i:H^iLi.^:>ui:;ikirii!i ACQUIRED BY EXCHANGE THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS: ITS FAITH AND PRACTICE. The Society of Friends: Its Faith and Practice, BY JOHN S. R.OWNTREE. '¦As the ministers of Christ are made by Him, and are like Him, so they beget people into the same likeness. To be like Christ then, is to be a Christian." — William PeAn's "Reflections and Maxims," (467 — 468) LONDON : HEADLEY BROTHERS, 14, BISHQPSGATE STREET WITHOUT, E.G. 1901. 1^0 NOTE. The form of ihe following statement has to some extent been determined by the character of the audiences to which its subject matter was first addressed, the representatives of three classes usually being present ; — Friends and those attending their schools and meetings, members of other denominations, and persons outside the churches. To all these I have endeavoured to make clear the standpoint of the Society of Friends, and ivhilst fully recognising that great modesty befits its spokesman, to show that it yet has a message of the highest significance, one much required by this age, to its own people, to sister churches, and to the non-Christian, world. By the introduction of illustrative notes and memoranda, an endeavour has been made to supply materials for ihe further investiga tion or consideration of points, necessarily very briefly dealt with in traversing so wide a field as that of the faith and practice of Friends. To those who have given valuable help in reading the proofs of the following pages, correcting errors and pointing out omissions, tlie Author makes his grateful acknowledgments. J. S. R. HID. CONTENTS, I. — Historical Introduction. Religious condition of the British people at accession of Henry viii, The awakening of the Protes'tant Reformation Establishment of Schools, translation of Scriptures The earthly alloy in the Reformation External views of religion entertained by Elizabeth and James i The Puritans — their religious and civil aspirations Daring their rule the Friends arose ... Puritan England : its excellencies and spiritual deficiencies II. — The Faith and Polity of the Friends. The Children of Light, 1647 ; did not wish to form a sect Derivation of " Children of Light," " Quakers," " Friends " Drew together through spiritual affinity Their first bond of union a common sense of the Divine nearness to man They claimed to have received no fresh revelation " Primitive Christianity revived " Did not imply an abandonment of fundamental Gospel truth .. Doctrinal belief not formulated in creed or catechism, funda mental conception of religion being that of a life, rather than of an intellectual belief Holy Scripture — attitude towards ... Individual responsibility, the sense of recovered ... Spiritual character of the Kingdom of Christ PAGE I id. 4 6 id. 7 id. 8 id. 9 id. II 1415 Vlll contents. The Friends' polity fashioned according to this . conception leaves no room for a sacerdotal caste Universal priesthood of Christian disciples Congregational worship : the place of Silence ... ... .... The Christian Ministry, not a distinct profession, its characteristics Women's Ministry Reality in religion P'orms of prayer not employed Singing Mission and Teaching meetings Church government by a series of synods open alike to men and women, ... ... ... ... Their duties and functions ... ... ... ' ... Church officers, Ministers' Elders, Overseers PAGE i6 17 1819 2122 id. id.id. 23 id. 24 III. — Christian Life and Practice. Ecclesiastical demands resisted ... ... ... ... ... 24 No part of human conduct outside Christian obligation, henc^, trade, dress, amusements, come within the range of religious ¦practice ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 25 Language to be truthful, reverent, pure ... ... ... ... 28 Scruples affecting' language ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 Universal truthfulness removes the object of Oaths ... ... id. Sufferings consequent on refusal to swear, ..: ... ... ... 30 The Affirmation, gradual extension of its scope ... ... ... id. Greater truthfulness of affirmed tlian of sworn evidence ... ... id. The peaceable nature of the Kingdom of Christ ... ... ... 31 Un-Christian character of war ... ... ... ... ... j,d. Patriotism, Christian different from Pagan or Jewish ... ... 33 Religious liberty a necessity of spiritual religious life ... ... id. Slavery and the oppression of subject races incompatible with the brotherhood of man ... ... ... ... ... ... 35 Philanthrophy a necessary outcome of vital Christianity... ... 36 The Friends' profession esserCtially affirmative ... ... ... id. Holy seasons ... ... ... ... ... ... ;.. ... 38 Sacraments ... ...... ... ... ... ... ... id. Conclusion ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 42 contents. IX IV. — NpTES. PAGE Note A, Numerical strength of Friends at different periods ... 45 B, Doctrinal Statements : the Richmond Declaration ... id. C,- John^ Morley on " Cromwell's Bible " ' 58 D, London Yearly .Meeting's General Advices and Queries 59 E, Advices to Office Bearers, and Queries ... ... ... 62 F, John Woolman's Journal ... ... ...' ... ... 64 G. London Y. M. on War, igoo ... 65 Chronological Memoranda ... ... ... ... ... ..- 69 AUTHORITIES. The official documents of any society necessarily possess an authority superior to that derived from any other source. The official publica tions of London Yearly Meeting of Friends comprise four editions of its printed "Book of Discipline," (1783, [802, 1834, 1861,) in addition to that now in use published in 1883 ; two volumes of Epistles, 1681 to 1857, published 1858 ; and some forty volumes of printed reports of proceedings and minutes since 1859. The literature relating to the History, Faith, and proceedings of the Society of Friends is very extensive. An indispensable guide to this literature is Joseph Smith's " Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books," 2 vols., 1867, supplement, 1893. We can but mention a few of the works most suitable for reference by those wishing for further informa tion respecting Friends, HISTORIES. Sewel's History of the Society of Friends, 1722. Gough's do. do. do. i759- Creese, Gerard, Historica Quakeriana, 1685: English translation, i6g6. Abstract of the sufferings of the Quakers, by Joseph Besse, 1753. The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall, Webb, 1865. The Penns and Peningtons, Webb, 1867. Barclay's Inner Life of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth. Bowden's History of Friends in America. Marsden's Histories of the Early and Later Puritans. Neal's History of the Puritans : 1517 — 1688. Stoughton's History of Religion in England. Burnet's History of Our Own Time. Bancroft's History of the United States. London Friends' Meetings, Beck ^pd Ball, i86g. Xl BIOGRAPHIES. " Tlieir biographies open a mine of unfailing Christian and social interest." W. E. Gladsto.ne. George Fox's Journal, many editions; see that of 1891, 2 vols. Memoirs of George Fox, by Henry Tuke, 1813 ; W. and T. Evans, 1837: Josiah Marsh, 1847; S. M. Janney, 1853; Rev. John S. Watson, i860 ; A. C. Bickley, 1868 ; Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., 1S96. Biographies.' of William Penn, by Clarkson, Janney, Stoughton, Hepworth Dixon, &c. ; the Story of William Penn, by Francis E. Cook, Headley Brothers, 1899. Journal of Thomas Ellwood, many editions. Memoirs of George Whitehead, 1725; Re-published 1830. Life of John Bunyan, by Brown, may be usefully compared. John Woolman's Journal, many editions ; that with introduction by John G. Whittier recommended ; also that of 1899, London, Headley Brothers. Piety Promoted, (many volumes) contains biographical memorials of Friends ; as also The Annual Monitor, published annually since 1813. Memoirs of Elizabeth Fry. Memoirs ol Joseph J. Gurney, by J. B. Braithwaite, 2 vols. Memoirs of Stephen Grellet, 2 vols, by Benjamin Seebohm. Life oi William Allen, 3 vols. 1847, memoir by Jas. Sherman, i vol. 1851. DOCTRINAL. Epistles of George Fox, London, 1698. An abridgment edited by Samuel Tuke, 1825. 'Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the same is held forth and preached by the people, called in scorn, Quakers, Robert Barclay, 1678. The Anarchy of the Ranters, by Robert Barclay, 1676. " The Works of the Long-Mournful and sorely distressed Isaac Penington," 1681. Many subsequent editions. The Principles of Religion, as professed by the Society of Christians usually called Quakers, by Henry Tuke, 1805. Smith enumerates twelve editions. The Distinguishing Views and Practices of the Society of Friends, Joseph J. Gurney, 1834 Quaker Strongholds, Caroline E. Stephen. The Society of Friends, in " Our Churches," Thos. Hodgkin, D.C.L. ESSAYS, LECTURES, &c. Article on George Fox, in National Dictionary of Biography, Alex. Gordon. Ditto, in EncylopiEdia Britannica, by J. S. Black. George Fox, his Character and Doctrine, Edward Ash, M.D., 1873. Man's Restoration, W. Brown, i860, contains a careful examination of G. F.'s theological views. Bicentenary Lecture on George Fox (with portrait), Jos. B. Braithwaite, 1891. Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics, vol. 2, contains a thoughtful discussion of the theology of George Fox. Social Aspects of Christianity, Westcott. Social Aspects of the Quaker Faith, E. Grubb ; London, Headley Brothers, 1899. Clarkson's Portraiture of Quakerism, 1806 ; Reprinted with altera tions, 1847. The Quakers, A Study by F. Storrs Turner, 1889. (Reference Library of . IJ^QIAJNA YEAfRLY MEETIJsfQ of Friends, .//o. ....,,,.... THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS fTS FAITH AND PRACTICE. T WISH to set forth, simply and concisely, the present-day faith and practice of the Religious Society of Friends. Within the space at my disposal it will not be possible, to sketch the history of the Society, but the standpoint of the Friends can hardly be understood without some acquaint ance with the times when they arose a? a people. If we were proposing to discuss Jewish, Buddhist, or Moham medan faith and practice, it would be needful to consider the circumstances under which each of these systems was born. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION. Let us then carry back our thoughts to the days of the Tudors, and recall the state of religion in this country when Henry VIII. came to the throne in 1509. Its outward form was everywhere the same. From the Land's End to the northern-most village in Scotland, the usages in all the churches were very much like those in Roman Catholic chapels to-day. The churches, abbeys, cathedrals, monas teries, nunneries, were the most splendid buildings in the land, and the rites observed in them were no less splendid. In these rites the priests did almost everything ; the people were spectators, hardly auditors, as they did not understand the language of the prayers and chants. Their part was to pay for christenings, weddings, burials, confessions, indulgences, masses ; they were taught that through the priesthood alone could men come to God. The primary idea of the Christian religion as a power whereby men were made Christlike had been almost lost.i If anyone was reported to have become religious it did not mean that he had become a good man, but that he had joined a monastic 1 " The Church had wandered far from the hillsides of Galilee, on which peasant crowds listened to the simple words of life and love. It had become dogmatic, sacramental, ceremonial, thaumaturgic, sacerdotal, hierarchical, papal. It had framed for itself a body of casuistry and a penitential tariff of sin. It had set up the confessional and the influence which to the confessional belongs. It had invented purgatory and masses for the dead. It had imbibed into its own veins not a little of the polytheism which it slew, worshipping the Virgin and the saints, adoring relics, practising pilgrimage. It had borrowed from the East asceticism and set up the ascetic ideal. It had adopted clerical celibac)', severing the clergy from the commonwealth and the home. It had become intolerant and persecuting. Instead of subsisting by the free will offerings of the faithful, as in its early days, it subsisted by compulsory tithes, using the arm of force to collect them. By receiving grants from feudal princes, it had become incorporated into the feudal system, and its chief pastors had become feudal lords, sometimes feudal soldiers, often ministers and courtiers of the powers of the feudal world." (Goldwin Smith's " Political History," vol I, pp. 35, 36.) order. Erasmus tells us how unable he was to make people understand that the calling of a schoolmaster was religious. Many of the priests — everywhere unmarried — were men of bad lives. The masses of the people were ignorant, few could read, books were scarce and dear. The early years of the sixteenth century, stirred by the progress of geographical discovery, the revival of Greek learn ing, and the growing work of the printing press, witnessed a wondrous awakening in the minds and consciences of men. Great schools were founded by Colet and others ; the Bible, translated into nervous English by William Tyndale, was widely read. The Spirit of God was visiting many hearts, and persons of every rank and station found the forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ, and left off seeking sal vation in ceremonies, and in trying to do the work of God by proxy. But earthly alloy largely entered into that great movement which we call the Protestant Reformation. Rulers like the last of the Tudors and the first of the Stuarts, are apt chiefly to regard religion as a power through which they can govern their peoples or strengthen their kingdoms. Elizabeth and James I. continually restrained the zeal of the more earnest and spiritually minded reformers. THE PURITANS. In their reigns the Puritan party arose and grew power ful, anxious to carry forward the Reformation, to simplify the forms pf the national worship, and to bring all the usages of religion closer to the Scriptural pattern. The Puritans stood for civil liberty, as well as for Scriptural religion, both causes combining to bring on the contest between Charles I. and the Parliament, which resulted in throwing the government of Great Britain into Puritan hands for nearly r twenty years. It was during these years that the Friends arose ; not, be it observed, in an age when religion was neglected, as it was a century later when Methodism arose, but at a time when religion held the foremost place in human thought, speech, and action. The Puritans, ultimately dividing into three principal bodies — the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents — were intensely earnest ; they had amongst them some of the noblest men and the purest-minded women whom- England has ever seen. They strove to make the whole nation religious after their own pattern. Public worship was con ducted much after the fashion of Presbyterian Scotland to-day. Sunday was strictly observed; there were no Saints' days ; mince pies were not eaten at Christmas, nor village sports celebrated on May-day. Music was much practised in Puritan households, but the drama was disapproved, and the theatres were closed. Everywhere human life wore a grave and sober air. Although it is now fashionable to speak lightly of the Puritans, the world's indebtedness to them can hardly be over estimated. And yet many persons were unable to accept their presentation of religion. I speak not of the worldly, the pleasure seekers, or the vicious, who naturally resented their strictness ; but spiritually-minded men rebelled against the formalism which succeeded to the zeal and tenderness of the early Puritans, when war and state policy had' debased the piety of their successors. The Reformation had lessened the power of the priesthood, yet Milton discovered, under the rule of the Long Parliament, 1 that " New presbyter was but old priest writ large ; " j and then, as in the days of Archbishop Laud, The hungry sheep looked up, and were not fed. From other sources we learn that men were yearning to feel Christ closer to their spirits, a Saviour from the power as well as from the guilt of sin, a Comforter in their sorrows, a Guide in their perplexities, to know His Gospel a real glad tidings to all, specially to those who lived in cottag'es and passed their days in toil. Men had grown weary of disputings about methods of Church government, whether by Popes, Bishops, Presbyters, or Ruling Elders."^ The Scriptures — particularly those of the Old Testament — were appealed to, as if they were an inflexible code of rules, to justify the acts of men who, as they rose to power, cruelly persecuted those who differed from them. Many who could not find satisfaction in the public worship left off attending. Some of these were called Seekers : " to be a Seeker," said Oliver Cromwell, "is to be of the best sect next to a Finder." ^ " The theology of those days from the Reformation onwards -had been a mere play of logic and word fence around- the profoundest subject. The reign of scholasticism had never really come to an end. Words and notions, not things and facts, had been -hitherto the subject of endless, weary, unprofitable controversy. * * * * Oh, the world was weary of them all." , (Curteis, " Bampton Lectures," 1871,. 