Menno Simons: His Life, Labors, and Teachings

By John Horsch

Book Overview

Please see the description for this title below. But first... Our promise: All of our works are complete and unabridged. As with all our titles, we have endeavoured to bring you modern editions of classic works. This work is not a scan, but is a completely digitized and updated version of the original. Unlike, many other publishers of classic works, our publications are easy to read. You won't find illegible, faded, poor quality photocopies here. Neither will you find poorly done OCR versions of those faded scans either with illegible "words" that contain all kinds of strange characters like ?, %, &, etc. Our publications have all been looked over and corrected by the human eye. We can't promise perfection, but we're sure gonna try! Our goal is to bring you high quality Christian publications at rock bottom prices. Description: Alive to the singular neglect with which Menno Simons has been treated by biographers and translators, the writer has undertaken to tell the story of the reform-er's life, and to elucidate the principles which he maintained, in a style educative and attractive to the young people of America. His purpose does not seem to have been to minister in any way to scholars, but rather to give a popular presentation that may be of service to the more thoughtful young people. The author is to be commended for the dispassion with which he sets forth events and issues which have been storm centers of controversy. As much may be said for the dignified manner in which he represses all hero-worship. In the space of two brief pages he interprets the significance of Simons. He was not the founder of a church, but the most noteworthy religious leader of the Netherlands in the Reformation period. His writings are an indispensable source of information concerning the principles, aims, and life of one of the strongest religious parties of Reformation times. While in the affairs of the world he was by no means so prominent as the Reformers who represented the state-church Reformation, he was as an advocate of pure evangelical principles more than the equal of these men. The principle that the Scriptures are the only foundation for the doctrine and practices of the church he upheld more steadfastly than the leading Reformers. He understood the great missionary commission of the Lord to be valid for all time. He insisted on strict church discipline. In contrast to Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, he advocated the voluntary principle, rejecting the thought of a national church. The foregoing represents the author's interpretation of Menno's significance. Chapters that deviate somewhat from the course of biography are "The Anabaptists" (iii), "Menno Simons' Relation to the State Church Reformation" (ix), "Menno's Attitude to Rationalism" (x), "Menno on Church Discipline" (xi), "Simons' Attitude toward the Munsterites" (xiii), and "The Battenburgers and the Davidites" (xiv). About one-third of the volume is devoted to excerpts from Menno's teachings. The selection has been made so wisely that the student possesses in this brief compass a representative body of Menno's principles. One section catalogues Menno's writings. An exhaustive bibliography is attached. The documentation is thorough. One could wish that such a fine-spirited, well-balanced, and informing biography had found expression in style a little more polished and animated. P. G. M. T

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521016887
• ISBN13: 9781521016886
• Release Date: April 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.3" x 8.5"