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

800 years into our sinful hearts, that they too quake, and breaks the hardness of their rocky surface so that new life may come forth; yes, when to that great: "It is finished” (John 19:30), the other: “It has come to pass,” is added, which comes forth from heaven, from the throne; when the seventh angel has poured out the vial of his wrath into the air and the whole hostile might of the Antichrist, that until now has risen against the kingdom of Jesus Christ, crumbles: when the believers experience in the glorious, visible, triumphant appearance of this Kingdom, the fullest, most comprehensive answer to their daily petition: Deliver us from evil!— then only, beloved, will they comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height (Eph. 3:18) of the Word, that Christ is made unto us redemption! 8. This Christ, my beloved, who has been made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, Him I wish not only to hold before your eyes, but to engrave, to preach, and to pray into your hearts. For of what benefit is the Christ of the Bible to us, if He is not also in our hearts. The heart, I say, the heart is the place in which this costly treasure, this precious pearl, this jewel, this gift from heaven belongs. I will not only preach Jesus Christ the crucified to you from the pulpit, I will carry Him after you into your homes, I will seek you out at your daily occupations, I will, where necessary, also seek you out on the fields, and always, and never anything else, hold before you Jesus Christ, the crucified, for besides this I know nothing— only alone Jesus Christ, the crucified. Therefore do not let it disturb you if again and again I bring the same message, if everything centers around that great theme. Do not let it estrange you, if I often direct this question to you personally: How do you stand in your heart toward the Savior? Because that is and remains the main issue, whether we have Christ, the crucified, dwelling in our hearts or not. From you, beloved, I request— and because of yourselves you cannot give me what I desire, I pray that you may have love, obedience, tender-heartedness, to receive the Word, which can save your souls. As an enemy of mere outward and nominal Christianity, I say to you at the outset: “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” 220 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH 9. I do not hide from myself the fact that, if I declare the Word to you in the way that I have promised before God today, there will be no lack either of conflict or of opposition. I know certainly what the Lord Himself said: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth: I have not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). And what Christ says here about Himself generally, applies especially concerning Him, the crucified. Already the cross of Calvary was the wall of separation between scoffing and bankrupt s