# A Fatherly Farewell, Testament And Very Careful Scriptural Instruction By Hendrick Alewijns To His Children.

16th century (source section) · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: A FATHERLY FAREWELL, TESTAMENT AND VERY CAREFUL SCRIPTURAL INSTRUCTION BY HENDRICK ALEWIJNS TO HIS CHILDREN.

Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned

ARTICLE I.

The paternal farewell, testament and an earnest
scriptural instruction from Hendrick Alewijns
to his children.

Hear me, your father, O my own, well-disposed,
dear and greatly afflicted orphans, my three motherless
and soon also fatherless children, of ten, eight,
and six years, deprived of me, and without property,
alas, O God! Once more I tell you, O my
dear children, from one dear mother I received and
kept you all; who most solemnly charged me at her
end, as also the holy Scriptures teach and enjoin me
concerning you, that I should, as becomes a father,
bring you up in divine instruction (Eph. 6:4), to be
good and orderly children and men of God, which
I have hitherto, as became me, done with great
carefulness and earnestness, but have not yet completed
it. And behold, now my labor is taken away,
and I cannot under these circumstances further fulfill
towards you my fatherly love and debt of discipline.
I have therefore now faithfully commended
you henceforward to the God of heaven and to my
fellow-believers, the friends; and I am fully confident
that you will be well, very well, taken care of,
out of love, for God’s sake and mine.

Be subject most obediently, as dear children, to
the friends, and you will endear yourselves to them
all. I have charged them with the guardianship
over you, as though they were your parents; hence
be very obedient; fear words, and you will not need
stripes. Otherwise you will have to be beaten and
chastised much, as the holy Scriptures require and
teach, of which I shall write more explicitly hereafter.

My dear little children, it is true, it is true I say,
you are yet too childish, the oldest as well as the
youngest, to understand the holy Bible, and also
that which I shall teach here; but I hope you will
delight in reading in it frequently, and to have others
read it to you. I also trust that your understanding
will increase from day to day and that you
will yourselves discern good and evil, and will wisely
learn to know who are the true believers, and who
the unbelievers; which are the children of God, and
which are the children of the devil and the world;
who bear the name of Christ justly, and who unjustly.
I therefore write in this hope, and to acquit
myself of the duty of fatherly instruction, which is
still to be discharged towards you, and to the fulfillment
of which much is lacking on my part, since
I am taken away from you too soon, fully to discharge
it. Nevertheless, I cannot forbear, through
love, to offer and send you this from afar, my dear
children, if peradventure I must shortly go with
David the way of all this mortal earth. 1 Kings 2:2.
Hence I instruct, enjoin, and counsel you after my
departure, as many patriarchs and holy fathers did
to their children, that you will be of good cheer and
courage in patience, and that you will follow the
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ways, commandments, laws, and ordinances of the
Lord, and do his whole will. Always do what is
right and good; love honesty, modesty, courtesy,
shame-facedness, virtue, praise (Phil. 4:8); and
whatsoever is Christian-like and of good report, that
do and think on it, and you will be holy and Christians.
Then you shall have everlasting life and the
beautiful heaven, that you may be with God and
his angelic host, with all the elect of God, in eternal
rest and joy of your souls; and you shall then not
have to fear the second death, the fiery lake, eternal
fire, the wages of sin, disinheritance from Christ’s
kingdom, or exclusion by Christ. Matt. 25:10.

My dear children, lay this to heart. As soon as
your little understanding can comprehend it, think
of returning from the old rebellious man into the
new man (Matt. 18:3); of the heavenly regeneration
of water and of the Spirit (John 3:35); of the
grace of God and improving the right time (2 Corinthians
6:1,2); of living peaceably with all men,
if it be justly possible and lying in you (for the other
half of peace lies with the other party); and also of
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,
or enter into Christ’s kingdom. Rom. 12:18; Hebrews
12:14.

This, my dear children, is my careful counsel and
command to you, after my decease.

ARTICLE II.

The first foundation of virtue, or instruction concerning
the beginning of wisdom in childhood.—Government
of children.

