USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > London Grove > Two hundredth anniversary of the founding of London Grove Meeting by the Society of Friends at London Grove, Pennsylvania, tenth month third, 1914 > Part 6
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But how did all this happen? The Friends were no more intelligent, no more educated, no more anxious to do right than others. They had no better organization, no more efficient leader- ship. Is there any explanation more reasonable than the one they themselves would have given that when they got together in their quiet assemblies, with thoughts turned reverently to the source of good impulses, in Whittier's words,
The presence of the wrong and right They rather felt than saw?
If in this time when reformatory zeal is at its highest, when everything in church and state is liable to a change which is some-
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times a betterment, when new standards are continually set up, would it be amiss to approach the subjects in this quiet manner with mind and heart open to suggestions from the upper as well as the lower sources and so try to find what things are reforms and what measures will be in the future non-effective? If our colleges are as we often claim educating the leaders of thought and method might they not find a factor here, sometimes neglected, and deter- mine whether a group consciousness, under proper conditions has anything to do with the determination of right and wrong, of expe- diency and useless and unwise effort.
Then these early friends were preachers of literal truthful- ness. To make excessive claims for themselves or their goods was a proper object for inquiry and reproof by their overseers. They objected to calling a building a church, because a church was some- thing else, and the name was a claim to special holiness about the locality. The you to one person then recently introduced into England was untruthful and so they said thou and thee to every one. So also they objected to oaths because they would not have two standards. Some of these things were doubtless strained and whatever vitality the testimonies had has passed away. But they kept alive the habit of stating the exact truth.
Who will deny that our system of higher education needs some- thing of this tonic. Even the nomenclature is corrupted. "To graduate" once meant to furnish with a degree or to receive one. But our little schools of all sorts now graduate their boys and girls regularly. A "Professor" was once a teacher of high grade-now every pedagogue may usurp the title. "University" of ancient and honorable history may now be held by the meanest and most dis- honest private adventure school.
Catalogues of little known colleges claim "Our reputation for educational efficiency is world wide." Our courses cover the same ground as the best institutions of the country." Finally "It is still true that the majority of the institutions of the United States bear- ing the name of University or college take every student that they can get quite regardless of their academic qualifications."
These quotations come from the recent Carnegie Foundation report, but does not many a college man know, not in his own catalogue but in that of his dearest rival, claims advanced, which are not literally made good, and announcements made which bring
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guileless students, but do not deceive them after entrance? Is all this making it possible for these same students to cite the example of their college in justifying the fraud in some of our college athletics and every shifty game of business or politics in after life. Has it anything to do with our national standards which too often applaud a sharp and temporarily successful strategy of dubious morality ?
There are I believe something like 1000 institutions in the United States calling themselves colleges and universities. About 600 of these are recognized by the bureau of Washington and its standard is not extravagantly high. It cuts from the list only institutions not previously there, which have fewer than 20 col- legiate students; which have never given a Bachelors degree (though why there should be any of this sort I fail to see) those which have too little equipment physical and intellectual to do easy work, and a few other unreasonable demands. Even among the 600 when one analyses the facilities for higher education one has to confess that there is much to be desired, and only a few of the states have any legislation which will correct the evil. Of course the names are assumed and the claims made to gather in students. "Colleges may do for the east but the west wants the best of everything" said a defender of a pretentious title covering a meager equipment, "Our youth must have a University education." But the west is probably no greater sinner than the east or south.
Is there then no need to press upon college people the gospel of literal truthfulness?
Then the early Friends had a strong testimony to Democracy. I do not know exactly what democracy is. It is not equality of intellect or of income or of efficiency. Thomas Jefferson for a brief time seemed to think that it meant that Presidential bad manners should be equal to the average. Others about the same period thought that it meant a dollar a day wages whether the recipient was a day laborer or a judge or a senator. In education it has often meant that the lower end of the class shall be pushed on and the upper end held back to produce equality of attainment at the time of promotion. Let us suggest in education another definition. Democracy is that condition where every youth has equal oppor- tunity to develop the best that is in him, and apply this to the bright ambitious boy as to the dullard, to the boy of vast possi-
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bilities whose life will in influence outweigh hundreds of others as to him who fills out faithfully his humbler career of follower or drudge. It may have been a weakness of our school system of all grades that the really first rate, strong youth has been neglected on the supposition that he could take care of himself forgetting that though he may not need stimulation he may need direction; though not constant coaching yet perhaps wise incentive to make the best of a great opportunity.
