A history of the society of Friends in America

Contents

The peculiar pagination is due to the work first appearing as a portion of vol. xii., American Church History Series. (Vide p. 310.)

Introduction : Organization 173

CHAP. I. — Beginnings in England. — George Fox. — Early Missionaries. — Margaret Fell. — "The Inner Light." — Women as Preachers 183

Preface

The following sketch of the history and doctrines of the Society of Friends in America is based on an independent examination of original records, documents, contemporary histories, journals, and other materials. To compress the history of two hundred and fifty years into less than one hundred and fifty pages has been no easy task ; and while great care has been taken to omit nothing of supreme importance, it is altogether likely that omissions will be found more or less serious. It is believed, however, that the account fairly represents the main lines of a remarkably eventful history.

In describing the various divisions which have occurred in the Society the aim has been to be impartial and, so far as practicable, let each side speak for itself. If any feel themselves not fully represented, indulgence is craved for unintentional shortcoming.

To those who have so kindly rendered aid in furnishing

information and materials for use in the preparation of

this sketch a grateful acknowledgment is due.

Haverford, Pa., Fourth month, 1894.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Introduction

ORGANIZATION.

[In the following sketch the titles adopted in the United States Census of 1890 are used to distinguish the various divisions of the body calling itself by the name of " Friends," as "Orthodox," " Hicksites," " Wilburites," and " Primitive." These terms are used simply for the sake of distinction, and with no invidious meaning.]

The Society of Friends in the United States and Canada is composed of Yearly Meetings, of which the Orthodox have thirteen, the Hicksites seven, and the Wilburites six. As the organization is essentially the same in all, they may be considered together. Each Yearly Meeting, as its name implies, meets annually, and exercises a jurisdiction over a certain amount of territory. The geographical extent of each varies, but altogether they include the whole territory on the continent, and all Friends belong to some one of the Yearly Meetings with the exception of the small bodies, styled '' Primitive," which form independent congregations.-^ On all matters relating to faith

1 The Orthodox Yearly Meetings are (1894) : New England, New York, Canada, Philadelphia, Baltimore, North Carolina, Ohio, Wilmington (O.), Indiana, Western (Ind.), Iowa, Kansas, Oregon. The Hicksite Yearly Meetings are: New York, Genesee (N. Y.), Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. The Wilburite Yearly Meetings are : New England, Canada, Ohio, Western (Ind.), Iowa, and Kansas.

w5

174 THE FRIENDS.

and practice each Yearly Meeting is independent of all the rest, nor is it amenable to the others, either singly or combined. On rare occasions one Yearly Meeting may ask advice and assistance of others.^ In the very early days, London Yearly Meeting was regarded in a rather indefinite way as a court of appeal, but voluntarily relinquished that position. It continues to send, in addition to the special ''epistles" to the Orthodox Yearly Meetings, one that is known as the " London General Epistle," which is read in all the Yearly Meetings, but which is simply a message of Christian greeting. English Friends at times of dissension and separation have sometimes endeavored by friendly mediation to settle the difficulties.

The Yearly Meetings are not isolated from one another, but are united in various ways, (i) A member in one place is received as a member everywhere else by his own branch of the Society, and if he brings suitable official letters with him becomes an active member of the meeting to which he removes. (2) A minister if he removes into the limits of another Yearly Meeting is, on presenting the proper credentials, received, without further action, as a full minister.^ (3) Ministers of one Yearly Meeting, who feel it right to travel and labor as preachers elsewhere, are received, if presenting proper credentials, without transfer of their membership, and are assisted in their work, they for the time being putting themselves under the authority of the meetings where they happen to be. (4) Each Yearly Meeting sends to all the others belonging to its section of the Society every year an " epistle" expressing Chris-

1 For example, Virginia Yearly Meeting when it had become depleted by emigration consulted Philadelphia, Baltimore, and North Carolina, and on their advice united itself with Baltimore Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) in 1845. A number of other cases of less importance have occurred.

^ Hy comparatively recent action Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) must be excepted from this statement.

