On Easter-day, being the 3d of April, about nine o’clock in the forenoon, there was discovered a gathering of Dutch Anabaptists, Hollanders, in a house beyond the Aldgate; seventeen of whom were apprehended, and four cast into prison.
On the 21st of May, on Whitsuntide eve, one man and ten women, Dutch Anabaptists, were condemned, in the Consistory of St. Paul’s church, to be burnt in a place called Smithfield; however, after much labor and pains with them, only one woman turned, and the rest were banished from the country.
On the 22d of July two Dutch Anabaptists were burned in the place called Smithfield, who died in great terror, weeping and crying. So far the aforementioned author.
We have deemed it well to add this here, since it serves to confirm the foregoing; as also, to testify that they did not suffer for any reviling against Her Majesty (as circulated by some), but only for their faith. And this is the more authentic, because it was recorded by the hand of their adversaries.
TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY THESE IMPRISONED FRIENDS, AS WE HAVE FOUND THEM IN A SMALL, OLD, PRINTED BOOK.
We poor and despised strangers, who are in persecution for the testimony of Jesus Christ, wish all men, of whatever race or office, from God, that the Lord would grant them a long peace, so that we may live in peace among one another, in all godliness, to the praise and glory of the Lord, and the salvation of the soul.
Since we are by so many persons, both with word and pen, very unjustly accused and slandered, we are for this important reason constrained briefly, in writing, to present the ground of our faith, and thus make it known as follows:
We are not addressed, and interrogated concerning our faith, with a meek spirit, as the holy Scriptures teach; but reproach is heaped upon reproach, and lie upon lie, to increase and augment our afflictions and sorrows; and because they also have no pity for our poor weak women and children. Our country and kindred, and our property, we had to leave (partly, because of the great tyranny), and fled as lambs before wolves, only for the true evangelical truth of Jesus Christ, and not for any sedition or heresy, as the Munsterite errors or abominations were, and as (God forbid!) is reported of us. We fain would that our whole faith and life were written on our forehead, so that every one might know and see what we believe, and what we seek and desire here upon earth. There should nothing be found but a true faith in full accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and an unblamable life, seeking to provide bread for our wives and children, even as God has commanded and as the Scriptures teach, 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8; Eph. 4:28; 1 Thess. 4:11. O that our persecutors knew that this is the desire of our hearts, they certainly could not but have great pity and compassion upon us poor, despised strangers, if there be any human pity and compassion in them at all, and they would, according to the words of the Lord, have compassion upon us, as the prophet says: “Bring the poor that are afflicted to thy house.” Is. 58:7. Moses says: “If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him; but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.” Lev. 19:33,34.
Mark well that God commands to love the stranger as one’s own self. Who is in misery and dwelling in a strange country, that likes to be despised, and driven out of it with his fellow-believers, and suffer great loss besides? Hence Christ says: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7:12. O that they would deal so with us, according to natural equity, and the evangelical truth (of which our persecutors so greatly boast), how soon should the persecutors cease, and the lying and slandering mouths be stopped. For Christ and his own persecuted no one, but in his true Gospel taught the contrary, as he says: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” Matt. 5:44,45. This is the doctrine left by Christ and his apostles, as they themselves declare, even as Paul says: “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.” 1 Cor. 4:11–13. Paul further says: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12.
From all this it is demonstrable, that those who have the true evangelical doctrine and faith will persecute no one, but will themselves be persecuted. If it be said to us, that we are persecuted for our heretical faith, according to Paul’s teaching, and because God has commanded to kill the false prophets (Deut. 13:9), we reply thus: Paul says, that we are to reject (avoid) a man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition. Tit. 3:10. He does not say: Drive them out of the country and city without hearing or admonishing them. Besides, one must also know who are heretics: namely, those who advance a doctrine that is beside and contrary to the word of the Lord. But no man can convince us of this; that is, that our doctrine and faith are contrary to the doctrine of Jesus Christ and his holy apostles, as the sequel will show.