But the Friends had some idea of democracy define it as we will. This vast suffering which they endured as a testimony meant more in those days than the same would mean now. The hat worn was a symbol of superiority. The regicide judges were theirs before Charles I., and in the next century, one of the first claims made by the third estate of the National Assembly of France was the right to have their heads covered in the presence of the nobility and clergy. But Fox and his friends would grant this mark of inferiority to no one, judge or magistrate, priest or king, nor require it of others. When William Penn came before Charles II. with his hat on the affable monarch remarked that it was customary for only one to be covered in that presence and removed his own. It was a testimony to some sort of equality, as was also the thou and thee to all men at a time when the obsequiousness of the age gave the plural pronoun to their betters and the singular to those below The Quaker conscience worked where all true reformatory movements must always work, in the realm of little things.
The men with such devotion to democracy could not be other- wise than preachers of religious liberty. To the plausible argu- ment that because the Friends had now a province of their own in Pennsylvania they should have special privileges there, William Penn replied "We should then do what we have cried out against others for doing," and the argument ceased. Roger Williams hated Quakerism with all the strength of his nature. He was sure it was devil born and athwart all his beliefs concerning Christianity. But he was, in his early life, in his book, "The Bloody Tenent of Per- secution for Conscience Sake," a pioneer for religious liberty. He had suffered for it and more convincing than all when he had the power he granted it to these hated schismatics. Penn at a later date, under more happy conditions and on a larger scale gave it to his colonists in full measure. When in 1787 the constitutional
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fathers were gathering together the various successful experiments of 100 years of the governmental history of the thirteen colonies, they found the vital principles not in the dogmatism of early Massachusetts or the class system of Virginia but in the civil and religious liberty wrought out with pain and effort by Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
The political descendants of Roger Williams and William Penn cannot force upon unwilling consciences a religious educa- tion. However necessary from the point of view of the apprecia- tion of our literature, crammed as it is with Biblical references, or from the continuity of our history, builded and buttressed with Christian ideas, may be the inculcation of Bible truths into the American youthful mind yet the freedom of conscience is too pre- cious an inheritance to lose. It may be possible as is done with moderate success in England and Germany, to find a method which would be acceptable to the great mass of taxpayers to teach religious history and belief while some conscience clause would exempt the others. This is a problem of constructive arrangement which we may work out. For undoubtedly the broad truths of Christianity are still welcome in most American households, and the church and Sunday School do not reach them effectively as means of instruc- tion, however valuable their spiritual impulses may be. At present therefore if the Bible is to be taught as effectively as geography and geometry it must be done in schools created and maintained by private endeavor. Such schools will perform a service which can not be expected of those supported by the taxes of the general public. And as the life of Christ in the heart is more important than knowledge about him the wide field of influence is open to every Christian prophet and teacher clerical or lay.
Of recent times we can speak less than of old of denomina- tional influence in education or any thing else. Men are accepting by battalions the doctrines of other churches while still holding to their old names and lineage. If one denomination is more a religion of authority and another a religion of the spirit, it is a matter rather of emphasis than of exclusion. One can plead then for a type of thought as applied to education without speaking denominationally. One can see that a dogmatic theology is not the ground on which a really effective system of education can be profitably sown. Is it an accident that in the days of the full development of the free
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spirit in Pennsylvania there arose the largest and most advanced group of scientific men, in America? Is it an accident that when Massachusetts departed from her narrow conventions and became the home of a broader liberty, her great college assumed a priority, due to other causes than her right to primogeniture?
The bases of denomination influence must lie, in the field of thought, in spiritual and intellectual liberty, and in the field of morals in honesty, sincerity and simplicity, both of the individual and the institution. The group which can bring these about what- ever its name is true to our best ideals, and the group which in the past has most effectively preached and practiced them deserves well at our hands.
Here endeth my paper. But it has been suggested to me that I might say some of the things which the lamented Henry Wilbur was expected to say-that I should be as was expressed to me, prophet as well as historian. He would have said them much better than I can. When one is studying the past or the present he must be simply faithful to facts and open to fair judgments on men and things, but when one looks into the future it requires something of an optimistic insight which every one does not possess. Yet every historian must be something of an optimist. The ordinary reader of history gets the bright side of the lives of great men of the past and compares the view with the many frivolous and wicked things he reads in the newspapers of the present-the best of last century with something like the worst of this-and he is sure of a great retrogression. But the historian knows that back of this rosy out- look, there were the same evil passions loose in the community, the same or worse deeds of darkness done. He knows that the great men of history stood out above the common level and below and around them there was a crowd not told about in the books more vulgar and more pernicious than those we now have such good chances to know, and this applies to the Society of Friends.