2nd Ed.' p. 252-3). THE RISE OF THE FRIENDS. George Fox, a Leicestershire shepherd in early manhood, had for years been seeking the way to peace and fellowship with God, before knowing the fulfilment of Christ's promise, "They that seek shall find." Writing in 1647 he says: — ¦ " Though I read the Scriptures that spoke of Christ and of God, yet " I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who hath the key did open, " and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son by His Spirit. Then "the Lord gently led me along, and let me see His love, which was " endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men have in " the natural state, or can obtain from history or books ; and that love " let me see myself as I was without Him." ^ ' Whilst the Reformation had broken down the Papal dogma that it was only through the Church, represented by the priest, that men could come to God, Protestantism often failed to bring them immediately to Him. Sometimes it only put an infallible book in the place of an infallible ^Church. George Fox may often have repeated the words of the creed " I believe in the Holy Ghost ; " but from the day when he realised that there was one, even Christ Jesus, able to speak to his condition, and to teach him by the Spirit, they meant for him a vital and most practical truth. When he spoke of these things to others, many of the Seekers joined the ranks of the Finders, under his ministry. THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT. They were at first called the Children of Light, because they spoke so much of the light of Christ, "the true light 1 "Journal," vol. i p. 12. which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, "i A year or two later they were nick-named Quakers, and they themselves took the name of Friends. It is worthy of note, ~1 that at the outset they did not wish to found another religious sect ; they hoped that all Christian people might come to obey the light of Christ in their own hearts, and that so a great reformation, social as well as religious, might be wrought throughout Christendom. In a little while j however, it was plain that no such vast result was quickly to follow from their teaching, but companies of persons were drawing together in towns and villages, holding the same faith, and led by it into like practices as respects conduct and worship.^ During the Commonwealth, and throughout the reign of Charles II. the Friends were constantly growing in numbers, in this and other countries, and by 1690 were a numerous and well organised people.^ THE FIRST BOND OF UNION. That they should thus, unintentionally, have become '^ a distinct religious body, can occasion no surprise. The ' j ^John i.g, a. v. ^ Yet in a different way fromthat at first anticipated, the catholic nature of spiiritual Christian truth has been manifested. The Friends have been more successful in influencing other religious bodies than in building up their own " The Society ''¦' * ''•'. * has been able, with the most extraordinary success, to infuse the spirit and essence of George Fox's teaching into the very veins (as it were) of the modern world. It has all but put down slavery: it is on its way, I hope, to put down war." (Curteis, " Bampton Lectures," p. 255.) ^ See Note A, p. 45. ¦ 8 force which had drawn them together was a common faith in the immediate work of the Spirit of God in their own hearts and consciences, and this vivid sense of the spiritual presence of their risen Lord affected all their thoughts about religion, including both that large body of doctrine and of practice which they still held in common with other Protes tants, as well as that which was more distinctively their own. Their conception of Christianity was so much more spiritual than that of most other professors, and its outcome in regard to conduct so practical and far reaching, that it is hard to see how they could have continued in fellowship with those from whom, in various ways, they had really parted company.-' Whilst the sense of the reality of the Spirit's teaching and government has sometimes dawned upon the soul almost as a new gospel, the Friends, as a body, disclaim having received any fresh revelation of Divine truth different from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY REVIVED" was the title of one of William Penn's works in which he defended the position taken up by himself and his fellow professors ; the phrase aptly defines the Friends' attitude 1 Wm. Penn says in his " Primitive Christianity" : " That which the " people called Quakers lay down, as a main fundamental in religion, is " this, that God, through Christ, hath placed a principle in every man, " to inform him of his duty, and to enable him to do it ; and that those "that live up to this principle, are the people of God ; and those that "live in disobedience to it, are not God's people, whatever name they " bear, or profession they may make of religion." " By this principle towards historic Christianity. As the realisation of spiritual illumination was not a new Gospel, neither was it the whole Gospel of Christ ; its place in relation to the entire body of revealed truth has at different times been defined in docu ments issued by the Society. CREEDS AND CATECHISMS. In the seventeenth century — as well as more recently — several writers (Fox, Penington, Barclay, Keith,) pub lished doctrinal catechisms ; but in the main the Friends have been shy of setting forth their belief in catechisms or creeds, both because these are so liable to represent religion as an affair of the head, the mind, and the memory, rather than a life centred in the heart, and also because of their tendency to fossilize the expression of growing truth. One " they understand something that is Divine, and though in man, not of " man, but of God ; it came from Him and leads to Him all those that " will be led by it." " It is the Spirit given to every man to profit " withal." (William Penn's " Primitive Christianity revived," 1696. Collected Works, p. 787.) " The one corner stone of belief," writes Caroline E. Stephen in 1890, " upon which the Society of Friends is built is the conviction that God " does indeed communicate with each one of the spirits He has made, " in a direct and living inbreathing of some measure of the breath of " His own life ; that He never leaves Himself without a witness in the " heart as well as in the surroundings of man ; and that in order clearly " to hear the Divine voice thus speaking to us we need to be still ; to be "alone with Him in the secret place of His Presence; that all flesh " should keep silence before Him." (" Quaker Strongholds," p. 20.) IO reason why the Friends have found it so hard to make their religious position understood, is because they cannot hand to anyone who asks them of their faith, a formal confession like that of the Westminster Assembly, which does duty for the Presbyterians, nor a series of dogmatic articles, like the thirty-nine which embody the Anglican belief. Nevertheless the first section of their "Book of Discipline" is wholly devoted to an exposition of Christian doctrine.^ RETENTION OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH. The early Friends, sa.ys this volume, "were men of "prayer, and diligent searchers of the Holy Scriptures. " Unable to find true rest in the various opinions and " systems which in that day divided the Christian world, " they believed that they found the Truth in a more full " reception of Christ, not only as the living and ever present " Head of the Church in its aggregate capacity, but also as "the life and light, the spiritual ruler, teacher and friend of " every individual member. These views did not lead them "to the abandonment of those doctrines which they had "previously held, in regard to the manhood of Christ, his "propitiatory sacrifice, mediation and intercession. They " did lead them however, to much inward retirement and " waiting upon God, that they might know His will, and "become quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord."" It will be found that the Friends' doctrinal statements practically include all those foundation truths — " the common ^ See Note B, p. 45. ^ " Book of Discipline," 1883, p. 170. il doctrines of Christianity" as William Penn calls them — which are embodied in the Apostles' Creed. The very strong desire to be entirely truthful in speech and action led to the abandonment of some religious terms in common use, and this occasioned the supposition that the Friends had renounced th.e truths covered by those terms, whereas they had in reality only adopted simpler, more scriptural, or more correct language for expressing those truths. This is well illustrated by their attitude towards THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. It has not been customary in the Society to style the Bible " the Word of God,"^ inasmuch as this is a title given to Christ Himself.^ This departure from common usage has been supposed by some to denote a low estimate of the Scriptures, but the fact is that Friends have very highly esteemed them; and have constantly exhorted one another not only to be familiar with their contents, but also to live under the government of their inspiring Spirit, as the surest way of coming to an intelligent understanding of their teaching, and a life conformable to their precepts. More to ' " If we always spoke of ' the Holy Book,' instead of ' Holy Bible,' it might come into more heads than it does at present that the Word of God, by which the heavens were, of old (2 Peter iii. 5 — 7), and by which they are now kept in store, cannot be made a present of to anybody in morocco binding ; nor sown on any wayside by help either of steam plough or steam press." (John Ruskin, "Sesame and Lilies," pp. 34, 35). ^ John i. 14. 12 be relied on than an intellectual knowledge of the letter of Scripture is moral conformity to its spirit. Here was the real point of divergence between the Puritan and the Friend regarding the Bible.^ Because Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord, the Puritan deemed that he should do like wise; the Friend interpreted the incident in the light. of the progressive revelation of the Divine will, and the example of the Saviour who " came not to destroy men's lives but to save them." It is quite true that the Friends rebelled against the Calvinistic method of using the Bible, which in practice substituted for the authority of the Church that of a printed book, construed like an act of Parliament, by the wit and wisdom of men ; but this revolt did not lead them to discard the authority of Scripture, spiritually interpreted, or to with hold from it their high esteem. " No society of professing Christians " said William Penn " could have a more reverent and honourable esteem for the Scriptures." George Fox [1671] wrote in these terms : — "And as concerning the Holy " Scriptures, we do believe that they were given forth by "the Holy Spirit of God, through the holy men of God, "who (as the Scripture itself declares, 2 Peter i. 21) 'spake "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' We believe "they are to be read, believed, fulfilled (he that fulfils them " is Christ) ; and that they are 'profitable for doctrine, for " 'reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, " 'that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished " 'unto all good works,' (2 Timothy iii. 16, 17) ; and are able "to make wise ' unto_salvation. through faithin Christ Jesus.' ' ' See Note C, p. 58. 13 " We call the Holy Scriptures — as Christ and the apostles " called them, and holy men of God called therh — the words "of God." ^ The history of the use of the Bible in the Society is very interesting. The early preachers were furnished with copies as part of their outfit, and long before the rise of Bible Societies, the families of poor Friends were supplied from _ the denominational funds. There was however for some generations great jealousy of a formal use of the Bible, and it was not till after the close of the eighteenth century that the daily family reading of Scripture became general. A few j years later Scriptural instruction obtained in the Friends' schools a much more important place than that it had before occupied. The helpful influence of these measures lipon the religious life of Friends subsequently led to a freer use of the Bible in their meeting houses. The rise and extension of their First-day school work also promoted the searching of Scripture by many of their members ; and on the other hand the absence from the Society's official documents of any dogmatic definition of the manner and extent of inspiration is believed to have been helpful in promoting the moral and spiritual service of Scripture. The Friends' position towards the inspired volume has not been fundamentally affected by the progress of scientific and historical discovery, however much these may have modified individual views as to the significance of some of its contents. At the present time one of the advices periodically read in the Friends' meetings for worship runs : — ' " Book of Discipline," p. 5. H "Be diligent in the private perusal of the Holy Scriptures, and let the daily reading of them in your families be devoutly conducted." A query annually considered by every congregation asks; — "Are you individually frequent in reading, and diligent in meditating upon the Holy Scriptures ? And are parents and heads of households in the practice of reading them in their families in a devotional spirit, encouraging any right utterance of prayer or praise." ? Recurring for a moment to the era of the Reformation, we have noted how the Protestants then rescued the Bible from the darkness to which Rome had consigned it. A further work was subsequently accomplished by the Friends in rescuing it from a hard, legal, and almost exclusively intel lectual treatment, and insisting that the true meaning of Scripture was the best known by readers who approached it with moral sympathy, as well as with intelligence. The same Spirit who had inspired the authors of Scripture, abode yet in the hearts of those who read, to interpret and apply its precepts. In this matter the Reformation had recovered, and given fresh expression to the dormant sense of INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY, whilst the Friends carried this a stage further, and made the thought their own more entirely than any other Protestant denomination.-' " Individual faithfulness" has been a favourite 1 " The Quakers express with the greatest force and exclusiveness the new thought of the Reformation, the thought of individuality." (Westcott, " Social aspects of Christianity," p. 123.) 15 watchword, often appealed to as a secret of holy living more to be relied on than the observance of ceremonial acts. The Society has sometimes placed even its own regulations in un favourable apposition to the faithfulness of the individual.^ There is however no real conflict between the two things : wise arrangements for collective action are good, and so too is individual loyalty to duty. THE SPIRITUAL CHARACTER OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. A spiritual idea of the Kingdom of Christ governs the Friends' conception of Christianity, both on its doctrinal, and on its practical side. "The Kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."" The Gospel of Christ is to be known, not in word but in power ; not as a chain of dogmas loosely held together, but as a spiritual force changing the heart, subduing the will, and bringing the whole nature under the rule of Christ by His spirit.^ 1 " It is not to arrangements, however perfect, but to individual faithfulness to Christ, in daily dependence upon the help of the Holy Spirit, that we must look for growth in the truth, and vitality in the I Church." (" Book of Discipline," 1861, p. 182.) 2 Rom. xiv. 17. 3 The following passage from the writings of William Penn is not couched in phraseology with which we are now familiar, but those who follow him will see how deep was his view of the work of grace in the heart of man. " Repentance from dead works to serve the living God comprehends "three operations, first, a sight of sin; secondly, a sense and godly " sorrp-w for it ; thirdly, an amendment for the time to come. This was i6 Dr. Lightfoot, the late Bishop of Durham, in an essay on the Christian Ministry sketched the characteristics of the Kingdom of Christ in terms which almost exactly agree with those held by the Friends. He says : — " The Kingdom of Christ, not being a kingdom of this world, is not limited by the restrictions which fetter other societies, political or religious. It is in the fullest sense free, comprehensive, universal. It displays this character, not only in the acceptance of all comers who seek admission, irrespective of race or caste or sex, but also in the instruction and treatment of those who are already its members. It has no sacred days or seasons, no special sanctuaries, because every time and every place alike are holy. Above all it has no sacerdotal system. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or " the repentance they [the Friends] preached and pressed, and a natural " result from the principle they turned all people unto. For of light " came sight ; and of sight came sense and sorrow ; and of sense and " sorrow came amendment of life ; which doctrine of repentance leads "to justification; that is, forgiveness of sins that are past, through " Christ, the alone propitiation ; and to the sanctification or purgation " of the soul from the defiling habits of sin present ; which is justification " in the complete sense of that word ; comprehending both justification " from the guilt of the sins that are past, as if they had never been com- " mitted, through the love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus ; and the " creature's being made inwardly just through the cleansing and sanctify- " ing power and Spirit of Christ revealed in the soul, which is commonly " called sanctification. From hence sprang a second doctrine they " were led to declare, as the mark of the prize of the high calling of all "true Christians, viz. — perfection from sin, according to the Scriptures " of Truth, which testify it to be the end of Christ's coming, the nature .'