On January 15, 1549,
a young Mennonite woman was brought to trial in Holland. Elizabeth was asked
to swear under oath whether or not she had a husband. She answered, "I can
take no oath." To the question regarding whom she had taught, she would
only answer, "I will confess only my faith." They said they would
torture her. She replied, "I hope that with God's help I shall keep my
tongue and not be a traitor." He asked why she had been re-baptized, she
replied, "I haven't been baptized again. I have simply been
baptized." "Do you think that saves you?" they asked her. She
replied, "No. All the waters in the sea cannot save me. Christ saves me."
With this, they tortured her with thumbscrews until blood gushed from her
nails and she fainted. Coming to, she still refused to give in to her
inquisitors. She was then sentenced to death by drowning. – Roland H. Bainton
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