Those who were taken experienced the most cruel tortures the infernal imaginations could invent; and, by their constancy evinced that a real christian can surmount every difficulty, and despise ever danger to acquire a crown of martyrdom.
Henry Voes and John Esch, being apprehended as protestants, were brought to examination; when Voes, answering for himself and the other, gave the following answers to some questions asked by a priest, who examined them by order of the magistracy.
_Priest._ Were you not both, some years ago, Augustine friars?
_Priest._ How came you to quit the bosom of the church of Rome?
_Priest._ Do you believe in the writings of the fathers, and the decrees of the councils?
_Voes._ Yes, if they agree with Scripture.
_Priest._ Did not Martin Luther seduce you both?
_Voes._ He seduced us even in the very same manner as Christ seduced the apostles; that is, he made us sensible of the frailty of our bodies, and the value of our souls.
This examination was sufficient; they were both condemned to the flames, and soon after, suffered with that manly fortitude which becomes christians, when they receive a crown of martyrdom.
Henry Sutphen, an eloquent and pious preacher, was taken out of his bed in the middle of the night, and compelled to walk barefoot a considerable way, so that his feet were terribly cut. He desired a horse, but his conductors said, in derision, A horse for a heretic! no no, heretics may go barefoot. When he arrived at the place of his destination, he was condemned to be burnt; but, during the execution, many indignities were offered him, as those who attended not content with what he suffered in the flames, cut and slashed him in a most terrible manner.
Many were murdered at Halle; Middleburg being taken by storm all the protestants were put to the sword, and great numbers were burned at Vienna.
An officer being sent to put a minister to death, pretended, when he came to the clergyman's house, that his intentions were only to pay him a visit. The minister, not suspecting the intended cruelty, entertained his supposed guest in a very cordial manner. As soon as dinner was over, the officer said to some of his attendants, "Take this clergyman, and hang him." The attendants themselves were so shocked, after the civility they had seen, that they hesitated to perform the commands of their master; and the minister said, "Think what a sting will remain on your conscience, for thus violating the laws of hospitality." The officer, however, insisted upon being obeyed, and the attendants, with reluctance, performed the execrable office of executioners.