The Pearl of Christian Comfort

The Pearl of Christian Comfort was written in the sixteenth century by a Dutch reformed pastor named Petrus Dathenus. The book consists of a series of letters written between himself and an aristocratic lady who was afraid for her soul.

This is a short, sweet, masterful presentation of Law and Gospel. The book itself only costs 9.50 from Amazon.com, and I highly recommend it. Dathenus rightly places the law in it's accusitory position and shows us how our sin is so great that we have no hope of ever living up to that standard and allows us along with the woman to whom he is writing to look to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He shows how the Law is fulfilled In Jesus Christ to it's fullest.

What's particularly nice is how he responds to at first to a question concerning the famous passage from Deuteronomy, "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." When she states that she knows she hasn't kept the law and questions why God would require us to do something we cannot do perfectly, his startling answer is, "it's because you do not rightly know Jesus Christ".

An amazing read for anyone trying to understand Law and Gospel as a distinction, especially how it pertains to the reformation.