USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > East Greenwich > History of the town of East Greenwich and adjacent territory, from 1677 to 1877 > Part 8
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" Friends here think, if any one wants one, yt he shall acquaint the monthly meeting of it, and they are to judge whether he wants one or what sort of one he shall wear."
It has been truly said that there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous and it certainly brings a smile to the face of reverence, to see how gravely our forefathers discussed this trivial subject.
The following advice respecting marriages was received and read at Greenwich meeting from the quarterly meet- ing at Newport, held on the First day of the 7th month, 1702:
"In a weighty sense it being proposed and agreed to, that our ancient friend and brother, advised; be revived and continued by and amongst Friends; that is that all Friends in their second marriage; not any Friend, man or woman, let their mind out to another wife or husband, within a year, which shall be decent, comely, and of good report, and will answer ye witness of God in all people. And if any Friend or Friends are found to let out their minds contrary to ye above advice and agreement, such proceedings by this meeting will be accounted forward and out of unity of ye body of Friends."
The Kingston Friends were not so constant in attending meetings, nor so consistent in all things as their exemplary brethren at East Greenwich desired, so an epistle was pre- pared and sent to them as follows :
" This is to be read in ye meeting of Kingstown Friends as followeth :- At our monthly man and woman's meeting in our meeting house in East Greenwich ye 20th of 7th month 1703, this meeting being somewhat disturbed with a
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sense of ye love of God towards our souls in revealing ye invisible spirit of his blessed grace and truth in us, and in ye sensible feeling of the same; we send this epistle to you, our well beloved friends in Kingstown meeting, who have sometimes met with, in sense and feeling of ye great love of God unto us; neither let us forsake ye assembling of us together as ye manner of some of us have been, and were destroyed by ye Destroyer; neither neglect weekly meetings ; and why should our distance of place hinder our monthly meetings of you with us, and us with you, and especially meetings of business which is of great concern, for dear friends we desire and it is ye salutation of our love to you that all our meetings may be kept up and in good season ; and that ye plain language, and plainness of apparel may be upheld in our families ; and that ye blessed everlasting truth of God may be witnessed to grow in and amongst us; and that current running which ye God of heavenly love hath opened in us, that may not be stopped with earth as ye Philistines stopped the outward wells of our ancient faithful fathers ; and in that love we advise you may always grow, and us also, that in it we all may fare well in love and faithful obedience in ye requirings of ye everlasting truth of God, and where have been a negli- gence there may be amendment .- By agreement of ye meeting."
Respecting the yearly meetings alluded to above, we find this notice :
" At the monthly man and woman's meeting this 22d 4th month, 1702, it has been seen expedient to alter the second first day's yearly meeting that was kept each in ye third month at Benjamin Barton's, hereafter to be kept in East Greenwich meeting house, and ye next day being ye second day of ye week, and to be ye men and women's meeting yearly hereafter ; and the last first day in ye fifth month, ye yearly meeting in Providence; and ye seventh day of ye week before a yearly meeting, is to be kept in Warwick at Benjamin Barton's house."
These meetings were well attended, many people coming from a distance for that purpose. Frequently, traveling Friends were present. Thomas Story, an eminent minister from England, says in his journal :
" On the 28th of the fifth month, 1704, we went to War- wick to a yearly meeting, which was to begin there the day
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following, at the house of Benjamin Barton, and continued by adjournment to the meeting house at Providence, the next day being the first day of the week."
It would seem that the Greenwich people of that day were not a little puffed up with their own righteousness, and scarcely qualified to advise or rebuke their Kingston breth- ren. Like the Athenians they probably passed much time in hearing and telling something new, for he adds :
" On the 31st I was at East Greenwich at another meet- ing where I was concerned to speak against divers enormi- ties, especially whispering, backbiting, traducing and villifying as the works of the evil one and of the flesh; and after the meeting several persons went to Ebenezer Slocum, an honorable and able minister of truth, and made confession of things they had unjustly repeated against him and asking his forgiveness."
