CHAPTER I. BEGINNINGS IN ENGLAND. AMONG the many denominations which appeared in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that time of religious upheaval, none is more striking than the Society of Friends. Though scarcely one of its doctrines was absolutely new, yet the combination of so many radical tenets produced a remarkable factor in the religious economy of Christendom, the effects of which are only beginning to be appreciated. England had been stunned for twenty years with religious polemics. The forms of church government-presbyterianism and prelacy-the claims of the independents and the clamors of the sectaries, the respective rights of the pastors and the people, were discussed in every pulpit, they distracted every parish and every house." Torn by civil war, agitated with bitter theological disputes, full of men dissatisfied with church, with state, with almost every existing institution, England was indeed in a sad way. It was amid such surroundings, influenced by such currents of thought, out of such a hurly-burly, that the Society of Friends arose. The history of the early years of the Society is the history of its founder. George Fox was born at Fenny Drayton, sometimes known as Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire, July, 1624. "My father's name was Christopher 1 J. B. Marsden, "History of the Later Puritans," 2d ed., London, 1854, P. 235. Fox; he was by profession a weaver, an honest man. The neighbors called him Righteous Christer. My mother was an upright woman; her maiden name was Mary Lago, of the family of the Lagos, and of the stock of the martyrs." His youth" was endued with a gravity and stayedness of mind that is seldom seen in children." 2 Notwithstanding his sober and serious youth, he seems to have had no idea that he was to be called to any special work, and, as with many a man, a slight thing, apparently, proved the turning-point in his life. Being asked to drink healths by some young men who were "professors" of religion, he was so grieved that such persons should act in this way that he threw down his share of the previous entertainment and went out of the room. A sleepless night followed, during which he believed he heard the call of the Lord summoning him to leave all things. He went from place to place seeking peace of mind; once he says that "a strong temptation to despair came upon me, and then I saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I was in." He went from "priest to priest" to get help, but found them sorry comforters, for they did not see that he was one who needed spiritual food and enlightenment, not mental distraction. He remained more than a year in this state. At last, he writes, "about the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to Coventry and entering toward the gate, a consideration arose in me how it was said that all Christians are believers, both Protestants and papists. And the Lord opened to me that if all were believers, then were they all born of God and passed from 1 "Journal" of George Fox, London, 1694, p. I. We hear little or nothing of George Fox's relatives except now and then he simply mentions visiting them. (But see Journal," pp. 390, 396.) Charles Marshall says, under date of " 11th month, 19th, 1671”: “ I went to see G. F.'s mother in Leicestershire." ("Journal" of Charles Marshall, London, 1844, p. 17.) 2 William Sewel," History of the Quakers," London, 1725, 2d ed., p. 6. death to life, and that none were true believers but such, and though others said they were believers yet they were not. Another time, as I was walking in a field on a firstday morning, the Lord opened to me that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ; and I stranged at it, because it was the common belief of people." He still did not find absolute peace, but continued to go up and down though the country. After the conviction that education was no essential qualification of a minister, he naturally turned more and more to the dissenters, but he found little satisfaction with most of them. So he goes on to say: "When . . . I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, oh, then I heard a voice which said, 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,' and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy." 2 And when he cried to the Lord, "Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils?' the Lord answered that it was needful I should have a sense of all conditionshow else should I speak to all conditions? And in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness." 3 Again he says: "Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword into the Paradise of God. All things were new, and all creation gave another smell unto me beyond what words can utter." This was when he was about twenty-three. The sentences quoted lie at the root of Fox's practice and teaching-consistency of the outward life with the profession; the necessity of divine power within the man to enable him to live in accordance with the will of God; 2 Ibid., p. 8. 3 Ibid., pp. 13, 17. 1 “Journal,” pp. 3–6. the direct communication of this will to every believer in His labors were from first to last the Lord Jesus Christ. If we live by the Spirit, by the Fox does not seem to have really preached, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, until late in the year 1647. And then, Sewel says, his preaching "chiefly consisted of some few but powerful and piercing words, to those whose hearts were in some measure prepared to be capable of receiving this doctrine."1 There seems little doubt that, as Sewel says, many if not most of the early converts of Fox were those who, like himself, were believers in the fundamental doctrines. of Christianity, but, like him also, dissatisfied with the teachings and practices of the day, were longing for a higher and more spiritual life. The meetings, which were at that time frequently held for discussion of points of doctrine, afforded Fox admirable opportunities for spreading his views. He speaks of a "meeting of priests and professors at a justice's house," "a great meeting at Leicester for a dispute wherein both Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Common-Prayer men were said to be all concerned."2 "This meeting was in a steeplehouse," and as it is the first record of Fox entering one of those buildings to speak, it will be well to say a few words respecting this phrase, the practice the early Friends had of entering places of worship, and, as is so often charged, of interrupting public worship.3 It is true that there are instances of Friends disturbing public worship, but the 1 "Journal," p. 13; Sewel, p. 13. 2 "Journal," pp. 14, 15. 3 The phrase "steeple-house" is not peculiar to Friends, nor did they originate it; it is found, for instance, in Edwards's “ Gangræna," the third edition of which was published before Fox began to preach. And other cases might be cited. ("Gangræna," etc., Thomas Edwards, 3d ed., Lon don, 1646, part ii., p. 4.) number of cases has been greatly exaggerated. It was usually after the "priest" had finished that the Friend spoke, and then it was on account of the unpalatable doctrine, rather than for the interruption, that he suffered. The places of worship he entered were usually those belonging to the Independents, and this body allowed discussion after the sermon.1 Fox frequently speaks of waiting until the minister had finished, and once at least he was invited up into the pulpit. A striking instance occurred at Ulverstone, where Margaret Fell, who, when he was interrupted as he was speaking after the "priest," called out, "Why may not he speak as well as any other?" " Had it not been for his strong common sense, Fox might have gone through an experience somewhat similar to that of his adherent, James Nayler, or have become a second Ludowick Muggleton. As it was, though one of the most mystical of modern reformers, he was at the same time one of the most practical, all his spiritual teaching, from the very first, being accompanied by not only desires, but by efforts for the moral, political, and social welfare of his hearers; his journal is full of practical suggestions. He "was the first who raised his voice against the evils of West Indian slavery. He claimed freedom of 1 "After all this is done [praying, preaching by the pastor, etc.] they [the Independents] have yet another exercise, wherein by way of conference, questioning, and disputation every one of the congregation may propound publicly and press their scruples, doubts, and objections against anything which that day they have heard.' ("A Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time," etc., Robert Baylie, London, 1645, p. 30. This book was published just before George Fox began to preach. The writer has found no instances of the interruption of a Church of England service.) 2 "Journal," pp. 56, 57, 61, 78, 109; see also R. Barclay, "Inner Life," pp. 274-293. 3 Nayler is often quoted as an example of the wild enthusiasm of the early Friends; even so careful a writer as H. Weingarten being deceived as to the true character of the episode. ("Die Revolutionskirchen Englands," Leipzig, 1868, p. 271.) Nayler's actions were disavowed by Friends at the time, and he recanted, confessed his error, and was restored. (Sewel, pp. 147155.) |