The Judge who took Libby from us doesn't realize it, but people like us are the best friends a Judge can have. We make the lives of people in positions like his easy. We take the law seriously, we don't lie, and we aim to please those in authority. We don't create problems in society. On the other hand, the man he gave custody of Libby to has done everything he can to try to embarrass and humiliate the Judge by callously disregarding his orders. He lives on the edge of the law, and has done nothing but create havoc in the courtroom, in our lives and in Libby's life.It reminds me of two Dutch Anabaptists who lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth in England, Hendrick Terwookt and Jan Pieters. They had fled persecution in Europe and had hoped to find peace in England. They wanted the freedom to pursue their Baptist beliefs, which at the time were illegal. They wrote a letter to the Queen, pleading her mercy in allowing them freedom of conscience on English soil.
They wrote: “We believe and confess that magistrates are set and ordained of God, to punish the evil and protect the good; which magistracy we desire from our hearts to obey, as it is written in 1 Peter 2:13, ‘Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.’ Since, therefore, she is a servant of God, we will kindly pray her majesty that it would please her to show pity to us poor prisoners, even as our Father in heaven is pitiful (Luke 6:36). We likewise do not approve of those who resist the magistrates; but confess and declare with our whole heart that we must be obedient and subject unto them, as we have here set down” (Von Braght, Martyr’s Mirror, p. 929).
Instead of mercy, they were burnt by this merciless Queen at Smithfield in June of 1575. Two men who would have been loyal subjects of the Queen and productive members of society, yet treated with contempt for their beliefs. Thieves and drunkards received much better treatment from the English government than did these two faithful servants of the Lord.
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