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

ted only a select few who complain vigorously regarding the decay among their people and hold to strict moral discipline. The playing of cards, dancing, drinking are punished by expulsion from the congregation. They have very few poor people in their midst. In order to retain their landed property they permit no mixed marriages: whoever marries anyone outside the Mennonite faith is expelled, otherwise their property would fall into the hands of strangers, a predicament to be avoided since they are not allowed to acquire any more land without losing their right to exemption from military service. [Not the case today, since all of the Mennonites there must serve in the military.] It is for this reason that the surplus population emigrates, especially to Russia. As the Lord Lieutenant of the province told me, the Mennonites of the Elbing lowlands are so wealthy that they turn the scale in the election of those chamber deputies [members of the Prussian House of Representatives] elected by those who pay the highest taxes.” (Thus far Wichera.) 6. The main court preacher Stark concluded his Geschichte der Taufgesinnten (History of the Anabaptists) with: “They have finally had the good fortune to work their way up to the position of a considerable religious party which finds itself flourishing, a fate which they have earned because of the patience with which they endured the sufferings inflicted upon them throughout the centuries, but even more by the good behavior through which they, in due course, distinguished themselves amongst all Christians, and which everyone, who is concerned about the happiness of his fellow Christian and religious freedom, cannot begrudge them.” (In Reiswitz and Wadzeck.) 7. Conclusions The above assessments of the Mennonites on the part of non-Mennonites are certainly very favorable, indeed perhaps much too favorable rather than too harsh for the majority of those living in the 17th, 18th and partially for those of the 19th century, a period which we must characterize as the decline of the movement. May this serve to console us when, in the following special section on the Mennonites in Russia, we will have to look at so many well documented darker aspects of our congregational life, darker aspects which, it has been demon- strated, were continued in Russia although they had their origin in the old homeland. In the face of all this impoverishment this much is clear, however, that evangelical teachings and apostolic church organization exercise an extraordinarily large influence upon the moral, cultural, economic and social development of a society, an influence which stands Customs and Character 85 in direct relation to the extent to which doctrine is pure and the concept of the church is in harmony with the holy fountain of the Scriptures. God’s promise: “I will do good unto those who love me to the thousandth generation,” has also been powerfully and clearly proven. Let