Another Confession Which Reytse Aysess Made Before The Bishop, On The 5th Of January, A. D. 1574.

The love of God, the communion of the Holy Ghost, and the love of the Father, who gave his only Son for us all, keep, strengthen and confirm you and us all unto the end, that we may hereafter come to the Shepherd Jesus Christ. My affectionate request of you, my cordially beloved friends, is, that you make haste to enter into his rest. Heb. 4:11.

After all proper salutation, let me inform your love, that on the fifth day of this year, 1574, I was before the bishop, who said: “Good-day, and a Blessed New Year. Will you not yet give yourself to the holy Catholic faith, in which all your forefathers believed, and in which we still believe?” Ans. “A blessed New Year I indeed desire from the heart; but in your faith I do not wish to believe, but I want to believe in the holy Scriptures.” The bishop said, I had built upon men, and upon the doctrines of men. Reytse. “I have not built upon men; I have built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, yea, upon the rock; therefore my house shall stand. Behold, these are now the tempests that assail my house; had it such a foundation, it would fall; but now it is founded upon the rock.” Bishop. “What is the reason that you went out from us, for you have confessed that you have never heard our doctrine?” Reytse. “Hear me; I shall tell you: When I was a child, I went there as others; but my parents kept me from the sinners’ path, for which I am very thankful to them. But when I attained to my understanding, I read in the holy Scriptures that the way to the kingdom of God is narrow and strait, and that flesh and blood must remain on [the posts]; that we must be well fitted; that there must be a pure church; that the stones must be hewn and squared, before they may be put into the house of God, of which Christ Jesus is the corner stone; and that there are to be no whores, rogues, drunkards, covetous, or idolaters in the church of God. But I found that your church of which you are the head or ruler is such a church; and I am concerned for you, because you are a meek man; hence I pray you, that for once you will search the holy Scriptures; for it seems to me that you know better than you speak; you have a soul to lose as well as I.” He said that as regards drunkenness, fornication and other sins that were in their church, they had ordained that one should pray for it, and the priests would forgive the sins. I said: “The priests cannot forgive sin, but to pray God to forgive sin, is very good: but a man must pray from the heart, that he may never during all the days of his life sin any more. But I must ask you once, whether you think, that if a man sins to-day or to-morrow, and asks the Lord for forgiveness, and does so every day, the Lord will forgive him?” He said, this could be. I said it could not.

Finally the bishop made a long speech, that I would not obey my superior, and had thus apostatized from their holy faith, and joined the Mennists 948 and Tibbites. I said I had never been disobedient, and had never opposed the king, and did not want to bear the sword against any one, as Christ teaches. Then the bishop said he would take the clearest of that which I could say nothing against, and that I should suppose myself to be ignorant, and he would suppose that he was ignorant, and so the Scriptures should judge between us. I told him to say on; if it would agree with the Scriptures, I would hear him. He said the Lord spoke very clearly in the Gospel, where he says: Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; likewise the cup; hence we must eat his flesh, and drink his blood, as he said; this you cannot contradict. I said I well knew that it is written that the Lord said: Take, eat; this is my body; but I know that the Lord is in high heaven and does not come under men’s teeth for your own people do not believe that you give them flesh and blood. He said they had to believe it. I said that the Lord spoke thus: “Take, eat; this is my body which shall be broken for you. This is what the Lord said, but the disciples asked: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? But the Lord said that flesh and blood profit nothing, but the words are spirit and life (John 6). Hence it is clear enough, that we are not to eat and drink Christ’s flesh and blood, as he said, but that we are thereby to remember his death and sufferings; for the Lord gave his body for the whole world, and for the original sin in which we were born. If the Lord had not redeemed us from the sin imposed upon us by Adam, we could not have been saved; but now the Lord has redeemed us with his flesh and blood, and made us free from all sin, and shed his blood for many; hence we cannot eat his flesh, because he made us free with it.” Gal. 5:1.

The bishop said that Christ did not say of his own flesh that it profiteth nothing, but of other flesh; hence, since the Lord so clearly says it, we must eat his flesh, and drink his blood, if we are to be saved; for he said that Paul says: Is this not the cup of blessing? Hence you cannot contradict what Christ and Paul have so clearly expressed. Reytse. “My lord, I well know what Christ and Paul said, for the apostles brake bread from house to house, as we clearly read, in proof of it, and as Christ has left us.” But he kept insisting that we had to eat the Lord’s flesh, if we are to be saved.

