THE FRIENDS WHO THEY ARE— WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. THE FRIENDS: WHO THEY ARE -WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. WILLIAM BECK LONDON : The Richmond Publishing Company. 54, Commercial Street, E. 1897. £f PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. This little work attempts only a general description of the rise, progress, and present state of The Society of Friends as a community in its Religious, Philanthropic, Social, and Industrial aspects. Those acquainted with the subject will kindly make allowance for omissions which an intentional brevity has enforced, and any who may desire further details will find them in works which most Friends' libraries possess. Such as this is— it is offered as a passing tribute of regard from one whose membership in the Society by circumstance of birth has been confirmed by an attachment produced by a sense of the justness of its views on Christian Faith and Practice. William Beck. Stoke Newington, London, 12th August, 1892. r^97:vA\ CONTENTS. I. A Chosen Generation- 1 II. Some Details of George Fox's Early Life - 10 HT. George Fox's Personal Appearance - - 17 IV. The Early Friends Travelling in the Ministry 21 V. The Early Missionaries — Continued - - 34 VI. Persecution Under Monarchy - « ■" 46 VII. Origin of the Discipline ^ - ■■• - - 65 VIII. Meeting Houses, &c. .... ^ « 59 IX. George Whitehead and hi3 Servick . » 63 X. Scotch Friends .---», 72 XI. Irish Friends 82 XII. Friknds in Holland, Germany, and West Indies 92 XIII. „ America 100 XIV. „ Pennsylvania - - - - - 116 XV. Ministers amongst the Settlers in America- 134 XVI. George Fox's Death 140 XVII. Society Organisation ...-.- 144 XVIII. Yearly Meeting Premises . . . . 154 XIX. Christian Doctrine and Counsel, Issued by THE Yearly Meeting - . . . 159 XX. Education - - 169 XXI. Disruption and Secession - - - - 175 XXII. Friends as Pioneers in Philanthropic Efforts 187 XXIII. Slavery 196 XXIV. Treatment of the Insane . - . . 207 XXV. Testimony against all War - - - - 211 XXVI. Industrial, Commercial and Social Influence 221 XXVII. Missions 238 XXVIII. Friends as at present in Europe and Australasia 248 XXIX. Friends of England, Ireland, Norih America, and Canada, in Conference assembled - 257 XXX. Conclusion ------- 264 THE FRIENDS, WHO THEY ARE— WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. CHAPTER I. A CHOSEN GENERATION. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy natioa — a,pecidiar people that ye should show forth the praises of Ilini R-ho hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. — I Peter ii. 9. ^OME two hundred and forty years ago, or to bo more exact, in 1652, might have been seen one fine spring morning a tail young man of athletic build climbing the steep slopes of Pendle Hill, in Lancashire. It is a height remarkable for its extensive prospect. In one direction can be seen the waters of the Irish Channel, and in another, far off eastward, the towers of York Minster. Its wild rugged summit, held in awe by country folk as the nightly haunt of witches, is now associated with an important event in the gospel labours of this youthful traveller, George Fox. Ho has left on record the feelings awakened in his mind as he gazed in that fine spring morning upon the wide prospect spread out below. 2 THE FRIENDS. " I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire, and from the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places He had a great people to be gathered, a people (he adds) in white raiment." Such became known as the Society of Friends, which originated through the missionary labours of that young man of eight and twenty amid the houses and people of the district bordering around that Lancashire hill. This travelling evangelist in his plain farmer-like appearance — though ungifted with the eloquence of a Whitfield or the scholarly training of a "Wesley — had come like a David of old from the sheepfolds to be an instrument in the hand of the Great Shepherd of souls to bring off many from the hills of a barren profession into the conscious possession of gospel truth and power. It was his assurance "that if but one man or woman were raised up by the Lord's power to stand and live in the same spirit that the apostles and prophets were in who gave forth the Scriptures — that man or woman should shake all the country in their profession for ten miles rcu id," and certainly George Fox himself became a witness to the truth of these words by a ministry that shook men's hearts exceedingly both in acceptance and in opposition to his doctrine. Encouraged with the prospect opened before him on Pendle Hill, the missionary traveller descended and having refreshed himself by a draught of water from a spring by the wayside, entered with holy ardour on the coming service. Undoubtedly George Fox possessed bodily and mental as well as spiritual endowments for THE FRIENDS. 3 success as a missionary preacher, being able at this time of his life to endure great bodily exertion and hardship. He could travel for days together without food or any- where to rest at night, seeming to live independent of appetite and work without sense of fatigue. Earnest yet courteous in manner, plain yet powerful in ministry and doctrine, skilful in debate, he would harangue crowds for hours together, or conduct successfully arguments with professors and learned opponents. By the time he had reached this particular district of England he had been engaged for about five years travelling in the midland parts of England in the spirit of a John the Baptist, calling upon men everywhere to repent for that the Day of the Lord was at hand. He believed himself a divinely appointed herald to call men off from a formal worship to one in Spirit and in Truth, and from dependence on the teaching of man to know the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves, that they might not rest satisfied with reading or hearing of the experiences of Prophet or Apostle of old, but seek for the same divine infiuence in their own hearts, and thus enter into conscious pos- session of that Holy Power the Scriptures spake of as the blessing of true believers. They were to realize not only the saving virtue of our Lord's sacrifice on Calvary, but His spiritual presence in the heart, as the glorious result of His resurrection power, and thereby know a being brought off from the "World's ways and Teachers, to be instructed of the Lord, who had bought them and was Himself the Teacher as well as the 4- THK FRIENDS. Saviour according to tlie promise, "All thy children .shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be their Peace." Such views in themselves led rather to greater Jew forest homes beyond the mighty sea, There undisturbed and free, To live as brothers of one family." (From the Latin of Francis Daniel Pastorius, by J. G. Whittier.) Pastorius acquired a great reputation for learning, and before his emigration, belonged to an intelligent and highly cultivated community of Pietists, but soon after his arrival in America joined the Society of Friends, and became one of its nv^st able and devoted members. We shall meet with him again further on in connection with Slavery, against the iniquity of which he was one of the earliest to make a protest. Before this exodus various other ministers from England had visited them, amongst whom were George Fox, William Penn, and Robert Barclay, who in the course of their journeys held debate with some of the learned professors on theological subjects, and found in Elizabeth, grand-daughter of James the First and daughter of the ex-Queen of Bohemia, and some of her near relatives, those who favoured their company and cordially accepted their spiritual counsel. It was sel- dom any opportunity could be found for a more public promulgation of their views, as the right of meeting for worship in most of these Foreign States was so strictly reserved to the Form that had received its legislative sanction, but by enquiring in the places thus visited for any who had withdrawn from the public forms THE FRIENDS. 97 and Tvere seeking a better way for themselves, many deeply interesting gatherings, of the two or three or more in private dwellings, cheered the hearts of the visitors, and those that had thus at so much labour been sought out by them. In Holland a Friends* meeting was settled at Amsterdam, that continued into the present century, and Sewel, one of its members, has the reputation of having written the first, and to this day, most complete History of the Society during its earlier periods. WEST INDIES. The possession of the Islands of the West Indies, has been a source of much warlike contest between the European Powers, and our country had then acquired less territory there than now, at the time of Friends' first visit to them. In consequence, their labours were chiefly directed to Barbadoes, which ie a small but fertile island, that has always been in possession of the English, who settled there in 1625, and made it not only open to free colonisation, but a strong military station, and a place whither its criminals were sent to share in plantation labour with negroes imported as slaves from Africa. Much interest speedily attended their ministry amidst this miscellaneous population, and many of the chief persons in the island were to be seen amongst those gathered at the numerous and large meetings, held with the general inhabitants, and also amongst the black population. 9S THE FRIENDS. This interest, however, developed into opposition, when it was found that adherents to Friends' views declined any share in military service, or rendering contributions in aid of warlike preparations, and fears also arose lest their efforts to religiously enlighten the plaves, might cause them to rise for freedom against the white population. As usual in these cases, the chief instigators to the troubles that ensued, were to be found amongst the clericals of the island, whose own social habits appear to have been of a character in little accordance with their sacred calling, but having the ear of the Governor, it was easy for them to raise an alarm amongst the authorities, lest peace and safety should be endangered by these new doctrines, which they denounced as sub- versive of the fundamental truths of Christianity, and also of the principles of all good government. Grievous as these charges undoubtedly were, and great as was the commotion they at first occasioned, such turned ultimately to an advantage, by giving Friends an opportunity of clearing away many misap- prehensions, through being called upon by the Governor (a man like Sergius Paulus, of a prudent mind) to state distinctly their views, before he would take any official action for their suppression. In consequence, George Fox (who was then in the island), with others, drew up a document, which is so able and comprehensive a statement of Friends' belief in the cardinal truths of the gospel, and full acceptance of Holy Scripture, as to have been referred to ever since THE FRIENDS. 99 whenever their soundness in the Christian Faith may have been called in question. It is too long to give here, and is the less needed, as our subject is rather with their points of diversity, than agreement with their fellow believers. It will be found in George Fox's Journal (a new edition of which ixx two volumes at 5s. is just issued), and also in the Society's Book of Christian Discipline. By this and other means open persecution was held in check, and those who joined Friends settled into regular congregations, not only in Barbadoes but in the much larger island of Jamaica ; so that to this day may be seen Meeting Houses or Burial Grounds in various parts of the West Indies, some in ruins, others converted into dwellings, whilst the descendants of buch as once worshipped in them must be sought for amongst the populations of America. Thither so general an emigration set in, that it stripped these parts of Friends, who left on account of their conscientious objection to support war, and their conviction of the iniquity of obtaining a livelihood by means of slave labour. Note. — In connection with Dutch Friends it should not be forgotten how much they benefited by Steven Crisp's, of Colcliester, frequent visits, for he was one of tlie clearest and most effective exponents of Friends' Doctrinals, and had learnt to speak German. CHAPTER XTII. FRIENDS IN AMERICA. "The Seed in America shall be as tlie sand of the sea." — An utterance by Humphrey Norton, one of the first Friends who visited that great Continent. npHE Society of Friends has largely developed in the United States, where it became divided, about sixty years ago, into two nearly equal communities, in con- sequence of diverse theological views, through the one having adopted an Unitarian basis, whilst the other retains the original views of the Society, and is the body with which English Friends have continued to be in correspondence. This orthodox section consists at the present time of twelve Yearly Meetings, with a total of 8'4,000 members, increasing latterly at the rate of about 2,000 a year. Each of these Yearly Meetings, though inde- pendent in itself, maintains with the other a friendly correspondence, and most of them are marked by an active and influeptial zeal in various kinds of mission and philanthropic work. Looking backwards, Friends' history in America presents itself under a two-fold aspect, each of which requires notice, being in one case the spread of Friends' principles amongst colonists of various relig- ious persuasions already settled there, and in the other THE FRIENDS. 101 a founding of an entirely new State by William Penn, under the name of Pennsylvania. These English settlements along the Eastern coast of America were founded at various periods by associations for the ostensible purpose of trade and commerce, under charters obtained from successive sovereigns, ranging in date from James the First to George the Second. Such royal grants gave powers of self-government subject to the British Crown, and throughout the great political and religious disturb- ances of those reigns, these colonies became a general refuge for the defeated or persecuted of all kinds — English, Scotch, and Irish, with Huguenots from France, Waldenses, Swedes and Danes, Moravians and others. With all this mixed character in the emigrants, each province acquired a character of its own, those in the South favouring Episcopalian and Royalist princi- ples, whilst the Northern ones were Nonconformist as to religion, and Republican or Democratic in their politics. Between these lay the territories granted to Lord Baltimore, who, though a Roman Catholic himself, declared "that he would not directly or indirectly molest any settler, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of his religion," and next to him were territories then in the hands of the Dutch, whose charter for what they called the New Netherlands, con- tained those principles of toleration for all forms oi religion, that had contributed to Holland's greatness. It caused their city of Wew Amsterdam to acquire that .102 THE FRIENDS. cosmopolitan character which, under its present name of New York, has been so enormously developed. Between these Dutch possessions and the Norther ri or New England States, was another haven of refuge in the province of Rhode Island, whither Roger Williams, a Baptist minister, led ofiE those who could not accom- modate their religious convictions to the rigid Calvinism of the Presbyterians and Independents of New Englau I and Massachussets. All these Settlements were moj-e or less in a growing and prosperous condition at the time when Friends from England travelled to make known their principles among them, and encountered nardships and sufferings which will have to be des- cribed with such brevity as the nature of the case will permit. Interest naturally settles around parts where th« struggle has been the keenest, and nowhere else did the Missionary Friends from England meet with greater opposition, or become subjected to grosser ill treatment than among the Presbyterians of Massa- chussets, even to the loss of the lives of some of them at the hands of the public executioner. The first arrivals were two women Friends, who came from Barbadoes to Boston, where its authorities promptly subjected them to examination, and on dis- covering the nature of their principles, condemned the books thev had brought with them to be burnt by the common >'iaugman, and subjected their persons to brutal tests, in search of some evidence as to their being devil- Biossessed or witches in disguise, of which failing to THE FRIENDS. 103 discover any signs, they were sent ignominiously away. Some more Friends arriving soon after, had to suffer close imprisonment without pen, ink, or paper, until the ship that brought them could be ready for its return, when they also were sent away. And to guard against further intrusions, it was proclaimed at beat of drum through Boston streets, that the heaviest penalties would be inflicted on all who should harbour in their homes any who promulgated these — to them — horrible doc- trines. "God forbid," said one of the preachers, "that we should tolerate errors. To say that men ought to have liberty of conscience is impious ignorance ; religion admits of no eccentric notions." By these methods had the Presbyterian settlers in New England succeeded in driving out Antinomians, Baptists, and all others who had opposed or failed in conformity to their own Church- order and doctrine, but they were now confronted, in these Missionary Friends, with a dauntless spirit of en- durance under all they could inflict in grievous scourg- ings and cruel imprisonments. "When banished under pain of death they returned, and were willing to suffer, and did, to the laying down of their lives, rather than desert the holy cause in which they were engaged. Although the magistrates were able by these pro- ceedings to deter captains of ships from bringing any Friends among their passengers to Boston, another missionary band were about to make a fresh entrance on American soil in a vessel of their own. There was a ship master in the North of England who, whilst building a small craft for himself, became a Friend, 104 .THE FRIENDS. and felt a divine intimation that the first venture, in which his vessel was to be engaged, would be one con- nected with the interests of the Society he had joined, and although he knew nothing of any particular line of service that would be called for at his hand, he brought his little ship up to the port of London, to communi- cate with the Friends there on the subject. He now found that at that time, five of those who had been ex- pelled from Boston, were feeling they must at all hazards return thither, and that six others from different parts of the country were come to town, seeking some way of joining in this perilous service. The London Friends thought the arrival of this brother captain with I lis vessel, was a divinely ordered means at their dis- Ijosal, and although the little "Woodhouse" seemed I'ar too small for crossing a wide and stormy ocean with safety, they engaged it for this purpose. But the captain's heart greatly failed him as the time of depar- ture drew near, and he would have forfeited the charter rather than set sail, if George Fox had not encouraged him to persevere, and so he says (in an account which this ship owner wrote of the voyage) : " I received the Lord's servants on board, who came with them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm," and truly, as will be seen, there was the germ of the American Friends' Society enshrined in that little craft. The \ oyage took two months, and was conducted in an extra- < ) rdinar y manner. Throughout all the time it lasted they made none of the usual observations for latitude or longi- tude, but instead waited daily before the Lord, " Whose THE FRIENDS. 105 power they felt leading the little vessel, even as it were leading a horse by the head," and they fared better than some much larger ships, from which they had parted company, and found themselves guided to friendly shores, for the land they first sighted proved to be New York, then in the possession of the Dutch, who unlike the Calvinists of Boston, welcomed all strangers. After leaving some of the Friends there, the little "Woodhouse" went onto Rhode Island, where, as one of the passengers wrote, " we were received with much joy of heart." His letter shows the spirit that animated these evangelists, for he adds : " The Lord God of Hosts is with us — the shout of a King is amongst us — the people fear our God, for His goodness is large and great, and reaches to the ends of the earth , . . take no thought for me . . . man I do not fear, for my trust is in the Lord . . . the seed in America shall be as the sand of the sea," a confidence justified by events in the numerical status attained by the Society there, and the influence American Friends have exerted on their Brethren in older Lands. The eleven who had come in the " Woodhou se " were joined by four who had arrived from Barbadoes, and this missionary band dispersed themselves through- out the American Colonies, quickly gaining converts to their religious principles, and settling meetings in various places, especially in Rhode Island, where the governor and most of the authorities became Friends. Even New England, with all its care over the sea-board, could not prevent an entrance of these earnest spirits lOG THE FRIENDS. across the land frontiers, and the magistrates of Boston learnt that, notwithstanding their threatenings. Friends' principles were largely spreading in some of their towns, causing those who held them to withdraw from the public worship, and sit down in small companies or in one another's dwellings for silent waiting before the Lord. The ministers inflamed the authorities against them, and violent measures "i^y fines, whippings, and imprisonments ensued, for the purpose of break- ing up and dispersing these little communities. Laws also were passed for confiscation of property and banishment upon all who would not conform to the Presbyterian system ; such methods had been success- ful with Antinomians and Baptists, and it looked as if the Friends might also become shattered and scattered by these severities. In this emergency the little missionary band freely exposed themselves to endure, for the cause's sake, all that the authorities could inflict, and four of them lost their lives in the result. When ex- pelled, as they often were, they returned. When whipped till people cried out for shame, they bore it in patience declaring "their cords were no more to them than spiders' webs." When pilloried and branded, all was borne in patience, when ears were cut ofi; the sufferers prayed forgiveness for their persecutors, and at last, when led to the gallows, these dauntless ones sang hymns in the fervour and spirit of the martyrs of old. It is a long, very long and sad story, and more than the four would have lost thrir lives if news of these THE FRIENDS. 107 barbarous executions of pious individuals had not reached Friends in England, who gained access to the King, and so roused his indignation that he commission- ed one of them, who had been himself expelled, to return as his messenger with royal commands to stop " this vein of innocent blood." Swiftly sped the vessel that carried this royally commissioned Friend, who arrived in Boston just as another one was about to be led to the gallows-tree. On first confronting the Boston governor he was assailed with violent abuse for daring to return, and for entering into his presence with his hat on ; but so soon as the official learnt his commission, he bared his own head to listen to the King's commands, and (after re- tiring awhile to consult with a colleague) announced that they should be obeyed ; and thus no more Friends than these four were ever hung on Boston Common ; yet were the scourgings continued on their bared backs through the towns, and heavy fines and imprisonments inflicted until the authorities seemed all aweary of such scenes. Probably they became assured that those they treated with barbarities worse than if they had been felons were not after all the " dangerous heretics " their ministers accounted them ; nor were their principles to be feared as subversive of government, but on the con- trary could be regarded as productive of good, loyal, and peaceable folk, whose industry would be helpful to the country's advancement. An American historian thus reviews these events : — " We contemplate with horror the fires of Smithfield, 108 THE FRIENDS. the dungeons and auto-da-fees of the Inquisition, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the penalties of the Star Chamber, but the unpitying and remorseless sen- tence of Endicott the Boston Governor, who on one occasion told his prisoner, ' Renounce your religion or die,' and the sanguinary denunciations of the General Court, fill us with equal dismay. That they who had preached such purity of life and conduct to mankind, that they who had been exposed to the terrors of perse- cution, and fled from it, that they, forgetful of their own precepts and the lessons of their own sad ex- perience, should pursue to banishment and death almost every species of nonconformity, displays to us recesses in the human mind which point to a dark and unex- plored labyrinth in its devious and impenetrable depths." The Boston rulers considered Friends as suicides because they rushed on the sword themselves ; "but," continues Bancroft, "•' if so, those who held the Bword were accessories." The subjects of this ignominious and cruel treat- ment were persons of high character, and some of them in a good position of life. John Rous, who, after being several times whipped in public, sufi:ered the loss of one of his ears, was a young gentleman, the son of a London merchant ; he was afterwards married to one of Margaret Fell's daughters. Mary Fisher, who underwent grievous Bcourgiugs and indignities, was a person in good cir- cumstances, as well as of an undaunted spirit. She was the one whom the Sultan of Turkey had received with THE FRIENDS. 