mittee of the Yearly-meeting, it hath a general care of whatever may arise, during the intervals of that meeting, affecting the society, and requiring immediate attention; particularly of those circumstances which may occasion an application to Government. There is not in any of the meetings which have been mentioned any president, as we believe that Divine Wisdom alone ought to preside; nor hath any member a right to claim preeminence over the rest. The office of clerk, with a few exceptions, is undertaken voluntarily by some member; as is also the keeping of the records. Where these are very voluminous, and require a house for their deposit, (as is the case in London, where the general records of the society in Great Britain are kept,) a clerk is hired to have the care of them; but except a few clerks of this kind, and persons who have the care of meeting-houses, none receive any stipend or gratuity for their services in our religious society. Thus have we given a view of the foundation and establishment of our discipline; by which it will be seen, that it is not (as hath been frequently insinuated) merely the work of modern times; but was the early care and concern of our pious predecessors. We cannot better close this short sketch of it, than by observing, that if the exercise of discipline should in some instances appear to press hard upon those who, neglecting the monitions of divine counsel in their hearts, are also unwilling to be accountable to their brethren; yet, if that great leading and indispensable rule, enjoined by our Lord, be observed by those who undertake to be active in it, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,' "4 it will prevent the censure of the church from falling on any thing but that which really obstructs the truth. Discipline will then promote, in an eminent degree, that love of our neighbour which is the mark of discipleship, and without which a profession of love to God, and to his cause, is a vain pretence. "He," said the beloved disciple, "that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also." 5 house-rent for clerk, and his wages for keeping records, the passage of ministers who visit their brethren beyond sea, and some incidental charges. Matt. vii. 17. CHAPTER VI. HISTORY OF THE MENNONITES OR ANABAPTISTS. § 1. The adverse and the prosperous circumstances of the Mennonites. - § 2. Union established among them. § 3. Sects of the Anabaptists.-§ 4. External form of the Mennonite church.-§ 5. The Uckewallists.-§ 6. The Waterlanders.§ 7. The Galenists and Apostoolians. § 1. THE Mennonites, after numberless trials and sufferings, at length obtained, in this century, the much desired peace and tranquillity: but they obtained it very slowly, and by degrees. For although they were admitted to the privileges of citizens among the Dutch in the preceding century, yet they could not prevail on the English, the Swiss, and the Germans, either by prayers or arguments, to grant them the same privileges, nor to revise the laws in force against them. The enormities of the old Anabaptists were continually floating in the vision of the magistrates; and it did not seem to them possible, that men, who hold that a Christian can never take an oath, without committing great sin, and who think that Christ allows no place in his kingdom for magistrates and civil punishments, could fulfil the duties of good citizens. And hence, not a few examples may be collected from this century, of Anabaptists who were put to death, or suffered other punishments.1 At the present time, having exhibited numerous proofs of their probity, they live in peace, not only among the Dutch, but also among the English, the Germans, and the Prussians; and : The enactments of the Swiss against the Mennonites, in this century, are stated by Jo. Bapt. Ottius, Annales Anabapt. p. 337, &c., and in some other places and those of the year 1693, by Jo. Henry Hottinger, Schweizerische Kirchenhistorie, vol. i. p. 1101. And that, in this eighteenth century, they have not been treated more leniently in the canton of Bern, appears from Herm. Schyn's Historia Mennonitar. cap. x. p. 289, &c., where may be seen letters of the States-General of the United Provinces interceding with that canton in their behalf. In the Palatinate they were grievously persecuted in 1694: when the letters of William III., the king of Great Britain, hushed the tempest. See Herm. Schyn. loc. cit. 265, &c. Some instances of Anabaptists being put to death in England are mentioned by Gilb. Burnet, Hist. of his own Times, vol. i. support themselves and families, by their honest industry, partly as labouring men and artificers, and partly by merchandise. § 2. The more wise among them, readily perceiving that this external peace would not be very firm and durable, unless their intestine contests and their old altercations about unimportant matters were terminated, applied themselves, from time to time, with great care, to appease these discords. Nor have their efforts been without effect. A large part of the Flandrians, the Germans, and the Frieslanders, renounced their contests, in 1630, at Amsterdam, and entered into a union; each retaining, however, some of its peculiar sentiments. Afterwards, in 1649, the Flandrians in particular, and the Germans, between whom there had formerly been very much disagreement, renewed this alliance, and strengthened it with new guarantees. All these Anabaptists went over to the more moderate part of the sect, and softened down and improved the old institutions of Menno and his successors. § 3. The whole sect of Anabaptists, therefore, forms at the present day two large communities, namely, the Refined, that is, the more strict, who are also called the old Flemings or Flandrians; and the Gross, that is, the more lax and mild, who are also commonly called Waterlanders. The reasons of these names have been already given. Each of these communities is subdivided into several minor parties. The Refined, in particular, besides embracing the two considerable parties of Groningenists, (who are so called, because they hold their stated conventions at Gröningen,) and the Dantzigers, or Prussians, (so named because they have adopted the customs and church government of the Prussians,) contains a great number of smaller and more obscure parties, which disagree on various subjects, and especially in regard to discipline, customs, and rules of life, and are united in nothing, but in the name and in the common opinions of the early Anabaptists. All these Refined Anabaptists are true disciples of Menno Simonis; and they retain, though not all with equal strictness, his doctrines respecting the body of Christ, the washing of strangers' feet as 2 Herman Schyn. Plenior deductio Historia Mennonit. p. 41, 42. 