no\nwhore, no liar, no false swearer, or the like, and in reason must needs\nunderstand that thus thou art not so profanely vile as others; yet when\nthou goest to God for mercy, know no man\u2019s sins but thine own, make\nmention of no man\u2019s sins but thine own.  Also labour not to lessen thy\nown, but magnify and greaten them by all just circumstances, and be as if\nthere was never a sinner in the world but thyself.  Also cry out, as if\nthou wast the only undone man; and that is the way to obtain God\u2019s mercy.\n\nIt is one of the comeliest sights in the world to see a little sinner\ncommenting upon the greatness of his sins, multiplying and multiplying\nthem to himself, till he makes them in his own eyes bigger and higher\nthan he seeth any other man\u2019s sins to be in the world; and as base a\nthing it is to see a man do otherwise, and as basely will come on it;\nLuke xviii. 10\u201314.\n\nAs, therefore, I said to the great sinner before, let him take heed lest\nhe presume; I say now to the little sinner, let him take heed that he do\nnot dissemble: for there is as great an aptness in the little sinner to\ndissemble, as there is in the great one.  \u201cHe that hideth his sins shall\nnot prosper,\u201d be he a sinner little or great; Prov. xxviii. 13.\n\n_Eighthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered, in the first place, to\nthe biggest sinners?  Then this shews the true cause why Satan makes such\nhead as he doth against him.\n\nThe Father and the Holy Spirit are well spoken of by all deluders and\ndeceived persons; Christ only is the rock of offence.  \u201cBehold I lay in\nZion a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence;\u201d Rom. ix. 33.  Not that\nSatan careth for the Father or the Spirit more than he careth for the\nSon, but he can let men alone with their notions of the Father and the\nSpirit, for he knows they shall never enjoy the Father nor the Spirit, if\nindeed they receive not the merits of the Son.  \u201cHe that hath the Son,\nhath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,\u201d however they\nmay boast themselves of the Father and the Spirit; 1 John v. 12.  Again,\n\u201cWhosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath\nnot God: he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath both the Father\nand the Son;\u201d 2 John i. 9.\n\nChrist, and Christ only, is he that can make us capable to enjoy God with\nlife and joy to all eternity.  Hence he calls himself the way to the\nFather, the true and living way; John xiv. 6; Heb. x. 19, 20; for we\ncannot come to the Father but by him.  Satan knows this, therefore he\nhates him.  Deluded persons are ignorant of this, and, therefore, they\nare so led up and down by Satan by the nose as they are.\n\nThere are many things by which Satan has taken occasion to greaten his\nrage against Jesus Christ.\n\nAs, first, his love to man, and then the many expressions of that love.\nHe hath taken man\u2019s nature upon him; he hath in that nature fulfilled the\nlaw to bring in righteousness for man; and hath spilt his blood for the\nreconciling of men to God; he hath broke the neck of death, put away sin,\ndestroyed the works of the devil, and got into his own hands the keys of\ndeath: and all these are heinous things to Satan.  He cannot abide Christ\nfor this.  Besides, he hath eternal life in himself; and that to bestow\nupon us; and we in all likelihood are to possess the very places from\nwhich the Satans by transgression fell, if not places more glorious.\nWherefore he must needs be angry.  And is it not a vexatious thing to\nhim, that we should be admitted to the throne of grace by Christ, while\nhe stands bound over in chains of darkness, to answer for his rebellions\nagainst God and his Son, at the terrible day of judgment.  Yea, we poor\ndust and ashes must become his judges, and triumph over him for ever: and\nall this long of Jesus Christ; for he is the meritorious cause of all\nthis.\n\nNow though Satan seeks to be revenged for this, yet he knows it is in\nvain to attack the person of Christ; he has overcome him: therefore he\ntampers with a company of silly men, that he may vilify him by them.  And\nthey, bold fools as they are, will not spare to spit in his face.  They\nwill rail at his person, and deny the very being of it; they will rail at\nhis blood, and deny the merit and worth of it.  They will deny the very\nend why he accomplished the law, and by jiggs, and tricks, and quirks,\nwhich he helpeth them to, they set up fond names and images in his place,\nand give the glory of a Saviour to them.  Thus Satan worketh under the\nname of Christ; and his ministers under the name of the ministers of\nrighteousness.\n\nAnd by his wiles and stratagems he undoes a world of men; but there is a\nseed, and they shall serve him, and it shall be counted to the Lord for a\ngeneration.  These shall see their sins, and that Christ is the way to\nhappiness.  These shall venture themselves, both body and soul, upon his\nworthiness.\n\nAll this Satan knows, and therefore his rage is kindled the more.\nWherefore, according to his ability and allowance, he assaulteth,\ntempteth, abuseth, and stirs up what he can to be hurtful to these poor\npeople, that he may, while his time shall last, make it as hard and\ndifficult for them to go to eternal glory as he can.  Oftentimes he\nabuses them with wrong apprehensions of God, and with wrong apprehensions\nof Christ.  He also casts them into the mire, to the reproach of\nreligion, the shame of their brethren, the derision of the world, and\ndishonour of God.\n\nHe holds our hands while the world buffets us; he puts bear-skins upon\nus, and then sets the dogs at us.  He bedaubeth us with his own foam, and\nthen tempts us to believe that that bedaubing comes from ourselves.\n\nOh! the rage and the roaring of this lion, and the hatred that he\nmanifests against the Lord Jesus, and against them that are purchased\nwith his blood!  