109 such respect. Mary Clark, who was the first to suffer these public scourgings, was the wife of a London trades- man. Humphrey Norton had come from the North of England. As a reward for his gospel labours he had his hand branded with an H, as being a heretic in the estimation of these rigid Presbyterians. But the list of sufferers and nature of sufferings, which extended over more than thirty years, is far too long for citation in this brief survey. Of those who lost their lives, William Robinson was well educated and a London merchant. Marmaduke Stevenson, his companion, was a Yorkshire husbandman, who had left a wife and family in obedience to a Divine call. Mary Dyer, who went with them to the gallows, was a matron of unusual abilities and force of character. The sufferere had spent their last hours exhorting the crowds that gathered round their dungeons, and walked with radiant countenances to the scene of execution, but were prevented by beat of drum from further address- ing those who accompanied them thither. On arrival there, Mary Dyer was at the last moment reprieved, through, it was said, a successful intercession of her son, but the other two died with words of joy and forgiveness on their lips. As a last indignity the bodies were denied to tlieir friends for burial, being cast into a deep and watery pit by the gallows' side. Mary Dyer returned to her home in the neighbouring Province, but finding that these persecuting laws still remained in force, resolved to protest against them with her life, and this time the hangman's function 110 THE FRIEKDS. had its crnel course. William Leddra, another sufferer of the death penalty, bore an unexceptional character. Wenlock Christison, who, to encourage his Friends in suffering, had freely exposed himself to these savage laws, received likewise a sentence of death, and only by that timely arrival of the royal veto were the Boston magistrates saved from sacrificing this further victim to their religious zeal. Of Mary Dyer, it must further be remarked that she possessed a dauntless spirit which had been manifested on former occasions during her life, as she had been a prominent member in a community expelled from New England for their Antinomian views before she bfecame a Friend. She is described as " a person of no mean extract and parentage, of an estate pretty i)lentiful, of a comely stature and countenance, of a piercing knowledge in many things, and pleasant discourse. So fit for great affairs that she wanted nothing that was manly, except only the name and sex." " I passed," are the words of Joseph Nicholson, another member of this intrepid band, " through most parts of the English inhabitants and sounded the mighty day of the Lord which is coming upon them through most towns, and was at many of their public worship houses. I have received eighty stripes at Boston and some other of the towns. Their cruelty was very great towards me and others, but over all we were carried with courage and boldness, thanks be to God. We gave our backs to the smiters, and walked after the cart with boldness, and were glad inour hearts in their THE FRIENDS. Ill greatest rage." These were the sort John Wesley wanted when he declared " Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but Sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon earth ! " Certainly a measure of the same power that animated and sustained prophets and martyrs of old must be attributed to these earnest men and women who despised shame, endured great afflictions and suffered even unto death lest the cause they loved should be uprooted and lost. Puritan historians have sought to excuse their people's conduct, but all impartial minds will find it difficult to avoid condemning, as harsh and unchristian, the treatment of the early Friends by New England Presbyterians. If in a few instances there were one or two of the women Friends who acted strangely and went undressed through the streets or into assemblies, let it be taken as their form of protest against barbarities inflicted on themselves and their sisters by the authorities, whose common form of treatment, even for women Friends, was to have them stripped and flogged at the cart tail by the hangman through the streets of their towns. And whenever the zealous preachers seem harsh in the judgments they pronounced on their persecutors, let such be taken as given in the sense of solemn warnings from those whose last words were of forgiveness and prayers for their persecutors. If an apostle's spirit waxed warm when smitten, contrary to the law, what 112 THE FRIENDS. surprise can be felt at strong words from the accused when savagely interrupted in their defence as these often were by a handkerchief or key thrust, at the judge's order, into their mouths. Nor must it be forgotten that it was through these devoted men and women Friends freely exposing themselves to such indignities and deadly perils, by returning again and again after expulsion and banish- ment that the Society became rooted in New Eng- land soil. Their holy ardour diffused itself through- out the little communities which else would have become scattered under fierce persecution, if these had not rallied them to endure all that opposers could inflict, and would not be cast out. When the two who having been banished knew it was death to have returned were arrested at Boston, they said they had come to look " their bloody laws in the face," and to shame the magistrates into their repeal. Seventeen friends — seven of whom were women — accompanied them to the last scene, and one of these brought with her linen wrappings should the laws be enforced upon them — but even such attentions were denied to rhe dead, as before shewn, by the cruelty of the Boston officials, whose hearts were steeled by the harangues of their popular ministers to inflict for imputed heresy a death for which otherwise they could see no cause. Although the King's interference checked further use of the hangman's halter, it did not prevent his services being in frequent requisition for publicly flogging any who returned after banish nieut, nor had THE FRIENDS. 113 it the effect of preventing grievous sufferings inflicted by fines and seizures of goods, until a similar treatment was attempted towards some of the royalist settlers, when such a remonstrance came from the English Court as to put an end for ever to these Presbyterian methods of enforcing their Church-order and Discipline in the State under their control. English Friends watched this struggle of their American brethren with feelings deepened by their own experiences, and not a few were led from time to time to go and share these trials with them. In 1671 George Fox with thirteen other Friends crossed the Atlantic for this purpose. He landed first at Barbadoes, and after good service there proceeded to America, where he attended a Yearly Meeting held at Ehode Island, to which great numbers came, and felt much profited by his wise and fatherly counsel. He found so much openness for Friends in this liberal-minded province, as to stay some time longer there " confirming the churches." Many of the wealthier sort joined the Society, even to the Governor and members of his council, for it proved to be a time of large convincement, and many Friends' meetings became settled throughout the various American colonies as a result of the zealous activity with which he and so many others travelled to and fro from one Colony to another for this purpose. Such labour of love cannot be sufficiently appreciated unless it is remembered how far distant these Colonies were from each other, being then separated either by vast extent of almost trackless forests, or only reached 114 THE FRIENDS. through coasting voyages of an adventurous character. It was whilst riding through these forests one of their party was thrown so violently from his horse as to l)e given over for dead by his companions, who thought the neck was broken, but George Fox coming up, set himself to work and succeeded, by ways he had possibly learnt as a herdsman, in wrenching the neck-bones into position so that the Friend was soon himself again, an incident that may serve to illustrate William Penn's re- mark, " I never saw him not a match for every service or occasion." William Edmundson was one who had a full share in these travelling experiences. His high mental endow- ments and spiritual gifts, which we have noted in our account of the Irish Friends, marked him out for great influence with the higher class professors and those in authority, whose minds became by his statements of doctrine often cleared from previous prejudice, as for example, when, after having shewn Friends' belief in the Atonement and the Scriptures, he was asked "Where then is it that you differ from the ministers" : he replied, " They are satisfied with talk of Christ and the Scr i ptures, but we could not be satisfied without the sure inward divine knowledge of God and Christ, and the enjoyment of those comforts the Scriptures declared, and which true believers enjoyed in the primitive times." As our further tracing of Friends' affairs on the continent of America will lead us away from these older settlements to one founded by themselves, it may be remarked, without indulging any vindictive spirit. THE FRIENDS. 115 that in these New England settlements, where they were BO barbarously treated for many years, most who had had a chief hand in the sufferings inflicted came to their end, either through some loathsome disease, distress ol: mind, or grievous or sudden disaster that called to re- irembrance the judgments of which the Friends who died at their hands had so earnestly warned them. The Colony itself also suffered more than any other when the French and Indian wars soon after occurred, so much so that it has been estimated New England lost before the victory had been obtained one in every twenty of her able-bodied population. " Never," remarks Cave in his Church History, " was any wicked attempt made against Christians but a divine vengeance was seen at the heels of it." CHAPTER XIV. FRIENDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. " Within the Land of Penn, the Sectary yielded to the Citizen, and peaceful dwelt the many creeded men." — WHirriBB. " Without any Carnal weapon we entered the Land and in- habited there as safe as if there had been thousands of garrisons, for the Most High preserved us from harm, both of man and beast." — (Letter of an early settler.) fTIHIS Friends' Colony owes its origin to the settle- ment of a debt due by the Crown of England to William Penn, the son of the famous Admiral of that name, who for his valour and success in Naval affairs had been rewarded by lucrative offices and estates, and yet at his death left his son and heir a claimant on the Crown for £15,000, which in some way Charles the Second had become indebted to him. It has ever been customary with Kings to discharge their sense of obligation to those who might have done them service, by grants of dignities or lands, and in this instance Charles found the eon of his famous Admiral willing, and indeed solicitous, to acquire ;v Province in the Western World as a full discharge of his pecuniary claim. If extent of country were any indi- cation of value, the King would in this instance appear to have greatly exceeded his indebtedness, by giving a territory as large as all England in settlement of a claim for fifteen thousand pounds. WILLIAM PENX. — PEXN S SIGNATURE. THE FRIENDS. 117 It was, however, at this time in an unreclaimed condition, covered with forests ; the hunting ground of roving Indians, except a few settlements of Dutch and Swedes, on the river Delaware that formed its eastern boundary. It had formed part of an extensive territory, inclu- sive of the East and West Jerseys and New York, that had hitherto been known as the New Netherlands, but through the fortune of war, becoming transferred from the Dutch to the British crown, it enabled the king to make this grant to "William Penn, which he desired should by its name retain a remembrance, both of its forests and its Founder, from which royal christening resulted that of Pennsylvania. It could only be reached across more than 2,000 miles of stormy ocean, traversed at that time by vessels of but small capacity, which were often many months on the voyage. But William Penn's philanthropic mind em- braced the opportunity it afforded, of exhibiting to the world a colony modelled on perfect freedom, both as to religion and government. " I eyed the Lord," he wrote, " in obtaining it, and desire to keep it, that I may not be unworthy of His love, but do that which may answer His kind providence and serve His truth and people, that an example may be set to the nations. There may be room there, though not here, for such an Holy Experiment.'''' In the progress of negotiations connected with this provincial investiture, William Penn had besides other helpers, a very good friend in James, Duke of York, 118 THE FRIENDS. between whom and the admiral, his father, a close intimacy had existed, that was continued to the son, even after James had become king. But the course of events should not be further pursued, without some retrospect over William Penn's previous history, for he was a middle-aged man at this time, and had experienced many vicissitudes in the course of hia life. His father. Sir "William Penn, was an admiral of high renown, his mother the daughter of an Amsterdam merchant, and their son William was born at their residence on Tower Hill, London, in 16M. He gave early promise by manly qualities and mental endow- ments, of more than sustaining the honours his father had achieved, and no efforts were spared to perfect him by education at school and university, together with training in camp and court at home and abroad. Through all was there a religious zeal which thwarted parental expectations of worldly honour. When sent to college he was expelled, on account of resist- ance to some new Ceremonials being required from the undergraduates ; and when he was in London his father found him more often amongst the religious people than frequenting camp or court, and although by foreign travel and residence at ioreigu courts, he seemed for a few years to have become some- what of a fine gentleman, it soon disappeared, to his father's disappointment, on meeting again with religious associates. Having estates in Ireland he sent William thither to manage them, and gave him such introduc- THE FRIENDS. 119 tions to its rulers as would, he thought, ensure for his son an atmosphere of military and viceregal life, well calculated to promote his worldly advancement ; but here the youth met again, in an unexpected manner, the same friend who had first roused his religious enthusiasm at Oxford. This was Thomas Loe, a gentle- man of good birth and university education, one of the few of that class who had joined the ranks of Friejads, and become a powerful minister amongst them, not only in public discourse, but through the personal influence of a superior and cultivated mind. William Penn had not seen him since his university days, but hearing ho was travelling in Ireland and had appointed a meeting in Cork, near which city he was managing his father's estates, he Avent to it. It gathered in silence, but soon Thomas Loe arose with the words " There is a faith that overcometh the world, and there is a faith that is overcome of the world ;" on which he enlarged in so impressive a manner, that William Penn resolved to forsake all worldly ambition and unite himself with the Friends, to seek for that wis- dom and peace no earthly honours could bestow. Heroic in religious controversy, as the admiral was in naval en- gagements, he was soon under arrest for propagating his new views, and when released and recalled home, bore himself most bravely and in great patience under a father's anger, carried to the extreme of being forbidden the house and cut off from his inheritance. This left him dependent on the kindness of his new associates, and such little support as a fond mother 120 THE FRIENDS. could secretly give, without awakening a jealous father's suspicions. Such a man could not fail to become conspicuous in whatever circumstances he might be found. His first essay at authorship, was a treatise against what he thought were carnal views (too prevalent) of the Trinity, and called it "The sandy foundation shaken," for which, ontheaccusationof its being an heretical work, the Bishop of London had him confined for nine mouths in the Tower ; but here he composed one of the most effective of his many publications, " No Cross, no Croivn,'^ and when remonstrated with by warm-hearted friends for following courses that only brought him trouble, replied he " scorned that religion which was not worth suffer- ing for." Released from this imprisonment, scarcely a year had passed before he was again under arrest, owing to his resolute conduct in attending Friends' meetings, which in those days of persecution were regarded as tinlawful assemblies, and subjected whoever frequented them to fines and imprisonment. On this occasion, "William Penn had formed part of the little company gathered in Gracechurch Street in front of their Meeting House premises, out of wliich they were kept by the city Buthorities, being determined no powers on earth sliould prevent their meeting for divine worship. They met in Bilence, but William Penn rising to address them was ar- rested with William Mead, who had also spoken there. Both stood their trial at the London Sessions. William Penn boldly demanded on what law the indictment THE FRIENDS. 121 had been framed against them. '* On the Common Law," answered the Recorder. " Where is that Law ? " He was denied its production, on which he replied " The Law which is not at hand to be shewn, is far from being common Law." Amidst exclamations and menaces from the bench, this intrepid young man of five and twenty proceeded with skill and learning, to plead for the liberty of the subject under the fundamental Laws of England, and when ordered out of Court by the irritated Judge, reminded the Jury that his case rested with them, they being his judges. Dissatisfied with their first verdict, "Guilty of speaking in Gracious Street," the Recorder heaped upon them a torrent of abuse. " We will have a verdict, by the help of God, or you shall starve for it." " You are Englishmen," said William Penn, who had been brought again to the Bar, " mind your privilege, give not away your birthright." " It will never be well with us," said the Recorder, " till some- thing like the Spanish Inquisition be in England." At last the Jury, who had been kept without food or firing for two days and two nights, gave their verdict " Not Guilty." The Recorder fined them forty marks (shillings) apiece for their independence, and sent William Penn back to prison, for contempt of Court in not removing his hat. He has earned from historians great praise for this noble stand made by him for British freedom of justice. His father, who was now very ill and wishful for a reconciliation, paid the fines inflicted on the Jury, and obtained his son's release, whom, on his dying bed, he 122 TIIH FRIKNDS. exhorted to persevere in his conscientious convic- tions, and left him his heir to a fortune of about £1,500 a year. William Penn in joining with Friends came into close association with some of his own social rank, especially a family of Peningtons at Chalfont in Bucks — where he met with the accomplished and pious lady who be- came his wife. She was the step-daughter of Isaac Penington, a son of a Lord Mayor of London, who had married her mother, the widow of Sir "William Springett, and as she was heiress to her father's estates, the newly wedded pair were able to settle in circum- stances of much financial prosperity. In this domestic comfort William Pt-nn passed many years of his life as a country gentleman, with a young family happily grow- ing up around him, so that other than mere worldly motives must have influenced him to undertake the settlement of a province in the Western world, when he was become some forty years of age. He believed he should be gaining for his friends, still under harass in the old lands, a New Habitation with good prospects of prosperity, freedom and peace, in which he proposed that all of any nation, race, or colour should equally unite on the broad basis of civil and religious liberty. He was already acquainted with these parts of North America through having become a Trustee, in connec- tion with the purchase and settlement of the adjoining districts of East and West Jersey, and on gaining Pennsylvania as its sole proprietor, could with the more conliilcnce issue proposals for emigration thitlu'V, wiiich \VM. penn's great seal. THE FRIENDS. 123 met ■with such cordial response that ship masters be- came busy, at many an English and foreign port, in fitting out vessels for this purpose. These went, it ia said, at the rate of one a week for years together, so that in seven years time William Penn's colony had become more populous than others of forty years' planting. It was founded on the broad basis that the people themselves were to be the authors of their own laws, in a regularly constituted Assembly, that they might be free from the abuse of power, for " Liberty without obedience is Confusion — and Obedience without Liberty is Slavery." I Associated with these admirable views of the Founder, it is interesting to find colonists writing that '• our business in this land is not so much to build houses, and establish factories, and promote trade and manufactures that may enrich ourselves, (though all these things in their due place) as to erect tendples of holiness and righteousness which God may delight in — to lay such lasting frames and foundations of temperance and virtue, as may support the super- structures of our future happiness both in this and the other world." And another Colonist wrote, " here we may worship God according to the dictates of the divine principle, free from the mouldy errors of tradi- tion. Here we may thrive in Peace and Retirement in the lap of unadulterated Nature. Here we may im- prove our innocent course of life, on a virgin Elysian shore."/ The colonists on arrival lost no time in agreeing on a form of government, by a representative Assembly 124 THE FRIENDS. which, during a session that lasted three days, passed a Beries of laws in full accord with the liberal sentiments of their founder. All that held themselves in conscience bound to live peaceably in civil society, were to be left free as to religious faith and practice, so that they ac- knowledged one Almighty and Eternal God as the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the World ; and amongst other and many good and sensible enactments, was a special provision for elementary education, which very shortly became both compulsory and free for every child in this prosperous colony. During the first few years William Penn was content to be represented in its affairs by a Deputy of his ap- pointment, but in 1682 he sailed in the ship "Welcome," to enter personally on his position of proprietor and ^'overnor. His arrival caused much enthusiasm, and among his first engagements was the selection of a site for the capital of his province. He found this on a level tract of land near the junction of the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, which, though at the time covered with forest, he perceived had a good soil, ex- cellent air, with abundant springs of fresh water, whilst the river banks would ensure ample scope for wharves and merchandise. Here on a scale, rivalling in extent and resembling in arrangement Babylon of old, were his surveyors directed to lay out street and square for a new Metropolis of Brotherly Love, which in the names given to its rectangular streets of oak and walnut, beech and locust, chestnut, larch, or pine, conserves to this day a remembrance of its varied woodland condi- THE FRIENDS. 125 tion, when first chosen by Penn for the now gi-eat city of Philadelphia. No city in all America is so large as this in extent or population except New York, and with all its present commercial prosperity and historic associations connected with American Independence it fails not to cherish the memory of its Founder. In its State Museum is stored every relic or record it can obtain of him, and the superb edifice now approaching completion, for the use of its State Legislature is to have a statue of William Penn on the summit of its central tower, which is so l.jfty that his iron effigy will soar higher than the pyramids of Egypt, or the cross on the dome of St. Peter's. Thus is the memory publicly exalted of one who at the time seemed to worldly-minded men unpractical and enthusiastic in his methods of settling Pennsylva- nia, especially when they learnt his resolution to build no forts, nor put trust in musketeers or cannon. 'You will soon," said the merry Monarch, "be in the Indian's war kettle." "What are we to expect," exclaimed the agent of the Duke of York, " from such noddies that will have nothing to do with gin and gunpowder, and say that guns were invented, not to kill men, but hawks and wolves. Are they likely to extend our Conquests, to spread our Commerce, to exalt the Glory of the British name, and above all to propa- gate our most holy Religion. . . What can they promise themselves in settling among the fierce and 126 THE FRIENDS. blood-thirsty savages of North America, but to 1)6 tomahawked and scalped, every man, woman, and child of them." This naturally introduces an account of how William Penn behaved towards these natives, of whose blood- thirstiness both King and ducal agent had so un- favourable an opinion. It was one of his earliest efforts on landing, to seek an interview with them, and rowing up the river to the place appointed, he found large numbers of Indians, with their chiefs fully armed, waiting for him. These, on perceiving that neither he nor his friends had any weapons or military e3cort, laid aside their own bows and arrows, and gathered quietly in a wide semi-circle around this apostle of good-will and peace. Their king now put on a chaplet, that made sacred, in Indian minds, not only all persons present, but whatever might be agreed upon between them, and then requested the interpre- ter to advance and assure Penn they were now prepared to hear what he might have to say to them. It may be summed up in the words : — Equal rights and equal justice for both Indian and Colonist, all mutual wrongs to be settled by juries equally com- posed of Whites and Indians, and a free interchange of hospitality. " Good," said the Indian, as they grasped Penn's proffered hand, " let that be so between lis as long as the Sun shall shine and the Rivers flow.'* From this memorable Conference, (the only Treaty it has been said made without an Oath and never broken), it has resulted that Friends and Indians have always THE FRIENDS. 127 kept on good terms with one another, for when differences arose, care was taken speedily to end them in the manner thus described. William Penn made them substantial presents on this occasion, and was careful, both as to himself and his friends, that in acquiring lands it should be by means of fair purchase, and a great many deeds of land-sales by Indians are still in existence ; but on this occasion his object was a treaty of goodwill, which both by him- self and subsequent governors was renewed from time to time, and although at first not reduced to writing, (for the Indians said their memories were their records), yet in after generations parchment scrolls were intro- duced, which remain to this day subscribed with the dusky warriors' names, or their quaint symbolic mark- ings, together with official signatures of Governors or Council. "Our worthy proprietor," wrote a colonist, "treated the Indians with extraordinary humanity, they became very civil and loving to us, and brought abundance of venison, &c.," and another settler, on looking back in his old age on these early times testified, " that as in other countries the Indians were exasperated by hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much bloodshed, so contrary treatment hath produced their love and affection." Bancroft the historian writes. New England sought safety by wars of extermination — the Dutch could never keep peace with them, nor were the adjoining colonies free from Indian hostilities and massacres, whilst the unarmed Friends breathing 128 THE FRIENDS. peace and goodwill, knew not a drop of their blood to have been shed by an Indian. Other people rode to their worship armed, Friends went to their meetings without either sword or gun. having their trust and confidence in God." Safe that quiet Eden lay, When the war-whoop stirred the land, Thence the Indian turned away, From their homes his bloody hand. Whittier. A stately elm tree, under the shadow of which William Penn stood, long remained a treasured memorial of the site of this Treaty, and when at length it yielded to age, and the once woodland locality became busy with wharfage and shipping, a pillar of stone was erected by an historical society anxious to keep in remembrance the site of this memorable scene, which the picture hy West has made so familiar to us by its engravings. Thit may be taken as a fair representation, for the artist was born near the place, and knew Indians from his child- hood. One of his own ancestors, indeed, had accom- panied William Penn on this memorable occasion, and is represented as with him in the picture. This treatment of Indians as fellow men instead of savages, and with justice instead of "gin and gunpow- der," accorded with the whole of William Penn's arrange- ments connected with the settlement of Pennsylvania. "The Nations (he observes) want a precedent, and because I have been somewhat exercised about the nature and end of government among men, it is reason- able to expect that I should endeavour to establish a THE FRIENDS. 