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

hom we have met is His Excellency, the Privy Councillor [and Senator] von Hahn. He, too, received us cordially and declared himself willing to help us. Thus, the Lord has been with us in our efforts and has said to these great people: ‘Do not speak otherwise than friendly with Claassen and Forch- hammer . . .’ [Forchhammer was a colporteur in the service of the British and Foreign Bible Society. To the pastors who wanted him for ‘home missions,’ he declared openly and honestly, ‘as though through death,’ what his attitude was to the church . . . and ‘then they wanted nothing of me anymore . . . .’ His position with respect to the church presented no problem to the British Society.] In all this I rejoice that I have my dear Baptist brother Plonus here, who until now, stood very much alone among all these ecclesiastically-minded friends. Now, my sweet brothers and sisters, I ask one thing of you: Have faith, in the measure that God gives you grace, that the almighty Savior by His almighty and divine grace will keep me, poor human— who, as you know, is so frail and weak— unto eternal salvation, even here in St. Petersburg. And may the awareness of that unspeakably sweet and blessed mystery, which was opened to me through Kappes so many years ago, so that I saw myself at the time as rescued, for ever and eternally, out of the deepest distress, be kept alive in me, namely the mystery: ‘our life is hid with Christ in God.’ Halleluja! May God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, be praised. Kappes, greet all the brothers and sisters in the Lord .... Until we meet again, preferably rather soon before the throne of the Lamb .... Forchhammer.” c) Forchhammer to the brothers and sisters in the Molotschna. “St. Petersburg, December 19, 1860. Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! . . . Soon after I mailed my last letter to you, we explored another source of help! We visited the Privy Councillor von Hahn. . . . We were quite concerned about the sort of reception we would get from this great man and waited with anxiety when the servant went in to announce us. Contrary to our expectations, however, he met us at the door and cordially invited us to come in. We were seated in his grand office and he listened to us with quiet attention. Claassen set before him the present state of affairs and concluded by saying to him that you would also be prepared to resettle if you could have a written guarantee of your privileges. Hahn assured us that no one would be able to take away your privileges because of differences in matters of belief and promised to secure information about the resettlement from the appropriate authority. He asked us to come again in a few days. The result was that Documentary Supplements 363 he sent us to the second-in-charge of the second department, who told us under what conditions the Crown provided land for colonists. He was even good enough to give us a copy of these conditions, so that we