But yet, in the midst of all this, the Lord Jesus sends\nforth his herald to proclaim in the nations his love to the world, and to\ninvite them to come in to him for life.  Yea, his invitation is so large,\nthat it offereth his mercy in the first place to the biggest sinners of\nevery age, which augments the devil\u2019s rage the more.\n\nWherefore, as I said before, fret he, fume he, the Lord Jesus will divide\nthe spoil with this great one; yea, he shall divide the spoil with the\nstrong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was\nnumbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made\nintercession for the transgressors; Isa. liii. 12.\n\n_Ninthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners?  Let the tempted harp upon this string for their\nhelp and consolation.  The tempted wherever he dwells, always thinks\nhimself the biggest sinner, one most unworthy of eternal life.\n\nThis is Satan\u2019s master-argument: thou art a horrible sinner, a hypocrite,\none that has a profane heart, and one that is an utter stranger to a work\nof grace.  I say this is his maul, his club, his master-piece; he doth\nwith this as some do with their most enchanting songs, sings them\neverywhere.  I believe there are but few saints in the world that have\nnot had this temptation sounding in their ears.  But were they but aware,\nSatan by all this does but drive them to the gap out at which they should\ngo, and so escape his roaring.\n\nSaith he, thou art a great sinner, a horrible sinner, a profane hearted\nwretch, one that cannot be matched for a vile one in the country.\n\nAnd all this while Christ says to his ministers, offer mercy, in the\nfirst place, to the biggest sinners.  So that this temptation drives thee\ndirectly into the arms of Jesus Christ.\n\nWere therefore the tempted but aware, he might say, Ay, Satan, so I am, I\nam a sinner of the biggest size, and therefore have most need of Jesus\nChrist; yea, because I am such a wretch, therefore Jesus Christ calls me;\nyea, he calls me first: the first proffer of the Gospel is to be made to\nthe Jerusalem sinner: I am he, wherefore stand back Satan; make a lane,\nmy right is first to come to Jesus Christ.\n\nThis now will be like for like.  This would foil the devil: this would\nmake him say, I must not deal with this man thus; for then I put a sword\ninto his hand to cut off my head.\n\nAnd this is the meaning of Peter, when he saith, \u201cResist him stedfast in\nthe faith;\u201d 1 Pet. v. 9.  And of Paul, when he saith, \u201cTake the shield of\nfaith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the\nwicked;\u201d Eph. vi. 16.\n\nWherefore is it said, \u201cBegin at Jerusalem,\u201d if the Jerusalem sinner is\nnot to have the benefit of it?  And if I am to have the benefit of it,\nlet me call it to mind when Satan haunts me with the continual\nremembrance of my sins, of my Jerusalem sins.  Satan and my conscience\nsay I am the biggest sinner,\u2014Christ offereth mercy, in the first place,\nto the biggest sinners.  Nor is the manner of the offer other but such as\nsuiteth with my mind.  I am sorry for my sin; yea, sorry at my heart that\never sinful thought did enter, or find the least entertainment in my\nwicked mind; and might I obtain my wish, I would never more that my heart\nshould be a place for ought but the grace, and spirit, and faith of the\nLord Jesus.\n\nI speak not this to lessen my wickedness; I would not for all the world\nbut be placed by mine own conscience in the very front of the biggest\nsinners, that I might be one of the first that are beckoned by the\ngracious hand of Jesus the Saviour, to come to him for mercy.\n\nWell, sinner, thou now speakest like a Christian, but say thus in a\nstrong spirit in the hour of temptation, and then thou wilt, to thy\ncommendation and comfort, quit thyself well.\n\nThis improving of Christ in dark hours, is the life, though the hardest\npart of our Christianity.  We should neither stop at darkness, nor at the\nraging of our lusts, but go on in a way of venturing and casting the\nwhole of our affairs for the next world at the foot of Jesus Christ.\nThis is the way to make the darkness light, and also to allay the raging\nof our corruption.\n\nThe first time the Passover was eaten, was in the night; and when Israel\ntook courage to go forward, though the sea stood in their way like a\ndevouring gulf, and the host of the Egyptians follow them at the heels;\nyet the sea gives place, and their enemies were as still as a stone till\nthey were gone over; Exod. xii. 8; chap. xiv. 13, 14, 21, 22; chap. xv.\n16.\n\nThere is nothing like faith to help at a pinch; faith dissolves doubts as\nthe sun drives away the mists.  And that you may not be put out, know\nyour time, as I said, of believing it always.  There are times when some\ngraces may be out of use, but there is no time wherein faith can be said\nto be so.  Wherefore faith must be always in exercise.\n\nFaith is the eye, is the mouth, is the hand, and one of these is of use\nall day long.  Faith is to see, to receive, to work, or to eat; and a\nChristian should be seeing or receiving, or working, or feeding all day\nlong.  Let it rain, let it blow, let it thunder, let it lighten, a\nChristian must still believe: \u201cAt what time,\u201d said thee good man, \u201cI am\nafraid, I will trust in thee;\u201d Psal. vi. 2, 3.\n\nNor can we have a better encouragement to do this, than is by the text\nset before us, even an open heart for a Jerusalem sinner.  And if for a\nJerusalem sinner to come, then for such an one when come.  If for such a\none to be saved, then for such a one that is saved.  If for such a one to\nbe pardoned his great transgressions, then for such a one who is pardoned\nthese, to come daily to Jesus Christ, too, to be cleansed and set free\nfrom his common infirmities, and from the iniquities of his holy things.