Ernest Scott - "Laperouse"

Oliver Optic - "Haste and Waste"

Jules Claretie - "Prince Zilah, v3"

Charles de Bernard - "Gerfaut, v3"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1

J >> John Bunyan >> The Works of John Bunyan Volume 1




But we will return to the first sermon that was preached to these
Jerusalem sinners, by which will be manifest more than great grace,
if it be duly considered. For after that Peter, and the rest of
the apostles, had, in their exhortation, persuaded these wretches
to believe that they had killed the Prince of life; and after they
had duly fallen under the guilt of their murder, saying, 'Men and
brethren, what shall we do?' he replies, by an universal tender to
them all in general, considering them as Christ's killers, that if
they were sorry for what they had done, and would be baptized for
the remission of their sins in his name, they should receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:37,38).

This he said to them all, though he knew that they were such
sinners. Yea, he said it without the least stick or stop, or pause
of spirit, as to whether he had best to say so or no. Nay, so far
off was Peter from making an objection against one of them, that,
by a particular clause in his exhortation, he endeavours, that not
one of them may escape the salvation offered. 'Repent,' saith he,
'and be baptized every one of you.' I shut out never an one of you;
for I am commanded by my Lord to deal with you, as it were, one by
one, by the word of his salvation. But why speaks he so particularly?
Oh! there were reasons for it. The people with whom the apostles
were now to deal, as they were murderers of our Lord, and to be
charged in the general with his blood, so they had their various
and particular acts of villany in the guilt thereof, now lying
upon their consciences. And the guilt of these, their various and
particular acts of wickedness, could not, perhaps, be reached to a
removal thereof but by this particular application. Repent, every
one of you; be baptized, every one of you, in his name, for the
remission of sins, and you shall, every one of you, receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost.

Objector. 'But I was one of them that plotted to take away his
life. May I be saved by him?'

Peter. Every one of you.

Objector. 'But I was one of them that bare false witness against
him. Is there grace for me?'

Peter. For every one of you.

Objector. 'But I was one of them that cried out, Crucify him,
crucify him; and desired that Barabbas, the murderer, might live,
rather than him. What will become of me, think you?'

Peter. I am to preach repentance and remission of sins to every
one of you, says Peter.

Objector. 'But I was one of them that did spit in his face when he
stood before his accusers. I also was one that mocked him, when in
anguish he hanged bleeding on the tree. Is there room for me?'

Peter. For every one of you, says Peter.

Objector. 'But I was one of them that, in his extremity, said, Give
him gall and vinegar to drink. Why may not I expect the same when
anguish and guilt is upon me?'

Peter. Repent of these your wickednesses, and here is remission of
sins for every one of you.

Objector. 'But I railed on him, I reviled him, I hated him, I
rejoiced to see him mocked at by others. Can there be hope for me?'

Peter. There is, for every one of you. 'Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.' Oh! what
a blessed 'Every one of you,' is here! How willing was Peter, and
the Lord Jesus, by his ministry, to catch these murderers with the
word of the gospel, that they might be made monuments of the grace
of God! How unwilling, I say, was he, that any of these should
escape the hand of mercy! Yea, what an amazing wonder is it to
think, that above all the world, and above everybody in it, these
should have the first offer of mercy! 'Beginning at Jerusalem.'

But was there not something of moment in this clause of the commission?
Did not Peter, think you, see a great deal in it, that he should
thus begin with these men, and thus offer, so particularly, this
grace to each particular man of them?

But, as I told you, this is not all; these Jerusalem sinners must
have this offer again and again; every one of them must be offered
it over and over. Christ would not take their first rejection for
a denial, nor their second repulse for a denial; but he will have
grace offered once, and twice, and thrice, to these Jerusalem
sinners. Is not this amazing grace? Christ will not be put off.
These are the sinners that are sinners indeed. They are sinners of
the biggest sort; consequently, such as Christ can, if they convert
and be saved, best serve his ends and designs upon. Of which more
anon.

