Account of the Persecutions of Menno Simon

“All who will live godly in Christ Jesus,” says Paul, “shall suffer persecution,” Second Timothy 3, verse 12. These words, though often confirmed through the thoughtless wickedness of this world, we find confirmed in a particular way in the example of our author Menno Simon. For after he had been persecuted in many ways and hunted by his opponents, they, in order to make sure their design would be accomplished, issued a decree stating that whoever should shelter Menno Simon or any of his followers, or hide them in any way, should suffer death. This decree was carried out in the year 1539 in the case of Tjaert Reyndertz,* a peasant living near Harlingen (province of Friesland, Netherlands), who, because he had secretly harbored Menno Simon in his house in his great danger and distress, was taken a few days later to Leeuwarden (in the same province) and put on the wheel as an ungodly criminal, though even his enemies acknowledged that he was a pious man. [*]

Besides this, another decree was issued in the year 1543 throughout West Friesland, by which a general pardon, the favor of the Emperor, the freedom of the country, and in addition one hundred Carl guilders** were promised to any criminal, even a murderer, who would deliver Menno into the hands of the executioner. And so that their purpose might be accomplished more readily, his name, person, clothing and stature were described, and this description was posted on the church doors, so that he could not find even a hut of straw where he could rest quietly with his wife and little children for any length of time. Menno himself relates that in 1546, at a certain place where they still boasted of being evangelical Christians, four dwellings were confiscated at once because the owner had rented one of them for a short time to his sick wife and little children, though the neighbors did not know it. This severe persecution forced Menno to move to a place lying between Hamburg and Lubeck, six and a half or seven miles from Hamburg, three miles from Lubeck, and nearly a mile from Oldeslo. It was formerly a large forest of oaks but is now an open field, generally called Woeste Veldt, belonging to the nobleman and estate of Van Vriesenburg. This nobleman was at that time a very cruel person, and for that reason he was generally shunned and feared. But having spent much of his youth in the Netherlands, and having often witnessed the death of martyrs, he was very compassionate toward them, being acquainted with their doctrines. He secretly gave them liberty to live there, and diligently and faithfully helped them. Although he was requested by the king’s order not to permit them to live there, and therefore announced to them through one of his servants that they should leave before sundown at the risk of punishment, he nevertheless sent a faithful servant after the first one to tell them the reason for this announcement, and to inform them that the men should either go away or hide themselves for a week or two. In the meantime he succeeded in quieting this excitement through one of the courtiers. After this the exiles came there from every side, until there was quite a little community there, who lived in comparative quiet. Each family had to pay one dollar a year for this protection and was taxed no further. It may well be considered a special dispensation of God’s providence that the exiles were sheltered and protected by a very cruel person who was feared by everyone around him. For this reason, it was said, Menno considered it wise to move to that place. [**]

Menno Simon died about thirty years after he left the church of Rome. During this time he taught and proclaimed the gospel, purified of Roman idolatry and superstition. His last exhortation was given on his deathbed, while the hand of death already seemed to rest on him, and it showed his unquenchable zeal. He did, however, partly recover, and was better for several days; but on the anniversary of his renunciation of popery he suddenly became worse, though he was well cared for, and the next day, Friday the 13th of January, 1561, he calmly fell asleep in Jesus, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was buried in his own garden, which, according to Hoornbeck, was also the custom of the early Christians under the persecutions of the pagans.

Note 1.—Although the “Martyrs’ Mirror,” page 59, and T. J. van Braght in his “Bloody Theatre,” and others, write that Menno Simon died on the 13th of January 1559, we are led to think that he died in 1561, for the following reasons:

The old biography of Menno Simon gives 1561 as the year of his death, and we consider this correct. Also, on the 23rd of January 1559 he wrote a tract (see his Reply to Zylis and Lemmekes in this book) and sent it to the German teachers Zylis and Lemmekes. Now if he died on the 13th of January 1559, he must have written this ten days after his death.

Note 2.—The reader should know that although some old biographies give 1505 as the year of his birth, we will take 1496; for the “Martyrs’ Mirror,” “The Bloody Theatre,” “The Decline of Tyrants” and “Annals” all state that he died in his sixty-sixth year. If Menno, then, died in 1561, he must have been born in 1496, or else he died in the fifty-sixth year of his age.