nature, if you flee the corruptible lusts of this world, as you have
also done, and by renouncing the same, and accepting regeneration,
faith, and manifestation of obedience, which you proved by baptism,
in which you put on Christ, and thereby became a partaker of the
divine nature. And this was not done for works of righteousness which
you did, but according to his mercy he saved you, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Tit. 3:5. If you continue
herein unto the end, and are patient in whatever befalls you, you
shall inherit what is promised you. Praise God, and thank him for
all his glorious benefits which you have received; and bless God the
Father through Jesus Christ, though tribulation has now come upon you,
through my departure for the Lord’s sake; and know that according to
his abundant mercy he hath begotten you again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved for
you and all that are in the same faith, who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein you, my dear and beloved wife, greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold
temptations: for, know, my most beloved, we are tried in manifold ways,
in order that it may become manifest whether we truly love the Lord. 1
Pet. 1:3.
Hence be of good cheer, my most beloved, even though still much more
tribulation should come upon you; for know that we must through much
tribulation and suffering enter into the kingdom of God. And as also
Ecclesiasticus says, in the second chapter, first verse: “My son, if
thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation. Set thy
heart aright, and constantly endure, and make not haste in time of
trouble. Cleave unto him, and depart not away.... For gold is tried in
the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.”
But, my most beloved, even as James writes in his first chapter: “My
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,
knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let
patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing;” for when we are in tribulation, we need patience.
Hence I entreat you from the bottom of my heart, and from my inmost
soul, to be of good cheer, and with patience to let the trial of
your faith become manifest, as Peter says, that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love;
in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls. 1 Pet. 1:7–9. Then all suffering,
tribulation, reproach, persecution, sighing, weeping, and lamenting
will have an end. Rev. 21:4. Therefore be of good cheer, and consider
that the suffering which may happen to us here, will all pass away, and
all the glory and pleasure of this world must also perish and come to
naught; but look constantly to the future glorious promises that have
been made us, and which shall be fulfilled to us that believe, if we
remain steadfast, since he is faithful that promised, for the Lord is
not slack concerning his promise. Matt. 24:13; Heb. 10:23; 2 Peter 3:9.
But be of good cheer, and trust in him, for he will not forsake you;
and cast your care upon him, for he careth for you; for he that has
called and chosen you hereto is a God of all grace, as Paul says.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a [little] while, (mark, he
says: A little while) make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle
you in that which you have accepted, namely, the faith in him, and his
only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, unto whom be praise, honor
and glory, now and forever. Amen. 1 Pet. 5:10.
After all heartfelt and affectionate greetings to you, my dearest,
chosen and most beloved wife and dear sister in the Lord, I have
received your letter, in which you write me to write you a testament,
which I will not refuse to do, if the Lord gives me time; for if I
could help you with my blood, I would do it. But now I cannot help you,
save by writing, which I do to your comfort, out of true brotherly
love, and from the bottom of my heart, intending to finish this, by the
help and grace of the Lord, with the same mind with which I commenced
it. Know therefore, my dear wife and sister in the Lord, how that God
visited his people in former times, when they were in Egypt, in the
bondage of King Pharaoh, whom they had to serve for about five hundred
years. And when it was his will to deliver them, he raised up Moses for
their leader, through whom God delivered them out of Egypt’s bondage,
and led them through the Red Sea, in which he drowned and brought to
nought King Pharaoh and all his host--with which the latter pursued
them--thus delivering them out of his hands. Thus they came into the
wilderness, to go on to the land which was promised them; and the Lord
God, through Moses their Leader, gave them laws and customs after which
they were to walk. But they did not continue in his law; wherefore God
became angry, and sware in his wrath, that they should not enter into
his rest. Concerning whom did he swear, but concerning unbelievers?
