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FRIENDLY SKETCHES 
 
 nr 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
FEIENDLY SKETCHES 
 
 nr 
 
 AMEKICA. 
 
 : - WILLIAM TALLAGE. 
 
 V I' 
 
 A. W. BENNETT, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT. 
 1861. 
 

 LOU-DON : GEOKGE UXWIN, GRESHAM STEAM PBESS, BUCKLEHS3UKT. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 These Sketches of the Society of Friends in 
 America are the result of observations and inquiries 
 made during a four months* journey through the 
 United States, in the summer of 1860. 
 
 The writer takes this opportunity of expressing 
 his hearty thanks to the numerous Friends in that 
 country who so kindly facilitated his efforts at col- 
 lecting information, both respecting the subjects of 
 these sketches, and others of a different nature. 
 
 867H7 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 The Union and Dissent of Friends in America. .. 1 
 
 Several Denominations of American Friends — Their Com- 
 mon Union — Rise of the Society — Christ's Inward 
 Manifestation — Origin of Hicksism — Joseph John Gurney 
 and John Wilbur — American Yearly Meetings. 
 
 General Impressions of America 14 
 
 " Gone a-head" — Waning Frajudices — Acting in Masses. 
 
 External Peculiarities in America 17 
 
 Establishment of a Friends' Fashion — The Clerk and his 
 Hat — Early Friends not so Ceremonious— The " Slit ** 
 Standard— Injurious Effects of this Formalism. 
 
 Friends in the West 25 
 
 First Settlers of the West — Friends* Colonies— Orphans — 
 Neighbourly Assistance — Early Rising — Rural Life — 
 Sabbath Schools — The Phrenologist — Friends* Hospi- 
 tality—Western Meals — Temperance — Pedestrians -^ 
 Toniadoes«-Providential luterpositionB in Iowa. 
 
Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Western Meetings 40 
 
 Rural Meetings — Horses — Meetings in Winter — Ministers 
 — Assessments — American Elders. 
 
 ElCHMOND AND ITS ViCINITY 47 
 
 "The Quaker City" — Geology — Churches and Libraries — 
 Friends' Meeting-House— Indiana Yearly Meeting — Hick- 
 sites — Cincinnati — H. G. Guinness— Value of Silence as 
 a Basis for Worship. 
 
 Eaelham College 66 
 
 Degrees in United States' Colleges— Earlham Estate— Suc- 
 cessful Union in Study of the Two Sexes — Expenses of 
 College Education in the United States— Studies at 
 Earlham — Motto from Juvenal — Management and Pros- 
 pects. 
 
 Mount Pleasant, Ohio 64 
 
 Wheeling — Scenery around Mount Pleasant— Aged Friend 
 — Anecdotes of Washington — Friends in the Revolution 
 — American Whisky. 
 
 The Sepaeation of Feiends at Mount Pleasant... 69 
 
 Wilburite Difficulties — Separation — English Recognition — 
 Acerbity. 
 
 Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina Friends 77 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad — The Alleghanies — Vir- 
 ginia Friends — Baltimore — William Forster — ^Vital 
 Quakerism. 
 
 Philadelphia 83 
 
 The State House — Street Railways — Markets— No Smoke 
 — Streets and Squares — Influence of Friends. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Philadelphia Friends 88 
 
 The Evangelical and Wilburite Bodies— J. J. Gurney — 
 Yearly Meeting of 1855 — Indecision — Misapplied Texts- 
 Sad Eflfects of Divdsion — The Three Meetings— Twelfth- 
 Street Meeting — Book Association — Burial Ground — 
 Dead Lock— Courtesy — Stephen Grellet — Good without 
 being Disagreeable. 
 
 Macaulat and William Penn 108 
 
 Lnportant Admission by Macaulay — Lines by Whittier. 
 
 Haverford College Ill 
 
 The Estate— Funds— The Building— Studies— Fire-flies— 
 The Observatory. 
 
 The Bright Side of Wilburism 118 
 
 The Quaker of the Olden Time— Good Qualities of the 
 " Old School" of Friends — Conservatism an Essential in 
 Politics and Religion— Gradual Changes — Deficiencies of 
 the Early Friends— Writings of J. J. Gurney — Value of 
 Spiritual Interpretations of Scripture — Essentiality 
 of Private Devotion — Danger of Modern Superficialism 
 — Reverence for Age — Why not all of us Unite again ? 
 
 West-Town School 131 
 
 Building and Studies— The Library — " Indian Turnip " — 
 No Annual Reunion at West-Town. 
 
 The Hicksites 136 
 
 Origin and good Results of the Separation — Anecdotes of 
 EliaB Hicks — Green-Street Meeting — Assumptions of the 
 Elders— Secession— Hicksism in New York — " The New 
 Lights" — English Visitors — Crisis at New York — A 
 Storm — Complete Secession— Present Condition of the 
 Hicksites— Hicksite Yearly Meeting in 1860— Their Dis- 
 dpline^Unitarianism — Creed and Action. 
 
% TABLE OP CONTENTS. 
 
 Fbiendlt Pheaseologt in Ameeica 159 
 
 Its Advantages — Truthful Diction — True Quakerism more 
 Permanent than Transient Non-essentials. 
 
 Burlington 164 
 
 Older than Philadelphia — W. J. Allinson and Bishop 
 Doane — The River Delaware. 
 
 A Day amongst Old Kecords at Burlington ... 168 
 First Entries of Burlington Monthly Meeting — Acknow- 
 ledgment of Disaffection — A Printer's Acknowledgment 
 —Confession of Intemperance — Acknowledgment of Bear- 
 ing Arms — Certificate from Durham — Certificates from 
 Bermuda and Woodberry Creek — Certificates from Bed- 
 fordshire and Dorsetshire — Early Friends' Discipline— 
 The Truth — Certificate from Buckinghamshire. 
 
 Miscellaneous Extracts from the Old Kecords 
 
 OF Various American Meetings 184 
 
 Discipline to be Instituted — Quarrelling — Various Arrange- 
 ments of Early Meetings — Charity — Assault — Family 
 Visits — ^Visits to other Meetings — Various Cases of 
 Assisting the Poor — Marriage — Remarkable Case. 
 
 New York 199 
 
 Orthodox and Hicksites in New York. 
 
 Flushing 201 
 
 Long Island Scenery — Bowne House — The Flushing Oak 
 — S. Parsons — John Bowne — S. Bownas — George Keith 
 — Puritan Rigidity. 
 
 Friends in New England 211 
 
 Lynn and Nahant — Reading Meetings — Religious Benefit 
 of Social Re-unions — Amesbury — John G. Whittier — 
 New England Scenery— Eh"ovidence — Friends' School 
 there — Newport — Success of Friends in Political Govern- 
 ment — Boston Common. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 
 
 PAoa 
 
 American Friends and Slavery 226 
 
 "The Undergroxind Railway*' — Southern Despotism — 
 Northern Supremacy — Habits of the Negroes. 
 
 Friends' Sabbath Schools in America 233 
 
 Diflference between these and those of English Friends — A 
 Morning at Richmond Sabbath School — Sabbath Schools 
 in Philadelphia — Quaker and Catholic Schools. 
 
 Review 242 
 
 Mere Creeds of Little Value— The Basis of True Qua- 
 kerism — Its Excellence — Divine Headship— Quakerism 
 is Not Declining — ^The Two Witnesses— Prayer — Fasting 
 Essential — Conclusion. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Silent Meetings 263 
 
 n. The Hicksite Friends 264 
 
 III. The Divine Nature 264 
 
 rV. Friends' Literature 268 
 
 V. Sanctification and Justification 269 
 
 VI. Universalist Insinuations 263 
 
 VII. The Ministry amongst Friends 269 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 114, line 2Z—read " Somnium Scipionls" without the inserted 
 comma. 
 „ 135 „ 2— j-eaf^" species of fern;'* not" pieces." 
 
 136 „ 17— omit " other" before " continental nations." 
 143 „ 10— read " trenched;" not " intrenched." 
 „ 221 „ 8— reacZ" torn-;" not " town." 
 
FRIENDLY SKETCHES 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 THE UNION AND- DISSENT OF FRIENDS IN 
 AMERICA. 
 
 The Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland 
 is a united community, but the same denomination in 
 America has been more than once, since the com- 
 mencement of the nineteenth century, interrupted by 
 differences of doctrine which have led to several 
 divisions in the previously united Society. The mem- 
 bers of each of these claim to constitute the original 
 Society of Friends, but as some distinctive appellation is 
 necessary in speaking of each, they are usually known 
 as the " Orthodox " and " Hicksite " Friends. The 
 Orthodox have again separated into two classes, called 
 respectively the " Evangelical " and " Wilburite." 
 Again, the Wilburites have, in several instances, had 
 very small local secessions, each claiming to be " the 
 Friends." 
 
 So that considerable care is requisite to avoid 
 confusion of ideas with respect to the opinions and 
 condition of the members of this Society in America. 
 
 They all agree, however, in maintaining the para- 
 mount im[X)rtance of individual submission to the 
 perceptible guidance of the Divine Spirit in each 
 B 
 
2 FraENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 person. They all unite in a decided testimony against 
 war, slavery, and other popularly tolerated evils, as 
 being incompatible with a perfect Christianity. All 
 agree, too, in a high estimate of the character and 
 precepts of George Fox, Robert Barclay, and their 
 associated early Friends. Each division of the So- 
 ciety also denies the right of any political authority 
 to interfere in matters of conscience alone. Some of 
 these views are also held by many of the other 
 Christian sects who have never been associated with 
 Friends. But there remain two other peculiar and 
 very important principles which have specially cha- 
 racterized the Society of Friends from its commence- 
 ment ; — firstly, the adoption of silence as a basis of 
 worship the most calculated to foster sincere indi- 
 vidual prayer and reverent prostration of the soul 
 before God; secondly, the practical and not merely 
 theoretical adoption of the principle that a call to the 
 ministry of the Gospel can only come from the Divine 
 Spirit, and that, unless this inward call be given, all 
 other outward or intellectual gifts are incapable of 
 qualifying for this office ; and further, that ministry, to 
 be entirely disinterested and pure, had better, except 
 in peculiar cases, be gratuitous, and that the recog- 
 nition of a ministerial call from God rests with the 
 whole body of church members. 
 
 These specially characteristic views of worship and 
 ministry are still retained and highly valued by each 
 division of American Friends, and these continue to 
 distinguish them as a community who at least agree 
 in holding some opinions decidedly different from 
 those entertained by all other Christian sects of their 
 country. 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 3 
 
 Before entering on the points of difference amongst 
 those who unite in so much, it is necessary to recur 
 to the circumstances of the origin of the Society of 
 Friends. Its founders and first adherents were mostly 
 from the ranks of the Puritans. They were men 
 whose spirits were wrought up to a high degree of 
 tension and earnestness by the events of their time, 
 and by the experiences of themselves or their rela- 
 tives, in battle-fields, pillories, and dungeons. Around 
 them were the struggles of Scotch Covenanters, French 
 Catholics, Dutch and German Reformers, Genevan 
 Refugees, and, nearer home, licentious native and 
 foreign intriguers and adventurers of every bad 
 description. Such a general state of things was calcu- 
 lated to develop extreme views in every mind. All 
 religious and political opinions would be tinged with 
 personal feeling and with stronger dread of contrary 
 tendencies. The Puritans saw profligacy run riot in 
 high places, and they shrank back into the opposite 
 extreme of rigidly tightening or absolutely forbidding 
 some of the lawful amenities of social life. They 
 heard monarchs call to men to mould their consciences, 
 under pains and penalties, to the gauge of court pre- 
 scription, and attempt to enforce such impossible re- 
 ligious unanimity by the pillory and scaffold, and, in 
 their desperation and Christian fidelity, they replied 
 oftentimes in tones of less loyalty than resolute re- 
 fusal. No wonder "either that the godly men of those 
 days should imbibe a portion of what would be 
 rightly called over-zeal and fanaticism in our own 
 age, but black and white are hardly more alike than 
 the condition of religious and political society in the 
 reign of Victoria compared with that of the Charleses. 
 b2 
 
4 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Macaulay in his Essay on Milton has described, not 
 unjustly, the reign of Charles the Second in these 
 words : — " Then came those days never to be recalled 
 without a blush, the days of servitude without loyalty, 
 and sensuality without love, of dwarfish talents and 
 gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts and narrow 
 minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and 
 the slave. The king cringed to his rival [Louis 
 XIV.] that he might trample on his people, sank into 
 a viceroy of France, and pocketed with complacent 
 infamy her degrading insults and her more degrading 
 gold. — The Government had just ability enough to 
 deceive, and just religion enough to persecute. The 
 principles of liberty were the scoff of every grinning 
 courtier, and the Anathema-Maranatha of every fawn- 
 ing dean. — Crime succeeded to crime, and disgrace 
 to disgrace, till the race accursed of God and man 
 was a second time driven forth to wander on the face 
 of the earth, and to be a byword and a shaking of 
 the head to the nations." 
 
 It was an age of extremes, and it is a natural law 
 that even the best men should be thus influenced by 
 extremes driving them to other extremes of language 
 and action. The first Friends heard the creed of a 
 simple Christianity in the mouths of multitudes no- 
 toriously deficient in the practice of that creed ; and 
 they became themselves convinced, and then taught 
 others, that formal creeds are of small importance, 
 and that a little sincere effort after good is worth a 
 whole creed held in carelessness. They saw the profli- 
 gate court and clergy of their day in possession of 
 the same beautiful liturgy now used in English 
 churches, and containing the same evangelical pro- 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 5 
 
 fession of dependence on the atonemerjt of Christ, 
 and they exclaimed, * It is not enough to speak of 
 Christ as an historic character, as one who lived, 
 died, and rose sixteen hundred years ago, as a Being 
 of the past We want Christ's help every day, just as 
 much as at the first moment of our soul's sight of 
 His atoning efficacy. How can you have strength to 
 do any daily good, unless you feel Christ to be risen 
 and present in you personally by His Holy Spirit 
 now ? Yes, " Christ in you " is just as essential to 
 your real spiritual life as ever He was on Calvary. 
 We cannot even see the need of His death on Calvary, 
 unless Christ Himself now, in our hearts, open our 
 bKnd eyes to see our entire absence of good, our total 
 inability to come to our most holy God without such 
 justifying means of approach. God is a living joer- 
 soualf energizing Being, of the present, quite as much 
 as of the past. So that how can we talk consistently 
 of being saved by Christ's death, if we fall into 
 abhorred sin for want of Christ's life ? ' 
 
 It is true that it is Christ's atoning death on Cal- 
 vary which alone gives us a claim to approach, as 
 accepted suppliants, at the crystal purity of the Divine 
 Throne; but it is only r daWy permanent current of 
 Christ's cleansing vital Spirit that can keep us there, 
 in the warmth, and power, and purity of His presence. 
 " The just shall live by faith." Too many have been 
 reading this as merely of the spiritual birth, but the 
 just must not only be born by faith, but live by faith, 
 and so continue to the end. We must feel that how- 
 ever we labour in Christ's cause, still we have a 
 permanent vacuity of intrinsic goodness, which no 
 amount of the borrowed goodness of faith will lessen. 
 
6 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 We must be as " little children," leaning on Christ 
 dailj, to the end of our existence here below. 
 
 But, in this earnestness of their sense of the need 
 of Christ's living personal presence to help us from 
 the daily recurrence of sinful habits, the early Friends 
 inculcated that side of Christian doctrine too exclu- 
 sively ; — they left the other side, the value of Christ's 
 death on Calvary, too much in the background. 
 This omission, not wilful on their part, was continued 
 by many of their successors, till, at a hundred and 
 fifty years after the rise of the Society, it can scarcely 
 be denied that this was an absolutely characteristic 
 deficiency in its ministry and literature. It is seen at 
 once by reference to the prevailing style and tendency 
 of the biographies and official records of Friends in 
 the eighteenth century. The extreme of a formal 
 evangelicalism outside the Society in the preceding 
 century had now borne its fruit, the opposite extreme 
 of a formal spirituality in the Society itself. 
 
 At the commencement of the nineteenth century 
 this extreme began to manifest itself more boldly than 
 heretofore, and especially in America. A temporary 
 check was given, but the error was too deeply rooted, 
 and it soon broke out more extensively. Elias Hicks, 
 a minister in the Society, resident on Long Island, 
 publicly inculcated the doctrines that the inward 
 manifestation of Christ through the Spirit is alone 
 essential to salvation ; that Jesus in the flesh was not 
 also perfect God ; and tliat the Bible is not a standard 
 of religious truth more than individual inward sug- 
 gestions, or, indeed, more than some of the writings 
 of good men in various ages. He was reasoned with 
 for preaching these doctrines, but persisted in main- 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 7 
 
 taining tliem. It is evident, on a comparison of his 
 dangerous and unscriptural views with the general 
 tone of the writings of Friends both in England and 
 America during the eighteenth century, that he was 
 merely a bolder enunciator of doctrinal errors, which 
 had long been gradually and deeply infecting the 
 Society. This is still further proved by the fact that 
 a majority of the Friends in New York, Pennsylvania, 
 and Maryland, supported his views, and continued in 
 communion with him as a fellow-member. Out of the 
 twenty-two meetings of Friends then on Long Island 
 only two protested against his views by disowning 
 them and him. The remaining twenty meetings con- 
 tinued to unite with him. Elsewhere, also, a similar 
 majority of the Society took his part. These were 
 called " Hick sites " and " Separatists " by the smaller 
 body opposed to Elias Hicks, and who thenceforth 
 became known by tiie name of " Orthodox " Friends, 
 which was recognized by most of the Christian sects 
 in America. After the separation which thus occurred, 
 a census of the Pennsylvanian Friends was taken, 
 and it was found that out of twenty-five thousand in 
 that State, about seventeen thousand had supported 
 Elias Hicks. So that only one-third of the Friends 
 there allied themselves to the Orthodox section. In 
 Philadelphia and New York the Hicksites still form a 
 majority of those who popularly go under the name 
 of ** Friends," In Baltimore, also, the Hicksites are a 
 large body, while the Orthodox there are a mere 
 handful. And so in various places in the Central 
 States. 
 
 After the year 1828, the Orthodox Friends con- 
 tinued their course more quietly. But, meanwhile. 
 
8 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 some Friends in Great Britain had taken an alarm at 
 the state of the Society in America, and, dreading 
 lest there should be any such error and separation in 
 their own country, endeavoured to guard English 
 Friends against the Socinian tendencies of their former 
 literature and ministry, which had led to such un- 
 pleasant results across the Atlantic. Amongst those 
 who were thus instrumental in awakening attention to 
 the importance of more scriptural simplicity and a 
 more evangelical form of doctrine, was Joseph John 
 Gurney of Norwich, and he illustrated his views 
 powerfully by a life of spirituality and beneficence. 
 He combined the habitual daily dependence on Christ's 
 inward presence, so emphatically inculcated by the 
 early Friends, with a scriptural humility of prostra- 
 tion before the entire and only merits of Christ, as 
 the incarnate atoning representative on Calvary of 
 the human race. 
 
 Very much in consequence of t^e efforts of these 
 Friends the Society has of late years devoted more 
 attention to the scriptural education of its younger 
 members, and to the careful examination of how far 
 its traditional doctrines will bear the test of the Bible. 
 Much of the formality and over-rigorous discipline 
 which characterized Friends in England fifty years 
 ago has now disappeared, to the decided increase of 
 religious vitality and earnestness amongst its members, 
 elder and younger. This improvement has extended 
 to some parts of America, but not so generally as in 
 England. It has had great influence in the Western 
 States and in New England, but comparatively little 
 on the Friends of Pennsylvania, who have generally 
 continued to hold a system of doctrines certainly 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 9 
 
 distinct from the bolder features of Hicksism, yet not 
 so evangelical as those of the Society in Great Britain. 
 In the progress of this re-action there became mani- 
 fest, especially on the part of the younger members 
 of the Society, a tendency to go too far again in this 
 direction. Here was the old story of a vibration 
 from one extreme to another. This tendency was 
 very unpleasant to the minds of some of the more 
 conservative and aged Friends, particularly to those 
 in Pennsylvania and in some other parts of the Eastern 
 States. Foremost amongst these was a minister named 
 John Wilbur, of Massachusetts. He, and those of 
 similar opinions, considered that the decided tendencies 
 to 'innovation, which had of late years appeared 
 amongst Friends in Great Britain, were mainly the 
 direct result of Joseph John Gurney's writings ; and, 
 believing that it was undesirable to have a similar 
 inquiring and alterative disposition aroused in America, 
 he heard with great dissatisfaction that Joseph John 
 Gurney had obtained the official consent of English 
 Friends to pay a ministerial visit to the Society in 
 America. Hereupon he believed it his duty to warn 
 Friends of what he considered an approaching danger. 
 To accomplish this he wrote letters of admonition, 
 and paid personal exhortatory visits to those meetings 
 to which Joseph Jolm Gurney was about to come. 
 This proceeding was certainly not a very courteous 
 one to the English Friend. Nevertheless, it was 
 under an honest conviction of duty on John Wilbur's 
 part, and as it did not necessarily prevent Joseph 
 John Gurney from carrying out his mission, it cer- 
 tainly api)ears to come under the head of that indi- 
 vidual right which every Friend has, constitutionally. 
 
10 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 to use all private persuasion or simple warning against 
 what he believes to be error. If John Wilbur had 
 openly preached opposition to Joseph John Gurney 
 before his face in the meetings where he came, then 
 it would have been a direct breach of common 
 Christian order in the Society ; or, if he had, even in 
 private, circulated any statements which he knew or 
 suspected to be false, then again he would have been 
 guilty of malicious calumny. But it appears that he 
 acted from sincere religious convictions, and did not 
 really exceed the limits of legitimate persuasion and 
 honest protest. 
 
 The local body, or monthly meeting of Friends, 
 to which John Wilbur belonged, held him in esteem 
 for his earnest Christian life, and he was widely 
 known in America and Great Britain as an able 
 minister in the Society. The friends of Joseph John 
 Gurney in New England considered, however, that 
 John Wilbur had transgressed the church " order " of 
 the Society by the perseverance and plainness of his 
 expressions of warning. They urged his monthly 
 meeting to call him to account for these proceedings, 
 but that body did not choose to do so, but rather 
 approved of his conservative zeal. 
 
 Under the original constitution of the Society of 
 Friends, it had been much the same as the Inde- 
 pendent or Congregational body, and as the early 
 apostolic churches appear to have been, namely, that 
 each local community of members forms a virtually 
 independent church, associated with other similar 
 communities for purposes of mutual advantage, but 
 not for interference in its management or discipline 
 (where religious doctrine is not involved), except 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 11 
 
 with its own consent. This was, and still is, the 
 legitimate original constitution of the Society of 
 Friends in Britain and America. But during the 
 eigliteenth century there came to be gradually in- 
 troduced, particularly amongst American Friends, a 
 tacit claim of authority over the interior discipline of 
 the subordinate meetings on the part of the elder 
 members, and of the larger meetings with which these 
 smaller meetings had voluntarily allied themselves for 
 purposes of mutual aid and counsel, but not of 
 authoritative interference in cases not connected with 
 doctnne. However, this principle of authority was 
 exerted in the case of John Wilbur. His monthly 
 meeting was required to put him under disciplinary 
 notice for his proceedings. It is to be remarked that 
 he was not accused of any unsound doctrinal error, 
 or of any act contrary to morality, but simply of an 
 alleged breach of the ecclesiastical "order" of the 
 Society. The only parties constitutionally competent 
 to declare him guilty of a breach of " order '* were 
 the members of his own monthly meeting. They 
 still approved of him, and there the matter ought, 
 uftder the circumstances, to have been left, according 
 to the principles of Friends. But this did not suit 
 the larger and superior body of Friends in New 
 England ; they insisted that John Wilbur's monthly 
 meeting should take him under discipline, and in 
 order to enforce this, they sent a deputation of friends 
 to use pressure upon the voluntary wish of the 
 monthly meeting. Under this pressure the monthly 
 meeting, or rather a portion of it, at last reluctantly 
 ** disowned " or excommunicated him. But at a sub- 
 sequent meeting, when the deputation were no longer 
 
12 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 present to interfere, they repealed the disownment, 
 and reinstated their esteemed minister in his member- 
 ship and position. And this they had a right to do, 
 according to the very constitution of the Society. If 
 John Wilbur, or themselves, had been guilty of any 
 decided breach of moral rectitude, or of doctrinal 
 soundness, then the case would have been different ; 
 then the larger meeting of New England might con- 
 stitutionally have interfered, but not till then, and not 
 in any case of a simple breach of church " order" not 
 adjudged by the monthly meeting to be worth notice. 
 On hearing of the reinstatement of John Wilbur, the 
 larger meeting proceeded to a further unconstitutional 
 course, — they " broke up " the monthly meeting itself. 
 But this was more than the smaller meeting could 
 tolerate, so they constituted themselves thenceforth 
 an entirely indei)endent disciplinary body, and, of 
 course, still retaining the name of " Friends." Thus 
 commenced the separation of the Orthodox American 
 Friends into the two divisions of " Evangelical " and 
 " Wilburite " Friends ; those w^ho sympathized with 
 Joseph John Gurney being called by the former 
 appellation for distinction, and the friends of Jo^n 
 Wilbur being styled after himself. 
 
 In some other parts of America there were Friends 
 who refused to withdraw their acknowledgment of 
 John Wilbur's supporters being still as virtually 
 members of the Society as ever. They continued to 
 give them official recognition, and, in some cases, 
 have separated themselves from the "Evangelical" 
 Friends who refused such recognition. 
 
 The larger body of Orthodox in Pennsylvania 
 tacitly sympathize with the Wilburites of New England 
 
UNION AND DISSENT. 13 
 
 and elsewhere, but have not as yet seen fit to give 
 them such official recognition as would involve a 
 rupture with a small minority of their own members 
 who are of " Evangelical '' sympathies. 
 
 So that the number of Orthodox Friends, known 
 as Wilburites, forms a very small proportion to the 
 Evangelicals, if we only reckon those who have 
 officially separated, — but the number of virtual Wil- 
 burites who still remain nominally united to the 
 Evangelical Friends is considerable, especially in 
 Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania. It is 
 in New England, Ohio, and New York, that the 
 actual and official separations of the Wilburites have 
 taken place. 
 
 The Society of Friends in America has, for pur- 
 poses of mutual convenience, arranged itself into 
 disciplinary Provinces called Yearly Meetings, be- 
 cause, in each Province, an annual gathering is held 
 of representatives from each smaller constituent meet- 
 ing of the whole Province. 
 
 The Orthodox have eight of these Provinces, 
 namely, the Yearly Meetings of New England, New 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, North Carolina, Ohio, 
 Indiana, and the Western Yearly Meeting. There 
 used to be a Yearly Meeting of Virginia, but it became 
 so small in numbers, that it was merged into that of 
 Baltimore. There will probably be a ninth Yearly 
 Meeting established in 1863 in Iowa. 
 
 71ie Ilicksites have six Provinces, namely, the 
 Yearly Meetings of New York, Philadelphia, Genessee, 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Baltimore. As regards numbers, 
 the Orthodox preponderate in the Western States, 
 and the Ilicksites in the Eastern. The total number 
 
14 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 of Orthodox in America is about 80,000 ; the total 
 of Hicksites also about 80,000. 
 
 [There are about 17,000 Friends in Great Britain 
 and Ireland.] 
 
 GENERAL IMPEESSIONS OF AMERICA. 
 
 For many years I had felt a deep interest in every- 
 thing relative to the United States, and especially in 
 the Society of Friends there. At the commencement 
 of 1860, I was in Australia, and, being about to re- 
 turn to England, decided to cross the Pacific and visit 
 America on my way home. By this means I had 
 an opportunity of spending four very interesting 
 months in the United States, and during that time 
 took constant occasion of mixing with Friends of all 
 classes and opinions. My time was chiefly spent at 
 Richmond, the seat of Indiana Yearly Meeting, and 
 at Philadelphia, the seat of the most interesting but 
 least harmonious Yearly Meeting in the Eastern 
 States. 
 
 Before going to America, I had entertained a high 
 estimate of the Americans and their country, and am 
 bound to say that I left their shores with a still in- 
 creased respect for them. I crossed the United States 
 from California to Virginia, and from Mexico to 
 Canada, and was everywhere struck with the uni- 
 versal energy and perseverance displayed. The Ame- 
 ricans might add to their motto of " Go ahead," the 
 words " Gone ahead," at least in many respects, and 
 they may say without egotism — " Ours is a great 
 nation." They are annually advancing in the esteem 
 
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA. 15 
 
 and respect of Great Britain and the other nations of 
 Europe, who have not till recently estimated their 
 higli national position in a degree commensurate to 
 its actuality. There has been too much caricature of 
 American peculiarity current as real portraiture, and 
 the great drawback of slavery has been so exclusively 
 dwelt upon, and so brandished about in front of their 
 national character, as to give impressions greatly 
 distorted. 
 
 With respect to the Society of Friends in that 
 country, I was sorry to find party spirit running to 
 an extent which it does not approach amongst our- 
 selves. Some of us are by no means of precisely 
 identical views on the very same religious matters 
 which interest our American brethren ; but on our 
 side the Atlantic we " agree to differ," and our variety 
 of opinion does not prevent us from enjoying social 
 union and harmonious religious action as a corporate 
 Society. At any rate there is amongst us so little 
 exception to this harmony, that it is the general rule 
 of our condition. 
 
 It also seemed that there is hardly the same amount 
 of individual liberty amongst American Friends as 
 with English ones. The simple exercise of an im- 
 partial examination of both sides of a question, at any 
 rate if it involves a friendly intercourse or any con- 
 siderable degree of conference and courtesy with the 
 members of an opposite party, is treated with a harsh- 
 ness and even disciplinary action which would not 
 pass current amongst English Friends. For instance, 
 when I mentioned to American Orthodox Friends 
 that I was desirous of seeing a little of the Hicksites 
 also, and of hearing what they had to say and show 
 
16 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 of their own side, I was strongly dissuaded, and told 
 that it was considered derogatory for an Orthodox 
 Friend to attend a Hicksite meeting, or associate with 
 them, and that, in fact, it was positively a disownable 
 offence. I was sorry to have to act differently from 
 the advice of my kind friends, but replied, that we 
 had an old English motto, " Hear both sides," and 
 that I was resolved to act upon it. 
 
 There is a greater disposition in America than in 
 England to consider that because an individual has 
 general preferences for one particular party, that, 
 therefore, he ought to endorse all the minute speciali- 
 ties usually associated with that party. This is pro- 
 bably the consequence of the mode in American 
 politics of acting in large masses. Things are con- 
 sidered necessarily associated, which have no involved 
 connexion whatever. Thus, this autumn, during the 
 presidential campaign, the Republican party favour- 
 able to the election of Abraham Lincoln have saddled 
 on the question of a protective tariff to their chief 
 party characteristic of anti-slavery extension. This 
 policy is not considered good in Britain. The great 
 Anti-Corn- Law League would not have been so 
 universally triumphant, if its leaders had insisted on 
 saddling the wholly independent question of the Game 
 Laws, or the Temperance Prohibitory Law, on to the 
 main question of Free Trade. The American maxim 
 is, " Endorse the whole ticket of your political party, 
 ■whether you like the details or not." 
 
 And the same principle has been introduced too 
 much into the * Society of Friends in that country. 
 The early Friends were prominent for their advocacy 
 of individual liberty. In George Fox's days. Friends 
 
 i 
 
EXTERNAL PECULIARITIES IN AMERICA. 17 
 
 were not expected to conform so precisely in little out- 
 ward details of costume, nor were they so closely 
 catechized to see whether they were '' sound" upon 
 minutiae of doctrine ; but if they adopted the glorious, 
 simple, fundamental principles of Christ's living per- 
 sonal guidance of individuals and of the church, and 
 our other leading doctrines, as silent worship and a 
 free ministry, then they were acknowledged as 
 brethren, and received "the right hand of fellowship." 
 
 EXTERNAL PECULIARITIES IN AMERICA. 
 
 The adoption of a peculiar style of dress has become 
 popularly associated with the essentials of membership 
 in the Society of Friends. This peculiar style has 
 not by any means implied inexpensiveness, but rather 
 the reverse ; neither simplicity of pattern, or even 
 convenience to the wearer, but a tacitly understood 
 and prescribed form, — so clearly laid down as a 
 ** religious fashion," that its uniform minutiae have 
 rendered it almost as much a ceremony as any of 
 those against which the Society has been in the habit 
 of protesting in the observances of other Christian 
 communities. But it is quite a mistake to suppose 
 that George Fox and his associates prescribed any 
 such form, for some of them are known to have 
 dressed in one way, and some in another. All that 
 they inculcated on the subject of dress was the im- 
 propriety of giving excessive attention to any particu- 
 lar style at all, and especially of changing, from time 
 to time, merely because a senseless standard of fickle 
 fashion prescribed an alteration. 
 
 
 
18 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 But when the founders of the Society were dead, 
 and their successors of the retrogressive eighteenth 
 century, having little stimulus of persecution or pro- 
 fitable mental activity, began to mistake formality for 
 orthod,oxy, then they gradually and almost impercep- 
 tibly grafted on to the usages of the Society a stereo- 
 typed form of dress, and of its minutiae. But the 
 strangest and most inconsistent part of this eighteenth 
 century contribution to Quakerism was, that it arbi- 
 trarily selected certain parts of the dress, and virtually 
 said, "Friends, you must be peculiar in dress in certain 
 respects, — but be peculiar in collar above all other 
 things. You may change your buckles to straps, or 
 alter your sleeves and loops. You may substitute (but 
 we do not advise it) a black stock for a white cravat, 
 or change a pair of knee " shorts" to trousers ; or you 
 may wear black in place of drab, if you can afford it ; 
 you may even have a hat, with a not particularly 
 broad brim ; but, above all other points of dress, you 
 must preserve a collar of a particular shape. We say 
 you must ; because, if you do not, we shall call you 
 " inconsistent" and " unfriendly," and shall not appoint 
 you, however worthy and religious you may other- 
 wise be, to the position of ministers, elders, or over- 
 seers. So that, whatever style of dress you adopt or 
 relinquish, see jthat you keep a peculiar collar." 
 
 Although this is not a literal copy of any official 
 document or address of the Society of Priends, yet it 
 is a virtual copy of the substance, and of the officially 
 illustrated meaning of hundreds and thousands of 
 documents and sermons issued and enforced by its 
 social and disciplinary practice. And it is only within 
 the last twenty years, that it has ceased to be the 
 
PECULIARITIES OF DRESS. 19 
 
 virtually expressed language and policy of the Society 
 in Great Britain ; and it can barely be said tliat it has 
 completely ceased here, even yet. But it still remains 
 to be the virtual language and practically enforced 
 policy of nearly half or two-thirds of the Evangelical, 
 and nearly all the Wilbur Friends in America, 
 down to the very date at which I write. As an in- 
 stance, a Friend, who is well known in Indiana, was 
 nominated for the appointment of clerk to a large 
 meeting ; but it was objected against him, in the com- 
 mittee of nomination, that his hat-brim was not so 
 broad as was generally considered " consistent." The 
 Friend stated in his defence, that the hatter of whom 
 he bought it had not in stock one with a wider brim. 
 This explanation was deemed so far satisfactory, that 
 the appointment was allowed to pass ; but in the same 
 town, another Friend, who has also been thought 
 peculiarly qualified for a clerk to the meeting, and is 
 really so qualified, has not been at any time called to 
 the office, because he has a collar not " peculiar." 
 And it would be regarded amongst Friends generally 
 in America as a very objectionable and unprecedented 
 thing, to appoint ever so real a Friend, ever so humble 
 and religious a member of the Society, to the office of 
 clerk, overseer, elder, or minister, so long as he did 
 not add to his other qualifications that of a " peculiar" 
 collar. 
 
 Again, in another part of Indiana, in the women's 
 meeting, for the transaction of the arrangements of 
 their own particular matters, a minister nominated one 
 young woman to some unimportant office. Immediately 
 up rose an elderly member and said, that " She thought 
 that only * consistent' Friends should be appointed to 
 2 
 
20 FIIIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 the offices of the Society." Now, as this young 
 woman, who usually wore a peculiar bonnet, had 
 omitted to do so on one or two temporary occasions (I 
 think, in harvest -time, or some time of the sort), she 
 was adjudged " inconsistent," and was refused the 
 appointment. The minister who nominated her in- 
 formed me that the result was to disgust some of her 
 young Friends with peculiar bonnets altogether. And 
 no wonder. — But had it been the case of a young 
 man with a collar not peculiar, there can scarcely be 
 a doubt that he would not have been even nominated 
 to office. 
 
 If George Fox and his associates could rise out of 
 their graves now, and witness in America the for- 
 malism which has been thus grafted on to the simple 
 original principles of the Society, and which is still so 
 strongly and, generally, practically enforced there, it is 
 more than probable that these, the founders of the 
 Society, would say to their representatives, "How have 
 you undone a part of the work which cost us so much 
 labour and persecution! What was it that we so 
 arduously struggled after, but to call men away from 
 all outward objects of religious reliance to Christ as 
 their living Saviour? You have added something 
 external. You have established a standard, virtually 
 at least in many cases, of judging of the spiritual 
 condition of your fellow-men, and that to a great de- 
 gree, too, by that which has no other moral or religious 
 sanction than some trivial details of the shape of their 
 garments ! We called men away from those out- 
 wardly - taken * sacraments,' which had at least 
 venerable ecclesiastical authority, and much apparent 
 rationality in their favour, and you have almost 
 
PECULIAEITIES OF DEESS. 21 
 
 substituted a third 'sacrament,' of considering a 
 particular cut of apparel an essential for religious 
 and social worth. Do not say it is not held by you 
 as * essential/ for if you admit (and you cannot help 
 admitting it) that you characterize every fellow-mem- 
 ber as * inconsistent ' or ' unfriendly/ who does not 
 thus dress, however really plain and simple his attire, 
 then you have rendered peculiar minutiae of ckress 
 essential to religious 'consistency,' and to 'friend- 
 liness/ and what is this but the least reputable kind 
 of formalism ? The broadening of phylacteries, and 
 enlarging the borders of their garments by the Phari- 
 sees of old, was Divine obedience itself, compared with 
 this, for they had some appearance of legal command 
 — but they were rebuked by the Highest for their 
 spirit in doing that for which they had more excuse 
 than you." 
 
 It is, indeed, a great mistake to represent the set 
 peculiarities of dress, which popularly characterize 
 a " Quaker," as any part of the example of the 
 founders of the Society. The founders, if now 
 alive, would probably be early in giving them up, 
 as innovations upon the very fundamentals of the 
 Society ; innovations at least mischievous from their 
 gradually associated estimate. 
 
 And yet it is still the case, that a large proportion 
 of the Society of Friends west of the Alleghanies, 
 as well as east of it, enforce these forms virtually by 
 at least a disciplinary exclusion from Society offices, 
 irrespective of personal worth and spiritual growth, of 
 any or all their members who do not feel religiously 
 bound to turn up, instead of down, the collars of their ^ 
 coats, or rather to cut a slit in their collars, for the 
 
22 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 American ^' Friends' coats " have turned-down or 
 " roll " collars, only without a slit ; that secures the 
 standard of external orthodoxy, if, at the same time, 
 the brim of the hat be sufficiently broad ; — but even 
 this will pass in most cases, provided the turned-down 
 coat collars be not slit. Why, really, it is a great 
 derogation that the truly glorious and philanthropic 
 as well as apostolic principles of the Society should 
 ever have been even fancied as necessarily associated, 
 by ourselves or the public, with such " weak and 
 beggarly elements " as a slit in a turned-down coat 
 collar. 
 
 When I entered the United States I was myself 
 partial to the " peculiar dress " of Friends, and still 
 wore it from feelings of many pleasant old associations, 
 and from a belief also that it possessed some real 
 advantages. And so, when I came to the western 
 settlements of Friends, and found amongst them a far 
 more general maintenance of these external pecu- 
 liarities than is now the case in Great Britain, I was 
 much gratified, and thought to myself — " Well, now, 
 this is something like what I have often wished to 
 see ; here is a realization of the often fancied aspects 
 of the ' good old times.' " For I saw the great body 
 of the Friends around me dressed in coats of a drab- 
 ness, collars of an evenness, hat-brims of a broadness, 
 strangely in excess of what I had been accustomed to 
 witness in the meetings of London, Dublin, Bristol, 
 and Leeds. 
 
 But from Indiana, right through to Philadelphia, 
 every week showed me fresh instances of the too 
 general and mischievous working of this alleged 
 appurtenance of Quakerism, both amongst Evangelical 
 
PECULIARITIES OF DRESS. 23 
 
 and Wilburite Friends, though far more amongst the 
 latter than the former. * Thus, in one place in Indiana, 
 I found a religious and talented young Friend, earnestly- 
 desirous of promoting the interests of religion, and of 
 being led by the Holy Spirit, but not convinced of 
 the necessity of being " peculiar " in dress. He was 
 told that if he would only dress as other Friends, he 
 would be at once "brought forward" in Society 
 offices, and publicly encouraged by the elder Friends. 
 This offer, however, confirmed him more than before 
 in his sense of the formalism thus sanctioned and 
 fostered, and he remained under a tacit ban of official 
 criticism. 
 
 In another part of the same State I met with 
 a female Friend who is now an "acknowledged" 
 minister. But when her friends were considering as 
 to the propriety of recognizing her as such, it was 
 objected that her bonnet, although a " peculiar " one, 
 was not in the most approved style of peculiarity, 
 being straight behind, in English fashion, instead of 
 rounded off, as in those of American female Friends. 
 Not wishing to give offence, the Friend got a round- 
 backed bonnet, and was then soon received as a minister. 
 In another State I met with two former Friends 
 who had been once " peculiar " in dress and sincere 
 in attachment to the Society, but became disgusted 
 at the prominence given to these minutia? in conversa- 
 tion and criticism amongst Friends, and left the 
 Society altogether. 
 
 But in Philadelphia, amongst the Wilburite Friends, 
 I found the existence of special acerbity towards 
 those who have taken more really Friendly views of 
 true simplicity in dress. There I found that by the 
 
24 FKIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Wilburlte class of Friends, their brethren in Great 
 Britain were considered to be almost hopelessly 
 " departed " from the principles of Friends ; and it was 
 alleged to me as a reason, by a leading member of 
 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, that in England there 
 had actually been some Friends allowed to sit " fronting 
 the meetings," with turned-down, collars, having slits 
 in them ; and, to make matters worse, it was reported 
 that at least one such attired Friend in England had 
 been received as a minister whilst still retaining a slit 
 collar! Now really. this would be ludicrous, were it 
 not for the positive acerbity which the Wilburite 
 Friends manifest towards their Evangelical brethren 
 for such minutiae, and yet they venture to adduce as 
 their defence that they are desirous of upholding the 
 *^ ancient testimonies " of our Society ! One gets 
 tired of hearing so much in Philadelphia about these 
 '^ ancient testimonies," when one finds perpetually, on 
 closely questioning, that they mainly resolve them- 
 selves into a " testimony " against slit collars ; but it 
 would puzzle their astutest advocate to show that the 
 early Friends preached or practised a policy of acerbity 
 towards those who wore slit collars in their day, or 
 any other moderate style of dress either. There is a 
 small periodical published in Philadelphia as a sort 
 of " organ " of the Wilburite Friends, but it is so 
 characterized by its frequent advocacy of the need of 
 minute peculiarities of dress, as to suggest the idea 
 that it may be subsidized by some persons having a 
 pecuniary interest in the making-up of clothing in 
 its own approved style. 
 
 So great is the importance attached to the peculiar 
 dress by a large proportion of the American Friends, 
 
FRIENDS IN THE WEST. 25 
 
 that the consideration is already forcing itself upon 
 some of the most thoughtful ones there, that the 
 Society has really suffered serious injury by this 
 strangely engrafted formalism, and that the sooner it 
 is expelled from its usurped and false position of 
 being any religious " testimony " of our early Friends, 
 the better. 
 
 It is nearly abandoned by Friends in Great Britain, 
 and, in spite of the fond regards of its admirers in 
 America, there are several indications that even there 
 the foundations of its power are being shaken, and 
 that in about a quarter of a century hence, it will be 
 numbered amongst those exploded popular prejudices 
 which, on the retrospect of their sway, we wonder 
 could ever have received any general degree of 
 respect, and still more that they could ever have had 
 power to introduce dissensions and coolness amongst 
 brethren, otherwise prepared to unite in cordial and 
 holy fellowship. 
 
 FRIENDS IN THE WEST. 
 
 In no part of the world has there been such an 
 extraordinary change in the whole aspect of things, 
 within so short a period, as in the Western States of 
 America. Since the commencement of the present 
 century, the country immediately west of the Alle- 
 ghany mountains was almost a region of unbroken 
 forests and unclaimed wildernesses, only inhabited by 
 the uncivilized Indians and the wild beasts on which 
 they depended for their chief food. Ohio, Indiana, 
 
26 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 and Illinois are now covered with a network of 
 extensive railways, and dotted with flourishing cities, 
 containing magnificent public institutions, and yet the 
 dates of the commencement of the existence of these 
 three as States are so recent as A.D. 1803 for Ohio, 
 1816 for Indiana, and 1818 for Illinois. There are 
 many of the original settlers of those States still alive 
 who vividly remember their entrance on the pre- 
 viously unbroken forests, and the anxieties arising 
 from their wild Indian neighbours, whose very exist- 
 ence in those parts has now become little more than a 
 matter of history. 
 
 Many of the first settlers in those States w^ere 
 Friends from North and South Carolina and Virginia, 
 who left their former home chiefly from a desire to 
 escape the social and religious disadvantages of 
 slavery. In many cases they formed emigrating 
 parties w^holly from the members of their own and 
 neighbouring meetings, and so came in social bands 
 across the mountains and through the forests to the 
 site of their future homes. There they settled down 
 together, forming Friends' "colonies." And at the 
 present day it is an interesting thing to a stranger 
 to find himself amongst these " colonies " in various 
 parts of the west. Most of the lands, and nearly 
 every house, for miles, are held by Friends ; and, in 
 some cases, there is only one place of worship for the 
 neighbourhood, — a Friends' meeting. 
 
 It is interesting to hear some of these pioneers 
 recount the incidents of their westward emigration — 
 how they took weeks on the journey, now performed 
 by rail in one day ; how they came slowly on, with 
 their old canvas-topped and hooped waggons, delayed. 
 
FRIENDS IN THE WEST. 27 
 
 from time to time, by breakages and mud, and over- 
 flows and accidents, or even by illness and death ; how 
 they built their first log huts, and each family had 
 only one room to live in by day and night (which 
 is still the case in many places in the west, amongst 
 Friends as well as others) ; how some of them used to 
 hold their first meetings in the strong enclosure which 
 they erected to protect their cattle by night from 
 wolves; how they had for years scarcely any ad- 
 vantages of even rudimentary education for their 
 children; and how they saw gradually, year after 
 year, one difficulty conquered after another, until 
 they have in most cases now realized comfort or even 
 affluence. 
 
 And now the same thing is being repeated, but 
 under easier aspects of removal; for some of the 
 " colonies " of Indiana and Ohio are becoming too 
 crowded, and their surplus population is finding its 
 way to Iowa and Kansas, in the former of which there 
 will probably be a new yearly meeting established 
 in 1863, and in the latter of which there is an interest- 
 ing little Friends' community still under the care of 
 Indiana Yearly Meeting, until it shall have gained 
 numbers and strength, enabling it to stand on a more 
 independent footing. 
 
 In the Friends' " colonies," the State officers for 
 the district are often chosen from amongst their own 
 body, especially the trustees or managers of the 
 ** common schools " of the neighbourhood. These are 
 then able to dispense the school funds, derived from 
 local taxation, in a manner favourable to the interests 
 of Friends ; as, for instance, in supporting the day- 
 schools appointed under the oversight of the monthly 
 
28 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 meetings, and in paying the salaries of teachers chosen 
 from amongst members of the Society. 
 
 These " colonies " are also characterized by much 
 pleasant brotherly sympathy and social freedom, and 
 frequent visiting at each other's houses. At the same 
 time, the very absence of any considerable number of 
 persons professing other views, and the very similarity 
 of life arising from rural position and occupation, 
 from similar views and modes of management, and 
 general mutual equality of mind and of outward sta- 
 tion, and from intermarriages, tend to foster a stereo- 
 typed uniformity, not always healthy in its religious 
 influence, and decidedly favourable to somewhat of 
 formality and spiritual complacency. 
 
 A pleasing feature in these districts, and not con- 
 fined to Friends alone, is the general practice of 
 adopting orphans. It often happens that some rural 
 neighbour, or perhaps only recently-established emi- 
 grant, dies before he has surmounted his first struggles 
 against poverty. In some cases his wife may soon 
 follow her husband to a premature grave, leaving one, 
 two, or more helpless children unprovided for, and 
 amongst strangers. It is a general thing, in such 
 cases, for the neighbours to form themselves promptly 
 into a sort of " relief committee," and to go around 
 amongst their acquaintances soliciting assistance. One 
 will give money, another the same, another will say, 
 " Send one or two of the children here — we shall not 
 feel one or two extra mouths a burden at our table ;" 
 and so the little ones come, and are brought up on an 
 equal footing with the rest of the family they have 
 been received into. There they continue until grown 
 to an age capable of taking care of themselves ; then 
 
FRIENDS IN THE "WEST. 
 
 they can either remain and become permanently- 
 united to their old friends, or go out into the world 
 farther west, to push their own fortune. But they 
 do not go empty. Either some such present as a hun- 
 di-ed dollars, or a horse, or both together, is usually 
 given them on their final departure from the home 
 of their adoption which they now leave, blessed in 
 themselves, and the means of drawing down a bless- 
 ing on those who have so long and kindly cared for 
 them. 
 
 A similar manifestation of neighbourly feeling is 
 common in the west when a person loses his house 
 by a fire, or his crops by storms. In the former case, 
 it may be, perhaps, only the day after the fire that he 
 sees a party of acquaintances come to his homestead ; 
 " Well, neighbour, we are come to rebuild your 
 house. What sort of a one shall it be? the same as 
 the old one, or larger ? Better have it larger and 
 finer ; however, be quick and decide." Then away 
 go some of them, with long axes, to the adjoining 
 forest, and cut down trees. Others haul them away 
 to the saw-mill and back. Then all unite in building ; 
 and in a wonderfully short time there is a new house, 
 better and more comfortable than the one that was 
 burnt Most of the western houses (except in the 
 large cities) are built of wood, but very neat and 
 commodious, often in a mixture of Swiss and French 
 style, well painted, and comfortably furnished within. 
 Others, however, are rough, both within and without. 
 Many are only of one room, with a chimney of stone 
 at the end, or of thick logs covered with mud, and 
 having mud plastered between them. 
 
 The lives of the rural western Friends are very 
 
30 FBIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 different from their more refined brethren of the 
 Eastern States, and in Great Britain. Every one 
 must do nearly everything for himself; chop timber 
 for the fires, cut down trees, and then cut them up 
 into rails for the universal fences; " plant" the heavy 
 gate-posts, make the gates, groom the horses, feed the 
 cattle ; do oneself all the household carpentering 
 required; cook, mend clothes, go to the town or 
 village store, and be able to mend every ordinary 
 domestic or farm " fixing" when needed. 
 
 The western Friends, like their neighbours, have 
 to be very early risers. In summer, it is common 
 for them to be up at three, a.m., or at the very earliest 
 daybreak. An English Friend, who had just come 
 to one of the rural settlements of Indiana, determined 
 to accommodate himself to the ways of the place, and 
 to rise early with the rest. He woke about five 
 o'clock in the morning, and immediately dressed and 
 joined the family, who were evidently amused at 
 something, and expressed general hopes that he had 
 " slept well," adding, " Why, we've all had breakfast 
 an hour ago." The new-comer was astonished to 
 find that five A.M. was about two hours later than the 
 ordinary time for getting up. 
 
 The women Friends are closely engaged in cooking, 
 and the ceaseless round of domestic duties ; the men 
 are out in the fields, and " about" generally at any of 
 the multifarious work to be done. In summer, the 
 days are very hot — oppressively so to a stranger — 
 causing perpetual and profuse perspiration and thirst. 
 Early rising involves early retiring ; and by about 
 eight o'clock, the country western Friends are ready 
 for sleep. 
 
