Menno Simons | Life and Times | 2

Category:

2. Menno Simons' Call to the Ministry and Ordination

Menno Simons renounced the national church on January 30, 1536. He seems to have left Witmarsum about the same time.

At the place where he was so well known and where his conversion caused not a little stir, he felt doubtless the least secure.

In the autumn of the same year two men, Herman and Gerrit Janz, whose dwelling place is not known, were arrested in Friesland on the charge that they had:

"given lodging to the former priest, Menno Simons, until recently of Witmarsum, who has now been received into the covenant of the Anabaptists."

The regent of the province of Friesland expressed himself on Oct. 24, 1536, to the effect that the sentence of death should be passed on these two men, although obviously they had not been baptized.

They were set at liberty, however, probably for the reason that Menno was not yet baptized when they permitted him to enter their house.

Toward the end of the same year we find Menno in the province of Groningen, just east of Friesland. Here he was ordained a minister of the Gospel by Obbe Philips.

Menno himself gives a detailed account of his call to the ministry of the Word of God:

His narration was written as a reply to various accusations by Gellius Faber who asserted that he had never been properly called and was seeking selfish ends in the ministry;

hence Menno enlarges particularly on points showing the fallacy of these charges. He says:

"About a year after this, [namely after his renunciation of the state church] while I in quietness exercised myself in the Word of God by reading and writing,

it came to pass that seven or eight persons came to me, who were of one heart and one soul with me, in their faith and life, as far as man can judge unblameable, separated from the world according to the testimony of the Scriptures and willing to bear the cross;

who had a sincere aversion not only to the Münsterites but to all other worldly sects, false teachings and abominations.

In the name of the God-fearing ones who were of one mind and spirit both with them and with myself, they entreated me kindly and earnestly to take to heart the very sad condition of the poor, oppressed souls and use to advantage the talent which I had unmeritedly received from the Lord; for the hunger was great and the faithful stewards very few.

"When I heard this, my heart was greatly troubled. Apprehension and fear was on every side:

For on the one hand I saw my limited talents, my great lack of knowledge, the weakness of my nature, the timidity of my flesh, the very great wickedness, wantonness, perversity and tyranny of the world,

the mighty great sects [the persecuting state churches], the subtlety of many men and the indescribably heavy cross which, if I began to preach, would be the more felt;

and on the other hand I recognized the pitifully great hunger, want and need of the God-fearing, pious souls, for I saw plainly that they erred as innocent sheep which have no shepherd."

The class which Menno Simons rightly describes as sheep without shepherds were those who, through Lutheran, Zwinglian, Melchiorite, and Anabaptist influences had been religiously awakened and brought to recognize to a greater or less degree the errors of Romanism.

The Lutheran and Zwinglian preachers, as a rule, had left the land after the beginning of bloody persecution, and those who remained followed the policy of avoiding everything that would bring them into difficulty with the authorities.

This was also the position of the Melchiorites. Many pious people were waiting for spiritual leadership.

Many who had become estranged from the national church were, like the "Oldcloisterites," to some extent influenced by the Münsterites, but never thought of accepting Münsterite doctrine as a whole.

Menno saw the field ripe unto harvest:

He felt that those who would be shepherds of the erring sheep must be men who were sure of their message, men who were not only ready to give their life for the truth, but to live as fugitives and outcasts under the greatest hardships, privations and dangers.

"After much entreaty," says Menno Simons further, "I finally surrendered myself to the Lord and His church on this condition that they and myself should for a time continue in earnest prayer,

if it were His good and holy will that I should or could thus serve Him to His glory, that He in fatherly love grant unto me a heart and mind

which would testify to me, with Paul: 'Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel;' or if it were not His will, that He might lead in a way that it should be left undone;

for Christ says:

'If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matt. 18:19, 20).

"When the persons before mentioned did not desist from their entreaties, and my own conscience made me uneasy in view of the great hunger and need already spoken of,

I consecrated myself, soul and body to the Lord, and committed myself to His gracious leading, and I began in due time [i. e., after having been ordained to the ministry of the Word]

according to His holy Word to teach and to baptize, to labour with my limited talents in the harvest field of the Lord, to assist in building up His holy city and temple and to repair the dilapidated walls."

The main sources of information concerning the principles of the Obbenites are, besides Obbe Philips' Confessions, the early writings of Menno Simons.

There is good evidence to show that almost from the time of his ordination Menno Simons' influence among the Obbenites was second to that of no other leader.

Through his able presentation and defence of the principles for which they stood, Menno became the spokesman of the denomination.

He testifies that at the time when he united with them they were unblameable in doctrine and life:

Obviously this testimony meant that they were willing to accept any truth which might come to them from the Word:

The Obbenites were fully decided to be guided by God's word alone and to accept and follow its teachings. "Historical development" they recognized only in so far as it is founded on Scripture. According to their own testimony they welcomed new truth from the Scriptures.

It is clear from his writings that Menno Simons devoted himself to diligent study, fully recognizing the probability of obtaining new truth from the Word. His writings, even at this early period show a surprisingly thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures.