And we see that they did not enter therein, and this because of their
unbelief. This having thus happened, the Lord spoke through the
prophet, and said: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers,
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no
more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sins no more.” Now in these last days he
has revealed this covenant, given through his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, who is the true Moses, who has taken us by the hand, and led us
out of Egypt, wherein we all sat and served the hellish King Pharaoh,
under whom we were captive by sin; from which bonds and slavery we are
redeemed through Christ, who through his death and the shedding of his
blood redeemed and reconciled us, and delivered us from the hellish
King Pharaoh, whom he destroyed and suffocated in his blood, thereby
fulfilling the Old Testament; for all had to be fulfilled that was
written in the law and in the prophets. Heb. 1:2; Matt. 5:17; Luke
24:44. Thus the fulfillment was accomplished, and the new testament
confirmed with his blood; which, as already stated, he had promised
through the prophets, and which is proclaimed to us through the Gospel,
and confirmed with signs and wonders by him and his holy apostles,
whom after his resurrection he sent out to preach to all nations,
that whosoever should believe and be baptized, should be saved, also
commanding them to teach them to observe all things whatsoever he had
commanded them. Heb. 2:4; Matt. 28:20.
And now, my most beloved, are we the people which God chose before the
foundation of the world, and made a better testament with us, than he
made with Israel, who daily had to offer up sacrifice for sins, by
which they could nevertheless not atone? Eph. 1:4; Heb. 7:22,27. For
burnt offerings and offering for sin he would not, neither did God have
pleasure therein, which were offered by the law; then said he (namely
Christ), Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the former,
that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And
every priest then stood daily ministering and offering oftentimes the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for
after that he had said before (as is written Jer. 31:31). This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin, as Paul
writes. Heb. 10:8–18.
Therefore, my dear and beloved wife, we have (verse 19) a free and
secure entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that
is to say, his flesh; and we have a high priest over the house of God,
which is the church, which he cleansed with his blood, that it might
be holy, without spot or wrinkle; of which you are a member, for it is
the body of Christ, and we the members of that same body, and Christ
the head and priest of the house of God, as stated. Eph. 5:26,27; 1:22.
Hence, my most beloved, adhere to it diligently, and let us always,
draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and let us wash our bodies
with pure water, that is, put off all uncleanness of the heart and the
flesh, and perfect all righteousness and holiness; and hold fast the
profession of your faith without wavering, for he is faithful that
promised; and always consider yourself--this I entreat you, my most
beloved--to provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews 10:22–24; 2
Cor. 7:1.
Since you are a child of the New Testament, I write you this for a
testament according to your request. Hence it is my request of you,
my dear lamb, despised of men, but chosen of God, and called to his
Testament, since he left us the Testament, that we should thereby
remember his death; namely the breaking of the bread, showing by it
that he was broken for us on the tree of the cross, and that we should
also remember thereby, that we are delivered through him from the
hand of our enemies. This he left us for an everlasting Testament, to
observe it, even as the children of Israel were commanded to eat the
passover, and to observe it yearly for a memorial of their having been
delivered from King Pharaoh; all of which was a figure and shadow,
of which we now have the true substance, in the true observance of
our redemption through the true passover Christ, and his communion,
in which you are certainly included, since it is but a short time
ago that we showed it among the others by the breaking of bread, and
drinking of wine, that you are a partaker of the New Testament, and of
all the glorious promises which are promised the children of the New
Testament. Hence it is my request that you will faithfully continue
therein unto the end, so that you may inherit all the promises, for he
that overcometh shall inherit all things; to him that overcometh will
I grant to sit with me in my throne; he that overcometh, the same shall
be clothed in white raiment; he that overcometh, him will I confess in
heaven before my Father, and will write his name in the book of life;
and other beautiful promises that, as you well know, are promised to
all that overcome. Revelation 21:7; 3:5,21.
Therefore, my most beloved, see that you remain faithful; for you are
still in the wilderness, where you must be proved yet, even as Israel
was proved in the wilderness forty years, that God might make manifest
thereby, what was in their hearts. Hence know that all perished who did
not remain steadfast, and that they could not inherit the promises, as
stated before. But now we have a better testament, which is for ever,
and not as Israel, a law written in tables of stone, but written in the
tables of our hearts. Heb. 8:6.