There were several able ministers who resided within the limits of Greenwich monthly meeting at this time, who occasionally traveled to other parts of the country to preach the Gospel. Among these were Samuel Comstock, Peter Davis, Silas Carpenter, Henry Knowles, William Hall and Mary Hall his wife, and James Scriven, or as he has usually been called, " Scribbens."
The first half of the eighteenth century may be consid- ered as the most prosperous period of the Society in this vicinity, and yet it received but few additions of adult members by request or by convincement; and we have already shown how rapidly after this period its members were diminished by the death of the aged, and the tendency of the young to stray from the fold.
The James Scriven previously mentioned, who belonged to Greenwich monthly meeting, was quite a character in his day, and many anecdotes are related of him. He came to reside in South Kingstown, from Long Island, probably about the beginning of the year 1732, near which time he was married to Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Shearman, of North Kingstown, and thereafter made Narragansett his home. His natural abilities were very poor. He had hardly sense enough to eat and drink with propriety, and could not earn his own living, so that the expression " as weak as Scriven-or Scribbens " has passed into a proverb; yet he was a most wonderful preacher. The Society was obliged to render him assistance, as appears by a minute of Green-
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wich monthly meeting, held at South Kingstown, 4th month, 1741 :
" This meeting orders the treasurer to deliver twenty shillings to our friend James Scriven, to buy corn for his present necessity."
He used sometimes to travel as a minister, and on these occasions was generally accompanied by Peter Davis, who found it particularly necessary to watch over him. It was customary to place cider on the table in those days, and when James took up the tankard Peter would say, "Take care James, that is very strong cider." He generally at- tended the yearly meeting at Newport, and on his return to his lodgings, after being engaged in public testimony, boasted, before a roomfull of people, that he preached, and preached excellently, too. "No, James," said a Friend who was present, "Thou art greatly mistaken; thou hast not preached this day, it was thy gift that preached."
On one occasion of his being at Newport, it so happened that while walking on the street alone, he was met by a minister of some other denomination who was aware of his proverbial weakness, and who challenged him to a public discussion in relation to Friends' principles and doctrines, which he very readily accepted. Time and place were de- cided on, when James went back to his lodgings and re- ported it to his friends, who were not a little alarmed at the intelligence, and told him it would never do, for the minister was a man of sense and learning, and would cer- tainly get the advantage; that he must consider his own infirmities, and the cause of truth. But James continuing inflexible, and confident of success, said that he had ac- cepted the challenge, and it would be very dishonorable to flinch-not only so, but "his good master would stand by him and support His own cause." The Friends finally yielded and bore him company, and were greatly relieved when he came off entirely victorious.
He lived near Dr. McSparran, the Episcopalian mission- ary, and he was usually employed in some way that re- quired little thought or skill. At one time he was building a stone wall by the roadside. The learned Reverend Doctor, who entertained a most contemptible opinion of the Quakers in general, and of James Scriven in particular, (and which was certainly reciprocated), in passing by on horseback, reined up his steed and thus accosted him, "Well James, how many barrels of pudding and milk will it take
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to make forty rods of stone wall ?" Whereupon James dropped the stone which he held in his hand, and looking at the self-sufficient Doctor, said, "Just as many as it will take of hireling priests to make a Gospel minister."
It is related that a lawyer of some eminence attended a meeting in which James Scriven preached, and was so much affected by what he heard, that at the close of the meeting he requested some Friend with whom he was acquainted to introduce him to the speaker, commending the service in strong terms, and remarking that so great a preacher must be a very sensible and learned man. The Friend did not encourage this, but endeavored to divert him from his purpose by informing him that there would be a meeting at another place, the next day, where the man who was so much interested followed him, and was even more affected than before by his testimony, and again de- sired to meet him to converse on religious subjects. The Friend, who was finally unable to resist his importunities, introduced them to each other; but, on attempting to con- verse, his disappointment was so great that he exclaimed forcibly to the Friend, who had done his best to prevent the meeting, " Why he is a fool."
Although brevity is not always a peculiarity of the dis- courses of Friends, their sermons have sometimes been quite remarkable in this way. In the meeting at which Robert Barclay, the Apologist, was convinced of the truth of the principles of the Friends, we are told that but three sentences were spoken, thus : "In stillness there is fullness ; In fullness there is nothingness; In nothingness all things."
