"Repent," says he, "and be baptized every one of you." I shut out not even 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 general with his blood, so they had their various and particular acts of villainy 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.
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 hung bleeding on the tree. Is there room for me?
Peter: For every one of you.
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 wickednessses, 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 hopes 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!
--John Bunyan, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved (Puritan Paperbacks)
