FEB 17 1919 
 
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THEEE LECTURES 
 THE EARLY HISTOEY ''^^ 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 
 
 II* 
 
 BRISTOL AND SOMERSETSHIRE. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM TANXER. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS TO THE LIFE OF GEORGE FOX, 
 
 PREPARED FOR "FRTEXDS' LIBRARY ' BY 
 
 TIIOMAJS EVANS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 HENRY LONGSTRETII, 
 
 No. 915 MARKET STREET. 
 
 18 58. 
 
1 
 
The following Lectures were delivered under 
 the sanction of the Bristol Friends' Library 
 and Lecture Association. 
 
 The objects contemplated in the establish- 
 ment of that association were to provide a 
 library of biblical and religious literature, and 
 ecclesiastical history, and to promote the deli- 
 very of Lectures upon subjects of a kindred 
 character. 
 
 Bristol, 3d of Fifth Month, 1858. 
 
 (iii) 
 
The American Publisher has ventured to 
 supply tlie deficiency referred to on page 88, 
 by William Tanner, by prefixing to the " Lec- 
 tures," with the kind permission of the author, 
 Thomas Evans, "Introductory Remarks to 
 THE Life of George Fox," prepared for the 
 commencement of the first volume of " Friends' 
 Library." 
 
 (iv) 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 In tracing the history of the Christian Church 
 from its earliest establishment, through the periods 
 of its decline, until it reached that long and dark 
 night of apostasy, which for ages preceded the Ee- 
 formation, we find, that in proportion as the life and 
 substance of religion decayed, a multitude of cere- 
 monies were introduced in its place, little, if at all, 
 less onerous than the typical institutions of the 
 Mosaic law. This has ever been the result, when the 
 ingenuity of man has attempted to improve or 
 adorn the simplicity of spiritual religion. There is 
 a natural activity in the human mind, which prompts 
 it to be busy, and can with difficulty submit to that 
 self-renunciation which the gospel enjoins. It is 
 much easier for a professor of religion to be engaged 
 in the performance of rites and ceremonies, than to 
 yield his heart an entire sacrifice to God. Objects 
 presented to the mind through the medium of the 
 natural senses, produce a powerful impression, and 
 are more easily apprehended, than those truths 
 which are addressed to the intellectual faculties 
 only, and are designed to subdue and control the 
 wayward passions of the human heart. It is not 
 surprising, therefore, that instead of that worship 
 1* (v) 
 
vi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 of the Almighty Father, which is in Spirit and in 
 Truth, and which requires the subjection of the will 
 and activity of man, and the prostration of the whole 
 soul in reverent humility before God, a routine of 
 ceremonies and forms should have been substituted, 
 calculated to strike the eye and the ear with admi- 
 ration. 
 
 As the period of degeneracy was marked by the 
 great amount*and increase of these ceremonies, so, 
 w^hen it pleased the Most High to raise up indivi- 
 duals, and enlighten them to see the existing cor- 
 ruptions, and how far the professed Christian Church 
 had departed from original purity, and to prepare 
 them for instruments in working a reformation ; one 
 of their first duties was, to draw men off from those 
 rites by which their minds had been unduly occu- 
 pied, and on which they had too much depended, 
 instead of pressing after experimental religion in 
 the heart. 
 
 This, of necessity, was a progressive work. The 
 brightness of meridian day bursts not at once upon 
 the world. There is a gradual increase of light, 
 from its earliest dawn until it reaches its fullest 
 splendour; yet the feeblest ray which first darts 
 through the thick darkness, is the same in its nature 
 with the most luminous blaze. It makes manifest 
 those things which the Divine controversy is against, 
 and leads back to the state of gospel simplicity and 
 purity, from w^hich the visible Church has lapsed. 
 And although the light may not be sufficiently clear 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. vii 
 
 to discover all the corruptions, nor the state of the 
 world such as to bear their removal, yet those holy 
 men, who act up faithfully to the degree of know- 
 ledge with which they are favoured, are worthy of 
 double honour, as instruments for correcting the 
 growing evils of their day, and preparing the way 
 for further advancement in the reformation. 
 
 It is interesting to observe, that the different re- 
 ligious societies which have arisen since the Eefor- 
 mation, all aimed at the attainment of greater 
 degrees of spirituality and a more fervent piety, 
 than was generally to be found among the sect from 
 which they sprung. The idea, that forms were too 
 much substituted for power, and a decent compli- 
 ance with the externals of religion, for its heart- 
 changing work, seems to have given rise to them 
 all. Each successive advance lopped off some of 
 the ceremonial excrescences, with a view of making 
 the system more conformable to the Apostolic pat- 
 tern. In the early part of the seventeenth century, 
 considerable progress was made in this work, tend- 
 ing to prepare the way for that more full and com- 
 plete exemplification of the original simplicity of 
 the Gospel, which was exhibited to the world by- 
 George Fox and his coadjutors. It is no arrogant 
 assumption to assert, that to whatever point in the 
 reformation we turn our attention, we find the germ 
 of those principles, which were subsequently de- 
 veloped and carried out by the founders of our So- 
 ciety, actuating the Reformers and leading them to 
 
Vlll 
 
 INTRODUCTORY RE .MARKS 
 
 results, approaching nearer to those attaiDed hy 
 Friends, in proportion to the faithfulness and mea- 
 sure of light bestowed on the individual. 
 
 Opinions very similar to those held by our So- 
 ciety, on the subjects of the indwelling and guidance 
 of the Holy Spirit, baptism and other ceremonies, 
 superstitious rites, war, oaths, and a ministry of 
 human appointment and education, were promul- 
 gated by individuals at different periods, antecedent 
 to the rise of Friends, though not advanced as dis- 
 tinguishing tenets by any considerable body of 
 professors. 
 
 The reformation from Popery under Edward VL 
 was but partial. Many of the errors and supersti- 
 tions of that pompous and ceremonial religion were 
 retained ; partly because the dawning light was not 
 sufficient to reveal their true character, and partly 
 in compliance with the popular prejudice in favour 
 of ancient institutions, and of a showy and imposing 
 form of worship. There were, however, men of 
 eminent jjiety and religious discernment, who per- 
 ceived the degeneracy from primitive Christianit}^, 
 which gave birth to those corruptions, and had since 
 fostered their growth and promoted their increase, 
 until they threatened to supplant vital religion. 
 
 On the death of Edward, the hopes which these 
 had cherished, of further advances toward the ori- 
 ginal simplicity and purity of Christianity, were ex- 
 tinguished by the accession of Mary, and the bar- 
 barous persecution which followed. Many sealed 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. ix 
 
 with their blood the testimony of a good couscience, 
 and by faithfuhiess unto death, not only proved the 
 sincerity of their profession, but prepared the way 
 for those nearer approaches to Divine Truth, which 
 have since been made. If the clearer spiritual light 
 of the present day, unfolds to us some points in 
 which the belief of these holy men was defective, 
 it also places in stronger relief, as a noble example 
 worthy of all imitation, the undaunted firmness and 
 integrity of their characters, their love of Christ, 
 and their devotion to his cause. It cannot be viewed 
 in any other light, than as a Divine interposition in 
 behalf of his suffering people, that this bigoted and 
 relentless queen so soon closed her career, after a 
 brief and inglorious reign. 
 
 When Elizabeth came to the throne, she found 
 herself surrounded by Papists strongly attached to 
 their religion, and zealous for its support. Her 
 prudence dictated a cautious course in changing the 
 existing order of things. Too great or sudden al- 
 terations, might have hazarded the peace of the 
 realm, and even brought her crown into jeopardy. 
 Elizabeth, moreover, was fond of magnificence in 
 her devotions; and in this respect, the pomp of 
 popery suited well with her inclinations. It is ques- 
 tionable, indeed, whether her preference for the Pro- 
 testant relisfion was not as much owinii; to her affec- 
 tion for her brother, King Edward, and respect fur 
 the memory of her father as to any decided convic- 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 tion of its nearer approximation to the standard of 
 Scripture Truth. 
 
 She restored the Hturgy and order of worship as 
 established by her brother, and strictly enjoined its 
 observance, though many of her Protestant subjects 
 conscientiously objected to some parts of it. The 
 idol of uniformity, and the long-cherished idea of a 
 catholic Church, to which the Papists had made 
 such lavish sacrifices of human life, had strong at- 
 tractions even for Protestants; and Elizabeth, as 
 well as her successors, persecuted even to death, not 
 a few of her pious subjects, in the vain attempt to 
 coerce the consciences of men, and reduce them to 
 one common standard. 
 
 The doctrines and form of worship revived by 
 Elizabeth after the death of Mary, left the minds of 
 many much dissatisfied. They desired a more 
 thorough separation from the errors of Popery ; a 
 simpler method of church government, and a purer 
 and more spiritual religion and worship. These 
 were called Puritans ; a name which, though be- 
 stowed on them with no good design, yet agreed 
 well with those things for which they contended. 
 
 The Protestants who fled to Frankfort, during 
 the persecution under Queen Mary, unanimously 
 concluded to dispense with the litany, surplice and 
 responses of the Church of England : that public 
 service should be<2:in with a ireneral confession of 
 sins, then the people to sing a psalm in metre in a 
 plain tune, after which the minister should pray for 
 
TO LIFE OP GEORGE FOX. xi 
 
 the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and proceed to ser- 
 mon. These innovations on the established order 
 of the service-book, led to warm disputes, which 
 soon spread into England ; and though at times the 
 breach would seem nearly closed, yet the contro- 
 versy was again and again renewed, and eftbrts 
 made to procure further reformations from the errors 
 of the Eomish Church. 
 
 Soon after Elizabeth came to the throne, she ap- 
 pointed a commission to review the liturgy as es- 
 tablished by Edward. The alterations made in it, 
 were rather in favour of the Papists than the Puri- 
 tans, by many of whom it was viewed as more ob- 
 jectionable than the old Service Book. It was, 
 however, presented to parliament, and adopted as 
 the national form of religion, by "The Act for the 
 Uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the 
 Church, &c." The same parliament passed an act 
 vesting the entire ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the 
 crown, and empowering the queen " with the advice 
 of her commissioners or metropolitan, to ordain and 
 publish such further ceremonies and rites as may be 
 for the advancement of God's glory and edifying 
 his Church, and the reverence of Christ's holy mys- 
 teries and sacraments." 
 
 The act of uniformity was the source of great 
 mischief to the Church. Many conscientious min- 
 isters and others could not conform to its require- 
 ments, believing them to be opposed to the doctrines 
 and precepts of the Bible. The rigorous enforce- 
 
xii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 ment of the act, while it punished the bodies of men, 
 and wasted their estates, did not convince their 
 minds ; but rather strengthened their opposition, 
 and aHenated their affections from the Church. 
 
 In the doctrinal views of the two parties, the Con- 
 formists and the Puritans, there was little avowed 
 difference. The uneasiness arose chiefly from a 
 conscientious objection to the assumptions of the 
 bishops, the introduction of numerous unscriptural 
 offices and titles in the church — the laxity of her 
 discipline — the prohibition of extemporaneous prayer 
 — the numerous festivals — the use of organs and 
 other instruments of music in time of worship — of 
 the sign of the cross in the ceremony of baptism — 
 kneeling at the ceremony of the supper — bowing at 
 the name of Jesus and on entering or leaving their 
 places of worship — to the ring in marriage, as well 
 as parts of the words spoken during the rite ; and 
 to the use of the surplice and other vestments by the 
 priests during Divine service. Such w^ere the prin- 
 cipal grounds of difference in the commencement of 
 the dispute; and though the Conformists affected 
 to consider them non-essential, yet they insisted on 
 them with a pertinacity, which increased the oppo- 
 sition and widened the breach, until at length it 
 produced an entire separation, from which have 
 sprung the various classes of dissenters. 
 
 That the Puritans were conscientious in their ob- 
 jections to the established religion, will not be ques- 
 tioned by such as arc acquainted with the piety of 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 their lives, and the patience and fortitude with 
 which they endured persecution for their religious 
 opinions. Connected with these, was a steadfast 
 resistance to the assumed power of the crown, as 
 visible head of the Church, to prescribe to, and con- 
 trol, the conscience of the subject, in things not es- 
 sential. Against this they manfully contended, 
 while the reins of government were in the hands of 
 their opponents. But when the revolution of civil 
 affairs placed them in possession of the power, they 
 too soon forgot the principles of rational and Chris- 
 tian liberty, for which they had formerly struggled, 
 and exercised on others, the oppression and cruelty, 
 which they had so much condemned in their own 
 case. 
 
 Contending for their religious liberty, naturally 
 had the effect to make them more jealous of their 
 civil rights; and hence, during the subsequent 
 reign, we find them standing forth, as stanch oppo- 
 sers of the encroachments of the crown. 
 
 That they were instruments in the hand of Pro- 
 vidence, for carrying forward the reformation from 
 the errors and superstitions by which Christianity 
 had been overlaid, cannot be doubted ; yet as this 
 was a gradual work, accomplished by slow degrees, 
 the corruptions not being all discovered at once, but 
 progressively, according to the faithfulness of those 
 engaged in the work ; so others rose up and sepa- 
 rated from them, who carried the reformation still 
 further. 
 2 
 
XIV INTRODUCTORY R L M A R K S 
 
 The first of these was the society of Brownists, 
 who contended that the Church of England was not 
 a true church, because of the Popish corruptions 
 which she retained and enforced, and her persecu- 
 tion for the sake of rehgion — that the power of 
 church government was in the members — that the 
 ministry was not subject to human selection and or- 
 dination, but that any brother who felt engaged, 
 might preach or exhort, and that prayer was not to 
 be limited to prescribed forms. Their mode of dis- 
 cipline was congregational, every society being dis- 
 tinct and independent of the others ; holding inter- 
 course and communion, however, as brethren and 
 professors of a common faith. The severe persecu- 
 tions which they experienced from the government, 
 induced many of this persuasion to fly to the conti- 
 nent, where they met mth little better treatment. 
 They appear to have been a zealous and sincere 
 people, living with strictness and regularity, and 
 preaching with much fervour and energy. 
 
 The spirit of inquiry was now abroad, and in- 
 creasing in vigour and activity. Instead of receiving 
 opinions on the authority of church canons or dig- 
 nitaries, there was a growing disposition to bring 
 them to the test of revealed truth. Many which 
 had long been implicitly adopted, and transmitted 
 from one generation to another, were now called in 
 question and warmly debated. As early as 1617, 
 John Selden published his History of Tithes, in 
 which he contends that they are of human, not 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. XV 
 
 Divine appointment. It was not to be supposed 
 that those whose worldly interests were affected by 
 such an opinion, would suffer his book to pass with- 
 out severe aninaadversion ; and as a readier mode 
 of counteracting its effects than to resort to argu- 
 ment, the author was summoned before the High 
 Court of Commissions , and, after various threats, 
 compelled to recant his sentiments. 
 
 Another class of dissenters, which took its rise 
 about this time, was the Society of Independents, 
 which grew out of the Brownists. Its name is 
 derived from the system of church government, in 
 which each congregation formed a distinct body, re- 
 gulating its own affairs, judging of the fitness of 
 persons applying for membership, and of the pro- 
 priety of expelling such as walked disorderly, inde- 
 pendent of all others. Their doctrines agreed in. 
 the main with those of the other dissenters. During 
 the times of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 
 they were distinguished by their attachment to tole- 
 ration, which the Presbyterians denounced as " an 
 hideous monster, the great Diana of the Independ- 
 ents." They were not, however, constant to their 
 own principles; for, when they subsequently ac- 
 quired the power, they exercised considerable se- 
 verity toward both Friends and Baptists. They re- 
 ceived the patronage and support of Oliver Crom- 
 well, and are often mentioned in connexion with 
 the history of Friends. 
 
 At a very early period of the Ileformation, the 
 
xvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 subject of water baptism appears to have attracted 
 the serious attention of pious men, and their re- 
 searches into it, led some of them to differ from the 
 generally received opinions respecting it. 
 
 From Fuller's Church History it appears "Wick- 
 liffe held " that wise men leave that as impertinent, 
 which is not plainly expressed in Scripture — that 
 those are foolish and presumptuous, who affirm that 
 infants are not saved if they die without baptism ; 
 and that baptism doth not confer [grace], but only 
 signify grace which was given before. He also 
 denied that all sins are abolished in baptism ; as- 
 serted, that children may be saved without baptism, 
 and that the baptism of water profiteth not, with- 
 out the baptism of the Spirit." 
 
 During the fifteenth century, there were a num- 
 ber of persons in England who denied the necessity 
 of water baptism, and held " that Christian people 
 were sufficiently baptized in the blood of Christ, 
 and needed no water ; and that the sacrament of 
 baptism with w^ater, used in the church, is but a 
 light matter, and of small effect." Some of these 
 suffered death by fire, for adherence to their prin- 
 ciples ; and for a long period afterwards, those who 
 entertained similar views, were the objects of severe 
 persecution. In the sixteenth century, the Society 
 of Baptists or Anabaptists took its rise. They ob- 
 jected to infant baptism as unauthorized by Scrip- 
 ture, and rebaptized those adults whom they con- 
 sidered as believers and admitted to the privileges 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 XVll 
 
 of their communion. Besides their peculiar views 
 on this subject, some of them held war to be incon- 
 sistent with Christianity, and doubted the lawful- 
 ness of oaths under the gospel dispensation. They 
 also insisted that the gospel ought to be free, and 
 denied the right of tythes or other compulsory main- 
 tenance for its ministers. They were generally per- 
 sons of great seriousness of mind and strictness of 
 deportment, searching the Scriptures diligently; 
 and being wearied with the ceremonies and impo- 
 sitions of men, were desirous to practice that form 
 of religion only, which they believed to be sanc- 
 tioned by our Lord and his apostles. 
 
 Their views of the Christian ministry did not 
 make it essential, that those who took part therein, 
 should prepare for it by the acquisition of learning; 
 but gave liberty for any to speak a word, either in 
 doctrine or exhortation, who believed themselves 
 called thereto and qualified by the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. Some were zealously opposed to a hireling 
 ministry, declaiming against it in their preaching, 
 by which they subjected themselves to severe suf- 
 ferings. Many of this persuasion were imprisoned 
 during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and 
 patiently endured their confinement, showing by 
 their steadfastness under suff'ering, that they were 
 actuated by motives sincerely conscientious. Of 
 this class was the pious John Banyan, whose im- 
 prisonment lasted nearly twelve years. 
 
 The first Presbyterian church estabhshed in Eng- 
 
Xviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 land, was in 1572. It consisted of Puritans, (then 
 so called) who, among other things, dissented from 
 the government of the church by bishops, &c., con- 
 ceiving that by pastors and presbyters or elders, to 
 be more consistent with Holy Scripture. They 
 agreed with the Independents, in denying the divine 
 right of the bishops to order and direct the congre- 
 gation ; but instead of leaving each distinct, with 
 absolute control over its own members and officers, 
 they associated several churches in one S3mod, and 
 a number of these again united in forming a gene- 
 ral assembly, which is the supreme ecclesiastical 
 body. 
 
 This society comprised a much larger number of 
 members than either of the others we have men- 
 tioned ; and the part they acted in the revolution 
 which drove Charles I. from the throne, and finally 
 brought him to the scaffold, as well as in the affairs 
 of government during the interregnum, rendered 
 them sufficiently conspicuous. 
 
 The persecutions they endured, w^hile the reins of 
 government were in the hands of the Church party, 
 we should suppose would have taught them mode- 
 ration and charity towards the conscientious dissent 
 of others ; but no sooner were they placed in the 
 seat of power, than they began to contend for uni- 
 formity in faith and practice ; the moloch of Chris- 
 tendom, to which many of her choicest sons have 
 been wantonly sacrificed. 
 
 So fierce was their opposition to toleration, that 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xix 
 
 after a long conference of a Committee of Parlia- 
 ment, for the purpose of making some agreement, 
 by which the Independents might be accommodated 
 in their views of church government, the scheme 
 was necessarily abandoned ; because the Presbyte- 
 rians refused to concede anything. They who but 
 lately had contended against the divine right of the 
 bishops, were now urgent to make all yield to the 
 divine right of presbytery. The ministers of Sion 
 College pronounced toleration " a root of gall and 
 bitterness;" others of the sect declaimed against it, 
 as contrary to godliness — opening a door to liberti- 
 nism and profanity, and that it ought to be rejected 
 as '•'soul-poison.''' Liberty of conscience was de- 
 clared to be the nourisher of all heresies and schisms, 
 and most of the sermons preached before the House 
 of Commons, while the question was under debate, 
 breathed the spirit of persecution, and incited the 
 ruling powers to draw the sword against such as 
 would not conform. The Presbyterians little thought 
 that their own arguments would quickl}' be used 
 against themselves, and the severity they had exer- 
 cised upon others, returned with full measure into 
 their own bosoms. This was lamentably the case 
 after the restoration, when the Church of England 
 having regained her power, exercised it with so little 
 mercy, in the vain attempt to force men's conscien- 
 ces into a conformity with her prescriptions. 
 
 We have now noticed the principal sects which 
 existed at the time our Society arose, and to whom 
 
XX INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 the reader will find allusion made in the writings of 
 Friends. They were all strenuously opposed to the 
 Roman Catholic church ; and while King James 1. 
 and his son, Charles I., were both suspected of 
 favouring that religion, as well as some of the dig- 
 nitaries of the Episcopal church ; the dissenters 
 availed themselves of every opportunity to show 
 their dislike to it. - This contributed not a little to 
 alienate their aftections from the throne, and to 
 w^iden the breach to which their persecution had 
 given rise. 
 
 The violation of their natural and civil rights; 
 the disregard of their often-repeated and respectful 
 petitions, and the frequent breach of promises so- 
 lemnly made, tended to make the Puritans sus- 
 picious of James, and induced them to watch with 
 the most jealous eye, every encroachment of the 
 crown. The house of Stuart were remarkable for 
 arrogant and arbitrary assumption, in virtue of their 
 prerogative. However the exigency of the occasions 
 may extenuate some of their acts, there are others, 
 which deserve no milder appellations than tyranny 
 and oppression. Against these, the dissenters in- 
 veighed with boldness and vehemence, and, as is 
 usually the case, the cry of oppression rallied to 
 their side a host of partisans, until at length the 
 king had lost the affections of a large portion of his 
 subjects. Instead of pacifying them by some con- 
 cessions, and soothing their incensed feelings by 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. Xxi 
 
 gentleness and clemency, measures still more harsh 
 and offensive were pursued toward them. 
 
 They were punished as factious schismatics — as 
 enemies to the king and government, and inciters 
 of the people to rebellion — were fined, whipped, 
 maimed, imprisoned and banished — enduring almost 
 every species of hardship and suffering which cruelty 
 could suggest. It were no wonder, if men who had 
 felt so severely the abuses of regal power, should he 
 in favour of a form of government, by which it 
 could be restrained within more just and reasonable 
 limits, and the rights of the subject be more effectu- 
 ally secured. 
 
 The disputes between the Puritans and the Church 
 party, which had been carried on with no little acri- 
 mony, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., 
 increased in violence under Charles, and began to 
 assume the most serious aspect, threatening to 
 destroy the peace of the nation. The Puritans had 
 augmented in numbers and importance, and the 
 flagrant outrages committed upon them, produced 
 commisseration in the minds of many, who yet were 
 sincere in their attachment to the religion of the 
 Church. So little regard was had to law or equity 
 in the treatment of them, that their cause gradually 
 became identified with the preservation of the con- 
 stitution and laws of the country. To be a Puritan, 
 was synonymous with an opponent of ecclesiastical 
 domination ; of the tyranny and encroachments of 
 royalty, under the convenient plea of prerogative ; 
 
xxii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 and to be the advocate of the rights and liberties of 
 the subject. In this way pohtics and rehgion became 
 blended, and afterward it was the policy of each 
 party to maintain the connexion. 
 
 Beside the matters originally contested, new 
 sources of dissatisfaction and other subjects of dis- 
 pute, became involved in the controversy. 
 
 Many of the clergy of the establishment had 
 become corrupt and licentious — they seldom preached 
 — neglected their congregations and places of wor- 
 ship, and were engaged in practices, not only un- 
 becoming the sacred character, but, in some cases, 
 even scandalously immoral. They encouraged, 
 rather than repressed the licentiousness of the times ; 
 and seemed much more addicted to mirth and 
 amusements, than to the duties of the ministerial 
 office. Their example, and that of the court, had a 
 demoralizing effect on others, especially the lower 
 orders of society. 
 
 In order to counteract the opinion that the re- 
 formed religion was severe and strict in its requisi- 
 tions, James published, in 1618, a royal declaration, 
 drawn up by one of the Episcopal bishops, stating, 
 that "for his good people's recreation, his majesty's 
 pleasure was, that after the end of Divine service, 
 they should not be disturbed, letted, or discouraged 
 from any lawful recreations, such as dancing, either 
 of men or women, archery for men, leaping, vault- 
 ing, or any such harmless recreations; nor having 
 May games, whitsonales, or morrice dances, or set- 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xxiii 
 
 ting up of May poles, or other sports therewith 
 used, SO as the same may be had in due and conve- 
 nient time, without impediment or let of Divine 
 service." 
 
 This was a source of great offence to the Puri- 
 tans ; and when the declaration was republished by 
 Charles, and directed to be read in all the churches, 
 many of the ministers refused to comply. 
 
 The license given by the indulgence, produced 
 the results which might reasonably have been an- 
 ticipated. The sports degenerated into noisy and 
 tumultuous revels, with tippling, quarrels, and some- 
 times even murder. These disorders grew to such 
 a height, that the justices, in some counties, peti- 
 tioned the judges of the courts to suppress them, 
 which they did. But Archbishop Laud, then pri- 
 mate of England, summoned the judges before the 
 king and council, for invading the Episcopal juris- 
 diction. A sharp reprimand and an order to revoke 
 the prohibition, was the result. The archbishop 
 taking the matter into his own hands, was informed 
 by the bishop of Bath and Wells, within whose dio- 
 cese the prohibition had been enforced, that the re- 
 storation of the wakes and revels, &c., would be 
 very acceptable to the gentry, clergy and common 
 people ; in proof of which, he had procured the sig- 
 natures of seventy-two clergymen ; and believed, if 
 he had sent for an hundred more, he could have 
 had the consent of them all. It was determined to 
 continue them, and the king forbade the justices in- 
 
Xxiv I N T II 0 D U C T 0 11 Y 11 E M A 11 K S 
 
 terfering with the people. It may readily be sup- 
 posed, that such proceedings would have a power- 
 ful influence in promoting licentiousness; when, in 
 addition to the command of their king, the minis- 
 ters of religion joined in encouraging practices, to 
 which the depraved inclinations of the human heart 
 alone, furnish strong excitement. We may safely 
 rank this among the causes, which contributed to 
 promote the immorality and corruption which so 
 lamentably overspread the nation, and gave rise to 
 the close and sharp reproof, which our early Friends 
 so often found it their duty to administer. 
 
 The few parliaments which James and Charles 
 assembled, evinced a disposition to apply some 
 remedy to the religious dissensions and grievances 
 which distracted the nation. This was an interfe- 
 rence so little agreeable to the crown, that they were 
 speedily prorogued, and a long period suflered to 
 elapse before another was called, which gave rise to 
 the suspicion, that the monarch intended to govern 
 by prerogative only, and without the intervention 
 of a parliament. 
 
 The condition of the nation when Charles came 
 to the throne, was melancholy indeed. It was torn 
 by internal dissensions ; and the affections of a large 
 portion of the people alienated from the king, by 
 oppression and injustice. The encroachments of 
 the crown — the continued encouragement given to 
 Papists, the unmitigated persecution of the Puri- 
 tans, and of such as had the magnanimity and 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 XXV 
 
 courage to resist the arbitrary measures of the court 
 and its minions, together with the failure of some 
 of his military enterprises, tended to increase the 
 murmurs, and to rouse the spirit of those, who re- 
 garded the liberties and the religion of the country. 
 Influenced by mistaken notions of royal preroga- 
 tive, and misguided by his counsellors, Charles, in- 
 stead of softening the spirits of the Puritans by 
 some concessions, proceeded to still greater lengths, 
 until the minds of many of his subjects were pre- 
 pared for any change which promised to restore to 
 them their civil and religious rights. From this state 
 of things, it was but a short step to open warfare, 
 and accordingly the nation was soon involved in a 
 civil war, which resulted in bringing Charles to the 
 scafibld, and setting up a new form of government. 
 Is umerous negotiations for a settlement of the reli- 
 gious ditierences took place, but neither the king 
 nor the parliament being willing to accede to the 
 terms proposed by the other, in 16^2 they appealed 
 to the sword to settle a controversy, which had 
 hitherto been managed only by words. During the 
 course of the war, which continued with various 
 success for several years, the king was often reduced 
 to great extremities, and at last falling into the 
 hands of the parliament, he was brought to trial 
 before his avowed enemies, and condemned to be 
 beheaded as a traitor. This cruel sentence was car- 
 ried into execution early in 1648. 
 
 It was in 1646, during the prevalence of the civil 
 3 
 
XXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 and religious commotions, that George Fox com- 
 menced his labours as a minister of the Gospel, 
 being then in the 23d year of his age. 
 
 After the death of the king, the nation was with- 
 out any legal form of government ; but the parlia- 
 ment, which had assumed the power, and exercised 
 it at the commencement of the war, still continued 
 to govern. The Presbyterians had the control of 
 affairs chiefly in their hands, and proceeded to 
 model the religion of the nation to suit their pecu- 
 liar views. Instead of the liturgy of the Church of 
 England, they set up the Directory for Public Wor- 
 ship ; and, forgetting the severity of their own suf- 
 ferings for non-conformity, w^hen others were in 
 power, they now set about compelling all to comply 
 with their established forms. The arguments they 
 had used against persecution for religion, when 
 smarting under the lash of the Episcopal Church, 
 were urged upon them in vain. Having the power 
 in their hands, they appeared to consider it as a suf- 
 ficient authority for coercing others, to adopt that 
 form of worship and system of doctrines, which 
 they had determined to be the best. ISTever did re- 
 ligious toleration seem to be less understood, or the 
 great right of liberty of conscience more w^antonly 
 disregarded. 
 
 But while the parliament was acting in conformity 
 with these narrow and bigoted opinions, principles 
 of a contrary character were at work in the army, 
 where the Independents predominated, and carried 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xxvii 
 
 with them their wonted liberaUty toward the con- 
 scientious dissent of others. Against this latitude 
 of indulgence, the Presbyterians declared with great 
 earnestness, as a source of innumerable evils, and 
 tending to the destruction of all religion. A long 
 conference took place between the two parties, for 
 the purpose of making some arrangement, by which 
 the Independent form of worship and discipline 
 could be included ; but such w^as the pertinacity of 
 the Presbyterian faction, that they refused to yield 
 anything, and the scheme was abandoned as hopeless. 
 
 This arbitrary and oppressive course, rendered the 
 sect unpopular ; and the Independents finding they 
 were not likely to obtain much from the parliament, 
 and having the army on their side, with Oliver 
 Cromwell at its head, he put an end to the Com- 
 monwealth and the parliament together, in the year 
 1653 — the former having continued a little more 
 than four years, and the latter sat as a legislative 
 body, with some short intermissions, for thirteen 
 years. 
 
 It was not long ere Cromwell and his officers 
 struck out a new form of government; and in the 
 latter end of 1653, he was declared Lord Protector 
 of England, Scotland and Ireland, &c. The prin- 
 ciples of the new government, relative to religion, 
 were more liberal and Christian, than any which 
 preceded it. The articles of the constitution em- 
 bracing that subject, contain the following, viz. : — 
 
 " That the Christian religion contained in the 
 
XXviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 Scriptures, be held forth and recommended as the 
 public profession of these nations. 
 
 That none be compelled to conform to the 
 public religion, by penalties or otherwise ; but that 
 endeavours be used to win them by sound doctrine 
 and the example of a good conversation. 
 
 "That such as profess faith in God, by Jesus 
 Christ, though differing in judgment from the doc- 
 trine, worship, and discipline publicly held forth, 
 shall not be restrained from, but shall be protected 
 in, the profession of their faith, and the exercise of 
 their religion ; so as they abuse not this liberty to 
 the civil injury of others, and to the actual disturb- 
 ance of the public peace on their parts ; provided, 
 this liberty be not extended to popery or prelacy, or 
 to such as, under a profession of Christ, hold forth 
 and practise licentiousness." 
 
 Creditable as these provisions are to the en- 
 lightened views of religious toleration, entertained 
 by those who framed them, they are still defective, 
 in making exceptions to two classes of professors. 
 Had they been faithfully carried out in practice, 
 they w^ould have saved much suffering for conscience 
 sake, both to Friends and the Baptists. For how- 
 ever favourable the protector was to granting liberty 
 of conscience to all, it \vas not the case with the ma- 
 gistrates, justices and others, in whose hands the 
 execution of the laws was placed. From the cupidit}; 
 or intolerance of these. Friends were often inter- 
 rupted in the exercise of their religion, and punished, 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORiJE FOX. 
 
 xxix 
 
 because they could not swear or pay tythes, though 
 to a much less degree than was afterward the case. 
 
 Toward the close of Cromwell's government, he 
 was again declared protector, under new articles of 
 government, in which an attempt was made to 
 narrow the grounds of toleration, by a more close 
 definition of the doctrines to be professed. 
 
 In the opening of the second session of the par- 
 liament, in 1657, the Lord Commissioner Fiennes 
 " warns the house of the rock on which many had 
 split, which was a spirit of imposing upon men's 
 consciences, in things wherein God leaves them a 
 latitude, and would have them free." — "As God is 
 no respecter of persons, so he is no respecter of 
 forms ; but in what form soever the spirit of impo- 
 sition appears, he will testify against it. If men, 
 though otherwise good, will turn ceremony into sub- 
 stance, and make the kingdom of Christ consist in 
 
 circumstances, in discipline, and in forms, 
 
 in vain do they protest against the persecution of 
 God's people, when they make the definition of 
 God's people so narrow, that their persecution is as 
 broad as any other, and usually more fierce, because 
 edged with a sharp temper of spirit." "It is good 
 to hold forth a public profession of the truth, but 
 not so as to exclude those that cannot come up to it 
 in all points, from the privilege that belongs to them 
 as Christians, much less to the privilege that belongs 
 to them as men." 
 
 These just sentiments, which appeared to be gain- 
 3* 
 
XXX 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 ing ground in the minds of men, were soon to re- 
 ceive a check, by the change of rulers. In 1658, 
 Oliver Cromwell died, and was succeeded by his son 
 Richard ; who, finding the difficulties and perplexi- 
 ties of balancing the power of rival parties, and con- 
 ducting the affairs of state, little suited either to his 
 capacity or his inclinations, resigned his high and 
 responsible station, after having occupied it only 
 eight months. 
 
 A short interregnum ensued, and in 1660 the 
 kingdom was restored to the house of Stuart, by 
 proclaiming Charles II. 
 
 These frequent changes in the government had a 
 tendency to keep up the unsettlement which had 
 long agitated the nation, as well as those violent 
 party feelings and prejudices, which the political 
 and religious struggles had engendered. Friends 
 took no part in the revolutions of government — 
 their principles forbade them from putting down or 
 setting up, and taught them to live peaceably, as 
 good citizens, under whatever power the Ruler of 
 the universe permitted to be established over them. 
 But though peaceable and non-resisting in their con- 
 duct, they were neither idle nor unconcerned spec- 
 tators of the course of events. Believing that 
 righteousness was the only security for a nation's 
 stability and prosperity, they earnestly enforced on 
 the parliament and protector, as well as the monarchs 
 who succeeded, the suppression of vice and immo- 
 rality, the equal administration of justice, and the 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 removal of all oppression. The addresses made to 
 those in authority by George Fox, Edward Bur- 
 rough and others, are marked with innocent bold- 
 ness, and good sense, delivered in a style of great 
 frankness and honesty. Xor did they omit to warn 
 them of the consequences which would ensue if 
 they failed to perform the divine will, predicting 
 with clearness the overthrow of Oliver's govern- 
 ment, and some other changes which occurred. 
 
 In his declaration issued from Breda, on the eve 
 of his sailing for England to assume the crown, 
 Charles held this conciliatory language, calculated 
 to allay the fears of those who dreaded the restora- 
 tion of the hierarchy. "We do also declare a 
 liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall 
 be disquieted or called in question for differences of 
 opinion, in matters of religion, which do not dis- 
 turb the peace of the kingdom." 
 
 But plausible as are these promises, and sincere 
 as the king might have been in making them, the 
 event proved how little reliance was to be placed 
 upon the royal word. Devoted to his own plea- 
 sures, and with too little application or industry to 
 examine the opinions of his advisers, or inquire into 
 the sufferings sustained by his subjects, he permitted 
 the clergy to pursue their own measures for the pro- 
 motion of the church, who took care to return the 
 measure of persecution, meted to them under the 
 commonwealth and protectorate, heaped up and run- 
 ning over into the bosoms of the dissenters. Con- 
 
xxxii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 formity was rigidly enforced, and not satisfied with 
 the existing statutes for punishing those who dared 
 to differ in their consciences from the prescribed stan- 
 dard, new and more oppressive laws were procured. 
 
 The persecution fell with peculiar severity on 
 Friends, who were suspected of being unfriendly to 
 the restoration of the king, from their refusal to 
 take any oath, and consequently the oath of alle- 
 giance to the crown — though they repeatedly offered 
 instead, their most solemn declarations to the same 
 effect. 
 
 The peaceable and unresisting spirit which go- 
 verned the conduct of Friends, seemed to embolden 
 their persecutors to oppress them without colour of 
 law or justice, knowing they had nothing to fear 
 from the law of retaliation, and that but few could 
 be found to plead their cause or espouse the defence 
 of their rights. 
 
 To give some colour to the severities practised 
 against them, pretexts were drawn from supposed 
 violations of the regulations of civil policy — ^'A 
 Christian exhortation to an assembly after the priest 
 had done and the worship was over, was denomi- 
 nated interrupting public w^orship, and disturbing 
 the priest in his office; an honest testimony against 
 wickedness in the streets or market-place, was styled 
 a breach of the peace ; and their appearing before 
 the magistrates covered, a contempt of authority ; 
 hence proceeded fines, imprisonments and spoiling 
 of goods. Nay, so hot were some of the magistrates 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 XXXlll 
 
 for persecution, even in Cromwell's time, that by an 
 unparalleled and most unjust misconstruction of the 
 law against vagrants, they tortured with cruel whip- 
 pings and exposed in the stocks, the bodies both of 
 men and women of good estate and reputation, 
 merely because they went under the denomination 
 of Quakers." 
 
 Several obsolete statutes were brought to bear 
 most heavily upon Friends, though originally en- 
 acted with a view of reaching the Papists, who re- 
 fused to conform to the established religion. Among 
 these was an act passed in the 32d year of Henry 
 Vin.'s reign, against subtracting or withholding 
 tithes ; obliging justices to commit obstinate defend- 
 ants to prison, until they should find sufficient se- 
 curity for their compliance. — The laws made in Eli- 
 zabeth's reign for enforcing a uniformity of wor- 
 ship, authorizing the levy of a fine of one shilUng 
 per week for the use of the poor, from such as did 
 not resort to some church of the established religion, 
 every sabbath or holy day, — and also another, es- 
 tablishing a forfeiture of twenty pounds per month 
 for the like default. A third law empowered the 
 officers to seize all the goods, or a third part of the 
 lands, of every such offender for the fine of twenty 
 pounds. And as if these were not sufficiently severe, 
 another was enacted in the 35th year of Queen Eli- 
 zabeth, obliging offenders in the like case to abjure 
 the realm, on pain of death. 
 
 All these laws were revived, and attempts made 
 c 
 
XXxiv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 to enforce them in the cases of Friends, though it 
 was well known they were designed to bear upon 
 the Papists. As Friends could not conscientiously 
 pay tithes, believing that the ministry of the gospel 
 should be free, according to the express injunction 
 of Christ to his apostles, "Freely ye have received, 
 freely give," great havoc was made of their property 
 by the rapacious priests. 
 
 The Society of Friends viewed the positive com- 
 mand of our Lord, " Swear not at all," corroborated 
 by the exhortation of the Apostle James, "But 
 above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither 
 by Heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any 
 other oath," as being of indispensable obligation, 
 and entirely precluding the Christian from taking 
 an oath on any occasion whatever. 
 
 Soon after Charles II. came to the throne, the 
 acts made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, re- 
 quiring the subject to take the oaths of allegiance 
 and supremacy, were revived, and visited upon 
 Friends with great oppression. 
 
 In 1661, the parliament passed another act, aimed 
 directly at the Society, providing that any Quaker 
 refusing to take an oath, when lawfully tendered, or 
 who should maintain, in writing or otherwise, the 
 unlawfulness of taking an oath ; or if five or more 
 Quakers, above the age of sixteen years, should as- 
 semble for religious worship, they should forfeit five 
 pounds for the first offence, or suffer three months 
 imprisonment ; doubling the penalty for the second 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORQE FOX. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 offence; and for the third, they were to abjure the 
 realm, or be transported. 
 
 The insurrection of the "fifth monarchy men," as 
 they were called, was the occasion of fresh persecu- 
 tion to Friends. They were a company of infa- 
 tuated men, who, supposing that the one thousand 
 years of Christ's reign on earth, mentioned in Rev. 
 XX. was just commencing, rose in arms and ran 
 about the streets of London, crying out that they 
 were going to overthrow the government of Xing 
 Charles, and set up King Jesus. Although there 
 was not the shadow of reason, for connecting the 
 Society in any way with this wild insurrection, yet 
 the king made it the pretext for issuing his procla- 
 mation, for the suppression of all unlawful conven- 
 ticles, or meetings for religious purposes, designating 
 particularly those of the Anabaptists and Quakers. 
 This encouraged the profane and irreligious popu- 
 lace to assail the meetings of Friends, and inflict 
 upon them the grossest outrages and cruelties. 
 
 Severe as were the sufferings of Friends under the 
 operation of these oppressive laws, their constancy 
 was not shaken. They fearlessly and openly met 
 for the solemn duty of Divine worship, nothing 
 daunted by the terrors which threatened them. This 
 Christian boldness exasperated their enemies, espe- 
 cially the persecuting priests and magistrates ; and 
 another law was procured more prompt and terrible 
 in its operation. It declared the statute of 35th of 
 Elizabeth in full force ; and that every person taken 
 
xxxvi 
 
 I N T 11 0 D U C T 0 K Y REMARKS 
 
 at a meeting consisting of more than five, beside the 
 household, should sulFer three months imprison- 
 ment, or pay a fine of five pounds, on conviction 
 before two justices — double the penalty for the 
 second ofience ; and being convicted of a third, 
 before the justices at the Quarter Sessions, should be 
 transported for seven years, or pay one hundred 
 pounds fine — and in case they returned or escaped, 
 they should be adjudged felons, and sentenced to 
 death. It also empowered sherifis, justices of the 
 peace, and persons commissioned by them, to hunt 
 out and break up all religious meetings, other than 
 those of the established religion, and take into cus- 
 tody such of the company as they saw fit. Persons 
 allowing such meetings in their houses, barns, &c., 
 to be subject to the same penalties and forfeitures 
 as other offenders. Such as were sentenced to trans- 
 portation, w^ere to be sent over sea at their own ex- 
 pense ; and in default of ability to pay, to be sold 
 for five years to defray the charges. Married women 
 taken at meetings, to be imprisoned for a term not 
 exceeding twelve months, or their husbands to pay 
 for their redemption not exceeding forty pounds. 
 
 The next enactment by which Friends suffered, 
 was commonly known by the name of the Oxford 
 five mile act. It was aimed at the Presbyterian and 
 other non-conforming ministers, requiring them to 
 take an oath, that it was not lawful under any pre- 
 tence to take up arms against the king; and that 
 they would not at any time, endeavour to procure 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. XXXVU 
 
 any alteration in the government of church or state. 
 Sach as refused to take the oath, were declared in- 
 capable of teaching any school, public or private, 
 under penalty of forty pounds. All nonconforming 
 ministers were likewise prohibited from coming 
 within five miles of any city, town, or borough send- 
 ing members to parliament, or within five miles of 
 any place where they had officiated as ministers, 
 unless it might be in passing along a public high- 
 way, under a forfeiture of forty pounds ; one-third 
 of which went to the informer. 
 
 The refusal of Friends to take an oath, brought 
 their ministers within the scope of this law, and 
 fines, distraints and imprisonments were the conse- 
 quences. 
 
 In 1670, there appeared to be a disposition among 
 some of the officers of government to put a stop to 
 persecution. The king, on several occasions, had 
 shown his dislike to it; but being opposed by the 
 bishops and parliament, he had not the firmness or 
 resolution to withstand their influence. The former 
 Act for suppressing religious meetings having ex- 
 pired, a new one was prepared and passed, making 
 the penalty five shillings for the first ofience, and 
 ten for the second ; the preachers or teachers in such 
 meetings to forfeit twenty pounds for the first, and 
 forty pounds for the second offence ; and twenty 
 pounds penalty for suffering a meeting to be held in 
 a house or barn. A single justice was authorized 
 to convict on the oath of two witnesses, and the 
 4 
 
XXXVlll INTRODUCTORY R E M A R K S 
 
 fines to be forthwith levied on the offenders* goods, 
 and in ease of his poverty, on the goods of any other 
 offender present at the same meeting ; provided the 
 amount so levied shall not exceed ten pounds for 
 one meeting. — One third of all the fines to go to 
 the informer, as a reward for his services. Justices, 
 constables, and other officers, were authorized to 
 break open and enter any house, or place, where 
 they might be informed was a conventicle, and 
 search for, and take into custody, all persons found 
 assembled there. If any justice of the peace refused 
 to perform the duties prescribed in the Act, he was 
 to forfeit one hundred pounds, and every constable 
 five pounds. And it was further enacted, that " all 
 clauses in the law should be construed most largely 
 and beneficially for the suppressing of conventicles, 
 and for the justification and encouragement of all 
 persons to be employed in the execution thereof." 
 
 A more unjust and oppressive law could scarcely 
 be conceived. In the hope of rioting on the spoils 
 of the Quakers' goods, unprincipled men lurked 
 about their dwellings, lodged information against 
 them on the most frivolous pretences, and swore 
 falsely to procure their conviction ; the facility of 
 which was greatly promoted by the privacy of the 
 trial, and resting the decision with a single justice, 
 himself often the accomplice of the informer and 
 the sharer of the prey. It would be difficult to con- 
 ceive a scene of more extensive rapine and plunder, 
 in time of peace and under colour of law^, than the 
 
TO LIFE OF aEOllGE FOX. XXxix 
 
 execution of this Act produced throughout the 
 nation. Many Friends were reduced from compe- 
 tency to destitution of the very necessaries of life. 
 
 In 1672, Charles issued his declaration of indul- 
 gence, by which, in virtue of his royal prerogative, 
 as supreme in ecclesiastical as well as civil afiairs, 
 he assumed to suspend the operation of the penal 
 laws against the non-conformists. The right of the 
 sovereign to exercise this power, was warmly con- 
 tested. Some of the dissenters, and especially the 
 Presbyterians, who were extremely jealous of the 
 Papists, and unfavourable to general liberty of con- 
 science, were not forward to accept the boon thus 
 offered, and even wrote against it, on the ground 
 that it would sanction the exercise of the dispensing 
 power in the king. 
 
