Complete Theological Works

From the Papacy

My beginning to teach in God's Congregation.

...to [teach] and to baptize, to labor in the Lord's Field with my humble gift, to build upon His holy city and Temple, and to return the fallen stones to their proper place, etc. And the great and mighty God has made that Word of true Repentance—that Word of His grace and power, together with the wholesome use of His holy Sacraments through our humble service, teaching, and unlearned writings—along with
Our fruits through the help and power of God.

the diligent service, labor, and help of our faithful fellow brothers, so well-known and manifest in many cities and lands. He has made the form of His congregations so glorious and endowed them with such invincible power that even many high and proud hearts have not only become humble, but the unchaste have become pure, the drunkards sober, the greedy generous, the cruel kind, and the godless godly, etc. Moreover, for the sake of the glorious testimony they hold, they faithfully abandon property and blood, body and life, just as is seen daily even at this hour. These are not the fruits or signs of a false doctrine (with which God does not work), nor could they endure so long under such heavy misery and the Cross In this context, "the Cross" refers to the suffering and persecution endured by believers following Christ’s example. if it were not the power and Word of the Most High.

Luke 21:11 Likely referring to the promise of "a mouth and wisdom" found in Luke 21:15, though the margin cites verse 11.

Indeed, what is more, they are endowed by God in their trials with such grace and wisdom (as Christ promised to all His own) that even all the world’s scholars and highly-renowned masters—including all the blood-guilty, bold tyrants who (O God!) also boast that they are Christians—must stand defeated and shamed before these invincible
Strangling and slaying are the world's highest comfort against God's Word.

knights and pious witnesses of Christ. In all things, these tyrants have no other weapon or recourse, nor do they know any, except to ban, capture, torture, burn, murder, and kill—just as has been the custom and manner of the Old Serpent A biblical reference to Satan. from the beginning, as one can still (alas!) see and sense daily in many places in our Netherlands.

Our doctrine and fruits are not different from the Holy Apostles' doctrine and fruits.

See, these are our calling, doctrine, and the fruits of our service, for which we are so horribly slandered and so hostilely persecuted. Whether all the Prophets, Apostles, and faithful servants of God did not also bear similar fruits through their faithful service, we will gladly let all pious people be the judges.

Psalm 51:7 In many older Bibles, this corresponds to the confession of being "born in sin."

But as far as my poor, weak, and imperfect life is concerned, I freely confess that I am a miserable, poor sinner, conceived in sin and born sinfully from sinful seed. I say with David: that my sin is ever before me. My thoughts, words, and works convict me. I notice and see with the holy Paul that in my flesh dwells nothing good. Nevertheless, I must boast this much in my weakness: if this evil and wild world would listen to our doctrine (which is not ours, but the Lord Christ’s) with patience, and would submissively and rightly follow the same in pure fear of God, it would undoubtedly be
Romans 12. That many might be saved with me is my only pursuit.

a more Christian and better world than it (alas!) is now.

I thank my God, who has granted me that I, with the holy Paul, hate that which is evil and pursue that which is good. And I truly wish that I might redeem the whole world from its godless, evil

nature, even with my own blood, and win it for Christ. To fear, love, seek, and serve my God with my whole heart, to do right and well before Him, and to be an blameless, pious Christian—this is all my desire by His grace.

I hope, through the Lord's mercy and help, that no one on the entire earth can truthfully accuse me of a greedy or luxurious way of life. Money and wealthy days I do not have, nor do I desire them, although some (alas!) say out of perverse hearts that I eat more roasted meat than they eat boiled, and drink more wine than they do beer. My Lord and Master Christ Jesus also had to be the "wine-bibber and glutton" Menno refers to Matthew 11:19, where Jesus was accused of being a "gluttonous man, and a winebibber." of the perverse. I hope, through the Lord’s grace, that I stand innocent and free in this before my God.

He who bought me with the blood of His love, and unworthily called me to this service, knows me and knows that I seek neither money, nor goods, nor pleasure, nor ease on earth, but only my Lord’s praise, my salvation, and the souls of many people. For this cause, I have had to endure exceedingly much anxiety, pressure, sadness, misery, and persecution with my poor, weak wife and small children, now into the eighteenth year, and have had to maintain myself everywhere in peril of my life and in much fear.
The preachers of the world and we are vastly different in life, ease, and honor.

Indeed, while the [state] preachers lie on soft beds and cushions, we must generally hide ourselves secretly in hidden corners. While they parade at all weddings and christening feasts, etc., with pipes, drums, and lutes, we must be on our guard whenever the dogs bark, lest the "catchers" term: "vangers" (bounty hunters or authorities tasked with arresting heretics) be there.

Where they are greeted as Doctors, Lords, and Masters by everyone, we must hear that we are "Anabaptists," "Corner-preachers," term: "Winckel-predikers" (a derogatory term for those preaching in secret, unauthorized locations) "Seducers," and "Heretics," and we must be greeted in the Devil’s name. In short, where they are gloriously rewarded for their service with many great rents and good days, our reward and portion must be fire, sword, and death.

See, my faithful reader, in such distress, poverty, wretchedness, and peril of death, I, a miserable man, have carried out my Lord's service unchanged until this hour; I hope also to carry it out through His grace to His praise as long as I remain in this hut A common biblical metaphor for the physical body.. What I and my faithful fellow-helpers have sought, or could have sought, in this very heavy and perilous service, all well-minded people can clearly measure by our work and fruit.

I would then, for Jesus’ sake, once more humbly pray the faithful reader to accept this, my forced confession of my enlightenment, conversion, and calling, in love and interpret it rightly. I have done it out of great necessity, so that the godly reader might know how it happened, since I am slandered on all sides by the preachers and accused without any truth—as if I had been ordained by a seditious and seductive sect and called to this service. Let him who fears God read and judge.