BX 7676 .R88 Rowntree, John Stephenson Quakerism^ past and present Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/quakerismpastpreOOrown_0 QUAKEETSM, PAST AND PRESENT : BEING AN INQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLINE IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. JOHN STEPHENSON "rOWNTEEE. " If it he true that spiritual religion too dimly shines within our borders ; if it be true that, in many places, the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed ; it becomes a Christian Church not only to acknowledge and deplore the facts, but seriously and in the fear of the Lord to endeavour to ascertain the cause, and to seek for ability to apply the remedy." York Quaeterlt Meeting of Friends, 1855. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1859. [ The right of Translation is reserved.'] CONTENTS. Preface CHAPTER I. Circumstances connected with the Rise of Friends, Introductory Remarks — John "Wycliffe — Progress of religious opinion between 1324 and 1624, the rear of George Fox's birth — Henry VIH. — Edward VI. — Rapid changes in the national religion — Rise of Puritanism — General decay of piety — Later Puritans — Their polemics and Judaizing theology — Companies of spiritual worshippers formed in different places — George Fox CHAPTER n. Original Views of the Founders of Quakerism connected with its Decline. George Fox's religious exercises — He learns the spiritual character of the Gospel dispensation — Publishes his views and makes converts — The central idea of Quaker- ism, and its twofold effect on the Society of Friends — Positive effects — Religious liberty — Rejection of a human priesthood — Tithes — Worship — Disuse of all "forms" by the Friends — Practical working of their mode of wor- ship — Error of supposing this mode of worship the only right one — Ministry — Gift of rehgious teaching — Sym- bolic rites CHAPTER in. Original Views of the Founders of Quakerism connt;cted with its Declint) — Continued. Indirect effects of distorted doctrinal views — Disparagement of the Reason — Fine Arts — Scriptures — Discipline . IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. vAi^E Numerical strength of the Society of Friends in 1680— Its proportion to the general population — Emigration — Number of Friends in 1800, 1847, and 1856 . . . 68 CHAPTER V. The Second Epoch of Quakeeism. Death of George Fox — Tendencies of Quakerism at that period — Decline of the Society between 1690 to 1760 — Diminished effusion of the Holy Spirit — Commercial prosperity of the Friends — Education defective in the Society, and the reason for its being so — Ack worth School founded in 1779, with important results — Dimi- nished number of Ministers — "Acknowledging Minis- ters" — Birthright membersliip 89 CHAPTER VI. The Third Epoch of Quakerism— Causes of Decline PRINCIPALLY introduced AFTER 1760. The revival cf the Discipline in 1760 — Its defective cha- racter — The Friends increasingly isolate themselves — Quietism — Irish secessions — Hicksites — Philanthropy — Dress and language 117 CHAPTER VII. Modern Causes of the Society's Decline — Continued. Marriage regulations of the Society of Friends — George Fox's doctrine as to marriage — He legislates for the Society — "Mixed marriages" — Disownment becomes the stated penalty for marriage "contrary to rule" — Number of persons so disowned in the nineteenth century — Infre- quency of marriage amongst the Friends .... 144 CHAPTER VIII. Summary of preceding Argument 159 PEEFACE. A FEW sentences only are needful to explain the origin of the accompanying Essay. In the month of March, 1858, there appeai'ed in the public prints the following announcement : — SOCIETY OF FRIEXDS.— PRIZE ESSAY. A GEXTLEMAX who laments that, notwithstanding the population of the United Kingdom has more than doubled itself in the last fifty years, the Society of Friends is less in number than at the beginning of the century : and who believes that the Society at one time bore a powerful witness to the world concerning some of the errors to which it is most prone, and some of the truths which are the most necessary to it : and that this -vvitness has been gradually becoming more and more feeble, is anxious to obtain li^ht respecting the causes of this change. He offers a PRIZE of OXE HUXDRED GLTXEAS for the best ESSAY that shall be written on the subject, and a PRIZE of FIFTY GUIXEAS for the one next in merit. He has asked three gentlemen, not members of the Society of Friends, to pronounce judgment on the Essays which shall be sent to them. They have all some acquaintance with the his- tory of the Society, and some interest in its existing members ; and as they are likely to regard the subject from different points of view, he trusts that their decision will be impartial ; that they will not expect to find their ovra. opinions represented in the Essays ; and that they will choose the one which exhibits most thought and Christian earnestness, whether it is favour- vi PREFACE. able or 'unfavourable to the Society, whether it refers the diminution of its influence to degeneracy, to something wrong in the original constitution of the body, to the rules w^hich it has adopted for its government, or to any extraneous cause. Rev. F. D. MAURICE, Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn ; Pro- fessor J. P. NICHOL, Glasgow ; and Rev. E. S. PRYCE, Gravesend, have agreed to act as Adjudicators. The number and ability of the Essays which this announcement elicited, while it afforded gratifying testimony to the interest which the subject has ex- cited, added greatly to the labour and responsibility of the adjudicators. The illness of Professor Nichol, which has since terminated in his lamented death, was one of the " unforeseen hindrances" which occa- sioned the delay of the adjudicators' decision. It was given in August, 1859, in the following terms : — SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.— PRIZE ESSAYS. The adjudicators of the Prizes for the best Essays on the Causes of the Decline in the Society of Friends regret that they have been prevented from arriving at an earlier decision by unforeseen hindrances, by the large number and extent of the Essays submitted to them, and by their exceeding desire to deal justly. The terms of the original proposal do not permit the adjudicators to specify more than the two Essays which appear to them to have the superior claims ; but they feel it right to bear testimony to the great ability displayed by many of the other writers, and to record their conviction, that the publication of what they have written, by the individual authors, would, in many cases, be advisable, and for the public advantage. In performing the painful duty of setting aside so many estimable and elaborate productions, the adjudicators have necessarily been influenced by various classes of con- siderations : they have been deterred, in some cases, by the PREFACE. presence of irrelevant disquisitions, and they have been espe- cially solicitous that the spirit manifested by the successful can- didates be such as seemed most in accordance with the object for which the prizes were offered, as plainly set forth in the general advertisement. It has, after careful consideration, been deter- mined that an Essay, bearing a motto from a report of the York Quarterly Meeting of the year 1855, should receive the first prize ; and one bearing the motto verhum^ vita, liix, the second prize. A degree of hesitation having been expressed by the adjudicators as to the relative place which ought to be assigned to the two successful essays, the donor of the prizes has generously offered to make the second prize equal to the first. The writers of these Essays evidently belong to different schools, and contemplate the subject from entirely different points of view. Xo one of the adjudicators wishes to be held responsible for the sentiments of either writer. But they are unanimous in hoping that, in choosing both, they are doing their best to promote the objects of the giver of the prizes, and to fulfil their trust. J. P. XlCHOL. F. D, Maurice. E. S. Prtce. The Essay to which the first prize was adjudged is printed in the present volume. It may be convenient to state briefly at the outset the line of argument that has been pursued in the following pages. The reader will find his attention first directed to the historical and social features of the epoch in which the Society of Friends arose, these having powerfully influenced the conduct of its found- ers. The author next examines the doctrines and practices of tlie early Friends," with especial refer- Vlll PREFACE. ence to such of them as appear to have occasioned or accelerated the Society's decline. He then en- deavours to ascertain the numbers of the Friends at different periods of their history, and determine the extent of their recent diminution. The succeeding chapter (the fifth) is occupied with the second epoch of the Society's history, extending from the death of George Fox, in 1690, to the revival of the dis- ciphne in 1760. The sixth and seventh chapters examine the causes of decline which have most prominently manifested themselves within the last hundred years; and the essay is concluded by a summary of the previous argument, and a resume of the whole case presented in a condensed form. QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PEESENT. CHAPTER 1. circumstajS^ces connected with the rise of the friends. Introductory remarks — John "Wycliffe — Progress of religious opi- nion between 1324 and 1624, the rear of George Fox's birth — Henry Till. — Edward VI. — Rapid changes in the national religion — Rise of Puritanism — General decay of piety — Later Puritans: their polemics and Judaizing theology — Companies of spiritual worshippers formed in different places — George Fox. It was an age of deep earnestness. Frivolous ayid luxurious men had for a while retreated to make icay for impassioned and high- wrought spirits; for the interpreters at once of the ancient revela- tions, and of the present judgments of Heaven ; for the nionitors of an ungodly world, and for the comforters of those who hent beneath the weight of national and domestic calamities." — SiR James Stephen. The Society of Friends dates its origin from the year 1647. Its founder, George Fox, was then twenty-three years of age. If a title so honourable as that of " the last of the Reformers " be accorded 2 QUAKERISM; PAST AND PRESENT. to him (and we are prepared to grant it), we may stay to note that his birth, in 1624, was just three himdred years after that of John Wycliffe, " the Morning Star of the Reformation." These three centuries were among the most eventful in the his- tory of man ; the human intellect had taken gigantic strides, the invention of printing had widely ex- tended the bounds of knowledge, new continents had been discovered, commerce was opening for itself fresh channels in all parts of the world, the German Reformation had shaken the Papacy to its centre, and numerous European States had renounced their dependence on the Roman pontiff. England was one of these States, and perhaps nowhere else (Scot- land excepted) can it be said that the doctrines of Protestantism were more fully accepted or more highly prized. Yet the opinion of John WycHffe, that the great heresy of Rome was to believe in the power of man in the work of regeneration,"* was but imperfectly accepted in the middle of the seventeenth century. " The Reformation," says the London Yearly Meeting of Friends in 1857, had but "pai'tially dis- pelled the idea, so foreign to primitive Christianity (that had grown up m the preceding long and dark night of apostacy), of the possibility of performing the * Quoted by D'Aubigne, Hist, of JReforviation, vol v. p. 137. THE ENGLISH REFOEMATION. 3 service of God by proxy."* The extent to wliicli the civil power had been connected with rehgious movements in England may principally have occa- sioned this result. Questions of state policy had prevented the full development of the Reformation, and had arrested its progress at a point short of what many of its champions desired. It does not, however, appear that any of the early Reformers carried their Protestantism so far as was afterwards done by George Fox, in advocating the entire abohtion of a human priesthood in the Church of Christ, and the recognition of the Lord Jesus as its one holy Head and great High Priest. The idea of the continued presence of the Saviour with His fol- lowers had been so obscured by the Romish apostasy, that it was but slowly men awoke to the conscious- ness of its reality, and hence throughout the entire period from 1500 to 1650 religion was too often treated as a sort of State engine — painfully indi- cating the forgetfulness of the apostolic truth, that " the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." t Prepared by the diffusion of Wycliffe's translation * Printed Minutes of London Yearly Meeting, 1857, p. 12. t Romans xiv. 17. B 2 4 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. of the Bible, as well as by that political jealousy of Rome which had always existed in England, the nation readily assented to Henry VIII.'s renuncia- tion of Papal supremacy (when the selfish ends of that monarch prompted the step). But this was a very small part of the work of the Reformation. It hardly advanced beyond the stage of infancy in the reign of Henry YHI. The inalienable right of pri- vate judgment in the things of God was not yet openly asserted, and public opinion scarcely ques- tioned the authority of the King to punish, even with death, men whose consciences would not keep pace with Court decrees and Acts of Parliament — whether it were, as in the cases of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More, out of deference to Papal rights ; or in those of the pious martyrs. Frith and Bilney, who desired a thorough reformation of the National Chm'ch in accordance with scriptural principles. The personal piety of Edward YL, and of many of the great men who surrounded his throne, was a happy circumstance for England, and under their reforming zeal the national religion substantially assumed its present form ; but the very rapidity and extent of the changes that were made in the six eventful years of his short reign — " changes," says Marsden, " effected by Parliament, and pub- THE ENGLISH REFORMATIOX. 5 lished under their authority by letters patent from the Kincr"* — had a bewilderino; effect on the nation; and fr'om the opposition these changes evoked, as well as from the general return to Popery on the accession of Mary, we conclude they went quite as far as the nation was then prepared for. Whilst it would be a grave mistake to ignore the existence of a considerable body of persons in England, pre- pared at all costs to maintain their allegiance to God amidst the changes of the ruling powers (and not a few evidenced the reality of their faith in banishment, in prison, and at the stake), the student of English history cannot but be struck with the facility with which the masses of the people accom- modated their religious professions to the views of their rulers. " Dui'ing the twelve or thirteen years which followed the death of Henry YIII.," says Lord Macaulay, " the religion of the State was thrice changed. Protestantism was estabhshed by Edward, the Cathohc Church was restored by Mary, Pro- testantism was again established by Elizabeth. The faith of the nation seemed to depend on the personal inclinations of the sovereign."]" It is a remarkable fact, and one that displays the degradation induced by * Marsdea's Christian Sects, vol. i. p. 227. f Review of Burleigh and liis Times, Essays, vol. i. p. 226. 6 QUAKERISM; PAST AND PRESENT. the long bondage of Rome^ that, " out of ten thousand benefices, not quite three hundred incumbents, who had acknowledged the Romish supremacy under Mary, declined to accept that of Elizabeth in its stead." * Quakerism was so intimately connected with Puri- tanism, that the rise of the *^ early Puritans " in the reign of Edward YL, out of the "vestiarian con- troversy " of Bishop Hooper, must not be passed by without an allusion. They constituted for many years an important party in the Church of England, and whilst advocating further reformation in the cere- monials of the established worship, they did not — like some of their successors — mistake the externals or accompaniments of religion for the thing itself; and they zealously sought to promote the cause of Christ, and to extend virtue and piety throughout the nation. No doctrinal difference of importance existed between them and the other party in the Church till the close of EHzabeth's reign, when the scriptural requirements for Sabbath observance were differently interpreted; and a rigid conception of their meaning constituted the first doctrinal pecu- liarity of Puritanism. As assisting us to realize the outside idea of reli- gion prevaiHng at this period, the correspondence * Marsden's Early Puritans, p. 100. THE PUEITAJsTS. r between the imperious Queen and the devoted Arch- bishop Grindal on the "prophesyings" repays perusal. In one of her letters, Elizabeth expresses her prefer- ence for having but few " preaching clergy," and re- fuses to sanction or permit these popular gatherings for religious instruction. Grindal pleads earnestly for their maintenance, and was disgraced for his firmness ; yet how limited were even his views of the "Gospel liberty of prophesying" is proved by his regulation, that " No man may speak unless he be first allowed by the Bishop, with this proviso, that no layman he suffered to speak at any time"* As the great men who had conducted the Reformation of the English Church under Edward VI. passed to their rewards in heaven, and their places were filled in the latter years of the Elizabethan period by men of less zeal and piety, religion and morality declined in England; this declension becoming in- creasingly apparent in the reigns of the first Stuarts. True it is that the Puritan party upheld a standard of strict morality, and had assumed that austerity of manners which we are accustomed to associate with their memory; but they were not sufficiently numerous to withstand the encouragement given by James I. to vice and profligacy, through the pub- * JRemains of Archbishop Grindal, p. 385. Parker Society 8 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. lication of the Book of Sports, and by the per- nicious example of his Court. This double aspect of society — the licentious and the puritanic — during the first forty years of the seventeenth century, must be kept steadily in view when considering the rise of Quakerism; for it was a protest against both extremes, and the reverse action of each of them is distinctly visible in the views and practices of the Friends in the present day. Without more than a passing allusion to the oft- told story, how Charles I. attempted to govern de- spotically ; how he was assisted by the High Church party under Archbishop Laud, with its frightful engine of oppression the Court of Star Chamber; how these enormities and the Romanizing tenden- cies of the Court and clergy augmented the num- bers of the Puritans, resuscitated their hatred of prelacy, and stimulated their fanaticism, so intensi- fying the political struggles that ended in civil war and the overthrow of the monarchy, — ^we pass on to invite particular attention to the polemical con- troversies of the [times ; they were incessant, and embraced a wide theological area. The greatest mysteries of our faith — free-will, predestination, election, and reprobation — were under constant dis- cussion in England from 1600 to 1660; as also in POLEMICAL CONTROVERSIES. 9 other parts of Europe, particularly Holland, where the S\Tiod of Dordt was convened in 1618, in an endeavour to determine the points in dispute. The hard, decided, and vehement manner in which the disputants urged their views on points which more than any other demand diffidence and reverence, is specially obsen'able. When the occasions of differ- ence are principally external — as to the scriptural claims of presbj-terian or episcopal church govern- ment, or the position of the communion-table in the churches, or the vestments worn by the clergy- man, &c. — the same tone of thought and feeling is visible; there is great attention to the externals of religion, but a marked declension in real piety (speak- ing collectively), between the theologians of the Re- formation and those of the epoch imder review. Marsden says, " There is less of the earnestness and of the composure of men who are contending for vital truths of eternal moment" (than in the early Reformers). " A fierce contest there is, with its noise and clamour ; but the contest seems more for victory than for truth Their lite- rature is heartless, and their divinity wants life. This is shown by endless conceits in the one, by affectation and litigiousness in the other, and in both by a careful avoidance of what is great and 10 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. really important, or an incapacity of comprehend- ing it."* When the civil war loosened the whole framework of English society, these polemical dis- cussions increased both in frequency and violence; no opinion being too wild to prevent its adoption by fanatical sectaries known under the general term of malignants." Still there was real religion in England — men and women who Avalked humbly before their God, and ministers who faithfully preached the Gospel ; but much remains to assure us that the show of piety presented by the English nation, when governed by a Puritan Parliament and a Puritan " Protector," was more superficial than deep; and whilst the clergy were laborious and assiduous in the discharge of their pastoral functions, it was too often in " the deadness of the letter," rather than in the life and freshness of evangelical piety. This state of things resulted in great measure from the Judaizing element existing in the Puritanic theology from its origin, a hundred years previous to the time of the Com- monwealth, and which had been further developed during the civil wars between the King and Par- liament. In writing to Bullinger in 1568, Sandys, Bishop of London, presents an epitome of the * History of the Early Puritavs, p. 336. JUDAIZING THEOLOGY OF PUTIITAXS. 11 Puritan tenets under nine heads: the last is "The Judicial Laws of Moses are binding upon Christian princes, and they ought not in the slightest degree to depart from them." * Fully believing in this doctrine, the Long Parliament, as well as Crom- well's soldiers, examined the inspired volume pre- cisely as if it had been a statute book, and in too many cases professed to derive from it their authority for acts of violence and injustice. Closely allied to this subject was the belief so ardently controverted by Permf and Barclay, but almost universally enter- tained by their contemporaries, that the promises of God to his Chm'ch, as recorded in Scripture, were the exclusive possession of an outward, objective corporation of men, occupying an analogous posi- tion to that of the Israelites of old; all dissenters from it beings chismatics and heretics, and therefore amenable to punishment by the civil power. Quakerism so clearly reflected the featm-es of the age that gave it birth — it was so moulded by sur- rounding circumstances — that we must fail in com- prehending it without first mastering this section of English history, some of whose salient features we have endeavoured to enumerate. When we remem- * Zurich Letters, 1, p. 294. t See especially "W. Penn's Address to Protestants. 12 QUAIvERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. ber the political character of the English Reformation — the long struggle between monarchical and popular authority, partly political and partly religious, termi- nating in the civil wars — and when we contemplate the heartless polemics of the " Later Puritans," we are prepared to understand why little companies of persons drew together in different parts of England and Scotland, wearied with theological disputation, offended alike by the lofty pretensions of the High Church clergy, and by the rigid, unsatisfying, ex- ternal religion of Puritan "professors" — "burdened," as it is expressed in Alexander Jaffrey's memoirs, " with the formality, superstition, and will-worship prevalent around them, waiting upon God in a holy silence and awful humility of soul for ability to draw nigli unto Him in true spiritual worship."* Thus the w^ay was prepared for the rise of a Church that should bear a prominent testimony to the spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ, whenever, in the ordering of Providence, a man should present himself endowed with sufficient zeal, endm'ance, and sagacity to in- spire confidence in his authoritative proclamation of the impotency of "outward forms" in giving pure and undefiled religion. Such a man was George Fox. * Barclay's Diary of Alexander Jaffrey, p. 228. 13 CHAPTER 11. ORIGINAL VIEWS OF THE EOUKDEES OF QUAKERISM CONNECTED WITH ITS DECLINE. George Fox's religious exercises— He learns the spiritual character of the Gospel dispensation — Publishes his views, and makes converts — The central idea of Quakerism, and its twofold effect on the Society of Friends — Positive effects — Eehgious liberty — Rejection of a human priesthood — Tithes — Worship — Disuse of ail " forms " by the Friends — Practical working of their mode of worship — Error of supposing this mode of wor- sliip the only right one — Ministry — Gift of religious teacliing — Symbolic rites. " Human wisdom is in its highest exercise when it is observing the svperiority of Divine wisdom, and following its method of procedure.''^ — Ja3IES M'Cosh, LL.D. It was in 1643 (the year that saw the appointment of the parliamentary committees on scandalous minis- ters) that George Fox, then in his nineteenth year, a young man of unblemished morals, but of little education, who from cliildhood had lived in honesty and innocency " (the words are his own), entered on that extraordinary series of spiritual conflicts which attended his path for upwards of three years pre- 14 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. vious to engaging in the work of liis life. We have termed his conflicts extraordinary ; and so they must ever appear when examined from a mere psycho- logical point of view ; and yet it would hardly seem as if the leaders of spiritual and religious life could be fitted for their respective missions, without passing through these deep mental con- flicts — we may call them spiritual exercises: we may say such men are on the confines of insanity (and so they may be) ; but the lives of Martin Luther, of Ignatius Loyola, of John Bunyan, and of the Wesleys are examples ready to our hand, that the greatest minds must undergo this prepara- tory discipline, before being fully qualified to guide or powerfully to influence the minds of others. Though the query was presented to George Fox and to each of the great men just enumerated in a different light and under widely diff'ering circum- stances, substantially the question that disturbed their spirits was the same, "What shall I do to be saved?" The answer returned to each was practically the same also; the same that was re- turned to the Philippian gaoler by Paul and Silas, but the difference of mental constitution, the dif- ferent epochs in which they lived, the differences of national character and of previous education. GEORGE EOX. 15 marked out for each of these imperial minds dis- tinct and widely differing lines of action. An influential element in Fox's case was the con- scientiousness which formed so prominent a feature in his character. On one occasion we read of his affliction at ^^the delinquency of a professor;" at another time he says, "I could have wished that I had never been born, or that I had been born blind, that I might not have seen wickedness or vanity; and deaf, that I might never have heard vain and wicked words, or the Lord's name blas- phemed."* In fact, his despair was occasioned rather by the wickedness existing in the world at large, than from sins which he was conscious of having himself committed. He " cried to the Lord," saying, " Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils ? " And the Lord answered " That it was needful I should have a sense of all conditions: how else should I speak to all conditions."! Bewildered by the mental anguish these feelings occasioned him, George Fox unsuccessfully sought spiritual advice from the most noted religious professors he came in contact with. His description of them tallies with our previously expressed ideas respect- George Fox's Journal, p. 4, 1st ed. f P- 13. 16 QUAIvERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. iiig the clergy as a class : they pronounced con- fidently on any doctrinal questions Fox put to them, but they did not understand the wants of his bur- dened spirit, and he left them unrelieved, regarding them as " miserable comforters." Despairing of human aid, he applies with increased assiduity to the study of Scripture ; throughout his life he spoke of the sacred writings as being "very pre- cious " to him ; and yet he was, perhaps, hardly aware of the full extent of his obligations to them. They were his sole companions in " hollow trees " and " desolate places," and the intimate knowledge he thus obtained of their contents was of inesti- mable benefit to himself and to the society he was to found. In the course of the year 1647 Fox emerged from the gloom that had so long rested on his spirit; he found one, "even Christ Jesus, that could speak to his condition."* In evangelical lan- guage, he found peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ." He felt a great change had come over him ; he had tried to get help from man, and had failed; he had been driven to Christ Himself, and, as he believed, had now received light imme- diately from Him. * George Fox's Journal, p. 8. GEORGE FOX. 17 Fox rejoiced in his new life ; he " could have wept day and night with tears of joy;"* he longed to impart his discovery of the spirituality of true religion to others. So he entered on his mission as a religious reformer, commissioned to brino; back to the Church a loner-lost and foro-otten trath — even the truth that Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, dwells in the hearts of all believers. "I was commanded," says he, "to turn people to that inward light, spirit, and grace, by which all might know their salvation and their way to God, even that Divine Spirit which would lead them into all truth, and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any."t With persuasive eloquence, though rude and unlettered. Fox began to call men from " forms and shadows " to the " life, light, and power of Christ in their own hearts." Numerous converts attached themselves to him; and it is important to note that their primary ground of union (as officially stated by the Yearly Meeting of London), was "agree- ment of sentiment in regard to Christ's inward teach- ing." J In that intolerant age, persecution in every form tracked his steps; and we do but justice to * George Eox's Journal, p. 14. f Ibid. p. 23. % Preface to 3rd edition of volume of Discipline of the Religious Society of Friends, with Advices, ^c, p. 7. C 18 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. his memory by adding, that it was borne in a spirit that attested the reality of his piety. It is not within our province to narrate the successes, the trials, the persecutions, and martyrdoms of the " early Friends ; " for our present purpose it is sufficient if we have shown, that the bringing man immediately to Christ, was the radical idea of Quakerism. The truth thus underlying the whole superstruc- ture that has been raised upon it, is essentially deep though simple. It is capable of varied modes of expression, and we shall have to show that con- clusions, in defiance of all reason and logic, have been deduced from the fundamental and Catholic position, that a measure of Divine light is given to all men — differing, it may be, in degree, as the twinkling of the remotest planet differs from the splendour of the noonday sun — and that it is only through the " testimony of the Eternal Spirit," manifested in the heart and conscience, that the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be revealed" to man. The clumsiness of language adequately to express deep ethical truths has been often felt and acknowledged. Barclay himself was careful to guard his thesis on this subject with the proviso, that it must never be understood in FUND ANIENT AL VIEWS OF THE FOUNDERS. 19 any sense tliat should "contradict the outward testimony of the Scriptures, or right and sound reason."* From the central idea above defined, sprang at once the strength and the weakness of Quakerism ; the strength which necessarily flowed from the apprehension of so great a truth — the weakness incident to human fallibility, in failing to perceive the conditions and limitations that should deter- mine the practical application of this truth. It was the feeling that they were grasping a reality instead of a shadow — the substance mstead of the form — that induced so many persons to ac- cept the views proclaimed by Fox and his col- leagues; and, inspired by the lofty consciousness of being under the immediate eye of Heaven, the early Friends presented for forty years one of the most imsullied pictures of CMstian re- signation under suffering that the world has yet witnessed, ultimately triumphing by the might of passive resistance, " wearying out persecution," and so purchasing for England the priceless jewel of religious liberty. Not that they were the only labourers in accomplishing this great work; but how large their share in it was, is increasingly per- * Barclay's Apology, Prop. ii. C 2 20 QUAKERISM; PAST AND PRESENT. ceived by historians and philosophers.* But we hasten to inquire, how far the general theology and the practices of George Fox and his friends were affected by their belief in the essential spirituality of the religion of Christ. The influence of this belief was twofold — positive and negative: positive, inasmuch as it was the root from which sprang the Society's views in relation to the worship of God, including the rejection of a human priesthood, and of all ceremonial rites ; negative, by making the Quaker representation of Christian faith and prac- tice specially liable to distortion, by the overshadow- ing of correlative truths (as the doctrine of Christ's atonement for sin, the profitableness of Holy Scrip- ture, &c.), and by inducing a general disparagement of secondary and instrumental means in the nurture and maintenance of religion. We propose, in the first place, to examine the positive developments of the doctrine of the "in- ward light," and their influence on the Society of Friends ; and afterwards the less obvious, but hardly less influential, consequences, indirectly springing from the same source. " Christ having instituted," * See Colquhoun's Short Sketches of some Notable Lives ; Ban- croft's Hist, of America, vol. ii.; Chevalier Bunsen's Signs of the Times, p. 298 ; Dixon's Lives of Penn and Blake. EEJECTION OF A PRIESTHOOD. 21 says the learned and profound Neander, " a fellow- ship of divine life, wliich proceeding from the equal, and equally immediate relation of all to the one God, as the divine source of life to all; . . . there could be no longer a priestly or prophetic office, con- stituted to serve as a medium for the propagation and development of the Kingdom of God, on which office the religious consciousness of the community was to be dependent. Such a guild of priests as existed in the previous systems of religion, em- powered to guide other men, who remained as it were in a state of rehgious pupilage, having the exclusive care of providing for their religious wants, and serving as mediators by whom all other men must first be placed in connection with God and divine things — such a priestly caste could find no place within Christianity."* It was the emphatic acceptance of the doctrine, so luminously set forth in the preceding passage, that induced the early Friends to fi-ame their ecclesiastical polity in har- mony with what they took to be its requirings ; and also to refuse to acknowledge by pecuniary pajonents, even when enjoined by the civil power, the claims of the clergy, or priests, as they termed them, of the Established Church. * Neander's Ch. Hist, vol. i. p. 245. 22 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. It is stated in a document issued by the Yearly Meeting of London in 1851, that "no part of the testimony of our early Friends was more clear and explicit than that which, in the obedience of faith, they bore against the human priesthood and its offices, and against the system of tithes To acknowledge this priesthood, and to render to it the tithe of the beasts of the field, and of the produce of the earth, was, in their view, to be un- faithful in their allegiance to Him who, having come a ^ High Priest for ever after the order of Melchise- dec,' had put an end to the priesthood of Aaron, and abohshed also the tithes and offerings that pertained thereto."* There had been considerable unsettle- ment in England on the subject of tithes before the times of George Fox, f and when his earnest preach- ing was first leading great numbers of persons to accept the spiritual views of religion he enunciated, and when he anticipated the reformation of the Uni- versal Church as the result of his labours, not the mere gathering of a sect, there were, doubtless, some who united themselves with him under the idea of thereby obtaining exemptions from these burdens, * An Address to the Society of Friends on the Inconsistency of Tithes, Sfc, from the Yearly Meeting of London, p. 9, 1851. f See Pearson's Great Case of Tithes, p. 24, ed. 1730. TITHES. 