Letter 13
Date:
June 25, 1873
Sender:
G.W. Bloemers (Wisconsin)
Written by:
A. Stokdijk
Addressed to:
D.W. te Selle
Holland,
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
June 25, 1873
Worthy Nephew
D.W. te Selle and further friends,
We have
received with joy to all of us your last letter of April 11. And also has
Tobias at the same time, beside this, received another letter (3) from you at
the Post Office. But he lost it on the trip home, which grieved us greatly,
that it was lost, and we do not know by whom our friends from Holland the same
was written, much less what was included therein.
This troubles
(disturbs) us much. But it has happened. Perhaps you may know from whom the
same was. In case you do, will you inform us when you write again. We thank
you for your trouble you went through and what you did to write us so much. We
hope that the good wishes to both old and young (extended to us) you will also
do to them, may actually by God’s grace come to pass.
You write we
are all children of one Father, learners (pupils) of one Master, all called to
one purpose, members of one body.
Upon this I
must answer you, my friend, yes that we are in confession, and so far as we
can see on the face of it, and are then against the modernists. (Robert
remember here my words introducing letter 12...)
And truly we
are fortunate (lit. Above all however we are lucky/fortunate) if we can
experience the strength of our conversion in our hearts. And fortunate we are
when that Jesus who was crucified and died for us, lives in our hearts by the
faith, so that we have the Communion of Saints who with our spirits testifies
that we are God’s children.
I rejoice in
my old age to hear from you that when our earthly home, this tabernacle is
destroyed, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, but
Eternal in the Heavens. Just the language that Paul uses in 2 Cor., 5.1
when writing to the believers. So when we have this hope, then our hearts are
also cleansed from the dead works of sin.
Positively/Surely it is joy to my spirit to hear such news from you, my
friend. O might all of our friends share in that news, but alas, how it is
with many?
One still can
hear about approval of the truths, and confession of them, they are no deniers
of God, no Christian deniers, but all live for themselves, they do not know
that there is no rebirth outside of God, no new life, no true peace without
such faith. I have observed many times that a great number who carry the name
of Christian are stuck in that without having the true renewal taken place,
without being able to say that old things have passed away, see all things
have become new."
And we surely
know, my friend, that God, our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and
the Holy Spirit together are the one true God and that they work together to
rescue our souls from eternal damnation. And blessed are those who hear
and do and keep what God declares in His word.
But we also
know that there is another named the Devil. Satan, Old Snake, the Deceiver,
Prince of Darkness, the God of this Age who tries to have us and to keep us,
and we are unfortunate when we give heed to him, his will to do, and forthwith
to serve him.
In one word,
when the Devil, the world and sin holds our hearts, then we are lost. As soon
as a child is born and developes its own personality, both work on the person,
both want to have us, and both want all of us, our heart, the life, and the
pleasure of our spirit, our outlook, our pursuit, our endeavour, our
longings, our desires. Will we be aware of all in which we live?
The Spirit of
God will be surely be our fellow witness if we serve and fear God. God does
not leave Himself without witness, and peace and rest and joy in the Lord is
something that we do not find in the world.
Yes, all the
pleasure of the world is not as much as a day in fellowship with God already
here on earth. Oh, this blind world, those who do not believe, may the Lord
convert many who will serve Him in seriousness and in true (unification)
fellowship of the Spirit.
We can inform
you in this letter that a daughter, Gezina Woordes by name, is married to a
son of Damkot, who formerly lived at (the farmstead) ‘Moezebrink’ in Ratum.
Our daughter, Anna, is the mother of Gezina.
This spring we
have had was a wet and cold spring, and still till now too much rain, although
it is very warm now.
Also I feel
moved to send you a picture of my deceased wife. We had only one picture of
my wife, we have made a copy of the same which we are sending you now.
Further, the family is all well. Also in my old age, I myself feel
fairly well, not too bad all things considered. Although I must say that
physical faculties in all ways are decreasing.
After hearty
greetings from Tobias and wife, together with the children and also the other
relatives I want to include my own. I request that you give our greetings to
your family and to all who ask about us.
I sign this
letter, hoping that you will not wait too long to write us again.
Your loving
Uncle G.W.
Bloemers
At request written by A. Stokdijk
The pictures
belong to you, D.W. te Selle
