Herewith I will commend you to the crucified, bleeding Christ Jesus, and to the rich word of his grace; who is faithful in what he has promised. I greet you, my beloved, with the kiss of peace; and Lauwerens and I also greet all our acquaintances very cordially with the peace of the Lord. Amen.
Written in my bonds, by me,
Joost Verkindert,
Unworthy prisoner in the Lord.
ANOTHER LETTER OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN TO HIS BROTHERS, MICHIEL AND PLEUN, ON THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER, THE 100TH DAY OF HIS IMPRISONMENT.
May God the Father, and our dear Lord Jesus Christ, give you a heart and mind, to walk in his holy truth all the days of your life, to the salvation of your poor, naked souls, that they may be saved, when the Lord shall visit them at the last day, when we shall all be placed before the judgment seat of Christ, where every one shall receive reward according to his deeds, whether they be good or bad. 2 Cor. 5:10. To God the Father be praise and honor through Jesus Christ; may he give us his Holy Spirit for a Comforter in all our tribulation, in which we now are, for Christ and the gospel’s sake. To the Lord be praise, honor and thanks forever and ever. Amen.
This I wish you, my dear and beloved brothers, Michiel and Pleun, as a heartfelt and friendly greeting, from the inmost of my soul. Be pleased to know, that I am still tolerably well according to the flesh; and as regards the Spirit, my mind is still fixed, to adhere to the eternal truth with the help of the Most High, to whom I must look for comfort and help; for of myself I have not one good thought but only aversion; for the flesh always shrinks from suffering. Nevertheless, my dear brothers, there must be suffering, either here or hereafter, for Christ says, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent must take it by force. Matt. 11:12. O dear brothers, I pray you from the heart, that you will take heed to yourselves, to obey the voice of the Lord, so that you may not be found to be of those who had buried their talent in the earth, and of those who want to put a new piece upon an old garment, and of those who put new wine into old bottles. Matt. 25:18; Luke 5:36,37. O my dear brothers, if you do not take heed to yourselves, God will require a strict account of you, for Christ says: All those who will not have me to reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before mine eyes, and cast them into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Luke 19:27; 13:25. And further, Luke 12:47, Christ says: That servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. O my dear brothers, accept this my warning in good part, for it is done out of pure brotherly love, and this because I so well know, that without Christ and without his word there is no salvation. For I also, for a number of years knew better than I did, the Lord forgive me; and if I could have served the world and the Lord, I would not be in bonds. O dear brothers, flesh and blood did not bring me to this, but the word of the Lord, which is sharper than any two-edged sword. For no man can serve two masters at the same time; he must despise the one, and hold to the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon together. Matt. 6:24. And O, it (the word) also calls to the children of Israel and says: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21. O dear brothers, these and other Scriptures compelled me to renounce my own will, in order to escape the great deluge and punishment that shall come upon those who have not obeyed the Gospel of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. 2 Thess. 1:8,9.
O dear brothers, be afraid of that day which shall burn as an oven, and when all the proud despisers, and all the wicked shall be as stubble; but they that have kept the laws of their God shall then grow up as calves of the stall, and they shall go in and out, and tread down the wicked like ashes under their feet. Mal. 4:1. O dear brothers, that we might all be found worthy to hear the pleasant voice of Christ saying: “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom of my Father, prepared for you from the foundation of the world—O then we should have indeed been born at a blessed hour! For there are so few that seek to follow the Lord with a whole and true heart, for every one would excuse himself; the one says: I have bought five yoke of oxen; the second: I have married a wife; the third: I have bought a piece of ground; I pray thee, have me excused. Luke 14:18. O dear brothers, before the Lord no excuse shall be able to stand; hence let us take heed, if we have heard his voice, that our hearts do not become hardened or stony; for we have many examples in the holy Scriptures, that the ungodly cannot stand before the Lord. For we read, how God punished the world with the deluge, because of their sins; but he saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, and brought in the flood upon the world, of the ungodly; and overthrew and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins; but preserved just Lot with his two daughters, who were vexed with their improper and unchaste conversation. 2 Pet. 2:5. Thus, dear brothers, though the Lord does not outwardly comfort[322] you, as, he then did, yet he shall not let sin go unpunished, for the Lord is a righteous judge, who will judge the heart and thoughts. O yes, man shall have to give account of every idle word that he has spoken. Matt. 12:36. O dear beloved brothers, go out from this spiritual Egypt, from the power of the hellish Pharaoh, and from this spiritual Sodom, where they crucified our Lord, and from this spiritual Babylon; so that you may live in Zion, and there behold the beautiful worship of God; for I warn you in the name of the Lord, and my conscience, that you will find it at the last day, as I have here written you.