Behold, my dear children, since you are still children
in understanding, young in years, and little
fitted for the knowledge of God, I now show you
for the first, how you may attain to the foundation
of virtue, and the beginning of wisdom, that is:
Give good audience, and cry earnestly for wisdom,
and ask for it; and gladly receive all good instruction
from those who advise you for the best. For,
behold, thus Sirach teaches: Keep only with such
as fear God, whom thou knowest to keep God’s
commandments, who are minded as thou art, who
have compassion on thee, if thou stumble; and abide
by their counsel (he says, abide by their counsel),
for thou shalt find no more faithful counsel, and
such an one can often see something better than
seven watchmen that sit above in a high tower.
Sir. 37:12. Again: The true beginning of wisdom
is the desire of discipline. Wis. 6:17. And again:
Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he
that hateth reproof is brutish. Prov. 12:1. Again:
The ears that heareth the reproof of life abideth
among the wise. And he that refuseth correction
despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof
getteth understanding. 15:31,32. Moreover: He
is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he
that refuseth reproof erreth. 10:17. Again: A reproof
entereth more into a wise man than an hundred
stripes into a fool. 17:10. Behold, my dear
children, open your ears, and receive instruction,
and you shall become wise and honorable; if not,
you must remain unwise, ungodly, worldly and in
error, as follows here: Poverty and shame shall be
to him that refuseth instruction; but he that regardeth
reproof shall be honored. 13:18.

Again: He that hateth to be reproved is already
in the way of the ungodly. Sir. 21:6. Again:
An ungodly man will not be reproved, but excuseth
himself by the example of others in what he doeth.
32:17.

Behold, my dear children, what excellent instructions
these are. Here you hear good counsel, how
you can attain to virtue. And this you can do without
many stripes of the rod, if you but attend to
words, and fear your people in all they command
you. Be very obedient to the people with whom
you live, and beware of your innate evil nature,
your wildness, your foolishness and childishness.
Abandon that for which you are chastised; else you
will have to be severely beaten without ceasing; for
this belongs to foolish, froward and disobedient children,
as follows here:

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but
the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Prov. 22:15. The rod and reproof give wisdom: but
a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
29:15. Again: “Train up a child in the way he
should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it.” 22:6. “Withhold not correction from
the child; for if thou beatest him with the rod, he
shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” 23:13,14.
Again: “Hast thou children? instruct them, and
bow down their neck from their youth. Hast thou
daughters? have a care of their body, and do not
spoil them.” Sir. 7:23,24. “He that loveth his
son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that he may
have joy of him in the end. He that chastiseth his
son, shall have joy in him, and shall rejoice in him
among his acquaintance.” 30:1,2.

Behold, my children, this is what is said with regard
to disobedient children. Thus must children
be brought up by godfearing parents, the good with
words, the evil with rods. Thus did Tobit with his
son; thus was Susannah from her youth brought up
in the fear of God; and to Abraham it was counted
for righteousness that he should admonish his children
to the fear of God after him. Sus. 2; Tob. 1:9;
Gen. 18:19.

In short, this is the conclusion: Children, obey
your parents in all things: for this is well-pleasing
unto the Lord. And, ye parents, be not bitter
against them, lest they become dull, shy, or discouraged.
Col. 3:20,21; Eph. 6:1.

See, my dear children, learn here what is becoming
to you; see here, with what heavy duty of instruction
and correction Christian parents are
charged with regard to their children.

Those who neglect their children in regard to
this discipline, and are too indulgent toward them,
may remember the terrible example of evil recompense
exhibited in Eli, the priest, who for this reason,
by the hand of God, fell from off his seat backward,
and brake his neck. 1 Sam. 4:18. Hence it is
a grievous matter badly to bring up froward children,
concerning which Sirach says: He that is too
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indulgent with his child lamenteth his stripes, and is
terrified as often as he cries. A wanton child becometh
willful, like a wild horse. Cocker thy child
and he shall make thee afraid: play with him, and
he will bring thee to heaviness. Laugh not with
him, lest thou have sorrow with him, and lest thou
gnash thy teeth in the end. Give him no liberty in
his youth, and wink not at his follies. Bow down his
neck while he is young, and beat him on the sides
(he says beat him on the sides) while he is a child,
lest he wax stubborn, and be disobedient unto thee.
Instruct thy child, and suffer him not to go idle, lest
thou be brought to shame through him. Sirach
30:7–13. Behold, what a solemn charge the believer
has concerning his children, and also those
that are committed to him as his own children.
Hence, dear lambs, endure kind correction, and be
afraid of words, and you will not have to suffer
this severe cruelty: otherwise you must suffer it,
as has been heard.

