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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks, by 
+Henry Watson Wilbur
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks
+
+Author: Henry Watson Wilbur
+
+Contributor: Elizabeth Powell Bond
+
+Release Date: November 3, 2015 [EBook #50374]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND LABORS OF ELIAS HICKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman, Library of Congress and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="chap">
+<a name="FRONTISPIECE" id="FRONTISPIECE"></a><div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="527" height="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">ELIAS HICKS<br />
+
+<span class="small">FROM BUST BY PARTRIDGE</span></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h1>THE LIFE AND LABORS<br />
+
+<span class="small">OF</span><br />
+
+ELIAS HICKS</h1>
+
+
+<p class="center p2">BY</p>
+
+<p class="center large">Henry W. Wilbur</p>
+
+
+<p class="center p2">Introduction by<br />
+
+ELIZABETH POWELL BOND</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img class="p2" src="images/i002.png" width="100" height="10" alt="Squiggly line" />
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center p2">PHILADELPHIA<br />
+
+Published by Friends' General Conference Advancement Committee<br />
+
+1910</p>
+
+
+<p class="center p4">COPYRIGHTED 1910 BY<br />
+HENRY W. WILBUR
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table id="ToC" summary="Table of Contents.">
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"><span class="smcap">List of Illustrations</span></a></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#AUTHORS_PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Author's Preface</span></a></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#INTRODUCTION"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></a></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></a>, Ancestry and Boyhood</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></a>, His Young Manhood</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></a>, First Appearance in the Ministry</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></a>, Early Labors in the Ministry</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></a>, Later Ministerial Labors</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></a>, Religious Journeys in 1828</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">Chapter VII</span></a>, Ideas About the Ministry</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII</span></a>, The Home at Jericho</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Chapter IX</span></a>, The Hicks Family</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Chapter X</span></a>, Letters to His Wife</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XI</span></a>, The Slavery Question</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XII</span></a>, Various Opinions</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIII</span></a>, Some Points of Doctrine</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIV</span></a>, Before the Division</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XV</span></a>, First Trouble in Philadelphia</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVI</span></a>, The Time of Unsettlement</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVII</span></a>, Three Sermons Reviewed</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XVIII</span></a>, The Braithwaite Controversy</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="smcap">Chapter XIX</span></a>, Ann Jones in Dutchess County</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="smcap">Chapter XX</span></a>, The Experience with T. Shillitoe</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXI</span></a>, Disownment and Doctrine</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXII</span></a>, After the "Separation"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIII</span></a>, Friendly and Unfriendly Critics</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIV</span></a>, Recollections, Reminiscences and Testimonies</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><span class="smcap">Chapter XXV</span></a>, Putting off the Harness</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#APPENDIX"><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></a></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan="2"><span class="correction" title="Added by Transcriber."><a href="#TN"><span class="smcap">Transcriber's Note</span></a></span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<table id="LoI" summary="List of Illustrations.">
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Elias Hicks</span> (from bust, by Partridge)</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#FRONTISPIECE">Frontispiece</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Hicks House and Jericho Meeting House</span>, facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i059">57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Children of Elias Hicks</span>, facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i097">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Facsimile of Letter</span>, facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i105">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Elias Hicks</span> (from painting, by Ketcham), facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i121">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Surveyor's Plotting, by Elias Hicks</span>, facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i144">144</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class="smcap">Burying Ground at Jericho</span>, facing</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i216">216</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="AUTHORS_PREFACE" id="AUTHORS_PREFACE"></a>AUTHOR'S PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was a much misunderstood man in his own
+time, and the lapse of eighty years since his death has done
+but little to make him known to the passing generations.
+His warm personal friends, and of them there were many,
+considered him little less than a saint; his enemies, some
+of whom were intensely bitter in their personal feeling,
+whatever may have been the basis of their judgment,
+believed him to be a man whose influence was malevolent
+and mischievous. It is no part of the purpose of this book
+to attempt to reconcile the conflicting estimates touching
+the life and character of this remarkable man. On the
+contrary, our hope is to present him as he was, in his own
+environment, and not at all as he might have been had he
+lived in our time, or as his admirers would have him, to
+make him conform to their own estimate. In this biographical
+task, Elias Hicks becomes largely his own interpreter.
+As he measured himself in private correspondence and in
+public utterance, so this book will endeavor to measure him.</p>
+
+<p>We believe that it is not too much to say that he carried
+the fundamental idea of the Society of Friends, as delivered
+by George Fox, to its logical conclusion, as applied to
+thought and life, more clearly and forcibly than any of his
+predecessors or contemporaries. Not a few of those who
+violently opposed him, discounted the position of Fox and
+Barclay touching the Inner Light, and gave exaggerated
+importance to the claims of evangelical theology. Whatever
+others may have thought, Elias Hicks believed that he
+preached Christianity of the pure apostolic type, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[Pg 8]</span>
+Quakerism as it was delivered by the founders. It should
+be remembered that the conformist and non-conformist
+disputants of the seventeenth century talked as savagely
+about Fox as the early nineteenth century critics did about
+Hicks. In fact, to accept the theory of Fox about the
+nature and office of the indwelling spirit, necessarily
+develops either indifference or opposition to the plans and
+theories of what was in the time of Elias Hicks, if it is not
+now, the popularly accepted theology.</p>
+
+<p>No attempt has been made to write a comprehensive
+and detailed history of the so-called "separation." So far,
+however, as the trouble related to Elias Hicks, it has been
+considered, and as much light as possible has been thrown
+on the case. Necessarily this does not admit of very much
+reference to the setting up of separate meetings, which followed
+the open rupture of 1827-28, or the contests over
+property which occurred after the death of Elias Hicks.
+Even the causes of the trouble in the Society only appear
+as they seem necessary to make plain the feeling of Elias
+Hicks in the case, and the attitude of his opponents toward
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with the doctrines of Elias Hicks, or his
+views about various subjects, we have endeavored to avoid
+the one-sided policy, and to discriminate between the matters
+which would be accepted by the majority of those
+Friends to-day who are erroneously made to bear the name
+of Elias Hicks, and the theories which they now repudiate.
+On the other hand, his most conservative and peculiar ideas
+are given equal prominence with those which more nearly
+conform to present-day thought.</p>
+
+<p>In stating cases of antagonism, especially where it
+appeared in public meetings, we have endeavored rather to
+give samples, than to repeat and amplify occurrences where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span>
+the same purpose and spirit were exhibited. The citations
+in the book should, therefore, be taken as types, and not as
+mere isolated or extraordinary occurrences.</p>
+
+<p>References to the descendants of Elias Hicks, and
+other matters relating to his life, which do not seem to
+naturally belong in the coherent and detailed story, will be
+found in the appendix. This is also true of the usual
+acknowledgment of assistance, and the reference to the published
+sources of information consulted by the author in
+writing the book.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Now and again a human life is lived in such obedience
+to the "heavenly vision" that it becomes an authority in
+other lives. The unswerving rectitude; whence is its divine
+directness? the world has to ask. Its clear-sightedness;
+how comes it that the eye is single to the true course? Its
+strength to endure; from what fountain flows unfailing
+strength? Its quickening sympathy; what is the sweet
+secret?</p>
+
+<p>The thought of the world fixes itself into stereotyped
+and imprisoning forms from which only the white heat of
+the impassioned seer and prophet can slowly liberate it.
+At last the world ceases to persecute or to crucify its
+liberator, and lo! an acknowledged revelation of God!
+This came to pass in the seventeenth century, when it was
+given George Fox to see and to proclaim that "there was
+an anointing within man to teach him, and that the Lord
+would teach him, himself."</p>
+
+<p>The eighteenth century developed another teacher in
+the religious society of Friends, whose message has been a
+distinctly leavening influence in the thought of the world.
+It is not easy to account for Elias Hicks. He was not the
+"son of a prophet." Nor was he a gift from the <i>schools</i>
+of the time in which he lived. In the "Journal of His Life
+and Religious Labours," published in 1832 by Isaac T.
+Hopper, there is no reference to school days.</p>
+
+<p>There is one clue to this man that may explain much
+to us. Of his ancestry he says in the restrained language
+characteristic of his writings, "My parents were descended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span>
+from reputable families, and sustained a good character
+among their friends and those who knew them." Here,
+then, is the rock-foundation upon which he builded, the
+factor which could not be spared from the life which he
+lived&mdash;that in his veins was the blood of those who had
+"sustained a good character among those who knew them."
+Some of the leisure of his youth had been given to fishing
+and fowling, which he looked back to as wholesome recreation,
+since he mostly preferred going alone. While he
+waited in stillness for the coming of the fowl, 'his mind was
+at times so taken up in divine meditations, that the opportunities
+were seasons of instruction and comfort to him.'
+Out of these meditations grew the conviction in his tendered
+soul that it was wanton diversion for himself and his
+companions to destroy the small birds that could be of no
+use to them.</p>
+
+<p>Recalling his youth, he writes: "Some of my leisure
+hours were occupied in reading the Scriptures, in which I
+took considerable delight, and it tended to my real profit
+and religious improvement." It may be that this great
+classic in English, as well as library of ancient history, and
+book of spiritual revelation, was not only the food that
+stimulated his spiritual growth, but also took the place to
+him, in some measure, of the schools as a means of culture.
+It is plain to see that he had what is the first requisite for
+a student&mdash;a hungering mind. The alphabet opened to him
+the ways and means, which he used as far as he could, for
+the satisfying of this divine hunger. A new book possessed
+for him such charm, it is said, that his friends who
+invited him for a social visit, knowing this, were careful to
+put the new books out of sight, lest he should become
+absorbed in them, and they lose his ever-welcome and very
+entertaining conversation. He even had experience as a
+teacher; and the testimony is given by an aged Friend, once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span>
+his pupil: "The manners of Elias Hicks were so mild, his
+deportment so dignified, and his conversation so instructive,
+that it left an impression for good on many of his pupils'
+minds that time never effaced."</p>
+
+<p>That he had not the teaching of the schools narrowed
+his own resources, and, doubtless, restricted his field of
+vision. But such a life as his, that garnered wisdom more
+than knowledge of books, is a great encouragement to those
+who have not had the opportunities of the schools. We
+might not know without being told that he had missed from
+his equipment a college degree; but we do know that his
+endowment of sound mind was supplemented with incorruptible
+character; we do know that his life was founded
+upon belief in everlasting truth and an unchanging integrity.
+The record of his unfolding spiritual life shows that</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse">"So nigh is grandeur to our dust,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So near is God to man,</div>
+<div class="verse">When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,'</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The youth replies, 'I can.'"</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>There is evidence that Elias Hicks had not only a
+hungering mind, but that he had in marked degree the open
+mind, and that he accorded to others liberty of opinion.
+It is said that he was unwilling that his discourses be
+printed, lest they become a bondage to other minds. He
+wrote to his friend, William Poole: "Therefore every generation
+must have more light than the preceding one; otherwise,
+they must sit down in ease in the labour and works of
+their predecessors." And he left a word of caution to
+approaching age, when he said in a meeting in New York:
+"The old folks think they have got far enough, they are
+settling on the lees, they are blocking up the way." It does
+not disturb my thought of him that my own mother remembered
+a mild rebuke from him for the modest flower-bed
+that brightened the door-yard of her country home. For I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span>
+discover in him rudiments of the love for beauty. A minister
+among Friends was once his guest during the harvest
+season on Long Island, and recalled long after that, when
+the hour arrived for the mid-week meeting, he came in from
+the harvest field, and not only exchanged his working for
+his meeting garments, but added his gloves, although it
+was hot, midsummer weather. There was certainly the rudimentary
+love for beauty in this scrupulous regard for the
+proprieties; but it was kept in such severe check that he
+could not justify the spending of time upon a flower-border.
+The poet had not then expressed for us the sweet garden
+prayer that might have brought to his sensitive mind a new
+view of the purpose and value of the flower-border:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse">"That we were earthlings and of earth must live,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Thou knowest, Allah, and did'st give us bread;</div>
+<div class="verse">Yea, and remembering of our souls, didst give</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Us food of flowers; thy name be hallowed!"</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>From the days in which he preferred his hours of
+solitude in fishing as opportunities for "divine meditations"
+we can trace his steady spiritual growth. While his business
+life was henceforth subordinated to his labors among
+men to promote the life of the spirit, he was never indifferent
+to the exact discharge of his own financial obligations;
+nor was he indifferent to the needs of others. One
+incident surely marks him as belonging to the School of
+Christ: "Once when harvests were light and provisions
+scarce and high, his own wheat fields yielded abundantly.
+Foreseeing the scarcity and consequent rise in prices, speculators
+sought early to buy his wheat. He declined to sell.
+They offered him large prices, and renewed their visits
+repeatedly, increasing the price each time. Still he refused
+to sell, even for the unprecedented sum of three dollars a
+bushel. But by and by, when his poorer neighbors, whose
+crops were light, began to need, he invited them to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span>
+and get as much wheat as they required for use, at the
+usual price of one dollar a bushel."</p>
+
+<p>He entered into the life of his community and of his
+times, anticipating by nearly a century the work of Friends'
+Philanthropic Committees of the present day. It is related
+that he was much opposed to an attempt to establish a
+liquor-selling tavern in the Jericho neighborhood&mdash;that
+when he saw strangers approaching he would invite them
+to accept his own hospitality, thus making unnecessary the
+tavern-keeping business in the sparsely settled country
+town.</p>
+
+<p>We would expect that, with his sense of justice and
+his appreciation of values, Elias Hicks would place men and
+women side by side, not only in the home, but also in the
+larger household of faith, and in the affairs of the world.
+It is remembered that his face was set in this direction&mdash;that,
+strict Society-disciplinarian as he was, he advocated a
+change in the Discipline to allow women a consulting voice
+in making and amending the Discipline.</p>
+
+<p>It must be borne in mind that he lived through the
+Revolutionary period of 1776, and through the War of
+1812. So true was he to his convictions against war that
+he would not allow himself to benefit by the advanced
+prices in foodstuffs; and we are told that the records of
+his monthly meeting show that he sacrificed much of his
+property by adherence to his peace principles.</p>
+
+<p>Neither can we forget the testing that came to him in
+the institution of slavery. For, according to the custom
+of the times, his own father was the owner of slaves. His
+open mind responded to the labors of a committee of the
+New York Yearly Meeting; and upon the freeing of his
+father's slaves, he ever after considered their welfare,
+making such restitution as he could for past injustice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[Pg 16]</span></p>
+
+<p>To his daughter, Martha Hicks, he wrote: "My dear
+love to thee, to thy dear mother, who next to the Divine
+Blesser has been the joy of my youth, and who, I trust and
+hope, will be the comfort of my declining years. O dear
+child, cherish and help her, for she hath done abundance
+for thee."</p>
+
+<p>These fruits of the religious faith of Elias Hicks are
+offered as the test given us by the Great Teacher himself,
+by which to know the life of a man. They mark a life
+rooted in the life of God. Imperishable as the root whence
+they grew, may they feed the souls of men from generation
+to generation, satisfying the hungry, strengthening the
+weak, and making all glad in the joy of each! Thus it is
+permitted to be "still praising Him."</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Powell Bond.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Ancestry and Boyhood.</p>
+
+
+<p>The Hicks family is English in its origin, authentic
+history tracing it clearly back to the fourteenth century.
+By a sort of genealogical paradox, a far-away ancestor of
+the apostle of peace in the eighteenth century was a man
+of war, for we are told that Sir Ellis Hicks was knighted
+on the battlefield of Poitiers in 1356, nearly four hundred
+years before the birth of his distinguished descendant on
+Long Island, in America.</p>
+
+<p>From the best available data, it is believed that the
+progenitor of the Hicks family on Long Island arrived in
+America in 1638, and came over from the New England
+mainland about 1645, settling in the town of Hempstead.
+A relative, Robert by name, came over with the body of
+Pilgrims arriving in Massachusetts in 1621.</p>
+
+<p>John Hicks, the pioneer, was undoubtedly a man of
+affairs, with that strong character which qualifies men for
+leadership. In the concerns of the new community he was
+often drafted for important public service. In Seventh
+month, 1647, it became necessary to reach a final settlement
+with the Indians for land purchased from them by the
+colonists the year before. The adjustment of this transaction
+was committed to John Hicks by his neighbors.
+When, in 1663, the English towns on the island and the
+New York mainland created a council whose aim it was to
+secure aid from the General Court at Hartford against the
+Dutch, John Hicks was made a delegate from Long Island.
+In 1665 Governor Nicoll, of New York, called a convention<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span>
+to be composed of two delegates from each town in Westchester
+County and on Long Island, "to make additions
+and alterations to existing laws." John Hicks was chosen
+delegate from the town of Hempstead.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas, the great grandfather of Elias, was in 1691
+appointed the first judge of Queens County, by Governor
+Andross, which office he held for a number of years, with
+credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents.</p>
+
+<p>The town of Hempstead is on the north side of Long
+Island, and borders on the Sound. There Elias Hicks, the
+fifth in line of descent from the pioneer John, was born
+on the 19th of Third month, 1748. He was the fourth
+child of John and Martha Smith Hicks. Of the ancestry
+of the mother of Elias little is known. There is no evidence
+that the ancestors of Elias on either side were members
+of the Society of Friends, still they seem to have had
+much in common with Friends, and, at any rate, were willing
+to assist the peculiar people when the heavy hand of
+persecution fell upon them. In this connection we may
+quote the words of Elias himself. He says: "My father
+was a grandson of Thomas Hicks, of whom our worthy
+friend Samuel Bownas<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> makes honorable mention in his
+Journal, and by whom he was much comforted and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span>
+strengthened when imprisoned through the envy of George
+Keith,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> at Jamaica, on Long Island."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Samuel Bownas was a minister among Friends, and was born
+in Westmoreland, England, about 1667. He secured a minute to make
+a religious visit to America the latter part of 1701. Ninth month 30,
+1702, he was bound over to the Queens County Grand Jury, the charge
+against him being that in a sermon he had spoken disparagingly of the
+Church of England. The jury really failed to indict him, which greatly
+exasperated the presiding judge, who threatened to deport him to
+London chained to the man-of-war's deck. It was at this point that
+Thomas Hicks, whom Bownas erroneously concluded was Chief
+Justice of the Province, appeared to comfort and assure him that he
+could not thus be deported to England. Bownas continued in jail for
+about a year, during which time he learned the shoemaker's trade. He
+was finally liberated by proclamation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> George Keith, born near Aberdeen, 1639, became connected with
+the Society of Friends about 1662. He came to America in 1684,
+but finally separated from Friends, and endeavored to organize a new
+sect to be called Christian, or Baptist Quakers. This effort failed, and
+about 1700 he entered the Church of England. After this he violently
+criticised Friends, and repeatedly sought controversy with them. He
+had quite an experience of this sort with Samuel Bownas, and was
+considered the real instigator of the complaint on which Bownas was
+lodged in jail. Keith looms up large in all that body of history and
+biography unfriendly to the Society of Friends.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<p>We are told in the Journal, "Neither of my parents
+were members in strict fellowship with any religious society,
+until some little time before my birth."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It is certain that
+the father of Elias was a member among Friends at the time
+of his birth, and his mother must also have enjoyed such
+membership. Elias must have been a birthright member,
+as he nowhere mentions having been received into the
+Society by convincement. It is evident that his older
+brothers and sisters were not connected with Friends.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<p>When Elias was eight years of age his father removed
+from Hempstead to the south shore of Long Island, the
+new home being near the seashore. Both before and after
+that time he bewails the fact that his associates were not
+Friends, and what he confessed was worse&mdash;they were
+persons with no religious inclinations or connections whatever.</p>
+
+<p>The new home afforded added opportunities for
+pleasure. Game was plentiful in the wild fowl that mated
+in the marshes and meadows, while the bays and inlets
+abounded in fish. Hunting and fishing, therefore, became
+his principal diversion. While he severely condemned this
+form of amusement in later life, he brought to the whole
+matter a rational philosophy. He considered that at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span>
+time hunting and fishing were profitable to him, because in
+his exposed condition "they had a tendency to keep me
+more at and about home, and often prevented my joining
+with loose company, which I had frequent opportunities of
+doing without my father's knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>Three years after moving to the new home, when Elias
+was eleven years of age, his mother was removed by death.
+The father, thus left with six children, two younger than
+Elias, finally found it necessary to divide the family. Two
+years after the death of his mother he went to reside with
+one of his elder brothers who was married, and lived some
+distance from his father's. It is probable that this brother's
+house was his home most of the time until he was seventeen.
+Much regret is expressed by him that he was thus removed
+from parental restraint.</p>
+
+<p>The Journal makes possibly unnecessarily sad confession
+of what he considered waywardness during this period.
+He says that he wandered far from "the salutary path of
+true religion, learning to sing vain songs, and to take delight
+in running horses."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Just what the songs were, and the
+exact character of the horse racing must be mainly a matter
+of conjecture. Manifestly "running horses" did not mean
+at all the type of racetrack gambling with which twentieth-century
+Long Island is familiar.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 8.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the midst of self-accusation, he declares that he did
+not "give way to anything which was commonly accounted
+disreputable, having always a regard to strict honesty, and
+to such a line of conduct as comported with politeness and
+good breeding."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> One can scarcely think of Elias Hicks
+as a juvenile Chesterfield. From the most unfavorable
+things he says about himself, the conclusion is easily reached
+that he was really a serious-minded youth, and what has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span>
+always been considered a "good boy." It must be remembered,
+however, that he set for himself a high standard,
+which was often violated, as he became what he called
+"hardened in vanity." Speaking of his youthful sports, and
+possible waywardness, his maturer judgment confessed, that
+but "for the providential care of my Heavenly Father, my
+life would have fallen a sacrifice to my folly and indiscretion."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Journal, p. 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<p>There is practically no reference to the matter of
+schools or schooling in the Journal. There is every reason
+for the belief that he was self-educated. He may have
+had a brief experience at schools of a rather primary
+character. At all events he must have had a considerable
+acquaintance with mathematics, and evidently he at an early
+age contracted the reading habit. Books were few, and of
+periodical literature there was none. Friendly literature
+itself was confined to Sewell's History, probably Ellwood's
+edition of George Fox's Journal, while he may have had
+access to some of the controversial pamphlets of the seventeenth
+century period. The Journals of various "ancient"
+Friends were to be had, but how rich the mine of this literature
+which he explored we shall never know. Evidently
+from his youth he was a careful and intelligent reader of
+the Bible, and regarding its passages, its ethics and its theology,
+he became his own interpreter.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">His Young Manhood.</p>
+
+
+<p>At the age of seventeen Elias became an apprentice,
+and set about learning the carpenter's trade. His mechanical
+experience during this period receives practically no
+attention in the Journal. We know, however, that in those
+days none of the trades were divided into sectional parts as
+now. In short, he learned a whole trade, and not part of
+one. It was the day of hand-made doors, and not a few
+carpenters took the timber standing in the forest, and superintended
+or personally carried on all of the processes of
+transforming it into lumber and from it producing the
+finished product. The carpenter of a century and a half ago
+had to be able to wield the broad-ax, and literally know
+how to "hew to the line."</p>
+
+<p>It is not known exactly how long this apprenticeship
+lasted, but probably about four years. As a matter of
+course, there was much moving from neighborhood to
+neighborhood, as the building necessities demanded the
+presence of the carpenters. The life was more or less
+irregular, and Elias says that he received neither serious
+advice nor restraint at the hands of his "master." He was
+brought in contact with frivolously minded young people,
+and was unduly carried away with the love of amusement.
+During this period he learned to dance, and enjoyed the
+experience. But he considered dancing a most mischievous
+pastime, and evil to a marked degree. For this
+indulgence he repeatedly upbraided himself in the Journal.
+In his opinion, dancing was "an unnatural and unchristian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span>
+practice," never receiving the approval "of the divine light
+in the secret of the heart."</p>
+
+<p>He passed through various experiences in the endeavor
+to break away from the dancing habit, with many backslidings,
+overthrowing what he considered his good resolutions.
+But finally he separated from all those companions
+of his youth who beset him with temptation. He says: "I
+was deeply tried, but the Lord was graciously near; and as
+my cry was secretly to him for strength, he enabled me to
+covenant with him, that if he would be pleased in mercy to
+empower me, I would forever cease from this vain and
+sinful amusement."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 10.</p></div>
+
+<p>His first intimation touching the eternally lost condition
+of the wicked is in connection with his experience at
+this time. We cannot do better than to quote his own
+words:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In looking back to this season of deep probation, my
+soul has been deeply humbled; for I had cause to believe
+that if I had withstood at this time the merciful interposition
+of divine love, and had rebelled against this clear
+manifestation of the Lord's will, he would have withdrawn
+his light from me, and my portion would have been among
+the wicked, cast out forever from the favorable presence
+of my judge. I should also forever have been obliged to
+acknowledge his mercy and justice, and acquit the Lord,
+my redeemer, who had done so much for me; for with long-suffering
+and much abused mercy he had waited patiently
+for my return, and would have gathered me before that
+time, as I well knew, as a hen gathereth her chickens under
+her wings, but I would not."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Journal, p. 11.</p></div>
+
+<p>His second diversion, and probably practiced after he
+had given up dancing, was hunting. While not considered
+in itself reprehensible, when the sport led to wantonness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span>
+and the taking of life of bird or beast simply for amusement,
+it was vigorously condemned. He says that he was
+finally "led to consider conduct like this to be a great breach
+of trust, and an infringement of the divine prerogative."
+"It therefore became a settled principle with me not to take
+the life of any creature, unless it was really useful and
+necessary when dead, or very noxious and hurtful when
+living."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Journal, p. 13.</p></div>
+
+<p>When the settled conviction came to him touching the
+dance and the sportsman's practice, he was probably not out
+of his teens. This conviction resulted in victory over the
+propensity, probably before he reached his majority. The
+whole experience was an early illustration of the strength
+of will and purpose which was characteristic of this remarkable
+man throughout his entire life.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage is always a turning-point in a man's life. In
+the case of Elias Hicks, it was so in a marked degree.
+Having become adept in his trade, at the age of twenty-two,
+he was married to Jemima Seaman. This important
+event cannot be better stated than in the simple, quaint language
+of the bridegroom himself. He says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"My affection being drawn toward her in that relation,
+I communicated my views to her, and received from her a
+corresponding expression; and having the full unity and
+concurrence of our parents and friends, we, after some time,
+accomplished our marriage at a solemn meeting of Friends,
+at Westbury, on the 2d of First month, 1771. On this
+important occasion we felt the clear and consoling evidence
+of divine truth, and it remained with us as a seal upon our
+spirits, strengthening us mutually to bear, with becoming
+fortitude, the vicissitudes and trials which fell to our lot,
+and of which we had a large share while passing through
+this probationary state."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Journal, p. 13.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>The records of Westbury Monthly Meeting contain the
+official evidence of this marriage, which was evidently conducted
+strictly in accordance with discipline. From the
+minutes of that meeting we extract the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"At a monthly <span class="correction" title="Originally: meting">meeting</span> held in the meeting house, ye
+29th day of ye Eleventh month, 1770.</p>
+
+<p>"Elias Hicks son of John Hicks, of Rockaway, and
+Jemima Seaman, daughter of Jonathan Seaman, of Jericho,
+presented themselves and declared their intentions of marriage
+with each, and this meeting appoints John Mott and
+Micajah Mott to make enquiry into Elias Hicks, his clearness
+in relation of marriage with other women, and to make
+report at the next monthly meeting.</p>
+
+<p>"At a monthly meeting in the meeting house at Westbury
+ye 26th day of ye Twelfth month, 1770, Elias Hicks
+and Jemima Seaman appeared the second time, and Elias
+Hicks signified they continued their intentions of marriage
+and desired an answer to their former proposals of marriage,
+and the Friends who were appointed to make enquiry
+into Elias' clearness reported that they had made enquiry,
+and find nothing but that he is clear of marriage engagements
+to other women, and they having consent of parents
+and nothing appearing to <span class="correction" title="Originally: obestruct">obstruct</span> their proceedings in
+marriage, this meeting leaves them to solemnize their marriage
+according to the good order used amongst Friends,
+and appoints Robert Seaman and John Mott to attend their
+said marriage, and to make report to the next monthly
+meeting it was consumated.</p>
+
+<p>"On ye 30th day of ye First month, 1771, Robert Seaman
+reported that they had attended the marriage of Elias
+Hicks and Jemima Seaman, and was with them both at
+Jericho and at Rockaway, and John Mott also reported that
+he accompanied them at Rockaway and that the marriage
+was consummated orderly."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In more ways than one the marriage of Elias was the
+important event of his life. Jemima Seaman was an only
+child, and naturally her parents desired that she should be
+near them. A few months after their marriage Elias and
+Jemima were urged to take up their residence at the Sea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span>man
+homestead, Elias to manage the farm of his father-in-law.
+The result was that the farm in Jericho became the
+home of Elias Hicks the remainder of his life. Here he
+lived and labored for nearly sixty years.</p>
+
+<p>The Seamans were concerned Friends, and the farm
+was near the Friends' meeting house in Jericho. From this
+dates his constant attendance at the meetings for worship
+and discipline of the Society. Besides the family influence,
+some of his neighbors, strong men and women, and deeply
+attached to the principles and testimonies of Friends, made
+for the young people an ideal and inspiring environment.
+The Friends at Jericho could not have been unmindful of
+the native ability and taking qualities of this young man,
+whose fortunes were to be linked with their own, and whose
+future labors were to be so singularly devoted to their
+religious Society.</p>
+
+<p>Jemima, the wife of Elias Hicks, was the daughter of
+Jonathan and Elizabeth Seaman. The father of Jemima
+was the fifth generation from Captain John Seaman, who
+came to Long Island from the Connecticut mainland about
+1660. For his time, he seems to have been a man of affairs,
+and is recorded as one of the patentees of the town of
+Hempstead, on the Sound side of the island. There was
+a John Seaman who came to Massachusetts in the Winthrop
+fleet of ten vessels and 900 immigrants in 1630. That form
+of biography which shades into tradition is not agreed as
+to whether Captain John, of Hempstead, was the Puritan
+John or his son.</p>
+
+<p>Running the family history back to England, we find
+Lazarus Seaman, known as a Puritan divine, a native of
+Leicester. He died in 1667. He is described as a learned
+theologian, versed in the art of controversy, and stout in
+defense of his position in religious matters.</p>
+
+<p>The history of heraldry, and the story of the efforts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span>
+to capture the holy sepulcher, tell us that John de Seaman
+was one of the first crusaders. To this line the Seaman
+lineage in America is believed to be attached.</p>
+
+<p>At some time, whether in his early manhood is not
+known, Elias Hicks took up surveying. How steadily or
+extensively he followed that business it is impossible to say.
+It is not hard, however, to find samples of his surveying
+and plotting among the papers of Long Island conveyancers.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+His compass, and the home-made pine case in
+which he kept the instrument and the tripod, are in existence.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+The compass is a simple affair, without a telescope,
+of course. It folds into a flat shape, the box not being
+more than two inches thick, over all.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See cut facing page <a href="#i144">145</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> They are in possession of the great-grandson of Elias Hicks,
+William Seaman, of Glen Cove, L. I.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">First Appearance in the Ministry.</p>
+
+
+<p>There are many evidences in the Journal that Elias
+Hicks appreciated the moral and spiritual advantages of his
+environment after he took up his residence at Jericho. He
+confesses, however, that as he had entered quite extensively
+into business, he was much diverted from spiritual things
+for a number of years after his marriage. During this
+period he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I was again brought, by the operative influence of
+divine grace, under deep concern of mind; and was led,
+through adorable mercy, to see that although I had ceased
+from many sins and vanities of my youth, yet there were
+many remaining that I was still guilty of, which were not
+yet atoned for, and for which I now felt the judgments of
+God to rest upon me. This caused me to cry earnestly to
+the Most High for pardon and redemption, and he
+graciously condescended to hear my cry, and to open a way
+before me, wherein I must walk, in order to experience
+reconciliation with him; and as I abode in watchfulness
+and deep humiliation before him, light broke forth out of
+obscurity, and my darkness became as the noonday. I had
+many deep openings in the visions of light, greatly
+strengthening and establishing to my exercised mind. My
+spirit was brought under a close and weighty labour in
+meetings for discipline, and my understanding much enlarged
+therein; and I felt a concern to speak to some of the
+subjects engaging the meeting's attention, which often
+brought unspeakable comfort to my mind. About this time
+I began to have openings leading to the ministry, which
+brought me under close exercise and deep travail of spirit;
+for although I had for some time spoken on subjects of
+business in monthly and preparative meetings, yet the
+prospect of opening my mouth in public meetings was a
+close trial; but I endeavored to keep my mind quiet and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span>
+resigned to the heavenly call, if it should be made clear to
+me to be my duty. Nevertheless, as I was, soon after,
+sitting in a meeting, in much weightiness of spirit, a secret,
+though clear, intimation accompanied me to speak a few
+words, which were then given to me to utter, yet fear so
+prevailed that I did not yield to the intimation. For this
+omission I felt close rebuke, and judgment seemed, for some
+time, to cover my mind; but as I humbled myself under
+the Lord's mighty hand, he again lifted up the light of his
+countenance upon me, and enabled me to renew covenant
+with him, that if he would pass by this offense, I would,
+in the future, be faithful, if he should again require such a
+service of me. And it was not long before I felt an impressive
+concern to utter a few words, which I yielded to in
+great fear and dread; but oh, the joy and sweet consolation
+that my soul experienced, as a reward for this act of faithfulness;
+and as I continued persevering in duty and watchfulness,
+I witnessed an increase in divine knowledge, and
+an enlargement of my gift. I was also deeply engaged for
+the right administration of discipline and order in the
+church, and that all might be kept sweet and clean, <span class="correction" title="Originally: consitent">consistent</span>
+with the nature and purity of the holy profession we
+were making; so that all stumbling-blocks might be
+removed out of the way of honest inquirers, and that truth's
+testimony might be exalted, and the Lord's name magnified,
+'who is over all, God blessed forever.'"<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Journal, p. 15.</p></div>
+
+<p>Still it appears that his concern for the maintenance
+of the discipline was more than a slavish allegiance to
+the letter of the law. More than once he spoke a warning
+word as to the danger of allowing the administration
+of the written rule to lead to mere formalism. Once begun,
+his development in public service was rapid, and his recognition
+by Friends cordial and appreciative to a marked
+degree.</p>
+
+<p>Just how long Elias Hicks spoke in the meetings for
+worship, before his "acknowledgment," is not known. The
+records of Westbury Monthly Meeting, however, give de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span>tailed
+information as to this event. From them we make
+the following extract:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"At a monthly meeting held at Westbury ye 29th of
+Fourth month, 1778, William Seaman and William Valentine
+report that they have made inquiry concerning Elias
+Hicks, and find nothing to hinder his being recommended
+to the meeting of Ministers and Elders, whom this meeting
+recommends to that meeting as a minister, and directs the
+clerk to forward a copy of this minute to said meeting."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The acknowledgment of the ministry of Elias Hicks
+took place a little over seven years after his marriage.
+From various references in the Journal the inference is
+warranted that he did not begin to speak in the meeting for
+worship until a considerable time after this event. It is,
+therefore, probable that his service in this line had not been
+going on, at the most, more than three or four years when
+his acknowledgment took place. He had only been a
+recorded minister something over a year when his first considerable
+visit was undertaken.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, the preserved personal correspondence
+of Elias Hicks does not cover this period in his life, so
+that we are confined to what he chose to put in his Journal,
+as the only self-interpretation of this interesting period.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that the New York Yearly Meeting was
+held at the regularly appointed times all through the period
+of the Revolutionary War. Previous to 1777 the meeting
+met annually at Flushing, but in that year the sessions were
+removed to Westbury. In 1793 it was concluded to hold
+future meetings in New York.</p>
+
+<p>During the war the British controlled Long Island,
+and for some time the meeting house in Flushing was occupied
+as a barracks by the king's troops, which probably
+accounts for moving the yearly meeting further out on the
+island to Westbury.</p>
+
+<p>In attending the yearly meeting, and in performing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span>
+religious visits to the particular meetings, passing the lines
+of both armies was a frequent necessity. This privilege
+was freely granted Friends. Touching this matter, Elias
+makes this reference:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"This was a favor which the parties would not grant
+to their best friends, who were of a warlike disposition;
+which shows what great advantages would redound to
+mankind were they all of this pacific spirit. I passed
+myself through the lines of both armies six times during
+the war without molestation, both parties generally receiving
+me with openness and civility; and although I had to
+pass over a tract of country, between the two armies, sometimes
+more than thirty miles in extent, and which was much
+frequented by robbers, a set, in general, of cruel, unprincipled
+banditti, issuing out from both parties, yet, excepting
+once, I met with no interruption even from them. But
+although Friends in general experienced many favors and
+deliverances, yet those scenes of war and confusion occasioned
+many trials and provings in various ways to the
+faithful."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Journal, p. 15.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Early Labors in the Ministry.</p>
+
+
+<p>Probably the first official public service to which Elias
+Hicks was ever assigned by the Society related to a matter
+growing out of the Revolutionary War. Under the new
+meeting-house in New York was a large room, usually
+rented for commercial purposes. During the British occupation
+this room was appropriated as a storehouse for military
+goods. The rent was finally tendered by the military
+commissioner to some representative Friends, and by them
+accepted. This caused great concern to many members of
+the meeting, who felt that the Society of Friends could not
+consistently be the recipient of money from such a source.
+The matter came before the Yearly Meeting in 1779. The
+peace party felt that the rent money was blood money, and
+should be returned, but a vigorous minority sustained the
+recipients of this warlike revenue. It was finally decided to
+refer the matter to the Yearly Meeting of Pennsylvania for
+determination. A committee to carry the matter to Philadelphia
+was appointed, of which Elias Hicks, then a young
+man of thirty-one, was a member.</p>
+
+<p>He made this service the occasion for some religious
+visits, which he, in company with his friend, John Willis,
+proceeded to make <i>en route</i>. The two Friends left home
+Ninth month 9, 1779, but took a roundabout route in
+order to visit the meetings involved in the concern of Elias.
+Instead of crossing over into New Jersey and going directly
+to Philadelphia, they went up the Hudson valley to a point
+above Newburgh, visiting meetings on both sides of the
+river. Their most northern point was the meeting at Marl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span>borough,
+in Ulster County, New York. They then turned
+to the southwest, and visited the meetings at Hardwick<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and
+Kingwood, arriving at Philadelphia, Ninth month 25th.
+Elias attended all the sittings of the yearly meeting until
+Fourth-day, when he was taken ill, and was not able to be
+in attendance after that time. He was not present when
+the matter which called the committee to Philadelphia was
+considered. The decision, however, was that the money
+received by the New York meeting for rent paid by the
+British army should be returned. This was done by direction
+of New York Yearly Meeting in 1780. It may be
+interesting to note that in 1779 the Yearly Meeting of
+Pennsylvania began with the Meeting of Ministers and
+Elders; Seventh-day, the 25th of Ninth month, and continued
+until Second-day, the 4th of Tenth month, having
+practically been in session a week and two days.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Hardwick was in Sussex County, New Jersey. It was the home
+meeting of Benjamin Lundy, the abolitionist.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> From 1755 to 1798, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was held in
+Ninth month.</p></div>
+
+<p>Following the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, the
+meeting at Byberry was visited, as were those at Wrightstown,
+Plumstead and Buckingham, in Bucks County, Pa.
+On the return trip he was again at Hardwick, after which
+he passed to the eastern shore of the Hudson, and was at
+Nine Partners, Oswego and Oblong. Turning southward,
+the meetings at Peach Pond, Amawalk and Purchase were
+visited. From the latter point he journeyed homeward.</p>
+
+<p>This first religious journey of Elias Hicks lasted nine
+weeks, and in making it he traveled 860 miles. Forty years
+later, many of the places visited at this time became centers
+of the troublesome controversy which divided the Society
+in 1827 and 1828.</p>
+
+<p>Four years after the concern and service which took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span>
+Elias Hicks to Philadelphia in 1779, he undertook his
+second recorded religious visit. It was a comparatively
+short one, and took him to the Nine Partners neighborhood.
+He was absent from home on this trip eleven days,
+and traveled 170 miles.</p>
+
+<p>In 1784 Elias had a concern to visit neighborhoods in
+Long Island not Friendly in their character. He made one
+trip, and not feeling free of the obligations resting upon
+him, he made a second tour. During the two visits he rode
+about 200 miles.</p>
+
+<p>He seems to have had a period of quiet home service
+for about six years, or until 1790, when two somewhat extended
+concerns were followed. The first took him to the
+meetings in the western part of Long Island, to New York
+City and Staten Island. This trip caused him to travel 150
+miles. The next visiting tour covered a wide extent of territory,
+and took him to eastern New York and Vermont.
+On this trip he was gone from home about four weeks, and
+traveled 591 miles.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1791 was more than usually active. Besides
+another visit to those not Friends on Long Island, he made
+a general visit to Friends in New York Yearly Meeting.
+This visit took him to New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts
+and up the Hudson valley as far as Easton and
+Saratoga. The Long Island visit consumed two weeks'
+time, and involved traveling 115 miles. On the general
+visit he was absent from home four months and eleven
+days, and traveled 1500 miles.</p>
+
+<p>In 1792 a committee, of which Elias was a member,
+was appointed by the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and
+Elders to visit subordinate meetings of that branch of the
+Society. In company with these Friends every meeting
+of Ministers and Elders was visited, and a number of meetings
+for worship were attended. On this trip he was at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span>
+Claremont, in Massachusetts, and desired to have an
+appointed meeting. It seemed that the person, not a
+Friend, who was to arrange for this meeting did not
+advertise it, for fear it would turn out a silent meeting,
+and he would be laughed to scorn. The attendance was
+very small, but otherwise satisfactory, so that the fearful
+person was very penitent, and desired that another meeting
+might be held. Elias says: "But we let him know that
+we were not at our own disposal; and, as no way appeared
+open in our minds for such an appointment at present, we
+could not comply with his desire."</p>
+
+<p>An appointed meeting was also held near Dartmouth
+College, but the students were hilarious, and the occasion
+very much disturbed. Still, the visitor hoped "the season
+was profitable to some present."</p>
+
+<p>In the following year, 1793, he had a concern to visit
+Friends in New England, during which he attended meetings
+in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine
+and the Massachusetts islands. On this trip he traveled by
+land or on water 2283 miles, and was absent about five
+months. It may be interesting to note that the traveling
+companion of Elias Hicks on the New England visit was
+James Mott, of Mamaroneck, N. Y., the maternal grandfather
+of James Mott,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> the husband of Lucretia.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Adam Mott, the father of Lucretia's husband, married Anne,
+daughter of James Mott.</p></div>
+
+<p>The New England Yearly Meeting was attended at
+Newport. The meeting was pronounced a "dull time" by
+the visitor. This was occasioned in part, he thought, because
+a very small number took upon "them the whole management
+of the business, and thereby shutting up the way
+to others, and preventing the free circulation and spreading
+of the concern, in a proper manner, on the minds of Friends;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span>
+which I have very often found to be a very hurtful
+tendency."</p>
+
+<p>It seems that in those days the Meeting of Ministers
+and Elders exercised the functions of a visiting committee.
+Accordingly, the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders
+in 1795 appointed a committee to visit the quarterly and
+preparative meetings within the bounds of the Yearly Meeting.
+As a member of this committee, Elias performed his
+share of this round of service. On this visit a large number
+of families were visited.</p>
+
+<p>The visits were made seasons of counsel and advice,
+especially in the "select meetings." In these, he says, "My
+mind was led to communicate some things in a plain way,
+with a view of stirring them up to more diligence and circumspection
+in their families, the better ordering and disciplining
+of their children and household, and keeping
+things sweet and clean, agreeably to the simplicity of our
+holy profession; and I had peace in my labor."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Journal, p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<p>Possibly his most extended visit up to that time was
+made in 1798. The trip was really begun Twelfth month
+12, 1797. It included meeting's in New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. On this trip he
+was from home five and one-half months, traveled 1600
+miles, and attended 143 meetings, nearly an average of one
+meeting a day.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this journey that he seriously began his
+public opposition to the institution of slavery. On the 12th
+of Third month, at a meeting at Elk Ridge, Md., he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Truth rose into dominion, and some present who
+were <span class="correction" title="Originally: slave-holders">slaveholders</span> were made sensible of their condition,
+and were much affected. I felt a hope to arise that the
+opportunity would prove profitable to some, and I left them
+with peace of mind. Since then I have been informed that
+a woman present at that session, who possessed a number<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span>
+of slaves, was so fully convinced, as to set them free, and
+not long afterwards joined in membership with Friends;
+which is indeed cause of gratitude and thankfulness of
+heart, to the great and blessed Author of every mercy
+vouchsafed to the children of men."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Journal, p. 67.</p></div>
+
+<p>His personal correspondence on this trip yields some
+interesting description of experiences, from which we make
+the following extract, from a letter written to his wife
+from "Near Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, Second
+month 12, 1798":</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Mary Berry, an ancient ministering Friend, that Job
+Scott makes mention of, was with us at the meeting. On
+Seventh-day we attended a meeting with the black people
+at Easton, which we had appointed some days before.
+There was a pretty large number attended, and the opportunity
+favoured. Mary Berry observed she thought it was
+the most so, of any that had ever been with them. They
+were generally very solid, and many of them very tender.
+The white people complained much of some of them for
+their bad conduct, but according to my feeling, many of
+them appeared much higher in the kingdom than a great
+many of the whites.</p>
+
+<p>"Some days past we were with the people called
+Nicolites. They dress very plain, many of them mostly in
+white. The women wore white bonnets as large as thine,
+and in form like thy old-fashioned bonnet, straight and
+smooth on the top. In some of their meetings three or four
+of the foremost seats would be filled with those who mostly
+had on these white bonnets. They have no backs to their
+seats, nor no rising seats in their meeting-houses. All sat
+on a level. They appear like a pretty honest, simple
+people. Profess our principles, and most of them, by their
+request, have of late been joined to Friends, and I think
+many of them are likely to become worthy members of
+Society, if the example of the backsliders among us do not
+stumble or turn them out of the right way. There was
+about 100 received by Friends here at their last monthly
+meeting, and are like for the first time to attend here next
+Fifth-day, which made it the more pressing on my mind
+to tarry over that day."</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[Pg 38]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Later Ministerial Labors.</p>
+
+
+<p>In the fall of 1799 a concern to visit meetings in
+Connecticut was followed. The trip also took in most of
+the meetings on the east bank of the Hudson as far north
+as Dutchess County. He was absent six weeks, and
+attended thirty meetings.</p>
+
+<p>Fourth month 11, 1801, Elias and his traveling companion,
+Edmund Willis, started, on a visit to "Friends in
+some parts of Jersey, Pennsylvania, and some places
+adjacent thereto." A number of meetings in New Jersey
+were visited on the way, the travelers arriving in Philadelphia
+in time for the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders.
+All of the sessions of the yearly meeting were also attended.
+It does not appear that Elias Hicks had attended this yearly
+meeting since 1779. Practically all of the meetings in New
+Jersey and Pennsylvania were visited on this trip. It lasted
+three months and eighteen days, during which time the
+visitors traveled 1630 miles.</p>
+
+<p>The personal correspondence of Elias Hicks yields one
+interesting letter written on this trip. It was written to his
+wife, and was dated "Exeter, 4th of Seventh month, 1801."
+We quote as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We did not get to Lampeter so soon as I expected,
+as mentioned in my last, for when we left Yorktown last
+Fourth-day evening, being late before we set out, detained
+in part by a shower of rain. It was night by the time we
+got over the river. We landed in a little town called Columbia,
+where dwelt a few friends. Although being anxious
+to get forward, I had previous to coming there intended to
+pass them without a meeting, but found when there I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span>
+not safely do it. Therefore we appointed a meeting there
+the next day, after which we rode to Lampeter, to William
+Brinton's, of whom, when I went westward, I got a fresh
+horse, and I left mine in his care. I have now my own
+again, but she has a very bad sore on her withers, somewhat
+like is called a 'thistlelon,' but is better than she has
+been. It is now just six weeks and four days since we went
+from this place, which is about 48 miles from Philadelphia,
+since which time we have rode 813 miles and attended 35
+meetings. Much of the way in this tour has been rugged,
+mountainous and rocky, and had it not been for the best
+attendant companion, peace of mind flowing from a compliance
+with and performance of manifested duty, the journey
+would have been tedious and irksome. But we passed
+pretty cheerfully on, viewing with an attentive eye the
+wonderful works of that boundless wisdom and power (by
+which the worlds were framed) and which are only circumscribed
+within the limits of their own innate excellency.
+Here we beheld all nature almost with its varied and almost
+endless diversifications.</p>
+
+<p>"Tremendous precipices, rocks and mountains, creeks
+and rivers, intersecting each other, all clothed in their
+natural productions; the tall pines and sturdy oaks towering
+their exalted heads above the clouds, interspersed with
+beautiful lawns and glades; together with the almost innumerable
+vegetable inhabitants, all blooming forth the
+beauties of the spring; the fields arable, clothed in rich
+pastures of varied kinds, wafted over the highways their
+balmy sweets, and the fallow grounds overspread with rich
+grain, mostly in golden wheat, to a profusion beyond anything
+of the kind my eyes ever before beheld, insomuch that
+the sensible traveler, look which way he would, could
+scarcely help feeling his mind continually inflamed and
+inspired with humble gratitude and reverent thankfulness
+to the great and bountiful author of all those multiplied
+blessings."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This letter constitutes one of the few instances where
+Elias Hicks referred to experiences on the road, not directly
+connected with his ministerial duty. The reference to
+Columbia, and his original intention to pass by without a
+meeting, with its statement he "could not safely do it," is
+characteristic. Manifestly, he uses the word "safely" in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[Pg 40]</span>
+spiritual sense. The call to minister there was too certain
+to be put aside for mere personal inclination and comfort.</p>
+
+<p>The reference to his horse contains more than a passing
+interest. Probably many other cases occurred during
+his visits when "borrowing" a horse was necessary, while
+his own was recuperating. It was a slow way to travel,
+from our standpoint, yet it had its advantages. New
+acquaintances, if not friendships, were made as the travelers
+journeyed and were entertained on the road.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th of Ninth month, 1803, Elias Hicks, with
+Daniel Titus as a traveling companion, started on a visit
+to Friends in Upper Canada, and those resident in the part
+of the New York Yearly Meeting located in the Hudson
+and Mohawk valleys. When the travelers had been from
+home a little less than a month, Elias wrote to his wife,
+from Kingston, a letter of more than ordinary interest, because
+of its descriptive quality. It describes some of the
+difficulties, not to say dangers, of the traveling Friend
+before the days of railroads. We quote the bulk of the
+letter, which was dated Tenth month, 16, 1803:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We arrived here the 3d instant at the house of Joseph
+Ferris about 3 o'clock at night, having rode the preceding
+day from Samuel Brown's at Black River, where I dated
+my last. We traveled by land and water in this day's
+journey about forty-five miles. Very bad traveling over
+logs and mudholes, crossing two ferries on our way, each
+four or five miles wide, with an island between called Long
+Island. About six miles across we were in the middle
+thereof, the darkest time in the night, when we were under
+the necessity of getting off our horses several times to feel
+for the horses' tracks in order to know whether we were
+in the path or not, as we were not able to see the path,
+nor one another at times, if more than five or six feet apart.
+Some of our company began to fear we should be under
+the necessity of lying in the woods all night. However,
+we were favored to get well through, and crossed the last
+ferry about midnight and after. Landed safely on Kingston
+shore about 2 o'clock, all well. Since which we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span>
+attended ten meetings, three of them preparative meetings,
+the rest mostly among other people. We just now, this
+evening, returned from the last held at the house of John
+Everit, about four miles west of Kingston. We held one
+yesterday in the town of Kingston in their Court House.
+It was the first Friends' meeting ever held in that place.
+The principal inhabitants generally attended, and we have
+thankfully to acknowledge that the shepherd of Israel in
+whom was our trust, made bare his arm for our help, setting
+home the testimony he gave us to the states of the
+people, thereby manifesting that he had not left himself
+without a witness in their hearts, as all appeared to yield
+their assent to the truths delivered, which has generally
+been the case, in every place where our lots have been
+cast.</p>
+
+<p>"We expect to-morrow to return on our way to Adolphustown,
+taking some meetings in our way thither, among
+those not of our Society, but so as to be there ready to
+attend Friends' monthly that is held next Fifth-day, after
+which we have some prospect of being at liberty to return
+on our way back, into our own State.</p>
+
+<p>"Having thus given thee a short account of our journey,
+I may salute thee in the fresh feelings of endeared
+affection, and strength of gospel love, in which fervent desires
+are felt for thy preservation, and that of our dear
+children, and that you may all so act and so walk, as to be
+a comfort and strength to each other, and feel an evidence
+in yourselves that the Lord is your friend; for you are my
+friend (said the blessed redeemer) if you do whatever I
+command you."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>For the three following years there is no record of
+special activity, but in 1806 a somewhat extended visit was
+made to Friends in the State of New York. He was absent
+from home nearly two months, traveled over 1000 miles,
+attended three quarterly, seventeen monthly, sixteen preparative,
+and forty meetings for worship.</p>
+
+<p>The years following, including 1812, were spent either
+at home or in short, semi-occasional visits, mostly within the
+bounds of his own yearly meeting. During this period a
+visit to Canada Half-Yearly Meeting was made.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span></p>
+
+<p>The first half of 1813 he was busy in his business and
+domestic concerns, really preparing for a religious journey,
+which he began on the 8th of Fifth month. He passed
+through New Jersey on the way, attending meetings in that
+State, either regular or by appointment, arriving in Philadelphia
+in about two weeks. Several meetings in the
+vicinity of that city were attended, whence he passed into
+Delaware and Maryland. His steps were retraced through
+New Jersey, when he was homeward bound.</p>
+
+<p>From 1813 to 1816 we find the gospel labors of Elias
+Hicks almost entirely confined to his own yearly meeting.
+This round of service did not take him farther from home
+than Dutchess County. During this period we find him
+repeatedly confessing indisposition and bodily ailment,
+which may have accounted for the fewness and moderateness
+of his religious visits.</p>
+
+<p>In First month, 1816, we find him under a concern to
+visit Friends in New England. He had as his traveling
+companion on this journey his friend and kinsman, Isaac
+Hicks, of Westbury. During this trip practically all of the
+meetings in New England were visited. It kept him from
+home about three months, and caused him to travel upward
+of 1000 miles. He attended fifty-nine particular, three
+monthly and two quarterly meetings.</p>
+
+<p>During the balance of 1816 and part of the year 1817,
+service was principally confined to the limits of Westbury
+Quarterly Meeting. But it was in no sense a period of
+idleness. Many visits were made to meetings. In Eighth
+month of the latter year, in company with his son-in-law,
+Valentine Hicks, a visit was made to some of the meetings
+attached to Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings.
+Many meetings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania received a
+visit at this time. He went as far south as Loudon
+County, Va., taking meetings <i>en route</i>, both going and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span>
+coming. He must have traveled not less than 1000 miles
+on this trip.</p>
+
+<p>Visits near at home, and one to some parts of New
+York Yearly Meeting, occupied all his time during the
+year 1818.</p>
+
+<p>In 1819 a general visit to Friends in his own yearly
+meeting engaged his attention. He went to the Canadian
+border. This trip was a season of extended service and
+deep exercise. On this journey he traveled 1084 miles, was
+absent from home fourteen weeks, and attended seventy-three
+meetings for worship, three quarterly meetings and
+four monthly meetings.</p>
+
+<p>The years from 1819 to 1823, inclusive, were particularly
+active. Elias Hicks was seventy-one in the former
+year. The real stormy period of his life was approaching
+in the shape of the unfortunate misunderstanding and bitterness
+which divided the Society. It scarcely demands
+more than passing mention here, as later on we shall give
+deserved prominence to the "separation" period.</p>
+
+<p>He started on the Ohio trip Eighth month 17, 1819,
+taking northern and central Pennsylvania on his route. He
+arrived in Mt. Pleasant in time for Ohio Yearly Meeting,
+which seems to have been a most satisfactory occasion,
+with no signs of the storm that broke over the same meeting
+a few years later. Elias himself says: "It was thought,
+I believe, by Friends, to have been the most favored yearly
+meeting they had had since its institution, and was worthy of
+grateful remembrance."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> During this visit many appointed
+meetings were held, besides regular meetings for worship.
+On the homeward journey, Friends in the Shenandoah
+Valley, in Virginia, and in parts of Maryland were visited.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span>
+On this trip he journeyed 1200 miles, was from home three
+months, and attended eighty-seven meetings.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Journal, p. 377.</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1820 a visit was made to Farmington and Duanesburg
+Quarterly Meetings, and in the summer of 1822 he
+visited Friends in some parts of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
+On this trip the Baltimore Yearly Meeting was also
+visited, as were some of the particular meetings in Maryland.
+He did not reach Philadelphia on the return journey
+until the early part of Twelfth month. While his Journal
+is singularly silent about the matter, it must have been on
+this visit that he encountered his first public opposition
+as a minister. But, with few exceptions, the Journal
+ignores the whole unpleasantness.</p>
+
+<p>In 1824 he again attended Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
+The only comment on this trip is the following: "I think it
+was, in its several sittings, one of the most satisfactory
+yearly meetings I have ever attended, and the business was
+conducted in much harmony and brotherly love."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Journal, p. 396.</p></div>
+
+<p>On the homeward trip he stopped in Philadelphia.
+Here he suffered a severe illness. Of this detention at that
+time he says: "I lodged at the house of my kind friend,
+Samuel R. Fisher, who, with his worthy children, extended
+to me the most affectionate care and attention; and I had
+also the kind sympathy of a large portion of Friends in
+that city."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The exception contained in this sentence is
+the only intimation that all was not unity and harmony
+among Friends in the "City of Brotherly Love."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Journal, p. 396.</p></div>
+
+<p>His visits in 1825 were confined to the meetings on
+Long Island and those in central New York.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter part of the following year he secured a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span>
+minute to visit meetings composing Concord and Southern
+Quarterly Meetings, within the bounds of Philadelphia
+Yearly Meeting. In passing through Philadelphia he
+attended Green Street and Mulberry Street Meetings. This
+was within a few months of the division of 1827 in Philadelphia
+Yearly Meeting, but the matter is not mentioned
+in the Journal.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Religious Journeys in 1828.</p>
+
+
+<p>On the 20th of Third month, 1828, Elias Hicks laid
+before Jericho Monthly Meeting a concern he had to make
+"a religious visit in the love of the gospel, to Friends and
+others in some parts of our own yearly meeting, and in the
+compass of the Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia, Baltimore,
+Ohio, Indiana, and a few meetings in Virginia." A minute
+embodying this concern was granted him, the same receiving
+the indorsement of Westbury Quarterly Meeting,
+Fourth month 24th. Between this period and the middle
+of Sixth month he made a visit to Dutchess County, where
+the experience with Ann Jones and her husband took place,
+which will be dealt with in a separate chapter. He also
+attended New York Yearly Meeting, when he saw and was
+a part of the "separation" trouble which culminated at that
+time. The Journal, however, makes no reference either to
+the Dutchess County matter or to the division in the yearly
+meeting. These silences in the Journal are hard to understand.
+Undoubtedly, the troubles of the period were not
+pleasant matters of record, yet one wishes that a fuller and
+more detailed statement regarding the whole matter might
+be had from Elias Hicks than is contained in the meager
+references in his personal correspondence, or his published
+Journal.</p>
+
+<p>On the 14th of Sixth month he started on the western
+and southern journey, with his friend, Jesse Merritt, as his
+traveling companion. Elias was then a few months past
+eighty.</p>
+
+<p>The two Friends halted at points in New Jersey and
+Pennsylvania, holding meetings as the way opened. Service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span>
+continued in Pennsylvania, considerably in the western part,
+passing from Pittsburg into Ohio.</p>
+
+<p>At Westland Monthly Meeting, in Pennsylvania, his
+first acknowledgment of opposition is observed. He says:
+"A Friend from abroad attended this meeting, and after I
+sat down he rose and made opposition, which greatly disturbed
+the meeting."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Thomas Shillitoe.</p></div>
+
+<p>When he arrived at Brownsville, his fame had preceded
+him. He makes this reference to the experience
+there:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Here we put up again with our kind friends Jesse and
+Edith Townsend, where we had the company of many
+Friends, and many of the inhabitants of the town not members
+of our Society, also came in to see us; as the unfounded
+reports of those who style themselves Orthodox,
+having been generally spread over the country, it created
+such a great excitement in the minds of the people at large,
+that multitudes flocked to the meetings where we were, to
+hear for themselves; and many came to see us, and acknowledged
+their satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"At this place we again fell in with the Friend from
+abroad, who attended the meeting with us; he rose in
+the early part of the meeting, and continued his communication
+so long that a number left the meeting, by
+which it became very much unsettled: however, when he
+sat down I felt an opening to stand up; and the people
+returned and crowded into the house, and those that could
+not get in stood about the doors and windows, and a
+precious solemnity soon spread over the meeting, which has
+been the case in every meeting, where our opposers did
+not make disturbance by their disorderly conduct. The
+meeting closed in a quiet and orderly manner, and I was
+very thankful for the favour."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Journal, p. 404.</p></div>
+
+<p>Following his experience at Brownsville, Elias returned
+to Westland, attending the meeting of ministers and
+elders, and the meeting for worship. The person before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span>
+mentioned, who may be called the "disturbing Friend," was
+again in evidence, this time reinforced by a "companion."
+At the instigation of Friends, the elders and overseers had
+"an opportunity" with the disturbers, but with small success.
+The same trouble was repeated on First-day. On
+this occasion the opposition was vigorous and virulent. In
+the midst of the second opportunity of the opposing Friend
+the audience melted away, leaving him literally without
+hearers.</p>
+
+<p>From Westland the journey was continued to Pittsburg,
+where an appointed meeting was held. Salem, Ohio,
+was the next point visited, where the quarterly meeting was
+attended. On First-day a large company, estimated at
+two thousand, gathered. The occasion was in every way
+satisfactory. Visits to different meetings continued. There
+was manifest opposition at New Garden, Springfield,
+Goshen and Marlborough. At Smithfield the venerable
+preacher was quite indisposed. The meeting-house was
+closed against him, by "those called Orthodox," as Elias
+defined them.</p>
+
+<p>One of the objective points on this trip was Mt. Pleasant,
+Ohio, where the yearly meeting of 1828 was held.
+He arrived in time to attend the mid-week meeting at that
+place, a week preceding the yearly meeting. A large
+attendance was reported, many being present who were not
+members of the Society. The signs of trouble had preceded
+the distinguished visitor, the "world's people" having a
+phenomenal curiosity regarding a possible war among the
+peaceable Quakers. There was pronounced antagonism
+manifested in this mid-week meeting, described as "a long,
+tedious communication from a minister among those called
+Orthodox, who, after I sat down, publicly opposed and
+endeavored to lay waste what I had said."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Journal, p. 411.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>During the following days meetings were attended at
+Short Creek, Harrisville, West Grove, Concord, St. Clairsville,
+Plainfield, Wrightstown and Stillwater. There was no
+recorded disturbance until he returned to Mt. Pleasant the
+6th of Ninth month, the date of the gathering of the
+Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders. When the meeting-house
+was reached the gate to the yard was guarded,
+"by a number of men of the opposing party," who refused
+entrance to those who were in sympathy with Elias Hicks.
