Quakerism

Wikipedia

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences.

The movement began in mid-17th century England when travelling preachers, including George Fox, James Naylor, Margaret Fell and Francis Howgill, broke away from the Church of England and set out to convert others to what they believed were the practices of the early Church. They emphasised a personal, direct experience of Christ, informed by the Bible.[2]

Some Quakers today hold most or some of the beliefs and practices of early Quakers but most have been influenced to some extent by other movements within Christianity, particularly the evangelical movement from the nineteenth century onwards; and liberal Christian theology among some Friends in the late twentieth century. Smaller groups of Quakers have been influenced by the holiness movement, nontheism and other movements within Christian thought. Worship varies between services co-ordinated by a pastor or recorded minister (known as pastoral or programmed worship) and meetings with no fixed programme which are predominantly silent (known as waiting worship or unprogrammed worship).

Historically, Quakers have been known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war; plain dress; refusal to swear oaths; and opposition to alcohol. Quakers are also known historically for founding banks and financial institutions including Barclays, Lloyds and Friends Provident; and manufacturing companies including Clarks, Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry's, and for the philanthropic work which they did with some of the wealth they created, which included funding anti-slavery, prison reform, and social justice projects.

[edit] History

In 1652, George Fox preached to around 1000 people from this rock on Firbank Fell, now known as Fox's Pulpit

In England in the late 1640s, following the English Civil War, a young man, George Fox, became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without clergy. He travelled around England, preaching, bringing together like-minded people. His central teaching was Christ has come to teach his people himself.[3] They considered themselves the restoration of the true Christian church after centuries of apostasy. They described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints, Children of the Light, and Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church. Their numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680,[4]1.15% of the population of England and Wales.[4]

In 1650, George Fox, was brought before magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton on a charge of blasphemy. According to Fox's autobiography, it was Bennet "who was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord",[5] It is thought that Fox was referring to Isaiah 66:2[6] or Ezra 9:4[7]. Therefore, the name Quaker was began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but has now became widely accepted, even being used by some Quakers themselves.[8]

William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a holy experiment - a state run on Quaker principles

Quakers were officially persecuted in England under the Quaker Act (1662) and the Conventicle Act 1664. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence (1687-1688) and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689.

Some Quakers escaped to America. Some also experienced persecution there (e.g. Mary Dyer hanged in Massachusetts Bay colony), they were tolerated in Rhode Island (with 36 of the governors for the first 100 years being Quakers), West Jersey and Pennsylvania (which was set up by affluent Quaker William Penn in 1682 as a state run under Quaker principles). Quakerism spread across the eastern seaboard. Penn signed a peace treaty with Tammany, leader of the Delaware tribe,[9] and other treaties between Quakers and native Americans followed.

Despite the survival of strong patriarchal elements, to start with Friends believed in the spiritual equality of women, who were allowed to take a far more active role than had ordinarily existed before the emergence of radical civil war sects.[10] However after the Restoration of 1660, Quakers became unwilling to defend women when they adopted tactics such as disrupting services. Women's meetings were organized to involve women in modest, feminine pursuits, and Quaker men excluded them from church public concerns with which they had some powers and responsibilities, such as allocating poor relief and in ensuring that Quaker marriages could not be attacked as immoral. Women were treated as severely as men by the authorities.[10]

Barclays PLC was founded by Quakers John Freame and Thomas Gould in 1690, later joined by another Quaker, David Barclay (son of Robert Barclay).[11] Freame's Lombard Street house was used as a base for Meeting for Sufferings.[11] The firm continued to be owned by Quakers until the twentieth century[11]

During the eighteenth century, the Society of Friends became a more closed group, less active in converting others. The numbers of Friends dwindled, for example in England and Wales dropping to 19,800 in 1800[4] (0.21% of population[4]) and 13,859 in 1860.[4] (0.07% of population[4]) This period of Quaker history is known as Quietism. Marrying outside of the Society became outlawed. Dynasties of Quakers grew up who were successful in business including banking and manufacturing. This included the fuelling of the industrial revolution by Abraham Darby I[12] and his family, founding major banking chains Lloyds Banking Group (founded by Sampson Lloyd),[12] Barclays PLC.[12] Barclays now also incorporates two other Quaker banks Backhouse's Bank and Gurney's Bank) and life assurance company Friends Provident, founding pharmaceutical company Allen & Hanburys[12] (now part of GlaxoSmithKline), founding several major manufacturing companies including chocolate manufacturers Cadbury,[12] Terry's, Fry's,[12] confectionary manufacturer Rowntree,[12] shoe manufacturers Clarks and biscuit manufacturer Huntley & Palmers.[12] Some Quakers in America became well known for their involvement in the abolition of slavery. The formal name "Religious Society of Friends", dates from the 18th century and is still in use. The term Religious Society of Friends, harks back to the "Friends of the Truth".

In the nineteenth century, the Religious Society of Friends started its series of large splits which still dominates Quakerism internationally today. The Great Separation of 1827 in several American yearly meetings was precipitated by a division which occurred within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting when its members could not agree on who was to be clerk. The background issue involved the visits and preaching of Elias Hicks, whose views were claimed to be Universalist and contradicted the historical tradition of Friends. In the same and following year, a number of Friends from Philadelphia, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Baltimore Yearly Meetings in sympathy with him separated to form a parallel system of yearly meetings in America. They were referred to by their opponents as Hicksites, and the others as Orthodox; neither side embraced its nickname, preferring to style themselves simply Friends.