INTRODUCTION. 1 75

tian sympathy and giving information as to its work. This method of correspondence is, we believe, unique, and has played an important part in the history of the denomination. When separations have occurred in one Yearly Meeting and both divisions send out epistles to the other Yearly Meetings, each of them decides which division to recognize ; and whichever one is recognized has its epistle read and answered. By an unfortunate logical strictness the result of this has been that, if two Yearly Meetings having such a question before them should reach different conclusions, this alone has been considered sufificieht reason for discontinuing correspondence with each other, for correspondence has been interpreted to mean indorsement of the position held, at least on Inter- Yearly Meeting matters.^ (5) There are various Inter- Yearly Meeting organizations officially recognized. Thus the Hicksites have their Union for Philanthropic Labor, and on Indian Affairs, and the Orthodox have their Associated Committee on Indian Affairs, the Peace Association of Friends in America, and are forming a Foreign Mission Board. (6) Delegated advisory conferences are held. Of these the Orthodox have held several, and it seems probable that they will hereafter hold them once in every five years, though each Yearly Meeting will be at liberty not to send delegates without interfering with its regular intercourse.^ We believe that no stated conferences referring to the general condition and work of the Society have been held by the other branches of Friends. (7) The visits of ministers and other members of one Yearly Meeting to other Yearly Meetings during their sessions is a very strong practical

1 It has been on this ground that the correspondence between Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and other Yearly Meetings has ceased.

2 Thus in 1892 Canada Yearly Meeting declined to take part in the Indianapolis Conference, but this action has not put it out of harmony witli the rest.

176 THE FRIENDS.

bond of unity. (8) Among the Orthodox, whenever a new Yearly Meeting is to be estabhshed the Yearly Meeting proposing the action asks the consent of the others.

Each Yearly Meeting prepares and adopts its own Book of Discipline for the regulation of its own meetings and members. There is a very close resemblance between these Disciplines taken as a whole, though there are also wide divergencies.

The Yearly Meeting is the unit of authority in the Society ; to it belongs every man, woman, and child who is counted in its membership. Every one of these has an equal right to speak on any matter that may be before the meeting, for it is not a delegated body. It is true that the meetings immediately next to it in rank send representatives (sometimes called delegates), but this is simply to insure a representation from the various quarters. Certain duties, such as the nomination of the chief officers for the year, devolve upon the representatives, and any matters may be referred to them as a convenient committee by the meeting at large. The meetings are organized by the appointment of a clerk and assistants. There is no president. The clerk combines the presiding officer and secretary in himself, but the discussions are not conducted on parliamentary rules. A subject is introduced and freely discussed, and at the conclusion the clerk draws up what he believes to be the general judgment of the meeting as developed by the discussion, and reads it to the meeting, and if it is approved it is recorded as the decision. No vote is taken, for the feeling is that in spiritual matters majorities are not safe guides, and among Friends the decision oftener turns upon the sentiments expressed by the more experienced and spiritually-minded members than upon the actual number of voices, though of course num-

IN TROD UC TION. I 7 7

bers have weight. The behef is that the guidance of the Lord is to be realized and followed in the business meeting, and there is therefore an entire absence of evidences of applause, or of motions and counter-motions. The practical result of this system is conservative, for the theory is that, so far as possible, any new step shall be taken as the united action of the meeting ; and if a reasonable number, even though a minority, be dissatisfied with a proposition, it is either dropped or modified, the effort being to convince but not ,to force. ^ Nearly all the separations that have occurred have been due to the neglect of this principle.

The position of women is one of absolute equality with men.^ In some cases the sessions are held with the men and women meeting together, in others separately. When the latter prevails, the propositions adopted by one meeting are sent for approval to the other, where they may be rejected or adopted.

It is competent for a Yearly Meeting at any given year to m.ake any change in its Discipline, though it is customary to appoint a committee to consider important changes for a year and then report. The decisions of the Yearly Meeting are binding on all the meetings within the limits of its jurisdiction. It is also the only authoritative interpreter of the Discipline, and the final court of appeal. During its recess it is represented by an executive committee called the representative meeting,^ meeting at stated

1 In some of the Western Yearly Meetings methods somewhat, though not entirely, similar to parliamentary ones prevail. (True of Orthodox only.)

2 This is not strictly correct as far as Philadelphia is concerned, and perhaps is not fully the case as regards the business of the church among the Wilburites or the Hicksites.

3 This committee, owing to the fact that the first object of its appointment was to assist members who were suffering for their principles, was called for many years the " Meeting for Sufferings," a name still retained in a few cases.

178 THE FRIENDS.

times and upon special call. It has a few special duties, but is not allowed in any way to interfere with or to enforce the discipline.

In addition to this, the Yearly Meetings have standing committees on various subjects, such as peace, education, temperance, etc. The Orthodox bodies, with one or two exceptions, have also committees on home and foreign missions, evangelization, etc.

