“ He saw that both the Anabaptists and the German Reformers generally had made a great mistake in resorting to force for the propagation and defence of their religious tenets. Menno, therefore, advocated a policy of non-resistance and of absolute reliance on the divine protection, and on the convincing power of truth in itself. ”

“ Menno’s views strikingly resembled and anticipated those of the Society of Friends, who came into existence nearly one hundred years after his decease. The Mennonites have contributed so largely to local and civic prosperity, in various districts, that even German emperors and Russian czars have invited them to settle in their dominions, on the express condition that they should, amongst other privileges, enjoy absolute exemption from military service. ”

“ The Anabaptists, like the Cromwellian Puritans of the following century, were active partisans of Jewish and Old Testament modes of dealing with their enemies; so Menno had to withdraw from his new friends. On the other hand, the German Reformers treated him with even more decided contempt, so that speedily poor Menno found himself, like his divine Master, “despised and rejected of men.” ”