Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/310

10 and velvet and are decked with gold and silver; live in all manner of unrighteousness, avarice, carousing, hatred, and envy; in short, live according to the lusts of the flesh, and would, for the sake of a penny, falsely swear by the Lord or by their soul, &c.; therefore we will let all reasonable and intelligent persons judge who of us bring forth bad fruits, Gellius and his followers, or we and and our followers. Whoever sincerely seeks and loves the truth, read and ponder.

O, dear Lord! thus thy holy and precious word, the word of thy grace, the word of thy love, by the power and grace of which we will live eternally with thee, is called by this man and by others also, deceit and pernicious seed; and their open lies, obvious error, and unreasonable adulteration of Scripture, of which more will be said hereafter, is called the true doctrine of Christ and the holy word of God. If it be wilful slander and perverseness, then, alas, it is too bad. But if it be ignorant blindness or misconception, then, the gracious Father grant them eyes to see. This is my sincere wish, as the Lord knows.

Again, he writes, "that we sow anew our pernicious seed, not only by hedge-preaching, but also by publications, letters &c." To this I reply with holy David: We believe, therefore we speak, and must suffer tribulation. For since God, the merciful Father, has given us, poor creatures, the Spirit of faith and bestowed upon us the Spirit of his love from on high, through his Son Jesus Christ, and has besprinkled our hearts with the heavenly dew of his love, has opened unto us the seven seals of the book of his knowledge; has disclosed unto us the mystery of his divine word and pleasure; has awakened us from the dead and given us life, a new heart, mind, and disposition, and has nourished us with the bread of life, so that we, through his grace, have found the beautiful pearl, the precious treasure and eternal peace, which we could not possibly acquire through the deceiving doctrine, subtle sophistry, and false consolations of the learned; therefore we would teach, proclaim, and imprint on the hearts of all mankind, to the best of our ability, this manifest grace of his great love toward us, that they may enjoy with us the same joy and renewal of spirit, and know and taste with all saints how sweet, good and kind the Lord is to whom we have turned.

We preach, therefore, as much as is in our power, both day and night, in houses and in the open air, in forests and in wildernesses, hither and thither, in this and in foreign lands, in prisons and in dungeons, in water and in fire, on the scaffold and on the wheel, before lords and princes, orally and by writings at the risk of possessions and blood, life and death; as we have done these many years; and are not ashamed of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Rom. 1: 16; for we are a living fruit, and strongly feel the moving power in our hearts, as may be seen in many instances by the commendable submissiveness and willing sacrifices of our faithful brethren and joint-heirs in Christ Jesus.

We would save all mankind from the jaws of hell; deliver them from the chains of their sins, and by the gracious help of God, win them to Christ by the gospel of his peace; for this is the true nature of the love which is of God.

He then accuses us of preaching at night, and says in another place "That we secretly enter into cities and towns, from fear of the cross; that we sit with closed doors to treat with the simple; not to convert them to true Christianity but to convert them to anabaptism," &c. To which I reply in the first place: It is true that we sometimes have to serve the Lord and preach his word at night (in the dead of night), but I fear that Gellius and the learned are the principal cause of this. For they have so embittered and still embitter all lords, princes, rulers, and magistrates against us by their fiendish, unmerited upbraiding, slandering, and defaming that we cannot, alas, so much move them, with Scripture, supplications, tears, misery, tribulation, loss of possessions, blood, or life, that we can safely go about, verbally to defend the word of God, before these open enemies of the cross of Christ and of wholesome truth; but we must (understand, we teachers) everywhere conceal ourselves in shops and retired places to escape the persecutors and blood-thirsty, if we do not wish to be, at once, torn up and devoured