I shall seal this with my blood. Adieu, adieu, my dearest brethren and sisters, with your little lamb, and also mine, which I bore under my heart. I have written this for you yet after I was sentenced, after one o’clock in the night; however, it was not irksome to me. I take leave and bid you adieu once more, till we meet hereafter, where men shall separate us no more. Adieu, till we together drink the new wine which Christ shall give us at his table. Matt. 26:29. This other letter is from Augustijn, who sent it to me. Adieu, adieu, all of you adieu. I shall follow Hans, my dear husband. The lady with her midwife, and her nurse are going now, and shall receive a like reward. Nothing more from me, but adieu for the last time. Follow me.
Fear God; this is the conclusion.
In the year 1573, at Ghent, in Flanders, there were also apprehended, for following Christ, two sisters, young maidens, named Susanneken and Kalleken Claes, or Draeyaerts, the former aged about twenty-six, and the other about twenty-four years. While imprisoned in the Saucelet, the city prison, they had to suffer many entreaties and afflictions from the enemies of the truth, in all of which they steadfastly adhered to their only Shepherd, Lord, and the Author of their faith, to help them bear his bloody banner, his cross, and reproach, and, as courageous heroines, to strive valiantly unto death, which they had to taste for his name; for as they remained steadfast, and would in no wise depart from the divine truth, nor from the true faith, upon which they, according to Christ’s ordinance, had received baptism, they were finally sentenced to death as heretics, and, on the 4th of December of the aforesaid year, and with balls tied into their mouths, to prevent them from speaking or confessing with their mouths the cause of their innocent, fearless, voluntary, and God-pleasing death and sacrifice, they were brought into the Friday Market, and there publicly burned at the stake, going thus with burning lamps, and the oil of love in their vessels, to meet their Forerunner and Bridegroom, who will let them in, as wise virgins, to his marriage, when the foolish shall knock and not be heard, and, with too late repentance and sorrow of heart, shall have to remain excluded.