THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

warden in the year 1531. He had received Christian baptism upon his confession of faith as a seal of his regeneration as a child of God in accordance with the command of Christ and sought to live and walk in obedience to his Maker. This was the reason for his being held in chains at Leeuwarden in Friesland where he experienced great tribulation from the enemies of truth. And since no amount of torture, during which he demonstrated great steadfastness, could bring him to defect, he was executed by the sword in that same city, testifying to the true faith which he sealed with his death and blood. . . . His condemnation is recorded in the criminal court proceedings of the Frisian law court as follows: ‘The law court today, March 20, 1531, condemns Sicke Freerks to death by the sword; his body shall be tied to the wheel and his head stuck on a stake because he has received rebaptism and perseveres in it.’ ” k) “On June 10, 1535, a bloody ordinance was promulgated in Brussels. Death by fire was to be the punishment for all those who had been rebaptized, discovered, and who then would refuse to recant. If they recanted they would still have to die, though not by fire; the men were to be executed by the sword, ‘the women drowned in a cesspool.’ Those who so much as opposed the edict by failing to inform on and turn in the Anabaptists to the authorities were to suffer the same p unishm ent, as the guilty parties. Informants were rewarded with one-third of the confiscated possessions of the accused. And everyone was forbidden in any way to call on the authorities for mercy, forgiveness or reconciliation for the Anabaptists, or to turn in any petition or request on their behalf.” l) When Philip II succeeded his father Charles V on the throne in 1556, he renewed the edict of 1550 and added a few more provisions to it. The accounts from this period of time are truly heart-rending. It is a wonder that any Anabaptists managed to survive these trials. And yet it is a fact that they became stronger and grew consistently in number. Menno Simons, whose public career, as we know, began in the year 1537, preached, baptized, organized congregations, published books, and travelled ceaselessly from one place to another, often exposed to great danger; in spite of this, and even though a price had been placed on his 24 ORIGINS head, the designs of the enemy were frustrated and Menno died in peace. Many other preachers were also indefatigable in their zeal, among whom Dirk Philips and Leonhard Bouwens deserve honorable mention. m) “Jan Claesen 37 had been responsible for printing and publishing the writings of Menno Simons. Because of this he was condemned ‘to be executed by the sword, with his body tied to the wheel and his head stuck on a stake.”’ n) “Richardine Heynes suffered a martyr’s death in 1547. She was treated with terrible severity and cruelly bound without compassion or mercy, even though a midwife was