A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

henkonvent). 24 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH In a petition of 1865 they made their appeal on the basis of scriptural teaching. We beg the honorable members of the Kirchenkonvent, as stewards, to provide for our needs since we are members of one body (1 Cor. 12:26) and members of God's household (1 Tim. 5:8), and that they act as true believers who according to James 2:16 not only say, "be warmed and filled," but as our spiri- tual fathers become actively and helpfully involved in our plight. ... 27 This appeal to the Council of Elders went unanswered. In order to discredit the movement, a large group of landowners even sought to smear the landless as revolutionaries, dangerous to the peace and welfare of the settlement. 28 In studying this dark blot on the pages of Mennonite history one cannot help but agree with Kreider in the following evaluation: "No problem in the Mennonite colonies created such misunderstanding and class hatred as the land problem . . . this conflict demonstrates how class and property interests soil the church as an 'ethical community of brotherly love.' " 29 Spiritual and moral decline were seen also in the realm of personal and social ethics. 3. A Loss of Christian Virtues Christ has given a practical criterion of the appraisal of any religious movement or professing Christian group: "You will know them by their fruits" (Mt. 7:20). The Christian graces will come to proper fruition and expression only when rooted in an evangelical theology and a vital Christian experience. Eventually any code of Christian ethics will disintegrate when not sustained by a living faith. Contemporary observers and later historians are agreed that moral standards had reached a new low before the "great awakening" of the late 1850's. In 1856 the Agricultural Improvement Society, which had administered the school system of the Molotschna colony since 1843, asked each teacher to comment on the moral condition of the people. The unanimous response was that the moral life of the people was in a degenerate state. 30 In his memoirs, Jacob P. Becker, one of the signers of the Document of Secession, reports widespread drunkenness. Almost all villages had their taverns (Branntwein Schenken). Becker writes, This resulted in a number of alcoholics who at times lay drunk and almost naked in the streets. . . . The preachers knew of these drunkards, yet the offenders were allowed to remain members of the church and were permitted to partake of the Communion. As long as a man had not openly whored, stolen, or brawled he could remain a member of the church." 3 ' Becker goes on to describe various social events (e.g. weddings, community fairs, etc.) which often were the occasion for drunken orgies. In a treatise entitled, "Faith and Reason," written in 1833, Heinrich Balzer also gives a critical description of the contemporary Mennonite Church. He finds that these members of the