# Another Edifying Letter And Exhortation Of Joost Verkindert, Written In His Imprisonment, The 20th Of June, To The Church Of God At A. · Page 2 of 3

[Previous page: ANOTHER EDIFYING LETTER AND EXHORTATION OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN IN HIS IMPRISONMENT, THE 20TH OF JUNE, TO THE CHURCH OF GOD AT A.](/en/stories/mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: ANOTHER EDIFYING LETTER AND EXHORTATION OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN IN HIS IMPRISONMENT, THE 20TH OF JUNE, TO THE CHURCH OF GOD AT A.](/en/stories/mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o/part-3/)

My affectionately beloved brethren and sisters in
the Lord, receive this letter from your poor, weak
brother in good part; for it has been written at the
request of some brethren, if peradventure you
might be comforted and refreshed a little by our
simple epistle, for we have written these few lines
out of cordial affection, and because we should exhort
one another while it is called to-day; for we
hope soon, by the grace of the Lord, here to put
off our flesh. Heb. 3:13; 2 Pet. 1:14.

O friends, the way that leads into life is so strait
and narrow; but the way that leads into hell is so
broad and easy for the flesh. Truly indeed does
the prophet Isaiah say, that hell has opened wide
her mouth, and both princes and the common people
descend into it, yea, they go to hell like sheep
to the slaughter. Is. 5:14.

Hence, my dear friends, let us take diligent
heed, that we may not have received the grace
of God in vain; but let us constantly remember the
days of our illumination, and how little we then
were in our own eyes, when we humbled ourselves
under the mighty hand of God, yielding up ourselves
entirely, to serve the Lord in holiness and
righteousness acceptable before him. Heb. 10:32;
1 Pet. 5:6; Luke 1:75. For we were then all like
Saul when he was anointed king, who was of the
least of the tribes of Israel and little in his own
eyes. But when he became proud, the Lord rejected
him. For the Lord said to Samuel: “Go and tell
Saul to destroy Amalek from the earth, both man
and beast.” But Saul followed his own judgment
and spared the king, and the best of the oxen, and
of the sheep, to sacrifice them to the Lord; whereby
he transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and
was disobedient to his voice, notwithstanding the
Lord desired obedience and not sacrifice, 1 Sam. 15.

Behold, dear friends, for what a small matter Saul
was rejected; hence let us take good heed, for he is
still the same God. This is also the case with part
of us, that we take too great liberty in our faith, in
consequence of which we are rejected, and then do
not know ourselves where the fault lies. Now a
spirit of contention comes upon us, causing the
pious to sigh and mourn: so that thereby division
and schism are wrought in the church of God,
which mostly occurs where Christians have great
liberty. How much it is now like it was in the
days of Israel; when they were in peace [from without],
they waged war against one another, so that
many thousands fell, when they fought against the
Benjamites. Judg. 20. Hence, my dear brethren
and sisters, let Christ Jesus be an example unto you,
who has called us in peace. 1 Cor. 7:15. For the
fruit of the Spirit is all manner of goodness, righteousness,
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Eph. 5:9.
And let us take good heed that we do not become
like the church of Laodicea, which was neither cold
nor hot, and thought she was rich and increased
with goods, and had need of nothing. But the
Spirit answered her, saying: “I command thee to
buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve,
that thou mayest see.” Rev. 3:18. Hence, it is
daily necessary to exhort one another with the word
of the Lord, which is the true mirror and plumb-line
by which to measure our life and conversation according
to our weakness. I say according to our
weak ability; for if God should enter into judgment
with us, no one could stand before him. Ps. 143:2.
Hence, no man may or can justify himself before
God. But we must always remain debtors, remembering
that we come short in many things. Matthew
6:12.

Let us therefore take diligent heed, and have our
predecessors constantly before our eyes, namely,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the prophets,
who were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,
and sought a country, a city that had foundations,
whose builder and maker was God; and experienced
tribulation and affliction, stripes and imprisonments;
of whom the world was not worthy. Heb. 11. And
Christ Jesus himself had not so much in the world
as upon which to lay his blessed head, for he says:
“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head.” Matt. 8:20. But he had to flee away everywhere
(Matt. 2:13), even as his members must still
do at the present day. For he who confesses Christ
Jesus in power is a prey to every one, and is cursed,
and banished as a rebel and heretic, yea, condemned
to and exterminated with the severest death that
they can devise. May the complaint ascend to God
in high heaven, of the great and miserable blindness.
They perpetually cry: “The decree must be
observed,” not once considering whether it is right
or wrong; though some nevertheless say that no one
ought to be put to death for the faith’s sake.



## Original source

[Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_812)

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

[Previous page: ANOTHER EDIFYING LETTER AND EXHORTATION OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN IN HIS IMPRISONMENT, THE 20TH OF JUNE, TO THE CHURCH OF GOD AT A.](/en/stories/mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: ANOTHER EDIFYING LETTER AND EXHORTATION OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN IN HIS IMPRISONMENT, THE 20TH OF JUNE, TO THE CHURCH OF GOD AT A.](/en/stories/mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o/part-3/)

---

Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/stories/mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o/part-2/

[Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+Another+Edifying+Letter+And+Exhortation+Of+Joost+Verkindert%2C+Written+In+His+Imprisonment%2C+The+20th+Of+June%2C+To+The+Church+Of+God+At+A.+%C2%B7+Page+2+of+3&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AAnother+Edifying+Letter+And+Exhortation+Of+Joost+Verkindert%2C+Written+In+His+Imprisonment%2C+The+20th+Of+June%2C+To+The+Church+Of+God+At+A.+%C2%B7+Page+2+of+3%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fstories%2Fmm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o%2Fpart-2%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-another-edifying-letter-and-exhortation-of-joost-verkindert-written-in-his-imprisonment-the-20th-of-june-to-the-church-o--b00011-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.)