Behold, my children, in these holy instructions
in correction I acquit myself of my duty towards
you; and in all this I admonish you not only in
your youth, but also in your riper years, to give
ear to the advice of the wise and pious, and always
to love the Christians, God’s dear children,
the holy church, which by all men is considered a
heresy, because they so firmly hope in the living
God. Acts 24:14. Learn to know early in the
Scriptures this living God of them that believe; for,
says the apostle Paul, he that cometh to God must
believe that there is a God, and that he will greatly
reward those who, through the strait gate, seek him
with such hardships, on the narrow way of tribulation.
1 Tim. 4:10; Heb. 11:6.

ARTICLE III.

Brief instruction concerning God, to learn to know
him by his written name, glory, handiwork,
wonderful deeds, voice, omnipotence, omniscience,
by his being the terrible enemy
of his enemies, and the faithful
succorer of the pious, etc.

Mark, beloved, my simple children, this in the
God of your father, the God of all the faithful, from
the beginning of the world until now, the God of
Abel, the God of Noah, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Israel, the God of Jesus Christ, and of
all the saints. And this is the God that is not made
or worshiped by any man or by human hands, but
the God that was from everlasting and before all
things, and shall be forever, the God of whom and
by whom all things are created and made, yea,
heaven, earth, sea, and all the works that therein
are, were made by his word, Spirit and omnipotence.
This our God is good to the good, and very terrible
to his enemies. His power extends over all kingdoms
and kings, and he is the Lord of lords.
There is none like unto him. Thou art great,
and thy name is great, and thou canst show it by
the deed. Who should not fear thee, thou king of
the heathen? Thou shouldest certainly be obeyed.
His name is Governor, Lord, Lord Sabaoth, the
God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, and of the
fathers; this is his name. His name is Wonderful,
Counsellor, Power, Giant, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace, his government abideth upon
him forever. Is. 9:6,7. His name is Immanuel, that
is, God with us. 7:14. It is not possible fully to
express his name; hence, for the completion of his
impossible, unmentionable, inexpressible exalted
name, he is further called Jehova, Shadai, Addonai,
and by other names. Besides his general
appellations, he is also called: Righteous, Merciful,
Gracious God, Truth, Light, Right Hand, Holy
consuming Fire.

See, my dear children, here you have heard of
your father’s God, of his eternity without beginning
and without end, and of his glorious and exalted
names in the Holy Scriptures. There follows further
now, of his glorious, incomprehensible, unmeasurable
greatness, glory and the invisibleness of his divine
shape, form and image; for God is a Spirit.
Think, how great he must be: heaven is the throne
and the earth his footstool. Acts 7:49. He sees,
hears, and is, everywhere, and in all places; for
thus he says through Jeremiah: “Am I a God at
hand, and not afar off? Can any hide himself in
secret, places that I shall not see him? Do not I
fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Jeremiah
23:23,24. And in another place the Scripture
declares: “He spanneth heaven with his three
fingers.” Is. 40:12. When he walks, the mountains
tremble, and the foundations of the earth
quake. When he manifests himself, or permits
himself to be heard, he causes fear and terror to
come upon all men, as we read in Ex. 3, that the
thorn-bush seemed to burn as a flame of fire, when
he called Moses to him, to make him a prince over
Israel, to lead them out of Egypt. And again, when
Moses, while receiving the law of God, spoke with
God on mount Sinai, the mount smoked, because
the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke
thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mount quaked greatly. And the voice of
the trumpet waxed louder and louder, with thunders
and lightnings, which frightened the people. And
also Moses was terrified, and trembled. No one was
permitted to touch the mount; no one could endure
his voice, save Moses, however, with fear. Ex. 19.
Thus does God show himself, says Moses, that his
fear should be before your eyes, and you might not
sin. Well may Moses say: “The Lord your God is
God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a
mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons,
nor taketh reward.” Deut. 10:17.

