USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > Two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, held at Moses Brown School, Providence, R.I., sixth month, 24th, 1911 > Part 7
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But holding meetings which were apt to be broken up by force and the leaders arrested and thrown into jail seems to have appealed to them. Starting on voyages in the little boat called
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the good ship Woodhouse, found a goodly company of Friends ready to embrace the risk.
Truly they had giants in courage in those days.
We can gather some idea of how they must have lived from the journals. Everything was of course much simpler than now. We read that George Fox did at one time wear a leather suit, at another that they found his linen so good as to cause the investigators to respect him.
There is frequent mention of the adjournment of arguments or trials because the Quakers' opponents were hungry, as if Friends were above such troubles, but there are many other reasons for thinking that Friends of the early days were very human and, though fired with a great enthusiasm which sustained them at many times, were still quite as sensitive as their fellows to the hardships to which they were subjected.
Hardships did not deter the Quakers of the olden time nor were they unmindful of them and for an example I have chosen to quote from the Journal of the Quaker St. Francis of Assizi, John Woolman, where in his Journal of his visit to the Indians he says (page 175):
"After a hard day's journey I was brought into a painful ex- ercise at night in which I had to trace back and view the steps I had taken from my first moving in the visit, and though I had to bewail some weakness which at times had attended me, yet I could not find that I had ever given away to wilful disobedience.
"Believing I had under a sense of duty come thus far, I was now earnest in spirit beseeching the Lord to show me what I ought to do. In this great distress I grew jealous of myself, lest the desire of reputation as a man firmly settled to persevere through dangers or the fear of disgrace from my returning with- out performing the visit might have some place in me; full of these thoughts I lay a great part of the night while my companion slept by me till the Lord my gracious Father who saw the con- flicts of my soul was pleased to give quietness. Then I was again strengthened to commit my life, and all things relating thereto into His heavenly hands and got a little sleep toward day."
Mary Dyer did not leave her husband and family in Rhode Island and insist on returning to Boston, nor John Bourne sub-
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mit to imprisonment and transportation, as he expressed it in his letter to the Directors of the West India Company, from any love of adventure.
To any person reading the account of these times a most insistent "Why" must always press for answer.
We go over the list of testimonies, radical though they were, without finding an explanation which satisfies, however much we may admire them.
Testimonies against war, against oaths, against outward baptism, against hireling ministry, against death penalties, against rank or social prestige, are all splendid, but they did not vitalize those shining lives. They were only avenues of expression of their positive message. They had received a knowledge of God, a conception of their oneness with Him and a partaking in His all-embracing love which made war impossible. A realization of the baptism of the spirit which made water bap- tism partake of unreality, a communion with the divine nature which made any outwardly administered ordinance of the Lord's Supper seem to them a sham.
Democracy had a reason in their conception of an intimate love of God for and in all men so that they must cry out against injustice and unequal laws and oppressive acts, slavery, religious bigotry and social distinctions as defiance of the divine love, and a message, whether to Indian or black man was listened to as a manifestation of that same love.
Everything was the result of that transcendent experience that Jesus Christ can speak to their condition, not necessarily in the words He used to Peter or Nicodemus or Pilate, but in the words which apply to thy life and mine.
The people who received the message which Fox had to preach had to be about the business of helping their fellows and in no half-way measure.
Some went one way, some another. The militant methods of Mary Dyer and William Leddra and the other Friends who upset the narrow religious and political oligarchy of the Puritans contrast rudely with the marvelous spirit of John Woolman, but they were all fired with the same zeal for service.
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It is well known that Mary Dyer and William Leddra and the other martyrs at last forced Governor Endicott to sacrifice their lives to the prejudice which controlled the administration in the colony and so brought about its downfall, but as an example of the wonderful spirit which brought Friends to action against prejudice or wrong, let me quote again from Woolman's account of his service during which he spoke in New England yearly meeting against lotteries. He writes:
"In this debate it appeared very clear to me that the spirit of lotteries was a spirit of selfishness which tended to confuse and darken the understanding, and that pleading for it in our meetings, which were set apart for the Lord's work, was not right. In the heat of zeal, I made reply to what an ancient Friend said, and when I sat down I saw that my words were not enough seasoned with charity. After this I spoke no more on the subject.
"At length a minute was made inviting Friends to labour to discourage the practice amongst all professing with us.
