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

rough him several others as well. c) Heinrich Epp relates: God, Who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, illuminated the darkness here also. A young man was awakened through the sermons of Ludwig Hof acker, 88 and came to the clear light of the Gospel on February 2, 1853. [The merit or demerit of supplying the exact dates of this and other conversions, we shall not pursue further.] The new convert began to witness of this light, and people gathered around him; often they met to read God’s Word, to pray and to sing. Anywhere and at any time they talked to people about God’s Word. All this was something new at that time, for everyone thought God’s Word belonged only in the church. He was so full of the spirit that everyone who entered into a discussion with him was convinced by the truth. The handful of believers increased rapidly to fifty souls. d) More from Abram Unger: The conversions were almost always “corporeal” [Unger’s expression]; for example, when an individual was moved, the person began to bemoan and lament his agony of sin; some were thrown to the ground and cried out; others ran into the open fields, to wrestle with God and to cry for mercy, and so on until, after some hours or days, they found grace, forgiveness and peace. These people were full of joy and praised God and assembled as often as possible and had a fervent love for one another. e) The incidents described by Unger are reminiscent of those in the Kleine Gemeinde (cf. ##36 & 58 above), except that the Kleine Gemeinde did not achieve joy in the faith. It is also reminiscent of the revivals with the reformed Pastor Bonekemper in the colony of Rohrbach, Odessa District, during the same period, as well as that which we recognize as unwholesome in the Wuestian revival. Similar incidents are recorded in the church history of those days in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and elsewhere. This manifestation usually occurs where the spiritual leaders who sit on Moses’ throne, the appointed shepherds, let their sheep hunger and thirst or even leave them for a time. Just recently, related 282 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH phenomena were manifested in the circles of the renowned revivalist of our time, P. Johannes in Kr. t who in spite of all his orthodox moderation, could not subdue many of the spirits who were attracted by his moving worship services and the effects of his prayers. (Most recently the character of this man has been called into question and doubt has been cast on his purity. We do not know to what extent these reports are true or false.) One could call the convulsions of repentance as portrayed by Klaas Reimer (Kleine Oemeinde ), Unger and others, the manifestations of a frenzy of spiritual hunger, and the frequent subsequent manifestations of joy bordering on madness ("Exuberance” cf. ##115 & 119) in response to the forgiveness of sin and fully realized salvation, the consequence of a spiritual overfeeding fo