The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Daily entries from the 17th century London diary

Quakerism

19 Annotations

Jenny Doughty   Link to this

For general information about the Quakers, including Quaker history and the writings of historical Friends, see http://www.quaker.org/ and http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5324/qk...

steve h   Link to this

Use of "thou" and Quakers

By this time, the word “thou” in daily speech was associated almost exclusively with Quakers, though it was common enough 50 years earlier (and still common in the North of England). They used this familiar form as a mark of plainness in speech, using “thou” for an individual instead of the originally more formal “you”. In Shakespearean English thou was typically reserved for children, servants, spouses, and dear friends. By "thou"ing everyone, Quakers were asserting universal equality. This form of address, naturally, was a source of irritation and/or ridicule for most non-Quakers.

Jenny Doughty   Link to this

The annotations about swords on the March 21st 1560 entry bring to mind a famous Quaker anecdote, perhaps apocryphal. William Penn, who had joined the early Quaker movement, was perturbed in his mind about wearing the kind of dress sword that was de rigeur for courtiers, since it contradicted the Peace Testimony.

Penn asked the advice of George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, about this. Fox answered, "I advise thee to wear it as long as thou canst." Not long after this they met again. Observing that William had no sword, George said to him, "William, where is thy sword?" "Oh," said he, "I have taken thy advice; I wore it as long as I could."

Jenny Doughty   Link to this

On April 4th 1660, Pepys meets Admiral Sir William Penn, father of the famous Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, also called William Penn. More information about William Penn the younger can be found on this page of Penn family history:

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeasto...

Michael f vincent   Link to this

1659 Quaker leader Mary Dyer was sentenced to death by a Puritan court in Massachusetts Bay Colony amid the Salem witch trials. She refused to leave the colony and was hanged in 1660. ref#4311
http://www.decades.com/ByDecade/1650-1659/3.htm
no wonder you kept your thoughts to yourself, that is if you want to keep on thinking

vincent   Link to this

Ranters and the Quakers connection and early history and their evolution and split:
Ranter, or Raunter activity may date from the mid-1640. There were laws passed to suppress these Rebels(Heritics).

Quaker connection:

http://www.qhpress.org/index.html

the list works of James Naylor He has more writings than Fox:
http://www.qhpress.org/books/nayler.html
Contempories of the period often compared the Ranters and the Quakers as being cut from the same bolt of cloth. The Quakers were generally considered to be of slightly better quality.They both shared many of the same basic values. Early Quakers before 1660 engaged in radical theology of change.
The ranters:-
http://www.skyhook.co.uk/civwar/glossary/ranter...

http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/rante...

Roger Miller   Link to this

The Journal of George Fox

http://www.geocities.com/quakerpages/foxtoc.htm

vincent   Link to this

Quakers as seen by John Evelyn 9 July 1656 He wrote"At Ipswich I had the curiosty to visite some Quakers there in Prison, a new Phanatic sect of dangerous Principles, the(y) shew no respect to any man, magistrate, or other & seeme a melancholy proud sort of people, & exceedingly ignorant: one of these was said to have fasted 20 daies, but another endeavourung to do like perish'd the 10th, when he could have eaten, but could not:"..

principles from the quakers at
http://www.qhpress.org/texts/gfprinc.html#s9

Jenny Doughty   Link to this

I think Evelyn's opinion of the Quakers as showing 'no respect to any man, magistrate, or other & seeme a melancholy proud sort of people, & exceedingly ignorant' stems from their refusal to doff their hat for anybody and their insistence on using the familiar 'thou' to everybody. It may also be related to the equality of speaking in meeting between all members of the meeting and the lack of a clergy, and possibly also their refusal to swear oaths.

vincent   Link to this

Read the section concerning good manners(XXIII) and the section concerning Plots(XXXIV) (from principles)
.."the Newes-mongers put us in their Newes as Raisers with the Monarch People.."..The press again
respect /haves/havenots: Brawn vs brains or Lucre: For 1 crown (a dollar or a 5 bob)you could lose your crown('ead on tyborne) : La roi could keep his crown (chair)(most of the time that is)

vincent   Link to this

another Quaker snippet and oath of allegiance and tythes:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/benjaminbeck/spence.h...
N13. CHRISTOPHER BRAMLEY
In 1655 Christopher Bramley was imprisoned in York Castle for six months for speaking to the priest of Usborne; also in the same year he was imprisoned for 17 months as a contemner of magistracy for asking "Whether any Persecutor feared God."1
In 1656, then living in 'Wheikesley' (Whixley), Christopher Bramley, "for going to a meeting upon the first day of the week, was sett in ye stocks by the Constable of ye same Town by warrt from the sd. Justice Dickinson, where he was kept for 6 houres."2
In the 11th & 12th months of 1660 he was among 229 West Riding Quakers imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. In 12th month 1661, still a resident of Whixley, he was imprisoned in York Castle for tithes.
3 1-2 Dictionary of Quaker Biography (Friends' House Library, typescript), Joseph Besse: Sufferings of Early Quakers. Yorkshire 1652 to 1690. 1998, York: William Sessions

