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

isters lacked the insight and capability to do it.] 2. The "Brotherhood” in Einlage. a) Unger writes: The Einlage brethren certainly didn’t want to believe that such a state of affairs would be reached by the children of God, and defended the brethren of Kronsweide, until, unfortunately, they were forced to see the painful truth. Thus the Einlage brethren had been painfully deceived. Yet they soon met again and began to conduct prayer and mission study meetings, for which they obtained permission from the Chortitza elder on the condition that they would not “proselytize.” They obtained and read mission periodicals, and amassed an annual offering of 100 rubles or more, with contributions from eight to ten families. b) According to H. Epp and A. Unger, these beginnings took place some five years after the tragic incident in Kronsweide, i.e. 1859/60. The founders of these mission and prayer meetings were Heinrich Neufeld, Abraham Unger [compare his letter of June 15, 1861, #115 above] and Cornelius Unger. God granted an increase in the meetings. Among other items, the Einlage brethren read the Missionsblaetter der Gemeinde getaufter Christen (Missionary Periodical of the Church of Baptized Christians) [Hamburg Baptists]. This raised two crucial issues for Br. Unger: secession and baptism. [It is remarkable that until June, 1861, there is no trace of any connection between these brethren and those of the Molotschna.] Brother Heinrich Neufeld was not disturbed by the question of baptism, but Br. Unger wrote to Oncken [the founder of the Hamburg Baptist Church], who also answered. c) Brother Aron Lepp, elder of the Einlage M.B. Church in Andreasfeld, wrote the following for the “History of Our M.B. Church” in 1884: My conversion took place in 1857 and 1858. I began to lead a moral life. I received the impetus from my dear friends David and Heinrich Goertz [members of the Gnadenfeld congregation, who, along with the narrator, served as supervisors of the Hebrew colonies in the §128 284 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §129 Kherson District]. Since I could cultivate no fellowship with Christian friends, I used Friedrich Starke’s Handbuch for our personal edification and sought to improve my life according to its instruction, but did not find satisfaction therein. In 1857 I visited the brethren Peter Friesen, Johann Loewen and Cornelius Hiebert, who were already living in Chortitza at the time, and heard them tell the story of their conversion. Then I saw the light. From then on I sought knowledge and the salvation of my soul and prayed about it to God. And thus it pleased the dear Lord, through the mediation of Hofacker’s sermons, to bring about a new creation in me. “O the blessed hours that Jesus provides when one remembers only the wounds of the Lamb!” It was in 1858 when the great change took place in my heart. I was overjoyed until I read the sixth chapter of Romans. There I found that I la