USA > Indiana > Discipline of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends : being the constitution and discipline of the American Yearly Meeting of Friends; with the additions adopted by Indiana Yearly Meeting > Part 1
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INSPECTED BY 1905
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71T9
DISCIPLINE
INDIANA YEARLY MEETING
1905
INDIANA COLLECTIO s. Janel. martin Summitudle Lud.
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Gc 977.2 So11DE
SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. INDIANA YEARLY MEETING.
DISCIPLINE OF INDIANA YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS OF
Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends
Being the Constitution and Discipline of the American Yearly Meetings of Friends
With the Additions Adopted by Indiana Yearly Meeting
Printed by direction of Indiana Yearly Meeting, held at Richmond, Indiana, Tenth month, 1904
THE NICHOLSON PRESS RICHMOND, INDIANA 1905
EN
Allen County Public Library 900 Webstr: S. eet PO Box 22/0 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
PREFACE
This edition of the Discipline including "The Introduction," The Historical Sketch," and other Additions was printed by Direction of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends, as may be seen by its Minutes of 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904.
CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE
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INTRODUCTION
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN DISCIP- LINE ESTABLISHED AMONG FRIENDS.
By the term discipline, is to be understood all those arrangements and regulations which are in- stituted for the civil and religious benefit of a Christian Church. The Meetings for Discipline are, of course, for the purpose of carrying those objects into effect; their design was said by George Fox to be-the promotion of charity and piety.
It can not be said that any system of discipline formed a part of the original compact of the So- ciety. There was not indeed, to human appearance, anything systematic in its formation. It was an association of persons who were earnestly seeking after the saving knowledge of Divine Truth. They were men of prayer, and diligent searchers of the Holy Scriptures. Unable to find true rest in the va- rious opinions and systems which in that day di- vided the Christian world, they believed that they found the Truth in a more full reception of Christ, not only as the living and ever-present Head of the Church in its aggregate capacity, but also as the light and life, the spiritual ruler, teacher, and friend, of every individual member.
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These views did not lead them to the abandon- ment of those doctrines which they had heretofore held, in regard to the manhood of Christ, his pro- pitiatory sacrifice, mediation, and intercession. They did lead them, however, to much inward re- tirement and waiting upon God, that they might know His will, and become quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord; and they were very fre- quent in their meetings together for mutual edifica- tion and instruction, for the purpose of united wor- ship in spirit and in truth, and for the exercise of their several gifts, as ability might be afforded by Him who has promised to be with the two or three disciples who are gathered together in His name.
From these meetings, in which the love of God was often largely shed abroad in the hearts of those who attended them, even when held in silence, most of those ministers went forth, who in the earliest periods of the Society, proclaimed to others the truth as they had found it, and called them from de- pendence on man to that individual knowledge of Christ and His teachings, which the Holy Script- ures so clearly and abundantly declare to be the privilege of the Gospel times. As these views struck at the very root of that great corruption in the Chris- tian Church, by which one man's performances on behalf of others had been made essential to public worship, and on which hung all the load of eccles- iastical domination and the trade in holy things; so it necessarily separated those who had, as they be- ileved, found the liberty of the Gospel from those who still adhered to that system which was upheld by the existing churches of the land.
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Introduction
Being thus separated from others, and many be- ing every day added to the church, there arose, of course, peculiar duties of the associated persons toward each other. Christianity has ever been a powerful, active and beneficent principle. Those who truly receive it no more "live unto themselves ;" and this feature and fruit of genuine Christianity was strikingly exhibited in the conduct of the early Friends. No sooner were a few persons connected together in the new bond of religious fellowship, than they were engaged to admonish, encourage, and, in spiritual as well as temporal matters, to watch over and help one another in love.
The members who lived near to each other, and who met together for religious worship, immedi- ately formed, from the very law of their union, a Christian family or little church. Each member was at liberty to exercise the gift bestowed upon him, in that beautiful harmony and subjection which belong to the several parts of a living body, from the analogy to which the apostle Paul draws so striking a description of the true church: "Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular."
