Cling Only to Him

Jonathan Watson gave a few samples of letters written by Alexis baron von Roenne in the March, 2011 edition of The Banner of Truth magazine (pp. 21-27). Alexis baron bon Roenne was born in Prussia in 1902 [03?] and was a career officer in the German army. He opposed Nazism and was later implicated in an assassination attempt of Hitler, of which he was not guilty, yet he was executed. He had strong Christian convictions and died with great faith in Christ on October 12, 1944. This letter was written to his wife on the day of his death.

My dearest beloved:

In a moment now I shall be going home to our Lord in complete calm and in the certainty of salvation. My thoughts are with you, with all of you, with the very greatest love and gratitude.

As my last wish, I entreat you only to cling to Him and to have full confidence in Him; He loves you.

Any decision you may take for all of you, after prayer, has my complete sanction and my blessing. If only you knew with what inconceivable loyalty He is standing by my side at this moment, you would be armoured, and calm, for all your difficult life. He will give you strength for everything.

I bless both of our beloved children, and include them in my last ardent prayer. May the Lord let His countenance shine upon them and lead them home.

Heartfelt greetings and thanks to my beloved Mama, to your parents and my brothers and sisters. May they, safeguarded by Him, survive even difficult times in our ardently beloved fatherland.

To you, my very dearest of all, belong my ardent love and thanks to the last moment and until our blessed reunion.

God keep you.

Dying We Live: The Final Messages and Records of Some Germans Who Defied Hitler, edited by Helmut Gollwitzer, Kathe Kuhn, Reinhold Schneider, translated by R. C. Kuhn, Harvill Press, London, 1956.

My Theatre

A portion of a letter by John Calvin to his fellow reformer, Melanchthon. He referred to him as "most distinguished sir," and spoke of him as a man "whom I venerate from the heart." The letter is a response to Melanchthon's comment about antagonists who were teaching false doctrine and causing trouble in the churches. He said that they "have no other object in view than to show themselves off on a public stage." Calvin responds with an exhortation to be careful themselves for they too are being observed. The letter was written from Geneva, August 23, 1555.

But though their [the antagonists] expectations, as I trust and as is probable, will be frustrated, nevertheless, even if they should gain the plaudits of the whole world, it becomes us to direct all our attention with so much the more zeal to that heavenly prize-giver under whose eyes we combat.

What! Shall the sacred assembly of the angels, who animate us by their favour, and strenuously point out to us by their example the manner of acting, permit us to grow sluggish or advance with hesitating steps? And the whole band of the holy fathers! Do they not also stimulate us to exertion? In fine, the church of God which is present to our view in the world! When we know that its prayers combat on our side, and that it is animated by our example, shall its suffrages in our favour be lost upon us?

No, let this be my theatre, and satisfied with its approbation, though the whole world should hiss me, I shall never want courage. I am very far from envying these silly and noisy players. Let them enjoy for a brief space and in an obscure corner their barren little sprig of triumph. What the world deems worthy of its applause or hatred does not escape me. But far more important I hold it to follow the rule prescribed by our Master. Nor have I any doubt that this ingenuousness will in the end prove more agreeable to all pious and rational minds, than a complaisant and wavering manner of teaching, which is always swayed by some empty terror.

John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, edited by Jules Bonnet and translated by David Constable, first published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1858, republished by The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009, vol. 6, p. 219.

Whether It Be To Die Or Live

A selection from a letter by John Calvin to the persecuted Protestant churches in France. A new king had ascended the throne in France, Francis II, and the persecution of evangelical believers had multiplied. Calvin charged them to be courageous and honor Christ, whether by life or by death. The letter was written from Geneva in November, 1559.

So then Satan, on the one hand, is contriving everything to trouble the poor brethren to make them swerve from the truth and turn aside from the path of salvation. With unbridled rage he vents against them all his spite.

While on the other hand, God mean while assists them, and though they suffer extreme anguish according to the weakness of the flesh, yet still do they persevere in the confession of his name. In that you see they are victorious.

Should then the cruelty of the adversaries, which in spite of all their efforts is vanquished, have more weight with you to deaden your hearts, than that power from on high, with which God aids his children, ought to have to increase in you the perseverance which you should maintain in his truth? You see the assistance of God which remains victorious and will you not repose your confidence in it? You see the faith which triumphs in the martyrs, who endure death, and shall it be the cause of annihilating yours?

Wherefore, my brethren, when the tyrants exhaust all their fury, learn to turn your eyes to contemplate the succor which God affords his followers; and seeing that they are not forsaken by him, take new comfort and cease not to war against the temptations of your flesh, till you have attained the full conviction that we are happy in belonging to Christ whether it be to die or to live.

John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, edited by Jules Bonnet and translated by David Constable, first published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1858, republished by The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009, vol. 7, pp. 83-84.