Another Letter from Christiaen Rijcen

Grace, peace and love from God the heavenly Father, through His Son Jesus Christ. Amen. This I wish you, my dear and beloved wife, as an affectionate greeting in the Lord.

And after all greeting, I, Christiaen Rijcen, inform you, my dear wife, that I am in reasonably good health (praise and glory to the Lord for His grace), as I trust is the case with you also. [n1186-1] Only that I have a little pain in my throat, so that because of it my appetite is not very good; but otherwise it still goes very well with me. It is still my purpose (the Lord be praised) to obey the Lord and to continue in His commandments all the days of my life, by the help of the Lord. Know further that I received your letter, and I rejoice that you always comfort me by the treasures which you send me; and I thank you greatly from the heart that you write these treasures for my consolation, for they come to me very conveniently, since I think a great deal every day, because of the long time that I must remain here: sometimes sorrowful, sometimes of good cheer, and so the time passes away with great longing. O my dearest love, I think that this is also the case with you. But my dear wife, let us persevere firmly until we are taken from here, for now is the time of which we have been told, that we must enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation, and that we must weep and lament while the world rejoices; we must now be sorrowful, but our sorrow shall be turned into joy. And Paul also tells us: "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ." Second Corinthians 1, verse 5. And Paul further says: "Though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Second Corinthians 4, verses 16 to 18. Hence, my dear wife, we must now have respect to what Moses had respect to, and esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, and always have respect to the reward, and by faith forsake the Egyptian nation, and not fear the cruelty of the king, but always hold fast to the invisible God, as though we saw Him. Thus, my dear wife, I commend you and my children to this same God, that He will keep you and provide for you in all your needs, for I do not know whether I shall be able to write you any more. I now expect a change soon, for the bailiff has come, so that it seems to me there may probably be a change in my situation. You wrote me about that man at Cassel; but I do not think that he was of our faith, for the priest considers us the worst sect under heaven. Hence it may turn out differently with me than with the man at Cassel, for we are the filth or offscouring of this world. For the priests said to me that in the last council of Trent we were denied all countries, and had no liberty. Hence, my dear wife, if I too must be one to fulfill the number, be patient; this I ask of you, and do the best you can with the children, and commit your matters to the Lord, and hope in Him; He will bring it to pass, for Sirach says: "The Lord never forsook any who remained in the fear of God, nor any who put their hope in him." Ecclesiasticus 2. [n1186-2]

With this, I commend my dear wife to the Lord, and to the rich Word of His grace. Amen.

Greet the acquaintances who are with you warmly in my name, and always keep yourself pure in the fear of God.

Written on the 12th of March, 1588, by me, your husband.

CHRISTIAEN RIJCEN.