129 just and righteous one in this province, that others may take example by it." And in doing this he gave free ■welcome to settlers of all religious persuasions, and refugees from all countries whatsoever, but always intended Friends should retain a leading power in the government, observing " I went thither to lay the foundation of a free colony for all mankind, more especially those of my oivn persuasion, not that I would lessen the civil liberties of others because of their persuasion, but screen and defend our own from any infringement on that account." During seventy years the followers of William Penn commanded this majority in the Legislative Assembly of the Province. And of that time it has been said " no spot on the globe could be found where number for number, there was so much virtue and so much happiness as among the inhabitants of Pennsylvania." Of all the American States none was founded on a more philanthropic basis, nor had any other so rapid an increase in population and prosperity. It was also, during this time of Friends' control over the govern- ment, kept free from any embroilment in the surround- ing wars, either with French Colonists or Indians. There was little of internal dissension to disturb its harmony, until the British Crown began to make demands on its legislature for war subsidies, in aid of expeditions against the adjoining French settlements, on which the Friends, finding themselves in a minority, withdrew from further management of State Affairs, and the History of Pennsylvania gradually merges in 130 THE FRIENDS. that of the United States. Congress eventually bought out the proprietary interests of William Penn's descend- ants for £115,000. In the War of Independence. Friends conscientiously took no share, but suffered much obloquy, and some were banished or suffered im- prisonment and other kinds of persecution, from assumed want of patriotism in not rising with others against the British Crown, William Penn would like to have made a permanent residence in his Colonial possession, where he built himself a fine mansion, surrounded with ornamental grounds overlooking the river, but at the time of the Revolution, when the British Crown passed from James II, to William III., his chartered interests derived from the deposed monarch, were so seriously threatened as to oblige a return to England, and the new King being acquainted with the life-long friend- ship William Penn had had with James, was long before he could entertain a sufficient sense of his loyalty to confirm him in these Pennsylvanian pos- sessions. Being at length re-assured as to them he again went thither, taking his wife and family, with full intention of a permanent residence among his friends and Colonists, who welcomed him back with every demonstration of joy. But fresh difficulties arose, through the Home Government showing a disposition to merge all the proprietary settlements into possessions of the Crown, nnder an Act of Parliament, which necessitated William Penn's presence in England, for which he left, with THE FRIENDS. 131 his wife and family, hoping for but a brief absence from his much-loved colony, yet he never returned there, for although successful in retaining his charter rights on account of his wise and liberal mode of government, he found himself beset with so many difficulties, and involved in such pecuniary responsi- bilities as to place him for awhile in embarrassed circumstances. No admiration for his general high and noble character can be truthful, without admitting he was too confiding in the honour of some who proved unworthy of his trust, and with all his talents and virtues, he had not that application to financial details, which might have saved his public spirited nature from the monetary troubles that impoverished his own estate, and left him, during the closing years of his life, dependent on his wife's jointure for support. " Philadelphia," he wrote, " what hast thou not cost me in mental worries and pecuniary losses. I cannot but think it hard measure in that while that has proved a land of freedom and flourishing, it should become to me — by whose means it was principally made a Country — the cause of grief, trouble and poverty." William Penn was twice married. His dear Guli, the wife of his youth, died in 1693, in her fiftieth year, and her eldest son, Springett Penn, a youth of much promise, died not long after. She was a lady of high birth and great virtues, and, as her afflicted husband said, "a public as well as a private loss." He married, for his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, of Bristol, in 1696, who also became the mother of a family, and 132 THE FRIENDS. proved in all respects a true helpmeet to her husband, whom she accompanied on his second visit to America. On their return she was of much assistance in helping him through financial trials, and during his latter years, when greatly enfeebled with age, cared for him and his affairs with devoted affection and great administrative skill. She survived his death in 1718 by eight years, and lies buried in the same grave as her husband, in the rural burial ground of Jordans, where rest so many other of the worthies who used to gather for worship in its ancient Meet- ing House. William Penn's mental powers, which had been so remarkable, greatly failed him during his latter years, and incapacitated him from attending to his own affairs, but to the surprise of his friends he could still take part in ministry at meetings, and never lost his cheerfulness of spirit or sweetness of disposition. In the memorial notice they wrote concerning him, he is described as " a man of great abilities, of an excellent sweetness of disposition . . . learned without vanity, apt with- out forwardness, facetious in conversation, yet weighty and serious, of an extraordinary greatness of mind, yet void of the stain of ambition, as free from rigid gravity as he was clear of unseemly levity, a man, a scholar, a friend . . . whose memorial will be valued by the wise and blessed by the just." He was of a tall and portly frame, inclined in later years to corpulency, which he kept under by exercise ; very neat in all his personal habits and di-ess ; the geutlemau being well THE FRIENDS. 133 preserved in the Friend, "nor need it (he used to say) be lost in becoming one." At the time of his death, Pennsylvania was become peopled by 40,000, half of these Friends, the others Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, between whom concord prevailed and a high tone of moral feel- ing. Theatres, horse races, and vain sports were not allowed. The first day of the week was well observed. Lotteries, pawnbrokers, and beggars were unknown. Swearing and drunkenness were punished by law, and during William Penn's life-time not a duel in that duelling age had disgraced the community. The only instrument of authority was the constable's staff, yet never was there a government with less internal dis- turbance or more outward decorum. Philadelphia is now, like Nineveh of old, become a million peopled City, of which the Friends form still a large and influential portion, especially when the two nearly equal sections of Unitarian and Orthodox are considered together. Their somewhat numerous meet- ing-houses attract attention by their size and plain substantiality. Some sections of these Congregations show much earnestness in social reform and missionary efforts, but as a whole may be considered more remark- able for strict propriety of life, and care in training the young, for whom they maintain most excellent Schools and some large and well appointed Colleges. CHAPTER XV. MINISTERS AMONGST THE SETTLERS IN AMERICA. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof — not by constraint, but willingly ; nor for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. — I Pet. v. 2. VIA HATEVER of surprise it might cause the worldly- wise for Friends to settle in Pennsylvania amongst savages, without the bribe of gin or the defence of gun- powder, must have been equally felt by those accustomed to Ecclesiastical arrangements, for such an undertaking to be made without any provision of appointed Chaplains or salaried Ministers of religion. Yet as their peace- able methods were successful in securing safety and prosperity, so their reliance on one another's spiritu d gifts was met by an unfailing supply of gospel ministry. It shows their religious zeal to find, that the first structure erected by them in Philadelphia was a log- framed Meeting-house, whilst still living themselves in tents or caves, and that this soon became replaced by one more spacious, of solid brickwork, where they could meet to wait, in dependence on the Lord, that He would Himself minister direct to the heart, or by one or another of those assembled in His name, and the way in which such Meeting-houses multiplied, is an indication that this zeal in public worship kept pace with the rapidly increasing population. Here may be introduced some few words of com- ment on the ministering Friends that either visited THE FRIENDS. 135 them or were settled amongst them, drawn chiefly from brief notices at the time of their living and labours. None, as before said, received any outward remuneration. Even those travelling were only repaid their exponsis and cost of living, and many of them who could afford it travelled at their own charges. Great diversity obtained both in rank, age, and education ; some were husbandmen, others persons of literary acquirements, a few were well advanced in years, but the majority were young and full of enterprise, none more so than many of the women amongst them. James Martin, from London, weakly, but devoted to the work and service of the gospel. Roger Langworth, from Lancashire, a great traveller in the British Isles and Europe, settled meet- ings, gave great comfort, got a name among the ancients, and is recorded among the worthies of the Lord. Robert Barrow, eminently gifted in the ministry. Ralph Warden, an ancient Friend, with extra- ordinary talent for the discipline. Jonathan Tyler, a noble instrument in the hand of God. William Ellis and Aaron Atkinson, whereof William was an authoritative minister of the Gospel, and Aaron a mighty tender man. Roger Gill — the power of the Lord was with him, so that his testimony was with authority, and the truth was raised by it in others. TJioinas TJioinpsun and Josiah Langdale — Thomas 136 THE FRIENDS. informed us that when he was binding sheaves in his native land, he became impressed with a duty to visit us ; he was a sound preacher ; his companion Josiah was also a fine tender man, earnestly pressing people to fear the Lord, saying if ho could gain but one soul, or turn but one to Truth in all his travels he should be well satisfied. John Salkcid, a notable man to proclaim the gospeL T/iomas 'Turner, an ancient Friend, whose testi- mony was that the enemies should be scattered and the Truth come into dominion. He had meetings with the Indians in their places of abode, and was very loving, and the Indians had great regard and kindness for him. JoJm Richardson, the bent of whose testimony was much to press people to honesty and uprightness. John Estaugh, a mild man, desiring people to l)e true to what was made known to them. Mary Ellerton and Mary Banister, both valiant faithful women. John Fothergill and William Ar mislead, who were also very tender honest Friends. Oh, the good frame of spirit, and how the power of the truth was with John Fothergill ! Samuel Bownas,a. mighty valiantminister to open the mystery of Babylon. He was imprisoned while in America, and not to be chargeable to any, learnt Bhoemaking and supported himself until his release. Samuel Wilkinsofi and Patrick Henderson, where- of Samuel was a plain man, had a fine testimony for truth, and his companion was a wise man, large in his THK VRIKNDS. i;>7 testimony. ;uul of siuirnlar parts. >[ay ho koop to tho Root that bore luut. .lamos Lojr^^u writiuij to William Pouu of tlioso two younj: Sootohmon. dosoribos thorn '^as soiuo of tho ntost oxtraorJinavy that ovor visitoil tlioso parts ; of such astheso tlio luoro always tliohoitov." JoJiH Tur>t:'/\ a i^-ood and soiu\d (^Ul man. nuioii against wrath aud comentiou. Thomas Wilson and James Dickenson, thoso woro both very noted mon ; thoy had an open door anionic aJl sorts, and roaohod tho hoarts of many people. William Armstroni/ and Jan:t\< (h-aham, their testimony Avas preeions. Oh. tho ltooi.! frame of spirit they \vere in. exhortiitg tho people t'.> walk hnmbly and serve the Lord daily ; it was a laborious work, there being that to weigh dowi\ that would ilo hurt, and to search out the obstrnetions to tho love and life o( tho Lord Jesus Christ, and to leather baek and liodLie in such as were like to wander away. The preoediui; notes refer to those who visited America from other huids on Gospel Service, to which a few may be added as to those amoui^st tho Emigrants themselves, who were iu much esteem amongst them for their ministry. Israel Pemberton, of Philadelphia, himself largely engaged as a Merchant, and influential both in tho affairs of the Colony ar.d tho Society, had three sons, Israel, James and , I <>/i /I ; each o[' whmn devoted him- self to the service of the public and their Friends, All three were mon of superior abilities and character, high also iu social position. John travelled much in 138 THE FRIENDS. the ministry, and lies buried at Pyrmont, in Germany, where his death occurred whilst on religious service there, having undertaken the journey when nearly 70 years of age. Members of the Lloyd family were of much service as able statesmen. One whom Whittier calls leai'ned Lloyd, was for some years its Governor. Michael Lightfoot, Susanna Morris, Ahraliayn Farrington and Benjamin Trotter, are a group of ministers, zealous in their day and abundant in labours. Jokn Woolman's character is monumental for deep piety and conscientiousness, and to get the writings of John Woolman by heart, is, according to Charles Lamb, to fall in love with the early Friends. Daniel Stanton and Jo?m Churchman, Sarah Morris and Joseph White, are each of them ministers, whose journeys were extensive in America and England, John Churchman's especially, as his pub- lished Journals set forth. Samuel Emlen possessed a highly cultivated mind and though infirm as to health, it seemed in no way to slaken his efforts in the work of the ministry, both in America and in visits to England. William Saver y also was of a very superior order of mind, so highly cultivated as to add greatly to the power of his ministry, in the course of which during a visit to England, Elizabeth Fry, when a gay Miss Gurney, became changed from a lover of the world, to a life of such devotedness to her Saviour as to have THE FRIENDS. 139 made her piety and good works so widely known. Nicholas Wain was a Barrister and a most able minister of the Gospel, for the sake of which he was content to forego honours that his eloquence in the Courts were opening to him. George Dillwyn was another instance of ability and culture, freely devoted to the service of the Gospel, both in America and England, where he resided for several years, and travelled also on the Continent of Europe, which was difficult of accom- plishment at that time through the wars then prevailing. Many more names might be quoted of men and women Friends actively engaged in the affairs of this life, yet greatly valued for their Gospel service ; and James Logan, although taking no part in this, dis- charged the responsible office of Chief Judge and other high offices in so exemplary a manner as to show the religious principle that governed his life. He has been described as one of the best and most learned of all the early settlers. CHAPTER XVI. DEATH OF GEORGE FOX. npHE opening of 1690-1 is marked in the Society's Annals by the decease of George Fox, whose long and laborious life was terminated by an illness of a few days through a chill taken whilst attending meetings in London. He died at a Friend's residence adjoining the Lombard Street Meeting-House, where his voice had been heard for the last time in powerful ministry and earnest prayer. Over his closing hours such peace prevailed that it was said " Death seemed to him as if it were worth scarce a mention," but his Friends mournfully gathered by the thousands to accompany the remains to a London Burial Ground near Bunhill Fields, where, amidst tearful eyes and saddened hearts, many testi- monies were borne to his work and blessed results. He was about 66 years of age at the time of hia death, and for the last sixteen years had been husband to Margaret Fell, the widow of Swarthmore Hall, which marriage might to all appearance have provided for him a country residence during his declining years, but neither of them allowed their own comfort to be other than subordinate to the claims of a Society, to whose welfare they had both of them devoted their lives — and as a consequence but little experience of home- life ensued, so pressing were the engagements connected with its affairs in which Margaret Fell had from the s. I'^il^N^ M ^ai^ii ^^^^^v4^:f ^nt OF A PAGE OF THE JOURNAL OF GEORGE FOX, (PAGE 27I, KIRBY HALL.> THE FEIENDS. 141 first taken deep interest. She was at the time of this second marriage about sixty years of age, and her daughters were well married and settled in homes of their own. These viewed with satisfaction the wed- ding of their mother, with one for whom they felt themselves a strong affection, and on his part he was careful lest his marriage with their parent should iu any way affect their pecuniary interest in her property. It terminated a widowhood of sixteen years, and after about as many more of this second married life, she survived George Fox by ten years, her own death not occurring until she had reached the advanced age of eighty-eight. It will be remembered that almost directly after the marriage, her husband set sail for the West Indies and America, on the return from which long and arduous service, his wife accompanied him in visiting Friends' meetings in the Midland Counties, in the course of which he was arrested at Worcester, and it was not until after a year of much suffering through his ill treatment in prison that Friends succeeded with the King to have his case brought up to London before the Court of King's Bench, where Sir Matthew Hale, one of the best of judges England has ever had, gave him so full an acquittal, that George Fox was never molested further, and was able to recruit his shattered health by a few years of domestic quiet at Swarthmore Hall, during which he arranged his papers connected with the early history of the Society. Having thus in 142 THE FRIENDS. measure recovered strength, the rest of his life up to the time of his decease was spent chiefly in the neigh- bourhood of London, attending its meetings, and oft in council with his brethren on important matters affecting the interest of the Society at large. As might be expected, many testimonies were borne to his worth by those who knew him, of which some brief extracts have been already given, from such as are printed with his published works. It may be further added that William Penn described him as one who " united a religious majesty with a most en- gaging humility and moderation," and testifies to "the depth and power of his ministry, its convincing and confirming character. Above all," he says, " he ex- celled in prayer. The inwardness and weight of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behaviour, and the fewness and fullness of his words, the most awful living reverent frame I ever felt or beheld was his in prayer." To his friends of the present day is the memory of this eminent labourer in the gospel vineyard very precious, as of one enabled to open more fully than any before, the riches of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. He desired not personal honour nor any dependence of others on himself, but that all might be directed to the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, the Teacher that teacheth as never man taught, and he so directed his hearers that they might seek to know in their hearts an experience, that wouM Lring them to adopt for themselves his own declara- THE FRIENDS. 143 tion : — We ivere nothing, Christ is all. True to their practice of making- no distinction in the grave, whereuuto all men hasted, the Friends (who to the number of 4,000 had followed their beloved chief to the burial ground) raised no monument over the place of his interment, but an affectionate interest preserved its situation in remembrance through various generations, and about a hundred years ago, during an excavation needed in some repairs to foundations of a boundary wall against which it had been made, a coffin was uncovered with the initals G. F. cut on it. An apprentice engaged in the work, tempted by curiosity whilst the others were gone to dinner, lifted its lid and saw the fine features and long hair of the corpse still remaining. Astonished at the sight he called for his master, whose greater weight as he descended the ladder so jarred the coffin that all as in a moment vanished into undistinguishable dust. The apprentice, however, retained throughout his long life a vivid re- membrance of what when a boy he had thus seen, and there are those still living who have heard from Friends of cool judgment what they had been told by him of this remarkable occurrence. A plain headstone now marks the site of the grave as the discovery of an old vellum plan enabled its position to be thus indicated with approximate certainty, and large Memorial Build- ings recently erected in this locality, shew that the Society he founded is in its two hundred and fortieth year still active for good amidst London's population. CHAPTER XVII. SOCIETY ORGANISATION. *' The age of intolerance, of popular violence, of systematic persecution, was gone by, but the age of prosperity, and of self- indulgence ; the age of formality, of spiritual lethargy and lean- ness was stealing on." — Bancroft. nnHE Revolution of 1(J88, which deposed James the Second and gave the English Crown to William of Orange, introduced an era of Toleration for loyal Pro- testants in their various forms of worship. William had been accustomed thus to govern in Holland, and found it his interest to secure the support of those of various Denominations against Catholic efforts — fostered by the French King — to replace James on the throne. For Friends' relief a form of Declaration of Allegi- ance and Fidelity was arranged with King and Parlia- ment in substitution of the Oath formerly required ; and their Assemblies were now recognised as entitled to legal protection if continued to be held, as they always had been, with unbolted doors. With this peaceful termination of nearly/o/-/?/ years' continued suffering, the history of the Society changes to one of its internal government and organisation, which suggests that some account should be given of the arrangements by which its social unity is regulated. These as they are examined will be found to combine freedom of parts with unity as a whole, ami THE FRIENDS. 1.15 are eifected through three classes of meetings, known as Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings. The first of these which it has been seen George Fox was the means of establishing throughout the nation, remain now — as ever — the executive feature of the whole system, and are composed officially of representatives chosen monthly from each of two or more congregations, who when thus assembled consider and order what may be found necessary for the welfare of those whose congregational interest they represent. Entrusted with Buch powers, it will be understood how earnest was the desire, as ancient records show, to secure for this service "just and righteous men of sound principles and judgment in the truth of Christ, and sound and blameless conversation, men in love and unity among themselves," and also that whilst such are chosen to at- tend there may yet be liberty for any other Friend to be present. Such arrangement ensures publicity and general interest among the members in the welfare of these congregations ; women Friends have also their their own Monthly Meetings, formed on a similar plan and often are the two united in a /om^ consideration of subjects of special importance. The subjects that come before these gatherings refer rather to good order and right conduct in life than to doctrinal questions. For with the poet is the Friend in accord when he says — " For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, His can't be wrong whose life is in the right." If any were found walking disorderly or failing to 146 THE FRIENDS. discharge just debts, such would be visited by appoint- ment of these Monthly Meetings, and if remonstrance failed to effect amendment, and no other course opened, a testimony of disunity would be issued to clear the Society from sharing in any reproachful conduct. All differences between Members it would be sought to settle by arbitration, and so avoid "brother going to law with brother." Over marriages it exercised a watchful care, especially needful in an age when so many were clandestinely effected. The parties proposing to enter into such engagements were required to attend per- sonally at the Monthly Meeting and there individually express their intentions, and not until the Meeting was assured by appointments then made that they were clear from all other, and had consent of parents or guardians, would it issue its sanction for the solemniza- tion of the marriage ; which it was also careful should take place at one of its public assemblies for worship. Owing to these precautions Friends' marriages have rarely failed in proving the source of happy homes, and the State has acknowledged this judicious care, by granting the Society a privilege shared by no other Nonconformists except the Jews of having its own Registering Ofificers of Marriage. A like care was shown from the beginning in keeping a record of births in Friends' families, and deaths and burials, which are now collected into books at the central office in London, and form an important genealogical series extending throughout more than two hundred years, in frequent use in connection with wills and successions to property. THE FRIENDS. 147 At such Monthly Meetings funds were also raised to meet the necessities of poorer members, assist in the education of their children, or in binding them ap- prentice to some useful employment, so that there might be no want nor preventible distress unrelieved amongst them, and everyone be concerned for the other's good. Many practical details respecting the provision of, and care over Meeting-places and Burial Grounds would receive attention on these recurrent occasions, and suitable appointments be made such as Over- seers in respect to the poor, and Elders to watch over the spiritual interests of the congregation. As to the ministry, no such arrangements are made, for with Friends its exercise is regarded as the result of a Divine gift, which when by experience they feel has been con- ferred on any, they acknowledge it, not by appointment but by recording the Friend as a Minister, which con- veys in itself no legislative power in the Church, as is so much the case with other religious organisa- tions. In thus reviewing the Society's constitution, it will be obvious that as individual congregations derive strength from union with some others in Monthly Meetings, so do these latter by an arrangement that groups them into Quarterly Meetings to which they send their Repre- sentatives ; and yet further, such Quarterly Meetings, of of which there are Eighteen in England and Scotland, unite by an annual choice of representatives in holding a General Council once a year ; which is so important 148 THE FRIENDS. a feature in the Society that some further particulars of it may be acceptable. It is a Composite as well as a Representative Assembly, for every recorded Minister or appointed Elder throughout the Society is a member of it, and of later years it has been the custom to exclude no one who is a member from its deliberations, although not under appointment as a representative from the Quarterly Meetings. This openness much favours the general acceptance of any advice it may issue, or conclusions it may have formed. It is controlled by no President or Chairman, but each year it selects a Clerk and two Assistants to guide and record its decisions. Frequently nearly a thousand men Friends of various social rank and age will be thus assembled, and as nothing is decided by majorities, or ascertained through voting or by show of hands, it might seem impracticable for anyone acting as its Clerk to arrive at the judgment of the Meeting, when debateable subjects of great interest were under consideration. But there is such a sense of being assembled under the Presidency of the great Head of the Church Himself ; present by His Spirit, that it keeps down heated discussion, and preserves, amid earnestness of feeling, a reverential spirit. All who speak are expected to confine themselves to the subject in hand, and not to make speeches founded on others' remarks. They are listened to without any of the usuiil expressions of dissent or applause, which, when occurring, the Clerk is prompt to repress, and THE FRIENDS. 