+They proceeded to hold their meeting in the open air. Subsequent
+meetings were held in a school-house and in a
+private house, the home of Israel French.</p>
+
+<p>First-day, Ninth month 7th, Mt. Pleasant Meeting was
+attended in the forenoon, and Short Creek Meeting in the
+afternoon. The meeting at Mt. Pleasant was what might
+be called stormy. Elisha Bates and Ann Braithwaite spoke
+in opposition, after Elias Hicks had spoken. In a letter
+dated Ninth month 10th, written to his son-in-law, Valentine
+Hicks, Elias says that these Friends "detained the
+meeting two hours or more, opposing and railing against
+what I had said, until the people were wearied and much
+disgusted." No trouble was experienced at Short Creek,
+although experiences similar to those of the morning
+occurred at Mt. Pleasant in the afternoon. Amos Peaslee,
+of Woodbury, N. J., was the center of opposition at that
+time. He was opposed while on his feet addressing the
+multitude.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with this yearly meeting a number of
+Friends were arrested on charges of trespass and inducing
+a riot, and taken to court. All were members of Ohio
+Yearly Meeting, except Halliday Jackson,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> of Darby, Pa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span>
+For some reason Elias escaped arrest, although in the letter
+referred to he said: "I have been expecting for several
+days past to have a writ of trespass served against me by
+the sheriff, for going on their meeting-house grounds, by
+which I may be taken twenty miles or more to appear before
+the judge, as a number of Friends already have been,
+although my mind is quiet regarding the event."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Halliday Jackson was father of John Jackson, the well-known
+educator, principal of Sharon Hill School. Halliday was with the
+Seneca Indians in New York State for two years, as a teacher under
+the care of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.</p></div>
+
+<p>While at Mt. Pleasant the small monthly meeting of
+Orthodox Friends at his home sent a letter "officially" commanding
+Elias to cease his religious visits. In regard to
+this matter, and the general situation in Ohio, Elias wrote
+to Valentine Hicks: "The Orthodox in this yearly meeting
+are, if possible, tenfold more violent than in any other part
+of the Society. Gideon Seaman, and his associates in the
+little upstart Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>
+have sent a very peremptory order for me to return immediately
+home, and not proceed any further on my religious
+visit, by which they trample the authority of our quarterly
+and monthly meeting under foot."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho was made up
+of a small number of Orthodox Friends, representing only a small
+minority of the meeting of which Elias Hicks was a member.</p></div>
+
+<p>Following the Ohio Yearly Meeting, Flushing,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> in that
+State, was visited, and the First-day meeting attended.
+Elias was met before he reached the meeting-house by
+Orthodox Friends, who insisted that he should not interrupt
+the meeting. He entered the house, but before the
+meeting was fairly settled, Charles Osborn, an Orthodox
+Friend, appeared in prayer, and continued for an hour; and
+then preached for another hour. Elias thus refers to this
+occurrence:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Flushing is about 18 miles from Mt. Pleasant. A Wilburite
+meeting is the only Friendly gathering now in the place.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"However, when he sat down, although the meeting
+was much wearied with his long and tedious communica<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[Pg 51]</span>tions,
+I felt the necessity of standing up and addressing
+the people, which brought a precious solemnity over the
+meeting; but as soon as I sat down, he rose again to contradict,
+and tried to lay waste my communication, by
+asserting that I had not the unity of my friends at home;
+which being untrue, I therefore informed the meeting that
+I had certificates with me to prove the incorrectness of his
+assertions, which I then produced, but he and his party
+would not stay to hear them, but in a disorderly manner
+arose and left the meeting; but the people generally stayed
+and heard them read, to their general satisfaction."<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Journal, p. 414.</p></div>
+
+<p>Meetings were subsequently attended at different points
+in Ohio, generally without disturbance, until Springfield
+was reached the 22d of Ninth month. Here the Orthodox
+shut the meeting-house and guarded the doors. Elias held
+his meeting under some trees nearby. He says: "It was
+a precious season, wherein the Lord's power and love were
+exalted over all opposition."<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Journal, p. 416.</p></div>
+
+<p>Preceding Indiana Yearly Meeting, he was twice at
+Wilmington, Ohio, and attended monthly meeting at Center,
+the first held since the "separation." The attendance was
+large, many more than the house would accommodate.
+Elias says: "The Lord, our never-failing helper, manifested
+his presence, solemnizing the assembly and opening the
+minds of the people to receive the word preached; breaking
+down all opposition, and humbling and contriting the
+assembly in a very general manner."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Journal, p. 415.</p></div>
+
+<p>Ninth month 27th, Indiana Yearly Meeting convened
+at Waynesville, Ohio. It should be noted that the "separation"
+in most of the meetings comprising this yearly
+meeting had been accomplished in 1827, so that the gather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[Pg 52]</span>ing
+in 1828 was in substantial unity with the Friends in
+sympathy with Elias Hicks. A letter written to Valentine
+and Abigail Hicks, dated Waynesville, Tenth month 3,
+1828, contains some interesting information concerning the
+experience of the venerable preacher. He says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The Yearly Meeting here would have been very large,
+had there not been a failure of the information of the conclusion
+for holding it here, reaching divers of the Quarterly
+Meetings, by which they were prevented from attending.
+The meeting was very orderly conducted, and the business
+managed in much harmony and condescension. The public
+meetings have been very large, favoured seasons, and all the
+meetings we have attended in our passing along have been
+generally very large. Seldom any houses were found large
+enough to contain the people. Often hundreds were under
+the necessity of standing out doors. Many of the people
+without came a great way to be at our meeting. Some ten,
+some twenty, and some thirty miles, and I have been informed
+since I have been here that the people in a town
+120 miles below Cincinnati have given it in charge to
+Friends of that place to inform them when we came there,
+as a steam boat plies between the two places. The excitement
+is so great among the people by the false rumors
+circulated by the Orthodox, that they spare no pains to get
+an opportunity to be with us, and those who have attended
+from distant parts, informing the people the satisfaction
+they have had in being with us, in which they have found
+that the reports spread among them were generally false,
+it has increased the excitement in others to see for themselves."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The yearly meeting over, Elias attended meetings <i>en
+route</i> to Richmond, Ind., and was at the mid-week meeting
+in that place, Tenth month 8th. Several other meetings
+were attended, the only disturbance reported being at
+Orange, where the Orthodox "hurt the meeting very considerably."
+On the 19th he was in Cincinnati, and attended
+the regular meeting in the morning, and a large appointed
+meeting in the court-house in the afternoon. Both were
+pronounced "highly favored seasons."</p>
+
+<p>First-day, the 26th, he was at Fairfield, where the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span>
+Orthodox revived the story that he was traveling without
+a minute. While Elias was speaking, the Orthodox left
+the meeting in a body. He remarks: "But Friends and
+others kept their seats, and we had a very solemn close, and
+great brokenness and contrition were manifest among the
+people; and to do away with the false report spread by the
+Orthodox, I had my certificates read, which gave full satisfaction
+to the assembly."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Journal, p. 419.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias then journeyed to Wheeling, his face being
+turned homeward. He held an appointed meeting in that
+city. It is suggestive that, notwithstanding the theological
+odium under which he was supposed to rest, the meeting
+was held in the Methodist church, which had been kindly
+offered for the purpose. This would seem to indicate that
+the Methodists had not yet taken any sides in the quarrel
+which had divided the <span class="correction" title="Originally: Soicety">Society</span> of Friends.</p>
+
+<p>After visiting Redstone Quarterly Meeting, in western
+Pennsylvania, he visited the meetings in the Shenandoah
+and Loudon valleys, in Virginia. He was at Alexandria
+and Washington, and on First-day, Eleventh month 16th,
+was at Sandy Spring, Md. The meetings about Baltimore
+and in Harford and Cecil counties were visited. He
+reached West Grove in Pennsylvania, Twelfth month 1st,
+and encountered some trouble, as he found that the meeting-house
+had been closed against him. A large crowd assembled,
+better councils prevailed, and the house was opened.
+The audience was beyond the capacity of the house, and the
+meeting in every way satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>Upon his arrival at West Grove, Twelfth month 1st,
+he sent a letter to his son-in-law and daughter, Royal and
+Martha Aldrich. In this letter he gives a brief account of
+his experiences in Maryland and Lancaster County. He
+says: "The aforesaid meetings were very large and highly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[Pg 54]</span>
+favored, generally made up of every description of people,
+high and low, rich and poor, Romanists, and generally some
+of every profession of Protestants known in our country.
+Generally all went away fully satisfied as to those evil
+reports that have been spread over the country concerning
+me, and many announced the abhorrence they had of those
+false and slanderous reports."</p>
+
+<p>It appears from this letter that the traveling companion
+of Elias, Jesse Merritt, was homesick, and hoped that some
+other Friend would come from Long Island to take his place
+for the rest of the trip. In case such a shift was made,
+Elias requested that whoever came "might bring with him
+my best winter tight-bodied coat, and two thicker neck-cloths,
+as those I have are rather thin. I got a new great-coat
+in Alexandria, and shall not need any other."</p>
+
+<p>From a letter written to his wife from West Chester,
+Twelfth month 7th, we learn that John Hicks had arrived
+to take the place of Jesse Merritt, and he seized that opportunity
+to send a letter home. As the two Friends had been
+away from home nearly six months, it is not strange that
+the companion on this journey desired to return. He could
+scarcely have been under the deep and absorbing religious
+concern which was felt by his elder brother in the truth.
+The nature of this obligation is revealed in the letter last
+noted. In this epistle to his wife, Elias says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Abigail's letter informs of the infirm state of V. and
+Caroline, which excites near-feeling and sympathy with
+them, and which would induce me to return home immediately
+if I was set at liberty from my religious obligations,
+but as that is not the case, I can only recommend them to
+the preserving care and compassionate regard of our
+Heavenly Father, whose mercy is over all his works and
+does not suffer a sparrow to fall without his notice. And
+as we become resigned to his heavenly disposals, he will
+cause all things to work together for good, to his truly
+devoted children. Therefore, let all trust in him, for in the
+Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[Pg 55]</span></p>
+
+<p>The meetings in Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania and
+New Jersey were pretty generally attended, and with no
+reported disturbance. First-day, the 21st of Twelfth
+month, Elias attended the meeting at Cherry Street in the
+morning and Green Street in the afternoon, and on the 28th
+he repeated that experience. On both occasions "hundreds
+more assembled than the houses could contain."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> In the
+suburban meetings in Delaware and Bucks Counties, "the
+houses were generally too small to contain the people; many
+had to stand out-of-doors for want of room; nevertheless,
+the people behaved orderly and the Lord was felt to preside,
+solemnizing those crowded assemblies, in all of which my
+mind was opened, and ability afforded, to preach the gospel
+to the people in the demonstration of the spirit and with
+power, and many hearts were broken and contrited and went
+away rejoicing, under thankful sense of the unmerited
+favor."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Journal, p. 423.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Journal, p. 423.</p></div>
+
+<p>The great crowds which flocked to hear Elias Hicks
+after the "separation" were probably called together partly
+because of curiosity on their part, and to a considerable
+extent because of his continued popularity as a minister, in
+spite of the trouble which had come to the Society. That
+he was appreciative of what we would now call the advertising
+quality of those who antagonized him, and became
+his theological and personal enemies, is well attested. In
+summing up his conclusions regarding the long religious
+visit now under review, he said: "My opposing brethren
+had, by their public opposition and erroneous reports,
+created such excitement in the minds of the people generally
+of every profession, that it induced multitudes to assemble
+to hear for themselves, and they generally went away satis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[Pg 56]</span>fied
+and comforted."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Undoubtedly, the multitudes who
+heard Elias Hicks preach in 1828 went away wondering
+what all the trouble was about.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Journal, p. 423.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias and his traveling companion reached home about
+the middle of First month, 1829. This was one of the
+longest and most extended religious journeys ever made
+by him, and was completed within two months of his
+eighty-first year. On the journey he traveled nearly 2400
+miles, and was absent seven months and ten days.</p>
+
+<p>Going carefully over the various journeys of this well-known
+minister, a conservative estimate will show that he
+traveled in the aggregate not less than forty thousand miles
+during his long life of public service. He was probably
+the best-known minister in the Society of Friends in his
+time. His circle of personal friends was large, and extended
+over all the yearly meetings. It is necessary to
+keep these facts in mind, in order to understand how the
+major portion of Friends at that time made his cause their
+own when the rupture came.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of Friends at that time were content as
+to preaching, with words that seemed to be full of spirit
+and life, and this undoubtedly was characteristic of the
+preaching of Elias Hicks. To attempt to destroy the standing
+in the Society of a man of such character and equipment
+was certain to break something other than the man attacked.
+This will become more apparent as we consider more closely
+the relation of Elias Hicks to the controversy with which
+his name and person were linked, and with the trouble in
+the Society of Friends, for which, either justly or otherwise,
+he was made the scapegoat.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i059" id="i059"></a>
+<img src="images/i059a.jpg" width="600" height="376" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">THE HICKS' HOUSE, JERICHO.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(See page <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/i059b.jpg" width="600" height="377" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, JERICHO.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(See page <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.)</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Ideas About the Ministry.</p>
+
+
+<p>To construct from the published deliverances, and
+personal correspondence of Elias Hicks, a statement of his
+theory and practice touching the ministry is desirable if not
+easy. That he considered public religious exercise an exalted
+function, if of the right sort, and emanating from the
+Divine source, is abundantly evidenced in all he said and
+wrote. The call to particular and general service, whether
+in his home meeting for worship, or in connection with his
+extended religious journeys, he believed came directly from
+the Divine Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>One instance is related, which possibly as clearly as
+anything, illustrates his feeling regarding the ministry, and
+the relationship of the Infinite to the minister. In the fall
+of 1781, when his service in the ministry had been acknowledged
+about three years, he was very ill with a fever,
+which lasted for several months. In the most severe period
+of this indisposition he tells us that "a prospect opened to
+my mind to pay a religious visit to some parts of our island
+where no Friends lived, and among a people, who, from
+acquaintance I had with them, were more likely to mock
+than receive me." He opposed the call, and argued against
+it, only to see the disease daily reducing his bodily and mental
+strength. He became convinced that in yielding to this
+call lay his only hope of recovery, and had he not done so
+his life would have gone out. Having fully recovered, the
+intimated service was performed the following summer.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to treat his ministry as something in a
+measure apart from his personality. He repeatedly referred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span>
+to his own ministerial labors in a way not unlike that indulged
+in by his most ardent admirers. Yet this was always
+accompanied with acknowledgment of the Divine enlightening
+and assistance. On the 22d of Tenth month, 1779, he
+held an appointed meeting in Hartford, Conn., a thousand
+persons being present. Of this meeting he said: "The
+Lord, in whom we trust, was graciously near, and furnished
+us with ability to conduct the meeting to the satisfaction
+and peace of our own minds; and to the edification of many
+present, and general satisfaction to the assembly."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Journal, p. 85.</p></div>
+
+<p>Speaking of a meeting at Market Street, Philadelphia,
+in Fourth month, 1801, he remarked: "My spirit was set
+at liberty, and ability afforded to divide the word among
+them, according to their varied conditions, in a large, searching
+and effectual testimony; whereby a holy solemnity was
+witnessed to spread over the meeting, to the great rejoicing
+of the honest-hearted."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Journal, p. 89.</p></div>
+
+<p>At a meeting at Goose Creek, Virginia, the 22d of
+Third month, 1797, he tells us: "After a considerable time
+of silent labor, in deep baptism with the suffering seed, my
+mouth was opened in a clear, full testimony, directed to
+the states of those present. And many were brought under
+the influence of that power which 'cut Rahab, and wounded
+the dragon.'"<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Journal, p. 69.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the acknowledgment of the Divine influence and
+favor, Elias Hicks had a collection of phrases which he
+repeatedly used. "It was the Lord's doings, and marvelous
+in our eyes," was a common expression. He repeatedly
+said: "Our sufficiency was not of ourselves, but of God;
+and that the Lord was our strength from day to day, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span>
+is over all blessed forever." One of his favorite expressions
+was: "To the Lord be all the praise, nothing due
+to man."</p>
+
+<p>Trite and pointed Scripture quotations were always at
+command, and they were effectively employed, both in
+speaking and writing. It will be noted by the reader that
+not a few of the expressions used by Elias Hicks sound
+like the phrases coined by George Fox.</p>
+
+<p>That Elias Hicks believed in the plenary inspiration of
+the preacher is well attested. His testimony was constantly
+against the "letter," with little recognition that the letter
+could ever contain the spirit. Here is a sample exhortation
+to ministers:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And it is a great thing when ministers keep in remembrance
+that necessary caution of the divine Master, not
+to premediate what they shall say; but carefully to wait
+in the nothingness and emptiness of self, that what they
+speak may be only what the Holy Spirit speaketh in them;
+then will they not only speak the truth, but the truth, accompanied
+with power, and thereby profit the hearers."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Journal, p. 296.</p></div>
+
+<p>He admonished Friends in meeting, and especially
+ministers, to "get inward, and wait in their proper gifts."
+The evident theory was that by waiting, and possibly wrestling
+with the manifestation it was possible to tell whether
+it was from below or above.</p>
+
+<p>Still, there was not an entire absence of the human
+and even the rational in Elias Hicks' theory of the ministry
+as it worked out in practice. He had evidently discovered
+the psychological side of public speaking to the
+extent of recognizing that even the preacher was influenced
+by his audience.</p>
+
+<p>When he was in Philadelphia in 1816, before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span>
+troubled times had arrived, he tells us that "it proved a
+hard trying season: one of them [ministers] was exercised
+in public testimony, and although she appeared to labor fervently,
+yet but little life was felt to arise during the meeting.
+This makes the work hard for the poor exercised ministers,
+who feel the necessity publicly to advocate the cause of truth
+and righteousness, and yet obtain but little relief, by reason
+of the deadness and indifference of those to whom they are
+constrained to minister. I found it my place to sit silent
+and suffer with the seed."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Journal, p. 271.</p></div>
+
+<p>In a personal letter, while on one of his visits, Elias
+Hicks gave the following impression of the meeting and the
+ministry:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"To-day was the quarterly meeting of discipline. It
+was large, and I think in the main a favored instructive
+season, although considerably hurt by a pretty long, tedious
+communication, not sufficiently clothed with life to make
+it either comfortable or useful. So it is, the Society is in
+such a mixed and unstable state, and many who presume
+to be teachers in it, are so far from keeping on the original
+foundation, the light and spirit of truth, and so built up in
+mere tradition, that I fear a very great portion of the
+ministry among us, is doing more harm than good, and
+leading back to the weak and beggarly elements, to which
+they seem desirous to be again in bondage."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Letter to his wife, dated Purchase, N. Y., Tenth month 29, 1823.</p></div>
+
+<p>This is not the only case of his measuring the general
+effect of the ministry. In Seventh month, 1815, he attended
+Westbury Quarterly Meeting, and of its experiences he
+wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Was the parting meeting held for public worship. It
+was a large crowded meeting, but was somewhat hurt in
+the forepart, by the appearance of one young in the ministry
+standing too long, and manifesting too much animation:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span>
+Yet, I believed, he was under the preparing hand, fitting
+for service in the Church, if he only keeps low and humble,
+and does not aspire above his gift, into the animation of the
+creature. For there is great danger, if such are not deeply
+watchful, of the transformer getting in and raising the mind
+into too much creaturely zeal, and warmth of the animal
+spirit, whereby they may be deceived, and attribute that
+to the divine power, which only arises from a heated imagination,
+and the natural warmth of their own spirits; and
+so mar the work of the divine spirit on their minds, run
+before their gift and lose it, or have it taken away from
+them. They thereby fall into the condition of some formerly,
+as mentioned by the prophet, who, in their creaturely
+zeal, kindle a fire of their own, and walk in the light
+thereof; but these, in the end, have to lie down in sorrow."<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Journal, p. 234.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of the same quarterly meeting, held in Fourth month
+in the following year, in New York, Elias wrote: "It was
+for the most part a favored season, but would have been
+more so, had not some in the ministry quite exceeded the
+mark by unnecessary communication. For very great care
+ought to rest on the minds of ministers, lest they become
+burthensome, and take away the life from the meeting, and
+bring over it a gloom of death and darkness, that may be
+sensibly felt."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Journal, p. 268.</p></div>
+
+<p>His feeling regarding his own particular labor in the
+ministry is almost pathetically expressed as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Meetings are generally large and well-attended, although
+in the midst of harvest. I have continual cause for
+deep humility and thankfulness of heart under a daily sense
+of the continued mercy of the Shepherd of Israel, who when
+he puts his servants forth, goes before them, and points out
+the way, when to them all seems shut up in darkness.
+This has been abundantly my lot from day to day, insomuch
+that the saying of the prophet has been verified in my experience,
+that none are so blind as the Lord's servants, nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span>
+deaf as his messengers. As generally when I first enter
+meetings I feel like one, both dumb and deaf, and see nothing
+but my own impotence. Nevertheless as my whole
+trust and confidence is in the never-failing arm of divine
+sufficiency, although I am thus emptied, I am not cast
+down, neither has a murmuring thought been permitted to
+enter, but in faith and patience, have had to inherit the
+promise, as made to Israel formerly by the prophet. 'I will
+never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' This my dear, I trust
+will be the happy lot of all those who sincerely trust in the
+Lord, and do not cast away their confidence, nor lean to
+their own understanding."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Letter to his wife, written from East Caln, Pa., Seventh month
+22, 1813.</p></div>
+
+<p>Occasionally in his ministry Elias Hicks did what in
+our time would be called sensational things. In this matter
+he shall be his own witness. Fourth-day, the 6th of
+Twelfth month, 1815, at Pearl Street meeting in New York,
+there was a marriage during the meeting, on which account
+the attendance was large. After remarking that his mind
+was "exercised in an unusual manner," he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"For the subject which first presented, after my mind
+had become silenced, was the remembrance of the manner
+in which the temporal courts among men are called to
+order; and it became so impressive, as to apprehend it
+right to make use of it as a simile, much in the way the
+prophet was led to make use of some of the Rechabites, to
+convict Israel of their disobedience and want of attention to
+their law and law-giver. I accordingly was led to cry
+audibly three times, 'O yes! O yes! O yes! silence all persons,
+under the pain and penalty of the displeasure of the
+court.' This unusual address had a powerful tendency to
+arrest the attention of all present, and from which I took
+occasion, as truth opened the way, to reason with the assembly,
+that if such a confused mass of people as are
+generally collected together on such occasions, and from
+very different motives, and many from mere curiosity to
+hear and see the transactions of the court, should all in
+an instant so honor and respect the court, as immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span>
+to be still and silent at the simple call of the crier: How
+much more reasonable is it, for a collection of people,
+promiscuously gathered to the place appointed in a religious
+way, to wait upon, and worship the Judge of heaven and
+earth, to be still, and strive to silence every selfish and
+creaturely thought and cogitation of the mind. For such
+thoughts and cogitations would as certainly prevent our
+hearing the inward divine voice of the King of heaven, and
+as effectually hinder our worshipping him in spirit and in
+truth, as the talking of the multitude at a court of moral
+law, would interrupt the business thereof. As I proceeded
+with this simile, the subject enlarged and spread, accompanied
+with gospel power and the evident demonstration of
+the spirit, whereby truth was raised into victory, and ran
+as oil over all. The meeting closed with solemn supplication
+and thanksgiving to the Lord our gracious Helper, to
+whom all the honor and glory belong, both now and forever."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Journal, p. 248.</p></div>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been the opinion of Elias Hicks
+as to the inspiration of the minister, he evidently did not
+consider that it was so impersonal and accidental, or so
+entirely outside the preacher, as to demand no care on his
+own part. The following advisory statement almost provides
+for what might be called "preparation:"</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In those large meetings, where Friends are collected
+from various parts, the weak and the strong together, and
+especially in those for worship, it is essentially necessary
+that Friends get inward, and wait in their proper gifts,
+keeping in view their standing and place in society, especially
+those in the ministry. For otherwise there is danger
+even from a desire to do good, of being caught with the
+enemies' transformations, particularly with those that are
+young, and inexperienced; for we seldom sit in meetings but
+some prospect presents, which has a likeness, in its first
+impression, to the right thing; and as these feel naturally
+fearful of speaking in large meetings, and in the presence
+of their elderly friends, and apprehending they are likely to
+have something to offer, they are suddenly struck with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span>
+fear of man, and thereby prevented from centering down
+to their gifts, so as to discover whether it is a right motion
+or not; and the accuser of the brethren, who is always
+ready with his transformations to deceive, charges with
+unfaithfulness and disobedience, by which they are driven
+to act without any clear prospect, and find little to say, except
+making an apology for them thus standing; by which
+they often disturb the meeting, and prevent others, who
+are rightly called to the work, and thereby wound the
+minds of the living baptized members."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Journal, p. 230.</p></div>
+
+<p>The responsibility which Elias Hicks felt for the meeting
+of which he was a member, and in which he felt called
+to minister, is well illustrated in the following quotation:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I was under considerable bodily indisposition most
+of this week. On Fifth-day, so much so, as almost to give
+up the prospect of getting to meeting; but I put on my
+usual resolution and went, and was glad in so doing, as
+there I met with that peace of God that passeth all understanding,
+which is only known by being felt. I had to declare
+to my friends how good it is to trust in the Lord with
+all the heart, and lean not to our own understandings, lest
+they fail us."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Journal, p. 230.</p></div>
+
+<p>This records no uncommon occurrence. He was often
+indisposed, but the illness had to be severe if it kept him
+away from meeting.</p>
+
+<p>During his later life he was frequently indisposed, and
+sometimes under such bodily pain when speaking that he
+was forced to stop in the midst of a discourse. This
+happened in Green Street Meeting House, Philadelphia,
+Eleventh month 12, 1826. On this occasion the stenographer
+says that after "leaving his place for a few minutes,
+he resumed." During this particular sermon Elias sat down
+twice, beside the time mentioned, evidently to recover physical
+strength.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span></p>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was not one of those ministers who always
+spoke if he attended meeting. Many times he was silent;
+this being especially true when in his home meeting.
+When on a religious visit he generally spoke, but not always.
+That his <span class="correction" title="Originally: willingess">willingness</span> to "famish the people from words,"
+tended to his local popularity, is quite certain.</p>
+
+<p>The printed sermons of Elias Hicks would indicate that
+at times he was quite lengthy, and seldom preached what is
+known now as a short, ten-minute sermon. Estimating a
+number of sermons, we find that they averaged about 6500
+words, so that his sermons must have generally occupied
+from thirty to forty-five minutes in delivery. Occasionally
+a sermon contained over 8000 words, while sometimes less
+than 4000 words.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Home at Jericho.</p>
+
+
+<p>The village of Jericho, Long Island, is about 25 miles
+east of New York City, in the town of Oyster Bay. It
+has had no considerable growth since the days of Elias
+Hicks, and now contains only about a score and a half of
+houses. Hicksville, less than two miles away, the railroad
+station for the older hamlet, contains a population of a
+couple of thousand. It was named for Valentine Hicks,
+the son-in-law of Elias.</p>
+
+<p>Running through Jericho is the main-traveled road from
+the eastern part of Long Island to New York, called Jericho
+Pike. In our time it is a famous thoroughfare for automobiles,
+is thoroughly modern, and as smooth and hard as
+a barn floor. In former days it was a toll-road, and over
+it Elias Hicks often traveled. A cross-country road runs
+through Jericho nearly north and south, leading to Oyster
+Bay. On this road, a few rods to the north from the turn
+in the Jericho Pike stands the house which was originally
+the Seaman homestead, where Elias Hicks lived from soon
+after his marriage till his death.</p>
+
+<p>The house was large and commodious for its time, but
+has been remodeled, so that only part of the building now
+standing is as it was eighty years ago. The house ends to
+the road, with entrance from the south side. It was of the
+popular Long Island and New England construction, shingled
+from <span class="correction" title="Originally: celler">cellar</span> wall to ridge-pole. Four rooms on the east
+end of the house, two upstairs and two down, are practically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span>
+as they were in the days of Elias Hicks. In one of these he
+had his paralytic stroke, and in another he passed away.
+The comparatively wide hall which runs across the house,
+with the exception of the stairway, is as it was in the time
+of its distinguished occupant. A new stairway of modern
+construction now occupies the opposite side of the hall from
+the one of the older time. This hall-way, it is said, Elias
+Hicks loved to promenade, sometimes with his visitors, and
+here with characteristic warmth of feeling he sped his
+parting guests, when the time for their departure came.</p>
+
+<p>Like the most of his neighbors, Elias Hicks was a
+farmer. The home place probably contained about seventy-five
+acres, but he possessed detached pieces of land, part of it
+in timber. Several years before his death he sold forty
+acres of the farm to his son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, thus
+considerably reducing the care which advancing years and
+increased religious labor made advisable.</p>
+
+<p>Jericho still retains its agricultural character more than
+some of the other sections of neighboring Long Island.
+The multi-millionaire and the real estate exploiter have absorbed
+many of the old Friendly homes toward the Westbury
+neighborhood, and are pushing their ambitious intent at
+land-grabbing down the Jericho road.</p>
+
+<p>If Elias were to return and make a visit from Jericho
+to the meeting at Westbury, as he often did in his time,
+three or four miles away, he would pass more whizzing
+automobiles en route than he would teams, and would see
+the landscape beautifully adorned with lawns and walks,
+with parks and drives on the hillsides, not to mention the
+costly Roman garden of one of Pittsburg's captains of industry.
+Should he so elect, he could be whirled in a
+gasoline car in a few minutes over a distance which it
+probably took him the better part of an hour to make in
+his day. As he went along he could muse over snatches of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span>
+Goldsmiths' "Deserted Village," like the following, which
+would be approximately, if not literally, true:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse">"Hoards, e'en beyond the miser's wish abound,</div>
+<div class="verse">And rich men flock from all the world around.</div>
+<div class="verse">Yet count our gains: this wealth is but a name</div>
+<div class="verse">That leaves our useful products just the same.</div>
+<div class="verse">And so the loss: the man of wealth and pride</div>
+<div class="verse">Takes up the place that many poor supplied;</div>
+<div class="verse">Space for his lake, his parks extending bounds,</div>
+<div class="verse">Space for his horses, equipage and hounds,</div>
+<div class="verse">The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth,</div>
+<div class="verse">Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth."</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>But there are some compensations in the modern scene,
+and however emotionally sad the change, the helpfully suggestive
+side is not in lamentation over the inevitable, but in
+considering the growing demands which the situation makes
+upon the practical spiritual religion which Elias Hicks
+preached, and in which his successors still profess to believe.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred years ago, wheat was a regular and staple
+farm product on Long Island, especially in and around
+Jericho, and on the Hicks farm. But no wheat is raised
+in this section now. The farmer finds it more profitable
+to raise the more perishable vegetables to feed the hungry
+hordes of the great city, which has crowded itself nearer and
+nearer to the farmers' domain.</p>
+
+<p>Less than a quarter of a mile up the road from the
+Hicks home is the Friends' Meeting House, which Elias
+Hicks helped to build, if he did not design it. The timbers
+and rafters, which were large, and are still sound to the
+core, were hewed by hand of course. Like most of the
+neighboring buildings, its sides were shingled, and probably
+the original shingles have not been replaced since the house
+was built, a hundred and twenty-two years ago. The "public
+gallery" contained benches sloping steeply one above the
+other, making the view of the preacher's gallery easy from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span>
+these elevated positions. Over the preacher's gallery, and
+facing the one just described, is room for a row of seats
+behind a railing. Whether this was a sort of a "watch-tower"
+from which the elders might observe the deportment
+of the young people in the seats opposite, or whether it was
+simply used for overflow purposes, tradition does not tell
+us.</p>
+
+<p>The fact probably is that what is known as the Hicks
+property at Jericho came to Elias by his wife Jemima.
+There is every reason to believe that at the time of his
+marriage he was a poor man, and as the young folks took
+up their residence at the Seaman home soon after their
+marriage, there was no time for an accumulation of property
+on the part of the head of the new family. The
+economic situation involved in the matter under consideration
+had a most important bearing on the religious service
+of Elias Hicks. Taking the Seaman farm brought him
+economic certainty, if not independence. It is hardly conceivable
+that he could have given the large attention to the
+"free gospel ministry" which he did, had there been a
+struggle with debt and difficulty which was so incidental in
+laying the foundations of even a moderate success a century
+and a quarter ago. It is by no means to be inferred, however,
+that Elias Hicks was ever a wealthy man, or possessed
+the means of luxury, for which of course he had no desire,
+and against which he bore a life-long testimony. The real
+point to be gratefully remembered is that he was not overburdened
+with the care and worry which a less desirable
+economic condition would have enforced.</p>
+
+<p>In the main, Elias Hicks saw his married children settle
+around him. Royal Aldrich, who married his oldest
+daughter, had a tannery, and lived on the opposite side of
+the road not far away. Valentine Hicks, who married
+another daughter, had a somewhat pretentious house for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span>
+the time, at the foot of the little hill approaching the meeting
+house, and just beyond the house of Elias, Robert Seaman,
+who married the youngest daughter, lived only a few
+steps away. Joshua Willets, who married the third
+daughter, resided on the south side of the island, some miles
+distant. The time of scattering families, lured by business
+outlook and economic advantage, had not yet arrived.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Hicks Family.</p>
+
+
+<p>In the home at Jericho the children of Elias Hicks
+were born. Touching his family we have this bit of interesting
+information from Elias Hicks himself:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"My wife, although not of a very strong constitution,
+lived to be the mother of eleven children, four sons and
+seven daughters. Our second daughter, a very lovely
+promising child, died when young with the small pox, and
+the youngest was not living at its birth. The rest all
+arrived to years of discretion, and afforded us considerable
+comfort, as they proved to be in a good degree dutiful
+children. All our sons, however, were of weak constitutions,
+and were not able to take care of themselves, being
+so enfeebled as not to be able to walk after the ninth year
+of their age. The two eldest died in the fifteenth year of
+their age, the third in his seventeenth year, and the youngest
+was nearly nineteen when he died. But, although thus
+helpless, the innocency of their lives, and the resigned
+cheerfulness of their dispositions to their allotments, made
+the labour and toil of taking care of them agreeable and
+pleasant; and I trust we were preserved from murmuring
+or repining, believing the dispensation to be in wisdom, and
+according to the will and gracious disposing of an all-wise
+providence, for purposes best known to himself. And when
+I have observed the great anxiety and affliction, which many
+parents have with undutiful children who are favoured
+with health, especially their sons, I could perceive very
+few whose troubles and exercises, on that account, did not
+far exceed ours. The weakness and bodily infirmity of our
+sons tended to keep them much out of the way of the
+troubles and temptations of the world; and we believed
+that in their death they were happy, and admitted into the
+realms of peace and joy; a reflection, the most comfortable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span>
+and joyous that parents can have in regard to their tender
+offspring."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Journal, p. 14.</p></div>
+
+<p>The children thus referred to by their father were
+the following: Martha, born in 1771. She married Royal
+Aldrich, and died in 1862, at the advanced age of ninety-one.
+She was a widow for about twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>David was born in 1773, and died in 1787. Elias,
+the second son, was born in 1774, and died the same year
+as his brother David. Elizabeth was born in 1777, and
+died in 1779. This is the daughter who had the small
+pox. There are no records telling whether the other members
+of the family had the disease, or how this child of two
+years became a victim of the contagion.</p>
+
+<p>Phebe, the third daughter, was born in 1779. She
+married Joshua Willets, as noted in the last chapter.</p>
+
+<p>Abigail, who married Valentine Hicks, a nephew of
+Elias, was born in 1782. She died Second month 26, 1850,
+while her husband passed away the 5th of Third month of
+the same year, just one week after the death of his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Jonathan, the third son, was born in 1784, and passed
+away in 1802. His brother, John, was born in 1789, and
+died in 1805.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth, evidently named for her little sister, was
+born in 1791, and lived to a good old age. She passed
+away in <span class="correction" title="Originally: 1781">1871</span>. She was never married, and occasionally
+accompanied her father on his religious visits. She was
+known in the neighborhood, in her later years at least, as
+"Aunt Elizabeth," and is the best-remembered of any of
+the children of Elias Hicks. As the Friends remember her
+she was a spare woman, never weighing over ninety pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The youngest child of the family, Sarah, was born in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span>
+1793. She married Robert Seaman, her kinsman, and died
+in 1835. Robert, her husband, died in 1860.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that the home at Jericho was a house
+acquainted with grief. Of the ten children, Martha, David,
+Elias and little Elizabeth made up the juvenile members of
+the household, up to the time of the death of the latter.
+Phebe came the same year, while Abigail was born three
+years later, so that there were at least four or five children
+always gathered around the family board. Before the passing
+away of Elias and David, the family had been increased
+by the birth of Jonathan, making the children living at one
+time six. After the death of the three older boys, and the
+birth of Elizabeth and Sarah, until the death of John in
+1805, living children were still six in number. The
+five daughters, Martha, Phebe, Abigail, Elizabeth and Sarah
+all outlived their parents.</p>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was undoubtedly a most affectionate father,
+as the letters to his wife and children show. How much
+this was diluted by the apparent sternness of his religious
+concerns is a matter for the imagination to determine.
+What were the amusements of this large family is an interesting
+question in this "age of the child," with its surfeit
+of toys and games. What were the tasks of the girls it is
+not so hard to answer. Of course they worked "samplers,"
+pieced quilts, learned to spin and knit, and possibly to weave,
+and to prepare the wool or flax for the loom. If we read
+between the lines in the description of their father, we can
+easily infer that the physically afflicted sons were nevertheless
+not without the joys of boyhood.</p>
+
+<p>At all events, if it was an afflicted family, it was also
+a united one. It was a home where the parents were reverenced
+by the children, and where there was a feeling of
+love, and a sense of loyalty. This feeling is still character<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span>istic
+of the descendants of Elias Hicks. It is a sample of
+the persistence of the qualities of a strong man, in the generations
+that come after him.</p>
+
+<p>Of the four daughters of Elias Hicks who were
+married, but two had children, so that the lineal descendants
+of the celebrated Jericho preacher are either descendants of
+Martha Hicks, wife of Valentine, or of Sarah Hicks Seaman.
+These two branches of the family are quite
+numerous.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> The descendants referred to will be given in their proper place
+in the Appendix.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of Jemima, the wife of Elias Hicks, little is known
+apart from the correspondence of her husband, and that is
+considerable. That he considered her his real help-meet,
+and had for her a lover's affection to the end is abundantly
+attested by all of the facts. Dame Rumor, in the region of
+Jericho, claims that she was her husband's intellectual inferior,
+but that is an indefinite comparison worth very little.
+That she was at some points his superior is undoubtedly
+true, and it must be remembered that Elias himself, with all
+of his great natural ability, lacked intellectual culture and
+literary training. Jemima was evidently a good housekeeper,
+and manager of affairs. Before she had sons-in-law
+with whom to advise, and even after that, the business
+side of the family was a considerable part of the time in her
+hands. It is no small matter to throw upon a woman,
+never robust, the responsibility of both the mother and
+father of a family during the prolonged absence of the
+husband.</p>
+
+<p>The first long religious visit of Elias Hicks lasted ten
+weeks. At that time there were four little people in the
+Hicks home, from eight-year-old Martha to two-year-old
+Elizabeth, who died that year, while Phebe was born after
+the return of her father from his Philadelphia trip. Sev<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span>eral
+of the other extended journeys were made while the
+children of the family were of an age requiring care. Of
+course this laid labor and responsibility on the wife and
+mother. These she bore without complaining and, we may
+be sure, with executive ability of no mean order.</p>
+
+<p>It was a time when women were not expected to be
+either the intellectual peers or companions of their husbands,
+and we cannot justly apply the measurements and standards
+of to-day, to the women of a century ago. Men of the
+Elias Hicks type, meeting their fellows in public assemblies
+and ministering to them, traveling widely and forming
+many friendships, whether in the Society of Friends or out
+of it, are likely to be praised, if not petted, while their
+wives, less known, labor on unappreciated. Such a woman
+was Jemima Hicks. To her, and all like her, the lasting
+gratitude of the sons of men is due.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Letters to his Wife.</p>
+
+
+<p>In the long absences from home, which the religious
+visits of Elias Hicks involved, as a matter of course many
+of the domestic burdens fell heavily upon his wife. In so
+far as he could atone for his absence by sending epistles
+home he did so. In fact, for the times, he was a voluminous
+letter writer.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a time of rapid transit. Distances now
+spanned in a few hours demanded days and weeks when
+Elias Hicks was active in the ministry. At the best, but
+a few letters could reach home from the traveler absent for
+several months.</p>
+
+<p>In the main the letters which Elias sent to his beloved
+Jemima were of the ardent lover-like sort. It seemed impossible,
+however, for him to avoid the preacherly function
+in even his most tender and domestic missives. Exhortations
+to practical righteousness, and to the maintenance of
+what he considered the Friendly fundamentals, were plentifully
+mixed with his most private and personal concerns.</p>
+
+<p>In going over this correspondence one wishes for more
+<span class="correction" title="Originally: discription">description</span>, relating to the human side of the traveler's
+experiences. A man who several times traversed what was
+really the width of habitable America, and mostly either in
+a wagon or on horseback, must have seen much that was
+interesting, and many times humorous and even pathetic.
+But few of these things moved Elias Hicks, or diverted him
+from what he considered the purely gospel character of his
+mission.</p>
+
+<p>Still there is much worth while in this domestic corre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span>spondence.
+From it we compile and annotate such extracts
+as seem to help reveal the character of the man who wrote
+them.</p>
+
+<p>On the 13th of Eighth month, 1788, Elias was at Creek,
+now Clinton Corners, in Dutchess county, New York. From
+a letter written to his wife that day, we quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"My heart glows at this time with much love and affection
+for thee and our dear children, with breathing desires
+for your preservation, and that thou, my dear, may be kept
+in a state of due watchfulness over thyself, and those dear
+lambs under thy care, that nothing may interrupt the current
+of pure love among you in my absence."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A letter dated "Lynn, Massachusetts, ye 24th of Eighth
+month, 1793," and written to his wife, is of peculiar interest.
+We quote the first sentences:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I received last evening, at my return to this place from
+the East, thy very acceptable letter of the 16th instant....
+The contents, except the account of the pain in thy
+side, were truly comfortable. That part wherein thou expresseth
+a resignation to the Divine Will, was particularly
+satisfactory, for in this, my dear, consists our chiefest happiness
+and consolation."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He sometimes expressed a sense of loneliness in his
+travels, but was certain of the nearness of the Divine Spirit.
+In the letter mentioned above he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Thou hast cause to believe with me, my dear, that it
+was He that first united our hearts together in the bonds of
+an endeared love and affection. So it is He that has kept
+and preserved us all our life long, and hath caused us to
+witness an increase of that unfading love, which as thou
+expresseth is ever new."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Evidently his beloved Jemima, like Martha of old, was
+unduly troubled about many things, for we find Elias in his
+letter indulging in the following warning: "And let me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span>
+again hint to thee a care over thyself, for I fear thou wilt
+expose thyself by too much bodily exercise in the care of thy
+business."</p>
+
+<p>It is seldom that we find even a tinge of complaining in
+any of his letters. It seems, however, that his women folks
+were not industrious correspondents. In closing the letter
+noted he thus expressed himself:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"My companion receives his packet of letters, frequently
+four, five or six at a time, which makes me feel as if I was
+forgotten by my friends, having received but two small
+letters from home since I left you. And thou writest, my
+dear, as if paper was scarce, on very small pieces."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the 3d of Ninth month, of the same year, a letter
+was written to his wife, much like the foregoing. It is
+interesting to note that Elias was at this time the guest of
+Moses Brown (in Providence), the founder of the Moses
+Brown School. The small pieces of paper mentioned are
+hints of a wifely economy, not altogether approved by her
+very economical husband. There is a gentle tinge of rebuke
+in the following, written from Nine Partners, Eleventh
+month 19, 1818. The temptation is strong to read into
+these lines, a grain of humor touching the much-talked-of
+persistence of a woman's will:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch as I have often felt concerned when thus
+absent, least thou should worry thyself, with too much care
+and labor in regard to our temporal concerns, and have
+often desired thee to be careful in that respect, but mostly
+without effect, by reason that thou art so choice of thy own
+free agency as to be afraid to take the advice of thy best
+friend, lest it might mar that great privilege; I therefore
+now propose to leave thee at full liberty to use it in thine
+own pleasure with the addition of this desire, that thou use
+it in that way as will produce to thee the most true comfort
+and joy, and then I trust I shall be comforted, my
+dear, in thy comfort, and joyful in thy joy."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A letter dated West Jersey, near Salem, the 6th of First<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span>
+month, 1798, mentions a singular concern about apparel. He
+exhorts his wife to guard the tender minds of their children
+from "foolish and worldly vanities," and then drops into a
+personal and general statement regarding what he considered
+simplicity and plainness as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Great is the apparent departure from primitive purity
+and plainness among many professors of the truth, where
+our lots have been cast. Foreseeing that I may often be
+led in a line of close doctrine to such it has brought me
+under close self-examination, knowing for certain that those
+who have to deal out to others ought to look well to their
+own going. In this time of scrutiny nothing turned up as
+bringing reproof to my mind concerning our children, but
+the manner of wearing their gown sleeves long and pinned
+at the wrist. This I found to strike at the pure life, and
+wounded my mind. I clearly saw my deficiency that I had
+not more endeavored to have it done away with before I
+left home, for I felt it as a burden then. But seeing our
+dear daughters had manifested so much condescension in
+other things, and this being like one of the least, I endeavored
+to be easy under it. But feeling it with assurance
+not to be a plant of our Heavenly Father's right-hand planting,
+think it ought to be plucked up. Let our dear
+daughters read these lines, and tell them their dear father
+prays they may wisely consider the matter, and if they can
+be willing so far to condescend to my desire while absent
+as to have these things removed, it will be as balsam to my
+wounded spirit, and they will not go without their reward.
+But their father's God will bless them and become their
+God, as they are faithful to his reproofs in their hearts,
+and walk fearfully before Him. He will redeem them, out
+of all adversity to the praise and glory of His grace, who
+is over all, God, blessed forever."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>During a visit to Nine Partners, Twelfth month 15,
+1803, Elias wrote to Jemima. Evidently she had repelled
+the inference, if not the implication, that she had been negligent
+in her correspondence, for we find the letter in question
+beginning in this fashion:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Although I wrote thee pretty fully last evening, yet
+having since that received a precious, refreshing letter from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span>
+thee, by Isaac Frost (it being the first I have received from
+thee since I left home), but finding from thy last that thou
+hast written several. It affords a singular satisfaction in
+finding thou hast been mindful of me. But I have not complained,
+my dear, nor let in, nor indulged a thought that
+thou hadst forgotten me, nor do I believe thou couldst.
+There is nothing while we continue in our right minds that
+can dissolve that firm and precious bond of love and endeared
+affection, which from our first acquaintance united
+us together, and in which, while writing these lines my
+spirit greets thee with endeared embraces."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It surely seems strange that a man who was the father
+of eleven children, that his only source of personal "reproof"
+concerning them, was this little matter of the sleeves and
+the pins. This probably is a fair illustration of what may
+be called the conservatism of Elias Hicks touching all of the
+peculiarities of the Society of Friends.</p>
+
+<p>The postscript to a letter written to Jemima from
+Shrewsbury, New Jersey, Twelfth month 17, 1797, reads
+as follows: "As thou writes but poorly, if thou should get
+Hallet or Royal to write superscriptions on the letters, it
+would make them more plain for conveyance."</p>
+
+<p>It was only seldom that business affairs at home were
+referred to in his epistles to his wife. But occasionally a
+departure was made from this practice. Where these lapses
+do occur, it would seem that they should be noted. In the
+fall of 1822 Elias was in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and
+was stopping with his friend and kinsman, Edward Hicks,
+at Newtown, in Bucks county.</p>
+
+<p>In this letter he says: "My health is much the same as
+when I left home. I was disappointed in not meeting any
+letters here, as I feel very anxious how you all do." We
+copy the balance of the letter, with its tender admonition
+to Jemima:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I will just remind thee that before I left home I
+put two old ewes in the green rye on the plains. If they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[Pg 81]</span>
+should improve as to be fit to kill, I should be willing thou
+would let Josiah have one of them, as he agreed to split up
+some of the timber that was blown down in the woods
+by him, into rails and board himself. The other thou might
+sell or otherwise at thy pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear, let me remind thee of thy increasing
+bodily infirmities, and the necessity it lays thee under to
+spare thyself of the burthen and care of much bodily and
+mental labour and exercise, by which thou will experience
+more quiet rest, both to body and mind, and that it may be,
+my dear, our united care to endeavor that our last days
+may be our best days, that so we may witness a state and
+qualification to pass gently and quietly out of time, into
+the mansions of eternal blessedness, where all sighing and
+sorrow, will be at an end."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>While in Pennsylvania, and at what is now York,
+Fourth month 3, 1798, he sent a tender missive home.
+Part of it referred to business matters. He gave directions
+for preparing the ground, and planting potatoes, and also
+for oats and flax, the latter being a crop practically unknown
+to present-day Long Island. He then gives the following
+direction regarding a financial obligation:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And as James Carhartt has a bond of sixty pounds
+against me, of money belonging to a Dutchman, should be
+glad if thou hast not money enough by thee to pay the
+interest thereof, thou would call upon Royal or brother
+Joseph and get some, and pay it the first of Fifth month."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>While at Rahway, New Jersey, Eleventh month 6,
+1801, on his visit to Friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
+he wrote one of his most expressive letters to Jemima.
+A postscript was attached directed to his daughters. To his
+oldest daughter, Martha, he sent an exhortation in which
+he said: "My desires for thee, my dear, are that thou may
+be preserved innocent and chaste to the Lord, for I can have
+no greater joy than to find my children walking in the
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>That a large part of his concern was for the comfort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[Pg 82]</span>
+of his wife in the long absences from home is abundantly
+shown in his entire correspondence. The last postscript to
+the Rahway letter is as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And, dear Phebe and Abigail, remember your Creator,
+who made you not to spend your time in play and vanity,
+but to be sober and to live in his fear, that he may bless
+you. Be obedient to your dear mother, it is my charge to
+you. Love and help her whatever you can; it will comfort
+your dear father."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The 2d of Eleventh month, 1820, Elias arrived at
+Hudson, and learning that the steamboat to New York was
+to pass that day, he prepared and sent a letter to his wife.
+In this letter he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"It may be that some of my friends may think me so
+far worth noticing, as to meet me with a line or two at Nine
+Partners, as I have often felt very desirous of hearing how
+you fare at home, but this desire hath mostly failed of
+being gratified. I suppose the many things so absorb the
+minds of my friends at home, that they have no time to
+think of so poor a thing as I am. But never mind it, as
+all things, it is said, will work together for good to those
+that love and fear [God]."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>While at Saratoga, in 1793, Elias wrote to Jemima,
+Tenth month 15th. This is one of his most ardent epistles.
+"Oh, my dear," he says, "may we ever keep in remembrance
+the day of our espousal and gladness of our hearts, as I
+believe it was a measure of the Divine Image that united our
+hearts together in the beginning. It is the same that I believe
+has, and still doth strengthen the sweet, influential and
+reciprocal bond, that nothing, I trust, as we dwell under a
+sense of Divine love and in the pure fear, will ever be able
+to obliterate or deface."</p>
+
+<p>Third month 15, 1798, a letter was written from
+Alexandria, Va., from which we make this extract:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"We came here this morning from Sandy Spring, which
+is upwards of twenty miles distant. Got in timely so as
+to attend their meeting which began at the tenth hour.
+Crossed the river Potomac on our way. We got on horseback
+about break of day, and not being very well I thought
+I felt the most fatigued before I got in, I was ever sensible
+of before. When I came to the meeting, a poor little one
+it was, and wherein I had to suffer silence through the
+meeting for worship, but in their Preparative which followed,
+I found my way open in a measure to ease my mind."</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Slavery Question.</p>
+
+
+<p>John Woolman was the mouth-piece of the best
+Quaker conscience of the eighteenth century on the slavery
+question. For twenty-five years before his death, in 1772,
+he was pleading with the tenderness of a woman that his
+beloved religious society should clear itself from complicity
+with the system which held human beings in bondage. His
+mantel apparently fell on Warner Mifflin, a young man residing
+in Kent county, Delaware, near the little hamlet of
+Camden. In 1775 Mifflin manumitted his slaves, and was
+followed by like conduct on the part of his father, Daniel
+Mifflin, a resident of Accomac County, in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>Warner Mifflin is said to have been the first man in
+America to voluntarily give freedom to his bondmen, and
+to make restitution to such of them as were past twenty-one,
+for the unrequited service which they had rendered him.
+Be that as it may, from 1775, until his death in 1799,
+Warner Mifflin, with tireless zeal labored with Friends personally,
+and with meetings in their official capacity, to drive
+the last remnant of slavery from the Quaker fold. His
+efforts appeared in various monthly meeting minutes
+throughout Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and he was not
+backward in laying his concern before the Yearly Meeting
+itself. In 1783, on the initiative of Mifflin, the Yearly Meeting
+for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the
+Western Parts of Maryland and Virginia, memorialized
+the infant United States Congress in regard to slavery.
+The document was a striking one for the time, was signed
+in person by 535 Friends, and was presented to the Congress
+by a strong committee headed by Warner Mifflin.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span></p>
+
+<p>These efforts at internal deliverance from connection
+and complicity with slavery produced speedy results, and
+before the close of the century not a Quaker slave holder
+remained in the Society, unless in some obscure cases that
+continued "under care." Having cleared its own skirts of
+slavery, the members of the Society became divided into
+two classes&mdash;the one anxious that the Quaker conscience
+should make its appeal to the general conscience for the
+entire abolition of the "great iniquity." The other class,
+satisfied with their own sinlessness in this particular, wished
+the Society to remain passive, and in no way mix with a
+public agitation of the mooted question. These two opposing
+views distracted the Society down to the very verge of
+the final issue in the slaveholders' rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was three years Warner Mifflin's junior.
+He probably saw the Delaware abolitionist during his visits
+to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting before the death of Mifflin.
+Whether either ever saw or heard John Woolman cannot be
+positively stated. Mifflin was twenty-seven when the great
+New Jersey preacher and reformer passed away, and must
+have fallen under the spell of Woolman's inspiring leadership.
+Elias Hicks could hardly have escaped being influenced
+by this "elder brother," although he may never have
+seen him.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of this biography was among those who
+believed that the Society of Friends had a message to the
+world along the line of its internal testimony against
+slavery, and he did not hesitate to deliver the message,
+though it disturbed the superficial ease in Zion. Still he
+had no definite plan apart from the appeal to conscience for
+settling the problem.</p>
+
+<p>It must be remembered, however, that Elias Hicks
+passed away before the real abolition movement, as represented
+by Garrison and Phillips and their compeers, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span>
+begun its vigorous agitation, or organized its widely applied
+propaganda. What the attitude of Elias would have been
+toward Friends becoming members of the abolition societies,
+which after his death played such an important part,
+and touching which many Friends were either in doubt or
+in opposition we cannot even surmise.</p>
+
+<p>Benjamin Lundy<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> commenced his literary warfare
+against slavery, with the ponderously named "Genius of
+Universal Emancipation," in 1821. Elias Hicks was one of
+Lundy's most concerned and faithful patrons, in some of
+his undertakings,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> as appears in his personal correspondence.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Benjamin Lundy was born of Quaker parents, First month 4,
+1789, in Sussex County, New Jersey. He learned the trade of harness
+maker and saddler, and went to Ohio, where he became very much
+interested in the slavery question. In 1816 he issued an "Address"
+touching the evils of slavery. Of this Address, Horace <span class="correction" title="Originally: Greely">Greeley</span> says,
+it contained the germ of the whole anti-slavery movement. In First
+month, 1821, he issued the first number of <i>The Genius of Universal
+Emancipation</i>. Lundy was interested in various schemes for colonization,
+and assisted many emancipated negroes to go to Hayti, and contemplated
+the establishment of a colony of colored people in Mexico.
+He died at Lowell, Illinois, Eighth month 22, 1839, and was buried
+in the Friends' burying ground at Clear Creek.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Please inform Benjamin Lundy that I have procured fifty-two
+subscribers, or subscribers for fifty-two books, entitled, "Letters," etc.&mdash;Extract
+from letter to his son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, dated Jericho,
+Eleventh month 6, 1827.</p></div>
+
+<p>The state of New York provided for the gradual emancipation
+of its slaves in 1799, so that Elias Hicks had to go
+away from home after that period to get into real slave territory.
+As has been seen he began bearing his testimony in
+meetings for worship against the institution in Maryland,
+where slave holding was the law of the land until the end.</p>
+
+<p>There are statements more or less legendary to the
+effect that Elias was the owner of one slave, but of that
+there is no authentic evidence, while the probabilities are all
+against it. If he ever held a slave or slaves, he undoubtedly
+manumitted them. An act of such importance would hardly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span>
+have escaped record in the Journal, and no reference to it
+exists.</p>
+
+<p>The controversies and disownments in the Society of
+Friends on account of the slavery question really came after
+the death of Elias. The trouble in New York resulting
+in the disownment of Isaac T. Hopper, James S. Gibbons
+and Charles Marriott came on more than a decade after
+his death. This entire controversy has been wrongly estimated
+by most of the biographers and historians, representing
+the pronounced abolitionists of the period. It was
+not simply a contest between anti-slavery Friends and pro-slavery
+Friends. In fact the moving spirits against Isaac
+T. Hopper were not advocates or defenders of slavery as an
+institution. George F. White, who was probably the head
+and front of the movement to disown Isaac T. Hopper, was
+not in favor of slavery. After his death his monthly meeting
+memorialized him, and among other things stated that
+he had for years refrained from using commodities made
+by slave labor.</p>
+
+<p>The conservative wing of the Society was opposed
+to Friends becoming identified with any organization for
+any purpose outside of the Society. George F. White
+attacked temperance organizations, as he did abolition societies.</p>
+
+<p>It was a common inference, if not a claim, of the Garrisonian
+abolitionists, that there were no real anti-slavery
+men outside of their organization. In Fifth month, 1840,
+there was a debate involving the abolition attitude of the
+Society of Friends in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts. In
+this debate William Lloyd Garrison said of the Society: "If
+it were an abolition society, its efforts would be identified
+with ours."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> The "Liberator," May 1, 1841, p. 3.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>In the same debate Oliver Johnson disputed the abolition
+claims of the Society of Friends, saying: "They have
+asserted for themselves the claim of being an abolition society.
+But we never could get into their meeting house."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>
+Thus was the test of abolitionism made to hinge upon housing
+the Abolition Society.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> The "Liberator," May 1, 1841, p. 3.</p></div>
+
+<p>That the attitude of the conservatives was ill-advised
+and reprehensible may be true. It is also true that this
+body of Friends were not in favor of any effort to overthrow
+slavery by popular agitation. They held that all other
+Christians should do what Friends had done, cease to hold
+slaves, and that would settle the whole question. However
+shortsighted this attitude may have been, very few, if any,
+of the Friends holding it, believed in holding black men
+in bondage. In fact it is pretty safe to assert that at no
+time after the Society had freed itself from direct complicity
+with slavery was there any considerable number of
+strictly pro-slavery Friends in this country.</p>
+
+<p>In the disownments in the Society growing out of the
+slavery controversy there was never a direct charge of abolitionism
+brought against the accused. In Kennett Monthly
+Meeting in Chester County, Pa., where in about seven years
+thirty-four Friends were disowned, the charge was that the
+persons had "associated with others in forming, sustaining
+and supporting a professedly religious organization<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> distinct
+from and not owned by Friends, and have wholly declined
+attending our religious meetings."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> The "Progressive Friends."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Records of Kennett Monthly Meeting, First month 6, 1857.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of course, it is true that the Friends who took part
+in the Progressive Friends' movement were probably led to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span>
+do so because the way did not open for them to be aggressively
+anti-slavery in the parent meeting.</p>
+
+<p>The colonization scheme, that is a plan to colonize
+emancipated negroes either in Africa, or in Hayti, or elsewhere,
+was prominently urged during the time of Elias
+Hicks. Benjamin Lundy had a plan of this character which
+he attempted to make practical. Evan Lewis,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> of New
+York, in 1820, was interested in an effort of this sort, and
+sought the advice of Elias Hicks in the matter.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Evan Lewis, a New York Friend and business man. He corresponded
+with King Henry, of San Domingo. Was a warm friend of
+Elias Hicks, and after the "separation" wrote a pamphlet in defense
+of Elias.</p></div>
+
+<p>We have not been able to find any reply to this particular
+letter, and are thus not warranted in saying whether
+Elias Hicks sympathized with such a scheme or not.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude of Elias Hicks on the slavery question is
+only minutely referred to in his Journal. His private correspondence
+gives his feeling and conduct in the case, in not
+a few instances. From his general disposition one would
+expect to find his objections to slavery based entirely on
+moral and religious grounds. Still, evidence abounds that
+he had also considered the economic phases of the question,
+as note the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I may further add that from forty years of observation
+that in all cases where opportunity has opened the way
+fairly to contrast the subject, it has afforded indubitable
+evidence to my mind, that free labor is cheaper and more
+profitable than that done by slaves."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> From letter written to James Cropper, of England, dated Baltimore,
+Eleventh month 2, 1822.</p></div>
+
+<p>It seems to have been laid upon him to present the
+claims of the truth as he saw it, in slave-holding communities.
+He makes the following statement touching service of
+this kind in Virginia:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"I have passed through some proving seasons since I
+left Baltimore, in meetings where many negro masters attended,
+some of whom held fifty, some an hundred, and
+some it was thought one hundred and fifty of these poor
+people in slavery. Was led to treat on the subject in divers
+meetings, in such a manner and so fully to expose the
+iniquity and unrighteousness thereof, that some who had
+stouted<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> it out hitherto against all conviction, were much
+humbled and brought to a state of contrition, and not one
+individual had power to make any opposition. But truth
+reigned triumphantly over all, to the rejoicing of many
+hearts."<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "Stouted" seems to have been a favorite word with Elias. He
+habitually uses it as representing an aggravated resistance to the
+truth.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> From letter written to his wife from Alexandria, Va., Third
+month 15, 1798.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks wrote a number of articles on the slavery
+question, and some of them were printed and publicly circulated.
+A letter written at Manchester, England, Seventh
+month 5, 1812, by Martha Routh, and addressed to Elias
+Hicks, says: "I have not forgot that I am debtor to thee
+this way, for two very acceptable and instructive epistles, the
+latter with a pamphlet setting forth the deep exercise of thy
+mind, and endeavors for the more full relief of our fellow-brethren,
+the African race." This letter informs Elias that
+the author sent his pamphlet to Thomas Clarkson.</p>
+
+<p>Considerable was written by Elias Hicks on the slave
+trade, some of it existing as unpublished manuscript. An
+article, filling four closely written pages of foolscap, is
+among his literary effects. A very long letter was written
+to James Cropper, of England, on the same subject. Both
+of these documents were written while the slave-trade bill
+was pending in the British Parliament. Elias considered the
+measure entirely inadequate, holding that the domestic production
+of slaves was as inhuman and abhorrent, if not more
+so, as their importation from Africa. In the letter to
+Cropper this strong statement is found: "It ought ever to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[Pg 91]</span>
+be remembered that it is one of the most necessary and
+essential duties both towards God and man, for individuals
+and nations to exert all the power and influence they are
+possessed of, in every righteous and consistent way, to put
+an entire stop to all oppression, robbery and murder without
+partiality, as it respects nations or individuals."</p>
+
+<p>Many times, in his published sermons, Elias Hicks dealt
+with the iniquity of slavery. Without doubt he expressed
+himself in like manner in sermons preached before interest
+in the man and his utterances caused his sermons to be
+stenographically reported and published.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Oh! that our eyes might be opened, to see more deeply
+into the mystery of iniquity and godliness; that we might
+become conversant in godliness and so reject iniquity. For
+all this wicked oppression of the African race is of the
+mystery of iniquity. The man of sin and son of perdition
+does these works, and nothing else does them. Justice is
+fallen in the streets, and in the councils of the nation. How
+much justice there is; for they have it in their power to do
+justice to these poor oppressed creatures, but they are waiting
+till all their selfish notions are gratified."<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> From sermon preached at Newtown, Pa., Twelfth month 18,
+1826. The "Quaker," Vol. 4, p. 183.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was as strongly opposed to the lines of
+interest and economic conduct which indirectly supported
+slavery as he was to the institution itself. We quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And for want of a sight of this oppression, how many
+there are who, though they seem not willing to put their
+hands upon a fellow creature to bind him in chains of bondage,
+yet they will do everything to help along by purchasing
+the labor of those poor creatures, which is like eating flesh
+and drinking blood of our poor fellow-creatures. Is it like
+coming home to justice? For the thief and oppressor are
+just alike; the one is as bad as the other."<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> From sermon preached at Abington, Pa., Twelfth month 15,
+1826. The "Quaker," Vol. 4, p. 155.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[Pg 92]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>In dealing with slavery and slaveholders, his language
+often bordered on what would now be called bitterness.
