10.

Brink, and people of his kind, make this intention clearly understood. But I must, as I said, bear the brunt of it, standing now as if on a verloren schildwacht lost sentinel or exposed outpost. It comes down to this: I receive shot after shot, and my hourglass is running out. I see that I must make a virtue of necessity and do my best to ward off these blows. The attacks come from all sides, whether I turn right or left. Yet I see the most work coming from Rotterdam and Utrecht. I am in doubt as to which of the two was the first to set the work in motion. However, it is certain that together they still turn the wheel. Without them, it would have stood still. One can see this from the Circulairen Brief Circular Letter from Rotterdam to various Kerkenraden Consistories or local church councils, and another from the same source, from Utrecht and Middelburg, to the council of Amsterdam. The answers that the people of Middelburg, Leeuwarden, and Groningen, as well as those of Utrecht, have sent to the Rotterdammers, can be seen everywhere in print. So too are the letters that two Classen Classes or regional church assemblies, namely those of Walcheren and Utrecht, wrote to the Amsterdam Classis on the same subject.

But that is from the outside. It would matter little if it were safe on the inside. However, here people immediately print what is written from the outside, a proof that the writers have their fellow voters within this city. For both letters, from Rotterdam and Utrecht, were seen being delivered to the Consistory of Amsterdam on the same day as the Circular Letter, along with a Request formal petition from a small group of hand-picked members. All are of the same content, just as they all rest on the same ground and strive toward the same end. The content is that they are not satisfied with the outcome of my affairs at the Classis. They appeal to the resolution of the Synode Synod or national church assembly, as far as they know it, and their aim is to punish me anew, after I have patiently endured what was imposed upon me. To consider this disorder in an orderly way, as much as possible, I shall first show what they have in common, and then what they have individually. Common to all of them is the Oogmerk purpose or goal, which aims at the same end through various means, and also the reasons they all provide to move those who would have to carry it out toward that end.