THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

ren, beginning at 6 o’clock and often lasting until 9, to which adults come from far and wide. On most winter evenings more adults than children have been in attendance, and, as we have been informed, virtually everyone returns home determined to support the school. We are not aware of the fact that this is supposed to be a secondary school. We call it simply the school of the School Society, and we intend that the school shall serve no other purpose than to bring up the children in the true fear of God so that they may become good and useful citizens of our colony under God’s blessing. Accordingly only those subjects are taught which will be useful to the farmer, such as reading, arithmetic, singing and writing, enabling them to put their thought down on paper. These are all harmless matters, and to the extent that the opponents of the school and Bible Society will investigate the matter, they will find it good. We hope that the Lord will open everyone’s eyes and allow the light of His Holy Spirit to ill umin ate their inner being. f) “And now, dear colleagues, we have described the situation somewhat more accurately to you. It is regrettable that this was not done sooner; for we hope that, had we done so, your kind letter would have been written in the same vein as the earlier one and that an irrevocable decision regarding the matter on your part, insofar as such a thing is humanly possible, would have quieted all dispositions. We beg you most Documentary Supplement 141 earnestly to make one more attempt to calm the restless by means of correction in order to restore, as much as possible, a general state of peace and love. For the rest, we feel ourselves united with you by bonds of deep and heartfelt love, and hope to labor unceasingly with you and do everything for which the Lord wants to use us. We commend ourselves to your loving memory and intercession before the Lord, and in as much as the Lord enables and gives us grace, we will do the same. The God of love and peace be with you and usl Amen.” [The schism of the church was not to be stopped. See above ##37-42. Also compare ##61 & 61 (2).] C. The Molotschna Mennonite Brotherhood's Connections with the Moravian Brethren and the Evangelical Missionaries (Supplement to ##37-42) a) Many will be interested to discover that the group of elders— Bernhard Fast, Ohrloff, Peter Wedel, Alexanderwohl, and Franz Goerz, Rudnerweide, as well as the teacher Tobias Voth and his associates— corresponded with the bishops of the Moravian Brethren (compare above #13n), as the following letter, personally copied and authenticated by the late Jakob Reimer (Gnadenfeld-Wiesenfeld) in 1837, demonstrates: “The following letter was received by Tobias Voth from Bishop Gottlob Martin Schneider of the Brethren Church on March 21, 1828.” b) Berthelsdorf, June 30, 1827 “Beloved brother in the Lord! “It was only on June 22, of this year that I received your kind let