Samuel Atkinson, of New Jersey, once delivered the following short but pithy discourse: "Sheperds and shep- erdesses take care of the lambs ; wolves are very hungry in snow time." At another time the comment was even shorter than the text: "Put off the old man with his deeds ; a long job for some of us."
Our aged neighbor, Captain Joseph Spencer, has a dis- tinct recollection of attending meetings in the old East Greenwich meeting-house, when a boy, and relates an anec- dote of a brief sermon. A traveling Friend had appointed a meeting there, and according to the usual custom general notice had been given. The people of the neighborhood and from a distance came in crowds to the meeting, and the house was filled with an anxious audience, all eager to listen to the noted preacher, whose reputation had gone
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before him. After sitting some time in silence, he arose and said, "Friends, I think it is best for every one to mind their own business," and then sat down. In due time the meeting closed, and the audience dispersed, some of them expressing dissatisfaction and others disappointment. Al- though this discourse was given a great while since, nearly fourscore years of observation and reflection only confirm the value of it for when relating the incident, Captain Spencer adds, "It was the greatest sermon that I ever heard in my life."
In the 4th month, 1718, Providence monthly meeting was set off from Greenwich and established as a separate monthly meeting ; and about three years later, in 1721, a meeting for worship on the third First day of every month was settled in Warwick, and it was recommended that : " Some minister or ministers belonging to our monthly meeting should attend ye same." Greenwich monthly meeting was then composed of the preparative meetings of East Greenwich, South Kingstown and Westerly, and the meeting was held alternately at East Greenwich and South Kingstown, until the latter was established in the 3d month, 1743.
Soon after this the monthly meeting was held alternately at East Greenwich and Neshanticut, now Cranston; and this arrangement was continued until a meeting-house was erected in Coventry.
A very prominent name which appears frequently in the minutes of Greenwich monthly meeting is that of Nathan- ael Greene, the father of General Nathanael Greene, of Revolutionary fame.
He was born on the 4th of the 9th month, 1707. He be- came a preacher in the Society, and was often used in the service of the church. He married Phebe, the daughter of Benjamin Greene, of Providence, on the 13th day of the 9th month, 1733, in the Friends meeting-house at Neshanti- cut. She lived but a few years, and he was again married in 1739, to Mary Mott, of Newport. This estimable woman became the mother of the future General, who was destined to render his country such material service, and make the name he bore as imperishable as the history of his native land. In his youth General Greene was always in the habit of attending Friends' meeting, but the peaceful precepts of Quakerism could not restrain the promptings of an adven- turous spirit, and against the wishes of his exemplary pa-
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rents he assumed the responsibility and danger of a mili- tary life. It is related of his excellent mother, although we do not vouch for the truth of it, that, after having failed to persuade her son from entering the Continental army, she said to him " Well, Nathanael, if thee must engage in this carnal warfare, never let me hear of thy being wounded or killed with thy back to the enemy."
Our late townsman, Howland Greene, used to say that he distinctly remembered seeing General Greene mount his horse from the ancient stone horse-block which stood near the old meeting-house, and which continued to stand there as an interesting relic of a former age and custom, until a vandal hand was raised to destroy it within the last twenty years.
It has already been mentioned how careful Friends have always been to preserve the moral purity of their members, and to notice promptly all " disorderly walking." In 1740 we find where a young man was overcome with strong drink, that a committee was appointed to visit him, and as he expressed sorrow and contrition for his fault, and more- over signed a paper of condemnation to be read in a public meeting, he was forgiven.
In 1743 Greenwich monthly meeting accepts a paper of condemnation, drawn against one John Potter, for "his vile disorder of passing counterfeit Bills in imitation of the Bills of Public Credit of this Colony." In the same year, with a modest distrust of his own ability, Job Jenkins de- sires the advice of Friends how to manage in his temporal affairs, and the meeting accordingly appoints three Friends " to visit him and give him such advice as they think most to his advantage and the honor of truth, and make return to the next monthly meeting." The advice which was given him was to lessen his family by placing out his children as apprentices, and it appears that he accepted this prudent counsel.
