Perilous Journey: The Mennonite Brethren in Russia 1860-1910, John B. Toews, 1988

ed no compromise. They asserted that a few had found God, that many had not. Their dogmatic, doctrinaire stance intimidated the moderate majority. Toleration of a stagnant religious tradition was now out of the question. A saintly elder was upbraided for his inadequate preaching while the brothers and sisters of some months ago belonged to a "brothel." The leaders of the Neu-Kronsweide awakening reacted against virtually every facet of the existing order. They rejected the old leadership, the old sermons, the old hymns and the old style of worship. All practices sanctified by custom and tradition were set aside. Within the old camp the harsh and intolerant responded in anger, the religiously sensitive in hurt and pain. By 1860 the Chortitza rebels had clearly separated from the Old Church. The pattern of future religious dissent was predictable. The average settler now associated revival with the breakup of the old order. He felt the advocates of the new salvation violated the prevailing community norms of orderliness and decency. Their behavior imprinted itself on the popular mind. Many felt their antics threatened the tranquility of the Mennonite world. Dissidents emerging elsewhere would receive a cold reception. Elder Jakob Hildebrand was familiar with the "strong and resonant" voice of the South German preacher Eduard Wuest, who had visited Chortitza and on occasion corresponded with the elder. Wuest left his native Wuerttemberg in 1843 to serve the Neuhoffnungsthal congregation in Russia. It was a migrant group belonging to the so-called Bruedergemeinde which originated in Kornthal near Stuttgart in 1819. While still in the Wuerttemberg region this group was influenced by men like Johann Bengel (1687-1752) and Johann Hahn (1759-1819). Both men considered conversion and the life of sanctification as indispensable for a true, vital Christianity. They also subscribed 30 to the practice of Stunden (conventicles), small group gatherings within a parish at which earnest seekers shared their mutual religious concerns. Bengel was also given to eschatological speculation. He regarded the book of Revelation as a precise outline of future events and boldly produced a chronology which set the second coming of Christ in 1836. The Bruedergemeinde migration to the Russian steppes was not unrelated to Bengel's millenialistic expectations which predicted Christ's second return in either Russia or Palestine. Internal strife among the settlers apparently prompted them to call Wuest. He was not the peacemaker they expected. Records from Wuest's university days project an impetuous, robust young man who received at least three police citations for carousing and drunkenness. 25 This overflowing energy was directed to the service of religion following Wuest's dramatic conversion while a theology student. Lutheran authorities were soon investigating reports of crude language used during preaching services h