But if I could see, my dear fellow members, that it might promote the glory of God, and your, and their salvation, if you should answer all their questions, I would not only admonish you to wait until they ask you, but I would heartily urge you by entreaty and admonition, to tell and confess it to them of your accord, before they ask you. But how they herein seek the glory of God, and the welfare and salvation of your, yea, of their own, souls, this I will leave to the consideration and impartial judgment of every godfearing lover of the truth.
Therefore guard your lips, my beloved, as said above. I have composed a hymn, doing it not from wantonness; hence I wish that it be sung not to my honor, but to the praise of God.
Dear brethren, faithfully remember me in your prayers. I greet you all with the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ; he that loves him not is Anathema, Maran-atha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen.
THE EIGHTH LETTER OF MATTHIAS SERVAES, WRITTEN FROM PRISON TO AELTGEN, HIS WIFE.
The grace of God be and abide with you and all fellow believers in Christ that are with you and elsewhere; together with true peace, friendly love, constant patience, and steadfast perseverance, to bear unto the end all that is laid upon us of that which is still left of the afflictions of Christ. Amen.
Further, my dear wife, whom I from the very beginning of our coming together (of this I trust the Lord is my witness), have loved more according to salvation than according to the flesh, and have cared for your soul as for my own, and admonished you to that which we have now come. The Lord be praised for it forever. For, my dear sister in the Lord, you well know the grief I felt on account of the removal, and though some may perhaps have thought that I took delight in it, it is not so at all; for since that time I have often wished that, if it be for my salvation, I might through some means be relieved from it, whether it be through imprisonment or by death. But since it pleases the Lord, that we are here on earth first, through suffering, to be witnesses of his word and name; as you, in a measure, have wished more than once, that I might through suffering be taken home to God, and I have desired that you might be apprehended with me, as has now happened; therefore let us also be patient, and thank the Lord, that he has heard us, and fulfilled our prayer, and let us not pray otherwise now than we have hitherto prayed, namely, thus: “Lord, thy will be done.” Surrender me willingly into the hand of the Lord, whom I have served; and be not troubled on my account. But if you should perhaps think that we[289] may meet with much suffering yet (which, however, is in the hand of the Lord), think also that if there is much suffering prepared for us, there is also much more consolation in store for us, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:5. I have not time to write more, except this: Persevere steadfastly till you are taken hence. Then, and not before, the crown of life is prepared. This is also written to you, my dear sister Anna, and all that are with you. The salutation with mine own hand. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. Our brethren salute you all. Remember us, and be of good cheer for this is the first inheritance promised us here, which we must also possess, if we are to gain the eternal, where all tears that now flow from our eyes will be wiped away, and all sorrow be turned into everlasting joy; for our affliction, which is but temporal and light, compared with that which is eternal, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, who look not at the things which are seen but at the things that are not seen. 2 Corinthians 4:17,18. Hence turn your eyes from all that is visible. Herewith I commend you all to the grace of God. Amen.
THE NINTH LETTER OF MATTHIAS SERVAES, WRITTEN FROM PRISON TO F. V. H.
The saving grace of God be multiplied unto you and all the pious, through Jesus Christ; with the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O F., my greatly beloved friend[290] in the Lord, I cannot, out of love to you forbear to inform you how gladly I would fulfill your request, but I lack many things, as for instance, paper and ink, and besides am watched as closely as gold, that I might neither receive nor send off any letters. Hence accept this brief letter in good part, for I have written it for your good. Therefore the heartfelt admonition and request I now address to you is, that you sincerely take heed to your life, and order it so that it is conformable to the word of God, yea, to the example of Jesus Christ, and consider it diligently, as you said in conversation with me. Love God above all, and do not forsake the assembly (Hebrews 10:25), as hitherto; for if you still love aught more than him, you are not worthy of him. Take good heed, my friend in the Lord; for a lip faith is of no avail, as you well know yourself; but it must be a living faith, yea, that works by love, if we are to stand here, and hereafter before God. May God Schadai (Ex. 3:14), work such a faith in you, and in all who heartily desire it. Amen. As regards how it is with me, I cannot write enough, for the Lord grants me great joy in my heart, so that I would desire of God, if it were his will, that I might be led bound through Cologne, and beaten with rods from street to street, so that his name might become manifest; and that my body might be refined on the rack, only to the praise of God, and not to mine; which has also partly occurred. The Lord be praised, Amen; the Lord who sealed my lips, and endued me with strength, which he still daily increases; and who will sustain me unto the end. Amen.