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CHAPTER XI.

QUAKERS, OR FRIENDS-GEORGE FOX AND WILLIAM PENN— HICKSITES-THE SHAKERS.

QUAKERS, OR FRIENDS.

THIS Sect had its origin in England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and spread by the emigration of its members, who were exposed to many restrictions and persecutions, over various parts of Europe and North America. The founder of the sect was George Fox, who, being equally dissatisfied with the tenets of the established church and those of the Puritans, succeeded in attaching to himself various persons who agreed with him in the view which he took of the internal operations of religion on men's hearts, conceiving it to supersede all the observances of different denominations, and not to be evidenced in any degree by them.

The Quakers, therefore, reject both the sacraments; nor do they appoint any order of ministers, but consider the instruction and edification of their congregations to be the province of whatsoever person of either sex conceives himself to be impelled thereto at the time by an internal suggestion of the Spirit. Upon doctrinal points, however, they profess to maintain opinions coincident with those generally received by the orthodox. Their internal affairs are managed by yearly, quarterly, and monthly meetings. A similar arrangement takes place among the females of the society, who are allowed a considerable share in the management of the affairs of their own sex.

This society is distinguished in its intercourse with the world by great seriousness of deportment, uniform sober

ness in dress, and generally a scrupulous avoidance o everything which can encourage vanity and frivolity. They are all sensitively averse from all matters of ceremony, which they conceive to have their origin in flattery and deception. Their refusal to take judicial oaths used frequently in former times to subject them to very severe penalties.

Up to the accession of James II. their history is an unvaried series of persecutions; either such as they endured in common with other dissenters, or such as were peculiar to themselves in consequence of their refusal to pay tithes and to take oaths. Under James, the severity of the penal law was relaxed; but William III. was the first prince who enacted laws for the especial relief of the Quakers. From this time, their affirmation, as well in England as the United States, is received in lieu of oath in judicial proceedings; and an alteration in the method of levying tithes in the former country has been provided, by which their scruples are satisfied.

George Fox, the founder of this sect, was born in 1624, at Drayton, in Leicestershire, and was the son of a weaver, a pious and virtuous man, who gave him a religious education. Being apprenticed to a grazier, he was employed in keeping sheep-an occupation, the silence and solitude of which were well calculated to nurse his naturally enthusiastic feelings. When he was about nineteen, he believed himself to have received a divine command to forsake all, renounce society, and dedicate his existence to the service of religion. For five years, he accordingly led a wandering life, fasting, praying, and living secluded; but it was not till about 1648 that he began to preach his doctrines. Manchester was the place where he first promulgated them. Thenceforth he pursued his career with untirable zeal and activity, in spite of frequent imprisonment and brutal usage.

It was at Derby that his followers were first denominated Quakers, either from their tremulous mode of speaking, or from their calling on their hearers to "tremble at the name of the Lord." The labours of Fox were

crowned with considerable success; and, in 1669, he extended the sphere of them to America, where he spent two years. He also twice visited the continent. He died in 1690. His writings were collected in three volumes folio.

The religion and worship, which Fox recommended, were simple and without ceremonies. He put forth few articles of faith, and insisted mostly on morality, mutual charity, and the love of God. To wait in profound silence for the influence of the Spirit, was one of the chief points he inculcated. The tenor of his doctrine, when he found himself concerned to instruct others, was to wean men from systems, ceremonies, and the outside of religion, in every form, and to lead them to an acquaintance with themselves by a solicitous attention to what passed in their own minds; to direct them to a principle in their own hearts, which, if duly attended to, would introduce rectitude of mind, simplicity of manners, a life and conversation adorned with every Christian virtue. Drawing his doctrine from the pure source of religious truth, the New Testament, and the conviction of his own mind, abstracted from the comments of men-he asserted the freedom of man in the liberty of the gospel, against the tyranny of custom, and against the combined powers of severe persecution, the greatest contempt and keenest ridicule. Unshaken and undismayed, he persevered in disseminating principles and practices conducive to the present and everlasting well-being of mankind, with great honesty, simplicity, and success.

