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

ne of Cl.'s grown sons, of all the animals on earth horses would probably get to heaven because some Scriptures indicate that there were horses in heaven. Another view held by the majority of Bible study participants was that all non-Christians, including innocent little children, went to hell because they lacked the saving faith in Jesus. I was not pleased that horses went to heaven and small children to hell... 38 P.M. Friesen observed that the radical Brethren "read the Word of God selectively" 39 and were therefore able to justify the excesses associated with their services. In an 1854 letter to elder Hildebrand, Eduard Wuest gave his assessment of the earlier extremists in Chortitza. In the main these people are impregnated with their heresy through their method of scriptural exposition. Behind the literal words of the Scriptures they first seek the spiritual sense through the [Holy] Spirit dwelling in them ... Separating the Spirit and the Word as they do is contrary to all Reformation principles of scripture exposition and opens the door to all error and all nonsense. 40 Were the revivalists in the Molotschna now making the same error? The bizarre and pathetic scenes of wild celebration which so marred early Brethren history were mainly rooted in the radical nature of the separation from the Old Church. Memories of the early Wuest celebrating grace helped fill this vacuum. Spontaneous innovation loosely invoking scriptural authority occupied the remaining space. Under such circumstances it was impossible to develop a broad-based theology regulating the new life. There was only the repeated celebration of the initial religious experience. The young movement faced a formidable challenge. Some had shouted and danced. It was a dramatic performance and many remembered only that. Most forgot about the quietistic Brethren who abhorred spiritual violence. NOTES 1 P.M. Friesen, Die Alt-Evangelisehe Mennonitische Bruederschaft in Rusnland 1789-1910 (rlaXbste&i, Taurien, 1911), 186-188. 2 Ibid., 189-192. J Jacob P. Bekker, Origin of the Mennonite Brethren Church (Hillsboro, Kansas, 1973), 62. 45 * Ibid., 10. *Ibid. 6 Ibid., 100-101. 7 /6/rf., 84-85. » /ftirf., 36-37. 3 /6;W„ 27. m /6irf., 82. 11 Ibid., 96-97, 101. Two of these signed the secession document. Ibid., 80. 12 /6id., 96-97. 13 Heinrich Friesen and Cornelius P. Toews, Die Kubaner Ansiedlung (Steinbach, Manitoba, 1953), 17. 14 Alan Peters, "Brotherhood and Family: Implications of Kinship in Mennonite Brethren History," in Abraham Friesen (ed.), P.M. Friesen and His History: Understanding Mennonite Brethren Beginnings (No. 2 of Perspectives on Mennonite Life and Thought, Fresno, California, Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 1979), 35-50. 15 James Urry, "A Religious or Social Elite? The Mennonite Brethren in Imperial Russia," Symposium on Dynamics of Faith and Culture in Mennonite Brethren History, Winnipeg, Ca