Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 | Page 8

an estate called Thetinga or Waltha
House, which was tendered to them by three ladies devotedly attached
to their teachings, the three youngest daughters of the great diplomatist
Francis Aarsen, Lord of Sommelsdyk. Here the communal sect attained
its full measure of strength, declined, and died. For more than half a
century Wieuwerd was the seat of the new church and from it feeble
colonies were established at various centres. From Wieuwerd
proceeded the colonists who settled in Maryland, and from Wieuwerd
proceeded the voice of authority that controlled these colonists. The
final disruption of the Labadists at Wieuwerd was due largely to the
inevitable difficulties that have beset and destroyed almost every
experiment in the establishment of an industrial community upon a
footing of religion.
The system of faith and practice which came to fruition at Wieuwerd

and was transplanted to the New World, did not have the catholicity
necessary for adaptation to the conditions of an undeveloped country.
Labadism, theologically, belonged to the school of Calvin; in its spirit
it was in line with the vein of mysticism which is met throughout the
history of the Christian Church. In general respects the theology of
Labadism was that of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands. Like so
many other adventitious but zealous movements, Labadism centred in
its millennial hopes. These, however, were rather an expression of the
spirit of pietism which pervaded the doctrines of the church than a
fundamental positive proposition. Labadism, theologically, recognized
a scheme of covenants extending from Adam to Christ. The symbols of
the last covenant were baptism and the Lord's Supper. The church was
to be a community of the elect kept separate from the world by its pure
teachings.
The Labadists taught rigidly the doctrine of the separation of the
believer from the unbeliever, and to this is attributable the communal
mode of life they adopted. The rule of the sect made it necessary for a
husband and wife to separate if either were not of the elect church,
which came to be synonymous with the church of the Labadists. In
compliance with this rule, a number of the converts to the faith in
Maryland separated from wives or husbands. This was the case with
Petrus Bayard, who later returned to his wife, and with Ephraim
Herrman.
The Labadists came close to the Friends in their doctrine of the law of
the spirit as being the only law to which they were to yield final
subjection. They conceived this law to nullify the ceremonial system of
the Old Testament, and even to reduce to a place of incidental
importance specific moral injunctions. Sabbath observance was not
fundamental, and while the reading of the Bible was a medium of
communication by God's spirit, its importance was secondary to the
immediate movements of the spirit. The works of the Labadists
disclose a high form of faith and aspiration, but vitiated by many
visionary and impracticable features, in Maryland by the mercenary
instincts of their leader, Sluyter. Nor was the general state of religion in
Maryland at the time of their experiment such as to foster a profoundly

pietistical community. Some of the members of the Labadist
community acquired prominence in Maryland affairs, and their
company of thrifty and industrious persons, bent upon illustrating the
virtues of religion, must have done good, however far they may have
fallen short of their ideals; but of the personality of most of them we
know little or nothing.[16]
[Footnote 16: An interesting description of the life of the community
on Bohemia Manor is given in An Account of the Life, Travels, and
Christian Experiences in the Work of the Ministry by Samuel Bownas
(London, 1756).]
While the Journal of the Labadists has particular bearing upon
Maryland by reason of the location within its bounds of the colony of
the sectaries, the recital brings into the range of vivid and intimate
knowledge some of the leading characters in the contemporary life of
several of the sister colonies, and it has been recognized as a valuable
aid to students of the early period of New York.
There are no material remains of the Labadists in this country. They did
not affect either the institutions or the spirit of their times, nor leave
memorials behind them. That Augustine Herrman's sentiments towards
the strange visitants and settlers upon his estate became radically
altered, before his death in 1686, is indicated by a codicil in his will in
which he directs that certain of his neighbors administer his estate in
the place of his son Ephraim, giving as his reason his son's alliance
with the Labadists.
The Labadists abroad exerted an appreciable influence upon the life of
their times, and did much to infuse a spirit of evangelical earnestness
into the Reformed Church of the Netherlands,