sions written by John Bunyan, Vavasor Powell, Benjamin Keach, and Elias Keach. 6 V. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CONFESSION was prepared about 1833 or 1834, by the Rev. J. Newton Brown, of New Hampshire (d. 1868), the editor of a Universal Cyclopædia of Religious Knowledge.' It is shorter and simpler than the Confession of 1688, and presents the Calvinistic system in a milder form. It has been accepted by the Baptists of New Hampshire and other Northern and Western States, and is now the most popular creed among American Baptists.' § 106. ARMINIAN OR FREE-WILL BAPTISTS. IN ENGLAND. [See Literature on p. 845.] The GENERAL or ARMINIAN BAPTISTS differ from the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists in rejecting unconditional election and the perseverance of saints, and in maintaining the freedom of will and the possibility of falling from grace. So far they followed the Mennonites. They assign greater power to a general assembly of associated churches, and hold three orders-bishops or messengers, pastors or elders, and deacons; while the Particular Baptists, like the Congregationalists, recognize only two-bishops or pastors and deacons (elders being a title applicable to the first or to both). I. The first Confession of Arminian Baptists was published by English refugees in Holland, under the title, 'A Declaration of Faith of English People remaining at Amsterdam in Holland,' Amsterdam, 1611.2 It was drawn up by Smyth and Helwisse. It consists of twenty-seven (26) Articles. The first Article confesses the doctrine of the Trinity in the spurious words of 1 John v. 7. Election is conditioned by foreknown faith, reprobation by foreknown unbelief, and the perseverance of saints is denied. The Church of Christ is 1 It is printed in Vol. III. pp. 742 sqq. 'It is reprinted in Crosby's History, Vol. II. Appendix I. pp. 1-9, and in Underhill's Collection, pp. 1-10. A manuscript copy exists in the archives of the Mennonite church at Amsterdam, to which the original subscriptions of forty-two names are appended, preceded by the modest remark, 'We subscribe to the truth of these Articles, desiring further instruction.' Art. V.: 'God before the foundation of the world hath predestinated that all that believe In him shall be saved, and all that believe not shall be damned; all which he knew before. And this is the election and reprobation spoken of in the Scriptures, . . . and not that God defined (Art. X.) to be 'a company of faithful people separated from the world by the Word and Spirit of God, being knit unto the Lord, and one unto another, by baptism, upon their own confession of the faith.' Baptism is confined to adults, but nothing is said of immersion. The duty of obedience to the magistrate is very earnestly enjoined (Art. XXIV.). II. The 'London Confession' was approved by more than twenty thousand Baptists, and was presented to Charles II., July 26, 1660. It contains twenty-five Articles.' III. The Orthodox Creed' was published in 1678, by the General Baptists of Oxfordshire and the parts adjacent. It makes a near ap proach to Calvinism, with a view to unite the Protestants in the funda mental articles against the errors of Rome.2 IN AMERICA. Literature. I. D. STEWART: The History of the Free-will Baptists for Half a Century. Dover, 1862 sqq. (Vol. I. from 1780 to 1830). Comp. also the Lives of Randall, Stinchfield, Colby, Thornton, Marks, Bowles, Phinney, and Elias Smith; the Records of Yearly Meetings and Quarterly Meetings, and sundry articles in the religious periodicals and other publications of the Free-will Baptists issued from their Printing Establish. ment at Dover, New Hampshire. The American General Baptists are called FREE-WILL Baptists or FREE Baptists. They trace their origin to Benjamin Randall (17491808), who was converted by one of the last sermons of Whitefield at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Sept. 28, 1770. He was at first a Congregationalist, but in 1776 he united himself with a regular Baptist church in South Berwick, Maine, and entered the ministry. In 1780 he organized, in New Durham, New Hampshire, a Baptist church, which became the nucleus of a new denomination, holding the doctrines of conditional election, free will, and open communion. In government it is congregational. In 1827 the Free-will Baptists organized a General Conference in New England, and opened correspondence with the Arminian Bap | tists in England and North Carolina. hath predestinated men to be wicked, and so be damned, but that men being wicked shall be damned.' Art. VII.: Men may fall away from the grace of God, and from the truths which they have received and acknowledged.' 1 Underhill, pp. 107–120. 