A Testament Written By Mattheus Bernaerts, Called Van Lincken, Imprisoned In Ghent, To His Children, Janneken, Joosken And Mijntken.

This in brief is our belief respecting baptism, and we, moreover, renounce everything that has been instituted by men, contrary to it.

We further have from the word of God the Supper, or breaking of bread, which the Lord himself instituted, and commanded his apostles, for a remembrance of his sufferings and death, as Paul writes: “The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” 1 Cor. 11:23–29. Thus did Christ Jesus institute the Supper with bread and wine, to be used in the Christian assembly, in the name of the Lord, for a token of brotherly love and unity, for a sign that we, through his merits, by faith in his holy name, have become partakers of Christ, the true bread from heaven, as Paul declares: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. 1 Cor. 10:16,17. But they that are meet for this bread must have died unto sin, and have buried it [sin] by baptism, and have risen again with Christ in a godly Christian life; they must have become new creatures in Christ, and been cleansed in his blood; they must be saved by the washing of water by the word, be flesh of Christ’s flesh, and bone of his bones; they must be partakers of the divine nature, and further flee all 902 the perishing lusts of this world; they must also by one Spirit be baptized into one body, and have been made to drink into one Spirit. 2 Cor. 5:17; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Cor. 12:13. This Supper is wholly perverted by the world, for they hold their supper with harlots and rogues, with drunkards, adulterers, idolaters, liars, thieves, murderers, railers, and sorcerers, of whom it is written, that such shall not inherit the kingdom of God, for their part shall be in the fiery lake which shall burn with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Gal. 5:21; Rev. 21:8. They also believe that in eating the bread and drinking the cup they eat the real body of Christ, and drink his real blood, whereas Christ says to the Jews, when they also understood it carnally, even as these do still understand it, that flesh and blood did profit nothing; it is the Spirit that quickeneth: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63. We also find in many places, that Christ sat down on the right hand of his Father in heaven, and that he shall possess heaven, until the time that there will be fulfilled what God has spoken by the mouth of his prophets. Acts 3:21. And because I, my dear children, have from the heart accepted and believed these three articles, from the word of God, as from the mouth of the Lord by the Holy Ghost, and have, according to my weak ability, avoided and shunned evil, and all that is contrary thereunto, as many different abominations, idolatry, infant baptism, the idolatrous, perverted supper, auricular confession, and divers other abominations; therefore I must suffer and die. But it has been so from the beginning of the world, that the righteous have had to suffer much, as Christ says: “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me (John 16:2,3); for “had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Corinthians 2:8. And Christ says: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19.