has made you holy, and hear what Esdras says: “Look for your shepherd;
he shall give you everlasting rest; for he is nigh at hand, that shall
come in the end of the world. Be ready to the reward of the kingdom....
Flee the shadow of this world.... Arise up and stand, behold the number
of those that be sealed in the feast of the Lord; which are departed
from the shadow of the world, and have received glorious garments of
the Lord. Take thy number, O Sion, and shut up those of thine that are
clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord. The number
of thy children whom thou longedst for, is fulfilled.... I Esdras
saw upon the mount Sion a great people; whom I could not number, and
they all praised the Lord with songs. And in the midst of them there
was a young man of a high stature, taller than all the rest, and upon
every one of their heads he set crowns, and was more exalted; which
I marveled at greatly. So I asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are
these? He answered and said unto me, These be they that have put off
the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the
name of God: now are they crowned, and receive palms. Then said I unto
the angel, What young person is it that crowneth them, and giveth them
palms in their hands? So he answered and said unto me, It is the Son
of God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then began I greatly to
commend them that stood so stiffly for the name of the Lord.” 2 Esdras
34–36, 38–47; Rev. 19:12; Matt. 13:43.
Bear in mind most beloved members of the body of Christ, what I
indicate by this scripture, and live according to it, and if I be
offered up to the Lord, do for my wife what you would for me. The peace
of Jesus Christ, and the love of the heavenly Father, and the grace of
their Spirit, preserve you unspotted from sin, and present you glad
and pure for the beholding of their glory, at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that you may be found in the number of those called to
the feast (Luke 14:15) of the one essential, true God and Savior Jesus
Christ, to whom be eternal praise and glory, Amen.
Beware of false brethren (Acts 20:39); for the Lord will perhaps call
me to him; so take warning, I wail for my God. Pray without ceasing for
all that are in bonds. God be with you all. Amen.
Written in the tower at Binzdorf. Brother Michael Sattler of Staufen,
together with my fellow prisoners in the Lord.
Of this hero and witness of Jesus Christ there are also other writings
extant in print, treating of the atonement of Christ; brotherly union;
divorce; of evil overseers, and the hearing of false prophets.
LEONHARD KEYSER, A. D. 1527.
[Illustration: LEONHARD KEYSER ON THE WAY TO EXECUTION.]
When the believers greatly increased under persecution and the cross
(Ex. 1:12), there was, in Bavaria, a learned priest of the mass, named
Leonhard Keyser, who examined the writings of Zwingli and Luther,
and also went to Wittenberg, where he conferred with the doctors and
commemorated the Supper with them.
Having returned to Bavaria, he examined the fruits and doctrine of the
Anabaptists, as well as of Zwingli and Luther, and joined himself under
the cross to the separated cross-bearing church of the Anabaptists,
in the year 1525, and forthwith continued in his ministry, with great
power and zeal, undaunted by all the tyranny which arose over the
believers, in the way of drowning, burning and putting to death.
Acts 9:20. In the second year of his ministry, Leonard Keyser was
apprehended at Scharding, in Bavaria, and condemned by the bishop of
Passau and other priests and capitulars, to be burned on Friday before
St. Lawrence day, in August of the same year. Having bound him on a
cart, they took him to the fire, the priests going alongside, and
speaking Latin to him, but he, on account of the people, answered them
in German; even as they had refused to speak to him in German before
the court, which he had frequently requested. When he came out into the
field, and was approaching the fire, he, bound, as he was, leaned down
at the side of the cart, and plucked a flower with his hand, saying to
the judge, who rode on horseback along side of the cart: “Lord judge,
here I pluck a flower; if you can burn this flower and me, you have
justly condemned me; but, on the other hand, if you cannot burn me
and this flower in my hand, consider what you have done and repent.”
Thereupon the judge and the three executioners threw an extraordinary
quantity of wood into the fire, in order to burn him immediately to
ashes by the great fire. But when the wood was entirely burned up, his
body was taken from the fire uninjured. Then the three executioners
and their assistants built another great fire of wood, which when it
was consumed, his body still remained uninjured, only his hair and his
nails were somewhat burnt brown, and, the ashes having been removed
from his body, the latter was found smooth and clear, and the flower in
his hand, not withered, or burnt in the least, the executioners then
cut his body into pieces, which they threw into a new fire. When the
wood was burned up, the pieces lay unconsumed in the fire. Finally they
took the pieces and threw them into the river Inn. This judge was so
terrified by this occurrence that he resigned his office, and moved to
another place. His chief servant, who was with the judge, and saw and
heard all this, came to us in Moravia, became our brother and lived and
died piously. That it might not be forgotten our teachers have recorded
this as it came from his own lips, and now cause it to be promulgated
and made known.
FURTHER OBSERVATION CONCERNING THE DEATH OF LEONHARD KEYSER.