"Sometime after this minute was made I remained uneasy with the manner of my speaking to the ancient Friend and could not see my way to conceal my uneasiness though I was concerned that I might say nothing to weaken the cause in which I had laboured. After some close exercise and hearty repentance for not having attended closely to the safe guide, I stood up, and reciting the passage acquainted Friends that though I durst not go from what I had said as to the matter, yet I was uneasy with the manner of my speaking, believing milder language would have been better. As this was uttered in some degree of creaturely abasement, after a warm debate it appeared to have a good savour amongst us."
Again the spirit in which he met the questionings of London yearly meeting shows the abiding grace with which their mes- sage imbued them.
John Woolman's ship had just reached London after a very rough passage, during which he had suffered a great deal of hardship owing to his refusal to travel in any greater comfort than the sailors. He heard that yearly meeting was in session and went straight from the ship to the meeting house. Upon his entry some curiosity was aroused by his strange appearance
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for his dress was peculiar as he refused to wear anything which was dyed and when he told the meeting of his concern to come to them for service some Friends quite bluntly said they thought his concern might now be satisfied if he returned home. The sweet spirit which had braved the hardships of the passage in a great sense of love was much crushed by this response and sat a long time in tears, but finally, feeling called to speak, said he had no desire to be chargeable to any of them, but if they would help him to his trade (a tailor) he would support himself. He then felt a message was given him to deliver. After he had spoken the Friends who had opposed his further service were the first to bid him stay and proceed with his "concern."
Though they differed in method in every case there was the fire of dedication to some exalted purpose.
Whittier in his time speaks in the poems which we know best with calm and trustful spirit. He voices a message which is welcomed everywhere and claimed by all branches of Friends, but it is a voice enriched and ennobled by a life given with an all-absorbing devotion to a cause. A warmth and glow which are the blossom and fruit of sacrifice.
The Quakers "then" had a glorious possession. They felt themselves living exponents of the Heavenly Love.
And what of Quakers now?
Is the glory all in the sunset?
Are there only the "dykes our Fathers made to our great profit and ease."
Are there any Quakers now? Would Fox or Burroughs or Pennington or Governor Endicott recognize us or would Roger Williams row the length of Narragansett Bay for an argument with any Quaker of today? In the formal hasty business meet- ing of the monthly meeting of today what would happen if some Mary Fisher expressed her concern to visit the Sultan of Turkey in the cause of truth? Have separations, pastoral sys- tem, holiness movements, modern thought, ancient practices and twentieth century conditions worked our undoing? Has anyone
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seen handwriting on the wall and are the words Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin?
To Friends of today the handwriting reads Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
The Quaker now is asking questions as George Fox was and we are thankful for it. To young Friends (The Friends of Now) the vision of Pendel Hill is being shown again and in the response which they are making our forefathers will recognize their children and as we gather in meetings like this in peace conferences in fellowship pilgrimages but, more than all in any united service, we feel their acknowledgment.
Is history repeating itself?
As we see the progress in the fruits of Christian ideals in the world, the lives and fortunes spent in helping unfortunates, the constructive thought given to charity, the growing enthu- siam for social service, does it suggest that the world has gone ahead of the church in practical Christianity? Does it resemble Fox's time when the fresh knowledge of the Bible and a quick- ened public conscience was running away from the formal state religion?
Has our guarded religious education tended to herd us behind the dykes our fathers built and keep us pleasantly occupied while the world, which needed us and which we needed, has been sweeping by us at flood tide?
In the movement among young Friends which has been noticeable in the last ten years we find an earnest of a change. Friends' children have taken to independent thought at last.
In England the rise of the movement for adult schools marks an awakening of Friends to the needs of the world. Studies of the causes of drink and poverty, re-entry of Friends into politics with the Liberal party, work of the visiting parties to unused meeting houses or week-end tramps with meetings held in coun- try villages, a willingness to be very different from others if nec- essary but very real and informal are signs of a very sturdy life.
The work of the Yorkshire 1905 committee, which was ap- pointed to carry on the plans of John Wilhelm Rowntree after his death and which interests itself in every sort of helpful spirit- ual service, such as schools for workers where they can receive higher training at small cost with great freedom as to hours for
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lectures, is inspiring and it does inspire. The helpful influence of Woodbrooke and of the consecrated lives which have been gathered to aid those who will avail themselves of its opportu- nities has made itself felt in many meetings of all branches of our Society here in America as well as in England. The growth of Christian Endeavor Societies, the formation of Quaker Round Tables to study Friends principles, the organization of fellow- ship circles, the activity of young Friends in social service in our communities are evidences of quickened life.
