Another Letter from Hans Bret, Written and Sent to his Brother David

Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, through His only Son Jesus Christ, our Savior; the comfort and power of the Holy Ghost, furthering to a true faith; the true heavenly wisdom, the true regeneration, the fear of God, this I wish my dear and affectionately beloved brother, to the salvation of your soul. Amen.

My dear brother, the reason for my writing is to inform you of my imprisonment, so that you may not think that it is for any evil or any unfaithfulness or heresy, as many evil tongues may probably pretend and report, thereby to grieve you and harden your heart, so that you would not believe the genuine truth, but remain in your belief; for Satan constantly walks about men, as Peter says (First Peter 2, verse 8), as a roaring lion, seeking whose soul he may devour and draw away from what is good, for he is the enemy of all good, who always hates and seeks to resist what is good.

But, dear brother, do not listen to such people, for it is the suggestion of Satan; but give ear to the Word of God, the genuine truth, as James says, and let it be grafted into your soul, so that it may save your soul, and you may live forever. James 1, verse 21.

Therefore, my beloved, awake at last from the sleep of sin, and Christ will give you light (Ephesians 5, verse 14); for you have walked in sin and unrighteousness long enough; it is about time to flee sin and shun unrighteousness, so that you are not punished with all the ungodly, who have not lived according to the will of God, nor listened to the truth, but have walked according to their own lusts. They follow the lusts of their flesh, and live, as Paul says to the Galatians (5, verses 19 to 21), in pride, covetousness, drunkenness, adultery, strife, hatred, contention, and other works like these.

O dear brother, let such works not be found with you; for such people, says Paul, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, for such a carnal life is an abomination in the eyes of God, for Paul says to the Romans that such a carnal mind is enmity against God, and cannot please God. For the wages of sin is eternal death, but the gift of God is eternal life. First Corinthians 6, verse 10; Psalm 5, verse 5; Romans 8, verse 7; Romans 6, verse 23.

My dear, flee such works, and turn to the Lord and you will live. Isaiah 55, verse 3. Remember the instruction that Tobit gave his son, when he says

"My son, do not let pride dwell or rule in your heart. " Tobit 4, verse 13. For Ecclesiasticus says: " That pride is hateful before God, and that it is the beginning of all sin, and whoever has to do with it will be destroyed with many curses." Ecclesiasticus 10, verse 13. So shun now all pride and all sin, and set yourself to serve the Lord, renouncing all the lusts of the flesh. [n1162-1]

"Seek the Lord," says the prophet, "while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him." Isaiah 55, verse 7.

My dear brother, turn to the Lord while you have time; do not wait until death to amend your life, like many who say that if they have an hour in which to repent, it is enough for them. Oh, do not put it off like that, and do not follow such counsel, but follow the counsel of Ecclesiasticus, who says: "Repent while you are still able to sin." And again: "Do not delay to return to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day; for the wrath of the Lord will come forth suddenly." Ecclesiasticus 5, verse 7. Therefore no time can be set, for we are not assured of a single hour, nor does anyone know how long he will live. Job 14, verse 1.

Therefore remember the words of Christ, who says that He will come as a thief in the night; if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would watch, and would not let his house be broken into. Luke 12, verse 39. Seeing then that we have neither hour nor time, watch constantly with the wise virgins, who were not found sleeping when the bridegroom came. Matthew 25. If you would therefore enter in with the Bridegroom to the marriage, as the wise virgins did, put away from you (as the prophet says, Isaiah 1, verse 16) all that is evil, and the Lord will be your God, and you will be His son.

My dearest brother, love what is good, and it will be well with you; fear the Lord with all your heart, and your soul will lodge in goodness, and your seed will inherit the earth; for the prophet David says: "That the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, and who hope in his mercy; and he will deliver their soul from death; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 25, verse 13; Psalm 33, verses 18 and 19; Psalm 111, verse 10.

Therefore have God always before your eyes in what you do, and you will prosper in it; always love what is good, and hate what is evil, so that the Lord may be with you, as you have spoken, says the prophet Amos, chapter 5, verse 14. Follow the advice of Paul, Romans 12, verse 21, where he says: "Overcome evil with good." Oh, then it will be well with you, and you will find rest in your soul. Matthew 11, verse 29. Let there be found in you at last the true faith which works by love, and which so far has not brought forth much fruit in you. Galatians 5, verse 6. Therefore it is time now to awake at last and seek Christ, so that you may live and enter by the right door into the sheepfold. John 11, verse 25; John 10, verse 7.

