The light of the Gospel having successfully
spread over the Netherlands, the pope instigated the emperor to
commence a persecution against the Protestants; when many thousand
fell martyrs to superstitious malice and barbarous bigotry, among
whom the most remarkable were the following:
Wendelinuta, a pious Protestant widow, was
apprehended on account of her religion, when several monks, unsuccessfully,
endeavored to persuade her to recant. As they could not prevail,
a Roman Catholic lady of her acquaintance desired to be admitted
to the dungeon in which she was confined, and promised to exert
herself strenuously towards inducing the prisoner to abjure the
reformed religion. When she was admitted to the dungeon, she did
her utmost to perform the task she had undertaken; but finding
her endeavors ineffectual, she said, “Dear Wendelinuta, if
you will not embrace our faith, at least keep the things which
you profess secret within your own bosom, and strive to prolong
your life.” To which the widow replied, “Madam, you
know not what you say; for with the heart we believe to righteousness,
but with the tongue confession is made unto salvation.” As
she positively refused to recant, her goods were confiscated,
and she was condemned to be burnt. At the place of execution a
monk held a cross to her, and bade her kiss and worship God. To
which she answered, “I worship no wooden god, but the eternal
God who is in heaven.” She was then executed, but through
the before-mentioned Roman Catholic lady, the favor was granted
that she should be strangled before fire was put to the fagots.
Two Protestant clergymen were burnt at Colen;
a tradesman of Antwerp, named Nicholas, was tied up in a sack,
thrown into the river, and drowned; and Pistorius, a learned student,
was carried to the market of a Dutch village in a fool’s
coat, and committed to the flames.
Sixteen Protestants, having received sentence
to be beheaded, a Protestant minister was ordered to attend the
execution. This gentleman performed the function of his office
with great propriety, exhorted them to repentance, and gave them
comfort in the mercies of their Redeemer. As soon as the sixteen
were beheaded, the magistrate cried out to the executioner, “There
is another stroke remaining yet; you must behead the minister;
he can never die at a better time than with such excellent precepts
in his mouth, and such laudable examples before him.” He
was accordingly beheaded, though even many of the Roman Catholics
themselves reprobated this piece of treacherous and unnecessary
cruelty.
George Scherter, a minister of Salzburg,
was apprehended and committed to prison for instructing his flock
in the knowledge of the Gospel. While he was in confinement. he
wrote a confession of his faith; soon after which he was condemned,
first to be beheaded, and afterward to be burnt to ashes. On his
way to the place of execution he said to the spectators, “That
you may know I die a true Christian, I will give you a sign.”
This was indeed verified in a most singular manner; for after
his head was cut off, the body lying a short space of time with
the belly to the ground, it suddenly turned upon the back, when
the right foot crossed over the left, as did also the right arm
over the left: and in this manner it remained until it was committed
to the flames.
In Louviana, a learned man, named Percinal,
was murdered in prison; and Justus Insparg was beheaded, for having
Luther’s sermons in his possession.
Giles Tilleman, a cutler of Brussels, was
a man of great humanity and piety. Among others he was apprehended
as a Protestant, and many endeavors were made by the monks to
persuade him to recant. He had once, by accident, a fair opportunity
of escaping from prison and being asked why he did not avail himself
of it, he replied, “I would not do the keepers so much injury,
as they must have answered for my absence, had I gone away.”
When he was sentenced to be burnt, he fervently thanked God for
granting him an opportunity, by martyrdom, to glorify His name.
Perceiving, at the place of execution, a great quantity of fagots,
he desired the principal part of them might be given to the poor,
saying, “A small quantity will suffice to consume me.”
The executioner offered to strangle him before the fire was lighted,
but he would not consent, telling him that he defied the flames;
and, indeed, he gave up the ghost with such composure amidst them,
that he hardly seemed sensible of their effects.
In the year 1543 and 1544, the persecution
was carried on throughout all Flanders in a most violent and cruel
manner. Some were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, others
to perpetual banishment; but most were put to death either by
hanging, drowning, immuring, burning, the rack, or burying alive.
John de Boscane, a zealous Protestant, was
apprehended on account of his faith, in the city of Antwerp. On
his trial, he steadfastly professed himself to be of the reformed
religion, which occasioned his immediate condemnation. The magistrate,
however, was afraid to put him to death publicly, as he was popular
through his great generosity, and almost universally beloved for
his inoffensive life, and exemplary piety. A private execution
being determined on, an order was given to drown him in prison.
The executioner, accordingly, put him in a large tub; but Boscane
struggling, and getting his head above the water, the executioner
stabbed him with a dagger in several places, until he expired.
John de Buisons, another Protestant, was,
about the same time, secretly apprehended, and privately executed
at Antwerp. The numbers of Protestants being great in that city,
and the prisoner much respected, the magistrates feared an insurrection,
and for that reason ordered him to be beheaded in prison.
