Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/176

 Beloved reader, here you liave my foundation AND DOCTRINE OF FaITH, with its properties, power, operation and fruits. I there- fore entreat you all, if you appreciate Christ and your own salvation, suppress your per- verted minds, be not enraged and embittered, should you find any thing contrary to the usages of oiu- forefathers, standing usages, or philosophic wi-itings and the cry of the learned; but fii'st prove it rightly, and scru- tinize it well with Christ and the word, spirit, life and example, of his holy apostles, wheth- er it is not the true content, meaning, doctrine and sense of the whole Scriptures ; if so, you will have to give up the unscriptiu'al usage, and the deceptive cry of the learned, and hold only to the word of the Lord, if you would be saved. Let, therefore, your heart be impartial, and your judgment sincere after truth; for the Almighty God and Lord, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, will not and cannot yield to any of the learned, or to long-standing usages or customs; for he is Lord, and we are his servants. We must follow 7«'m, and not he follow us. Reader, lay it to heart.

Likewise, if you find that we preach our doctrine rightly, respect not the dignity of any man, fear no man's tyranny, nor yield to the learned, but that we in true, sincere love, faithfully teach, admonish and reprove all who do amiss, without respect of persons, with the Holy Spirit, word, example and or- dinance of the Lord, in all things not right; then, I entreat you again, that you would be pleased not to attribute this to spiritual pride, but to well-meant frankness and chi'is- tian simplicity. I desire that you would all walk, rightly, so that you may be saved, on account of which I have to endure not a little tribulation. I refuse not to become as a fool before all the world, so that I may make many wise in Christ, and with the Holy Spii'it and powerful word of the Lord, lead them to wisdom and to the saints; and I well know that Christ and his apostles, and the prophets, were guilty of the same fool- ishness, and were of the same mind with me in this matter.

If I reprove, they reprove more ; If I threat- en with the wrath of the Lord, they do so much more. Were they on that account car- nal and proud ? Far from it. Yes, my read- er, had not the dark smoke of men-pleasing- preachers, the acciu'sed, false doctrine of the dreadful, abominable locusts out of the abyss, risen up; but had sincere reproving, the true, pure doctrine, the scriptural usage of the holy sacraments, and the separating of the impenitent, without respect to person, continued in the world, never would the pleasing sun have lost his splendor, nor would the church have lapsed into such a grieved and deadly condition; therefore, I esteem it with Paul, to be tmimportant, to be judged of men in this matter. For I know that I mean it well, do right and reprove only with the truth, so that they may be converted.

May the true heavenly Light, Jesus Christ, be eternally blessed, and enlighten all dark, benighted hearts with the clear and lucid ray of his Holy Ghost and eternal truth, that they may view, in unfeigned, pure faith, the eternal brightness of Christ, to the praise and honor of his great name, and to the salvation of many souls. Amen.