Behold, my dear children, this great God alone is
worthy to be feared, who can kill soul and body.
Sirach says: The whole heaven everywhere, the sea
and the earth tremble; mountain and valley quake,
when he visiteth them; and shall he not see thy
heart? Sir. 16:18.

Again: God is witness of all thoughts, and knoweth
the conscience of every heart, and heareth every
word. For the circuit of the world is full of the Spirit
of the Lord (he says that the circuit of the world
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is full of the Spirit of the Lord), and he that knoweth
the voice is everywhere; therefore he that speaketh
unrighteous things cannot be hid. Wis. 1:6. Yea,
my dear children, he knows who serves him in appearance
and in the sight of the eyes, and who with
a sincere heart. For the wisdom of God is great,
and he is mighty, says Sirach, and beholdeth all
things; and his eyes are upon them that fear him,
and he knoweth well, what is done in righteousness,
and what is hypocrisy. Sir. 14:18. I say he is worthy
that men should fear him, keep his commandments,
love him, be very small and humble before
him, and this is what he requires of his people.
Read Mic. 6, the law of Moses, and the Gospel of
Christ. For he would have obedience, and not the
pomp and deceitful semblance of sacrifices, as is exemplified
in Saul, 1 Sam. 15:22. “Will ye not fear
me, saith the Lord, who have placed the sand for
the bound of the sea, that it cannot pass it?” Jeremiah
5:22.

Ah, ah, dear children, how good is this fear of the
Lord, for it is the beginning of wisdom. It is the
root of wisdom, and its branches flourish forever.
Wis. 1:20.

This fear of the Lord driveth out sin; for he that is
without fear cannot be justified. Wis. 1:21. For by
the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. Proverbs
16:6. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life
to depart from the snares of death, 14:27. For those
that fear the Lord, my children, walk in the right
way; but he that feareth him not, or despiseth him,
departeth from his way. 14:2.

Hereby, and by the vain boasting or thinking of
having the fear of God, you may perceive the fear
of God, and know those who fear him [and them
that fear him not].

Read who are the truly godfearing; Ps. 1:2; 119:120;
Sir. 2:17; 15:1; 16:2. Therefore, the fear of
God is the sum and conclusion of all books. Read
Eccl. 12:13. And as you have now heard of the
great glory of God, which is well worthy that men
should fear him on account of it, so I will now briefly
show that he is also a most awful, terrible and inexorably
stern avenger and enemy towards his enemies;
and, on the other hand, a faithful succorer of
his afflicted friends, as is written in Exodus: “I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of them that hate me.” And
again: “Shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments.” Exodus
20:5,6.

Notice also the wonderful deeds of God in Egypt,
on Pharaoh, who afflicted the children of Israel; how
God afflicted the Egyptians in return, visiting their
land with manifold plagues. Ultimately, how God
delivered his people out of it, made a dry passage
through the Red Sea, separated and protected them
from Pharaoh by the dark pillar of cloud, and terrified
Pharaoh and his host with a heavenly noise in
the air, and drowned them all in the Red Sea, as a
God of great power. Now when Israel had passed
through the Red Sea, and was in the wilderness,
king Amalek came to afflict them, whom God himself
resisted, however, through Joshua, and the enemy
and his people were discomfited and destroyed.
Thus, again, in the days of Joshua, God fought with
hailstones, and Israel with the sword; and sun and
moon for their benefit stood still the whole day, as
long as the battle lasted. Josh. 10. Yea, God also
fought from heaven against Sisera, and the stars in
their courses fought. Judg. 5:20. Again, at another
time, when Samaria was besieged by the Syrians,
God fought for Samaria, and terrified the enemies
with a noise in the air, as the noise of chariots,
horsemen and hosts, in the night, so that they fled
and left everything behind them. 2 Kings 7:6,7.
Thus read also of Zerah the Ethiopian, with his
host of a thousand thousand, of whom not one escaped.
2 Chron. 14:9 Thus also, the children of
Ammon and Moab, from Syria, afflicted Israel; and
God fought for Israel, while Israel stood still and he
ordered it so that the enemies destroyed one another.
2 Chron. 20.

In like manner we read concerning Gideon, that
God so ordered it that the enemies, the Midianites,
fell upon one another with their swords, and destroyed
themselves, through the direction of God.
Judg. 7:22.