23 In tids thej were disappointed; and when, instead of receiving exemption, it became evident that their profession exposed to more pecuniary loss on this ac- count, rather than less, such persons left the Society. As the extract previously given rightly states, none of the " testimonies " of the early Friends were more decided than tliat against tithes; and most heavily they suffered in person and estate in its defence (imprisonment not being prevented by the Toleration Act of 1690, but continuing to the be- ginning of the present century). Great has been the influence which the treatment of this subject has exerted on the Societ}' in various ways. To quote again from the document before alluded to: " In their resistance to ecclesiastical as well as mili- tary demands. Friends have acted on the broad and palpable distinction which exists between payments made specifically for objects inconsistent with the law of Christ, or directly to an authority which they cannot conscientiously recognize, and pay- ments into the national treasury for the general pur- poses of the State, though some of the purposes may be objectionable." Yet whilst the London Yearly Meeting may define tliis distinction to be "broad and palpable," to not a few minds within the Society, as well as to many in the community at large, it has 24 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. seemed to be far otherwise ; and that these imposts, sanctioned by Act of Parliament, are not essen- tially different from other taxes, their direct payment to the recipient, instead of passing through the national treasury, being an accident not affecting the responsibility of the payer. No one subject has claimed more of the attention and advice of the Yearly Meeting, as is evidenced by the space occu- pied by it in the Society's volume of " Rules and Advices," in which no less than forty-three distinct paragraphs are devoted to " tithes, sufferings, &c." By the first, dated 1675, it will be seen how early difficulty was felt in inducing all Friends to refuse these payments ; and from the Journal of John Grif- fiths, it would appear as if the numbers paying these imposts without demur, or resorting to dishonourable compromises, was very considerable in the beginning and middle of the eighteenth century. With the resuscitation of the discipline about 1760, increased attention was paid to this subject, and disownment was the penalty inflicted on those Friends who con- tinued to pay tithes or church-rates. This increased rigour was one cause of driving many families from the rural districts, — some into our great cities, some to foreign lands, whilst some united themselves with other religious denominations. TITHES, ETC. 25 It is needless for us here to enter on the question, whether Christianity sanctions or demands the refusal to pay any impost directed by the law of the land ; but it is our decided conviction that no scriptm-al warrant exists for making such refusal an essential condition of church fellowship, and that the attempt so to make it has been injurious to the Society of Friends. Whether we take Scripture only for our guide, or whether we examine the history of the Universal Church, we shall arrive at the same con- clusion — that whilst man's weakness compels the entrance to membership in earthly churches to be somewhat "narrower than the gates of heaven," every needless hindrance lessens both the usefulness and the stability of the Church that imposes^^it. We shall hereafter point out that the practice of the early Friends " was sometimes preferable to their written statements. The present case is an excep- tion. William Penn, wlien defining the essentials of church fellowship in his Address to Protestants, says, "Nothing of weight can be objected" against the position that " behef with the heart, and the confession with the mouth, that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God," is sufficient " to entitle a man to communion here, and salvation hereafter."* William * Penn's "Works, vol. i. p. 76. 26 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. Penn* also denounced in very nearly the same words since used by Dr. Arnold, "the double error" of having "a strict bond in matters of opinion, and none at all in matters of practice." f The Society of Friends has fallen into a mistake the reverse of this ; and we shall frequently have to draw attention to the loss of numbers and of influence which it has conti- nually suffered through attempting to enforce com- pliance with modes of action not immediately con- nected with moral duties, though possibly recommended by considerations of Clunstian expediency — a class of subjects on which " wise men agree to differ." We conclude this department of our subject in the words of a living author, as placing in a clear light some of the consequences that result from making the refusal of ecclesiastical demands a criterion of Chris- tian faithfuhiess, and an essential to church member- ship : " It induces," says Dr. Ash, " many members of the Society who have no scruple of conscience against paying these imposts, unwillingly to refuse their payment, on the lower and very questionable ground of complying with the wishes, and avoiding the censure, of their brethren. It subjects those who do pay them to that censure, and, consequently, to * Penn's Works : Address to Protestants, sec. iii. X Life of Dr. Arnold, vol. ii. p. 15. PUBLIC WORSHIP. 27 loss of reputation in the Churcli. In both cases its tendency must necessarily often be, in a greater or less degree, to alienate then- own affections, and still more those of theii' chilch'en, from the Society."* "We beheve the pecuKar form of public worship adopted by the Friends has not a little to do with tlieu' declining numbers. In the desh-e to abstam from aU " forms," they meet together for the pui-^DOse of public worship in silence, and should no minister be present (now often the case in many meetings) not a word wiU be spoken, and the Avorshippers, after sit- ting an horn' or two in silence, disperse. When thus assembled, says Robert Barclay, "the great work of one and all ought to be to wait upon God, and re- tiring out of their ovni thoughts and imaginations, to feel the Lord's presence, and know a gathering mto His name indeed, where He is in the midst, accord- ing to His promise. And as every one is thus gathered and so met together, inwardly in theu' spirits, as well as outwardly in their persons, there the secret power and virtue of hfe is known to re- fresh the soul, and the pm'e motions and breathings of God's Spirit are felt to arise, from which, as words of declaration, prayers, or praises arise, the acceptable worship is kno^vn, which edifies the * Dr. Ash's Seven Letters to a Friend, p. 37. 28 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. Church, and is well pleasing to God. . . . Yea, though there be not a word spoken, yet is the true spiritual worship performed, and the body of Christ edified." * There will be few spiritually minded men of any persuasion, who will affirm that true worship may not be rendered to Almighty God in meetings conducted in this manner ; and that it is so rendered, the experience of the Friends for two hmidred years warrants us in affirming. But the Society has gone much further than merely to defend silent worship, as one manner of fitly conducting this religious duty. Barclay, in his Apology for the True Chris- tain Divinity of the People called Quakers (and it will be remembered this volume is printed and circulated by the Yearly Meeting of London), affirms that " silence is, and must necessarily be, a special and principal part of God's worship; "f and again, in the words of the proposition on this subject, after re- counting " what true worship is," he adds : All other worship, then, both praises, prayers, or preach- ings, which man sets about in his own will, and at his own appointment, which he can both begin and end at his pleasure, do, or leave undone, as himself seeth meet, whether they be a prescribed form, as a liturgy, &c., or prayers conceived extempore by the * Barclay's Apohgij, p. 333 (eleventh ed.). f Ibid. p. 324. PUBLIC WORSHIP. 29 natural sti'engtli and faculty of tlie mind, tliey are all but superstition, Trill-worsliip, and abominable idolatiy in the siglit of God, which are now to be denied, and rejected, and separated from, in this day of his spiri- tual arising."* This paragraph was pemied about the year 1675, when the Society of Friends had existed but twenty-eight years, and when most of those who professed its doctrines and attended its worship were persons who did so from deep personal conviction. It is not difficult to miderstand the spiritual refreshment they experienced in their religious meetings ; and great allowance may justly be made for the asperity with which the pubhc worship of other religionists is denounced. But it by no means follows that what was suitable for the " early Friends," with their earnest piety, is fit, or even desirable, for those who ai*e very differently circumstanced. Barclay prac- tically admits the mifitness of long-continued silence to promiscuous gatherings for Divine worship, in which there may be, and often ai'e, " many young persons and indi^H[dual5 unconverted to God." In his seventh head under the proposition on Worship, he says, " There can be nothing more opposite to the natural will and wisdom of man tlian this silent wait- ing upon God ; " and it might have been added that it * Barclay's Apology, p. 325. 30 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. is opposed to the instincts of such Christians as have not been accustomed to its practice : the simple reason being, that the structure of the human mind is not adapted to long-continued silence; and this is espe- cially the case in the earher stages of hfe. Several extracts might be furnished from the writings of persons intimately acquainted with the actual working of the Friends' mode of silent wor- ship confirmatory of this opinion ; we insert one from the pen of Elizabeth Fry. She says : " To believe, as I do, that some of our congregations are in an unregenerate state, how must their silent meetings be past? And for the babes in Christ I have great fears, inasmuch as true, solemn, silent worship is a very high administration of spiritual worship. I frequently fear for such that more external aid is wanted, though I see not how it is to be given. I also feel the want of each one openly uniting in some external act of worship, for there is much in taking an absolute part in what is doing, to feel a full in- terest in it." * The altered character of the religious meetings of the Friends at the present time from those at the rise of the Society will hereafter claim ftirther attention, as the subject is deeply important. The mistake of the " early Friends " was, we * Memoirs of E. Fry, vol. ii. p. 188. PUBLIC WOESHIP. 31 apprehend, that of supposing that the one form of worship which corresponded most closely, in their judgment, with the sph'itual nature of this exercise, was the only one acceptable to God, or worthy the adoption of his Church ; whereas they would have most successfully commended their practices to others, had they remembered that "worship is planned altogether in adaptation to the limitations of the inferior party, not in proportion to the in- finitude of the superior ; " * and more truly would they have advanced the cause of spiritual religion in the world, by unitmg the practice of silent worship with those other arrangements which, though not worship itself, do at times prepare the way for it; as the audible reading of Holy Scripture, the teach- ing of Christian truth, &c. ; not now to recount the arguments which may be adduced on behalf of congregational singing. There must necessarily be some human arrangements for the performance of public worship, as the appointment of place and time, which is fully admitted by Barclay, f Whether it be desirable to limit these arrangements to the very barest matters of necessity, instead of employing the appliances indicated by experience to be most con- * Natural History of Enthusiasm, p. 28. t See his answer to Objection 2, proposition on Worship. 32 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. ducive to the performance of real worship, is, then, not a question of principle, but merely one of degree; doubtless left undetermined by Scripture, that each church might make such arrangements as it found to be most suited to its special circumstances. Robert Barclay's proposition on the Ministry runs as follows: — "As by the light or gift of God all true knowledge in tilings spiritual is received and revealed, so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart, by the strength and power thereof, every true minister of the Gospel is ordained, prepared, and supplied in the work of the ministry; and by the leading, movmg, and drawing hereof, ought every evangelist and Chris- tian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the Gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to w^hom, and as to the time wherein he is to minister."* The necessity of the Divine call to the work of the ministry is generally acknowledged : the ordination services of the Church of England recognize it, as well as those of other evangelical Churches, though it must be owned its absolute necessity, and the personal requirements which are involved in the acknowledgment, con- tinue, as was the case two hundred years ago, to be * Barclay, Prop. x. p. 256. MmiSTEY. 33 far too much overlooked. The number of ministers in the first rise of the Society of Friends was very large indeed; but, in most parts of the country they rapidly became less numerous, and dui'ing the present century this diminution has been still more marked. The Society has been accustomed to attribute this deficiency of preachers to a "want of individual faithfulness," and to the "prevalence of a worldly spirit;" but latterly many of its more thought- ful and intelligent members have perceived that there have been other causes at w^ork in the production of tliis result. We have now before us numerous recent pamphlets and documents relating to the Society. Their disclosures are a striking confirmation of the wise maxim, that " extremes beget extremes." That the attempt to claim a degree of direct Divine direc- tion in the preaching of the Gospel unauthorized by Scripture, and not required by the necessity of the case (if we may use such an expression), whilst it might, in the first outbm-st of zeal, increase the number of preachers ; yet when that zeal cooled, its efi'ect was precisely the reverse; and, instead of having in each congregation many who possessed and exercised the gift and " true gospel liberty of pro2:)hesying," such became even less numerous than in the other churches of Christendom, where the D 34 QUxVKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. ministrations were confined to the one "person," or " j^arson," as lie was termed — a condition of things that had been denounced by George Fox as a great usurpation of Christian liberty. The conclusion of the paragraph from Barclay pre- viously quoted, is but a mild instance compared with some that might be furnished, as to the ex- tent to which immediate spiritual influence has been looked for in the performance of the ministerial calling — a degree hardly inferior to that granted to the Hebrew prophets, — comprehending directions as to the matter spoken, the words to be used, time, place, &c.* When such an amount of spiritual guidance has been regarded as needful to a rightly authorised minister, we are not surprised to learn from a docu- ment read at the Yearly Meeting of 1856, that in the Quarterly Meeting of Bristol and Somerset, which contains about one thousand members, be- sides other attenders, "two-thirds of the meetings have no acknowledged minister," an experience not * We are informed that in a recent conference of Eriends, an eminent minister — a man of extended observation and of deep Christian experience — spoke strongly against persons expecting a revelation, "as distinct as would be required to predict the downfall of a city, before they would venture to open their mouths in vocal prayer or ministry." MmSTEY. 35 differing from that of maiiv otlier parts of Eng- land. The document proceeds, with as much mode- ration as wisdom, '"We think there has been too great a tendency, in many instances, to restrict the exercise of spiritual gifts to the sendees of acknow- ledged ministers, and that a disposition to look for extraordinary revelations has led to a disregard of that all-pervading influence by wliich the natural powers of the mind might have been sanctified to the Lord's service We believe, indeed, that the tendency of wliich we speak accounts for the neglect of many of those gifts which have been allowed to lie dormant amongst us, and that it has, in some instances, produced a discouraging effect on those, who might otherwise have been engaged in the work of the ministry to their o^vn profit and to the edification of their ft'iends. It may also sometimes have been the case, that an unwill- ingness to become the servant of Clirist, and to confess Him before men, has led us to shelter our- selves under the pretext of fearing not to serve Him aright."* It is stated in the seventh edition of the Ency- * Report to Bristol and Somerset Quarterly Meeting from its Committee for promoting the Christian Interests of its younger Mem- bers, p. 13. IX 2 36 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PKESENT. clopcedia Britannica that since the first generation of preachers passed away, the Society of Friends has possessed but few ministers conspicuous for their eloquence and general ability, and that much of the ministry heard in its meeting-houses since that time is justly chargeable with serious defects of style and expression, tending to obscure the meaning of the words spoken, and thus detracting from their useful- ness. Without fully endorsing this statement, we are prepared to admit its partial truth, and to grant that the quality of its preaching must be regarded as of great moment to a Church's welfare. The defects complained of are, we think, readily trace- able to the prevalence of the two ideas, that intel- lectual attainments are of little or no value to a true minister, and that sermons should be altogether unpremeditated. As regards the first doctrine, it is similar to several we shall encounter in our examina- tion of Quakerism, an overstrained truth. Scripture and experience alike prove that head knowledge " alone is impotent to make a man a minister of the Gospel ; but when, as in the cases of Paul or ApoUos, the Divine call is obeyed by men of intel- lectual power and attainment, the consecration and employment of such power in the work of the ministry is thrice blessed to the Church. The RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 37 notion tliat all true ministry should be quite mi- premeclitated, appears to us a kindred error, as it is evidently as competent for the Divine Spirit to assist or direct the consideration of a subject to be addressed to an audience a day or a week before its delivery, as it is after a minister has taken his seat in a meeting, with his mind like "a blank sheet."* It is one of those anomalies which human nature sometimes presents, that the body of Christians pro- fessing the greatest jealousy of any attempt to limit the operations of the Holy Spirit, should, never- theless, itself have fixed such very narrow bounds within which the divine direction is to be exerted on the minds of its ministers. The neglect of the " Gift of Teaching " is another department of the subject now under con- sideration. This gift is spoken of in the New Testament as one distinct from that of prophesy- ing, or preaching, though not unfrequently both services were entrusted to one individual. The gift of teaching was specially connected with the intellectual faculties, that of prophesying with the emotional : " Christianity," says Neander, " claimed for its service the faculties of knowledge no less than those of feeling. Where one of these faculties * Quoted by J. J. Gurney: Memoirs, 2nd ed., vol. ii. p. 112. 38 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. predominated to the exclusion of tlie other, disturb- ances of the Christian consciousness and hfe always ensued. The healthy and harmonious development, by virtue of which all exclusive preponderance of single charismata would be precluded, was one of the characteristic features of the Apostolic period." Hence care was taken " that there should never fail to be in the communities such as were qualified to satisfy the need of knowledge — men capable of un- folding and of defending for them Christian truth."* At first sight it is difiicult to understand the neglect of the gift of teaching by the Society of Friends. George Fox was not ignorant of the variety of gifts bestowed by the Head of the Church on his people, and that all were not apostles," nor yet " prophets." Evidence also remains to show, that he intended the meetings for discipline to be opportunities in which the gift of teaching might be exercised ; it is also probable that not a little that was communicated in meetings for worship, in those early times, was more strictly religious instruction than direct exhortation. But from the indiscriminate disparagement of intel- lectual knowledge — from the repeated assertion of the early Friends, that in respect to the qualifica- tions of a Gospel minister, " letter learning was * Neander's Ch. Hist, vol. i. p. 254. PRAYER. 39 more frequently hurtful than helpful;"* as well as from the idea that every public declaration of religious truth should be an extempore act ; doc- trines that appear to us overstrained in relation to ministry, and quite untenable when applied to " religious teaching " — it is not surprising that this important gift has been very little exercised amongst the Friends, and its neglect has tended to confirm that passive religious condition which has charac- terised their religious body for one hundred and fifty years. Neither by their example nor their precepts did these good men who were instrumental in gathering the Society, place obstacles or discouragement in the way of the exercise of prayer, whether in the privacy of the closet, the social circle, or in the public assembly." f Such is an assertion, recently made in an official and widely circulated document. We should hesitate before endorsing it, even if con- fined to the writings of the early Friends, as the data on which to rest an opinion ; and on inquiring into the actual working of their principles respecting prayer, we are compelled to believe that they have restrained and limited its use in a manner very * Barclay's Apology, p. 283, Worship xv. f Report of Committee of York Quarterly Meeting on the means of extending Care to the yoinicjer Jfembers, 1856, p. 8. 40 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. injurious to tlie religious welfare of individuals, and to the maintenance of healthy piety in the body at large. The doctrine of Robert Barclay, that prayer can only be offered acceptably by the help of the Holy Spirit, and that of other professing Christians, that the " sense of need " is the only warrant re- quired, are not necessarily antagonistic, for that sense is one " which the Spirit of God alone can give." But more than this sense of need has been looked for by the Friends, sensible spiritual influence has been expected, and of a character that prevented any previous arrangements as to time or place, though apparently they are not less needful for ensuring the performance of this duty than they are for that of worship. Thus the habit of prayer is not fostered, and through fear of praying amiss some have refrained from praying at all, or at any rate with that frequency and freedom so essential to the Christian's growth, and so enjoined on an early Church by the great Apostle, *'In everything by prayer and supplication, ... let your requests be made known unto God."* This evil has dimi- nished of late years, and the regular Scripture family readings, morning and evening, with the solemn pause before and after, have gone far to remedy a * Philippians iv. 6. SYMBOLIC RITES. 41 condition of tliincrs alike inimical to the maintenance of real piety in adult persons, and to the education of the young in " good religious habits ; " but not before it had contributed to that lethargy and stagnation which crept over the Society like a paralysis, in the epoch subsequent to the death of its founders. In directing attention to the disuse of the bap- tismal and eucharistic rites, it is at once apparent that whatever judgment be entertained regarding the scriptural authority for their continued observance, will greatly influence any opinion that may be offered as to the effect produced on the Society by omitting to employ these " means of grace," as they are termed. Those who believe them to be divinely appointed ordinances, the observance of which is permanently obligatory on the Christian Church, will expect to find in their neglect, results inimical to the spiritual health of individuals, and therefore of the body at large. But even were this position granted, before it could be safely assumed that the non-observance of these ceremonies was a cause of the decline of Quakerism, it would be necessar}^ to prove the direct modus operandi. Without, however, entering into the scriptural merits of the controversy in relation to these rites, it may be alleged without danger of contradiction, that, 42 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. excepting the Society of Friends, a very few other small bodies of Christians, and some isolated indi\d- dnals, the professing Church from Apostolic times downwards, whilst greatly divided in judgment, as to the nature and mode of observing these rites, has been united in the opinion that they are of divine institution, and that their observance is permanently binding on the followers of Christ. Whilst neither this fact, nor that of their observance by the Lord Jesus himself, is sufficient to sustain their conti- nuance, if manifestly opposed to the letter or spirit of Scripture, it strongly indicates the propriety of modesty and charity on the part of those who do not observe them, especially when their refusal to do so rests on no distinct scriptural injunction, but on con- siderations deduced from the general scope and cha- racter of the Gospel revelation. The Society of Friends has disowned individuals of irreproachable conduct and undoubted piety (within the present century) for no other reason than that of having undergone the rite of baptism under an apprehen- sion of religious duty. In such acts we do discover a cause of decadence. Considering it is an undis- puted fact that both these rites were largely observed in the primitive Church, and that no explicit direc- tion was given as to their cessation at a future SYMBOLIC RITES. 43 period ; whatever be our opinions as to their ob- servance now, not being obligatory or even expe- dient — and the writer entirely accepts this view of the question ; it must be conceded that the disown- ment of an individual for undergoing the rite of water baptism is an infraction of religious liberty, and of the right of private judgment, by a ChmTh wliich had struggled " so bravely and so well" to obtain these boons from the civil power. The number of members lost on this gromid has not been large, though perhaps somewhat greater than might be supposed, inasmuch as individuals expect- ing to derive spiritual benefit from these rites, have usually resigned theii' membership rather than subject themselves to the censure of the body. 44 CHAPTER III. ORIGINAL VIEWS OF THE FOUNDERS OF QUAKERISM CONNECTED WITH ITS DECLINE, CONTINUED. Indirect effects of distorted doctrinal views — Disparagement of the Reason — Fine Arts — Scriptures — Discipline. " Christianity did not destroy any of the natural distinctions grounded in the laws of the original creation, hut sanctified and ennobled them ; for our Saviour's words that he came not to destroy but to fulfil, apply also to the natural world." — Neander's Church History, vol. i. p. 247. Haying in the preceding chapter treated of the Quaker practices directly originating out of the pro- minence assigned to the personal work of the Holy Spirit, we proceed to inquire into the more indirect effects flowing from the same source. The Friends have always maintained that, whilst belief in the reality of Christ's inward teaching was the primary ground of union to the founders of the Society, yet that their acceptance of that belief came as an addition to their previous theology, not instead of it. Whilst this statement, rightly understood, is capable of satisfactory proof, we know that to many VIEWS OF THE FOUKDERS. 45 who 710W read the writings of the " early Friends," the exposition of Christian truth there presented does not appear identical with that obtained by a simple examination of the New Testament. The fundamental doctrines taught by Fox, Penn, and Barclay, are the doctrines of Scripture, but the re- lative positions respectively assigned those doctrines differ from that assigned by the inspired writers. The grand outlines of the pictures are alike, but not the perspective, and there is a material differ- ence in the filling in, and in the colouring of the objects. The inward and spiritual offices of Clmst are magnified (more especially by the two writers last named), at the expense of his outward appear- ance, as Jesus of Nazareth, and of his vicarious offerinor for sin. This imperfect representation was principally oc- casioned by the peculiarity of the stand-point occupied by these authors; they perceived that an essential branch of Christian faith had been greatly obscured, and in their declai'ation of the Gospel message, they gave the principal prominence to the one doctrine of which they were the expositors and publishers. When perusing their ponderous folios, two centuries after they were pemied, we must constantly bear in mind the altered position of religious opinion in the 46 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. Church at the present time from what it was then, or we shall do Fox and his associates injustice. When an error has to be combated, the opposing truth will probably be dwelt on, with an emphasis pro- portionate to the greatness of its previous neglect — an emphasis that is injurious and out of place, when the error it was to counteract has greatly abated or ceased to exist. Analogous circumstances are frequent in the world of matter, as well as of mind: take the instance of the sea-coast that has encroached on the old domains of the ocean; far inland you meet with the high banks a brave people raised against the assaults of the waves ; no billows now break near these banks, but you not the less admire the enter- prise and spirit of a race long since passed aw^ay, in their endeavours to guard against a once imminent danger. Somewhat analogous was the position occu- pied by the founders of Quakerism in the religious world. It was a high attainment the Apostle Paul enjoined on Timothy, that he should declare the truth " with- out distortion."* In the long roll of the Church's worthies, how few there are who have successfully carried out this inspired injunction ! George Fox and his colleagues are no exception to the general * Conyl)eare and Howson's Translation, Timothy ii. 2-16. VIEWS or THE FOUNDERS. 47 experience. They surveyed the religious state of Eno-land, and discerned the iiiabilitv of forms and of outward machinery to give men real piety : they believed themselves to have been enlightened from above, when earthly means had failed ; they perceived with great clearness the difference between piety and its concomitants — between the building itself and the mere scaffolding around it; but they did not see so clearly, that the great Master Builder is usually pleased to employ outward means — what may be compared to the scaffolding — in establishing the temple of true piety in the heart of man. Seeing that God sometimes works immediately by His Spirit, and that He is ahU always to employ this direct spiritual influence in drawing souls to Him- self, it was argued that it was His will principally to employ this Divine afflatus in nuituring the Christian life, to the disparagement of instrumental and secondaiy means ; and it has been a principal object in the Quaker system, to isolate its members from the influence of aught that was supposed to divert their attention from the inward teachino-s of this heavenly visitant, even though it might neces- sitate the abnegation of deeply seated elements in the constitution of man's spiritual natm'e. Had George Fox's mind been less influenced by 48 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. his Puritan training, and been more conversant with the history of the past, his penetrating intellect would probably have discerned that the attempt to exclude the human reason from the exercise of its lemtimate prerogatives, and to ignore the love of the beautiful in art or song, was not merely to tlu'ow away a weapon of remarkable potency in awakening re- ligious sensibilities, but also to curtail the basis on which the Society rested, and to contract that narrow road which the Christian must tread on his heaven- ward journey, to limits straiter than those fixed by omniscient wisdom and revealed to man. In one of his epistles. Fox says, " And if eYery particular of you know not a principle within which is of God to guide you to wait upon God, ye are still in your own knowledge, which is brutish and sensual "... "and dwelling in that which is pure up to God, it commands your O'svn reason to keep silent and to cast your own thoughts out." * George Fox's strong common sense saved him from some of the practical errors his colleagues fell into; but is not the pre- ceding extract illustrative of the existence of the theory that the operations of the Holy Spirit are facilitated by the entire negation of the human reason? Whereas (as it appears to the writer), the * George Fox's Epistles, p. 18. VIE^VS OF THE FOUNDERS. 49 true position is, that the human reason, depraved by sin, is renewed and enlightened, and sanctified by the inshining of the Holy Spirit. How came it, when musing on the sacred volume, for days and weeks, 'Mn hollow trees and lonesome places," that this great man did not perceive that the Apostle Paul presented an eminent example of the sanctification of a powerful intellect to the service of God; — by what oversight did he fail to recognize, that those same reasoning faculties which, in the unconverted Saul of Tarsus, opposed and blasphemed the truth, when changed by the power of Divine grace, were mighty in argument with Jew or Greek, whether in impassioned oratory, or in logical written discourses, skilfully using my- thological literature, and introducing appropriate allusions to surrounding circumstances ? No Chris- tian will doubt the ability of Him " with whom all things are possible," always to employ immediate spiritual influence, in preference to secondary or instrumental means ; but the question is not whether God has the poicer, but whether it is His will so to act; and this can be ascertained only by an appeal- to revelation and experience. It is the high privilege of the Cln-istian to know his way '^ordered of the Lord in all things : " but those who most fully realize 50 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. the truth of this m their own experience, are also those who recognize the existence of clear and sig- nificant laws in the method of God's spiritual govern- ment. In the words of a great living philosopher, the conditions of existence, not less than the matter and form, are from God ; " * and a clearly manifested " condition " of the Divine government, is what may be termed the economy of power that is displayed in His dealings with men. When personally on earth, the Lord Jesus did not employ miraculous agency when the ordinary powers of nature were compe- tent to attain the required result ; " there was no exhibition of things monstrous, there were no con- trarieties to the order of nature, there was nothing prodigious, there was nothing grotesque. " f Just so is it in the material world: God's creative energy is in constant exercise, alike in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; without it the labour of the husbandman were in vain : but that man would be rightly regarded as insane, who in order to give full scope to this creative energy left his fields uncultivated. In like manner the operations of the Holy Spirit in the human heart, constantly progress harmoniously and consentaneously with * Natural History of Enthusiasm, p. 55. f Restoration of Belief p. 231. FIXE AETS, ETC. 51 the exercise of the mental faculties. God does not supersede His own works ; on the contrary. He en- joins the active healthy play of the human reason, and to those so using it, is best known the limited range of its powers when exercised on the relations of man to his Creator, and they most gratefully accept of that omnipotent strength, which is merci- fully granted in consideration of man's need. An unhealthy disparagement of outward means in the cultui'e of the religious life, showed itself during the lives of the founders of Quakerism; and we shall hereafter see that, as counteracting^ influences were withdrawn, it was still further developed in a m.anner most prejudicial to the health of the body. The attitude assumed by the Friends towards the fine arts, furnishes another evidence (as it appears to the writer) of their imperfect apprehension of the dignity of all the feelings and emotions, originally implanted by the Creator in the constitution of man. George Fox writes, ^' I was moved also to cry against all sorts of music," for it " burdened the pm-e life." * " The Quaker," says Bancroft, " distrusts the fine arts, they are so easily perverted to purposes of superstition and the delight of the senses." f Whilst * Fox's Journal, p. 25. t History of U. S., Bancroft, vol. ii. p. 606. £ 2 52 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. the primitive Quakers did not purpose absolutely to banish these pursuits from the homes of themselves and their successors, they so far restrained the development of the aesthetic element, that acting in conjunction with the general subjective character of the system, Quakerism became (what the French denominate) a Specialite, without the elastic, adap- tative qualities, which fit Christianity for every tribe of men, from the impassible matter-of-fact Dutch- man, to the sensuous, impulsive Negro. Here, we imagine, lies the secret why Quakerism has made no progress amongst the aboriginal tribes it has befriended — amongst the Negroes whose liberties it has struggled for — or (with trivial exceptions) any- where beyond the limits of the Anglo-Saxon family ; and also why it has not proved a congenial home to that large class of persons whose characters are rather emotional, than intellectual or reflective. Perhaps, from its foundation, the diflPerence be- tween the leaders of the Society of Friends and other Christians, respecting Holy Scripture, existed more in language and manner of expression than in substance and reality. Very many of the early Quakers, as is evident from their writings, were deeply versed in the inspired volume and most highly prized it ; though they rebelled against the legal HOLY SCHIPTURE. 53 statute-book liglit in %Yliicli it was lield by the Puritans, and not very unfrequently used by tliem whilst in power as a shield for cruelty and intole- rance. The controversy, whether the Scriptures be the primary rule of faith and practice or the secondary, is of smaller importance than appears at first sight, when the defenders of the latter position heartily admit that they "do look upon them" (the Scriptures) as the only fit outward judge of contro- versies among Christians, and that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their testimony may therefore justly be regarded as false. And " for our own parts," adds Barclay, " we are very willing that all our doctrines and practices be tried by them ; which we never re- fused, nor ever shall, in all controversies with our adversaries, as the judge and test. We shall also be very willing to admit it as a positive, certain maxim, that whatsoever any do, pretending to the Spirit, which is contrary to the Scriptures, be accounted and reckoned a delusion of the devil." * The controversy that has been maintained on this point is analogous to one we may imagme by way of hypothesis between two Englishmen — as to whether the three estates of this realm, or the laws they enact, shall be considered the primary rule of faith and practice in things civil. * Barclay, Prop, on Scriptures, p. 80. 54 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. It appears to us that tlie practical consequences differ hardly at all, between the man who obeys the laws as his rule, and he who holds the more comprehensive theory, that whilst doing nothing contrary to the laws, he yet must revere the Queen, Lords, and Commons that enacted them more than the laws themselves. It was the reaction against the judicial reception of tjie Bible by the Puritans, that made the early Friends so emphatic in affirming that " the Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures was greater than the Scriptures." But when the Puritans, as a party, were extinct, the result of having strongly pushed this doctrine was felt injuriously by the Society of Friends. A tradi- tional mode of expression was maintained towards the Bible, no longer called for, that occasioned some to think it a part of their profession to avoid the regular daily reading of Holy Scripture. The Bible is not read in meetings for divine worship; and inasmuch as the careless and indifferent will ever neglect its sacred contents, when no systematic arrangements exist for bringing them formally under notice, either in the public assemblies for the worship of God, or in social gatherings for the like purpose, it may easily be understood how considerable was the deficiency of intelligent scriptural knowledge which existed in the Society previous to the close of last century; at which DISCIPLINE. 