To the Readers in General

Dort, July the 25th, 1659.

Good friends and fellow citizens

In ancient times, among the heathen, the greatest and highest honors were given to the brave and victorious warriors who risked their lives in the land of the enemy, conquered, and carried off the victory. [n10-1] So Homer, the foremost of the writers of heroic poetry in Greece, has in twenty-four books extolled and adorned with many eulogies the warlike deeds of Ulysses. Quintus Curtius described, in ten books, the deeds of Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedonia: how triumphantly he conquered and subdued Europe, Asia, India, and the countries bordering on the eastern Ocean, until he finally lost his life in Babylonia. Plutarch composed a huge work devoted to the praise of famous and valiant men. Titus Livius wrote of the Roman heroes, and how praiseworthily they conducted themselves on behalf of the country of Romulus. Virgilius Maro and others praised the emperor Augustus. And this custom has held from ancient times, and holds still, in every land, indeed, throughout the whole world.

We say nothing of the honor and praise that was given, many years after their death, in public theaters, to those who had been sacrificed to idols, for telling of it would take too much time.

But God, in His Word, goes higher and farther yet in this respect. He has caused the conflict, the sufferings, and the triumphs of His spiritual, courageous heroes, children and favorites to be written down, in the most touching, glorious and triumphant language, as an everlasting memorial for their descendants, and not only this, but as a full assurance of their happiness; so that they should always be remembered, and never forgotten. Indeed, the whole volume of the holy Scriptures seems to be nothing else than a book of martyrs, filled with many examples of the holy and steadfast martyrs, sorrowful according to the flesh but happy according to the spirit, whose sufferings, conflicts and triumphs have been recorded in as holy and worthy a manner as it is possible to imagine.

However, they are spoken of in different ways, according to the greatness of what they deserve. Some of them suffered and fought much, but not to the point of blood, nor to death; their victory and their honor are, therefore, not presented as of the highest degree. Others, however, suffered and fought not only to blood and death for the Lord's name, but even to the greatest pain and the most bitter death. We shall speak first of the former class, and then of the latter; yet the last shall surpass the first. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and Isaac and Jacob, to whom God had promised the possession of the land of Canaan, lived nevertheless as strangers in the land of promise, and sometimes had to endure hunger, thirst and oppression. Compare Genesis 12, verse 10; 26, verse 20; 31, verses 22 and 23 with Hebrews 11, verse 9.

Moses, the friend of God, had to flee from Pharaoh into the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well. Exodus 2, verse 15. Afterwards he came very near to being stoned by the disobedient in Israel. Exodus 17, verse 4.

David, a man after God's own heart, was several times in danger of being pinned to the wall by a javelin, First Samuel 18, verse 11; 19, verse 10; indeed, his life was in such danger that he complained to Jonathan "There is but a step between me and death." First Samuel 20, verse 3. For this reason he often called upon God for help, that he might not meet an untimely death. Among other things he says: "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." Psalm 13, verse 2.

In the days of Ahab and Jezebel a hundred prophets of the Lord had to flee because of persecution, and were hidden in a cave, and fed with bread and water, by a man named Obadiah. First Kings 18, verse 13.

Elijah, for the same reason, was forced to turn eastward and hide himself by the brook Cherith, which is before the Jordan. First Kings 17, verse 3. His life was afterwards made so bitter to him that he fled into the wilderness by Beersheba, sat down under a juniper tree, and prayed, "O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." First Kings 19, verse 4.

When Elisha, the servant of Elijah, proclaimed the word of the Lord in the city of Samaria, the king of Samaria swore that the head of Elisha should not stay on him that day. Second Kings 6, verse 31.

The prophet Micaiah, who had told the king of Israel the truth in the name of the Lord, had to eat the bread of sorrow and drink the water of sadness in the prison where he was confined, until the king was killed in a battle. First Kings 22, verses 27 to 37.

Jeremiah was thrown into a pit of mire, in which he sank down so deep that he was in danger of death, until he was saved by Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian. Jeremiah 38, verses 6 to 13.

Amos was called a conspirator, and was forbidden not only the city in which he prophesied, but also the land of the ten tribes of Israel. Amos 7, verses 10 to 13.

All these, and many more, endured much suffering and many conflicts, yet not to the point of blood or death. But those of whom we shall speak now suffered the bitterness of death, and are therefore, in this respect, of higher rank than those who came before, just as the loss of life is a harder test than to suffer in the body or to lose temporal possessions; which is the only difference between the two classes named.

