QUAKER STRONGHOLDS
BY
CAROLINE EMELIA STEPHEN
AUTHOR OF "the SBRVICB OF THB POOR "
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY LONGSTRETH, 740 SANSOM STREET
1 891
5^Z
/-
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PACK
Introduction ... ... ... ... ... i
I. Organization ... ... ... ... 6
II. The Inner Light ... ... ... ... 20
III. Worship ... ... ... ... • ... 51
IV. Free Ministry ... ... ... ... 91
V. Special Testimonies ... ... ... n8
VI. Our Calling ... ... ... ... ... 157
Appendix ... ..• ... ... ... 199
*I75J(^000
QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
INTRODUCTION.
Whether Quakerism be, as some Friends believe,
destined to any considerable revival or not, it
seems at least certain that any important revival
of religion must be the result of a fresh recogni-
tion and acceptance of the very princiolss upon
which the Society of Friends is built. What these
principles and the practices resulting from them
really are, is a subject on which there is a sur-
prising amount of ignorance amongst us, consider-
ing how widely spread is the connection with
and interest about Friends amongst the members
of other persuasions. One seldom meets any one
who has not some link with the Society, and yet
it is rare to find any one not belonging to it at
all accurately informed as to its point of view or
its organization. The notorious disinclination of
Friends to any attempts at proselytizing, and
perhaps some lingering effects of persecution, prob-
2 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
ably account for the very common impression
that Friends' meetings are essentially private —
mysterious gatherings into which it would be
intrusive to seek admission. Many people, indeed,
probably suppose (if they think about it at all)
that such meetings are no longer held ; that the
Society is fast dying out, and the " silent worship "
of tradition is a thing of the past — impracticable, and
hardly to be seriously mentioned in these days of
talk and of breathless activity.
Some such vague impression floated, I believe,
over my own mind, when, some seventeen years
ago, I first found myself within reach of a Friends'
meeting, and, somewhat to my surprise, cordially
made welcome to attend it. The invitation came
at a moment of need, for I was beginning to feel
with dismay that I might not much longer be able
conscientiously to continue to join in the Church
of England service ; not for want of appreciation
of its unrivalled richness and beauty, but from
doubts of the truth of its doctrines, combined with
a growing recognition that to me it was as the
armour of Saul in its elaboration and in the sus-
tained pitch of religious fervour for which it was
meant to provide an utterance. Whether true or
not in its speculative and theoretical assumptions,
it was clear to me that it was far from true as a
INTRO DUCTIOX. 3
periodical expression of my own experience, belief,
or aspiration. The more vividly one feels the
force of its eloquence, the more, it seems to me,
one must hesitate to adopt it as the language of
one's own soul, and the more unlikely it is that
such heights and depths of feeling as it demands
should be ready to fill its magnificent channels
every Sunday morning at a given hour. The
questionings with which at that period I was
painfully struggling were stirred into redoubled
activity by the dogmatic statements and assump-
tions w^ith which the Liturgy abounds, and its un-
broken flow left no loophole for the utterance of
my own less disciplined, but to myself far more
urgent, cries for help. Thus the hour of public
worship, which should have been a time of spiritual
strengthening and calming, became to me a time
of renewed conflict, and of occasional exaltation
and excitement of emotion, leading but too surely
to reaction and apathy.
I do not attempt to pass any judgment on this
mental condition. I have described it at some
length because I cannot believe it to be altogether
exceptional, or without significance. At any rate,
it was fast leading me to dread the moment when
1 should be unable either to find the help I needed,
or to offer my tribute of devotion in any place of
4 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
A
worship amongst my fellow-Christians/ When lo,
on one never-to-be-forgotten Sunday morning, I
found myself one of a small company of silent wor-
shippers, who were content to sit down together
without words, that each one might feel after and
draw near to the Divine Presence, unhindered aL
least, if not helped, by any human utterance.
