# A Testament Written By Jelis Bernaerts To His Wife, When He Lay In Prison At Antwerp, Where He Was Put To Death For The Word Of The Lord, A. D. 1559.

1559 · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: A TESTAMENT WRITTEN BY JELIS BERNAERTS TO HIS WIFE, WHEN HE LAY IN PRISON AT ANTWERP, WHERE HE WAS PUT TO DEATH FOR THE WORD OF THE LORD, A. D. 1559.

Source heading; not independently verified

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, my dear
and most beloved wife and sister in the Lord, according
as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises. 2 Pet. 1:2,3.

Thus, my most beloved, that by these you are a
partaker of the divine nature, if you flee the corruptible
lusts of this world, as you have also done,
and by renouncing the same, and accepting regeneration,
faith, and manifestation of obedience, which
you proved by baptism, in which you put on Christ,
and thereby became a partaker of the divine nature.
And this was not done for works of righteousness
which you did, but according to his mercy he saved
you, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. Tit. 3:5. If you continue herein
unto the end, and are patient in whatever befalls
you, you shall inherit what is promised you. Praise
God, and thank him for all his glorious benefits
which you have received; and bless God the Father
through Jesus Christ, though tribulation has now
come upon you, through my departure for the
Lord’s sake; and know that according to his abundant
mercy he hath begotten you again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved for you and all
that are in the same faith, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time, wherein you, my dear
and beloved wife, greatly rejoice, though now for a
season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations: for, know, my most beloved,
we are tried in manifold ways, in order that it may
become manifest whether we truly love the Lord.
1 Pet. 1:3.

Hence be of good cheer, my most beloved, even
though still much more tribulation should come
upon you; for know that we must through much
tribulation and suffering enter into the kingdom of
God. And as also Ecclesiasticus says, in the second
chapter, first verse: “My son, if thou come to
serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation.
Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and
make not haste in time of trouble. Cleave unto him,
and depart not away. . . . For gold is tried in
the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.”

But, my most beloved, even as James writes in
his first chapter: “My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this
that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But
let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing;” for when we
are in tribulation, we need patience. Hence I entreat
you from the bottom of my heart, and from
my inmost soul, to be of good cheer, and with patience
to let the trial of your faith become manifest,
as Peter says, that the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in
whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. 1 Pet. 1:7–9. Then all suffering,
tribulation, reproach, persecution, sighing, weeping,
and lamenting will have an end. Rev. 21:4. Therefore
be of good cheer, and consider that the suffering
which may happen to us here, will all pass
away, and all the glory and pleasure of this world
must also perish and come to naught; but look constantly
to the future glorious promises that have
been made us, and which shall be fulfilled to us
that believe, if we remain steadfast, since he is faithful
that promised, for the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. Matt. 24:13; Heb. 10:23; 2 Peter
3:9. But be of good cheer, and trust in him, for he
will not forsake you; and cast your care upon him,
for he careth for you; for he that has called and
chosen you hereto is a God of all grace, as Paul
says.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered a [little] while, (mark, he says: A little
while) make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle
you in that which you have accepted, namely, the
faith in him, and his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, unto whom be praise, honor and glory,
now and forever. Amen. 1 Pet. 5:10.

After all heartfelt and affectionate greetings to
you, my dearest, chosen and most beloved wife and
dear sister in the Lord, I have received your letter,
in which you write me to write you a testament,
which I will not refuse to do, if the Lord gives me
time; for if I could help you with my blood, I would
do it. But now I cannot help you, save by writing,
which I do to your comfort, out of true brotherly
love, and from the bottom of my heart, intending
to finish this, by the help and grace of the Lord,
with the same mind with which I commenced it.
Know therefore, my dear wife and sister in the Lord,
how that God visited his people in former times,
when they were in Egypt, in the bondage of King
Pharaoh, whom they had to serve for about five
hundred years. And when it was his will to deliver
them, he raised up Moses for their leader, through
whom God delivered them out of Egypt’s bondage,
and led them through the Red Sea, in which he
drowned and brought to nought King Pharaoh and
all his host—with which the latter pursued them—thus
delivering them out of his hands. Thus they
601
came into the wilderness, to go on to the land which
was promised them; and the Lord God, through
Moses their Leader, gave them laws and customs
after which they were to walk. But they did not
continue in his law; wherefore God became angry,
and sware in his wrath, that they should not enter
into his rest. Concerning whom did he swear, but
concerning unbelievers? And we see that they did
not enter therein, and this because of their unbelief.
This having thus happened, the Lord spoke through
the prophet, and said: “Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers, in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
which my covenant they brake, although I was a
husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall
be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people. And they shall teach no more every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sins no more.” Now in these last
days he has revealed this covenant, given through
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true
Moses, who has taken us by the hand, and led us
out of Egypt, wherein we all sat and served the
hellish King Pharaoh, under whom we were captive
by sin; from which bonds and slavery we are redeemed
through Christ, who through his death and
the shedding of his blood redeemed and reconciled
us, and delivered us from the hellish King Pharaoh,
whom he destroyed and suffocated in his blood,
thereby fulfilling the Old Testament; for all had to
be fulfilled that was written in the law and in the
prophets. Heb. 1:2; Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:44. Thus
the fulfillment was accomplished, and the new testament
confirmed with his blood; which, as already
stated, he had promised through the prophets, and
which is proclaimed to us through the Gospel, and
confirmed with signs and wonders by him and his
holy apostles, whom after his resurrection he sent
out to preach to all nations, that whosoever should
believe and be baptized, should be saved, also commanding
them to teach them to observe all things
whatsoever he had commanded them. Heb. 2:4;
Matt. 28:20.