Of this right exercise of spiritual gifts, and thereby of an efficient discipline, many examples are afforded in the history of the earliest period of the Society: we shall select one which we believe may be considered as fairly illustrating the prac- tice of early times. Stephen Crisp, in his memoirs, speaking of his own state soon after his convince- ment, which was in 1665, and within a few years of the establishment of a meeting at Colchester, the place of his residence, thus expresses himself :-
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"The more I came to feel and perceive the love of God and his goodness to me, the more was I hum- bled and bowed in my mind to serve Him, and to serve the least of his people among whom I walked; ; and as the word of wisdom began to spring in me, and the knowledge of God grew, so I became a counselor of those that were tempted in like man- ner as I had been: yet was kept so low, that I waited to receive counsel daily from God, and from those that were over me in the Lord, and were in Christ before me, against whom I never rebelled nor was stubborn; but the more I was kept in sub- jection myself, the more I was enabled to help the weak and feeble ones. And, as the Church of God in those days increased, and my care daily in- creased, and the weight of things relating both to the outward and inward condition of poor Friends came upon me; and being called of God and his people to take the care of the poor, and to relieve their necessities as I did see occasion, I did it faithfully for divers years, with diligence and much tenderness, exhorting and reproving any that were slothful, and encouraging them that were diligent, putting a difference according to the wisdom given me of God, and still minding my own state and condition, and seeking the honor that cometh from God only."
Thus, then we believe it may be safely asserted, there never was a period in the Socity when those who agreed in religious principles were wholly independent of each other, or in which that order and subjection which may be said to constitute discipline did not exist. But, as the number of
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Introduction
members increased, those mutual helps and guards which had been, in great measure, spontaneously afforded, were found to require some regular ar- rangement for the preservation of order in the church.
The history of these proceedings affords no small evidence that the spirit of a sound mind influenced the body in its earliest periods. Contending, as they did, for so large a measure of individual spiritual liberty, and placing the authority of man, in religious matters, in a position so subordinate to that of the one Great Head of the church, they nevertheless recognized the importance and neces- sity of arrangements and of human instrumentality, under the dircetion of the Spirit of Christ; and they were led to establish a system of order at once so simple and efficient, that notwithstanding the varying circumstances of the Society, and the power of every annual meeting to alter it, it has been found in its particulars, adapted to those changes, and it remains to this day essentially the same as it was within forty years of the rise of the Society. Pre- viously, however, to the establishment of that regu- lar system of discipline, and of that mode of repre- sentation in the meetings for conducting it, which now exist, there had been many General Meetings held in different parts of the nation, for the pur- pose of providing for the various exigencies of the Society. George Fox mentions, in his Journal, that some meetings for discipline were settled in the north of England, so early as 1653. The first Gen- eral Meeting, of which we are aware that any rec- ords are extant, was held at Balby, near Doncaster,
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Introduction
in Yorkshire, in the year 1656; and from this meet- ing a number of directions and advices were issued, addressed "To the Brethern in the North." This document refers to most of the points which now form the chief subjects of our discipline. It contains instructions as to the Gospel order of proceeding with delinquents, and advices to husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, as to the discharge of their relative duties, and also in regard to strict justice in trade, and a cheerful and faithful performance of civil offices in the com- monwealth. George Fox mentions attending a Gen- eral Meeting in Bedforshire, in 1658, which lasted three days; at which he says "there were Friends present from most parts of the nation, and many thousands of persons were at it." He also mentions attending a meeting at Skipton in 1660, "for the af- fairs of the church, both in this nation, and beyond the seas ;" and he says that he had recommended the establishment of this meeting several years before, when he was in the north; "for many Friends suf- fered in divers parts of the nation ; their goods were taken from them contrary to law, and they under- stood not how to help themselves, or where to seek redress." "This meeting," he adds, "had stood sev- eral years, and divers justices and captains had come to break it up; but when they understood the business Friends met about, and saw Friends' books and accounts of collections for the use of the poor ; how we took care one county to help another, and to help our friends beyond the sea, and to provide for our poor, so that none should be chargeable to their parishes, the justices and officers confessed we
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did their work, and would pass away peaceably and lovingly."