I believe that after the first generation of Friends had passed away there never was one of higher spiritual and moral power than the present. If what I have said about the loss occasioned by the lack of educated leaders is true, that deficiency is largely canceled. For there are few communities which contain a larger proportion of college men and women, than ours. True some of these are edu-
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cated only technichally and this education does not usually pro- duce the sort of people capable of estimating and advancing spir- itual and ethical values. But there are also many of the more liberal kind, whose standards are not wholly of the market or of the shop. If education can save a religious society, and alone it can not, we are not going to disappear from the earth.
Resulting from this we are securing a better perspective as to what in Quakerism has permanent value. We are not likely to divide on matters of minor importance but can live together and differ. I can not now state what seems to me are the vital funda- mental truths of Quakerism, but if I did the most of you would agree with me, while we would seriously conflict I suppose as to many matters which we would consider to be of secondary import- ance.
But we have lost the great chance we had 200 years ago of being the great spiritual power of America unless we are willing to consider that the general trend toward Quaker standards and spirit of many Christians is our sufficient justification.
I have been told that in this township every acre was once a Quaker acre. This is more or less typical of many sections of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Those days of numerical prepon- derance are over, never to return and yet the standards of the coun- try at large are more Friendly than they were. The denomination has waned but the principles have spread. Not only the great moral ideals of Friends have conquered but the religion of the spirit has invaded other denominations and been welcomed.
One precious principle of Friends, however, the silent gath- ering for worship, with a ministry of direct inspiration does not at first sight seem to be contagious. Some recent indications point to its more general acceptance, in part at least, by many not Friends, and if it were with us more of a living experience rather than a beautiful theory an experience which proved to others as well as to ourselves its heart changing, life changing power it would gain converts more rapidly. But the next score of years may show its more widespread appreciation if not by our influence, then by the power of its own inherent vitality.
I do not think it is a time for discouragement whether one views the internal strength of our Society, its influence upon polit-
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ical or social or moral affairs, or the development of the principles upon which it has been founded. More fidelity, more loyalty, more intelligence and more spirituality, all of which we may reasonably expect, are opening the way to better conditions than we have known since colonial days.
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Friends in Public Life By A. MITCHELL PALMER, Stroudsburg
I T IS a great delight to me to pause in the day's occupation, in a busy and strenuous season, to sit here for a little while, under the shadow of the beautiful trees, by the side of this historic meeting-house, and join with you in the interesting and significant event which you celebrate today.
And I have thought that at this hour there might be no better subject for me to address myself to before this fine audience, than the duties of citizenship, and especially of those who believe in the Friendly principles in political affairs. I hasten to assure you in advance that nothing that I shall say, is intended to have anything like a partisan tinge; for I hold patriotism, love of country, and devotion to the state, higher than the interests of any political party.
Some years ago there assembled in Harrisburg a notable gathering-the annual convention of the Pennsylvania Sabbath School Association. The special feature of the occasion was a monster parade by the men of the adult Bible classes affiliated with the various Sabbath schools of the state. Ten thousand men from every nook and corner of Pennsylvania gathered in the capital city to pay tribute to the Master. They left their homes and their offices, their counting-rooms and shops, their harvest fields and work-benches to gather in the capital city of the commonwealth to show to the world that the men of the Keystone State were loyal to the Christian cause. For hours they marched the streets of the city behind the inspiring banner: "The Men of Pennsylvania for the Man of Galilee." It was a sight to stir the blood of Christian citizens, and such as to inspire confidence in our present institutions, sustained by men of that character, and hope for the future of a state to be guided by the patriotic interest of such God-fearing men.
At the opening session of the convention, in his annual address, Mr. Heinz, the president of the association, who adds to the "57 Varieties" of his business activities a very great interest in church and Sunday school work, standing within the very shadow of the palace of graft, a monument to crime, which goes for the capitol of Pennsylvania, said: "We stand for the kind of citizenship that would make a repetition of the capitol scandal impossible." The
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State of Pennsylvania is filled with good citizens, from Wayne to Greene, from the Delaware to Lake Erie. In every city, county and township there is an abundance of men who would scorn to do a dishonest act, who would kick from out their doors the thief who came to steal their individual property-men who live exemplary lives through all the week, and go to church on Sunday; but when we call upon them with the cry of "Stop thief!" as the public plunderer makes off with the public treasure, or urge them to assist in the fight against incompetence in government, we are met by the answer: "We can not go into politics. We are too careful of our reputations to be known as politicians; and our business must not be disturbed by political agitation, or the conditions disarranged by change in government."