55 period the daily family reading of the inspired volume was recommended by London Yearly Meeting, and this practice has been generally adopted. The de- fective acquaintance with Scripture has been officially recognized as a chief occasion of the desolating here- sies which, withm the last sixty years, have swept away so many thousand members in Ireland and America. Connected with this branch of our subject is the working of the Quaker system of " Discipline," or church government. George Fox commenced its definite organization in 1667, and devoted much time and labour to its elaboration during the re- mainder of his life. The report of the "religious census" of 1851 jouts in a few sentences the main features of the system. " The whole community of Friends is modelled somewhat on the Presbyterian system. Three gradations of meetings or synods — monthly, quarterly, and yearly — administer the affairs of the Society, including in their supervision matters both of spiritual discipline and secular policy. The monthly meetings, composed of all the congregations within a definite circuit, judge of the fitness of new candidates for membership, supply certificates to such as move to other districts, choose fit persons to be elders, to watch over the ministry, attempt the refor- 55 QUAIvERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. mation or pronounce the expulsion of all such as walk disorderly, and generally seek to stimulate the mem- bers to religious duty. They also make provision for the poor of the Society, and secure the education of their children. Overseers are also appointed to assist in the promotion of these objects. At monthly meet- ings also marriages are sanctioned previous to their solemnization at a meeting for worship. Several monthly meetings compose a quarterly meeting, to which they forward general reports of their condition, and at which appeals are heard from their decisions. The yearly meeting holds the same relative position to the quarterly meetings that the latter do to the monthly meetings, and has the general superintendence of the Society in a particular country."^ George Fox says that his object in the organization of this system of church government w^as "the promotion of piety and virtue." These are general terms; and there can be no doubt that he foresaw several important ends that might be attained by these frequent meet- ings for other purposes than religious worship, as the efficient relief of the poor, the succouring of the persecuted and dow^n-trodden, as well as the several matters mentioned in the preceding extract, and others which we shall hereafter consider ; but perhaps more * Beport of Religious Census, p. 65. DISCIPLIXE. 57 powerful than any other consideration that influenced his mind, was the perception he had of the necessity that existed for putting a restraint on the proceedings of some injudicious but ardent followers. This may be inferred from his own writings, and the strenuous opposition offered to the establishment of " Meetings for Discipline " by a number of the more enthusiastic spirits in the Society is strong corroborative testimony. The first effect the Discipline " had on the body at large, was (if we may use so mechanical a simile) not unlike that occasioned by the addition of a fly-wheel to a powerful but irregularly acting machine — there was some loss of power, but more than an equivalent gain in the greater regularity of action induced. A check was put on the proceedings of parties whose zeal outran their knowledge. At the period of which we now write, " membership," in the modern sense of the term, was unknown in the Society. Fox's views were far more extensive than the mere founding of a sect: as before remarked, he aimed at nothing less than the reformation of the entire Church : thus, in his Epistles he hardly appears to address the Friends as a sectional body of Christians, they are "the childi'en of light, in scorn by the world called Quakers," " the church of God," &c. Thus wishing to include all within its pale, it would have been contrary to the 58 QUAKERISM: PAST AXD PRESENT. genius of primitive Quakerism to have made a definite statement as to who were " members " and who were not : the habitual attendance at their religious meetings was the only popular test which indicated who were to be regarded as " Friends ; " and persons so attend- ing, of every shade of religious experience and of all degrees of earnestness, were blended together, though the incessant persecution which attended the Society in nearly all parts of the comitry, for the first forty years of its history, generally prevented the long-continued adhesion of the lukewarm and indifferent. Widely differing from the promiscuous gatherings for divine worship were the first "Meetings for Disciphne:'' they were not popular assemblies ; children and young people did not sit in them as they do now ; but " two or three true and faithful Friends " from each particular meeting constituted the monthly meetings ; and George Fox is still more precise in defining fit constituents for the quarterly meetings, which, says he, are to be made up "of weighty seasoned, and substantial Friends, that understand the business of the church ; for no unruly or unsea- soned person should come there, nor indeed to the monthly meeting, but those who are single-hearted, seasoned, and honest." * To these meetings ministers * Fox's Epistles, p. 290. DISCIPLINE. 59 (if personally unknown in tlie parts tliey wished to visit) must apply for certificates, " to prevent any bad spirits that may scandalize honest men." In examininor into the actual business transacted in these church meetmgs, as we may style them, it is remark- able how large a part of it was connected with the relief of the persecuted — of those in prison, or their destitute families. The early Friends merit a passing tribute of high praise, for their aflPectionate care of one another in those dark days of grinding persecution. A recent author * has pointed out, that one effect of the severe persecutions of the Friends in the seven- teenth century was largely to call out their charitable feelings for one another, and so to induce the for- mation of a most intimate fellowship between different classes of persons. The liberal extension of pecuniary aid to the sufferers by their richer bretlu'en appears to have operated as a temptation to some designing parties to join themselves to the Quaker community, even in time of persecution, tlu'ough sordid motives, whilst they contrived to escape the sufferuigs incident to such a profession. It is an interesting coincidence that a similar abuse is mentioned by historians of the primitive Church. These circumstances paved the way for the introduction of a system by which * W. Tanner's Lectures, p. 77. 60 QUAKEEISM : PAST AND PRESENT. every j^oor member receives pecuniary relief in case of need, and education for his children at the expense of the meeting in which he resides, or has a settlement." The rules for determining this set- tlement are of a precise and somewhat complicated character. So early as 1693, mention is made in the Yearly Meeting's Epistle of poor " Friends " coming to reside in London from the country dis- tricts and being burdensome to the metropolitan meetings.* We here notice the origin of the diffi- culty more largely felt afterwards, when charitable feelings were colder, as to who were the parties equitably chargeable with the duty of maintaining the poor, when such changed their residence, and moved to another meeting. The " Rules of Settle- ment " were adopted by the Yearly Meeting to meet the different emergencies. It is indicative of the trouble imposed on that assembly by these questions, that in 1740 it bound itself by a regulation, not to en- tertain any proposition for altering these rules, unless brought before it by a distinct minute of a quar- terly meeting.! The influence of this legal adminis- tration of the Church's charity to its poor has not been unattended with injurious results. In some * Yearly Meeting Epistles, p. 81. f Rules of Discipline, p. 237. RELIEF OF THE POOE. 61 parts of the country it is but too e\ident, that during the eighteenth century the reHef of the poor ^yas regarded much more in the hght of a duty (to use a mild expression) than of a privilege ; and it is possible that the fact of a person being indigent, may sometimes have weighed to his disadvantage, when a monthly meeting has been deliberating as to his reception into membership. But much more deeply marked has been the influence of this systematic relief of the poor on themselves, than on their benefactors. When a family of children have received a boarding-school education at the expense of the Society, it has not unfrequently happened that such yomig persons have been placed in a false position, contracted habits and formed associations unsuited to the circumstances of their family, and, relying on the knowledge that they would be supported, if it came to the worst, have neglected to take such situations and to follow such callings, as their position in life indicated to be appro- priate for them. And this association of " temporal advantage with membership in the Church " has not only acted prejudicially on the Society itself, but has also operated in repelling the poor from its borders. With that sense of honour that is often found amongst the conscientious poor, we are not surprised to learn from good authorities, that work- 62 QUAKERISM : PAST AXD PEESEXT. iiig men are deterred from seeking membersliip with the Friends by the fear of being charged with in- terested motives.* Retnrnino; to the more immediate consideration of the ecclesiastical machinery established by George Fox. the point that attracts our closest attention is its non-aggressive character, being the exact reverse of the organization adopted by John Wesley in the Methodist societies. It is justly remarked by the philosophic exponent of Wesley and JletJiodism, that * In the thirty years 1828-1857, the sum expended by York Quarterly Meeting of Eriends in the relief and maintenance of its poor members was 20,830/. lis. 6d., or 694/. per year. The number of members during the period Avas two thousand four hundred, the payment requiring a. contribution of five and nine- pence per year from each member. In a return made by the Poor-Law Commissioners to the last session of Parliament, it is stated that during the twenty-four years 1834-1858, the sum expended in England and Wales for the reUef of the poor had averaged six and twopence per year on the estimated population. In neither case do the figures include pay- ments made from charitable endowments, or for other purposes than the rehef of the poor. In comparing the rehef given to members of the Society of Friends with that obtained from the poor-law union, we may safely assume that, under like circumstances of destitution, the pay- ment made by the Friends would be three times greater than that made by the parish officer; and seeing that the contribution made by them is less per head, it follows that the Society of Friends has not more than one-third part of the pauperism which exists in the population at large — York Quarterly Meeting fairly repre- senting the circumstances of the entire Society in England and Wales. DISCIPLINE. 63 the organization of that system is expansive/' that of Quakerism " seclusive." We regard this as having been a powerful cause of the Society's first stationary, then retrograde condition — one that has been in opera- tion almost from its origm to the present time. To avail om-selves ftuther of the volmne just quoted from : " In the Wesleyan commmiity, organization has always had one intention — namely, systematic laboui' Xo Wesleyan Methodist (when the system has had its free course) falls out of notice, or is suffered to lapse into forgetfulness, or is left an inert fragment, not partaking of the momentum of the mass." Isaac Taylor adds that this organization, " comprehensive in the most absolute sense, as to persons, gifts, talents, and worldly means," is that which has given to Wesleyan Methodism a greater amount of success than has attended " the equally zealous endeavours of other bodies.* f And how * Wesley and Methodism, p, 272. f A pertinent illustration of the effect of this systematic labour in identifying an individual with the interests of a Church, came under the author's notice during the preparation of the present essay. In the sketch that Thomas Cooper (the author of the Purgatory of Suicides) has been giving, in different towns, during the last few months, of his early history and experience, he stated that when, as a young man, circumstances had attracted him to the Church of England, his union with it was not cemented because they " gave him nothing to do ; " and subsequently he was drawn towards the "Wesleyans, who furnished him with ample means for the development of his energies. 64: QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. widely different is it from tlie Quaker organization, which assigns hardly any work to a large number of those who attend " Meetings for Discipline." It is only incidentally that the principle of aggression exists there at all. The zeal of the individual preachers under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is the sole incentive to " Missionary enterprise " — the intention or wish to engage in such a service — the " concern " of the minister (to use the conventional pln'ase) — is laid before the meeting, and if approved of, a certificate of unity and approbation is granted. When the preacher's views are cordially entered into, the possession of the Church's sympathy and prayers is encouraging and sustaining; and at the time the dis- cipHne was established, when, in spite of the number of ministers incarcerated in all the gaols of England, others remained in sufficient numbers to continue their travels and their preachings in every part of the British Isles, in Holland, Germany, and other parts of Europe, in the West Indies, and in the North American colonies, not to mention embassies for the spiritual enlightenment of the Sultan Mahomet, or the occupant of the Papal Chair — at this period the influence of the disciplinary meetings in regu- lating, without repressing, the zeal of the early preachers was useful ; but the period of fervour DISCIPLIXE. 65 and of o'lowmor zeal did not continue more than fifty years. In tlie Society of Friends tlie execu- tive power, as already stated, rests in tlie monthly meetincrs — not in the central bodv ; and conse- quently neither the evils nor the benefits of a system of centralized authority have been felt. History proves that such a system is best fitted for the prosecution of an active propagandism : the Quaker polity is the reverse of this, hence a main reason of its failm'e as an instrumentality for obtaining proselytes. This is not the place to re^-iew the respective merits of a seclusive or of an expansive form of church government, nor to consider which most accords with the spirit of Christianity. We are aware many of the Friends would argue, that it was a chief recommendation of their system, that the machinery ceases to work when the life and spirit, which should be the main-spring, cease ta exist. Into this question it is without our pro- vince to enter — we merely draw attention to the- fact that the ecclesiastical polity of the Societ}^ is> not calculated to widen the sphere of its influence ; it does not aff'ect the world witliout, and so is power- less as a proselytizing engine. Yet it must not be overlooked, that whilst this 66 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. lias been the case for a lengthened period, their founder did contemplate a wider range of service for " meetings for discipline " than they have ac- tually occupied. He intended them to have been agencies for spreading the doctrines of the Friends, and he instituted periodic gatherings in different parts of the country, termed " Circular Yearly Meet- ings," having some points of resemblance with the Methodist camp meetings " of a later date, at which great numbers of people — sometimes counted by thousands — were assembled from extensive dis- tricts of country ; the services lasted fi-om one to three days, and were conducted by the most able and popular ministers — "Public Friends," as they are oddly denominated in the antique records of these proceedmgs. Not unfrequently, too, the quar- terly meetings partook of a like character: one day being devoted to religious meetings with the Friends and the general public united, whilst on the succeeding day the affairs of the Society would be transacted in a select assembly, constituted as already described. But as the aggressive spirit passed aw^ay, these provisions for acting on the masses of the population were abused, fell into dis- repute, and were discontinued. The early "meet- ings for discipline" were also intended to afford op- CIECULAE YEAKLY MEETINGS, ETC. 67 portimities for tlie exercise of tlie gift of " teaching " by those Friends who did not speak as ministers ; and we learn from Wright's History of Friends in Ireland, and from other sources, how varied and useful were the services rendered to the Society and especially to its younger members, sometimes by the establishment of meetings for the reading of religious books, by frequent social visits, by deputations from monthly and quarterly meetings to the homes of their members, and by other means. Very much of this interesting phase of the Society's internal economy passed away in the " middle ages " of its history — at the very time, let it be observed, when the oral instruction imparted in " meetings for worship " was greatly diminished, from the fewmess of preachers as compared with the previous epoch. F 2 68 CHAPTER ly. Numerical strength of the Society of Friends in 1680— Its pro- portion to the general population — Emigration — Number of Friends in 1800, 1847, and 1856. " Important lessons with reference to the physical and moral condition of any people, are derived from the investigation of those great events in human life, which are the subjects of registration^ viz. births, marriages, and deaths." — Sajiuel Tuke. The death of George Fox marks the close of the first epoch in Quaker history. Here, then, we pause to inquire what was the number of persons who had accepted his exposition of Christian truth, and iden- tified themselves with the new Society. The essential conditions of the inquiry preclude the attainment of a result arithmetically exact. No attempt at defining membership with the Society of Friends was made until nearly a century after its origin; previous to that time, attendance at its meetings for worship was the popular test for determining religious profession. The number of persons so far xu:merical strength ix 1680. 69 " convinced " as sometimes to attend tlie meetin£:s of the Friends, and to unite with them in par- ticular efforts — as in opposing tithes, chui'ch-rates, mihtary service, &c. — was very large ; and so early as 1659 petitions were presented to Paidiament for the abohtion of tithes, signed by about fifteen thou- sand men and upwai'ds of seven thousand women. The Society does not appear at any time to have ascertained officially the number of persons in pro- fession with it, though from its origin it has kept careful records of births, deaths, and marriages ; * but two statements, made in the seventeenth cen- tmy by contemporary authors, throw some light upon the question. In the Snahe in the Grass, a volume pubhshed by a hostile anonymous author in 1696, it is incidentally mentioned that "the Quakers ai'e not fewer, by the lowest computation, than one hundred .thousand here in England.*'! In Dal- rympUs Memoirs^ we find that when " King Wil- liam (III.) was engaged m his project of reconciling the religious difierences of England, he was at great pains to find out the proportions between chtu'ch- men, dissenters, and papists." In the reports pre- sented to the King on this subject, the total number of Protestant nonconformists is given at one hundred * See Xote 1 at the end of chapter, p, 77. t Snake in the Grass, 2nd edition, p. 245. 70 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. and eiglit thousand six hundred and seventy-six above the age of sixteen (double that number^ in- cluding children, it is stated). Unfortunately, the numbers of the different denominations are not specified; but excluding some insignificant sects, it is generally stated that the four chief bodies of dissenters, " the Presbyterians, the Anabaptists, the Independents, and Quakers, were about equal in num- bers."* This would give about fifty thousand as the number of the Friends, one-half less than the state- ment of the author previously quoted. The Snake in the Grass was "written with the desire to excite persecution ; and it is probable the wish to alarm the public mind, induced the author to exaggerate the real number of his opponents ; on the other hand, it is not unlikely that from the returns furnished to William III. being compiled by parties wishful to magnify the strength of the National Church, and to depreciate that of dissenters, the numbers of the latter class are under-stated. A close exami- nation of the tables, and a comparison of them with other sources of information, convince us that this is the case, especially in the ecclesiastical province of York.f The Society's register of marriages J solemnized in its meeting-houses, will help us to * Dalrymple's Memoirs, Appendix, chap. i. part ii. p. 39. t See Note 2, p. 77. t See Note 3, p. 77. NUMERICAL STREXGTH IN 1680. 71 estimate the respective value of these conflictiDg statements. From the subjoined tables,* procm'ed from the records of the Society at Devonshire House, London, it wiU be observed that the greatest number of mar- riages reported as solemnized in Friends' meeting- houses, was m the ten years 1670-79; averaging 282 per annum. The effect of the great emigTation to America becomes apparent immediately after- wards. Admitting that one maiTiage per year oc- curred amongst 140| persons, it might be supposed that 40,000 (the rough result of mukiplymg 282 by 140) represented the number of the Friends hi England and Wales m 1680. We believe, hoAvever, this number to be considerably below the reality. Entire reliance cannot be placed on these early re- cords ; some are known to be lost, and a scrutinizing examination of the figm-esj convinces us that the returns from some districts must be incomplete — a concltision that is confirmed by a comparison of the numbers of marriages reported by the different coun- ties, with the nmnbers of signatures to the women's petition of 1659 within similar geographical limits. It is also known that many persons who worshipped * See Notes 5 and 6, pp. SO, SI. f 5eeNote 3, p. 77. X See Notes 1, 6, and 9, pp. 77, 81, and S3. 72 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. witli tlie Friends, and in tlie main held tlieir reli- gious principles, shrunk from having their marriages solemnized in a manner which left the legal validity of these unions doubtful, and exposed character and estate to the painful consequences of such doubt. Making allowance for these and other sources of error, we believe that an addition of from fifteen to twenty thousand must be made to the forty thousand already mentioned, in order to give the correct total of persons "professing" with the Friends in England and Wales in the year 1680. Statistics are regarded so much in the light of an infliction by the popular mind, that we will not detain the reader by enlarging on the different items of evi- dence that might be adduced in support of the position, that there were not fewer than sixty thousand persons in England and Wales " of the persuasion of the joeople called Quakers," at a period somewhat anterior to that of George Fox's death.* When w^e remember that four thousand two hundred Friends, some accounts say five thousand, were in prison at once in 1660 (mostly adult men), or examine into the number of official documents printed for circulation, or into the numbers of meeting-houses and burial-grounds, or notice how numerous were * See Note 9, p. 83. EMIGRATION. 73 Quaker sailors (sometimes so many in bondage in Algiers as to constitute a considerable sized meeting), or read the repeated statements of " the gTeat spread of truth" in the early journals, — at times nearly " tlie whole village " or district " coming to be con- vinced," — we see how very large was the nimiber of the Friends then livint?; in Eno^land. If an addition of six thousand * be made on accomit of Ireland and Scotland, it will give us a total of about sixty-six thousand people as the entire numerical strength of the Society, in Great Britain and Ireland. Esti- mating the entire population at eight millions and a half, it may be stated in popular language, that one person in one hundred and thirty professed with the Friends in the latter part of the seventeenth century. In considering the causes purely statistical which were continually reducing this large number through- out the eighteenth century, emigration is an item of considerable importance. The attractions offered to the persecuted, by the colonies of North America, were great, and many availed themselves of the opportunity to escape from their sufferings in Eng- land to the free settlements of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, &c. The drain on the English Society from this cause was continuous from the settlement of * See Note 10, p. 84. 74 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. West Jersey in 1676, to the breaking out of the American war in 1775. About five hundred Friends per annum are reported as emigrating between 1676 and 1700.* To what extent this rate of emigration was maintained during the next eighty years has not been ascertained, but it is known to have been very considerable. Bearing this fact in mind, and its connection with the state of the Society throughout the eighteenth century, and the constant defection from its ranks that it experienced from differing and sometimes opposing causes, it is hardly matter of surprise that in the year 1800, its numbers were only one-half of what they had been one hundred and twenty years previously. At the beginning of the present century the number of members in England and Wales appears to have been 19,800.t The "non-members" (judging from the proportion of births and deaths recorded of tliis class J) were about 8,000 ; Scotland and Ireland may be estimated (members and others) at 4,500, giving the total numerical strength of the Society in these islands, in the year 1800, at 32,000 persons — about one Friend to every 470 of the general population, * Appendix to Thurnam's Statistics, p. 12. t See Note 14, p. 86. X See Notes 4 and 7, pp. 79 and 82. PRESENT NUMERICAL STRENGTH. 75 A constant loss of members is inevitable to every Church, from parties voluntarily resigning their con- nection with it, and from others lapsing into open and flagrant sin. Losses of this character cannot be altogether prevented by any arrangements, nor by a high degree of Christian vitality, but in a healthy community they will generally be more than counterbalanced by the accession of new converts. No such encourao'ino; condition of affairs has been enjoyed by the Society of Friends during the present century. Upwards of 8,400 persons have resigned their membership or been disowned, and tliis loss having only been compensated for by the introduc- tion of 6,000 persons, through convincement, regis- tration of non-members, readmissions, &c., a melan- choly balance of 2,400 remains on the debtor side of the Society's balance sheet.* Emigration amongst the Friends during the last fifty yeai's has not been equal in proportion to that of the population at large f — we estimate it at 700 persons ; but, occurring in a community in which the deaths were exceeding the births, J its influence is more evident than where the population is redundant. The "rehgious census" of 1851 naturally recalls * See Note 11, p. 84. f '^'ee Note 13, p. 86. :j: See Note 12, p. 86. 76 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. tlie mind to the "religious census" of William the Third. How vast the change that has taken place in the religious aspect of England within the hundred and sixty years ! New churches, counting their ad- herents by hundreds of thousands, appear in the tables of 1851, which were unknown in 1695. Most of the old bodies, the Church of England, the Roman Catholics, the Independents, the Baptists, have in- creased their numbers prodigiously ; the Society of Friends alone has retrograded, and to an extent of considerably more than one-half. In 1856 the number of the Friends in England and Wales (" members ") appears to have been 14,530.* Adding 7,000 for non-members, and 4,000 for all, either in membership or profession, in Ireland, &c., we shall have a total, short of 26,000 persons in the United Kingdom, representing the entire nume- rical strength of the Society of Friends at the present time ; equivalent to about one person in eleven hundred of the general population, as con- trasted with one in one hundred and thirty in 1680.t * See Note 14, p. 86. f See Note 15, p. 88. 77 NOTES ON CHAPTER lY. Note 1. It was not till 1777 that the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, was placed under the supervision of quarterly meet- ings ; previous to that time the registration depended on the indi- vidual and somewhat varying action of monthly and particular meetings. Many of the records previous to this time must have perished, the books having been kept at private houses, and much irregularity having necessarily prevailed in times of persecution, as well as in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, through the lax condition of the Society. Note 2. In the returns for the ecclesiastical province of York, the total number of dissenters (including children) is set down at 30,150 ; from the number of their marriages solemnized in York- shire {see note 6, p. 81) it is evident there cannot have been fewer than 5,000 Quakers in that county alone at the end of the seventeenth century ; and as they were exceedingly numerous throughout the Xorth of England, it is incredible that there should have been only 30,000 dissenters of all sects, where one body alone must have approached that number. Note 3. In employing the Society's registry of marriages for the pur- pose of ascertaining the number of its members at any particular period, it is needful to keep in mind certain accompanying facts which affect the deductions. For the first hundred years of the Society's history, all attenders of its stated meetings for divine worship were at liberty to solemnize their marriages in its meet- ing-houses, and such marriages were recorded by the monthly 78 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. meetings. It is impossible to ascertain precisely what was the average frequency of marriage at this time, either in the popu- lation at large or amongst the Friends. The returns of the Registrar-General give one marriage annually to one hundred and twenty-eight persons in the present population of Great Britain. About the year 1800 one marriage appears to have occurred annually amongst one hundred and fifty Friends ; marriage was probably more frequent in the earlier period, but taking into con- sideration the habits of a moral and religious people, the deterring effect of persecution and loss of property, &c., we think that in reckoning one marriage per year amongst each one hundred and forty Friends in the seventeenth century, we shall closely approxi- mate to the facts of the case. In 1737 the Yearly Meeting attempted to define " membership," by giving at that time special privileges to such persons as were then recorded as " members," over other attenders of meetings. This arrangement has gradually restricted the limits within which the Society has allowed marriage to be contracted, and it has acted with a continually increasing force. Marriages between Friends and other persons are of such fre- quent occurrence, as to require the number of such marriages to be ascertained and adjusted, when investigating the frequency of marriage in the Society, or the number of its members as indi- cated by the marriage register. No reliable information exists (in an accessible shape) as to the number of marriages " contrary to rule" before the present century; but the ascertained expe- rience of the Ackworth scholars warrants the statement, that by adding one-third to the Society's registry of marriages from 1 800 to 1840, and one-half from 1840 to the present time, substantial accuracy will be obtained as regards the general experience of the Society in England and Wales. In comparing this expe- rience with that of the population at large, a striking differ- ence appears. The marriages of Friends (including those solem- nized in a manner " contrary to the rules of the Society ") represent at the present time one marriage annually to one hun- dred and sixty-three persons, instead of one in one hundred and twenty-eight (as in the general community), being equivalent to four marriages by Friends to five of other persons. This infre- quency of marriage has become increasingly marked during the last twenty or thirty years. KOTES. 79 Note 4. Table showing the number of Births registered by the Society of Friends in England and Wales: — Periods of Ten Years. Births Eegistered. 1647—1659 3,104 1660—1669 7,262 1670—1679 9,753 1680—1689 9,211 1690—1699 9,130 1700—1709 9,074 1710—1719 8,358 1720—1729 7,354 1730—1739 6,492 1740—1749 5,544 1750—1759 5,578 1760—1769 6,010 1770—1779 6,586 1780—1789 6,817 1790—1799 6,713 1800—1809 6,910* 1810—1819 6,625t 1820—1829 6,390f 1830— 1837§ 4,577|| Total 131,488 * 4,863 members; 2,047 7io«-members. f 4,331 members; 2,294 non-members, J 3,850 members; 2,540 non-members. § 7 1 years (equivalent to 6,103 in ten years). 11 2,922 members; 1,655 non-members. 80 QUAKERISM; PAST AND PRESENT. Note 5. ' Table showing the number of Marriages registered by the Society of Friends in England and Wales: — Periods of Ten Years. Marriages Registered. 1640—1659 203 1660—1669 1,800 1670—1679 2,820 1680—1689 2,598 1690—1699 2,193 1700—1709 2,221 1710—1719 1,930 1720—1729 1,700 1730—1739 1,255 1740—1749 1,103 1750—1759 1,079 1760—1769 1,272 1770—1779 1,059 - 1780—1789 1,051 1790—1799 1,026 1800—1809 955 1810—1819 834 1820—1829 864 1830—1839 847* 1840—1849 666* 1850—1855 299*t Total 27,775 * Obtained from a return to the House of Commons, July 6, 1857, which gives the number of marriages between Quakers in the year ending June 30, 1838, as 76; 1839, 73; 1840, 81. In the half-year ending December 31, 1840, 35. From 1841 to 1855, the numbers have been — 66, 58, 61, 55, 74, 68, 83, 67, 53, 69, 65, 57, 68, 52, 57. I Equal to 598 for ten years. 2s'0TES. 81 Xote 6. Marriages in the Society of Friends, 1650-1779. Quarterly ileetings. 1650-59. d 1 d % 1700-09. 1710-19. d CO d d o 1 17G0-G9. 1770-79. 'I'otal in cacli Quarterly Meeting. Beds, and Herts. 1 25 35 15 16 41 28 41 18 20 16 38 49 343 Berkshire and Oxon. . 1 62 116 125 83 83 97 101 52 49 64 59 30 922 Bristol and Somerset . 11 165 199 150 143 147 110 88 75 79 61 82 69 1,369 Buckingham 2 34 90 71 66 25 29 23 19 13 5 9 8 394 Cambridge and Hunt- ingdon 4 31 73 38 30 20 16 9 1 9 4 on 1 0 '9 Ogy Cheshire and Stafford . 3 30 48 51 60 68 69 75 62 39 29 36 579 Cornwall 6 31 26 26 23 34 29 19 27 19 23 22 6 291 Cumberland & Xortli- uniberland 17 86 87 77 88 71 55 58 60 47 / 0 66 48 835 Derby and Notts. 2 49 98 75 47 42 22 20 17 14 8 22 18 434 Devonshire 1 25 31 45 34 25 22 16 10 11 9 10 5 244 Dorset and Hants. 1 31 72 56 81 87 61 54 58 30 39 25 39 634 Durham 18 50 36 36 38 29 24 22 15 17 19 46 36 386 Essex .... 4 67 100 76 75 77 42 60 18 24 37 52 39 671 Gloucester and Wilts. 12 138 203 110 94 105 94 83 68 29 24 23 30 1,013 Hereford, Worcester, and Wales 9 75 68 60 76 53 63 64 43 33 42 48 32 66G Kent {records imper- fect) . . . 1 8 20 22 11 10 4 9 1 4 12 9 111 Lancashire . 14 91 125 145 121 119 113 112 102 81 72 86 85 1 1,266 Lincolnshire . ' . 8 50 58 56 38 44 47 39 23 14 21 17 16 1 431 London and Middlesex 2 171 485 555 483 479 395 315 196 187 169 179 154 ! 3,770 Norfolk and Norwich . 1 47 78 78 107 83 60 52 31 36 38 41 39 1 691 Northampton 2 22 34 30 19 21 20 25 23 15 21 23 16 271 Suffolk 15 57 44 22 39 29 14 5 1 11 22 21 1 280 Sussex and Surrey 3 62 97 112 61 91 65 51 37 34 34 29 29 705 Warwick, Leicester, and Rutland . 2 60 76 84 55 61 68 47 27 50 40 47 33 650 Westmoreland . 24 72 65 82 71 69 103 79 83 91 50 53 52 894 Yorksliire . 45 303 443 ' 379| 251 295 265 224 184 161 164 205 185 3,107 Total . 194 1800 2820!2598 2193 .2.1 1930 1700jl255|ll03 1079 1272 10.59 21,224 1 G 82 QUAKERISM: PAST AXD PRESENT. Note 7. Table showing the number of Deaths registered by the Society of Friends previous to 1849 : — Periods oi Ten Years. Burials Regis- tered. Ten Years. Burials Registered. JMem- bers. JN on- ]\Iembers. 1650—1659 709 1750—1759 6,834, viz. : 6,764 70 1660—1669 6,599 1760—1769 7,514 »> 7,318 196 1670—1679 10,142 1770—1779 7,771 )j 6,899 872 1680—1689 11,245 1780—1789 8,161 6,460 1,701 1690—1699 10,657 1790—1799 7,344 5> 55 5,675 1,669 1700—1709 11,274 1800—1809 6,503 4,875 1,628 1710—1719 10,876 1810—1819 6,298 4,541 1,757 1720—1729 11,016 1820—1829 6,526 55 4,436 2,090 1730—1739 8,769 1830—1839 6,644 J> 4,420 2,224 1740—1749 7,925 1840—1849 5,517 55 3,667 1,850 89,212 69,112 55,055 14,057 [_For the foregoing Table the author is indebted to the courtesy of William Thistlethwaite, of Alderley, near Manchester. \ Note 8. Deaths of Priends (members only) since 1841, taken from the AnvMal Monitors : — 1841— 2 347 1842— 3 356 1843— 4 342 1844— 5 354 1845— 6 357 1846— 7 398 1847— 8 387 1848— 9 389 1849— 50 310 1850— 1 327 1851— 2 362 1852— 3 311 1853 — 4 374 1854— 5 357 1855— 6 287 1856— 7 300 1857— 8 318 Availing ourselves of these figures, and making allowance for defective returns, the deaths of " members," in the first six decades of the present century, would be as follows : — 1800—09 4,875 1810—19 4,541 1820—29 4,436 1830—39 4,420 1840—49 3,667 1850—59 3,311 NOTES. 83 Note 9. From the detailed table of marriages within the limits of the different quarterly meetings (see Note 6, p. 81), it will be seen how considerable are the fluctuations in the numbers between contiguous periods — fluctuations which are inexpli- cable except on the supposition of defective records. The pro- portion of names from some counties, appended to the petition of 1659, is strikingly similar to the proportion of marriages recorded as occurring in the same district ; others are as dis- similar; e. g., whilst the names from Lincolnshire in the petition of 1659 are one-tenth of the whole (viz., 782) the proportion of marriages to the total number is about one-fiftieth, and other similar discrepancies might be adduced. In the large quarterly meeting of York, forty-four marriages per year are recorded between 1670-79. Supposing them to have occurred with the frequency before stated, viz., one in one hundred and forty, it gives six thousand one hundred and sixty as the number ot Friends then residing in that county. At this time there were fourteen monthly meetings in Yorkshire, seventy-two meeting- houses, and Friends are known to have resided in three hundred towns, villages, or hamlets.