+Here is a case in point:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Can slaveholders, mercenaries and hirelings, who look
+for their gain from this quarter, can they promote the religion
+of Jesus Christ? No, they are the cause of its reproach,
+for they are the cause of making unbelievers."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> A series of extemporaneous discourses by Elias Hicks. Joseph
+and Edward Parker, p. 24.</p></div>
+
+<p>His concern touching slavery was largely based on considerations
+of justice, and regard for the opportunity which
+he believed ought to be the right of all men. In one of his
+sermons he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Thousands and tens of thousands have been forbidden
+the enjoyment of every good thing on earth, even of common
+school-learning; and must it still be so? God forbid it.
+But this would be a trifle, if they had the privilege of
+rational beings on the earth; that liberty which is the greatest
+of all blessings&mdash;the exercise of free agency. And here
+we are glutting ourselves with the toils of their labor!...
+But this noble testimony, of refusing to partake of the spoils
+of oppression, lies with the dearly beloved young people of
+this day. We can look for but little from the aged, who have
+been accustomed to these things."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> From sermon preached in Philadelphia, Twelfth month 1, 1824.
+Parker's "Discourses by Elias Hicks," p. 60-61.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the sermon "just referred to," we find the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We are on a level with all the rest of God's creatures.
+We are not better for being white than others for being
+black; and we have no more right to oppress the blacks
+because they are black than they have to oppress us because
+we are white. Therefore, every one who oppresses
+his colored brother or sister is a tyrant upon the earth; and
+every one who strengthens the hand of an oppressor is a
+tyrant upon earth. They have turned from God, and have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span>
+not that powerful love, which does away all distinction and
+prejudice of education, and sets upon equal grounds all
+those that have equal rights."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The same, p. 79.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of the "essays" on the slavery question written by
+Elias Hicks, one has survived, and is bound in the volume,
+"Letters of Elias Hicks." The pamphlet in question, though
+small, like many "ancient" productions, had a very large
+title, viz.: "Observations on the Slavery of the Africans
+and Their Descendants, and the Use of the Produce of Their
+Labor."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> It was originally published in 1811, having been
+approved by the Meeting for Sufferings of New York
+Yearly Meeting. Nearly half of the "essay" is made up of
+a series of questions and answers. When printed it made
+six leaves the size of this page. On the subject of the
+product of slave labor, decided ground was taken, the claim
+being that all such produce was "prize goods." The reason
+for this claim was that the slaves originally were captives,
+practically the victims of a war of capture if not conquest.
+Among other things the essay argues the rightfulness and
+justice of any State to pass laws abolishing slavery within
+its borders.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<p>While the arguments presented in this document are of
+general value, it is probable that the pamphlet was in the
+main intended for circulation among Friends, with a view
+to stimulating them to such action as would forward the
+cause of freedom. This essay by Elias Hicks antedated by
+five years the address by Benjamin Lundy, already referred
+to, and was probably one of the first publications in the
+nineteenth century actually advocating the abolition of
+slavery.</p>
+
+<p>In studying the slavery question it is necessary to re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span>member
+that before the invention of the cotton gin, about
+1793, a considerable but unorganized and ineffective anti-slavery
+sentiment existed in the country. But after that
+invention, which rendered slave labor very remunerative,
+sentiment of this sort subsided so that the Friends, who, like
+Elias Hicks, advocated abolition during the first quarter of
+the nineteenth century, were really pioneers in the attempt
+which resulted in the freedom of a race.</p>
+
+<p>At one time church organizations, even in the South,
+especially the Baptists, passed resolutions favorable to the
+abolition of slavery. Churches North and South in the
+decade between 1780 and 1790 were well abreast of Friends
+in this particular. Touching this matter Horace Greeley
+remarked: "But no similar declaration has been made by
+any Southern Baptist Convention since field-hands rose to
+$1,000 each, and black infants at birth were accounted worth
+$100."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> "The American Conflict," by Horace Greeley, Vol. I, p. 120.</p></div>
+
+<p>We could make copious extracts from the anti-slavery
+utterances of Elias Hicks, but our object is simply to give
+the scope of his thinking and purpose in regard to this
+matter. Few men at certain points were more altruistic
+than he, and as an altruist he could not do other than oppose
+the great social and economic iniquity of his time. From his
+standpoint slavery was utterly and irretrievably bad, and to
+bear testimony constant and consistent against it was part
+of the high calling of the Christian.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Various Opinions.</p>
+
+
+<p>Elias Hicks had very definite ideas on a great many
+subjects. While in many respects he was in advance of his
+time, at other points he was conservative. At any rate he
+was not in unity with some of the prevalent social and
+economic arrangements. On the question of property he
+entertained some startling convictions. Just how much
+public expression he gave to these views may not be positively
+determined. That he believed that there were grave
+spiritual dangers involved in getting and holding great
+wealth, is abundantly attested in his public utterances, but
+we must look to his private correspondence for some of his
+advanced views on the property question.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter addressed to "Dear Alsop," dated Jericho,
+Fifth month 14, 1826, he deals quite definitely with the
+matter of property. After claiming that the early Christians
+wandered from the pure gospel of Jesus after they ceased
+to rely on the inward teacher, he makes a declaration on the
+subject as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"But did we all as individuals take the spirit of truth,
+or light within, as our only rule and guide in all things, we
+should all then be willing, and thereby enabled, to do justly,
+love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Then we should
+hold all things in common, and call nothing our own, but
+consider all our blessings as only lent to us, to be used and
+distributed by us in such manner and way as his holy spirit,
+or this inward teacher, may from time to time direct. Hence
+we should be made all equal, accountable to none but God
+alone, for the right use or the abuse of his blessings. Then
+all mankind would be but one community, have but one
+head, but one father, and the saying of Jesus would be veri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span>fied.
+We should no longer call any man master, for one
+only has a right to be our Master, even God, and all mankind
+become brethren. This is the kind of community that
+I have been labouring for more than forty years to introduce
+mankind into, that so we might all have but one head, and
+one instructor and he (God) come to rule whose only right
+it is, and which would always have been the case, had not
+man rebelled against his maker, and disobeyed his salutary
+instruction and commands."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Touching the "cares and deceitfulness of riches," he
+had much to say. He tells us that on a certain day he
+attended the meeting of ministers and elders in Westbury,
+and sat through it "under great depression and poverty of
+spirit." There was evidently some confession and not a
+little complaining, as there is now, regarding the possession
+and exercise of spiritual gifts on the part of Friends. But
+Elias affirmed that the "cloud" over the meeting was not
+"in consequence of a deficiency of ministers, as it respects
+their ministerial gifts, nor from a want of care in elders in
+watching over them; but from a much more deep and melancholy
+cause, viz.: the love and cares of this world and the
+deceitfulness of riches; which, springing up and gaining the
+ascendency in the mind, choke the good seed like the briars
+and thorns, and render it fruitless; and produce such great
+dearth and barrenness in our meetings."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 233.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks apparently believed that labor had in itself
+a vital spiritual quality. In fact he held that the famous
+injunction in Genesis "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
+eat bread" "was not a penalty, but it was a divine counsel&mdash;a
+counsel of perfect wisdom and perfect love."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> It was his
+opinion that all oppression, slavery and injustice, had their
+origin in the disposition of men to shirk the obligation to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span>
+labor, thus placing burdens on their fellows, which they
+should bear themselves.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Sermon preached at Abington, Pa., Twelfth month 15, 1826.
+The "Quaker," p. 155.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="figcontainer">
+<a name="i097" id="i097"></a>
+<div class="figsub">
+<img src="images/ivalentine.jpg" width="240" height="300" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Valentine Hicks (Son-in-Law)</p></div>
+</div>
+<div class="figsub">
+<img src="images/imartha.jpg" width="229" height="300" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Martha Aldrich</p></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="figcontainer">
+<div class="figsub">
+<img src="images/iabigail.jpg" width="253" height="300" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Abigail Hicks</p></div>
+</div>
+<div class="figsub">
+<img src="images/ielizabeth.jpg" width="247" height="300" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Elizabeth Hicks</p></div>
+</div>
+<div class="caption">
+<p class="center">CHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>Every exhortation touching labor he religiously followed
+himself. He records that at the age of sixty he
+labored hard in his harvest field, and remarks with evident
+pride and satisfaction as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I found I could wield the scythe nearly as in the days
+of my youth. It was a day of thankful and delightful contemplation.
+My heart was filled with thankfulness and
+gratitude to the blessed Author of my existence, in a consideration
+of his providential care over me, in preserving me
+in health, and in the possession of my bodily powers, the
+exercise of which were still affording me both profit and
+delight; and I was doubly thankful for the continued
+exercise of my mental faculties, not only in instructing me
+how to exert and rightly employ my bodily powers, in the
+most useful and advantageous manner, but also in contemplating
+the works of nature and Providence, in the
+blessings and beauties of the field&mdash;a volume containing
+more delightful and profitable <span class="correction" title="Originally: instructtion">instruction</span> than all the
+volumes of mere learning and science in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"What a vast portion of the joys and comforts of life
+do the idle and slothful deprive themselves of, by running
+into cities and towns, to avoid labouring in the field; not
+considering that this is one of the principal sources that the
+gracious Creator of the universe has appointed to his
+creature, man, from whence he may derive great temporal
+happiness and delight. It also opens the largest and best
+field of exercise to the contemplative mind, by which it may
+be prepared to meet, when this mortal puts on immortality,
+those immortal joys that will ever be the lot of the faithful
+and industrious."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 185.</p></div>
+
+<p>It will probably be disputed in our time, that those
+who labor and attempt to live in cities enjoy lives of greater
+ease than those who till the soil.</p>
+
+<p>While Elias recognized the obligation to labor, and
+believed it was a blessed privilege, he had learned in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span>
+school of experience that an over-worked body and an
+over-worried mind tended to spiritual poverty. We quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The rest of this week was spent in my ordinary
+vocations. My farming business was very pressing, and it
+being difficult to procure suitable assistance, my mind was
+overburdened with care, which seldom fails of producing
+leanness of spirit in a lesser or greater degree."<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Journal, p. 151.</p></div>
+
+<p>As offset to this we quote the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"What a favor it is for such an active creature as man,
+possessed of such powers of body and mind, always to have
+some employment, and something for those powers to act
+upon; for otherwise they would be useless and dormant,
+and afford neither profit nor delight."<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Journal, p. 184.</p></div>
+
+<p>The building of railroads in this country had fairly begun
+when Elias Hicks passed away in 1830. Projects had
+been under way for some time, and certain Friends in Baltimore,
+then the center of railroad activity, had become interested
+in the enterprise. In a letter to Deborah and James
+P. Stabler,<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> written in New York, Sixth month 28, 1829,
+Elias expresses himself quite freely regarding the matter.
+He says: "It was a cause of sorrow rather than joy when
+last in Baltimore to find my dear friend P. E. Thomas<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span>
+fully engaged in that troublesome business of the railroad,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a>
+as I consider his calling to be of a more noble and exalted
+nature than to enlist in such low and groveling concerns.
+For it is a great truth that no man can serve two masters,
+for he will either love the one, and hate the other, or hold
+to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
+mammon. The railroad in this case I consider mammon."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Deborah Stabler was the widow of Dr. William Stabler, the
+latter being a brother of Edward Stabler, of Alexandria, the well-known
+preacher, and close friend of Elias Hicks. Deborah was a recorded
+minister. James P. was her son. He was chief engineer of
+the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad in its early construction, and
+was the first general superintendent and chief engineer of the Baltimore
+and Ohio, and built part of the line from Baltimore to Frederick.
+He was the author of a small pamphlet entitled, "The Certain Evidences
+of Practical Religion," published in 1884. He resided at Sandy Spring,
+Md.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Philip E. Thomas, for many years sat at the head of the Baltimore
+meeting. He was the son of Evan Thomas, of Sandy Spring,
+who was a recorded minister. Philip E. was an importing hardware
+merchant, a most successful business man, and the first president of
+the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In the construction and operation
+of that line of railroad, he was associated with the leading business
+men of Baltimore. He was for many years an elder of Baltimore
+meeting.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> The railroad thus referred to by Elias Hicks was undoubtedly
+the section of the Baltimore and Ohio which ran from Baltimore to
+Ellicott's Mills, a distance of 15 miles. It was begun in 1828, and opened
+in Fifth month, 1830. Horses were at first used as motive power.
+This was the first railroad built in the United States.</p></div>
+
+<p>The following is an extract from the same letter:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"It afforded me very pleasing sensations to be informed
+of dear James' improvement in health, but it excited
+some different feeling when informed that he had taken the
+place of Assistant Superintendent of the railroad company,
+a business I conceive that principally belongs to the men
+of this world, but not to the children of light, whose kingdom
+is not of this world; for when we consider that there
+are thousands and tens of thousands who are voluntarily
+enlisted in works that relate to the accommodation of flesh
+and blood which can never inherit the kingdom of heaven."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The objection to railroads is one of those unaccountable
+but interesting contradictions which appear in the lives
+of some progressive men. By a sort of irony of fate, Valentine
+Hicks, the son-in-law of Elias, a few years after the
+death of the latter, became very much interested in the
+railroad business. The charter of the Long Island Railroad
+Company was granted Fourth month 24, 1834. In this
+document Valentine Hicks was named one of the commissioners
+to secure the capital stock, and appoint the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span>
+Board of Directors. While not the first president of that
+company, he was elected president Sixth month 7, 1837,
+and served in that capacity until Fifth month 21, 1838.</p>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks at points anticipated the present theory of
+suggestion touching bodily ailment, if he did not forestall
+some of the ideas regarding mental healing, and Christian
+Science. Writing to his son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, from
+Easton, Pa., Eighth month 15, 1819, he thus expressed
+himself:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And indeed, in a strict sense, the mind or immortal
+spirit of man cannot be affected with disease or sickness,
+being endued with immortal powers; therefore all its
+apparent weakness lies in mere imagination, giving the
+mind a wrong bias and a wrong direction, but it loses more
+of its real strength, as to acting and doing. For instance,
+if at any time it admits those false surmises and imaginations,
+and by them is led to believe that its outward tabernacle
+is out of health and drawing towards a dissolution,
+and not being ready and willing to part with it, although
+little or nothing may be the disorder of the body, yet so
+powerfully strong is the mind under the influence of these
+wrong surmises that there seems at times to be no power
+in heaven or earth sufficient to arrest its progress, or stop
+its career, until it brings on actual disease, and death to
+the body, which, however, had its beginning principally in
+mere imagination and surmise. Hence we see the absolute
+necessity of thinking less about our mere bodily health, and
+much more about the mind, for if the mind is kept in a line
+of right direction, as it is that in which all its right health
+and strength consisteth, we need not fear any suffering to
+the body. For, if while the mind is under right direction,
+the body is permitted to fall under or into a state of affliction
+or disease, and the mind is kept in a state of due
+arrangement, it will prove a blessing and be sanctified to
+us as such, and in which we shall learn by certain experience
+that all things work together for good to those whose minds
+are preserved under the regulating influence of the love of
+God, which love casteth out all fear."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was a firm opponent of the public school
+system, and especially the law which supported such schools<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span>
+by general taxation. His views regarding this matter are
+quite fully stated in a letter written Fifth month 24, 1820.
+It was written to Sylvanus Smith, and answered certain inquiries
+which had evidently been directed to Elias by this
+Friend. His objection to public schools, however, was partly
+based on what he considered moral and religious grounds.
+He said he had refrained from sending his children to any
+schools which were not under the immediate care of the
+Society of Friends. Observation, he said, <span class="correction" title="Originally: lead">led</span> him to believe
+that his "children would receive more harm than good
+by attending schools taught by persons of no religious principles,
+and among children whose parents were of different
+sects, and many very loose and unconcerned and vulgar in
+their lives and conduct." He also assumed that in the public
+schools his children would be demoralized "by the vicious
+conduct of many of the children, and sometimes even the
+teachers, which would be very degrading to their morals,
+and wounding to their tender minds." From his standpoint
+Friends could not consistently "take any part in those district
+schools, nor receive any part of the bounty given by
+the legislature of the state for their use."</p>
+
+<p>Touching the question of parental authority and individual
+freedom, Elias Hicks also had opinions prejudicial
+to the public schools. In the letter under review he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Believing the law that has established them to be
+arbitrary and inconsistent with the liberty of conscience
+guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, and
+derogatory to right parental authority; as no doubt it is the
+right and duty of every parent to bring up and educate his
+children in that way he thinks is right, independent of the
+control of any authority under heaven (so long as he keeps
+them within the bounds of civil order). As the bringing
+up and right education of our children is a religious duty,
+and for which we are accountable to none but God only,
+therefore for the magistrate to interfere therewith by
+coercive means is an infringement upon the divine prerogative."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span></p>
+
+<p>The observance of Thanksgiving Day, outside of New
+England, had not become a common thing in the time of
+Elias Hicks. Evidently about 1825, the Governor of New
+York issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation, which caused
+Elias to write an article. It was addressed to <i>The Christian
+Inquirer</i>,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> and bore heavily against the whole thanksgiving
+scheme, especially when supported by the civil government.
+In his opinion wherever the magistrate recommended an observance
+of Thanksgiving Day, he was simply playing into
+the hands of the ecclesiastical power. We quote:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> The <i>Christian Inquirer</i> was a weekly newspaper in New York,
+started in 1824. It was of pronounced liberal tendencies. A good deal
+of its space was devoted to Friends, especially during the "separation"
+period.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Therefore the Governor's recommendation carries the
+same coercion and force in it, to every citizen, as the recommendation
+of the Episcopal Bishop would to the members
+of his own church. In this view we have the reason
+why the clergymen in our state call upon the civil magistrate
+to recommend one of their superstitious ceremonies.
+It is in order to coerce the citizens at large to a compliance
+with their dogmas, and little by little inure them to the
+yoke of ecclesiastical domination. I therefore conceive
+there is scarcely a subject that comes under our notice that
+lies more justly open to rebuke and ridicule than the
+thanksgiving days and fast days that are observed in our
+country, for there is nothing to be found in the writings of
+the New Testament to warrant such formality and superstition,
+and I fully believe in the way they are conducted
+they are altogether an abomination in the sight of the
+Lord, and tend more abundantly to bring a curse upon our
+nation than a blessing, as they too often end with many
+in festivity and drunkenness."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In closing his communication Elias says that in issuing
+his proclamation the Governor was simply "doing a piece
+of drudgery" for the clergy. The following, being the last
+paragraph in the communication referred to, sounds very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span>
+much like the statements put forward by the extreme
+secularists in our own time:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And has he not by recommending a religious act
+united the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and broken
+the line of partition between them, so wisely established
+by our enlightened Constitution, which in the most positive
+terms forbids any alliance between church and state, and
+is the only barrier for the support of our liberty and independence.
+For if that is broken down all is lost, and we
+become the vassals of priestcraft, and designing men, who
+are reaching after power by every subtle contrivance to
+domineer over the consciences of their fellow citizens."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is not at all surprising that Elias Hicks was opposed
+to Free Masonry. On this subject he expressed himself
+vigorously. This opposition was based upon the secret character
+of the oath, and especially a solemn promise not to
+divulge the "secrets of Masonry, before he knows what the
+secrets are."</p>
+
+<p>The anti-masonic movement, being the outcome of the
+mysterious disappearance of William Morgan from Batavia,
+New York, was at its height during the last years of Elias
+Hicks. It was claimed that Morgan was probably murdered
+because of a book published by him in 1826, exposing the
+secrets of Masonry. Some of the rumors connected with
+this disappearance account for statements made by Elias
+Hicks in his criticism of the organization.</p>
+
+<p>Touching the matter of exclusiveness on the part of
+Friends, Elias Hicks was a conservative of the conservatives.
+To keep aloof from things not connected with the
+Society he considered a virtue in itself. In referring to a
+meeting he attended in Goshen, Pa., he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Had to caution Friends against mixing with the people
+in their human policies, and outward forms of government;
+showing that, in all ages, those who were called to be the
+Lord's people had been ruined, or suffered great loss, by
+such associations; and manifesting clearly by Scripture tes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Pg 104]</span>timony,
+and other records, that our strength and preservation
+consisted in standing alone, and not to be counted
+among the people or nations, who were setting up party, and
+partial interest, one against another, which is the ground of
+war and bloodshed. These are actuated by the spirit of
+pride and wrath, which is always opposed to the true Christian
+spirit, which breathes 'peace on earth, and good will to
+all men.' Those, therefore, who are in the true Christian
+spirit cannot use any coercive force or compulsion by any
+means whatever; not being overcome with evil, but overcoming
+evil with good."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Journal, p. 76-77.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the article in which he condemned Masonry, Elias
+Hicks spoke vigorously in criticism of the camp meetings
+held by some of the churches. He called them "night
+revels," and considered them "a very great nuisance to civil
+society." He thought they were promoters of "licentiousness,
+immorality and drunkenness," and were more or less
+reproachful to the Christian name, "giving much occasion
+for infidels to scoff."</p>
+
+<p>While at Elizabeth, in New Jersey, Elias wrote a letter<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>
+to a young man named Samuel Cox. It seems that this
+person contemplated studying for the ministry; that his
+grandmother was a Friend, and Elias labored with the
+grandson on her account. He said that "human study or
+human science" could not qualify a minister. In fact to
+suppose such a thing was to cast "the greatest possible indignity
+on the Divine Being, and on the gospel of our Lord
+Jesus Christ." Of course it was asserted that ministry came
+only by the power of the Spirit, and much Scripture was
+quoted to prove it. There is little in the writings of Elias
+Hicks to show that he considered that equipping the natural
+powers was helpful in making the spiritual inspiration
+effective.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Letter was dated, Fifth month 12, 1813.</p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i105" id="i105"></a>
+<img src="images/i110.png" width="600" height="269" alt="thanksgiving, to the benevolent author of all our richest bless'gs
+is, that he causes all these favours, to bow my spirit in deep
+humiliation, and fear before him, as unworthy of the least of his
+mercies and favours vouchsafed, a sense of which inspires my
+mind with thanksgiving &amp; praise to his right worthy name for
+all his benefits.&mdash;At the meeting at New Town yesterday
+we had an overflowing assembly, many more than the house could
+contain, amongst whom were many of my particular friends from
+most of the surrounding meetings, some I will name, Thomas
+Fisher, and William Worton from Philadelphia, Richard Birdsall" />
+<div class="caption">
+
+<p class="center">Facsimile from page of a letter written by Elias Hicks to his wife, from Newtown, Pa., Tenth month 15, 1822. Near
+the middle of the sixth line the difference in writing evidently shows where the writer stopped and "sharpened" his quill pen.
+The name "Worton" in the last line should probably be Wharton.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is evident, however, that Elias was not indifferent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span>
+to his own intellectual equipment. He was fond of quoting
+from books the things which fortified his own position.
+The following shows how he stored his mind with facts,
+from which he drew certain conclusions:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Indisposition of body prevented my attending meeting.
+I therefore spent the day quietly at home, and in
+reading a portion of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History of
+the Fifth Century, and which is indeed enough to astonish
+any sensible, considerate man, to think how the professors
+of that day could be hardy enough to call themselves Christians,
+while using every artifice that their human wisdom
+could invent to raise themselves to power and opulence, and
+endeavoring to crush down their opposers by almost every
+cruelty that power, envy and malice could inflict, to the
+entire scandal of the Christian name; and changing the pure,
+meek, merciful and undefiled religion of Jesus into an impure,
+unmerciful, cruel, bloody and persecuting religion.
+For each of those varied sects of professed Christians, in
+their turn, as they got the power of the civil magistrate on
+their side, would endeavor, by the sword, and severe edicts,
+followed by banishment, to reduce and destroy all those who
+dissented from them, although their opinions were not a
+whit more friendly to real, genuine Christianity than the
+tenets of their opposers; for all were, in great measure, if
+not entirely, adulterated and apostatized from the true spirit
+of Christianity, which breathes peace on earth, and good
+will to men."<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Journal, p. 224.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks believed that there was a sure way of
+determining conduct, whether it was from "one's own will,"
+or whether it proceeded from the divine leading. In regard
+to this matter, he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"But the great error of the generality of professed
+Christians lies in not making a right distinction between the
+works that men do in their own will, and by the leadings
+of their own carnal wisdom, and those works that the true
+believer does, in the will and wisdom of God. For although
+the former, let them consist in what they will, whether in
+prayers, or preaching, or any other devotional exercises,
+are altogether evil; so on the contrary those of the latter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span>
+let them consist in what they may, whether in ploughing,
+in reaping, or in any handicraft labor, or in any other
+service, temporal or spiritual, as they will in all be accompanied
+with the peace and presence of their heavenly Father,
+so all they do will be righteous, and will be imputed to them
+as such."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Journal, p. 218.</p></div>
+
+<p>His contention regarding this matter is possibly more
+clearly stated in the following paragraph:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The meeting was large, wherein I had to expose the
+danger of self-righteousness, or a trust in natural religion,
+or mere morality; showing that it was no more than the
+religion of Atheists, and was generally the product of pride
+and self-will; and, however good it may appear to the
+natural unregenerate man, is as offensive in the divine
+sight as those more open evils which appear so very reproachful
+to the eyes of men. I was favored by the spirit
+of truth, in a large, searching testimony, to the convicting
+and humbling many hearts, and comfort of the faithful."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Meeting at Uwchlan, Pa., Tenth month 22, 1798. Journal, p. 76.</p></div>
+
+<p>This is not unlike statements often made in modern
+revivals, touching the absolute uselessness of good works,
+without the operation of divine grace, in bringing salvation.</p>
+
+<p>A broader view of goodness and its sources seems to
+have been taken by Clement, of Alexandria<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> who said: "For
+God is the cause of all good things; but of some primarily,
+as of the Old and New Testament; and of others by consequence,
+as philosophy. Perchance, too, philosophy was
+given to the Greeks directly and primarily, till the Lord
+should call the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to
+bring 'the Hellenic mind,' as the law, the Hebrews 'to
+Christ.'"<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Titus Flavius Clemens, called sometimes St. Clement, and Clement
+of Alexandria in Church history, was born either at Athens or
+Alexandria about A. D. 153, and died about A. D. 220. He early embraced
+Christianity, and was among the most learned and philosophical
+of the Christian fathers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> "<span class="correction" title="Originally: Anti-Nicene">Ante-Nicene</span> Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Some Points of Doctrine.</p>
+
+
+<p>Elias Hicks had ideas of the future life, salvation, rewards
+and punishments, sometimes original, and in some
+respects borrowed or adapted from prevalent opinions. But
+in all conclusions reached he seems to have thought his own
+way out, and was probably unconscious of having been a
+borrower at all. He believed unfalteringly in the immortality
+of the soul, and held that the soul of man is immortal,
+because it had its origin in an immortal God. Every sin
+committed "is a transgression against his immutable and unchangeable
+law, and is an immortal sin, as it pollutes and
+brings death on the immortal soul of man, which nothing
+in heaven nor in the earth but God alone can extinguish
+or forgive, and this he will never do, but upon his own
+righteous and merciful conditions, which consist in nothing
+more nor less than sincere repentance and amendment of
+life."<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> From letter addressed to "A Friend," name not given, written
+at Jericho, Second month 22, 1828.</p></div>
+
+<p>It will be noted that this statement was made near the
+close of his career, and has been purposely selected because
+it undoubtedly expressed his final judgment in the matter.
+In all probability the words used were not meant to be
+taken literally, such for instance as those referring to the
+"death" of the soul. There is little, if any reason to think
+that Elias Hicks believed in the annihilation of the sinner.</p>
+
+<p>Touching sin he further explained his position. Whatever
+God creates is "immutably good." "Therefore if there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span>
+is any such thing as sin and iniquity in the world, then God
+has neither willed it nor ordained it."<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> His position regarding
+this point caused him to antagonize and repudiate the
+doctrine of foreordination. From his standpoint this involved
+the creation of evil by the Almighty, a thoroughly
+preposterous supposition. Again, he held that if God had,
+"previous to man's creation, willed and determined all of
+his actions, then certainly every man stands in the same state
+of acceptance with him, and a universal salvation must take
+place: which I conceive the favorers of foreordination would
+be as unwilling as myself to believe."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Journal, p. 161.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> From funeral sermon delivered in 1814. Journal, p. 161.</p></div>
+
+<p>Three years after the declaration quoted above, Elias
+Hicks wrote a letter<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> to a person known as "J. N.," who
+was a believer in universal salvation. In this letter he revives
+his idea that foreordination and universal salvation
+are twin heresies, both equally mischievous. This letter
+is very long, containing nearly 4,000 words. The bulk of it
+deals with the theory of predestination, while some of it
+relates to the matter of sin and penalty. At one point the
+letter is censorious, nearly borders on the dogmatic, and is
+scarcely kind. We quote:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Letter dated Baltimore, Tenth month, 1817.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Hadst thou, in thy researches after knowledge, been
+concerned to know the first step of wisdom&mdash;the right
+knowledge of thyself&mdash;such an humbling view of thy own
+insufficiency and entire ignorance of the Divine Being, and
+all his glorious attributes, would, I trust, have preserved
+thee from falling into thy present errors. Errors great
+indeed, and fatal in their consequences; for if men were
+capable of believing with confidence thy opinions, either as
+regards the doctrine of unconditional predestination and
+election, or the doctrine of universal salvation, both of
+which certainly and necessarily resolve in one, who could
+any longer call any thing he has his own? for all would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span>
+fall a prey to the villains and sturdy rogues of this belief.
+And, indeed, a belief of these opinions would most assuredly
+make thousands more of that description than there already
+are; as every temptation to evil, to gratify the carnal desires,
+would be yielded to, as that which was ordained
+to be; and of course would be considered as something
+agreeable to God's good pleasure; and therefore not only
+our goods and chattels would become a prey to every
+ruffian of this belief, but even our wives and daughters
+would fall victims to the superior force of the abandoned
+and profligate, as believing they could do nothing but what
+God had ordained to be. But we are thankful in the sentiment
+that no rational, intelligent being can possibly embrace,
+in full faith, these inconsistent doctrines; as they
+are founded on nothing but supposition; and supposition
+can never produce real belief, or a faith that any rational
+creature can rely upon."<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 28.</p></div>
+
+<p>We make no attempt to clear up the logical connection
+between the doctrine of foreordination and the theory of
+universal salvation, for it is by no means clear that the two
+necessarily belong together. From the reasoning of Elias
+Hicks it would seem that he considered salvation a transaction
+which made a fixed and final condition for the soul
+at death, whereas the Universalist theory simply provides
+for a future turning of all souls toward God. Surely the
+supposition that the holding of the views of "J. N." would
+bring the moral disorder and disaster outlined by his critic
+had not then been borne out by the facts, and has not since.
+Neither the believers in foreordination or universal salvation
+have been shown worse than other men, or more socially
+dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>"Sin," he says, "arises entirely out of the corrupt independent
+will of man; and which will is not of God's creating,
+but springs up and has its origin in man's disobedience
+and transgression, by making a wrong use of his liberty."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span><a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>
+As the sin is of man's voluntary commission, the penalty is
+also to be charged to the sinner, and not to God. On this
+point Elias Hicks was clear in his reasoning and in his conclusions:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 30.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Hence those who make their election to good, and
+choose to follow the teachings of the inward law of the
+spirit of God, are of course leavened into the true nature
+of God, and consequently into the happiness of God. For
+nothing but that which is of the nature of God can enjoy the
+happiness of God. But he who makes his election, or
+choice, to turn away from God's law and spirit, and govern
+himself or is governed by his own will and spirit, becomes
+a corrupt tree and although the same justice, wisdom,
+power, mercy and love are dispensed to this man as to the
+other, yet by his contrary nature, which has become fleshly,
+by following his fleshly inclinations, he brings forth corrupt
+fruit."<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<p>Manifestly the idea that the Almighty punishes men
+for his own glory had no place in the thinking of the Jericho
+preacher.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of sin and penalty held by Elias Hicks
+necessarily led him to hold opinions regarding rewards and
+punishments, and the place and manner of their application,
+at variance with commonly accepted notions. In fact, the
+apparent irregularity of his thinking in this particular was
+one of the causes of concern on his behalf on the part of
+his captious critics and some of his friends. One of the
+latter had evidently written him regarding this matter, and
+his reply is before us.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> From it we quote:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Letter dated Jericho, Third month 14, 1808.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"As to the subject relative to heaven and hell, I suppose
+what gave rise to that part of my communication
+(although I have now forgotten the particulars) was a
+concern that at that time as well as many other times has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span>
+sorrowfully impressed my mind, in observing the great
+ignorance and carnality that was not only prevailing among
+mankind at large, but more especially in finding it to be
+the case with many professing with us in relation to those
+things. An ignorance and carnality that, in my opinion,
+has been one great cause of the prevailing Atheism and
+Deism that now abounds among the children of men. For
+what reason or argument could a professed Christian bring
+forward to convince an Atheist or Deist that there is such
+a place as heaven as described and circumscribed in some
+certain limits and place in some distant and unknown
+region as is the carnal idea of too many professing Christianity,
+and even of many, I fear, of us? Or such a place
+as hell, or a gulf located in some interior part of this little
+terraqueous globe? But when the Christian brings forward
+to the Atheist or Deist reasons and arguments founded on
+indubitable certainty, things that he knows in his own experience
+every day through the powerful evidence of the
+divine law-giver in his own heart, he cannot fail of yielding
+his assent, for he feels as he goes on in unbelief and
+hardness of heart he is plunging himself every day deeper
+and deeper into that place of torment, and let him go
+whithersoever he will, his hell goes with him. He can no
+more be rid of it than he can be rid of himself. And
+although he flies to the rocks and mountains to fall on him,
+to deliver him from his tremendous condition, yet he finds
+all is in vain, for where God is, there hell is always to the
+sinner; according to that true saying of our dear Lord, 'this
+is the condemnation of the world that light is come into the
+world, but men love darkness rather than the light, because
+their deeds are evil.' Now God, or Christ (who are one in
+a spiritual sense), is this light that continually condemns
+the transgressor. Therefore, where God or Christ is, there
+is hell always to the sinner, and God, according to Scripture
+and the everyday experience of every rational creature, is
+everywhere present, for he fills all things, and by him all
+things consist. And as the sinner finds in himself and
+knows in his own experience that there is a hell, and one
+that he cannot possibly escape while he remains a sinner,
+so likewise the righteous know, and that by experience,
+that there is a heaven, but they know of none above the
+outward clouds and outward atmosphere. They have no
+experience of any such, but they know a heaven where
+God dwells, and know a sitting with him at seasons in
+heavenly places in Christ Jesus."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span></p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Elias based salvation on
+repentance and amendment of life, but the bulk of his expression
+would seem to indicate that he held to the idea that
+repentance must come during this life. In fact, an early
+remark of his gives clear warrant for this conclusion.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> He
+does not seem to have ever adopted the theory that continuity
+of life carried with it continuation of opportunity touching
+repentance and restoration of the soul.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_23">23</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>From the twentieth century standpoint views like the
+foregoing would scarcely cause a ripple of protest in any
+well-informed religious circles. But eighty years ago the
+case was different. A material place for excessively material
+punishment of the soul, on account of moral sin and
+spiritual turpitude, was essential to orthodox standing in
+practically every branch of the Christian church, with possibly
+two or three exceptions. Elias Hicks practically
+admits that in the Society of Friends not a few persons
+held to the gross and materialistic conceptions which he
+criticised and repudiated.</p>
+
+<p>The question of personal immortality was more than
+once submitted to him for consideration. After certain
+Friends began to pick flaws with his ideas and theories, he
+was charged with being a doubter regarding nearly all the
+common Christian affirmations, immortality included.
+There was little reason for misunderstanding or misrepresenting
+him in this particular, for, however he failed to
+make himself understood touching other points of doctrine,
+he was perfectly clear on this point. In a letter to Charles
+Stokes, of Rancocas, N. J., written Fourth month 3, 1829,
+he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Can it be possibly necessary for me to add anything
+further, to manifest my full and entire belief of the immortality
+of the soul of man? Surely, what an ignorant creature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span>
+must that man be that hath not come to the clear and
+full knowledge of that in himself. Does not every man feel
+a desire fixed in his very nature after happiness, that urges
+him on in a steady pursuit after something to satisfy this
+desire, and does he not find that all the riches and honor
+and glory of this world, together with every thing that is
+mortal, falls infinitely short of satisfying this desire? which
+proves it to be immortal; and can any thing, or being, that
+is not immortal in itself, receive the impress of an immortal
+desire upon it? Surely not. Therefore, this immortal desire
+of the soul of man never can be fully satisfied until
+it comes to be established in a state of immortality and
+eternal life, beyond the grave."<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 218.</p></div>
+
+<p>There are not many direct references to immortality
+in the published sermons, although inferences in that direction
+are numerous. In a sermon at Darby, Pa., Twelfth
+month 7, 1826, he declared: "We see then that the great
+business of our lives is 'to lay up treasure in heaven.'"<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> In
+this case and others like it he evidently means treasure in
+the spiritual world. In his discourses he frequently referred
+to "our immortal souls" in a way to leave no doubt
+as to his belief in a continuity of life. His reference to the
+death of his young sons leave no room for doubt in the
+matter.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 127.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_61">61</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>In speaking of the death of his wife, both in his Journal
+and in his private correspondence, his references all point
+to the future life. "Her precious spirit," he said, "I trust
+and believe has landed safely on the angelic shore." Again,
+"being preserved together fifty-eight years in one unbroken
+bond of endeared affection, which seemed if possible to
+increase with time to the last moment of her life; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span>
+which neither time nor distance can lessen or dissolve; but
+in the spiritual relation I trust it will endure forever."<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Journal, p. 425.</p></div>
+
+<p>During the last ten years of the life of Elias Hicks he
+was simply overburdened answering questions and explaining
+his position touching a multitude of views charged
+against him by his critics and defamers. Among the matters
+thus brought to his attention was the miraculous conception
+of Jesus, and the various beliefs growing out of that doctrine.
+In an undated manuscript found among his papers
+and letters, and manifestly not belonging to a date earlier
+than 1826 or 1827, he pretty clearly states his theory touching
+this delicate subject. In this document he is more
+definite than he is in some of his published statements
+relating to the same matter. He asserts that there is a
+difference between "begetting and creating." He scouts
+as revolting the conception that the Almighty begat Jesus,
+as is the case in the animal function of procreation. On
+the other hand, he said: "But, as in the beginning of creation,
+he spake the word and it was done, so by his almighty
+power he spake the word and by it created the seed of man
+in the fleshly womb of Mary." In other words, the miraculous
+conception was a creation and not the act of begetting.</p>
+
+<p>In his correspondence he repeatedly asserted that he
+had believed in the miraculous conception from his youth
+up. To Thomas Willis, who was one of his earliest accusers,
+he said that "although there appeared to me as
+much, or more, letter testimony in the account of the four
+Evangelists against as for the support of that miracle, yet
+it had not altered my belief therein."<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> It has to be admitted
+that the miraculous conception held by Elias Hicks
+was scarcely the doctrine of the creeds, or that held by
+evangelical Christians in the early part of the nineteenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span>
+century. His theory may be more rational than the popular
+conception and may be equally miraculous, but it was not
+the same proposition.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 179.</p></div>
+
+<p>Whether Elias considered this a distinction without a
+difference we know not, but it is very certain that he did not
+consider the miracle or the dogma growing out of it a vital
+matter. He declared that a "belief therein was not an
+essential to salvation."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> His reason for this opinion was
+that "whatever is essential to the salvation of the souls of
+men is dispensed by a common creator to every rational
+creature under heaven."<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> No hint of a miraculous conception,
+he held, had been revealed to the souls of men.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 178.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 178.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is possible that in the minds of the ultra Orthodox,
+to deny the saving value of a belief in the miraculous conception,
+although admitting it as a fact, or recasting it as a
+theory, was a more reprehensible act of heresy than denying
+the dogma entirely. Manifestly Elias Hicks was altogether
+too original in his thinking to secure his own peace
+and comfort in the world of nineteenth-century theology.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider the theory of the divinity of Christ,
+and the theory of the incarnation, we find Elias Hicks
+taking the affirmative side, but even here it is questionable
+if he was affirming the popular conception. Touching these
+matters he put himself definitely on record in 1827 in a
+letter written to an unnamed Friend. In this letter he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"As to the divinity of Christ, the son of the virgin&mdash;when
+he had arrived to a full state of sonship in the spiritual
+generation, he was wholly swallowed up into the divinity
+of his heavenly Father, and was one with his Father, with
+only this difference: his Father's divinity was underived,
+being self-existent, but the son's divinity was altogether
+derived from the Father; for otherwise he could not be the
+son of God, as in the moral relation, to be a son of man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span>
+the son must be begotten by one father, and he must be in
+the same nature, spirit and likeness of his father, so as to
+say, I and my father are one in all those respects. But this
+was not the case with Jesus in the spiritual relation, until
+he had gone through the last institute of the law dispensation,
+viz., John's watery baptism, and had received additional
+power from on high, by the descending of the holy
+ghost upon him, as he came up out of the water. He then
+witnessed the fulness of the second birth, being now born
+into the nature, spirit and likeness of the heavenly Father,
+and God gave witness of it to John, saying, 'This is my
+beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.' And this agrees
+with Paul's testimony, where he assures us that as many
+as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of
+God."<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 284.</p></div>
+
+<p>Just as he repudiated material localized places of reward
+and punishment, Elias Hicks disputed the presence in
+the world of a personal evil spirit, roaming around seeking
+whom he might ensnare and devour. In fact, in his theology
+there was no tinge of the Persian dualism. Satan,
+from his standpoint, had no existence outside man. He
+was simply a figure to illustrate the evil propensity in men.
+In the estimation of the ultra Orthodox to claim that there
+was no personal devil, who tempted our first parents in
+Eden, was second only in point of heresy to denying the
+existence of God himself&mdash;the two persons both being essential
+parts in the theological system to which they tenaciously
+held.</p>
+
+<p>Touching this matter he thus expressed himself:
+"And as to what is called a devil or satan, it is something
+within us, that tempts us to go counter to the commands of
+God, and our duty to him and our fellow creatures; and the
+Scriptures tell us there are many of them, and that Jesus
+cast seven out of one woman."<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> From letter to Charles Stokes, Fourth month 3, 1829. "Letters
+of Elias Hicks," p. 217.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>He was charged with being a Deist, and an infidel of
+the Thomas Paine stripe, yet from his own standpoint
+there was no shadow of truth in any of these charges. His
+references to Atheism and Deism already cited in these pages
+afford evidence on this point. In 1798 he was at Gap in
+Pennsylvania, and in referring to his experience there he
+said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Whilst in this neighborhood my mind was brought
+into a state of deep exercise and travail, from a sense of the
+great turning away of many of us, from the law and the
+testimony, and the prevailing of a spirit of great infidelity
+and deism among the people, and darkness spreading over
+the minds of many as a thick veil. It was a time in which
+Thomas Paine's Age of Reason (falsely so called) was much
+attended to in those parts; and some, who were members
+in our Society, as I was informed, were captivated by his
+dark insinuating address, and were ready almost to make
+shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Under a sense
+thereof my spirit was deeply humbled before the majesty
+of heaven, and in the anguish of my soul I said, 'spare thy
+people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach,' and
+suffer not thy truth to fall in the streets."<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Journal, p. 70.</p></div>
+
+<p>Touching his supposed Unitarianism, there are no direct
+references to that theory in his published works. A
+letter written by Elias Hicks to William B. Irish,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Second
+month 11, 1821, is about the only reference to the matter.
+In this letter he says:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> William B. Irish lived in Pittsburg, and was a disciple of Elias
+Hicks, as he confessed to his spiritual profit. In a letter written to
+Elias from Philadelphia, Eleventh month 21, 1823, he said: "I tell
+you, you are the first man that ever put my mind in search of heavenly
+food." Whether he ever united with the Society we are not informed,
+although Elias expressed the hope that he might see his way clear to
+do so.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In regard to the Unitarian doctrine, I am too much a
+stranger to their general tenets to give a decided sentiment,
+but according to the definition given of them by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span>
+Dyche in his dictionary, I think it is more consistent and
+rational than the doctrine of the trinity, which I think fairly
+makes out three Gods. But as I have lately spent some time
+in perusing the ancient history of the church, in which I
+find that Trinitarians, Unitarians, Arians, Nestorians and a
+number of other sects that sprung up in the night of apostacy,
+as each got into power they cruelly persecuted each
+other, by which they evidenced that they had all apostatized
+from the primitive faith and practice, and the genuine spirit
+of Christianity, hence I conceive there is no safety in joining
+with any of those sects, as their leaders I believe are generally
+each looking to their own quarter for gain. Therefore
+our safety consists in standing alone (waiting at
+Jerusalem) that is in a quiet retired state, similar to the
+disciples formerly, until we receive power from on high, or
+until by the opening of that divine spirit (or comforter, a
+manifestation of which is given to every man and woman
+to profit withal) we are led into the knowledge of the
+truth agreeably to the doctrine of Jesus to his disciples."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In regard to the death and resurrection of Jesus, Elias
+Hicks considered himself logically and scripturally sound,
+although his ideas may not have squared with any prevalent
+theological doctrines. In reply to the query, "By what
+means did Jesus suffer?" he answered unhesitatingly, "By
+the hands of wicked men." A second query was to the
+effect, "Did God send him into the world purposely to suffer
+death?" Here is the answer:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"By no means: but to live a righteous and godly life
+(which was the design and end of God's creating man in
+the beginning), and thereby be a perfect example to such
+of mankind as should come to the knowledge of him and of
+his perfect life. For if it was the purpose and will of God
+that he should die by the hands of wicked men, then the
+Jews, by crucifying him, would have done God's will, and
+of course would all have stood justified in his sight, which
+could not be." ... "But the shedding of his
+blood by the wicked scribes and Pharisees, and people of
+Israel, had a particular effect on the Jewish nation, as by
+this the topstone and worst of all their crimes, was filled up
+the measure of their iniquities, and which put an end to that
+dispensation, together with its law and covenant. That as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span>
+John's baptism summed up in one, all the previous water
+baptisms of that dispensation, and put an end to them,
+which he sealed with his blood, so this sacrifice of the body
+of Jesus Christ, summed up in one all the outward atoning
+sacrifices of the shadowy dispensation and put an end to
+them all, thereby abolishing the law having previously fulfilled
+all its righteousness, and, as saith the apostle, 'He
+blotted out the handwriting of ordinances, nailing them to
+his cross;' having put an end to the law that commanded
+them, with all its legal sins, and abolished all its legal penalties,
+so that all the Israelites that believed on him after
+he exclaimed on the cross 'It is finished,' might abstain
+from all the rituals of their law, such as circumcision, water
+baptisms, outward sacrifices, Seventh-day Sabbaths, and all
+their other holy days, etc."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> All of the extracts above are from a letter to Dr. Nathan Shoemaker,
+of Philadelphia, written Third month 31, 1823. See "Foster's
+Report," pp. 422-23.</p></div>
+
+<p>Continuing, he says: "Now all this life, power and will
+of man, must be slain and die on the cross spiritually, as
+Jesus died on the cross outwardly, and this is the true atonement,
+of which that outward atonement was a clear and
+full type." For the scriptural proof of his contention he
+quotes Romans VI, 3:4. He claimed that the baptism referred
+to by Paul was spiritual, and the newness of life to
+follow must also be spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>The resurrection was also spiritualized, and given an
+internal, rather than an external, significance. Its intent
+was to awaken in "the believer a belief in the sufficiency of
+an invisible power, that was able to do any thing and every
+thing that is consistent with justice, mercy and truth, and
+that would conduce to the exaltation and good of his creature
+man."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Therefore the resurrection of the dead body of Jesus
+that could not possibly of itself create in itself a power to
+loose the bonds of death, and which must consequently
+have been the work of an invisible power, points to and is
+a shadow of the resurrection of the soul that is dead in tres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span>passes
+and sins, and that hath no capacity to quicken itself,
+but depends wholly on the renewed influence and quickening
+power of the spirit of God. For a soul dead in trespasses
+and sins can no more raise a desire of itself for a
+renewed quickening of the divine life in itself than a dead
+body can raise a desire of itself for a renewal of natural
+life; but both equally depend on the omnipotent presiding
+power of the spirit of God, as is clearly set forth by the
+prophet under the similitude of the resurrection of dry
+bones." Ezekiel, 37:1.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 286. Letter of Elias Hicks to an
+unknown friend.</p></div>
+
+<p>"Hence the resurrection of the outward fleshly body of
+Jesus and some few others under the law dispensation, as
+manifested to the external senses of man, gives full evidence
+as a shadow, pointing to the sufficiency of the divine
+invisible power of God to raise the soul from a state of
+spiritual death into newness of life and into the enjoyment
+of the spiritual substance of all the previous shadows of
+the law state. And by the arising of this Sun of Righteousness
+in the soul all shadows flee away and come to an end,
+and the soul presses forward, under its divine influence,
+into that that is within the veil, where our forerunner, even
+Jesus, has entered for us, showing us the way into the
+holiest of holies."<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. IV, pp. 286-287. Letter of Elias Hicks to
+an unknown friend.</p></div>
+
+<p>We have endeavored to give such a view of the doctrinal
+points covered as will give a fair idea of what Elias
+Hicks believed. Whether they were unsound opinions, such
+as should have disrupted the Society of Friends, and nearly
+shipwreck it on a sea of bitterness, we leave for the reader
+to decide. It should be stated, however, that the opinions
+herein set forth did not, by any means, constitute the subject
+matter of all, or possibly a considerable portion of the
+sermons he preached. There is room for the inquiry in our
+time whether a large amount of doctrinal opinion presented
+in our meetings for worship, even though it be of the kind
+in which the majority apparently believe, would not have a
+dividing and scattering effect.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i121" id="i121"></a>
+<img src="images/i129.jpg" width="508" height="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">ELIAS HICKS</p>
+
+<p class="center small">FROM PAINTING BY KETCHAM</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Before the Division.</p>
+
+
+<p>No biography of Elias Hicks could be even approximately
+adequate which ignored the division in the Society
+of Friends in 1827-1828, commonly, but erroneously, called
+"the separation." While his part in the trouble has been
+greatly exaggerated, inasmuch as he was made the storm-center
+of the controversy by his opponents, to consider the
+causes and influences which led to the difficulty, especially
+as they were either rightly or wrongly made to apply to
+Elias Hicks, is vital to a study of his life, and an appreciation
+of his labors.</p>
+
+<p>We shall not be able to understand the matter at all,
+unless we can in a measure take ourselves back to the first
+quarter of the nineteenth century, and as far as possible
+appreciate the thought and life of that time. We must remember
+that a system of dogmatic theology, unqualified
+and untempered by any of the findings of modern scholarship,
+was the central and dominating influence in the religious
+world. Authority of some sort was the source of
+religious belief, and uniformity of doctrine the basis of
+religious fellowship.</p>
+
+<p>The aftermath of the French Revolution appeared in
+a period of religious negation. Destructive, rather than
+constructive criticism was the ruling passion of the unchurched
+world. The conservative mind was burdened with
+apprehension, and the fear of a chaos of faith possessed the
+minds of the preachers, the theologians and the communicants
+of the so-called Orthodox Christian churches. The
+Unitarian uprising in New England had hopelessly divided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span>
+the historic church of the Puritans, and the conservative
+Friends saw in every advance in thought the breaking up
+of what they considered the foundations of religion, and
+fear possessed them accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>But more important than this is the fact that Friends
+had largely lost the historic perspective, touching their own
+origin. They had forgotten that their foundations were
+laid in a revolt against a prevalent theology, and the evil of
+external authority in religion. From being persecuted they
+had grown popular and prosperous. They therefore shrank
+from change in <span class="correction" title="Originally: zion">Zion</span>, and from the opposition and ostracism
+which always had been the fate of those who broke with
+approved and established religious standards. Without
+doubt they honored the heroism and respected the sacrifices
+of the fathers as the "first spreaders of truth." But they
+had neither the temper nor the taste to be alike heroic, in
+making Quakerism a progressive spirit, rather than a final
+refuge of a traditional religion.</p>
+
+<p>An effort was made by the opponents of Elias Hicks
+to make it appear that what they were pleased to call his
+"unsoundness in doctrine," came late in life, and somewhat
+suddenly. But for this claim there is little if any valid evidence.
+His preaching probably underwent little vital change
+throughout his entire ministry. Turner, the English historian,
+says: "But the facts remain that until near the close
+of his long life Hicks was in general esteem, that there is
+no sign anywhere in his writings of a change of opinions,
+or new departure in his teaching."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> "The Quakers," Frederick Storrs Turner, p. 293.</p></div>
+
+<p>There is unpublished correspondence which confirms
+the opinion of Turner. This is true touching what might
+be called his theological as well as his sociological notions.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter written to Elias Hicks in 1805, by James<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span>
+Mott, Sr.,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> reference is made to Elias having denied the
+absolutely saving character of the Scriptures. In this connection
+the letter remarks: "I conceive it is no matter how
+highly people value the Scriptures, provided they can only
+be convinced that the spirit that gave them forth is superior
+to them, and to be their rule and guide instead of them."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> This James Mott was the father of Anne, who married Adam,
+the father of James, the husband of Lucretia. James Mott, Sr. died
+in 1823.</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1806, in a sermon at Nine Partners, in Dutchess
+County, New York, as reported by himself, he declared that
+men can only by "faithful attention and adherence to the
+aforesaid divine principle, the light within, come to know
+and believe the certainty of those excellent Scripture doctrines,
+of the coming, life, righteous works, sufferings,
+death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our blessed pattern;
+and that <i>it is by obedience to this inward light only</i> that
+we are prepared for admittance into the heavenly kingdom."<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Journal, p. 122.</p></div>
+
+<p>It seems, however, that Stephen Grellet,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> if we may
+take the authority of his biographers, Hodgson<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and
+Guest,<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> as early as 1808, was fearful of the orthodoxy of
+Elias Hicks, and probably based his fear on extracts like
+the passage cited above. Whatever may be imagined to
+the contrary, it is pretty certain that at no time for forty
+years before his death did Elias Hicks preach doctrine that
+would have been satisfactory to the orthodox theologians<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span>
+of his time, although he did not always antagonize the
+dogmas of the churches.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Stephen Grellet, born in Limoges, France, Eleventh month 2,
+1773. A scion of the French nobility. Became interested in the Society
+of Friends when about twenty years of age. Came to America in
+1795, and was recorded a minister in Philadelphia, in 1798. Became
+a New York business man in 1799. Made extensive religious visits in
+various countries in Europe, and in many American states. Was also
+active in philanthropic work. He died at Burlington, N. J., in 1855.
+In his theology he was entirely evangelical.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> "Life of Stephen Grellet," Hodgson, p. 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> "Stephen Grellet," by William Guest, p. 73.</p></div>
+
+<p>If Stephen Grellet ever had any personal interview
+with Elias Hicks regarding his "unsoundness," the matter
+was ignored by the latter. In Eighth month, 1808, some
+months after it is claimed the discovery was made by
+Grellet, the two men, with other Friends, were on a religious
+visit in parts of New England. In a letter to his wife,
+dated Danby, Vt., Eighth month 26, 1808, Elias says:
+"Stephen Grellet, Gideon Seaman, Esther Griffin and Ann
+Mott we left yesterday morning at a town called Middlebury,
+about eighteen miles short of this place, Stephen feeling
+a concern to appoint a meeting among the town's people
+of that place." Evidently no very great barrier existed
+between the two men at that time.</p>
+
+<p>In any event no disposition seemed to exist to inaugurate
+a theological controversy in the Society of Friends, or
+to erect a standard of fellowship other than spiritual unity,
+until a decade after the claimed concern of Stephen Grellet.
+It appears that in 1818, Phebe Willis, wife of Thomas
+Willis, a recorded minister of Jericho Monthly Meeting,
+had a written communication with Elias, touching his doctrinal
+"soundness," Phebe being an elder. That the opposition
+began in Jericho, and that it was confined to the
+Willis family and one other in that meeting, seems to be a
+fairly well attested fact. In 1829, after the division in the
+Society had been accomplished, Elias Hicks wrote a letter
+to a friend giving a short history of the beginning of the
+trouble in Jericho, from which we make the following
+extract:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The beginning of the rupture in our yearly meeting
+had its rise in our particular monthly meeting, and I have
+full evidence before me of both its rise and progress. The
+first shadow of complaint against me as to my doctrines
+was made by Thomas Willis, a member and minister of our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span>
+own preparative meeting. He manifested his first uneasiness
+at the close of one of our own meetings nearly in these
+words, between him and myself alone. 'That he apprehended
+that I, in my public communication, lowered down
+the character of Jesus and the Scriptures of truth.' My
+reply to him was that I had placed them both upon the
+very foundation they each had placed themselves, and that
+I dare not place them any higher or lower. At the same
+time the whole monthly meeting, except he and his wife,
+as far as I knew, were in full unity with me, both as to
+my ministry and otherwise, but as they were both members
+of the meeting of ministers and elders they made the first
+public disclosure of their uneasiness. Thomas had an
+ancient mother, likewise a minister, that lived in the house
+with them; they so far overcame her better judgment as to
+induce her to take a part with them, although she was a
+very amiable and useful member, and one that I had always
+a great esteem for, and we had been nearly united together
+in gospel fellowship, both in public meetings and those for
+discipline, for forty years and upward."<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Letter to Johnson Legg, dated Jericho, Twelfth month 15, 1829.</p></div>
+
+<p>The meeting, through a judicious committee, tried to
+quiet the fears of Thomas Willis and wife, and bring them
+in unity with the vastly major portion of the meeting, but
+without success. These Friends being persistent in their
+opposition, they were suspended from the meeting of ministers
+and elders, but were permitted to retain their membership
+in the Society.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">First Trouble in Philadelphia.</p>
+
+
+<p>Transferring the story of the opposition to the ministry
+of Elias Hicks to Philadelphia, it would appear that
+its first public manifestation occurred in 1819. During this
+year he made his fifth somewhat extended religious visit
+to the meetings within the bounds of Philadelphia Yearly
+Meeting. Elias was attending the monthly meeting then
+held in the Pine Street meeting-house, and obtained liberty
+to visit the women's meeting. While absent on this concern,
+the men's meeting did the unprecedented thing of adjourning,
+the breaking up of the meeting being accomplished by
+a few influential members. For a co-ordinate branch of a
+meeting for discipline to close while service was being performed
+in the allied branch in accord with regular procedure
+was considered irregular, if not unwarranted. The real
+inspiring cause for this conduct has been stated as follows
+by a contemporary writer:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"An influential member of this meeting who had
+abstained from the produce of slave labor came to the conclusion
+that this action was the result of his own will. He
+therefore became very sensitive and irritable touching references
+to the slavery question, and very bitter against the
+testimony of Elias Hicks. It is believed that this was one
+of the causes which led to the affront of Elias Hicks in the
+Pine Street Meeting aforesaid."<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> "A review of the general and particular causes which have
+produced the late disorders and divisions in the Yearly Meeting of
+Friends, held in Philadelphia," James Cockburn, 1829, p. 60.</p></div>
+
+<p>It was claimed in the famous New Jersey chancery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span>
+case<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> by the Orthodox Friends, that there was precedent
+for adjourning a meeting while a visiting minister in proper
+order was performing service in a co-ordinate branch of the
+Society. Be that as it may, the weight of evidence warrants
+the conclusion that the incident at Pine Street was intended
+as an affront to Elias Hicks. The conservative elements in
+Philadelphia had evidently made up their minds that the
+time had come to visit their displeasure upon the Long
+Island preacher.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Foster's report, many times referred to in these pages, is a two-volume
+work, containing the evidence and the exhibits in a case in
+the New Jersey Court of Chancery. The examinations began Sixth
+month 2, 1830, in Camden, N. J., before J. J. Foster, Master and Examiner
+in Chancery, and continued from time to time, closing Fourth
+month 13, 1831. The case was brought to determine who should possess
+the school fund, of the Friends' School, at Crosswick, N. J. The
+decision awarded the fund to the Orthodox.</p></div>
+
+<p>The incident referred to above must have occurred in
+the latter part of Tenth month. Elias says in his Journal,
+after mentioning his arrival in Philadelphia: "We were at
+two of their monthly meetings and their quarterly meeting."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a>
+He makes no mention of the unpleasant occurrence.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Journal, p. 382.</p></div>
+
+<p>There seems to have been no further appearance of
+trouble in the latitude of Philadelphia until Eighth month,
+1822. This time opposition appeared in what was evidently
+an irregular gathering of part of the Meeting for Sufferings.
+At this meeting Jonathan Evans is reported to have said:
+"I understand that Elias Hicks is coming on here on his
+way to Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Friends know that he
+preaches doctrines contrary to the doctrines of our Society;
+that he has given uneasiness to his friends at home, and
+they can't stop him, and unless we can stop him here he
+must go on."<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> This statement was only partially true, to
+say the most possible for it. But a small minority of Elias'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span>
+home meeting were in any way "uneasy" about him, whatever
+may have been the character of his preaching. It
+stands to reason that had there been a general and united
+opposition to the ministry of Elias Hicks in his monthly
+meeting or in the New York Yearly Meeting at any time
+before the "separation," he could not have performed the
+service involved in his religious visits. It will also appear
+from the foregoing that the few opponents of Elias Hicks
+on Long Island had evidently planned to invoke every
+possible and conceivable influence, at the center of Quakerism
+in Philadelphia, to silence this popular and well-known
+preacher. At what point the influence so disposed became
+of general effect in the polity of the Society only incidentally
+belongs to the purpose of this book.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> "Foster's Report," pp. 355-356.</p></div>
+
+<p>Out of the unofficial body<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> above mentioned, about a
+dozen in number, a small and "select" committee was appointed.
+The object was apparently to deal with Elias for
+remarks said to have been made by him at New York
+Yearly Meeting in Fifth month of that year, and reported
+by Joseph Whitall.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> "Foster's Report," 1831, Vol. I. See testimony of Joseph Whitall,
+p. 247. Also testimony of Abraham Lower, pp. 355-356.</p></div>
+
+<p>The minute under which Elias performed the visit
+referred to above was granted by his monthly meeting in
+Seventh month, and he promptly set out on his visit with
+David Seaman as his traveling companion. He spent nearly
+three months visiting meetings in New Jersey and in Bucks,
+Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania,
+reaching Baltimore the 25th of Tenth month, where he
+attended the Yearly Meeting. This appearance and
+service in Philadelphia, he states very briefly, and with no
+hint of the developing trouble, as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We arrived in Philadelphia in the early part of <span class="correction" title="Originally: Twefth">Twelfth</span>
+month, and I immediately entered on the arduous concern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span>
+which I had in prospect and which I was favored soon comfortably
+to accomplish. We visited the families composing
+Green Street Monthly Meeting, being in number one hundred
+and forty, and we also attended that monthly meeting
+and the monthly meeting for the Northern District. This
+closed my visit here, and set me at liberty to turn my face
+homeward."<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Journal, p. 394.</p></div>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that the charge of unsoundness was
+entered in Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings soon after
+Elias started on his southern visit, but the matter was held
+practically in suspense for four months. In the meantime
+Elias was waited upon by a few elders, presumably in
+accordance with the action of the Meeting for Sufferings
+held in Eighth month. This opportunity was had when the
+visitor passed through Philadelphia en route to Baltimore.
+There is reason for believing that Elias succeeded in <span class="correction" title="Originally: measureably">measurably</span>
+satisfying this small committee. But there was evidently
+an element in Philadelphia that did not propose to
+be satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>In Twelfth month, when Elias arrived in Philadelphia
+from his southern trip, and began his visits among the
+families of Green Street Monthly Meeting, a meeting of the
+elders of all the monthly meetings in the city was hastily
+called. A deputation from the elders sought an "opportunity"
+with Elias, and insisted that it be <i>private</i>.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> His position
+was that he was not accountable to them for anything
+he had said while traveling with a minute as a minister.
+Elias finally consented, out of regard to some particular
+Friends, to meet the elders in Green Street meeting-house,
+provided witnesses other than the opposing elders could
+be present. Among those who accompanied Elias were
+John Comly, Robert Moore, John Moore and John Hunt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span>
+When the meeting was held, however, the elders who
+opposed Elias said they could not proceed, their reason being
+that the gathering was not "select." In connection with
+this controversy letters passed between the opposing parties.
