Thieleman J. van Braght (1625-1664), an elder of the Anabaptist congregation in Dordrecht in the Netherlands, collected accounts of martyrdom, intending to enlarge a Dutch martyr book of 1631. When he finished in 1660 with the publication of Martyrs Mirror, he had doubled the size of the original. A large book of 1290 pages appeared. The author hoped that the book would inspire the reader to hold as tenaciously to the faith as did the Christian martyrs. The heritage of bloodshed and persecution for the sake of a clear conscience and a pure faith grounded in the Word of God is the heritage of the Christian church.