George For and his Coadjutors. BY THOMAS EVANS. IN tracing the history of the Christian Church, from its earliest establishment, through the periods of its decline, until it reached that long and dark night of apostacy which for ages preceded. the Reformation, we find, that in proportion as the life and substance of religion decayed, a multitude of ceremonies were introduced in its place, little, if at all, less onerous than the typical institutions of the Mosaic law. This has ever been the result, when the ingenuity of man has attempted to adorn the simplicity of spiritual religion. There is a natural activity in the human mind, which prompts it to be busy, and can with difficulty submit to that self-renunciation which the Gospel enjoins. It is much easier for a professor of religion to be engaged in the performance of rites and ceremonies, than to yield his heart an entire sacrifice to God. Objects presented to the mind through the medium of the natural senses, produce a powerful impression, and are more easily apprehended, than those truths which are addressed to the intellectual faculties only, and are designed to subdue and control the wayward passions of the human heart. It is not surprising, therefore, that instead of that worship of the Almighty Father, which is in Spirit and in Truth, and which requires the subjection of the will and activity of man, and the prostration of the whole soul in reverent humility before God, a routine of ceremonies and forms should have been substituted, calculated to strike the eye and ear with admiration. As the period of degeneracy was marked by the great amount and increase of these ceremonies, so, when it pleased the Most High to raise up individuals, and enlighten them to see the existing conceptions, and how far the professed Christian Church had departed from original purity, and to prepare them for in 208 GEORGE FOX AND HIS COADJUTORS. struments in working a reformation, one of their first duties, was to draw men off from those rites by which their minds had been unduly occupied, and on which they had too much depended, instead of pressing after experimental religion in the heart. This, of necessity, was a progressive work. The brightness of meridian day bursts not at once upon the world. There is a gradual increase of light, from its earliest dawn until it reaches its fullest splendour; yet the feeblest ray which first darts through the thick darkness, is the same in its nature with the most luminous blaze. It makes manifest those things, which the Divine controversy is against, and leads back to the state of Gospel simplicity and purity, from which the visible Church has lapsed. And although the light may not be sufficiently clear to discover all the corruptions, nor the state of the world such as to bear their removal, yet those holy men, who act up faithfully to the degree of knowledge with which they are favoured, are worthy of double honour, as instruments for correcting the growing evils of their day, and preparing the way for further advancement in the Reformation. It is interesting to observe, that the different religious societies which have arisen since the reformation, all aimed at the attainment of greater degrees of spirituality, and a more fervent piety than was generally to be found among the sect from which they sprung. The idea, that forms were too much substituted for power, and a decent compliance with the externals of religion, for its heart-changing, work, appears to have given rise to them all. Each successive advance lopped off some of the ceremonial excrescences, with a view of making the system more conformable to the apostolic pattern. In the early part of the seventeenth century, considerable progress was made in this work, tending to prepare the way for that more full and complete exemplification of the original simplicity of the Gospel, which was exhibited to the world by George Fox and his coadjutors. It is no arrogant assumption to assert, that to whatever point GEORGE FOX AND HIS Coadjutors. 209 in the Reformation we turn our attention, we find the germ of those principles, which were subsequently developed and carried out by the founders of our Society, actuating the Reformers and leading them to results approaching nearer to those attained by FRIENDS, in proportion to the faithfulness and measure of light bestowed on the individual. Opinions very similar to those held by our Society, on the subjects of the indwelling and guidance of the IIoly Spirit, baptism and other ceremonies, superstitious rites, war, oaths, and a ministry of human appointment and education, were promulgated by individuals at different periods, antecedent to the rise of Friends, though not advanced as distinguishing tenets by any considerable body of professors. From the dawn of the reformation, the spirit of religious inquiry had been kept alive and strengthened by the very efforts used to suppress it. The shackles with which priestcraft had attempted to bind the human mind, had been in some measure broken, and an earnest desire awakened after the saving knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus. This