ANOTHER LETTER FROM HANS BRET, WRITTEN TO HIS BELOVED MOTHER, THE 5TH OF JULY 1576.

The unspeakable love, grace and peace of God our dear heavenly Father, who is a Father full of grace and truth, rich and abundant in mercy and loving kindness, through the bitter suffering and death of his only Son our Savior, who loved us, and washed us from all our sins in his blood, and from all the unrighteousness that we have done. The power of the Holy Ghost strengthen you, and comfort you in all your tribulation, affliction and sorrow which you have for Christ’s word and truth, in your persecution and suffering, in your grief which you may have, as I understand, for my sake according to the flesh. May he strengthen you in the faith of the truth, wherein you now stand, which God has revealed to you out of grace, that you may overcome all sorrowfulness of the flesh, which you may have. This, I your son, wish you my chosen mother, with all my heart, to the salvation of your soul, that we may meet together, and may, with all those that have endured unto the end in the belief of the truth, hear that glad and joyful voice of the only Son of God: “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom of my Father, prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Amen.

My affectionately beloved mother, whom I love from the heart, I commend myself to you with all my heart, and inform you my chosen mother, that I did not think that I should write you this letter yet; but since it has pleased the good God, to keep me in life until this present hour, I cannot forbear, my dearest mother, to write you this parting letter, perhaps the last in my life, and bid you, my dear mother, adieu. For according to what I hear, the time of my deliverance is near at hand; yet I know not to this hour when, except that I hear that it is 994 to be to-morrow, that I am to hear my sentence. Not that I hear concerning myself alone, but of several, of whom I think that I am one, if it pleases the Lord. We have indeed heard this often, but whether they do it to frighten us, I do not know. I have never heard it from the people here in the house, but from a girl of M.’s people that is imprisoned here; she has told it me. If it is the will of the Lord, let it be done, I am well resigned thereto. The Lord be thanked, who strengthens me poor, weak man here in these my bonds, by his Holy Spirit, to resist all that should be a hindrance or harm to my soul; for it is the day for which I have longed; the Lord grant me strength unto the end, that I may finish my conflict with joy, and gain the victory, to the praise, glory, and honor of the Lord’s holy name. Amen. Eph. 3:16; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Cor. 15:57.

Since, then, my dear mother, it has pleased the good God, to count me, your son, worthy to suffer for his name, to help fulfill the number of the righteous that are under the altar, and rest till the number of their brethren is fulfilled, who must also be killed as they; console yourself herein, my dear mother, and be not grieved on my account, this I pray you; for, dear mother, the Lord has called me to a better place than to remain in this wicked, evil world. Though it is grievous to the flesh, I will not regard it for the joy of which I shall partake with all God’s righteous ones; for I say with Paul: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Rom. 8:18.

O my dearest mother, who should not long for this glory; who should not strive for it, and say with Paul: “I groan and desire to be out of this flesh; for I look for another dwelling, that is not made with hands, but which is eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. 5. Then shall we, as John says, see him in whom we now believe, not seeing him; then shall we behold him with our own eyes, whose brightness is greater than that of the sun. 1 John 3:2; 1 Pet. 1:8; Job 19:27. Who should now regard this suffering or pain that can be inflicted upon the flesh, and yet not without the Lord’s permission, for when they have done all that they can, according to the words of Christ, they can but kill the body, but over the soul they have no power; for we read in the book of Wisdom, that the souls of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord. Matthew 10:28; Wis. 3:1.