"No — nursed in storm .and peril long, The weakest of their band was strong;"
and, whilst men and women were perishing in jailg, even the little boys and girls would meet together at the places appointed, and in the beauty and sweetness of earh- piety worship the God of their fathers in spirit and in truth. But not even childhood was sacred from religious intolerance and official interference. These babes in Christ (as truly they might be called) were disturbed at their worship, savagelj' threatened, and sometimes cruelly beaten.
The early history of Friends is closeh' connected with that of George Fox, and necessarily included in the various biographies of that remarkalile man. He commenced his career as a seeker after the truth, and meeting, in Europe and America, with manj' whose yearnings were similar, they were called SeeJcos. The epithet of Quakers was given in derision, because they often trembled under an awful sense of the infinite purity and majesty of God, and this name, rather sub- mitted to than accepted by them, has Iiecome general as a designation. " To this man will I look," said the Holy Spirit by Isaiah, "even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and tremblelh at my word." To tremble, then, at the presence of the God of the whole earth, and especially Avhen speaking in his name, is not to be regarded as any reproach ; but their name, as a body, is ' ' The Relir/ious Society of Friends.'''' The spread of the society in North America was rapid, especially after the founding of Pennsylvania in 1680 bj' Wil- liam Penn, whose career as a wise legislator is promi- nent in history, and who, as a Christian philanthropist, a statesman, a writer, and a minister of the Gospel of Christ, established a reputation which even the vindic- tive attacks of Macaulay could not undermine. As early as 1672 George Fox found an established settle- ment of Friends in Perquimans Count}', N. C, which proved the germ of an independent diocese, or Yearly Meeting, whose members from that time have been ex- emplary upholders, at the cost of persecution and much loss of substance, of the principles of civil and religious libert}', steadily testifying against slavery and Avar, and maintaining the frccnoss of the Gospel. During the War of the Kebellion their heroic firmness in refus- ing to bear arms was proof against cruel tAranny, so that some of these simple testimcnj^ - bearers, who "loved not their lives unto the death," by meek yet brave endurance of tortures and privations have made their names historic. It is noteworthy that in North Carolina, within a verj' few years (during and since the Rebellion), about seven hundred persons joined the society from convincement. The membership of that Yearly Meeting, although nianj' times thinned bj' em- igration to free states, is now about three thousand souls. The persecution of Friends in New England was so sanguinarj' that
"Old Kenbiny, had lier fields a tongue,
And Siileiii's streets, could tell their story Of fainting woman dragged along, Gashed by the whip accursed, and gory;"
and four Friends actually suffered martyrdom — a Qua- ker woman of remarkable refinement and piety, and three men of equal worth, being hanged on Boston Common. The number of victims was likely to be increased, when proceedings were cheeked by a royal mandamus.
The membership of the society becoming very wide- ly extended, a formal organization by a system of Church government became necessary, and George Fox evinced much sagacity, mental soundness, and spiritual guidance in successful efforts to establish rules for the government of the Church, and meetings for discipline in a harmonious chain of subordination, the liighest and final authority being a Yearly ^Meet- ing. The Yearly Meetings are, in a sense, diocesan, having each a defined territorial jurisdiction, and in- dependent of each other in their government and law-
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making powers, whilst by a sort of common law there are principles of discipline sacred to all, and member- ship in any meeting involves a connection with the society wherever existing, and may be transferred by ccrtilicate when the person claiming such credential is not liable to Church censure.
The transaction of the business of these meetings is regarded as the Lord's work; and as he declared "where two or three are gathered in my name, there AM I in the midst of them," they regard his immediate presence with his Church as the foundation of its au- thoritjr. Hence, in these meetings, and in those espe- cially for worship, it is held to be necessary for all minds to be turned to him who is present by his Spirit, and whose anointing teacheth all things, and alone can enable his people to serve him according to the counsel of his will.
In the ministry of the Word, no Friend who is true to the principles of the societj"- will speak without feel- ing a direct call and movement of the Holy Spirit fur the service. Under this influence, the Gospel ministiy is regarded as verj- precious, and a blessing to be guard- ed and cherished. Elders are appointed, who are be- lieved to be prudent persons, gifted with a discerning spirit, and it is their duty to counsel, foster, and aid the ministers, and either to encourage or restrain the vocal offerings of those who attempt to speak in this capacity, according as thej^ are or are not believed to be called of God to the work.