A LETTER BY HANS VON OVERDAM, WHICH HE SENT TO THE LORDS OF THE LAW, AT GHENT AND TO THE COUNCILORS, THE DAY BEFORE HIS APPREHENSION.

Understand well:

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, and he that reads, let him attend, and judge with the understanding of the holy Scriptures; but woe to him that judges without understanding. Hearken, I speak to you, O carnal generation, you Ishmaelites, who boast of being Christians, because you are born of water without the Spirit, and persecute the children of the promise, who, through faith in the word of God, are born of the water and of the Spirit; yea, you persecute them, as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, as Esau did Jacob, and as the Jews persecuted Christ. Even so the antichristians, who are born of the flesh, now persecute the Christians, who are born of the Spirit, who shall receive the promise of the everlasting kingdom through Christ, who is the heir of all things, and causes his kingdom to be proclaimed through the Gospel, unto repentance and true sorrow for dead works, through faith in him; they contemn his witnesses, etc. This is the wind, O eagle, mark! which bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. Hear now his voice, which the Most High has reserved unto the latter times, to reveal to thee thy transgressions and punishment, who now begins to deliver his people through much misery and tribulation.

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Therefore, mark! O thou eagle, the end of thy time is very nigh; art thou not the fourth beast? O yes, thou art the beast seen by Daniel (Dan. 7:7), which devoured everything with his iron teeth, and stamped the residue with his feet, and brought forth the most wicked little horn. Dan. 7:7,8. Thou hast dwelt a long time upon the earth with deceit, and hast not judged the earth with truth. For thou hast afflicted the meek, thou hast hurt the peaceable, thou hast loved liars, and destroyed the dwellings of them that brought forth fruit, and hast cast down the walls of such as did thee no harm. Therefore is thy wrongful dealings come up unto the Highest, and thy pride unto the Mighty. And therefore appear no more, thou eagle, that the earth may be refreshed, and may return, being delivered from thy violence, and that she may hope for the judgment and mercy of him that made her, whose judgment shall be better and more just than thine, O thou eagle! Therefore, shall thy wicked heads which remain to the last, be the end of the eagle to accomplish his most wicked wickedness, together with his wicked feathers, which also are kept unto the last. Therefore hear, vain body of eagle, who vainly boast of what you are not, namely, Christians. Hear also, you most wicked claws, which are willing and ready to destroy and rend what your most wicked heads command you, through the counsel of liars, whom they love. Why do you rejoice in the misery and fall of the poor lambs and sucklings, who feed still on milk, and whom you keep imprisoned with violence, and whose souls you murder with false, deceitful wiles: who have heard the truth only a year or two at the most; you have none as yet, that can instruct you in all the articles of faith? Be ashamed of your boasting, that through your carnal, blind, learned men you have overcome the innocent, with subtle, deceitful wiles and broken Scriptures. Oh woe, woe! for the great misery and the terrible times, that wickedness has gained so much the upper hand, that truth is not permitted as much as openly to defend itself. Let the misery, violence, and great distress of the pregnant and the sucklings of these times ascend to the ears of the Most High, because no help, comfort, or assistance can be rendered them by those whom the Lord has endowed with more grace and gifts to stop the mouths of adversaries.

But perhaps you say: Let them come forward then, that are better endowed, and have received more grace. To this we reply, that the wolf might call for a long while before the sheep would come; they well knowing that he would tear them with great cruelty, and without right and reason. Alas, alas! what awful judgment and terrible punishment from the fierce and devouring wrath of God shall fall upon those who without mercy distress, persecute and murder the innocent and godfearing, and themselves live so ungodly in all the unrighteous works of the flesh, so that they shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. O, thou spiritual Babylon, how shall the Lord visit and avenge upon you the innocent souls and the blood of his witnesses; for all this is found in thee. Thou hast made the kings of the earth, and all nations, so drunken with the wine of spiritual whoredom, that they can neither see nor hear the truth. O that we might once freely defend ourselves publicly with the word of God, in the presence of a large, flaming fire, against all you learned doctors, licentiates, priests and monks, who help strengthen, protect, preserve and maintain the kingdom of antichrist, and that the vanquished party should be cast into the fire; then it would not be necessary to torment and distress the poor, innocent lambs, and your faith could be tried, as to how it accords with the truth; then there would be no need of washing the hands with Pilate, or of the imperial mandate, and the authorities would remain free from the blood of the innocent, if they would not let the word of God be judge over the faith. But no, the false prophets and deceivers well know that their trickery and deceit would be made far too much manifest thereby. Therefore they cry just as assiduously as did the scribes and Pharisees; “Crucify him, crucify him.” The mandate of the Emperor must prevail. Thus it was in the beginning of the fourth beast, and so it is now at the end of it. Let him that can comprehend with it, observe with understanding, that the end is the worst of all.