A30160:168
The Jerusalem-sinner saved, or, Good news for the vilest of men being a help…
The Jerusalem-sinner saved, or, Good news for the vilest of men being a help for despairing souls, showing that Jesus Christ would have mercy in the first place offered to the biggest sinners / by John Bunyan.The Jerusalem-sinner saved, or, Good news for the vilest of men being a help for despairing souls, shewing that Jesus Christ would have mercy in the first place offered to the biggest sinners / by John Bunyan.
London : Printed and are to be sold by George Larkin, 1689
GOOD NEWS For the Vilest of Men. OR, A Help for Despairing Souls.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But what need I give you an Instance of poor I; I will come to Manasseh the King: So long as he was a ringleading Sinner, the great Idolater, and chief for Devilism, the whole Land flowed with wickedness; For he made them to sin, and do worse than the Heathen that dwelt round about them, or that was cast out from before them. But when God converted him, the whole Land was reformed. Down went the Groves, the Idols, and Altars of Baal, and up went true Religion in much of the Power and Purity of it. You'll say, The King reformed by Power. I answer, doubtless, and by Example too; for People observe their Leaders; as their Fathers did, so did they, 2 Chron. 33.2 King. 17.41.
This therefore is another Reason, why Jesus would have mercy offered in the first place to the biggest sinners, because that is the best way, if they receive it, most to weaken the kingdom of Satan, and to keep it poor and low.
And do you not think now, that if God would but take hold of the hearts of some of the most notorious in your Town, in your Family, or Country, that this thing would be verified before your faces? It would, it would, to the Joy of you that are godly, to the making of Hell to sigh, to the great suppressing of Sin, the glory of Christ, and the joy of the Angels of God. And Ministers should therefore, that this Work might go on, take advantages to persuade with the biggest Sinners to come into Christ, according to my Text, and their Commissions: Beginning at Jerusalem.
And do you not think now, that if God would but take hold of the hearts of some of the most notorious in your Town, in your Family, or Countrey, that this thing would be verified before your faces? It would, it would, to the Joy of you that are godly, to the making of Hell to sigh, to the great suppressing of Sin, the glory of Christ, and the joy of the Angels of God. And Ministers should therefore, that this Work might go on, take advantages to perswade with the biggest Sinners to come into Christ, according to my Text, and their Commissions: Beginning at Jerusalem.