Martyrs Mirror 1223ANOTHER 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

Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, through His only Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour; 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 ( I 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 ride, 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. I 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. Isa. 55:3 . Remember the instruction which Tobit gave his son, when he says

`.`My son, let not pride dwell or rule in your heart." Tob. 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." Isa. 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. Oh, 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. 5:7 : 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." Psa. 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." Oh, 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 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. John 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 ; I 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 goad 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 centered 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. Psa. 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 ward, 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 ; I Cor. 15:3 ; Eph. 1:7 ; I 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 S irit striving against the flesh, as Paul says, Gal. 5 p17. 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 ; I 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 Lard. 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 Gads 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 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.