Young Friends, as witness the work of your fellowship group to make themselves of use to the yearly meeting are coming forward in our meetings. In eight out of the thirteen epistles received in New York yearly meeting mention was made of increased interest and activity on the part of the young people.
The Quaker Round Tables, Study Classes and Young Friends Associations are organizing a Fellowship Pilgrimage to Ames- bury and Haverhill in the Ninth Month. It is cheering to know that there are such organizations and they are coming together not for a literary treat but for a fellowship which will reach out into service.
I quote the following from the epistle from Iowa yearly meet- ing, 1909:
"Our Evangelistic work has been encouraging. We note with especial gladness the work of the 'Gospel Teams' com- panies of young men who have gone out from our College for evangelistic work; these with the hope and enthusiasm of youth, with unwavering faith in God and His word have labored in different fields and many have been won to Christ. The influ- ence of their labors upon the young with whom they have come in contact has been effective in helping them to a true conception of Christianity and the possibilities of youth consecrated to God."
For better or for worse the young people of our Society are going out into the world and, as they feel its rush and see its need, they are looking about to bring aid, and by the aid they bring, the world will judge them and their God.
Today there is an unrest greater and more widespread than was possible in Fox's time. Problems of immigration face us that his time could not know. Mixtures of races with divergent customs and viewpoints produces a condition no country has 6
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ever faced before. Over a million strangers to our customs and laws landing on our shores each year is a situation which con- fronts us. The development of a public opinion which bids fair to disrupt our time-honored political parties, a demand that the people enjoy what is theirs, in place of the few who are in advantageous position, are signs which show life, perhaps danger, and the insistent cry against corruption in our high places; the increasing demand for reduced cost of living; the success of government supervision of public utilities all show an awakened public life.
And the awakening is not confined to the United States. Popular government in Persia would have seemed an idle dream five years ago. Japan, India, even China and Africa are awake. The world must be led to Christ today. Into the unrest must come a people with a message. It is to such a world that the Friend of today must speak. To quote from an editorial in the American Friend-Signed R. W. K .:
"It is for us to say just now whether they shall come to the light of His glory. The message that was carried down to us through long toilsome centuries must be passed on to nations that are making quick choices. If we really believe that 'through the ages an eternal purpose runs' and that according to the great purpose we have been led into the true light, then the hour has struck for us to arise and shine."
And what of Friends message to such a world which it must be the duty of the Friend of today to voice?
In the heat and turmoil of New York in Seventh Month last a conference of representatives of various yearly meetings of Friends of all branches was held on the subject of Peace." The speakers who addressed the meetings were all Friends with the exception of one who was a Socialist of prominence.
The stenographer who had been employed to report the pro- ceedings of the conference had his first experience of Friends at these meetings. When he delivered the notes of the meeting he said to me, "I enjoyed that work more than anything I have done since I came to New York. Everyone who spoke spoke from the point of view of love except the Socialist and he spoke from the viewpoint of hate."
The message of Friends had been voiced to that man and he
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had heard it for all branches of Friends were united in some definite work.
John Woolman's message was one of love and his statement that "I have cause to acknowledge with humble reverence the loving kindness of my Heavenly Father who hath preserved me in such a tender frame of mind that none, I believe, have ever been offended at what I have said," shows us the power with which such a message speaks.
The message of Fox and Woolman was theirs as they were able to lay hold on the eternal truths of God and this came because of a life with God. So we can only have a message as we have such a life.
Always there will be a message for such simplicity as they lived out in everything. What is direct appeals to us all. It is the directness of the child which astounds us. Our Quaker message is the message of direct contact with God lived as if we believed it.
To the Society of Friends has come this year a voice speaking in our own tongue a lesson of marvelous power. I refer to the message from China.
To all Yearly Meetings of Friends:
The Sz-Ch'wan Yearly Meeting of Friends in China sends a letter of greeting to our beloved Friends and fellow-workers with the Lord, for your respectful perusal. Our Society has been established in the Province of Sz-Ch'wan for about 20 years, and of believers in the Lord, there are many who are earnest and zealous. We regret that hitherto we have been lacking in not having communication with your Meeting, and in not enquiring respectfully after your welfare.
We remember that you and we-as Friends-originally spring from one stock, and although we live in different coun- tries, yet the Lord we serve is but One; we ought, therefore, in the spirit of the love of Christ, to have always fellowship and union with you. It is the desire and hope of us who are so far away, that your Meeting may receive unbounded blessing from God.
