The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1873-08-09
Tie Mcnnonites.
from the Galvcsto, Ncws.l


EDIToRs NEws.--As We are to have
u colony Of the Mennon!tes in Texas,
the question i naturally asked: "Who
and what are the Mennonltcs ~ 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 "Ncw American Encyclopedia"
The Mennonites are denomination
of Baptists, the followers ofone Memo
Simanis, who first organized the diff
Gerent sects of the same faith into u
single society in Holland. 1t is gener-
ally believed that they have an orig
inal generic in common with all other
Dutch Baptists, from the Waldenses.
The denomination first found pro-
tcctor in William of Orange.
| During the seventeenth and eight
ecnth centuries, in Holland, they had
! considerable accessions to their body
by immigration from Switzerland AM
Germany, so that about 1850 they num-
| bered near 100000. In 1875 they es-
tablished n theological university at
| HARLEM, which in great measure
had Il tendency to remove those salient
barriers between them and other Pro-
testants. In 1850 they gave out their
strength in Holland ut l27 congrega-
tions and 40 ministers, among whom
were such lights as Doctors NanGilse
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
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-I. Van Beckerath-was
called to administer the finances of the
German empire. Their condition in
Germany has never been satisfactory,
and in 1868 Hanover went so far as to
exclude Mennonite from its Chamber
of Representatives
About the close of the last century,
the German MennOnitcs established u
colony in the south of Russia, where
several thousand ofthem found gust
retreat, and their number was rapidly
increased by immigration from Germa-
ny. They obtained q charter from the
Emperor Paul, granting them freedom
from military service forever. The
Mennonites established colonies in the
United States rs early as 1858, and
about Germantown, Pennsylvania, in
17OS, they had erected public meeting
and schOOl-hOuscs; and in l12S they
published, in Philadelphia, their Dutch
" Confession of Faith" as a means of
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 in
1859 amounted in the United States, to
12S, 200.
The Mennonites are not harmo-
nious people, and many of their troub-
les have origin in their own internal
and they are far from be-
ing united 20 this day.
There is in the United States a Re-
formed Mennonite and a Hooker Men
MONTE Society, differing in some re-
spccts from the ancient sect.
In doctrine and usage they have cus-
toms in common with other Baptist
but they are utterly averse to
war; 20 oaths and to capital punish
ment, all of which they regard as in
consistent with Christianity. They
alSO uiller Wlln Olner baptlStS III tnc
mode of baptism, as they baptize by
sprinliling, 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 Mcnnonitcs have to
look out for new home, and it is these
that are proposing to emigrate to Texas.
This colony in 1853 was set down by
the Mennonites themselves as 2S,770,
and does not now probably amount to
more than $4,000 in the aggregate.
am not aware that the Mennoutes
have ever had a general history oftheir
published in any Ian
guagC. Respectfully, L.
Bryan, Texas, August ., 1873.