\n\nTherefore let the poor sinner that would be saved labour for skill to\nmake the best improvement of the grace of Christ to help him against the\ntemptations of the devil and his sins.\n\n_Tenthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners?  Let those men consider this, that (have, or) may in\na day of trial have spoken or done what their profession or conscience\ntold them they should not, and that have the guilt and burden thereof\nupon their consciences.\n\nWhether a thing be wrong or right, guilt may pursue him that doth\ncontrary to his conscience.  But suppose a man should deny his God, or\nhis Christ, or relinquish a good profession, and be under the real guilt\nthereof; shall he therefore conclude he is gone for ever?  Let him come\nagain with Peter\u2019s tears, and no doubt he shall obtain Peter\u2019s\nforgiveness.  For the text includes the biggest sinners.\n\nAnd it is observable, that before this clause was put into this\ncommission, Peter was pardoned his horrible revolt from his Master.  He\nthat revolteth in the day of trial, if he is not shot quite dead upon the\nplace, but is sensible of his wound, and calls out for a surgeon, shall\nfind his Lord at hand to pour wine and oil into his wounds, that he may\nagain be healed, and to encourage him to think that there may be mercy\nfor him: besides what we find recorded of Peter, you read in the Acts,\nsome were, through the violence of their trials, compelled to blaspheme,\nand yet are called saints; Acts xxvi. 9\u201311.\n\nHence you have a promise or two that speak concerning such kind of men,\nto encourage us to think that at least some of them shall come back to\nthe Lord their God.  \u201cShall they fall,\u201d saith he, \u201cand not arise?  Shall\nthey turn away, and not return?\u201d Jer. viii. 4.  \u201cAnd in that day I will\nassemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that was driven out, and\nher that I have afflicted.  And I will make her that halteth a remnant,\nand her that was cast off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over\nthem in Mount Zion for ever.\u201d  What we are to understand by her that\nhalteth, is best expressed by the Prophet Elijah; Mic. iv. 6, 7; Zeph.\niii. 19; 1 Kings xviii. 21.\n\nI will conclude, then, that for them that have halted, or may halt, the\nLord has mercy in the bank, and is willing to accept them if they return\nto him again.\n\nPerhaps they may never be after that of any great esteem in the house of\nGod, but if the Lord will admit them to favour and forgiveness: O\nexceeding and undeserved mercy!  See Ezekiel xliv. 10\u201314.\n\nThou, then, that mayst be the man, remember this, that there is mercy\nalso for thee.  Return therefore to God, and to his Son, who hath yet in\nstore for thee, and who will do thee good.\n\nBut perhaps thou wilt say, he doth not save all revolters, and,\ntherefore, perhaps not me.\n\n_Answr_.  Art thou returning to God?  If thou art returning, thou art the\nman; \u201cReturn ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings;\u201d\nJer. iii. 22.\n\nSome, as I said, that revolt, are shot dead upon the place, and for them,\nwho can help them?  But for them that cry out of their wounds, it is a\nsign they are yet alive, and if they use the means in time, doubtless\nthey may be healed.\n\nChrist Jesus has bags of mercy that were never yet broken up or unsealed.\nHence it is said, he has goodness laid up; things reserved in heaven for\nhis.  And if he breaks up one of these bags, who can tell what he can do!\n\nHence his love is said to be such as passeth knowledge, and that his\nriches are unsearchable.  He has, no body knows what; for no body knows\nwhom: he has by him in store for such as seem in the view of all men to\nbe gone beyond recovery.  For this the text is plain.  What man or angel\ncould have thought that the Jerusalem sinners had been yet on this side\nof an impossibility of enjoying life and mercy?  Hadst thou seen their\nactions, and what horrible things they did to the Son of God; yea, how\nstoutly they backed what they did with resolves and endeavours to\npersevere, when they had killed his person, against his name and\ndoctrine; and that there was not found among them all that while, as we\nread of, the least remorse or regret for these their doings; couldst thou\nhave imagined that mercy would ever have took hold of them, at least so\nsoon!  Nay, that they should, of all the world, be counted those only\nmeet to have it offered to them in the very first place!  For so my text\ncommands, saying, \u201cPreach repentance and remission of sins among all\nnations, beginning at Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nI tell you the thing is a wonder, and must for ever stand for a wonder\namong the sons of men.  It stands also for an everlasting invitation and\nallurement to the biggest sinners to come to Christ for mercy.\n\nNow since, in the opinion of all men, the revolter is such a one; if he\nhas, as I said before, any life in him, let him take encouragement to\ncome again, that he may live by Christ.\n\n_Eleventhly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in the first place to\nthe biggest sinners?  Then let God\u2019s ministers tell them so.  There is an\nincidence in us, I know not how it doth come about, when we are\nconverted, to contemn them that are left behind.  Poor fools as we are,\nwe forget that we ourselves were so; Tit. iii. 2, 3.\n\nBut would it not become us better, since we have tasted that the Lord is\ngracious, to carry it towards them so, that we may give them convincing\nground to believe, that we have found that mercy which also sets open the\ndoor for them to come and partake with us.\n\nMinisters, I say, should do thus, both by their doctrine, and in all\nother respects.