If evil were but halted in unbridled passions,
By heeding God's voice and the study of reading:
Then freely spend your time in reading MENNO’S writing,
To know the good from the evil, and to know the steadfast faith.
You will find a direct style The original Dutch snelle stijl implies a plain, earnest, and unadorned manner of speaking, which was valued by the Anabaptists over flowery rhetoric. which leads you to the fear of God,
Bound together from God’s word like a holy, fruitful sheaf:
But if you seek a fastidious choice of neatly decorated words,
Leave off your search, for you will not find them here now.
The author also held such things in low esteem, as they did not belong
To the improvement of your time, nor to the soul’s blessed end:
In short, use this Book, written entirely by MENNO,
So that through it you may be driven with power toward God,
That He may turn His blessing toward you at the Last Judgment.

On the Godly

MENNO SIMONS,

And the reappearance of his (virtue-leading) Writings.

See here a brave hero of the Christian non-resistant people: The term "non-resistant" (weerloos) refers to the central Anabaptist tenet of pacifism and refusal to take up arms.
A David in the battle, a courageous heavenly Interpreter:
Intellectual pride, luxury, and envy sought to darken his brilliance;
In spite of these, he shall shine again through this printing.
God grant that love, peace, and harmony may yet increase;
Should that golden age once bloom, MENNO shall be loved and honored.

On all the

THEOLOGICAL WORKS

OF

MENNO SIMONS.

Shall I place MENNO SIMONS’ praise here alongside his works?
I shall state his praise thus:
He weeded Christ’s garden
Of false faith and doctrine: a true pattern for the Church.
His name lives on the earth,
His spirit on high (in honor).

On the conversion of

MENNO SIMONS,

And his departure from the Papacy.

God's Church was for centuries too miserably trampled,
When the conceited spiritual Head was worshipped by everyone
And was regarded as a heavenly prince upon the earth;
Whereupon the hills of the race of old Quirinus Quirinus was an ancient Roman deity; "the race of Quirinus" is a poetic classical reference to the Roman people or the Roman Papacy.
Boast as if they held the highest Interpreter and Vicar,
And cry out that the Holy See preserves the Church from error;
Therefore, they desire that his word be as a divine oracle for the people:
But Rome! Though you blind the innocent with a cloud
Of superstition, the time is now born
In which you have lost your esteem among many.