basis of direct scriptural authority, they placed the payment of taxes
in the latter category.[95]

The modern Mennonites are descended from the followers of Menno Simons,
who was born in the Netherlands in 1496. In 1524 he was ordained as a
Catholic priest, but he soon came to doubt the soundness of that
religion, and found his way into Anabaptist ranks, where he became one
of the leading expounders of the radical principles, placing great
emphasis upon non-resistance. In his biblical language, he thus stated
his belief on this point:


"The regenerated do not go to war, nor engage in strife. They are
the children of peace who have beaten their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks, and know of no war. They
render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the
things that are God's. Their sword is the sword of the Spirit which
they wield with a good conscience through the Holy Ghost."[96]


In time the followers of Menno Simons gained in influence, while
branches of the Anabaptist movement which did not follow the principle
of non-resistance died out. Here and there other non-resistant groups
such as the Hutterites and the Moravian Brethren continued.[97]

Ultimately the Mennonites found their way into several parts of Europe,
from the North Sea to Russia, in their search for a home where they
might be free from persecution. The founding of Germantown in the new
Pennsylvania colony in 1683 marked the beginning of a migration which in
the years that followed brought the more radical of them to America.[98]