+One was signed by ten elders of Philadelphia, and is as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> "Foster's Report," pp. 359-360. "Cockburn's Review," p. 66.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">To Elias Hicks</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"Friends in Philadelphia having for a considerable time
+past heard of thy holding and promulgating doctrines different
+from and repugnant to those held by our religious
+society, it was cause of uneasiness and deep concern to
+them, as their sincere regard and engagement for the promotion
+of the cause of Truth made it very desirable that all
+the members of our religious society should move in true
+harmony under the leading and direction of our blessed
+Redeemer. Upon being informed of thy sentiments expressed
+by Joseph Whitall&mdash;that Jesus Christ was not the
+son of God until after the baptism of John and the descent
+of the Holy Ghost, and that he was no more than a man;
+that the same power that made Christ a Christian must
+make us Christians; and that the same power that saved
+Him must save us&mdash;many friends were affected therewith,
+and some time afterward, several Friends being together in
+the city on subjects relating to our religious society, they
+received an account from Ezra Comfort of some of thy
+expressions in the public general meeting immediately succeeding
+the Southern Quarterly Meeting lately held in the
+state of Delaware, which was also confirmed by his companion,
+Isaiah Bell, that Jesus Christ was the first man who
+introduced the gospel dispensation, the Jews being under
+the outward or ceremonial law or dispensation, it was necessary
+that there should be some outward miracle, as the
+healing of the outward infirmities of the flesh and raising
+the outward dead bodies in order to introduce the gospel
+dispensation; He had no more power given Him than man,
+for He was no more than man; He had nothing to do with
+the healing of the soul, for that belongs to God only;
+Elisha had the same power to raise the dead; that man
+being obedient to the spirit of God in him could arrive at
+as great, or a greater, degree of righteousness than Jesus
+Christ; that 'Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal
+with God; neither do I think it robbery for man to be equal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span>
+with God'; then endeavored to show that by attending to
+that stone cut out of the mountain without hands, or the
+seed in man, it would make man equal with God, saying:
+for that stone in man was the entire God. On hearing
+which it appeared to Friends a subject of such great importance
+and of such deep welfare to the interest of our
+religious society as to require an extension of care, in order
+that if any incorrect statement had been made it should as
+soon as possible be rectified, or, if true, thou might be possessed
+of the painful concerns of Friends and their sense
+and judgment thereon. Two of the elders accordingly
+waited on thee on the evening of the day of thy arriving in
+the city, and although thou denied the statement, yet thy
+declining to meet these two elders in company with those
+who made it left the minds of Friends without relief. One
+of the elders who had called on thee repeated his visit on the
+next day but one, and again requested thee to see the two
+elders and the Friends who made the above <span class="correction" title="Originally: statments">statements</span> which
+thou again declined. The elders from the different Monthly
+Meetings of the city were then convened and requested a
+private opportunity with thee, which thou also refused, yet
+the next day consented to meet them at a time and place of
+thy own fixing; but, when assembled, a mixed company
+being collected, the elders could not in this manner enter
+into business which they considered of a nature not to be
+investigated in any other way than in a select, private
+opportunity. They, therefore, considered that meeting a
+clear indication of thy continuing to decline to meet the
+elders as by them proposed. Under these circumstances, it
+appearing that thou art not willing to hear and disprove the
+charges brought against thee, we feel it a duty to declare
+that we cannot have religious unity with thy conduct nor
+with the doctrines thou art charged with promulgating.</p>
+
+<p>"Signed, Twelfth month 19, 1822.</p>
+
+<p class="sig-list">
+"<span class="smcap">Caleb Pierce</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Leonard Snowden</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Joseph Scattergood</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">S. P. Griffiths</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">T. Stewardson</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Edward Randolph</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Israel Maule</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Ellis Yarnall</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Richard Humphries</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Thomas <span class="correction" title="Originally: Wister">Wistar</span></span>."<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span></p>
+
+<p>To this epistle Elias Hicks made the following reply,
+two days having intervened:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">To Caleb Pierce and other Friends:</span></p>
+
+<p>"Having been charged by you with unsoundness of
+principle and doctrine, founded on reports spread among
+the people in an unfriendly manner, and contrary to the
+order of our Discipline, by Joseph Whitall, as charged in
+the letter from you dated the 19th instant, and as these
+charges are not literally true, being founded on his own
+forced and improper construction of my words, I deny them,
+and I do not consider myself amenable to him, nor to any
+other, for crimes laid to my charge as being committed in
+the course of the sittings of our last Yearly Meeting, as not
+any of my fellow-members of that meeting discovered or
+noticed any such thing&mdash;which I presume to be the case, as
+not an individual has mentioned any such things to me,
+but contrary thereto. Many of our most valued Friends
+(who had heard some of those foul reports first promulgated
+by a citizen of our city) acknowledged the great satisfaction
+they had with my services and exercise in the
+course of that meeting, and were fully convinced that all
+those reports were false; and this view is fully confirmed
+by a certificate granted me by the Monthly and Quarterly
+Meetings of which I am a member, in which they expressed
+their full unity with me&mdash;and which meetings were held a
+considerable time after our Yearly Meeting, in the course
+of which Joseph Whitall has presumed to charge me with
+unsoundness of doctrine, contrary to the sense of the
+Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings of which I am a
+member, and to whom only do I hold myself amenable for
+all conduct transacted within their limits. The other
+charges made against me by Ezra Comfort, as expressed in
+your letter, are in general incorrect, as is proved by the
+annexed certificate; and, moreover, as Ezra Comfort has
+departed from gospel order in not mentioning his uneasiness
+to me when present with me, and when I could have appealed
+to Friends of that meeting to justify me; therefore,
+I consider Ezra Comfort to have acted disorderly and contrary
+to the discipline, and these are the reasons which induce
+me to refuse a compliance with your requisitions&mdash;considering
+them arbitrary and contrary to the established
+order of our Society.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smcap">Elias Hicks.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Philadelphia</span>, Twelfth month 21, 1822."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span></p>
+
+<p>As already noted the charges in the letter of the ten
+elders were based on statements made by Joseph Whitall,
+supplemented by allegations by Ezra Comfort, as to what
+Elias had said in two sermons, neither of which was delivered
+within the bounds of Philadelphia <span class="correction" title="Originally: Quartely">Quarterly</span> Meeting.
+The matters complained of are mostly subject to variable
+interpretation, and scarcely afford a basis for a religious
+quarrel, especially considering that the alleged statements
+were at the best garbled from quite lengthy discourses.</p>
+
+<p>On the same day that Elias replied to the ten elders,
+three members of Southern Quarterly Meeting issued a
+signed statement regarding the charges of Ezra Comfort.
+It is as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We, the undersigned, being occasionally in the city of
+Philadelphia, when a letter was produced and handed us,
+signed by ten of its citizens, Elders of the Society of
+Friends, and directed to Elias Hicks, after perusing and
+deliberately considering the charges therein against him,
+for holding and propagating doctrines inconsistent with our
+religious testimonies, and more especially those said by
+Ezra Comfort and Isaiah Bell, to be held forth at a meeting
+immediately succeeding the late Southern Quarterly Meeting,
+and we being members of the Southern Quarter, and
+present at the said meeting, we are free to state, for the
+satisfaction of the first-mentioned Friends and all others
+whom it may concern, that we apprehend the charges exhibited
+by the two Friends named are without substantial
+foundation; and in order to give a clear view we think it
+best and proper here to transcribe the said charges exhibited
+and our own understanding of the several, viz., 'That
+Jesus Christ was the first man that introduced the Gospel
+Dispensation, the Jews being under the outward and ceremonial
+law or dispensation, it was necessary there should
+be some outward miracles, as healing the outward infirmities
+of the flesh and raising the outward dead bodies in
+order to introduce the gospel dispensation;' this in substance
+is correct. 'That he had no more power given him
+than man,' this sentence is incorrect; and also, 'That he had
+nothing to do with the healing of the soul, for that belongs
+to God only,' is likewise incorrect; and the next sentence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span>
+'That Elisha also had the same power to raise the dead'
+should be transposed thus to give Elias's expressions. 'By
+the same power it was that Elisha raised the dead.' 'That
+man being obedient to the spirit of God in him could arrive
+at as great or greater degree of righteousness than Jesus
+Christ,' this is incorrect; 'That Jesus Christ thought it not
+robbery to be equal with God,' with annexing the other part
+of the paragraph mentioned by the holy apostle would be
+correct. 'Neither do I think it robbery for man to be equal
+with God' is incorrect. 'Then endeavouring to show that
+by attending to that stone cut out of the mountain without
+hands or the seed in man it would make men equal with
+God' is incorrect; the sentence for that stone in man should
+stand thus: 'That this stone or seed in man had all the
+attributes of the divine nature that was in Christ and God.'
+This statement and a few necessary remarks we make
+without comment, save only that we were then of opinion
+and still are that the sentiments and doctrines held forth
+by our said friend, Elias Hicks, are agreeable to the opinions
+and doctrines held by George Fox and other worthy Friends
+of his time.</p>
+
+<p class="sig-list">
+"<span class="smcap">Robert Moore</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Thomas Turner</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Joseph G. Rowland</span>.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"12 mo., 21, 1822."</p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 73.</p></div>
+
+<p>First month 4, 1823, the ten elders sent a final communication
+to Elias Hicks, which we give in full:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the perusal of thy letter of the 21st of last month,
+it was not a little affecting to observe the same disposition
+still prevalent that avoided a select meeting with the elders,
+which meeting consistently with the station we are placed
+in and with the sense of duty impressive upon us, we were
+engaged to propose and urge to thee as a means wherein
+the cause of uneasiness might have been investigated, the
+Friends who exhibited the complaint fully examined, and
+the whole business placed in a clear point of view.</p>
+
+<p>"On a subject of such importance the most explicit candour
+and ingenuousness, with a readiness to hear and give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span>
+complete satisfaction ought ever to be maintained; this the
+Gospel teaches, and the nature of the case imperiously demanded
+it. As to the certificate which accompanied thy
+letter, made several weeks after the circumstances occurred,
+it is in several respects not only vague and ambiguous,
+but in others (though in different terms) it corroborates the
+statement at first made. When we take a view of the whole
+subject, the doctrines and sentiments which have been promulgated
+by thee, though under some caution while in this
+city, and the opinions which thou expressed in an interview
+between Ezra Comfort and thee, on the 19th ult., we are
+fully and sorrowfully confirmed in the conclusion that thou
+holds and art disseminating principles very different from
+those which are held and maintained by our religious
+society.</p>
+
+<p>"As thou hast on thy part closed the door against the
+brotherly care and endeavours of the elders here for thy
+benefit, and for the clearing our religious profession, this
+matter appears of such serious magnitude, so interesting to
+the peace, harmony, and well-being of society, that we think
+it ought to claim the weighty attention of thy Friends at
+home."<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 76. As the signatures are the same as in
+the previous letter, repeating them seems unnecessary.</p></div>
+
+<p>One other communication closed the epistolary part of
+the controversy for the time being. It was a letter issued
+by twenty-two members of Southern Quarterly Meeting,
+concerning the ministerial service of Elias Hicks, during
+the meetings referred to in the charge of Ezra Comfort:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We, the subscribers, being informed that certain reports
+have been circulated by Ezra Comfort and Isaiah Bell
+that Elias Hicks had propagated unsound doctrine, at our
+general meeting on the day succeeding our quarterly meeting
+in the 11th month last, and a certificate signed by
+Robert Moore, Joseph Turner and Joseph G. Rowland being
+read contradicting said reports, the subject has claimed our
+weighty and deliberate attention, and it is our united judgment
+that the doctrines preached by our said Friend on the
+day alluded to were the Truths of the Gospel, and that his
+labours of love amongst us at our particular meetings as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[Pg 136]</span>
+well as at our said quarterly meeting were united with by
+all our members for aught that appears.</p>
+
+<p>"And we believe that the certificate signed by the three
+Friends above named is in substance a correct statement
+of facts.</p>
+
+<p class="sig-list">
+"<span class="smcap">Elisha Dawson</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">William Dolby</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Walter Mifflin</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Daniel Bowers</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">William Levick</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Elias Janell</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Jacob Pennington</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Jonathan Twibond</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Henry Swiggitt</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Michael Offley</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">James Brown</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">George Messeck</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">William W. Moore</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">John Cogwill</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Samuel Price</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Robert Kemp</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">John Turner</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Hartfield Wright</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">David Wilson</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Michael Lowber</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Jacob Liventon</span>,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">John Cowgill, Junr.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Little Creek</span>, 2 mo. 26th, 1823."</p>
+
+<p>"I hereby certify that I was at the Southern Quarterly
+Meeting in the 11th month last, but owing to indisposition
+I did not attend the general meeting on the day succeeding,
+and having been present at several meetings with Elias
+Hicks, as well as at the Quarterly Meeting aforesaid, I can
+testify my entire unity with the doctrines I have heard him
+deliver.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smcap">Anthony Whitely.</span>"<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a><br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 78.</p></div>
+
+<p>All of these communications, both pro and con, are
+presented simply for what they are worth. When it comes
+to determining what is or is not "unsound doctrine," we
+are simply dealing with personal opinion, and not with
+matters of absolute fact. This is especially true of a religious
+body that had never attempted to define or limit its
+doctrines in a written creed.</p>
+
+<p>The attempt of the Philadelphia elders to deal in a
+disciplinary way with Elias Hicks on the score of the
+manner or matter of his preaching was pronounced by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span>
+friends a usurpation of authority. It was held that the
+elders in question had no jurisdiction in the case, in proof
+of which the following paragraph in the Discipline of the
+Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was cited:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And our advice to all our ministers is that they be
+frequent in reading the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments;
+and if any in the course of their ministry shall misapply
+or draw unsound inferences or wrong conclusions
+from the text, or shall misbehave themselves in point of
+conduct or conversation, let them be admonished in love
+and tenderness by the elders or overseers where they
+live."<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 62.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is undoubtedly true that a certain amount of encouragement
+came to the opponents of Elias Hicks in Philadelphia
+from some Friends on Long Island, and from three
+or four residents of Jericho, but they did not at that time
+at least officially represent any meeting of Friends at
+Jericho, either real or pretended. This far in the controversy
+the aggressors were confined to those who at that
+time were considered the "weight of the meeting," and who
+at best represented only the so-called "select" meeting and
+not the Society at large. At the beginning at least the
+trouble was an affair of the ministers and elders. It later
+affected the whole Society, by the efforts of the leaders on
+both sides.</p>
+
+<p>Incidents are not wanting to show that up to the very
+end of the controversy the rank and file of Friends had
+little vital interest in the matters involved in the trouble.
+It is related on good authority that two prominent members
+of Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting in Dutchess County,
+New York, husband and wife, made a compact before
+attending the meeting in Eighth month, 1828, feeling that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span>
+the issue would reach its climax at that time. They agreed
+that whichever side retained control of the organization and
+the meeting-house would be considered by them the meeting,
+and receive their support. We mention this as undoubtedly
+representing the feeling in more than one case.
+The fact that it took practically a decade of excitement and
+manipulation, to create the antagonisms, personal and otherwise,
+which resulted in an open rupture, shows how little
+disposed the majority of Friends were to disrupt the
+Society.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Time of Unsettlement.</p>
+
+
+<p>Between the trouble related in the last chapter and
+the culmination of the disturbance in the Society of Friends,
+in 1827-1828, there was an interval of four or five years.
+This period was by no means one of quiet. On the other
+hand it was one of confusion, in the midst of which the
+forces were at work, and the plans perfected which led
+up logically to the end.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that the last communication of
+the Philadelphia elders sent to Elias Hicks was dated First
+month 4, 1823. They had manifestly failed to silence the
+preacher from Jericho, or to greatly alarm him with their
+charges of heresy. Just eleven days after the epistle in
+question was written, the Meeting for Sufferings of Philadelphia
+Yearly Meeting assembled. This meeting issued a
+singular document,<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> said by the friends of Elias Hicks to
+have been intended as a sort of "Quaker Creed," but this
+was vigorously denied by those responsible for its existence.
+The statement of doctrine, which was as follows, was duly
+signed by Jonathan Evans, clerk, "on behalf of the meeting:"</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> The title of the production was as follows: Extracts from the
+Writings of Primitive Friends, concerning the Divinity of Our Lord
+and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Published by the direction of the Meeting
+for Sufferings, held in Philadelphia. Solomon W. Conrad, printer.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"At a Meeting for Sufferings held in Philadelphia the
+17th of the First month, 1823, an essay containing a few
+brief extracts from the writings of our primitive Friends
+on several of the doctrines of the Christian religion, which
+have been always held, and are most surely believed by us,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span>
+being produced and read; on solid consideration they
+appeared so likely to be productive of benefit, if a publication
+thereof was made and spread among our members
+generally, that the committee appointed on the printing and
+distribution of religious books are directed to have a sufficient
+number of them struck off and distributed accordingly,
+being as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"We have always believed that the Holy Scriptures
+were written by divine inspiration, that they are able to
+make wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
+Jesus, for, as holy men of God spake as they were moved
+by the Holy Ghost, they are therefore profitable for doctrine,
+for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
+that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
+furnished unto all good works. But they are not or cannot
+be subjected to the fallen, corrupt reason of man. We have
+always asserted our willingness that all our doctrines be
+tried by them, and admit it as a positive maxim that whatsoever
+any do (pretending to the Spirit) which is contrary
+to the Scriptures be accounted and judged a delusion of
+the devil.</p>
+
+<p>"We receive and believe in the testimony of the Scriptures
+simply as it stands in the text. 'There are three that
+bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
+Ghost, and these three are one.'</p>
+
+<p>"We believe in the only wise, omnipotent and everlasting
+God, the creator of all things in heaven and earth,
+and the preserver of all that he hath made, who is God
+over all blessed forever.</p>
+
+<p>"The infinite and most wise God, who is the foundation,
+root and spring of all operation, hath wrought all
+things by his eternal Word and Son. This is that Word
+that was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom
+all things were made, and without whom was not anything
+made that was made. Jesus Christ is the beloved and only
+begotten Son of God, who, in the fulness of time, through
+the Holy Ghost, was conceived and born of the Virgin
+Mary; in him we have redemption through his blood, even
+the forgiveness of sins. We believe that he was made a
+sacrifice for sin, who knew no sin; that he was crucified for
+us in the flesh, was buried and rose again the third day by
+the power of his Father for our justification, ascended up
+into heaven and now sitteth at the right hand of God.</p>
+
+<p>"As then that infinite and incomprehensible Fountain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span>
+of life and motion operateth in the creatures by his own
+eternal word and power, so no creature has access again
+unto him but in and by the Son according to his own
+blessed declaration, 'No man knoweth the Father but the
+Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.' Again, 'I
+am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto
+the Father but by me.' Hence he is the only Mediator
+between God and man for having been with God from all
+eternity, being himself God, and also in time partaking of
+the nature of man; through him is the goodness and love of
+God conveyed to mankind, and by him again man receiveth
+and partaketh of these mercies.</p>
+
+<p>"We acknowledge that of ourselves we are not able to
+do anything that is good, neither can we procure remission
+of sins or justification by any act of our own, but acknowledge
+all to be of and from his love, which is the original
+and fundamental cause of our acceptance. 'For God so
+loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that
+whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
+everlasting life.'</p>
+
+<p>"We firmly believe it was necessary that Christ should
+come, that by his death and sufferings he might offer up
+himself a sacrifice to God for our sins, who his own self
+bear our sins in his own body on the tree; so we believe
+that the remission of sins which any partake of is only in
+and by virtue of that most satisfactory sacrifice and <span class="correction" title="Originally: no">not</span>
+otherwise. For it is by the obedience of that one that the
+free gift is come upon all to justification. Thus Christ by
+his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God even
+while we are enemies; that is, he offers reconciliation to
+us, and we are thereby put into a capacity of being reconciled.
+God is willing to be reconciled unto us and ready
+to remit the sins that are past if we repent.</p>
+
+<p>"Jesus Christ is the intercessor and advocate with the
+Father in heaven, appearing in the presence of God for us,
+being touched with a feeling of our infirmities, sufferings,
+and sorrows; and also by his spirit in our hearts he maketh
+intercession according to the will of God, crying abba,
+Father. He tasted death for every man, shed his blood for
+all men, and is the propitiation for our sins; and not for
+ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He
+alone is our Redeemer and Saviour, the captain of our salvation,
+the promised seed, who bruises the serpent's head;
+the alpha and omega, the first and the last. He is our
+wisdom, righteousness, justification and redemption;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span>
+neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other
+name under heaven given among men whereby we may be
+saved.</p>
+
+<p>"As he ascended far above all heavens that he might
+fill all things, his fulness cannot be comprehended or contained
+in any finite creature, but in some measure known
+and experienced in us, as we are prepared to receive the
+same, as of his fulness we have received grace for grace.
+He is both the word of faith and a quickening spirit in us,
+whereby he is the immediate cause, author, object and
+strength of our living faith in his name and power, and of
+the work of our salvation from sin and bondage of corruption.</p>
+
+<p>"The Son of God cannot be divided from the least or
+lowest appearance of his own divine light or life in us, no
+more than the sun from its own light; nor is the sufficiency
+of his light within set up or mentioned in opposition to
+him, or to his fulness considered as in himself or without
+us; nor can any measure or degree of light received from
+Christ be properly called the fulness of Christ; or Christ
+as in fulness, nor exclude him from being our complete
+Saviour. And where the least degree or measure of this
+light and life of Christ within is sincerely waited in, followed
+and obeyed there is a blessed increase of light and
+grace known and felt; as the path of the just it shines more
+and more until the perfect day, and thereby a growing in
+grace and in the knowledge of God and of our Lord and
+Saviour Jesus Christ hath been and is truly experienced.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore we say that whatever Christ then did, both
+living and dying, was of great benefit to the salvation of all
+that have believed and now do and that hereafter shall
+believe in him unto justification and acceptance with God;
+but the way to come to that faith is to receive and obey
+the manifestation of his divine light and grace in the conscience,
+which leads men to believe and value and not to
+disown or undervalue Christ as the common sacrifice and
+mediator. For we do affirm that to follow this holy light
+in the conscience and to turn our minds and bring all our
+deeds and thoughts to it is the readiest, nay, the only right
+way, to have true, living and sanctifying faith in Christ as
+he appeared in the flesh; and to discern the Lord's body,
+coming and sufferings aright, and to receive any real benefit
+by him as our only sacrifice and mediator, according to the
+beloved disciple's emphatical testimony, 'If we walk in the
+light as he (God) is in the light we have fellowship one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span>
+with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son
+cleanseth us from all sin.'</p>
+
+<p>"By the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ without us we,
+truly repenting and believing, as through the mercy of
+God, justified from the imputation of sins and transgressions
+that are past, as though they had never been committed;
+and by the mighty work of Christ within us the
+power, nature and habits of sin are destroyed; that as sin
+once reigned unto death even so now grace reigneth
+through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
+Lord."<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> "The Friend, or Advocate of Truth," Vol. I, pp. 152-154.</p></div>
+
+<p>This deliverance is almost as theological and dogmatic
+as the Westminster Confession. It scarcely contains a
+reference to the fundamental doctrine of George Fox. It
+is not too much to say that if it was the belief of the
+"primitive" Friends, there was little reason, touching points
+of doctrine, for the preaching of Fox, or the first gathering
+of the Society. All the ground covered by this doctrinal
+statement was amply treated in the Articles of Religion of
+the Church of England, and the Confession of the
+Presbyterians.</p>
+
+<p>The above document was issued without quotation
+marks, or any indication as to what "primitive" Friends
+were responsible for the sentiments contained in its various
+parts. By careful examination it will be seen that one
+sentence, at least, is from Barclay's Apology, "but it proves
+to be a garbled quotation." We refer to the following
+sentence in the second paragraph in the above article, relating
+to the Scriptures: "But they are not or cannot be
+subjected to the fallen, corrupt reason of man." Barclay's
+complete statement is here given:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Yet, as the proposition itself concludeth, to the last
+part of which I now come, it will not from thence follow
+that these divine revelations are to be subjected to the
+examination either of the outward testimony of Scripture
+or of the human or natural reason of man, as to a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span>
+noble and certain rule or touchstone; for the divine revelation
+and inward illumination is that which is evident by
+itself, forcing the well-disposed understanding and irresistibly
+moving it to assent by its own evidence and clearness,
+even as the common principles of natural truths to
+bend the mind to a natural assent."<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> "Barclay's Apology." Edition of Friends' Book Store, 304 Arch
+Street, Philadelphia, 1877, p. 68.</p></div>
+
+<p>It will be seen clearly that the reference in the document
+issued by the Meeting for Sufferings was not only a misquotation
+from Barclay, but also misrepresented his meaning.
+The latter is particularly true if we refer to the top
+of the same page that contains the above extract, where he
+says: "So would I not have any reject or doubt the
+certainty of that unerring Spirit which God hath given his
+children as that which can alone guide them into all truth,
+because some have falsely pretended to it."<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> It will thus
+appear clear that Elias Hicks, and not the Meeting for
+Sufferings, was supported by Barclay.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> "Barclay's Apology." Edition of 1877, p. 68.</p></div>
+
+<p>The reference in the third paragraph in the foregoing
+"declaration" to the "three that bear record in heaven" is
+a quotation from 1 John 5:7. It is entirely omitted from
+the Revised Version, and thorough scholars in the early
+years of the nineteenth century were convinced that the
+passage was an interpolation.</p>
+
+<p>The statement of belief prepared by the Meeting for
+Sufferings was not approved by the Yearly Meeting, so nothing
+was really accomplished by the compilation, if such it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the order of the events recorded, it is hard
+not to conceive that the attempt to promulgate a "declaration
+of faith" by the Yearly Meeting was really intended for
+personal application to Elias Hicks. Had the plan succeeded,
+the elders could easily have attempted to silence the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span>
+Jericho preacher in Philadelphia, on the ground that he was
+"unsound" touching the doctrine promulgated by the Yearly
+Meeting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i144" id="i144"></a>
+<img src="images/i154.jpg" width="420" height="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Hendrick Ondordonk's Land.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The task of detailing all of the doings of this period
+would be too difficult and distasteful to be fully recorded in
+this book. That the unfriendly conduct was by no means
+all on one side is painfully true. Still, as the determination
+of the Philadelphia elders to deal with Elias Hicks, and
+stop his ministry if possible, was continued, the effort cannot
+be ignored.</p>
+
+<p>In First month, 1825, the elders presented a charge of
+unsoundness against Elias Hicks in the Preparative Meeting
+of Ministers and Elders, the intent being to have the
+charge forwarded to the monthly meeting, but this action
+was not taken. With phenomenal persistence one of the
+elders introduced the subject in the monthly meeting, and
+secured the appointment of a committee to investigate the
+merits of the case. This committee made a report unfavorable
+to Elias Hicks, which report, his friends claimed
+was improperly entered on the minutes. A vigorous, but
+by no means a united effort was made to get this report
+forwarded to Jericho Monthly Meeting, but this failed.
+One of the incidents of this attempt against Elias Hicks was
+the disownment of a member of the Northern District
+Monthly Meeting, for remarks made in Western District
+Monthly Meeting. The report of the committee against
+Elias was under consideration, when the visitor arose and
+said: "If it be understood by the report&mdash;if it set forth and
+declare, that Elias Hicks, the last time he was in this house,
+preached doctrines contrary to the Holy Scriptures, or contrary
+to our first or primitive Friends, being present at that
+time, I stand here as a witness that it is utterly false."<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a>
+Although this Friend was disowned by his monthly meet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span>ing
+he was reinstated by the Quarterly Meeting. It should
+be said that the report of unsoundness referred to, contained
+this specific charge: "We apprehend that Elias
+Hicks expressed sentiments inconsistent with the Holy
+Scriptures, and the religious principles our Society has held
+from its first rise."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 95.</p></div>
+
+<p>The trouble in Philadelphia was renewed in an aggravated
+form in First month, 1827, when Elias Hicks appeared
+in the city on another religious visit. Of course
+the atmosphere had been charged with all sorts of attacks
+regarding the venerable preacher. Under such conditions
+no special advertising was necessary to get a crowd. The
+populace was curious, not a few wanted to hear and see,
+for themselves, this man about whom so many charges had
+been made. As a matter of course the meeting-houses
+were crowded beyond their capacity. It was alleged by
+Orthodox Friends that the meetings were disorderly, which
+may have been literally true. But the tumult was increased
+by injecting an element of controversy, into the First-day
+afternoon meeting in Western meeting-house, on the part
+of an Orthodox elder. All the evidence goes to show that
+Elias attempted to quiet the tumult. He seems to have been
+willing to accord liberty of expression to his opponents.
+The matter was taken into Western Monthly Meeting, a
+committee entering the following charge: "That a large
+and disorderly concourse of people were brought together,
+at an unseasonable hour, and under circumstances that
+strongly indicated a design to preoccupy the house to the
+exclusion of most of the members of our meeting, and to
+suppress in a riotous manner any attempt that might be
+made to maintain the doctrine and principles of our religious
+society, in opposition to the views of Elias Hicks."<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 100.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>The literal truthfulness of this charge in every particular
+may be at least mildly questioned. It must be remembered
+that of the Friends in Philadelphia at that time, the
+Orthodox were a minority of about one to three. The
+majority of Friends felt that much of the trouble was personal,
+and they undoubtedly flocked to hear the traduced
+preacher. The outside crowd that came could not rightfully
+or wisely have been kept from attending public meetings.
+Both parties had been sowing to the wind, and
+neither could validly object to the whirlwind that inevitably
+came. Still Western Monthly Meeting proposed to deal
+with a visiting minister from another yearly meeting, on
+points of doctrine, and there can be little doubt that arbitrary
+proceedings of this sort had quite as much, if not
+more, to do with kindling the fires of "separation," as the
+preaching of Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<p>Rapidly the trouble ran back to the opposition raised
+by the elders in 1822. Eventually Green Street Monthly
+Meeting became the center of Society difficulty. It will be
+remembered that in the year last written that monthly meeting
+had enjoyed a family visitation from Elias Hicks, and
+had subsequently given him a minute of approval. After
+this one of the elders, who acquiesced in this action, joined
+the other nine in written disapproval of Elias Hicks. The
+major portion of the monthly meeting proposed to take
+the inconsistent conduct of this elder under care, and the
+matter was handed over to the overseers. In thus hastily
+invoking the discipline, Green Street Monthly Meeting made
+an apparent error of judgment, even admitting that the
+spirit of the transaction was not censurable. This brought
+the Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and Elders precipitously
+into the case. Finally Green Street Monthly Meeting released
+the Friend in question from his station as elder. A
+question arose on which there was a sharp discussion as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span>
+whether elders were independent of the overseers in the
+exercise of their official duties. A long line of conduct followed,
+finally resulting in the Quarterly Meeting of
+Ministers and Elders sending a report to the general
+quarterly meeting, amounting to a remonstrance against
+Green Street Monthly Meeting. This appeared to be a
+violation of Discipline, which said: "None of the said
+meetings of ministers and elders are in anywise to interfere
+with the business of any meeting for discipline."<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> These
+matters, with the remonstrance of the released Green Street
+elder, would therefore seem to have been irregularly brought
+before the quarterly meeting. It was claimed by the friends
+of Elias Hicks that he had broken no rule of discipline; that
+the charge, that he held "sentiments inconsistent with the
+Scriptures, and the principles of Friends," was vague as to
+its matter, and purely personal as to the manner of its circulation.
+Up to this point it should be remembered, the
+controversy was almost entirely centered on Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 67.</p></div>
+
+<p>This matter dragged along, a source of constant disturbance,
+appearing in perhaps a new form in the Quarterly
+Meeting of Ministers and Elders in Eighth month, 1826.
+The immediate action involved appointing a committee to
+assist the Preparative Meeting of Ministers and Elders of
+Green Street Monthly Meeting, the assumed necessity in
+the case being the reported unsoundness of a Green Street
+minister, a charge to this effect having been preferred by
+one member only. The situation, however, caused an abatement
+in answering the query relating to love and unity.
+While these transactions were going on among the ministers
+and elders, Green Street Monthly Meeting took action which
+removed two of its elders from that station in the Society.
+The two deposed elders took their grievances to the general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span>
+quarterly meeting. While the quarterly meeting would not
+listen to a statement of grievances, yet a committee to go
+over the whole case was appointed. The committee thus
+appointed, without waiting any action by the quarterly meeting,
+transformed the removal of the aggrieved elders into
+an appeal, and then demanded that Green Street Monthly
+Meeting turn over to that committee all the minutes relating
+to the case of the two elders. This the Green Street Meeting
+refused to do. Although the case had never been before
+the quarterly meeting, the committee of inquiry reported
+to the full meeting, that all of the action of Green
+Street Monthly Meeting relating to the two elders should
+be annulled. It was claimed that, by virtue of the leadership
+which the Orthodox had in the quarterly meeting, a
+precedent had been established which gave committees the
+right to exceed the power conferred upon them by the meeting
+which appointed them. The committee had not been
+appointed to decide a case, but to investigate a complaint.</p>
+
+<p>Following this experience, after much wrangling, and
+in the midst of manifest disunity, and against what it was
+claimed was the manifest opposition of the major portion
+of the meeting, the quarterly meeting in Eleventh month,
+1826, appointed a committee to visit the monthly meetings.
+This committee was manifestly one-sided, but could have no
+possible disciplinary service from extending brotherly care.
+Nevertheless at the quarterly meeting in Fifth month, 1827,
+this committee, for presumed gospel labor, reported that the
+large Green Street Monthly Meeting should be laid down,
+and its members attached to the Northern District Monthly
+Meeting. It is not necessary to enter into any argument
+as to the right of a quarterly meeting, under our system, to
+lay down an active monthly meeting, without that meeting's
+consent. The laying down of Green Street Monthly Meeting
+followed, the "separation" in the yearly meeting. It
+should be said that in Second month, 1827, Green Street<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span>
+Monthly Meeting, attempted to secure consent from the
+quarterly meeting to transfer itself to Abington Quarterly
+Meeting, and subsequently this was done.</p>
+
+<p>The claim was made, and with some show of reason,
+that the various lines of conduct taken against Green Street
+Monthly Meeting, were incited by a desire to punish this
+meeting for its friendly interest in Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<p>We are rapidly approaching the point where the Society
+troubles in Philadelphia ceased to directly relate to
+Elias Hicks. It will be remembered that there was trouble
+touching the preaching of Elias coming by way of Southern
+Quarterly Meeting in 1822. The facts indicate that a majority
+of that meeting was quite content to let matters rest.
+It seems, however, that two members of the Meeting for
+Sufferings from that quarter had misrepresented their constituency
+in the Hicks controversy. Therefore in 1826
+that quarterly meeting discontinued the service of the two
+members of the Meeting for Sufferings, supplying their
+places with new appointments. This action was objected
+to by the full meeting, the majority holding that members
+could not have their service discontinued by the constituent
+bodies which appointed them. An attempt was made to
+convince Southern Quarterly Meeting that it was improper
+and illegal to appoint new representatives, if the old ones
+were willing to serve. It was also claimed that it was
+"never intended to release the representatives from a
+quarterly meeting to the Meeting for Sufferings, except at
+their own request."<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Surely the Discipline then operative
+gave no warrant for such an inference.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> Assuming that
+the above contention was valid, the Meeting for Sufferings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span>
+would simply have become a small hierarchy in the Society,
+never to be dissolved, except at its own request.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> "Cockburn's Review," p. 170.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 54-55.</p></div>
+
+<p>It would seem, however, that the rules governing the
+Meeting for Sufferings were especially made to guard
+against just such an exercise of power as has been mentioned.
+The Discipline under the heading, "Meeting for
+Sufferings," contained this provision: "The said meeting
+is not to meddle with any matter of faith or discipline,
+which has not been determined by the yearly meeting."<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a>
+This will make it plain why there was such an anxiety that
+the statement of doctrine issued in 1823,<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> should be endorsed
+by the yearly meeting, and when that failed, how
+utterly the statement was without authority or binding force
+on the Society in general or its members in particular.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> The same, p. 55.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_139">139</a> of this book.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Three Sermons Reviewed.</p>
+
+
+<p>We have reached the point where it would seem in
+order to consider the matter contained in some of the sermons
+preached by Elias Hicks, in order to determine, if we
+can, what there was about the matter or the manner of
+his ministry, which contributed to the controversy, personal
+and theological, which for several years disturbed the
+Society of Friends.</p>
+
+<p>The trouble was initiated, and for some time agitated,
+by comparatively few people. Two or three Friends began
+talking about what Elias said, from memory. Later they
+took long-hand notes of his sermons, in either case using
+isolated and disconnected sentences and expressions. Taken
+from their association with the balance of the sermon, and
+passed from mouth to mouth by critics, they assumed an exaggerated
+importance, and stood out boldly as centers of
+controversy.</p>
+
+<p>All of the evidence goes to show that little attempt was
+made to give printed publicity to these discourses, until the
+preacher had been made famous by the warmth and extent of
+the controversy over the character of his preaching.</p>
+
+<p>A volume of twelve sermons preached by Elias Hicks
+at various points in Pennsylvania in 1824 was published the
+following year in Philadelphia by Joseph and Edward
+Parker. These discourses were taken in short-hand by
+Marcus T. C. Gould. Two years later, in 1827, Gould began
+the publication of "The Quaker," which contained sermons
+by Elias, and a few other ministers in the Society.
+In his advertisement of the first volume of this publication,
+after stating the fact of the controversy which was rapidly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span>
+dividing the Society of Friends in two contending parties,
+Gould says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"At this important crisis, the reporter and proprietor of
+the following work was employed by the joint consent of
+both parties, to record in meeting the speeches of the individual
+whose doctrines were by some pronounced sound,
+and by others unsound. Since that period he has continued
+to record the language of the same speaker, and others who
+stand high as ministers in the Society, and the members
+have continued to read his reports, as the only way of
+arriving at the truth, in relation to discourses which were
+variously represented."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is not our purpose in this chapter to give sermons
+or parts of sermons in detail. On the other hand, to simply
+review a few of these discourses as samples, because at the
+time of their delivery they called out opposition from Orthodox
+Friends. It may be fairly inferred that they contained
+in whole or in part the points of doctrinal offending in the
+estimation of the critics of Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<p>The first of the series of sermons especially under review,
+was delivered in the Pine Street meeting house, Philadelphia,
+Twelfth month 10, 1826. At the conclusion of this
+sermon Jonathan Evans arose, and spoke substantially as
+follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I believe it to be right for me to say, that our Society
+has always believed in the atonement, mediation, and intercession
+of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ&mdash;that by him
+all things were created, in heaven and in earth, both visible
+and invisible, whether they be thrones, principalities, or
+powers.</p>
+
+<p>"We believe that all things were created by him, and
+for him; and that he was before all things, and that by him
+all things consist. And any doctrine which goes to invalidate
+these fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion
+we cannot admit, nor do we hold ourselves accountable
+for.</p>
+
+<p>"Great efforts are making to make the people believe
+that Jesus Christ was no more than a man, but we do not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span>
+believe any such thing, nor can we receive any such doctrine,
+or any thing which goes to inculcate such an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"We believe him to be King of kings, and Lord of
+lords, before whose judgment seat every soul shall be arraigned
+and judged by him. We do not conceive him to
+be a mere man; and we therefore desire, that people may
+not suppose that we hold any such doctrines, or that we
+have any unity with them."</p>
+
+<p>Isaac Lloyd said: "I unite with Jonathan Evans&mdash;we
+never have believed that our blessed Lord and Saviour,
+Jesus Christ, came to the Jews only; for he was given for
+God's salvation, to the ends of the earth."<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 72.</p></div>
+
+<p>To these doctrinal statements Elias Hicks added: "I
+have spoken; and I leave it for the people to judge&mdash;I do
+not assume the judgment seat."</p>
+
+<p>It may be informing in this connection to examine this
+sermon somewhat in detail, to see if we can find the definite
+doctrine which aroused the public opposition. The text
+was, "Let love be without dissimulation." Having declared
+that there could be no agreement between hatred and love;
+and that love could not promote discord, he indulged in what
+may be called a spiritual figure of speech, declaring that a
+Christian must be in the same life, and live with the same
+blood that Christ did, making the following explanation:
+"As the support of the animal life is the blood; so it is with
+the soul: the breath of life which God breathed into it is the
+blood of the soul; the life of the soul; and in this sense we
+are to understand it, and in no other sense."</p>
+
+<p>He referred to the reprover of our sins, said that it is
+God who reproves us. "Now, here is the great business of
+our lives," he remarked, "not only to know this reprover,
+but to know that it is a gift from God, a manifestation of
+His own pure life, that was in his son Jesus Christ." Continuing
+he said:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"As the apostle testifies: 'In him was life, and the life
+was the light of men; and that was the true light, which
+lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' Now can
+we hesitate a single moment, in regard to the truth of this
+declaration? No sensible, reflecting mind can possibly do
+it."<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 51.</p></div>
+
+<p>Touching the outward and written as compared with
+the inner law of life, he affirmed:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Here is a law more comprehensive than the law of
+Moses, and it is clear to every individual of us, as the law
+was to the Israelites. For I dare not suppose that the
+Almighty would by any means make it a doubtful or mysterious
+one. It would not become God at all to suppose
+this the case&mdash;it would be casting a deep reflection upon his
+goodness and wisdom. Therefore I conceive that the law
+written in the heart, if we attend to it and do not turn from
+it to build up traditions, or depend on anything that arises
+from self, or that is in our own power, but come to be regulated
+by this law, we shall see that it is the easiest thing
+to be understood that can be, and that all our benefits depend
+on our complying with this law.</p>
+
+<p>"Here now we see what tradition is. It is a departure
+from this law; and it has the same effect now that tradition
+had upon the followers of the outward law; as a belief in
+tradition was produced they were bound by it, and trusted
+in it. And so people, nowadays, seem to be compelled
+to believe in tradition, and thus they turn away from the
+gospel dispensation, or otherwise the light and life of God's
+Spirit in the soul, which is the law of the new covenant; for
+the law is light and the commandment a lamp to show us
+the way to life."<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 51.</p></div>
+
+<p>Using the term, "washed clean in the blood of the
+lamb," he proceeded to explain himself as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And what is the blood of the lamb? It was his life,
+my friends; for as outward, material blood was made use
+of to express the animal life, inspired men used it as a
+simile. Outward blood is the life of the animal, but it has
+nothing to do with the soul; for the soul has no animal
+blood, no material blood. The life of God in the soul is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span>
+the blood of the soul, and the life of God is the blood of
+God; and so it was the life and blood of Jesus Christ his
+son. For he was born of the spirit of his heavenly Father,
+<i>and swallowed up fully and completely in his divine nature,
+so that he was completely divine</i>. It was this that operated,
+in that twofold state, and governed the whole animal
+man which was the son of Abraham and David&mdash;a tabernacle
+for his blessed soul. Here now we see that flesh and
+blood are not capable of being in reality divine; for are they
+not altogether under the direction and guidance of the soul?
+Thus the animal body of Jesus did nothing but what the
+divine power in the soul told it to do. Here he was
+swallowed up in the divinity of his Father while here on
+earth, and it was this that was the active thing, the active
+principle, that governed the animate earth. For it corresponds,
+and cannot do otherwise, with Almighty goodness,
+that the soul should have power to command the animal
+body to do good or evil; because he has placed us in this
+probationary state, and in his wisdom has set evil and good
+before us&mdash;light and darkness. He has made us free
+agents, and given us opportunity to make our own election.</p>
+
+<p>"Here now we shall see what is meant by election, the
+election of God. We see that those who choose the Lord
+for their portion and the God of Jacob for the lot of their
+inheritance, these are the elect. And nothing ever did or
+can elect a soul to God, but in this choice."<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 62.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is not easy to see how any one can impartially consider
+the foregoing, especially the words printed in <i>italics</i>,
+and continue to claim that Elias Hicks denied the divinity
+of Christ. Near the end of this sermon we find the following
+paragraph:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I say, dearly beloved, my soul craves it for us, that
+we may sink down and examine ourselves; according to the
+declaration of the apostle: 'Examine yourselves whether
+ye be in the faith; prove your own selves; know ye not
+your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye
+be reprobates?' Now we cannot suppose that the apostle
+meant that outward man that walked about the streets of
+Jerusalem; because he is not in any of us. But what is
+this Jesus Christ? He came to be a Saviour to that na<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span>tion,
+and was limited to that nation. He came to gather
+up, and look up the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But
+as he was a Saviour in the outward sense, so he was an
+outward shadow of good things to come; and so the work
+of the man, Jesus Christ, was a figure. He healed the sick
+of their outward calamities&mdash;he cleansed the leprosy&mdash;all
+of which was external and affected only their bodies&mdash;as
+sickness does not affect the souls of the children of men,
+though they may labour under all these things. But as he
+was considered a Saviour, he meant by what he said, a
+Saviour is within you, the anointing of the spirit of God is
+within you; for this made the ways of Jesus so wonderful
+in his day that the Psalmist in his prophecy concerning him
+exclaims: 'Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity;
+therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with
+the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' He had loved righteousness,
+you perceive, and therefore was prepared to receive
+the fullness of the spirit, the fullness of that divine
+anointing; for there was no germ of evil in him or about
+him; both his soul and body were pure. He was anointed
+above all his fellows, to be the head of the church, the top
+stone, the chief corner stone, elect and precious. And
+what was it that was a Saviour? Not that which was outward;
+it was not flesh and blood; for 'flesh and blood cannot
+inherit the kingdom of heaven'; it must go to the earth
+from whence it was taken. It was that life, that same life
+that I have already mentioned, that was in him, and which
+is the light and life of men, and which lighteth every man,
+and consequently every woman, that cometh into the world.
+And we have this light and life in us; which is what the
+apostle meant by Jesus Christ; and if we have not this ruling
+in us we are dead, because we are not under the law of
+the spirit of life. For the 'law is light and the reproofs of
+instruction the way to life.'"<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 68.</p></div>
+
+<p>Unless the so-called heterodox doctrine can be found
+in the foregoing extracts, it does not exist in the sermon
+under discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Two other sermons were evidently both considered offensive
+and objectionable by the orthodox. One was
+preached at the Twelfth Street meeting, Twelfth month 10,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span>
+1826, and the other the 12th of the same month at Key's
+Alley, both in Philadelphia. At the Twelfth Street meeting,
+amid much confusion, Thomas Wistar attempted to
+controvert what Elias Hicks had said in certain particulars.
+While this Friend was talking, Elias tried to persuade the
+audience to be quiet.</p>
+
+<p>At Key's Alley, when Elias had finished, Philadelphia
+Pemberton, in the midst of a disturbance that nearly
+drowned his voice, gave an exhortation in support of the
+outward and vicarious atonement. When Friend Pemberton
+ceased, Elias Hicks expressed his ideas regarding gospel
+order and variety in the ministry, for which Friends had
+always stood, in which he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"My dear friends, God is a God of order&mdash;and it will do
+me great pleasure to see this meeting sit quiet till it closes.
+We have, and claim gospel privileges, and that every one
+may be persuaded in his own mind; and as we have gifts
+differing, so ought every one to have an opportunity to
+speak, one by one, but not two at once, that all may be comforted.
+If any thing be revealed (and we are not to speak
+except this is the case), if any thing be revealed to one,
+let others hold their peace&mdash;this is according to order.
+And I desire it, once for all, my dear friends, if you love
+me, that you will keep strictly to this order: it will be a
+great comfort to my spirit."<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 125.</p></div>
+
+<p>Speaking of the fear of God, he said that he did not
+mean "a fear that arises from the dread of torment, or
+of chastisement, or anything of this kind; for that may be
+no more than the fear of devils, for they, we read, believe
+and tremble." His theory was that fear must be based on
+knowledge, and the fear to displease God is not because of
+what he may do to us, but what, for want of this knowledge,
+we lose.</p>
+
+<p>Again, he practically repeated what was evidently con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span>sidered
+a truism: "My friends, we are not to look for a
+law in our neighbor's heart, nor in our neighbor's book; but
+we are to look for that law which is to be our rule and
+guide, in our consciences, in our souls; for the law is whole
+and perfect." Continuing he remarked:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Now, how concordant this is with the testimony of
+Jesus, when he queried with his disciples in this wise:
+'Whom do men say that I the son of man am?' They
+enumerated several characters, according to the views of
+the people in that day. But until we come to this inward,
+divine law, we shall know nothing rightly of that manifestation;
+for none of us have seen him, nor any of his
+works which he acted outwardly. But here we find some
+are guessing, one way, and some another way, till they become
+cruel respecting different opinions about him, insomuch
+that they will kill and destroy each other for their
+opinions. This is the effect of men's turning away from
+the true light, the witness for God in their own souls; it
+throws them into anarchy and confusion."<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 94.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the opinion of Elias Hicks, it was not the man Peter
+that was to constitute the rock upon which the church was
+to be built, but rather the inner revelation, which enabled
+the disciple to know that the Master was the Christ. "When
+a true Christian comes to this rock, he comes to know it,
+as before pointed out; and here every one must see, when
+they build on this divine rock, this revealed will of our
+Heavenly Father, there is no fear."</p>
+
+<p>Touching the vital matters of salvation, we make the
+following extracts from this sermon:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Nothing but that which is begotten in every soul can
+manifest God to the soul. You must know this for yourselves,
+as nothing which you read in the Scriptures can
+give you a sense of his saving and almighty power. Now,
+the only begotten is what the power of God begets in the
+soul, by the soul uniting with the visitations of divine love.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span>
+It becomes like a union&mdash;the soul submits and yields itself
+up to God and the revelation of his power, and thus it becomes
+wedded to him as its heavenly husband. Here, now,
+is a birth of the Son of God; and this must be begotten in
+every soul, as God can be manifested by nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what was this Holy Ghost and spirit of truth,
+and where are we to find it? He did not leave his disciples
+in the dark&mdash;'He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.'
+Mind it, my friends. What a blessed sovereign God this
+is to <span class="correction" title="Originally: be the">be to the</span> children of men&mdash;a God who has placed a portion
+of himself in every rational soul&mdash;a measure of his
+grace sufficient for every purpose, for the redemption of the
+souls of men from sin and transgression, and to lead them
+to the kingdom of heaven. And there is no other way.
+Then do not put it off any longer; do not procrastinate any
+longer; do not say to-morrow, but immediately turn inward,
+for the day calls aloud for it&mdash;everything around us calls
+for us to turn inward, to that which will help us to do the
+great work of our salvation."<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 97-98.</p></div>
+
+<p>There seems to have been little, if any, public demonstration
+against the preaching of Elias Hicks in meetings
+where he was present, except in Philadelphia. That is especially
+true before the coming of the English preachers, and
+the strained conditions that existed just preceding and during
+the various acts of separation. It will thus be seen
+that the concern and purpose of the ten men elders of Philadelphia
+remained persistent until the end.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Braithwaite Controversy.</p>
+
+
+<p>One of the marked incidents during the "separation"
+period was the controversy between Elias Hicks and Anna
+Braithwaite,<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> and the still more pointed discussion indulged
+in by the friends and partisans of these two Friends. From
+our viewpoint there seems to have been a certain amount
+of unnecessary sensitiveness, which led both these Friends
+to exalt to the dignity of an insult, and positive impeachment
+of integrity, matters which probably belonged in the
+domain of misunderstanding. It was apparently impossible
+for either to think in the terms of the other, and so the contest
+went on and ended.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Anna Braithwaite, daughter of Charles and Mary Lloyd, of Birmingham,
+England, was born Twelfth month, 1788. She was married
+to Isaac Braithwaite, Third month 26, 1809, and removed to Kendal
+immediately after. She sailed for America on her first visit, Seventh
+month 7th, 1823. She attended three meetings in New York, and then
+the Quarterly Meeting at Burlington, at which place she seems to have
+been the guest of Stephen Grellet. She made two other visits to
+America, one in 1825 and the other in 1827. She returned to England
+after her first visit to America in the autumn of 1824. The last two
+visits she made to America she was accompanied by her husband. Anna
+Braithwaite was a woman of commanding presence, and was unusually
+cultured for one of her sex at that time. She was something of a
+linguist, speaking several languages. Her visits in America were quite
+extensive, taking her as far south as North Carolina. She died Twelfth
+month 18th, 1859.</p></div>
+
+<p>We shall let her friends state the beginning and progress
+of Anna Braithwaite's religious labor in America, and
+quote as follows: "She arrived in New York in Eighth
+month, 1823. For seven months she met with no opposition.
+True, she always preached orthodox doctrines, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span>
+she had made no pointed allusions to the reputed sentiments
+of Elias Hicks."<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> "Calumny Refuted; or, Plain Facts <i>versus</i> Misrepresentations."
+Being reply to Pamphlet entitled, "The Misrepresentations of Anna
+Braithwaite in Relation to the Doctrines Preached by Elias Hicks,"
+etc., p. 2.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is interesting to note that the positive preaching of
+"orthodox doctrine," on its merits, caused no opposition,
+even from the friends of Elias Hicks, the trouble only
+coming when a personal application was made, amounting
+to personal criticism. This is a fine testimony to the ministerial
+liberty in the Society, and really a confirmation of
+the claim that spiritual unity, and not doctrinal uniformity,
+was the true basis of fellowship among Friends. We quote
+again:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"She visited Long Island in the spring, and had some
+opportunities of conversing with Elias Hicks on religious
+subjects, and also of hearing him preach. They differed
+widely in sentiment, upon important doctrines, and she
+soon had to conclude that his were at variance with the
+hitherto well-established principles of the Society. With
+these views, she returned to New York, and, subsequently,
+about the time of the Yearly Meeting, in May, she considered
+it an act of duty to warn her hearers against certain
+specious doctrines, which were gradually spreading,
+and undermining what she believed to be the 'true
+faith.'"<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> The same, p. 6.</p></div>
+
+<p>It seems that Anna Braithwaite was twice the guest of
+Elias Hicks in Jericho, dining at his house both times. The
+first visit was in First month, 1824, and the other in Third
+month of the same year. They were both good talkers,
+and apparently expressed themselves with commendable
+frankness. The subject-matter of these two conversations,
+however, became material around which a prolonged controversy
+was waged. Before Anna Braithwaite sailed for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span>
+England, she wrote a letter to an unnamed Friend in Flushing
+relative to the interviews with Elias Hicks. The letter
+was dated Seventh month 16, 1824.</p>
+
+<p>After Anna Braithwaite's departure from this country,
+the letter referred to, with "Remarks in Reply to Assertions
+of Elias Hicks," was published and extensively circulated.
+It bore the following imprint: "Philadelphia: Printed for
+the Reader, 1824."<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> In this collection was a letter from
+Ann Shipley, of New York, dated Tenth month 15, 1824,
+in which she declares she was present "during the conversation
+between her [Anna Braithwaite] and Elias Hicks.
+The statement she left was correct." While Ann Shipley's
+letter was published without her consent, it seemed to
+fortify the Braithwaite statement, and both were extensively
+used in an attempt to cast theological odium on the
+venerable preacher. The possibility that both women might
+have misunderstood or misinterpreted Elias Hicks does not
+seem to have entered the minds of the Anti-Hicks partisans.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Most of the controversial pamphlets and articles of the "separation"
+period were anonymous. Except when the articles were printed in
+regular periodicals, their publishers were as unknown as their authors.</p></div>
+
+<p>This particular epistle of Anna Braithwaite does not
+contain much material not to be found in a subsequent letter
+with "notes," which will receive later treatment. In her
+letter she habitually speaks of herself in the third person,
+and makes this observation: "When at Jericho in the Third
+month A. B. took tea with E. H. in a social way. She had
+not been long in the house, when he began to speak on the
+subject of the trinity, which A. B. considers a word so
+grossly abused as to render it undesirable even to make use
+of it."<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> One cannot well suppress the remark that if a
+like tenacity of purpose regarding other theological terms
+had been held and followed by all parties to the controversy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span>
+the history of the Society of Friends would have been
+entirely different from the way it now has to be written.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> "Remarks in Reply to Assertions of Elias Hicks," p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<p>Touching the two visits to Elias Hicks, we have direct
+testimony from the visitor. We quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I thought on first entering the house, my heart and
+flesh would fail, but after a time of inexpressible conflict,
+I felt a consoling belief that best help would be near, and
+I think that every opposing thing was in a great measure
+kept down.... He listened to my views, which I was
+enabled to give with calmness. He was many times
+brought into close quarters; but when he could not answer
+me directly, he turned to something else. My mind is sorrowfully
+affected on this subject, and the widespread mischief
+arising from the propagation of such sentiments."<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> "Memoirs of Anna Braithwaite," by her son, J. Bevan Braithwaite,
+p. 129-130.</p></div>
+
+<p>In another letter, written to her family, she thus
+referred to her interview with Elias Hicks:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I have reason to think that, notwithstanding the firm
+and honest manner in which my sentiments were expressed,
+an open door is left for further communication. We met in
+love and we parted in love. He wept like a child for some
+time before we separated; so that it was altogether a most
+affecting opportunity."<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> The same, p. 140.</p></div>
+
+<p>While these two Friends undoubtedly were present in
+the same meeting during the subsequent visits of Anna
+Braithwaite to this country, their relations became so
+strained that they never met on common Friendly ground
+after the two occasions mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>After the publication of the communication and comments
+referred to, Elias Hicks wrote a long letter to his
+friend, Dr. Edwin A. Atlee, of Philadelphia.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> This letter
+became the subject of a good deal of controversy, and may
+have been the exciting cause of a letter which Anna Braith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span>waite
+wrote Elias Hicks on the 13th of Eleventh month,
+1824, from Lodge Lane, near Liverpool. This letter, with
+elaborate "notes," was published and widely circulated on
+this side of the ocean. The letter itself would have caused
+very little excitement, but the "notes" were vigorous causes
+of irritation and antagonism. The authorship of the
+"notes" was a matter of dispute. It was claimed that they
+were not written by Anna Braithwaite, and the internal
+evidence gave color to that conclusion. They were not, in
+whole or in part, entirely in her spirit, and the temper of
+them was rather masculine. There were persons who
+believed, but, of course, without positive evidence, that
+Joseph John Gurney was their author.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> The text of this letter will be found listed as <a href="#APPENDIX_B">Appendix B</a> in
+this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>The letter of Anna Braithwaite contains few points not
+covered by the "notes." She charges that Elias had denied
+that the Scriptures were a rule of faith and practice, and
+it was also claimed that he repudiated "the propitiatory sacrifice
+of our Lord and <span class="correction" title="Originally: Savious">Saviour</span> Jesus Christ." This, she
+affirmed, was infidelity of a most pronounced type.</p>
+
+<p>The "notes" attached to this letter constitute a stinging
+arraignment of the supposed sentiments of Elias Hicks.
+They were considered by his friends such an unwarranted
+attack as to call for vigorous treatment, and in numerous
+ways they became points of controversy. They were mild
+at first, but personal and almost bitter at the last. The first
+"note" in the collection briefly, but fully, lays the foundation
+for arbitrary authority in religion. It says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"It is a regulation indispensably necessary to the peace
+of society, and to the preservation of order, consistency
+and harmony among Christians, that the members of every
+religious body, and especially those who assume the office
+of teachers or ministers, should be responsible to the
+authorities established in the church, for the doctrines
+which they hold and promulgate."<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> A letter from Anna Braithwaite to Elias Hicks, on the Nature
+of His Doctrines, etc., p. 9.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>There is critical reference to a statement which Anna
+Braithwaite said Elias Hicks made in the Meeting of Ministers
+and Elders in Jericho, touching spiritual guidance in
+appointing people to service in the Society. She says that
+Elias declared that "if each Friend attended to his or her
+proper gift, as this spirit is endued with prescience, that no
+Friend would be named for any appointment, but such as
+would attend, and during my long course of experience, I
+have never appointed any one who was prevented from
+attending either by illness or otherwise."<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> The same, p. 4.</p></div>
+
+<p>In his letter to Dr. Atlee, Elias states his expression at
+the meeting as differing from Anna Braithwaite's in a
+material way. This is what he declares he said: "That I
+thought there was something wrong in the present instance,
+for, as we profess to believe in the guidance of the Spirit of
+Truth as an unerring Spirit, was it not reasonable to expect,
+especially in a meeting of ministers and elders, that if each
+Friend attended to their proper gifts, as this Spirit is endued
+with prescience, that it would be much more likely, under
+its divine influence, we should be led to appoint such as
+would attend on particular and necessary occasions, than to
+appoint those who would not attend?"</p>
+
+<p>We make these quotations not only to show the difference
+in the two statements, but to also make it plain what
+small faggots were used to build the fires of controversy
+regarding the opinions of Elias Hicks. It looks in this
+particular citation like a case of criticism gone mad. The
+following extracts are from the "notes":</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We shall now notice the comparatively modern work
+of that arch-infidel, Thomas Paine, called "The Age of
+Reason," many of the sentiments of which are so exactly
+similar to those of Elias Hicks, as almost to induce us to
+suspect plagiarism."<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> The same, p. 23-24.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span></p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We could adduce large quotations from authors of the
+same school with Paine, showing in the most conclusive
+manner that the dogmas of Elias Hicks, so far from being
+further revelations of Christian doctrines, are merely the
+stale objections to the religion of the Bible, which have been
+so frequently routed and driven from the field, to the utter
+shame and confusion of their promulgators."<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> The same, p. 26.</p></div>
+
+<p>Those who defended Elias Hicks saw in these criticisms
+an act of persecution, and a veiled attempt to undermine
+his reputation as a man and a minister. The latter
+effort was read into the following paragraph, which was
+presented as an effort at justifying the criticism of the
+Jericho preacher. We quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"It was both Friendly and Christian to warn them of
+the danger of listening with credulity to one whose high
+profession, reputed morality, and popular eloquence, had
+given him considerable influence; and if his opinions had
+been correct, the promulgation of them would not have
+proved prejudicial to him."<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> The same, p. 21-22.</p></div>
+
+<p>The references to Thomas Paine will sound singularly
+overdrawn if read in connection with the reference of Elias
+Hicks to the same person.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> It may be asserted with some
+degree of safety that it is doubtful if either Elias Hicks or
+his critics ever read enough of the writings of Thomas
+Paine to be really qualified to judicially criticise them.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_117">117</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>When Anna Braithwaite visited this country the second
+time, in 1825, she found matters much more unsettled than
+on her first visit. Her own part in the controversy had
+been fully, if not fairly, discussed. As showing her own
+feeling touching the second visit, we quote the following
+from a sermon preached by her:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"I have thought many times, while surrounded by my
+family and my friends, and when I have bowed before the
+throne of grace, how very near and how very dear were
+my fellow-believers, on this side of the Atlantic, made unto
+my soul. It seemed to me, as if in a very remarkable manner,
+their everlasting welfare was brought before me, as if
+my fellow-professors of the same religious principles with
+myself were in a very peculiar manner the objects of much
+solicitude. How have I had to pour out my soul in secret
+unto the Lord, that he would turn them more and more,
+and so let their light shine before men, that all being
+believers in a crucified Saviour, they may be brought to
+know for themselves that though 'Christ Crucified was to
+the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
+but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
+Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.' I say
+my soul hath been poured out before the Lord, that their
+light might shine in a still more conspicuous manner,
+through their hearts being brought into deep prostration of
+soul, that so their works might glorify their Father which is
+in heaven. My heart was enlarged toward every religious
+denomination; for surely, the world over, those who are
+believers in Christ have one common bond of union&mdash;they
+are the salt of the earth&mdash;the little flock to whom the Father
+in his good pleasure will give the Kingdom. I have often
+greatly desired to be with you, while I am well aware that
+to many it must appear a strange thing, that a female
+should leave her home, her family, and her friends, and
+should thus expose herself to the public, to preach the glad
+tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ; yet I have
+thought, my beloved friends, that though all may not see
+into these things, yet surely there is no other way for any
+of us, but to yield up our thoughts unto the Lord."<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Sermon and prayer by Anna Braithwaite, delivered in Friends'
+Meeting, Arch Street, Philadelphia, October 26, 1825. Taken in short-hand
+by M. T. C. Gould, stenographer, p. 4-5.</p></div>
+
+<p>There seem to have been some Friends desirous of
+producing a meeting between Anna Braithwaite and Elias
+Hicks during this visit. In Tenth month, 1825, she wrote
+him from Kipp's Bay, Long Island. She informed him of
+her arrival, and then stated "that if he wishes to have any
+communication with her, she is willing to meet him in the
+presence of their mutual friends, or to answer any letter he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span>
+may write to her;" then she adds these remarkable words:
+"Having written to thee sometime ago, what I thought was
+right, I do not ask an interview."<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> "Christian Inquirer," new series, Vol. I, 1826, p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<p>To this communication Elias Hicks made a somewhat
+full reply. He says that her notes of the conversation,
+"divers of which were without foundation," led him to
+wonder why she should even think of having any future
+communication with him. He then says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"That I have no desire for any further communication
+with thee, either directly or indirectly, until thou makest
+a suitable acknowledgment for thy breach of friendship, as
+is required by the salutary discipline of our Society; but as
+it respects myself, I freely forgive thee, and leave thee to
+pursue thy own way as long as thou canst find true peace
+and quiet therein."<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> The same, p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<p>It has to be said regretfully that during Anna Braithwaite's
+second visit to this country, she met with both
+personal and Society rebuffs. In some meetings her minute
+was read, but with no expression of approbation in the case.