FKIENDS IN THE WEST. 31 
 
 " First day" is a day of rest, even in the unrelaxing, 
 ever-working west. On that day, however, they are 
 up nearly as early as usual, and have much to arrange 
 for, in the long hours before going to meeting. 
 Then the " buggy," is got out (the universal name 
 for the light, black, neat-covered " two wheel" used 
 as a family vehicle throughout the States), and, at 
 any rate, a part of the family ride off to meeting, 
 passing or accompanying many of their neighbours 
 similarly bound. After meeting they return and 
 dine, and then the old folks settle down in the arm- 
 chairs or rocking-chairs, and perhaps think they are 
 reading some good books or tracts ; but either they 
 nod off unawares, or the sun shines on their faces, and 
 their handkerchiefs are thrown over their eyes, and 
 somehow they fall asleep, well, long, and soundly. 
 Meanwhile, the young Friends have some acquaint- 
 ances of their own age come to spend the afternoon ; 
 or they go to meet some elsewhere (as there are no 
 afternoon meetings as a general rule in the west on 
 first days — at least in rural parts), and go out in the 
 orchards, and pluck the softest peaches or the reddest 
 apples, and exchange the gossips of the meeting and 
 neighbourhood, very cheerfully, very friendly; and 
 by-and-by the sun has set, and the Sabbath soon 
 ends, and a night's rest prepares for the commence- 
 ment of another week of hard rural toil. And so, year 
 after year rolls by, interrupted only by the yearly 
 meeting times, when most Friends endeavour to go 
 to the api)ointed place. 
 
 Such is, or has been, a general picture of the rural 
 life in Friends' colonies — but to all things comes a 
 change; and of late years railways and telegraphs 
 
32 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 have climbed over the AUeghanies, and run across 
 the Mississippi valley, and are now rapidly reaching 
 forward toward the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, 
 and the streams that flow into the Pacific. And it 
 follows as a thing of course, that where rails and 
 telegraphs are thoroughly settled, there must be a 
 world of innovation introduced, both in business and 
 social life. And the log houses and painted wooden 
 homes of the Friends' " colonies," and other western 
 districts too, are undergoing a change. The univer- 
 sal tendency, now-a-days, all over the world is — 
 assimilation. From this tendency the farthest west 
 and the wildest backwoods cannot withhold com- 
 pliance, even if they wished it ; and we find that in 
 their most secluded homes, there is a growing fond- 
 ness for the refinements of literature and science. 
 
 About twenty-five years ago, Jonathan and Hannah 
 Backhouse, two English ministers, paid a religious 
 visit to the west, and seeing the great need of a 
 general attention to at least rudimentary and religious 
 education, laboured earnestly to promote the establish- 
 ment of " first day" schools amongst Friends. When 
 Joseph John Gurney came, he gave a further stimulus 
 to the same movement; but, notwithstanding the 
 efforts of these enlightened visitors, and the favour 
 with which their suggestions were received, it is 
 probable that little of a permanent nature would 
 have been accompHshed, had it not been for the 
 persevering patient attention, and arduous personal 
 labour wliich a few individual western Friends gave 
 to the cause. Foremost amongst these were the 
 Friends of Richmond, especially Elijah Coffin, who 
 was for thirty years clerk to the yearly meeting of 
 
FRIENDS IN THE "WEST. 33 
 
 Indiana Aided by other Friends in the same 
 yearly meeting, the Richmond Friends have borne 
 up the educational movement " in their arms," and 
 maintained it through the first years of indifference 
 and open opposition, which every new movement of 
 the kind is sure to encounter, even amongst good 
 men. Some of tlie elder and more rustic Friends 
 thought the educational tendency would lead to a 
 " departure from the simplicity of Friends ;" others 
 boldly hinted at its being "aristocratic." Some said 
 one thing, and some another, and its supporters had 
 hard work to maintain their ground. However, the 
 Richmond Friends, aided by the hearty co-operation 
 of their Cincinnati brethren, have at length suc- 
 ceeded in establishing a prosperous and well-working 
 system of instruction for Friends' children, both in 
 ** first-day " and other schools. Thus fostered,, the 
 educational movement has taken a general hold of 
 the Society in the west ; far more so, indeed, in some 
 respects, than amongst the elder yearly meetings 
 east of the Alleghanies. 
 
 It is now evident that the attention which has been 
 thus awakened, has introduced, a greatly improved 
 and extended degi'ee of acquaintance with the real 
 scriptural views of Friends on their original basis ; 
 and there can be hardly a doubt, but that if 
 this movement in favour of religious education had 
 been introduced inth America a half instead of a 
 quarter of a century ago, we should have heard very 
 little of the errors of Hicksism. That schism could 
 not have flourished had there been a sounder and 
 more general knowledge "of the truth as it is in 
 Jesus" diffused through the Society in America, 
 
34 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 instead of the vague traditional ideas of " truth " 
 which were so prevalent. 
 
 As an instance of the absolute need for a greater 
 attention to education in a right way, in the rural 
 meetings and " colonies " of the west, may be men- 
 tioned a circumstance which occurred recently at a 
 meeting of the kind in the centre of Indiana. An 
 acute Yankee lecturer came to the village and 
 introduced himself as a " phrenologist," and by 
 representations of the importance and interest of his 
 favourite science, succeeded in getting the favourable 
 regard of the most influential families of Friends 
 there, and they loaned him the meeting-house to give 
 his lectures in. He continued for three weeks to 
 'instruct" his simple auditors (comprising young 
 and old) not only in " phrenology," but also in 
 such specious views of downright scepticism and 
 materialism, that the minds of the good Friends 
 became quite bewildered, and their religious views 
 so unsettled, that it nearly led to the dissolution of 
 the meeting, and the effects are still painfully felt 
 there. Now it is not to be conceived that the educated 
 Friends of Richmond, Cincinnati, or the Eastern 
 States, would have been thus entrapped by the 
 plausibilities of an unprincipled infidel propagandist. 
 
 Another very characteristic feature of the western 
 Friends is their hearty hospitality. Personal atten- 
 tion, and meals, and bed, and vehicles, are placed at 
 the disposal of the visitor. On entering a house, the 
 first thing, usually, is to offer, except in winter, a 
 glass of water (very welcome in the heat of a western 
 summer). An arm-chair or rocking-chair is handed, 
 and a meal soon prepared. (Arm-chairs are getting 
 
FBIENDS IN THE WEST. 35 
 
 more universal in America now than rocking-chairs; 
 in many rooms there are no other seats but the 
 former.) At meals there is much similarity between 
 breakfast, dinner, and tea ; nearly the same kinds of 
 food being produced at each. There is, generally, 
 several times the quantity of food placed on the table 
 which could possibly be eaten by the heartiest appe- 
 tites of those present, and plates are piled with so 
 much, that they are seldom empty at the end of the 
 meal. Animal food is seldom seen in the west in the 
 form of joints, as in England, but cut up into slices, 
 and is chiefly of bacon and " beef-hams." It is rare 
 to ^ee mutton at a western table. Throughout 
 America, at least east of the Mississippi, there is a 
 universal liking for flat fruit pies, about the size of an 
 ordinary dinner plate, round, and an inch deep, and 
 covered with pastry over and under. It is usual to 
 help a visitor to two or three slices of such pies at a 
 time. Deep pies, as in England, are not met with 
 in America, or but seldom. Another characteristic 
 western eatable is Indian corn (always known as 
 " com " there); it is brought to table in green 
 boiled heads, sweet and juicy. These are eaten 
 whilst held in the hand, and the " cobs " cleared of 
 the soft grains from end to end. Tea is usually 
 oflered with dinner, and universally at western meals 
 there is a bottle of molasses. Tomatoes, dried apples , 
 and, frequently, preserved peaches, are also general 
 accompaniments. But there is no kind of intoxicating 
 drink at the tables of American Friends. Even the 
 moderate or only occasional use of such would be 
 considered a " breach of discipline," to be taken cogni- 
 zance of in the answers to the **' queries," and by the 
 d2 
 
36 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 action of the monthly meetings. This is another 
 illustration of " the whole ticket " system, — the 
 American plan of expecting individuals to accept 
 entirely, and in detail, the decision and policy of the 
 majority. 
 
 Of course, the necessity of temperance as a duty 
 is too clear to need a word of defence ; but it does not 
 always present itself to the minds of even scrupulously 
 religious Christians as requiring a universally rigorous 
 abstinence, under penalty of church discipline for the 
 slightest use except medicinally. This system of not 
 recognizing the distinction between general union of 
 principle, and the subordinate varieties or detailed 
 shades of opinion necessarily existing in individuals, 
 has been a bane to the harmony and religious prosperity 
 of Friends in America. 
 
 One would naturally suppose that western Friends 
 must be excellent pedestrians, from their industrious 
 rural life. But it is far otherwise. Indeed, throughout 
 America, persons think it necessary to ride, where an 
 Englishman would smile at the idea. I was much 
 surprised at Friends' frequently getting out a horse 
 and vehicle to call at some house, or go to meeting, 
 when the distance was only a mile or even half a 
 mile. One reason for this habit may be the often 
 poor condition of western roads, arising from decayed 
 " corduroys," or from deep mud-holes. This, of 
 course, renders a short walk very unpleasant in 
 wet weather. But their roads are much better than 
 they used to be. There are also the improved facilities 
 of railways. An English ministering Friend, on a 
 visit to Indiana some twenty-five years ago, was 
 desirous of having a religious interview with some 
 
FRIENDS IN THE WEST. 37 
 
 members of the State Senate at Indianapolis. The 
 journey was performed " express," in a strong waggon, 
 through the deep mud. It took the party a long, 
 tiresome day to perform a distance now done by rail 
 in an hour or two; and, after all, the Legislature 
 had adjourned for the session, when they reached 
 Indianapolis. 
 
 The difficulties and dislike of rural travel in the 
 west operate on the constitution of the Society there 
 by causing the local disciplinary districts, named 
 monthly and quarterly meetings, to be very small — 
 often smaller than is desirable for a healthy interchange 
 of opinions. The quarterly meetings are of such 
 limited extent, that a thige of local personal feelings 
 unduly in favour or disfavour of individual members 
 sometimes occurs, where a larger district would have 
 prevented or greatly modified such a tendency. 
 
 In 1857, it was considered necessary to divide off 
 the western portion of Indiana Friends into a new 
 yearly meeting. This did not arise so much from 
 any increase of numbers, as from inconvenience or 
 dislike of travelling far to the yearly meeting. And 
 yet the distance was very little, comparatively. 
 Friends in Great Britain do not think it too far to go 
 annually from all parts of the nation to their great 
 meeting held in London. No one dreams of setting 
 up a new yearly meeting at Birmingham, and another 
 at York or Newcastle. And yet the distance between 
 Plainfield, the seat of the new " Western Yearly 
 Meeting," and Richmond, the seat of the old and 
 present Indiana Yearly Meeting, is only eighty-five 
 miles, and there was then, and still is, a good railway 
 direct from each to each, by which the distance is 
 
38 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 performed in about two hours and a half. There is, 
 however, one thing to be borne in mind : that whereas, 
 in Great Britain, the assembly of Friends which 
 meets annually in London is a representative one, 
 rather than an actual gathering of the main body of 
 members, it is different in America, where some of 
 the yearly meetings are attended by such a large 
 concourse as to form a much greater relative repre- 
 sentation than with us. And this practice certainly 
 has some advantages. 
 
 As an illustration of the brotherly and united 
 feeling amongst the western Friends, may be mentioned 
 the great interest which they took in the relief of the 
 distress brought upon their far-western associated 
 members in Iowa and Kansas by the violent tornadoes 
 which characterized the spring of 1860. The western 
 plains and prairies are always liable to tremendous 
 blasts of wind, which gather strength from their 
 uninterrupted sweep over long and level distances, 
 and often involve in prompt destruction any weak 
 obstacles with which they may meet. In the season 
 just alluded to, the extent of these storms was far 
 eastward of what it has usually been. Even in 
 Cincinnati, five hundred miles east of the prairie 
 districts, there was enormous destruction of property ; 
 and at various places between that city and the Ozark 
 mountains, I observed striking traces of the late 
 presence of these tornadoes, indicated by unroofed 
 houses, and by tall thick trees broken off abruptly in 
 their mid-height, or entirely uprooted and lying 
 prostrate in the forests. But it was chiefly in Iowa that 
 the greatest violence of the storms was experienced. 
 In the Friends' " colonies " there, many were wholly 
 
FRIENDS IN THE WEST. 39 
 
 deprived of house and crops by the tremendous 
 power of the winds. When these calamities came to 
 the knowledge of their brethren in Indiana, Ohio, 
 Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, liberal collections of 
 money and clothes were at once made for the sufferers, 
 and a general feeling of practical interest expressed, 
 especially as it was known that, previously, many of 
 the Iowa Friends were in very struggling circum- 
 stances, and the effects of these storms would there- 
 fore be doubly discouraging. 
 
 Both in Iowa and Kansas, a great interest had 
 been awakened in the establishment of Sabbath 
 schools amongst Friends, and much success had 
 accompanied these efforts. A Friend in Philadelphia, 
 who had just returned from a visit to the scenes of 
 devastation in Iowa, mentioned two striking incidents 
 which had occurred there during the tornadoes, and 
 powerfully testifying to the reality of the Divine 
 omniscience, protection, and majesty. The first in- 
 stance was that of several children, who, amid the 
 approach of the whirlwinds, proposed amongst them- 
 selves to retire and sit in silent prayer before the 
 Lord. They did so. On came the storm and de- 
 stroyed every part of the house in which they were, 
 except just that portion occupied by themselves. 
 
 The other case was also during the evident gathering 
 of a violent outburst of tempest A Friend remarked 
 to her son that they ought especially to acknowledge 
 the iK)wer and sovereignty of the Almighty in such 
 manifestations of His providence. The young man 
 replied in terms blasphemously disparaging the wisdom 
 and beneficence of the Deity. Almost immediately 
 he had 8ix)ken, a whirlwind seized him and literally 
 
40 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 dashed him to pieces on the spot, not injuring the 
 others present. This circumstance made a profound 
 impression on those in the neighbourhood who saw or 
 heard of it. 
 
 WESTEEN MEETINGS. 
 
 With the exception of those in the larger cities, 
 all the American Friends' meeting-houses are built of 
 wood ; and are composed of two divisions, separated 
 by a high panel-work of sliding shutters, so as to 
 form a distinct meeting-room for the men and women 
 at their larger and disciplinary gatherings. On 
 ordinary occasions, only one of these divisions is used, 
 the men having seats on one side of it, and the 
 women on the other. But on the days for holding 
 ihe monthly or quarterly meetings, the men and 
 women take their seats at once in the separate 
 divisions ; so that when the meeting for worship is 
 over, they do not have to change rooms (as in Great 
 Britain) for transacting their separate discipline, but 
 merely draw up the partition shutters, by which 
 means the meeting for Society business follows imme- 
 diately on that for worship, without an interval of 
 any delay for temporary withdrawal. 
 
 Many, or most of the country meeting-houses are 
 in secluded spots, sometimes in the woods. There 
 are few walkers to meeting ; nearly every one rides, 
 and quite a string of vehicles follow one another as 
 the meeting-house is approached. The lanes are 
 often muddy, and frequently lead across unbridged 
 streams, through miles of woods, and, when mended. 
 
WESTERN MEETINGS. 41 
 
 are more generally planked with separate planks, laid 
 laterally across half the road, than macadamized. 
 On arriving at the meeting-house, the horses are not 
 usually taken out from their vehicles, but mqrely 
 " hitched up " to a tree, or " horse-rail." There they 
 stand patiently for the two or three hours during 
 which the Friends are engaged. American horses 
 are quieter than English ones, and more rapid in 
 pace. 
 
 The Americans, as a nation, excel in driving, and 
 even in Australia, American drivers are preferred to 
 English for the public vehicles. When, however, 
 asserting that American horses are quiet, 1 must 
 except the half-broken " mustangs," used on the 
 overland express route from California through Texas ; 
 as those who have been drawn by them know well, by 
 experience, that they are the most restive and rearing 
 beasts of draught to be found. 
 
 In summer, the Friends usually sit in meeting 
 with several doors open, and one sees them thus 
 seated from some distance off between the trees 
 when approaching. They do not commonly enter 
 the meeting-houses gradually, or as they happen to 
 reach them, but wait till about the appointed minute 
 for connuencement. Some Friend of " standing " 
 then leads the way, and the others follow in a body, 
 filling the house at once. This appears to be another 
 little instance of the American* plan of acting in 
 masses. And a similar thing is observable in their 
 discussions in meetings for discipline, at least in the 
 rural districts. For when some Friend proposes or 
 acquiesces in any particular suggestion, it is common 
 for a string of others to follow with " So do I ;" " I 
 
 TJNIVER»iTr 
 
42 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 do, too," one after another. Their rural meetings are 
 not quite so silent as English ones, owing to the 
 occasional cries of infants, or the expectorations of 
 men Friends. An English minister travelling in 
 America proposed that the infants should be left at 
 home; to which it was replied, that in that case a 
 large proportion of women Friends would have to 
 give up attending meetings, as they have generally 
 no one else to leave in charge. In winter time. 
 Friends occasionally leave their seats during worship 
 and go to the stove to warm themselves awhile, and 
 then return. This does not promote the silence of 
 the meeting, neither does the presence of dogs, which 
 in some cases are allowed to come in and lie around 
 the stove. These interruptions must not be under- 
 stood as applying to the meetings in large places, or 
 farther eastward, where they are just as quiet as in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 There is more ministry heard generally in American 
 meetings than in England. Frequently, most of the 
 time is thus engaged. In the west, great prominence 
 is given to the doctrine of the Atonement and to the 
 Resurrection. At the same time, the precious truths 
 of the reality and indispensable necessity of Christ's 
 inward appearance to each individual member of His 
 church are not omitted. It is frequent for western 
 ministers to speak twice during the course of one 
 meeting. 
 
 There is also noticeable (at least to an Englishman) 
 more fluency and copiousness of expression in these 
 meetings than ordinarily amongst ourselves. Fluent 
 speech is a characteristic of the American nation. 
 Although valuable in its place, yet in religious 
 
WESTERN MEETINGS. 43 
 
 addresses, a care is always needed that substance, 
 rather than manner, be chiefly looked at. And it 
 has been found in our Society, both in Britain and 
 America, that the most edifying portion of its ministry 
 is that which consists rather in the solemn suggestive 
 and awakening " demonstration of the Spirit," than in 
 eloquence or fluently appropriate phraseology. And 
 in some of these western meetings, it is pleasant to 
 see that amongst the most rustic is to be found very 
 edifying ministry, exercised in humble simplicity. 
 
 Friends are " acknowledged " as ministers rather 
 more readilv in the west than in England. It is the 
 custom, too, in some districts there, for ministers 
 travelling to receive, not merely at the end of their 
 journey, but from every monthly or quarterly meeting 
 visited by them, an acknowledgment of approval 
 (unless disapproved, which is a very rare thing), called 
 a "returning minute." The expenses of travelling 
 ministers in the west are paid by special private 
 subscription, and not out of the common stock of the 
 meetinjrs. But in cases where Friends are nominated 
 to travel on disciplinary or sympathetic accounts, 
 they are expected to defray their own expenses. I 
 know a Friend in Indiana whom such appointments 
 cost about two hundred dollars (£40) in a single 
 year, in consequence of being nominated to go more 
 than once to and from Iowa and Kansas. 
 
 When foreign ministers come (as from Great 
 Britain), then a special committee is nominated to see 
 that they are provided with all necessary accommoda- 
 tion and introduction, and to convey them about 
 from place to place. It is the custom, on some of the 
 American railways, to permit ministers of any denomi- 
 
44 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 nation to travel for half-fares. I observed this, for 
 instance, when travelling with some Friends, ministers, 
 on the " Indiana Central" Railroad. 
 
 The collections of money for the general purposes 
 of the Society are not made in America by entirely 
 voluntary choice of the amount, as with English 
 Friends generally ; but an assessment of the property 
 of the members of each meeting is made by a com- 
 mittee appointed for the purpose, and each person is 
 expected to pay so much per cent, of whatever sum 
 is needed for any Society business. Thus, when the 
 new " Western Yearly Meeting" was separated from 
 " Indiana Yearly Meeting," the latter was assessed in 
 6000 dollars as its share of the expenses of erecting 
 a large building at Plainfield for the accommodation of 
 the annual assemblies who would gather there for the 
 future. Each particular meeting would be assessed 
 in such a case, and the assessment then further sub- 
 divided amongst its constituent members, according 
 to the estimate of their pecuniary ability. Although 
 payment is expected in accordance with the amount 
 assessed, yet it is not always or even generally adhered 
 to as a rule. One reason is, that the contributions 
 are not collected (as in England) by Friends appointed 
 to go round to the houses of the subscribers, but 
 each Friend is expected to bring his own contribution 
 to the Friends appointed receivers. As he may not 
 be at home when called on, or absent from meeting 
 when the money is brought ready for him, irregularity 
 of payment often necessarily results, and sometimes to 
 a considerable extent. 
 
 Nearly the whole time of one western meeting for 
 discipline, at which I was present, was taken up with 
 
WESTERN MEETINGS. 45 
 
 complaints of the arrears of required contributions for 
 the Society's expenses, and with proposals for a 
 remedy. In anticipation of such difficulties, the 
 assessments are often made about fifty per cent, above 
 the real amount which is needed ; but this is found to 
 be only a partial remedy, as the meaning of it is under- 
 stood by the assessed and allowed for accordingly. 
 
 The " queries" [or periodic questions to be publicly 
 answered by the meetings in their collective capacity, 
 an important part of the discipline of the Society] are 
 considered in the west previous to the public meetings 
 of discipline, by the " overseers," and answers written 
 out to be brought to the meeting for approval. If 
 not approved, such alterations are made as may be 
 then and there suggested. 
 
 There is a pretty general freedom of discussion in 
 the western meetings, but it is not extended to the 
 young Friends. This applies also to the Eastern 
 States. The speaking of young Friends, whether in 
 ministry or in meetings for disciplinary business, is 
 generally discouraged throughout the Society in 
 America, or, at any rate, looked coolly on by elder 
 Friends. In consequence of this suppressing policy 
 many of the junior members leave, and go off to other 
 denominations where their expressions and efforts 
 of religious interest are not attributed to " over- 
 activity," or considered as necessarily too " forward." 
 
 Most of the " disownments" amongst western 
 Friends are for marr^qng out of the Society. 
 
 There is some difference between the position of 
 "elders** in America, compared with those of the 
 Society in Great Britain. Tlie original office of these 
 was, in both countries, to watch affectionately over the 
 
46 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 ministry of their meetings, and in Great Britain the 
 elders are very generally "fathers in the church," 
 exercising their duties in love, yet faithfully, and rather 
 watching to sympathize than to judge. But in America 
 it can hardly be said that this is the case, or at any 
 rate to the same degree. There the office of " elder" 
 is rather more associated with the idea of authority and 
 " censor." A Friend in an Eastern State asked me 
 if I did not think that the position of elder was 
 *' above" that of a minister, and seemed much surprised 
 at my immediately giving a decided negative. It can 
 hardly be denied, however, that in America the 
 ministry of the Society holds a lower relative position, 
 than in Great Britain. For instance, elders instead 
 of ministers are usually placed at the head of American 
 meetings ; and ministers, whether American, or foreign 
 ones on a visit, are required, at any rate in some 
 States, to have one or more elders travelling with 
 them as the companions of their religious journeys. 
 
 It is further a matter of regret in America, that, 
 somehow or other, from an omission of the needful 
 circumstances of right time and place, it too frequently 
 transpires to the meeting when an elder has had 
 occasion to exercise his office of admonition. All such 
 advice ought to be given in a secure and assured 
 privacy; and although it is in Gospel order that 
 ministers should be accountable to the church for 
 their doctrines, yet ^'elders" should also remember that 
 their own office is chiefly one of sympathy. At any 
 rate, privacy, sound discretion, and deep Christian 
 sympathy, should characterize the office of elder, as it 
 does usually in Great Britain. There are many 
 elders amongst American Friends who are indeed 
 
BICHMOND AND ITS VICINITY. 47 
 
 true " fathers in the church,'* and a real blessing to it ; 
 and the existence of any other class is probably 
 owing to the plan, too commonly permitted in that 
 country, of promoting to this, and other important 
 offices. Friends whose chief apparent qualification is 
 the possession of a grave exterior, and a reputed 
 "consistency," considered to be guaranteed by the 
 wearing of unslit collars. 
 
 Very serious is the mischief which has been wrought 
 in the Society by this one misconception of "sim- 
 plicity" and "consistency." However, better times 
 seem coming, and it is a cheering thing that, especially 
 in t)ie Western States, correcter views are beginning 
 to follow in the wake of increased scriptural education, 
 and evangelical doctrine. 
 
 RICHMOND AND ITS VICINITY. 
 
 Richmond is a neat and pleasantly situated town 
 in the east of Indiana, about six miles from the 
 borders of Ohio. It is sixty-nine miles from Indian- 
 apolis, and sixty-four from Cincinnati, and is connected 
 with both by railways. It is in Wayne County, and 
 it may here be mentioned, that it is of importance to 
 state the county in which a place is, on the address of 
 all letters to the United States, except in the case of 
 the largest cities. The reason for this is, that there 
 are so many places of the same or similar names in 
 •the vast territory of the Union — so many JefFersons, 
 Washingtons, Franklins, and Jacksons, that in some 
 cases there are at least two places with identical 
 names in one State. I am not aware whether there is 
 
48 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 more than one Richmond in Indiana, but at any rate 
 there is a large Richmond, the capital of Virginia ; and 
 I had to wait an hour or two at an important railway 
 station of the same name in Lower Canada, where the 
 Quebec branch unites with the main line of the 
 « Grand Trunk Railroad." 
 
 Richmond has a population of about six thousand, 
 and is the principal seat of manufactures in the State of 
 Indiana. These are chiefly of agricultural instruments, 
 and other hardware, paper, cotton, and cloth. From the 
 circumstance of its having been originally founded by 
 Friends, (who still constitute an important proportion 
 of its inhabitants,) it is often styled (like Philadelphia) 
 " the Quaker City." Thus, one sees advertisements 
 in the Indiana and Cincinnati newspapers, of the 
 " Quaker City Insurance Company," the " Quaker 
 City Iron Works," and so on. 
 
 The country around is flat, or gently undulating, and 
 generally wooded and fertile. Close to the town is a 
 broad and deep ravine, with steep sides of limestone. 
 Through this runs the picturesque Whitewater River, 
 and from its eastern side the town slants up with a 
 long slope. In the limestone is a profusion of beauti- 
 fully preserved fossils, chiefly corals, and molluscas of 
 the genera Rhynchonella, Spirifer, Productus, and 
 Terebratula. In a branch ravine of this river, about 
 a mile from the town, the stream flows over a perpen- 
 dicular wall of limestone, about twenty-five feet deep, 
 and one hundred and fifty broad. This is so full of 
 petrified corals, in masses and small branches, that it 
 resembles a portion of one of the Pacific reefs, trans- 
 ported bodily to the spot. 
 
 The streets of Richmond, like nearly all American 
 
EICHMOND AND ITS YICINITT. 49 
 
 towns, are straight, and laid down at right angles, 
 and beautifully avenued throughout with trees on each 
 side. There are about a dozen churches. But it must 
 be remembered that in America the word " church" 
 is used where we use " chapel," as there is there no 
 priority of one sect over another. Nearly all the 
 churches in America have towers or steeples, or both 
 together, whatever may be their denomination. All 
 the churches in Richraond, or nearly all, are of wood 
 and painted white. The houses also are mostly of 
 wood, and with green shutter-blinds. 
 
 It is surprising how neat and comfortable the 
 American wooden houses are. Many of them have 
 good porches, galleries, and verandahs. Some of the 
 larger ones have neat railed " look-outs," or " obser- 
 vatories," rising from their roofs. 
 
 There are two Catholic churches in Richmond, 
 several banks, and a good town-library. In almost 
 every place in the United States there is a free 
 library provided out of the local taxation, and for 
 loaning books to anyone who chooses to apply for 
 them. The selection is often very good indeed. The 
 books are strongly bound, and a librarian is present 
 regularly to lend them out. 
 
 Most of the best and largest residences in and around 
 Richmond belong to Friends, and in addition to a 
 regular " Friends' bookseller," I saw that at the post- 
 office, kept by another bookseller, was a conspicuous 
 placard advertising " Friends' Books." 
 
 As in other American towns, there are many 
 daguerreotypists in Richmond. 
 
 Across the Whitewater are several long wooden tu- 
 bular bridges. Many or most of the American bridges 
 
 X 
 
50 TRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 are made tubular, with slanting roofs to keep off the rain. 
 If they were not thus covered they would soon rot. 
 
 The Friends' meeting-house at Richmond is a very 
 large one, built of stone. It resembles a great 
 German building, and has broad gables and small 
 windows in a double row. It is surrounded by a 
 wide and spacious grassy yard, and around this again 
 is a large paddock and grove. At one side is the 
 burial ground, with white ufltight stones inscribed 
 with the names of the Friends interred there. There 
 is also, just by, a day school-house, for the children of 
 Friends of Richmond meeting. On ordinary meeting 
 days there is only one-half of the building used, and 
 that is a large room. But the yearly meeting of 
 Indiana is also held in the same meeting-house in 
 autumn. There are many high rails around the yard, 
 to which the horses of the numerous vehicles are 
 " hitched up " every meeting-day. There they 
 remain quietly the whole time. There is also a 
 pump which serves the purpose of a "drinking 
 fountain," and is in considerable request in summer. 
 Before meetings the Friends usually wait outside 
 talking in groups. The men are mostly dressed in 
 light drab clothes, with white hats having very broad 
 brims. The women wear white or grey gowns, with 
 small white three-cornered shawls of the old-fashioned 
 eighteenth century style. The front seats and 
 galleries of the meeting are usually well filled, and it 
 is a common practice in the west to place all 
 strangers on a seat fronting the meeting, whether 
 ministers or not 
 
 At the great annual gathering, or yearly meeting, 
 the house — ^which holds three thousand persons — is 
 
RICHMOND AND ITS TICINITT. 51 
 
 filled to overflowing, and a large number of Friends 
 have to meet outside. Sometimes there are three 
 large meetings thus going on at the same time ; one 
 in the double meeting-house, and two others in the 
 spacious grounds, and sometimes three ministers 
 preaching at once, one to each assembly. It is cus- 
 tomary for other persons besides Friends to come to 
 these gatherings. Some years ago the Indiana Central 
 Railroad Company put on special trains to Richmond 
 during the yearly meeting, but this was found to be 
 inconvenient, rather than advantageous ; for it brought 
 such crowds of holiday makers from Indianapolis and 
 other towns, that more good accrued to the tavern- 
 keepers than to the Friends, and the latter were so 
 disturbed that they had to use their influence to 
 prevent the s[)ecial trains, and they were accordingly 
 discontinued. 
 
 The Indiana Yearly Meeting lasts for a week, by 
 adjournments. During that time there are many 
 interesting and large disciplinary meetings and com- 
 mittees held, as those relative to the first-day schools, 
 to the branch meetings in Kansas and Iowa, to 
 Earlham College, to the Associations of Friends for 
 advocating the rights of Indians and coloured people. 
 The houses of the Richmond Friends during yearly 
 meeting are of course crowded and overcrowded with 
 guests, many of whom have to lie in rows on the 
 floor, on straw, or other extempore " beds.*' But this 
 is a common experience in the " roughings ** of western 
 lodfHng and travel. 
 
 Having just mentioned Indians and coloured people, 
 I may state that there have been a very few instances, 
 as in Kansas, of Indians becoming attached to the 
 s 2 
 
52 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 meetings and principles of Friends, but scarcely ever 
 any negroes or coloured people. Their minds are 
 unable to appreciate the abstractions and refinements 
 of* our spiritual views ; they must have in their 
 worship loud prayers, camp-meetings, much singing 
 and colloquial exhortations, or else they are apt to go 
 to sleep. Such was the account given me of them 
 in the west, and I can quite believe it. Friends at 
 Richmond have taken a great interest in aiding 
 coloured people, and do still, but they have become 
 importunate by frequently laying in wait for Friends 
 after meeting, with petitions for subscriptions for one 
 object or another. 
 
 Near the Friends' meeting at Richmond, is another 
 large one belonging to the Hicksites. It seems so 
 strange to an English Friend in America, to meet 
 persons exactly resembling those we regard as 
 brethren, and to be told, "Those are not Friends, 
 they are Hicksites." As is usual between religious 
 denominations who hold some views in common 
 but have differed, there is a greater separation 
 between Orthodox and Hicksite Friends in America, 
 than between either and the members of other 
 denominations. A leading Friend remarked to me 
 at Richmond, " We would rather unite with Episco- 
 palians, Methodists, or Baptists, than with Hicksites." 
 
 There is at Richmond a very efficient Friends' 
 Tract Association, for the printing and diflfusion of 
 tracts and books which elucidate the principles of the 
 Society, or of general morality. Elijah Coffin and 
 Joseph Dickinson are actively engaged in sustaining 
 and promoting this Association. 
 
 Richmond is on the " Great National Road " to the 
 
BICinMOND AND ITS VICINITY. 53 
 
 west Before the introduction of railways, this was 
 the main thoroujxhfare north of the Ohio, but it is now 
 very little used as such. It extends from the Atlantic 
 to the Mississippi, and was a noble undertaking at the 
 time when it was projected. 
 
 Most of the principal Friends' meetings in Indiana 
 Yearly Meeting are within easy reach of Richmond ; 
 as Cincinnati, Newport, Spiceland, Raysville, Milford, 
 New Garden, and Bethel. 
 
 Cincinnati, although in the State of Ohio, is included 
 within the limits of " Indiana Yearly Meeting," on 
 account of its greater proximity to Richmond than to 
 thd main body of " Ohio Yearly Meeting " who are 
 chiefly located in the eastern part of the State. There 
 are probably nearly two hundred Friends in Cincin- 
 nati, and they have actively co-operated with their 
 brethren at Richmond, in the promotion of those 
 educational and other improvements which have so 
 greatly benefited the Society in the west. 
 
 Shortly before I was there they had received a 
 visit from Henry Grattan Guinness, of Dublin, who, 
 although in no ways connected with Friends, had felt 
 a great interest in their religious welfare, and had 
 held meetings in various parts of America for the 
 especial object of addressing our Society, who attended 
 in considerable numbers. I was informed in the west 
 that although his sermons were very Evangelical and 
 excellent in feeling, yet that there was one decided 
 point of difference between himself and Friends, — he 
 was not prepared to adopt silence as a basis for worship. 
 
 Now this principle of silence as a basis for worship 
 is perhaps our most valuable distinctive privilege as 
 a Society, and it is to be earnestly hoped that we 
 
54 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 shall ever preserve it with a jealous zeal for its most 
 conservative maintenance, and that we shall not allow 
 it to be in the slightest degree infringed upon. During 
 the last few years I have occasionally, when travelling 
 or otherwise, taken opportunities of attending the 
 worship of most of the various Christian denomina- 
 tions ; and such a practice, when occasional, and not 
 habitual, is, I think, calculated to give a Friend at the 
 same time an increased sympathy for other Christian 
 bodies, and a deeper estimate of the high privileges of 
 true Quakerism, and, beyond all, of its silent, spon- 
 taneous worship. If any Friends, by the occasional 
 attendance of other modes of worship, find that it suits 
 them better, it is a pretty evident proof that their own 
 vocation is not for the Society of Friends, and that 
 they had better join such other body as they may 
 find to be most adapted to their own edification. The 
 change will be a mutual benefit to the society they 
 unite with, to the one they have left, and to themselves. 
 As far as my own experience has gone, I have found 
 that nothing suits me so well as the Friends' principle 
 of silence as a basis, and it seems more precious than 
 ever. At one time I considered it right, when in any 
 place on the Sabbath where there was no Friends' 
 meeting, to bear testimony to the universal duty of 
 " assembling ourselves together " as Christians, by 
 uniting with some one sect or other in public worship. 
 But I have so missed the liberty, and uninterrupted 
 opportunities for all kinds of individual spontaneous 
 worship afforded by the Friends' meetings, beyond all 
 others, that I have relinquished the practice of uniting 
 with others, even when in places where there is no 
 Friends' meeting. When I was recently crossing the 
 
EICnilOXD AND ITS VICINITY. 55 
 
 Atlantic, most of the passengers met to celebrate 
 public worship together, whether belonging or not to 
 the denomination of the minister who then preached. 
 This was a good thing, and commendable for them, 
 but I preferred retiring to my own cabin to worship 
 in my own way. Afterwards, on one of the passengers 
 asking me the reason why I had absented my self from 
 the others, I replied, " On the same principle that 
 when I sit down to my dinner, I like to eat it myself, 
 and not see some one else eat it for me.'* I further 
 explained that in most modes of public worship, except 
 Friends', the time is so exclusively absorbed by 
 thfe ministers or others that no interval is afforded for 
 the spontaneous expression of, or meditation on, the 
 individual and peculiar wants of each private wor- 
 shipjxjr. For first comes a hymn, then immediately 
 a prayer, then directly another hymn, then the sermon 
 followed by a second prayer, and again by a final 
 hymn ; so that, however the devotional feelings of the 
 worshipper may have been affected, he has in general 
 little or no opportunity afforded for his own spon- 
 taneous utterances, in his own individual time and 
 manner and matter. And of all things it seems to 
 me that the " right of private judgment " and of the 
 most untrammelled ease and freedom is to be retained 
 in worship, so as to fit exactly every varying shade of 
 private individual feeling and requirement. 
 
 Of course, some vocal ministry, when good, is a 
 great advantage, but even this should be subordinate 
 to the 8ix)ntaneous silent communion of each wor- 
 shipfHir with his God. Therefore, I hope that both 
 in the west and east, the Society of Friends will 
 maintain an uncompromising conservatism of this 
 
5(j FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 most distinctive, and fundamental, and precious 
 principle of her communion ; this, which is not based 
 on eighteenth century formalism, or even on the 
 sanction of her respected founders, but on a far higher 
 standard — the present heartfelt wants and approval of 
 our own spirits in our own age. 
 
 EAELHAM COLLEGE. 
 
 The same persevering and enlightened Friends of 
 Richmond and Cincinnati, who have so fostered and 
 maintained the system of Friends' Sabbath schools 
 in the west, also became awakened to the need there 
 was for the establishment of a really good institution 
 in their yearly meeting for affording to the younger 
 members of the Society, and especially to those de- 
 signed for teachers, an education liberal and compre- 
 hensive, yet under thoroughly Friendly influences. 
 The subject was introduced to the attention of Indiana 
 Yearly Meeting in 1837, but it was not till 1847 that 
 they were able to complete the erection of the noble 
 institution which is the result of their efforts. Out of 
 respect to the memory of the late Joseph John Gurney, 
 of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, the western Friends 
 have given it the name of Earlham College — a course 
 which has not received the approval of those Wilburite 
 Friends further eastward, who consider that Joseph 
 John Gurney introduced " unfriendly " innovations. 
 It is only recently that the College has been incor- 
 porated by authority of the State Legislature of 
 Indiana, and thus empowered to grant degrees. These 
 are M.A. and B.A. There is also the degree of 
 
EAKLHAM COLLEGE. 67 
 
 B.S. (Bachelor of Science). The State Legislatures 
 of America, and the Universities of that country 
 generally, are careful about the bestovvment of the 
 hiirher dei^rees of D.D. and LL.D. These are 
 mostly, throughout America, reserved for the elder 
 colleges, and to be given to persons of well-approved 
 attainments or literary celebrity, and chiefly as 
 honorary degrees. But the subordinate degrees, and 
 also that of M.D., are given in America to students 
 of a lower grade of attainment than would be gene- 
 rally admitted to them in any of the colleges of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 Earlham College forms a massive block of neat 
 masonry, with about three hundred feet frontage, 
 and extending half as far back in depth. The height 
 of the centre is about seventy-five feet. It stands in 
 its own grounds, which are of about one hundred and 
 twenty acres area. The original cost of this land was 
 twenty dollars (£4) per acre. The building cost fifty 
 thousand dollars (£10,000). It contains some very 
 spacious halls, and the flat roof of its centre affords a fine 
 promenade of about one hundred feet square. From the 
 middle of this rises an " observatory," from which there 
 is an extensive prospect over the surrounding country, 
 with its numerous woods, fine undulations, neat 
 villas, the long broad ravine of the river Whitewater, 
 and, about a mile off', the white spires and white 
 houses of Richmond, abundantly interspersed with 
 the green foliage of its street-avenues and gardens. 
 
 Around the College is its farm, which is under 
 good cultivation. I observed a mowing machine in 
 operation, on which the driver was comfortably seated 
 on a narrow raised bench, having nothing to do but 
 
58 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 only drive the horses. One or two other men were 
 engaged in distant parts of the large meadow in 
 raking-up the hay with h'ght, capacious, revolving 
 '' rakes." On the grounds, at some distance from the 
 College, are two residences for the married teachers. 
 
 The College is calculated to accommodate about 
 three hundred students, when in full operation ; but 
 at present it has only reached half that number, 
 and then only in the winter sessions. The year 
 is divided into the summer and winter sessions. 
 Two vacations intervene, of four and three weeks 
 respectively. The students are of both sexes and 
 of various ages, from twelve to twenty-five years. 
 They are divided into three departments, according 
 to their age and studies, viz., the " Primary " (or 
 Junior), " Intermediate," and " College " Depart- 
 ments. The female students form rather more than 
 half of the whole number. Both sexes receive class 
 instruction, and perform their recitations together, 
 and also take their meals in the same large hall. 
 They are not together when preparing their studies 
 for class, or on other occasions. 
 
 This plan of partial mixing of the two sexes is not 
 adopted in any other of the Friends' similar educational 
 institutions in America, and is looked on with some 
 disapproval by many of the Society eastward. But 
 it has been found to work very well at Earlham, and 
 has given a great stimulus to the studies of each sex, 
 and has greatly promoted the politeness and propriety 
 of behaviour of all. Previously to its adoption, 
 considerable difficulty was experienced in the disci- 
 pline of the establishment, but now it is far otherwise, 
 and the students in each wing need very little exer- 
 
X^TNIVEHSTTT J 
 
 EARLHAM COLLEGE. 
 
 cise of control on the part of the teachers. The 
 superintendent, teachers, and some of the committee 
 informed me, that the plan has been successful in all 
 respects, and is by no means likely to be relinquished. 
 The same system has been adopted by one of the 
 principal northern universities of America, and by a 
 large normal college for students of all religious 
 denominations at Lebanon, near Cincinnati, and in 
 each case with great success as to studies, discipline, 
 and behaviour. 
 
 College education throughout America is more 
 general and less expensive than in Great Britain. 
 The expenses at Earlham are from £24 to £32 per 
 annum for board and education. The expenses at 
 the highest and oldest universities in the United 
 States are similarly low in proportion. Thus, the 
 annual expenses for board and tuition (as given in 
 the American Almanac) at Cambridge University, 
 near Boston, is £48 ; at Yale College it is £40 ; at 
 Brown University, R. I., only £25 ; at Bowdoin, in 
 Maine, £28 ; and at the University of Virginia, £46. 
 
 Many of the students at Earlham obtain the means 
 for defraying their expenses whilst there, by pre- 
 viously taking temporary situations as teachers or 
 otherwise. There is a growing demand for young 
 Friends as teachers in the west, in the State schools, 
 which are not for their own, or any particular religious 
 denomination. (It may be just incidentally mentioned, 
 in connexion with this, that where a neighbourhood 
 becomes partially '* colonized " by Friends, it has the 
 effect of raising the value of land in the vicinity.) 
 
 The studies at Earlham are as follows : — For 
 the Collegiate Department — physiology, geography. 
 
60 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 astronomy, chemistry, mathematics (including the 
 differential and integral calculus), geology, and the 
 higher classics (Herodotus, Plato, Juvenal, and 
 Tacitus). 
 
 For the Intermediate Department — geography, 
 grammar, history, natural philosophy, physiology, 
 and elementary mathematics and classics. 
 
 For the Primary Department — geography, gram- 
 mar, history, and arithmetic. 
 
 Scarcely any attention is given to the modern 
 languages, and this is merely by allowing those 
 students who prefer it, to substitute German for 
 Greek in the regular course. It is probable, that if 
 in English schools the time which is so often wasted 
 over a smattering of French, were devoted to Latin 
 or Greek, it would be a great addition to thorough- 
 ness of education. Modern languages can be learnt 
 better by a three months' visit to the Continent, than 
 by five years' study in England ; and unless one goes 
 to the Continent for at least a month or two, it is 
 scarcely ever worth while to pay any attention to 
 them at home. At Earlham, the prominent attention 
 which is given to classics has an excellent mental 
 influence on the students, and they really enjoy their 
 Greek and Latin lessons. In these, the young women 
 are at least equally proficient with the young men, 
 and in the girls' study-rooms were many classical 
 text-books, and on the numerous black boards many 
 neat geometrical diagrams. There is no need to 
 apprehend that these studies may unfit the female 
 students at Earlham for household duties. They are 
 all well trained in those at their rural western homes, 
 before and after their college studies. The latter 
 
EABLHAM COLLEGE. 61 
 
 both refine and strengthen their minds far more than 
 the musical and other light accomplishments of their 
 sisters in the eastern cities. 
 
 Just as I entered the recitation room of the senior 
 Latin class, one of the young men was reading that 
 striking passage from the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, 
 which might be adopted as a peculiarly characteristic 
 motto for a Friend, — 
 
 " Si consilium vis 
 
 Perraittes ipsis expendere numinibiis quid 
 Conveniat nobis rebusque sit utile nostris ; 
 Nana pro jucundis aptissiraa quaeque dabunt Di, 
 . Carior est illis homo quam sibi." 
 
 Which may be freely translated, " If thou wishest 
 for right guidance, thou must allow God Himself to 
 apportion out to thee from that which is good for us, 
 and that which befits our circumstances; for God 
 will give us that which is most suitable, rather than 
 what is most agreeable to us — for a man is dearer to 
 God than he is to himself." Dr. Test, the classical 
 tutor, illustrated the morning's lesson by appropriate 
 remarks and questions relative to the sjnonyms, and 
 historic or geographical allusions, and syntactical 
 constructions of the portions read. 
 
 In the classical and other recitations, after the stu- 
 dent has given an answer or translation, the others 
 present are asked if they have any corrections or 
 " criticisms" to make on what they have just heard. 
 
 The students take their meals in a large dining-hall 
 on the basement This hall is about 100 feet square, 
 and has tables arranged parallel to three sides of the 
 four. The young men and women sit in alternate 
 rows at each table. All the arrangements were neat 
 
62 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 and quiet. Every one waits till all the rest are served 
 before beginning a meal ; this is usual in families 
 throughout the United States. It is only in hotels 
 and steamboats that (as with ourselves in general) 
 each person commences eating as soon as served. I 
 did not observe anywhere in the United States that 
 caricatured hastiness at meals which some ludicrous 
 accounts have represented as taking place in that 
 country. 
 
 Behind the College is what is common to similar 
 establishments in America, an enormous wood-pile for 
 fuel instead of coal. Wood is generally used in the 
 west everywhere, except in some manufactories and 
 cities near the collieries of the Upper Ohio. 
 
 Earlham College has no endowments to depend on 
 for support ; but has to rely on the payments of its 
 students. It is, however, self-supporting; and last 
 year the income exceeded the expenditure by £ 1 00. 
 It is peculiarly deserving'of the support and favour of 
 the Society, both in America and Great Britain, inas- 
 much as it is the chief fountain of future influence 
 over the Society in the whole of the Great West, and 
 is the largest Friends' educational establishment in 
 America. The circumstance of so many of its stu- 
 dents being teachers, either past or prospective, adds 
 very much to its importance and influence. Another 
 feature of interest about it, is its independent efforts 
 at self-support ; and it is not borne up by wealthy 
 Friends, as some of the Society's institutions east of 
 the Alleghanies. Neither are its students wealthy ; 
 but in most cases entirely dependent for their educa- 
 tion there upon their own previous exertions. Some 
 of them come for one or two sessions, and then leave 
 
EARLHAM COLLEGE. 63 
 
 to earn money to enable them to return for a further 
 period of study. 
 
 A regular meeting for worship is held in the Insti- 
 tution, as it is a mile and a half distant from the one 
 held at Richmond, (usually styled Whitewater 
 Meeting.) 
 
 The observatory was not yet fitted up for want of 
 funds ; but they have an achromatic telescope, with 
 a six-inch object-glass, and of eight feet focal length. 
 
 The young men have a literary association amongst 
 themselves, named "The Ionian," and the young 
 women have a similar one, named " The Phoenix." 
 
 The Institution is under the efficient care of 
 Walter T. Carpenter as superintendent, who is also 
 aided by a committee of twelve Friends, appointed by 
 Indiana Yearly Meeting. This committee forms itself 
 into seven sub-committees — to attend to the appoint- 
 ment of the officers, to the scriptural and literary 
 instruction, the farm, the buildings and furniture, the 
 library — and an executive sub-committee. Half of 
 this committee of twelve are men Friends, and the 
 other half females. Much importance is attached to 
 the scriptural studies and examinations. 
 
 The building is heated by a hot-water warming 
 apparatus. This causes a current of heated water to 
 pass through each room, between double plates of 
 dark polished iron, which reflect the heat around. 
 
 The salary of the superintendent is £220 per 
 annum (1,100 dollars), and board; that of each of 
 the two senior married teachers, £140 per annum, 
 and a house and garden. The female teachers 
 receive about £60 per annum, and board. 
 
 A gymnasium is about to be erected for the young 
 
64 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 men. The young women have a grove, picturesquely 
 situated in the estate, as a part of their own grounds 
 for recreation and exercise. 
 
 The stud}^ of history has been very successfully 
 pursued at Earlham. The only regular text-book is 
 Lyman's " Historic Chart" (quarto). This contains 
 conspicuously separated divisions of centuries and 
 epochs, and is used as a skeleton and basis, which the 
 students have to amplify by private reading from 
 any historic works to which they have access in the 
 library, or elsewhere. 
 
 A pleasant feeling appears to prevail throughout 
 the Institution, mutually amongst committee, officers, 
 and students, and the present condition of the College 
 is a credit to all concerned in it, and especially to 
 those persevering pioneers of improved education 
 amongst western Friends, whose labours have been 
 thus far crowned with success, — to the benefit, not so 
 much of the students merely, as of the larger number 
 of scholars, who, in future years, throughout the 
 States of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and elsewhere, 
 will receive from them, and still further extend, those 
 important influences which are now emanating from 
 this large establishment. 
 
 MOUNT PLEASANT, OHIO. 
 
 After leaving Cincinnati, I proceeded to Mount 
 Pleasant, the seat of " Ohio Yearly Meeting." My 
 route was up the beautiful Ohio river to Wheeling, 
 which is nearly 400 miles from Cincinnati by water. 
 
MOUNT PLEASANT, OHIO. 65 
 
 We took three days in steaming it ; but this included 
 several short delays from running aground, as the 
 water was low in some places, as usual on the Ohio in 
 summer and autumn. Wheeling is in the narrow 
 strip of Virginia which intervenes between western 
 Pennsylvania and the Ohio river. It is at the foot of 
 steep hills, which form the noble valley through 
 which that river runs. The town is, like Pittsburg, 
 generally covered with clouds of smoke from the 
 many foundries, breweries, and tall stacks of chimneys 
 which characterize the place. It is a very rare thing 
 to see a smoky town in America, as the atmosphere, 
 even of their largest cities, is usually most pure and 
 unsullied. A distinguishing feature of Wheeling is 
 its fine suspension-bridge, more than 1000 feet long, 
 and ninety-two feet above the river. Coal is mined 
 in all directions around and in the town. 
 