149 thus the Society has in this large and annually occurring Assembly never been without some Friend who, as its Clerk with his two assistants, could offer what seemed to him as the judgment of the meeting, and embody it in a minute that met with general acceptance. A care also exists not to press matters on which much difference of opinion prevails to a decision, and the rather when such may be the case, to defer it for reconsideration another year. Often (if important) will it thus have deferred subjects for several years in succession, or else let them form the subject of a special Conference, convened for their consideration and report. In these ways and by this care great changes have from time to time been made in the rules and regula- tions of a Society, which can believe in " walking on the old ways " with an attention to Divine guidance, that shows when alterations are needed, and how they can be made to suit present circumstances, without infringing on original principles. These meetings in their ascending scale of Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual, though chiefly concerned with subjects affecting good order in ot^^t^ard conduct, must not be supposed to omit watchfulness over the s^mYwaZ interests of the Community, for there is the same gradation of meetings composed of ministers, elders, and overseers, men and women together, who have these under their more especial care, but without any legis- lative power. And should any Friend feel him- self called to travel in the ministry to other Yearly 150 THE FRIENDS. meetings in different parts of the world, it is from these meetings of his brethren and sisters in the ministry, that sanction must be obtained before under- taking such a distant service. Looking at the subject historically it is seen that it was through this its Annual Assembly founded on so broad a basis, that the Society was able on the cessation of Persecution to establish uniformity of practice amongst its numerous and widely spread Con- gregations, amongst which were many independent spirits who little wished for what they were inclined to regard as seeking to abridge liberty of individual conscience. Such ideas firmly held and strongly ex- pressed, gradually disappeared before the wise councils of such legislative minds as George Whitehead, Robert Barclay, Alexander Parker, Stephen Crisp, and some others who became prominent at this critical stage in directing the Society's affairs. Through their influence the Yearly meeting acquired a, 2Kira}7iount influence in the councils of the Society, which was gained not through issuing anything by way of command, but only as of exhortation, " brotherly recommendation, or tender advice." The Epistles issued year by year from these General Assemblies in London are all preserved and published from the beginning. Those of the earlier period will be found replete with counsel for maintaining unity, good order, and conduct in all the walks of life, offered in so loving and wise a manner as to make it the easier to un- derstand how under these arrangements, the Society be- THE FEIEXDS. 151 came as a whole fitly joined and compacted together, in which service the Yearly Meeting has had so large a share. If such were possible this becomes yet more evident in connection with the Society's career in a succeeding generation, when it had found to its grief how seriously the Friends had become affected by the spirit of an age which it could describe in no milder terms than one " of great dissipation, luxury, and pro- faneness, when the genuine fruits of the spirit of Christianity were rarely to be seen." The Yearly Meeting appointed committees who spent 2/ears in visiting the Society throughout the nation. It issued exhortations which stirred up a general purg- ing of the camp from disorderly walkers,whilst those who remained, adopted according to its recommendations a strictness of manner and life, a plainness of speech and behaviour, that marked them out as a peculiar people, undoubtedly desirous of being found zealous also in good works. A prominent feature associated with and assisting in this Revival was the jj^'inting and issue, in 1783, of " Extracts from the Minutes and Advices of the Yearly Meeting," which had till then been circulated only in manuscript, and v/ere but indifferently preserved. This work became the acknowledged guide on all subjects relating to the Society, and has continued ever since to hold this position. It has been revised up to date through ^ye successive Editions issued at intervals of about twenty years between them, the last being as recent as 1883. 152 THE FRIE>'DS. The work as first published cousisted of fifty-ooe chapters treating on such subjects as meetings for wor- ship and discipline, marriages, education, removals, Bettlements, trade, tithes, reading the scriptures, wills, arbitration, conduct and conversation, moderation and temperance, love and unity, liberality to the poor, counsel to the young, &c., &c. Another feature of this time to be specially noticed is what are called "The Queries," which may be thus ex- plained : — The representatives on coming to the annual assembly had from the first been expected not only to bring some written answers as to matters of fact as to sufferings, number of prisoners, death of ministers, &c., but also to report verbally on the general state of the Friends in the localities they represented. But now the Yearly Meeting asked for wHtten replies to a series of questions of a comprehensive nature which inquired whether meetings for worship and discipline were kept up and in a proper manner, and whether love and unity were being preserved ; whether families were careful to train up children for a good life and conversation and frequent readings of the Holy Scriptures ; did Friends keep clear of paying priests' demands, and are they avoid- ing vain sports or any intemperance ; was their trade being conducted on sound principles ; were marriages made the subject of careful regulation, and the registries of births and deaths kept; also records of all Meeting House properties. These subjects, expressed much more fully and arranged under separate headings, being yeai'ly replied to THE FRIENDS. 153 by the Monthly meetings to the Quarterly and these in turn to the annual Assembly, enabled it to be kept in touch with the whole Society to such an extent that it could review its condition year by year, and thus issue such advice or recommendation as circumstances might require, either by special minute or through that Epistle already referred to, which it has ever been its custom to address annually to Friends everywhere. In this re-constructive work of the close of the Eighteenth century, such names as Tuke, Fothergill, Stacey, Birkbeck, J. G. Bevan, &c., &c., occur amongst those by whose wise counsels it was effected. Stern disciplinarians were these, and yet not more than the Society needed to secure its preservation amid a general social and religious laxity. Its vitality has been shown in a safe relinquishment of peculiarities it was in danger of regarding as perpetual Testimonies, and the world of associating with its continuance. In BO doing it but returns to its originals, for, as George Whitehead told King Charles, "We affect not singularity in Words or Behaviour, but desire to demean ourselves in that plainness and simplicity which we are in Coii- Bcience and Truth nersuaded unto." CHAPTER XYIII. YEARLY MEETING PREMISES. TNDICATIVE of the increased importance attached to the Yearly Meeting towards the close of the eigh- teenth century, is the necessity that arose for acquiring some premises large enough to accommodate the greater number of country Friends that desired to come up to Lon- don for its attendance, for none of the old meeting houses in the city were sufficiently extensive for the purpose. Accordingly a large inn, known as the Dolphin, ad- joining the old Meeting Place of Devonshire House, was purchased, and on its site two spacious and lofty Halls of Assembly erected, each capable of holding near upon a thousand persons, with committee-rooms adjoining. One of these Meeting Houses was for men, and the other for women Friends, so that each had room not only for their representatives, but also for any Friend who might be in London though not a rep- resentative, to attend the sittings, which arrangement worked to advantage, not only through promoting a more general interest in Society affairs, but in giving yet more importance to any decision or advice that might be issued by so large and thoroughly representative an Assembly. The mention of a large and separate House for THE FRIENDS. 155 women Friends during Yearly Meeting, needs the ex- planation that it had not been customary up to this time for them to have any Yearly Meeting of their own for Discipline, though they used to unite in those held for worship in the various meeting houses of the Metropolis whilst the Assembly was in session. But in this work of Reformation they took so great an interest, and felt there were so many matters concerning themselves needing attention, as to make them desire a place large enough for assembling in council together. To gain assent for which, they approached the men's Yearly Meeting by a deputation of their own to lay this subject before them. It is said that J. G. Bevan, then acting as clerk to the men Friends, himself remarkable amongst them in bodily and mental endowments, no sooner saw the graceful yet dignified figure of Esther Tuke, advancing towards him at the head of this deputation, than he felt inclined to address her in the words of King Ahasuerus, " What is thy petition Queen Esther ? and it shall be granted thee ; and what is thy request ? and it shall be performed." Needless to say, no difficulty occurred in granting this of hers, made on behalf of her sister Friends, and in these extensive building operations on the old Dolphin Inn was a large meeting place provided also for them. It is an arrange- ment that has ever since worked to mutual satisfaction, for whilst uniting with their brethren in worship, they are able to attend on their part to the general state of women Friends all over the country, without infringing on the legislative character of the men's Yearly Meeting. 15G THE FRIENDS. Richly endowed were many women Friends of those days, in spiritual and mental gifts, true Mothers of Israel ruling not only their own houses well, but society affairs also. Some of them were regarded as prophetesses in their copious and powerful ministry ,*80 much so that men of mark in the community have owned to its having had great influence on their re- ligious convictions amid a careless age, and inducing in them a strong attachment to the principles of Friends. When Thomas Wilkinson, a Lake poet, and friend of Wordsworth, returned from his 300 miles walk to London, his verse that recounts his City experiences, dwells on the virtues of the women Friends he met with at London Yearly Meeting. Saw Sterry's zeal her Christian life adorn, Saw female piety preside in Horn, Heard her sweet voice inspiring counsel bear, And fraught with love her drooping brethren cheer — oaw gentle Gurney with a sweet address Allure her friends to heaven and happiness, Saw Fowler's gift with love divine abound, Her precepts life, her voice a heavenly sound, Saw Abbott to her old friends ever dear, In life correct, in testimony clear, Saw powerful Grubb that sounds her Master's praise In streets, in markets, prisons and highways. What the Society owes to its saintly practical women Friends, from Margaret Fell to the present days can never be over-estimated, nor in any tribute to their worth must the share that these Society arrangements have had in training such characters for their field of THE FRIENDS. 157 service be forgotten. In the discipline of these meet- ings, minds have been educated from early years for their excellent conduct of affairs, which an Elizabeth Fry may have exhibited in a manner specially observable to the public ; but it is one which any Women's Yearly Meeting shows as a general characteristic of her sister Friends, when gathered in council together ; grave, wise, executive, guiding important affairs with discretion; self-contained, and firm in opinion and expression, without forwardness or the slightest infringement of leminine delicacy. "Where indeed, it may well be iUiked, could another group of mothers be found, so many of whose children, whether by natural birth or spiritual influence, can rise up and call them blessed ? Friends begin the training in this service early, as it is the practice to associate some of the well disposed amongst the younger members with those of maturer jige when nominating Representatives to attend meet- ings for conducting the affairs of the church — whether ^lonthly. Quarterly, or even the Yearly Gathering ; an instance of which latter may be quoted from the clever authoress of " The Richardsons of Cleveland " as having occurred to one of her heroines when about eighteen. " While different names (for Representatives) were being thus mentioned in a Durham Quarterly Meeting, a Friend, of Newcastle, whose powerful intellect and strength of will gave her great influence in the meeting, pointed to Isabel Richardson and said, ' I do not know the name of that young Friend, but I should wish her to be one of our representatives to the Yearly Meeting.' 158 THE FRIENDS. The timid girl sat in speechless terror, equally unable to raise her voice in refusal, or to endure the thought of what was involved by acceptance. No sound came from her lips. The Friend who acted as Clerk to the Meeting, and who knew her name (though the New- castle lady did not) wrote it down ! and Isabel went, as the narrative proceeds to tell, to London Yearly Meeting as one of its Representatives ; and to the end of her days, after a life of great journeyings, even as far as America, in the ministry of the Gospel, she loved to tell of the spiritual benefit received from this " her first Yearly Meeting, the attendance of which she bad anticipated with so much fear." CHAPTER XIX. CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE AND COUNSEL ISSUED BY THE YEARLY MEETING. XN an historical review of this kind little opportunity occurs for any development of the special and distinctive views taken by the Society on Christian Doctrine, which to be understood in their proper relation to those of other Christian communities must be learnt from works especially devoted to these subjects, of •which any Friend's library will be found to contain ample store. Even here a glance may be taken at them through a few extracts from the last edition of the work on " Christian Discipline " referred to in a former chapter. From the general epistles of 1830, 1861, and 1868, has been framed this statement, that " We as a Christian Church accept the immediate operations of the Spirit of God upon the heart in their inseparable connection with our risen and exalted Saviour, We disavow all professed spirituality that is divorced from faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified for us without the gates of Jerusalem. One with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit works for the regeneration of fallen rebellious man. Not merely as the Enlightener of the conscience and the Reprover for sin, is the Spirit merci- fully granted, but also, in an especial manner, to testify 160 THE FRIENDS. of and to glorify the Saviour, to apply, with sanctifying efficacy to the soul, His words and work when upon earth, and His mediation and intercession for us in heaven. . To be guided by the Spirit is the practical application of the Christian religion." AS the mode of worship adopted by Friends is peculiar to them, a few sentences may be offered on their views of this religious engagement, taken from an epistle of 1866. " The worship of God imder the Gospel consists not in ceremonies, or in external observances. It is a simple, spiritual service. That which was represented in the sacrifices of the law was fulfilled and ended in the Lord Jesus Clirist, and in the exercise of faith in Him the reality is now to be en- joyed. . . No worship ought now to be made depen- dent upon the presence of any one man or order of men ; no service or stated vocal utterance in the con- gregation ought to be allowed to interfere with the operation of the Lord's free Spirit. We thankfully recognize, as a means of edification, the preaching of the Gospel, and offerings of public prayer or thanks- giving, under the renewed anointing of the Holy Ghost ; but we dare not make these dependent upon human arrangements, or exclude, by any such arrangements the silent and unseen, but not unfelt ministrations of the Spirit of Christ, " dividing to every man severally as He wills " Herein may be seen, by those open to perceive it, that Friends, when come together for worship, sit down in silence through belief in an ellicacy at- THE BTtlENDFi. 161 tendant on such reverent waitings upon the I cna American continent, the last of which (as will be seen in the Chapter on Slavery) cost him his life. Though it may seem invidious to name any of the many others who equally laboured for settlement in this time of unrest, yet it may be noted how much its at- tainment was due to the calm and dignified wisdom of Samuel Take, the indefatigable solicitude of Josiah Forster, the steadfastness of a George Stacey, a Grover Kemp, a Joseph Tregelles Price, or the advisatory help of a Joseph Davis ; men representative of so many more ; with Susanna Corder, guardian and in- structress of maiden youth, and other sister Friends, wise in Christian counsel and experience. Ministry of a varied kind abounded, from the rich mosaic Joseph Shewell would construct from apposite 186 THE FRIENDS. texts, or what his brother John would more logically evolve from the same source, the strident tones of a Thomas Shillitoe, or the stream of verbal and Doctrinal eloquence amounting with some to enchantment, that would flow by the hour together from a John Pease — these, amid so many others were as pillars in the Church. Women Friends there were in the same ministry — cogent as Hannah Backhouse, gracefully persuasive as Elizabeth Fry, copious as Elizabeth Dudley, and stately in Gospel peroration as a Mary Ann Bayes. To such as these, those who can recall times of fifty years ago, trace much influence in steadying minds to Friends' principles, and raising a generation prepared to carry on the Society for future service in its coming veara "*" .-i«r*lS£^ CHAPTER XXII. THE FRIENDS AS PIONEERS IN PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS. rflHE presence in any country of a community widely -^ dispersed and well organised like the Friends, pledged to right living, must under Divine guidance prove morally influential. That England's betterment has been thus promoted is manifest by their continued exertions in the cause of philanthropy and social reform. Not so much by official acts of the Society, although these have never failed, but through a general willingness and aptitude of its members everywhere to serve as pioneers in efforts for the abolition of evils, or introduction of social reforms, and to form a phalanx around which good men of every shade of opinion could rally for their promotion. As it would be unfair to claim Friends as the ex- clusive originators of any one of the great social move- ments of the age, so would it be yet more unjust to forget that many of its prominent reforms have owed their success to support given by them at times when authorities opposed, or public opinion was in a state of indifference to what are now recognized as blessings of freedom and justice to Society at large. When Thomas Clarkson's youthful spirit had been stirred by the horrors of the slave trade, the only book- 1S8 THE FRIENDS. seller he could find willing to publish his essay for its abolition was William Phillips ; a Friend in whose parlour gathered the first little group of some dozen warm hearts that pledged themselves thenceforth to agitate without ceasing, for an end to this iniquitous traflBcking in their fellow men, and of these twelve three-fourths were Friends. So when some half-century of unceasing labour had ended in the abolition both of the Slave trade and Slavery from British Dominions, and a great gathering in Free- masons' Hall met to celebrate the victory, those who look upon the picture of it, painted by Haydon, will sec that most of the faces which crowd his huge canvass, and most of the principal figures seated around the patriarchal Clarkson are members of the Society of Friends. With this Society was Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton connected both by descent and close association, and through one of its gifted Ministers, a dearly beloved sister-in-law, he was induced by her earnest entreaties addressed to him from a dying couch, to give his energy and tenacity of purpose to a cause in which her own heart's feelings had been greatly enlisted. From such a source an appeal came to him almost as a Divine command, for Priscilla Gurney possessed spiritual antl mental endowments, as much held in affectionate remembrance by her Friends, as those of her sister Elizabeth Fry have come to be esteemed by the world ut large. Then as to Public Elementary Education. When THE FRIENDS. 189 Joseph Lancaster, a young Friend, was showing in his School at the Borough Road how large numbers could be so taught by Monitors as to reduce its cost, none rallied more firmly to his support than members of his own Society. By their zealous eflEorts the system of Monitorial education spread to the opening of such schools all over the country. The local committees for their management were at first chiefly formed from amongst the Friends, to whose generous contributions England stands largely indebted for the school build- ings that quickly arose in her cities and country towns. None worked more zealously in this cause than William Allen, the philosophic and philanthropic chemist of Lombard Street, by whose personal influence many of the great and noble were induced to favour extension of Education to classes, which public opinion then thought it best for their easier government to keep in ignorance. It led to the formation of the British and Foreign School Society, to which he acted for many years as honorary secretary. Then again at a time when mobs would gather week by week around scafilolds to feast their brutalised gaze on the executions of fellow creatures, often for but trifling offences, none of the humane hearts shocked at this legalised cruelty gathered more per- sistently than Friends around a Romilly, a Basil Montague, or a Lushington, to inaugurate those efforts that have at last abolished the death penalty from no less than one hundred and sixty offences and confined its rare infliction to the gravest of crimes. 190 THE FRIENDS. Long before a Shaftesbury had come upon the scene, when thieves held such possession that none ventured near their quarters without some officer of the law, the person of a Peter Bedford, of Spitalfields, was ever welcome as one who, whilst condemning the sin could pity the sinner, and who strove for his refor- mation by acts of kindness that oft saved him from punishment by gaol or halter. His judicious benevo- lence, exerted in many ways on behalf of the poor by per- sonal visits, raising funds in times of distress, promoting soup kitchens, clothing clubs, &c., made his long residence in these oft distressed localities a blessing. Old age found him in a country retirement, rejoicing in the general efforts made for social amelioration of the lower and criminal classes. He had many an anecdote of his personal experiences amongst them, of which one, though but trivial in character, may be permitted as showing how even thieves respected his belongings. They had taken off luggage from the post-chaise of a bridal party, that came in distress to Peter for help. He at once knew where to go and reproached the captain of the gang. " Very sorry (he replied) no idea it was one of yourn Friends, we never touch them if we knows it — the things shall be on your doorstep to- night,"— and so they were, but not the portmanteaus themselves which had been already destroyed. To meet with characters such as Peter Bedford, working quietly for good at the dawn of this century, is like coming on the bubblings up of the fountain, in com- parison with the broad stream of benevolence that 'JiTKK UEUI-ORl). THE FRIENDS. 191 happily now flows towards these tlien much-neglected classes of society. At regular and frequent intervals wei-e Lord Mayors found presiding in solemn state at Courts of Assize, yet giving little heed as to how those brought before them were being cared for within the massive walls that adjoined their Judgment Hall. It was a French Friend who first unveiled the wretched state of prisoners in Newgate. Stephen Grellet whilst visiting London on gospel service obtained per- mission to visit these, and after his interviews with the men prisoners, requested to be shown into the ivomen's ward. " You will enter there (replied the jailor) at your own peril, for those demons will tear the clothes from your back." Unappalled at the prospect, he entered alone, and his look, manner, and voice, as he lovingly addressed them, made him seem as an angel to their astonished gaze, whilst they crowded around in earnest attention. Never before had such words of kindness reached their ears, and never before had this Christian noble- man — as was Grellet by rank — seen such misery within prison walls as these poor creatures showed in their ragged half-clothed condition. He hastened to his Friend, Elizabeth Fry, with an account of what he had discovered as the state of London's chief prison. Her warm heart, touched at the narration, summoned a group of women friends to meet that afternoon in the parlour of her husband's Bank, where many a bright face and skilled hand quickly transformed the 192 THE FRIENDS. flannel she had ordered of the tradesmen, into some garments for the newly-born babes amongst these poor neglected sisters of a criminal class, whom none until then had thought worthy of care except for imprison- ment, transportation, or death. Furnished with these outward proofs of kindness, her own visit next day to Newgate aided the effect of her loving and majestic presence, and proved the com- mencement of what issued in regular Bible readings amongst them, and led also to the formation of Com- mittees for Prison inspection, and to those wide measures of reform with which the name of this re- markable Friend is so closely associated. In efforts for abolition of capital punishment, another member of the Society became so deeply interested, as to spend nights and days throughout many a year in preparing documents and appeals, and in personal efforts with those in authority, until the tall form and finely chiselled features of John Thomas Barry, dressed in the Friendliest of Friends' costume, became a familiar object in the Lobbies of the Houses of Parliament, whose members each in turn would be made the subject of his earnest solicitations for an entire aboli- tion of the death penalty. No less persistent was the benevolence of a Friend physician towards the native population of Foreign Lands, on whose behalf Dr. Thomas Hodgkin founded the Aborigines' Protection Society, at a time when " whites treated blacks as if they were but wild beasts" — happily, and largely through these offurts. ril Fi Y ;i-«OM A PAINTING HY S. DRUMMONO, R.A.) THE FRIENDS. 193- treated so no longer. His character for universal benevolence received from Sir Moses Montefiore^ whom he often accompanied as physician in his long journeys, a generous tribute by his having erected an obelisk over the grave at Jaffa, where the doctor died during one of these expeditions, engraved with the classic sentence, " No man, if he be a man, can be to me other than a brother," Friends' well known prominence in the Temper- ance and Total Abstinence movement is the more observable, seeing how many of them were at one time engaged in the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, so that it would have been as difficult in the early years of this century to find a town or city where some member of the Society was not a leading Maltster, Brewer, or Wine Merchant, as it is now to meet with any engaged in such trades, or having their produce in their homes or on their tables. Some of the most successful advocates for the change have come from among themselves, such as Samuel Bowly, of Gloucester, who may be credited through his drawing-room meetings with much of the support gained to the cause of total abstinence from among the upper ranks, and especially the clergy. "Never," said one of the leading dignitaries of the present day, " have I listened to a more persuasive speaker." So earnest also at all times have Friends been for the promotion of Peace and condemnation of War,, that their position in this question must be treated of in a separate chapter. 