# Another Letter Of Joost Verkindert, Written To His Brothers, Michiel And Pleun, On The 7th Of September, The 100th Day Of His Imprisonment.

16th century (source section) · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: ANOTHER LETTER OF JOOST VERKINDERT, WRITTEN TO HIS BROTHERS, MICHIEL AND PLEUN, ON THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER, THE 100TH DAY OF HIS IMPRISONMENT.

Century of containing source section; exact event date not assigned

May God the Father, and our dear Lord Jesus
Christ, give you a heart and mind, to walk in his
holy truth all the days of your life, to the salvation
of your poor, naked souls, that they may be saved,
when the Lord shall visit them at the last day, when
we shall all be placed before the judgment seat of
Christ, where every one shall receive reward according
to his deeds, whether they be good or bad.
2 Cor. 5:10. To God the Father be praise and
honor through Jesus Christ; may he give us his
Holy Spirit for a Comforter in all our tribulation,
in which we now are, for Christ and the gospel’s
sake. To the Lord be praise, honor and thanks
forever and ever. Amen.

This I wish you, my dear and beloved brothers,
Michiel and Pleun, as a heartfelt and friendly greeting,
from the inmost of my soul. Be pleased to
know, that I am still tolerably well according to the
flesh; and as regards the Spirit, my mind is still
fixed, to adhere to the eternal truth with the help of
the Most High, to whom I must look for comfort
and help; for of myself I have not one good thought
but only aversion; for the flesh always shrinks from
suffering. Nevertheless, my dear brothers, there
must be suffering, either here or hereafter, for
Christ says, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent must take it by force.
Matt. 11:12. O dear brothers, I pray you from the
heart, that you will take heed to yourselves, to obey
the voice of the Lord, so that you may not be
found to be of those who had buried their talent in
the earth, and of those who want to put a new piece
upon an old garment, and of those who put new
wine into old bottles. Matt. 25:18; Luke 5:36,37.
O my dear brothers, if you do not take heed to
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yourselves, God will require a strict account of you,
for Christ says: All those who will not have me to
reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before
mine eyes, and cast them into outer darkness; there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Luke
19:27; 13:25. And further, Luke 12:47, Christ
says: That servant which knew his Lord’s will, and
prepared not himself, neither did according to his
will, shall be beaten with many stripes. O my dear
brothers, accept this my warning in good part, for
it is done out of pure brotherly love, and this because
I so well know, that without Christ and without
his word there is no salvation. For I also, for
a number of years knew better than I did, the Lord
forgive me; and if I could have served the world
and the Lord, I would not be in bonds. O dear
brothers, flesh and blood did not bring me to this,
but the word of the Lord, which is sharper than any
two-edged sword. For no man can serve two masters
at the same time; he must despise the one, and
hold to the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon
together. Matt. 6:24. And O, it (the word) also
calls to the children of Israel and says: “How long
halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God,
follow him; if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.
O dear brothers, these and other Scriptures compelled
me to renounce my own will, in order to escape
the great deluge and punishment that shall
come upon those who have not obeyed the Gospel
of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
2 Thess. 1:8,9.

O dear brothers, be afraid of that day which shall
burn as an oven, and when all the proud despisers,
and all the wicked shall be as stubble; but they that
have kept the laws of their God shall then grow up as
calves of the stall, and they shall go in and out, and
tread down the wicked like ashes under their feet.
Mal. 4:1. O dear brothers, that we might all be
found worthy to hear the pleasant voice of Christ
saying: “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom
of my Father, prepared for you from the foundation
of the world—O then we should have indeed been
born at a blessed hour! For there are so few that
seek to follow the Lord with a whole and true heart,
for every one would excuse himself; the one says:
I have bought five yoke of oxen; the second: I have
married a wife; the third: I have bought a piece of
ground; I pray thee, have me excused. Luke 14:18.
O dear brothers, before the Lord no excuse shall be
able to stand; hence let us take heed, if we have
heard his voice, that our hearts do not become hardened
or stony; for we have many examples in the
holy Scriptures, that the ungodly cannot stand before
the Lord. For we read, how God punished the
world with the deluge, because of their sins; but he
saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
and brought in the flood upon the world,
of the ungodly; and overthrew and condemned the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins; but preserved
just Lot with his two daughters, who were
vexed with their improper and unchaste conversation.
2 Pet. 2:5. Thus, dear brothers, though the
Lord does not outwardly comfort322 you, as, he then
did, yet he shall not let sin go unpunished, for the
Lord is a righteous judge, who will judge the heart
and thoughts. O yes, man shall have to give
account of every idle word that he has spoken.
Matt. 12:36. O dear beloved brothers, go out from
this spiritual Egypt, from the power of the hellish
Pharaoh, and from this spiritual Sodom, where they
crucified our Lord, and from this spiritual Babylon;
so that you may live in Zion, and there behold the
beautiful worship of God; for I warn you in the
name of the Lord, and my conscience, that you will
find it at the last day, as I have here written you.