'Ibid. pp. 121-168. Their Confession of Faith, together with a directory of discipline, was prepared by order of the General Conference of 1832, approved 1834, revised by a committee in 1848, 1865, and 1868. It is the clearest and ablest exposition of the principles of the Free-will Baptists.' § 107. THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS. Literature. I. SOURCES. GEO. Fox (founder of the Society of Friends, d. 1690): Works (containing his Journal, Letters, and Exhortations), London, 1694–1706, in 3 vols. fol.; also Philadelphia, in 8 vols. 8vo. ROBERT BARCLAY (the standard divine of the Quakers, d. 1690): Works, edited by William Penn, London, 1692, under the title, 'Truth Triumphant through the Spiritual Warfare, Christian Labors and Writings of that Able and Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ, Robert Barclay,' etc. The principal of these works are: Apologia Theologiæ vere Christianæ, first in Latin, Amst. 1675; then in English, by the author himself; also in German, Dutch, French, and Spanish. The full title of the English edition is, 'An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, being an Explanation and Vindication of the Principles and Doctrines of the People called Quakers.' (I have a very elegant copy of the eighth edition, Birmingham, 1765.) A Catechism and Confession of Faith, approved of and agreed unto by the General Assembly of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, Christ himself Chief Speaker in and among them. (The answers wholly biblical.) 1673. The same, in Latin (Catechesis et Fidei Confessio, etc.). Rotterdam, 1676. Treatise on Christian Discipline, etc. WILLIAM PENN (d. 1718): A Summary of the History, Doctrine, and Discipline of Friends (London, 1692); Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People called Friends (London, 1694); ‘Quakerism a New Nickname for Old Christianity;' 'The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience Debated and Defended,' etc. Some of Penn's tracts were translated into German by Seebohm (Pyrmont, 1792 and 1798). II. HISTORICAL. GERARD CROESE: History of the Quakers, containing the Lives, Tenets, Sufferings, Trials, Speeches, and Letters of all the most Eminent Quakers from the First Rise of the Sect. London, 1696, 8vo. WILLIAM SEWEL (d. 1725): History of the Rise, Increase, and Progress of the Christian People called Quakers. London, 1725, fol.; 6th edition, 1834, in 2 vols.; also in Dutch and German. (Charles Lamb pronounced this book far more edifying and affecting than any thing of Wesley and his colleagues.") JOSEPH BESSE: Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers, for the Testimony of a Good Conscience, London, 1753, 2 vols. fol. JOHN GOUGH: The History of the Quakers. Dublin, 1789, 4 vols. 8vo. SAM. M. JANNEY: History of the Friends. Philadelphia, 1859-1867, 4 vols. Biographies of G. Fox, by JONAh Marsh (1848), S. M. JANNEY (1853), W. TALLACK (1868). Biographies of W. Penn, by Marsiliao (1791), CLARKSON (1813), ELLIS (1852), JANNEY (1852), HEPWORTE DIXON (1856). III. EXPLANATORY AND APOLOGETIC. THOS. CLARKSON (d. 1846): A Portraiture of Quakerism. London, 1806; 2d ed. 1807, 3 vols. THOS. EVANS: An Exposition of the Faith of the Religious Society of Friends. Philadelphia, 1828. Approved by the Quakers at a meeting held in Philadelphia, Oct. 19, 1827, and often printed. (Manchester edition, 1867.) The Ancient Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends, revived and given forth by the Yearly Meet ing held in Philadelphia in the Fourth Month, 1843. Philadelphia, at Friends' book-store. A summary of orthodox Quakerism, chiefly from the writings of Barclay. W. L. ALLINSON: Art. Friends, in M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclop., Vol. III. pp. 667 sqq. (New York, 1870). Friends' Review, a Religious, Literary, and Miscellaneous Journal. Philadelphia, so far twenty-nine vols. till 1876 (edited by Henry Hartshorne). IV. POLEMICAL AND CRITICAL. For a full account of the literature against the Quakers, see Jos. SMITH's Bibliotheca anti-Quakeriana; or, A Catalogue of Books adverse to the Society of Friends. Alphabetically arranged. With Biographical It is published at Dover, N. H., under the title. Treatise on the Faith and Practice of the Free-will Baptists, and forms a little book of fifty pages. The doctrinal part is printed in Vol. III. pp. 749 sqq. Notices of the Authors, together with the Answers which have been given to some of them by Friends and others. London, 8vo, pp. 474. MÖHLER (R. C.): Symbolik, pp. 488-532; Run. HOFMANN: Symbolik, pp. 514–520; SCHNECKENBURGER, Lehrbegriffe der kleineren protest. Kirchenparteien, pp. 69–102. HISTORICAL SKETCH. THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, as they call themselves-or QUAKERS, as they are usually called '-originated in the Puritan commotion which roused all the religious energies of England. It was founded by GEORGE Fox (1624-1690), one of the oddest