An examination of the causes which led to the separation of the religious Society of Friends in America in 1827-28

Front matter

Chap. X^^R^ Shelf-

UNITED STATES OF AM

AN EXAMINATION

Introduction

The separation that took place in the Society of Friends in America, during the years 1827 and '28, was an event of deep and painful interest to its memhers, and is still regarded by many, both within and without its pale, as a subject of unceasing regret. It was accompanied by alienation of feeling among many who had long been knit together in the closest ties of friendship, and it diminished the salutary influence that the Society had always exerted, from the first settlement of the country, in the promotion of every work that tended to the public good.

The separation was preceded by an exciting controve i^y, in which the doctrines and discipline of the Society were discussed; both parties claiming to hold the tenets and to act upon the principles of the early Friends. It becomes necessary, therefore, l* IV— P (5)

6 INTRODUCTION.

in tracing the canses that led to this evert, to give a concise statement of the doctrines of the Society in 'the time of George Fox, together with the system of church government he introduced, and to inquire what changes have since taken place.

The difficulty and delicacy of this task may, in some measure, be appreciated, by bearing in mind that the Society has never adopted a formal creed ; and that, with the exception of a few points embraced in the advices of its Yearly meetings, its doctrines must be sought for in the voluminous writings of its members, which, not being always dear, require to be collated with each other.

It cannot be supposed that the members of a society gathered from various religious sects, and educated under such diverse influences, would all agree in every point of doctrine.

Accordingly, we find in their writings some shades of difference, — they did not all "see eye to eye," neither was such uniformity of sentiment considered essential to religious union; for being united in Christ through the bond of the Spirit, all minor differences were deemed unimportant, or regarded only as incentives to Christian charity. On several occasions, declarations relating to their doctrinal views were published by prominent members of the Society, in order to refute the accusations of their adversaries. These were generally couched in Scripture language, in accordance with the "frequent advice of Geo. Fox to Friends, to keep to Scripture language, terms, words, and doctrines, as taught by the Holy Ghost, in matters of faith, religion, con-

INTRODUCTION. 7

troversy, and conversation, and not to be imposed upon and drawn into unscriptural terms, invented by men in their human wisdom." 1

From these declarations, quotations will be found in this treatise, but the question still recurs, in what sense did the authors understand those scriptural phrases ? Did they accept them as generally understood by theologians ? Or were they led by their own religious experience and the illumination of divine grace, to go deeper, and to find those " mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," which are hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes.

We know that human language, although admirable in itself, is but an imperfect medium for the conveyance of thought. Words are signs or symbols of ideas, which being held up before us in speech or writing, call up in our minds the images or ideas we have previously acquired by education, experience, or reflection. But the education and experience of mankind are exceedingly diverse, ai.d hence it may happen that some words or phrawes will not convey to different individuals precisely the same ideas. This will be found to apply more especially to certain phrases in the sacred writings, which in the lapse of centuries, and through the teaching of theologians, have acquired conventional meanings that, there is reason to believe, were not intended by the writer. It is obvious, therefor*^ that, although a confession of faith constructed of Scriptural phrases must necessarily be accepted by all who believe the Scriptures, yet it may not convey

1 Works of G. F., IV. 3. Epistle of G. Whitehead and others.

8 INTRODUCTION.

to all persons the same meaning, because all have not received the same mental training.

There are, in the writings of the early Friends, many passages that explain the sense in which they understood the Scripture texts they employ ed> and they often avowed very unpopular doctrines, for in many points, both of doctrine and practice, they were far in advance of the age in which they lived.

It is well known that at the rise of the Society, and for a long time afterwards, they were violently assailed from the pulpit and the press, and charged with denying some of the doctrines deemed fundamental by the Orthodox churches. William Penn, George "Whitehead, and other Friends, were engaged in public disputes with Dissenting ministers, among whom were Vincent, Ives, Hicks, and Baxter. The Friends were doubtless calumniated and charged with false doctrines which they did not hold ; but there can be no question that in many particulars they differed from most other Dissenters, as well as from the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholics.

In order to show precisely where they stood, and what they believed, it is deemed appropriate to compare the doctrines of Friends with the popular theology of that day, first showing wherein they differed from others, and then demonstrating from their writings and from the Scriptures, that they held the doctrines taught by Christ and his apostles. This course is deemed the more necessary, inasmuch as attempts have been made, by some claiming to be their successors, to show that they did not differ In essentials from the Trinitarian churches, and copioua

INTRO DUCTIO IT. 9

extra* ts from Friends' writings have been published, which being entirely one-sided, are calculated to mislead the public. It may be said of their writings, as of all other voluminous works, that passages may be selected which, separated from the context, do not express the author's meaning. It is the duty and pleasure of a candid inquirer to collate such passages as appear to be ambiguous, with others that are more clear, and thus by patient and impartial investigation endeavor to arrive at the truth.