 Friends had suffered more severely during the 
 preceding persecutions, than any other class of dis- 
 senters. They had stood their ground with un- 
 flinching intrepidity, when others fled before the 
 storm. They contended that liberty of conscience 
 was the natural right of all men, and that every in- 
 terference of the civil power, with the peaceable ex- 
 ercise of conscientious duty, was contrary to Chris- 
 tianity and to sound principles of government. 
 They meddled not with the politics of the day, nor 
 professed to be skilled in questions of royal pre- 
 rogative. The knowledge, that hundreds of their 
 brethren were unjustly lying in prisons, while their 
 helpless families were exposed to the rapacity of 
 
xl 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 merciless informers, was an argument sufficiently 
 powerful, to induce them to accept the relief which 
 the king's declaration afforded. An application 
 was accordingly made to the crown for the discharge 
 of those who had been imprisoned for conscience' 
 sake ; and such was the favourable opinion produced 
 by the constanc}^, and uniformly peaceable and con- 
 sistent conduct of the Society, that a warrant was 
 readily obtained for their liberation. The success 
 of this application, afforded Friends an opportunity 
 of proving the sincerity of their opinions in favour 
 of universal toleration and charity. There were 
 other dissenters confined in the same prisons, and 
 their solicitors requesting the aid of Friends in their 
 behalf, they cheerfully accorded it, and included the 
 names of their prisoners in the same instrument, by 
 which their own members were relieved from bonds. 
 
 The respite which the declaration afforded was of 
 short duration ; for in the following year, the par- 
 liament compelled the king to revoke it ; in conse- 
 quence of which, the sufferings of Friends were re- 
 newed, though not to the same extent as before. 
 
 If the calamities in which Friends bore so large 
 a share had no other good effect, they evidently 
 tended to convince the nation of the folly of perse- 
 cuting men for differences of opinion. More than 
 thirty years of suffering had passed over, and not a 
 single Quaker had been induced by it to abandon 
 his profession — they were as prompt and diligent as 
 ever in the open performance of their religious 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. x'i 
 
 duties, and as ready, patiently to submit to the 
 penalties of unrighteous laws. They never resorted 
 to violence or retaliation, relying on the justice of 
 their cause, the truth and soundness of their argu- 
 ments, and their peaceable and blameless conduct, 
 to effect a change in the minds of those in power. 
 This change now began to be apparent. 
 
 In 1680, a bill w^as introduced to parliament for 
 exempting dissenters from penal laws. Friends lost 
 no time in presenting themselves before the com- 
 mittee as the advocates of such a measure, and 
 urging the insertion of such clauses, as would afford 
 relief to the members of the Society, on the subject 
 of oaths. So successful were they in these endea- 
 vours, that they obtained an amendment to the bill, 
 admitting a declaration of fidelity, instead of the 
 oath of allegiance. But the state of affairs was not 
 ripe for such an important change, and the bill was 
 lost. Another, however, passed both houses, ex- 
 empting dissenters from the operation of the statute 
 of the 35th of Elizabeth. But when it should have 
 been presented to the king for his assent, it was not 
 to be found, having been secreted purposely, as was 
 believed, to defeat the measure. In the next year 
 the parliament passed the following resolutions, viz. 
 
 " 1. Kesolved, that it is the opinion of this house, 
 
 that the acts of parliament made in the reigns of 
 
 Queen Elizabeth and King James, against popish 
 
 recusants, ought not to be extended against protes- 
 
 tant dissenters. 
 4 * 
 
xlii INTEODUCTO-RY REMARKS 
 
 "2. Eesolved, that it is the opinion of this liou^e, 
 that the prosecution of protestant dissenters upon 
 the penal laws, is at this time grievous to the sub- 
 ject, a weakening of the Protestant interest, an en- 
 couragement to Popery, and dangerous to the peace 
 of the kingdom." 
 
 These votes showed the growing feeling in favour 
 of dissenters, and mark the gradual progress of 
 those principles of religious liberty, which were 
 more fully recognized in 1688, by the passage of the 
 Toleration Act, under William and Mary, a measure 
 which afforded great relief to Friends, though they 
 were still subject to prosecutions for tithes and for 
 refusing to swear. After repeated applications to 
 the king and parliament, a bill was brought into 
 the house, in 1695, and finally passed early in the 
 following year, allowing the solemn afiirmation of a 
 Friend instead of an oath. 
 
 Having taken a cursory view of the laws under 
 which the persecution of the Society was carried on, 
 it is proper we should briefly allude to the state of 
 religion in the nation, at the time of, and subse- 
 quently to, the rise of Friends. 
 
 In treating this subject, the statements of histo- 
 rians are of the most opposite and contradictory 
 character. Clarendon and others, who espouse the 
 royal cause, are unwilling to accord to the Puritans 
 either sincerity or truth. They allege that canting 
 and hypocrisy were the order of the day — that a 
 high profession of religion, and great pretensions 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xliii 
 
 to sanctity and strictness, were the road to prefer- 
 ment and power, and were therefore assumed from 
 ambitious motives. 
 
 The advocates of the Puritan part}-, on the other 
 hand, represent the established Church as extremely 
 corrupt — her ministers destitute of even the profes- 
 sion of religion, and in many cases, guilty of scan- 
 dalous and immoral behaviour. That she enforced 
 by severe penalties, a compliance with superstitious 
 ceremonies, while she tolerated practices of evil ten- 
 dency, and discountenanced everything like zeal or 
 fervour in religion. Allowance, however, is to be 
 made for the bias of party attachments, and the dis- 
 torted views which prejudice gives of the character 
 of an opponent. That great laxity of morals, as 
 well as neglect of their prescribed duties, had crept 
 into the clergy of the Church of England, cannot 
 be denied. Many of them never preached, and ad- 
 dicted themselves to hunting, and other sports; fre- 
 quenting alehouses and taverns, and indulging in 
 drunkenness and other licentious practices. 
 
 In 16-40, the parliament appointed a committee 
 to inquire into the conduct of the ministers of reli- 
 gion, for removing scandalous ministers, and put- 
 ting others in their places, as well as to procure min- 
 isters for places where there were none. A part of 
 the proceedings of this committee was published, 
 containing cases of one hundred who had been tried 
 and ejected ; from which it appears that eighty of 
 them w^ere convicted of immoralities. The reputa- 
 
xliv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 tion of some of them has been defended by writers 
 on the side of the Church, though they admit that 
 others were very vicious, and the offences of several 
 so foul, that it is a shame even to report them. Bax- 
 ter says, that " in all the counties where he was ac- 
 quainted, six to one, at least, if not many more, 
 that were sequestered by the committee, were by 
 the oaths of witnesses proved insufficient or scan- 
 dalous, or especially guilty of drunkenness and 
 swearing. This I know, says he, will displease the 
 party, but I am sure that this is true." 
 
 The writings of Friends frequently mention min- 
 isters, whose characters were similar to those alluded 
 to in the above statements; and if the language 
 sometimes used by members of the Society, in ad- 
 dressing them, appears severe, an ample reason for 
 it is furnished, by the disgraceful conduct to which 
 too many were addicted. It is not designed, how- 
 ever, to involve the whole body in indiscriminate 
 censure. There were, doubtless, among them, per- 
 sons of sincere piety and exemplary lives, and who, 
 according to the degree of light afforded them, en- 
 deavoured to discharge their duties with fidelity. 
 
 When the reins of government came into the 
 hands of the Puritans, efforts were made to procure 
 a reformation in the morals of the nation. The li- 
 centious practices which had grown out of the en- 
 couragement given to games, sports and revels, on 
 the first-day of the week, were checked. Those 
 vain amusements, together with stage plays, were 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xlv 
 
 prohibited; the observance of the first-day was 
 strictly euforced, and regular attendance at places of 
 worship enjoined. 
 
 It was certainly a period, when the profession of 
 religion, and a compliance with its exterior requisi- 
 tions were held in high esteem ; though it cannot 
 be denied, that there were some who put on the 
 garb, in order more effectually to accomplish their 
 ambitious and sinister designs. However just the 
 severe censures of some historians may be, witli re- 
 ference to these individuals, they cannot with fair- 
 ness be applied to others — nor should the whole 
 mass of Puritans be stigmatized, in consequence of 
 the duplicity of some particular professors. 
 
 The following observations from Orme's life of 
 Owen, will serve to illustrate the religious condition 
 of the nation during the protectorship of Oliver, viz. 
 
 " Of the true state of religion during the period 
 of Cromwell's government, it is difficult to form an 
 accurate estimate. Judging from certain external 
 appearances, and comparing them with the times 
 which followed, the opinion must be highly favour- 
 able. Religion was the language and garb of the 
 court ; prayer and fasting were fashionable exercises 
 — a profession was the road to preferment — not a 
 play was acted in all England for many years ; and 
 from the prince to the peasant and common soldier, 
 the features of Puritanism were universally ex- 
 hibited. JudgriDoj aojain from the wildness and ex- 
 travagance of various opinions and practices which 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 then obtained, and from the fanatical slang, and 
 hypocritical grimace which were adopted by many, 
 merely to answer a purpose, our opinion will ne- 
 cessarily be unfavourable. The truth perhaps lies 
 betw^een the extremes of unqualified censure, and 
 undistinguishing approbation. Making all due al- 
 lowance for the infirmity and sin which were com- 
 bined with the profession of religion — making every 
 abatement for the inducements which then en- 
 couraged the use of a religious vocabularj- — admit- 
 ting that there was even a large portion of pure fa- 
 naticism, still, we apprehend an immense mass of 
 genuine religion will remain. There must have 
 been a large quantity of sterling coin, when there 
 w^as such a circulation of counterfeit. In the best 
 of the men of that period, there was, doubtless, a 
 tincture of unscriptural enthusiasm, and the use of 
 a phraseology, revolting to the taste of modern time; 
 in many perhaps there was nothing more; but to 
 infer, that therefore all was base, unnatural deceit, 
 would be unjust and unwise. 'A reformation,* says 
 Jortin, ^ is seldom carried on without heat and vehe- 
 mence, which borders on enthusiasm. As Cicero 
 has observed, that there never was a great man sine 
 afflatu divino [without a divine inbreathing ;] so in 
 times of religious contests, there seldom was a man 
 very zealous for liberty, civil and ecclesiastical, and 
 a declared active enemy to insolent tyranny, blind 
 superstition, political godliness, bigotry and pious 
 frauds, who had not a fervency of zeal which led 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. xlvii 
 
 him, on some occasions, beyond the bounds of sober, 
 temperate reason.' " 
 
 From the dawn of the reformation, the spirit of 
 religious inquiry had been kept alive and strength- 
 ened by the very efforts used to suppress it. The 
 shackles with which priestcraft had attempted to 
 bind the human mind, had been in some measure 
 broken, and an earnest desire awakened after the 
 saving knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus. 
 This was increased by the troubles of the times. 
 The nation was torn by intestine strife. Civil war, 
 with all its attendant evils, raged throughout the 
 countr}', and the property, as well as the lives of the 
 subjects, were at the mercy of a lawless soldiery. 
 Many were stripped of their outward possessions; 
 reduced to poverty and want, and often obliged to 
 abandon their homes, and flee for the preservation 
 of their lives. 
 
 This melancholy state of affairs, had a tendency 
 to loosen their attachments from the world, by show- 
 ing the precarious tenure of all earthly enjoyments, 
 and to induce men to press after those substantial 
 and permanent consolations, which are only to be 
 found in a religious life. 
 
 Where the ecclesiastical and civil power were so 
 frequently shifting hands, and the national form of 
 religion changing with every change of rulers, new 
 sects and opinions arising, and different teachers of 
 religion inviting their attention, and saying, "Lo 
 here is Christ ! or lo he is there !" it is not surprising 
 
xlviii 
 
 I N T R 0 D irC T 0 11 Y K E M ARKS 
 
 that the honest and sincere inquirers after the ri^^^lit 
 way of the Lord, should be greatly perplexed. The 
 effect of these commotions was to wean men from a 
 dependence on each other, in the work of religion, 
 and to prepare their minds for the reception of the 
 important truth, that however useful instrumental 
 means of divine appointment may be, it is the glory 
 of the gospel dispensation, that the Lord, by his 
 Holy Spirit, is himself the teacher of his people. 
 Previous to the commencement of George Fox's 
 ministry, many ha.d withdrawn from all the acknow- 
 ledged forms of public worship, and were engaged 
 in diligently searching the Holy Scriptures, with 
 prayer for right direction in the path of duty, and 
 frequently meeting in select companies, for the wor- 
 ship of Almighty God and their mutual edification. 
 Among these the preaching of George Fox found a 
 ready entrance, and many of them joined in reli- 
 gious profession with him. 
 
 The period of which w^e have been speaking, may 
 justly be denominated the age of polemic strife. 
 The war itself had been commenced ostensibly for 
 the redress of religious grievances. In the camp 
 and the field, as well as by the fireside, religion was 
 the absorbing theme. The Baptists and Independ- 
 ents encouraged persons to preach, who had not 
 studied for the ministry, nor been formally ordained ; 
 and numbers of this description engaged in the vo- 
 cation, with unwearied assiduity, often holding 
 meetings in the fields, or preaching in the market- 
 
TO LIFE OF (GEORGE FOX. 
 
 xlix 
 
 places. The parliament army abounded with them, 
 and preaching, praying, and disputing on points of 
 doctrine, were daily to be heard among both officers 
 and soldiers. Public disputations were also com- 
 mon, and w^ere often conducted with a warmth of 
 temper, and harshness of language, which seem 
 hardly consistent with the meek and gentle spirit of 
 the gospel. Modern ideas of courtesy and propriety, 
 can scarcely tolerate the latitude of expression, 
 which the antas^onists sometimes indulo^ed toward 
 each other, not only on these occasions, but in their 
 controversial essays. 
 
 Amid so much strife and contention, and the in- 
 temperate feelings naturally arising out of them, it 
 is not surprising, that even good men should have 
 formed erroneous opinions of the character and sen- 
 timent of each other. They judged rather by the 
 impulses of prejudice and sectarian feeling, than by 
 the law of truth and Christian kindness. In the 
 heat of discussion, the mind is not in a condition to 
 form a sound and correct judgment. The weakness 
 or mistakes of an opponent, are seen through a 
 medium, which greatly magnifies them ; while his 
 virtues are either depreciated, or distorted into 
 errors. The controversial writings of the times, 
 furnish evidence of the existence of these uncharit- 
 able feelings, among nearly all denominations of 
 professors ; and he who reads them with the en- 
 lightened and liberal views of religious toleration, 
 which now happily obtain, will observe wath regret, 
 
1 
 
 INTRODUCTORY R E M ARKS 
 
 men of unquestionable piety, unchristianizing each 
 other for opinion's sake ; and lament that such 
 monuments of human frailty should have been 
 handed down to posterit}^ 
 
 Those who judge of the wu^itings of the first 
 Friends, by modern standards of literary excellence 
 and courtesy, are apt to censure them for their se- 
 verity. Much, however, may be said in extenuation 
 of them. Friends were particularly obnoxious to 
 the hatred of the clergy, in consequence of their un- 
 yielding opposition to a ministry of human appoint- 
 ment, to a system of tithes and a forced mainte- 
 nance. Their views on these subjects, which they 
 fearlessly published, struck directly at priestcraft. 
 Deeply affected by the corruption which they saw 
 among many who assumed the sacred ofiice, they 
 boldly declaimed against their cupidity, licentious- 
 ness, and persecution. This course drew upon them 
 a host of enemies, wdio w^ere not very nice in the 
 choice of means to lessen their influence and pre- 
 judice their characters. Friends were assailed with 
 calumny and misrepresentation ; opinions and prac- 
 tices were charged upon them, of w^hich they so- 
 lemnly declared themselves innocent ; yet they were 
 again and again renewed with the boldest effrontery. 
 The conduct of some of the visionary sects which 
 arose about the same time, was unjustly imputed to 
 them, and every advantage that could be taken, was 
 eagerly embraced to prejudice their religious pro- 
 fession. Harassed by this unchristian conduct, and 
 
TO LIFE OF G E 0 E FOX. 
 
 li 
 
 at the same time smarting under a cruel persecution, 
 they must have been more than human, if the weak- 
 ness of nature had never betrayed them into an \m- 
 guarded, or intemperate expression. A comparison, 
 however, with other controversialists of the times, 
 will show that they were not peculiar in this respect. 
 It should be recollected, too, that language, as well 
 as the regulations of decorum toward opponents, 
 have undergone a great change since that time. 
 Expressions which sound harsh and offensive to 
 modern ears, were then considered strictly within 
 the limits of propriety, and appear to have given no 
 offence to those who were the objects of them. This 
 license of the tongue and pen, is found also in the 
 parliamentary debates, and appears to have charac- 
 terized those times of excitement and recrimination. 
 
 Another practice which prevailed to some extent, 
 was that of going into the places of worship, and 
 addressing the congregation during the time of ser- 
 vice. Custom had sanctioned the practice of asking 
 the minister, at the close of the service, respecting 
 difficult or abstruse points, which required explana- 
 tion. This liberty was exercised to a much greater 
 extent, during the period of which we have been 
 speaking, and not unfrequently a dispute followed. 
 The overthrow of the national form of worship, and 
 the consequent termination of ecclesiastical restric- 
 tions, had a tendency to induce greater latitude in 
 this respect, than comports with our ideas of good 
 order. The manner in which Friends speak of 
 
lii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 those cases, in which they went to places of wor- 
 ship other than their own, induces the belief that it 
 was not extraordinary; and in most, if not all, in- 
 stances in which violence to their persons was the 
 consequence, it appears to have been the doctrine 
 delivered, rather than the time and manner of com- 
 municating it, which called forth the angry passions 
 of the assailants. Friends were not alone in this 
 course, and sometimes their mifiistrations were so 
 acceptable to the audience, as to induce them to re- 
 main, after the stated preacher had withdrawn. 
 
 The religious men of that day, are commonly 
 charged with evincing a fanatical and enthusiastic 
 spirit, and Friends of course come in for a large 
 share of the censure. To deny that there were 
 cases in which such a spirit was evinced, would be 
 folly ; but to brand whole communities of profess- 
 ing Christians with those epithets, on account of 
 the excesses of a few members, would be extremely 
 unjust. It is, moreover, difficult for us to judge cor- 
 rectly of the exigencies of the church during that 
 period, and what degree of energy and fervour was 
 requisite, to carry those holy men through the work 
 of their day. We know that a much stronger feel- 
 ing must have been necessary to stem the torrent of 
 abuse and persecution, and carry forward the refor- 
 mation, than the present day of outward ease and 
 liberty would probably elicit. It is, moreover, 
 highl}^ unreasonable to allow men of the world, their 
 fervour and self-devotion in the pursuit of the com- 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 liii 
 
 parativcly trivial objects of their choice, and yet 
 censure them in those who are pressing after the 
 momentous concerns of salvation, with an earnest- 
 ness becoming their vast importance. 
 
 In the succeeding reign of Charles II., the face 
 of things was greatly changed. The court was de- 
 voted to licentious pleasures, while religion and re- 
 ligious things Avere made a mere laughing-stock. 
 The restoration opened the very floodgates of vice 
 and wickedness. spirit of extravagant joy," 
 
 says Bishop Burnet, " spread over the nation, that 
 brought in with it the throwing ofl" the very profes- 
 sions of virtue and piety : all ended in entertain- 
 ments and drunkenness; which overrun the three 
 kingdoms to such a degree, that it very much cor- 
 rupted all their morals. Under the cover of drink- 
 ing the king's health, there were great disorders 
 and great riots every where." This lamentable state 
 of things was the source of great concern to Friends, 
 several of whom addressed the king on the subject, 
 reminding him of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrha ; 
 and that in his own dominions, wickedness had 
 reached a height which must certainly call down the 
 divine displeasure. Many Friends were engaged to 
 go to the courts of justice and exhort the officers to 
 the discharge of their duties in endeavouring to sup- 
 press it; they also preached against it in the mar- 
 kets and places of public entertainment. So con- 
 trary were their example and precepts, to the pre- 
 vailing corruptions, and so plain and fearless the 
 
liv 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 rebukes they administered, that they were subjected 
 to much abuse ; yet in many cases, they were the 
 happy instruments of turning sinners from the evil 
 of their ways. The licentiousness which had in- 
 fected nearly all ranks of society, and was tolerated, 
 if not countenanced, by too many whose duty it 
 was to repress it, furnished ample reason for the 
 close and even sharp expostulations, which are found 
 about this time in the writings of Friends. 
 
 In taking a view of the religious principles of the 
 Society, it is proper to remark, that they have always 
 scrupulously adhered to the position, of proving 
 their doctrines by the testimony of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, rejecting whatever was contrary to the tenor 
 of those divine WTitings. In their ministerial 
 labours, their constant appeal to the people, against 
 the existing errors, w^as to Holy Scripture. It is a 
 well-known fact that George Fox carried a Bible 
 with him, which he frequently used in his preach- 
 ing; and in the meeting-house which he gave to 
 Friends of Swarthmore, he placed a Bible for the 
 convenience of reference and perusal, by those who 
 attended the meeting. Samuel Bownas also carried 
 a copy of the Holy Scriptures with him, and some- 
 times preached with it in his hand; and there is 
 reason to believe that the practice w^as not uncom- 
 mon. These facts contradict the groundless accu- 
 sation which is sometimes made, that those worthy 
 men did not acknowledge the paramount authority 
 of Holy Scripture over all other writings. The So- 
 
TOLIFEOFrxEORGEFOX. Iv 
 
 ciety lias always accepted them fully and literally, as 
 a rule of faith and practice under the enlightening 
 influences of the Spirit of Truth, by which they 
 were given forth. Such is the high character they 
 have ever attached to the Sacred text,- that they uni- 
 formly refused to accept, instead of it, the glosses 
 and interpretations of school-men. It was thus 
 they were led to the observance of the positive com- 
 mands of our Saviour not to swear or fight, even in 
 self-defence, as well as to the strict and literal ac- 
 ceptance of those precepts which forbid worldly 
 compliance and indulgence ; from the force of which, 
 too many professors have sought to escape. It is 
 true, that they recommended their hearers to Christ 
 Jesus the Heavenly Teacher, who, by his Holy 
 Spirit, has come to teach his people himself; yet 
 they were careful to support this recommendation 
 by showing its entire consonance with the whole 
 scope of the Christian dispensation. 
 
 But while Friends fully admitted the divine origin 
 and authority of the Sacred Volume, and acknow- 
 ledged the richness of the blessing we enjoy in 
 having it preserved and transmitted to us, through 
 the goodness of Divine Providence, they dared not 
 put it in the place of Christ, either as regarded 
 honour or office, nor prefer it to the operations and 
 teachings of the Holy Spirit in the heart; errors 
 which they believed they saw in many of the high 
 professors of their day. 
 
 They wished the Scriptures of Truth and the Holy 
 
Ivi 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 Spirit to occupy the places in the work of salvation, 
 respectively assigned to them in the Bible itself, and 
 that the honour due to the Author and Giver should 
 not be conferred on the gift. It was for these causes, 
 that they pressed on professors the necessity of 
 coming unto Christ, that they might have life, even 
 though versed in the literal knowledge of the Bible. 
 That as its precious truths are not savingly known 
 or appreciated by the unassisted reason of fallen 
 men, so it is necessary to seek the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit, wdiich searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
 things of God, to open our understandings, and il- 
 luminate the darkness of our hearts, and prepare us 
 for their reception. In asserting the superiority of 
 the knowledge thus derived through the operations 
 of the Holy Spirit, over that which is acquired from 
 reading the Sacred Volume by the mere exercise of 
 the unassisted intellectual faculties. Friends were 
 sometimes misunderstood ; and charged with deny- 
 ing the Scriptures of Truth, placing their own wri- 
 tings on a level with them, and professing that 
 equally good Scriptures could be written at the pre- 
 sent day, as those which were penned by Prophets, 
 Evangelists, and Apostles. But no sooner were 
 these accusations made, than they were met by an 
 unqualified denial, asserting in the fullest and most 
 solemn manner, their sincere belief in all that the 
 Scriptures say respecting their Divine origin, au- 
 thority, and use. 
 
 The prominent manner in which they believed 
 
TO LIFE OF G E 0 E G E FOX. Ivii 
 
 themselves called to hold up the important offices 
 of the IIol}' Spirit in the work of salvation, was an- 
 other source of misapprehension among their oppo- 
 nents. Baxter, in his account of Friends, sa3"s of 
 them, They spake much for the dwelling and work- 
 ing of the Spirit in us, but little of justification and 
 the pardon of sin, and our reconciliation with God, 
 through Jesus Christ." 
 
 It is not correct to say that Friends "spake little " 
 on the great doctrines of justification and remission 
 of sins, through Christ Jesus, our propitiation ; for 
 they frequently and earnestly insisted on them. 
 But finding that these were generally admitted by 
 all Christian professors, while many either entirely 
 denied, or undervalued the work of the Holy Spirit 
 in the heart, they were engaged to call the attention 
 of the people to this, as the life of true religion ; 
 without which the Scriptures could not make them 
 wise unto salvation, and Christ would have died for 
 them in vain. But while thus enforcing this im- 
 portant doctrine of Holy Scripture, they were care- 
 ful to recognize and acknowledge the whole scope 
 of the Gospel, in all its fulness. They declared 
 against that construction of the doctrine of Christ's 
 satisfaction, which taught men to believe they could 
 be justified from their sins, while they continued in 
 tliem impenitent; asserting that the very design of 
 Christ's coming in the flesh, was to save people /ro??i 
 their sins, and to destroy the works of the devil. 
 Yet they fully and gratefully acknowledged the 
 
Iviii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 mercy of God, in giving his dear Son, a ransom and 
 •atonement for mankind, that the penitent sinner 
 might be justified freely by his grace, through the 
 redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 jNIany of them were persons who had been highly 
 esteemed for their piety, in the societies with which 
 they had formerly been connected, and several of 
 them had been preachers. In the progress of their 
 religious experience, they w^ere convinced that they 
 had been resting too much on a bare belief of what 
 Christ had done and suffered for them, when per- 
 sonally on earth, and also in the ceremonies of re- 
 ligion, without sufficiently pressing after the know- 
 ledge of " Christ in them, the hope of glory " — to 
 feel his righteous government set up in their hearts, 
 and the power of the Holy Spirit giving them the 
 victory over sin in all its motions, and qualifying 
 them to serve God in newness of life. They saw 
 that the Holy Scriptures held up to the view of 
 Christians, a state of religious advancement and sta- 
 bility, far beyond that which most of the professors 
 of their day appeared to aim at and admit; a state 
 in which sin was to have no more dominion over 
 them, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus, had set them free from the law of sin and 
 death. That this was an inward work, not effected 
 by a bare assent of the understanding to the blessed 
 truths contained in the Bible, hearing sermons, dip- 
 ping or sprinkling in water, or partaking of bread 
 and wine, but a real change of the heart and affec- 
 
TO LIFE OF G E 0 R 0 E FOX. 
 
 ]ix 
 
 tions, by the power of the Holy Ghost inwardly re- 
 vealed, regenerating the soul, creating it anew in 
 Christ Jesus, and making all things pertaining to it 
 of God. 
 
 Convinced that this great work was necessary to 
 salvation, and yet in great danger of being over- 
 looked amid a round of ceremonial performances, 
 and a high profession of belief in Christ as the pro- 
 pitiation of sins, they zealously preached the doc- 
 trine of the new birth ; calling their hearers to come 
 to Christ Jesus, the true Light which lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world, that they might 
 experience Him to shine into their hearts, to give 
 them the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
 God in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The offices of the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, as 
 the guide into all Truth, as the unction from the 
 Holy One which teacheth of all things, and is Truth, 
 and no lie, was the great theme of their contempla- 
 tion and ministr}', and it stands forth no less con- 
 spicuously in their writings. 
 
 When we turn to the Sacred Volume, and read 
 there the numerous testimonies borne to the great 
 importance of this doctrine in the Gospel plan, we 
 cannot wonder to lind it prominently set forth by a 
 people professing eminently the spirituality of reli- 
 gion. But to infer from the fact of their preaching 
 Christ within, that they designed in any degree to 
 deny Christ without, or to derogate from any part 
 of the work which, in adorable condescension, he 
 
Ix 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 was graciously pleased to accomplish for ns, in the 
 prepared body, or from that complete justification 
 from our sins which is obtained through living faith 
 in Him, as our sacrifice and Mediator, would be il- 
 liberal and unjust. 
 
 "When such accusations were brousrht against 
 them by their enemies, they indignantly repelled 
 and denied them ; and the ofiicial declarations and 
 acts of the Society evince that such opinions were 
 never received or tolerated by it. 
 
 In carrying out these views of the spiritual nature 
 of the Gospel, and of that great work in the soul 
 described as " the washing of regeneration and the 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost," the primitive Friends 
 were led to the adoption of their peculiar sentiments 
 respecting water baptism and the use of the bread 
 and wine. They found it declared in the Sacred 
 Volume, that as there is one Lord and one faith," 
 so there is but " one baptism ;" and that "the bap- 
 tism which now saves, is not the putting away the 
 filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con- 
 science toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ." Corresponding with this, is the saying of 
 the apostle to the llomans, "Know ye not that so 
 many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were 
 baptized into his death — therefore, we are buried 
 with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ 
 was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the 
 Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of 
 life." Also, that to the Galatians, "As many of 
 you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on 
 
TO LIFE OF CxEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixi 
 
 Christ;" and to the Colossians, where he declares 
 that those who are in Christ, " are buried with him. 
 in baptism, wherein, also, ye are risen with him, 
 through the faith of the operation of God, who hath 
 raised him from the dead." Sensible that these 
 blessed effects were not the result of dipping or 
 sprinkling the body with water, and apprehensive 
 that many professors of religion were trusting to the 
 outw^ard ceremony, as a means of initiating them^ 
 into the Church of Christ, while neglecting the ne- 
 cessary work of repentance toward God and faith 
 in our Lord Jesus Christ," they pressed upon their 
 hearers the necessity of experiencing that one saving 
 baptism, which John describes when drawing the 
 distinction between his dispensation and that of 
 Christ — " I indeed baptize you with water : but One 
 mighter than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes 
 lam not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you 
 with, the Holy Ghost and with fire." 
 
 Convinced that the Gospel is not a dispensation 
 of shadows, but the very substance of the heavenly 
 things themselves, they believed that the true com- 
 munion of saints consisted in that divine intercourse 
 which is maintained between our merciful Saviour 
 and the souls of his faithful disciples ; agreeable to 
 his own gracious words ; " Behold, I stand at the 
 door and knock : If any man hear my voice, and 
 open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with 
 him, and he with me." 
 
 There is a strong tendency in the human mind to 
 6 
 
Ixii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY RE M ARKS 
 
 substitute the form of religion for the power, and 
 to satisfy the conscience by a cold compliance with 
 exterior performances, while the heart remains un- 
 changed. And inasmuch as the baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost and the communion of the body and blood 
 of Christ, of which water baptism and the bread 
 and wine are admitted to be only signs, are not de- 
 pendent on those outward ceremonies, nor neces- 
 sarily connected with them, and are declared in 
 Holy Scripture to be effectual to the salvation of the 
 soul, which the signs are not, Friends have always 
 believed it their place and duty to hold forth to the 
 world a clear and decided testimony to the living 
 substance — the spiritual work of Christ in the soul, 
 and a blessed communion with him there. 
 
 A distinguishing trait in the character of the first 
 Friends was, that amid the great political commo- 
 tions which prevailed, they attached themselves to 
 none of the parties, nor entered into any of their 
 ambitious views. It was a principle of their reli- 
 gion, to avoid all strife and contention, and to live 
 peaceabl}^, under whatever form of government- 
 Divine Providence was pleased to permit. When 
 the laws of the land came into collision with their 
 dut}^ to God, and they could not, for conscience' sake, 
 actively comply with their demands, they patiently 
 endured the penalties. When the nation was in a 
 great ferment, after the death of Cromwell, George 
 Fox, ever watchful for the welfare of his brethren, 
 addressed a letter, exhorting them to live in love 
 and peace with all men — to keep clear of all the 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. Ixlii 
 
 commotions of the world, and not to intermeddle 
 with the powers of the earth, but to let their con- 
 versation be in heaven." — " All who pretend to fight 
 for Christ," says he, "are deceived; for his king- 
 dom is not of this world, and therefore his servants 
 do not fight." 
 
 Unaided by any alliance with the great or power- 
 ful ; ridiculed and hated by the world, and every- 
 where pursued with contempt and cruelty, the prin- 
 ciples of Friends silently spread through the king- 
 dom, winning the assent of men who were inferior 
 to none in education, talents, and respectability. 
 Amid the severest persecution, when deprived of 
 every temporal comfort, torn from home and all its 
 endearments, with every probabiUty that they should 
 seal the truth of their principles with the sacrifice 
 of their lives, they faltered not. Though all around 
 them looked dark and threatening, yet there was 
 light and peace within; — they not only met their 
 sufierings with patience and fortitude, in the un- 
 resisting spirit of their Divine Master, but through 
 the goodness of God, were so filled with heavenly 
 consolation, that they sang for joy even in the ex- 
 tremity of their sufifering. 
 
 Exposed to almost universal hatred and abuse, 
 their names despised and cast out from among men, 
 the disinterested love they showed for each other 
 excited the admiration even of their enemies. While 
 each one seemed regardless of his own liberty and 
 estate, all were zealous in pleading the cause of 
 their suffering brethren, when occasion presented ; 
 
Ixiv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 freely sacrificing their time and property to promote 
 their comfort, and even oftering themselves to lie in 
 prison, instead of those whom they thought could 
 be less easily spared from their families or the 
 Society. 
 
 Such fruits of Christian love and forbearance, 
 under protracted and poignant suffering, unjustly in- 
 flicted, have rarely been exhibited to the world ; and 
 nothing less than the marvellous extension of Al- 
 mighty Power could have sustained, and carried 
 them through it all, to the peaceful enjoyment of 
 that liberty of conscience, for which they nobly con- 
 tended. Their conduct furnishes the strongest evi- 
 dence of sincere and devoted attachment to the 
 cause of Christ. It proves that they were true men, 
 earnestly engaged in seeking after truth ; while the 
 Divine support they experienced, and the brightness 
 w^ith which they were enabled to hold forth, in their 
 example, the Christian virtues, are no inconsiderable 
 testimonies of the favour of that God whom they 
 delighted to serve. 
 
 The character of the founders of the Society has 
 not been duly appreciated, even by many of their 
 successors in religious profession. We look back to 
 the age in which they lived, as one of comparative 
 ignorance ; and tracing the improvements which 
 have since been made in the arts, and in literature 
 and the sciences, as well as the more liberal views 
 of civil and religious liberty which now generally 
 obtain, we are apt to undervalue the wisdom and at- 
 tainments of our ancestors. But our opinion re- 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixv 
 
 specting them will change when we discover how 
 far they were in advance of the times in which they 
 flourished, — that though many of them possessed 
 but few of the advantages of literary instruction, yet 
 their minds, enlightened by the influences of the 
 Spirit of Truth, and expanded by Christian benevo- 
 lence, were prepared to perceive and to promulgate 
 those great moral and religious truths which are con- 
 sidered the peculiar ornament and glory of the pre- 
 sent age. 
 
 One of the earliest subjects of concern to George 
 Fox, was the want of moderation and temperance 
 in eating and drinking. " The Lord showed me," 
 says he, "that I might not eat and drink to make 
 myself wanton, but for health, using the creatures 
 as servants in their places to the glory of Him that 
 created them." He also observes, that he was en- 
 gaged " in warning such as kept public houses for 
 entertainment, that they should not let people have 
 more drink than would do them good;" and in cry- 
 ing against the sin of drunkenness, setting an ex- 
 ample of remarkable abstinence in his manner of 
 life. The testimony thus early and zealously en- 
 forced has ever since been maintained, and from 
 that period to the present, Friends, as a body, have 
 been a Temperance Society. 
 
 N'o less clear were his views in regard to speaking 
 the truth on all occasions, without the use of an oath. 
 " The Lord showed me," says he, "that though the 
 people of the world have mouths full of deceit and 
 6 * E 
 
Ixvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 changeable words, yet I was to keep to yea and nay 
 in all things, and that my words should be few and 
 savoury, seasoned with grace;" — "warning all to 
 deal justly, to speak the truth, to let their yea be yea 
 and their nay nay, and to do unto others as they 
 would have others do unto them;" — "that Christ 
 commanded. Swear not at all ; and God, when he 
 bringetb the first begotten, into the world, saith. Let 
 all the angels of God worship Him, even Christ 
 Jesus, who saith. Swear not at all. As for the plea 
 that men make for swearing, viz., to end their strife, 
 Christ, who forbids swearing, destroys the devil and 
 his works, who is the author of strife." 
 
 The uniform and consistent example of the first 
 Friends, in respect to a scrupulous adherence to 
 their word, as men of truth, and to strict upright- 
 ness in all their dealings, soon gained them a high 
 reputation for those virtues. Their objection to the 
 use of oaths cost them much suffering, but their 
 faithfulness at length triumphed over opposition, and 
 their conscientious scruple was recognized and tole- 
 rated by an act of Parliament. Since that period, a 
 striking change has been wrought in public opinion, 
 scarcely one in five taking the oath in our courts of 
 judicature. By a late act of Parliament, nearly all 
 oaths, excepting those of judicial character, are dis- 
 pensed with in England, by which it is computed 
 nearly a thousand oaths per day will be spared. 
 
 The benevolent and enlightened mind of George 
 Fox Avas deeply affected with the sanguinary cha- 
 racter of the penal code of Great Britain, and be- 
 
TO LIFE OF 0 EORGE FOX. Ixvii 
 
 lieving that the benign spirit of the Gospel would 
 lead to save men's lives rather than to destroy tbem, 
 he was engaged to write to the judges and others in 
 authority, "concerning their putting to death for 
 small matters, and to show them hov/ contrary it 
 was to the law of God in old time; for," says he, 
 was under great suffering in my spirit because 
 of it." In an address "to the Parliament of the 
 Commonwealth of England," setting forth a num- 
 ber of particulars " for taking away oppressive laws, 
 &c.," he says, " Let no one be put to death for [steal- 
 ing] cattle, or money, or any outward thing — but 
 let them restore ; and mind the law of God, which 
 is equity and measurable, agreeable to the offence." 
 
 This is perhaps the earliest account extant of any 
 proposal for meliorating the severity of penal enact- 
 ments. 
 
 The amiable and pacific principles which produced 
 these views in the founder of the Society, gave rise 
 to corresponding feelings in the minds of other mem- 
 bers. "William Penn, in framing the laws of Penn- 
 sylvania, mitigated considerably the harshness of 
 the English code, and it is a well-known fact, that 
 Friends have always been the advocates of a mild 
 system of punishment, coupled with penitentiary 
 regulations. 
 
 In the improvement of prisons and prison-disci- 
 pline, they also took the lead. 
 
 Being frequently confined for his conscientious 
 adherence to the precepts of Christ and his apostles, 
 he had an opportunity of seeing the wretched con- 
 
Jxviii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 dition of the jails in England, and of witnessing the 
 demoralizing effects of associating the novice in 
 crime with the hardened offender. His tender feel- 
 ings were quickly awakened on this interesting sub- 
 ject, and when about twent^'-six years of age he 
 published a paper, showing "what a hurtful thing 
 it was for prisoners to lie so long in jail, and how 
 they learned wickedness one of another, in talking 
 of their bad deeds ;" and inciting the judges of courts 
 to the prompt administration of law, that the pri- 
 soners might as quickly as practicable be removed 
 from the influence of such corrupting examples. In 
 the address to the Parliament, before quoted, he 
 says, *'Let none be gaolers that are drunkards, 
 swearers, or oppressors of the people ; but such as 
 may be good examples to the prisoners. And let 
 none lie long in jail, for that is the way to spoil 
 people, and to make more thieves ; for there they 
 learn wickedness together." Again, he says, " Let 
 all jails be in wholesome places, that the prisoners 
 may not lie in the filth and straw like chaff, &c. ;" 
 and after mentioning some of the nuisances then 
 existing in prisons, he adds, "Let these things be 
 mended." 
 
 There are several other recommendations which 
 bespeak the liberality and correctness of his views ; 
 such as the following, viz. 
 
 "Let all the laws in England be brought into a 
 known tongue." Many of them, as well as the pro- 
 ceedings of courts, were then in the Latin language. 
 
TO LIFE OF G E 0 E G E FOX. IxiX 
 
 "Let no swearer, nor curser, nor drunkard, bear 
 any office whatever, nor be put in any place." 
 
 " Let none keep alehouses or taverns but those 
 who fear God ; that will not let the creatures of God 
 be destroyed by drunkenness." 
 
 "Let no man keep an alehouse or tavern, that 
 keeps bowls, shuffle-boards, or fiddlers, or dice, or 
 cards." 
 
 " Let neither beggar, nor blind people, nor father- 
 less, nor widows, nor cripples, go begging up and 
 down the streets ; but that a house may be provided 
 for them all, and also meat, that there may be never 
 a beggar among you." 
 
 "And let all this wearing of gold lace and costly 
 attire be ended, and clothe the naked and feed the 
 hungry with the superfluity. And turn not your 
 ear away from the cry of the poor." 
 
 About the time that George Fox attained his 
 twent3'-sixth year, considerable efforts were made to 
 induce him to join the parliament army, and a cap- 
 taincy over a band of newlj'-raised troops was offered 
 to him. But his religious opinions would not per- 
 mit him to take up arms in an}^ cause. The ruling 
 principle of his life was "peace on earth and good 
 will to men." He whose commands he esteemed 
 of paramount authority, directed his followers to 
 " love their enemies ;" to do good to those who hated 
 them, and to pray for those who despitefully and 
 evilly treated them. He had none of that sophistry 
 which could reconcile the horrors of the battle-field, 
 the anger, the revenge, and the cruelty which reign 
 
Ixx INTRODUCTORY RE M A R K S 
 
 there, with these benevolent precepts. The simple 
 acceptance of revealed truth, was strongly marked 
 in the character of the primitive Quakers. They 
 sought not to evade or fritter away the strict and 
 positive injunctions of Holy "Writ, because they 
 came in collision with popular opinion, or thwarted 
 the wayward inclinations of the human heart. "I 
 told them," says George Fox, when speaking of the 
 above-mentioned circumstance, " that I knew from 
 whence all wars arose, even from the lusts, accord- 
 ing to James' doctrine, and that I lived in the virtue 
 of that life and power that took away the occasion 
 of all wars. Yet they courted me to accept the 
 offer, and thought I did but compliment them. But 
 I told them I was come into the covenant of peace, 
 which was before w^ars and strifes." Persuasion not 
 effecting their object, they threw him into the com- 
 mon jail, where he lay for six months, but without 
 shaking his constancy. 
 
 When Sir George Booth afterward rose in favour 
 of the king, the Committee of Safety solicited 
 Friends to enrol and join the army, offering import- 
 ant posts and commands to some of them. But 
 neither the sharpness of their sufferings, nor pros- 
 pects of honours or preferment, could induce them 
 to violate their Christian testimony in favour of uni- 
 versal peace, and to the present day it has been 
 steadily maintained, at no inconsiderable sacrifice 
 both of liberty and estate. 
 
 The situation of the African race, and of the 
 Indian nations in America, claimed much of his at- 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixxi 
 
 tention and sympathy. One of his first engage- 
 ments among his friends, after reaching Barbadoes, 
 was to hold a meeting of conference, in which, 
 among other directions, he enjoined them "to train 
 their negroes up in the fear of God, that all might 
 come to the knowledge of the Lord, and that, with 
 Joshua, every master of a family might say, * as for 
 me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' I de- 
 sired also that the}' would cause their overseers to 
 deal mildly and gently with their negroes, and not 
 use cruelty toward them, as the manner of some 
 hath been and is, and that after certain years of ser- 
 vitude^ they should make them free.'' In one of his 
 epistles, he expresses the sentiment that "liberty is 
 the right of all men," and on many occasions he 
 evinced a strong solicitude that the benefits of a re- 
 ligious education should be extended to them, as 
 being equally interested with others, in that salva- 
 tion purchased for us by the Saviour's death. 
 
 His mind, expanded by Christian benevolence, 
 reached forth in desire for the salvation of all man- 
 kind. So exceedingly precious did he esteem the 
 glad tidings of the gospel, and so adapted to the 
 j wants of man in every situation, that he not only 
 preached Christ crucified, to the slaves and Indians, 
 while in America, but urged upon his brethren the 
 i same duty. "All Friends, everywhere," says he, 
 , in one of his epistles, " who have Indians or Blacks, 
 are to preach the gospel to them and other servants, 
 if you be true Christians." "And also you must 
 instruct and teach your Indians and ISTegroes, a^"! 
 
Ixxii 
 
 I N T R 0 D U C T 0 K Y 11 E M A R K S 
 
 all others, that Christ, by the grace of God, tasted 
 death for every man, and gave himself a ransom for 
 all men, to be testified in due time, and is the pro- 
 pitiation, not for the sins of Christians only, but for 
 the sins of the whole world." Again, he observes, 
 "Do not neglect your family meetings among your 
 whites and negroes ; but do your dihgence and duty 
 to God and them." In another epistle to his friends, 
 he directs them to go among the Indians, and get 
 the chiefs to assemble their people, in order that 
 they may declare to them God's free salvation through 
 Jesus Christ the Lord. 
 
 The same enlarged views are evinced by the let- 
 ters he wrote to some Friends, who, in pursuing a 
 seafaring life, had been carried captive to the coast 
 of Africa. He advises them to acquire a knowledge 
 of the language spoken in the places where they 
 were situated, in order that they might be able to 
 preach to the inhabitants the glad tidings of redemp- 
 tion through a crucified Saviour, and to translate 
 works which would tend to promote Christian 
 knowledge. 
 
 Nor was this Christian concern for the promulga- 
 tion of the Gospel confined to George Fox. William 
 Penn, in his frequent intercourse with the Indians, 
 took especial care not only to teach them Chris- 
 tianity by precept, but, by a just, liberal and blame- 
 less conduct and example, to prepare their minds for 
 the reception of its sublime truths. Ministers of 
 the Society, at difi:erent periods, travelled into re- 
 mote countries, without the least prospect of tein- 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixxiii 
 
 poral reward, in order to declare unto others that 
 free salvation, of w hich, through the mercy of God, 
 they were made partakers. 
 
 In advocating the cause of religious and civil 
 liberty, the Society of Friends has always stood con- 
 spicuous. During a protracted period of persecution 
 and suffering, they nobly refused to sacrifice their 
 conscientious scruples, maintaining a patient but 
 firm and unyielding opposition to the arbitrary in- 
 tolerance and cruelty of those in power. Their 
 steadfastness and boldness in suffering, not only re- 
 lieved other dissenters from the sharpness of perse- 
 cution, but tended to prepare the way for those more 
 correct views of toleration which subsequently ob- 
 tained. 
 