O dear brothers, Michiel and Pleun, I also admonish
myself hereby, for if I persevere not in this
conflict, all that I have suffered is in vain, for the
unsaved shall be written in the earth. Jer. 17:13.
O so many times I feel a terror of apostatizing, for
I am so certain and assured that I am on the right
way. For, dear brothers, you well know, that no
one can come into this world except he be born; so
no one can enter into the future world, except he
be born again, even as Peter clearly testifies, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth, forever. 1 Peter
1:23. O brothers, dear brothers, happy is he that is
thus born: for such regenerated persons use the true
baptism and the true Supper; they also keep aloof
from all false doctrines, and also use the true excommunication
and separation, for the maintenance
of the purity of the church, or it would soon become
a Babylon.

Dear brothers, I have been before a priest four
different times, and we can agree in nothing. O he
uses such diligence to bring us to his church; and
because we will not buy, or cannot accept with a
good conscience, his merchandise, therefore he says
that we have the devil in us, and that we are
damned if we thus die in our belief. However, I am
not terrified by his judgment, but I pray the Lord,
to open the eyes of their understanding, that they
may see against whom they are contending, that it
is not against men, but against God and the Lamb;
for Christ says. “If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own; but because ye are not of the
world, [but I have chosen you out of the world,]
therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19.
And Christ further says: If they have called the
master of the house Beelzebub, how much more
shall they call them of his household. Matt. 10:25.
O how truly it may be said at this time, that our
life is accounted madness, our going out destruction
and our honor shame. Wis. 5:4; 3:3. O how are
the words of Christ fulfilled where he says: “They
shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time
cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that
he doeth God service. And these things will they
do unto you, because they have not known the
Father, nor me. John 16:2,3. And also Paul says:
If they had known him, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2:8. O my dear
brothers, remove your feet from the paths of the
ungodly, for they go to hell, like sheep to the
824slaughter. Proverbs 4:14. And look not to the
multitude, for Esdras writes: Even as there is found
much earth of which to make earthen vessels, but
little to make golden ones, so are the ungodly to
the righteous. 2 Esd. 8:2. And again: Like as a flood
is to a drop, so are the ungodly to the righteous.
9:16. And he further says: What profit is it to man
that there is promised a city full of all good things, if
he cannot enter into it? or that there is promised an
immortal life, whereas we do the works that bring
death? Hence we may well say with Esdras: “O
Adam, Adam! what hast thou done! for when thou
didst fall, thou didst not fall alone, but also we all
that come of thee.” 7:48. O my dear brothers,
strive to become true sheep of Christ’s flock, and
true branches of the vine Christ, and seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God; set your affections on things
above not on things on the earth; and mortify
your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which
things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience. Col. 3:1,2,5,6. Thus, my
dear brothers, if you desire the truth, and to escape
the punishment to come, seek to order your life according
to the Gospel, and deny yourselves; for
Christ says in the Gospel: “If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake and the Gospel’s shall save it. For 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? But whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father
with the holy angels.” Matt. 16:24–26; Mark
8:38.

O my dear brothers, consider well these Scriptures,
and meditate on them, for Christ Jesus has
brought them down here from high heaven, and
lived and taught them, and sealed them with his
blood, and became poor for our sakes, that through
his poverty he might make us rich. O consider
once, how despised Christ was for our sakes. So
that the prophet Isaiah laments and says, that there
was no beauty in him, which might have pleased us.
Is. 53:2. Yea, he [the Psalmist] laments, that he
was a worm, and no man. Ps. 22:6. O dear brothers,
let us take an example from him, how admirably
he went before us; for all those who do not accept
Christ are not redeemed by him; for Christ
also says in the Gospel: “Why call ye me, Lord,
Lord, and do not the things which I say? for whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon
that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon
a rock.323 And every one that heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto
a foolish man which built his house upon the sand:
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and
the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it
fell: and great was the fall of it.” Luke 6:46; Matthew
7:24–27. And Christ further says, of the
sower, Matt. 13, that some seed fell by the wayside,
some upon stony places, some among thorns, and
some into good ground, and this brought forth fruit.
O ponder well this Scripture, in how many a one
the deceitful riches suppress the word of God, so
that it does not bring forth fruit. Thus, my dear
beloved brothers, this is written in my bonds for a
perpetual warning to you. O that God would grant
grace, that his word might lie in your heart, as it
does in mine; then you should soon bid the world
farewell. Yet, my flesh sometimes wonderfully
shrinks back from suffering, so that at times I am
as fearful as one that is in the throes of travail. Nevertheless,
Christ Jesus also shrank from suffering.
Luke 22.

Herewith I will commend you to the crucified
Christ Jesus, and to the abundant word of his grace,
as a perpetual adieu upon earth if we should here
see one another no more; for my mind is still fixed
this day, to seal this letter with my blood, and, with
old Eleazar, rather to die honorably than to live
stained with ignominy. And, Michiel, I also greet
your wife, sister Tanneken, very cordially with a
perpetual adieu. My brothers always do good, and
praise and thank the Lord, that you have a brother
who is worthy to lay down his life for Christ and
the Gospel’s sake. Written to you in tears, for
nature’s sake. Assist Christian with the children,
wherever it is possible for you; and keep this letter
as a testament. By me, your dear brother,

Joost Verkindert.





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