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Persecuted, but not forsaken. 2 Cor. 4:9.
MATTHEUS BERNAERTS, CALLED MATTHEUS VAN LINCKEN, ADRIAEN ROGIERS, MAERTEN VAN DER STRATEN, AND DINGENTGEN OF HONSCHOTEN, A. D, 1572.
In the year 1572, the 4th of December, there were burned at Ghent in Flanders, in the Friday Market, for the testimony of Jesus, with balls in their mouths, a godfearing, pious brother, named Mattheus Bernaerts, called Mattheus van Lincken, born at Meenen in Flanders, forty years old, in his time a minister of the church of God, in the word of the holy Gospel, and also in the deaconship, to provide for poor needy members of Christ in temporal necessities; and a young maiden, named Dingentgen of Honschoten. These two, together with Maerten van der Straten, born at Kortrijck in Flanders, and Adriaen Rogiers, born at Bommel in Guelderland (who are separately mentioned in this book), four in all, were together burned in the same fire, with balls in their mouths, for the true, indubitable truth, and testified to and confirmed the true faith with their death and blood in great constancy. They thus fought a good fight against the princes and rulers of darkness, the devil and his adherents, finished their course, kept the faith, and are expecting now to receive, through grace, the crown of eternal glory from the hand of the Lord.
A TESTAMENT WRITTEN BY MATTHEUS BERNAERTS, CALLED VAN LINCKEN, IMPRISONED IN GHENT, TO HIS CHILDREN, JANNEKEN, JOOSKEN AND MIJNTKEN.
_The salutation._
God the heavenly Father, Creator of heaven and earth, and the waters, and all that therein is; who dwells in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see (1 Tim. 6:16); the same eternal, only, almighty God, grant you, my dear children, through Christ Jesus his only Son, and the power of the Holy Ghost, till your full age, grace and mercy, wisdom and understanding, that your senses may become exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb. 5:14), so that you may from your youth, through the fear of God, learn to shun sin, and to avoid all evil and wickedness, and thus grow up in the knowledge of God that you may inherit salvation and eternal glory, so that I may find you in life eternal. This I, Mattheus Bernaerts, your father, wish you, my dear children, Janneken, Joosken, and Mijntken, from the depth of my heart, that this may be done. Amen.
I, Mattheus Bernaerts, or Mattheus van Lincken, your father, am now, for the word of God, confined in prison at Ghent. Hence, my dear children, my first wish is, that, when you are come to years of understanding, you diligently inquire why it came that your father had to suffer; and search also ardently in the holy Scriptures, and you will by the grace of God readily perceive that it is not for any evil doing or heresy that I have to suffer, as I and my fellow-brethren that have obtained like faith with me, have been accused by the false prophets; but we are reproached, because we firmly hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe, 1 Tim. 4:10. In the living God, I say, who so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16. We confess that the same only Son of the Father has existed from everlasting to everlasting. For he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, by whom all things were created, and by whom we also have reconciliation, even the forgiveness of sins. Revelation 1:8,17; Col. 1:16,14. For when we were yet ungodly, Christ died for us, and we were reconciled by the death of the Son of God when we were yet enemies through the knowledge of evil works, and now are we reconciled by the body of his flesh through death, for the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all our sins. Romans 5:8; 1 John 1:7. He is also the innocent, spotless Lamb, that took Adam’s sin upon himself, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, and who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 Cor. 1:30.