There was also a young maiden named Janneken apprehended for her faith, at Antwerp; who, when she appeared before the lords, freely confessed her faith. The Margrave said: “Janneken, if you will renounce, I will show you favor; do according to my will, and I will give you your life.” But she replied: “The life that you would give me, I desire not; for your promises are vain and as wavering as a reed, and would only bring me into greater sorrow: cursed is every one that trusts in man.” Jer. 17:5.
There was a preacher named Balthazar, who endeavored to make her believe that God was in the sacrament; however, she would not confess it, but said: “You thus disgrace God in your body; but read the Lord’s Prayer once.” And when he read it, she said: “There, you see, you read that he is in heaven, and how dare you say then, that he is in the sacrament?”
In the court she was asked by the Bailiff, whether she was rebaptized. She said: “Question me in regard to my faith, and I will freely confess it to you; or are you ashamed of it? I confess one baptism, which must follow faith, and does not pertain to infants, but requires previous amendment of life.” The Bailiff said: “We have done enough to gain you; if you had suffered yourself to be prevailed upon to recant, you should have done well.” She replied: “You have loved my flesh, but not my soul, which you would have gladly devoured; but God will receive it as a child, and make it an heir. And though you are now a Bailiff in your glory, you will deplore it in the judgment of God, and wish that you had rather been a herdsman[272] in the fear of God”. Thereupon she was sentenced to death, and, having commended her spirit into the hands of God, was drowned in a tub, together with another woman, named Noele.
[272] See note in a former page.
ADRIAEN VAN HEE, JOOS MEEUWENS, WILLEM, GOOSSEN AND EGBERT DE HOEDEMAECKER, AND LAMBERT VAN DOORNICK, A. D. 1558.
As the Jews in the time of the apostles envied the assemblies of the Christians, and disturbed them wherever they could, so have also their successors, the ministers of antichrist, universally done, which appeared also in the year 1558, near Doornick, where some Christians and faithful children of God had assembled, in order to be refreshed, edified and bettered by the preaching of the word of God. They were also spied out, dispersed, partly scattered, and six of them apprehended, namely, Adriaen van Hee, cutler, Joos Meeuwens, Willem de Hoedemaecker, Goossen de Hoedemaecker, Egbert de Hoedemaecker, and Lambert van Doornick. They were together brought to Doornick, and having been imprisoned there a fortnight, they were condemned to death for their steadfast adherence to the true faith in God, and taken without Doornick, into a forest belonging under the jurisdiction of Hainault, and there burnt, as pious witnesses of God, who shall not taste the fire of hell, but shall live in joy with all the chosen of the Lord.