The abundant grace of God, the great love and mercy of his Son, and the power, operation and illumination of the Holy Ghost, this, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I wish you as a cordial and affectionate greeting, whereby we, unworthy ones, are born anew of God, to serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness, to the praise of the Lord and to the salvation of our souls. Hereunto fit, strengthen and confirm us, the Lord, the Father of all mercy, to whom alone be praise, glory, and honor, forever and ever. Amen.
After this salutation, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I inform you, that I am, the Lord be praised forever, still tolerably well according to the flesh, and also as regards the mind; and I trust by the grace of God to go with our true Captain, Joshua to the promised land (which has been promised us unworthy ones out of grace, and shown us through faith) hoping and trusting by the grace of God to pass unharmed over Jordan; yet I would from the depth of my heart, that my mind were more valiant for it.
Further, my very dear and beloved sister, I inform you, that at the visit my heart was greatly rejoiced by you, because I saw your great joy and gladness in the Lord, your complete self-renunciation, and the resignation of your heart and mind, in the Lord, for which we cannot thank and praise the Lord enough, that he has given you such a treasure in earthen vessels, that you do not want to forsake the Lord, for neither life nor death, nor for any torment which the tyrants might inflict upon you my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord. The Lord, the God of all grace, strengthen and confirm you unto the end, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in you, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ maybe glorified in you, and that you may fight the good fight of faith; and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto we are called, if we hold the beginning of the Christian life steadfast unto the end. 2 Thess. 1:11,12; 1 Tim. 6:12; Heb, 3:14. For, dear sister in the Lord, if we properly consider the life of Christ, we find nothing but tribulation, suffering and distress. He who was the Lord of lords, for our sakes left his Father’s kingdom; he came into the world, to call our guilt upon him, and paid the debt with his bitter suffering and death on the tree of the cross, leaving us in all things an example, as the apostle says, that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, and in another place the apostle says: Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Heb. 12:3. And thus also the prophet utters his complaint for him saying: I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head. Ps. 22:6,7. In still another place Isaiah says. He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. . . . He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Is. 53:2,3,7. Besides this, my much beloved sister in the Lord, consider Christ’s entire life how he begun, lived, and ended it; you will find nothing but suffering, humiliation, misery and contempt, which he suffered for our sakes in humility, so that the apostle says of the Lord, that in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto God who was able to save him from death, and was heard because he honored God. Heb. 5:7. Hence, my dear sister in the Lord, this beginning of the Christian life must abide with us unto the end, as said before, and we shall then also be partakers of him, and with all God’s children inherit his kingdom through grace, for which reason he went hence to prepare us a place there, even as he says: I go to your and my Father, to prepare a place for you; and if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye maybe also, John 20:17; 14:3. Therefore, my dear sister in the Lord, though our God does now hide his face from us for a little while, yet will he gather us again with everlasting kindness, as the prophet says; I will lead you into mine house, and give you a place within my walls, and a name better than of sons and of daughters; yea, I will give you an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Yea, he will lay our stones with fair colors, and lay our foundations with sapphires, and will make our windows of crystal and our gates of carbuncles. Is. 54:7,8; 56:5; 54:11,12. Yea, there is a city built, says John, of pure gold, where, my very dear sister in the Lord, you shall see the King in his beauty, whose head is as the finest gold, and his locks are curled and black as a raven; his eyes are as the eyes of doves; his cheeks are as growing beds of spices of the apothecary; his hands are as gold rings set with turquoises, his body is as pure ivory. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of gold; his mouth is sweet, and his word is lovely. Rev. 21:18; Cant. 5:11–16. In short, we shall find more there, than it is possible to tell us or to describe.
See, my dear sister in the Lord, such is our Friend and Bridegroom; hence rejoice, you betrothed of the Lord, for he that has chosen you from among many thousands is fairer than all the children of men.
Therefore, my dear sister in the Lord, adorn yourself with the fine linen of righteousness (Revelation 19:8) in honor of your Bridegroom until the days of tribulation shall be at an end, and the Lord shall turn again the captivity of Zion, and wipe away all tears from your eyes, and make perfect our joy, so that for our mourning and sighing we shall sing as in the night of a glorious feast, and shall, with the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins, that were redeemed from the earth, stand before the throne of God, having the name of our God written in our foreheads, having harps in our hands, and singing a new song. Rev. 7:4; 14:1–4.
Behold, dear sister, this our enemies shall see and be confounded, who now say to us: “Where is your God?” Our eyes shall then behold them trodden down as mire in the streets, and be ashes under the feet of the righteous. Mal. 4:3. Hence, dear sister in the Lord, let us be sincere in love, and obtain the victory in the Christian’s conflict; to him that overcometh he will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Rev. 2:7. This grant us the only wise God, the Father of grace and mercy, who alone has power in heaven and on earth, that we, justified through his grace, may become heirs of eternal life. Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, to him alone be praise, glory and honor, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21.
Faithful is he, who also will do it, according to his promise; for I am God, he says by the prophet Malachi, and change not, namely, in his promises. 1 Thess. 5:24; Mal. 3:6.
Herewith, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I will commend you to the Lord, and to the rich word of his grace. Adieu, adieu, if we should see each other’s face no more in this world, yet I hope that we shall see each other in eternity with our God, where parting will be no more. Once more, adieu, and take my simple letter in good part, this I humbly pray: and if I have in anything written too little or too much, I beg you to excuse me for it. Herewith I cordially salute you and also my wife cordially greets you with the peace of the Lord; and Sanderijntgen, and another maiden from Zealand, named Magdaleentgen, also greet you most, cordially. I ask you very kindly, my dear sister, let me have a letter from you, for this will be very welcome to me and more agreeable than I can write you. Farewell.
By me your weak brother and servant, to the utmost of my ability.
G. Kleermaecker, v. s. b.