Some evangelical Christians fell beneath their blows;[312] others were seized and thrown into dungeons; the Romish rites were restored; the reading of the Bible was prohibited; and the inhabitants were forbidden to speak of the Gospel, even in the most private meetings. On the entrance of the troops, the deacon had taken refuge in the house of a poor widow. He was denounced to their commanders, who sent a soldier to apprehend him. The humble deacon, hearing the hasty steps of the soldier who sought his life, quietly waited for him, and just as the door of the chamber was opened abruptly, he went forward meekly, and cordially embracing him, said: "I welcome thee, brother; here I am; plunge thy sword into my bosom."[313] The fierce soldier, in astonishment, let his sword fall from his hands, and protected the pious evangelist from any further harm. [312] Schlug etliche Todt. Seck. p. 604. [313] Sey gegrüsst, mein Bruder. Scultet. Ann. i. 173. [Sidenote: THE THREE MONKS OF ANTWERP.] Meantime, the inquisitors of the Low Countries, thirsting for blood, scoured the country, searching everywhere for the young Augustines who had escaped from the Antwerp persecution. Esch, Voes, and Lambert were at last discovered, put in chains, and led to Brussels. Egmondanus, Hochstraten, and several other inquisitors, summoned them into their presence. "Do you retract your assertion," asked Hochstraten, "that the priest has not the power to forgive sins, and that it belongs to God alone?" He then proceeded to enumerate other evangelical doctrines which they were called upon to abjure. "No! we will retract nothing," exclaimed Esch and Voes firmly; "we will not deny the Word of God; we will rather die for the faith." THE INQUISITOR.--"Confess that you have been seduced by Luther." THE YOUNG AUGUSTINES.--"As the apostles were seduced by Jesus Christ." THE INQUISITORS.--"We declare you to be heretics, worthy of being burnt alive, and we give you over to the secular arm." Lambert kept silence; the prospect of death terrified him; distress and doubt tormented his soul. "I beg four days," said he with a stifled voice. He was led back to prison. As soon as this delay had expired, Esch and Voes were solemnly deprived of their sacerdotal character, and given over to the council of the governor of the Low Countries. The council delivered them, fettered, to the executioner. Hochstraten and three other inquisitors accompanied them to the stake.[314] [314] Facta est hæc res Bruxellæ in publico foro. L. Epp. ii. 361. When they came near the scaffold, the youthful martyrs looked at it calmly; their firmness, their piety, their age,[315] drew tears even from the inquisitors. When they were bound, the confessors approached them: "Once more we ask you if you will receive the christian faith." [315] Nondum triginta annorum. Ibid. THE MARTYRS.--"We believe in the Christian Church, but not in your Church."