Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-11-26

mersed, face forward, three times, in th
name of the Father, and of the Son, an
Of the Holy Ghost. Preliminary to hi
baptism he is examined, and gives hi
consent to the following: To give an,
take counsel, to abide by the rulings o
the Church, to not swear lin the courts)
not to bear arms, not to go to law, and t
settle his personal difficulties accordin,
to Matt. 1S, and to behave himself gen
orally. * st 3.4 :.
WHAT DUNKARDs DO NOT DO.
Dunkards do not swear, they affirm
they do not go to law with each other
for after Matt. 18th) the case comes be
fore the Church and decision is giveI
by the members in council that is base(
on ecclesiastical law which no court will
set aside. Being on-com batants, they
are not found either in fights or wrangleI
and they do not go to war. They do mo-
believe In divorce except for very grave
reasons, and even then there may be nc
second marriages. There are no Dun.
kards with two living partners in the
bers of secret orders in the brotherhood
and those who were members on theil
admission to the Church abjure all con-
nectiOn with worldly organizations, as
without prejudice, the Church affords
all the advantages of the most benevo-
lent of secret or other orders. There
are no poor in the Church, that is, there
are no paupers and no one is allowed to
suffer. Congregations have supported
their poor members, the lunatic, the in
firm and the sick for years at large ex.
pense without trouble, as it is part of
the practice and order of the Church.
The brother who is burned out in West
Virginia can readily collect money in
Pennsylvania or California to replace
his loss. Sometimes imposters cheat the
Church, but the composition of the
fraternity is such that it is next to inn
possible to impose on many or in differ
ent places. A rascal when caught is ad-
yer tised as such in the Church papers
and then his occupation is gone.
The principal of uniformity of dress
obtains in theory and largely in practice.
The men wear, when in order. q coat
without q rolling collar, something like
. military garment, any color or mater
ial, and you can tell them from the
Omish, who wear something similar, by
the Dunkard coat. having buttons in
front and none on the coat-tails. The
Omish use hooks and eyes and no but
tons ordinarily. The reason why there
are no buttons is on the principle that
there shall be no button where there is
no buttonhole. And this principle OBJ
tains all the way through Dunkard
theology. There are thousands of hu-
man buttons in this mixed up world,
without seeming corresponding holes
for them. There will be q whole job lot
of them in the middle of next MONTH
some of the older brethren part their
hair in the middle, and also some of the
younger ones who ''have their reasons.n
The sisters wear a bonnet like hood
and must wear it. The annual meeting
has said SO, though men may and do
wear any kind of headgear.
And, by the way, there is a sister who
is preacher, Sarah Major, OF Ohio,
though 1t is contrary to rules. She is an
old, very old woman, and can beat any
thing in Philadelphia preaching. Her
son, am informed, is, or was, General
Butlen's secretary, though he is not q
member.
PUBLIC WORSHIP.
The order of worship is similar to that
of other churches, singing, prayer, SER
mon, singing. prayer and no benedic-
tion-'"The congregation is dismissed
now in the fear of the Lord" Now, TAX.
ing the Dunkard Church all through, I
have no hesitance In pronouncing its
doctrine perfect and in practice. After
pruning the minor undesirable things
away, it fills place that no other
Church does. Were we all Dunkards
there would be no politics, no legisla-
ton, no almshouses, no jails, no fight.
ing, no pauperism, and man would find
himself in that condition which would
leave him better in every way imagin.
able.
The glory of quiet, honest and peace
full life wonld be the lot and is the lot of
those who are good Dunkards That
there are improvements to make is evi.
dent to any intelligent person. but the
difficulty in the way is mountain-like.
The Church moves with exceeding and
often detrimental caution and the in.
novation is examined from sixty thou
sand points of view. In giving the pre-
sent account its exactness, as far as it
goes. may be relied upon. Doctrinal
theology and practice have been purpose
~ omitted as unsuited to daily paper
and the object has been to get fair idea
of the organization before the people, as
every one with authority at command,
that is, the lexicons, histories, encyclo-
pedias, etc., can get only an imperfect
and incorrect notion of very good and
little known Church.
The Church is growing rapidly, and
from being almost wholly an agricul-
tural denomination has future that
looms up with imposina front, with
churches in the cities and towns, where
architectural pretentions will be sunk
for the cripple, the poor and unfortu-
nate; where mans clothes will not on.
title him rank where the good news will
60 up the highways and off through the
side streets, into the alleys and cellars
with the story of the Man of Gallilee for
those who never hear it as ordinarily
told.-Phila. Sunday Times.