* If the above computation be correct (and no allowance has been made for marriages not solemnized in the Friends' meeting-houses), it would assign an average of eighty- five persons to each meeting, and twenty to each locality. If from these numbers we deduct for children and sick persons, it will not leave a larger number of attenders at each meeting-house than might be anticipated. It is stated in the Yearly Meeting's Epistle of 1691, that there were one hundred and fifty- one monthly meet- ings in England and Wales. If the fourteen Yorkshire monthly meetings were of average size, from one-tenth to one-eleventh of the entire Society must have been located in that county. Out of the seven thousand eight hundred Quaker women who signed the petition of 1659, about seven hundred and forty, or one-tenth of the whole, are from Yorkshire. Multiplying six thousand one hundred and sixty by ten, we should attain a result of upwards of sixty thousand as the number of Friends in England and Wales. A like result is obtained by applying the same process to the large * Records of York Quarterly Meeting. G 2 84 QUAKErvIS]\I : PAST AND TRESENT. quarterly meeting of London and Middlesex. Diversity of prac- tice is known to have existed in different parts of the country, and even in different parts of the same quarterly meeting, as to the degree of " profession " requisite to entitle parties to the solemnization of their marriages at " Meeting," which partially accounts for the apparent rarity of marriage in some districts where the Friends are known to have been very numerous. Note 10. The number of meeting-houses in Ireland was nearly the same as in Yorkshire. It is stated in Wright and Eutty's History of Friends in Ireland (p. 158), that the losses of the Friends in the civil wars of 1689-92 amounted to 100,000/. The same authority mentions that two thousand copies of an epistle from Leinster Pro- vince Meeting, were printed for distribution amongst the Irish Jriends. Note 11. We are unable to present a complete statement of the number of persons who, since the year 1800, have entered the Society other than by birth, or the number of those who have beea expelled from it. We do, however, possess sufficient data to establish the main facts of the case, and to furnish an approxi- mate estimate without much risk of serious error. The periodical returns made to the Yearly Meeting of persons admitted into membership on the ground of convincement, present, since 1800, an average of about fifty per year. The aggregate number to the close of 1856 was two thousand seven hundred and eight. To this number must be added such persons as are reinstated in membership after disownment, and also the children and young persons who are admitted on the ground of connection Avith the Society through their immediate relatives. The number who enter in this manner varies so greatly in the several monihly meetings, from the different views entertained by their members as to the conditions of church fellowship, and of the benefit or danger of such admissions, as to prevent the feeling of entire confidence in any estimate drawn from limited NOTES. 85 experience. We possess returns from ten monthly meetings, situated in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Gloucester, Wilts, Somerset, and Essex, and including, with a slight exception, a period from 1800 to 1850. The average number of members in these meet- ings was about three thousand, and their circumstances are so varied as to give them somewhat of a representative character The resignations and disownments in these ten monthly meetings amount to nearly fourteen hundred, the reinstatements and admis- sions (from every source) do not reach one thousand. Estimating these monthly meetings as forming one-sixth part of the Society in England and Wales, and their experience as an average one, we have disclosed through these returns the diminution of two thousand four hundred members by the excess of disownments over admissions. The correctness of this estimate is confirmed by placing in connection with it the ascertained experience of Ackworth scholars drawn from all parts of England. Out of fifteen hundred and eighty-seven individuals, respecting whom information has been obtained, and who left the school between 1800 and 1840, it was found at the close of 1843 that nine hundred and thirty-seven were then members of the Society-, and six hundred and fifty had been separated from it — three hundred and eleven of them for having married contrary to its rules, and three hundred and thirty-nine on other grounds. From the data here enumerated, and from other sources, we believe the subjoined statement presents a substantially accurate representation of the real experience of the Society from ISOO to 1856, viz.: — United to the Society by convincement, as re- ported to the Yearly Meeting 2,708 Reinstatements and ad- missions of minors — estimate, based on the experience of ten monthly meetings ... 3,292 Balance, being the ex- cess of disownments, 8cc., over admissions 2,400 8,400 Resignations and dis- ownments, estimated by the experience of ten monthly meetings, Ackworth scholars, &c 8,400 86 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. Note 12. In the ten years 1800 to 1809, the births and burials of " mem- bers " in England and Wales were singularly'- equal in number, being 4,863 of the former, and 4,875 of the latter. In the next decade, the burials were about two hundred in excess of the births ; and in the following one (1820 to 1829) they were nearly five hundred. On the termination of the Society's registry in 1837, the total excess of burials over births in the last twenty- seven and a half years, was twelve hundred and thirty-one. The Eegistrar-Geueral's report of the number of marriages recorded by the Friends since that time, indicates the progressive growth of this excess ; but taking it as continuing to the close of 1856 at the same ratio as from 1820 to 1837, which is clearly below the reality, it gives two thousand three hundred and thirty-six as the diminu- tion of members in England and Wales from the excess of deaths over births since the year 1800. Note 13. Out of fifteen hundred and fifty Ack worth scholars who left the school between 1800-1840, and who are reported alive in 1843, it was found that one hundred and seventy-one, or every ninth indi- vidual, had emigrated. From the youthful age of many of the scholars in 1843, a considerable addition must be made to this number for those who may be expected ultimately to emigrate. It is known that one-third of the sons of Friends pass through Ackworth school. It is probable that a larger proportion of AckAvorth scholars emigrate than of any other section of the Society; but from the data we have given, we think it will readily be admitted that, in estimating the whole number of members who during the present century have emigrated from England and Wales at seven hundred, we have not exceeded the actual number, but are probably below the reality. Note 14. Two complete enumerations of the Society of Friends in England and Wales were made under the care of the late Samuel Tuke; the first in 1840, the last in 1847. The registration of births, marriages, and deaths, was main- NOTES. 87 tained hy the Society from its origin to the year 1837, — during the latter part of the time with great accuracy. From these records, and the statements of marriages given by the Registrar-General, with adjustments supplied from other sources, we are able to ascertain the number of members at the commencement of the present century and the extent of the subsequent reductions. In the twenty years 1790-1809, we find nineteen hundred and eighty-one marriages recorded, or ninety-nine per year. If to these we add one-third (see note 3), we have an annual average of one hundred and thirty-two. Reckoning one marriage as at this time occurring in one hundred and fifty persons (which, from the circumstances, educational and otherwise, then existing, and from a comparison with the number of births, we believe to be correct), we have nineteen thousand eight hundred as the number of members in England and Wales in the year 1800. In the twenty years 1800 to 1819, the number of marriages re- corded is 1,789; and 1,711 from 1820 to 1839. Erom 1840 to 1849 the number is six hundred and sixty-six, or sixty-six per year; and in the six years ending with 1855, the annual average is sixtj'. The births recorded from 1800 to 1819 are nine thousand one hun- dred and ninety-four, against seven thousand seven hundred and forty-six in the twenty years from 1820 to 1839. The burials during the same period are respectively nine thousand three hundred and eighty, and eight thousand nine hundred and fifty-three. The number of members in the Society in 1840 was found by actual enumeration to be sixteen thousand two hundred and seventy- seven, and in 1847 to be fifteen thousand three hundred and fortj-^-five. From tlie indications presented by the several registries of births, marriages, and deaths, we take the diminution of members between 1800 to 1839 to have been three thousand five hundred and twenty-three, or at the rate of eighty -eight per year. Between 1840 and 1847 the decrease was nine hundred and thirty-two, or one hundred and thirty-three per year; the decrease in this interval being augmented by temporary circumstances. The marriage registry indicates a further reduction of eight hundred and fifteen members between 1847 and 1856, or ninety per year, which leaves the number of members in England and Wales in 1856 to be fourteen thousand five hundred and thirty. 88 QUAKERISM; PAST AND PRESENT. At the several periods the numbers would stand thus: — In 1800 19,800 members. 1810 18,920 „ 1820 18,040 1830 17,160 „ 1840 16,277 1847 15,345 „ 1856 14,530* „ Reckomng the number of members in 1800 at 19,800, and in 1856 at 14,530, the reduction 5,270 is thus accounted for: — Excess of disownments, &c., over admissions (note 11) 2,400 Excess of deaths over births (note 12) 2,336 Emigration (note 13) 700 Total 5,436 Note 15. The force of this comparison is not at all invalidated by a reference to the number of Eriends now residing in other parts of the world. Quakerism has nearly disappeared from the Con- tinent of Europe; and the number of Friends in Australasia is not large. In America they are absolutely more numerous than in 1680, but fewer relatively to the Avhole population than they then were. * 14,390 if calculated by the number of deaths {see note 8). 89 CHAPTER V. TEE SECOND EPOCH OE QUAKERISM. Death of George Fox — Tendencies of Quakerism at that period — Decline of the Society between 1690 and 1760 — Diminished effusion of the Holy Spirit — Commercial prosperity of the Friends — Education: defective in the Society, and the reason for its being so — Ackworth School founded in 1779, with im- portant results — Diminished number of ^.Enistcrs — "Acknow- ledging ^^Enisters" — Birthright membership. " A forty or fifty years has been the term, more or less clearly defined, within which each of those revolutions that marh the history of the human mind has had its rise, has passed its climax, and has gone forward, commingled with other moral forces, and having its own abated. .... JVever hitherto has any new impulse, or any strenuous moral movement, been taken up and carried forward by the sons and successors of its originators in the same mind, or icith the same, or with nearly the same singleness of purpose. Great men do not repeat themselves in their immediate followers; or, if the mantle of an Elijah has in some rare instances rested upon an Elisha, yet never, hitherto, has the spirit and power of a company o f distinguished persons come upon, or remained ivith, those icho have stood up to represent them before the worldJ' — Isaac Taylor. The founders of the Society of Friends mostly 90 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. died in 1690. His latter years were largely occu- pied in perfecting the Society's internal economy : enfeebled health prevented the frequent missionary journeys of his earlier years, but his mellowed zeal burned brightly to the last. One of his later epistles " is addressed to ministers in America, inciting them to more activity in preaching to the colonists at large, and to the Indians, instead of confining their labours to those of their own per- suasion. The following extract from the introduc- tion to his Journal throws an interesting light on the tendencies of Quakerism at this period, as well as on the character of its dying chieftain : — " A few days before he died, he had a great concern upon his mind concerning some in whom the Lord's power was working, to lead them into a ministry and testimony to His truth ; who, through their too much entangling themselves in the things of this world, did make themselves unready to answer the call and leadings of the power of God, and hurt the gift that was bestowed upon them, and did not take that regard to their service and ministry as they ought; and mentioned the Apostle's exhortation to Timothy, to ' take heed to his ministry, and to show himself approved,' &c., and expressed his grief con- cerning such as preferred their own business before DEATH OF GEORGE EOX. 91 the Lord's business^, and sought the advancing worldly concerns before the concerns of truth ; and concluded with a tender and fatherly exhortation to all to whom God had imparted of His heavenly treasure, that they would improve it faithfully and be diligent in the Lord's work, that the earth might be sown with the seed of the kingdom, and God's harvest might be minded by those whom He had called and enabled to labour therein ; and that such would commit the care of their outward concerns to the Lord, who would care for them and give a blessing to them."* The Society of Friends had been recruited from such strange materials — from Cromwell's L'onsides, and from all the multitudinous sectaries who flourished during the Commonwealth — that it would have been strange had such heterogeneous elements been re- duced into a compact and well-organized community without first passing through a process akin to that of fermentation. This was the actual experience of the infant Church, which, whilst struggling with persecution from without, was repeatedly threatened with internal dissensions. But Fox triumphed over every opponent; sometimes, as in the fall of James Naylor, learning a salutary lesson from an untoward event. It is an historical paradox which has not * Preface to George Fox^s Journal, p. 13. 92 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. failed to attract attention, that the last words of George Fox — the indomitable opponent of time- honoured institutions and prescriptive rights — referred to the triumph of order over anarchy, " the Seed reigns over all disorderly spirits." * Fox's mind, as we have already seen, was large enough to com- bine the constant desire of spreading " the truth" (by which he meant spiritual Christianity as held by himself), with the maintenance of a vigorous and successful struggle against " the unruly spirits " in the Church to which he acted as bishop. But to pursue these two differing lines of action simul- taneously, was a task beyond the ability of his successors ; and they naturally gave their energies to the one which appeared most needful to maintain internal harmony and general reputation. From the Snahe in the Grass it appears that, before the close of the seventeenth century, the disposi- tion of the Society's leaders to regard its consoli- dation as preferable to an extension of its borders, was sufficiently marked to attract the notice of hostile critics. Its missionary age now came to a close; the first Jjove passed away ; and the activity of Quakerism as a system abating, it assumed more and more of that * Preface to George Fox's Journal, p. 12. COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. 93 subjective cliaracter which continues to distinguish it. If we ask, why the first love should so soon have evaporated, the most obvious reason that presents, is the operation of that law^ which makes it imprac- ticable for one generation of religious reformers to bequeath to the next the same degree of pietj, or the same measure of zeal, with which they themselves are inspired. No one conversant with Church history can have failed to notice, that the periods which have enjoyed the most powerful effusions of the Holy Spirit have rarely lasted more than about forty years. Attention has been called to this circumstance by different historians;* and in detailing the objective causes which have occasioned the declension of Quakerism we would carefully guard against the charge of overlooking such as lie beyond the range of man's control. We know of no hypothesis that satisfactorily accounts for the success attending the preacliing of the early Friends, without admitting that they were favoured w4th an unwonted visitation of the Holy Spirit, a visitation that was not continued in the same large measure to their successors. It is justly observed in Milner's Church History, that '-the first impressions made by the effusions of the Spirit are generally the strongest, and the most decisively * See the extract at the head of the present chapter. 94 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. distinct from the spirit of the world. But human depravitj?-, overborne for a time, arises afresh, par- ticularly in the next generation."* Persecution, except such as was occasioned by the refusal to pay ecclesiastical demands, virtually ceased in the reign of James II., the newly obtained liberty being confirmed by the Toleration Act of William and Mary. In the Society's own words, there followed "a day of ease, of outward prosperity, and abated zeal." f With commercial success came wealth ; luxury followed; and as the frequent attendant, though not the necessary consequence, indifference in religious things. This was the distinguishing feature of all the Christian bodies at this period ; and it favoured a like condition in the Society of Friends. The mistakes made — may it not be said by all the parties in the Church of England in the early part of the seventeenth century ? — specially that of the Puritans in making their appeal to the sword — were now bearino; their baneful fruits. After the return of Charles II. even soberly minded men suspected earnest religion to be a hollow thing ; and by the end of the century the English churches, of every denomination, were far gone in that Laodicean * Milner's Church Histoiy, vol. i. p. 143. t Minutes and Proceedings of London Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1857, p. 14. COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. 95 slumber from which they were aroused fifty years later by Wliitfield and the Wesley s. It is evident from hostile writings, as well as from their own, that so early as 1700 the Quakers were noted for that commercial success which has continued to be common among them to the present day.* Is it merely a coincidence, or is it a consequence, that the lofty profession of spirituality made by the Friends has gone hand in hand with shrewdness and tact in the transaction of mundane affairs ? Ileal piety favours the success of a trader by insuring his integrity, and fostering habits of prudence and forethought — important items in obtaining that * Snake in the Grass, second edition, p. 16 of preface, a.d. 1697 : — " Though the Quakers at first left their houses and families to shift for themselves, to run about and preach, and cried down riches when they had none, yet, since that time, they hare griped Mammon as hard as any of their neighbours, and no^v call riches a gift and blessing from God." A.D. 1 699, Epistle from William Edmundson (Wright and Rutty's Histonj of Friends in Ireland, p. 199): — ''And as our number in- creased, it happened that such a spirit came in amongst us as was amongst the Jews when they came out of Egypt, and this began to look back into the world, and traded with the credit which was not of its own purchasmg, and striving to be great in the riches and possessions of this world ; and then great, fair buildings in city and country, fine and fashionable furniture and apparel equivalent, with dainty and voluptuous provision, with rich matches in marriage, with excessive customary, uncomely smoaking of tobacco, under colour of lawful and serviceable, far wide from the footsteps of the ministers and elders the Lord raised and sent forth into His work and service at the beginning." 96 QUAI^ERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. standing and credit in the commercial world, which are requisite for the steady accumulation of wealth. But other and more special agencies, both internal and external, have operated on the Society of Friends, and have directed the energies of its members prominently into the pursuits of traffic. We do not here allude to the excellent education noio bestowed on all the childi-en of Friends, and which imparts a degree of intelligence often superior to that possessed by competitors in the same station in life (this will be considered hereafter), but to the neglect of other pursuits wliicli, in the world at large, serve to abstract men's energies from absorption in commercial en- gagements. The cultivation of the fine arts was discou.raged, and the charms of science and liberal literature were but little appreciated in the first century of the Society's history. Since the repeal of the Test and Corporation Act, Friends have not unfrequently filled municipal and magisterial offices; but, at the epoch under review, they were excluded from the jury box, from all other civil offices, and were likewise debarred from holding any posts of profit or emolument in the gift of the crown or of municipal corporations. These restrictive regulations produced results resembling those which on a much larger scale have arisen from the denial of the rights EDUCATION. 97 of citizenship to tlie Jews. The expenditure of energy having been checked in some direc^ions^ it has been conducted into other channels, of which com- merce has been the principaL A Church striving to maintain its numerical position in an increasing population, will endeavour to induce the children of its members to adopt the faith of their parents when attaining to years of maturity; but as in the healthiest Churches (it was the experience of those existing in Apostolic times), a proportion of these will abandon the paths of virtue, and throw off all religious pro- fession; and as in a country like England, where numerous sects flourish side by side, others will be attracted to some Christian community other than that in which they have been educated ; it is obvious that these losses must be compensated for, by the reception of an equal number of con- verts from the world at large or from the ranks of other religionists. The number of persons so received by the Society of Friends during the eighteenth century was considerable, but very far short of the numbers lost through various causes. Amongst these, insufficient attention to the early religious training of children, and to education generally, was not unimportant. H 98 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. The first generation of Qualvers were not as a whole an illiterate body of men : the number and bulk of their publications now existmg are most extraordinary. In the polemical age tliej lived in, pamphlet succeeded pamphlet with a rapidity mi- known in the present da}-; and it is a safe conclusion, that where so much was written, there were many readers. Some of the " early Friends " were not long in perceiving, that the future welfare of the body would depend much upon the careful education of the young. The right training of its children must ever be an object claiming the anxious care of a wise and vigorous Church, and for the maintenance of Quakerism it was of special importance. Yet it is remarkable that the distorted application of the doc- trine of the inward light, contributed to the neglect of education in the earlier period of the Society's history. It was indeed a perilous phase of enthusiasm that parents should neglect the right training of their famiHes, mider the idea that by so domg they were facilitating the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit. The imminence of the danger was com- prehended by George Fox. In 1656 he wrote in warning notes against it, and afterwards repeated the counsel with still more emphasis. In 1669, he says, "Truly my life has been often burdened EDUCATION. 99 through the want of restraining servants and cliildren of that Kberty they run into. Some among you lead up your children in such a rude, heady way, that when they grow up they do not matter you nor care for you. ... In many things they are worse than many of the world's — more loose, stubborn, and dis- obedient, so that when they come to be sent appren- tice they run quite out into the world. Therefore, consider these things in all your families, and re- member the time of your former profession when you exercised the reason of men, so as to bring your children and servants to an outward profession ; now, on being come to a possession of life, take heed lest you lose the right reason, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge." * It is obvious that the children of Friends must have been very unfavourably circumstanced at this early period in relation to educational provisions. The numerous foundations existing in the country, bequeathed by the munificence of previous ages, were not open to them, and the law presented formidable obstacles to the existence of schools for their exclusive benefit. Fox, however (harassed as the Society then was by persecution), succeeded, about 1667, in esta- blishing two boarding schools in the neighbourhood * George Fox's Epistles, p. 309. H 2 100 QUAia:RISM: PAST AND PRESENT. of London, where he desh^ed "girls and young maidens/' as well as boys, "might be instructed in all things civil and useful in the creation."* Five years later, fifteen boarding schools, at least, are known to have been in operation. These were prin- cipally conducted by persons of liberal education, clergymen, &c., who in uniting with the Friends aban- doned their previous profession, and they were mainly used by the middle and wealthier classes. The poorer children were partially instructed in day schools held in some of the Society's meeting-houses. But it is evident these provisions were very in- adequate to the requirements of the case, and became increasingly so, when the talented men above referred to, were removed by death, and competent successors were not forthcoming in sufficient numbers to fill the vacant places. How clearly the injury thus sustained was perceived by the London Yearly Meeting, is shown by the constant recurrence to the subject in the annual "epistles" issued by that body between 1680 and 1790. It was, however, long before this re- peated advice produced tangible results. No provision existed for furnishing a supply of efficient teachers; the low rate of remuneration deterred persons from entering the honourable profession as a means of * George Pox's Journal, p. 316. EDUCATIOX. 101 j^rociiring a livelihood; cOiid the many suggestions offered for remo^-inD; or lessenincr these difficulties, failed in attaining the desired result. Indifference prevailedj specially in the rui'al districts, where the Friends largely resided, and Tvhere (remarks the late Samuel Tuke) there is reason to belleye ignorance was but too prevalent ; and it has long been observed that the desire for knowledge is usually in the inverse proportion of its need." * Thus education contmued very defective during the latter part of the seven- teenth century and the earlier part of the eighteenth, and large evidence remains, to show that nmubers of ill-disciplined, badly educated youths foimd the Society's enclosure too strait for them, and either openly separated from its commmiion or remained mere nominal members, to be disunited from the body whenever a revival of the discipline should take place. Tlie loss of members thus occasioned was very large. The increase of attention given to chiu'ch chs- cipline in the middle of the eighteenth centiuy, was comiected with an augmented zeal for the education of the young. In 1799, the indefatigable labom's of Dr. Fothergill and his coadjutors, resulted in the * Five Papers on the Proceedings of the Society of Friends in con- nection with Education, p. 51. 102 QUAIi^^RISM: PAST AND PRESENT. establishment by the London Yearly Meeting of a large boarding school at Ackworth, in Yorkshire, as also in the formation of endowments in various parts of England for the encouragement of education. The condition of Ack worth School now, is greatly superior to what it was in its early days, yet from its origin it exercised a powerful influence on tl^e Society at large. Gradually," says Samuel Tuke, " the extent of in- tellectual instruction given at Ackworth came to be considered as the standard of what was due to the poorest children, when their education had to be j)ro- vided at the expense of the Society ; " * and now for nearly eighty years the children of Friends in the poorer and middle classes have received a good Eng- lish education, combined with careful moral training. This increased diffusion of intelligence has operated in raising the general position of the Friends in the social scale ; many a poor boy educated at the Society's expense in Ackworth School having risen to take his place amongst the merchants of our great cities. One of the social consequences resulting from this movement from a lower to a higher station in life, is the increased rarity of marriage, f The emigration of young men from the agricultural districts has been stimulated by the diffusion of * S. Tuke's Five Papers, p. 91. ^ See Note 3, p. 77. ACKWORTH SCHOOL, ETC. 103 education, as tliej were naturally unwilling to remain day labourers in tlie employment of others, when their mental capacities fitted them for independent positions — but which could only be obtained in coun- tries where capital is not, as in England, essential to a farmer's success. In some agricultural monthly meetings it is ascertained that a quarter of all the Ackworth boys have emigrated (and mostly to America). Another result of this extended diflFusion of educa- tion, was a fuller apprehension of its value; one school rose after another, fi:amed on the model of Ack- worth, and under the care of different " quarterly " or other meetings, in which the literary instruction and general management varied according to the class of scholars for which it was intended ; whether in the lower, the middle, or the higher walks of life. These estabhshments have not altogether superseded private schools : some excellent institutions of that class still exist in the Society. If so much educational pro- vision is now required, hoAV vastly deficient must it have been in former times, when the number of chil- dren to be tauo;ht was three times neater than at present ! The causes now enumerated, which include the de- ficient provision of religious education for the young, 104 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. the increasing wealth of the body, the inadequate estimate of the value of Holy Scripture, the neg- lect of the gift of teaching and of other outward means for the maintenance of religion, explain the degeneracy of the second generation of Quakers. With some of the first Friends, as with many other good but unlearned men, the practical ex- hibition of their religion was often preferable to their written exposition of it; and it has been much overlooked, that whilst George Fox lived, his strong common sense prevented, or lessened, the operation of evils which afterwards developed them- selves. Thus, as regards the subjects of worship and ministry, his writings do not furnish those high encomiums on silence which have past current in later times — practically he did not forget that " Faith comes by hearing ; " and his dying words previously quoted, refute the supposition that he expected any large spread of Christian truth, independently of the faithful preaching of the Gospel.* Visitors to Swarthmore Meeting-House, near Ulverstone, still standing by the old mansion of Judge Fell, are shown Fox*s great Bible, once chained to the minister's gallery : in this little circumstance we discern a more enlarged appreciation of the value of the Holy * See page 90. DECLEXSIOX OF EIGHTEENTH CEXTURY. 105 Scriptures, in assisting the right performance of worship, than was possessed by some of his con- temporaries, or has been shown by their successors. Fox's personal influence in counterbalancing the seclusive effects of the disciphnary system he had organized, has been already adverted to, and we now add one extract from his Epistles (it is far from being a solitary instance), proving his anxiety lest, under the pretext of renouncing the forms " of religion, the sub- stance itself should be lost, — an anxiety not equally present with his successors : " Now, Friends who have denied the world's songs and singing, sing ye in the spirit and with grace, making melody in your hearts to the Lord. And ye having denied the world's formal praying, pray ye always in the Spirit and watch in it. And ye that have denied the world's giving of thanks and their saying of grace and living out of it, do ye in everything give thanks to the Lord through Jesus Christ. And ye that have denied the world's praising God with their lips, whilst their hearts are afar off, do ye always praise the Lord night and day, and from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same praise ye the Lord. And ye that have denied the world's fastings, and of their hanging down their heads like a bulrush for a day, who smite with the fist of wickedness, keep ye 106 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. the fast of the Lord, that breaks the bond of iniquity and lets the oppressed go free ; that your health may grow, and your light may shine as the morning." * Our information as to the state of the Society of Friends in the middle ages of its history, is less full and complete than of its rise and first progress ; but from the biographies of John Griffiths, Samuel Bownas, Thomas Storey and others, as well as from the annual epistles issued by the Yearly Meeting, we discover its progressive decline, as evidenced by the neglect of the worship of God, by an extended con- formity to the practices of the world, inconsistent with the Christian character ; by a maladministration of the discipline, and by a diminution of charity in relieving the wants of the poor, &c. The refusal of ecclesiastical demands was in many cases compro- mised; the plain dress and language of the early Friends in some parts of the country was no longer seen or heard, and the diminished size of meetings is often alluded to. The number of preachers was largely reduced from what it had been in the earlier period, whilst the number of women in that station bore a much larger proportion to that of men than had previously been the case ; and there will hardly be a dissentient to the soundness of Joseph J. Gurney's * George Fox's Epistles, p. 127. DECLENSION OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 107 statement, that it is far from being an indication of life and soundness in the body, when the stronger sex withdraws from the battles of the Lord, and leaves them to be fought b}^ those whose physical weakness and delicacy have an obvious tendency to render them less fit for the combat." * The statistics of visits paid by EngHsh ministers to Ireland confirm this statement. From 1660 to 1679, fifty-two men and two female ministers visited that island ; dm-ing the next twenty years, in spite of the civil wars, re- ligious visits were paid by one hundred and three of the former and ten of the latter. Between 1700 and 1719 the number of men decKned to ninety-five, and the women increased to fifty; and from 1720 to 1739 the numbers were respectively seventy-eight and fift}'-seven.t The statistics of ministerial visits to America are very smiilar in their import to those of Ireland. A proof of the number of mmisters in Barclay's days is given in his Apology, where it is stated, "In the many gatherings and meetings of such as are convinced of the truth, there is scarce any in which God raiseth not up some or other to minister to his brethren, and there ai'e few^ meetings * J. J. Gurneij on the Religious Peculiarities of Friends, p. 226. This opinion was strongly held by "W. Edmondson. See "Wright and Rutty 's History of Friends in Ireland, p. 222. t Ibid. p. 351. 108 QUAI^ERISM: PAST AND PKESENT. tliat are altogether silent." * The power wielded by an itinerant ministry has been prominently displayed in modern times by the Methodist preachers, and we may estimate its influence on early Quakerism by learning that the visits paid by ministers from a distance, averaged one a fortnight in some meetings for years together. In Bristol, so fully was the time devoted to public worship occupied by ministry, that the expediency of holding meetings compulsorily silent was seriously entertained, f What a contrast does such a condition of things present to that of not a few meetings at the present time, which are abso- lutely silent sabbath after sabbath for months if not for years ! The practice of acknowledging " ministers, as it is termed, is one which gradually established itself, and it is one which, whilst conferring some impor- tant benefits on the Society, has probably diminished the amount of preaching in its religious meetings. In the seventeenth century any one believing it to be his duty, was at liberty to speak as a minister in meetings for worship, and all in the habit of doing so were considered to be preach- ers in unity with the body, unless the monthly * Prop, on AVorship, sect. ix. p. 340. t W. Tanner's Lectures^ p. 90. "ACKNOWLEDGING MIXISTERS." 109 meeting specially declared to the contraiT. It would be out of place here to detail at length the steps by which this absence of arrangement was exchanged for the gi'eater precision of the present practice, by which monthly meetings deliberate upon and record the names of those persons whose ministry is thought to attest the reality of their gifts ; " but it may not be useless briefly to direct attention to a change, the importance and operation of which has been very generally overlooked. Committees of experienced in- dividuals were very early appointed by monthly and other meetings, to visit the families of their members, and to extend such religious counsel in each case as appeared desirable. These visitors were denominated " elders." Additional duties to that of religious family visitation were afterwards imposed on them, including the care of persons beginning to preach in meetings for worship. With such parties the elders " united for religious conference in select gatherings sub- sequently called "Meetings of T\Iinisters and Elders." The duty of exercising a general, unofficial oversight over the conorreo-ation to which he belonired, was often centred in the same individual, who discharged the more special services of an "elder,"' till about the year 1753, when the Yearly Meeting thought it desirable to make provision for the more systematic 110 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. oversight of its members, both ministers and others. Under the arrangements then instituted, the general care of the ministry was assigned to officers retaining the name of " elders," the oversight of the flock being confided to individuals, likewise appointed by monthly meetings, who received the title of " overseers." The duties of the elders being no longer exclusively confined to the care of the junior preachers, the " Meetings of Ministers and Elders " changed their character, and assumed that of assemblies charged with the special regulation and government of those composing them ; w^ithout, however, trenching on the powers possessed by monthly meetings. When an individual has spoken as a minister of the Gospel for some time, the character of his communications is considered by the monthly meeting to which he belongs ; if approved of, and nothing in his conduct prevents, his name is recorded by minute on the books of the monthly meeting as an acknowledged minister," such a step conferring the right to sit and take part in "Meetings of Ministers and Elders." It requires no remarks of ours to point out that these reo-ulations are calculated to limit the amount of preaching more than was the case with the simple provisions of the seventeenth century.