O Most Sweet and Comfortable Sentence to My Soul

It's always fascinating to me to learn about the effects of God's Word on the souls of saints from the past (especially if it's a passage or verse I am studying). This past Sunday, I preached from 1 Timothy 1:15, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." During my study and preparation, I learned that this verse had a profound effect upon Thomas Bilney, one of the central figures in the famous White Horse Inn meetings and one of the early martyrs of the English Reformation (some even go so far as to suggest that Bilney's conversion was the beginning of the Reformation in England). Here is how Bilney describes the effect of this verse of Scripture upon his soul:

I chanced upon this sentence of St. Paul (O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul!) in 1 Timothy 1. "It is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be embraced, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the chief and principal." This one sentence, through God's instruction and inward working...did so exhilarate my heart, being before wounded with the guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that even immediately I seemed unto myself inwardly to feel a marvelous comfort and quietness, insomuch that "my bruised bones leaped for joy" (Psalm 51). After this, the Scripture began to be more pleasant unto me than the honey or the honeycomb....

Bilney was eventually arrested, tried, and burned at the stake for believing in this gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But his preaching of this gospel helped bring the Reformation to the English-speaking world.