 Mount Pleasant is ten miles from Wheeling, on 
 the Ohio side. It is in a very picturesque and 
 thoroughly rural district, strikingly like Devonshire. 
 Everywhere around are hills and valleys ; no level 
 ground; the hills round but not lofty; the valleys 
 windinix and narrow. Woods are abundant, together 
 with orchards and clear streams ; and throughout the 
 district are frequent croppings out of coal strata, 
 which are worked in very simple style, by just run- 
 ning in " adits'* or tunnels in the hill-sides, or in some 
 places merely by quarrying the coal at the surface. 
 Many of the roads are of plank, which renders them 
 slippery in wet or frosty weather, when the horses' 
 shoes must be made rough. Light passenger vans, 
 termed ** hacks," run three times a-week between 
 Mount Pleasant and Wheeling. 
 r 
 
66 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 I have seldom seen more thoroughly picturesque 
 scenery than the quiet valleys of this part of Eastern 
 Ohio. The foliage is of great variety ; the slanting 
 branches of the many beech trees, the light leaves of 
 the " buckeye," tlie tall and elegant " sugar maples," 
 the numerous low papau trees, with fine leaves, much 
 resembling those of the Indian-rubber plant, but 
 smaller, and all hanging down ; the tall spikes of the 
 abundant red " iron weed," the '* polk," the yellow 
 mulleins (characteristically frequent in America}, and 
 the large-leaved "milk plant," which resembles a 
 euphorbia — these, together with many other trees and 
 shrubs, render the varied forms of the landscape still 
 more interesting. Many strata of blue shale and 
 limestone crop out, especially in the beds of the 
 numerous streams, and produce small "falls," exhibit- 
 ing a miniature of the geological aspect of Niagara ; 
 for, in several places there, the soft shale under the 
 limestone has been washed or dissolved away, leaving 
 a long, hard shelf of limestone projecting some half- 
 dozen feet above it and over the pool of the falls. A 
 frequent tree of the district is the " catalpa." This 
 resembles a huge-leaved mulberry, and is very orna- 
 mental, though indigenous. It is connnon in Indiana, 
 Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Elms are also frequent, but 
 present a somewhat different aspect from our English 
 ones, being less rounded in outline, and the leaves 
 appear more pendent. 
 
 Mount Pleasant deserves its name. It is a small 
 place, extending in one long street on the summit of a 
 broadly convex hill, and with many trees intermixed 
 and surrounding. From its elevated position, it is 
 conspicuous several miles off. The best houses belong 
 
 J 
 
MOUNT PLEASAJNT, OHIO. . 67 
 
 to Friends, who were here, as at Richmond, the 
 founders and first settlers. 
 
 There is a cheerful Friend still living at Mount 
 Pleasant, aged ninety-five, who had been at Rich- 
 mond, in Indiana, when there was only one house 
 there ; and who came to Mount Pleasant when the 
 ancient forests were still unbroken, or, to use her 
 own expression, with "not a stick amiss." She 
 also remembers the times of the Revolutionary 
 War, and was at Trenton,, in New Jersey, on the 
 day of the celebrated battle there. Although she 
 did not remember seeing Washington, yet she was 
 weir acquainted with Friends at whose house he 
 lodged. 
 
 Washington always preferred lodging with Friends, 
 towards whom he was especially affable and respectful. 
 The wife of one of his entertainers had some cherry 
 trees, which the soldiers broke down to get at the 
 fruit. She complained of this to the General, saying, 
 " They were welcome to the fruit, but not to the trees." 
 He went out and gave orders to stop the mischief, 
 and no more trees were broken down. On another 
 occasion (I believe at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania), 
 a Friend was going through the forests, and heard a 
 voice near him, amongst the foliage. He quietly 
 crept up to the spot, and was surprised at seeing 
 Washington on his knees in private vocal prayer. 
 Ever after this, the Friend had a high opinion of the 
 General, whom he had not previously supposed to be 
 a religious character. Another time, near Baltimore, 
 Washington's carriage was delayed at a Friend's 
 house. He remarked to his host, " I have a driver, 
 who aims so well, he never misses a stone in the 
 V 2 
 
68 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 road," pleasantly alluding to the driver's clumsiness 
 in jolting against obstacles. 
 
 The same aged Friend at Mount Pleasant remem- 
 bers well the sufferings of Friends from both armies 
 during the revolutionary period, on account of their 
 conscientious refusal to unite with either side. Her 
 father had " every cow, horse, and hog," taken by the 
 soldiers 1 She heard a by-stander calling out, " Take 
 away all you like from the Quakers ; take it all 
 away. They'll all be full again in another year." 
 Another time, this Friend and his neighbours were 
 turned out of their meeting-house, which was taken 
 for a hospital ; after which, the meetings were held in 
 a wheelwright's shed. The grandfather of a Phila- 
 delphia Friend whom I met, was tied in an arm-chair 
 by British soldiers, who kept him there for several 
 hours whilst they threatened to take his life and burn 
 his property. He remained calm, and they did 
 neither. 
 
 Many Friends are scattered round the neighbour- 
 hood of Mount Pleasant, and there are probably more 
 in that district than in any other part of Ohio. The 
 meetings are mostly of a rural stamp, as at Coleraine, 
 Smithfield, and Shortcreek ; and most of the Friends 
 are engaged in agriculture. 
 
 They have established first-day schools, as in Indiana, 
 and the advantages have been very evident. 
 
 Friends and others at Mount Pleasant are so 
 zealous for the promotion of temperance, that there is 
 scarcely a vendor of spirituous liquors in the town or 
 neighbourhood. Any such find that the general 
 feeling there renders it impossible for them to con- 
 tinue their calling with pleasure or profit. One of 
 
MOUNT PLEASANT SEPARATION. 69 
 
 the reasons of tliis is that, notwithstanding' the great 
 cheapness of whisky and other spirits in America, 
 there is excessive adulteration practised. It is an 
 ahnost universal charge against the American whisky, 
 in the western and rural districts, that it is drugged 
 with strychnine and other pernicious ingredients. 
 And there is, probably, some truth in this ; for there 
 have been many instances of persons being rendered 
 ill, and even fatally so, just after drinking quantities 
 so small as not to be at all likely to produce such 
 serious results, unless mixed with something power- 
 fully deleterious. This is one of the reasons why the 
 American Friends are so stringent in the application 
 of their disciplinary rules to any of their members who 
 introduce intoxicating drinks even in small quantities 
 at their tables, or into their houses. 
 
 THE SEPAKATION OF FRIENDS AT MOUNT 
 PLEASANT. 
 
 With the exception of Philadelphia, there is no 
 otiier place in America where a Friend finds the 
 subject of Society diflferences so painfully and promi- 
 nently brought before his attention as at Mount 
 Pleasant. About forty years ago, there was only one 
 united body of Friends there. Subsequently, the 
 Hicksite separation occurred, and this made two 
 parties instead of one ; but both continued to use the 
 large meeting-house to hold their yearly meetings in. 
 About twenty years ago the Wilburite dissensions 
 commenced, and when the sympathizers with John 
 
70 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Wilbur, in his opposition to Joseph John Gurney, 
 were disowned by the Evangelical Friends of New 
 England, there was a considerable proportion of 
 Friends in Eastern Ohio who were of the same 
 opinions as the small Wilburite party in New England, 
 and they resolved, if possible, to give the latter the 
 official sanction and support of Ohio Yearly Meeting. 
 But there were also many warm adherents to the 
 views of Evangelical Quakerism in Ohio, and these 
 were strongly opposed to the encouragement of a 
 seceding body, whom they considered to be the advo- 
 cates of doctrines tinged with formalism and error. 
 
 And now commenced a ten years' conflict amongst 
 the Orthodox Friends of Ohio. Year after year, at 
 their annual gathering, there was introduced the 
 question of the recognition or non-recognition of the 
 smaller body of New England Friends. The clerk of 
 Ohio Yearly Meeting, during this period, was a Wil- 
 burite, and took advantage of his official position, as 
 recorder and arbiter, to give an undue favour to the 
 speakers of his own party. He used to persist in 
 registering minutes of a Wilburite tendency, by dint 
 of quietly ignoring the dissenting voices of " fifty 
 Friends in a morning," on speaking from the Evan- 
 gelical party present. The latter had patiently borne 
 this state of things, year after year, till it had become 
 intolerable ; but being in a numerical minority, they 
 were unable to effi?ct a change of clerk for a more 
 impartial one. 
 
 At last, in 1854, they determined to make a firm 
 stand, and at the commencement of their yearly 
 meeting nominated one of their own views for the 
 office of clerk. On taking the voices of the committee 
 
MOUNT PLEASANT SEPARATION. 71 
 
 of the whole meeting for the appointment of clerk, it 
 was found that only twelve of that committee were 
 in favour of the newly-proposed clerk, and the 
 remaining twenty-four wished to continue the pre- 
 ceding one in office. This the Evangelical Friends 
 would not endure, and ordered their nominee to come 
 forward to the table and officiate. According to the 
 legal constitution of the Society, it is plainly obvious 
 that they were " out of order" in thus proceeding, — 
 glaringly so, indeed. The Wilburite Friends, being in 
 a majority of two-thirds, had a perfectly constitutional 
 right to maintain, as clerk, their nominee of so many 
 preceding years ; and it is quite clear that he was the 
 only real representative clerk of their yearly meeting 
 of 1854, according to the universal customs and 
 precedents of the Society of Friends. 
 
 On *seeing the determined proceedings of the 
 minority, the larger body of Wilburites, including 
 their clerk, quietly walked out of the meeting, leaving 
 the others in possession. The latter, under the pre- 
 sidency of their new clerk, then proceeded with the 
 ordinary business of the yearly meeting, which they 
 now claimed to constitute. Next day, the Wilburite 
 Friends met by themselves, and also proceeded as 
 usual with the ordinary yearly meeting business, 
 which they considered they were alone constitutionally 
 competent to carry on. 
 
 And there can scarcely be a moment's hesitation in 
 saying, that the Wilburite Friends are the true con- 
 stitutional representatives of the originally united 
 « Orthodox" Yearly Meeting of Ohio. But that the 
 Evangelical Friends were right in demanding a 
 change, is equally clear; only they did not go to 
 
72 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 work in a way consistent with the universally recog- 
 nised disciplinary proceedings of the Society. How- 
 ever, an actual separation thus took place, and, ever 
 since 1854, there have been two yearly meetings of 
 Orthodox Friends at Mount Pleasant, both claiming 
 to be the original one of Ohio. They have so far 
 mutually accommodated one another as not to push a 
 claim on either side for the exclusive possession of 
 their large and valuable meeting-house at Mount 
 Pleasant, and by arranging the period of their annual 
 gatherings to take place at different times, they both 
 use the same house. The Hicksite Friends have for 
 some years made a similar arrangement, and every 
 alternate autumn, at Mount Pleasant, there is the 
 singular spectacle of three annual gatherings of 
 Friends, once forming a united body, and all claiming 
 to be the original yearly meeting of Ohio, *and all 
 meeting respectively in the same meeting-house. 
 
 As it has been, and is, customary for the various 
 yearly meetings of the Society to'*keep up a friendly 
 sympathetic annual correspondence with each other, 
 whether in America or Europe, there came in due 
 course to the London Yearly Meeting, in 1855, two 
 letters, each claiming to be the ordinary one from the 
 original Ohio Yearly Meeting. It was, of course, 
 necessary to decide which was the one, and this was a 
 very difficult question. I well remember being present 
 at that yearly meeting in London, and was much 
 interested in the long discussion which ensued, and 
 which extended over nearly three days. There was 
 no doubt as to the prevailing sympathy of the meeting. 
 That was unmistakably in favour of the Evangelical 
 section of Friends in Ohio. But it was so obvious 
 
MOUNT PLEASANT SEPARATION. 73 
 
 that they had acted unconstitutionally, and were them- 
 selves the "separatists,'* that, notwithstanding the 
 general sympathy of the English Friends, there were 
 nearly as many voices expressed for the recognition 
 of the one as of the other, or at any rate against 
 acknowledging the smaller body as being exclusively 
 the real and original Ohio Yearly Meeting. Still there 
 was no doubt tliey had been driven to extremity, and at 
 length, on a consideration of the preferability of their 
 being peaceable in separation rather than disturbed in 
 union, and also as a decided expression of which inter- 
 pretation of Quakerism was approved in Great Britain, 
 the London Yearly Meeting accepted the letter of 
 the smaller and more evangelical, but also more 
 unconstitutional, minority of Ohio. This acceptance, 
 of course, involved a non-recognition, but by no means 
 a rejection, as Friends, of the larger body in Ohio. 
 It was a curious instance of a virtually constitutional 
 necessity of acting in a manner literally unconsti- 
 tutional. 
 
 But it occurred to me at the time, and has often 
 done so since, that it would have been a better course 
 for English Friends to have accepted both letters, and 
 to have said to their brethren in Ohio, — *' We perceive 
 that you do not agree amongst yourselves on some 
 points, still there is so much on which you continue to 
 agree, and such an absence of any necessity for separa- 
 tion, that if you cannot agree to differ, or at any rate 
 unite in the choice of your annual clerk, you may as 
 well meet at separate times, but as to our inter- 
 ference with either party it is unnecessary; and if you 
 think that we wish to withdraw our recognition of 
 either section, we are too friendly to you all to do any 
 
74 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 such thing ; still, we may as well just say that we 
 rather sympathize vnth some of you more than others, 
 but there is no necessity for altering our policy of 
 recognizing all. So continue to send us letters as 
 before, and we will recognize them merely as two 
 sheets of one document, and the shaking of the two 
 hands of one individual." 
 
 Such a policy, however, would not have been quite 
 in accordance with the views of those Friends who 
 think that " church order " is paramount to all other 
 considerations, and in this case a possibility of friendly 
 irregularity w^as sacrificed at the shrine of uniformity. 
 
 But the consequences of the separation in Ohio did 
 not end here. For the spirit of disagreement is like 
 an avalanche, — it gathers as it moves, and includes 
 more and more within the disagreeable complexities 
 of its limits. And so in this case ; for when the two 
 Ohio Yearly Meetings sent their letters to Philadelpliia 
 and the other American yearly meetings, the latter all 
 recognized the smaller Evangelical body as English 
 Friends had done, whilst their Philadelphia brethren, 
 who were mostly of Wilburite sympathies, had no 
 difficulty whatever in distinguishing between sym- 
 pathy and constitutional order, and of course recog- 
 nized the larger body of Ohio Friends. " Well, but 
 how shall we now be able to correspond with London 
 and the other yearly meetings, who have adopted a 
 different policy?" said the meeting in Philadelphia. 
 Here again interposed the power of legal precedent 
 and a presumed necessity of uniformity, which would 
 be quite right and necessary in questions of politics or 
 property, but by no means so necessary in a body of 
 persons substantially retaining the essentials of similar 
 
MOUNT PLEASANT SEPARATION. 75 
 
 belief on religious subjects. It was considered by 
 Philadelphia Friends, or at least by a large majority 
 of them, that it would be unconstitutioual to continue 
 to correspond with the other yearly meetings, with 
 whose policy towards Ohio they did not themselves 
 unite. 
 
 Now where was there any necessity of the kind ? 
 Why should any of these yearly meetings have dis- 
 continued to correspond with any others, merely 
 because they did not wholly take the same view of 
 an independent question ? And what is there now to 
 prevent the resumption of a friendly correspondence 
 all around? Certainly, there appears to me, no 
 sufficient reason. 
 
 But, since 1854, the Ohio Friends have been 
 just as separate as two distinct denominations of 
 Christians. In some cases it has been allowed to 
 interfere with social courtesy ; and in others, both 
 before and since the actual separation, it affected and 
 darkened some of the ministerial communications 
 there. 
 
 A Friend from Yorkshire was travelling as a 
 minister in America for several years during the 
 differences in Ohio. He was of Evangelical sym- 
 pathies, but a very impartial well-wisher to both 
 sides, and did not desire to mix himself up with 
 either. But on one occasion, at Ohio Yearly Meeting, 
 a Wilburite minister observing that the English 
 Friend had been present three years following at their 
 annual gathering, quoted, for the edification of the 
 meeting, the instance of Balaam, whom the Moabites 
 had sent for three times to curse Israel, but that he 
 could not curse them. The stranger bore this insult 
 
76 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 silently, merely remarking to a Friend, after meeting, 
 " I am sure I did not wish to curse them, poor things." 
 
 Another Wilburite elsewhere, after hearing the 
 same Friend preach at considerable length, rose up 
 just after the other had concluded, and said, "Now 
 then. Friends, do let us try and have a little silence, 
 where we can get some good." 
 
 The same and other English Friends were in 
 various instances requested by the Wilburites not to 
 come amongst them ; that their ministry was not 
 wanted, neither approved of. In other cases, where 
 some of the Evangelical Friends have driven their 
 ministerial visitors from one meeting to another, and 
 presumed upon their receiving the customary courtesy 
 of a night's lodging when in rural districts away from 
 hotels, they have, on reaching the houses of Wilburites, 
 been refused admission, and have had to go off and 
 seek somewhere else for the ordinary and universally 
 afforded entertainment in such cases. 
 
 And the head and front of offence in all these 
 instances has been, that English Friends have refused 
 to express a disapproval of Joseph John Gurney, or 
 of the interpretations of Quakerism which he set 
 forth in his works. A hearty old Friend in Ohio, 
 in speaking to me about the Wilburites, said, " No 
 one can get any good reason for their bitterness out 
 of them. It's all only ' Joseph John,' and * Joseph 
 John,' and * Joseph John.' " 
 
 There is a Friends' Boarding School at Mount 
 Pleasant, which contains from thirty to seventy pupils, 
 according to the season of the year. Since the 
 separation this institution has remained in the hands 
 of the Wilbur majority, although the Evangelical 
 
MABTLAND, TIBGI^'IA, AND CABOLINA FBIENDS. 77 
 
 Friends are said to have been the chief contributors. 
 The master of the school is a worthy Friend, but 
 must, of course, be a Wilburite in his views. It was 
 mentioned by Friends that there had been considerable 
 difficulty at the school, in consequence of an order 
 from tlie \yilburites that only " peculiar " jackets 
 should be allowed for the boys ; but in consequence 
 of the great variety of juvenile dress in xA.merica, 
 especially in rural districts, the master was puzzled 
 as to what sort of jackets should be reckoned peculiar 
 or not, inasmuch as the slit collar is scarcely a test 
 here, because many American children of various 
 denominations wear jackets with " straight" collars. 
 
 Since the separation, the Evangelical Friends in 
 Ohio have had very quiet, harmonious gatherings. It 
 was remarked to me by them, both in the east and 
 west of Ohio, in speaking of the Wilburites, " We 
 have had such pleasant meetings since they left us." 
 At the last yearly meeting of Ohio there was amongst 
 the Evangelical Friends quite a " revival," and 
 amongst the younger members a powerful visitation 
 of solemn religious impressions. But their Wilburite 
 neighbours have ever since the separation been con- 
 tinuing to differ amongst themselves, and appear on 
 the eve of another secession of Wilburs from Wilburs. 
 
 MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, AND CAROLINA FRIENDS. 
 
 Afteb leaving Mount Pleasant, I passed eastward 
 over one of the most interesting railways in the 
 world, " the Baltimore and Ohio." This line is 
 nearly four hundred miles in length, and in its course 
 
 UNlVERiUTT 
 
78 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 passes over range after range of the Alleghany 
 mountains, attaining on them to the height in one 
 place of three thousand feet ; and at other times fol- 
 lowing for scores of miles the romantic windings of 
 long forest rivers, as the Potomac, the Monongahela, 
 the Patapsco, and the Youghioghany, and conducted 
 up and down circling gradients, over lofty viaducts 
 and along perpendicular sides of precipices on galleries 
 of iron trestle-work, now dashing through ravines 
 and at other times through tubular bridges or under- 
 neath high cliffs, as at the magnificent gorge at 
 Harper's Ferry, where the Shenandoah and Potomac 
 rivers unite their wildly picturesque valleys. The 
 line is entirely in Maryland and Virginia — a region 
 not populous except eastward, and abounding in tracts 
 of unbroken forest and almost uninhabited hills. 
 
 The scenery of the Alleghanies is not so rugged 
 as in lands of snow-covered peaks and battlement- 
 pinnacled precipices, but it is very fi^ne, and especially 
 so from the dense and nearly universal covering of 
 its forests. We look downwards on blue rivers and 
 upwards at wooded walls of rock, through which we 
 every now and then pierce in dark tunnels, emerging 
 by other long glassy bends of watcT, and then re- 
 ascend valleys amongst green forested hemispheres of 
 mountain, down which flow many smaller streams. 
 Again, we glance from between the openings of steep 
 pine forests over square miles of tree tops far beneath, 
 towards which we soon roll smoothly down between 
 an undergrowth of laurels and rhododendrons. 
 
 Almost every mile of the long " Baltimore and 
 Ohio " contains enough of the romantic to establish 
 the reputation of fifty miles of ordinary route, and 
 
MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, AND CAROLINA FRIENDS. 79 
 
 the same may be said of considerable portions of the 
 Central and North-western Railways ot Pennsylvania, 
 by the latter of which I had a welcome opportunity 
 of a second time crossing the Alleghany ranges. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the large State of Virginia 
 (equal in size to England and Wales) is full of wild 
 scenery of mountains and rivers, . affording copious 
 variety for the lovers of the picturesque, but of little 
 civil or commercial interest. There are very few 
 Friends in these districts, and their numbers are con- 
 tinually diminishing, in consequence of discouraging 
 circumstances arising chiefly from slavery. They 
 are annually emigrating to the similarly agricultural 
 but far more prosperous localities included in the 
 extent of the new " Western Yearly Meeting," or to 
 other parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. Tlie old 
 } early meeting of Virginia has been extinct for about 
 a quarter of a century, having been united to that of 
 Baltimore, which, with this addition, is only com- 
 posed of seven small monthly meetings. 
 
 These are included in the two quarterly meetings 
 of Baltimore and Dunning's Creek, and in " the half- 
 year's meeting of Virginia." Only two monthly 
 meetings out of the seven make up the latter. 
 
 The Baltimore Friends, although very few (at 
 least as to the Orthodox part of them), endeavour to 
 promote the social and religious welfare of the slave 
 portion of their State ; and have been able, by acting 
 vigilantly and conciliatorily, to procure for tiiem 
 some amelioration of their condition. But had they 
 gone to work in a more direct, or boldly "ultra" 
 manner, it is probable they would have uninten- 
 tionally been the instrument of increasing tlie suffer- 
 
80 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 ings of their oppressed neighbours. Indirect means 
 are often far more effectual than direct ones, and 
 " discretion is the better part of valour." 
 
 Amongst the Hicksite Friends of Maryland and 
 Virginia is Samuel M. Janney, the well-known 
 writer on the biographies of William Penn, George 
 Fox, and other early Friends. 
 
 The Carolina Friends, although far more numerous 
 than those of Maryland, are yet a decreasing body. 
 They are almost exclusively in North Carolina, and 
 their yearly meeting is designated after that State. 
 They are obliged to be exceedingly careful of their 
 actions and words respecting slavery, and the vigi- 
 lance exercised over them is so unpleasant, that it is 
 a chief cause of the diminution of their numbers by 
 emigration to other States, where they can enjoy free 
 expression and be exempt from the inevitable social 
 demoralizations and pollutions of the slave system. 
 
 As a sort of outlier and appendage to these 
 southern communities of Friends, is the similarly 
 decreasing little body of their brethren in and around 
 the town of Friendsville, in Tennessee. This spot 
 is rendered permanently interesting in its association 
 from its having been the place where the good 
 William Forster, of Norwich, died, and was interred, 
 whilst on a religious visit there with three other 
 English Friends. 
 
 The circumstances of his decease are thus alluded 
 to by William J. Allinson, of Burlington, in his 
 valuable Essay, " Quakerism Vital :" — " There was 
 one locality, a meeting-place of his own people, in the 
 heart of Tennessee, which had been, as it were, photo- 
 graphed on his heart before he left England. The 
 
MARYLAND, VIRGrNIA, AND CAROLINA FRIENDS. 81 
 
 meetinir he attended here will be memorable while the 
 Society of Friends has a history. The shadows of 
 life's evening were closing around him as he stood 
 and preached his favourite theme, ' the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ' One of his audience testifies, * In 
 his vivid description of the life of a dedicated Chris- 
 tian, it seemed as if he might have been involuntarily 
 drawing a picture of himself: — first, beautifully 
 setting forth the fruits of early dedication, the blessed 
 results arising from a full surrender of the whole 
 man — body,soul,and spirit — to the tendering, sanctify- 
 ing power of Divine grace in the very morning of the 
 day, before the heart is seared and hardened by the 
 cares of the world or the love of other things, — 
 tracing the course of such from one degree of religious 
 attainment to another, gradually mellowing under the 
 bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, till, finally, 
 the ripe fruit is brought to perfection. In describing 
 the winding up of the earthly course of the perfect 
 man in Christ Jesus, and the crown of glory which 
 awaited him, it seemed as if he almost opened heaven 
 before us ; and a little glimpse was given of those 
 blessed realities which eye hath not seen nor ear 
 heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive, but which God hath laid up in store for all 
 those who love and serve Him.' When the meetinor 
 closed he walked round the graveyard, in which he 
 was presently to be laid, and spoke of the pleasantness 
 of its location. Next day, he lay in his death sick- 
 ness. His heart yearned towards his loved ones at 
 home ; * But,' he said, * it is better to depart and be 
 with Christ.' To one of his loved and faithful com- 
 panions he quoted the words of Bunyan's * Hopeful,' 
 
 a 
 
82 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 * Be of good cheer, mj brother, I feel the bottom, and 
 it is good.' 
 
 "He died in the midst of his testimony against a 
 wrong towards humanity, a sin towards Him who 
 took on Himself a servant's form, and who, in doing 
 so, rendered the human image of God more sacred 
 and inviolable. William Forster never rested till, 
 in the final sense, he ' entered into rest.' 
 
 ' fallen, while his loins were girded still ; 
 His feet with Zion's dews still wet ; 
 And in his hands retaining yet 
 The pilgrim's staff and scallop shell.' " 
 
 The Essayist concludes with words well worthy the 
 attention of Friends. " And it is such Quakerism as 
 his that is needed now. A Quakerism, not satisfied 
 with garnishing the tombs of the Fathers, with lauding 
 their dedication and merely imitating their modes. A 
 Quakerism, having the same presiding Head that Fox 
 and his associates recognised, and that moves as 
 freshly under His guidance. A Quakerism, looking 
 not backward, but forward and around, — ready for 
 the sacrifices, ready for the work of its own day. 
 
 ' The past and the time to he are one; 
 And both are now.' 
 
 " I am sick of the unmeaning talk we hear about 
 
 * modern ' Quakerism, as though a fossil or a mummy 
 could show forth praise, or constitute a church ; as 
 though the days, and the hours, and the minutes were 
 not modern ! (they will be ancient enough when we 
 have done with them.) As though Barclay and 
 Woolman were not modern Quakers in their day. 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 83 
 
 though the one was ancient to the other. It is 
 modern Quakerism that we want and must have, if 
 we have any at all. A Quakerism ancient and ever 
 new ; ancient as Christianity itself, and new as the 
 radiant orb that, in fresh glory every morning, though 
 older than the primitive hills, comes forth as a bride- 
 groom out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong 
 man to run a race. A Quakerism not expended 
 upon the past, but adapted to every emergency, — 
 practical, vital." 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Philadelphia is the second city in the United 
 States, in size and importance. Its present population 
 is six hundred thousand, and during the last ten 
 years it has been increasing in a greater ratio than 
 New York. But the latter city affects no appre- 
 hension of ever being overtaken by its neighbour, 
 and patronizingly calls it " the village." Far more 
 of the historic associations of America are clustered 
 around Philadelphia than any other city, even Boston 
 not excepted. Besides its connexion with Penn, 
 Logan, and Franklin, there is its revolutionary pre- 
 eminence. In Chestnut Street is still standing the State 
 House, containing the venerable Hall in which was 
 signed the memorable "Declaration of Independence," 
 and which is daily visited by hundreds. It is a 
 curious circumstance, that English visitors api)ear to 
 entertain a higher respect for this Hall than the 
 Americans do themselves. When in it this autumn, 
 I was informed by the custodian that a few days 
 g2 
 
84 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 previously an Englishman on entering it remarked, 
 " You ought to make every man take off his hat 
 who enters here ;" and, really, T felt a strong incli- 
 nation to do so myself. The event which this room 
 commemorates has been fraught with boundless 
 blessing, religiously, intellectually, and commercially, 
 to the whole world, but especially to the two branches 
 of the one great Anglo-Saxon race; and, perhaps, 
 nearly as much to the mother-country as to her 
 great Transatlantic offspring. 
 
 Philadelphia was founded in 1682, and was the 
 first capital of the United States, and the seat of her 
 first Congress. In its vicinity were fought the battles 
 of Trenton, Brandywine, and Germantown. It is 
 on the banks of the two fine rivers, Delaware and 
 Schuylkill, but five miles from their confluence. 
 One of the greatest disadvantages of the city is, that 
 it is situated nearly a hundred miles from the ocean, 
 and that the country behind it, being so mountainous, 
 does not present equal facilities for communication 
 with the Great West as those enjoyed by New York. 
 But as far as railways are concerned, these obstacles 
 have already been overcome. It is a neater but less 
 splendid city than New York, and much quieter. 
 The neighbourhood is picturesque in many parts, 
 especially along the Schuylkill, but generally level 
 or undulating. 
 
 The streets are, as in other American cities, straight, 
 and at right angles, affording great advantages to the 
 many street rail-omnibuses and cars, which are more 
 numerous in Philadelphia than any other city in the 
 Union. Wherever one walks, there is a constant 
 stepping over street-rails. By a convenient system of 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 85 
 
 " exchange tickets," a person can ride in a rail- 
 omnibus several miles down one street, and then 
 change to another going at right angles to any part 
 of the town he wishes, and all for seven cents. The 
 railway trains for distant parts of the country are 
 also drawn through the centre of the city on the 
 street-rails; but it is only by a team of horses till 
 they get to the suburbs, when the locomotives are 
 attached, and the regular speed attained. 
 
 Another characteristic of this city is the number 
 of large and well-supplied market-houses, filled with 
 stalls and shops for all kinds of agricultural and 
 horticultural produce, especially piles of huge melons, 
 squashes, tomatoes, peaches, apples, " egg-plants," 
 green " corn," and " sweet potatoes." Most of the 
 streets of Philadelphia are avenued with trees. The 
 central business-streets are exceptions. There are 
 two very wide streets, " Market " and " Broad," but 
 the others are narrower than in the generality of 
 American large cities. 
 
 Most of the houses are of red brick, faced with 
 white marble around the doors and windows. The 
 latter have white shutters. Nearly every door is 
 approached by four or five white marble steps. The 
 marble of Philadelphia, though purely white, is of a 
 roughish grain, and does not look so well as the Italian 
 kinds. Tlie characteristic aspect of the city is the 
 prevalence of the bright red and white colours of its 
 universal brick and marble. 
 
 Overhead are skies of Mediterranean clearness. 
 There is no hazy, murky smoke and fog as in London ; 
 and, from year to year, the bright red bricks and pure 
 white marbles of the city retain their original colours 
 
86 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 as freshly as if just erected. The fires of wood or 
 anthracite coal do not obscure the city air with smoke, 
 and, consequently, green gardens and city laundry- 
 grounds are amongst the sights of Philadelpliia. It 
 was striking to observe people drying their " washing " 
 on the house-tops. Imagine such a thing in London, 
 and its effects. Indeed, since my return to England 
 from the blue skies and most clear atmosphere of 
 America, I seem to have seen no really bright day- 
 light in comparison. 
 
 The streets of Philadelphia are named numerically 
 " first," " second," " third," and so on, in the direction 
 parallel with the Delaware. But those that cross 
 from river to river have names not numerical, and 
 chiefly after trees. The order of the eight largest 
 transverse streets is easily remembered by the 
 couplet — 
 
 " Market, Arch, Race, and Vine, 
 Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, and Pine." 
 
 Amongst these names are some of the various families 
 of the Friendly notabilities of the city, as Penn, Logan, 
 Callowhill, and Benezet. The good common-sense 
 of William Penn is conspicuous in almost every 
 arrangement of the original city; and the whole 
 United States, and some of our colonies, are indebted 
 to him for much of their civic and even political 
 advantages. 
 
 Amongst his foreseeing calculations was the pro- 
 vision for numerous central breathing-places for the 
 city, in the way of large squares planted with trees. 
 Numerous squirrels gambol about on the grass in 
 these, and have boxes placed about amongst the 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 87 
 
 branches for their accommodation, and are protected 
 from annoyance by penalties enforced on those who 
 molest them, and still more by the favourable interest 
 taken in them by all classes of citizens, old and young. 
 In Logan Square there is a herd of deer in addition 
 to the usual squirrels. 
 
 There are exquisitely picturesque localities within 
 reach of a few hours' excursion from the city, such 
 as those up the Schuylkill Valley, or amongst the 
 Blue Ridge of the AUeghanies, or at Mauch Chunk 
 and the Lehigh. A favourite summer resort of the 
 Philadelphians is to Atlantic City, on the New Jersey 
 seaboard, immediately eastward. Cape May is a 
 similarly popular watering place, at the mouth of 
 Delaware Bay. It was hither that the unfortunate 
 " Great Eastern " took the crowd of excursionists 
 last autumn, who so loudly vented their dissatisfaction 
 at the commissariat deficiencies of the contractors, and 
 especially at the want of ice, which is an American 
 necessary of ordinary life. 
 
 Philadelphia abounds in public charitable institu- 
 tions. Most of these are of great size, and admirably 
 conducted. They are magnificent establishments. It 
 is usual to invite a few Friends to be on the com- 
 mittee of each, whether originated by our Society or 
 not, as it is popularly considered that Friends make 
 very good committee-men, and have a peculiar tact 
 for combining the pecuniary interests with the philan- 
 thropic aims of such institutions. These are of 
 various kinds, as hospitals, asylums, schools, refuges, 
 penitentiaries, and also similar establishments for 
 coloured people. 
 
 In the State House I was shown some of the old 
 
88 FRIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 government records of Pennsylvania. They were 
 generally written in a neat legal hand, and uniformly 
 in the style of language and dates harmonizing with 
 the old peculiarities of the Society. 
 
 Friends now form but a very small proportion of 
 the population of the city, but they retain considerable 
 influence in civic and pecuniary respects, and their 
 body possesses some valuable poi lions of land in and 
 around Philadelphia, as the property of its particular 
 meetings. The old school of Philadelphia Friends, 
 such as Nicholas Wain, Anthony Benezet, Thomas 
 Scattergood, Samuel Emlen, John Pemberton, George 
 Dillwyn, and others, have all passed away. Their 
 excellences and peculiaiities are retained by many in 
 their city, but some of those who have most zealously 
 preserved the latter, have taken less heed to the 
 former ; and many of those who possess the former, 
 have been in various ways impressed with the non- 
 necessity of making the latter any essential for 
 imitation. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 
 
 The Friends of Philadelphia form an exception to 
 the general condition of their Society in Europe and 
 America ; and their state, for more than a quarter of 
 a century, has been by no means suggestive of their 
 city's name — " Brotherly Love." 
 
 All the other yearly meetings of Friends, those of 
 London, Dublin, Indiana, " Western," New England, 
 New York, North Carolina, Baltimore, the Evangelical 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 89 
 
 portion of Ohio, and the small communities of the 
 Society in Norway, Germany, France, Australia and 
 Tasmania, are in unity and regular official inter- 
 communication; but Philadelphia Friends have isolated 
 themselves from their brethren, as if tliey were the 
 possessors of an orthodoxy, not yet attained by the 
 other yearly meetincrs. " Dost thou not know," said 
 a well-known minister of their city, to another minister 
 in Indiana, "dost thou not know that Philadelphia 
 has ever been an example of orthodoxy ? But 
 London Yearly Meeting is rotten at the core." — Now, 
 really, there does not seem to be any particular reason 
 fdt such complacency on the part of the Wilburite 
 majority there, in the estimate of the superiority of 
 their own " orthodoxy." 
 
 It is observable in their city, that the small 
 minority of Evangelical Friends are mainly the 
 supporters of the old character of the Society for 
 philanthropy and active efforts in bettering the social 
 and religious condition of their neighbours, as well as 
 of themselves. If we look at the lists of the supporters 
 of the various charitable and public institutions of 
 Philadelphia, it will be seen that these receive little 
 aid from the many Wilburite Friends, when compared 
 with the prominent and industrious labours of their 
 few Evangelical brethren. And the Sabbath-school 
 movement, which has attained to such prosperous 
 growth amongst the Friends of England and Indiana, 
 lias only within a few months managed to get a slight 
 introduction amongst those of Philadelphia, by the 
 greater part of whom it is, and probably will continue 
 to be, kept as under a ban. Indeed, there have been 
 recently distributed amongst English Friends some 
 
90 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 admonitory papers, emanating from tlie American 
 Wilburites, to express their disapproval of such move- 
 ments as our Sabbath schools, of our reading meetings 
 for religious and social advantage, and other attempts 
 of a similarly beneficial nature. 
 
 Again,the disciplinary gatherings of the Philadelphia 
 Yearly Meeting are so disunited and controversial 
 as to have become almost proverbial. But the 
 assemblies of their Evangelical brethren there, and 
 elsewhere, are characterized by harmony and pleas- 
 antness. So that if their superior "orthodoxy" 
 consists in an antiquarian zeal for unslit collars, a 
 demeanour of stiff reserve, and a general policy of 
 passivity, the justice of their claim is evident ; but, if 
 it consists in a higher degree of philanthropy and 
 harmony, we must be pardoned for receiving such an 
 assumption with a doubting hesitation. 
 
 Previously to the first great division of the Society 
 in America into Hicksites and Orthodox, in 1827, 
 there was, especially in Philadelphia, a class of 
 Friends professing great zeal for the "ancient 
 testimonies" of their body, but exercising an undue 
 influence in the disciplinary management of the 
 Society, and by no means specially characterized by 
 charity towards those whose views did not unite with 
 their own. When the Hicksite schism occurred, it is 
 generally admitted that many Friends were driven 
 into a union with Elias Hicks, far less from any 
 sympathy of doctrinal views, than by the harsh manner 
 in which they were treated by some of the officially 
 influential members who were opposed to him. Whole 
 families, and even meetings, were disowned by a 
 summary and generalizing process; and 1 was credibly 
 
PHILAJ)ELPmA FBIENDS. 91 
 
 informed, by a valued Orthodox Friend, that numbers 
 of the members of Philadelphia meeting were dis- 
 owned by a retrospective action, in consequence of 
 their having merely attended meetings of sympathizers 
 with Elias Hicks, before there had been any actual 
 separation from the Orthodox body. In fact, the 
 meetings in some parts 'of America at that time, but 
 especially in Philadelphia, were under the governing 
 influence of a number of individuals having a close 
 outward appearance of Quakerism, but practically 
 denying its Gospel power and love. After these had 
 irritated many Friends into joining the Hicksites, and 
 had thus contributed their share towards rendering it 
 a wide and permanent schism, then they continued 
 the same policy in their own community of Orthodox 
 Friends. And whilst in a manner still looking around 
 for some object on which to exemplify their unabated 
 zeal for formalism, it happened that Joseph John 
 Gurney wrote his doctrinal works and came over to 
 America on a religious visit On him fell the arm which 
 had already strengthened its muscles during the exercise 
 of strife with Hicksism. He was accused of being 
 " Episcopalian," and in various ways " unsound." 
 
 A small body of New England Friends were the 
 first to take any decided step of opposition, owing 
 mainly to the unconstitutional manner in which some 
 of their brethren treated them and their leader, John 
 Wilbur. They met with warm sympathy from many 
 of their Philadelphia Friends, who as yet took no 
 decided action themselves. But in Ohio and Western 
 Pennsylvania their sympathizers were more energetic, 
 and commenced that course of decided opposition to 
 the views of J. J. Gurney, and of favour to the 
 
92 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 smaller party in New England, which resulted, after ten 
 years of unpleasantness, in a Wilbur and Evangelical 
 schism in Ohio Yearly Meeting in 1854. The 
 Wilburite party in Ohio did not receive official recog- 
 nition from London, or the other yearly meetings, who 
 on the contrary recognized, from the necessities of the 
 case, their Evangelical brethren, the minority in Ohio, 
 who had been goaded into a literally unconstitutional 
 separation from their opponent Friends in that 
 district. 
 
 But the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting took this 
 opportunity to declare its sympathies plainly and 
 boldly. It acknowledged that the Wilburite body of 
 Ohio were tha sounder and only true yearly meeting 
 of that State, and that the others had no claim to their 
 official recognition, which was accordingly withheld. 
 
 The yearly meeting of 1855 was a time of great 
 excitement to Philadelphia Friends. The main body 
 of the meeting, including the clerk, were for recog- 
 nizing their Wilburite brethren in Ohio, but a small 
 Evangelical minority were strongly opposed to this. 
 " Scores" of Evangelical Friends rose and expressed 
 their opinion at that assembly, but the clerk (imitating 
 the policy of the Wilburite clerk of Ohio) disregarded 
 them and ignored their protests. At length he rose 
 to read the obnoxious epistle of recognition of the 
 Ohio Wilburites. Whilst beginning to read. Friend 
 after Friend of the smaller body in Philadelphia rose 
 to protest, one saying, "That epistle must not be 
 read ; " another, " I protest against the reading of 
 that document ; " another, " That epistle cannot and 
 shall not be read;" and so on. Still the imperturbable 
 clerk stood holding the document, and, from time to 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 9^ 
 
 time, recommencing to read it amidst the successive 
 protests of the minority. At last, the latter, seeing it 
 was useless to strive, ceased, and the majority carried 
 tlieir point by reading and adopting the epistle of 
 recognition to their Ohio brethren of the same views. 
 
 At the end of the meetincr the Evangelical Friends 
 kept their seats, and remained to consider what course 
 they should adopt under such unpleasant circum- 
 stances. They gave it solemn and prayerful considera- 
 tion, and an impressive occasion it was. At length, 
 they had almost come to a unanimous conclusion to 
 secede from the majority of their yearly meeting, and 
 to -form themselves into a small but harmonious one 
 in sympathy and union with the Evangelical yearly 
 meetings of the large body of Friends elsewhere in 
 America and Great Britain. Just at this crisis one 
 influential Friend wavered, from his feelings of deep 
 pain at the idea of a separation from brethren of such 
 long standing, and bound to them by so many ties of 
 interest and relationship. Then an aged Friend from 
 a rural district arose, and, with tears in his eyes, 
 begged the meeting to delay a little longer, saying 
 that the sympathy of English Friends, three thousand 
 miles away, would be of little counterbalancing effect 
 when compared with the loneliness and weakness 
 which would result if they separated from their 
 brethren, who, being in such a large majority, would 
 leave themselves scattered about, mostly in little rural 
 meetings of twos or threes, or very few indeed, and 
 that such consequences would be worse than their 
 present disagreeable position. Several other Friends 
 now expressed a wish that the question might be 
 deferred for at least one year longer. Finally, this 
 
94 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 course was resolved upon, and the meeting separated 
 without having done anything to free themselves from 
 their condition of subjection. 
 
 But their proceedings were not without indirect 
 effect — for next yearly meeting, in 1856, when they 
 again expressed their determination not to allow the 
 Ohio Wilburites to be recognized without themselves 
 seceding, the majority in Philadelphia were afraid to 
 press the repetition of their last year's triumph, and so 
 did not send any epistle of recognition to Ohio. How- 
 ever, to avoid any appearance of alteration of sentiment, 
 they determined not to correspond that year with any 
 other yearly meeting at all. And since that time, Phila- 
 delphia has continued to keep itself separate from all 
 other communities of the Society of Friends. It gives 
 no official recognition, by correspondence, to London, 
 Dublin, New England, New York, Indiana, or Ohio, 
 or the other Evangelical bodies of the Society. 
 
 Meanwhile it continues to be divided and at issue 
 on various points of practice and shades of doctrine. 
 Recently, the ultra Wilburites there, have been 
 threatening to secede from their less extreme brethren 
 of the same party, on the ground of the inconsistency 
 of the latter, who have long been under the guidance 
 of one influential and intelligent family in that city. 
 It was two members of this family who were a means 
 of persuading the Ohio Wilburites to take that de- 
 cided stand in favour of the New England associates 
 of John Wilbur, which led to the division of Ohio 
 Yearly Meeting. After this occurrence, and the 
 general sympathy with it expressed by Philadelphia 
 members, the latter were naturally looked to by the 
 New England Wilburites for official recognition. 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 95 
 
 And tlie more consistent and decided Wilburites in 
 Piiiladelphia said, " Well, as we have given our 
 recognition to our brethren in Ohio, on the very 
 account of their sympathy with our New England 
 partizans, of course we are now bound, in all con- 
 sistency, to give to the latter what we gave to the 
 former.** " No," said the less consistent Wilburites 
 of Philadelphia, led by the family just alluded to, 
 ** we do, it is true, sympathize with both our brethren 
 who form the majority in Ohio, and those who are 
 the small minority in New England ; but there is a 
 diflPerence between the circumstances of each." Those 
 in the latter yearly meeting are not nearly so numerous 
 or influential as the former. AcQordingly, they gave 
 the regular sanction to the one body, and withheld it 
 from the other, although expressing their real unity 
 with both. And when their friend, John Wilbur, 
 came from New England to pay a religious visit to 
 his Philadelphia sympathizers, the latter refused to 
 receive him officially, or even to read in public the 
 certificate which his own meeting had granted him, 
 as the usual voucher of his being a rightly appointed 
 minister sent by them! It is no wonder that the 
 consistent Wilburites express their disunity with such 
 a wavering policy, and speak of their fickle brethren 
 in terms of censure. 
 
 Whilst I was in Ohio, some of the separate body of 
 W^ilburites there were engaged in holding " caucuses " 
 to bring about a secession from some of their own 
 party. These caucuses are a common American 
 institution, and are very frequent in times of political 
 elections. They are preliminary meetings, or com- 
 mittees, to arrange a course of future action on a more 
 
96 FEIENDLT SKETCHES, 
 
 extended scale. When I was in Philadelphia, a month 
 subsequently, there also I heard of a caucus just being 
 held in Bucks County, near that city, to discuss the 
 propriety of the extreme but really consistent Wil- 
 burites seceding from their inconsistent partizans. 
 About a hundred composed the caucus, and came to 
 no immediate conclusion, but decided to defer the 
 question for the present. 
 
 The disunity of the Wilburite party is thus patent 
 everywhere, where they exist as a body. In one small 
 meeting in New York State there have been three 
 secessions of Wilburites from Wilburites, and each 
 professing to be " the Friends." So that their claims 
 to be considered the representatives of Quakerism are 
 somewhat ludicrous, whether in Philadelphia, or 
 Ohio, or New England, or New York. 
 
 And yet, when an Evangelical Friend attempts to 
 reason with them, and to propose a more agreeable 
 and harmonious policy, and an adoption of beneficial, 
 rational means of promoting the religious improve- 
 ment of the Society — such as Sabbath schools, more 
 scriptural study and instruction, or a less Socinian 
 tinge of doctrine respecting our Saviour and His 
 atonement — they seldom give a conciliatory reply, but 
 assume that themselves are all in the right and the 
 others all in the wrong, and mix up a number of 
 vague charges and expressions about " Joseph John 
 Gurney," " unsound English Friends," *' sparks of 
 creaturely activity," " our ancient testimonies," " de- 
 parture from primitive simplicity," " dependence on 
 the letter of Scripture instead of on the Spirit," and 
 so on. 
 
 It is by no means rare, amongst this section of the 
 
PHILADELPHIA FBIENDS. 97 
 
 Society, to hear their ministers preach "at" their 
 Evangelical brethren in a style hardly warranted by 
 ** the love of the Gospel ;" and there are a few special 
 texts which have been used over and over again by 
 them in a sense which it is difficult to reconcile with 
 their obvious meaning and context. One of these is 
 that from Isaiah 1. 11, "Behold, all ye that kindle a 
 fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks ; this 
 shall ye have of mine hand — ye shall lie down in 
 sorrow." This text they quote against such religious 
 proceedings, whether of a ministerial, educational, or 
 even social nature, as do not precisely accommodate 
 themselves to the formal and stereotype notions of 
 Wilbur orthodoxy, even although such proceedings 
 may be honestly made under a sense of essential 
 Divine aid and requirement. The context of this 
 passage in the preceding verse is to encourage, and 
 not to discourage, each person who may, by such 
 obedient action, " trust in the name of the Lord, and 
 stay upon his God." 
 
 Another similarly misapplied text, used sometimes 
 as a warrant for a relaxation of prayerful effort in 
 worshi]), is Numbers xxiv. 5, " How goodly are thy 
 tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel," by 
 which a slothful inactivity in religious matters has 
 been justified as superior to that struggling earnest- 
 ness of prayerful aspiration, even amid inconsistency 
 and failure, which the Bible so repeatedly and promi- 
 nently enforces ; that prayer " without ceasing," that 
 wrestling imjwrtunity, which, so far from being dis- 
 couraged by God Himself, is specially presented for 
 our imitation. 
 
 But the Wilburites differ from the ordinary accepta- 
 E 
 
98 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 tion of such precepts. Of course they have a perfect 
 right to differ from others, but they can hardly expect 
 that others will be brought to their views by a policy 
 of rebuke and unconciliatory pertinacity. These are 
 more likely to produce in their Evangelical brethren 
 the thought of Job's words, when even that patient 
 man was tried at the assumption of his would-be 
 instructors, and replied, " No doubt but ye are the 
 people, and wisdom shall die with you." 
 
 And this is nearly the course adopted by the 
 Evangelical minority in Philadelphia. They see that 
 it is of little or no use either to reason with or to 
 resist their more numerous brethren; so they have 
 relinquished the attempt, and have given up nearly 
 every active participation in the yearly meeting, or 
 other large disciplinary assemblies. " We sit as 
 silent spectators and watch the Wilbur Friends dis- 
 agreeing amongst themselves.'* Such was their own 
 account to me. Valuable elderly Friends in that city 
 and its neighbourhood told me that the influence of 
 their yearly meeting in a religious way was so nulli- 
 fied that it was of no edification to attend, but rather 
 the contrary. One Friend remarked, " I wonder 
 there are any young Friends left in Philadelphia at 
 all. It is surprising that they have not all joined 
 other Christian denominations, from disgust at the 
 strifes and jealousies they witness in their own 
 Body." And many of them have left. It is said that 
 some Episcopalian clergymen in Philadelphia boast 
 that their congregations are almost entirely composed 
 of those who were formerly members or attenders of 
 Friends' meetings. 
 
 It is thus a curious circumstance that the Wilburites, 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 99 
 
 who profess such peculiar dread of " Episcopalian 
 tendencies," should themselves be the chief promoters 
 of an increase in the number of adherents to that 
 denomination, through their own discouraging system 
 of " putting down " and damping the manifestations of 
 spiritual life and action in their younger members and 
 others. 
 
 There are four large meetings of Orthodox Friends 
 in the city of Philadelphia, and three of these are 
 chiefly attended by Wilburites. They are called 
 Arch Street, Orange Street, and North meetings, 
 respectively. The remaining meeting is that of 
 Twelfth Street, sometimes called the Western meet- 
 ing. It is chiefly and almost entirely composed of 
 Evangelical Friends, who form a pleasant and har- 
 monious body, but are watched with a criticising eye 
 by the other three meetings. The younger members 
 of these meetings scarcely take any part in their 
 discipline, or, in any religious Society action; but 
 the young Friends of Twelfth Street take more 
 interest in such things, particularly as to attempts to 
 establish Friends* Sabbath schools in their city ; and 
 the elder members of their meeting do not "put 
 down " these attempts. 
 
 Twelfth Street meeting and a few associated mem- 
 bers in the outskirts of the city have for several years 
 pursued a quiet but increasingly independent policy 
 as to the other meetings, in conjunction with which 
 they still nominally form one yearly meeting. 
 
