Part 228

In the tenth place she was asked whether the saints had not ascended up to heaven. But she confessed that no one has ascended up to heaven, but Christ our Protector and Savior, not even Mary his mother; but that they all rest in the hand of God, waiting for the judgment of the last day. John 3:13; Acts 1:10; Wis. 3:1. As the Scripture says, that the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of God, and they that have done good shall enter in unto life eternal, but the ungodly into eternal damnation. John 5:28,29. The resurrection is for both the just and the unjust, as Paul says: We must all appear before the judgment seat of the Lord, to be rewarded according to our works. Acts 24:15; 2 Cor. 5:10. We also read of the souls of the righteous that are under the altar, and wait till the number of their brethren shall be fulfilled. Rev. 6:9,11.

After she had thus been most rigidly examined, they sought through the learned of this world to instruct her for the purpose of causing her to recant; but when neither entreaties or threats could move her, but she declared herself willing rather to die, than to apostatize, she had to go upon the rack stripped of everything but an apron. There she was severely racked, with a stick in her mouth, so that her teeth broke in pieces; but she would not recant, nor betray any of her fellow-members. And when she requested that the torture be discontinued, the burgomaster said, that she should recant and confess. But God kept her lips, and helped her so that she was released from the torture; for she would rather with old Eleazar die this temporal death, than by denying Christ forfeit his eternal kingdom. Divers times they threatened her with death, but this could not intimidate her. Sometimes she feared that, because she was very sad, she might not be able to refrain from weeping when she should be led to death; hence she turned to God in prayer, who did not leave her prayer unheard, for when she received the intelligence, that she should have to die, her heart was especially filled with joy and good cheer. On the morning when she was to die, the Bailiff asked her, whether she had not yet considered the matter. But she said: “He that would obtain the precious prize that is set before us, must run without ceasing.” 1 Cor. 9:24. She was then brought into court, and sentenced to death. In her sentence the foregoing ten articles were read to her charge, and that she therefore, and because of her obstinacy, should be burned as a heretic. This did not make her despondent, but she thanked the Lord, and wished them grace from God, that they might turn from idolatry to the true worship of God. 1 Thess. 1:9.

When she came out and went forth to death, she said to the people: “Go, buy Testaments, and read therein, that you may find why I am sentenced to death, and have to die.” Thereupon the executioner, greatly incensed, and threatening to strike her, told her to be silent, and without saying much more she went into the hut, where the executioner hastened his work, and commending her spirit into the hands of God, she was burned, on the eve of Epiphany 1573, and prepared herself to go forth with the wise virgins, to meet the bridegroom.

The burgomaster, or president of the court, at Meenen, named Jan de Drijver, who had pronounced the sentence on Pierijntgen, was afterwards severely punished of God; his flesh decayed, so that in consequence of it one ear dropped from his head, and he died a most miserable death.

MICHIEL VAN BRUYSSEL, AND BARBERKEN HIS WIFE, A. D. 1573.

About the year 1573, there were imprisoned for the testimony of Jesus, at Ghent, in Flanders, Michiel van Bruyssel and Barberken his wife. Because they were not of the world, but had by God been chosen out of the world, therefore the world, which only loves its own, hated, persecuted and oppressed them. But they, as wise builders, had built their foundation upon the corner stone Christ Jesus, who was able to keep their treasure until the day of their redemption. Thus they, after manifold temptations and trials of their faith, were, by the blinded, God-opposing papists, put to death, not on account of any evil deed, but only for the obedience of the truth of Jesus Christ. Michiel van Bruyssel was burned in the Friday Market, and Barberken his wife was beheaded with the sword, in the count’s castle. And thus they remained faithful unto death to their Redeemer and Savior; hence they shall receive an eternal and glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown, from the hand of the Lord, which no one shall be able to take away from them.

JAN VAN ACKEREN, A. D. 1573.

After manifold persecution, murdering and burning of the Christians, there also fell into the hands of the tyrants, in the city of Antwerp a valiant hero and soldier of Jesus Christ, named Jan van Ackeren born near Ypres. The sole cause of his apprehension was, that he in accordance with the counsel of God, had separated from the wicked world and all her false worship militating against the word of God and had yielded his body and spirit under the banner and obedience of Christ. And as the light does not unite and mingle with darkness; but is hated and persecuted by the latter, therefore the rulers of darkness examined and tried said sheep of Christ, with severe imprisonment and many sore tortures. And as he could by no means be brought to apostatize, since he was founded upon the Rock he was put to death by fire at said place, suffering it with great steadfastness. And thus he testified and confirmed the belief of the truth with his death and blood, and trod the wine press of suffering with Christ. Hence he was not rejected as a bastard, but much rather, through grace, acknowledged and received as an acceptable son by Christ, into his eternal inheritance, where he with all God’s chosen, shall live and reign forever and ever.

