In the year 1557, on Pentecost eve, there was burnt alive, at Antwerp, in Brabant, for the immovable foundation of the truth, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, Janneken Walraven, the mother of Jacques Walraven, who was a minister of the word at Amsterdam, among the Baptists, and, consequently, well known to many. His mother, though one of the weaker vessels, 1 Pet. 3:7, was nevertheless not weak in faith, but valiant and steadfast, and fought the good fight of faith, and gained the victory, through the grace of God, who never forsakes his own, but succors them, and goes with them through water and fire, lest they should suffer detriment to the salvation of their souls. Therefore, since she conquered with her bridegroom, by suffering and dying for his holy name, her immortal soul is under the altar with all the holy martyrs, and is patiently waiting for full salvation at the coming of her Bridegroom, when he shall appear in the clouds of the sky, to unite and glorify body and soul, and to make them like unto his own glorious body, that she may rejoice with him forever.
At this time three other pious witnesses of the truth fell into the hands of the tyrants, at Haarlem, in Holland. They were Joriaen Simons, Clement Dirks, and a woman named Mary Joris. They all, as faithful servants, through the grace of God, steadfastly endured, at said place, hard imprisonment and severe examinations for the truth of Christ, and did not, with the slothful servant, hide the talent which they had received, into the earth, but did very earnestly put it out upon usury, and boldly proclaimed from the door of their prison the word of the Lord to the edification of every one, and, moreover, through a hymn composed by them, made known the cause of their imprisonment; namely, that they did not suffer as thieves and murderers, or as such as coveted other men’s property, but that they suffered only for the faith of the truth, and a pure conscience; and that they, on the other hand, because of the pure fear of God, could not follow falsehood. Of this they set forth the principal points in a hymn, as follows:
1. That they with all true witnesses of God believe and confess, by virtue of the holy Scriptures: That Jesus Christ, blessed forever, came from above from heaven, and proceeded from God his heavenly Father, and is therefore pure and spotless, and is not of Adam’s sinful and corruptible nature.
2. Because they were baptized upon their faith, according to the ordinance of Christ, and, on the contrary, confessed that infant baptism was not of God, but contrary to his word; and that it is well known, from Christ’s own words, that infants are fully in the grace of God, and in a saved condition, without baptism or any other ceremony having to be administered to them, they therefore hold, that all that is done by such means, as being necessary for the salvation of infants is nothing but vain human presumption.
3. Concerning the Lord’s Supper, they confess, that they also observed it, according to the command of the Lord, and according to the institution of Christ, as he, blessed forever, held it with his apostles; in which each is to examine himself well, before he goes to this table, and that Christ did not hold his supper with drunkards and adulterers, or with such of whom evil things were known, as is customary with the papists.
4. On the contrary, they emphatically rejected the papists’ little piece of baked bread, or consecrated host, which they recommend to people as the true, essential Son of God, from whom to entreat grace and salvation in time of need; and confessed that they do grossly err, who worship such bread, or put any divine confidence in it.