* * The authorities from which this information is derived are BIRTHRIGHT MEMBERSHIP. Ill In considering the general lethargy of the Society of Friends from 1700 to 1760, and even a later period, it must not be overlooked that, from its non- centralized constitution, the condition of things in different localities was liable to great variations. The memoirs of Samuel Fothergill and others prove that such differences did exist, that some lights still shone amongst the prevailing dimness, and the epistles issued by the Yearly Meeting show that the men who constituted that assembly, w^ere able annually to address much sound Christian comisel to the body at large. The year 1737 is remarkable as being that in wbich "membership" was first recognized by tlie Yearly Meeting. Previous to that period (as before observ^ed) the only criterion for determining con- nection with the Society of Friends w^as habitual attendance at its religious meetings. Nor in times of persecution was any other test required; but at the period we have now reached, " when the profes- sion of a Friend no longer tested mdividual convic- tion, difficulty arose in determining the limits of the Society's responsibility for the exercise of its discipline Wright and Rutty 's History of Friends in Ireland, pp. 387, &c.; "\V. Tanner's Lectures on the Early History of Friends in Bristol and Somerset ; Rules and Advices of London Yearly Meeting ; Manuscript Minutes of York Quarterly Meeting, &c. &c. 112 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. and the proper relief of its poor," which induced the Yearly Meeting to issue the following minute: " That all Friends shall be deemed members of the quar- terly, monthly, or two weeks' meeting, within the compass of which they inhabited or dwelt the 1st day of 4th month, 1737."* Many years elapsed before the consequences resulting from this enact- ment fully developed themselves. In some respects the evils that have arisen from it are more evident at the present time than had previously been the case ; but we conceive, it might have been early discovered, that to make membership in a Christian Church dependent on the accident of birth, was very much to abandon the New Testament idea of a Church. Instead of being a company of faithful men and w^omen, united in religious fellowship and possessing a strong bond of union in heartfelt allegiance to their common Lord, the Society of Friends in- creasingly assumed the character of a corporation, existing for ends partly religious, partly social, and partly civil; and containing a number of persons unconverted to God. From the children of Friends being registered as members at the time of birth, and being esteemed such till their names are removed by * Statements connected with the Marriage Regulations of Friends, p. 6. BIRTHRIGHT ME^IBERSHIP. 113 death, disownment, or resignation, even should they give little or no evidence of the possession of personal pietj, membership has virtually become hereditary, having certain privileges contingent on its possession, and descends from father to son almost like other property. From this anomalous provision operating in conjunction with their marriage regulations, the Friends, as they have declined in numbers, have become increasingly bound together by family relationsliip ; and whilst the spirit of clanship has conferred some elements of strength, it has also favoured the growth of that exclusive feeling which is rarely absent from any association of men, in which membership is principally obtained through heredi- tary descent. Such bodies, it is well known, look suspiciously on the infusion of new blood into their constitution ; and a feeling of this character has had a powerful influence amongst the Friends dm-ing the last century in making them indifferent to the ob- taining of proselytes. In the latter part of last century the difficulties that arose from "meetings for discipline" being merely composed of a few elder Friends (sometimes possessing little qualification for the office but that of age), induced a change in their constitution, and gradually the attendance of all "members" was I 114 QUAKEEISM: PAST AND PRESENT. encouraged. After this change the weakness occa- sioned by the retention of numerous nominal adult "members," having a right to assist in its church government, and generally to influence the policy of the body, became more apparent. The presence of children in disciplinary meetings (as listeners merely) has been decidedly beneficial, and constitute^ an important educational agency; but we think that had some arrangement existed, by which young per- sons on attaining to years of maturity should make a simple profession of their faith, or renounce their " membership " in the body, it would have operated as a powerful stimulus to serious parents, as well as to healthy congregations, in giving their chil- dren and young people that careful religious train- ing which would be the most fitting preparation for such a profession. It would also have prevented or lessened the evils arising from the retention of merely nominal members. The maxim, that " what is easily obtained is lightly esteemed," declares a true principle; and from "membership" being so indis- criminately granted to all the children of Friends, it is often regarded by them, when rising into manhood or womanhood, in a false light: instead of being esteemed a privilege — as membership with a Christian Church should ever be — it has been felt to be a BIRTHRIGHT MEMBERSHIP. 115 burden imposing restraints not demanded by their own consciences. Family ties, or otber causes, often prevent such young people from separating the connection between themselves and the Society : the Church itself will not do it, unless some act penal under its discipline be committed ; and so they remain, sometimes throughout a long lifetime (if we may accommodate Lord Macaulay's metaphor), "members of the" Society, "but withered and distorted members, adding no strength to the body, and reproachfully pointed at by all who fear or envy the greatness " of Quakerism. When the regulations respecting membership had existed thirty or forty years, a considerable body of persons grew up, attending meetings for worship, and, making more or less of profession with the Friends — but not in membership. As this class was constantly recruited from parties who were disowned, but who retained some affection for their former principles or practices, by the children of such persons, and from other sources, it has increased to such an extent as now to constitute more than one quarter of all the worshippers in the meeting-houses of Friends. How suitably to provide for the education, oversight, and marriage arrangements of this large body of persons, not considered as forming an integral part of the I 2 116 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. Society, but separated from it by an arbitrary and accidental line only, has been a source of continual difficulty ; and by neglecting these duties, loss has been occasioned to the individuals themselves, and much weakness to the Society induced. 117 CHAPTER VI. THE THIRD EPOCH OF QUAKERISM: CAUSES OF DECLINE PRINCIPALLY INTRODUCED AFTER 1760. The revival of the Discipline, 1760 — Its defective character — The Friends increasingly isolate themselves— Quietism — Irish secessions — Hicksites — Philanthropy — Dress and Language. " The body of which Christ is the head was never meant to be nursed and petted into that extreme delicacy, as to need being cur- tained in from all the airs which might possibly blow upon her. Hers is a constitution which will best thrive and become most robust when most in contact with that atmosphere to which the wisdom of God has evidently adapted it.^^ — Edwakd jSIiall. The wide-spread revival of religion in England under the ministrations of Wesley and Whitfield was not without an influence on the Society of Friends^ though we have not discovered any im- mediate connection between it and the resuscita- tion of the Society's Discipline effected about 1760, through the labours of a large committee deputed by the London Yearly Meeting to visit all its sub- ordinate meetings throughout the kingdom. This 118 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. committee succeeded in restoring to working order much of the ecclesiastical machinery that had fallen into desuetude : monthly meetings too small for the efficient discharge of their duties were amalgamated, and large numbers of merely nominal members were disowned, — some for immoral conduct, some for non- attendance of meetings, or implication in warlike undertakings, others for the payment of tithes, church-rates, &c.* It may be mentioned as a singular proof of the traditional character Quakerism had assumed in some districts, that about twenty years after this period a committee of York Quarterly Meeting to which had been confided the care of a seaport congregation, many of whose wealthy members were in the habit of arming their ships, and of otherwise belying their profession, had to leave the town by a road rarely used, to avoid the risk of personal violence when these influential offenders were subjected to the penalty of disownment. One result of the labours of the Yearly Meeting's committee of 1760, is evident in the increased care exercised by monthly meetings in the recording of births, &c. The number of entries in the Society's register, which averaged nearly one thousand per * See Journal of John Griffiths. REVIVAL OF 1760. 119 year between 1670-1679, had declined to five hundred and fifty-seven between 1750-1759, but advanced to six hundred and one between 1760- 1769, and to six hundred and fiftr)^-eight in the next decade, notwithstanding the extensive disownments which had taken place.* In perusing the narratives of these transactions, the careful reader, whilst admiring such an outbreak of zeal in the midst of a cliilling indifference, can hardly fail to remark the inferiority of the men who revived the discipline, as compared with tliose who established it ; — an inferiority that displayed itself in a lack of general comprehensiveness of mind ; in an imperfect apprehension of the true objects to be at- tained by church government, and of the means rightly applicable for their attainment, as well as in a want of attention to the scriptural principles wliich should regulate and determine all discipHnary action. This change may be accounted for by the more sectarian stand-point occupied by the leaders of 1760, as compared with that of their predecessors: the Society of Friends was no longer an advancing, aggressive body, aspiring to miiversal dominion — it was one sect among many, recognized as such by Acts of Parliament, possessing certain exclusive civil * See Notes 4, 5, and 7, pp. 79, 80, and 82. 120 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. privileges, and its serious members were increasingly isolated from general society. It is not strange that men surrounded from childhood by such influences, and receiving the shibboleths of their creed by here- ditary descent, should be less catholic in their desires, and more contracted in their aims, than was the case with the first apostles of Quakerism. Thus the reno- vation of the Society's economy devolved on men, not a few of whom were earnest, but narrow-minded — a race of people always ill qualified to discharge the functions of ecclesiastical reformers. Had there been amongst these reforming Friends, men of the perception enjoyed by Ignatius Loyola, they would have known that the truest way of re- suscitating a declining Church is to make it again aggressive — is to incite its members to enter on such fields of Christian labour as are best adapted for calling out their talents, and through such labours those " who water, being themselves watered," and reacting on the body at large, the tone of religious feeling throughout the community is raised. This was a main secret of Loyola's success in reanimating Roman Catholicism in the sixteenth century;* but the very reverse of this policy was adopted by the reformers of Quakerism. In the language of ♦ See Stephens* Essays, vol. i. p. 185. NEGATIVE TESTBIONY BEARING. 121 the Westminster Review, the asph'ations of the early Friends, theh' " brave assault upon the world," their " crusade against its potentates to subject them, the whole nature of man, and all the nations of the earth, to the kingdom of Christ," had failed; and now " the invaders retreated within their own bor- ders, and engleavoured painfully and fruitlessly to isolate themselves from the world they had hoped to conquer." * This very remarkable change had been progressing since 1690. The " early Friends" believed they had " a testimony to bear " to many truths of which the world was forgetful ; and their testimony was a posi- tive one. The " later Friends " have borne witness to the same truths, but their testimony has been a negative one. From the catholic views entertained by George Fox and his coadjutors relative to the kingdom of Christ, from their believing it to be a universal spiritual kingdom, extending to every nation of the world, it was their unceasing endea- vour to increase the number of loyal subjects of that kingdom, to the praise of its great Sovereign. When pressed to explain themselves, they dis- claimed any pretensions on behalf of their Society, as if it were the sole outward embodiment of this * Westminster Review, 1852, p. 619. 122 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. kingdom, but they nevertheless thought it was the principal one; their ideas of "testimony bearing" were, by logical sequence, associated with the con- tinued increase of the Society of Friends, the con- tinued spread of "truth," the increasing subjection of the kingdoms of this world to the kingdom of Christ. Did they object to tithes? Their efforts to have them abolished were indefatigable. Did they object to solemnizing marriage by a priest? They endeavoured to " show a more excellent way ; " to have as many persons as practicable married at their meeting-houses ; and the circum- stance of a " Friend " marrying at a parish church was made the occasion for solemnly protesting, before the officiating clergyman and hundreds of neighbours, against priestly usurpations in the cele- bration of the nuptial rites. So we might proceed through the long catalogue of their " testimonies," and show how thoronghlj practical and positive was their mode of upholding them. The change that slowly took place cannot be as- signed to any single cause ; it was brought about by the conjoint action of several. The withdrawal of the stimulus of persecution, increasing opulence, the declining number of ministers, the seclusive influence of the discipline, and the traditional, unadaptative GOVERmiENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1759. 123 character given bj birthright membership, appear to have been the principal agents. Within the last century, " testimony " has not been borne against tithes by strenuous efforts to have them abohshed; but if a Friend pays tithes he is disowned : if a Friend marries before a clergyman, no pains are taken to inform the public of the Society's objections to such a procedm-e ; no endeavour is made to have as many persons as possible married in a manner simple and non-clerical ; testimony " is borne by disowning offenders. This negative "testimony bearing" has been, we thmk, one of the greatest delusions of modern Quakerism ; it is nearly inopera- tive on the population at large, and it is contmually lessenmg the number of persons qualified to uphold the Society's standard. A prominent example of this change of policy is furnished by the conduct of the Society in relation to the Government of Pennsylvania. In consequence of public dissatisfaction with the votes of the Quaker representatives in the House of Assembly for that State, in refusing to furnish military aid agamst the Indians, the English Government proposed to prevent their acting as legislators, by imposing an oath as a necessary test of competency for fillmg this position. After a very short struggle, the point was 124 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. virtually surrendered by the Friends ; the obnoxious members vacating their seats, they and their co-reli- gionists declining afterwards to offer themselves as candidates for legislative offices. This step was ad- vised by the "Meeting for Sufferings" in London, who sent a deputation to enforce its necessity on their American brethren, and the latter showed the greatest alacrity in responding to the advice. " Upon the whole," writes Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to that in London in 1759, " you may observe somewhat of our present circumstances, and that our connections with the powers of the earth are reduced to small bounds, which we fervently desire may have the proper effect to establish the Church in righteousness, and fix our trust in the Lord alone for protection and deliverance." * With what unfeigned surprise would William Penn and George Fox have read such a paragraph ! The whole transaction is, however^ very significant, and may be taken as a representative instance of the admis- sion made by the Quakers of the eighteenth century, that their rehgion, whilst professedly so practical in its character as to affect the remotest minutiae of speech and dress, was still unable to flourish in connection with many of the offices and employments which men in civil life necessarily engage in. The contrast in * Bowden's History of America, vol. ii. p. 281, STATE OF SOCIETY IN 18TH CENTURY. 125 this respect between modern and ancient Quakerism is striking : of late times tlie Friends have increasingly congregated in some few trades and professions ; in the earlier period they were found occupying every position in society, from the trade of an innkeeper to the more exalted station of a colonial governor. In the first pages of this volume we have shown how thoroughly Quakerism was moulded by the age in which it arose, — an age of earnestness in religious things, not a sceptical or indifierent one. Had the Friends of 1760 been men of larger mental calibre, they would have seen that the hundred and ten years that had elapsed since the rise of their body, had made an enormous difference in the circumstances that surrounded it, and that the arrangements suited to a period when high religious profession was fashionable, were inapplicable to one in which such a profession was popularly derided. When it was needful for Bishop Butler to write his Analogy, and when the very truth of Christianity was extensively denied, it might have seemed to be self-evident, that the only way of salvation to the sinner should have been declared and insisted on with the utmost perspi- cuity, and that no outward means of religious instruc- tion should have been omitted, for guarding the young against the blasting infidelity prevailing around them. 126 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PEESENT. Bat no effort appears to have been made to re- establish the instruction meetings of earher times, or to encourage social gatherings for the careful study of Holy Scripture and mutual edification ; nor were the few remaining provisions for aggressive action strengthened or extended. The circular yearly meetings were discontinued in consequence of the disorders which had sometimes accompanied them, and the other assemblies for disciplinary purposes assumed more and more of a sectarian character. It must also be observed that the discipline of the Middle Ages " was much more legal in its character and administration, than that of the earlier period; the loving, reclaiming spirit towards offenders then so prominent a feature, was substituted by one " desirous to maintain the credit of the Society and to enforce compliance with its rules ; " instances oc- curring in which parties were disowned " forthwith," and without receiving any previous " labour." * It is to the different condition of English society in the eighteenth century as compared with the seven- teenth, that the different results flowing at the two periods from the doctrine of personal spiritual guid- ance, are largely attributable. In the former it led * See W. Tanner's Lectures on the History of Friends in Somerset- shire and Bristol, PHKASEOLOGY. 127 to great activity iii religious matters, in the latter it favoured the spread of a " withering quietism." There was an air of greater mystery thromi romid the ministry of the Gospel in the eighteenth century; it was considered to be less amenable to ordinary motives in exciting to its exercise, whilst at the same time the Society placed additional safeguards against the exercise of midue zeal. The information aimually furnished in early times, for the direction of ministers as to the meetmgs or districts in which then' visits would be well received by the inhabitants, was no longer collected ; but preachers thinking it their duty to visit the churches in America, were requii'ed to obtain the sanction of three meetings instead of one, as had previously been the case.* Indicative of the trains of thought and feeling pre- vailing at this period is the origin and growth of a phraseology, associating spiritual guidance with the idea of something essentially recognizable by the senses. We may instance as an illustration of this disposition the use of the word " perceptible," subse- quently so largely appHed by Joseph John Gurney and others to the operations of the Holy Spmt. Whilst most fully admitting that the blessed intimations of heavenly love and guidance are, and may be, "per- * See Rules of Discipline and Advices. 128 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. ceptible/' is it not as certain that they are ofttimes 2??iperceptible even when immediate ? and does it not continue to be at this day as it was with the disciples of old when approaching Emmaus, that the heart is warmed and the Scriptures opened to the under- standing, whilst the eye fails to recognize the pre- sence of the heavenly Teacher ? We submit that it is somewhat inconsistent in a Church w^hich so stre- nuously objects to the words " Trinity" and " Sacra- ment," because they are not found in Scripture, to be at the same time in the constant use of a term, equally unsanctioned by the letter of Scripture, and liable to convey erroneous ideas as to the manner and evidence of the Divine illumination. We have not found this phrase in the vocabulary of the " early Friends," and we believe a close exami- nation of their writings will disclose the existence of a material difference of idea, between the man- ner in which the first and the third generation of the Friends regarded the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. There were multitudes of persons in the Republican army and elsewhere, who in the days of George Fox claimed to be divinely inspired. From the theology of the Puritans being deeply tinged Avith Old Testament ideas, their belief in the manner of Divine inspiration was Jewish rather than Chris- DECLENSION OF EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. 129 tian; tliey looked for the sudden, temporary, and overwhelming descent of the sacred afflatus, rather than to the constant presence of the Comforter in the heart of every believer, and in larger measure in the heart of every Gospel minister. Though it was the peculiar calling of George Fox and his associates to defend the latter doctrine, they associated parts of the Puritan belief with it, and probably the Puritan phraseology retained by the Society, was influential in leading it increasingly to regard the manifestations of the Spirit, as temporary and " perceptible" in their character, rather than as the silently Avorking leaven of the spiritual kingdom changing and enlightening the heart; thus exposmg to the charge of reverting to the Old Testament economy instead of recognizing the privileges of the New : we doubt not this is one cause of the continued deficiency of labom-ers in those departments of the Church's service, where spiritual guidance is regarded as most essential. The following cautiously worded resume, of this period is from the Memoirs of Joseph J. Gurney, edited by Joseph B. Braithwaite: — Yet in this revival there appeared lacking that thorough Chris- tian devotedness which was so remarkably mani- fested at the rise of the Society. Whilst the preaching of the Gospel amongst Friends at this 130 QUAKEKISM: PAST AND PRESENT. period was often marked by great earnestness in setting forth tlie spirituality of religion, and the necessity of its inward operations, it was not always connected with an equally clear and practical enforce- ment of other great and not less essential portions of revealed truth, which in the minds of the earlier Friends were inseparably connected with their deep and comprehensive views of the soul-searching and spiritual character of true Christianity. And it may perhaps be added that the increased attention to the discipline, valuable and important as it was, was too often associated with too rigid an adherence to forms and a tendency to multiply rules, and to make the exact carrying of them out, in degree at least, a substitute for that patient and discriminating wisdom tempered with love which should ever characterize Christian discipline."* In Ireland the spiritual life of the Society had long been languishing, and towards the close of the eighteenth century pernicious effects flowing from an excessive exaltation of the " inward light " be- came evident,! more especially amongst the minis- ters and elders, by an open questioning of the * Memoirs of J. J. Gurney, vol. ii. p. 3. f Events among the Quakers in Ireland. Anno 1804, J. Johnson^ London. HICKSITE SECESSION. 131 inspiration of Scriptui'e ; * by a refusal to comply with the regulations of the body for ensuring the orderly solemnization of marriages, &c., under the notion that such regulations were " useless forms " t and superstitious practices ; " and ultimately by a denial of the divinity of Christ, and of his atone- ment for sin. i The major part of the Yearly Meeting of Dublin held firmly by scriptural prin- ciples, and the dissentients resigned their mem- bership, or were disowned. The secession was extensive; we cannot furnish the nmnbers of those who were thus separated, but in some districts the orthodox party lost all their ministers and elders, and the Society at large was left weak, stripped, and unsettled. Tliis unsettlement was not confined to Ireland ; it partially extended to England, and conduced, thirty years later, to the extensive Hicksite secession in America — originating, like that in Ireland, in giving the " inward light " the place of Scripture, and in exalting the "inward Clnrist," denying "Jesus of Nazareth," his atonement for sin and oneness with the Father ; and ultimately landing many of its authors in virtual infidelity. No secession of this * Events Among the Quakers in Ireland, Appendix, p. 20. t Ibid. p. 127. t Ibid. p. 181, &c. K 2 132 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. character occurred in England; but tlie inadequate declaration of the doctrine of justification hj faith, on the part of not a few ministers, deprived their representations of religion of that beneficent aspect, which the practical acceptance of this cardinal truth sheds on the Christian's pathway. This defective theology, in conjunction with the high importance attached to the maintenance of peculiar modes of dress and address, and other points on the outskirts of Christian practice, connected the profession of Quakerism in the minds of the young, with ideas of gloom and unreasonableness, to use no stronger words, and partially explains the de- fection of so many of the children of Friends from the faith of their fathers within the present century. The same causes prepared the way for a reaction in this country on the Hicksite heresy in America, occasioning the " Beaconite " secession in 1836, by which a small number of persons, probably not exceeding three hundred members in all, left the Society, thhiking its doctrines less evangelical than those laid down in the New Testament. It is en- tirely unnecessary to enter into the details of this unhappy schism ; the time that has elapsed since its occurrence is perhaps too short to allow of an inde- pendent and altogether impartial judgment being PHILANTHROPY. 133 pronounced, concerning the motives and acts of the parties concerned. On the one hand, it may be safely conceded that there was in some localities not a little to offend the exponents of evangelical truth ; on the other, the favoiu' accorded by the great body of the Friends to reHgious writings free from any savour of mediaeval mysticism, is a token of general soundness in the essentials of Christian truth. These internal dissensions have had a blighting effect on the Society, and have occasioned a very considerable loss of members. The philanthropic efforts in which the Society of Friends ennracred, towards the close of the last century, have not been without an influence on its subsequent histoiy. When Benezet and Woolman roused their brethren to a fuller recognition of the " enormous sin " of negro slavery, the religious services of the body gave but little employment to such of its members as were not engaged in minis- terial labour, and the Friends generally were able to throw themselves without reserve into the anti- slavery struggle, with a degree of benefit to humanit}' which the world has generously recognized. The sphere of philanthropic effort was rapidly widened by the estabhshraent of the Bible Society, the British 134 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. and Foreign School Society, &c./ in both of which the Friends took an active part, also in the reform of the criminal code, (pity they did not reform their own criminal code ! ) and in other associations in which Christians of different rehgious views were able to unite, for the attainment of important ends. Yery beneficial to those engaged in them have these labours proved, and the amount of tangible good that has been efPected has probably never been exceeded by any equal number of persons. Not merely has benefit accrued, through the Chris- tian labourer being strengthened by service, but also the union with pious individuals of other de- nominations has enlarged the heart and expanded * It is worthy of note that the quiescent spirit of the Society prevented its entering on the field of Sabbath-school instruction till long after most other bodies. *' Eriends," it was stated in a conference of teachers held at Bristol in 1852 (see Printed Report^ p. 53), had till recently " been rather adverse to young men engaging in the work of Eirst-day school teaching, because it was thought that their religious character might be injured from the want of suflBcient opportunity for retirement and religious reading." A correcter view and deeper knowledge, would have shown that the young men were specially sufiering from the want of having their energies called out, as is done by Sabbath-school teaching ; and that no better means could be devised for reme- dying the want of aggressive action in the Society's arrangements. The rapid extension of these schools within the last fifteen years, and the general active encouragement given to them, indicate a determination to repair, as far as is practicable, the previous blunder. PHILANTHROPY, ETC. 135 the sympathies of men beyond the contracted circle of their own little sect. Yet the tendency of these engagements on the part of its members, has not been to enlarge the borders of the Society. Some of the service which it might itself have employed with great benefit, has been diverted from that channel ; and farther, from the attention of intelli- gent Christian men being closely occupied w^ith these schemes of catholic philanthropy, their thoughts and energies have not been given to consider the state of things existing in the religious body of which they formed a part ; otherwise we cannot account for the continuance of such a number of able and earnestly minded men in the Society, who year after year might have ascertained that its numbers were lessen- ing, absolutely, as well as relatively to the general population, and yet have made so little effort to investigate the causes of this decline, or to re- move them. One reason may probably exist, in the absence of accurate information respecting the So- ciety's numerical position. The Yearly Meeting re- ceives no official census of its numbers, but whilst amiually enumerating those who have joined it " by convincement," and collecting all the minutiaB relating to distraints made from its members in their opposi- tions to tithes, &c., it makes no inquiry as to the 136 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. number of members lost by disownment or resigna- tion. Had the Yearly Meeting been annually in- formed, at the same time it heard of forty or fifty convincementSj that the disownments were double or treble that number, the present state of things could hardly have existed so long, and with so little of movement respecting it. But unwelcome truths are unpopular things; and it is not the first time a church — ostrich-like — has buried its head in the sand, turned away from the remembrance of its ail- ment, and neglected to search out and to employ the true remedy. There is still another reason for this indifference to diminishing numbers. Whilst their official docu- ments continue to speak of Quakerism as " neither more nor less than real Christianity in its purest form, and without curtailment,"* a consciousness has, nevertheless, possessed the minds of many of its members, that as now developed and organized, the Society is unsuited to be a direct agency in the evangelization of the heathen, in the arousing and enlightening of the ignorant masses of the population, or even in the promulgation of its own most pro- minent tenets ; and this has led persons to support * Report of Committee of York Quarterly Meeting for visiting the Meetings and Families of Friends within its Limits, 1855, p. 13. DKESS, LANGUAGE, ETC. 137 associations for tlie advocacy of tlieir principles in fragments, as a substitute for tlie spreading of "truth" as a whole, in the manner of the early Friends. On this principle the Peace Society " promulgates the doctrine of the unlawfuhiess of war ; the " Society for the Liberation of Relio-ion from State Patronao-e and Control " testifies against the support of religion by the civil power ; and many honest Friends think that the world is learnino; the doctrines of Georo;e Fox one by one, and in due time will have learned them all ; and so it does not matter so much if " our little church " itself does not increase, " our prin- ciples are spreading," " the world is becoming more and more Friendly ! " This train of thought has largely obtained of late years ; it harmonizes well with the subjective character of modern Quakerism, and we find it expressing itself in many pointless platitudes ; " We are not a proselytizing people ; " Our condition results from individual unfaith- fulness ; " " Numbers are not a correct test of strength," &c. &c. Connected with this branch of our subject is the importance attached by the Friends to peculiar modes of dress and language. No one acquainted with the manners of the Court, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., when " the dressing a 138 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. fine lady was more complicated than rigging a ship of war,"* can be surprised that the Puri- tans testified against such immorality, or that the early Quakers, numbering so many Pm^itans in their ranks, should adopt their protest, and amplify its limits, so as to include superfluity of language as well as superfluity of dress within the range of its application. They objected to the use of all merely complimentary expressions, as well as to that of the plural pronoun when addressing one individual only. Some of their etymological scruples may now ex- cite a smile; but the objects they desired to attain were far from unimportant, — these objects were sim- plicity of dress and truthfulness of language. The founders of Quakerism imposed no distinguishing badfire or costume on their followers — such a course would have been thoroughly alien to their princi- ples ; but non-compliance with ever- varying fashion, and abstinence from ornament, very early made the Friends partially recognizable by their attire. Some- thing like a costume was thus unintentionally esta- blished, which the second generation endeavoured to maintain and enforce by sumptuary laws resem- bling those of the English legislature at an earlier period in their general character, as well as in their * Pictorial History, book viii. p. 632. DRESS, LANGUAGE, ETC. 139 results — they were equally disregarded. In the most degenerate days of the Society's historj^, a considerable proportion of its members threw over- board simplicity as well as peculiarity in their attire. The stringent regulations of the succeeding period naturally included dress and language within the scope of their jurisdiction, and every congregation had annually to report to the superior meetings as to the observance of plainness of speech, behaviour, and apparel." The extent of importance attached to the observance of these " peculiarities " (to borrow their conventional cognomen) by many serious and estimable men, will hardly be credited ; and in the endeavour to maintain them in their integrity, such parties frequently placed themselves in very false positions, and became the unintentional perpetrators of serious mischief. The authorized documents of the Society spoke only of " plainness " of di'ess, but a rigid conventional meaning was attached to the word, and parties not conforming to the standard were regarded as " unfaithful," and were practically excluded from the offices of the chiu-ch, thouo^h to the unprejudiced observer their attire might be as plain," or more so, than that of their censors. When George Fox argued for simplicity of attire. 