Utterance I knew was free, should the words be
given ; and before the meeting was over, a sentence
or two were uttered in great simplicity by an old
and apparently untaught man, rising in his place
amongst the rest of us. I did not pay much atten-
tion to the words he spoke, and I have no recollec-
tion of their purport. My whole soul was filled with
the unutterable peace of the undisturbed opportunity
for communion with God, with the sense that at last
I had found a place where I might, without the
faintest suspicion of insincerity, join with others
in simply seeking His presence. To sit down in
silence could at the least pledge me to nothing ; it
might open to me (as it did that morning) the
very gate of heaven. /And since that day, now
more than seventeen years ago. Friends' meetings
have indeed been to me the greatest of outward
helps to a fuller and fuller entrance into the spirit
from which they have sprung ; the place of the
most soul-subduing, faith-restoring, strengthening,
INTRODUCTION. 5
and peaceful communion, in feeding upon the bread
of life, that I have ever known. I cannot but
believe that what has helped me so unspeakably
might be helpful to multitudes in this day of
shaking of all that can be shaken, and of restless
inquiry after spiritual good. It is in the hope of
making more widely known the true source and
nature of such spiritual help that I am about to
attempt to describe what I have called our strong-
holds — those principles which cannot fail, whatever
may be the future of the Society which for more
than two hundred years has taken its stand upon
them. I wish to trace, as far as my experience
as a " convinced Friend " enables me to do so,
what is the true life and strength of our Society ;
and the manner in which its principles, as actually
embodied in its practice, its organization, and,
above all, its manner of worship, are fitted to
meet the special needs of an important class in
our own day.
Mount Pleasant,
West Malvern, 1890.
QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
CHAPTER I.
ORGANIZATION.
The actual organization of the Society of Friends
is, I believe, by no means familiarly known outside
its ov/n borders, and a slight sketch of it may be
neither uninteresting in itself, nor out of place as
a preliminary to the endeavour to explain our
general position. I propose, therefore, to give such
an outline of our constitution as a Society, so far
as I have become acquainted with it. The fullest
details respecting it are to be found in the " Book
of Discipline," which is the authorized exponent of
all such matters.
This book has been recently revised, and the
edition of 1883* (a large octavo volume) contains
the latest regulations on all points of internal
* " Book of Christian Discipline of the Religious Society of
Friends in Great Britain ; consisting of Extracts on Doctrine,
Practice, and Church Government, from the Epistles and other
Documents issued under the sanction of the Yearly Meeting held in
London from its first institution in 1672 to 1883." London*
Samuel Harris and Co., 5, Bishopsgate Street Without. 1883.
ORGANIZA TION. 7
government. The Yearly Meeting also publishes
annually a volume of Extracts from its proceed-
ings, a full statement of accounts and statistics,
and a summary of the reports received from the
subordinate meetings all over the country.
Every " particular meeting," that is, every con-
gregation meeting habitually for worship on the
first (and generally also on one other) day of the
week, is one of a group of meetings for worship
(usually about five or six), which meet together
once a month, for the transaction of business and
of discipline, and which together form what is
therefore called a Monthly Meeting. Each Monthly
Meeting, again, is one of a group of probably four
or five Monthly Meetings, which in like manner
unite to form a Quarterly Meeting, at whose
quarterly sittings matters of larger importance are
considered, and the eighteen Quarterly Meetings
of Great Britain form in their turn the London
Yearly Meeting, which is the supreme authority in
the Society. It may in a certain sense be said,
indeed, that it is the Society of Friends of Great
Britain, for every Friend is a member of the
Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings to which
he or she belongs, and is entitled to a voice in all
their deliberations. The Yearly Meeting .assembles
in May, and its sittings, which are held, as they
8 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
have been from the first, in Devonshire House,
Bishopsgate Street, last generally about a fort-
night. The actual attendance is, of course, small
in comparison with the number of members. At
the present time the Society in Great Britain
consists of about fifteen thousand members, and
the annual gatherings in Bishopsgate Street num-
ber perhaps from twelve to fifteen hundred.