.' of His Kingdom, and for which His Spirit was given." (Introduction to Fox's Journal, xxix.) 17 class between God and man, by whose intervention alone God is reconciled and man forgiven. Each individual member holds personal communion with the Divine Head. To Him immediately he is responsible, and from Him directly he obtains pardon, and draws strength, "i Dr. Lightfoot goes on to say why, in his judgment, this ideal cannot be carried out in practice, but with this we need not concern ourselves. Speaking broadly, the Friends have tried to fashion their Society upon the lines here laid down, and to make their practices square with these principles. THE UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES. The Apostle Peter had taught that by virtue of their Christian faith the disciples of Asia Minor were " an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession."" This sense of the universal priesthood of Christians was almost lost in the corruption of the Church. It was re-asserted at the time of the Protestant Reforma tion, and with increased energy by the Puritans, " nobles " as they accounted themselves, " by the right of an earlier creation, priests by the imposition of a mightier hand."^ The Friends gave to this doctrine a still wider and more practical application. They held that all the disciples of Christ being members of this royal priesthood, there was neither room nor 1 Lightfoot on " The Christian Ministry." Epistle to Philippians p. i8i. 2 I Peter ii. 9, r.v. ^Macaulay's " Essay on Milton." i8 service for any special guild of priests intervening between God and men. "We are nothing, Christ is all"; "All of you live and walk in Christ Jesus so that nothing may be between you and God but Christ, in whom ye have salva tion, life, rest and peace with God," are two much cherished seventeenth century sayings. " These views," says the 'Book of Discipline,' "struck at the very root of that great corruption in the Christian Church by which one man's performances on behalf of others had been made essential to public worship, and on which hung all the load of ecclesiastical domination and the trade in holy things."^ CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP. The mode of public worship adopted by the Friends is governed by the conditions that Christian worship is to be "in spirit and in truth " — that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty" — that "all things are to be done decently and in order." The worshippers meet in silence at an appointed hour, "in the name of Christ," accepting His declaration as ever true, that He is in the midst of those who gather in His name i.e., in faith in all which His name signifies. Whilst the presence of no special person is necessary for this worship, and it requires no holy building,^ there is liberty for any one feeling himself drawn by. the Spirit of Christ to preach or 1 " Book of Discipline," p. 170. 2 Respecting Worship the Society's Book of Discipline says : — " The worship which He appointed is a worship for which He provided no ritual. It may be without words, as well as with them ; but, whether in silence or in utterance, it "must be in spirit and in truth." He is offer vocal prayer or praise, to engage in these exercises. The picture given by the Apostle of the gatherings of Christians at Corinth fnay be taken as descriptive of the ideal of a Friends' meeting for worship. " Ye all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted ; and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets ; for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints."^ This passage shows that it was not easy at Corinth to maintain at once the liberty of the Spirit, and the order required for edifica tion. The Friends throughout their history have found the same difficulty, but they deliberately sacrifice much for the sake of maintaining the liberty "ye may all prophesy" — all speak a word for God, should such a word be given. It however seldom happens' that even the majority of those present at a meeting, take a vocal part in its proceedings. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. Throughout the Society's history of two-and-a-half centuries, spiritiial gifts have been continually bestowed on Himself the propitiation and the High Priest, the " one Mediator between God and men." Through Him all believers have the same privilege of free " access by One Spirit unto the Father." No man, or order of men, can worship for the rest. No priests distinct from the congregation were appointed by Christ ; the whole company of believers, redeemed by his blood, being themselves called, under the anointing of the Spirit, to be " an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The word priest is never applied in the New Testament to the Christian minister as such." (Book of Discipline, p. 23.) ' I Cor. xiv. 31 — 33. 20 its members, and a succession of ministers has been main tained : the whole number of persons in Great Britain, who now take part in vocal congregational service probably amounts to nearly one thousand. Like their brethren and sisters, the ministers amongst Friends are commonly engaged in the ordinary affairs of life, and do not form a separate class. Some have been almost continuously occupied with religious service at home and abroad, but the majority have been tradesmen, bankers, doctors, merchants, teachers, artisans, and farmers, who have pursued these callings, whilst also following their religious engagements. They receive no remuneration from the congregations amongst which they minister, but travelling expenses are paid by the Society, and where the whole time is given to evangelistic service, as is the case with most foreign and some home missionaries, provision is necessarily made for their support. The Friends raise many thousands of pounds annually for their missionaries in China, India, Ceylon, Madagascar, Syria, and elsewhere. They have however a great dislike to making gospel service dependent upon money payments. They have continually defended their position with the Lord's words, " Freely ye have received, freely give." {Malt. x. 8.) Many persons preach, frequently very helpfully, without their ministry being recognised by the Society ; but when a person's gift is often exercised, and particularly if he travels in the service of the Gospel, it is usual for the congregations forming a Monthly Meeting, to record such an one as an accredited minister of the Gospel. Still there is no distinction drawn as between clergy and laity. The Friends' theory is that they have no laity, because all their people are, or ought to be, priests. WOMEN'S MINISTRY. Women, equally with men, share in the Christian ministry. In defence of this practice the usage of the early Christian Church is appealed to, as is apparent several times in the New Testament, where women are named who "did prophesy,"^ or preached, instructions being also given that they were to be dressed modestly when speaking.^ Pertinent too are the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost, in his quotation from the prophet Joel' : "And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons, and your daughters shall PROPHESY, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams ; yea, and on My servants, and MY HANDMAIDENS in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy." Those Scriptures which enjoin silence upon women are considered only to refer to local or temporary conditions which have now passed away. The long experience of the Friends, as also that of the Salvation Army, affording such instances of the possession of conspicuous spiritual gifts as those of Elizabeth Fry and Catherine Booth, are held to prove decisively that women are called of God and qualified for His public service as preachers and teachers. '^ Acts xxi. g. i^ I Con xi. 5. ^Actsii.iy — 18. 22 FORMS OF PRAYER. A constantly present thought with the Friends has been the supreme place of reality in religion. Hence they have had a dread of forms, including forms of prayer ; these are not used in their public worship, although the Lord's Prayer is sometimes repeated. The same thought has led to the abandonment of formal graces before meals. A silent pause is usually observed, with full liberty, however, for words to be spoken when felt to be fitting, or called for. These periods of silence occurring perhaps twenty or thirty times a week, are often known to possess sacramental efficacy, graciously reminding as they do of the nearness of the spiritual world. MISSION AND TEACHING MEETINGS: SINGING. When the Society arose the fear of formal and unreal words or acts led to the general discontinuance of the congregational singing to which most of its people must have been accustomed. In theory singing was put on the same footing as preaching and vocal prayer — not arranged beforehand, but approved if it arose spontaneously under the prompting of the Spirit.^ In practice it proved exceed ingly difficult to continue the ministry of song on these lines, and in the course of years the practice of singing in worship virtually ceased. There has been some revival of the practice in this country, and in America it prevails to a large extent. 1 See Minute of Yearly Meeting, 1675, re Singing. 23 In the seventeenth century besides the meetings for worship held on a basis of silence, there were gatherings — " Threshing Meetings " — which would now be called Mission Meetings, for reaching the masses of the people, in which there was probably little if any silence. Within the last fifty years it has been increasingly felt that some variety of method in^ the conduct of religious gatherings is desirable ; and many have been established for Scripture reading and teaching, in some of which place is found for the delivery of carefully prepared addresses. Mission Meetings are also held in which the singing of hymns is usual. CHURCH GOVERNMENT. The Society of Friends is governed by a series of synods. Preparative (or congregational), Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly, in whose proceedings all members, men and women, may take part. Their constitution is strongly democratic, or more strictly theocratic, because the thought underlying all their procedure is, that the business is conducted under the presidency of Christ, present by His Spirit in the hearts of all. Decisions are arrived at without voting. The clferk, who combines the functions of chairman and secretary, announces and records the "sense of the meeting." When great diversity of opinion exists, an adjournment is usually agreed to ; time and reflection often leading up to more unanimity, The Monthly or smaller District Meetings are the hands of the Society ; they receive and exclude members, are charged with the care of the poor and the education of children, appoint church officers, issue and receive 24 certificates, or lettei-s of introduction, on behalf of members changing their place of abode, liberate ministers for religious service, and discharge much executive business. They appoint the registering officers of births, marriages and deaths. Overseers to counsel the disorderly, visit the sick, and relieve the wants of the poor ; also Elders to advise the Ministers, and to have charge of the order of public worship. The Quarterly or wider District Meetings, as their name implies are in session four times in the year, and comprise all the monthly meetings within an area of perhaps one or more counties. Their business is partly devotional and partly executive.-^ The Yearly Meeting is the final court of appeal, and the legislative authority for the Society throughout the district over which its jurisdiction extends. Between the sessions of London Yearly Meeting, a standing representative committee, " the Meeting for Sufferings," deals with business which arises. It is attended monthly by both men and women from many parts of England. The Ministers, Elders, and Overseers meet for con ference and fellowship in a similar gradation of Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly gatherings, whose duties are indicated by their official title — Meetings on Ministry and Oversight.'^ CHRISTIAN LIFE AND PRACTICES-ECCLESIASTICAL DEMANDS. From what has been already said it will be seen how the whole polity of the Society, its worship, its ministry, its govern- jnent are based upon the universal priesthood of Christ's 1 See Note D, p. 59. ^ ggg j^^^g g^ p_ g^. 25 followers. The same principle has led to the strenuous resistance of claims to lordship over God's people. The Friends are independent of the services of the state clergy at the great events of birth, marriage, and death, having built up their own plans for registration, and observing their own usages — religious without being sacerdotal^for the solemnisation of marriage, and the burial of the dead. They objected to the payment of tithes, church rates, and kindred imposts. This non-compliance with ordinary usage has, in the past, been a cause of much suffering ; now through altered laws, and some modification in the practice of Friends, this has almost ceased, i NO PART OF -CONDUCT OUTSIDE CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION. The doctrine of the indwelling of the Spirit, has been to the Friends neither a philosophical idea, nor a pious opinion only, but an eminently practical faith ' embracing within its scope the whole of human life. The presence of the Spirit gives the power to translate the Apostle's advice into practice, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever 1 Respecting ecclesiastical demands, London Yearly Meeting writes [.1832] : — " The forced maintenance of the ministers of religion is in our view a violation of those great privileges which God, in His wisdom and goodness, bestowed upon the human race when He sent His Son to redeem the world, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to lead and guide mankind into all truth. Our blessed. Lord put an end to the Levitical priesthood, and to all those ceremonial usages connected therewith, which were before divinely ordained under the law of Moses. The system of tithes was not in any way instituted by Him, our holy Head and High Priest, the great Christian Lawgiver. It had no 26 ye doj do all to the glory of God." ^ Hence little account is made of the popular distinction between secular and religious things ; all work, all times, every employment that is not wrong may rightly be accounted holy. Conduct beyond the reach of human law is not outside the Divine law. Doing unto others as we would that they should do to us enjoins entire integrity in trade Where debts have not been paid, the Society holds that no legal discharge liberates the debtor from the obligation, to pay them in full, should it ever be in his power to do so, and in the meantime declines to accept his contributions for religious or benevolent purposes. DRESS— AMUSEMENTS. Every Christian community sensitive to the moral teach ing of the Gospel has held that dress will be subject to its restraints. Simplicity, moderation, and truthfulness in attire existence in the purest and earliest ages of his Church, but was gradually introduced, as superstition and apostacy spread over profess ing Christendom, and was subsequently enforced by legal authority. In thus enforcing, , as due ' to God and holy Church,' a tithe upon the produce of the earth and upon the increase of the herds of thefield, an attempt was made to uphold and perpetuate a Divine institution appointed only for a time, but which was abrogated by the coming in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. The vesting of power, by the laws of the land, in the king assisted by his council, whereby articles of belief have been framed for the adoption of his subjects, and under which the support of the teachers of these articles is enforced, is in our judgment a procedure at variance with the whole scope and design of the Gospel ; and as it violates the rights of private judgment, so it interferes with that responsibility by which man is bound to his Creator." (" Book of Discipline," p. 139.) ' ' I Cor. X, 31. 27 and manner of living, have been constantly urged upon successive generations of Friends. Whilst there was in the seventeenth century some protest against the sanctimonious dress, and closely cropped hair of the Puritans, at a later date growing wealth introduced temptations to display, in opposition to which, at first unintentionally and gradually, a costume came into vogue, through nonconformity to the changing fashions of the world. In the middle of the nine teenth century, the opinion began to prevail that there were grave objections in this uniformity of attire, and the general sentiment changed to the approval of moderation and self restraint, rather than aiming at the maintenance of a costume. . In the seventeenth century the Friends shared, and in some directions enlarged, the scope of the Puritan objection to sports. Hunting, shooting, music, dancing, dramatic per formances were advised against, and very largely avoided. The present generation has modified its attitude to some of these pursuits ; music and singing are now taught in almost all the Society's schools. The twelve pages [104-117] in the "Book of Discipline" devoted to counsel upon Christian self-denial deserve perusal. They are divided into four sections : {a) simplicity -^ and moderation, [b) the use of intoxicants, [c] amusements and recreations,^ (d) books and reading. 