Therefore give ear now to the voice of Christ, who says: "If you will enter into life, keep the commandments." Consider well that the Lord would have us practice His Word and truth, and not do like many who indeed have the Word of God in their mouth, and hear it, but do not live according to it, but let it enter in at one ear and out at the other; indeed, what is more, though they well know that sin and unrighteousness must be shunned and avoided, as soon as they have heard the word they go on again in sin, in drunkenness, in adultery, in gambling, and so on. But to take the Testament or Bible into their hands, to read, and to spend their time in godliness, that would be far too much; but they follow their own lusts, namely, the lust of their father, the devil, for he delights in all such works: for whoever commits sin is of the devil, says John; for the devil sins from the beginning. John 8, verse 44; First John 3, verse 8. Therefore, dear brother, have no fellowship with such persons, but seek those who fear the Lord and live according to His Word, and keep it, for Christ says: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Luke 11, verse 28. Now you may perceive that those are blessed (saved) who keep the Word of God, and govern themselves in accordance with it. For in Matthew 7, verse 23, Christ declares that He will say to all those who have not kept His word, nor practiced it: "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity; I do not know you." O brother, take good heed that you do not hear this voice, but that you may hear that glad voice, with all God's righteous ones who have lived according to the word of the Lord: "Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom of my Father, prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matthew 25, verse 34. What a joy it will be to hear this, for the good who have walked in the fear of the Lord.

My brother, give ear now to the word of the Lord, so that we may meet there, and hear the glad voice, which I pray the Lord will grant us through His only Son, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Brother, I must stop, for my paper is giving out; so take this simple letter in good part, for I have written it out of love; and ponder it well, for it is not my word, but the word of the Lord, for His mouth has spoken it. Amen.

I hope to explain to you, dear brother, the cause of my imprisonment, so that you may not grieve, but rejoice, and thank the Lord for it. I thank the Lord that He has opened my dark eyes, and looked upon me with the eyes of His mercy, when I was sunk in sin, indeed, expected nothing but eternal death and damnation; indeed, I was without God in the world, and I lived in sins beyond number, which were an abomination before the eyes of God, so that if God entered into judgment with me, I could not stand in His sight, but would pass away like dust before the wind, because of my countless sins. Psalm 143, verse 2; Psalm 1, verse 5. But the Lord, who through His unspeakable love, out of grace, caused His word to be proclaimed to me by His servants, concerning His Son Christ Jesus, that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life. John 3, verse 15. So I heard that there was no means of obtaining salvation except through His Son Christ Jesus, who died the death for our sins, and shed His blood for us, for the washing away of our unrighteousness, just as John says: "That the blood of Christ cleanses us from all our sins." Acts 13, verse 38; First Corinthians 15, verse 3; Ephesians 1, verse 7; First John 1, verse 7. And when I heard the words of Christ: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; I, poor man, laden with sins and countless wickednesses, made my complaint to Christ, bewailed my sins, and He forgave and remitted them to me through His shed blood, when I confessed them before Him. Matthew 11, verse 28; Psalm 32, verse 5. So, dear brother, I forsook my sins, from day to day, according to my ability, and sought to walk the narrow way, and separated myself from the wicked, perverse world, and sought to please Christ, yet not as I would, for I constantly felt the Spirit striving against the flesh, as Paul says, Galatians 5, verse 17. And Job says that man's life upon earth is nothing but a constant warfare. Job 7, verse 1. So, dear brother, I sought to please the Lord, and not the world, which the enemy could not endure any longer, who hates all that is good, and cannot endure it, but seeks to quench it. He has shown, and still shows, his power on me too, but has not been able to do any more than the Lord permits him; indeed, when he has done all, he can only kill the body, but over the soul he has no power, for the Lord gives us strength through His Holy Spirit to resist it. Matthew 10, verse 28; Ephesians 3, verse 16; First Peter 5, verse 9. So, dear brother, my imprisonment is not for any evil, but for the truth, and for the confession of the holy word of the Lord. So rejoice in it, that the Lord counts me worthy to suffer for His name, and to offer up my body to the praise of His holy name. Acts 5, verse 41. Consider that it has been this way with all God's righteous ones, from the beginning of the world until the present day. So, my brother, be resigned to the work of the Lord, for this is how it went with Christ our Captain. If they have done this to the Lord, how will it be with His followers? For Christ says: "The servant is not greater than his lord, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." John 13, verse 16. So I hope, by the grace of the Lord, that He will give me strength through His Holy Spirit, to confess His Word and truth as long as there is breath in my mouth, just as I have done up to this hour; so I now expect nothing else than my sentence, to be placed at the stake in the market place, to be burned there. Comfort yourself in this, and thank the Lord for it, that He counts me worthy to suffer for His name. Thus I have now briefly written the cause of my imprisonment, so that you might the better console yourself in it, and not give ear or belief to every evil tongue, as I hope mother will write you. If it is in any way possible I hope to write you my faith, if I get paper; and if I should not, I hope that mother will write it to you, so that you will not grieve, as though I died in unbelief, as Satan may pretend, and as may possibly also have been written to you; but I pray you, give no ear or belief to it, for that for which I suffer is the genuine truth and the true faith in Christ Jesus, since Christ and His apostles taught it, of which Paul says

"Though an angel from heaven should come, and teach you otherwise than I have taught you, let him be accursed." Galatians 1, verse 8. So, dear brother, I would write you more, but I have no more paper now. Farewell, the Lord be with you; and I greet you, dear brother, with a holy kiss, for I think that you will see my face no more.

By me, your brother, who is imprisoned for the testimony of God, and for the holy word and truth of the Lord.

HANS BRET.