But what a pitch of grace is this! Christ is minded to amaze the
world, and to show that he acteth not like the children of men. This
is that which he said of old, 'I will not execute the fierceness
of my wrath, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God
and not man' (Hosea 11:9).5 This is not the manner of men; men are
shorter winded; men are soon moved to take vengeance, and to right
themselves in a way of wrath and indignation. But God is full of
grace, full of patience, ready to forgive, and one that delights
in mercy. All this is seen in our text. The biggest sinners must
first be offered mercy; they must, I say, have the cream of the
gospel offered unto them.

But we will a little proceed. In the third chapter we find, that
they who escaped converting by the first sermon, are called upon
again to accept of grace and forgiveness, for their murder committed
upon the Son of God. You have killed, yea, 'ye denied the Holy One
and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and
killed the Prince of life.' Mark, he falls again upon the very men
that actually were, as you have it in the chapters following, his
very betrayers and murderers (Acts 3:14,15), as being loath that
they should escape the mercy of forgiveness: and exhorts them again
to repent, that their sins might 'be blotted out'(verse 19,20).

Again, in the fourth chapter, he charges them afresh with this
murder (verse 10), but withal tells them salvation is in no other.
Then, like a heavenly decoy, he puts himself also among them, to
draw them the better under the net of the gospel; saying, 'There
is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved' (verse 12).

In the fifth chapter, you find them railing at him, because he
continued preaching among them salvation in the name of Jesus. But
he tells them, that that very Jesus whom they had slain and hanged
on a tree, him God had raised up, and exalted 'to be a Prince and
a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins'
(verse 29-31). Still insinuating, that though they had killed him,
and to this day rejected him, yet his business was to bestow upon
them repentance and forgiveness of sins.

'Tis true, after they began to kill again, and when nothing
but killing would serve their turn, then they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Yet even some of them
so hankered after the conversion of the Jews, that they preached
the gospel only to them. Also the apostles still made their abode
at Jerusalem, in hopes that they might let down their net for
another draught of these Jerusalem sinners. Neither did Paul and
Barnabas, who were the ministers of God to the Gentiles, but offer
the gospel, in the first place, to those of them that, for their
wickedness, were scattered, like vagabonds, among the nations; yea,
and when they rendered rebellion and blasphemy for their service
and love, they replied it was necessary that the word of God should
first have been spoken to them (Acts 1:8; 13:46,47).

Nor was this their preaching unsuccessful among these people: but
the Lord Jesus so wrought with the word thus spoken, that thousands
of them came flocking to him for mercy. Three thousand of them
closed with him at the first; and, afterwards, two thousand more;
for now they were in number about five thousand; whereas, before
sermons were preached to these murderers, the number of the disciples
was not above 'a hundred and twenty' (Acts 1:15; 2:41; 4:4).

Also among these people that thus flocked to him for mercy, there
was a 'great company of the priests' (Acts 6:7). Now, the priests
were they that were the greatest of these biggest sinners; they
were the ringleaders, they were the inventors and ringleaders in the
mischief. It was they that set the people against the Lord Jesus,
and that were the cause why the uproar increased, until Pilate had
given sentence upon him. 'The chief priests and elders,' says the
text, 'persuaded (the people) the multitude, that they should ask
Barabbas, and destroy Jesus' (Matt 27:20). And yet, behold the
priests, yea, a great company of the priests, became obedient to
the faith.6

Oh, the greatness of the grace of Christ, that he should be thus in
love with the souls of Jerusalem sinners! that he should be thus
delighted with the salvation of the Jerusalem sinners! that he
should not only will that his gospel should be offered them, but
that it should be offered unto them first, and before other sinners
were admitted to a hearing of it. 'Begin at Jerusalem.'

Was this doctrine well believed, where would there be a place for
a doubt, or a fear of the damnation of the soul, if the sinner be
penitent, how bad a life soever he has lived, how many soever in
number are his sins? But this grace is hid from the eyes of men;
the devil hides it from them; for he knows it is alluring, he knows
it has an attracting virtue in it; for this is it that, above all
arguments, can draw the soul to God. I cannot help it, but must let
drop another word. The first church, the Jerusalem church, from
whence the gospel was to be sent into all the world, was a church
made up of Jerusalem sinners. These great sinners were here the
most shining monuments of the exceeding grace of God.