Seb. Frank, in his _Chron. der Rom. Kett._ letter L., gives the
following account of this matter:
“Having been brought a prisoner to Scharding, he was taken to the fire
by three executioners, bound cross-wise on a ladder, and thrust into
the fire. When he called upon Christ Jesus the ropes fell from his body
and were burned; and as he was still alive, he rolled out of the fire
at one side. The executioners instantly thrust him back into the fire,
with hop-poles, that happened to be there, so that he rolled out on the
other side. There the executioners cut him alive into pieces, which
they cast into the fire, without being able, however, to burn them, as
I have read,” etc. Concerning this, see also _P. J. Twisck, Chron.,
fol. 1020, col. 2_.
THOMAS HERMANN, AND SIXTY-SEVEN OTHERS, A. D. 1527.
A. D. 1527, Thomas Hermann, a minister of the Gospel and word of
God, was executed. Some persons had been apprehended at Kitzbuehl,
and, through the tyranny of the authorities, had been brought to
apostatize from the truth. The latter furthermore brought them into
a public place before a great multitude of people, where the others
reviled them shamefully, and said: “Ah, how finely your teachers and
pastors now give their lives for you!” John 10:11; 1 John 3:16. Then
the beforementioned Thomas Hermann made his way through the people,
stepped forth and boldly said: “It is the truth which I have taught
you, and I will testify to it with my blood.” He was immediately
apprehended, tortured, sentenced to the fire, and burned. On his way
to the place of execution, he composed and sang a hymn, which is still
extant. They could not burn his heart; hence, they threw it into the
lake which was near the place of execution. After him sixty-seven of
his fellow-believers were executed in the same place. The judge of
Kitzbuehl, who assisted in condemning and putting to death many of
them, and who because of their faith, both before and after, called
them heretics was afterwards suffered by God to come to such awful
disgrace, that he was himself found to be a heretic, and justly
regarded as such by all men; which nevertheless, occurred not at all on
account of the faith, but because God permitted him to fall into such
disgrace, that he came to reproach and great infamy, also before the
world.
The vengeance of God also came upon the town-clerk of Kitzbuehl, who
had likewise been instrumental in this shedding of innocent blood, and
had declared that he would not lay down his head in peace until he
had helped to exterminate these people. For, as he was out riding in
a sleigh in the town, and about to make a turn, the horse threw him
against a wall, and an oak tree in the street, so that his brains were
dashed out, and thus he did not lay down his head in peace, but came
to a terrible end, as the brethren Hans Kitzbuehl and Christian Haring
have testified concerning it.
WEYNKEN, A WIDOW, DAUGHTER OF CLAES, OF MONICKENDAM, BURNT TO DEATH IN
THE HAGUE, THE 20TH NOVEMBER, A. D. 1527.
On the 15th of November, 1527, Weynken, daughter of Claes, was brought
prisoner from the castle of Woerden to the Hague, whither on the 17th
day of the same month, came also the count of Hooghstraten, Governor in
Holland. On the 18th, the aforesaid Weynken was arraigned before the
governor and the full council of Holland. There a woman asked her:
“Have you well considered the things which my lords proposed to you?”
_Ans._ “I abide by what I have said.”
_Ques._ “If you do not speak differently, and turn from your error, you
will be subjected to an intolerable death.”
_Ans._ “If power is given you from above I am ready to suffer.” John
19:11.
_Ques._ “Do you then, not fear death, which you have never tasted?”
_Ans._ “This is true; but I shall never taste death, for Christ says:
‘If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.’ (John 8:51.) The
rich man tasted death, and shall taste it forever.” (Luke 16:23.)
_Ques._ “What do you hold concerning the sacrament?”
_Ans._ “I hold your sacrament to be bread and flour, and if you hold it
as God, I say that it is your devil.”
_Ques._ “What do you hold concerning the saints?”
_Ans._ “I know no other Mediator than Christ.” (1 John 2:19.)
_Ques._ “You must die, if you abide by this.”
_Ans._ “I am already dead.” (Gal. 2:19.)
_Ques._ “If you are dead, how can you speak?”
_Ans._ “The spirit lives in me; the Lord is in me, and I am in him.”
(John 14:20.)
_Ques._ “Will you have a confessor, or not?”
_Ans._ “I have Christ, to him I confess; nevertheless, if I have
offended any, I would willingly ask them to forgive me.”
_Ques._ “Who has taught you this opinion, and how did you come to it?”
_Ans._ “The Lord, who calls all men to him; I am also one of his sheep;
therefore I hear his voice.” (John 10:27.)
_Ques._ “Are you alone called?”
_Ans._ “No; for the Lord calls to him all that are heavy laden.” (Matt.
28:11.)
After many like words Weynken was led back to prison. During the two
following days she was entreated and tempted by various persons,
namely, by monks, priests, women, and her nearest friends. Among
others, a woman came to her, prompted by sincerity, who commiserated
her after this manner:
“Dear mother, can you not think what you please, and keep it to
yourself? then you will not die.”
Weynken replied: “Dear sister, I am commanded to speak, and am
constrained to do so; hence I cannot remain silent about it.”