+The Meeting of Ministers and Elders at Jericho appointed
+a committee,<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> to advise her not to appoint any more meetings
+in that neighborhood during her stay. A good many
+Friends objected to her family visits, and, taken altogether,
+her stay must have been one of trial.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> The same, p. 59.</p></div>
+
+<p>She came again in the early part of the year 1827,
+and was here when the climax came in that year and the
+year following.</p>
+
+<p>The English Friends, who were so much in evidence
+in our troubles, went home to face the Beacon controversy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span><a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a>
+then gathering in England. The Beaconite movement
+caused several hundred Friends to sever their connection
+with the Society. But it did not reach the dignity of a
+division or a separation. Whether the English Friends
+profited by the experiences suffered by the Society in
+America is not certain. At any rate, they seem to have
+been able to endure their differences without a rupture.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> This controversy took its name from a periodical called the "Beacon,"
+edited by Isaac Crewdson. In this evangelical doctrines and
+methods were advocated. The Beaconites were strong in advocating
+the doctrine of justification by faith, and practically rejected the
+fundamental Quaker theory of the Inner Light. From the American
+standpoint, the Beaconite position seems to have been the logical
+development of the doctrines preached by the English and American
+opponents of Elias Hicks.</p></div>
+
+<p>After the English trouble had practically subsided, in
+1841, Anna Braithwaite made the following suggestive admission,
+which may well close this chapter:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Calm reflection and observation of passing events, and
+of persons, have convinced me that I took an exaggerated
+view of the state of society with reference to Hicksism....
+We have as great a horror of Hicksism as ever, but
+we think Friends generally are becoming more alive to its
+dangers, and that the trials of the last few years have been
+blessed to the instruction of many."<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> "J. Bevan Braithwaite; a Friend of the Nineteenth Century," by
+his children, p. 59-60.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Ann Jones in Dutchess County.</p>
+
+
+<p>In Fifth month, 1828, a year after the division had
+been accomplished in Philadelphia, a most remarkable round
+of experiences took place within the bounds of Nine Partners
+and Stanford Quarterly Meetings, in Dutchess County,
+New York. Elias Hicks was past eighty years of age, but
+he attended the series of meetings in the neighborhood mentioned.
+George and Ann Jones, English Friends, much in
+evidence in "separation" matters, were also in attendance,
+the result being a series of controversial exhortations,
+mingled with personal allusions, sometimes gently veiled,
+but containing what would now pass for bitterness and
+railing. The "sermons" of this series were stenographically
+reported, and form a small book of ninety-eight pages.</p>
+
+<p>The first meeting was held at Nine Partners, First-day,
+Fifth month 4th. Elias Hicks had the first service in the
+meeting. After he had closed, Ann Jones made the following
+remarks:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We have heard considerable said, and we have heard,
+under a specious pretence of preaching, the Gospel, the
+Saviour of the world denied, who is God and equal with
+the Father. And we have heard that the Scriptures had
+done more hurt than good. We have also heard the existence
+of a devil denied, except what arises from our propensities,
+desires, &amp;c."<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> "Sermons" by Elias Hicks, Ann Jones and others of the Society
+of Friends, at the Quarterly Meeting of Nine Partners and Stanford,
+and first day preceding in Fifth month, 1828. Taken in <span class="correction" title="Originally: shorthand">short-hand</span> by
+Henry Hoag, p. 20.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>After this deliverance, Elias Hicks again arose and said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I will just observe that my friends are acquainted
+with me in these parts, and know me very well when I
+speak to them. I came not here as a judge, but as a counsellor:
+I leave it for the people to judge. And I would
+hope to turn them to nothing but a firm and solid conviction
+in their minds. We may speak one by one, for that
+becometh order. I thought I would add a word or two
+more. When I was young, I read the Scriptures, and I
+thought that they were not the power, nor the spirit, and
+that there was but very little in them for me; but I was
+vain. But when I had once seen the sin in my heart, then
+I found that this book pointed to the Spirit, but never convicted
+me of sin.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that this was the doctrine of ancient Friends;
+for George Fox declared that his Saviour never could be
+slain by the hands of wicked men. I believe the Scriptures
+concerning Jesus Christ, and David, too, and a host of
+others, who learned righteousness and were united one with
+another. I believe that Jesus Christ took upon him flesh
+made under the law, for all people are made under the law,
+and Christ is this Light which enlighteneth every man that
+comes into the world. And now, my friends, I would not
+have you believe one word of what I say, unless by solid
+conviction."<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> The same.</p></div>
+
+<p>It will be in order to find out what was said by Elias
+Hicks which called for the personal allusion made by Ann
+Jones. We are not able to find in the remarks of Elias Hicks
+on this occasion anything that would justify the strong language
+of his critic, especially as to the Scriptures having
+done more hurt than good. It would seem that the supplementary
+statement quoted must be accepted as containing
+his estimate of the book which he was charged with repudiating,
+rather than the critical assertion of his doctrinal
+opponent.</p>
+
+<p>There are various statements in the Hicks sermon
+which denied some of the material claims of popular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span>
+theology, but they did not class him with those who denied
+the existence or spiritual office of Christ. In the meetings
+under review, and at other times, the evidence is abundant
+that his critics either did not want to or could not understand
+him. He dealt with the spirit of the gospel, and with
+the inner manifestation of that spirit in the heart. They
+stood for scriptural literalness, and for the outward appearance
+of Christ. It is not for us to condemn either side in
+the controversy, but to state the case.</p>
+
+<p>We produce a few sentences and expressions from the
+sermon by Elias Hicks, which might have created antagonism
+at the time. Speaking of the "Comforter" which was
+to come, he said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And what was this Comforter? Not an external one&mdash;not
+Jesus Christ outward, to whom there was brought diseased
+persons and he delivered them from their various
+diseases.... Here, now, he told them how to do: he
+previously made mention that when the Comforter had
+come, he would reprove the world of sin&mdash;now the world
+is every rational soul under heaven. And he has come and
+reproved them. I dare appeal to the wickedest man
+present, that will acknowledge the truth, that this Light
+has come into the world; but men love darkness better than
+light, because their deeds are evil; yet they know the light
+by an evidence in their hearts."<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> The same, p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<p>Near the end of this discourse he elaborated his idea as
+to the ineffectual character of all outward and formal soul
+cleansing, in the following language:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Now can any man of common sense suppose that it
+can be outward blood that was shed by the carnal Jews that
+will cleanse us from our sins? The blood of <span class="correction" title="Originally: Chirst">Christ</span> that
+is immortal, never can be seen by mortal eyes. And to be
+Christians, we must come to see an immortal view. After
+Christ had recapitulated the precepts of the law, 'Is it not
+written in your law, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span>
+tooth: but I say unto you, if a man smite thee on one cheek
+turn to him the other also: and if a man take thy coat from
+thee, give him thy cloak also.' Don't we see how different
+the precepts of the law of God are? He tells us how we
+should do&mdash;we should take no advantage at all. The
+Almighty visits us, to get us willing to observe his law; and
+if all were concerned to maintain his law, all lawyers would
+be banished; we should have no need of them; as well
+as of hireling Priests. We should have no need of them
+to teach us, nor no need of the laws of men, for each one
+would have a law in his own mind."<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> The same, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<p>The other points in Dutchess County visited, and
+involved in the reports of sermons under consideration, were
+Chestnut Ridge, Stanford and Oblong. At some of these
+meetings the preachers spoke more than once. It does not
+appear that in the brief communications of George Jones
+he either directly or indirectly referred to statements made
+by Elias Hicks, or particularly sought to antagonize them.
+Ann Jones, however, was not similarly considerate and
+cautious. Either directly or by inference, she quite generally
+attempted to furnish the antidote for what she considered
+the pernicious doctrine of her fellow-minister.
+Speaking at Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting, Fifth month
+7th, she said:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I believe it to be right for me to caution the present
+company without respect of persons&mdash;how they deny the
+Lord that bought them&mdash;how they set at nought the outward
+coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them:
+they will have to answer it at the awful tribunal bar of God,
+where it will be altogether unavailing to say that such a
+one taught me to believe that there was nothing in this.
+Oh! my friends! God hath not left us without a witness;
+Oh, then it is unto the faithful and true witness, 'the testimony
+of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.' I am engaged
+in gospel love to recommend, and to hold out unto
+you, that you meddle not with the things of God; and that
+you cry unto him for help. For what hope can they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[Pg 175]</span>
+of present or future good, or of everlasting happiness, if
+they reject the only means appointed of God to come unto
+the Father through Jesus Christ, the messenger of God, and
+of the new covenant?"<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> The same, p. 60.</p></div>
+
+<p>At this meeting Elias Hicks followed Ann Jones in
+vocal communication. He made no direct reference to
+what she said, the short sermon being largely a reiteration
+touching the inner revelation to the souls of men, as the
+reprover of sin, and the power which kept from sinning,
+as against the outward, sacrificial form of salvation. In
+closing his remarks, Elias Hicks made this statement:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I do not wish to detain this assembly much longer,
+but I want that we should cast away things that are mysterious,
+for we cannot comprehend mystery. 'Secret things
+belong to God, but those that are revealed (that are understood),
+to us and our children.' And those that are secret
+can never be found out by the prying of mortals. Do we
+suppose for a moment&mdash;for it would cast an indignity upon
+God to suppose that he had laid down any name except his
+own by which we can have communion with him. It is a
+plain way, a simple way which all can understand, and not
+be under the necessity to go to a neighbor, and to say,
+'Know thou the Lord? for all shall know me, from the least
+of them unto the greatest of them,' as said Jeremy the
+prophet. It is bowing down to an ignorant state of mind, to
+suppose that there is no other power whereby we can come
+unto God, but by one of the offspring of Abraham, and that
+we have need to go back to the law which was given to the
+Israelites, and to no other people. He has never made any
+covenant with any other people, but that which he made
+with our first parents. That is the covenant that has been
+made with all the nations of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"He justifies for good and condemns for evil. And
+although every action is to be from the operation of his
+power, yet he has given us the privilege to obey or disobey;
+here now is a self-evident truth; as they have the liberty
+to choose, so if they do that which is contrary to his will,
+and so slay the Divine life in the soul: and thus they have
+slain the innocent Lamb of God in the soul, which is the
+same thing. All that we want, is to return to the inward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[Pg 176]</span>
+light in the soul. The Lord had declared beforehand unto
+them in plain characters, that none need to say, 'Know ye
+the Lord? for I will be merciful to them, I will forgive their
+iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' This
+was equally the case until the law was abolished: until he
+blotted out the handwriting of the law, and put an end to
+outward ordinances. The law was fulfilled when they had
+crucified him, then it was that that law was abolished that
+consisted in making their atonements which all had to make.</p>
+
+<p>"The people could not understand the doctrine delivered
+in the sermon on the mount, although plainly
+preached to them. Jesus, when about to take leave of his
+disciples, left this charge with them: 'Tarry at Jerusalem
+until the Holy Ghost come upon you'; and then, and not
+till then, were they to bear witness unto him. He told
+them that it would bring everything to their remembrance:
+everything which is by the preaching of the gospel brought
+to your remembrance; therefore he says: 'All things shall
+be brought to your remembrance.' They would not then
+be looking to anything outward, because he had filled them
+with the Spirit of truth. What is this, but this Comforter
+which reproves the world of sin? All that will obey the
+voice of this reprover in the soul are in the way of redemption
+and salvation. 'By disobedience, sin entered into the
+world and death by sin: but life and immortality is brought
+to light by the gospel.' I am willing to leave you, and I
+recommend you to God, and the power of his grace, which is
+able to build you up, as you are faithful to its operation."<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> The same, p. 71.</p></div>
+
+<p>The last meeting of the series was held in connection
+with Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting, Fifth month 9th.
+This was evidently the closing session of the Quarterly
+Meeting. From these published sermons it would seem
+that Elias Hicks and George Jones were the only Friends
+who engaged in vocal ministry that day. There was nothing
+specially relevant to the controversy going on in the Society
+in either of these short discourses.</p>
+
+<p>In reading this collection of sermons one cannot avoid
+the conclusion that, apart from dissimilarity in phraseology,
+and the matters involved in interpreting Scripture, these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[Pg 177]</span>
+Friends had much in common. Had they been minded to
+seek for the common ground, it is quite probable that they
+would have found that they were really quarreling over
+the minor, rather than the major, propositions.</p>
+
+<p>In Eighth month, 1828, Elias Hicks was on his last
+religious visit to the Western Yearly Meetings. The "separation"
+in the New York Yearly Meeting had taken place
+in Fifth month, the trouble then passing to the Quarterly
+and particular meetings. It reached Nine Partners at the
+Quarterly Meeting held as above. Ann Jones attended this
+meeting, the last sermon in the little volume from which
+the extracts given in this chapter are taken having been
+preached by this Friend. There was little new matter in
+this sermon. Much, by inuendo, was laid at the door of
+those who were pronounced unorthodox, and who constituted
+a majority of the meeting.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the charge of persecution is concerned, it was
+repeatedly employed by Elias Hicks and his sympathizers
+in describing the spirit and conduct of the orthodox party.
+In this particular, at least, the disputants on both sides were
+very much alike. Ann Jones' reference to throwing down
+"his elders and prophets" contains more touching the
+animus of the controversy than the few words really indicate.
+As will be somewhat clearly shown in these pages,
+the trouble in the Society quite largely had reference to
+authority in the church, and its arbitrary exercise by a select
+few, constituting a sort of spiritual and social hierarchy in
+the monthly meetings. It was this authoritative class which
+had been "thrown down," or was likely to be so repudiated.</p>
+
+<p>We would by no means claim that with the "separation"
+an accomplished fact, the body of Friends not of the orthodox
+party thus gathered by themselves became at once and
+continuously relieved of the arbitrary spirit. The history
+of this branch of the Society from 1827 to 1875, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[Pg 178]</span>
+places down to date, would entirely disprove any such claim.
+It would seem that wherever the Society lost ground numerically,
+and wherever its spiritual life dwindled, it was due
+largely because some sort of arbitrary authority ignored
+the necessity for real spiritual unity, and discounted the
+spiritual democracy upon which the Society of Friends was
+based.</p>
+
+<p>The "separation" in the Quarterly Meetings in
+Dutchess County was perfected in Eighth month, 1828.
+Both Anna Braithwaite and Ann Jones were in attendance,
+and evidently took part in the developments at that time.
+Elias Hicks was on his last religious visit to the "far west."
+Informing partnership letters were sent to Elias, then in
+Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, by Jacob and Deborah Willetts,<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> under
+date of Eighth month 18, 1828. Jacob gave brief but explicit
+information as to the division in the several meetings.
+For instance, he says that in Oswego Monthly Meeting one-sixth
+of the members went orthodox. At Creek, about one-fourth
+left to form an orthodox meeting, about the same
+proportion existing at Stanford. Nine Partners seems to
+have been the center of the difficulty, the orthodox leadership
+apparently having been more vigorous at that point.
+Still, about three-fourths of the members refused to join
+the orthodox. A very brief appreciation of the transatlantic
+visitors is given in Jacob's letter. He says: "The
+English Friends are very industrious, but I do not find that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[Pg 179]</span>
+it amounts to much. Friends have generally become
+acquainted with their man&oelig;uvring."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Jacob and Deborah Willetts were friendly educators in the first
+half of the nineteenth century. Jacob became principal of Nine
+Partners boarding school in 1803, when only 18 years of age, and
+Deborah Rogers principal of the girl's department in 1806, when at
+the same age. Jacob Willetts and Deborah Rogers were married in
+1812. At the time of the "separation," Nine Partners' school passed
+into the hands of the Orthodox, and Jacob and Deborah resigned their
+positions, and started a separate school, which they conducted successfully
+for nearly thirty years. Jacob was the author of elementary
+text books of arithmetic and geography, and Deborah was an accomplished
+grammarian, and assisted Gould Brown in the preparation
+of his once well-known English Grammar.</p></div>
+
+<p>Deborah's letter was both newsy and personal, and
+threw interesting sidelights on the "separation" experiences.
+At the close of a sermon by Ann Jones, Eighth month 5th,
+she made reference to the sudden death of a woman
+Friend of the orthodox party, which is thus referred to in
+this letter:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Perhaps thou wilt hear ere this reaches thee of the
+death of Ann Willis. She died at William Warings on her
+way home from Purchase Quarterly Meeting, in an apoplectic
+fit. At our Quarterly Meeting Ann Jones told us
+of the dear departed spirit of one who had lived an unspotted
+life, who passed away without much bodily suffering,
+and whose soul was now clothed in robes of white, singing
+glory, might and majesty with angels forever and ever:
+which amounted nearly to a funeral song."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We make the following extract from the letter of Deborah
+Willetts because of its interesting references and statements:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"A week ago I returned from Stanford Quarterly Meeting
+held at Hudson. All the English force was there save
+T. Shillitoe with a large re-enforcement from New York,
+but they were headed by 15 men and 25 women of the committee
+of Friends, and a great many attended from the
+neighboring meetings, Coeymans, Rensalaerville, Saratoga,
+&amp;c. The city was nearly full. Anna Braithwaite and suite
+took lodgings at the hotel. It was the most boisterous
+meeting I ever attended. The clerks in each meeting were
+orthodox, but Friends were favored to appoint others who
+opened the meeting. Anna Braithwaite had much to say
+to clear up the charges against her in circulation that their
+expenses had been borne by Friends, which she said was
+false, and never had been done but in two instances, and
+mentioned it twice or three times that her dear husband
+felt it a very great pleasure to meet all expenses she might
+incur, and she would appeal to those present for the truth
+of what she had said, and then Ann Jones, Claussa Griffin,
+Ruth Hallock, Sarah Upton and some others immediately
+attested to the truth of it. Oh, how inconsistent is all this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[Pg 180]</span>
+in a Friends' meeting. She also gave a long statement of
+the separation at Yearly Meeting, but she was reminded of
+her absence at the time, but she replied Ann Jones had
+informed her. She accused Friends of holding erroneous
+doctrine and said Phebe I. Merritt did not believe in the
+atonement for sin. Phebe said she denied the charge, when
+Anna turning and looking stern in her face said, 'Did thou
+not say, Phebe Merritt, all the reproof thou felt for sin was
+in thy own breast?' Phebe then arose and was favored to
+express her views in a clear way with an affecting circumstance
+that she experienced in her childhood that brought
+such a solemnity over the meeting that almost disarmed
+Anna of her hostile proceedings. She stood upon her feet
+the while ready to reply but began in a different tone of
+voice, and changed the subject, and very soon after, Ann
+Jones made a move to adjourn when they could hold Stanford
+Quarterly Meeting, which was seconded by several
+others and Friends in the meantime as cordially and
+silently uniting with them in the motion. They then
+retired without reading an adjournment, I afterwards
+learnt, to the Presbyterian Conference room. I dined in
+company with Willett Hicks, who said he was surprised to
+see so few go with them after such a noble effort."</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[Pg 181]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Experience with T. Shillitoe.</p>
+
+
+<p>The first day after his arrival in America, Thomas
+Shillitoe<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> attended Hester Street Meeting, in New York.
+He tells that "it was reported that he had come over to help
+the Friends of Elias Hicks."<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> As this Friend came into
+collision with Elias several times, and was second to none
+in vigor and virulence among his antagonists, either
+domestic or foreign, it seems proper to review his connection
+with the controversy, because some added light may
+thus be thrown on the spirit and purpose of the opposition
+to Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Thomas Shillitoe was born in London "about the Second month,
+1754," Elias Hicks being six years his senior. His parents were not
+Friends. At one time his father kept an inn. Joined Grace Church
+Street Monthly Meeting in London about 1775. Was acknowledged
+a minister at Tottenham in 1790. He learned the grocery business, and
+afterward entered a banking house. Finally learned shoemaker's trade,
+and had a shop. Was married in 1778. Came to America in 1826, arriving
+in New York, Ninth month 8th. While here traveled extensively,
+visiting certain Indian tribes. In 1827 he had an interview
+with President Andrew Jackson. He left New York for Liverpool in
+Eighth month, 1829, having been in this country nearly three years.
+Thomas Shillitoe died in 1836.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 150.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of the experience on that first meeting in America the
+venerable preacher says: "I found it hard work to rise upon
+my feet, but believing that the offer of the best of all help
+was made, I ventured and was favored to clear my mind
+faithfully, and in a manner I apprehended would give such
+of the followers of Elias Hicks as were present a pretty
+clear idea of the mistake they had been under of my being
+come over to help their unchristian cause."<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 151.</p></div>
+
+<p>He had not been seen at that time to converse with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[Pg 182]</span>
+single friend of Elias Hicks, and there is no evidence that
+during the three years he was in America he mingled at
+all with any Friends who were not of the so-called orthodox
+party.</p>
+
+<p>During the week following his arrival in this country,
+Thomas Shillitoe visited Jericho by way of Westbury. Regarding
+his visit he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We took our dinner with G. Seaman; after which we
+proceeded to Jericho, and took up our abode this night with
+our kind friend, Thomas Willis. In passing through the
+village of Jericho, Elias Hicks was at his own door; he
+invited me into his own house to take up my abode, which
+I found I could not have done, even had we not previously
+concluded to take up our abode with T. Willis. I refused
+his offer in as handsome a manner as I well knew how.
+He then pressed me to make him a call; I was careful to
+make such a reply as would not make it binding upon me,
+although we had to pass his door on our way to the next
+meeting. I believe it was safest for me not to comply with
+his request."<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 154.</p></div>
+
+<p>G. Seaman, mentioned above, became the first clerk of
+the Orthodox Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho,
+organized after the "separation," and Thomas Willis was
+the Friend who should probably be called the father of
+the opposition to Elias Hicks. Had the English visitor
+determined from the start to hear nothing, and know nothing
+but one side of the controversy, he could not have more
+fully made that possible than by the intercourse he had with
+Friends on this continent.</p>
+
+<p>To show how bent he was not to be influenced or contaminated
+by those not considered orthodox, it may be
+noted that while in Jericho he was visited by Friends in that
+neighborhood, who urged him to call on them. He was at
+first inclined to acquiesce, but after "waiting where the
+divine counsellor is to be met with," he changed his mind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[Pg 183]</span>
+remarking, "I afterwards understood some of these individuals
+were of Elias Hicks's party."<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 154.</p></div>
+
+<p>The New York Yearly Meeting of 1827 was attended
+by all of the ministering Friends and their companions
+from England, viz: Thomas Shillitoe, Elizabeth Robson,
+George and Ann Jones, Isaac and Anna Braithwaite. There
+seems to have been a foreshadowing of trouble in this
+yearly meeting. Elizabeth Robson asked for a minute to
+visit men's meeting, which met with some opposition, and
+was characterized by confusion in carrying out the purpose.
+Elias Hicks says nothing about the matter in his Journal,
+and no reference was made to this Friend in his personal
+correspondence. The English Friends left New York
+before the close of the Yearly Meeting, to attend New
+England Yearly Meeting.</p>
+
+<p>It is not our purpose to follow the wanderings of
+Thomas Shillitoe in America. He was at the New York
+Yearly Meeting again in 1828, at the time of the "separation."
+Touching this occasion, the minutes of the meeting
+in question furnish some information, as follows: "Thomas
+Shillitoe, who is in this country on a religious visit from
+England, objected to the company of some individuals who
+were present with us, and members of a neighboring yearly
+meeting, stating that they had been regularly disowned,"
+etc.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> For thus dictating to the yearly meeting, Thomas
+Shillitoe presented this justification:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> From Minute Book of New York Yearly Meeting, session of
+1828.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I obtained a certificate from my own monthly meeting
+and quarterly meeting, and also one from the Select Yearly
+Meeting of Friends held in London, expressive of their
+concurrence with my traveling in the work of the ministry
+on this continent, which certificates were read in the last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[Pg 184]</span>
+Yearly Meeting of New York, and entered in the records
+of that Yearly Meeting; such being the case, it constitutes
+me as much a member of this Yearly Meeting as any other
+member of it."<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 311.</p></div>
+
+<p>This may have been according to good society order
+and etiquette eighty odd years ago, but would hardly pass
+current in our time. For a visitor in a meeting to object
+to the presence of other visitors, on the ground of rumor
+and with no regular or official evidence of the charges
+against them, would probably put the objector into disfavor.
+But we are not warranted in passing harsh judgment in
+the nineteenth-century case. The English Friends, right or
+wrong, came to this country under the impression that they
+were divinely sent to save the Society of Friends in America
+from going to the bad. At the worst, it was a case of
+assuming the care of too many consciences.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the close of the New York Yearly Meeting
+of 1828, both Thomas Shillitoe and Elias Hicks started on
+a western trip. Elias seems to have preceded the English
+Friend by a few days. The two men met at Westland.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a>
+At this place Thomas says that Elias denied that Jesus was
+the son of God, until after the baptism, and opposed the
+proper observance of the Sabbath.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> Of course, the statements
+of Elias were controverted by his fellow-preacher,
+or, at least, an attempt to do so was made. It should be
+understood that Elias denied that Jesus was the son of God
+in the sense in which Thomas conceived he was, and he
+undoubtedly antagonized the observance of the Sabbath in
+the slavish way which considered that man was secondary
+to the institution.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_47">47</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 328.</p></div>
+
+<p>Part of the mission of our English Friend from this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[Pg 185]</span>
+time seems to have been to oppose Elias Hicks, and turn
+the minds of the people against him. They both attended
+Redstone Monthly Meeting. Here Elias presented his
+minute of unity and the other evidences of good faith which
+he possessed. At this point Thomas says: "Observing a
+disposition in most of the members of the meeting to have
+these minutes read in the meeting, I proposed to the meeting
+to consider how far with propriety they could read
+them; after their Meeting for Sufferings had given forth
+a testimony against the doctrines of Elias Hicks. But a
+determination to read his minutes being manifested, Friends
+were obliged to submit."<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 330.</p></div>
+
+<p>Taken altogether, this is a remarkable statement. The
+"testimony" referred to was the "declaration of faith"<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a>
+published by the Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings.
+This document did not mention Elias Hicks, and failed to
+secure the approval of the Yearly Meeting, before the
+"separation." It is evident that "most of the members"
+were with Elias Hicks on this occasion. Only the few
+opposers were "Friends"; so the statement infers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_139">139</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>The two preachers are next heard from at Redstone
+Quarterly Meeting, where Thomas was disposed to practice
+an act of self-denial. He told the meeting that he preferred
+his own minute should not be read, if Elias Hicks's was
+received. We have some evidence from Elias Hicks himself
+regarding this incident, in a letter written to Valentine
+and Abigail Hicks, from Pittsburg, Eighth month 5, 1828,
+stating the proposition of Thomas Shillitoe regarding his
+minute. Elias says: "Friends took him at his word, and
+let him know that they should not minute it, but insisted
+that mine should be minuted, expressing very general satisfaction
+with my company and service, and reprobated his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[Pg 186]</span>
+in plain terms, and charged him and his companion with
+breach of the order and discipline of the Society, and
+insisted that the elders and overseers should stop at the
+close of the meeting and see what could be done to put a
+stop to such disorderly conduct."</p>
+
+<p>Thomas then says that he exposed Elias Hicks as
+an impostor "in attempting as he did to impose himself upon
+the public as a minister in unity with the Society of
+Friends; the Society having, by a printed document, declared
+against his doctrine, and himself as an approved
+minister."<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> Evidently this was another reference to the
+much-lauded "declaration of faith," although this did not
+represent an actually authoritative declaration of the Society.
+At its best, Philadelphia's Meeting for Sufferings
+was not the Society of Friends; but the people still wanted
+to hear Elias. They apparently preferred to interpret him
+at first-hand.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 331.</p></div>
+
+<p>Thomas Shillitoe tells us that when they crossed the
+Ohio River he talked with the woman at the ferry, who
+protested against the ideas of Elias Hicks, and then remarks:
+"She kept a tavern, and I left with her one of the declarations,
+requesting her to circulate it amongst her neighbors."<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a>
+Evidently the publican, in this case, was sound in
+the faith as held by the English preacher.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 332.</p></div>
+
+<p>Mt. Pleasant was next visited by both Friends, preceding
+and at Ohio Yearly Meeting. They do not seem to
+have come personally into collision at this point, and insofar
+as either makes reference to the occurrences there, they are
+in substantial agreement.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> Thomas Shillitoe bears mildly
+veiled testimony to the desire of the people to hear Elias
+Hicks, in the following statement: "From the great con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[Pg 187]</span>course
+of people we passed in the afternoon on the way
+to Short Creek Meeting, where Elias Hicks was to be, I
+had cherished a hope we should have had a quiet meeting
+at Mt. Pleasant."<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> But the contrary was the case; to
+whom the blame was due, the reader may decide.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> For other reference to this matter, see page <a href="#Page_49">49</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 343.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is to be presumed that these two Friends, both of
+whom performed valuable service for the Society, according
+to their lights and gifts, never met after their western
+experience. For the want of understanding each other,
+they went their way not as fellow-servants, but as strangers,
+if not enemies. The unity of the spirit was obliterated in
+a demand for uniformity of speculative doctrine.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[Pg 188]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Disownment and Doctrine.</p>
+
+
+<p>The "separation" was accomplished in most meetings
+in the East by the withdrawal of the orthodox party, after
+which they set up new meetings for worship and discipline.
+In a minority of meetings the orthodox held the property
+and the organization, and the other Friends withdrew. At
+Jericho and Westbury the great majority of the members
+remained, and continued to occupy the old meeting-houses.
+The orthodox who separated from the Westbury and
+Jericho Monthly Meetings organized the Monthly Meeting
+of Westbury and Jericho, as has already been mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>In 1829, when the new monthly meeting was formed,
+the membership of Westbury Monthly Meeting was as
+follows: Westbury Preparative Meeting, 193; Matinecock
+Preparative Meeting, 121; Cow Neck (now Manhassett),
+65; total, 379. Of this number, accessions to the orthodox
+were: From Westbury Preparative Meeting, 32; Matinecock
+Preparative Meeting, 2; Cow Neck Preparative Meeting,
+5; total, 39. In Jericho the members of the monthly
+meeting, Fifth month, 1829, numbered 225. Of this number,
+nine left to join the Monthly Meeting of Westbury
+and Jericho, and five were undetermined in their choice.
+Giving the latter meeting the benefit of the doubt, and
+assigning to it the five uncertain members, the meeting that
+disowned Elias Hicks was composed of fifty-three members,
+of whom thirteen were minors and five of only mild
+allegiance.</p>
+
+<p>A simple mathematical calculation will show that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[Pg 189]</span>
+Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho contained 10 per
+cent. of the Friends who had been members of the two
+original monthly meetings, which meetings still survived,
+retaining 90 per cent. of the members. These figures will
+throw suggestive light on what follows.</p>
+
+<p>It was the Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting
+which, on the 29th of Fourth month, 1829, adopted the
+"testimony against Elias Hicks," called his disownment. It
+contained specified charges, which may be condensed as
+follows: He denied the influence or existence of an evil
+spirit; doubted the fall of man, and his redemption through
+Christ; endeavored to "destroy a belief in the miraculous
+conception of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"; also
+rejected a "belief in his holy offices, his propitiatory offering
+for the redemption of mankind; and has denied his
+resurrection and ascension into heaven"; "he also denied
+his mediation and intercession with the Father." He was
+charged with too much industry in promulgating his views,
+causing great numbers to embrace them, "and has at length
+become the leader of a sect distinguished by his name."
+He was also charged with meeting with, and countenancing
+by his presence and conduct, those who had "separated"
+from Friends. This had reference to many meetings of a
+large majority of the Society held at various places in 1828.
+The "testimony" also alleges that he had many times been
+tenderly admonished and advised, but that he and his friends
+"prevented the timely exercise of the discipline in his case."
+It all, without doubt, sounded very formidable to the little
+company of Friends who formulated and issued the
+document.</p>
+
+<p>This was a remarkable document in more ways than
+one. The meeting which issued it assumed an authority in
+conduct hard now to understand, and asserted as facts mere
+assumptions, and yet we are bound to believe that, in the
+main, they thought they were performing God's service.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[Pg 190]</span>
+It must be remembered that the orthodox Friends, in 1829,
+everywhere operated on the theory that those who considered
+themselves "sound in doctrine," no matter how few
+in numbers, were the Society of Friends, in direct descent
+from the founders of the faith. It was their religious duty
+to excommunicate all whom they considered unsound, even
+though those disowned might constitute the overwhelming
+portion of the meeting. That this was the sincere conviction
+of the orthodox Friends all through the "separation"
+period, and also before and after it, is a demonstrable fact
+of history. There was also a marked disposition to adhere
+to tradition and to cling to former precedents. If there
+had ever been a time when Friends had been disowned on
+account of theological opinions, the practice should be kept
+up, and practically continued forever.</p>
+
+<p>That there was a considerable amount of precedent
+for disowning Friends on points of doctrine is undoubtedly
+true. In the famous New Jersey Chancery trial, Samuel
+Parsons gave several cases of such disownment.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> They
+involved cases in half a dozen monthly meetings, and
+included charges as follows: Denying the miraculous conception;
+denying the divinity of Jesus Christ; denying the
+authenticity of the Scriptures; promulgating the belief that
+the souls of the wicked would be annihilated.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> "Foster's Report," Vol. I, p. 171.</p></div>
+
+<p>The orthodox Friends might have done still better, and
+cited the case of John Bartram,<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> the father of American
+botany, who was disowned by Darby Monthly Meeting in
+1758, for deistical and other unorthodox opinions. It has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[Pg 191]</span>
+been supposed that Bartram was disowned by Friends for
+placing the following inscription over his door:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> John Bartram, born near Darby, Pa., Third month 23, 1699.
+Was the earliest native American botanist. He died Ninth month
+22, 1777. Bartram traveled extensively in the American colonies in
+pursuit of his botanical studies and investigations. He established
+the Bartram Botanical Gardens near the Schuykill River, which are
+still often visited.</p></div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse">"'Tis God alone, Almighty Lord,</div>
+<div class="verse">The Holy One by me adored.</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">John Bartram, 1770."</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>As this sentiment is dated twelve years after the disownment,<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a>
+it is evident that it was not the primary cause
+of the action taken by Darby Monthly Meeting.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> "Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall," by
+William Darlington, 1849, p. 42.</p></div>
+
+<p>During the period of repression in the Society, lasting
+from about 1700 to 1850, it was not hard to find precedent
+for disowning members on almost any ground, so that
+the treatment of Elias Hicks, on account of alleged
+"unsound" doctrine calls for no complaint on the score of
+regularity. Disowning members for that cause in one
+branch of Friends to-day would be practically inconceivable.
+Its wisdom at any time was doubtful, and, in spite of
+precedents, the practice was not general.</p>
+
+<p>The main point in this transaction, however, is that
+the meeting which issued the "testimony" against Elias
+Hicks had no jurisdiction in the case. As a matter of fact,
+he was never a member of the meeting in question, unless it
+be assumed that 10 per cent. of two monthly meetings can
+flock by themselves, organize a new meeting, and take over
+the 90 per cent. without their knowledge or consent.</p>
+
+<p>In the main, we do not care to consider or discuss the
+points in the "testimony" under consideration. Those who
+have followed the pages of this book thus far will be able
+to decide whether the main causes as stated by those who
+prepared and approved the document were true in fact, and
+whether they would have constituted a sufficient reason for
+the action of the Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho,
+had it possessed any authority in the case.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[Pg 192]</span></p>
+
+<p>Just what Elias Hicks thought regarding the matter of
+Society and disciplinary authority in his case, we have documentary
+evidence. In a private letter he said: "For how
+can they disown those who never attended their meetings,
+nor never had seen the inside of their new-built meeting-houses,
+and who never acknowledged their little separate
+societies? Would it not be as rational and consistent with
+right order for a Presbyterian or a Methodist society to
+treat with and disown us for not attending their meetings,
+and not acknowledging their creed?"<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Letter to Johnson Legg, Twelfth month 15, 1829.</p></div>
+
+<p>There is one point in the "testimony" which cannot so
+easily or reasonably be ignored. It says that Elias Hicks
+"has at length become the leader of a sect, distinguished by
+his name, yet unjustly assuming the character of Friends."
+From the assumed standpoint of those who made this statement
+of fact, it had no warrant. That body of Friends in,
+at least, the Yearly Meetings of New York, Philadelphia,
+and Baltimore, which at the time of the "separation" housed
+two-thirds of all the members, was as much entitled to be
+called Friends, and assume their "character," as the minority.
+The distinguishing epithet was not of their selecting
+or adoption, and those who applied it could scarcely with
+propriety force it upon those who did not claim it or want it.
+As for leadership, the outcome in 1827-28 was accomplished
+without either the presence or assistance of Elias Hicks in
+a majority of cases. If those who left the parent meetings
+and set up meetings of their own were the "separatists,"
+then, in a majority of cases, the name belonged to the party
+that opposed Elias Hicks, and not to that body of Friends
+who objected to the Society being divided or perpetuated
+because of the personality or the preaching of any one man.</p>
+
+<p>It has to be said that the disowning at the time of the
+"separation" was not all on one side. Jericho Monthly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[Pg 193]</span>
+Meeting "testified against" at least four of the orthodox
+party. But in every such case, so far as we are aware, no
+charges regarding doctrine were made against any. The
+disownments took place because the persons involved had become
+connected with other meetings, and did not attend the
+gatherings of that branch of Friends who issued disownments.
+Both sides undoubtedly did many things at the
+time which later would have been impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks evidently approved the general order of
+the Society in his time touching disownments. In a letter
+directed to "My Unknown Friend," but having no date, he
+deals with the disownment question. He goes on to say
+that it had been the practice of the Society to disown members
+for more than a century, when such members had
+deviated "from the established order of Society," and he
+reaches the conclusion that not to follow this course would
+lead to "confusion and anarchy." He then says: "These
+things considered, it appears to me the most rational and
+prudent, when a particular member of any society dissents
+in some particular tenet from the rest of that society, if
+such dissent break communion and render it necessary in
+the judgment of such society that a separation take place
+between them, that it be done in the same way, and agreeable
+to the general practice of such society in like cases."</p>
+
+<p>It is quite certain, however, that Elias Hicks did not
+think that disputed points of doctrine offered a sufficient
+ground for disownment in the Society of Friends. In a
+letter to David Evans, written at Jericho, Twelfth month
+25, 1829, he says: "I apprehend that if the Friends who
+took part in the controversy on the side of the miraculous
+conception, and those on the opposition, will fully examine
+both sides of the question, they will find themselves more or
+less in error, as neither can produce sufficient evidence to
+enforce a rational conviction on others.... Surely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[Pg 194]</span>
+then, we who believe in the miraculous conception ought
+not to censure our brethren in profession for having a different
+opinion from ours, and especially as we have no
+knowledge of the subject in any wise, but from history and
+tradition. Surely, then, both parties are very far off the
+true Christian foundation for keeping up the controversy,
+inasmuch as it never has had the least tendency to gather
+on the one hand or the other, but always to scatter and
+divide, and still has the same baneful tendency."</p>
+
+<p>The reader will not fail to consider that at this late
+period Elias Hicks reiterates his personal belief in the
+miraculous conception, although the "testimony" of disownment
+against him charged that he was "endeavoring to
+destroy a belief in that doctrine." Whatever may have
+been his belief regarding the matter, it is clear that he did
+not consider acceptance or rejection of the doctrine a determining
+quality in maintaining a really Christian fellowship.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[Pg 195]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">After the "Separation."</p>
+
+
+<p>A letter dated Solebury, Pa., Sixth month 21, 1828,
+told of some experiences on his last western trip. It was
+addressed to his son-in-law, Valentine Hicks. On the journey
+from Jericho to New York, Elias was very much
+annoyed, if not vexed, by the crowds of "vain and foolish
+people coming from the city and its suburbs to see horses
+trot." "How ridiculous and insignificant," he says, "is such
+foolish conduct for professed rational beings! I can
+scarcely conceive in thought an epithet degrading enough to
+give a just estimate of such irrational conduct."</p>
+
+<p>The "separation" had just been accomplished in the New
+York Yearly Meeting, and as this was the first visit he had
+made to the local meetings and Friendly neighborhoods
+since that event, it is a matter of interest to learn from his
+own hand how he was received by Friends in the meetings.
+Rose and Hester Street Meetings, in New York, were
+attended the First-day after leaving home. Elias says, in
+the letter mentioned: "They were both large, solemn meetings,
+showing evidently the comfort and benefit Friends
+have derived from the orthodox troubles, (they) having
+separated themselves from us." This may have been the
+superficial view of many who were prominent in sustaining
+Elias Hicks. They failed to see, as did their opponents,
+that the "separation" no matter which side went off, was a
+violation of the real spirit of Quakerism. It was an unfortunate
+acknowledgment that "unity of the spirit" was a
+failure, if it required absolute uniformity of doctrine for
+its maintenance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[Pg 196]</span></p>
+
+<p>Passing over to New Jersey, he reports universal
+kindly treatment. In this particular he remarks:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Indeed we have found nothing in the least degree to
+discourage or impede our progress, unless it be an excess
+of kindness from our friends, who can hardly give us up
+to pass on, without favoring them with a visit in their own
+houses. And not only Friends, but many who are not
+members manifest much friendly regard and respect. On
+Fourth-day we attended Friends' Monthly Meeting for
+Rahway and Plainfield held at Plainfield, Friends having
+given their neighbors notice of our intention to be there,
+it was largely attended by those of other professions, and
+some of the orthodox Friends', contrary to the expectation
+of Friends also attended. It was truly a very solemn and
+instructive good meeting, in which truth reigned. I was
+truly comforted in the meeting for discipline in viewing
+Friends' order, and the unity and harmony that prevailed,
+and the brotherly condescension that was manifested in
+transacting their business."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks evidently possessed what might be called
+a grain of humor. In Eleventh month, 1828, when practically
+all of the "separations" had been accomplished, he
+wrote to his wife from Redstone, Pa. He had not been
+getting letters from home as he desired, and especially was
+that true regarding the much-valued missives from
+Jemima. He, therefore, says, toward the end of this particular
+epistle: "If I do not receive some direct account
+from home at one or both of these places (Alexandria or
+Baltimore), I shall be ready to conclude that my friends
+have forgotten me or turned orthodox."</p>
+
+<p>Evidently there had been a readjustment of society
+conditions in this neighborhood. He says: "Divers friends,
+whose names I have forgotten, and some who have never
+seen thee, but love thee on my account, desired to be affectionately
+remembered to thee. Indeed, love and harmony
+so abound among Friends in these parts, and the more they
+are persecuted, the more love abounds, insomuch that I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[Pg 197]</span>
+observed to them in some places, that if they continued
+faithful to the openings of truth on the mind, that they
+would so exalt the standard of love and light, that the old
+adage would be renewed, 'See how the Quakers love one
+another.'"</p>
+
+<p>Returning from the long western trip, considered in
+Chapter VI, Elias was met in New York by his wife and
+daughter Elizabeth, where Westbury Quarterly Meeting
+was attended. Many near and dear Friends greeted the
+aged minister, inwardly, if not outwardly, congratulating
+him upon his safe return home, and the labors so faithfully
+performed. In mentioning the event, Elias says: "It was
+truly a season of mutual rejoicing, and my spirit was deeply
+humbled under a thankful sense of the Lord's preserving
+power and adorable mercy, in carrying me through and
+over all opposition, both within and without. He caused
+all to work together for good, and the promotion of his own
+glorious cause of truth and righteousness in the earth, and
+landed me safe in the bosom of my dear family and friends
+at home, and clothed my spirit with the reward of sweet
+peace for all my labor and travail. Praises, everlasting
+high praises be ascribed unto our God, for his mercy
+endureth forever."<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> "Journal," p. 425.</p></div>
+
+<p>Dark days were approaching, and the heavy hand of a
+great sorrow was about to be laid upon this strong man,
+who had buffeted many storms, and who seemed now to be
+feeling a period of calm and quiet. But we shall let Elias
+Hicks tell the details in his own words:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Soon after my return from the aforesaid journey, I had
+to experience a very severe trial and affliction in the removal
+of my dearly beloved wife. She was taken down with a
+cold, and although, for a number of days, we had no anticipation
+of danger from her complaint, yet about five days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[Pg 198]</span>
+after she was taken, the disorder appeared to settle on her
+lungs, and it brought on an inflammation which terminated
+in a dissolution of her precious life, on the ninth day from
+the time she was taken ill. She had but little bodily pain,
+yet as she became weaker, she suffered from shortness of
+breathing; but before her close, she became perfectly tranquil
+and easy, and passed away like a lamb, as though
+entering into a sweet sleep, without sigh or groan, or the
+least bodily pain, on the 17th of Third month, 1829: And
+her precious spirit, I trust and believe, has landed safely on
+the angelic shore, 'where the wicked cease from troubling,
+and the weary are at rest.' To myself, to whom she was a
+truly affectionate wife, and to our children, whom she endeavored,
+by precept and example, to train up in the paths
+of virtue, and to guard and keep out of harm's way, her
+removal is a great and irreparable loss: and nothing is left
+to us in that behalf, but a confident belief and an unshaken
+hope, that our great loss is her still greater gain; and
+although the loss and trial, as to all my external blessings,
+are the greatest I have ever met with, or ever expect to
+have to endure, yet I have a hope, that, though separated,
+I may be preserved from mourning or complaining; and
+that I may continually keep in view the unmerited favour
+dispensed to us, by being preserved together fifty-eight
+years in one unbroken bond of endeared affection, which
+seemed if possible to increase with time to the last moment
+of her life; and which neither time nor distance can lessen
+or dissolve; but in the spiritual relation I trust it will
+endure for ever, where all the Lord's redeemed children are
+one in him, who is God over all, in all, and through all,
+blessed forever. She was buried on the 19th, and on this
+solemn occasion, the Lord, who is strength in weakness,
+enabled me to bear a public and, I trust, a profitable testimony
+to the virtues and excellences of her long and consistent
+life."<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> "Journal," p 425.</p></div>
+
+<p>Regarding the funeral of Jemima Hicks, and its aftermath,
+rumor has been more or less busy. That Elias spoke
+on this occasion is certain. It was his eighty-first birthday.
+His remarks were undoubtedly in harmony, both as to the
+matter and the hope of a future reunion, with the extract<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[Pg 199]</span>
+printed above. There is in existence what purports to be
+matter copied from a Poughkeepsie newspaper relating to
+this event. The statement is supplemented by a "poem,"
+entitled "Orthodox Reflections on the Remarks Made by
+Elias Hicks at His Wife's Funeral." These verses are
+both theological and savage. Elias is assured that, because
+of his belief, he cannot hope to "rest in heaven," or meet
+his wife there. What is strange, however, is that verses,
+signed "Elias Hicks," and in reply to the poetical attack,
+are also given. The first-mentioned rhyme may be genuine,
+as it voices an opinionated brutality and boldness which was
+not uncommon in dealing with the future life eighty years
+ago. But we can hardly imagine Elias Hicks being a
+"rhymster" under any sort of provocation. If the two
+"poems" were ever printed, touching the matter in question,
+some one besides Elias, undoubtedly is responsible for the
+rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>Near the 1st of Sixth month, and a little more than
+three months after the death of his wife, Elias Hicks started
+on his last religious visit. His concern took him to the
+meetings and neighborhoods within the limits of his own
+Yearly Meeting. Nothing unusual is reported on this visit
+until Dutchess County was reached. All of the meetings
+were reported satisfactory. Of the meetings at West
+Branch, Creek and Crum-Elbow, Elias says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Although it was in the midst of harvest, such was
+the excitement produced amongst the people by the opposition
+made by those of our members who had gone off
+from us, and set up separate meetings, that the people at
+large of other societies flocked to those meetings in such
+numbers, that our meeting-houses were seldom large
+enough to contain the assembled multitude; and we had
+abundant cause for thanksgiving and gratitude to the
+blessed Author of all our mercies, in condescending to manifest
+his holy presence, and causing it so to preside as to
+produce a general solemnity, tendering and contriting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[Pg 200]</span>
+many minds, and comforting and rejoicing the upright in
+heart."<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> "Journal," p. 428.</p></div>
+
+<p>Proceeding up the Hudson, arriving at Albany on
+Seventh-day, Eighth month 1st, that evening a large meeting
+was held in the statehouse. Those present represented
+the inhabitants generally of the capital city. Many meetings
+were attended after leaving Albany, which have now
+ceased to exist. In fact, few, if any, meetings then in
+existence were missed on this journey. The 17th of Eighth
+month he was in Utica. Of the meeting in that city, and
+at Bridgewater, he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"These were not so large as in some other places,
+neither was there as much openness to receive our testimony
+as had generally been the case elsewhere. Our
+opposing Friends had filled their heads with so many
+strange reports, to which they had given credit without
+examination, by which their minds were so strongly prejudiced
+against me, that many in the compass of these two
+last meetings were not willing to see me, nor hear any
+reasons given to show them their mistakes, and that the
+reports they had heard were altogether unfounded: however,
+I was favored to communicate the truth to those who
+attended, so that they generally went away fully satisfied,
+and I left them with peace of mind."<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> "Journal," p. 430.</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1829, under date of Seventh month 9th, in a letter
+written at Oblong, in Westchester County, New York, he
+expresses the feeling that the meeting at Jericho sustains
+important relations to the branch of Friends with which he
+was connected. The letter was written to his children,
+Valentine and Abigail Hicks. In it he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Although absent in body, yet my mind pretty often
+takes a sudden and instantaneous excursion to Jericho,
+clothed with a desire that we who constitute that monthly
+meeting, may keep our eye so single, to the sure and im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[Pg 201]</span>movable
+foundation of the light within, so as to be entirely
+preserved from all fleshly reasonings, which if given way
+to, in the least degree, ever has, and ever will, have a
+tendency to divide in Jacob and scatter in Israel. I consider
+that much depends upon the course we take in our
+monthly meeting, as we are much looked up to as an
+example and if we make but a small miss, it may do much
+harm."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Twelfth month 15, 1829, Elias Hicks wrote to his
+friend Johnson Legg, evidently in reply to one asking advice
+in regard to his own conduct in relation to the "separation."
+In this letter Elias says: "In the present interrupted and
+disturbed state of our once peaceful and favoured Society, it
+requires great deliberation and humble waiting on the Lord
+for counsel before we move forward on the right hand or
+the left. Had this been the case with our brethren of this
+yearly meeting who style themselves orthodox, I very much
+doubt if there would have been any separation among us.
+For although the chief cause thereof is placed to my account,
+yet I am confident I have given no just cause for it."</p>
+
+<p>This statement undoubtedly expresses the real feeling
+of Elias Hicks regarding the "separation." He could not
+see why what he repeatedly called "mere opinions" should
+cause a rupture in the Society. It will be noted that he
+still refers to the other Friends as "our brethren," and
+he, apparently, had no ill-will toward them. The letter from
+which this extract was taken was written only about two
+months before his death, and was undoubtedly his last written
+word on the unfortunate controversy, and the trouble
+that grew out of it.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[Pg 202]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Friendly and Unfriendly Critics.</p>
+
+
+<p>Few men in their day were more talked about than
+Elias Hicks. The interest in his person and in his preaching
+continued for years after his death. While the discussion
+ceased to be warm long years ago, his name is one
+which men of so-called liberal thought still love to conjure
+with, without very clearly knowing the reason why. Some
+clearer light may be thrown upon his life, labor and
+character by a brief review of opinions of those who criticised
+him as friends, and some of them as partisans, and
+those who were his open enemies, for the theological atmosphere
+had not yet appeared in which he could be even
+approximately understood by the men of the old school.</p>
+
+<p>We shall begin the collection of criticisms by quoting
+Edward Hicks,<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> who wrote a comparatively judicial estimate
+of his friend and kinsman. After stating that even
+the apostles had their weak side, that Tertullian "was led
+into a foolish extreme by the fanatical notions of Montanus;"
+and that Origen "did immense mischief to the
+cause of primitive Christianity by his extreme attachment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[Pg 203]</span>
+to the Platonic philosophy, scholastic divinity and human
+learning," he remarks:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Edward Hicks, a relative of Elias Hicks, was born in Attleboro,
+Pa., Fourth month 4, 1780. His mother passed away when
+he was an infant, and he was cared for in his early youth by Elizabeth
+Twining, a friend of his mother. When a young man, he became a
+member of Middletown Monthly Meeting in Bucks County by request.
+He began speaking in meeting when about thirty years of age, and
+was a little later recorded as a minister. Edward Hicks for many
+years carried on the business of carriage maker and painter at Newtown,
+Pa. Although much more orthodox in doctrine than his celebrated
+kinsman, he was one of the most ardent friends and defenders of
+Elias Hicks.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Therefore, it is among the possible circumstances
+that dear Elias was led to an extreme in the Unitarian
+speculation, while opposing the Trinitarian, then increasing
+among Friends, and now almost established among
+our orthodox Friends. But I have no recollection of ever
+hearing him in public testimony, and I have heard him
+much, when his speculative views or manner of speaking,
+destroyed the savour of life that attended his ministry,
+or gave me any uneasiness. But I have certainly heard
+to my sorrow, too many of his superficial admirers that
+have tried to copy after him, pretending to wear his crown,
+without knowing anything of his cross, make use of the
+naked term, Jesus, both in public and private, till it sounded
+in my ears as unpleasant, as if coming from the tongue of
+the profane swearer; and on the other hand, I have been
+pained to hear the unnecessary repetition of the terms, our
+Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, from those I verily believed
+Elias's bitter enemies, especially the English
+preachers, and have scarcely a doubt that they were substantially
+breaking the third commandment. And I will
+now add my opinion fearlessly, that Elias was wrong in
+entering into that quibbling controversy with those weak
+Quakers, alluded to in his letter, about the marvellous conception
+and parentage of Christ, a delicate and inexplicable
+subject, that seems to have escaped the particular attention
+of what we call the darker ages, to disgrace the highest
+professors of the nineteenth century."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> "Memoirs of Life and Religious Labors of Edward Hicks," p.
+92.</p></div>
+
+<p>An independent, and in the main, a judicial critic of
+Quakers and Quakerism is Frederick Storrs Turner, an
+Englishman. Some of his estimates and observations of
+Elias Hicks, are both apt and discriminating. Of his
+preaching Turner says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"His great theme was the light within; his one aim
+to promote a true living spiritual, practical Christianity.
+He was more dogmatic and controversial than Woolman.
+There seems to have been in him a revival of the old ag<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[Pg 204]</span>gressive
+zeal, and something of the acerbity of the early
+Quakers. 'Hireling priests' were as offensive in his eyes
+as in those of George Fox. He would have no compromise
+with the religions of the world, and denounced all new-fangled
+methods and arrangements for religious work and
+worship in the will of man. He was a Quaker to the backbone,
+and stood out manfully for the 'ancient simplicity.'"<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> "The Quakers;" a study, historical and critical, by Frederick
+Storrs Turner, 1889, p. 292.</p></div>
+
+<p>With still deeper insight Turner continues his analysis:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"This was his dying testimony: 'The cross of Christ
+is the perfect law of God, written in the heart ...
+there is but one Lord, one faith, and but one baptism....
+No rational being can be a real Christian and true
+disciple of Christ until he comes to know all these things
+verified in his own experience.' He was a good man, a
+true Christian, and a Quaker of the Quakers. His very
+errors were the errors of a Quaker, and since the generation
+of the personal disciples of George Fox it would be difficult
+to point out any man who had a simpler and firmer faith in
+the central truth of Quakerism than Elias Hicks."<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> The same, p. 293.</p></div>
+
+<p>Regarding some of the bitter criticisms uttered against
+Elias Hicks at the time of the controversy in the second
+decade of the nineteenth century, and repeated by the biographers
+and advocates of some of his opponents, Turner
+says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"This concensus of condemnation by such excellent
+Christian men would blast Hicks's character effectually,
+were it not for the remembrance that we have heard these
+shrieks of pious horror before. Just so did Faldo and Baxter,
+Owen and Bunyan, unite in anathematizing George Fox
+and the first Quakers. Turning from these invectives of
+theological opponents to Hicks's own writings, we at once
+discover that this arch-heretic was a simple, humble-minded,
+earnest Quaker of the old school."<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> The same, p. 291.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[Pg 205]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>James Mott, Sr., of Mamaroneck, N. Y., was among
+the friendly, although judicial critics of Elias Hicks. In
+a letter written Eighth month 5, 1805, to Elias, he said:
+"I am satisfied that the master hath conferred on thee a
+precious gift in the ministry, and I have often sat with
+peculiar satisfaction in hearing thee exercise it." He then
+continues, referring to a special occasion:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"But when thou came to touch on predestination, and
+some other erroneous doctrines, I thought a little zeal was
+suffered to take place, that led into much censoriousness,
+and that expressed in harsh expressions, not only against
+the doctrines, but those who had embraced them.... I
+have often thought if ministers, when treating on doctrinal
+points, or our belief, were to hold up our principles fully
+and clearly, and particularly our fundamental principle
+of the light within, what it was, and how it operates, there
+would very seldom be occasion for declamation against
+other tenets, however opposite to our own; nor never
+against those who have through education or some other
+medium embraced them."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This would seem to be as good advice at the beginning
+of the twentieth century as it was in the first years
+of the nineteenth.</p>
+
+<p>In the matter of estimating Elias Hicks, Walt Whitman
+indulged in the following criticism, supplementing an
+estimate of his preaching. Dealing with some opinions of
+the contemporaries of Elias Hicks, he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"They think Elias Hicks had a large element of personal
+ambition, the pride of leadership, of establishing perhaps
+a sect that should reflect his own name, and to which
+he should give special form and character. Very likely,
+such indeed seems the means all through progress and
+civilization, by which strong men and strong convictions
+achieve anything definite. But the basic foundation of
+Elias was undoubtedly genuine religious fervor. He was
+like an old Hebrew prophet. He had the spirit of one, and
+in his later years looked like one."<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> "The Complete Works of Walt Whitman," Vol. 3, p. 269-270.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[Pg 206]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>It is not worth while to deny that Elias Hicks was
+ambitious, and desired to secure results in his labor. But
+those who carefully go over his recorded words will find
+little to warrant the literal conclusion of his critics in this
+particular. He probably had no idea at any time of founding
+a sect, or perpetuating his name attached to a fragment
+of the Society of Friends, either large or small. He believed
+that he preached the truth; he wanted men to embrace
+it, as it met the divine witness in their own souls, and not
+otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>Among the severe critics of Elias Hicks is William
+Tallack, who in his book "Thomas Shillitoe," says that
+"many of Elias <span class="correction" title="Originally: Hick's">Hicks'</span> assertions are too blasphemous for
+quotation," while W. Hodgson, refers to the "filth" of the
+sentiments of Elias Hicks. But both these Friends use
+words rather loosely. Both must employ their epithets entirely
+in a theological, and not a moral sense. Having gone
+over a large amount of the published and private utterances
+of the Jericho preacher, we have failed to find in them even
+an impure suggestion. The bitterness of their attacks,
+simply illustrates the bad spirit in which theological discussion
+is generally conducted.</p>
+
+<p>The fame of Elias Hicks as a liberalizing influence in
+religion seems to have reached the Orient. Under date,
+"Calcutta, June 29, 1827," the celebrated East Indian,
+Rammohun Roy,<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> addressed an appreciative letter to him.
+It was sent by a Philadelphian, J. H. Foster, of the ship
+Georgian, and contained the following expressions:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Rammohun Roy was born in Bengal in 1772, being a high-class
+Brahmin. He was highly educated, and at one time in the employ of
+the English Government. In comparatively early life he became a
+religious and social reformer, and incurred the <span class="correction" title="Originally: emnity">enmity</span> of his family.
+He published various works in different languages, including English.
+In 1828 he founded a liberal religious association which grew into the
+Brahmo Somaj. Roy visited England in 1831, and died there in 1833.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>[Pg 207]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"My object in intruding on your time is to express the
+gratification I have felt in reading the sermons you preached
+at different meetings, and which have since been published
+by your friends in America.... Every sentence found
+there seems to have proceeded not only from your lips, but
+from your heart. The true spirit of Christian charity and
+belief flows from thee and cannot fall short of making some
+impression on every heart which is susceptible of it. I
+hope and pray God may reward you for your pious life and
+benevolent exertion, and remain with the highest reverence.</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your most humble servant,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Rammohun Roy</span>."<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>A copy of what purports to be a reply to this letter is
+in existence, and is probably genuine, as the language is
+in accordance with the well-known ideas of Elias Hicks.
+Besides, an undated personal letter contains a direct reference
+to the East Indian correspondence. From it we quote:
+"I take my pen to commune with thee in this way on divers
+accounts, and first in regard to a letter I have recently received
+from Calcutta, subscribed by Rammohun Roy, author
+of a book entitled, 'The Precepts of Jesus, a Guide to Peace
+and Happiness.'"<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> From letter written to William Wharton of Philadelphia.</p></div>
+
+<p>A request is made that William Wharton will find
+out if the ship-master, Foster, mentioned above, would convey
+a letter to Calcutta. Then Elias expresses himself as
+follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I also feel a lively interest in whatever relates to the
+welfare and progress of that enlightened and worthy Hindoo,
+believing that if he humbly attends to that hath begun
+a good work in him, and is faithful to its manifestations that
+he will not only witness the blessed effects of it, in his
+own preservation and salvation, but will be made an instrument
+in the divine hand of much good to his own people,
+and nation, by spreading the truth, and opening the right
+way of salvation among them, which may no doubt prove
+a great and singular blessing not only to the present, but
+to succeeding generations. And also be a means of open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>[Pg 208]</span>ing
+the blind eyes of formal traditional Christians, who
+make a profession of godliness, but deny the power thereof,
+especially those blind guides, mere man-made ministers,
+and self-styled missionaries, sent out by Bible and missionary
+societies of man's constituting, under the pretence of
+converting those, who in the pride of their hearts they call
+Heathen, to Christianity, while at the same time, judging
+them by their fruits they themselves, or most of them,
+stand in as great, or greater need, of right conversion."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Among the present-day critics of Elias Hicks, is Dr. J.
+Rendell Harris, of England. In his paper at the Manchester
+Conference in 1895, this quotation from Elias Hicks
+is given: "God never made any distinction in the manifestation
+of his love to his rational creatures. He has
+placed every son and daughter of Adam on the same ground
+and in the same condition that our first parents were in.
+For every child must come clean out of the hands of God."<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a>
+Doctor Harris says Elias Hicks "was wrong not simply because
+he was unscriptural, but because he was unscientific."<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a>
+Doctor Harris prefaces this remark by the following
+comment on the quotation from Elias Hicks: "Now
+suppose such a doctrine to be propounded in this conference
+would not the proper answer, the answer of any modern
+thinker, be (1) that we never had any first parents; (2)
+we were demonstrably not born good."<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> We do not at all
+assume that Elias Hicks had no limitations, or that he was
+correct at all points in his thinking, measured by the standards
+of present-day knowledge or any other standard. But
+we must claim that in holding that we had first parents, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>[Pg 209]</span>
+was scriptural. The poor man, however, seems to have
+been, unconsciously, of course, between two stools. The
+orthodox Friends in the early part of the nineteenth century
+claimed that Elias was unsound because he did not cling
+to the letter of the scripture, and his critic just quoted claims
+that he was unscientific although he used a scriptural term.
+Doctor Harris then concludes that "a little knowledge of
+evolution would have saved him (Hicks) all that false doctrine."
+But how, in his time, could he have had any knowledge
+of evolution? A man can hardly be criticised for not
+possessing knowledge absolutely unavailable in his day and
+generation. We are then informed "that the world at any
+given instant, shows almost every stage of evolution of life,
+from the am&oelig;ba to the man, and from the cannibal to the
+saint. Shall we say that the love of God is equally manifested
+in all these?"<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> To use the Yankee answer by asking
+another question, may we inquire, in all seriousness, who
+is qualified to say with certainty that it is not so manifested?
