Thus, let all of you firmly resolve in your hearts to do those things that are of good report, honest, and pleasing to God (Philip. 4:8); call upon the Lord for strength, and be assured in your hearts, that he hears your prayer. Ps. 145:19. Present to him in your prayer his own promises, and you shall not be confounded, for he hears the prayer of the poor, says David. Also rejoice together, that our enemies obtained nothing by the torture from our dear sister, my fellow prisoner. Therefore praise the Lord, ye saints. Ps. 147. I unworthy one cordially greet you all in the Lord, in his name, with the love and peace of Christ. I thank you all for your Christian fellowship. O most beloved, let that which you have heard and accepted from the beginning abide in you, and beware of those that would take it from you; for I unworthy one testify that you stand in the unadulterated truth; fulfill the same in the fear of God, and you shall have peace.
Written by me, in bonds,
Jan Wouterss Kuyck.
THE FOURTH LETTER FROM JAN WOUTERSS, TO HIS WIFE.
Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and the co-operation of the Holy Ghost constantly be multiplied in you my most beloved wife, for consolation in your pilgrimage, for the strengthening of your faith, for comfort in your tribulation, to the praise of God, and the salvation of your soul. Amen.
After this my cordial salutation to you my chosen sister and most beloved wife, my love towards you is great, but my love for the eternal truth is greater yet; the same helps me to overcome all my enemies. In this great victory I greatly rejoice, since I have now been in the conflict twice. For the sake of this victory: in which Christ alone, who is the genuine truth, helps us so valiantly to triumph, heartily rejoice with me, and magnify and thank the name of the Lord. I now know how the cup of suffering tastes, but I did not know that the good God works in us with such wonderful power; for I received such peaceful joy in my heart that I was amazed. This was shortly after I had been tortured; yet I was greatly threatened that I should be tortured again the following Monday, but I thought that the faithful God could keep my lips also a second time; and I prayed and entreated him greatly to manifest it on me (as it is a small matter for him), that I should not be confounded in my first boasting, or purpose of my heart, so that my neighbor should not be grieved, nor any one open the mouth of slander on my account.
And the eternal good God kept my lips in the second torturing; and I was threatened again, but my determination never weakened, such grace did the Lord give me; but when I earnestly prepared myself for it, and with Abraham offered up my only son, that is, my flesh, that he should do his holy will to my salvation, the Lord turned my anxiety into joy; yea, that my eyes overflowed for gladness, because the Lord had kept the lips of our sister, my fellow-prisoner, and, in the second place, that they were satisfied with my suffering. I also, a few days before I was tortured, had received the glad news that you were able to say with your mouth, though you could pull me out with your arm, you should not do it if I were valiant or resigned; which rejoiced my heart, that the good Lord thus strengthens and comforts you by his Holy Spirit. The eternal, good God be praised forever, that he shows to us unworthy ones such great tokens of mercy and love. O my dearest lamb, how shall we be able sufficiently to thank the Lord for it? Yes, I have joy in my heart, that the Lord has counted me, poor man, worthy to suffer so much reproach, and contempt, and so many threats and stripes. Herewith the Lord proves me, even as he proved his dearest chosen ones, as to whether I fear him, sincerely, trust him in the greatest distress, and love him from the heart. My heart leaped up in my body, as it seems to me, for joy, because we have such a good dear God. I thought that I loved him, but now that my skin is touched, he proves this best himself. Job 2:4,5.
But, my chosen, be not dismayed on this account; this vile flesh has merited yet much more, but the Lord chastens us according to his mercy. Thus my faith is tried as gold in the furnace; now all the glorious promises of the Lord belong to me; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of eternal life; yea, our King, Christ Jesus, will honor me himself. Luke 12:37. O alas! of this I know myself that I am unworthy; but our Lord has obtained it from his heavenly Father, that he may do this to us, that our joy may be full, and that we should console ourselves with his promises in our tribulation.
O how inconsiderate are all those who lightly esteem, yea, reject all these glorious promises because of this brief suffering. Yea, what is this suffering when it is over, it is not to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18. I wrote the foregoing letter yesterday, and now I have just been before the Bailiff and two judges and the secretary. The Bailiff asked me whether I would not yet tell the truth. I said that I had done so. “Yes,” said he, “as much as you wanted to.” Then the demand of the bailiff was read to me, setting forth that I had apostatized from the Christian Catholic faith or Roman Church, and had been rebaptized by the Anabaptists, and married my wife. That having been admonished by divers learned men in regard to this error, I persisted in the same; and he further added, that the royal decree prescribed that I should be punished by being burnt alive at the stake; but if I recanted, the sword, possibly also the church-yard should be my portion.
Then I replied that I had not (or never) apostatized from the Christian faith; nor do I know [said I] any Anabaptists; I have been baptized but once upon my faith; infant baptism I do not regard as baptism, and when I was a child I did as a child, even as my parents led me.