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

hristians. b) “And all who have obeyed the gospel .... a) “They preach the imminent appearance of the kingdom of God. b) “ According to Matt. 4 : 1 7 : Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! a) “They confess an equality among one another and a duty to call each other brethren and sisters, since it is their opinion that through a second baptism they have all become members of one fellowship, while all other ordinary obligations which existed until their baptism have been cancelled. b) “Just as the Apostle Paul in his letter to Philemon sent the latter’s fleeing servant Onesimus back to him with the request that he should receive him not as a slave but as a dear brother; and— as we see from God’s Word— because the early Christians all addressed one another as brethren and sisters without any respect of persons; we follow the same rule. However, it is not through baptism alone that we become brethren, rather it is through faith in Christ that we become members of the body of Christ and like living stones (are) built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, 123 I Pet. 2:5. The unconverted have no [spiritual!] fellowship with us. We do not separate married partners of whom only one belongs to the fellowship, I Cor. 7:10-13, unless the unbelieving one is unwilling to tolerate living with the believer, in which case we allow them to separate according to I Cor. 7:14, 15. And as much as the parents can come to an agreement, the children continue under the discipline of the parents. a) “After their second baptism they consider themselves free from all sin and yield themselves openly to sensual indulgences. b) “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life, Rom. 6:3, 4. God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, Col. 2:13. 330 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH Through the Spirit of God we seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, putting away the sin which clings so closely and putting to death our earthly members through the setting aside of all evil desires: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, foul talk, lies, etc., having put off the old nature with its practices, and having put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator, Col. 3:1-10. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality, Col. 3:25. a) “Under persecution, the majority of the fanatics endure the heaviest curses without a murmur and they go to their death singing Psalms. This perseverance increases the number of those who believe. They are prepared for this by their worship services and sermons. b)