This friend of Christ sent several letters from his prison, but they did not come to our hands.

G. KLEERMAECKER, WITH SIJNTGEN VAN ROUSSELARE AND MAEYKEN GOSENS, PUT TO DEATH FOR THE TRUTH, AT ANTWERP, A. D. 1573.

_A letter from G. Kleermaecker, imprisoned at Antwerp with Sijntgen van Rousselare, wife of Jeronymus, where they laid down their lives for the truth._

The abundant grace of God, the great love and mercy of his Son, and the power, operation and illumination of the Holy Ghost, this, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I wish you as a cordial and affectionate greeting, whereby we, unworthy ones, are born anew of God, to serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness, to the praise of the Lord and to the salvation of our souls. Hereunto fit, strengthen and confirm us, the Lord, the Father of all mercy, to whom alone be praise, glory, and honor, forever and ever. Amen.

After this salutation, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I inform you, that I am, the Lord be praised forever, still tolerably well according to the flesh, and also as regards the mind; and I trust by the grace of God to go with our true Captain, Joshua to the promised land (which has been promised us unworthy ones out of grace, and shown us through faith) hoping and trusting by the grace of God to pass unharmed over Jordan; yet I would from the depth of my heart, that my mind were more valiant for it.

Further, my very dear and beloved sister, I inform you, that at the visit my heart was greatly rejoiced by you, because I saw your great joy and gladness in the Lord, your complete self-renunciation, and the resignation of your heart and mind, in the Lord, for which we cannot thank and praise the Lord enough, that he has given you such a treasure in earthen vessels, that you do not want to forsake the Lord, for neither life nor death, nor for any torment which the tyrants might inflict upon you my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord. The Lord, the God of all grace, strengthen and confirm you unto the end, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in you, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ maybe glorified in you, and that you may fight the good fight of faith; and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto we are called, if we hold the beginning of the Christian life steadfast unto the end. 2 Thess. 1:11,12; 1 Tim. 6:12; Heb, 3:14. For, dear sister in the Lord, if we properly consider the life of Christ, we find nothing but tribulation, suffering and distress. He who was the Lord of lords, for our sakes left his Father’s kingdom; he came into the world, to call our guilt upon him, and paid the debt with his bitter suffering and death on the tree of the cross, leaving us in all things an example, as the apostle says, that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, and in another place the apostle says: Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Heb. 12:3. And thus also the prophet utters his complaint for him saying: I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head. Ps. 22:6,7. In still another place Isaiah says. He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.... He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Is. 53:2,3,7. Besides this, my much beloved sister in the Lord, consider Christ’s entire life how he begun, lived, and ended it; you will find nothing but suffering, humiliation, misery and contempt, which he suffered for our sakes in humility, so that the apostle says of the Lord, that in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto God who was able to save him from death, and was heard because he honored God. Heb. 5:7. Hence, my dear sister in the Lord, this beginning of the Christian life must abide with us unto the end, as said before, and we shall then also be partakers of him, and with all God’s children inherit his kingdom through grace, for which reason he went hence to prepare us a place there, even as he says: I go to your and my Father, to prepare a place for you; and if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye maybe also, John 20:17; 14:3. Therefore, my dear sister in the Lord, though our God does now hide his face from us for a little while, yet will he gather us again with everlasting kindness, as the prophet says; I will lead you into mine house, and give you a place within my walls, and a name better than of sons and of daughters; yea, I will give you an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Yea, he will lay our stones with fair colors, and lay our foundations with sapphires, and will make our windows of crystal and our gates of carbuncles. Is. 54:7,8; 56:5; 54:11,12. Yea, there is a city built, says John, of pure gold, where, my very dear sister in the Lord, you shall see the King in his beauty, whose head is as the finest gold, and his locks are curled and black as a raven; his eyes are as the eyes of doves; his cheeks are as growing beds of spices of the apothecary; his hands are as gold rings set with turquoises, his body is as pure ivory. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of gold; his mouth is sweet, and his word is lovely. Rev. 21:18; Cant. 5:11–16. In short, we shall find more there, than it is possible to tell us or to describe.