Every Yearly Meeting is divided into quarterly meetings. These meet four times a year,^ and receive reports from the meetings w^hich constitute them (monthly meetings). A summary of these reports is made and forwarded to the Yearly Meeting. As in the Yearly so in the quarterly meetings, every member is entitled to take part in the discussions, the same order of procedure prevailing in them as in the former. The quarterly meeting takes cognizance of the action of the monthly meeting, and can be appealed to whenever dissatisfaction is felt with the action of a lower meeting. Its assent is required for the establishment of any new meeting. When a new quarterly meeting is to be established, however, the consent of the Yearly Meeting is necessary. It appoints its own committees on various lines of Christian work, and sends down word to the monthly meetings how much each meeting is expected to contribute toward the expenses of the Yearly Meeting.

The monthly meeting is the executive power so far as the membership is concerned, subject to appeal to the quarterly and Yearly meetings. In practical working, however, its acts are seldom criticised by its superior meetings, and its executive duties make it a most important

I In some cases these meet but three times or even only twice a year, in which case they are called four-months meetings or half-year's meetings, respectively.

INTRODUCTION. 1 79

body. It receives and on occasion can disown (i.e., expel) members, and it has the direct oversight of the congregations composing it. Its organization is similar to that of other '' business meetings or meetings for discipline " (as they are called in distinction to the ''meetings for worship "). In addition to this and its committees, its regular officers are elders and overseers. The duties of the former are, first, to encourage and counsel the ministers, and second, to have a Christian care over the membership. In some places they hold office for life or good behavior, in others for a term of years. They are appointed by the joint action of the monthly meeting and the quarterly meeting of ministers and elders, of vvhich we shall speak presently. The overseers are (i) a committee to receive applications for admission before being presented to the monthly meeting. (2) Their duty is to be on the lookout for any in the meeting in need of spiritual or temporal aid. (3) They are to admonish offenders and endeavor to restore them ; and if they fail in this, they are to report to the monthly meeting for its action. (4) In some localities, as in New England, they have special duties in regard to the holding of church property. (5) They prepare at stated times in the year answers to certain questions, called *' queries," directed by the Discipline to be answered in order to show the condition of church life and progress. These answers are laid before the monthly or preparative meeting^ for emendation or approval, and to be forwarded to the superior meetings. They are appointed directly by the monthly meeting alone, and the length of their tenure of ofifice varies in dififerent places.

1 Preparative meetings are wholly subordinate to monthly meetings, and usually consist of but one meeting for worship. Their powers are small. When they exist it is chiefly for the purpose of sending answers to the queries and appointing delegates to the monthly meeting.

l8o THE FRIENDS.

Ministers have not been referred to as regular officers. The reason of this has been that the organization is considered complete, as an organization, without them. The Disciplines require the appointment of elders and overseers, but do not require that of ministers. There is no provision in the Disciplines for their training at seminaries or otherwise. The theory is that the church recognizes when the gift and the qualification have been committed to a man or woman, and acknowledges it, after which he or v/ she is called an '* acknowledged," " recommended," or ** recorded " minister. There is no ceremony of ordination. The minister continues to follow his ordinary vocation, except when for the time being he is prevented from so doing by special religious service at home or abroad ; in such case, if his work has the approbation of the meeting, his wants are supplied ; but as a minister he receives no salary.^

The acknowledgment, or recording, of a minister is accomplished as follows : A Friends' meeting for worship is supposed to be held under the immediate direc- ^ tion of the Spirit of Christ.^ The congregation meets in ' silence, with no prearrangement of service ; there is no stated length for any sermon, prayer, or exhortation, and often several persons, not necessarily ministers, take part during the same meeting. If any speak in a way that appears to lack the evidence of having a right call, it is the duty of the elders to admonish such ; if they speak with acceptance, the elders are to encourage and advise them. If one has spoken frequently and is seen to have a gift, it is acknowledged by the church and a record made of it ; the action is in this case, as in that of the elders, taken conjointly by the monthly meeting and the quarterly

1 The custom in this respect has been modified in some places among the Orthodox. 2 gee p. 202.

IN TROD UC TION. 1 8 1

meeting of ministers and elders. The minis'ter is the only officer, if such he can be called, who is not affected by change of residence beyond the limits of the monthly meeting.^

It remains for us now to consider the constitution of the meeting of " ministers and elders," called also in many places the meeting on '' ministry and oversight," and sometimes the '' select meeting." In every Yearly Meeting the ministers and elders, in many places the overseers as well, and sometimes also persons appointed to sit with them, are required to meet together at regular times, generally every three months, to review the state of the membership and to consider the needs of the work, but without disciplinary powers. They are frequently the ones to propose a suitable person to the monthly meeting for acknowledgment as a minister. They also are required to answer certain '' queries " applying especially to them as to doctrine, life, and practice ; these iare forwarded to a quarterly meeting of similar character, to which representatives are sent. This meeting is composed of the several monthly meetings on ministry and oversight within the limits of the ordinary quarterly meeting. It unites with the monthly meetings in the acknowledgment of ministers or appointment of elders, or, when need requires, in the removal of them from office. Once a year it forwards its summary of the reports from its lower meetings to the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Oversight. The only duty of this latter meeting beyond that of advice and recommendation is to sanction the action of the monthly and quarterly meetings (of the general membership), or to

