The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 07: 1561-62 — John Shaqi
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 07: 1561-62Motley, John Lothrop
History
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 07: 1561-62
Motley, John Lothrop
Netherlands -- Church history; Netherlands -- History -- Eighty Years' War, 1568-1648
In the next year, Titelmann caused one Robert Ogier, of Ryssel, in
Flanders, to be arrested, together with his wife and two sons. Their
crime consisted in not going to mass, and in practising private worship
at home. They confessed the offence, for they protested that they could
not endure to see the profanation of their Saviour's name in the
idolatrous sacraments. They were asked what rites they practised in
their own house. One of the sons, a mere boy, answered, "We fall on our
knees, and pray to God that he may enlighten our hearts, and forgive our
sins. We pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosperous, and
his life peaceful. We also pray for the magistrates and others in
authority, that God may protect and preserve them all." The boy's simple
eloquence drew tears even from the eyes of some of his judges; for the
inquisitor had placed the case before the civil tribunal. The father and
eldest son were, however, condemned to the flames. "Oh God!" prayed the
youth at the stake, "Eternal Father, accept the sacrifice of our lives,
in the name of thy beloved Son."--"Thou liest, scoundrel!" fiercely
interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire; "God is not your father;
ye are the devil's children." As the flames rose about them, the boy
cried out once more, "Look, my father, all heaven is opening, and I see
ten hundred thousand angels rejoicing over us. Let us be glad, for we
are dying for the truth."--" Thou liest! thou liest !" again screamed
the monk; "all hell is opening, and you see ten thousand devils thrusting
you into eternal fire." Eight days afterwards, the wife of Ogier and his
other son were burned; so that there was an end of that family.
Such are a few isolated specimens of the manner of proceeding in a single
district of the Netherlands. The inquisitor Titelmann certainly deserved
his terrible reputation. Men called him Saul the persecutor, and it was
well known that he had been originally tainted with the heresy which he
had, for so many years, been furiously chastising. At the epoch which
now engages our attention, he felt stimulated by the avowed policy of the
government to fresh exertions, by which all his previous achievements
should be cast into the shade. In one day he broke into a house in
Ryssel, seized John de Swarte, his wife and four children, together with
two newly-married couples, and two other persons, convicted them of
reading the Bible, and of praying in their own doors, and had them all
immediately burned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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