Pieter Witses, a Mason, Strangled at the Stake

In Questions and Answers

Question. "What is your name?" Answer. "Pieter Witses." Question. "How old are you?" Answer. "Twenty-seven years." Question. "When were you at confession last?" Answer. "I confess every day, and acknowledge that I am a sinner." Question. "What do you think of the sacrament?" Answer. "I esteem it highly." Question. "What do you think of the sacrament which the priest gives on Easter?" Answer. "Nothing." Question. "Christ said: 'Take, eat; this is my flesh.'" Answer. "It is true; but He spoke it to those who were obedient to Him." Question. "Are you also rebaptized?" Answer. "I know of no rebaptism; I was baptized once, and that according to the teaching of God." Question. "How long ago?" Answer. "About a year and a half."

Then Pieter was put into a dungeon, and having been there for about an hour, was again taken before the lords, and asked anew: "Pieter, have you been led astray? Will you not let yourself be instructed?" Answer. "Yes, gladly; he who rejects reproof and instruction is miserable. Proverbs 10, verse 17. Take a Testament, and instruct me." Question. "We are not teachers; will you not let yourself be instructed by priests?" Answer. "God is the best priest; He will instruct me, and I will hold to this by the grace of God." Question. "Some vagabond has been preaching to you." They further said that they had read in the Old Testament that many children were baptized. Pieter replied: "I have read nothing about this; I have read that Christ commanded to baptize believers. Matthew 28, verse 19; Mark 16, verse 16; that it was practiced by the apostles, Acts 2, verse 38; and that Peter taught: 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children,'" And so on. He also quoted John 3.

Then they said: "Pieter, you are deceived; are your brothers also of this mind?" He replied

"What do I know about my brothers? I can speak of what God has given me; that I know." He further quoted the words of Christ, where He says

Go into all the world; preach and teach: he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Mark 16, verse 16. Also, that Christ came to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him, in order that He might fulfill all righteousness for us, to be an example, that we should follow His steps. Matthew 3, verses 13 and 15; First Peter 2, verse 21. And after Christ's suffering the apostles, who were His body and church, practiced it.

Concerning their supper, he confessed that he thought nothing at all of it. They admonished him with the Gospel, which he regarded as all right, but not as having been said with reference to their church; for Christ, he said, said to His apostles: "Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you." Also the cup: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is the cup of the new testament in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26, verses 26 to 28.

Christians are to observe it, as Paul teaches the Corinthians, where it is clearly expressed. First Corinthians 10, verse 16. They said that the supper which they eat and drink was true flesh and blood, and asked me whether we did not also eat and drink it in this way. I replied: "Christ said: 'The flesh profits nothing, eaten outwardly; but the word is spirit and life.' John 6, verse 63. And our church is not without the body of Christ."