 Baxter, though not favourablj' disposed towards 
 Friends, bears testimony to their constancy under 
 the cruel operation of the Conventicle Act, observ- 
 ing. Here the Quakers did greatly relieve the sober 
 people for a time; for they were so resolute, and so 
 gloried in their constancy and sufferings, that they 
 assembled openly at the Bull and Mouth, near Al- 
 dersgate, and were dragged away daily to the com- 
 mon jail, and yet desisted not, but the rest came 
 next day. Abundance of them died in prison, and 
 yet they continued their assemblies still." 
 
 On this passage, Orme, the biographer of Baxter, 
 makes this remark : " Had there been more of the 
 same determined spirit among others, which the 
 Friends displayed, the sufferings of all parties would 
 7 
 
Ixxiv 
 
 INT 11 0 D U C T U 11 Y 11 E M A II K S 
 
 sooner have come to an end. The government 
 must have given way, as the spirit of the country 
 would have been effectually roused. The conduct 
 of the Quakers was infinitely to their honour." In 
 another note relative to Friends, the same writer re- 
 marks, " The heroic and persevering conduct of the 
 Quakers, in withstanding the interferences of govern- 
 ment with the rights of conscience, by which they 
 finally secured those peculiar privileges they so richly 
 deserve to enjoy, entitles them to the veneration of 
 all the friends of civil and religious freedom." 
 
 There is no doubt that the persecutions which 
 disgraced England during the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, and of which Friends in common with other 
 dissenters bore so large a share, contributed very 
 much toward the introduction and establishment 
 of those more liberal and correct views of tole- 
 ration and civil liberty, which succeeded, and so 
 happily distinguish the present times. The con- 
 stancy of Friends under suffering; their uniform 
 testimony in favour of liberty of conscience to all ; 
 the boldness with which they exposed the rapacity 
 and illegal proceedings of the persecuting priests, 
 justices and judges; and their repeated and earnest 
 applications to the king and parliament, were emi- 
 nently instrumental in preparing the way for the 
 passage of the Toleration Act, under William and 
 Mary, in 1688. 
 
 It was not as a boon for themselves, that they 
 urged the adoption of this great measure : they took 
 the simple ground, that liberty of conscience was 
 
TO LIFE OF (x E 0 R G FOX. 
 
 Ixxv 
 
 the right of all men ; and that all interference of 
 the'government in matters of religion, by which the 
 subject was debarred from the exercise of this right, 
 provided he did not molest others, was contrary to 
 Christianity, to reason, and to sound policy. 
 
 In framing the government of Pennsylvania, 
 AViliiam Penn adopted these principles, and carried 
 them out to the fullest extent; not only tolerating 
 every religion which owned the existence of a God, 
 but making the professors of all, eligible to offices. 
 
 Sir James Macintosh, in his History of the Revo- 
 lution in England, in explaining the part which 
 William Penn took in defending the declaration of 
 indulgence issued by James, a measure which, how- 
 ever just the rights it granted, was nevertheless de- 
 nounced as an unconstitutional and arbitrary as- 
 sumption of power, has these observations : " The 
 most distinguished of their converts was William 
 Penn, whose father. Admiral Sir William Penn, had 
 been a personal friend of the king, and one of his 
 instructors in naval aiFairs. This admirable person 
 had employed his great abilities in support of civil 
 as v.'ell as religious liberty, and had both acted and 
 suffered for them, under Charles 11. Even if he 
 had not founded the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- 
 vania, as an everlasting memorial of his love of 
 freedom, his actions and writings in England would 
 have been enoufrh to absolve him from the charsre 
 of intending to betray the rights of his countrymen. 
 But though the friend of Algernon Sidney, he had 
 never ceased to intercede, through his friends at 
 
Ixxvi 
 
 I N T K 0 D U C T 0 R Y REMARKS 
 
 court, for the persecuted. An absence of two years 
 in America, and the occupation of his mind, had 
 probably loosened his connexion with English poli- 
 ticians, and rendered him less acquainted with the 
 principles of the government. On the accession of 
 James, he was received by that prince with favour, 
 and hopes of indulgence to his suffering brethren 
 were early held out to him. He was soon admitted 
 to terras of apparent intimacy, and was believed to 
 possess such influence, that two hundred suppliants 
 were often seen at his gates, imploring his interces- 
 sion with the king. That it really was great, appears 
 from his obtaining a promise of pardon for his friend, 
 Mr. Locke, which that illustrious man declined, be- 
 cause he thought that the acceptance would have 
 been a confession of criminality. He appears, in 
 1679, by his influence on James, w^hen in Scotland, 
 to have obtained the release of all the Scotch Qua- 
 kers who were imprisoned, and he obtained the re- 
 lease of many hundred Quaker prisoners in England, 
 as well as letters from Lord Sunderland to the lord- 
 lieutenants in England, for favour to his persuasion, 
 several months before the declaration of indulgence. 
 It w^as no wonder that he should be gained over by 
 this power of doing good. The very occupations in 
 which he was engaged, brought daily before his 
 mind the general evils of intolerance and the sulFer- 
 inofs of his own unfortunate brethren." "It cannot 
 be doubted that he believed the king's object to be, 
 universal liberty in religion, and nothing farther. 
 
TO LIFE OF (tEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixxvii 
 
 His own sincere piety taught him to consider reli- 
 gious liberty as unspeakably the highest of human 
 privileges, and he was too just not to be desirous of 
 bestowing on all other men, that which he most ear- 
 nestly sought for himself. He who refused to em- 
 ploy force in the most just defence, felt a singular 
 abhorrence of its exertion to prevent good men from 
 following the dictates of their conscience." p. 289. 
 
 Previous to this period, William Penn had written 
 and suffered much in defence of liberty of conscience, 
 and it was to be expected that when thousands of 
 his friends were suffering imprisonment and spolia- 
 tion by merciless informers and magistrates, he 
 would eagerly embrace the relief afforded by the 
 king's indulgence, w^ithout a very profound investi- 
 gation of the disputed point of royal prerogative, or 
 the secret motives which influenced the crown. 
 
 Another subject which claimed the early attention 
 of George Fox, was the promotion of useful learn- 
 ing. He recommended the establishment of two 
 boarding-schools, which were accordingly opened, 
 one for boys and the other for girls. Although the 
 Society has always contended that human learning 
 was not an essential requisite for the ministry of the 
 Gospel, yet it has, from a very early period, been 
 careful to provide for its members the benefits of 
 education. The following recommendation was 
 issued by the Yearly Meeting, as early as the year 
 1695, viz. : 
 
 " Advised, that school masters and mistresses who 
 7=. 
 
Ixxviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 are faithful Friends and well qualified, be encouraged 
 in all counties, cities, great towns, or other places 
 where there may be need ; and that care be taken 
 that poor Friends' children may freely partake of 
 such education as may tend to their benefit and ad- 
 vantage, in order to apprenticeship." From that 
 period to the present time, the subject has frequently 
 been earnestly enjoined on the attention of Friends, 
 and large sums expended in founding seminaries 
 for their youth. Soon after the settlement of Phila- 
 delphia, William Penn founded a grammar-school 
 for Greek and Latin, and incorporated a board of 
 education, which is still in operation, under the title 
 of " The Overseers of the Public School founded by 
 charter, in the town and county of Philadelphia, in 
 Pennsylvania," with a corporate seal bearing this 
 inscription : " Good instruction is better than riches." 
 
 It would not be practicable in this brief sketch, 
 to do justice to other members of the Society, who 
 aided in carrying out the liberal views which we 
 have endeavoured to portray. It is sufficient to re- 
 mark, that those views were the general characte- 
 ristics of the Society, and some of them peculiar to 
 it. For a long period they maintained many of 
 them single-handed and in opposition to the general 
 voice of the community. That their faithful labours 
 in these great works of Christian benevolence, have 
 contributed to bring them to their present condition, 
 cannot be denied ; nor yet that the principles of the 
 Society of Friends, and the practices consequent 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. Ixxix 
 
 upon tbem, are eminently calculated to promote the 
 religious and moral improvement of mankind, and 
 to augment the sum of human happiness. 
 
 It is no less the privilege and interest, than it is 
 the duty of Christians to be diligent in the use of 
 those means which a merciful Providence has placed 
 within their reach, for attaining a correct know^ledge 
 of the principles and practices of our holy religion. 
 
 If we have a proper sense of the shortness and 
 uncertainty of life, of our responsit)ility as account- 
 able and immortal beings, and of the vast import- 
 ance of the concerns which relate to the salvation 
 of the soul, we shall not rest satisfied, without a 
 careful inquiry" into the truth of those doctrines and 
 precepts, by which we profess to regulate our con- 
 duct, and to build our hopes of future happiness, in 
 a world that will never have an end. We shall fre- 
 quently ponder the inspired pages of Holy Writ, as 
 the divinely authorized record of the Christian re- 
 ligion, and raise our hearts in aspirations to our 
 heavenly Father for the light of his Hol}^ Spirit, to 
 illumine our darkness, and give us a saving know- 
 ledo;e of the Truth as it is in Jesus. Xor will it be 
 less interesting to us, to trace out the result of these 
 principles, as exhibited in the examples of those 
 who have gone before us. — To inquire what fruits 
 of holiness they produced in their conduct and con- 
 versation, — what support they derived from them, 
 amid the trials inseparable from mortal existence, 
 and what consolation and hope they yielded in the 
 
Ixxx INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 hours of disease and of death. If, in the course of 
 our researches, we discover that they were remark- 
 able for their justice, their integrity, their meekness 
 and humility — were patient under suffering, even 
 when wrongfully inflicted ; zealously devoted to the 
 cause of Christ, and cheerfully given up to spend 
 their time and substance for its advancement; 
 "blameless and harmless, in the midst of a crooked 
 and perverse generation, amongst whom they shone 
 as lights in the world," we may be assured that the 
 tree whence these fruits of the Gospel sprung could 
 not be evil. The faith which showed itself by such 
 works of righteousness must be that by which the 
 saints of old "obtained a good report," and which 
 was their victory. If we follow them to the cham- 
 ber of sickness and to the bed of death, witness the 
 tranquillity and composure of their spirits; their 
 humble, yet steadfast, reliance on the mercy of God, 
 through Christ Jesus; their peace and jo}^ in be- 
 lieving; and their hope fall of immortality and eter- 
 nal life, we shall not only derive the strongest evi- 
 dence of the soundness of their Christian belief, but, 
 in admiration of its blessed and happy effects, be in- 
 cited to follow them, as they followed Christ. 
 
 Differing, as Friends do, in some points, from 
 their fellow-professors of the Christian name, con- 
 struing the requisitions of the Gospel with especial 
 reference to the spiritual nature of true religion, and 
 its non-conformity to the fashion of " the world 
 which lieth in wickedness " their peculiarities in 
 
TO LIFE OF GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixxxi 
 
 doctrine, manners, and phraseology, have, ever since 
 their first rise, subjected them to greater or less 
 degrees of misrepresentation and obloquy. For, 
 although they have uniformly appealed to the Holy 
 Scriptures, as the standard and test of all their doc- 
 trines and practices, freely rejecting whatever should 
 be proved to be inconsistent with their Divine Tes- 
 timony, yet, either through ignorance, or prejudice, 
 or the force of sectarian attachments, their repeated 
 declarations have been disregarded or perverted, in 
 order to represent them as slighting those Sacred 
 Writings, and their principles as scarcely deserving 
 the name of Christian. 
 
 It is often more easy to disparage the character 
 of an opponent, by loading him with opprobrious 
 epithets, than to refute his positions by sound and 
 solid arguments; and mankind are generally so 
 prone to adopt this course, rather than take the 
 trouble of impartial investigation, that it is not sur- 
 prising the terms enthusiasts, fanatics, Jesuits, and 
 others of similar or more odious import, should have 
 been freely bestowed on Friends, and credited by 
 too many. Those who have not had the oppor- 
 tunity, or who have disliked the task of ascertaining 
 their real belief, and whose impressions have been 
 chiefly derived from caricatures, drawn by persons 
 whose object and interest it is to place them in the 
 wrong, could scarcely fail to form opinions unfavour- 
 able to them as a body, however they might respect 
 the piety and sincerity of individual members. !N'or 
 
 F 
 
Ixxxii INTRODUCTORY R i: M A R K S 
 
 would it be surprising if the frequent and confident 
 reiteration of grave, though unjust, charges, should 
 have the effect to awaken doubts even in the minds 
 of the uninformed members themselves; to lessen 
 their esteem for those devoted Christians, who were 
 the instruments, divinely fitted and made use of, in 
 founding the Society; and to induce the apprehen- 
 sion that the way, and the people, thus " everywhere 
 spoken against," must indeed have little claims to 
 Christianity^ 
 
 It may not be inappropriate to remind the reader, 
 . that the Son of God himself was "set for a sign 
 that should be spoken against;" and such has been 
 the lot of his Church, from the earliest periods of its 
 existence. Had the propagation of the Gospel in 
 the days of the apostles depended on the estimation 
 in which they were held by the wise, the learned, 
 and powerful of this world, or on the report which 
 they gave of its character and design, it must have 
 made little progress ; but there were many others 
 beside the Bereans, who were more noble than to be 
 influenced by such means, and who searched for 
 themselves "whether these things w^ere so." 
 
 Happily for the Society, it has nothing to fear 
 from investigation conducted in the spirit of candour 
 and fairness. The various accusations against it, 
 have been fearlessly met an-d refuted ; and, of those 
 who may entertain doubts respecting the soundness 
 of its faith, it asks a calm and dispassionate atten- 
 tion to its authorized vindications, and to its official 
 
TO LIFE OF'GEORGE FOX. 
 
 Ixxxiii 
 
 declarations of faith, ^"hatever ambiguity may 
 haoo; over the essavs of some of its writers, arisino: 
 either from the heat of controversy, the redundant 
 and loose phraseology of the times, or from unduly 
 pressing an argument, in order to discredit the pre- 
 mises of an antagonist, by exposing the consequen- 
 ces dcducible from them ; the declarations of faith 
 and the official acts of the Society, prove conclu- 
 sively, that on the points where they have been 
 most questioned, their views are clear and Scriptural. 
 The records of the Society also show a long list of 
 worthies, whose dying hours and sayings bear ample 
 testimony that the principles in which they had 
 lived, and by which they endeavoured to regulate 
 their actions, did not fail them in the near prospect 
 of death and eternity ; but administered all that 
 support, consolation, and animating hope, which 
 give to the death-bed of the Christian its peculiar 
 interest. 
 
 It is especially obligatory on the members to be 
 conversant in these matters. Ignorance of them, 
 where the means of information are accessible, is 
 discreditable, if not culpable. We should be pre- 
 pared to give to every one that asketh us, a reason 
 for our faith and hope. If the things which belong 
 to our peace have a due place in our afiections, we 
 shall meditate with pleasure on the experience of 
 those who have trodden the path of virtue before 
 us. The fervour of our piety, the strength of our 
 attachment to religious truth, will be promoted by 
 
Ixxxiv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 frequently perusing their excellent writings, and 
 dwelling in serious contemplation on the bright ex- 
 ample they have left us, adorned with the Christian 
 graces, and inviting us to follow in their footsteps. 
 
 To whatever department of human pursuit we 
 direct our attention, we perceive that men delight in 
 the productions of congenial minds. He who finds 
 that he has little relish for serious things, and that 
 it is difficult to fix his attention upon them, may 
 safely infer that his heart is not right in the sight 
 of God, nor its aspirations directed toward the king- 
 dom of heaven. The religious man delights to 
 dwell on those things which concern the salvation 
 of his soul. He feels a lively interest in the saints 
 and holy men who have entered the celestial city 
 before him ; and as he contemplates their blameless 
 walk, their faith and patience under trials, their 
 simple obedience and dedication, and above all, the 
 blessed animating hope of an eternal inheritance, 
 which shed a bright radiance around their dying 
 beds, his whole soul kindles with desire to arise and 
 gird himself anew for the journey, and with in- 
 creased diligence and ardour, to press toward the 
 mark for the prize of his high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
LECTURE, 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE FRIARS' MEETING HOUSE, BRISTOL, 
 On the 21lh of First Month, 1858. 
 
 I FEEL that ill bringing before you the results of 
 some inquiries which I have recentlj^ made into the 
 early history of the Society of Friends in Bristol 
 and Somersetshire, it is due to myself to say a few 
 words as to the objects which I have in view, and in 
 reference to the course of Lectures of which this 
 forms a part. Let me, in the first place, disclaim 
 all idea of being able to present to you a complete 
 view of the subject. Such a disclaimer would, I 
 have no doubt, have been united in by those who 
 have preceded me in the delivery of Lectures here. 
 Whatever may have been their opportunities of re- 
 search, or their ability for making a profitable use 
 of the results which they have obtained, it must 
 have been felt by them impossible to do fall justice 
 to their respective subjects, within the short space 
 of time allotted to the delivery of these Lectures. 
 It would indeed be a mistake for any one who de- 
 sired to become well acquainted with a particular 
 subject, to expect to do so by listening to popular 
 8 (85) 
 
86 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 Lectures. If the information conveyed in them be 
 not superficial, it must at all events be very limited; 
 and it appears to me that a suggestive rather than 
 an exhaustive style is best adapted to such dis- 
 courses; and that the object to be aimed at in them 
 is to afibrd such an introduction of a subject to the 
 hearers as may either induce them to pursue it tho- 
 roughly, or may at least increase their acquaintance 
 with it. The latter is all that can be hoped for in 
 many cases ; nor do I think that knowledge of an 
 imperfect character is to be despised. It may be 
 better to learn thoroughly one of the lessons placed 
 before us in the great book of knowledge, than to 
 learn several imperfectly. But there are few men 
 Avho have time and ability to extend this thorough 
 knowledge to more than a very few subjects; and it 
 is surely a mistake to suppose that a man engaged 
 in such pursuit should shut his eyes and ears to the 
 information he may be able to pick up as he goes 
 along through life, about a variety of things, with 
 which it is impossible he should obtain more than a 
 slight acquaintance, is'either ought we to overlook 
 the benefit to be derived by the Lecturers them- 
 selves : and judging from the pleasure and interest 
 which I have derived from the preparation of the 
 present sketch, I am quite prepared to encourage 
 others to engage in similar undertakings. 
 
 I am sure that it has not been with the least wish 
 to restrict the interests of those for whose benefit 
 these Lectures were chiefly designed, that they have 
 
T A N X E R ' S L E C T r n E S . 
 
 87 
 
 been confined to a small, though important class 
 • of subjects ; but simply because there appeared to 
 be no lack in Bristol of Lectures of a scientific and 
 literar}' character. Many Lectures are indeed given 
 elsewhere in this city, similar to those which engage 
 our attention here : but it has seemed as if there 
 was a certain range of subjects, having a bearing 
 on our position as members of a Christian congre- 
 gation, in regard to which it behoves us to endea- 
 vour to become helpful one to another. The quali- 
 fication for occupying that position faithfully, is one 
 indeed which cannot be conferred by the communi- 
 cation of merely intellectual knowledge ; but, on 
 the other hand, it would be a mistake to undervalue 
 anything which throws light upon it. It is, as I 
 feel well assured, very important that, occupying as 
 we do the place of a small section of the professing 
 Church, we should accustom ourselves to regard 
 this position of ours from various points of view ; 
 and that we should bring to bear upon it, so far as 
 we are able, the experience of other ages and of 
 other Churches. AVe have been much indebted to 
 the labours of those who, in preceding Lectures, 
 have traced some periods both of ancient and of 
 comparatively modern ecclesiastical history. Some 
 of these sketches have had an important bearing on 
 the still more recent times in which our Society 
 arose. I should have been very glad if the present 
 Lecture could have been preceded by a sketch of the 
 ecclesiastical history of England during the latter 
 
88 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 part of the sixteenth and the first half of the seven- 
 teenth century, because I do not believe that the • 
 ground occupied by our early Friends can be fully 
 understood, without our becoming acquainted wdth 
 some of the events which had transpired, and the 
 opinions and sentiments which had prevailed in the 
 period preceding that in which George Fox made 
 known his views. ^ There would seem to me to be a 
 connexion still more important between the earlier 
 and later history of the Society of Friends itself; 
 and it is this conviction which has induced me to 
 avail myself of such means of information as have 
 been within my reach, in order to the preparation 
 of a brief sketch of our local history. 
 
 I have felt that in such an inquiry, as in all others 
 relating to the past history of the Church, two mis- 
 takes of an opposite kind had need to be guarded 
 asrainst. The one is that of institutius^ an unfavour- 
 able comparison of the past with the present, by 
 judging of the characters and opinions of those who 
 have gone before us, without due reference to the 
 circumstances in which they were placed, and the 
 character of the times in which they lived, or to the 
 superior advantages which may in some respects be 
 
 ^ Since this Lecture was finished I have had an opportunity 
 of reading the " Introductory Remarks " prefixed to an Ameri- 
 can Memoir of George Fox, published some years since. These 
 Remarks, which are said to have been written by Thomas Evans 
 of Pliiladelphia, contain by far the best introduction to the his- 
 tory of Friends which I have yet seen. The book has been re- 
 published in England in a cheap form and extensively circulated- 
 
tanner's lectures. 89 
 
 enjoj-ed by ourselves. The other danger to which I 
 allude arises from that undue reverence for the past 
 which would lead us to an indiscriminate reception 
 of its teaching, and would cause us to forget the in- 
 junction of our Lord, " Call no man your father 
 upon the earth, for one is your Father which is in 
 heaven." There has been but one period of the 
 Church of Christ, whence infallible teaching has 
 been handed down to us; that in which our Lord 
 and His apostles made known the great truths of 
 the gospel. How broad is the line of demarcation 
 between those inspired writings iu which their 
 words have been preserved, and those of the very 
 men who listened to their teachino^. Beautiful and 
 instructive as were the extracts, presented to us in a 
 former Lecture, from the writings of those who are 
 called the Apostolic Fathers, there are nevertheless 
 statements and opinions put forth in them which 
 preclude the idea that these writings should be re- 
 ceived as authoritative declarations of the truth. It 
 is incumbent indeed on those who set up a claim to 
 infallibility on behalf of the teachings of their church 
 to show that, both in past and in present times, all 
 which has been set forth as truth on the authority 
 of that church, is really true : but if such an attempt 
 were to be made by any who call themselves Pro- 
 testants, it would go far to prove that they are Pro- 
 testants only in name. Above all would it be in- 
 consistent in the successors of those who stood, as I 
 believe our forefathers to have done, in the foremost 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 rank of Protestants, and whoso mission it was to 
 call the people away from the authority of man, and 
 to direct them to the authority of Christ, to set up 
 the authority of these good men in the place of that 
 which they sought to overthrow. I may here quote 
 the declaration of Wm. Penn, that " Articles of 
 faith ever ought to be (expressed) in the very lan- 
 guage of Holy Writ."^ 
 
 A few sentences have sufficed to enable me to 
 disclaim the intention of deriving from the past an}'' 
 other authority than that which brethren may exer- 
 cise over each other in love ; but it is a for more 
 difficult thing to obtain one's self, or to present to 
 others, such a view of the circumstances under 
 which our Society arose as shall enable us really to 
 understand the position of its earlier members. I 
 cannot attempt to supply the want before adverted 
 to, of a sketch of the previous ecclesiastical period ; 
 but I must remind you of a few points connected 
 with it. Dissent from the churches established by 
 law in different countries had already made con- 
 siderable progress. It had in fact existed in the 
 minds of men ever since man had bes^un to exert a 
 spiritual tyranny over his fellows : and now that the 
 right of formal dissent from the Church of Kome 
 had been established by the Episcopal Church of 
 this country, it was inevitable that others should in 
 their turn separate themselves from its communion ; 
 
 ' Address to Protestants, p. 750, Vol. I., Penn's Works, 
 ed. 1720. 
 
T A N X E R ' S L E C T U 11 E S . 
 
 91 
 
 seeing that whilst it came out from many of the errors 
 of the Papacy, it undertook to prescribe services from 
 which many were compelled to turn away. I need 
 only refer, in support of this remark, to the Bap- 
 tismal and Burial Services contained in the Prayer 
 Book.^ But was there no satisfactory resting-place 
 to be found in any of the numerous bodies of Dis- 
 senters which sprang up about this time, for a man 
 holding such views as George Fox did, without his 
 adding still another to the sects into which the pro- 
 fessing Church was divided ? I think not, and for 
 these reasons, among others, (and I am far from 
 stating them as the only ones,) that whilst the more 
 respectable bodies of Dissenters restricted religious 
 liberty by confining the services of the congregation 
 to one man, and expecting their members to receive 
 an outward sign of communion at his hands, (not to 
 mention their adoption of formal creeds ;) there was 
 in other sects, such as the Eanters, a state of reli- 
 gious anarchy, and a want of spirituality of mind, 
 which unfitted them to discharge the duties of 
 Christian Churches. It is hard to say what the 
 Xational Church really was during some of the first 
 years of our Society's existence : I mean under the 
 Commonwealth, and the Protectorate of Oliver 
 Cromwell. Episcopacy was overthrown ; and In- 
 lependency had gained so much upon Presbyterian- 
 
 1 No man could well have done more than John Wesley did 
 in the following century, to retain his allegiance to the Esta- 
 blished Church ; but this effort proved a very unsuccessful one. 
 
92 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 ism that a compromise had to be effected ; and the 
 last mentioned parties were not the only ones repre- 
 sented in the governing body set up in the Church, 
 under Oliver Cromwell. The period was emphati- 
 cally one of convulsion, both in church and state. 
 Changes followed each other in such rapid succes- 
 sion that the national mind was kept in a state of 
 feverish excitement, which naturally gave rise to • 
 wild fanaticism in some, and tended to exasperate 
 the feelings of the different parties towards one an- 
 other. In a work published in 1646, sixteen differ- 
 ent sects of Christians are enumerated as being then 
 in existence in England. 
 
 In attempting to trace the effects produced in this ^ 
 part of the country by the labours of George Fox 
 and his brethren, there is no need for me to enter at 
 any length on the consideration of their characters 
 and writings ; but I cannot satisfactorily pass to the 
 consideration of these results, without adverting to 
 the varied notice which the early Friends have re- 
 ceived at the hands of some modern authors. Per- 
 haps our tendency has been to be over sensitive as 
 to what other people say about us. At all events, 
 I believe we have had of late more occasion to be 
 uneasy on account of the damaging praise which 
 some writers have bestowed on George Fox and his 
 cotemporaries, than in regard to the unfair and un- 
 just aspersions of others. I do not allude to authors 
 and lecturers like W. Ilepworth Dixon and George 
 Dawson, who have occupied themselves with giving 
 
T A X N E R ' S LECTURES. 
 
 93 
 
 prominence to the mental and moral characteristics 
 of George Fox and William Penn ; but to authors 
 like Bancroft, the American historian, who, taking 
 advantage of certain objectionable forms of expres- 
 sion, contained in some of the early writings, and 
 overlooking the plain declarations of gospel truth 
 to be found in them, have attempted to show that, 
 in giving such prominence as they did to the great 
 doctrine of the Holy Spirit's influence, they were 
 only directing men to the light of nature. There is 
 something in these representations so specious, and 
 so attractive to a certain class of minds, that they 
 are far more likely, as it seems to me, to prove mis- 
 chievous, than the unkind aspersions with which 
 other writers, like Macaulay, have sought to defame 
 our forefathers. Xo candid reader who possesses a 
 moderate acquaintance w^ith the lives and characters 
 of George Fox and William Penn, can read Ma- 
 caulay's strictures upon them, without perceiving 
 that he has acted the part of a prejudiced advocate, 
 rather than of an impartial judge. And as respects 
 his representations of George Fox's imbecility, it 
 has always seemed to me, that even if his absurd 
 caricature were a correct likeness, it would only 
 make it the more remarkable that such a man 
 should have been the instrument in introducing a 
 system, which while it took up a position in ad- 
 vance of other Protestant systems, as respects its re- 
 nunciation of priestly and sacramental pretensions, 
 its practical recognition of the Spirit's teaching, and 
 
94 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 the unyielding obedience to some neglected com- 
 mands of Christ which it inculcated, has steered 
 clear at the same time of follies such as characte- 
 rized some of the short lived sects which started 
 into existence about the same time. William Penn 
 expresses indeed his great satisfaction that a man 
 raised up to do such work as George Fox's, was 
 "not of high degree, or elegant speech, or learned 
 after this world ;" but it seems to me impossible to 
 read William Penn's very striking description of 
 this remarkable man contained in the preface to his 
 Journal, without perceiving, that however defective 
 in educational training, his natural character was 
 one which, under the influence of Divine grace, re- 
 markably fitted him for his work. I allude espe- 
 cially to that rare combination of manly courage, 
 and dauntless intrepidity, with gentleness of mind 
 and delicacy of feeling, which was so strikingly ex- 
 hibited in his case. William Penn says of him, 
 "As he was unwearied, so he was undaunted in his 
 services for God and His people. His behavior (in 
 a variety of instances to which he refers, including 
 his appearance in Westminster Hall, and before 
 Oliver Cromwell,) did abundantly evidence it to his 
 enemies as well as to his friends." "He was no 
 more to be moved to fear than to wrath. So meek, 
 contented, modest, eas}^, steady, tender, it was a 
 pleasure to be in his company." It should be re- 
 membered that William Penn had, as he tells us, 
 been George Fox's companion for weeks and months 
 
T A N X E R ' S L E C T U U E S 
 
 95 
 
 together, on divers occasions. He speaks too of the 
 originality of his mind and the soundness of his un- 
 derstanding: — "As to man, he was an original, 
 being no man's copy;" and, "whilst he was igno- 
 rant of useless and sophistical science, he had in him 
 the foundation of useful and commendable know- 
 ledge, and cherished it everywhere." Of his polite- 
 ness he says " he was civil beyond all forms of 
 breeding." The whole of this description of George 
 Fox, in the preface to his Journal, is well worth 
 reading. So too is Thomas EUwood's account, 
 whk;h follows it. I must quote two or three sen- 
 tences from the latter. He says of George Fox, 
 " He was valiant for the truth, bold in asserting it, 
 patient in suflering for it, unwearied in labouring in 
 it, steady in his testimony to it; immoveable as a 
 rock." "A severe reprover of hard and obstinate 
 sinners ; a mild and gentle admonisher of such as 
 were tender and sensible of their failings ; not apt 
 to resent personal wrongs; easy to forgive injuries: 
 but zealously earnest where the honor of God, the 
 prosperity of truth, and the peace of the Church 
 were concerned. Very tender, compassionate, and 
 pitiful he was, to all who were under any sort of af- 
 fliction ; full of brotherly love, full of fatherly care." 
 
 There have been other authors of late who, 
 though diflering widely from some of our Christian 
 views, and labouring too under some misapprehen- 
 sions, have, nevertheless, shown a disposition to 
 treat our early history candidly and fairly. I might 
 
96 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 instance Marsden, in his Dictionary of Christian 
 sects ; and Colquhoun, in his Sketches of Notable 
 Lives. Marsden is a clergyman of the Church of 
 England; and his account of Friends, as of other 
 sects, is singularly fair and impartial. Colquhoun, 
 who is also a member of the Church of England, 
 assigns to George Fox the credit of having prepared 
 the way for the establishment of religious freedom. 
 He seems to regard this, indeed, as the chief part 
 of his mission : and though the service which he 
 rendered in that direction was but a secondary re- 
 sult of his upholding the paramount authority of 
 Christ in the Church, it was doubtless essentially 
 connected with it. There is an epistle from George 
 Fox to one of the European sovereigns, written for 
 the purpose of representing to him the persecution 
 from which his subjects suffered, in which many 
 quotations are given from Christian writers, for the 
 purpose of showing that the doctrine of liberty of 
 conscience had been recognized, in theory at least, 
 in the later as well as in the earlier periods of church 
 history. There were also some remarkable testi- 
 monies borne by authors cotemporary with George 
 Fox — by Jeremy Taylor and John Milton in par- 
 ticular, to what the former denominates " the liberty 
 of prophesying." That great principle had just re- 
 ceived a practical illustration in the course pursued 
 by Eoger Williams, a puritan minister, who having 
 been expelled from New England, had established 
 a system of universal toleration in Rhode Island. 
 
T A N N E ll' S L E C T U II E S . 
 
 97 
 
 "Nor can I omit to mention the remarkable example 
 of two Archbishops in the^eventeenth century (one 
 of them a Roman Catholic) F^nelon in France, and 
 Leighton in Scotland, who, being entrusted by their 
 respective sovereigns with the task of inducing Dis- 
 senters to submit to church authority, declined to 
 avail themselves of armed force, choosing to rely 
 only on the weapons which the spiritual armoury 
 supplied. AVe may well apply to them the test of 
 true greatness of mind, which Dr. Arnold proposed, 
 that of men's soaring above the opinions of their 
 time into the regions of eternal truth. Tolerant 
 opinions certainl}^ did not belong to their time; and 
 in this countr}', as Colquhoun remarks, the " opinion 
 held its ground which the Commonwealth inherited 
 from the Monarch}-, and bequeathed to the Restora- 
 tion, in which the Church and the Sectary were 
 agreed — that conscience was to be governed by sta- 
 tute, and religion enforced by law." He adds, "It 
 was no easy matter to gainsay these views ; and yet 
 they must be uprooted if conscience was to be free. 
 The man who would attempt this had a hard task, 
 and needed rare qualities ; a daring spirit, yet 
 matchless patience ; the courage which could brave 
 violence, yet the gentleness ^vhich could disarm hos- 
 tility, and win prejudice by mild persuasion." Such 
 a man he describes George Fox to have been.^ 
 
 * Since extracting this passage, I have discovered that a simi- 
 lar one is quoted by John Ilodgkin, in his Lecture at Birming- 
 ham, on "the progress of religious liberty, &c.," from a paper 
 9 G 
 
tanner's LICCTURES. 
 
 The city of Bristol appears to have partaken, to 
 the full extent, of the excitement and the varying 
 opinions on religions subjects, of which I have 
 spoken, as having characterized the period alluded 
 to. In a farewell sermon preached by Major Kem, 
 one of Cromwell's officers, to his regiment, in 1646, 
 he says, "It is a sad time, this, but a more sad 
 omen of wwser times, even the rabble of opinions 
 in this city of Bristol : of which I may say, 'as the 
 sword hath slain many, so hath error many more, 
 in a few months' time.' One while, such a man 
 preacheth truth, and you are willing to pluck out 
 your eyes to do him good : a little while after, you 
 are ready to pull out his eyes, and he is a low man, 
 and not worthy your presence, and so, discouraged. 
 How many w^ays do you make to heaven in this 
 place ? I beseech you, where I am related unto, to 
 look to your guards : keep a strict watch : double 
 your guard: eye your sally-ports: and put on the 
 whole armour of God."^ But amidst this rabble of 
 opinions, and notwithstanding the wild extrava- 
 gance of some, and the lifeless formality of others, 
 there w^ere to be found in Bristol, as in many other 
 places, a number of stedfast and earnest inquirers, 
 
 by Colquhoun, in the Christian Observer. J. II. adds John 
 Locke's name to those of Taylor and Milton, as a cotemporary 
 •writer favourable to religious liberty. I would strongly recom- 
 mend the reading of this Lecture, which is published in the 
 form of a pamphlet, to any of my friends who have not seen it. 
 
 1 Sayer's History of Bristol, Vol. 11., p. 465. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 99 
 
 who, wearied with the contradictory teachings of 
 men, were longing for rest unto their souls : and some, 
 too, who, like George Fox, were unable conscien- 
 tiously to retain their connexion with the religious 
 sects to which they belonged. Charles Marshall, who 
 was born in Bristol, in 1637, says, in speaking of 
 his childhood, "I went with my mother to the In- 
 dependent meetings, in the days of that people's 
 tenderness and sincerity ; and sometimes I went to 
 the Baptists' meeting, and in public, to hear those 
 men who were esteemed most zealous in their day. 
 Among those people, and in those assemblies, there 
 were awakenings inwardly through the stirrings 
 and strivings of the gift of God, under the sense of 
 which living pantings and breathings were in many 
 of their souls, after the true spiritual knowledge of 
 God, who is a Spirit." After speaking of declen- 
 sion as having followed these awakenings, he adds, 
 "And in those times, viz., about the year 1654, 
 there were many who were seeking after the Lord ; 
 and there were a few of us who kept one day in 
 the week in fasting and prayer; so that when this 
 day came, we met together early in the morning, 
 and did not taste anything. We sat down some- 
 times in silence ; and as any found a concern on 
 their spirits and inclination in their hearts, they 
 kneeled down and sought the Lord ; so that some- 
 times, before the day ended, there might be twenty 
 of us pray, men and women ; on some of these oc* 
 casions. children spake a few words in prayer ; and 
 
100 
 
 tanner's lectuhes. 
 
 we were sometimes greatly bowed and broken be- 
 fore the Lord in humility and tenderness. Unto 
 one of these, our meetings, in the year 1654, came 
 dearly beloved John Audland and John Camra, 
 messengers of the ever-living God."^ This brings 
 us to the first visit paid to Bristol by those who had 
 become united with George Fox as members and 
 ministers of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Ten years had now elapsed since the Christian 
 doctrines preached by George Fox had begun to 
 spread amongst the inhabitants of Leicestershire, 
 his native county ; and many in the northern coun- 
 ties of England had, in the meantime, become 
 united with them in religious profession. George 
 Fox tells us that, in this year, his fellow-labourers 
 in the ministry were above sixty in number; and 
 he mentions different districts of the country into 
 which they went forth, some of them by two and 
 two, and others single handed. That the fields 
 were white to harvest, was evidenced by the multi- 
 tudes who everywhere gathered around these de- 
 voted men, and by the readiness with which their 
 testimony was received. This was strikingly ttie 
 case in Bristol, where the companies of people who 
 thronged to listen to the preaching of John Aud- 
 land and John Camm were so great, that no house 
 could contain them. " The places of meeting were 
 too streight," says an early historian, "the assem- 
 blies thereupon in the open fields, though it was 
 
 ^ Journal of Charles Marshall, Chap. I. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 101 
 
 \\'inter, were multiplied to two, three, nay, some- 
 times to near four thousand people." Edward Bur- 
 rough and Francis Howgill, who had, in the early 
 part of this year, visited London, and been instru- 
 mental to the gathering of a large Society there, 
 came also to Bristol ; and though their labours, to- 
 gether with those of John Audland and John 
 Camm, excited a strong and violent opposition on 
 the part of both ministers and people, a number of 
 steadfast followers gathered around them.^ Among 
 the earliest of the Bristol converts were Charles 
 Marshall, from whose Journal I have quoted ; Jo- 
 siah Coale ; Dennis Ilollistcr, a Deacon in the con- 
 gregation of Dissenters, meeting in Broadmead ; 
 Barbara Blagdon, Edward Pyot, and George Bishop. 
 Fuller, in his History of Dissent, &c., describes D. 
 Hollister as a great man in the corporation, and a 
 Member of Parliament; but I do not find his name 
 among the Members for Bristol. E. Pyot and G. 
 Bishop are described as " Captains," and had held 
 commissions in the army, under the Parliament. 
 George Fox, speaking in the following year of a 
 
 ^ John Audland and Francis Ilowgill had both been ministers 
 in another denomination before they became Friends ; and on 
 making the change, they returned to their flocks the money 
 which they ha^ received in that capacity. Edward Burrougb, 
 who is described by Marsden as the Whitfield of the party, died 
 in Newgate, London, at the age of twenty-height. Being in 
 Bristol shortly before, he told some of his friends that he was 
 going up to the city of London again, to lay down his life for 
 the gospel, and to sufi*er amongst Friends in that place. 
 9 * 
 
102 tanner's lectures. 
 
 large meeting at Reading, says, thither came 
 George Bishop, of Bristol, with his sword by his 
 side, for he was a Captain." It does not appear 
 whether George Fox gave him the advice which he 
 is said to have done to William Penn, on the lat- 
 ter's asking him whether he would advise him to 
 give np wearing his sword, "I advise thee to wear 
 it as long as thou canst." ^ John Audland and John 
 Camm visited Somersetshire and other parts of the 
 West of England at this time. Among the earliest 
 and most eminent of the Somersetshire Friends, 
 were Jasper Batt, of Street, and John Anderdon, 
 of Bridgewater. The names of Clark, Metford, 
 Clothier, and Gun dry, occur at a very early period 
 in the middle division ; those of Alloway, Ferris 
 and Parsons, and afterwards of Pole, in the "West ; 
 and in the North, we have those of John and 
 Samuel Hipsley, Arthur and Abraham Thomas, 
 and Edmund Beakes. The last named Friend lived 
 at Portshead, in the house now occupied by James 
 Tanner. George Fox's first visit to Bristol was in 
 1656. Edward Pyot had been his companion in a 
 journey through the Western counties, commenced 
 in the previous year, and had sufiered a severe im- 
 
 ' This anecdote is given by Janney, in his Memoir of Wil- 
 liam Penn, on what he considers reliable tradition. The ac- 
 count goes on to state that, -when the two Friends next met, 
 George Fox said, "William, where is thy sword?" "Oh!'' 
 said William Penn, " I have taken thy advice ; I wore it as long 
 as I could." 
 
T A X X E R ' S L E C T U 11 E S . 
 
 103 
 
 prisonment with him in Lauuceston gaol. After 
 their liberation, they came by way of Exeter and 
 Taunton to Puddimore, in Somersetshire. George 
 Fox says, " a great convincement there was up and 
 down in that countiy — mauy meetings we had, and 
 the Lord's power was over all ; many were turned 
 by the power and Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who died for them, and came to sit under 
 His free teaching." George Fox next accompanied 
 Edward Pyot, his late fellow prisoner, to his house 
 near Bristol, arriving there on a seventh-day. The 
 followinoj mornins: he attended the meetinsj in 
 Broadmead, which was large and quiet. ISTotice 
 was given of a meeting to be held in the Orchard, 
 which Friends then made use of for their larger 
 gatherings. As he was on his way to this meeting, 
 George Fox was told that a noted opponent of 
 Friends would be present; "but," true to himself, 
 he adds, "I bid them never heed, it was nothing to 
 me who went to it." He mentions having stood 
 for some time in silence, on the stone in the orchard 
 (which Friends used in speaking,) with his hat off, 
 letting the people look at him, some thousands 
 being present. The expected opponent came and 
 made some disturbance, but was soon silenced, and 
 George Fox adds, " a glorious, peaceable meeting 
 we had; the word of life was divided amongst 
 them ; and they were turned from darkness to 
 light, and to Jesus their Saviour." After speaking 
 for hours, and directing them, as he says, to the 
 
104 tanner's lectures. 
 
 Spirit of God in themselves that would lead them 
 into all truth, he concluded with prayer. "The 
 Lord's power," he adds, " came over all. A blessed 
 day it was, and the Lord had the praise." At 
 Edward Pyot's house he had another large meet- 
 ing, at which he says, " many were turned to Christ 
 Jesus their life, their Prophet to teach them, their 
 Shepherd to feed them, and their Bishop to oversee 
 them." 
 
 In the following year (1657,) George Fox was 
 again in Bristol ; and three years later, on his return 
 from Cornwall, he passed again through Somerset- 
 shire, where he had " divers large and peaceable 
 meetings ;" and arrived in Bristol, as on the occasion 
 of his first visit, at the end of the week. Finding 
 that Friends had been driven out of the orchard, 
 the day before, by a company of soldiers, he re- 
 quested George Bishop, Thomas Gouldney, Thomas 
 Speed, and Edward Pyot, to go to the Mayor and 
 Aldermen, and ask them to allow Friends the use 
 of the Town Hall to meet in, and to offer at the 
 same time to pay £20 per annum to the poor, as 
 compensation for its use. These Friends were 
 astonished, and said the Mayor and Aldermen 
 w^ould think they were mad. At last they con- 
 sented to go, "though in the cross to their own 
 wills;" and they seem to have been agreeably dis- 
 appointed with their reception. On hearing their 
 proposal the Mayor said, "for his part he could 
 agree to it; but he was but one." He mentioned 
 
T A X X E R ' S LEG T U R E S 
 
 105 
 
 another hall to them, which would not, however, 
 answer their purpose. ^' So the}' came awa}', leaving 
 the Mayor in a very loving frame towards them." 
 It was concluded that the meeting on the following 
 day should be held in the orchard, as usual ; and 
 though some formidable opposition was offered, it 
 gave wa}'. Again a large meeting was held at 
 Edward Pyot's house, at which it was judged several 
 thousands of people attended. Friends from other 
 places were present ; and some of the Baptists and 
 Independents, with their teachers, and many others 
 of the sober people of Bristol, insomuch that the 
 people who stayed behind said, "the city looked 
 naked." George Fox says of this meeting, "it was 
 ver}' quiet, many glorious truths were opened to 
 the people, and the Lord Jesus Christ was set up, 
 who is the end of all figures and shadows, of the 
 law, and the first covenant." 
 
 In 1662 George Fox had a narrow escape from 
 imprisonment in Bristol. Alexander Parker, his 
 companion, standing up first to speak, was carried 
 off to prison. George Fox stood up after him, but 
 was unmolested. He says, "I tarried till first day 
 following, visiting Friends, and being visited by 
 Friends. On first day morning several Friends 
 came to Edward Pyot's, where I lay the night 
 before, and used endeavours to persuade me not to 
 go to the meeting that day ; for the magistrates 
 had threatened to take me, and had raised the 
 trained bands. I wished them to go to the meeting, 
 
106 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 not telling them what I intended to do ; but I told 
 Edward Pjot I intended to go, and he sent his son 
 to show me the way from his house, by the fields. 
 As I went I met divers Friends, who did what they 
 could to stop me : 'What,' said one, 'wilt thou go 
 into the mouth of the beast?' ' Wilt thou go into 
 the mouth of the dragon V said another. I put 
 them by, and went on. When I came to the 
 meeting, Margaret Thomas was speaking. When 
 she had done I stood up. I saw a concern and fear 
 upon Friends for me ; but the power of the Lord, 
 in which I declared, soon struck the fear out of 
 them. Life sprang, and a heavenly, glorious meet- 
 ing we had." The meeting ended peaceably, the 
 soldiers having, meanwhile, been employed in 
 breaking up another meeting. (Of George Fox's 
 marriage in Bristol, I shall liave to speak hereafter.) 
 
 On his return from America and the West Indies, 
 George Fox landed at Shirehampton, and went on 
 to Bristol, where he was met by his wife, by William 
 Penn, and others. Here again he held large meet- 
 ings, and from the account given of them in his 
 Journal, he may, emphatically, be said to have 
 preached Christ to the people. This was in 1673. 
 Five years before this he speaks of a visit to Bristol, 
 and of the establishment of men's and women's 
 meetings for discipline in this city. This exactly 
 tallies with our Bristol records : the first meeting 
 for discipline, of which the minutes are preserved, 
 having been held in the third month, 1667. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 107 
 
 Before entering on the subject of the discipline 
 and of the state of the society in those early days, 
 as indicated by these records, the mention of which 
 must be reserved for a future Lecture, it is needful 
 to turn to that which was the most prominent 
 feature in our history in those times, the severe and 
 almost constant persecution under which its members 
 suffered. In Bristol and Somersetshire, as else- 
 where, persecution commenced with the rise of the 
 Society, and pursued it with but little interruption 
 for upwards of thirty, and in some places for nearly 
 forty years. The persecutions of this period were 
 less barbarous indeed than those which befel the 
 first teachers of the Reformed Churches. Christian 
 civilization had made great progress since the days 
 in which William Tyndale and John Frith gave to 
 their countrymen the invaluable treasure of the 
 printed English Bible ; and sealed their testimony 
 to its truths with their blood, as did many others 
 of their time, and as the disciples of Wj'ckliffe had 
 done before them. The reaction which took place 
 in the reign of Queen Mary had been mercifully cut 
 short. It was a true prophecy which was uttered 
 by the venerable Latimer, for the encouragement 
 of Ridley, his brother martyr, as they were being 
 chained to the stake, " Be of good courage. Master 
 Ridley, and play the man ; we shall this day light 
 such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as, I 
 trust, shall never be put out." 
 