140 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. he was supported by Scripture, as well as by the example of the early Christians, the Waldenses, Lollards, &c.; but the idea of his successors, that an outward badge or costume constituted a powerful aid to virtue, by shielding its possessor against the temptation of the world, had, as it appears to us, but very limited support from revelation or expe- rience, and^ was closely akin to those ascetic errors that flourished amidst the fading glories of the primitive Church. The importance attached to the observance of the costume and to the peculiar phraseology by the medieval Friends and their successors, was but one branch of that fruitless attempt at isolation from the world which we have already adverted to. The object sought after was excellent — the avoidance of temptation. The "lip of truth" has taught the Christian constantly to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," and that no- thing — not a right hand or a right eye — must be retained if separating the soul from Christ. The adoption of a costume is then a trifling sacrifice to make, if exemption from the besetments of personal vanity, and all the evils incident to the love of dress, may be so averted. But that it would fail, or that it would introduce evils greater than it was intended to obviate, might have been anticipated from DRESS, LANGUAGE, ETC. 141 the discrepancy between the human arrangement, of erecting " an external bulwark from the world," " a hedge," &c., and that of the Gospel plan, which, first changing the heart with the affections, allows the fruits of this change to manifest themselves afterwards in the outward conduct. "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil," was the prayer of the Lord Jesus for His disciples ; and throughout the whole of His teachings (and those of the Apostle Paul), the idea that the Christian will find his safety to depend in outward ordinances and observances is steadily combated, the emphasis beincr laid on the ricrht cultivation of the heart, and on the daily cndeavom', under all circumstances, to have " a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." The experience of the Friends has not belied the apostolic statement that " self-chosen worship and humiliation, and chastening of the body," are impotent to " check the indulgence of fleshly passions."* When the maintenance of "plain- ness" in dress is merged in conformity to a costume, the effect of example is very much lost; the dress of a policeman or of a Eoman Catholic ecclesiastic, being confessedly a costume, is not imitated for that * Conybeare and Howson's Translation, Col. ii. 25. 142 QUAIiERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. reason; it is meant to be a distinguishing mark^ and it operates as such. It is not the least of the dis- crepancies between their theory and their practice, that the Friends have thus very much nullified the effect of their protest against extravagance of dress, and that, whilst claiming to be pre-eminently the exponents of the internal, heart-purifying, spiritual nature of true religion, they should at the same time have placed such reliance on " external forms," as to have made the adoption of a certahi dress and the use of a set phi'aseology almost essential requisites to membership in the body. In the multitudinous pamplilets and letters which the discussion of this subject has recently evoked, much reference is made to the effect of the costume in repelling proselytes ; and that this has been the actual result appears to be well established. But more serious has been its effects on the children of Friends : w^hilst some have to rejoice in escaping, through this means, temptations to which they might otherwise have succumbed, others experience throughout hfe the evils attendant on that isolation from improving society, to which they are consigned in early life. " Again, that very feeling of peculiarity which prevents some from associating with persons of superior education to themselves, is no barrier to DRESS, LANGUAGE, ETC. 143 others against an intercourse with those decidedly their inferiors. The natural love of company leads the child to seek associates ; but his fear of ridicule prompts him to seek them amongst those, with whom he feels that his superiority of position places him above any fear of the expression of ridicule."* In reading the recent animadversions of the newspaper press, and of some of the leading literary organs of the day, on modern extravagance in dress, we hardly know whether most to regi-et the inatten- tion with which many Churches have treated this subject, or the mistakes of the Society of Friends in their endeavoui's to grapple with it. In con- clusion, it is needful to remark that the chano-e of sentiment and practice has latterly been so con- siderable, that the preceding observations refer to a bygone period rather than to the present time, when some danger, from an inadequate appreciation of Christian simplicity in dress and language, may not unfairly be apprehended. * Reasons for objecting to the Peculiar Practices and Opinions oj Friends icith regard to Dress and Mode of Address^ hj Edward Sewell; p. 9. 144 CHAPTER YII. MODERN CAUSES OF THE SOCIETY'S DECLINE, CONTINUED. Marriage regulations of the Society of Friends — George Fox's doctrine as to marriage — He legislates for the Society — " Mixed marriages " — Disownment becomes the stated penalty for marriage "contrary to rule" — Number of persons so dis- owned in the nineteenth century — Infrequency of marriage amongst the Friends. " A wonderful picture of what good men may do, acting on mistaken notions of duty, to destroy the very structure they are most anxious to uphold." — John Bright. When a historian of Quakerism arises capable of doing justice to his subject, his revelations respect- ing the marriage arrangements of the Society will constitute a narrative of no ordinary interest. He will have to tell how comprehensive and how holy were the views of the early Friends respecting marriage, and how boldly, yet how prudently, they :»IAREIAGE REGULATIOXS. 145 carried them into effect ; he will faithfully relate the evils resulting from a lax discipline in a lethargic Church ; and he will have to paint in darkest colours the far worse consequences resulting from the rigid execution of unchristian laws. George Fox's oppo- sition to any Imman priesthood^ included the denial of the right to marry by any " man-made minister : " he held, however, that marriage was a religious ordinance; and thus the Quakers were equally at collision with the Popish doctrine of marriage being a sacrament, dependent for its validity on the blessing of the priest; with the modification of this dogma adopted by the English Church ; and with Crom- well's Parliament, when it declared marriage to be a civil contract. Under a deep conviction of the truth of the principles he had embraced, George Fox directed that marriages should take place in meetings for Divine worship in the presence of nu- merous witnesses, who subscribed their names to the marriage certificate in attestation of its genuineness. He says : " We marry none, but are witnesses of it ; " marriage being ^' God's joining, not man's." * This intrepid defiance of existing usages and of legisla- tive institutions was not made hastily, or without a full comprehension of the consequences that might * George Fox's Epistles, p. 280. L 146 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PBESENT. ensue.* We learn that Fox ascertained what the prac- tice of the primitive Church had been, and he insisted on scrupulous care being exercised by the Friends, to prevent any just ground of accusation that their unions were contracted in a disorderly or clandestine manner. The most ample notice of an intended marriage was given, not merely in the meetings of Friends, but sometimes the expectant bridegroom made public pro- clamation of his intentions at the market cross of the town he resided in; committees appomted by monthly meetings inquired into the parties' clearness from all other matrimonial engagements, and lastly, the mar- riage certificate w^as shown to a justice of the peace. It was doubtless the completeness thus given to their nuptial rites, disarming the laudable jealousy of the civil power, that procured for the marriages of Friends the recognition of legal validity when the question w^as first raised before Chief Justice Hale. His decision was confirmed by other judges, and at a recent date received the sanction of statute law. * These consequences included not merely aspersions on the validity of these marriages, and consequently on the legitimacy of the olfspring, but several instances are recorded in which parties married in Eriends' Meetings were imprisoned on that ac- count alone (Besse's Sufferings, vol. ii. p. 103, edition of 1738), it being construed as an oflfence against the ecclesiastical govern- ment of the Church of England. MARRIAGE REGULATIOXS. 147 Havino^ run so ffreat a risk in obtainino; tliis privilege, it could not be expected that the Friends would show themselves very lenient towards those of their number who married parties of other de- nominations before a clergyman, not only because such a coiu'se violated the Society's " testimony " previously referred to, but also from a belief that marriages between parties of different religious views are, as a class, unfavourable to conjugal happiness. Reason and experience alike indicate that such must often be the case : marriage between Christians and the heathen was one of the trials of the primitive Church; and evils, similar in kind though smaller in magnitude, have resulted in later times where there has been diversity of opmion and practice between husband and wife on relio^ious matters. Thus it cannot but be recrarded as within the le^i- timate range of a Church's duty, to endeavour to prevent the formation of such imions. They were not frequent between Friends and others in the seventeenth century ; when they did take place, sometimes a "testimony of denial" was issued against the offender, but the practice was not uniform, and the number so separated from the Society, previous to 1700, appears to have been small. In the endeavour to ensure oneness of L 2 148 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. religious conviction between parties intending to marry, and in his opposition to the solemnization of the rite by a clergyman, it accorded with George Fox's comprehensive ideas to rely more on persua- sive counsel, and on making the solemnization of marriage in Friends' meeting-houses an easy pro- cess, than on the operation of an ecclesiastical penalty. Even when a monthly meeting did not look favourably on a proposed marriage, either from one of the parties being but little of a Friend, or for other reasons, it usually thought it better to allow the solemnization of the same siui more, rather than drive the parties to the parish church. In Fox's quaint phraseology, he wished, if it were possible, "not to leave a hoof in Egypt."* Yet he and the most thoughtful of his followers must have been aware, that if the Society of Friends was to be merely a sect, and still more if it was to be only a small sect in the midst of a vast surrounding population, its members would not entirely marry amongst themselves. No attempt at isolation in this respect has proved entirely suc- cessful. It was but partially successful with the Jewish nation, though directed by special Divine command; and not more so with the early Chris- * George Fox's Epistles, p. 280. " MIXED jMAKRIAGES." 149 tiaiis, or witli the Yaudois, whilst it lias been very unsuccessful with the Society of Friends. The only part of its history in which these " mixed marriages " have not been a constant source of trouble^ was dui'uig sixty or seventy years, in which Quakerism was the prevailing faith in Pennsylvania, and some .adjoining States of North America. Samuel Bownas, writing in 1728 of the great increase of Friends in tliese pai'ts, says, " Now the extraordinary increase of professors is much to be attributed to the youth retaining the profession of their parents, and marry- ing such ; for, indeed, most of the people in Pennsyl- vania are of this profession, as well as in the Jerseys and Rhode Island, so that young people are not under the temptation to marry such as are of dif- ferent judgment, as in other parts."* In England and Ireland, throughout the early part of the eighteenth centmy, marriages between Friends and others became increasingly frequent. The subject is repeatedly referred to by the Yearly Meeting, usually inciting monthly meetings to more rigour in the exercise of the discipline on offenders. It would appear that in some parts of the kingdom no notice was taken of these marriages ; in others a brief written acknowledgment from the party that * Samuel Bownas' Journal, p. 233. 150 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. he or she had broken the regulations of the Society, with a few expressions of regret (often, we should suppose, sufficiently equivocal in their meaning), Avas deemed an adequate apology. In other monthly meetings, where more rigid disciphnarians might be influential, disownment was the penalty inflicted on any one contractmg a mixed marriage." Precisely accordant with our previous statements as to the tone of feeling prevailing after the disci- plinary revival of 1760, we find an ever-increas- ing reliance on the penal exercise of the discipline as a preventive of these marriages. Probably it is something more than an " undesigned coinci- dence," (was it not the action of prevailing popular opinion ?) that at the same period of time the British Legislature was giving to the criminal code of the country that Draconian character which required the reforming labours of a Romilly and a Peel, before it could be restored to any semblance of the Christian standard. In 1752, montlily meet- ings had been empowered to extend disownment as well to " parents and guardians encouraging mixed marriages, as to the parties actually con- cerned in them."''* Respecting which, Elizabeth Fry remarks, " It is a most undue and unchristian * Rules of Discipline and Advices^ p. 100. " MIXED MAEEIAGES;' ETC. 151 restraintj as far as I can judge of it."* In 1783, montlily meetings are warned against accepting " in- ^incere acknowledgments" from parties wlio had so married. The disorders which it was hoped might be thus averted were midoubtedlv serious in their character as well as in their extent. But the means employed to remedy them were badly adapted to attain the desired end. Had the framers of tliis penal code been more deeply versed in the knowledge of the human heart, they would have perceived that the period of marriage is, of aU others, the one m which the attitude of the Church is most influential in determining the subsequent relation between it and its members. Surely the scene selected by the Lord Jesus Clu-ist himself for the performance of His fii*st miracle, when dwelling personally amongst men, and the character of that miracle, might have taught the obtusest mind, that Christianity was to present itself in its most attractive guise at the solemnization of mai-riage, and that the requirements of the Chmxh should be simple, indulgent, and attractive, rather than harsh, complex, and repelling. Unhappily, this Divine example has been nearly thrown away on the Society of Friends. Even as regards the * Life of Elizabeth Fry, 1856, p. 294. 152 QUAKERISM: PAST AKD PRESENT. marriaores solemnized accordino' to its re emulations, cumbrous forms were maintained long after the necessity for tliem had ceased ; and whilst the Yearly Meeting directs certain practical " advices " on the right performance of the varied duties of life (excellent in sentiment and beautiful in expres- sion), to be frequently read in its meetings for dis- cipline, they are silent on the subject of marriage ; and in none of the Society's published documents, does it help its junior members to a knowledge of what are the conditions of happiness in married life. Thus the natm-al associations of the younger Friends who attend meetings for discipline, are connected with the disownment of those marrying contrary to rule (cases of this sort being constantly on " the books"), and with the yearly answering of the harshly worded query," " Is early care taken to admonish such as appear inclined to marry in a manner contrary to the rules of our Society, and in due time to deal with such as persist in refusing to take counsel ? " * Experience might have taught the Quaker legis- lators of the eighteenth century, that the direction of mankind in the affair of marriage, is one of the most difficult and delicate tasks that can be under- * Book of Rules and Advices, p. 218, Query xiii. DISO^VX:*IEXTS rOR :.IAREIAGE. 153 taken, and that it is pre-eminently one in ^Yllicll, whilst men may be influenced by Christian counsel, by public opinion, by education, and by persuasion, it is also one in which they will not be driven or dragooned. But the latter policy is short, sum- mary, and easy ; the former requu'es ability, dis- crimination, patience, and strong fl^ith in principles. The latter was chosen by the Quakers of the ^' middle age," and has been maintained, with little relaxation, to the present day. We consider it as the most influential proximate cause of the numerical dechne of the Society. What number of members were separated on this account during the eighteenth centmy is not known, but it is proved to have been very large indeed. "Within the present half-century the numbers have been ascertained with substantial accuracy during the late agitation of this question. By examina- tion of the records of numerotts monthly meetings, it appears that in many of them one-third of those who marry, select partners not of their own community: thus, from 1837 to 1854, in the largest monthly meeting in England (comprising the chief towns in the west of Yorkshire), one huncbed and thirteen Friends married agreeably to the Society's regulations, and sixty-one contrary to them ; these 154 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. last being in consequence all disoivned. The his- tory of Ackworth School scholars, drawn principally from the middle classes of society, and from all parts of the kingdom, gives similar results. Of eight hundred and fifty-one boys educated in that esta- blishment whose marriages have been ascertained, five hundred and forty-seven were "m accordance with rule," three hundred and four in opposition. Other evidence might be adduced, all tendmg to show that about one-third of the Friends who marry, choose partners not members of the Society, and in taking that step lose their membership. From the records of the Society, and the reports of the Registrar-General, it appears that between 1800 and 1855, four thousand four hundred and ninety-nine marriages were solem- nized in Quaker meeting-houses, representing eight thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight persons ; and it follows from the evidence just given that about half that number, or upwards of four thousand persons, will have married contrary to the Society's regula- tions during the same period, and in consequence have been disowned.* Nor will the number rein- stated in membership materially affect our calcula- tions ; it is very small, probably not at all exceeding * See Statements on the Marriage Regulations of the Society oj Friends, by J. R. DISOWNMENTS POR MARRIAGE. 155 tlie number who voluntarily resign tlieir member- ship when intending to marry contrary to rule, and so do not appear in these numbers. In fact, it could hardly be otherwise ; persons cast out of a church for such a reason, having committed no moral offence, it may even be for an act that has added greatly to then- happiness, and on which the blessing of Heaven has rested, are not usually eager to return to a com- munity w^hich so curtails tlie religious liberty of its members. Many feel they have been harshly dealt with, and reth-e in disgust. Others go to swell the ranks of those " in profession," but not in " member- ship." These persons constitute nearly one-third of all the worshippers in the Society's meeting-houses, and are more of Friends than of any other profession ; schools are supported specially for their children, and in other ways they are recognized by the Society, yet if a member " marries a party so circumstanced disownment is probably the consequence. Disown- ment — the heaviest penalty imposable by a Christian church — is inflicted for marriage, where there may have been complete identity of religious feelmg between the parties, and simply because they were married at the Registrar's office instead of the meetinor-house. Could aucrht be further removed from the ideas of liim who wished " not to leave a 156 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. hoof in Egypt ? " Surely ecclesiastical history does not present a more palpable case of failure, in endea- vouring to attain a desirable end through wrong means. Nor does it, we apprehend, record another instance of so deliberate an act of suicide on the part of a Church, as to persevere for a series of years in disowning from one-quarter to one-third of all its members who married. The fact that these mar- riages increase in frequency rather than the con- trary, and that disownment no longer implies any necessary connection with moral turpitude, is a tell- ing proof of the impotency of an excessive penalty, to prevent the commission of an act not morally wrong, as well as of the extent to which a powerful weapon for church discipline may be rendered useless by unwise or indiscriminate application. We make no apology for occupying so much space with this portion of our subject, for it will be at once seen, that the disownment of four thousand adult members just at that period of life when most likely to add to the strength of the Society, more than explains its numerical diminution during the present century ; for if we assume that one quarter, or even one-half of these persons would have left it if they had not been ejected, the natural increase of population in the remainder would have more than IXFREQUEXCY OF MARRIAGE. 157 compensated for the diminution of five tlionsand four hundred members, the number by which the Society appears to have been reduced since the year 1800. Well may we adopt the exclamation of a talented American authoress: Rich indeed must be that Church which can spare such members for such a cause." In connection with this subject it may be conve- nient to call the attention of the reader to the signi- ficant fact, that notwithstanding the entire absence of destitution, marriage in the Society of Friends is one-fifth less frequent than in the population at large.* The causes of this curious statistical fact are not difficult to discover. The superior edu- cation bestowed on the children of the poor, has so diminished that class of persons, as almost to have de- stroyed the stratum of society amongst the Friends, in which maniages are usually most frequent, and m which they are contracted earliest in life. This we take to be the chief reason ; but there can be no doubt the impediments placed in the way of marriage within the Society by the fewness of its members, and the consequent limited range of choice open to parties, especially at the two ex- tremes of the social scale in which fewest Friends * See Note 3, page 77. 158 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. are found — the affluent and tlie poor — renders it impossible for many persons to find suitable part- ners, and therefore, if unwilling to lose their mem- bership, they remain unmarried. It was said by John Bright, M.P., in a late Yearly Meeting, that " strangers becoming acquainted with the social condition of the Society of Friends, express great astonishment at the number of competent, clever women amongst Friends suitable to make excellent wives, and to adorn any position, who nevertheless remain unmarried. " As this infrequency of mar- riage represents an equivalent infrequency of births, another cause of the numerical decline of Quakerism is thus clearly exhibited. 159 CHAPTER YIII. SmyDIARY OF PEECEDING ARGUMENT. " There is notlung so revolutionary, because there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is, by the very law of its creation, in eternal progress ; and the cause of all the evils in the world may be traced to that natural but most deadly error of human indolence and corruption, that our business is to preserve and not to improve.''* — ^De. Aknold. OuE task, now drawing to a close, has been a some- what migrateful one. The nature of the subject has compelled us to dwell chiefly on the defects of Quakerism, to disclose its weak points, to exhibit the mistakes of its defenders, and to trace the con- nection existing between such mistakes and its pre- sent decrepit condition. It would have been a more inviting employment, but a less useful one, to have unfolded the happier aspects under which Quakerism has displayed itself ; to have shown how much it really has accomplished for the cause of truth, and how beneficially it has influenced the 160 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. theology of tlie whole professing Church; to have told of its noble struggle for liberty of conscience, of its practical philanthropy, of its zeal for popular education, of its unfaltering protest against war ; or to have painted a lovely, because a faithful, picture of the exceeding happiness that dwells round hundreds of "Friends' firesides." But such a course would have been useless to the Society, and it might have been mischievous, by stimulating the error too pre- valent amongst its members, of relying on the prestige of their predecessors, and of adducing the numerous bright examples of catholic piety and Christian self- devotedness, who within the present century have adorned their section of the Church, as a sufficient answer to all who speak of lessening numbers and declining strength. Before laying down the pen, let us endeavour, as succinctly as may be, to review the ground traversed in the preceding pages, and to present, in a condensed form, the causes that appear to have prevented the realization of those lofty hopes which inspired the bosoms of the " early Friends." And not the " early Friends" alone, but impartial and philosophic con- temporaries of other persuasions, might reasonably have predicted a far brighter destiny for Quakerism than that which it has actually fulfilled. The con- CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 161 jectui'e mav be permitted, that amongst the crowd who thronged Bunhill Fields on Friday morning, the 16th November, 1690, assisting at the obsequies of George Fox, and listening to the polished eloquence of William Penn, there may have been at least one individual, who seriously pondered the probable future of the system, whose founder had now^ passed from among men, but whose name was indelibly "inscribed in the Pantheon of history." Success, such an observer might have supposed, would attend the further development of an outburst of Chris- tianity so vigorous as Quakerism appeared in 1690, wliich, after forty years of incessant persecution, could point to an organized body of sixty or seventy thousand adherents in Great Britain and Ireland, to flourishmg congregations in other pails of Europe, and to more than one great colony it had founded in the Western World. Surely now that persecution was abated, the experience of the new Society would be like that of the churches in Palestine, when they "had rest," and "' walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," be " multiplied." Our hy- pothetical philosopher might have argued, that a faith which promised to its recipients an inw^ard light, guid- ing them through the perplexities of time to the glories of eternity — a faith which rejected everything savour- M 162 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. ing of priestcraft, teaching every Christian that he was a priest, capable of holding immediate communion with "the Father of spirits'' — a faith claiming the most absolute liberty of conscience, fully recognizing the brotherhood of man, and assigning a higher social and religious standing to woman than she had ever before enjoyed; — such a faith would surely extend amongst men, notwithstanding the strict morality and personal sacrifices which it demanded of its fol- lowers. Much more in the same strain he might have justly argued, and he might have referred to the evidences of reality akeady furnished by the Quaker faith, in the support it had afforded to deli- cate women and children, as well as to soldiers who had " charged on Tilly's line " in their unflinching. Christian endm^ance of protracted persecution. Spe- culations like these would not have been unreasonable. How have they been realized ? We have shown that as regards numbers they have been entirely falsified; that the Society of Eriends attained its numerical meridian in this island about the year 1680, and that in the next one hundred and twenty years its decline was continuous, reducing its niunbers by the year 1800 to one-half of what they had been at their highest point. During the present century this decline has progressed still furtlier, and COXCLUDIXG CHAPTER. 163 there are now not more than twentj-six thousand persons in Great Britain and Ireland professing with Friends. Within the last one hundred and eighty years the population of the United Kingdom has trebled, but the Society of Friends has diminished nearly two-thirds. To the author's mind, the causes described in the preceding pages amply explain this extensive decline ; and at the termination of his in- vestigations, while still lamenting the fact, he has altogether ceased to marvel at the great diminution of the Society of Friends. Apprehending that any mquiry into the working of Quakerism would be defective and unsatisfactory which left out of sight the circumstances attendant on its origin, we endeavoured at the outset to com- press into one brief chapter some of the salient fea- tures of that memorable epoch, which was drawing to a close when the Society of Friends arose. The English Reformation was a movement promoted for various objects, and carried on by very different agents; it accomplished much for the interests of rehgion ; it purified the Anglican Church from the grosser errors of the Romish apostasy, and for so doing it demands the lively gratitude of every Pro- testant ; but in many respects it disappointed the ex- pectations of its best friends. It deprived the clergy M 2 164 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. of tlie mediatorial powers claimed by the Roman Catholic priesthood, but it left them a body of men distinct from the laity, occupying a position, by virtue of their sacerdotal office, superior to that of other members of the Church — a position that the Friends have ever regarded as inconsistent with the full re- cognition of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Glancing at the history of England in the reign of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., the outside idea of religion entertained by the politicians of those times at- tracted attention, as did also the double aspect of social life — the puritanic and the licentious — pre- sented in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Tracing the operation of these circumstances consen- taneously with the stirring political events of the age, its incessant theological controversies, the general unsettlement in religious opinions, the Judaizing theo- logy and practices of the Puritans (more offensively developed in the latter years of their history), we ob- served the preparation that was taking place in the minds of multitudes, for the reception of a spiritual declaration of Christianity. It is then, no matter of surprise that George Fox found ready listeners to his denunciations of "forms and shadows," of priestcraft, and, in short, of all that seemed to him to interpose between God and man, when, emerging from the men- CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 165 tal exercises that had so long overwhelmed him, he awoke to the perception of the excellency of spiritual pietj, and taught that its internal heart-work was the essential part of true rehgion. ' His mission was to direct men to the " Spirit of Christ in their own hearts ;" to bring them in mind and conscience imme- diately to Christ as their Lord and J^Iaster ; to incite them to obey the teachings of the Holy Spirit indivi- dually manifested in all things, that so their religion might be a positive, practical, ever-present power, hifluencing the minutest actions of life, and consti- tuting a standing protest agamst all merely specu- lative or theoretic systems. This spiritual conception of Christianity was the keystone of Quakerism. ' It came upon the primitive Friends with all the fresh- ness of a new discovery, though they steadily declared it was no new doctrine they preached ; that they were merely instrumental in reviving forgotten truths; that they were called to complete the work of re- formation from Popery, left unfinished by their pre- decessors. Quakerism was the last wave of the Reformation. In a certain sense, the greatest truths of religion are the simplest- — so simple, that "wayfaring men, ; though fools," receive them, when enlightened from above, in all their life-giving efficacy, equally with 166 QUAIvERISM: PAST AND PEESENT. the profoundest pliilosopher ; and yet it would seem as if tlie very greatness of a truth exposed it to in- creased danger of distortion and misapprehension. What doctrine of Christianity more vital than "jus- tification by faith"? but what doctrine has been more obscured and perverted? Have any heresies been more extensive than those relating to the Divinity of Jesus Christ? and is not Mahometanism itself a perversion of that fundamental truth — the Unity of God ? In like manner, " that crowning blessing of the Gospel, the dispensation of the Spirit,"* would seem to be peculiarly liable to misapprehension, and to erroneous or ill-proportioned exposition. It has been a prominent object of the present essay to prove that, in failing fully to discern, or accept, the divinely appointed conditions under which the teach- ings of the Holy Spirit are ordinarily administered, the founders of Quakerism unconsciously implanted those seeds of decay which — nurtured by successive generations — have borne their natural and destructive fruits. Whilst the doctrine of "the indwelling Word" was additional to, and not in substitution of, their pre- vious theology, it appears to the writer, that the early Friends, in magnifying a previously slighted * Caird's Sermons, p, 32. COXCLUDIXG CHAPTEE. 167 truth, fell into the natural error of giving it rela- tively an undue place, so depriving their represen- tations of Christian truth, of the symmetry they would otherwise have possessed, and influencing their practices and those of their successors in a twofold manner, negatively as well as positively. Under the latter head we examined the Society's practice in refusing to pay tithes and other eccle- siastical demands, its mode of worship, its views respecting preaching, prayer, the disuse of symbolic rites, &c. ; under the former, or negative influence, its disparagement of the human reason, its once inadequate estimate of the value of Holy Scripture, and its seclusive system of church government. Not only did the founders of Quakerism organize their Church in conformity with the belief, that the existence of a human hierarchy militates against the full acknowledgment of Cln-ist as the only high priest and head of His Chui'ch, governing it imme- diately by His Spirit, and constituting the entire company of behevers a holy priesthood, but they also refused to make any pecuniary payments for the support of a humanly appointed ministry. A gTeat proportion of the first Friends had been Puritans; and whilst the faith they adopted might be regarded as a reaction from Puritanism, they carried with them 168 QUAICERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. into the new Society many of tlieir former ideas and practices, and mucli of the Puritan phraseology. Amon2;st these ideas was a stronc^ behef in the authority of the Church to direct the conduct of its members in external matters of secondary im- portance. Thus, Avhilst claiming from the civil power the utmost liberty of conscience, they did not always allow it to their own followers, but made obedience to the regulations of the "Yearly Meeting" an essential of church fellowsliip — even when these regulations were destitute of direct scriptural authority. This contraction of the basis on which Christian fellowship rests, has been one of the w^eakest points of Quakerism. We have adverted to it more than once ; and, in connection with tithes, church-rates, &c., have expressed the opinion that serious injury has been inflicted by compelling per- sons, irrespective of individual conviction, to refuse the payment of these pecuniary charges. The same views which occasioned the Friends thus strenuously to resist payments for the support of a clerical order, determined their own mode of public worship. Recognizing no one as authorized to preach or prophesy, except under the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit, no one is preappointed to minister to his brethren in meetings for Divine CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 169 worship ; but the whole congregation sits down in silence, waiting upon God, and any one believing himself required to preach, or to oflfer vocal prayer, is at liberty to do so. We presented extensive evi- dence, proving how numerous were the ministers at the rise of the Society, and how much the meet- ings for worship at that time were occupied with vocal exercises, and contrasted them with those of after times, which are frequently silent, sabbath after sabbath, for months together. The injurious results of the absence of vocal instruction, in making the worship of God specially distasteful to the young and the unconverted, is too obvious to require elabo- rate proof. Regarding silent waiting on God as one form, and perhaps the highest, in which the adora- tion of the heart may be offered to Him, we appre- hend the Friends have greatly erred in maintaining it to be the only form of worship which He accepts, and that from its being adapted only to certain orders and conditions of mind, the character of public wor- ship, as it is now ordinarily presented in the meet- ings of the Friends, constitutes an important cause of the fewness of their numbers. It is admitted by Robert Barclay, in his celebrated Apology, that some human arrangements are needful for the per- formance of public worship ; and these arrangements 170 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. not being defined in Scripture, their precise extent and character is a question not necessarily of prin- ciple, but of degree, to be determined by observation and experience. A striking extract from George Fox's Journal showed how his attention was directed to the para- lysing influence of an eagerness to be rich in dwarfing the gift of the ministry, and preventing individuals from entering on its exercise; the pre- valence of that commercial prosperity to which the profession of Quakerism is specially favourable, has continued to operate, and, perhaps in an equal or greater degree, the existence of unhealthy ideas as to the high amount of spiritual direction required to authorize Gospel ministry, and a deficient percep- tion of the difference between "prophesying" and religious teaching." During the lifetime of George Fox, his personal influence was exerted to stimu- late, though at the same time to regulate, minis- terial labours ; but in the course of the eighteenth century, when the fervour of the body cooled, when its aggressive action ceased, the influence of the Church was exerted in a direction contrary to that indicated, both by revelation and experience, as most conducive to the maintenance of a healthy and powerful ministry. Even in apostolic times it was CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 171 needful to stir men up to desire spiritual gifts, to covet the gift of prophesying,"* and to "make full proof of their ministry."