+Who has the authority, in the language of Whittier, to</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse">... "fix with metes and bounds</div>
+<div class="verse">The love and power of God?"</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> "Report of the Proceedings of the Conference of Members of the
+Society of Friends, held by Direction of the Yearly Meeting in Manchester,"
+1895, p. 220.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> The same, p. 220.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> We do not hesitate to say that had Elias Hicks made this statement
+he would have suffered more at the hands of the Philadelphia
+Elders in 1822 than is recorded in this book.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Report Manchester Conference, pp. 220-221.</p></div>
+
+<p>Elias Hicks was given to using figures of speech and
+scriptural illustrations in a broad sense, and those who carefully
+read his utterances will have no trouble in seeing in
+the quotation used by Doctor Harris simply an attempt to
+repudiate the attribute of favoritism on the part of the
+Heavenly Father toward any of his human children, and
+not to formulate a new philosophy of life, based on a theory
+of the universe about which he had never heard.</p>
+
+<p>The special labor of Elias Hicks, as we may now dispassionately
+review it, was not as an expounder of doctrine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>[Pg 210]</span>
+or the creator of a new dogmatism, but as a rationalizing,
+liberalizing influence in the field of religion. He was a
+pioneer of the "modern thinkers" of whom Doctor Harris
+speaks, and did much, amid misunderstanding and the
+traducing of men, to prepare the way for the broader
+intellectual and spiritual liberty we now enjoy.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>[Pg 211]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Recollections, Reminiscences and Testimonies.</p>
+
+
+<p>Many statements which have come down to us from
+the generation in which Elias Hicks lived, warrant the conclusion
+that he was a natural orator. He possessed in a
+large degree what the late Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist
+Episcopal Church, called "heart power." We are able to
+give the personal impression of a venerable Friend<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> now
+living, who as a boy of eleven heard Elias preach twice.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Dr. Jesse C. Green, of West Chester, Pa., now in his 93d year.
+Doctor Green almost retains the sprightliness of youth.</p></div>
+
+<p>One of the sermons was delivered at Center, Del., on
+the 8th of Twelfth month, 1828, and the other the day before
+at West Chester. This was on his last long religious
+visit, which took him to the then "far west," Ohio and
+Indiana.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Green says that the manner of Elias Hicks when
+speaking was very impressive. In person he is described
+by this Friend "as above medium height, rather slim, and
+with a carriage that would attract universal attention." He
+wore very plain clothes of a drab color.</p>
+
+<p>With no education in logic, and no disposition to indulge
+in forensic debate, he was, nevertheless a logician,
+and had he indulged in public disputation, would have made
+it interesting if not uncomfortable for his adversary.</p>
+
+<p>If he occasionally became involved, or got into verbal
+deep water, he always extricated himself, and made his
+position clear to his hearers. Doctor Green tells us that
+he had an uncle, not a member of meeting, but a good judge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>[Pg 212]</span>
+of public speaking, who considered Elias Hicks the most
+logical preacher in the Society of Friends. On one occasion
+he heard Elias when he became very much involved
+in his speaking, and as this person put it, he thought Elias
+had "wound himself up," but in a few minutes he came
+down from his verbal flight, and made every point so clear
+that he was understood by every listener.</p>
+
+<p>Henry Byran Binns, Whitman's English biographer,
+gives the following estimate of the preaching of Elias
+Hicks:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"With grave emphasis he pronounced his text: 'What
+is the chief end of man?' and with fiery and eloquent eyes,
+in a strong, vibrating, and still musical voice, he commenced
+to deliver his soul-awakening message. The fire of his
+fervor kindled as he spoke of the purpose of human life;
+his broad-brim was dashed from his forehead on to one of
+the seats behind him. With the power of intense conviction
+his whole presence became an overwhelming persuasion,
+melting those who sat before him into tears and
+into one heart of wonder and humility under his high and
+simple words."<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> "A Life of Walt Whitman," Henry Byran Binns, p. 16.</p></div>
+
+<p>We have another living witness who remembers Elias
+Hicks. This Friend says that she, with the members of
+her family, were constant attenders of the Jericho meeting.
+Speaking of Elias she remarks: "His commanding figure
+in the gallery is a bright picture I often see in my mind.
+His person was tall, straight and firm; his manner dignified
+and noble and agreeable; his voice clear, distinct and penetrating&mdash;altogether
+grand."<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Extract of letter from Mary Willis, of Rochester, N. Y., dated
+Ninth month 7, 1910. This Friend is 92 years old. The letter received
+was entirely written by her, and is a model of legible penmanship and
+clear statement.</p></div>
+
+<p>We quote the following interesting incidents from the
+letter of Mary Willis:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>[Pg 213]</span></p><blockquote>
+
+<p>"One other bit I recall was a talk, or sermon, to the
+young especially. He related that once he threw a stone
+and killed a bird, and was struck with consternation and
+regret at killing an innocent bird that might be a parent,
+and its young perish for the need of care. He appealed
+feelingly to the boys to refrain from giving needless pain.</p>
+
+<p>"He was guardian to my mother, sisters and brother,
+and they and their mother returned his loving care with
+warm affection, always, as did my father.</p>
+
+<p>"One of his characteristics was his kindness to the
+poor. Not far from his home (three miles, perhaps) was a
+small colony of colored people on poor land, who shared his
+bounty in cold, wintry weather, in his wagon loads of
+vegetables and wood, delivered by his own hand."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Probably one of the most appreciative, and in the main
+discriminative estimates of Elias Hicks, was made by Walt
+Whitman. The "notes (such as they are) founded on Elias
+Hicks," for such the author called them, were written in
+Camden, N. J., in the summer of 1888. Elias Hicks had
+been dead nearly half a century. Whitman's impressions of
+the famous preacher were based on the memory of a
+boy ten years old, for that was Whitman's age when he
+heard Elias Hicks preach in Brooklyn. But personal memory
+was supplemented by the statements of his parents,
+especially his mother, as the preaching of their old Long
+Island neighbor was undoubtedly a subject of frequent conversation
+in the Whitman home.</p>
+
+<p>As to the manner of the preacher Whitman says:
+"While he goes on he falls into the nasality and sing-song
+tone sometimes heard in such meetings; but in a moment
+or two, more as if recollecting himself, he breaks off, stops,
+and resumes in a natural tone. This occurs three or four
+times during the talk of the evening, till he concludes."<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> "The Complete Works of Walt Whitman," Vol. 3, p. 259.</p></div>
+
+<p>The "unnamable something behind oratory," Whitman
+says Elias Hicks had, and it "emanated from his very heart
+to the heart of his audience, or carried with him, or probed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>[Pg 214]</span>
+into, and shook or aroused in them a sympathetic germ."<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> The same, p. 264.</p></div>
+
+<p>There are a good many anecdotes regarding Elias Hicks
+current in Jericho, going to show some of his characteristics.
+It is stated that at one time he found that corn was
+being taken, evidently through the slats of the crib. One
+night he set a trap in the suspected place. Going to the
+barn in the morning he saw a man standing near where the
+trap was set. Elias passed on without seeming to notice the
+visitor. On returning to the house he stopped, spoke to the
+man, and released him from the trap. Elias would never
+tell who the man was.</p>
+
+<p>Illustrating his feeling regarding slavery, and his testimony
+against slave labor, the following statement is made:
+Before his death, and following the fatal paralytic stroke,
+he noticed that the quilt with which he was covered contained
+cotton. He had lost the power of speech, but he
+pushed the covering off, thus indicating his displeasure at
+the presence of an article of comfort which was the product
+of slave labor.</p>
+
+<p>There is an anecdote which illustrates the spirit of the
+man in a striking way. He is said to have had a neighbor
+with whom it did not seem possible to maintain cordial
+relations. One day Elias saw this neighbor with a big
+load of hay stalled in a marsh in one of his fields. Without
+a word of recognition Elias approached the man in the
+slough and hitching his own ox team to the load in front
+of the other team proceeded to pull the load out of the
+slough. It was all done in characteristic Quaker silence.
+The result was the establishment of cordial relations between
+the two neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>In bestowing his benefactions, he was exceedingly sensitive,
+not wishing to be known in the matter, and especially
+not desiring to receive ordinary expressions of gratitude.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>[Pg 215]</span>
+His habitual custom was to take his load of wood or provisions,
+as the case might be, leave them at the door or in
+the yard of the family in need, and without announcement
+or comment silently steal away.</p>
+
+<p>During the Revolutionary War, Elias Hicks, in common
+with other Friends, had property seized in lieu of military
+service or taxes. The value does not seem to have been
+great in any of the cases which were reported to the monthly
+meeting. We copy the following cases from the records:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the 28th of Eighth month, 1777, came Justice Maloon,
+Robert Wilson, Daniel Wilson, and Daniel Weeks,
+sergeant under the above Captain (Youngs) and took from
+me a pair of silver buckles, worth 18 shillings; two pair of
+stockings worth 15 shillings; and two handkerchiefs worth
+5 shillings, for my not going at the time of an alarm.&mdash;Elias
+Hicks, Jericho, 24th of Ninth month, 1777."<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Westbury Monthly Meeting: "A Record of Marriages, Deaths,
+Sufferings, etc.," p. 231.</p></div>
+
+<p>The "silver buckles" were either for the shoes or the
+knees. They were evidently more ornamental than useful,
+and how they comported with the owner's rather severe
+ideas of plainness is not for us to explain. The price put
+on these stockings may surprise some twentieth century
+reader, but it should be remembered that they were long to
+reach to the knees, and went with short breeches called in
+the vernacular of the time, "small clothes."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The 3d of Twelfth month, 1777, there came to my
+house George Weeks, sergeant under said Captain (Thorne)
+with a warrant, and demanded twelve shillings of me toward
+paying some men held to repair the forts near the
+west end of the island, and upon my refusing to pay, took
+from me a great coat, worth one pound and six shillings.&mdash;Elias
+Hicks."<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> The same, p. 234.</p></div>
+
+<p>We continue the "sufferings," only remarking that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>[Pg 216]</span>
+"great coat" was an overcoat, the price at the equivalent of
+about six dollars and a half was not overdrawn.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The Sixth month, 1778, taken from Elias Hicks by
+order of Captain Daniel Youngs, for refusing to pay toward
+hiring of men to work on fortifications near Brooklyn
+Ferry, a pair of stockings worth 5 shillings; razor case and
+two razors, worth 4 shillings."<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> The same, p. 242.</p></div>
+
+<p>The next record of "suffering" is more than ordinarily
+interesting in that it shows that the seizures of property
+were very arbitrary, and it also gives the price of wheat on
+Long Island at that time. We quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"About the middle of Tenth month, 1779, came George
+Weeks, by order of Captain Daniel Youngs, and I being
+from home demanded from my wife three pounds, for not
+assisting to build a fort at Brooklyn Ferry, for which he
+took two bags with three bushels of wheat, worth one
+pound, ten shillings."<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> The same, p. 254.</p></div>
+
+<p>At this rate the market price of wheat was $2.50 per
+bushel. Possibly this was during the period of scarcity,
+referred to in the introduction.</p>
+
+<p>In 1794 Elias Hicks was influential in establishing in
+Jericho an organization, the scope of which was described in
+its preamble as follows: "We, the subscribers, do hereby
+associate and unite into a Society of Charity for the relief
+of poor among the black people, more especially for the
+education of their children."<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> This organization has been in continuous existence since its
+inception. Meets regularly every year, and distributes the proceeds of
+an invested fund in accordance with its original purpose.</p></div>
+
+<p>This society was almost revolutionary at the time of
+its inception, showing how far-seeing its projectors were.
+Its constitution declared that the society was rendered nec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>[Pg 217]</span>essary
+because of the injustice and lack of opportunity
+which the colored people suffered. The hope was expressed
+that the time would come when the black people would
+cease to be a submerged and oppressed race. It was provided
+that in case the original need for the society should
+disappear, its benefits might be distributed in any helpful
+way. It may be interesting to note that at the meetings of
+the society the scarcity of colored children attending the
+school was mentioned with regret. So far as we know, the
+Jericho society was the first organized Friendly effort in
+negro education. Elias Hicks contributed $50 to the invested
+funds of the organization.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i216" id="i216"></a>
+<img src="images/i228.jpg" width="600" height="317" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p class="center">Friends' Burying Ground, Jericho. The second head-stone from the right marks the grave of Elias Hicks.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>[Pg 218]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Putting Off the Harness.</p>
+
+
+<p>During the series of visits, reported in the twenty-second
+chapter, Elias was ill a number of times, and was
+forced to rest from his labors. On the return trip from
+central and western New York, he visited for the last
+time the Hudson Valley meetings which he attended on
+his first religious journey in 1779.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived in New York the 8th of Eleventh month,
+attending the mid-week meeting at Hester Street that day.
+On First-day, the 15th, he attended the Rose Street meeting
+in the morning and Hester Street in the afternoon.
+Second-day evening, the 16th, a largely attended appointed
+meeting was held in Brooklyn. He then proceeded toward
+Jericho, arriving home on Fourth-day, the 18th of Eleventh
+month, 1829.</p>
+
+<p>The "Journal" is singularly silent regarding this
+Brooklyn meeting. Henry Byran Binns, on what he considers
+good authority, says, "Elias Hicks preached in the
+ball-room of Morrison's Hotel on Brooklyn Heights." To
+this statement he has added this bit of realistic description:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The scene was one he (Whitman) never forgot. The
+finely fitted and fashionable place of dancing, the officers
+and gay ladies in that mixed and crowded assembly, the
+lights, the colors and all the associations, both of the faces
+and of the place, presenting so singular contrast with the
+plain ancient Friends seated upon the platform, their broad-brims
+on their heads, their eyes closed; with silence,
+long continued and becoming oppressive; and most of
+all, with the tall, prophetic figure that rose at length to
+break it."<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> "A Life of Walt Whitman," p. 16.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>[Pg 219]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>Whitman's own reference to this meeting is still more
+striking. He says that he, a boy of ten, was allowed to
+go to the Hicks meeting because he "had been behaving well
+that day." The "principal dignitaries of the town" attended
+this meeting, while uniformed officers from the
+United States Navy Yard graced the gathering with their
+presence. The text was, "What is the chief end of man?"
+Whitman says: "I cannot follow the discourse, it presently
+becomes very fervid and in the midst of its fervor, he takes
+the broad-brim hat from his head and almost dashing it
+down with violence on the seat behind, continues with uninterrupted
+earnestness. Though the differences and disputes
+of the formal division of the Society of Friends were
+even then under way, he did not allude to them at all. A
+pleading, tender, nearly agonizing conviction and magnetic
+stream of natural eloquence, before which all minds
+and natures, all emotions, high or low, gentle or simple,
+yielded entirely without exception, was its cause, method
+and effect. Many, very many, were in tears."<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> "The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman." Issued under the
+editorial supervision of his Literary Executors, 1902, Vol. 3, p. 258.</p></div>
+
+<p>With the account of this journey of 1829 his narrative
+in the "Journal" closed. This paragraph formed a fitting
+benediction:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The foregoing meetings were times of favor, and as a
+seal from the hand of our gracious and never-failing helper,
+to the labor and travail which he has led me into, and
+enabled me to perform, for the promotion of this great and
+noble cause of truth and righteousness in the earth, as set
+forth in the foregoing account, and not suffering any
+weapon formed against me to prosper. 'This is the heritage
+of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
+is of me, saith the Lord.' For all these unmerited favors
+and mercies, in deep humiliation my soul doth magnify the
+Lord, and return thanksgiving and glory to his great and
+excellent name; for his mercy endureth forever."<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> "Journal," p. 438.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>[Pg 220]</span></p></div>
+
+<p>It should be remembered that Elias Hicks was then
+past his eighty-first year. He started on this last long
+religious visit, Sixth month 24th, and was therefore absent
+from home one week less than five months. He says himself,
+in the last sentence of the "Journal": "We traveled
+in this journey nearly fifteen hundred miles." These are
+words as impressive as they are simple.</p>
+
+<p>During this trip many families were visited from the
+Valley of the Genesee to the City of New York, where
+he tarried several days that he might see his friends in
+their homes. Whatever may have been their mind in the
+case, he doubtless felt that they would look upon his face
+no more.</p>
+
+<p>But Elias Hicks was not yet free from his religious
+concerns, for on First month 21, 1830, he asked for a
+minute, which was granted by Jericho Monthly Meeting,
+and is as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Our beloved Friend, Elias Hicks, presented a concern
+to make a religious visit to the families of Friends
+and some Friendly people (as way may open), within the
+compass of this and Westbury Monthly Meeting, which
+claimed the solid attention of this meeting, was united
+with, and he left at liberty to pursue his prospect accordingly."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This is the last minute ever asked for by Elias Hicks.
+But evidently the visits contemplated were never undertaken,
+for about that time he had a slight attack of paralysis,
+which affected his right side and arm. Still the next
+day he attended a meeting at Bethpage, and a little later
+quarterly and monthly meetings in New York. In both he
+performed ministerial service with his usual power and
+clearness. From a little brochure printed in 1829, we
+quote:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In the Monthly Meeting, he took a review of his labors
+in the city for many years; and then expressed a belief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>[Pg 221]</span>
+that his religious services were brought nearly to a close.</p>
+
+<p>"After adverting to the great deviations that had taken
+place in the Society, from that plainness and simplicity
+into which our principles would lead us, he added, 'but if
+I should live two or three years longer, what a comfort it
+would be to me to see a reformation in these respects.'
+He then spoke in commemoration of the goodness of his
+Heavenly Father, and closed with these memorable words:
+'As certainly as we are engaged to glorify him in all our
+works, he will as certainly glorify us.'"<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> "Life, Ministry, Last Sickness and Death of Elias Hicks," Philadelphia,
+J. Richards, printer, 130 North Third Street.</p></div>
+
+<p>But the time of putting off the harness was near at
+hand. On the 14th of Second month, 1830, he suffered
+a severe attack of paralysis which involved the entire right
+side, and deprived him of the use of his voice. When
+attacked he was alone in his room, but succeeded in getting
+to his family in an adjoining apartment. He declined all
+medical aid. In a condition of helplessness he lingered
+until Seventh-day the 27th, when he quietly passed away.
+Although he could only communicate by signs, consciousness
+remained until near the end.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral was held in the meeting house at Jericho,
+on Fourth-day, Third month 3d. Without a storm raged
+in strange contrast to the peace and quiet within. A large
+company braved the elements, to pay their respects to his
+worth, as a man and a minister, while a number of visiting
+ministering Friends had sympathetic service at the funeral,
+after which the burial took place in the ground adjoining
+the meeting-house, where he had long worshipped and
+ministered.</p>
+
+<p>The last act performed by Elias Hicks before the
+fatal stroke came, was to write a letter to his friend Hugh
+Judge,<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> of Barnesville, Ohio. Between the two men a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>[Pg 222]</span>
+singular sympathy had long existed, and to Hugh, Elias
+unburdened his spirit in this last word to the world. In
+fact the letter fell from the hand of the writer, after the
+shock. It was all complete with signature and postscript.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Hugh Judge was born about 1750 of Catholic parents. Joined
+Friends in his young manhood in Philadelphia. Removed to Ohio in
+1815. Died Twelfth month 21, 1834. He died while on a religious
+visit to Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Was buried at Kennett
+Square. He was a recorded minister for many years.</p></div>
+
+<p>This letter really summarizes the doctrine, and states
+the practical religion which inspired the ministry and
+determined the life and conduct of this worthy Friend. It
+may be well, with its suggestive postscript, to close this
+record of the life and labors of Elias Hicks:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"Jericho, Second month 14th, 1830.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Hugh: Thy very acceptable letter of the 21st
+ultimo was duly received, and read with interest, tending
+to excite renewed sympathetic and mutual fellow-feeling;
+and brought to my remembrance the cheering salutation
+of the blessed Jesus, our holy and perfect pattern and example,
+to his disciples, viz: 'Be of good cheer, I have
+overcome the world.' By which he assured his disciples,
+that, by walking in the same pathway of self-denial and
+the cross, which he trod to blessedness, they might also
+overcome the world; as nothing has ever enabled any
+rational being, in any age of the world, to overcome the
+spirit of the world, which lieth in wickedness, but the
+cross of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"Some may query, what is the cross of Christ? To
+these I answer, it is the perfect law of God, written on
+the tablet of the heart, and in the heart of every rational
+creature, in such indelible characters that all the power of
+mortals cannot erase nor obliterate. Neither is there any
+power or means given or dispensed to the children of men,
+but this inward law and light, by which the true and saving
+knowledge of God can be obtained. And by this inward
+law and light, all will be either justified or condemned, and
+all be made to know God for themselves, and be left without
+excuse; agreeably to the prophecy of Jeremiah, and the
+corroborating testimony of Jesus in his last counsel and
+command to his disciples, not to depart from Jerusalem
+until they should receive power from on high; assuring
+them that they should receive power when they had re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>[Pg 223]</span>ceived
+the pouring forth of the spirit upon them, which
+would qualify them to bear witness to him in Judea,
+Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth;
+which was verified in a marvellous manner on the day of
+Pentecost, when thousands were converted to the Christian
+faith in one day. By which it is evident that nothing but
+this inward light and law, as it is heeded and obeyed, ever
+did, or ever can make a true and real Christian and child of
+God. And until the professors of Christianity agree to lay
+aside all their non-essentials in religion, and rally to this
+unchangeable foundation and standard of truth, wars and
+fightings, confusion and error will prevail, and the angelic
+song cannot be heard in our land, that of 'glory to God in
+the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men.' But
+when all nations are made willing to make this inward law
+and light the rule and standard of all their faith and works,
+then we shall be brought to know and believe alike, that
+there is but one Lord, one faith, and but one baptism; one
+God and Father, that is above all, through all, and in all;
+and then will all those glorious and consoling prophecies,
+recorded in the scriptures of truth, be fulfilled. Isaiah 2:4.
+'He,' the Lord, 'shall judge among the nations, and rebuke
+many people; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares,
+and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall
+not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn
+war any more.' Isaiah 11. 'The wolf also shall dwell with
+the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and
+the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and
+a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear
+shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and
+the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child
+shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child put
+his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor
+destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth,' that is
+our earthly tabernacles, 'shall be full of the knowledge of
+the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'</p>
+
+<p>"These scripture testimonies give a true and correct
+description of the gospel state, and no rational being can be
+a real Christian and true disciple of Christ until he comes
+to know all these things verified in his own experience, as
+every man and woman has more or less of all those different
+animal propensities and passions in their nature; and they
+predominate and bear rule, and are the source and fountain
+from whence all wars, and every evil work, proceed, and
+will continue as long as man remains in his first nature,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>[Pg 224]</span>
+and is governed by his animal spirit and propensities, which
+constitute the natural man, which Paul tells us, 'receiveth
+not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness
+unto him, neither can he know them, because they are
+spiritually discerned.' This corroborates the declaration
+of Jesus to Nicodemus, that 'except a man be born again he
+cannot see the kingdom of God;' for 'that which is born
+of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
+spirit.'</p>
+
+<p>"Here Jesus assures us, beyond all doubt, that nothing
+but spirit can either see or enter into the kingdom of God;
+and this confirms Paul's doctrine, that 'as many as are led
+by the spirit of God are the sons of God, and joint heirs
+with Christ.' And Jesus assures us, by his declaration to
+his <span class="correction" title="Originally: diciples">disciples</span>, John 14:16-17; 'if ye love me keep my commandments;
+and I will pray the Father and he shall give
+you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever,
+even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive;'
+that is, men and women in their natural state, who have
+not given up to be led by this spirit of truth, that leads and
+guides into all truth; 'because they see him not, neither do
+they know him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with
+you, and shall be in you.' And as these give up to be
+wholly led and guided by him, the new birth is brought
+forth in them, and they witness the truth of another testimony
+of Paul's, even that of being 'created anew in Christ
+Jesus unto good works,' which God had foreordained that
+all his new-born children should walk in them, and thereby
+show forth, by their fruits and good works, that they were
+truly the children of God, born of his spirit, and taught
+of him; agreeably to the testimony of the prophet, that
+'the children of the Lord are all taught of the Lord, and in
+righteousness they are established, and great is the peace
+of his children.' And nothing can make them afraid that
+man can do unto them; as saith the prophet in his appeal
+to Jehovah: 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
+mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.' Therefore
+let every one that loves the truth, for God is truth,
+'trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there
+is everlasting strength.'</p>
+
+<p>"I write these things to thee, not as though thou didst
+not know them, but as a witness to thy experience, as 'two
+are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly
+broken.'</p>
+
+<p>"I will now draw to a close, with just adding, for thy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>[Pg 225]</span>
+encouragement, be of good cheer, for no new thing has
+happened to us; for it has ever been the lot of the righteous
+to pass through many trials and tribulations in their passage
+to that glorious, everlasting peace and happy abode, where
+all sorrow and sighing come to an end; the value of which
+is above all price, for when we have given all that we have,
+and can give, and suffered all that we can suffer, it is still
+infinitely below its real value. And if we are favored to
+gain an inheritance in that blissful and peaceful abode,
+'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are
+at rest,' we must ascribe it all to the unmerited mercy and
+loving kindness of our Heavenly Father, who remains to
+be God over all, blessed forever!</p>
+
+<p>"I will now conclude, and in the fulness of brotherly
+love to thee and thine, in which my family unite, subscribe
+thy affectionate friend,</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+"ELIAS HICKS.
+</p>
+
+<p>"To Hugh Judge:</p>
+
+<p>"Please present my love to all my friends as way
+opens."</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>[Pg 226]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_A" id="APPENDIX_A"></a>A</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">DESCENDANTS OF ELIAS HICKS.</p>
+
+<p>The only lineal descendants of Elias Hicks are through
+his daughters, Abigail and Sarah. Abigail's husband, Valentine,
+was her cousin, and Sarah's husband, Robert Seaman,
+was a relative on the mother's side.</p>
+
+
+<h4>Descendants of Valentine and Abigail Hicks.</h4>
+
+<h4>CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Grandchildren of Elias Hicks.</span>&mdash;Caroline, married
+Dr. William Seaman; Phebe, married Adonijah Underhill (no
+children); Elias Hicks, married Sarah Hicks; Mary (unmarried).</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Dr. William Seaman and Caroline
+Hicks.</span>&mdash;Valentine Hicks Seaman, married Rebecca Cromwell;
+Sarah Seaman, married Henry B. Cromwell; Samuel
+Hicks Seaman, married Hannah Husband.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Elias Hicks and Sarah Hicks.</span>&mdash;Mary,
+married Peter B. Franklin; Elias Hicks (unmarried), deceased;
+Caroline (unmarried), deceased.</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Valentine H. and Rebecca C. Seaman.</span>&mdash;William,
+married Addie W. Lobdell; Caroline (infant);<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a>
+Henry B.,<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> married Grace Dutton; Edwin H. (infant);
+Howard (unmarried), deceased; Valentine H. (unmarried);
+Emily C. (unmarried); Frederic C., married Ethel Lobdell.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Note&mdash;Those marked "(infant)" died in infancy. Those without
+notation are under age and living.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Henry B. Seaman is a graduate of Swarthmore College, class of
+1881, and received degree of C. E. in 1884. Was for three years Chief
+Engineer of the Public Service Commission of Greater New York.
+He resigned this position Tenth month 1, 1910, because he could not
+approve estimates desired by the authorities. Since then these estimates
+have been held up as excessive.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Henry B. and Sarah Seaman Cromwell.</span>&mdash;George<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a>
+(unmarried); Henry B. (unmarried), deceased.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> When Greater New York was incorporated George Cromwell was
+elected President of the Borough of Richmond. Although this borough
+is normally Democratic in its politics, George Cromwell has been
+re-elected, and is the only president the borough has ever had. He
+and Henry B. Seaman are double first cousins.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>[Pg 227]</span></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Samuel H. and Hannah H. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Joseph
+H. (unmarried); Caroline Hicks, married William A.
+Read; Mary T. (unmarried); Franklin (unmarried), deceased;
+Sarah, married Lloyd Saltus.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Peter B. and Mary Hicks Franklin.</span>&mdash;Anne
+M., married Walter A. Campbell.</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of William and Addie Seaman.</span>&mdash;Howard
+L. (unmarried); Jessie M. (unmarried).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Henry B. and Grace D. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Ayres
+C.; Henry Bowman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Frederic C. and Ethel L. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Esther....</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of William A. and Caroline Seaman Read.</span>&mdash;William
+Augustus; Curtis Seaman; Duncan Hicks; R. Bartow;
+Caroline Hicks; Bancroft (infant); Bayard W.; Mary
+Elizabeth; Kenneth B. (infant).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Lloyd and Sarah Seaman Saltus.</span>&mdash;Mary
+Seaman; Ethel S.; Seymour; Lloyd.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Walter Allison and Anne M. Franklin
+Campbell.</span>&mdash;Franklin Allison; Mary Elizabeth.</p>
+
+
+<h4>Descendants of Robert Seaman and Sarah, Daughter of
+Elias Hicks.</h4>
+
+<h4>CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Grandchildren of Elias Hicks.</span>&mdash;Phebe (died); Hannah,
+married Matthew F. Robbins; Willet (died); Elizabeth,
+married Edward Willis; Elias H., married Phebe Underhill;
+Willet H., married Mary Wing; Mary H., married Isaac
+Willis.</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Hannah and Matthew F. Robbins.</span>&mdash;Caroline,
+married Sidney W. Jackson; Walter, married Sarah
+E. Hubbs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Elizabeth and Edward Willis.</span>&mdash;Sarah
+R.; Mary S. (died); Caroline H. (died); Henrietta, married
+Stephen J. Underhill.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Elias H. and Phebe Seaman.</span>&mdash;Mary
+(died); Samuel J., married Matilda W. Willets; Sarah
+(died); Anna; Robert, married Hannah W. Willets; William<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>[Pg 228]</span>
+H., married Margaret J. Laurie; James H., married (1) Bessie
+Bridges; (2) Florence Haviland.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Willet H. and Mary Seaman.</span>&mdash;Edward
+W.; Willet H.; Frank W.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Mary H. and Isaac Willis.</span>&mdash;Henry, married
+June Barnes; Robert S.</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Son of Caroline and Sidney W. Jackson.</span>&mdash;M. Franklin,
+married Annie T. Jackson.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Walter and Sarah E. Jackson.</span>&mdash;Caroline
+J., married William G. Underhill; Annie H., married
+Thomas Rushmore; Cora A., married John Marshall.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Henrietta and Stephen J. Underhill.</span>&mdash;Edward
+W., married Emeline Kissam; Hannah W.; Henry T.,
+married Dorothy Vernon; Arthur.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Samuel J. and Matilda W. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Mary
+W., married Leon A. Rushmore; Samuel J., married
+Ethelena T. Bogart; Anna Louise; Frederick W.; Lewis V.
+(died).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Daughter of Robert and Hannah W. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Phebe
+U.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of William H. and Margaret L. Seaman.</span>&mdash;William
+Laurie; Faith Frances (died).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of James H. and Bessie B. Seaman.</span>&mdash;George
+B.; Elias Haviland.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of James H. and Florence H. Seaman.</span>&mdash;Bertha
+Lucina; Willard H.; Helen U.</p>
+
+<h4>GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Daughter of M. Franklin and Annie T. Jackson.</span>&mdash;Marion
+F.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Caroline J. and William G. Underhill.</span>&mdash;Mildred;
+Irene; Margaret.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Children of Annie H. and Thomas Rushmore.</span>&mdash;Lillian
+A.; Elizabeth A.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Son of Cora A. and John Marshall.</span>&mdash;John W.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Daughter of Henry T. and Dorothy Underhill.</span>&mdash;Winifred.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Son of Mary S. and Leon A. Rushmore.</span>&mdash;Leon A.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>[Pg 229]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_B" id="APPENDIX_B"></a>B</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Letter to Dr. Atlee.<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_164">164</a> of this book.</p></div>
+
+<p>Copy of a letter from Elias Hicks to Dr. Edwin A. Atlee,
+of Philadelphia:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smcap">Jericho</span>, Ninth mo. 27, 1824.
+</p><p>
+"<span class="smcap">My Dear Friend</span>:
+</p>
+
+<p>"Thy very acceptable letter of the 29th ultimo came duly
+to hand, and I have taken my pen not only to acknowledge thy
+kindness, but also to state to thee the unfriendly and unchristian
+conduct of Anna Braithwaite toward me, not only as
+relates to that extract, but in her conversation among Friends
+and others, traducing my religious character, and saying I
+held and promulgated infidel doctrines, etc.&mdash;endeavoring to
+prejudice the minds of Friends against me, behind my back,
+in open violation of gospel order. She came to my house, as
+stated in the extract thou sent me, after the quarterly meeting
+of ministers and elders at Westbury in First month last. At
+that meeting was the first time I saw her, which was about
+five or six months after her arrival in New York. And as I
+had heard her well spoken of as a minister, I could have had
+no preconceived opinion of her but what was favorable, therefore,
+I treated her with all the cordiality and friendship I was
+capable of. She also, from all outward appearance, manifested
+the same; and, after dinner, she requested, in company
+with A. S., a female Friend that was with her, a private
+opportunity with me. So we withdrew into another room,
+where we continued in conversation for nearly two hours.
+And being innocent and ignorant of any cause that I had
+given, on my part, for the necessity of such an opportunity, I
+concluded she had nothing more in view than to have a little
+free conversation on the state of those select meetings.</p>
+
+<p>"But, to my surprise, the first subject she spoke upon,
+was to call in question a sentiment I had expressed in the
+meeting aforesaid, which appeared to me to be so plain and
+simple, that I concluded the weakest member in our society,
+endued with a rational understanding, would have seen the
+propriety of. It was a remark I made on the absence of three
+out of four of the representatives appointed by one of the
+preparative meetings to attend the quarterly meeting. And I
+having long been of the opinion, that much weakness had been
+introduced into our society by injudicious appointments, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>[Pg 230]</span>
+have often been concerned to caution Friends on that account.
+The remark I made was this: that I thought there was something
+wrong in the present instance&mdash;for, as we profess to
+believe in the guidance of the Spirit of Truth as an unerring
+Spirit, was it not reasonable to expect, especially in a meeting
+of ministers and elders, that if each Friend attended to their
+proper gifts, as this Spirit is endued with prescience, that it
+would be much more likely, under its divine influence, we
+should be led to appoint such as would attend on particular
+and necessary occasion, than to appoint those who would not
+attend?</p>
+
+<p>"This idea, she contended, was not correct; and the sentiments
+she expressed on this subject really affected me. To
+think that any, professing to be a gospel minister, called from
+a distant land to teach others, and to be so deficient in knowledge
+and experience, in so plain a case, that I could not well
+help saying to her, that her views were the result of a want
+of religious experience, and that I believed if she improved
+her talent faithfully, she would be brought to see better, and
+acknowledge the correctness of my position. But she replied,
+she did not want to see better. This manifestation of her self-importance,
+lowered her character, as a gospel minister, very
+much in my view; and her subsequent conduct, while she was
+with us, abundantly corroborated and confirmed this view concerning
+her. As to her charge against me, in regard to the
+Scriptures, it is generally incorrect, and some of it false. And
+it is very extraordinary, that she should manifest so much
+seeming friendship for me, when present, and in my absence
+speak against me in such an unbecoming manner. Indeed,
+her conduct toward me, often reminds me of the treachery of
+Judas, when he betrayed his Master with a kiss. And, instead
+of acting toward me as a friend or a Christian, she had been
+watching for evil.</p>
+
+<p>"As to my asserting that I believe the Scriptures were
+held in too high estimation by the professors of Christianity
+in general, I readily admit, as I have asserted it in my public
+communications for more than forty years, but, generally, in
+opposition to those that held them to be the only rule of faith
+and practice; and my views have always been in accordance
+with our primitive Friends on this point. And at divers times,
+when in conversation with hireling teachers, (and at other
+times) I have given it as my opinion, that so long as they
+held the Scriptures to be the only rule of faith and practice,
+and by which they justify wars, hireling ministry, predestination,
+and what they call the ordinances, viz: water baptism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>[Pg 231]</span>
+and the passover supper, mere relics of the Jewish law, so long
+the Scriptures did such, more harm than good; but that the
+fault was not in the Scriptures, but in their literal and carnal
+interpretation of them&mdash;and that would always be the case
+until they came to the Spirit that gave them forth, as no other
+power could break the seal, and open them rightly to us.
+Hence I have observed, in my public communications, and in
+conversation with the members of different denominations, and
+others, who held that the Scriptures are the primary and only
+rule of faith and practice&mdash;that, according to the true analogy
+of reasoning, 'that for which a thing is such&mdash;the thing itself is
+more such'&mdash;as the Spirit was before the Scriptures, and above
+them, and without the Spirit they could not have been written
+or known. And with this simple but conclusive argument, I
+have convinced divers of the soundness of our doctrine in this
+respect&mdash;that not the Scriptures but the Spirit of Truth, which
+Jesus commanded his disciples to wait for, as their only rule,
+they would teach them all things, and guide them into all truth,
+is the primary and only rule of faith and practice, and is the
+only means by which our salvation is effected.</p>
+
+<p>"The extract contains so much inconsistency, and is so
+incorrect, that, as I proceed, it appears less and less worthy
+of a reply, and yet it does contain some truth. I admit that
+I did assert, and have long done it, that we cannot believe
+what we do not understand. This the Scripture affirms, Deut.
+xxix. 29&mdash;'The secret things belong unto the Lord our God,
+but the things that are revealed belong unto us and our children
+forever, that we may do all the words of this law'&mdash;and
+all that is not revealed, is to us the same as a nonentity, and
+will forever remain so, until it is revealed; and that which is
+revealed, enables us, agreeably to the apostle's exhortation, to
+give a reason of the hope that is in us, to honest inquirers. I
+also assert, that we ought to bring all doctrines, whether written
+or verbal, to the test of the Spirit of Truth in our minds, as
+the only sure director relative to the things of God; otherwise,
+why is a manifestation of the Spirit given to every man if <span class="correction" title="Originally: it it">it</span>
+not to profit by; and, if the Scriptures are about the Spirit,
+and a more certain test of doctrines, why is the Spirit given,
+seeing it is useless? But this doctrine, that the Scriptures are
+the only rule of faith and practice, is a fundamental error, and
+is manifested to be so by the Scriptures themselves, and also
+by our primitive Friends' writings. It would seem that Anna
+Braithwaite has strained every nerve in exaggerating my
+words, for I have not said more than R. Barclay, and many
+others of our predecessors, respecting the errors in our English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>[Pg 232]</span>
+translation of the Bible. Hence it appears, that she was determined
+to criminate me at all events, by striving to make me
+erroneous for saying that the Gospel handed to us, was no
+more authentic than many other writings. Surely a person that
+did not assent to this, must be ignorant indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Are not the writings of our primitive Friends as
+authentic as any book or writing, and especially such as were
+written so many centuries ago, the originals of which have
+been lost many hundred years? And are not the histories of
+passing events, written by candid men of the present age,
+which thousands know to be true, as authentic as the Bible?</p>
+
+<p>"Her assertions, that I asked if she could be so ignorant
+as to believe in the account of the creation of the world, and
+that I had been convinced for the last ten years, that it was
+only an allegory, and that it had been especially revealed to
+me at a meeting in Liberty Street about that time; that I asked
+her if she thought Adam was any worse after he had eaten
+the forbidden fruit than before, and that I said I did
+not believe he was; and also her asserting, that I said that
+Jesus Christ was no more than a prophet, and that I further
+said, that if she would read the Scriptures attentively she
+would believe that Jesus was the son of Joseph: these assertions
+of hers, are all false and unfounded, and must be the result
+of a feigned or forced construction of something I might
+have said, to suit her own purpose. For those who do not
+wish to be satisfied with fair reasoning, there is no end to their
+cavilling and misrepresentation. As to what she relates as it
+regards the manner of our coming into the world in our infant
+state, it is my belief, that we come into the world in the
+same state of innocence, and endowed with the same propensities
+and desires that our first parents were, in their primeval
+state; and this Jesus Christ has established, and must be conclusive
+in the minds of all true believers; when he took a little
+child in his arms and blessed him, and said to them around
+him that except they were converted, and become as that
+little child, they should in no case enter into the kingdom of
+heaven. Of course, all the desires and propensities of that
+little child, and of our first parents in their primeval state,
+must have been good, as they were all the endowments of their
+Creator, and given to them for a special purpose. But it is
+the improper and unlawful indulgence of them that is evil.</p>
+
+<p>"I readily acknowledge, I have not been able to see or
+understand, how the cruel persecution and crucifixion of Jesus
+Christ, by the wicked and hard-hearted Jews, should expiate
+my sins; and never have known anything to effect that for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>[Pg 233]</span>
+me, but the grace of God, that taught me, agreeably to the
+apostle's doctrine, to deny all ungodliness and the world's
+lusts, and do live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
+world; and as I have faithfully abode under its teachings, in
+full obedience thereto, I have been brought to believe that my
+sins were forgiven, and I permitted to sit under the Lord's
+teaching, as saith the prophet: 'that the children of the Lord
+are all taught of the Lord, and in righteousness they are established,
+and great is the peace of his children.' And so long as
+I feel this peace, there is nothing in this world that makes me
+afraid, as it respects my eternal condition. But if any of my
+friends have received and known benefit from any outward
+sacrifice, I do not envy them their privilege. But, surely, they
+would not be willing that I should acknowledge as a truth, that
+which I have no kind of knowledge of. I am willing to admit,
+that Divine Mercy is no doubt watching over his rational
+creation for their good, and may secretly work at times for
+their preservation; but, if, in his infinite wisdom and goodness,
+he sees meet to hide it from us, as most consistent with
+his wisdom and our good, let us have a care that we do not,
+in the pride of our hearts, undertake to <span class="correction" title="Originally: prey">pry</span> into his secret
+counsels, lest we offend; but be content with what he is pleased
+to reveal to us, let it be more or less, and, especially, if he is
+pleased to speak peace to our minds. And when he graciously
+condescends to do this, we shall know it to be a peace that
+the world cannot give, with all its enjoyments, neither take
+away, with all its frowns.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall now draw to a close, and, with the salutation of
+gospel love, I subscribe myself thy affectionate and sympathizing
+friend and brother.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span class="smcap">"Elias Hicks.</span>"
+</p>
+
+<p>To Edwin A. Atlee.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_C" id="APPENDIX_C"></a>C</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Portraits.</p>
+
+<p>The cut facing page <a href="#i121">121</a> is a photograph from the painting
+by Henry Ketcham. This was sketched by the artist who was
+in the public gallery of the meeting house at different times
+when Elias Hicks was preaching, his presence being unknown
+to the preacher. It was originally a full-length portrait, but
+many years ago was injured by fire, when it was cut down
+to bust size. For some time it was in the home of the late
+Elwood Walter, of Englewood, N. J. For many years it has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>[Pg 234]</span>
+been in the family of Henry B. Seaman. It is believed that
+the pictures made under direction of the late Edward Hopper,
+had this portrait as their original. The engravings in the
+"History of Long Island" and in the "Complete Works of
+Walt Whitman," are probably based on this portrait. They
+have passed through such a "sleeking-up" process, however,
+as to lack the individuality of the more crude production.</p>
+
+<p>The <a href="#FRONTISPIECE">frontispiece</a> is from a photograph of the bust of
+Elias Hicks, by the sculptor, William Ordway Partridge, and
+was made for Henry B. Seaman. In making the bust the artist
+used the oil painting referred to above, and all of the other
+pictures of Elias Hicks in existence, including the full-length
+silhouette. He also had the bust, said to have been taken
+from the death mask, and from them all attempted to construct
+what may be termed the "ideal" Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_D" id="APPENDIX_D"></a>D</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">The Death Mask.</p>
+
+<p>Much has been written about the death mask of Elias
+Hicks, from which the bust in Swarthmore College, in the
+New York Friend's Library and other places was made.
+That such a mask was taken admits of no doubt, and the
+only clear statement regarding the matter is given below.
+The bust is in the possession of Harry B. Seaman. The
+issue of "Niles Register" referred to was published only
+six weeks after the death of Elias Hicks.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We understand an Italian artist of this city, has secretly
+disinterred the body of Elias Hicks, the celebrated Quaker
+preacher, and moulded his bust. It seems he had applied to the
+friends of the deceased to take a moulding previous to his interment,
+but was refused. Suspicion being excited that the
+grave had been disturbed, it was examined, and some bits of
+plaster were found adhering to the hair of the deceased. The
+enthusiastic Italian was visited, and owned that, as he had been
+denied the privilege of taking a bust before interment, he had
+adopted the only method of obtaining one. We have heard
+nothing more on the subject, except that the bust is a most
+excellent likeness."<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Quoted from New York Constellation, in "Niles Weekly
+Register," April 10, 1830, p. 124.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>[Pg 235]</span></p></div>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_E" id="APPENDIX_E"></a>E</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">A Bit of Advertising.</p>
+
+<p>As showing the way the presence of ministering Friends
+was advertised in Philadelphia eighty-eight years ago, we reproduce
+the following, which appeared in some of the papers<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a>
+of that period:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> The Cabinet, or Works of Darkness Brought to Light. Philadelphia,
+1824, p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Arrived in this city on the 7th inst., Elias Hicks, a distinguished
+minister of the gospel, the Benign Doctrines of
+which he is a faithful embassador, has for many years past
+practically endeavored (both by precept and example) to promulgate
+in its primeval beauty and simplicity, without money
+and without price. Those who are Friends to plain truth
+and evangelical preaching, that have heretofore been edified
+and comforted under his ministry, will doubtless be pleased
+to learn of his arrival, and avail themselves of the present
+opportunity of attending such appointments as he, under the
+direction of Divine influence, may see proper to make in his
+tour of Gospel Love, to the inhabitants of this city and its
+vicinity.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smcap">A Citizen.</span>"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Philadelphia</span>, December 9, 1822.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_F" id="APPENDIX_F"></a>F</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle"><span class="correction" title="Originally: Acknowledgement">Acknowledgment</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The author of this book acknowledges his indebtedness
+in its preparation to the following, who either in furnishing
+data, or otherwise assisted in its preparation: William and
+Margaret L. Seaman, and Samuel J. Seaman, Glen Cove,
+N. Y.; Robert and Anna Seaman, Jericho, N. Y.; Henry B.
+Seaman, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Dr. Jesse H. Green, West Chester,
+Pa.; Mary Willis, Rochester, N. Y.; Ella K. Barnard and
+Joseph J. Janney, Baltimore, Md.; Henry B. Hallock, Brooklyn,
+N. Y.; John Comly, Philadelphia, Pa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>[Pg 236]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3><a name="APPENDIX_G" id="APPENDIX_G"></a>G</h3>
+
+<p class="subtitle">Sources of Information.</p>
+
+<p>In making this book the following are the main sources
+of information that have been consulted; which are referred
+to those who may wish to go into the details of the matter
+involved:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Journal of Elias Hicks, New York, 1832. Published by
+Isaac T. Hopper.</p>
+
+<p>The Lundy Family. By William Clinton Armstrong.
+New Brunswick, 1902.</p>
+
+<p>The Quaker; A Series of Sermons by Members of the
+Society of Friends, Philadelphia, 1827-28. Published by Marcus
+T. C. Gould.</p>
+
+<p>A Series of Extemporaneous Discourses, etc., by Elias
+Hicks. Philadelphia, 1825. Published by Joseph and Edward
+Parker.</p>
+
+<p>Letters of Elias Hicks. Philadelphia, 1861. Published
+by T. Ellwood Chapman.</p>
+
+<p>An Account of the Life and Travels of Samuel Bownas.
+Edited by J. Besse. London, 1756.</p>
+
+<p>Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. II. Buffalo, N. Y., 1885.
+The Christian Literature Publishing Company.</p>
+
+<p>The Quakers. By Frederick Storrs Turner. London,
+1889. Swan, Sounenschein &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<p>A Review of the General and Particular Causes Which
+Have Produced the Late Disorders in the Yearly Meeting of
+Friends Held in Philadelphia. By James Cockburn. Philadelphia,
+1829.</p>
+
+<p>Foster's Report. Two volumes. By Jeremiah J. Foster,
+Master and Examiner in Chancery. Philadelphia, 1831.</p>
+
+<p>Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends
+Held in Philadelphia, 1806.</p>
+
+<p>The Friend; or Advocate of Truth. Philadelphia, 1828.
+Published by M. T. C. Gould.</p>
+
+<p>An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, etc. By
+Robert Barclay. Philadelphia, 1877. Friends' Book Store.</p>
+
+<p>Memoirs of Anna Braithwaite. By her son, J. Bevan
+Braithwaite. London, 1905. Headley Brothers.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian Inquirer. New York, 1826. Published by
+B. Bates.</p>
+
+<p>J. Bevan Braithwaite; A Friend of the Nineteenth Century.
+By His Children. London, 1909. Hodder &amp; Stoughton.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>[Pg 237]</span></p>
+
+<p>Sermons by Elias Hicks, Ann Jones and Others of the
+Society of Friends, etc. Brooklyn, 1828.</p>
+
+<p>Journal of Thomas Shillitoe. London, 1839. Harvey &amp;
+Darton.</p>
+
+<p>Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall.
+By William Darlington. Philadelphia, 1849.</p>
+
+<p>The American Conflict. By Horace Greeley. Hartford,
+Conn., 1864. O. D. Case &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<p>Memoirs of Life and Religious Labors of Edward Hicks.
+Philadelphia, 1851.</p>
+
+<p>Life of Walt Whitman. Henry Bryan Binns.</p>
+
+<p>Complete Works of Walt Whitman. 1902.</p>
+
+<p>History of Long Island.</p>
+
+<p>Proceedings of the Manchester Conference. 1895.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen Grellett. By William Guest. Philadelphia, 1833.
+Henry Longstreth.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>[Pg 238]</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<ul id="indx">
+<li class="ifrst">Abolitionists, Garrisonian, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">After the "Separation," <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Aldrich, Royal, reference to, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Ancestry and Boyhood, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Apostolic Christian, an, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Appendix, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Apprenticeship of E. H., <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Atlee, Dr. Edwin A., E. H.'s letter to, <a href="#APPENDIX_B">Appendix B</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Baltimore Y. M., E. H. attends, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Baptists, Southern, reference to, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Barclay's Apology, quotation from, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Bartram, John, reference to, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sketch of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his supposed deism, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Beacon Controversy, the, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Berry, Mary, at Easton, Md., <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Binns, Henry Byran, describes E. H.'s preaching, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Black people commended, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Bownas, Samuel (note), <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Braithwaite, Anna, referred to, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to E. H., <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to Friend in Flushing, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to E. H. from England, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to E. H. from Kipp's Bay, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">advised by Jericho ministers and elders, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">late reference to "Hicksism," <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Braithwaite, Isaac, reference to (note), <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Braithwaite, J. Bevan (note), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Camp meetings, E. H. condemns, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Carpenter. E. H. apprenticed as, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Christ, Divinity of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Christ as saviour, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-<a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Clarkson, Thomas, receives Hicks' pamphlet, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Clement of Alexandria, reference to, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Conflict, The American (note), <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Cotton gin, invention of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Court Crier, E. H. imitates, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Cropper, James (note), <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">letter from E. H., <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Dancing, opinion of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Discipline, E. H.'s regard for, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Disownment and doctrine, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Disownments for doctrine, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H. on, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">during slavery agitation, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Division, before the, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Doctrine, statement of by Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Dutchess County, separation in, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Early labors in ministry, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Easton, Md., letter from, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Election, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Evans, Jonathan, opposes E. H., <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">clerk Meeting for Sufferings, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">expounds orthodox doctrine, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Exeter, Pa., E. H. writes letter from, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Family, the Hicks, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H.'s statement about, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">children in, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+<li class="indx">First Trouble in Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Fisher, Samuel R., entertains E. H., <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Flushing, O., E. H. meets opposition in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">also (note), <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Free Masonry, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>[Pg 239]</span>Friends, Progressive (note), <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Garrison, William Lloyd, on Society of Friends, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Gibbons, James S., is disowned, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Goldsmith, Oliver, extract from "Deserted Village," <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Gould, Marcus T. C., publisher "The Quaker," <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Greeley, Horace, quotation from, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Green, Dr. Jesse C., reference to, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">recollections of E. H., <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Green Street Monthly Meeting, center of difficulty, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Grellett, Stephen, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">questions orthodoxy of E. H., <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Gurney, Joseph John, reference to, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Harris, Dr. J. Rendell, criticises E. H., <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Heaven and hell, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Abigail, daughter of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">picture of, facing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, David, son of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Edward, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">estimate of E. H., <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Elias, apostolic Christian, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his type of Quakerism, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reading Scriptures, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to old folks, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">objects to flower bed, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sells wheat at low price to neighbors, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">favors disciplinary equality for women, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">birth, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to parents, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">death of mother, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to singing and running horses, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">apprenticed to learn carpenter's trade, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on dancing, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-<a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on hunting, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to possibly lost condition, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">statement regarding his marriage, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">marriage application in monthly meeting, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">takes up residence in Jericho, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">a surveyor, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">appears in the ministry, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">regard for discipline, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">recorded a minister, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">passes through military lines in Revolutionary War, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">makes first long religious journey, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visits Nine Partners, Vermont, etc., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visits New England, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visits Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">first sermon against slavery, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">letter from Easton, Md., <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visit to states south of New York, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visit to Canada, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visit New England meetings, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">goes to Ohio, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">at Baltimore Y. M., <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">starts on last long religious journey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">meets opposition at Westland, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">experience at Brownsville, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">at Mt. Pleasant, O., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">attends Ohio Y. M., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">disturbance at Flushing, O., <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">attends Indiana Y. M., <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">trouble at West Grove, Pa., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">extent of his travels, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">ideas about the ministry, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">speaks of his own ministry, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">against premeditation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">measuring the ministry, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">imitates court crier, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">advice touching meetings and ministry, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">is frequently indisposed, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his Jericho property, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">statement about his wife, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">as a father, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">letters to his wife, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on the slavery question, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">various opinions, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on the joys of labor, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">ideas regarding railroads, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">ideas about Thanksgiving, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">opposes Freemasonry, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">some points of doctrine, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">has trouble in Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes letter to Philadelphia elders, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">in the time of unsettlement, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">three sermons reviewed, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">is visited by Anna Braithwaite, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to Dr. Atlee, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes to Anna Braithwaite, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">in Dutchess County with Ann Jones, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">contact with T. Shillitoe, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">at Mt. Pleasant and Short Creek, O., <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">disowned by Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">ideas about disownment, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">at Rose and Hester Streets, New York, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">remarks on reception by Friends, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">assumes the humorous role, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>[Pg 240]</span>received by Friends after long western trip, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">death of wife, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">visits Dutchess County, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">preaches in statehouse, Albany, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">letter to Johnson Legg, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his dying testimony, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">critics of, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">a logical thinker, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his kindness to poor, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">deals with corn thief, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his dying testimony against slavery, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sufferings for peace principles, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">helps organize charity society, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">putting off harness, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his last traveling minute, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">attends his last monthly meeting, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">suffers stroke of paralysis, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his death, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">his funeral, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">last letter to Hugh Judge, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Elias, Jr., son of E. H., <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Elizabeth, daughter of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">picture of, facing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> ...</li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Sir Ellis, reference to, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks Family, the, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Jonathan, son of E. H., <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, John, son of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Jemima, wife of E. H., estimate of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">letters to, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">death of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">funeral of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Martha, daughter of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">picture of, facing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Sarah, daughter of E. H., <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Judge Thomas, great-grandfather E. H., <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">befriends S. Bownas, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicksville, reference to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hicks, Valentine, son-in-law of E. H., reference to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">President Long Island Railroad, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">picture of, facing, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hodgson, W., reference to E. H.'s sentiments, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Home at Jericho, the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Hopper, Isaac T., reference to disownment of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Humor, E. H. indulges in, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Immortality, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Indiana Y. M., E. H. attends, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Inquirer, The Christian (note), <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Introduction, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Jackson, Halliday, arrested at Ohio Y. M., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">statement about (note), <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Jericho, home at, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Jericho Monthly Meeting, members at time of "separation," <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H. advises, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Jesus, death and resurrection of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Johnson, Oliver, on abolition claims of Friends, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Jones, Ann, in Dutchess County, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">extracts from sermons, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Jones, George, reference to, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Judge, Hugh, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H.'s letter to, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Keith, George, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Kennett Monthly Meeting, extract from minutes, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Kingston, Canada, E. H. writes letter from, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Labor, ideas about, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Lamb, blood of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Lewis, Evan (note), <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Liberator, the, quotations from, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Lloyd, Isaac, statement by, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Lost condition, reference to, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Lundy, Benjamin, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Manchester Conference, proceedings of (note), <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">quotation from, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Marriage of E. H., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><span class="correction" title="Originally: Marriot">Marriott</span>, Charles, his disownment, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Meeting ministers and elders, a visiting committee, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Meeting for Sufferings, to control membership, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Merritt, Jesse, travels with E. H., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">is homesick, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mifflin, Daniel, emancipates slaves, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mifflin, Warner, emancipates slaves, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">presents memorial to Congress, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mind, effect on body, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>[Pg 241]</span>Minister, E. H. recorded as, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Ministry, E. H.'s first appearance in, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">ideas about, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">speaks of his own, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">measuring the, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Minute, E. H.'s last traveling, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Miraculous conception, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Monthly Meeting, E. H. attends his last, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mosheim's <span class="correction" title="Originally: Ecclesiatical">Ecclesiastical</span> History, reference to, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mott, Adam (note), <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mott, James, Sr., reference to (note), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes E. H., <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">criticises E. H., <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mott, James and Lucretia, reference to, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Mt. Pleasant, O., disturbance in meeting at, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">Yearly Meeting 1828 at, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H. and T. Shillitoe at, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">New England Y. M. visited by E. H., <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">attended by English Friends, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+<li class="indx">New Jersey, Friends in, approve E. H., <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+<li class="indx">New York Y. M., attended by English Friends, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">by T. Shillitoe, 1828, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">extract from minute of, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">T. Shillitoe objects to visitors in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Nine Partners, sermon at, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Ohio Y. M. attended by E. H., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Osborn, Charles, prays and preaches two hours, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Paine, Thomas, referred to, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H. on, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H. compared with, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Parker's, Hicks's sermons, extracts from, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Philadelphia Elders write E. H., <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings starts charge of E. H.'s unsoundness, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">issues statement of doctrine, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Pine Street Monthly Meeting offers affront to E. H., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Property, E. H.'s views about, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Quakerism, type of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Quaker," "The, extracts from, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Quaker creed, a sort of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Railroad, E. H. opposes, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">the Long Island, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">Baltimore and Ohio, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">the first (note), <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Recollections, reminiscences and testimonies, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Religious journeys in 1828, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Routh, Martha, writes letter to E. H., <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Roy, Rammouhan, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">writes E. H., <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Salvation, universal, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Salvation, vital, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Satan, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Schools, public, ideas about, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Seaman, Gideon, reference to, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Seaman, Jemima, reference to, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">marries E. H., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Seaman, Captain John, moves to Long Island, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Seaman, Jonathan, father of Jemima, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Seaman, Lazarus, Puritan divine, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Sermons, length of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Shillitoe, Thomas, reference to, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">declines to visit E. H., <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">refers to his traveling minute, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">goes west, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">converses with ferry keeper, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">at Mt. Pleasant, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Sin and transgression, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Singing, reference to, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Slavery, first sermon against, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Slavery question, the, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">Friends on, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">pamphlet by E. H. on, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Southern Q. M. members of, on E. H., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Stabler, Deborah and James, sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst"><span class="correction" title="Originally: Tallock">Tallack</span>, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Thanksgiving, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Thomas, Philip E., reference to, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">sketch of (note), <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>[Pg 242]</span>Three sermons reviewed, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Time of unsettlement, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Titus, Daniel, traveling companion of E. H., <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Turner, Frederick Storrs, reference to, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on E. H., <a href="#Page_203">203</a>-<a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Unitarianism, E. H. on, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">in New England, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Unsoundness, charge of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">War, Revolutionary, E. H. passes military lines, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">E. H.'s "sufferings" during, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Westbury Monthly Meeting, members at the time of "separation," <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting (note), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">orders E. H. home, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">membership of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">disowns E. H., <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Wharton, William, reference to, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Wheat, E. H. sells at low price, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Whitall, Joseph, reports E. H. unsound, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+<li class="indx">White, George F., influential in disownment of Isaac T. Hopper, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">on slave labor, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">attacks various organizations, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Whitman, Walt, estimation of E. H., <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">hears E. H. preach, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">describes E. H.'s preaching, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willets, Deborah (note), <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">extract from letter, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willets, Jacob (note), <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">statement about division in meetings, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willets, Joshua, son-in-law of E. H., <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willis, Edmund, traveling companion of E. H., <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willis, John, traveling companion of E. H., <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willis, Mary, reference to, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">her recollections of E. H., <a href="#Page_212">212</a>-<a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Willis, Thomas and Phebe, oppose E. H., <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">dealt with by Jericho Monthly Meeting, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub">reference to, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Women, equality of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+<li class="indx">Woolman, John, on slavery, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+<li class="indx">World, the, against mixing with, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-<a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<h3>APPENDIX.</h3>
+
+<ul id="index-appendix">
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_A">A</a>, Descendants of Elias Hicks, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_B">B</a>, Letter to Dr. Atlee, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>-<a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_C">C</a>, The Portraits, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_D">D</a>, The Death Mask, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_E">E</a>, A Bit of <span class="correction" title="Originally: Advertisting">Advertising</span>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><a href="#APPENDIX_F">F</a>, Acknowledgment, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+<li class="indx"><span class="correction" title="Originally omitted."><a href="#APPENDIX_G">G</a>, Sources of Information, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_237">237</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+<div class="chap transnote bbox">
+<h2><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Alphabetization has been fixed in the index and page order in the List
+of Illustrations was also fixed; however no content was changed, and
+the changes are not noted in the detailed changes. Links in the List of
+Illustrations go to the images, which may have been moved from the page
+indicated.</p>
+
+<p>Archaic, unusual and inconsistent spellings have been maintained as in
+the original. Obvious typos have been fixed, as detailed below.
+Corrections are shown in the text like <span class="correction" title="Original text">this</span>.
