Hannah Adams

“ Their habit seems peculiar to themselves, consisting of a long tunic, or coat, reaching down to their feet, with a sash, or girdle, round the waist, and a cap, or hood, hanging from the shoulders, like the dress of the Dominican friars. The men do not shave the head or beard. The men and women have separate habitations and distinct governments. For these purposes, they have erected two large wooden buildings, one of which is occupied by the brethren, the other by the sisters of the society; and in each of them there is a banqueting-room, and an apartment for public worship ”

“ The principal tenet of the Dunkers appears to be this: that future happiness is only to be attained by penance and outward mortifications in this life; and that as Jesus Christ by his meritorious sufferings became the redeemer of mankind in general, so, -each individual of the human race, by a life of abstinence and restraint, should work out his own salvation. They are charged with holding the doctrine of supererogation; they deny the eternity of future punishments, and believe that the souls of the just are employed to preach the gospel to those who have had no revelation in this life. ”

“ They suppose the Jewish sabbath, sabbatical year, and year of jubilee, are typical of certain periods after the general judgment, in which the souls of those who are so far humbled as to acknowledge God and Christ, are received to felicity; while those who continue obstinate are reserved in torments until the grand period typified by the jubilee arrives, in which all shall be made eventually happy. ”