O my dear and much beloved wife, herewith I will commend you to the Lord, and kindly ask you from the depth of my heart, that you would always do the best with my two little lambs, as I also trust that you will do, as you sent me word. Nevertheless, I kindly ask you, that if the Lord should spare you until they attain to their understanding, that you would instruct them in the obedience of the truth; and always associate with them that fear God, so that at the last day we and they may stand together on the Lord’s right hand, and hear his voice: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
O my dear and much beloved wife and sister in the Lord! Herewith I commend you to the Lord Almighty, and to the word of his grace, and bid you adieu, my dear wife, adieu, and the peace of the Lord be with you and all them that fear him. Jan Koopman and Hansken greet you much; and Jan Koopman greets his wife much; he and Hansken are also of good cheer. Amen.
Written by me Jan van Hasebroeck, your husband and weak brother in the Lord.
DIRK ANDRIESS, A. D. 1569.
Dirk Andriess, a pious and godfearing brother, was apprehended at Zierickzee, A. D. 1569; and as he, in all temptations and sufferings, firmly adhered to the love of Christ, he was finally sentenced to death as a heretic, and thus, in order to follow Christ, who had died a bitter death for him, he also gladly for the Lord’s sake delivered up his temporal life to death, to enter with him into life eternal. Matt. 25:46.
JACOB DE ROORE, OR THE CHANDLER, AND HERMAN VAN VLECKWICJK, BOTH BURNED ALIVE AT THE STAKE, AT BRUGES, IN FLANDERS, FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, THE 10TH OF JUNE, A. D. 1569.
The very pleasant and favored country of Flanders, in and about the year 1569, was as a dreadful den of murderers, in which they did not hesitate to put to death the chosen friends and followers of Jesus Christ, yea, to deprive them little by little of life in the most awful and horrible manner, namely, by fire, to the sorrow and grief of many, who living at that time beheld it with weeping eyes. This appeared, among many others, in two valiant heroes, and champions of Jesus Christ. One of them was named Jacob de Roore, or the Chandler; he was a teacher in the church, and a very godfearing, intelligent, kind, and eloquent man, who was not afraid at the peril of his life to lead and feed, the flock of Jesus in the green meadows of the true evangelical doctrine, though it was in forests and wildernesses. The name of the other was Herman van Vleckwijck; he was a common member, but possessed nevertheless no small gifts.
These were both brought prisoners into Bruges, one of the Flemish cities, where they had to endure many hard and severe temptations from the papists, who sought to make them apostatize from the faith; but as they were founded upon the immovable corner stone, Christ Jesus, the edifice of their faith also remained firm, and they could by no means be moved or swerved therefrom. Hence the rulers at said place, through the instigation of the Romish so called spirituality (clergy) concluded their process, and delivered them both from life to death, to be burned to ashes at the stake, which was done on the 10th day of the month of June, A. D. 1569. Concerning this the following verses have been composed:
“In fifteen hundred and sixty-nine,
On the tenth of June, in the city of Bruges,