 The progress which civil liberty had made, also 
 
108 
 
 tanner's L E C T U li E s . 
 
 produced a very marked effect, as regards the re- 
 straints which were imposed on those persecutions 
 of which I speak. Juries were less ready than they 
 had been to convict prisoners, in violation of their 
 conscientious convictions. The inhuman practice 
 of legal torture ceased in England under the 
 Commonwealth : and thousfh men and women 
 were fined, scourged, imprisoned, and transported, 
 for daring to worship God as their consciences 
 dictated, and even incurred a liability to the punish- 
 ment of death, that sentence was no longer carried 
 into execution in England for such offences. Even 
 among the Puritans of New England, the gallows 
 was substituted for the stake. But if the treatment 
 of Protestant Dissenters under Cromwell and 
 Charles II. was comparatively mikl, how cruel must 
 have been the previous suffering endured by them ? 
 Let us turn for a short time to the consideration of 
 what in those days was involved in the punishment 
 of being sent to prison. It was not the mere de- 
 privation of personal liberty, the being shut up as 
 prisoners now are, in apartments so well warmed 
 and ventilated, and with such a supply of wholesome 
 food, that it is to be feared many a poor man is in- 
 duced to commit crime for the very purpose of find- 
 ing an asylum within the prison walls. Our early 
 Friends were not a complaining people, but some 
 of the representations which they had to make in 
 Bristol and Somersetshire, as elsewhere, of the state 
 of the cells and dungeons in which they were 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 109 
 
 herded together, are of the most loathsome character. 
 If any one should be disposed to think that such 
 cases were exceptional, he would do well to turn to 
 that faithful and humiliating picture, which was 
 presented one hundred years later, of the condition 
 of our prisons, by that great and devoted friend of 
 mankind, John Howard. His work on prisons is 
 too large to find many readers ; but the " General 
 View of Distress in Prisons," which forms the first 
 section of it, deserves to be universally studied. I 
 am the more disposed to extract a few sentences 
 from it, because, in addition to my present purpose, 
 it may serve as a basis for the consideration of some 
 more recent efibrts which have been made for the 
 relief of prisoners, and, I might add, for the relief 
 of lunatics.^ The testimony of some of the authors 
 quoted by Howard on this sad subject relates to an 
 earlier, and of others to a later period than that of 
 our first Friends. He has the following sentence 
 from Lord Bacon, which has doubtless served as a 
 text to many a sanatory reformer : — " The most 
 pernicious infection, next the plague, is the smell 
 of a jail, when the prisoners have been long and 
 close and nastily kept ; whereof we have had in our 
 time experience twice or thrice, when both the 
 Judges that sat upon the jail, and numbers of those 
 who attended the business or were present, sickened 
 
 ' See Appendix. 
 
 10 
 
110 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 and died." This quotation is followed by the state- 
 ment, that at the Lent Assize in Taunton, in 1730, 
 some prisoners who were brought thither from II- 
 chester Jail infected the court, and Lord Chief 
 Baron Pengellj, Sir James Sheppard, Sergeant, 
 John Pigot, Esq., Sheriff, and some hundreds 
 besides, died of the jail distemper. The jail at II- 
 chester, mentioned in the last extract, is the one to 
 whicli I shall chiefly have to refer in speaking of 
 Somersetshire. In describing his own visit to it, 
 Howard mentions, " Straw on the stone floors, no 
 bedsteads, no infirmary, no bath." He does not 
 appear to have been shown the wTetclied dungeon 
 whicli was in use one hundred years before, and 
 which served not only the purpose of a condemned 
 cell, but also on some occasions as the receptacle 
 of innocent men — prisoners for conscience' sake. 
 "We may hope that this relic of barbarity no longer 
 existed, for there were few things which escaped the 
 penetrating eye of that undaunted man. On 
 Howard's visiting Bristol, he was shown the dun- 
 geon in Newgate, w^hich was then called the Pit, 
 and was, I suppose, the same as the West House, 
 often mentioned in the records of Friends' sufferings. 
 A descent of eighteen steps led down into this 
 miserable hole, wdiich he describes as close and 
 offensive. Of the old City Bridewell, which had 
 also been a place of grca.t suflfering to Friends, he 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 Ill 
 
 says, "All the rooms were very clirt}^, and made 
 offensive by sewers." The almost unlimited power 
 of many of the jailers, was another point which 
 claimed the special notice of Howard, and it was 
 one which had been connected with the worst 
 features of the imprisonment which befel our fore- 
 fathers. 
 
 The persecution of Friends in Bristol and Somer- 
 setshire followed to some extent the same course as 
 that of their brethren in other parts of the country. 
 It commenced under the Commonwealth, and be- 
 came still more severe under Charles II. The for- 
 mer period was doubtless one which brought great 
 relief to many who had suffered under the tyranny 
 of the Star Chamber and the High Commission; 
 and although Oliver Cromwell was doubtless re- 
 sponsible for the severe persecution which befel the 
 early Friends, it is probable that he acted in defer- 
 ence to popular clamour, rather than in accordance 
 with his own conviction. At all events, nothing 
 could well be stronger than his declarations in 
 favour of the free toleration of religious differences. 
 We need not be at any loss to account for the ex- 
 istence of popular prejudice in this instance, when 
 we remember the prevalence of bitter party feeling 
 before alluded to ; the extent to which the position 
 assumed by Friends was opposed to the views of 
 the previously existing sects ; the fact that Friends 
 
112 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 were not satisfied to act only on the defensive ; and 
 that although the cry for liberty was everywhere to 
 be heard, there were but few who understood in 
 what it consisted, or were willing to grant others 
 the freedom which they claimed for themselves.^ 
 
 The opposition with which our forefathers had to 
 contend, was no doubt aggravated by the success 
 which attended their preaching. In Bristol the 
 companies of inquiring people who attended the 
 meetings (large as they were,) were probably out- 
 numbered by the ignorant mobs assembled to insult 
 and injure them. John Audland and John Camm 
 were in great danger of their lives when, in pro- 
 ceeding towards Brislington to attend a meeting, a 
 large concourse of people prevented them from 
 passing the Bridge ; and carried them, amidst 
 threats and execrations, into the city ; where the 
 approach of officers of the garrison induced the 
 rioters to disperse. On the following day these 
 earnest-minded men reached Brislington, and held 
 
 * There is a sketch given in a pamphlet published by Friends 
 in 1656, of the party spirit which had prevailed in Bristol 
 during the previous eighteen years. Episcopacy is represented 
 as having persecuted Puritanism ; then Puritanism in the form 
 of the Presbytery opposed Episcopacy as popish and Independ- 
 ency as heresy. Afterwards Independency gained the ascendant, 
 and paid its persecutors in their own coin. And lastly, these 
 sects, and others with them, were leagued together against the 
 Quakers. 
 
tanner's lectures. 113 
 
 their meeting ; but the mob having again collected 
 on the Bridge, the magistrates, fearing bloodshed 
 would ensue, sent their Sword Bearer to prevent 
 the preachers from returning that way. One of the 
 Presbyterian ministers who now filled the pulpits 
 of the city, of the name of Farmer, is said to have 
 been especially active in inciting the rioters. 
 
 The magistrates certainly manifested a commend- 
 able zeal for the preservation of the peace of the 
 city ; but one of them in particular. Alderman Hel- 
 lier, showed great sympathy with the rioters : and 
 in reporting these tumults to the Protector, they 
 represented these innocent men against whom they 
 were raised as the cause of them. They also issued 
 a warrant for the apprehension of the strangers, in- 
 cluding in the number George Fox and James l^ay- 
 lor, neither of whom had then been in Bristol. 
 The absurd plea on which this warrant was issued, 
 was that of their being monks of the Franciscan 
 order from Rome, travelling under the guise of 
 Quakers. The opposition offered to these strangers 
 was subsequently turned against those who had em- 
 braced their doctrines, and they had to undergo a 
 severe ordeal of persecution, which was however 
 but an earnest of greater suffering in store for them. 
 At one of the Quarter Sessions, before which a 
 number of Friends had to appear, the Town Clerk 
 in charging the jury told them, the law did protect 
 10* H 
 
114 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 those who met together to sing, pray, read or ex- 
 pound the Scriptures ; but for people to meet 
 together, though in a private house, and to be 
 silent, was no part of religion, and therefore out of 
 the verge of the law. The Friends had no diflGlculty 
 in making it appear that this doctrine was as con- 
 trary to law as it was to sound sense ; and they fur- 
 ther showed that the statement on which it was 
 based was incorrect, as it was well known that they 
 did not meet together "resolving silence," and that 
 there was both prayer and preaching in their meet- 
 ings. Marsden, in his Dictionary of Christian 
 Sects, says, that the only excuse which can be 
 pleaded for the severity used towards Friends, was 
 furnished by the excesses into which some of those 
 connected with them were led. And after making 
 large allowance for the misrepresentations of adver- 
 saries, and even confining ourselves to Friends' own 
 statements, it is evident that a good deal of un- 
 healthy excitement prevailed. It could hardly in- 
 deed have been otherwise than that, in an age of 
 universal excess of feeling, many persons of ex- 
 citable temperament would gather to this new 
 standard of profession. In the early Bristol Minutes, 
 mention is made of two crazy persons, in particular, 
 by whom the meetings were disturbed from week 
 to week. And a severe trial awaited the newly 
 gathered Society in Bristol, in the visit paid by 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 115 
 
 James Xaylor, in company with a set of followers 
 who, on any other supposition than that of their 
 being insane, must be allowed to have rendered him 
 blasphemous homage. I cannot bring myself to 
 dwell on the painful details of their proceedings, 
 and of the still more inexcusable cruelty with which 
 James Xaylor was treated. There may be lessons 
 of instruction to be derived from these events, as 
 regards the effects which spiritual pride and vanity 
 may produce ; and from the humility and contrition 
 which marked I»[aylor's subsequent course : but 
 there was still more in his case, if I mistake not, 
 which pointed to a truth but little recognised in 
 that day, that there are diseased conditions of mind 
 which should rather be dealt with by the skill of 
 the physician, than by the branding-iron of the ex- 
 ecutioner. But if any shade of excuse was to be 
 found in such excesses for the indiscriminate perse- 
 cution of this suffering people, it must be borne in 
 mind that their suffering was everywhere received 
 with meekness and resignation, such as should have 
 disarmed prejudice and opposition. 
 
 In Somersetshire, as in Bristol, this period of the 
 commonwealth was one in which Friends suffered 
 greatly from the violence of mobs gathered to as- 
 sault them, and led on, as was too often the case, by 
 parish priests, and instigated by the magistrates 
 themselves. Companies of men armed with pitch- 
 
116 
 
 TANNER'S LECTURES. 
 
 forks, and other weapons, rushed into quiet village 
 meetings, causing the utmost disorder; and after- 
 wards accused the Friends so assembled of having 
 been concerned in a riot. In some instances the 
 horses of Friends who were riding to meeting were 
 taken from them ; and those who ventured a few 
 miles from their homes were apprehended on a 
 charge of vagranc}'. Among these is mentioned 
 John Evans, of Inglishcombe, near Bath. His wife, 
 Katherine Evans (a well-known name), having ven- 
 tured to preach repentance to the people, in the 
 market-place, at Salisbury, was, by the mayor's 
 order, tied to a whipping-post in the market, and 
 scourged by the beadle. Returning thither next 
 month, and exhorting the people as before, she was 
 sent to the Bridewell, and put into an offensive place 
 called the blind-house, where two madmen had 
 lately died. It is mentioned that she had been con- 
 fined, a little while before, in a cell w^ith an insane 
 w^oman. The magistrates proposing to renew the 
 former punishment, one of their number. Colonel 
 Wheat, zealously opposed it, and told the mayor 
 " they might as well have whipped the woman of 
 Samaria, w^ho brought good tidings into the town.'* 
 The accounts given of Katherine Evans present us 
 with a succession of cruel treatment, including im- 
 prisonments in Bristol, Ilchester, and elsewhere. 
 It was she who, in company with Sarah Cheevers, a 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 117 
 
 Wiltshire Friend, being on a religious visit in the 
 Mediterranean, was imprisoned in the Inquisition, 
 in Malta, in 1659, where they endured great suffer- 
 ing, for three years and a half. The house of the 
 Inquisition, in Malta, has now been rebuilt, and is 
 used as a guard-house for soldiers. I paid a visit to 
 it, during the winter of 1833-4, which I spent in 
 that island, with George Waring; but could not 
 identify any part of the premises with the account 
 given in Sewell's history, excepting the well, in the 
 central court of the building, to which the poor 
 prisoners were allowed access on a few occasions. 
 There is an epistle, from Sarah Cheevers, from the 
 Inquisition, in Malta, preserved amongst the papers 
 in our Quarterly Meeting's chest, at Bridgwater — 
 but not written, as I have heard it said, by means 
 of a stick, dipped in soot and water. The writing 
 is in the form of printed letters, and might have 
 been executed with any pointed instrument, but the 
 ink retains its original blackness. An additional 
 cause of sufiering to Friends resident in country 
 places, was the severe treatment pursued towards 
 them in the recovery of the ecclesiastical demands, 
 which thev refused. I select the followino^ from 
 among many such cases on record, as having oc- 
 curred in Somersetshire, during the Commonwealth. 
 As Henry Gundry, a husbandman, of Street, was 
 driving his oxen, he was arrested at the suit of a 
 
118 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 tithe-farmer. The bailiffs beat and abused him, and 
 hurried him away to Ilchester jail, without permit- 
 ting him to speak to his wife or any of his friends. 
 He continued a prisoner above fourteen months. 
 William Sergeant, of Bathford, had suffered ten 
 months' imprisonment for tithes, when the prose- 
 cutor entered another action against him and his 
 wife, and in the time of harvest, when the indus- 
 trious woman was taking care of their corn, arrested 
 and sent her also to prison. They had two trusty 
 servants, who diligently followed the harvest work ; 
 but they also were imprisoned; and, had it not 
 been for the kind interest of some of their neigh- 
 bours, the corn w^ould have been left unhoused. 
 This would not however have mattered much to 
 the poor man himself, for, after twenty months* 
 imprisonment, he died in jail. Another imprison- 
 ment for tithes, which at this time terminated in 
 death, was that of John Comb. At Wellington, 
 a poor journeyman was subpoenaed in the Ex- 
 chequer for a demand of two pence halfpenny. 
 The number of Friends imprisoned in England 
 during the Commonwealth, is stated in Knight's 
 Pictorial History of England, to have been 3173, 
 and of deaths in prison, 32. 
 
 The events of the first year of Charles the Se- 
 cond's reign (1660) served to convince our Friends 
 that there was no dependence to be placed on his 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 119 
 
 declaration from Breda, as to the liberty which he 
 would grant to tender consciences. In this one 
 year upwards of 4000, and one account says 5000, 
 Friends were imprisoned, chiefly in connexion with 
 a proclamation issued by the King against their 
 meetings : an excuse for which was furnished by the 
 rising of the Fifth Monarchy men. Of this number, 
 212, imprisoned at Ilchester, were shamefully used 
 by the keeper. Their friends were not allowed to 
 bring them food or bedding : many were thrust into 
 wretched apartments, and not allowed the use of 
 straw to lie on. In Bristol 65 persons assembled at 
 Dennis Hollister's house were carried off to prison, 
 and a like number the following week, making in 
 all about 190 prisoners in Bristol. D. Hollister and 
 G. Bishop, being summoned before the Mayor, 
 arguments were used to dissuade, and threats to 
 terrify them from meeting : but they answered with 
 Christian courage and freedom that they thought it 
 their duty to meet in obedience to the requiriogs of 
 the Lord, whom they ought to obey rather than 
 man : and that they might as well think to hinder 
 the sun from rising, and the tide from flowing, as 
 to think to hinder the Lord's people from meet- 
 ing to wait upon Him, w^hilst but two of them were 
 left together. They were sent to join their brethren 
 in prison : but happily a speedy liberation was ob- 
 tained for those who were subjected to this impri- 
 
120 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 sonment, through the unwearied intercession of 
 Margaret Fell with the King. The spirit of perse- 
 cution having now become rampant, there was no 
 difficulty in obtaining legal sanction for the severest 
 measures. The laws passed in the reigns of Eliza- 
 beth and James I. against popish recusants, were 
 now turned against Protestant Dissenters. By one 
 of the acts of Elizabeth's reign, £20 per month 
 might be imposed for neglecting the attendance of 
 the parish church ; and by another of these acts, 
 the neglect of such attendance, and the going to 
 conventicles, was made a ground of imprisonment, 
 and, if persisted in, declared to be felony. In addi- 
 tion to the rigour of these and other old laws, the 
 power of the ecclesiastical courts was restored under 
 Charles 11. ; and, under writs of excommunication, 
 multitudes of Friends and others were committed 
 to prison. And yet all these destructive powers 
 were judged insufficient, and one act after another 
 was passed in this intolerant reign, with the design 
 of restricting religious liberty still further. One of 
 these measures, passed in 1662, was against the re- 
 fusal to swear; and prohibiting as many as five of 
 the people called Quakers from meeting together. 
 It prescribed transportation for the third oiFence. 
 The Act of Banishment, as it was called, was passed 
 in 1664. It made seven years' transportation the 
 punishment for the third offence of attending con- 
 
tanner's lectures. 121 
 
 venticles. The goods of the prisoners were to be 
 sold, and the profits of lands sequestered, to defray 
 the charges of transportation. A third, which was 
 called the Conventicles Act, prescribed fines of £20 
 on the preacher, X40 for the second oftence, and 
 .£20 on the house. Of these fines one-third be- 
 longed to the King, one-third to the informers, and 
 one-third to the poor of the parish : but it was 
 remarked by one who had witnessed the operation 
 of this measure, that the Justices and informers be- 
 ing commonly poor themselves, kept the poor's part 
 and the King's too. It may easily be imagined 
 what would be the operation of such a measure in 
 an age which stands disgraced, beyond most others, 
 by the manner in which informers plied their 
 wretched trade. By far the largest portion of the suf- 
 fering which befell Friends in this reign, arose from 
 the attendance of meetings, and the refusal to swear. 
 Their testimony against oaths involved them also in 
 various civil disabilities. In Bristol, and other cor- 
 porate towns and cities, young men who had served 
 their apprenticeship were prevented from following 
 the trade they had learnt, because their refusal to 
 swear was a bar to their taking up the freedom of 
 the city. Others were precluded from recovering 
 their just debts; from defending themselves against 
 unjust actions, proving wills, and administering to 
 estates ; and from maintaining their civil rights in 
 11 
 
122 
 
 TANNEll'S LECTURES. 
 
 various ways. A Somersetshire Friend, who sought 
 redress against a highwayman, was himself detained 
 as a prisoner for refusing to swear, the robber being 
 allowed to go free. 
 
 The trials of George Bishop, Edward Pyot, and 
 others, which took place in Bristol, in 1663, afford 
 instances of juries refusing to shape their verdicts 
 in terms such as the bench would have dictated ; 
 and of the determination of the latter to convict 
 the prisoners notwithstanding. The mayoralty of 
 John (afterwards Sir John) Knight, which com- 
 menced the latter part of this year, was a period of 
 bitter suffering to Friends in Bristol. The crowded 
 and loathsome state of the prisons was, as Besse 
 remarks, very hard to women of substance and 
 credit, accustomed to live nesLtly. Three of their 
 number died in consequence of the treatment to 
 which they were subjected. It was well indeed, not 
 only for Friends, but for other jN'onconformists, who 
 suffered grievously at the hands of Knight, that the 
 tide of public opinion was now turned, for a time, 
 against his inhuman proceedings. He was very 
 active in his place in Parliament, in 1664, in pro- 
 curing the passing of the Act of Banishment : and 
 he was heard to say, that he hoped to send 400 
 Quakers out of the land before the expiration of his 
 mayoralty. He had so far made progress towards 
 the attainment of his object, that he had committed 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 123 
 
 a large number to prison under this act: but he had 
 only succeeded in condemniug three to transporta- 
 tion, when his term of office expired. These three 
 having been placed on shipboard, were put on shore 
 again by the sailors, seven of whom signed a certifi- 
 cate to the effect that they neither could nor would 
 be parties to this wicked proceeding. It is a re- 
 markable circumstance, that this Act of Banishment, 
 which was a cause of great suffering to Friends in 
 other places, should have been productive of so small 
 a result in a place like Bristol, which seems to have 
 been rather notorious for the practices of kidnapping 
 and illegal transportation. It is mentioned by 
 Fuller that, in the year 1666, the prevalence of the 
 plague in Bristol, produced a great effect in mode- 
 rating the fury of the persecutors : and this was one 
 of the years in which Friends suffered compara- 
 tively little. 
 
 There would have been something very humiliat- 
 ing to a conscientious mind in the terms of the pro- 
 clamation issued by Charles II, in 1672, which 
 states that it was " evident, from the sad experience 
 of twelve years, that there was very little fruit from 
 all the forcible methods which had been employed 
 against the Nonconformists." The object of that 
 proclamation was to suspend all the measures of 
 persecution then in force. This tardy act of clemency 
 appears to have been brought about at the interces- 
 
124 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 sion of George Whitehead, on behalf of Friends. 
 Other Nonconformist prisoners applied to Friends 
 on this occasion to include their case with their 
 own, to which the latter agreed, as appears from 
 our records at Devonshire House. We have there 
 the deed of pardon, granted by Charles II., (with 
 the great seal attached.) Among other names of 
 the prisoners thus released, is that of John Bunjan. 
 This relief was, however, of short duration : the pro- 
 clamation was recalled in the following year, and 
 persecution was renewed. In Bristol, there appears 
 indeed to have been, comparatively speaking, a lull 
 in the storm, which lasted till about the year 1680, 
 when the last and by far the most severe of these 
 sad outbreaks commenced. So numerous are the 
 details given of the sufferings of Friends in Bristol, 
 in 1681, 2, and 3, that there is great difficulty in 
 making a condensed statement of them. Besse's 
 account of them extends to fourteen folio pages; 
 and lengthened descriptions are also inserted in 
 other histories of persecution at that period.^ Sir 
 John Knight, who served the office of Sheriff in 
 one of these years, was again the chief agent in 
 
 1 Some of the original statements from which these accounts 
 are prepared are contained in a number of pamphlets published 
 at the time, and are verified both by Friends themselves, and by 
 some of their fellow-citizens. Francis Fry has kindly lent me 
 a number of these pamphlets, which are contained in his 
 collection. 
 
tanner's lectures. 125 
 
 the atrocities committed ; and he found willing ac- 
 complices in Helliar, an unprincipled attorney, and 
 Ealph Olive, an Alderman of the city, of whom 
 Fuller gives a bad account, in his History of Dissent 
 in Bristol. These leaders of the persecution found 
 no difficulty in engaging the services of hungry in- 
 formers, who were ever ready to attend to their in- 
 structions. The first outrages committed w^ere 
 upon the meeting-houses at the Friars and in 
 Temple Street. These were damaged to the extent 
 of X150 in value, by the tearing down of galleries, 
 &c. : and under the pretence of levying sums of 
 money on the houses for the non-payment of rates 
 which had not been legally imposed on them in 
 support of the trained bands, they took possession 
 of the buildings, and nailed up the doors. Then 
 followed a long series of brutal assaults on men, 
 women, and children, as they walked the streets. 
 Private committals to prison, and private distraints 
 of goods, were carried on to a large extent by these 
 men, despite the remonstrances and counter-orders 
 of Knight's colleague, of the Mayor, Sir Thomas 
 Earle, and others of the magistrates. Friends 
 themselves remonstrated; and a declaration was 
 published by some of their fellows-citizens, setting 
 forth their cruel wrongs, and the danger resulting 
 to their health and lives from the crowded and 
 noisome state of the prisons. Two Friends of Bris- 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 tanner's lectukes. 
 
 tol took a journey to London, and were successful 
 in their application to government for an order to 
 be sent to the magistrates to allow better accommo- 
 dation to the prisoners. The effect produced by 
 this order was, however, very partial and transient. 
 A memorial, signed by several physicians, was next 
 presented to the magistrates, in which they repre- 
 sented the crowding and unwholesomeness of the 
 jails to be such, that the prisoners were in great 
 danger of suffocation, and that a liability existed 
 of infectious disease, such as would endanger the 
 lives of many others beside the prisoners themselves. 
 That too was disregarded. The constancy of these 
 poor prisoners, in sitting down together to worship 
 God, was made a fresh occasion of cruel wrong, 
 and of outrageous personal violence. One who 
 ventured to speak a few words of exhortation, on 
 one of these occasions, w^as thrown headlong, back- 
 ward, down stairs ; and another was put in irons, 
 into the west house or dungeon, into which numbers 
 were thrust from time to time. The permission 
 usually granted to felons placed in this dungeon, 
 of coming out for change of air by day, was not 
 always granted them — and it was so dark, that they 
 were dependent on the light of candles. 
 
 On one of the occasions of the Quarter Sessions, 
 the magistrates showed their good will to the 
 prisoners by liberating the greater part, on their 
 
TA^'^'ER'S LECTURES 
 
 127 
 
 promising to appear at the next Sessions. But this 
 only served as an occasion for fresh outrages on 
 the part of Knight and Helliar. The meeting- 
 houses being again opened, some \Yere carried off 
 to prison from one of the meetings, and the rest 
 of the company nailed up in the house for six 
 hours. The work of imprisonment proceeded till 
 most of the men were again committed ; and then, 
 because the women kept up the meetings, they too 
 were sent to jail ; so that at length there remained 
 few but children to meet tosrether. " These child- 
 ren," says Gough, "after the example of their 
 parents now in confinement, kept up their meetings 
 regularly, with much gravity and composure : it 
 was surprising to see the manly courage and con- 
 stancy with which some of the boys behaved, un- 
 dergoing many abuses with patience. Although 
 their age exempted them from the lash of the law, 
 yet even the state of minority could not rescue 
 them from the furious assaults of these callous in- 
 formers." Several of them were put in the stocks 
 on more than one occasion. They were unmerci- 
 fully beaten with twisted whalebone sticks. Helliar 
 sent eleven boys and four girls to Bridewell ; next 
 day they were brought before the Deputy Mayor ; 
 they were cajoled and threatened to make them for- 
 bear their meetings, but the children were immove- 
 able. They were sent back to Bridewell ; and Ilel- 
 
128 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 liar, to terrify them, charged the keeper to procure 
 a new cat-of-nine-tails against next morning. ]^ext 
 day he urged the justices to have them corrected, 
 but could not prevail. So many were at length im- 
 prisoned, that there was no more room in the jails. 
 
 John Whiting, a Friend of Nailsea, who went 
 repeatedly to visit the prisoners, says, that on his 
 remarking on the crowded state of the prison, one 
 of them, Margaret Heal, replied, Ay, we are full 
 freight, ready to set sail the first fair wind," as she 
 and some others did upon the ocean of eternity, not 
 long after : four other prisoners, two men and two 
 women, dying also from sufibcation. By their 
 cruel proceedings, many families were ruined in 
 their circumstances. Their goods were continually 
 taken away for attending meetings; and to those 
 who were thought to be men of good estate, the 
 oath of allegiance was tendered, in order to bring 
 them under the sentence of "premunire," (which 
 involved the confiscation of a man's whole property, 
 the loss of the King's protection, and imprisonment 
 during his pleasure.) It seems probable that the 
 edge of this persecution was sharpened by the cir- 
 cumstance of some Friends having ventured to 
 give their votes at the election of members of Par- 
 liament, to the advocates of civil and religious 
 liberty ; and hints are said to have been given to 
 Friends in London, who applied to the Court on 
 
tanner's lectures. 129 
 
 behalf of their suiFering brethren in Bristol, " that 
 if Mr. Penn or Mr. Whitehead would undertake for 
 the Quakers that they should not vote for the par- 
 haraent men, there should be no further persecution 
 of them." The cruelty of the jailers, both in New- 
 gate and Bridewell, especially that of Isaac Dennis, 
 the keeper of Newgate, tended greatly to aggravate 
 the suffering of the prisoners. Some of the prisoners 
 desired to work for their support, but he would not 
 allow them to do so. A blind man, nearly ninety 
 years of age, was obliged to sit up in a chair for 
 three nights. The spotted fever made its appearance 
 and several died. To the sick Dennis behaved 
 with great inhumanity, and he interfered to prevent 
 those who had not taken the complaint from going 
 out for change of air. But this poor man, Dennis, 
 was soon placed in circumstances more painful than 
 those of his prisoners. Being taken ill himself, he 
 had to endure great anguish of mind; and expressed 
 a wish that he " had never seen the inside of a jail, 
 for it had undone him." On his asking forgiveness 
 of Friends for the wrongs he had done them, they 
 told him they " did forgive him, but he should ask 
 forgiveness of God." The physicians ordering him 
 to be bled, he said, that '-none of their prescriptions 
 would do him any good, his distemper being beyond 
 their reach ; his day was over, and there was no 
 hope of mercy from God for him." In the account 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 given by some of the Friends in prison, who had 
 access to him, they say, "and seeing him in this 
 woful condition, our hearts did pity him, and de- 
 sired, if the will of the Lord was so, he might find 
 a place of repentance ; and we used such arguments, 
 as in our Christian tenderness we thought best to 
 persuade him out of his hardness of heart and un- 
 belief ; and one of us said unto him, that ' we hoped 
 his day was not over, seeing that he was so fully 
 sensible of his condition.' To which he replied, ' I 
 thank you for your good hope ; but I have no faith 
 to believe ; faith is the gift of God.' Whatever was 
 spoken to relieve him, gave him no ease; but 
 languishing in all the anxiety of despair for about 
 a month, he died." It would be easy to add to this 
 sad case the narratives of others, which occurred in 
 this part of the country, in which a righteous retri- 
 bution seemed as if it was awarded to the persecutors 
 before the close of life ; but I feel so much the force 
 of the poet's words, 
 
 "Let not this weak, and erring hand, presume Thy bolts to 
 throw," 
 
 that I prefer to speak of them only as cases w^liich 
 bore witness to the truth that " the way of trans- 
 gressors is hard." The last days of Helliar and 
 Olive were similar to those of Dennis, and Sir 
 John Knight was himself subsequently confined in 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 131 
 
 Kevvgate. The rigorous character of the proceed- 
 ings against the property of Friends in Bristol, may 
 be judged of from the fact, that the fines imposed 
 on them in 1683, for the non-attendance of the na- 
 tional worship, under the 35th Elizabeth, amounted 
 to the enormous sum of X16,440.^ There seems no 
 means however of ascertaining to what extent this 
 sum was actually levied. A great effort was made 
 by Knight and Helliar to put in execution the 
 sentence of death, awarded by this act of Elizabeth, 
 ou those who should refuse to conform or to abjure 
 the realm, in the case of Richard Vickris, son of 
 Alderman Vickris, of Chew Magna; and the sen- 
 tence was actually pronounced upon him, by Sir 
 John Churchill, of Churchill, the Recorder.^ As 
 the time of execution was drawing on, his wife 
 went to London, and was there enabled through 
 the favour of the Duke of York, to obtain the issue 
 of a writ of error, by which her husband was 
 brought to the bar of the King's Bench, and there 
 liberated by the Chief Justice Jefferies. " Few so 
 bad," remarks J. Whiting, "but they may do some 
 good acts." Richard Vickris returned home, says 
 
 1 Besse's Suflferings, Vol. I., p. 70. 
 
 ^ Alderman Vickris, who had himself been a persecutor of 
 Friends, built the house at Chew, in which William Adlam now 
 resides ; and it became the residence of Richard Vickris after 
 iLis father's death. 
 
132 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 the same Friend, in the ninth month, 1684, " to the 
 great joy of his aged father, his distressed wife and 
 family, and his friends throughout the nation. His 
 father lived to see him after his discharge, hut did 
 not long survive it, living but three days after he 
 came home — by whose death and will, his house 
 and estate at Chew fell to his only son, Eichard, 
 who soon after came with his family, and settled 
 there, to Friends' comfort and satisfaction." 
 
 About 100 Friends continued prisoners in Bris- 
 tol, until the accession of James II., in 1685, when 
 they formed part of the large number (about 1,500) 
 who were liberated on the King's warrant. Mars- 
 den seems to me to have done an unintentional 
 wrong to Friends, in representing them as the only 
 Dissenters who chose to accept a benefit conferred 
 by James, through the exercise of " the dispensing 
 power," by which he sought to bear absolute sway. 
 He says, " the ^Nonconformists in general declined 
 to avail themselves of the indulgence, choosing 
 rather to suffer injustice, than to obtain relief at 
 the cost of the Protestant cause, and that of the 
 Church of England."^ If Macaulay's account of 
 these proceedings is to be trusted, (and it is not 
 often that he shows a disposition to favour the poor 
 Quakers) the Nonconformists failed to obtain relief, 
 in the early part of James II.'s reign, not because 
 
 1 "Dictionary of Christian Sects/' (p. 446.) 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 133 
 
 they would not accept it, but because it was not 
 offered to tliem. He adduces various reasons for 
 the peculiar indulgence shown to Friends, in addi- 
 tion to the motive, which was no doubt uppermost 
 with James, of assisting his Roman Catholic sub- 
 jects, by uniting them with Friends, in the tolera- 
 tion which he extended. Other bodies of Dissenters 
 had certainly not been backward in obtaining relief 
 in Charles II.'s reign, by means of a similar pro- 
 clamation to that which James now issued. 
 
 The charge of obstinacy sometimes brought 
 against the early Friends, would, as it seems to me, 
 have been borne out, if when their prison doors 
 were thrown open by the King's orders, they had 
 refused to come out, until they could be satisfied 
 that he was not infringing his prerogative. As far 
 as Bristol is concerned, it does not appear from 
 Fuller's history of Dissent in Bristol, that any Non- 
 conformist persecution took place in James II.'s 
 reign. ^ 
 
 ^ Of the Dissenters liberated in the latter part of James II.'s 
 reign, many refused to send an address of thanks to the King, 
 as Friends had done ; but it must be remembered that Friends' 
 liberation took place before the King's designs were fully de- 
 veloped ; and though an undue confidence in James's sincerity, 
 on the part of AYilliam Penn, may have had something to do 
 with the gratitude expressed in Friends' address; we may say 
 with Sir James Macintosh "It cannot be doubted that he be- 
 lieved the King's object to be universal liberty in religion, and 
 12 
 
134 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 I must now devote a short space to the concluding 
 history of the Somersetshire persecution. One of 
 the most interesting and trustworthy accounts of 
 the sufferings of Friends in that county, is given by 
 John Whiting, of JSTailsea, in a book entitled "Per- 
 secution Exposed," from which I have given more 
 than one quotation. He was an eyewitness of many 
 of the events described ; and he suffered a seven 
 years' imprisonment himself, at Ilchester. During 
 a part of this time he was kindly treated, and even 
 allowed to go home for short intervals ; but at other 
 times his treatment was very severe. On one occa- 
 sion he was made to lodge in the dungeon, called 
 Doctors' Commons, where condemned prisoners 
 were commonly confined. He says, "I lay upon 
 straw, on a damp earthen floor, which seemed 
 somewhat hard, not having been used to such lodg- 
 ing ; but one day, as I was walking in the court of 
 the prison, with my mind retired to the Lord, it 
 arose in my heart, ^give up,' which took impression 
 on my mind, so that I gave up to suffer patiently, 
 and leave my cause to the Lord, being resigned to 
 His will, and as I was freely given up, way was 
 made for my deliverance, near about this very time. 
 Oh the peace that I had in my bosom ! The Lord 
 
 nothing further." It should be remembered, also, that the 
 Parliament had passed resolutions in 1681, condemning the 
 persecution of Protestant Dissenters which was taking place. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 135 
 
 was wonderfully with me, and gave me as it were a 
 song in the night. * * * j could often even sing, 
 as Paul and Silas did in the stocks ; and could say 
 with the Psalmist, ' His statutes have been my songs 
 in the house of my pilgrimage.' " The year before 
 his release, he, and his friend, John Hipsley, were 
 hand-bolted together, and could only pull off" their 
 coats at night from one arm. In this condition 
 they were kept in a close room in summer, among 
 the Duke of Monmouth's men, with nothing to lie 
 on but straw. They were in danger too from small 
 pox, and had a fever patient by their side. The 
 same magistrate who committed John Whiting, had 
 on one occasion disturbed the meeting at Claver- 
 ham, whilst Charles Marshall was praying, pulling 
 him down between the gallery rails, by which he 
 was seriously injured. 
 
 Friends of Chew were inhumanly treated on one 
 occasion, by Helliar, of Bristol, who fell upon them, 
 and beat them, as they were sitting in their meet- 
 ing, as he had been used to do to their brethren in 
 Bristol. Twenty-seven were apprehended, and six- 
 teen sent to prison. Helliar was with difficulty re- 
 strained from burning the house, and actually caused 
 - the seats to be carried out and burnt. 
 
 Although I have been obhged by want of space 
 and time to give up the intention of including 
 Gloucestershire in this sketch, I do not like to omit 
 
136 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 the mention of an outrage committed at Frencliay 
 meeting on one occasion, at which time the Friends 
 present at the meeting were shamefully beaten and 
 ill used, and great injury was done to the seats of 
 the meeting-house. It was mentioned to me by the 
 late Jacob Player Sturge, with whom I had some 
 long and interesting conversations on the subject of 
 these Lectures, during his last illness. He said he 
 remembered seeing some of the seats w^hich were 
 injured at that time, in the old meeting-house, at 
 Frenchay ; and he was present many years ago at a 
 Quarterly Meeting there, at w^hich it was proposed 
 to build a new house. Matthew Wright, of Bristol, 
 who was present, pointed to these damaged seats, 
 and intimated that an ancestor of his own had been 
 concerned in the outrage ; and that he w^ould give 
 Friends £100 toward the new house. 
 
 The loss of goods, and the time spent in prison, 
 fell with peculiar severity on many persons in low 
 circumstances, who had united themselves with the 
 Society. Among the cases of imprisonment men- 
 tioned in Somersetshire are those of a widow, 
 nearly one hundred years of age ; of several other 
 widow^s and poor persons, imprisoned for demands 
 of a few shillings (one for eight j^ears) ; of a widow, 
 w^ith six children, carrying her infant to prison ; and 
 of labouring men, leaving wives and families at 
 home. The havock of goods often included the 
 
tanner's lectures. 137 
 
 loss of all the household furniture ; the very beds 
 OQ which the sick lay being taken from under them. 
 No circumstances of affliction seemed to be regarded 
 as a bar to these cruel proceedings. "We read of a 
 corpse being taken away from a funeral company 
 by a parish priest, and afterwards buried in the un- 
 consecrated ground of the churchyard ; the pretext 
 being a demand of 6s. Sd. for allowing the proces- 
 sion to pass through his parish. In another case a 
 widow had two cows taken from her, worth <£9, for 
 having been present at her husband's funeral ; and 
 others, who attended on that occasion were dis- 
 trained upon to the value of £82. Great unfair- 
 ness was often practised in the manner in which 
 legal proceedings were carried on. John Clark, of 
 Grenton, was outlawed for having failed to appear 
 in answer to summonses w^hich he had not received ; 
 and an aged cripple was imprisoned for not appear- 
 ing in London the day after he had received a sum- 
 mons from the Exchequer Court. The total loss of 
 Friends in Somersetshire, from distraints under the 
 Conventicle Act, is estimated by John "Whiting at 
 X3000, and in the country at large at .£100,000. 
 Various statements have been put forth in regard to 
 the total number of Friends imprisoned in England 
 and Wales, and of the deaths which occurred in 
 prison, some of which are doubtless exaggerated. 
 John Whiting quotes a statement, as having been 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 presented by Frieuds to the Bishops aud Clergy, 
 that 12,316 Friends had been imprisoned, and that 
 321 had died in prison, from 1660 to 1685; and 
 these numbers, added to those before given under 
 the Commonwealth, amount to 15,489 imprison- 
 ments, and 353 deaths in prison. A paper con- 
 tained in a valuable collection of manuscripts which 
 has been kindly lent me by James Dix, gives an 
 account of 929 Frieuds imprisoned in Somerset- 
 shire, and of 33 having died in prison : but it is not 
 clear w^hether this includes the whole period of the 
 persecution.^ This paper, attested by Jasper Batt, 
 shows J. "W.'s estimate of <£3000 distrained, to have 
 been Avithin the mark. Even if the number of 
 deaths which occurred in prison could be precisely 
 fixed, we should be unable to estimate the total loss 
 of life, many having died soon after leaving prison, 
 in consequence of the privation they had endured, 
 or the infection to which they had been exposed. I 
 must restrict myself to the mention of but a few of 
 those who sealed their testimony with their blood 
 in Ilchester Prison. John Anderdon, of Bridg- 
 water, has been already mentioned as one of the 
 earliest members of the Society in Somersetshire. 
 He was a learned man, and having had the benefit 
 of a legal training, he was of great assistance to 
 
 ^ The statement quoted by Colquhoun, of 15,000 Friends 
 having been imprisoned in Charles the Second's reign, and of 
 5000 having died in prison, is no doubt incorrect. 
 
taxxer's lectures. 
 
 139 
 
 others in this time of persecution. lie suffered in. 
 all about twenty years' imprisonment, and died a 
 prisoner, says Whiting, " for the testimony of Jesus 
 against swearing." He adds, ''He was carried with 
 an honourable attendance to Bridgwater to be bu- 
 ried." "He was an able minister of the gospel of 
 Christ, of a sound judgment, solid weighty testi- 
 mony, and grave deportment. ^ ^ ^ He left a 
 good report and savour behind him in the town, 
 and among all that knew^ him. Of whose sincerity, 
 zeal for God, and service for His truth, a volume 
 might be written." Thomas Budd died also at 
 Ilchester, a prisoner eight years ; William Hodges, 
 six years ; John Popple, ten years ; Lucy Travers, 
 an aged widow, imprisoned for a demand of two 
 pence (Easter Ofterings) ; and Samuel Clothier, 
 more than ten years. There was another member 
 of the Clothier family imprisoned, an interesting 
 relic of whose confinement is now in the possession 
 of his descendant, Celia Clothier, of Street, a family 
 Bible, purchased with the proceeds of his labour 
 when in prison.^ 
 
 ' Among other deaths at Ilchester, were the following: — 
 
 Henry Gundry, of Street, a 
 
 prisoner 4 years. 
 
 George Ceely, North Curry, 
 
 9 " 
 
 Jeremiah Powell, 
 
 9 " 
 
 James Popple, 
 
 
 John Brice, Burnham, 
 
 
 John Wride, ** 
 
 " 13 " 
 
140 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 The only other case I must mention, is one in 
 which Friends of Bristol seem to have taken a deep 
 interest — that of Thomas Parsons, of Portshead. 
 He was committed to prison in 1670, and died 
 about three months after. Besse says of him, "He 
 w^as a faithful and valiant man, who kept his house 
 open for religious meetings in the most dangerous 
 times, and maintained his testimony to the truth 
 through many imprisonments and spoilings of his 
 goods, abiding firm unto the end, and finishing his 
 course with joy." The following letter, in James 
 Dix's collection, is addressed to William Rogers, or 
 Thomas Gouldney, of Bristol, by Thomas Parsons, 
 during his last imprisonment at Ilchester, and is in 
 reply to their offer to take charge of two of his 
 sons ; " Dear Friends, — I received yours of the 20th 
 instant, with your true love more largely expressed 
 in your brother-like proffer than formerly, which I 
 most obligingly receive and accept. And although 
 the power and presence of the Lord gives that con- 
 solation and true peace which the world cannot 
 give, nor take away, which is, according to His 
 promise, an hundred-fold more worth than all that 
 we are capable of losing, or forsaking, for His sake ; 
 yet the Lord leaves not His faithful ones here, but 
 fulfils His promise in taking care for them, even in 
 these outward concerns of the world, whereof He 
 seeth His to stand in need, everlasting praises to 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 141 
 
 Ills name, with perpetual thankfulness to Ilim for 
 His mercies in opening the hearts of you His in- 
 struments of compassion, by whose bounty I now 
 and mine do, or are hke to partake so plentifully. 
 Dear Friends, I have three sons; which of them 
 you will please to choose, I shall freely commit 
 them to you, esteeming it mine awd their greatest 
 happiness (here in this world) to be where they may 
 receive such education, that neither my opportunity 
 nor ability can reach to give them. And my truest 
 desire to the Lord is, that they may, in all sobriety 
 and diligence, walk worthy of the Lord's mercies 
 and your favours. I know not how the Lord will 
 further dispose of me, but I bear the full intention 
 is to bring me under a praBmunire, and keep me a 
 prisoner during my life ; and strict order is given to 
 the keepers not to give me liberty to see my home. 
 Therefore I must leave this business to you and my 
 wife to do as you think meet, to which we both 
 shall thankfully agree. Our Friends of the meeting 
 at Long Sutton are most barbarously used this last 
 week. Justice Helier putting off the informers (for 
 which they threaten him for his £100) they went to 
 Wells, and the Chancellor and Francis Polet granted 
 them w^arrants to distrain, which they have done, leav- 
 ing many Friends neither meat, drink, bedding, nor 
 dish, spoon, nor any lumber ; breaking open Friends* 
 houses that be here prisoners, to look for, and to 
 
142 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 search for, the goods of some [ ]. The 
 
 Lord, in His due time, will put an end to this 
 cruelty, which is a far greater burden to me to hear 
 than to feeh The opportunity of sending home by 
 one of our Friends here, denieth me the opportunity 
 of further enlargement at present, only my dear 
 love to you and all Friends, as you have freedom 
 and opportunity, resting in haste, your faithful, 
 obliged friend, Thomas Parsons." He adds, "I 
 hear that my brother Knight hath been troubled 
 again by your Parliament Knight. If either of 
 your leisures will permit, I should desire to hear the 
 truth of it by the next." [Ko date.] Before the 
 discovery of this admirable letter, I had been 
 greatly interested by the following minute of Bristol 
 two wrecks' meeting, relating to Thomas Parsons's 
 children, dated 20th of first month, 1671 Friends 
 having formerly manifested their readiness to take 
 a fatherly care, as to education, and binding appren- 
 tice, two of Thomas Parsons's children, now a 
 sufferer in Ilchester jail, Jane Hods, daughter of 
 the said Thomas Parsons, came and presented to 
 this meeting her brothers John and Samuel, to 
 whom the whole meeting manifested their tender 
 love and regard ; and thereupon ordered Dennis 
 Hollister to receive, in the name of the meeting, 
 the said John and Samuel from the hands of the 
 said Jane, their sister ; and to acquaint her that a 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 143 
 
 due and fatherly care should be taken of them, ac- 
 cording to what had been signified, by order of this 
 meeting, to their father, which accordingly was 
 done, and the two children immediately committed, 
 in her presence, to Susannah Pearson for their diet, 
 at £2 per ann. for each child." 
 
