The First Letter From Raphel Van Den Velde, Written To His Wife.

Grace and peace from God our heavenly Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you, my dear and in God beloved wife; and the supreme Comforter, the Holy Ghost, be with you and console you, and lighten your heart in all your tribulation and affliction, which I well know, are exceedingly great. Hence I hope to write your love a little, for your consolation; for I hope that it will be a great comfort to you, when you will read it, even as also my heart was exceedingly comforted and rejoiced, when I received your letter, on Wednesday, about five or six o’clock [P. M.], when in the morning I had been tortured from about eight until ten o’clock. I thank the Lord, that he kept my mouth, so that no one need be troubled by it; for when I had been laid upon the bench, I did not open my mouth to criminate any one, but cried, sighed, and prayed to God. The lords said: “Hearken to us, and we will shorten the pain; yea, we are sorry that we must inflict it upon you.” But when I would not listen to them, lying there bound and ropes tightly twisted around my shins and thighs, and over my heart, and my arms tied together behind my back, so that they lay under my loins, and a cord with knots having been put around my head, which lay on a pebble-stone, they began winding it with an iron chain, so that I thought nothing else but that they were winding and crushing my head all to pieces; and on my thighs and shins, so that it seemed to me, that all my bones, flesh, veins, and sinews were going to pieces. Then thought I: O Lord, what torture this is! O Lord, I shall not be able to endure it. O Lord, succor me now, for the distress is great. Then I composed myself, and committed the matter to God; and instantly all my members became as dead, and the lords kept calling: “Tell, tell; and we shall shorten your pain.” And when I would still not tell, they spoke in Latin to Master Hans, and then the latter went and made two cords fast to my great toes, in the form of a double knot, and stretched me out thereby, which caused me exceeding pain. When I would yet not tell, they caused the cords on my thighs and shins to be twisted still more tightly, and the knots pained me so, that I thought that I must die. And still they kept calling: “Speak, speak; and we shall shorten your pain.” Then thought I: O Lord, how shall I be able to endure this; must it last long yet? Then the thought came into my mind, that the eternal pain should be still greater, and should last forever. Then I took courage again, and cried to God: Help me in this distress, that I must not bring my neighbor into the same affliction. And the Lord gave me such courage, that I resolved rather to die on the bench, and kept silence. And as they did still not obtain anything from me, to the implication of my neighbor, Master Hans took water (during the entire time a cloth had lain on my face), and holding my nose shut with one hand, began to pour water on my abdomen and thence all over my breast, and into my mouth, even as one should drink when he is very thirsty. I think that the can from which he poured out the water held about three pints. And when I was at the end of my breath, and wanted to fetch such, I drew the water all into my body, whereupon I suffered such distress, that it would be impossible for me to relate or describe it; but the Lord be forever praised: he kept my lips. And when they could still not obtain anything from me, they caused the cord which was on my thigh to be loosed and applied to a fresh place, and wound it much tighter than before, so that I thought he would kill me, and began to shake and tremble greatly. He then proceeded to pour water into me again, so that I think he emptied four such cans, and my body became so full of it, that twice it came out again at the throat. And thus I became so weak that I fainted; for when I recovered from my swoon, I found myself alone with Master Hans and Daniel de Keyser. And Master Hans was so busily engaged in loosing all my cords, that it seemed to me that they were concerned over me. But the Lord in a large degree took away my pain every time; whenever it became so severe that I thought it was impossible to bear it, my members became as dead. Eternal praise, thanks, honor, and glory be to the Lord; for when it was over I thought that, by the help of the Lord, I had fought a good fight.