The influence and extent of this sect were soon much enlarged by the example and efforts of William Penn, the most distinguished, perhaps, of its adherents. This remarkable man was born in London in 1644. About the year 1661, while a gentleman commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, he listened, in company with some other students, to the preaching of one Thomas Loe, a Quaker of eminence, and became a convert to his views. In consequence of adhering to these views, he was soon afterwards expelled from college. He had several violent altercations

with his father, because of his refusing to appear uncover ed before him and the king. In 1668, William Penn first appeared as a preacher and an author among the Quakers. In consequence of some controversial dispute he was sent to the Tower, where he remained confined for seven months.

In 1677, he went with George Fox and Robert Barclay, to the continent, on a religious excursion. Soon after his return to England, Charles II. granted him, in consideration of the services of his father, and for a debt due to him from the crown, a province of North America, then called New Netherlands, but now making the state of Pennsylvania. In consequence of this acquisition, he invited, under the royal patent, settlers from all parts of the kingdom, and drew up in twenty-four articles, the fundamental constitution of his new province, in which he held out a greater degree of religious liberty than was at that time enjoyed in the Christian world. A colony of people, chiefly of his persuasion, soon flocked to share his fortunes; the lands of the country were cleared and improved, and a town was built, which, on the principle of brotherly love, received the name of Philadelphia.

In 1682, Penn visited the province, and confirmed that good understanding which he had recommended with the natives; and after two years' residence, and with the satisfaction of witnessing and promoting the prosperity of the colonists, he returned to England. In 1669, he revisited America with his family, and returned to England in 1710. He died, 30th July, 1718; leaving behind him a character for humanity, sagacity and benevolence, such as few legislators have achieved. The city which he founded still numbers the members of his sect among the most numerous, respectable and philanthropic of her citi

zens.

As an author, William Penn was remarkably prolific; and his writings indicate much ability. The following title of one of the most noted of his tracts will convey an idea of some of the peculiar religious opinions, which he adopted: The Sandy Foundation Shaken, or those so

generally believed and applauded Doctrines, of one God subsisting in Three distinct and separate Persons; the impossibility of God's pardoning sin without a plenary satisfaction; the qualification of impure persons by an im putative righteousness, refuted from the authority of Scripture testimonies and right reason."

It appears that Penn, having in this work reprobated the leading doctrines of Calvinism, a violent outcry was raised against him. He therefore vindicated himself in a pamphlet, called "Innocency with her Open Face," in which he says: "As for my being a Socinian, I must confess I have read of one Socinus, of (what they call) a noble family in Sene, Italy, who about the year 1574, being a young man, voluntarily did abandon the glories, pleasures, and honours of the Great Duke of Tuscany's court at Florence, that noted place for all worldly delicacies, and became a perpetual exile for his conscience, whose parts, wisdom, gravity, and just behaviour, made him the most famous with the Polonian and Transylvanian churches; but I was never baptised into his name, and therefore deny that reproachful epithet; and if in any thing I acknowledge the verity of his doctrine, it is for the truth's sake, of which, in many things he had a clearer prospect than most of his contemporaries: but not therefore a Socinian any more than a son of the English church, while esteemed a Quaker, because I justify many of her principles since the Reformation against the Romish church." But we will add another paragraph, where Penn's principles are epitomised: "And to shut up my apology for religious matters, that all may see the simplicity, Scripture doctrine, and phrase of my faith, in the most important matters of eternal life, I shall here subjoin a short confession :

"I sincerely own, and unfeignedly believe, (by virtue of the sound knowledge and experience received from the gift of that holy unction and divine grace inspired from on high) in one holy, just, merciful, almighty, and eternal God, who is the father of all things; that appeared to the holy patriarchs and prophets of old, at sundry times and in divers manners; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the everlast