Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789 – August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit slavery 's expansion and tried to find a place outside the United States to establish a colony in which freed slaves might relocate.
121-483: Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island , New York . In his ministry he promoted doctrines deemed unorthodox by many which led to lasting controversy, and caused the second major schism within the Religious Society of Friends (the first caused by George Keith in 1691). Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks . Elias Hicks
242-601: A Recorded Minister in Manchester . His 1835 book A Beacon to the Society of Friends insisted that the inner light was at odds with a religious belief in salvation by the atonement of Christ. This Christian controversy led to Crewdson's resignation from the Religious Society of Friends, along with 48 fellow members of Manchester Meeting and about 250 other British Quakers in 1836–1837. Some of these joined
363-658: A biography of Harford County, Maryland , philanthropist and abolitionist Elisha Tyson , as well as a proposal for the gradual emancipation of slaves. In 1826, a slaveowner offered to free twelve slaves if Lundy would accompany them to Haiti. He did so, but found on his return that his wife Esther had died giving birth to twins, and his children were scattered among friends. On January 9, 1827 Baltimore's most notorious slave-trader, Austin Woolfolk , whom Lundy had been investigating in public records since his move to Baltimore and severely criticizing, assaulted Lundy as he walked along
484-507: A charge of religious blasphemy . According to Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord". It is thought that Fox was referring to Isaiah 66:2 or Ezra 9:4 . Thus the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but became widely accepted and used by some Quakers. Quakers also described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints, Children of
605-449: A circular indicating his intent to found a national anti-slavery society to focus antislavery sentiment and activity. That became his life's work. He named his first son to honor James Tallmadge , whose antislavery speech in the U.S. House on February 16, 1819, Lundy printed in full. Lundy decided to liquidate his saddlery business in favor of a publishing business. He and three apprentices moved their stock to St. Louis , Missouri , then
726-487: A downtown street. Head-kicks and other injuries until bystanders pulled the strapping Woolfolk off his slightly-built victim confined Lundy to his bed for several days. Woolfolk pleaded guilty to assault, but Judge Nicholas Brice agreed with Woolfolk's lawyers that Lundy had provoked it by criticizing Woolfolk's lawful occupation, and therefore sentenced the slave trader to a one-dollar fine and court costs. He also urged Woolfolk to bring criminal libel charges against Lundy, but
847-879: A farm near the Clear Creek Meeting House (the westernmost establishment of the Hicksite Friends), as well as the new village of Lowell, Illinois . He printed several issues of the re-established Genius of Universal Emancipation on a borrowed press in nearly Hennepin, Illinois . Lundy died after an August fever and brief illness at his farm in Lowell, aged fifty. Shortly after his death, his family and friends in Philadelphia published his autobiographical Life Travels and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy. Lucretia Mott remembered him in her 1848 speech to
968-698: A farmer, settling on his wife's parents' farm in Jericho, New York , in what is now known as the Elias Hicks House. There he and his wife provided, as did other Jericho Quakers, free board and lodging to any traveler on the Jericho Turnpike rather than have them seek accommodation in taverns for the night. In 1778, Hicks helped to build the Friends meeting house in Jericho , which remains
1089-474: A fifty dollar fine plus court costs, and a six-month jail term if he did not pay. This so reduced the Genius's circulation that a friendly dissolution of the partnership between Lundy and Garrison took place after Garrison finished his jail term (where he was treated as a political prisoner and dined with the warden and his wife, as well as wrote extensively). However, Garrison returned to Boston (where he suffered
1210-563: A grand jury refused to indict him. From September 1829 until March 1830, Wm. Lloyd Garrison assisted Lundy in editing the Genius . At this time, the paper was located in Baltimore . Both deplored slavery, but Garrison advocated immediate emancipation on American soil, while Lundy was committed to schemes of colonization abroad . Within a few months, while Lundy traveled in Mexico , Garrison published an exposé of an October slaving voyage of
1331-510: A great people to be gathered". Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith. The central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. Fox considered himself to be restoring a true, "pure" Christian church. In 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on
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#17327650277031452-653: A law allowing gradual emancipation of slaves, although the 1810 census in Sussex County showed that more than half of the 758 black people were still enslaved. However, by that time, young Lundy had moved to Wheeling, Virginia (now in West Virginia ). In 1808 he was apprenticed to a saddler. On the Ohio River , Wheeling was on important transit point of the interstate slave trade, with coffles of slaves often marched through town. Many would be shipped down
1573-564: A leading voice in denouncing the Texas Revolution as a method to perpetuate slavery in Texas in defiance of Mexico's ban on it. When former president John Quincy Adams came to Philadelphia on his birthday, July 11, 1836, Lundy escorted him to meet other Quakers, including James Mott and his wife Lucretia Mott . Under the editorship of John G. Whittier , Lundy's successor, that paper became The Pennsylvania Freeman . Lundy purchased
1694-494: A meeting house in 1672 that was visited by George Fox in the same year. They were able to establish thriving communities in the Delaware Valley , although they continued to experience persecution in some areas, such as New England . The three colonies that tolerated Quakers at this time were West Jersey , Rhode Island , and Pennsylvania , where Quakers established themselves politically. In Rhode Island, 36 governors in
1815-546: A mob attack in 1835), although Woolfolk's trade also diminished, supplanted by Franklin & Armfield of Alexandria (at the time in the District of Columbia ). Lundy followed the trade, shortly afterwards moving his newspaper paper to Washington, D.C., where, after some years under different ownership, it failed. Besides traveling through many states of the United States to deliver anti-slavery lectures (reportedly
