Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

When summoned to the scaffold, his friends
threw themselves upon him, overwhelming him
with their embraces and tears. He alone did not
weep. "Refrain," he said, "let us be men; a little
while, and we shall meet in the heavenly glory."
And then, says the chronicler, "with the face of a
lion, as if going to battle, he set forward, singing in
his own tongue the German hymn: 'Behold the
hour draws near,' etc."
Kutnauer was sentenced to die by the rope, not
by the sword. On the scaffold he gave his purse to
the executioner, and then placed himself beneath
the beam from which he was to be suspended. He
cried, or rather, says the chronicler, "roared," if
haply he might be heard above the noise of the
drums and trumpets, placed around the scaffold on
purpose to drown the last words of the sufferers. "I
have plotted no treason," he said; "I have
committed no murder; I have done no deed worthy
of death. I die because I have been faithful to the
Gospel and my country. O God, pardon my
enemies, for they know not what they do. Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit." He was then thrown off
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