# Mr. Jelis Matthijss, Put To Death For The Testimony Of Jesus Christ, At Middleborgh, In The Year A. D. 1564. · Page 3 of 7 [Previous page: MR. JELIS MATTHIJSS, PUT TO DEATH FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, AT MIDDLEBORGH, IN THE YEAR A. D. 1564.](/en/stories/mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564/part-2/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: MR. JELIS MATTHIJSS, PUT TO DEATH FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, AT MIDDLEBORGH, IN THE YEAR A. D. 1564.](/en/stories/mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564/part-4/) Behold, my most chosen and beloved sheep, all this is wrought and set in motion by a single spirit, the old serpent, who neither sleeps nor slumbers, but constantly walks about us, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Pet. 5:8. Hence resist him manfully and with a believing heart, and let it not terrify you, though they so lightly forsake the commandments of the Lord. O, regard not the negligent, slothful and unfaithful; but let all faithless servants and false disciples forsake their Lord and Master, yet we hope nevertheless to adhere to him, and you with me, and are ready to suffer whatever he imposes upon us. Ah! what should we do or undertake, if we should forsake his commandments? whither should we flee, where he should not find us? Oh! heaven and earth must obey him with trembling; mountains and caverns must quake before him, and can not stand in his presence; how much more the children of men, who dwell in houses of clay. Ps. 114:7; Job 4:19. O my dear sheep, wherewith shall they excuse or justify themselves when he shall visit them, who now so unfaithfully depart from him? Alas! alas! it is indeed a lamentable matter, that they have conceived such a loathing for the noble heavenly bread, and that the only medicine by which all the souls of the regenerated have been restored, is become such a deadly enemy to them. Yea, my dear sheep, we may well sigh and lament with the prophet over the destruction of Israel, and over Jerusalem the fair city of God, and this the more because so many Israelites drift into the wilderness of this wicked world, and are again destroyed and slain by the subtle spirit of the serpent. Also, because some of the watchmen are become apostates, and the citizens of Jerusalem, too, are becoming slothful and drowsy, though he who walks around the camp neither rests nor pauses, but diligently seeks day and night, whom he may find idle or sleepy, to sow his tares into the field of the heart, even as he, alas! did not a little in my time, and will still do, the longer the more, according to my opinion. For the more the people of God increase, the more will he reign among them; nor will he rest until he succeed in getting some of them to submit to his will again; and God permits him to torment the pious, and also to seduce them, that the others may be tried. See, my dearest and much beloved children in the Lord, it is therefore my fatherly entreaty and humble request of you, for the sake of the eternal salvation of your souls, that you will henceforth exercise great care that you may remain in the way of righteousness, and always be mindful how you from this time on ought to walk in the house of God, which is the church of God, unto which you have come, whereof I was very glad, when I heard it, and thanked and praised my God for his great fatherly goodness and grace which he has shown you, and has received you as his son and daughter, yea, as heirs of his heavenly riches, on which account you have so voluntarily betaken yourselves under the yoke and rod of the cross, and, with the holy apostle Paul, counted your gain loss, that you might gain your souls in Christ, even as you have done. Hence, take heed to yourselves, and depart or waver neither to the right nor to the left, lest you fall from your own steadfastness, and eternal fire be your inheritance; but as you, my dear sheep, have now put on the Lord Jesus Christ, so continue to walk in him, and remain firmly established and rooted in his doctrine, lest you wax cold or lukewarm in love, and thus lose what you have received and so willingly accepted. 2 Peter 3:17; Col. 2:6; 1 Cor. 4:7. ## Original source [Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_646) [Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855) [Previous page: MR. JELIS MATTHIJSS, PUT TO DEATH FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, AT MIDDLEBORGH, IN THE YEAR A. D. 1564.](/en/stories/mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564/part-2/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: MR. JELIS MATTHIJSS, PUT TO DEATH FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, AT MIDDLEBORGH, IN THE YEAR A. D. 1564.](/en/stories/mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564/part-4/) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/stories/mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564/part-3/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+Mr.+Jelis+Matthijss%2C+Put+To+Death+For+The+Testimony+Of+Jesus+Christ%2C+At+Middleborgh%2C+In+The+Year+A.+D.+1564.+%C2%B7+Page+3+of+7&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AMr.+Jelis+Matthijss%2C+Put+To+Death+For+The+Testimony+Of+Jesus+Christ%2C+At+Middleborgh%2C+In+The+Year+A.+D.+1564.+%C2%B7+Page+3+of+7%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fstories%2Fmm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564%2Fpart-3%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-mr-jelis-matthijss-put-to-death-for-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ-at-middleborgh-in-the-year-a-d-1564--b00017-o000000%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+1564%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.)