A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

e "alliance men" at heart. In a letter to Abraham Unger in January, 1865, Jacob W. Reimer wrote, I am wholeheartedly for the alliance, because the true body of Christ consists of all true believers from all confessions and nations who will come from east and west and north and south and sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. and you and I with them through God's grace and the merits of Jesus Christ. 1H After 1865, according to P. M. Friesen, a new element came into the Mennonite Brethren Church, largely from the conservative Flemish Mennonite Church, which showed the same narrowness and intolerance that had been characteristic of their attitude in the old church. ,n Old sins have a tendency to appear in new clothes. The same kind of mentality that had earlier produced the hyper-emotional movement by insisting on literalism in Scripture interpretation, now manifested itself in a rigid legalism in church practices. The leaders of the ultra-conservatives, according to Friesen, were men who lacked any historical perspective, and seldom, if ever, read a serious theological book. 41 Gradually, however, the progressive element gained the upper hand and built bridges of mutual recognition and fellowship with the "separated brethren." Several new frontiers in inter-Mennonite relationships will now be considered briefly. (1) Open Communion. As has been pointed out in chapter five, the early Brethren in the Molotschna practiced open communion until the fall of 1863. After 1865 the strict view of the Chortitza Brethren prevailed, and no "brother" from the Mennonite Church was admitted to the communion table in the Mennonite Brethren Church. Communion with the Baptists became a highly controversial issue in the seventies, because the latter "confessed the sword" and endangered the privileges of the Mennonite Brethren. Attempts to exclude them from communion failed, however, because many of the strict brethren had pro-Baptist leanings. At the turn of the century an increasing number of Mennonite Brethren, including several leading ministers, desired a wider communion fellowship with other confessions, but especially with the ERA OF PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS (1885-1914] 101 believers of the "churchly Mennonites." 42 At the annual conference in 1883, P. M. Friesen and Johann Wieler declared their intention to practice open communion, as was mentioned in chapter 6, but the matter was not taken up for discussion. The question of open communion came to a head in 1899, when the conference evangelist, Jacob W. Reimer, conducted such a service at Steinbach. 43 When after a baptismal service the Brethren gathered for communion, Reimer, at the prompting of a visiting brother, announced that all followers of Christ, regardless of church affiliation, would be welcome at the Lord's table. This deviation from regular practice created a storm in the Rueckenau M. B. Church, of which Reimer was a mem