1 See Note F, p. 64. ^The following passage is dated 1853 :-- " The life of the Christian is not a dull and cheerless existence. There are no joys here below to be compared with those of which the renewed soul is permitted to partake, even upon earth, in the faithful service of the Lord. It is not then for the diminution,^ but for the increase, of 28 LANGUAGE. Hardly any part of the Friends' usages have attracted more attention, or been less generally understood, than their disuse of certain words, and the;ir adoption of certain modes of speech different from those in common vogue. Such were^ their avoidance of titles deemed to be flattering, their use of the singular pronoun thou for the less grammatical you, the avoidance of words derived from heathen worship, like the common names of the days of the week, also of such as seemed to imply that all times were not good, as 'good day,' and of others employed in a sense open to misconception like ¦church for the building in which the church meets. Some of these scruples were of very early Puritan origin, some were floating- in the air during the ferment of the civil war, and some were the offspring of very tender consciences amongst the first generation of Friends. Many have been abandoned, some are forgotten. It would not serve any good purpose to discuss the reasons of such changes, though these are interesting in their relation to the growth and changes in t.heir happiness, that we would affectionately, invite our dear Friends unreservedly to submit all their pursuits, even those which may be intended as recreations, to the holy restraints and government of the Lord's Spirit. As this is the case, the various duties and enjoyments of the present life will be placed in their true relation to the life to come. The desires, the affections, the very tastes, will be " renewed." The occupations of our leisure hours, — and with many of our dear Friends these'make up a large amount in the sum of their responsibilities, — our associations, our reading, our varied engagements of a social or more public nature, will be baptized into the Christian spirit." ['' Book of Discipline," p. no.) 29 a people's language, and the altering phases of religious thought ; but it is very deserving of note, that all this scrupulosity regarding speech had its root in a deep sense of man's responsibility for his language — in harmony with the impressive teaching of Christ, " By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, "i Words being an index of the state of the heart, where there is a sense of the spiritual abiding of Christ there will be tenderness of conscience not to transgress the Divine law, in the matter of speech. Truthfulnes, reverence, and purity in language are felt to be enjoined on the followers of Christ, whilst the sense that all people are the objects of His love, and share the illumination of His Spirit, promotes obedience to the charge, " honour all men," with the avoidance of modes of speech runnjng counter thereto. All the scruples of PViends in relation to speech, whether now observed Or not, will be found to have had their origin in the grounds of conduct which have been indicated. The duty of maintaining truthfulness of speech at all times and under all circumstances, 'when carried out in practice re moves the motives and reasons for swearing, hence, arose the strong witness borne by the Society against the taking of OATHS. Its teaching on this matter has wrought a great change in public opinion, and brought about alterations in the laws of this and other countries. William Penn expounded the position of Friends in these terms : — 1 Mcitt. xii. 37. 30 "They uphold the sufficiency of truth speaking, according "to Christ's own form of words of yea, yea, and nay, nay, "among Christians, both from Christ's express prohibition, " 'Swear not at all,' {Malt, v.); and for that they being under, " the tie and bond of truth in themselves there was no "necessity for an oath, and it would be a reproach to their "Christian veracity to assure their truth by such an extra- " ordinary way of speaking ; but offering at the same time to "be punished to the full for false speaking, as others for- "perjury, if ever guilty of it ; and hereby they exclude with "all true, all false and profane swearing, for which the land "did and doth mourn and the great God was and is not a "little offended by it."i Cruel were the sufferinp-s which the refusal to swear o brought upon the Friends in the first forty years of their history. Let me give one illustration : Francis Howgill, who had been a clergyman, was arrested- in Kendal market, brought before a magistrate and tendered the oath of allegi ance. He affirmed his entire loyalty to Charles II. but for refusing to swear he was sent to Appleby jail, from which he was only released by death, in 1668, after years of suffering. The Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Friends to affirm their allegiance, and subsequent measures extended the privilege of taking the affirmation instead of an oath. The punish ment for false affirmation was made the same as for perjury. After the experience of more than two. centuries, it is not known that a single instance has occurred, in this country, or in the United States, in which a person has been convicted 1 Preface to " Journal of George Fox," p. 30. 31 of giving false evidence on affirmation. This signal illustra tion of the high standard of truthfulness obtaining amongst those who decline to swear, has had a great effect in extend ing religious liberty as respects the use of the affirmation. By the British measure of 1888 it has been enacted that any person "stating that an oath is contrary to his religious belief shall be permitted to make his solemn affirrnation instead of taking an oath- in all places and for all purposes where an oath is or shall be required by law."i WAR. In 1650 Geo. Fox was a prisoner in Derby jail, whilst recruiting was in progress for the army, which under Crom well's leadership overthrew Charles Stuart — subsequently Charles II. — at Worcester. A commission was offered to Fox, who declined it, inasmuch as he had "come into the covenant of peace, which was before wars and strifes were, and he knew whence all wars arose, even from the lust, according to James' doctrine," and now, said he " I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars."^ This incident illustrates the position which Friends uphold as to the peaceable character of the Kingdom of Christ, and its incompatibility with private or international warfare. As numbers of the primitive Christian Church had withdrawn from the Roman legions sensible of the incongruity of the profession of arms with their allegiance to the Prince of Peace, and obedience to His precepts, so in the seven teenth century many soldiers and sailors renounced their 1 1888, Chap. 46, Sec, i, ^journal i, p. 69. 32 carnal weapons when the Spirit of Christ took possession of their hearts and ruled their conduct ; and when, further, they recognised that all their fellowmen were potentially the subjects of His redeeming and enlightening grace. The poet asks — "When shall all men's good Be each man's rule, and universal Peace Lie like a shaft of light across the land. And like a lane of beams athwart the sea. Thro' all the circle of the golden year ? " ^ The answer is, just so soon as the government of Christ is more widely accepted, removing the roots and causes of warfare, casting out selfishness, and inducing men not only to admire but to practice the Golden Rule. Slowly as the cause of international peace progresses, the Friends have succeeded in impressing the public mind with a knowledge of their abhorrence of war. This has been accomplished by suffering and unpopularity, repeatedly borne in the maintenance of their witness on this great subject. Their history is remarkable for the many preservations granted to those who refused to fight, when Pennsylvania was governed by Friends at the time of thie Irish rebellion of 1798, and again during the secession war in the United States. The peaceable nature of the Kingdom of Christ is a theme on which the Society has often pleaded with those of differing views, and it has repeatedly urged upon Governments the duty, in the sacred interest of Justice, of determining disputes between nations by arbitration, or the action of law, rather than by the sword. The literature I- Tennyson's "Golden Year," 33 on this subject is unusually rich. Amongst the seventeenth century authors Robert Barclay ("The Apology") and William Penn may be particularly enumerated. In later times Dymond's "Essays on Morality" and John Bright 's speeches may be referred to — also the chapter upon War in the '-' Book of Discipline." A weighty re-statement of the Friends' position has recently been issued, and will be found at length in Note G, p. 65. PATRIOTISM. In close connexion with their protest against W^ar, the Firiends have often had to bear the charge of being unpatriotic, a charge however which they have constantly refused to admit. They hold that it is the duty of all good citizens to obey governments in matters not inconsistent with the Divine law, and to love and serve their country. They hold however, that Christian patriotism is essentially different from heathen or Jewish patriotism, in both of which the love of the fatherland was hardly separated from hatred for other peoples, and rested on the idea that God was a tribal deity, who blessed Palestine but cursed Edom. The Friends believe that God's love is to all the children of men. Christ died for all, to all is given in smaller or larger measure the enlightening of His Spirit. God made of one blood all nations that dwell on the face of the earth. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. We have already seen how the sense of responsibility to God was aroused by the Reformation, and deepened by the Friends' grasp of the spiritual nature of Christ's 34 Kingdom. The relation of the Christian to his fellows is that suggested in the words, " One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren."^ Civil and religious liberty are necessarily dear to those whose lives are governed by loyal obedience to conscience. The stand made by the Society for religious toleration — for liberty of conscience — in the seventeenth century, is a memorable chapter in its history. For a period of almost forty years the sufferings of the Friends were cruel — not fewer than 13,000 were imprisoned in Great Britain, of whom 322 never came out of jail alive. Some were sold into slavery : the seizure of property went on to an enormous extent. These suffer ings were endured with a meek and patient heroism, which wrought powerfully on public opinion. "When Charles II. came to the throne only one or two despised sects like the Quakers and Independents," says the historian Green, "maintained the doctrine of liberty of conscience" ; by the time of William and Mary, the Toleration Act, granting a large instalment of that liberty which the Friends had demanded, and for which they had paid so costly a price, was passed with general approval." 1 Matt, xxiii. 8. ~ " That conscience should be free, and that, in matters of religious doctrine and worship, man is accountable only to God, are truths which are plainly declared in the New Testament, and confirmed by the whole scope of the Gospel, and by the example of our Lord and his disciples. The command, " Render unto Csesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's," points at the true limits of the civil power. The emphatic enquiry of the apostles, Peter and John, " whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than 35 SLAVERY & THE TREATMENT OF SUBJECT RACES. The same religious considerations which determined the attitude of Friends towards religious liberty, war, and oaths, led them to question the equity of slavery, when it con fronted George Fox and his colleagues in the West Indies. At first they urged the humaner treatment and the ultimate emancipation of the Negroes. As the years passed the protest of the Society grew stronger under the teaching of Woolman in America, and of many in Great Britain. For some generations no philanthropic cause was so warmly espoused as that of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery. The sense of the brotherhood of man was con stantly appealed to during the course of this long struggle. In how many Nonconformist homes, where there were but few works of art, was to be seen the picture of the chained and kneeling slave over the motto, "Am I not a man and a brother." ? It was the same faith in God's love towards all the children of men which led the Pennsylvanian colonists to deal kindly and justly with the Red Indians of North unto God, judge ye'' (put, as it was, as a sufficient reason for disobeying an express command of the Council of Jerusalem to refrain from preaching the then new truths of the Gospel), practically illustrates what those limits are. And, on the other hand, the language of the apostle Paul addressed to the converts in Rome, even under such a prince as Nero, shows plainly that, in purely civil matters, the Christian is to be subject to the civil authorities, and consequently that liberty of conscience is not to be used as an excuse for anything that is incon sistent with our duty to our neighbour, or with our peaceable subjection to law and order in things secular." (" Book of Discipline," p. 143.) 36 America. The excellent results which ensued have been recognised in recent times, when General Grant invited some of the Friends in the United States to take charge of the Indians living upon the reservations. PHILANTHROPY. The Anti- Slavery cause is but one out of many philan thropies which have been warmly espoused by Friends. Their practical view of Christianity, with its catholic- belief in human brotherhood, has had a natural outcome in promoting service for all sorts and conditions of men, when in suffering and need. Justice for criminals, prison reform, fair wages for labourers, the abolition of pauperism, were laboured for in the seventeenth century. The same objects under changing conditions still are, and must be pursued by those who would follow in the footsteps of Him who "went about doing good." " Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord, What may Thy service be ? Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word. But simply following Thee."^ THE FRIENDS' PROFESSION IS ESSENTIALLY AFFIRMATIVE, NOT NEGATIVE. Some who have looked at the F"riends from the outside, and some, indeed of their own number, noting chiefly the points wherein they abstain from the common usages of civil and religious society, have deemed their standpoint to be chiefly one of negatives — non-combatants, non-jurors, 1 "-Our Master " : Whittier. non-sacramentarians. But those who have followed me thus far, will have seen that these are but the negative sides of a signally affirmative faith, harmonious with Christ's positive teaching — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God : thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself "^ In reality, the Society's witness is positively to the peaceable character of the Redeemer's' Kingdom, to the obligation of universal' truth fulness, to the enjoyment of spiritual realities, rather than negatively against war, oaths, and ceremonies.^ A living sense of the nearness of God's Spirit quickens the sensibility of the conscience, and inclines it to disallow practices which involve a real or supposed' disloyalty to Christ, with a consequent interruption of the soul's fellowship with Him. The communion of the Holy Ghost is with the Friends a fundamental article of belief, its realization in their view being independent of place, person, season, or ceremony, but dependent upon the truthfulness, sincerity, and obedience of the individual disciple : " If a man love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him."^ '^Matt. xxii. 37 — 39. 2 "Our witness is not. narrow and negative, but far-reaching in its scope and intensely positive in the active service for Christ's peaceable Kingdom to which it calls us. Seeing the issues of life and death in the clear light of the Spirit, we become impressed witli the sacred worth of humanity in the -sight of God." (" Christianity and War." An Address from the London Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1900.) . ^ John xiv. 13. 38 HOLY SEASONS. We observe the effect of these views in regard to the observance of times. The sense that all times are, or should be good, to the Christian, suggested the scruple about using terms like "Good day" which might convey the contrary impression. The sense that all days are holy, and the knowledge that the consecration of special seasons tends to limit to one time the contemplation of truth needed for all times, prevented the Friends from falling into the Galatian error of superstitiously observing times and seasons. They unite with other Christians in keeping the first-day of the week' for rest and congregational worship — though they endured no little suffering in resisting the burden of Puritan Sabbatarianism. " The outward symbols disappear From him whose inward sight is clear ; And small must be the choice of days To him who fills them all with praise I "i SACRAMENTS. The absence of the word sacrament from the pages of the Friends' " Book of Discipline," contrasts very strongly with the great place the term holds in the creeds, catechisms, and religious literature of Christendom : this feature is how ever one which is common to Holy Scripture as well as to the volume referred to. A Sacrament has been defined as "an outward and visible sign bf an .inward' and spiritual '"The Mystic's Christmas": Whittier. 