THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

performed for us and several others, on April 22, 1862. As a result of this, Br. Lepp was accused of being an “Anabaptist,” indicted by the Supervisory Commission at Odessa, and relieved of his position as civil and agricultural administrator of the Hebrew colonies. §133 5. Thus the date of the organization of the Chortitza-Einlage M.B. Church is March 11, 1862, and here the date of organization of the church coincides with the date of the first baptism at that location. 91 The Einlage Church made the M.B. Church a strictly Anabaptist church, with mandatory baptism by immersion and closed communion, as a result of the influence of the late Abram Unger, who was an enthusiastic admirer of the father of German Baptists, Johann Gerhard Oncken in Hamburg. §134 6. In the Molotschna, as late as September 29, 1863, an eighty-year-old man, Regier, who had not been immersed, received communion, according to the diary of Jakob Reimer (Gnadenfeld). This occurred in Rudnerweide where Reimer officiated at the Lord’s Supper that day. In the Molotschna, communion was at first completely independent of baptism (see 1 above). Benjamin and Jakob Becker, as well as Gerhard Wieler, represented the stricter Einlage view, Baptism by Immersion 291 particularly that of A. Unger, from whom they otherwise differed completely, and zealously advocated it in the Molotschna where it also gradually became established. 7. Br. Jakob Reimer, Gnadenfeld-Wiesenfeld, states the reasons for §135 obligatory imm ersion, quite in accord with the consensus of the great majority, as follows: From now on four brethren [of those eighteen who had signed the document of January 6, 1860, including August Strauss], together with several others, withdrew from the group completely. This prompted us to regard as our members only those who had previously shared their conversion and their faith in the Lord Jesus before the whole congregation. Earlier it sometimes happened that when someone was to be admonished, he would reply, “What proof do you have that I belong to you?” The author is convinced that this rationale is not valid. Membership is precisely defined even with non-baptizing or freely- baptizing fellowships such as the Methodists, Plymouth Brethren, and others. Holy baptism was not ordained as an instrument of coercion in church politics; rather, it is the sacred symbol of a free and joyful covenant of love between the Christian and God, between the Christian and the whole church of God, not merely the particular corporation included in one church register. It is a visible representation and seal of having died, having been buried and resurrected with Christ. In concept and purpose baptism corresponds to the new birth and sealing of the Spirit and it is best when acceptance of the faith, public confession, and baptism follow one another immediately. 8. The question of the right form of baptism. We want to answer §136 this question