ANSWER,

To the

IMPARTIAL

PRESENTATION,

Of the

Current state of the Flemish

MENNONITES.

A decorative woodcut initial 'H' depicts a scene with human figures and floral motifs.

Hear then, oh impartial one, how the work praises its Master:
Sour cannot show sweet; but proves the opposite:
Gall sprouts, or a bitter root, or an evil crafty heart,
Or through Simon’s Likely referencing Simon Magus, a figure associated with sorcery and false doctrine. magic arts, a whole city is confused.
Jeroboam’s loose altar, wicked priests at Bethel,
Moloch, and many other high places, misled the people of Israel:
Philosophical clever fable, loose guidance, false appearance,
Babel’s idol, or that of flies Possibly a reference to Beelzebub., or whatever heights they may be.
Hear, they are not Zerubbabels The figure responsible for rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem., who build Babel's heights:
But those who build together that which Jerusalem establishes,
On the foundation of Paul, otherwise nothing can exist,
Our salvation is Christ, full of grace, as we go
To Him with true Faith, with Prayer, with Praise and Thanksgiving,
And build ourselves in God's House, without noise or hammer-clang:
And with truth's sweet Bread, keep Passover without strife,
Putting away from us what is evil, with the wicked, crafty, or deceitful:
And that Hope, and Love, and Peace, and unity in the Spirit,
And all manner of goodness, grows and blooms at the Pentecost Feast.
Hear, one comes rightly to School, where God's Spirit is the Master,
Everyone gets his Lesson or work, therein the Lord's harvest is certain;
There neither Philosophizing, Fable-work, nor Magic counts;
But faithful laborers are favored there by God:
There no false adornment counts, nor any other sign-dream,
Than in Christ the Sign of Jonah: Hear, there stands the Tree of Life;
Thus no strife nor discord counts, in the beautiful Booth of Foliage:
But a single Feast of Blowing, or of joy in God's Throne.
Hear, what noise, or horrible confusion, or their crafty business,
Those who spoil the Lord's harvest, with such Preaching or writing:

That the Churches found by Men, are Popish lust for power,
And their judgments uncertain, without burden, or sign nearby,
So that no one can clearly see, here or there is Christ's Church,
Or that here or there it is built as purely willful work:
Such that no one is obliged whether he does so or not,
Unless Christ gives a new burden, that it must be so or so.
Hear, or whether the Gospel, and the Apostles' Letters together,
And the Law, and the Prophets, as History or framework;
Or are not so written, that one can trust such,
Nor the Altar of Grace; but a man perfect in himself
Who can work his own Salvation, or his own holiness,
As if the medium of Jesus Christ lay in nothing but the work.
Hear, the crooked snake's craftiness, as the beginning, so is the end;
As the Tree of death is glorified, so the Tree of life is marred:
First the fear of punishment, now the hope of grace
Changed into haughtiness, despising Christ’s simplicity.
Do you hear it well, oh impartial one, how that Philosophical Beast,
Or the Dragon, or Whore of Babel, artfully adorns this or that,
Or can speak so wonderfully, that the lie appears as truth,
Or mixes both so, that the truth seems to vanish;
Or changes God's Glory, into the likeness of such an Image,
That it thus appears Holy to Babel, do you hear now where it fails?
Hear, or if it might displease God so, that the Beast broke its Horns,
And the Whore had such a Death-spasm, that she suffered a great crack,
That the People left Babel, for that New Jerusalem,
And built the House of the Lord, where Christ dwells with His Voice;
That one might keep Passover again, separated from that Babel,
The Idol's People shall not Eat, or the Passover is unclean;
For from sour dough no baker bakes pure sweet Bread;
Yet those who Eat the Bread of Life do not die the Death:
Death cannot harm those who have that Pure Passover-Lamb,
For that Sacrifice of Jesus Christ gives us Eternal Life. Amen.

Printed by Kornelis Theunisz, Kas, on the Market, in the New Printing House, 1660.