Complete Theological Works

WE present to you once again the works of Menno Simons, just as they were previously collected and assembled by certain lovers of truth; however, through great diligence and effort, we have added the following small parts: namely, his departure from the Papacy Menno Simons was a Catholic priest before converting to the Anabaptist faith; this autobiographical account is a key historical document of his "exit" from the Roman Church., just as it was published by himself in the year 1554, in order to clear himself of the slander that he supposedly had fellowship with the Münsterite spirits of error and insurgents The "Münsterite spirits of error" refers to the radical Anabaptists who seized the city of Münster in 1534. Their violent rebellion brought great persecution upon all Anabaptists; Menno Simons spent much of his ministry proving that his "Mennonite" followers were peaceful and distinct from these radicals., as you may see in the Preface of this aforementioned little treatise. This aim of vindication he has maintained throughout these fine works, as you can also notice on folio The term "folio" refers to the leaf number in the printed book, rather than the page number. 54, 148, 258, 327, 333, 448, 497, 502, and in the entire treatise which he wrote against the great blasphemer Jan van Leyden Jan van Leyden was the leader of the Münster Rebellion who claimed to be a new King David. Menno Simons wrote a fierce critique of him to protect the reputation of the peaceful Anabaptists.. Second, [we have included] 6 more edifying letters, of which three have never been in print before. Third, an admonition on how a Christian should conduct themselves toward their brothers who are tainted with a fleshly life or false doctrine; we have also included here an account of God’s miraculous protection of Menno, and his holy boldness in rebuking and opposing Papal superstition, as well as an accurate description of his persecution, and the place where, having last preached, he died and was buried. All of which you can find in more detail in the Register of Supplements attached hereafter. We have also expanded and improved the two previous indexes, and furthermore enriched them with two new indexes: one of Scripture passages, and the other of Authors. We have also presented his portrait to you anew, as we have been able to have it determined through the tradition of previous portraits. Furthermore, kind reader, we have nothing more to say except that we intended to remedy the scarcity of copies of the previous printing with this one, and through the neatness of spelling and otherwise, as much as was in our power, we have tried to improve it. Farewell, and judge without bias.