! If in those days of Pentecostal effusions, and of lively, loving zeal, ministerial action required to be stimulated rather than repressed, how unwise is a policy which, in a time of religious lukewarmness, does aught to discourage the preaching of the Gospel ! Such, we believe, was the unintentional effect of the Quaker teaching and legislation of the eighteenth century, and such must continue to be the effect of claiming a degree of authority for the exercise of Gospel ministry, unsanctioned by Scripture. Except in the Society's first rise, the gift of religious teaching has also been much neglected, and it cannot be doubted that this neglect has induced very prejudicial results. The New Testament so fully recognizes " teaching " as one of the gifts, not merely of temporary con- tinuance, like that of " tongues," but of permanent necessity, that no Church can neglect its exercise with impunity; and its absence was specially in- jurious to a body whose public ministry was less intellectual in its character, than that of most other Churches. Everythmg which militates against the mainte- * 1 Cor. xii. 31. f 2 Tim. iv. 5. 172 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. nance of personal piety within a Cliurcli, is necessarily an occasion of its decline, botli in numbers and in- fluence ; and connected with the passive character of its public worship, the declension of its ministry, and the neglect of the gift of teaching, was an inadequate use of the privilege of prayer, originating, hke the points above enumerated, in exaggerated expectations of the extent and character of immediate Divine action on tlie mind and feelings. Truly it is only by the help of the Spirit that men can " pray, and pray aright;" but when this doctrine has been so urged as to lead persons to expect sensible intimations of its being a duty to pray, instead of finding the all-suffi- cient warrant in the sense of need (a sense begotten by the Holy Spirit), it has occasioned some, through fear of praying amiss, to neglect prayer altogether. Extracts from the Society's own documents prove that this result has been experienced by its mem- bers. The Society of Friends differs in its practice from most other Churches, by rejecting the symbolic rites of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Without enter- ing into the merits of the controversy, whether the continued celebration of these rites is authorized by Scripture or not, we instanced the practice of the Society, in making their non-observance an essential CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 173 of cliiircli fellowship, as another illustration of un- wisely narrowing the basis on which that fellowship rests. The division we have attempted to draw between the positive and negative results of unduly exalting the doctrine of the "inward light," is a somewhat arbitrary one, and the propriety of assigning the disparagement of reason to the negative class, may be questioned, inasmuch as its effects can be traced through many ramifications, of doctrine and of practice. Instances might be multiplied from the volummous writings of George Fox, and still more so from those of his colleagues, showing that they sometimes wrote and acted under the idea that, by silencing the reason as well as the natural will, and by assigning a very subordinate position to the exer- cise of the intellectual faculties in everythino: con- nected with religion, they honoured God, and made way for the immediate operations of His Spirit. From the analogy of natui'e, and from the ordinary method of the Divine government, we deduced the conclusion that God rarely supersedes His own works by the immediate interpositions of His providence ; but that while every good thing in the outward creation, or in the "work of religion in the soul," comes from Him, He is usually pleased to work 174 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. instrumentally, and to bestow tlie help of His Spirit in unison witli the diligent exercise of the mental faculties. We apprehend that the disregard of this great fact, and the consequent neglect of the culture of the understanding in connection with religion, accounts for many of the anomalies of Quakerism, and is an influential cause of its declension. It has a close connection with the want of religious activity in those important departments of service already referred to, and we observed its effect in almost imioring the aesthetic element in man's mental con- stitution. From the measure of Quakerism being thus smaller than that of Christianity — from only ad- dressing itself to parts of human nature, instead of to the whole, its powers of adaptation were limited, its general diffusion was restrained, and hitherto, it has been nearly confined within the limits of the Anglo- Saxon family. The (Contracted, legal use of the Scriptures by the Puritans, explains why the " early Friends," deeply conversant with the sacred volume themselves, and constantly appealing to it, were yet so jealous in maintaining its inferiority to the Spirit that gave it forth ;" and though this mode of speaking might be harmless to them, and not without its use to their Puritan opponents, yet, when it became part of a CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 175 traditional pliraseology — when tlie Bible was not read in meetings for w^orsliip, nor regularly in the domestic circle — the consequences, by allowing a wide-spread ignorance of scriptural truth, were most hurtful to the growth of vital religion. To this cause must be attributed not a little of the lethargy of the eighteenth century, as well as the origin of those desolating heresies which have distracted and enfeebled the Quaker churches of Ireland and America. Family Scripture readings having become general within the last fifty years, the evil here described is greatly diminished, and is now confined within very narrow limits. Somew^hat resembling its practice in relation to the Scriptures, was the course pursued by the So- ciety of Friends in regard to education. Detailing its experience in tliis particular, we noticed that the confusion of idea, resulting from mistaken views as to the hnmediate teaching of the Spirit, assumed a dangerous and enthusiastic form in the early yeai's of the Society's history ; some parents professing to believe, that by omitting to train or instruct their children, they favoured the immediate teachings oi the Spirit of God. Extracts from George Fox's Epistles were adduced, in which he grapples with this delusion ; he ever insisted on the importance of 176 QUAIIERISM: PAST AND PKESENT. sound religious education, and we noticed some of the steps he took to promote it. His successors con- tinued their labours for its advancement, with limited success, until the foundation of Ackworth School, in 1779. Very unfavourable was the posi- tion of children in relation to education before that time, and we unite in the opinion expressed by writers of that period, that to the want of careful religious education, much of the' loss of members in the eighteenth century may be attributed. In the present century education has been greatly im- proved in quality, and extended in amount, and we drew attention to the economic facts, that this diffusion of intelligence had lessened the number of poor, stimulated the emigration of young men from the agricultural districts, diminished the fre- quency of marriage, and the consequent frequency of births ; and had thus, whilst conferring im- mense benefit on the Society at large, been the unlooked for cause of lessening its numerical strength. The large number of Ackworth scholars who, on attaining to maturity, leave the Church which has educated them, has been incidentally mentioned in another part of our paper,* and our educational notice would be imperfect were no allu- * See Note 11, p. 84. CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 177 sion made to a serious defect at one time existing in its character, though at the present day one of greatly diminished importance. It has been observed by authors without the pale of the Society of Friends, as well as by judicious members of that community, that isolation from evil, rather than a preparation of the heart to resist evil, has been too much sought after. To magnify the benefits of a " guarded education," was natural to those who sought safety in "hedges" and " external bulwarks ; " but if the evil born within the human heart be not restrained by Chris- tian principle — if revealed truth be not intelligibly taught — when children grow to be men and women, . they must inevitably find that the endeavour of their friends to screen them from evil, is no effectual pro- tection against the allurements to vice with which Satan besets their path. Whilst the causes which have been enumerated go far to explain that declension in piety, which succeeded the fervour of primitive Quakerism, we pause when entering on the second epoch of its history, to note that the most ample effusions of" the Holy Spirit have rarely extended beyond a period of forty years ; and whilst in the experience of the Friends we are able to trace with unusual clearness the operation of secondary causes, it must N 178 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. not be overlooked that the first apostles of Quaker- ism enjoyed a larger measure of spiritual life and power than was continued to their successors. Regarding the action of causes which are without the bounds of man's control, conjointly with the more obvious ones that have been adverted to, we cannot be surprised that the Society, when no longer kept watchful by persecution, sank into a state of lukewarmness ; its continuance in such a condition during the first half of the eighteenth century being favoured by a like condition in the other Churches of Great Britain, national and dissenting. During this dark period, !,birthright membership almost im- perceptibly established itself. The consequences of this departure from the New Testament idea of a Church have, as it appears to the author, been ex- tensive and of serious magnitude. Not only does it induce the retention of lifeless members in the body, who are at liberty to influence its discipline and internal government, and for whose conduct it is to a certain extent responsible ; not only does it make " membersliip " liable to be esteemed a burden instead of a privilege, but it also creates a line of distinction in congregations of a most artificial character ; and occasions difficulties in respect to the oversight, education, relief, and CONCLUDIXG CHAPTER. 179 marriafi^e arranorements of non-members. The here- ditaiy character it impressed on Quakerism increased the tendency which it ah'eady possessed to exclii- siveness, and is one cause of its non-proselytizing character. Even when no connection can be discovered, it is interesting to observe historical spichronisms ; and it is a suggestive fact that contemporaneous with the labours of Wliitfield and the Wesleys, an extensive revival took place in Quakerism. In 1760, at the suggestion of a stranger from America, the Lon- don Yearly jSIeeting deputed a number of its most earnest members to visit all its subordinate meet- ings, and to endeavour to resuscitate the discipline of the Church. The character of this elaborate system, as organized by George Fox, we have already described. Whilst well adapted for main- taining the internal purity of the body, we drew the attention of the reader to its seclusive, non- aggressive, non-centralized constitution. When first organized, some aggressive action was associated with its workmg ; but this did not long continue, and in the revival of the eighteenth century most of the primary defects of this disciplinary system present themselves in an aggravated form, and without the counteracting influence of the earlier K 2 180 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. period. Whilst noting the errors of the disciplina- rians of the eighteenth century — which we believe to have been neither few nor small — a high meed of praise must be awarded them for their zeal and single -mindedness amidst worse than Laodicean deadness ; and whilst protesting against the unwise severity with which they punished venial defections from what they deemed " the testimonies of the Society," liberal allowance must be made for the difficult position they occupied, when struggling with wealthy, influential, worldly men, priding themselves in their hereditary connection with the Society of Friends, but unwilling to conform to the practical requirements of the Gospel. The defects of the resuscitated discipline were shown in its legal spirit, in the harshness with which it ofttimes treated offenders, and in the increasing number of offences which it visited with the penalty of expulsion ; thus further narrowing the grounds of chvirch fellowship. Great numbers of disownments took place between 1760 and 1780 ; some for acts of flagrant immorality, but many others for breaches of the Society's " tes- timonies," for the payment of tithes, for marriage " contrary to rule," &c. ; acts not immoral, and not even necessarily errors of judgment. From the period now under review, the Society of Friends CONCLUDIXG CHAPTEK. 181 has occupied a more contracted and a more sectarian basis, and its testimonies " have been negative ratlier than positive. The renovators of 1760 made liardly any effort to restore the aggressive element to the Society's constitution — their policy was purely defensive ; they placed great reliance on penalties, as means for preventmg misconduct, and they endea- voured to erect external barriers against the contami- nation of the world. They created a public opinion which enforced conformity to a costume in dress and to the use of a set phraseology — ^' peculiarities " which, havino; originated in the endeavour to maintain those legitimate requirements of religion, simplicity in dress and truthfulness of language, degenerated into agents for maintainino; an ascetic isolation from the rest of mankind. Much spiritual loss, we apprehend, was sustained in many districts, during the eighteenth century, from the great doctrine of Justification by faith in Christ being inadequately set forth ; and in a previous page of this volume, it has been stated that the gloomy, mystical view of religion not ma frequently presented to the young, coupled with unreasonable require- ments respecting matters of behaviour and attire, had alienated the affections of many young persons from the Society of Friends, and induced them to 182 QUAKEKISM : PAST AND PRESENT. leave it on attaining years of maturity. But the most influential of the proximate causes of decay, mainly introduced into the Society's practice in the middle of last century, were its marriage regulations. The treatment of this subject by George Fox and his associates was worthy of their reputation. Not that it was altogether faultless ; their prohibition of marriage to second cousins now hardly finds a de- fender; but, taken as a whole, their arrangements were wise and liberal. They desired that matrimo- nial connections should be formed between persons of similar religious views and practices, and their endeavours were attended by a large measure of success. As the Friends declined in numbers, and as merely nominal members w^ere retained amongst them, it became increasingly difficult to confine mar- riage within their own limits. The existence of a large body of persons " in profession," but not in mem- bership," still further complicated the matter. In the first period of the Society's history, all attenders of its public worship were at liberty to be married in its meeting-houses; but after the introduction of birth- right membership in 1737, this privilege was confined to members ; " and so reckless became the use of the penalty of disovv-nment, that even when a member married one of like religious sentiments, but not in COXCLUDING CHAPTER. 183 membersliip, lie was expelled. Having devoted an entire chapter to the consideration of this subject, it is needless here to dwell further upon it. The main facts of the case are clearly established. Within a considerable portion of the present centmy, the Society of Friends in England has disowned nearly one-thu'd of all its members who have married, a total of not less than four thousand persons ! From tliis and other causes already referred to, marriage has become increasingly rare; and not merely has the Society lost its four thousand adult members, but their removal has occasioned the deaths to exceed the births, so that while in the general population of England there have been since 1810 three births to every two deaths, in the Society of Friends during the same period the deaths have exceeded the births by two thousand four hundred. It is a marked feature, in estimating the relative importance of the different causes now enumerated, that comparatively few of them admit of having a numerical value assigned them. It is impossible to estimate the number of persons Avho might have been attracted to the Society, or of the number of mem- bers who might have been retained in it, if its terms of fellowship had been wider — if its religious services had been more varied in their character — if greater 184 QUAKERISM : PAST AND PRESENT. endeavoui's had been made to maintain the flame of piety bright and healthy, by the more decided en- couragement of the gift of preaching, by the unim- peded exercise of the gift of religious " teaching," by the more assiduous cultivation of the habit of prayer, and, in short, by giving a less passive impress to all the Society's arrangements. It is in vain to specu- late as to the number of persons who might have embraced Quakerism, had it diligently employed all those means for the diffusion of its principles which are placed within its reach; we cannot de- termine what proportion of its decline is due to the operation of the birthright membership system, or compute what number of members might have been retained had education been more general in the first period of the Society's history, or had it been con- ducted on sounder principles in the latter one. Nor can we assicrn an exact numerical value to the minor causes that have been treated of in the preceding Essay, and which it is needless here to particularize. Finally, it is impossible to say which of these causes might never have existed, had the early Friends and their successors recognized the great importance of a well-proportioned theology, and had they carefully guarded against the danger of obscuring or under- valuing any portions of Divine truth — whether re- CONCLUDING CHxVPTER. 185 yealed in the inspired volume, or in those facts of nature " which " are the words of God" — through excess of zeal for exalting a part, rather than the Avhole, of Christian truth. But whilst we are thus unable to say what propor- tion of decline is due to this cause, and what to that, the sum total of their effects can be accurately de- termined. Xot merely can it be shown that there is now only one in every eleven hundred of the population of the United Kingdom professing with the Friends, and that there was once one in every one hundred and thirty, but we can also ascertain that in spite of the amiually increasing population, the Friends are still declining at the rate of nearly one hundred per annum, and that the number of mem- bers in England, which in 1800 was about twenty thousand, is now reduced to less than fifteen thousand. In the contemplation of these facts, the question necessarily presents, Has Quakerism a future ? — may it yet rise phoenix-like from its ashes, learn expe- rience from the errors of the past, and enter on a brighter and a happier course ? or is it doomed to a continuance of its present decrepitude — to a progres- sive decay, involving its untimely end at no very distant period? Historians are now pemiing the story of its " decline." Shall the future chronicler ]86 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. record its " fall " ? or shall he tell of decay averted ; of traditional errors discarded; of the adoption of a wise^ because a Christian, policy ; and of the suc- cess thereon attendant? Cogent reasons for antici- pating either of these events might be adduced ; but, content with having, to the best of our ability, illus- trated the causes Avhich have occasioned the decline of Quakerism, we will not weaken the picture by indulging in needless speculation. On a recent occasion* the Society of Friends expressed the o]3inion that its mission was far from accomplished — that there is a great work still before it. Reviewing the present aspect of Christendom, thoughtful members of many sections of the one true Church, anxious for the advancement of our common faith, will unite in this opinion. One point we re- gard as certain: there is so much of truth in its fundamental principles, when rightly understood, that they are indestructible ; and whether the ex- position of these truths remains with the Society of Friends, or passes into other hands, the knowledge of them can never again be banished from the earth. Let the present leaders of the Society, and let every serious and reflective Friend, be assured, that talking about its decline, and " paraphrasing the causes of * Beport of York Quarterly Meeting, 1854-55, p. 13. CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 187 it," under sentences wliich do but mislead, will avail notliing. The consciousness of personal inte- grity and of earnest, self-denying labour, will not atone for want of knowledge, or for inadequate or timorous measures. The crisis is far too solemn in its character to permit of trifling. No mystery hangs oyer the causes which have occasioned the decay of the body ; many of those causes are still in operation, and if unremoved, can issue in but one result — the extinction of the Church which permits their continuance. It is not given to any Church to infringe with impmiity on the rights of reli- gious liberty, to narrow the basis on which it stands, or to frame the arrano-ements for reliscious exercises as if intended for beings differently constituted to man. The great lesson we deduce from the story of Quakerism closely corresponds with that drawn by the eloquent historian of the Puritans, from a review of their chequered experience. Describing a healthy ■ Church, he writes: — "It must stand upon a gene- rous basis ; ... its terms of commmiion must be few ; it must hold the essentials of salvation (with- out which it were indeed no Church); and it must endeavour to comprehend those, whatever their weak- nesses, who subscribe to the apostolic canon in their lives, and give sufficient evidence that they 'love 188 QUAKERISM: PAST AND PRESENT. the Lord Jesus in sincerity.' Other methods have been tried in vain. We know the price at which a rigid adherence to rubrical observances must be pur- chased. We have seen the consequences of a rigid uniformity, and we have seen the emptiness of a " tra- ditional " zeal. Shall we for ever tread in the erring footsteps of our forefathers ? " It was no part of the inquiry which this essay professes to answer, as to what are the remedies for the present condition of the Society of Friends ; those who have perused the preceding pages will easily discover the direction, in which the author apprehends these remedies may be found. If further suggestions be permitted, he would say, " Cease to do evil ; " stay these suicidal disownments for offences which, if injudicious, are not immoral; widen the grounds of Christian fellowship ; maintain unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials ; " and let "charity prevail over all." Then, "ceasing to do evil," the Society would " learn to do well ; " resuming the aggressive spirit of olden times, it would find unnumbered ways for its exercise; it would discover in this island alone a population existing without the pale of Christian influences, more numerous than that which inhabited the whole of England in 1650, asking to be won for Christ; CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 189 it would find tliat, when rightly understood, there is nothing incompatible between a belief in the imme- diate guidance of the Holy Spirit and "freedom of Gospel ministry/' and the prosecution of missions for instructino; the ignorant and evano-elizinfi; the heathen. In pursuing these fields of service, it would find no mental faculty could be dispensed with — no part of man's nature could be ignored; the human reason must occupy the sphere appointed by its Great Creator ; human instrumentality must be prayed for and encoui'aged — not, indeed, to the disparagement of spiritual agency, — far otherwise : " except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it;" but all being done in dependence on the Divine blessing, with singleness of heart and in the manner God lias ordained, His Spirit would be richly poured out in accordance with ancient pro- phecy, and tliis section of the Church would expe- rience a degree of prosperity as yet unknown to it : so, frdfilling some of the splendid and unaccom- plished expectations of its founders, it might be the honoured instrument for widely extendincr the blessed kino:dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. THE END. 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" The rules are clearly and fully laid down ; and the earlier exercises always conducive to the end by simple and unembarrassing means. The whole volume is full of liveliness."— S'pecte^or. " We close this book with a feeling that, though nothing supersedes a master, yet that no student of art should launch forth without this work as a compa.fis."—At/iencBiiin. " It will be found not only an invaluable acqui- | sitiontothe student, but agreeable andinstructive I reading for any one who mshes to refine his per- ceptions of natural scenery, and of its worthiest artistic representations."— is-cono/riisi. " Original as this treatise is. It cannot fail to be at once instructive and sugs^sti\e."—Literari/ Gazette. "The most useful and practical book on the subject which has ever come under our uotic?."— Press. Modern Painters, Vol. IV, On Mountain Beauty. Imperial Svo, with Thirty-five Illustrations engraved on Steel, and 116 Woodcuts, drawn by the Author. Price 2l. 10s. cloth. "The present volume of Mr. Eitskin's elaborate work treats chiefly of mountain scenery, and discusses a"^ length the principles involved in the pleasure we derive from mountains and their pictorial representation. The singular beauty of his style, the heart.v sympathy with all forms of natural loveliness, the profusion of his illustra- tions form irresistible attractions."— Da27|/A''eM.-s. " Considered as an illustrated vohtme, this is the most remarkable which Mr. Kuskin has yet issued. The plates and woodcuts are profuse, and include numerous drawings of mountain form by the | National Eeview. author, which prove Mr. Euskin to be essentially ; Modern Painters, Vol. Ill, Of Many Things, With Eighteen Illustrations drawn by the Author, and engraved on Steel. Price 38sf. cloth. an artist. He is an unique man, both among artists and v:Y\tQr%."— Spectator. " Tli'i fourth volume brings fresh stores of wondrous eloquence, close and patient observa- tions, and subtle disquisition. . . . Such a writer is a national possession. He adds to our store of knowledge and enjoyment."— ieader. " ilr. Ruskin is the most eloquent and thought- awakening writer on nature in its relation -mth art, and the most potent influence by the pen, ot young artists, ^4•hom this country can boast."— " Every one who cares about nature, or poetry, or the story of human development— every one who has a tinge of literature or philosophy, will find something that is for him in this volume."— Wentminstfr Revieto. " ilr. Euskin is in possession of a clear and penetrating mind; he is undeniably practical in his fundamental ideas; full of the deepest reverence for all that appears to him beautiful and holv. His style is, as usual, clear, bold, racy. Mr. Euskin is one of the first writers of the day."— iicowow. ist. "The present volume, viewed as a literary achievement, is the hiahest and most striking evidence ot the author's abilities that has yet been published."— LeacZer. ".\11, it is to be hoped, will read the book for themselves. They will find it well worth a careful ^Yn&?i\."— Saturday Review. " This work is eminently suggestive, full of new thoughts, of brilliant descriptions of scenery, and eloquent moral application of them."— i^'eiy Quarterly Review. "Mr. Ruskin has deservedly won for himself a place in the first i"auk of modern writers upon the theory of the fine arts."— Eclectic Review. Modern Painters. Vols, I, and II, Imperial 8vo. Vol. I, 6ih Edition, 185. cloth. Vol. II., Ath Edition. Price lOs. &d. cloth. "A generous and impassioned review of the works of living painters. A hearty and earnest •woik, full of deep thought, and developing great and striking truths in art."— British Quarterly Review. " A very extraordinary and delightful book, full of truth and goodness, of power and beauty."— North British Recietc. " Mr. Ruskin's work will send the painter more than ever to the study of nature; will train men who have always been delighted spectators of nature, to be also attentive observers. Our critics will learn to admire, and mere admirers will learn how to criticise : thus apublic will be educated."— Blackwood's Magazine. WORKS OF MR. UJJSKm— continued. The Stones of Venice. Complete in Three Volumes, Imperial Svo, with Fifty-three Plates and numerous Woodcuts, drawn by the Author. Price 5l. I5s. 6d., cloth. EACH VOLUME MAY BE HAD SEPARATELY. Vol. 1. THE FOUNDATIONS, with 21 Plates, price 2/. 2^. 2nd Edition. Vol. II. THE SEA STORIES, with 20 Plates, price 2l. 2s. Vol. III. THE FALL, with 12 Plates, price 1/. Us. 6d. " The ' Stones of Venice ' is the pvocluction of an eai'uest, religious, progressive, and informed miud. The author "of this essay on arcliitecture h^s con- densed it into a poetic apprehension, tlie fruit of awe of God, and delight in nature ; a knowledge, love, and just estimate of art; a holding fast to fact and repudiation of hearsay; an historic breadth, and a fearless challenge of existing social problems, whose union we know not where to find j)a.vsi\le\eA."— Spectator, I " This book is one which, perhaps, no other man could have written, and one for which the world ought to be and will be thankful. It is in the highest degree elociuent, acute, stimulating to thought, and fertile in suggestion. It will, we are convinced, elevate taste and intellect, raise the tone of moral feeling, kindle benevolence towards men, and increase the love and fear of God."— Times. The Seven Lamps of Architecture, Second Edition, with Fourteen Plates drawn by the Author. Price ll. Is. cloth. Imperial 8vo. "By 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture.' we understand Mr. lluskiu to mean the Seven funda- mental and cardinal laws, the observance of and obedience to which are indispensable to the archi- tect, who would deserve the name. The politician, the moralist, the divine, will find in it ample store of instructive matter, as well as the artist. The author of this work belongs to a class of thinkers of Avliom we have too few amongst us."— Examiner. " Mr. Ruskiu's book bears so unmistakeably tlie marks of keen and accurate observation, of a true and subtle judgment and refined sense of beauty, joined with so much earnestness, so noble a sense of the purposes and business of art, and such a command of rich and glowing language, that it cannot but tell powerfully in producing a more religious view of the uses of architecture, and a deeper insight into its artistic principles."— Guardian. Notes on the Picture Exhibitions of 1859. Fifth Thousand. Price One Shilling. Lectures on Architecture and Painting. With Fourteen Cuts, draivn by the Author. Second Edition. Crown Svo. Price 8s. 6d. cloth. " Mr. Ruskin's lectures— eloquent, graphic, and impassioned— exposing and ridiculing some of tlie vices of our present system of building, and exciting his hearers by strong motives of duty and pleasure to attend to architecture— are very successful."— JFco^onn's^. " We conceive it to be impossible that any intel- ligent persons could listen to the lecture's, how- ever they might differ from the judgments asserted, and from the general propositions laid down, without an elevating influence and an aroused enthusiasm."— ^i)(?c^ator. The Political Economy "A most able, eloquent, and well-timed work. We hail it with satisfaction, thinking it calculated to do much practical good, and we cordially recom- mend it to our readers."— TF/iwess. "Mr. Ruskin's chief purpose is to treat the firtist's power, and the art itself, as items of the world's wealth, and to show how these may be best evolved, produced, accumulated, and dis- tributed."— .4 :iew. "An acceptable addition to our literature. It fives information which many wiU be glad to ave carefully gathered together, and formed into a shapely whole."— £'c-o?2o;/ovt(incG."—At7iencBum. " A book of permanent veil\xe."—GuariUa7i. LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA. By Mrs. Speir. With Sixty Illustrations by G. Sciiarf. 8vo, price 15^., elegantly bound in cloth, gilt edges. " Wioever desires to have the best, the com- pletcst, and the most popular view of what Oriental scholars have made known to us respect- ing Ancient India must peruse the work of Mrs. Speir; in which he will find the story told in clear, correct, and unafl'ected English. The book is admirably got w^^)."— Examiner. THE CAUVERY, KISTNAH, AND CODAVERY : being a Eeport ON THE Works constructed on those Rivers, for the Irrigation OF Provinces in the Presidency OF Madras. By R. Baird SariTii, F.G.S., Lt.-Col. Bengal Engineers, &c., &c. In demy 8vo, with 19 Plans, price 28i'. cloth. "A most curious and interesting work."— Economist. THE BHILSA TOPES ; or, Buddhist Monuments of Central India. By Major Cunningham. One vol., 8vo, with Tliirty -three Plates, price 305. cloth. "Of the Topes opened in various parts of India none have yielded so rich a harve>,t of important information as those of Bhilsa, opened by Major Cunningham and Lieut. Maisey; and which are described, with an abundance of highly curious graphic illustrations, in this most intei-esting mo\i."— Examiner. THE CHINESE AND THEIR REBEL- LIONS. By Thomas Taylor Meadoavs. One thick volume, 8vo, with Maps, price ISs. cloth. "Mr. jVleadows' book is the work of a learned, ecr.scientious, and observant pci-son, and really important in many respects."— J'inies. " Mr. Meadows has produced a work which deserves to be studied by all who would gain a true appreciation of Cliinese character. Information is sown broad-cast through every page,"— Athenaum. ADDISON'S TRAITS AND STORIES OF ANGLO-INDIAN LIFE. With Eight Illustrations, price 55. cloth. "An entertaining and instructive volume of Indian v^necAotts."— Military Spectator. "Anecdotes and stories well calculated to illustrate Anglo Indian life and the domestic manners and habits of Hindostan. "—0/>xcrwr. " A pleasant collection of amusing anecdotes." " Critic. 12 TRACTS ON THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA. By Brigadier-General Jacob, C.B. 8vo, price 2s. 6d. ROYLE ON THE CULTURE AND COMMERCE OF COTTON IN INDIA. 8 vo, price 185. cloth. ROYLE'S FIBROUS PLANTS OF INDIA fitted for Cordage, Clothing, and Paper, 8vo, price 125. cloth. 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ANNALS OF BRITISH LEGIS- 1 LATION, A Classified Summary OF Parliamentary Papers. Ei. | hy Professor Leone Levi. The j yearly issue consists of 1,000 pages, super royal 8vo, anl the Subscrip- I tion is Two Guineas, payable in advance. The Thirty-fourth Part ' is just issued, commencing the ; Third Year's Issue. Volumes L to | IV. may be had, price 4^. 4*. cloth, i " A series that Avill, if it T5e always managed as it now is by Professor Levi, last as long as tiiere ri-naius a Legislature in Great Britain. These Annals are to give the essence of work done and information garnered for the State during each legislative year, a summary description of every Act passe-l, a digest of the Wtal facts contained ::i every Blue Book issued, and of all documents : elating to the public business of the country, rhe series ■will live, while generations of men die, : : it be maintained in its old age as ably and as ■uscientiously as it is uow in its youth."— Examiner. " The idea was admirable, nor does the execu- t:on fall short of the nlan. To accomplish this Jectivelv, and at the same time briefly, was not :;a ea«y task; but Professor Levi has undertaken it with great success. The work is essentially a sni'le. it will satisfy those persons who refer to it merely for general pui-poses, while it will direct tho research of others whose investigations take awidev ranse."— Athsiiceum. CAPTIVITY OF RUSSIAN, PRINCESSES IN SHAMIL'S SERAGLIO. Translated from the Pvussian, by H. S. Edwards. With 1 an authentic Portrait of Shaxiiil, a i Plan of his House, and a Map. Post | 8vo, price 10^\ 6d. cloth. "A book than which there are few novels more interesting. It is a romance of the Caucasus. Tlie account of life in the house of Shamil is full and very entertaining ; and of Shamil himself we see mnch."—Exami7isr. " The story is certainly one of the most curious we have read; it contains the best popular notice j of the social polity of Shamil and the manners of his people."— Xeac/er. "The narrative Is well worth reading."— Atheiicet'.m, SHARPE'S HISTORIC NOTES ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTA- MENT. Third and Revised Edition. Post 8vo, price 75. cloth. " An inestimable aid ti the cleraryman, reader, city-missionary, and Sunday-school teacher." —Illustrated Xeus of the World. "A learned and sensible hook."— Xational Ee- ELLIS'S (WILLIAM; RELIGION IN COMMON LIFE. Post 8 vo, price Is. 6d. cloth. " A. book a ldressed to yoiing people of the Tivper ten thousand upon social duties."— Jixaminer. " Lessons in Political Economy for young people hy a skilful h Aid."—Econot/ii:it. THE OXFORD MUSEUM. By Henry W. Acland, M.D,, and John Ruskin, A.M. Post 8vo, with three Illustrations. Price 25. 6d. cloth. " Everyone who cares for the advance of true learning, and desires to note an onward step, should buy and read this little volume."— J/orw- iiiff Herald. " There is as much significance in the occasion of this little volume as interest in the book itself." —Spectator. THE ENDOWED SCHOOLS OF IRELAND. By Harriet Mar- tineau. 8vo. Price 35. 6c/., cloth boards. "The friends of education will do well to pos- sess themselves of this \)Oo]i.."— Spectator. PARISH'S (CAPT. A.) SEA OFFICER'S MANUAL. Second Edition, Small Pest 8yo, price 55. cloth. "A very lucid and compendious manual. "We would recommend youths intent upon a seafaring life to study it."— Athencettm. "A little book that ought to be in great request among young sea,incii."—i:xamliier. ANTIQUITIES OF KERTCH, AND Researches in the Cim- merian BosPHORus. By Dl'Ncan McPherson, M.D., of the Madras Army, F.R.G.S., M.A.L Imp. 4to, with Fourteen Plates and numerous Illustrations, including Eight Coloured Eac-Similes of Relics of Antique Art, price Two Guineas. "It is a volume which deserves the careful attention of every student of classical antiquity. No one can fail to be pleased with a work which has so much to attract the eye and to gratify the love of beauty and elegance in design. . . ; . The book is got up with great care and taste, and forms one of the handsomest works that have recently issued from the English press." — Saturday/ Review. WESTCARTH'S VICTORIA, AND THE Australian Gold Mines IN 1857. Post 8 vo, with Maps, price 105. 6(/. cloth. "Mr. AVestgarth has produced a reliable and readable book well stocked with information, and pleasantly interspersed with incidents of trave. and views of colonial life. It is clear, sensible, and sugscstiye."