39 grace." In the view of Christian truth which we have been portraying, a dedicated human life is itself the great sacra ment, and many of its details became aids to the inflowing of spiritual grace. In respect to ceremonial rites the Society says : — " It continues to be our settled conviction that, in establishing the New Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ did not design that there should be any rite or outward cere monial observance of permanent obligation in his church. His teaching, as in his parables, or as in the command to wash one another's feet, was often in symbols ; but it ought ever to be received in the light of his own emphatic decla ration, ' The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.' His baptism is the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. He is himself 'the bread of life.' The eating of his body and the drinking of his blood is not an outward act. They truly partake of them who habitually rest upon the sufferings and death of their Lord as their only hope, and to whom the indwelling Spirit gives of the fulness which is in Christ. It is this inward and spiritual partaking which is, we believe, the true Supper of the Lord."i The position here taken up is neither that of the Roman and Greek churches who maintain that there are seven sacraments, nor that of the Protestant churches who declare there are "two only." The Friends affirm, that without recourse to ceremonfal rite, or material symbols, they can enjoy the possession of every spiritual grace which I " Book of Discipline," 25. 40 has been promised to the 'Christian Church by her Master. It is impossible to conceive of lives more visibly witnessing to the grace of God, than those of many who- have never re ceived the rite of water baptism, or assisted at the eucharistic ceremonial. With respect to water baptism, the change in the rite from the bathing of an adult to the sprinkling of an unconscious babe, has greatly increased if it has not introduced, the danger of fixing reliance upon a mechanical act instead of on a spiritual experience ; whilst the wide spread idolatry attending the celebration of the eucharist, its constant tendency to exalt a priestly caste interposing between man and his Maker, and its proved liability to debase men's conception of the'. Eternal, have confirmed Friends in their abandonment of the Jewish -usages, which form the basis of the two Protestant sacraments; aspiring in the renunciation of the shadow, after the conscious posses sion of the substance. Nor has this effort been unavailing-. " Without the introduction into our worship of the conse crated elements," it has been lately said, "we do often in our religious meetings feel that we are fed by an unseen hand, . . , many of us at such times have, though in no carnal, material sense, been permitted to feel the real Presence of Christ."^ Before passing from the necessarily brief discussion of a topic, to which many attach so much importance, I would repeat that the Friends' attitude towards ceremonial rites is not a merely negative one. They affirm that the baptism of the Holy Ghost must be known by the Christian, and that the life of the redeemed soul must be constantly nourished 1 Dr. Thos. Hodgkin in "Our Churches," p. 281. 41 by a spiritual feeding on Christ. They repudiate the frequent assertion that they "have no communicants," — all their people are, in theory, communicants. They are at one with the early Church in holding that many of the usages of human life, and many of the material substances around us, may be vehicles through which the spiritual life is nourished. As the sacramentum was in the first instance the soldier's oath, whereby he attested his loyalty to the Roman emperor, and as the early Christians applied the term to water, oil, wine, milk, honey, salt, to feet washing, kissing, bathing, eating and drinking, so the Friends thankfully recognise that numberless occurrences will, to the humble and attentive disciple, become invaluable helps in confirming his loyalty : — the marriage tie, a daily reminder of his relationship to the Bridegroom of souls, every meal a time for jemembering the Lord's death. Stephen Grellef, a saintly evangelist, wrote : — " I think I can reverently say tliaf I very much doubt whether since the Lord by His grace brought me into the faith of His dear Son, I have ever broken bread or drunk wine, even in -the ordinary course of life, without the remembrance of, and some devout feeling regarding the broken body and the blood-shedding of my dear Lord and Saviour." " In the holy life," as Dean Stanley said, " in the coura geous act, in the just law, is the real Presence of Christ, Where these are, in proportion as they recall to us His Divine excellence, there far more than in any consecrated form or symbol, is the true worship due from a Christian to his Master."! 1 Stanley's " Christian Institutions," p. 281. 42 CONCLUSION. Recurring, in conclusion, to the apostle's counsel, be " ready always to give ans-wer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meek ness and fear,"! j recognise to the full that it is in this meek spirit that the Friends should set forth their faith and practice. None know better than themselves that they are but a feeble people, as contrasted with what they might have been. Yet it would be a grave mistake to account them the representatives of a spent force. They still have a message to the members of other communities, as well as to those outside the churches, including the agnostic ; and their history is instinct with teaching, for their own people. Their presenta tion of Christianity is one which pre-eminently requires the presence of spiritual life to commend it to its own professors or to others. In the absence of life, the very disuse of forms and ceremonies may itself develope an unlovely formalism, destitute of the beauty which may be embalmed even in a dead form. The profession of a Friend carrying with it large responsibilities, as well as ennobling privileges, demands the dedication of the whole nature. The Society has suffered from sometimes allowing integral parts of Gospel truth to be under-valued, but these losses have been slight compared with those that have attended the inroads of the worldly spirit, which under an endless variety of forms, is ceaselessly at enmity with God. It is a mistake to suppose that this spirit was not present in the earliest and most active days ' I Peter iii. 15, r.v. 43 , of the Society's history. It is also a mistake to account every change in the outward manifestations of Christian life a token of declension. Every change must be judged on its own merits. A free self-governing church, believing in the constant presence in its midst of the Holy Ghost, should be able readily to adapt its procedure to the constantly changing requirements of the age. Many changes made from time to time in the usages of Friends have really been signs of life : such have been the growth of anti-slavery, temperance, and missionary effort, practical interest in the education of their own members and their extensive Sunday School work, particularly amongst adults. The moral and religious condition of the British nation at the close of the nineteenth century is marked by many points of similarity to that existing in the middle and later years of the seventeenth. In an age intoxicated by the accumula tion of wealth, by the pursuit of pleasure, by the possession of great material forces, it is for the Friends still to witness in the walks of ordinary life to the reality and" the nearness pf the spiritual world ; to urge the claims of the Kingdom of Christ upon the reluctant allegiance of men, to insist that the changeless tokens of that Kingdom, alike in individuals and in communities, are righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This Kingdom carries with it the credentials of its regal claims. The tests of spiritual and moral forces are their out-growths in human character. When Whittier writes : — " In joy of inward peace, or sense Of sorrow over sin. He is His own best evidence His witness is within " ; ¦44 he does but put into English speech the truth on which the Apostle insisted when he besought the Roman Christians, by the mercies of God, to dedicate their whole selves, as living sacrifices, that they might prove" what is the good and accept able and perfect will of God. If in this direction the Friends have a message to those outside the churches, they believe there is great need for the churches themselves to be aroused to bear a clearer witness to the moral and spiritual side of Christianity, menaced as it is by the excessive veneration of ceremonialism, as well as by the intrusion of a music- hall morality, and the unspiritualising influences of wealth, pleasure, lust, and militarism. Whilst these pages have been passing through the press, one of our foremost historians has given the world his estimate of the Friends' work, in terms we should not have ventured to employ. We believe, however, that he has accurately defined the ideal which they have had set before them, and have sought to live up to — subject of course to the manifold limitations and imperfections of humanity. No community can have been called to a loftier service, nor one less liable from the lapse of time to become obsolete. "When the Quakers entered into history it was "indeed high time, for the worst of Puritanism was that in "so many of its phases it dropped out the Sermon on the " Mount Quakerism has undergone many develop- " ments, but in all of them it has been the most devout of "all endeavours to turn Christianity into the religion of "Christ."' ^Romans xii. 2. ^ "' Oliver Cromwell," by John Morley, p. 409.. ¦45 NOTES. Note A. It is not possible to state the numbers of the Friends with absolute accurac}', but there cannot have been fewer than 50,000 when William and Mary came to the throne. At the close of the nineteenth century the corresponding number may perhaps be taken at 150,000. The line of membership is now more sharply drawn. The published statistics show that in Europe and Australasia there are 20,000 persons in " membership," and nearly half as many more habitual " attenders ' of meetings. In North America fourteen Yearly Meetings in correspond ence with that of London report a membership of 94,000. The number of attenders is not given. [See " The Friend," Jan. 6th, 1899.] There are besides in America a number of communities calling themselves Friends, who have at different times and for differing reasons broken away from, the main body: the largest of these are the " Hicksites " with a membership exceeding 20,000. In Great Britain there are nearly 400 Friends' congregations, grouped into eighteen Quarterly Meetings. The number of "Recorded Ministers" is 364: men 219, women 145. The number of pupils, adults and children, in the Friends' Sunday Schools in Great-Britain is nearly 46,000. The Friends' Foreign Mission Association has 79 missionaries, and upwards of 1,000 native helpers, labouring in India, Madagascar, China, and Syria. [See Minutes of London Yearly Meeting, 1900.J Note B. Doctrinal Statements. Under the pressure of external criticism, or internal differences, the Society of Friends has on several occasions found it needful to avow its doctrinal faith in documents of a semi-creed like character. Such was an epistle addressed to the Governor of Barbadoes in 1671, by George Fox and others; also "A Declaration of Christian Doctrine" issued in 1693. A widely spread secession in the United States prompted a " Declaratory Minute " of London Yearly Meeting, 1829 ;' and some differences ih this country pronouncements in 1835 and 1836. Extracts from theser documents will be found in the " Book of 46 DiscipHne," part i ; " Christian Doctrine," pp. 3 — 28. The most systematic attempt to frame a Declaration of Christian Truth was made in 1887, when a conference of representatives from London and Dublin Yearly Meetings, and from most of those on the American Continent, drew up a lengthy document consisting chiefly of passages , previously issued in epistles and minutes. This declaration has been adopted by most of the American Yearly Meetings, whilst those of London and Dublin received, butdid not adopt it. The following is the text of the "Declaration," preceded by the Minute made respecting it by London Yearly Meeting in 1888. " We have considered the Conclusions of the Conference, and the Declaration of Christian Truth, as held by Friends, adopted by it — both read in our separate meetings yesterday — and receive them as faithfully reflecting the proceedings and views of the Conference. They are to be printed with the Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting ; but inasmuch as this Meeting had no opportunity of entertaining the question of the need, for itself, of such a declaration, and has now no opportunity of revising that which has been presented ; and inasmuch as many Friends have expressed an unwillingness, at the present time, to adopt any further declarations than those previously made and recorded as to our Christian faith, it is to be understood that, whilst re-afErming our adherence to the fundamental scriptural doctrines always held by us, this Meeting refrains from expressing any judgment on the contents of the Declaration now produced." A Declaration of some of the Fundamental Principles of Christian Truth as held by the Religious Society of Friends. It is under a deep sense of -what we o-we to Hira who has loved us, that we feel called upon to offer a declaration of those fundamental doctrines of Christian truth that have always been professed by our branch of the Church of Christ. OF GOD, We believe in one holy,' almighty, 2 all-wise,^ 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, I Isa. vi. 3, Ivii. 15. 2 Gen. xvii. 1. 3 Rom. xi. 33, xvi. 27. 4 Ps. xc. ., 2. 5 Matt. xi. 25-27. 6 Gen. i. 1. 7 Job vii. 20. 8 John i. 3. 9. Col. i. 17. N.B.— It should be understood that the quotations from Scripture are'made from the Authorized Version, unless stated to be from the Revised Version. 47 proceeding from the Father and the Son,' the Reprover' of- the world, the Witness for Christ,^ and the Teacher,'' Guide,^ and Sanctifier" 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 LORD JESUS CHRIST. It is with reverence and thanksgiving that we profess our unwavering allegiance to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.^ In Him was life,' and the life was' the light of men." He is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world ; '" through whom the light of truth in all ages has proceeded from the Father of lights." He is the eternal Word '^ who was with God and was God, revealing Himself in infinite wisdom and love, both as man's Creator'^ and Redeemer ;'* for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Conceived of the Holy Ghost,'' born of the virgin Mary,'" the Word was made flesh," and dwelt amongst men. He came in the fulness '^ of the appointed time, being verily foreordained before the foundation of the world," that He might fulfil^" the eternal council of the righteousness and love of God for the redemption of man.-' In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.^^ Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, veiling in the form of a servant °'' the brightness of His glory, that, through Him, the kindness and love of God'^^ toward -man might appear in a manner every way suited to our wants and finite capacities. He went about doing good ;2° for us He endured'''' sorrow, hunger, thirst, weariness, "'^ pain, unutterable anguish ^^ of body and of soul, being in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."" Thus humbling Himself that we might be exalted. He emphatically recognized the duties and the sufferings of humanity as among tlie means whereby, through the obedience of faith, we are to be disciplined for heaven, sanctifying them to us, by Himself performing and enduring them, leaving us the one perfect example''"' of all righteousness^' in self-sacrificing love. But not only in these blessed relations must the Lord Jesus be ever precious lo His people. In Him is revealed as true God and perfect man,^^ a Redeemer, at once able to suffer and almighty to save. He became obedient °''' unto death, even the death of the cross, and is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world ; ^' in whom we have redemption through His blood,^^ the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. It is our joy to confess that the remission of sins which any partake of is only in and by virtue of His most satisfactory sacrifice and no otherwise.^" He was buried and rose again the third I John XV. 26, xvi. 7. 2 John xvi. 8. 3 John xv. 26. 4 John xiv. 26. 5 John xvi. 13. 6 2 Thess. ii. 13. 7 Matt, xxviii. ig ; John x. 30, xvii. 21. 8 John i. i3. 9 John i. 4. 10. John i. 9. n James i. 17. 12 John i. i. 13 Col. i. 13-16. 14 Col. i. 14. l5Matt. i. 20. 16 Matt. i. 23-25 ; Luke i. 35. 17 John i. 14. 18 Gal. iv. 4. ig i Peter i.'2o. 20 Isa. xi. 1-5 ; Isa. lii. 13-15. 21 Isa. liii 22 Col. ii. 9. 