1936-568: A more structured organisation, which led to separate women's meetings. Through the women's meetings, women oversaw domestic and community life, including marriage. From the beginning, Quaker women, notably Margaret Fell , played an important role in defining Quakerism. They were involved in missionary work in various ways and places. Early Quaker women missionaries included Sarah Cheevers and Katharine Evans. Others active in proselytising included Mary Penington , Mary Mollineux and Barbara Blaugdone . Quaker women published at least 220 texts during
2057-574: A national Famine Relief Committee in May 1942, encouraging a network of local famine relief committees, among the most energetic of which was the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, Oxfam . Irving and Dorothy Stowe co-founded Greenpeace with many other environmental activists in 1971, shortly after becoming Quakers. Some Quakers in America and Britain became known for their involvement in
2178-638: A new world rather than fighting to destroy the old", as did the American Friends Service Committee . Birmingham in England had a strong Quaker community during the war. Many British Quakers were conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps during both world wars. After the two world wars had brought the different Quaker strands closer together, Friends from different yearly meetings – many having served together in
2299-677: A peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680 (1.15% of the population of England and Wales). But the dominant discourse of Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order, leading to official persecution in England and Wales under the Quaker Act 1662 and the Conventicle Act 1664 . This persecution of Dissenters was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence (1687–1688) and stopped under
2420-545: A place of Quaker worship. Hicks preached actively in Quaker meeting, and by 1778 he was acknowledged as a recorded minister . Hicks was regarded as a gifted speaker with a strong voice and dramatic flair. He drew large crowds when he was said to be attending meetings, sometimes in the thousands. In November 1829, the young Walt Whitman heard Hicks preach at Morrison's Hotel in Brooklyn , and later said, "Always Elias Hicks gives
2541-671: A prepared Bible message coordinated by a pastor (with the largest Quaker group being the Evangelical Friends Church International ). Some 11% practice waiting worship or unprogrammed worship (commonly Meeting for Worship ), where the unplanned order of service is mainly silent and may include unprepared vocal ministry from those present. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers present, Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry. The proto- evangelical Christian movement dubbed Quakerism arose in mid-17th-century England from
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#17327650277032662-548: A product of slavery, should cover him on his deathbed. Elias Hicks was interred in the Jericho Friends' Burial Ground as was earlier his wife, Jemima, who predeceased him on March 17, 1829. Samuel E. Clements a editor of the newspaper the Patriot aroused controversy when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse Elias Hicks to create a plaster mold of his head. Quaker Quakers are people who belong to
2783-437: A religious response to slavery, most of the free produce stores were Quaker in origin, as with the first such store, that of Benjamin Lundy in Baltimore in 1826. Hicks supported Lundy's scheme to assist the emigration of freed slaves to Haiti and in 1824, he hosted a meeting on how to facilitate this at his home in Jericho. In the late 1820s, he argued in favor of raising funds to buy slaves and settle them as free people in
2904-522: A ship owned by his former neighbor, Francis Todd of Newburyport, Massachusetts , in a deal brokered by Woolfolk. Garrison also published radical articles demanding immediate emancipation, and asserting that the domestic slave trade was as piratical as the foreign. His column the "Black List" detailing atrocities brought trouble, since Garrison was not as careful as Lundy had been at avoiding libels. In February 1830 Maryland charged Garrison with criminal libel, and Woolfolk's ally Judge Brice sentenced Garrison to
3025-1270: A slave state after the death of Elihu Embree , but he found the hostility formidable. Lundy used the equipment purchased from Embree's estate to begin publishing the American Economist and Weekly Political Reporter with more standard farm prices, business and political news in 1822. He also continued to lecture against slavery, and in 1824 attended the American Convention for the Abolition of Slavery , in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , where he connected with other activists, including Robert Purvis . He also traveled to New York to meet with Quaker activist Elias Hicks and to lecture against slavery in North Carolina. After selecting Baltimore to re-establish his business after deciding to move from Tennessee, Lundy moved his family to Maryland in October, 1825. This enabled Lundy to print his newspaper weekly instead of monthly or even less frequently. Lundy also published
3146-462: A state of luxury and excess on the gain of oppression … Observations on the Slavery of Africans and Their Descendents gave the free produce movement its central argument. This movement promoted an embargo of all goods produced by slave labor, which were mainly cotton cloth and cane sugar, in favor of produce from the paid labor of free people. Though the free produce movement was not intended to be
3267-664: A statement of faith known as the Richmond Declaration . Supported by many of the older, longstanding members in the London Yearly Meeting, Braithwaite saw the Richmond Declaration of Faith as being a bulwark against "unsound and dangerous doctrine" in times when Friends were "in a state of discipline and warfare". This statement of faith was agreed to by 95 of the representatives at a meeting of Five Years Meeting Friends, but unexpectedly
3388-643: A traditional Protestant church. Friends in line with Gurney became known as Gurneyites. Those Orthodox Friends who did not agree with the practices of the Gurneyites, led by John Wilbur of Rhode Island, branched off to form the Wilburite branch of Conservative, Primitive and Independent yearly meetings. Those Hicksite Friends who did not agree with the lessened discipline within the Hicksite yearly meetings founded Congregational, or Progressive groups. In 1828,
3509-854: A variety of industries. Two notable examples were Abraham Darby I and Edward Pease . Darby and his family played an important role in the British Industrial Revolution with their innovations in ironmaking. Pease, a Darlington manufacturer, was the main promoter of the Stockton and Darlington Railway , which was the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives. Other industries with prominent Quaker businesses included banking ( Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays PLC ), pharmaceuticals ( Allen & Hanburys ), chocolate ( Cadbury and Fry's ), confectionery (Rowntree ), shoe manufacturing ( Clarks ), and biscuit manufacturing ( Huntley & Palmers ). Voltaire 's Letters on
