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

Br. A. Unger as elder and myself as minister. Br. Benzien once again worked towards the unification of the Baptists and our church. I felt then that it was my duty to protect our church. And so there was constant friction between the Baptist-minded, whom Br. Unger supported, and our brethren. The reason why I was opposed to a complete merger with the Baptists was this: 1) I feared that we would lose our privileges in this way; 2) our confessions of faith were divergent; 3) some developments occurred which, in my view, were not proper; for example, Br. Benzien had remarked that he intended to visit our brethren once more in order to pull at the corroded Mennonite sword. "And thus matters continued until, in 1869, Br. Oncken arrived from Hamburg, and, as we know, performed the ordination of Br. Unger as elder, and of Benzien and my hunble self as ministers. [N.B.! According to Baptist principles of office and ordination, ordination to the office of ‘elder’ and ‘ minis ter’ bears equal status, and the ordination of a minister for service as presiding elder need not be repeated. Consequently, the worthy Br. Lepp had received the consecration of a full Baptist bishop.] The reason why I, in those critical times, submitted to ordination by a Baptist elder was solely that I wanted to prevent a division in our congregation. [As is known, Lepp was ordained once again in 1876 as 466 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §202 elder of the Einlage M.B. Church by Elder Janz of Friedensfeld; that is the laying on of Mennonite hands. See note above on ordination by Elder Janz. 255 ] With God’s gracious help, the work advanced. Special difficulties were created once more by the activity of Br. Eduard Leppke, who defended the anti-Baptist faction too vigorously. Unfortunately, I too allowed myself at first to be carried away too far by him, but I soon realized and regretted this error. [See further under ‘Baptists as super-Mennonites!’’] And so the year 1876 arrived. Br. A. Unger resigned from his office as elder. The congregation elected me for this position, which seemed very difficult for me." 4. The Second Call to Br. August Liebig— the First General Conference (Annual Session). a) On January 6, 1871, Brother Aron Lepp proposed that Br. August Liebig be asked to visit the church once again. This proposal was accepted, and Br. Liebig was prepared to come to Russia again. (The attitude of the authorities towards the Baptists had improved in the meantime; by an edict of March 27, 1879, the Baptists were numbered among the Protestant confessions.) In June, 1871, Liebig arrived with wife and child and lived for a year in Andreasfeld. “The church found itself in a distempered condition.” One held to this view, the other to another view. Thus Minister Liebig had much work to do in order to bring individual tempers into a more relaxed and gentle condition. He spoke little, and kept himself above all partisanship, often