\n\nAusterity doth not become us, neither in doctrine nor in conversation.\nWe ourselves live by grace; let us give as we receive, and labour to\npersuade our fellow-sinners which God has left behind us, to follow\nafter, that they may partake with us of grace.  We are saved by grace,\nlet us live like them that are gracious.  Let all our things (to the\nworld) be done in charity towards them; pity them, pray for them, be\nfamiliar with them for their good.  Let us lay aside our foolish,\nworldly, carnal grandeur; let us not walk the streets, and have such\nbehaviours as signify we are scarce for touching of the poor ones that\nare left behind, no not with a pair of tongs.  It becomes us not thus to\ndo.\n\nRemember your Lord, he was familiar with publicans and sinners to a\nproverb; \u201cBehold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of\npublicans and sinners;\u201d Matt. xi. 19.  The first part, concerning his\ngluttonous eating and drinking, to be sure, was an horrible slander; but\nfor the other, nothing was ever spoke truer of him by the world.  Now,\nwhy should we lay hands cross on this text: that is, choose good\nvictuals, and love the sweet wine better than the salvation of the poor\npublican?  Why not familiar with sinners, provided we hate their spots\nand blemishes, and seek that they may be healed of them?\n\nWhy not fellowly with our carnal neighbours?  If we do take occasion to\ndo so, that we may drop, and be yet distilling some good doctrine upon\ntheir souls?  Why not go to the poor man\u2019s house, and give him a penny,\nand a Scripture to think upon?  Why not send for the poor to fetch away\nat least the fragments of thy table, that the bowels of thy fellow-sinner\nmay be refreshed as well as thine?\n\nMinisters should be exemplary; but I am an inferior man, and must take\nheed of too much meddling.  But might I, I would meddle with them, with\ntheir wives, and with their children too.  I mean not this of all, but of\nthem that deserve it, though I may not name them.\n\nBut, I say, let ministers follow the steps of their blessed Lord, who by\nword and deed shewed his love to the salvation of the world, in such a\ncarriage as declared him to prefer their salvation before his own private\nconcern, For we are commanded to follow his steps, \u201cwho did no sin,\nneither was guile found in his mouth.\u201d\n\nAnd as I have said concerning ministers, so I say to all the brethren,\ncarry it so, that all the world may see, that indeed you are the sons of\nlove.\n\nLove your Saviour; yea, shew one to another that you love him, not only\nby a seeming love of affection, but with the love of duty.  Practical\nlove is best.  Many love Christ with nothing but the lick of the tongue.\nAlas!  Christ Jesus the Lord must not be put off thus: \u201cHe that hath my\ncommandments, and keepeth them,\u201d saith he, \u201che it is that loveth me;\u201d\nJohn xiv. 21.\n\nPractical love, which stands in self-denial, in charity to my neighbour,\nand a patient enduring of affliction for his name; this is counted love.\n\nRight love to Christ is that which carries in it a provoking argument to\nothers of the brethren; Heb. x. 24.\n\nShould a man ask me how he should know that he loveth the children of\nGod?  The best answer I could give him, would be in the words of the\nApostle John; \u201cBy this,\u201d saith he, \u201cwe know we love the children of God,\nwhen we love God, and keep his commandments;\u201d 1 John, v. 2.\n\nLove to God and Christ is then shewn when we are tender of his name; and\nthen we shew ourselves tender of his name when we are afraid to break any\nthe least of his commandments.  And when we are here, then do we shew our\nlove to our brother also.\n\nNow, we have obligation sufficient thus to do, for that our Lord loved\nus, and gave himself for us, to deliver us from death, that we might live\nthrough him.\n\nThe world, when they hear the doctrine that I have asserted and handled\nin this little book; to wit, that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered\nin the first place to the biggest sinners, will be apt, because\nthemselves are unbelievers, to think that this is a doctrine that leads\nto looseness, and that gives liberty to the flesh; but if you that\nbelieve love your brethren and your neighbours truly, and as you should,\nyou will put to silence the ignorance of such foolish men, and stop their\nmouths from speaking evil of you.\n\nAnd, I say, let the love of Christ constrain us to this.  Who deserveth\nour heart, our mouth, our life, our goods, so much as Jesus Christ, who\nhas bought us to himself by his blood, to this very end, that we should\nbe a peculiar people, zealous of good works?\n\nThere is nothing more seemly in the world, than to see a Christian walk\nas becomes the Gospel; nor any thing more unbecoming a reasonable\ncreature, than to hear a man say, I believe in Christ, and yet see in his\nlife debauchery and profaneness.  Might I, such men should be counted the\nbasest of men; such men should be counted by all unworthy of the name of\na Christian, and should be shunned by every good man, as such who are the\nvery plague of profession.\n\nFor so it is written, we should carry it towards them.  Whoso have a form\nof godliness, and deny the power thereof, from such we must turn away.\n\nIt has ofttimes come into my mind to ask, by what means it is that the\ngospel profession should be so tainted with loose and carnal gospellers?\nand I could never arrive to better satisfaction in the matter than\nthis,\u2014such men are made professors by the devil, and so by him put among\nthe rest of the godly.  A certain man had a fruitless fig-tree planted in\nhis vineyard; but by whom was it planted there?  Even by him that sowed\nthe tares, his own children, among the wheat; Luke xiii. 6; Matt. xiii.\n37\u201340.  And that was the devil.  But why doth the devil do thus?  