3630-576: Is now the Mid-India Yearly Meeting. Later it spread to Madagascar from 1867, China from 1896, Sri Lanka from 1896, and Pemba Island from 1897. After the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus between Christians and Druze, many missionaries flocked to Ottoman Syria . These missionaries included Friends from several nations. The Friends Syrian Mission was established in 1874, which among other institutions ran
3751-576: Is the primary focus of an individual’s faith over creed or doctrine, which follows George Fox and early Quaker concepts of inward light as “the presence of Christ in the heart,” God’s presence in each person, and the Holy Spirit speaking through each person. (The interchangeable use of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit is due to his and early Quaker rejection of the Trinity .) As a consequence,
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3872-622: The Genius of Universal Emancipation , at Mount Pleasant, Ohio , with the first issue published in January 1821. This periodical, first a monthly and later a weekly, was published successively in Ohio , Greenville, Tennessee , Baltimore, Maryland , the District of Columbia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . It appeared irregularly, and at times, when Lundy was away on lecturing tours, was issued from any office that he could access. Newspapers including
3993-584: The Niles Weekly Register , the New York Spectator and papers from Connecticut and Edwardsville, Illinois reprinted Lundy's exposés. However, anti-slavery activism did not pay well, and slaveholders did not believe Lundy's arguments that slavery stifled progress, despite his comparisons of the relative prosperity of New York and Pennsylvania with Virginia. Lundy had been recruited to Greenville, Tennessee to work against slavery in
4114-663: The Act of Toleration 1689 . One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the direct relationship with Christ was encouraged through spiritualisation of human relations, and "the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe, 'the family and household of God ' ". Together with Margaret Fell , the wife of Thomas Fell , who was the vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and an eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasised "holy conversation": speech and behaviour that reflected piety, faith, and love. With
4235-491: The Bible was to Hicks a secondary source of faith and understanding of God, as it is written entirely and divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. He wrote I confirm my doctrine abundantly from their testimony: and I have always endeavored sincerely to place them [the scriptures] in their true place and station, but never dare exalt them above what they themselves declare; and as no spring can rise higher than its fountain, so likewise
4356-477: The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution from Rhode Island Quakers, trial by jury, equal rights for men and women, and public education. The Liberty Bell was cast by Quakers in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. Early Quakerism tolerated boisterous behaviour that challenged conventional etiquette, but by 1700, its adherents no longer supported disruptive and unruly behaviour. During the 18th century, Quakers entered
4477-565: The Byberry Friends Meeting in 1824 that: He gave us passions—if we may call them passions—in order that we might seek after those things which we need, and which we had a right to experience and know. Hicks taught that all wrongdoing and suffering occurred in the world as the consequence of "an excess in the indulgence of propensities. Independent of the regulating influence of God's light." This first split in Quakerism
4598-645: The Great Separation of 1827, which resulted in a parallel system of Yearly Meetings in America, joined by Friends from Philadelphia, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Baltimore. They were referred to by opponents as Hicksites and by others and sometimes themselves as Orthodox. Quakers in Britain recognised only the Orthodox Quakers and refused to correspond with the Hicksites. Isaac Crewdson was
4719-659: The Hicksite-Orthodox split was the role of the Bible and Jesus Christ. Both Hicksites and Orthodox Quakers viewed their positions as continuations of the original Quakers views. Though historians such as Glen Crothers argues that the schism resulted from the Second Great Awakening in the United States leading to Orthodox Quakers adopting more Biblical views as influenced by American Evangelicals . Elias Hicks argued that Inward Light in each individual
4840-711: The Inward light . They were imprisoned in harsh conditions for five weeks and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Their books were burned, and most of their property confiscated. In 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged near Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. She was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs . In 1661, King Charles II forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism. In 1684, England revoked
4961-633: The Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups breaking with the established Church of England . The Quakers, especially the Valiant Sixty , sought to convert others by travelling through Britain and overseas preaching the Gospel. Some early Quaker ministers were women. They based their message on a belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself", stressing direct relations with God through Jesus Christ and belief in
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5082-574: The London Yearly Meeting for the same reason in 1865. They formed a separate body of Friends called Fritchley General Meeting , which remained distinct and separate from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar splits took place in Canada. The Yearly Meetings that supported John Wilbur's religious beliefs became known as Conservative Friends . In 1887, a Gurneyite Quaker of British descent, Joseph Bevan Braithwaite , proposed to Friends
5203-767: The Nobel Peace Prize . Religious strife in the Kingdom of England had existed for centuries, with proto-Protestant groups (mainly the Lollards ) popping up before the English Reformation brought radical ideas to the mainstream. During and after the English Civil War (1642–1651) many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man, George Fox ,
5324-718: The Penn's Creek Massacre of 1755. Early colonial Quakers also established communities and meeting houses in North Carolina and Maryland, after fleeing persecution by the Anglican Church in Virginia. In a 2007 interview, author David Yount ( How the Quakers Invented America ) said that Quakers first introduced many ideas that later became mainstream, such as democracy in the Pennsylvania legislature,
5445-410: The Plymouth Brethren . Orthodox Friends became more evangelical during the 19th century and were influenced by the Second Great Awakening . This movement was led by British Quaker Joseph John Gurney . Christian Friends held Revival meetings in America and became involved in the Holiness movement of churches. Quakers such as Hannah Whitall Smith and Robert Pearsall Smith became speakers in
