Jan Wouterss van Kuyck and Adriaenken Jans of Molenaersgraef, in the Year 1572

In the year of our Lord 1572, the lords of justice at Dortrecht in Holland laid their hands on two very meek and dear friends of God, who followed their Savior, the slain Lamb of the cross, Jesus Christ. They were not the least of the members of the church of the Lord scattered abroad in all countries, showing forth, as lights in this world, their eminent virtues among this evil and perverse generation. They were both taken out of the fold like lambs for the slaughter; the circumstances were as follows

First, Adriaenken Jans' daughter was suddenly arrested. She lived at Molenaersgraef, in the Papendrecht district, which was under the jurisdiction of the city of Dortrecht; and because she was said to be a heretic, she was seized and imprisoned in the Vuylpoort.

After that, the plan was formed to capture Jan Wouterss van Kuyck, who lived in the city, but who frequently changed his lodging, so that he would not be so easily recognized. To this end the bailiff, having learned where he lived (namely, in the street leading to the Rietdijck, near the New Gate, in a room which was reached from the street by a flight of stairs), came with his beadles and, unexpectedly and without asking anything, went up the stairs, where Jan Wouterss met him just as he opened the door. The bailiff said, since he did not know him

"Does Jan van Kuyck live here?" to which this good, upright and very sincere man, not willing to speak contrary to the truth, answered yes, adding that it was he himself.

He spoke these words very loudly, so that his dear wife, who was back in the room, would hear it and flee, which she did. His only daughter, however, a child of only about seven years, stayed in the room and saw her father arrested; to this no attention was paid. The ministers of justice immediately laid their hands upon this friend of God, and bound him by force, whereupon he said: "O my lords, how you bind me, as though I were a wicked man; yet you do not bind me, but yourselves." Then a great lamentation arose among them; but they went on, and led him, like a defenseless lamb overcome by wolves, from the Rietdijck to the Vuylpoort, about half an hour's walk through the city. There they put him into a different cell from the one in which Adriaenken Jans was confined, though within the same walls and under the same roof of that prison.

In the meantime both had to suffer much temptation, in the body as well as in the soul; several times they were severely tortured, stripped and scourged, so that almost the entire city spoke of their sufferings and misery, as Jan Wouterss also indicated afterwards in one of his letters.

The papist clergy also assailed them much in the soul, in order to rob them, by many wiles and snares, of the treasure of a true faith; but they were not able to accomplish anything with either of them. So they [the two martyrs] were finally sentenced to death in open court, to be executed with fire, on the water front of the city, near a certain lime kiln, where the new fortification now is, between the mill that stands upon the bastion and the rampart; however, with the condition that Adriaenken Jans should not really die by fire, but should be strangled at the stake before her burning, which lesser penalty of death we do not find to have been carried out on Jan Wouterss. [n1049-1]

In the meantime both prepared themselves for death with great desire and inward joy, unable to praise God enough that they had been counted worthy to give up their bodies as a sacrifice for His holy name's sake.

When the hour of their departure had come, both were tied together; but they fell upon their knees, and quietly offered up, before they were led out, an earnest prayer to God the Lord, that He would strengthen them in the suffering that lay before them, to persevere to the end.

Then their mouths (for fear that they should say something to the people) were gagged with a piece of wood, or some other instrument made for this purpose, and they were led out of the prison in this way, which presented a pitiful sight. Jan Wouterss, however, pulled out the piece of wood, or instrument, with one hand, which it appears was not bound, and cried with a loud voice: "O Lord, strengthen Your feeble servant and Your poor handmaiden. It is for Your name's sake that we have come to this, for which we have willingly prepared ourselves."

When he had said this, one of his fellow believers, whose heart, it seems, had been set aflame by this, pressed his way mightily through the people, and coming before him, said: "Strive valiantly, dear brother, you will suffer no more after this."

Then Jan Wouterss instantly pulled open his jacket and showed him his breast, bloody from the scourging inflicted upon him in prison, and said

"I already bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus;" and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, looking longingly, as it were, to the heavenly resting place.

In the meantime, before all this was properly noticed, because of the surging crowd, that person went out of sight and disappeared among the people; whereupon some of the servants of justice muttered and sternly asked where this man was. This happened near the swine market, close by the New Haven.

They went on and soon came to the place of execution, where two stakes stood erected, near and around which a countless multitude was gathered.

Having arrived there, they went up onto the height, or erected scaffold, where on their knees they again quietly prayed to God, though only Jan Wouterss was able to speak, since the mouth of Adriaenken Jans was tightly gagged with the piece of wood, or instrument, mentioned before.

When they had risen, preparations were first made to strangle Adriaenken Jans, and she placed herself at the stake.

Then Jan Wouterss said: "This is the day of salvation." But the underbailiff, hearing this, sternly cried: "Be silent." Then Jan Wouterss said: "Why should I keep silent? I certainly say nothing that is evil."

In the meantime Adriaenken Jans was strangled, who, according to the testimony of those who witnessed it, remained standing at the stake a little while before her burning, dressed in a red petticoat.

The servants of justice then turned to Jan Wouterss, who cheerfully, indeed, with a smiling countenance, placed himself at the other stake, which stood close by. While he was being fastened to it, he noticed that some of his fellow believers stood among the people, to see his end; and to them, without naming anyone, he cried aloud: "Adieu and farewell, my dear brothers and sisters, I will herewith commend you to the Lord, to the Lord who shed His blood for us." With this he made haste and prepared himself for death, commending his soul to God in these words: "O God, who are my strength, I commend my spirit into Your hands."

Then fire was set to the wood piled around him, and this friend of God was burned alive, as it appears, with his dead sister, to the great sorrow of many who stood around and were filled with pity at the sight of it.

This was the end of these two dear favorites of the Lord, of whom no one spoke any evil (concerning their life), but whom everyone praised for their virtuous walk.