1 In some Yearly Meetings among tlie Orthodox certain doctrinal questions are asked of the ministers and elders, and no one is allowed by discipline to hold office unless these can be satisfactorily answered. In other places these questions are regarded as an interference with personal liberty.

I 82 THE FRIENDS.

refuse its sanction to consenting" to ministers traveling on religious service beyond the seas.

This brings us to a peculiarity of the Society of Friends, which is its arrangement for its ministers traveling. When a minister feels it right to go to a place more or less distant to engage in some form of religious work, he asks the monthly meeting to which he belongs for liberty to go. When he expects to engage in a more extensive work it is required that he obtain the consent of the quarterly meeting as well. When the consent is obtained the clerks of the meetings give him a copy of the minute which states the action of the meeting. If the permission is refused, he is expected to remain at home. When he wishes to cross the ocean in his religious labor, the certificate is not complete without the indorsement of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Oversight.^ The discipline requires that a committee be appointed to see that such are suitably provided with pecuniary means for defraying expenses, etc.

Last in order, though first in importance, is the individual congregation known as the Meeting for Worship, the character of which is sufficiently described elsewhere.'^ Meetings are always held on the first day of the week, and usually on one week-day also.

1 In North Carolina, and perhaps elsewhere, the consent of the Yearly Meeting at large must also be obtained.

Chapter I. Beginnings In England

Among the many denominations which appeared in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that time of religious upheaval, none is more striking than the Society of Friends. Though scarcely one of its doctrines was absolutely new, yet the combination of so many radical tenets produced a remarkable factor in the religious economy of Christendom, the effects of which are only beginning to be appreciated.

"England had been stunned for twenty years with religious polemics. The forms of church government — presbyterianism and prelacy — the claims of the independents and the clamors of the sectaries, the respective rights of the pastors and the people, were discussed in every pulpit, they distracted every parish and every house." ^ Torn by civil war, agitated with bitter theological disputes, full of men dissatisfied with church, with state, with almost every existing institution, England was indeed in a sad way. It was amid such surroundings, influenced by such currents of thought, out of such a hurly-burly, that the Society of Friends arose.

The history of the early years of the Society is the history of its founder. George Fox was born at Fenny Drayton, sometimes known as Dray ton-in- the- Clay, Leicestershire, July, 1624. ''My father's name was Christopher

1 J. B. Marsden, " History of the Later Puritans," 2d ed., London, 1854, P- 235.

1 84 THE FRIENDS. [Chap. i.

Fox ; he was by profession a weaver, an honest man. . . . The neighbors called him Righteous Christen My mother was an upright woman ; her maiden name was Mary Lago, of the family of the Lagos, and of the stock of the martyrs." ^ His youth '* was endued with a gravity and stayedness of mind that is seldom seen in children." ^

Notwithstanding his sober and serious youth, he seems to have had no idea that he was to be called to any special work, and, as with many a man, a slight thing, apparently, proved the turning-point in his life. Being asked to drink healths by some young men who were " professors " of religion, he was so grieved that such persons should act in this way that he threw down his share of the previous entertainment and went out of the room. A sleepless night followed, during which he believed he heard the call of the Lord summoning him to leave all things. He went from place to place seeking peace of mind ; once he says that '' a strong temptation to despair came upon me, and then I saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I was in." He went from " priest to priest " to get help, but found them sorry comforters, for they did not see that he was one who needed spiritual food and enlightenment, not mental distraction. He remained more than a year in this state. At last, he writes, '' about the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to Coventry and entering toward the gate, a consideration arose in me how it was said that all Christians are believers, both Protestants and papists. And the Lord opened to me that if all were believers, then were they all born of God and passed from

1 "Journal" of George Fox, London, 1694, p. i. We hear little or nothing of George Fox's relatives except now and then he simply mentions visiting them. (But see " Journal,'" pp. 390, 396.) Charles Marshall says, under date of " nth month, 19th, 1671 " : " I went to see G. F.'s mother m Leicestershire." ("Journal" of Charles Marshall, London, 1844, p. 17.)

