m 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