Behold, my dear children, what an awful, inexorable
enemy of his enemies, and faithful and victorious
protector of his friends he is; for when his
people went to battle with God’s consent, though
they had neither bows, arrows, shields nor swords,
God fought for them and gained the victory. No
one could harm this people, save when they departed
from the commandments of the Lord their
God; then God delivered them into the hand of the
enemy. We have a God that helps, the Lord Sabaoth,
who delivers from death; thus extol the saints
the help of God. When the people of God, in former
times, were encompassed and assailed with
war, and by wicked nations and kings, and then
cried with confidence to this their God for protection,
behold, their God only sent an angel to their
assistance, who was able to direct all, and turned
not away from thousands. Read 2 Kings 19:35;
Is. 37:36. Read further 2 Macc. 11:10. We further
read of five angels of God, armed and upon horses
with bridles of gold, and what great execution they
did. 2 Macc. 10:29. God sent two angels to Sodom,
for the destruction of the wicked, and the preservation
of the good. And other such examples; read
2 Macc. 12; Judg. 7:22; 1 Sam. 14:20; 17:52;
2 Chron. 20:23.

Behold, my dear children, the faithfulness of God
towards his people, and his terribleness to the
wicked, as has been heard; and this is only a moderate
portion, much still remains to be told of so
many examples contained in the holy Scriptures,
and left for our confirmation, that we might hope in
this God, suffer for his sake, and obey him. However,
it must be understood with a due distinction
of times and laws, as regards the ancient warfares of
Israel, the taking of revenge on enemies, fighting
and killing in the time of the law, and previous to it,
which then was done by the will, command, permission,
and also, help, of God, under the Old Testament,
but now, in the Gospel and New Testament, it
must not be so, and is now plainly prohibited, by
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the word and example of Christ, himself God and
the Son of God, whose word must be heard. Prohibited,
I say, plainly and clearly enough, not by
men’s commandments, but by God himself; his
people are denied and forbidden all revenge, and
commanded to commit all vengeance unto God; not
to resist evil; to give to him that taketh away the
cloak also the coat, and to turn to him that smiteth
thee on thy right cheek the other also, and the like;
yea, to love one’s enemies, to pray for your persecutors,
and to flee from them from one city into
another. Matt. 5:39; Rom. 12:17; 1 Thess. 5:15.
And they that are thus afflicted shall be blessed,
and greatly comforted of God, with the promise of
eternal life. In short, not to fight at all, and yet
to fight, but this no longer with iron, steel, stone,
wood, or any carnal weapons, but with spiritual
weapons mighty before God. 2 Cor. 10:4. Read,
my children, what weapons and warfare Christians
now wield, as is plainly and very clearly set forth.
Eph. 6. Christians have no other warfare at the
present time. For, understand, the prophecy is fulfilled
which said with reference to this time, that
such people have beaten their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into sickles, rest from their
works, and truly observe the spiritual Sabbath.
Is. 2:4; Mic. 4:3; Ex. 20:10,11. Hence Christians
may now not wage war any more. However I refer
you to ancient warfare and God’s succor, as these
are a demonstration and proof to you of the greatness
and the terrible deeds of God; in order that
you may learn to know, fear and obey him in whose
presence the earth shakes, and the mountains tremble;
for the disobedient toward his word, will and
commandment shall find no hiding-place from his
face when he shall appear with his angels, in flames
of fire, to execute vengeance on all the disobedient.
2 Esd. 16:9.

Therefore, my children, learn to know and shun
sin; for because of sin souls are damned forever.

ARTICLE IV.

What sin is, and whereby sin became sin; and
what are and will be the wages of sin, before
God, or God’s punishment of
sinners hereafter.

What sin is, is clearly shown by the holy Scriptures.
The prophet Samuel said to Saul, when the
latter had transgressed the commandment of the
Lord: Disobedience is as the sin (mark, sin) of
witchcraft. 1 Sam. 15:23. John says: All unrighteousness
is sin. 1 John 5:17. James says: To him
that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to
him it is sin. Jas. 4:17. (Mark what sin is). Paul
says: Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Rom. 14:23.