The orthodox Friends (who made up the vast majority of Quakers on both sides of the Atlantic), together with Anglicans and Methodists, became progressively more evangelical during the nineteenth century,[13] led by the British Quaker, Joseph John Gurney, of London Yearly Meeting. Isaac Crewdson. a Recorded Minister in Manchester, UK published A Beacon to the Society of Friends in 1835, which strongly argued against the inward light, arguing that this could not exist alongside a belief in salvation through Christ's atonement.[14](p155) This led to doctrinal controversy which led in 1836–1837 to the resignation of Isaac Crewdson, 48 fellow members of Manchester Meeting and about 250 other British Quakers, a number of whom joined the Plymouth Brethren, including John Eliot Howard and Robert Mackenzie Beverley.

Evangelicalism quickly spread among Friends, who enthusiastically held Revival meetings and became involved in the Holiness movement, influenced in part by the Second Great Awakening which was sweeping America at the time, with Quakers such as Hannah Whitall Smith and Robert Pearsall Smith being speakers in the Holiness movement, and introducing many Quaker phrases and practices to the Holiness movement.[14](p157). Friends in Britain became involved with the Higher Life movement, with Robert Wilson, a British Friend from Cockermouth meeting, founding the Keswick Convention[14](p157) which continues to meet annually to this day promoting higher life theology.

In Britain, from the 1870s it became commonplace to have Sunday evening home mission meetings with hymns and an evangelical address alongside the Sunday morning silent meetings for worship.[14](p155)

Joseph John Gurney was a prominent nineteenth century British Friend, and a strong proponent of evangelical views

Some Quakers in America disliked the move towards evangelicalism and wanted to retain their Quietist ways - these yearly meetings led by John Wilbur, an American Friend who worked to prevent what he saw as the dilution of the Friends' tradition of being led by the Holy Spirit. Wilbur was expelled from his yearly meeting in 1842, and he and his supporters went on to form their own separate yearly meeting. In the UK, in 1868, some Friends split off from London Yearly Meeting, as they felt this organization was becoming too evangelical and abandoning traditional Quaker ways, forming the separate Fritchley General Meeting which remained separated from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar splits also took place in Canada. The remainder of London Yearly Meeting and the remaining American yearly meetings were called Gurneyite yearly meetings, after Joseph John Gurney, and eventually collectively became called Five Years Meeting and then Friends United Meeting.

Friends' Syrian Mission, 1874, built this mission house in Brummana, Lebanon

Following Christian revivals in the mid nineteenth century, there arose a concern among Friends in Britain to start missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent in 1866 to Benares (Varanasi) in India.[15] The Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868 and sent missionaries from Britain to Madhya Pradesh, India forming what is now Mid-India Yearly Meeting, and later to Madegascar from 1867, China from 1896, Sri Lanka from 1896 and Pemba Island from 1897.[15] The Friends Syrian Mission was established 1874 which among other institutions ran the Ramallah Friends Schools which still exist today, and Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier founded Brummana High School in Lebanon in 1873.[15] Friends Churches from Ohio Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to India in 1896[16] forming what is now Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting. Friends from Cleveland meeting went to Mombasa, Kenya, starting what has been Friends most successful mission field. Quakerism spread within Kenya and to Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda.

In 1887, a British Quaker, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite proposed a declaration of faith known as the Richmond Declaration. This was agreed by 95 representatives at a meeting of Five Years Meeting but unexpectedly the declaration was not adopted by London Yearly Meeting, because a vocal minority of Friends, including Edward Grubb opposed it.[17]

In the early days, Friends had no ordained priests and thus needed no seminaries for theological training. The first major Quaker colleges were all founded much later - in America they founded Haverford College (1833),[18] Guilford College (1837), Earlham College (1844), Swarthmore College (1864), Wilmington College (Ohio) (1870), Bryn Mawr College (1885), Friends Pacific Academy (now George Fox University) (1885), Cleveland Bible College (now Malone University) (1892),[19] Friends University (1898), Training School for Christian Workers (now Azusa Pacific University) (1899),[20] Friends Bible College (now Barclay College) (1917);[21] in Britain, Woodbrooke College in 1903; and in Kenya, Friends Bible Institute (now Friends Theological College in Kaimosi, Kenya in 1942.

In the very late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a movement known as the Quaker Renaissance began within London Yearly Meeting - with young Friends moving away from evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity.[22] This was particularly influenced by John Wilhelm Rowntree, Edward Grubb and Rufus Jones.[22] These Friends promoted the theory of evolution, modern biblical criticism, and the social meaning of Jesus's teaching - encouraging Friends to follow the example of Christ by performing good works.[22] They downplayed evangelical ideas of atonement.[22] Following the Manchester Conference of 1895 where 1000 British Friends met to consider the future of British Quakerism, liberalism gradually increased within London Yearly Meeting.[23]

Some Quaker conscientious objectors formed the Friends Ambulance Unit with the aim of co-operating to build up a new world rather than fighting to destroy the old

The First World War and Second World War put the Friends' opposition to war to the test. Many Quakers were conscientious objectors and some formed the Friends Ambulance Unit and American Friends Service Committee. These brought together Friends from different yearly meetings to work together for service. Following this, Friends from across the theological splits worked together with several World Conferences and the subsequent creation of the Friends World Committee for Consultation which brought together Friends from different yearly meetings.

After World War I, growing desire for a more fundamentalist approach among some Friends began to split Five Years Meeting. In 1926, Oregon Yearly Meeting seceded from Five Years Meeting, bringing several other yearly meetings and scattered monthly meetings. In 1947, the Association of Evangelical Friends was formed, with triennial meetings which lasted until 1970. In 1965, this was replaced by the Evangelical Friends Association which since 1989 has been Evangelical Friends Church International.[24]

[edit] Systematic theology

Quakers have always had doctrines, some of which have been codified declarations of faith, confessions or theological texts. Due in part to the emphasis on reliance on the immediate guidance of the Spirit, diverse statements of "faith and practice" and diverse understandings of the "leading of the Spirit" have always existed among Friends - for example Letter to the Governor of Barbados (George Fox, 1671),[25] An Apology for the True Christian Divinity (Robert Barclay, 1678),[26] A Catechism and Confession of Faith (Robert Barclay, 1690),[27] The Testimony of the Society of Friends on the Continent of America (adopted jointly by all orthodox yearly meetings in USA, 1830),[28] Richmond Declaration of Faith (Adopted by Five Years Meeting, 1887),[29] Essential Truths (Rufus Jones and James Wood, adopted by Five Years Meeting, 1922).[30] As a public statement of faith today, each yearly meeting publishes its own Book of Discipline - that expresses discipleship within the experience of Friends in that yearly meeting.

