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

that the uninitiated reader is forced to assume that our ancestors were, without exception, holy men and martyrs. Thus the story of the immigration to and settlement of the Chortitza and Molotschna colonies comes as a considerable shock! 6 In order to get the Polish Mennonite congregations to merge with his Holland 33 church, the younger Socinus could make broad concessions, though he spoke deprecatingly of baptism. 7 c) At about this time a life and death struggle 8 broke out in the Dutch Reformed Church over the issue of election (predestination), as opposed to free will, between orthodox Calvinists and the Arminians (named for Arminius, a reformed pastor and professor, and opponent of the Calvinists). These Arminians in turn went to extremes, to the extent that some of them came close to speaking disparagingly of God’s saving grace and glorifying human free will. (According to his writings and the judgment of Protestant authorities, Menno’s position on this issue was an orthodox one, i.e., not Arminian; his view of election and free will was a moderate intermediary position, leaning more toward the pre- destinarian 9 position, as Luther did; though not as predestinarian as the greatest Baptist of our time, C. H. Spurgeon, who, however, shares Menno’s views on war and the oath.) The more open, pious, and, on the issue of predestination, more moderate Ar minian s (also called Remon- strants 10 ), formed the Collegiant brotherhood (from "collegia”— a gathering, especially for Bible studies), or simply the “Brethren," also called “Rhynsburger” for the city of Rhynsburg which was their headquarters. According to Zoeckler, they formed a “minor sect of the Mennonites”; according to Meusel they "walked in the ways of Menno”; according to still others they were a "mixture of Mennonites and Remonstrants.” They baptized only upon confession of faith by immersion, though they did not necessarily demand baptism for membership if the person in question considered his baptism sufficient; they practiced “open communion” and were extremely tolerant. Ramseyer, the Swiss-French Baptist, believes this tolerance led to their demise?! They reached their high point around 1660, and were to be found in Holland and Northwest Germany from about 1620 to 1720 (cf. further #13, n. and #136, k). d) The Socinian and Arminian movements sent their ripples into the Mennonite communities. People were tired of restraints; the sterile orthodoxy had not revived them; and yet they were used to quarreling and schisms! Thus another major schism took place first and foremost in the Netherlands and then in the Dutch speaking congregations of Northwestern Germany, Poland and Prussia. It had its beginning in the large Amsterdam congregation. The immediate cause of the schism were two elders of that congregation— Galens Abrahams de Haan and Samuel Apostool— both gifted speakers and learned theologians, but profes- sionally doctors of