Monk: “This is well. Are you also sorry that you have erred?”
Ans. “I formerly did err indeed, and for that I am sorry; this however is no error, but the true way, and I adhere to God.”
When she had said this, the executioner began to strangle her, which when she felt it, she cast down her eyes and closed them, as though she had fallen into a sleep, and gave up the ghost, on the twentieth day of November, A. D. 1527.
JOHN WALEN, WITH TWO OF HIS FELLOW BRETHREN, A. D. 1527.
In the year 1527, there was also a faithful brother (Rev. 2:10), named John Walen, residing in Waterlandt, on Crommenies Dijck, and with him two of his fellow brethren. These three were together brought prisoners, for the testimony of Jesus (Revelations 2:13; 20:4), by the blood-thirsty papists, to Haarlem, and after a little while they were sent from there to Gravenhage, where they were examined very severely; yet, through the power of the Most High (Eph. 6:10; Acts 1:8), with which they were endued, they patiently endured it; thus valiantly overcoming by faith all their inquisitors and tormenters, together with the world and all visible things. 1 John 5:4. On this account the rulers of darkness (Eph. 6:12), at said place sentenced them to the following inhuman and tyrannous death: They were chained to stakes, and a fire built around them, and thus they were slowly roasted, until the marrow was seen to trickle down from their thighbones; thus being burned and roasted till death came to their relief. After their death the garments on the upper part of their bodies were taken off piece by piece, the color of the cloth still being recognizable. And as they suffered all this for the name of Jesus and the word of God, and not on account of any misdeed committed, but only in order to testify to and confess the firm foundation of the truth before this false and adulterous generation, the Son of God shall hereafter, when coming in his glory, not be ashamed of them, but confess them before his Father and his chosen angels, and crown them with everlasting glory in heaven. Revelations 20:4; 1 Pet. 4:14,15; Mark 12:39; Luke 9:26; 2 Tim. 4:8.
LEONHARD SCHOENER, A. D. 1528; AND AFTER HIM ABOUT SEVENTY OTHERS.
In the year 1528, Leonhard Schoener of Becklasburg was apprehended. He was a minister of God, and was well versed in the holy Scriptures, and also in the Latin language. He faithfully taught the true baptism of Christ and his apostles, the true Lord’s Supper, and the articles of the Christian faith; yea, the word of God. He also testified against infant baptism, the abominable sacrament, and other abominations of antichrist. He had originally been a barefoot friar for about six years, but beholding the impurity, wantonness, hypocrisy (Matt. 7:15), and viciousness of the monks and priests, and judging their lives by the word of God, he left the monastery at Judenburg, in Austria, and went to Nurenberg, learned the tailor’s trade, and then traveling about as journeyman tailor, he came to Nulasberg, in Austria. There he heard of Balthasar Heubmer and his baptism, and learned that a number of the same faith formed a little society at Veyen. He sought them out, came to them, heard them, and, led thither by Oswald, was baptized. After this he went to Steyen to work at his trade; where he taught and baptized, having been elected teacher by them; and thus teaching and baptizing, he proceeded through Bavaria, as far as Rothenburg, in the valley of the Inn; where he was apprehended for his faith, disputed much with his opposers, and was examined. Previous to this he proposed: that, if they regarded his faith and doctrine as wrong and heretical, they should produce learned persons, doctors, monks and priests, to dispute with him concerning the matter. Should he, in disputing on true scriptural grounds, be found to be in the wrong, they should punish him as unrighteous; and for still further confirmation of the truth, he offered, in order to confirm his assertion and his writings, that, if any of the learned could convince him with the truth of the word of God, that his doctrine was not conformable to the holy Scriptures, he should, as having been vanquished be severed limb from limb by the executioner, and, when deprived of all his limbs, have the ribs torn out of his body, until he should be dead. But if he should not be able to obtain a hearing and disputation, and they should judge and put him to death unheard, he asked all the witnesses of his death, and all those standing by, that they would be his witnesses before God, in His judgment at the last day. But by virtue of the mandate of the Emperor, and the edict of the King of Hungary and Bohemia, he was condemned, delivered to the executioner, beheaded, and burnt to ashes, on the fourteenth day of January of said year, at Rothenburg, for the testimony of Christ, from which he would not depart. After the death of this Leonhard, about seventy persons bore witness with their blood in the same place. Leonhard Schoener, among others, left the following admonition for the consolation of all those who suffer for the name of Christ:
