But, I say, why so unconcerned? Hast no soul? or dost think thou mayst lose thy soul, and save thyself? Is it not pity, had it otherwise been the will of God, that ever thou wast made a man, for that thou settest so little by thy soul?
Sinner, take the invitation; thou art called upon to come to Christ: nor art thou called upon but by order from the Son of God though thou shouldst happen to come of the biggest sinners; for he has bid us offer mercy, as to all the world in general, so, in the first place, to the sinners of Jerusalem, or to the biggest sinners.
_Fifthly_, Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered in thee first place, to the biggest sinners? then this shews how unreasonable a thing it is for men to despair of mercy: for those that presume, I shall say something to them afterward.
I now speak to them that despair.
There are four sorts of despair. There is the despair of devils; there is the despair of souls in hell; there is the despair that is grounded upon men’s deficiency; and there is the despair that they are perplexed with that are willing to be saved, but are too strongly borne down with the burthen of their sins.
The despair of devils, the damned’s despair, and that despair that a man has of attaining of life because of his own deficiency, are all unreasonable. Why should not devils and damned souls despair? yea, why should not man despair of getting to heaven by his own abilities? I therefore am concerned only with the fourth sort of despair, to wit, with the despair of those that would be saved, but are too strongly borne down with the burden of their sins.
I say, therefore, to thee that art thus, And why despair? Thy despair, if it were reasonable, should flow from thee, because found in the land that is beyond the grave, or because thou certainly knowest that Christ will not, or cannot save thee.
But for the first, thou art yet in the land of the living; and for the second, thou hast ground to believe the quite contrary; Christ is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him; and if he were not willing, he would not have commanded that mercy, in the first place, should be offered to the biggest sinners. Besides, he hath said, “And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely;” that is, with all my heart. What ground now is here for despair? If thou sayst, The number and burden of my sins; I answer, Nay; that is rather a ground for faith: because such an one, above all others, is invited by Christ to come unto him, yea, promised rest and forgiveness if they come; Matt. xi. 28. What ground then to despair? Verily none at all. Thy despair then is a thing unreasonable and without footing in the word.
But I have no experience of God’s love; God hath given me no comfort, or ground of hope, though I have waited upon him for it many a day.
Thou hast experience of God’s love, for that he has opened thine eyes to see thy sins: and for that he has given thee desires to be saved by Jesus Christ. For by thy sense of sin thou art made to see thy poverty of spirit, and that has laid thee under a sure ground to hope that heaven shall be thine hereafter.
Also thy desires to be saved by Christ, has put thee under another promise, so there is two to hold thee up in them, though thy present burden be never so heavy, Matt. v. 3, 6. As for what thou sayst, as to God’s silence to thee, perhaps he has spoken to thee once or twice already, but thou hast not perceived it; Job xxxiii. 14, 15.
However, thou hast Christ crucified, set forth before thine eyes in the Bible, and an invitation to come unto him, though thou be a Jerusalem sinner, though thou be the biggest sinner; and so no ground to despair. What, if God will be silent to thee, is that ground of despair? Not at all, so long as there is a promise in the Bible that God will in no wise cast away the coming sinner, and so long as he invites the Jerusalem sinner to come unto him John vi. 37.
Build not therefore despair upon these things; they are no sufficient foundations for it, such plenty of promises being in the Bible, and such a discovery of his mercy to great sinners of old; especially since we have withal a clause in the commission given to ministers to preach, that they should begin with the Jerusalem sinners in their offering of mercy to the world.
Besides, God says, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; but perhaps it may be long first. “I waited long,” saith David, “and did seek the Lord;” and at length his cry was heard: wherefore he bids his soul wait on God, and says, For it is good so to do before thy saints; Psalm xl. 1; lxii. 5; lii. 9.