The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1873-08-06
The Mennonifes.
From the Galveston Nows.l

EDITORS NEWS. AS we are to have
a colony Of the Mennonites in Texas,
the question is naturally asked: "Who
and what are the Mennonites 2" Your
correspondent has taken the trouble to
compile the following brief account OF
their origin and history, in the main,
taken from the article under that head
in the New American Encyclopedia"
The Mennonites are denomination
of Baptlsts, the followers ofone Memo
Simanis, who first organized the diff
ferent sects of the same faith into n
single society in Holland. 1t is gener-
ally believed that they have an orig
inal generic i'm common with all other
Dutch Baptists, from the Waldenses.
The denomination first found pro-
tector in William of Orange.
During the seventeenth and eight
zenith centuries, in Holland, they had
considerable accessions to their body
by immigration from Switzerland and
Germany, so that about 1850 they num-
bered near 100000. In 1875 they es-
tablished Il theological university Mt
Harlem, which in great measure
had n tendency to remove those salient
barriers between them and other FRO
tcstantS. In 1850 they gave out their
strength in Holland Mt ~ congrega-
tons and $40 ministers, among whom
We're such lights MS Doctors NanGlise
and Hoekstra, who take rank among
the most learned theological authors
in Holland. During the seventeenth
century they were very numerous IN
Germany, and in Moravia alone they
amounted to 10000; but since that
time they have met with much perse-
cutiOn, and in some instances have
been entirely excluded from the fran
chises of citizenship, and not until the
revolution of 1913 were they granted
full civil rights, at which time one of
their number-H. Van Beckerath-was
called to administer the finances OF the
German empire. Their condition III
Germany has never been satisfactory,
and in 1858 Hanover went so far as to
exclude Mennonite from its Chamber
of Representatives
About the close of the last century,
the German Mennonites established a
colony in the south of Russia, where
several thousand ofthem found quiet
retreat, and their number was rapidly
increased by immigration from Germa-
ny. They obtained II charter from the
Emperor Paul, granting them freedom
from military service forever. Ihe
Mennonites established colonies in the
United States as early as 1883, ana
about Germantown, Pennsylvania, IN
l70S, they had erected a publicmeeting
and school houses; and in 172S they
published, in Philadelphia, their Dutch
Confession of Faith" rs means or
protection against misrepresentation.
They have since spread over several OF
the surrounding States, and are found
in considerable force in Maryland,
New York, Ohio and Canada, and III
1869 amounted, in the United States, to
12S,000.
The Mennonites are not harmo-
NOUS people, and many of their trouo,
les have origin in their own internal
dissensions, and they are far rom be-
ing united to this day.
There is in the United States He-
formed Mennonite and II Hooker Nell
MONTE Society, differing in some re-
spects from the ancient sect.
In doctrine and usage they have Gus
toms in common with other Baptist
churches, but they are utterly averse to
war, to oaths and to capital punish
ment, all of which they regard as i'll
consistent with Christianity. They
also differ with other Baptists in the
mode Of baptism, rs they baptize by
sprinkling, not by immersion. They
observe the ordinance of feet washing,
and do not allow their members to
marry outside of the church.
The rights of the colony in Russia
under their charter from the Emperor
Paul being threatened, orperhaps taken
away, the Russian Mennonites have to
look out for new home, and 1t is these
that are proposing to emigrate to Texas.
This colony in 1859 was set down by
the Mennonites themselves as %, 40,
and does not now probably amount to
more than $4,000 in the aggregate,
am not aware that the Mennonites
have ever had general history of their
denomination published in any Ian
guage. Respectfully, +.
Bryan, Texas, August 2, 1873.