Worldly Conformity in Dress

By John Horsch

It is perhaps generally known that there is carried on, at the present
time, an organized propaganda to persuade our people that certain restrictions,
for which we as a church stand, are nothing more than unnecessary customs,
commandments of men. In particular is this charge made in reference to the
order of the Church as regards restrictions in dress, such as the head dress of
our sisters.

The fact deserves to be noticed here that the opponents of the Church
have in all ages of her history advanced similar charges. In the earliest
history of the Church the leaders of state church Protestantism accused the
Mennonite fathers of setting up commandments of men. The leaders of popular
Christianity in that period asserted that non-essential things alone were the
obstacles in the way of a union of the Mennonites with the state churches.
Zwingli wrote repeatedly that the Swiss Brethren (the Mennonites of
Switzerland) were of one mind with him in the articles of faith. He expressed
the opinion that on account of “mere external things” (which in his view were
not warranted by Scripture and were commandments of men) they refused to unite
with the state church

• Language: English
• Publisher: CrossReach Publications
• Release date: Dec 21, 2017

Book preview

What Saith the Scripture?

‘Ye are the salt of the earth. . . . Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:13, 14).

They are not of the world even as I am not of the world (John 17:16).

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity against God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (Jas. 4:4).

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man Jove the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world (I John 2:15, 16).

In the like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works (I Tim. 1:9, 10).

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of Great price (I Pet. 3:3, 4).

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is. your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:1, 2).

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s (I Cor. 6:20).

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

Introductory

It is perhaps generally known that there is carried on, at the present time, an organized propaganda to persuade our people that certain restrictions, for which we as a church stand, are nothing more than unnecessary customs, commandments of men. In particular is this charge made in reference to the order of the Church as regards restrictions in dress, such as the head dress of our sisters.

The fact deserves to be noticed here that the opponents of the Church have in all ages of her history advanced similar charges. In the earliest history of the Church the leaders of state church Protestantism accused the Mennonite fathers of setting up commandments of men. The leaders of popular Christianity in that period asserted that non-essential things alone were the obstacles in the way of a union of the Mennonites with the state churches. Zwingli wrote repeatedly that the Swiss Brethren (the Mennonites of Switzerland) were of one mind with him in the articles of faith. He expressed the opinion that on account of mere external things (which in his view were not warranted by Scripture and were commandments of men) they refused to unite with the state church

Infant Baptism as an Illustration

Take baptism for an example. The theologians of the Protestant state churches held that the Mennonite fathers, by their rejection of infant baptism, had set up a commandment of men. The state church leaders, in the defence of infant baptism, pointed out that there is a general injunction to baptize, and the baptism of infants is not expressly forbidden, that no command against infant baptism is found in Scripture. Therefore they concluded that the rejection of this practice is a commandment of men. The fact is that infant baptism was in that period prescribed and enforced by all governments of western Europe for the reason that they insisted on a union of church and state, and an exclusive state church could not be maintained without this practice. To disobey the civil authorities on this point was extremely unpopular on account of the persecution of those who discarded this practice. Some of the church reformers of that period, as for example Caspar Schwenckfeld, admitted that they consented to infant baptism for the reason that believers’ baptism involved persecution; in other words, it was too unpopular.

The