Lewis James Heatwole

“ To a disinterested observer it appears remarkable that the dominating spirit in all Mennonite literature tends to deal with the serious, grave, and weighty things of life. With such a field of literature, which it can rightfully claim as its own, the Church as a denomination finds its mainstay and support for preventing the drift in the direction of the whirlpool of worldliness that has become so marked a feature with other denominations which have wandered far away from the principles of faith set forth by their founders, and which were once so vigorously upheld by their early adherents. ”

“ Even in such light the Church stands entirely out of its element, when aiding or abetting war, or in lending assistance to the kingdom of force in executing its powers in resisting the works of the unrighteous.
Individuals high up in the affairs of civil life often fail utterly to understand the creed that holds it to be wrong for the Christian to stand up in defense of his own country. ”

“ We believe that man is saved alone by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ; that he is justified from all things on the ground of His shed blood; that through the new birth he becomes a child of God, partaker of eternal life and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. ”

“ In all these sections the destructive effects of war became manifest in robbery, burnings, the slaughtering and driving away of live stock of all kinds, the plundering of homes with the abuse and humiliation of the inmates by an unrestrained soldiery which bespoke the awful verdict that war is relentless and cruel wherever its effects are felt, and that the path of strife and bloodshed ever leads to destruction and death. ”

“ The past is irrecoverable, the dim future may yet show up its uncertainties; but the present is still ours, and may God give our leaders a sustaining grace to meet the oppositions and perplexities of each day and year as they come. May our vision of the future never be dimmed or obscured by opportunities lost, or the failure to realize the rewards of duties well done. ”

“ In the first place we acknowledge us indebted to the most high God, who created Heaven and Earth, the only good Being, to thank him for all His great Goodness and manifold Mercies and Love through our Savior Jesus Christ who is come to save the Souls of Men, having all Power in Heaven and on Earth. ”

“ It seems unbelievable that so great a reformer as Martin Luther should refer to Menno Simons as a hedge-preacher, and one of those sneaking fellows, who associate themselves with laborers in the harvest fields, or the charcoal burners in the woods. ”

“ We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit: that He convinces the world of Sin, of righteousness and of judgment; that He indwells and comforts the believer, guides him into all truth, empowers for service and enables him to live a life of righteousness. ”

“ History records instances when the first ships of white men touched the shores of the New World, when the Indians at once recognized them as heaven-sent friends, and hastened to offer them the best things they had to eat in the form of cooked venison and fish, two of the choicest articles and most toothsome of foods to be found in our market squares today. ”

“ The history of the Mennonite Church is the story of an imperfect attempt to give first place to God and His will, to accept His revelation and precept in its entirety regardless of the cost. Human imperfections will cling to human endeavor, but God and His Word never failed. ”

“ A Church that has been able, in the face of such tremendous losses, with the insurmountable difficulties in the past that were to be overcome, and still hold fast to its integrity in spite of the great disadvantage of being scattered over twenty-six states and three Canadian provinces, must yet have a golden future before it. God surely has wonderful things in store for a people whose pathway in the past has been so strewn with misfortunes. ”

“ We believe that the Church is the body of Christ, composed of all those who, through repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have been born again and were baptized by one Spirit into one body, and that it is her divinely appointed mission to preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching obedience to all His commandments. ”

“ Members of the peace kingdom are supposed to be universally law-abiding and separate in operation, and hence as a kingdom of peace can never come in conflict with the kingdom of force. Should the kingdom of peace accomplish its great work of extending over all the earth as the waters cover the sea, so that the lawless and evil doing class would disappear, then the kingdom of force would become obsolete and useless. ”

“ Though the action of government authorities counseled the people against mob violence, so unpopular became the Mennonites in different sections of the country that numbers of them moved to the wilderness sections of Canada with their families, rather than to longer bear the taunts and jibes of unfriendly and hostile neighbors. ”

