Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/423



''Menno SimonSimons [sic] wishes to all fellow-believers, brethren, and sisters in Christ Jesus, the grace and peace of God our heavenly Father, through Christ Jesus his beloved Son, our Lord, who loved us and has cleansed us of our sins in His blood. To him he the honor, praise, kingdom, power, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.''

brethren, since I find that, for some time, much strife has been occasioned in regard to the ban, and this so violently and indiscreetly, therefore, I fear brotherly love, Christian peace, and unity, with some, are more diminished than augmented, as was the case in olden times; and it appears that some, through ambition and self-conceit, are desirous of such corrupting disputation, that they entertain the opinion, in this matter that not the banned ones themselves should be shunned, but only their false doctrine and offensive life, not observing that they have already become entangled in false doctrine; for thereby they nullify the plain ordinance of Christ, "Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican," and also the plain words of the holy apostles, Matt. 18: 17; Rom. 16: 16; 2 Thess. 3: 14; Tit. 3: 10.

Others think that the ban should not be practiced, further than that which pertains to the evangelical usages, as the breaking of bread and the kiss of peace; and garble the plain sayings of the Scriptures, to make their opinions good, namely: Do not keep company with such; with such not eat; "Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican," and other like sayings, 1 Cor. 5: 10; Matt. 18: 17.

Again, there are some who acknowledge the ordinance of Christ, and the doctrine of the holy apostles, in regard to excommunication, as right and just, yet they do not observe it; some, I presume, from being lukewarm, some from motives of carnal love and favor of the apostates, and others on account of being neighbors, or relatives, or perhaps on account of former attachments and favors.

And, since the express ordinance of Christ and his holy apostles, in regard to excommunication, is lamentably weakened, obscured, and garbled, by the first mentioned, and visibly transgressed and dishonored by the latter, and thus the door is opened wide to all corruption, and since they thus act against all love; First, against the love of God and Christ, for they thereby despise and disobey his holy word, will and ordinance; Secondly, against brotherly love: For by such perverseness and disesteem, they offend and afflict their brethren; Thirdly, against the love of their own souls: For, thereby, they willfully expose themselves to the danger of being corrupted; Fourthly, against the love of those deserving the ban: For they despise the advice of the Holy Spirit, and do not seek to shame them unto repentance; Fifthly, also against common love: For, by communing with the apostates, they make the worldlings suspicious