Page:Complete Works of Menno Simons.djvu/722

422 422 A HUMBLE PRAYER TO THE READER. of God, ahideth forever," 2 Jn. 2 : 15—17. Frieud Micron, again be warned; rejient, pray to God for grace, and earnestly reflect upon that which I have written. And be not angry because I have thus sharply re- proved yon. I have done so truthfully, and to the honor of God, and to the benefit of the reader, as I reprove the whole world, without respect of person, that you may rightly learn the brightness of Christ, see and feel your foul sores, be healed by the Lord's medicine, sincerely repent, and be eternally saved. I herewith commend you to the gracious, merciful God and Father, for the enlightenment of j'our blind soul, and the reformation of your sinful life, by his blessed, first-born, and only true Son, Christ Jesus, by the manifestation of his eternal Holy Ghost unto more righteous- ness. "Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," Prov. 27:5, 6. MEN NO SIMON. Octoler Wtn. A HUMBLE PRAYEli TO THE HEADER. It is an old proverb, dear reader, that "Many men have many minds." Every per- son, generally judges according to his own ideas, whereby many an unjust and wicked sentence is rendered, especially where blind partiality has its sway. Since I find that om- opponents, with their false doctrine cannot stand before the power of the holy, divine word, and since they diligently try so to defame and calumniate is, and so garble our words, that we, with truth on our side, are rejected by the world, and the}^ with falsehood on their side, are honored by the world; therefore I pray all impartial readers not to be offended at their saying, "Menno has not truthfully written this or that." In accordance with the doctrine of Christ, I rejoice in being called a liar by the liars. I trust that those who are born of the truth shall not charge me with falsehood; for I have chosen truth for a mother, more than twenty-one years, since. I also desire, in my weakness, to walk in her ways as an obedient, faithful child, without looking back and without offense, so long as I re- main on earth. Of this my hand and mouth, my humble life, together with my tribula- tion, poverty, jirivation, misery, cross and death shall be witness against my enemies, at the judgment of Christ. Take heed. I deem it impossible literally to describe those parts of the discussion which Micron has suppressed or misinterpreted, just as it happened. Nor have the holy apostles and evangelists who described the actions and doctrine of Christ, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, done so. For the one describes the same occurrence this way, and the other that way. It sufficed them to show the foundation of truth; so it does me. I do not desire to wrangle about a word. I only care about showing to the the reader that the crucified Christ Jesus is God's first-born and only begotten, true Son; and to show that Micron has given quite an untrue account of the discussion, and that he has deceived his readers by open falsehood. Secondly, I pray them not to take it amiss that I also referred to John A'Lasco. It was not done tlirough hatred nor dis-l'a- vor; but zeal for the glory of God and of Christ his Son, and for the honor of eter- nal truth, and for the sincerely desired sal- vation of 3'our souls, have tirged me to do so; because Micron says, "That they are of one mind in doctrine," and I do not see that one could believe, teach, write, speak, hold, or feel more abominably concerniug the crucified Christ than he does in his de- fense against me. Besides, I hear that he, also, is become a man guilty of blood, not- withstanding he verbally confessed to me that none should be harmed on account of the faith.