CHAPTER IX. INTERNAL ORGANISATION. CHAPTER IX. INTERNAL ORGANISATION. It can hardly be expected that Stundism, springing from the midst of the most ignorant and debased peasantry in Europe, should not exhibit a number of the blemishes which are the inevitable outcome of its lowly origin. As a well-known Russian writer in a Moscow paper says: "Stundism springs from the lowest strata of our peasants, from people who have no land, who are poverty-stricken, who have no authority in our village communes." With such material from which to draw its supplies, and further hindered by the melancholy circumstance that only a minute proportion of the Russian peasantry can read and write, it is no wonder that the Stundist movement at first sight seems to be altogether lacking in method and order. But even were every other circumstance in its favour, the fact that its growth from its earliest beginnings onward has been unscrupulously interfered with by Church and State, and every effort made to unite its scattered parts thwarted, will go far to account for the seeming want of cohesion which its most thorough admirers must confess is the grave drawback of the movement. But notwithstanding all the apparent confusion, all the lack of concentration, the Stundists have actually done wonders in the matter of organisation, and their chaotic condition is more apparent than real. Arising out of the present conditions of Russian peasant life there is a certain characteristic which tends to keep the widely-scattered Stundist communities in close touch with one another. We allude to the inveterate love of wandering about from place to place implanted in every Russian's breast. This in itself leads to a rough sort of organisation. Each leading Stundist in the country knows and has visited nearly every other leader, and maintains with all his comrades a fairly regular correspondence. This was also, as far as we can learn, the method pursued by the earliest founders of Christianity, and it seems the only possible method in countries cursed with persecution and ignorance. The epistles of the Stundist leaders have been quite as effective in their way as the epistles of the early apostles, and much of the esprit and energy that characterise their body is due to the influence of these writings—writings that pass on from hand to hand, from village to village, from province to province, until they are frayed, and worn out, and illegible. Were it not all so pathetic it would be amusing to note how the Scriptural style is paraphrased by the Stundist teachers. A letter in our possession addressed to "The Church at T——," an insignificant village in the province of Kief, begins thus : "To the beloved in Christ, the brethren of the church in T——, greeting." And then it warns them : "See, brethren, that as your church has sounded for ten years as with the voice of a trumpet, that that sound be not silenced." Another epistle, to the church in P——, tells the brethren there that they "must gird their loins for the great fight. For the enemy will rejoice in your weakness, and if you set not your house in order, great will be the confusion and the danger. See that your elders be men well spoken of, and do not forget the poor and the oppressed when you assemble together on the Lord's Day." It was early felt by Karl Bonekemper, Ratushni, Riaboshapka, and others of the first founders of Stundism, that without some sort of organisation the movement would be in danger of losing much of its vigour. It is to the first-named of these that Stundism owes much of its present cohesiveness. He began with the Russian villages in the immediate neighbourhood of his own colony of Rohrbach, and selecting the man who, in his judgment, was the fittest and most popular, ordained him presbyter of the locality. As the movement spread into all the corners of the province of Kherson the work of the first presbyter got beyond all control, and Bonekemper, calling a number of the leading spirits to Rohrbach, five or six more presbyters and deacons were ordained, and the country over which Stundism had then spread was so parcelled out among them, that each had the district for which he was peculiarly adapted. But it was soon discovered that office-bearers appointed in this way did not give general satisfaction. There was a universal desire among the Stundists that each community should have a voice in the appointment of its own preacher. This was exactly what Bonekemper wished, and from that time forward nearly all of the Stundist elders, deacons, and other officers have been elected by the communities they serve. Roughly speaking, it may be said that the Stundists possess two officers—the deacon, serving one community, and the presbyter, one or more. The deacon is to a certain extent a subordinate officer; but a man need not serve as a deacon before his appointment as presbyter. Both deacon and presbyter must be men of tact, discretion, and skill in the settlement of disputed points. They are expected, more-over, to be men exceptionally well versed in the Scriptures, and gifted with considerable exegetical power. The possession of special oratorical talent is not much regarded—it is the possession of nearly every Stundist we have met. The duties of deacon and presbyter often overlap; but in general terms they may be thus stated. The deacon conducts divine service in the absence of the presbyter, and also manages the Sunday-school, where one exists. All the church books are in his keeping; records of births, deaths, marriages; lists of the poor needing assistance, and of the well-to-do who are willing to assist. He is usually a young man for whose zeal this outlet has been found. The presbyter is a man of greater experience in affairs, looked up to by the whole district, whose decisions are held in the highest respect. His immediate duties are the conduct of public worship, and of services connected with deaths and marriages. He must visit frequently all the villages in his district where the brethren may be scattered, and this in such a cautious way as not to excite the suspicion of the authorities. The cash accounts of the various communities are usually kept by him, and from time to time he gives an account of his management of the funds to the assembled brethren or their delegates. One of the most important duties of the presbyter is to conduct a correspondence with the presbyters of other districts, and to be the medium between any brethren he may know who are in gaol or in exile and their relatives. Of course, strict adherence to these arrangements is not always obtained, but this is a sketch of the model which is generally sought after, and which is most popular.[5] It should be added that ordination by laying on of hands is not always the rule among the Stundists; and the further remark will also be useful, that neither in dress nor in occupation is a Stundist presbyter or deacon to be distinguished from his fellows. His dress is that of the ordinary peasants of his neighbourhood, and his occupation is generally tilling the soil. He receives no stipend of any description, except an occasional allowance for travelling expenses. There is no such thing among the Stundists as courts of appeal. The Presbyterian system of session, synod and general assembly, with their several appellate jurisdictions, has nothing at all answering to it among the Russian Protestants. Nor is it at all likely that questions could arise among them calling for the exercise of the authority of a theological court. As we shall have occasion later on to show, Stundist theology is an exceedingly simple affair, and requires no buttressing with the authority of ecclesiastical courts. If a Stundist presbyter is deemed unsound on some doctrine held by the body as an essential, he is first warned and then excluded from communion. If he is a strong man, he takes his community with him, and the community is then known by his name. Among these Russian brethren quite a number of such offshoots exist—all of them sound on the great central truths of Christianity, but differing on what most sensible people agree in considering nonessentials.