The bishop further made a long speech concerning the resurrection of the dead, how we shall die, and rise again with this flesh, and many other remarks which he made about the resurrection. I finally said that I indeed believed that there is a resurrection of the dead, for if there were no resurrection of the dead, Christ would profit us nothing and I would in that case not suffer thus; but that this was a useless disputation. Then he dropped the matter, and made a long speech, how it was written of one Lord, one faith and baptism; hence I had transgressed this, having suffered myself to be rebaptized, when I had been baptized once, and that I had transgressed the holy Scriptures, and been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is contrary to the ordinance of the holy Church. Reytse. “I have not been rebaptized, having been baptized once; for I well know that there is written of one Lord and one faith; hence I betook myself to one baptism as the Lord teaches in many places, that the believing are to be baptized: I therefore betook myself to the baptism of repentance, as is proper according to the Scriptures, and according to my human weakness. But what you say, that I have been rebaptized, this I deny; for I do not recognize the baptism of infants as a baptism, but as a human institution, as is obvious enough, since there is no Scripture that children ought to be baptized.”

The bishop said that we must be born of water and of the Spirit, if we are to be saved; hence children must be baptized, if they are to be saved. Reytse. “No; this is no Scripture, that children ought to be baptized; for the Lord called the children to him, that they should not be turned away, for theirs is the kingdom of God; hence they are already saved.” He said that they were believing [believers?] children, that were circumcised, and he made a long speech about the circumcision of Abraham, that the children had to be circumcised, or they were damned; and as then was circumcision, so now baptism has been ordained by the holy fathers, as is now the case. Reytse. “To this I say no; it is not so, that the children that were not circumcised were damned; for it was a command of God, that they should be circumcised. They were to be circumcised because they were Abraham’s seed; the Lord had so commanded it, because they should be his people, and not for the reason that they that were not circumcised should be damned. For they were circumcised on the eighth day, and many must have died before they reached the age at which they received the sign of circumcision; hence great injustice would certainly have been done the poor children, and in such a case all the female children would certainly have been damned, who are heirs of the kingdom of God as well as we.” To this he said the children had nevertheless to be baptized, if they were to be saved. Reytse. “No; I further say, that the children are in the hands of God, so long as they are ignorant, and baptism does not belong to them; but to those that have repented; for John preached repentance and amendment, and only those [the penitent] to be baptized, for the remission of sins, as he also says: O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Repent, therefore, and save yourselves from this untoward generation.” Luke 3:7,8; Acts 2:40.

The bishop said that I could not prove it with John’s baptism. I said that Christ himself came to John, and requested it of John. John refused it to the Lord. The Lord said: “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness;” and John suffered him. Why do you say that I can not prove it with John’s baptism? for Christ himself requested it. The bishop made but little reply to it. I said: I will show you still more Scriptures, that it belongs to believers, as the eunuch to whom Philip came. Philip said: “Understandest thou what thou readest?” He said: “How should I understand it, except some one instruct me?” Philip 949 preached unto him from the beginning, and he believed it. He said: “Here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Philip said: “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” The eunuch replied: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.” Then he baptized him. (Acts 8:37) Here we see that faith was before baptism nor was he a child. Further, in like manner also Paul was baptized, when he had become a believer. Pray, read the Acts of the Apostles through. The bishop said, they also did want to baptize such adults that had not been baptized in their infancy, as the heathen or Tibbites, who were not baptized in their infancy; hence they would also baptize adults, for he said that it was written: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Though faith is mentioned before baptism, it is all the same; hence children must be baptized: for there are many that do not become so old that they attain their reason; hence they certainly die without baptism and are as certainly damned. Children must therefore be baptized, that they may all be saved. I said, that the children are in the hands of God, and baptism does not pertain to them, for there is no Scripture which declares that it does. Had it been the will of the Lord, he would have commanded it; but now he has commanded that the believers are to be baptized, as he taught, and as his apostles practiced. Hence prove to me with the Scriptures, that it is commanded to baptize poor innocent infants, which have done no sin; for though I had never so many children, I would not have them receive your baptism. He said, though it was not commanded to baptize children, neither was it forbidden to baptize them; hence there is no Scripture prohibiting it. I said: “All that the Lord has not commanded he has forbidden. Hence, if he has commanded to baptize the believing, men ought not to do differently from what the Lord himself has commanded, for we everywhere read of a baptism of repentance, and not of a baptism of infants, as you teach and do. Why do you do that which ought not to be? For it seems to me that you know better; tell the truth.” But he made me no reply to it; except that I was seduced; if I adhered to this faith I would be damned; hence I should betake myself to the holy Catholic faith. And we had many other words, but it grew late, and he went out, and said to the castellan, that there was no hope for me, and that I would not suffer myself to be instructed; and told me to consider the matter further. I said that I wanted to do that; but in this respect I have already considered; but do you consider it, I pray you.