From this and the like, my children, learn to
know sin; as Paul says: By the law is the knowledge
of sin. I had not known sin but by the law.
The law causes sin to become exceeding sinful; for
when it says: Thou shalt not covet, sin takes occasion,
and works in us all manner of concupiscence.
Rom. 3:20; 7:7,13. From this we also perceive,
whereby sin became sin, namely, by the command
and prohibition of God.

Every one who transgresses the things which God
has commanded, commits sin, and it is also called
sin, and punished as sin, fully and abundantly, in
both Testaments. The tree of knowledge was not
unclean for Adam, except through the commandment;
his transgression was also called sin. As
regards the punishment for this sin, read Gen. 3:14.
The heathen daughters and wives were not unclean
for the Jews, save through the commandment of
God, who would not have it. Concerning the punishment,
read Judg. 3; Num. 25. The sanctuary,
or ark of God, which was certainly clean, was not
unclean for any tribe, to touch or bear it, except
through the commandment. Num. 4:17. The gods
of the heathen were not unclean for Israel, save
through the prohibition and proscription of God, also
the commandment and the punishment. 1 Kings 15.

Behold, thus you can perceive whereby sin becomes
sin, namely, through the commandment, and
the transgressing of the commandment; for where
no commandment is, there is no sin, for without
the law sin was dead. Rom. 4:15; 7:8. For sin, or
sinful action was in the world; but sin is not imputed
when there is no law. Rom. 5:13.

Now, dear children, as soon as you know sin,
learn to shun it as you shun fire; for if you approach
sin, it will embrace you; but the stings and
wounds thereof cannot be healed. Sir. 21:2,3.

Therefore, learn now to understand further, what
proceeds from sin, and what are the wages of sin,
for these are damnation and death. Rom. 6:23. It is
enmity against God, because it is not subject to
the law of God. Rom. 8:7. Hence hear further the
terrible, relentless and awful punishment of God
upon sin and sinners, which has ever taken place
and will yet take place. Take heed, my dear children,
I counsel you, as much as you value your souls,
to this special, eternal punishment of sin and sinners.
Thus says the Lord: I have long time holden
my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself:
now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy
and devour at once. Who among you, he says,
will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear
for the time to come? The day of the Lord cometh,
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the
land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it. It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
and the year of recompense for the controversy
of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be
turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone,
and the land thereof shall become burning
pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day.
Is. 42:14,23; 13:9; 34:8, etc.

This impending calamity, the punishment and
righteous judgment of God, was announced and
promised a very long time; for when Enoch, the
seventh from Adam, was upon earth, he said: Behold,
the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his
saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince
all that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,
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and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners
have spoken against him. Jude 14,15.

Mark, that God threatens and gives sufficient
warning before, as he did to Assur: Woe be unto
thee, Assur, thou that hidest the unrighteous in
thee! O thou wicked people, remember what I did
unto Sodom and Gomorrah; whose land lieth in
clods of pitch and heaps of ashes; even so also will
I do unto them that hear me not, saith the Almighty
Lord. 2 Esd. 2:8,9.

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast
them into a furnace of fire. Matt. 13:41,42. Then
shall the Lord say unto them on his left hand: “Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels: for I was a hungered,
and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and
ye gave me no drink.” Matt. 25:41,42. Behold,
my dear children, thus shall it then go with those
who do not now while it is time, regard this, being
rich, filled and merry. For Christ says: Woe unto
you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation.
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.
Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall
mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men
shall speak well of you! Luke 6:24–26. When
they lived, says Esdras, and received God’s benefits
they did not regard it; they despised his counsel
while they had yet liberty, and contemned repentance;
therefore they must know it after death by
torment. 2 Esd. 9:10–12. While we lived and
committed iniquity, we considered not that we
should suffer for it after death. 7:56. For the
wages of sin is death. Rom. 6:23. But, after thy
hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up
unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God, who will
render to every man according to his deeds; to them
who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for
glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life; but
unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of
man that doeth evil. Rom. 2:5–9.