 Some years ago they, as a monthly meeting for 
 
 discipline, nominated some of their own members as 
 
 elders or ministers, which they were quite at liberty 
 
 to do. But, according to the constitution of the 
 
 H 2 
 
100 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Society, such nominations must be approved by the 
 larger meetings, as the yearly and quarterly ones, of 
 which the smaller monthly meetings are a subordinate 
 part. It is almost a universal practice in the Society 
 for such approval to be accorded ; but the majority 
 of Philadelphia Friends did not choose to allow the 
 members of such an " unsound " meeting as Twelfth 
 Street to be received into such positions as ministers 
 or elders. The smaller meeting accordingly sub- 
 mitted, and have continued without such officers 
 being appointed, — at least without any additional 
 ones besides those nominated in earlier and less dis- 
 sentient years. 
 
 Twelfth Street wished to have a greater circulation 
 of religious books amongst its younger members, and 
 accordingly a few of its Friends established a Book 
 and Tract Society. This gave great offence to some 
 of their Wilbur brethren, who publicly protested, 
 especially when the first book published by the new 
 Society was a " Life of Elizabeth Fry." That good 
 woman is not in high esteem amongst the Wilburites, 
 partly because she was a Gurney, and partly because 
 they allege against her " Episcopalian tendencies." 
 
 William Allen's Life was another book published 
 by the same parties, and this, too, was considered 
 wrong ; he, also, being " in unity with Joseph John 
 Gurney." However, it was no good for the members 
 of the three meetings to interfere. Twelfth Street has 
 maintained its Book Association ever since, and it is in 
 active and beneficial operation at present. Further, 
 it has established a weekly periodical called *' The 
 Friends' Review." This has a wide circulation amongst 
 the western and other Evangelical Friends, and is a 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 10 1 
 
 valuable substitute for the Wilburite origan which 
 had previously been in the field, and which came out 
 with its frequent interpretations as to the value and 
 nature of " peculiar" habiliments. 
 
 Another matter in which Twelfth Street has taken 
 a quietly independent action, was in the case of a new 
 burial-i^round. There had resulted lor years con- 
 siderable inconvenience to Philadelphia Friends from 
 a want of larger space for interments. A committee 
 of the four meetings had been appointed, and continued 
 for about six years without being able to come to a 
 final conclusion, as to the eligibility of any particular 
 location. At last, one was offered possessing peculiar 
 advantages. It was proposed by some Evangelical 
 Friends to the other members of the committee. 
 Some of those who were VVilburites once more took 
 objection, and placed such obstacles in the way that 
 the committee had to be dissolved without accom- 
 plishing its object. Upon this. Twelfth Street meeting 
 purchased the ground on its own responsibility. 
 When the purchase was completed, they resolved, as 
 a matter of courtesy, to give the other three meetings 
 the option of participation, but subject to their own 
 conditions ; one of which was, that there should be 
 plain tombstones inscribed merely with names and 
 dates. This was contrary to the Wilburites* views of 
 "simplicity." One of them rose in the meeting which 
 had collected to entertain the proposition, and said the 
 Evanirelical Friends would be for erecting " monu- 
 ments as high as the sky." Other similar ebullitions 
 of party-feeling found expression, and, finally, the 
 Wilbur Friends declined to accept the oiier of their 
 subordinate meeting, which had presumed to take 
 
102 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 such an independent step as to complete the purchase 
 on their own account. 
 
 Some of* the members of the three meetings carry 
 their acerbity so far as scarcely to speak to their 
 Evangelical brethren when they meet them. 
 
 So that Twelfth Street Friends have acted wisely 
 in the gradual adoption of a virtually independent 
 Society action. They have found that it was useless 
 to protest, and mischievous to struggle against the 
 majoiity of their yearly meeting. That body, there- 
 fore, remains nominally one, but virtually a divided 
 assembly, isolated from its kindred communities, and 
 nullifying the influence for good which it would be in 
 its power to exercise. And it is likely tliat it will 
 thus continue. The Evangelical portion of it are 
 wearied with the contest, and have practically relin- 
 quished their right of participation in the management 
 of any section of the Societ}^, except their own small 
 local one, of which they are almost the entire con- 
 stituents. The Wilburites have all the power in their 
 own hands, but do not wish to draw upon themselves 
 the general reprobation of all the other divisions of the 
 Society, which they might reasonably look for if they 
 entirely cast off their Evangelical brethren who differ 
 from them on such non-fnndamental points. 
 
 And it is also stated, that a part of the landed pro- 
 perty belonging to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was 
 donated to it by William Penn, or by some of his 
 contemporaries or successors, on the condition of their 
 " unity with London Yearly Meeting." So that this 
 may have some weight. The Evangelical minority 
 are in unity with English Friends, and if an open 
 rupture took place between themselves and their 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 103 
 
 brethren, it would probably involve a complete secession 
 of the Wilbnrite majority from all the rest of the 
 great Evangelical body of the Society in Europe and 
 America, and they would lose such property. And 
 it is to be wished that such a complete secession should 
 take place, rather than that the present mutual state 
 of dead-lock should continue. 
 
 And a principal root of all these things is the con- 
 troversy about slit collars, and such trifles. And yet 
 one would suppose that even in Philadelj)hia there 
 had been plain evidence that the " peculiar" dress is 
 not the slightest guarantee against hypocrisy of the 
 grossest kind. Within the last few years, the clerk 
 of one of their quarterly meetings in the neighbour- 
 hood of the city has had to make a public confession 
 of his own wilful misrepresentation of his pecuniary 
 transactions, and to acknowledge that he has thus 
 sacrificed the money of orphans committed to his care. 
 But he was, for all that, a ** consistent " Friend, by 
 the Wilburite test. 
 
 Another clerk of a quarterly meeting near Phila- 
 delphia has had to be disowned for flagrant immorality, 
 which had been carried on for years, and during the 
 very time whilst he, as clerk of the meeting, publicly 
 affected a religious scruj)le against reading, in official 
 routine, the certificates of two worthy English Evan- 
 gelical ministers then on a visit to America. But, 
 nevertheless, he was " consistent " in the mainly 
 alleged tests of Quakerism. 
 
 Another aged and valuable Friend gave it as one 
 of the recent experiences to which he had been enabled 
 to attain in his old age, that " even good Friends 
 could be found wearing travelling caps." He alluded 
 
104 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 to the visit of an English deputation of four Friends 
 to America about twelve years ago, whose religious 
 example and personal integrity were so strongly 
 evident that their aged American brother could no 
 longer resist the conviction that they were really 
 consistent Friends, even although one or two of their 
 party wore a travelling cap at times, instead of an 
 orthodox broad-brim ! 
 
 Really, the " strong delusion " that must have crept 
 over the Society, when, even in the middle of the 
 nineteenth century, such puerilities as these minute 
 standards of orthodoxy could have so passed current 
 amongst really religious and w^orthy Friends, as being 
 any essential part whatever of Quakerism ; and that 
 more than a few, on seeing a young man adopt a slit 
 collar instead of an unslit one, have exclaimed, " It is 
 a pity that he has thrown off the Friend." As if 
 " the Friend " was, in its whole soul and essence, 
 involved in the slit ! If we venture to criticise the 
 formalities of any other sect, they may well refer us 
 back to our own, at least till we have rejected such as 
 the above. 
 
 Said a Philadelphia Friend in high standing to me, 
 " You English Friends are so courteous in your yearly 
 meeting. Your young Friends or others express their 
 views, and the elder Friends speak theirs, but, being 
 in a minority, do not press them strongly ; and the 
 innovations are adopted by the yearly meeting, and 
 then you have a time of silence, and mistake the quiet 
 of courtesy for the approving sanction of the Holy 
 Spirit." Well, now I this is certainly paying a very 
 poor compliment to the religious discernment, or even 
 ordinary common-sense of London Yearly Meeting. 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 105 
 
 However, it is a rare thing in the Philadelphia annual 
 gathering to witness the slightest interval of even a 
 "quiet of courtesy," and the good Friend had, 
 perhaps, had little opportunity of any of those solemn 
 harmonious occasions which certainly are witnessed in 
 the "unsound" English body. 
 
 Even in the matter of "courtesy," our Wilbur 
 brethren might do worse than imitate the policy of 
 their London Friends, especially when one of their 
 members, several years ago, rose and objected to the 
 word " dear," in the ordinary commencement of 
 "Dear Friends," in the lieading of some official cor- 
 respondence with England. 
 
 Whilst I was in America, a very "consistent" and 
 officially acknowledged Wilburite minister was preach- 
 ing in the North meeting in Philadelphia. Whilst 
 thus engaged, a female Friend who had a headache or 
 some otiier indisposition left the meeting. The 
 preacher, thinking that she meant some " testimony" 
 against his doctrine, called out after her as she went 
 down the aisle — " The wicked fleeth when no man 
 pursueth." The same Friend justifies the personality 
 and warmth of his zeal on various occasions by 
 quoting the text, " I came not to send peace, but a 
 sword.*' 
 
 Another circumstance, which happened while I was 
 in that city, really astounded me. This was the 
 rejection by Wilburite Friends of the " Life " of the 
 good and apostolic " Stephen Grellet " from the chief 
 library of the Society in Philadelphia. It was cha- 
 racterized in tiie committee of the library as being a 
 " pernicious" book. "Peniicious I" Whatever next? 
 Now, if there has been one book more than another. 
 
106 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 in the whole literature of the Society, which can be 
 styled blamelessly scriptural, and, at the same time, 
 most graphic and interesting, it is the biography of 
 Stephen Grellet, who, as a missionary preacher, 
 travelled, at his own expense, repeatedly over 
 Europe and America, and was peculiarly and gene- 
 rally beloved ; whose visits were welcomed alike by 
 the Catholics of Spain, the Protestants of Germany, 
 and the members of the Greek Church in Russia, 
 including the Emperor Alexander the First, whose 
 friendship for the Quaker preacher was of the most 
 cordial nature. By the whole of the great Evangeli- 
 cal body of the Society, Stephen Grellet was beloved 
 and revered, and the word " pernicious " is the last 
 which should be thought of in connexion with any- 
 thing emanating from himself; but the secret of any 
 objection to him in Philadelphia is, that he was on 
 good terms with English Friends, including Joseph 
 John Gurney. 
 
 And what another " strong delusion" it is, that so 
 many in America should have brought such heavy 
 charges of heterodoxy against the latter Friend. His 
 biography is shunned by most of them, and excluded 
 from their dwellings as being also a " pernicious " book ; 
 but surely it is not asking too much to suggest that 
 they should carefully give it, at least, a fair perusal. 
 See what Joseph John Gurney really was ; witness 
 his youth, manhood, and whole public and private 
 life; what he accomplished, and in what spirit he 
 treated those who so opposed him; and espe- 
 cially witness his spirituality ; and if our Wilburite 
 brethren, eider and younger, would only divest 
 themselves of the almost unaccountable perversions 
 
PHILADELPHIA FRIEKDS. 107 
 
 respecting him, which are current amongst them, I 
 think they would wish themselves to become more 
 like him. 
 
 And further, if the same Friends would try for a 
 year or two the experiment of relinquishing their 
 beloved peculiarities of dress, they would find that it 
 is far more " taking up the cross" to be a consistent 
 Friend, with an ordinary than with an extraordinary 
 dress. Especially if young men relinquish these pecu- 
 liarities, they find it far more humiliating to have 
 to give a really scriptural reason for non-compliance 
 with fashionable unchristian observances, than to 
 say, ** Oh, I do not do so and so, because I am a 
 Friend," or, " because my predecessors did so." It 
 is far harder to say, " because I wish to follow 
 Christ." The world calls a " peculiar" Friend one 
 of " the respectable Society of Friends," and requires 
 no further explanation. The sufferings and persecu- 
 tions of his ancestors have saved him from modern 
 annoyance in following them. But it is quite another 
 matter when he follows Christ in such things ; there 
 is far more " friendship of the world" now-a-days to a 
 Friend in an unslit collar, than there would be to the 
 same Friend if really acting out genuine Quakerism 
 in a slit one. These minute peculiarities save the 
 trouble of inconvenient appeals to a fundamental 
 Christian standard. Every objection which can be 
 brought against ordinary " forms," such as of being 
 " unduly rested in," can be urged against these, with 
 the additional one, that they are eminently favourable 
 to the encouragement of spiritual sloth, and of a shrink- 
 ing from the faithful and straightforward avowal of 
 the real reasons why we refuse to comply with what 
 
108 FKIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 is unchristian — namely, because it is unchristian, 
 rather than because it is " unfriendly." 
 
 Yes, it is far more easy to rest on an appeal to 
 eighteenth century recognized customs, established by 
 long and arduous perseverance, than it is to lean our 
 appeal alone on Christ, and to encounter in ourselves 
 the ridicule, and the criticism, and the various kinds 
 of disunity and opposition which such an untradi- 
 tional basis still brings in its train. 
 
 The objection against the courtesy of English 
 Friends, as being a sort of latitudinarian weakness, 
 was mentioned to me more than once whilst in 
 America. It is certainly not incompatible with true 
 Christianity, or true Quakerism, to be courteous and 
 cheerful ; and there are few things w^iich nullify the 
 influence of an earnest Christian more than an accom- 
 paniment of stiffness and reserve. The Wilburites 
 are at least not much in danger of receiving a " tu 
 quoque^^ when they bring forth this charge of cour- 
 tesy agai' St Evangelical Friends. 
 
 There is instruction in an anecdote mentioned of a 
 family who were in the habit of receiving frequent 
 ministerial visits, and after one of these, when their 
 visitor had afforded them pleasure as well as edifica- 
 tion, one of the household exclaimed, " What a nice 
 thing it is when folks are good without being dis- 
 agreeable." 
 
 MACAULAY AND WILLIAM PENN. 
 
 When in Philadelphia, I heard an interesting anec- 
 dote of Lord Macaulay, which, from its unquestionable 
 
MACAULAT AND WILLIAM PENN. 109 
 
 authenticity, is of considerable importance in con- 
 nexion with the misrepresentations made in his 
 " History " respecting William Penn, and which is 
 another confirmation of the many preceding proofs 
 that " Macaulay sometimes gives liis subjects such a 
 turn, as to turn them quite round." 
 
 It has often been a matter of surprise that the 
 historian, who was connected with Friends on his 
 mother's side, and whose father, Zachary Macaulay, 
 was so actively associated with many members of 
 that Society in philanthropic efforts, should have 
 displayed in his works a bitter hostility to a body 
 whom he was thus peculiarly bound to do justice to. 
 
 But the real secret of his sneers and misrepresenta- 
 tions lies in the fact of his having been once rejected 
 from the representation of Edinburgh in Parliament, 
 mainly through the powerful influence of some Friends 
 there, who turned the scale against him in the election, 
 because some of his political votes or sentiments were 
 very contrary to their own opinions. After this he 
 took opportunities of retaliation, by inserting in his 
 works charges derogatory to the Society. 
 
 This has long been a well-understood reason 
 amongst Friends; but it is by no means so generally 
 known, that he has himself acknowledged that his 
 pei*sonal feelings were the cause of these attacks. 
 Hut I was informed by a highly respectable citizen 
 of Philadelphia, Thomas Kimber, Jun., who is a 
 member of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, and 
 Managing Director of one of the chief railways in 
 Pennsylvania, that during a visit which he made to 
 England, a few years ago, he breakfasted one day 
 with Macaulay, and in the course of conversation 
 
110 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 remarked, " We Pennsylvanians do not consider 
 that you have done justice in your History to 
 the Founder of our State." Although a sincerely 
 attached member of the Society of Friends, Thomas 
 Kimber does not adopt the " peculiarities of dress 
 and speech," and therefore Macaulay did not suspect 
 him to be one ; and, to show the authority for his 
 allusions, took down from a shelf a volume, with a 
 contemporary attack on Penn, which was quoted from 
 a writer named in it. Thomas Kimber examined the 
 book, and presently found in another part of it a 
 statement, that the very writer just quoted was not 
 always to be relied on for accuracy. Macaulay was 
 nonplussed at this very unexpected check, and quickly 
 changed the conversation, remarking, — *• Well, you 
 know, if Penn hadn't been a Quaker, I shouldn't have 
 said anything about these matters ; but ,he was a 
 Quaker, and I hate the Quakers." 
 
 " He who lies where the Minsters groined arches curve down 
 To the tomb-crowded transept of England's renown, 
 The glorious Essayist, by genius enthroned, 
 Whose pen as a sceptre the Muses all owned, — 
 
 " Who through the world's pantheon walked in his pride, 
 Setting new statues up, thrusting old ones aside, 
 And in fiction the pencils of history dipped, 
 To gild o'er or blacken each saint in his crypt, — 
 
 " How vainly he laboured to sully with blame 
 The while bust of Penn, in the niche of his fame ! 
 Self-will is self-wounding, perversity blind; 
 On himself fell the stain for the Quaker designed ! 
 
 " For the sake of his true-hearted father before him ; 
 For the sake of the dear Quaker mother that bore him; 
 For the sake of his gifts, and the works that outlive him, 
 And his brave words for freedom, we freely Ibrgive him !" 
 
 Whittier, 
 
HAVEKFOKD COLLEGE. Ill 
 
 HAVERFORD COLLEGE. 
 
 Haverford College is the principal educational 
 Institution for the American Yearly Meetings east of 
 the Alleghanies. It is designed for an elder and more 
 advanced class of pupils than those who attend the 
 Friends' schools at West-town and Providence. 
 
 It is incorporated, by a charter from the Senate and 
 House of Representatives of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 as a college empowered to confer degrees ; and its 
 course of study is more extended and complete than 
 that in the majority of the American universities. Its 
 ^Managers state, in their latest report, — " In thorough- 
 ness of instruction — a point of much more consequence 
 than the variety of subjects, or the number of pages 
 studied — we believe that no Institution surpasses our 
 own." 
 
 The College is six miles from Philadelphia, and is 
 pleasantly situated in a rural, well-wooded, undulating 
 district. Haverford derives its name from a settle- 
 ment of Welsh Friends, who, in the early days of the 
 Society, emigrated thither from Haverfordwest. It is 
 situated close to the "Pennsylvania Central Railroad," 
 and there is a small station for the special accommo- 
 dation of the College, and its visitors. It is merely a 
 ** flag station," and the trains do not stop at it unless 
 the guard is informed by signal, or otherwise, that a 
 stoppage is required. 
 
 The College grounds include about 200 acres of land. 
 That portion immediately around the Institution build- 
 ings is planted with a well-selected variety of trees and 
 shrubs. It was the aim of the Managers to have as 
 
112 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 many species of American native trees there, as they 
 could get together. The lawns are thus well-wooded 
 close up to the College, which is concealed from view 
 by foliage until near at hand. There are some long 
 avenues of lindens, many ornamental oaks, some of 
 which have large fringed acorns, hickories, and some 
 fine magnolias. On the estate is a valley containing 
 a sheet of water ; this is doubly useful in winter, as 
 furnishing a skating ground for the students, and a 
 supply of ice, to be stored for summer convenience. 
 Near it is a farm-house, where visitors to the Institu- 
 tion are accommodated. 
 
 Haverford College was opened in 1833, and is 
 under the management of a Proprietary composed of 
 about twenty-five Friends. Its number of students 
 is sixty, all of them boys or young men. Each stu- 
 dent pays 300 dollars per annum (£60). The expen- 
 diture is at present about 21,000 dollars (£4,200) 
 per annum, and the revenue about 19,000 dollars 
 (£3,800). To supply the deficiencies which may 
 from year to year exist, through an excess of expen- 
 diture above income, the friends and former students 
 of the Institution have subscribed a permanent reserve 
 fund of 50,000 dollars (£10,000). This has been 
 invested, and its annual interest is appropriated to the 
 wants of the College over and above its regular 
 revenue. Whatever surplus may remain from this 
 annual interest, above the portion of it needed to 
 supply deficiencies of income, is spent in free scholar- 
 ships for such students as cannot afford to pay the 
 regular charge for the annual course, and especially 
 such as are intending to become teachers. There is a 
 vacation of nine weeks in summer, and three in winter. 
 
HAYERFORD COLLEGE. 113 
 
 Besides a Principal, there are usually three resi- 
 dent professors, and two teachers of the less advanced 
 and junior pupils. The present classical professor is 
 a graduate of Harvard University, near Boston, and 
 has travelled extensively in Greece and Italy. The 
 professor of science and literature has under his par- 
 ticular care a museum of natural history, especially 
 furnished with a good geological cabinet. The pro- 
 fessor of mathematics and philosophy has the super- 
 intendence of the observatory. 
 
 Haverford is in the hands of the Evangelical sec- 
 tion of Philadelphia Friends, and its management is 
 exceedingly well conducted. 
 
 Each student has to be present in the class-rooms, 
 or hall, five hours daily. Of this time he has to give 
 the chief portion to attending three classes, or " reci- 
 tations," of one hour each, and conducted by the 
 respective professors. The remaining part of the 
 day's study may be spent, at the option of the students, 
 in their own separate bedrooms, or in their private 
 class-rooms. The senior students are allotted class- 
 rooms for groups of three or four each. The junior 
 students have a general class-room. There is also a 
 comfortable parlour for the use of all, and one daily 
 newspaper is allowed them. 
 
 In front of the building is a long, raised, open gal- 
 lery, with wooden columns, from which steps descend 
 to the lawn. Behind these are convenient laundries, 
 and a large covered gymnasium, well furnished with 
 parallel bars, ladders, ropes, leaping-bars, and high 
 wooden " horses,** on and over which the students 
 practise vaulting. By the sides of the " horses," on 
 the ground, are broad, thick-padded, leather cushions, 
 I 
 
114 ^ FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 to break the fall of those who slip, or perform a more 
 extensive vault than contemplated. 
 
 Each student has a small but very neat bed- 
 room, carpeted, and furnished with a wooden ward- 
 robe, a table covered with a clean white cloth, a 
 blue flowered window -blind ; and some have, in 
 addition, small libraries, pictures, or vases of flowers, 
 according to the taste of each occupier. 
 
 The Institution is lighted with gas made on the 
 estate, and is well ventilated and very neat through- 
 out. 
 
 The course of studies is arranged to extend over 
 four years. There are daily classical recitations, and 
 each student, in his " course," will have read, in 
 addition to several books of Xenophon and Homer, 
 two of the tragedies of ^Eschylus, Sophocles, or 
 Euripides ; the Oration of Demosthenes on the 
 " Crown," and portions of Thucydides ; and in Latin, 
 besides several books of Virgil and Livy, and Ora- 
 tions of Cicero, the Odes and some of the Epistles 
 of Horace ; the Histories, or the Germania and 
 Agricola of Tacitus ; the first book of Cicero's 
 Tusculan Disputations with the Somnium, Scipio- 
 nis, and the' Captivi of Plautus. He will also have 
 had exercises in writing both languages, and instruc- 
 tion in history, antiquities, and classical geography, 
 in connexion with his daily lessons. The most ap- 
 proved mural maps are provided to aid the student, 
 and the library presents the best manuals of biography, 
 mythology, antiquities, and geography. The mathe- 
 matical course extends to the differential and inte- 
 gral calculus, mechanical philosophy, and practical 
 astronomy. The students have the use of valuable 
 
HAVERFORD COLLEGE. 115 
 
 philosophical apparatus for experiments performed by 
 themselves, under the direction of the professor. 
 For the study of chemistry there is a well-supplied 
 laboratory. The study of history is combined with 
 that of geography, and the extempore delineation of 
 maps on the blackboard, drawn by the student, to 
 illustrate the regions which are the subjects of the 
 lessons. " Declamation'* is one of the College studies, 
 and there is an annual public examination, when an 
 opportunity is afforded the students for delivering the 
 themes they have prepared. 
 
 As in many or most other American educational 
 institutions (at least amongst Friends), there is no 
 time devoted to the modern languages. The English 
 language is so exclusively becoming the one medium 
 of speech in the vast dominions of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race, the world over, and especially in North America, 
 that it is scarcely worth while to give that attention 
 to the languages of France and Germany, which may 
 80 much more profitably be bestowed on the 
 strengthening and refining study of the Greek and 
 Roman classics. 
 
 The Managers thus report respecting the religious 
 instruction at Haverford : — " In addition to the daily 
 readings of the Holy Scriptures, recitations in them 
 are required of each student once a week. In the 
 last two years of the course there are recitations 
 weekly in the Greek Testament ; Gurney's " Obser- 
 vations," and a treatise on '* Biblical Antiquities," are 
 also studied in the junior and senior years." 
 
 The rules of the College respecting degrees are : — 
 " Students who have completed the full course, and 
 passed the written examinations on all the studies in 
 I 2 
 
116 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 a satisfactory maRner, and who shall perform an 
 original exercise at ^ commencement,' or present a 
 thesis satisfactory to the faculty, will, if their moral 
 character be unexceptionable, receive the degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts, and the diploma of the College. 
 Graduates of three years' standing can take the degree 
 of Master of Arts, on submitting to the committee on 
 instruction satisfactory evidence of continued good 
 moral character, and presenting a thesis on some lite- 
 rary or scientific subject, which shall receive the 
 approbation of the faculty." 
 
 There is a Friends' meeting-house near the Col- 
 lege. The students and officers compose nearly the 
 whole of the regular attenders. A long, narrow, raised 
 plank-path leads the entire way to the meeting under 
 the trees, about a quarter of a mile. 
 
 Half of the students belong to the Orthodox 
 Friends, a fourth to the Hicksites, and the remainder 
 to other denominations, but all form one meeting 
 during their stay at the College. 
 
 At the time of my visit the American autumn was 
 just beginning, and some of the graceful maples had 
 already assumed their gorgeous crimson tints. Many 
 woody and numerously-branched althaeas were in 
 blossom along the winding pathways of the College 
 grounds. At night, many glow-worms were shining 
 in the grass, but there were few of the still more 
 beautiful fire-flies which had been so numerous during 
 the summer months. The season was now getting 
 too advanced for them, and they were disappearing. 
 Fire-flies are among the chief ornaments of an Ameri- 
 can evening landscape, rising and falling with long 
 graceful curves, like silently floating stars of green 
 
HAYERFORD COLLEGE. 117 
 
 fire, amongst the dark openings of the forests or over 
 the night meadows. 
 
 I spent an evening in the observatory at Haver- 
 ford. It is about forty feet liigh, and of a 
 circular form, with two low wings at the base. 
 One of these contains a large transit instrument 
 which cost 1000 dollars (£200). There is a 
 gas lamp attached to its axis, to exhibit its spider 
 threads in night transits. The horizontal centre 
 " wire " of the transit " field " is double. The 
 observer's stool has a reclining back, and slides on a 
 small railway. There is an astronomical clock in this 
 room and another in an adjoining apartment. The 
 precise time of transit across each wire is accurately 
 and instantaneously registered by a touch from the 
 observer's finger on a small key close to the instru- 
 ment. This key is connected with an electro- 
 magnetic register in the adjoining wing of the 
 observatory, and by this means the time of the 
 meridian passage of each celestial body is ascertained 
 " to the hundredth part of a second." This is a 
 great improvement on the old plan, of the observer's 
 attention during a transit being distracted by having 
 to listen to the tickings of the astronomical clock, 
 whilst he is also counting the seconds and jotting 
 down the crossings of each wire with a pencil, and all 
 during the time he is observing the heavenly body. 
 The electro-magnetic register causes a needle-pin to 
 dot each transit on a ruled paper stretched evenly 
 around a revolving cylinder of polished brass con- 
 nected with the astronomical clock. The upper story 
 of the observatory contains the equatorial telescope, 
 and is crowned by a revolving dome, one gore of 
 
118 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 which can be slided down during observations. The 
 telescope is a large and good one, — a refractor with 
 eight feet focal distance. It is eleven feet in length, 
 and is mounted on a thick central pier of white stone, 
 but moves freely at a touch from one's little finger. 
 It cost 2500 dollars (£500). After leaving the 
 observatory we saw a beautiful aurora borealis, with 
 long bright and feathery rays of rose tint above, and 
 a green light at the base. It was like some peculiarly 
 beautiful summer-morning dawn. 
 
 Altogether, the impressions which a visitor to 
 Haverford receives, respecting its present condition 
 and past history, can hardly fail to produce the con- 
 viction that it stands amongst the foremost of Ameri- 
 can educational institutions. 
 
 THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WILBURISM. 
 
 Haying frequently alluded to the injurious effects of 
 some of the characteristics of Wilburism, it is only 
 fair to speak also of its brighter side; for, like all 
 parties and individuals, the Wilburites have their 
 good points, and some very valuable ones too. 
 
 Conspicuous amongst these is a trait which 
 appeared to me to be possessed by some of them in a 
 particular degree, — that of religious weight and spi- 
 ritual depth. If there was one thing more than 
 another which shone forth in the Founders of Qua- 
 kerism, it was this depth and seriousness of religious 
 impression. What I mean has been expressed, with 
 peculiar appropriateness, in some beautiful lines by 
 our own poetj Whittier : — 
 
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF TVILBURIS3I. 119 
 
 THE QUAKER OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 The Quaker of the olden time! 
 
 How calm, and firm, and true ; 
 Unspotted by its wrong and crime, 
 
 He walked the dark earth through ! 
 The lust of power, the love of gain, 
 
 The thousand lures of sin 
 Around him, had no power to staia 
 
 The purity within. 
 
 With that deep insight which detects 
 
 All great things in the small. 
 And kuowB how each man's life affects 
 
 The spiritual life of all. 
 He walked by faith, and not by sight ; 
 
 By love, and not by law ; 
 The presence of the wrong or right 
 
 He rather felt than saw. 
 
 He felt that wrong with wrong partakes, 
 
 That nothing stands alone ; 
 That whoso gives the motive makes 
 
 His brother's sin Ids own. 
 And pausing not for doubtlul choice 
 
 Of evils great or small. 
 He listened to that Inward Voice 
 
 Which called away from aU. 
 
 Oh, Spirit of that early day ! 
 
 So pure, and strong, and true, 
 Be with us in the narrow way 
 
 Our faithful fathers knew. 
 Give strength the evil to forsake, 
 
 The cross of truth to bear, 
 And love and reverent fear to make 
 
 Our daily lives a prayer. 
 
 I may be mistaken, but it is my real impression 
 that the Evangelical portion of our Society bus by no 
 
120 FRIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 means surpassed the Wilburite section in the special 
 feature of rehgious depth of character. There is a 
 danger of erring on each side, and it is far easier to 
 lay down the formalisms of a minute peculiarity of 
 dress or speech, than it is to take up in their place an 
 increased adherence to the real simplicity, the spi- 
 rituality, and the self-denial which genuine Quakerism 
 and Christianity inculcate. And it does appear that, 
 amongst some of the warm approvers of Wilburite 
 views in America, are more than a few whose lives 
 evince a watchfulness and noncompliance with a 
 thoughtless world which some of ourselves may 
 very profitably imitate. Both in Philadelphia and else- 
 where that section of Friends includes some whose 
 services and influence would be doubly valuable in a 
 united Society. 
 
 We can hardly conceal from ourselves that even 
 the good tendencies of Evangelical Quakerism require 
 Clike all other good things) a watchful eye, lest they 
 should lead into a diminished heed to a reverent 
 watchfulness for the perceptible gentle intimations of 
 the Divine Presence in the heart j and this principle 
 of personal daily regard to a personal Deity mani- 
 festing Himself (if looked for aright) in the soul of 
 each of His children, is, and ever has been, the special 
 characteristic of Quakerism. Other Christian sects 
 have embraced this precious truth, but probably none 
 to an equal extent. And even if others have professed 
 an equal esteem for it, they have not exemplified it 
 so practically in their worship, as Friends have done 
 in their inestimably valuable system of silent collective 
 looking to the omnipresent Spirit of the Lord. Now, 
 however deficient the Wilbur Friends may have been 
 
THE BBIGHT SIDE OF WILBURISM. 121 
 
 in some other things, they have at any rate borne a 
 noble and unflinching testimony to the world on this 
 fundamental principle. 
 
 And, in fact, the Society has need of a Wilburite 
 leaning in some respects, in order to counterbalance 
 tendencies in another direction. 
 
 " What God hath joined together, let not man put 
 asunder;" and we find that in every political and 
 civil community there are two tendencies, one to 
 conservatism, and another to progressive adaptation 
 to the necessary requirements of ever-altering times 
 and circumstances. These two are not meant to be 
 separated. Great is the mischief when they are. It 
 is one of the secrets of the prosperity of the British 
 nation, that she has ever been blessed with a strongly 
 developed balance of conservative men and conserva- 
 tive tendencies, that have been able to give sufficient, 
 but not nullifying, resistance to the powerful demands 
 of the inevitable changes of successive years. Thus 
 has Britain become, under the Divine blessing — 
 
 " A land of settled government, 
 A land of just and old renown. 
 Where freedom broadens slowly down 
 From precedent to precedent. 
 
 *' Where faction seldom gathers head, 
 But by degrees to fulness wrought, 
 The strength of some diffusive thought 
 Hath time and space to work and spread." 
 
 Conservatism and progress must ever combine by 
 a system of good-tempered, mutual compromises, or, 
 at least, by erecting new structures of change only 
 as fast as the old ones can be conveniently dis])ensed 
 
122 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 with, or are found to be no longer suitable, and then 
 only in harmony of mutual relation. 
 
 Nature always introduces the daylight by the 
 gradual development of the dawn. Similarly, we 
 find, that the bounds of positive right and positive 
 wrong are seldom or never marked with unmistakeable 
 clearness. There is a gradual sliding or shading off, 
 which must be left to circumstances to determine the 
 nature of, as to which frontier it is within. And 
 however logicians and abstract moralists may argue 
 otherwise, there does appear to be such a thing as a 
 right expediency, a lawful neutral ground at the 
 confines of right and wrong, but at the confines only. 
 The necessary checks must be, the spirit of charity, 
 the teachings of common sense, and, above all, the 
 solemn spiritual intuitions in connexion with those 
 laws of Holy Scripture which admit of no ordinary 
 ambiguity of interpretation. 
 
 This principle and its limits are set forth in the 
 Gospel in contradistinction to the rigidly legal pre- 
 cision of the Pharisees. " Have ye not read what 
 David did, when he was an hungered, and they that 
 were with him; how he entered into the house of 
 God, and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful 
 for him to eat, neither for them which were with 
 him, but only for the priests ? Or, have ye not read 
 how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the 
 temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" 
 Again, — " Which of you shall have an ass or an ox 
 fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him 
 out on the Sabbath day ?" From these words of the 
 Highest we may infer that in things which do not 
 come under the head of fundamentals or essentials. 
 
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WILBURISM. 123 
 
 we must define the limits of our principles of action 
 by the spirit of chai'ity, rather tlian by that of a 
 literal law. 
 
 And if this view had obtained greater acceptance 
 amongst the Wilburite Friends, especially \^ith re- 
 ference to those minutiae of individual action which 
 are peculiarly under the power of time and circum- 
 stance, the really valuable and much-needed qualities 
 of some of that body would have possessed still a 
 powerful influence in places where such influence is 
 now either extinct or very weak. 
 
 The Wilburites do well to admire and imitate the 
 iflain conduct of the Early Friends, but it by no 
 means follows, that we should minutely copy those of 
 their subordinate and merely personal characteristics, 
 which were founded upon the features of the age in 
 which they lived, rather than upon the basis of 
 Christian principle. Our Founders had their faults 
 and failings like ourselves. Some of their language, 
 as that of George Fox to Justice Sawrey, or of 
 Edward Burrough to Richard Baxter, was plain 
 scurrility, or, at best, a sort of well-meant imprecation 
 in solemn phraseology. And some of their acts were 
 just those mistakes of human impulse for spiritual 
 guidance which they were liable to, in common with 
 ourselves ; as, for instance, the denunciations of George 
 Fox against the city of Lichfield, and the positively 
 outrageous conduct of some, both men and women, but 
 especially the latter, who assumed the name of Friends 
 in early times, and whose proceedings, although in 
 some cases recorded in Sewell amongst the " acta 
 sanctorum " of the Society, would have been in this 
 age handed over, even by Friends themselves, to the 
 
124 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 attention of the police magistrate, or the examiner 
 of lunatics. We may venerate the principles and 
 examples of the Early Friends, without running to 
 the confines of idolatry or canonization; and if we 
 refuse to recognize as calendered saints such good 
 men as Augustine and Chrysostom, we are similarly 
 bound to refrain from virtually setting up a St. Fox 
 or a St. Penn. 
 
 There is also something to be said as to the charges 
 which the Wilburites so frequently bring forward 
 respecting the tendencies of Joseph John Gurney's 
 writings, and which are specifically enumerated in the 
 pamphlet issued by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, in 
 1847, under the title of "An Appeal for the Ancient 
 Doctrines of the Religious Society of Friends." The 
 same charges are also specified, and illustrated by 
 quotation, in an Essay published in 1860, in Philadel- 
 phia, and entitled, " Decline of Friends in Great 
 Britain." The charges are thus embraced in a con- 
 cluding summary: — " It is shown that the doctrines of 
 Joseph John Gurney on the Scriptures, ^ the Trinity,' 
 ' original sin,' imputative righteousness, the body and 
 blood of Christ, sanctification and justification, are 
 different from those of the Early Fiiends, and in 
 accordance with the Articles of the Church of 
 England." 
 
 It is a weak point of both of these pamphlets, that 
 they take the Early Friends as their most prominent 
 standard. The Early Friends themselves would have 
 been indignant at the idea of making their early pre- 
 decessors standards, rather than Christ Himself. 
 They were the most original, innovating, and boldly 
 alterative men of their age, and were the last to rest 
 
THE BRIGHT SEDE OF WILBTJRISM. 125 
 
 their defence upon old ecclesiastical precedents. As 
 to the particular question of Joseph John Gurney's 
 soundness or unsoundness, it is of comparatively little 
 consequence either way. If English or any other 
 Friends made him their standard or representative, it 
 would be very different ; but they do no such thing. 
 Much as we admire the life and example of that 
 worthy Friend, we would indignantly reject the idea 
 of making him, in any degree, our foundation. " None 
 but Christ as a standard" is our motto. 
 
 But it is replied, that English Friends have vir- 
 tually allied themselves with Joseph John Gurney's 
 writings, inasmuch as they were approved by an 
 oflicial committee of ministers and elders, to whom his 
 works were submitted for censorship and sanction. 
 Now, those who reflect upon the nature of any such 
 official censorship must see that, after all, it is merely 
 an individual approval or disapproval, and not neces- 
 sarily that of the main body of the Society. In fact, 
 the plan of at all submitting any works to such a 
 censorship is now nearly abandoned by Friends, as 
 being on many accounts a custom " better honoured 
 in the breach than in the observance." And whether 
 the writings of Joseph John Gurney were approved 
 or disapproved by those who officially examined them, 
 does not at all alter the simple fact, that neither the 
 author nor his writings are a standard for English 
 Friends. 
 
 But it probably will be admitted by many, if not 
 most of those who have read some of that writer's 
 works, that, here and there, his expressions are more 
 in accordance with other views than with those gene- 
 rally adopted by the Society ; and, granting this, what 
 
126 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 does it matter ? Are we to expect perfection in any 
 author ? And why are J. J. Gurney's errors of any 
 more consequence than those of any of the many sub- 
 sequent writers in the Society who have since pub- 
 lished similar or even more decided views ? In fact, 
 as to the real condition of English Friends, or as to 
 any alteration of our standard, J. J. Gurney is no 
 more to them than if he had belonged to any other 
 religious community. It is very doubtful whether 
 one English Friend in fifty has ever read a volume of 
 his works, except one or two of his smallest ones. 
 
 So that the Wilburite Friends are partly right in 
 their estimate of the tendency of his writings, but at 
 the same time have enormously over-estimated the 
 importance of such a tendency. 
 
 Besides, we must in this case do what we do in 
 nearly every common matter of life — strike the balance 
 between the good and evil. By so doing, we shall 
 see that for one influence of evil there are fifty good 
 ones in the life and efforts of that Friend. 
 
 It is very well for our American brethren to theo- 
 rize about perfection being an acknowledged doctrine 
 of our Society. It is true that we acknowledge that 
 perfection should be our standard ; but it is equally 
 indisputable that we never did, do, or shall, find per- 
 fection in any living man, whether a Friend, or of 
 any other denomination whatsoever. If so, then why 
 ever quibble because this or any other writer is not 
 perfectly " sound ?" Where do we expect to find 
 perfect " soundness ?" It would be the eighth wonder 
 of the world, and far more marvellous than all the 
 rest put together. 
 
 It is, therefore, much to be wished that the Wil- 
 
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WILBURISM. 127 
 
 burite section of the Society could convince themselves 
 that they attach vastly more importance to the wri- 
 tings of Joseph John Gurney than Evangelical Friends 
 do; and it is, indeed, a pity that whether he was 
 right or wrong should have influence, either way, in 
 separating any one division of the Society from their 
 brethren. 
 
 Another characteristic of the Wilbur body, is the 
 frequency of their use of spiritual interpretations of 
 portions of Scripture, having an obviously literal and 
 outward signification. Now, although it is certainly 
 meant for us to receive these outward significations as 
 records of genuine historic facts ; yet, if we confine 
 ourselves to this view of them, we suffer serious loss. 
 The examples of some of the inspired writers them- 
 selves warrant us in using the spiritual as well as 
 literal application of Scripture; for both really exist. 
 The good and eminent Fathers of the early Christian 
 church, such as Chrysostom, Augustine, and espe- 
 cially Origen, were peculiarly characterized by their 
 spiritualizations of the literal meaning. Origen cer- 
 tainly overdid it, but that is no argument against the 
 right use of such a valuable liberty. Beyond their 
 authority, is that of the solemnly approving witness 
 of our own intuitions, when we recognize, by our 
 spiritual instincts, the appropriateness and comfort of 
 such a mode of reaching the soul, and of illustrating 
 its immaterial realities by the truths and common 
 symbols of outward visible objects. Of what use to 
 us is it to read that our Lord, when incarnate, opened 
 the eyes of the blind, unless we learn from it that 
 Christ in us is now equally able and willing to cure 
 our spiritual blindness ? How do we relinquish the 
 
128 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 chief value of the efficacy ascribed to the importunity 
 of the historic Zaccheus and Syro-Phoenician woman, 
 unless it teach us that Christ in our own day loves to 
 h'sten to the tacit affection for Himself implied by our 
 own wrestling and undiscouraged persistent prayers. 
 Yes, the Wilburites are evidently right in their 
 spiritualizations (if not carried too far J, by the ap- 
 proval of the Evangelists and Apostles, and early 
 Fathers, and not merely by the practice of the 
 Founders of Quakerism, but by the consent of our own 
 souls in our better moments. 
 
 In connexion with the subject of religious weight, 
 which has been alluded to, may be mentioned a prac- 
 tice of very foremost importance, — the frequent habit, 
 with the " old school " of Friends, of private retire- 
 ment for prayer alone in silence before the Lord. 
 This one thing is the seceet of the excellence of 
 THE Early Friends, — their frequent, reverent, 
 silent, prostrations of soul before the Lord. 
 
 Vain, and worse than vain, will be any nineteenth 
 century restorations of Quakerism, if we do not also 
 cultivate and maintain a practical respect for this 
 most inestimable habit. Frequent were the collective 
 as well as private silences in prayer amongst some of 
 those of a bygone generation ; and it will be our 
 especial interest to know that Evangelical Quakerism 
 retains, with other things, a hearty genuine esteem 
 for this precious privilege and duty. 
 
 Some weeks ago I heard a sugiiestive remark from 
 a liberal Friend, " We have several who speak now 
 as ministers in our meeting, and what they say is very 
 good, but it is different from the old school of ministry 
 amongst us. We had a visit the other day from a 
 
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WILBURISM. 129 
 
 Friend of the old class, and it was very accept- 
 able." 
 
 The " old school " had its serious deficiencies, but 
 it also had its valuable and intrinsic excellences, and it 
 is for us to f^uard that, whilst we avoid the former, 
 we also endeavour to retain the latter. And what- 
 ever may be said respecting some of the deficiencies 
 of the Wilburite ministry, there is also a considerable 
 and good degree with it of this ancient solemnity. 
 
 And even with reference to another feature of their 
 arrangements, — that of giving insufficient encourage- 
 ment to the early developments of religious life and 
 effort in their younger members, may we, whilst 
 guarding against this real evil, yet by no means ever 
 attain to a condition of the Society, where the elder 
 and most experienced members shall cease to be those 
 whose opinions and authority shall have that superior 
 degree of respect and attention to which they are 
 entitled. For if the political experience of all nations 
 shows the disastrous consequences of entrusting their 
 administration to the chief direction of the impulsive 
 feelings of early manhood, still more does the univer- 
 sal concurrence of the Christian church, in every 
 age, enforce the essential need of a reverential esteem 
 for those chiefly in whom, by the chastening instruc- 
 tion of the whole successive stages of human life, dis- 
 cretion has taken the place of impulse, humility that 
 of confidence, and sympathetic liberality that of a 
 contracted limitation. But age is not intrinsically 
 venerable, for, unless thus qualified, its youthful 
 errors will only have become intensified and settled 
 by habit 
 
 And here again we must remember that "what 
 & 
 
130 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
 Old and young should ever be associated, even in 
 church-government and action ; and although the 
 former should have the chief authority and paramount 
 respect, the younger voices should have consideration 
 also, remembering that not the least Amongst the 
 patriarchs, prophets, kings, and apostles, were the 
 more youthful and the earlier called — Joseph, Samuel, 
 David, and John. 
 
 When we thus look at the brighter as well as 
 shady side of the Wilburite Friends, we must acknow- 
 ledge that we should do far better with them than 
 without them, if they would only consent to differ in 
 the non-essentials of the Society whilst agreeing 
 heartily in the fundamentals. 
 
 And if our American brethren would relinquish 
 their general plan in this and other cases, it would 
 greatly aid matters. I mean the custom of requiring 
 an acknowledgment of past error from those who are 
 re-united to the communion of the Society. If a 
 member simply wishes to continue with the Society, 
 that shows his attachment, if his present and recent 
 conduct be in accordance. Of course, there ought to 
 be a direct recantation of former conduct, if any real 
 breach of morality or fundamental doctrine be 
 involved; but it is different in cases of mere opinion, or 
 slight variations of discipline. In these it only adds 
 irritation. 
 
 Therefore it is to be earnestly hoped that both Wil- 
 burite and Evangelical Friends in America will some 
 day see the propriety of either gradually or more 
 decidedly renewing that unity which has been too 
 long divided, and of doing so on the principle of the 
 
WEST-TOWN SCHOOL. 131 
 
 old motto, " Let bygones be bygones," and without 
 demanding on either side, " Well, you must admit 
 that you were wrong and we were right." No such 
 thing; we are all liable to mistakes; no doubt we 
 have all had a share in the causes of division, and, 
 therefore, the sooner the better that we can say, 
 " Let the past suffice." 
 
 If the Wilburite Friends will not unite with their 
 Evangelical brethren on any terms, then the latter 
 must try to profit by the example of the for^per, so 
 far as it has the brighter traits, and then, at any rate, 
 it may induce, at a later period, a union for which the 
 present may not be quite prepared. But, for the 
 sake of the influence of the grand fundamental truths 
 of Quakerism, the sooner all can unite heartily and 
 completely, it will be, emphatically, so much the 
 better. 
 
 WEST-TOWN SCHOOL. 
 
 West-town School is the Ack worth of Pennsylvania 
 and New Jersey ; the chief boarding-school belonging 
 to the Society in those parts, except the higher insti- 
 tution of Haverford College. 
 
 It contained, when I visited it, only 62 boys and 
 76 girls. This is a very small number of children, 
 when we consider the large number of Friends in the 
 State and its neighbouring districts. But it is also to 
 be borne in mind, that comparatively a small proportion 
 of Friends' children in America are ever sent to any 
 boarding-school. 
 
 West-town is twenty-five miles from Philadelphia. 
 K 2 
 
132 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Our route to it was down the broad Market Street, 
 and over the Schuylkill Bridge, to the terminus of 
 the Westchester Railway. By this line we passed 
 through a picturesque wooded country to within two 
 miles of West-town. On the way, the house was 
 pointed out to me in which Benjamin West, the 
 eminent painter, was born. It is very near the 
 railway — a small neat farm-house, with a high, curved 
 roof. Near it is the manufacturing village of Glen- 
 riddle, with its amphitheatre of white cottages, built 
 along the steep sides of a basin in a deep wooded 
 valley. The country around is forested with hickory, 
 tulip, chestnut, and ash trees, and has abundance of 
 '^ pokeweed." 
 
 West-town School is on its own freehold estate of 
 six hundred acres. It was founded twenty years after 
 the opening of Ackworth School. It consists of one 
 large oblong building without wings. It is about 
 two hundred feet long, one hundred and fifty broad, 
 and sixty in height, and is of four stories besides the 
 basement. The rooms are generally low, and not 
 large enough for the purpose. The boys' bedrooms, 
 in particular, are very low. They occupy the whole 
 of the topmost part of the building, and open into one 
 another by wide arches. On the summit of the 
 building is a gallery, from which is a not very exten- 
 sive view over the wooded undulations around. 
 
 The boys and girls are entirely separated, both 
 during their studies and at other times, and do not 
 take their meals in the same room. The boys are 
 taught Latin and Greek, but no modern languages. 
 The girls are not taught either of these languages. 
 A good plain education is what is aimed at. 
 
WEST-TOWN SCHOOL. 13B 
 
 The Institution is chiefly under the control of Wil- 
 burite Friends, and this tinges the style and spirit of 
 its arrangements. For instance, in the school library 
 I observed that some of the modern biographies of 
 Friends were, as a class, excluded. It contained the 
 lives of Cardinal Amboise and Dr. Arnold, but not of 
 AVilliam Allen, though there was a biography of one 
 Ethan Allen. There was the life of Caroline, but 
 not of Elizabeth Fry ; of De Guzman, but not of 
 Joseph John Gurney ; and I found that it also 
 included the lives of Caxton, Channing, Ximenes and 
 Zwingle, but did not see that of Stephen Grellet. 
 
 Amongst the arrangements for the comfort and 
 health of the pupils were some new bath-rooms, 
 twenty of which are for the boys, and each contains a 
 hot and shower bath. The girls have fourteen similar 
 ones. There are nurseries conveniently separated 
 from the other parts of the institution. These were 
 the gift of a private individual. 
 
 The house is surrounded by lawns thickly planted 
 with trees, forming a fine park. The trees almost 
 bury the building from view all around, except just in 
 front, where there is a splendid avenue, forming a 
 broad opening with lofty trees on each side, affording 
 a pretty vista down a sloping undulation of meadow. 
 
 Amongst the trees were some handsome magnolias 
 with aromatic pink cones ; also, the deciduous cypress 
 tree, so abundant by the Lower Mississippi. It has 
 very light foliage and resembles a larch. 
 
 Close behind the school are the farm buildings and 
 a large washhouse, where the laundry operations 
 of the institution are carried on, by some coloured 
 people, under the superintendence of an aged woman 
 
134 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Friend. The linen is shut up inside a large hollow box- 
 wheel, which is made to revolve by connexion with 
 a steam-engine. When washed it is put, whilst wet, 
 into a flattened globe of wire-work which is whirled 
 rapidly around, also by connexion with the engine. 
 The violence of the centrifugal force drives the water 
 out of the linen, and thus rinses it more rapidly and 
 thoroughly than could be done by hand. 
 
 In the school there is a good museum, containing 
 a large collection of stuffed birds, which are not 
 arranged in separate cases, but merely in one or two 
 large inclosures of glass. They are perched about on 
 shrubs and branches of trees, all of which have green 
 artificial leaves. This has a neat and interesting 
 appearance. 
 
 Each pupil at West-town is chjirged 90 dollars 
 (£18) per annum, for board and education. A 
 monthly statement of the studies and conduct of each 
 is sent to the parents. Their progress in each study 
 is characterized in these reports as being in one of 
 four descriptions of lessons, — very good, good, indif- 
 ferent, missed. Reading lessons are specified as 
 having been either "very well read, well, indifferently, 
 or badly." Writing, as being "very carefully written, 
 carefully, indifferently, carelessly." Conduct is clas- 
 sified under six qualities — " very satisfactory, satis- 
 factory, generally satisfactory, not quite satisfactory, 
 rather unsatisfactory, unsatisfactory." 
 
