I trust the Lord will let his merciful eyes rest upon you and upon all sorrowing and afflicted hearts, to comfort them by the Spirit by which he himself was comforted in his sufferings.
I am much troubled and afflicted in my heart, when I think of you, and of my four poor little lambs, whom I must all leave.
I pray you, Tanneken, remember them in your heart as long as you live.
Do not forget my request of you, namely, that you walk in the law of your Lord all the days of your life, and that you be to my and your children, whom the Lord has given us during the time of our wedlock, a pattern in all humility and obedience, in instruction in righteousness; and take for remembrance the Maccabean mother, how she strengthened her children, that they should not forsake the law of God.
I commend them to you, my dearest wife, and to the Lord. He will help you; his hand is not shortened, that he cannot help us. For better is one child that fears God, than a thousand ungodly children; yea, it were better to die childless, than to leave ungodly children behind. I pray you, exercise good care over them: I commit them to you, and to the Lord, for I am taken from you and them, which greatly troubles me according to the flesh; but I remember that it is written: Whosoever forsaketh not everything, father, mother, sister, brother, wife, children, property, lands, yea, also his own life, the same is not worthy of me; in short, whosoever loveth aught more than me, is not worthy of me. I do not know what the Lord has seen in me, when I consider that I am so miserable and unworthy to suffer for his name. I can praise and thank the Lord for the great benefits which he has shown me in my bonds. Well do I now find, that the Lord has helped us unworthy ones, especially me.
According to the Spirit, my heart rejoices in the hope of future glory. I hope that I shall soon put off this mortal garment, and put on the immortal; may the Lord direct our hearts thereto, for we need help from the Lord of hosts, in our tribulation. See, my dear and much beloved wife and sister in the Lord, take this, with your little children, as a testament and as a remembrance from him who has lived with you in the bonds of wedlock for about five years. We must now part, because of the covenant which we made with God, never to depart therefrom; hence I must now depart from the marriage covenant, for the sake of the covenant which we made with God; I now go (though unworthily,) the way which the prophets, Christ, and his apostles went, through much tribulation and pain, with many tears, and must drink the cup of bitterness which they all drank. Though the Lord himself said: “Holy Father, if it be possible that this cup pass from me, let it be done; but if not, Holy Father, thy will be done;” yet he was given us for an example, that we should follow his footsteps in obedience; for Christ entered into his glory through much suffering, thereby leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
Therefore, my beloved in the Lord, comfort yourself with his word, and remember that John writes, that the Lord said to his disciples and to his friends: In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, your tribulation shall be turned into joy. Hence, dear Tanneken, rejoice in the hope of future happiness, be patient in tribulation, continue instant in prayer, that the Lord would comfort you and not suffer you to fall into temptation, but with it also make a way of escape. Commend your matters to the Lord; I hope and trust in God that, if you continue in his laws, and constantly keep the Lord before your eyes, he will raise up some one who will help, comfort and assist you. Never separate from the godfearing. How pleasant it is to be among the Lord’s people! I say with Moses: I would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy temporal pleasure.