Understand again, my dear children, into what
great danger our evil flesh plunges us here, slaying
the soul. The lust and works of the flesh cause eternal
sorrow and loss of heaven. As Paul says: Walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the
flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary
the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things
that ye would. Now the works of the flesh are
these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
evil lusts—(read to the end of the seventeen
points mentioned). And he says that they which do
such things shall not inherit or possess the kingdom
of God. Gal. 5:16; 1 Cor. 6:9. Then it shall not be
possible for any one to be spared from the vengeance
of God, whether he know God, or whether
he know him not; if he has been disobedient to the
Gospel, he must bear the severity of God. For
Paul says: When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;
(mark) who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his power; when he shall come to be
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe. 2 Thess. 1:7–10.

To disobey the Gospel, is worthy of no small
punishment; for he that, in the sight of two or three
witnesses, transgressed the law of Moses (which is
inferior to the Gospel in its saving power and operation,
Rom. 8:3), had to die without mercy, says
Paul, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood
of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
grace? Heb. 10:29. These must expect a terrible
judgment, and the cruelty of the fire, which shall
devour the adversaries. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God; for God is a consuming
fire. 10:31; 12:9. We know him that hath
said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense.
10:30. See, since the Gospel is great of
value and rich in saving power, therefore, on the
other hand, the refusing, abusing, despising and
transgressing of the same, is so much the greater
crime and ingratitude, and deserving of sorer punishment,
as Paul says, concerning Christ: “See that
ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped
not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him
that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook
the earth.” Heb. 12:25,26.

O my children, therefore this time of the Gospel,
in which we now are, is a very precious, valuable
and acceptable time, as also the Lord himself frequently
declares in the Gospel: as: Had such
mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidon. Why
do ye not discern this acceptable time for you?
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye
see. Luke 10:23. Jesus says: Jerusalem shall be
destroyed (on account of her sins); because they
did not know the time of their visitation. Luke
19:44.

O my dear children, learn to discern good from
evil; learn to know the wicked world, who think
that they are holy men, Christians and believers in
God, but are the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9);
which is evident from their whole spirit, life, and
their wickedness; who because of their wickedness
cannot bear, or tolerate among them, the lustre of
the pious. But the Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the evil
and unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished;
but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the
lust of uncleanness. What God intends to do with
such, he has typified and shown to us by sinners of
former times [as we read]: For if God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be
reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old
world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of
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Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them
with an overthrow, making them an example unto
those that after should live ungodly. 2 Pet. 2:4–6.

Understand here, that God spares neither the angels,
nor the whole world, because they were great
in number or highly esteemed and chosen; and thus
it has often gone with great numbers, for the ungodly
are not the better for being many. As also
Sirach well says: Rely not upon this that the multitude
of those with whom thou doest evil is great,
but remember that punishment is not far from thee.
Therefore humble thyself from the heart, for the
vengeance of the ungodly is fire and worms. Sirach
7:17,18. For as one that cometh nigh wild beasts,
and is torn by them, so it also goes with him that
attacheth himself to the ungodly, and mingleth in
their sins. 12:13,14. One child that fears the Lord
is more acceptable to him than a thousand that are
ungodly. Hence let no one depend upon this that
his companions in wickedness are many, nor upon
boasting of the mercy of God, before thy repentance;
for when the fire of the punishment of God is kindled,
it consumes all the wicked, great and small.
Behold, the fire burned up the whole congregation
of the ungodly; and wrath was kindled over the
unbelieving. He spared not the old giants who perished
with their strength. Neither did he spare
those among whom Lot sojourned, but condemned
them because of their pride, and destroyed the
whole land without mercy, who had transgressed all
bounds in sinning. Thus he took away six hundred
thousand, because they were disobedient. How then
should a single one that is disobedient escape unpunished?
For though he is merciful, yet also
wrath is with him. He can be appeased, but he also
fearfully punishes. As his mercy is great, so is also
his correction; he judgeth a man according to his
works. The ungodly shall not escape with his
spoils, and the patience of the godly shall not be
frustrated. Behold, before God a great multitude is
of little avail. He that sinneth must die. For every
one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the
Lord; though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Prov. 16:5. The strength of the ungodly
is like a heap of tow which is consumed with
fire. The way of sinners is made plain with stones
(it is true), but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.
Sir. 21:9,10. Hell also hath opened wide her
mouth, to receive great and small, prince and multitude.
Is. 5:14. Many be called, but few chosen.
Wide is the gate, and broad the way that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which walk in it. I
further say: The great majority will be damned and
lost. This is too clear to be denied. 2 Esd. 8:3.

