In Questions and Answers
Question: "What is your name?"
Answer: "Pieter Witses."
Ques: "How old are you?"
Ans: "Twentyseven years."
Ques: "When were you to confession last?"
Ans: "I confess everyday, and acknowledge that I am a sinner."
Ques: "What do you think of the sacrament?"
Ans: "I esteem it highly."
Ques: "What do you think of the sacrament which the priest gives on Easter?"
Ans: "Nothing."
Ques: "Christ said: 'Take, eat; this is my flesh.'"
Ans: "It is true; but He spake it to those who were obedient to Him."
Ques: "Are you also rebaptized?"
Ans: "I know of no rebaptism; I was baptized once, and that according to
the teaching of God."
Ques: "How long ago?"
Ans: "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, are you seduced?
will you not suffer yourself to be instructed?"
Ans: "Yes, gladly; he that
rejects reproof and instruction is miserable. Proverbs. 10:17. Take a Testament,
and instruct me."
Ques: "We are no teachers; will you not suffer yourself
to be instructed by priests?"
Ans: "God is the best priest; He will instruct me, and to this I shall adhere by the grace of God."
Ques: "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 28:19; Mark 16:16; that it was practiced by the apostles, Acts 2:38; and that Peter taught: 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you, and to your children,'" etc. He also quoted John 3.
Then they said: "Pieter, you are deceived; are your brethren also thus minded?"
He replied: "What do I know about my brethren? 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 that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved." Mark 16:16. Also, that Christ came to John at the Jordan,
to be baptized of him, in order that He might fulfill all righteousness for
us, to be an example, that we should follow His steps. Matt. 3 :13, 15; I
Pet. 2:21. 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, said
he, said to His apostles:
"Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you." Also the cup: "Drink
ye all of it; for this is the cup of the new testament in my blood, which
is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:26-28. Christians
are to observe it, as Paul teaches the Corinthians, where it is clearly
expressed. I Cor. 10:16. They said that the supper which they eat and drink
was true flesh and blood, and asked me whether we did not also thus eat and
drink it. I replied: "Christ said: 'The flesh profiteth nothing, eaten outwardly;
but the word is spirit and life.' John 6:63. And our church is not without
the body of Christ."
