Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Home at Plett Foundation

e found in The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs’
Mirror. 11 According to the account, van Bylaert
and twenty fellow believers were imprisoned in
1575 in London, England. Hendrick Terwoort
and Jan Pietersz, both Flemish refugees, were
subsequently executed. Two persons died in
prison, fifteen were expelled and two others
eventually survived prison. Among the latter was
van Bylaert. Later, van Bylaert lived in the Dutch
merchant town of Dordrecht, where he became
elder of the Old-Flemish congregation sometime
before 1611 Besides governing the local church,
van Bylaert was a silversmith by profession. He
was a coin-maker at the Dordrecht Munt, and
also became one of the first coin-makers in 1586
for the States-General of the Netherlands. 12 Gerard
van Bylaert died October 12th, 1617.
Jacques Verbeeck worked alongside van Bylaert.
Both elders seem to have been irenic men.
Verbeeck was elder of the Utrecht congregation
as early as 1611. His name hints at his Flemish
origins. By profession Verbeeck was a silk
merchant. He was married to Segerina Caffa.
Verbeeck died shortly before the unification of
the Flemish and Old-Flemish at Dordrecht in
1632, namely December 23rd, 1627.
As we have already seen, Lucas Philips
argued with Vincent de Hont in 1619/20 over
the ban of a groom who had treated his bride
indecently. Philips was a hatter by profession,
and probably resided at Woerden until 1618, a
town in the province of Utrecht. He led his small
Haarlem congregation until his death, sometime
after 1640. One would perhaps think that Philips
belonged to the progressives among the Old-
Flemish. To be true, the congregation of Philips
was no less strict about the ban and shunning
(mijding) than the congregation of his adversary
Vincent de Hont. When asked in 1675 what he
thought of the latter congregation, Abraham
Tack, then the preacher of the congregation of
Philips, answered that they should be considered
branches that did not belong to the vine of
Christ. They should be thrown into the fire.
Jan Willems was elder of the Haarlem
congregation as early as 1611. He must not be
identified with the Frisian elder at Hoorn or
the Waterlander elder at Haarlem of the same
name. His profession was that of a cloth maker.
As stated above, he played an important role
in the ongoing quarrel with the Amsterdam
congregation in the years 1616-17. 13 He gives
the impression of having been a firm, but peaceloving,
man. Jan Willems died at Haarlem on
October 13th, 1617.
Cornelis van Male probably came from
Cologne, which was for a time a major refuge
for Mennonites and Reformed. He was elder of
the Amsterdam congregation. In 1615, when first
mentioned, he was already an old man. From the
narrative of the Amsterdam quarrel we get the
impression that he did not hold much authority
over his preachers.
Near Rotterdam lay the harbour of Delfshaven.
To citizens of the United States the
name of this harbour should sound familiar,
because the Pilgrim Fathers began their journey
at Delfshaven. The elder of the small local Old-
Flemish congregation was Hendrick Ghuyten.
Ordinances in the Netherlands: 1. Communion with wine; 2. Communion with Bread. (Mennonite Encyclopedia
IV, photo section p. 3)
Like most inhabitants of Delfshaven, he was a
sailor, a helmsman to be precise, on a herring
ship. Already a preacher in 1609, Ghuyten was
ordained as elder shortly after 1617. As such he
not only served his own congregation, but also
those of neighbouring Rotterdam and Dordrecht.
He was instrumental in electing Adriaen
Cornelis as elder of the Dordrecht congregation.
Ghuyten died October, 16th, 1624. 14
Old-Flemish elders from 1620-1670
This section provides a survey of the elders
serving from the 1620s to the 1670s. We have
already come across Lucas Philips, so it is now
time to pay attention to his opponent, Vincent de
Hont. Like many refugees, his father fled from
the Flemish town of Rumbeeke to Haarlem.
Haarlem was a centre of the textile industry and
drew many Flemish fugitives. De Hont was born
in Roesselaar in 1561. 15 By profession he was a
merchant who had dealings as far away as Spain
and France. De Hont was already a preacher of
the large Haarlem congregation in 1606. After
the breakup of the congregation in 1620, de
Hont served his church as elder until his death.
Vincent de Hont was the author of several books:
Vertooninghe en verantwoordignge tot dienste
van allen onse medegenooten des geloofs (Haarlem,
1619, authorship probable), his confession
Korte bekentenisse des geloofs (Haarlem, 1626)
and Een korte en grondige verklaring van de
vrede Godts (Haarlem, 1632). Van der Zijpp depicts
de Hont as having an “implacable attitude.”
This estimate seems unreasonable, because the
largest part of the congregation and most of
his fellow ministers followed de Hont after the
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