While instituting a comparison between the doctrines held by Protestants generally, and those maintained by the early Friends, it will be observed that'only those doctriues which have been subjects of controversy among Friends in America are considered as being within the scope of this inquiry.

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10 VIEWS OF THE EARLY FRXEffBS,

Chapter I

VIEWS OE THE EARLY FRIENDS COMPARED WITH THE POPULAR THEOLOGY ON IMMEDIATE REVE- LATION.

§ 1. The indwelling presence of the Divine "Word, or Spirit of Christ, in the souls of men, is the fundamental principle of the Society of Friends. " The principle of the Quakers," wrote George Fox to the king, " is the Spirit of Christ, who died for us, and is risen for our justification ; by which we know we are his. He dwelleth in us by his Spirit, and by the Spirit of Christ we are led out of unrighteousness and ungodliness." 1

§ 2. "Now observe," says Pennington, in his treatise addressed to the Eoyal Society, "the difference between the religion that God hath taught us, and led us into, and the religions of all men upon the earth besides. Our religion stands wholly out of that, which all their religion stands in. Their religion stands in the comprehension, in a belief of a literal relation or description. Our religion stands in a lorineiple which changeth the mind, wherein the spirit of life appeareth to, and witnesseth in the conscience to and concerning the things of the kingdom ; where we hear the voice, and see the express image of the invisible one, and know things not from an outward relation, but from their inward

VIEWS OF THE EARLY FRIEtfDS. It

nature, virtue and power. Yea, here, we must pro* fess, we so know things that we are fully satisfied about them, and could not doubt concerning them, though there never had been word or letter written of them ; though indeed it is also a great comfort and sweet refreshment to us, to read that testified of outwardly, which, through the tender mercy of our God, we enjoy inwardly. And in this our whole religion consists ; to wit, in the silence and death of the flesh, and in the quickening and flowing life of the spirit. For he who is of the new birth, of the new creation, of the second Adam, (the Lord from heaven,) is as really alive to God, and as really lives to him in his spirit, as ever he was really dead in trespasses and sins, in the time of his alienation and estrangement from God." l

This passage was published in 1668, a few years subsequent to the restoration of the Stuarts ; when religion in England was at a low ebb, the established Church resting in a state of lifeless formality, and the Puritan sects, in their practice, having sunk far below their profession. There were, doubtless, throughout Europe, both among the Catholics and Protestants, many devout souls who had seen beyond the rituals of their church, and attained to that "life which is hid with Christ in God;" nevertheless the language of Pennington was applicable to Christian professors in general; their religion "stood in the comprehension," — in an effort of the mind to .understand Scriptural truth, without having it

1 Works of I. P., II. 59.

verified in their own experience, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

§ 3. Robert Barclay states the doctrine of immediate revelation in this proposition. " Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him ; Matt. xi. 27. And seeing the revelation of the Son is in . and by the Spirit, therefore the testimony of the Spirit i« that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed." "It is very probable," he says, "that many carnal and natural Christians will oppose this proposition, who being wholly unacquainted with the movings and actings of God's spirit upon their hearts, judge the same nothing necessary; and some are apt to flout at it as ridiculous. Yea, to that height are the generality of Christians apostatized and degenerated, that, though there be not anything more plainly asserted, more seriously recommended, nor more certainly attested to in all the writings of the Holy Scriptures, yet nothing is less minded and more rejected by all sorts of Christians, than immediate and divine revelation ; insomuch that once to lay claim to it, is a matter of reproach. "Whereas. of old none were ever judged Christians, but such as had the Spirit of Christ; Rom. viii. 9. But now many do boldly call themselves Christians, who make no difficulty of confessing, they are without it ; and laugh at such as sa}^ they have it. Of old they were accounted the sons of God, who were led hy the Spirit of God; ibid., verse 14; but now, many o^cr themselves eons of God, who know nothing of this leader: and he that affirms himself so led, is by the pretended orthodox of this age, presently proclaimed a heretic.

