Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/120

 also love, fear, praise and honor such a benevolent Lord and merciful Father, with all onr powers serve him, and be obedient to him in all onr weakness.

Since then, he has manifested, toward us afflicted sinners, such unspeakable love and grace, as said, which love and grace cannot be rightly seen and understood, with the blind eyes and the ignorant reason of the Hesh, but must be seen and under- stood with the inward eyes of the mind, and through the unction of the Holy Ghost; that is, with a sincere, sure, immoveable, conti- dent, vigorous, unfeigned and pure faith; such as the Scriptures teach.

Such an unfeigned faith being required as mentioned, and clearly linding in the word of the Lord, that all dealing and aim of true Christianity, concerning the new birth or creature, true repentance, dying unto sin, a new life, true righteousness, obedience, salvation and eternal life, lie in a sincere, active faith, according to all Scripture, as may be seen and read in many passages; therefore have I, through the grace of the Lord, undertaken to prove to all lovers of eternal truth, by divine testimony from the word of the Lord, which is the true doctrine that avails before God, and lias the promise in the Scriptures; namely, which has en- ergy, power, work, and effect, agreeing with the gospel of Christ and the doctrines of the apostles, in order that all those who see, read or hear our waitings, may thoroughly and understandingly know that the stub- born, fruitless faith of this world is vain and dead, and is eternally banished and accursed of God ; and its fruits vain hy- pocrisy, commands of men, idolatry, and false sei-vice. It regenerates none, it is earth- ly and carnally minded, hating and perse- cuting the truth; for this faith knows neither Christ nor his word, as may be evidently seen through the whole world. God knows of no other faith than that which has power and fruit, regenerates the heart, converts and renews, as the Scriptures say, "The just shall live by faith," Hab. 2: 4.

It is all in vain to boast of faith where the godly, new fruits and works of faith are not.

I therefore, exhort all my god-fearing readers in the Lord, and entreat all, that they would impress those things on their souls, and waite them on the tablets of their hearts, that our holy and christian faith is not a dead or superannuated specu- lation, as the world thinks, nor is it only verbal boasting, as we find it among the great and tolerated sects ; but it is an active gift and power of God, a living, heavenly inspiration in a melted, open heart, or con- science which hrmly believes and lays hold upon, and acknowledges the whole word of God (the threatening law, as well as the con- soling gospel), to be right and true, whereby the heart is pierced and moved through the Holy Ghost with a peculiar, regenerative, re- newing, vivifying power, and it th'st produ- ces the fear of God, for it knows the judg- ment and wrath of the Lord, over all trans- gressions and sins which are committed against his will and word. Theheart dreads, fears, and is astonished before God, and therefore, dares not do, counsel, or permit anything which it acknowledges through the word, in the Spirit, that God, the right- eous judge, hates and forbids in his holy word.

This faith also produces the love of God whereby we love him; for it acknowledges from the testimony of the holy Scriptures, rightly understood, in Spirit, the unsearch- ably great riches of grace, wherewith our merciful, good Father, through Christ, has so graciously endowed us. Therefore it loves in return its loving God, awakened by the manifest beneficence of the aforesaid grace, and is thus voluntarily urged, through the active power of love (resulting from such xmfeigned faith), to obedience of all the com- mands of God, even as Christ says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words," John 14: 23.

Behold, this is the faith with which we have to deal in the following writings. It is the only faith which has the promise in Scripture of salvation and eternal life, through Christ, the only and first begotten Son of God. To him be praise, honor and glory, from eternity to eternity. Amen.

We see that if any one wishes to build a good house, or high and permanent tower, that first a solid foundation is laid, so that it will sustain the heavy superstructure ; that the work, commenced at such great expense.