Een liedtboecxken, tracterende van den offer des Heeren.

Give us also strength in need,
Thus to struggle until death,
That we with great longing,
4. Es. 2. e. 43* Receive the crown with them.

A Little Song of

Now here are brave Christians named Goris, Wouter, Grietken, and Maenken, and one named Katherijn. Sacrificed at Ghent, in the Year 1551.

WHen one wrote fifteen-hundred,
And fifty-one years to that,
Then were robbed of life,
Four brave Christians truly,
At Ghent, inside the city,
After that, yet one more was burned,
They lived with God in peace,
And remained steadfast until the end.

* Mt. 10. b. 22

From Lier they have come,
A city in Brabant,
At Ghent they were captured,
The capital city in Flanders.
There they were betrayed,
By a Judas with his servant;
Their four free and unburdened,
Confessed their faith rightly.

They were led from their house,
All to the Gravensteen The Castle of the Counts in Ghent, used as a prison,
They used no deceptions,
But confessed the truth purely;
There they have sung,
Many beautiful spiritual songs,
With friendly tongues,
Heb. 13. c. 15

Giving God † praise and thanks.

Many monks and sophists,
Have fallen upon them,
If they with false tricks,
Could bring them from the right path,
But the Christians, as befits,
Withstood them with God’s word,
That they had to be ashamed,
* Who seek the murder of the soul.

• Who seek the murder of the soul. Joann. 10. a. 1 a. 10.

They have received their judgment,
According to the Emperor's mandate,
Because they have departed from,
The devilish, blind Christendom,
And stepped into God’s congregation,
‡ Who through the word of God spiritually gives birth

‡ Who through the word of God spiritually gives birth 1. Pet. 1. c. 23.

According to faith, confessed a baptism, * Mt. 28. b. 18 Mar. 16. b. 15

For no infant baptism, which the scripture declares.

On the day that they were to die,
And had received that judgment,
One did not see their love grow cold,
But stand as brave witnesses.
This is the day, Maenken has spoken,
For which I have longed so long;
Goris, Wouter, and Grietken opened,
Their mouths, and thanked God.

Without strangulation they were sentenced,
To burn each at a stake,
Then said the praised woman:
We thank you Lord for this matter.
Grietken spoke with good intention:
Spare three stakes, beloved Councilman.