The times., 1898-11-09

sian sect. the Doukhobortsi Is to take
definite shape now following the arrival
here of Mr.. Mode, the rich Englishman
who has become known by reason of his
residence >for some time recently with
Count Leo Toistoi, whom he greatly ad-
mires. says. the New York Sun.
Mr. Mode went Immediately upon his
arrival to the residence of former As
sembiyman Ernest II. Crosby, at Rhins-
beck. who is one OF the leading men on
this side of the Atlantic in the enterprise.
Associated with Mr. Crosby are William
Dean Howells, William Lloyd Gar. lion,
of Boston; the Rev. DIR. George Dana
Boardman. of Philadelphia; Jane Ad-
dams, of Hull House, Chicago; n. o. Mel
son. of St Louis; Bolton Hall, and j. N.
SeIiglnan This committee was organized
three weeks ago in Philadelphia. Mr.
Seigman is its treasurer. The commit
tees purpose is to raise the necessary
money to import the Doukhobortsi ana
establish them on farm land in the West.
The committees work will be carried On
coniointIy with the efforts of intel estei
people III England, and the plan oil opera
tions will be formulated after conferences
with Mr. Mode, who is famiiiar posh
with what is being done in Ensl.Iad ara
what has been accomplished IN hussi'
under the direction of Tolstoi
IL is To.stoi who has at last secured the
Russian governments permission for the
Doukhobortsi to emigrate, after they
have been victims of nearly century
of Intellectual persecution. That permis-
sion has only lately been granted, ana IL
may be availed OF only within TWO years
of the date of issue. When 1t was grant
ed Count Tolstoi wrote to New YORK
man. who it is understood. is Mr.. crosby.
conveying the information and suggesting
that something be done toward assisting
or rather enabling, the Dourknobortsi TO
take advantage of the Cars gracious
ness. Correspondence followed between
various interested people in the United
States. England, and Russia, with the re-
suit of the formation of the committee
already named.
When IL is said that the Doukhobortsi
are sort of differentiated Quakers, who,
among a multiplicity of curious tenets
hold so firmly to the belief that force
against men is wrong that they will die
rather than bear arms il will readily be
understood why they are obnoxious to
the Russian government. Their charac-
interest. The origin of the sect has been
traced to en- English Quaker. His follow
ers first became known to the inquisi-
! torial imperial police in 1850 when they
We're found at Molochnaya in the pro-
vince of Taurida. near the Caspian Sea.
| They do not believe in personal God, but
they believe that God is in the soul or is
the soul of every man. Strange to say,
they do not believe that God is in the
| soul at the birth of the human infant
] but that the child is born soulless matter.
the soul entering the body between the
4 sixth and the fifteenth year, and that the
/ soul is a faithful image of God. They
have strangely modified the idea of the
! Trinity. and proclaim that in the memory
| Is God the Father, in the reason God
! the Son and in the will God the Holy
| Ghost. Christ's mission of redemption is
abrogated in their belief that Adams fall
| was merely an historical fact that it was
| his own individual trouble and entaiied
no load of sin upon those who have come
| after him. They assert that each man
rises or falls by his own acts. They ad-
| nit the existence of Christ as : sood man
| only. They believe in neither hell nor
| paradise, resurrection of the body nor the
destruction of the visible world, but hold
| that the physical nature will exist for
ever, the difference between now and the
future being that the good will overcome
| the sinners eventually and possess the
world to themselves. That Is their mil
| lennium.
They consider themselves the only true
worshipers of God, and the rest of man.
kind as idolatrous and superstitious.
But they promulgated a comprehensive
| idea of their true Church." which they
say Is composed of all those whom God
| himself has called from among the world
| and ordained to walk in the path of ght.
| These chosen ones cannot be recognized
| by any peculiar sign, nor are they asso-
ciated with any outward religion. but
among them are included men of all reli-
| gions. all races and all tongues. So one
| may be of the church and perhaps not
suspect it, it would seem. if one have not
wonderful spiritual insight. The name Of
the sect, translated into English, is
Champions of the Spirits.'' They ac-
cept the whole of the Scriptures. bur hold
| the Old and New Testaments merely to
preigure, in some spiritual way, the mys-
| teries which are accomplished in the soul
| OF every faithful man.
| Their respect for man as such Is so
great that they deny even the authority
| of father over child, and they regard the
| subjugation of men b. force as sacrilege.
| In their eyes the Russian government is.
| of course. an abomination. but they e
| not revolutionists. On the contrary, they
are the most peaceful citizens of Rus IL.
They pay their taxes scrupu.ously. They
don't even use harsh language.
Upon discovering them, the police de-
| clared them criminals because heretics.
| Their systematic persecution began un-
| der Paul /, who issued a ukase August
| 2S 1899 banishing them all to the ST.
berian mines for life, they to be there
| set at the hardest work and the chains
| never to be removed from their hands
| and legs This was done that they
might feel sharply, in their own bodies,
that there are authorities on earth, es-
| tablished by God for the defense of the
good and the chastisement of villains like
| themselves"
There were at that time 1900 of the
| Doukhobortsi Under Alexander 1 this
persecution ceased. He permitted them
to have In Siberia their own farms, which
they made to flourish. He then ordered
that they be enrolled in the army, and
decreed that any unqualified should bs
sent to the worst mines in Siberia, those
of Nerchinsk They did not decline to per-
form the peaceful, duties required in the
service, but refused absolutely to bear
arms. They were. nevertheless, placed il
the Caucasian corps then engaged in per
manent war with the Circassian tribe
When face to face with the enemy they
refused to march or to handle arms, ant
the most awful corporal punishment
failed to make them do so. All were
then sent to the Nerchinsk mines.
The sect grew in spite of everything
l 4 Q.n.