Thus we must also rapidly bring our days of sorrow to an end; for we are sometimes as one that is in the throes of travail, and there are so many grievous woes come upon us, that we would almost seem to perish. Is. 26:17. Hence pray the Lord for us poor, weak prisoners; we do the same also for you and all the godfearing. Herewith I will commend you to the crucified Christ Jesus, and to the word of his grace, bidding herewith adieu to my dear brethren and sisters. Greet in my name, with the peace of the Lord, all my acquaintances, and also those not known by sight, but known before the Lord; and always remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them. And always persevere steadfastly, so that we may find one another under the altar. Amen.
ANOTHER LETTER OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN TO HIS DEAR WIFE, AND, GENERALLY, TO ALL BRETHREN AND SISTERS IN THE LORD; IN WHICH AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF SEVERAL DISPUTATIONS HELD WITH THE BISHOP’S COMMISSARY CONCERNING THE FAITH.
Grace, joy and peace from God the heavenly Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath shined in our hearts, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; together with the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from both the Father and the Son, to comfort all them that are in tribulation and sorrow. To him be praise, honor, glory, dominion, power, and majesty, forever and ever. Amen.
This I wish you as a friendly greeting, my dear and beloved wife and sister in the Lord, together with all fellow believers of our most holy faith; informing you, that our mind is still fixed, to adhere to the eternal truth, and to the faith once delivered to the saints, trusting thereby to obtain eternal life, not through our own merits, but through pure grace, and also because of the hope, that Christ with his faithful mouth says: Whosoever loseth his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall find it hereafter in life eternal. Matt. 10:39; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.
O my dear brethren and sisters, let every one follow the advice of Christ, and search the Holy Scriptures; for they are they which testify of him. John 5:39. And Paul says: Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. Rom. 15:4. And let us not fear men, which must perish like grass; but let us fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power also to cast soul and body into hell; fear him. Is. 51:12; Luke 12:5. For heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall abide forever. Matt. 5:18.
Know further, that on the 17th of August we were both called down to speak with the bishop’s commissary; and having come down we courteously greeted him, and bade him good evening. He did likewise, asking: “Joos, to what conclusion have you come?” I replied: “I pray the Lord night and day for my greatest salvation, and the more I pray, the greater my assurance becomes that I have the truth.” He said, that it was true I was seeking my salvation, but ignorantly, like the Jews, who wanted to be justified through the law. And, with folded hands, he made a long speech and highly extolled and thanked the name of God, and of Jesus Christ, that he had done all things so well, and had given the holy church so many good ordinances, and promised to abide with it even unto the end of the world. Then Lauwerens asked, where his church suffered persecution. He answered: “That was seen three years ago, when some of our people were killed by the Protestants.” I said: “My lord, if the authorities did not protect your church with the sword, it would soon come to nought, for it has no strength.” He said, that it was of God, and had continued from the time of the apostles to Timothy and Titus, and thence to all the holy teachers even to the present day. I asked, whether the apostles had so observed or instituted them [the ordinances] as they were now used by them. “Yes,” said he, “as regards the faith.” I said, that they were far from the right way; for I had previously shown him, that their ordinances were but commandments of men; and Christ says: “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. [Let them alone:] they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matt. 15:13,14. I showed him, that Israel was forbidden to follow their own opinions, but were to observe only what the Lord had commanded; and I told him how severely Saul was punished by the Lord, because he, following his own mind, had spared the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the oxen and sheep. He answered, that Saul did this contrary to the command of the Lord, but they did not; for it was all instituted on account of certain causes that had arisen in the church: even as in the time of the apostles; when there were some that contended, a council was held. Also, that Paul commanded Titus, to set in order the things which he had left uncompleted (Tit. 1:5); and other words. Thereupon I told him of the pious king Josiah: that he did not regard the ancient customs and ceremonies of his forefathers, but that he destroyed all that had been instituted contrary to the law, and commanded the law to be observed aright. 2 Kings 23. To this he had but little to say. I also asked him, saying: “My lord, I am much surprised, that you do not banish us, as they do in Germany the Eastern country,[320] and England.” He said: “Whither would you go? for whithersoever you go there you corrupt and seduce the people.” I told him, that faith was the gift of God, and also, that not all men had it. Eph. 2:8. He said: “You did have the faith, but now you have adopted another”; and he added a simile: that we were like soldiers that had run away from their lord without a passport, who were nowhere free. I asked him, whether infant baptism was a taking in into his church. He said: “Yes.” I asked again, why they did not go to Turkey to take in children. He answered: “Nay; this does not belong to them, for they are a rejected people.” I further asked him, by what scriptures they might put us to death; which he assayed to show with the law; but I said, that we were under the law of grace, namely, under the Gospel; and Christ says of the tares, that they should be suffered to grow up with the wheat until the harvest. Matt. 13:30. “He said we have other scriptures, that the magistracy has not received the sword in vain” (Rom. 13:4). I showed him, that the sword was given to the magistracy for the punishment of the evil, and the protection of the good; moreover [I said] I have not been disobedient to the magistracy, but have obeyed it in all according to the power which it has received from God. And when I had asked him, whether he had no other scriptures, he said; “Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira.” I said: “With what, and why?” He replied: “Because they lied.” “That is true,” I said; “for they lied to the Holy Ghost, and had kept back and said nothing about part of the price of the land which they had sold.” He said: “Nevertheless, he slew them with the sword of his mouth.” And though I told him it was done for evil doing, and without the sword, it was of no avail, he would therewith prove his point that we might be put to death, and also added the words of Paul: “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” Gal. 5:12. I replied, that Paul did not mean such cutting off as they were now doing. He said: “Paul then did not yet have the magistracy on his side.”