# A Testament Left By Joriaen Simons To His Son Simon, When He Was Imprisoned For The Word Of The Lord, At Haarlem, Where He Was Afterwards Put To Death, On The 26th Of April, In The Year 1557.

1557 · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: A TESTAMENT LEFT BY JORIAEN SIMONS TO HIS SON SIMON, WHEN HE WAS IMPRISONED FOR THE WORD OF THE LORD, AT HAARLEM, WHERE HE WAS AFTERWARDS PUT TO DEATH, ON THE 26TH OF APRIL, IN THE YEAR 1557.

Source heading; not independently verified

May God through his great mercy grant to my
son Simon, to grow up virtuously, and if the
Lord permit him to reach the years of understanding,
to confess him, and having learned his will, to
order his life in accordance with it, in order to
obtain eternal salvation, through his beloved Son
Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Ghost. Amen.

My child and dear son, incline your ears to the
admonition of your father, and hearken to my account,
how and in what manner he commenced and
finished his life.

The beginning of my life was unprofitable, proud,
puffed-up, drunken, selfish, deceitful, and full of all
manner of idolatry. And when I attained maturity,
and began to be my own master, I sought nothing
but what pleased my flesh, an indolent and luxurious
life. I was greedy of filthy lucre; I sought to bring
my neighbor’s daughter to fall, as, alas! appears
from my work; and what I did in secret, is too
shameful to mention; yea, I was a vessel full of iniquity.
But, my dear child, when I betook myself
to the Scriptures, and searched and perused them,
I found that my life tended to eternal death, yea,
that everlasting woe was hanging over me, and that
the fiery pool which burns with brimstone and pitch
was prepared for me. This, I say, was approaching
me, according to the words of Paul, who says:
“They which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God.” Gal. 5:21.

When I took this to heart, I began to be greatly
alarmed and frightened, and took the word of God
for my counselor, as to which should be the more
advisable for me: to lead here, for a little while, a
voluptuous life, and to expect the everlasting pains
of hell; or to suffer here a little misery (if misery it
can be called), and then to enjoy eternal happiness.
I found in the Scriptures: “What is a man profited,
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul? or, what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul?” Matt. 16:26. Hence, my beloved son, I
deemed it better, like Moses, to suffer affliction with
the children of God for a little while, than to live in
every luxury with the world, which will perish.
Thus I abandoned my ease, voluntarily and uncompelled,
and entered upon the narrow way, to follow
Christ, my Head, well knowing that if I should follow
him unto the end, I should not walk in darkness.
Now, when I had partly forsaken and cast
from me the old damnable practices, and wanted to
be a new divine creature, and to lead a pious, penitent,
godly life, I was immediately, like all the
pious that had been before me, hated, yea, imprisoned
in Haarlem, in St. John’s gate.

This, my beloved son, was my life till the Lord
enlightened me. First of all, my dear child, I would
affectionately warn, admonish and entreat you, to
beware of and shun all wickedness, and to walk
from infancy in the fear of the Lord, which is the
beginning of wisdom; and if God reveal his wisdom
to you, hesitate not to walk in it, since death pursues
the young as well as the old. Improve the time
given you by God for repentance. Have your intercourse
with the good, and beware of the perverse.
If sinners entice you, consent not, and have no fellowship
with them; refrain your foot from their path,
for their steps take hold on hell. Hence, touch not
pitch, lest you be defiled; for an evil end draws nigh
544
to the wicked, which will bear the burden everywhere.
Of this and every evil, my dear son, beware,
and remember that Paul says, that we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad (2 Cor. 5:10), but the flesh will advise you to
nothing good. Hence Paul may well say: “To be
carnally minded is death, yea, they that are in the
flesh, cannot please God.” Rom. 8:6,8. Therefore,
mortify your carnal members here on earth.
Read Paul, or have him read to you; he will tell
you, which are the works of the flesh. Gal. 5:19.
If you have time and opportunity, use diligence to
learn to read and write, that you may learn and
know the better, what the Lord requires of you.

