Page 412OF THE DECREE WHICH BY THE ROMANISTS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE NETHERLANDS, ABOUT THE YEAR 1521, AGAINST ALL WHO BELIEVED OTHERWISE THAN THE ROMAN CHURCH; AND WHAT MISERY RESULTED THEREFROM About A. D. 1521, at the time of Emperor Charles V., a decree was made and issued by those of the Roman church, on account of the Lutherans and Zwinglians, against all those who were opposed to the Roman profession, and hence, also against the Anabaptists; who were all threatened with cruel punishments of death, as appears from the following account in the Chron. van den Ondergang, p. 975, col. 2. The account is as follows:*"From it was made, A. D. 1521," says the writer,"the first prohibition or decree concerning religion, and brought into the Netherlands without the consent of the States, etc.; so that they (this and like decrees) were rather tolerated than confirmed by the states; the more so since they were greatly favored by the pope and the clergy, as tending to promote obedience towards the mother-the Roman-church, and generally no complaint was heard from any of the common people against it; that is, against the first. By virtue of this decree all who believed otherwise than the Roman church, or who had such books in their possession, or harbored such heretics or people, and all those whom the magistrates were commanded to apprehend, were strictly sentenced to death; and not only these, but also all who in any wise were suspected of heresy; every Roman Catholic being required to denounce every suspected person, who, upon the testimony of two witnesses, were, according to the instruction of the judges, sentenced to death, their property confiscated, and one third of it given to the accusers and witnesses, though said witnesses had but little to
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