Now, when the children of light, who confessed the doctrine of the Waldenses, in the midst of the darkness of popery,* began to lift up their hands more and more, in the Flemish countries, and to combat with the power of the Word of God the errors of the Roman church, and to reject principally papal authority, the mass, transubstantiation, pilgrimages, the invocation of saints, purgatory, infant baptism, the swearing of oaths, revenge towards enemies, etc., as we stated concerning the belief of the Waldenses, in the account for the eleventh century; the prince and king of darkness, through the instrumentality of his satellites, laid his hands on them, and ultimately brought the matter so far that very many who would in no wise, neither for life nor for death, apostatize, were condemned to be burnt alive, which was also done with them; and thus they endured the trial of their faith with great steadfastness, in the fire, at Donau, in Flanders, in the year 1421. Wherefore the captain of the faith, Jesus Christ, shall hereafter eternally crown them, as pious champions, with the unfading crown of honor, according to His promise, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
Of the sacrifice of these friends, mention is also made in the second book of the History of the Persecutions, p. 577, col. 4, where it says, "At
* The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. Matt. 4:16.
