[276] _East country_, probably Austria or the Orient is meant here.--TRANS.
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After many other words he asked: “What do you think and believe of the sacrament of the altar?” _Jac._ “Do you mean the breaking of bread?” _Com._ “Yes.” _Jac._ “I confess and believe as Christ ordained it, as the apostles practiced it, and as Paul writes concerning it to the Corinthians,” _Com._ “How do you understand it?” _Jac._ “Just as it is written; I do not want to comment on the word of God.” This satisfied him, and he so wrote it down on his paper. _Com._ “What do you think of the mass, confession, and absolution of the priest?” _Jac._ “As regards the mass, I know it not, nor do the Scriptures; I have never read this name in the word of God.” _Com._ “What shall I write then in regard to this?” _Jac._ “I do not know; whatever you please, my lord.” _Com._ “Will you not confess simply that you believe in the ordinances of the true and holy church, according to the teaching of the Scriptures and as a good Christian is bound to believe?” _Jac._ “Yes, my lord, with all my heart.” He wrote this down. _Com._ “Who were your instructors in this doctrine, and with whom did you converse in the beginning, and in what place?” _Jac._ “I had my conversation at Antwerp, speaking of the Scriptures with many, but my principal instruction and foundations I derived from reading the holy word of the Lord.” He also wrote this down.
_Com._ “Now, see here is an important article, namely, whether you have not been a minister, or a deacon over the poor, or an exhorter, or have held some other office in the assemblies of the brethren?” Thus it was written on his paper as well as I could perceive or see. I did not know at first what he meant by calling this so important an article: I answered thereupon: “No; I do not feel myself qualified for it, but am a humble member in the congregation.” _Com._ “Were you never in a meeting, before you received baptism?” _Jac._ “Yes, two or three times at least.” _Com._ “In what place was it, and in what houses?” _Jac._ “As regards the houses, I do not know to whom they belong.” _Com._ “What kind of houses were they, large or small?” _Jac._ “We assemble wherever we best can, as opportunity offers itself, and I remember to have been in very poor little houses, that resembled stables more than houses.” He thus wrote this down on his paper. _Com._ “Did you also attend the meeting with the brethren, after you received baptism?” _Jac._ “My lord, this answers for itself; you may well suppose that if I was there before, I was there still more afterwards.” _Com._ “Is your wife of the same doctrine as you are, and is she also rebaptized?” _Jac._ “I have enough to do to answer for myself without answering for my wife; and if she were here, she could answer for herself; but nevertheless, I regard her as a woman that fears the Lord.” This satisfied him.
On Saturday morning, the 8th of January of said year 1558, I was brought into the same room, before the inquisitor, who had lately been appointed here by the King of Spain, with full power from him to bind or to loose, to release or to put to death. When I came before him, I humbly saluted him; he returned my salutation and said to me: “Jacques, I am very glad of one thing, namely, at what the Procurator General has told me, that you are ready to confess your guilt, if it can be proven to you by the Scriptures that you have transgressed the commandment of God; and are in error; are you still of the same intention, and will you accept the Scriptures?” _Jac._ “Yes; and I am ready to listen to all good instruction according to the word of God.” He had the confession which I had made before the commissary, and asked me: “Will you still confess that you received baptism from Leenaert?” _Jac._ “My word is not yea and nay, but yea, yea, and as I confessed, so I still confess openly?” _Inquisitor._ “Was not the baptism which you received in your infancy enough for you, without receiving another?” _Jac._ “I do not regard the baptism which I received in my infancy as baptism according to the word and ordinance of God.” _Inq._ “I shall prove it to you; but do you not believe that infants are born in original sin?” _Jac._ “David indeed says that he was conceived in sin, even as all infants are; but sin is not imputed unto them, since Christ has died to take away sin, as Paul testifies everywhere in his epistles. And as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so grace has abounded through Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:12,15. _Inq._ “How are infants purified, if it is not done through baptism?” _Jac._ “They are purified through the blood of Christ, since he is the Lamb which taketh away the sin of the world.” _Inq._ “How are they purified from original sin?” _Jac._ “My lord, I have told you, namely, through the blood of the Son of God, who died for us when we were yet enemies, and unbelieving.” _Inq._ “Do you not believe that infants bear their sin from Adam, till they are purified through baptism.”