194 THE FRIENDS. In the foundation and work of the British and Foreign Bible Society no one Friend may have become prominent, though few members of its present Com- mittee have travelled further in Foreign Lands to promote its interests, than their much esteemed colleague, J. B. Braithwaite, Nor can the long ser- vice of the Forster Brothers, with that of many other Friends, have been forgotten. The presence of a "Friend" element on the Committee was until late years so marked that a devotional pause for free offer- ings of prayer was observed, instead of opening with any delegated service. But Friends' chief assistance to the cause was rendered in the formation and working of Auxiliary societies all over the country, these being found to become independent centres around which other Denominations would rally. Meetings arranged by them would be attended by earnest minded Christians of all denominations, and the travelling agents of the Society, such as Dr. Steinkopff and others, learnt to highly value and esteem the Friends who offered them the hospitality of their homes, at a time when the Gentry were apathetic, and Clerical digni- taries fearful, lest a free circulation of Scripture should lessen regard for the Lessons taken from it as read in Churches. On the Friends themselves the association it brought with those of other denominations had a beneficial effect, in liberalising views that in any close attention to Society interest might have become narrow or exclusive. In Political affairs their influence as Electors ha.s THE FRIENDS. 195 been laberal, often Radical, and their service as Mem- bers has been marked by that high moral tone politicians of all shades recognised in John Bright, of which also William Edward Forster, who was nurtured in the same Society, gave proof in the manner by which he was able to steer an Education Bill into legal operation that had hitherto baffled all previous States- men, and one which in its successful operation has largely realised the poetically expressed aspirations of Wordsworth : for the coining of that glorious time When prizing Knowledge as her noblest wealth, And best protection, this Imperial Realm, While she exacts Allegiance shall admit An Obligation on Her part to Teach Those who are born to serve Her and obey, Binding Herself by Statute to secure For all the children whom her soil maintains, The rudiments of letters and inforce The mind with Moral and Religious Truth. Foremost as Friends have shown themselves amongst the labourers for general education, freedom, and social reform, it may also be observed that across the Ocean their influence has left its mark on the framework of the great American Nation, whose con- stitution still bears foundation traces of the original basis of perfect civil and religious liberty, which Friends exemplified in the settlement of Pennsylvania ; within whose Capital its declaration of Independence was signed, and it is still the one which amongst all its sisters who crowd the Nation's Star-spangled Banner, bears the name of the " Key-stone State." CHAPTER XXIII. SLAVERY. He who values Liberty' confines His zeal for her predominance, within No narrow bounds, her cause engages him, Wherever pleaded — 'Tis the cause of Man. CowpER — Winter Morning Walk. TT^NGLISH Friends first made acquaintance with the ■^ system of Negro Slavery when their early ministers visited the "West India Islands, and found how many fellow countrymen, settled there, were become depen- dent on bondsmen for the cultivation of sugar planta- tions. These they exhorted "to deal mildly and gently with their negroes and not use cruelty towards them, and that after certain years of servitude, they would make them free." They also held religious meetings amongst this slave population, in the assurance of their being as much entitled to the blessings of the gospel as their masters, and they induced those of the Settlers who became Friends to continue this Christian interest in their welfare. This conduct caused much opposition, from a belief that the blacks were an inferior race, unworthy of liberty or regard as Christian beings, and could only be managed safely through their state of ignorance being left undisturbed, the removal of which was dreaded by THE FRIENDS. 197 the masters as likely to produce rioting and rebellion amongst them. Without any such fears the Friends continued solicitous for their slaves' welfare, and on settling in Pennsylvania pursued the same kind treatment towards those they acquired by purchase from the merchants, who traded thither with cargoes of these human beings from Africa. Thus the race of bondsmen which grew up in an otherwise free country, were so well cared for that Watson in his Annals affirms of them that " in contrast to others, those of Philadelphia were a happier class of people than therfree blacks." The earliest protest against this system came from some German Friends settled near Philadelphia, who in 1688 addressed their Monthly Meeting in an earnest appeal, claiming equal rights of lody, as well as con- science, for all peaceably conducted inhabitants of the State, whatever might be their colour or race.* Their views were in advance of their time, even among Friends. The Monthly Meeting when thus addressed, thought it " too weighty a subject for them to meddle with," and likewise the Quarterly, to which it was next referred, and the Yearly on its consideration "felt it had so general a relation to many other parts that they forbore at that present to give positive judg- ment in the case" — for as Whittier observes in his *A facsimile of this earliest appeal — the original of which was discovered a few years siace — may be seen in the Gallery of the London Friends' Institute, with the signatures of Pastorius and others. 198 THE VRiENDS. lines on Pastorius, wlio was a leading member of this little group of freedom's advocates : Wealth and station had their sanction lent To hardened avarice on its gains intent, But still these tender hearts their burden bore, In warning message to the Church's door. And there the leaven of humanity and justice worked, though but slowly as it must be confessed, for it was not until forty years afterwards that Yearly Meetings in London and America concurred in condemning the practice of importing negroes from their native country, and directed that those already in possession "should be trained up in the principles of the Christian religion." Within another half-century, however, all Friends were become clear both in England and America, not only of trafficking in, but also of ?ioldi7ig slaves, and none, moreover, were allowed to remain members who did not on giving these poor creatures their freedom make some remunerative pro- vision for their future. It is impossible to look upon these efforts of the Society to be freed of having any share in claiming "a property in the human race as if they were beasts who perish," without attention being drawn to three American citizens, of widely different stamp, yet each in his way largely instrumental in rousing this crusade against Slavery. Of this trio Benjamin Lay's share was marked by eccentricity, Anthony Benezet's by a Frenchman's fervour, and John Woolman's with saintly persistence, to each of whom some personal THE FRIENDS. 199 allusions may be admitted. Of Benjamin Lay (who, to be clear of the gains of oppression, lived hermit-like in a cave) Whittier remarks, " his appearance was in keep- ing with his eccentric life. A figure only four feet and a half high, hunch-backed, with projecting chest, legs small and arms longer than his legs, a huge head, showing beneath an enormous white hat, large solemn eyes and a prominent nose ; the rest of his face covered with a snowy semi-circle of beard falling low on his breast." Such was the little man, who, as an " irre- pressible prophet, troubled the Israel of slave-holding Friends." A former residence in the West Indies had wrought in him this horror of a system that he grieved to see taking root in the free soil of Pennsylvania, and no protest could, in his opinion, be too vehement in its condemnation. He would accordingly waylay con- gregations, coming from their places of worship, to harangue them on its iniquity — and close his violent denunciations by sword thrusts into a bladder at his side, which, charged with red fluid, sent it streaming amongst them as witness to their blood-guiltiness towards the poor slaves. His evident sincerity of pur- pose had no doubt its effect, and when told on his death-bed, at an advanced age, that Friends had at last, when assembled in the Yearly Meeting of 1758, resolved to rid themselves of any further share in this system, he exclaimed, " Thanksgiving and praise be rendered unto the Lord God, I can now die in peace." Anthony Benezet, who was one of the Frenchmen 200 THE FRIENDS. settled in Philadelphia, united learning and judgment with the vivacity of his race, that made him influential not only in personal advocacy, but also by his published works and through his large correspon- dence in awakening minds both in England and America, to the sin of holding fellow men in bonds, "and living in ease and plenty by the toil of those whom violence and cruelty have put out of power to help themselves." Granville Sharp considered one of his works to have had much influence on public opinion, in supporting Lord Mansfield's famous decision of 1772, that "so soon as a Slave sets foot on English soil his freedom is assured." "Slaves" — exclaimed the Poet of Olney — "cannot breathe in England, if their lungs imbibe our air that moment they are free. They touch our Country and their shackles fall." Of John Woolman, language cannot adequately describe the deep sense of saintliness and worth, which a perusal of the published Journal of his life's labours produces. Humble as he was in his circum- atancea, being only a small tradesman and law writer, he travelled far and oft on gospel service intent ; ever an unflinching advocate for equal rights to all humanity. In the course of this disinterested labour he came to England, where to the great grief of his friends, he died soon after arrival at York, in 1772. The Journal published after his decease is wliat Charles Lamb advises "all to get by heart and love the early Friends." May it not further be added, love THE FRIENDS. 201 also what he and they have done for the slave. Friends' consciences having been cleared both in England and America, first of dealing in or importing negroes, and also, by 1782, of having any members, who continued to hold slaves, they were prepared for that Anti-Slavery Crusade, in which from first to last their presence was so effectively conspicuous. Like many another great effort it had but a small commencement. The formation of an Association for the Abolition of Negro Slavery was made, it is said, at the instance of "William Dillwyn, a Friend from America, who with eleven others met in the parlour of a Friend publisher's, and chose as their chairman Granville Sharp, who with Thomas Clarkson and one other, were the only individuals composing that little group that were not Friends. In 1787 this struggle in the cause of the Slave began, and not till 1834 were the British dominions made wholly free to all men. Strange alternation of hope and disappointment marked those fifty years of abolition contest, which took deeper hold of the National mind and conscience after each successive defeat, that self interested parties secured for it in the Legislature, until at last twenty millions sterling were willingly devoted in compensation to slave-holders for the Nation to be freed of their bonds- men. The Slave Trade had been declared illegal as piracy thirty years before, but only by efforts of an intensely sustained character, had that national senti- ment of injustice and wrong been formed, that swept 202 THE FRIENDS. all slavery away from. British dominion before its irresistible current. Whilst the public mind associates the great names of a Wilberforce, a Clarkson, and a Buxton, with this success, none more than they knew what was due to the Society of Friends, who everywhere had supported them in their laborious and prolonged contest. Clark- son, in his work on the subject, has earnestly expressed " what we have been compelled to prove to others by a long chain of evidence, that negroes have the same feelings and capacities as ourselves, and that they ought to be considered as persons ransomed by one and the same Saviour, and as visited by the same light for salvation." If space permitted many an excellent Address might be quoted, which the Yearly Meeting had issued to encourage its members in perseverance, through times when it seemed hoping against hope to look for success, each based on the recognition of equality of man- kind in the sight of their Creator and Redeemer. It now desired that all Nations might become like the British, free from what it described as so *' mani- fold an atrocity, that we think even the history of the whole world does not furnish a parallel to its crime " — one which — " we deem it scarcely possible for a man of the most comprehensive mind fully to possess himself of the extent of the evil." Such are expressions to be found in a long and fervent appeal issued by the London Yearly Meeting of 1849, which through its Committee it proceeded to lay before Rulers and States- THE FRIEXDS. 203 men on the continent of Europe, and then in a similar manner to gain for it attention from the Governors of the American States. In this arduous service of several years' duration, William Forster had a leading share. It took him to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, Italy and Spain. In nearly all cases he and his companions succeeded in obtaining interviews with kings, emperors, statesmen, and officials, and copies of the Address thus presented were largely circulated in those countries. After four years thus spent, William Forster with three companions proceeded in 1853 to North America, where interviews were had with the President, and also the Governors of most of the States, until, when the service of love was near upon its con- clusion, he was laid to his rest — at three score and ten — in far off Tennessee. Beneath that massive form a heart was bleeding- For all earth's woe ; 'Till the strained tension burst the clay-built dwelling, And laid it low. M. E. Beck. He sought not glory, but he found A glorious death at last ; When on the slavers' blighted ground, He sank beneath the blast. Anna Gukney. His brother Josiah, William Holmes, and John Candler, who had been united with him in this arduous service, were able to complete it by having interviews with the Governors of the few remaining States, not previously visited, before returning to England. 204 THE FRIENDS. In the midbt of such general zeal amongst the Friends in the anti-slavery cause, it may seem invidious to mention individual efforts, but it should not be for- gotten how a Joseph Sturge, Thomas Harvey, George William Alexander, and several others were at the pains of travelling on various occasions to the West Indies that they might testify of what they themselves had seen of the evils they laboured to remove. Nor how William Allen journeyed to Paris and Verona, atten- dant on the" Congresses assembled there to settle the peace of Europe, and by his influence with the Duke of Wellington, gained opportunities to plead with some success the Negro's cause. Nor amidst the host of advocates it elicited in our own Land, should be left unnoticed the manner in which a Samuel Bowly could, without any oratorical training, confront and confound in speeches of three hours' length, a practised advocate of the West India interests before vast audiences in Exeter Hall, and by his forcible and pathetic appeals rouse in them a generous and contagious enthusiasm, greatly assistant to a national desire for the slaves' emancipation. Reverting to America it will be found that the Northern States followed the example of Pennsylvania in abolishing Slavery, but out of the thirteen then com- posing the Union, seven of those in the South cherished it as an institution indispensable to their welfare, and many Friends resident amongst them, in order to be free fromitsparticipation,moved off into the new settlements of the far west, where they are to be found amongst the I ! 1 JOSEPH STCRGE. THE FRIENDS. 205 most enterprising and successful of its populations. Events connected with the extinction of Slavery throughout the vast American nation, are too recent to need mention here, save to observe that the sea of blood- shed which ultimately swept it away might have been avoided, if the Rulers and people would have given effect to the earnest remonstrances, addressed them from time to time, by earnest philanthropists of every shade of opinion, but by none more persistently than the Friends. " Is it not just and reasonable," they had asked, " to fear, if the gentle language of His Spirit ' Let this people go ' is not attended to, that He will, by terrible things in righteousness, evince His sovereignty and sustain the character of a God of Justice, Who is no respecter of persons." So deaf an ear was turned to these and similar appeals, that when Spurgeon devoted one of his sermons to the cause of Emancipation it had the effect of stop- ping the sale of his Works, that had had till then an enormous American circulation. " Uncle Tom's Cabin " succeeded better, as its beneficial influence pervaded countries both old and new. It is satisfactory to learn — according to recent testimony — that those who are able to look back upon the old days of slave-owning, with all its cares and responsibilities, and who have since had experience of free labour, would not, if they could, restore the old order of things, for wages are found to be the most effective incentive to industry ; and the actual cost of free labour is proved to be less than was that of slavery. 206 THE FRIENDS. Such was what the friends of the Negro always main- tained would be the result of his emancipation, whilst its opponents were declaring he was but an animal that would only work under fear of the lash. Note. — It will be obvious that no attempt has been made to review the general aspect of the great Anti-slavery movement, but only to note some aspects of the important share Friends had in effecting the freedom of the Slave. They felt from the first he was entitled as a fellow creature to their moral and religious care which developed into so strong a conviction of the injustice of " Man holding property in Man," tliat they cleared themselves of any participation in Slavery ; and so soon as this was the case their energies became success- fully devoted to the cause of universal freedom. CHAPTER XXIV. TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. A MONG efforts made by Friends for mankind's im- -^^ provement, those on behalf of the Insane deserve mention, on accomit of their success having had much influence, in producing the generally kind and scientilic treatment, now accorded to such as are mentally afflicted. These it had been the custom to treat as prisoners, rather than invalids, from the belief that their state was more akin to a demoniacal possession than suffering from curable disease. This popular conception of the complaint made their places of confinement, with their small and strongly barred windows, to resemble jails rather than hospitals, and the more violent cases were loaded with irons, or sought to be subdued by corporal chastisement — many were chained as for life like wild beasts, had only straw for bedding, and were dealt with as those hopelessly lost to all claims on humane treatment. Under circumstances of this kind, Friends in York had had their sympathies aroused by the loss of one of their members in 1791, within a few weeks after her admission to the .County Asylum, where none of her relatives had been allowed to visit her. The question raised itself in their minds, whether such metital afflictions could not be treated with the same 208 THB FRIENDS. judgment and tenderness as those of the body, instead of the barbarous methods then in practice, "far more calculated to depress and degrade than to awaken the slumbering reason or correct ita wild hallucinations." Animated by thesesentiments,WilliamTuke,*(aborn leader of men) induced his York Friends to unite with him in an appeal to the whole Society, for the establish- ment of an Institution of its own, where the experiment of a kind and curative treatment might be made. It obtained a sufficient response, in shareholders and contributors, to enable the purchase of an Estate in the neighbourhood of York, and the erection of premises, to which was given the more agreeable name of a *' Retreat," which its home-like appearance in pleasantly arranged grounds well supported. Here by the adoption of a system of classification, it was possible to apply varied treatment to the different nature of the cases, all of whom were under a kind resident physician's care as his patients, rather than piusoners. Their sleeping and day apartments were well lighted by, to all appearance, ordinary sash windows instead of grated openings, although little as the patients might know it so far as look was concerned, the sash bars were not wood but iron in their strength ; a fact which few probably tested, for the absence of apparent iron bars produced a quieting effect on their minds. ° " In person," writes a contemporary of William Tuke " ho hardly reached the middle size, but was erect, portly, and of u fine step. lie had a noble forehead, an eagle eye, and a com- manding voice, and his mien was dignified and patriarchal." THB FRIENDS. 209 Cases of cure quickly followed on these humane arrangements, which, in consequence, began to attract the attention of the Medical profession and the Public generally. Similar but independent changes were being made about the same time in France, where Pinel, a bene- volent physician, succeeded in obtaining control over one of the largest of the madhouses in Paris, and to the astonishment of the Faculty, liberated successfully some fifty cases, till then thought so dangerous as to have been kept heavily chained for many years. Some of them had even murdered their keepers in spasms of raging madness, but now with regained reason went out after awhile, freed from the dense mental darkness or fury that had so long afflicted them. One of the worst of these, it is interesting to find, was the means of saving Pinel's life, by rescuing him from a mob that, in the time of the French Revolution, was hurrying him to death, till this man rushed in and successfully pleaded his cause. One of William Tuke's grandsons, largely endowed with his ancestor's gifts, summarised in an able work published in 1813, what had been the results of this new method of treating the Insane, as shewn by ex- perience gained in the Retreat during some 15 years, which, together with these Foreign instances, so much interested the medical profession and local authorities, as to gradually work that entire change in the treat- ment of those mentally afflicted, which now happily prevails. 210 THE FRIENDS. Besides the good eftect of this publication, Samuel Tuke was incidentally the means of influencing the arrangements adopted in the large pauper Asylum at Hanwell, which was one of the earliest erected on the system now generally adopted. The young Friend whose design proved successful among those sent in by architects in the competition for this great building, drew his inspiration from having paid Samuel Tuke a visit at York, for it was his advice and information that led him to cast aside what he had already prepared, and work out afresh those designs which, as it proved were adopted by the Magistrates from amongst the large number sent in to them, by members of the architectural profession, for their choice. The Retreat has in this year 1892 completed its centenary, and at a gathering held on the occasion Dr. Clouston, as President of the Medical Psychological Association, said " the system there adopted had been the key-note, the example to every succeeding hospital in the country. There was no doubt that York was the very Mecca of the mental physician," and if so, it may be asked, was not William Tuke its Prophet ? Note. — It should be borne in mind that Dr. Conolly, of the Hanwell Asylum was the first to apply the system so thoroughly as to abolish llie use of all methods of physical restraint, and rely on constant supervision, constant kindness, and firmness alone. He became a great authority on the construction of our county asylums and their management, and he bore his testimony that to the works of Pinel and Samuel Tuke " society was indebted for nearly all these improvements." CHAPTER XXV. TESTIMONY AGAINST ALL WAR. " Are Friends faithful in our testimony against bearing arms, and being in any manner concerned in the militia, in privateers, letters of marque, or armed vessels, or dealing in prize goods?" — Query as formerly. " Are you faithful in maintaining our Christian testimony against all war, as inconsistent with the precepts and spirit of the Gospel"? — Query as now in " Christian Discipline." rr^HE uniform testimony borne by Friends as a Society from their beginning, against any participation in "War of all kinds, whether offensive or defensive, deserves fuller mention than the allusions hitherto made, from its having been so diverse to the views held on this subject, by most, if not all other religious communities. "Wars and rumours of wars abounded when their voice was first raised against the military system that had made of Europe one great battle-field, and reddened many a fair landscape in England, through hard fought contests in a civil war. Against such scenes of strife the ministers of various forms of religion were so far from protesting, as to have themselves taken a share in them. France had seen a Cardinal Richelieu accoutied with a cuirass, riding at the head of royal armies. Huguenot preachers carried swords as well as Bibles, 212 THE FRIENDS. and made no reserve in using the one with the assumed sanction of the other ; nor were Puritan ministers loth to regard the two-edged sword of scripture, as indicative of the permitted use of a carnal as well as a spiritual weapon, and colonels and captains in parliamentary forces were not at that time thought out of place in a pulpit. It was a divinity reader of Calvinistic per- suasion who wrote "That it is lawful to defend religion by force of arms, not only against the assaults of such foreign nations as have no jurisdiction over us, but also against any part of the same commonwealth which doth endeavour to subvert it." Remembering the high sanction thus given to war, it is easier to understand how authorities at Derby should have felt no inconsistency in offering liberty to the young preacher they had imprisoned, if he would but officer one of the troops they had raised for the Commonwealth's defence. Thus can we also the better appreciate those deeper views of human conduct be- gotten in George Fox, that led him to choose a continu- ance in outward bonds, to wounding by the war spirit that love he felt towards all. Not that he enforced this abstinence on others as any outward obligation, but desired to see it arise as resulting from that inward work of the Lord's Spirit on the heart, which had led him in this emergency to resolve " that he could not fight against any, because he had love towards all men." To him " Love your enemies " was not so much a command as a result of conscious union in Spirit with THE FRIENDS. .213 Him, Who in love had laid down His life for all men. Thus on an occasion when, asked by a convert of gentlemanly birth, whether in becoming a Friend the continuance in wearing a sword, then so general a practice, would bo thought inconsistent, George Fox replied " Wear it as long as thou canst." William Penn, though trained at foreign courts to a skilled use of weapons, and the son of a famous Admiral, carried these views, as already shown, into such successful and extensive practice, as to have settled a Colony of thousands of his Friends, like minded with himself, amidst savages passionately addicted to war, without any of the ordinary methods of warlike defence ; he built no Forts in Pennsylvania nor relied for protection, like the Founders of other American settlements, on gunpowder and cannon, and whilst other neighbouring settlements had frequent and sanguinary Indian wars, none such ever visited the soil of Pennsylvania, during the seventy years that the followers of William Penn controlled its government. Once, it is said, in days when they had lost this control and a different policy had led to Indian complications, a party of these dusky warriors came down on a Friends' meeting, breathing fire and slaughter, but over-awed at the sight of such peaceful solemnity, put aside their weapons and their fury, and sat out the meeting as worshippers themselves. " These Indian chiefs with battle bows unstrung, Strong, hero-limbed, like those whom Homer aung." Friends' influence with Indians has been shown in 214 THE FRIENDS. many ways — and their missionary efforts amongst them are at the present time some of the most successful. Not a few have become members of the Society, and several have proved themselves acceptable ministers of the gospel. Not a very long while back when two Tribes were at deadly feud with one another through mutual reprisals, a party of Friends hearing a battle was imminent, advanced to meet one of these, and found them gathered and painted for the contest, but by dis- course and prayer in a solemn assembly induced them to return, although it was believed at the time their enemies had set out to attack them, and so they had — not once but twice started with such intent — and yet had gone back. "Why ? let those who can believe and trust in the Lord of Peace, determine for themselves. Friends in Ireland of various times were in the difficult position of living in a country where, without any Official influence, they were exposed to all the re- sults of its unhappy condition as the theatre of war, yet true to their principles they neither sought protection from either of the contending armies, nor attempted to defend themselves by use of weapons from the ruffianly bands that roved unchecked through the land, and amidst the spoil of goods and property, and perils by night and day to themselves and their families, none of them, as we have already seen, lost their ^ars through- out these times of long continued bloodshed and horrible murders. The English Friends, though spared from scenes of actual warfare, have, nevertheless, had to suffer in THE FRIENDS. 