Thieleman J. Van Braght
Thieleman J. Van Braght (1625-1664) was an Anabaptist who is best known for writing a history of the Christian witness throughout the centuries entitled “The Bloody Theater 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 Saviour, from the time of Christ to the year A.D. 1660” (1660).
Thieleman J. Van Braght, Martyrs Mirror
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32. Aristarchus, Paul’s Friend
The Martyrdom Of Some Of Paul’s Friends And Brethren Who Were Imprisoned With Him Shortly After He Was Offered Up; Besides Others Who Were Slain Afterwards. It is related that shortly after the death of the Apostle Paul, his brethren and fellow prisoners, whom he mentions in the epistles which he wrote from his prison, namely, Aristarchus, Epaphras, Aquila, Prisca, Andronicus, Junias, Silas or Silvanus, Onesiphorus, etc., followed in his footsteps in suffering for the name of Christ. Aristarchus, a Traveling Companion of Paul, Slain at Rome, Under Nero, About A.D. 70 Aristarchus, a native of Thessalonica, was, with Gaius, Paul's companion in his journey from Macedonia to Asia; with which Gaius he was apprehended at a certain time, in an uproar at Ephesus, but…
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31. The Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul Beheaded in Rome on Nero’s Orders, A.D. 69 Paul, the Apostle of Christ, Sorely Persecuted, and Finally Beheaded, at Rome, Under the Emperor Nero, A.D. 69 Saul, afterwards called Paul, was of Jewish descent, a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin; but, as to who his father and mother were, we find in Holy Writ no record. Phil. 3:5. As regards the place of his birth, it appears that his parents, either on account of persecution, or of the Roman war, or for some other reason, left their place of residence in the portion of Benjamin, and went to dwell in a Roman, free city in Cilicia, called Tarsus, where Paul was born, who, although he was a Jew, yet, by the…
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30. The Apostle Peter
The Apostle Peter being crucified upside down in Rome on orders of Nero, AD 69 Simon Peter, the Holy Apostles, Crucified with His Head Downward, Under Emperor Nero, A.D. 69 Simon Jona, afterwards called Cephas in Syriac, but Petros or Petrus in Greek, was the brother of Andrew, a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, and a fisherman by occupation. He had his abode at Capernaum, with his wife's mother. His brother Andrew, who was a disciple of John, first brought him to Christ, and shortly afterwards he and his brother were called away from the fishery, to become fishers of men. Matt. 16:17; Mark 3:16: John 1:42; Matt. 4:18; John 1:44; Luke 4:31, 38; John 1:41, 42; Matt. 4:18, 19. He was diligently instructed by…
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29. Nero’s Cruelties Against the Christians
Of the Unheard of Cruelties Nero Practiced in Slaying the Pious Christians Touching the manner in which the Christians were tortured and killed at the time of Nero, A. Mellinus gives the following account from Tacitus and other Roman writers: namely, that four extremely cruel and unnatural kinds of torture were employed against the Christians: Firstly, that they dressed them in the skins of tame and wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs or other wild animals. Secondly, that they, according to the example of their Saviour, were fastened alive on crosses, and that in many different ways. Thirdly, that the innocent Christians were burned and smoked by the Romans, with torches and lamps, under the shoulders and on other tender…
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28. Ten Bloody Persecutions
Of the Ten Bloody Persecutions which the Christians Suffered under the Heathen Emperors of Rome; the First of which Began in the Reign of Nero, A. D. 66 The First Persecution of the Christians, under Nero, Anno 66 When the Jews were deprived of their power, by the heathen, and their time was past, in which they had persecuted and slain the saints of God, the Lord God nevertheless suffered His church to be visited by the refining fire of persecution, namely, through the power of the heathen; of whom the Emperor Nero was the first tyrant. Introduction to the Mirror of the Anabaptist Martyrs, printed Anno 1631. p. 35. col 2. This Nero, according to the testimony of Emperor Trajan, governed the monarchy of…
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27. Mark, the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist dies on the way while being dragged to the site of his burning, Alexandria, A. D. 64 How Mark, the Holy Evangelist, Dragged to the Stake at Alexandria, Died on the Way, A.D. 64 The holy evangelist Mark is supposed by most to have been that Mark whose surname in Holy Scripture is John. He was of the circumcision, and a nephew of Barnabas, whose mother was called Mary, a very godly woman, who gave her house in Jerusalem for the assembling of Christians. Acts 12:12; Col. 4:10. Niceph. lib. 2. cap. 33. He was first appointed a servant of Paul and Barnabas, but on a journey to Pamphylia he returned to Jerusalem. Acts 12:25; 13:13. Afterwards the apostle Paul recommended him…
Further Study
The Gospel According To Mark