5566-419: The Quietist period in the history of their church, becoming more inward-looking spiritually and less active in converting others. Marrying outside the Society was cause for having one's membership revoked. Numbers dwindled, dropping to 19,800 in England and Wales by 1800 (0.21% of the population), and 13,859 by 1860 (0.07% of population). The formal name "Religious Society of Friends" dates from this period and
5687-440: The Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank, which still exist today and is affiliated with the Friends United Meeting . The Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier founded Brummana High School in Lebanon in 1873. Evangelical Friends Churches from Ohio Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to India in 1896, forming what is now Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting . Cleveland Friends went to Mombasa , Kenya , and started what became
5808-410: The Religious Society of Friends , a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations . Members refer to each other as Friends after John 15:14 in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers because the founder of the movement, George Fox , told a judge to quake "before the authority of God". The Friends are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to be guided by
5929-405: The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade , or The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, were Quakers: John Barton (1755–1789); William Dillwyn (1743–1824); George Harrison (1747–1827); Samuel Hoare Jr (1751–1825); Joseph Hooper (1732–1789); John Lloyd; Joseph Woods Sr (1738–1812); James Phillips (1745–1799); and Richard Phillips. Five of the Quakers had been amongst
6050-648: The inward light to "make the witness of God" known to everyone. Quakers have traditionally professed a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter . They include those with evangelical , holiness , liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, as well as Nontheist Quakers . To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures . In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa followed by 22% in North America . Some 89% of Quakers worldwide belong to evangelical and programmed branches that hold services with singing and
6171-404: The 1650s, individual Quaker women prophesied and preached publicly, developing charismatic personae and spreading the sect. This practice was bolstered by the movement's firm concept of spiritual equality for men and women. Moreover, Quakerism initially was propelled by the nonconformist behaviours of its followers, especially women who broke from social norms. By the 1660s, the movement had gained
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#17327650277036292-412: The 17th century. However, some Quakers resented the power of women in the community. In the early years of Quakerism, George Fox faced resistance in developing and establishing women's meetings. As controversy increased, Fox did not fully adhere to his agenda. For example, he established the London Six Weeks Meeting in 1671 as a regulatory body, led by 35 women and 49 men. Even so, conflict culminated in
6413-848: The American Anti-Slavery Society in New York. One hundred years later, a bronze plaque was dedicated to the pioneer abolitionist and placed at his gravesite. The tribute reads, "It was his lot to struggle, for years almost alone, a solitary voice crying in the wilderness, and, amidst all, faithful to his one great purpose, the emancipation of the slaves." His house in Mount Pleasant is a National Historic Landmark . SONNET. TO BENJAMIN LUNDY, THE VETERAN ADVOCATE OF NEGRO EMANCIPATION. Self-taught, unaided, poor, reviled, contemned Beset with enemies, by friends betrayed ; As madman and fanatic oft condemned, Yet in thy noble cause still undismayed ! Leonidas thy courage could not boast; Less numerous were his foes, his band more strong; Alone unto
6534-441: The American Southwest. Hicks influenced the abolition of slavery in his home state, from the partial abolition of the 1799 Gradual Abolition Act to the 1817 Gradual Manumission in New York State Act which led to the final emancipation of all remaining slaves within the state on July 4, 1827. Hicks ministry would be part of the first schism within Quakerism, the 1827-1828 Hicksite-Orthodox split. The central doctrinal focus of
6655-661: The Bible as secondary to the individual cultivation of God's light within. With Gurneyite Quakers' shift toward Protestant principles and away from the spiritualisation of human relations, women's role as promoters of "holy conversation" started to decrease. Conversely, within the Hicksite movement the rejection of the market economy and the continuing focus on community and family bonds tended to encourage women to retain their role as powerful arbiters. Elias Hicks 's religious views were claimed to be universalist and to contradict Quakers' historical orthodox Christian beliefs and practices. Hicks' Gospel preaching and teaching precipitated
6776-409: The Charity Society of Jericho and Westbury Meetings, established to give aid to local poor African Americans and provide their children with education. In 1811, Hicks wrote Observations on the Slavery of Africans and Their Descendants and in it he linked the moral issue of emancipation to the Quaker Peace Testimony , by stating that slavery was the product of war. He identified economic reasons for
6897-438: The English (1733) included the spirit of commerce and religious diversity in Great Britain, with the first four letters based on the Quakers. Quakers have a long history of establishing educational institutions. Initially, Quakers had no ordained clergy , and therefore needed no seminaries for theological training. In England, Quaker schools sprang up soon after the movement emerged, with Friends School Saffron Walden being
7018-506: The Five Years Meeting due to a concern of what they saw as the allowance of modernism in the FYM. Some Orthodox Quakers in America disliked the move towards evangelical Christianity and saw it as a dilution of Friends' traditional orthodox Christian belief in being inwardly led by the Holy Spirit . These Friends were headed by John Wilbur , who was expelled from his yearly meeting in 1842. He and his supporters formed their own Conservative Friends Yearly Meeting. Some UK Friends broke away from
7139-425: The Friends Ambulance Unit or the American Friends Service Committee, or in other relief work – later held several Quaker World Conferences. This brought about a standing body of Friends: the Friends World Committee for Consultation . A growing desire for a more fundamentalist approach among some Friends after the First World War began a split among Five Years Meetings . In 1924, the Central Yearly Meeting of Friends