See, my dear sister in the Lord, such is our Friend and Bridegroom; hence rejoice, you betrothed of the Lord, for he that has chosen you from among many thousands is fairer than all the children of men.

Therefore, my dear sister in the Lord, adorn yourself with the fine linen of righteousness (Revelation 19:8) in honor of your Bridegroom until the days of tribulation shall be at an end, and the Lord shall turn again the captivity of Zion, and wipe away all tears from your eyes, and make perfect our joy, so that for our mourning and sighing we shall sing as in the night of a glorious feast, and shall, with the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins, that were redeemed from the earth, stand before the throne of God, having the name of our God written in our foreheads, having harps in our hands, and singing a new song. Rev. 7:4; 14:1–4.

Behold, dear sister, this our enemies shall see and be confounded, who now say to us: “Where is your God?” Our eyes shall then behold them trodden down as mire in the streets, and be ashes under the feet of the righteous. Mal. 4:3. Hence, dear sister in the Lord, let us be sincere in love, and obtain the victory in the Christian’s conflict; to him that overcometh he will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Rev. 2:7. This grant us the only wise God, the Father of grace and mercy, who alone has power in heaven and on earth, that we, justified through his grace, may become heirs of eternal life. Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, to him alone be praise, glory and honor, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21.

Faithful is he, who also will do it, according to his promise; for I am God, he says by the prophet Malachi, and change not, namely, in his promises. 1 Thess. 5:24; Mal. 3:6.

Herewith, my very dear and beloved sister in the Lord, I will commend you to the Lord, and to the rich word of his grace. Adieu, adieu, if we should see each other’s face no more in this world, yet I hope that we shall see each other in eternity with our God, where parting will be no more. Once more, adieu, and take my simple letter in good part, this I humbly pray: and if I have in anything written too little or too much, I beg you to excuse me for it. Herewith I cordially salute you and also my wife cordially greets you with the peace of the Lord; and Sanderijntgen, and another maiden from Zealand, named Magdaleentgen, also greet you most, cordially. I ask you very kindly, my dear sister, let me have a letter from you, for this will be very welcome to me and more agreeable than I can write you. Farewell.

By me your weak brother and servant, to the utmost of my ability.

G. KLEERMAECKER, V. S. B.

A LETTER FROM SIJNTJGEN VAN ROUSSELARE.

_Grace and peace._ Written at Antwerp, in prison, I, Sijntgen, who am unworthy, am imprisoned for the testimony of the Lord, and daily expecting my sentence; the Lord grant us, that we may offer up our sacrifice to his praise and glory; and to the salvation of our souls. Amen.

The great grace and mercy of God the Father, and the great love of the Son, and the power of the Holy Ghost, confirm you, my very dear sister in the Lord, and us, unto the end, that we may be found worthy in the day of the Lord, through grace to receive the beautiful promises, when the Lord shall say; “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” O what great joy will then be prepared for us, if we only hold the beginning of the Christian life steadfast unto the end; hereunto confirm us the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, whose power is great, even as the prophet declares, that with his three fingers he encircles the whole earth; and unto his name every knee must bow in heaven and earth, and every tongue must praise him; the Lord of hosts is his name, the Lord Sabaoth, the Mighty One in Israel, for whose name we are imprisoned here; to him alone be praise and glory, forever and ever. Amen. Is. 40:12; 45:23; 54:5.

For he has created and made heaven and earth out of nothing. This same bleeding, naked, crucified Christ I wish you, my very dear sister in the Lord, as an affectionate and Christian greeting; may he keep and comfort you in all affliction that may come upon you and us for his name. After all loving and Christian salutation, I inform you, my dear lamb and sister in the Lord, that my mind is still determined (eternal praise and glory to the Lord for his grace) as it was when I unworthily bowed my knees before the Lord, thereby showing that I desired to obey him in every thing, in affliction as well as in joy, even as the apostle also admonishes us, that it is given unto us not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. O my dear sister in the Lord, the servant is not above his Lord, nor the disciple above his master, and Christ has also told us: “The world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” And further: “Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:20,33. And our faith is the victory that overcometh the world, by which we must overcome princes and magistrates, through the grace of the Lord. 1 John 5:4. O my dear sister in the Lord, it is true, we are here as sheep for the slaughter; but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, as the apostle says; Who shall separate us from the love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or peril, or sword? As is written. Rom. 8:35.

