On the reprinting of

ALL THE WORKS

OF

MENNO SIMONS.

Who does not see, like a light, the fierce zeal burning,

To bring out of the darkness and Satan’s firm bonds,

To such a useful work was MENNO entirely inclined,
He brought to this task a zealous spirit;
He feared no sorrow, and walked crucified paths, The "crucified path" refers to the via crucis, a life of suffering and self-denial modeled after Christ.
Full of suffering, vigil, struggle, need, and adversity.
No fires of persecution, nor the pyre of the Martyrs,
Can terrify his purpose for his Neighbor’s salvation and light.
He knows the darkness, and through it he can declare
How the light changes the vision in the place of darkness.
He who for two full years had been called a Teacher, A reference to Menno’s early years as a Catholic priest before his conversion to the Anabaptist faith.
But had never learned the Disciple’s lesson in Christ’s school:
He had not known God’s Word until that time,
Neither read nor contemplated it, much less converted others;
But coming to the sight and knowledge of the perdition
Of many thousands of souls, who are strangers to God’s Word,
To true Faith in God, and also to attaining joy
In God’s sanctified house, where there is joy forevermore.
His heart’s grief and pain is that virtue is so trampled
By false Teaching and a godless foundation;
That eternal soul-destruction, he bravely fought against it,
Not with weapons of the flesh, but powerful through God’s mouth.
Here he struggles with very well-grounded words and Reason,
To thereby bring his neighbor’s soul out of evil:
This light shines unexpectedly, it births many members for Christ’s Church:
It brings some to attention, and others to more hatred.
He opens God’s Word, which was closed to many for a very long time,
He cries out the truth with a strong voice and power.
He nurtures a people full of love who push vice away from them,
And love holy customs, entirely wrought out through virtue;
Yet after the changing of times and of men,
So was MENNO placed in a forgotten state:
His writings do not show what everyone would wish—
To live without struggle, to love earthly gain.
He also holds Christ’s Church on firm reasons and grounds,
And digs very deep into the heart to lay a solid foundation
According to the Word from God’s infallible mouths,
Of love, hope, and faith, until the end of man’s life;
But through the world’s luxury, all that can serve
To the flesh’s destruction and death becomes entirely worthless;
Therefore MENNO’S writings were sought much less on earth;
They are shoved into a corner, and men take a much wider path. A reference to Matthew 7:13, contrasting the "narrow gate" of the faithful with the "broad way" of the worldly.
Yet in this confused century, MENNO seems to rise, original: rijfen, likely a variation of rijzen (to rise).
As if newly unearthed from the Grave or the ashes,
And comes again to the Press, to point out to us once more
Our ancestors’ way, by which they were nourished,
Strengthened, and made brave to tread the narrow way,
Separated from the spaciousness and the world’s doings,
Through which they, in faith, in love, and in morals,
Convince us to hasten toward Heaven.
Then, God’s Church was deprived of the world’s favor,
They also hated the world’s shining goods in return,
But alas, the world has now gained much lodging!
Also among the Christian people, with advocacy and prosperity,
Therefore it is very useful that MENNO’S grounded writings were sought,
To be brought out from the corner like a grain-sieve, original: koresijf. A metaphor for sifting truth from falsehood or the "chaff" of worldly life.