A Testament Written By Jelis Bernaerts To His Wife, When He Lay In Prison At Antwerp, Where He Was Put To Death For The Word Of The Lord, A. D. 1559.

Now, my most beloved, since through the grace of God you have heard the Gospel, which has been preached in all the world (Rom. 8:18), and believe in it, and have been obedient to it, and are yet, as I trust through the grace of the Lord, and have put on Christ, let him therefore be shown forth in you, even as the image of the Father is shown forth in Christ, through words and miracles, as you have also always shown him forth by a pure Christian conversation; and thus truly follow Christ, since he is the true Moses, who went before us. Follow him valiantly, no matter what you meet with in this wilderness, whether it be tribulation or affliction, suffering or persecution; be of good courage, Christ is gone before; follow him boldly, for the servant is not better than his lord, nor the disciple above his master, nor the wife above her husband, nor the maid above her mistress; but it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, the servant as his lord, the wife as her husband, the maid as her mistress.

Therefore, dear sister in the Lord, be of good cheer, and consider the long suffering and patience of Christ, and all the pious witnesses who from the beginning until now have followed Christ. Jas. 5:10. He did not leave them without comfort, nor does he leave us, who are imprisoned here for the same testimony’s sake, without comfort, but wonderfully comforts and strengthens us through the power of the Holy Ghost, eternal praise to him for it.

Hence be of good courage, continue without ceasing in prayer and supplication, and thus show that you are a child of the New Testament, that the law of the Lord is written in your heart, and is thus read. May the merciful Father strengthen you to this end, through his Son, and the power of his Holy Spirit. Herewith (since my paper is exhausted) I commend you, my dear wife, to the Lord, and to the word of his grace.

Written in my bonds, on Monday, by me,

Jelis Bernaerts, your dear husband.