 It would have been easy to multiply extracts from 
 the letters of the poor prisoners, breathing a spirit 
 of meek submission and of cheerful trust; but I 
 must content myself with a notice of two of these 
 epistles. The following are extracts from that which 
 was addressed by Friends in Xewgate, (Bristol) to 
 the yearly meeting in London, dated, fourth month, 
 1685. ^' Dear friends and brethren, — This being a 
 season wherein you may be glad, as well as desirous 
 to see, or at least to hear from one another, as 
 fellow members of that living body, of which 
 Christ Jesus is the head, we thought it not unreason- 
 able that you might hear from us, who though still 
 in bonds, yet in good satisfaction, knowing that 
 affliction is that in which all the righteous in all 
 ages, ever pass to God's heavenly kingdom." 
 * * * " This is our God ; and as we have waited 
 on him, he hath suffered us to want no good thing ; 
 neither hath anything seemed hard to us ; insomuch, 
 that we can truly say to God's glory only, 'It is 
 manifold better to suffer with the people of God, 
 than to enjoy the pleasures of this sinful world.' " 
 
141 
 
 T A N N E 11 ' S LECTURES. 
 
 * * * " Dear Friends ! — In your approaches to 
 the Lord, pray for us. Oh, let us watch and pra}-, 
 and that continually, one for another, that God 
 would keep us faithful by His divine grace, to serve 
 Him in meekness, holy fear, and innocency, unto 
 our lives' end. This hath been the hope and end 
 of our calling, from the dark w^ays in the world, to 
 the marvellous light of Christ Jesus, which hath 
 shined in our hearts, through which we have seen 
 the way of life, and know Him who is the truth, 
 and there is not another. God enable us to love 
 Him above all, and to cleave to Him through the 
 loss of all. "We are but worms, and of no might: 
 and have none in heaven but Him alone, nor can 
 desire any." * * * "Praise God with us, for 
 His wonderful goodness in preserving our health — 
 a work to a wonder (oh, that we ever may be 
 thankful for it !) and also that He has thus made us 
 worthy to sufter for His name's sake only. We are 
 not quite an hundred, are well, and in good con- 
 tent, peace, and love, and want nothing. We pray 
 God keep you, and crown your assemblies with His 
 ancient glory. — Amen." This letter is signed on 
 behalf of themselves and the other prisoners by 
 Richard Sneed, Charles Harford, Charles Jones, 
 Paul Moon. 
 
 The following letter, wTitten in the same year, is 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 145 
 
 from Friends in prison at Ilchester:^ — "Dearly 
 beloved Friends, whom the Lord hath gathered by 
 His everlasting arm, and called to be followers of 
 the Lamb, in this day of His power, wherein it is 
 given to the Lamb and His followers to overcome : 
 unto you all, without respect of persons, the saluta- 
 tion of our endeared love freely flows, as dear com- 
 panions and followers of the Lamb with you, in the 
 many trials, tribulations, and exercises, which daily 
 attend us in this our journey and pilgrimage towards 
 that inheritance which our God in everlasting love 
 hath prepared for us : earnestly desiring and be- 
 seeching you, that you always have the principal 
 regard to the guiding and conduct of the Captain 
 of our salvation, waiting for His counsel in a readi- 
 ness to answer His requirings ; that so ye may be 
 still furnished with His wisdom and power, to dis- 
 cover and withstand all the wiles and temptations 
 of the devil, (who works in a mysterj', and takes 
 many in his snares at unawares,) and that you may 
 always feel the Lord's work to prosper ; that so all 
 that may be rooted out that remains within you that 
 
 * This letter has been kindly copied for me from the Somer- 
 setshire Records by Thomas Clark, to whom, as well as to his 
 niece, Isabella Metford, and to Elizabeth Payne, J. H. Cotte- 
 rell, and Alfred and S. A. Clark, I must once for all express 
 my great obligation for the assistance they have rendered me in 
 copying minutes and manuscripts. I have also to thank several 
 of my friends for the loan of books. 
 13 K 
 
146 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 would join with the enemy; that when he comes 
 and sifts, he may find nothing in you ; and then 
 shall w^e none of us any more be shaken in our 
 minds, or any ways be taken in his snare, but may 
 remain grounded, rooted, and built up in Him, who 
 is the Foundation against whom the gates of hell 
 shall never prevail. And lastly, that Friends in all 
 things take heed, that they have their conversation 
 in the simplicity of the gospel of Christ; and care- 
 fully to avoid the vain customs and fashions of this 
 world, and take up the cross of Christ; and be 
 faithful in their testimony to God's everlasting 
 truth ; that so His blessing and peace may be with 
 you all for ever, Amen. And now as for us w^ho 
 are prisoners for the testimony of a good conscience, 
 let all Friends know that we are generally w^ell ; 
 and the Lord's power and presence is daily plenti- 
 fully manifested amongst us, to the great refresh- 
 ing and glading of our hearts ; and the place of our 
 close restraint made to us a safe and pleasant habita- 
 tion ; glory, honour, and praise to our God for ever- 
 more. Given forth by order and advice from the 
 late Quarterly Meeting, held at Marston, the 26th 
 of seventh month, 1685, from the prison at Ilches- 
 ter." - This epistle is signed by Jasper Batt, John 
 Hipsley, and others, and appears to have been ad- 
 dressed to Friends of Somersetshire. 
 
 In the brief and very imperfect sketch, which I 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 147 
 
 have now giveo, of the persecutions of our Friends 
 in Bristol and Somersetshire, and to which I maj" 
 have occasion hereafter to refer, nothing has been 
 further from my wish, than to excite feelings of in- 
 dignation against the persecutors, or against the 
 political or religious parties, to which they belonged. 
 Surely the effect should rather be, to lead us to 
 magnify the grace, by which so many were enabled 
 with boldness, and yet in meekness, to confess their 
 Lord, and to manifest their allegiance to Him, not 
 counting their lives dear unto themselves, so that 
 they might finish their course with joy. Does not 
 their example also call loudly upon us to consider 
 whether the foundation on which we ourselves are 
 building, is the same as that which stood so firm 
 beneath them, amidst the storms of trial to which 
 they were exposed ? I do not know that I can better 
 close the present Lecture, than by quoting the 
 words of evangelical consolation, which George 
 Fox addressed to his fellow-sufferers, during this 
 period of persecution to which I have referred, 
 somewhat redundant though they be. They are 
 contained in Samuel Tuke's excellent selection from 
 George Fox's Epistles, a book which deserves to be 
 more largely read, than I suppose it to be. This 
 extract is given at p. xi. of the Introduction. He 
 says, "If the world do hate you, it hated Christ, 
 your Lord and Master also ; if they do mock, and 
 
148 
 
 tanjN'er's lectures. 
 
 reproaph, and defame, and biiftet you, they did so 
 fo your Lord and Master also ; who was, and is, the 
 Green Tree, that gives nourishment to all His 
 branches — His followers. If the world do persecute 
 you, and take away your goods or clothes, was not 
 your Lord and Master so served? Did they not 
 cast lots for His garments ? Was not He haled 
 from the priests to Herod, and before Pontius 
 Pilate, and spit upon? And if they hate thee, and 
 spit upon thee. He was hated, and spit upon for 
 thee. Did He not go to prison for thee ? And was 
 He not mocked and scourged for thee? Did He 
 not bow to the cross and grave for thee, He who 
 had no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth? 
 And did He not bear thy sins in His own body 
 upon the tree? And was He not scourged for 
 thee, 'by whose stripes we are healed.' Did He 
 not suffer the contradiction of sinners? who died 
 for sinners, and went into the grave for sinners, and 
 died for the ungodly, yea, tasted death for every 
 man ; who, through death, destroyed death and the 
 devil, the power of death, and is risen, for death 
 and the grave could not hold Him ; and the powers 
 and principalities, with all their guards and watches, 
 could not hold Him within the grave ; but He is 
 risen, and is ascended, far above all principalities, 
 powers, thrones, and dominions, and is set down at 
 the right hand of God, and remaiueth in the 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 149 
 
 heavens, till all things be restored; and He is re- 
 storing with His light, grace, truth, power, Spirit, 
 faith, gospel, and word of life ; so that you read of 
 sorae that came to 'sit together in heavenly places 
 in Christ Jesus.' " 
 
 (The quotations from George Fox's Journal are 
 from the folio edition of 1765.) 
 
 13* 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The following representation of John Howard's 
 is interesting, as pointing to an abuse which existed 
 also in the time of our Friends' imprisonment; and 
 as showing that if time and opportunity had served, 
 Howard might have become the benefactor of the 
 insane as well as of the prisoners. — "In some few 
 jails are confined idiots and lunatics. These serve 
 for sport to idle visitants at assizes, and other times 
 of general resort. Many of the bridewells are 
 crowded and offensive, because the rooms which 
 were designed for prisoners are occupied by the in- 
 sane. Where these are not kept separate, they dis- 
 turb and terrify the other prisoners. 'No care is 
 taken of them, although it is probable that by 
 medicines and proper regimen, some of them might 
 be restored to their senses, and to usefulness in 
 life." The follow^ing observations were more ex- 
 tensively applicable. After speaking of deficient 
 food, Howard says, " many prisons have no water. 
 This defect is frequent in bridewells and town jails. 
 In some places where there is water, prisoners are 
 
 (150) 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 151 
 
 always locked up within doors, and have no more 
 than the keeper or his servants think fit to bring 
 them ; in one place they were limited to three pints 
 a day each ; a scanty provision for drink and clean- 
 liness. And as to air, which is no less necessary 
 than either of the two preceding articles (food and 
 water) and given us by Providence, quite gratis, 
 without any care or labour of our own ; yet, as if 
 the bounteous goodness of heaven excited our 
 envy, methods are contrived to rob prisoners of this 
 * genuine cordial of life,' as Dr. Hales very properly 
 calls it; I mean, by preventing that circulation and 
 change of the salutiferous fluid, without which 
 animals cannot live and thrive. It is well known 
 that the air which has performed its office in the 
 lungs, is feculent and noxious. Writers upon the 
 subject show that a hogshead of air will last a man 
 only an hour." "Air which has been breathed, is 
 made poisonous to a more intense degree, by the 
 efiluvia from the sick, and what else in prisons is 
 oflTensive. My reader will judge of its malignity, 
 "when I assure him, that my clothes were in my first 
 journeys so offensive, that in a post-chaise, I could 
 not bear the windows up ; and was therefore obliged 
 to travel commonly on horseback. The leaves of 
 my memorandum-book were often so tainted, that 
 I could not use it, till after spreading it an hour or 
 two before the fire ; and even my antidote, a vial of 
 
152 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 vinegar, has, after using it in a few prisons, become 
 intolerably disagreeable. I did not wonder that in 
 these journeys, many jailers made excuses, and did 
 not go with me into the felons* w^ards." "From 
 hence, any one may judge of the probability there 
 is, against the health and hfe of prisoners, crowded 
 in close rooms, cells, and subterraneous dungeons, 
 for fourteen or fifteen hours out of the twenty-four. 
 In some of those caverns, the floor is very damp ; in 
 others, there is sometimes an inch or two of water ; 
 and the straw or bedding is laid on such floors, 
 seldom on barrack bedsteads." " Some jails have 
 no sewers or vaults ; and in those that have, if they 
 be not properly attended to, they are even to a 
 visitant offensive beyond expression ; how noxious 
 then to people constantly confined in those prisons ! 
 In many jails, and most bridewells, there is no al- 
 lowance of bedding or straw for prisoners to sleep 
 on ; and, if by any means they get a little, it is not 
 changed for months together." " Some lie upon 
 rags, others on the bare floors." "I am ready to 
 think, that none who give credit to what is con- 
 tained in the foregoing pages, will wonder at the 
 havock made by the jail fever. From my own ob- 
 servations, made in 1773-4-5, I am fully convinced 
 that many more prisoners were destroyed by it, than 
 were put to death by all the public executions in 
 the kingdom. This frequent eflect of confinement 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 153 
 
 in prison, seems generally understood, and shows 
 how full of emphatical meaning, is the curse of a 
 severe creditor, who pronounces his debtor's doom 
 to rot in jail. I believe I have learned the full im- 
 port of this sentence, from the vast numbers who, 
 to my certain knowledge, and some of them before 
 my eyes, have perished by the jail fever." — [State 
 of the Prisons in England and Wales^ sec, 1.) 
 
SECOND LECTURE, 
 
 Delivered 2d Month, 2ith, 1858. 
 
 It would be observed by those who heard my 
 former Lecture on the Early History of Friends ia 
 Bristol and Somersetshire, that the information 
 contained in it was derived chiefly from printed 
 books. My first intention in regard to these Lec- 
 tures, was simply to bring together such materials 
 from the unpublished records of our Monthly and 
 Quarterly Meetings, as might be calculated to set 
 forth and illustrate our local history. I found, how- 
 ever, that most of the details of the persecution, 
 which formed so important a feature of the earlier 
 period, and which I believe to have exerted a 
 marked influence on our general history and disci- 
 pline, were already published. It seemed therefore 
 the better course to compile a short narrative from 
 those accounts. In proceeding, as I now do, to 
 state some of the results of the examination of our 
 records, I may confess I have had another object in 
 view besides the preparation of these Lectures. It 
 
 (154) 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 155 
 
 has often seemed to me, that the histories which 
 have been written of the Society of Friends, have 
 been too much restricted to a record of events ; that 
 they have failed to bring into view, as fully as could 
 be desired, the interior life of the body ; and, that 
 the same complaint which has sometimes been 
 made of national history, that of its not placing 
 before us the actual condition of the people in suc- 
 cessive ages, is to some extent applicable to the his- 
 tories of our Society, and, as much so perhaps to 
 those of other religious bodies. It may be long 
 before the right man is found to supply this defi- 
 ciency among us ; but in the mean time it would 
 form an important and essential preparation for the 
 work, if Friends in difterent localities could be in- 
 duced to search the records and documents of their 
 respective meetings, with a view to ascertain what 
 testimony they bear as to the condition of the body 
 in former periods. Such materials might serve in 
 the first instance to interest a company like the pre- 
 sent, and be afterwards treasured up for the use of 
 the future historian. Many who, like myself, may 
 not be fitted to act the part of the architect of a 
 general history, might nevertheless do something in 
 the capacity of quarrymen, 
 
 I had no desire indeed to act any other part in 
 regard even to this local sketch of our histo^)^ My 
 proposal to the Committee of our Library and Lec- 
 
156 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 ture Association was, to search for materials, in the 
 hope that some one else might be found to work 
 them up into Lectures. Having, however, in de- 
 fault of such assistance, taken the further step of 
 putting these materials together as best I might, I 
 trust it will not subject me to a charge of egotism 
 if I say further, that whilst I have no wish to make 
 these Lectures the vehicle of personal or peculiar 
 views, it seems to me essential that any one under- 
 taking the task should to some extent point out or 
 suggest what appears to him to be the bearing of 
 different facts and circumstances : not for the pur- 
 pose of biassing the judgment of his hearers, but 
 rather of inviting their attention to certain im- 
 portant inquiries. No one besides myself is respon- 
 sible for the views and sentiments which I may here 
 express, beyond that general approval which the 
 Library and Lecture Association may be considered 
 to give to the Lectures for which they make arrange- 
 ments : for that approval is of a negative rather 
 than a positive character, as respects any incidental 
 statements of opinion which may from time to time 
 be contained in them. The intimation which the 
 Committee has given in reference to the books in 
 the Library of the Association, that the sentiments 
 and opinions contained in them must be taken as 
 resting solely on the responsibility of their respec- 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 157 
 
 live authors, might very well be extended to these 
 Lectures. 
 
 Now in turning to the view which was presented 
 to you on a former occasion, of the first gathering 
 of this religious body, and in regard also to the 
 statements which I have to make this evening, I 
 must ask you to spend a short time with me in con- 
 sidering: what was the character and constitution 
 of the newly-formed Society. ^Nothing could well 
 have been more simple : a number of earnest in- 
 quirers after truth, dissatisfied with some things ap- 
 pertaining to the difterent religious systems in which 
 they had been educated, and having been obliged 
 on conscientious grounds to separate from them, 
 met together in difiPerent places, in which they re- 
 sided, to worship God in spirit. Having been led 
 to renounce the system common to other sects, of 
 devolving upon one man those responsibilities in 
 regard to public ministry, which in the Apostolic 
 Church were felt to rest on all who might be en- 
 trusted with the gifts of prophecy and of teaching, 
 they sat down in silence in their religious assem- 
 blies, giving leave to all to speak who might feel 
 themselves called to the work, and whose services 
 might prove acceptable to the congregation. Being 
 also convinced that the symbolical rites of bap- 
 tism, and the Supper, were not of perpetual obliga- 
 14 
 
158 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 tion;^ and further, that it was only by the imme- 
 diate operation of the Spirit of God that any could 
 be truly baptized into Christ, or be brought to a 
 true participation in His body and in His blood ; 
 they felt themselves called to the disuse of all out- 
 ward rites and ceremonies. If the inquiry be raised, 
 whether those who had thus escaped from the tram- 
 mels of human authority, which had been so op- 
 pressive to them in the bodies to which they had 
 belonged, did themselves make the terms of their 
 communion as broad as those of the Apostolic 
 Church, I think it must be answered, that although 
 at the first their Association was of a very simple 
 character, yet occupying the position of a section of 
 the Church, rather than of the Church itself, as the 
 first Christians did, they soon judged it needful to 
 define the principles in the profession of which they 
 were united, and the extent to which their practices 
 differed from those of other Christians. It may not 
 be to much purpose to inquire, what their course 
 
 • The following is an extract from a paper entitled Gospel 
 Truths/' published in Dublin, in 1G98, and signed 
 
 AViLLiAM Penn. Thomas Story. 
 
 Anthony Sharp. George Rook. 
 
 "We believe the necessity of the one baptism of Christ, as 
 well as of Ilis one supper, which He promiseth to eat with those 
 that open the door of their hearts to Ilim, being the baptism 
 and supper signified by the outward signs ; which, though v. e 
 disuse, we judge not those that conscientiously practise them." 
 
tanner's L E C T L" h e s 
 
 159 
 
 would have been in this respect if their position 
 bad been difierent. Their opinions as to the extent 
 to which Christian comprehension ought (abstract- 
 edly speaking) to be carried, would probably vary 
 in proportion to the enlargement of mind which 
 they respectively possessed. Jirothiug can indeed be 
 more catholic than the opinions expressed by William 
 Penn on this subject, in his work entitled "An 
 Address to Protestants of all Persuasions." He 
 says, "the question is not, whether all the truths 
 contained in Scripture are not to be believed ; but 
 whether those truths are equally important, and 
 whether the belief with the heart, and the confession 
 with the mouth that Jesus is the Christ and Son of 
 God, be not as sufficient now, to entitle a man to 
 communion here and salvation hereafter, as in those 
 times. Against which nothing can be of weight 
 objected."^ After noticing some of the objections, 
 which might be raised to the adoption of such a 
 principle, he says, "Lastly, if it be alleged 'that 
 this would take in all parties, yea, that schismatics 
 and heretics will creep in under this general con- 
 fession, since few of them will refuse to make it:' 
 I do say it would be an happy day. What man 
 who loves God and Christ, seeks peace and concord, 
 that would not rejoice if all our animosities and 
 vexations about matters of religion, were buried in 
 
 * Penn's Works, Vol. I. p. 75G. 
 
160 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 this one coDfession of Jesus, the great author and 
 Lord of the Christian religion, so often lost in pre- 
 tending to contest for it." ^ It might be difficult to 
 give an exact definition of the meaning of the 
 modern phrase broad church," but I do not see 
 that a more comprehensive meaning could be at- 
 tached to it than is furnished by these noble words 
 of William Penn. 
 
 There is no reason however to suppose, that 
 whilst taking his stand on this broad New Testa- 
 ment ground, as to the principle which should be 
 adopted in any attempt at general comprehension, 
 he was indisposed to acquiesce in the judgment of 
 his friends, that, circumstanced as they were, it was 
 needful for them to lay down, and to abide by the 
 grounds of their dissent from the Churches pre- 
 viously existing. It is important, moreover, to bear 
 in mind, that the comprehension of all Christians 
 under one form of communion, is a thing of far less 
 consequence than their being united together in the 
 bonds of Christian love. What can be more illu- 
 sory than the professed unity of the Church of 
 Rome? There is on the other hand a possibility 
 of agreeing to differ; of our maintaining without 
 compromise, those views of Christian faith and 
 practice which each sect, and each individual has 
 felt it right to adopt; and of our being at the same 
 
 > Penn's Works, Vol. I. p. 757. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 161 
 
 time so influenced by Christian charity and conde- 
 scension towards others, as even to bear before the 
 world a testimony to the oneness of the body of 
 Christ. 
 
 I must ask leave to introduce another quotation 
 from William Penn's Address to Protestants, in 
 which he lays down a principle recognised by the 
 Society of Friends in its early days ; and from 
 which it cannot I think be said to have since de- 
 parted. I allude to the important distinction which 
 exists between membership in the true Church of 
 Christ, and membership in the professing Church. 
 In the course of the objections which he urges to 
 the undue exercise of ecclesiastical authority, Wil- 
 liam Penn says, "Let me add something about this 
 great word Church. Some men think they are sure 
 enough, if they can but get within the pale of the 
 Church, that have not yet considered what it is. 
 The word Church, signifies any assembly, so the 
 Greeks used it ; and it is by worthy Tyndale every- 
 where translated congregation. It has a tw^ofold 
 sense in Scripture. The first and most excellent 
 sense is that in which she is called the body and 
 bride of Christ. In this respect she takes in all 
 generations, and is made up of the regenerated, be 
 they in heaven or on earth, thus Ephes. i. 22. — v. 
 23 to 33. Col. i. 16, 17, 18. Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 Eev. xxi. 2. — xxii. 17. Here Christ only can be 
 14* L 
 
162 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 head : this Church is washed from all sin ; not a 
 spot nor a wrinkle left : ill men have nothing to do 
 with this Church, within whose pale only is salva- 
 tion. * * * The other use of that word in 
 Scripture is always referred to particular assemblies 
 and places." I cannot but think, that if this dis- 
 tinction had been kept in view, less objection would 
 have been raised to the constitution of the Society 
 of Friends on the ground of its being a mixed 
 company, and consisting both of the converted and 
 the unconverted. Such objectors seem to forget 
 that the same charge might have been made against 
 the twelve apostles themselves ; and for aught we 
 know, against every Church which ever existed 
 (using the word Church in Tyndale's sense, of a 
 Christian congregation.) I am aware that I am 
 treading on controversial ground, and I would not 
 wish unduly to press my own views ; but I do not 
 feel that it would be right to omit the mention of 
 the subject in this place. In Trench's work on the 
 Parables, in the chapter on the Parable of the Tares 
 of the Field, there is an interesting reference to the 
 ancient and extensive controversy which was raised 
 on this question in the fourth and jSfth centuries, 
 by the Donatists. 
 
 I would further observe, that the practice of the 
 early Church, as set forth in the New Testament, 
 appears to me to have been to admit into member- 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 163 
 
 ship those who made profession of faith in Christ, 
 and afterwards to disown all such as by their con- 
 duct, and by their rejection of the means used to 
 reclaim them, proved themselves insincere ; such I 
 find to have been the early practice of the Society 
 of Friends. Those who attended their meetings 
 even occasionally, were watched over as members 
 of the flock, remonstrated with when their conduct 
 was disorderly, and testified against when they re- 
 fused subjection to the discipline. Inquiry was 
 made as to the orderly conduct of those who applied 
 for relief, for leave to be married at meeting, or (ac- 
 cording to the practice introduced towards the close 
 of the seventeenth century, and ever since con- 
 tinued) for certificates of membership on their re- 
 moval from one meeting to another: but I do not 
 find in the minutes of the monthly meetings which 
 I have examined, any mention made of a formal 
 admission into membership, for more than a hun- 
 dred years after the establishment of our meetings 
 for discipline. It was not until within the present 
 century that the difierent meetings prepared lists 
 of their members. There were doubtless some 
 practical inconveniences connected with this state 
 of things, and the line of distinction to which I 
 have alluded, as having been judged needful, was 
 gradually drawn between the Society of Friends 
 and other sects of Christians, and resulted at leng:th 
 
164 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 in the separation of the attenders of our meetings 
 into the two classes, of members and non-members : 
 but the belief that such membership merely implies 
 a connexion with the professing Church, has con- 
 tinued to be manifested by the children of members 
 being recognised in that capacity until they form- 
 ally withdraw, or prove themselves unw^orthy by 
 their conduct. It may be said that, although the 
 distinction between the professing and the true 
 Church is Scriptural, this mode of recognising it is 
 not so : but I am not aware that any portion of the 
 New Testament could be referred to, to show that 
 it is unscriptural. Have we any good reason for 
 supposing, that the children of those who were ad- 
 mitted into the Apostolic Church, on the ground of 
 their professed faith in Christ, would be excluded 
 from any of the privileges which membership in the 
 congregation conferred, until they proved them- 
 selves unworthy of them ? And w^as there anything 
 more implied in the original idea of Church mem- 
 bership, than the right to participate in those pri- 
 vileges ? 
 
 It may be further observed that the Society of 
 Friends has from the first steadfastly avoided the 
 introduction of formal creeds. Doctrinal treatises 
 have at different times been published by indivi- 
 duals; some of these have received the negative 
 sanction which our Morning Meeting in London 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 165 
 
 gives when it decides that books submitted to it 
 contain nothing contrary to our principles; and 
 some of them have been published at the expense 
 of the Society. In regard to the last mentioned 
 course of proceeding I would observe, that, though 
 I am one of those who think that the works of indi- 
 vidual writers should be left to individuals to pub- 
 lish, the object which the Society has had in view in 
 undertaking such publication, appears to have been 
 to disseminate our views, and not to make their 
 contents binding upon the consciences of its mem- 
 bers. In the controversies which have at different 
 times arisen among Friends, the Society has been 
 accustomed to appeal to the truths of Holy Scripture 
 rather than to the writings of individuals, in accord- 
 ance with Robert Barclay's declaration in regard to 
 the Scriptures, " "We do look upon them as the only 
 fit outward judge of controversies among Chris- 
 tians."^ If I should be asked how such a declara- 
 tion agrees with certain other expressions contained 
 in our early writings respecting the Scriptures, my 
 answer would be, first, that it is not needful to de- 
 fend every thing contained in these writings; and, 
 secondly, that I believe their authors would very 
 generally have united with the opinion in which 
 William Penn says, " all sound Protestant writers" 
 agree, that "the Scriptures only, interpreted by the 
 
 * Apology, Prop. 3., Sec. VI. 
 
166 
 
 TANNER'S LECTURES. 
 
 Holy Spirit in us, give the final determination in 
 matters of religion ; and that only in the conscience 
 of every Christian to himself."^ The belief of the 
 Society in modern times on this important question 
 is plainly set forth in the paragraphs of the Yearly 
 Meeting's epistle of 1836, which relate to it, and in 
 which the Scriptures are said to be *'the only 
 divinely authorized record of the doctrines which 
 we are bound as Christians to believe, and of the 
 moral principles which are to regulate our actions." 
 The whole of these paragraphs may be found in the 
 last edition of the selection from the minutes and 
 advices of the Yearly Meeting. I know of no book 
 more suitable to be recommended to the notice of 
 those w^ho are making inquiry as to the views and 
 principles of Friends. 
 
 The earliest controversy which befell the Society 
 in England was probably that which was raised by 
 some Friends in Westmoreland against the esta- 
 blishment of meetings for discipline ; and those who 
 acted for the Society on that occasion drew a broad 
 distinction between the disorderly walking which the 
 
 * Penn's Works, Vol. I., p. 779. William Penn further snys, 
 " 0 that we would but be impartial, and see our own overplus 
 to the Scriptures, and retrench that redundancy, or keep it mo- 
 destly ! for 'tis a horrid thing that we Protestants should assume 
 a power of ranging our human apprehensions with the sacred 
 text, and enjoining our imaginations for indispensable articles 
 of faith and Christian communion." Vol. I. p. 774. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 167 
 
 discipline was meant to repress, and those convic- 
 tions and opinions for which man is answerable to 
 God alone. It has been considered, indeed, that 
 for any one to persist in teaching opinions which 
 the Society regards as opposed to fundamental 
 truth, should be made a ground of disciplinary pro- 
 ceeding : but it is the act of disseminating such views, 
 and not the mere holding of them, which consti- 
 tutes the ofience in such cases. The Society having 
 declared from time to time, in its official documents, 
 what those truths are in the profession of which its 
 members are united, has wisely thrown the respon- 
 sibility on the conscience of each individual of de- 
 ciding how far he can honestly remain a member 
 of it. 
 
 The need of establishing meetings for discipline 
 w^as very early perceived by George Fox, and with 
 him originated, for the most part, the disciplinary 
 system which has since obtained amongst us. Some 
 years had elapsed before the connexion between 
 these meetings was fully established. In some in- 
 stances the County or Quarterly Meetings were the 
 first which were held, whilst in others a few neigh- 
 bouring meetings were joined together as a Monthly 
 Meeting : the Monthly Meetings being afterwards 
 made subordinate to the Quarterly, and these again 
 to the is'ational or Yearly Meeting. The Urst meet- 
 ing for discipline held in this part of the country 
 
168 
 
 TANNEll'S LECTURES. 
 
 appears to have been the Quarterly Meeting for 
 Somersetshire. Its record of minutes commences 
 with a meeting held at Ilchester, in 1668 : but 
 George Fox speaks of being at a General Meeting 
 in Somersetshire, in 1663 (both the National and 
 County Meetings were at first called " General Meet- 
 ings") ; and among the manuscripts in James Dix's 
 collection there is an account of a still earlier meet- 
 ing held at Glastonbury, the 27th of Fourth month, 
 1659. I believe this paper to contain a copy of the 
 earliest record of a meeting for discipline held in 
 this part of the country. The names of forty-five 
 Friends are appended to the minutes, or "propo- 
 sals," as they are called. These proposals are to the 
 following eflect, viz. : First, That care be taken that 
 all sufierings of Friends for conscience' sake be col- 
 lected in each meeting, and forwarded to a Friend 
 appointed to record them. Second, That if any dif- 
 ference should arise amongst Friends, which in love 
 and the spirit of meekness shall not be composed 
 or ended between themselves, they shall lay it be- 
 fore some Friends of their own meeting, or others 
 who, in the wisdom of God, may judge thereof and 
 end the same ; but that if it cannot be so ended, it 
 shall be brought to be determined at the General 
 Meeting. Third, That Friends, who are servants, 
 should not leave their employers, or employers dis- 
 miss their servants, without due notice. Fourth, 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 169 
 
 That Friends be desired to bring up their children 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and 
 that such as are capable be instructed, or kept era- 
 ployed, that none live idle in the creation. Fifth, 
 That all Friends who are not provided, may speedily 
 procure burying-places. Sixth, That if any Friend 
 be indebted, and unable to discharge the same with- 
 out the assistance of Friends, the matter should bo 
 inquired into at the General Meeting. Seventh, 
 That a register be kept in every meeting of all mar- 
 riages, births, and burials, and the particulars sent 
 to the Friend appointed to record the sufferings. 
 Eighth, That care be taken to collect and maintain 
 the stock of public moneys for the relief of poor 
 Friends, and defraying other public charges. Two 
 treasurers to be appointed (one in the north and the 
 other in the south of the county), who shall disburse 
 the moneys as the General Meeting shall direct, or 
 as they, with the consent of four other Friends, shall 
 judge meet; and render an account to the meeting. 
 Kinth, That if a necessity be laid on any Friend to 
 write or print any book for the service of truth, the 
 copies be first tried and weighed by such persons as 
 are able to judge in the wisdom of God, and the 
 same being approved, the charge of printing (above 
 what is raised by the sale of the book) may be 
 borne by the public stock. That care be taken to 
 15 
 
170 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 distribute such books as are thus printed, for gra- 
 tuitous circulation. 
 
 At a second General Meeting, or adjournment of 
 the former, held a month later, a long minute was 
 adopted in relation to marriage, the substance of 
 which was, that before the parties intending to 
 marry concluded "any contract," the matter should 
 be "propounded to two or three" "to judge there- 
 of : if they object not, that then it be published to 
 Friends of the meeting, or meetings, to which the 
 parties belong," at "the end" of the meeting, "the 
 parties being present:" that if after a lapse of four- 
 teen days no obstruction arise, the said " intention 
 shall be published in the market town next" to the 
 residence of each party, "on a market day, in time 
 and place of full market, by the party himself, or 
 some other person, as the parties think lit, or at the 
 end of the General Meeting, or meetings to which 
 the party or parties belong, so that it be publicly 
 done." " That fourteen days after such publication 
 (at the least)" the marriage should take place "at 
 the end of a meeting, or at and before an assembly 
 of Friends" not "less than ten in number," "a cer- 
 tificate" to be "signed by four at least of the men 
 present, and the marriage to be then registered." 
 Any obstruction arising in relation to marriage to 
 be reported to the General Meeting: certilicates of 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 171 
 
 marriage to be shown to some public magistrate 
 soon after the marriage. 
 
 The only other minute of this second meeting, 
 refers to the collections to be made for the public 
 stock, and directs that all meetings on the south 
 and south-west of Mendip," should send their col- 
 lections "to a Friend of Puddimore;" and that 
 meetings on the north or north-east of Mendip 
 should send theirs to a Friend at Saltford. There 
 is another paper in the same collection, signed G. 
 F.j containing most of the suggestions embodied in 
 these proposals of the Somersetshire meeting ; and 
 a third, without date, but issued apparently about 
 the same time, in which various objects are recom- 
 mended to the different meetings, such as the keep- 
 ing up of meetings for worship, the extension of 
 private admonition to delinquents in a "tender 
 meek spirit," and speaking to them, if needful, 
 before two or three witnesses, before making com- 
 plaint to the Church; the care of the goods of 
 Friends travelling in the ministry, and of those who 
 are in prison ; and the extension of private advice 
 and care to ministers. Various quotations of apos- 
 tolic counsel, bearing on the different relations of 
 life, are given in this paper. It will be observed 
 that the duties which devolved on this Somersetshire 
 Meeting include those which were subsequently left 
 to the care of the subordinate Monthly Meetings. 
 
172 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 And for years after the establishment of the latter, 
 the respective provinces of these meetings were not 
 clearly defined. Delinquents were sometimes dealt 
 with by the Monthly and sometimes by the Quarterly 
 Meeting : and cases which had been brought under 
 the care of the former were often carried forward to 
 the latter for final decision. The attention of these 
 early meetings for discipline was often occupied 
 with the sufferings attendant on persecution, and 
 committees were appointed "to take care of the 
 affairs of the prison, and to see that nothing be 
 lacking to them that suffer for the testimony of a 
 good conscience." ^ Other Friends were appointed 
 to attend the Assizes and Sessions, to assist those 
 who were under prosecution. 
 
 The range of the Mendip Hills has continued to 
 form the boundary of one of the Monthly Meetings 
 in the County of Somerset, viz., the north division ; 
 but the southern and western part of the county 
 was soon afterwards divided into two, and subse- 
 quently into four Monthly Meetings : and these have 
 again been united into two. In the year 1691 the 
 middle division, containing Street, Glastonbury, 
 &c., was separated from the south division, which 
 included Yeovil, Shepton Mallet, Puddimore, &c. : 
 but most of the meetings which remained in exist- 
 ence in the latter were joined to the middle division 
 
 • Minutes of Quarterly MeetiD|^ for Somerset, 1682. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 173 
 
 in 1783. Again, in the west division, Minehead 
 and some other meetings were formed into a distinct 
 Monthly Meeting in 1691, but were reabsorbed into 
 the west division in 1761. The minutes of Mine- 
 head Monthly Meeting appear to be lost: those of 
 the north commence first month, 1667, two months 
 earlier than those of the Two Weeks Meeting in 
 Bristol : those of the west in 1676 ; and those of 
 the south in 1687. 
 
 Another paper, which appears to have been issued 
 by one of the Somersetshire General Meetings, 
 contains lists of Friends by whom the business of 
 the different Monthly Meetings was to be trans- 
 acted. It may be said b}^ those who object to birth- 
 right membership, that in the arrangement by 
 which the exercise of the discipline was committed 
 to a few persons, a corrective was provided (which 
 has since been lost) for the otherwise objectionable 
 course of treating all the attenders of a congrega- 
 tion who had not been disowned as members of the 
 Church. I shall have something to say as to the 
 working of this restrictive system in my next Lec- 
 ture. But supposing we should find that this sys- 
 tem w^orked badly in the long run, this would not 
 prove that its introduction at the early period of 
 which I speak, was an error. Its adoption or rejec- 
 tion appears to me to be a matter of allowable 
 arrangement. And if some of my friends should 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 say to me that this question is. in their view, one of 
 principle rather than of arrangement; and that 
 under a system of birthright membership, such re- 
 striction is absolutely required, I would ask them to 
 consider that the restrictive s^^stem can only be 
 carried out by the exercise of superior authority 
 like that of the Queen over the Church of England ; 
 or by self-appointment, like that which the fiction 
 of apostolic succession involves ; or by the general 
 consent or appointment of the other members of the 
 meeting. The latter is the only course which could 
 be pursued in our own Society. In other words, 
 those who are imagined to be unfit to undertake the 
 conduct of the discipline would have to take part in 
 the appointment of others to perform this duty ! Do 
 not such considerations point to the conclusion, that 
 the bringing forth good fruit in this matter of church 
 government, (as in every thing else,) is dependent 
 on the goodness of the tree ; on the condition of 
 the congregation; that where spiritual life, in the 
 main, prevails, and is allowed free scope, good re- 
 sults will follow ; but that whenever it becomes low 
 or extinct, no form or system whatever will ensure 
 good church government ? In the earlier times of 
 which I am speaking, it is easy to perceive that the 
 heterogeneous character of the congregations may 
 have rendered such selection needful. In Bristol it 
 was felt to be a serious thing that so many should 
 
tanker's lectures 
 
 175 
 
 be excluded from all meetings excepting those for 
 worship, and in 1697, a Quarterly Heading Meeting 
 was established for the children and servants of 
 Friends ; and there is a mention in the minutes of 
 the Men's Meeting having adopted '-several articles 
 and paragraphs containing tender counsel, advice, 
 and caution for reading to the Quarterly Meeting." 
 
 The manner in which the selection of Friends to 
 attend meetings for disciphne was made, was pro- 
 bably different in different meetings. The following 
 minute of the north division of Somerset Monthly 
 Meeting was adopted in 1667, just after its estab- 
 lishment: ''It is desired that one Friend at the 
 least, at each meeting, do give attendance at each 
 General Quarterly Meeting, and also at each Monthly 
 Meeting, and that [the] Friend or Friends who do 
 come to such meetings have the consent of the 
 major part of the meeting to which he do belong ; 
 and that he motion nothing; here as from the meet- 
 ing, but only what is the mind and sense of the 
 major part of the meeting : yet not limiting or re- 
 straining any Friend, but all may come in their 
 freedom, and speak their judgment ; but not in the 
 name of the meetins: otherwise than aforesaid." I 
 need hardly say that the principle of deciding by 
 majorities has never been generally recognised by 
 our Society. The desire of its members has been 
 to form their conclusions in accordance with the 
 
176 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 mind of the Spirit;" and it has often been instruc- 
 tive to observe that where this desire has been 
 maintained and accompanied by brotherly conde- 
 scension, those v^'ho have differed widely in opinion, 
 have at length been brought to agree. But infalli- 
 ble as are the dictates of the Spirit of Truth, there 
 is a great liability even on the part of the renewed 
 mind to misapprehend them ; and in cases in which 
 opinion continues to be divided, the testimony of 
 numbers cannot be overlooked without endangering 
 the relationship in which we stand one to another 
 as brethren. In a minute of the north division 
 Monthly Meeting, in 1702, complaint is made of 
 the character of some who attended that meeting ; 
 and it is requested that Friends of each particular 
 meeting would meet the first day before each 
 Monthly Meeting, and make choice of two Friends 
 to attend it — a duty which afterwards devolved on 
 preparative meetings, when these were established 
 in 1754. Representatives to the Quarterly Meeting 
 seem at first to have been named by the particular 
 meetings, and those to the Yearly Meeting by the 
 Monthly Meetings. 
 
 I do not think that any one who has examined 
 the minutes of our earlier meetings for discipline, 
 and observed the character and the extent of the 
 delinquency noticed in them, could entertain the 
 idea that the first years of the Society's existence 
 
tanner's lectures. 177 
 
 are in all respects to be considered a golden age. 
 Perhaps a mistake has sometimes been made in re- 
 ference to those earl}' times by overrating the puri- 
 fying effect which persecution would exercise on the 
 body: I do not mean as respects its influence on 
 individual minds, but as to its tendency to repress 
 insincere profession. Ko doubt many insincere per- 
 sons were kept aloof from the Society in the days 
 of persecution, by the fear of suffering : but it may 
 not have been sufficiently considered that another 
 effect of persecution was to develope to a large ex- 
 tent the kindly and charitable feelings, of the little 
 flock towards each other ; and that the free exten- 
 sion of pecuniary and other aid, resulting there- 
 from, would prove a temptation to some, whose aim 
 it would be to avail themselves of the aid, and at 
 the same time to evade the suffering which others 
 bore so faithfully. I have no doubt that, as respects 
 many of the members, the period under considera- 
 tion was one in which singleness of purpose, devo- 
 tedness of heart, and uncompromising faithfulness, 
 Avere exhibited to a far greater degree than has since 
 been commonly witnessed amongst us : but it must 
 be considered that, even as respects the sincere and 
 earnest members of the body, there had been, in 
 many instances, a want of that early religious care 
 and training which cannot be fully compensated for 
 by any of the advantages of after years. I was 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 tanner's lectukes. 
 
 often reminded of some of these features of our So- 
 ciety's early history, by what I had the opportunity 
 of witnessing, some time since, of the state of things 
 among our dear Friends in Norway. One sees there 
 a community of persons who have come together on 
 the grounds of professed individual conviction (few, 
 if any, of the adults having had a birthright in the 
 Society) ; and it is refreshing to witness the zeal, 
 and love, and self-denial b}' which many of them are 
 actuated ; but one cannot be among them without 
 feeling how great a loss has been sustained by more 
 than a few, for want of the early culture to which I 
 have alluded. 
 
 In Somersetshire, and perhaps in Bristol also, 
 many of the first converts appear to have belonged 
 to the labouring class of society : to the same class, 
 indeed, from which Whitfield and Wesley drew a 
 large number of their disciples in the following cen- 
 tury. There were, in Somersetshire, three times as 
 many meetings as at present ; but there are more 
 reasons than one why we should hesitate to use this 
 comparison as a test of the religious strength of the 
 body in these difi:erent periods ; manj^ of these 
 meetings were small, a number of them were held 
 in private houses ; and from a very early time fre- 
 quent complaints were made of the great slackness 
 of Friends in many places in attending the meet- 
 ings for discipline. The following is a minute of 
 
T A N X E R ' S LECTURES. 
 
 179 
 
 the West Division Monthly Meeting, in 1676 : "Here 
 is none of Minehead or "Withell, Wiveliscombe nor 
 Milverton, nor Poldcn Hill nor Taunton, to attend 
 upon the service of truth." There were often not 
 more than from four to six Friends present at that 
 Monthly Meeting; and similar complaints were 
 made of some of the other meetings in the county, 
 and of the attendance of the Quarterl}^ Meeting. 
 
 Many of the first Quarterly Meetings were held 
 at Ilchester, apparently in consequence of the great 
 number of Friends who were there as prisoners. 
 The ordinary prison being full, two old buildings, 
 known as the Nunnery^ and the Friary, were also 
 used as prisons for Friends. In the hall of this 
 Ilchester Friarj-, many of the first Somersetshire 
 Quarterly meetings were held. On one occasion, 
 when the permission to meet there was refused 
 them, the landlord of the inn at which they met 
 was fined .£40 for allowing them the use of his 
 house (£20 for the Men's, and .£20 for the Women's 
 Meeting), and he incurred £20 expense in the 
 
 ' It is stated by CoUinson, in liis History of Somersetshire, 
 that this Nunnery was originally one of the hospitals, of which 
 there were several in that county, devoted to the use of lepers, 
 pilgrims, &c. He speaks of the Friary as having been the house 
 in which the famous Roger Bacon was born. This Friary, like 
 our Bristol Friars, belonged to the order of Black Friars. The 
 abbey kitchen, at Glastonbury, was another ecclesiastical build- 
 ing which served Friends for a place of meeting. 
 
180 
 
 tanner's l i-: c t u r i*: s . 
 
 attempt to defend himself at the Sessions. Friends 
 afterwards repaid him these sums. The names of 
 most of the Somersetshire Meetings at present in 
 existence are given in the earliest list. Sidcot and 
 Claverham are not mentioned, but were established 
 soon after. Backwell, Nailsea, and Bourton, formed 
 one meeting in the neighbourhood of the latter, as 
 did Cheddar and Berrington near the former. The 
 Friends probably went from Cheddar to Berrington 
 on foot, passing between the Cheddar Cliffs, across 
 the highest ridge of Mendip, and through the Ber- 
 rington Coomb ; a walk almost equal in picturesque 
 beauty to some of those by which I have seen Nor- 
 w^egian peasants wending their way to a place of 
 worship. In that neighbourhood resided William 
 Lawrence of Axbridge, and William Goodridge of 
 Banwell, both of whom suffered severe imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 The meeting for discipline, established in Bristol 
 in 1667, unlike the meetings of which I have spoken, 
 was not made subordinate to any Quarterly Meet- 
 ing. Bristol may be said, under this arrangement, 
 as in its civil capacity, to have been "a city and 
 county of itself." On the occasion of the regular 
 establishment of the Yearly Meeting in London, in 
 in the year 1672, it was decided that it should con- 
 sist of six Friends for the City of London, three for 
 the city of Bristol, two for the town of Colchester, 
 
TAXXER'S LECTURES. 
 
 181 
 
 and one or two from each of the counties of Eng- 
 land and Wales respectively. This meeting for dis- 
 cipline in Bristol continued to meet once in two 
 weeks until its junction with the Quarterly Meeting 
 of Somersetshire, in 1784. Like the Monthly Meet- 
 ings, it was occupied with the relief of the poor and 
 of those who were sufferers from persecution, with 
 proceedings in relation to marriage, and with the 
 general maintenance of Christian discipline. 
 
