FOES OF MODERNISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 13

FOES OF MODERNISM.

STRANGE FARMERS' SECT. MENNONITES OF ONTARIO. SURVIVAL OF REFORMATION. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TORONTO. July 1.0. A hundred years ago bands of "Pennsylvania Dutch," dissatisfied with conditions \ in their native or adopted State, trekked westward, crossed the Niagara River, and penetrated into the heart of tho Ontario forest then first opened for settlement. Their Biblical inspiration was to be found in Romans NIL, 2nd verse: "And bo ye not conformed to this world; but bo ye transformed by tho renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and -perfect will of God." In other words, they were Nonconformists, not in the sectarian sense usually implied, but in reference to the customs and pleasures of the world. Irs the heart of the primeval forest it seemed that they would be secure from the temptations of civilisation and protected from distractions that would keep them from being transformed in the renewing of their minds. Isolation, quickly broken by highways and railroads, is now completely shattered. The descendants of the original recluses populate one of the richest counties in Ontario directly in the course of tho main streams of traffic. Motor tourists and joy-riders by the thousand daily tear past their farms. Great centres of civilisation, prosperous and blatantly modern in tastes and pleasures, like Kitchener and Waterloo, have risen in their midst. But these Nonconformists of a 100 years ago are Nonconformists still. In these days when Fundamentalists are seeking their citadels in face of tho assaults of modernism, they will find nowhere in the world a stronger citadel of fundamentalism than in Waterloo County, Ontario. Upwards of Thirty Sect 3. These descendants of the Pennsylvania Dutch are Mennonites, the famous sect of peasant farmers that had its origin in Germany and Holland and Russia at the time of tho Reformation. So individualistic are they, that among tho twenty or thirty thousand of them that live in Waterloo County there are more than -30 sects or factions. Each differs from the other in some outward form, though they are united in their main tenets, which are sufficiently distinctive. Ono of the leading sects are the Amish Mennonites. The men of this faction wear no buttons, but only hooks and eyes on their severe black clothes. They shavo only their upper lips, a custom obviously brought from the Pennsylvania countryside. They wear wide black hats. For the girls and women there is no thought of bobbed hair or knee length skirts. The Mennonite females may be seen thronging the city stores on Saturday afternoons with their long black skirts still touching the floor and their drab black bonnets covering their hair and shading their faces. Modern inventions, which have revolutionised life for tho ordinary streams of life have not been able to touch these Mennonites. They own no motor-can Refusing to have music in their home, radio sets and phonographs are unknown t > them. Many of the factions decline to patronise the telephone, though some permit them. Dancing, smoking and card playing are all banned unequivocally. The Martin brotherhood, another important sect, will not have tops to their buggies. They will not build roofs for their horses. Tlirift and Prosperity. These evidences of self denial are not occasioned by poverty, for the Mennonites of Ontario furnish the world with ac example of thrift and competent husbandry. Everywhere they display evidences of abundant prosperity. One may travel for hundreds of miles through their townships and not find a brokendown building or a neglected fence. An a rule inventions, which increase their industrial efficiepcy, are adopted, though ■' here and there may be found enthusiasts who still harvest with the scythe and cradle and thresh the grain with tho primitive flail. Gregory Clark, in a Toronto newspaper, tells of his efforts to learn the basic creed of this curious survival of the atmosphere of the Reformation period, and whether the tide of modern civilisation is at last breaking down the barriers that separate it from the rest of the world. Pastor Henry Honsberger, of the Mennonite Church in Waterloo, a fine grey brick church, but still preserving the barn-like simplicity of the primitive church, who belongs neither to the Amish nor the Martin sect, but to tho Primitive Mennonites, told him that the primary tenets of the sect are non-resistance and nonconformity to the world. And they believe in the ordinance of feet washing at Communion. It was. non-resistance, not their German blood, that kept them from going to war. It also prevents them from taking oaths or serving in public offices, though some are now going on school boards. \ Ordinance of Feet Washing. It is the tenet of non-conformity that causes the division into sects. They cannot always agree on what non-conformity should consist of. Pastor Honsberger says he believes it to be more of the spirit than in the outward semblance. He is a modernist Mennonite. But even in his city church the women sit on one side and the men on the other. The service of Holy Communion is rendered with the accompaniment of feet-washing. The women retire to a room set apart for themselves at this ceremony and the men remain in the church. "Surely this ordinance of feet-washing is ( as definitely and specifically laid down in Scripture as tho I'est of the ordinance of Communion," said Mr. Honsberger. "This do ye after Me." Who is there to decide which of the Lord's ordinances we shall follow and which we shall lay aside. For example, in the eleventh chapter of Corinthians 1., verse 5, it is written: "But every woman that prayeth or prophesicth with her head uncovered dis honoureth her head; for that is even all one as if she were shaven." So it is the unfailing custom of Mennonite women to have a tiny muslin cap which they put on in church as soon as they remove their bonnets and which they wear w the house at grace and during prayers at all times. Another peculiar ordinanco is the kiss of charity. The men greet men with a kiss. The shaving of the upper lip has some relation to this form of greeting. The kiss of charity is observed even by the more liberl.l factions of the primitive. Mennonites. Sanctity of a Man's Word. They do not believe in life insurance and only certain sects believe in fire insurance, though they are careful to form their own group companies for insurance. "One of the laws of our community is,'" said Mr. Honsberger, "the sanctity of a man's word. Mennonites are known throughout tho world for their absolute honesty. We have recently held a series of missions in Kitchener and Waterloo and took in between 30 and 40 converts. These were mostly young people of both sexes and I imagine w ; e won most of them as the result of the Church union controversy and this fresh controversy over Fundamentalism. We are, of course, Fundamentalists of the first degree." Though divided into 32 factions, the Mennonites are united in their foreign missions, all contributing to tlm support of missionaries in India and South America^