Anabaptist Church History
Language: English

The original account · Page 1 of 2

Title pages, contents, and publisher’s preface

Edition material · Title pages, contents, and publisher’s preface

Original wording, with book contents, page navigation, and linked notes.

Transcriber’s notes:

Several volunteers have worked on the post-processing of this complex e-book and I acknowledge the efforts of those who preceded me with respect to correcting spelling and other errors. A limited list of such corrections is appended. The original presentation of the book was not entirely consistent in the formating of headings, subheadings, etc. and cannot be truly replicated for digital reading devices, but the textual content has been faithfully preserved including inconsistent punctuation and other flaws. The original table of contents, which was located at the end of the book, was incomplete and inconsistent with respect to the hierarchy of headings. It has been modified to be of of greater assistance to the reader and has been repositioned to the more usual location at the beginning. Some illustrations have been moved nearer to the relevant text. Footnotes have been numbered and collated as endnotes that follow the comprehensive index. In this transcription a black underline indicates a hyperlink to a page, illustration or footnote.

The cover image of the book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

THE BLOODY THEATRE, OR MARTYRS MIRROR OF THE DEFENSELESS CHRISTIANS,

who baptized only upon Confession of Faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their Savior, from the time of Christ to the year A. D. 1660.
COMPILED FROM VARIOUS AUTHENTIC CHRONICLES, MEMORIALS, AND TESTIMONIES, BY
THIELEM J. van BRAGHT.
Translated from the original Dutch or Holland language from the Edition of 1660,
BY JOSEPH F. SOHM.
ILLUSTRATED.
ELKHART, INDIANA.
MENNONITE PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1886.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886,

by Mennonite Publishing Company,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Contents.

PAGE.
 PUBLISHER’S PREFACE,
 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE,
 INVOCATION,
 AUTHOR’S PREFACE,
 TO THE READERS IN GENERAL,
 INTRODUCTION,
 OF THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD, ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND IMMOVABLE STABILITY, THROUGH ALL TIMES,
 POEMS IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE,
FIRST PART.
ACCOUNT OF HOLY BAPTISM IN THE  FIRST CENTURY,
    "    "   "     "    "  " SECOND "
    "    "   "     "    "  " THIRD "
    "    "   "     "    "  " FOURTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " FIFTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " SIXTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " SEVENTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " EIGHTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " NINTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " TENTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " ELEVENTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " TWELFTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " THIRTEENTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " FOURTEENTH "
    "    "   "     "    "  " FIFTEENTH "
ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED IN THE FIRST CENTURY,
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " SECOND "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " THIRD "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " FOURTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " FIFTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " SIXTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " SEVENTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " EIGHTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " NINTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " TENTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " ELEVENTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " TWELFTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " THIRTEENTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " FOURTEENTH "
    "    "   "    "    "   "  " FIFTEENTH "
SECOND PART.
 TO MY BELOVED FRIENDS, ETC.,
 PREFACE TO SECOND PART,
 ACCOUNT OF HOLY BAPTISM IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,
 ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,
 OLD BOOK OF THE MARTYRS MIRROR,
 ACCOUNT OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY,
 INDEX

3

As the English language, year by year, becomes more prevalent among our Mennonite people, the necessity of presenting to them in that language the doctrines, teachings and practices, as well as the story of the sufferings, the faithful endurance and the final triumphant deaths, of those of like faith with us who lived in the earlier ages of Christianity, becomes apparent to every reflecting mind.

These doctrines, teachings and practices together with the examples of faithful devotion to Christ and his word, and the unfaltering endurance under the severest persecution, are powerful incentives to Christians to-day, to inspire many sincere souls to live a more consecrated life, to practice greater self-denial, to live more separated from the world, and show a greater zeal in the work of the Lord and the salvation of souls; and they are especially precious to us, as Mennonites, because through these people it pleased God to hand down to us the living exemplification of the peculiar tenets and doctrines which we hold and practice at the present day.