I commend you all to God; we must part here; entreat God for me, as I for you. I salute all believers.
THE SIXTH LETTER WHICH MATTHIAS SERVAES OF KOTTENEM WROTE FROM PRISON, TO HIS DEAR WIFE AND SISTER IN THE LORD, WHO WAS ALSO IMPRISONED.
Grace, peace, and joy in the heart, through Christ, be with you my dearly beloved wife, whom I love from the heart, yea, as my own soul and also with all the prisoners that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Further, my dear sister in the Lord, I reply to your first remark, by which you indicate that it grieves you that I am alone. But, my dear child, I am not alone, but have the comfort of all believers (John 14:26) with me. I do not know whether I ever had greater joy on earth; for I am certain and truly assured that the Lord will not lay on me more than I can bear; for I do not wish to be freed from suffering (if it be the will of the Lord that I suffer); but may his holy will be done. Hence, my dear child, dismiss this grief from your mind, this I desire. In the second place, you lament your disobedience, that you have not been much more obedient to me; thus I also deplore it from the heart before my God, that I have not been more diligent than I have hitherto been; hence we have no cause for boasting, but much rather for lamenting, for I say with Solomon: Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? Prov. 20:9. And with this agree also the words of Esdras, where he says: “Let not the sinner say that he hath not sinned: for God shall burn coals of fire upon his head, which saith before the Lord God and his glory, I have not sinned.” 2 Esdr. 16:53. On this wise, also the apostle John speaks in his first epistle (1:8), saying: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Therefore, dear wife, we may well lament, and pray with David: “O Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant, but according to thy loving kindness have mercy upon us, and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out our transgressions.” Ps. 143:2; 51:1. Yea, even though we have done all that we are in duty bound to do, it behooves us nevertheless to say: We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. Luke 17:10. Hence we are not to place ourselves by the side of them that would be saved and justified by their works; but much rather by the side of those of whom the Scripture says: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Rom. 4:7,8. Perhaps our appointed time upon earth will soon be spent, and the Lord wants to purify us before the end comes; or perhaps we, by reason of weakness, could not have truly known our transgression, except in this manner, in order that it may be truly repented of before we are taken hence. For one can work no truer repentance than thus in the chastisement of bonds. Of this we have a clear example in Manasseh, the King of Judah, who cared not how much the Lord warned him through the prophets; yea, all was of no avail, until he was carried to Babylon into captivity by his enemies. There he first learned to know his sins, and repented. 2 Chron. 33. The Lord certainly loves us, that he has called us to this place; do not doubt it, my dear wife. Heb. 12:6. Hence let us fully trust the Lord, and cast all doubt from us, lest we fall into greater sins. But if we have sinned, let us do it no more, lest something worse happen to us (John 5:14); and this is also the best repentance, namely, to do it no more.
O my dear wife, be of good cheer, and cast your sorrow or care upon the Lord, for he will care for us; despair not. Remember the kind words of the Lord, where he says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28. For the Lord will remember us, and not forget us. Yea, he will forget us much less, than a mother will forget her child which she has borne nine months. And though a mother forget her child, yet will he not forget us, but will preserve us as the apple of his eye. Is. 49:15; Zech. 2:8. But that the Lord permitted our imprisonment, is all for our best, that through such chastisement we may learn true obedience; for thus we can be truly cleansed, and also truly tried, whether we love aught more than our Lord Jesus Christ. It is comparatively easy to forsake husband, wife, children, father, mother, sisters, brothers, houses, or fields, for the name of Christ; but when it comes to a man’s own person, and his life is concerned, then it is that he is truly tried and refined, for a man will give skin for skin, yea, all that he has, for his life, as is written in Job. But Christ says that one must hate and forsake all this, and his own life also, and take up the cross, and follow him. And whosoever does not do this, cannot, he says, be my disciple. Luke 14:26,27. But we can hate or renounce ourselves in no fitter way than by fully surrendering ourselves into the hand of the Lord, so that we may say in truth: Lord, thy holy will be done, that is: Lord, what thou wilt, that be done. Behold, my dear wife, this is true renunciation.
I further desire of you and all prisoners, that each, as much as he finds himself accused in his conscience, humble himself therefore the more before his God; for the time of grace, and the day of salvation, yea, the acceptable time, is still at hand. Let us not cease knocking, until he have mercy on us and open the door for us, and give us, because of our importunity, the things we need. For he is a gracious God; he forgives very willingly, and soon repents of the evil; and from those who turn to him from the heart he will not turn away his face; but they that depart from him, their names shall be written in the earth. Jonah 4:2; 2 Chron. 30:9; Jer. 17:13. Therefore, the man that asks him for grace ought to examine himself as to whether he does it from the heart; for though man lament with the mouth, the Lord knows the heart; hence let every one be in earnest, for if this be not the case, he cannot succeed. Judith 8. Now let it become manifest whether you truly love God, yea, whether you love him above all.
O what a great word it is which Peter utters: “That our faith might be found much more precious than perishable gold, which is tried by fire.” Show now the true virtue of faith, and pay what you promised and vowed to the Lord, and allow not yourself to be turned aside either to the right or to the left, but remain in the middle of the road, and you will enter in. For he that perseveres in the way of the Lord unto the end, he, and no other, shall be saved; to this end, may the gracious God help us all, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
I have to write in great fear. O my dear wife, and you altogether, I commend you into the hand of the faithful God; may he keep you and me steadfast unto the end. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Receive one another with a holy kiss of love, and remember me from the heart, which I trust to do with regard to you. And if we may see one another no more on this earth, may the Lord grant us grace and strength, so to acquit ourselves here that we may see one another face to face hereafter, in the eternal joy, with all the children of God. Amen.
O my dear Aeltgen, do not forget what I have often admonished you, namely, that you should firmly keep God before your eyes, and walk uprightly before him. I mean all of you with this letter. O Lord, uphold us. Amen.