215 various ways from time to time in the maintenance of their peace principles, especially when any want of sharing in warlike preparations seemed to lay them open to a charge of disloyalty, or lack of patriotism. Such was the public feeling towards them during the rebellion of 1745, until they found means to give some help in a manner which involved no sanction to war, yet showed a Christian love for the soldiers. Friends discovered these were being sent northward, during an inclement winter season, without any warm clothing under their regimentals, which serious deficiency they proceeded to remedy at their own cost, by furnishing every soldier with a flannel waistcoat. It was the saving, no doubt, of many a life, whilst it assured their detractors that an abstention from warlike proceedings had not arisen through lack of loyalty, or want of patriotism, but solely from a religious conviction of the unlawfulness of war tq a Christian. Again, amidst the country's preparations for armed defence against Napoleon's threatened invasion, Friends as a Society remained firm in a conscientious refusal to join or subscribe for the Volunteer forces then being raised ; and preferred, as we have shown, to suffer the secession of very many of their wealthier members — who were not sharers in these views — a loss the com- munity long felt in its diminished social position, but it demonstrated afresh the firmness of its adhesion to this view of Gospel truth. And here also in this national emergency they prepared themselves to serve — if war had broken out — on ambulance corps or in 216 THE FRIENDS. hospitals, whilst those at the expected scenes of in- vasion, were enrolled as caretakers over women and children, in case of their flight to a place of safety. This abstinence from warlike proceedings had its accompaniment in a refusal to unite in any public re- joicings over victories gained in battle by land or sea, and at much risk to property from excited mobs their houses showed no lights amid general illuminations ; yet the well-known benevolence of their owners oft spared them from the smashings of glass which few others escaped who had not lights in their windows. The Crimean War of 1854 was another season of public excitement,when obloquy fell on all who could not approve of this sanguinary effort to check Russia's designs on the East. In the hope of preventing its outbreak, three leading Friends undertook that long and toilsome journey all the way to St. Petersburg, to interview the Czar himself and predispose him to peace. Although the hopes awakened by his favour- able reception of them, vanished as he learnt the furiously warlike tone of the English press, yet this loving effort of Joseph Sturge, Robert Charleton, and Henry Pease has borne more fruit than might— from its failure at the time — have been expected. Public attention has become aroused to adopt means for the avoidance of war, as so happily shown by the substi- tution of Arbitration, in various critical cases of national disputes that have subsequently occurred. The solicitude of Friends to make restitution in cases where, unauthorised by themselves, their agents THE FRIENDS. 217 may have inflicted loss on others during times of war, has had several interesting illustrations. One was that of the Fox family of shipowners at Falmouth, who had advertised in France for any who might have been losers from the capture of a vessel by one of their own captains, against his instructions, which so impressed Bome Frenchmen in the South of France, as to lead to a correspondence that resulted in the formation of a Community, in religious fellowship with English Friends, that lasts to this day, and has furnished several bright examples of religiously peaceable fellow- members. Another was from an equally unauthorised capture of a Dutch vessel by an English one, in which a London Friend was part owner, and in this case long continued continental wars delayed any attempt at restitution, but the money the Friend had received as his share in the prize was kept so well invested that, when at last all sufferers who could be found were paid with interest up to date, a balance still remained which became applied, at the suggestion of a Dutch Friend, to the establishment of a. free Infant School in Amsterdam, which was the port from whence the captured ship had sailed. It was the earliest school of the kind there, and for nearly a century has it pursued its useful course in a building named the "Holland's Welfare," which it deserves, not only as having been that of the captured vessel, but also through its past and present benefits to the little ones in a poor quarter of the chief city of that country. 218 THE FRIENDS. Cases of individual adherence to peace principles at the loss of profit to themselves, are numerous both in England and America, two of which may receive allusion — one of them being William Allen, who as a manufacturing chemist, courteously declined the ad- vantageous offer, Alexander of Russia made him, of the exclusive purveyorship of medicines for the Russian Army ; another is that of F. T. King, of Baltimore, who had concluded a good bargain for disposal of some unsaleable goods, but when the would-be customer happened to remark that they would answer his pur- pose for an Army Contract connected with the Mexican War, " Then," said Francis King, " there's no bargain between us, for no goods of mine, however much I may want to be rid of them, shall, knowingly, go to- wards what, as war, is contrary to my conscientious convictions." Of German Friends various cases could be men- tioned, of those who preferred to suffer whatever could be inflicted of cruel imprisonment rather than violate their conscientious scruples by learning military drill ; but here, as in France, these penalties have been chiefly avoided by the emigration of the young men Friends to avoid conscription, which is a chief cause of the great reduction of the Society in these countries. The comparatively recent conflict between North and South in America, brought Friends, as might be expected, to a practical test of their anti-war principles. In the Northern States, several of those in high positions wore either connected with the Society by descent, or THE FRIENDS. 219 were too well acquainted with the conscientious character of its objections, to press for any other assistance than what was willingly rendered in hos- pital and ambulance service, and the more the public felt that the war's existence arose from opposition to Slavery, the less could they charge Friends with want of patriotism, who they knew had always protested against this as an iniquitous system. In the South it was different, yet the Friends there proved even firmer in the maintenance of peace principles than those of the North, where, as in England, some of the wealthier sort gave way, and some of their young men served in the ranks. Down South there were remarkable pre- servations. Whole villages of Friends were left un- molested in the midst of desolations, and just as the armies of Grant and Lee would have closed in deadly struggle over lands studded with Friends' hamlets, there came the Surrender and the final Peace. As the strife had deepened, the South called every available youth to their ranks, and some of the young Friend farmers found their refusal to bear arms in- volved cruelties, of which one case cannot be passed without notice. The musket was strapped to a firmly resisting youth, and he was kept walking by prick of bayonet till he dropped from fatigue. Much else w; 3 tried to make of him a soldier, but all in vain, and a court-martial condemned him to be shot. As he was walked to the fatal spot, the firing party heard him say with pious resignation, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," and when the officer gave the 220 THE FRIENDS. word, not a man would pull the trigger. Enraged at 'heir refusal he rode at the youth, floored him with a blow from the flat of his sword, and tried to make his horse finish the affair by trampling on him. But the animal jumped hither and thither without touching the prostrate form, and whilst he was thus urging his charger the trumpet sounded for what proved the sanguinary battle of Gettysburg, and that officer was one of the first who fell. The Friend became n prisoner of war to the Northern army, was recognised as having been a non-combatant, and released. CHAPTER XXVI. INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE. "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteycard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have." — Lev. xix. 3G. rnHE necessary prominence given in any history of Friends to incessant and far extended labours of their first missionary preachers, should never cause forgetf ulness of the characteristic quietness and indus- try in outward callings, of those gathered by them to depend for spiritual comfort in waiting upon the One true Comforter of souls. The fiercest persecution and most brutal treatment produced, as we have seen, no resistance — and when impounded like cattle in the County Gaols — those who were handicraftsmen worked diligently at their trades, and others like Samuel Bownas — though so eminent as a preacher — learnt as he did, to make shoes for their support during a long imprisonment. So soon therefore as wiser counsels in Government put an end to this harass of tender consciences, there flowed into Trade and Commerce a stream of active, intelligent and conscientious workers, anxious, above all thoughts of gain, that strict integrity should be observed in business dealings with their fellow men. It was chiefly in the conduct of business affairs 222 THE FRIENDS. such could be shown, as all avenues to Civic or Government office remained closed in times such as these, when by the Test and Corporation Acts, no Non- conformist could be associated with any Corporation, and all Government employments, even to those of a country postmaster, were confined to such as would take the Sacramental Bread and Wine according to the Church of England. Only by slow stages after the passing of the Reform Bill have these social barriers been removed, and only in recent years have University gates been forced, so as to make educational honours at Cambridge and Oxford open to all. Whilst such religious boy- cotting lasted, it had the inevitable tendency to direct into the busy walks of Trade and Manufacture, a superior class of mind that might not otherwise have turned to them. Another circumstance which contributed at this period to swell the industrial life of our Towns, was the large number of young and vigourous yeomanry, who found that Friends' conscientious objection to tithes made land-owners, under clerical influence, less willing to grant fresh tenure of farms, although their parents might be still holding under them, as were their ancestors for many previous generations. To this stream of active industrial life the Friend brought enterprise and intelligence, and also a strict integrity, shown by his avoiding the practice then common of bargaining witli every fresh customer, and having, instead, a fixed price for his wares. Also in a AMELIA OPIE. THE FRIENDS. 223 care that all goods sold in bulk were fully up to quality of samples, thus making trade an honourable and not a cozening pursuit. He conducted it also with an enterprise, conspicuous among many other ways, by his travelling for custom in a manner which is said to have anticipated, if it did not originate, the fraternity of commercial travellers. Whilst diligent in business, a fervency of spirit marked his conduct that best things might be kept uppermost. His shop would be closed during busy hours, to attend his mid-week meeting, and his time would be freely given to his Monthly and Quarterly Assembly, to serve on Committees and occasionally to go up to London for the Yearly gathering. Such conduct, though in a worldly view little likely to ensure success, led nevertheless to that confi- dence of customers and neighbours, which made Friends' establishments generally rank among the most prosperous in the cities and towns ; even to becoming transformed from traders and shopkeepers into the Bankers of the place. This is the origin of many a leading and wealthy financial firm of the present day. Neighbours, in times when banking facilities were little known in provincial towns, would entrust these con- scientious ones with their savings, or look to them for some temporary loan, until such transactions in their volume became the chief business of those, who had thus carried their religion over and yet into all their commercial operations. Whilst some were thus transformed in character, 224 THE FRIENDS. others became enlarged in reputation ; such for example raised the chemical firms of Allen and Hauburj-, or Corbyns, or of J. Bell & Son, as safe to be trusted at a time when much careless dispensing of drugs prevailed. Thus also the chemical factories of the Howards, the; originals of which concerns were Friends of a high order of mind, eminent in their day not only as trades- men, but as Ministers or Elders in the Society they loved so dearly and served so well. The Queen still has her damasks and table-linen from a firm commenced by a Friend so particular in having his goods up to quality that if in any fine cambrics he had sold, the slightest flaw had been found, he would change it with a *' thank thee " for having had his attention drawn to it. Industries of all kinds prospered in their hands ; the calicoes of a Hoyle commanded the market, and the hats of a Christy. Their cotton and weaving factories increased in number, volume, and success, under generations of Ashworths, Brights, Crewdsons, Priestmans, and a host of others in Manchester, Liverpool, Bradford, Birming- ham, or other provincial towns. Friends have made themselves especially con- spicuous in the tea and cocoa trades, and matches, biscuits, starch, phosphorous powder blue, and various other articles of food or daily use have become, under their financial skill, the basis of gigantic commercial undertakings. The modern system of lacquering brasswork was long in the hands of a trio of brother Friends ; Sterrys THE FRIENDS. 225 and Sturges were largely in the oil trade, and witli some families of these was the manufacture of the only wax candles that would burn without snuffing. Some of the largest silversmiths, such as the Gold- smith's Alliance, have had a similar origin. Forelocks Friend " Quare " had in the days William the Third a high reputation, and modern times have recognised the ingenuity of an Qgden or a Simmons in the samo horological department. On the Stock Exchange, in the Corn Market, in Lloyds Marine, many have become prominent, of which the Harris family in Mark Lane, Fester and Braithwaite at Capel Court, or Jansons at Lloyds, may be taken as typical instances. They have been some of the earliest promoters of provincial and urban gas and water com- panies, and have made efficient members of Boar^.s of Health, and in conduct of local sanitary affairs or improvements. In Insurance they have a life office of their own, which, under the name of the Friends' Pro- vident Institution, enjoys an exceptional reputation for successful management. Very early was a spirit of enterprise observable amongst them as builders of ships, and openers up of trade especially from northern ports. It was a Friend shipowner of Whitby, who first fostered the genius of Captain Cook, who never after would sail on his adventurous voyages in any vessel that had not come from his Friend " Walker's" Whitby shipyard, and a Friend Lucas was one of the first to follow up this opening of a new Ocean by despatching whalers 226 THE FRIENDS. thither with the results of whose captures in oil he contracted to lighten London's darkness. None knew how to provide the farmers with an enduring ploughshare until a blacksmith Friend so made them of " chilled " iron as to lay the first stone of the engineering works of the Ipswich Rac somes, and until Friend Abraham had wrested the seer* tof casting in iron from the Dutch, England had no such foun- dries as he opened in Coalbrookdale. Nor were our porcelain manufacturers able to compete with foreign rivals until Friend Cookworthy discovered for them the china clay of Cornwall. Then in a time when housewives depended on their own home-brewed ale, or their stock of ginger or gooseberry wines, the Friends started establishments with machinery and appliances on scientific principles, learnt, it has been said, from the Dutch, which soon made them known in all cities and towns as maltsters, brewers, and importers, and also as dealers in the pro- duce of foreign vineyards, a trade and manufacture pur- sued with much evidence of what Dr. Johnson called " the potentiality of growing rich," until the pre- valence of total abstinence principles led to their relinquishment. Remembrance now only points to such firms as the Walkers, the Aliens of RatclilT, the Hanburys & Buxtons of Spitalfields, or the Bar- clays and Perkins of Southwark, and in like manner conspicuous amongst those thus engaged over England, where also Friends would be found among the more prosperous of local Woolstaplers, Millers, Fell mongers, or workers of Tanneries. THE FRIENDS 227 Commercial Finance is indebted to Friends for originating the modern system of Bill Discounting through an Overend and a Richardson, two North Country lads, who commenced the plan now universally adopted, which, when associated with the Norwich Gurneys, developed under their management into the financial operations of an Overend, Gurney & Co. It was a Friend, the Prime Minister of the day selected for an attempt at extricating Indian Finances from their confusion, which task, although it proved too much for the constitution, would probably not have been found beyond the ability of a James Wilson, who lost his life in the toil it cost him. The Railway System may almost be said to owe its existence to their enterprise, for Friend Edward Pease was the first to discover, and the most persistent in fostering the railway genius of a George Stevenson ; and, although this is no history of the Rail, it may be permitted to narrate in what way he became acquainted with, and to have such faith in, the future Constructor of Railways. His business was that" of a Woolstapler at Darlington, Avhere he had also become a Coal Owner, and, with those thus associated with him, he had con- ceived an idea of having a tramway from the Darlington Pits to the Port of Stockton, some 40 miles distant, and thus save the great charges made for carriage by canal or road. For this purpose they formed a Company, which, although it engaged some of the leading Engineers, had failed in all endeavours for an Act of Parliament. Matters being in this state, h^ was one 228 THE FRIENDS. morning disturbed from his writing by an announce- ment that a stranger in his passage wished to see him. This proved to be a tall man of burly appearance in a furry cap with a rough shawl wound around his neck, whose abrupt announcement of his business as having " heard you wants a rail made and I be come to do it," put the dignified courtesy of Edward Pease to no little strain. "With a suppressed smile, he sug- gested that, although on the subject of his call he could say nothing to him, he was welcome to some refresh- ment in the kitchen after so long a walk, and thus, would Edward Pease add, I returned to my pen ; but my thoughts failed me ; the thread of the important subject could not be recovered. I felt I must see the stranger again, and into my kitchen I went to find George — for it was none other than he — making a most hearty meal off my bread and cheese, and whilst slice after slice vanished, my talk with him as I sat on the kitchen dresser, convinced me of his being the man we wanted, and my brother directors with whom an appointment was then made were, after their first feelings of surprise, equally assured of the same. Many and racy were the anecdotes Edward Pease would tell of their after experience of George Stephenson's sagacity and honesty, only one of which can be here inserted, as it relates to the birth of the Locomotive. No idea of this was entertained until he had asked them to come and see a fire-horse he had made, which would, he declared, answer better than the living animals they had intended to depend THE FRIENDS. 229 upon for hauling their coal on the rail. So with a brother director, Edward Pease found himself one morning mounted behind this fiery charger, whilst its Inventor ran alongside poking with a long rod at the furnace bars to keep up steam, and there he acquired such confidence in its future as to provide capital for what became the great engine works of Stephenson and Co., though he would naively add, that at that time it couldn't go as far as George ran " with all his poking," Edward Pease was become fully fifty years old before he thus embarked on that railway enter- prise which, during the more than forty years of his after life, he saw develop to so wonderful an extent. In humbly reviewing his own share in this, he would acknowledge to the feeling that he was working not so much for himself as for his fellow-men, and in solemn tones would add, " in all my opportunities for railway speculation I never sold a share — and in all my great anxieties of Parliamentary contests I never missed attending a mid-week meeting." Well might Friends come to have a leading share in fostering Railway undertakings. Well might the first line opened from Stockton to Darlington be called theirs. They were the backbone also of the Liverpool and Manchester line ; it was Friend Ellis of Leicester who started the now great Midland, and it was he who, as its Chairman, gained for it the Bristol and Gloucester by oflEering it a fixed rate of interest on his own responsi- bility when the possession of this line had to be contested with the Great Western in the " battle of the gauges." 230 THE FRIENDS. This master stroke of financial policy eventually setftled that predominance of the Narrow over the Broad Guage, which has now worked out the latter'a recent extinction. Several Friends, such as his son, Edward Shipley Ellis, and William Hutchinson, have most ably filled the chair of this extensive undertaking, and much does the vast North Eastern system owe to past and present Managers of the same religious fraternity. In the matter of rails, Friend Ransome devised the best form of chair for holding them, and Charles May the compressed oak trenails that pin them to the ties. When the lines began working under a cumbrous system of passenger-booking, continued from coaching days, it was Friend Edmundson who devised the present effective system of railway tickets, and likewise in- vented the machine in general use for stamping them, and it is Friend Bradshaw who still enlightens the Public as to train movements by his Time Tables. The Legislative Councils of the Nation have, ever since the passing of the Reform Bill and the acceptance of Affirmation instead of Oath, had members of th^e Society more or less numerous or prominent amongst them, of whom the father of the present Sir Joseph Pease was the first to take a seat, and John Bright to become eminent as an orator and statesman. This influence on daily life, far from being con- fined to its material or industrial advantage, has been felt also in Science, Literature and Art. To John Dalton, whose livelihood was gained chiefly as a teacher. Science is indebted for the know- UENJAMIN WEST, PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. (from the painting by GILBERT STUART) THE FRIENDS. 231 ledge of the law of atomic proportions, and in Dr. Thomas Young, who came to London when a lad, from a west country home, in the plainest of Friendly attire, there developed a philosopher, renowned not only for his decipherment of hieroglyphics, but for a theory on the subject of Light, that made Helmholtz declare, " The greatest discovery I ever made was that of the genius and writings of Thomas Young. I consider him the greatest man of science that has appeared in the history of this planet." The application of an achromatic principle to the lenses of the Microscope, which transformed it from a mere philosophic toy to an instrument of indispensable use to the medical faculty, is due to the sagacity of Joseph Jackson Lister, whose leisure hours from trade were largely devoted to scientific pursuits. In medical and surgical practice, such names as those of Doctors Fothergill, Lettsom, Pope, Hodgkin, Peacock, or Wilson Fox as physicians, and Lister, Hutchinson, Beck, or Godlee as surgeons are among the foremost. Little as Friends themselves have occasion for courts of litigation, there are those among them who, like Phillips, Harrison, Hodgkin, Godlee, Braithwaite, have been or are still known as " learned in the law," chiefly as chamber counsel, whilst in a member of the ancient Friend family of Frys, the Society has contributed one of its ablest judges to the High Court of Appeal. In Art it has given to the Royal Academy a president in West, and to the Architects one in Water- 232 THE FRIENDS. house, whilst others have like Briggs been among its Academicians. To the Engineers it has contributed more of ■workers than originators, yet it was through the hydraulic inventions of the brothers Tangye that Cleopatra's Needle was upraised, and through the skill of a Dixon that it was poised on its pedestal by the banks of the Thames. In literature the pens of William and Mary Howitt were seldom other than successfully employed through- out their long lives. Mrs. Ellis was a well known authoress, and a Seebohm by his " Oxford Reformers," and Dr. T. Hodgkin by his " Italy and Her Invaders," have taken good rank among our present historians. It needs two huge octavo volumes for a Joseph Smith to chronicle the works and their various editions which Friends have produced, treating on many subjects besides those of biography or doctrinals. In poetry there has been a Wiffen with his trans- lation of Tasso, a Hurnard of Lexden, a John Scott of Amwell, an Amelia Opie with her Lyrics, a William Ball with his epigrammatic verse, and the ever " busy bee," as Charles Lamb quizzically called his friend Bernard Barton, whose melodious muse, though copious, falls below that high rank Whittier's is universally allowed to have reached. Mention should be made, too, of *' Sketches of Rural Life " by the brothers Lucas, and published volumes of poetry or prose, by Hunton, Knight, Compton, Budge, Ball, Ashby, Sterry, and many others, more or less connected with Friends, whose BERNARD BARTON. THE FRIENDS. 