N03023:261
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. : In which is added, an answer to those grand objections that lie in the ways of them that would believe: for the comfort of those that fear they have sinned against the Holy Ghost / by John Bunyan of Bedford.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. : In which is added, an answer to those grand objections that lie in the ways of them that would believe: for the comfort of those that fear they have sinned against the Holy Ghost / by John Bunyan of Bedford.
Boston: printed for J. Edwards and H. Foster, 1733
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Put in thy Name, Man among the biggest, lest thou art made to wait till they are served; you have some Men that think themselves very cunning, because they put up their Names in their Prayers among them that feign it, saying God I thank thee, I am not so bad as the worst; but believe it, if they be saved at all, they shall be saved in the last place: The first in their own Eyes shall be served last, and the last or ⟨p. 88⟩worst shall be first: The Text insinuates it, Begin at Jerusalem, and Reason backs it, for they have most need. Behold ye therefore, how God's ways are above ours; we are for serving the worst last, God is for serving the worst first. The Man at the Pool that to my thinking was longest in his Disease, and most Helpless as to his Cure, was first healed, yea, he only was healed; for we read that Christ healed him; but we read not then that he healed one more there, John 5.1, to 9.
Wherefore if thou wouldst soonest be served, put in thy Name among the very worst of Sinners, say, when thou art upon thy Knees, Lord! Here is a Jerusalem sinner; a Sinner of the biggest size, one whose Burden is of the greatest Bulk and heaviest Weight, one that cannot stand long without thy supporting Hand, Be not thou far from me, O Lord; O my strength, hast thou to help me.
I say, put in thy name with Magdalen, with Manasseh, thou may'st fare as the Magdalen and the Manasseh-sinners do. The Man in the Gospel, made the desperate condition of his Child, an argument with Christ to hasten his cure: Sir come down saith he ere my Child die, Joh. 4.49. And Christ regarded his haste, saying Go thy way thy Son liveth, Ver. 50. Haste requires haste, David was for speed; Deliver