The Jerusalem Sinner Saved; or Good News for the Vilest of Men by John Bunyan 1689

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.
And what if thou waitest upon God all thy days? Is it below thee? And
what if God will cross his book, and blot out the hand-writing that is
against thee, and not let thee know it as yet? Is it fit to say unto God,
Thou art hard-hearted? Despair not; thou hast no ground to despair, so
long as thou livest in this world. It is a sin to begin to despair before one
sets his foot over the threshold of hell-gates. For them that are there,
let them despair and spare not; but as for thee, thou hast no ground to
do it. What! despair of bread in a land that is full of corn! despair of
mercy when our God is full of mercy! despair of mercy, when God goes
about by his ministers, beseeching of sinners to be reconciled unto
him! 2 Cor. v. 18–20.
Thou scrupulous fool, where canst thou find that God was ever false to
his promise, or that he ever deceived the soul that ventured itself upon
him? He often calls upon sinners to trust him, though they walk in
darkness, and have no light; Isa. 1. 10.
They have his promise and oath for their salvation, that flee for refuge
to the hope set before them; Heb. vi. 17, 18.
Despair! when we have a God of mercy, and a redeeming Christ alive!
For shame, forbear: let them despair that dwell where there is no God,
and that are confined to those chambers of death which can be reached
by no redemption.
A living man despair when he is chid for murmuring and complaining!
Lam. iii. 39. Oh! so long as we are where promises swarm, where mercy
is proclaimed, where grace reigns, and where Jerusalem sinners are
privileged with the first offer of mercy, it is a base thing to despair.
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