Not of\nlove to them, but to make of them offences and stumblingblocks to others.\nFor he knows that a loose professor in the church does more mischief to\nreligion than ten can do to it that are in the world.\n\nWas it not, think you, the devil that stirred up the damsel that you read\nof in Acts xvi., to cry out, \u201cThese are the servants of the most high\nGod, that shew unto us the way of salvation!\u201d  Yes it was, as is evident,\nfor Paul was grieved to hear it.  But why did the devil stir up her to\ncry so? but because that was the way to blemish the Gospel, and to make\nthe world think that it came from the same hand as did her soothsaying\nand witchery; verse 16\u201318; \u201cHoliness, O Lord, becomes thy house for\never.\u201d\n\nLet, therefore, whoever they be that profess the name of Christ, take\nheed that they scandal not that profession which they make of him, since\nhe has so graciously offered us, as we are sinners of the biggest size,\nin the first place, his grace to save us.\n\nHaving thus far spoken of the riches of the grace of Christ, and of the\nfreeness of his heart to embrace the Jerusalem sinners, it may not be\namiss to give you yet, as a caution, an intimation of one thing, namely,\nthat this grace and freeness of his heart is limited to time and day; the\nwhich, whoso overstandeth, shall perish notwithstanding.\n\nFor as a king, who, of grace, sendeth out to his rebellious people an\noffer of pardon, if they accept thereof by such a day, yet beheadeth or\nhangeth those that come not in for mercy until the day or time be past;\nso Christ Jesus has set the sinner a day, a day of salvation, an\nacceptable time; but he who standeth out, or goeth on in rebellion beyond\nthat time, is like to come off with the loss of his soul; 2 Cor. vi. 2;\nHeb. iii. 13, 16, 17, 18, 19; chap. iv. 7; Luke xix. 41, 42.\n\nSince, therefore, things are thus, it may be convenient here to touch a\nlittle upon these particulars.\n\n_First_, That this day, or time thus limited, when it is considered with\nreference to this or that man, is ofttimes undiscerned by the person\nconcerned therein, and always is kept secret as to the shutting up\nthereof.\n\nAnd this, in the wisdom of God, is thus to the end; no man, when called\nupon, should put off turning to God to another time.  Now, and to-day, is\nthat and only that which is revealed in holy writ; Psal. 1. 22; Eccles.\nxii. 1; Heb. iii. 13, 16.\n\nAnd this shews us the desperate hazards which those men run, who when\ninvitation or conviction attends them, put off turning to God to be saved\ntill another, and, as they think, a more fit season and time.  For many,\nby so doing, defer this to do till the day of God\u2019s patience and\nlong-suffering is ended; and then, for their prayers and cries after\nmercy, they receive nothing but mocks, and are laughed at by the God of\nheaven; Prov. i. 20\u201330; Isaiah lxv. 12\u201316; chap. lxvi. 4; Zech. xii.\n11\u201313.\n\n_Secondly_, Another thing to be considered is this, viz. that the day of\nGod\u2019s grace with some men begins sooner, and also sooner ends than it\ndoth with others.  Those at the first hour of the day, had their call\nsooner than they who were called upon to turn to God at the sixth hour of\nthe day; yea, and they who were hired at the third hour, had their call\nsooner than they who were called at the eleventh; Matt. xx. 1\u20136.\n\n1.  The day of God\u2019s patience began with Ishmael, and also ended before\nhe was twenty years old.  At thirteen years of age he was circumcised;\nthe next year after Isaac was born; and then Ishmael was fourteen years\nold.  Now that day that Isaac was weaned, that day was Ishmael rejected;\nand suppose that Isaac was three years old before he was weaned, that was\nbut the seventeenth year of Ishmael; wherefore the day of God\u2019s grace was\nended with him betimes; Gen. xvii. 24, 25; chap. xxi. 2\u201311; Gal. iv. 30.\n\n2.  Cain\u2019s day ended with him betimes; for after God had rejected him, he\nlived to beget many children, and build a city, and to do many other\nthings.  But alas! all that while he was a fugitive and a vagabond.  Nor\ncarried he any thing with him after the day of his rejection was come,\nbut this doleful language in his conscience, \u201cFrom God\u2019s face shall I be\nhid;\u201d Gen. iv. 10\u201315.\n\n3.  Esau, through his extravagancies would needs go to sell his\nbirth-right, not fearing (as other confident fools) but that yet the\nblessing would still be his, after which he lived many years; but all of\nthem under the wrath of God, as was, when time came, made appear to his\ndestruction; for \u201cWhen he would have inherited the blessing, he was\nrejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it\ncarefully with tears;\u201d Heb. xii. 14\u201316.\n\nMany instances might be given as to such tokens of the displeasure of God\nagainst such as fool away, as the wise man has it, the prize which is put\ninto their hand; Prov. xvii. 16.\n\nLet these things, therefore, be a further caution to those that sit under\nthe glorious sound of the Gospel, and hear of the riches of the grace of\nGod in Christ to poor sinners.\n\nTo slight grace, to despise mercy, and to stop the ear when God speaks,\nwhen he speaks such great things, so much to our profit, is a great\nprovocation.\n\nHe offereth, he calls, he woos, he invites, he prays, he beseeches us in\nthis day of his grace to be reconciled to him; yea, and has provided for\nus the means of reconciliation himself.  Now, this despised must needs be\nprovoking; and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living\nGod.\n\nBut some man may say unto me, Fain I would be saved, fain I would be\nsaved by Christ; but I fear this day of grace is past, and that I shall\nperish, notwithstanding the exceeding riches of the grace of God.\n\n_Answer_.  To this doubt I would answer several things.\n\n_First_, With respect to this day.