Hence have God always before your eyes in what you do, and you shall prosper in it; always love that which is good, and hate that which is evil, that the Lord may be with you, as you have spoken, says the prophet Amos, 5:14. Follow the advice of Paul, Romans 12:21, where he says: Overcome evil with good. O then it shall be well with you, and you shall find rest in your soul. Matthew 11:29. Let there be found in you once the true faith which worketh by love, and which has so far not brought forth much fruit in you. Gal. 5:6. Hence it is time now to awake once and seek Christ, whereby you may live and enter by the right door into the sheepfold. Jn. 11:25; 10:7.
Hence give ear now to the voice of Christ, who says: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Consider well that the Lord would have us practice his word and truth, and not do like many who indeed have the word of God in their mouth, and hear it, but do not live according to it, but suffer it to enter in at one ear, and out at the other; yea, what is more yet, though they well know that sin and unrighteousness must be shunned and avoided, as soon as they have heard the word, they go on again in sin, in drunkenness, in adultery, in gambling, etc. But to take the Testament or Bible into their hands, to read, and to spend their time in godliness, that were far too much; but they follow their own lusts, namely, the lust of their father, the devil, for he delights in all such works: for he that committeth sin is of the devil, says John; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. John 8:44; 1 John 3:8. Hence, dear brother, have no fellowship with such persons, but seek such as fear the Lord and live according to his word, and keep it, for Christ says: Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Luke 11:28. Now you may perceive that they are blessed (saved) who keep the word of God, and govern themselves in accordance with it. For in Matthew 7:23, Christ declares that he shall say to all those who shall not have kept his word, nor practiced it: “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; I know you not.” O brother, take good heed, that you do not hear this voice, but that you may hear that glad voice, with all God’s righteous ones that have lived according to the word of the Lord: “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom of my Father, prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25:34. What a joy it will be to hear this, for the good that have walked in the fear of the Lord.
My brother, give ear now to the word of the Lord, that we may meet there, and hear the glad voice, which I pray the Lord that he will grant us through his only Son, Christ Jesus. Amen.
Brother, I must stop, for my paper is giving out; hence take this simple letter in good part, for I have written it out of love; and ponder it well, for it is not my word, but the word of the Lord, for his mouth has spoken it. Amen.
I hope to explain to you, dear brother, the cause of my imprisonment, so that you may not grieve, but rejoice, and thank the Lord for it. I thank the Lord, that he has opened my dark eyes, and looked upon me with the eyes of his mercy, when I was sunk in sin, yea, expected nothing but eternal death and damnation; yea, I was without God in the world, and I lived in sins innumerable, which were an abomination before the eyes of God, so that if God entered into judgment with me, I could not stand in his sight, but should pass away like dust before the wind, because of my innumerable sins. Ps. 143:2; 1:5. But the Lord who through his unspeakable love, out of grace, caused to be proclaimed to me, by his servants, his word, concerning his Son Christ Jesus, that whosoever believeth in him, should have eternal life. John 3:15. Hence I heard that there was no means to obtain salvation, but through his Son Christ Jesus, who died the death for our sins, and shed his blood for us, for the washing away of our unrighteousness, even as John says: That the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all our sins. Acts 13:38; 1 Cor. 15:3; Eph. 1:7; 1 John 1:7. And when I heard the words of Christ: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; I, poor man, laden with sins and innumerable wickednesses, made my complaint to Christ, bewailed my sins, and he forgave and remitted them to me through his shed blood, when I confessed them before him. Matthew 11:28; Ps. 32:5. Thus, dear brother, I forsook my sins, from day to day, according to my ability, and sought to walk the narrow way, and separated myself from the wicked, perverse world, and sought to please Christ, yet not as I would, for I constantly felt the Spirit striving against the flesh, as Paul says, Gal. 5:17. And Job says that man’s life upon earth is nothing but a constant warfare. Job 7:1. Thus, dear brother, I sought to please the Lord, and not the world, which the enemy could not endure any longer, who hates all that is good, and cannot endure it, but seeks to quench it. He has shown, and still shows, his power also on me, but has not been able to do any more, than the Lord permits him; yea, when he has done all, he can but kill the body, but over the soul he has no power, for the Lord gives us strength through his Holy Spirit, to resist it. Matt. 10:28; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 5:9. Hence, dear brother, my imprisonment is not for any evil, but for the truth, and for the confession of the holy word of the Lord. Hence rejoice therein, that the Lord counts me worthy to suffer for his name, and to offer up my body to the praise of his holy name. Acts 5:41. Think that it has been thus with all God’s righteous ones, from the beginning of the world till the present day. Hence, my brother, be resigned to the work of the Lord, for thus it went with Christ our Captain. If they have done this to the Lord, how will it be with his followers? for Christ says: “The servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” John 13:16. Hence I hope by the grace of the Lord, that he shall give me strength through his Holy Spirit, to confess his word and truth as long as there is breath in my mouth, even as I have hitherto done unto this hour; hence I expect now nothing else than my sentence, to be placed at the stake in the market place, to be burnt there. Comfort yourself herein, and thank the Lord for it, that he counts me worthy to suffer for his name. Thus I have now briefly written the cause of my imprisonment, that you might the better console yourself herein, and not give ear or belief to every evil tongue, as I hope mother will write you. If in any wise possible I hope to write you my faith, if I get paper; and if I should not, I hope that mother will write it to you, so that you will not grieve, as though I died in unbelief, as Satan may pretend, and as may possibly also have been written to you; but I pray you give no ear or belief to it, for that for which I suffer is the genuine truth and the true faith in Christ Jesus, since Christ and his apostles taught it, of which Paul says: Though an angel from heaven should come, and teach you otherwise, than I have taught you, let him be accursed. Gal. 1:8. Thus, dear brother, I would write you more, but I have no more paper now. Farewell, the Lord be with you; and I greet you, dear brother, with a holy kiss, for I think that you will see my face no more.
By me, your brother, who is imprisoned for the testimony of God, and for the holy word and truth of the Lord.
Hans Bret.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM HANS BRET, WRITTEN TO HIS BELOVED MOTHER, THE 19TH OF JULY 1576.
The unspeakable grace, peace and mercy of God our heavenly Father, who is a Father full of grace and truth, through the bitter suffering and death of our only Savior Christ Jesus, who washed and cleansed us from all our sins and unrighteousnesses; the power of the Holy Ghost, for the increase of your faith, to resist all the enemies of truth; this I wish you, my affectionately beloved mother, for the salvation of your soul. Amen.
My dearest mother, whom I love from the heart; my chosen mother, who gave birth to me in pain and anguish, from whose body I came forth; I, your son, who am now confined at Antwerp, in prison, for the word of truth, commend myself to you from the bottom of my heart, and thank you, my dear mother, for the great benefits you have shown me from the beginning of my existence until the present day, that you have cared for my necessities, and are still caring for me. But especially do I thank you, my dearest mother, that through the comforting letter you wrote me, you exercise a care for the salvation of my soul.