In a word, the worst evil from which we suffer is the bad citi- zenship of good citizens. The word politician has in many quarters come to be looked upon as an opprobrious epithet, only because good citizens refuse to take that proper part in political affairs which a patriotic loyalty to their country and their state requires them to take. Whatever is rotten in politics, whatever is corrupt in political campaigns, whatever smells of fraud in party conventions, primaries and caucuses, is blamable upon the good citizens who make themselves accessories before the fact by stand- ing by while men with selfish aims control the party machinery.
In my judgment, there never was greater need for the co-opera- tion of good citizens in the affairs of government than now. There never was a time in the history of governments upon this continent when conditions called so loudly for the active participation in political affairs of men whose private life is above reproach, whose honesty of purpose and integrity of conduct are beyond the very breath of suspicion, and whose lives are moulded by the indwelling desire to emulate the beautiful life of the Master himself.
Is there any reason why the members of the Society of Friends should not be active in political work?
They are recognized from one ocean to the other in this coun- try as a people striving after high ideals, and possessing a constant and watchful care over the daily conduct of their lives. Is there not reason to hope that the standard they have set for their private conduct might be made the standard for the public service, and the principles for which they stand as the true guide toward
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the proper understanding of the duties of the Christian toward his God might also become the foundation upon which the government itself may be rested-to bring to a full fruition the hope of the founder for the common welfare and the mutual happiness of the people ?
In this presence it needs no historian to state the facts of the participation of Friends in the early government of the colonies, to prove that Friends in earlier times exercised great influence, and wrought much permanent good, by their active participation in the affairs of politics and government. There have been times when the loyalty of the Quaker has been doubted; there have been men whose vision has been so blinded by prejudice as to make it impos- sible to understand that patriotism and loyalty to country could be shown in any other manner than in fighting. But in this age and generation, with a fuller understanding among the people of the principles of our Society and a truer conception of what real patriotism in a democracy consists of, there can be found no think- ing man who will refuse to admit the absolute loyalty and the unsel- fish patriotism of the Quaker.
The period of the greatest participation of Quakerism in the affairs of government in this country covered the latter half of the seventeenth and the earlier part of the eighteenth centuries. In Rhode Island, Nicholas Easton was president of the colony under the patent, and later governor under the royal charter; and it was during his governorship of the colony that George Fox visited Rhode Island Plantations and was a guest in the governor's house. His son, John Easton, was deputy-governor, and afterwards for five years governor; William Coddington, another Quaker, who had been a judge, also filled the governor's chair, and was an occu- pant of the chair at the time of his death. George Fox was present at the house of the elder Governor Coddington during a marriage ceremony, and lent the weight of his influence in approval of the active participation of Friends in the political affairs of the colonies in which they lived.
Walter Clarke, Henry Bull and at least three members of the Wanton family filled, at various times, the chief office in the little colony. In those days, the Friend who accepted prominent place in the government, was no "Hickory" Quaker. In most cases he was a minister; and instances are cited by the historians of the
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period where a Quaker governor adjourned the assembly and took the members in a body to the meeting-house on the day of the midweek meeting and there preached to them a good sermon during this enforced recess of the legislative body. We read that these good men, though firm in their devotion to the principles of the religious society to which they belonged, signed commissions to arm vessels and garrisons against the Indians; and when the meeting dealt with John Wanton for work of that character he made suitable acknowledgment; but he defended the course he had taken. Despite their testimony against wars, the Quaker governors found themselves in command of the military forces of their colonies, established forts, and organized the militia. In Pennsylvania the Friends occupied a prominent place in political affairs for nearly a century after the good ship "Welcome" first sailed up the Dela- ware. Eight provincial councilors, three governors, one temporary governor, two surveyors-general, one treasurer, one chief justice, three judges, twenty-two justices of the peace, eighteen assembly- men, two sheriffs, and three mayors of Philadelphia, were full members of meeting. One eminent Quaker, also, John Kinzie, was chief justice of the colony and speaker of the assembly, and clerk of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, all at the same time.
He wrote the yearly meeting epistles and, with great skill, he avoided political matters in drawing them up. Yet never has there been a community in which religious and political relations were closer. President Sharpless somewhere said that the yearly meeting, that met not long before the elections, was the Quaker primary; but it was in its social and unofficial sides that political sentiment was encouraged. Later on, even conversa- tion upon political matters practically ceased. The Quakers left the Pennsylvania assembly in a body in 1756, because Quakerism refused to accede to the demand for the compulsory militia law. In 1758 a minute was adopted by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting which seems to have had the desired, but in my judgment unfortu- nate effect, of utterly eliminating, for many years, the influence of the Friends from political life in Pennsylvania.
In South Carolina, in North Carolina and in Maryland, especially on the eastern shore, in those days the Friends were active in every part of our political and public life.
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