Third Letter from Maerten van der Straten, to his Wife

I, Maerten van der Straten, your affectionately beloved husband and brother in the Lord, though both unworthily, wish you, my very dear, beloved wife and sister in the Lord, Beliken van der Straten, much grace and mercy from God our heavenly Father, and may the love of His Son be multiplied to you, and may God also fill you, like Jeremiah, with His Holy Spirit, so that you may thereby withstand all the subtle assaults of the devil, and after the victory, with all God's children, receive the crown of glory on the pleasant mountain where, according to the writing of Esdras, roses and lilies grow. Second Esdras 2, verse 19. And, my dearly beloved, I pray the Lord to make you fit and worthy to play the new song before the throne of His glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Written cordially, out of tender love, to you, Beliken van der Straten. O my love, my chosen, dearest love, who through God's providence was given to me before His church by my father, and whose hand I took with tears of joy. For this I also thank the Lord, that He gave me you, for I would not have thought myself worthy of you. So this is also a reason for me to love you the more. Yet I call God to witness that I love you as my soul, indeed, more than the heart in my body, which I am also bound to do according to the demand of the Scriptures. For since I, according to John's writing, am bound to love my brother, how much more then must I love you, since you, according to the Word of God and Paul's declaration, are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. And the apostle also says: "No one ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." Ephesians 5, verse 29. In short, he who loves his wife also loves himself.

Further, Beliken, my beloved, after this proper and Christian greeting of mine, let me, please, inform your love that I am, the Lord be praised, in fairly good health according to the flesh; and according to the spirit, God be praised, my mind is still set to fear the Lord all the days of my life, according to my weak ability. Furthermore, my dearest, I have the same confidence about you, that you are well both in soul and body, prepared to live and to die to the glory of the Lord. May this worshipful, good God, who has broken the bow of the mighty, and who according to the word of the prophet gives both wine and milk without price out of His gracious goodness (Isaiah 55, verse 1), strengthen and confirm you and all of us in this lion's den, where we are so severely assailed on every side and so greatly distressed, like Israel when they were surrounded by Holofernes. Judith 7. Indeed, the false elders distress us so that we, like Susanna, can find no place of escape anywhere, but see death before our eyes on every side; for our persecutors are evening wolves that leave nothing over until the morning. Habakkuk 1, verse 8. So we may well say with David: "They break Your people in pieces, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. They kill the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood." Psalm 94, verses 5, 6, and 21.

But, my dearly beloved, let us not lose heart because of this, though we are now tried in the furnace of affliction, for the prophet says: "Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord, and whom You teach out of Your law, that he may have patience in the day of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance. For He regards the prayer of the destitute, and does not despise their petitions; for He looks down from the height of His sanctuary, and from heaven the Lord beholds the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner." Psalm 94, verses 12 to 14; Psalm 102, verses 17, 19, and 20. For Sara said: "This I truly know: if a man serves God, he is comforted after temptation, and delivered from affliction, and after chastisement he finds grace. For You, O Lord, do not delight in our destruction; for after the storm You cause the sun to shine again, and after weeping and mourning You give us joy in abundance. Eternal praise to Your name, O God of Israel, for with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we see light." Tobit 3, verse 11; Psalm 36, verse 9.

So, my love, O my dearest love, let us patiently drink the cup of the Lord, for we know, according to the words of Isaiah, that truth has fallen in the street, and that he who turns from his evil ways is the spoil of everyone. Isaiah 59, verses 14 and 15. For Esdras says: "For in every place, and in the neighboring cities, there shall be a great uprising against those who fear the Lord. They (the ungodly) shall be like madmen, sparing no one, but still plundering and destroying those who fear the Lord. For they shall waste and take away their goods, and cast them out of their houses. Then they shall be known (says the Lord), who are My chosen; and they shall be tried like gold in the fire." Second Esdras 16, verses 70 to 73.

Therefore, O my chosen love, my lamb, let us give our back to those who strike us for a little while yet, and look to the author of our faith, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who for our sakes was so abused and disfigured that He Himself says:

"If they have done these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry." Luke 23, verse 31. So, O my love, my dearest love, let us think as Paul did, that our light affliction, which is only for a moment, will afterward work for us a far greater and eternal weight of glory. Second Corinthians 4, verse 17. For Solomon says: "But the righteous live forever; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the Most High. Therefore they shall receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand; for with His right hand He will cover them, and with His arm He will protect them." [n1085-1] Wisdom 5, verses 15 and 16. Therefore, O my dear lamb, let us diligently pray the Lord that we may be worthy at His coming to live with Him forever and ever.

Further, my chosen, dearly beloved, know that I do not know much more to write to you, but I commend you into the hands of the Lord, and bid you adieu if I should write to you no more; for our enemies are now so greatly enraged at us that they gnash their teeth at us, just as they did at Stephen in the judgment hall. So I still give you this letter, just as Israel, when they were bound, gave their children the last milk. And furthermore I thank you, O my love, for all your pure love and sincere friendship, and I also thank you very much for the sleeves you made me; they serve me better than the coat that was sent to me. Sirach said rightly that one friend helps the other in time of need, but husband and wife much more still.

Once more I take leave and bid you adieu; O adieu, Beliken, my dearest. Greet those who are with you for me. Adrian also greets you much.

Written by me, your dear husband and brother in the Lord.

MAERTEN VAN DER STRATEN.

Pray for me.