+<span class="not-hh">Mousing over the change will show the original text.</span></p>
+
+<p class="hh-only">The cover was produced at PGDP.net and is in the public domain.</p>
+<table id="tn-detail" summary="Details of the changes during transcription.">
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_4">4</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Transcriber's Note</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan="2">Added to Table of Contents by Transcriber.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>:</td><td class="tntop">"At a monthly meeting held in the meeting house</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>"At a monthly meting held in the meeting house</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>:</td><td class="tntop">appearing to obstruct their proceedings in</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>appearing to obestruct their proceedings in</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_29">29</a>:</td><td class="tntop">kept sweet and clean, consistent with</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>kept sweet and clean, consitent with</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_36">36</a>:</td><td class="tntop">some present who were slaveholders were</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>some present who were slave-holders were</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_53">53</a>:</td><td class="tntop">which had divided the Society of Friends.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>which had divided the Soicety of Friends.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_65">65</a>:</td><td class="tntop">his willingness to "famish the people from words,"</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>his willingess to "famish the people from words,"</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_66">66</a>:</td><td class="tntop">from cellar wall to ridge-pole</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>from celler wall to ridge-pole</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_72">72</a>:</td><td class="tntop">She passed away in 1871.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>She passed away in 1781.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_76">76</a>:</td><td class="tntop">one wishes for more description, relating to the</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>one wishes for more discription, relating to the</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_86">86</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Of this Address, Horace Greeley says,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Of this Address, Horace Greely says,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_97">97</a>:</td><td class="tntop">more delightful and profitable instruction</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>more delightful and profitable instructtion</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_101">101</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Observation, he said, led him to believe</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Observation, he said, lead him to believe</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_106">106</a> (note):</td><td class="tntop">"Ante-Nicene Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>"Anti-Nicene Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_122">122</a>:</td><td class="tntop">from change in Zion.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>from change in zion</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_128">128</a>:</td><td class="tntop">in the early part of Twelfth month,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>in the early part of Twefth month,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_129">129</a>:</td><td class="tntop">believing that Elias succeeded in measurably</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>believing that Elias succeeded in measureably</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_131">131</a>:</td><td class="tntop">who made the above statements which</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>who made the above statments which</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_131">131</a>:</td><td class="tntop">"THOMAS WISTAR."</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>"THOMAS WISTER."</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_133">133</a>:</td><td class="tntop">within the bounds of Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>within the bounds of Philadelphia Quartely Meeting</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_141">141</a>:</td><td class="tntop">satisfactory sacrifice and not otherwise.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>satisfactory sacrifice and no otherwise.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_160">160</a>:</td><td class="tntop">is to be to the children of men</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>is to be the children of men</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_165">165</a>:</td><td class="tntop">the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Savious</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_171">171</a> (note):</td><td class="tntop">Taken in short-hand by Henry Hoag, p. 20.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Taken in shorthand by Henry Hoag, p. 20.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_173">173</a>:</td><td class="tntop">The blood of Christ that is immortal</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>The blood of Chirst that is immortal</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_206">206</a>:</td><td class="tntop">many of Elias Hicks' assertions are too blasphemous</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>many of Elias Hick's assertions are too blasphemous</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_206">206</a> (note):</td><td class="tntop">and incurred the enmity of his family.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>and incurred the emnity of his family.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_224">224</a>:</td><td class="tntop">his disciples, John 14:16-17;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>his diciples, John 14:16-17;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_231">231</a>:</td><td class="tntop">the Spirit given to every man if it not to profit by;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>the Spirit given to every man if it it not to profit by;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_233">233</a>:</td><td class="tntop">undertake to pry into his secret</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>undertake to prey into his secret</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_235">235</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Acknowledgment.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Acknowledgement.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_240">240</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Marriott, Charles, his disownment, 87</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Marriot, Charles, his disownment, 87</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_241">241</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, reference to, 105</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Mosheim's Ecclesiatical History, reference to, 105</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_241">241</a>:</td><td class="tntop">Tallack, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, 206</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>Tallock, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, 206</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_242">242</a>:</td><td class="tntop">E, A Bit of Advertising, 235</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>Originally:</td><td>E, A Bit of Advertisting, 235</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tntop">Page <a href="#Page_242">242</a>:</td><td class="tntop">G, Sources of Information, 236-237</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td colspan="2">Originally omitted from index.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks, by 
+Henry Watson Wilbur
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks, by 
+Henry Watson Wilbur
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks
+
+Author: Henry Watson Wilbur
+
+Contributor: Elizabeth Powell Bond
+
+Release Date: November 3, 2015 [EBook #50374]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND LABORS OF ELIAS HICKS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman, Library of Congress and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE AND LABORS
+
+OF
+
+ELIAS HICKS
+
+
+BY
+
+Henry W. Wilbur
+
+
+Introduction by
+
+ELIZABETH POWELL BOND
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+Published by Friends' General Conference Advancement Committee
+
+1910
+
+
+COPYRIGHTED 1910 BY
+HENRY W. WILBUR
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                                       5
+
+  AUTHOR'S PREFACE                                            7
+
+  INTRODUCTION                                               11
+
+  CHAPTER I, Ancestry and Boyhood                            17
+
+  CHAPTER II, His Young Manhood                              22
+
+  CHAPTER III, First Appearance in the Ministry              28
+
+  CHAPTER IV, Early Labors in the Ministry                   32
+
+  CHAPTER V, Later Ministerial Labors                        38
+
+  CHAPTER VI, Religious Journeys in 1828                     46
+
+  CHAPTER VII, Ideas About the Ministry                      57
+
+  CHAPTER VIII, The Home at Jericho                          66
+
+  CHAPTER IX, The Hicks Family                               71
+
+  CHAPTER X, Letters to His Wife                             76
+
+  CHAPTER XI, The Slavery Question                           84
+
+  CHAPTER XII, Various Opinions                              95
+
+  CHAPTER XIII, Some Points of Doctrine                     107
+
+  CHAPTER XIV, Before the Division                          121
+
+  CHAPTER XV, First Trouble in Philadelphia                 126
+
+  CHAPTER XVI, The Time of Unsettlement                     139
+
+  CHAPTER XVII, Three Sermons Reviewed                      152
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII, The Braithwaite Controversy                161
+
+  CHAPTER XIX, Ann Jones in Dutchess County                 171
+
+  CHAPTER XX, The Experience with T. Shillitoe              181
+
+  CHAPTER XXI, Disownment and Doctrine                      188
+
+  CHAPTER XXII, After the "Separation"                      195
+
+  CHAPTER XXIII, Friendly and Unfriendly Critics             202
+
+  CHAPTER XXIV, Recollections, Reminiscences and Testimonies 211
+
+  CHAPTER XXV, Putting off the Harness                       218
+
+  APPENDIX                                                   226
+
+  TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+  ELIAS HICKS (from bust, by Partridge)       Frontispiece
+
+  HICKS HOUSE AND JERICHO MEETING HOUSE, facing         57
+
+  CHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS, facing                       97
+
+  FACSIMILE OF LETTER, facing                          105
+
+  ELIAS HICKS (from painting, by Ketcham), facing      121
+
+  SURVEYOR'S PLOTTING, BY ELIAS HICKS, facing          144
+
+  BURYING GROUND AT JERICHO, facing                    216
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+Elias Hicks was a much misunderstood man in his own time, and the
+lapse of eighty years since his death has done but little to make him
+known to the passing generations. His warm personal friends, and of
+them there were many, considered him little less than a saint; his
+enemies, some of whom were intensely bitter in their personal feeling,
+whatever may have been the basis of their judgment, believed him to be
+a man whose influence was malevolent and mischievous. It is no part
+of the purpose of this book to attempt to reconcile the conflicting
+estimates touching the life and character of this remarkable man.
+On the contrary, our hope is to present him as he was, in his own
+environment, and not at all as he might have been had he lived in our
+time, or as his admirers would have him, to make him conform to their
+own estimate. In this biographical task, Elias Hicks becomes largely
+his own interpreter. As he measured himself in private correspondence
+and in public utterance, so this book will endeavor to measure him.
+
+We believe that it is not too much to say that he carried the
+fundamental idea of the Society of Friends, as delivered by George Fox,
+to its logical conclusion, as applied to thought and life, more clearly
+and forcibly than any of his predecessors or contemporaries. Not a few
+of those who violently opposed him, discounted the position of Fox
+and Barclay touching the Inner Light, and gave exaggerated importance
+to the claims of evangelical theology. Whatever others may have
+thought, Elias Hicks believed that he preached Christianity of the pure
+apostolic type, and Quakerism as it was delivered by the founders. It
+should be remembered that the conformist and non-conformist disputants
+of the seventeenth century talked as savagely about Fox as the early
+nineteenth century critics did about Hicks. In fact, to accept the
+theory of Fox about the nature and office of the indwelling spirit,
+necessarily develops either indifference or opposition to the plans and
+theories of what was in the time of Elias Hicks, if it is not now, the
+popularly accepted theology.
+
+No attempt has been made to write a comprehensive and detailed history
+of the so-called "separation." So far, however, as the trouble related
+to Elias Hicks, it has been considered, and as much light as possible
+has been thrown on the case. Necessarily this does not admit of very
+much reference to the setting up of separate meetings, which followed
+the open rupture of 1827-28, or the contests over property which
+occurred after the death of Elias Hicks. Even the causes of the trouble
+in the Society only appear as they seem necessary to make plain the
+feeling of Elias Hicks in the case, and the attitude of his opponents
+toward him.
+
+In dealing with the doctrines of Elias Hicks, or his views about
+various subjects, we have endeavored to avoid the one-sided policy,
+and to discriminate between the matters which would be accepted by the
+majority of those Friends to-day who are erroneously made to bear the
+name of Elias Hicks, and the theories which they now repudiate. On the
+other hand, his most conservative and peculiar ideas are given equal
+prominence with those which more nearly conform to present-day thought.
+
+In stating cases of antagonism, especially where it appeared in public
+meetings, we have endeavored rather to give samples, than to repeat and
+amplify occurrences where the same purpose and spirit were exhibited.
+The citations in the book should, therefore, be taken as types, and not
+as mere isolated or extraordinary occurrences.
+
+References to the descendants of Elias Hicks, and other matters
+relating to his life, which do not seem to naturally belong in the
+coherent and detailed story, will be found in the appendix. This is
+also true of the usual acknowledgment of assistance, and the reference
+to the published sources of information consulted by the author in
+writing the book.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Now and again a human life is lived in such obedience to the "heavenly
+vision" that it becomes an authority in other lives. The unswerving
+rectitude; whence is its divine directness? the world has to ask. Its
+clear-sightedness; how comes it that the eye is single to the true
+course? Its strength to endure; from what fountain flows unfailing
+strength? Its quickening sympathy; what is the sweet secret?
+
+The thought of the world fixes itself into stereotyped and imprisoning
+forms from which only the white heat of the impassioned seer and
+prophet can slowly liberate it. At last the world ceases to persecute
+or to crucify its liberator, and lo! an acknowledged revelation of God!
+This came to pass in the seventeenth century, when it was given George
+Fox to see and to proclaim that "there was an anointing within man to
+teach him, and that the Lord would teach him, himself."
+
+The eighteenth century developed another teacher in the religious
+society of Friends, whose message has been a distinctly leavening
+influence in the thought of the world. It is not easy to account for
+Elias Hicks. He was not the "son of a prophet." Nor was he a gift from
+the _schools_ of the time in which he lived. In the "Journal of His
+Life and Religious Labours," published in 1832 by Isaac T. Hopper,
+there is no reference to school days.
+
+There is one clue to this man that may explain much to us. Of his
+ancestry he says in the restrained language characteristic of his
+writings, "My parents were descended from reputable families, and
+sustained a good character among their friends and those who knew
+them." Here, then, is the rock-foundation upon which he builded, the
+factor which could not be spared from the life which he lived--that in
+his veins was the blood of those who had "sustained a good character
+among those who knew them." Some of the leisure of his youth had been
+given to fishing and fowling, which he looked back to as wholesome
+recreation, since he mostly preferred going alone. While he waited
+in stillness for the coming of the fowl, 'his mind was at times so
+taken up in divine meditations, that the opportunities were seasons
+of instruction and comfort to him.' Out of these meditations grew
+the conviction in his tendered soul that it was wanton diversion for
+himself and his companions to destroy the small birds that could be of
+no use to them.
+
+Recalling his youth, he writes: "Some of my leisure hours were occupied
+in reading the Scriptures, in which I took considerable delight, and
+it tended to my real profit and religious improvement." It may be that
+this great classic in English, as well as library of ancient history,
+and book of spiritual revelation, was not only the food that stimulated
+his spiritual growth, but also took the place to him, in some measure,
+of the schools as a means of culture. It is plain to see that he had
+what is the first requisite for a student--a hungering mind. The
+alphabet opened to him the ways and means, which he used as far as he
+could, for the satisfying of this divine hunger. A new book possessed
+for him such charm, it is said, that his friends who invited him for
+a social visit, knowing this, were careful to put the new books out
+of sight, lest he should become absorbed in them, and they lose his
+ever-welcome and very entertaining conversation. He even had experience
+as a teacher; and the testimony is given by an aged Friend, once
+his pupil: "The manners of Elias Hicks were so mild, his deportment
+so dignified, and his conversation so instructive, that it left an
+impression for good on many of his pupils' minds that time never
+effaced."
+
+That he had not the teaching of the schools narrowed his own resources,
+and, doubtless, restricted his field of vision. But such a life as
+his, that garnered wisdom more than knowledge of books, is a great
+encouragement to those who have not had the opportunities of the
+schools. We might not know without being told that he had missed from
+his equipment a college degree; but we do know that his endowment of
+sound mind was supplemented with incorruptible character; we do know
+that his life was founded upon belief in everlasting truth and an
+unchanging integrity. The record of his unfolding spiritual life shows
+that
+
+  "So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
+    So near is God to man,
+  When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,'
+    The youth replies, 'I can.'"
+
+There is evidence that Elias Hicks had not only a hungering mind, but
+that he had in marked degree the open mind, and that he accorded to
+others liberty of opinion. It is said that he was unwilling that his
+discourses be printed, lest they become a bondage to other minds. He
+wrote to his friend, William Poole: "Therefore every generation must
+have more light than the preceding one; otherwise, they must sit down
+in ease in the labour and works of their predecessors." And he left a
+word of caution to approaching age, when he said in a meeting in New
+York: "The old folks think they have got far enough, they are settling
+on the lees, they are blocking up the way." It does not disturb my
+thought of him that my own mother remembered a mild rebuke from him
+for the modest flower-bed that brightened the door-yard of her country
+home. For I discover in him rudiments of the love for beauty. A
+minister among Friends was once his guest during the harvest season
+on Long Island, and recalled long after that, when the hour arrived
+for the mid-week meeting, he came in from the harvest field, and not
+only exchanged his working for his meeting garments, but added his
+gloves, although it was hot, midsummer weather. There was certainly
+the rudimentary love for beauty in this scrupulous regard for the
+proprieties; but it was kept in such severe check that he could not
+justify the spending of time upon a flower-border. The poet had not
+then expressed for us the sweet garden prayer that might have brought
+to his sensitive mind a new view of the purpose and value of the
+flower-border:
+
+  "That we were earthlings and of earth must live,
+    Thou knowest, Allah, and did'st give us bread;
+  Yea, and remembering of our souls, didst give
+    Us food of flowers; thy name be hallowed!"
+
+From the days in which he preferred his hours of solitude in fishing
+as opportunities for "divine meditations" we can trace his steady
+spiritual growth. While his business life was henceforth subordinated
+to his labors among men to promote the life of the spirit, he was never
+indifferent to the exact discharge of his own financial obligations;
+nor was he indifferent to the needs of others. One incident surely
+marks him as belonging to the School of Christ: "Once when harvests
+were light and provisions scarce and high, his own wheat fields yielded
+abundantly. Foreseeing the scarcity and consequent rise in prices,
+speculators sought early to buy his wheat. He declined to sell.
+They offered him large prices, and renewed their visits repeatedly,
+increasing the price each time. Still he refused to sell, even for the
+unprecedented sum of three dollars a bushel. But by and by, when his
+poorer neighbors, whose crops were light, began to need, he invited
+them to come and get as much wheat as they required for use, at the
+usual price of one dollar a bushel."
+
+He entered into the life of his community and of his times,
+anticipating by nearly a century the work of Friends' Philanthropic
+Committees of the present day. It is related that he was much opposed
+to an attempt to establish a liquor-selling tavern in the Jericho
+neighborhood--that when he saw strangers approaching he would invite
+them to accept his own hospitality, thus making unnecessary the
+tavern-keeping business in the sparsely settled country town.
+
+We would expect that, with his sense of justice and his appreciation of
+values, Elias Hicks would place men and women side by side, not only
+in the home, but also in the larger household of faith, and in the
+affairs of the world. It is remembered that his face was set in this
+direction--that, strict Society-disciplinarian as he was, he advocated
+a change in the Discipline to allow women a consulting voice in making
+and amending the Discipline.
+
+It must be borne in mind that he lived through the Revolutionary period
+of 1776, and through the War of 1812. So true was he to his convictions
+against war that he would not allow himself to benefit by the advanced
+prices in foodstuffs; and we are told that the records of his monthly
+meeting show that he sacrificed much of his property by adherence to
+his peace principles.
+
+Neither can we forget the testing that came to him in the institution
+of slavery. For, according to the custom of the times, his own father
+was the owner of slaves. His open mind responded to the labors of a
+committee of the New York Yearly Meeting; and upon the freeing of his
+father's slaves, he ever after considered their welfare, making such
+restitution as he could for past injustice.
+
+To his daughter, Martha Hicks, he wrote: "My dear love to thee, to thy
+dear mother, who next to the Divine Blesser has been the joy of my
+youth, and who, I trust and hope, will be the comfort of my declining
+years. O dear child, cherish and help her, for she hath done abundance
+for thee."
+
+These fruits of the religious faith of Elias Hicks are offered as the
+test given us by the Great Teacher himself, by which to know the life
+of a man. They mark a life rooted in the life of God. Imperishable
+as the root whence they grew, may they feed the souls of men from
+generation to generation, satisfying the hungry, strengthening the
+weak, and making all glad in the joy of each! Thus it is permitted to
+be "still praising Him."
+
+                                        ELIZABETH POWELL BOND.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Ancestry and Boyhood.
+
+
+The Hicks family is English in its origin, authentic history tracing
+it clearly back to the fourteenth century. By a sort of genealogical
+paradox, a far-away ancestor of the apostle of peace in the eighteenth
+century was a man of war, for we are told that Sir Ellis Hicks was
+knighted on the battlefield of Poitiers in 1356, nearly four hundred
+years before the birth of his distinguished descendant on Long Island,
+in America.
+
+From the best available data, it is believed that the progenitor of
+the Hicks family on Long Island arrived in America in 1638, and came
+over from the New England mainland about 1645, settling in the town
+of Hempstead. A relative, Robert by name, came over with the body of
+Pilgrims arriving in Massachusetts in 1621.
+
+John Hicks, the pioneer, was undoubtedly a man of affairs, with that
+strong character which qualifies men for leadership. In the concerns of
+the new community he was often drafted for important public service. In
+Seventh month, 1647, it became necessary to reach a final settlement
+with the Indians for land purchased from them by the colonists the
+year before. The adjustment of this transaction was committed to John
+Hicks by his neighbors. When, in 1663, the English towns on the island
+and the New York mainland created a council whose aim it was to secure
+aid from the General Court at Hartford against the Dutch, John Hicks
+was made a delegate from Long Island. In 1665 Governor Nicoll, of New
+York, called a convention to be composed of two delegates from each
+town in Westchester County and on Long Island, "to make additions and
+alterations to existing laws." John Hicks was chosen delegate from the
+town of Hempstead.
+
+Thomas, the great grandfather of Elias, was in 1691 appointed the first
+judge of Queens County, by Governor Andross, which office he held for
+a number of years, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his
+constituents.
+
+The town of Hempstead is on the north side of Long Island, and borders
+on the Sound. There Elias Hicks, the fifth in line of descent from
+the pioneer John, was born on the 19th of Third month, 1748. He was
+the fourth child of John and Martha Smith Hicks. Of the ancestry of
+the mother of Elias little is known. There is no evidence that the
+ancestors of Elias on either side were members of the Society of
+Friends, still they seem to have had much in common with Friends,
+and, at any rate, were willing to assist the peculiar people when the
+heavy hand of persecution fell upon them. In this connection we may
+quote the words of Elias himself. He says: "My father was a grandson
+of Thomas Hicks, of whom our worthy friend Samuel Bownas[1] makes
+honorable mention in his Journal, and by whom he was much comforted
+and strengthened when imprisoned through the envy of George Keith,[2]
+at Jamaica, on Long Island."[3]
+
+[1] Samuel Bownas was a minister among Friends, and was born in
+Westmoreland, England, about 1667. He secured a minute to make a
+religious visit to America the latter part of 1701. Ninth month 30,
+1702, he was bound over to the Queens County Grand Jury, the charge
+against him being that in a sermon he had spoken disparagingly of the
+Church of England. The jury really failed to indict him, which greatly
+exasperated the presiding judge, who threatened to deport him to London
+chained to the man-of-war's deck. It was at this point that Thomas
+Hicks, whom Bownas erroneously concluded was Chief Justice of the
+Province, appeared to comfort and assure him that he could not thus be
+deported to England. Bownas continued in jail for about a year, during
+which time he learned the shoemaker's trade. He was finally liberated
+by proclamation.
+
+[2] George Keith, born near Aberdeen, 1639, became connected with
+the Society of Friends about 1662. He came to America in 1684, but
+finally separated from Friends, and endeavored to organize a new sect
+to be called Christian, or Baptist Quakers. This effort failed, and
+about 1700 he entered the Church of England. After this he violently
+criticised Friends, and repeatedly sought controversy with them. He had
+quite an experience of this sort with Samuel Bownas, and was considered
+the real instigator of the complaint on which Bownas was lodged in
+jail. Keith looms up large in all that body of history and biography
+unfriendly to the Society of Friends.
+
+[3] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 7.
+
+We are told in the Journal, "Neither of my parents were members in
+strict fellowship with any religious society, until some little time
+before my birth."[4] It is certain that the father of Elias was a
+member among Friends at the time of his birth, and his mother must
+also have enjoyed such membership. Elias must have been a birthright
+member, as he nowhere mentions having been received into the Society by
+convincement. It is evident that his older brothers and sisters were
+not connected with Friends.
+
+[4] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 7.
+
+When Elias was eight years of age his father removed from Hempstead to
+the south shore of Long Island, the new home being near the seashore.
+Both before and after that time he bewails the fact that his associates
+were not Friends, and what he confessed was worse--they were persons
+with no religious inclinations or connections whatever.
+
+The new home afforded added opportunities for pleasure. Game was
+plentiful in the wild fowl that mated in the marshes and meadows, while
+the bays and inlets abounded in fish. Hunting and fishing, therefore,
+became his principal diversion. While he severely condemned this form
+of amusement in later life, he brought to the whole matter a rational
+philosophy. He considered that at the time hunting and fishing were
+profitable to him, because in his exposed condition "they had a
+tendency to keep me more at and about home, and often prevented my
+joining with loose company, which I had frequent opportunities of doing
+without my father's knowledge."
+
+Three years after moving to the new home, when Elias was eleven years
+of age, his mother was removed by death. The father, thus left with six
+children, two younger than Elias, finally found it necessary to divide
+the family. Two years after the death of his mother he went to reside
+with one of his elder brothers who was married, and lived some distance
+from his father's. It is probable that this brother's house was his
+home most of the time until he was seventeen. Much regret is expressed
+by him that he was thus removed from parental restraint.
+
+The Journal makes possibly unnecessarily sad confession of what he
+considered waywardness during this period. He says that he wandered far
+from "the salutary path of true religion, learning to sing vain songs,
+and to take delight in running horses."[5] Just what the songs were,
+and the exact character of the horse racing must be mainly a matter of
+conjecture. Manifestly "running horses" did not mean at all the type of
+racetrack gambling with which twentieth-century Long Island is familiar.
+
+[5] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 8.
+
+In the midst of self-accusation, he declares that he did not "give way
+to anything which was commonly accounted disreputable, having always a
+regard to strict honesty, and to such a line of conduct as comported
+with politeness and good breeding."[6] One can scarcely think of Elias
+Hicks as a juvenile Chesterfield. From the most unfavorable things
+he says about himself, the conclusion is easily reached that he was
+really a serious-minded youth, and what has always been considered a
+"good boy." It must be remembered, however, that he set for himself a
+high standard, which was often violated, as he became what he called
+"hardened in vanity." Speaking of his youthful sports, and possible
+waywardness, his maturer judgment confessed, that but "for the
+providential care of my Heavenly Father, my life would have fallen a
+sacrifice to my folly and indiscretion."[7]
+
+[6] Journal, p. 8.
+
+[7] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 9.
+
+There is practically no reference to the matter of schools or schooling
+in the Journal. There is every reason for the belief that he was
+self-educated. He may have had a brief experience at schools of a
+rather primary character. At all events he must have had a considerable
+acquaintance with mathematics, and evidently he at an early age
+contracted the reading habit. Books were few, and of periodical
+literature there was none. Friendly literature itself was confined to
+Sewell's History, probably Ellwood's edition of George Fox's Journal,
+while he may have had access to some of the controversial pamphlets
+of the seventeenth century period. The Journals of various "ancient"
+Friends were to be had, but how rich the mine of this literature
+which he explored we shall never know. Evidently from his youth he
+was a careful and intelligent reader of the Bible, and regarding its
+passages, its ethics and its theology, he became his own interpreter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+His Young Manhood.
+
+
+At the age of seventeen Elias became an apprentice, and set about
+learning the carpenter's trade. His mechanical experience during
+this period receives practically no attention in the Journal. We
+know, however, that in those days none of the trades were divided
+into sectional parts as now. In short, he learned a whole trade, and
+not part of one. It was the day of hand-made doors, and not a few
+carpenters took the timber standing in the forest, and superintended
+or personally carried on all of the processes of transforming it into
+lumber and from it producing the finished product. The carpenter of
+a century and a half ago had to be able to wield the broad-ax, and
+literally know how to "hew to the line."
+
+It is not known exactly how long this apprenticeship lasted, but
+probably about four years. As a matter of course, there was much moving
+from neighborhood to neighborhood, as the building necessities demanded
+the presence of the carpenters. The life was more or less irregular,
+and Elias says that he received neither serious advice nor restraint at
+the hands of his "master." He was brought in contact with frivolously
+minded young people, and was unduly carried away with the love of
+amusement. During this period he learned to dance, and enjoyed the
+experience. But he considered dancing a most mischievous pastime, and
+evil to a marked degree. For this indulgence he repeatedly upbraided
+himself in the Journal. In his opinion, dancing was "an unnatural and
+unchristian practice," never receiving the approval "of the divine
+light in the secret of the heart."
+
+He passed through various experiences in the endeavor to break away
+from the dancing habit, with many backslidings, overthrowing what he
+considered his good resolutions. But finally he separated from all
+those companions of his youth who beset him with temptation. He says:
+"I was deeply tried, but the Lord was graciously near; and as my cry
+was secretly to him for strength, he enabled me to covenant with him,
+that if he would be pleased in mercy to empower me, I would forever
+cease from this vain and sinful amusement."[8]
+
+[8] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 10.
+
+His first intimation touching the eternally lost condition of the
+wicked is in connection with his experience at this time. We cannot do
+better than to quote his own words:
+
+  "In looking back to this season of deep probation, my soul has been
+  deeply humbled; for I had cause to believe that if I had withstood at
+  this time the merciful interposition of divine love, and had rebelled
+  against this clear manifestation of the Lord's will, he would have
+  withdrawn his light from me, and my portion would have been among the
+  wicked, cast out forever from the favorable presence of my judge.
+  I should also forever have been obliged to acknowledge his mercy
+  and justice, and acquit the Lord, my redeemer, who had done so much
+  for me; for with long-suffering and much abused mercy he had waited
+  patiently for my return, and would have gathered me before that time,
+  as I well knew, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but
+  I would not."[9]
+
+[9] Journal, p. 11.
+
+His second diversion, and probably practiced after he had given up
+dancing, was hunting. While not considered in itself reprehensible,
+when the sport led to wantonness, and the taking of life of bird
+or beast simply for amusement, it was vigorously condemned. He says
+that he was finally "led to consider conduct like this to be a great
+breach of trust, and an infringement of the divine prerogative." "It
+therefore became a settled principle with me not to take the life of
+any creature, unless it was really useful and necessary when dead, or
+very noxious and hurtful when living."[10]
+
+[10] Journal, p. 13.
+
+When the settled conviction came to him touching the dance and the
+sportsman's practice, he was probably not out of his teens. This
+conviction resulted in victory over the propensity, probably before he
+reached his majority. The whole experience was an early illustration
+of the strength of will and purpose which was characteristic of this
+remarkable man throughout his entire life.
+
+Marriage is always a turning-point in a man's life. In the case of
+Elias Hicks, it was so in a marked degree. Having become adept in his
+trade, at the age of twenty-two, he was married to Jemima Seaman. This
+important event cannot be better stated than in the simple, quaint
+language of the bridegroom himself. He says:
+
+  "My affection being drawn toward her in that relation, I communicated
+  my views to her, and received from her a corresponding expression;
+  and having the full unity and concurrence of our parents and friends,
+  we, after some time, accomplished our marriage at a solemn meeting
+  of Friends, at Westbury, on the 2d of First month, 1771. On this
+  important occasion we felt the clear and consoling evidence of
+  divine truth, and it remained with us as a seal upon our spirits,
+  strengthening us mutually to bear, with becoming fortitude, the
+  vicissitudes and trials which fell to our lot, and of which we had a
+  large share while passing through this probationary state."[11]
+
+[11] Journal, p. 13.
+
+The records of Westbury Monthly Meeting contain the official evidence
+of this marriage, which was evidently conducted strictly in accordance
+with discipline. From the minutes of that meeting we extract the
+following:
+
+  "At a monthly meeting held in the meeting house, ye 29th day of ye
+  Eleventh month, 1770.
+
+  "Elias Hicks son of John Hicks, of Rockaway, and Jemima Seaman,
+  daughter of Jonathan Seaman, of Jericho, presented themselves and
+  declared their intentions of marriage with each, and this meeting
+  appoints John Mott and Micajah Mott to make enquiry into Elias Hicks,
+  his clearness in relation of marriage with other women, and to make
+  report at the next monthly meeting.
+
+  "At a monthly meeting in the meeting house at Westbury ye 26th day
+  of ye Twelfth month, 1770, Elias Hicks and Jemima Seaman appeared
+  the second time, and Elias Hicks signified they continued their
+  intentions of marriage and desired an answer to their former
+  proposals of marriage, and the Friends who were appointed to make
+  enquiry into Elias' clearness reported that they had made enquiry,
+  and find nothing but that he is clear of marriage engagements to
+  other women, and they having consent of parents and nothing appearing
+  to obstruct their proceedings in marriage, this meeting leaves them
+  to solemnize their marriage according to the good order used amongst
+  Friends, and appoints Robert Seaman and John Mott to attend their
+  said marriage, and to make report to the next monthly meeting it was
+  consumated.
+
+  "On ye 30th day of ye First month, 1771, Robert Seaman reported that
+  they had attended the marriage of Elias Hicks and Jemima Seaman, and
+  was with them both at Jericho and at Rockaway, and John Mott also
+  reported that he accompanied them at Rockaway and that the marriage
+  was consummated orderly."
+
+In more ways than one the marriage of Elias was the important event of
+his life. Jemima Seaman was an only child, and naturally her parents
+desired that she should be near them. A few months after their marriage
+Elias and Jemima were urged to take up their residence at the Seaman
+homestead, Elias to manage the farm of his father-in-law. The result
+was that the farm in Jericho became the home of Elias Hicks the
+remainder of his life. Here he lived and labored for nearly sixty years.
+
+The Seamans were concerned Friends, and the farm was near the Friends'
+meeting house in Jericho. From this dates his constant attendance at
+the meetings for worship and discipline of the Society. Besides the
+family influence, some of his neighbors, strong men and women, and
+deeply attached to the principles and testimonies of Friends, made for
+the young people an ideal and inspiring environment. The Friends at
+Jericho could not have been unmindful of the native ability and taking
+qualities of this young man, whose fortunes were to be linked with
+their own, and whose future labors were to be so singularly devoted to
+their religious Society.
+
+Jemima, the wife of Elias Hicks, was the daughter of Jonathan and
+Elizabeth Seaman. The father of Jemima was the fifth generation from
+Captain John Seaman, who came to Long Island from the Connecticut
+mainland about 1660. For his time, he seems to have been a man of
+affairs, and is recorded as one of the patentees of the town of
+Hempstead, on the Sound side of the island. There was a John Seaman
+who came to Massachusetts in the Winthrop fleet of ten vessels and 900
+immigrants in 1630. That form of biography which shades into tradition
+is not agreed as to whether Captain John, of Hempstead, was the Puritan
+John or his son.
+
+Running the family history back to England, we find Lazarus Seaman,
+known as a Puritan divine, a native of Leicester. He died in 1667. He
+is described as a learned theologian, versed in the art of controversy,
+and stout in defense of his position in religious matters.
+
+The history of heraldry, and the story of the efforts to capture
+the holy sepulcher, tell us that John de Seaman was one of the first
+crusaders. To this line the Seaman lineage in America is believed to be
+attached.
+
+At some time, whether in his early manhood is not known, Elias Hicks
+took up surveying. How steadily or extensively he followed that
+business it is impossible to say. It is not hard, however, to find
+samples of his surveying and plotting among the papers of Long Island
+conveyancers.[12] His compass, and the home-made pine case in which he
+kept the instrument and the tripod, are in existence.[13] The compass
+is a simple affair, without a telescope, of course. It folds into a
+flat shape, the box not being more than two inches thick, over all.
+
+[12] See cut facing page 145.
+
+[13] They are in possession of the great-grandson of Elias Hicks,
+William Seaman, of Glen Cove, L. I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+First Appearance in the Ministry.
+
+
+There are many evidences in the Journal that Elias Hicks appreciated
+the moral and spiritual advantages of his environment after he took up
+his residence at Jericho. He confesses, however, that as he had entered
+quite extensively into business, he was much diverted from spiritual
+things for a number of years after his marriage. During this period he
+says:
+
+  "I was again brought, by the operative influence of divine grace,
+  under deep concern of mind; and was led, through adorable mercy,
+  to see that although I had ceased from many sins and vanities of
+  my youth, yet there were many remaining that I was still guilty
+  of, which were not yet atoned for, and for which I now felt the
+  judgments of God to rest upon me. This caused me to cry earnestly
+  to the Most High for pardon and redemption, and he graciously
+  condescended to hear my cry, and to open a way before me, wherein I
+  must walk, in order to experience reconciliation with him; and as I
+  abode in watchfulness and deep humiliation before him, light broke
+  forth out of obscurity, and my darkness became as the noonday. I had
+  many deep openings in the visions of light, greatly strengthening
+  and establishing to my exercised mind. My spirit was brought under
+  a close and weighty labour in meetings for discipline, and my
+  understanding much enlarged therein; and I felt a concern to speak to
+  some of the subjects engaging the meeting's attention, which often
+  brought unspeakable comfort to my mind. About this time I began to
+  have openings leading to the ministry, which brought me under close
+  exercise and deep travail of spirit; for although I had for some time
+  spoken on subjects of business in monthly and preparative meetings,
+  yet the prospect of opening my mouth in public meetings was a close
+  trial; but I endeavored to keep my mind quiet and resigned to the
+  heavenly call, if it should be made clear to me to be my duty.
+  Nevertheless, as I was, soon after, sitting in a meeting, in much
+  weightiness of spirit, a secret, though clear, intimation accompanied
+  me to speak a few words, which were then given to me to utter, yet
+  fear so prevailed that I did not yield to the intimation. For this
+  omission I felt close rebuke, and judgment seemed, for some time,
+  to cover my mind; but as I humbled myself under the Lord's mighty
+  hand, he again lifted up the light of his countenance upon me, and
+  enabled me to renew covenant with him, that if he would pass by this
+  offense, I would, in the future, be faithful, if he should again
+  require such a service of me. And it was not long before I felt
+  an impressive concern to utter a few words, which I yielded to in
+  great fear and dread; but oh, the joy and sweet consolation that my
+  soul experienced, as a reward for this act of faithfulness; and as
+  I continued persevering in duty and watchfulness, I witnessed an
+  increase in divine knowledge, and an enlargement of my gift. I was
+  also deeply engaged for the right administration of discipline and
+  order in the church, and that all might be kept sweet and clean,
+  consistent with the nature and purity of the holy profession we
+  were making; so that all stumbling-blocks might be removed out of
+  the way of honest inquirers, and that truth's testimony might be
+  exalted, and the Lord's name magnified, 'who is over all, God blessed
+  forever.'"[14]
+
+[14] Journal, p. 15.
+
+Still it appears that his concern for the maintenance of the discipline
+was more than a slavish allegiance to the letter of the law. More
+than once he spoke a warning word as to the danger of allowing the
+administration of the written rule to lead to mere formalism. Once
+begun, his development in public service was rapid, and his recognition
+by Friends cordial and appreciative to a marked degree.
+
+Just how long Elias Hicks spoke in the meetings for worship, before
+his "acknowledgment," is not known. The records of Westbury Monthly
+Meeting, however, give detailed information as to this event. From
+them we make the following extract:
+
+  "At a monthly meeting held at Westbury ye 29th of Fourth month, 1778,
+  William Seaman and William Valentine report that they have made
+  inquiry concerning Elias Hicks, and find nothing to hinder his being
+  recommended to the meeting of Ministers and Elders, whom this meeting
+  recommends to that meeting as a minister, and directs the clerk to
+  forward a copy of this minute to said meeting."
+
+The acknowledgment of the ministry of Elias Hicks took place a little
+over seven years after his marriage. From various references in the
+Journal the inference is warranted that he did not begin to speak
+in the meeting for worship until a considerable time after this
+event. It is, therefore, probable that his service in this line had
+not been going on, at the most, more than three or four years when
+his acknowledgment took place. He had only been a recorded minister
+something over a year when his first considerable visit was undertaken.
+
+Unfortunately, the preserved personal correspondence of Elias Hicks
+does not cover this period in his life, so that we are confined to what
+he chose to put in his Journal, as the only self-interpretation of this
+interesting period.
+
+It appears that the New York Yearly Meeting was held at the regularly
+appointed times all through the period of the Revolutionary War.
+Previous to 1777 the meeting met annually at Flushing, but in that year
+the sessions were removed to Westbury. In 1793 it was concluded to hold
+future meetings in New York.
+
+During the war the British controlled Long Island, and for some time
+the meeting house in Flushing was occupied as a barracks by the king's
+troops, which probably accounts for moving the yearly meeting further
+out on the island to Westbury.
+
+In attending the yearly meeting, and in performing religious visits
+to the particular meetings, passing the lines of both armies was a
+frequent necessity. This privilege was freely granted Friends. Touching
+this matter, Elias makes this reference:
+
+  "This was a favor which the parties would not grant to their best
+  friends, who were of a warlike disposition; which shows what great
+  advantages would redound to mankind were they all of this pacific
+  spirit. I passed myself through the lines of both armies six times
+  during the war without molestation, both parties generally receiving
+  me with openness and civility; and although I had to pass over a
+  tract of country, between the two armies, sometimes more than thirty
+  miles in extent, and which was much frequented by robbers, a set,
+  in general, of cruel, unprincipled banditti, issuing out from both
+  parties, yet, excepting once, I met with no interruption even from
+  them. But although Friends in general experienced many favors and
+  deliverances, yet those scenes of war and confusion occasioned many
+  trials and provings in various ways to the faithful."[15]
+
+[15] Journal, p. 15.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Early Labors in the Ministry.
+
+
+Probably the first official public service to which Elias Hicks was
+ever assigned by the Society related to a matter growing out of the
+Revolutionary War. Under the new meeting-house in New York was a large
+room, usually rented for commercial purposes. During the British
+occupation this room was appropriated as a storehouse for military
+goods. The rent was finally tendered by the military commissioner to
+some representative Friends, and by them accepted. This caused great
+concern to many members of the meeting, who felt that the Society of
+Friends could not consistently be the recipient of money from such
+a source. The matter came before the Yearly Meeting in 1779. The
+peace party felt that the rent money was blood money, and should be
+returned, but a vigorous minority sustained the recipients of this
+warlike revenue. It was finally decided to refer the matter to the
+Yearly Meeting of Pennsylvania for determination. A committee to carry
+the matter to Philadelphia was appointed, of which Elias Hicks, then a
+young man of thirty-one, was a member.
+
+He made this service the occasion for some religious visits, which
+he, in company with his friend, John Willis, proceeded to make _en
+route_. The two Friends left home Ninth month 9, 1779, but took a
+roundabout route in order to visit the meetings involved in the concern
+of Elias. Instead of crossing over into New Jersey and going directly
+to Philadelphia, they went up the Hudson valley to a point above
+Newburgh, visiting meetings on both sides of the river. Their most
+northern point was the meeting at Marlborough, in Ulster County, New
+York. They then turned to the southwest, and visited the meetings at
+Hardwick[16] and Kingwood, arriving at Philadelphia, Ninth month 25th.
+Elias attended all the sittings of the yearly meeting until Fourth-day,
+when he was taken ill, and was not able to be in attendance after that
+time. He was not present when the matter which called the committee
+to Philadelphia was considered. The decision, however, was that the
+money received by the New York meeting for rent paid by the British
+army should be returned. This was done by direction of New York Yearly
+Meeting in 1780. It may be interesting to note that in 1779 the Yearly
+Meeting of Pennsylvania began with the Meeting of Ministers and Elders;
+Seventh-day, the 25th of Ninth month, and continued until Second-day,
+the 4th of Tenth month, having practically been in session a week and
+two days.[17]
+
+[16] Hardwick was in Sussex County, New Jersey. It was the home meeting
+of Benjamin Lundy, the abolitionist.
+
+[17] From 1755 to 1798, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was held in Ninth
+month.
+
+Following the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, the meeting at Byberry
+was visited, as were those at Wrightstown, Plumstead and Buckingham,
+in Bucks County, Pa. On the return trip he was again at Hardwick,
+after which he passed to the eastern shore of the Hudson, and was at
+Nine Partners, Oswego and Oblong. Turning southward, the meetings at
+Peach Pond, Amawalk and Purchase were visited. From the latter point he
+journeyed homeward.
+
+This first religious journey of Elias Hicks lasted nine weeks, and in
+making it he traveled 860 miles. Forty years later, many of the places
+visited at this time became centers of the troublesome controversy
+which divided the Society in 1827 and 1828.
+
+Four years after the concern and service which took Elias Hicks to
+Philadelphia in 1779, he undertook his second recorded religious visit.
+It was a comparatively short one, and took him to the Nine Partners
+neighborhood. He was absent from home on this trip eleven days, and
+traveled 170 miles.
+
+In 1784 Elias had a concern to visit neighborhoods in Long Island not
+Friendly in their character. He made one trip, and not feeling free of
+the obligations resting upon him, he made a second tour. During the two
+visits he rode about 200 miles.
+
+He seems to have had a period of quiet home service for about six
+years, or until 1790, when two somewhat extended concerns were
+followed. The first took him to the meetings in the western part of
+Long Island, to New York City and Staten Island. This trip caused him
+to travel 150 miles. The next visiting tour covered a wide extent of
+territory, and took him to eastern New York and Vermont. On this trip
+he was gone from home about four weeks, and traveled 591 miles.
+
+The year 1791 was more than usually active. Besides another visit to
+those not Friends on Long Island, he made a general visit to Friends
+in New York Yearly Meeting. This visit took him to New Jersey,
+Connecticut, Massachusetts and up the Hudson valley as far as Easton
+and Saratoga. The Long Island visit consumed two weeks' time, and
+involved traveling 115 miles. On the general visit he was absent from
+home four months and eleven days, and traveled 1500 miles.
+
+In 1792 a committee, of which Elias was a member, was appointed by the
+Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders to visit subordinate meetings
+of that branch of the Society. In company with these Friends every
+meeting of Ministers and Elders was visited, and a number of meetings
+for worship were attended. On this trip he was at Claremont, in
+Massachusetts, and desired to have an appointed meeting. It seemed
+that the person, not a Friend, who was to arrange for this meeting did
+not advertise it, for fear it would turn out a silent meeting, and he
+would be laughed to scorn. The attendance was very small, but otherwise
+satisfactory, so that the fearful person was very penitent, and desired
+that another meeting might be held. Elias says: "But we let him know
+that we were not at our own disposal; and, as no way appeared open in
+our minds for such an appointment at present, we could not comply with
+his desire."
+
+An appointed meeting was also held near Dartmouth College, but the
+students were hilarious, and the occasion very much disturbed. Still,
+the visitor hoped "the season was profitable to some present."
+
+In the following year, 1793, he had a concern to visit Friends in
+New England, during which he attended meetings in Rhode Island,
+Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and the Massachusetts islands. On
+this trip he traveled by land or on water 2283 miles, and was absent
+about five months. It may be interesting to note that the traveling
+companion of Elias Hicks on the New England visit was James Mott, of
+Mamaroneck, N. Y., the maternal grandfather of James Mott,[18] the
+husband of Lucretia.
+
+[18] Adam Mott, the father of Lucretia's husband, married Anne,
+daughter of James Mott.
+
+The New England Yearly Meeting was attended at Newport. The meeting
+was pronounced a "dull time" by the visitor. This was occasioned in
+part, he thought, because a very small number took upon "them the whole
+management of the business, and thereby shutting up the way to others,
+and preventing the free circulation and spreading of the concern, in a
+proper manner, on the minds of Friends; which I have very often found
+to be a very hurtful tendency."
+
+It seems that in those days the Meeting of Ministers and Elders
+exercised the functions of a visiting committee. Accordingly, the
+Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders in 1795 appointed a committee
+to visit the quarterly and preparative meetings within the bounds of
+the Yearly Meeting. As a member of this committee, Elias performed
+his share of this round of service. On this visit a large number of
+families were visited.
+
+The visits were made seasons of counsel and advice, especially in the
+"select meetings." In these, he says, "My mind was led to communicate
+some things in a plain way, with a view of stirring them up to more
+diligence and circumspection in their families, the better ordering and
+disciplining of their children and household, and keeping things sweet
+and clean, agreeably to the simplicity of our holy profession; and I
+had peace in my labor."[19]
+
+[19] Journal, p. 57.
+
+Possibly his most extended visit up to that time was made in 1798. The
+trip was really begun Twelfth month 12, 1797. It included meeting's in
+New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. On this trip
+he was from home five and one-half months, traveled 1600 miles, and
+attended 143 meetings, nearly an average of one meeting a day.
+
+It was on this journey that he seriously began his public opposition to
+the institution of slavery. On the 12th of Third month, at a meeting at
+Elk Ridge, Md., he says:
+
+  "Truth rose into dominion, and some present who were slaveholders
+  were made sensible of their condition, and were much affected. I felt
+  a hope to arise that the opportunity would prove profitable to some,
+  and I left them with peace of mind. Since then I have been informed
+  that a woman present at that session, who possessed a number of
+  slaves, was so fully convinced, as to set them free, and not long
+  afterwards joined in membership with Friends; which is indeed cause
+  of gratitude and thankfulness of heart, to the great and blessed
+  Author of every mercy vouchsafed to the children of men."[20]
+
+[20] Journal, p. 67.
+
+His personal correspondence on this trip yields some interesting
+description of experiences, from which we make the following extract,
+from a letter written to his wife from "Near Easton, Talbot County,
+Maryland, Second month 12, 1798":
+
+  "Mary Berry, an ancient ministering Friend, that Job Scott makes
+  mention of, was with us at the meeting. On Seventh-day we attended
+  a meeting with the black people at Easton, which we had appointed
+  some days before. There was a pretty large number attended, and the
+  opportunity favoured. Mary Berry observed she thought it was the most
+  so, of any that had ever been with them. They were generally very
+  solid, and many of them very tender. The white people complained much
+  of some of them for their bad conduct, but according to my feeling,
+  many of them appeared much higher in the kingdom than a great many of
+  the whites.
+
+  "Some days past we were with the people called Nicolites. They dress
+  very plain, many of them mostly in white. The women wore white
+  bonnets as large as thine, and in form like thy old-fashioned bonnet,
+  straight and smooth on the top. In some of their meetings three or
+  four of the foremost seats would be filled with those who mostly had
+  on these white bonnets. They have no backs to their seats, nor no
+  rising seats in their meeting-houses. All sat on a level. They appear
+  like a pretty honest, simple people. Profess our principles, and most
+  of them, by their request, have of late been joined to Friends, and I
+  think many of them are likely to become worthy members of Society, if
+  the example of the backsliders among us do not stumble or turn them
+  out of the right way. There was about 100 received by Friends here at
+  their last monthly meeting, and are like for the first time to attend
+  here next Fifth-day, which made it the more pressing on my mind to
+  tarry over that day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Later Ministerial Labors.
+
+
+In the fall of 1799 a concern to visit meetings in Connecticut was
+followed. The trip also took in most of the meetings on the east bank
+of the Hudson as far north as Dutchess County. He was absent six weeks,
+and attended thirty meetings.
+
+Fourth month 11, 1801, Elias and his traveling companion, Edmund
+Willis, started, on a visit to "Friends in some parts of Jersey,
+Pennsylvania, and some places adjacent thereto." A number of meetings
+in New Jersey were visited on the way, the travelers arriving in
+Philadelphia in time for the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders.
+All of the sessions of the yearly meeting were also attended. It does
+not appear that Elias Hicks had attended this yearly meeting since
+1779. Practically all of the meetings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
+were visited on this trip. It lasted three months and eighteen days,
+during which time the visitors traveled 1630 miles.
+
+The personal correspondence of Elias Hicks yields one interesting
+letter written on this trip. It was written to his wife, and was dated
+"Exeter, 4th of Seventh month, 1801." We quote as follows:
+
+  "We did not get to Lampeter so soon as I expected, as mentioned in my
+  last, for when we left Yorktown last Fourth-day evening, being late
+  before we set out, detained in part by a shower of rain. It was night
+  by the time we got over the river. We landed in a little town called
+  Columbia, where dwelt a few friends. Although being anxious to get
+  forward, I had previous to coming there intended to pass them without
+  a meeting, but found when there I could not safely do it. Therefore
+  we appointed a meeting there the next day, after which we rode to
+  Lampeter, to William Brinton's, of whom, when I went westward, I
+  got a fresh horse, and I left mine in his care. I have now my own
+  again, but she has a very bad sore on her withers, somewhat like is
+  called a 'thistlelon,' but is better than she has been. It is now
+  just six weeks and four days since we went from this place, which
+  is about 48 miles from Philadelphia, since which time we have rode
+  813 miles and attended 35 meetings. Much of the way in this tour has
+  been rugged, mountainous and rocky, and had it not been for the best
+  attendant companion, peace of mind flowing from a compliance with and
+  performance of manifested duty, the journey would have been tedious
+  and irksome. But we passed pretty cheerfully on, viewing with an
+  attentive eye the wonderful works of that boundless wisdom and power
+  (by which the worlds were framed) and which are only circumscribed
+  within the limits of their own innate excellency. Here we beheld all
+  nature almost with its varied and almost endless diversifications.
+
+  "Tremendous precipices, rocks and mountains, creeks and rivers,
+  intersecting each other, all clothed in their natural productions;
+  the tall pines and sturdy oaks towering their exalted heads above the
+  clouds, interspersed with beautiful lawns and glades; together with
+  the almost innumerable vegetable inhabitants, all blooming forth the
+  beauties of the spring; the fields arable, clothed in rich pastures
+  of varied kinds, wafted over the highways their balmy sweets, and the
+  fallow grounds overspread with rich grain, mostly in golden wheat, to
+  a profusion beyond anything of the kind my eyes ever before beheld,
+  insomuch that the sensible traveler, look which way he would, could
+  scarcely help feeling his mind continually inflamed and inspired with
+  humble gratitude and reverent thankfulness to the great and bountiful
+  author of all those multiplied blessings."
+
+This letter constitutes one of the few instances where Elias Hicks
+referred to experiences on the road, not directly connected with his
+ministerial duty. The reference to Columbia, and his original intention
+to pass by without a meeting, with its statement he "could not safely
+do it," is characteristic. Manifestly, he uses the word "safely" in a
+spiritual sense. The call to minister there was too certain to be put
+aside for mere personal inclination and comfort.
+
+The reference to his horse contains more than a passing interest.
+Probably many other cases occurred during his visits when "borrowing"
+a horse was necessary, while his own was recuperating. It was a slow
+way to travel, from our standpoint, yet it had its advantages. New
+acquaintances, if not friendships, were made as the travelers journeyed
+and were entertained on the road.
+
+On the 20th of Ninth month, 1803, Elias Hicks, with Daniel Titus as a
+traveling companion, started on a visit to Friends in Upper Canada, and
+those resident in the part of the New York Yearly Meeting located in
+the Hudson and Mohawk valleys. When the travelers had been from home
+a little less than a month, Elias wrote to his wife, from Kingston,
+a letter of more than ordinary interest, because of its descriptive
+quality. It describes some of the difficulties, not to say dangers, of
+the traveling Friend before the days of railroads. We quote the bulk of
+the letter, which was dated Tenth month, 16, 1803:
+
+  "We arrived here the 3d instant at the house of Joseph Ferris about 3
+  o'clock at night, having rode the preceding day from Samuel Brown's
+  at Black River, where I dated my last. We traveled by land and water
+  in this day's journey about forty-five miles. Very bad traveling
+  over logs and mudholes, crossing two ferries on our way, each four
+  or five miles wide, with an island between called Long Island. About
+  six miles across we were in the middle thereof, the darkest time
+  in the night, when we were under the necessity of getting off our
+  horses several times to feel for the horses' tracks in order to know
+  whether we were in the path or not, as we were not able to see the
+  path, nor one another at times, if more than five or six feet apart.
+  Some of our company began to fear we should be under the necessity of
+  lying in the woods all night. However, we were favored to get well
+  through, and crossed the last ferry about midnight and after. Landed
+  safely on Kingston shore about 2 o'clock, all well. Since which we
+  have attended ten meetings, three of them preparative meetings, the
+  rest mostly among other people. We just now, this evening, returned
+  from the last held at the house of John Everit, about four miles
+  west of Kingston. We held one yesterday in the town of Kingston in
+  their Court House. It was the first Friends' meeting ever held in
+  that place. The principal inhabitants generally attended, and we have
+  thankfully to acknowledge that the shepherd of Israel in whom was our
+  trust, made bare his arm for our help, setting home the testimony he
+  gave us to the states of the people, thereby manifesting that he had
+  not left himself without a witness in their hearts, as all appeared
+  to yield their assent to the truths delivered, which has generally
+  been the case, in every place where our lots have been cast.
+
+  "We expect to-morrow to return on our way to Adolphustown, taking
+  some meetings in our way thither, among those not of our Society, but
+  so as to be there ready to attend Friends' monthly that is held next
+  Fifth-day, after which we have some prospect of being at liberty to
+  return on our way back, into our own State.
+
+  "Having thus given thee a short account of our journey, I may salute
+  thee in the fresh feelings of endeared affection, and strength of
+  gospel love, in which fervent desires are felt for thy preservation,
+  and that of our dear children, and that you may all so act and so
+  walk, as to be a comfort and strength to each other, and feel an
+  evidence in yourselves that the Lord is your friend; for you are my
+  friend (said the blessed redeemer) if you do whatever I command you."
+
+For the three following years there is no record of special activity,
+but in 1806 a somewhat extended visit was made to Friends in the State
+of New York. He was absent from home nearly two months, traveled over
+1000 miles, attended three quarterly, seventeen monthly, sixteen
+preparative, and forty meetings for worship.
+
+The years following, including 1812, were spent either at home or
+in short, semi-occasional visits, mostly within the bounds of his
+own yearly meeting. During this period a visit to Canada Half-Yearly
+Meeting was made.
+
+The first half of 1813 he was busy in his business and domestic
+concerns, really preparing for a religious journey, which he began
+on the 8th of Fifth month. He passed through New Jersey on the way,
+attending meetings in that State, either regular or by appointment,
+arriving in Philadelphia in about two weeks. Several meetings in the
+vicinity of that city were attended, whence he passed into Delaware
+and Maryland. His steps were retraced through New Jersey, when he was
+homeward bound.
+
+From 1813 to 1816 we find the gospel labors of Elias Hicks almost
+entirely confined to his own yearly meeting. This round of service did
+not take him farther from home than Dutchess County. During this period
+we find him repeatedly confessing indisposition and bodily ailment,
+which may have accounted for the fewness and moderateness of his
+religious visits.
+
+In First month, 1816, we find him under a concern to visit Friends
+in New England. He had as his traveling companion on this journey
+his friend and kinsman, Isaac Hicks, of Westbury. During this trip
+practically all of the meetings in New England were visited. It kept
+him from home about three months, and caused him to travel upward of
+1000 miles. He attended fifty-nine particular, three monthly and two
+quarterly meetings.
+
+During the balance of 1816 and part of the year 1817, service was
+principally confined to the limits of Westbury Quarterly Meeting.
+But it was in no sense a period of idleness. Many visits were made
+to meetings. In Eighth month of the latter year, in company with his
+son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, a visit was made to some of the meetings
+attached to Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings. Many meetings
+in New Jersey and Pennsylvania received a visit at this time. He went
+as far south as Loudon County, Va., taking meetings _en route_, both
+going and coming. He must have traveled not less than 1000 miles on
+this trip.
+
+Visits near at home, and one to some parts of New York Yearly Meeting,
+occupied all his time during the year 1818.
+
+In 1819 a general visit to Friends in his own yearly meeting engaged
+his attention. He went to the Canadian border. This trip was a season
+of extended service and deep exercise. On this journey he traveled 1084
+miles, was absent from home fourteen weeks, and attended seventy-three
+meetings for worship, three quarterly meetings and four monthly
+meetings.
+
+The years from 1819 to 1823, inclusive, were particularly active. Elias
+Hicks was seventy-one in the former year. The real stormy period of his
+life was approaching in the shape of the unfortunate misunderstanding
+and bitterness which divided the Society. It scarcely demands more than
+passing mention here, as later on we shall give deserved prominence to
+the "separation" period.
+
+He started on the Ohio trip Eighth month 17, 1819, taking northern and
+central Pennsylvania on his route. He arrived in Mt. Pleasant in time
+for Ohio Yearly Meeting, which seems to have been a most satisfactory
+occasion, with no signs of the storm that broke over the same meeting
+a few years later. Elias himself says: "It was thought, I believe, by
+Friends, to have been the most favored yearly meeting they had had
+since its institution, and was worthy of grateful remembrance."[21]
+During this visit many appointed meetings were held, besides regular
+meetings for worship. On the homeward journey, Friends in the
+Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia, and in parts of Maryland were visited.
+On this trip he journeyed 1200 miles, was from home three months, and
+attended eighty-seven meetings.
+
+[21] Journal, p. 377.
+
+In 1820 a visit was made to Farmington and Duanesburg Quarterly
+Meetings, and in the summer of 1822 he visited Friends in some parts of
+Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. On this trip the Baltimore Yearly Meeting
+was also visited, as were some of the particular meetings in Maryland.
+He did not reach Philadelphia on the return journey until the early
+part of Twelfth month. While his Journal is singularly silent about the
+matter, it must have been on this visit that he encountered his first
+public opposition as a minister. But, with few exceptions, the Journal
+ignores the whole unpleasantness.
+
+In 1824 he again attended Baltimore Yearly Meeting. The only comment on
+this trip is the following: "I think it was, in its several sittings,
+one of the most satisfactory yearly meetings I have ever attended, and
+the business was conducted in much harmony and brotherly love."[22]
+
+[22] Journal, p. 396.
+
+On the homeward trip he stopped in Philadelphia. Here he suffered a
+severe illness. Of this detention at that time he says: "I lodged at
+the house of my kind friend, Samuel R. Fisher, who, with his worthy
+children, extended to me the most affectionate care and attention;
+and I had also the kind sympathy of a large portion of Friends in
+that city."[23] The exception contained in this sentence is the only
+intimation that all was not unity and harmony among Friends in the
+"City of Brotherly Love."
+
+[23] Journal, p. 396.
+
+His visits in 1825 were confined to the meetings on Long Island and
+those in central New York.
+
+In the latter part of the following year he secured a minute to visit
+meetings composing Concord and Southern Quarterly Meetings, within the
+bounds of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. In passing through Philadelphia
+he attended Green Street and Mulberry Street Meetings. This was within
+a few months of the division of 1827 in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
+but the matter is not mentioned in the Journal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Religious Journeys in 1828.
+
+
+On the 20th of Third month, 1828, Elias Hicks laid before Jericho
+Monthly Meeting a concern he had to make "a religious visit in the love
+of the gospel, to Friends and others in some parts of our own yearly
+meeting, and in the compass of the Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia,
+Baltimore, Ohio, Indiana, and a few meetings in Virginia." A minute
+embodying this concern was granted him, the same receiving the
+indorsement of Westbury Quarterly Meeting, Fourth month 24th. Between
+this period and the middle of Sixth month he made a visit to Dutchess
+County, where the experience with Ann Jones and her husband took place,
+which will be dealt with in a separate chapter. He also attended New
+York Yearly Meeting, when he saw and was a part of the "separation"
+trouble which culminated at that time. The Journal, however, makes
+no reference either to the Dutchess County matter or to the division
+in the yearly meeting. These silences in the Journal are hard to
+understand. Undoubtedly, the troubles of the period were not pleasant
+matters of record, yet one wishes that a fuller and more detailed
+statement regarding the whole matter might be had from Elias Hicks than
+is contained in the meager references in his personal correspondence,
+or his published Journal.
+
+On the 14th of Sixth month he started on the western and southern
+journey, with his friend, Jesse Merritt, as his traveling companion.
+Elias was then a few months past eighty.
+
+The two Friends halted at points in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
+holding meetings as the way opened. Service continued in Pennsylvania,
+considerably in the western part, passing from Pittsburg into Ohio.
+
+At Westland Monthly Meeting, in Pennsylvania, his first acknowledgment
+of opposition is observed. He says: "A Friend from abroad attended
+this meeting, and after I sat down he rose and made opposition, which
+greatly disturbed the meeting."[24]
+
+[24] Thomas Shillitoe.
+
+When he arrived at Brownsville, his fame had preceded him. He makes
+this reference to the experience there:
+
+  "Here we put up again with our kind friends Jesse and Edith Townsend,
+  where we had the company of many Friends, and many of the inhabitants
+  of the town not members of our Society, also came in to see us; as
+  the unfounded reports of those who style themselves Orthodox, having
+  been generally spread over the country, it created such a great
+  excitement in the minds of the people at large, that multitudes
+  flocked to the meetings where we were, to hear for themselves; and
+  many came to see us, and acknowledged their satisfaction.
+
+  "At this place we again fell in with the Friend from abroad, who
+  attended the meeting with us; he rose in the early part of the
+  meeting, and continued his communication so long that a number left
+  the meeting, by which it became very much unsettled: however, when he
+  sat down I felt an opening to stand up; and the people returned and
+  crowded into the house, and those that could not get in stood about
+  the doors and windows, and a precious solemnity soon spread over the
+  meeting, which has been the case in every meeting, where our opposers
+  did not make disturbance by their disorderly conduct. The meeting
+  closed in a quiet and orderly manner, and I was very thankful for the
+  favour."[25]
+
+[25] Journal, p. 404.
+
+Following his experience at Brownsville, Elias returned to Westland,
+attending the meeting of ministers and elders, and the meeting
+for worship. The person before mentioned, who may be called the
+"disturbing Friend," was again in evidence, this time reinforced by a
+"companion." At the instigation of Friends, the elders and overseers
+had "an opportunity" with the disturbers, but with small success. The
+same trouble was repeated on First-day. On this occasion the opposition
+was vigorous and virulent. In the midst of the second opportunity of
+the opposing Friend the audience melted away, leaving him literally
+without hearers.
+
+From Westland the journey was continued to Pittsburg, where an
+appointed meeting was held. Salem, Ohio, was the next point visited,
+where the quarterly meeting was attended. On First-day a large company,
+estimated at two thousand, gathered. The occasion was in every way
+satisfactory. Visits to different meetings continued. There was
+manifest opposition at New Garden, Springfield, Goshen and Marlborough.
+At Smithfield the venerable preacher was quite indisposed. The
+meeting-house was closed against him, by "those called Orthodox," as
+Elias defined them.
+
+One of the objective points on this trip was Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, where
+the yearly meeting of 1828 was held. He arrived in time to attend the
+mid-week meeting at that place, a week preceding the yearly meeting. A
+large attendance was reported, many being present who were not members
+of the Society. The signs of trouble had preceded the distinguished
+visitor, the "world's people" having a phenomenal curiosity regarding
+a possible war among the peaceable Quakers. There was pronounced
+antagonism manifested in this mid-week meeting, described as "a long,
+tedious communication from a minister among those called Orthodox, who,
+after I sat down, publicly opposed and endeavored to lay waste what I
+had said."[26]
+
+[26] Journal, p. 411.
+
+During the following days meetings were attended at Short Creek,
+Harrisville, West Grove, Concord, St. Clairsville, Plainfield,
+Wrightstown and Stillwater. There was no recorded disturbance until
+he returned to Mt. Pleasant the 6th of Ninth month, the date of the
+gathering of the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders. When the
+meeting-house was reached the gate to the yard was guarded, "by a
+number of men of the opposing party," who refused entrance to those who
+were in sympathy with Elias Hicks. They proceeded to hold their meeting
+in the open air. Subsequent meetings were held in a school-house and in
+a private house, the home of Israel French.
+
+First-day, Ninth month 7th, Mt. Pleasant Meeting was attended in the
+forenoon, and Short Creek Meeting in the afternoon. The meeting at
+Mt. Pleasant was what might be called stormy. Elisha Bates and Ann
+Braithwaite spoke in opposition, after Elias Hicks had spoken. In a
+letter dated Ninth month 10th, written to his son-in-law, Valentine
+Hicks, Elias says that these Friends "detained the meeting two hours or
+more, opposing and railing against what I had said, until the people
+were wearied and much disgusted." No trouble was experienced at Short
+Creek, although experiences similar to those of the morning occurred at
+Mt. Pleasant in the afternoon. Amos Peaslee, of Woodbury, N. J., was
+the center of opposition at that time. He was opposed while on his feet
+addressing the multitude.
