Do not say, that your sins are too many and too great to expect to find mercy: No; be they ever so many, or ever so great, the blood of the LORD JESUS CHRIST will cleanse you from all sins. GOD’s grace, my brethren, is free, rich, and sovereign. _Manassah_ was a great sinner, and yet he was pardoned; _Zaccheus_ was gone far from GOD, and went out to see CHRIST, with no other view but to satisfy his curiosity; and yet JESUS met him, and brought salvation to his house. _Manassah_ was an idolater and murderer, yet he received mercy; the other was an oppressor and extortioner, who had gotten riches by fraud and deceit, and by grinding the faces of the poor: so did _Matthew_ too, and yet they found mercy.
Have you been blasphemers and persecutors of the saints and servants of GOD? So was St. _Paul_, yet he received mercy: Have you been common harlots, filthy and unclean persons? so was _Mary Magdalene_, and yet she received mercy: Hast thou been a thief? the thief upon the cross found mercy. I despair of none of you, however vile and profligate you have been; I say, I despair of none of you, especially when GOD has had mercy on such a wretch as I am.
Remember the poor Publican, how he found favour with GOD, when the proud, self-conceited Pharisee, who, puffed up with his own righteousness, was rejected. And if you will go to JESUS, as the poor Publican did, under a sense of your own unworthiness, you shall find favour as he did: there is virtue enough in the blood of JESUS, to pardon greater sinners than he has yet pardoned. Then be not discouraged, but come unto JESUS, and you will find him ready to help in all thy distresses, to lead thee into all truth, to bring thee from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto GOD.
Do not let the devil deceive you, by telling you, that then all your delights and pleasures will be over: No; this is so far from depriving you of all pleasure, that it is an inlet unto unspeakable delights, peculiar to all who are truly regenerated. The new birth is the very beginning of a life of peace and comfort; and the greatest pleasantness is to be found in the ways of holiness.
_Solomon_, who had experience of all other pleasures, yet saith of the ways of godliness, “That all her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of peace.” Then sure you will not let the devil deceive you; it is all he wants, it is that he aims at, to make religion appear to be melancholy, miserable, and enthusiastic: but let him say what he will, give not ear to him, regard him not, for he always was and will be a liar.
What words, what entreaties shall I use, to make you come unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST? The little love I have experienced since I have been brought from sin to GOD, is so great, that I would not be in a natural state for ten thousand worlds; and what I have felt is but little to what I hope to feel; but that little love which I have experienced, is a sufficient buoy against all the storms and tempests of this boisterous world: and let men and devils do their worst, I rejoice in the LORD JESUS, yea, and I will rejoice.
And O if you repent and come to JESUS, I would rejoice on your accounts too; and we should rejoice together to all eternity, when once passed on the other side of the grave. O come to JESUS. The arms of JESUS CHRIST will embrace you; he will wash away all your sins in his blood, and will love you freely.
Come, I beseech you to come unto JESUS CHRIST. O that my words would pierce to the very soul! O that JESUS CHRIST was formed in you! O that you would turn to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, that he might have mercy upon you!
I would speak till midnight, yea, I would speak till I could speak no more, so it might be a means to bring you to JESUS: let the LORD JESUS but enter your souls, and you shall find peace which the world can neither give nor take away. There is mercy for the greatest sinner amongst you; go unto the LORD as sinners, helpless and undone without it, and then you shall find comfort in your souls, and be admitted at last amongst those who sing praises unto the LORD to all eternity.