“ But should there ever be a turn in the tendency toward disunion, and both extreme conservatives and liberalists seek common ground, they will find a common meeting place on the ground now occupied by the parent body, officially known as "The Mennonite Church," which is about half-way between the extremes represented among Mennonite bodies. Concerning these, as well as members of all churches called Christian, we join in the prayer of our Lord "that they all may be one," even as the Father and the Son are one. ”

“ For generations before and after the Mexican War the United States government established a general law requiring every able-bodied citizen to take no less than four days of military training every year. By paying a fine of fifty cents a day for each absence from these training-days, which were known as muster drills, Mennonites avoided doing violence to conscience. ”

“ From beyond the cognizance of human history North America has been occupied by the copper-colored race, who, as a people, have been recognized by the earliest discoverers and explorers as Indians, supposing that the new found lands they occupied, was India, a portion of the eastern extremity of Asia. ”

“ We are conscious of the consideration our government has given to those men who on account of their religious convictions and faith could not serve in the military establishment, and now in the event that military training and service become universal and compulsory, we humbly plead that such provisions be made in the law that we may be exempted from military training and service. ”

“ The unparalleled treachery and savage ferocity that was continued for years between white men and red men forms a chapter in American history that is awful and heart-rending to contemplate. The Indians continued to claim the country as their own hunting grounds. ”

“ MENNONITES DURING THE CIVIL WAR
The military laws during the Civil War were very exacting, requiring that all men capable of service should enter the ranks at ages ranging from eighteen to forty-five years. Because of the extremity for man-power in the Southern Confederacy being reached at an early period of the War, the age limit was changed to seventeen to sixty years. In the North the laws were less stringent, as the man-power was greater, and it was not until toward the latter part of the war that draft laws were enforced. ”

“ Portraits that have appeared in histories of our time represent Menno Simons as wearing a full beard, the whole scalp being covered by a closely fitting skull-cap like that long worn by the monks and friars of the mediaeval Church. ”

“ We believe that hell is the place of torment, prepared for the devil and his angels, where with them the wicked will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire forever and ever and that heaven is the final abode of the righteous, where they will dwell in the fullness of joy forever and ever. ”

“ It is known that during the Revolutionary War Mennonites were located in considerable bodies in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Membership was confined largely to the class who were married and settled in life. Though the customs of their home life were in all respects contrary to the tactics of military training, single young men of Mennonite parentage found it difficult to keep out of the army. Early settlers, both old and young men, were given much to hunting, and of course were habitual gun carriers, and hence they were much accustomed to camp-life in the woods. ”

“ While we rejoice at the growth in numbers, we can not but share in the generally expressed regret that there are so many different bodies of Mennonites. Some have left the parent body on the ground that the Mennonite Church is too strict in its discipline, others on the ground that it is not strict enough. ”

“ Other reformers, like Luther, thought it right to go to war when one's country is invaded, but Menno Simons proclaimed to his hearers that under all circumstances it was wrong for believers to engage in carnal warfare. He also preached the doctrine of absolute separation between Church and state and upheld the principle that the believer must give to God the things that are God's, and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
Menno Simons was the reformer of the reformers and thus held them to teaching the "all things" of the Gospel. ”

“ We, the Mennonites of United States, Canada, and India, in General Conference assembled near Harrisonburg, Va., August 27-29, 1919, express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father "who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth," that peace has again returned to the warring nations with which we are identified, and that during the trying times of the past few years since we last met in session near Goshen, Ind., August 29, 30, 1917, He has kept us in His loving care and given us grace to preserve our testimony of peace to the world. ”

“ David Heatwole was the first deacon of the Mennonite Church in Virginia and Magdalene Weland Heatwole, his wife, was the great grandmother to the writer.
Other accounts of Indian outbreaks on Mennonite families might be given, but the circumstances are meagre in the details and not sufficiently authentic for record here. In a general way destruction to life and property by Indians against Mennonites are not so frequent, when compared with the numerous instances where people of other nationality and religious faith suffered greatly. ”

