“One insurrection followed another [seven ‘naked walkers’ in February 1535 proclaimed the ‘naked truth’ of an apocalyptic judgment and the coming of a communistic paradise]. There the ‘godless’ would meet their end, and be punished. All that, came to nothing. All ‘prophecies’ were false and lying…. Those who denounced others as godless, were such themselves. And those who would exterminate the others, were themselves annihilated….
“I am still miserable of heart today, that I…was so shamefully and miserably deceived that I did not stop forthwith, but permitted myself to bring poor souls to this — that I through the importuning of the brethren, commissioned to the office: Dietrich Philips in Amsterdam, David Joris in Delft, and Menno Simons in Groningen…. It is this which is utter grief to my heart, and which I will lament before my God as long as I live….
