john arndt,
General Superintendent in the Principality of Lüneburg.
Chapter I.
Jesus Christ, The Son Of God, Is Given To Us By Our Heavenly Father As Our Help Against The Damnable And Deadly Poison Of Original Sin, And The Pernicious Fruits Thereof, As Well As A Protector Against All The Calamities And Evils Both Of The Body And The Soul.
With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.—Isa. 12:3.
As our distemper is exceedingly great, mortal, damnable, and out of the power of any creature to remove; therefore it is needful that we should have a remedy proportioned to the disease; a high, a divine, an everlasting, remedy and help, entirely derived from the pure mercy of God. As our original disease was caused by the wrath, hatred, and envy of the devil (Gen. 3:1): so God, in tender compassion, was moved to heal the mortal wound of our sin by his infinite mercy. And as Satan had used his utmost endeavors and subtlety, in order to infect, slay, and condemn us, God was pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to give us his beloved Son, in order to restore us to that life, happiness, and salvation which we had lost. Hence he has made the precious blood of Christ to be the grand restorative of our nature, and the cleanser from all the contagion of sin. He hath given us his quickening flesh, to be our bread of life; his holy wounds, as a sovereign balsam to heal our wounded condition; and his precious death, to be an abolition of our death, both temporal and eternal. 1 John 1:7; Acts 20:28; John 6:32, etc.; Isa. 53:5; 25:8.
2. But so disabled, so weak, and undone, is fallen man, that he cannot so much as apply this precious medicine even when it is freely offered: so little health, so much weakness is there in him. Nay, we even, by nature, strive against our cure, and reject the remedy which should help us.—Wherefore, O Lord, unless thou shouldst draw me after thee (Cant. 1:4), and, as a faithful physician, administer to me what thou hast ordered, the best prescriptions will avail me nothing. Take me, therefore, entirely into thine own hands, and trust me not to myself. If I be left to myself, the eternal ruin of my soul will be my lot. Therefore “turn thou me, and I shall be turned: heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; for thou art my praise.” Jer. 31:18; 17:14. As long as thou keepest back thy mercy, and hidest thy face from my sorrow, I shall remain in a diseased condition. Ps. 30:3. Whilst thou forbearest to quicken me, I am tied down by the chains of death. Therefore I cry with David, “I am poor and needy; make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help, and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.” Ps. 70:5.
3. O blessed Lord! shall not thy mercy be strong enough to raise a [pg 160] sick soul from her languishing illness? a soul that is not able to raise herself? Wilt thou not condescend to come to me, since it is not possible that I should come to thee? Didst thou not love me, even before I had so much as a thought of loving thee again? Thy mercy is so prevailing and so strong, that it has even overcome thyself. Was it not mercy that nailed thee to the cross, and gave thee up to death? What is so strong as to encounter and conquer thee, if it be not the strength of thy own mercy? What has might sufficient to apprehend thee, and to bind and conduct thee to death, but thy love only, wherewith thou hast loved and quickened us, when we were dead in trespasses and sins? Eph. 2:1. For thou wouldst thyself undergo the pangs of death, rather than suffer us to be forever bound over to death and eternal damnation!