A Letter Written by Jan Block

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3, verse 26.

The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Blessed be God, the heavenly Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. And whether we are afflicted or comforted, it is all for our good and our salvation. This salvation, except my bonds, I wish you from the depth of my soul, for comfort and salvation in your greatest need, when you, dear brother in the Lord, will have need of help and comfort, as you, moved and impelled by the working of the Holy Spirit, have now at the right time written and sent to me, a poor prisoner at Nimeguen, for the Word of our dear Lord. By this you have done me such a great and welcome service that I shall never in my life be able to thank God my heavenly Father enough, who appointed you, like Habakkuk, to bring food, by which the pious Daniel was fed outwardly according to the flesh, through the confidence which he had toward our God. O how great is this spiritual food, dear brother, with which you have fed and comforted my poor, hungry soul, which you, according to the opportunity of the past, wrote to me abundantly in your letter from the holy word of the Lord, for my consolation, and to stir me up to take undaunted courage; for which, as I said above, I cannot thank you enough. By the help of our dear Lord I hope to do the same; through the almighty Lord I still have the will to do well from the heart. I hope and trust in God our heavenly Father, who will strengthen me, a poor, unworthy prisoner for His holy Word, to finish it to His holy praise, when I shall offer up my sacrifice, as you write to me of many prophets and apostles, indeed, of Christ Himself, who, for the sins of us all, out of love for us was led to the slaughter like a silent lamb. How much more ought I, a poor miserable sinner, to give up my life for His holy name's sake, of which I sincerely consider myself unworthy. Yet I trust, as above, and as you wrote to me, as the prophet Ezekiel speaks by the mouth of the Most High, that He will remember sins no more, since we, the Lord be thanked, know well on what condition the Lord has spoken to us. All who desire this, and are converted from the heart, God will hear.

And those who lament and moan night and day over their great transgression, as I, a poor, miserable sinner, have done, He will hear, and be gracious to them, for He loves to forgive; so that I, as I said above, gladly surrender myself for the name of my Lord, and by His grace suffer very patiently for my sins, and give up my body, as the seven children did in Maccabees. And the pious Eleazar would much rather die honorably than pretend and set a bad example to the young brothers. By the grace of God this is my mind also, dear brother in the Lord. But, much beloved brother, I have such great conflict on account of my former life, because I did not gain a living as an honest man. But, the Lord be thanked, a little before my imprisonment I had resolved, by the grace of the Lord, to support myself in all humility and holiness by the labor of my hands; however, I have no time to carry it out. So my mind is often troubled, and this by the passage of Paul where he says that, "Though I had faith, so that I could remove mountains, and gave all my goods to the poor, and gave my body to be burned, and had no charity, it would all be of no avail." And that we are to live so holy and blameless, this causes my heart to shrink, and my eyes to flow daily like a river, because I have so sinfully spent my precious time. This the Lord knows, for whose Word and testimony I, a miserable sinner, am imprisoned; yet I would not give my hope and faith for a thousand worlds. O dear brothers and sisters, how little have I known, much less had, the true regeneration and the new creature, as I now feel it through the grace of God, and would gladly confess it, if I had the time. Friends, have earnest love for one another, and build one another up in all humility and earnestness in the exercise of godliness, and daily exhort one another to all holiness; also that each be the least in his own eyes, and that you do not walk so haughtily and with such display, lest the poor, blind world, according to her doing, surpass* us in many things. [n1046-1] This view I have now had, by the grace of God, for some little time; and if I had indeed felt it so in the beginning, and accepted it as I ought to have done, and as I now, alas, in my last time had resolved by the grace of the Lord to do, I should certainly not have come to such great sorrow, which began in haughtiness, or secret pride, and an easy life. So, dear brother, and dear ministers of the church of God, wherever you are, take diligent care, as faithful laborers in the vineyard, [and direct into the right way] the branches which shoot up very lightly, and grow in the fullness and vanity of their mind, who are also alienated from the life of God. Only now do I begin to experience with my understanding what the new creature is.

