Did you make any New Year resolutions this year? I don't usually make a list of person improvement resolutions, but this January I did decide I will read through the Martyrs Mirror as part of my devotional time. I had read portions of Martyrs Mirror, but never read the entire book. I found a complete version online and began reading it in January. I read about three pages per day although there were times I skipped a day or two. I read page 1141 this morning.
The gigantic book contains graphic accounts of more than 4,000 Christians who endured suffering, torture, and a martyr’s death because of their simple faith in the gospel of Christ. It includes more than 50 finely detailed etchings by noted Dutch artist Jan Luyken.
The accounts call believers to follow Jesus in all areas of life, even unto death. Come what may, true Christian commitment demands supreme discipleship and steadfast adherence to the teachings modeled by Jesus and his apostles. Songs, letters, prayers, and confessions of faith appear with the stories of many “defenseless Christians” who were able to love their enemies and return good for evil.
Written and published in 1659 by a Dutch Mennonite, Thieleman J. van Braght, to strengthen the faith of his fellow believers, the book was treasured by Mennonites for generations.
These are some of the impressions I got from reading the entire book:
1. Unregenerate man is utterly wicked. They were worse than animals in the ways they tortured human beings. It's too horrible to repeat here.
2. The great patience of the martyrs in their suffering is amazing. Over and over they repeated that suffering was to be expected. The letters they wrote to family and friends while in prison contained few descriptions of their sufferings and torture. Instead, they assured the readers they were remaining steadfast in the faith and encouraged them to do the same.
3. The joyful anticipation of the martyrs of their deaths. It was often referred to as "offering my sacrifice." Frequently they expressed joy that they were counted worthy to give their lives for His sake.
4. The great price nonresistant Mennonites paid for their faith. Those who were arrested had their property confiscated and the proceeds from the sale went to either the church or the state or was simply pocketed by the authorities. Those who were exiled from their homes and shipped out of the country left everything they owned behind.
5. The beliefs of the Mennonites that differed with the state church were infant baptism, nonresistance, no swearing of oaths, transubstantiation, the role of Mary, and ability of the priests to forgive sin.
Both the Catholic and Reformed churches persecuted Mennonites for their faith. Persecution continued in Switzerland after it had ended in Holland. The Dutch Mennonites helped their Swiss brothers, writing pleas to the authorities to let them live in peace and helping them to leave the country. When hundreds of Swiss were deported and sent to Germany in 1671, the Dutch sent relief funds. They also helped Mennonites emigrate to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. Some of them brought with them their treasured copies of Martyrs Mirror. It was translated into German in 1748 at the time of the French and Indian War. In 1886, Martyrs Mirror was translated into English to continue to challenge generations of Christians in North America.
It took me nearly a year, but I kept my 2021 resolution and read the whole thing.
Martyrs Mirror printed in German at Ephrata, Pa., in 1748
