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

were not good. Dear brothers and sisters, it is written, I Cor. 1, Let there be no divisions among you, but be united in the same mind and in the 9ame judgment. And in another place it is written, Be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, c) In addition, I am writing to state that on December 18 and 19, the church was assembled [in Gnadenheim], and from the Old Colony there were present the brethren Wieler [Gerhard], Peter Neufeld, Benjamin Nickel. Br. Wieler reported from the Kuban; the brethren Koop, Penner and Janzen were also there and corroborated his report. If those brethren, who have not walked in the truth, are not going to repent, we shall not wish to have any fellowship with you, before you remove the evil from among you. But we are especially displeased with the above-mentioned members. On the other hand, N.N. and his wife have been excommunicated from the church because they permitted the tavern-keeper to come into their house with liquor [during the public auction of their possessions]. N. also has been put out of the church because of her pride, since she would not receive instruction. Deuteronomy 17 and other passages talk about this. These are to be avoided until they have humbled themselves before us 199 and God. The congregation is of a similar mind concerning the above-mentioned brethren, for they had fellowship with Isaak Matthies as well as with those of Kakbas while enroute to the Kuban, where, without examination, they were received into the congregation, which is not regarded as valid on the part of Becker and Abram Regehr, because before they left here, they did not walk in the light, otherwise they would not have had fellowship with Isaak Matthies. 200 We write this to you as a word of the Lord: Repent and believe, so that you may live! The congregation is of one mind here that all those who preach regulations which do not agree with the Word of God, shall be put out without delay. In addition, Christian Schmidt has been excommunicated, because he taught that P. should not be baptized [for the second time in the M.B. Church, since he had not been honest the first time]. He refused to humble himself concerning his false teaching, d) In the Old Colony, as many as thirty people have been excommunicated, because they have 424 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §184 become disobedient again; among these Berg and Koslowsky are the initiators. Dear brethren, fear God and remove the evil from you, so that you may be healed of your wickedness. The Lord has given our congregation great joy, so that during the whole night, as the congregation met, there was no silence from the praise and thanksgiving, there was rejoicing and jubilation [those who did not join in the rejoicing and jubilation found themselves in the same situation as Jakob Reimer!], for the enemy of God had not been able to tear us apart, as he had planned to do. [And what about the many who w