The theological beliefs of different yearly meetings vary considerably, ranging from evangelical Christianity to universalist and new thought beliefs. In addition, there is wide variation in a meetings' acceptance of dissent expressed by individuals and local constituencies. While the predominant theological beliefs of different yearly meetings do not tally exactly with the style of service,[31] there is often some correspondence, with yearly meetings that employ programmed worship tending to have more evangelical theologies, and those with unprogrammed worship tending to have more conservative or liberal theologies.

Most Friends believe in continuing revelation, which is the idea that truth is continuously revealed directly to individuals from God without a need for any intermediary, objective logic or systematic theology. For this reason, many Quakers reject the idea of priests, believing in the priesthood of all believers. Some Friends express this idea of God revealing truth to them directly using the phrase Inner Light, or Inward Light of Christ, whilst others talk of the Holy Spirit or use other phrases. George Fox, an early Friend described it as "Christ has come to teach His people Himself."[5] Friends often focus on trying to hear God. As Isaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing — to feel him my root, my life, my foundation..."[32]

[edit] Conservative

Conservative Friends worshipping in London in 1809. Friends are dressed in traditional plain dress. At the front of the meeting house, the recorded ministers sit on a raised ministers' gallery facing the rest of the meeting, with the elders sitting on the bench in front of them, also facing the meeting. Men and women are segregated, but both are able to minister.

Conservative Friends (also known as "Wilburite" after John Wilbur) share the beliefs of early Friends. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, all Quakers were what would now be described as Conservative, but splits and developments in the nineteenth and twentieth century have resulted in the majority of Friends moving away from this branch. Conservative Friends stress their trust in the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit.[33] Conservative Friends completely reject all forms of religious symbolism and outward sacraments, such as water baptism or the Eucharist. Conservative Friends do not believe in the reliance upon practice of the outward rites and sacraments, believing that holiness can exist in all the activities of one's life — that all of life is sacred. Many Friends believe that any meal with others could be a form of communion. Conservative Friends reject any formal written creed.

Today, Conservative Friends exist in the US as the conservative yearly meetings of Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina; the conservative Ohio Yearly Meeting is generally considered the most traditional in this regard, retaining more rural Quakers who use the plain language and continue wearing plain dress more than the other two.[34] There are also groups of Conservative Friends in the UK (Ripley Quaker Meeting) and Greece (Athens Meeting), and Canada. Some of the more liberal Conservative Friends have very similar beliefs and practices to the more Christocentric liberal Friends. Today, Conservative Friends make up around 0.03% of Quakers worldwide.[31]

[edit] Evangelical

Evangelical Friends make up at least 40% of Friends worldwide[31]. They regard Christ as their Lord and savior,[33] and have similar theological views to other evangelical Christians. They believe in, and place a high regard for, the penal substitution theory of atonement, biblical infallibility and the need for everyone to personally repair a relationship with God.[35] They believe that the purpose of the Friends Church is to evangelise, and transform others through love and service for others.[35] Evangelical Friends regard the Bible as the literal and self-authenticating word of God. The "Beliefs of Friends" statement by Evangelical Friends International, is comparable to other evangelical churches' confessions of faith. Evangelical Friends are mainly located in the US, Asia and Central America, particularly in meetings which are affiliated with Evangelical Friends Church International). Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments, first in Evangelical Friends Church - Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). Friends Church Southwest approved the practice of outward sacraments. In places where Evangelical Friends have done mission work, including in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, baptism with water is carried out. This practice differs from most other branches of the Religious Society of Friends.

[edit] Gurneyite

Gurneyite Friends refer to the modern-day followers of the theology promoted by Joseph John Gurney, a British nineteenth century Friend, and they make up 49% of Quakers worldwide.[31] They regard Christ as their teacher and Lord[33], and favor working closely with other protestant Christian groups. Gurneyite Friends put more emphasis on the authority of the Bible over the direct experience of God, often seeing the Bible as the direct word of God. Both children and adults participate in ongoing religious education emphasising Bible and its relationship to Quaker testimonies and Quaker history. Gurneyite Friends have enumerated and subscribed to a set of doctrines, such as the Richmond Declaration. While there has been conflict over the role of the Richmond Declaration in subsequent years, it was "adopted," "accepted" or "approved" by nearly all of the Gurneyite yearly meetings at the time. The Five Years Meeting of Friends reaffirmed the Richmond Declaration in 1912 but specifically stated that it was not to constitute a creed. Although Gurneyism was the main form of Quakerism in Britain in the nineteenth century, today Gurneyite Friends are mainly located in Ireland, Africa, India, and parts of the US - particularly within meetings affiliated to Friends United Meeting). Many Gurneyite Friends today combine "waiting worship" (unprogrammed worship) with practices common to other Protestant services, such as scripture reading and singing hymns. A minority practice entirely unprogrammed worship.