O my dear lamb, he is such a faithful King whom we serve; he will not forsake us but assist us in water, sword and fire: for he says by the prophet Isaiah: Though a mother should forsake her own child, yet will I not forsake thee, but keep thee as the apple of mine eye. Is. 49:15; Zech. 2:8. O my dear sister, this is for us a glorious comfort in our present tribulation, and distress, which is temporal and light, says the apostle, and worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are temporal, but at the things which are eternal; for eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. 2 Cor. 4:17,18; 1 Cor. 2:9. O my dear sister in the Lord, let us choose much rather to suffer affliction with the children of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and let us esteem the reproach of Christ great riches, and with the prophet David, much rather go into the holy sanctuary of the Lord, than in the path of the ungodly, for though he flourishes here, he must perish, for the wise man says that the hope of the ungodly is like dried thistle-down. Wis. 5:14. But we, dear sister in the Lord, have a sure hope; though here in the sight of the unwise we seem to die, we know that we shall live forever, for it is written: They that here sow in tears shall reap with everlasting joy and gladness, and bring their sheaves into God’s garner. Wis. 3:2; Ps. 126:5,6. O my dear sister in the Lord, when this mortal shall put on immortality, how gloriously we shall then be crowned with glorious joy, for then our joy shall not be taken from us. 1 Cor. 15:53; 2 Esd. 2:45. O my dear lamb and sister in the Lord, let us freely trust in our King, for his promises will not fail, for he will not put us off, as do these carnal lords, all of which passes away, but he will out of grace give us life eternal.

O my sister in the Lord, my desire is, to go and rest under the altar, with all my dear brethren and sisters who freely delivered up their lives unto the death, and are resting under the altar; I hope that we shall soon come to them, for we are of good courage here, by the grace of the Lord, to take, with Caleb and Joshua, the promised land. Though our enemies are many, we hope to devour them like bread, for we have overcome nearly all our enemies, but now we have before us the greatest or last enemy, which is death, but we have a strong comfort, which is the God of Jacob, who gives us strength when the need is greatest; though the billows then come against us, we hope as David says, by our God to leap over a wall, and with Paul to say: I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me; and we hope thus to press through, even as Christ says: Strive to enter in at straight gate, for narrow is the way which leadeth unto eternal life. And Christ further says that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Num. 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:26; Ps. 18:29; Philip. 4:13; Luke 13:24; Matthew 7:14; 11:12.

O my dear sister in the Lord, when flesh and blood must remain on the posts and stakes, then is the time of the severest conflict, for Satan also well knew to say this, when he tempted godfearing Job. Job 2:4,5. When flesh and blood are touched, then the true faith is tried as gold in the furnace and then we must strive lawfully, to obtain through grace, the crown of eternal life, for it is written: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and I will lead him to the fountain of living water. 1 Pet. 1:7; 2 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 9:25; Rev. 3:10,5,12. O my dear sister in the Lord, what glorious promises are given us, if we only endure steadfast unto the end. To this end, may the Lord grant us and you his grace, that we may help sing the new song in Zion, with the hundred and forty-four thousand, which were not defiled with women: for they are virgins, because they did not commit whoredom with the daughters of Babylon. Rev. 14:3,4. Herewith I will commend you, my dear sister, to the Lord and to the word of his grace, which is able to keep you and us unto eternal life. And I herewith take leave from you, and bid you adieu on this earth, till we meet where parting will be no more, where the streets are of pure gold, and the gates of pearls and precious stones. Rev. 21. Adieu, adieu, my dear sister in the Lord: Written by me, Sijntgen van Rousselare wife of Jeronymus, your weak sister in the Lord; take my simple letter in good part, since it has been written out of true love; for my gift is not very great. And greet with the peace of the Lord, in my name your people where you live and all dear friends, known and unknown, especially your brother and sister Passchier my familiar acquaintances. My fellow prisoners greet your love cordially with the peace of the Lord. Pray the Lord heartily for us; we will most gladly do the same for you according to our weak ability. And let us always persevere steadfastly, that no one may take our crown, but that we may with the wise virgins enter into joyful rest. Amen.

SIJNTGEN VAN ROUSSELARE.

FRANCOYS VAN LEUVEN, HANSKEN VAN OUDENAERDEN AND GRIETGEN VAN SLUYS, IN THE YEAR 1573.