A Summary of Right and True Christianity

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IX. One belongs to the Christian Religion: or so it is said. One must believe it / according to the nature of love original: "aert der liefde"; here implying a "charity" or "kindness" that assumes the best of others regardless of evidence. / so it is said; without looking to see if it has a foundation or not. But who can call the night day / or evil good; and speak otherwise than what one sees before one's eyes? The Christians of this age are godless / Unrestrained / Profane / Slanderers / Wrathful / unchaste / Deceivers / Liars / Violent / and surrendered to all evil; and yet one would hold them for Godly / Righteous / Peaceful / pure / Believing / Faithful / in a word, for Saints and Christians. This neither can nor should be.

X. Let us not give names so erroneously / but call things as they are and deserve: white / white; and black / black. To what end should we deceive ourselves or others so far / that, seeing things, we behave as if we did not see them / and knowing them, pretend to be ignorant of them / or even deny them?

XI. Religion becomes a habit. One is more a Christian by birth and upbringing / than by knowledge and love. It is almost as if one were born a Christian / rather than becoming one through inclination and choice. Christ is taught to us and we accept Him / often just as the Turks In the 17th century, "Turks" was frequently used as a general term for Muslims. [accept] Maho- The word is cut off by the page break; it refers to Mahomet (Muhammad).