Menno Simons

“ Beloved reader, verily, I can not but wonder at the obduracy, deafness, and blindness of the world, inasmuch as they are not ashamed to bear the name of Christ, and to boast of his merits, blood, and death, while nothing is found among them at all by which they prove the good will and nature of Christ Jesus. O ye vain boasters, if you are the true Christians in whom God is pleased, as you pretend, where then, is your Christian baptism in which you have buried your sins and put on the new life? ”

“ Behold, kind reader, as you have ever been and yet are so unthankful for his paternal grace, God has shut out from you his mercy, and has brought his just judgment upon you so that there is neither right, God-fearing truth, nor true teachers, nor deacons, nor gospel, nor faith, nor Christian baptism, nor Christian Supper, nor Christian life, nor knowledge, nor truth, nor spiritual wisdom, nor judgment, nor ban, nor love, nor piety left upon earth. ”

“ Most beloved, thus has God, the just judge, sent his fearful judgment into this wicked world, although you do not feel it. For inasmuch as you trample upon the Son of God, deem the blood of the New Testament as unclean, grieve the Holy Spirit of grace therefore you are under the terrible judgment, and have fallen into the hands of the living God, so that you prefer falsehood to truth, obscurity to light, death to life ”

“ I repeat, thus the fearful judgment of God is come upon us because of our sinfulness, as the prophet says, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. ”

“ We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgment but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them: In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. ”

“ Therefore I will not cease, while I live, to teach and admonish both verbally and by writing, so far as God, the merciful Father, by his ineffable kindness, is giving me knowledge, spirit, grace, and wisdom, to all those that seek the truth; that they may awaken while it is yet time and seek the Lord while he may yet be found, and call upon him while he is near, that their righteousness may go forth as a light and their salvation burn like a torch ”

“ Thus I labor and strive, according to the small talent given me of God, of which God is my witness, after nothing else than that the Day star, the blessed Christ Jesus, the ever shining Light may arise in your heart and enlighten you in all divine truth; knowledge, spiritual understanding, and wisdom, unto life eternal. ”

“ But above all, the most terrible wrath of God is his depriving us of his divine word. For the first mentioned plagues, such as pestilence, famine, sword, &c., only punish us according to the flesh, and are chastisements for our correction, as the prophet says, which he inflicts that his children may learn wisdom; but when he deprives us of his word, then all is lost. For if we have not the word, we verily, have nothing but unbelief, blindness, error, disobedience, conceit, acrimony, an unclean, foolish and adulterous spirit, and eternal death. ”

“ As the whole burden of our salvation is included and comprised in Christ Jesus and his holy word, and in no one else, nor in any other doctrine—therefore I warn every God-fearing soul, by the word of God; through nothing but brotherly love, not to be shaken and misled, either by the exalted position of man, or by old age, learning; eloquence, finely gotten up ceremonies, dreams, prophesies, visions, signs, and jugglery. ”

“ How long will you continue in your damnable blindness, your refractory obduracy, and your pernicious madness? Reflect upon the abundant, ineffable works of grace which Christ Jesus has shown you, and if his great love cannot move you to withdraw from your idolatry, disobedience, and accursed life, then remember his rigid judgments which, from the beginning of the creation, came upon all those who did not abide in his blessed word and obedience, that you may by such fear, since you are not moved by his love, be drawn away from all evil. ”

“ But the finely attired woman has so enchanted you, and the whoring spirit of the spiritual whoredom has so kept you under its wings, that I fear, indeed, that, your abominable unbelief, obscurity, blindness, falsehood, and madness will never more be taken from your hearts, but that the wrath of God will remain upon you to the end ”

“ For thus every Christian must be minded in regard to Christ Jesus, his Savior and in regard to his holy word; nor must he think himself more exalted, no matter what gifts he has received, if he would not rob Christ Jesus of his glory; and remain in a humble walk before God, in the right measure of his faith as becomes him in Christ. I advise all not to deceive themselves. Let spiritual pride, and vain boasting be far from you, "For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble," 1 Pet. ”

“ Most beloved reader, herewith I beseech you all, whether you be lord, prince, learned or unlearned, to peruse these and all my writings, with the fear of God in your hearts, and I have no doubt but you will clearly find that our doctrine, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ and his holy apostles, does not tend to mutiny, discord, treason, and rebellion; but rather, yea surely, to true, Christian love, unity, and peace. For Christ Jesus whom we preach, is the true Prince of eternal peace, and not of discord, Isa. 9. Say, whom have we curtailed? Whom have we injured? ”

“ Behold, worthy reader, since the whole world, yea, all tongues, tribes, and people have become degenerated, according to the righteous sentence of God, in the doctrines, sacraments, and life which is pleasing to God, for they prefer falsehood to truth, unrighteousness to righteousness; as, they have committed themselves to all manner of false teachings, false ceremonies and carnal life, so that we may consider them rather as brutes than human beings, rather as devils than Christians, as every reasonable being can easily, even without the word of God, comprehend and understand ”

“ However ravenously the princes and the learned tyranized and opposed the law and its followers, yet the law and word of God remained immutable until Christ Jesus; so that every one who desired to be saved had to regulate and conform himself according to the law and his conscience, if he would see the dawn of day. For God is an eternal God and his will can never be changed and diverted by man. In this case neither prince nor learned man can avail. God alone, has dominion over man ”

