When he examined me the seventh time, he said: “Do you not believe that the apostles ate the flesh of Christ?” _Cl._ “Christ took the bread, gave thanks, brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and his body he gave for their redemption.” _Inq._ “Do you not believe otherwise?” _Cl._ “I do not believe otherwise than Christ has spoken.” _Inq._ “Then I declare unto you, that I am clear of your blood; your blood be upon your own head.” _Cl._ “I am well satisfied with this.” _Inq._ “Herewith I commit you to the lord.”
He afterwards examined me once more, and asked me: “Do you not yet believe that the apostles ate the flesh of Christ?” _Cl._ “I have told you.” _Inq._ “Tell it now.” _Cl._ “I will not tell it again.” _Inq._ “Do you still persist in your views respecting baptism?” _Cl._ “You certainly well know that the penitent ought to be baptized.” _Inq._ “This is true enough, if for instance a Jew comes, who is not baptized yet. Are you still of the same opinion in regard to infant baptism?” _Cl._ “Yes.” _Inq._ “Do you not believe otherwise?” _Cl._ “I do not believe otherwise than Christ has commanded.” _Inq._ “Then I declare unto you, that you will be tormented forever in the abyss of hell.” _Cl._ “How dare you judge me so awfully, seeing judgment belongs to the Lord alone? Acts 17:31. I am not terrified by this; I know better, when the day of the Lord comes, it will be found different.”
I then asked him: “What does my husband say?” _Inq._ “Your husband also still persists in his views; may the Lord enlighten you.” _Cl._ “We are already enlightened, the Lord be praised.”
Concerning my baptism he did not say much, nor about infant baptism; but the whole of his talk was that we must eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, and that this had been instituted fifteen hundred years ago, and that I was simple and had hardly once read the Testament through. I said: “Do you think that we run on uncertainties? We are not ignorant of the contents of the New Testament. We forsake our dear children, whom I would not forsake for the whole world, and we stake upon it all that we have--should we run on uncertainties yet? we seek nothing but our salvation; you certainly cannot prove to us by the Scriptures, that we practice and believe one tittle against the word of the Lord.” But he only said that we had all from the devil, and that we were possessed of the devil of pride. I said: “We know that the proud are cast down from their seats.” Luke 1:52. He talked so long, that he sometimes already fancied that I would heed him; hence I had to speak now and then, because I did not want him to think this; I could not bear to hear him speak so awfully against the truth.
_A letter by Claesken to her friends according to the flesh, and also according to the spirit, written in prison, the 14th of March, A. D. 1559, at which time, or thereabouts, she, her dear husband, and her brother Jacques, were put to death for the testimony of Jesus._
The Lord, through his great grace and mercy, grant that all those who hunger and thirst after righteousness may be filled.
My dearly beloved friends, N., my heartfelt prayer and request of you is once more, that you will peruse and search the holy Scriptures, and learn to fear the Lord from the heart; for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Prov. 9:10. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices ... but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Prov. 1:20–31, 33; Isaiah 65:12; Ps. 2:4; Job 27:6.