# Another Letter From Hans Bret, Written And Sent To His Brother David, Who Lived Abroad, And Had Not Yet Come To The Knowledge Of The Truth.

16th century (source section) · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: ANOTHER LETTER FROM HANS BRET, WRITTEN AND SENT TO HIS BROTHER DAVID, WHO LIVED ABROAD, AND HAD NOT YET COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.

Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned

Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father,
through his only Son Jesus Christ, our Savior; the
comfort and power of the Holy Ghost, furthering to
a true faith; the true heavenly wisdom, the true
regeneration, the fear of God, this I wish my dear
and affectionately beloved brother, to the salvation
of your soul. Amen.

My dear brother, the reason of my writing is
to inform you of my imprisonment, so that you
may not think that it is for any evil or any infidelity
or heresy, as many evil tongues may probably
pretend and report, thereby to grieve you and
harden your heart, that you should not believe the
genuine truth, but remain in your belief; for Satan
constantly walks about men, as Peter says (1 Peter
2:8), as a roaring lion, seeking whose soul he may
devour and draw away from that which is good, for
he is the enemy of all good, who always hates and
seeks to resist that which is good.

But, dear brother, do not listen to such, for it is
the suggestion of Satan; but give ear to the word
of God, the genuine truth, as James says, and let it
be ingrafted in your soul, that it may save your
soul, whereby you may live forever. Jas. 1:21.

Hence, my beloved, awake once from the sleep
of sin, and Christ shall give you light (Eph. 5:14);
for you have walked in sin and unrighteousness long
enough; it is about time to flee sin and shun unrighteousness,
that you be not punished with all the
ungodly, who have not lived according to the will
of God, nor hearkened to the truth, but have
walked according to their own lusts. They follow
the lusts of their flesh, and live, as Paul says to the
Galatians (5:19–21), in pride, covetousness, drunkenness,
adultery, strife, hatred, contention, and
other like works.

O dear brother, let such works not be found with
you; for such, says Paul, cannot inherit the kingdom
of God, for such carnal life is an abomination in
the eyes of God, for Paul says to the Romans, that
such carnal-mindedness is enmity against God, and
cannot please God. For the wages of sin is eternal
death, but the gift of God is eternal life, 1 Cor. 6:10;
Ps. 5:5; Rom. 8:7; 6:23.

My dear, flee such works, and turn to the Lord
and you shall live. Is. 55:3. Remember the instruction
which Tobit gave his son, when he says: My
son, let not pride dwell or rule in your heart. Tobit
4:13. For Ecclesiasticus says: That pride is hateful
before God, and that it is the beginning of all
sin, and he that has to do with it shall be destroyed
with many curses. Sir. 10:13. Thus shun now all
pride and all sin, and set yourself to serve the Lord,
renouncing all the lusts of the flesh.

Seek ye the Lord, says the prophet, while he
may be found, and call ye upon him while he is
near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts: and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him.
Is. 55:7.

My dear brother, turn to the Lord while you
have time; wait not until death with the amendment
of your life, like many who say, that if they
have an hour in which to repent, it is enough for
them. O do not thus defer it, nor follow such counsel,
but follow the counsel of Ecclesiasticus, who
says: Repent while thou art still able to sin. And
again: Make no tarrying to return to the Lord,
and do not put it off from day to day; for the wrath
of the Lord shall come forth suddenly. Sir. 5:17.
Hence there is no time to be set, for we are not
assured of one hour, nor any one how long he
will live. Job 14:1.

Hence remember the words of Christ, who says
that he shall come as a thief in the night; if the
good man of the house knew at what hour the thief
would come, he would watch, and not suffer his
house to be broken through. Luke 12:39. Seeing
then, that we have neither hour nor time, watch
constantly with the wise virgins, who were not found
sleeping, when the bridegroom came. Matt. 25. If
you would therefore enter in with the Bridegroom
to the marriage, as did the wise virgins, put away
from you (as the prophet says, Isa. 1:16) all that is
evil, and the Lord shall be your God, and you shall
be his son.

My dearest brother, love that which is good,
and it shall be well with you; fear the Lord with
all your heart, and your soul shall lodge in goodness,
and your seed shall inherit the earth; for the
prophet David says: That the eyes of the Lord are
upon them that fear him, and that hope in his
mercy; and he shall deliver their soul from death;
for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Ps. 25:13; 33:18,19; 111:10.

Hence have God always before your eyes in what
you do, and you shall prosper in it; always love
that which is good, and hate that which is evil, that
the Lord may be with you, as you have spoken,
says the prophet Amos, 5:14. Follow the advice
of Paul, Romans 12:21, where he says: Overcome
evil with good. O then it shall be well with
you, and you shall find rest in your soul. Matthew
11:29. Let there be found in you once the true
faith which worketh by love, and which has so far
989
not brought forth much fruit in you. Gal. 5:6.
Hence it is time now to awake once and seek
Christ, whereby you may live and enter by the
right door into the sheepfold. Jn. 11:25; 10:7.