David Quidnunc   Link to this

Quakers and Slavery in the 17th century

"Current contents on the Internet do not appear to address the Penn dynasty in a way which recognises their economic reliance on enforced African slavery and concurrently, the displacement of the Native American population. The following is typical of the contents of Internet sites:

"'Despite the remarkable clarity of Penn's vision for liberty, he had a curious blind spot about slavery. He owned some slaves in America, as did many other Quakers. Anti-slavery did not become a widely shared Quaker position until 1758, 40 years after Penn's death. Quakers were far ahead of most other Americans, but it's surprising that people with their humanitarian views could have contemplated using slaves at all.'
('The Freeman - Ideas on Liberty, William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace', Jim Powell, William Penn College ...)

"... We hope to show that rather than slave labour's existence in Pennsylvania being an anomaly it was, in fact, a vital and planned prerequisite for the Quaker colony's existence and in part, for British economic success of the slave economies of the West Indies. We hope to explode any myths and erroneous beliefs that the Quakers of the 17th and early 18th Centuries were great and fearless champions for equality for all humanity.

-- "Jim McNeill, Chair of 'Living Easton' 4th July 1999"

http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeasto...

David Quidnunc   Link to this

Quakers and Pacifism: "Declaration of 1660"

In Pepys's day, the Quakers were still evolving. January 21, 1661 is noted on a number of websites about the Quakers and pacifism. According to this article, the "Declaration of 1660" issued that day is part of a shift from individual pacifism among the Society of Friends to a more organized commitment:

"[W]hen the Fifth Monarchy Men organized an uprising against the king, he responded, on January 10, 1661, by outlawing not only meetings of Fifth Monarchy Men, but also those of other major dissident sects, including Baptists and Quakers, and required members of all three to take an oath of allegiance. Quakers refused, and within a matter of days over 4,000 Friends went to prison. ...

"In response to this dramatic situation, George Fox and ten other Quaker men met, composed, and issued, on January 21, 1661, what we now call the Declaration of 1660. (In the old calendar, the year ended in March, so January 1661 by our calendar was 1660 at the time.) In a certain sense this was a political and strategic document. It was intended to convince the king that Quakers did not pose a threat because they did not believe in the use of violence, and to thereby protect Quakers from further persecution. ... their statement appears to have been easily accepted [by other Quakers] and has remained an enduring and distinguishing characteristic of Friends for over 300 years."

"Prior to 1660, the Christian Peace Testimony was not an explicit corporate witness among Friends. When it existed at all ... it was a matter of individual decision making. Many Quakers stayed in the army after convincement, and that practice seems not only to have been acceptable but was defended when Quakers were discharged as unreliable soldiers."

-- John Andrew Gallery, "A Perspective on Peace Testimony," Friends Journal, November 2002
http://www.friendsjournal.org/contents/2002/11n...

From the of the Declaration of 1660:
"[T]he spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world."

Full text here: http://www.quaker.org/peaceweb/pdecla07.html

vicente   Link to this

Quakers Petition.
A Petition was presented to this House, by some Quakers; which was commanded to be read.
And, after a long Debate, it is ORDERED, That this Petition be committed to these Lords following; to consider of a proper Remedy to cure the Distempers of these People, and to report the same to this House:

From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 28 May 1661. House of Lords Journal Volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com...
Date: 29/05/2004

vicente   Link to this

A Quaker of Swavesey was imprisoned in 1655, as were 23 in 1660 near to Huntington

From: British History Online
Source: Swavesey: Nonconformity. A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume IX, A. P. M. Wright & C. P. Lewis (Editors) (1989).
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com...
Date: 07/08/2004

vicenzo   Link to this

quakers and popist were a source of much agony for Ruling class, If you want the ranting , goto
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com... seach the records for all the braying: in full text search or if a name be interesting use full name.

Cumgranissalis   Link to this

1656 "...Nayler's Blasphemies.
The House this Day resumed the Debate upon the Report touching James Nayler

He was sent for accordingly; and, being brought to the Bar, keeping on his Hat, the Serjeant, by the Command of the Speaker, took off his Hat; and, being asked, Whether his Name were James Nayler, answered, He is so called: Being asked, How long he hath been called so, answered, Ever since he can remember...."

From: 'House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 6 December 1656', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 7: 1651-1660 (1802), pp. 464-65. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?com.... Date accessed: 15 August 2005.

in Aqua Scripto   Link to this

another view point.
http://chaucer.library.emory.edu/cgi-bin/sgml2h...

Terry Foreman   Link to this

James Nayler - "In 1655, James Naylor, who had been one of their preachers, suffering under aberration of mind, came to Bristol from Glastonbury, attended by a concourse of persons more mad apparently than himself. They “spread their garments before him, handkerchiefs, aprons, scarfs and the like, and even gloves, singing 'Holy, holy, holy,' &c...." [and more]

Taken from Bristol Past and Present by J. F. Nicholls and John Taylor, published in 1882 http://www.brh.org.uk/articles/bpp/nayler.html

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