Next to the General Meetings we must notice the establishment of Quarterly Meetings, which were constituted of Friends deputed by the several meet- ings within a county. These meetings, in several of the counties at least, had existed prior to the establishment of Monthly Meetings, and they ap- pear to have had much the same office in the body as the Monthly Meetings now have among us. George Fox, in an epistle of an early date, writes thus respecting them: "In all the meetings of the county, two or three may be appointed from them to go to the Quarterly Meetings, to give notice if there be any that walk not in the truth, or have been convinced and gone from the truth, and so have dishonored God; and likewise to see if any that profess the truth follow pleasures, drunkenness, gaming, or are not faithful in their callings and dealings, nor honest, but run into debt, and so bring a scandal upon the truth. Friends may give notice to the Quarterly Meetings (if there be any such), and some may be ordered to go and exhort them, and bring in their answers to the next Quarterly Meeting. And to admonish all them that be careless and slothful to diligence in the truth and service for God, and to bring forth heavenly fruits to God, and that they may mind the good works of God, and do them in believing on his Son, and showing it forth in their conversation, and to deny the devil and his bad works, and not to do them; and to seek them that be driven away from the truth into the devil's wilderness by his dark power; seek them
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Introduction
again by the truth, and by the truth and power of God bring them to God again.
It appears to have been with our Society as it had been with the primitive church, that the care and provision for its poor members was among the earliest occasions of disciplinary arrangements. The occasion for this provision was much increased by the cruel persecutions and robberies to which, on their first rise, the Friends were almost every- where exposed. It was no rare occurrence, at that period, for the father of a family to be thrown into a dungeon, and for the house to be spoiled of the very children's beds and all their provisions. Nor was it uncommon to seek their entire proscription and ruin, by refusing to deal with them. Well may we say with reverent thankfulness, in reference to those times, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us."
The members of the persecuted Society were far from opulent; but they proved themselves rich in charity, as well as in faith and hope; and the illus- tration of these virtues, by the sacrifices which they made for the relief of their more afflicted as- sociates, and their unbroken constancy in the suf- ferings which they endured for the testimony of a good conscience, were doubtless among the practi- cal arguments which at length extorted the com- mendation even of their enemies.
A second, and perhaps contemporaneous, object of the meetings, for the discipline of the Society, was the obtaining of redress for those illegally
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Introduction
prosecuted or imprisoned. Though so patient in suffering, they deemed it their duty to apprise mag- istrates, judges, and the government, of illegal pro- ceedings, and to use every legal and Christian effort to obtain redress. Several Friends in London de- voted a lareg portion of time to this object, and regular statements of the most flagrant cases were sent to them, and were frequently laid by them be- fore the king and government. Their constancy in suffering was hardly exceeded by their unwearied efforts to obtain relief for their suffering brethern, and for the alteration of the persecuting laws; and through these means the cause of religious liberty was essentially promoted.
A third object, which at a very early period of the Society pressed upon its attention, was the proper registration of births and deaths, and the provision for due proceedings relative to marriage. Their principles led them at once to reject all priestly intervention on these occasions, and hence the necessity for their having distinct arrange- ments in regard to them. In some of the meetings of earliest establishment regular registers are pre- served from the year 1650 to the present time. Great care was taken in regard to proceedings in marriage; investigation as to the clearness of the parties from other marriage engagements, full pub- licity of their intentions, and the consent of parents, appear to have been recommended in early times as preliminaries to the ratification of the agreement between the parties; and this act took place pub- licly in the religious meetings of the Society. Mar-
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riage has always been regarded by Friends as a religious, not a mere civil compact.
