Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/710

410 410 AN EPISTLE TO MARTIN" MICRON. readers as also to yourselves, whether I and our beloved hiethren are deserving of such Innocent bloodshed because we lead them by the assistance and power of the Lord, by virtue of the word in the Holy Spirit, from falsehood unto truth,from unrighteous- ness unto righteousness, from darkness unto light and from the old, sinful life of iingodliness unto the penitent, new life of godliness, to which Moses and Christ, to- gether with all the prophets, apostles, sac- rifices, commandments, prohibitions, cere- monies and sacraments unanimously point; or, whether those are deserving of being called deceivers by you, and your like, tickling, and blood-thirsty- preachers and writers, who teach the powerful doctrine as taught from the lips of the Lord ; and wheth- er all such valiant witnesses and saints of Christ who would rather die than willfully transgress the word of the Lord, or confirm aught further than by yea or nay, are de- serving of such treatment, whereby you open the doors wide, to theray>acious rulers to rob such pious souls, and to the blood- thirsty, to murder them. Dear Micron, if you were one of the true messengers and servants of Christ, as alas, you boldly boast, you would reasonably be expected to point the magistracy who have, as a general thing, high and proud minds and are quite carnal in their life, to the true, sincere repentance which avails before God; and to teach them the Spirit, mind, nature, and word of the Lord; for then the unction itself would teach them, without, even the counsel of man, how they should conduct themselves in regard to the delicate matters of bloodshed, the oath and other matters. But now, alas, things are inverted, that there may be something in- vented wherewith to charge us before the blind world, and cry that we are unfit to live. O, Martin, your scorpion's sting and lion's teeth are too sharp and envious; for your venomous, deadly stings and bites are, alas, too numerous ! Say, who is wronged because we can not conscientiously swear? because the Lord has forbidden it, if we testify to the truth when required, and make use of no deceit? The oath is required for no other purpose but that we shall truthfully testify. Can the truth not be told without being sworn? Do all testify to the truth, even, when under oath? To the first question you must an- swer in the affirmative, and to the last in the negative. As the oath is not the truth itself to which one testifies, or as the truth is not estab- lished by the one that takes the oath, why can not the magistracy, then, accept the testimony confirmed by yea and nay, as commanded of God, instead of that con- firmed by that which is forbidden? For they can punish those who are found false in their yea and nay, as well as those who commit perjury by forswearing themselves. I trust that no person is so confused but he knows that the ordinances of God, which are of heaven, should not give way to the ordinances of men, which are of earth, but that the earthly ordinances of men should give way to God's ordinances, if they would be christians and do according to the truth. Therefore it would be well for you to ob- serve, first, that you by your writing con- cerning the oath make ignorant or false teachers of Christ, the Son of God, and of his holy apostle James. For Christ's foun- dation and doctrine is, that Moses had commanded not to forswear thyself; but that under the New Testament one should not swear at all. James says. That we should not swear "neither by heaven, nei- ther by the earth, neither by any other oath," Jas. 5: 12 (mark, he says, neither by any other oath), and you gloze it, by the infatuation of the serpent, that it is not so, but that we may swear to the truth, &c. And thus the eternal Wisdom himself, and his holy witness James, alas, must be yonr disciples and servants. Secondly, that you condemn the innocent, and clear the ungodly, both of which are an abomination in the sight of the Lord, Prov. 17: 15, whereby 3^0x1 strengthen the hands of the evil-doers, and daub the wall with untempered mortar, Jer. 23: 14; Ezek. 13: 10, as was once said. Beloved, reflect, and see if you are not one of those whose mouths speak great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of ad- vantage, Jude 16. Thirdly, that you cause great tribulation to the pious hearts who are born of the