 About three quarters of a mile from the school is a 
 pond, in the woods on the estate, where the boys often 
 go to bathe and learn to swim. A pleasant walk 
 leads thither, through meadows and groves, and across 
 a mill-stream which winds through the school pro- 
 
WEST-TOWN SCHOOL. 135 
 
 pertj. In the woods around this pond there are many 
 interesting plants and flowers, and some fine pieces of 
 fern, especially a Trichomanes, closely resembling 
 the " true maiden-hair " of Britain. Amongst other 
 plants we found one popularly termed "Indian turnip.'* 
 It has a leafless stem (in autumn) about ten inches 
 high, capped with a spike of juicy crimson berries. 
 Its root, which is like a large white globular radish, 
 IS, perhaps, the most acrid thing in the vegetable 
 creation. My companion once took a mouthful of it 
 inadvertently, and had subsequently to hold his 
 tongue in running water for the greater part of the 
 day. The taste is acutely biting, and remains for 
 hours or even days in the mouth. We tasted it very 
 slightly and cautiously, and even then could not get 
 rid of it for a considerable time. In the woods, we 
 also found many richly coloured autumnal fungi, and 
 numerous purplish red flowers of the tall "iron weed.'' 
 This is a syngenesious plant, somewhat resembling a 
 dark Michaelmas daisy, and is one of the most widely 
 characteristic flowers of North America. Amongst 
 
 o 
 
 the birds flying around was the American " robin." 
 It is considerably larger than the English redbreast, 
 and its colour is much brighter. 
 
 It is not the plan at West-town, or, I believe, at the 
 other American educational institutions of our Society, 
 to have, as in English Friends' schools, an annual 
 general meeting, where not only the parents of the 
 children, but also any Friends from far or near, who 
 are inclined, may come and witness a public exami- 
 nation of the pupils, and receive and express a personal 
 interest in the prosperity of the institution. The 
 general meetings of the public schools of the Society 
 
136 IBIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 in England, especially those of Ack worth School, are 
 of great importance in various ways. Hundreds of 
 Friends from various parts of the nation gather thither. 
 The interest of the elder and younger members is 
 aroused or sustained, and the social pleasures and 
 indirect religious and moral effects of the re-unions 
 which then take place are often of as much value to the 
 attenders as to the pupils and officers of the institution. 
 But American Friends are generally so closely en- 
 gaged with their business transactions that it would 
 be probably considered too much of a holiday thus to 
 meet, or at any rate for more than a few hours. 
 Those in England sometimes last three days, and the 
 time is by no means misapplied. 
 
 In America, there is a nationally characteristic 
 whirl, and unremitting absorption of time and energy 
 in business, to which, happily, the British and other 
 continental nations (unless the Dutch may be excep- 
 tions) have not yet attained. An Englishman likes 
 occasional relaxation. An American seldom indulges 
 in such a lawful and healthful custom, and this is partly 
 the reason why the lives of our transatlantic brethren 
 are generally shorter, and their aspects more care- 
 worn, than those of most Englishmen. 
 
 THE HICKSITES. 
 
 It is very painful to trace the entrance of strife and 
 disunion into any religious community, but especially 
 into one which had been so long and so cordially 
 united as the Society of Friends. But now that more 
 
THE HICKSITES. 137 
 
 than thirty years have elapsed since the final division 
 of the Society in America, we can see that, painful as 
 was this separation, it has resulted in mutual benefit 
 to each of the two sections. For the Orthodox 
 Friends have been, or at least a large proportion of 
 them, in a healthier condition and more scriptural 
 clearness of doctrine ever since; and although in some 
 parts of the Eastern States they have not been har- 
 monious in communion, yet the gain to the western 
 Friends has been of great importance, for they were 
 stirred up to a vigilant attention to the need of scrip- 
 tural education, and of a practical Christianity, in a 
 degree to which they had been previously more indif- 
 ferent. And English Friends have derived similar 
 indirect benefits from the Hicksite controversies, 
 although happily it has not, in their case, been at the 
 expense of a schism in the Society. 
 
 The Hicksites themselves are gainers, for although 
 their doctrines remain pretty much the same, yet 
 they have continued to the present day in great 
 harmony amongst themselves; and error, with good 
 nature, is far better than the same error with strife 
 in addition. Mutual love and good-will are more 
 essential portions of Christianity than even orthodox 
 and merely literally scriptural doctrines, without such 
 love. Says the poet — 
 
 " The heart may be right, though the creed may be wrong." 
 
 The Hicksite schism may be compared to the 
 bursting in of a cold and violent tempest upon a 
 previously calm but stagnant and unhealthy atmo- 
 sphere. The Society of Friends in America had 
 previously been in a condition of general pecuniary 
 
138 FKIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 prosperity, arising from the effects of the Revolution 
 of 1776; and, although undisturbed by mutual 
 dissensions, yet error, formality, and worldly ease 
 were silently altering their Quakerism into a merely 
 fossilized imitation of that of earlier days. 
 
 The conduct which was manifest during the schism, 
 on both sides, showed that the Society in America 
 was deeply diseased, and that it resembled some 
 placid lake, in which deposits of mud and decayed 
 vegetation have accumulated to such an extent, that 
 the first strong agitation of its waters produces a 
 condition altogether turbid and unsightly. 
 
 The chief means of thus arousing the American 
 Friends to a compulsory experience of their condition 
 was Elias Hicks, a Friend, born at Hampstead, on 
 Long Island, in 1748. He never received much 
 education, but had great natural shrewdness and 
 ability. He became convinced of the importance of 
 * religion whilst quite a youth, and was officially 
 acknowledged by the Society as a minister at the age 
 of twenty-seven. He appears to have always been 
 sincerely conscientious, and he practised the duty of 
 self denial, which he so frequently preached to others. 
 But it is evident that his views of Christian truth 
 were of a very imperfect character; for they were 
 especially distinguished by a high estimate of the 
 importance of a rigid peculiarity of dress, and by a 
 zeal in which fervour often supplanted charity, as 
 well as by a dim appreciation of the scriptural 
 declarations respecting the incarnation of our Saviour 
 and of His sacrifice on Calvary. He mentions, in 
 his published sermons, that one of the first things 
 which he felt his conscience to be requiring of him was. 
 
THE HICKSITES. 139 
 
 the relinquishment of such minute superfluities of 
 dress as unnecessary buttons on his coat; and a 
 strict precision in dress was one of the standing topics 
 of his preaching. It is recorded of him, that during 
 one of his visits to New York meeting he found, on 
 entering the ministers* gallery, that a cushion had 
 just been laid down on the entire length of the seat, 
 as an improvement on the previously bare hard 
 wood. He looked at it with surprise, and sat down. 
 Presently he rose and turned over the end of it 
 nearest to him, and reseated himself on the bare 
 bench. In the meeting for discipline, which followed 
 the one for worship, he administered a rebuke on the 
 subject of luxurious effeminacy, and on spending 
 money in self-indulgence, instead of appropriating it 
 to a better purpose. 
 
 On another occasion, in his early life, during the 
 Revolution, some soldiers near his house broke down 
 a fence and opened a shorter way to a neighbouring 
 town. But Elias would not avail himself of the 
 convenience, lest he should be deriving even the 
 slightest benefit from the war; for his abhorrence of 
 all military tendencies was thorough and sincere. 
 So deep also were his objections to the payment of 
 ministers in any way for preaching the Gospel, that 
 when he was himself travelling on ministerial visits 
 to his Friends in other States, be would not accept 
 the customary defrayment of the necessary expenses, 
 but paid them out of his own pocket. 
 
 However mistaken he may have been, it is evident 
 that he was both sincere and consistent, and it is 
 admitted by his op}X)nents that his moral conduct was 
 marked by integrity. He was very cautious, and 
 
140 FKIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 not always so candid, in expressing his real opinions, 
 as might have been expected. Probably, his peculiar 
 views were gradually developed by the persevering 
 study of certain theological works, as well as by the 
 original tendency of his mind ; but, at any rate, he 
 was very careful to introduce them publicly only by 
 little and little. 
 
 Suspicion respecting his orthodoxy was first aroused 
 about the year 1810, in consequence of the boldly 
 distinct manner in which he preached the non- 
 necessity of our Saviour's sufferings as an atonement 
 for mankind. The novelty of his doctrines and his 
 personal qualities drew general attention to his 
 sermons, and large audiences gathered to hear him 
 where he was likely to preach. He followed up his 
 attacks on the atonement by similar disparagements 
 of Bible Societies, and of educational and philanthropic 
 movements in general; and is said to have expressed 
 his opinion that the value of all the labours of Sir 
 Isaac Newton was less than that of the services of a 
 milkmaid on a farm, and that the chief result of science 
 was infidelity. In 1817 he began to preach against 
 over-estimating the Bible, comparing this to the 
 idolatrous veneration of the brazen serpent by the 
 Israelites, and recommending, instead, an increased 
 perusal of the biographies of George Fox, and the 
 Early Friends. He taught that each man has within 
 him a superior and clearer Divine Revelation than 
 any outward one ; but he and his followers have, in 
 this respect, widely differed from the Founders of 
 Quakerism, who asserted the duty of subordinating 
 human reason to the impulses of the Holy Spirit ; 
 whereas, the Hicksite doctrine places reason as the 
 
THE HICKSITES. 141 
 
 standard and controller of spiritual direction, so as 
 to be undistinguishable from the Spirit itself. 
 
 The agitation which Elias Hicks' preaching aroused 
 became increasingly general through New York and 
 Pennsylvania, but it took many years to come to a 
 crisis, and its originator was amongst the less active 
 and most cool of all those w^ho were immediately 
 concerned in the actual separation. He retained his 
 physical vigour to the end of a long life, and is said 
 to have been so agile in extreme age, that on one 
 occasion, when returning at evening after a hard day's 
 work on his farm, he leaped over a ditch which very 
 few young men could cross. Although severe in his 
 criticisms on what he did not approve of, he was more 
 particular with himself than with others. Thus, 
 although a stanch foe to tobacco, he regularly kept 
 it in his house for the use of visitors. He continued 
 hale and consistent to the last. When upwards of 
 eighty years of age be travelled extensively on 
 ministerial visits, and whilst at home was still a very 
 early riser. He was seen returning from his field on 
 a load of hay before five o'clock in the morning, and 
 this when fourscore I 
 
 His death was almost a sudden one ; whilst writing 
 a letter he was seized with paralysis, and presently 
 became speechless. He was lifted into a bed by his 
 attendants, one of whom brought a warm stuffed 
 cotton coverlet to place upon him, as the weather was 
 cold ; but, dying as he was, he motioned to them by 
 signs his disapprobation, on account of the cotton being 
 the produce of slave labour. Afterwards, being asked 
 if all was well with him, he nodded assent, and pre- 
 sently breathed his last. We cannot but admire, 
 
142 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 notwithstanding his great errors, the continued consis- 
 tency and self-denial of such a man. 
 
 The first open rupture between the Hicksite and 
 Orthodox Friends took place in Philadelphia in 1827. 
 As far back as 1822, Elias Hicks had paid a minis- 
 terial visit to Green Street monthly meeting, which 
 then formed a constituent part of Philadelphia 
 quarterly meeting. He was favourably received by 
 those to whom his visit extended, but some Friends in 
 the other meetings of that city were not satisfied 
 with his doctrines, which had been previously preached 
 at New York and Long Island, and, on his arrival in 
 Philadelphia, ten of the elders of that city signed a 
 protest against him. But the monthly meeting of 
 Green Street were satisfied with his ministry, and 
 gave him their official approval. One of their own 
 elders, who then assented to this certificate, on a 
 subsequent occasion united with some members of 
 the other meetings of the city in issuing a protest 
 against Elias Hicks. For this inconsistent conduct he 
 was discontinued by his monthly meeting from his 
 position of elder. This was a perfectly constitutional 
 act, and no other body had a right to interfere in the 
 matter. 
 
 Each local or monthly meeting in the Society of 
 Friends forms an independent body, so far as the 
 appointment and continuance of its own ministers and 
 elders are concerned. This is a fundamental principle 
 of the Society's discipline, both in Britain and 
 America. But, especially in Philadelphia, there had 
 grown, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, 
 an increasing disposition on the part of the elders to 
 consider themselves as a virtually irresponsible body. 
 
THE HICKSITES. 143 
 
 and as possessing executive disciplinary powers, 
 separate from or co-ordinate with the authority of the 
 main body of members in the meetings by which they 
 were appointed. This also was, and is, an unconsti- 
 tutional principle in the Society, which has always 
 clearly laid down the rule, that there is to be no 
 disciplinary authority, in either ministers or elders, 
 separate from their individual capacity as a portion of 
 tlie main body of the Society. 
 
 This principle was intrenched upon with especial 
 impropriety in the case of the elders ; for, from the 
 commencement of the Society, it had been customary 
 for the ministers to hold periodical select meetings of 
 their own body for mutual edification and for consul- 
 tation respecting their reh'gious duties only. One of 
 the earliest ministerial meetings of the kind, mentioned 
 in the Society's records as held at Philadelphia, was 
 in the year 1701. It was continued every three 
 months. In 1706, it was proposed that it would be 
 for the better edification and satisfaction of such 
 meetings, if the elders also were invited to sit with the 
 ministers, and form a regular part of their gatherings. 
 This suggestion was proposed to the yearly meeting 
 that year, but was not acceded to. It was again pro- 
 posed in 1709, and again rejected. In 1712, another 
 attempt was similarly unsuccessful ; but in 1714, the 
 yearly meeting gave its sanction to the plan, and, from 
 that period, these periodical select meetings of 
 ministers and elders continued to be held, but only 
 for mutual conference and benefit in connexion with 
 their religious duties. 
 
 The appointment of ministers in the Societyof Friends 
 has always been by the general voice and selection of 
 
144 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 the members, and with reference only to the religious 
 and ministerial qualifications of those thus recognized. 
 But in the selection of elders there is far less evidence 
 of their religious qualifications or defects ; and it has 
 too frequently happened that undue importance in 
 selection has been given to general acuteness of 
 perception, outward appearance of orthodoxy in dress 
 and minute peculiarities, and even to pecuniary suc- 
 cess. From these and other causes, the American 
 elders gradually assumed a sort of tacit priority over 
 the ministers who had at first invited them to unite 
 with themselves in their assemblies ; and this assump- 
 tion became more and more manifest, to the detri- 
 ment both of the ministry in particular, and of the 
 Society in general. Although the Hicksite schism 
 gave this system a violent shake, it has not quite dis- 
 appeared in that country even yet. 
 
 In the case of the inconsistent and dissentient elder 
 at Green Street, he was not immediately discontinued 
 by the monthly meeting from his eldership, but was, 
 in the first place, merely brought under the considera- 
 tion of that body, with a view to their admonition. 
 On being visited officially by the overseers of the 
 meeting, he refused to recognize their right to do this, 
 and appealed to the quarterly assembly of ministers 
 and elders, who chiefly belonged to the other meetings 
 distinct from the Green Street body, and who had, in 
 no case, any right of executive or interference with 
 either that or any other of the monthly meetings of 
 the city. 
 
 When Green Street Friends found that their elder 
 had thus unconstitutionally appealed to a body who 
 had no voice at all in the matter, then (and not till 
 
THE HICKSITES. 145 
 
 then) they exercised their right of discontinuing him 
 from his eldership in their monthly meeting. Here, 
 constitutionally, was an end to the matter. But this 
 displeased the quarterly meeting of ministers and 
 eldei*s, who declared that Green. Street Friends had, 
 " in a summary way, taken the business out of their 
 hands." Why, it had never been in their hands, 
 and they were not competent constitutionally to have 
 received it under any circumstances. However, they 
 assumed differently ; and, accordingly, laid a com- 
 plaint against Green Street before the general as- 
 sembly, or quarterly meeting, of all the particular ones 
 in the city. If the quarterly meeting had not been under 
 the undue influence of a small but powerful party 
 of its attenders, it would not have entertained such a 
 charge. But it did entertain it ; but, owing to the 
 large majority of its members being favourable to 
 Green Street, it could come to no unanimous decision, 
 but deferred the matter from quarter to quarter, and 
 from year to year. 
 
 In 1826, the Philadelphia quarterly meeting ap- 
 pointed (but with much dissent) a committee to visit 
 its particular constituent monthly meetings. No spe- 
 cific object of this committee was named, but it was 
 understood to be for giving general good counsel, and 
 otherwise aiding the various members. This com- 
 mittee was appointed under circumstances of par- 
 tiality and party-pressure, and was almost exclusively 
 composed of Friends whose views towards the sym- 
 pathizers with Elias Hicks were unfavourable. It 
 not only performed its appointment of visiting the 
 monthly meetings, but assumed the strange course of 
 recommending that Green Street monthly meeting 
 
146 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 should be dissolved as such, and united as a subordi- 
 nate body to the more orthodox " Northern District" 
 monthly meeting in the city. 
 
 Now, each local meeting is independent of its 
 quarterly meeting, ,except in cases of doctrine, and by 
 mutual consent, for general connexions of assistance 
 and religious advantage. Green Street now deter- 
 mined to exercise its own individual right of allying 
 itself with what quarterly meeting it chose, and there- 
 fore transferred itself to that of Abington, a district 
 near Philadelphia, with the full consent of the latter 
 body. Subsequently to this transfer of itself, the 
 Philadelphia quarterly meeting assented to the re- 
 commendation of its previously appointed committee, 
 and transferred Green Street to the Northern monthly 
 meeting, as a subordinate constituent of the latter. 
 
 Meanwhile Abington quarterly meeting had wel- 
 comed and retained Green Street as one of its own 
 constituents. Here was a dead-lock in the discipline 
 of two of the larger bodies of Pennsylvania, — the 
 quarterly meetings of Philadelphia and Abington. 
 Of course, this state of things claimed the immediate 
 attention of the approaching yearly meeting in 1827. 
 That large assembly, at its commencement, was 
 divided on the question of the appointment of its 
 clerk. The Orthodox section had nominated the 
 clerk of the preceding years ; but he was no longer 
 acceptable to the majority of the meeting. Two- 
 thirds were for a change, and one-third for continuing 
 the old one. Seeing that they could not agree, the 
 Orthodox clerk declared himself the officially appointed 
 one. Under the circumstances, it was proposed that 
 the meeting should adjourn indefinitely; but the 
 
THE HICKSITES. 147 
 
 Orthodox would not agree to this, and proceeded to 
 carry on the regular business of the yearly meeting 
 themselves. 
 
 The large majority were ofHicksite sympathies, but 
 desired to be peaceable and patient. They therefore 
 determined to sit as silent spectators, and watch what 
 the Orthodox would really do in their assumed capa- 
 city of the yearly meeting, and especially in the 
 disputed case of Green Street monthly meeting. The 
 conclusion come to by the minority was, to hand back 
 this dispute to the management of the same quarterly 
 meeting which had already treated it so unconstitu- 
 tionally, and from which it Jiad, by its own free act, 
 removed itself to a more congenial body. 
 
 On hearing this, the Hicksites saw there was no 
 more to hope for, as to any favourable alteration of the 
 Orthodox policy. They therefore adjourned to a 
 large conference of their own sympathizers, to decide 
 as to their future action. The result of their decision 
 was to withdraw from a body where a minority of 
 less than one-third assumed the preponderance and 
 attempted to sway the whole. 
 
 From that time, the Hicksites have held annually 
 their separate yearly meetings in Philadelphia, but 
 retain the name of " Friends ;" and are, indeed, as to 
 numbers, the legitimate representatives of the Society 
 in that State ; but their doctrines are still extreme. 
 
 The llicksite agitation had commenced in New 
 York long before it reached Philadelphia, but it came 
 to a crisis in the latter city sooner than in the former. 
 There was, however, this difference between the two : 
 — in Philadelphia the Hicksites appear to have been 
 the aggrieved party, as to discourtesy and unconsti- 
 L 2 
 
148 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 tutional proceedings; but in New York it seems to 
 have been otherwise, and there the Orthodox, although, 
 as in the former case, in a minority, were treated 
 harshly and overborne by their opponents. They 
 had been justly dissatisfied for years with Elias 
 Hicks' boldly unscriptural doctrines. But there is 
 also reason to believe that in one thing he had the 
 advantage — in his clear, consistent, and sternly anti- 
 slavery views. He was severe on all those whom he 
 judged to be either directly or indirectly upholding 
 slavery, or abstaining from opposition to it ; and the 
 American Friends were then less generally decided in 
 favour of entire emancipaJ:ion than they are now. It 
 is probable that there was opposition manifested 
 against Elias Hicks by individual Friends whose 
 inclinations were in favour of slavery, or, at least, 
 whose arguments were decidedly tinctured by com- 
 mercial or other interests. One of this class in New 
 York is reported to have gone to another Friend, who 
 kept a free-produce store in that city, and to have 
 protested by saying, " So, Charles, thee persists in 
 selling goods not produced by slaves. What ! does thee 
 want to take away all the custom from the Southern 
 people, and starve the poor slaves to death?" This 
 is a fair specimen of the sort of logic which is con- 
 stantly heard in America from those who are favour- 
 able to slavery. 
 
 Various circumstances combined to make the diffi- 
 culties of the New York Friends more complex. 
 Amongst others, a party of Ranters took up Elias 
 Hicks' views at Salem, New Bedford, and other 
 places in Massachusetts. One of their leaders was 
 Micah Ruggles, another was James Scott, the son of 
 
THE HICKSITES. 149 
 
 an eminent Quaker minister named Job Scott. These 
 and their adherents were styled " New Lights," be- 
 cause they taught that every one has a light within 
 him which is his only and all-sufficient guide ; that 
 church discipline is an infringement upon personal 
 liberty; and that marriage is an unnecessary form. 
 One of their number set forth their views in a work 
 entitled " The Magnet." This was said to have had 
 Elias Hicks' approbation, and the Orthodox Friends 
 attributed the whole disturbance mainly to his 
 opinions. The " New Lights " carried their eccen- 
 tricities so far as to come to meeting with swords, 
 for which they professed a spiritual command. 
 Their proceedings were now intolerable, and Friends 
 had to resort to legal means of stopping their con- 
 duct. Magistrates and constables soon accomplished 
 for these extravagant persons what the milder protests 
 of Friends had been unable to effect. 
 
 Another embarrassment was created about this time 
 by a posthumous publication by Job Scott, who had 
 been regarded as a great authority by all classes of 
 Friends. It was found to contain sentiments decidedly 
 Hicksite. 
 
 Several English ministers also came over to America 
 during these conflicts, and it seems more than doubtful 
 whether they did not rather add to the difficulties 
 than lessen them. They were all very excellent 
 Friends themselves, but it so happened that nearly- 
 all, except William Forster of Norwich, who pursued 
 a conciliatory p<jlicy towards each division, had a full 
 ordinary share of human frailty, and joined in various 
 degrees with those actuated by party-spirit. Amongst 
 these was the worthy Thomas ShiUitoe. Several 
 
150 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Friends in America spoke to me of his good life and 
 intentions, and great constitutional irritability. An 
 Orthodox Friend mentioned to me his having been 
 present at an agitated meeting during the Hicksite 
 controversy, when Thomas Shillitoe, who was mor- 
 bidly nervous, became alarmed at the fear of an acci- 
 dent from a noise in a gallery above, or from some 
 other fearful feeling, and rushed out of the meeting 
 by a side-door, but, just in the act of leaving, called 
 back to the Orthodox who remained, " Stand firm. 
 Friends, stand firm." ^t is probable that some of 
 these worthy English Friends took a distorted view 
 of things, from confining themselves too exclusively 
 to association with those only whose opinions were 
 accordant with their own previous views, and tinged, 
 in addition, with much personal and party feeling. I 
 was informed that through some of these visitors a 
 more rigid policy was in some instances adopted 
 against the Hicksites, in the way of disowning more 
 freely than would otherwise have been the case. 
 
 A circumstance which tended to bring matters in 
 New York to a crisis, occurred in 1826. This was 
 the prospect of a marriage between the daughter of a 
 prominent Orthodox minister of that city to a young 
 man who was a member of the Hicksite meeting at 
 Green Street, Philadelphia. Although the latter 
 meeting did not formally separate until 1827, yet 
 matters were so nearly decided in 1826, that the 
 Orthodox Friends in New York endeavoured to oppose 
 the reception, by their own meeting, of the intended 
 bridegroom as a real member of the Society. They 
 were, however, overruled by the large majority of 
 Hicksites in their city, and the wedding took place 
 
• THE HICKSITES. 151 
 
 accordingly. But a sharp dispute of two hours* 
 duration preceded the consent of the meeting. 
 
 The New York Yearly Meeting of 1827 was a 
 very disorderly occasion. The proceedings were 
 commenced by the Hicksites, who made a violent 
 personal attack on the honour of the clerk and 
 assistant-clerk. Friends were rising and speaking in 
 great disorder, some calling to others to sit down, and 
 others forcing their opinions. One said to a minister, 
 " Come, Henry, thee has spoken seventeen times 
 already." " I will speak as often as I please," was 
 the rejoinder. The Hicksites were especially violent 
 and personal in their attacks on this occasion. A 
 tempest of thunder, lightning and rain, without, 
 added to the excitement going on within the walls of 
 the meeting. At the end of the day, a valuable 
 elderly Friend remarked, — "The scene has been 
 awful — it has been dreadful; if this is to be the 
 result of our deliberations, we had better never meet 
 again. Such language — such exhibitions of feeling 
 as have been witnessed this afternoon — can compare 
 with nothing but the awful conflict of the elements 
 with which they were attended." The whole of the 
 yearly meeting was similarly distinguished, but no 
 secession took ])lace. 
 
 Next year things were worse still; for, at the 
 yearly meeting of 1828, speakers were pulled by 
 their coats and forcibly held down in their seats ; and, 
 on some occasions, when Orthodox ministers were 
 preaching, a number of Hicksites would rise and 
 leave the meetings with much noise and disturbance. 
 The Hicksites had, at various times, used physical 
 force and personal violence, and the Orthodox could 
 
152 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 endure it no longer. Accordingly, in 1828, they 
 withdrew from the large majority with whom they 
 had previously been associated, and thus effected the 
 second and finally decisive separation of the Society 
 of Friends in America into the Orthodox and Hicksite 
 bodies. 
 
 Various disputes arose, both in New York and 
 Pennsylvania, about the property previously belonging 
 to the united body. In most cases it was adjudged 
 by the courts of law that the Hicksite doctrines were 
 more in accordance with those of the Early Friends 
 than those of the Orthodox. But a similar prepon- 
 derance of public opinion was expressed as to the 
 greater accordance of the latter with the plain sense 
 of the Holy Scriptures, and with the * ordinary 
 acceptation of pure and sound Christianit}^ 
 
 Since the secession the Hicksites have continued or 
 reorganized their body into six provinces, or yearly 
 meetings, respectively, those of Philadelphia, New 
 York, Genessee (held in alternate years at Farraington, 
 New York, and Pickering, in Upper Canada), Ohio 
 (held alternately at Salem and Mount Pleasant), 
 Indiana (at Waynesville and Richmond), and Balti- 
 more. The first three are held in the spring, the 
 others in the autumn. The Hicksite quarterly meeting 
 of Philadelphia includes fourteen constituent meetings 
 in that city and its vicinity. The number of meetings 
 in the Orthodox quarterly meeting of Philadelphia is 
 twelve. 
 
 At Race Street has recently been erected by the 
 Hicksites a spacious and very neat meeting-house, at 
 an expense altogether of 100,000 dollars (£20,000). 
 A considerable portion of this sum was contributed by 
 
THE HICKSITES. 153' 
 
 their youncrer members. On the premises is a large 
 day school for the education of their children. Four 
 hundred and fifty scholars receive an excellent 
 education there, and it has a high reputation even 
 amongst the Orthodox Friends. One of the Professors 
 at Haverford College informed me that those of their 
 students who came from the large Hicksite school 
 were peculiarly well prepared for prosecuting higher 
 studies. The scholars all attend the meeting held at 
 Race Street in the middle of each week. On first 
 days they attend separately, as members of their 
 respective families. In connexion with this meeting 
 is a large and well-selected lending library of general 
 literature for the use of the attenders. 
 
 Generally in the United States, at any rate in the 
 cities, the Hick sites appear to have larger and better 
 meeting-houses than the Orthodox. They have not 
 paid 80 much attention, except at Philadelphia, to the 
 establishment of schools or institutions like Earlham 
 and Haverford. But they have some boarding-schools, 
 as those of Sharon and London Grove, Pa., and 
 Eldridge's Hill and Chesterfield, New Jersey. They 
 have in Philadelphia a weekly periodical called the 
 " Friends' Intelligencer." 
 
 There is an interesting account in one of its 
 recent numbers of the Hicksite yearly meeting at 
 Philadelphia in 1860, which, in some respects, compares 
 favourably with the Orthodox one. 
 
 " The attendance was remarkably large, and, 
 throughout the sittings, the meeting was marked by 
 a prevalence of love and condescension. During the 
 week there were exhortations addressed to the different 
 classes of Society, especially to the young, counselling 
 
154 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 them to watchfulness and diligent attention to the 
 several testimonies introduced by the queries. To 
 the maintenance of religious meetings they were 
 affectionately invited; at the same time they were 
 admonished that worship was not confined to these, 
 but consists in every act of obedience to the Inward 
 Voice. Temperance in entertainments, moderation in 
 dress, and other expenditures, was urged upon them, 
 and the deep responsibilities which their privileges 
 involve, presented to their notice in a forcible 
 manner. 
 
 " The interest in education appears to increase, and 
 an inquiry into the exact state of schools in each 
 constituent meeting enjoined to be made the ensuing 
 year, in order that neighbourhood schools may be 
 such as were designed by Friends, w^hen, in the early 
 settlement of this country, they placed a school- 
 house wherever they built a meeting-house. Believing 
 that the most lasting impressions are made in child- 
 hood, they were advised to give particular attention 
 to the education of their little children, and not to 
 consider their culture in later years as of more 
 importance than their early instruction. 
 
 *^ The answers to the sixth query give evidence that 
 an increasing number of the members consider the 
 produce of slave labour as fraudulently obtained; 
 the Society, however, was reminded that this acknow- 
 ledgment will avail nothing, if Friends remain content 
 with the mere recognition of shortcoming in this 
 respect. The inestimable importance of discouraging 
 the spirit of war, in the maintenance of the testimony 
 against slavery, was strongly advocated, and it was 
 urged that, in the present condition of the country, it 
 
THE mCKSITES. 155 
 
 is peculiarly essential to remain steadfast to the 
 principle of peace." 
 
 Reference was made to the purifying power of 
 affliction, and the simile was introduced that different 
 ores require different degrees of heat to purify them 
 from dross. " The Lord loveth whom He chasteneth, 
 and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." 
 
 The Hicksites pay great attention to the duties of 
 morality, and their ministry is largely composed of 
 exhortations to the practice of these duties ; but there 
 is a general omission of the subject^ of the sufferings 
 of Christ for men, and of the thorough depravity of 
 the human heart, and the personality of Satan. It is 
 rather by its omissions of some essential truths, than 
 by its positive statements, that Hicksite doctrine is 
 unsound ; although there are some directly erroneous 
 assertions respecting the Scriptures and the Atone- 
 ment The Hicksites now profess that they are 
 not different in their sentiments from the Early 
 Friends, and that they are also substantially in union 
 with the views of the Orthodox Friends of the 
 present day. 
 
 Their discipline is less strict than that of the other 
 American Friends, and they often bear long with 
 offenders, carrying forbearance even to an extreme. 
 They have been quite an example to some of their 
 Orthodox brethren in their mutual courtesy and the 
 harmony of their meetings. At the same time, this 
 has probably been partly owing to being too lax 
 in discipline. Their elder members are extremely 
 pai-ticular in retaining the " peculiar " dress, but are 
 not censorious on others who differ from them on 
 these and similar matters. Most of their younger 
 
156 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 members have wholly relinquished the peculiarities of 
 dress and speech. 
 
 Although the principle of inward guidance by a 
 Divine Spirit is a most precious and indispensable 
 one, yet it is essential that it be held in connexion 
 with the authority of Holy Scripture, and especially 
 with the revelation of Christ's deity, humanity, and 
 mediation. In proportion to the excellence of a thing 
 rightly used, is the mischief of its abuse. And so 
 this holy and invaluable doctrine of the Inner Light of 
 Divine counsel is one of the deadliest errors that can 
 be conceived when separated from its right concomi- 
 tants, as it is by the Hicksite doctrine. It is easy to 
 understand that if any man chooses to set up the 
 inward voices in his own heart as being infallible, and 
 not dependent upon the checks and tests of Holy 
 Scripture, then there is no protection against the 
 inroads of fanaticism and infidelity. I was credibly 
 informed in America, that some of the worst atheism 
 in that country has emanated from, and had for its 
 boldest advocates, persons who once were Friends, or 
 held their views. 
 
 Hicksism, as seen in many or most of its professors, 
 is in itself very distinct from infidelity, and possesses 
 much that is both Christian and Friendly ; but one of 
 its special dangers lies in having broken down the 
 walls of Bible authority and evangelical doctrine, 
 which can alone place an effective barrier and clear 
 distinction between spiritual liberty and sceptical 
 license. 
 
 The influence of Socinian and Universalist ten- 
 dencies is the very bane of several religious deno- 
 minations in America, especially in New England. 
 
THE HICKSITES. 157 
 
 The J have tinged large portions of religious com- 
 munities in that country, whose recognized doctrines 
 are evangelical, and especially the Congregationalists. 
 There is, perhaps, reason to fear that even some of 
 the Orthodox Friends in the Eastern States, or at 
 least in New England, have been a little tinctured 
 with Socinian ideas. The three large denominations 
 of Methodists, Baptists, and Episcopalians bear an 
 emphatic testimony to the scriptural authority and 
 evangelical nature of Christianity. In this the 
 Methodists are especially faithful. They are the 
 largest and most active religious denomination in the 
 United States. 
 
 The chief seat of Socinian influence is at Boston 
 and its vicinity. The Harvard University at Cam- 
 bridge, about three miles from Boston, is wholly 
 under this influence. That institution is a favourite 
 one with young Friends (Orthodox as well as 
 Hicksite) who wish a more extended course, and 
 under presumed greater intellectual advantages than 
 they can obtain in their own Society, especially 
 because the faculty of Harvard includes some of the 
 foremost names in American science and literature, as 
 Agassiz, and the poet Longfellow. 
 
 The effects of Socinian tendencies, especially as 
 witnessed in New England, appear to be a high 
 degree of intellectual and aBsthetic refinement, much 
 liberality of judgment, practical moral worth, and a 
 strong reliance on the capacity and dignity of human 
 nature. But, with all this, there is a general accom- 
 paniment of spiritual coldness, and a striking absence 
 of emotional fervour, as well as of a sense of contrition 
 before God. A very intelligent and agreeable person. 
 
158 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 a graduate of Harvard, acknowledged to me this 
 tendency of Unitarianism to produce coldness and 
 absence of fervour, though himself an attached 
 adherent to that religious system. 
 
 In the contemplation of Socinian effects, whether in 
 Hicksism or in Unitarianism, we are again reminded 
 of the vast importance of that precept — " What God 
 hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
 Truths designed to be of the highest value^ when 
 held in union with those to which they are originally 
 joined, become doubly mischievous when disassociated. 
 The spirit and the letter ; the Bible and the Inward 
 Guidance ; faith and effort ; must ever be thus 
 connected, and cannot with impunity be separated. 
 
 On the one hand, how often do we see persons who 
 profess a most scriptural creed, and a faith in salvation 
 by Christ alone, yet giving scarcely any practical 
 evidence that they are at all of more religious or 
 moral lives, than some of the avowedly indifferent 
 and profligate. The reason is, because they have not 
 completed their Christianity by a practical, prayerful 
 recognition and reception of the Holy Spirit, who 
 alone is able to open the Scriptures to our under- 
 standings, and to give us a heartfelt sense of our sin, 
 and a fervid love for Christ and ability to obey Him. 
 
 On the other hand, we may also see Christians 
 who profess an emphatic recognition of the need of 
 the Holy Spirit's help in all things, and who make 
 strenuous efforts to follow His guidance, yet display 
 glaring imperfections for want of completing their 
 spiritual resources by receiving the authoritative 
 standard of the ordinary interpretation of the plain 
 scope of the Bible, and thus fail to perceive the Deity 
 
FRIENDLY PHRASEOLOGY. 159 
 
 of Christ whilst in human form ; for it was this His 
 Deity which imparts such mighty authority of example 
 to even the most ordinary acts and words of Jesus, 
 and such infinitely attractive depth of love and self- 
 denial to the manifestation of His sympathy with 
 men, by coming down for awhile into their own 
 condition and sufferings, but without yielding to the 
 sins of human nature, whilst undergoing all its trials. 
 If Christ in the flesh was not also God thus manifest, 
 what is He to us more than an ordinary good man ; or 
 how can He appeal mightily to men's affections and 
 emotions of sympathy ? 
 
 And another consequence of not recognizing the 
 Deity of Jesus is, that we have otherwise no proof 
 that humanity has ever been, or can be, admitted into 
 the presence of the perfect, immaculate holiness of the 
 Almighty God. But if Jesus was perfect God, as 
 well as perfect manhood, then we have proof of the 
 real reception of humanity into the Divine immediate 
 presence — we behold a real and accomplished 
 mediation. A perfection and complete holiness is 
 required of us, but it can only be a perfect repentance, 
 a holiness of heartfelt wish and yearning for God 
 instead of for sin; — this repentance being expressed 
 and renewed, Christ will supplement us with the 
 actual perfection of His Being, to satisfy wholly our 
 past deficiencies, and, by degrees,]our future ones also. 
 
 FRIENDLY PHRASEOLOGY IN AMERICA. 
 
 The American Friends, in the use of the peculiar 
 speech of the Society, seldom adopt the pronoun 
 
160 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 " thou/' but, almost universally, " tliee." But more 
 than a few of them, especially in the Eastern States, 
 have assumed the usual mode of ordinary address, 
 that of the pronoun " you," and are similarly non- 
 peculiar in using the current names of the days of the 
 week and months of the year. This departure from 
 long-existing uniformity in minutiae has (as in the 
 similar case of dress) been a frequent occasion of 
 unpleasantness in the Society in America, as in 
 England to a less degree, through the expression of 
 socially criticising disparagements, or of official eccle- 
 siastical action. 
 
 There is much to admire in the simplicity and 
 pleasant old associations of the long-standing Quaker 
 mode of speech ; and it is to be wished that it may 
 continue to be retained by Friends amongst themselves, 
 or at least by those who prefer it. It originated 
 partly in the feeling that a church should form a sort 
 of family union, something closer than the connexion 
 between fellow-members and others not similarly 
 associated with them. This it is desirable to continue. 
 There is a pleasantness in it, as in the French tu, te, 
 toi, of brothers and sisters, parents and children. But 
 this friendly association is lost, or much weakened, if 
 applied indiscriminately to those who are wholly 
 strangers, and unconnected by denominational rela- 
 tionship. 
 
 Universal charity and Christian philanthropy are 
 not lessened, but increased, by a close denominational 
 attachment. Sectarianism is not a bad thing, if it 
 does not involve interference with, or judgment of, 
 others. The more sects in the Christian church the 
 better, provided their chief effect is to produce closer 
 
FRIENDLY PHRASEOLOGY. 161 
 
 and closer associations of religious party. There is a 
 good and desirable party-spirit and clanship, which, 
 whilst it intensifies the union of some in particular, 
 does not hinder, but rather promotes, the good of 
 others in general. The more a man is attached to 
 his own kindred, the better citizen he is to those not 
 thus related to him. 
 
 Similarly the use of a more familiar phraseology 
 by the members of the Society of Friends amongst 
 themselves will be more binding inasmuch as it is not 
 extended to others less associated with it. 
 
 Therefore we may well wish that the "thee and 
 thou" of Quakerism may not (as some predict^ die 
 out. But this should not be regarded as an essential 
 — as a matter for criticism — but one of entire per- 
 sonal liberty and choice. Some Friends have believed 
 it to be a clear duty for them ; but others have been 
 as clearly liberated from such claims. Every man is, 
 in these matters, responsible to God alone. 
 
 As to the ti-uthfulness of" thou" or "you," respec- 
 tively, they are both alike, to all intents and purposes, 
 now-a-days. It may be, that in some distant antiquity 
 most persons used the singular pronouns, as, for 
 instance, the Greeks and Romans ; and that eventually 
 this address did actually become changed to a plural 
 form through circumstances of flattery, first applied 
 to monarchs only. But what is this to us of to-day ? 
 " You" is now by universal acceptation quite as sin- 
 gular as " thou." 
 
 And as to antiquity, why if we are to disclaim the 
 use of every word, phrase, or allusion, which was 
 formerly introduced or modified, on grounds not 
 wholly defensible, we shall, indeed, have an arduous 
 
 M 
 
162 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 task of examination, and a still more arduous task of 
 practical peculiarity, in maintaining the disuse of all 
 such expressions when proved to be of doubtful 
 derivation. To be perfectly consistent, v^e should 
 have to carry about a huge derivative dictionary 
 under one arm, and a similarly compendious archaeo- 
 logical cyclopaedia under the other, and give a world 
 of time and pains to the study of both. 
 
 If such dubiously originated expressions were at 
 first wrong, the responsibility of their adoption rests 
 on their introducers, who understood them in their 
 first, literal, and derivative signification and association. 
 But subsequent generations, centuries later, neither 
 retain the one nor the other, but take them simply in 
 the sense impressed on them by the lapse of time and 
 the association of existing circumstances. 
 
 These remarks apply also to the ordinary names of 
 the days of the week and the months of the year. 
 Whoever thinks of Wodin in connexion with Wed- 
 nesday, or of Tuisco with Tuesday ? And what is it to 
 us if December be originally the tenth or twelfth 
 month, so long as it is now universally understood as 
 the latter ? And even the straitest of the good Friends 
 in Philadelphia talk complacently about the planets 
 "Jupiter" and " Venus," whilst they would, some of 
 them at least, severely criticise any Friend of 
 "station" who should date his letters "Saturday," or 
 " May ; " — but where is the difference ? To say that 
 the planets have no duplicate names would be merely 
 an argument of " expediency." 
 
 All this criticism and trouble will be spared, and 
 more time given to fundamentals of infinitely higher 
 importance, especially to Christian charity and prepa- 
 
FRIENDLY PHRASEOLOaT. 163 
 
 ration for eternity, if such minutiae are left to their 
 proper scriptural place, — individual responsibility to 
 God alone. No church authority whatever has any 
 business to interfere with them, even by criticism, 
 any more than the British Queen or the United 
 States President has a right to interfere with the 
 domestic arrangement of furniture, or the position of 
 books on private library shelves. These are trifles 
 equally below the dignity as below the right of such 
 interference. 
 
 It is true that, in these peculiarities of speech, most 
 of the Early Friends were united ; — and what is that 
 to lis ? We may respect, and even venerate them 
 (as it is to be hoped we do), but we need not imitate 
 these their non-essential practices in minutisB, any 
 more than we are universally bound to retain the 
 material of George Fox's leathern dress, or the liberal 
 dimensions of that of stout William Penn. All these 
 things are trifles — not trifling, perhaps, in their private 
 individual requirement — but contemptibly trifling, as 
 to any claim to public uniformity. 
 
 Some truly friendly Friends of Philadelphia re- 
 marked to me — '* We take little interest in the disci- 
 pline of the Society here ; we have not done so for 
 years ; there is so much importance attached to tem- 
 poral trifles of dress, speech, and church * order,' 
 that if we were not to keep aloof we should be pre- 
 vented from giving attention to the awful claims and 
 realities of a future existence, and to the precious 
 fundamental truths of Christianity. We really have 
 not time for it, if we would do our duty to our Lord." 
 
 The objection that the disuse of the peculiarities of 
 dress and speech by Friends will involve an altera- 
 m2 
 
164 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 tion in the appearance of the Society, is simply an 
 archaeological one, — -just as fond antiquarians would 
 object to the removal of the " Old Mill " at Newport, 
 Rhode Island, or of Temple Bar, London. Of course. 
 Friends will have changed in some respects, but it 
 may be a great change for the better. 
 
 When railroads were first projected in England, 
 many people predicted all kinds of doleful consequences 
 — " The noble breed of English horses will become 
 extinct ; our streets will be paced by starving pale- 
 faced coach drivers and guards ; carriers, too, will be 
 driven to the workhouse ; whole trains will be buried 
 by tunnels falling in ; the cattle will be perpetually 
 terrified by passing engines," — and so on, to an 
 absurd category of fancied results. But the number 
 of English horses is now fivefold of what it was ; 
 their drivers, whether by carriage, omnibus, or cab, 
 are neither pale nor starving; and the increased 
 demand for cross-country traffic has much increased, 
 instead of decreased, the number of carriers. 
 
 Similarly it is likely to be with Quakerism in its 
 future course. Less attention to minute traditional 
 peculiarities; more earnest heed to present, scriptur ally- 
 binding, universal duties of preparation for the realities 
 of eternity ; less criticism of one another's dress and 
 phraseology; but far more vital union in "striving 
 together with one mind for the faith of the Gospel." 
 
 BURLINGTON. 
 
 Burlington is classic ground in the history of 
 American Quakerism. It was a settlement of Friends 
 
BUBLINaTON. 165 
 
 several years before Philadelphia was founded, and it 
 had regularly organized monthly, quarterly, and 
 yearly meetings before any such were held in that 
 city. The first yearly meeting in New Jersey was 
 held at Burlington, in 1681 (one had been held at 
 Newport, Rhode Island, twenty years previously, in 
 1661, which was the first of the kind in America). 
 The first regular yearly meeting at Philadelphia was 
 in 1685. One continued to be held from that date 
 alternately at Philadelphia and Burlington, until 
 1761, when it was entirely settled at the former city, 
 where it has ever since continued to be held, and 
 of this assembly Burlington forms a constituent. 
 Amongst other well-known Quaker names associated 
 with Burlington are those of John Woolman, George 
 Dillwyn, and Stephen Grellet I saw on two door- 
 plates in the principal street, the names of Woolman 
 and Franklin. 
 
 Like many other places, the Quaker interest of 
 Burlington is a thing of the past rather than of the 
 present, but it still has an influential and agreeable 
 body of Friends resident there. Amongst these are 
 William J. Allinson, Eliza P. Gurney (the widow of 
 Joseph John Gurney), and Rebecca Grellet (the 
 widow of Stephen Grellet). Wm. J. Allinson is the 
 author of several works, well known to Friends in 
 America and Great Britain, and has been actively 
 connected with his poetic friend, John G. Whittier, in 
 conducting anti-slavery newspapers and associations. 
 
 G. W. Doane, one of the principal poets of America, 
 lived many years at Burlington, which was the scene 
 of his Episcopal labours as successor to Bishop 
 Ravenscroft, whose virtues he has commemorated in 
 
166 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 those lines beginning — " The good old man is gone." 
 Both bishops are interred in the neat cemetery of the 
 town. They presided over the New Jersey diocese 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which corres- 
 ponds in America to the Episcopal Church of England, 
 but with the distinction that whereas the latter is 
 under special State patronage, its American represen- 
 tative enjoys no such distinguishing favour, as the 
 Government of the United States recognizes a full 
 equality of position for all religious denominations. 
 Every church in America must rely entirely on the 
 voluntary efforts of its own members for its support ; 
 and there is no country in the world where public 
 religious efforts and organizations are more exten- 
 sively undertaken or generally supported, than in the 
 United States. Pastorates, foreign and home missions, 
 Bible and Tract Societies, Sabbath schools and re- 
 ligious libraries, are all carried on in that country by 
 the various denominations with wonderful energy and 
 liberality, and over vast geographical extent. 
 
 Burlington is a very neat town, and not only are 
 its streets well avenued, but it has so many trees in 
 and around it, as to be quite buried from sight by 
 foliage, except one or two of its white steeples, when 
 viewed from the deck of a steam-boat at a short dis- 
 tance below its landing stage on the banks of the 
 Delaware. Immediately opposite, on the Pennsylvania 
 side of the river, is the town of Bristol, to and from 
 which there is a steam ferry every quarter of an hour. 
 Burlington is the ecclesiastical metropolis of New 
 Jersey, being not only the residence of a bishop, but 
 also the seat of Burlington Episcopal College, and of 
 two other large educational institutions. It is about 
 
BUELINGTON. 167 
 
 ten miles from Treuton, the State capital, and twenty 
 from Philadelphia. The New York and Philadelphia 
 railway passes through it, and the trains run down 
 the middle of a long street, ringing a warning bell all 
 the way through it, till out of the town. Besides this 
 connexion by rail there are steamers which go up and 
 down the Delaware several times a day between 
 Philadelphia, Burlington, and Trenton. 
 
 Although this river is not so picturesque as the 
 Schuylkill, Potomac, Patapsco, Hudson, and other 
 American streams which flow between romantic 
 mountain scenery, yet it is far from being unin- 
 teresting. At Burlington it is nearly a quarter of a 
 mile broad, and its banks are covered on each side 
 with miles of groves, villas, and gardens. The 
 country all around is beautifully green and well 
 cultivated, and sprinkled with many small towns, 
 whose white spires rise here and there above the long 
 lines of avenues and woods. Amongst the houses are 
 many comfortable homesteads of the last century, — the 
 residences of prosperous Philadelphia merchants ; 
 others are quite new, and are built in the latest city 
 style, with plate -glass bow -windows, and pillared 
 porticos. Many have soft green lawns in front, 
 slanting down to terraced walks by the river's side. 
 
 The evening that I returned to the city from 
 Burlington was a very fine one, and the long yellow 
 lines of a fine sunset were streaming across the 
 meadows, between the autumnal foliage and through 
 the numerous weeping willows and cedars along the 
 banks on to the wide windings of the river, and on 
 the large wliite steam-boats passing rapidly in all 
 directions. 
 
168 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 The Delaware has as many historic associations as 
 most American streams, extending from the days of 
 the peaceful Penn and his Indian treaty, and of the 
 old Swedish and Quaker fathers of the Colony, to the 
 sterner period of the revolutionary battles of Princeton, 
 Trenton, and Germantown, and the still more vigorous 
 times of the modern telegraphs, and the steam traffic 
 which is annually rendering this river one of the most 
 important channels in the world for every kind of 
 commerce, especially the inexhaustible supplies of 
 timber, iron, and coal from the Alleghany mountains, 
 in whose eastern slope it has its source. 
 
 A DAY AMONGST OLD EECOEDS AT BURLINGTON. 
 
 Owing to the very early settlement of Friends at 
 Burlington, and its having been a principal seat of 
 American Quakerism from the first, peculiar value 
 attaches to the official records of its meeting, which 
 have been carefully preserved throughout its existence; 
 and it was very interesting to me to have an oppor- 
 tunity of examining these, and making extracts from 
 them. Some of them are so vividly suggestive, both 
 of the excellences and defects of Early Quakerism 
 and " the good old times," that they scarcely need 
 any comment or introduction, and will probably have 
 a double interest of novelty and intrinsic value to 
 English Friends, who may now peruse them in these 
 " Sketches." 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 169 
 
 Commencing Minute of the First Booh of Records of 
 Burlington Monilily Meeting. 
 
 " Since, by the good Providence of God, many 
 Friends with their families have transported them- 
 selves into this province of West New Jersey, the 
 said Friends in those upper parts have found it 
 needful, according to our practice in the place we 
 came from, to settle monthly meetings for the well 
 ordering the affairs of the church ; it was agreed 
 that accordingly it should be done, and accordingly it 
 was done, the 15th of the 5th month, 1678." 
 
 - [I have modernized the orthography in the above, 
 and in some of the following extracts.] 
 
 Next follow the proceedings of the successive 
 monthly meetings for discipline at Burlington ; all are 
 regularly numbered in the book, as well as duly 
 dated, and subjoined is a copy of the entire records of 
 each of the first ten of these monthly assemblies, 
 verbatim et literatim. 
 
 Burlington Monthly Meeting Minutes. 
 
 L — " At y* monthly meeting at Burlington the 18th 
 day of y' G"* mo*"" 1678. It was agreed that a 
 collection be made once a month for y* relief of y* 
 poor and such other necessary uses as may accur; 
 the persons appointed to receive it are John Woolstone 
 and Will : Peache to be collected the first day before 
 y* monthly meeting." 
 
