# A Letter By Hans Von Overdam, Which He Sent To The Lords Of The Law, At Ghent And To The Councilors, The Day Before His Apprehension.

16th century (source section) · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: A LETTER BY HANS VON OVERDAM, WHICH HE SENT TO THE LORDS OF THE LAW, AT GHENT AND TO THE COUNCILORS, THE DAY BEFORE HIS APPREHENSION.

Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned

Understand well:

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, and he
that reads, let him attend, and judge with the understanding
of the holy Scriptures; but woe to him
that judges without understanding. Hearken, I
speak to you, O carnal generation, you Ishmaelites,
who boast of being Christians, because you are born
of water without the Spirit, and persecute the children
of the promise, who, through faith in the word
of God, are born of the water and of the Spirit; yea,
you persecute them, as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, as
Esau did Jacob, and as the Jews persecuted Christ.
Even so the antichristians, who are born of the flesh,
now persecute the Christians, who are born of the
Spirit, who shall receive the promise of the everlasting
kingdom through Christ, who is the heir
of all things, and causes his kingdom to be proclaimed
through the Gospel, unto repentance and
true sorrow for dead works, through faith in him;
they contemn his witnesses, etc. This is the wind,
O eagle, mark! which bloweth where it listeth, and
thou canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it
goeth. Hear now his voice, which the Most High
has reserved unto the latter times, to reveal to thee
thy transgressions and punishment, who now begins
to deliver his people through much misery and
tribulation.

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Therefore, mark! O thou eagle, the end of thy
time is very nigh; art thou not the fourth beast?
O yes, thou art the beast seen by Daniel (Dan. 7:7),
which devoured everything with his iron teeth, and
stamped the residue with his feet, and brought forth
the most wicked little horn. Dan. 7:7,8. Thou hast
dwelt a long time upon the earth with deceit, and
hast not judged the earth with truth. For thou hast
afflicted the meek, thou hast hurt the peaceable,
thou hast loved liars, and destroyed the dwellings
of them that brought forth fruit, and hast cast down
the walls of such as did thee no harm. Therefore is
thy wrongful dealings come up unto the Highest,
and thy pride unto the Mighty. And therefore appear
no more, thou eagle, that the earth may be
refreshed, and may return, being delivered from thy
violence, and that she may hope for the judgment
and mercy of him that made her, whose judgment
shall be better and more just than thine, O thou
eagle! Therefore, shall thy wicked heads which remain
to the last, be the end of the eagle to accomplish
his most wicked wickedness, together with his
wicked feathers, which also are kept unto the last.
Therefore hear, vain body of eagle, who vainly boast
of what you are not, namely, Christians. Hear also,
you most wicked claws, which are willing and ready
to destroy and rend what your most wicked heads
command you, through the counsel of liars, whom
they love. Why do you rejoice in the misery and
fall of the poor lambs and sucklings, who feed still
on milk, and whom you keep imprisoned with violence,
and whose souls you murder with false, deceitful
wiles: who have heard the truth only a year
or two at the most; you have none as yet, that can
instruct you in all the articles of faith? Be ashamed
of your boasting, that through your carnal, blind,
learned men you have overcome the innocent, with
subtle, deceitful wiles and broken Scriptures. Oh
woe, woe! for the great misery and the terrible
times, that wickedness has gained so much the
upper hand, that truth is not permitted as much as
openly to defend itself. Let the misery, violence,
and great distress of the pregnant and the sucklings
of these times ascend to the ears of the Most High,
because no help, comfort, or assistance can be rendered
them by those whom the Lord has endowed
with more grace and gifts to stop the mouths of adversaries.

