The Gymnosophists are the Greek name for the Indian ascetics, the label that runs straight into the sramana and Samanean thread the archive tracks eastward.
In Hannah Adams
In Adams’s own words, from the 1817 Dictionary. Each passage is quoted verbatim under its own entry.
GYMNOSOPHISTS, a sect of Indian philosophers, famous in antiquity for their strict adherence to the principles of the religion they professed, their devotedness to the study of wisdom, and their aversion to indolence and idleness. They believed in the immortality and transmigration of the soul, and placed the chief happiness, of man in a contempt of the delusive pleasures and attractions of this mortal life. They dwelt in woods, where they lived upon the wild products and fruits of the earth, and never drank wine, nor married. In some cases they did not form themselves into societies, but each had his private recess, where he studied and performed his devotions by himself. These were a kind of hermits, of which some are said to have dwelt on a mountain in Ethiopia.
They were called Gymnosophists, i. e. naked philosophers, not because they went absolutely naked, but perhaps in ridicule, because they wore only Halcyons, a denomination which arose in 1802, and took the title of the Halcyon Church in Columbia. This church admits men of different sentiments into its fellowship; they profess to adhere strictly to the scriptures, and renounce all manner of creeds and confessions of faith.
They deny the doctrine of the trinity; and say, “ there Is no other God, nor person in the godhead, but the Father— and the Messiah is the personality of the Father,” and “ the Father cannot be known as a person, only as he was pleased to assume personality in his anointed.” They also deny the doctrine of the eternal punishment of the wicked. They assert that both the fallen angels and wicked men will cease to exist at the close of the mediatorial kingdom of our Saviour.
They practise baptism in this manner: those who profess their faith in Christ, walk down to the Water in procession, with a large congregation, accompanied with vocal and instrumental music, and are baptized by pouring water on the head. in the namq of our Lord Jesus Christ, and using these words: “ By the authority of the great head of Zion, I baptize thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom is exhibited, in one glorfcus person. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost A- men.” The members of the Halcyon church devote their children to the Lord, not by baptism, but by dedicating them to the Lord, and placing them under the guardianship of the church, the members of which receive them in their arms; and petition the Lord for a blessing on them, and watch over them, that they may receive a religious education.!
Hannah Adams, A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, 4th ed. (Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817), entry “Gymnosophists” (pp. 101–102).