Another Letter from Hans Bret, Written to Hans C.

The great, unspeakable grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, who is a Father full of grace and truth, a God of comfort and of peace, rich and abundant is His mercy, and inexpressible is His grace and goodness, which He has shown us through His only begotten Son Christ Jesus our Redeemer and Savior, who has redeemed us from the power of Satan, whose slaves and servants we were through our sins and iniquities. But He loved us, says Saint John, and washed and cleansed us in His blood from all our sins and iniquities, with which we were burdened and laden; and made us kings and priests before God His Father. May the invincible power of the Holy Ghost strengthen your inner man, so that you may grow up and increase in the faith of the truth which the good God through His unspeakable grace and mercy has revealed to you; that you may with Joshua and Caleb and all God's righteous ones take the promised land, namely, eternal life. This is the whole wish of my heart to you, my brother in Christ Jesus, to the salvation of your soul. Amen.

My beloved brother in Christ Jesus, sanctified and cleansed, and elected of God, I greet you with this my letter, which I write to you here in these my bonds, out of Christian love, so that you may know how it is with me, for which I cannot sufficiently praise or thank the good God, who has helped me, unworthy one, in all my temptations, so that I can say with the prophet David: "Where is there a God like our God, who never forsakes the one who trusts in Him; for he who trusts in the Lord shall not be ashamed. For the prophet says

He who trusts in the Lord shall not fall, but shall stand forever like Mount Zion." Psalm 125, verse 1. So, dear brother, my trust is in the Lord alone, in whom all the righteous have trusted from the beginning of the world; nor were they put to shame, but in all tribulation and distress the Lord was their helper, and, according to His promise, helped and preserved them in the water and the fire (Isaiah 43, verse 2), as we have many examples of it in the Scriptures, for our instruction. When we consider how God led the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and so delivered them from the hand of cruel Pharaoh, who persecuted them and tried to cross the sea as well, but they all perished; by this you may see how the Lord delivers the one who trusts in Him. Again, consider holy and righteous Daniel, who was in the lions' den, without any food; see, the Lord did not forsake him, but fed him through the prophet Habakkuk. History of the Dragon, verse 34.

So, dear brother, the Lord also feeds those who firmly trust in Him with spiritual food, namely, with His Holy Word, which He has given us as food for our souls. For Christ clearly says that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. Matthew 4, verse 4. For as man is fed and nourished by bread, so the inward man is fed and nourished by the word of the Lord. For as a man perishes when that which is necessary for his sustenance is withheld from him, so also, my dear, when from the inner man, the soul, her food is withheld, namely, the Word of God, by which she is fed and nourished, she perishes; and so it is so necessary that we exhort one another, as the apostle Paul says, while it is called Today, to the keeping of God's commandments, that the inner man may daily be fed and nourished, and by this grow up and become strong. Hebrews 3, verse 13; First Peter 2, verse 2. For the apostle Peter says: "I deem it expedient and profitable, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to exhort you, though you are established in the present truth" ; lest, as Paul says, any of you be seduced or hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Second Peter 1, verses 12 and 13; Hebrews 3, verse 13. So, my dear brother, remember the words of the holy apostle Paul, who says: "Warn those who are disorderly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men." First Thessalonians 5, verse 14.

O my dearest brother, do not grow weary in the ways of the Lord, and do not become slack in keeping God's commandments; have your delight in them day and night, with all God's righteous ones, and say with the prophet David: "Lord, Your Word is a greater comfort and joy to me than all the treasures and riches of this world" and, again: "Your word, O Lord, is dearer to me than much gold or silver." Psalm 1, verse 2; Psalm 119. [n1166-1]

Consider how all God's righteous ones comforted themselves with the word of the Lord. So you also, console yourself with it; remember it all your life; let it be planted in your soul, that it may save you. James 1, verse 21.

