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The Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers - after their founder suggested to Justice Bennet of Derby that he 'quake and tremble at the word of the Lord' - , is a small Christian body that began about the middle of the 17th century, as a revolt of mystical Christianity against the ecclesiasticism and bibliolatry of the Reformed Churches, both Anglican and Non-conformist. Groups of dissatisfied 'seekers' were at that time meeting together, waiting for some authentic revelation from God; and this many of them believed that they received through the preaching of George Fox.
All the distinctive views and practices of the Quakers flow from the root principle of the 'inward light' - the belief that everyone has, or may have, some direct experience of God in the soul. In public worship they discard all professional ministry and arranged services except among the Pastoral body of America, and meet in silent fellowship waiting on God, giving freedom to anyone who is believed to be moved by the Spirit to preach or lead the company in vocal prayer. They do not practise the outward sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, believing that the whole emphasis of Jesus Christ and His Apostles was not upon symbolic acts, but upon inward experience and rightness of life.
They have a unique form of marriage, in which human priesthood finds no place, the man and woman simply taking one another in the presence of God and the congregation. They refuse to take judicial oaths, believing that anyone who walks in the Light will always and everywhere do his best to speak the truth. In church government every member, male or female, has a an equal voice. No question is decided by a vote; but after a time of silent worship matters are discussed in a reverent spirit and the 'clerk' or president gathers what he believes to be the sense of the meeting.
From the earliest days the conviction that the Light of God is in some measure present in everyone has given the Quakers a special sense of human brotherhood, and made them pioneers of philanthropy.
The Society Of Friends was the first Christian body in America to forbid its members to hold slaves, and in England, Quakers led by Elizabeth Fry took the lead in prison reform and also in the kindly treatment of mental patients. The same spirit is at the root of their opposition to war, which involves the double conviction unique to the Society Of Friends within the Christian church, that: 1) war is always contrary to the spirit of Christ and 2) that war is always unnecessary for a nation that will persistently act with justice to all. This twofold conviction was put into practice in Penn's 'holy experiment' - the colony of Pennsylvania having been maintained under Quaker rule for over 70 years without armed defence against Indian marauders, and without being attacked by them.
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The Underground Railroad was a secret and philanthropical organisation which existed in the USA and Canada during the later years of slavery with the object of helping slaves escape bondage. Its chief centre was in Philadelphia. The Underground Railroad was a network of 'safe houses' and individuals who aided escaped slaves by providing them with food, shelter and money, to travel primarily to Canada where they automatically became freemen.
The Underground Railroad movement originated among the Quakers of Pennsylvania, and the system was gradually extended until a chain of stations was established a day's journey apart and leading from Kentucky and Virginia across Ohio, and from Maryland through Pennsylvania and New York to Canada. The stations were private houses, and the inmates were known to be pledged to the cause. The fugitives reached these stations after nightfall, were fed and clothed when it was necessary and given a night's rest. The sick were provided with a place in which to remain until they were restored to health.
Levi Coffin, a Quaker, and the reputed president of the organization, assisted in the escape of about 100 slaves annually for many years. He always had a carriage in readiness to convey the fugitives to a place of safety and organized sewing circles to provide clothing for the destitute. Harriet Tubman, a Black woman, who had escaped North, made nineteen journeys to the South and brought back bands of fugitives always without detection. The greatest secrecy was observed in all of the movements of the organization. The Underground Railroad was formally organized in 1838, but did not reach its perfection until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 aroused the Abolitionists to still greater exertions.
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The Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis) is a moth of the family Noctuidae with a wing span of between 35 and 40 mm flying from April to June.
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The Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) is a moth of the family Noctuidae with a wing span of between 25 and 30 mm found in Europe flying from March to April.
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Benjamin Lundy was an American abolitionist and journalist. He was born in 1789 and died in 1839. A Quaker, he originated an anti-slavery association in Ohio called the Union Humane Society in 1815. He contributed anti-slavery articles to periodicals, and from 1812 to 1836 edited The Genius of Universal Emancipation published at Baltimore after 1824. He advocated negro colonization. He was one of the first to deliver anti-slavery lectures and the first to found societies for the encouragement of free labour. Garrison was an assistant to him at first.
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Elizabeth Fry (born Elizabeth Gurney) was a British prison reformer. She was born in 1780 and died in 1845. The third daughter of John Gurney, of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, when she was eighteen, a sermon preached by William Savery, an American Quaker, at Norwich, had the effect of turning her attention to serious things, and making her adopt decided views on religious matters. About this time also she made the acquaintance of Joseph Fry, a London merchant and a strict Quaker, to whom she was married in 1800. In 1810 she became a preacher among the Friends. In 1811 she was ordained as a Quaker preacher and in 1813 visited Newgate prison, where, so horrified by the conditions she saw she started to campaign for prison reform. In 1817 she formed an association for female prisoners and subsequently visited gaols in northern England and Scotland with he brother Joseph, publishing her findings in an influential report in 1819. She then went on to campaign across Europe for better conditions for prisoners and those in mental institutions.
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Francis Smith was a British soldier. He was born in 1720 and died in 1791. A colonel in the army, he went to America and commanded the troops sent to Concord in 1775. He fought at Lexington and Concord, and commanded a brigade at Long Island, and at Quaker Hill in 1778.
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John G Whittier was an American poet. He was born in 1807 and died in 1892. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from 1835 to 1836. He was appointed secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1836. He edited the Pennsylvania Freeman from 1838 to 1839. He contributed editorials to the National Era, a Washington anti-slavery paper, from 1847 to 1859. With the exception of Longfellow he was the most popular American poet. He was a Quaker, and a man of philanthropic spirit. Prominent among his works are 'Legends of New England' and 'Snowbound'.
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John Winthrop was an English lawyer and colonist of America. He was born in 1588 at Groton and died in 1649. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a justice of the peace and attorney. His sympathies were with the Parliamentary opposition to the Stuart policy, and in 1629 he was chosen Governor of Massachusetts. He arrived in Salem in the summer of 1630, and soon proceeded to the site of Boston. He continued as the chief magistrate until 1634. In the short following period, when Vane was Governor, and the Anne Hutchinson controversy was the burning question, John Winthrop opposed Vane. He was Governor again from 1637 to 1640 and from 1646 until his death.
John Winthrop was an English colonist. He was born in 1606 and died in 1676. The son of John Winthrop the lawyer and colonist, he went to Massachusetts from England in 1631. He was an assistant of the Massachusetts colony from 1631 to 1649. He went to England in 1634 and obtained a commission to build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River. In 1646 he founded what is now New London, and became a Connecticut magistrate in 1650. He was elected Governor of Connecticut in 1657, and held office until his death, except one year. In 1663 he obtained a charter from Charles II uniting the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven.
John Winthrop was an American colonial governor. He was born in 1639 and died in 1707. The son of John Winthrop the yonnger, he was a highly efficient agent of the Connecticut colony in London from 1693 to 1697. He was Governor of Connecticut from 1698 to 1707.
*John Woolman
John Woolman was an American religious essayist and anti-slavery campaigner. He was born in 1720 at West Jersey and died in 1772. He was a Quaker and persuaded the Quaker community to abandon all participation in the slave trade.
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John Woolman was an American religious essayist and anti-slavery campaigner. He was born in 1720 at West Jersey and died in 1772. He was a Quaker and persuaded the Quaker community to abandon all participation in the slave trade.
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