The right education of youth, the provision of suitable situations for them as apprentices or other- wise, and the settlement of differences without go- ing to law one with another, were also among the early objects of the Society's care.
The last object of the discipline in early times which we shall enumerate, was the exercise of spir- itual care over the members. As the Society ad- vanced it was soon reminded of our Lord's declara- tion : "It must needs be that offenses come." Evi- dencing, as the Society did to a large extent, the fruits of the Spirit, there were those who fell away from their Christian profession, and walked disord- erly ; and sound as was the body of Friends in Chris- tian doctrine, there were members who were be- trayed into false doctrines and vain imaginations ; and pure, and spiritual, and consistent with true order and Christian subjection as were the princi- ples of religious liberty advocated by the Society, there were those who appear to have assumed them under the false expectation of an entire indepen- dence.
To all these cases the discipline was applied in very early times; yet the spirit of tenderness, which breathes through the writings of George Fox in regard to the treatment of delinquents, and which there is a good reason to believe was practically il- lustrated, to a large extent, in the conduct of the Friends of those days, is worthy of especial notice. From one of his epistles we make the following ex- tracts: "Now concerning Gospel order, though the
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Introduction
doctrine of Jesus Christ requireth his people to ad- monish a brother or sister twice before they tell the church, yet that limiteth none so as that they shall use no longer forbearance. And it is desired of all, before they publicly complain, that they wait to feel if there is no more required of them to their brother or sister, before they expose him or her to the church. Let this be weightily considered, and all such as behold their brother or sister in a trans- gression, go not in a rough, light, or upbraiding spirit, to reprove or admonish him or her, but in the power of the Lord and spirit of the Lamb, and in the wisdom and love of the truth, which suffers thereby, to admonish such an offender. So may the soul of such brother or sister be seasonably and ef- fectually reached unto and overcame, and they may have cause to bless the name of the Lord on their behalf, and so a blessing may be rewarded into the bosom of that faithful and tender brother or sister who so admonished them. And so keep the church order of the Gospel, according as the Lord Jesus Christ hath commanded ; that is, 'If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault be- tween thee and him alone ; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother : but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established : and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.'"
We now proceed to notice the more regular and systematic establishment of Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and of the Yearly Meeting. Though the history of those times bears ample testimony to the
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useful part which was taken in this important work by many faithful Friends, yet it is clear that George Fox was the chief instrument in the arrangement and establishment of these meetings. There was doubtless much reference to his individual judg- ment, but it is worthy of notice how carefully he sought to keep the body from an improper depen- dence upon him. As in his preaching he directed his hearers to Christ for themselves, as alike their and his teacher, so in the discipline of the Society he labored diligently that the body might be strengthened to help itself.
Under the date of 1666, George Fox says, in his Journal: "Whereas, Friends had had only Quar- terly Meetings, now truths were spread and Friends were grown more numerous, I was moved to recom- mend the setting up of Monthly Meetings through- out the nation." In 1667 he labored most diligently in this service, under much bodily weakness from his long confinements in cold and damp prisons. In 1668, he thus writes: "The men's Monthly Meet- ings were settled through the nation. The Quar- terly Meetings were generally settled before. I wrote also into Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Barba- does, and several parts of America, advising Friends to settle their men's Monthly Meetings in those countries, for they had their Quartely Meetings be- fore." These Monthly Meetings, so instituted, took a large share of that care which had heretofore de- volved on the Quarterly Meetings, and were no doubt the means of bringing many more of the members into a larger sphere of usefulness and the exercise of their respective gifts in the church, the
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free course for which he was so anxious to promote. With reference to this subject, he observes, in one of his epistles: "The least member in the church is serviceable, and all the members have need one of another."
The Quarterly Meetings from this time received reports of the state of the Society from the Monthly Meetings, and gave such advice and decisions as they thought right; but there was not, until some years after this period, a general Yearly Meeting at which all the Quarterly Meetings were repre- sented. Of the establishment of that meeting we come now to speak.