233 works await the addition of posterity's opinion to their present acceptance. Here it may be suitable to remark how many of those who have attained or are now in positions of eminence, have come by birth out of Friends' families in more or less direct descent. Such was the case with Macaulay, whose mother was a Friend ; and Walter Scott had a similar though remoter relation to the Society ; the same may be said of Lord Lyndhurst ; General Howard, of the American War ; and President Lincoln. Of this stock came Dr. Tregelles, the Biblical Scholar ; Dr. Birch, tutor to the Prince of Wales ; Dr. Pritcha'rd, author of " The Unity of the Human Race " ; Thos. Rickman,the Architect and first "Discriminator" of the Gothic Styles ; Dr. Birkbeck, Inventor of Mechanics' Institutes ; Bolton, who brought the Steam Engine of Watt into general use ; Galton, the Philosopher ; Sir T. Fowell Buxton, the indomitable champion of the Slave ; Sir Joseph Lister, discoverer of Antiseptic Surgery ; Sir Henry Rawlinson, decipherer of Cuneiform Inscrip- tions ; Wm. A. Miller, Chemical Professor ; Sir Samuel Canard, founder of Atlantic Steam Navigation ; Neal Dow, Inventor of the Maine Liquor Law ; Birket Foster, unrivalled as an illustrator ; Wm. Edward Forster, of Education Acts' fame ; Sir John Barnard and Sir Robt. N. Fowler, alike at different periods each member of Parliament for the City of London and twice Lord Mayor. All these are but some of the names that might be given of those eminent in various ways who were indebted for their origin or training to a membership 234 THE FRIENDS. in the Society of Friends, which has also retained within its fold the Bakers and Olivers, of Kew Gardens ; William Miller, the successful engraver of Turner's atmospheric effects ; Rendel Harris the learned dis- coverer of ancient MSS. ; Francis Fry, the laborious investigator of the Cranmer Bibles ; Robert Were Fox, the Falmouth scientist ; with other accomplished members of the same family circle. Should it be asked whence came they, these philanthropic tradesmen, Uiese earnest seekers after truth — the answer is to be found in the quiet and intellectual homes where this goodness and this force were nurtured ; homes founded by those who have been drawn to one another by cords of purest affection arising from unrestrained intercourse in social circles into which no meretricious excitements are allowed to enter ; homes where the marriage pledge is sacred though no priest has sealed it ; where children are regarded as born with capability for salvation though never brought to the baptismal fount ; where parents are reverenced as priests in their own families, careful for all right culture and discouraging no amusements or occupations but such as verge on vanity or excess ; where wise restrictions are placed on the reading of romances and dramatic literature, but a welcome given to the healthful children's stories of an Edgeworth, a Jane Taylor, Hack or Howitt. Nowhere could the modern tastes for scientific pursuits in Botany and Natural history have been more fostered than amongst the young of these Friendly THE FRIENDS. 235 homes, where the filling of cabinets with shells, eggs, minerals, or fossils, the working of electrotypes, and use of photographic apparatus, encouraged mental im- provement of all kinds, amongst which a love for and cultivation of the varied kinds of ferns a Newman had shown to be so abundant, must not be forgotten. Homes such as these, of true comfort and abundant hospitality, with much coming and going of relatives and guests, gave great opportunity for a free social intercourse and intermingling at a social board with those in different ranks and walk of life. A religious atmosphere, rather than any rigidly religious observances, marked the family training ; great reverence was shown toward the regularly read scrip- tures, of which portions, as well as hymns, would be committed to memory. Truth in all things was held sacred. Extravagance in language, manners, or dress was kept under, and although there might be little spoken on doctrinal subjects to the young, they saw an effective preaching of the Gospel in the loving con- sistency of their parents' behaviour towards them. Never also, for all this absence of theological train- ing, has the Society lacked a succession in the Gospel ministry, and as some allusion has been made to the early age at which individuals have been called to this service, an instance of an opposite character may here be quoted from a recent interesting work "on the Richardsons of Cleveland," of one whose training was in that best of all schools — the trials and vicissi- tudes of active life, — "A North Country Banker, 236 THE FRIENDS. clever and well read and prosperous, was suddenly brought low by affliction in loss of property and a most loving wife. His knowledge of the Bible was remark- able, and his acquaintance with theological literature ranged through different schools of thought from Keble to Newton and Venn. In similar catholicity had a familiarity been acquired with English Clas- sics ; a Shakespeare, a Milton and a New Testament being generally associated as his pocket companions. With all this varied culture, all this experience of the joys and griefs of life, with keen, sympathetic and quick perceptions, he was becoming fitted, during sorrowful and somewhat lonely years, to minister to his fellows. When after his second happy marriage and with young children growing up around him, he first opened his mouth as a minister, it seemed as though he spoke from the fullness of his heart and mind the thoughts which had been maturing for years, and his forcible mode of expression, enhanced by the deep tones of his voice, riveted attention even of the careless, while the marked absence of conventional phrases added to the impression of originality in his much valued discourses." "All Friends," it has been said, "are known to one another," and there is much truth in thus associating with the Society a bond of fellowship that wants neither the Signs nor the Oaths of Freemasonry for its recogni- tion or maintenance. The frequent assembling together for Society and Social ends furthers this, and it is ever remembered when removals occur from one district to THE FRIENDS. 237 another, for the leaving Friend to be supplied with letters of recommendation to those of his fresh locality. Social gatherings in households are frequently seasons of religious intercourse (more often occurrent formerly than is now possible in these rushing railway times) which has been thus sweetly alluded to by Whittier : — There sometimes Silence, it were hard to tell Who owned it first, upon the circle fell, Nor eye was raised, nor hand was stirred. In that soul sabbath, till at last some word Of tender counsel, or low prayer was heard. Then guests who lingered but farewell to say. And take Love's message, went their Homeward wav. CHAPTER XXVII. MISSIONS. " Be faithful and spread the truth abroad . . as ye are moved into Countries and Nations, that the sound of the trumpet of the Lord of Hosts may be heard in the Nations and Islands." — G. Fox. TN missionary effort, the Society has not, until late years, taken much share through any definite Organization for that object, but it has never ceased to foster the concerns of those whom it felt were called of the Lord to labour as gospel messengers among Christian brethren or heathen in distant lands, of "which its early history has gi-ven us good evidence, continued also throughout the present century. In 1831 James Backhouse and G. W. Walker were engaged under its auspices for some fifteen years in gospel service amongst the convict settlements, then little visited, at the Cape and in Australia. A Thomas Shillitoe had his Friends' cordial assistance throughout extensive journeyings to Courts, and Cities, Prisons, and Institutions on the Continent of Europe, where a Stephen Grellett was likewise sustained in an earnest gospel mission that took him to the Cabinets of Statesmen, and audiences with Emperor and Kings, even to imparting counsel on Spiritual truths in the THE FRIENDS. 239 Vatican to the Pope himself. For Daniel Wheeler, in 1834, a special vessel was granted, that carried him in this " Henry Freeling " throughout long voyages to the Islands of the South Seas on his evangelistic mission. Robert Lindsay and Frederick Mackie spent years of extensive travel in the Cape, in India and Australia. Russell Jeffrey, Henry Hipsley, and William Brewin travelled on a similar service in 1862 in India, especially to those parts of that large and closely peopled country where missionary efforts were in operation. Visits also in Gospel love have never been wanting, either to Indians in their native forests, or like John and Martha Yeardley, to dwellers among the Isles of Greece. Others have thus gone to the Valleys of Piedmont, the Steppes of Russia ; or like Isaac Sharp to Finns and Esquimaux, amid the icy cold of Labrador, or settlers on the warm Veldts of Africa, to co-religionists throughout Australasia, and to missionary brethren in Madagascar, Mexico, and India. No period of the Society's history is without this warm encouragement and support of varied individual effort by those whom it believed divinely called to such service. It remained, however, for George Richardson, when very aged and lying on his death-bed in 1859, to be the means by a letter he wrote to his brethren when assembled in their Yearly Meeting of awakening in the Society a consciousness, that as a Community, it ought to have its own share in missionary effort in Heathen Lands. 240 THE FRIENDS. His appeal led eventually to the formation of a Friends' Foreign Mission Association, under whose auspices Joseph S. Sewell and also Louis and Sarah Street, from America, became its first Missionaries to Madagascar, where now it has a staff of some twenty workers, with Meetings, Schools, printing Establish- ment and Medical mission in the Capital of the Island, and a large area of country, exclusively under its care, influencing, more or less directly, some ■10,000 natives. INDIA. Work in India was commenced by Rachel Metcalf in 1867, who gave her life to the service, and was soon joined by two American Friends, assisted from time to time by various others from England, until now at Hoshungabad, Sohagpur, and Sioni — which are places some 40 miles apart — premises have been obtained or built, such as bungalows, orphanage, mission and meet- ing rooms, all in active use by some twenty workers, who have gone out from England under a sense of being called to this service of love. China is also add-ed to its mission field, where seven men and women Friends are engaged in medical and general mission work with much encouragement, and similar cheer is attending labours of English and American Friends in Japan. TURKEY. In the year 18G0, John Ycardley, who, with his wife, had in years past travelled much on gospel service among the Isles of Greece, felt that some THE FRIENDS. 241 further service was called for from him in the East— which, to one of his advanced years, was a great under- taking. He was only able to reach Constantinople yet here his service was the means of influencing some Armenians ; especially G. Dobrasian (then a young medical student), so as to prove the foundation for a little group that now gather in profession with the Society, and hold meetings for worship regularly, with an attendance up to a hundred or more, comprising members of various races, Armenians, Greeks, Turks Persians, Jews. SYRIA. Friends' share in Syrian Missions commenced with visits paid in the love of the gospel by Eli and Sybil Jones, who held meetings after the manner of Friends, in various places during their travels in Palestine, and amongst those influenced by them was Theophilus Waldmeier, a Swiss, who was engaged at that time in Missionary School-work on Mount Lebanon under Mrs. Mott. He also made the acquaintance of Stafford Allen when travelling there, and found his own views so much in accord with those of Friends that he came to England and joined himself in member- ship with them. Through the interest Hannah Stafford Allen awakened in the cause, they were willing to support him in opening a Mission of their own on Mount Lebanon, and these efforts under Theophilus Waldmeier (who is remembered as once Missionary to King Theodore) have grown from small beginnings into a large work on the 242 THE FRIENDS. valuable property of Ain Salaam, in Brumana, with its training homes and schools, dispensary, and substantial meeting house, well filled at times of worship ; and its congregation have formed themselves into a Monthly Meeting. Some twenty Friends have gone out to conduct this varied and important work ; a few of them at their own charges, but the chief supplies come from voluntary subscriptions of some £1,800 a year. The American Friends have a mission centre of their own, with enbstantial buildings also, some nine miles from Jerusalem, at RamaUah, where Hulda Leighton and others sustain a most useful Christian work. HOME MISSIONS. After this cursory glance at Friends' share in the Foreign Mission Field, it has to be observed that oimultaneous with the awakened activity in such dis- tant service is observable the growth of Home Missions amongst them, which, after existing in more or less direct connection with educational efforts in First-day and Adult Schools have of late years come under the care of a Committee appointed by the Yearly Meeting. These originated through Sabbath School work having awakened an interest on behalf of the Parents of the children thus under Friends' care, and the response found at Leeds and some other towns in efforts made for their religious benefit induced those in London to engraft Home Mission Work on the First-day Schools they had long maintained in Spitalfields, for which some new THE FRIENDS. 243 premises were built and had already been opened when a visitation of cholera drew the sympathetic attention of all England to this afflicted district, and the help that poured in from all quarters led to these buildings being called after good old Peter, the " Bedford Insti- tute," inaugurating its subsequent career of manifold usefulness. About this time, 1865 to '70, some Friends had felt it their duty to hold Meetings in the crowded districts of the East End. A large tent obtained many years before for Samuel Capper — when under religious concern, to hold meetings in country places of our Western Counties — was discovered stored away under a London Meeting-House. This was now set up in a disused Burial Ground in Whitechapel, with such evi- dent blessing that during another summer it was asked for by an earnest promoter of such services (not him- self a Friend), and he set William Booth (then just come to London seeking a sphere of labour) to conduct gospel services in it which proved so successful that this old tent became as a cradle, out of which his future East End work developed into the enormous proportions of the Salvation Army. On William Booth obtaining permanent quarters. Friends shifted the tent to another of their closed Burial Grounds, near Bunhill Fields, where it also attracted, during several summers in succession, various zealous workers, both in and out of the Society, so that when finally wrecked during a heavy storm Friends replaced it by an iron room. In this grew up an Adult 244 TKE FRIENDS. School with other work of so much promise as to lead to the erection at great cost of the fine permanent Memorial Buildings in which all kinds of Mission Work now find excellent accommodation on a site close to where George Fox and other valiants in the Lamb's army were laid to rest. Scarce a town Is there now of any importance throughout England in which the Friends do not own, or have under control, buildings for zealous workers, drawn largely from the younger ranks of their mem- bers, who are doing all they can to make England the better by raising a sober, enlightened, and scripturally instructed population. These are worked by independent and local com- mittees, but on the subject claiming the attention of the Yearly Meeting, it appointed, in 1882, a large Com- mittee of men and women Friends to act as might seem best on its behalf in fostering these eflEorts, and as a result, through funds raised by voluntary subscription, there are some 40 workers who itinerate or settle for a time in districts wherever a need for originating, re- viving, or sustaining School and Mission Avork exists. Thus this Home Mission Work, though a Society organisation, has resulted from Schools, long previously conducted among the wage-earning classes, which themselves became federated under an Association, ot which Joseph Storrs Fry, (who has ably served the Yearly Meeting on fourteen occasions as its clerk,) has been its much esteemed honorary secretarj' from tho commencement. THE FRIENDS. 245 In the junior department of this school work Friends have been followers rather than pioneers, but with this difference that their Schools are for children gathered promiscuously and not as with others, for those whose parents belong to the congregations. Their largely successful efforts in teaching an elder class, having had no previous example, their origin claims our notice. ADULT SCHOOLS. These were commenced at Birmingham in 1845, when Joseph Sturge invited a few young men Friends to his house to discuss whether something could not be done for the instruction and help of those who had reached an age and position beyond the range of an ordinary Sabbath School. It led to a School beic^' commenced for men and grown up lads at the early hour of 7.30 on a First-day morning, and the teacheif, agreed to meet to breakfast half-an-hour earlier, to which repast so long as he lived this good man would come to carve himself the cold ham he supplied. The School grew rapidly in numbers and influence, so much so that a similar work among young women succeeded. Bristol, that long had had one for children, followed the example of this one for Adults. So was it with other places year after year, until through these important accessions the number of attenders has in 1891 reached an aggregate of more than 23,000, with some 800 teachers, at work in 90 different centres, and all this is exclusive of the Junior First-day Schools with their 12,000 teachers and 15,000 children. 24G THE FRIENDS. These varied and extensive efforts are as yet con- ducted on an undenominational basis, so that when fellowships have resulted such are but local in cha- racter and without official connection with the Society. In recent times, however, Home Mission efforts in religious meetings have brought a steady accession ot members, chiefly from a wage-earning class, which has turned the current from a previous yearly declin- ing — or at most stationary position — into one of much hopefulness for the future, by the gain to the Society of those who have not found themselves within it» ranks by accident of birth, but have entered them through personal conviction and attachment to it.s principles. This has a likeness to what we have seen ot Society aggressiveness in its early days, when as now- youthful zeal led the van, encouraged and fostered by elder counsels. Friends have found that they themselves have a work to do amongst the ignorant and poorer classes besides subscribing funds, as has been so long their wont, to assist others in these labours of love. What they are thus doing for London in seven distinct centres involves them in an annual expendi- ture of more than £3,000, and includes Medical Mis- sions, Labour Agencies, a Refuge, and a Forster Home of somewhat of the Deaconness character. The Home Mission Committee of the Yearly Meet- ing raises and expends some £4,000 a year in fostering local efforts over the country. THE FRIENDS. 24:7 The Foreign Mission Association has an annual expenditure of £11,000 and sustains some 50 mission- aries at their -uork, all of which annual outgoings are independent of large amounts that from time to time have been raised to build schools, orphanages, training homes, hospital, medical mission, meeting premises, residences for missionaries, &c. Thus in their way, though small in comparison with the missionary operations of other Christian Bodies yet large in proportion to their own, are the " Friends " of this day found helping on the advent of that time when it shall be said, " the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and ot His Christ." 10 CHAPTER XXYIIl. FRIENDS AS AT PRESENT IN EUROPE AND AUSTRALASIA, rpHE advantages offered in Pennsylvania of political and religious freedom proved so attractive to Friends on the continent of Europe, harassed as they were by army requirements and clerical claims, that a migration ensued which eventually left none remaining of those who had adopted their principles at the rise of the Society. Yet there are still little communities of Friends in Germany, France, and Norway, the origin of which should not be omitted in our survey. Those in Germany resulted from a religious visit in 1790 of George Dillwyn and wife, Sarah Grubb* and her hus- band, with some others who in the course of their travels in Holland and Germany found in Westphalia some spiritually earnest persons who had very much withdrawn from the state worship, and were prepared 10 gather in silence and wait to feel the Lord of all epirits in His direct action on their souls. These were further encouraged by a visit of some duration from John Pemberton, an aged American Friend, who ended his life amongst them, and also at a later period by • She was the daupliter of William Take, and inherited much of lier father's force of character. Siie was said " to have ■combined tlie manners of a duchess witli tlie piety of a saint." THE FRIENDS. 24^ Stephen Grellet whose visit to them was accomplished through manifold difficulties and dangers from conti- nental wars then raging. These with various other aids and visits from English and American Friends con- tributed to a settlement of the Society both at Prymont and Minden, at each of which places it has a meeting- house. Their original members as in England were drawn from various classes, mechanics as well as trades- men, and some of local rank, such as the Von Seebohm family, one of whom, Benjamin Seebohm, settled in England, and became widely known for specially valued gospel services in England and America in furtherance of Friends' views of gospel truth. He was early brough t into this usefulness through Stephen Grellet having enlisted him as his interpreter at the meetings he held. Some of these were large, and on the first occasion the call to such a service was so unexpected that fear pre- vailed, till Stephen, putting his hand on the lad's shoulder, gave him such courage, that, young as he was, he succeeded to admiration in transmitting to the assembly the counsel that flowed from the earnest evangelist. Many of the German Friends have not shrunk from much trial and suffering in maintaining a testi- mony against war — but their families have largely availed themselves of the opportunity given by emigra- tion to avoid military service, consequently the num- bers remaining are few. Most of these are living in Minden, where Louis Rasche is chief representative of •he family of that name which in former time welcomed. 250 THE FRIENDS. Sarah Grubband George Dillwyn on their travels tliither. NORWAY AND DENMARK. There is a Society of Friends in Norway which had its origin under the following circumstances : — In the year 1814 the Friends living at Rochester re- ceived a letter from one of the Norwegian prisoners in a ship of war then lying off Chatham that induced them to pay a visit to the vessel. They found that amongst a number of these captives taken during the war between Denmark and England, were several young men who were in the habit of sitting down together to wait upon the Lord, and to feel his power arise in their hearts which was to them a great preservation from the low- life led by others, and more profitable than uniting in any formal religious service. The leader amongst them was a young Norwegian, the son of a carpenter, who had enlisted on board a Danish Privateer, that had been captured at sea by one of the English cruisers. In his affliction great heart sorrow and repentance ensued, and, though very ignorant as to Scripture truth, he ft'lt the Lord to be near to his spirit, and was surprised on meeting with a copy, in Danish, of Barclay's Apology to find there was a people who owned to a similar experience. It led him to write that letter which he had composed by the aid of a dictionary to the Friends at Rochester. Some of these came to the ships, and until the Peace liberated them they held meetings on board that increased until 30 of the prisoners used to be present three times a week. These, on liberation, THE FRIENDS. 251 dispersed to their various localities, and not many years after Wm. Allen and Stephen Grellet paid them a visit. Thomas Shillitoe spent a long time in going amongst them and encouraging the settlement of meetings, which service after some 24 years was further promoted by three Friends, E. 0. Tregelles, John Budge, and Isaac Sharp, who went there several times. Their number at present is about 140, and though small groups are located in various parts, the greater number live at Stavanger, where they have a school attended by about 20 children. One or two, such as the late Endre Dahl, have been successful in trade, but for the most part they are hardy sons of toil, fervent in spirit and greatly cheered by the visits which are sure to be annually paid them by one or more English and American Friends. Here as elsewhere on the continent, the exactions and restrictions of a State Church and Military Service makes the freedom obtainable in the Western World a superior attraction to the circum- stances of home life, and as facilities increase year by year, the young leave more freely whilst the decease of the elders tends further to diminish this branch of the Society. There are Friends also in Denmark at various places, but not promising much for develop- ment or even of a permanence, as their numbers are too few in any one place for much of successful organization. It is interesting to note that the Danish edition of Barclay before referred to was the work of a Lutheran minister from that country as far back as 1738, who resigned his post of missionary to Danish L^52 THE FRIENDS. sailors on becominrr a Friend, for whose principles he also suffered imprisonment. Several of the Norwegian Friends lived long live.s of faithful dedication, such as Elias Tested and Endre Dah], and one of the earliest of their number thus ex- pressed himself when a prisoner on our men-of-war *' I am convinced by His Spirit that there is a great secret in the word, which no human creature with hi.- own natural powers merely can discover, yet it is opened to those whom the Almighty knows will bo faithful and preserve it in honour, and as it is what cannot be bought with money as other things can, my wish is to preserve His work in a clean heart." Ami in another letter was shown the Power he trusted in for this. " Surely Satan may bite the heel, but as soon as the Spirit of God draws near to me I can fully resist him," FRANCE. Between England and France, through long cen- turies of international jealousies and wars, little com- mtinity of interest on religious subjects existed — oui country becoming more a refuge for the oppressed in politics and religion than able to exert any influence in promulgation of Scripture Truth. Nevertheless, the Society is not without its repi o sentatives on the soil of France, for in the Southern districts an interesting little community of Friendsf has existed there for about a hundred years. It arose through earnest-minded Frenchmen, shocked at the results of the wars waged amongst them THE FRIENDS. 253 .n the name of religion, having had their attention arrested in 1785, by some English Friends, Joseph Fox and Co., of Falmouth, who had advertised for any that might have sustained losses from a vessel of theirs, hav- ing, unauthorised, acted as a privateer. Such conduct towards reputed enemies seemed to these Frenchmen so truly Christian as to make them desirous of learning more of the principles that could prompt and sustain such noble conduct. It led to a corres- pondence, and was followed by a visit to England of one of their number, De Marsillac, of noble birth, who informed Friends that for 60 or 70 years there had existed in these southern parts of France a Protestant community, who held similar views to theirs on worship, ministry, and the unlawfulness of w^ar. When peace made the countrj' accessible, a deputation of Friends visited this little community in 1817, and ever since from time to time English and American ministers have had good service in these parts, and a valuable company of earnest-minded French Friendw resulted with their head quarters at Cogenies and Nismes, and at tlie fortaer are nice Meeting House premises. Amongst these, natural losses by nature's decay have not been replaced by family successions, chiefly thr-jugh emigration of their young men to avoid the pressure of conscription, and consequently the numbers at present residing ther? aa-e but as a remnant. The chief family has been that of the Majolier, and of one of these it is related, that a wolf unexpectedly 254 THE FRIENDS. appeared dose to him in his vineyard ; he felt him- self in great danger, but had an assurance that as ho kept his eye fixed on the intruder he would be in safety, and thus walking slowly backward, with eyes fixed on the voracious beast, ho reached shelter unhurt. This used to be told by his grand-daughter, who was brought over, when but a girl, to England by some Friends, in whose family she lived for many years, and then returned to her home at Nismes. On her marriage some time after to Robert Alsop, they became some of the most widely-known Friends for religious service at home and abroad ; welcome in all social circles, and lovod the more the better they were known. Christine Alsop was in herself a remarkable example of English solidity blended with French vivacity — in a harmony of attractiveness and strength. Although Stephen Grellet was not of this group his career presents a yet more remarkable instance of a character in which the courtesy of a French nobleman influenced by contact with English speaking races both in America and England became manifest in the ranks of spiritual warfare. He never lost the manners of the l)olished gentleman in the consistent Friend, but held them in such combination as to win many cultivated minds to the cause of philanthropy and religion. It was his having searched into the condition of Newgate as already mentioned, that stirred the saintly zeal of Elizabeth Fry to those visits which led to its reforma- tion, and by his love for " dear Stephen" was William Allen led into many a companionship of distant service THE FRIENDS. 