\n\n_Secondly_, With respect to thy desires.\n\n_Thirdly_, With respect to thy fears.\n\n_First_, With respect to the day; that is, whether it be ended with a man\nor no.\n\n1.  Art thou jogged, and shaken and molested at the hearing of the Word?\nIs thy conscience awakened and convinced then that thou art at present in\na perishing state, and that thou hast need to cry to God for mercy?  This\nis a hopeful sign that this day of grace is not past with thee.  For\nusually they that are past grace, are also, in their conscience, past\nfeeling, being \u201cseared with an hot iron;\u201d Eph. iv. 18, 19; 1 Tim. iv. 1,\n2.\n\nConsequently, those past grace must be such as are denied the awakening\nfruits of the Word preached.  \u201cThe dead that hear,\u201d says Christ, \u201cshall\nlive;\u201d at least while Christ has not quite done with them; the day of\nGod\u2019s patience is not at an end with them; John v. 25.\n\n2.  Is there in thy more retired condition, arguings, strugglings, and\nstrivings with thy spirit to persuade thee of the vanity of what vain\nthings thou lovest, and to win thee in thy soul to a choice of Christ\nJesus and his heavenly things?  Take heed and rebel not, for the day of\nGod\u2019s grace and patience will not be past with thee till he saith his\n\u201cSpirit shall strive no more\u201d with thee; for then the woe comes, when \u201che\nshall depart from them;\u201d and when he says to the means of grace, \u201cLet\nthem alone;\u201d Hos. iv. 17; chap. ix. 12.\n\n3.  Art thou visited in the night-seasons with dreams about thy state,\nand that thou art in danger of being lost?  Hast thou heart-shaken\napprehensions when deep sleep is upon thee, of hell, death, and judgment\nto come?  These are signs that God has not wholly left thee, or cast thee\nbehind his back for ever.  \u201cFor God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man\nperceiveth it not; in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep\nfalleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears\nof men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his\npurpose (his sinful purposes) and hide pride from man;\u201d Job xxxiii.\n14\u201317.\n\nAll this while God has not left the sinner, nor is come to the end of his\npatience towards him, but stands at least with the door of grace a-jar in\nhis hand, as being loth as yet to bolt it against him.\n\n4.  Art thou followed with affliction, and dost thou hear God\u2019s angry\nvoice in thy afflictions?  Doth he send with thy affliction an\ninterpreter to shew thee thy vileness; and why, or wherefore, the hand of\nGod is upon thee, and upon what thou hast; to wit, that it is for thy\nsinning against him, and that thou mightest be turned to him?  If so, thy\nsummer is not quite ended; thy harvest is not quite over and gone.  Take\nheed, stand out no longer, lest he cause darkness, and lest thy feet\nstumble upon the dark mountains; and lest, while you look for light, he\nturn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness; Jer. viii.\n20; chap. xiii. 15\u201317.\n\n5.  Art thou crossed, disappointed, and way-laid, and overthrown in all\nthy foolish ways and doings?  This is a sign God has not quite left thee,\nbut that he still waits upon thee to turn thee.  Consider, I say, has he\nmade a hedge and a wall to stop thee?  Has he crossed thee in all thou\nputtest thy hand unto?  Take it as a call to turn to him, for, by his\nthus doing, he shews he has a mind to give thee a better portion.  For\nusually when God gives up men, and resolves to let them alone in the\nbroad way, he gives them rope, and lets them have their desires in all\nhurtful things; Hos. ii. 6\u201315; Psalm lxxiii. 3\u201313; Rom. xi. 9.\n\nTherefore take heed to this also, that thou strive not against this hand\nof God; but betake thyself to a serious inquiry into the causes of this\nhand of God upon thee, and incline to think, it is because the Lord would\nhave thee look to that, which is better than what thou wouldst satisfy\nthyself withal.  When God had a mind to make the prodigal go home to his\nfather, he sent a famine upon him, and denied him a bellyful of the husks\nwhich the swine did eat.  And observe it, now he was in a strait, he\nbetook him to consideration of the good that there was in his father\u2019s\nhouse; yea, he resolved to go home to his father, and his father dealt\nwell with him; he received him with music and dancing, because he had\nreceived him safe and sound; Luke xv. 14\u201332.\n\n6.  Hast then any enticing thoughts of the word of God upon thy mind?\nDoth, as it were, some holy word of God give a glance upon thee, cast a\nsmile upon thee, let fall, though it be but one drop of its savour upon\nthy spirit; yea, though it stays but one moment with thee?  O then the\nday of grace is not past!  The gate of heaven is not shut! nor God\u2019s\nheart and bowels withdrawn from thee as yet.  Take heed, therefore, and\nbeware that thou make much of the heavenly gift, and of that good word of\nGod of the which he has made thee taste.  Beware, I say, and take heed;\nthere may be a falling away for all this; but, I say, as yet God has not\nleft thee, as yet he has not cast thee off; Heb. vi. 1\u20139.\n\n_Secondly_, With respect to thy desires, what are they?  Wouldst thou be\nsaved!  Wouldst thou be saved with a thorough salvation?  Wouldst thou be\nsaved from guilt and filth too?  Wouldst thou be the servant of thy\nSaviour?  Art thou indeed weary of the service of thy old master the\ndevil, sin, and the world?  And have these desires put thy soul to\nflight?  Hast thou through desires betaken thyself to thy heels?  Dost\nfly to him that is a Saviour from the wrath to come, for life?  If these\nbe thy desires, and if they be unfeigned, fear not.  Thou art one of\nthose runaways which God has commanded our Lord to receive, and not to\nsend thee back to the devil thy master again, but to give thee a place in\nhis house, even the place which liketh thee best.  \u201cThou shalt not\ndeliver to his master,\u201d says he, \u201cthe servant which is escaped from his\nmaster unto thee.  He shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place\nwhich he shall choose, in one of thy gates where it liketh him best; thou\nshalt not oppress him;\u201d Deut. xxiii. 15, 16.\n\nThis is a command to the church, consequently to the Head of the church;\nfor all commands from God come to her through her Head.  Whence I\nconclude, that as Israel of old was to receive the runaway servant who\nescaped from a heathen master to them, and should not dare to send him\nback to his master again, so Christ\u2019s church now, and consequently Christ\nhimself, may not, will not, refuse that soul that has made his escape\nfrom sin, Satan, the world, and hell, unto him, but will certainly let\nhim dwell in his house, among his saints, in that place which he shall\nchoose, even where it liketh him best.  For he says in another place,\n\u201cAnd him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.\u201d  In no wise, let\nhis crimes be what they will, either for nature, multitude, or the\nattendance of aggravating circumstances.\n\nWherefore, if thy desires be firm, sound, and unfeigned to become the\nsaved of Christ, and his servant, fear not, he will not, he will in no\nwise put thee away, or turn thee over to thy old master again.\n\n_Thirdly_, As to they fears, whatever they are, let that be supposed\nwhich is supposed before, and they are groundless, and so of no weight.\n\n_Object_.  But I am afraid I am not elected, or chosen to salvation,\nthough you called me fool a little before for so fearing.\n\n_Ans_.  Though election is, in order, before calling, as to God, yet the\nknowledge of calling must go before the belief of my election as to\nmyself.  Wherefore, souls that doubt of the truth of their effectual\ncalling, do but plunge themselves into a deeper labyrinth of confusion\nthat concern themselves with their election; I mean, while they labour to\nknow it before they prove their calling.  \u201cMake your calling, and so your\nelection, sure;\u201d 2 Pet. i. 4\u201311.\n\nWherefore, at present, lay the thoughts of thy election by, and ask\nthyself these questions: Do I see my lost condition?  Do I see salvation\nis nowhere but in Christ?  Would I share in this salvation by faith in\nhim?  And would I, as was said before, be thoroughly saved, to wit, from\nthe filth as from the guilt?  Do I love Christ, his Father, his saints,\nhis words, and ways?  This is the way to prove we are elect.  Wherefore,\nsinner, when Satan, or thine own heart seeks to puzzle thee with\nelection, say thou, I cannot attend to talk of this point now, but stay\ntill I know that I am called of God to the fellowship of his Son, and\nthen I will shew you that I am elect, and that my name is written in the\nbook of life.\n\nIf poor distressed souls would observe this order, they might save\nthemselves the trouble of an unprofitable labour under these unreasonable\nand soul-sinking doubts.\n\nLet us therefore, upon the sight of our wretchedness, fly and venturously\nleap into the arms of Christ, which are now as open to receive us into\nhis bosom, as they were when nailed to the cross.  This is coming to\nChrist for life aright; this is right running away from thy master to\nhim, as was said before.  And for this we have multitudes of scriptures\nto support, encourage, and comfort us in our so doing.\n\nBut now, let him that doth thus be sure to look for it, for Satan will be\nwith him to-morrow, to see if he can get him again to his old service;\nand if he cannot do that, then will he enter into dispute with him, to\nwit, about whether he be elect to life, and called indeed to partake of\nthis Christ, to whom he is fled for succour, or whether he comes to him\nof his own presumptuous mind.  Therefore we are bid, as to come, so to\narm ourselves with that armour which God has provided; that we may\nresist, quench, stand against, and withstand all the fiery darts of the\ndevil; Eph. vi. 11\u201318.\n\nIf, therefore, thou findest Satan in this order to march against thee,\nremember then thou hadst this item about it; and betake thyself to faith\nand good courage; and be sober, and hope to the end.\n\n_Object_.  But how if I should have sinned the sin unpardonable, or that\ncalled the sin against the Holy Ghost?\n\n_Answer_.  If thou hast, thou art lost for ever; but yet before it is\nconcluded by thee that thou hast so sinned, know that they that would be\nsaved by Jesus Christ through faith in his blood, cannot be counted for\nsuch.\n\n1.  Because of the promise, for that must not be frustrated: and that\nsays, \u201cAnd him that cometh to Christ, he will in no wise cast out.\u201d  And\nagain, \u201cWhoso will, let him take of the water of life freely;\u201d John vi.\n37; Rev. xxi. 6; chap. xxii. 17.\n\nBut I say, how can these scriptures be fulfilled, if he that would indeed\nbe saved, as before, has sinned the sin unpardonable?  The scriptures\nmust not be made void, nor their truth be cast to the ground.  Here is a\npromise, and here is a sinner; a promise that says he shall not be cast\nout that comes; and the sinner comes, wherefore he must be received:\nconsequently he that comes to Christ for life, has not, cannot have\nsinned that sin for which there is no forgiveness.\n\nAnd this might suffice for an answer to any coming soul, that fears,\nthough he comes, that he has sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost.\n\n2.  But again, he that has sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot\ncome, has no heart to come, can by no means be made willing to come to\nJesus Christ for life; for that he has received such an opinion of him,\nand of his things, as deters and holds him back.