Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/309

Rh to the lusts of his flesh, singing, and crying, "The cord is loosed and we are free,"  and turn the grace of God into unrighteousness, as Jude says, 1: 4; because they live in the old state of sinfulness, without any fear of God, as if they never in their lives heard one syllable of the word of the Lord, and as if God would not punish ungodliness and unrighteousness; therefore the just Lord who righteously judges all things, again takes from them the knowledge which they may have had, because of their ingratitude (for they only teach and proclaim the gospel of his grace according to the lusts of the flesh) and give it to those who will bring forth fruit, as Christ spoke to the Pharisee, Matt. 21: 43.

Again, to the unreasonable and offensive word "secretly enter," I reply: Moses and Christ, the apostles and prophets, as also, natural reason unanimously teach us that we should receive, comfort, help, assist and serve the miserable, afflicted and needy stranger; and it is a fact well known to Gellius that these poor children whom he afflicts, have fled in unfeigned fear of their God to a foreign country for protection, with their weak women and little children, to escape the bloody tyrannical sword; not on account of crime or roguery, but on account of the testimony of God and their consciences; even as the pursued doves flee from the bird of prey; and that we, through the grace of God place ourselves under the protection of this or that merciful and kind-hearted ruler; and although they, for the sake of divine truth, are bereft of their native country, possessions, and earthly comforts, yet they can, through God's grace, reasonably support themselves, as is promised in Scripture. If he were, in fact, what he boasts to be, namely, a preacher of the holy word, then his inmost soul would be moved to compassion towards these afflicted orphans and innocent hearts; he would be kind to them and assist them as much as is in his power; he would intercede for them before the magistracy, since he may observe in them such a moving spirit and ardent zeal, that they stake their possessions and blood to the praise of their God, as may be openly witnessed. But, now, this misery and sore affliction namely, the flight from the gaping lion's mouth and from fire and sword, into more merciful countries, must be called by him "secretly entering." O, Lord!

What kind of a preacher and Christian he is; how he acts according to love; and how he walks according to the word of the Lord in this respect, all reasonable persons who are not more than half blind may judge from these, his writings together with his daily cries of the same kind. To the slanderous sentence "sowing pernicious seed," I reply: Every seed bringeth forth fruit after its own kind. Gen. 1: 11.

My dear reader take heed to what I write. God's word, on every hand, requires a pure heart, a new mind and a penitent, Christian life, dead unto sin. John the Baptist says, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," Jesus says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt. 3: 8; 4: 17. Again, I am come to call sinners to repentance. Matt. 9: 13, and many other Scriptures of the kind might be adduced.

Inasmuch, then, that the Scriptures, on every hand, require of us true repentance, and that also the sacramental signs, as baptism and Holy Supper signify, represent and teach to all true christian believers a penitent, unblamable life; and since, according to the tenor of the Scriptures, no one can be a true Christian without true repentance and that every kind of seed brings forth fruit after its own kind, as already said, namely, lies, children of lies, and truth, children of truth; and since it is a fact well known to many reasonable persons that God has, through us and our fellow-servants, in his great power and infinite grace, turned unto the true and living God, many a proud, avaricious, unchaste, cruel, lying, carnal and idolatrous heart and has so humbled, moved, renewed and changed them that they would rather die than act hypocritically, or willingly speak or countenance any falsehood against the well being of their neighbors, as is testified in our Netherlands by the precious blood of so many pious saints. And since the fruits of Gellius’ seed, that is, his followers, remain so entirely impenitent in their lives and unchanged in their hearts that they live in pomp and splendor, go attired in silk