put to death for having been rebaptised . This led him to study the Bible in regard to infant baptism . He could find no evidence for it in the Scriptures , but saw that repentance and faith are everywhere required as the condition of receiving baptism .
Menno withdrew from the Roman Church and devoted his life to teaching the truths which he had received . In both Germany and the Netherlands a class of fanatics had risen , advocating absurd and seditious doctrines , outraging order and decency , and proceeding to violence and insurrection . Menno saw the horrible results to which these movements would inevitably lead , and he strenuously opposed the erroneous teachings and wild schemes of the fanatics . There were many , however , who had been misled by these fanatics , but who had renounced their pernicious doctrines ; and there were still remaining many descendants of the ancient Christians , the fruits of the Waldensian teaching . Among these classes Menno laboured with great zeal and success .
For twenty-five years he travelled , with his wife and children , enduring great hardships and privations , and frequently in peril of his life . He traversed the Netherlands and northern Germany , labouring chiefly among the humbler classes but exerting a widespread influence . Naturally eloquent , though possessing a limited education , he was a man of unwavering integrity , of humble spirit and gentle manners , and of sincere and earnest piety , exemplifying in his own life the precepts which he taught , and he commanded the confidence of the people . His followers were scattered and oppressed . They suffered greatly from being confounded with the fanatical Munsterites . Yet great numbers were converted under his labours .
Nowhere were the reformed doctrines more generally received than in the Netherlands . In few countries did their adherents endure more terrible persecution . In Germany Charles V had banned the Reformation , and he would gladly have brought all its adherents to the stake ; but the princes stood up as a barrier against his tyranny . In the Netherlands his power was greater , and persecuting edicts followed each other in quick succession . To read the Bible , to hear or preach it , or even to speak concerning it , was to incur the penalty of death by the stake . To pray to God in secret , to refrain from bowing to an image , or to sing a psalm , was also punishable with death . Even those who should abjure their errors were condemned , if men , to die by the sword ; if women , to be buried alive . Thousands perished under the reign of Charles and of Philip II .
At one time a whole family was brought before the inquisitors , charged with remaining away from mass and worshiping at home . On his examination as to their practices in secret the youngest son answered : " We fall on our knees , and pray that God may enlighten our minds and pardon our sins ; we pray for our sovereign , that his reign may be prosperous and his life happy ; we pray for our magistrates , that God may preserve them ." --Wylie , b . 18 , ch . 6 . Some of the judges were deeply moved , yet the father and one of his sons were condemned to the stake .
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