ith them in their belief
that it was unlawful to eat pork. This was perhaps an abrupt way
of entering on the subject, but it furnished at least a locus
standi--something to talk about--and an animated discussion immediately
ensued. My opponents first endeavoured to prove their thesis from the
New Testament, and when this argument broke down they had recourse
to the Pentateuch. From a particular article of the ceremonial law we
passed to the broader question as to how far the ceremonial law is still
binding, and from this to other points equally important.

If the logic of the peasants was not always unimpeachable, their
knowledge of the Scriptures left nothing to be desired. In support
of their views they quoted long passages from memory, and whenever I
indicated vaguely any text which I needed, they at once supplied it
verbatim, so that the big folio Bible served merely as an ornament.
Three or four of them seemed to know the whole of the New Testament by
heart. The course of our informal debate need not here be described;
suffice it to say that, after four hours of uninterrupted conversation,
we agreed to differ on questions of detail, and parted from each other
without a trace of that ill-feeling which religious discussion commonly
engenders. Never have I met men more honest and courteous in debate,
more earnest in the search after truth, more careless of dialectical
triumphs, than these simple, uneducated muzhiks. If at one or two points
in the discussion a little undue warmth was displayed, I must do my
opponents the justice to say that they were not the offending party.

This long discussion, as well as numerous discussions which I had
had before and since have had with Molokanye in various parts of the
country, confirmed my first impression that their doctrines have a
strong resemblance to Presbyterianism. There is, however, an important
difference. Presbyterianism has an ecclesiastical organisation and a
written creed, and its doctrines have long since become clearly defined
by means of public discussion, polemical literature, and general
assemblies. The Molokanye, on the contrary, have had no means of
developing their fundamental principles and forming their vague
religious beliefs into a clearly defined logical system. Their theology
is therefore still in a half-fluid state, so that it is impossible to
predict what form it will ultimately assume. "We have not yet thought
about that," I have frequently been to