# 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. · Page 1 of 2

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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.

474

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.



## Original source

[Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_474)

[Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855)

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