# A Letter From Reytse Aysess, Written To His Mother. 16th century (source section) · Historical source Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: A LETTER FROM REYTSE AYSESS, WRITTEN TO HIS MOTHER. Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned My dear mother, I wish you the gracious, eternal, merciful Father, and the love of God, and the 952 comfort of the Holy Ghost, as a greeting; and the Father of peace rule in your heart. Amen. My very dear and affectionately beloved mother, who bore me in your own body, and brought me into the world with great pain, yea, whose breasts have nourished me and who nourished and instructed me in all truth, you have kept me from all sinful companions; yea, you have kept me from all false doctrine, yea, you have kept me from the whore of Babylon, yea, you have brought me into the church of the living God. You have kept me from all sin, according to your best ability. You have brought me thus far with the help of the Lord. Behold, my very affectionately beloved mother; it is therefore my entreaty and request of you, that you will not fret and grieve on my account, for I hope that you have not brought me up to the reproach, but to the praise, of God and his church. After all proper salutation, it is my request and entreaty of you, that you will forgive and excuse me, if I have in any wise grieved you, whether it may have been done in my youth or ignorantly, this I request of you. Further, my dearly beloved mother, I must write you a little from the bottom of my heart and the inmost of my soul, though you know it, and are taught of God, and are my dear mother, yet I write to you that in none of us there may be found an evil heart of unbelief, and that none may be entangled by the deceitfulness of sin, and depart from the living God on account of any tribulation. 2 Peter 1:12; John 6:45; Heb. 3:12,13. Behold, my dear, beloved mother, let us not be troubled, or become despondent; though they have touched you in property and blood [kindred], fear not, but be of good courage, for the Lord is our Redeemer. Behold the afflictions of Job, how the Lord helped him. And behold the end of the Lord; for the Lord will not forsake you and me, if we trust in him, for the Lord has helped me to fight, for I have now been before them twelve times. The Lord is my Captain, he will not forsake me. Nor do I want to forsake him, neither for life nor death. Hence, my dear and much beloved mother, let us go to and sincerely prostrate ourselves before the Lord, for all our lives end in death, and when we shall all be presented before the judgment-seat of Christ, what manner of persons must we then be. Therefore, my beloved mother, who have obtained like faith with me, let us prepare ourselves, and gird up the loins of our mind. And let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; and we shall receive a reward Heb. 12:1,2; 1 Cor. 3:14. Dearly beloved mother, though they have touched you in your property, and me in my life, what does it matter. The Lord our God will help us; but we must trust in him. The world shall rejoice, and we shall be sorrowful; but our sorrow shall be turned into joy. John 16:20. But, dear mother, we must patiently wait for it. Though they speak evil of us, dear mother, they treated the Lord our God in the same manner before us. Hence I am not surprised; they have condemned me so often; yea, [have said] that I shall here receive the temporal fire, and hereafter the eternal; yea, that the devil is in me. Yea, they say: That if they did not put such as Douwe Eeuwoutss and I out of this world, they should not be able to answer for it before God. Hence, dear and beloved mother, fear not, for they know no better. But let us heed our lesson, for the Lord demands and requires more of us, than of them; hence let us take heed to the correction and chastisement, and receive it patiently and joyfully; and we shall receive a reward, for whom the Lord chastens, him he will receive. But if we are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are we bastards, and not children. Hence, my beloved mother, I rejoice from the depth of my heart, that the Lord our God has so loved me, as to have called me hereunto, that I may be found Christ’s sheep for the slaughter. And I hope by his great grace and mercy, that he will make me fit, and shall receive me into his kingdom, as he has promised those who seek him from the heart. See, my very dear and beloved mother, let us not despise the correction of the Lord, but patiently receive it; and we shall receive a reward. Yea, hereafter all sorrow and tears shall be wiped away from our eyes. Yea, we shall stand upon mount Zion, with all the saints of God. Behold what great joy is prepared for them that have obeyed God. Therefore, dear and much beloved mother, let us take up our cross, and follow him from the heart, as dear children, that we may not be blotted out of the book of life. My love, we must be holy and unblamable before him in all our conversation. Our words must be seasoned with salt, as Paul says; that we may be able to stand before the almighty eternal God. Further, dearly beloved mother, as you have shown all love to me, it is my request of you, that you will love my dear, beloved child as you have loved me, as I trust you will do, and have a mother’s heart for it. O dear mother, take in good part what I have written here, for it has been done out of love. Know, dear and much beloved parents, that in the eighteenth week of my imprisonment I was before the bishop, where were assembled at least eight or nine persons. The bishop spoke first, that I should betake myself to the holy Catholic faith, and he should set me at liberty; and other words that he said. If I would not do this, they would cut me off as a heretic and an obstinate and disobedient person, who is opposed to the ordinances of the Roman Church. Finally I opened my mouth, very joyfully, and said: “Do what you will and can answer for before God, for I do not want to forsake my faith, for either death or life.” They said that I should advise with myself, or amend, since eternity was so long. Reytse. “Because eternity is so long, therefore I want to take heed; if eternity were not so long, I would not sit in these bonds.” Finally they asked me all the articles anew, and I confessed them. Then they read the sentence to me, but I did not understand it well, as it was written in Latin. It was: That they delivered me over as a heretic, who would not suffer himself to be 953 instructed with the ordinances of the holy Church; and they gave me over into the hands of the judges; together with certain documents pertaining to this matter. Finally I sat there with uncovered head, and defended myself with many remarks, speaking joyfully, that they should take heed not to bring harm to themselves by laying violent hands on me. The bishop said that he would rather fast two weeks with water and bread, than pass sentence upon me. Finally, when they had finished their business, they went away. After they had gone, a priest remained, who reviled much, and had much to say, and wanted to dispute with me a whole night; but I would not, because they had delivered me over already; for he had come of his own account. Then he went away, and I had to go back to prison; nevertheless, I am not dismayed. The Lord God has brought me thus far; I hope through his great grace, that he will help me further, for I know that he is the One that helps me; without him I can do nothing. Hence praise the Lord always, and glorify him forever and ever. I commend you to the Lord, for he is our Redeemer and Helper in all our tribulation and distress. Written by me in the twentieth week of my imprisonment. Reytse Aysess. --- Page: http://history.truechristian.church/stories/mm-a-letter-from-reytse-aysess-written-to-his-mother/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+A+Letter+From+Reytse+Aysess%2C+Written+To+His+Mother.&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AA+Letter+From+Reytse+Aysess%2C+Written+To+His+Mother.%0A%0APage%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fstories%2Fmm-a-letter-from-reytse-aysess-written-to-his-mother%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-a-letter-from-reytse-aysess-written-to-his-mother%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+16th+century+%28source+section%29%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.)