7260-430: The Holy Spirit occurred at two points of Jesus’ life, his divine conception and his baptism by John the Baptist . Regarding salvation , Hicks firstly rejected the concept of original sin . Because of this, he did not argue that the sacrifice of Jesus’ body or his blood provided salvation, nor that faith in him does so. Rather that salvation came through living as Jesus exemplified, that is, in accordance and unity with
7381-431: The Holy Spirit/Inward Light. Consequently Hicks implicitly refutes doctrines of salvation such as penal substitution , or predestination . In the year 1829, "Six Queries" were proposed by Thomas Leggett, Jr., of New York, and answered by Elias Hicks. The last was as follows: Sixth Query. What relation has the body of Jesus to the Saviour of man? Dost thou believe that the crucifixion of the outward body of Jesus Christ
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#17327650277037502-429: The Inner Light before Scripture, Quaker elders decided to visit each meeting house in the city to examine the doctrinal soundness of all ministers and elders. This caused great resentment that culminated at the following Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1827. Hicks was not present when the differences between the meeting houses ended in acrimony and division, precipitated by the inability of the Meeting to reach consensus on
7623-455: The Light, and Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church. Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, not least among women. An address "To the Reader" by Mary Forster accompanied a Petition to the Parliament of England presented on 20 May 1659, expressing the opposition of over 7000 women to "the oppression of Tithes". The overall number of Quakers increased to
7744-449: The Manchester Conference in England in 1895, one thousand British Friends met to consider the future of British Quakerism, and as a result, Liberal Quaker thought gradually increased within the London Yearly Meeting. During World War I and World War II , Friends' opposition to war was put to the test. Many Friends became conscientious objectors and some formed the Friends Ambulance Unit , aiming at "co-operating with others to build up
7865-452: The Massachusetts charter , sent over a royal governor to enforce English laws in 1686 and, in 1689, passed a broad Toleration Act. Some Friends migrated to what is now the north-eastern region of the United States in the 1660s in search of economic opportunities and a more tolerant environment in which to build communities of "holy conversation". In 1665 Quakers established a meeting in Shrewsbury, New Jersey (now Monmouth County), and built
7986-558: The Midwest. Acceptance of the theory of evolution became more widespread in Yearly Meetings who moved toward liberal Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, creationism predominates within evangelical Friends Churches, particularly in East Africa and parts of the United States. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the so-called Quaker Renaissance movement began within London Yearly Meeting. Young Friends in London Yearly Meeting at this time moved away from evangelicalism and towards liberal Christianity. This movement
8107-420: The Ohio River toward Kentucky (a slave state) and additional slave states down the Mississippi River . In Wheeling, Lundy saw firsthand many iniquities inherent in the institution of slavery, including the use of horsewhips and bludgeons to force barefoot human beings to walk through mud and snow. He determined to devote his life to the cause of abolition. Lundy also became acquainted with a local Quaker family,
8228-469: The Richmond Declaration was not adopted by London Yearly Meeting because a vocal minority, including Edward Grubb , opposed it. Following the Christian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in Great Britain sought also to start missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent to Benares ( Varanasi ), in India, in 1866. The Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868 and sent missionaries to Madhya Pradesh , India, forming what
8349-426: The Scripture attributeth it, which is through and because of that which dwelt and acted in it. "But that which sanctified and kept the body pure (and made all acceptable in him) was the life, holiness, and righteousness of the Spirit. 'And the same thing that kept his vessel pure, it is the same thing that cleanseth us." "In reply to the second part of this query, I would remark that I 'see no need of directing men to
8470-501: The Scriptures can only direct to the fountain from whence they originated - the spirit of truth: as saith the apostle, 'The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;' therefore when the Scriptures have directed and pointed us to this light within, or Spirit of Truth, there they must stop - it is their ultimatum - the top stone of what they can do And no other external testimony of men or books can do any more. Hicks sparked great controversy for writing in letters to his friends that
8591-449: The Scriptures? and by which so many cruel and bloody wars have been promulgated [promoted]. And yet at the same time, may it not be one of the best books, if rightly used under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? But, if abused, like every other blessing, it becomes a curse. Therefore to these it always does more hurt than good; and thou knowest that these comprehend far the greatest part of Christendom! Regarding Jesus Christ , Hicks wrote that
8712-793: The Stantons, who lived a dozen miles west from Wheeling, in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio . Ohio did not permit slavery, and Benjamin Stanton would become a U.S. Congressman from that district, and two decades after Lundy's death, his brother Edwin Stanton would become Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln . In December 1814 Lundy and Esther Lewis declared their intent to marry in the local Quaker meeting, and did so on February 13, 1815. Her brother William married Lydia Stanton, sister of David Stanton (Edwin Stanton's father). On November 18, 1815 they had their first child, Susan Maria Lundy Wierman (d. 1899). In
8833-594: The Union Humane Society, which within a few months had a membership of more than 500. Prominent members included lawyer journalist Charles Hammond , James Wilson (grandfather of President Woodrow Wilson ) and Joseph Howells (father of William Dean Howells ). Fellow Quaker Charles Osborne, who editing the Philanthropist (later moved to Cincinnati), also showed him journalism and printing basics. On his birthday, January 4, 1816, Lundy published
8954-571: The Union, and held more than 200 public meetings.” Slaveholders bitterly denounced him, and many non-slaveholders disapproved his anti-slavery agitation. In 1836-1838 Lundy edited a new anti-slavery weekly, The National Enquirer , which the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society had founded in Philadelphia, as well as wrote extensively about the troubles in Texas and Mexico, especially as they related to slavery. Lundy became