 Although the early meetings for discipline were 
 of so select a character, it w^as felt that some pro- 
 vision was needed for the regular extension of still 
 more private care and oversight. At a Quarterly 
 Meeting for Somerset, held in 1686, a minute was 
 adopted, stating that, "Whereas some matters re- 
 lating to truth are not fit to be discussed in a public 
 Quarterly Meeting," an appointment w^as then made 
 of six Friends from each Monthly Meeting. A time 
 was fixed for them to meet ; and they were to ap- 
 point another time for such a meeting to be held, 
 and acquaint their respective Monthly Meetings 
 with it. Those meetings w^ere to appoint them, or 
 a like number of Friends in their places, to attend 
 to such service. In the first month of 1698, the 
 Quarterly Meeting issued a paper of disciplinary 
 advice and direction, which w^as afterwards revised, 
 and is called, in the early minutes, "the paper of 
 particulars." Two Friends w^ere to be appointed in 
 16 
 
182 
 
 tanner's l e c t u r e s . 
 
 each Meeting to report, from time to time, as to the 
 conduct of their members. This was just before 
 the advice was issued by the Yearly Meeting to ap- 
 point overseers. In Bristol, a meeting was esta- 
 blished as early as 1670, whose duty it was to ex- 
 tend such private care as was needed, previously to 
 the charge against any Friend being laid before the 
 Men's Meeting. It w^as subsequently arranged that 
 this meeting should be composed of ministering 
 Friends, and of six Friends to be appointed annu- 
 ally by the Men's Meeting, and that it should hold 
 its meetings once a month. This Meeting, which 
 continued in existence till 1765, was accustomed to 
 undertake the oversight of the ministry as well as 
 of the conduct of the members generally. It was 
 not long, indeed, before it exceeded the powers en- 
 trusted to it by proceeding to disown impenitent 
 offenders ; and in 1697, the Men's Meeting found it 
 needful to adopt a minute expressly limiting the 
 powers of this " Monthl}^ Meeting" to the prelimi- 
 nary dealing with delinquents, and declaring its 
 entire subordination to the Two-weeks Meeting. 
 As regards ministry, however, it was still accus- 
 tomed to advise Friends, whose ministry was not 
 approved, to keep silence in meetings. 
 
 Besides the appointment of overseers, other 
 means of oversight, in use from an early time, were 
 periodical meetings of the heads of families, in 
 
tanner's L E C T U Vv e s . 
 
 183 
 
 different places ; and the appointment of Committees 
 by the Monthly Meetings, to visit the families of 
 Friends. 
 
 The first mention which I find of queries to be 
 answered to the Yearly Meeting in London, is in 
 1700. These referred chiefly to the sufferings and 
 imprisonment of Friends : and the only one which 
 bore on the state of the meetings was that which 
 related to the prosperity of truth, and the increase 
 of unity, among Friends. Verbal answers appear 
 to have been given for some years. The first pub- 
 lication of a book of extracts from the minutes and 
 advices of the Yearly Meeting, was made in 1783 : 
 but the following minute was adopted by the Quar- 
 terly Meeting of Somersetshire, in 1739: "Under- 
 standing that a motion has been made in the Yearly 
 Meeting, at London, that an abstract of the minutes 
 of the said meeting be drawn up for the use of 
 Friends ; if said motion should be repeated, our re- 
 presentatives are ordered to second it." 
 
 Among the minutes of the first sitting of the 
 ^Bristol Meeting, is one containing an offer to pay 
 the passage of Wenlock Christison to ISTew England, 
 and another shortly after directing relief to be given 
 to his wife. I suppose this to have been the same 
 Friend who returned to Boston in 1660, after he 
 had been banished on pain of death; and who, 
 entering the court whilst sentence of death was 
 
184 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 being passed on his friend William Leddra, ad- 
 dressed a bold warning to the Judges not to shed 
 any more innocent blood. His warning did not 
 prevent the execution of "William Leddra, but it 
 does not appear that the barbarous spectacle was 
 afterwards repeated. Wenlock Christison himself, 
 though sentenced to death, was liberated the follow- 
 ing year. I suppose that he had in the mean time 
 returned to England, and was now contemplating 
 another visit of love to New England — but I have 
 not met with any later record of his life. (In the 
 previous year Wenlock Christison, of Sutton, is 
 mentioned as having been sent to Ilchester, for re- 
 fusing to swear.) Others of the first minutes, relate 
 to the case of William White, a lad who had been 
 turned out of doors by his father, (who was a Ser- 
 jeant,) for his attendance of Friends' meetings. 
 Friends were appointed to visit his father, and try 
 to convince him of his " unnaturalness but as this 
 failed, arrangements were made for the son's ap- 
 prenticeship. The following is a minute relating to 
 his case : — " Margaret Thomas having been spoken 
 to concerning the tabling of William White, accepts 
 the terms proposed by Friends — Ss. per week." ^ 
 
 Bristol was from a very early period remarkable 
 for having two meeting-houses belonging to the 
 
 * I suppose the word " boarding'' has the same sort of origin 
 as tabling/' 
 
tanner's lectures. 185 
 
 same congregation ; and from the year 1670, if not 
 before, there have been two Week-day Meetings. 
 At first they were both held, as they now are, at the 
 Friars — Temple Street meeting-house being only 
 used once in the week (on the first day.) The fol- 
 lowing minute was adopted in 1667 : It is con- 
 cluded that a large public meeting-house on this 
 side of the Bridge, be built on the ground, and that 
 it be not thereby intended to make void the deter- 
 mination of Friends in procuring a meeting-house 
 on the other {i. e, the Temple Street) " side of the 
 Bridge." A committee was then appointed to make 
 arrangements for building. The meeting-house in 
 use up to this time, is always spoken of as having 
 been in Broadmead; and I am inclined to think it 
 stood on the site of the present Baptist Chapel in 
 that street. In the " Broadmead Kecords," a volume 
 of which has been published, it is stated, that the 
 Baptist church, which met at one time in a room in 
 the Friars, formerly a chapel, removed in 1671, '^to 
 the meeting-house at the lower end of Broadmead, 
 where the heretics, called Quakers, had formerly 
 used to meet, it being four great rooms made into 
 one square room, about sixteen yards long and fif- 
 teen yards broad." The Friends' meeting-house in 
 the Friars was opened in 1670 ; and the jjrobability 
 seems to be, that this room to which the Baptists 
 removed, was the one which Friends had left. It 
 16* 
 
186 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 was certainly an up-stairs room which was occupied 
 by both parties. The minute which I just now read, 
 stipulates that the new house should be built on the 
 ground — a former minute speaks of letting the 
 rooms under the old meeting-house for X3 : 10 per 
 annum ; and there is another minute appointing 
 Friends to stand at the lower stair-head to make a 
 collection for the poor, after meeting. The house 
 in Temple Street appears to have been finished in 
 less than a year, and was opened in the autumn of 
 1667.^ Much more difiiculty seems to have arisen 
 about the larger house, and in 1669, there is this 
 minute, " Friends appointed about the new meeting- 
 house, are desired effectually to meet about it very 
 speedily." It seems probable that a difference of 
 opinion had prevailed as to the site which should 
 be chosen, &c. The question was "largely debated" 
 in one of the meetings, and in a minute made six 
 months after the last which I read, stating that the 
 committee had determined that it should be built 
 on the ground of Dennis Hollister, in the Friars ; 
 w^e are told that the judgment was determined by 
 lot, both as to the place, and the persons who 
 should go on in the work. I see it stated in a Lec- 
 ture on the History of Friends in Birmingham, 
 
 ' Six years later it was ordered to be enlarged, and in 1763 it 
 was re-built. In 1832, this house "was made use of as a cholera 
 hospital, and soon afterwards sold. 
 
tanxer's lectures. 
 
 187 
 
 published in the "British FnQnd," that the site on 
 which their meetiog-house was built had also been 
 that of a Friary. Trench had better have referred 
 to such coincidences, in his interesting little book 
 on proverbs, to illustrate the proverb that ex- 
 tremes meet," than to refer, as he does, to that 
 which he takes for granted as a fact, that Friends, 
 like the Roman Catholics, represent the Bible as 
 needing a supplement. The first house at the Friars 
 had the ministers' gallery on the side opposite to 
 the present, and the entrance was from Merchant 
 Street, through the Cutlers' Hall premises. The 
 officers who came to apprehend Friends during the 
 persecuting times, are described on one occasion as 
 waiting for them in the Cloisters. In 1699, com- 
 plaint was made of the injury done by Friends' 
 coaches coming into the narrow lane which led to 
 the meeting-house, and they were desired to leave 
 them in the street, or else not use them at all.^ In 
 the description of the property purchased of Dennis 
 Hollister, mention is made of a large orchard con- 
 nected with the Friars, which I suppose to have 
 been the same used for the lars-er meetins^s in 
 earlier times. 
 
 The first burial-ground used by Friends, was that 
 at Eedcliff Pit, purchased in 1665. There is a 
 minute in 1668, stating that the herbage of Redcliff 
 
 ' Minutes of Two-^sveeks and Monthly Meetings. 
 
188 
 
 tanner's lectuhes. 
 
 Street burying-ground was let for three years, at 
 SOs, per annum. The Friars' burial-ground was 
 probably the garden purchased of Dennis Hollister 
 as part of the meeting-house premises, and described 
 in the abstract book as having been formerly a 
 burying-ground. The burying-ground of the work- 
 house was opened in 1708. There are some curious 
 minutes relating to funerals. The grave-digger was 
 more than once ordered to attend the Two-weeks 
 Meeting, to be treated withal concerning his over- 
 charging poor Friends for making graves ; and on 
 one of these occasions the following scale of charges 
 for funerals, &c., was agreed to : — Is. for digging 
 the grave of a poor Friend ; 2s. 6d. for other graves ; 
 Is. 6d. for inviting the friends and relations of a 
 poor Friend to a funeral ; 2s. 6d. for inviting those 
 of other Friends. No one receiving such payments 
 to sit in the meeting for discipline. Friends were 
 cautioned against the use of varnished, or wainscot 
 coffins. In 1670, grave-stones were ordered to be 
 removed. There is a minute advising against the 
 customary handing of wine at funerals, and a 
 minute of Frenchay Monthly Meeting condemns 
 the practice of drinking and smoking on such 
 occasions. 
 
 Among the early minutes, are two which relate 
 to the opening of the city gate called ITewgate, on 
 first days, to allow Friends to pass out to their 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 189 
 
 meeting, (Broadmead not having been within the 
 city bounds.) The closing of the gates on that day 
 of the week, had probably originated with the 
 Puritans. In 1668, 5s. per quarter is directed to be 
 given "to the porter, for his pains and love in 
 opening the gate to Friends, as they go to and again 
 to meetings on the first days of the week." The 
 other minute was passed in 1673 : " If the porter of 
 Kewgate continue to open the gates, to the benefit ^ 
 of Friends passing through at the breaking up of 
 our First day Meetings, this meeting do appoint 
 Charles Harford and William Ford to pay him 5s, 
 every quarter, to begin at the next quarter day." 
 This payment was still continued in 1703. 
 
 I have not been able to ascertain whether the 
 Women's Quarterly Meeting, which was held in 
 1680 (as appears from the statement that the land- 
 lord of the inn at Ilchester, was fined for allowing 
 their meeting in his house), was regularly held after- 
 wards ; but some, at least, of the Women's Monthly 
 Meetings in Somersetshire, do not appear to have 
 been kept up. In 1755, a minute of the Quarterly 
 Meeting states that no such meetings were held in 
 the Xorth and Middle Divisions. The minutes of 
 the former show, however, that the attempt to hold 
 such a meeting had more than once been made. In 
 Bristol, the Women's Meeting, established at the 
 same time as the Men's, appears to have been kept 
 
190 
 
 tanner's lectuhes. 
 
 up ever since. It was from the first largely occupied 
 with the care of the poor ; and the applications for 
 relief, from persons of both sexes, were commonly 
 referred to them. The opposition made to the esta- 
 blishment of meetings for discipline, of which I 
 have spoken, extended to Bristol, and a Friend, of 
 the name of William Eogers, who resided there, 
 became a warm partizan of the movement. One 
 part of the dissatisfaction arose from the idea that 
 the establishment of Women's Meetings was an 
 attempt to usurp authority over the man : but the 
 objectors went further, and argued that the abiding 
 of the Spirit of Christ in His people, rendered them 
 independent of all Church authority ; and that the 
 authority then attempted to be exercised among 
 Friends, w^as similar to that of the Romish Coun- 
 cils. To this it was replied, that if the authority 
 exercised was consonant with the Scriptures, he who 
 follows the leadings of the Spirit, will not reject it ; 
 and that whilst it would be right to oppose such 
 tyranny as that of the Church of Rome, we cannot 
 reasonably plead the like scruple against relieving 
 the poor, visiting the sick, ending differences, re- 
 proving the licentious, reclaiming backsliders, pro- 
 moting justice in dealing and temperance in living; 
 nor against making the needful arrangements for 
 marriage proceedings, &c. And, that as to the 
 Women's Meetings, which were established for the 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 191 
 
 purpose of assisting in the care of the poor, the sick, 
 and the imprisoned ; the apostolic injunction re- 
 ferred to by the objectors, could not apply to them: 
 and that although a motherly and watchful care 
 over their own sex, as being the fittest to counsel 
 and advise in some cases, had since devolved upon 
 them, there was in this no usurpation of power. 
 
 Before giving any further details of disciplinary 
 proceedings, I would call the attention of my friends 
 to what appears to me to have been a marked effect 
 produced on the Society and on its discipline, by the 
 severe persecution under which its members suffered 
 for so many years. Not only did it open the hearts 
 of the sufferers towards those who suffered from 
 any cause, but it seems to have induced a close 
 compact among the members, which resulted in a 
 sort of family government. Peculiar circumstances 
 call for peculiar measures, such as it may not be 
 wise to continue under other circumstances ; just as, 
 in the Apostolic Church, the believers sold their 
 possessions and had all things in common. Such 
 considerations may have been suggested to us by 
 the beautiful minute of the Bristol Meetins: referred 
 to last month, which describes the affection shown 
 by the whole meeting to the children of Thomas 
 Parsons when they were introduced by their sister 
 and taken charge of by Friends ; and by the minute 
 of the first Somersetshire Quarterly Meeting, which 
 
192 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 recommends those who are contemplating marriage 
 to take the advice of their friends before they enter 
 into any contract with each other; and there are 
 many other things in the early minutes of a similar 
 character. Offenders were at first summoned to 
 come to the meeting and receive the advice of 
 Friends. Thus, in 1678, a minute of the west divi- 
 sion Monthly Meeting advises a delinquent to attend 
 the next Quarterly Meeting at Ilchester, to receive 
 such advice and admonition as Friends may give 
 him, "which," it is said, "we doubt not will be to 
 the eternal good of his soul." As regards marriage, 
 the consent of parents was shortly afterwards substi- 
 tuted for the advice of friends^ but meetings were 
 accustomed to concern themselves with marriage 
 proceedings to an extent which would now be re- 
 garded as an infringement of private rights. Ap- 
 pointments were made in the case of second mar- 
 riages, to see that the children of the first, if an}-, 
 were properly provided for. In one case, the middle 
 division Monthly Meeting had the deed of a mar- 
 riage settlement copied among their minutes, " be- 
 cause," they say, "the trustee is a contentious man, 
 and Friends are not willing to be troubled by him." 
 It is evident, moreover, that in the personal presen- 
 tation of marriage, the parties were looked upon as 
 seeking the sanction of the meeting to their pro- 
 ceeding. In the case of an ancestor of my own. 
 
tanner's lectures 
 
 193 
 
 "William Tanner, of Kington, near Thornbury, who 
 married Mary Motley, daughter of Joseph Sturge, 
 in 1707, the minute of Frenchay Monthly Meeting 
 on the occasion, says, '-this meeting do not really 
 approve of this intention of marriage, but do permit 
 them to proceed therein among Friends."^ 
 
 In regard to trade, we find the earl}- meetings 
 occupied to a large extent with the proceedings of 
 their members, by loans of money and otherwise. 
 Thus a minute of the Bristol Meeting, in 1676, men- 
 tions that two Friends complain of the decay of 
 trade, and £40 is agreed to be advanced in weekl}^ 
 sums, for which each is to supply one dozen of 
 shoes. Two Friends are bound for the said sum, 
 and others agree to see them harmless. Sometimes 
 the meetings undertook the winding up of the 
 estates of deceased Friends. A minute of the south 
 division appoints a Friend to sell the goods of an- 
 other who had recently died, " and pay his debts if 
 his brother don't do it." It may perhaps be thought 
 that the advice issued in early times by the Quar- 
 terly Meeting for Somerset, that its members should 
 avoid paying wages in goods, came within what 
 \vould now be considered as the legitimate province 
 
 1 1 am indebted to Philip D. Tuckett, and P. D. Tuckett, 
 junior, for copies of some Frenchay minutes, and to John 
 Naish, for assistance rendered in regard to those of the north 
 division of Somerset. 
 
 17 N 
 
194 tanner's lectures. 
 
 of a meeting for discipline ; but the same can 
 hardly be said of the following minute of that meet- 
 ing, 23d First month, 1726: "John Ilipsley, by 
 order of the north Monthly Meeting, acquaints us 
 that about three mouths past, Mary Cuff, a poor 
 Friend who lived in Bellutou meeting-house, was 
 unhappily murdered, and the person who is sup- 
 posed (as by his own confession) to have committed 
 the fact, being now taken, and to be tried at the 
 coming assizes at Taunton. And whereas the said 
 prosecution may be expensive, and no way probable 
 to raise the expense unless by Friends, therefore 
 (eight Friends) are desired to carry on the said pro- 
 secution as much as in them lies, and the charges 
 thereof to be reimbursed by this meeting." The 
 execution of the murderer was reported at a future 
 meeting. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the effect which the 
 sort of family compact of which I have spoken pro- 
 duced, not only on the charitable disposition of the 
 early Friends towards each other, but also in making 
 way for the system of relief which has been gra- 
 dually matured amongst us. The right of our 
 members to maintenance has never, I believe, been 
 admitted by the Society, but our 'practice is very 
 much the same as it would be if the right were ad- 
 mitted. I am not going to enter on the difficult 
 question whether the right course has been in all 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 195 
 
 respects pursued by us in this matter of relieving 
 the wants of our members, or on the still more dif- 
 ficult question of what better could have been de- 
 vised. Few problems in moral science are more 
 difficult of solution than that which relates to the 
 mode of so dispensing aid to others, as to comply 
 with the requirements of Christian charity on the 
 one hand, and to avoid lessening their independence 
 and self-respect on the other. The rulers of states 
 and of churches, and individuals in their private 
 capacity, have alike been at fault in this matter. It 
 is perhaps equally certain (I am now speaking of 
 the world at large) that a great deal is withheld 
 which ought to be given away, and that a large part 
 of that which is given is productive of injury rather 
 than of good. The worst course of all would seem 
 to be, that of those who cut the knot of the diffi- 
 culty by giving as little as possible, or by giving 
 indiscriminately what they have to spare. 
 
 I have spoken of a system of relief as having 
 gradually grown up amongst us ; but the mode in 
 which charitable aid was affi3rded in early times 
 was not of a systematic character, at least in so far 
 as respects what may be termed a law of settlement. 
 Friends of one county or country were ready to 
 help those of another. In 1664, a considerable sum 
 was raised by Friends in Ireland, to aid their suffi3r- 
 ing brethren in this country, of which £25 were 
 
196 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 distributed to the prisoners at Ilcbester and X30 to 
 those in Bristol. Six years afterwards an oppor- 
 tunity was afforded to Friends in this country of re- 
 ciprocating the kindness, by the severe losses sus- 
 tained by their brethren in Ireland during the re- 
 bellion : the amount of which is estimated by Rutty 
 at £100,000. The sum of <£1,810 was sent from 
 England for their relief, .£162 being collected in 
 Bristol and X113 : 19 in Somersetshire (Friends in 
 Barbadoes sent them £100.) Applications were 
 frequently made to Friends from different parts of 
 the country to assist their brethren in special emer- 
 gencies. Among these, by far the most frequent 
 were occasioned by losses from fire : and this need 
 not surprise us w^hen we consider that many houses 
 were then built of wood, that fire-engines had not 
 come into use, or insurance companies been estab- 
 lished. In 1672, two such applications were made 
 to Friends of Bristol, and in the case of one of 
 them, that of a Friend of Southampton, who had 
 lost all he had by fire, the sum of £142 : 5 : 9. was 
 sent from hence. On an application to assist a 
 Friend of Worcester, who was poor and in debt, a 
 donation of £5 was sent for his relief; but Friends 
 say, that "as to the matter of his debt, and contri- 
 buting thereunto, we have no freedom." In 1708, 
 Abraham Darby, who lived near Lawford's Gate, 
 ai>plied to Friends to assist an aged couple in Shrop- 
 
tanner's lectures. 197 
 
 shire; Friends there being "few in number and 
 mean in estate:" the sum of £5 was sent for their 
 assistance, and further relief was afterwards for- 
 warded to that meeting. Sometimes, without any 
 application being received. Friends were appointed 
 to inquire into the necessities of their brethren in 
 other places. This course was more than once 
 adopted by Bristol Friends, in reference to some of 
 the Gloucestershire meetings, and the offer when 
 not accepted, was kindly acknowledged. In another 
 instance, an inquiry was directed to be made as to 
 the necessities of some Derbyshire Friends, emi- 
 grating to Pennsylvania. Assistance to Friends 
 going to Pennsylvania is repeatedly mentioned. 
 During the persecution, from which Friends in 
 Bristol suffered, in 1682, "an epistle was received,'* 
 says one of the minutes, " from two Friends in 
 Yorkshire, expressing the great sense and compas- 
 sion Friends of the Quarterly Meeting have of the 
 present sufferings and afflictions of our poor Friends 
 in this city, for whose relief they have sent a token 
 of X30. It is desired by this meeting, that an 
 answer should be returned to their Quarterly Meet- 
 ing, tenderly accepting their brotherly love towards 
 us." There were applications too, for funds to be 
 used in the redemption of Friends who were captives 
 in Algiers. Bristol sent £10 for this purpose in 
 IT* 
 
198 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 1674, and £20 in 1679, out of a sum of £220 
 required. 
 
 It is very interesting and satisfactory to observe, 
 that large as were the demands made upon our 
 Friends in those days, to aid their suffering brethren 
 at home and abroad, they had still something to 
 spare for the necessities of other sufferers, not be- 
 longing to their particular fold. In 1673 there is a 
 minute relating to the distressed condition of the in- 
 habitants of Fordingbridge, consequent upon an 
 extensive fire. "We having hearts," it says, "to 
 commiserate their distressed condition, thought 
 meet to request Dennis Hollister to move" it " in 
 our public meeting-house, according as it shall be 
 upon his heart, on the next first day, in the after- 
 noon." Four Friends were appointed to receive 
 contributions on the following first day. Just after 
 this, several Friends are desired to ride down to 
 Pill, and relieve the wants of some distressed pas- 
 sengers to Ireland, to the extent of £5 : and the 
 sum of £5 is sent for the inhabitants of the town 
 of Wemm (another case of loss by fire.) In the 
 second month of 1688, a collection was made after 
 meeting, to relieve " the necessity of some of the 
 French Protestants," then resident in Bristol. This 
 is particularly interesting in connection with the 
 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had 
 taken place about three years before. Hundreds of 
 
tanner's lectures. 19^^ 
 
 thousands of French Protestants are said to have 
 been driven out of France at that time, the greater 
 part of whom took refuge in England. (Twent}'- 
 two French Churches were formed in London.) 
 England has had a bad name given to it of late, as 
 the hiding-place of assassins ; but if our hospitality 
 has sometimes been abused, many have come to us 
 at different times as foreign refugees, " of whom" 
 it may be said " the world was not worthy," and 
 long may it be ere we close our doors against such, 
 or indeed against any whose conduct entitles them 
 to our protection. On the occasion of which I 
 speak, Louis the Fourteenth may be said to have 
 driven out of France many of her best citizens ; and 
 the descendants of more than a few of these still 
 look upon England as their home. 
 
 In 1704, a collection was made by Friends, from 
 house to house, under a brief issued by Queen 
 Anne, for the suffering Protestants of the principa- 
 lity of Orange. The following is the endorsement 
 of the brief : " There is collected amongst the 
 people called Quakers, in the city of Bristol, pur- 
 suant to this brief, X78 : 19 : 4, which sum is paid to 
 the hands of Thomas Eddolls and Thomas Bilby, 
 churchwardens of St. James's parish, in the said 
 city of Bristol. Signed by Charles Jones and 
 Thomas Callowhill." In 1709, the sum of X97 : 0 : 6, 
 was collected in a similar manner, for " the sub- 
 
200 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 sistence and settlement" of the distressed inhabi- 
 tants of the Palatinate. Mention is made of a col- 
 lection under a royal brief, as early as 1687 ; and 
 the churchwardens having become willing to recog- 
 nise the Friends' meeting in this way, and Friends 
 being willing to respond to the call, the reading of 
 such documents in our meetings became a regular 
 practice ; and none seem to have been refused, 
 except those in which application was made for the 
 building or repair of parish churches, one of which 
 was for the repair of Redcliff Church, in this city, 
 in 1709. In ten yeavs, from 1706 to 1715, no less 
 than forty-eight collections under briefs were made 
 in Bristol meeting, for losses sustained in other 
 places by fire. 
 
 Among the Somersetshire minutes, there are a 
 number referring to collections made for the relief 
 of Friends in distant parts of the country. One of 
 these was for Friends in the north of England, w^ho 
 w^ere sufferers from the rebellion in 1745. A letter 
 from four Friends in London,^ in 1666, to John 
 Anderdon, then a prisoner at Ilchester, acknow- 
 ledges the receipt of £20, sent from Friends in 
 Somersetshire on account of the Fire in London. 
 There are two epistles from the Somersetshire 
 Quarterly Meeting, directing subscriptions to be 
 made for the release of captives in Algiers ; and a 
 letter from London^ acknowledges the receipt of 
 £15, sent on one of these occasions. The practice 
 of supplying the wants of poo'r Friends in Somer- 
 
 • J. Dix's manuscript. 
 
T A X X E R ' S LECTURES. 
 
 201 
 
 setshire out of a Quarterly Meeting stock, was not 
 long continued, though collections were made by 
 the authority of the Quarterly Meeting till the year 
 1725 ; but the Monthly Meetings were accustomed 
 to assist each other under the direction of the 
 Quarterly Meeting. In 1668, the west division was 
 desired to supply the south "with £S out of their 
 stock, wherein they abound." On another occasion 
 the north supplies the south with £2; the other 
 meetings "being themselves in debt, were not in a 
 capacity to do anything for the present." The 
 relief aiforded to poor Friends in Somersetshire in 
 the early times, was generally small in amount. 
 There are frequent entriee of cases such as the fol- 
 lowing: — 5s. to W. B., having a family of small 
 children, and being out of his usual employment — 
 20.?. to a poor man with a great family of small 
 children — os. to a poor man, and blind, having a 
 hard family — 20s. for setting a broken leg, and 10s. 
 for the Friend's relief — 5s. sent to a Friend to buy 
 him a pair of hose and shoes. A load of peat, 
 costing 8s. 6(i. was given yearly to a poor Friend : 
 and a cow was ordered to be purchased for the as- 
 sistance of another. In cases in which weekly pay 
 was given, the amount was probably not above the 
 scale of parish relief: 8s. 6d. per month is allowed 
 for the support of a widow, in 1735, and it is stated 
 in the minute to be "as little as she can be kept 
 for." It must be remembered that the value of 
 money was greater than it is now ; that cottages in 
 the country were rented for about 20s. per annum, 
 
202 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 and that many articles of food were very low in 
 price, butcher's meat costing from IJc?. to 2Jc?. per 
 pound, &c.^ 
 
 E'uraerous cases occurred, in which parties apply- 
 ing for relief were not considered to have any claim 
 upon Friends; but in which temporary aid was 
 given, and application directed to be made to the 
 parish officers. Such applications were sometimes 
 made too, on behalf of the attenders of our meet- 
 ings. One minute states that as Friends paid the 
 poor-rates, they thought they had a right to such 
 assistance ; and another advises a Friend to make 
 such application, she having no scruple against 
 it." There was doubtless a great difficulty in those 
 early days, in drawing the line between those whom 
 the meetings ought to relieve, and others. In Bris- 
 tol, the proportion of indigent Friends was perhaps 
 less than in some of the country meetings, but 
 there were cases, such as that in which 45s. was 
 allowed to a poor widow, to recover her bed from 
 pawn ; and one minute orders X5 to be given to 
 women Friends, to buy coal and cheese for the poor 
 during the winter: whether this refers to poor 
 Friends may be doubtful. Both in town and 
 country, the need was early felt of acting on the 
 apostolic precept, that if any would not work, 
 neither should he eat. A minute of the north 
 
 * There is a curious book, published some years since, en- 
 titled "Autobiography of William Stout, of Lancaster." He 
 was a member of the Society of Friends, and born in 1GG5. 
 Among other facts of economical interest, there is a mention of 
 his having when a young man, been boarded for £5 per annum. 
 
T A X X E r" S LECTURES 
 
 203 
 
 division, advises an applicant for relief ^'to be 
 diligent to follow some honest calling, for they 
 think him able to do so, without expectation or de- 
 pendency on Friends," and he is further advised, 
 " to be busy about his calling, and not about matters 
 that do not concern him, or are too high for him." 
 In Bristol, a person who was remonstrated with, for 
 not affording his family proper support, said he was 
 willing to work at his trade in the winter, and to 
 gather herbs in the summer:" which was not con- 
 sidered a satisfactory answer. 
 
 On the establishment of the Friends' workhouse 
 in 1696, an individual who had removed to Loudon, 
 and to whom Friends had sent several sums of 
 money but without feeling that his conduct entitled 
 him to their assistance, replies to an offer which I 
 suppose had been sent him to enter the new estab- 
 lishment, that he has no desire to come to Bristol 
 and weave cantaloons." The idea of the workhouse 
 was first suggested by the circumstance of several 
 poor Friends who were weavers being out of work ; 
 and the needful funds were quickly raised by Friends 
 making themselves answerable to the extent of 
 several hundred pounds. In 1698, the present 
 building at the bottom of Xew Street was erected 
 at a cost of upwards of £1,300, and was described 
 in the minutes of the Men's Meeting as a house 
 "for the willing Friends to work in, and the aged 
 and feeble to live in." An additional object was 
 afterwards secured by the admission of boys, who 
 were first provided with school instruction and after- 
 
204 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 wards taught the weaving trade. This trade was 
 carried on until about the year 1721 ; the chief 
 article manufactured being the sort of woollen stulFs 
 called " cantaloons." It is to be rescretted that the 
 workhouse ledger has been lost, so that the j)ecu- 
 niary results cannot be very fully ascertained. In 
 the report of one of the annual audits, the account 
 is said to be *^ whole with some advantage," and 
 this probably continued to be the case for many 
 years ; but at length the trade had so far declined 
 that loss ensued and the undertaking was relin- 
 quished, the house having since been used as an 
 asylum for the aged and infirm, and having also in 
 modern times accommodated our first-day school 
 on its first establishment. For some years there 
 was a common table kept for Friends living in the 
 workhouse. A Week-day Meeting was established, 
 and I understand that at one time a meeting for 
 worship was also held on first-day. One of the 
 Bristol minutes orders that a very good large 
 Bible should be purchased for the use of the boys." 
 Another purchase made by the meeting, about the 
 same time, was a Cambridge Concordance, to be 
 placed on the table of the meetings for discipline. 
 
 I must remark in reference to endowments, that I 
 do not think the Society of Friends has steered 
 clear of all the disadvantages ordinarily connected 
 with them. I believe, however, that we might very 
 generally plead "not guilty," to a charge of misap- 
 'pmpriation ; and also that the advice given by the 
 Quarterly Meeting for Somerset on one occasion, to 
 
tanner's lectures. 205 
 
 some Friends, to invest certain moneys "on no 
 worse security than they would take for themselves," 
 has been generally followed. About ten years ago 
 a report was presented to the Bristol Monthly 
 Meeting, by a committee, consisting of Samuel H. 
 Lury, Francis Fry, and Samuel Bowden, of their 
 examination of the accounts and records of this 
 meeting, with a view to ascertain whether all lega- 
 cies which had been directed to be invested had 
 been duly secured. That undertaking must have 
 involved weeks of uninterrupted labour: for al- 
 though a complete set of accounts has been kept 
 since 1734, the previous statement had to be pre- 
 pared from various sources. The report (which ex- 
 tends to 212 folio pages of large size) showed that 
 from 1734 to 1844, £22,943 had been expended in 
 the relief of our poor, including education and ap- 
 prentice fees, of which, X15,070 had been raised by 
 subscriptions, and the remainder derived from lega- 
 cies, or the income from investments. The report 
 also showed that a sum of £335 had been inad- 
 vertently allowed to pass into current expenditure ; 
 and a subscription to that amount being at once 
 raised, the proceeds were invested. I may refer 
 likewise to a printed account, prepared by the com- 
 mittee appointed to manage the Somersetshire 
 charities, as showing that in that count}', there has 
 been a conscientious discharge of the different 
 trusts. The committee of charities to which I 
 allude, has been held half-yearly since 1719, and 
 consists of Friends nominated by the Quarterly 
 18 
 
206 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 Meeting. Friends of Bristol and of Somersetsliire, 
 retained the management of their respective property 
 on their union as one Quarterly Meeting, in 1784. 
 In Somersetshire, the income of the charity estates 
 has been large enough to supersede the necessity 
 for periodical collections to be made in some of the 
 Monthly Meetings, for the relief of the poor, a 
 result which was not contemplated by the donors. 
 A minute of the Quarterly Meeting in 1722, says, 
 ''The design of our deceased worthy Friends, our 
 benefactors, was not in their giving to make void 
 the charity of the living : let such poor objects as 
 ought to have monthly pay, be taken care of by 
 your collections, as have been often recommended ; 
 pray therefore regard it." I will not attempt to 
 show that any particular injury has been done to 
 those of our Somersetshire Friends who have in 
 this way been deprived of the pleasure of contri- 
 buting to the relief of their poorer brethren ; but 
 there is no doubt that the ordinary effect of such 
 deprivation is to destroy the habit of giving. A 
 curious instance of this is mentioned by Fuller, in 
 his "History of Dissent, &c." — that of a dissenting 
 congregation possessed of an endowment of £100 
 per annum, whose evening services had to be aban- 
 doned during the winter months, because "they 
 were unable to raise money to buy candles,'' 
 
 The first collection for our Societ}^ fund, called 
 the "E'ational Stock," was made in Bristol in 1669. 
 The minute states that, the sum of X36 : 17 : 6 was 
 sent to London, for " the service of truth beyond 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 207 
 
 the seas, which, with £21 : 5 : 3 defaulked for our 
 own disbursements relating to that service, amounts 
 to X64 : 2 : 6." A collection was made in Somer- 
 setshire, for a like object, as early as the year 1658, 
 on the recommendation of a meeting of Friends of 
 the northern counties, held near Skipton. The sub- 
 scriptions to the National Stock, from the Somer- 
 setshire meetings, in 1722, amounting to £35 : 13 : 6, 
 were returned to them by the Quarterly Meeting to 
 be increased. 
 
 I must reserve for a concluding Lecture, some 
 further mention of the early discipline, and devote 
 ^ the remaining space to a reference to the public 
 ministry of our early days. The principle was from 
 the first recognised, by George Fox and his brethren, 
 that the true call and ^qualification of ministers of 
 the Gospel, can only be received from the Great 
 Head of the Church Himself ; and that the Church 
 has only to judge of the reality of the call, and to 
 watch over, encourage, and advise those who are 
 entrusted with such a gift. Even the recognition of 
 ministers as such, in the Society of Friends, was 
 of an indirect and informal character for many 
 years after its establishment. Those who spoke 
 often were allowed to occupy a raised seat, but then, 
 as now, this was adopted as a matter of convenience, 
 and not of ecclesiastical distinction or superiority. 
 As in the case of membership, no line of separation 
 was drawn between the attenders of the congrega- 
 tion ; so, neither were those who spoke as ministers 
 formally recognised as such. Before long it was 
 
208 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 found needful to give certificates of membership to 
 those who removed from one meeting to another ; 
 and about the same time, a necessity was felt for 
 giving similar credentials, to those who left their 
 homes to travel in the service of the Gospel. An 
 indirect recognition was given in many instances, 
 in this and in other ways, both of membership, and 
 of the ministerial character: but in regard to the 
 latter, as well as to the former, it may be said, that 
 more than a hundred years had elapsed after the 
 establishment of meetings for discipline, before 
 formal recognition was adopted. 
 
 This circumstance renders it more difficult than 
 it would otherwise be, to judge of the number of 
 the first ministers : but there is no doubt it was very 
 large. Robert Barclay states^ that, in the early 
 times of the Society, there was scarce any meeting 
 in which God did not raise up some or other to 
 minister to his brethren ; and that there were few 
 meetings altogether silent. In Bristol and Somer- 
 setshire there is to be found, in the records of our 
 meetings, incidental mention of many Friends who 
 were engaged in the work of the ministry, in the 
 latter part of the seventeenth, and the first half of 
 the eighteenth century. I believe there were at 
 least twelve men Friends so engaged at one period 
 in Bristol, and an equal number in the middle divi- 
 sion of Somersetshire. The amount of vocal service 
 in the meetings here seems indeed to have been 
 greater than was profitable to some; and in 1678, 
 
 ' Apology, Prop, ix,, Sec. ix. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 209 
 
 and again in 1698, a proposal was made for the esta- 
 blishment of a silent meeting, to be held on First- 
 day afternoons, •which any who were inclined might 
 attend. In one instance the experiment was tried 
 for a short time. I am inclined to think, that the 
 number of men engaged in the ministry was much 
 greater in proportion to that of women than is now 
 the case, as far at least as Bristol and Somerset were 
 concerned : I have, however, already mentioned the 
 names of several women who were so engaged; 
 and an important part of that recognition of the 
 freedom of the Gospel, to which the early Friends 
 were led, consisted in their leaving the way open 
 for the exercise of spiritual gifts, whether they were 
 bestowed on sons or on daughters. 
 
 The number of religious visits received from 
 Friends from a distance, was verj- large. I was told 
 by the late Jacob Player Sturge, that he had ex- 
 amined a book belonging to one of the Gloucester- 
 shire meetings, in which an account was kept of the 
 charges for the horses of Friends who came to visit 
 them ; and that the number of visits averaged one 
 a fortnight for many years in succession. There are 
 entries in our Bristol minutes, of charges for " horse 
 meat," which lead me to think that the number who 
 visited Bristol was at least as large. It may seem 
 strange to bring the statistics of oats consumed, to 
 bear on such a question ; but I must mention, that 
 a bill brought to the Bristol meeting, for oats sup- 
 plied for the horses of ministering Friends, was for 
 thirty-six bushels and a half, in a year and a quar- 
 18* 0 
 
210 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 ter; and from the sums paid in other years, it 
 would appear that this was not an unusual quantity. 
 Although the principle of giving freely that which 
 had been freely received, was from the first recog- 
 nised by the Society, it was also felt that another 
 principle laid down by our Saviour, and by the 
 apostle Paul, that those who had left their homes in 
 the service of the Gospel were entitled to support, 
 must not be overlooked : but as our first ministers 
 travelled on horseback from place to place, little 
 more was required, in this way, than "entertain- 
 ment for man and beast." The expenses connected 
 with the needful outfit^ &c., for such journeys, was 
 sometimes greater than those who were engaged in 
 them could well bear. The following was a minute 
 of the west division Monthly Meeting, in 1708 : — 
 " Whereas our Friend John Reeves has been con- 
 cerned to labour and travel in the work of the 
 ministry, which proving chargeable to him beyond 
 his ability, this meeting do order that 30s. of the 
 money received last Quarterly Meeting be paid him, 
 for or towards his expenses." 
 
 The earliest certificates which I have met with, for 
 ministers travelling in this part of the country, were 
 not issued by the meetings to which the ministers 
 belonged, but by Friends among whom they had 
 been travelling. One of these,^ dated 1655, was sent 
 by Friends of Bristol in behalf of Edward Burrough 
 and Francis Howgill, who were then travelling in 
 Ireland. This document was sent to Ireland from 
 
 ' In the possession of James Tanner, of Portslieatl. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 211 
 
 hence, in consequence of certain calumnies with 
 which these ministers had been assailed. It certifies 
 whomsoever it may concern, that " Francis Howgill 
 and Edward Burrough are not vagabonds or disor- 
 derly persons, or popishly affected, or disaftected to 
 godliness — but are natives of Kendal, in Westmore- 
 land, where hath been their constant abode (except 
 in the warrs and the ministry of the Gospel), and are 
 well known to the writers to have been, and to be 
 men of a sober, honest, and godly conversation, al- 
 ways faithful to, and active for the Commonwealth, 
 and are of a settled principle in religion ; sound in 
 the faith, having Jesus Christ, the liock of Ages, for 
 their foundation, in obedience to whom they have 
 borne their testimony in this nation, at London for 
 several months, and in this city of Bristol, and in 
 divers other parts of this nation, having free liberty, 
 travelling up and down and preaching the Gospel 
 freely, according to the example of the saints recorded 
 in the Scriptures of truth." It is further certified 
 that their going to Ireland was, in obedience to the 
 Lord, to bear witness to the eternal truth, and that 
 they went with the consent of the Church. Another 
 certificate^ is dated Exon, the third of the eleventh 
 month, 1682, and is on behalf of Thomas Taylley, 
 "who," it says, "arrived in England, after his cap- 
 tivity in Algiers, about two or three weeks since, and 
 was landed at Dartmouth." Friends of Exeter state, 
 that he had since been among them in the service of 
 truth, and was passing thence to London, desiring 
 
 'James Dix's manuscripts. 
 
212 
 
 TANNEIl's LECTUEES. 
 
 to visit Friends on his journey, and being a stranger 
 and not knowing where to find Friends, or how the 
 meetings lie, they ask for him the assistance and 
 direction of his Friends from place to place. This 
 document was signed by eleven Friends (among other 
 names, is that of William Hingston). In the second 
 month of 1698, William Penn, who was then resi- 
 dent in Bristol, applied to the Men's Meeting for a 
 certificate to visit Ireland. The minute states, that 
 " William Penn having signified to this meeting his 
 intention shortly to go for Ireland, desires, according 
 to the good order established among Friends, to have 
 a certificate." Five Friends were accordingly ap- 
 pointed to prepare it. In some instances these docu- 
 ments were brought to the meeting and signed by 
 Friends present, in others the Friends who prepared 
 them were left to sign them. This w^as compara- 
 tively unimportant, as the first certificates simply 
 stated that the Friends on whose behalf they were 
 given, were of orderly conduct, and that their min- 
 istry was approved. There was a certificate granted 
 to Samuel Bownas, by the south division of Somer- 
 set, in 1707, for a visit to Ireland, in which Friends 
 say, that they " have good unity with him in this 
 undertaking." (They speak of him as " our w^ell- 
 beloved Friend and labourer in the Gospel, for the 
 good of souls.") But for many years after this, the 
 certificates given in Bristol w'ere restricted to a state- 
 ment of the conduct and ministry of the Friend being 
 of a satisfactory character. Sometimes the early 
 meetings appointed committees to make inquiry on 
 
I 
 
 taxxer's lectures. 213 
 
 tliese poiuts, before granting a certificate; but they 
 do not appear, generally speaking, to have deliberated 
 on the particular proposals of religious service made 
 to them from time to time. Indeed these were often 
 expressed, as by AVilliam Penn, by the word " inten- 
 tion." "Having an inclination^ to visit," &c., was 
 a common expression in the Somersetshire minutes. 
 Samuel Bownas used the word " concern." In 1726, 
 he obtained a certifi.cate from the Quarterly Meeting 
 of Somerset, to visit America, in which it is said, 
 that he having been a well approved minister, and 
 for a considerable time a member of this meeting, in 
 which station we have reason to value his repeated 
 services, do order a certificate to be drawn accord- 
 ingl}^, manifesting our continued good esteem and 
 unity, &c., and our approbation and earnest suppli- 
 cation for a blessing on his said journey and labour 
 of love." 
 
 It is probable that in Somersetshire, as in Bristol, 
 some oversight of the ministry was undertaken by 
 the committee to which I have referred, as having 
 been appointed to exercise private and preliminary 
 discipline. In 1714, the following minute was adopt- 
 ed by the south division Monthly Meeting: " Ofl-ered 
 to the consideration of this meeting by our ancient 
 friend, EHas Osborne, whether it would not be pro- 
 per to offer to our next Quarterly Meeting, viz. — 
 That forasmuch as we have several Friends in our 
 county that appear (in) public a little sometimes, 
 whose welfare and prosperity therein we truly desire, 
 
 ' See a similar use made of the word " inclination" in the ex- 
 tract from C. Marshall. — First Lecture, p. 12. 
 
214 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 whether it may not be proper for all the public 
 Friends in our county, to have a select meeting to 
 wait upon the Lord together, and unbosom ourselves 
 to each other; (and) whether the day before each 
 Quarterly Meeting may not be a convenient time. 
 This meeting have unity with the proposition, and 
 do agree to lay it before the next Quarterly Meet- 
 ing." This proposal was agreed to by the Quarterly 
 Meeting, and the ''select" meeting accordingly es- 
 tablished. It was constituted of Friends appointed 
 each quarter by the respective Monthly Meetings, 
 and when in 1727, other Friends, under the designa- 
 tion of elders, were chosen to unite with the minis- 
 ters in these meetings, and to take the special over- 
 sight of the ministry, the selection seems to have 
 been made by their appointment to attend such 
 meetings, rather than by any formal recognition. In 
 Bristol also, the ministers who formed part of the 
 committee on discipline, felt the need of more free 
 conference among themselves, and for many years 
 they were accustomed to meet together every Seventh 
 Day afternoon. On these occasions they agreed what 
 meetings they w^ould attend on the following day. 
 The book containing these arrangements, which I 
 have examined, is ruled in three columns, for the 
 Friars, Temple street, and the country meetings. 
 
