Hans Van Overdam Put To Death At Ghent; Also His Confession, Written In Prison, And Afterwards Sealed With His Blood, In The Year 1550.

Councilor. “You have held meetings of this new doctrine, and the Emperor has commanded that this should not be done.”

Hans. “God has not authorized him to make such commandments; in this he transcends the power which God has given him, and in this we do not recognize his supremacy; for the salvation of our souls concerns us more, so that we show obedience to God.”

The monks then said: “We are your adversaries, in that your doctrine is not good; for if it were good, you would not preach in woods and corners, but openly.”

Hans then said: “Grant us a free place in the market, or in your monasteries and churches, and see whether we then shall go into the woods; but no, you are afraid that you would be reproved; hence you have brought it about, that you cannot be reproved, and have driven us from cities and countries.”

Monks. “Alas! we have not done it; the Emperor does it.”

Hans. “You have urged him to it.”

Monks. “We have not.”

The lords also then began to speak against us, why we were not content with the faith of our parents, and with our baptism.

We replied: “We know of no infant baptism, but of a baptism upon faith, concerning which the word of God teaches us.”

We then had many other words, and reproved them for undertaking to be judges in matters of faith, when they did not understand the Scriptures. “If you would be judges, be impartial, and let the matter proceed in regular order; let both parties appear together, and let our brethren and sisters that have been brought prisoners here together with us, be with us. Then one of us, whose mouth the Lord shall open, will speak, and the others shall listen in silence while he is speaking; and thus shall also our adversaries do.”

Lords. “We will not let you come together; we would have you dispute alone here.”

We then said: “My lords, it would be the most convenient for you, and the whole matter could be 472 finished with one disputation; otherwise you will constantly have to dispute anew with one or two at a time.”

Lords. “What then? we will not have it so.”

Then a councilor said: “They want to have them together, in order to seduce one another still more; therefore they cannot be allowed to come together.”

Hans. “My lords, you say that you are judges, but we regard you as our adversaries; for you seek to injure us in every way, and to cause us and our brethren by violence and subtlety, to apostatize from our faith.”

Ans. “Why should we not do this, in order to bring them back?”

Hans. “Well, my lords, hear this: since we see that you are no judges, but our adversaries, and employ, wherever you can, all violence and subtlety, to your advantage, and our detriment: Firstly, you have by violence deprived us of our testaments, in which we find our consolation; secondly, you have confined us separately, some in deep, dark dungeons, others in rooms up above; and thirdly, you seek to outwit and deceive us by separate disputations, afterwards to say behind our backs, to our brethren, that you had overcome us, and, vice versa, to say the same to us concerning our brethren and sisters; therefore, my lords, we will not dispute here, unless our brethren and sisters are present.”

When they heard that their design against us did not proceed according to their wish, they became greatly enraged, and also the monks. We saw easily enough to what it amounted, and that all they did was pure deception; for though it was proven by the Scriptures, with regard to several articles, that they were in the wrong, yet they would not acknowledge it, and excused themselves with the Emperor and his mandates, and the monks with the long continued customs of the Roman church (Wisdom 14:16), and the great number of our forefathers; and when the contrary had been proven to them from the Scriptures, it was just as before, even as though one should have talked to the stove.

We then said: “My lords, will you not permit us, to dispute in regular order, as we have requested?”

Ans. “No.”

“Well then,” said we, “You know the ground of our faith, which we have freely confessed to you; you may now do with us as you please (Jer. 26:14), as far as God will permit; but take good heed what you do, for there is a judge still higher than you. Eph. 6:9. May the Lord open the eyes of your understanding, that you may see how miserably you are seduced and deceived by the false prophets, indeed so that you fight against God and the Lamb, for which it will go hard with you, unless you repent.”