3 [The Gröningenists or old Flemings have gradually laid aside their ancient strictness, both in regard to church-dis cipline, and the practice of rebaptizing. At present, they think and teach, just as in the general Anabaptist church. This is a note of the Dutch translator of this History. Tr.] Christ enjoined, the excluding from the church and avoiding as pestilential not only sinners, but also those who even slightly deviate from the ancient simplicity and are stained with some appearance of sin. At the present day some of their congregations are altering by little and little, and slowly approximating to more moderate sentiments and discipline. § 4. All the Anabaptists have, first, Bishops or Elders who uniformly preside in the consistory [or church session], and have the sole power of administering baptism and the Lord's supper; secondly, Teachers, who preach to the congregation; and lastly, Deacons and Deaconesses. The ministry [or churchsession], which governs the church, is composed of these three orders. The more weighty affairs are proposed and discussed in assemblies of the brethren. All ecclesiastical officers are chosen by the suffrages of the brethren; and, except the deacons, are ordained by prayer and the imposition of hands. § 5. Among the minor parties of the more strict [the Refined] Anabaptists, that from which its founder, Uke Walles, a Frieslander, is called the Uckewallists or Ockwallists, has obtained a celebrity above others. This rustic and very illiterate man not only wished to have the whole ancient and severe discipline of Menno retained entire and unaltered, but also taught in the year 1637, in company with John Leus, that there is reason to hope for the salvation of Judas and the others, who laid violent hands on our Saviour. To give some plausibility and importance to this error, he pretended, that the period between the birth of our Saviour and the descent of the Holy Ghost, which divides, as it were, the Old Testament from the New, was a time of darkness and ignorance, during which the Jews were destitute of all light and divine assistance: and hence he would infer, that the sins and wickednesses which they committed, during this period, were in a great measure excusable, and could not merit severe punishment from the justice of God. Neither the Mennonites nor the magistrates of Gröningen could endure this idle fancy: the former excommunicated him, and the latter banished him from the city. He removed therefore into the adjacent province of East Friesland; and collected a large number of disciples, whose descendants still remain in See Simeon Fred. Rues, Nachrichten von dem Gegenwärtigen Zustande der Mennoniten; Jena, 1743, 8vo. 5 the territory of Gröningen, and in Friesland, Lithuania, and Prussia, and hold their meetings apart from the other Mennonites. Whether they still profess that sentiment which brought so much trouble upon their master, does not appear; for they have very little intercourse with other people. But it is certain that they tread, the most faithfully of all, in the steps of Menno, their common preceptor, and exhibit, as it were, a living picture of the first age of Mennonitism." If any one join them from other sects of Christians, they baptize him anew. Their dress is rustic; nay, worse than rustic: for they will tolerate no appearance or shadow of elegance and ornaTheir beard is long; their hair uncombed; their countenance very gloomy; and their houses and furniture only such as absolute necessity demands. Whoever deviates in the least from this austerity, is forthwith excommunicated, and shunned by all as a pest. Overseers of the church, that is, their bishops, who are different from their teachers, must be approved by all their congregations. The washing of feet they regard as a divine rite. They can the more easily keep up this discipline, as they carefully provide, that not a breath of science or learning shall contaminate their pious ignorance. ment. § 6. The Gross or more moderate Anabaptists consist of the Waterlanders, Flandrians, Frisians, and Germans, who entered into the union already mentioned. They are generally called Waterlanders. They have forsaken the more rigid and singular opinions of Menno, (whom, however, most of them respect and venerate,) and have approximated to the customs and opinions [It is incorrect to represent the followers of Ucke Walles as constituting a particular sect, bearing the name of Uckewallists or Oeckewallists. He was merely a preacher among the old Flemings. He may have found some individual persons that would profess his doctrines; but there is no evidence before us, that his particular opinions were embraced by any congregation whatever, and much less by the whole party of the old Flemings, or by any considerable part of it. Besides, his doctrines have been unknown among them now for many years. "I testify (writes one of their teachers) that it is not known to me, that there is now any church or congregation among the Mennonites, either here, in East Friesland, or any where else, that has received or professed these particular and absurd opinions." H. Waerma, Beknopt Ontwerp, in the Preface § 24. Emden, 1744, 8vo. So the Oeckewallists, as they are called, or the Gröningensians and old Flemings, are no longer particular sects among the Baptists. See also note 3, above. This likewise is a note of the Dutch translator of Mosheim. Tr.] Jo. Bapt. Ottius, Annales Anabaptist. p. 266. Herman Schyn, Plenior Deductio Histor. Mennonit. p. 43. Joach. Christ. Jehring, Diss. de Ukonis Walles Vita et Fatis; in the Biblioth. Bremensis Theol. Philol. tom. viii. p. 113, and the preface to the History of the Mennonites, (in German,) p. 11, &c., and the appendix to the same, p. 234, &c. |