Janneken And Noele, A. D. 1558.

There was also a young maiden named Janneken apprehended for her faith, at Antwerp; who, when she appeared before the lords, freely confessed her faith. The Margrave said: “Janneken, if you will renounce, I will show you favor; do according to my will, and I will give you your life.” But she replied: “The life that you would give me, I desire not; for your promises are vain and as wavering as a reed, and would only bring me into greater sorrow: cursed is every one that trusts in man.” Jer. 17:5.

There was a preacher named Balthazar, who endeavored to make her believe that God was in the sacrament; however, she would not confess it, but said: “You thus disgrace God in your body; but read the Lord’s Prayer once.” And when he read it, she said: “There, you see, you read that he is in heaven, and how dare you say then, that he is in the sacrament?”

In the court she was asked by the Bailiff, whether she was rebaptized. She said: “Question me in regard to my faith, and I will freely confess it to 562 you; or are you ashamed of it? I confess one baptism, which must follow faith, and does not pertain to infants, but requires previous amendment of life.” The Bailiff said: “We have done enough to gain you; if you had suffered yourself to be prevailed upon to recant, you should have done well.” She replied: “You have loved my flesh, but not my soul, which you would have gladly devoured; but God will receive it as a child, and make it an heir. And though you are now a Bailiff in your glory, you will deplore it in the judgment of God, and wish that you had rather been a herdsman272 in the fear of God”. Thereupon she was sentenced to death, and, having commended her spirit into the hands of God, was drowned in a tub, together with another woman, named Noele.