9075-459: The Wilkinson–Story split, in which a portion of the Quaker community left to worship independently in protest at women's meetings. After several years, this schism became largely resolved, testifying to the resistance of some within the Quaker community and to the spiritual role of women that Fox and Margaret Fell had encouraged. Particularly within the relatively prosperous Quaker communities of
9196-684: The abolitionist and resettlement movement in the early part of that century. Quaker Laura Smith Haviland , with her husband, established the first station on the Underground Railroad in Michigan. Later, Haviland befriended Sojourner Truth , who called her the Superintendent of the Underground Railroad. Benjamin Lundy As William Lloyd Garrison pointed out in a eulogy , Lundy was not
9317-464: The abolitionist movement. In the early history of Colonial America , it was fairly common for Friends to own slaves, e.g. in Pennsylvania . During the early to mid-1700s, disquiet about this practice arose among Friends, best exemplified by the testimonies of Benjamin Lay , Anthony Benezet and John Woolman , and this resulted in an abolition movement among Friends. Nine of the twelve founding members of
9438-650: The appointment of a new clerk required to record its discernment. Though the initial separation was intended to be temporary, by 1828, there were two independent Quaker groupings in the city, both claiming to be the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Other yearly meetings split along similar lines during subsequent years, including those in New York, Baltimore, Ohio , and Indiana . Those who followed Hicks became termed Hicksites and his critics termed Orthodox Friends, each faction considering itself to be
9559-622: The center of a national slavery controversy. However, that area too was gripped by a national depression since the Panic of 1819 . His side lost—Missouri was admitted as a slave state as a result of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The intrepid activist lost goods he valued at over $ 1000, then trudged 700 miles back to St. Clairville, only to find that Osborne had sold his printing business to Elisha Bates, who did not need additional help. Lundy then established his own anti-slavery paper,
9680-689: The controversy respecting the doctrines of Elias Hicks in 1824 in which she depicted Hicks as a radical eccentric. Hicks felt obliged to respond and in the same year published a letter to his ally in Philadelphia Meeting, Dr. Edwin Atlee, in The Misrepresentations of Anna Braithwaite . This in turn was replied to by Braithwaite in A Letter from Anna Braithwaite to Elias Hicks, On the Nature of his Doctrines in 1825. Neither party
9801-510: The eastern United States, the focus on the child and "holy conversation" gave women unusual community power, although they were largely excluded from the market economy. With the Hicksite–Orthodox split of 1827–1828, Orthodox women found their spiritual role decreased, while Hicksite women retained greater influence. Described as "natural capitalists" by the BBC , many Quakers were successful in
9922-436: The economic reasons for their existence: Q. 11. What effect would it have on the slave holders and their slaves, should the people of the United States of America and the inhabitants of Great Britain, refuse to purchase or make use of any goods that are the product of Slavery? A. It would doubtless have a particular effect on the slave holders, by circumscribing their avarice, and preventing their heaping up riches, and living in
10043-643: The existence of an external Devil . He never spoke of eternal Hell but he expressed the importance of the soul's union "now" in preparation for the "realms of eternity" and how the soul's condemnation is elected through our free agency, not by God's foreordination. Hicks rejected of the notion of an outward Devil as the source of evil, but rather emphasized that it was the human 'passions' or 'propensities'. Hicks stressed that basic urges, including all sexual passions, were neither implanted by an external evil, but all were aspects of human nature as created by God. Hicks claimed, in his sermon Let Brotherly Love Continue at
10164-467: The first 100 years were Quakers. West Jersey and Pennsylvania were established by affluent Quaker William Penn in 1676 and 1682 respectively, with Pennsylvania as an American commonwealth run under Quaker principles. William Penn signed a peace treaty with Tammany , leader of the Delaware tribe, and other treaties followed between Quakers and Native Americans. This peace endured almost a century, until
10285-492: The first American abolitionist, but "he was the first of our countrymen who devoted his life and all his power exclusively to the cause of the slaves." Lundy was born to Joseph and Elizabeth Shotwell Lundy, both Quakers, at Greensville, Hardwick Township , Sussex County, New Jersey . His mother died when he was four, but he became close to his stepmother, Mary Titus Lundy. As a boy, he worked on his father's farm, attending school for only brief periods. In 1804, New Jersey passed
10406-457: The first half of the 20th century before the country's independence in 1963. International volunteering organisations such as Service Civil International and International Voluntary Service were founded by leading Quakers. Eric Baker , a prominent Quaker, was one of the founders of Amnesty International and of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament . The Quaker Edith Pye established
10527-561: The first reunified Monthly Meetings in the 1920s until finally resolved with the reunification of Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 1968. On June 24, 1829, at the age of 81, Elias Hicks went on his final traveling ministry to western and central New York State, arriving home in Jericho on November 11, 1829. There, in January 1830, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and on February 14, 1830, he suffered an incapacitating secondary stroke. He died some two weeks later on February 27, 1830, his dying concern being that no cotton blanket,
10648-619: The first to do so), Lundy visited Haiti twice (in 1825 and 1829); the Wilberforce Colony of freedmen and refugee slaves in Canada in 1830-1831 (perhaps in part avoiding controversy after publishing about Nat Turner's Rebellion ); and Texas , in 1832 and again in 1833. Lundy also sought to find a suitable place outside the United States where emancipated slaves might be sent. Between 1820 and 1830, he traveled “more than 5000 miles on foot and 20,000 in other ways, visited 19 states of
10769-588: The following decades, Esther bore two more sons, Charles Tallmadge Lundy (1821-1870) and Benjamin Clarkson Lundy (1826-1861), and two additional daughters, Elizabeth (1818-1879) and Esther (1826-1917). The young family settled in Saint Clairsville, Ohio , where Lundy soon built up a profitable saddlery business along the highway west (that later became Interstate 70 ). In 1815, he and five others also organized an anti-slavery association, known as