This bloody army of the spiritual champions, who fought to blood and death for the Lord, began with the beginning of the world, as though God's saints were born to suffer and fight; and as though God had intended that His church should be tried from the beginning and all the way through, like gold in the furnace, so that her purity might become the more plain.

In the beginning we see Abel who, having in faith offered a lamb to God as a sacrifice, was killed in the field by Cain, his brother. Genesis 4, verse 8; First John 3, verse 12.

In the days of Ahab and Jezebel many prophets of God were killed by the sword of the rebellious and disobedient in Israel, so that Elijah thought he alone was left. First Kings 19, verse 14.

When the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, so that he said to the disobedient people: "Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you," they took stones and killed him at the command of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Second Chronicles 24, verse 21.

When Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kirjathjearim prophesied in the name of the Lord against the city of Jerusalem, his life was sought, so that he fled into Egypt. But Jehoiakim the king sent men who brought him back, and he killed him with the sword, and buried his dead body among the common people. Jeremiah 26, verses 20 to 23.

The God-fearing young men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who refused to worship the image of King Nebuchadnezzar, were thrown bound into a fiery furnace, in their coats, their trousers, their hats, and their other clothes just as they were, and in it they would have been consumed at once if God had not preserved them. Daniel 3, verses 21 to 23.

The prophet Daniel, because he would not worship king Darius, but only the true God of Israel, was thrown into a den of lions, to be torn by them; but God protected him as He did those mentioned before. Daniel 6, verse 16.

Onias, the high priest, who led and kept the people at Jerusalem in a very praiseworthy and peaceful manner, so that foreign kings were moved to honor the city and the temple of God with gifts, was falsely accused by Simon the Benjamite, removed from his office by Jason, his own brother, and stabbed to death without any regard for justice and fairness by the perjured Andronicus; for which reason not only the Jews, but also many Gentiles were greatly angered. Compare Second Maccabees 3, verses 1 and 2 with 4, verses 1 and 34.

Two women, who had had their children circumcised according to the law of God, were led around the city with their babies tied to their breasts, and were then thrown down headlong from the wall. Second Maccabees 6, verse 10.

Some who hid themselves in caves, to keep the Sabbath or day of rest of the Lord, and who would not defend themselves against the enemies, when this was reported to Philip the tyrant, were burned. Second Maccabees 6, verse 11.

Eleazar, an old man of ninety years, because he would not sin against the law of God by eating forbidden meat, nor set a bad example to young people, nor pretend otherwise, had to carry his gray hairs with blood to the grave, and die a cruel death under many lashes. Second Maccabees 6, verses 27 to 31.

Seven brothers, for the same cause, were scourged with rods and thongs, had their tongues cut out and their hands and feet cut off, and were roasted in pans, and killed in this terrible manner to the last one, together with their mother, who had watched it all, and who likewise refused to depart from the law of God. Second Maccabees 7.

This last-mentioned class, from Abel to the Maccabees, are the true army of God and the heroes of the old covenant who, for the honor of God and the law of their fathers, did not spare their lives.

These are the ones the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews has in view when he speaks of the great cloud of witnesses, who, looking through faith for the fulfillment of the promises of God and the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, endured all sufferings, conflicts, and, at last, death, bravely and with an undismayed heart. But the others, he says, meaning the steadfast saints of God of whom we have spoken, had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, and more than that, of chains and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were killed with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; destitute, afflicted, tormented; and the world was not worthy of them. Hebrews 11, verses 36 to 38.

So the whole volume of the holy Scriptures, and especially the Old Testament, seems to be almost nothing but a book of martyrs, as we stated at the beginning; this appears from the examples we have brought forward, and we could point out many more of them if it were necessary.

As for the heroes of the new covenant, that is, those who since the coming of Christ, and for the testimony of the holy gospel, have fought the good fight, even to blood, indeed, to death; have finished their course; and have steadfastly kept the faith, in spite of all kinds of horrible torments; it would be impossible to speak of it briefly here and do the subject full justice; for which reason we have done this in the following two books, to which we refer the reader.

All this was written for a lasting remembrance of the steadfast and blessed martyrs; and it is the will of God concerning them that they should not only always be remembered here among men, but He Himself intends never to forget them, but to remember them with everlasting mercy.