CHAPTER XIV.
PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS.
We have now arrived at the conclusion of these sketches descriptive of the history, progress, and inner life of probably the most remarkable religious movement since the Reformation. From its earlier beginnings, exactly thirtyfive years ago, in an insignificant German colony, from the conversion of the Russian peasant Onishenko, the seeds of native Protestantism have taken firm root, and have spread outwards and upwards into a mighty growth. We have followed the course of the wonderful movement from village to village and from province to province, from the notable day when the light came to the simple peasant of Osnova, until we could number its adherents at a quarter of a million. Indeed, in placing the number of Stundists at this figure, we have in all probability underestimated them. M. Dalton, a Lutheran clergyman, long resident in St. Petersburg, and whose knowledge of religious movements in Russia is very considerable, goes so far as to say that they are two millions strong. But it is not alone to the actual number of professing Stundists that we are to look in estimating the force and extent of the movement which they have inaugurated in Russia. The idea which first found a place in the minds and souls of a few peasants in the province of Kherson, although its progress and growth has always been accompanied by persecution of a most infamous description, has now gained its first recognition; although its adherents are scorned and flouted, their belief has become a subject of popular discussion, and is largely in the minds of the multitude. Compared with the enormous population of the Russian empire, the number of Stundists, whether two millions or only a quarter of a million, is insignificant; but the spirit of Stundism has spread, and is still spreading into regions as ultra-Orthodox as the heart of the most bigoted Greek Churchman could desire, and is slowly but surely leavening the whole mass. If we consider what the religious life of Russia promises to be, and compare this with what it was a quarter of a century ago, we must thank Stundism for the altered state of affairs. There is still room for enormous reforms—indeed, only the fringe of the matter has been touched; but what little has been done is largely owing to the new spirit of which the pious Bible readers of the Southern steppes were the means of breathing into the national sentiment. In the light of the Stundist revival it was soon seen that the old village clergy were utterly unable to cope with the healthful spirit of inquiry that was abroad; it was soon noticed that they were depraved, ignorant, sordid; it was seen that the church services were conducted in a manner that left everything to be desired, and that the absence of preaching was a grave evil to be remedied; it was felt that the village schools required overhauling; it gradually dawned on the Church that something must be done to preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath; it became a pious endeavour of the local authorities to diminish the curse of drunkenness, which was working such havoc in the villages. These are some of the ideas which the Stundists aroused, and which have gone circling and rippling into remote regions of the empire where Stundism has never been thought of. And if we turn to the other dissenting bodies in Russia, and especially to those of them who in their early history were identified with spiritual life, as distinguished from the Dissenters whose dissent was only a matter of ritual, we find that the Stundists have been more than influential—they have simply revivified them. The voices of the Stundist martyrs from their prisons and places of exile in Siberia and the Caucasus, and the patient heroism of their lives amidst the cruellest persecution, have stirred sects like the Molokans as a trumpet-call stirs a soldier. It is, however, impossible to do more than allude to some of the direct and indirect efforts of this great movement. And the very fact already alluded to, that high and low in all parts of the empire are talking rationally about the Stundists, and discussing their peculiar views, may do far more to bring about the wished-for day of freedom than the most eloquent appeals on behalf of liberty addressed to the Czar or to the Holy Synod.
At the present time there seems little sign of the dawn of that bright day. The persecution has never raged more cruelly than at present; the state of terrorism has never been more pitiable. Lynx-eyed police, and priests and Orthodox missioners with the cunning of foxes, abound in the villages inhabited by Stundists. Their object is no secret—it is to trample out every vestige of Dissent wherever it appears. We have already described their loathsome procedure, and have seen that nothing is too mean for them in the carrying out of their revolting programme. The Stundists are, in a great degree, panicstricken and disorganised, and if we are to take their present condition as an indication of what will be, should the fires of persecution continue, the outlook for Russian Protestantism is gloomy enough. But will the persecution continue? Already there are signs that the State is getting tired of acting as the drill-sergeant of the Church. It is beginning to feel that the bitter cry of the Church for secular aid is nothing else than a confession of her impotence, and that any furthur concessions to the bigotry and ineptitude of the clergy may have the effect of surrounding the suffering Protestants with the halo of martyrdom, and of alienating the people from sympathy with the Church. The Church may, indeed, for a time succeed, but we know that in calling on the secular arm to assist her she is seeking help from the very quarter by alliance with which most of her difficulties have sprung.
Now what are the prospects of the Stundists as a Church? There can be no doubt that within this community there are enormous powers of proselytising zeal, held in present check by the drastic measures of the police and clergy. We would fain believe that the energy thus kept under must, in great measure, sooner or later, find vent for itself, and that a glorious future is yet in store for Stundism. But the serious question is: Is the persecution which the Stundists are now undergoing a purifying fire or the reverse? Will the young Protestant Church emerge from her troubles with sufficient spring, and made white in the fire, or will not the never-ending theological strife and the breaking up of the Church into warring sections—the sad results of the persecution—effectually turn the energies of the leaders into other channels than propagandism?
For our part, we believe there is little fear for the future of Stundism, if it is only true to itself, and to its noble ideals. It is just now passing through fiery ordeals both from without and from within; but it has a genius and a mission all its own, and we believe that, with the opportunity, it will in the future produce champions as doughty as those now in prison and in exile. Its strength is in its true Gospel message, and in the earnestness and passion of the messengers. Let us all hope and pray that the triumphs of the past thirty years will pale before the triumphs of the near future, and that the day is fast approaching when the mighty empire, of which the Stundists are the salt, will be drawn to seek and to serve the kingdom of God and His righteousness.