 One of the queries received from the Yearly 
 Meeting in 1700, was as to the number of ministers 
 who had died during the year ; and, in answering 
 it, the meetings sometimes gave a short notice of 
 deceased Friends. The following is the Somerset- 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 215 
 
 shire answer for 1718: "One, viz., John Peddle, 
 junior. He was a young man in good esteem with 
 us, growing in the gift of the ministry. "We ques- 
 tion not but he have received a good reward of 
 eternal life, among the sanctified. We might en- 
 large, but do favour brevity." The first notice I 
 have found of the longer documents, known as tes- 
 timonies, which our meetings for discipline have 
 been accustomed to issue from time to time, in 
 regard to deceased ministers, is in the Quarterly 
 Meeting minute of 1711, directing a testimony to 
 be prepared for John Banks. Traditionary mention 
 of this Friend is still made at Street, where he 
 ended his days ; and, until latel}', there might be 
 seen, in the low cottage room in which Friends' 
 meetings were then held, the beam of the ceiling, a 
 portion of which had been cut away, that John 
 Banks, who was a tall man, might stand to preach. 
 He was a native of Cumberland, and born in 1648. 
 His parents had given him a careful training, and, 
 having received seven years' instruction at school, 
 he became a teacher himself at fourteen years of 
 age. In connection with another school, to which 
 he removed a year later, he undertook to read the 
 Scriptures and Homilies on First-days, in a chapel- 
 of-ease, for which service he was to receive a shilling 
 a-year and a fleece of wool, from each family attend- 
 ing his services (besides a shilling per quarter for 
 each of his twenty-four scholars)." But having been 
 brought to much serious thoughtfulness, and led to 
 adopt the views of Friends, vrhen about sixteen 
 
216 
 
 tanner's l e c t u h i: s . 
 
 years of age, he gave up his reading, and refused to 
 receive the stipukited payment. He was a member 
 of Pardshaw meeting for upwards of forty years, a 
 great part of which time was spent in repeated jour- 
 neys through Great Britain and Ireland. His faith- 
 fuhiess involved him in imprisonment and hardships 
 of various kinds. In 1696, he came into the west, 
 and settled at Meare, from whence he removed to 
 Street, in 1708. It is said of him in the Quarterly 
 Meeting testimony, "He was a man very zealous to 
 the last, to spread the Gospel ; and in all his exer- 
 cises and afflictions, he had the honour of God and 
 good of his people in his eye. He devoutly la- 
 boured in his gift, and being an able minister of 
 Christ, was instrumental both to gather and confirm 
 many souls in the truth." In William Penn's pre- 
 face to John Banks's Journal, he speaks of having 
 known him above forty-four years, and of his having 
 been "an ordinance of strength" to his "soul, in 
 the early days" of his own " convincement." He 
 says of him, that he was " a heavenly minister of 
 experimental religion, of a sound judgment and 
 pious practice, valiant for truth upon the earth, and 
 ready to serve all in the love and peace of the 
 Gospel."^ 
 
 In 1720, the Quarterly Meeting issued a testimony 
 concerning Elias Osborne, the Friend to whom I 
 have already referred. The following are extracts 
 from it. " He was a man excellently gifted in the 
 ministry, in which he laboured with great diligence 
 
 ' See Journal of the life of J. Banks. 
 
T A N X E II ' S L K C T U 11 E S . 217 
 
 and good success." "His doctrine and pious ex- 
 ample in all his conduct was of eminent service 
 among us, and being endued with a good under- 
 standing naturally, he was qualified for service in 
 cases of difference, often interposing as a mediator 
 to the reconciling of discord. And being just, pru- 
 dent, and skilful in such affairs, he acquired great 
 reputation and honour amongst all sorts of people," 
 " Of a singular good disposition (he was) not apt to 
 give way to hard thoughts, though sometimes he 
 had cause for it ; and if he heard anything not 
 right of a brother, or neighbour, the first oppor- 
 tunity he would take the freedom of speaking his 
 mind to the party concerned, with (such) candour, 
 and caution as at once (to) bespeak him to be an 
 overseer indeed, not lording over the greatest or 
 least offender; but in meekness and sincerity la- 
 bouring that things amiss might be mended. In 
 his ministry he was very exemplary, tenderly re- 
 garding the service of strangers that travelled 
 amongst us in the work of the Gospel, by giving 
 way to them. In our meetings of business he was 
 of great service, and great condescension to his 
 brethren, guarding on the one hand against an 
 undue liberty, and on the other, that under a pre- 
 tence of zeal, no private and bye ends might be 
 gratified." " Charitable and open-hearted in dis- 
 tributing, and (in) entertaining strangers, faithful in 
 his testimony in all respects ; a good husband, a 
 tender father, and kind neighbour: in a word he 
 19 
 
218 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 was a great and good man, of whom we have much 
 loss, but our loss is his great gain." 
 
 There were other ministers living at this time, of 
 whom I may have something to say next month ; 
 and there were others who were called hence at a 
 still earlier period, of whom but little mention has 
 been made. I must not now attempt to supply this 
 deficiency ; but I may refer to two of the early suf- 
 ferers from the Bristol persecutions : Barbara Blag- 
 don, who travelled extensively as a minister, and 
 suffered much ; and Josiah Coale, who endured 
 great sufiering and privation in Kew England, and 
 other parts of America, where he travelled as a 
 minister of the Gospel. He finished his course in 
 peace at the age of thirty-five. Then there was 
 Jasper Batt, of Street, one of the earliest of our 
 ministers in the west of England ; and Christopher 
 Bacon, another Somersetshire Friend, who, from 
 having been a soldier in the army of Charles the 
 First, was brought to engage in a better warfare. 
 After labouring much as a minister, and enduring 
 great persecution, he died from the eflects of impri- 
 sonment. 
 
 We might look in vain among these devoted men 
 and women for perfect examples or infallible teach- 
 ers ; but there were many faithful labourers in that 
 day, whose example calls loudly upon us to follow 
 them, as they followed Christ. 
 
THIRD LECTURE, 
 
 Delivered Ath Month, Sth, 1858. 
 
 It was my intention to have omitted the word 
 "early" in the title of this concluding Lecture on 
 the history of Friends in Bristol and Somersetshire, 
 and to have occupied this evening chiefly with a 
 notice of what may be called the middle age of our 
 religious Society ; but having been obliged, by want 
 of space, to leave out of the last Lecture several 
 matters of interest connected with the earlier 
 period, I must endeavour to supply these, before 
 passing to the consideration of later events and cir- 
 cumstances. No one can be more sensible than I 
 am that the words "imperfect sketch," which were 
 used in reference to the account given of the perse- 
 cutions of Friends, is quite as applicable to the re- 
 presentations which I have attempted to make of 
 their first gathering as a religious Society, of the 
 circumstances in which the members were placed, 
 and of the attempts which were made to supply 
 that need for Christian discipline which has been 
 felt by the Churches of Christ in every age. 
 
 Having already entered into some particulars in 
 relation to the care of the poor and the performance 
 
 (219) 
 
220 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 of other charitable duties, I must now make a 
 further reference to the mode of dealing with delin- 
 quents in the early days of our Society. That mode 
 was, I believe, thoroughly Christian, as respects 
 both the order of the proceedings, and the spirit in 
 which they wxre conducted. The chief object kept 
 in view was to reclaim, not to cut off. When 
 private labour failed, the case was reported to the 
 Meeting for Discipline, the offender was invited to 
 attend, and, if needful, a Committee was appointed 
 to labour with him. The terms made use of in 
 such appointments were sometimes very expressive. 
 Two or more Eriends were desired to go and visit 
 such an one " in love to his soul, and admonish him 
 to repent and turn to his first love, and testify 
 against his evil;'' or "in the fear" or "love of 
 God or " in love or tenderness or " to discourse 
 with him lovingly, and give account how they find 
 him;" or "to speak with him in abundance of love, 
 and endeavour to make him sensible of his out- 
 going." If such a visit was declined, another 
 attempt was ordered to be made ; and sometimes, 
 when one Committee had failed in its object, 
 another was appointed. 
 
 The patience and forbearance exercised in some 
 of these cases are very remarkable. In the instance 
 of a Friend of Minehead, who was disowned by the 
 Quarterly Meeting of Somerset for receiving impro- 
 priate tithe, to which he had become entitled in his 
 wife's right, years of labour were bestowed before 
 the decision was come to. In 1701 he is reported 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 221 
 
 as saying "he conld not justif}^ himself, and would, 
 one way or other, seek to give Friends some satis- 
 faction." The Committee are then desired to ask 
 him "in what manner he will do it?" In 1703 
 they were to " let him know that Friends cannot 
 always bear with him." Again, being requested to 
 return a positive answer, he replied that he would 
 write to the meeting ; but no letter being received, 
 he was to be told that " Friends would no longer be 
 put off." The Committee at length reported that 
 they "did not find him like to answer," and he was 
 thereupon disowned. 
 
 Those who on being visited expressed regret for 
 their misconduct were asked to draw up a declara- 
 tion or testimony of their repentance ; and if this 
 was considered satisfactory,' they were desired to 
 read it at the close of a Meeting for Worship, as an 
 evidence of their sincerity. In other cases, in 
 which the meeting had to draw up a testimony, this 
 document was also read at the close of a Meeting 
 for Worship.^ In cases of disownment for marriage 
 out of the Society, a copy was sometimes ordered 
 to be sent to the priest by whom the parties had 
 been married ; and a Friend who had acknowledged 
 himself guilty of intemperance was desired to fur- 
 nish a list of all places and houses in which his con- 
 duct had been an occasion of reproach, in order 
 that a copy of his declaration of repentance might 
 be sent to each of them. Amons: the declarations 
 of repentance, copied in a book kept by the Bristol 
 
 * This practice was continued till 1801. 
 19* 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 Meeting for that purpose, is one from Hannah Salter 
 (late Stringer), in reference to the part she had 
 taken as one of the followers of James Najlor. It 
 is not clear in all cases whether the testimony issued 
 on account of misconduct amounted to a depriva- 
 tion of membership. I have met with one instance 
 in which a second testimony w^as issued, because the 
 first was not clear on this point ; and another in 
 which it was repeated, because the individual had 
 continued to attend meeting — his conduct being 
 still bad. The testimonies of disunion generally 
 concluded then, as now, with some expression of 
 good desire for the offender, such as that he might 
 "come to a true and living sense of his condi- 
 tion," &c. 
 
 One feature common to many of these docu- 
 ments cannot, however, be referred to with the like 
 satisfaction : they contain expressions which could 
 only be considered correct, on the supposition that 
 the Society of Friends w^as occupying exclusively 
 the position of the one true Church. The percep- 
 tion was not wanting to the early Friends, that true 
 believers were they, who, in the words of George 
 Fox,^ " were born of God, and were passed from 
 death to life," under whatever name they might be 
 known among men : but believing as they did, that 
 the Eeformation had failed of its fall accomplish- 
 ment as respects the surrounding sects ; and recog- 
 nising too, in many of these, that spirit of persecu- 
 tion which is so inconsistent with the Christian 
 
 ' Journal, p. 5. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 223 
 
 character, they were perhaps too often led to enter- 
 tain the idea, that all the sincere-hearted of other 
 denominations would be brought to join their own 
 standard of profession ; and to speak of themselves 
 in terms appertaining to the whole Israel of God : 
 this remark applies also to some of the printed 
 books of that period. In one of the controversies 
 in which Friends of Bristol were involved, and of 
 which an account is given in a pamphlet published 
 in 1665, the question is put to George Bishop, by 
 an opponent, " What do you mean by this phrase, 
 'My people?' Do you by that intend only those 
 of your own opinion and party? If so, why are 
 you only to be esteemed the people of the Lord ?'* 
 George Bishop's answer was clear and full. "I 
 answer, by 'My people,' or 'the people of the 
 Lord,' we do understand all such in every nation, 
 kindred, and people who fear the Lord; be they 
 known or distinguished by whatsoever name or ap- 
 pellation. They who fear God and work righteous- 
 ness are accepted of Him ; as Peter said in the case 
 of Cornelius, who was converted to the faith, who 
 was before a Gentile, and without the law; and so 
 the Jews had no conversation with such till after 
 Jesus was offered up, who broke down the middle 
 wall of partition that was between, having abolished 
 in His flesh the enmity, even the law of command- 
 ments contained in ordinances, for to make in Him- 
 self one new man, so making peace. So that when 
 we say 'My people,' or 'the people of the Lord,' we 
 restrain it not to any sort, or particular company, 
 
224 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 or society of men, but to such as fear the Lord as 
 aforesaid." It is evident that the opposition which 
 Friends at first experienced from the surrounding 
 sects, was but Uttle calculated to lead them to judge 
 favourably of those bodies ; but as persecution de- 
 clined, it is refreshing to observe a better feeling 
 springing up. We find John Whiting, for example, 
 holding friendly intercourse with the Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells ; the Bishop listening respectfully 
 to his statements and opinions, and inviting him to 
 dine with him whenever he came to Wells. 
 
 The most frequent causes of disownment in our 
 early days, appear to have been the being married 
 by a priest to a person not attending our meetings, 
 and intemperance in drinking. The practice of the 
 Society in regard to the first, was not uniform; in 
 1739 the Middle Division adopted the following 
 minute: " Inasmuch as we are now in the practice 
 of disowning persons that have been in unity with 
 us, for going to the priest to be married, and upon 
 inquiry we find that others are not in the same 
 practice, it is agreed to apply to the Quarterly Meet- 
 ing about the same." What answer was given 
 does not appear, but in 1755, John Clark, the ances- 
 tor of the present Clark family of Street, &c., was 
 retained in membership on his expressing regret, in 
 a letter to the Monthly Meeting, for the manyier in 
 which he had been married, his wife being also 
 looked upon as a member from the time of marriage, 
 and attending the meetings of Friends with him. 
 In that instance, the chief objections to such mar- 
 
T A X ^' E R ' S LECTURES. 
 
 225 
 
 riages were obviated : John Clark not having with- 
 drawn from his religious profession, or been involved 
 in those differences of religious sentiment which are 
 so important to be avoided by those who enter on 
 the close relationship of marriage. 
 
 Great as are at present the evils of intemperance, 
 there is reason to believe they were still greater in 
 the times of which I am speaking. The testimony 
 afforded by national statistics is necessarily imper- 
 fect, but it is a significant fact, that the quantity of 
 malt annually used in England at the close of the 
 seventeenth century, for the manufacture of beer, 
 was from twenty-two to twenty-three million bushels,^ 
 whilst in the excise year ending in 1856, the quantity 
 was under thirty-two million bushels. The increase 
 in the population in the intervening period, was 
 probably not less than as three to one, whilst that 
 of malt used in making beer, was less than one and 
 a half to one. AVe must not however overlook the 
 extent to which ardent spirits have been substituted 
 for beer. I cannot say how far the reduction of 
 which I speak, is due to the introduction of unin- 
 toxicating drinks, such as tea and coffee, or how 
 much of it is due to the labours of temperance 
 societies. I am one of those who believe that total 
 abstinence from the use of all intoxicating drinks, 
 as beverages, is the course which should be pursued 
 by those who wish to see the evils of intemperance 
 still further diminished. It appears to me that the 
 Society of Friends has derived great benefit from 
 
 ^Pictorial History of England, Vol. IV. p. 842. 
 P 
 
226 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 the extent to which its members have adopted it, 
 and that its further adoption would be helpful alike 
 to ourselves and to the cause of temperance. But 
 I also think that this question comes within the 
 range of that Christian liberty, with which no 
 Church authority ought to interfere. 
 
 I must not omit the following minute of the Bris- 
 tol Men's Meeting, under date of the twenty-sixth 
 of the second month, 1675. " The persons who 
 were appointed to speak with Peter Hawkins, have 
 given an account of their care over him. And 
 Friends do further request the same persons, or any 
 two of them, to advise Peter Hawkins not to sell 
 ale any longer than to dispose of what he hath, for 
 that they do judge that Peter Hawkins his selling 
 ale is contrary to the truth." It is needful to lay 
 the emphasis on the w^ord "his" in this minute, for 
 I find from a more private record of the case, that 
 the charge brought against him, and on which 
 indeed he was afterwards disowned, was that of 
 keeping a disorderly house. Two other such charges 
 are made about the same time, against attenders of 
 meetings, — one in Bristol, and the other in the 
 West Division. There is a curious minute of 
 Frenchay Monthly Meeting, in 1702, which states 
 that report was made that some Friends had been 
 visited for selling ale, and had promised when they 
 had sold all the ale in the house, and w^hat more 
 the malt would make which they had by them, they 
 would give over selling ale, except at fairs. This 
 exception as to fairs seems rather lax, but it pro- 
 
TANNEil'S LECTURES. 
 
 227 
 
 bably refers to the liberty granted to the inhabitants 
 of certain towns, to open their houses as places of 
 entertainment at fair times. ^ 
 
 In reference to the general proceedings of the first 
 Meetings for Discipline, two things strike me as 
 worthy of imitation: the love and forbearance shown 
 towards delinquents, and the uncompromising adhe- 
 rence to all that was felt to be right and true. We 
 may think them mistaken in some of their conclu- 
 sions, as in the matter of disownment for receiving 
 and paying impropriate tithes, and for the marriage 
 of second cousins (I forbear to speak of some other 
 like questions, which are under consideration) ; and 
 their decrees were not intended to be like those 
 of the Medes and Persians i but we have much 
 to learn from them, if I mistake not, as respects 
 their fearless adherence to what they believed to be 
 right. Expedienci/ was a word almost unknown to 
 them. The question of whether a certain course 
 would be politic or impolitic, was foreclosed by the 
 consideration whether it was right or wrong. 
 
 Friends in Somersetshire were involved in some 
 difficulty in 1685, by the circumstances attendant on 
 the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion. There were, 
 indeed, more reasons than one why Friends were 
 less likely than most others to be implicated in that 
 movement. Their testimony against all wars and 
 fightings, their steady loyalty, and the benefits which 
 they had received at the hands of James the Second, 
 
 ' The bush hung over the door as a sign that such accommo- 
 dation was provided, probably gave rise to the proverb, that 
 " Good wine needs no bash/' 
 
228 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 all coospired to prevent it. Macaula}^, iri writing of 
 the first year of James's reign, says that the Quakers 
 had, in spite of much ill-usage, submitted themselves 
 meekly to the royal authority : and that no Quaker 
 had ever had a libel on the Government traced to 
 him, or been implicated in any conspiracy against 
 the Government. An instance of the loyalty mani- 
 fested by Friends in early times, is mentioned by 
 Thomas Garrard, in his ''Life and Times of Edward 
 Colston." He mentions that on the occasion of the 
 visit paid to Bristol by Charles the Second and his 
 Queen, in 1663, the city treasury was empty ; and 
 that a number of the citizens consented to join in 
 lending the amount necessary to provide for the 
 royal visitors. Among others he mentions that 
 " Thomas Speed and George Bishop, two highly re- 
 spected members of the Society of Friends, pre- 
 sented, in the name of the Society, a loan of £100 
 for the purpose of augmenting the fund, ' that their 
 Majesties might be entertained in a style and man- 
 ner becoming their dignity, and the proverbial hos- 
 pitality of the city, in its most palmy days.' " ^ 
 
 In regard to the Duke of Monmouth's position. 
 Friends in Somersetshire were early on their guard. 
 John Whiting, who was a prisoner at Ilchester in 
 
 1 Page 241, Garrard states that Sir John Knight received his 
 title on that occasion, and that shortly afterwards he sent both 
 Thomas Speed and George Bishop to prison. Thomas Speed was 
 a member of the Town Council, as appears from the following 
 extract from the city records, given me by Francis Fry: — "At 
 a General Sealing 28th September, 1685, was sealed a discharge 
 to Mr. Thomas Speed, from the Common Council and other 
 offices." 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 229 
 
 1680, writes as follows: — ''In the sixth month of 
 this year came down the Duke of Monmouth, in his 
 progress in the west, and came through Ilchester 
 with ,some thousands on horseback attending him ; 
 the country flocking to him and after him ; the eyes 
 of the nation being upon him and towards him, as 
 the hopes and head of the Protestant interest at that 
 time, in opposition to the Duke of York and Popish 
 party ; so that the affections of the people run ex- 
 ceedingly after him. We stood in the Friary-gate 
 as he rode through the town ; and as he passed by, 
 taking notice of so many Quakers together with 
 their hats on, he stopped and put off his hat to us; 
 and one Friend, John Anderdon, had a mind to 
 speak to him, and tell him that we loere lorhonerB for 
 conscience-sake, but had a stop in his mind, lest there 
 should be an ill use made of it, in applying to him 
 and making him too popular: the Court having a 
 watchful eye over him. However we could not but 
 have a respect to him for his affability, and therefore 
 were the more concerned for him when his fall 
 came." ^ 
 
 J^otwithstanding the caution observed by Friends 
 in regard to the Duke's proceedings, and their well- 
 known loyalty and peaceableness, unfavourable re- 
 ports were put in circulation, and some of these 
 having reached Whitehall, and become known to 
 Friends in London, they addressed a letter of in- 
 quiry to the Ilchester prisoners, who seem to have 
 acted the part of a standing committee on behalf of 
 
 ^ Memoirs, p. 05. 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 tanxek's lectures. 
 
 Friends of Somersetshire. Their reply, signed l)y 
 Jasper Batt and others, is dated the first of sixth 
 month, 1685. It speaks in decided terms of the 
 general clearness of Friends from an}^ participation 
 in the Duke's insurrection, and mentions the circum- 
 stance of one of his officers having come to llchester 
 " and released several prisoners that were detained 
 on his account, and the Quakers also," and "strictly 
 charged the keeper no more to detain them, and 
 highly threatened him if he did. But the so-called 
 Quakers took no advantage of that liberty, but con- 
 tinued prisoners as formerly." It is remarked that 
 some Friends had rendered themselves liable to sus- 
 picion, by their having followed the army to look 
 after the horses and oxen which had been taken from 
 them by the Duke's soldiers, and that other Friends 
 in travelling to their markets, &c., had encountered 
 detachments of the army. Several cases are men- 
 tioned of persons joining the Duke's forces who had 
 at one time been known as Friends, but who had 
 sometime before been disowned on account of their 
 intemperance or dishonesty. And there is an allu- 
 sion made to one or two persons still known as 
 Friends, who had been more or less compromised 
 by their proceedings in connection with the late 
 rebellion. 
 
 Another document was prepared by Friends of the 
 counties of Somerset, Devon, and Dorset, for presen- 
 tation to the Government, disclaiming all approval 
 of the late insurrection, or participation in it. They 
 speak of a public meeting of Friends, held near 
 
T A N N !•] R ' S L E C T U R E S . 
 
 231 
 
 Taunton^ the same day on which the Duke marched 
 thither, in which it was " testified by the said people, 
 that whatever our sufferings were we must not ex- 
 pect deliverance by the arm of flesh, but look unto 
 the Lord from whom our salvation comes, and who 
 will not save us by sword nor spear, but by his own 
 Spirit. And therefore our Friends were warned not 
 to concern themselves in this war, (and) all unani- 
 mously consented thereunto." This paper concludes 
 with an expression of Friends' resolution to perse- 
 vere in their peaceable principle and profession, 
 through the assistance [they say] of our God, while 
 we have a being in these earthly tabernacles, in the 
 full assurance that when the testimony is finished, 
 and this mortal life ended, we shall have a dwelling 
 place in the kingdom of glory, which Christ Jesus 
 hath prepared for us, and purchased us unto his own 
 blood, by whom only we expect to enjoy the same, 
 when we shall rest from our labours and sufferings, 
 and give glory to our God and His Lamb, who is 
 worthy of honour and dominion for ever. — Amen." 
 This " testimony " was sent to the Meeting for Sufier- 
 ings, together with a number of certificates, granted 
 to Friends by the churchwardens and others in dif- 
 ferent parishes in which they resided, setting forth 
 their clearness of participation in the late insurrec- 
 tion.2 A letter from George AYhitehead, dated Lon- 
 don, the twenty-second of the sixth month, 1685, 
 
 ^This was probably the Quarterly Meeting at Gregory Stoke, 
 mentioned by J. Whiting, p. 226. 
 
 'Copies of these certificates are preserved among James Dix's 
 MSS. 
 
232 
 
 tanner's LECTUJIE 
 
 acknowledges the receipt of these documents, and 
 intimates that they will shortly be laid before the 
 King. He mentions that the unfavourable impres- 
 sion which the Court had received was wearing off, 
 but recommends Friends to clear themselves as far 
 as they can to the magistrates in their respective 
 neighbourhoods, and at the same time to be careful 
 not to charge particular persons by name, as hav- 
 ing taken part in the rebellion, ''though they be 
 apostates." 
 
 Three cases are recorded by the Somersetshire 
 Meetings, of persons connected with the Society who 
 had taken more or less part in the rebellion. A 
 graphic account is given by John Whiting,^ of his 
 going to Taunton, w^hilst the Duke was there, to 
 endeavour to induce one of these persons, Francis 
 Scott, who had followed the army in the hope of 
 selling some horses, to return home. Another case, 
 which attracted still more attention, was that of 
 Thomas Plaice, of Edington, against whom a testi- 
 mony was issued by the Quarterly Meeting of Somer- 
 set, in the seventh month, 1685.^ It states, that 
 " whereas the said Thomas Plaice did appear very 
 active and conversant in the late Duke of Mon- 
 mouth's army, &c., though not in arms. Now, in 
 consideration thereof, we do on behalf of the people 
 called ' Quakers,' testify and declare that we utterly 
 disown the aforesaid practices of the said Thomas 
 Plaice, and that he is greatly revolted and backslid- 
 den from and turned out of the way, which the said 
 
 •"Memoirs of J. W.," &c. 
 
 2 ^ copy is preserved among J. Dix's MSS. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 233 
 
 people still own and walk in," &c. This document 
 concludes as follows, "And for any others that have 
 formerly made a profession of truth, our principle 
 and way as afore declared, and have taken up arms, 
 or assisted with horse, money, or ammunition in the 
 late war, we do testify that therein they are turned 
 from the said w^ay and principle, and are disowned 
 by us; are gone from our Christian Society, and 
 cannot again be owned by us, but as the Lord may 
 give them time and space of repentance, and they 
 repent accordingly." The case of Francis Scott was 
 dealt with by the West, and a third, that of J. Hel- 
 lier, of Mark, by the Middle Division Monthly Meet- 
 ing. None of these parties fell into the hands of 
 Judge Jefferies, the selection of whose victims seems 
 to have been a very random one. 
 
 Almost the whole of Somersetshire was implicated 
 in these sad transactions, and many traditions of the 
 brutal executions which followed the " bloody As- 
 sizes," still exist in that county. One of these, often 
 mentioned by the late Mary Follet, of South Brent, 
 referred to an ancestor of her own (not a Friend) 
 who resided at Bridgwater. He and others secreted 
 themselves for some time in a cave, where his wife 
 and child^ were in the habit of visiting him by night. 
 Their place of concealment being discovered, they 
 were apprehended and executed. The selection of 
 the two hundred and thirty-nine prisoners whom 
 Jefferies left for execution, was made from thirty-six 
 different places in Somersetshire. 
 
 ' This child was Mary Follet's great-grandmother. 
 20* 
 
234 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 The relief from severe persecution which had been 
 granted to Friends through the dispensing power 
 exercised by James the Second, was secured to them 
 in a more satisfactory and constitutional manner, on 
 the accession of William and Mary, by the passing 
 of the Toleration Act, and other measures of a like 
 kind. The principal remaining cause of grievance 
 Avas the ruinous processes to which they w^ere sub- 
 jected for the recovery of ecclesiastical demands, and 
 in connexion with which a number of cases of severe 
 imprisonment occurred in the early part of the last 
 century. 
 
 Some of the disabilities consequent on the refusal 
 to swear have been continued to the present gene- 
 ration ; but Friends were relieved from the suffering 
 in which their refusal of the oath of allegiance had 
 involved them, by the 1st of William and Mary. 
 Another Act, passed in the reign of William the 
 Third, allowed our members to use a form of affir- 
 mation instead of an oath, on most occasions on 
 which the law required the taking of an oath. This 
 first form of affirmation, which continued in use 
 until the year 1721, when a more simple declaration 
 was substituted for it, was as follows : — "I, A. B. 
 do declare in the presence of Almighty God, the 
 witness of the truth of w^hat I say." It need not 
 occasion an surprise, that Friends should have 
 been divided in opinion as to whether these words 
 constituted an oath or not. The Yearly Meeting 
 in London gave the following excellent advice on 
 the subject: "That Friends be charitable one to 
 
T A N N E Pw ' S LECTURES. 
 
 235 
 
 another about it : they that can take it (are) not to 
 censure or reproach them that cannot; and those 
 that cannot (are) to use the like caution with regard 
 to those who can."^ From their correspondence 
 with the Meeting for Sufferings on the subject, 
 Friends in Bristol appear to have felt no objection 
 to the first form of affirmation, and to have desired 
 that no attempt to obtain an alteration should be 
 made, lest the liberty already granted should be 
 endangered. 
 
 The history of this case of conscience affords an 
 example, which should not be lost on the Society 
 of Friends, of the extent to which those who are 
 agreed in the adoption of a principle may differ as 
 to the manner in which they ought to support it. I 
 believe I shall never forget the powerful reference 
 made to this subject by the late Samuel Tuke, in 
 the Yearly Meeting of 1848. The grounds of 
 Christian unity were laid down by him on that 
 occasion, in a most truly catholic manner. He 
 showed, among other things, that whilst that unity 
 does not always bring men to see eye to eye, it pre- 
 pares them to bear one with another in their 
 differences ; and he illustrated this position by a re- 
 ference to the differences of opinion w^hich arose 
 among the Apostles themselves, and to the difficulty 
 
 * I find this expression quoted in a manuscript book of the 
 advices of the Yearly Meeting of Pennylvania and New Jersey, 
 which was sent by John Churchman to John Player of Tocking- 
 ton, and is now in the possession of his daughters, Fanny and 
 Mary Player. Thomas Story sufi"ered eighteen months' im- 
 prisonment, because he could not use the first form of affirmation. 
 
 P 
 
236 
 
 TAN nek's lectures. 
 
 under which our early Friends laboured for nearly 
 forty years in determining what constituted an oath. 
 I do not know that I ever listened to a discourse of 
 which I should be so glad to possess a verbatim 
 report. 
 
 Proceedings in relation to marriage occupied, ap- 
 parently, more time in the first Meetings for Dis- 
 cipline than most of their other duties. There 
 were few things in which the Christian boldness of 
 George Fox and his associates was more exemplified 
 than in the affair of marriage. One of the usurp- 
 ations of ecclesiastical authority on the part of the 
 Church of Rome, had been that of representing 
 marriage as a sacrament^ and of requiring all who 
 would obtain legal validity to such an union to 
 apply to the priest to solemnize it. That the chief 
 object of this arrangement was that the priest 
 should obtain his fees, was further shown by the 
 circumstance that, whilst the Canon Law proscribed 
 the marriage of near relations, the income of the 
 priest was still further augmented by the many pay- 
 ments made to him, in consideration of his setting 
 aside such restrictions. Now, although the Church 
 of England had renounced the error of accounting 
 marriage as a sacrament, its ministers were generally ^ 
 looked upon in the days of George Fox (and are so 
 still by many persons) as the only parties by whom 
 marriage could be rightly solemnized. So strong- 
 was the belief that legal validity could not be 
 
 ' In the time of the Commonwealth, marriages sometimes 
 took place before magistrates. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 237 
 
 obtained for a marriage contract by any other 
 means than by going " to church" to be married, 
 that Eoraan CathoHcs and Protestant dissenters re- 
 sident in England, were alike accustomed, up to a 
 very recent time, to waive whatever objection they 
 might have to employing a minister, or submitting 
 to the marriage ceremony of the Church of England. 
 It was no common responsibility which rested on 
 George Fox when he counselled his Erionds not to 
 do anything of the kind, but to proceed simply in 
 this affair of marriage, as in everything else, in the 
 fear of God, and in single dependence on His 
 blessing. It seems to me that if a temporising spirit 
 had found any place in his mind, he would have 
 given way on this question of marriage, on the plea 
 that the clergyman might be applied to as the per- 
 son appointed by Government to perform the mar- 
 riage ceremony without any admission of his spiri- 
 tual claim ; and if he had done so, who can say that 
 the legal sanction given, under the act of 18B7, to 
 other marriages besides those of the Church of 
 England, would not have been indefinitely post- 
 poned ? Eew men have practically reversed Paley's 
 doctrine, that whatever is expedient is right," so 
 corapletel}^ as George Fox. He believed that in the 
 affairs of marriage, as in other things, the ministers 
 of the Church of England set up a claim, against 
 which he was called to testify. And if he did stop 
 to count the cost, and to consider what the conse- 
 quences might be to himself and to his brethren, 
 
238 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 there are certainly no symptoms of doubt or hesita- 
 tion to be observed in his words or actions. 
 
 His belief on this subject, as declared by him on 
 difterent occasions, was, that man had no authority 
 to join others in marriage — that neither the priests 
 under the law, nor the lirst ministers of the Gospel 
 exercised any such function ; that it was God who 
 joined man and woman in marriage before the fall, 
 and that this is still His prerogative, &c. So early 
 as the year 1658, he issued a paper of advice to 
 Friends who were contemplating marriage, to lay 
 their intentions " before the faithful in time, before 
 anything was concluded, and afterwards publish it 
 in the end of a meeting, or in a market."^ 
 
 The question of the validity of Friends' marriages 
 was raised on one occasion before Chief Justice 
 Hale, who said that ^' he thought it reasonable, and 
 consistent with natural rights and the precepts of 
 the Gospel, that all marriages made according to 
 the several religious persuasions of the parties ought 
 to be valid in law." Other judges expressed a 
 similar opinion on different occasions ; but it was 
 
 * Journal, p. 395. — An original letter of George Fox's, 
 ^vritten whilst the subject of marriage was under his considera- 
 tion, has been kindly lent me. It is addressed to Kichard 
 Kichardson, schoolmaster, Wheeler Street, London. Geo. Fnx 
 says — "Now, dear R. R., I desire that thou would search all tlie 
 libraries concerning marriages, and what they do say of them ; 
 and the Fathers, and how they did before the monks first came 
 in; and when marriage with the priest came in; and search 
 histories and laws, and see what thou canst bring out, both 
 good and bad; and what maketh a marriage — and do what 
 thou canst in this thing,'' &c. 
 
T A N N E r' S LECTURES. 
 
 239 
 
 not until the passing of the Act introduced by Lord 
 Campbell in 1847, that the marriages contracted by 
 Friends prior to the Marriage Act of 1837, received 
 the positive sanction of statute law.^ In 1707, 
 more than fifty years after the first solemnization 
 of marriage in the Society,^ the Meeting for Sufier- 
 ings advised Friends to make their wills in such a 
 way as not to raise the question of the validity of 
 their marriages. It was recommended that in such 
 documents the wife should be described by her 
 maiden, as well as by her married name, &c. 
 
 There is no reference to the consent of parents in 
 the earlier Bristol minutes in relation to marriage, 
 and the meeting seems only to have concerned itself 
 with the question of the orderly conduct of the par- 
 ties, and with such publication being made before 
 the marriage as might aflbrd an opportunity for any 
 one to object who had a right to do so. In the 
 eighth month of 1669, George Fox and Margaret 
 Fell, the widow of Judge Fell, declared their inten- 
 tion of marriage to the Bristol Meeting, and on that 
 occasion several of Margaret Fell's children, who 
 were present, expressed in strong terms their ap- 
 proval of the proposed union. This may, perhaps, 
 have suggested to Friends here the propriety of 
 ascertaining in other cases that the consent of pa- 
 rents was given. At all events such consent began 
 to be recorded soon afterwards. It is also possible 
 
 * Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices, Vol. I. p. 558. 
 
 2 The first marriage registered by Friends in Bristol took 
 place in 1G57. 
 
240 
 
 tannee's lectures. 
 
 that in the conscientious care manifested b}^ George 
 Fox not to interfere with the pecuniary interests of 
 the former marriage, may have originated the care 
 which Friends here also began to take shortly after 
 to secure the like benefit in other cases. In the 
 form of the certificate agreed to, marriage is spoken 
 of as " God's ordinance." During the time of the 
 last persecution in Bristol, publications of marriage 
 were frequently made at Newgate and Bridewell, 
 the regular meetings for worship being closed. The 
 2}7nsons ma}^, indeed, be said to have been places of 
 worship in those days. The regular holding of the 
 Meetings for Discipline w^as also often interrupted. 
 Sometimes they w^ere held in private houses, w^ord 
 being left with the prisoners where the meeting 
 would be held, that Friends who wished to ascer- 
 tain it might do so by calling at the prison. 
 
 In many cases the publication of the marriage 
 was the only means taken to ascertain whether any 
 obstruction existed to its solemnization : but when 
 the parties making application were but little known 
 to the meeting, or had been guilty of disorderly con- 
 duct, committees were appointed to make inquiry 
 respecting them. There w^as, for the most part, a 
 disposition shown to form a charitable judgment of 
 such applicants; and in some cases in which their 
 conduct would not permit of their being recognised 
 as Friends by being allowed to marry at meeting, 
 an intermediate course was adopted, as appears by 
 the following minute of the Two-weeks Meeting in 
 Bristol, in 1687 Whereas A. B. and C. D. have 
 
TANNERS 
 
 LECTURES. 
 
 241 
 
 signified at a former meeting their intention of 
 marriage, and desire to accomplish the same in the 
 way and manner of Friends : but inasmuch as we 
 find that the young man have not walked as a 
 Friend, convinced of the truth which we profess, 
 but rather so contrary thereunto, as that we have 
 not freeness to countenance their marriage in the 
 meeting, in the way and manner of Friends : yet, 
 forasmuch as we do not find but that they may be 
 clear from all other persons in relation to marriage, 
 and that they may have their parents' consent, we 
 do not see meet to concern ourselves to obstruct or 
 hinder them; but shall leave them either to wait 
 longer, for our better satisfaction, or to consummate 
 the same as soon as they please, amongst such 
 Friends as may be free to be present thereat: or 
 otherwise, as they shall see meet."^ In the year 
 1700 such a case occurred, in which the parties were 
 allowed to marry " before witnesses in the meeting- 
 house." 
 
 ^ Among James Dix's manuscripts is a report of a committee 
 appointed in 1674 to consider what course should be adopted in 
 certain cases, in which, though the conduct of the parties had 
 been disorderly, the meeting might wish to avoid casting them 
 oflF, and leaving them " open to the temptation of going to the 
 priests" to be married. That committee recommended that if 
 in such cases Friends were satisfied of the penitence of the par- 
 ties, the marriage should be allowed to be solemnized before 
 witnesses ; and that a testimony to be issued by Friends against 
 their misconduct, together with the declaration of their repent- 
 ance, and the certificate of their marriage, should be copied 
 together in the book containing the declarations of repentance 
 sent by delinquents to the Men's Meeting. 
 
 21 Q 
 
242 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 There are repeated instances of another kind 
 recorded both in the Bristol and Somersetshire 
 minutes, in which parties to whom, on account of 
 their misconduct, the permission to marry at meet- 
 ing had been denied, persisted nevertheless in doing 
 so. Expressions of regret from those who had pre- 
 pared or signed certificates in such cases, w^ere often 
 recorded in the minutes. It is obvious that, unless 
 care had been taken to repress irregularities of this 
 kind, there would soon have been an end to the 
 orderly character of our marriage proceedings. In 
 the Yearly Meeting's epistle of 1730, such proceed- 
 ings are spoken of as being "of a clandestine na- 
 ture," and are accordingly advised against. 
 
 In 1692, a minute was adopted by the Bristol 
 Two-weeks Meeting, requiring the parties who ap- 
 ' plied for leave to be married, to appear a second 
 time before the meeting, to declare their intention 
 of marriage. The object of this was, "fo ennure 
 them in speaking;'' complaint having been made 
 that on marriage occasions the parties, and espe- 
 cially the women, often spoke so low that what they 
 said could not be "understood by half the meet- 
 ing;" so that many Friends were "not free to sub- 
 scribe as witnesses" to the marriage certificate. In 
 the early part of the last century, the practice was 
 adopted by the Somersetshire meetings, of appoint- 
 ing two Friends to attend marriages, to see that 
 they were conducted in an orderly manner; but 
 this practice was not adopted in Bristol until 1756. 
 Among the early reports given to the Somersetshire 
 
T A X X E R ' S LECTURES 
 
 243 
 
 meetings, by Friends so appointed, I find the fol- 
 lowing : " It was well, for what they saw." " Pretty 
 well considering the mix'd multitude." "Indif- 
 ferent." " The people were very orderly, and things 
 were well." In 1695, an intention of marriage is 
 recorded, in the Bristol minutes, between ^Mlliam 
 Penn and Hannah Callowhill, daughter of Thomas 
 Callowhill, of Bristol : and the publication of their 
 marriage was reported to the Men's Meeting in the 
 twelfth month of that year. In 1697, William Penn 
 removed with his family to Bristol, where he resided 
 about two years. A certificate of removal to Phila- 
 delphia was granted him in 1699, on the occasion 
 of his going thither for the last time. There are 
 some others of our Bristol minutes in which his 
 name occurs, during his residence here. In 1697, 
 he was appointed, with other Priends, "to visit our 
 Latin schools, and give them counsel and advice as 
 they shall see meet:" and a second minute appoints 
 him, with other Friends, "to visit the schools of 
 our Friends' children, to inquire into the order and 
 manners thereof, (and) admonish against that they 
 shall find amiss." In 1698, an intention of mar- 
 riage is recorded between William Penn, junior, 
 son of William Penn, Esq., and Mary Jones, 
 daughter of Charles Jones, merchant: William 
 Penn, and Mary Jones's father and grand-parents 
 being present gave their consent. In the second 
 month of 1699, William Penn was appointed a re- 
 presentative to the Yearly Meeting in London. 
 It was probably during the period of William 
 
244 
 
 tanner's Lli:CTURRS. 
 
 Penn's residence in Bristol, that he arranged the 
 building of the streets to the eastward of the Friars' 
 premises, which still bear the names of Philadel- 
 phia, Penn, Ilollister, and Callowhill Streets. Han- 
 nah Callowhill, the mother of Hannah Penn, was a 
 daughter of Dennis Hollister ; and, as the ground 
 on which these streets were built adjoins the Friars, 
 which Friends purchased of him, there is but little 
 doubt that it formed part of his property. I believe 
 also, as the result of an examination of a map of 
 Bristol, in the office of our city treasurer, published 
 in 1646, that some of these streets were built on the 
 ground formerly occupied by the great orchard, in 
 which the larger meetings of Friends were at first 
 held. We have in our Monthly Meeting chest, the 
 lease for a year of Pennsylvania, granted by Wil- 
 liam Penn and his son, preparatory to the mortgage 
 on which several Friends of Bristol and other places 
 advanced them, in 1708, the sum of £6,600 : and 
 also a trust deed relating to it. 
 
 It is well known to those who are acquainted with 
 the history of William Penn's later years, what im- 
 portant assistance was rendered him in his unequal 
 struggle with difficulties of various kinds, by the de- 
 votedness and sound judgment of his second wife. 
 He also secured whilst in Bristol, the services of ano- 
 ther able helper, James Logan, whom he induced to 
 accompany him to Philadelphia as his secretary. In 
 the memoir of this remarkable man, published by 
 Wilson Armistead, he is spoken of as possessing a 
 powerful mind and extensive learning. Besides 
 
taxnitr's lectures. 
 
 245 
 
 being appointed secretary to the province, he tilled 
 with great abilit}^ and integrity the offices of com- 
 missioner of property, chief justice, and for nearly 
 two years, that of governor of the province, as secre- 
 tary of the council. At his death he bequeathed a 
 library of three thousand volumes, as a legacy to the 
 new colony.^ There is a remarkable paper at the 
 end of the memoir, drawn up by James Logan, and 
 addressed to himself, which affords instructive evi- 
 dence that his varied and engrossing public duties 
 did not turn him aside from that still higher duty 
 of walking with God, from which alone the ability 
 is derived for the right discharge of our various 
 stewardships. 
 
 The subject of the education and training of chil- 
 dren in the early da3's of our religious society, might 
 well occupy more time and space than can here be 
 devoted to it : my observations must be chiefly con- 
 fined to a notice of our first Bristol and Somerset- 
 shire schools and schoolmasters. To those who wish 
 to pursue the subject farther, I would strongly re- 
 commend a perusal of the comprehensive and able 
 statements upon this subject, contained in the pa- 
 pers read by the late Samuel Tuke, before the Edu- 
 cational Society, at Ackworth. It is now nearly 
 twenty years since the first of those papers was read, 
 and having been a witness of the lively interest ex- 
 cited on that occasion, I regret that they are not 
 better known. I must ask leave to refer to a few 
 of the observations contained in them. After speak- 
 
 ' Preface to Memoir, p. 5. 
 
 21* 
 
246 
 
 tanner's LECT'URES. 
 
 ing of the evidence afforded by the memoirs of our 
 early Friends, of the beneficial influence of the reli- 
 gious training then given, Samuel Tuke says, "It 
 is not improbable, however, that some out of the 
 very large number who joined the Society in early 
 times, mistook the real character of the doctrine 
 which they professed, in regard to the guidance of 
 the Holy Spirit, so as to neglect the right use of 
 means in the care and improvement of their fami- 
 lies; and George Fox, who may be considered as 
 the organ of the Society at that time, in several of 
 his bold pastoral epistles, reproves this neglect in 
 very strong terms." ^ Then follow extracts from 
 these epistles, commencing from 1656. Writing in 
 1669, George Fox says, " Some among you breed 
 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." Ten years 
 later, George Fox writes : " 'Now you having your 
 food from Christ and God your Father, cannot you 
 train up your children in the fear of God, and tell 
 them from whence you have your good things, that 
 they may come to receive of all these good things 
 from the good God, and Christ, the treasure of wis- 
 dom and knowledge ; and that you may say, the 
 children of your children are the crown of your old 
 
 'Paper read in 1838, "Report, &c., of Friends' Education 
 Society." 
 
tanner's lectures. 247 
 
 men in the truth, and the glory of their fathers in 
 God?" Again, in 1683, he savs, "It is desired that 
 all Friends that have children, families, and servants, 
 may train them up in the pure and unspotted reli- 
 gion, and in the nurture and fear of God; and that 
 frequently they read the Holy Scriptures, and exhort 
 and admonish them, that every family apart may 
 serve and worship the Lord, as well as in public." 
 Samuel Tuke says further, It would not have been 
 surprising if the religious and moral department of 
 the subject of education had been the only one which 
 occupied the particular attention of George Fox, but 
 it was otherwise. In the year 1667, in the midst of 
 various trials and persecutions, he mentions in his 
 journal that he had recommended the establishment 
 of two boarding-schools, one for boys and one for 
 girls, in the neighbourhood of London, for the pur- 
 pose of instructing them * in all things civil and use- 
 ful in the creation.' This brief, but comprehensive 
 phrase, is worthy of his large and enlightened 
 mind." 
 
 I cannot undertake to decide how far the fatherly 
 expostulations of George Fox were applicable to 
 Friends of Bristol. Mention was made in my first 
 Lecture, of the admirable constancy of the children 
 in keeping up the meetings when their parents were 
 in prison ; but at that time, and for many years af- 
 terwards, constant reference is made to the disorderlj'- 
 conduct of some of the boys, both in meetings and 
 in the neighbourhood of the house during meetings ; 
 and committees were appointed month after month 
 
248 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 to repress these disorders. Many of these boys were 
 probably the sons of those who were but shghtly, if 
 at all, connected with the Society ; but in 1701, a 
 paper was ordered to be drawn up on this subject 
 and sent to all families of Friends, " for a caution to 
 them." Another minute warns Friends, that if they 
 neglect to restrain those under their care, from the 
 folly and mischief practised during the time of meet- 
 ing, " they must not take it amiss if they find their 
 children and servants in Bridewell for such offence, 
 since the Government is strict in this case for the 
 suppression of vice and looseness." 
 
 The difiiculties which had to be overcome in pro- 
 moting school training among Friends, in the earlier 
 days, were by no means slight. There was no lack 
 of Friends well qualified to teach ; but those of them 
 who were willing to pursue this calling rendered 
 themselves liable to prosecution if they did so ; and 
 in the event of a schoolmaster becoming a Friend, 
 he would also be deprived of the support he had 
 hitherto received, by the removal of pupils from his 
 school. Many of the Friends again were too poor, 
 and too much harassed by persecution to allow them 
 to contribute much towards the education of their 
 children. Under these circumstances the expedient 
 was resorted to, in some meetings, of guaranteeing 
 a certain sum from the funds of the Society; to 
 which the condition was sometimes attached, that 
 the children of poor Friends should be educated gra- 
 tuitously in the schools so established. In 1668, one 
 of the Bristol minutes states that a letter had been 
 
tanner's lectukes. 
 
