RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mennonitee
from the Old Mennonites), have about 1,700 members, living mostly in Pennsylvania. Considered even from the view-point of Menno Simons, they are ultraconservative. The well-known novel, TiUie, a Mennonite Maid (New York, 1904), by H. R. Martin, is designed to portray life among them.
The Old Order Amish, who about 1690 seceded from the Mennonites in Switzerland and Alsace, have about 4,500 members. Their congregations are necessarily small, owing to the fact that they do not build meeting-houses. They meet for worship in dwelling-houses or barns. In their opinion, under the Christian dispensation one place can not surpass another in sanctity. There must be no other house of God than his true spiritual house, the church. The fact that Solomon, at God's command, built a temple is to be considered in the same light as the sacrificial offerings under the old covenant. The principal purpose of the Mosaic ceremonies and law was to typify Christ and the New Covenant. Various usages that were permitted under the old covenant, such as resistance by force, the taking of human life, the swearing of oaths, and divorce, were abolished by Christ, who fulfilled the whole law. The Old Testament is to be interpreted in the light of the New which alone is the Christian's rule of life and worship. Building church-houses would be the first step toward ritualism, which is utterly foreign to New-Testament teaching and would mean death to true Christian piety. Among the Old Order Amish services are conducted exclusively in the German language and ordinarily require about four hours, while on communion Sunday they are continued from morning till dusk without intermission, there being always a number of ministers present. No text is taken on such occasions; the sermon begins, after introductory remarks, with the first parents of the human race and covers the content of Scripture. The subject may be said to be the wickedness of sin and the faithfulness of God toward those who love him and keep his commandments. Their hymnal is still the Ausbund, the old hymn-book of the Anabaptist Swiss Brethren, which was published for the first time in 1571 and reprinted at least twelve times in America. The hymns are sung to what are supposed to be the original tunes, which have never been written in musical notation. After meeting, dinner is served for the whole congregation by the family with whom the meeting convenes. There is no church property except hymnbooks, plain benches, and the utensils necessary to prepare a plain dinner for the worshipers. They may be said to live in a voluntary semi-communism. Their apparel and houses are kept exceedingly plain and unassuming. Carpets, curtains and wall pictures are forbidden, as is also property insurance. Their largest settlements are found in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario.
Besides these divisions there are a number of smaller Mennonite bodies.
The Hutterites have about fourteen prosperous churches or communities in South Dakota, whither they immigrated from South Russia in 1874. They name themselves " Hutterite Brethren " from Jacob Hutter who was burned at the stake at Innsbruck
in the Tyrol in Feb., 1536. Their organization dates from the year 1533. Although never in any sense identified with or influenced by Mennonites, they hold the same doctrines and principles excepting on one point: they are strict communists — the oldest communistic society in the United States. Their communism is based entirely upon religious principles. It is to be noted, however, that one of these congregations has discarded the doctrine of community of goods. By this denominational body the principle of non-resistance is carried to the extent of disapproval of the payment of war taxes. From the fact that their communities in Dakota are known as Bruderhofe they received in the United States census bulletins the name Bruderhof Mennonites, which, as already indicated, is not the name by which they prefer to be known. More than usual interest attaches to them because of their possession of numerous early documents of considerable historic value. Among these is the important and comprehensive confession of faith by Peter Riedemann (d. 1566), which was reprinted, Rechenschaft unserer Religion , n.p., 1902;
also some valuable " chronicles " which have been collected and published by Joseph Beck, Die Geschichtsbiicher der Wiedertaufer, Vienna, 1883. Their hymns have been collected but not published by R. Wolkan.
The Old Colony Churches (a name given to them in Russia), a body which has never deviated in doctrine or practise (including " avoidance ") from the early Mennonites, are in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. They constitute a distinct body numbering a few thousand members. Their recent elder Johann Wiebe was a man of extraordinary abilities as a preacher and leader. Another small body of the same descent, known as Die kleine Gemeinde, has also perpetuated old Mennonite customs and usages. They have a few hundred members in Manitoba and Kansas.
Among the most conservative descendants of the Swiss (Reist) Brethren is a small body, called the Old Swiss, which has a few congregations in Ohio and Indiana. The Conservative Amish Mennonites differ from the Old Order Amish in that they have meeting-houses and are somewhat less strict in discipline. They have about 2,000 members. The most progressive body of Amish Mennonites, the Independent Mennonites of Illinois, have a number of churches and about 1,000 members. The Defenseless Mennonites date from the year 1866 when Jacob Egli, of Indiana, seceded from the Old Order Amish on the ground that definite conversion and religious experience had not a sufficiently prominent place in Amish teaching. They have a number of congregations. Their English organ is Zion's Call (Gridley, 111.). The Wisler Mennonites represent a schism from the Old Mennonites, from whom they seceded in 1870, believing them to be too progressive in such innovations as continued meetings and general aggressiveness. They have a few thousand members in the United States and Canada. John Horsch.
Bibliography: The reader should consult the literature under Anabaptists, while part of that under Baptists contains pertinent matter. The articles on the leaders
Menolog-ion Mercersburg Theology