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

most beloved verses with regard to salvation in Christ, printed in gold letters, to later generations. Thus even his grave portrays him as the center, as the heart and soul of the spiritual life of the [Separatist Wuerttemberg] Brotherhood Church.” (Point c. according to Prinz and Kroeker.) 8. As distinctly as the M.B. Church of today may differentiate itself outwardly in its mode of baptism and church order from Wuest's manner, the idea of a primitive apostolic order was nevertheless intertwined in Wuest’s total teachings, as was the case with the older and more recent Pietists: Philipp Matthaeus Hahn, Tersteegen, Friedrich W. Krummacher (who came very close to becoming a Baptist), etc. According to the testimonies of Mennonite and Wuerttemberg contemporaries, Wuest clearly enunciated the opinion that neither his nor the Mennonite Church’s way could be equated with that of the apostles. Compare the tenth paragraph of his inaugural sermon: “partition,” “wholly,” . . believe and be baptized . . .,” “chasm.” Like many another in his position, he did not feel called to build something new or to bring about a restitution. XIII. ALLIANCE AND COMMUNION FELLOWSHIP PRIOR TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE M.B. CHURCH 1. Thus, according to J. Reimer of Gnadenfeld and others, §82 Mennonites, Separatist Wuerttembergers and Lutherans had come and remained together in a broad alliance under Wuest’s leadership for a long time. Common communion services had even been held, at least in Wuest’s church, and probably also in the Gnadenfeld Church under Friedrich Lange. This was the story that circulated among the older brethren. The nestor of the Molotschna school teachers and the author’s beloved fatherly friend, Brother Peter Siemens (who died toward the end of 1905), still asserted this to the author as late as the summer of 1903. In the Missionary Bulletin of the Church of Baptized Christians 228 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH of 1869, page 154, in an essay, essentially dictated by Elder Huebert (whose memory in regard to formal matters was then already very uncertain), written by the author in his very early years, it says: “Most of them {the brethren] took communion in the Gnadenfeld Church, whose elder then held open communion: Lutherans, Separatists and Mennonites.” Later this was changed under Elder Lenzmann. We do not, however, possess any certain written documentary evidence to this effect ? 3 Any correction would be welcomed. The tradition concerning an open communion in Gnadenfeld was so universal that the author was startled at the absence of any sure documentary evidence. The Gnadenfeld Chronicle passes over the Wuest epoch very quickly and with a certain coolness, determined, no doubt, by the character of the Chronicle's author. §82(2) 2. The first private communion service of the Mennonite Brethren and its consequences, a) On or about St. Martin’s Day in the fall of 1859, according to J. Reime