“ After a second generation had grown up, the number of Mennonites in America became greatly augmented by the Amish element that located in large numbers in Pennsylvania, as well as in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In the meantime the seeds of disunion began to germinate and grow to the extent that certain leaders took the unwise course of separating themselves from the main body, when in such case the foment and disturbance that was created, became the cause for certain adherents to withdraw voluntarily, or suffer themselves to be expelled from the main body. ”

“ Most Christian bodies recognize in the peace doctrine one of the noblest of Christian virtues, and. that, the exercise of universal love and good will toward all human beings is man's highest duty on earth. ”

“ We believe that is is the privilege of all believers to know that they have passed from death unto life; that God is able to keep them from falling, but that the obedience of faith is essential to the maintenance of one's salvation and growth in grace. ”

“ Our small Gift which we have given, we gave to the those who have the Power over us, that we may not offend them, as Christ taught us by the Tribute Penny. We heartily pray that God would govern all Hearts of our Rulers, be they high or low, to meditate those good Things which will pertain to OUR and THEIR Happiness. ”

“ One of the first and earliest traits of the Indian character was to court the friendship and good will of their pale-faced neighbors. It was not until the principles of peace were ruthlessly violated by white men that the animal spirit in the Indian became aroused to acts of fury, desperation, and bloodshed. ”

“ Of the many thousands who clamored for entrance into the field of strife, there are a large percent who aver that never again could they be induced to go into the ranks of the army because the solemn conviction has come to them that war is un-Christian, destructive and murderous. ”

“ The first is divinely appointed to hold in check the works of the evil doer and to preserve the life and dwelling place of all who temporarily abide in the world and are yet subjects of the kingdom of peace. ”

“ We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin—the perfect God-man; that He was without sin, the divinely appointed substitute and representative of sinful man, paying the penalty for man's sins by His death on the cross, making the only adequate atonement for sin by the shedding of His blood, thus reconciling man to God ”

“ Whenever the Indians were able to recognize nonresistant and peace-loving people, special care was taken to make distinction between them and others with whom they were on the war-path. In evidence of this we have the acount of friendship and deep sympathy shown to the Mennonites in the Schoharie Valley of New York in the year 1714, also those in Lancaster and other counties in Pennsylvania. ”

“ From this we see, that, according to the example, life, and doctrine of Christ, we are not to do wrong, or cause offense or vexation to any one; but to seek the welfare and salvation of all men; also, if necessity should require it, to flee, for the Lord's sake, from one city to another, and suffer the 'spoiling of our goods,' rather than give offense to any one: and if we are struck on our 'right cheek, rather to turn the other also' than to revenge ourselves or return the blow. ”

“ We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the bodily resurrection of all men, both of the just and the unjust of the just to the resurrection of life, and of the unjust to the resurrection of condemnation. ”

“ That we continue our prayers in behalf of the rulers of our land and all others in authority, continue to pray for the peace of nations; that we maintain a calmness of mind and heart that naturally accompanies a trust in God; that we refrain from uncharitable criticism in any form, and avoid heated controversy with those who do not agree with us on points of doctrine, missing no opportunity of complying with the Scriptural injunction of returning good for evil. ”

“ We believe that we are called with a holy calling to a life of separation from the world and its follies, sinful practices and methods; further that it is the duty of the Church to keep herself aloof from all movements which seek the reformation of society, independent of the merits of the death of Christ and the experience of the new birth. ”

“ Recognizing with gratefulness the consideration given our religious convictions, as previously stated, we take this opportunity of giving expression of our attitude concerning the issue as it now confronts us. As a Christian people we have always endeavored to support the government under which we lived in every capacity consistent with the teaching of the Gospel as we understand it, and will continue to do so; but according to this teaching we cannot participate in war in any form ”