But perhaps you say: Let them come forward
then, that are better endowed, and have received
more grace. To this we reply, that the wolf might
call for a long while before the sheep would come;
they well knowing that he would tear them with
great cruelty, and without right and reason. Alas,
alas! what awful judgment and terrible punishment
from the fierce and devouring wrath of God shall fall
upon those who without mercy distress, persecute
and murder the innocent and godfearing, and themselves
live so ungodly in all the unrighteous works
of the flesh, so that they shall not inherit the kingdom
of heaven. O, thou spiritual Babylon, how
shall the Lord visit and avenge upon you the innocent
souls and the blood of his witnesses; for all this
is found in thee. Thou hast made the kings of the
earth, and all nations, so drunken with the wine of
spiritual whoredom, that they can neither see nor
hear the truth. O that we might once freely defend
ourselves publicly with the word of God, in the presence
of a large, flaming fire, against all you learned
doctors, licentiates, priests and monks, who help
strengthen, protect, preserve and maintain the kingdom
of antichrist, and that the vanquished party
should be cast into the fire; then it would not be
necessary to torment and distress the poor, innocent
lambs, and your faith could be tried, as to how it
accords with the truth; then there would be no need
of washing the hands with Pilate, or of the imperial
mandate, and the authorities would remain free from
the blood of the innocent, if they would not let the
word of God be judge over the faith. But no, the
false prophets and deceivers well know that their
trickery and deceit would be made far too much
manifest thereby. Therefore they cry just as assiduously
as did the scribes and Pharisees; “Crucify
him, crucify him.” The mandate of the Emperor
must prevail. Thus it was in the beginning of the
fourth beast, and so it is now at the end of it. Let
him that can comprehend with it, observe with understanding,
that the end is the worst of all.

“Princess, repent and amend your ways; for the
end of all things is at hand. Woe unto you false
prophets who resist the truth, even as the Egyptian
magicians resisted Moses; but your wickedness shall
yet be made manifest to all men, even as it already
begins. Woe unto you champion antichrist, who put
on the time-honored customs of the Roman church
as an armor with which to defend yourselves against
the truth, and use the mandate of the Emperor
as a shield, and wield the sword of the magistracy,
in every country to shed the innocent blood
of those who will not defend themselves with
temporal or carnal weapons, but only with the
word of God, which is our sword, and which is
sharp and two-edged. But we are daily greatly
slandered by those who say that we defend our
faith with the sword, as did those of Munster. May
the Almighty God preserve us from such abominations.

Be it known to you, noble Lords, Councilors,
Burgomasters and Judges, that we recognize your
officers as right and good; yea, as ordained and instituted
of God, that is, the secular sword for the
punishment of evil-doers, and the protection of the
good, and we desire to obey you in all taxes, tributes
and ordinances, as far as it is not contrary to
God. And if you find us disobedient in these things,
we will willingly receive our punishment as malefactors.
God, who is acquainted with every heart,
knows that this is our intention. But understand, ye
noble Lords, that the abuse of your stations or
offices we do not recognize to be from God, but
from the devil, and that antichrist, through the subtlety
of the devil, has bewitched and blinded your eyes,
so that you do not know yourselves, who you are,
and how sorely you have incurred the wrath of God.
Be sober, therefore, and awake, and open the eyes
of your understanding, and see against whom you
fight, that it is not against man, but against God.
Therefore we will not obey you; for it is the will of
God, that we shall be tried thereby. Hence we
475
would rather, through the grace of God, suffer our
temporal bodies to be burned, drowned, beheaded,
racked or tortured, as it may seem good to you, or
be scourged, banished, or driven away, and robbed
of our goods, than show you any obedience contrary
to the word of God, and we will be patient herein,
committing vengeance to God; “for we know him
that hath said, “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I
will recompense, saith the Lord.” And again, “The
Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews
10:30,31. And the spirit testifies, that this is at
hand, and has already commenced.

Hearken, thou whose time for bearing is half fulfilled:
Prepare thy bed; for thou shalt bring forth.
What shall I bring forth? The fruit of thy labor,
with pain and anguish, and afterwards death.
Hearken, thou on the right hand: Prepare the
measure. What shall I prepare it for? To measure
thy neighbor, and then shalt thou also be measured.
Get thee ready, thou fire, and do not tarry.
Hearken, I speak to you who are of one mind with
the horns (Rev. 17:13), the day of your feast has
come, your meat is ready; eat quickly the fat flesh
of the drunken, that the power may be given to
the beast. It has been put into your hearts, so to
do. After the beast you shall have power for a little
while. You fight against the Lamb, but the Lamb
shall overcome you; he is King of kings, and Lord
of lords, and his kingdom will endure forever.
Amen.

We testify of him that it is he that shall come,
yea, he comes quickly, the Lord Jesus, who shall
reward every man according to his works.





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