saints in Christendom, a self-taught and half-inspired man of genius, who was called by a higher power from the shepherd's staff to the evangelism of the baptism by fire and by the Spirit. In early youth he felt inclined to ascetic retirement, like the hermits of old. He was a thorough mystic, and desired to get at the naked truth without the obstruction of church, sacrament, ceremonies, theology, and ordinary study, except the Scriptures spiritually understood. He loved to commune with nature and nature's God, to walk in the inward light, to enjoy the indwelling Christ, and to receive inspirations from heaven. He spent much time in fasting and prayer, he wrestled with the devil, and passed through deep mental distress, doubt, and despondency. His moral character was beyond reproach-pure, truthful, unworldly, just, temperate, meek, and gentle, yet bold and utterly regardless of conventional usage and propriety. He began his public testimony in his twenty-third year, and traveled through England, Holland, and the American colonies, preaching and praying with pentecostal fervor and power, revealing hidden truths, boldly attacking pride, formality, and worldliness, and exhorting to repentance, humility, and mercy. He sometimes interrupted the clergymen at public service, The name 'Friends' designates a democratic brotherhood in Christ. The name 'Quak. ers' is sometimes wrongly derived from the warning of Fox to the magistrates to quake for fear' and 'to tremble at the Word of the Lord' (Isa. lxvi. 2). It comes rather from their own tremulous utterance of emotion in prayer and exhortation. Barclay (Apology, p. 310, on Prop. XI.) speaks of the trembling motion of the body under the power of the truth, by which Quakers are exercised as in the day of battle, and says: From this the name of Quakers, i. e., Tremblers, was first reproachfully cast upon us; which, though it be none of our choosing, yet in this respect we are not ashamed of it, but have rather reason to rejoice therefore, even that we are sensible of this power that hath oftentimes laid hold of our adversaries and made them yield unto us.' Allinson says (1. c. p. 668): The epithet Quakers was given in derision, because they often trembled under an awful sense of the infinite purity and majesty of God, and this name, rather submitted to than accepted by them, has become general as a designation.' and the lawyers in court, and warned them against the wrath to come. He was a stern ascetic, clad in leather, and wearing long hair. He addressed every body 'thou' or 'thee,' and sublimely ignored all worldly honors and dignities.' He was nine times thrown into prison for breaches of the peace and blasphemy, and suffered much hardship and indignity with imperturbable temper; but towards the close of his meteoric career he enjoyed comparative rest. His 'Journal' gives an account of his labors, and is, in the language of Sir James Mackintosh, 'one of the most extraordinary and instructive narratives in the world.' Fox was providentially provided with the best aid in founding his society. ROBERT BARCLAY (1648-1690) was the apologist and theologian of the Quakers, the only one known to fame. Descended from a noble family in Scotland, and educated in Paris, he became a convert first to Romanism, then to Quakerism (1667). He had therefore the advantage of an experimental as well as theoretical knowledge of the Scotch Calvinistic and the Roman Catholic creeds. He made various missionary journeys in company with William Penn; he walked through the streets of Aberdeen in sackcloth and ashes, and was several times imprisoned, but spent his last years in peace on his estate of Ury. WILLIAM PENN (1644-1718), the statesman and politician of the Quakers, and the founder of Pennsylvania, was the son of an admiral, and enjoyed the favor of James II. (his father's friend), which he used in the cause of justice and mercy. He himself was expelled for his religion from the University of Oxford and his father's house, and was twice imprisoned, but ably defended the liberty of conscience, and was acquitted. By his influence more than twelve hundred Quakers were set at liberty. In 1680 he obtained from the king, in payment of a claim of £16,000, an extensive tract of land west of the Delaware River, and organized a colony on the basis of perfect freedom of religion (1682). The city of Philadelphia, or ''The Lord forbade him,' says Sewel, 'to put off his hat to any man, high or low; he was required to Thou and Thee every man and woman without distinction, and not to bid people Good-morrow or Good-evening; neither might he bow or scrape his leg to any one.' 2 The charges of Lord Macaulay against Penn's integrity have been repelled by W. E. Forster (William Penn and Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1850) and J. Paget (Edinburgh, 1858). |