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Simons THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
apostolic usage, as well as on the doctrine of regeneration, of which baptism should be the seal. The true mark of the Christian was regeneration, not baptism, while the Lord's Supper was regarded not as a sacrament but as a memorial service. The Fondamentboek was also designed to warn his followers against errors which might be construed as morally reprehensible, such as the doctrine of David Joris that external acts were indifferent, provided the intention was good.
The Fondamentboek was supplemented by the Lief'ehjcke vermaninge . . . hoe dat een Christen, sal geschickt zijn en van het schouwen ofte
4. Theo- afsnijden der valscher broederen en suslogical teren (1541); Kindertucht (Antwerp,
Controver- 1543); Verclaringhedesdoopsels(1544); sies. Oorsaecke waerom dat ik Menno Simons niet of en laaxe to leeren (1544); and a book, now lost, directed against David Joris (1545), which was answered by Joris' son-in-law, Nikolaas Blesdijk, in Verantwoording, in 1546. During these years Menno resided for a time in North Holland, and in 1547 he was one of the three elders who took part in the conference with Blesdijk in Lubeck, where the views of Joris were utterly refuted. Meanwhile Menno became involved in the one great theolog ical controversy of his life, the doctrine of the In carnation. Several years after his conversion he became acquainted with the teaching of Melchior Hoffmann that the body of Christ was born in, not of, the Virgin Mary, so that the Son of God trans formed himself into the nature of man, rather than took it upon him, also holding that this human being was formed by God without any cooperation of the mother. Although Menno laid little stress upon the acceptance of this doctrine, he was chal lenged to a disputation in 1543 by the East Frisian superintendent Johannes a Lasco (q.v.). They met in the following January, and Menno promised to send his opponent the reasons for his belief, writing them in Latin, but publishing them in Dutch under the title: Een corte ende clare beliydinghe . . . van der menschwordinge enzv. Lasco replied in his Defensio incarnationis Christi (1545), and his opponent re sponded in his turn with his Eyne dare bekentenisse dat de gheheele Christus Jesus Godes eygen Sone is, although it was not printed until 1554, when the controversy was renewed. Menno's insistence on this doctrine after 1547 is to be ascribed neither to obstinacy nor to an excessive regard for it, although he believed his dualistic theory more reasonable than the orthodox teaching. To his mind a Christ who was at the same time God and man was un thinkable, and he accordingly believed that he was created by God alone, without any intervention on the part of father or mother, and that in his earthly incarnation he was nothing but a man into whom the Word had been transformed. While the Church taught that we are brethren of Christ in that he took our flesh upon him, Menno held that only the regenerate are the brethren of Christ, and then simply because they, like him, are begotten of God. From this teaching, however, some drew the deduction that Christ was not consubstantial with the Father, but was merely one with him in will and intent, thus denying the Trinity. The as- 424sembly of elders accordingly convened at Goch in 1547 and excommunicated their colleague Adam Pastor, one of the foremost advocates of this doctrine. Menno, who was present, wrote a rather feeble refutation of Pastor, entitled Behjdinghe van den drieenigen Godt, although he did not break off all association with him.
During his residence on the Lower Rhine in 1545-47 and after he had settled in Holstein in
from his own press a number of writings, chiefly apologetic in character. One of these, the Beantwoordinghe over eene schrift Gelii Fabri, is the longest work of its author, and almost the only one which gives any information concerning his life and the conditions of his time. It treats, among other subjects, of the doctrine of the Incarnation, on which Menno disputed with Micronius at Wismar on Feb. 6 and 15, 1554. In the following year Micronius published the minutes of this disputar tion, to which his opponent replied in 1556, following it with another refutation in 1557. These are not the most felicitous of the products of Menno's pen; they are not at all free from personalities and wearisome repetitions. The closing years of his life were saddened by the controversies among his followers concerning excommunication. As early as 1551 Menno had ruled that the faithful should avoid all association with their fellow believers of unseemly life, unless these should prove responsive to admonition. In the course of the development of the community, however, many problems were evolved regarding excommunication. In 1550 Menno decided, in his Klaer bericht van de excommunicatie, that this avoidance should be extended to secular life as well, but not in cases where assistance might be rendered; he mitigated also the severity of the banishment as far as possible. The elders Leenaert Bouwens and Gillis van Aachen, on the other hand, demanded that excommunication be declared in the majority of cases without previous warning, and that, if one of a married pair had fallen under the ban, the other should avoid him or her. These measures aroused the deep resentment of the Anabaptists living along the Lower Rhine, and they accordingly sent their teachers Zylis and Lemmeken to Menno in 1556, whereupon, in the following year, he went to Franeker and Harlingen to win his fellow elders to a milder mood and restore peace. The reverse was the result, however, and Menno himself was threatened with excommunication. In his fear that he might have conceded too much to human weakness, he published his Grrondelic bericht in 1558, declaring openly that he had formerly erred and presenting the strictest views. Zylis and Lemmeken replied, only to be answered by Menno in a book couched in no very measured tones, though written just before his death. As he lay dying, however, he lamented this temporary severity and warned his followers not to be servants of men, as he had been.
Menno's character was a mixture of humility, warmth of heart, pessimism with regard to the world and life, spiritual piety, loyalty and love to