 II. — " At y* monthly meeting in Burlington the 
 5'^ day of y* 7th mo''' 1678. Friends took into 
 consideration y" paling in of the burying ground. 
 Thomas Leeds proposed his intentions of taking 
 
 XJNIVERtITT 
 
 RlITTJ 
 
170 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Margaret Colier to be his wife desireing y« approbation 
 of said meeting therein." 
 
 III. — " At y^ monthly meeting at Burlington the 
 3^ day of y^ 8*^ mo*'^ 1678. Tho: Leeds proposed 
 his intention y^ second time of taking Margeret 
 Collier to be his wife and y^ meeting gave their 
 consent." 
 
 ly. — "At y^ monthly meeting in Burlington y** 
 gth of ye gth jjjQ^ ig^g^ Friends there assembled did 
 give order that all births of friends' children should 
 be recorded in a book and also all manages thatt 
 freinds have Unity w*^ and such as are permitted to 
 take one another amongst us should likewise be 
 recorded in a book and the buryings of all friends 
 and their children and servants and such as friends 
 have y^ disposing of that they also be recorded in a 
 book as a memoriall to generations to come. Freinds 
 also stak't or mark't out y^ burying ground and 
 gave order for y^ fencing of itt." 
 
 V. — " At y* monthly meeting in burlington y^ 3^ 
 of y* 10*^ mo. 1678. Henery ReynoUs and Prudence 
 Cleyton proposed their intentions of mariage to 
 friends Desiring their approbation." 
 
 VI. — " At y® mont : meeting of Friends in Burling- 
 ton y^ 2^ of y* ll*** mo: 1678. Henry Renols and 
 Prudence Cleyton proposed their intentions y* 2°*^ 
 time which y® said meeting pmitted." 
 
 YII. — " Att y^ monthly meeting of Freinds in 
 Burlington y^ 2*^ of y^ 12*'^ mo. 1678. But no busines 
 was proposed." 
 
 VIII. — "At our monthly meeting of Freinds in 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 171 
 
 Burlington y* 7^^ of y^ l**" month 167f . But nothing 
 material 1 was pposed to be recorded." 
 
 IX. — " At the monthly meeting of Freinds in 
 Burlington y* 3^ of y** 2'^ mo. 1679. Robert Zean 
 and Allice Alday pposed y^ intentions of mariage 
 desiring y* approbation of said meeting." 
 
 X. — " At y* monthly meeting in Burlington y* 3** 
 of y* 3*^ mo. 1679. Where no business was presented." 
 
 [In these records we see the real simplicity of the 
 Early Friends, and a great contrast to the complexity 
 and formality which gradually crept into later times, 
 until they have become so irksome, in many cases, as 
 to be no longer endurable, and to have necessitated 
 much alteration. The other successive records of 
 Burlington monthly meeting present many repetitions 
 of the above simple nature, with variations according 
 to circumstances, as, for instance, the following.] 
 
 XIII. — " At y® monthly meeting in Burlington y* 
 7th q£ ye gjjj jjjQ^ 1679. James Brown Weaver of 
 Upland alias Markes hook upon y* River Dallaware 
 and Honour Cleyton of Burlington did ppose their 
 intentions of marriage y* secound time where y® 
 meeting permitted them to pass." " It was proposed 
 to y' meeting's consideration for severall reasons 
 whether they might not see itt meett to alter y* 
 monthly meeting to another day appointed for that 
 service only and consent was given to be sett down in 
 the book that itt might be spoken to y* next meeting." 
 
 XIV. — " At y* monthly meeting in Burlington y" 
 4th Qf y9 yth ^Q^ 1679. Where y* consideration of 
 y* alteration of y* monthly meeting was refer*d till y* 
 
172 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 next monthly meeting. It was also desired y* Friends 
 would consider y^ matter as touching y® selling of 
 rum unto Indians be lawfull att all for friends pfessing 
 Truth to be concerned in itt." 
 
 XXL — " At y* monthly meeting at John Wool- 
 stone's house in Burlington y^ 1 of y^ 2"^ mo*^ 1680. 
 At which meeting was some conference concearning 
 giving forth a testimony against Jonathan Eldridge 
 and Martha WagstaflP but nothing concluded." 
 
 XXII. — " At a monthly meeting at John Wool- 
 stone's house in Burlington y^ P* of y^ 5**' mo. 1680. 
 Where it was ordered y* y^ collection should be again 
 revived, And after harvist to fence in y^ burying 
 place aforementioned." 
 
 XXXI. — ** At a monthly meeting att Jno Woolston's 
 house in Burlington y^ 2"^^ of y^ 3^ mo, 1680. It is 
 agreed y* y^ meeting at Rancocas be held at y® house 
 of Tho Harding both first days and fourth days also, 
 and to begin on both days att y^ 11th hour. It is 
 likewise ordered y* y® meeting at Shakamaxon be held 
 at y® house of Thomas Fearman and to begin at y® 
 11th hour on every first day. It was unanimously 
 agreed y* a generall meeting be yearly held in Burling- 
 ton y* 1st of which is to be on y® 28th of y^ 6th mo. 
 1681." 
 
 XXXiy. — " At a monthly meeting at Burlington 
 y** 1st of y^ 6th mo. 1681. The business concearning 
 Jona: Eldridge is refer*^ till next meeting, Rob* Stacey 
 and W"" Brightwen to speak with Daniell Wills to 
 enquire his reasons why he would not answer y* 
 meeting when sent for and to give y® meeting an 
 
OLD RECORDS AT DURLE<GTON. 173 
 
 account" [Daniel appears to have been " disowned " 
 at the next monthly meeting.] 
 
 [The general or yearly meeting, first held in 
 Burlington in 1681, "in y* house of Tho. Gardiner," 
 instituted various regular meetings subordinate to 
 itself, and, amongst others, a meeting for discipline 
 for the women Friends to transact their own matters in. 
 The yearly meeting of 1682 issued a general address 
 or epistle to its constituent meetings, as follows : — ] 
 
 " Friends — To you who may be concerned this is 
 written for the Truth's sake by way of advice from 
 the general meeting that male and female both old 
 and young who make mention of the name of the 
 Lord may all take heed that they be not found in 
 nor wearing of superfluity of apparel nor immoderate 
 and unseemly taking of tobacco, also selling of 
 needless things whereby any may take occasion of 
 offence justly but that we may be found to be kept 
 within the bounds of moderation and within the 
 limits of the Spirit of Truth and may be known to be 
 governed by the Truth in all concerns. So shall we 
 be to the glory of God and the comfort of one another 
 which is the desire of 
 
 " Your Friends and Brethren." 
 
 CCXXl. — " At a monthly meeting at Burlington 
 y* 1** of y* 1st mo. 169^ — Whereas some difference 
 appeared between Christopher Wetherill and Richard 
 French concearning a peice of meadow in dispence 
 between them Jno Brown ordered to speak to Rich'* 
 to be here at the next mo'^ meeting." 
 
 DCCIII. — " At a monthly meeting at Burlington 
 y« 2^* of 3** mo. 1737. The Friends appointed to 
 
174 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 attend the quarterly meeting are as followeth, Caleb 
 Raper, Rob* Smith, Joshua Raper, John Buthon, 
 James Lippincott, Joseph Burr, Tho^ Busby, Rich** 
 Gibbs, John Buffin, which friends are desired to 
 acquaint the quarterly meeting with the state of our 
 meeting which is that Friends in the general are in 
 love and unity one with another and are diligent in 
 attending of meetings and the discipline of the church 
 is kept to in a good degree. As to the state of the 
 ministry those that appear in public testimony are 
 well received their testimony being sound and edifying 
 and diligent in attending meetings both first days and 
 other meeting days and are in love and unity one 
 with another." — " The women freind acquainted this 
 meeting that the widdow Stork still continued her 
 request for sum money to supply her necessities for 
 which tlie meeting appoints Dan' Smith and Tho* 
 Scattergood to enquire into her sircomstances and 
 advise her for the best they can to get her living and 
 to let her have of that money that is in bank of the 
 monthly meeting stock as introst money." 
 
 DCCVII. (5th of 7th mo., 1737.)— "The correcting 
 and revising of y^ monthly meeting minuits is still 
 refarred further and those friends that are appointed 
 for that servis are to see that work of Tho^ Scatter- 
 good in transcribing the monthly meeting book that 
 he may be satisfied for his labour." 
 
 [There are many examples in these records of the 
 care and forbearance of early Friends in dealing with 
 delinquent members, and, even in cases of gross im- 
 propriety, they did not usually disown or cast off the 
 offender, if he really appeared sorry for what he had 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 175 
 
 done. Their clemency was sometimes carried too far, 
 and their charity, perhaps, occasionally extended to 
 weakness; but it was a failing far superior to the 
 rigorous system of prompt disownment which, in later 
 years, was adopted, and is still retained by some of 
 the American meetings. The Hicksites compare 
 favourably with many of the Orthodox bodies in this 
 respect, as I have had opportunity of witnessing. The 
 improvement and reclaiming of the offender was made 
 the prime object of the ancient discipline of Friends 
 in cases of delinquency. 
 
 Another still more important part of discipline is 
 the means of preventing delinquency, and promoting 
 the religious and moral improvement of the Society. 
 This also is exemplified by the old records of Bur- 
 lington. 
 
 There was one custom current in America formerly 
 more than amongst English Friends. This was the 
 requirement of a written acknowledgment of error 
 from delinquents, accompanied by expressions of re- 
 pentance. It was customary to read these at the 
 monthly meetings and record them on its minutes. 
 Some of them were proper enough, but a few are 
 unsuitable for any registry or transcription, and 
 many are both quaint in style and peculiar in 
 nature.] 
 
 Acknowledgment of Disaffection, 
 
 "Friends — Whereas I for want of watchfullness 
 suffered myself to be drawn aside at y® time of y* late 
 seperation from friends occasioned by George Keith. 
 Now these may signifie that I am hartyly sorry 
 for the same and do hope for the time to come I 
 
176 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 shall be more carefull and do desire that this may 
 satisfie the meeting ; subscribed by me 
 
 " Rich^ Fenimore." 
 
 A Printer's Acknowledgment, 
 
 "As concearning my almanack lately published 
 and by me disproved and do say that although what 
 is therein be not unsutiable for an almanack barely 
 considered yet I do beleive that there are some 
 pticulars in it that are two light and airy for one that 
 is a Christian indeed and I hope for time to come to 
 write more serious and also I intend publickly to 
 signify as much in my next almanack. I do write 
 this much from one who am your friend whilst I am 
 my own. " Daniel Leeds." 
 
 "Burlington, y« 8th of y« 12th mo., 1687. 
 
 Confession of Intemperance, 
 
 " Whereas I, W. H., for want of keeping to the 
 guidance of God's good Spirit inwardly, have at 
 several times been overtaken in drink for which I 
 have had many days of trouble and sorrow not 
 only on my own account but also that I have 
 dishonoured the Truth of which I have and do 
 make profession of which said action I do utterly 
 condemn and detest and hope for time to come to be 
 more circumspect and careful. W. H." 
 
 Acknowledgment of Bearing Arms, 
 
 " Insomuch that we whose names are underneath, 
 written are accused for taking up arms for to fight 
 and being required to give our answer these are 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 177 
 
 therefore to certifye the truth thereof to this meet- 
 ing which is as followeth, -viz. — The occasion of 
 our meeting together at that time was to report 
 that we heard from y® Indians that there was 
 an army of Frenchmen at Coexcink which is but 
 called a mile from some of our houses but consider- 
 ing the unlikelihood of it we did believe that there 
 was no such army there but hearing of some 
 Spanish Indians that were run away from a vessel 
 and likewise hearing that they had robbed several 
 houses in severall places we did conclude that if y® 
 Indians saw anybody it might be them because that 
 y' 'Indians said when they saw them they lay down 
 and when y** Indians went away from them they 
 arose again and when y® Indians looked back they 
 layed them down again. Uppon this condition we 
 concluded for to go see if we could find them and 
 also we thought it necessary for those that had guns 
 for to take them not with a design for to hurt much 
 less to kill man woman or child but we thought if 
 we could meet with those runaways that y" sight of 
 y* guns might fear them so that we phaps might 
 take them with y* less danger to ourselves and so 
 we went some with guns and some without and as 
 we were going we met two of our neighbours which 
 had been at Indian Town for to hear and see if they 
 could y' truth of y* matter and they understood by y* 
 Indians discourse that it was two of John Haine's 
 sons which y* Indians saw and they were coming to 
 tel us and so wee turned back againe and went 
 home, this is a true relation of y" whole matter. 
 Joseph Indecott, W" Petty, Jun^ Rich** Eayre, Jacob 
 Lamb." 
 
 H 
 
178 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Really, the good Friends of Burlington must have 
 been in a condition of "primitive simplicity," sure 
 enough, or they would hardly have seriously ordered 
 such a " relation" as the above to be enrolled amongst 
 the grave matters of their records. 
 
 It is still the universal custom of Friends, on the 
 removal of any of their members from one locality to 
 another, to send an official certificate of their mem- 
 bership, and to recommend the new comers to the 
 Christian care and kindness of those amongst whom 
 their lot is to be cast. This is now done in a brief 
 and very uniform document, but, in the early days of 
 Quakerism, there was much greater variety of ex- 
 pression in the wording of such documents, and details 
 were inserted which would not be considered necessary 
 now ; as, for instance, whether the removing parties 
 were free (if unmarried) from all previous engage- 
 ments which might be likely to interfere with the 
 propriety of any matrimonial proceedings amongst 
 those to whom they were about to remove. 
 
 In one respect these ancient documents are superior 
 to our own, — in the deeply religious Christian interest 
 manifested in individual members by the various 
 meetings in their collective capacity. 
 
 Certificate from Durham, England. 
 
 "From our monthly meeting at Raby in the 
 county of Durham the 24th day of the 4th month, 
 1718. Joseph Allanson the bearer hereof belonging 
 to our monthly meeting having acquainted us with 
 his inclination to remove out of our country into 
 Pennsylvania and desiring a certificate concerning 
 his life and conversation as also his clearness in rela- 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 179 
 
 tion to marriage. These therefore may certify Friends 
 where Providence may order his abode, that the friend 
 Joseph Allanson all along from his infancy belonged 
 to our aforesaid monthly meeting and has been in 
 unity with Friends living soberly and truth-like so 
 far as ever it came to our cognizance and has never 
 to our knowledge been concerned with any woman in 
 relation to marriage. The salutation of our dear and 
 tender love to you in the blessed Truth. Sent from 
 your friends whose names are underwrit. Wm Kay, 
 Will : Pickering, Jno Walton, Tho^ Dodshon, James 
 Trotter, George Coats, George Dixon, Dan^ Dods- 
 woYth, Geo Walker, Tho^ Richmond, H. Grainger, 
 Ralph Dixon, Jacob Allason, John Dodghon, Geo 
 "Wrightson, Caleb Bowran, Joseph Tayler," (and nine 
 others). 
 
 Certificate from the Bermuda Islands. 
 
 " These are for y* satisfaction of all Friends in Penn- 
 sylvania, New Jarsie, or elsewhere. These are to 
 certify you that our friend Mary Smith of this IsUmd 
 Barmoodas who is now intended to remove from hence 
 she is a maiden well reputed among friends an 
 entertainer of strangers and travelling friends (minis- 
 ters) in the day of her prosperity, the daughter of an 
 antient friend and as concerninij marriaffe free from 
 all men in this island so far as we know or ever 
 heard of. As is witnessed by friends of our meeting 
 whose names are underwritten." (Signed by fifteen 
 Friends.) "Barmoodas y' 11 day of y'' 5 month 1686.'" 
 
 Certificate from Woodberry Creek, 
 
 " To Friends of y' monthly meeting at Burlington. 
 N 2 
 
180 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 We the subscribers hereof being near neighbours to 
 Mary Hagg who sometime belonged to our meeting 
 of Woodberrj Creek, These are to certifie you that 
 she behayed yery well y* time she remained with us. 
 Giyen under hands this thirtyeth day of y"* first 
 month ano: dom: 1732." 
 
 Certificate from Bedfordshire, 
 " To the monthly meeting for Pensylyania. Freinds, 
 This is to satesfy you that John Day is clear from 
 debt and he and his wiffe has liyed soberly as becoms 
 y freinds of Truth. And so has their brother Harry 
 since he has been conyinced of the Trutli. Nayther 
 is he ingaged to any womankind as we know on. 
 This from Hunton in Bedfordshaire y^ 11th of y* 3*^ 
 m° 1682, Wm Barber, Rob* Cooks, Rich Barber, 
 James Barber," and seyen others. London Friends 
 endorsed this certificate below as follows : — " That 
 this is a trew koppy of y® satificats subscribed by 
 y^ forsayd persons witness our hands this 18th 3rd mo 
 1682, London, Benj Bangs, John Bangs, John 
 Goodson, Thomas Hilton, John Dolman, Eliz Bangs 
 widd." 
 
 Certificate from Dorsetshire. 
 " From our monthly meeting held at Sherborne in 
 Dorsetshire to our Friends in America these with 
 salutation &c. Dear Friends and Brethren, the bearer 
 William Masters whose parents were Friends be- 
 longing to this monthly meeting and educated him 
 according to our principles, but as too many haye 
 done before, he took a wife of another principle and 
 not in unity with us but of another Society, being 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 181 
 
 married by a priest, but she was a sober orderly 
 woman inclining to Friends strongly before she died. 
 Besides this wrong step too he miscarried in his 
 business not being able to pay his just debts but 
 have condemned his outgoings in both respects as 
 fully as can be done by words, and we hope is sincere 
 in what he has writ on the account : We therefore 
 certifie you on his behalf as near the Truth as we can 
 that in other respects he have behaved himself orderly 
 and well and we charitably hope, as he continues to do 
 so, the love of Friends will increase towards him and 
 his unity with them will be strengthened. We conclude 
 your Friends and Brethren. Signed in and on behalf 
 of the said meeting the 10th of 1st month 1750. 
 John Clothier, Josiah Seymer, Robert Ring, William 
 Rawis, jun"^." 
 
 One of my principal objects, in inserting these ex- 
 tracts from the old records of primitive Quakerism, 
 is to show the freedom and variety of detail adopted 
 by them in their discipline, and especially their patient 
 forbearance with their erring members. It is evident 
 that in those days they were not bound down by 
 accumulated precedents of a formal and stereotyped 
 discipline, but acted just according to the varying 
 requirements of their various conditions and circum- 
 stances. And such action is (however homely and 
 rustic may be its modes of expression) far more 
 favourable to harmony and edification than the formal 
 prescriptions and more rigorous discipline of later days, 
 when, under the restricting directions of printed autho- 
 ritative "Rules of Discipline," and legally precise 
 ideas of the requirements of ecclesiastical " order," our 
 
182 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Society has reached a degree of formalism which it 
 has recently cost English Friends much effort to 
 release themselves from, and which a large proportion 
 of our American brethren are still under the influence 
 of, to an extent which the events of the past quarter 
 of a century have shown to be very unfavourable to 
 mutual love or progress in vital Christianity. 
 
 Another characteristic of early Quakerism mani- 
 fested by these records, is their absence of a precisely 
 defined creed, as a requirement from those whom 
 they received into membership. They judged of the 
 sincerity of one another's religion, not so much by 
 verbal profession of any creed, as by the deep spiritual 
 instincts of their souls. 
 
 " They walked by faith, and not by sight, 
 By love, and not by law ; 
 The presence of the wrong or right 
 They rather felt than saw." 
 
 They called this solemn intuitional principle by the 
 simple name of " the Truth," feeling that it was that 
 voice of God within them which does, in greater or 
 less degree, make itself manifest to every man in his 
 better moments, and which, like the sunshine which 
 is its outward type, needs no verbal evidence or 
 logical argument of proof; for it is self-evident, self- 
 manifesting, intuitive, the universal, unchangeable and 
 everlasting Truth, which protests in the heart of 
 every man against falsehood, dishonesty, cruelty, and 
 degrading vice. 
 
 It is a mighty and indispensable power ; but expe- 
 rience has shown, and especially in our Society, that 
 we can only be faithful to this voice of divinely im- 
 
OLD RECORDS AT BURLINGTON. 183 
 
 planted Truth, and receive its counsels with tenderness 
 and reverence, as we also are aided by the supple- 
 mentary light of Holy Scripture, and the humbling, 
 love-producing revelation of the cross and sympa- 
 thizing humanity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, who was, in His double but united manifes- 
 tation, at the same time, perfect man and perfect God, 
 King, Creator, Father, Teacher, uncompromising 
 Holiness and infinitely sympathizing Pardon, all in 
 One. 
 
 We may conclude these extracts from the Burling- 
 ton records with a beautiful and instructive document, 
 recommending and accrediting a beloved minister of 
 the Gospel, who was about to remove to America 
 from the scene of his previous duties. 
 
 Certificate from Buckinghamshire, 
 
 " From our monthly meeting at Biddlesdon, in the 
 county of Bucks, in Old England, the 19th day of the 
 2nd month, in the year 1680. To our Friends and 
 Brethren in New Jersey, in America, greeting. 
 Whereas our dear and well-beloved friend in the 
 Lord, Samuel Jennings, of Biddlesdon, did at our 
 monthly meeting lay his intention of transporting 
 himself into New Jersey, and desired a certificate from 
 our meeting, as a testimony of our knowledge of him ; 
 This is therefore to certify you, and all persons whom 
 it doth or may concern in those parts of the world, 
 that are related unto the Truth of our God, that, upon 
 enquiry, as well as by our own knowledge, we find 
 that this our dear friend, Samuel Jennings, is a man 
 in all respects clear, both as in things relating to this 
 world, as also faithful in life and conversation to the 
 
184 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 blessed Truth of our God, having been an adornment 
 unto the Gospel of Christ Jesus during his abode with 
 us, and a fervent labourer in the work and service of the 
 Lord, being instrumental in the hand of God of com- 
 fort and refreshment unto many in general, and unto 
 us in a more particular manner, by reason of that 
 unity and fellowship we have had together in these 
 our monthly meetings, as well as others wherein the 
 presence and power of the Lord hath attended us, to 
 our encouragement and perseverance in His holy 
 work and service. And though the Lord is pleased 
 to remove this our dear friend from amongst us, to our 
 particular sorrow, yet we are contented and satisfied, 
 if it may redound to your joy, because of the universal 
 love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts, desiring 
 Zion's welfare and Jerusalem's prosperity from one 
 end of the earth unto the other. And more is in our 
 hearts. We could testify concerning our dear brother 
 of that blessed unity we have had together, but for- 
 bear, rather desiring you may have a sense and 
 feeling of the same yourselves, as we have had, greatly 
 to the abounding of our joy in the Lord. To whom 
 we commit both you and him, and remain, in behalf 
 of this our meeting, 
 
 " Your Friends and Brethren." 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE OLD 
 RECORDS OF VARIOUS AMERICAN MEETINGS 
 OF FRIENDS. 
 
 In addition to the extracts which I copied personally 
 from the original records of Burlington, it may be 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 185 
 
 interesting to subjoin some others of a miscellaneous 
 character, but all tending to show the liberty and 
 absence of formalism in Primitive Quakerism, and its 
 forbearing, brotherly love. They also prove that 
 human nature was just the same in their day as in 
 our own, and that, like all other good men, in all ages, 
 the Early Friends had their faults, mistakes, and 
 weaknesses. These extracts are from printed copies 
 of the original manuscripts, and the orthography is 
 modernised. 
 
 Discipline to he Instituted. 
 
 ,A.D. 1676. — Thirdhaven monthly meeting, Mary- 
 land. " At a man's meeting, at John Pitt's, it is 
 agreed that John Taylor do keep Friends' books and 
 write the concerns of Friends in their men's meeting ; 
 this order to be entered in all the monthly meeting 
 books, day of month, and account of all things Friends 
 were concerned in ; the Friends' names that did go to 
 exhort such as do walk disorderly ; the answers of such 
 as were spoken to, and also the time set down ; also 
 such as declare their intentions of marriage ; if any 
 man or woman hunt after one another, and then 
 leave one another and go to others.'* 
 
 Acknowledgment of Quarrelling, 
 
 1684. — At Bucks quarterly meeting, twenty miles 
 north of Philadelphia. " At a quarterly meeting held 
 at William Biles's house, after the conclusion of the 
 meeting, L. B. brought in his paper of condemnation 
 for quarrelling and fighting with some of his servants ; 
 and at his request it was read and accepted, and he 
 advised to read it according, — as he said it had been 
 
186 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 on his mind both in the meeting and (meeting-house) 
 court." 
 
 Order in Meetings for Discipline. 
 
 1686. — At Abington monthly meeting, west of 
 Philadelphia. "Some discourse hath been at this 
 meeting touching such as hold discourses either pri- 
 vate or public in meetings of business, having no 
 relation to the business on hands, and run in and out 
 to the annoyance of the meeting. It is ordered that 
 such may be spoken to as a warning, that Friends 
 may behave themselves decently in their duty towards 
 God and man. It is also agreed that the men and 
 women meet distinctly apart from one another from 
 this time." 
 
 Adjourned Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 1687. — At Falls monthly meeting, near Trenton, 
 New Jersey. "Inasmuch as the next quarterly 
 meeting and Philadelphia fair fall both on one day, it 
 is agreed to propose the deferring of it for one week, 
 and it be signified to Neshamony Friends for their 
 concurrence." 
 
 Mutual Construction of a Meeting-house, 
 1689. — At Darby monthly meeting, south of 
 Philadelphia. " Ordered, that all belonging to this 
 meeting shall come, every one, a day, to work at the 
 meeting-house (to be constructed of wood) ; and that 
 four come of a day until the work be done." 
 
 Selection of A ttenders of Meetings for Discipline, 
 1691. — At Middletown monthly meeting, near 
 Bristol, Pa. " It is ordered that Friends of the 
 monthly meeting for time to come do always inspect 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 187 
 
 and take care who there be that stay (after meetings 
 for worship) and attend the meeting (for discipline) ; 
 to the intent that none that are of an airy spirit may 
 be suffered to stay there, but that they may be spoke 
 to, if any such there be, by some Friends to withdraw." 
 
 Contrihutions for a Roof, 
 
 1698. — At Thirdhaven monthly meeting, in Mary- 
 land. "This meeting desires that John Stacy may 
 be agreed to cover this meeting-house ; and John 
 Pemberton has promised three hundred (30d.) thirty- 
 penny nails, and one thousand received, and four 
 thousand tenpenny (ones) ; and Thomas Edmund- 
 son has promised to give timber to cover it." " John 
 Stacy having covered and ceiled our great meeting- 
 house, there is due unto him 2,500 pounds of tobacco ; 
 which is to be paid as follows (by the neighbouring 
 meetings): — Choptank, 500 lbs ; Thirdhaven, 1,000 
 lbs. ; Bayside, 500 lbs. ; Tuckahoe, 500 lbs." 
 
 Quietness in Meeting, 
 1699. — At Middletown monthly meeting, near 
 Bristol, Pa. " The meeting having under considera- 
 tion the indecent sitting and settling of our meetings, 
 doth order that public Friends do sit in the galleries, 
 and the elder Friends with them, or below the 
 galleries ; and that our women Friends take one side 
 of the house and the men the other ; and that all sit 
 with their faces towards the galleries ; and that the 
 meeting be kept below, and a fire made above for 
 such as are weak, through sickness, or age, or other- 
 wise, to warm at, and come down again modestly, and 
 keep the meeting soberly." 
 
188 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Wolves, 
 1693. — At Radnor monthly meeting, near Phila- 
 delphia. " It is ordered by this meeting and consent 
 of the townships of Haverford and Radnor, in pur- 
 suance of a law in that case made, that the inha- 
 bitants of the two townships should pay one shilling 
 in the hundred towards the taking of wolves." 
 
 Treble Acknowledgment, 
 
 1722. — At New Garden monthly meeting, Pa. 
 *' W. B. appeared and delivered a paper condemning 
 his forepast actions, which was accepted ; and the 
 said W. B. is ordered to be present at the reading of 
 the said paper in two public meetings — the one at 
 New Garden, the other at Nottingham." 
 
 Charity before Censure. 
 
 1724. — At Philadelphia yearly meeting. "Advised, 
 that Friends, in meetings for business, watch over 
 their own spirits, that no indecent warmth get in, 
 whereby the understanding may be hurried and 
 hindered from a regular judgment on the affair before 
 the meeting ; so that it may be seen by all that the 
 restoring spirit of meekness and Christian love 
 abounds, before church censure comes, and that a 
 Gospel spirit is the spring and motive to all our 
 performances, as well in discipline as worship." 
 
 Form of Disownment, 
 
 1739. — At Concord monthly meeting. Pa. 
 " R. T. acknowledges that he hath joined himself to 
 another Society, and thinks that he shall not come 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 189 
 
 to our meetings any more. Therefore this meeting 
 doth esteem the said R. to be no member of our 
 Society." 
 
 Acknowledgment of Assault, 
 
 1751. — At Wilmington monthly meeting,Delaware. 
 "Friends, — Whereas I contended with my neigh- 
 bour, W. S., for what I apprehended to be my right, 
 by endeavouring to turn a certain stream of water 
 into its natural course, till it arose to a personal dif- 
 ference, in which dispute I gave way to warmth of 
 temper so far as to put my friend W. into the pond ; 
 for which action of mine, being contrary to the good 
 order of Friends, I am sorry, and desire, through 
 Divine assistance, to live in unity with him for the 
 future. From your friend, J. W." 
 
 Escliortation to Right Discipline. 
 
 1758. — At Philadelphia yearly meeting : " Dear 
 Friends, in a deep sense of the suffering of Truth in 
 divers branches of its testimony, — by the too great 
 neglect of the discipline and advices of this meeting, 
 which, if received and attended to in true love and 
 charity, would preserve from slighting and laying 
 waste that precious testimony given us to bear ; and 
 for which our forefathers and elders suffered so much, 
 and some of them even sealed with their blood, — we 
 fervently exhort Friends to arise and rebuild the 
 waste places, each cheerfully doing their proper part 
 of the work, remembering that the service is the 
 Lord's." 
 
 Religious Family Visits, 
 
 1709. — At Falls monthly meeting. " It having 
 been proposed that there is a necessity for some Friends 
 
190 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 to be appointed in each quarter of this meeting, to 
 visit every particular family of Friends, and inquire into 
 their state in relation to the Truth ; and this meeting, 
 having weightily considered the matter, do agree that 
 it be absolutely necessary, and that it will be of ser- 
 vice to the Truth." 
 
 Religious Family Visits, 
 
 1747. — At Philadelphia yearly meeting. "This 
 meeting recommends it to the several quarterly and 
 monthly meetings within the verge of this meeting, to 
 revive and continue the practice of appointing solid 
 weighty Friends and elders, with some of the ministers, 
 to visit the particular families within their respective 
 meetings ; the good effect of which wholesome and 
 serviceable part of our ancient practice and discipline 
 hath been often attended with the Divine blessinoj, to 
 the great satisfaction of those concerned therein ; and 
 hath been a means of preventing many growing in- 
 conveniences and customs among us, which it may be 
 difficult guarding against in a more public manner." 
 
 [This excellent practice might, with the best pos- 
 sible results, be systematically or periodically revived 
 in the Society of Friends, both in Britain and America. 
 Friends in Indiana have, on several occasions, adopted 
 the principle in deputing some of their members to go 
 and visit the families of their associated brethren in 
 the remote parts of Iowa and Kansas, and with mu- 
 tually beneficial effect. Every Christian Church has 
 full scriptural authority to act in such cases accord- 
 ing to its serious judgment and reason. Such syste- 
 matic visitations need not be at all dependent on, or 
 
MISCELLA>'EOUS EXTRACTS. 191 
 
 interferinor with other engagements which private 
 individual ministers or others may feel required as a 
 duty. We read in the Acts of the Apostles, " Paul 
 said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our 
 brethren in every city where we have preached the 
 Word of the Lord, and see how they do." Vast 
 would be the increase to the spiritual prosperity of 
 Christendom, if there was a more general interest 
 taken by each church, as a disciplinary and sympa- 
 thetic body, to depute, from time to time, some of its 
 members to visit individually all its constituents, and 
 with the religious aim of seeing " how they do. "J 
 
 Visits to Neighbouring Meetings, 
 
 "The frequent attendance of our Friends from 
 neighbouring meetings has a strong tendency to 
 cement and strengthen. If concerned Friends would 
 cast off the lethargy which so much prevails, and not 
 allow themselves to rust out, their hands would no 
 longer hang down ; their lights would be placed on a 
 candlestick, and not under a bushel ; while others, 
 seeing their humility and zeal for the cause of 
 righteousness corresponding with their good works, 
 would be greatly strengthened and encouraged. If 
 we were thus faithful, we should often feel constrained 
 to go and sit with our Friends in the neighbouring 
 meetings, as our fathers did formerly, where, perad- 
 venture, we might be favoured to experience together 
 an anointing with the oil of gladness. Thus we 
 should find the interest of the young people, and some 
 of riper years, would be greatly increased to the 
 enlargement of our meetings ; and the growth and 
 
192 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 extension of the testimonies we profess to maintain, 
 would be the golden fruits." 
 
 Relief of Poor Friends. 
 
 1683.— At Falls monthly meeting. "William 
 Biles hath this day acquainted the meeting that T. A., 
 of Neshamony, hath made him acquainted that he is 
 in want, as to his outward concerns ; and he, with some 
 others, had took his condition into their considera- 
 tion, and have bought him a cow and calf — the price 
 is five pounds — and do desire this meeting's assistance 
 towards the payment of said cow and calf; to which 
 this meeting doth consent, and doth appoint the 
 Friends subscribed to take care to raise the money 
 Friends are willing to contribute towards the said 
 five pounds. — For Neshamony: John Otter, Ro- 
 bert Hall. For the Falls : John Brookes, Phineas 
 Pemberton." 
 
 Same Case Continued, 
 
 1687.— At Falls monthly meeting : " T. A. saith 
 that both he and his family are so weak that they are 
 not able to thresh a little corn, nor hath gotten any 
 hay for his cattle, and therefore desires some assist- 
 ance from Friends ; whereupon the meeting requested 
 Phoebe Blackshaw [probably a near neighbour to 
 T. A.] to acquaint him if any man could be had to 
 assist him they would take care to see him satisfied." 
 
 Similar Case. 
 
 1699. — At Concord monthly meeting : " J. P. being 
 in necessity of a cow, having lost one, and being in 
 necessity of milk for his children, this meeting have 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 193 
 
 lent him £5 for one year to buy one. Also it is 
 ordered that Robert Pyle -shall take a bond of him in 
 the meeting's behalf." 
 
 Similar Case. 
 
 1701. — At Falls monthly meeting: "Information 
 being given to this meeting that W. P. is very poor 
 and in necessity, this meeting orders Joseph Kirkbride, 
 Samuel Dark, and Peter Worral to get a good pair 
 of leather breeches, and a good warm coat and waist- 
 coat, one pair of stockings and shoes for the said W. P., 
 and make a report of the charge to the next meeting." 
 
 Similar Case, 
 
 1703. — At Falls monthly meeting : " A committee 
 was appointed to relieve a poor Friend who had broken 
 his leg. They reported that they had agreed to pay 
 the doctor £18, which was approved and ordered to 
 be done." 
 
 Similar Case. 
 
 17 14. — At Abington monthly meeting : " German- 
 town meeting reported having lent a woman Friend 
 three shillings, she not being willing to accept it as a 
 gift." 
 
 Similar Case. 
 
 1719. — At Falls monthly meeting : "A. P. 's con- 
 dition is such that he is reduced to poverty and doth 
 stand in need of some assistance, particularly a cow ; 
 therefore this meeting doth appoint John Dawson to 
 procure one." " lie bought one of John Bye, and 
 the price was three pounds and ten shillings, which 
 this meeting orders to be paid.'* 
 o 
 
194 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 Same Case. 
 
 1721. — At Falls monthly meeting: "The cow, 
 formerly lent to A. P. by this meeting, is referred to 
 Buckingham monthly meeting for further order and 
 disposal as they think most convenient." (" The cow- 
 was loaned to A. P. for two years, when she was to be 
 returned. But by a divison of Falls monthly meeting 
 he, A. P., fell to the lot of Buckingham monthly 
 meeting, and the right of the cow was transferred by 
 the foregoing minute. She was afterwards loaned to 
 him for another year by a minute of the latter meeting. 
 Tradition says he did not provide well for her, and 
 she was taken from him, fed, and slaughtered, and 
 the beef given to such persons as had none.") 
 
 Similar Case, 
 
 1756. — Sadsbury monthly meeting. Pa. : " Thomas 
 Bulla and Isaac Whitelock are appointed to go to 
 the back inhabitants and distribute our collections 
 among the distressed poor which are driven from their 
 habitations by the Indians." 
 
 Similar Case. 
 
 1759. — At Wilmington monthly meeting, Dela- 
 ware : "Our preparative meeting have agreed with 
 Alexander Foreman to keep N. M. (a poor Friend) 
 one year with sufficient meat, drink, washing, and 
 lodging, shaving, and leading him to meetings, for 
 fifteen pounds ten shillings, provided said N. continues 
 in usual health as heretofore." [Probably meaning 
 that, if taken ill, his care-taker was to have increased 
 remuneration.] 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 195 
 
 Acknowledgment of Haste, 
 
 1740. — At New Garden monthly meeting : 
 " Whereas I was too forward and hasty in making 
 suit to a young woman after the death of my wife, 
 having made some proceedings in that way in less 
 than four months, which I am now sensible was wrong. 
 As witness my hand, R. H." 
 
 Marriage Declined, 
 
 1757. — At Wilmington monthly meeting: "The 
 Friends appointed to inquire the reasons why J. H. 
 and R. R. did not appear (to be married) at our last 
 meeting, report that they have altered their minds, and 
 have discharged each other from under hand.** 
 
 Similar Case, 
 
 1769. — At Concord monthly meeting : " C. D. and 
 A. D. (widow) having proposed marriage she declined 
 proceeding, and a committee was appointed to inspect 
 into the cause of her disreputable conduct, who 
 reported that she renders no sufficient reasons, where- 
 fore until she makes suitable satisfaction, this meeting 
 cannot have full unity with her." 
 
 Breach of Duty, 
 
 1792. — At Concord monthly meeting: ** Concord 
 preparative meeting complains of J. P. S. for breach 
 of his marriage covenants in refusing to live with his 
 wife as a faithful husband ought to do.** 
 
 Remarkable Case of Forbearance towards an intemperate 
 Minister, and with final good result, 
 
 1742. — " A. B. was allowed liberty to sit with the 
 2 
 
196 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 ministers and elders in their meetings." He subse- 
 quently obtained certificates for ministerial service as 
 follows: — 1751. "To visit some meetings of Friends 
 in Maryland." — 1752. "To visit Friends on Long 
 Island, and some parts of the Jerseys." — 1756. " To 
 visit Friends at Maiden Creek."— 1756. "To visit 
 the families of Friends in New York, and some on 
 Long Island." — 1757. To visit the yearly meeting of 
 Maryland. — 1758. Ditto. — 1759. To visit some meet- 
 ings in Maryland. 
 
 1762. — Without being accused on the records, 
 A. B. brings the following paper to the monthly 
 meeting : " Whereas, I have for many years made 
 profession of the Truth, but for want of due attention 
 to the dictates thereof have unguardedly given way to 
 drinking strong drink to excess, whereby I have 
 brought great reproach upon our holy profession, and 
 grief to my friends, for which I am heartily sorry, 
 and give this testimony against that evil, sincerely 
 desiring that I may more and more experience a 
 dwelling in that holy fear which is sufficient to 
 preserve all. And it is my earnest breathing that I 
 may be reconciled to the Lord, His church, and 
 people, and witness our former unity to be restored ; 
 and that I may be enabled, through a circumspect and 
 humble walking for the future, to effectually remove 
 the reproach which my conduct hath occasioned. 
 A. B." 
 
 1770. — A. B. is again " recommended in the station 
 of a minister as heretofore." After this date he 
 obtained official certificates from his meeting to pay 
 ministerial visits — In 1771, To the Indians and some 
 Friends in West New Jersey. — 1771. To Friends 
 
MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS. 197 
 
 in Maryland. — 1772. To the yearly meeting at West 
 River. 
 
 But in 1773 his monthly meeting state, in the 7th 
 month, that " Our preparative meeting complains of 
 A. B. for taking strong drink to excess," — Friends 
 were then appointed to inquire into his conduct. At 
 the monthly meeting in 9th month, " His conduct 
 has been reproachful in several respects ; — in taking 
 too much strong drink several times, and still appear- 
 ing in public ministry both at home and abroad." 
 
 The monthly meeting, in 4th month, " Thinks there 
 is rather encouragement for further labour." 
 
 Next month they record that A. B. " appears to be 
 under a considerable weight of suffering on account 
 of his transgressions ; yet they consider him far short 
 of that state of mind in which it would be proper for 
 him to offer anything to this meeting by way of 
 satisfaction." 
 
 1774. — 2nd month, "He desired his case should 
 still be continued." 
 
 1774. — 4th month, " This meeting taking into 
 consideration the situation of A. B.'s standing upon 
 record as a minister, concludes that he ought not 
 to have the privilege of sitting in our meetings of 
 ministers and elders." 
 
 1774. — 6th month, " He appeared here and offered 
 some lines by way of acknowledgment Best to 
 leave it under consideration." 
 
 1774. — 7th month, " Another paper being produced 
 somewhat different, and some straitness appearing, it 
 is continued another month." 
 
 1774. — 8th month, "A. B. attended this meeting 
 with a paper condemning his misconduct, which was 
 
198 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 read, and after some alteration is received.'* — 
 ** Whereas I have made profession of the Truth, but 
 for want of keeping on my watch have erred by 
 several times taking too much strong drink, also 
 appearing in public as a minister soon after; for 
 which reproachful conduct I am heartily sorry, and 
 hereby take the shame to myself, and desire Friends 
 to pass by my offences and continue me under their 
 care, hoping through Divine help to be more careful 
 in future. A. B." 
 
 In 1788, fourteen years after this acknowledgment, 
 A. B. was for the third time recognized as a minister 
 of the Gospel, as appears by this record of his 
 quarterly meeting: — 1788. " The recommendation of 
 our Friend, A. B., to the quarterly meeting of 
 ministers and elders as a minister approved by 
 us being again considered, and women's meeting 
 concurring therewith, it is concluded to recommend 
 him accordingly." 
 
 After this he received official certificates to travel 
 as a minister— In 1788, To Maryland. — 1789. To 
 New York and New England. — 1790. To Friends in 
 Chester and Lancaster counties in Pennsylvania. — 
 
 1790. To Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. — 
 
 1791. To parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
 
 As proofs that Friends in various provinces of 
 America judged his ministry to be still edifying and 
 given with Divine aid and influence, we find that in 
 addition to the above five certificates of permission to 
 travel as a minister, he also received twelve returning 
 certificates of approval from the different communities 
 of Friends amongst whom he came, viz., from the 
 following: — 1788. The quarterlymeeting at Baltimore. 
 
NEW YORK. 199 
 
 — 1788. The monthly meeting at Indian Springs. — 
 1789. The yearly meeting of Long Island.— 1789. 
 The yearly meeting of Rhode Island. — 1789. The 
 quarterly meeting at New Bedford. — 1789. The 
 quarterly meeting at Oblong. — 1789. The monthly 
 meeting at Saratoga. — 1790. The quarterly meeting 
 of Salem. — 1791. The yearly meeting of Virginia. — 
 1791. — The quarterly meeting at Center, in North 
 Carolina. — 1791. The quarterly meeting near Little 
 River, North Carolina. — 1791. The quarterly meeting 
 of New Garden, North Carolina. 
 
 Truly, the original copyist of the above may well 
 add — ** We have given this remarkable case by way 
 of encouragement, both to th^ humble transgressor 
 and to those whose province it may be to labour for 
 his recovery." 
 
 The above extracts give a fair idea of the general 
 nature of the old records of the American meetings. 
 There aro a few instances of a very flagrant nature 
 occasionally met with, of which no example has been 
 here transcribed ; but these are of rare occurrence in 
 the original documents, most of which relate to things 
 connected with mutual assistance and edification. 
 
 NEW YOUK. 
 
 There are comparatively few Orthodox Friends in 
 New York, either in the City or State, but a large 
 body of Hick sites in each. The Orthodox Yearly 
 Meeting of New York contains fifteen quarterly 
 meetings. These are widely scattered over the large 
 
200 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 extent not only of that State but also of Upper 
 Canada, Michigan, and a portion of Vermont. 
 
 The Hicksites have two yearly meetings in these 
 districts, those of New York and Genessee. 
 
 The Orthodox in New York are a harmonious 
 body, being undisturbed by Wilburism, owing to the 
 complete secession of the small number of those 
 whose sympathies were in that direction. In this 
 respect it is better off than the large body in 
 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. 
 
 There is one quarterly meeting in Michigan, held 
 at Adrian, in Lenawee county. 
 
 In Canada West there are three quarterly meetings, 
 Pelham (near Niagara), Yonge Street (near Toronto), 
 and West Lake (embracing Kingston and its neighbour- 
 hood). The two latter form " the Half Year's 
 Meeting of Canada ;" but all three, together with that 
 of Michigan, belong to New York Yearly Meeting. 
 There is some likelihood that the Friends of Michigan 
 will form a new yearly meeting which will embrace 
 the northern part of Indiana. There are probably 
 about four thousand Friends in Canada West (including 
 Hicksites), but no meeting in the Lower Province. 
 The number of Canadian Friends has been very 
 much over-estimated in some recent calculations. 
 
 New York was the principal scene of the protracted 
 and violent struggles which resulted in the Hicksite 
 and Orthodox schism in the Society of Friends. Each 
 body has a large and good meeting-house in New- 
 York City, and each includes many wealthy and 
 influential members. But the city is no exception to 
 the general rule, that Quakerism flourishes better in 
 rural districts and provincial towns than in large 
 
iXUSHTNG. 201 
 
 seaboard cities. Yet there is a fair proportion of its 
 members who take a lively individual interest in their 
 Society, as well as in the particular and general ad- 
 vancement of religion. The New York yearly meeting 
 (Orthodox) of 1860 was the largest known there for 
 thirty years; and the meeting-house, which holds 
 about fifteen hundred, was then quite full, for the 
 first time since its erection. This was partly owing 
 to the splendid season (very different in America 
 from what it was in Great Britain), and partly to a 
 general interest excited through the various quarterly 
 meetings by a proposal to modernize some of the 
 details of their disciplinary rules, which was carried 
 into effect. 
 
 The Friendly associations of New York are of a 
 very recent date. The little town of Flushing, ten 
 miles distant on Long Island, has more historic 
 interest in connexion with our Society than the whole 
 City and State of New York together. And it was 
 only as recently as 1794, that the yearly meeting was 
 removed to New York City, having been previously 
 held at Flushing, where it was established in 1692. 
 
 FLUSHING. 
 
 Flushing is a neat town, of several thousand in- 
 habitants, and surrounded by fine estates and villas. 
 It is on Long Island Sound, which is at that part 
 about three miles broad; and from the green and 
 wooded undulations around the town are fine views 
 of the New York, Connecticut, and Long Island 
 
202 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 shores, and of many picturesque bays and Inlets, 
 branching from the Sound, which, near New York 
 City, narrows into a rapid and rocky channel of 
 about half-a-mile in width. It is a daily highway 
 of fleets of coasting vessels, and for magnificent 
 steam-boats, which connect New York with the New 
 England railways at Stonington, Newport, and Fall 
 River. 
 
 Long Island is more than a hundred miles in length. 
 It forks, at its eastern end, into two narrow arms, sepa- 
 rated by a deep bay. Its shores are noted for abun- 
 dance of delicious oysters and clams. The latter form 
 a characteristic dish of New England and New York, 
 and are served up generally in the form of clam soup, 
 or " clam-bake." Flushing is near some of the best 
 oyster and clam beds. The neighbourhood is beau- 
 tifully green and well cultivated. There are trains 
 and steam-boats several times daily to and from New 
 York. 
 
 The Society of Friends had a footing at Flushing 
 before any other denomination, and this town is an 
 example of the prosperous and respectable condition 
 of those places in America which w^ere originally of 
 Friendly settlement. The three principal families of 
 these founders of Flushing are still there, or in its 
 neighbourhood. These are the Lawrences, Parsonses, 
 and Bownes. The former have taken an important 
 part in the political and civil government of New 
 York — several of them having been members of Con- 
 gress and mayors of the city. Many members of their 
 family reside at Bayside, three miles from Flushing, 
 and their estates form a contiguous property of several 
 miles in extent. On one of them is their old original 
 
FLUSHING. 203 
 
 homestead. They have at Ba3'side their family 
 burial-ground. The Parsonses, of Flushing, have a 
 similar one at that place. 
 
 As an instance of the zeal for " simplicity " which 
 distinguished some of the old Flushing Friends, it is 
 recorded that when a widowed wife planted a small 
 walnut-tree on the grave of a recently deceased hus- 
 band, to mark the spot, some officious Friend went 
 and pulled it up as a "testimony" against such an 
 innovating practice. 
 
 Some of the best estates and houses around Flushing 
 are in the hands of Friends. Their old meeting-house, 
 erected in 1695, is still standing, but is now in 
 possession of the Hicksites. The Orthodox have one 
 close by. 
 
 Near this is the old Bowne House, around which a 
 host of Quaker associations cluster. It was erected in 
 1661, by John Bowne, a Friend. Five descendants 
 of the same name have held it in turn since his day, 
 and it is still inhabited by one of the family. George 
 Fox, and a number of the early worthies, lodged in this 
 house, which contains many interesting relics of the 
 past ; as a very ancient clock and table, many old 
 manuscripts and books, and, amongst the latter, a 
 Bible dated 1622. In Bowne Avenue, close by, is 
 the venerable survivor of the two Fox oaks, under 
 which some of the early meetings of the Friends were 
 held, and where George Fox is traditioned to have 
 preached when he visited Flushing in 1672. The 
 remaining oak is supposed to be about four hundred 
 years old. Its ancient companion fell, from sheer 
 decay, in 1841. This event called forth the following 
 lines from Samuel B. Parsons, of that town : — 
 
204 FBIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 THE FLUSHING OAK. 
 
 The ancient oak lies prostrate now, 
 
 Its limbs embrace the sod, 
 Where, in the Spirit's strength and might, 
 
 Our pious fathers trod ; 
 Where, underneath its spreading arms, 
 
 And by its shadows broad, 
 Clad in simplicity and truth, 
 
 They met to worship God. 
 
 No stately pillars round them rose. 
 
 No dome was reared on high ; 
 The oaks their only columns were. 
 
 Their roof the arching sky ; 
 No organ's deep-toned notes arose, 
 
 Or vocal songs were heard ; 
 Their music was the passing wind, 
 
 Or song of forest bird. 
 
 And as His Spirit reached their hearts, 
 
 By man's lips speaking now, 
 A holy fire was in their eye, 
 
 Pure thought upon their brow ; 
 And, while in silence deep and still, 
 
 Their souls all glowing were 
 With heartfelt peace and joy and love, 
 
 They felt that God was there. 
 
 Those pure and simple-minded men 
 
 Have now all passed away. 
 And of the scenes in which they moved. 
 
 These only relics lay : 
 And soon the last surviving oak, 
 
 In its majestic pride, 
 Will gather up its failing limbs 
 
 And wither at its side. 
 
FLUSHING. 205 
 
 Then guard with care its last remains, 
 
 Now that its race is run ; 
 No sacrilegious hand should touch 
 
 The forest's noblest one. 
 And when the question may be asked, 
 
 Why that old trunk is there ? 
 *Tis but the place in olden time 
 
 God's holiest altars were. 
 
 It was at the hospitable residence of the Parsons 
 family that Joseph John Gurney was laid up with 
 indisposition for several months, whilst on his visit to 
 America, and during that time many were the baskets 
 of delicacies kindly sent over for the invalid from the 
 sympathizing female members of the Lawrence family 
 at Bayside. 
 
 The late Samuel Parsons was a sort of patriarch, 
 both amongst the people of Flushing and with the 
 members of his Society on Long Island and New 
 York. When there, my attention was called to the 
 many avenues of locust and other trees. These were 
 first planted by him, and in many such ways he con- 
 tributed to ornament and benefit his neighbourhood. 
 But it was chiefly as a religious character that his 
 usefulness was felt. 
 