23 Phil. ii. 7. 24 Titus iii. 4. 25 Acts x. 38. 26 Isa. liii. 4, Lulte xii. 50, Luke xix. 41, xxii. 44. 27 John iv. 6. 28 Luke xxii. 43, 44. 29 Heb. iv. 15. 30 i Peter ii. 21. 31 Matt, iii 15. 32 Eph. iv. 13. 33 Phil ii. 8, 34 I John ii. 2. 35 Eph. i. 7. 36 Barclay's Apology, Propos. v. and vi., § 15, p. 141. 48 day,' according to the Scriptures, becoming the first, fruits' of them that sleep, and having shown Himself alive after His passion, by nl'aiiy''itifallibl'e prbofs,^ He as'cended into heaven, and hath sat down at^ the rfght hand of the Waj'esty on "high, nbW to appear in the presence of Gtid for us."* With the apostles who beheld His ascensioii, we rest in the assurance of the angelic messengers, "This same Jfesus, which is taken up from you into heaveii, shall so come in like manner; as ye- have seen Him^go.intb heaven,"^ With the Apostle John, we' woiild desii'e to' tinite in the words," Amen ; even so, come, Lord Jesus?' " And" now, whilst thus watchfng and waiting, vve rejoice to believe that He is our' Kifig and Saviour. He is the Bile"Mediator of the 'hew and everlasting covenant,' who markes peace and reconciliation between God offended aiid man offending ; " the great High Priest whose priesthood is unchangeable." H^e is able to save them to the uttermost thafcome'unto' God by Him; seeing He evei: liveth to make intercession fot them.'° All power is given unto Him in- heaven and in earth.'" By Him the world shall be judged ih'righteonsness : '' for the Father judgethno"iiia'n, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son, that 'all ffl6n should^hpnourthe Son even as they honour the Father." All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, aiid shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.'-' (r.v.^ We reverently confess and believe that divine honour and worship' are due to the Son of God, and that He is in true faith to be prayed unto, arid His name to be called upon, as the primitive Christians did, because of the glorious oneness'of the Father and the Son ; and that we cannot acceptably offer prayers and praises to God, nor receive from Hira a gracious answer or blessing, but in and through His dear Son.'^ We would, with hurable thanksgiving, bear an especiar "testimony to our Lord's perpetual dominion and power in His Church. Through Him the redeemed in all generations have derived their light, their forgiveness, and their joy. All are merhbefs of this Church, by whatsoever name they may be called among men, who have been baptised by the one Spirit into the one body ; who are buil'ded as living stones upon Christ, the Eternal B'oundation, and are united in faith and love in that fellowship which is with the Father and with the Son. Of this Church the Lord Jesus Christ is the alone Head "* All its true members are made one in Him. They have -washed their, robes and made them white in His precious blood,'' and He has ihade thetii priests unto God and His Father." He dwells in their hearts 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. We believe that the Holy Spirit is, in the unity of the eternal Godhead, one with the Father and with the Son.'-" He is the Comforter '¦Whom," saith Christ, " the Father I I Cor. XV. 4. 21 Cor. xv. 23. 3 Acts i. 3. 4 Heb. i. 3, ix. 24. ' " 5 Ac;s i. II, and see v. 7. 6 Rev. xxii. 20. 71 Tim. ii. 5, Heb. ix. 15. " 3 George Fox's Epistle to the Governor of Barbadoes. g Heb. iv. 14, vij. 24. 10 Heb. vii. 25. II Matt, xxviii. 18. 12 Acts xvii. 31. 13 John v, 22, 23. 14 John V. 28, 29. 15 Declaration .pf 1693, in Hewefs Hist., vol. ii. 379. . 16 Eph. i. 22. 17 Rev. vii. 14. 18 Rev. i. 6. 19 Matt, xxviii. ig ; 2 Cor, xiii. 14. ¦- ' 49 will send in my name." ' He convinces the world of siii, of righteousness, and of judgment.' He testifies of and glorifies Jesus.^ It is the Holy Spirit who makes the evil manifest. He quickens them that are dead in trespasses and sins, and opens the inward eye to behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.^* Coming in the name and with the authority of the risen and ascended Saviour, He is the precious pledge of the continued love and care of our exalted King. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them, as a irealised possession, to the believing soul; Dwelling in the hearts of believers," He opens their uhderstaiidings that they may understand the Scriptures, and becomes, to the humbled and surrendered heart, the Guide, Comforter, Support, and Sanctifier. We believe that the essential qualification for the Lord's service is bestowed upon His children through the reception and baptism of the Holy Ghost. This Holy Spirit is the seal of reconciliation to the believer in Jtfsus,^ the witness' to His adoption into the family of the redeemed ;' the earnest and the foretaste of the full communion and perfect joy which are reserved for them that endure unto the end. We own no principle of spiritual light, life, or holiness, inherent by nature in the mind or heart of man. We believe in no principle of spiritual light, life, or holiness, but the influence of the Holy Spirit of God, bestowed on mankind, in various measures and. degrees, through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the capacity .to receive this blessed influence which, in an especial manner, gives man .pre-eminence above the beasts that perish ; which distinguishes him, in every nation and in every clime, as an object of the redeeming love of God ; as a being not only intelligent but responsible ; for whom the message of salvation through our crucified Redeemer is, under all possible circum stances, designed to be a joyful sound. The Holy Spirit must ever be distinguished, both from the conscience which He enlightens, and from the natural faculty of reason, which, when unsubjected to His holy influence, is, in the things of God, very foolish ness. As the eye is to the body, so is the conscience to our inner being, the organ by which we see ; and, as both light and life are essential to the eye, so conscience, as the inward eye cannot see aright, without the quickening and illumination of the Spirit of God. One with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit can never disown or dishoiiour our once crucified, and now risen and glorified Redeemer. We disavow all professed illumination or spirituality that is divorced from faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified for us without the gates of Jerusalera. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. It has ever been, and still is, the belief of the Society of Friends that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God ; that, therefore, there can be no appeal from them to any other authority whatsoever ; that they are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Jesus Christ. " These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name.'^ The Scriptures are the only I John xiv. 20. 2 John xvi. 8. 3 John xvi. 14, 4 Eph. ii. i. 5 John xiv. 17. 6 Eph. i. 13, 14. 7 Rom. viii. 15, 16. 8 John xx. 31. 59 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. No one can be required to believe, as an article of faith, any doctrine which is not contained in them ; and whatsoever any one says or does, contrary to the Scriptures, though under profes^ sion of the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, must be reckoned and accounted a mere delusion. To the Christian, the Old Testament comes with the solemn and repeated attestation of his Lord. It is to be read in the light and completeness of the New ; thus will its meaning he unveiled, and the humble disciple will be taught to discern the unity and mutual adaptation of the whole, and the many-sidedness and harmony of its testimony to Christ. The great Inspirer of Scripture is ever its true Interpreter. He performs this office in condescending love, not by superseding our : understandings, but by renewing and enlightening them. Where Christ presides, idle speculation is hushed; His doctrine is learned in the doing of His will, and all knowledge ripens into a deeper and richer experience of His truth and love. MAN'S CREATION AND FALL. ¦ It pleased God, in His wisdom and goodness, to create man out of the dust of the eajthjand to breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living s6ul, formed after the image and likeness of God, capable of fulfilling the divine law, and of holding communion with his Maker.'- Being free to obey or disobey, he fell into transgression, through unbelief, under the temptation of Satan,' and- thereby lost that spiritual life of righteousnessin which he was created ; and so death passed upon him, as the inevitable consequence of his' sin.'' As the children of fallen Adam all mankind bear his image. They partake of his nature and are involved in the consequences of his fall. To every member of every successive generation, the words "of the Redeemer are alike applicable, " Ye must be born again.''^* But while we hold these views of the lost condition of man in the fall, we rejoice to believe that sin is not imputed to any until they transgress the divine law, after sufficient capacity has been ¦given to understand it; and that infants, though inheriting this fallen nature, are saved in the infinite mercy of God, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, - JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. "God so loved the world' that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."= We believe that justification is of God's free grace, through which, upon repentance and faith. He pardons our sins, and imparts to us a new life. It is received, not for any works of righteousness that we have done," but in the unmerited mercy of God in Christ Jesus, Through faith in Him, and the shedding of His precious blood, the guilt of sin is taken away, and we stand reconciled to God. The offering up of Christ as the. propitiation for the sins of the whole world, is the appointed manifestation both of the righteous ness and of the love of God. In this propitiation the pardon of sin involves no abrogation or relaxation of the law of holiness. It is the vindication and establishment » I Gen. ii, 7, i. 2(5, 27. 2 Gen. iii. 1-7. 3 Roip. v. 12. 4 John iii. 7. 5 John iii-. 16, 6 'Titus iii. g. Si of that law,' in virtue of the -free and righteous submission- of the Son of God Himself to all its requirements. He, the unchangeably just, proclaims Himself the justifier of him that believeth in JesUs.' From age to age, the sufferings and death of Christ have been a hidden mystery, and a rock of offence to the unbelief and pride of man's fallen nature; yet, to the humble penitent whose heart is broken under the convicting power of the Spirit, life is revealed in that death. As he looks upon Him who was wounded for our transgressions,^ and upon whom the Lord was pleased to lay the iniquity of us all,* his eye is more and more opened to see, and his heart to understand, the exceed ing sinfulness of sin for which the Saviour died ; whilst, in the sense of pardoning grace, he will joy in God through our Lord Jesiis Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.' We believe that in connection .with Justification is Regeneration; that they who come to this experience know that they are not their own," that being reconciled to God by the death of His Son. we are saved by His life ; ^ a new heart is given and new desires ; old things are passed away, and we become new creatures,^ through faith in Christ Jesus ; our wills being surrendered to His holy will, grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Sanctification is experienced in the acceptance of Christ in living faith for justifica tion, in so far as the pardoned sinner, through faith in Christ, is clothed with a measure of His righteousness and receives the Spirit of promise ; for, as saith the Apostle, " Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." "• We rejoice to believe that the provisions of God's grace are sufficient to deliver from the power, as well as from the guilt, of sin, and to enable His believing children always to triumph in Christ." How full of encouragement is the declaration, ''According to your faith be it unto you.''^ Whosoever submits himself wholly to God, believing and appropriating His promises, and exercising faith in Christ Jesus, will have his heart continually cleansed from all sin, by His precious blood, and, through the renewing, refining power of the Holy Spirit, be kept in con formity to the will of God, will love Him with all his heart, mind, soul and strength, and be able to say, with the Apostle Paul, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. "'^ Thus, in its full experience, Sanctification is deliverance from the pollution, nature, and love of sin. To this we are every one called, that we may serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life;'"* It was the prayer of the Apostle for the b'elievers. " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.'^ Yet the most holy Christian is still liable to temptation, is exposed to the subtle assaults of Satan, and can only continue to follow holiness as he humbly watches unto prayer, and is kept in constant dependence upon his Saviour, walking in the light,'" in the loving obedience of faith. I Rom. iii. 31. 2 Rom. iii. a6. 3 Isa, liii. 5. 4 Isa, liii. 6. 5 i Rom. v. 11. 6 I Cor, vi, 19. 7 Rom, V, 10, 8 2 Cor, v, 17. 9 Rom. v. 21. 10 i Cor. vi. II, 112 Cor, ii; 14. i2 Matt, iv, 2g, 13 RSin, viii.'a. 14 Luke i. 74, 75, 15 i Thess. v, 23, 24. 16 r John 1.7. 5? RESURRECtlON AND. FINAL JUDGMENT. We believe, according to the, Scriptures, that there shall ^be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and unjust,' and that God hath appointed- a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ whom He hath ordained.' For, as saith the Apostle, " We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body; according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad; "^ - We sincerely believe, riot only a resurrection in Christ from the fallen and sinful state here, but a rising and ascending into glory with Him hereafter ; that when He at last appears we may appear with him in glory. But that all the wicked, who live in rebellion against the light of grace, and die finally impenitent,. shall come forth to the resurrection of condemnation. And that the soul of every man and woman shall be reserved, in its own distinct and proper being, and shall have its proper body as God is pleased to give it. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body ; ¦' that being first which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual. And though it is said, -^ This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,'' * the change shall be such as will accord with the declaration, " Flesh . and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit in corruption," " We shall be raised out of all corruption and corruptibility, out of all mortality, and shall be the children of God, being the children of resurrection.' '• Our citizenship is in heaven " (r.v.), from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.'^ We believe that the punishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous shall be everlasting ; according to the declaration of our compassionate Redeemer, to whom the judgment is committed, " These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (r.v.) " BAPTISM. We would express our continued conviction that our Lord appointed no outward rite or ceremony 'for observance in His Church. We accept every command of our Lord in what we believe to be its genuine import, as absolutely conclusive. The question of the use of outward ordinances is with us a qiiestion, not as to the authority of Christ, but as to His real meaning. We reverently believe that, as there is one Lord and one faith, so there is, under the Christian dispensation, but one baptism,'" everi that whereby all believers are baptised in the one Spirit into the one body." This is not an outward baptism with water, but a spiritual experience ; not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,'' but that inward work which, by transforming the heart I Acts xxiv. 15. 2 Acts xvii. 31. 3 2 Cor. v. 10. 4 i Cor. xv. 44. 5 I Cor. XV. 53. 6 I Cor. xv. 56, 7 Luke XX. 36. See also Declaration of 1693, Sewel's Hist., vol. ii,, 383-384, 8 Phir. iii. 20-21, 9 Matt. XXV, 46. 