O dear brothers, Michiel and Pleun, I also admonish myself hereby, for if I persevere not in this conflict, all that I have suffered is in vain, for the unsaved shall be written in the earth. Jer. 17:13. O so many times I feel a terror of apostatizing, for I am so certain and assured that I am on the right way. For, dear brothers, you well know, that no one can come into this world except he be born; so no one can enter into the future world, except he be born again, even as Peter clearly testifies, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth, forever. 1 Peter 1:23. O brothers, dear brothers, happy is he that is thus born: for such regenerated persons use the true baptism and the true Supper; they also keep aloof from all false doctrines, and also use the true excommunication and separation, for the maintenance of the purity of the church, or it would soon become a Babylon.
Dear brothers, I have been before a priest four different times, and we can agree in nothing. O he uses such diligence to bring us to his church; and because we will not buy, or cannot accept with a good conscience, his merchandise, therefore he says that we have the devil in us, and that we are damned if we thus die in our belief. However, I am not terrified by his judgment, but I pray the Lord, to open the eyes of their understanding, that they may see against whom they are contending, that it is not against men, but against God and the Lamb; for Christ says. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, [but I have chosen you out of the world,] therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19. And Christ further says: If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household. Matt. 10:25. O how truly it may be said at this time, that our life is accounted madness, our going out destruction and our honor shame. Wis. 5:4; 3:3. O how are the words of Christ fulfilled where he says: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. John 16:2,3. And also Paul says: If they had known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2:8. O my dear brothers, remove your feet from the paths of the ungodly, for they go to hell, like sheep to the slaughter. Proverbs 4:14. And look not to the multitude, for Esdras writes: Even as there is found much earth of which to make earthen vessels, but little to make golden ones, so are the ungodly to the righteous. 2 Esd. 8:2. And again: Like as a flood is to a drop, so are the ungodly to the righteous. 9:16. And he further says: What profit is it to man that there is promised a city full of all good things, if he cannot enter into it? or that there is promised an immortal life, whereas we do the works that bring death? Hence we may well say with Esdras: “O Adam, Adam! what hast thou done! for when thou didst fall, thou didst not fall alone, but also we all that come of thee.” 7:48. O my dear brothers, strive to become true sheep of Christ’s flock, and true branches of the vine Christ, and seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; set your affections on things above not on things on the earth; and mortify your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Col. 3:1,2,5,6. Thus, my dear brothers, if you desire the truth, and to escape the punishment to come, seek to order your life according to the Gospel, and deny yourselves; for Christ says in the Gospel: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s shall save it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? But whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Matt. 16:24–26; Mark 8:38.
O my dear brothers, consider well these Scriptures, and meditate on them, for Christ Jesus has brought them down here from high heaven, and lived and taught them, and sealed them with his blood, and became poor for our sakes, that through his poverty he might make us rich. O consider once, how despised Christ was for our sakes. So that the prophet Isaiah laments and says, that there was no beauty in him, which might have pleased us. Is. 53:2. Yea, he [the Psalmist] laments, that he was a worm, and no man. Ps. 22:6. O dear brothers, let us take an example from him, how admirably he went before us; for all those who do not accept Christ are not redeemed by him; for Christ also says in the Gospel: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? for whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.[323] And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:24–27. And Christ further says, of the sower, Matt. 13, that some seed fell by the wayside, some upon stony places, some among thorns, and some into good ground, and this brought forth fruit. O ponder well this Scripture, in how many a one the deceitful riches suppress the word of God, so that it does not bring forth fruit. Thus, my dear beloved brothers, this is written in my bonds for a perpetual warning to you. O that God would grant grace, that his word might lie in your heart, as it does in mine; then you should soon bid the world farewell. Yet, my flesh sometimes wonderfully shrinks back from suffering, so that at times I am as fearful as one that is in the throes of travail. Nevertheless, Christ Jesus also shrank from suffering. Luke 22.