 " And all the people loved him, and they came 
 To him for counsel ; and they sent for him 
 When death's dark shadows gathered o'er their heads, 
 For well they knew that with the Holy One 
 He held communion ; and in silent awe 
 They listened to his fervent, loving prayers. 
 • • * « • 
 
 And sometimes, in a twilight hour like this, 
 He'd gather us around him, kneel in prayer. 
 And pour out for us such beseeching words 
 That all the room seemed full of angels' wings, 
 
206 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 And to our youthful hearts a Presence seemed 
 
 Hovering around, as visible to sense 
 
 As the Shekinah which the Hebrew saw." 
 
 The first John Bowne arrived at Flushing about 
 the year 1650, and there married and settled. But 
 in 16685 the persecuting Dutch Governor Stuj^vesant, 
 of New York, transported him to Holland " for the 
 welfare of the community, and to crush, as far as it is 
 possible, that abominable sect who treat with con- 
 tempt both the political magistrates and the ministers 
 of God's holy word." But the authorities at Amster- 
 dam, more wise in their generation, and more con- 
 sistently, as the fellow-citizens of the liberal and 
 tolerant statesmen Orange and De Witt, wrote back to 
 Stuy vesant a letter of rebuke, in which, amongst other 
 expressions, they state — " Although it is our desire 
 that similar and other sectarians may not be found there, 
 yet, as the contrary seems to be the fact, we doubt 
 very much whether rigorous proceedings against them 
 ought not to be discontinued, unless, indeed, you 
 intend to check and destroy your population, which, 
 in the youth of your existence, ought rather to be 
 encouraged by all possible means. This maxim of 
 moderation has always been the guide of our magis- 
 trates in this city ; and the consequence has been that 
 people have flocked from every land to this asylum. 
 Tread thus in their steps, and we doubt not you will 
 be blessed." 
 
 After two years* exile John Bowne returned to 
 Flushing, and became a prominent and useful Friend 
 there. One day he was going towards New York, 
 when a black bear rushed out of the woods upon him. 
 In defence he thrust a stout stick, which he had with 
 
FLUSHING. 207 
 
 him, down the animal's throat with such energy as to 
 kill him on the spot. After John Bowne's death, in 
 1695, the yearly meeting, in bearing witness to his 
 worth, recorded " he did abundance of good, and died 
 beloved by all sorts of people." 
 
 Another member of the Bowne family was once 
 attacked in the night by some burglars, who with 
 blackened faces broke into his house, came up 
 into his chamber and demanded his money. He 
 refused to give it up ; on which they tied his hands 
 to the bed-post, and applied a lighted candle to his 
 fingers. But he would not yield, and they left him 
 in, possession of his money. At the same time he 
 recognized them through their disguise as being 
 neighbours, but never prosecuted them, from a feeling 
 of the duty of Christian forgiveness. It was what 
 probably few of his friends would have done, as many 
 would have felt it a duty to society in general to 
 bring such miscreants to a deserved punishment for 
 the protection of others. 
 
 It was another member of the same family whose 
 name was confounded with that of the eminent Friends* 
 preacher, Samuel Bownas, who visited Flushing in 
 1702, before the period of persecution of American 
 Friends had ended. The sheriff came to arrest him 
 as a ringleader of disorderly gatherings, and laid his 
 hand upon him at a meeting for worship, saying, ** You 
 are my prisoner." " By what authority ?" " By 
 this warrant," — showing an order to arrest Samuel 
 Bowne. " That is not my name, but the name of 
 this Friend here." " Oh no ! we know him very well. 
 It is you that we want. But what is your name 
 then ?" " That is a question that requires considera- 
 
208 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 tion whether proper to answer or not." However, 
 the sheriff eventually arrested him, and put him in 
 prison, where he continued about a year. 
 
 This violent interference of the authorities was 
 said to have been instigated by George Keith, who 
 attained great notoriety in the early days of Quakerism. 
 He had been for many years an intimate companion 
 of George Fox and William Penn, and often travelled 
 as a preacher in the Society. He received the appoint- 
 ment of Surveyor General of New Jersey, through 
 the influence of Friends who were at that period the 
 proprietors and governors of Pennsylvania and the 
 Jerseys. After awhile he became dissatisfied with 
 the doctrines of the Society, which he declared were 
 of a Socinian nature. He probably met in America 
 with some ministers who dwelt unduly on one side of 
 Christian doctrine, and who might really have been 
 unawares decidedly tinged with Socinianism. The 
 Friends and George Keith had various disputations, 
 and he ultimately left their communion. This was 
 usually spoken of by them as his " apostacy," and led 
 to much bitterness on both sides. When subsequently 
 he returned to America from England as an ordained 
 clergyman of the Established Church, and endeavoured 
 to draw the Friends of Flushing from their opinions, 
 they would not hear him, and he was obliged to give 
 up the attempt. Afterwards he came again to their 
 meeting with two Justices and an order from Lord 
 Cornbury to prevent his being interrupted. " But, 
 notwithstanding the two Justices that came along 
 with me to signify my Lord Cornbury's mind by his 
 letter to them, which was read to them in their 
 meeting by Mr. Talbot, they used the like interruption 
 
FLUSHING. 209 
 
 as formerly, and took no notice of my Lord Cornbnry's 
 letter, more than if it had been from any private 
 person." No, indeed, it was of small use for "my 
 Lord" to "signify his mind" to the humble yet 
 resolutely-determined Christians, who bore, under the 
 Divine blessing, their principles triumphantly over all 
 the persecutions of kings in the Old World, and of 
 their deputies in the New, until they had attained to a 
 growth and independence, when further opposition was 
 out of the question. 
 
 The political constitution of Great Britain, and of the 
 United States more especially, is under no small 
 obligation to the persevering fidelity of the Early 
 Friends in their indomitable assertion of the universal 
 " rights of man," and particularly of the right which 
 every man has by nature to the most free, most 
 untrammelled liberty of religious thought, speech, and 
 mode of worship, provided these do not actively 
 interfere with the safety and rights of civil society. 
 It was a hard and protracted contest though ; but it 
 is long since over, and securely won, and both 
 American Governors and British Sovereigns have 
 long since ceased to have any power whatever, of 
 hindering Friends or others from their inalienable 
 right (paramount to all other claim) of freedom of 
 conscience and worship. And this result is largely 
 owing, under God, to the virtue of the Early Friends, 
 and to the manner in which they wearied out all 
 opposition, however violent and continued. 
 
 It is very striking to observe the intensity of 
 
 bitterness which prevailed in New England and parts 
 
 of America against the Friends who first settled tliere. 
 
 They were willing to grant to others what they asked 
 
 P 
 
210 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 for themselves, and proved their readiness whenever 
 they had opportunity, as during their sway in 
 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere. But the 
 Puritans, until Roger Williams showed a better way, 
 and for which he too suiFered, were very eager for 
 liberty so long as it was only for themselves ; when 
 others wanted to dissent from them, then they were 
 worse than their more courtly persecutors in Britain. 
 Besides the hangings, and pillories, and cutting-ofF 
 of ears by the Puritans of Boston, there were similar 
 enactments and penalties denounced against Friends 
 in Connecticut, especially under the celebrated " Blue 
 Laws," which declared that " No Quaker or Dissenter 
 from the established worship of the dominion shall be 
 allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates 
 or any officer. No food or lodging shall be afforded 
 to a Quaker, Adamite, or heretic. If any person 
 turns Quaker he shall be banished, and not suffered 
 to return upon the pain of death." The same " Laws " 
 enacted, amongst other matters, that " No one shall 
 run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or 
 elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. No 
 one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep 
 house, cut hair or shave on the Sabbath day. Who- 
 ever wears clothes trimmed with gold or bone-lace 
 above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by 
 the grand jurors, and the selectman shall tax the 
 offenders at three hundred pounds estate. A debtor 
 in prison swearing he has no estate shall be let out, 
 and sold to make satisfaction. No one shall read 
 Common Prayer, keep Christmas or Saint days, 
 dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music, 
 except the drum, trumpet, and jew's-harp." 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 211 
 
 Such sour and sanctimonious orthodoxy as this was, 
 probably, not at all more favourable to real religion 
 than the wild licence of the Cavaliers ; and if such 
 absurd enactments had continued. New England 
 would never have emerged from a state of political 
 infancy. 
 
 Flushing was noted for being a settlement of Friends 
 from its commencement. A clergyman writes, in 
 1 704, of " Newtown and Flushing, famous for being 
 stocked with Quakers, whither I intend to go upon 
 their meeting days, on purpose to preach lectures 
 against their errors." Another clergyman in a report, 
 th6 same year 1704, to the Missionary Society for 
 Propagating the Gospel, says: "Flushing is another 
 town in the same county; most of the inhabitants 
 thereof are Quakers, who rove through the country 
 from one village to another, talk blasphemy, corrupt 
 the youth, and do much mischief." 
 
 But with a more enlightened age has come a better 
 mutual understanding. All the various denominations, 
 and they are well represented at Flushing, are on excel- 
 lent terms one with another, and each would be more 
 likely to eulogize than blame another for influential 
 position there. The Friends are now a small minority 
 in this neighbourhood, of which they were once the 
 chief inhabitants ; but those that remain are of good 
 influence and respectability. 
 
 FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 New England Yearly Meeting is the oldest of all 
 
 the provincial organizations of Friends on the 
 
 F 2 
 
 
212 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 American continent. It ranks third in numerical and 
 general importance, coming next to those of Indiana 
 and Philadelphia. It was established in 1661, but 
 there were some Friends in these colonies as early as 
 1655. The yearly meeting is held at Newport, on 
 Rhode Island. It embraces eight quarterly meetings — 
 those of Rhode Island, Salem (north-eastern Mas- 
 sachusetts), Sandwich (the new Bedford district), 
 Falmouth (in Maine), Smithfield (central and western 
 Massachusetts), Vassalborough (in Maine), Dover 
 (New Hampshire), and Fairfield (Maine). 
 
 Its principal particular meetings are those of Lynn, 
 Providence, Newport, Salem, Worcester, New Bed- 
 ford, and Vassalborough. 
 
 It is a singular thing, that although New England 
 is the very home of Unitarianism, yet there have 
 scarcely been any Hicksites amongst the Friends of 
 that district. It was the scene of the first direct 
 Wilburite schism. About four hundred seceded on 
 this account throughout the yearly meeting, but 
 their ranks are now reduced to about half that 
 number, and their meetings are very small indeed ; 
 so that the Orthodox Friends of New England are, 
 like those of Indiana, a compact, numerous, and 
 united body. As in Philadelphia, many of them are 
 wealthy, owing to their active and successful engage- 
 ments in the whale fisheries of New Bedford, and 
 the manufactures or merchandise of Providence, 
 Worcester, and Lynn. The Maine Friends are 
 chiefly engaged in agriculture. 
 
 Friends seem never to have flourished in Boston, 
 from the first; and no meeting is held there now, 
 although there are a few members in or around the 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 213 
 
 city, but these attend the meeting at L\nin. There is 
 a meeting-house belonging to the Society in Boston, 
 but it is scarcely ever made use of as such. 
 
 At Lynn is one of the largest gatherings of Friends 
 in New England. It is nine miles from Boston, and 
 is pleasantly situated on a bay which forms a part of 
 the larger Bay of Massachusetts. From the middle 
 of Lynn a singular peninsula, called Nahant, projects 
 about three miles into the ocean. It is joined to the 
 mainland by a very narrow ridge of sand, just affording 
 room for a long and level road of about a mile and a 
 half in length, like a causeway through the water. At 
 the^extremity of this, the peninsula divides into three 
 portions of considerable area, and containing many 
 gardens and villas. One of the latter is the usual 
 residence of the poet Longfellow, and his neat 
 barouche and two gray horses may be seen almost 
 daily passing rapidly over the long narrow causeway 
 to Lynn. On Nahant is a monster hotel, which used 
 to be a summer resort of the fashionable Bostonians, 
 but it is at present shut up, and looks the picture of 
 desolation. 
 
 Lynn is probably the seat of the largest manufacture 
 of shoes in the world. Wherever the eye turns the 
 word " shoes " is almost sure to meet it, and customers 
 come here from all parts of the Union with orders for 
 these essentials to a good understanding. Lynn has 
 a fine smooth stretch of beach, and at the north end 
 of it is the Squamscot Bog, noted for its cranberries. 
 It is a capital spot for the botanist or naturalist, and 
 in it are, amongst other objects of interest, numerous 
 spotted green frogs and slender water-snakes. 
 
 Close to the beach at Lynn are many large and 
 
214 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 handsome villas, each surrounded by gardens and 
 lawns of deep grass slanting down to the shore, and 
 having at the bottom a raised terrace pathway which 
 lines the sands. One of these villas was the residence 
 of W. H. Prescott, the eminent historian, and here 
 his widow still resides. Close by, in a similarly 
 elegant residence, lives the father-in-law of Longfellow. 
 On the Lynn Sands are many sea-shells, dead lobsters, 
 and a number of round marine shells much resembling 
 a helix, or land-snail. 
 
 The Friends' Meeting at Lynn is very pleasantly 
 situated amongst the thickly-planted avenued streets 
 of the town, but retired a little on its own ground. 
 Lynn Friends appear very sociable, and are active in 
 the Sabbath-school movement, in which both younger 
 and elder members take a deep and practical interest. 
 They have also social reading meetings weekly or 
 fortnightly, in the evenings, at the house of a valued 
 Friend, who established a gathering of the kind some 
 years ago, and found it work very beneficially. 
 Friends and their neighbours were at liberty to come 
 in on such evenings and listen to the reading of 
 selections from interesting religious biographies and 
 other works of a similar nature. Some of the young 
 Friends expressed a wish to have a livelier selection, 
 or a discussion after each reading. This plan has 
 been found to answer very well at similar readings in 
 Friends' social circles in England and America, but it 
 failed at Lynn; for the young Friends set up an 
 independent reading of their own, but did not succeed 
 in maintaining its interest or the number of its 
 attenders. On this, the Friend who had previously 
 entertained reading parties renewed them on the 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 215 
 
 former basis, but with the clear understanding that all 
 attenders were welcome to be present, but that the 
 selection should not be disputed, or be followed by 
 any discussion. On this footing they have continued 
 since with interest to all parties, and the number of 
 attenders has kept up and steadily increased. 
 
 Such social reading meetings, held at private 
 houses, are an institution of great religious and moral 
 value, and have been gradually creeping into general 
 favour with Friends in many parts of England and 
 America during the last twenty years. The manage- 
 ment of the one at Lynn is rather exceptional, and 
 thdugh so successful there, would be just as likely to 
 fail in some other places. 
 
 Usually, the objects aimed at in such gatherings 
 are, to combine the promotion of social acquaintance 
 with interesting reading of a decidedly religious 
 tendency. It is better that they should be of a 
 moderate size as to numbers, than so large as to 
 partake of the character of a public meeting or lecture. 
 At Richmond, in Indiana, there are at least two of 
 these reading parties held once a week, and the circle 
 is in each case almost entirely composed of Friends 
 whose bouses are very near together. The readings 
 are of a varied and interesting nature, and give great 
 satisfaction to the attenders. 
 
 It is of importance for each Christian community 
 to cultivate the social element, as well as that which 
 may be styled more directly ecclesiastical or denomi- 
 national. This union of the social element with the 
 latter, as fostering binding influences, was divinely 
 instituted as a vital part of the constitution of the 
 Jewish nation, and had its operation in the great 
 
216 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 re-unions three times a year at the Feasts of the 
 Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, when 
 the influences of collective travel in large bands, the 
 meeting of old acquaintances, union in Jerusalem 
 and on the route thither, and in various other ways, 
 must have powerfully tended to foster and deepen: 
 that national sympathy and unity which have .so 
 eminently tended to the preservation of the peculiar 
 Jewish nation. 
 
 And the more peculiar and numerically weaker any 
 denomination is, the more it has need of the binding 
 and conservative influences of such re-unions. It was 
 a doubly far-seeing policy of the Early Friends to 
 establish the periodic gatherings of their members in 
 annual, quarterly, and monthly meetings. For there 
 can be little doubt but that the Society of Friends 
 owes much of its existence and interest of fellowship 
 to the social element in these, its gatherings. And 
 probably the influences of the monthly and quarterly 
 meeting parties, dinner-tables, and union in travel, 
 have often been little less cheering, or even edifying, 
 than some of the regular disciplinary and religious 
 proceedings on such occasions. 
 
 And now that railways have so shortened the times 
 of travelling and tarriance at these gatherings, it be- 
 comes doubly necessary for the Society to foster and 
 maintain its individuality and union by such exten- 
 sions of the social element as are afforded by these 
 reading meetings and similar re-unions. They are 
 claiming increased attention, especially amongst English 
 Friends. 
 
 At Amesbury, about twenty-five miles from Lynn, 
 on the borders of New Hampshire, resides John G. 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 217 
 
 Wliittier, the Quaker Poet of America. He is un- 
 married, and not engaged in any occupation but that 
 of literature. His residence is a neat house amonsst 
 the avenues and gardens which are so specially cha- 
 racteristic of the pleasant New England towns, even 
 more than of any other part of America. Amesbury 
 is justly proud of him, and I was informed that on 
 reaching it — " Anybody will tell you directly where 
 Mr. Whittier lives." The avenue in which his house 
 is situated is called Quaker Street, and in it is also a 
 neat public library and reading-room, in the establish- 
 ment of which he has taken great interest, designed 
 for' the especial improvement of the numerous opera- 
 tives in the large Salisbury Mills, which are the chief 
 feature of the town, and are amongst the largest 
 woollen manufactories of the United States, being on 
 a scale similar to the vast establishments of the kind 
 at Lowell and Lawrence, in the vicinity. There is a 
 great facility of water-power at Amesbury, arising 
 from a fall of sixty feet of a powerful stream, within the 
 distance of about a furlong or less. This stream is 
 the Powow, alluded to by Whittier in several of his 
 poems. The country around is picturesque, and rises 
 away gradually inland, towards the hills and moun- 
 tains of New Hampshire. About four miles eastward 
 is the long beach of Salisbury. Nearer is the Merri- 
 mac, and within sight of Amesbury is Newburyport, 
 a place almost equal in historic interest to any other 
 spot on the American continent, from the simple 
 fact that it holds the tomb and dust of Whitfield. 
 Whittier was bom at Haverhill, about ten miles from 
 Amesbury, and lias spent most of his life amidst the 
 quiet scenes of the Merrimac valley. 
 
218 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 " Stream of my fathers! sweetly still 
 
 The sunset rays thy valley fill ; 
 
 Poured slant-wise down the long defile 
 
 Wave, wood, and spire beneath them smile. 
 
 I see the winding Powow fold 
 
 The green hill in its belt of gold, 
 
 And following down its wavy line 
 
 Its sparkling waters blend with thine. 
 » « « # * 
 
 Centuries ago that harbour bar, 
 
 Stretching its length of foam afar, 
 
 And Salisbury's beach of shining sand. 
 
 And yonder island's wave-smoothed strand, 
 
 Saw the adventurer's tiny sail 
 
 Flit stooping from the eastern gale. 
 
 As o'er these woods and waters broke 
 
 The cheer from Britain's hearts of oak. 
 
 As brightly on the voyager's eye, 
 
 Weary of boundless sea and sky, 
 
 Breaking the dull continuous wood 
 
 The Merrimack rolled down his flood. 
 
 Mingling that clear pellucid brook 
 
 Which channels vast Agioochook 
 
 When spring-time's sun and shower unlock 
 
 The frozen fountains of the rock. 
 
 And more abundant waters given 
 
 From that pure lake, ' The smile of Heaven,* 
 
 Tributes from vale and mountain-side — 
 
 With ocean's dark eternal tide. 
 
 * # # # # 
 
 Home of my fathers ! I have stood 
 Where Hudson rolled his lordly fiood : 
 Seen sunrise rest, and sunset fade 
 Along his frowning Palisade ; 
 Looked down the Apalachian peak 
 On Juniata's silver streak ; 
 Have seen along his valley gleam 
 The Mohawk's softly winding stream ! 
 The level light of sunset shine 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 219 
 
 Through broad Potomac's hem of pine ; 
 And autumn's rainbow- tinted banner 
 Hang lightly o'er the Susquehanna; 
 Yet, wheresoe'er his step might be, 
 Thy wandering child looked back to thee ! " 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe lives about eighteen miles 
 from Amesbury, and is, together with her brother 
 Henry Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn, one of Whittier's 
 particular friends. More of his associates live not far 
 oflP, as Charles Sumner and others, at Boston. 
 
 The influence of the writings, both of Whittier and 
 Stbwe, would have been far more general and power- 
 ful in America, if they had yielded to the tacit popular 
 tolerance of slavery. However the north may be 
 agitated against slavery-extension and southern supre- 
 macy, yet it is a plain fact, that strongly abolitionist 
 literature is not generally palatable in either section 
 of the States. John G. Whittier has never pandered 
 in the slightest to this popular tendency, but the most 
 arousing and impassioned of his poems are those 
 which he has penned 
 
 " For Freedom, in the name of Him 
 
 Who came to raise earth's drooping poor ; 
 To break the chain from every limb, 
 The bolt from every prison-door." 
 
 And he has not only written but suffered for freedom, 
 having been " burnt out" by a pro-slavery mob in 
 Philadelphia, and stoned by another mob at Concord, 
 in New Hampshire. On the latter occasion he was in 
 company with George Thompson, of England, and, 
 amid the outrages of the populace, a young lady, the 
 
220 FRIENDLY SKETCHICS. 
 
 niece of an eminent American statesman, called to 
 him, sympathizingly, " Oh, I will die with you, Mr. 
 Whittier." The latter, in full possession of his sound 
 common sense, even in extremest peril, answered 
 pleasantly, '^ And whatever good will that do us ?" 
 
 The late excellent Wm. Henry Clianning was one 
 of Whittier's friends, and remarked to him once, that 
 he was surprised that the American Friends did not 
 more generally appreciate the biography and writings 
 of the apostolic John Woolman, judging by the few 
 copies he had observed in their libraries. Whittier 
 has the highest estimate of Woolman, and has ex- 
 pressed it in some of his poems. 
 
 For energy and taste combined, he is unsurpassed 
 by any American poet, and it is almost impossible to 
 read some of his lines without being carried away 
 with the resistless force of the feelings they convey. 
 As an instance, a gentleman, whom I met in travelling, 
 mentioned to me a student at Harvard University, 
 who was a native of the South, and very fond of 
 choosing for the subject of his College themes and 
 declamations the merits of the ^'patriarchal institution." 
 He was especially opposed to the abolitionists. But 
 one day, at the urgent request and challenge of his 
 fellow-students, he consented to recite, in his usual 
 style, the stirring poem by Whittier — " Massachusetts 
 to Virginia." So fully were his own feelings drawn 
 away by those of the author, that from that time he 
 became a warm partizan of Northern sentiments, and 
 when he left college became a minister in Michigan, 
 and married a lady who fully participated in his views. 
 She was soon taken from him by death, but in her 
 illness it was one of her greatest alleviations of pain 
 
FRIE^^DS IN NEW ENGLAND. 221 
 
 to hear her husband read at her bedside from the 
 writings of the author whom they both so highly 
 admired. And, after her decease, he took a journey 
 to Massachusetts to visit the poet, and convey to him, 
 personally, his thanks for the consolations of his 
 writings to his late beloved partner during her last 
 days of weakness and decline. The narrator told me 
 he was himself then returning to the west from a town 
 amongst the mountains and valleys of New England, 
 and that his enjoyment of them had been enhanced by 
 the pleasant associations thrown around them by the 
 poems of Whittier, 
 
 'After visiting Amesbury, Lynn, and Boston, I went 
 to Providence and Newport, in Rhode Island. A 
 train for New York leaves Boston every afternoon, in 
 connexion with the Connecticut steam-boats. It passes 
 through Providence, and enables the Boston merchants, 
 after transacting their day's business, to be in New 
 York, two hundred and fifty miles distant, by eight 
 o'clock the next morning, after a pleasant ride by 
 rail and a comfortable night's rest on one of the 
 splendid steamers which pass rapidly up and down 
 the smooth waters of Long Island Sound. 
 
 Providence is about forty miles from Boston, and 
 the country between, though not bold, is very varied 
 and picturesque. It contains many ponds and winding 
 meres bordered by rich green grass. There are many 
 low rocky hills and croppings-out of granitic strata 
 with thick woods above. Amongst the meadows is 
 an abundant indigenous flora of bushy pink valerian, 
 red sumach, white yarrow, and bright golden rod, and 
 in the pools many deep blue spikes of a plant 
 resembling a potamogeton. Tiie railway passes by a 
 
222 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 viaduct above the pretty town of Canton, which is 
 well-wooded and with many orchards, spires, and a 
 dark winding-stream passing under arches of willow, 
 elm, and ash. Occasionally is seen a rural cemetery 
 almost buried in foliage, from out of which appear its 
 neat white monuments. 
 
 In this part of New England we often pass through 
 cuttings in light-coloured horizontal strata of sand 
 and pebbles, and amongst these ancient marine or 
 drift deposits are many patches of swamp, abounding 
 in wild flowers and eatable berries. The railway 
 stations of New England are more English-looking 
 than any other in America, except a few in Canada. 
 On entering Rhode Island State we immediately find 
 ourselves amongst a lively manufacturing population, 
 with large mills and factories all around. At Paw- 
 tucket, four miles from Providence, are the first cotton 
 mills erected in America. 
 
 Providence has a large railway station, and is an 
 important place both for shipping and manufactures, 
 especially those of cotton, tools, and jewellery. It is 
 at the narrow upper end of Narragansett Bay, and is 
 a peculiarly respectable city, with many elegant 
 mansions and gardens in the suburbs and on the hill 
 which rises behind it. In the centre of the city is a 
 circular basin of water (not used by ships^, about a 
 furlong in diameter, and walled with masonry. Around 
 it is a neat promenade walk. 
 
 Providence was founded by Roger Williams in 
 1635, when driven from Massachusetts by the less 
 liberal Puritans. When he landed there on a rock in 
 the neighbourhood, which has since been historic 
 ground, he was hailed by the Indians with the words. 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 223 
 
 *' What cheer ? " and received in a friendly manner. 
 These words have become proverbial in America, 
 and even in distant San Francisco, one of the largest 
 hotels is named " The What-Cheer House." 
 
 In the neighbourhood of the city are many large 
 educational institutions, the principal of which is 
 Brown University, one of the oldest in America. It 
 consists of several piles of oblong and rather dingy 
 buildings. Its trustees must be, according to the 
 terms of its foundation, members of various denomi- 
 nations, but it is required that its Principal shall be a 
 Baptist It has a high reputation as a college. 
 
 Near it is the Yearly Meeting Boarding School for 
 the children of Friends in New England. This is a 
 very fine establishment, larger than that at West-town, 
 near Philadelphia, and receives much attention from 
 its supporters. It was founded by the venerable 
 Moses Brown in 1818, and contains 120 boys and 
 110 girls. The charges are from 80 dollars to 200 
 dollars per annum (£16 to £40). The modern 
 languages are taught here as well as the ancient, and 
 in this respect it differs from most other Friends' 
 schools in America. The course of studies is a very 
 liberal one, and there is a good museum, laboratory, 
 and library. In the latter are several rare specimens 
 of early Quaker literature, as George Fox's " Battle- 
 dore," and the " Snake in the Grass." The pupils of 
 this Institution are not all Friends, or limited to 
 natives of New England. Two of them are Portuguese, 
 from Mozambique, in Africa. Those who are not 
 Friends appear to become more attached to the 
 Society's customs and principles than many of the 
 birthright members. 
 
224 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 The school has an endowment of 100,000 dollars 
 (£20,000). The course of study extends over four 
 years. 
 
 The former pupils of this Institution have formed 
 an " Alumni Association." They hold an annual 
 gathering at Newport on the occasion of the yearly 
 meeting, and take the opportunity of renewing old 
 friendships, reviving past memories, and manifesting 
 a practical interest in the success of their Alma 
 Mater. 
 
 Near the school is the residence of Dr. S. Boyd 
 Tobey, the Clerk of New England Yearly Meeting, 
 and also that of Dr. Wayland, the President of Brown 
 University, and one of the most eminent of American 
 theologians. 
 
 From Providence I went to Newport, passing down 
 Narragansett Bay. It is on Rhode Island proper, 
 and is the most fashionable watering-place in America, 
 having eclipsed Saratoga. It has several fine beaches 
 on the Atlantic side, and possesses many historic 
 associations. Bishop Berkeley resided here for a 
 time. He was an Irish prelate of excellent life, and 
 was said to possess " Every virtue under heaven." 
 Here also lived and died Commodore Perry, of naval 
 celebrity. At Newport are two very strong forts 
 guarding the entrance to Narragansett Bay — Fort 
 Adams and Fort Wolcott. 
 
 At one period Rhode Island proper was under the 
 peaceful government of Friends — " The governor and 
 all the magistrates were Quakers, and the most 
 beautiful system of government that the world has 
 ever seen was carried into effect. When war raged 
 around, and fire and fagot and the tomahawk were doing 
 
FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND. 225 
 
 their work, Rhode Island, sustained by the principles 
 of equity and justice, remained uninjured. A still 
 more strikinor instance occurred in the settlement of 
 Carolina. That great philosopher, John Locke, skilled 
 in the learninir of the world, who had written exten- 
 sively on government, on toleration, and the rights of 
 man, from his superior wisdom was solicited to form a 
 constitution for the new Colony. The work was accom- 
 plished — it was the pride of its day. It was wise in 
 the learning of books, and in examples drawn from 
 history. All its nice adjustments were of no avail, 
 and the Carolinas found no settlement until a Quaker, 
 John Archdale, of Buckinghamshire, was called to 
 administer the government upon the Quaker principle." 
 
 And the provinces of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 enjoyed, whilst under the sway of Friends, a degree 
 of happiness and prosperity, which was a golden age 
 compared to the early struggles and bloodshed of the 
 older Colonies, which were instituted and governed 
 on principles more warlike, less " Utopian." 
 
 There are not so many Friends at Newport as at 
 Providence, but the yearly meeting has been held 
 there since 1661, so that it has a respectable and 
 superior claim to precedence in this respect. 
 
 It contains one of the few genuine antiquities of 
 America, — this is a round tower of rude masonry, 
 about thirty-five feet high and twenty in diameter, 
 and arched at the base. It is popularly called " The 
 Old Mill," and is the scene of one of Longfellow's 
 poems. Some ascribe to it a Scandinavian origin. 
 
 When at Boston I went to see the " Connnon." 
 This is really no common at all, but a well-planted 
 park. In one part of it is a small winding sheet of 
 
226 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 water. This is probably the precise locality where 
 the four Friends were hanged, about the year 1660, 
 for persisting in preaching in the Colony. John 
 Burnyeat says they were executed on Boston Common, 
 in a swampy place, and from the configuration of the 
 ground, the present pond was, in all probability, the 
 scene of the event. It is a dark blot on the early 
 history of the Puritan colony. But Massachusetts, 
 which was formerly so intolerant and bigoted, is now 
 not surpassed in its liberal sentiments by any other 
 State of the Union. 
 
 AMERICAN FRIENDS AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The Society of Friends in America have combined 
 a firm protest against slavery with a general prudence 
 in the expression of that protest. In the first place, 
 they have all relinquished holding slaves, and those 
 that held them manumitted them. And if any Friend 
 should now hold slaves he would be disowned from 
 membership in the Society. Having thus practically 
 and boldly asserted the sacredness of the principle of 
 freedom, the Society there has not felt itself called 
 upon to unite in violent language against slaveholders, 
 or even in enticing away slaves from their masters. 
 Against the latter practice a protest has been issued 
 by the yearly meeting of North Carolina. But 
 although Friends thus avoid exciting slaves to run 
 away, yet when these have taken the initiative and 
 chosen to leave their masters and are in distress on 
 their route, they have found in the Society their 
 readiest befrienders. 
 
AMERICAN FBIENDS AND SLAVERY. 227 
 
 And Friends have been amongst the most active 
 conductors of " the underground railway." This is 
 the term given to the system of secret co-operation 
 by which slaves are aided along their fugitive route 
 from south of the Ohio river to Canada. The plan is 
 this : — A runaway negro comes to a town or house, 
 wliere there are Friends or persons known to be of 
 strong anti-slavery views. These will either drive 
 him on by night, some six or ten miles, to the next 
 " station," — that is, the house of some other person of 
 similar freedom of sentiment, — or they will at least 
 lodge or otherwise aid him in his concealment and 
 progress. Formerly the "underground railroad" 
 was of very limited width, and almost exclusively 
 conducted by Friends; but of late years a great 
 change has come over the Northern States, and multi- 
 tudes who were formerly indifferent, or actually 
 favourable to slavery, now take a pleasure in aiding 
 runaway slaves. The " railroad " now extends across 
 the whole length and breadth of Ohio and Indiana, 
 and over parts of Illinois and Iowa. That is to say, 
 there are persons in almost every place throughout 
 these States, who will willingly aid the fugitives, 
 although they are liable to a penalty of one thousand 
 dollars in each case if detected. 
 
 The reason why there has been such a change in 
 the North is, the growing insolence and unreasonable- 
 ness of the Southern States. Not content with their 
 original privileges, and with the concessions which 
 from time to time they have extorted from the North 
 in the way of " compromises," they have pushed their 
 claims and attempts beyond all toleration. They 
 have succeeded in passing laws through Congress, 
 Q2 
 
228 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 which compel the North to take active means for 
 arresting the fugitive slaves under heavy penalties. 
 Further, they treat with insolence and violence 
 Northerners, who venture whilst travelling in the 
 South to express a decided opinion against slavery, or 
 even a mild one. Lately they have hanged or brutally 
 treated persons in the South, especially in Texas, on 
 the most frivolous pretences, such as for having anti- 
 slavery newspapers in their possession. They have 
 grossly insulted Northern senators, especially Charles 
 Sumner, who, whilst sitting at his desk in the Capitol, 
 was set upon from behind by several Southern senators 
 and so brutally and cowardly beaten, whilst held down 
 in his seat, that his life was in danger for a long time 
 afterwards, and it was four years before he could 
 resume his place in the Senate. It is dangerous for 
 any man to open his mouth against slavery in the 
 South, however temperately he may speak. Especially 
 to an Englishman, the feeling in the South is most 
 disagreeable. He feels " tongue-tied," — and as if 
 breathing the atmosphere of a lime-kiln, as to his 
 usual freedom of utterance. 
 
 The Southerners make it their boast that Northerners 
 are afraid to come amongst them. I remember 
 riding in an omnibus in a Free State, arid there was 
 an insolent pro-slavery advocate, who looked round at 
 some of the passengers who had expressed their 
 approval of Lincoln, the Republican candidate for 
 President, and said, " Ah, you are the nigger party. 
 You are John Brown's party. Why don't you come 
 down South ? You are afraid to come down there," 
 and so on. This is merely a type of the general 
 conduct of the South. 
 
AMERICAN FRIENDS AND SLAVERY. 229 
 
 No continental despotism can compare with that 
 which under the vaunt of liberty is exercised by the 
 Southern public over white " free " men, who travel, 
 or at any rate who reside in their States. 
 
 In nearly all the Southern States there are codes of 
 laws against white men worthy of the days of Draco, 
 laws which decree heavy fines and long years of 
 imprisonment for the slightest acts of "tampering" 
 with slaves. Under this head of " tampering " is 
 included a kind word or almost a sympathetic look at 
 a slave. 
 
 The South always has to yield when it ventures 
 beyond insult into actual resistance to the North. 
 Thus in Kansas they tried to force slavery by war 
 and murder, on which the North said, " Oh, if you 
 fight, we can fight too," and immediately repressed the 
 Southern power there by their superior strength. The 
 present increased insults to the North are owing to 
 the felt conviction that the Northern supremacy, both 
 in politics and wealth, and in public opinion, is now 
 irrevocably and permanently established, as witnessed 
 in the expression of the national voice by its votes 
 this autumn. 
 
 The overthrow of the Southern supremacy is not a 
 defeat but a rout. But the North does not wish to 
 use its power unreasonably. It says, "You may 
 retain your slaves in your present States, but we will 
 not allow you to extend them to the Territories. 
 You shall not introduce slavery into Kansas, or New 
 Mexico, or Arizona, or Utah, or Nebraska." 
 
 The Southern insults have thus at length aroused 
 the North to put forth or rather to make manifest its 
 calm but irresistible strength. And for one anti- 
 
230 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 slavery man that there was in the North twenty years 
 ago there are now a hundred. Even in Philadelphia, 
 about twenty years ago, the great body of the citizens 
 were so decidedly pro-slavery, that they burnt the 
 hall in which the abolition party held their meetings. 
 Further, they ransacked and destroyed the office of 
 the one abolition newspaper then published in that 
 city ; and the editor of that paper, John G. Whittier, 
 saw his own office thus outraged and sacked, and, to 
 use his own words, in narrating the circumstances to 
 me, " I had to flee in disguise, to escape a coat of tar 
 and feathers." 
 
 But how is the scene changed in twenty years! 
 This autumn I saw a sight not to be easily forgotten 
 — the streets of the same Philadelphia crowded with 
 miles of torchlight bearers, marching in comparatively 
 interminable procession, with music, lights, and ban- 
 ners, to proclaim that Philadelphia had spoken out, as 
 with the voice of one man, for " Liberty and Lincoln." 
 
 Yf hat would be the fate now-a-days of the men who 
 should destroy an anti-slavery hall, or ransack an 
 anti-slavery office, or attempt to tar and feather an 
 anti-slavery editor in Philadelphia ? The tables are 
 turned with a vengeance, since 1840. And yet this 
 revulsion of popular Northern feeling is not owing 
 mainly to any anti-slavery efforts, but almost entirely 
 to the indignation aroused by the insults of the South. 
 
 The men who forced the Fugitive Slave Law, and 
 cowardly abused Sumner, and have this autumn been 
 hanging poor German mapsellers in Texas, as 
 " abolitionist emissaries," and who showed their 
 " Virginian chivalry " by insulting the Prince of 
 Wales at Richmond, (the only southern spot he 
 
AMEBICAN FRIENDS AND SLAVERY. 231 
 
 visited, and the only spot in all North America where he 
 was treated otherwise than with mutually honourable 
 welcome,) — it is these Southern men who have done a 
 hundred-fold more against their own cause than all 
 the anti-slavery meetings, subscriptions, tracts, books, 
 orations, or societies, that were ever instituted or heard 
 of. The most effective " ultra-abolitionists " in 
 America are the populace, and senators, and editors 
 of the Carolinas, Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and 
 Arkansas. Massachusetts has done nothing to arouse 
 the North compared with the intemperate claims and 
 insults of these Southern States. 
 
 'The Friends in America, though always decidedly 
 anti-slavery in action and example, have not as a body 
 taken a part amongst the extreme advocates of 
 abolitionism; but have, on the contrary, rather dis- 
 couraged their members from such association, partly 
 because they perceived that over-zeal and violent 
 words were likely to promote the interests of the 
 pro-slavery party, instead of injuring them, and 
 partly because some of the leaders of the ultra-anti- 
 slavery advocates have been and still are of sceptical 
 religious opinions. And there can be little doubt, 
 but that, by this judicious and yet thoroughly prac- 
 tical policy, the American Friends have accomplished 
 more for freedom than if their zeal had got the better 
 of their prudence. 
 
 There is another subject which is often mixed up 
 with the slavery question, but which is in reality 
 quite distinct from it, — that of the habits of, and 
 association with, tlie coloured race. It is not usual in 
 the North for the free blacks to travel in the same 
 carriage, or be admitted to a social equality with the 
 
232 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 whites ; and the Americans are often blamed by 
 Englishmen for being too exclusive in this way. But 
 it is generally noticed, that whenever an Englishman 
 travels in America amongst the blacks, he acknow- 
 ledges, with others, that although there are well- 
 behaved and respectable exceptions, yet as a class, 
 generally, their habits are unpleasant to white persons. 
 Their manners, and language, and personal customs 
 are very different from those of the few superior 
 specimens of the race who come over to Britain occasion- 
 ally as lecturers, or anti-slavery agents. These, too, are 
 generally of as much white blood as black, and are 
 not to be taken as by any means a sample of the gene- 
 rality of the negro population in America. 
 
 So that, although the American Friends are truly 
 zealous for the liberty and improvement of the 
 negroes, they do not generally feel it necessary to 
 depart from the ordinary customs of white society in 
 respect to non-intimacy with the coloured race. And 
 until that race becomes more pleasant in its general 
 habits than it is as yet, there is not much probability 
 that the relative social position of coloured people and 
 the whites will be much altered. 
 
 In this country we should be careful how we let in a 
 tinge of judgment respecting the social reserve which 
 the American Friends so generally feel needful in this 
 respect, for it is pretty certain that if we were in their 
 place our policy would not be very different; and, after 
 all, they are unceasing in their efforts for the social as 
 well as moral, intellectual, and religious amelioration 
 of the negroes, and they have had to bear the real brunt 
 and personal conflict of the anti-slavery struggle, in a 
 degree to which we are necessarily strangers. 
 
233 
 
 FRIENDS* SABBATH SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The origin and establishment of Sabbath schools 
 amongst Friends in the West has been already alluded 
 to, as having been chiefly rendered successful by the 
 persevering efforts of some of the members of 
 Richmond meetinor. It was interesting to me to have 
 an opportunity of witnessing their operation there, 
 and elsewhere in the West, and to see the earnestness 
 with which the elder and younger Friends enter into 
 this very important part of the Society's maintenance. 
 
 There is a great distinction between the aspect of 
 the' " First-day School Association" amongst Friends 
 in America, compared with those in England. In the 
 latter case, the movement is simply to engage young 
 Friends to give their time and labour on the Sabbath, 
 to instruct the children of the poor of other denomi- 
 nations. Scarcely any of their pupils are members of 
 their own Society, and it is not necessary that it 
 should be so, for there is a far more general attention 
 given to the religious and secular education of members 
 by Friends in England than in America. There are 
 only about eight public boarding-schools in America 
 for the children of the eighty thousand " Orthodox*' 
 Friends in east and west, and scarcely any private 
 boarding-schools in addition; whereas, amongst the 
 seventeen thousand Friends in Great Britain and 
 Ireland, there are at least fourteen public boarding- 
 schools, and eight or ten additional private ones. 
 Besides which, more than a few Friends in Great 
 Britain have private tutors or governesses to teach 
 their own families at home, — a practice scarcely ever 
 heard of amongst American Friends. 
 
234 FRIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 So that in the Friends' "First-day Schools" in 
 Great Britain it is only the teachers that are Friends, 
 the pupils being almost universally members of other 
 denominations, whilst in America both teachers and 
 pupils are members of the same Society. In some of 
 their schools there is a small proportion from other 
 denominations, including Hicksites. 
 
 I will briefly describe a morning spent at Richmond 
 First-day School, the principal one amongst Friends 
 in America. The school there, as in most other 
 places, is held in the large meeting-house, and 
 commences on first-day morning, two hours before 
 nieeting time, viz., at 9 o'clock, and terminates about 
 10.45. Both divisions of the house are occupied by 
 the various classes, of which there are seventeen. 
 The total number of scholars was that morning about 
 130. Elijah Coffin is the superintendent, and Isaac 
 Evans the assistant superintendent. 
 
 The eldest class of pupils consisted of nearly twenty 
 elderly women Friends, sometimes pleasantly alluded 
 to as the "spectacled class." They included female 
 ministers and elders, and were seated in the gallery 
 at the head of the meeting-house. Their teacher 
 was an elderly man Friend, a minister.- The class 
 was that morning reading the sixth chapter of 
 Revelations. Their reading was slow, and the 
 remarks made by either pupils or teacher were very 
 deliberate. 
 
 In another part of the meeting was a class of young 
 men, conducted by an intelligent Friend, who had a 
 Greek Testament beside him for reference. 
 
 At the opposite side of the room was another class, 
 of ten more youths. Their teacher was discussing an 
 
friends' sabbath schools in AMERICA. 235 
 
 historic question, and was turning over the pages of a 
 thick " Adam Clark's Commentary," to elucidate his 
 subject. 
 
 At the lower end of the meeting, the clerk of 
 Indiana Yearly Meeting (who is also a manager of 
 the State Bank) was teaching his class of fifteen 
 young women. The subject was the Resurrection 
 and a future state, and the aspect of the question then 
 under consideration was the reason why our Saviour 
 was termed in Scripture " the first begotten from the 
 dead," and the "first fruits" of immortality, seeing 
 that there are several preceding instances of resur- 
 rection recorded in the Bible. It seemed to be at 
 length explained that in those previous cases of 
 resurrection, as of the child at Zarephath, Lazarus, 
 and Jairus's daughter, the dead had not risen again 
 immortal, and that by their subsequent death they 
 were clearly distinguished from a resurrection like our 
 Lord's, who rose *' now, no more to return to corrup- 
 tion." Parallel references of Scripture were freely 
 made use of in this and other classes. 
 
 In a corner of the house was a small class of six 
 middle-aged or elderly men Friends, who were holding 
 a conversation on the subject of the " transfiguration," 
 and on the nature of the " tabernacles," then men- 
 tioned by Peter. There was no particular teacher to 
 this class, it being one for mutual instruction. 
 
 In the adjoining division of the meeting-house (a 
 Tery large one) were several classes of girls of 
 various ages. 
 
 Another class of younger girls was being taught 
 by the wife of the Friend who conducts the young 
 women's class in the adjoining division, and her class. 
 
236 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 like her husband's, was also examining the subject of 
 the resurrection, on which they had collected various 
 texts of Scripture the preceding week, to be com- 
 mitted to memory and now repeated. 
 
 At the far end of the room was an " infant class " 
 of very young boys and girls, taught by a kind and 
 cheerful female teacher, by the aid of pictures, as 
 they were too young to read. On showing them a 
 picture of Noah's ark, one child asked if any fishes 
 were taken into it. The reply was, " Yes, perhaps 
 some to eat." These little ones were very eager to 
 answer their questions, which they did simulta- 
 neously. 
 
 Across the room was another small class of four 
 rather older boys, evincing similar interest in an 
 account of Jonah and " the whale." 
 
 In most of the classes a chapter was first read, verse 
 by verse, all around. The questions and illustrations 
 followed this reading, and with the aid of comparing 
 parallel passages. Several books were in use as helps 
 for the younger classes, especially " the Mother's 
 Catechism," and " Questions on Luke and John," both 
 compiled by Elijah Cofiin. Some use was also made 
 of Biblical Cyclopaedias and Dictionaries. 
 
 Amongst the visitors that morning was a young 
 Methodist minister, and an elder member of the same 
 church from a distance. They appeared much inter- 
 ested in the school, and subsequently addressed the 
 children on their satisfaction at the purely scriptural 
 mode of instruction, and especially at the general use 
 of parallel references. 
 
 About four-fifths of the pupils at this school are 
 members of the Friends' Society, but their dresses. 
 
FRIENDS' SABBATH SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. 237 
 
 especially of the younger girls, were by no means so 
 uniform as those of their elders and teachers. 
 
 All the classes gather together at the upper end of 
 the meeting, about ten minutes before the termination 
 of the school-time, to recite the verses learnt during 
 the week. The superintendent, who has been walking 
 about from class to class during the school-hours, now 
 calls upon individual pupils to repeat passages which 
 he has reason to know they are prepared with. It is 
 also usual, at the end of school, to ask any visitors who 
 may be present whether they wish to address the 
 children. If so, an opportunity is given. 
 
 The whole morning was a pleasant, cheerful, and 
 very interesting one. 
 
 I had several opportunities of witnessing first-day 
 schools in smaller meetings than Richmond. In some 
 of these a Friend and his wife occasionally unite in 
 teaching one class. Amongst the books used, one 
 was particularly recommended to me, and on examin- 
 ing it, I found it to be an American reprint, under 
 another title, of the very valuable English work, 
 entitled Nicholls' " Help to the Reading of the Bible." 
 It is published in London by the " Society for Pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge," and is almost the 
 best aid of the kind to the teacher, pupil, or private 
 student, for exciting an interest in the Holy Scriptures. 
 Its American title is " The Mine Explored." 
 
 There are now established first-day schools in 
 nearly all the particular meetings belonging to the 
 Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings, as well as in 
 Iowa and Kansas. In these districts there are very 
 few " Wilbur Friends." In Ohio, where the Wilburites 
 are more numerous, there has been a slower readiness 
 
238 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 to adopt first-day schools ; and in Pennsylvania, where 
 the same section of the Society is most numerous and 
 influential, there has been general opposition to them. 
 But, very recently, a few young Friends in Phila- 
 delphia, who belong to the "Evangelical" section, 
 have opened a first-day school, under considerable 
 discouragement. One of them had many years ago 
 felt it his duty to become a teacher in Sabbath schools. 
 He could not do it at that time in the Society, and so 
 used to go to a Baptist School and teach. He almost 
 felt inclined to leave Friends altogether, but could not 
 quite resolve to do so. Now that way has opened he has 
 taken to the teaching of a class of young Friends. But 
 this incipient movement is discouraged by the majority 
 of Friends in Philadelphia, for the old reason that 
 (as they allege) to teach children by scriptural in- 
 struction is " interfering with the province of the 
 Holy Spirit," or at any rate, that this is the case 
 when young Friends take upon themselves to teach 
 children without a sort of irresistible impulse from 
 the Divine Spirit. This view is another illustration 
 of that spurious Quakerism introduced in the 
 eighteenth century, and not sanctioned by Holy 
 Scripture, nor even by George Fox, whose authority 
 is so often appealed to by Wilburite Friends. One 
 would suppose that the evident excellent results of 
 the adoption of the Sabbath-school system in the 
 Western Yearly Meeting and in Great Britain would 
 have dispelled the delusion which these good Friends 
 of Philadelphia labour under, but it seems they are 
 not to be so readily convinced. However, we shall 
 see what a few years may do. Time works wonders. 
 Even in Great Britain there was formerly amongst 
 
friends' sabbath schools in AMERICA. 239 
 
 Friends a considerable tinge of this same prejudice 
 against systematic religious instruction, but it has 
 been dispelled by the spread of scriptural truth, like 
 the mists of morning before the sunshine of the day. 
 
 As a proof of tlie urgent need there was for the 
 breaking up of the old system of eighteenth century 
 Quakerism, which had attained such extensive influ- 
 ence in America, it was thought needful by Indiana 
 Friends, after the Hicksite secession in 1827, to 
 institute an inquiry into the real state of their yearly 
 meeting respecting scriptural information, and the 
 result of this inquiry was most unsatisfactory. It 
 was found (as I was credibly informed) that in one 
 district of Indiana there were two hundred and fifty 
 families of Friends without a single copy of the Holy 
 Scriptures ! And yet these Friends had all the while 
 been considered in a " consistent" condition, and in as 
 respectable a style of Quakerism as theii* brethren in 
 general. 
 
 It is surely a great mistake to think we can honour 
 the Holy Spirit whilst neglecting the diligent perusal 
 of those sacred Scriptures which were given forth by 
 Himself as a means which He deemed essential "for 
 our learning," and " able to make us wise unto salva- 
 tion," when Oldened to our understanding by their 
 Divine Author. 
 
 One other point of difference may be mentioned 
 resi)ecting the Friends' First-day Schools of America, 
 compared with those of England ; the former are only 
 held in summer and not in winter, on account of the 
 extreme cold. 
 