Thus, my beloved brother Hans, I bid you adieu; adieu, if it should be the last time that I write to you. I ask you, my dear, persevere steadfastly in exhorting, instructing and teaching, according to the gift which God through His unspeakable grace has given you. If you have received much, dispense liberally; if you have little, share also of that little. Be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. First Peter 3, verse 15. Gain much with what you have received, so that the Lord may say to you: "Come, you faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things." Matthew 25, verse 21. See, dear brother, if a man is faithful to the Lord, He will not leave him unrewarded for it. And so God says in His Revelation to John: "He who remains faithful shall receive the crown of eternal life." Revelation 2, verse 10; Matthew 19, verse 29; James 1, verse 12. You also, my dearest brother, remain faithful, so that you may with all God's righteous ones be crowned with the crown of eternal life; to this end may the good God strengthen you, that you may enjoy this forever. Amen.

My dear brother H., my heart and mind would indeed write you more, according to the little gift which I have unworthily received from the Lord; but I lack paper, and I am afraid that you will hardly be able to read this, since the paper blots so. Oh, I thank you so heartily for what you have so faithfully sent me. I am so glad that I would not be able to describe my joy to you; for I had not heard from you for a long time. I ask you, thank our brother H. very heartily in my name, for his letter, which I could not read without tears, because of his comforting exhortation. He writes me that I should write a letter to A. H. and one to B. O brothers, I would most gladly do so, rather than eat; but the enemies of the truth have prevented me from it, so that I do not know how I could send you the letters. I do not know how I shall send this letter; but I have written it in the hope that our dear Lord would provide a means; and though I would like to write more, I have no more paper. I have written this with a little bilberry juice; I hope that, if it pleases the Lord, you will send me some writing materials, to occupy myself while I must pass my time here. So, dear brother, no more for this time, for want of paper.

With this I bid you adieu; adieu, my brother, adieu. May the God of comfort and of peace, the God of Jacob and of Israel, keep you in the faith of the truth; may He be with you forever. Amen.

I greet you, dear brother, with a holy kiss of peace. Greet my mother very heartily in my name, and all my sisters, and our brother H., my master. Say that I sent her a letter not long ago; but whether she received it, I do not know. Greet all the saints in my name. Grace and peace be with you all. Amen.

Written by me, your weak brother, whom you well know, at present in bonds for the testimony of the Gospel, which is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1, verse 16. HANS BRET.

NOTE. When this great heat of persecution, which the papists had kindled everywhere as far as their jurisdiction extended, began to abate in several cities of Holland and Zealand, and especially in the town of Middelborgh, where the Prince of Orange, William the First, of worshipful memory, had granted liberty of conscience, for the Anabaptists as well as for others, so that many of the innocent and defenseless lambs of Christ settled down there, and in quietness served God with a thankful heart; some of the citizens of that city, though they had previously themselves been under the galling yoke of popery, envied them for this, and obtained so much from the magistrates there, that it was announced to all Anabaptists who sojourned there: That they should have to swear allegiance to that city, in the form of an oath; and, moreover, arm themselves, together with other citizens, with external weapons, to resist the enemy; and that if they did not do this, they should be obliged to cease from their trades and occupations tending to the sustenance of the body, to close their houses, and so on.

This announcement having been made, the Anabaptists, since they did not think it right to swear any oaths, nor to arm themselves with external weapons, had recourse to the aforementioned Prince of Orange, humbly asking of him that they might enjoy the liberty of their conscience, in practicing their faith; and be allowed faithfully to pay all civil imposts, taxes, and the like, together with others, to be believed on their yes and no (according to the doctrine of Christ), in place of the oath, and to keep this truly, without evasion, guile, or subtlety.

Thereupon the Prince, not long after, consented to it, commanding the magistrates there not to ensnare these people with the aforementioned announcement, nor to oppress their consciences with such burdens. These things, since we have obtained full information in regard to them, we consider profitable and expedient to add here, to the praise of the princely house of Nassau, in the hope that it might prove an example for other magistrates who have not yet attained to this gentleness of disposition to follow.