10890-501: The footwear firm of C. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury , Rowntree and Fry ; and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform , and social justice . In 1947, in recognition of their dedication to peace and the common good, Quakers represented by the British Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee were awarded
11011-650: The formation of educational institutions. To wit, Orthodox Quakers founded Haverford College and Hicksites Swarthmore College . Both the Orthodox and Hicksite Friends experienced further schisms. The main following of the Orthodox Friends followed the practices of the English Quaker Joseph John Gurney who possessed an evangelical position. As time went on, a majority of the meetings endorsed forms of worship much like those of
11132-488: The informal group of six Quakers who had pioneered the movement in 1783, when the first petition against the slave trade was presented to Parliament. As Quakers could not serve as Members of Parliament, they relied on the help of Anglican men who could, such as William Wilberforce and his brother-in-law James Stephen . By the beginning of the American Revolutionary War , few Friends owned slaves. At
11253-470: The miracles Jesus performed were meant to prove the existence of God. He argued that Jesus was the savior of the Jewish people by replacing the law put forth by Moses. He also argued that Jesus provided the path to salvation for all people exemplified by his life, which was perfectly and entirely guided and united with the Holy Spirit through his inward light. To Hicks, Jesus divinity by being united with God and
11374-455: The more urban, wealthier, Orthodox Quakers. With increasing financial success, Orthodox Quakers wanted to "make the Society a more respectable body – to transform their sect into a church – by adopting mainstream Protestant orthodoxy". Hicksites, though they held a variety of views, generally saw the market economy as corrupting, and believed Orthodox Quakers had sacrificed their orthodox Christian spirituality for material success. Hicksites viewed
11495-457: The most prominent. Quaker schools in the UK and Ireland are supported by The Friends' Schools' Council. In Australia, Friends' School, Hobart , founded in 1887, has grown into the largest Quaker school in the world. In Britain and the United States, friends have established a variety of institutions at a variety of educational levels . In Kenya, Quakers founded several primary and secondary schools in
11616-804: The most successful Friends' mission. Their Quakerism spread within Kenya and to Uganda , Tanzania , Burundi , and Rwanda . The theory of evolution as described in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) was opposed by many Quakers in the 19th century, particularly by older evangelical Quakers who dominated the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. These older Quakers were suspicious of Darwin's theory and believed that natural selection could not explain life on its own. The influential Quaker scientist Edward Newman said that
11737-481: The period from 1821 to 1827 to denounce his views. Their presence severely exacerbated the differences among American Quakers, differences that had been underscored by the 1819 split between the American Unitarians and Congregationalists . The influence of Anna Braithwaite was especially strong. She visited the United States between 1823 and 1827 and published her Letters and observations relating to
11858-469: The perpetuation of slavery: Q. 10. By what class of the people is the slavery of the Africans and their descendants supported and encouraged? A. Principally by the purchasers and consumers of the produce of the slaves' labour; as the profits arising from the produce of their labour, is the only stimulus or inducement for making slaves. and he advocated a consumer boycott of slave-produced goods to remove
11979-641: The religious beliefs of Joseph John Gurney were known as Gurneyite yearly meetings. Many eventually collectively became the Five Years Meeting (FYM) and then the Friends United Meeting , although London Yearly Meeting , which had been strongly Gurneyite in the 19th century, did not join either of these. In 1924, the Central Yearly Meeting of Friends , a Gurneyite yearly meeting, was started by some Friends who left
12100-656: The religious movement and introduced Quaker phrases and practices to it. British Friends became involved with the Higher Life movement , with Robert Wilson from the Cockermouth meeting founding the Keswick Convention . From the 1870s it became common in Britain to have "home mission meetings" on Sunday evening with Christian hymns and a Bible-based sermon, alongside the silent meetings for worship on Sunday morning. The Quaker Yearly Meetings supporting
12221-755: The restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women; Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing "holy conversation" in her children and husband. Quaker women were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in "meetings" that regulated marriage and domestic behaviour. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in July 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and Ann Austin began preaching in Boston. They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to
12342-560: The scriptures created more harm than good, because different factions of Christians held the Bible in too high a regard and without using the inward light as the primary source of understanding with which to interpret the Bible. In a personal letter he wrote For it is my candid belief, that those that hold and believe the Scriptures to be the only rule of faith and practice, to these it does much more hurt than good. And has anything tended more to divide Christendom into sects and parties than
12463-481: The service of pointing to the fountain of all naked theology, all religion, all worship, all the truth to which you are possibly eligible—namely in yourself and your inherent relations. Others talk of Bibles, saints, churches, exhortations, vicarious atonements—the canons outside of yourself and apart from man—Elias Hicks points to the religion inside of man's very own nature. This he incessantly labors to kindle, nourish, educate, bring forward and strengthen." Elias Hicks
12584-744: The split in American Quakerism also spread to the Quaker community in Canada that had immigrated there from New York, the New England states and Pennsylvania in the 1790s. This resulted in a parallel system of Yearly Meetings in Upper Canada, as in the United States. The eventual division between Hicksites and the evangelical Orthodox Friends in the US was both deep and long-lasting. Full reconciliation between them took decades to achieve, from
12705-503: The theory was "not compatible with our notions of creation as delivered from the hands of a Creator". However, some young Friends such as John Wilhelm Rowntree and Edward Grubb supported Darwin's theories, using the doctrine of progressive revelation. In the United States, Joseph Moore taught the theory of evolution at the Quaker Earlham College as early as 1861. This made him one of the first teachers to do so in