This is the time of our Yearly Meeting, and we are met at
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Sui Ning from our several centres, and while thus assembled, we are constrained to expressly send out this message to all Friends, and to request you to pray for us, that our Heavenly Father will increase our strength to do the good work of our Lord, for which we shall be very grateful.
Peace be to you all.
From the perspective of the mountains of sacrifice up which the missionaries climbed to carry the light to those Friends the branches of our Society seem firmly connected in the trunk of the live tree.
Can it be that we have needed a message from so far a country to show us our brother.
Is it possible that for the progress of Christ's kingdom God is demanding the kind of service Mary Dyer rendered and that for us of today the illiberal thought which demands that my neighbor accept my viewpoint as the basis of fellowship is the Massachusetts of present day calling for self-sacrifice by some Mary Dyer of our generation?
Into the world the Friend today must come with a no less exalted conception of life and the divine purposes than they had then. In a spirit of love he must throw himself into battle for the right. From a divine fire within he must be able to show a light from which other lives will kindle.
In consciousness of the Kingdom of God he will "detect the great things in the small" and in the service of the lowliest perceive the Master's footsteps.
Though the distance between the child in the famine district of India or China and the wheat pit in Chicago or New York is great, yet in the man who corners the wheat market he can see food denied to the Master and in love he will wake to make such action impossible.
In the official who neglects his duty in protecting a water supply from contamination he can see the denial of drink to the Master, who was thirsty, and will do more than his part in trying to show people their responsibility.
In any policy of tariff or monoply which increases the price of clothing beyond the means of the poor so that their children sicken in want, he can see the Master naked and not clothed and
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in a people bound to the prison of the letter of a creed or suffocated in the dungeon of ritual and formalism the Master unvisited in prison.
To teach such a religion we must know it. People cannot be interested in hearsay. They insist on the facts. We must tell them of a religious experience which happens today in a city like New York or Providence under the conditions in which they live, not of one which may only have been satisfactory in Pales- tine or Rome. 'An experience of the life with God and its power comes not by easy methods.
Gladstone's expression of the "Work of Worship" must be experienced.
To preach to the world so that it can hear we must read our newspapers as carefully as our Bibles. We must join the Master in knowing what is in man, his thoughts and aims, his troubles and uncertainties.
When we join the Fellowship of the Suffering of Christ, when in the agony of our desire to join with him we realize that the wrong in the world is in a sense our fault, that if we were all doing our duty such things could not be; then we would be in a measure fitted for the "mighty ordination of the pierced hands."
To such an experience, to such a life, to such a power it is that young Friends today are reaching out.
Eager for such a spirit they are trying to learn how to pray. `They are asking not for the little material things of our child- hood, but they are crying out, from the distress of souls who have found themselves wanting in ability to express God to their fellows, for the fullness of union with the Almighty which will · make us expressions of his purposes;
"The love and reverent fear to make Our daily lives a prayer."
Let us face the facts and acknowledge our failures but in the failures let us search not for discouragements but for suggestion. Let us be original again if that is the expression of actual Chris- tian thoughit. If there is any body of Christians who ought to be daring investigators in the things of the spirit it is the Friends.
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We of all peoples are the freest to go to original sources and think and feel things out for ourselves. The Friend who hunts for heresy and preaches orthodoxy has missed the spirit of Quakerism as much as the one who practices water baptism. We can and ought to be pioneers and in the present movement among young friends we will be, as they are in England already.
In every subject which we consider, let us see if even what we know of what would be Christ's attitude could not be in our lives expressed, but above all let us go back to the prayer which forces us away from the things which are of the earth earthy, and which is an opening of the courses of Heaven into the channels of our life, a life not cloistered or at ease, but trained in the highest schools of efficiency, founded on the most reliant faith, brightened by the most brilliant hope, and, greater than all, made sensitive by the divine element of love.
Until we have such ability and such a union with the divine, no influence comparable to that of the Friends of our glorious past can be expected.
Even in our doubting times of inefficiency we have never felt that God was less able to use men for his purposes than He was before; and now, at this milestone in our progress, have we not strength to believe that Quakerism can have a new birth and enter into the baptism, whether of suffering or of joy, with which our master was baptized and can we not in the inspiring words which closed the Epistle from Western Yearly Meeting go forward, "Trusting in the Spirit of our God to lead us in all the adjustments necessary for efficiency under the new order."
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