A THOROUGH ANSWER

TO THE

SLANDER, DEFAMATION, BACKBITING,

UNSEASONED AND BITTER WORDS OF

Zylis and Lemmekes,

CONCERNING

OUR FOUNDATION AND DOCTRINE, FULL OF INSTRUCTION AND ADMONI­

TION, WHICH DOCTRINE IS (IN OUR OPINION) THE UNADULTERA­

TED FOUNDATION AND DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY

APOSTLES, CONCERNING THE

BAN, SEPARATION OR SHUNNING.

BY

MENNO SIMON.

"The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words will never be reformed all the

days of his life," Eccl. 23:16.

"The dispostion of a liar is dishonorable, and his shame is ever with him," Eccl. 20:26.

"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. 8:11.

ELKHART, INDIANA:

PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. FUNK AND BROTHER.

1871. 283IF thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far from thee, from the one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. * * Be­cause he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you." "Then his father and his mother that begat him, shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: And his father and his mother that begat him, shall thrust him through when he prophesieth," Deut. 13:6-11; Zech. 13:3.

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