[edit] Holiness

Holiness Friends are heavily influenced by the Holiness movement, in particular John Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection - that is that through loving God and loving humanity totally, as exemplified by Christ, they are able to voluntarily rid themselves of sin. This was a predominant view within Quakerism in the United States in the nineteenth century, and also held fairly widely in the United Kingdom, and has influenced other branches of Quakerism. Holiness Friends argue that early Friends including Fox's message of perfection was the same as holiness.[36] Whilst there are some Friends with strongly holiness theology within most yearly meetings, it is a central part of Central Yearly Meeting of Friends which was founded in 1926 specifically to promote holiness theology.

[edit] Liberal

Liberal Quakerism generally refers to Friends who have taken ideas from liberal Christianity, often sharing a similar mix of theological ideas to other liberal Christian denominations, such as more critical Biblical hermeneutics, often with a focus on the social gospel as being important. The liberal Quaker ideas of That of God in everyone and the inner light were popularised by the American Friend Rufus Jones in the early twentieth century, and remains an important part of liberal Friends' understanding of God today. Liberal Friends often highlight good works as being important, particularly living a life which upholds the virtues preached by Jesus - of which the often highlight the most important being pacifism, treating others equally, living simply and telling the truth[31]. Like conservative Friends, liberal Friends reject religious symbolism and sacraments, such as water baptism and the Eucharist. While Friends may recognize the potential of these outward forms for awakening experiences of the Light, they are not an incorporated part of Friends worship, and are by no means regarded as necessary to authentic spirituality. Among liberal Friends, one will encounter various approaches to the Bible. The Bible remains central to many liberal Friends' worship, and almost all meetings for worship in liberal yearly meetings will have a copy or copies of the Bible available in the meeting house (often on a table in the centre of the room) which Friends may read privately or publicly during worship. However, unlike evangelical or Gurneyite Friends, many liberal Friends have decided that if they feel led by God in a way which is contrary to the Bible, that Scripture should give way. Many Friends are also influenced by liberal Christian theologians and modern Biblical criticism, often holding non-propositional Biblical hermeneutics (eg believing that the Bible is an anthology of human authors' beliefs and feelings about God at the time of its writing) and that multiple different interpretations of scripture are possible. Liberal Friends believe a corporate confession of faith would be an obstacle — both to authentic listening and to the recognition of new insight. As a non-creedal form of Christianity, liberal Quakerism is especially receptive to a wide range of faith understandings. Most liberal yearly meetings publish a Faith and Practice book with a range of experiences of what it means to be a Friend in that yearly meeting.

The movement began amongst the followers of John Wilhelm Rowntree and Rufus Jones. Liberal Friends were predominant in Britain in the twentieth century and amongst US meetings affiliated to Friends General Conference, and some meetings in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. Many liberal Friends distance themselves from other Quaker groups.

[edit] Universalist

Universalist Friends believe that there are many different paths to God, and that understandings of God reached through non-Christian religious experiences are as valid as Christian understandings. This group was founded by John Linton, in the late 1970s. Linton had worshipped with the Delhi Worship Group in India (an independent meeting not affiliated to any yearly meeting or wider Quaker group), where there had been Hindus, Muslims and Christians worshipping together.[37] Following a move to Britain he founded the Quaker Universalist Group in 1978 and later his views spread to the US where the Quaker Universalist Fellowship was founded in 1983.[37] Many of the Friends who joined these groups were Friends from London Yearly Meeting and Friends General Conference in the United States. Interest in Quaker universalism has been low amongst Friends from other yearly meetings. The views of the universalists provoked much controversy within London Yearly Meeting and Friends General Conference during the 1980s.

[edit] Non-theist

These Friends have similar views to other post-Christian non-theists in other churches, for example the Sea of Faith within the Anglican church. They are predominantly atheists, agnostics and humanists who nevertheless feel that membership of a religious organization is useful. The first organization for non-theist Friends was the Humanistic Society of Friends, founded in Los Angeles in 1939, although this organization remained small and was later absorbed into the American Humanist Association.[38] More recently, interest in non-theism has surfaced, particularly led by British Friend David Boulton who founded the Nontheist Friends Network in 2011, which has 40 members.[39] Non-theism is controversial, with some British Friends calling for non-theists to be refused membership of Britain Yearly Meeting.[40] However, in one study of Friends in Britain Yearly Meeting, around 30% of Quakers had views which might be described as non-theistic, agnostic or atheist.[41][42]

[edit] Practical theology

Quakers try to bear witness or testify to their beliefs in their every day life — an expression of "spirituality in action",[43] drawing on James' advice that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.[44] A common set of practices emerged which spoke of key principles and beliefs held by Friends.

They may do this in many ways, according to how they are led by God, however there are some shared ways in which many Quakers relate to God and the world. These ways of acting often mirror common Christian ethical codes, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain, however Friends would argue that they feel personally moved by God or Christ to act in these ways rather than simply following an ethical code.

Some theologians have attempted to classify the ways in which Friends commonly testify to their faith into categories of common ways in which Friends behave - these are known by many liberal Friends as testimonies, for liberal Friends believe these principles and practices testify to the truth of God among Friends as well as others, in deed. Rooted in the immediate experience of the community of Friends, for many Friends these values are verified by the Bible, especially in the life and teachings of Jesus.. As these are not centrally drawn up in any way but are simply individuals' descriptions of the way in which many Friends are currently led to act, lists of testimonies are continuously evolving, and vary between different theologians and traditions.[45] In his book Quaker Speak, the British Friend Alastair Heron lists the following ways in which Friends do, or have, witness(ed) or testify/testified to God:[46]

Testimony which opposes:

• betting and gambling
• capital punishment
• conscription
• hat honor
• oaths
• slavery
• times and seasons
• tithing

Testimony which promotes:

• integrity (or truth)
• peace
• penal reform
• plain language
• relief of suffering
• simplicity
• social order
• Sunday observance
• sustainability
• temperance and moderation

In the USA, children and Friends school students are often taught the acronym SPICES, which stands for Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship. In the UK, the acronym STEP or PEST is used, for Peace, Equality, Simplicity and Truth.

