John Walen, with Two of his Fellow Brothers, in the Year 1527

In the year 1527, there was also a faithful brother (Revelation 2, verse 10), named John Walen, living in Waterlandt, on Crommenies Dijck, and with him two of his fellow brothers. These three were brought together as prisoners, for the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 2, verse 13; Revelation 20, verse 4), by the bloodthirsty papists, to Haarlem, and after a little while they were sent from there to Gravenhage, where they were examined very severely; yet, through the power of the Most High (Ephesians 6, verse 10; Acts 1, verse 8), with which they were endowed, they patiently endured it, thus valiantly overcoming by faith all their inquisitors and tormentors, together with the world and all visible things. First John 5, verse 4. On this account the rulers of darkness (Ephesians 6, verse 12), at that place sentenced them to the following inhuman and tyrannical death: They were chained to stakes, and a fire was built around them, and so they were slowly roasted, until the marrow was seen to trickle down from their thighbones; thus being burned and roasted till death came to their relief. After their death the garments on the upper part of their bodies were taken off piece by piece, the color of the cloth still being recognizable. And since they suffered all this for the name of Jesus and the Word of God, and not because of any misdeed committed, but only in order to testify to and confess the firm foundation of the truth before this false and adulterous generation, the Son of God will hereafter, when He comes in His glory, not be ashamed of them, but will confess them before His Father and His chosen angels, and crown them with everlasting glory in heaven. Revelation 20, verse 4; First Peter 4, verses 14 and 15; Mark 12, verse 39; Luke 9, verse 26; Second Timothy 4, verse 8.