Thus, you see, I have proved the doctrine; and that not only by
showing you that this was the practice of the Lord Jesus Christ
in his lifetime, but his last will when he went up to God; saying,
Begin to preach at Jerusalem. Yea, it is yet further manifested,
in that when his ministers first began to preach there, he joined
his power to the word, to the converting of thousands of his
betrayers and murderers, and also many of the ringleading priests,
to the faith.

I shall now proceed, and shall show you, FIRST, The reasons of the
point. SECOND, And then make some application of the whole.

[THE REASONS OF THE POINT.]

The observation, you know, is this: Jesus Christ would have mercy
offered, in the first place, to the biggest sinners, to the Jerusalem
sinners: 'Preach repentance, and remission of sins, in my name,
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.'

The reasons of the point are:--

First, Because the biggest sinners have most need thereof.

He that has most need, reason says, should be helped first. I
mean, when a helping hand is offered, and now it is; for the gospel
of the grace of God is sent to help the world (Act 16:9). But the
biggest sinner has most need. Therefore, in reason, when mercy
is sent down from heaven to men, the worst of men should have the
first offer of it. 'Begin at Jerusalem.' This is the reason which
the Lord Christ himself renders, why, in his lifetime, he left the
best, and turned him to the worst; why he sat so loose from the
righteous, and stuck so close to the wicked. 'The whole,' saith
he, 'have no need of the physician, but the sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance' (Mark 2:15-17).7

Above, you read that the scribes and Pharisees said to his disciples,
'How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?'
Alas! they did not know the reason; but the Lord renders them one,
and such an one as is both natural and cogent, saying, These have
need, most need. Their great necessity requires that I should be
most friendly, and show my grace first to them.

Not that the other were sinless, and so had no need of a Saviour;
but the publicans and their companions were the biggest sinners;
they were, as to view, worse than the scribes; and, therefore, in
reason, should be helped first, because they had most need of a
Saviour.

Men that are at the point to die, have more need of the physician
than they that are but now and then troubled with a heart-fainting
qualm. The publicans and sinners were, as it were, in the mouth
of death; death was swallowing of them down:8 and, therefore, the
Lord Jesus receives them first; offers them mercy first. 'The whole
have no need of the physician, but the sick. I came not to call
the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.' The sick, as I said,
is the biggest sinner, whether he sees his disease or not. He is
stained from head to foot, from heart to life and conversation.
This man, in every man's judgment, has the most need of mercy.
There is nothing attends him from bed to board, and from board to
bed again, but the visible characters, and obvious symptoms, of
eternal damnation. This, therefore, is the man that has need, most
need; and, therefore, in reason, should be helped in the first
place. Thus it was with the people concerned in the text; they were
the worst of sinners, Jerusalem sinners, sinners of the biggest
size; and, therefore, such as had the greatest need; wherefore they
must have mercy offered to them, before it be offered to anywhere
else in the world. 'Begin at Jerusalem,' offer mercy first to a
Jerusalem sinner. This man has most need, he is furthest from God,
nearest to hell, and so one that has most need. This man's sins
are in number the most, in cry the loudest, in weight the heaviest,
and, consequently, will sink him soonest; wherefore he has most
need of mercy. This man is shut up in Satan's hand, fastest bound
in the cords of his sins: one that justice is whetting his sword
to cut off; and, therefore, has most need, not only of mercy, but
that it should be extended to him in the first place.

But a little further to show you the true nature of this reason,
to wit, That Jesus Christ would have mercy offered, in the first
place, to the biggest sinners.

First, Mercy ariseth from the bowels and compassion, from pity, and
from a feeling of the condition of those in misery. 'In his love,
and in his pity, he redeemed them.' And again, 'The Lord is pitiful,
very pitiful, and of tender mercy' (Isa 63:9; James 5:11).

Now, where pity and compassion is, there is yearning of bowels;
and where there is that, there is a readiness to help. And, I say
again, the more deplorable and dreadful the condition is, the more
directly doth bowels and compassion turn themselves to such, and
offer help and deliverance. All this flows from our first scripture
proof, I came to call them that have need; to call them first,
while the rest look on and murmur.

'How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?' Ephraim was a revolter from
God, a man that had given himself up to devilism; a company of men,
the ten tribes that worshipped devils, while Judah kept with his
God. But 'how shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver
thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set
thee as Zeboim? [and yet thou art worse than they, nor has Samaria
committed half thy sins (Eze 16:46-51)] Mine heart is turned within
me, my repentings are kindled together' (Hosea 11:8).