And now, my most beloved, are we the people
which God chose before the foundation of the
world, and made a better testament with us, than
he made with Israel, who daily had to offer up sacrifice
for sins, by which they could nevertheless not
atone? Eph. 1:4; Heb. 7:22,27. For burnt offerings
and offering for sin he would not, neither did
God have pleasure therein, which were offered by
the law; then said he (namely Christ), Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the former,
that he may establish the second. By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest
then stood daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made
his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had
said before (as is written Jer. 31:31). This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin, as Paul writes. Heb. 10:8–18.

Therefore, my dear and beloved wife, we have
(verse 19) a free and secure entrance into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,
which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail,
that is to say, his flesh; and we have a high priest
over the house of God, which is the church, which
he cleansed with his blood, that it might be holy,
without spot or wrinkle; of which you are a member,
for it is the body of Christ, and we the members
of that same body, and Christ the head and
priest of the house of God, as stated. Eph. 5:26,27;
1:22. Hence, my most beloved, adhere to it diligently,
and let us always, draw near with a true
heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and let us wash
our bodies with pure water, that is, put off all uncleanness
of the heart and the flesh, and perfect all
righteousness and holiness; and hold fast the profession
of your faith without wavering, for he is
faithful that promised; and always consider yourself—this
I entreat you, my most beloved—to
provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews
10:22–24; 2 Cor. 7:1.

Since you are a child of the New Testament, I
write you this for a testament according to your
request. Hence it is my request of you, my dear
lamb, despised of men, but chosen of God, and
called to his Testament, since he left us the Testament,
that we should thereby remember his death;
namely the breaking of the bread, showing by it
that he was broken for us on the tree of the cross,
and that we should also remember thereby, that we
are delivered through him from the hand of our
enemies. This he left us for an everlasting Testament,
to observe it, even as the children of Israel
were commanded to eat the passover, and to observe
it yearly for a memorial of their having been
delivered from King Pharaoh; all of which was a
figure and shadow, of which we now have the true
substance, in the true observance of our redemption
through the true passover Christ, and his communion,
in which you are certainly included, since it is
but a short time ago that we showed it among the
others by the breaking of bread, and drinking of
wine, that you are a partaker of the New Testament,
and of all the glorious promises which are
promised the children of the New Testament. Hence
it is my request that you will faithfully continue
therein unto the end, so that you may inherit all the
promises, for he that overcometh shall inherit all
602
things; to him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with me in my throne; he that overcometh, the
same shall be clothed in white raiment; he that
overcometh, him will I confess in heaven before my
Father, and will write his name in the book of life;
and other beautiful promises that, as you well
know, are promised to all that overcome. Revelation
21:7; 3:5,21.

Therefore, my most beloved, see that you remain
faithful; for you are still in the wilderness, where you
must be proved yet, even as Israel was proved in
the wilderness forty years, that God might make
manifest thereby, what was in their hearts. Hence
know that all perished who did not remain steadfast,
and that they could not inherit the promises, as
stated before. But now we have a better testament,
which is for ever, and not as Israel, a law written
in tables of stone, but written in the tables of our
hearts. Heb. 8:6.

Hence, my most beloved, since we have a better
testament, walk the better in it, and continue steadfast
in the faith, and let this be manifested by the
fruits of faith, and the law which is now written in
your heart, by the Spirit of God; let him be read
from you, and this by fulfilling the works of the
Spirit, that you may thus be an epistle of Christ,
which may be read by all to whom you are manifest,
as Paul testifies of the Corinthians (2 Cor. 3:3),
that they were the epistle of Christ ministered by
them, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of
the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy
tables in their hearts; for Christ also says (Matthew
5:16): “Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father”. For if we now have a new testament given
by Christ, who is our Leader and Lawgiver, we
must keep his commandments, follow him (as I
wrote to you in the other two letters), and show
forth his image, even as the image of the Father
was shown forth through him, as he said to Philip:
“Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;
and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:9,10.

Now, my most beloved, since through the grace
of God you have heard the Gospel, which has been
preached in all the world (Rom. 8:18), and believe
in it, and have been obedient to it, and are yet, as I
trust through the grace of the Lord, and have put
on Christ, let him therefore be shown forth in you,
even as the image of the Father is shown forth in
Christ, through words and miracles, as you have
also always shown him forth by a pure Christian
conversation; and thus truly follow Christ, since he
is the true Moses, who went before us. Follow him
valiantly, no matter what you meet with in this wilderness,
whether it be tribulation or affliction, suffering
or persecution; be of good courage, Christ is
gone before; follow him boldly, for the servant is not
better than his lord, nor the disciple above his master,
nor the wife above her husband, nor the maid
above her mistress; but it is enough for the disciple
that he be as his master, the servant as his lord, the
wife as her husband, the maid as her mistress.

Therefore, dear sister in the Lord, be of good
cheer, and consider the long suffering and patience
of Christ, and all the pious witnesses who from the
beginning until now have followed Christ. Jas. 5:10.
He did not leave them without comfort, nor does he
leave us, who are imprisoned here for the same testimony’s
sake, without comfort, but wonderfully
comforts and strengthens us through the power of
the Holy Ghost, eternal praise to him for it.

Hence be of good courage, continue without
ceasing in prayer and supplication, and thus show
that you are a child of the New Testament, that the
law of the Lord is written in your heart, and is
thus read. May the merciful Father strengthen you
to this end, through his Son, and the power of his
Holy Spirit. Herewith (since my paper is exhausted)
I commend you, my dear wife, to the Lord, and to
the word of his grace.

Written in my bonds, on Monday, by me,

Jelis Bernaerts, your dear husband.





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