The men and women sit separately, or it would
perhaps be more correct to say that the men and
the women' Friends have each a separate Yearly
Meeting; the women's Yearly Meeting being of
considerably later date than the men's. It was
established in 1790, and it deals in general with
matters of less importance, or at any rate of more
restricted scope, than the men's meeting. It is,
however, not unusual for men Friends, " under
religious concern," to visit the women's meeting,
nor for women Friends on a similar ground to visit
that of the men.
" Joint sittings " — meetings, that is, of men and
women Friends in one body — are also held oc-
casionally, when any question of special interest
to all the members is to be considered, and on
these occasions the women are free to take their
full share in the discussions. These occasional
combinations are the more easily practicable, be-
ORGANIZATION. 9
cause, strange as it may seem to most people, no
question is ever put to the vote. From the earliest
times, all decisions have been arrived at by
what may be called a practical unanimity. The
Yearly Meeting, like every other meeting for
" busi.iess " or " discipline," has its clerk, who, with
one or more assistants, performs the combined
functions of chairman and secretary. When any
question has been fully considered, it is the duty
of the clerk to interpret the sense of the meeting,
and to prepare a minute accordingly ; which minute,
being read to the meeting, often receives a certain
amount of verbal, or even of substantial modifica-
tion, in accordance with the suggestions of individual
Friends; but, when entered upon the books, is
accepted as embodying the decision of the meet-
ing. Should there be any considerable division
of judgment upon any important question, it is
usually, if possible, adjourned till the next Yearly
Meeting ; and this plan has, I believe, been almost
invariably found sufficient to bring about the
practical unanimity required for a final settlement
of the question. It is certainly a very remarkable
fact that so large a body should transact all its
affairs without ever voting, to the full satisfaction
of the great majority of those concerned.
The Quarterly and Monthly Meetings are, in
lo QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
most respects, repetitions on a smaller scale of
the Yearly Meeting. The business of all these
subordinate meetings is transacted, like that of
the Yearly Meeting, without voting, and settled
similarly through the action of the clerk when a
practical unanimity is arrived at. Each Monthly
Meeting appoints " representatives " to the next
Quarterly Meeting, and the Quarterly Meetings in
like manner appoint " representatives " to the Yearly
Meeting. These Friends have no very definite
function to perform, but their names are called
over, and their presence or absence noted at the
opening of each meeting to which they are sent;
and they are expected to serve in a general way
as a special medium of communication between the
larger and the smaller meetings to which they belong.
In like manner, upon any subject affecting the
Society at large, the Yearly Meeting communicates
with the Quarterly Meetings, who in their turn
diffuse the impulse through their own Monthly and
particular meetings, till it reaches every individual
member ; and, in return, information respecting
every meeting for worship is from time to time given
to the Monthly Meetings, to be by them in a con-
densed form reported to the Quarterly Meetings,
and so eventually presented to the Yearly Meeting
in London. All these ascending and descending
ORGANIZA TION. \ \
processes are carried on with minute accuracy and
regularity, and are duly recorded at every stage in
the books of each meeting. There is thus a com-
plete system of circulation, as of veins and arteries,
by which e\ery individual member is brought
within reach of the Society at large, and through
which information, influence, and discipline are
carried to and from the centre and the extremities.
The "discipline" of the Society is a matter of
extreme interest, as to which I cannot venture to
say with any confidence how far our recognized
ideal is actually carried out in practice. There is
no doubt that of late years considerable changes
have taken place, mainly in the direction of a
relaxation of discipline with regard to compara-
tively trivial matters. Certain "queries" have
from the earliest times been appointed by the
authority of the Yearly Meeting, to be read and
considered at certain seasons in the subordinate
meetings, and to most of these queries (some
relating to various branches of Christian morality,
and some to regularity in attendance at meetings
and conformity to established standards of sim-
plicity in dress and language) it was formerly the
practice to require detailed answers from each
particular meeting, to be in due course tran'^-r.itted
in a summarized form to the Yearly Meeting itself.