Hence, my most beloved, since we have a better testament, walk the
better in it, and continue steadfast in the faith, and let this be
manifested by the fruits of faith, and the law which is now written in
your heart, by the Spirit of God; let him be read from you, and this
by fulfilling the works of the Spirit, that you may thus be an epistle
of Christ, which may be read by all to whom you are manifest, as Paul
testifies of the Corinthians (2 Cor. 3:3), that they were the epistle
of Christ ministered by them, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables in
their hearts; for Christ also says (Matthew 5:16): “Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father”. For if we now have a new testament given by Christ, who is our
Leader and Lawgiver, we must keep his commandments, follow him (as I
wrote to you in the other two letters), and show forth his image, even
as the image of the Father was shown forth through him, as he said to
Philip: “Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the
works.” John 14:9,10.
Now, my most beloved, since through the grace of God you have heard
the Gospel, which has been preached in all the world (Rom. 8:18),
and believe in it, and have been obedient to it, and are yet, as I
trust through the grace of the Lord, and have put on Christ, let him
therefore be shown forth in you, even as the image of the Father is
shown forth in Christ, through words and miracles, as you have also
always shown him forth by a pure Christian conversation; and thus truly
follow Christ, since he is the true Moses, who went before us. Follow
him valiantly, no matter what you meet with in this wilderness, whether
it be tribulation or affliction, suffering or persecution; be of good
courage, Christ is gone before; follow him boldly, for the servant is
not better than his lord, nor the disciple above his master, nor the
wife above her husband, nor the maid above her mistress; but it is
enough for the disciple that he be as his master, the servant as his
lord, the wife as her husband, the maid as her mistress.
Therefore, dear sister in the Lord, be of good cheer, and consider the
long suffering and patience of Christ, and all the pious witnesses
who from the beginning until now have followed Christ. Jas. 5:10. He
did not leave them without comfort, nor does he leave us, who are
imprisoned here for the same testimony’s sake, without comfort, but
wonderfully comforts and strengthens us through the power of the Holy
Ghost, eternal praise to him for it.
Hence be of good courage, continue without ceasing in prayer and
supplication, and thus show that you are a child of the New Testament,
that the law of the Lord is written in your heart, and is thus read.
May the merciful Father strengthen you to this end, through his
Son, and the power of his Holy Spirit. Herewith (since my paper is
exhausted) I commend you, my dear wife, to the Lord, and to the word of
his grace.
Written in my bonds, on Monday, by me, Jelis Bernaerts, your dear
husband.
A LETTER WRITTEN BY JELIS BERNAERTS TO HIS WIFE.
Grace and peace from God the Father, which has come to us through Jesus
Christ his only begotten Son, our Lord. May he comfort you in all
your tribulation by the power of the Holy Spirit, which spirit is the
comforter of all the afflicted, and is sent us from the Father through
Jesus Christ his Son, as the teacher of all believers, and comforter
of all the afflicted, who are in godly sorrow, which sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation. 2 Cor. 7:10. This same only, undivided,
unchangeable, eternal almighty, strong God, expressed in three names,
namely, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in one Being, as is written. John
5:7. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one; may he be your Comforter
unto the end; this I pray from the bottom of my heart, through his dear
Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
After all heartfelt and affectionate greetings which I have written
you, my dearest and beloved wife, and sister in the Lord, whom I love
as my own soul, according to the spirit and the flesh, since you are
flesh of my flesh, and I with you, I cannot (perceiving your sorrow)
omit or neglect always to comfort you by my writing, as long as I
have time. And know, my most beloved, that my parting from you is
hard for me; but I console myself with the word of the Lord, who has
said that we must hate and forsake everything: father, mother, wife,
children; and that he who does not take up his cross daily, cannot be
his disciple. Luke 14:26; Matt. 16:24. And when I also consider that
the union of the flesh which we have formed together, cannot last
forever, and as the parting does thus take place according to the will
of the Lord, I renounce my own will herein, and submit myself to the
will of the Lord. Thus you also, my most beloved, I entreat you, give
yourself over to the Lord, for he is your life and your death, as we
read Rom. 14:8: Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether
we die, we die unto the Lord; for we are the Lord’s. And when I, my