“ Behold the weeping eyes, O, miserable world, and hear the tender voice of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, how he wept for obdurate Jerusalem, and said unto them, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes," Luke 19: 42. At another place, "Behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth ”

“ Whosoever does not believe that our doctrine is the pure, undefiled and saving doctrine of Jesus Christ, may piously examine the rest of the plain Scriptures of the New Testament and he will come to the conclusion and acknowledge that it is the pure doctrine, testimony and Spirit of Christ Jesus, however much his reluctant, lazy, rebellious, refractory, selfish and disobedient flesh may oppose, frighten, tremble and be awe-stricken thereat. ”

“ Who knows but that God, through me and through my beloved brethren who are and who shall be, has chosen and provided in his grace, that some of those who now unwittingly err, may yet acknowledge and confess the right way, doctrine, truth, and life, and walk unblamably in Christ, before God and before all the world all the days of their lives. ”

“ Yea, most beloved reader, they have so stopped their ears and so hardened their hearts that they would not only not hear, but all of them, as a general rule, and particularly most of the kings, princes, prophets and priests, wittingly thirsted after the innocent blood of the true witnesses of God, who, by an inextinguishable fire of love fraternally reproved them of their sins, called them to repent and turn to God, and they proclaimed and taught the way of the Lord in righteousness. ”

“ We find amongst you no worship but only a self-begotten set of rites which are pleasing to the flesh, such as, bells, organs, singing, celebration, ornamented churches, beautiful images, differences in victuals and in days, false purification and promises, reading many psalms and pater nosters with the mouth and not spiritually, adulteration of the sacraments, and a destruction and garbling of all that which Christ Jesus has taught and commanded in his holy gospel. ”

“ If we do not desire grace, light, truth, righteousness, salvation, true religion, life, the kingdom, blessing, and God himself, we must, by his righteous judgment, doubtlessly, inherit disgrace, darkness, falsehood, unrighteousness and idolatry, and hereafter eternal damnation, death, hell, malediction, and the devil himself. ”

“ I, miserable sinner that I am, on account of my unclean, greedy, proud, vain, idolatrous, and carnal life which I formerly led, and on account of my yet often sinning and transgressing before my God, who am not worthy to be the least servant in the house of my Lord! ”

“ But in the beforementioned churches it is mostly doctrines, flatterings, comments, councils, and commandments of men. Here is faith, truth, obedience, baptism of the believing, according to the word of God, true fraternal love, and the service of our neighbors; yonder is unbelief, falsehood, disobedience, infant baptism without God's word, hatred, envy, tyranny, cruelty, shedding blood, quarreling, lawsuits, backbiting, cheating, stealing, robbing and murdering; here is teaching, admonition, consolation, reproof in righteousness—there, mere corruption, heresy, upbraiding, and slandering ”

“ But instead, I find all over the world and among most of the sects, nothing but robbers of the glory of God, and murderers of souls; deceivers, blind watchmen, mute dogs, masters of sects who are carnally, earthly, and devilishly minded; enemies of the cross; serving their bellies instead of serving God; false prophets, idolaters, vain talkers, liars, and wizards. If any person does not believe my words, let him prove their walk by the word of the Lord ”

“ In the third place, when I think of finding an unblamable church without spot and blemish, which serves the Lord with all its power and which conforms itself to his word—I verily find such an ungodly, abominable, corrupted and confused people; so carnal, idolatrous, whoring, cruel, ungodly, unbelieving, ignorant, blood-thirsty, unmerciful, drunken, pompous, luxurious, proud, avaricious, greedy, envious, adulterous, false, deceiving, sodomitic, refractory, disobedient, rebellious, vain, and so devilish, that a godfearing soul must stand dumbfounded and be ashamed thereat. ”

“ For by these works neither the word nor righteousness of God is taught: no flesh is crucified; no neighbors are served; and above all they are not pleasing to God. Therefore they can not be considered, according to Scripture, services of God, but rather an abominable, fearful, and terrible service of idols. For by such means the ignorant, trusting populace is led away from the true faith and trust in Christ Jesus and is led into a false trust in ceremonies, yea, in such ceremonies as the eternal wisdom, the blessed Christ Jesus, has never commanded. ”

“ Our princes are to us devouring lions; our fathers are our betrayers; our pastors are our deceivers; our shepherds are our wolves; our watchmen are the thieves and murderers of our souls. We find nothing but thistles and thorns ”

“ In the sixth place we seek and desire that all strange ceremonies and manners of worship which are without the word of God, or instituted contrary thereto and tend to abominable idolatry, such as holy water, oral confession, infant baptism, masses, matins, vespers, images, altars, false promises, and the like ceremonies, may be abolished, not by force of arms, but peaceably by the word of God, that the poor, ignorant populace may no longer be deceived by such vain works which are nothing short of idolatry ”

“ He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil," Jn. ”

“ But it would be as the prophet says, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree," Isa. ”

“ And if you, notwithstanding this, trust to be saved while you do not sincerely repent of your old life, then, verily, your trust is vain. For by such trust you make God a liar, because you trust to acquire life contrary to his holy word. ”

“ Matt. 7: 21. At another place he says, "If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," Jn. 8: 31, 32. From this follows the opposite, beloved brethren, namely, that if we do not abide in Christ's word, we cannot be his disciples; that we do not acknowledge the truth; and if we do not acknowledge the truth how can we then be made free thereby? And if we are not freed by truth, woe unto us that we were ever born; for then we are yet in sin, under the curse, wrath, children of hell, of the devil, and of eternal death. ”