Dear children, he that does not fear or believe
God, does not regard these awful assurances and
sure threats, as also the Scripture says: Such threatening
is too far off, and when a wicked man heareth
it, he yet cleaveth to his folly and error. How truly
does Solomon say: Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart
of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his
days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall
be well with them that fear God. Eccl. 8:11,12. I
have long time holden my peace, says the Lord; I
have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry
like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour
at once. Is. 42:14. When a child is about to be
brought forth, the pains of travail slack not a moment;
even so shall not the plagues be slack to come
upon the earth; the world shall mourn, and sorrow
shall come upon it. 2 Esd. 16:38,39.

O happy he who always fears; but he whose heart
is hardened shall fall into misfortune, as has been
sufficiently heard. Mark here the long-suffering of
God toward sinners; but he nevertheless eventually
punished them. How truly does Paul say: God is not
mocked. Thinkest thou that I shall always hold
my peace, saith the Lord, that thou dost not fear
me at all? But I will declare thy righteousness, and
thy works, that they are unprofitable. Then when
thou shalt cry, let thy companies deliver thee; but
the wind shall carry them away, and vanity shall
take them, Is. 57:13. The holy Scriptures do justly
call our God a consuming fire. As to what fire this
is, read Is. 10:16; Joel 2:3; Nah. 3:15; Zech. 11:1.
Manasses truly says: O God, thine angry threatening
toward sinners is importable. Man. verse 5.
Nahum speaks thus of the fierceness of the wrath of
God: The mountains quake before him, and the
hills fear. The earth shaketh before him, yea, the
whole circuit of the earth, and all that dwell therein.
Who can stand before his indignation? And who
can abide before his anger? His fury burneth like
fire, and the rocks burst in pieces before him. Nahum
1:5,6. Micah says: The Lord cometh forth
out of his place, and will come down, and tread
upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains
shall be molten under him, and the valleys
shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the
waters that are poured down a steep place. For the
transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of
the house of Israel, Mic. 1:3–5.

O who could write enough of such scripture admonitions!
Truly, my dear children, behold, he
that recognizes the holy Scriptures, the Bible, as the
sure word, testimony, word and sentence of God,
and considers well worthy of belief what is written
in the same concerning God, and especially regarding
his faithful warning against all sin, the promised
recompense for transgression, exemplified in his
punishment of sin as exhibited in many, together
with all his strict and solemn oaths in which he has
denied his kingdom to the impenitent, as has already
been mentioned here in part, and will yet
briefly be pointed out; such a man, I say, may well
tremble before God, and with David the skin and
hair of his head may shudder. And if there be but
one spark of the fear of God, and faith in his word,
in his inmost heart, his laughter may and must turn
into weeping till he obtains peace instead of enmity
with God. In the first place I will speak of God’s
warning against sin.

But, my dear lambs, I am deprived of time further
to complete my purpose and intention. This however
was almost finished, but I intended to improve it and
to copy it in a far more legible and better form.
However, it is now done, and I must and will now
disengage myself, and prepare to die, as I think, in
726
four days. And, behold, my dear children, I rejoice
in this, and am of good cheer in the Lord, and
trust not to spare my body for the truth, but to present
it in worship as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God. And I trust by the grace of
God, that I have been to you, my dear children, a
father who have set you a good example, in my life
and death. When you attain to the years of understanding,
think thoroughly on it and so follow Christ
with me, as he has gone before us, in all suffering
and holiness; and we shall meet again, and this
in eternal joy and in the kingdom of heaven, forever.

My dear children, though you do not live together,
love one another the more ardently, and
show your love in whatever way you can, as by
greetings and instructive letters to one another.
Make copies of this little book, so that each of you
three children may have one.

I first send it to you my dear son Alewijn Hendricks,
because you are the oldest. Remember what
I have written for your instruction; communicate it
also to your little sisters. Farewell now, an eternal
farewell, my three little orphans.

Written by me, your dear father,

Hendrick Alewijns.





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Page: http://history.truechristian.church/stories/mm-a-fatherly-farewell-testament-and-very-careful-scriptural-instruction-by-hendrick-alewijns-to-his-children/

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