Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/183

Rh nance of God. Their kingdom is the king- ' dom of grace, here in liope, and after this in eternal life, Eph. 6: 17; Matt. 19: 5; 25: 1. Their citizenship is in heaven; and they use the creatures below, such as eating, drinking, clothing and dwelling with thanks- giving, and that to the necessary wants of their own lives, and to the free service of ; their neighbor, according to the word of the ' Lord, Isa. 58: 7. Their doctrine is the un- adulterated word of God, testiiled through i Moses and the prophets, through Christ and the apostles, upon which they build their faith, and save their souls ; and every thing that is contrary thereto, they consider ac- cursed. They use and administer their bap- tism on the confession of their faith, accord- ing to the command of the Lord, and the doctrines and usages of the apostles, Mark 16 : 16.

The Lord's Supper they celebrate in re- membrance of the favors and death of their i Lord, and in reminding one another of true and brotherly love.

The ban extends to all the proud scorn- : ers, great and small, rich and poor, without any respect to person, who heard and obeyed the word for a season, but have fallen off again, and in the house of the Lord, teach or live offensively, till they again sincerely repent.

They sigh and lament daily over their poor, displeasing, evil flesh, over the mani- fold errors and faults of their weak lives. They war inwardly and outwardly without ceasing. They seek and call the Most High ; light and struggle against the devil, world and flesh during their lives, press on to- 1 wards the prize of the high calling that they may obtain it. And they prove by their actions that they believe tlie word of the Lord; that they know and have Christ in power; that they are born of God and have him as their Father.

Behold, worthy reader, as I said before, so I say again. These are the christians who have the promise, and are assured by the Spirit of God, to whom are given and bestowed Christ Jesus, with all his merits, righteousness, intercessions, word, cross, suffering, flesh, blood, deatii, resurrection, kingdom, and all his possessions, and this all without merit; given out of pure grace from God. But what kind of doctrine, faith, life, regeneration, baptism, supper, ban and divine service, sectarian churches have, of whatever name; and what kind of reward is promised them in the Scriptures, I wiU let the reasonable, meditate upon, with the aid of the Spirit and word of the Lord. Here I would call on all the high and mighty lords, princes and rulers, all under the canopy of heaven, also on all the popes, cardinals, bishops, the wise and learned, who from the beginning perverted and dark- ened the Scriptures, to show us one single word in the whole Bible, I say in the Bible (for we do not regard human fables and lies), that an unbelieving, refractory, carnal man, without true repentance and regenera- tion, ever teas or ever toill be saved, simply because he boasts of faith and the death of Christ, or heard the masses and service of the priests, as the whole world does; if so, they shall have gained the point. But this never has been from the beginning, and never will be to the end of time; if such vile men cordd be saved without repentance and regeneration, by hearing masses, and con- fessing, as they, poor children, without the warrant of the Scripture, hope, then we might of a truth say, that the aforemen- tioned means were stronger (though they are idolatrous), than the word of the Lord; for the word knows no mass, but says, "Ex- cept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," Luke 13: 3. Then would also Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, have been false witnesses, and have miserably deceived us poor sheep, because they direct- ed us upon such a narrow path.

Ah no! friends, no! Beware, I tell you, God will not deceive you. For he says through the prophet Malachi 3: 6, "I am the Lord, I change not." All that he has testified to us in his holy word through his prophets, through Christ and his apostles, is his eternal, immutable will; on this we may all rely if we wish not to deceive our souls. In short, all is in vain to counsel and advise. True repentance and the birth from above, must take place; we must be- lieve Christ and his word, and we must abide by his Spirit, ordinance and example willingly, or eternal misery must be otir portion. This is incontrovertible.