of those who were pertinaciously derelict.[1] In dress and speech they were plain, and in manners simple. Their ecclesiastical enemies, even while burning them for their heresies, bore testimony to the purity of their lives, their thrift, frugality, and homely virtues.[2] They were generally husbandmen and artisans, and so many of them were weavers that, we are told by Roosen, certain woven and knit fabrics were known as Mennonite goods.[3] The shadow of John of Leyden, however, hung over them, the name of Anabaptist clung to them, and no sect, not even the early Christians, was ever more bitterly or persistently persecuted. There were put to death for this cause at Rotterdam 7 persons, Haarlem 10, the Hague 13, Cortrijk 20, Brugge 23, Amsterdam 26, Ghent 103, and Antwerp 229, and in the last-named city there were 37 in 1571 and 37 in 1574, the last by fire.[4] It was usual to burn the men and drown the women. Occasionally some were buried alive, and the rack and like preliminary tortures were used to extort confessions, and get information concerning others of the sect. Ydse Gaukes gives, in a letter written to his brother from prison, a graphic description of his own treatment. After telling; that his hands were tied behind his back, he continues: “Then they drew me up about a foot from the ground and let me hang. I was in great pain, but I tried to be quiet. Nevertheless, I cried out three times,
- ↑ Matthew xviii. 17; I. Corinthians v. 9, 11; II. Thes. iii. 14.
- ↑ Says Catrou, p. 259, “On ne peut disconvenir que des sectes de la sorte n'ayent eté remplies d'assez bonnes gens et assez reglées pour les moeurs.” And page 103, “Leurs invectives contre le luxe, contre l'yvrognerie, et contre incontinence avoient je ne scai quoi de pathetique.”
- ↑ Life of Gerhard Roosen, p. 9.
- ↑ Geschiedenis der Doopsgezinden in Holland, etc., Ten Cate, p. 72
