Another Confession of Reytse Aysess, Made before an Arrogant Priest

Shortly afterward a priest came, who was very arrogant. He asked me what I had decided about the letter which the bishop had sent me. Reytse. "I have decided just as I told you the last time. For what he writes has not made me weaker, but stronger. He foolishly writes that no sin hinders or holds a man back, and that we may observe the Supper with whores and rogues, and that also no sin is so great that it can hold a man back; all of which he wants to prove from the eighth chapter of Mark, where the Lord fed the great multitude." Reytse. "What do you want to prove by that? Oh, how blind you are!" He became angry, and would not understand Scripture, but blasphemed and spoke very foully, and said that with my second baptism I condemned and rejected the Lord's death. But I said that I did not condemn the Lord's death, but considered it good; "for if I confessed this as you say, woe would be to me; for I do not recognize your baptism as a baptism, since there is no Scripture for it. But with your infant baptism you reject Christ's sufferings and death, for Christ has redeemed us; yet you say that the children are damned, which you cannot prove from Scripture. But those who live in sin, who the Lord says shall not enter the kingdom of God, these you say are saved; drunkards, the covetous, and fornicators, and whatever sins they may commit, who the Lord says shall not inherit the kingdom of God, these you say are saved. But the poor children, who are already saved, as the Lord has said, these you say are damned. Is it not a pitiful thing that you are so blinded? So wake up at last, I beg you, for it will ruin you." He said that I had a faith like a Turk. I said: "What is the Turk's faith?" He said: "The Turk believes in a piece of wood, or in whatever suits him." I said that they [the papists] believed in a piece of bread, which they held up as God, worshiping it, and falling on their knees before it, and regarding it as God. And likewise the idolatrous infant baptism: is that any better than the Turk's faith? He became angry, and reviled us much, and did not think that we were the right people. I said: "If I should tell you what I consider you to be, you would not like it." He said, tell it. Reytse. "Well then, I shall tell you. I consider you the vile world, the congregation of the dead, and heathen and Turks according to the spirit, and that you are alienated from the life of God (Proverbs 21, verse 16; Ephesians 4, verse 18); and as is written about you in Daniel 12, and in Revelation, so it shall be found in the day of the Lord. Therefore repent, and come out from her, that you not be partakers of her sins" (Revelation 18, verse 4).

Then he got up and hurried away, but I overtook him in another room, where we talked for a little while about infant baptism and other things. Finally he said that he could not stay any longer, since he was to stand godfather to a child. I begged him not to do it; "for" I said, "The child is as good as you can make it." He said that he would do it anyway. He also spoke much about the war, and about the Gueux,* that their cause was a bad one, and that we helped them with money and property. I told him that what he said was not true; for we had no wish to defend them in any way with money or blood, [n1126-1] "for I think nothing of the Gueux, nor of you, for you cannot stand before God, wretchedly as you are betraying and killing one another. Still, the Gueux are not as bloodthirsty as you are, for if they had arrested me, they would let me go, but you want to shed my blood." He became angry and said: "You desperate miscreant, should we not kill you? We could not answer before God [if we were to let live] such a heretic as you are; for we do so much running on your account that no money could hire us to do it; so here you shall receive the temporal fire, and afterward the eternal, because you will not let yourself be instructed, for all that we have done for you."

I spoke to him very gently, but he said that I had the devil in me, and that he had transformed himself into an angel of light and had seduced me, so that I could not remain in the true way. Reytse. "I have no devil, but I speak with a free and glad heart." He reviled much, bringing forward no Scriptures, but only saying that they had done much for me, and were always on the run to win my soul and save my life, and that now there was no prospect that I would give up my heresy; so the bishop had to cut me off, as was right. Reytse. "I never wanted you to come to me, and you may stay at home, for I do not wish to hear you or to believe you, and you might have spared yourself all your running, for the reward you have earned from me will not be great."

Finally he spoke about praying, and boasted much of his praying. He said that he prayed more in one week than I did in three months, and he had much to say about praying, and that Christ prayed in the temple. I said that he was like the Pharisees, who boasted so much of their praying, and stood in the temple and on the street corners, to be seen by men. And in all your words you are like them; so take good care how you boast, for a tree shall be known by its fruit; for I do not like your fruit. He said that I had the heart of a Pharisee, and he their clothes; which is the better? Reytse. "No; it seems to me you have both, the heart and the clothes, for the Lord did not act this way, nor did His apostles live such a life, nor wear such clothing in their time as you do, which is contrary to the Scriptures. So take heed what you put on, for I beg you to repent; for you cannot stand before the Lord with your faith, nor with your walk, nor with your church, for which you want to answer in the day of the Lord." Finally he went away. I told him to tell the bishop that he need not come again on my account, since I would not hear him at all. He wished me good day, and they brought me back into prison. About three days later a messenger came from the bishop, and said that I was to hear my sentence three days from that time. On the appointed day they came and carried out their business, as they understood it, and passed judgment on me, being very pompous and long-winded in their sentence. When they had finished their business, they went away; but one priest stayed behind, who reviled much and talked improperly and unfittingly. I would not talk with him, because they had handed me over, and also because he spoke so badly and indecently. Then he went away. A long time passed before I wrote this down, for I could not remember it well because of my fellow prisoners. And my memory also is rather short; some remarks I have forgotten; and if I were to write it all, it would be far too much, for I have been before the bishop and his colleagues at least eleven times, and I talked much with them about all the articles of the faith.

Written by me, your beloved brother in the Lord.

REYTSE AYSESS.