Hence give ear now to the voice of Christ, who
says: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Consider well that the Lord would
have us practice his word and truth, and not do like
many who indeed have the word of God in their
mouth, and hear it, but do not live according
to it, but suffer it to enter in at one ear, and out
at the other; yea, what is more yet, though they
well know that sin and unrighteousness must be
shunned and avoided, as soon as they have heard
the word, they go on again in sin, in drunkenness,
in adultery, in gambling, etc. But to take the
Testament or Bible into their hands, to read, and
to spend their time in godliness, that were far too
much; but they follow their own lusts, namely,
the lust of their father, the devil, for he delights in
all such works: for he that committeth sin is of the
devil, says John; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. John 8:44; 1 John 3:8. Hence, dear
brother, have no fellowship with such persons, but
seek such as fear the Lord and live according to
his word, and keep it, for Christ says: Blessed are
they that hear the word of God and keep it. Luke
11:28. Now you may perceive that they are blessed
(saved) who keep the word of God, and govern
themselves in accordance with it. For in Matthew
7:23, Christ declares that he shall say to all those
who shall not have kept his word, nor practiced it:
“Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; I know
you not.” O brother, take good heed, that you do
not hear this voice, but that you may hear that
glad voice, with all God’s righteous ones that have
lived according to the word of the Lord: “Come,
ye blessed, inherit the kingdom of my Father, prepared
for you from the foundation of the world.”
Matt. 25:34. What a joy it will be to hear this,
for the good that have walked in the fear of the
Lord.

My brother, give ear now to the word of the
Lord, that we may meet there, and hear the glad
voice, which I pray the Lord that he will grant us
through his only Son, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Brother, I must stop, for my paper is giving out;
hence take this simple letter in good part, for I have
written it out of love; and ponder it well, for it is
not my word, but the word of the Lord, for his
mouth has spoken it. Amen.

I hope to explain to you, dear brother, the cause
of my imprisonment, so that you may not grieve,
but rejoice, and thank the Lord for it. I thank the
Lord, that he has opened my dark eyes, and looked
upon me with the eyes of his mercy, when I was
sunk in sin, yea, expected nothing but eternal death
and damnation; yea, I was without God in the
world, and I lived in sins innumerable, which were
an abomination before the eyes of God, so that if
God entered into judgment with me, I could not
stand in his sight, but should pass away like dust
before the wind, because of my innumerable sins.
Ps. 143:2; 1:5. But the Lord who through his
unspeakable love, out of grace, caused to be proclaimed
to me, by his servants, his word, concerning
his Son Christ Jesus, that whosoever believeth
in him, should have eternal life. John 3:15. Hence
I heard that there was no means to obtain salvation,
but through his Son Christ Jesus, who died the
death for our sins, and shed his blood for us, for the
washing away of our unrighteousness, even as John
says: That the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all
our sins. Acts 13:38; 1 Cor. 15:3; Eph. 1:7;
1 John 1:7. And when I heard the words of
Christ: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest; I, poor man,
laden with sins and innumerable wickednesses, made
my complaint to Christ, bewailed my sins, and he
forgave and remitted them to me through his shed
blood, when I confessed them before him. Matthew
11:28; Ps. 32:5. Thus, dear brother, I forsook
my sins, from day to day, according to my ability,
and sought to walk the narrow way, and separated
myself from the wicked, perverse world, and sought
to please Christ, yet not as I would, for I constantly
felt the Spirit striving against the flesh, as Paul says,
Gal. 5:17. And Job says that man’s life upon earth
is nothing but a constant warfare. Job 7:1. Thus,
dear brother, I sought to please the Lord, and not
the world, which the enemy could not endure any
longer, who hates all that is good, and cannot endure
it, but seeks to quench it. He has shown, and
still shows, his power also on me, but has not been
able to do any more, than the Lord permits him;
yea, when he has done all, he can but kill the body,
but over the soul he has no power, for the Lord
gives us strength through his Holy Spirit, to resist
it. Matt. 10:28; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 5:9. Hence,
dear brother, my imprisonment is not for any evil,
but for the truth, and for the confession of the holy
word of the Lord. Hence rejoice therein, that the
Lord counts me worthy to suffer for his name, and
to offer up my body to the praise of his holy name.
Acts 5:41. Think that it has been thus with all
God’s righteous ones, from the beginning of the
world till the present day. Hence, my brother, be
resigned to the work of the Lord, for thus it went
with Christ our Captain. If they have done this to
the Lord, how will it be with his followers? for
Christ says: “The servant is not greater than his
lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that
sent him.” John 13:16. Hence I hope by the
grace of the Lord, that he shall give me strength
through his Holy Spirit, to confess his word and
truth as long as there is breath in my mouth, even
as I have hitherto done unto this hour; hence I
expect now nothing else than my sentence, to be
placed at the stake in the market place, to be burnt
there. Comfort yourself herein, and thank the Lord
for it, that he counts me worthy to suffer for his
name. Thus I have now briefly written the cause
of my imprisonment, that you might the better console
yourself herein, and not give ear or belief to
every evil tongue, as I hope mother will write you.
If in any wise possible I hope to write you my faith,
if I get paper; and if I should not, I hope that
mother will write it to you, so that you will not
grieve, as though I died in unbelief, as Satan may
pretend, and as may possibly also have been written
990
to you; but I pray you give no ear or belief to it,
for that for which I suffer is the genuine truth and
the true faith in Christ Jesus, since Christ and his
apostles taught it, of which Paul says: Though an
angel from heaven should come, and teach you
otherwise, than I have taught you, let him be accursed.
Gal. 1:8. Thus, dear brother, I would write
you more, but I have no more paper now. Farewell,
the Lord be with you; and I greet you, dear
brother, with a holy kiss, for I think that you will
see my face no more.

By me, your brother, who is imprisoned for the
testimony of God, and for the holy word and truth
of the Lord.

Hans Bret.





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