Several groups of Quaker meeting houses in the US, particularly Delaware and Pennsylvania, have extended the testimony opposing hat honor to include an opposition to modern-day honorifics bestowed to corporate officer titles, corporate hierarchies, and publicizing salary history for employees.

[edit] Worship

Most groups of Quakers meet for regular worship. There are two main types of worship worldwide: programmed worship and unprogrammed worship.

[edit] Programmed worship

West Mansfield Friends Church, Ohio, affiliated to Evangelical Friends Church International

In programmed worship there is often a prepared message, which may be delivered by an individual with theological training. There may be hymns, a sermon, Bible readings and prayers, and a period of silent worship. The worship resembles the church services of other protestant denominations, although in most cases does not include any Eucharist service. There is often a paid pastor responsible for pastoral care of the members of the local church. Worship of this kind is celebrated by at least 89% of Friends worldwide[31](p5-6), and is found particularly in many yearly meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US (southern and central), and is particularly common in programmed meetings affiliated to Friends United Meeting (who make up around 49% of worldwide membership[31](p5)), and evangelical meetings, including those affiliated to Evangelical Friends International (who make up at least 40% of Friends worldwide[31](p5-6)). The event is sometimes called a meeting for worship or sometimes called a Friends Church service. This tradition arose among Friends in the United States in the 19th century in response to large numbers of converts to Quakerism during the national spiritual revivalism of the time. The Friends meetings started in Africa and Latin America were generally started by Friends from programmed elements of the society, therefore most African and Latin American Friends worship in a programmed style.

Some Friends also hold what is termed Semi-Programmed Worship, which brings programmed elements like hymns and readings into an otherwise unprogrammed worship service.

[edit] Unprogrammed worship

The interior of an old meeting house in the United States

Unprogrammed worship, or waiting worship is based on the practices of early Friends, who themselves based their practice on their interpretation of how early Christians worshipped. Friends gather together in "expectant waiting" for God's leading. There is no plan of how the meeting will proceed, with Friends believing that God will plan what will happen, with the Holy Spirit willing people to speak. When an individual Quaker feels that the Holy Spirit is telling them to speak, he or she will rise and share a message ("vocal ministry") with those gathered. When this happens, Quakers believe that it is not the person themselves speaking, but that the Holy Spirit is speaking through them. After someone has spoken, it is expected that more than a few moments will pass in silence before further speech. Sometimes a meeting is entirely silent, sometimes quite a few people speak. These meetings traditionally lasted for several hours, however modern meetings for worship are often programmed to be limited to an hour's duration, and end when one person (usually predetermined) shakes the hand of another person present. This style of worship is the norm in Britain, Ireland, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and parts of the United States (particularly yearly meetings associated with Friends General Conference) - constituting about 11%[31]:page 5 of Quakers worldwide. Quakers who worship in this style often believe that each person is equal before God and is capable of knowing the light directly, and therefore anyone present may speak if they feel called to do so. Traditionally, there were Recorded Ministers who were recognised for their particular gift in vocal ministry - this practice continues amongst conservative Friends, but some liberal Friends have abolished this practice in meetings where they are predominant (eg London Yearly Meeting abolished Recorded Ministers in 1928).

[edit] Meetings for worship for specific tasks

Within the unprogrammed tradition, Friends do not practice water baptism, Christening ceremony or other ceremony for the birth of a child. The child is welcomed into the meeting by everyone present at their first attendance. Formerly, it was the practice that children born to Quaker parents automatically became members of the Religious Society of Friends (sometimes called Birthright membership), but this is no longer the case in most areas, and most parents now leave it up to the child to decide whether to become a member when they are an older child or adult.

A meeting for worship for the solemnisation of marriage in an unprogrammed Friends meeting is similar to any other unprogrammed Meeting for Worship.[47] The meeting for worship is conducted exactly as a normal meeting for worship, and the pair marry one another before God and gathered witnesses. After exchanging vows, the meeting returns to open worship and guests are free to speak as they are led. At the rise of meeting all the witnesses, who comprise everyone present at the meeting including the youngest children, are asked to sign the wedding certificate as a record of the event. In Britain, Quakers have their own registrars who keep a separate record of the union and notify the General Register Office.

In the early days of the United States, there was doubt whether a marriage solemnized in such a manner was entitled to legal recognition, so that over the years each state set its own rules for the procedure. Most US states (Pennsylvania being the prominent exception) expect that the marriage document filed with local authorities will be signed by a single officiant (a priest, rabbi, minister, Justice of the Peace, etc.). Quakers routinely modify the document to allow several Friends to sign as the officiant. Often these are the members of a committee of oversight of the marriage ceremony, 3 or 4 individuals that have helped the couple plan their marriage. Usually a separate document containing their vows and the signatures of all present is kept by the couple, and often displayed prominently in their home.

In many Friends meetings, the couple will also have met with a "clearness committee" prior to getting married. This committee's purpose is to discuss with the couple the many aspects of being married and being a couple. If the couple seems clear in their commitment to marry, then the couple will be recommended to the meeting for marriage and the marriage will take place. "Clearness committees" are used in other contexts as well, where individuals or groups need to obtain guidance on a particular action to be taken.