_Wom._ “Then, I am afraid, they will put you to death.”
_Ans._ “Though they burn me to-morrow, or put me into a bag, I care
not; as the Lord has ordained it, so it must be, and not otherwise; I
will adhere to the Lord.”
_Wom._ “If you have done nothing else I hope you will not die.”
_Ans._ “As for me, it matters not; but when I come down from the hall,
I cry bitterly, and it grieves me to see that these good men are all so
blinded; I will pray the Lord for them.”
Two Dominican friars also came to her, the one as a confessor, and the
other as an instructor. The latter showed her the crucifix, saying:
“See, here is your Lord and your God.” She answered: “This is not my
God; the cross by which I have been redeemed, is a different one. This
is a wooden god; throw him into the fire, and warm yourselves with
him.” The other asked her in the morning of the day when she was to
die, whether she would not receive the sacrament, adding that he would
willingly administer it to her. She said: “What God would you give me?
one that is perishable, and is sold for a farthing?” And to the priest
or monk, who rejoiced that he had read mass that day, she said that he
had crucified God anew. He said:
“It appears to me that you have fallen unto error?”
Weynken replied: “I cannot help it, my Lord and my God, to whom be
eternal honor, praise, and thanksgiving (Rev. 4:11), has thus given it
unto me.”
_Ques._ “What do you hold concerning the holy oil?”
_Ans._ “Oil is good for salad, or to oil your shoes with.” 1 Tim. 4:4.
In the middle of the week she was brought before the Court, and when
she came into the hall, the monk went up to her, and held the crucifix
before her face, saying: “Do recant before sentence is passed.” But
Weynken turned from the crucifix, saying: “I adhere to my Lord and God;
neither death nor life shall separate me from him.” (Rom. 8:39.) As she
stood before the judge, the monk whispered into her ear: “Fall down
upon your knees, and ask the Lord for pardon.” She replied: “Be still:
did I not tell you, that you should not draw me from my Lord.”
The Dean of Naeldwijck, sub-commissary and inquisitor, read the
sentence, in Latin, from a document, and repeating it in Dutch,
said briefly, that she was found to be in error with regard to the
sacrament, and that she immovably adhered to it; hence he decided that
she was a heretic, and delivered Weynken to the secular arm, with the
protest that he did not consent to her death. He then retired from the
council, together with his two associate ecclesiastics.
The chancellor immediately read, that she, as reported, had been found
obstinate, which could not be passed by without punishment, and that
she should be burnt to ashes, and all her property be confiscated.
Then Weynken said: “Has all been done now? I beg you all, that if I
have harmed or offended any, you will forgive me.”
The monk then said to her: “Now for once kiss your Lord and God.”
She answered: “This is not my Lord.”
As they were leaving the council chamber, the monk said to her that she
should call upon our Lady to intercede for her.
She replied: “Our Lady is well content in God.”
_Monk_: “Call upon her.”
_Weynken_: “We have Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his
Father; he prays for us.” (Romans 8:34.)
On her way from the hall to the scaffold or place of execution, the
monk said: “Behold for once your Lord, who died for you.”
_Weynken_: “This is not my Lord and my God; my Lord God is in me, and I
in him.”
_Monk_: “Consider! will you condemn all these lambs, and are they all
condemned?”
_Weynken_: “Not all; judgment belongs unto God.” (Heb. 10:30.)
_Monk_: “Do you not fear the severe judgment of God?”
_Weynken_: “God comes not to condemn sinners, but to give them peace.”
(Luke 9:56.)
_Monk_: “Do you not fear the sentence which you must suffer in the
fire?”
_Weynken_: “No, for I know how I stand with my Lord.”
On the scaffold there stood one who said to Weynken: “Mother, turn to
the people, and ask them to forgive you, if you have offended any.”
This she did. Then she assisted the executioner to put the powder into
her bosom. Here the monk again tempted her with the cross; but she
pushed it away with her hand, turned around, and said: “How you tempt
me? My Lord and my God is above.” She then went gladly, as though she
were going to a marriage; and her face did not once betoken fear of the
fire.
The monk said: “Will you not always and firmly adhere to God?”
_Weynken_ said: “Yes, indeed.”
_Monk_: “Now you will have to go into the fire; do recant.”
_Weynken_: “I am well content; the Lord’s will must be done.”
_Monk_: “This is not the will of the Lord; the will of God is your
sanctification.”
The executioner said: “Mother, cleave to God and do not suffer yourself
to be drawn away from him.”
In the meantime this pious heroine went alone undauntedly to the bench,
and stationed herself at the stake at which she was to be burned,
saying: “Is the bench firm; will I not fall?”
The executioner then made ready the ropes with which he was to strangle
her. The woman took off her neckerchief or veil, and put the strap
around her neck.
Then the monk exclaimed: “Mother Weynken, will you gladly die as a
Christian?”
_Ans._ “Yes, I will.”
_Ques._ “Do you renounce all heresy?”
_Ans._ “I do.”
_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.