A.D. 1568, three persons were apprehended
in Antwerp, named Scoblant, Hues, and Coomans. During their confinement
they behaved with great fortitude and cheerfulness, confessing
that the hand of God appeared in what had befallen them, and bowing
down before the throne of his providence. In an epistle to some
worthy Protestants, they expressed themselves in the following
words: “Since it is the will of the Almighty that we should
suffer for His name, and be persecuted for the sake of His Gospel,
we patiently submit, and are joyful upon the occasion; though
the flesh may rebel against the spirit, and hearken to the council
of the old serpent, yet the truths of the Gospel shall prevent
such advice from being taken, and Christ shall bruise the serpent’s
head. We are not comfortless in confinement, for we have faith;
we fear not affliction, for we have hope; and we forgive our enemies,
for we have charity. Be not under apprehensions for us, we are
happy in confinement through the promises of God, glory in our
bonds, and exult in being thought worthy to suffer for the sake
of Christ. We desire not to be released, but to be blessed with
fortitude; we ask not liberty, but the power of perseverance;
and wish for no change in our condition, but that which places
a crown of martyrdom upon our heads.”
Scoblant was first brought to his trial;
when, persisting in the profession of his faith, he received sentence
of death. On his return to prison, he earnestly requested the
jailer not to permit any friar to come near him; saying, “They
can do me no good, but may greatly disturb me. I hope my salvation
is already sealed in heaven, and that the blood of Christ, in
which I firmly put my trust, hath washed me from my iniquities.
I am now going to throw off this mantle of clay, to be clad in
robes of eternal glory, by whose celestial brightness I shall
be freed from all errors. I hope I may be the last martyr to papal
tyranny, and the blood already spilt found sufficient to quench
the thirst of popish cruelty; that the Church of Christ may have
rest here, as his servants will hereafter.” On the day of
execution, he took a pathetic leave of his fellow prisoners. At
the stake he fervently said the Lord’s Prayer, and sung the
Fortieth Psalm; then commending his soul to God, he was burnt
alive.
Hues, soon after died in prison; upon which
occasion Coomans wrote thus to his friends: “I am now deprived
of my friends and companions; Scoblant is martyred, and Hues dead,
by the visitation of the Lord: yet I am not alone, I have with
me the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; He is my comfort,
and shall be my reward. Pray unto God to strengthen me to the
end, as I expect every hour to be freed from this tenement of
clay.”
On his trial he freely confessed himself
of the reformed religion, answered with a manly fortitude to every
charge against him, and proved the Scriptural part of his answers
from the Gospel. The judge told him the only alternatives were
recantation or death; and concluded by saying, “Will you
die for the faith you profess?” To which Coomans replied,
“I am not only willing to die, but to suffer the most excruciating
torments for it; after which my soul shall receive its confirmation
from God Himself, in the midst of eternal glory.” Being condemned,
he went cheerfully to the place of execution, and died with the
most manly fortitude, and Christian resignation.
William of Nassau fell a sacrifice to treachery,
being assassinated in the fifty-first year of his age, by Beltazar
Gerard, a native of Franche Compte, in the province of Burgundy.
This murderer, in hopes of a reward here and hereafter, for killing
an enemy to the king of Spain and an enemy to the Catholic religion,
undertook to destroy the prince of Orange. Having procured firearms,
he watched him as he passed through the great hall of his palace
to dinner, and demanded a passport. The princess of Orange, observing
that the assassin spoke with a hollow and confused voice, asked
who he was, saying that she did not like his countenance. The
prince answered that it was one that demanded a passport, which
he should presently have.
Nothing further passed before dinner, but
on the return of the prince and princess through the same hall,
after dinner was over, the assassin, standing concealed as much
as possible by one of the pillars, fired at the prince, the balls
entering at the left side, and passing through the right, wounding
in their passage the stomach and vital parts. On receiving the
wounds, the Drince only said, “Lord, have mercy upon my soul,
and upon these poor people,” and then expired immediately.
The lamentations throughout the United Provinces
were general, on account of the death of the prince of Orange;
and the assassin, who was immediately taken, received sentence
to be put to death in the most exemplary manner, yet such was
his enthusiasm, or folly, that when his flesh was torn by red-hot
pincers, he coolly said, “If I was at liberty, I would commit
such an action over again.”
The prince of Orange’s funeral was
the grandest ever seen in the Low Countries, and perhaps the sorrow
for his death the most sincere, as he left behind him the character
he honestly deserved, viz., that of father of his people.
To conclude, multitudes were murdered in different parts of Flanders; in the city of Valence, in particular, fifty-seven of the principal inhabitants were butchered in one day, for refusing to embrace the Romish superstition; and great numbers were suffered to languish in confinement, until they perished through the inclemency of their dungeons.