In recent years, Friends within the liberal, unprogrammed meetings in Australia, Britain and some meetings in North America have celebrated weddings or civil unions between partners of the same sex. Britain Yearly Meeting decided in 2009 to recognise marriages between same-sex couples, making them the first mainstream religious body in the UK to do so. As true same-sex marriage (as distinct from civil partnership) is not recognized in law or by civil authorities in the United Kingdom these marriages will not be recognized in civil courts. However, they stated that the law does not preclude Friends from "playing a central role in the celebration and recording" of marriage between same-sex couples, and asked the government to change the law so that marriage between same-sex couples would be recognized in the same way as opposite-sex marriages.[48] In parts of the United States where same-sex marriages are not legal, some meetings follow the practice of early Quakers in overseeing the union without reference to the state at all. Many Friends meetings in the US have celebrated "union" ceremonies for same-sex couples; sometimes other Friends meetings geographically nearby have quite different views on the topic. Many Friends in the US are also involved in the movement to allow same-sex marriage legally.

Traditional Quaker memorial services are also held as a form of worship and are known as memorial meetings. Friends gather for worship and offer remembrances about the person who has died. In some traditions, the coffin or ashes of the deceased are not present, and these memorial meetings are often held many weeks after the death, which can enable wider attendance and can also allow spiritual reflection and celebration of life, rather than emotional grief, to dominate. However in some traditions memorial meetings take place immediately after death and may occur prior to burial or cremation with the coffin present in the meeting for worship. Memorial meetings can last over an hour, particularly if there are a large number of people in attendance. Memorial services give everyone a chance to remember the lost individual in his own way, thus bringing comfort to those present, and re-affirmation of the larger community of Friends.

[edit] Church government and polity

Quaker Business Meeting in York

Governance and decision making is conducted at a specially appointed meeting for worship - often called a meeting for worship with a concern for business or meeting for worship for church affairs at which all members of a meeting can attend, similar in ways to a church meeting of a congregationalist church. Quakers consider this to be a form of worship, conducted in the manner of meeting for worship. They believe this is the gathering of believers who wait upon the Lord to discover God's will, believing that they are not making their own decisions but seeking to understand God's will for the community via the actions of the Holy Spirit within the meeting.[49]

Like in a meeting for worship, each member is expected to listen to God and, if led, to will stand and contribute it to the group. In some meetings, Friends will wait for the clerk to acknowledge them before speaking. Direct replies to someone's contribution are not permitted, with an aim of seeking truth rather than of debating or discussing. A decision is reached when the meeting, as a whole, feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity"). There is no voting. On some occasions a single Friend will hold up a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will. Because of this, many non-Friends believe that this is a consensus decision-making method, however Friends believe that they are not attempting to seek a position with which everyone is willing to live (as is often the case in consensual models) but in determining God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is listening to God's Spirit, the way forward will become clear.

The business conducted in this way can seem time-consuming and impractical. Many non-Friends express doubts as to whether this process of decision making can work in a large group, although many yearly meetings have employed this practice for generations.

[edit] National and international divisions and organization

Like many movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into various smaller subgroups.

Quakerism started in the United Kingdom, and quickly spread to the United States. Today by far the country with the most Quakers in it is Kenya, and other countries with over 1000 Quakers in them are Burundi, Bolivia, Cambodia, Canada, Guatemala, Ireland, Indonesia, Rwanda, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States.[1] Although the total number of Quakers is relatively small, around 360,000 worldwide,[50] there are places, such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;Kaimosi, Kenya; Newberg, Oregon; Greenleaf, Idaho; Whittier, California; Richmond, Indiana; Friendswood, Texas; Birmingham, UK; Ramallah, Palestine and Greensboro, North Carolina in which Quaker influence is concentrated.

[edit] International organization

Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization which loosely unifies the diverse groups of Friends; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world.

There are various organizations associated with Friends including a U.S. lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C. called the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); several service organizations like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Quaker United Nations Offices, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Friends Committee on Scouting, the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four Sections to represent different regions of the world: Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and Americas.

[edit] Africa

The highest concentration of Quakers is in Africa.[51] The Friends of East Africa were at one time part of a single East Africa Yearly Meeting, then the largest yearly meeting in the world. Today, this region is served by several distinct yearly meetings. Most of these are affiliated with the Friends United Meeting, practice programmed worship, and employ pastors. There are also Friends meetings in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as new work beginning in North Africa. Small unprogrammed meetings exist also in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

Friends in Australia and New Zealand are based around the unprogrammed tradition, similar to Britain Yearly Meeting

Considerable distances between the colonies, and a low immigration of Quakers, meant that the organization of Friends in Australia was quite dependent on London until the 20th century. The Society has remained unprogrammed and is constituted as the Australia Yearly Meeting, with local organization around seven Regional Meetings: Canberra (which extends into southern New South Wales), New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia (which extends into Northern Territory), Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.[52] There is an annual meeting each January hosted by a different Regional Meeting over a seven year cycle, with a Standing Committee each July or August. The 2006 Australian Census recorded 1984 Quakers in Australia, which was an increase of 11% since the 2001 Census.[53]

Meetings for worship in New Zealand started in Nelson in 1842, and in Auckland in 1885.

[edit] Asia

There are Quaker meetings in India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Japan and Nepal.

India has four yearly meetings - the unprogrammed Mid-India Yearly Meeting, programmed Bhopal Yearly Meeting and Mahoba Yearly Meeting. Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting is an evangelical Friends Church affiliated to Evangelical Friends International. There are also a number of separate programmed and unprogrammed worship groups not affiliated to any yearly meeting.

There are also evangelical Friends Churches in the Philippines and Nepal, affiliated to Evangelical Friends International.

[edit] Europe

In the United Kingdom, the predominantly liberal and unprogrammed Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain has 478 local meetings[54], and a total of 14,260 adult members[54], and an additional 8,560 adults who attend worship but have not become members[54], and 2,251 children[54]. The number of Quakers in Britain has been declining steadily since the mid-twentieth century[54]. There are also several programmed meetings, including in Wem[55] and London[56]. There is also small groups of Conservative Friends meeting in Ripley and Greenwich in England, and Arbroath in Scotland,[57], who follow Ohio Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline.[58].