12826-471: The tragic and fateful voyage of the slave ship Sally . Brown broke away from his three brothers, became an abolitionist, and converted to Christian Quakerism. During the 19th century, Quakers such as Levi Coffin and Isaac Hopper played a major role in helping enslaved people escape through the Underground Railroad . Black Quaker Paul Cuffe , a sea captain and businessman, was active in
12947-514: The true expression of the legacy of the founder of the Friends, George Fox . The split was also based on marked socioeconomic factors with Hicksite Friends being mostly poor and rural and with Orthodox Friends being mostly urban and middle-class. Many of the rural country Friends kept to Quaker traditions of "plain speech" and " plain dress ", both long-abandoned by Quakers in the towns and cities. Both Orthodox and Hicksite factions were active in
13068-436: The type for the antitype, neither to the outward temple, nor yet to Jerusalem, neither to Jesus Christ or his blood [outwardly], knowing that neither the righteousness of faith, nor the word of it doth so direct." "The new and second covenant is dedicated with the blood, the life of Christ Jesus, which is the alone atonement unto God, by which all his people are washed, sanctified, cleansed, and redeemed to God." Hicks rejected
13189-521: The universal priesthood of all believers. This personal religious experience of Christ was acquired by direct experience and by reading and studying the Bible . Friends focused their private lives on behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God, with a goal of Christian perfection . A prominent theological text of the Religious Society of Friends is A Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673), published by Quaker divine Robert Barclay . The Richmond Declaration of Faith (1887)
13310-584: The war's end in 1783, Yarnall family members along with fellow Meeting House Friends made a failed petition to the Continental Congress to abolish slavery in the United States . In 1790, the Society of Friends petitioned the United States Congress to abolish slavery. One example of a reversal in sentiment about slavery took place in the life of Moses Brown , one of four Rhode Island brothers who, in 1764, organized and funded
13431-546: The war, forming groups such as the Free Quakers and the Universal Friends . Later, in the 19th century, there was a diversification of theological beliefs in the Religious Society of Friends, and this led to several larger splits within the movement. The Hicksite–Orthodox split arose out of both ideological and socioeconomic tensions. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Hicksites tended to be agrarian and poorer than
13552-434: Was adopted by many Orthodox Friends and continues to serve as a doctrinal statement of many yearly meetings. Quakers were known to use thee as an ordinary pronoun, refuse to participate in war , wear plain dress , refuse to swear oaths , oppose slavery , and practice teetotalism . Some Quakers founded banks and financial institutions, including Barclays , Lloyds , and Friends Provident ; manufacturers including
13673-531: Was an atonement for our sins? Hicks Answered. "In reply to the first part of this query, I answer, I believe, in unison with our ancient Friends, that it was the garment in which he performed all his mighty works, or as Paul expressed it, 'Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you,' therefore he charged them not to defile those temples. What is attributed to that body, I acknowledge and give to that body, in its place, according as
13794-549: Was born in Hempstead, New York , in 1748, the son of John Hicks (1711–1789) and Martha Hicks (née Smith; 1709–1759), who were farmers. He was a carpenter by trade and in his early twenties he became a Quaker like his father. On January 2, 1771, Hicks married a fellow Quaker, Jemima Seaman, at the Westbury Meeting House and they had eleven children, only five of whom reached adulthood. Hicks eventually became
13915-561: Was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and nonconformists . He claimed to have received a revelation that "there is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition", and became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without the aid of ordained clergy. In 1652 he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in what places he had
14036-607: Was not entirely due to Hicks' ministry and internal divisions. It was, in part, also a response within Quakerism to the influences of the Second Great Awakening , the revival of Protestant evangelism that began in the 1790s as a reaction to religious skepticism , deism , and the liberal theology of Rational Christianity. However, doctrinal tensions among Friends due to Hicks' teachings had emerged as early as 1808 and as Hicks' influence grew, prominent visiting English evangelical public Friends, including William Forster and Anna Braithwaite , were prompted to travel to New York State in
14157-403: Was one of the early Quaker abolitionists . In 1778 on Long Island, he joined with fellow Quakers who had begun manumitting their slaves as early as March 1776 (James Titus and Phebe Willets Mott Dodge). The Quakers at Westbury Meeting were amongst the first in New York to do so and, gradually following their example, all Westbury Quaker slaves were freed by 1799. In 1794, Hicks was a founder of
14278-517: Was particularly influenced by Rowntree, Grubb, and Rufus Jones . Such Liberal Friends promoted the theory of evolution, modern biblical criticism , and the social meaning of Christ's teaching – encouraging Friends to follow the New Testament example of Christ by performing good works. These men downplayed the evangelical Quaker belief in the atonement of Christ on the Cross at Calvary . After
14399-402: Was persuaded by this exchange. In 1819, Hicks had devoted much energy into influencing the meeting houses in Philadelphia and this was followed by years of intense organizational turmoil. Eventually, due to both external influences and constant internal strife, matters came to a head there in 1826. After the 1826 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, at which Hicks' sermon had stressed the importance of
14520-561: Was probably derived from the appellations "Friends of the Light" and "Friends of the Truth". Conservative Friends (US 2K) Friends United Meeting (US 25K, world 170K) Evangelical Friends Church International (US 34K, world 200K) Beaconite Friends General Conference (US 22K, world 32K) Around the time of the American Revolutionary War , some American Quakers split from the main Society of Friends over issues such as support for
14641-656: Was started by some Friends who left the Five Years Meeting. In 1926, Oregon Yearly Meeting seceded from the Five Years Meeting , bringing together several other yearly meetings and scattered monthly meetings. In 1947, the Association of Evangelical Friends was formed, with triennial meetings until 1970. In 1965, this was replaced by the Evangelical Friends Alliance, which in 1989 became Evangelical Friends Church International . In
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