JORIS VAN MEESCH AND JACOB LOWIJS, ABOUT 1570.
Christ says to his disciples: The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matt. 10:21,22. This also appeared about the year 1570 (for we do not know the exact time), when two pious followers of Christ, named Joris van Meesch and Jacob Lowijs, were apprehended at Ghent, in Flanders, where, after many temptations and severe threats (from the papists) they were put to death, testifying to and confirming the faith of the eternal truth with their blood. Hence, they shall at the last day be graciously accepted of God, and receive the crown of eternal glory at the hand of the Lord.
I say unto you, 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.
JAN THE RIBBON WEAVER, JOOST THE WHEEL-WRIGHT WITH HIS WIFE, MAERTEN VAN WYJCKE WITH LIJSKEN HIS WIFE, AND JELIS THE MASON, IN THE YEAR 1570.
In the year 1570 there were apprehended at Antwerp, and put to death at the same place for the testimony of Jesus, the following godfearing persons: Jan the ribbon-weaver, Joost the wheel-wright with his wife, Maerten van Wijcke with Lijsken his wife, and Jelis the mason’s tender. Lijsken, however, the wife of Maerten van Wijcke, was kept imprisoned for one year, and then, on the 2d of May, 1571, burnt alive at said place.
Thus these six pious, godly persons were martyred by the tyrants and blood-thirsty, not on account of any crime, much less for any heresy, but only for following the genuine faith of the truth. Herein the latter followed the footsteps of their forefathers, the false prophets, who thus persecuted and killed the upright followers of the truth from the beginning. Hence, it is to be feared, that they will repent when it is too late, and will also receive the same recompense with those whose works they herein followed. But those who followed the true prophet Christ Jesus in true obedience and upright faith, shall, on the other hand, upon mount Zion, be clothed in white raiment, by their Bridegroom Christ Jesus for whose sake they suffered this, receive palms in their hands, and be crowned with crowns of eternal glory, which no one shall ever be able to take from them.
FAES DIRCKS, AND TWO OTHERS, A. D. 1570.
In the year 1570, on the 7th of April, there was apprehended for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, at Gouda, in Holland, a pious follower of Christ, named Faes Dircks, a chair-maker by trade. Afterwards, the 27th of May, he was very unmercifully and tyranically tortured by the blood-thirsty servants of antichrist, and led forth under the blue sky, and on the 30th of May of the same year, put to death, and burned for the genuine faith of the truth, following the footsteps of his Lord and Master Christ Jesus. Some time prior to this two other pious followers of Christ were put to death at Gouda, for the testimony of Jesus, one of whom according to the counsel of God, was not yet baptized upon his faith; but the God of all grace, who knows the heart, mind and thoughts of all men, accepted in him the will for the deed. Thus they suffered with Christ, and shall be received with him into eternal glory, at that time when all the earthly, carnal generation of men shall weep and lament over themselves eternally.
Subsequently, when Gouda was taken by the troops of the prince of Orange, it was deliberated upon to exhume the priest who had been the cause of the imprisonment and death of said Faes Dircks, and of the dispersion and persecution of many of those who feared God. They afterwards changed their mind, but hired a man for about four guilders, who took down the bones of Faes Dircks from the scaffold, and opened the grave of the aforesaid priest, who had previously died, and been interred in the church of the Franciscans, near the high altar, and then laid the bones of Faes Dircks upon the body of the priest; thus deriding this traitor, because he had deemed the godfearing unworthy to live with him in the same town, and, after their death, their bodies unworthy of burial, but they had to be given as food to the birds of heaven. But at the speedy coming of Christ from heaven, this idolatrous priest shall find, when it will be too late for repentance, who of them both will be acknowledged and accepted by the chief Shepherd as an acceptable sheep, or as a rejected goat.
Concerning this martyr Faes Dircks we have obtained three examinations, namely, two without torture and one on the rack, just as the same have been extracted by the secretary there from the town records of Gouda, which we therefore will communicate to our fellow believers for the greater confirmation of the foregoing account; they read as follows.