Evangelical Friends Central Europe Yearly Meeting has 4306 members[1] over six nations[59], including Albania, Hungary and Romania[1].

Ireland Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed, but much more conservative than nearby Britain Yearly Meeting. They have 1591 members[1] in 28 meetings[60] across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

German Yearly Meeting is liberal and unprogrammed, and has 338 members[1], worshipping in 31 meetings in Germany and Austria.

There are very small groups of Friends in Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Palestine, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugual, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.[1]

[edit] Middle East

Middle East Yearly Meeting has meetings in Lebanon and Palestine.

[edit] North and South America

Quakers can be found throughout the provinces of Canada, with some of the largest concentrations of Quakers in Southern Ontario[citation needed].

Friends in the United States have diverse practices, though united by many common bonds. Along with the division of worship style (see "Quaker Worship" above) come several differences of theology, vocabulary and practice.

A local congregation in the unprogrammed tradition is called a meeting, or a monthly meeting (e.g., Smalltown Meeting or Smalltown Monthly Meeting). The reference to "monthly" is because the meeting meets monthly to conduct the business of the meeting. Most "monthly meetings" meet for worship at least once a week; some meetings have several worship meetings during the week. In programmed traditions, the local congregations are often referred to as "Friends Churches".

Several local monthly meetings are often part of a regional group called a quarterly meeting, which is usually part of an even larger group called a yearly meeting; with the adjectives "quarterly" and "yearly" referring specifically to the frequency of meetings for worship with a concern for business.

Some yearly meetings belong to larger organizations to help maintain order and communication within the society, the three chief ones being Friends General Conference (FGC), Friends United Meeting (FUM), and Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI) (in all three groups, most member organizations, though not necessarily people are from the United States). FGC is theologically the most liberal of the three groups, while EFCI is the most evangelical. FUM is the largest. Friends United Meeting was originally known as "Five Years Meeting." Some monthly meetings belong to more than one of these larger organizations, while others are independent, not joining any.

[edit] Ecumenical relations

All Quakers prior to the 20th century considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, but did not feel their faith fit within categories of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.[61] Many conservative Friends, whilst fully seeing themselves as a Christian group, choose to remain separate from other Christian groups.

Many Friends in the liberal Friends' meetings are actively involved in the ecumenical movement, often particularly working closely with other Mainline Protestant and liberal Christian churches with whom they share common ground, particularly a concern for peace and social justice, and often work together with other churches and Christian groups on social justice projects and campaigns. Some liberal yearly meetings are members of ecumenical pan-Christian organizations which include Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches - for example Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a member of the National Council of Churches,[62] Britain Yearly Meeting is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Friends General Conference is a member of the World Council of Churches.[63] All Guerneyite Friends would see themselves as part of a Christian movement, and work closely with other Christian groups. Friends United Meeting (the international organization of Gurneyite yearly meetings) is a member of the National Council of Churches [62] and the World Council of Churches,[63] which are pan-Christian organizations which include Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches. Evangelical Friends work closely with other evangelical churches from other Christian traditions. The North American branch of Evangelical Friends Church International is a member church of the National Association of Evangelicals. Like other evangelical churches, evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with ecumenical work with non-evangelical churches, and are not members of the World Council of Churches or National Council of Churches.

The majority of other Christian groups are happy to recognize Friends amongst their fellow-Christians.[64] The Bible Theology Ministries (a small charismatic church in Swansea) does not recognise Quakers as Christian,[65] but then they also do not recognise Roman Catholics as Christian,[66] regarding both Quakers and Roman Catholics as 'cults'. Some people who attend Friends meetings assume that Quakers are not Christian because they may not hear anyone using overtly Christian language during the meeting for worship.[67]

[edit] Relations with other faiths

Relationships between Quakers and non-Christians vary considerably, both between different branches of Quakerism, different parts of the world, and different points in history.

Early Quakers felt that salvation was possible only through Christ, and therefore did not tolerate other religions. They distanced themselves from any practices which they saw as pagan, such as refusing to use the usual days of the week as they are derived from names of Pagan deities,[68] and refusing to celebrate Christmas as it was based on Pagan festivities.[69] Early Friends attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity, for example Fox's open letter, To the Turk[70] in which he encourages all to turn to Christ as the only path to salvation. Mary Fisher attempted to convert the Muslim Mehmed IV (the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) in 1658.

In 1870, Richard Price Hallowell argued that the logical extension of Quakerism is to establish a universal Church, which demands a religion which embraces Jew, Pagan and Christian, and which cannot be limited by the dogmas of one or the other,.[71]

From the late twentieth century onwards there are now some people who attend liberal Quaker meetings who also actively identify with faiths other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam,[72] Buddhism [73] or Paganism, although this is controversial, even in liberal yearly meetings.

[edit] Calendar and church holidays

Quakers traditionally use numbers to denominate the names of the months and days of the week, something they call the plain calendar. This does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. The days begin with First Day (Sunday) and ends on Seventh Day (Saturday), and months run from First Month (January) to Twelfth Month (December). This is based on the terms used in the Bible: eg, Jesus' followers went to the tomb early on the First Day of the week[74] [75] [76] [77]. The calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in the Puritan movement but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s and was commonly employed into the 20th century, however, is less commonly encountered today. The term First Day School is commonly used, for what is called by most churches Sunday School.

In common with other Christian denominations derived from sixteenth century Puritanism, many Friends do not observe any religious festivals (eg Christmas, Lent, or Easter), but instead believe that Christ's birth, crucifixion and resurrection should be commemorated every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel that fasting at Lent but then eating in excess at other times of the year is hypocrisy, and therefore many Quakers, rather than observing Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (see Testimony of Simplicity). These practices are often referred to as the testimony against times and seasons.

