# A Letter From Jan Gerrits To The Lutheran Preacher. · Page 4 of 5 [Previous page: A LETTER FROM JAN GERRITS TO THE LUTHERAN PREACHER.](/en/stories/mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher/part-3/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: A LETTER FROM JAN GERRITS TO THE LUTHERAN PREACHER.](/en/stories/mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher/part-5/) The following was written by Jan Gerritts, although it is not contained in the first edition. Thus they were first asked. If you also ask the brethren this, and they say yes, it is well; for the apostles baptized upon faith and not otherwise. For if the eunuch had said: I cannot believe, Philip would not have baptized him. But he said: I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Acts 8:37. This is my faith, too, and nothing else. Again, when the multitude at Jerusalem heard Peter’s exhortation, they were alarmed, and asked: “What shall we do?” Hear the good advice: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And they that gladly received the word were baptized. Acts 2:37, Do your infants also do thus? then you are the old foundation; for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, his word and example. The jailer rejoiced with all his house that he had become a believer. Acts 16:34. Are your infants also believers? then it is well. Peter preached in the house of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian band, and the Holy Ghost fell on the Gentiles as well as on the Jews. Acts 10:44,45. Were there also infants present, on whom the Holy Ghost fell? And this is what I asked you before we parted, when the servant came to spread the table, and you said: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and this with reference to infant baptism. I then asked what became of the Spirit, but you gave me no reply. For John says: The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. John 3:8. Do children feel the Holy Spirit? Nicodemus was a carnal man, and experienced nothing concerning the Spirit of God; hence Christ referred him to a child as we find stated, Matthew 18:3. To be born again through the water from carnality into the Spirit is as Christ himself says, John 3:5. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” A man, what else does this signify, than, he that is carnally minded, as the aforesaid Nicodemus; for to be carnally minded is death; it does not mean children, for they do not feel it. But to be spiritual is life and peace, as Paul testifies. And to the Galatians he says: If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Gal. 5:18. As also Peter says: “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”. 1 Peter 2:1,2. Thus do also; lay aside the great conceitedness and presumptuousness of your heart, and build yourself up, a lively stone in the house of God, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. These sacrifices are the works of righteousness, and not human inventions, reason, or ordinances of outward sacrifices. Behold, with this consciousness we go on, or, this assurance is sufficient and valuable enough to us, to forsake property and life for Christ’s sake, which is far from being the case with you people. In short, we do not seal the epistle of Christ before it is written; we do not sow before the field is well plowed with the Spirit and word of God; we do not sail, before we have favorable weather and wind; but you would have the child of the mother before it has been borne its proper time. But we can well wait till it has been borne its proper time and is brought forth by the mother. Who can forbear to speak of what everybody sees? And thus we recognize baptism in the Scriptures as a command of the Lord, and a certain clear practice of the apostles. Moreover, we also clearly see, what cause baptism has, why it is administered, what benefits it brings, to what people it is adapted, and what other name it has in the Scriptures. It is, in the first place, a grave of sin, an entering into the church of God, a putting on of Christ, a fleeing from the wrath of God, a washing of regeneration, and the seal of a good conscience toward God. And he that forsakes or rejects this forsakes and rejects the counsel and word of God. ## Original source [Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_657) [Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855) [Previous page: A LETTER FROM JAN GERRITS TO THE LUTHERAN PREACHER.](/en/stories/mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher/part-3/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: A LETTER FROM JAN GERRITS TO THE LUTHERAN PREACHER.](/en/stories/mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher/part-5/) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/stories/mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher/part-4/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+A+Letter+From+Jan+Gerrits+To+The+Lutheran+Preacher.+%C2%B7+Page+4+of+5&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AA+Letter+From+Jan+Gerrits+To+The+Lutheran+Preacher.+%C2%B7+Page+4+of+5%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fstories%2Fmm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher%2Fpart-4%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-a-letter-from-jan-gerrits-to-the-lutheran-preacher--b00037-o000000%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+16th+century+%28source+section%29%0A%0A%23%23+Correction+or+addition%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Sources+and+evidence%0APlease+include+book%2Fpage+references%2C+archive+links%2C+or+first-hand+documentation.%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Image+credit+%28if+applicable%29%0ACreator%2C+source%2C+and+permission+or+public-domain+basis.%0A%0A%0A%0ASubmitted+for+review%3B+this+issue+does+not+publish+changes+automatically.)