Beloved son, my heart’s desire and prayer to
the Lord for you is, that your soul may be protected
from the deluge of God’s wrath, that shall come
upon all the ungodly who did not care for the Lord,
and walked not in his commandments. This impending
wrath of God you can escape in no better
way than by looking to Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Almighty and eternal Father, who is the head and
pattern of all believers, yea, the captain and finisher
of the faith, that is, Jesus Christ. Ask him for counsel,
as to what is best and most necessary for you to
do, and he will tell you, knock at the door of his
Holy Trinity, and worship him; he will open to you,
and give you what is needful for you. Have a desire
and appetite for the truth, and you shall be satisfied.
Seek not high temporal things; though they that
obtain them, are called and commended as happy
by the common people; they are nevertheless unhappy
and rejected before God. Hence humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God, that you
may be exalted in eternity. 1 Peter 5:5.

Behold how he fared, and likewise all the pious
before and after him; his birth was poor and miserable;
immediately he had to flee from Herod, who
sought his life; when he suffered, he had not where
to rest his head, and the thanks for all his great and
glorious benefits were that they called him a
deceiver, wine-bibber, Samaritan, and one who had
a devil, besides, he had to expect being stoned by
them, until they, when the time was fulfilled, condemned
him to the most shameful death. And previous
to the law, pious Abel had to suffer from his
brother Cain, who killed him, out of pure hatred
and envy, because his brother’s works were good
and acceptable to God, and his own evil and rejected.
And all the dear prophets, who practiced and maintained
the word of God, had likewise to suffer much,
without any respect of persons. Micaiah, who alone
was found true among four hundred false prophets,
in the days of King Ahab, was beaten by Zedekiah,
and afterwards cast into prison. 1 Kings 22:24.
Elijah, the only true prophet among the four hundred
and fifty false priests of Jezebel (1 Kings
18:19), also had to suffer much; so that Paul may
well say (for he had experienced it himself) that all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.
2 Tim. 3:11.

This also all other pious witnesses of Christ experienced,
and remained steadfast unto the end;
wherefore, according to the Scriptures (James 1:12),
the crown is prepared for them, since Christ’s own
mouth declares that he that shall endure unto the
end, shall be saved; he that overcometh shall inherit
all things, shall be clothed in white, and shall eat
of the tree of life, which is in the midst of paradise.
Matt. 24:13; Rev. 21:7; 2:7.

Consider this, my beloved son; meditate night
and day, how to die unto the world, and to fulfill
the will of Christ. In the first place, and before
everything else, beware of all false prophets and
hypocrites, which in my time were the priests and
monks, and who, I apprehend, will not be lacking
in your time, so long as rich emoluments follow
them. Do not believe them, for they deceive men,
and murder their souls. My son, he that wrote you
this, learned it by his own experience and investigation;
he drank of this cup himself. Neither live
among any sect, of whom there were many in my
time already, as Lutherans, Zuinglians, and others,
who, though they have a good semblance, yet, in
fact, are evil and deadly poison. Look for the little
flock, whose entire rule of life agrees with God’s
commandments, and whose ordinance or sacrament
is in conformity with the command of Christ and
the practice of the apostles; this is the true church
of Christ, without spot or wrinkle; this church is
flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. These
also have teachers according to the teaching of
Paul (1 Tim. 3:2), blameless in everything, who
have obedient children and believing wives, who
are strangers to litigations and processes, to cursing
and swearing, to hatred and envy, to lying and
cheating, to lasciviousness and adultery. There
everything is love, peace, unity and truth, as Paul
will teach you, which are the fruits of the Spirit.

My dear son and beloved child, this is my chief
and last will, my testament to you, which I desire
you to read diligently, to meditate well upon it, and
to compare it to the Scriptures, in order to govern
your steps in accordance with it. Mark well, my
son, what I write: many will appear in the garb of
good teachers, saying that they have medicine for
your sick soul; but the ones that will profit you, are
those who have the truth; adhere to them. Water
and fire are set before you: stretch forth your hand
unto whether you will, unto death or life. Sirach
15:16. This, my dear son, will at first be very hard
for you to hear, since it is contrary to your first
birth, which is of the flesh; but you must be born
again, and converted, if you would enter into the
kingdom of God. You cannot understand this so
long as you are carnally-minded, yea, so long as
you do not become the fool and enemy of the
world. Dearly beloved son, I entreat you again, as
I did before, to consider this, and to govern yourself
in accordance with it. Out of a faithful father’s
heart I have left you this, when about to depart
from this world, and to die for the word of the
Lord. May the Lord grant you, and all who read
this, or hear it read, that they may take it to heart,
act according to it, and be eternally saved.

My son’s testament, written in the year 1557, the
first Monday in April, and confirmed by death, the
26th day of the same month.

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