Christiaen Rijcen Exhorts his Wife Firmly to Trust in the Lord

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

And after all greeting, I inform you, my very dear and beloved wife, that I am still well in soul and body; praise, glory and thanks be forever to the Lord for His great goodness, who has called me to this time, and has kept me, so that I am worthy to suffer a little for His name; and I also trust, by the grace of the Lord, that you and the children are well too, though I understand from your letter that you have had the ague. [n1188-1] I hope in our dear Lord that He will help you, and will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able; but that with this temptation He will also make a way to escape, so that you will be able to bear it. O my dearest love, trust with all your heart in the Lord, and do not forsake your friend who loves your soul, since you have found Him, as the bride in the Song of Songs (chapter 3, verse 4); but hold faithfully to Him, and take Him for your Husband, and for a Father for my children, and diligently instruct my children to obey this Father all the days of their life; and you too, my dear wife, be faithful to your Husband Christ, and do not forsake Him in any distress, for His promises are that He will not forsake you either. I must now leave you with sorrow; but, my dear wife, I hope that we shall find each other in life eternal, where we shall part no more. O my dear wife, I would like it so much if the fight here were fought, so that I might say with Paul: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for us the crown of life." Second Timothy 4, verse 7. Oh, then my heart would rejoice; but there is still conflict here sometimes. This week I have had the pastor and a Franciscan friar with me once more, who came to see whether I would not listen. The pastor said that the recorder had told him that letters had come from the court [to the effect that] if I would not listen, and repent, they knew what they were to do with me. I told the pastor that I wanted to wrong no one; but as for my faith, I said, I have received it from the Lord, and I cannot forsake it. Then they used fair words and said: "If you will listen, you may live here with us, and be a man of honor." I said: "I want to do well, like a man of honor, and to wrong no one; and that if I should do wrong to anyone, they should punish me twice as much as another who had done the same thing as I." [n1188-2] Against this they did not say very much. We had many words, which it would take too long to write. I therefore do not know what they will do with me.

My dear and beloved wife, you must know too that the night after the pastor had been with me, a great terror came upon me, because I thought that they would put me in irons, or place me on the rack, which so terrified me that the sweat came out of my body, so that I was wet from it. This made me very sorrowful, but I remembered Christ, when His sufferings came upon Him so that His sweat rolled from Him as drops of blood, down to the ground; in this I consoled myself a little, and it also seems to me that the Lord sent it to me so that I should not boast of myself, but should rely only upon the Lord and not upon my own strength, as I also hope to do. And I ask my dear wife to help me pray to the Lord, that the Lord will strengthen and confirm me with His Spirit, so that I need not fear men, nor the children of men, since they shall perish as grass.

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

And greet your landlord in my name, and give him this hymn for this time; and greet from me also all the others who live near you. Nothing more for this time, except that I heartily thank you for your comforting treasures, which you send me to my great consolation, for they come very conveniently for me. Farewell, and console yourself in the Lord, for these bonds of mine shall be no disgrace to you, for I have done nothing amiss to anyone (the Lord be praised) who can say anything evil of me, in which I greatly rejoice.

So, my dear wife, be faithful to the Lord, for whoever continues faithful until death shall have the crown of eternal life.

Written on the 27th of March, in the year 1588, by me, your beloved husband. CHRISTIAEN RIJCEN.