A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

he extensive research and prayerful study on the topic by Men- nonite Brethren in the 1860s. The matter of immersion re- mained a subject of careful study for many years. We also cannot discount their possible reference to the 1773 Cornelius Ris Confession of Faith.54 A significant factor contributing to dogmatism on the bap- tism question was the severe persecution of the Mennonite Brethren as a minority group within the larger Mennonite community. In some cases opposition groups from the Men- nonites interrupted baptismal services by "driving ministers and baptismal candidates with sticks out of the baptismal wa- ters."35 According to Jacob P. Bekker, "the Mennonite District Government whipped with rods until the welts bled; yet this did not halt the secession. The bloody floggings only led to greater steadfastness among the brethren. Baptisms and the Lord's Supper continued according to God's Word."36 This op- position and suffering no doubt helped harden the young movement's persistence into dogmatism. Another factor furthering the dogmatism was the experi- ence of the people themselves. Most of the early Mennonite Brethren had been baptized as adults by sprinkling. Now that they experienced personal conversion they found it difficult to 37 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH accept the validity of their previous baptism. The mode of sprinkling, administered widely without the prerequisite of personal conversion, came to be seen as unbiblical. The staunchest critics of sprinkling tended to be those who them- selves had been rebaptized by immersion after personal expe- rience of salvation. It was at the 1963 convention of the North American General Conference that a vote of 325 in favor, 120 opposed removed the requirement of immersion as a condi- tion for membership.37 Some members of the Committee of Reference and Counsel made a study on background of mem- bers in the opposition to this decision. The finding was that the majority were people who had been rebaptized by im- mersion. They found it difficult to accept another mode which in their experience was not a true believers baptism. 38 CHAPTER 4 The Mennonite Brethren Understanding of a New Testament Church For Mennonite Brethren, conversion, regeneration and church membership were directly connected, like cause and effect. This linkage, which they saw as a basic characteristic of a New Testament church, was a central issue in the I860 secession document. Thus they com- pletely rejected the inclusive Volkskircbe, which included mem- bers on the basis of Mennonite identity regardless of personal spiri