“We beseech thee, O eternal God, incline thy gracious ear to us, Lord Sabaoth, thou Prince of hosts, hear our complaint; for great distress and affliction prevails, and pride has entered into thy heritage. And with it many supposed Christians have joined, and thus set up the abomination of desolation. Matt. 24:15. They rage, and destroy the sanctuary of the Christians. They have trampled it under foot, and the abomination of desolation is worshiped as God. 2 Thess. 2:4. They have destroyed thy holy city, overthrown thy holy altar, and killed the servants in it, wherever they could apprehend them. And now that we remain as a little flock (Luke 12:32), they have driven us with reproach and disgrace into every country. We are scattered like sheep that have no shepherd. We have to abandon house and home, and are as the night ravens, which lodge in the rocks. Our chambers are in caves and cliffs, and snares are laid for us as for the birds of the air. We go about in forests, and are hunted with dogs. We are led captive and bound as dumb lambs which do not open their mouth. Acts 8:32. We are proclaimed rebels and heretics. We are led as sheep to the slaughter. Many sit in distress and bonds, and their bodies have perished. Some have been overcome by the severe sufferings, and died without any guilt. Here is the patience of the saints on earth; and thus must we be proved by suffering. Rev. 13:10. The believers have here been hanged on trees, strangled, cut in pieces, drowned secretly and openly; not only men, but also women and maidens have testified here to the faith that Jesus Christ is the truth and the only way to eternal life. John 14:6. Still the world is not at rest, but rages like a madman, and forges lies against us. They cease not to burn and kill. They make the world too small for us. O Lord how long wilt thou be silent with regard to this? How long wilt thou not judge the blood of thy saints? Rev. 6:10. Let it ascend before thy throne. How precious in thy sight is the blood of thy saints. Therefore we have in all our distresses a comforting confidence in thee alone, and in no other; neither have we consolation, rest or peace in the earth. But he that hopes in thee shall never be confounded. O Lord, there is no sorrow so great that it can separate us from thee; hence we call upon thee without ceasing, through Christ thy Son, our Lord, whom thou, out of pure grace, hast given us for our consolation, and who has prepared and made known to us the narrow path and the way unto eternal life. Matt. 7:14. Eternal glory, triumph, honor and praise be unto thee now and in all eternity, and thy righteousness abide forever. All nations bless thy holy name, through Christ, the coming righteous Judge of the whole world, Amen. Acts 17:31.
HANS SCHLÆFFER AND LEONHARD FRICK, IN THE YEAR 1528.
In the year 1528, Brother Hans Schlæffer, formerly a Roman priest, but afterwards a teacher of the word and Gospel of Christ, a highly gifted man, was apprehended at Schwartz, in the valley of the Inn, and with him Brother Leonhard Frick. They tried him greatly with many severe tortures, and disputed with him, through the priests, about infant baptism; but he, orally as well as in writing, showed them his defense, as it is commanded, and as it will be found, throughout the entire New Testament, namely: That the word of God must first be taught, and that only those who hear, understand, believe, and receive it, are to be baptized. This is the true Christian baptism, and no anabaptism. The Lord has nowhere commanded to baptize infants; they are already the Lord’s, and as long as they are in their innocence and simplicity, they are not to be condemned at all. They also asked him, in what the foundation of these anabaptistic sects did properly consist. To this he replied: “Our faith, practice, and baptizing is founded on nothing else than the command of Christ: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved’ (Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:19); and many other Scriptures.”