Martyrs Mirror 614ANDREW CL)ESSEN OF DROURIJP, BEHEADED FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, UNDER THE STADTHOLDER GEORGE SCHENCK, AT LEEUWAERDEN, A. D. 1535 (Copy of a certain old document)

"It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation," which our Saviour spoke and left for our instruction, saying: "Whosoever will save his, life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose it for my sake, or the gospel's, shall save it" unto life eternal. Matt. 16:25 ; Luke 9:24 .

This evangelical doctrine, given for admonition and consolation, many faithful witnesses of Christ have taken to heart, who voluntarily surrendered their lives for His holy name's sake, looking to the promises, aryd the glorious reward which shall be given them not in this, but in the future world; for in the third chapter of Wisdom we read: "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seem to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality, and having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering." Verses 1-6.

This a glorious testimony, and well accords with the words of the holy apostle Paul, that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven ( Acts 14:22 ); as also our Saviour says that the way is narrow, and the gate is strait, that leadeth unto life; and that there are few who walk in it; few, when compared to the great multitude and majority who choose the broad way, and walk through the wide gate, to their own destruction and eternal perdition.

Few were found at Sardis, who had not defiled their garments; nevertheless these few were to be crowned as conquerors, clothed in white raiment, and their names were not to be blotted out of the book of life; and the Son of God shall confess their names before His Father and His angels, which is promised to all that overcome. Rev. 3:5 . This was taken to heart by those who did not look upon what is visible and perishing, but upon the invisible, as appears in the pious witnesses and martyrs of Christ, who, for Christ's sake, gladly forsook not only all their property and the distinction which they enjoyed in this world, but also their own lives; for neither persecution, nor any creature in the world could deter them from the love of God and Christ. Rom. 8:39 .

Among others, it was seen also in the case of a manful hero and armed soldier of Christ, named Andrew Claessen of Drourijp, a village in Friesland, situated between Leeuwaerden and Franneker; who, A. D. 1535, under the Stadtholder George Schenck, was apprehended, brought to Leeuwaerden, beheaded on the sixteenth of March, and placed upon a wheel. This took place three days after his imprisonment; however, the pious secretly took him down and buried him; and his soul is now also resting under the altar of God.