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 layout of the book was not completely 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 and has been modified to be of of greater assistance to the reader. It has also been repositioned to the more usual location at the beginning. Some illustrations have been moved nearer to the relevant text. In this plain text version, footnotes have been numbered and located below the relevant paragraphs. [Illustration: TIELEMAN VAN BRACHT.] 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, 3 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE, 4 INVOCATION, 5 AUTHOR’S PREFACE, 6 TO THE READERS IN GENERAL, 11 INTRODUCTION, 15 OF THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD, ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND IMMOVABLE STABILITY, THROUGH ALL TIMES, 20 POEMS IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE, 58 FIRST PART. ACCOUNT OF HOLY BAPTISM IN THE FIRST CENTURY, 61