12 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
In 1 86 1 , however, the Yearly Meeting issued direc-
tions that a certain number of these queries should
be merely "considered," but not answered. In
1875 this method was adopted with regard to
nearly all the queries, and at present those only
which relate to the regularity of attendance at
meetings for worship and business are answered.*
This change has a very obvious significance, and
I believe that its effect is even more marked than
would be understood by any one not accustomed
to the extreme care and gravity with which these
matters were formerly pondered and reported upon
in each "preparative meeting" {i.e. each particular
meeting sitting specially with a view to preparing
the business to be transacted at any approaching
Monthly Meeting), and again at each stage of the
progress of the report towards its final presenta-
tion by the Quarterly to the Yearly Meeting.
Dress and language and other external matters
are now practically left entirely to the individual
conscience, as is surely wisest. With regard to
weightier matters, such as strict integrity in busi-
ness, sobriety, and correctness of moral conduct,
etc., there is still, I hope and believe, a consider-
able reality of watchful care exercised through
* The queries now in use are given at length in the Appendix,
Note A.
ORGANTZATTON. 13
specially appointed members. In every Monthly
Meeting there are Friends holding the offices of
elder and overseer. The business of the elders
is to watch over the ministers in the exercise of
their gift ; that of the overseers to see to the relief
of the poorer members, the care of the sick, and
other such matters ; to watch over the members
generally with regard to their Christian conduct,
to warn privately any who may be giving cause of
offence or scandal, and in case of need to bring
the matter before the Monthly Meeting, to be
dealt with as it may require. Should the Monthly
Meeting think it necessaiy to disown a member
for persisting in conduct not consistent with our
Christian profession, or for any other reason, the
member in question may appeal to the Quarterly
Meeting, and from its decision to that of the Yearly
Meeting, which is in all cases final.
The London Yearly Meeting has two standing
committees for the transaction of such of its affairs
as need attention more frequently than once a
year. One of these represents the Yearly Meeting
at large, and has charge of its money matters and
other general business ; it bears the curious and
suggestive title of the " Meeting for Sufferings,"
from havmg been originally occupied mainly in
relieving Friends under persecution. The other is a
14 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
committee of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and
Oversight, and is called the " Morning Meeting."
Meetings on Ministry and Oversight are held in
every Quarterly and Monthly Meeting as well as
at the Yearly Meeting. They are composed of all
the recorded ministers, the elders and overseers of
each meeting, together with (in some Quarterly
Meetings) some Friends described as associate
members, who attend them as it were not officially,
but by a standing invitation. These meetings are
concerned, of course, with questions relating to the
special offices exercised by their members.
The ministers are, as is well known, not ap-
pointed or set apart by any human ordination,
nor are any of them ever paid, or liable to be
called upon by any human authority, for any
ministerial services. By the word "ministers" we
mean simply those, be they men or women, who
have received a gift and call to minister, that
is to offer vocal service, in meetings for worship.
When any Friend has exercised such a gift for a
considerable time, in a manner which is recog-
nized by the other members as evincing a true
vocation, the Monthly Meeting proceeds to record
the fact on the books of the meeting. This
acknowledgment is made merely for the sake of
"good order," and is not supposed to confer any
ORGANIZATION. 15
additional power or authority on the minister
" recorded." The ministers are perfectly free to
continue their ordinary occupations, and many of
them are, in fact, engaged in earning their own
living in trades, business, or professions.
When a minister, in the exercise of his or her
gift, feels called to travel to any distant place, it
is thought riiiht that the "concern" should be laid
before the Monthly Meeting, and, should it be an
important or distant concern, before the Quarterly
and, in some cases, even the Yearly Meeting also;
when the meetings in question will, if they feel
"unity" with it, give the minister a minute or
certificate to that effect, which serves as an intro-
duction and guarantee in whatever meetings the
minister may visit during that " service." In such
cases the ministers' travelling expenses are paid
from one Monthly or Quarterly Meeting to another,
and it is usual for them to be welcomed into the
houses of some of the Friends belonging to the
meetings visited. The extent to which Friends do
thus travel, both in England and abroad, "in the
service of Truth," is something of which few
people outside the Society have any idea. Be-
tween England and America there is a continual
interchange of such visits, and the vciy copious
biographical literature of the Society teems with
i6 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
the records of journeys undertaken "under an
impression of religious duty," and lasting some-
times for months, or even years, before the Friend
could "feel clear" of the work. No limit is ever
set beforehand to such work. It is felt to be work
in which the daily unfolding of the Divine ordering
must be watched and waited for.
