Jelis Claverss, Lijsabet, Wife of Claes de Vries, Nelleken Jaspers, in the Year 1571

In the year 1571, thirty-six persons were arrested at Antwerp, in Brabant, for the truth of the Gospel of Christ and for following it. Among them were Jelis Claverss, Lijsabet, wife of Claes de Vries, and Nelleken Jaspers, whom we believe to have been among this number as well, which was made up of six men and thirty women, some of whom were burned, and some suffered drowning with great constancy. But this Lijsabet died with a screw in her mouth, by which she was kept from speaking, so that she could not tell the onlookers how innocently she died. In this deed the monks and priests more than filled up the measure of their forefathers, the bloodthirsty Pharisees. For they stopped only their own ears, so that the truth should not be told them by Stephen, the worthy man of God. These new Pharisees, the monks, on the other hand, had screws put on the tongues of these pious and faithful witnesses of God, and the tip of the tongue touched with a red-hot iron, so that the swelling would keep it from slipping out. So these pious persons [were put to death] not for any crime or uproar or fraud, nor for any heresy, but only because they had gone out of Babylon and united with Christ, in this following the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Second Corinthians 6, verse 17. So they contended valiantly for the belief of the truth, and they will receive from the Prince of truth, through grace, for this short, little labor, the crown of eternal glory, and will enjoy it forever.

The Nelleken Jaspers mentioned above was a girl of seventeen years, whose memory has often been sung in the streets in these countries. She was kept in prison for about a year, so that she was about eighteen years old when she died. During her imprisonment she suffered severe temptations, by threats of a terrible death as well as by fair promise of an advantageous marriage, and the like. But just as Christ, her captain, had driven back and overcome all the temptations of the enemy, so also this young heroine faithfully followed the footsteps of her Bridegroom Christ Jesus to the death, and remained steadfast to the death, and, through the grace of God, received the end of the faith, which is the salvation of the soul. First Peter 1, verse 9. Though some would claim Nelleken Jaspers for the Protestant religion (as they also unjustly do with Anneken van den Howe, who was buried alive outside Brussels), it is nevertheless entirely in vain, since at the time this was recorded there were credible persons still living who knew better, and who testified that she died in one and the same faith with these pious confessors (called Mennists). This appears also from Joost Verkindert's letter of the 20th of June, where she is described as of like faith with Joost and Lauwerens Andries, who greet the brothers and sisters with the peace of the Lord.