 Before I left Richmond, the annual report of the 
 first-day school of that place was drawn up, and was 
 
240 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 nearly as follows : — " We have had a four months' 
 school, which commenced on the first of 4th month 
 (April) with 46 scholars in eleven classes. New 
 scholars coming in, soon necessitated an increase in 
 the number of classes, which are at present seventeen. 
 There are in the school at present 177 scholars, (77 
 males, 100 females,) and 17 teachers, (7 males, 10 
 females.) The average attendance for the seventeen 
 weeks has been 113, namely, 51 males, 62 females. 
 The first class is of nineteen elderly women Friends, 
 mostly between fifty and sixty years of age. They 
 have nearly gone through the New Testament in 
 class, taking five years at it. The second class is of 
 twelve young men, between the ages of fourteen and 
 twenty-five years, and are going through Genesis. 
 The third class is of seventeen young women, who are 
 going through the ' Harmony of the Gospels.' The 
 sixth class is of boys from eleven to fifteen years of 
 age, who have nearly gone through the ' Harmony of 
 the Gospels.' The thirteenth class is of six elderly 
 men Friends, who read the Bible together rather 
 than with a teacher. The sixteenth class is of nine- 
 teen little bojs and girls, who cannot read or write, 
 and are generally about four years of age. In winter 
 time there is a Scripture class of elder pupils and 
 teachers, held on first-day afternoons, either in the 
 meeting-house or at a Friend's residence. About 
 twenty are usually present. There is a prospect of a 
 Church History class, to be held on first-day after- 
 noons." 
 
 The general state of secular education amongst 
 American Friends is necessarily influenced by the 
 political circumstances of their country. It is a 
 
friends' sabbath schools in AMERICA. 241 
 
 universal law in the United States, that every citizen 
 shall be taxed for a public education fund, whether he 
 chooses to send his children to the common schools thus 
 supported, or not. Every child in the United States has 
 thus a right to enter, gratuitously, at the public State 
 schools, and, if it does not enter, its parents still have to 
 contribute according to their ability. I was informed 
 tliat the average tax of each individual in America, 
 for the State schools, is about fifteen dollars (£3) per 
 annum. But, of course, some poor persons pay 
 scarcely anything at all, and the wealthy a great deal 
 more than this average. 
 
 It has been found by the experience of Friends in 
 America that their children have not been so satis- 
 factorily educated at the common State schools, as at 
 schools specially supported by their own Society. 
 This is owing to the moral and religious influences of 
 assimilation, which must necessarily be brought to 
 bear upon children of a denomination holding many 
 peculiar views, by ordinary school contact with a 
 large majority of children belonging to denominations 
 of widely-different sentiments on some points. 
 
 Quakerism and Catholicism are each especially 
 peculiar in many of their views, when compared with 
 other religious Christian sects. And it has been 
 found by the Catholics that the very same powerful 
 influences of assimilation have been unavoidably 
 acting upon their children at the common schools. 
 Sensible of this, the Catholics of the United States have 
 very reasonably demanded that their proper share of 
 school taxation should be allowed to be appropriated 
 towards schools entirely in their own hands. This 
 request is a fair and rational one, but it has not been 
 
 B 
 
242 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 granted by the nation. Still less influential would be 
 any such demand made by the smaller denomination 
 of Friends, and they are, therefore, under the neces- 
 sity of either sending their children to the undesirably 
 assimilating influences of the common schools, or else 
 of paying double educational expenses for separate 
 schools entirely in the hands and influence of their 
 own Society. In many places, however, they make 
 an effort of the kind, and have day-schools attached 
 to the meeting-houses, and under the charge of the 
 monthly meetings, who appoint Friends as teachers, 
 where practicable. But the extra expense, even of 
 these day-schools, causes more than half of the wes- 
 tern Friends to send their children to the State 
 schools instead. 
 
 K E V I E W. 
 
 With the many interesting features of the Society 
 of Friends in America it is to be regretted that 
 divisions also should have had so prominent a place. 
 Yet we have seen that they are of such a nature that, 
 at any rate, many of them need offer no virtual ob- 
 stacle to reunion. This especially refers to the 
 distinction between the Evangelical and Wilburite 
 Friends. 
 
 But the differences of Hicksism are of a more 
 fundamental nature, and it can neither be expected, 
 nor even hoped, that the other section of the Society 
 should be united to it, until it adopts the doctrines of 
 the perfect Deity of Christ and of the necessity of the 
 Atonement, both of which it denies, or only in part 
 acknowledges. 
 
BEVIEW. 243 
 
 Whilst we thus plead for the motto, " In essentials 
 unity, in non-essentials liberty," let us also remember 
 its remaining portion — " in all things charity ; " and, 
 with regard to the Hicksites, I have often thought that 
 some of them resemble the son in the parable, who, 
 when told to work in his father's vineyard, replied, " I 
 will not ; but afterward he repented and went." For 
 although these may verbally deny the Deity of Christ, 
 yet, if they reverently seek to follow the Divine Spirit 
 of Himself in their hearts, and to do, through His 
 assistance, those works of love in which Christ de- 
 lights, then they give the truest and deepest acknow- 
 ledgment of His Deity. 
 
 And on the other hand, it is very possible for some 
 of us, who may profess with our lips a most unexcep- 
 tionably scriptural creed, to be like the other son, 
 who said, " I go. Sir, and went not." For what is 
 the worth of our creed, or orthodoxy, or profession 
 of allegiance to Christ as God, if we do not practically 
 recognize His intensely personal, vital, energizing 
 Omnipresence? If we do not practically recognize 
 this important attribute of His Deity, our verbal re- 
 cognition of it is but an empty sound, and a self- 
 deluding vanity. 
 
 The Early Friends studiously avoided the require- 
 ment of any creed at all. Beyond a few well-defined 
 and simple principles, an elaborate creed is a charac- 
 teristic of a fading ecclesiastical vitality, wherever it 
 ap|)ears. 
 
 The basis of true Quakerism is the instinctive 
 
 recognition, in ourselves and in others, of the Divine 
 
 living Presence ; instinctive — for, like the sunshine, 
 
 it is better manifested by feeling than by any verbal 
 
 B 2 
 
244 FEIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 logic. And our best evidence of Christianity and of 
 the need of Christ's Incarnation and Atonement is 
 simply this — that we feel in the presentment of these 
 facts a livelier action, and a deeper excitement and 
 response of our intuitional spiritual sympathies. The 
 historic and literary evidences of Christianity are 
 trifles to this surer and eternal basis. And in this 
 age, when some of the most learned of various deno- 
 minations are at times ready to fear that the apparent 
 discrepancies of some of the revelations of science 
 with those of Scripture may shake the stability of the 
 latter, the true Friend feels that he has an evidence of 
 a deeper and more convincing nature — the perfect 
 harmony and endorsement of Scripture by the most 
 solemn, most powerful inward Truth in his best 
 moments, — that Truth which raises its voice most 
 powerfully in the presence of the most mighty external 
 influences, — the presence of the greatest peril, of the 
 tenderest love, and of the nearest prospect of death. 
 As our eyes rest more on the heavens by night than 
 by day, so the voices of intuitional Truth and of scrip- 
 tural evidence are mightier in the presence of the 
 grandest than of the commonest influences. 
 
 And now, leaving points of difference, and looking 
 at the brighter ones of union, what high privileges 
 has the Society of Friends in the past and in the 
 present ! What other Christian denomination affords 
 to its members a wider field of individual opinion, 
 whilst preserving a reverence for the letter of the 
 Scripture, and for the spirit of its Author ? What 
 other possesses a more untrammelled denominational 
 liberty of speech and action, consistently with love 
 and subordination to a general union ? What other 
 
REYIETV. 245 
 
 possesses a ministry over which the body of the church 
 has such control, and which is, at the same time, so 
 freely independent of any coercing power from that 
 body? Where else can we find a denomination 
 which, at any rate in Great Britain, gives to every 
 child of every individual member a good boarding- 
 school education ? W here else is the money element in 
 church matters so disconnected with church services, 
 so free from compulsory pressure on any, and yet 
 so readily available when necessary? And although 
 Friends neither depend for amusement on balls, 
 theatres, or horse-races, where is there a community 
 of greater general happiness and more resources for 
 recreation ? What other denomination surpasses them 
 in the combination of the social with the religious 
 element? What other has a mode of worship which 
 affords greater scope for the perfect utterance of the 
 most private individual wants before the Lord, whilst, 
 at the same time, there is full opportunity for the 
 edification of the assembly in general ? What other 
 gives higher influence or greater freedom to woman, 
 whilst, at the same time, increasing rather than de- 
 creasing her true and most attractive womanhood ? 
 Where else do we see a real equality and democracy 
 of church-membership, without leading to dissolution, 
 and whilst preserving so much mutual respect and 
 harmony ? What other has done more, in proportion 
 to its numbers, for its poor, its solitary, or its delinquent 
 members? And what denomination has done more, 
 in proportion, for universal humanity ? 
 
 But why do we ask these questions ? Is it because 
 we think for one moment that Friends are intrinsically 
 superior to other men? Certainly not; for the experience 
 
246 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 of the Society shows some mournful and humiliating 
 instances, that we have no exemption from the 
 frailties of our common race. Is it because we 
 believe we have privileges not possessed by others, 
 and wish to boast of them in comfortable complacency ? 
 Honestly, it is not. 
 
 But it does seem to be evident that the reason why 
 so small a Society has been able to do so much, and 
 hold on so long, amid so many assaults and difficulties, 
 has been, that it has more practically recognized the 
 Divine Headship in the Church, both individually 
 and collectively, than any other denomination. It 
 has refused to recognize the title of "Head of the 
 Church" as belonging either to a monarch, to a 
 bishop, to a minister, or any man whatsoever, and 
 however gifted with wealth, or talent, or influence. 
 Christ alone, the head of our assemblies — Christ 
 alone, the head of our individual spirits. 
 
 Other denominations have acknowledged Christ's 
 headship in words, but they have practically substi- 
 tuted the authority of something surbordinate and 
 insufficient, as a pope, or a king, or a patriarch, or 
 an archbishop, or a presbytery, or a conference of 
 ministers. 
 
 But the Society of Friends, in its lowest and 
 highest assemblies, has always admitted the absence 
 of any human head, and the presidentship of the 
 spiritually manifested presence of Christ only. All 
 the members are on an equal footing as to their 
 rights and authority, and although they appoint a 
 clerk, he is merely as a recording secretary to the 
 voices of the whole. And all profess to hold them- 
 selves subordinate to the doubly manifested and 
 
REVIEW. 247 
 
 symphonious voice of God, by His written Scriptures, 
 and His invisible, energizing Spirit. 
 
 And it is most instructive to observe that, in 
 almost every case where the harmony of Friends has 
 been interrupted, it has been through interference with 
 this Divine Headship in the Church on the part of 
 over-active, though well-intentioned elders and others, 
 especially in America. Over-active officialism was 
 greatly the cause of the extent and permanence of 
 Hicksism, and over-active officialism has done much 
 mischief in the case of the Wilbur difficulties in 
 Philadelphia and elsewhere, and also by imposing 
 outward tests and accompaniments of "consistent" 
 membership not universally binding by the voice of 
 the Divine Head. 
 
 , It is a curious thing that in republican America 
 there has been less of this religious equality of the 
 members of the Society of Friends than in England, 
 and this is precisely the reason why the Society has 
 been more disturbed on that side the Atlantic than on 
 this by divisions, because they have suffered some of 
 their members to infringe on the sole prerogatives of 
 the one and only Head of the Church. 
 
 It has been common in England, of late, to speak 
 of the " decline" of the Society of Friends — just as, a 
 few years ago, there were pamphlets and books 
 written about the " Decadence d'Angleterre ;" but, if 
 others are deceived, let us not deceive ourselves. 
 The Society has no intention of "declining." It is 
 now evidently " looking up"* instead of declining. It is 
 true that it was declining till about ten years ago, for 
 the very reason that it was allowing some of its 
 
 members to infringe most unintentionally and well 
 
248 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 meaningly on its Divine Headship, and especially by 
 imposing minute and formal outward regulations in 
 place, or as a test, of His own Spiritual and Scriptural 
 Yoice; but it has perceived the danger and acted 
 accordingly. " The beginning of the end" was seen, 
 and in its stead has been substituted the beginning of a 
 new career of vigorous denominational existence. 
 
 The Society has again begun an ascendant influence, 
 which will probably continue to increase and prosper, 
 till " time shall be no more." And the secret of this 
 favourable alteration has been, not in any resumption or 
 relinquishment of any particular rules or practices, but 
 merely in the increased clearness of our acknowledg- 
 ment that Christ, alone and really, is our Head. 
 
 And whilst He is our Head, it will necessarily 
 follov that we shall continue to be peculiar in many 
 ways, though no longer necessarily so in obsolete 
 minutiae of dress or speech. A body of true Chris- 
 tians, of whatever denomination, must, if obedient to 
 their Master, ever be " a peculiar people" by being 
 " zealous of good works," so long as any majority of 
 their fellow-men are otherwise minded. 
 
 May this real test and truly authorized peculiarity 
 of discipleship increasingly characterize the Friends, 
 and others too, both in Europe and America,— a 
 peculiarity of degree in being "zealous of good 
 works," the good works which can alone be wrought 
 by the power of the Spirit of Christ working within 
 us. 
 
 And may the Society learn, by its own and other 
 experience, the paramount importance of the precept 
 — " What God hath joined together, let not man put 
 asunder ; " — and more and more be united in all its 
 
REVIEW. 249 
 
 extent by the union of each of its communities, in 
 receiving the symphonious voice of God, by His 
 Spirit and His Scriptures. Each of these, to be 
 rightly interpreted, must harmonize with the other. 
 And the history of all Christian churches has shown, 
 that even from these Divine Voices may arise the 
 greatest errors when disunited by men. 
 
 The Truth is a whole, a unity, a harmony, a 
 symphony. It resembles the colours of the spectrum 
 which compose the bright, powerful, and pure 
 sunlight, only as they are perfectly combined into 
 one ray. 
 
 The first besetment of Friends was to tend towards 
 a too exclusive regard to the Spiritual Voice ; and 
 eventually this dividing of the Truth led to a division 
 of the Society, — to Socinian error and schism. 
 
 Now, again, there is evident need to look out for 
 the besetment of a tendency to a too exclusive regard 
 to the Written Voice; and, unless this snare is 
 guarded against, it will lead to lifelessness, and a mere 
 cold intellectual ghost of Christianity. 
 
 May we be preserved from either extreme, in the 
 safe middle-way, in the guidance of " the Two Wit- 
 nesses." 
 
 And to do this we must remember that it is of no 
 use to have all the educational and advanced appli- 
 ances of our a^'e, tofjether with a diligent and accurate 
 study of the Holy Scriptures, — all this will be useless, 
 and of deeper mischief than entire ignorance, unless 
 we have conjoined with them the Spiritual Voice, 
 which not only interprets their meaning, but energizes 
 and constrains us to their obedience. 
 
 How are we to hear this Spiritual Voice ? Not by 
 
250 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 listening only, but by the chief appointed means, of 
 prayer for it. Prayer is the daily essential means of 
 obtaining daily spiritual light and power. This the 
 Early Friends were eminently sensible of, and they 
 gave much and frequent time to earnest individual 
 devotion. This practice is our chief essential to 
 guard us from religious extremes, to maintain us in 
 spiritual tenderness of perception and fidelity of 
 obedience. Frequent individual devotion, — true 
 prayer before the Lord. If it be at all heartfelt, it 
 will be true, and of Divine prompting. 
 
 Satan can never prompt us to any prayer at all, — 
 to any heartfelt prayer. " Every good gift is from 
 Above." Prayer is the best of gifts, and an earnest 
 of better gifts to come, and therefore, when we 
 breathe one aspiration of heartfelt sincere prayer, it is 
 a certain sign that God is prompting us, and has not 
 wholly forsaken us. He has appointed prayer to be 
 the only and indispensable condition of obtaining each 
 successive donation of the spiritual Presence and aid 
 of Himself. 
 
 The Scriptures tell us that the most availing prayer 
 is that which is accompanied by fasting. Fasting is 
 abstinence. And to pray earnestly and frequently, 
 and so as to draw down much Divine blessing on 
 ourselves and others, will necessarily involve a fasting 
 or abstinence from some things, or from some engage- 
 ments, which are very dear to us. 
 
 God required sacrifices of outward objects from the 
 Israelites, — the best and most precious of their flocks 
 and of their harvests, some of their purest gold, and 
 of their choicest treasures of every kind. And some 
 kind of sacrifice He requires of all. For love implies 
 
REVIETV. 251 
 
 sacrifice. We love, generally, not those only who 
 have done much for us, but those also for whom wo 
 have done much ourselves. So the more we give up 
 for God, the more we love Him. Therefore, to pray 
 most availingly, there must be such perseverance, and 
 frequency and copiousness of prayer, as will involve 
 necessarily the abstinence from some of our business, 
 or some of our social or intellectual pleasures. At 
 any rate there must be voluntary abstinence from 
 something which is as palatable food to our personal 
 interests and inclinations. For prayer which involves 
 no sacrifice, no effort, brings no reward. 
 
 The better and more precious a thing is, the more 
 we must labour to attain it. Therefore, a frequent 
 and essential bestowment of the Spiritual Presence, 
 Power, and Voice of God, will only follow earnest 
 personal devotion, — and just in proportion as that 
 devotion may be described as " prayer with fasting." 
 
 Without the real and spiritual Presence of God, 
 even the revelations of Scripture truth are as chords 
 of a rich-toned instrument, which need some living and 
 skilful hand to awaken them from silence. The Holy 
 Spirit, who comes in answer and proportionably to 
 the degree of prayer, is this Hand. But the chords 
 from which He ever draws the most thrilling vibra- 
 tions are those of His own inspired narrations which 
 record the manhood, sympathies, atoning death and 
 triumphant resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, — " God 
 manifest in the flesh." 
 
 These " Sketches " may now be concluded with an 
 earnest wish that, both in the Society of Friends, and 
 every other portion of the Christian church, there 
 may be an annually extending growth of mutual 
 
252 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 harmony, — harmony in variety, — in a vividly clear 
 appreciation of the tender and touching sympathies of 
 Christ's human life of suffering, — in a sense of our 
 unalterable vacuity of merit or of strength, and 
 finally, in the permanently increasing, reverential, 
 holy love, which necessarily and previously involves 
 the prayer-answering and preserving dwelling of 
 Himself in us, — in us through Time, and throughout 
 the more thrillingly perceptive life of an ever pro- , 
 gressive Eternity. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I.— SILENT MEETINGS. 
 
 In the preceding " Sketches " I have alluded to the 
 privilege of collective silent worship, as affording to 
 each worshipper free opportunity for religious medita- 
 tion, and for the expression of his own private 
 devotions before the Lord. But it has been objected, 
 ** If you wish to worship in silence, what is the good 
 of your coming together at all ? Why not stay at 
 home and worship by yourselves individually ?" To 
 this we may reply, that it is true that there is not an 
 absolutely indispensable necessity for public worship, 
 under all circumstances of life ; but it certainly is the 
 general duty of men not to forsake a public acknow- 
 ledgment of allegiance to God. 
 
 But further, there is a great benefit in silent collec- 
 tive worship, where any considerable proportion of 
 those present are engaged secretly in real devotion. 
 This benefit arises from the powerful aid and influence 
 of" the sympathy of numbers," and from the fact that 
 the Holy Spirit is, in His wisdom, pleased to grant 
 certain superior manifestations of His influence to 
 collective worship, even thougii held in total silence, 
 more than would be bestowed upon the same wor- 
 shippers if in separate devotion. This may be styled 
 " mysticism," or " magnetism," or any other ism, by 
 those who are strangers to it. But there have been 
 thousands, at any rate in the Society of Friends, who 
 
254 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 have known, by their own certain experience, that this 
 religious sympathy of numbers in worship, even when 
 altogether in silence, is a real and mighty power. It 
 is the fulfilment of Christ's word, " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in My name, there am I 
 in the midst of them." 
 
 May nothing, however intrinsically good, be per- 
 mitted by Friends to innovate upon this privilege of 
 spiritual communion with a Personal God through 
 the inestimable mode of silent collective worship. 
 
 II.— THE HICKSITE FRIENDS. 
 
 It has been my wish to show that the chief errors 
 of Hicksism consist in depreciating, or insufficiently 
 estimating, the authority and inspiration of the Holy 
 Scriptures and the perfect Deity of Christ. 
 
 It appears to be a popular mistake amongst some 
 Friends to consider that the characteristic error of 
 Hicksism consists in giving prominence to the doctrine 
 of the inward manifestation of Christ to every man. 
 But this doctrine is the soul of Quakerism ; and inas- 
 much as the Hicksites have held this, they have counter- 
 acted some of the influences of their errors. This 
 doctrine is in danger amongst modern Friends not 
 of being over, but under estimated ; " Christ in you, 
 the hope of glory." 
 
 III.— THE DIVINE NATURE. 
 
 There is another doctrine in which the Wilburite 
 Friends (and perhaps some amongst the Hicksites 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 also) appear to hold more scriptural views than some 
 portion of the Evangelical Friends — that respecting 
 what is often styled " the Trinity." This term is un- 
 scriptural, and has probably done more mischief in the 
 churches than many other similar ones. Friends have 
 never, as a body, accepted it in their writings or 
 phraseology. But in recent times there has been a 
 growing tendency virtually to accept the ideas com- 
 monly conveyed by this term. 
 
 The infinite nature of the Deity is a subject which 
 our finite minds can never comprehend, except in a 
 very small and dim degree. " Canst thou, by search- 
 ing, find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty 
 unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven, what canst 
 thou do ? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know ?'* 
 And Friends generally have been specially careful to 
 confine themselves to the precise words of the Bible in 
 speaking of the Divine Being. Some others have 
 been less careful. 
 
 It is probable that as much mischief, if not more, 
 has accrued to the church, in all ages, from unscrip- 
 turally defined expositions of the Divine nature in a 
 " Trinitarian " sense, than in a " Unitarian " one. 
 
 If there be one truth which stands out pre-eminently 
 in the Bible, it is that " the Lord our God is one 
 Lord." And it may be said, that no man can be a 
 true Christian without being a Unitarian, in that sense 
 of the word which signifies a beHever in the scrip- 
 tural declaration of " one Lord." 
 
 A common error in the churches has been to set 
 forth the Deity as three " persons." Where is this 
 distinct " personality " declared in Scripture ? 
 
 It is an intuition of the human soul to love one 
 
256 FKIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 Being best. The deepest love, whether devotional 
 or conjugal, cannot be equally extended to two or 
 more objects. "No man can serve two masters." 
 No man can love more than one Being with all his 
 heart, and mind, and strength. Hence the declara- 
 tion of the unity of God immediately precedes, in the 
 Bible, the command to love Him with an entire affec- 
 tion. " The Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart," 
 &c. 
 
 Instead of the too common idea of virtually three 
 Gods, the Bible sets forth three manifestations of one 
 God. This word " manifestations " seems to suit the 
 mystery better than any other expression whatever, 
 and it is the very one used in Scripture, " God was 
 manifest in the flesh." [i^avtpioBr}.'] This view of 
 three manifestations of one Divine Being really meets 
 the wants of our spiritual intuitional cravings. 
 
 In the manifestation of God as the Father we have 
 those powers of majesty, infinity, and terror, which 
 are essential to induce in us reverence and humility, 
 and to give us a sense of our nothingness compared 
 to the Infinite Being of Him who created the ocean, 
 the earth, and the heavens. 
 
 The manifestation of the same one God, as the Son, 
 "flesh of our flesh," partaking of all our troubles, 
 temptations, and circumstances, yet without sin, and 
 at the same time really God, is needed by us to touch 
 and grasp our human sympathies, aflfections, and 
 interests, and to set us a plain and authoritative 
 example of the best possible way of combining tem- 
 poral duties with eternal claims. Further, the same 
 manifestation of Deity " in the flesh " proclaims, in the 
 
APPENDIX. 257 
 
 atonement on Calvary, the contemporaneous existence 
 of God's infinite and punishing hatred of sin with His 
 infinite love. 
 
 The manifestation of the same one God, as the 
 Holy Spirit, given in different measure, at His own 
 will, to every man in the world, meets our universal 
 craving for private individual notice from our 
 heavenly Father. It furnishes a real power against 
 sin, and a sympathising help, under the ever-varying 
 circumstances of each day, to each particular person 
 in the world. 
 
 The manifestations of God as the Father and as the 
 Son are general ones to " the whole family in heaven 
 and earth ;" but a closer link is needed by each 
 member of that family, and it is given alone in the 
 manifestation of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 This manifestation of God through His Spirit meets 
 that craving of human nature so often expressed in 
 vague ideas of a ** guardian angel." It reveals to each 
 individual a special fatherly attention of God and a 
 jjarticular providential hand outstretched to each, 
 according, in this life at least, to the amount of his 
 prayerful effort at co-operation and obedience; — a 
 manifestation which will not leave him at death, but 
 through which it may be emphatically said, " This 
 God is our God for ever and ever;" for Christ 
 specially declared of this manifestation of Himself that 
 the object of His bestowment would be " that He 
 may abide with you for ever." 
 
 So that, on this awful subject also, the experience 
 of the churches teaches the need of obedience to the 
 command, " What God hath joined together, let not 
 man put asunder." 
 
 S 
 
258 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 IV.— FRIENDS' LITERATURE. 
 
 The life of Stephen Grellethas been mentioned in the 
 preceding " Sketches " as one of peculiar interest and 
 instruction. This suggests the recommendation of a 
 more general attention, especially by young Friends, 
 to the too-much-neglected literature of the Society. 
 
 Some of its early writers might now exclaim, if on 
 earth, " Save us from our friends ;" for many have 
 been prevented from reading their works through the 
 undue claims set up for them, by their admirers, as 
 authoritative standards, or as being almost perfect. 
 This has disgusted many who might otherwise have 
 been induced to study them, to eventual pleasure and 
 great benefit. 
 
 Let the principle be clearly understood that they 
 had their decided defects as well as excellences, and 
 that, in reading them, or speaking of them, we are to 
 ■use the ordinary and necessary liberty of free selec- 
 tion and rejection. 
 
 Some of them are written in a quaint and unattrac- 
 tive style, but this is soon got over by a persevering 
 reader. 
 
 There are seven works which appear to stand out 
 pre-eminently in Friends' literature, as possessing 
 special interest, unction, and depth, — the Journals or 
 Auto-biographies of George Fox, John Woolman, 
 Thomas Shillitoe, Joseph John Gurney, and Stephen 
 Grellet ; Sewell's History of the Friends, and 
 Barclay's Apology. These specially possess a truth- 
 fulness, both to the Divine and human nature, which 
 commends itself to the soul of the reader more than 
 probably most other works of a religious character. 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 Barclay's Apology appears to be, notwithstanding 
 its defects, the best and most powerful exposition 
 extant of Friends' interpretation of Scriptural Chris- 
 tianity. It is to be hoped that the Society, both in 
 Britain and America, will be more active in its official 
 capacity (or, if not, then in a more private one) in 
 issuing and circulating convenient editions of this 
 valuable work, and without attempting its " expurga- 
 tion " or revision. To " expurgate " even the defects 
 of some useful works is sometimes a step towards 
 spoiling them. 
 
 The auto-biographies of Thomas Shillitoe and 
 Stephen Grellet most interestingly and peculiarly 
 illustrate the continuing reality of the old Friends' 
 doctrine of the immediate, perceptible, and practical 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, even in every-daj' life, 
 and which is still extended where such guidance is 
 perseveringly prayed for, looked for, and obeyed. 
 
 v.— FKIENDS' VIEWS ON JUSTIFICATION AND 
 SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 One of the principal points of difference between 
 the old and new " schools " of Quakerism, both in 
 America and England, consists in their respective 
 estimate of justification and sanctlfication. 
 
 The Evangelical Friends, in their writing and ex- 
 pressions, have generally advocated the prevalent 
 opinions held by most Christian bodies, similarly 
 styled " Evangelical," that justification precedes 
 sanctlfication and is distinct from it, both in nature 
 s2 
 
260 FRiENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 and in time, and also that a sufficient essential for 
 salvation is " simple " faith in Christ. 
 
 But this " faith " is too often understood to be only 
 the first glimpse of appreciation, whether intellectual 
 or otherwise, of the utility of Christ's death on Cal- 
 vary. And it is evident that very many may profess 
 this faith in words, or easily attain the possession of 
 it in an intellectual way, whilst evincing little other 
 evidence of earnest religion than this " simple *' pro- 
 fession. Such an estimate of faith and salvation is 
 indeed easy, and affords a rapid and comfortable way 
 of travelling, apparently, to heaven, without the in- 
 dispensable but necessarily painful process of regene- 
 ration. It is the crown without the cross (which, if 
 really so attained, would be a marvel indeed). " Then 
 is the offence of the cross ceased." 
 
 It appears to be another feature in the bright side 
 of the Wilbur Friends and those of the " old school " 
 generally (including some of the Hicksites), that they 
 retain more clearly the opinions of the Early Friends 
 respecting justification and sanctification, — opinions 
 which, although not held by the majority of " Evan- 
 gelical" Christians, have yet a strong claim to be 
 considered the more powerful on the soul and conduct, 
 and the more truly scriptural in their nature. 
 
 These views are, that justification and sanctification 
 are inseparable, and can only proceed together, and 
 that the former does not, at least in its application to 
 the soul, precede the latter ; and that faith is not 
 merely a thing of "simple" immediate completion, at 
 the first glimpse of Christ's death, but that it is a 
 thing of life-long growth, and alone the gift and fruit 
 of the Spirit of Christ, its Author and Finisher. 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 Christ's incarnation and sacrifice are the foundation 
 of all true justification. We only come to the Father 
 throufjh His manifestation in the Son. But it is 
 also declared that we only come to the Son through 
 His manifestation in the Holy Spirit. "No man 
 can say [really in his heart] that Jesus is the Lord, 
 but by the Holy Ghost." And "through Him 
 [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the 
 Father." 
 
 So that the first step of justification as well as of 
 sanctification must be the work of the Holy Spirit, 
 and He alone can carry on every successive step in 
 us. Thus we grow in justification and sanctification 
 simultaneously, and in both only by degrees, as from 
 birth gradually to " the stature of a man in Christ," 
 but not necessarily with the same spiritual develop- 
 ment for all persons, even then. 
 
 Justification and sanctification having once really 
 commenced, if they be not so carelessly cherished as 
 to die again before our death, may secure us an en- 
 trance to heaven ; but, exactly in proportion to their 
 development in each of us on earth, will probably be 
 our condition in the future world — our allotment in 
 the respective distribution of the "wawy mansions" 
 prepared for the blessed. 
 
 The Scriptures declare that the future state will be 
 one of very different conditions, just as we now 
 behold various "glories" of the sun, moon, and stars, 
 and of men, beasts, birds, and fishes. To all men will 
 then be rendered exactly " according to their works " 
 in this life. It may be in a hundred-fold or a thou- 
 sand-fold ratio, but still in a ratio oi some kind, and to 
 each " according to their works." Then it will be — 
 
262 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 *' He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, — ^he that 
 is holj, let him be holy still." 
 
 Evidently from Scripture we have no reason to 
 expect that the Christian of great advantages and 
 corresponding faithfulness in this life will be on a level, 
 in the next one, with the poor heathen, who may have 
 been also faithful to the dim shining of the comparative 
 twilight which God has been pleased to allot to him. 
 The Bible fully warrants us in believing that there 
 will be vastly greater differences of allotment, both as 
 to blessedness and misery, in the future world than in 
 the present one ; and that all will then depend upon 
 the extent to which the Holy Spirit has been yielded 
 to and prayed for by us here, and in precise propor- 
 tion to the stage of combined justification and sanc- 
 tification wrought in us by Him, according to His 
 works, " for it is God who worketh in you, both to 
 will and to do of His good pleasure." 
 
 But all the glory of these works of the Holy Spirit 
 in us, both in sanctification and justification, are due 
 to Christ's incarnation, for the gift to us of the Holy 
 Spirit is itself YfhoWj the fruit of Christ's sacrifice and 
 atonement. 
 
 All good men, before Christ's coming in the flesh, 
 were only good through a degree of anticipation and 
 forestalling of the gift of the Holy Spirit to be pur- 
 chased by His blood. " They drank of that spiritual 
 Rock which followed them, and that Rock was 
 Christ." All good men, since the Christian era, owe 
 their good works to the same gift, pre-eminently 
 'Uhe gift of God." 
 
 Each poor pagan, whether of classic or modern 
 ages, as well as each enlightened saint, who may have 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 been faithful to the better impulses of his being, will 
 be saved through Christ, even though some of them 
 may never have heard the name of Christ, or a 
 syllable of His Gospel history. "For a manifestation 
 of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal," 
 but it is not every man who knows that that nobler 
 part of his soul is the gift of Christ, or purchased by 
 His death. But it appears that in proportion as each 
 is faithful to it, he will have celestial blessedness 
 hereafter, and then all the redeemed will know that 
 inasmuch as they have been sanctified by the Spirit, 
 they must necessarily have been also justified by 
 Christ, because that Holy Spirit is the gift purchased 
 for us by Jesus Christ alone. 
 
 Then will all such heavenly beings ascribe all the 
 gjory to Him to whom it is due. " Thou art worthy; 
 for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, 
 by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and 
 people and nation.** 
 
 VI.— UNIVERSALIST INSINUATIONS. 
 
 One of the characteristic features of the general 
 religious aspects of the United States appears to be 
 the wide-spread, yet for the most part indirectly 
 exerted, influence of Universalist Insinuations. These 
 principles are actively promulgated, both in the eastern 
 and western States; and it appeared to me, from 
 what I heard in several places, that the Friends in 
 some localities have not wholly escaped their influ- 
 ence. But it is of the highest importance to guard 
 
264 FRIENDLY SEETCHES. 
 
 against the deadly and seductive delusions of these 
 tendencies. 
 
 Universalism, in one form or another, is literally 
 " as old as Adam," for Satan said to Eve, " Ye shall 
 not su7'ely die." She believed him, and the whole 
 world feels the consequences. And, similarly, uni- 
 versalists tell us now, that all men will be saved, at 
 least eventually ; that God is too gracious a Being to 
 permit the existence of hell, or to visit with terrible 
 future punishment the souls of men who may sin 
 through being tempted by mighty besetments. 
 
 In Britain, also, the same sentiments are promul- 
 gated, under various disguises, with great persuasive- 
 ness, and by some of the most talented and influential 
 men in the country. These are ingeniously plausible 
 in their protests against the plain scriptural doctrine 
 of a really existent, powerful Devil, and a real future, 
 awful hell. 
 
 On the other hand, there can be little doubt but 
 that abundant mischief has resulted from the promul- 
 gation of extreme views of an opposite nature. It is 
 no part of true Christianity to represent the Gospel 
 as one chiefly characterized by eternal fire and 
 torment. 
 
 But, for one mischievous effect of ultra-Calvinism, 
 there are, probably, a thousand such of Universalisra. 
 Calvin was a noble man, and in common with the 
 other Reformers, held decided views on these subjects. 
 So did Whitefield. So have the best men in the 
 church from the apostolic era. So did the Apostles 
 themselves. 
 
 It is our duty to endeavour to receive the truths of 
 eternity and religion just as God has revealed them, 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 and not to separate what He has united. He has 
 revealed to us both a heaven and a hell, both a 
 Saviour and a Devil, both a probationary period and 
 a final judgment, both a prospect of blessedness and 
 another of misery. 
 
 If there be no hell to save us from, how is Christ a 
 Saviour at all ? Or, what need was there for His 
 death? If the Apostles preached no hell, but, on the 
 contrary, a universal salvation, why did they meet 
 with such opposition? For otherwise there was no 
 cause for that opposition or alarm. 
 
 It is, perhaps, nearly as important for us to believe 
 in the reality of Satan's existence, as in that of the 
 Holy Spirit. Yet a really estimable Friend in 
 America acknowledged to me, " I am no believer in 
 a personal Devil." Surely this is no trifling delusion. 
 
 If Satan is not to be dreaded, resisted, and hated, 
 we are in little or no general danger. If we are all 
 going to heaven together, quietly and comfortably, 
 and as a matter to be taken for granted, then what- 
 ever need is there at all for earnest heed to salvation, 
 to the future, or to God? 
 
 It is declared that " God is love," but, notwith- 
 standing this, it is evidently quite consistent with His 
 love to permit a vast amount of suffering in this world; 
 and if so, why not in the next one also ? For He is 
 omnipotent now, just as He will be then. 
 
 We may think that terrible punishment is not 
 reformatory in its effect, and that the Fall in Eden 
 was inconsistent with Omnipotent Beneficence and 
 Wisdom. But how can we possibly judge what 
 consists with God's wisdom or beneficence ? Can the 
 finite comprehend the infinite? The fact that He 
 
266 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 has permitted these things, though Omnipotent, is 
 sufficient. But, in the things which we can compre- 
 hend, we have innumerable proofs of His positive 
 beneficence, both to mankind in general, and to indi- 
 viduals in particular.- 
 
 Those portions of the Holy Scriptures which spe- 
 cially proclaim God's love, also specially proclaim 
 '' the terror of the Lord," particularly the words of 
 our Saviour and of the Apostle John. 
 
 Most awful is that declaration of our Lord respect- 
 ing the narrow way to life, — " Few there be that 
 
 FIND IT." 
 
 Again, He declares that, at the final decision, there 
 will be great astonishment at the result to many who 
 believed themselves safe amongst His people. '^ Many 
 will say to Me, in that day, ' Lord, Lord, have we 
 not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name 
 have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many 
 wonderful works?' And then will I profess unto 
 them, ^ I never knew you. Depart from Me, ye that 
 work iniquity.' " 
 
 And elsewhere He represents the slothful and 
 ** foolish virgins" as confidently expectant of admission, 
 till finally refused. 
 
 In this world, "the wheat and tares" are to 
 grow quietly together, and the latter are generally 
 the more luxuriant in their growth. In this world, 
 not merely the openly wicked but the carelessly 
 "ungodly" are specially those "who prosper in the 
 earth," whilst " many are the afflictions of the 
 righteous" [with a right object]. In this world, Satan 
 has power to afflict the good, as Job, and to reward 
 the wicked. In this w^orld, the sunshine and the rain 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 are granted equally to the jiist and to the unjust; and, 
 as to the universal laws of matter, and of cause and 
 effect, " all things come alike to all." In this world, 
 the death of the wicked is often as peaceful and as 
 undisturbed as the glassy smoothness of Niagara at 
 the very verge of its grand descent. 
 
 But, in the next world, in the hereafter, all will be 
 otherwise. Then it will be, "Behold, I make all 
 things new." Then will come "the times of the 
 restitution of all thinors." However dominant and 
 
 o 
 
 overwhelming the power of evil ones may be now, 
 yet " the upright shall have dominion over them in 
 the morning" of the resurrection. Then w^ill come 
 the final judgment, from which can be no appeal. 
 " After death, the judgment." 
 
 . God now offers Christ as " the Saviour of all men, 
 specially of them that believe." He " will have all 
 men to be saved ; * but all will not come. He does 
 not compel our free will — otherwise we should be 
 mere machines ; and if we were not free to reject as 
 well as to choose God, our love to Him would cease 
 to be love, it would be blind force. If we have no 
 power to do evil, we have no power, as individuals, 
 to do good either. 
 
 But all will bow before Him " at that day," either 
 in mercy or in judgment " For we must all appear 
 before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one 
 may receive the things done in His body." 
 
 The most terribly plain assertion of the reality of 
 Satan and hell, and of God's irreconcilable hatred to 
 unrepented, unresisted sin, is proclaimed by the death 
 of our Saviour. This most conspicuous evidence of 
 God*8 love to us in Christ is also precisely the most 
 
268 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 conspicuous proof of His fearful wrath towards all 
 who may be ultimately found without Christ. 
 
 " In that awful dying scene, 
 See the sinfulness of sin." 
 
 Although it is evident from Holy Scripture that God 
 will discriminate in the future allotment of the im- 
 penitent, in proportion to their various responsibilities 
 and circumstances, and although it will be " more 
 tolerable" for some, then, than for others — and also, 
 although some will have " few stripes," instead of the 
 " many " inflicted on others — yet, at the best, it must 
 be an unutterably awful condition to be allotted any 
 position in the " outer darkness" without the walls of 
 the Celestial City — to be anywhere amongst the 
 " children of wrath " and the company of Satan and 
 his reprobate spirits, — anywhere amongst those to 
 whom will be pronounced the final sentence — " De- 
 part from Me ;" — to depart for ever from the sunshine, 
 the love, joy and beneficent activity glowing in that 
 City and in its inhabitants, to whom alone will He be 
 thenceforth present, gloriously and for ever, the perfect 
 manifestation of Christ. 
 
 There is, then, urgent need for the command to us 
 all — " Give diligence to make your calling and election 
 sure," and that we "should earnestly contend for the 
 faith which was once delivered to the saints." " For 
 we wrestle not [only] against flesh and blood, but 
 against principalities, against powers, against the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked- 
 ness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the 
 whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand 
 in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand." 
 
APPENDIX. -2C£*t!SS2'^269 
 
 YII.— THE MINISTRY AMONGST FRIENDS. 
 
 At Richmond, in Indiana, during the week of the 
 last yearly meeting, in the autumn of 1860, there was 
 one extraordinary meeting which partook of the 
 nature of a " Revival." It was convened almost 
 entirely by the younger Friends, and was intended as 
 an occasion for the free and untrammelled expression 
 of the religious feelings of any members who might 
 wish to give utterance to their sentiments, but who 
 might feel unwilling to do so in the ordinary manner 
 of public ministry, or at a meeting held in the regular 
 routine. 
 
 On that occasion, at the commencement of the 
 meeting, it was announced that every one was wished 
 to feel perfectly at liberty to express any communi- 
 cation which they might think likely to be useful or 
 interesting to the meeting. A well-known minister 
 from Iowa also addressed the assembly on the import- 
 ance in religious matters of being divested of " the 
 fear of man." 
 
 The way being thus opened, many of the junior as 
 well as elder Friends, who had never previously 
 spoken in meetings for worship, now felt at liberty to 
 express their feelings, or to kneel in public prayer. 
 More than one hundred and twenty Friends thus 
 addressed this assembly. The meeting, which was a 
 very crowded one, commenced at six o'clock in the 
 evening and lasted till nearly midnight ; but so inter- 
 esting were the proceedings, so solemn the prevalent 
 depth of earnestness, and so evident the presence of 
 the Holy Spirit, that no one appeared tired, nor did it 
 seem to the attenders much longer than the ordinary 
 
270 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 meetings of an hour and a half in duration. Some of 
 the elder Friends thought the proceedings very 
 " unprecedented " (as indeed they were) for a Friends' 
 assembly, and seemed at first uncertain of their pro- 
 priety ; but after they had witnessed the solemnity, 
 the living earnestness, and the unmistakable manifes- 
 tation of the approving presence and sanction of the 
 Divine Spirit, even these were constrained to acknow- 
 ledge that it was good for them that they had been 
 present. 
 
 Elijah Coffin (for thirty years the Clerk of In- 
 diana Yearly Meeting) thus writes of this occasion : 
 — " A meeting was appointed and held by and for the 
 youth; a meeting of their own, in the evening, which 
 was attended by probably two thousand persons or 
 more, and turned out to be a remarkable time of 
 prayer — a time, I think it may be truly said, when 
 the Most High condescended to be worshipped. 
 The Spirit flowed freely, and prayer went forth abun- 
 dantly until a late hour. Many hearts were ten- 
 dered, and many could, and did say, 'Bless the 
 Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His 
 holy name.' " 
 
 I have received letters from Richmond giving 
 me accounts of this meeting, and stating that many 
 Friends in Indiana feel now that the old formalism of 
 stereotype routine, which has so long too much pre- 
 vailed in the Society, even in the West, (though to a 
 far less degree there than in Pennsylvania, and other 
 parts eastward,) must and will be replaced by a freer, 
 healthier mode of action and sentiment. 
 
 This has especial reference to the ministry^ and 
 fully agrees with views which serious and earnest 
 
APPENDEC 271 
 
 Friends, in various places, have expressed to me on 
 this subject. 
 
 The Society of Friends has always prominently set 
 forth the doctrine that no man has any right to speak 
 publicly in the ministry of the Gospel unless he feels 
 an inward call from the Holy Spirit. This view 
 appears to be sound and scriptural, and is, in greater 
 or less degree, recognized by most Christian denomi- 
 nations. 
 
 The Early Friends illustrated this view in a far 
 more free and healthy manner than their successors 
 of a later age. They spoke publicly, whether in 
 exhortation or prayer, at home or abroad, whenever 
 they felt a solemn impulse so to do. Further, when 
 they felt constrained to go and visit distant parts, under 
 a similar belief of the Divine impulse, they proceeded 
 at once in faith on God's aid and blessing, as did the 
 primitive Christians of the apostolic age. 
 
 But, after a time, this freedom of individual action 
 was found to have inconveniences, through the occa- 
 sional ministry of persons labouring under fanatical 
 or glaringly mistaken impulses. To check this, a 
 plan (very good, if kept in strict moderation) was 
 adopted by the Society, that, in future. Friends should 
 not travel abroad as ministers without a certificate of 
 approval and permission from their own meetings. 
 
 In the course of the eighteenth century, this wise 
 system of precaution was carried to excess, and for- 
 malism crept over the ministerial arrangements of the 
 Society, just as in the case of other matters previously 
 alluded to. 
 
 Amongst other effects of this, the idea gradually 
 became general that a Friend, to be really and 
 
272 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 thoroughly a " minister," must be publicly " acknow- 
 ledged" by his meeting, after which he would have 
 to sit in the "gallery" fronting the assembly. 
 Further, it seems to be tacitly assumed, that minis- 
 terial impulses must necessarily be continued at 
 intervals for years, if not for life, to those individuals 
 to whom they have been once given. 
 
 But especial mischief has resulted in the Society 
 from the setting up, virtually at least, of an unduly 
 high and mysterious standard of perfection as a test, 
 in criticism at least, of the qualifications and ex- 
 pressions of any one speaking publicly in ministry. 
 
 More than a few Friends seem to have an idea that 
 no one ought to venture on such public expression 
 without a spiritual impulse so strong as to be irresistible^ 
 or without such powerful Divine aid as should be at 
 once evident to all around. Now, where does the Bible, 
 or general ecclesiastical history, or even common sense, 
 countenance this ? 
 
 In ministry, as in other matters, there may be a 
 hundred different varieties and stages of impulse and 
 of modes of expression, and yet all may be right in 
 their appropriate times and circumstances, and all 
 may " edify " some, at least, of the hearers. 
 
 Friends have, in many cases, seemed to expect 
 that their young ministers should possess those quali- 
 fications which only long experience can give, and 
 that ministers, whether elder or younger, should all 
 express sentiments entirely in "unity" with one 
 another. What a world of harm has been done in 
 Christendom by setting up standards, or rather -tests, 
 of " unity" which God Himself has never imposed! 
 
 The different circumstances of various occasions. 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 places and persons, may often warrant the expression 
 of sentiments decidedly differing from those rightly 
 uttered at other times. And yet both may be good 
 and suitable. Of course, we are not speaking of 
 generally evident fundamentals, for here unity is 
 essential ; but only of those things which are not so 
 generally evident in the same way to all persons or 
 at all times. 
 
 The apostolic canon for ministry, as well as other 
 church action, is simply, " Let all things be done 
 UNTO EDIFYING." This is the true standard and test. 
 
 It may be readily believed that the Holy Spirit 
 may prompt a few words of edification from a person 
 at one time, or at various times, without necessarily 
 intending to give a regular and permanent call to the 
 ministry to such. 
 
 Further, it must be evident that the Holy Spirit 
 does not act, in general, independently of ordinary 
 means, laws, and circumstances. He suggests the 
 main idea, or even various special ideas, of what a 
 person may express with edifying effect to those 
 around him; but it is rarely, if ever, that He does 
 more. The particular words and manner of expressing 
 that impulse will depend upon the education, the 
 circumstances, and the general feelings and ideas of 
 the speaker. This is evident in Scripture, where, 
 notwithstanding the unity of origin of the inspiration 
 of Paul, Amos, David, Solomon, Moses, and John, 
 we see their own special individuality of idea and 
 expression clearly evident in the utterance of their 
 respective impulses. 
 
 Even Paul admitted " we prophesy in part,*^ This 
 means, fat least as I understand it,) that even hia 
 X 
 
274 FEIENDLT SKETCHES. 
 
 inspiration was not wholly unaffected by his human 
 infirmities. And how much more allowance then 
 should be made for modern ministers who are less 
 gifted than Paul, and of whom it is, of course, to be 
 taken for granted that, in still greater degree, their 
 ministry will be only perfect " in part." 
 
 It does, then, appear desirable that Friends, every- 
 where, should at any time in their meetings feel at 
 liberty, more than hitherto, to express simply anything 
 which, just at that particular occasion, the Holy Spirit 
 may seem to prompt them to — provided, at the same 
 time. He gives them the belief that it will be of " edifi- 
 cation," (that is, of some good effect,) to the hearers. 
 Such utterances, whether formally " acknowledged " 
 or not by the church, will be genuine ministry in the 
 Bible sense of the word. 
 
 Next to this simple prompting, and equally simple 
 test of edification, it is of extreme importance that 
 ministerial addresses should be brief, or so, at least, 
 with very rare exceptions. 
 
 In the first place, it is generally essential that some 
 considerable portion of silence should be preserved in 
 Friends' assemblies; and, secondly, that one individual 
 should not unduly trench on the remaining time, \^hen 
 several others besides himself may feel an impulse 
 to speak, and under circumstances which promise 
 " edification." 
 
 The more nourishing any kind of food is, the more 
 careful we must be not to eat too much of it at once. 
 And all the food we eat beyond that quantity which 
 we can suitably digest at one time is injurious instead 
 of beneficial. This principle many will, doubtless, 
 remember to have felt exemplified in the case of 
 
APPENDIX. 275 
 
 really good meetings eventually spoiled by the sense 
 of weariness and surfeit, produced by a long and 
 untimely sermon at the end. 
 
 How often, too, in family readings or devotion, has 
 some simple biblical passage, hymn, or recital, pro- 
 duced permanent good to the hearers, where the 
 reading of three or four consecutive chapters of 
 Scripture (however well intended, as to effect, by the 
 reader) would have produced something worse than 
 weariness. If it be true that " a great book is a 
 great evil," how much more true is the magnitude 
 of the mischief, in general, of very long sermons and 
 very long Scripture readings. 
 
 Brevity and absence of repetition are foremost in the 
 essentials to ministerial edification. Temptations to 
 length and repetitions are more likely to beset 
 ministers of long-standing than those who have seldom 
 spoken. The reason of this is the universal power of 
 habit, and its deceptive influence in many cases. 
 The sermons of long- established ministers need gene- 
 rally far more care in these respects than those of 
 younger and less frequent speakers. " Short and 
 sweet," is a blunt old proverb, but it has very wide 
 application, and there is a vast amount of common 
 sense in it, and especially with reference to religious 
 matters. Many an excellent minister has often pro- 
 duced an injurious feeling of surfeit in the more 
 serious part of his hearers by unduly continuing a 
 sermon, which, if it had been terminated at one-third 
 of its length, would have been both acceptable and 
 edifying. 
 
 But whilst the Society of Friends will, it is to be 
 hoped, recur, more than has been the case, to the 
 
276 FRIENDLY SKETCHES. 
 
 individual freedom and true simplicity of the ministry 
 of the Early Friends' days, let us also keep a vigilant 
 eye to the danger of going to an opposite extreme — 
 that of over-activity, even in good things. For there 
 is such a possibiHty, and that extreme is just as in- 
 jurious as the other. Here, again — Medio tutissimus 
 ibis. 
 
 May our ministry, whilst free to every individual, 
 whilst unimpeded by any frequency of excessive 
 private criticism as to "soundness" and "consistency," 
 yet be a really spiritual and solemn one. May all 
 who thus speak, endeavour, by prayer, to let the 
 unavoidable tinge of their own individuality and 
 imperfection be as small as it possibly can. May 
 they strive, whilst speaking naturally and unaffectedly, 
 yet at the same time to do it " as of the ability which 
 God giveth," and not to speak from past habit, but 
 only under an honest belief of a holy and separate 
 impulse for each particular and present occasion, and 
 only as far as that impulse seems to prompt. 
 
 And may the sole aim of all ministry, whether 
 amongst Friends or others, be increasingly the edifi- 
 cation of the church and the promotion of the Divine 
 glory. The only means of securing this, are prayer 
 for, or vigilant attention to, the influences of the Holy 
 Spirit, that, by His aid, the feeling resulting from 
 ministry may be as much as possibly characterised 
 by what a modern writer appropriately terms " the 
 infusion of the sense of God alone,''^ 
 
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