255 for their Master in Russia and various other parta of Europe and Asia. AUSTRALASIA. Friends are represented in Australasia by settle ments of their members in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Auck.. land, in New Zealand, amounting in the aggregate to about a thousand members. Those in Tasmania and New South Wales arose through the visits of James Backhouse and G. W. Walker, in 1834, whose self-denying labours, during several years, attracted little groups in each place to adopt Friends' mode of worship, which has been maintained by their descendants and others who have joined them. In Tasmania the families of the Mathers and the Cottons have formed the nucleus ; and a high school for Friends and others, opened at Hobart of late years, is pursuing a prosperous career under the head- mastership of Samuel Clemes and a managing com- mittee of resident Friends. In Sydney an Adult School conducted at the Meeting House is proving a source of much usefulness. The Friends in South Australia reside chiefly in Adelaide, or at Mount Barker, a township in its neigh- bourhood. Most of them came out on the formation of the colony, in or about 1836, many of them from the South Coast towns of England ; Mays and Saunders, Phillips and Colemans, being chiefly represented. Melbourne is the principal centre for the Society 256 THE FRIENDS. in Victoria, where it has commodious premises in a good thoroughfare, erected in 1859, used by some two hundred Friends of various circumstances in life, witi; f imilies growing up around them. It has, like Tasmania., its own Yearly Meeting. The Meeting House at Brisbane, opened in 1866, is not largely attended, but there are amongst them some earnest workers, which may also be said of Rockhamp- ton. The numbers in both places are few, the premises small, but an influence for good is being exerted on those around them. In New Zealand there are on the whole a con- siderable number of residents (nearly 200) more or less connected with the Society, but only in Auckland are these situated in sufficient number to have a Meeting House. In other places, such as Dunedin, the few meet at one another's houses, and at Wellington, Thomas Mason, an old and successful settler in the Hut Valley, bas long held a meeting at his own residence. CHAPTER XXi'X FRIENBS of ENGLAND, IRELAND, NORTH AMERTCj*, AND CANADA IN CONFERENCE ASSEMBLED. XfTHEN Richard Baxter alluded to "Friends" as a divided people wanting in any element of per- manence, lie little expected that the Community he thus affected to despise would two centuries afterwards have become so spread and remained so united as to assemble in Conference through deputies from no less than twelve independent yet corresponding Yearly Meetings in a far distant and at that time unimagined City of the Western World. English, Irish, Canadian, and American were thus represented by ninety-five Delegates of men and women Friends, and the husbands of wife delegates and wives of husbands were admitted to be present, though not allowed to take part in the Sittings of this Conference which assembled in the City of Richmond, Indiana, in September, 1887, and lasted throughout four successive days. Under regulations as to length of time for each speaker, were discussed such subjects as Union in Foreign Mission Work ; the Mission of the Society of Friends, and what is its Message to the World : Meetings for Worship, and the method of conducting them ; the relation of the Ministry to the Church, and of 258 THE FRIENDS. the Chnrch to the Ministry, and how best for the Minis- try to be sustained. These and other similar matters engaged the attention of the Conference throughout eleven sittings, and the proceedings are reported in a published volume of more than 300 pages. Record is made of the feeling of thankfulness for the unity and brotherly condescension that had prevailed throughout in the face of a very free expression of opinion. An important act of the Conference was the pre- paration of a " Declaration of some of the Fundamental Principles of Christian Truth as held by the religious Society of Friends," drawn (as expressed by J. B. Braithwaite, Chairman of the Committee appointed for the purpose) from documents that had passed the various Yearly Meetings. Thus accredited, it may be taken, not only as the latest but most comprehensive statement of the kind, amounting almost to a Treatise, which must necessarily be presented here in a very abbreviated form. It refers througliout its course to not less than 147 passages of scripture in support of its statements which are ranged under these sixteen heads : — Of God — the Lord Jesus Christ — the Holy Spirit — the Holy Scrip- tures — Man's Creation and Fall — Justification and Sanctification — the Resurrection and Final Judgment — Baptism— the Supper of the Lord— Public Worship — Prayer and Praise — Liberty of Conscience in its Rela- tion to Civil Government — Marriage — Peace — Oaths — the First Day of the Week. THE FRIENDS, 259 The first clause is as follows : — "We believe in one Holy, Almighty, Allwise, and everlasting God, the Father, the Creator, and Preserver of all things, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, by whom all things were made and by whom all things consist ; and in one Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, the Reprover of the World, the Witness for Christ, and the Teacher, Guide, and Sancti- fier of the people of God, and that these three are one in the Eternal Godhead, to whom be honour, praise, and thanksgiving now and for ever. Amen. The testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ is very full and will be found explicit as to His being true God and perfect man, in whom alone we have redemption and remission of sins by virtue of His most satisfactory sacrifice, who, having shown Himself alive after His pas- sion hath ascended into Heaven. He is the one Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant, able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him ; the head of the true church, all its members made one in Him. In their hearts He dwells by faith and gives them of His peace. His will is their law, and in Him they enjoy the true liberty, a freedom from the bondage of sin. The Holy Spirit coming in the name and with the authority of the risen and ascended Saviour takes the things of Christ and shews them as a realized posses- sion to the believing soul, and is the seal of recon- ciliation to the believer in Jesus, the witness to his adoption into the family of the redeemed. No principle of spiritual light, life, or holiness is 260 THE FRIENDS, owned as inherent by nature in the mind or heart, but a capacity to receive the influence of the Holy Spirit of God without whose quickening and illumination, neither conscience or reason discern aright of the deep things of God and Christ. The Hall/ Scriptures are regarded as the only divinely authorised record of the doctrines which we are bound as Christians to accept, and of the moral principles which are to regulate our actions, and what- ever anyone says or does contrary to the Scriptures, though under profession of the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, must be reckoned and accounted a mere delusion. The great Inspirer of Scripture is ever its true Interpreter, not by superseding our under- standings but by enlightening them that the humble disciple may discern the unity, many sidedness, and harmony of its testimony to Christ. Man created capable of holding communion with his Maker, free to obey or disobey the divine law, fell into transgression under the temptation of Satan, and all mankind as partakers of his nature are involved in the consequences. To every member of every suc- cessive generation the words " ye must be born again " are applicable, yet is not sin imputed where there has been no sufficient capacity to understand the divine law, and thus infants are saved through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Justification is of God's free grace, who, upon re- pentance and faith, pardons our sins. Sanctification is experienced, as the pardoned sinner through faith in THE FRIENDS. 2G1 Christ is clothed with a measure of His righteousness, sufficient to deliver from the power as well as from the guilt of sin, yet is he still liable to temptation, and able only to follow holiness through constant depend- ence upon his Saviour. Not only is a resurrection in Christ from a sinful state believed in here, but a rising and ascending into glory with Him hereafter, that when he at last appears we may appear with Him in glory at the final Judg- ment, when the wicked shall be separated from those that are justified. One Baptism is believed in, even that whereby all believers are baptised in the one spirit into the one body ; not an outward but a spiritual experience, transforming the heart and settling the soul upon Christ. The Supper of the Lord needs no ritual or priestly intervention. They truly partake who rest upon the sufferings and death of their Lord as their only hope, and to whom the indwelling Spirit gives to drink of the fulness that is in Christ, It is this inward and spiritual partaking that is believed in as the true Supper of the Lord. Worship is the adoring response of the heart and minds to the influence of the Spirit of God. It stands neither in forms nor in the formal disuse of forms ; it may be without words as well as with them, but it must be in spirit and in truth. Preaching is believed to be divinely appointed as one of the chief means for the awakening and con- 4iC mMttwtmkf mm i^ft MM ^ mliwtf B n ^ B . t9 4«»ffw4 fmrn^mOf im» di« OmoI B«Ml «f Urn l» ffc# yf Wfrta jpp «l Hm JMfflfMt H Im^mtm m Widlmi^0 fm» ffsmatj, win 1m 0tSllpraMn^ Him, Ui0ilm4mtf(dCil»fi0lkm§i0f^1imiifm«tmtiiM M«r sXii f t^am t t l» G^ wkm(» wmtMf mnilH Is tifwinry Marriage in » m^ i mm 4m^p M &smm% im IMW, wA * IB^fli CTVII tfMMPSMly MM IWP \\M\%\\\\\ mv\\\U\v< Mui)(ii)^«i tu iMty tti''r| wt (M (IttntiliitiliMiH, mill i«» til Miiit huDlamllMM, vvlilht' ^ii(iu) nHVi> tiilM|i(t)i( ill, tiiliHi'tai (liitu hiiiiiliiii Yi)«Ml,v Moutiiig, wliioh IiimI \wl hh lliu IIDHll fill rilltllDI llt>t>|il|ill|l|||t) III' lit) liolil)!') IlitVO |l)flllllll>l| htiMi tl|l|)|t>NH|l|^ II jlllljilllOlll , lllMlll^ll, tl() Im IIiI) t>M|l|l)|t)||l'l) lUoJI', jl^ luiiijil liiiol '' IIkiI lilt) mcjiilltii III' ily iIdIiIiuuMmiii) Will liu |ihiiiimII(u of lilt) wtill'iut) III' lliu Hnnjol.v," CHAPTER XXX. CONCLUSION. TTNWORTHY would it be of a religious society if these views of the nature and history of "The Friends" were offered with any other object than a desire to make apparent that principle of life which has proved j^t^eservative of it amid circumstances of the f^ravest peril from within and without, and endued it with Q, /legibility capable of adjustments to meet social changes throughout seven generations. That principle may be described in the declaration of an apostle " that the grace of God in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath appeared unto all men, teaching them that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world looking for the cqjpeai'ing of the great God our Saviour, who shall change our vile body so that it shall be like unto His glorious body accord- ing to the working, whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. The appearing thus described has to the " Friend " a threefold aspect of Past, Present, and Future, united with a special sense of the Present blessings opened to the believing soul by the Lord's great work in the i)iist, whereby He now enters by His spirit into the willing heart as into His temple of old. It is for this, His THE FRIENDS. 265 Bpiritual appearance the Friend worshipfally waits, nd in its realization finds strength in the present, hope for the future. This consciousness of the Lord's presence in the heart is attended not only with a sense of sins forgiven, but also of His divine power to save/>'om sin and over- come in the hour of temptation, even by that power whereby He is found to subdue all things in the be- liever's heart unto Himself. The Friend has called this blessedness by various biblical terms of Light, Life, and Seed, and felt its free- dom for all men without limitation of Race, Colour, or Creed, with an absolute independence of ritual or cere- monial observance of any kind. He claims the holy scriptures as witnessing to this, and to their being in themselves a divinely appointed guide for obtaining this blessing. He regards no church arrangements — however ancient — as any other than 7ie//;.s to, as distinct from repositories of, this divine grace. For his trust is in the Lord alone, of whose life-giving virtue he is, he Ijelieves, as much a partaker as were those whose fleshly ailments He healed in the days of His ap- pearance as man to men. Such are the blessings the Friend conceives were opened to all by His ^^ finished " work which effected an unification with all men, who, left to themselves, have no true life. Thus is made possible to the believer an inward healing of spirit, and an infelt power over sin, through partaking by faith of His 266 THE FRIENDS. resurrection life. A direct access is recognised as having been thereby opened for every spirit unto the Lord of all spirits, that the Lord Himself may be known as the True Minister of the Sanctuary, that teacheth as never man can teach, and teacheth also one to minister unto another with a divine anointing no human training or consecration can confer. Thus truly looking " unto Jesus " in all His blessed offices, the Friend in his worship is not dependent on any human arrangements or human ministry, and yet never throughout the two centuries of his chequered course has he been without a stream of ministry in a true apostolic succession, founded on the same qualifi- cations as enabled fishermen and sons of toil, in primitive times, to become witnesses of Gospel bless- ings in a risen and ever jjresent Saviour. No other church, it has been said, has had more ministers amongst them, in proportion to their num- bers, than '' the Friends," a result wholly independent of any outward inducements, and often entailing much personal sacrifice in worldly advancement, ease, or comfort. Whilst with others a submission to some rite or ceremony becomes imperative for entrance into the covenanted blessings of the Gospel, no such restriction obtains with one who, like the Friend, believes in our Lord having by his voluntary death so united Himself to mankind as to have made all men, in virtue of birth, free to partake of the fountain of spiritual life, opened for us in him. Whilst with so many others there is a belief in a THE FRIENDS. 2G7 divinely appointed organization as the root of a Christ- ian's privilege, with the Friend all organization is the fruit of his faith in the ever present guidance of his living, loving Lord and Saviour, that such means as will truly serve the Society's welfare may be changed or adopted as altered circumstances require. Through this dependence great changes in arrange- ments have been safely efEected, with a flexibility far removed from dogmatic adherence to custom or pre- cedent. "I like this ^nqv^ flexibility^'' said David Updegraff at the Richmond Conference (himself a descendant of those emigrating Germans who first protested against slavery), " it is a true, good, blessed word, and it belongs to the Society of Friends, and if it had not been for the flexibility that God has given us by the presence of His Spirit and the power of His truth, we should have been broken into a thousand fragments long ago. But we have stood the storms of many a conflict, and passed through them in love and Christian charity. As to outward life, the Friend whilst bearing his share in all legally imposed contributions to a State ministry, has not availed himself of its service, he has not brought his children to the /S'^ai'e-provided font for assumed deliverance from original sin ; nor submitted to the touch of an Episcopal hand that he might come for spiritual nourishment to the State's altar ; his daughters have been content to take their husbands' pledge in marriage without any State official's aid ; nor has such been sought for under other circumstances of 268 THE FRIENDS. life, or in the hour of approaching death, having felt satisfied in committal of dust to dust, without any State- sanctioned requiem at the tomb. The Friend has provided his own burial grounds, built his own meeting-houses, kept his own registries t)f marriages, births, and burials, maintained his own poor, and educated their offspring, without any lessen- ing of his contribution to the public establishments, and without seeking their aid. For with all this independence no exclusiveness has resulted, either in withholding sympathy, or shar- ing by personal effort, in whatever might promise to foster good, resist evil, or redress wrongs. " Almost every crusade" (to use the words of George Gillett at the Richmond Conference) " for relieving the sin and suft'ering of the world has had for its pioneers members of the Society of Friends, and has been sustained by the gifts and self denying work of its members, who have gone out to work in the service and love of Him who has redeemed them." The Friend is one who has endeavoured to live at peace with all men, to seek for the good of all, and love the good in all. Thus it is rare for his name to ai)pear in lawsuits, for differences with his brethren are the subject of ad- justment by arbitration rather than litigation. Seldom have the officers of justice had to seek his dwelling on a criminal charge, and the few sad instances that have occurred, owe much of their notoriety to their in- frtMluoncy. THE FRIENDS. 269 Surely the followers of this principle of life in Christ Jesus our Saviour have manifested His presence and power in an outward conduct in life, both varied and prolonged, and have shown how — through diviiu- assistance — there may be a "living holily, justly, and unblamably," amid the activities and trials incident to a thorough participation in social, commercial and industrial life. " In busy lane or crowded mart Plying their daily tasks with busier feet, Because their inmost souls a holy strain repeat." Any fresh sense of this arising from a review of their history and organization will, it may be hoped , stir all to come more and more into that personal realization of the present appearing in the heart "of the great God our Saviour," whereby a consciousness arises of power for good and power against evil, not of man, nor of submission to man-administered Cere- monial, however ancient, nor of faith in man's elabor- ated creeds. In closing this imperfect review it may be allow- able to revert to the scene with which it commenced, and stand as it were beside the solitary traveller on that Lancashire Mount of observation. What he saw in 2Jrospective gaze — of a great people, white in their raiment, a prepared people — we now see in retro- spective glance to have been realised in the benefi- cent course of the Society. From Pendle Hill to a Richmond of the American Prairies is as far as the East is from the West, and so 270 THE FRIENDS. far throughout two centuries and more of time, has the Community which that Leicestershire shepherd was commissioned to inaugurate, flowed in its beneficent course. It burst forth like a Jordan at once, a full and rushing river that no rocks of persecution could stay, nor has its wide expansion over level ground arrested its living impulse, but rather self-reformation has sent it onward in fertilising channels of many sided philanthropy, until now its share in modern Christian effort keeps it from being lost in fruitless admiration of a past career. Happily the present Generation is yielding proof of this in Word and Deed, and one who is himself an earnest worker, and whose ancestry is from the region George Fox thus overlooked, has claimed that Friends are possessed of six special weapons that qualify them in a particular way for the evangelisation of the 1. Their belief that God has a witne.ss for Himself in the soul of every human being. 2. Their belief in the immediate and direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. 3. Their belief that Salvation may be obtained through Christ alone. 4. Their disuse of outward Rites and Ceremonies. 5. The absence of a paid ministry. 6. Their democratic form of Church Government. May all these efi'orts be conducted on the basis of the Divine injunction, " One is your Master, even THE FRIENDS. 271 Christ, and all ye are brethren," with the aim and result of yet bringing a "prepared," people, able themselves to say, "We were rothing, Christ is all." For — as the Yearly Meeting has expressed it — "Union with Him is Life, Separation from Him is Death. INDEX. Aberdeen, Friends in, 72. Aborigines' Protection Society, 192. Ackworth School, 171-174. Adult Schools, Commencement of, 245 " Advices," 165. Aldam, Thomas, 28, 38 Allen, Stafford, 241. Allen, William, 189, 218. Alsop, Christine, 254. Ames, Wilham, 34, 94, 95. Amsterdam, Friends' Meeting in, 97. "Apology," Barclay's, 75. Arbitration, 216. Armistead, William, 136. Armstrong, William, 137. Arscott, Alexander, 40. Art, Friends and, 231. Atkinson, Aaron, 135. Audland, John, 34. Austin, Ann, 45. Australasia, Friends in, 265. Backhouse, James, 238, 255. Bangs, Benjamin, 40. Banister, Mary, 136. Baptism, Friends' belief about, 261. Barbadoes, 97. Barclay, Christiana, 45. Barclay, David, 73. Barclay, Robert, 75. Barclay's "Apology," 75, 250. Barnardiston, Giles, 35. Barrow, Robert, 135. Barry, John Thomas, 192. Benizet, Anthony, 198, 200. Bedford, Peter, 190. Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 140. Boston Persecutions, The, 107. Bownas, Samuel, 136. Braddock, Thomas, 88. Brewin, WilHam, 239. Bright, John, 195. Brisbane, Friends in, 356. British and Foreign Bible Society, 194. British and Foreign School Society, 189. Brumana, Missions at, 242. BunhiU Fields, Work in, 243. Bunyan, John, 67. Burial of George Fox, 143. Burnyeat, John, 28, 37. Burrough, Edward, 28, 29, 30, 52, 83, 84. Buttery, Isabel, 45. Buxton, Anna, 185. Buxton- Sir Thomas FowelL 188. Callowhill, Hannah, marries William Penn, 131. Camm, John, 35. Capital Punishment, Friends and, 89. 192. Capper, Samuel, 243. Carver, Richard, 65. Caton, William, 36. Character Sketches of Early Friends, 28. Charles II., Accession of, 46. Children, 163, 167. China, Friends' Mission in, 240. Churchman, John, 138. Clark, Mary, 109. Clarkson, Thomas, 188. Clergy, 2,000 dispossessed, 46. Clibborn, John, 87. Coale, Josiah, 36. Cromwell, George Fox's interview with, 33. 274 Pahl, Endre, 251, 252. Dalton, John, 230. Deaths of Friends in Prisons, G5. Declaration of Allegiance and Fidelity, 144. Declaration of Faith by Friends in Barbadoes, 98. Declaration of Faith at the Rich- mond Conference, 258-2G3. Devonshire House Premises, The, 154. Dewsbury, William, 35, 51. Dickenson, James, 40, 137. Dilhvyn, George, 139. Direct access to God open to all, 2GG. Directory, The, 14, 25. Discipline, Origin of Friends', 55, 145-147. Distinctive characteristics, 271. Dobbs, John, 89. Doctrine, 159, 258-263. Downer, Ann, 45. Dyer, Mary, 109. East End of London, Friends' work in, 243. Edmundson, William, 82, 86. Education, 169, 189. I'vlders, 57. I'lllerton, Mary 136. ]'>llis, Lewis, 44. Kllis, William, 135. Kllwood, Thomas, 51. Eminent Men connected with Friends, 233. Emlen, Samuel, 138. Kngineers among ]<'riends, 232. ]';-faugh, John, 136. l-'aith. Declaration of, 258-263. Farnsworth, Richard, 28. I'arrington, Abraham, 138. I'Y'll, Judge, 5, 8. I'ell, Margaret, 5-7, 140, 141. Fifth IMonarchy Men, 47. First Preaching Friends, Names of, 28. Fisher, RLary, 45, 108. Fiaher, Samuel, 36. Flexibility, 267. Foreign Service, 92. Forster, Josiah, 185. Forster, William, 184. Forster, William Edward, 195. Fothergill, Dr. John, 171. Fothergill, John, 136. Fox, George, 1, 8, 10, 11, 14-19, 36, 56, 85, 99, 113, 114, 140-143. France, Friends in. 252. Friends' Foreign Mission Associ- ation, 240, 245. Fry, Elizabeth, 191. Gaols, 4,230 Friends in, 51. Condition of, 51. Gkouqe I., Accession of, 69. Germany, Friends in, 94, 240. Gill, Roger, 135 Graham, James, 137. Grellett, Stephen, 238, 249, 25A. Grubb, Sarah, 240. Gurney, Josejih John, 183. Gurney, Priscilla, 188. Hale, Sir Matthew, 142. Halhead, IMiles, 39. Hat, Non-removal of, 23. Henderson, Patrick, 136. Hicks, Elias, 177. Hicksite and Orthodox, 179. HijKiley, Henry, 239. Hobart Friends' School, 255. Hodgkin, Dr. Thomas, 192. Holland, Friends in, 94. Geo. Fox in, 96. Holy Spirit, Friends' belief about the, 259. Home Life of Friends, 234-'_'36. Home Mission Work, 242, 244. Home Mission Committee, 246. Hooton, Elizabeth, 45. Howgill, Francis, 28, 36, 83. Hubberthorn, Richard, 39, 52. Hunt, William. 45. India, Friends' Mission in, S-0. Indians, Treatment of, by I-vnn, 126-8. INDEX. 275 Industrial Pursuits of Friends, 221. Insane, Treatment of, by Friends, 207, 209. Ireland, Early Friends in, 82. " Modern Friends in, 90, 214. Persecutions in, 85. Jacob, Elizabeth, 90. Jaffray, Alexander, 72. Jaffray, Andrew, 78. Jamaica, 99. James II., 67. Jeffrey, Russell, 239. Journal of George Fox, 99. Justification, Doctrine of, 360. Keith, George, 77. King, F. T., 218. Lancaster, Joseph, 189. Langdale, Josiah, 135. Langworth, Roger, 135. Latey, Gilbert, 60. Law Proceedings, Friends' objec- tion to, 146. Lay, Benjamin, 199. Lectures as a means of Religious Instruction, 31. Leddra, William, 110. Legal Profession, Friends in the, 231. Lightfoot. Michael, 138. Lindsay, Robert, 239. Literature, Friends laominenti in, 232. Liturgy forbidden, 31. Liturgy restored, 46. Living Rooms in Meeting Houses, 61. Livingston, Patrick, 76. Lloyds, The, in Pennsylvania, 138, Lodge, Robert, 37. Loe, Thomas, 37, 119. Logan, James, 139. London, Distress of, after the Fire, etc., 53. Liends and. 188. 190, 200. Association for Abolition of. 201. Appeal of the Yearly Aleeting respecting, 202. Speech, Peculiarity of Friends', 2;v Spitalfields. Work in. 243. Springett, Sir W., 122. Stanton, Daniel, 138. State of England, 31. Statistics of Early Friends in London, 20. of Early Friends in Prisons, 51. of Deaths of Friends in Prisons, 51, 52. of I'ersecutions, 65, 8."). oi American Friends, 100. of Adidt .Si'hools, 245 Stevenson. MarnL-idukc, 101). Story, Christoplier, 40. Story of George Fox, 114. Stubbs, John, 36. SufferingsofFriendsunderCharl s IL, 0.-). in Ireland, S'l INDEX. 277 summary of the Friend's faith and character, 2G4. Swarthmore Hall, 5. Syria, Friends in, 241. Taylor, Christopher, 38. Taylor, Thomas, 38. Temperance Movement, The, 193 Thompson, Thomas, 135. Tested, Ehas, 252. Transportations of Friends, 65. Treaty, Penn's, 128. Trotter, Benjamin, 138. Tuke, Samuel, 185. Turkey, Friends' work in, 240 Turner, John, 137. Turner, Thomas, 136. Tyler, Jonathan, 135. United States Constitution, Friends' Influence on, IDo. Waldemier, Theophilus, 241. Waldenfield, 39. Walker, G. W., 238,255. Wain, Nicholas, 139. War, Friends' Testimony against, 211-220,262. ~^ George Fox's Feeling about William Penn and, 213. Friends' Philanthropic Part in, 215. The American, 218. Heroic Testimony against, Warden, £^alph, 135. Wenlock, Ooristison, 110. West Indies, Friends in, 97. Wheeler, Daniel, 239. White, Joseph, 138. Whitehead, George, 28, G3, 64, G6, 67, 68, 69, 70. » . . "^ Widders, Robert, 28. Wilkinson, Samuel, 136. William and Mary, Accession of, Williams, Roger, 102. Women Friends, Early, 45, 07. Influence of, 15G. ~ — : Provided with a Meetmg House, 155. "Woodhouse," Voyage of the, 103-105. Woolman, John, 138, 198, 200. Worship, 160, 261. Yeardley, John and Martha, 23'J. 240. ' Yearly Meeting, Manner of Con- ducting, 148. Young Friends, Service of, 45, 157. 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