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NON-RESISTANCE ASSERTED
OR THE
KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND THE
KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD
SEPARATED
AND
NO CONCORD BETWEEN
CHRIST AND BELIAL
IN TWO PARTS
BY DANIEL MUSSER
LANCASTER, PA:
ELIAS BARR & CO., PUBLISHERS
PEARSOL & GEIST, PRINTERS
1864
OBERLIN, OH:
WWW.nonresistance.info
2007
�But I say unto you that ye resist not evil.�� Matthew 5:39.
�Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor.�� Ephesians 5:1-2.
I have little to say by way of preface to the following pages, or apology to make for presenting them to the public.� We have each a never-dying soul entrusted to our care, the preparation for whose eternal welfare is the highest duty that the Lord enjoins upon us in his word.� When we remember that it is impossible for this soul to be eternally happy, except that we, in this life, submit ourselves to the will of God as declared in his word, we cannot fail to be painfully impressed with the indifference with which that word is generally regarded, even by those who profess the religion of Jesus Christ.� The desire to awaken interest, incite inquiry, exercise the understanding, and impress the mind with a sense of the truth and unchangeableness of God�s word is the only apology I have to make; and I desire hereby to request in advance the reader�s earnest attention to the doctrine and argument contained here.
In order to make truth perceptible and clear, it is necessary to expose error; in doing which we must necessarily take notice of such doctrines and practices as we conceive to be erroneous and detrimental to truth.� In doing this, the originators of those doctrines, or their friends and adherents, may feel themselves aggrieved.� To unnecessarily wound or irritate the feelings of those with whom we disagree is unjustifiable and injurious.� Prejudice bars the heart against conviction, and makes the presentation of truth vain to the understanding.� But whatever is necessary for the vindication or support of truth needs no apology.� While I have withheld nothing which presented itself, which I thought would be calculated to accomplish the object proposed, I have yet endeavored to use no language which would be offensive or, by creating prejudice, stand in the way of conviction.� I am a firm believer in the truth of what is here presented, and know I must answer for it at the bar of God; and, if I know myself, I have not been influenced by any other motive than that of love in presenting it to the public.
After the completion of the first part, I was induced, by the solicitation of my brethren to undertake the second part of the work.� If this had been designed originally, it might, perhaps, have been differently and more advantageously arranged.
With these remarks I will commit the work, with the reader and myself, to the Lord, praying him to bless it and make it effectual to the end for which it was designed.�
DANIEL MUSSER
Lampeter, Lancaster Co., PA
March 1st, 1864.
Daniel Musser, a Reformed Mennonite, wrote this lengthy pamphlet at the height of the American Civil War, and much of what he had to say was in specific reference to that conflict.� This is one of the works that Leo Tolstoy highly praised in his Kingdom of God is Within You.� Much of what Musser had to say is, indeed, praiseworthy and still valid.� His major themes include a complete theology of man�s relationship to God in its pristine created state, after the fall, under the Mosaic Law, and in the power of the Holy Spirit; and the related topics of God�s immutability, His commands given in, and specifically intended for, each of these four states, and the importance of being different from the rest of the world.� �The love that the disciples bear to each other must then be something different from what the world shows; otherwise, it would not distinguish them from others.�� I should point out that whenever he used the word resist or resistance by itself, he had violent resistance in mind.
I have had to edit this work more than others that I have transcribed.� In many places his grammar and sentence structure were simply poor.� In other places I consider his logic and theology to have been flawed.� Still, I have tried to minimize my changes to grammar, archaic style, and words too far out of modern usage, and I have tried to be careful in all cases to preserve the original sense of the text.� All of the footnotes are mine; they were not part of the original document.� I have added them to clarify certain passages and to point out areas in which I consider Musser to have been inconsistent or incorrect.� I do not claim them to be anything more than my opinions.� Please bring any mistakes to my attention so that I can correct them.� This transcription is under no copyright protection.� It is my gift to you.� You may freely copy, print, and transmit it, but please do not change or sell it.
Many of Musser�s views are very rigid, and I do not endorse everything he wrote.� I guessed that his must have been a very small church � and I was right. [1]� The No Concord section is dedicated to defending his right to criticize Christians who resist, why those who would resist or criticize him are not really Christians, and why he ought to shun them.� I consider that self-righteousness instead of humility.� In his mind our relationship with the world is an all or nothing affair.� This has led to a separation of such communities that has severely limited their ability to evangelize the world.� Instead of being �in the world, but not of the world,� they have chosen a position apart from and outside of the world.
Tom Lock
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[1] See www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/R4454ME.html.� It never had more than 2500 members, and currently numbers less than 300.