10 Eph, iv, 4, 5. ii" i Cor, xii, 13, R.V. ' 12 iPet. iii. 21. :53 and settling the soul upon^Christ, brings forth the answer pf a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the experience of His love and power, as the risen and asceffded' Saviour. No baptism in outward water can satisfy the deisCrip'tiOn of the Apostle; of: being buried with Christ' by baptism unto death.' It is with the Spirit alone ifhat any can be thus baptised. In this experience the announce- riient of the Forerunner Of bur Lord is fulfilled, " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."'j In this view we accept the commission of our blessed Lord as given in Matthew xxviii. i8, ig, and 20th verses : " And Jesus came to them arid spake unto tlierii saying, All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye; therefore, arid' make disciples of all the nation's, baptizing them into the name of the Father arid of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I;commanded'you, and lo; I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world'^" (r.v.) This commission, as we believe, was not designed to set up a new ritual under the new covenant, or to connect the initiation into a membership, in its nature essentially spiritual; with a 'mere ceremony of a typical character. Otherwise it was not .possible for the Apostle Paul, Who- was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles,^ to have disclaimed that which would; in that case, have been of the essence of his com mission when he wrote, " Christ sent me not to baptizej but to preach the Gospel."'' Whenever an external ceremony is commanded, the particulars, the mode and incidents of that ceremony, become of its essence. Tfiere is an utter absence of these particulars in the texts before us, which confirms our persuasion that the commission must be construed in connection with the spiritual power which the risen Lord promised should attend the witness of His Apostles and of the Church to Him, and which after Pentecost, so mightily accompanied their ministry of the word and prayer, that those to whom they were sent were introduced into an experience wherein -they had a saving knowledge of and living fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; THE SUPPER OF THE LORD, Intimately connected with the conviction already expressed is the view that we have ever maintained as to the true Supper of she Lord. We are well aware that our Lord was pleased to make use of. a variety of symbolical utterances, but he often gently upbraided His disciples for accepting literally what He had intended only in its spiritual meaning. His teaching, as in His parables or in the command to wash one another's feet^ was often in symbols, and ought ever to be received in the light of His own emphatic declaration., "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. "^ The old .covenant was full of ceremonial symbols; the new covenant, to which our Saviour alluded a.t the last supper, is expressly declared by the prophet to be "not a.ccording to the old,"" We cannot believe that in setting up this new covenant the Lord Jesiis intended an institution out of harmony with the spirit of this prophecy. The eating of His body and the drinking of His blood can not be an outward act. They truly partake of them who habitually rest upon the sufferings and iROm. vi, 4, « Matt, iii, II. 3 2 Cor, xi. 5. 4 i Cor, i. 17. 5 John vi. 63, 6 Jer. xxxi, 32 ; Heb. .viii. 9. "54 death of their Lord as their only hope, and to whoni the indwelling Spirit gives to drink of the fulness that is in Christ. It is this inward and spiritual partaking that is the true supper of the Lord, The presence of Christ with His Church is not designed to be by symbol or representation, but in the real communication of His own Spirit. " I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, who shall abide with you for ever."' Convincing of sin, testifying of Jesus, taking of the things of Christ,- this _ blessed Comforter communicates to the believer and to the Church, in a gracious abiding manifestation, the real presence of the Lord. As the great remembrancer,, through whom the promise is fulfilled. He needs no ritual or priestly intervention in bringing to the experience of the true commemoration and communion. "Behold," saith the risen Redeemer, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door. I will come in and sup with him, and he with Me.' ' In an especial manner, when assembled for congregational worship, are' believers invited to the festival of the Saviour's peace, and, in ^ united act of faith and love, unfettered by any outward rrte or ceremonial, to partake together of the body that was broken and of the blood that was shed for thera, without the gates of Jerusalem. In such a worship they are enabled to understand the words of the Apostle as expressive of a sweet and most real experience: " The cup of blessing Which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread that we break, is it not the com munion of the body of Christ ? For we being many are one bread, and one body ; for we are all partakers of that one bread. "^ PUBLIC WORSHIP. Worship is the adoring response of the heart and mind 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.-* We recognise the value of silence, not as an end, but as a means toward the attainment of the encJ; a silence, not of listlessness or of vacant 'musing, but of holy expectation before the Lord, Having become His adopted children through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our privilege to meet together and unite in the worship of Almighty God to wait upon Him for the renewal of our strength, for coraraunion one with another, for the edification of believers in the exercise of various spiritual gifts, and for the declaration of the glad tidings of salvation to the unconverted who may gather with us. This worship depends not upon numbers. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ there is a Church, and Christ, the living Head is in the midst of them. Through His mediation, without the necessity for any inferior instrumentality, is the Father to be approached and reverently worshipped. The Lord Jesus has for ever fulfilled and ended the typical and sacrificial worship under the law, by the offering up of Himself upon the cross for us, once for all. He has opened the door of access into the inner sanctuary, and graciously provided spiritual offerings for the service of His temple, suited to the several conditions of all who worship in spirit and in truth. The broken and the contrite heart, the confession of I John xiv, i6, 2 Rev. iii..2o.-. ,3 i Cor.-.x. i6, 17. 4 John iv. 24. 55 the soul prostrate before God, the prayer of the afflicted when he is overwheltiled, the earnest wrestling of the spirit, the outpouring of humble thanksgiving, the spiritual sang and melody of the heart,' the simple exercise of faith, the self-denying service of, love, these are among the sacrifices which He, our merciful and faithful High Priest, is pleased to prepare, by His Spirit, in the hearts of them that receive Him, and to present with acceptance unto God. By the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit, He, as the Head of the Church, alone selects and qualifies those who are to present His messages or engage in other service for Him ; and, hence, we cannot commit any formal arrangement to any one in our regular meetings for worship. We are well aware that the Lord has provided a diversity of gifts ^ for the needs both of the Church and the world, and we desire that the Church may feel her responsibility, under the government of her Great Head, in doing her part to foster these gifts, and in making arrangements for their proper exercise It Is not for individual exaltation, but for mutual profit, that the gifts are bestowed;'' and ^very living Church, abiding under the government of Christ, is humbly'and thankfully to receive and exercise thera, in subjection to her Holy Head. The Church that quenches the Spirit and lives to itself alone must die. ¦ We believe the preaching of the Gospel to be one of the chief means, divinely appointed, for the spreading of the glad tidings of life and salvation through' our crucified Redeemer, for the awakening and conversion of sinners, and for the comfort and edification of believers. As it is the prerogative of the Great Head of the Church alone to select and call the ministers of His Gospel, so we believe that both the gift and the qualification to exercise it must be derived iraraediatety from Him ; and that, as in the primitive Church, so now also. He confers spiritual gifts upon women as well as upon men, agreeably to the prophecy recited by the Apostle Peter, " It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour put of My Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy : '¦' respecting which the Apostle declares, " The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."'" As the gift is freely received, so it is to be freely exercised," in simple obedience to the will of God. Spiritual gifts, precious as they are, must not be mistaken for grace; they add to our responsibility, but do not raise the minister above his brethren or sisters. They must be exercised in continued dependence upon our Lord, and blessed is that ministry in which man is humbled and Christ and His grace exalted. " He that is greatest among you," said our Lord and Master, " let hira be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. I ara among you as he that serveth."^ While the Church cannot confer spiritual gifts, it is its duty to recognise and foster them, and to promote their efficiency hy all the means in its power. And while, on the one hand, the Gospel should never be preached for money,* on the other it is the duty of the Church to make such provision that it shall never be hindered for want of it. X Eph. V. 19. 2 I Cor. xii. 4-6. 3 i Cor, xii. 7. 4 Acts ii. 17. 5 Acts ii. 39. - 6 Matt. X. 8. -See also Acts xx. 33-35, 7 Luke xxii, 26, 27, 8 Acts viii. 20; XX. 33, 35. - :' -- 5&. The Church, if true td her allegiance, cannot forget her part in the command, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to e%'ery creature."' Knowing that it is the Spirit of God that can alone prepare and qualify the instruments who fulfil this command, the true disciple will be found still sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening that he may learn, and learning that he may obey. He humbly places hiniself at his Lord's disposal, and when he hears the call, " Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? " is prepared to respond, in childlike reverence and love, " Here am I, send me.'" PRAYER AND PRAISE. Prayer is the outcorae of our sense of need, and of our continual dependence upon God. He who uttered the invitation, "Ask, and it shall be given you,''^ is Himself the Mediator and High Priest who, by His Spirit, prompts the petition, and who presents it with acceptance before God. With such an invitation prayer becomes the duty and the privilege of all who are called by His name. Prayer is, in the awakened soul, the utterance of the cry, " God be merciful to me, a sinner ; "'' and at every stage of the believer's course, prayer is essential to his spiritual life. A life without prayer is a life practically without God. The Christian's life is a continual asking. The thirst that prompts the petition produces, as it is satisfied, still deeper longings which prepare for yet more bounteous supplies from Him who delights to bless. Prayer is not confined, to' the closet. When uttered in response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, it becomes an important part of public worship, and whenever the Lord's people meet together in His name, it is their privilege to wait upon Him for the spirit of grace, and supplications,^ A life ot prayer cannot be other than a life, of praise. As the, peace of Christ reigns in the Church, her living merabers accept all that they receive as from His pure bounty, and each day brings them fresh pledges of their Father's love. Satisfied with the goodness of His house, whether as individuals, in families, or in congregations, they will be still praising Him," heart answering to heart, " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name." ' LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE IN ITS RELATION TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. That conscience should be free, and that in matters of religious doctrine and worship man is accountable only to God, are truths which are plainly declared in the New Testament ; and which are confirmed by the whole scope of the Gospel, and by the example of our Lord and His disciples. To rule over the conscience, and to coraraand the spiritual allegiance of His crfeature man, is the high and sacred prerogative of God alone. In religion every act ought to be free. A forced worshij) is plainly a contra diction in terms, under that dispensation in which the worship of the Father must be in spirit and in truth.* We have ever maintained that it is the duty of Christians to obey the enactments of civil government, except those which interfere with our allegiance to God. We owe I Mark xvi. 15. 2 Isaiah vi. 8. 3 Matt. vii. 7. 4 Luke xviii. 13. 5 2ech. xii. 10. 6 Ps. Isxxiv. 4. 7 Ps. ciii. 1. 4 John iv, 24. -57 much to its blessings. Through it we enjoy liberty and, protection, in i let* arid' 6i-th. Are you faithful in maintaining our Christian testimony against all War, as inconsistent with the precepts and spirit of the Gospel T gth. Do you maintain strict integrity in all your transactions in trade, and in your other outward concerns ? and are you careful not to defraud the public revenue ? loth. Are your Meetings for Church affairs regularly held- : and how are they attended ? Are these Meetings vigilant in the discharge of their duties towards their subordinate Meeting, and in watching over the flock in the love of Christ ? When delinquencies occur, are tTiey treated timely, impartially, and. in a Christian spirit ? And do you individually take your right share in the attendance and service of these Meetings ? t nth. Do you, as a Church, exercise a loving and watchful care over your younger members ; promoting their instruction in funda mental Christian Truth, and in the Scriptural grounds of .our ireligious principles ; and manifesting an earnest desire that, through the power of Divine grace, they may all become established in the faith and hope of the Gospel ? I2th. Do you fulfil your part as a Church, and as individuals, iii promoting the cause of truth and righteousness, and the spread of the Redeemer's Kingdom at home and abroad ? Note E. , Advices to the Office Bearers amongst Friends. Be constant in your endeavours, through the power "of the Holy Spirit, to live under the government of Christ. 63 Be frequent in reading, and diligent in meditating upon, the Holy Scriptures, and be careful not to misquote or misapply them. In preaching, writing or conversing about the things of God, keep to the use of sound words or Scripture terms. Be careful to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things ; keep yourselves unspotted from the world, and be examples of meek ness, temperance, patience and charity. Be watchful not to become entangled with the cares of this world, and guard against the snare of accumulating wealth, manifesting Christian moderation and contentment in all things. Cherish a deep religious interest on behalf of those who speak in the ministry ;. watching over the young and inexperienced with tender Christian concern, encouraging all in the right way of the Lord. In the exercise of the ministry wait for the renewed putting forth of the Holy Spirit : be careful not to exceed the measure of your gift, but proceed -and conclude in the life and authority of the Gospel. Preach not yourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; reverently asking wisdom of God, that -you may be enabled rightly to divide the Word of Truth. Let nothing be done or offered with a view to popularity, but all in humility and in the fear of the Lord. Bearing in mind that the treasure is in earthen vessels, beware of laying stress on the authority of your ministry ; the baptizing power of the Spirit of Truth accompanying the words being the true evidence. Be tender at all times of each other's reputation, and watchful lest you hurt each other's service. As servants of the same Lord, with diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, maintain a lively exercise harmoniously to labour for the spreading and advancement of the Truth. Let Ministers endeavour to express themselves audibly and distinctly, and guard against all tones and gestures inconsistent with Christian simplicity. Let them beware of using unnecessary preambles, and of making additions towards the conclusion of a Meeting, when it was left well before. When travelling in the service of Christ, be. careful to move under his guidance, Let your visits be neither short and hurried, nor burdensome or unnecessa.rily expensive ; giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed. 64- Prayer and thanksgiving are important parts of worship. May they be offered in spirit and in truth, with a right understanding seasoned with grace. When engaged herein avoid many words and repetitions ; and be cautious of too often repeating the high and hply name of God ; neither let prayer Le in a formal and customary way, nor without a reverent sense of Divine influence. Finally, dear Friends, take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock amongst whom you have been called to labour. Be faithful ; be patient ; be in earnest to fulfil your appointed service, that when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye may receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away. Queries Addressed to Members of Meetings on Ministry and Oversight. 1st. Are you engaged to watch unto prayer; that you may yourselves be preserved in humble dependence upon Christ, and in earnest religious exercise for the conversion of sinners, and for the edifying of the body in the faith and hope of the Gospel ? 2nd. Do you occupy the spiritual gifts entrusted to you, faithfully, and to the honour of God ? yd. Do you overcharge yourselves with trade or other outward engagements, to the hindrance of your service? ^th. Are you careful to rule your own houses well ? And do j'ou endeavoiir, by example and precept, to train up your families in a religious life and conversation consistent with our Christian profession ? Note F. John Woolman's Journal is the Quaker classic upon simplicity of life. The purity and spirituality of the author's style and sentiments have secured for his Journal a widely spread celebrity in Great Britain, and still more so in the United States. One edition is prefaced by an introduction from the pen of J. G. Whittier. Woolman lived at Mount Holly, New Jersey, and died at York in the course of a religious visit to England, 1772. He was instrumental in arousing amongst Friends in America, a greatly quickened sense of the wrong of slave holding. 