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

by Thieleman J. van Braght

“And the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.” Acts 8:36–38.

How the apostles, according to this foundation, taught and baptized several households, after they had heard the word of God, had believed, had been filled with the Holy Ghost, ordained to the ministry of the saints, and regarded as believers, read: Acts 10:37; 16:15,32; 1 Cor. 16:15; Acts 18:8.

How the apostles in their epistles described Christian baptism as a burying of sins into the death of Christ, a rising and walking in newness of life, a putting on of Christ, a washing of regeneration, a being baptized by one Spirit into one body, and the answer of a good conscience toward God, read: Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27; Tit. 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Pet. 3:21.

ARTICLE XXII.

Of the Lord’s Supper or the breaking of bread, we believe and confess: As baptism is an ordinance and institution of the Lord, by which believers are united with each other by one Spirit in fellowship with Christ; so the Supper is a worthy ordinance and institution of Christ, by which believers who have been baptized according to the ordinance of Christ, are taught and admonished, to live and walk in Christ even as they have received him by faith in baptism, and to be bound by brotherly love to their neighbors, with whom they are to live and walk in the unity of the Spirit, according to the same rule of the divine word; and that they are to remember hereby, with heartfelt contemplation, the bitter suffering and death of the Lord.

And in order to put men in remembrance of this, it pleased the Lord Jesus for this purpose to use bread and wine, things well known among men, and thereby to implant into the hearts of believers heavenly and hidden things; thereby teaching men to remember, that, as bread from many broken grains is made into one bread, and the wine being pressed from many grapes and made one beverage thereby being necessary, useful and adapted as food and drink for the body of man; even so Christ, from ardent love, suffered himself to be broken on the cross, his blood to be shed, and trod the winepress of suffering alone, to minister by his flesh and blood, as necessary meat and drink, to the souls of men; by which we are taught, that like as bread is of many grains broken and prepared as bread, and wine is of many grapes pressed and made a beverage; so also, many believers, from various places, are by one faith become one bread or church, and bound together in fellowship; in order that thereby all those who worthily receive, and eat and drink with the mouth this bread and wine, may hereby through faith in the Spirit, receive, and become partakers of, Christ and all his heavenly riches, and thus be strengthened in the faith, fed in the soul, and be bound together by fervent love, with God and their neighbors, as members of one body.

But believers must in no wise place any confidence in these visible memorials, as though they in themselves were more sacred and worthy than other like, common meat and drink, or had power to give unto men grace and forgiveness of sins. By so doing one should depart with the heart from his Creator, and seek grace from the creature, where it is not to be found. But believers must receive these signs as nothing more than bread and wine, confide with a firm heart only in that which is thereby taught and signified, and look upon and regard these signs as figures, as the Holy Ghost is wont, in the Holy Scriptures, to call the signs, that which is signified by them. And as in this institution of the Supper by Christ the cup is called the New Testament in his blood, which cup is really not the New Testament itself, but is figuratively so called, because the blood of Christ which he shed for the sin of the world, is proclaimed and recommended to us through the New Testament; which signifies, that as a testator by a testament bequeathes to his heirs his property, which they are to receive and enjoy after his death; so has Christ in his last Supper—since he could not remain with them—bequeathed his last will in the New Testament, together with all its heavenly riches, to his friends and followers; in order that all those who in this testament are specified and recorded as children of God and heirs of Christ, shall enjoy his glorious riches; whereupon they receive in the Supper, with the mouth, only natural bread and wine; but through faith there is received, according to the Spirit, Christ’s flesh and blood, which he gave as an atonement for the human race, of which the natural bread and wine, and the Supper are figures, signs, and representations.

Hence, believers are to use this worthy institution of Christ among each other, and thereby, through an ordained blameless minister, proclaim with great reverence the bitter suffering and death of the Lord.

And after God has been thanked with an humble heart, for his boundless grace and mercy, and been called upon by fervent prayers, the bread shall be broken by the minister, the wine poured out, and be received by all believers baptized according to the ordinance of Christ, and each shall, examining himself, use, and avail himself of the same, with heartfelt contemplation of the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus. This shall constantly be observed by believers in this manner, when time and place permit, until the appearing of Jesus Christ from heaven.

Of this institution and ordinance of Christ, read: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matt. 26:26–29; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19.