—Athenceiim. " A lively account of the most wonderful bit of colonial experience that the world's history has i\irmshcA."—Ejami)ier. "We think Mr. Westgarth's book much the best which has appeared on Australia since the great crisis in its history."— Saturdai/ Eeciew. " A rational, vigorous, illustrative report upon the progress of the greatest colony in Australia." —Leader. "The volume contains a large amount of statistical and practicnl information relating to \ictoria."—iipectutcr. 13 mSCELLANEOUS— continued. TAULER'S LIFE AND SERMONS. Translated by Miss Susanna Wink- woRiii. With a Preface by the Eev. Chakles Kingsley. Small 4to, printed on Tinted P.aper, and bound in Antique Style, with red edges, suitable for a Present. Price 75, Gd. " Hiss Winkwortli has done a service, not only to churcli liistory and to literature, but to those who seek simple and true-hearted devotional readinsf, or who desire to kindle their own piety through the example of saintly men, by producing a very instructive, complete, and deeply interest- ing life of Tauler, and by giving to usalso a sample of Tauler's sermons •tastefully and vigorously translated."— Guardian. "No diffei ence of opinion can be felt as to the intrinsic value of these sermons, or Ihe general interest attaching to this book. The Sermon^; are well selected, and the ti'anslation excellent." —AthencBum. CHANDLESS'S VISIT TO SALT LAKE : BEING A Journey across THE Plains to the Mormon Settlements at Utah. Post 8vo, with a Map, price 25. 6d. cloth. " Mr. Chandless is an impartial observer of the IVFormons. He gives a full account of the nature of the country, the religion of the Mormons, their government, institutions, morality, and the singu- lar relationship of the sexes, with its conse- quences. "—Cr (7 "Those who would understand what Mor- monism is can do no bettor than read this authentic, though light and lively volume."— Leader. " It impresses the reader as faithfal."—iVa!'i052ai Eeview. DOUBLEDAY'S LIFE OF SIR ROBERT PEEL. Two volumes, 8vo, price 18s. cloth. " It is a good book of its kind. . . . It is well worth reading, and very pleasantly and sensibly written."— Saturdap Review. "This biography is a work of great merit, con- scientiously pi-epared, plain, clear, and practically interesting."— iearfer. " It is a production of great merit, and we hail it as a most valuable conti-ibution to economical and statistica;l science."— i?'H^ts/i Quarterly. CAYLEY'S EUROPEAN REVOLU- TIONS OF 1848, Crown 8vo, price 65. cloth. " Mr. Cayley has evidently studied his subject thoroughly, he has consequently produced an interesting and philosophical, though unpretend- ing history of an important epoch." — Neio Quarterly. " Two instructive volumes."— O&server. BUNSEN'S (CHEVALIER) SIGNS OF THE TIMES ; or, The Dan- gers TO Religious Liberty in THE Present Day. Translated by Miss Susanna Winkworth. One volume, 8vo, price 5s. cloth. "Dr. Bunsen is doing good service, not only to his country but to Christendom, by sounding an alarm touching the dangers to religious liberty \n Ihe present state of the world."— i/rjfisA Quar- terly/, 14 THE COURT OF HENRY Vlll. : BEING A Selection of tii:: Despatches of Sebastian Girs- TiNiAN, Venetian Ambassado:., 1515-1519. Translated by lUw- DON Brown. Two vols., crown 8 vo, price 21s. cloth. " It is seldom that a page of genuine old history is reproduced for us with as much evidence of painstaking and real love of the suiject as in the selection of despatches made and edited by Mr. Hawdon Brown."— 2'(:me«. " Very interesting and suggestive volumes."— Britinh Quarterly Revieiv. " Alost ably edited."— i-Yaser's Magazi7ie. PAYN'S STORIES AND SKETCHES. Post 8vo, price 2s. Gd. cloth. "A volume of pleasant reading. Some of the papers have true Attic salt in t\\e,ra."—Literary Gazette. "Mr. Payn is gay, spirited, observant, and shows no little knowledge of men and books."— Leafier. "A most amusing volume, full of humorous adventure and pleasant s.atire."— frm. STONEY'S RESIDENCE IN TAS- MANIA. Demy 8vo, with Plates, Cuts, and a Map, price 14s. cloth. "A plain and clear account of the colonies in Van Diemen's La,nd."—At7ien(Bum. " A perfect gtiide-book to Van Diemen's Land." E.raminer. " One of the most accurately descriptive books upon Van Dieaieri's Land that we remember to have read."— A^eey Quarterly. THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICUL- TURE ; ESPECIALLY TrOPICAL. By P. Lovell Phillips, M.D. Demy 8vo, price 7s. Gd. cloth. " This volume should be in every farm-house, and it would pay a landlord to present it to his tenants."— Critic. " This treatise contains nearly all that is known of the science of agriculture."— O&sert-ei-. FORBES' (SIR JOHN) SIGHT- SEEING IN GERMANY AND THE TYROL. Post 8vo, with Map and View, price 10s. 6c?. cloth. "Sir John Forbes' volume fully justifies its title. Wherever he went he visited sights, and has ren- dered a faithful and extremely interesting account of tYiem."— Literary Gazette. CONOLLY ON THE TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. Demy 8vo, price 14s. cloth. "Dr. Conolly has embodied in this work his experiences of the new system of treating patients at Hanwell A.sy\\im."— Economist. 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Post 8vo, with Maps, price 12s. cloth. "The only work on the subject suited to the military render."— United Service Gazette. " In a strategic point of \-iew this work is very valuable."— j\'e«-' Qiiarierli/. THE IVULITIAMAN AT HOME AND ABROAD. AVith Two Etchings, by John Leech. Post 8vo, price 9s. cloth. "Very amusing, and conveying an impression of faithfulness."— A'af/o«a^ Revitib. "The author is humorous without being wil- fully smart, sarcastic without intterness, and shrewd without parading his knowledge and power of observation."— £a?i5re«s. "A very lively, entertaining companion."— Cntic. " Quietly, but humorously, written." — AthencBum. THOMSON'S MILITARY FORCES AND INSTITUTIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 8vo, price 5s. cloth. "A well arranged and carefully digested com- pilation, giving a clear insight into the economy of the aimy, and the worSmg of our military system."— !Sx>ectator. LEVI'S MANUAL OF THE MER- CANTILE LAW OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Svo, price 12s. cloth. " It is sound, clear, and practical. ... Its contents r.re strictly those of a manual— a hand- book for law chnmuers, offices, and counting- houses; requisite in most of stich places, and superfluous in none."— Athen(jeum. "Its simulicity and faithfulness make it an ex- tremely serviceable hook."— Examiner. "An admirable work of the kind."— Zatc Times. "It prrsents a fair summary of the law on the great subject oI\\liic\iitUea.ts."— Law Magazine. THOMSON'S LAWS OF WAR AFFECTING COMMERCE AND SHIPPING. Second edit., greatly enhtrged. Svo, price 4s. 6d. boards. "Mr. Tiiomson treits of the immediate effects of war ; serious, brilliant when he is gay — they are cliarmiug reading."— Da«7y Xews. '•■ To those who attended the lectures the book will be a pleasant reminiscence, to others an exciting novelty. The style— clear, idiomatic, forcible, familiar, but never slovenly ; the search- ing strokes of sarcasm or irony; the occasional Hashes of generous scorn ; the touches of pathos, pity, and tenderness ; the morality tempered but never weakened by experience and sympathy; tlie felicitous phrases, tlie striking anecdotes, the passages of wise, practical reflection; all these lose much less than we could have expected from the absence of the voice, manner, and look of the lecturer."— Spec^a^o/'. "We have been charmed beyond expectation with the reading of these Essays. . . . They nre truly beautitul, suggestive Essays, on topics : rtile in suggestion; they are unaffectedly : norous, pathetic, subtle, pleasant, and thought- l. . , . Thackeray's style, half sad, naif . ;yful, is seen to perfection in this volume."— leader. " It is not easy to say or show how exceedingly rich it is in reflection, in wisdom, in wit and luimour, in genial feelings, and in expressive language."- i\^onco??/orwis?. BRITISH INDIA. By Harriet jNLartixeau. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. "A good compendium of a great subject."— Kafwnal lieciew. "Lucid, glowing, and instructive essays."— Eeononiint. "As a handbook to the history of India it is the best that has yet appeared."— Jior?2i;ifir Herald. THE TOWN: its Memorable Characters axd E^^exts. By Leigh Hl^^t. With 45 Engravings. Price 2s. 6c?, cloth. "We win allow no higher enjoyment for a rational Englishman than to stroll leisurely through this marvellous town, arm in arm with Mr. Leigh Hunt. The charm of Mr. Hunt's book is, that he gives iis tbe outpourings of a mind enriched with the most agreeable knowledge: there is not one page which does not glow with interest. It is a series of pictures from the life, representing scenes in which every inhabitant of the metropolis has an interest."— Ti/nes. "'The Town' is a book for all places and all persons: for the study, wlien one is tired of labour ; for the drawing-room, parloui-, carriage, or steMQ-hoai."Spectutor. "This is one of the very pleasantest works of Leigh Hunt. We are never out of sight of sove- reigns or subjects, notable buildings and the builders thereof, booksellers and bookmakers, Elays and players, men about town, and the aunts where they drank their wine and tapped one another's -wit."— AtJienaum. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART. By John Ecski>-, M.A. Price 25. 6d. cloth. "A most able, elor.uent, and well-timed work. We hail it with satisfaction, thinking it calculated to do much practical good, and we cordially recom- mend it to our readers."— TF co. CHEAP SERIES OF POPULAR FICTIONS- Continued. D E E R B R O O K. By Hakriei ;Martixeau. Price 2^. 6c/. cloth. "This popular fiction presents a true and ani- mateod. Both conditions are perfectly f ulfilled .1 the work before us; the seu-imeut is pure and . ue. the moral excellent, and the style incmpa- My beamirul."— Illustrated Xews of the World. ■' ^\e cant ot recommend to our readers aplea- nter book for an evciing s instruction and ■-iimement."—Lad2/'s Xeicspaper. AFTER DARK. By Wilkie Collins. Price 25. 6d. cloth. "]Mr. Wilkie Collins stands in the foremost rank of our younger writers of fiction. He tells a story well and forcibly, his style is eloquent and picturesque: he has considerable powers of pa- thos; understands the art of construction; is never wearisome or wor y. and has a keen insight into character."— Drti' t/ Xews. "Stories of adventure, well varied, and often striking in the incidents, or with thrilling situa- tions. They are about as pleasant reading as a novel reader could dti&\re."—Spectator. " Mr. Wilkie Collins has been happy in the choice of a thread whereon to string the pearls ; we ■ ead. it almost as eagerly as the stories themselves. Mr. Collins possesses a rare faculty rart de conter. No m.iu living better tells a story."— Lea er. "Mr. "Wilkie Collins takes high rank among the who can invt^nt a thrilling story and t 11 it with brief simphcity. The power of commanding the famiUie^ of tlie reader is exercised in nearly all these stories."— (?/o6e. "Tiieir great merit consists either in the effec- tive presentation of a mystery, or the effective working up of striking situations."— Tl'esfi/.inster ReL-ieic. •• ' After Dark ' abounds with genuine touches of natnre."— British Quarterly. "These stories possess aU the author's well- known beauty of style and di-amacic power."— Xeic Quarterly. PAUL FERROLL. Fourth edition, price '2s. cloth. " ATe have seldom read so wonderful a romance. We can find no fault in it as a work of ai't. It leaves us in admiration, almost in awe, of the powers of its author."— ATeto Quartei'ly. " The art displayed in presenting Paul Ferroll throughout the story is beyond all pr.dse." — Ex'nriiyier. "The incidents of the book are extremely well maiiage^i." — AthenfBiim. " The fruit of much thoughtful investigation is represented to us in the character of Paul Ferroll We do not UcCd to be told how [ he felt and why he acted thus and thus ; it will ] be obviotis to most minds fi'om the very opening paxes. But the power of the story is not weak- ened by this early knowledge : rather is it heightened, since the artistic force of contrast is grand and fearful in the two figures who cling so I closely together in their fond human love."— 1 Morning CtiroHi<:le. SCHOOL FOR FATHERS. By Talbot Gwyxne. Price 25. cl. " 'The School for Fathers ' is one of the cleverest, most brilliant, genial, and instructive stones that we liave re id since the publication of ' Jane ^\-re' "—Eclectic Refievc. " Tlie pleasantest tale we have read for many a day. It is a story of the Tatler and Spectator days, and is very fitly associated with thai time 01 good E.iglish literature by its manly ft eling, direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely- managed, well-turned narrative. The des. riptions are excellent; some of the country painting is as fresh as a landscape by Alfred Constable, or an idvl by Temiy>-on."— Examiner. "A capital picture of town and country a cent iry ago; and is emphatically the freshest, raciest, and most artistic piece of fiction that has lately come in our \fdy ."—Nonconformist, PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. KATHIE BRANDE : the Fireside History of a Quiet Life. By Holme Lee, Author of "Sylvan Holt's Daughter." BELOW THE SURFACE. By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart., M.P. THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL. By Acton Bell. {Just ready.^ 19 ■WOKKIS 3PTJBI.ISIIE33 BY NEW NOVELS. (to be had at all libraries.) AGAINST WIND AND TIDE. By Holme Lee, Author of " Sylvan Holt's Daughter." (Now ready.) CONFIDENCES. By the Author of " Rita." EXTREMES. By Miss E. W. Atkin- son, Author of " Memoirs of the Queens of Prussia." 2 vols. "A nervous and vigorous style, an elaborate delineation of character under many varieties, spirited and well-sustained dialogue, and a care- fully-constructed plot; if these have any charms for our readers, they will not forget the swiftly gliding hours passed in perusing ' Extremes.' "— Morning Post. " We have no hesitation in placing this hook high above the ephemeral stories with which from time to time the circulating libraries are inur. dated. The story is not so intense as that of 'Jane Eyre,' nor are the characters so pro- nounced as those in ' Adam Bede,' and yet v/e think 'Extremes' will bear comparison with either of the two. There is throughout the whole story the trace of great power and delicate perception of minute shades of character, which iVlace Miss Atkinson higli in the ranks of con- temporary novelists."— iac?i(?s' Neivspaper. " 'Extremes' is a novel written with a sober purpose, and wound up with a moral. The purpose is to exemplify some of the errors arising from mistaken zeal in religious matters, and the evil consequences that flow from those errors."— Spectator. "The machinery of the piot is well imagined and well worked out, and, we need scarcely add, well calculated to afford gratification to the reader."— Press, THE TWO HOIVIES. By the Author of " The Heir of Vallis." 3 vols. "There is a great deal that is very good in this book— a great deal of good feeling and excellent design. . . . There are some good pictures of iladeira, and of life and society there ; and there are evidences of much painstaking and talent."— Athe7umim. " ' Tlie Two Homes ' is a very clever novel. . . Madeira furnishes Mr. Mathews with a fertile theme for his descriptive powers. The dialogue is good: the characters all speak and act con- sistently with their natm-es."— Leader. " ' The Two Homes ' is a novel of more than ordinary merit, and is written throughout in a careful and elegant style,"— 3Ior)iing Post. THE DENNES OF DAUNDELYONN. By Mrs. Charles J. Proby. 3 vols. "This is a novel of more than average merit. There is considerable knowledge of character, power of description, and quiet social satire, ex- hibited in its pages."— Press. " ' The Dennes of Daundelyonn ' is a very read- able book, and will be immensely popular. . . . It has many beauties which deservedly recom- mend it to the novel reader."— Critic. " ' The Dennes of Daundelyonn ' is a book writ- ten with great vigour and freshness."— ieac7er. " There is mere cleverness and variety in these volumes than in twenty average novels."— Gh be. COUSIN STELLA; or, Conflict. By the Author of " Violet Bank." 3 vols. "An excellent novel, written with gi-eat care; the interest is well sustained to the end, and the characters are all life-like. It is an extremely well-written and well-conceived story, with quiet }>ower and precision of touch, with freshness of interest and great merit."— Athenceum. " ' Cousin Stella' has the merit, now becoming rarer and rarer, of a comparative novelty in its subject; the interest of which will secure "for this novel a fair share of i^oi^ixlarity." — Saturdai/ lleview. 20 "Decidedly both good and interesting. The book has a fresh and pleasant air about it : it is written in an excellent tone, and there aretoviches of pathos here and there which we must rank with a higher style of composition than that usually attained in works of this class."— A"e«c Quarterly Review. " This new novel, by the author of ' Rita,' dis- plays the same combination of ease and power in the delineation of character, the same life-like dialogue, and the same faculty of constructing an interesting story ."—Spectator . " ' Confidences' is written in the most pleasing manner of any novel we have read for years past."— ieacZer. "A clever book, and not too long."— Examiner. TRUST FOR TRUST. By A. J. Barrowcliffe, Author of " Amberhill." 3 vols. " The story is admirably developed. Theinterest never flags, the incidents are natural without being commonplace, and the men and woman talk and act like human beings."— Press. " It is seldom we find, even in this great age of novel writing, so much that is pleasant and so little to object to as in ' Trust for Trust.' It con- tains much original thought and fresh humour." —Leader. " The story evinces vigour of description and power of WTiitins,"— Literary Churchman. ELLEN RAYMOND; or, Ups and Downs. By Mrs. Vidal, Author of "Tales for the Bush," &c. 3 vols. " The plot is wrought out wi^h wonderful inge- nuity, and the diflerent characters are sustained in perfect keeping to the eTi(!i."—lUustrated News of the World. " The characters are good, the style pure, cor- rect, brisk, and easy."— Press. "Mrs. Vidal displays resource, imagination, and power in no common degree. * * * There is more p 'wer and strength put forth in ' Ellen Raymond' than perhaps in any lady's book of this generation."- /SttiMrfZay Review. "Tliis novel will find a great many admirers." —Leader. LOST AND WON. By Georgiana M. Craik, Author of "Eiverston." 1 vol. 2ncl Edition. " Nothing superior to this novel has appeared during the present season."— ieader. " Miss Craik's new story is a good one and in point of ability above the average of ladies' novels,. —Daily News. " The language is good, the narrative spirited, the characters are fairly delineated, and the dialogue has considerable dramatic force."— Saturday Revietv. " This is an improvement on Miss Craik's first work. The story is more compact and more inter e sting. ' '—A thenceu m. THE MOORS AND THE FENS. By F. G. Trafford. 3 vols. " This novel stands out much in the same way that 'Jane Eyre' did. . . . The characters are drawn by a mind which can realize fictitious characters with minute intensity."— Saturday Review. "It is seldom that a first fiction is entitled to such applause as is ' The Moors and the Fens,' and we shall look anxiously for the writer's next essay."— Critic. " The author has the gift of telling a story, and 'The Moors and the Fens' will be read."— • AthencBum. Siy[ITII, ELDEK ^1S"3D CO. NEW NOVE] AN OLD DEBT. By Florence Dawsox. 2 A'OlS. "A por.erfally mitteu novel; one of the hest which has recently proceeded from a female hand. . . . The dialogue is vigorous and spirited."— J/orwiHf; Post. " There is an energy and vitality ahout this ■work which distinguish it from the common head of novels. Its terse vigour sometimes recals Miss Bronte, hut in some respects Miss Florence Dawson is decidedly superior to the author oi • Jane Eyre.'"— Satnrda 7/ Review. "This novel is written wiih great care and painstaking; it evinces considerable powers of reflection. The style is good, and the author possesses the power of depicting emotion,"— AtheniBum. "A very good seasonable nox&\."— Leader . SYLVAN HOLT'S DAUGHTER. By Holme Lee, Author of " Kathie Brande/' &c. 2ad edition. 3 vols. "The well-established reputation of Holme } Lee, as a novel writer, will receive an additional j glory from the publication of 'Sylvan Holt's ! Daughter.' It is a charming tale of country life and character."— G/oZ)e. " There is much that is attractive in ' Sylvan Holt's Daughter,' much that is graceful and re- fined, much that is fresh, healthy, and natural," "The'conccption of the story hns a good deal of originality, and the characters avoid common- place types, without being unnatural or improba- ble. The heroine herself is charming. It is a novel in which there is rcuch to interest and please."— A'fio Quarterly Review. "A novel that is well worth reading, and which possesses the c^irdinal vii-tue of being extremely interesting."'— J^^/iena?2m. "A really sound, good book, highly finished, true to nature, vigorous, passionate, honest, and sincere,"- De(6^in University Magazine. MY LADY : a Tale of Modeex Life. 2 vols. "'My Lady' is a fine specimen of an English matron, exhibiting that union of strength and gentleness, of common sense aiid romance, of energy and grace, which nearly approaches oui- ideal of womanhood."— Pr?ss. " ' My Lady' evinces charming feeling and deli- cacy of touch. It is a novel that will be read with I interest."— J.^AsKCEz«r/a. " The stoi-y is told throiighout with great strength of feeling, is well written, and has a plot which is by no meaos common-place."— Examiner. "There is some force and a sood deal of fresh- ness in ' My Lady.' The characters are distinctly drawn, and often wear an appearance of indi- viduality, or almost personality. The execution is fresh and powerful."— >pee;u«or. "A tale of some t^o'xqy."— National Review. " It is not in every novel we can light upon a style so vigorously gi-aceful— upon an intelligence so refined withour littleness, so tenderly truthful, which has sensibility rather than poetry; hut which is also most subtly and searchingly power- ful."— J5?e6/iw Universiti/ Vayazine. "Care has been bestowed on The writing, which is pleasant and flooring. The tJesci-iptions of nature are truthful and delicately CLva.\\n."— Economist. GASTON BLIGH. By L. S. Lavexu, Author of " Erlesmere." 2 vols. " ' Gaston Bligh ' is a good stoi-y, admirably told, full of stirring incident, sustaining to the close the interest of a vei-y ingenious plot, and abounding in clever sketches of character. It sparkles vnth. wit, and will reward perusal,"— Critic. "The sloiT is told with great power; the whole hook sparkles with esprit; and the characters talk like genilemon and ladies. It ifs very eiijoy- able i-eading."— P/-es«. -.^S — continued. THE PROFESSOR. By Curker Bell. 2 vols, "We think the author's friends have shown sound judgment in publishing the ' I'rofessor,' now that she is gone. ... It shows the first germs of conception, which afterwards expanded and ripened into the great creations of her imagi- nation. At the same time her advisers were equally right wh: n they counselled her not to publish it in her li eti ne, , . . But it abounds in merits."— Saiwrf. ail' Review. '• The idea is original, and we every here and there detect germs of that power which took ths world by storm in ' Jane Eyre.' The rejection of the 'Professor' was, in our opinion, no less ad- vantageoustotheyoungauthoress than creditable to the discernment of the booksellers."— P;-ess. "Anything which throws light upon the grovrth and composition of such a mind cannot be other- Avise than interesting. In the ' Professor ' we m.ay discover the germs of many trains of thinking, which afterwards came to be enlarged and illustrated in subsequent and more perfect works."— Critic. "There is much new insight in it, mwch ex- tremely characteristic genius, and one character, moreover, of fresher, lighter, and more airy Sra,ce."—Econoniist. " We have read it with the deepest interest ; and confidently predict that this legpvCy of Char- lotte Bronte's genius will renew and confirm the general admiration of her extraordinary pov. ers." —Eclectic. BELOW THE SURFACE. 3 vols. " The hook is unquestionably clever and enter- taining. The writer develops from first to last his double view of human life, as coloured by ths manners of our age. ... It is a tale superior to oi-dinary novels, in its practical application to the phases of actual lite."— Jthenceum. "There isagreatdealofclevernessin this story ; a much greater knowledge of country life and character in its various aspects and conditions than is possessed by nine-tenths of the novelists who undertake to describe it."— Spectator. " The novel is one that keeps the attention fixed, and it is written in a genial, often playful tone. The temper is throughout excel:ent."—£'xa?«j/(e>*. '•This is a book which possesses the rare merit of being exactly what it claims to be, a story of English country life; and, moreover, a very well told story."— Daili/ Nevjs. " 'Below the Surface' merits high praise. It is full of good things; good taste— good feeling- good writing— good notions, andliigh morality." -Globe. "Temperate, sensible, kindly, and pleasant,"— Saturday Review. "A more pleasant story we have not read for many a da.j."— British Quarterly. THE THREE CHANCES. By the Author of "The Fair Carew," 3 vols. " This novel is of a more solid texture than most of its contemporaries. It is full of good sense, good thought, and good vivitm^."— States- man. " Some of the characters and romantic situa- tions ai-e strongly marked and peculiarlj- origina). , . . It is the great merit of the authoress tliat the personages of her tale are human and real."— Leader, THE CRUELEST WRONG OF ALL. By the Author of " Margaret ; or, Prejudice at Home." 1 vol. " The author has a pathetic vein, and there is a tender sweetness in the tone of her narration."— Leader. "It has the first requisite of a work meant to amuse : it is amusiiis."— G7o6e, 21 NEW ISOYELS— continued. KATHIE BRANDE : a Fireside His- tory OF A Quiet Life. By Holme Lee. 2 vols. " ' Kathie Brancle ' is not merely a very interest- ing novel— it is a %-ery wholesome one, for it leacli-'S virtue by example."— Cr/^je. "Thtoughoat 'Kathie Bi'ande' there is much sweetness, and considerable power of description." Saturday Review. " ' Kathie brande ' is intended to illustrate the paramount excellence of duty as a moving prin- ciple. It is full of beauties."— Da;7^ Xeivs. '• Certainly one of the best novels that we have lately vea.d."—Guardia7i, EVA DESMOND ; or, Mutation. 3 vols. " A more beautiful creation than Eva it would be difficult to imagine. The novel is undoubtedly full of interest. "—jVorning Pest. " There is power, pathos, and originality in con- ception and catastrophe." — Leader, THE NOBLE TRAYTOUR. A Chronicle. 3 vols. " An Elizabethan masquerade. Shakespeare, the Queen. Essex, Raleigh, and a hundred nobles, ladies, and knights of the land, appear on the staiie. The author has imbued himself with the spirit of the times."— ZetfcZer. " The story is told with a graphic and graceful pen, and the chronicler has produced a i-omance not only of great value in a historical point ol view, but possessing many claims unon the atten- tion of the scholar, the antiquary, and the general reader."— Posi. PERVERSION ; or, The Causes and Consequences of Infidelity. By the late Rev. ^Y. J. Conybeare. 3 vols. "This story has a touching interest, which linsers with the reader after lie has closed the ooi}\i."— At he7icBnJJi. " The tone is good and healthy ; the religious feeling sound and true, and well sustained."— GKiirdian. " It is long, very long, since we have read a narrative of more power than this."— British Quarterlv Recieic. 'This is a good and a noble book."— ..Vetf Quarterfi/. THE WHITE HOUSE BY THE SEA : A Love Story. By M. Bethj-m- Edwards. 2 vols. "A tale or English domestic life. The writing is very good, graceful, and unaffected; it pleases without startling. In the dialogue, people do not liaransue, but talk, and talk \mtm-a\ly ."—Critic. ■• The narrative and scenes exhibit feminine spirit and quiet truth of delineation."— .SiJeclai'o?-. TyIaud skillicorne's penance. By Mary C. Jackson, Author of "The Story of My Wardship." 2 vols. " The style is natural, and displays considerable dramatic power."— Critic. "It is a well concocted tale, and will be very palatable to novel readers."— JiorwtnjjrPosi. THE ROUA pass. By Erick Mackenzie. 3 vols. " It is seldom that we have to notice so good a novel as the 'Roua Pass.' The story is well con- trived and well told ; the incidents are natural and varied ; several of the characters are skiifuUy drawn, and that of the heroine is fresh, powerful, and original. The Highland scenery, in which the plot is laid, is described with truth and feeling —with a command of language which leaves a vivid impression."— ^a^2«'cZoy Eetiew. " The peculiar charm of the novel is its skilful painting of the Highlands, and of life among the Highlanders. Quick observation and a true sense of the poetry in nature and human life, the author liSis."—Examine>: "The attr.actions of the stoi-y are so numerous and varied, that it would be difficult to single otit any one point of it for attention. It is a brilliant social picture of sterling scenes and striking advent ur e s. ' '—A?; n, RIVERSTON. By Georgtana M. Craik. 3 vols. "A decidedly good novel. The book is a very clever one, containing much good writing, well discriminated sketches ot character, and a story told so as to bind the reader pretty closely to the text."— Examiner. "Miss Craik is a very lively writer : she has wit, and she has sense, and she has made in the beautiful young governess, with her strons will, saucy independence, and promptness of repartee, an interesting picture."— P/es-y. "Miss Craik writes well; she can paint cha- racter, passions, manners, with considerable effect ; her dialogue flows easUy and expressively." —Daily News, " The author shows great command of language, a force and clearness of expression not often met with. . . . We offer a welcome to Miss Craik, and w e shall look with interest for her next w ork . ' '—A thence u m . FARINA. By George Meredith. 1 vol. "A masque of ravishers in steel, of robber knights ; of watsr-women, more ravishing than lovely. It has also a brave and tender deliverer, and a heroine proper for a i-omance of Cologne. Those who love a real, lively, audacious piece of extravagance, by way of a change, will enjoy ' Farina.' "—AthencBitm. FRIENDS OF BOHEMIA; or, Phases of London Life. By E. M. Whitty, Author of " The Governhig Classes." 2 vols. " Mr. Whitty is a genuine satirist, employing satire for a genuine pi.rpose. You laugh with him very much; out the laughter is fruity and ripe in thought, tlis style is serious, and his cast of mind severe. The author has a merriment akin to that of Jaques and that of Timon."—Atfien(BU)n. THE EVE OF ST. MARK. A EoMANCE OF Venice. By Thomas DOUBLEDAY. 2 VOls. " ' The Eve of St. Mark ' is not only well written, but adroitly constructed, and interesting. Its tone is perhaps too gorgeous ; its movement is too much that of a masquerade; but a mysterj- is created, and a very loveable heroine is voiii- tray ed."—Athe}i(Bnm, NOVELS FOETHCOMING. A NEW NOVEL. By Katiianiel Hawthorne, Author of " The Scarlet Letter," &c. 3 vols. A NEW NOVEL. By the Author of " My Lady," 3 vols. A?id other Works cf Fictitn by Popular Authors. 22 szsiiTjET, 3z:x.die:i^ ^vzsrx) co. NEW BOOKS FOE YOUNG EEADERS. THE PARENTS' CABINET or AiiusEMEXx axd Ixstrtjctiov for Youxg Persons. New edition, carefully revised, iii 12 Shilling Volumes, each, complete in itself, and containing a full page Illustration in oil colours, with wood engravings, in ornamented boards. CONTEXTS. AMUSING STORIES, all tentlins to the developmeut of good qualities, and the avoidance of faults. - . 0TF"~ SIMPLE NARilATIVES OF HISTORICAL EVENTS, suited to the canacity of children.' biographical ACCOUNTS OF REMARKABLE CHARACTERS, interesting to Young Poople. ELUCIDATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY, adaptea to encoura are habits (.f observation. FA-MILIAR explanations of notable SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND 31ECHAXICAL INVENTIONS. LIVELY ACCOUNTS OF THE GEOGRAPHY, INHABITANTS, AND PRODUCTIONS 01? DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 3IISS Edgewobth's Opinion of the Pabexts' Caben'et:— "I almost feel afraid of praising it as much as I think it deserves. . . . There is so much ^•a^iety in the book that it cannot tire. It alternately excites and relieves attention, and does not le.-id to the bad habit of frittering away the mind by requirinz no exertion from the reader. . . . Whoever your scieutitic associate is, he understands his business and children's capabilities right well. . . , Without lecturing, or prosins, you keep the right and the wrong clearly marked, and hence all the sympathy of the young people is always enlisted on the right side." The work is now complete in 4 vols., extra cloth, gilt edges, at 3s. 6 J. each; or in 6 volumes, extra cloth, gilt edges, price 25. 6^. each. By the Author of " Round the Fire," &c. I. UNICA : A Story for a Sunday Afternoon. With Four Illus- trations. Price 35. cloth. "The character of Unica is charmingly con- ceived, and the story pleasantly to\A."— Spectator. " An t xcellent and exceedingly pretty story for children.' '—Sta tesm a n. "This tale, like its author's former ones, 'will find favour in the nuxsery."—Athenceuin. n. OLD GINGERBREAD AND THE SCHOOL- BOYS. With Four Coloured Plates. Price 3^. cloth. "'Old Gingerbread and the School-boys' is delightful, ana the drawing and colouring of the pictorial part done with a spirit and correctness." —Press. " This tale is very good, the d>^scriptions being natural, with a feeliiig of country freshness."— Specta tor. "The book is well got up, and the coloured plates are very pretty."— ft/o6e, "An excellent beys' book ; excellent in its moral, chaste and simple in its language, and luxuriously illustrated."— ///«s^J-ufedA>(ti of the World. "A very lively and excellent tale, illustrated with very delicately coloured pictm-es." — Jicowm'ist. "A delightful stoi-y for little boys, inculcating beuevoieut feelings to the \}OQx:'—EQlecticT,emev:. WILLIE'S BIRTHDAY; showing now A Little Boy did what he Liked, AND how he Enjoyed it. "With Four Illustrations. Price 2s. 6(i. cl. WILLIE'S REST : a Sunday Story. With Four Illustrations. Price 2s. 6c?. cloth. "Graceful little tales, containing some pretty parables^ and a good deal of simple feeling."— £:conom\st. " Extremely well written story books, amusing and moral, and got up in a very handsome style." —Morning Herald' UNCLE JACK, THE FAULT KILLER. With Four Illustrations. Price 3s. cl. "An excellent little book of moral iranroveraent made pleasant to children ; it is far beyond the common-place moral tale in design and execution." —Globe, ROUND THE FIRE: Six Stories FOR Young Readers. Square 16mo, with Four Illustrations. Price 3s. cloth. " Charmingly written tales for the young."— Leader. " Six delightful little stOY\e%."— Guardian. "Simple and very interesting."- A'u^i.waZ Eevieic. " True children's ^tori^s.^-Athenceum, THE KING OFTHE GOLDEN RiVERj OR, The Black Brothers. By John Ruskin, M.A. Third edition, with 22 Illustrations by Richard Doyle. Price 2s. 6f/. " This little fancy tale is by a master-hand. TI13 story has a charming movol."— Examiner. STORIES FROM THE PARLOUR PRINTING PRESS. By the Authors of the "Parents' Cabinet.'' Fcap. 8vo, price 2s. cloth. RHYMES FOR LITTLE ONES. With 16 Illustrations. Is. 6i/. cloth. LITTLE DERWENT'S BREAKFAST. 2s. cloth. JUVENILE MISCELLANY. Six En- gravings. Price 2s. ed cloth. INVESTIGATION; or, Travels in the Boudoir. By Miss Halsted. Fcai^. cloth, price 3s. 60?. 23 POETRY. SKETCHES FROM DOVER CASTLE, AND OTHER Poems. By Lieut.-Col. William Read. Crown 8vo. Price 7s. 6d. cloth. "To a refinofl taste, a covvect rythmin and melodic ear, and no common familiarity with the poetic reionvcps of onr language. Colonel Head may lawfnlly lay claim. . . . With all those who find PI joyment in gi-acefnl and polished verse, this hook will win favour."— P/'e.s.s. '■E!eg;int and gracefu.l, and distinguished hy a tone of sentiment, wiiicli renders Colonel Read's volume very pleasant reading for a leisure hour." —Diiili/ Xeirs. "It is non often that the heroic couplet is in these days so gvacefuUv written. Colonel Read is to be congratulated on his success in bentling this Ulyssoan^bow. Ilis little volume contains some very flue lyrics, "—Leader. S T I L I C H O : A Tragedy. By George Mallam. Pcap 8vo. IV1AGDALENE. A Poem. Pcap 8vo. price 1*. lONICA. Fcap. Svo, 45. cloth, "The themes, mostly cjassical, are grnppled with boldness, and tonedwith a lively imagination. The style is rich and firm, and cannot be said to be an imitation of any known author. Vi'e cor- dially recommend it to our readers as a book of real poetry."— Ci'j'ie. " The author is in his mood, quizzical, satirical, luunorous, and didactic l)y turns, and in each mood he displnys extraordinary iiowcr."— Illus- trated Keirsofthe World. THE SIX LEGENDS OF KING GOLDENSTAR. By the late Anna Bradstreet, Pcap. Svo, price ^s. " The author evinces more than ordinary power, a vivid in.agiinition, guided by a mind of lofty aim."— G^o^e. " The poetry is tasteful, and a-hovetlie average." —National Review. 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" Mr. Cecil's poems display qualities which s.'amp tl'.em the productions of a fine imagination and a cultivated taste."— Ji^j-wiH^/ Herald. ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR. By Sydney Dobell, Author of " Balder," " The Roman," &c. Crown Svo, 55, cloth, "That Mr. Dobell is a poet, • England in time of \\ ar' bears witness."— ^^AewfEjon. THE CRUEL SISTER, and other Poems. Fcap. Svo, 45. cloth, "There are traces of power, and the versification displays freedom and ^MiV— Guardian. POEMS OF PAST YEARS. By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart., M.P. Fcap. Svo, 35. cloth. "A refined, scholarl.y, and gentlemanly mind is apparent all through this volume."— ieacZe?', POEMS. By Mrs. Frank P. Fellows. Fcap|. Svo, 35. cloth. "Tliere is easy simplicity in the diction, anl elegant naturalness in the thought."— 6.p£C^a^or. POETRY FROM LIFE. ByC.M.K. Fcap. Svo, clotli gilt, 55. " Elegant verses. The author lias a pleasing ' fancy and a refined m.\ndi."—Economist. POEMS. By Walter R. Cassels, Fcap. 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By CuRRER, Ellis, and AcTON Bell, 45., cloth. SELECT ODES OF HORACE. In English Lyrics, By J, T, Black. Fcap. Svo, pric^ 45., cloth. " llenderetl into English Lyrics with a vigour and heartiness rarely, if ever, surpassed."— CriZic. RHYMES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF A HAND-LOOM WEAVER. By William Thom. With Me- moir, Post Svo, cloth, price 35, KING RENE'S DAUGHTER. Fcap. Svo, price 25. 6f/. cloth. MAID OF ORLEANS, and other Poems. Translated from Schiller. Fcap. Svo, price 25. 6'i. London : Printed by Smith, Elder and Co., Little Green Arbour Court, E.C. i Date Due J 19 42 BX7676 .R88 Quakerism, past and present: being an Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00020 8811