But where do you find that ever the Lord did thus rowl9 in his
bowels for and after any self-righteous man? No, no; they are the
publicans and harlots, idolaters and Jerusalem sinners, for whom
his bowels thus yearn and tumble about within him: for, alas! poor
worms, they have most need of mercy.

Had not the good Samaritan more compassion for that man that fell
among thieves (though that fall was occasioned by his going from
the place where they worshipped God, to Jericho, the cursed city),
than we read he had for any other besides? His wine was for him,
his oil was for him, his beast for him; his penny, his care, and
his swaddling bands for him; for, alas! wretch, he had most need
(Luke 10:30-35).

Zaccheus the publican, the chief of the publicans, one that had
made himself the richer by wronging of others; the Lord at that
time singled him out from all the rest of his brother publicans, and
that in the face of many Pharisees, and proclaimed in the audience
of them all, that that day salvation was come to his house (Luke
19:1-8).

The woman, also, that had been bound down by Satan for eighteen
years together, his compassions putting him upon it, he loosed
her, though those that stood by snarled at him for so doing (Luke
13:11-13).

And why the woman of Sarepta, and why Naaman the Syrian, rather
than widows and lepers of Israel, but because their conditions were
more deplorable; for that they were most forlorn, and furthest from
help (Luke 4:25,27).

But I say, why all these, thus named? Why have we not a catalogue
of some holy men that were so in their own eyes, and in the judgment
of the world? Alas! if, at any time, any of them are mentioned,
how seemingly coldly doth the record of scripture present them to
us? Nicodemus, a night professor, and Simon the Pharisee, with his
fifty pence, and their great ignorance of the methods of grace, we
have now and then touched upon.

Mercy seems to be out of its proper channel when it deals
with self-righteous men; but then it runs with a full stream when
it extends itself to the biggest sinners. As God's mercy is not
regulated by man's goodness, nor obtained by man's worthiness, so
not much set out by saving of any such. But more of this anon.

And here let me ask my reader a question: Suppose that, as thou art
walking by some pond side, thou shouldst espy in it four or five
children, all in danger of drowning, and one in more danger than
all the rest; judge which has most need to be helped out first? I
know thou wilt say, he that is nearest drowning. Why, this is the
case; the bigger sinner, the nearer drowning; therefore, the bigger
sinner, the more need of mercy; yea, of help, by mercy, in the first
place. And to this our text agrees, when it saith, 'Beginning at
Jerusalem.' Let the Jerusalem sinner, says Christ, have the first
offer, the first invitation, the first tender of my grace and mercy;
for he is the biggest sinner, and so has most need thereof.

Second, Christ Jesus would have mercy offered, in the first place,
to the biggest sinners, because when they, any of them, receive
it, it redounds most to the fame of his name.

Christ Jesus, as you may perceive, has put himself under the term
of a physician, a doctor for curing of diseases; and you know that
applause and fame are things that physicians much desire. That
is it that helps them to patients; and that, also, that will help
their patients to commit themselves to their skill, for cure, with
the more confidence and repose of spirit. And the best way for a
doctor or physician to get himself a name, is, in the first place,
to take in hand, and cure, some such as all others have given up
for lost and dead. Physicians get neither name nor fame by pricking
of wheals,10 or picking out thistles, or by laying of plasters
to the scratch of a pin; every old woman can do this. But if they
would have a name and a fame, if they will have it quickly, they
must, as I said, do some great and desperate cures. Let them fetch
one to life that was dead; let them recover one to his wits that
was mad; let them make one that was born blind to see; or let them
give ripe wits to a fool: these are notable cures, and he that can
do thus, and if he doth thus first, he shall have the name and fame
he desires; he may lie a-bed till noon.

Why, Christ Jesus forgiveth sins for a name, and so begets for
himself a good report in the hearts of the children of men. And,
therefore, in reason he must be willing, as, also, he did command,
that his mercy should be offered first to the biggest sinners. I
will forgive their sins, iniquities, and transgressions, says he,
'And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour, before
all the nations of the earth' (Jer 33:8,9).

