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

earnestness. Oh that His work of grace might succeed in softening many, yes, all those with hearts still unbroken, to make them sensitive and accessible for the blessed indwelling of the Holy Spirit! Indeed, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the lost members who have left our congregations is that the Lord might turn them from the error of their way and help them in good time to recognize their arrogant mind and to bring them to a genuine repentance before they plunge themselves and their children into temporal misery and ruin. In sincere brotherly love, united with you in the Lord, your August Lenzmann, elder of the Gnadenfeld Church.” II. This letter, though written in brilliantly precise language, is theologically and ecclesiastically one-sided, short-sighted, narrow-minded, and lacking in Christian love. It shall not be, as far as we are concerned, the ideal epitaph on the gravestones of the signatory and his secretary, the Minister Heinrich Franz, Sr. Both of them were worth much more 384 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH than this their letter, written in evil times, which betrays the fever that existed in the Mennonite body and from which it strove to expel the unhealthy fluids, and which expressed itself in the exaggerations of Lenzmann and associates on the one side, and those of the seceders on the other. The spume, the sediment, the dirt, and the bitter leaven must be separated during the fermentation; the strength of the wine remains. Our epitaph for Lenzmann and Franz shall be that which was said above in Chapter IX, “Gnadenfeld” and at the conclusion of Chapter XVII. §169 14. Klaus, in Our Colonies, refutes Elder Lenzmann, p. 289: “. . . Meanwhile, the government finally became convinced that the accusations brought against the ‘Huepfer’ —that they were immoral, disobedient to the authorities, etc.— were in fact unfounded . . . (Compare above #160.) §170 15. Pastor Dobbert’s Report. Compare XII above, “Pastor Wuest” 2.d, and XVII. Our own copy of the following document bears the superscription: “Received from Minister Franz Isaak as authentic, in the spring of 1896, D. Schellenberg,” [Elder of the M.B. Church, Molotschna, Rueckenau]. a) “A correct understanding of the religious movement which has emerged among the Mennonites during recent years, particularly the Claassen schism, is scarcely possible without going back a few years and considering the activities of a man who exercised an unusual and special influence here; I am referring to Pastor Wuest. When the Royal Consistory in Wuerttemberg effected changes in the liturgy and introduced a new hymnal, many wanted to preserve for themselves and their children that which had been transmitted to them. Russia befriended those who left their homeland for conscience sake and provided them with shelter. They settled on the Berda in four colonies and were granted the freedom to use their own books, among them the fine hymnal, a