Such is a general outline of what may be called
the machinery of the Society. It remains to state
briefly its distinguishing tenets before proceeding
to consider the spirit and inner spring from which
these outward developments have arisen, and from
which they derive all their significance and value.
I have already referred to the peculiarity which
lies at the root of all the rest ; namely, our views
as to the nature of the true gospel ministry, as
a call bestowed on men and women, on old and
young, learned and unlearned; bestowed directly
from above, and not to be conferred by any human
authority, or hired for money; to be exercised
under the sole and immediate direction of the one
Master, the only Head of the Church, Christ the
Lord. As a consequence of this view. Friends
have, as is well known, refused as a matter of con-
^ science to pay tithes, or in any way to contribute
to the maintenance of a paid ministry, and of the
services prescribed by the Established Church.
ORGANIZATION. ,7
Closely connected with these views on ministry,
is our testimony against the observance of any
religious rites or ceremonies whatever. Neither
baptizing with water, nor the breaking of bread and
drinking of wine, are recognized by us as Divinely
ordained institutions of permanent obligation, and
neither of these ceremonies is practised by us.
We believe that the coming of Christ put an end
to the old dispensation of outward observances,
and that the whole drift of His teaching was against
the attaching of importance to such things. The
passages relating to His last supper with His
disciples, and those in which He speaks of His
permanent influence upon them under the images
of bread, blood, etc., seem to us much more intel-
ligible and impressive when understood without
reference to the sacramental theories which have
been engrafted upon them. The one baptism
"with the Holy Ghost and with fire," and the con-
tinual spiritual communion to be enjoyed in feed-
ing on the bread of life, are felt by us to be of the
very essence of true and spiritual worship ; but we
believe them to be entirely independent of any
outward observances. We therefore feel that no
other condition is needed for the highest acts of
worship than the presence and the right spiritual
disposition of the worshippers.
i8 QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.
The rejection of any separate priesthood, and of
all outward observances, is the main divergence
between us and other Christians. We have always
maintained a testimony against war as inconsistent
with the full acceptance of the spirit of Christ, and
against oaths as distinctly forbidden by Him, We
have also been led to abandon the pursuit of
changing fashions, and to cherish a plainness in
dress and language of a marked character, now
fast changing its type, but not, we trust, really dis-
appearing. These minor testimonies are probably
more widely known than the more fundamental
ones; and though concerned with comparatively
trivial matters, they also spring from a deep root
of principle. It is a remarkable fact that from
time to time religious bodies have sprung up in
various parts of the world who, without any com-
munication with us, have adopted similar views on
many, if not all, of these points. This fact, as well
as the continuance and the widely spread influence
of our own Society, seems to show that its roots
lie deep in some fundamental principles of truth.
I am now about to attempt to deal with those
principles, not in the way of analysis or with any
attempt at precision of language, but as a record
of their practical working, as gathered mainly from
personal, experience. It is not, I confess, without
ORGAXIZA TION. 19
some anxiety that I, as a new-comer, enter upon
this task. In the preceding sketch of matters of
fact, it has of course been easy to guard against
any serious misstatements ; but in the following
chapters I must deal with matters less easily veri-
fiable. It seems to me in some respects hardly
possible that any one not born and bred in the
Society should be fully qualified to unfold its
principles and practices. There is, on the other
hand, in the very fact of having entered it from
without, a special qualification for the office of
interpreting them to outsiders. It will, I hope, be
remembered that I have no kind of claim to speak
in any sense in the name of the Society. My
object is to explain (so far as the experience of
ten years' membership may enable me) the secret
of its strength and of its attraction for others ; and
for this attempt one brought up outside its pale,