THE FIFTH LETTER OF MAERTEN VAN DER STRATEN, TO SERVAES JANSS.

I, Maerten van der Straten, imprisoned for the word of the Lord, wish you my dear and much beloved brother in the Lord, Servaes Janss, much grace and mercy from God our heavenly Father, and also to all that have been redeemed from the earth, and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to the word of the prophet, bore our reproach, took upon him our sins, and restored to us that which he had not taken away, that he might deliver us from this present evil world; according to the will of God his Father; to whom be glory power and honor forever and ever. Amen.

Out of a fond heart a loving greeting to you, my beloved, dear friend and brother in the Lord, whom I love according to the peculiar privilege of Israel, this the Lord knows, who according to the words of Jeremiah, tries men’s hearts and reins, and according to David, knows men’s thoughts when they are yet afar off. Jer. 17:10; Ps. 139:2.

Further, after all proper and Christian salutation, let me, please, inform your love, that I, the Lord be praised forever, am in tolerably good health according to the flesh, and according to the spirit my mind is still fixed to serve God all the days of my life. I have moreover the undoubted confidence concerning you, that you are also well in soul and body, ready to keep the covenant which you once made with the Lord our God, when you bowed your knees before God and his glorious majesty; may this only, eternal, and only wise God, endow you, according to the word of the prophet (Joel 2:28), with his Holy Spirit, that you, led by him, may lead a good and chaste conversation among the Gentiles, as Christ teaches us in the gospel, saying: “Let your light so shine before men, that they beholding your good conversation, may glorify God your Father.”

Hence, O my dear brother, let us, according to the writing of the apostle, diligently strive to be the chiefest in virtue; as Paul also says, that we should approve ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed: For God can wound, and heal again, as is written in the Book of Kings: “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” Tit. 3:8; 2 Cor. 6:4–9; Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6.

Hence, O my dear brother, if you be visited at any time, out of bonds as well as in, be not grieved, nor become weary in the way of the Lord, though it is narrow and straight; for it is better to suffer affliction for a little time with God’s children, than to possess all the treasures of Egypt; for though man, as Christ says, should gain the world, and lose his own soul, O what would he have then, that he could give in exchange for it? Heb. 11:25,26; Matt. 16:26.

Therefore, O my dear brother, let us seek the kingdom of God above all things, and let us not follow after that which is earthly, as is written in the epistle to the Colossians, by the holy apostle Paul, where he says: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Col. 3:1–4. For it is a faithful saying: “If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him.” 2 Tim. 2:12. Hence let us not be weary in well doing, for according to Paul’s writing, in due season we shall reap a most abundant harvest. Galatians 6:9. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:17,18.