65 Note G. Christianity and War, An Address issued by the London Yearly Meeting of Friends,' igoo. We believe it right, at the present time, to give fresh expression to our testimony to the peaceable nature of Christ's Kingdom, and the unlawfulness of war to the Christian ; in the hope of strengthening the witness borne by our own members, and of encouraging others, within and without the organised churches of this and other lands, who hold a faith with ourselves upon the subject. In preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, our Lord proclaimed a new order of life,^- the inward rule of the Father in the hearts of His children, — binding men together in brotherhood of mutual service, leavening humanity, secrelly as it possessed one soul after another, capable, like the mustard-seed, of almost infinite growth, yet co-existing for a tirne with the old order, like the wheat among the tares. The whole spirit of Christ's life and teaching exemplifies the peaceable nature of His Kingdom,' and shows that in its service the weapons of worldly passion are to be renounced ; and the love and self-sacrifice, of which He is the sovereign example, are to take their place. Reject ing all violent subversion of evil institutions, Christ brought into the world a spiritual life which transforms humanity by regenerating its inner spirit. This transforraing power in Christian civilization,'' has, amongst its other triumphs, already greatly contributed to the overthrow of many evil institutions closely allied with war ; the gladiatorial games which were the passion of the Roman world ; the institutions of ancient slavery, mediaeval serfdorii, and negro slavery ; private war, that terrible scourge of the middle ages ; and, in many countries, the practice of duelling. " After all," as Lord Salisbury has said, " the great triumph of civilization in the past has been in the substitution of judicial determination for the cold, cruel, crude arbitrament ofwar."-' Warlike institutions must die away as brotherhood and justice grow. War is not a falling short of the moral ideal in a few points only : it tramples upon the moral law as a whole, and even sets human law at defiance. It is, therefore, so glaring an anachronism that a relatively small increase of enlightenment should suffice for its abolition. The growth of International Law, the increasing practice of Arbitration, .and the setting-up of a permanent tribunal, as a result of the Hague Conference, show the hold that law is gaining over the life of nations. And for the enforcement of this law, the sanction of the public opinion of civilization has been found sufficient. Justice is a potent " miracle-worker amongst men." -* We believe, then, that the spirit of Christ will ultimately redeem national as well as individual life. We believe further that, as all church-history shows, the human means will be the faithful witness borne by Christ's disciples. .It has been well said, I Read and consider ; Matt, v.— vii. Matt. iv. 8—10. Luke ix. 51— 56. Matt. xxvi. 52, 33. John xviii. 36. Mark xv. 29 — 32. Compare : Eph. vi. 10 — 18. 2 For a general sketch of the influence of Christian civilization, see Lecky, " History of European Morals from Augustus lo Charlemagne," vol. 2. 3 Speech at Brighton, 19th May, 1893. 4 John Bright, speech at Limerick, 14th July, 1S68, 66 " It seems to be the will of Him, who is infinite in wisdom, that light upon great subjects should first arise and be gradually spread, through the faithfulness of individuals in acting up to their own convictions."' This was the secret of the power of the early Church. The blood of the Christians proved a fruitful seed,'' In like manner the s.taunchness of early Friends and others to their conscientious convictions, in the Seventeenth Century, won the battle of religious freedom for England.^ We covet a like faithful witness against war from Christians to-day. Throughout all the relations of private and public life, the Christian is bound, as a. paramount duty, to faithful allegiance to the Kingdom of God and the divine will which is its law, and thus only can discharge aright his duties to family, country, and humanity. The opening words of the Lord's Prayer are not devotional aspirations merely, but a three fold vow to this supreme service; " Our Father which art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." * So long as the Christian conscience sleeps, we cannot expect its ideals to find adequate expression in national policy. The Church of Christ is unfaithful to her trust if she does not confront the world with the teaching of her Master. She is not to rest content with registering the current conception of national righteousness i it is her place to give moral leadership to the nation (as was nobly done at the time of the Venezuelan difficulty), and to silence with her clear voice the popular clamour of passion and hate. Other causes, however, besides unfaithfulness, deter many from bearing steadfast witness. The sanction given to war in the Old Testament is often regarded as sufficient warrant for its being waged at the end of nineteen centuries of Christian enlightenment. But the Old Testament is the record of a progressive revelation con ditioned at each stage by human capacity to.receive and realize it. It is the biography of a people whose spiritual horizons continually enlarged, until inspired prophets could foresee a day when " nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,"'' and could understand that the world's redemption would be wrought by the suffering Servant of the Most High," The Sermon on the Mount shows that our Lord Himself regarded the moral laws of the Old Testament as rudimentary, to be extended in scope and deepened in character by His own fuller teaching. Men of faith, living in the dawn of revelation, reached out after God, even amid the institutions of polygamy and slavery and blood-revenge. We, in like manner, are to be faithful to the guidance of the noontide light, shed on us in the face of Jesus Christ, Again, the maxira of unchristian statecraft, " the end justifies the means," is often allowed to over-ride the witness against war. We think of the goal, and forget the nameless atrocities by which it is sought. A clearer vision would show us that, in spite of the self-sacrifice, inspired by devotion to one's country, which shines on the battle-field, the actual operations of warfare show that it is essentially a " soul-blinding, heart-blurring business,"^ vitiating the moral atmosphere, callous to the divine worth : Joseph Sturge, see Life, by Henry Richard, p. 415. 2 " Semen est sanguis Christianorum." — TertuUian's Apology, chap. 50. 3 See " Masson's Milton," vol. vi. pp. 587—8. 4 Matt. vi. 9, 10. 5 Isa. ii. 4. Micah iv. 3. 6 Isa. lii. 13— liii. 12. 7 Archibald Forbes, 67 of human life, its iron discipline trarapling on the will and conscience of the soldier, 'ts bloodshed begetting on the one hand hatred and revenge, and on the other the insolent pride of conquest, its stricken field a seed-plot for further strife ; " For what can war, but endless war still breed ? " i Surely such aid must desecrate the holiest cause. Christ's words, in rejecting the like teraptation, should be ours. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Hira only shalt thou serve," ^ " To further Heaven's ends we dare not break Heaven's laws." But the difficulty which is perhaps most often felt arises from the fact that, since even the most advanced nations are as yet only iraperfectly Christian, their conduct is governed by mixed motives, and not .by the pure spirit of Christ. Acquiescence in the action of the nation, whether right or wrong, is commonly regarded as the only patriotism. But devotion to the. highest interests of our country and loyalty to truth alike require that we " obey God rather than men,"^ and, in the meekness and gentle ness of Christ, bear witness against wrong at the cost of unpopularity and even suffering. The lover of his country is jealous of her honour in the court of conscience of mankind, careful of all the finer elements of her character, deeply confcerned to maintain that moral vigour which is the life of national greatness ; for he knows that — " By the soul Only, the nations shall be great and free."! The question is often asked, " How would England fare if she abandoned her reliance on armed force ? " We answer that, as the change we have fore-shadowed takes place, she will grow into a larger and a nobler spirit than the England of to-day. The energy, the self-sacrifice, and heroisra which now sport their God-given strength in the service of death will be animating an era of fuller brotherhood. As man advances, the moral forces of righteousness and goodwill become more and more the basis of power. They have given our country her moral influence in the world, and are the true foundation on which her empire now rests. It is difficult to set limits to the strength she would possess if her national character and policy became fully Christian. But, if sacrifice and loss were her portion, her service to the Kingdom of God raight even become the greater for her suffering. The progressive deterioration of character which in fact accompanies war verifies the urgent need of fostering the spirit of national righteousness, which, as it extends, will give our statesmen the necessary mandate for a Christian policy of peace, with its consequent effect upon armaments. In bearing witness to peace, we may find some questions hard to determine, as is the case also in carrying out other duties, such as truth-speaking and self sacrifice. Many of these will be resolved as we endeavour with singleness of heart to know and to do our own personal duty. They should not, in any case, draw us away from 'faithfulness to the far larger parts of the question, where the light is clear. I Milton, " Sonnet to the Lord General Fairfax." 2 Matt. iv. 8—10. 3 Acts v. 29, 4 Wordsworth, " Dover on the day of landing." 68 Nor should our convictions lead us to think lightly of the loyalty to what they believe to be their country's service which ennobles the lives of many soldiers. It is not the soldier's heroisra, but the work in which he is engaged, that we believe to be repugnant to the teaching and life of Christ. Our position with respect to peace cannot be isolated without loss from the rest of our faith. The all-loving character of God, who makes His sun to rise on the evil as well as upon the good, not only furnishes the basis of our Lord's command to " love our enemies ''' that so we may " become" children of God,'' but should dominate and regenerate the whole spirit of life. We shall seek to live " in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars,"^ recognizing, as the writer of the epistle of James teaches in a fundamental' passage, that wars spring from lusts ;¦' and it is the desire to get and to keep that breeds quarrels. We shall not condemn increase in the army and condone the lust of dominion which causes the increase, or denounce war while we worship dividends. We shall see the fatal weakness of opposing by our words the growing militarism of the day, while we are supporting the spirit out of which it springs. Our witness to the Brotherhood of Man, revealed through the Incarnation, will be carried into other fields ; we shall endeavour to be free from all that would deface manhood or womanhood in industrial conflict or the keen warfare of relentless competition, and shall seek to ameliorate social conditions which impede the full development of the powers of life. We shall understand, as Bishop Westcott says, that " in the light of the Christian faith the true interests of nations are identical, because they are the interests of humanity. The loss of one nation is the loss of all ; the gain of one nation is the gain of all ; the dispropor tionate preponderance of a single power is an impoverishment of the whole body. An unrighteous victory is above all a calamity to the conquerors The nations have one common life, one comraon end."° Our witness is not narrow and negative, but far-reaching in its scope, and intensely positive in the active service for Christ's peaceable Kingdom to which it calls us. Seeing the issues of life and death iu the clear light of the Spirit, we become impressed with the sacred worth of humanity in the sight of God. Man is a being full of divine possibilities, visited by the Holy Spirit, the object of Christ's redeeraing love, called to the high destiny of sonship to God. Face to face with these great truths, the Christian will surely shrink with horror frora the wholesale slaughter of the battlefield. He is called to a holier warfare to be waged with other weapons, to a higher service for God and for huraanity : to him is committed the ministry^ the blessed " ministry of reconciliation." ^ 1 Mitt. v. 43—43. 2 Luke vi. 35. 3 Geoi',;e Fox, "Journal," anno 1650. 4 Jas. iv. i, 2. 5 " The Church's duty to promote International Peace : " Paper read at the Canterbury Diocesan Conference, July, 1889. Compare Lowell, "The Present Crisis." 6 2 Cor. v. 18—20. 6g CHRONOLOGICAL MEMORANDA, John Wickliffe ,.. ... ... ... ... 1324-1384 Echart died ... ... ... ... ,,. .,. 1329 Lutheran Reformation .,. ... .., .,.• 1517 Tyndale's New Testament published ; Papal supremacy abolished in England .,. ,., ,.. .,. 1534 The English Bible, authorised version ... ... ,,. 1611 The Pilgrim Fathers ... .,. ... ... .,. 1620 George Fox born ... ... ... .,. ... 1624 John Bunyan ... ... ... ... ... 1628-1688 George Fox began his ministry ,. ,,, ,,. 1647 Justice Bennet names George Fox and his friends " Quakers" 1650 Settlement of Friends' earliest meetings for discipline ... 1653 Fall of James Naylor ; Seldom fewer than 2,000 Friends in prison ... ... ... ... ... ,,. 1656 Martyrdom of Mary Dyer and companions at Boston ... 1660 Act of Uniformity, St. Bartholomew's Day ... ... 1662 George Fox's imprisonment at Lancaster and Scarborough 1663-1666 Conventicle Act passed ... ... ... ... 1664 Establishment of Monthly Meetings; Waltham and Shackle- well Schools established ... ... ,,. .,. 1667 Robert Barclay and William Penn join the Friends ... 1667- 1668 Marriage of George Fox to Margaret Fell ; !' No cross, no crown," published ... ... ... ... i66g Conventicle Act renewed — great persecution ; trial of William Penn and William Mead ... ... 1670 70 terms of; Schism Bill First Yearly Meeting in London New Jersey a Quaker colony ... Great opposition to Women's meetings for discipline, 1673 ; Wilkinson and Story separation Publication of Robert Barclay's "Apology for the true Christian Divinity, as held by the people called Quakers" Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress " published William Penn founds Philadelphia Toleration Act passed Death of George Fox ,.. Friends' Affirmation Bill passed Affirmation, controversy respecting enacted ... Affirmation, terms of, simplified Membership amongst Friends defined . . . Manuscript Books of Extracts prepared... Methodism, rise of Elders, as distinct from preachers, appointed Calendar amended : New Year's Day Jan, ist March 25th Discipline, revival of: John Griffith Book of Extracts, John Fry's ,. Woolman, John, dies at York ,,, Ministers, " Recording of," early minute American Independence, Declaration of Ackworth School established ... Sunday Schools begun by Raikes at Gloucester Book of Extracts, first printed edition issued Women's Yearly Meeting (London) established Retreat, York, opened , Book of Extracts, second edition Slave Trade abolished by Great Britain Scriptural Instruction reorganised at Ackworth School Affirmation, scope of enlarged ; Test and Corporation Act repealed Hicksite Secession in America,,. Boys' School begun in York, 1823 : taken over by Y.Q.M. instead of 1672 1674-1677 1675 ibid 1678 1682i68g 169016961714 1722 1736 17381739 1750 1752 1761 1762 1772 1773177617791781 1783 1784 1795 1802 1807 18161828 1827-1828 1829 71 Affirmation, scope of, further enlarged ; Admission of Friends to Parliament Book of Extracts, third edition, published Dissenters' Marriage and General Registration Acts ; Tithe Commutation ; Charter granted London University : Friends' Education Society founded ; Beaconite con troversy... Emancipation of slaves ; Accession of Queen Victoria Surrender of Friends' Registers to Government ; Entries of births 269,000, marriage's 40,000, burials 130,000 Friends' First-day School Association founded ... Flounders' Institute opened at Ackworth (removed to Leeds, 1894) Religious Census Returns respecting Friends' charities made to Government London Yearly Meeting issues plea on behalf of religious liberty ... Marriage Regulations, Friends', reformation of ... Book of Extracts, fourth edition Qualification of Office Act repealed Friends' Foreign Mission Association founded ; Abolition Compulsory Church Rates Burial Acts Amendment Act passed Book of Discipline, fifth edition Richmond Conference Affirmation Amendment Act passed Manchester Conference Foreign Missions Conference at Darlington Scarborough Summer School ... 18331834 1836 1837 1840 1847 1851 1854 1856 1859 186118661868 18801883 18871888 1895 1896 1897 ¦•-i — ,^ COULTAS AND VOLANS, PRINTERS, KING STREET, YORK. --«A£e-|^- YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 03100 1119