Always associate with the saints of the Lord; for among the holy, one becomes holy, says the apostle. And remember the words of the Lord: He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and be clothed in white raiment, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.
O, dear Tanneken, it seems that there must be tears; for where no tears are, none can be wiped away. The Lord grant (as I trust in him that he will) that after this tribulation, which has come upon us for his name’s sake, and which is a sore affliction to my heart, we may rejoice together in the kingdom of God and of Christ. For, my dear and much beloved wife and sister in the Lord, whom I love from the bottom of my heart, together with my four little children, it is very hard for me when I think of your heavy burden, the spoiling of our property, and that the Lord has deprived you of the provider of your daily bread. I fain would, had it been the Lord’s pleasure, that he had spared us this affliction; however as it cannot be otherwise, we will commend our affliction to the Lord.
When I consider, Tanneken, our past time, I think that it is a fatherly chastisement, for he says: “Whom I love I chasten.” I well know that we have merited it at the hands of the Lord, since we ofttimes were disobedient in the sufferings sent us by him. When we (as is true enough) had little success, as the world counts success, we complained and murmured against God, because we had not more to live on, and many children were born to us; just as though God’s hand had been shortened, that he could not have fed us. And now that little vanishes away as a prey, and we must be satisfied; however, it is for the Lord’s sake; and for his sake I gladly suffer. The Lord gave it me, and for his sake I will also gladly resign it.
Hence, dear Tanneken, I have often before told you this. I do not write it to trouble you, but to indicate to you that God is chastening us; for he shows that he still loves us. Though the Lord chasten us, let us not cast his chastisement from us; for he that rejects chastisement and instruction will perish.
Therefore, my beloved, I earnestly pray the Lord for you, and for my four children whom God has given me--which you bore me, and brought forth in pain--that he would not forsake you, but comfort, strengthen and stablish you, and feed all my four little orphans, and their mother, both according to the soul and body. Always trust in the Lord; I trust he will not forsake you. Take counsel with the Lord, and with them that fear him; and take better heed to walk in the obedience of Christ. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart, that I have not improved my time better. And I ask you to excuse and forgive me in whatever I have grieved you; for I am heartily sorry for it; and wherein you may have grieved me, I forgive you all from the bottom of my heart. And I pray the Lord, that he would also forgive us the same, as I hope, and also trust in him, that he has done. I thank you for the good intercourse we had together during the time of our wedlock; and I thank also all the brethren and sisters in the Lord, for the intercourse I had with them in the faith, for their faces were always pleasing to me. The Lord grant us grace that hereafter we may all live together in joy with the Lord, and be crowned with the crown of salvation, with which all the saints of God will be adorned, and this out of pure grace. Amen.