dearest, contemplate the unity in which we still stand, namely, in the
spiritual body of Christ, since by one Spirit we are all baptized into
one body, then I rejoice that you also stand in communion with me, and
have become a partaker of the divine nature, yea, that we have become
branches on the vine, which is Christ, sheep of the true Shepherd,
children of the promise, born of the free woman, heirs of God’s
kingdom, with Christ in the kingdom of his Father, since we are born of
God through him, by the incorruptible seed, the word of truth, which
he is, since he is the Word of the Father, and the Word became flesh,
through which Word and Spirit we came into this communion, and became
flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, and are members of his body,
namely, of his church, of which he is the Head; and when I contemplate
that we both stand herein, I rejoice, as also you, my most beloved,
this I pray you; for this union shall endure forever, if we remain
faithful to him with whom we are united herein, and do not commit
adultery, and we shall enjoy hereafter all the glorious riches with
him in his Father’s kingdom. But know, my dear lamb, that Christ, when
he had forsaken the glory of his Father, and came upon earth, had to
take it again by much tribulation and suffering; and if he, who is the
Head, went thus before, we, the members, must follow; and as there is
but one way, and one door, the members must follow in and through the
same--the body cannot enter the house divided. Hence, my most beloved,
if we would be members with the Head, namely, enter with Christ into
his Father’s house, and enjoy the glorious riches, we must enter by the
same way, and accept all that may befall us; for if we would reign with
him, we must suffer with him.
If we are children, we are also heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. Rom. 8:17,18. And Christ says: “Verily, verily, I say
unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice;
and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come:
but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more
the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. John 16:20,21.
Thus, my most beloved, take these words of Christ, for an example, that
it must be thus with us until we have born Christ.
Therefore, my most beloved, consider well the Scriptures, how he
constantly speaks of tribulation and suffering in this present time,
always, however, adding comfort, even as he says: “Blessed are ye
that mourn; for ye shall be comforted.” Matt. 5:4. Again: “In the
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world.” John 16:33. And again: “Fear not, I will not leave you
orphans.” John 14:18. And even as he speaks through the prophet Isaiah:
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee.” Is. 49:15.
Hence, my most beloved, be comforted by these words, and by all the
glorious riches of which you have become a partaker through faith,
and you need not be astonished that you now weep, since you certainly
well know, that in this present time nothing is promised us, but
tribulation, suffering, persecution, and weeping, but it is written:
“Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Woe unto you that
laugh now! for ye shall weep.” Luke 6:21,25. Hence it is better to
weep now, than afterwards, since the time is coming which will endure
forever; and the things which now are must soon perish. Therefore, my
most beloved, cast your care upon the Lord, for he cares for you: and
be strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto
all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness: giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of
the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
through his beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord, unto whom be praise,
honor and glory, now and forever. Amen. Colossians 1:11–13.
Herewith, I your faithful husband, commend you, my most beloved
wife, to the Lord, and to the word of his grace. Amen. May the Lord
strengthen and stablish you by his Spirit, that you may keep unto the
end that which you have and thus receive the crown of life, and wait
with patience for the time of your redemption. The peace of the Lord
be with you, and with all that fear and love the Lord, and keep his
commandments.
ANOTHER LETTER OF JELIS BERNAERTS TO HIS WIFE.
The grace and peace from God the Father, and the merits of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, by which Spirit we
are all baptized into one body, of which Christ is the Head, and we
members together, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, and he is
the Savior of his body, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against
or withstand it, if we remain firmly united in love among ourselves,
and do not suffer ourselves to be deceived, but hold fast the faith
in Christ Jesus, and do not neglect the grace given us of God through
Christ Jesus, his only begotten Son, our Lord, unto whom be praise,
honor, glory, and thanksgiving now and forever. Amen.