“VENGEANCE IS MINE,” SAITH THE LORD

“Vengeance Is Mine,” Saith The Lord

Who determines who will die first?

IN THE 1550s the Anabaptists, the early Baptists who developed into the Mennonites, experienced great persecution, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. In January of 1558 Hans Smit, an Anabaptist pastor, and Hendrick Adams, a mature Christian layman, were meeting in a home in Aix-la-Chapelle, a town near the German-Dutch border, to study the Bible and pray with ten others. Suddenly the house was surrounded, and they were all arrested, both men and women. The next day a judge sentenced them, one by one, to prison.

Hans Smit, the pastor, was summoned before the judge a second time and asked how many people he had baptized and who they were. He replied firmly that he would rather die than tell. He was then tortured on the rack for half an hour, to which he willingly submitted. Then his interrogators asked him what he thought of the Eucharist. He answered, “I think much of it; but that which the priests use is not at all the true supper of Christ but a piece of idolatry.” Upon hearing this, they tied Smit up and suspended him from the ceiling with a hundred-pound stone tied to his feet. But he kept the faith.

Finally his interrogators tried to reason with him, telling him that if he would renounce his baptism that they would deal with him favorably. When he answered that he would never renounce his faith as he believed it was taught in the Bible, they told him that Anabaptists were not allowed in Aix-la-Chapelle and that he must be killed. Smit’s response was that if they killed him, they would have to answer for it before the Lord.

One of the councillors of Aix-la-Chapelle was violently opposed specifically to Hans Smit and Hendrick Adams. On one occasion when their interrogators were once again offering to pardon them if they would recant, Adams answered that he stood firm in his convictions. The vindictive councillor shouted, “Away with them, away with them, to death and the fire . . . no pardon should be offered them anymore!” Hendrick Adams looked him in the eye and said, “You will not live to see my death.”

Hans Smit was sentenced to die first and Hendrick Adams three days later. On October 19, 1558, Smit was led through the city of Aix-la-Chapelle, singing joyfully as he went. He walked briskly to the stake, where he was strangled with a rope and his body burned.

But that is not all that happened on that day. The councillor who had so eagerly sought the deaths of Smit and Adams was suddenly stricken violently ill. The nearer death came to him, the greater grew his despair. He began to cry out, plucking out his beard and confessing that he had sinned in judging many persons and that God would surely judge him for his bloodthirstiness. He also died on October 19, 1558.

Three days later Hendrick Adams was led to the place of execution. Like his pastor, he was strangled with a rope, then chained to the stake and burned. And like his pastor, he accepted it willingly.

God had spoken truth through Hendrick Adams. His accuser did not live to see his death.

Reflection

Jesus told us that if we as Christians are arrested and brought to trial for our faith, we should not worry ahead of time what we will say because God will give us the words to speak. Hendrick Adams is an illustration of how God will provide our words.

When you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry about what to say in your defense. Just say what God tells you to. Then it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

Mark 13:11