\n\n1.  He counteth this blessed person, the Son of God, a magician, a\nconjuror, a witch, or one that did, when he was in the world, what he did\nby the power and spirit of the devil; Matt. ix. 34; chap. xii. 24, 25,\n&c.; Mark iii. 22\u201330.  Now he that has this opinion of this Jesus, cannot\nbe willing to cast himself at his feet for life, or to come to him as the\nonly way to God and to salvation.  And hence it is said again, that such\nan one puts him to open shame, and treadeth him under foot, that is, by\ncontemning, reproaching, vilifying, and despising of him, as if he were\nthe vilest one, or the greatest cheat in the world: and has therefore, as\nto his esteem of him, called him accursed, crucified him to himself, or\ncounted him one hanged, as one of the worst of malefactors; Heb. vi. 6;\nchap. x. 29; 1 Cor. xii. 3.\n\n2.  His blood, which is the meritorious cause of man\u2019s redemption, even\nthe blood of the everlasting covenant, he counteth an unholy thing, or\nthat which has no more virtue in it to save a soul from sin than has the\nblood of a dog; Heb. x. 29.  For when the Apostle says, \u201che counts it an\nunholy thing,\u201d he means, he makes it of less value than that of a sheep\nor cow, which were clean according to the law; and therefore must mean,\nthat his blood was of no more worth to him in his account than was the\nblood of a dog, an ass, or a swine, which always was, as to sacrifices,\nrejected by the God of heaven, as unholy or unclean.\n\nNow he who has no better esteem of Jesus Christ, and of his death and\nblood, will not be persuaded to come to him for life, or to trust in him\nfor salvation.\n\n3.  But further, all this must be done against manifest tokens to prove\nthe contrary, or after the shining of gospel light upon the soul, or some\nconsiderable profession of him as the Messiah, or that he was the Saviour\nof the world.\n\n1.  It must be done against manifest tokens to prove the contrary; and\nthus the reprobate Jews committed it when they saw the works of God,\nwhich put forth themselves in him, and called them the works of the devil\nand Beelzebub.\n\n2.  It must be done against some shining light of the gospel upon them.\nAnd thus it was with Judas, and with those who, after they were\nenlightened, and had tasted, and had felt something of the powers of the\nworld to come, fell away from the faith of him, and put him to open shame\nand disgrace; Heb. vi. 5, 6.\n\n3.  It must also be done after, and in opposition to one\u2019s own open\nprofession of him.  \u201cFor if after they have escaped the pollution of the\nworld, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they\nare again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with\nthem than the beginning; for it had been better for them not to have\nknown the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn\nfrom the holy commandment (which is the word of faith) delivered unto\nthem.\u201d\n\n4.  All this must be done openly, before witnesses, in the face, sight,\nand view of the world, by word and act.  This is the sin that is\nunpardonable; and he that hath thus done, can never, it is impossible he\never should be renewed again to repentance, and that for a double reason;\nfor such an one doth say, he will not; and of him God says, he shall not\nhave the benefit of salvation by him.\n\n_Object_.  But if this be the sin unpardonable, why is it called the sin\nagainst the Holy Ghost, and not rather the sin against the Son of God?\n\n_Answ_.  It is called \u201cthe sin against the Holy Ghost,\u201d because such\ncount the works he did, which were done by the Spirit of God, the works\nof the spirit of the devil.  Also because all such as so reject Christ\nJesus the Lord, they do it in despite of that testimony which the Holy\nGhost has given of him in the holy scriptures; for the scriptures are the\nbreathings of the Holy Ghost, as in all other things, so in that\ntestimony they bear of the person, of the works, sufferings,\nresurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.\n\nSinner, this is the sin against the Holy Ghost.  What sayst thou?  Hast\nthou committed it?  Nay, I know thou hast not; if thou wouldst be saved\nby Christ.  Yea, it is impossible that thou shouldst have done it, if\nindeed thou wouldst be saved by him.\n\nNo man can desire to be saved by him, whom he yet judgeth to be an\nimpostor, a magician, a witch.  No man can hope for redemption by that\nblood which he yet counteth an unholy thing.  Nor will God ever suffer\nsuch an one to repent, who has, after light and profession of him, thus\nhorribly and devil-like contemned and trampled upon him.\n\nTrue, words and wars and blasphemies against this Son of man are\npardonable; but then they must be done ignorantly and in unbelief.  Also\nall blasphemous thoughts are likewise such as may be passed by, if the\nsoul afflicted with them indeed is sorry for them; 1 Tim. i. 13\u201315; Mar.\niii. 28.\n\nAll but this, sinner, all but this!  If God had said, he will forgive one\nsin, it had been undeserved grace; but when he says he will pardon all\nbut one, this is grace to the height.\n\nNor is that one unpardonable otherwise, but because the Saviour that\nshould save them is rejected and put away.\n\nWe read of Jacob\u2019s ladder; Christ is Jacob\u2019s ladder that reacheth up to\nheaven, and he that refuseth to go by this ladder thither, will scarce by\nother means get up so high.\n\nThere is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be\nsaved.  There is none other sacrifice for sin than this; he also, and he\nonly, is the Mediator that reconcileth men to God.  And, sinner, if thou\nwouldst be saved by him, his benefits are thine; yea, though thou art a\ngreat and Jerusalem transgressor.","title":"The Jerusalem Sinner Saved; or, Good News for the Vilest of Men","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":35417}