In the year 1672, a General Meeting of ministers was held at Devonshire House, London : among its proceedings we find the following minute, in which we trace the origin of the Yearly Meeting, con- stituted as it now is of representatives from various parts of the kingdom. "It is concluded, agreed, and assented unto, by Friends then present, that, for the better ordering, managing, and regulating of the public affairs of Friends relating to the truth and service thereof, there be a General Meeting of Friends held at London once a year, in the week called Whitsunweek, to consist of six Friends for the city of London, three for the city of Bristol, two for the town of Colchester, and one or two from each of the counties of England and Wales respect- ively."
This representative Yearly Meeting met at the time proposed in 1673, and came to the conclusion, that the General Meeting, constituted as it then was, "be discontinued till Friends, in God's wisdom, shall
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see a further occasion; and it was further agreed, that the General Meeting of Friends who labor in the work of the ministry, do continue as formerly appointed." This meeting of Friends of the minis- try appears to have been regularly held annually from this time to the year 1677 inclusive.
In 1675, a series of important advices and in- structions were agreed upon, and sent forth to the several meetings: they are contained in an epistle, and are thus introduced: "At a solemn General Meeting of many faithful Friends and brethern con- cerned in the public labor of the Gospel and service of the Church of Christ, from the most parts of the nation." This document is signed by eighty-one Friends, most of whom are well known as conspic- uous in the early history of the Society; and the spirit of fervent piety and charity which it breathes is well worthy of their character. In 1677, it was agreed again to convene the meeting of representa- tives in the ensuing year, and then to advise re- specting its continuance. Accordingly, in 1678, the representative Yearly Meeting assembled in Lon- don, and, after agreeing upon several matters, the substance of which was conveyed to the various meetings of Friends in the form of an epistle with much Christian counsel, concluded to meet again the next year after the same manner; and these meetings have continued to assemble once a year in London, with unbroken regularity, to the pres- ent time.
When the General Meeting of ministers trans- ferred much of its duties to the representative Yearly Meeting, of which they formed a part, there
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were some portions of the service of these meetings which more particularly belonged to the ministers. Although the power to approve and disapprove of ministers rested with the members of the church to which they respectively belonged, in the capacity of a Monthly Meeting, yet it was deemed fitting that the ministers should have an especial oversight of each other, and that they should meet together for mutual consultation and advice in regard to those of their own station.
George Fox, in 1674, writes thus: "Let your gen- eral assemblies of the ministers (in London, or elsewhere) examine, as it was at the first, whether all the ministers that go forth into the counties do walk as becomes the Gospel; for that you know was one end of that meeting, to prevent and take away scandal, and to examine whether all who preach Christ Jesus, do keep in His government and in the order of the Gospel, and to exhort them that do not." Meetings for these purposes, in which Friends in the station of elder are now united, con- tinue to be regularly held.
All the meetings which have been hitherto de- scribed were conducted by men; but it was one of the earliest features of our religious economy to elevate the character of the female sex, by recog- nizing them as helpers in spiritual, as well as in temporal things; holding, in the former, as well as in the latter, a distinct place, and having duties which more peculiarly devolved on them. For this purpose meetings were established among them, with a special regard to the care and edification of their own sex. The views of George Fox in regard
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to the establishment of these meetings are conveyed in the following passages : "Faithful women, called to a belief of the truth, and made partakers of the same precious faith and heirs of the same everlasting Gospel of life and salvation, as the men are, might in like manner come into the profession and practice of the Gospel order, and therein be meet-helps to the men in the service of truth, and the affairs in the church, as they are outwardly in civil and temporal things; that so all the family of God, women as well as men, might know, pos- sess and perform their offices and services in the house of God: whereby the poor might be better taken care of ; the younger sort instructed, informed, and taught in the way of God; the disorderly re- proved and admonished in the fear of the Lord: the clearness of persons proposing marriage more closely and strictly inquired into, in the wisdom of God; and all members of the spiritual body, the church, might watch over and be helpful to each other in love."
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