44 For the better understanding of this proposition, we do distinguish betwixt the certain knowledge of God, and the uncertain ; betwixt the spiritual knowledge, and the literal.; the saving heart-knowledge, and soaring airy head-knowledge. The last we confess may be divers ways obtained ; but the first by no other w r ay than the inward immediate manifestation and revelation of God's Spirit, shining in and upon the heart, enlightening and opening the understanding." l

§ 4. In confirmation of this doctrine, Barclay quotes from the works of Augustine, Clemens Alexandrinus, and others of the early Christian writers, and also from Luther and Melancthon, showing that the saving knowledge of God can only be derived from the teachings of his ow T n spirit. He might have quoted similar doctrines from the early reformers in England, — the fathers of the Anglican Church, — as well as from Baxter, Banyan and others then living, who were the opposers of Friends.

The difference between the Friends and most others, in relation to this doctrine, may be briefly stated as follows :

§ 5. In the Church of England, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's influence on the heart was recognized i.;i her Liturgy and taught in her Homilies ; but in the ministrations of her priesthood it was little

1 Barclay's Apology, Prop. 2, \ 1.

regarded, if not wholly ignored; while among the Puritan ministers, who were generally Calvinists, the gifts of the Spirit were supposed to be confined to the electa for whom alone, they asserted, Christ died. It was generally taught by both classes, that immediate revelation had ceased, and that the Holy Spirit as an enlightener and sanctifier was only witnessed through the use of the means of grace, such as reading the Scriptures, partaking of the ordinances, and attending on the services of religion. One of the opponents of Friends, a vicar in the established church, wrote as follows: "God has committed his will now wholly to writing, so that former ways of God's revealing his will, as by immediate revelation, are now ceased, and the Scripture is a fixed canon or rule, — and our sole and entire rule of faith and manners, in all that is necessary to our salvation." 1

§6. In the Society of Friends, "the Universal and Saving Light of Christ" was held forth continually as their fundamental principle, — the corner-stone of their religion. Not only to those who have the Scriptuies, or the historical knowledge of Christ's advent, does his spirit come ; but even to the heathen who are sitting in darkness, his light appears. He comes as the Spirit of Truth, u to convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." To the wicked, he appears as a reprover for sin, " a spirit of judgment, and a spirit of burning;" but to the humble, obedient soul, as a comforter in righteousness.

1 Patrick Smith, quoted in Besse's Defonce of Quakerism, p. 36.

VIEWS OF THE EAKLY FK1EKBS. 15

§ 7. In the brief account we have, in Genesis, of the primogenitors of our race, it appears that not only while they were in a state of innocence did the Lord hold converse with them, but after their transgression they heard his voice, saying, "Adam, where art thou?" With Cain also he conversed, both before and after the murder of his brother: iu the first instance, showing him that his acceptance depended upon well-doing; in the second condemning him for the crime he had committed. In these cases the Eternal Word or Spirit of Christ spoke immediately to the human soul, — no outward instrument was employed ; and such is still the ordinary process by which the divine will is made known to man, — it is therefore called immediate revelation. It is true, that in the ordering of Divine Providence, instrumental means are often employed, such as the Scriptures of truth, the preaching of the gospel, and the vicissitudes of life ; but in all cases, the good effected is from the immediate operation of divine grace upon the heart or conscience.

In fact, there can be no saving knowledge of Christ, but from immediate revelation. " Xo man can come to me," said Jesus, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him." l This drawing of the Father is the operation of his spirit, for "the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal." 2 As the power and virtue of the outward sun can only be known through his light, and as no description of light can give an idea of it without the sense of vision, so the Author of all

1 John vi. 44. 2 1 Cor. xii. 7.

16 VIEWS OP THE EAELY FRIENDS.

Good — the sun of the spiritual world — can only be known through the influence of his light, or spirit, immediately revealed to our spiritual perception.

§ 8. In the writings of Friends there is a clear distinction observed between the Divine light which is the medium, and the conscience which is the organ, of spiritual perception. This faculty of the soul may be clouded by prejudice, benumbed by disobedience, and " even seared as with a hot iron," by long-continued transgression ; but the light itself, though obscured, or lost to our vision, remains ever the same, for the Divine nature is unchangeable. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light ; but if thine eye be evil [or diseased], thy whole Body shall be full of darkness."

William Penn, in treating of this subject, adopts the language of Justin Martyr, viz. : " God hath built to himself a natural temple in the consciences of men as the place wherein he would be worshipped ; and it is there men ought to look for his appearance and reverence and worship him." He quotes also the following passage from Clemens Alexandrinus: " It is the voice of Truth, that light will shine out of darkness. Therefore cloth it shine in the hidden part of mankind, that is, in the heart ; and the rays of knowledge break forth making manifest and shining upon the inward man, which is hidden; — Christ's intimates and co-heirs are the disciples of the Light." '

Robert Barclay, in his treatise on Universal Love, relates, on the testimony of Francis Xavier, called 1 Perm's Select Works, p. 245.