Soon after his call to the ministry Menno wrote the Meditation on the Twenty-fifth Psalm in which he gives us a glimpse of his inner life, motives and endeavours.

That this book was written not long after his renunciation of the national church is evident from the statement found in it that he served the enemy of the Lord "until this present time."

Nevertheless it is clear from other statements that his ordination preceded the writing of this book. Hence the date of the book is probably toward the end of 1536 or early in the year following.

In this book Menno declares his desire and anxiousness to accept all truth which may come to him and his brethren from the Scriptures:

"From our whole heart we seek for and strive after the purity of the primitive church."

"It is not necessary to use the sword against me, for if I have not the truth of Jesus Christ, I shall gladly be taught it. - I say again, with the sword of the divine Word I desire to prevail or be prevailed over. Herewith I offer anywhere to confer, to teach, to discuss, as may be desired."

"If I had not the Word of Jesus Christ, I desired from my whole heart to be taught, for I seek it with great fear and trembling. In this I cannot be deceived. I have believed and accepted Thy holy word through Thy holy Spirit, as the sure word of Thy truth, and it will not deceive me."

In the first edition of his Foundation of the Christian Doctrine Menno says:

"We desire only so much mercy that we may be permitted to confer and discuss publicly with any theologians, as may be your pleasure. For, if they have the truth of God, and not we, we shall gladly be taught it."

"Let us publicly discuss and confer seeking nothing but only that the divine word and true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ may be elucidated and that we may live according to it.

O how much innocent blood could be spared if you would consent to this and in how short a time would the truth be made known to many."

"Therefore lay our doctrine against your doctrine, our life against your life, our way against your way, our cross against your cross:

If ye then find that your doctrine, life, way and cross conform to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, instruct us with the Word of the Lord, which is the only authority for the faith; we should so willingly be taught.

But now the bloody, evil schoolmaster alone who certainly cannot teach faith, namely your terrible sword, must prevail in these matters."

"I desire," he says further in the same book, "that men whoever they may be, may through my life and service be brought to a saving knowledge of the truth.

For this cause have I forsaken all carnal ease and glory and have submitted myself to the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, seeking nothing that is of this world.

- For I desire from my heart and seek with all diligence to live according to the Gospel and will of Him who died and arose for me."

It is interesting to notice that Menno Simons in his first writings denounces the opinion held by the Melchiorites, Caspar Schwenckfeld and others:

That before a church should be organized and the ordinances of Christ observed a great change in political and ecclesiastical conditions must take place.

He combats the opinion of a stillstand and points out that the time of grace is now and a more convenient season to serve the Lord must not be waited for.

He says in the Foundation:

"O dear brethren, do not comfort yourselves with the idle consolation and the groundless hope that the word of Jesus Christ shall yet be taught and lived without cross-bearing.

Had all the children of God waited for such a time, the Gospel of the kingdom would not have been proclaimed from the beginning until now, O no, brethren, no; the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God is to be sealed with blood and proved by persecution.

The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). Not only has He suffered in His members but by the cross He obtained the glory which He had laid down.

If now the Head has in the flesh born such pain, persecution and affliction, how then shall the members expect to have ease and quietness in the flesh?

If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matt. 10:25).

For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, says Paul, shall suffer persecution. Ye shall be hated, says Christ, by all men for my name's sake.

"My dear brethren, take such evil thoughts out of your carnal hearts and do not give ear to the thoughts of another time that ye may not be deceived by this false hope.

I have indeed known many who entertained this hope, but they have not lived to see the realization of it:  - If ye have any knowledge of Christ, any love for His holy word, do not console yourselves longer with such a false hope.

If it should be that the merciful God will give some quietness and peace and liberty, we shall receive it with thanksgiving from His gracious hand; if not, His name shall nevertheless be praised in eternity.

We know that the time is at hand, as has been set forth above; we have now the acceptable time of all grace, the day of salvation."

One of the cardinal points on which Menno differed from both Catholicism and Lutheranism is also emphasized in one of his first books. He says:

"There is no medium against sin besides the precious blood of Jesus Christ; neither works nor merits, neither baptism or supper (although I know well that the true Christians use these signs in obedience to the divine word) otherwise that which we obtain through the merits of Christ is ascribed and given to elements and creatures.

The Christian ordinances are signs of obedience through which our faith is exercised." - "We find that the new birth is brought about through God's word (Rom. 10:14, I Cor. 4:15; Jas. 1:18; I Pet 1:23)"

Menno Simons, in the account of his conversion and call to the ministry of the Word of God does not dwell on his ordination nor make mention of the one who ordained him.

The reason for this silence is obvious:

At the time when Menno wrote his reply to Gellius Faber in which this account is contained Obbe Philips had forsaken the Church, and this fact was set forth in Gellius Faber's book.

Hence Menno preferred not to mention the name of Obbe Philips when speaking of his call to the ministry. It was a bitter experience for him that Obbe turned back and "became a Demas" (II Tim. 4:10) as he speaks of him."