And hence it is, that, at his first appearing, he took upon him to
do such mighty works; he got a fame thereby, he got a name thereby
(Matt 4:23,24).

When Christ had cast the legion of devils out of the man of whom
you read (Mark 5), he bid him go home to his friends, and tell
it. 'Go home,' saith he, 'to thy friends, and tell them how great
things God hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee'
(Mark 5:19). Christ Jesus seeks a name, and desireth a fame in the
world; and, therefore, or the better to obtain that, he commands
that mercy should first be proffered to the biggest sinners;
because, by the saving of one of them, he makes all men marvel.
As it is said of the man last mentioned, whom Christ cured towards
the beginning of his ministry. 'And he departed,' says the text,
'and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him; and all men did marvel' (Mark 5:20).

When John told Christ, that they saw one casting out devils in
his name, and they forbade him, because he followed not with them,
what is the answer of Christ? 'Forbid him not; for there is no man
which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil
of me' (Mark 9:39). No; they will rather cause his praise to be
heard, and his name to be magnified, and so put glory on the head
of Christ.

But we will follow, a little, our metaphor. Christ, as I said, has
put himself under the term of a physician; consequently, he desireth
that his fame, as to the salvation of sinners, may spread abroad,
that the world may see what he can do. And to this end, has not
only commanded that the biggest sinners should have the first offer
of his mercy, but has, as physicians do,11 put out his bills, and
published his doings, that things may be read and talked of. Yea,
he has, moreover, in these, his blessed bills, the holy scriptures
I mean, inserted the very names of persons, the places of their
abode, and the great cures that, by the means of his salvation, he
has wrought upon them to this very end. Here is, Item, such an one,
by my grace and redeeming blood, was made a monument of everlasting
life; and such an one, by my perfect obedience, became an heir of
glory. And then he produceth their names. Item, I saved Lot from
the guilt and damnation that he had procured for himself by his
incest. Item, I saved David from the vengeance that belonged to
him for committing of adultery and murder. Here is, also, Solomon,
Manasseh, Peter, Magdalene, and many others, made mention of in this
book. Yea, here are their names, their sins, and their salvations
recorded together, that you may read and know what a Saviour he
is, and do him honour in the world. For why are these things thus
recorded, but to show to sinners what he can do, to the praise and
glory of his grace? And it is observable, as I said before, we
have but very little of the salvation of little sinners mentioned
in God's book, because that would not have answered the design, to
wit, to bring glory and fame to the name of the Son of God.

What should be the reason, think you, why Christ should so easily
take a denial of the great ones that were the grandeur of the world,
and struggle so hard for hedge-creepers12 and highwaymen, as that
parable seems to import he doth, but to show forth the riches of
the glory of his grace, to his praise? (Luke 14). This, I say, is
one reason, to be sure. They that had their grounds, their yoke of
oxen, and their marriage joys, were invited to come; but they made
the excuse, and that served the turn. But when he comes to deal with
the worst, he saith to his servants, Go ye out and bring them in
hither. 'Go out quickly-and bring in hither the poor, the maimed,
the halt, and the blind.' And they did so. And he said again, 'Go
out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that
my house may be filled' (Luke 14:18,19,23). These poor, lame,
maimed, blind, hedge-creepers, and highwaymen, must come in, must
be forced in. These, if saved, will make his merit shine.

When Christ was crucified, and hanged up between the earth and
heavens, there were two thieves crucified with him; and, behold,
he lays hold of one of them, and will have him away with him to
glory. Was not this a strange act, and a display of unthought-of
grace? Were there none but thieves there, or were the rest of that
company out of his reach? Could he not, think you, have stooped
from the cross to the ground, and have laid hold on some honester
man, if he would? Yes, doubtless. Oh! but then he would not have
displayed his grace, nor so have pursued his own designs, namely,
to get to himself a praise and a name; but now he has done it to
purpose. For who that shall read this story, but must confess, that
the Son of God is full of grace; for a proof of the riches thereof,
he left behind him, when, upon the cross, he took the thief away
with him to glory. Nor can this one act of his be buried; it will
be talked of, to the end of the world, to his praise. 'Men shall
speak of the might of thy terrible acts; and I will declare thy
greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great
goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness-They shall speak of
the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to
the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his
kingdom' (Psa 145:6-12).