When Friends remove from one monthly meeting to another, it is customary to state if they are free from all marriageable engagements.
When Silas Carpenter, who was a minister of the Society, was about to remove to North Carolina, in 1745, the meeting appointed two Friends to inquire into his circumstances and conversation and how he had left pro- vision for his ancient mother. They moved slowly in that day, for after three months the committee reported that
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they had made strict inquiry into his circumstances and clearness as to marriage, and that they find his business well settled, conversation good, and clear from any entan- glement with any one in marriage.
It was customary in the early days of the Society of Friends for them to consider all persons as members who regularly attended their meetings, and the care of the " visitors " was extended to all families who were measura- bly consistent in their life and conversation ; and when- ever any went astray, a "testimony of denial," would be prepared and read in a public meeting, like this : "Whereas Daniel Comstock hath beat and abused a man, with other disorderly walking, for which this meeting do deny him to be of our profession till he repent and amend his ways. Signed by order of our monthly meeting, held at East Greenwich ye 20th of ye 10th month, 1708, by Benjamin Barton and ten others." It was towards the close of the eighteenth century before members came into the Society by formal application and request.
John Briggs, the first recorded clerk of Greenwich monthly meeting, being removed by death in the year 1708, Jacob Greene was appointed in his stead, who served the meeting until 1721, when he was released and Jeremiah Gould received the appointment. He was an excellent scribe, according to the testimony of his penmanship, and the records were neatly kept and plainly written during eighteen years, until bodily infirmities compelled him to ask the appointment of some other person. His request was reluctantly granted, and John Greene, of Potowomut, assumed the duties of clerk. He filled the office for twelve years, until 1751, until his failing sight rendered him inca- pable of writing, and Thomas Aldrich was then appointed.
Soon after the middle of the eighteenth century the Society began to decline gradually. The general meetings were given up, not because they were not well attended, but because they drew together a crowd of disorderly pleasure seekers, who talked trade and swapped horses, with occasional scenes of riot. Various other denomina- tions, whose meeting-houses sprang up here and there, pre- sented modes of worship in more alluring forms, and when death made a vacancy there were none to fill it.
Having noticed most of the peculiarities of the Society in the olden time, with their manner of conducting the affairs of the church, we will pass lightly over a period of
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fifty years, until the nineteenth century opened a new era, pregnant with change, and sowing broadcast the seeds of decay. The abolition of negro slavery in Rhode Island, and the recognition of the United Colonies as an independ- ent nation at the close of a severe and protracted revolu- tionary struggle, had materially changed their social and political relations. This period is the broad moat which separated the modern from the ancient; the living, breath- ing, acting present from the misty character of the past, where shadow and substance are often blended. This period brought much persecution and suffering to the So- ciety of Friends, who faithfully maintained their traditions and testimonies against the sinfulness of war, at a time when the refusal to bear arms aroused a suspicion of dis- loyalty. The loss of property, and sometimes the loss of liberty were the penalties which our ancestors cheerfully paid for their devotion to principle.
The era of 1800 introduces another generation, and their family names are connected with the present day. The ancient order had passed away, and "slept with their fathers." They worshiped no longer in the old meeting- house, which was never defaced (in their opinion) by either paint or plaster ; or dismounted from saddle or pillion at the stone horse-block. A more imposing house of worship had been erected, and the affluent had thrown aside the saddle for the ease and luxury of a two-wheeled chaise, while less wealth or greater parsimony jolted to meeting in a springless wagon with a "grasshopper " seat.
The clerk of Greenwich monthly meeting was Beriah Collins, and it was composed, as it had been for sixty years, of the preparative meetings of East Greenwich and Cranston.