was increased by the troubles of the times. The nation was torn by intestine strife. Civil war, with all its attendant evils, raged throughout England, and the property, as well as the lives of the subjects, were at the mercy of a lawless soldiery. Many were stripped of their outward possessions; reduced to poverty and want, and often obliged to abandon their homes, and flee for the preservation of their lives. This melancholy state of affairs, had a tendency to loosen their attachments from the world, by showing the precarious tenure of all earthly enjoyments, and to induce men to press after those substantial and permanent consolations, which are only to be found in a religious life. Where the ecclesiastical and civil power were so frequently shifting hands, and the national form of religion changing with every change of rulers, new sects and opinions arising, and dif 210 GEORGE FOX AND HIS COADJUTORS. ferent teachers of religion inviting their attention, and saying, "Lo here is Christ!" or "Lo he is there!" it is not surprising that the honest and sincere inquirers after the right way of the Lord, should be greatly perplexed. The effect of these commotions was to wean men from a dependence on each other, in the work of religion, to prepare their minds for the reception of the important truth, that however useful instrumental means of divine appointment may be, it is the glory of the Gospel dispensation, that the Lord, by his Holy Spirit, is himself the teacher of his people. Previous to the commencement of George Fox's ministry, many had withdrawn from all the acknowledged forms of public worship and were engaged in diligently searching the Holy Scriptures, with prayer for right direction in the path of duty, and frequently meeting in select companies, for the worship of Almighty God and their mutual edification. Among these the preaching of George Fox found a ready entrance, and many of them joined in religious profession with him. The period of which we have been speaking, may justly be denominated the age of polemic strife. The war itself had been commenced ostensibly for the redress of religious grievances. In the camp and the field, as well as by the fireside, religion was the absorbing theme. The Baptists and Independents encɔuraged persons to preach, who had not studied for the ministry, nor been formally ordained; and numbers of this description engaged in the vocation, with unwearied assiduity, often holding meetings in the fields, or preaching in the market places. The parliament army abounded with them, and preaching, praying, and disputing on points of doctrine, were daily to be heard. among both officers and soldiers. Public disputations were also common, and were often conducted with a warmth of temper, and harshness of language, which seem hardly consistent with the meek and gentle spirit of the gospel. Modern ideas of courtesy and propriety, can scarcely tolerate the latitude of expression which the antagonists sometimes indulged towards each GEORGE FOX AND HIS COADJUTORS. 211 other, not only on these occasions, but in their controversial essays. Amid so much strife and contention, and the intemperate feelings naturally arising out of them, it is not surprising, that even good men should have formed erroneous opinions of the character and sentiments of each other. They judged rather by the impulses of prejudice and sectarian feeling, than by the law of truth and Christian kindness. In the heat of discussion, the mind is not in a condition to form a sound and correct judgment. The weakness and mistakes of an opponent, are seen through a medium which greatly magnifies them; while his virtues are either depreciated or distorted into errors. The controversial writings of the times, furnish evidence of the existence of these uncharitable feelings, among nearly all denominations of professors; and he who reads them with the enlightened and liberal views of religious toleration, which now happily obtain, will observe with regret, men of unquestionable piety, unchristianing each other for opinion's sake; and lament that such monuments of human frailty should have been handed down to posterity. Those who judge of the writings of the first Friends by modern standards of literary excellence and courtesy, are apt to censure them for their severity. Much, however, may be said in extenuation of them. Friends were particularly obnoxious to the hatred of the clergy, in consequence of their unyielding opposition to a ministry of human appointment, to the system of tithes and a forced maintenance. Their views on these subjects, which they fearlessly published, struck directly at priestcraft. Deeply affected by the corruption which they saw among many who assumed the sacred office, they boldly declaimed against their cupidity, licentiousness, and persecution. This course drew upon them a host of enemies, who were not very nice in the choice of means to lessen their influence and prejudice their characters. Friends were assailed with calumny and misrepresentations; opinions and practices were charged upon them, of which they solemnly declared themselves innocent; yet they |