2 William Sewel, " History of the Quakers," London, 1725, 2d ed., p. 6»

GEORGE EOX. 1 85

death to life, and that none were true believers but such, and though others said they were believers yet they were not. Another time, as I was walking in a field on a first-day morning, the Lord opened to me that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ ; and I stranged at it, because it was the common belief of people." 1 He still did not find absolute peace, but continued to go up and down though the country.

After the conviction that education was no essential qualification of a minister, he naturally turned more and more to the dissenters, but he found little satisfaction with most of them. So he goes on to say : '' When ... I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, oh, then I heard a voice which said, 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,' and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy." ^ And when he cried to the Lord, '' ' Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils ? ' the Lord answered that it was needful I should have a sense of all conditions — how else should I speak to all conditions? And in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness." ^ Again he says : '' Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword into the Paradise of God. All things were new, and all creation gave another smell unto me beyond what words can utter." This was when he was about twenty-three.

The sentences quoted lie at the root of Fox's practice and teaching — consistency of the outward life v/ith the profession ; the necessity of divine power within the man to enable him to live in accordance with the will of God;

1 86 THE FRIENDS. [Chap. i.

the direct communication of this will to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. His labors were from first to last a comment on the text, " If we live by the Spirit, by the >/ Spirit let us also walk."

Fox does not seem to have really preached, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, until late in the year 1647. And then, Sewel says, his preaching ** chiefly consisted of some few but powerful and piercing words, to those whose hearts were in some measure prepared to be capable of receiving this doctrine." ^

There seems little doubt that, as Sewel says, many if not most of the early converts of Fox were those who, like himself, were believers in the fundamental doctrines y of Christianity, but, like him also, dissatisfied with the teachings and practices of the day, were longing for a higher and more spiritual life. The meetings, which were at that time frequently held for discussion of points of doctrine, afforded Fox admirable opportunities for spreading his views. He speaks of a " meeting of priests and professors at a justice's house," "a great meeting at Leicester for a dispute wherein both Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Common- Prayer men were said to be all concerned."- "This meeting was in a steeple-house," and as it is the first record of Fox entering one of those buildings to speak, it will be well to say a few words respecting this phrase, the practice the early Friends had of entering places of worship, and, as is so often charged, of interrupting public worship.^ It is true that there are instances of Friends disturbing public worship, but the

3 The phrase "steeple-house" is not peculiar to Friends, nor did they originate it; it is found, for instance, in Edwards's " Gangrsena," the third edition of which was published before Fox began to preach. And other cases might be cited, (" Gangrcena," etc., Thomas Edwards, 3d ed., Lon don, 1646, part ii., p. 4.)

GEORGE FOX. 1 87

number of cases has been greatly exaggerated. It was usually after the "priest" had finished that the Friend spoke, and then it was on account of the unpalatable doctrine, rather than for the interruption, that he suffered. The places of worship he entered were usually those belonging to the Independents, and this body allowed discussion after the sermon.^ Fox frequently speaks of waiting until the minister had finished, and once at least he was invited up into the pulpit. A striking instance occurred at Ulverstone, where Margaret Fell, who, when he was interrupted as he was speaking after the '' priest," called out, '' Why may not he speak as well as any other? " ^ Had it not been for his strong common sense. Fox might have gone through an experience somewhat similar to that of his adherent, James Nayler,^ or have become a second Ludowick Muggleton, As it was, though one of the most mystical of modern reformers, he was at the same time one of the most practical, all his spiritual teaching, from the very first, being accompanied by not only desires, but by efforts for the moral, political, and social welfare of his hearers ; his journal is full of practical suggestions. He '' was the first who raised his voice against the evils of West Indian slavery. He claimed freedom of

1 "After all this is done [praying, preaching by the pastor, etc.] they [the Independents] have yet another exercise, wherein by way of conference, questioning, and disputation every one of the congregation may propound publicly and press their scruples, doubts, and objections against anything which that day they have heard." (" A Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time," etc., Robert Baylie, London, 1645, p. 30. This book was published just before George Fox began to preach. The writer has found no instances of the interruption of a Church of England service. )

2 "Journal," pp. 56, 57, 61, 78, 109; see also R. Barclay, " Inner Life," pp. 274-293.

3 Nayler is often quoted as an example of the wild enthusiasm of the early Friends ; even so careful a writer as H. Weingarten being deceived as to the true character of the episode. (" Die Revolutionskirchen Englands," Leipzig, 1868, p. 271.) Nayler 's actions were disavowed by Friends at the time, and he recanted, confessed his error, and was restored. (Sewel, pp. 147-^ I55-)