 249 
 
 received from John Tappin, schoolmaster, signifying 
 his willingness to come and teach school on such 
 terms and conditions for wages as Friends should 
 judge meet. The minute proceeds, "It is ordered 
 that he shall have £10 per annum out of the public 
 stock, in consideration whereof he is to teach so 
 many of poor children as shall be thought conve- 
 nient by this meeting." In the following month 
 these terms are repeated, with this addition — ''It 
 is concluded, that for the present he shall be allowed 
 to teach in this room, provided that he be careful to 
 have it made clean and ready for meetings every 
 week, and such other services of truth as occasion 
 may require." 
 
 The next reference I find to schools, in the Bristol 
 minutes, is in 1676, at which time the Friars' meet- 
 ing-house had been erected : this minute is as fol- 
 lows, " It being proposed to this meeting, to spare 
 the void room over the meeting-house to Lawrence 
 Steel, for a school-room, this meeting doth, with one 
 accord, give consent that he shall have it for the use 
 proposed." I take the following particulars from 
 the account of Lawrence Steel, related by John 
 Whiting, who speaks of him as one whom he dearly 
 loved, and was well acquainted with. He w^as born 
 in London, in 1644. His parents, who were zealous 
 Independents, devoted him to the ministry from his 
 birth, and spared no pains in his education. Strong 
 religious convictions led him to seek for help and 
 guidance among the Presbyterians, and after that 
 among the Independents. Although not satisfied 
 
250 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 to occupy the position of a public teacher among 
 them, he accepted a situation in a gentleman's 
 family in Dorsetshire, in which he was expected " to 
 tutor children, and pray and preach in the family." 
 When the time came for him to receive his stipend, 
 he felt that it would be wrong for him to accept 
 payment for his religious services ; and shortly after- 
 wards he decided that he could not continue to con- 
 duct these stated services. Though he had received 
 a strong prejudice against the newly established 
 Society of Friends, yet his convictions on these 
 points being in accordance with theirs, he was led 
 to make inquiry respecting them. Having parted 
 from his employers with feelings of mutual love and 
 regard, he returned to his family. After attending 
 the meetings of Friends for twelve months, he spoke 
 as a minister among them, and he afterwards be- 
 came eminent in that calling. About three 3'ears 
 after leaving his situation in Dorsetshire, he came 
 to Bristol, kept school " in the great meeting-house 
 at the Friars," and was very serviceable in that city 
 and the country adjacent. Being imprisoned in 
 ITewgate, for attending one of the meetings in 
 Bristol, his health became impaired by the close 
 confinement, and he died not long after his release, 
 in 1684 : " laying down his head in peace with the 
 Lord." John Whiting says further, "He was a 
 preacher of righteousness in that great city, in 
 which he walked as a stranger and pilgrim on the 
 earth ; but hath finished his course, and kept the 
 faith, and received the crown of life." 
 
TAN^^Ell's LECTURES. 
 
 251 
 
 The following mention of another schoolmaster 
 is from a minute made in the fourth month, 1690: 
 "Paul Moone acquaints this meeting that Patrick 
 Logan, a Friend, late of Ireland, and now at Lon- 
 don — a good scholar, and an apt schoolmaster to 
 instruct youth in Latin, &c., is at present out of 
 employment, and, upon some discourse of it among 
 Friends at London, is in some expectation that he 
 may be serviceable to Friends' children in Bristol, 
 upon consideration of which this meeting is desirous 
 to promote it, in hopes it may be serviceable to our 
 youth," &c. Li the ninth month following the 
 treasurer was desired to hand Patrick Logan " £50, 
 and to pay Jno. Harwood's note of carpenter's work 
 for the said school." There seems every reason to 
 suppose that this Patrick Logan was the father of 
 James Logan, before mentioned as the Chief Justice 
 of Pennsylvania. Wilson Armistead states that 
 he "was educated for a clergyman, receiving the 
 benefit of a good education in the University of 
 Edinburgh, where he received the degree of Master 
 of Arts. But though educated for the ' Church,' 
 and having served some time as a chaplain, he re- 
 linquished his clerical profession, and returned, to 
 L'eland, where he afterwards joined in religious 
 Society with the Quakers." In 1694 another school- 
 master had to be chosen, and in a minute on the 
 subject reference is made to a young man aged 
 twenty -two, who had been proposed, a good scholar 
 for Greek and Latin, and a good hand in writing;" 
 but he was thought too young, Friends "being 
 
252 
 
 tanker's l e c t u k e s . 
 
 desirous to have a grave, sober man, his wife a good 
 motherly woman, fit to table, and cherish up lads, 
 and the master able in Latin, writing, and mathe- 
 matics, if can be had." James Logan, who appears 
 to have succeeded his father in the care of the school, 
 consented to continue it awhile longer. 
 
 The next appointment of a schoolmaster took 
 place in 1699 (the year of James Logan's removal 
 to Philadelphia), when Alexander Arscott, who is 
 described as "a scholar lately convinced,*' was es- 
 tablished in the workhouse as master of the school. 
 From the particulars of his life given by Gough,^ I 
 find that he was born about 1677. His father was 
 a clergyman of the Church of England, incumbent 
 of Southmolton, in Devonshire, and designing his 
 son for the same vocation he sent him to Oxford to 
 complete his studies. Alexander Arscott seems to 
 have felt, at an early period of his life, that he must 
 relinquish the prospect of worldly advantage which 
 was opened before him by the education which he 
 had received, and by the expectation of preferment 
 Avhich his father's connections and influence held 
 out to him. The difiiculty which he experienced in 
 adopting this conclusion was greatly increased by 
 the affectionate entreaties with which his parents 
 sought to divert him from it. He wept with them 
 in their distress, and his understanding became 
 clouded for a time by doubts respecting the propriety 
 of his conduct. But during this season of spiritual 
 conflict, he prayed earnestly for right direction ; and 
 
 1 History of the Quakers, Vol. IV. p. 307. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 253 
 
 in answer to his prayers the conviction was brought 
 home to his mind that if he would be Christ's dis- 
 ciple, he must be willing to forsake father and 
 . mother at His requirement. He had afterwards the 
 satisfaction of finding his parents more reconciled 
 to the change ; and his interest with Friends 
 enabled him to become serviceable to other members 
 of his family, by procuring them situations. Alexan- 
 der Arscott came to Bristol when he was about 
 twenty-two years of age ; and his subsequent course 
 must have convinced Friends that they did well to 
 waive the objection which was expressed in a former 
 case to engaging so young a man. Not only as an 
 instructor of children, but in the work of the minis- 
 try to which he received a call ; by his zeal for up- 
 holding Christian discipline in a Christian spirit; as 
 well as by means of the sound judgment and difiu- 
 sive benevolence which gave him a high position 
 among his fellow-citizens in general, he appears to 
 have exerted an influence for good which continued 
 to be felt till the period of his decease. He died 
 in 1737, in the sixty-first year of his age, in a 
 peaceful frame of mind. 
 
 Passing into Somersetshire, we find in the Quar- 
 terly Meeting minutes of 1697, a reference to an 
 epistle received from Friends in London on the 
 subject of education, &c. : and in the following year 
 Long Sutton having been proposed as a suitable 
 situation for a school, John Banks, Jasper Batt, and 
 Elias Osborne, were desired " to act for the procur- 
 ing a schoolmaster, and to let him know for en- 
 22 
 
2r)4 tanner's L (] T U 11 E s . 
 
 couragement, that if there do not scholars enough 
 come to him to make up £20 per annum, that 
 Friends of this county ^Yill make up so much as 
 doth fall short, for two years, so that he may be sure 
 of £20 per annum for two years." At the following 
 Quarterly Meeting it was mentioned that the Friends 
 so appointed " did desist the matter, finding there 
 was an objection did arise in the north division of 
 this county: doubting how^ the place proposed 
 might agree with their children's health ; and they 
 noAV proposing Sidcot for the setting up of the 
 school, this meeting consents that it may be there." 
 In the fourth month, 1699, the following minute 
 occurs: "William Jenkins, of Hertford, pursuant 
 to an invitation from Friends of this county, olfer- 
 ing himself to this meeting for a schoolmaster, and 
 he being approved of as one fit for that employ- 
 ment, have agreed with him for two years, to com- 
 mence from the first of sixth month, next, viz. For 
 teaching Greek, Latin, writing, and arithmetic, 
 after the rate of 30s. per annum. For teaching 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, after the rate of 
 20s. per annum. To reside at Sitheott, a very 
 healthy, serene air, about twelve^ miles from Bris- 
 tol, in the road to Exon. Friends of this county to 
 assure him as many scholars as will amount to X30 
 per annum, for teaching. That £9 per annum is 
 proposed for boarding as many scholars as he shall 
 board." In the following year, subscriptions were 
 brought in from the difi:erent Monthly Meetings, to 
 
 ^ The miles "were long in those days. 
 
T A X N E r' S LECTURES. 
 
 255 
 
 defray the outlay incurred in repairing the house at 
 Sidcot, in which the school was established. A 
 later minute contains an offer from William Jenkins, 
 " to teach such children for nothing, as shall be sent 
 to him from the Monthly Meeting's Charity, the}^ 
 paying for their tabling, (and the ..like for any 
 Friend, in case of inability to give the rates agreed 
 on) for one year next ensuing, if he continues teach- 
 ing school." The amount charged for boarding the 
 scholars seems to have been thought somewhat ex- 
 travagant, and a minute of the Middle Division, in 
 1701, complains of it as being too high, provisions 
 being low in price. ^ In that year, William Jenkins 
 informed the Quarterly Meeting that he had been 
 presented at the Assizes, for keeping school, and a 
 copy of the presentment was ordered to be sent to 
 the correspondents in London, for their advice in 
 the case. Ko report is given of the result of this 
 prosecution ; but it probably ended in the same way 
 as a similar proceeding against Eichard Claridge 
 some years later. Whilst engaged in conducting a 
 school at Tottenham, where he went to reside in 
 1707, Richard Claridge was cited to appear at Doc- 
 tors' Commons, " to answer to certain interrogatories 
 concerning his soul's health, and the reformation 
 of his manners, and especially for teaching and in- 
 structing boys." A prohibition having been ob- 
 tained to stay the proceedings, the cause was re- 
 
 1 In 1728, the charge at David Hall's school, at Skipton, was 
 only £8 per annum, for board and tuition. — Life of James 
 Gough. 
 
256 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 moved into the Queen's Bench. Chief Justice Ilolt, 
 who presided on the occasion, gave it as his opinion 
 that the statutes of James the First against Popish 
 recusants, under which the prosecution had been 
 instituted, did not apply to the defendant; and the 
 jury accordingly brought in a verdict in his favour.^ 
 In 1707, William Jenkins informed the Quarterly 
 Meeting that his continuance at Sidcot was uncer- 
 tain, as the tenant under whom he rented the house, 
 was about to leave the estate. A committee was 
 appointed to confer with him, but their report was 
 not recorded. I have, however, been able to trace 
 the issue of this difficulty, by applying to Joseph 
 Davis. The deeds of Sidcot School, which he has 
 kindly examined for me, show that the property on 
 which the present school has been erected, was 
 conveyed to William Jenkins in 1709. This is all 
 the more interesting, as leading to the inference 
 that William Jenkins conducted his school from 
 1709, if not before, in the house in which John 
 Benwell kept school many years afterwards, and 
 which partly served the purposes of the present in- 
 stitution, up to the year when the new house was 
 erected. In 1708, the following answer was given 
 by the Quarterly Meeting of Somerset, to the Yearly 
 Meeting, to a query which had been adopted on the 
 subject : — " Our godly care is continued in the good 
 education of Friends' children, insomuch that many 
 people w^ho are of different persuasions, send their 
 children to table at a Friends' school, and allow 
 
 > Gough's History, Vol. IV. p. 216. 
 
T A X X E K ' S LECTURES. 
 
 257 
 
 them to go to meetings constantly." William 
 Jenkins sold the property in 1729, at which period 
 he removed to Bristol. His name appears for some 
 years after this in the book in which the names of 
 the Bristol ministers were entered. 
 
 Another Friend, in the station of minister, had 
 opened a school within the compass of the Xorth 
 Division, a little before William Jenkins left Sidcot. 
 This was Jonah Thompson from Westmoreland, 
 who removed to Yatton in the year 1728, and con- 
 ducted a school there up to 1735, when he married 
 and went to reside in Dorsetshire. In 1756, he 
 came to Bristol, and conducted the school at the 
 Workhouse for about three years. Returning again 
 into Dorsetshire, he established the school at Comp- 
 ton, afterwards conducted by his son Thomas, at 
 which a large number of Friends in this part of the 
 country received their education. The celebrated 
 Dr. Thomas Young, a native of Milverton, was 
 among the Compton scholars. Jonah Thompson 
 was extensively engaged in the work of the minis- 
 try, and his representations of Gospel truth are said 
 to have been acceptable to persons of various de- 
 nominations.^ He paid two religious visits to Xorth 
 America; the first of these was in 1750. The 
 Monthly Meeting of Sherborne and Bridport, to 
 which he then belonged, was very small, and Jonah 
 Thompson was accustomed to relate that on the 
 occasion of his proposing to his friends to visit 
 America, those who were present expressed their 
 
 ' Piety Promoted, Vol. IV. p. 100. 
 22* R 
 
258 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 entire approval ; but that after some time had been 
 spent in deliberation, one of the friends said, 
 "Jonah, there is no one among us that can write a 
 certificate but thee, and thee must draw it up thy- 
 self." This he accordinglj^ did. Through the kind- 
 ness of his grandson, John Thompson of Hitchin, 
 from w^hom I received this anecdote, I have had a 
 sight of this certificate, w^hich is in Jonah Thomp- 
 son's hand-writing. The anecdote certainly points 
 to the need there was in those days, for the labours 
 of the schoolmaster to be further extended. Soon 
 after Jonah Thompson left Bristol, the school was 
 placed under the care of James Gough, who had 
 been an usher under Alexander Arscott, and had 
 subsequently settled in Ireland, whither he again 
 removed at a later period. James Gough was an- 
 other of the vigorous minded and well educated 
 men who came from Westmoreland in the early 
 days of our Society, and took up their residence in 
 the south of England. Like several others of the 
 schoolmasters of whom I have spoken, James 
 Gough laboured extensively as a minister of the 
 Gospel.^ 
 
 Eeference is made in the Somersetshire minutes, 
 to schools established during the last century, at 
 Long Sutton, Glastonbury, &c., which received more 
 or less pecuniary assistance from the Society. The 
 school established by John Benwell, at Yatton, in 
 1790, and afterwards removed to Sidcot, on account 
 of the situation being considered more healthy, ap- 
 
 ' Life of James Gough. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 259 
 
 pears at first to have been under the notice of a 
 Monthly Meeting's Committee. Friends in Bristol 
 were for some years accustomed to send their boys 
 to a school at Gildersome, in Yorkshire. On the 
 occasion of the establishment of Ackworth school, 
 in 1779, the Quarterly Meeting of Somerset sent a 
 contribution to its funds, of ^114 : 10 : 0. From 
 this period until 1808, when our Sidcot school was 
 established, many scholars were sent to Ackworth, 
 from this Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 In speaking of the schoolmasters who resided in 
 this neighbourhood, I must not omit the name of 
 Anthony Purver, the translator of the Bible. He 
 was for some years a member of French ay Monthly 
 Meeting. He lived as tutor in a Friend's family, at 
 Hambrook, and whilst there he translated some of 
 the minor prophets. He subsequently kept a board- 
 ing-school at French ay, and removed thence to Sta- 
 pleton. John Player, who was one of his scholars, 
 remembered hearing him speak of his having been 
 able, when a boy, to commit six chapters of the Bible 
 to memory in an hour.^ His translation of the Old 
 Testament is, I believe, considered to have the merit 
 of keeping very close to the original. An attempt 
 which he made to publish portions of his translation 
 in Bristol, was unsuccessful ; but the whole was af- 
 terwards published in London. In a sketch of his 
 life, by Joseph Gurney Bevan, which Paul Bevan 
 
 1 There is now in the possession of Funny and Mary Player, 
 uf Tockington, a Cambridge concordance, uhich belonged to 
 Anthony Purver. 
 
260 
 
 TANNERS LECTURES. 
 
 has kindl}^ lent me, the question is raised whether 
 Anthony Purver does not stand alone in having 
 completed the translation of the whole Bible into 
 English. In 1758, he removed to Andover, where 
 he died in 1777, aged seventy -five. Arduous as were 
 his literary engagements, they did not prevent his 
 labouring, and travelling as a minister of the Gospel. 
 
 The early Meetings for Discipline do not appear 
 to have been usually preceded, as at present, by a 
 joint meeting for worship of men and women 
 Friends; but Monthly Meetings for worship were 
 held at different places. In 1694, one of the minutes 
 of the Bristol Meeting recommends its members to 
 encourage Kingsweston Friends, by attending their 
 Monthly Meeting, which was held on first days, 
 "they being declining, and weak, and few in number." 
 
 In 1694, it was concluded to appoint a Yearly 
 Meeting in Bristol, for the southwestern counties ; 
 such meeting to be held a little before the time of 
 the Yearly Meeting in London, to which it was 
 made subject. In an epistle issued by the Men's 
 Meeting in Bristol, inviting Friends of other coun- 
 ties to attend this meeting, allusion is made to the 
 " cloud of darkness which had been over the city 
 for some years past," by reason of the persecution 
 from without, and the trials from within, to which 
 Friends had been exposed : and this being now in 
 great measure removed, they call upon their friends 
 to come and rejoice with them. The object of this 
 gathering is further described in the words, " to the 
 end that we in this Gospel day, after the enjoyment 
 
tanner's lectures 
 
 2G1 
 
 of so many evangelical privileges, may know the 
 restoration of, and keep the holy feast of nnleavened 
 bread (in) sincerity and truth, together; and that for 
 the time to come our holy and heavenly relation in 
 Christ Jesus may be increased and continued," kc. 
 Mention is also made of the number of ministering 
 Friends who could not attend the Yearly Meeting 
 in London, as a reason for establishing this Bristol 
 Meeting. These meetings occupied three days : one 
 morning was devoted to a meeting of ministering 
 Friends, and the Temple Street meeting-house was 
 appropriated to the use of women Friends, if they 
 should incline to meet. Queries were adopted by 
 the Bristol Yearly Meeting, to be answered by the 
 Quarterly Meetings composing it, in relation to 
 Friends travelling as ministers without certifi- 
 cates; to the keeping up of meetings; the preva- 
 lence of love and unity among Friends; and the 
 spreading of their principles. Suggestions were at 
 different times made, to the effect that this Yearly 
 Meeting should be held alternately in the different 
 counties composing it, and in 1720, it was decided 
 to hold an Annual Meeting for Worship, in addition 
 to the Yearly Meeting in Bristol, which from its 
 being held at different Y>laces in turn, was called the 
 Circular Meeting.^ These Circular Meetings were 
 
 'In the Somersetshire minutes, there are references to the 
 expenditure incurred on different occasions, on account of the 
 Circular Meetings : — in 1743, for seating the Town Hall, at 
 Wells ; and on another occasion for a booth erected at Bridg- 
 water. In 17G4, Friends were appointed to acknowledge Earl 
 Pawlett'a kindness in allowing the use of Crewkerne Market- 
 liuuse for a like purpose. 
 
262 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 often held in places where there were but few, if Siwy, 
 Friends, and were largely attended, both by Friends 
 from a distance, and by persons not belonging to the 
 Society. 
 
 An anecdote of Samuel Bownas, connected with 
 one of these meetings (held, I think, at Ilminster) was 
 related to me by the late Young Sturge. Samuel 
 Bownas had the habit of pausing between his words 
 and sentences, when he stood up to preach, but usu- 
 ally became more fluent as he proceeded. On the 
 occasion referred to, a lady w^ho had been accus- 
 tomed to attend the Circular Meetings when they 
 were held in her neighbourhood, interrupted Samuel 
 Bownas soon after he began to speak, by remarking 
 that she thought it would be well for him to sit 
 down, as many other ministers were present. Sam- 
 uel Bownas, looking tow^ards her, said, " Have pa- 
 tience, woman, 'twill be better bye and bye." Having 
 in the end preached a very remarkable sermon, the 
 lady in question came to him after meeting, and 
 apologised for the interruption she had caused him. 
 Young Sturge also mentioned to me the accounts 
 he had heard of the kind and fatherly care which 
 Samuel Bownas was accustomed to extend to younger 
 ministers, and that being present on one occasion 
 when some Friends were complaining of the mis- 
 takes which a young man had made in his ministry, 
 and fearing they would deal with him in a manner 
 which would prove discouraging, he put them by 
 from their intention of speaking to him, by saying, 
 "Leave the young man to me." The account of 
 
T A N N E 11 ' S L E C T U 11 S . 
 
 263 
 
 Samuel Bownas's own experiences, in the early pe- 
 riod of his ministry, is as interesting as it is instruc- 
 tive. During his first visit to the West of England, 
 he felt it to be his duty in attending the funeral of a 
 deceased Friend, to take his pocket Bible with him, 
 and to preach with it in his hand: turning to various 
 texts in support of the doctrine which he preached, 
 and pressing earnestly on his hearers the duty of 
 reading the Bible carefully, and of seeking the Lord 
 by prayer, for the assistance needed to enable them 
 to practise what they read. It afterwards transpired 
 that several ministers of other denominations, with 
 many of their hearers, were present; and that one 
 of these ministers had some time before publicly 
 charged Friends with denying the Scriptures, and 
 not making use of them to prove that which they 
 preached.^ 
 
 It would be easy to give many interesting extracts 
 from Samuel Bownas's Journal. Apart from its 
 value in a religious point of view, that book may be 
 safely said to exhibit more originality and liveliness 
 of mind than are to be found in many volumes, the 
 authors of which have made these characteristics 
 their prominent object. Like his friend Jonah 
 Thompson, with whom he sometimes travelled, and 
 to whom he left some of his manuscripts, and his 
 travelling gear, Samuel Bownas was a native of 
 Westmoreland, and like him, he afterwards resided 
 in Somersetshire and also in Dorsetshire. 
 
 I find the name of Samuel Emlen, of Philadelphia, 
 
 ^Life of Samuel Bownas, pp. 22 to 25. 
 
2C4 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 among those of the ministering Friends who resided 
 for a time in Bristol, during the last century. Many 
 traditions have been handed down of his extraordi- 
 nary gifts as a minister, and his remarkable spiritual 
 discernment. 
 
 I do not know that I have much occasion to 
 regret having but a short space to devote to the 
 middle period of our history ; for in the experience 
 of the Society of Friends, as in that of other reli- 
 gious sects, and of the Christian Church at large, 
 the middle period was one of spiritual darkness and 
 depression. If the first period of our Society was 
 not in all respects a golden age, it was an age of 
 zeal and love ; and the Christian devotedness of its 
 members was the means of attracting many to the 
 beauty of holiness. The large additions made to 
 their numbers from time to time were probably not 
 restricted to the period of persecution ; but I do not 
 think that any large in-gathering took place in the 
 south-western counties after the close of the seven- 
 teenth century. There does not appear to be any 
 means of ascertaining the number of those wdio 
 attended the different meetings at that time. The 
 number of marriages was very large; scarcely a 
 month passed without one or more intentions of 
 marriage being brought before the Bristol meeting. 
 This may be partly accounted for by the liberty to 
 marry at meeting being generally accorded to the 
 attenders of meetings whose conduct was orderly, 
 and not restricted, as of late, to those who are form- 
 ally recognised as members; but I do not think 
 
tanner's LECTUllES. 
 
 265 
 
 that this fully accounts for so many more marriages 
 having taken place then than now. It is very pro- 
 bable that in the more simple state of society which 
 then existed, prudential considerations had less in- 
 fluence in restraining marriage than is at present 
 the case.^ In Bristol, the meeting-house accommo- 
 dation was probably greater than at present; but 
 it is impossible to ascertain to what extent the 
 meetings at the Friars, and in Temple Street, were 
 attended by the same persons. 
 
 In the description given of our Society history by 
 Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, at the commencement 
 of the second volume of J. J. Gurney's Memoirs, 
 he remarks on the extent to which traditional be- 
 lief and formal profession marked the successors of 
 the early Friends. And I have met with abundant 
 evidence that this representation was fully applicable 
 to the state of things in this part of the country. 
 Before the close of the seventeenth century, many 
 of the meetings for worship, held in the middle of 
 the week, were "either totally neglected," or had 
 "in a great measure declined." To this succeeded 
 a deficient attendance of First-day Meetings. In 
 some places in the west of England, no meeting was 
 held before one o'clock on First-day, and where two 
 meetings were held, the first was often poorly 
 attended, the reason being that Friends were busily 
 occupied with their worldly callings. 
 
 The undue pursuit of worldly gain may be con- 
 
 ' In many of our meetings the number of deaths has exceeded 
 the number of births, for many years past. 
 
 23 
 
266 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 sidered as having stood in the relation of both cause 
 and effect to the low spiritual condition with which 
 it became connected; and there were, doubtless, 
 many things which conspired to lay the members 
 of our Society peculiarly open to such a snare. 
 Amidst the opposition which at first arose against 
 Friends in all directions, the earning of a livelihood 
 was often a matter of great difficulty: but their 
 neighbours were not long in perceiving that, how- 
 ever mistaken they might be in some of their views, 
 they were (generally speaking) honest and true- 
 hearted men, whose word was their bond. They 
 could send their children to the Quakers' shops with 
 a certainty that they would be as well served as they 
 would have been themselves. The old proverb that 
 "honesty is the best policy" was not long in being 
 verified by the success which attended the commer- 
 cial undertakings of many of the early Friends. 
 Then again, whilst they gave up a great deal of time 
 to the attendance of their meetings and other church 
 services, their diligence in following their business 
 was not interrupted by the frivolous pursuits and 
 amusements in which many of their neighbours 
 indulged. Thc}^ were ready to distribute their sub- 
 stance for the benefit of others, notwithstanding 
 their own losses, to an extent which might well sur- 
 prise us, were it not that one of the benefits of suf- 
 fering is the effect which it produces in opening the 
 heart towards other sufferers; but on the other 
 hand their personal habits were very simple. Nei- 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 267 
 
 ther their furniture, dress, nor food, was of an ex- 
 pensive kind. 
 
 In these, and in other waj^s, a foundation was laid 
 for the accumulation of wealth to an extent which 
 it was not easy to foresee. Still more difficult w^as 
 it to perceive the efiects which such accumulation 
 would produce upon individuals, and upon the ge- 
 neral state of the Societ3\ There are, however, 
 indications given, in some of the documents issued 
 in very early times, that the danger of which I speak 
 was by no means overlooked. It certainly does not 
 form any part of the business of the Church to de- 
 fine the extent to which it is right for its members to 
 accumulate wealth ; and it is a matter of no small 
 difficulty for individuals to set the limit for them- 
 selves ; but I believe that our Society, in common 
 with other Christian bodies, would have derived 
 benefit from a clearer recognition of the principle, 
 that Christians should cease to accumulate wealth 
 when they have reached the point at which con- 
 science tells them they have enough. If the rule 
 which Richard Reynolds laid down for himself, of 
 spending his income year by year, had been more 
 generally followed by those of our members who 
 had obtained a competence, there is great reason to 
 believe that important benefit would have accrued 
 both to themselves and their families. Many names 
 occur in the early Bristol minutes which have since 
 been identified with the commercial prosperity of 
 the city, but which are no longer recognised as 
 having any connexion with Friends. 
 
268 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 There is one result of the increase of wealth 
 among Friends in Bristol, of which we cannot com- 
 plain. I allude to the erection of this comfortable 
 and commodious meeting-house! The first house 
 built on these premises cost X655, whilst the second, 
 which was built in 1747, cost X1830. Even the 
 latter sum would now appear small; and I should 
 be one of the last to object to this large expendi- 
 ture, seeing how greatly the convenience of Friends 
 was consulted in the building of this house; and 
 being disposed, as I am, to think that the interior is 
 a good specimen of chastened and correct taste.' 
 To glance for a moment at a more recent outlay of 
 money on these premises, which of us does not feel 
 pleasure in recalling the fact that, in the year 1845, 
 the sum of <£700 was expended in the purchase of 
 the Cutlers' Hall, the old dormitory of the monks, 
 and that a further sum of X972 was spent in 
 restoring and adapting it to the use of our day, and 
 First-day schools for boys. 
 
 But I must make further reference to the unwel- 
 come subject of the declension which marked the 
 second period of our history. It was alike ob- 
 servable, in town and country; and although the 
 indications of it were somewhat different, worldly- 
 mindedness was as much evinced by the exclusive 
 
 ' John Clark, of Bridgwater, who was well versed in archi- 
 tecture, used to say that this interior would have been a perfect 
 specimen of its style — the Roman Doric — if the bases of the 
 pillars had been square instead of octagonal ; and it appears 
 from a minute of the building committee, which directs the cut- 
 ting olf of the corners, that they were originally square. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 269 
 
 devotion which some gave to their farms, as by the 
 zeal with which others followed their merchandize. 
 Not only were the meetings for worship neglected, 
 but in regard to every branch of our Christian pro- 
 fession unfaithfulness appeared. The increase of 
 wealth was found, as in so many other cases, to im- 
 pede, rather than assist, the exercise of charity. 
 Complaint was made to the Quarterly Meeting of 
 Somerset, in 1740, of the deplorable circimistances 
 of poor Friends in divers parts of the county; and 
 an epistle was sent to the Monthly Meetings recom- 
 mending a more charitable disposition on the part 
 of Friends of ability. 
 
 In 1742 mention is made of the underhand pay- 
 ment of ecclesiastical demands^ which the Quarterly 
 Meeting considered to be only " deceit." Our tes- 
 timony against zvar was compromised in a similar 
 manner — subscriptions being entered into by many 
 Friends for providing substitutes for such as were 
 called upon to serve in the militia. Dealing in 
 smuggled goods is also mentioned in the Quarterly 
 Meeting minutes. The simplicity of dress, by which 
 the early Friends were distinguished, was exchanged 
 for the extravagancies then in fashion. James 
 Gough, who came to Bristol in 1728, says that his 
 plain dress caused him to appear like " a speckled 
 bird;" and the father of the late J. S. Fry, who 
 settled here about 1748, found only two young men 
 in the meeting who dressed plainly. Samuel Emlen 
 is said to have addressed himself, in one of his ser- 
 mons, to the "powder-pated beaux." 
 23* 
 
270 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 Church discipline and oversight had suftered, at 
 least, as great a decline as the conduct of the mem- 
 bers. In 1757 the Somersetshire Meetings are 
 stated to have been altogether deficient as to the 
 appointment of overseers.^ Wrong doers were 
 allowed, in many instances, to continue a nominal 
 connexion with the Society : whilst, in others, the 
 discipline was exercised, but with less of Christian 
 forbearance than formerly. I have met with many 
 cases in which persons were disowned, without 
 having received, as far as can be learnt from the 
 minutes, a single official visit. The love of souls 
 and the desire to reclaim the wanderer, seem to 
 have given place to the notion of maintaining the 
 credit of the Society. Testimonies of disunion were 
 issued, "forthwith," against persons of disreputable 
 conduct : and one Friend was disowned because he 
 refused to fasten a copy of his declaration of re- 
 pentance to the market-cross of the town in which 
 he lived. 
 
 In such a state of things it need not surprise us 
 that the select character, before referred to, as 
 having been given to the Meetings for Discipline, 
 was found to be injurious in its operation; and 
 that, in many cases, the place of the "nursing 
 fathers," came to be filled by such as must rather 
 be described as " lords over the heritage." The 
 Somersetshire Monthly Meetings being held in 
 private houses, wore the more liable on that account 
 to be restricted to particular cliques and classes. In 
 
 ' Quarterly Meetiog Minutes. 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 271 
 
 1748, I find the Quarterly 3feeting adjourned to the 
 house of John Thomas, of Winthill. In Bristol 
 the meetings, though not held in private houses, 
 became very exclusive in their character. A friend 
 is still living amongst us, Arnee Frank, now in his 
 ninety-second year, who remembers the operation 
 of this exclusive system. lie has told me that, 
 when he returned to Bristol in 1792, from his ap- 
 prenticeship to Thomas Young of Milverton, he 
 believes the late Joseph Storrs Fry and himself were 
 the only young men in Bristol who ventured to in- 
 trude themselves into the meetings for discipline.^ 
 It was natural that, under such circumstances, a 
 struggle for pre-eminence should have led, as of old, 
 to dissension and party spirit. The manner in 
 which the Bristol Yearly Meeting exercised its dis- 
 ciplinary powers, became a matter of great dissatis- 
 faction to the meetings composing it; and the 
 opinion was repeatedly expressed that it should bo 
 held as a meeting for worship only. A minute of 
 the Somersetshire Quarterly Meeting,^ on this subject, 
 says — "We find Friends very desirous that fellow- 
 ship may be maintained in charity, which is our 
 best fortress. We don't approve that Friends be 
 obliged to answer any stated questions, but may be 
 
 ' I have heard an anecdote of an American Friend, who beinfi; 
 present at a meeting for discipline, held about that period, and 
 hearing a young man complained of for taking too active a part, 
 remarked — " if it was not for the old men, the young men would 
 .^ct the house on fire ; and if it was not for the young men, the 
 tire would go out/' 
 
 2 1722. 
 
272 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 left at liberty to ask or answer, as in the wisdom 
 of God may appear to edification."^ 
 
 It w^ould be easy to multiply evidence of the low 
 spiritual condition of the Society in the middle 
 period of its history, from the records of the Meet- 
 ings for Discipline: and a similar testimony is 
 borne by a manuscript journal kept by John Player 
 of Tockington,^ of a visit paid by him, in 1760, to 
 the western counties, &c., as a member of the Yearly 
 Meeting's Committee, the first, I believe, which was 
 appointed to such a service. In speaking of Bristol, 
 John Player alludes to the poor attendance of the 
 Week-day Meetings for worship, and to the small- 
 ness of the Meetings for Discipline. Of the Somer- 
 setshire Meetings he says, " Things appeared ex- 
 ceeding cloudy and heavy — occasioned, we are jealous, 
 by too close an attachment to the profits and spirit 
 of the world." It is worthy of notice that this 
 committee advised the junction of some of the Dor- 
 setshire Meetings, which had become very small 
 and weak, to Somersetshire, a measure which has 
 been recently adopted. The account given by John 
 Player, of the state of other Quarterly Meetings, 
 shows that the declension to w^hich I refer was of a 
 general character. That men like those who laboured 
 in this service, were found to undertake it, proved 
 
 * The Bristol Yearly Meeting ceased to act as a meeting for 
 discipline in 1772, but was continued some time longer as a 
 meeting for worship. 
 
 ^ This journal has been kindly lent me by Fanny and Mary 
 Player. 
 
T A N N I', ll' S L E C T U R E S . 
 
 273 
 
 tliat the spiritual life of the body was not extinct, 
 and many were prepared to co-operate in their 
 labours for the restoration of the health of the body. 
 Frequent reference is made to serious-minded young 
 men and women with whom the committee held in- 
 tercourse in the diflerent meetings. It must, how- 
 ever, be acknowledged, that as respects the Society 
 at large, the condition of things was exceedingly 
 low; and even suggestive of an inquiry like that 
 addressed to Ezekiel, " Son of Man, can these dry 
 bones live ?" 
 
 A statement lately published in the Times news- 
 paper, seems to imply that our recent history answers 
 this inquiry in the negative : this I am not disposed 
 to admit. I allude to an advertisement, in which 
 prizes are offered for an essay on the subject of the 
 decline of the Society of Friends. The gentleman 
 who offers these prizes states, that our Society has 
 lessened in numbers during the first half of the 
 present centur}^, and also expresses his belief that 
 the Christian testimony which it has borne to the 
 world " has been gradually becoming more and more 
 feeble,'' The first part of the statement is probably 
 correct, and certainl}^ calls for the most careful and 
 searching inquiry on our part, whatever the world 
 at large may say about it; but I think that no one 
 who carefully considers the history of our Society, 
 during the last half of the eighteenth and the first 
 half of the nineteenth century, can doubt that a 
 much more healthy condition prevailed in the latter 
 than in the former period ; or that our Christian 
 
 s 
 
274 
 
 tanner's LECTURICS. 
 
 testimony has iu some respects become clearer and 
 stronger. 
 
 There is no doubt that we have been for some 
 time past in a state of transition. In one sense, 
 this state is common to all living bodies; the main- 
 tenance of life having been made to depend on the 
 removal of decayed, and the substitution of new 
 particles. But there have been some special in- 
 fluences at work upon our Society of later times, 
 the tendency of which has been to modify the con- 
 dition and feelings of our members in a variety of 
 ways, but which ought not, and it is to be hoped 
 will not, have the effect of turning us aside from 
 our Christian calling. I must now briefly advert to 
 some of these influences. The jManthropic efforts 
 of different kinds, in which many of our members 
 have been led to engage during the last seventy 
 years, have exerted a marked, and, I believe on the 
 whole, a very beneficial influence upon us. Philan- 
 thropy may sometimes have engrossed the time 
 and talents which should have been devoted to ser- 
 vices more exclusively appertaining to the Gospel 
 of Christ. But it would be a very narrow view of 
 the requirements of the Gospel, which would lead 
 us to reject any legitimate means by which the 
 moral and physical condition of our fellow-men 
 may be improved. Among the benefits which we 
 ourselves have derived from taking part in such 
 efforts, it may be mentioned, that many have had 
 their minds thereby diverted from the engrossing 
 pursuits of trade ; that opportunities have been thus 
 
tanner's lectures. 
 
 275 
 
 afforded for the expeuditure of means, the accumu- 
 lation of which would have proved injurious; and 
 that our sympathies have been enlarged, not only 
 towards those on whose behalf we have laboured, 
 but also towards our fellow-labourers of other de- 
 nominations of Christians. If time had permitted, 
 I would gladly have dwelt more at length on some 
 of these efforts. 
 
 We had an interesting lecture given us twelve 
 months since, on the Slavery of the Old World, and 
 the relations of Christianity to it ; and I wish that 
 it could be followed by a description of the part 
 which the Society of Friends has taken in the work 
 of abolishing modern slavery. In T. Clarkson's His- 
 tory of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, there is a 
 very interesting account of the visit which he paid 
 to Bristol, about the year 1787, for the purpose of 
 collecting evidence on the evils of the Slave Trade. 
 He mentions by name many Friends to whom he 
 was introduced on coming to Bristol, and he re- 
 marks that " the Quakers to a man were strenuous, 
 and this on the best of principles, in support of the 
 abolition movement." During that visit, T. Clark- 
 son had need of all the countenance and support 
 which could be given him. Many nights, as well 
 as days, were spent among the crews of the slave 
 vessels, in the low public-houses in Marsh Street, 
 which were their places of resort ; and the obstacles 
 which impeded his various inquiries were of a 
 formidable character. 
 
 I would also fain have spoken more at length of 
 
276 
 
 T A N N E 11 ' S L E C T L R E S . 
 
 another movement of a philanthropic character, in 
 which, as far as England is concerned. Friends may 
 be said to have taken the lead. I allude to the 
 amelioration of the treatment of the insane. I 
 could not, however, have hoped to do full justice to 
 the subject, even by a more lengthened reference to 
 the importance of the work accomplished by Wil- 
 liam Tuke and his successors, in not only exposing 
 the miserable abuses of the old lunatic asylums, but 
 in exhibiting in "The Retreat," established near 
 York, in 1792, an example of what might be effected 
 by the extension of kind and judicious care to tliese 
 children of affliction. 
 
 Friends have borne a part in other philanthropic 
 enterprises of more recent date, in which the com- 
 munication of religious instruction has formed a 
 prominent feature. I allude particularly to the 
 Bible Society, the British and Foreign School 
 Society, and the Prison Discipline movement. The 
 amelioration of our criminal code, which George 
 Fox was one of the first to suggest, and the abolition 
 of the punishment of death, have been objects of 
 deep interest to many Friends. As respects our 
 local charities, it is needless for me to dwell on the 
 assistance afforded them by Richard Reynolds, and 
 by others who in more recent times have followed 
 his example. Although it is true that we were be- 
 hind some other bodies of Christians in entering on 
 the work of Sabbath School instruction, I believe 
 we have derived very great benefit from the part 
 which we have taken in connexion with it. If I 
 
tanner's 
 
 LECTURES 
 
 277 
 
 were asked to mention the most beneficial influence 
 of an external kind which has, in modern times, 
 been brought to bear on our Society in Bristol, I 
 should have no hesitation whatever in answering, 
 that of the First-day school. 
 
 The establishment of Ackworth and other schools, 
 in which the education of many of the children of 
 our own members, was placed under the direct care 
 of the Society, formed an important epoch in our 
 history. Xot less important was the change effected, 
 at a later period, in the instruction given both in 
 our public and private schools, by the introduction 
 of a course of Scriptural teaching ; a change which 
 was accomplished, to no small extent, through the 
 labours of the late Joseph John Gurney. 
 
 I cannot but think that a corresponding benefit 
 has resulted from the giving up of the exclusive sys- 
 tem which characterized the Meetings for Discipline 
 in former days. I regard it as one of the most hope- 
 ful signs of the present state of our Society in Bristol, 
 that many of our younger Friends are not only de- 
 voting themselves to the promotion of philanthropic 
 efforts, but are willing to hear their part in the aflairs 
 of our own Societv. Of the vounsrer men and wo- 
 men, who, in the early part of the present century, 
 were instrumental in the infusion of new life into 
 the Society in this country, many became qualified 
 to bear a part in the ministry of the Gospel. We 
 can ourselves recal the persons and services of more 
 than a few, of whom it may be said that they were 
 gentle among us, even as a nurse cherisheth her 
 24 
 
278 
 
 tanner's lectures. 
 
 children, and that being affectionately desirous of us, 
 they were willing to have imparted unto us not the 
 Gospel of God only, but also their own souls, because 
 we w^ere dear unto them.^ The inquiry as to where, 
 and on whom the descending mantles of these faith- 
 ful labourers are to rest, is one which may well en- 
 gage our anxious thought. The qualification for 
 such service cannot be bestowed by man ; but it is 
 for us to see that we do not disqualify ourselves for 
 the reception of spiritual gifts, and to labour for the 
 removal of all those stumbling-blocks which prevent 
 the word of the Lord from having free course 
 amongst us. 
 
 I think no one can feel more strongly than I do, 
 that boasting should be altogether excluded from our 
 consideration of both the past and present state of 
 our religious Society ; but we surely have cause for 
 reverent gratitude, that He who appointed us a place 
 to occupy, and a work to do in the great family of 
 the Church, has continued towards us His faithful 
 care. I am not one of those who think that our 
 calling and responsibility, as a distinct section of 
 that Church, is {ibout tQ cease. Whether we be 
 faithful to the call or not, I am fully convinced that 
 there is still a place and a need for a body of Chris- 
 tians who should bear before the world a testimony 
 to the entirely spiritual character of the New Cove- 
 nant Dispensation — to the authority of Christ as 
 distinguished from the authority of man in matters 
 of religion — to the freedom of that Gospel ministry 
 
 ' 1 Thess. ii. 7, 8. 
 
T A N 1^ E R ' S LECTURES. 
 
 279 
 
 which is to be received as a gift from Him, and to 
 be exercised in the strength which He bestows — • 
 and to the peaceable character of His kingdom. 
 
 In saying this, I feel no disposition to ignore the 
 fact that the general condition of the professing 
 Church, has greatly improved since the days of 
 George Fox. I rejoice that it is so ; but I am well 
 convinced that if we would contribute our share to 
 the general improvement, we must maintain our own 
 ground. Let me not, however, be understood to 
 speak of a traditional adherence to the profession 
 made by our forefathers. Many influences have 
 been at work, of late, in the Society of Friends, as 
 well as in the Church of Christ at large, tending to 
 the demolition traditional faith ; and we shall have 
 occasion to rejoice in the result, if tradition be re- 
 placed by a new growth of individual conviction. 
 Christianity is a vital influence, and not a mere sys- 
 tem of opinions, and cannot therefore be effectively 
 maintained under any form of profession, by the 
 teaching which one man gives to another, or which 
 one age hands down to another. 
 
 It is certainly a critical period, whether it occur 
 in the life of an individual, or in the history of a 
 Church, in which the unhesitating faith of childhood 
 comes to be disturbed by doubts and questionings, 
 such as must inevitably precede the independent 
 conviction and sound judgment oi manhood: a pe- 
 riod in which there is peculiar need for the exercise 
 of watchfulness and teachableness of mind on the 
 one hand, and of forbearance and condescension on 
 
280 
 
 TANNEll'S LECTURES. 
 
 the other. Religious conviction implies much more, 
 indeed, than an assent to certain propositions ; and, 
 if we would be prepared to bear a faithful testimony 
 to the truth of the Gospel, it is essential that our 
 own hearts should be made subject to its regenera- 
 ting and transforming power : that, being ourselves 
 made partakers of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, 
 we should become truly subject to Him as our Lord^ 
 and know our hearts to be influenced by His con- 
 straining love, and our wills subjected to His pure 
 and holy will. Let us not propose to ourselves any 
 inferior aim, either in regard to the means by which 
 we would seek to fulfil our duties, or the strength 
 in which they should be discharged, than that which 
 is set forth in the words of the apostle — " by pure- 
 ness, by knowledge, by long-suflering, by kindness, 
 by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word 
 of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of 
 righteousness on the right hand and on the left." ^ 
 
 In conclusion, I may confess that my own love for 
 the Society of Friends has been afresh warmed by 
 this investigation of its early history; but I trust 
 that the feeling is not one w^hich arises from secta- 
 rian narrowness. The love which the true patriot 
 feels for his country, is something added to, and not 
 subtracted from his love of the world at large; and 
 I cannot but think that a corresponding feeling of 
 especial interest in that portion of the Church in 
 which our own lot is cast, is quite consistent with 
 the desire, that "grace " may be "with all," of every 
 
 12 Cor. vi. G, 7. 
 
tanner's L E C T V 11 E s 
 
 281 
 
 Dame and of every nation, " who love our Lord Jesn3 
 Christ in sincerity." But how much is there in the 
 divisions which now separate between the professed 
 followers of Christ, and in the imperfections which 
 attach to them all, which should make us rejoice in 
 the thought of that state of heavenly rest and bles- 
 sedness, where, in a far higher sense than can be 
 applicable to the Church on earth, " Christ is all and 
 in all." 
 
 [Correction. — The queries mentioned in the Second Lecture 
 as having been answered by the Bristol Meeting, in the early 
 part of the la^t century, do not correspond with those which had 
 been adopted by the Yearly Meeting in 1682, and in 1G96. See 
 " Extracts from the Minutes, &c., of the Yearly Meeting," printed 
 in 1783.] 
 
 THE END. 
 
 24* 
 
IP