been made between the church and the world, but that they have been indiscriminately blended together in baptism, Supper, life, and worship, which is so plainly contrary to all Scripture, therefore we feel ourselves constrained by the Spirit and word of God, and not of our own account, to gather together, to the praise of Jesus Christ and to the salvation of our neighbors, and not unto us, but unto the Lord a pious and penitent church or community from all untrue and deceiving sects of the whole world, not contrary to the doctrine and example of Christ Jesus and the apostles, as Gellius falsely accuses us, but according to the Spirit, doctrine and example of Jesus Christ, manifested unto us; yea, gather them patiently under the cross of misery, in spite of all the violence and gates of hell, and not by force of arms and persecution as is the custom of the world, but separate them from it, as the Scriptures teach, that they may be an admonition, example and reproach to the impenitent world as has already been heard.
They keep and sanctify the Sabbath which is not the literal, but the spiritual Sabbath, which never ends with true Christians, not by wearing fine clothes, not by carousing, vanity, and idleness, as the reckless world do, but by the true fear of God, by a clear conscience and unblamable life, in love to God and their neighbors; for that is the true religion, Heb. 12: 1, and in the fear of their God they do not attend the public Sabbath and holiday gatherings which are, alas, not consecrated to Christ, but to anti-Christ in all manner of vanity and hypocrisy, in pomp and splendor; nor do they take part in their idle church-service which tends to nothing but deceiving that they may thereby attend the gathering of the saints and the true service, convince the erring, and thus make manifest, truth and the true doctrine, to the reformation and salvation of all mankind.
They do not hate and envy the open deceivers and false preachers who so miserably deceive the poor people, as Gellius accuses us, but earnestly reprove them in love according to God's Spirit and word, that they may repent and be converted, as the Scriptures teach us.
In short, they do not despise the solicitous labors and the prophecies of the true and faithful servants of Christ, nor the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, against the commands of the Holy Spirit and the doctrine of the command of the Sabbath, as he very wrongly complains we do, but they shun, at the risk of possessions and life, according to the advice, doctrine, and admonition of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of the Sabbath, the false labors, and the powerless, impenitent, and hired prophecies of the anti-Christian servants, who do not serve Christ and the church, as they boast, but serve their bellies and the world; and they dare not hear and follow them because their doctrine and fruits show that they are those whom the Scriptures and divine truth forbid us to follow.
Their priests, says the Lord, "teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money." They rely upon the Lord, and say. Is not the Lord amongst us? No evil can betide us; therefore "Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps," Mic. 3: 12; Jer. 26: 18. It is also manifest that Gellius and his like preachers have done the same thing of which he accuses us, for they, long before we did, have separated themselves from the papists into a separate church, as is known to all mankind to be incontrovertible. But we are sorry to say that our separation from them was caused by themselves. For if we would have found them to be right we would have remained with them; but as it is, we have, alas, to leave them at the cost of life and possessions, as may be seen.
Behold, my kind reader, here you have before you, my brief reply to the main articles concerning the calling of preachers, which Gellius so respectfully brought forward to the defense of his cause and to the detriment of ours.
I have no doubt but that you, by the grace of God, will find a clear difference, explanation, and foundation, if you compare his writing with ours and judge according to the word of the Lord by the manifest fruits on both sides; and this is the summary of my writings, that nobody can be a truly called preacher and God-pleasing servant in the Lord's house and church,