VIEWS OF THE EAKLY FEIENDS. 17

by the Catholics the Apostle of the Indies, that the Japanese, whom the Jesuits endeavored to prosely te, made objections to the Catholic doctrines, saying that God seemed not to be merciful and just in condemning to eternal punishment all the Japanese who died before the coming of the missionaries. To remove this objection and gain converts, the Jesuits assured them that all men have the knowledge of the divine laws from nature, and from God the Author of nature, — this law was implanted in man's heart before any human laws were made.

Thus says Barclay, "To satisfy these Japanese, that their forefathers were not all necessarily damned, and to show that the universal love of God reached unto them to put them in a capacity of salvation, this cunning Jesuit could not find any other way than by asserting this principle," 1 — the Light and Life of God in the soul.

George Fox says in his Journal: "I was sent to turn people from darkness to the light, that they might receive Christ Jesus, for to as many as should receive him in his light, I saw that he would give power to become the sons of God, which I had obtained by receiving Christ. And I was to direct people to the spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all truth, and so up to Christ and God as they had been who gave them forth." 2

Such was the truly liberal doctrine held forth by the first preachers and writers in the Society of

1 Barclay's Works, p. 701. * G. F's. Journal. London ed. 1694. 2* Q

Friends, a doctrine that was then assailed on every hand by the pulpit and the press — by Churchmen and Dissenters.

This doctrine, when held in sincerity by enlightened minds, necessarily leads to toleration and religious liberty ; for if we believe that those who have not so much as heard of the coming of Christ in the flesh, may nevertheless be saved by obedience to the Light or Spirit of Christ, the conclusion logically follows, that the same divine power will save those professed followers of Christ who obey his spiritual law, although, in our apprehension, they may err in judgment concerning some important points of doctrine.

Accordingly we find that religious liberty was cherished by the early Friends, and consistently carried out in their practice when they attained to power in some of the American colonies.

Chapter II

VIEWS OF THE EARLY FRIENDS COMPARED WITH THE POPULAR THEOLOGY ON THE HOLY SCRIP- TURES.

§ 1. The first imprisonment of George Fox resulted from his controverting the views generally entertained concerning the Scriptures. In the year 1649, he went into the parish house of worship at Nottingham, where he heard the priest take for hia text these words of Peter: ""We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts." This, he told the. people, was the Scriptures, by which they were to try all doctrines, religions, and opinions.

"Now the Lord's power," writes George Fox, 11 was so mighty upon me and so strong in me, that I could not hold, but was made to cry out, 'Oh! no, it is not the Scriptures;' and told them what it was, namely, the Holy Spirit by which the holy men of God gave forth the Scriptures, whereby opinions, religions, and judgments were to be tried; for it led into all truth, and so gave the knowledge of all truth. For the Jews had the Scriptures, yet resisted the Holy Ghost and rejected Christ, the bright morning-star, and persecuted Christ and his apostles, and took upon them to try their doctrines by the Scriptures, but erred in judgment and did not try them aright, because they tried them without the Holy Ghost."

The early Friends avowed their belief in the authenticity and divine authority of the Scriptures, but they declined to give them the usual appellation, — the Word of God, — because this title is, by the sacred writers, appropriated to Christ the Eternal "Word, that was in the beginning with God and was God.

§ 2. The views expressed by Barclay in the third proposition of his Apology, were tlnae generally held by the Society, viz : —

"From these revelations of the Spirit of God to the saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth, which contain : I. A faithful historical account of the actings of God's people in divers ages; with many singular and remarkable providences attending them. II. A prophetical account of several things, whereof some are already past, and some yet to come. III. A full and ample account of all the chief principles of the doctrine of Christ, held forth in divers precious declarations, exhortations, and sentences, which by the moving of God's Spirit, were at several times and upon sundry occasions written unto some churches and their pastors. Nevertheless because they are only a declaration of the fountain,. and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all truth and knowledge, nor yet the adequate, primary rule of faith and manners. Yet because they give a true and faithful testimony of the first foundation, they are and may be esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their excellency and certainty. For as by the inward testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them, so they testify, that the Spirit is that guide by which the saints are led into all truth ; therefore, according to the Scriptures, the Spirit is the first and principal leader." 1 * * * * " The principal rule of Christians under the gospel is not an outward letter, nor law outwardly written and delivered, but an inward spiritual law ingraven in the heart, the law of the Spirit of life, the word that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth ; but the letter

1 John xvi. 13 ; Rom. vii. 14.

of the Scripture is outward, of itself a dead thing, a mere declaration of good things but not the things themselves: therefore it nor is, nor can be, the chief or principal rule of Christians."