The lot of land on which the new meeting-house was built was purchased of Ethan Clarke by Sylvester Wicks, who was a committee for that purpose in 1804, and the house was erected by John Smith the same year. The site is the most eligible that could be selected, and commands a prospect of great extent and beauty. The meeting-house, which is still standing, and occupied by a small remnant who profess the faith and follow the forms of worship of this once highly favored Society, was first located with its gable end to the street, and was very near to it, fronting towards the south. It was placed in this awkward position by a whim of Sylvester Wicks, who was a prominent mem-
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ber, as well as an elder, and considered wealthy in that day-and a very reasonable whim it was, as every public building should front the south if possible, so as to get all the sunlight during the time it is usually occupied. The Friends' meeting-house is not so well arranged for health at the present as it was formerly, as the building now fronts to the east instead of the south, and the windows are cov- ered with blinds, shutting out the glorious sun, and giving it a dismal, prison-like aspect. Sylvester Wicks built and resided in the house now owned by Christopher Hawkins, just south of the meeting-house, and he also owned some thirty acres of land in the vicinity of his house. This land is now laid out into streets and is covered with dwelling houses, a public school-house, and the Lutheran Church. Benjamin Howland, who supported well his family reputa- tion for apt and pithy forms of expression, once said that " Sylvester Wicks ought to have been disowned for placing the meeting-house so awkwardly." It was removed farther from the street, and turned around in the year 1850, nearly fifty years after it was erected, when it received the addi- tion of a jet, and other repairs. It was not adorned by paint, either without or within, until about the year 1845, when it was painted on the outside; nor were the grounds beautified until recently ; but the general appearance of the house was that of an agreeable simplicity. The lot on which the house stands was a gift from Sylvester Wicks, upon the condition that it should always be used for a Friends' meeting-house, otherwise it should revert to his heirs.
The modes of transacting the affairs of the Society after the beginning of the present century assume more formal- ity and exactness. On the admission of members a com- mittee is appointed to visit the applicant, and if they believe the desire of membership originated in the persua- sions of truth, and their religious principles are found to be in accordance with the faith of the Society the com- mittee report favorably, and the candidate is accepted. On the removal of members from the limits of one meeting to another, certificates of their standing were always sent, even though the person was only a youth or minor.
"To GREENWICH MONTHLY MEETING-Dear Friends, Aza Arnold, son of Benjamin Arnold, is now serving an apprenticeship, within the verge of your monthly meeting, and his father requesting for him our certificate; we there-
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fore certify that he is a member of our monthly meeting, and was, when with us, an orderly lad; as such we recom- mend him to your Christian care and oversight, with desires for his preservation and growth in the truth.
" Signed by order of a monthly meeting, held at Provi- dence, 26th of 2d month, 1806, by OBADIAH BROWN, Clerk."
Some of the prominent members of that day were Syl- vester Wicks, Paul Greene, John Langford, John Casey, Robert Hall, while some of the younger men were much used in the affairs of the Society, as Thomas Anthony, and Daniel, Benjamin and Thomas Howland. John Smith re- sided in Wickford, where a meeting-house had been built, and Warwick and Cranston were represented by Elisha Harris, John Greene, Isaac Fiske, Rowland Greene, Jona- than Knowles and Lloyd Greene. Ann Smith was an approved minister who attended Wickford meeting, and often visited distant parts of the country in that service ; Sylvester Wicks was an elder, but preached occasionally. John Casey, Daniel Howland, Thomas Anthony and Row- land Greene, were all approved ministers.
We will give a few salient points in the life and charac- ter of these men who have already passed from the stage of life, but are well remembered by persons of the present generation. John Casey was one of the most attractive and powerful preachers that ever belonged to Greenwich monthly meeting. Of scarcely medium height, and rather inclined to corpulency, his form was always arrayed in a well fitting suit of drab, while a broad-brimmed hat of the same color, shaded a face that was both handsome and intel- lectual. It was usual at that day to have two meetings on the Sabbath, both morning and afternoon, and such was the desire to hear him that the house would generally be filled, and sometimes extra seats were placed along the aisles. He was the son of John Casey, of Newport, and was married in the year 1797, to Rebecca Proud, the daughter of John Proud, formerly of Newport. She was the grand-daughter of John Proud, Jr., of Newport, who in the year 1738 was married in the old meeting-house to Ann Greene, of Potowomut. The father of this John Proud, Jr., emigrated from England and settled in New- port, where he followed the business of chair making, a trade in which other members of the family have been pro- ficient at a later date. John Casey was a hatter by trade, and had many apprentices to whom he taught the business.
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