Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/32

20 them were born of Levi, yet because they revolted against Moses and Aaron, and songlit to enter into the sacerdotal office, without being called, they and all their company, were swallowed up by the earth alive, Num. 16: 32. Consider what will ul- timately happen to oui' Korites, whom God never acknowledged, much less were sent by him, and whose office, calling and service are not from God and his word, but as the scriptures teach, from the bottomless pit, the dragon and the beast. Rev. 9:1; 13: 4; 20: 1 — 3, who mislead so many poor, miser- able souls with their seducing doctrines, Babylonian sorceries and hypocritical lives, and not only despise, b^lt also rail, perse- cute, ci-ucify and kill Christ, the righteous Moses and Aaron. If Moses, the faithful servant of God, could not enter the promised land because he once doubted the word of the Lord, how much less shaU this unbe- lieving, perverted and obdui'ate generation enter the eternal land of promise and glory, that not only disbelieve and despise the word of the Lord, the acceptable gospel of Jesus Christ, but also bitterly hate and per- secute it, trample the blood of Christ under foot, stop their ears against the truth, and refuse to be taught by any means, either with the truth, the unblamable lives of the saints, or the innocent blood of the witnesses of Jesus, which has l^een shed, and in many countries flowed like water.

O, ye miserable men, who are so entirely depraved and miserable before God, take heed to the word of the Lord, cleanse your bloody hands, and your impure and unbe- lieving hearts, and no longer despise the grace of God with youi- vain boastings, and say not Abraham is your father, Jn. 8: 39; that you are the children of God; that Christ died for 3^ou, or that you will also confide in his mercy. " Trust ye not in lying words," says Jeremiah, the prophet; say not, here is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, for it avails nothing, that Christ died, and that we are called by his name, if we do not possess a sincere, regenerating, vigorous faith in Jesus Chi-ist, piu'e, unfeigned love, willing obedi- ence, and a pious and irreproachable life. God's mercy, we read, is to his saints, and he hatli care for his elect, but the hope of the wicked is vain. Wis. 3:9; 5: 15. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the rigliteous, and his ears are open unto their cry," Ps. 34: 15. "Ye are my friends," says Christ, "if ye do whatsoever I command you," John 15: 14. Therefore, we pray and exhort you again to reform; he is still the same unchangeable God, Mai. 3: 6. He is a strict, jealous and rigid pimisher of all wickedness; yea, a righteous judge of all ungodliness and of every evil work. He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the cliildren xuito the third and foiu'th generations of them that hate him, Ex. 20: 5. On the other hand, he is compassionate, Idud, and merciful unto all that do righteously, and fear his name, to many thousands who love him and keep his commandments.

O reader, reader, beloved reader, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! The time is fullilled, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salva- tion. The kingdom of heaven is at hand; would you inherit and enter into it, you must repent, not only in appearance, as the hypocrites do, but as sincere penitents, with all your hearts, and all your powers, and bring forth good fruit. If not, you must be cut off and cast into the lii'e of his fiei-ce wrath, Jolm 15: 6; Luke 3: 9. Ivio nisi resfpuerite, omnes similiter, 'peritites, i. e., "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," Luke 13: 3.

In the third place, we teach with Christ and say, "Believe the gospel," Mark. 1 : 15. That gospel is the glad tidings and promul- gation of the favor and grace of God toward us, and the forgiveness of oirr sins through Clirist Jesus. The believer, by faith, re- ceives this gospel through the Holy Gliost, ^ and does not look upon his former right- eousness or unrighteousness, but hopes against hope, Rom. 4: 18, and with the