He says moreover of the Scriptures: " The proposition itself declares how much I esteem them ; and provided that to the Spirit (from which they came) be but granted that place the Scriptures themselves give it; I do freely concede to the Scriptures the second place, even whatsoever they say of themselves, which the apostle Paul chiefly mentions in two places. Rom. xv. 4 : 'Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' 2 Tim. iii. 15, 17: 'The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.' * * * * 'All Scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.'" * * * * " Moreover because they are commonly acknowledged by all to have been written by the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and that the errors which may be supposed by the injury of time to have slipped in, are not such, but that there is a sufficient clear testimony left to all the essentials of the Christian faith., we do look upon them as the only fit outward judge of controversy among Christians, and that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their testimony may therefore justly be rejected as false." 1

1 Apology, Prop. 3. g£ v. and vi.

Chapter III

VIEWS OF THE EARLY FRIENDS COMPARED WITH THE POPULAR THEOLOGY ON THE ORIGINAL AND PRESENT STATE OF MAN.

§ 1. The doctrine of Original Sin, as generally held, is thus defined by' one of its advocates: 1 " Original sin was the rebellion of the first man, Ad v am, against his Creator, which was a sin of universal efficacy, which derives a guilt and stain to mankind in all ages of the world. The account the Scripture gives of it, is grounded on the relation which all men have to Adam as their natural and moral principal or head." * * * * "As the whole race of mankind was virtually in Adams loins, so it was presumed to give virtual consent to what he did ; when he broke, all suffered shipwreck that were contained in him as their, natural original." * * * * "In the first treaty between God and man, Adam was considered not as a single person, but as the representative of a nation and contracted for all his descendants by ordinary generation. His person was the fountain of theirs, and his will the representative of theirs. From hence his vast progeny became a party in the covenant, and had a title to the benefits contained in it upon his obedience, and was liable to the curse upon his violation of it." 2

§ 2. Such is the doctrine of original sin, which

1 Cruden's Concordance. a Ibid.

Robert Barclay in his Apology calls an " invented and unscriptural barbarism." 1

The notion that all men were virtually in Adam and gave their consent to what he did, is an absurdity that must be obvious to the lowest capacity. ~No sane person will pretend to assert, that a man is morally responsible for the guilty transactions of his father, his grandfather, or any of his ancestors. As to the first treaty between man and his Maker, in which Adam contracted for all his descendants, it is a fiction which has no foundation in Scripture or reason.

The imputation of sin to infants is denied and disproved by Barclay, in the following language : " The Apostle saith plainly, Bom. iv. 15, ' Where no law is there is no transgression.' And again, v. 13, 'But sin is not imputed where there is no law,' than which testimonies there is nothing more positive ; since to infants there is no law, seeing as such they are utterly incapable of it; the law cannot reach any but such as have in some measure less or more the exercise of their understanding which infants have not." * * * * " Secondly, What can be more positive than that of Ezek. xviii. 20, 'The soul that sinneth it shall die : the son shall not bear the father's iniquity ' ? For the prophet here first showeth what is the cause of man's eternal death, which he saith is his sinning, and then, as if he proposed expressly to shut out such an opinion, he assures us, ' The son shall not bear the father's iniquity.' From which I thus argue : If the son bear not the iniquity of his «-> — . ■

1 Barclay's Apology, Phila. ed. 1789, p. 108.

24 VIEWS OF THE EARLY FRIEXDS.

father, or of his immediate parents, far less shall he bear the iniquity of Adam." ■

§ 3. It must not be inferred, however, that Barclay attributed no evil consequences to mankind from the sin of Adam. " Through him," he says, " there is a seed of sin propagated to all men, which in its own nature is .sinful and inclines men to iniquity; yet it will not follow from thence, that infants, who join not with this seed, are guilty.' ' Again he writes : " All Adam's posterity, or mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, as to the first Adam or earthly man, is fallen, degenerated and dead; deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward testimony or seed of God, and is subject unto the power, nature and seed of the serpent which he soweth in men's hearts, while they abide in this natural and corrupted state : from whence it comes that not only their works and deeds, but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God as proceeding from this depraved and wicked seed. Man therefore, as he is in this state, can know nothing aright ; yea, his thoughts and conceptions concerning God and things spiritual, until he be disjoined from this evil seed and united to the Divine Light, are unprofitable both to himself and others." 2