O dear brothers and sisters, and watchmen over the house of the Lord, do not regard the person; for those who are young in the understanding of the Christian life can be ruined in no way more surely than by not diligently exhorting them with the Word of the Lord, to become new creatures, and to humility, and to lead a godly life. Oh, how I have experienced this within my own self, that so few are found at this time who are truly converted and renewed, and who rightly follow the life and the footsteps in which Christ went before us. Oh, if they felt it as I now feel it in my last time, they would be afraid to speak or think of anything except chiefly the law of the Lord. O dear friends, only now do I understand it, and I very often think of one of our three sisters, who wrote her son Tobias a testament, in which she speaks, I think, of improving our time, and that we shall deplore nothing more than that we have so little improved our time, but have often spent it in frivolity. O dear friends, I wish from the heart that those who are guilty in this matter, or are found slothful, could feel their present time as I now feel my past time in my heart, and am accused [in my conscience] concerning it; you would certainly be found, in godly exercise, to be renewed in the power of the Spirit, into a new, spiritual life, which is like the image of Him who poured out His holy blood for us poor sinners; then we should indeed show forth the mind and nature of Christ in words and in works. We should then, according to Matthew 5, so let our light shine, and be such a salt of the earth, that we should indeed have the greater praise before this adulterous generation; indeed, we should shine forth with a clear light in the church of God. Even as the light of a candle is improved by trimming it, so if we would, in our short time, trim our body in word and deed from our carnal body, in words and in works, indeed, in dress and worldliness, then our lights would certainly be found to give forth a clearer light. So, since everyone sees how many are found to be darkness, to the reproach of the Gospel, we see here that so many in this last time, without affliction, become alienated from God and grow cold; so that, as the Lord says, when the Son of man comes, whether He will then find faith on the earth. O dear friends, though a man may guard himself so as not to be punished with excommunication, do you think that he is then also a new creature before God, truly according to his Father's image, truly dead to all sin? Oh, no; I think differently, and this through the grace of the Lord. But this is my last time, to all appearance, and I also make no other calculation than to surrender my body from day to day for the testimony of the Word of our dear Lord, to suffer a little through His grace, and to strive manfully, even to death, indeed, to death by fire, or whatever my enemies will, as the Lord permits them. I have commended myself to the Lord of my salvation and my strength, and my helper in time of need.

O dear brother and sister in the Lord, I have written this letter, my little gift, to you most beloved, with abundant tears, out of love. In short, I ask you, dear brother, and my heartily beloved sisters in the Lord, from the depth of my soul, that you will everywhere with one accord bow your knees before God, and lift up holy hands to the Lord, and entreat the almighty Father for me, a poor weak servant, that He will give me strength, so that I may finish it joyfully, to His holy praise, and to my salvation, undismayed to death, as I hope and trust, without my knowledge. And you ought to write, according to ancient, holy custom, that the strong pray for the weak, especially in peril of death. I pray the almighty Lord, according to my weak ability, for you, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, that He will keep you who are still in a good state; and for those who have erred or sinned in anything, that they may truly confess their sins before God, with weeping, and be converted in time. My heartily beloved fellow believers and dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, I, your poor unworthy brother, yet through the grace of the Lord I hope to be worthy, would have written you about what happened to me before the lords; but I cannot put it all here, nor have I much to write about it; for after I had been confined for a week, they had me brought up; then I confessed my faith. Since that time I have had very great conflict, and shall have it as long as I am in this tabernacle. I hope to write you more. Dear brothers and sisters, if you should find any words that lack a letter or two, or if the spelling or the writing is bad, excuse me, for my reason and my memory have lately failed me much, and this through great sorrow; to state the reason is not necessary. But my mind is firm and of good cheer in the Lord, and I am as courageous as a young lion. I cannot thank the Lord enough for His great goodness, which He sends me daily, sometimes by great sorrow, and sometimes by great joy, indeed, so that at times I think I am in heaven; however, for the most part I have tribulation, the Lord be thanked for it. Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, heartily pray the Lord for me; by the grace of God I shall do the same, according to my small ability.

Written by me at Nimeguen in prison, where I, unworthy one, was confined for the Word of our dear Lord, which is tried and pure. [n1046-2] May the almighty Lord mightily strengthen my mind by His grace, when I shall have to give up my life, I who do not have the strength to finish it to the praise of my Lord before wicked men. Adieu, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. I bid you most beloved good night, to wait for you all where I hope to come by the grace of the Lord, in the eternal joy. JAN BLOCK.