Some Friends are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day", and that what should be done on a First Day should be done every day of the week, although Meeting for Worship is usually held on a First Day, something which has been advised since the first advice issued by elders in 1656[78]

[edit] Mysticism

Quakerism differs from other mystical religions in at least two important ways. For one, Quaker mysticism is primarily group-oriented rather than focused on the individual. The Friends' traditional meeting for worship may be considered an expression of that group mysticism, where all the members of the meeting listen together for the Spirit of God, speaking when that Spirit moves them.

Additionally, Quaker mysticism as it has been expressed after the late 19th century includes a strong emphasis on its outwardly directed witness. Rather than seeking withdrawal from the world, the Quaker mystic translates his or her mysticism into action. They believe this action leads to greater spiritual understanding — both by individuals and by the Meeting as a whole. This view of mysticism includes social and political activities.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Children's books

[edit] External links

Christianity portal

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Portal:Quakers

[edit] Information

• Exhaustive list of links, websites, mailing lists, and other information on Quakers
• FWCC: Worldwide umbrella group, with information on different types of Quakers
• QuakerMaps: a directory of Friends Meetings and churches, complete with embedded Google maps
• QuakerFinder: online locator tool for local meetings and worship groups in North America
• Quaker Quaker: daily magazine, discussion boards, Convergent Friends
• Quaker Library at Friends General Conference (FGC)
• Christian Quaker Internet Mission
• Primitive Quakers
• Quaker Information Center
• About Quaker Worship – explanation for non-Quakers
• Quakers in the Deep South
• Quaker Electronic Archive
• Quaker Heritage Press Online Texts
• U.S. Friends/Quakers map, by county
• Religious Society of Friends. Records, 1828-2009
• Argenta Friends Press - information about Quakers and publication of the Canadian Quaker Pamphlet Series
• University of Tasmania Library Quaker Resources Collection
• LiberalQuakers.org: Fostering understanding of liberal Quakerism and helping people find their way to a liberal Friends meeting.
• Museum at the Friends Home, Waynesville, Ohio USA

[edit] Documentary films

• Quaker Video Collection, QuakerQuaker.org
• Art 21: James Turrell, Live Oak Friends Meeting house, PBS Documentary, Biography in text and online clip.
• Quakers – Seeking the Light Within, 2003. Documentary. In: Compass, TV, ABC (Australia), 2003. September 28. 22:00hrs.
• An Introduction to Watford Quakers, 2007.

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Annotations

• N Jenny Doughty on Fri 14 Feb 2003, 02:28am. Flag 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/qkrhist.html
  

• N steve h on Sat 15 Feb 2003, 01:46am. Flag 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.

• N Jenny Doughty on Sat 22 Mar 2003, 02:23am. Flag 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.”
  

• N Jenny Doughty on Sat 5 Apr 2003, 04:54am. Flag 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/livingeaston/local_history/Penn/Penn_family_part_3.html

• N Michael f vincent on Mon 7 Apr 2003, 06:44am. Flag 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

• N vincent on Tue 22 Apr 2003, 03:36am. Flag 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/ranters.htm

  http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/ranters.html
  

• N Roger Miller on Fri 2 May 2003, 11:46pm. Flag this

  The Journal of George Fox

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

• N vincent on Wed 21 May 2003, 04:19am. Flag 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
  

• N Jenny Doughty on Wed 21 May 2003, 02:11pm. Flag 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.

• N vincent on Wed 21 May 2003, 09:58pm. Flag 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)
  

• N vincent on Fri 10 Oct 2003, 04:55am. Flag this

  another Quaker snippet and oath of allegiance and tythes:

  http://web.ukonline.co.uk/benjaminbeck/spence.html#N7.%20GEORGE%20SPENCE
  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

• N David Quidnunc on Mon 15 Dec 2003, 04:11am. Flag 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/livingeaston/local_history/Penn/Penn_family_part_1.html#iii)%20introduction

• N David Quidnunc on Thu 22 Jan 2004, 02:30am. Flag 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/2002/11november/feature.html

  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
  

• N vicente on Sun 30 May 2004, 12:45am. Flag 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?compid=14112#s7
  Date: 29/05/2004
  

• N vicente on Sat 7 Aug 2004, 05:06am. Flag 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?compid=15506&strquery=quaker
  Date: 07/08/2004
  

• N vicenzo on Tue 29 Mar 2005, 03:23am. Flag 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?compid=14112#s7 seach the records for all the braying: in full text search or if a name be interesting use full name.

• N Cumgranissalis on Mon 15 Aug 2005, 03:25am. Flag 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?compid=24519&strquery=deane%20forest. Date accessed: 15 August 2005.
  

• N in Aqua Scripto on Sun 20 Nov 2005, 10:32pm. Flag this

  another view point.
  http://chaucer.library.emory.edu/cgi-bin/sgml2html/wwrp.pl?act=text&f=%2Fdata%2Fwomen_writers%2Fdata%2Fquaker.sgm&offset=2407&len=87676&prior=0&next=1&endpos=83627&elmt=DIV1&t=Introduction-%20%20Introduction%20to%20A%20Testimony%20for%20Truth%20against%20all%20Hireling-Priests%20and%20Deceivers%20.%20.%20.%20.%20%20%201655%3B%20%20A%20Warning%20to%20all%20Friends%20who%20Professeth%20the%20Everlasting%20Truth%20.%20.%20.%20.%20%20

References in the diary

1660

Feb: 7, 11
Oct: 31

1661

Aug: 2, 6

1662

Aug: 15
Oct: 26

1663

Aug: 10
Nov: 9

1664

Jan: 11
Oct: 2

1665

Aug: 31
Sep: 1

1666

May: 1

1667

Jul: 22, 29
Dec: 21, 29

1668

Apr: 4
Oct: 12