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

so high that sincere and brotherly hands cannot be extended over them. . . . Christ says: ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ But if these differences stir up anger . . . then the words of Paul apply . . . when he says: ‘. . . I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened . . .’, Rom. 10:2. Many a person believes he is a Mennonite if he adheres as strictly as possible to his part of the article on non-resistance, but at the same time forgets that he resists divine and human regulations in many other regards. . . . His heart harbors bitter revenge ... I have met men whose faces turned red when the problems of other congregations were discussed. If we wish to become disciples of Christ, then His word: ‘love your enemies,’ must take root in our hearts. Adhering to the outward forms . . . does not make us true members of Documentary Supplement 155 our congregation. The fruits of the spirit . . . are: ‘Love, joy . . Gal. 5:22. Obviously, however, the fruit of the flesh is, . . . ‘enmity’ . . . Gal. 5:19-21. But when our members no longer allow themselves to be corrected by God and His Word, or care to follow after the saving Gospel, we should not be surprised that the authorities are forced to intervene ir our congregational affairs; if one comes to them with complaints, they must decide; . . . therefore we cannot blame these high authorities, or those who implement their decrees, but are ourselves to blame that our congregations must be preserved through outside compulsion. Thank God that those in power, in Russia too, need not be feared because of our good, but only because of our evil deeds. He who does not want to fear them need only do good and he will have their praise. “I was deeply grieved to find that discord and divisions had set in even there where, for a time, one had been concerned to work for the intellectual welfare of the people. 73 Should the Apostle Paul write to those parties, he would probably say what he said to the Galatians: ‘Oh you foolish Mennonites! . . .’ [Gal. 3:1,3]. If the heathen, to whom you have sent the Word of God, were to look upon your discord, would they not say in astonishment: ‘Is that the salvation-bringing fruit of the Gospel?’ It is because of you that the name of God is being blasphemed among them [the Mennonites] who, with a blind zeal, are opposed to our participation in bringing the Word of God to the non-Christian peoples. I am not against missionary activity, for I myself am a member of a society without, however, giving up any part of my confession. . . . “I have, in a few words, described the impressions I gained of the conditions there. ... I did not mean to imply with this that the church was more decadent there than here; not at all. . . . The thing that justifies a joyous hope for the future in me is that one finds a longing for peace nearly everywhere among them