TO THE READER.

Here Menno Menno Simons (c. 1496–1561), the former priest turned Anabaptist leader whose name gave rise to the "Mennonites." is present for you, Reader! This is no fictional tale being told,
although the Fates long ago snatched his sacred body away.
For no forgetfulness holds the words or deeds of so great a man;
virtue lives on after death.
You, Religion, original: Relligio; personified here as a witness to Menno's work. lately pressed, yet hardly crushed by wild tyrants,
shall be my witness; who, with divine favor,
was able to lift you out of such deep darkness when you were submerged?
O Light! By your light the thick gloom has receded
from our minds, and you have shown us the thresholds of heaven.
May your memorable work live on, O venerable one!
So that weariness of your merit never enters our hearts.
O Reader! Take up these writings with gentle hands,
read them through, keep what you have read, and follow
what you have kept; with such a leader, the path to the stars is safer.

On the Reprinted Works

M E N N O S I M O N S .

You who, along the holy path of Virtue,
feel encouraged, full of the soul’s joy,
to walk toward the Halls of Heaven:
Come, learn from Menno the right path
to such a glittering City; A reference to the New Jerusalem described in the Book of Revelation.
with good instruction, no one can go astray.
He provides—so that your weary heart
is not exhausted on the journey—
many soul-healthy dishes original: Disgerechten; a metaphor for spiritual nourishment or doctrines.
of true penance and tender repentance.
He teaches how to faithfully fasten oneself
through faith to Jesus the Cornerstone.
[He shows] that Rome’s lust for the scepter and her cunning
miss the light within Christ’s laws;
that Babylon In Reformation rhetoric, "Babylon" was a common pejorative term for the Roman Catholic Church, implying corruption and impending fall. is surely tilting over,
preparing for herself a hellish snare;
how God, after the final moment
of His patience, shall strike her down.
Let Rome then, with a wolf’s bite,
heated against the sheepfold of Jesus
in her deluded infallibilities,
rely freely on antiquity, law, and her head [the Pope];
the tree is known by its fruit, original: De Boom wordt kenbaer aen sijn Ooft; a reference to Matthew 7:16.
as Menno, full of godly character,
uncovers the masked face
that now, stripped bare before the light of truth,
grins so hideously before everyone's eyes,

That everyone thanks the man’s wise intellect.
Come now, knowledge-thirsty mind! Receive
also fresher drafts from a richer spring.
This is Heaven’s Manna; Refers to the miraculous food provided to the Israelites, here used to describe Menno's teachings. come, sit yourself down,
rest in the foliage of these Holy pages.
Come, buy this book; your earthly money
is thus invested in Heavenly profit.
Oh, bend your sluggish will toward the good!
Come, rise with spirit, soul, and limb
through the Roman smoke and mists.
It seems to me I see through open doors
how Menno, resting softly in Abraham’s bosom, A biblical expression (Luke 16:22) referring to the place of comfort in the afterlife.
still invites you to his lessons,
to lift your mind, if it were possible,
above the very highest sphere
that ever encompassed this heavy globe [the Earth],
to make you acknowledge with power
that no one strives safely for Heaven
except he who sets out along this path,
to run far beyond the mortal eye,
far above the high, whirling stars,
from where he sees the earth and the sun’s fire
wandering as if in a misty vortex.
May his spirit then stir your spirit
and carry you above all mortal thought,
never to descend to the earth again.