+
+In connection with this yearly meeting a number of Friends were
+arrested on charges of trespass and inducing a riot, and taken to
+court. All were members of Ohio Yearly Meeting, except Halliday
+Jackson,[27] of Darby, Pa. For some reason Elias escaped arrest,
+although in the letter referred to he said: "I have been expecting
+for several days past to have a writ of trespass served against me by
+the sheriff, for going on their meeting-house grounds, by which I may
+be taken twenty miles or more to appear before the judge, as a number
+of Friends already have been, although my mind is quiet regarding the
+event."
+
+[27] Halliday Jackson was father of John Jackson, the well-known
+educator, principal of Sharon Hill School. Halliday was with the Seneca
+Indians in New York State for two years, as a teacher under the care of
+Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
+
+While at Mt. Pleasant the small monthly meeting of Orthodox Friends
+at his home sent a letter "officially" commanding Elias to cease his
+religious visits. In regard to this matter, and the general situation
+in Ohio, Elias wrote to Valentine Hicks: "The Orthodox in this yearly
+meeting are, if possible, tenfold more violent than in any other
+part of the Society. Gideon Seaman, and his associates in the little
+upstart Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho,[28] have sent a very
+peremptory order for me to return immediately home, and not proceed any
+further on my religious visit, by which they trample the authority of
+our quarterly and monthly meeting under foot."
+
+[28] The Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho was made up of a small
+number of Orthodox Friends, representing only a small minority of the
+meeting of which Elias Hicks was a member.
+
+Following the Ohio Yearly Meeting, Flushing,[29] in that State, was
+visited, and the First-day meeting attended. Elias was met before he
+reached the meeting-house by Orthodox Friends, who insisted that he
+should not interrupt the meeting. He entered the house, but before
+the meeting was fairly settled, Charles Osborn, an Orthodox Friend,
+appeared in prayer, and continued for an hour; and then preached for
+another hour. Elias thus refers to this occurrence:
+
+[29] Flushing is about 18 miles from Mt. Pleasant. A Wilburite meeting
+is the only Friendly gathering now in the place.
+
+  "However, when he sat down, although the meeting was much wearied
+  with his long and tedious communications, I felt the necessity of
+  standing up and addressing the people, which brought a precious
+  solemnity over the meeting; but as soon as I sat down, he rose again
+  to contradict, and tried to lay waste my communication, by asserting
+  that I had not the unity of my friends at home; which being untrue,
+  I therefore informed the meeting that I had certificates with me to
+  prove the incorrectness of his assertions, which I then produced, but
+  he and his party would not stay to hear them, but in a disorderly
+  manner arose and left the meeting; but the people generally stayed
+  and heard them read, to their general satisfaction."[30]
+
+[30] Journal, p. 414.
+
+Meetings were subsequently attended at different points in Ohio,
+generally without disturbance, until Springfield was reached the 22d of
+Ninth month. Here the Orthodox shut the meeting-house and guarded the
+doors. Elias held his meeting under some trees nearby. He says: "It was
+a precious season, wherein the Lord's power and love were exalted over
+all opposition."[31]
+
+[31] Journal, p. 416.
+
+Preceding Indiana Yearly Meeting, he was twice at Wilmington, Ohio,
+and attended monthly meeting at Center, the first held since the
+"separation." The attendance was large, many more than the house
+would accommodate. Elias says: "The Lord, our never-failing helper,
+manifested his presence, solemnizing the assembly and opening the
+minds of the people to receive the word preached; breaking down all
+opposition, and humbling and contriting the assembly in a very general
+manner."[32]
+
+[32] Journal, p. 415.
+
+Ninth month 27th, Indiana Yearly Meeting convened at Waynesville,
+Ohio. It should be noted that the "separation" in most of the meetings
+comprising this yearly meeting had been accomplished in 1827, so that
+the gathering in 1828 was in substantial unity with the Friends
+in sympathy with Elias Hicks. A letter written to Valentine and
+Abigail Hicks, dated Waynesville, Tenth month 3, 1828, contains some
+interesting information concerning the experience of the venerable
+preacher. He says:
+
+  "The Yearly Meeting here would have been very large, had there not
+  been a failure of the information of the conclusion for holding it
+  here, reaching divers of the Quarterly Meetings, by which they were
+  prevented from attending. The meeting was very orderly conducted, and
+  the business managed in much harmony and condescension. The public
+  meetings have been very large, favoured seasons, and all the meetings
+  we have attended in our passing along have been generally very large.
+  Seldom any houses were found large enough to contain the people.
+  Often hundreds were under the necessity of standing out doors. Many
+  of the people without came a great way to be at our meeting. Some
+  ten, some twenty, and some thirty miles, and I have been informed
+  since I have been here that the people in a town 120 miles below
+  Cincinnati have given it in charge to Friends of that place to
+  inform them when we came there, as a steam boat plies between the
+  two places. The excitement is so great among the people by the false
+  rumors circulated by the Orthodox, that they spare no pains to get an
+  opportunity to be with us, and those who have attended from distant
+  parts, informing the people the satisfaction they have had in being
+  with us, in which they have found that the reports spread among them
+  were generally false, it has increased the excitement in others to
+  see for themselves."
+
+The yearly meeting over, Elias attended meetings _en route_ to
+Richmond, Ind., and was at the mid-week meeting in that place, Tenth
+month 8th. Several other meetings were attended, the only disturbance
+reported being at Orange, where the Orthodox "hurt the meeting very
+considerably." On the 19th he was in Cincinnati, and attended the
+regular meeting in the morning, and a large appointed meeting in the
+court-house in the afternoon. Both were pronounced "highly favored
+seasons."
+
+First-day, the 26th, he was at Fairfield, where the Orthodox revived
+the story that he was traveling without a minute. While Elias was
+speaking, the Orthodox left the meeting in a body. He remarks: "But
+Friends and others kept their seats, and we had a very solemn close,
+and great brokenness and contrition were manifest among the people;
+and to do away with the false report spread by the Orthodox, I had my
+certificates read, which gave full satisfaction to the assembly."[33]
+
+[33] Journal, p. 419.
+
+Elias then journeyed to Wheeling, his face being turned homeward.
+He held an appointed meeting in that city. It is suggestive that,
+notwithstanding the theological odium under which he was supposed to
+rest, the meeting was held in the Methodist church, which had been
+kindly offered for the purpose. This would seem to indicate that the
+Methodists had not yet taken any sides in the quarrel which had divided
+the Society of Friends.
+
+After visiting Redstone Quarterly Meeting, in western Pennsylvania, he
+visited the meetings in the Shenandoah and Loudon valleys, in Virginia.
+He was at Alexandria and Washington, and on First-day, Eleventh month
+16th, was at Sandy Spring, Md. The meetings about Baltimore and in
+Harford and Cecil counties were visited. He reached West Grove in
+Pennsylvania, Twelfth month 1st, and encountered some trouble, as he
+found that the meeting-house had been closed against him. A large crowd
+assembled, better councils prevailed, and the house was opened. The
+audience was beyond the capacity of the house, and the meeting in every
+way satisfactory.
+
+Upon his arrival at West Grove, Twelfth month 1st, he sent a letter to
+his son-in-law and daughter, Royal and Martha Aldrich. In this letter
+he gives a brief account of his experiences in Maryland and Lancaster
+County. He says: "The aforesaid meetings were very large and highly
+favored, generally made up of every description of people, high and
+low, rich and poor, Romanists, and generally some of every profession
+of Protestants known in our country. Generally all went away fully
+satisfied as to those evil reports that have been spread over the
+country concerning me, and many announced the abhorrence they had of
+those false and slanderous reports."
+
+It appears from this letter that the traveling companion of Elias,
+Jesse Merritt, was homesick, and hoped that some other Friend would
+come from Long Island to take his place for the rest of the trip. In
+case such a shift was made, Elias requested that whoever came "might
+bring with him my best winter tight-bodied coat, and two thicker
+neck-cloths, as those I have are rather thin. I got a new great-coat in
+Alexandria, and shall not need any other."
+
+From a letter written to his wife from West Chester, Twelfth month
+7th, we learn that John Hicks had arrived to take the place of Jesse
+Merritt, and he seized that opportunity to send a letter home. As
+the two Friends had been away from home nearly six months, it is not
+strange that the companion on this journey desired to return. He could
+scarcely have been under the deep and absorbing religious concern
+which was felt by his elder brother in the truth. The nature of this
+obligation is revealed in the letter last noted. In this epistle to his
+wife, Elias says:
+
+  "Abigail's letter informs of the infirm state of V. and Caroline,
+  which excites near-feeling and sympathy with them, and which would
+  induce me to return home immediately if I was set at liberty from
+  my religious obligations, but as that is not the case, I can only
+  recommend them to the preserving care and compassionate regard of
+  our Heavenly Father, whose mercy is over all his works and does
+  not suffer a sparrow to fall without his notice. And as we become
+  resigned to his heavenly disposals, he will cause all things to work
+  together for good, to his truly devoted children. Therefore, let all
+  trust in him, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."
+
+The meetings in Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey were
+pretty generally attended, and with no reported disturbance. First-day,
+the 21st of Twelfth month, Elias attended the meeting at Cherry Street
+in the morning and Green Street in the afternoon, and on the 28th he
+repeated that experience. On both occasions "hundreds more assembled
+than the houses could contain."[34] In the suburban meetings in
+Delaware and Bucks Counties, "the houses were generally too small to
+contain the people; many had to stand out-of-doors for want of room;
+nevertheless, the people behaved orderly and the Lord was felt to
+preside, solemnizing those crowded assemblies, in all of which my mind
+was opened, and ability afforded, to preach the gospel to the people in
+the demonstration of the spirit and with power, and many hearts were
+broken and contrited and went away rejoicing, under thankful sense of
+the unmerited favor."[35]
+
+[34] Journal, p. 423.
+
+[35] Journal, p. 423.
+
+The great crowds which flocked to hear Elias Hicks after the
+"separation" were probably called together partly because of curiosity
+on their part, and to a considerable extent because of his continued
+popularity as a minister, in spite of the trouble which had come to
+the Society. That he was appreciative of what we would now call the
+advertising quality of those who antagonized him, and became his
+theological and personal enemies, is well attested. In summing up
+his conclusions regarding the long religious visit now under review,
+he said: "My opposing brethren had, by their public opposition and
+erroneous reports, created such excitement in the minds of the people
+generally of every profession, that it induced multitudes to assemble
+to hear for themselves, and they generally went away satisfied and
+comforted."[36] Undoubtedly, the multitudes who heard Elias Hicks
+preach in 1828 went away wondering what all the trouble was about.
+
+[36] Journal, p. 423.
+
+Elias and his traveling companion reached home about the middle of
+First month, 1829. This was one of the longest and most extended
+religious journeys ever made by him, and was completed within two
+months of his eighty-first year. On the journey he traveled nearly 2400
+miles, and was absent seven months and ten days.
+
+Going carefully over the various journeys of this well-known minister,
+a conservative estimate will show that he traveled in the aggregate not
+less than forty thousand miles during his long life of public service.
+He was probably the best-known minister in the Society of Friends in
+his time. His circle of personal friends was large, and extended over
+all the yearly meetings. It is necessary to keep these facts in mind,
+in order to understand how the major portion of Friends at that time
+made his cause their own when the rupture came.
+
+The majority of Friends at that time were content as to preaching, with
+words that seemed to be full of spirit and life, and this undoubtedly
+was characteristic of the preaching of Elias Hicks. To attempt to
+destroy the standing in the Society of a man of such character and
+equipment was certain to break something other than the man attacked.
+This will become more apparent as we consider more closely the relation
+of Elias Hicks to the controversy with which his name and person were
+linked, and with the trouble in the Society of Friends, for which,
+either justly or otherwise, he was made the scapegoat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Ideas About the Ministry.
+
+
+To construct from the published deliverances, and personal
+correspondence of Elias Hicks, a statement of his theory and practice
+touching the ministry is desirable if not easy. That he considered
+public religious exercise an exalted function, if of the right sort,
+and emanating from the Divine source, is abundantly evidenced in all
+he said and wrote. The call to particular and general service, whether
+in his home meeting for worship, or in connection with his extended
+religious journeys, he believed came directly from the Divine Spirit.
+
+One instance is related, which possibly as clearly as anything,
+illustrates his feeling regarding the ministry, and the relationship
+of the Infinite to the minister. In the fall of 1781, when his service
+in the ministry had been acknowledged about three years, he was very
+ill with a fever, which lasted for several months. In the most severe
+period of this indisposition he tells us that "a prospect opened to
+my mind to pay a religious visit to some parts of our island where no
+Friends lived, and among a people, who, from acquaintance I had with
+them, were more likely to mock than receive me." He opposed the call,
+and argued against it, only to see the disease daily reducing his
+bodily and mental strength. He became convinced that in yielding to
+this call lay his only hope of recovery, and had he not done so his
+life would have gone out. Having fully recovered, the intimated service
+was performed the following summer.
+
+He seemed to treat his ministry as something in a measure apart from
+his personality. He repeatedly referred to his own ministerial labors
+in a way not unlike that indulged in by his most ardent admirers.
+Yet this was always accompanied with acknowledgment of the Divine
+enlightening and assistance. On the 22d of Tenth month, 1779, he held
+an appointed meeting in Hartford, Conn., a thousand persons being
+present. Of this meeting he said: "The Lord, in whom we trust, was
+graciously near, and furnished us with ability to conduct the meeting
+to the satisfaction and peace of our own minds; and to the edification
+of many present, and general satisfaction to the assembly."[37]
+
+[37] Journal, p. 85.
+
+Speaking of a meeting at Market Street, Philadelphia, in Fourth month,
+1801, he remarked: "My spirit was set at liberty, and ability afforded
+to divide the word among them, according to their varied conditions, in
+a large, searching and effectual testimony; whereby a holy solemnity
+was witnessed to spread over the meeting, to the great rejoicing of the
+honest-hearted."[38]
+
+[38] Journal, p. 89.
+
+At a meeting at Goose Creek, Virginia, the 22d of Third month, 1797,
+he tells us: "After a considerable time of silent labor, in deep
+baptism with the suffering seed, my mouth was opened in a clear, full
+testimony, directed to the states of those present. And many were
+brought under the influence of that power which 'cut Rahab, and wounded
+the dragon.'"[39]
+
+[39] Journal, p. 69.
+
+In the acknowledgment of the Divine influence and favor, Elias Hicks
+had a collection of phrases which he repeatedly used. "It was the
+Lord's doings, and marvelous in our eyes," was a common expression. He
+repeatedly said: "Our sufficiency was not of ourselves, but of God;
+and that the Lord was our strength from day to day, who is over all
+blessed forever." One of his favorite expressions was: "To the Lord be
+all the praise, nothing due to man."
+
+Trite and pointed Scripture quotations were always at command, and
+they were effectively employed, both in speaking and writing. It will
+be noted by the reader that not a few of the expressions used by Elias
+Hicks sound like the phrases coined by George Fox.
+
+That Elias Hicks believed in the plenary inspiration of the preacher is
+well attested. His testimony was constantly against the "letter," with
+little recognition that the letter could ever contain the spirit. Here
+is a sample exhortation to ministers:
+
+  "And it is a great thing when ministers keep in remembrance that
+  necessary caution of the divine Master, not to premediate what they
+  shall say; but carefully to wait in the nothingness and emptiness of
+  self, that what they speak may be only what the Holy Spirit speaketh
+  in them; then will they not only speak the truth, but the truth,
+  accompanied with power, and thereby profit the hearers."[40]
+
+[40] Journal, p. 296.
+
+He admonished Friends in meeting, and especially ministers, to "get
+inward, and wait in their proper gifts." The evident theory was that by
+waiting, and possibly wrestling with the manifestation it was possible
+to tell whether it was from below or above.
+
+Still, there was not an entire absence of the human and even the
+rational in Elias Hicks' theory of the ministry as it worked out in
+practice. He had evidently discovered the psychological side of public
+speaking to the extent of recognizing that even the preacher was
+influenced by his audience.
+
+When he was in Philadelphia in 1816, before the troubled times had
+arrived, he tells us that "it proved a hard trying season: one of
+them [ministers] was exercised in public testimony, and although she
+appeared to labor fervently, yet but little life was felt to arise
+during the meeting. This makes the work hard for the poor exercised
+ministers, who feel the necessity publicly to advocate the cause of
+truth and righteousness, and yet obtain but little relief, by reason
+of the deadness and indifference of those to whom they are constrained
+to minister. I found it my place to sit silent and suffer with the
+seed."[41]
+
+[41] Journal, p. 271.
+
+In a personal letter, while on one of his visits, Elias Hicks gave the
+following impression of the meeting and the ministry:
+
+  "To-day was the quarterly meeting of discipline. It was large, and I
+  think in the main a favored instructive season, although considerably
+  hurt by a pretty long, tedious communication, not sufficiently
+  clothed with life to make it either comfortable or useful. So it
+  is, the Society is in such a mixed and unstable state, and many
+  who presume to be teachers in it, are so far from keeping on the
+  original foundation, the light and spirit of truth, and so built up
+  in mere tradition, that I fear a very great portion of the ministry
+  among us, is doing more harm than good, and leading back to the weak
+  and beggarly elements, to which they seem desirous to be again in
+  bondage."[42]
+
+[42] Letter to his wife, dated Purchase, N. Y., Tenth month 29, 1823.
+
+This is not the only case of his measuring the general effect of the
+ministry. In Seventh month, 1815, he attended Westbury Quarterly
+Meeting, and of its experiences he wrote as follows:
+
+  "Was the parting meeting held for public worship. It was a large
+  crowded meeting, but was somewhat hurt in the forepart, by the
+  appearance of one young in the ministry standing too long, and
+  manifesting too much animation: Yet, I believed, he was under
+  the preparing hand, fitting for service in the Church, if he only
+  keeps low and humble, and does not aspire above his gift, into the
+  animation of the creature. For there is great danger, if such are
+  not deeply watchful, of the transformer getting in and raising the
+  mind into too much creaturely zeal, and warmth of the animal spirit,
+  whereby they may be deceived, and attribute that to the divine power,
+  which only arises from a heated imagination, and the natural warmth
+  of their own spirits; and so mar the work of the divine spirit on
+  their minds, run before their gift and lose it, or have it taken away
+  from them. They thereby fall into the condition of some formerly, as
+  mentioned by the prophet, who, in their creaturely zeal, kindle a
+  fire of their own, and walk in the light thereof; but these, in the
+  end, have to lie down in sorrow."[43]
+
+[43] Journal, p. 234.
+
+Of the same quarterly meeting, held in Fourth month in the following
+year, in New York, Elias wrote: "It was for the most part a favored
+season, but would have been more so, had not some in the ministry quite
+exceeded the mark by unnecessary communication. For very great care
+ought to rest on the minds of ministers, lest they become burthensome,
+and take away the life from the meeting, and bring over it a gloom of
+death and darkness, that may be sensibly felt."[44]
+
+[44] Journal, p. 268.
+
+His feeling regarding his own particular labor in the ministry is
+almost pathetically expressed as follows:
+
+  "Meetings are generally large and well-attended, although in the
+  midst of harvest. I have continual cause for deep humility and
+  thankfulness of heart under a daily sense of the continued mercy of
+  the Shepherd of Israel, who when he puts his servants forth, goes
+  before them, and points out the way, when to them all seems shut
+  up in darkness. This has been abundantly my lot from day to day,
+  insomuch that the saying of the prophet has been verified in my
+  experience, that none are so blind as the Lord's servants, nor deaf
+  as his messengers. As generally when I first enter meetings I feel
+  like one, both dumb and deaf, and see nothing but my own impotence.
+  Nevertheless as my whole trust and confidence is in the never-failing
+  arm of divine sufficiency, although I am thus emptied, I am not cast
+  down, neither has a murmuring thought been permitted to enter, but
+  in faith and patience, have had to inherit the promise, as made to
+  Israel formerly by the prophet. 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake
+  thee.' This my dear, I trust will be the happy lot of all those who
+  sincerely trust in the Lord, and do not cast away their confidence,
+  nor lean to their own understanding."[45]
+
+[45] Letter to his wife, written from East Caln, Pa., Seventh month 22,
+1813.
+
+Occasionally in his ministry Elias Hicks did what in our time would be
+called sensational things. In this matter he shall be his own witness.
+Fourth-day, the 6th of Twelfth month, 1815, at Pearl Street meeting in
+New York, there was a marriage during the meeting, on which account the
+attendance was large. After remarking that his mind was "exercised in
+an unusual manner," he says:
+
+  "For the subject which first presented, after my mind had become
+  silenced, was the remembrance of the manner in which the temporal
+  courts among men are called to order; and it became so impressive,
+  as to apprehend it right to make use of it as a simile, much in the
+  way the prophet was led to make use of some of the Rechabites, to
+  convict Israel of their disobedience and want of attention to their
+  law and law-giver. I accordingly was led to cry audibly three times,
+  'O yes! O yes! O yes! silence all persons, under the pain and penalty
+  of the displeasure of the court.' This unusual address had a powerful
+  tendency to arrest the attention of all present, and from which I
+  took occasion, as truth opened the way, to reason with the assembly,
+  that if such a confused mass of people as are generally collected
+  together on such occasions, and from very different motives, and
+  many from mere curiosity to hear and see the transactions of the
+  court, should all in an instant so honor and respect the court,
+  as immediately to be still and silent at the simple call of the
+  crier: How much more reasonable is it, for a collection of people,
+  promiscuously gathered to the place appointed in a religious way, to
+  wait upon, and worship the Judge of heaven and earth, to be still,
+  and strive to silence every selfish and creaturely thought and
+  cogitation of the mind. For such thoughts and cogitations would as
+  certainly prevent our hearing the inward divine voice of the King
+  of heaven, and as effectually hinder our worshipping him in spirit
+  and in truth, as the talking of the multitude at a court of moral
+  law, would interrupt the business thereof. As I proceeded with this
+  simile, the subject enlarged and spread, accompanied with gospel
+  power and the evident demonstration of the spirit, whereby truth was
+  raised into victory, and ran as oil over all. The meeting closed with
+  solemn supplication and thanksgiving to the Lord our gracious Helper,
+  to whom all the honor and glory belong, both now and forever."[46]
+
+[46] Journal, p. 248.
+
+Whatever may have been the opinion of Elias Hicks as to the inspiration
+of the minister, he evidently did not consider that it was so
+impersonal and accidental, or so entirely outside the preacher, as to
+demand no care on his own part. The following advisory statement almost
+provides for what might be called "preparation:"
+
+  "In those large meetings, where Friends are collected from various
+  parts, the weak and the strong together, and especially in those
+  for worship, it is essentially necessary that Friends get inward,
+  and wait in their proper gifts, keeping in view their standing and
+  place in society, especially those in the ministry. For otherwise
+  there is danger even from a desire to do good, of being caught with
+  the enemies' transformations, particularly with those that are
+  young, and inexperienced; for we seldom sit in meetings but some
+  prospect presents, which has a likeness, in its first impression,
+  to the right thing; and as these feel naturally fearful of speaking
+  in large meetings, and in the presence of their elderly friends,
+  and apprehending they are likely to have something to offer, they
+  are suddenly struck with the fear of man, and thereby prevented
+  from centering down to their gifts, so as to discover whether it
+  is a right motion or not; and the accuser of the brethren, who is
+  always ready with his transformations to deceive, charges with
+  unfaithfulness and disobedience, by which they are driven to act
+  without any clear prospect, and find little to say, except making
+  an apology for them thus standing; by which they often disturb the
+  meeting, and prevent others, who are rightly called to the work, and
+  thereby wound the minds of the living baptized members."[47]
+
+[47] Journal, p. 230.
+
+The responsibility which Elias Hicks felt for the meeting of which
+he was a member, and in which he felt called to minister, is well
+illustrated in the following quotation:
+
+  "I was under considerable bodily indisposition most of this week. On
+  Fifth-day, so much so, as almost to give up the prospect of getting
+  to meeting; but I put on my usual resolution and went, and was glad
+  in so doing, as there I met with that peace of God that passeth all
+  understanding, which is only known by being felt. I had to declare to
+  my friends how good it is to trust in the Lord with all the heart,
+  and lean not to our own understandings, lest they fail us."[48]
+
+[48] Journal, p. 230.
+
+This records no uncommon occurrence. He was often indisposed, but the
+illness had to be severe if it kept him away from meeting.
+
+During his later life he was frequently indisposed, and sometimes
+under such bodily pain when speaking that he was forced to stop in
+the midst of a discourse. This happened in Green Street Meeting
+House, Philadelphia, Eleventh month 12, 1826. On this occasion the
+stenographer says that after "leaving his place for a few minutes, he
+resumed." During this particular sermon Elias sat down twice, beside
+the time mentioned, evidently to recover physical strength.
+
+Elias Hicks was not one of those ministers who always spoke if he
+attended meeting. Many times he was silent; this being especially true
+when in his home meeting. When on a religious visit he generally spoke,
+but not always. That his willingness to "famish the people from words,"
+tended to his local popularity, is quite certain.
+
+The printed sermons of Elias Hicks would indicate that at times he
+was quite lengthy, and seldom preached what is known now as a short,
+ten-minute sermon. Estimating a number of sermons, we find that they
+averaged about 6500 words, so that his sermons must have generally
+occupied from thirty to forty-five minutes in delivery. Occasionally a
+sermon contained over 8000 words, while sometimes less than 4000 words.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The Home at Jericho.
+
+
+The village of Jericho, Long Island, is about 25 miles east of New York
+City, in the town of Oyster Bay. It has had no considerable growth
+since the days of Elias Hicks, and now contains only about a score and
+a half of houses. Hicksville, less than two miles away, the railroad
+station for the older hamlet, contains a population of a couple of
+thousand. It was named for Valentine Hicks, the son-in-law of Elias.
+
+Running through Jericho is the main-traveled road from the eastern
+part of Long Island to New York, called Jericho Pike. In our time it
+is a famous thoroughfare for automobiles, is thoroughly modern, and as
+smooth and hard as a barn floor. In former days it was a toll-road, and
+over it Elias Hicks often traveled. A cross-country road runs through
+Jericho nearly north and south, leading to Oyster Bay. On this road,
+a few rods to the north from the turn in the Jericho Pike stands the
+house which was originally the Seaman homestead, where Elias Hicks
+lived from soon after his marriage till his death.
+
+The house was large and commodious for its time, but has been
+remodeled, so that only part of the building now standing is as it
+was eighty years ago. The house ends to the road, with entrance from
+the south side. It was of the popular Long Island and New England
+construction, shingled from cellar wall to ridge-pole. Four rooms on
+the east end of the house, two upstairs and two down, are practically
+as they were in the days of Elias Hicks. In one of these he had his
+paralytic stroke, and in another he passed away. The comparatively wide
+hall which runs across the house, with the exception of the stairway,
+is as it was in the time of its distinguished occupant. A new stairway
+of modern construction now occupies the opposite side of the hall from
+the one of the older time. This hall-way, it is said, Elias Hicks loved
+to promenade, sometimes with his visitors, and here with characteristic
+warmth of feeling he sped his parting guests, when the time for their
+departure came.
+
+Like the most of his neighbors, Elias Hicks was a farmer. The home
+place probably contained about seventy-five acres, but he possessed
+detached pieces of land, part of it in timber. Several years before
+his death he sold forty acres of the farm to his son-in-law, Valentine
+Hicks, thus considerably reducing the care which advancing years and
+increased religious labor made advisable.
+
+Jericho still retains its agricultural character more than some of
+the other sections of neighboring Long Island. The multi-millionaire
+and the real estate exploiter have absorbed many of the old Friendly
+homes toward the Westbury neighborhood, and are pushing their ambitious
+intent at land-grabbing down the Jericho road.
+
+If Elias were to return and make a visit from Jericho to the meeting
+at Westbury, as he often did in his time, three or four miles away,
+he would pass more whizzing automobiles en route than he would teams,
+and would see the landscape beautifully adorned with lawns and walks,
+with parks and drives on the hillsides, not to mention the costly Roman
+garden of one of Pittsburg's captains of industry. Should he so elect,
+he could be whirled in a gasoline car in a few minutes over a distance
+which it probably took him the better part of an hour to make in his
+day. As he went along he could muse over snatches of Goldsmiths'
+"Deserted Village," like the following, which would be approximately,
+if not literally, true:
+
+  "Hoards, e'en beyond the miser's wish abound,
+  And rich men flock from all the world around.
+  Yet count our gains: this wealth is but a name
+  That leaves our useful products just the same.
+  And so the loss: the man of wealth and pride
+  Takes up the place that many poor supplied;
+  Space for his lake, his parks extending bounds,
+  Space for his horses, equipage and hounds,
+  The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth,
+  Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth."
+
+But there are some compensations in the modern scene, and however
+emotionally sad the change, the helpfully suggestive side is not in
+lamentation over the inevitable, but in considering the growing demands
+which the situation makes upon the practical spiritual religion which
+Elias Hicks preached, and in which his successors still profess to
+believe.
+
+A hundred years ago, wheat was a regular and staple farm product on
+Long Island, especially in and around Jericho, and on the Hicks farm.
+But no wheat is raised in this section now. The farmer finds it more
+profitable to raise the more perishable vegetables to feed the hungry
+hordes of the great city, which has crowded itself nearer and nearer to
+the farmers' domain.
+
+Less than a quarter of a mile up the road from the Hicks home is the
+Friends' Meeting House, which Elias Hicks helped to build, if he did
+not design it. The timbers and rafters, which were large, and are
+still sound to the core, were hewed by hand of course. Like most of
+the neighboring buildings, its sides were shingled, and probably the
+original shingles have not been replaced since the house was built,
+a hundred and twenty-two years ago. The "public gallery" contained
+benches sloping steeply one above the other, making the view of
+the preacher's gallery easy from these elevated positions. Over
+the preacher's gallery, and facing the one just described, is room
+for a row of seats behind a railing. Whether this was a sort of a
+"watch-tower" from which the elders might observe the deportment of the
+young people in the seats opposite, or whether it was simply used for
+overflow purposes, tradition does not tell us.
+
+The fact probably is that what is known as the Hicks property at
+Jericho came to Elias by his wife Jemima. There is every reason to
+believe that at the time of his marriage he was a poor man, and as
+the young folks took up their residence at the Seaman home soon after
+their marriage, there was no time for an accumulation of property on
+the part of the head of the new family. The economic situation involved
+in the matter under consideration had a most important bearing on the
+religious service of Elias Hicks. Taking the Seaman farm brought him
+economic certainty, if not independence. It is hardly conceivable that
+he could have given the large attention to the "free gospel ministry"
+which he did, had there been a struggle with debt and difficulty which
+was so incidental in laying the foundations of even a moderate success
+a century and a quarter ago. It is by no means to be inferred, however,
+that Elias Hicks was ever a wealthy man, or possessed the means of
+luxury, for which of course he had no desire, and against which he
+bore a life-long testimony. The real point to be gratefully remembered
+is that he was not overburdened with the care and worry which a less
+desirable economic condition would have enforced.
+
+In the main, Elias Hicks saw his married children settle around him.
+Royal Aldrich, who married his oldest daughter, had a tannery, and
+lived on the opposite side of the road not far away. Valentine Hicks,
+who married another daughter, had a somewhat pretentious house for the
+time, at the foot of the little hill approaching the meeting house, and
+just beyond the house of Elias, Robert Seaman, who married the youngest
+daughter, lived only a few steps away. Joshua Willets, who married the
+third daughter, resided on the south side of the island, some miles
+distant. The time of scattering families, lured by business outlook and
+economic advantage, had not yet arrived.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Hicks Family.
+
+
+In the home at Jericho the children of Elias Hicks were born. Touching
+his family we have this bit of interesting information from Elias Hicks
+himself:
+
+  "My wife, although not of a very strong constitution, lived to be the
+  mother of eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. Our second
+  daughter, a very lovely promising child, died when young with the
+  small pox, and the youngest was not living at its birth. The rest
+  all arrived to years of discretion, and afforded us considerable
+  comfort, as they proved to be in a good degree dutiful children. All
+  our sons, however, were of weak constitutions, and were not able to
+  take care of themselves, being so enfeebled as not to be able to
+  walk after the ninth year of their age. The two eldest died in the
+  fifteenth year of their age, the third in his seventeenth year, and
+  the youngest was nearly nineteen when he died. But, although thus
+  helpless, the innocency of their lives, and the resigned cheerfulness
+  of their dispositions to their allotments, made the labour and toil
+  of taking care of them agreeable and pleasant; and I trust we were
+  preserved from murmuring or repining, believing the dispensation to
+  be in wisdom, and according to the will and gracious disposing of an
+  all-wise providence, for purposes best known to himself. And when I
+  have observed the great anxiety and affliction, which many parents
+  have with undutiful children who are favoured with health, especially
+  their sons, I could perceive very few whose troubles and exercises,
+  on that account, did not far exceed ours. The weakness and bodily
+  infirmity of our sons tended to keep them much out of the way of the
+  troubles and temptations of the world; and we believed that in their
+  death they were happy, and admitted into the realms of peace and joy;
+  a reflection, the most comfortable and joyous that parents can have
+  in regard to their tender offspring."[49]
+
+[49] Journal, p. 14.
+
+The children thus referred to by their father were the following:
+Martha, born in 1771. She married Royal Aldrich, and died in 1862, at
+the advanced age of ninety-one. She was a widow for about twenty years.
+
+David was born in 1773, and died in 1787. Elias, the second son, was
+born in 1774, and died the same year as his brother David. Elizabeth
+was born in 1777, and died in 1779. This is the daughter who had the
+small pox. There are no records telling whether the other members of
+the family had the disease, or how this child of two years became a
+victim of the contagion.
+
+Phebe, the third daughter, was born in 1779. She married Joshua
+Willets, as noted in the last chapter.
+
+Abigail, who married Valentine Hicks, a nephew of Elias, was born in
+1782. She died Second month 26, 1850, while her husband passed away the
+5th of Third month of the same year, just one week after the death of
+his wife.
+
+Jonathan, the third son, was born in 1784, and passed away in 1802. His
+brother, John, was born in 1789, and died in 1805.
+
+Elizabeth, evidently named for her little sister, was born in 1791,
+and lived to a good old age. She passed away in 1871. She was never
+married, and occasionally accompanied her father on his religious
+visits. She was known in the neighborhood, in her later years at least,
+as "Aunt Elizabeth," and is the best-remembered of any of the children
+of Elias Hicks. As the Friends remember her she was a spare woman,
+never weighing over ninety pounds.
+
+The youngest child of the family, Sarah, was born in 1793. She married
+Robert Seaman, her kinsman, and died in 1835. Robert, her husband, died
+in 1860.
+
+It will be seen that the home at Jericho was a house acquainted with
+grief. Of the ten children, Martha, David, Elias and little Elizabeth
+made up the juvenile members of the household, up to the time of the
+death of the latter. Phebe came the same year, while Abigail was born
+three years later, so that there were at least four or five children
+always gathered around the family board. Before the passing away
+of Elias and David, the family had been increased by the birth of
+Jonathan, making the children living at one time six. After the death
+of the three older boys, and the birth of Elizabeth and Sarah, until
+the death of John in 1805, living children were still six in number.
+The five daughters, Martha, Phebe, Abigail, Elizabeth and Sarah all
+outlived their parents.
+
+Elias Hicks was undoubtedly a most affectionate father, as the
+letters to his wife and children show. How much this was diluted by
+the apparent sternness of his religious concerns is a matter for the
+imagination to determine. What were the amusements of this large family
+is an interesting question in this "age of the child," with its surfeit
+of toys and games. What were the tasks of the girls it is not so hard
+to answer. Of course they worked "samplers," pieced quilts, learned to
+spin and knit, and possibly to weave, and to prepare the wool or flax
+for the loom. If we read between the lines in the description of their
+father, we can easily infer that the physically afflicted sons were
+nevertheless not without the joys of boyhood.
+
+At all events, if it was an afflicted family, it was also a united
+one. It was a home where the parents were reverenced by the children,
+and where there was a feeling of love, and a sense of loyalty. This
+feeling is still characteristic of the descendants of Elias Hicks. It
+is a sample of the persistence of the qualities of a strong man, in the
+generations that come after him.
+
+Of the four daughters of Elias Hicks who were married, but two had
+children, so that the lineal descendants of the celebrated Jericho
+preacher are either descendants of Martha Hicks, wife of Valentine,
+or of Sarah Hicks Seaman. These two branches of the family are quite
+numerous.[50]
+
+[50] The descendants referred to will be given in their proper place in
+the Appendix.
+
+Of Jemima, the wife of Elias Hicks, little is known apart from the
+correspondence of her husband, and that is considerable. That he
+considered her his real help-meet, and had for her a lover's affection
+to the end is abundantly attested by all of the facts. Dame Rumor, in
+the region of Jericho, claims that she was her husband's intellectual
+inferior, but that is an indefinite comparison worth very little. That
+she was at some points his superior is undoubtedly true, and it must be
+remembered that Elias himself, with all of his great natural ability,
+lacked intellectual culture and literary training. Jemima was evidently
+a good housekeeper, and manager of affairs. Before she had sons-in-law
+with whom to advise, and even after that, the business side of the
+family was a considerable part of the time in her hands. It is no small
+matter to throw upon a woman, never robust, the responsibility of both
+the mother and father of a family during the prolonged absence of the
+husband.
+
+The first long religious visit of Elias Hicks lasted ten weeks. At
+that time there were four little people in the Hicks home, from
+eight-year-old Martha to two-year-old Elizabeth, who died that
+year, while Phebe was born after the return of her father from his
+Philadelphia trip. Several of the other extended journeys were made
+while the children of the family were of an age requiring care. Of
+course this laid labor and responsibility on the wife and mother.
+These she bore without complaining and, we may be sure, with executive
+ability of no mean order.
+
+It was a time when women were not expected to be either the
+intellectual peers or companions of their husbands, and we cannot
+justly apply the measurements and standards of to-day, to the women of
+a century ago. Men of the Elias Hicks type, meeting their fellows in
+public assemblies and ministering to them, traveling widely and forming
+many friendships, whether in the Society of Friends or out of it, are
+likely to be praised, if not petted, while their wives, less known,
+labor on unappreciated. Such a woman was Jemima Hicks. To her, and all
+like her, the lasting gratitude of the sons of men is due.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Letters to his Wife.
+
+
+In the long absences from home, which the religious visits of Elias
+Hicks involved, as a matter of course many of the domestic burdens fell
+heavily upon his wife. In so far as he could atone for his absence
+by sending epistles home he did so. In fact, for the times, he was a
+voluminous letter writer.
+
+It was not a time of rapid transit. Distances now spanned in a few
+hours demanded days and weeks when Elias Hicks was active in the
+ministry. At the best, but a few letters could reach home from the
+traveler absent for several months.
+
+In the main the letters which Elias sent to his beloved Jemima were
+of the ardent lover-like sort. It seemed impossible, however, for
+him to avoid the preacherly function in even his most tender and
+domestic missives. Exhortations to practical righteousness, and to
+the maintenance of what he considered the Friendly fundamentals, were
+plentifully mixed with his most private and personal concerns.
+
+In going over this correspondence one wishes for more description,
+relating to the human side of the traveler's experiences. A man who
+several times traversed what was really the width of habitable America,
+and mostly either in a wagon or on horseback, must have seen much that
+was interesting, and many times humorous and even pathetic. But few of
+these things moved Elias Hicks, or diverted him from what he considered
+the purely gospel character of his mission.
+
+Still there is much worth while in this domestic correspondence. From
+it we compile and annotate such extracts as seem to help reveal the
+character of the man who wrote them.
+
+On the 13th of Eighth month, 1788, Elias was at Creek, now Clinton
+Corners, in Dutchess county, New York. From a letter written to his
+wife that day, we quote:
+
+  "My heart glows at this time with much love and affection for thee
+  and our dear children, with breathing desires for your preservation,
+  and that thou, my dear, may be kept in a state of due watchfulness
+  over thyself, and those dear lambs under thy care, that nothing may
+  interrupt the current of pure love among you in my absence."
+
+A letter dated "Lynn, Massachusetts, ye 24th of Eighth month, 1793,"
+and written to his wife, is of peculiar interest. We quote the first
+sentences:
+
+  "I received last evening, at my return to this place from the East,
+  thy very acceptable letter of the 16th instant.... The contents,
+  except the account of the pain in thy side, were truly comfortable.
+  That part wherein thou expresseth a resignation to the Divine Will,
+  was particularly satisfactory, for in this, my dear, consists our
+  chiefest happiness and consolation."
+
+He sometimes expressed a sense of loneliness in his travels, but was
+certain of the nearness of the Divine Spirit. In the letter mentioned
+above he said:
+
+  "Thou hast cause to believe with me, my dear, that it was He that
+  first united our hearts together in the bonds of an endeared love
+  and affection. So it is He that has kept and preserved us all our
+  life long, and hath caused us to witness an increase of that unfading
+  love, which as thou expresseth is ever new."
+
+Evidently his beloved Jemima, like Martha of old, was unduly troubled
+about many things, for we find Elias in his letter indulging in the
+following warning: "And let me again hint to thee a care over thyself,
+for I fear thou wilt expose thyself by too much bodily exercise in the
+care of thy business."
+
+It is seldom that we find even a tinge of complaining in any of his
+letters. It seems, however, that his women folks were not industrious
+correspondents. In closing the letter noted he thus expressed himself:
+
+  "My companion receives his packet of letters, frequently four, five
+  or six at a time, which makes me feel as if I was forgotten by my
+  friends, having received but two small letters from home since I left
+  you. And thou writest, my dear, as if paper was scarce, on very small
+  pieces."
+
+On the 3d of Ninth month, of the same year, a letter was written to his
+wife, much like the foregoing. It is interesting to note that Elias was
+at this time the guest of Moses Brown (in Providence), the founder of
+the Moses Brown School. The small pieces of paper mentioned are hints
+of a wifely economy, not altogether approved by her very economical
+husband. There is a gentle tinge of rebuke in the following, written
+from Nine Partners, Eleventh month 19, 1818. The temptation is strong
+to read into these lines, a grain of humor touching the much-talked-of
+persistence of a woman's will:
+
+  "Inasmuch as I have often felt concerned when thus absent, least thou
+  should worry thyself, with too much care and labor in regard to our
+  temporal concerns, and have often desired thee to be careful in that
+  respect, but mostly without effect, by reason that thou art so choice
+  of thy own free agency as to be afraid to take the advice of thy
+  best friend, lest it might mar that great privilege; I therefore now
+  propose to leave thee at full liberty to use it in thine own pleasure
+  with the addition of this desire, that thou use it in that way as
+  will produce to thee the most true comfort and joy, and then I trust
+  I shall be comforted, my dear, in thy comfort, and joyful in thy joy."
+
+A letter dated West Jersey, near Salem, the 6th of First month, 1798,
+mentions a singular concern about apparel. He exhorts his wife to guard
+the tender minds of their children from "foolish and worldly vanities,"
+and then drops into a personal and general statement regarding what he
+considered simplicity and plainness as follows:
+
+  "Great is the apparent departure from primitive purity and plainness
+  among many professors of the truth, where our lots have been cast.
+  Foreseeing that I may often be led in a line of close doctrine to
+  such it has brought me under close self-examination, knowing for
+  certain that those who have to deal out to others ought to look well
+  to their own going. In this time of scrutiny nothing turned up as
+  bringing reproof to my mind concerning our children, but the manner
+  of wearing their gown sleeves long and pinned at the wrist. This I
+  found to strike at the pure life, and wounded my mind. I clearly saw
+  my deficiency that I had not more endeavored to have it done away
+  with before I left home, for I felt it as a burden then. But seeing
+  our dear daughters had manifested so much condescension in other
+  things, and this being like one of the least, I endeavored to be easy
+  under it. But feeling it with assurance not to be a plant of our
+  Heavenly Father's right-hand planting, think it ought to be plucked
+  up. Let our dear daughters read these lines, and tell them their dear
+  father prays they may wisely consider the matter, and if they can be
+  willing so far to condescend to my desire while absent as to have
+  these things removed, it will be as balsam to my wounded spirit, and
+  they will not go without their reward. But their father's God will
+  bless them and become their God, as they are faithful to his reproofs
+  in their hearts, and walk fearfully before Him. He will redeem them,
+  out of all adversity to the praise and glory of His grace, who is
+  over all, God, blessed forever."
+
+During a visit to Nine Partners, Twelfth month 15, 1803, Elias wrote
+to Jemima. Evidently she had repelled the inference, if not the
+implication, that she had been negligent in her correspondence, for we
+find the letter in question beginning in this fashion:
+
+  "Although I wrote thee pretty fully last evening, yet having since
+  that received a precious, refreshing letter from thee, by Isaac
+  Frost (it being the first I have received from thee since I left
+  home), but finding from thy last that thou hast written several. It
+  affords a singular satisfaction in finding thou hast been mindful of
+  me. But I have not complained, my dear, nor let in, nor indulged a
+  thought that thou hadst forgotten me, nor do I believe thou couldst.
+  There is nothing while we continue in our right minds that can
+  dissolve that firm and precious bond of love and endeared affection,
+  which from our first acquaintance united us together, and in which,
+  while writing these lines my spirit greets thee with endeared
+  embraces."
+
+It surely seems strange that a man who was the father of eleven
+children, that his only source of personal "reproof" concerning them,
+was this little matter of the sleeves and the pins. This probably is a
+fair illustration of what may be called the conservatism of Elias Hicks
+touching all of the peculiarities of the Society of Friends.
+
+The postscript to a letter written to Jemima from Shrewsbury, New
+Jersey, Twelfth month 17, 1797, reads as follows: "As thou writes but
+poorly, if thou should get Hallet or Royal to write superscriptions on
+the letters, it would make them more plain for conveyance."
+
+It was only seldom that business affairs at home were referred to in
+his epistles to his wife. But occasionally a departure was made from
+this practice. Where these lapses do occur, it would seem that they
+should be noted. In the fall of 1822 Elias was in the vicinity of
+Philadelphia, and was stopping with his friend and kinsman, Edward
+Hicks, at Newtown, in Bucks county.
+
+In this letter he says: "My health is much the same as when I left
+home. I was disappointed in not meeting any letters here, as I feel
+very anxious how you all do." We copy the balance of the letter, with
+its tender admonition to Jemima:
+
+  "I will just remind thee that before I left home I put two old ewes
+  in the green rye on the plains. If they should improve as to be fit
+  to kill, I should be willing thou would let Josiah have one of them,
+  as he agreed to split up some of the timber that was blown down in
+  the woods by him, into rails and board himself. The other thou might
+  sell or otherwise at thy pleasure.
+
+  "Now, my dear, let me remind thee of thy increasing bodily
+  infirmities, and the necessity it lays thee under to spare thyself of
+  the burthen and care of much bodily and mental labour and exercise,
+  by which thou will experience more quiet rest, both to body and
+  mind, and that it may be, my dear, our united care to endeavor that
+  our last days may be our best days, that so we may witness a state
+  and qualification to pass gently and quietly out of time, into the
+  mansions of eternal blessedness, where all sighing and sorrow, will
+  be at an end."
+
+While in Pennsylvania, and at what is now York, Fourth month 3, 1798,
+he sent a tender missive home. Part of it referred to business matters.
+He gave directions for preparing the ground, and planting potatoes, and
+also for oats and flax, the latter being a crop practically unknown
+to present-day Long Island. He then gives the following direction
+regarding a financial obligation:
+
+  "And as James Carhartt has a bond of sixty pounds against me, of
+  money belonging to a Dutchman, should be glad if thou hast not money
+  enough by thee to pay the interest thereof, thou would call upon
+  Royal or brother Joseph and get some, and pay it the first of Fifth
+  month."
+
+While at Rahway, New Jersey, Eleventh month 6, 1801, on his visit
+to Friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he wrote one of his most
+expressive letters to Jemima. A postscript was attached directed to
+his daughters. To his oldest daughter, Martha, he sent an exhortation
+in which he said: "My desires for thee, my dear, are that thou may be
+preserved innocent and chaste to the Lord, for I can have no greater
+joy than to find my children walking in the truth."
+
+That a large part of his concern was for the comfort of his wife
+in the long absences from home is abundantly shown in his entire
+correspondence. The last postscript to the Rahway letter is as follows:
+
+  "And, dear Phebe and Abigail, remember your Creator, who made you not
+  to spend your time in play and vanity, but to be sober and to live
+  in his fear, that he may bless you. Be obedient to your dear mother,
+  it is my charge to you. Love and help her whatever you can; it will
+  comfort your dear father."
+
+The 2d of Eleventh month, 1820, Elias arrived at Hudson, and learning
+that the steamboat to New York was to pass that day, he prepared and
+sent a letter to his wife. In this letter he says:
+
+  "It may be that some of my friends may think me so far worth
+  noticing, as to meet me with a line or two at Nine Partners, as I
+  have often felt very desirous of hearing how you fare at home, but
+  this desire hath mostly failed of being gratified. I suppose the many
+  things so absorb the minds of my friends at home, that they have no
+  time to think of so poor a thing as I am. But never mind it, as all
+  things, it is said, will work together for good to those that love
+  and fear [God]."
+
+While at Saratoga, in 1793, Elias wrote to Jemima, Tenth month 15th.
+This is one of his most ardent epistles. "Oh, my dear," he says, "may
+we ever keep in remembrance the day of our espousal and gladness of our
+hearts, as I believe it was a measure of the Divine Image that united
+our hearts together in the beginning. It is the same that I believe
+has, and still doth strengthen the sweet, influential and reciprocal
+bond, that nothing, I trust, as we dwell under a sense of Divine love
+and in the pure fear, will ever be able to obliterate or deface."
+
+Third month 15, 1798, a letter was written from Alexandria, Va., from
+which we make this extract:
+
+  "We came here this morning from Sandy Spring, which is upwards of
+  twenty miles distant. Got in timely so as to attend their meeting
+  which began at the tenth hour. Crossed the river Potomac on our way.
+  We got on horseback about break of day, and not being very well I
+  thought I felt the most fatigued before I got in, I was ever sensible
+  of before. When I came to the meeting, a poor little one it was, and
+  wherein I had to suffer silence through the meeting for worship, but
+  in their Preparative which followed, I found my way open in a measure
+  to ease my mind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The Slavery Question.
+
+
+John Woolman was the mouth-piece of the best Quaker conscience of the
+eighteenth century on the slavery question. For twenty-five years
+before his death, in 1772, he was pleading with the tenderness of a
+woman that his beloved religious society should clear itself from
+complicity with the system which held human beings in bondage. His
+mantel apparently fell on Warner Mifflin, a young man residing in Kent
+county, Delaware, near the little hamlet of Camden. In 1775 Mifflin
+manumitted his slaves, and was followed by like conduct on the part of
+his father, Daniel Mifflin, a resident of Accomac County, in Virginia.
+
+Warner Mifflin is said to have been the first man in America to
+voluntarily give freedom to his bondmen, and to make restitution to
+such of them as were past twenty-one, for the unrequited service which
+they had rendered him. Be that as it may, from 1775, until his death
+in 1799, Warner Mifflin, with tireless zeal labored with Friends
+personally, and with meetings in their official capacity, to drive the
+last remnant of slavery from the Quaker fold. His efforts appeared in
+various monthly meeting minutes throughout Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
+and he was not backward in laying his concern before the Yearly Meeting
+itself. In 1783, on the initiative of Mifflin, the Yearly Meeting for
+Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Western Parts of Maryland
+and Virginia, memorialized the infant United States Congress in regard
+to slavery. The document was a striking one for the time, was signed in
+person by 535 Friends, and was presented to the Congress by a strong
+committee headed by Warner Mifflin.
+
+These efforts at internal deliverance from connection and complicity
+with slavery produced speedy results, and before the close of the
+century not a Quaker slave holder remained in the Society, unless in
+some obscure cases that continued "under care." Having cleared its own
+skirts of slavery, the members of the Society became divided into two
+classes--the one anxious that the Quaker conscience should make its
+appeal to the general conscience for the entire abolition of the "great
+iniquity." The other class, satisfied with their own sinlessness in
+this particular, wished the Society to remain passive, and in no way
+mix with a public agitation of the mooted question. These two opposing
+views distracted the Society down to the very verge of the final issue
+in the slaveholders' rebellion.
+
+Elias Hicks was three years Warner Mifflin's junior. He probably saw
+the Delaware abolitionist during his visits to Philadelphia Yearly
+Meeting before the death of Mifflin. Whether either ever saw or heard
+John Woolman cannot be positively stated. Mifflin was twenty-seven when
+the great New Jersey preacher and reformer passed away, and must have
+fallen under the spell of Woolman's inspiring leadership. Elias Hicks
+could hardly have escaped being influenced by this "elder brother,"
+although he may never have seen him.
+
+The subject of this biography was among those who believed that the
+Society of Friends had a message to the world along the line of its
+internal testimony against slavery, and he did not hesitate to deliver
+the message, though it disturbed the superficial ease in Zion. Still he
+had no definite plan apart from the appeal to conscience for settling
+the problem.
+
+It must be remembered, however, that Elias Hicks passed away before
+the real abolition movement, as represented by Garrison and Phillips
+and their compeers, had begun its vigorous agitation, or organized
+its widely applied propaganda. What the attitude of Elias would have
+been toward Friends becoming members of the abolition societies, which
+after his death played such an important part, and touching which many
+Friends were either in doubt or in opposition we cannot even surmise.
+
+Benjamin Lundy[51] commenced his literary warfare against slavery, with
+the ponderously named "Genius of Universal Emancipation," in 1821.
+Elias Hicks was one of Lundy's most concerned and faithful patrons, in
+some of his undertakings,[52] as appears in his personal correspondence.
+
+[51] Benjamin Lundy was born of Quaker parents, First month 4, 1789, in
+Sussex County, New Jersey. He learned the trade of harness maker and
+saddler, and went to Ohio, where he became very much interested in the
+slavery question. In 1816 he issued an "Address" touching the evils of
+slavery. Of this Address, Horace Greeley says, it contained the germ
+of the whole anti-slavery movement. In First month, 1821, he issued
+the first number of _The Genius of Universal Emancipation_. Lundy was
+interested in various schemes for colonization, and assisted many
+emancipated negroes to go to Hayti, and contemplated the establishment
+of a colony of colored people in Mexico. He died at Lowell, Illinois,
+Eighth month 22, 1839, and was buried in the Friends' burying ground at
+Clear Creek.
+
+[52] Please inform Benjamin Lundy that I have procured fifty-two
+subscribers, or subscribers for fifty-two books, entitled, "Letters,"
+etc.--Extract from letter to his son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, dated
+Jericho, Eleventh month 6, 1827.
+
+The state of New York provided for the gradual emancipation of its
+slaves in 1799, so that Elias Hicks had to go away from home after that
+period to get into real slave territory. As has been seen he began
+bearing his testimony in meetings for worship against the institution
+in Maryland, where slave holding was the law of the land until the end.
+
+There are statements more or less legendary to the effect that Elias
+was the owner of one slave, but of that there is no authentic evidence,
+while the probabilities are all against it. If he ever held a slave or
+slaves, he undoubtedly manumitted them. An act of such importance would
+hardly have escaped record in the Journal, and no reference to it
+exists.
+
+The controversies and disownments in the Society of Friends on account
+of the slavery question really came after the death of Elias. The
+trouble in New York resulting in the disownment of Isaac T. Hopper,
+James S. Gibbons and Charles Marriott came on more than a decade after
+his death. This entire controversy has been wrongly estimated by
+most of the biographers and historians, representing the pronounced
+abolitionists of the period. It was not simply a contest between
+anti-slavery Friends and pro-slavery Friends. In fact the moving
+spirits against Isaac T. Hopper were not advocates or defenders of
+slavery as an institution. George F. White, who was probably the head
+and front of the movement to disown Isaac T. Hopper, was not in favor
+of slavery. After his death his monthly meeting memorialized him, and
+among other things stated that he had for years refrained from using
+commodities made by slave labor.
+
+The conservative wing of the Society was opposed to Friends becoming
+identified with any organization for any purpose outside of the
+Society. George F. White attacked temperance organizations, as he did
+abolition societies.
+
+It was a common inference, if not a claim, of the Garrisonian
+abolitionists, that there were no real anti-slavery men outside of
+their organization. In Fifth month, 1840, there was a debate involving
+the abolition attitude of the Society of Friends in the town of
+Lynn, Massachusetts. In this debate William Lloyd Garrison said of
+the Society: "If it were an abolition society, its efforts would be
+identified with ours."[53]
+
+[53] The "Liberator," May 1, 1841, p. 3.
+
+In the same debate Oliver Johnson disputed the abolition claims of the
+Society of Friends, saying: "They have asserted for themselves the
+claim of being an abolition society. But we never could get into their
+meeting house."[54] Thus was the test of abolitionism made to hinge
+upon housing the Abolition Society.
+
+[54] The "Liberator," May 1, 1841, p. 3.
+
+That the attitude of the conservatives was ill-advised and
+reprehensible may be true. It is also true that this body of Friends
+were not in favor of any effort to overthrow slavery by popular
+agitation. They held that all other Christians should do what Friends
+had done, cease to hold slaves, and that would settle the whole
+question. However shortsighted this attitude may have been, very few,
+if any, of the Friends holding it, believed in holding black men in
+bondage. In fact it is pretty safe to assert that at no time after the
+Society had freed itself from direct complicity with slavery was there
+any considerable number of strictly pro-slavery Friends in this country.
+
+In the disownments in the Society growing out of the slavery
+controversy there was never a direct charge of abolitionism brought
+against the accused. In Kennett Monthly Meeting in Chester County,
+Pa., where in about seven years thirty-four Friends were disowned, the
+charge was that the persons had "associated with others in forming,
+sustaining and supporting a professedly religious organization[55]
+distinct from and not owned by Friends, and have wholly declined
+attending our religious meetings."[56]
+
+[55] The "Progressive Friends."
+
+[56] Records of Kennett Monthly Meeting, First month 6, 1857.
+
+Of course, it is true that the Friends who took part in the Progressive
+Friends' movement were probably led to do so because the way did not
+open for them to be aggressively anti-slavery in the parent meeting.
+
+The colonization scheme, that is a plan to colonize emancipated negroes
+either in Africa, or in Hayti, or elsewhere, was prominently urged
+during the time of Elias Hicks. Benjamin Lundy had a plan of this
+character which he attempted to make practical. Evan Lewis,[57] of New
+York, in 1820, was interested in an effort of this sort, and sought the
+advice of Elias Hicks in the matter.
+
+[57] Evan Lewis, a New York Friend and business man. He corresponded
+with King Henry, of San Domingo. Was a warm friend of Elias Hicks, and
+after the "separation" wrote a pamphlet in defense of Elias.
+
+We have not been able to find any reply to this particular letter, and
+are thus not warranted in saying whether Elias Hicks sympathized with
+such a scheme or not.
+
+The attitude of Elias Hicks on the slavery question is only minutely
+referred to in his Journal. His private correspondence gives his
+feeling and conduct in the case, in not a few instances. From his
+general disposition one would expect to find his objections to slavery
+based entirely on moral and religious grounds. Still, evidence abounds
+that he had also considered the economic phases of the question, as
+note the following:
+
+  "I may further add that from forty years of observation that in all
+  cases where opportunity has opened the way fairly to contrast the
+  subject, it has afforded indubitable evidence to my mind, that free
+  labor is cheaper and more profitable than that done by slaves."[58]
+
+[58] From letter written to James Cropper, of England, dated Baltimore,
+Eleventh month 2, 1822.
+
+It seems to have been laid upon him to present the claims of the truth
+as he saw it, in slave-holding communities. He makes the following
+statement touching service of this kind in Virginia:
+
+  "I have passed through some proving seasons since I left Baltimore,
+  in meetings where many negro masters attended, some of whom held
+  fifty, some an hundred, and some it was thought one hundred and fifty
+  of these poor people in slavery. Was led to treat on the subject in
+  divers meetings, in such a manner and so fully to expose the iniquity
+  and unrighteousness thereof, that some who had stouted[59] it out
+  hitherto against all conviction, were much humbled and brought to a
+  state of contrition, and not one individual had power to make any
+  opposition. But truth reigned triumphantly over all, to the rejoicing
+  of many hearts."[60]
+
+[59] "Stouted" seems to have been a favorite word with Elias. He
+habitually uses it as representing an aggravated resistance to the
+truth.
+
+[60] From letter written to his wife from Alexandria, Va., Third month
+15, 1798.
+
+Elias Hicks wrote a number of articles on the slavery question, and
+some of them were printed and publicly circulated. A letter written
+at Manchester, England, Seventh month 5, 1812, by Martha Routh, and
+addressed to Elias Hicks, says: "I have not forgot that I am debtor to
+thee this way, for two very acceptable and instructive epistles, the
+latter with a pamphlet setting forth the deep exercise of thy mind, and
+endeavors for the more full relief of our fellow-brethren, the African
+race." This letter informs Elias that the author sent his pamphlet to
+Thomas Clarkson.
+
+Considerable was written by Elias Hicks on the slave trade, some of it
+existing as unpublished manuscript. An article, filling four closely
+written pages of foolscap, is among his literary effects. A very long
+letter was written to James Cropper, of England, on the same subject.
+Both of these documents were written while the slave-trade bill was
+pending in the British Parliament. Elias considered the measure
+entirely inadequate, holding that the domestic production of slaves was
+as inhuman and abhorrent, if not more so, as their importation from
+Africa. In the letter to Cropper this strong statement is found: "It
+ought ever to be remembered that it is one of the most necessary and
+essential duties both towards God and man, for individuals and nations
+to exert all the power and influence they are possessed of, in every
+righteous and consistent way, to put an entire stop to all oppression,
+robbery and murder without partiality, as it respects nations or
+individuals."
+
+Many times, in his published sermons, Elias Hicks dealt with the
+iniquity of slavery. Without doubt he expressed himself in like manner
+in sermons preached before interest in the man and his utterances
+caused his sermons to be stenographically reported and published.
+
+  "Oh! that our eyes might be opened, to see more deeply into the
+  mystery of iniquity and godliness; that we might become conversant
+  in godliness and so reject iniquity. For all this wicked oppression
+  of the African race is of the mystery of iniquity. The man of sin
+  and son of perdition does these works, and nothing else does them.
+  Justice is fallen in the streets, and in the councils of the nation.
+  How much justice there is; for they have it in their power to do
+  justice to these poor oppressed creatures, but they are waiting till
+  all their selfish notions are gratified."[61]
+
+[61] From sermon preached at Newtown, Pa., Twelfth month 18, 1826. The
+"Quaker," Vol. 4, p. 183.
+
+Elias Hicks was as strongly opposed to the lines of interest and
+economic conduct which indirectly supported slavery as he was to the
+institution itself. We quote:
+
+  "And for want of a sight of this oppression, how many there are
+  who, though they seem not willing to put their hands upon a
+  fellow creature to bind him in chains of bondage, yet they will
+  do everything to help along by purchasing the labor of those poor
+  creatures, which is like eating flesh and drinking blood of our poor
+  fellow-creatures. Is it like coming home to justice? For the thief
+  and oppressor are just alike; the one is as bad as the other."[62]
+
+[62] From sermon preached at Abington, Pa., Twelfth month 15, 1826. The
+"Quaker," Vol. 4, p. 155.
+
+In dealing with slavery and slaveholders, his language often bordered
+on what would now be called bitterness. Here is a case in point:
+
+  "Can slaveholders, mercenaries and hirelings, who look for their gain
+  from this quarter, can they promote the religion of Jesus Christ? No,
+  they are the cause of its reproach, for they are the cause of making
+  unbelievers."[63]
+
+[63] A series of extemporaneous discourses by Elias Hicks. Joseph and
+Edward Parker, p. 24.
+
+His concern touching slavery was largely based on considerations of
+justice, and regard for the opportunity which he believed ought to be
+the right of all men. In one of his sermons he said:
+
+  "Thousands and tens of thousands have been forbidden the enjoyment
+  of every good thing on earth, even of common school-learning; and
+  must it still be so? God forbid it. But this would be a trifle, if
+  they had the privilege of rational beings on the earth; that liberty
+  which is the greatest of all blessings--the exercise of free agency.
+  And here we are glutting ourselves with the toils of their labor!...
+  But this noble testimony, of refusing to partake of the spoils of
+  oppression, lies with the dearly beloved young people of this day. We
+  can look for but little from the aged, who have been accustomed to
+  these things."[64]
+
+[64] From sermon preached in Philadelphia, Twelfth month 1, 1824.
+Parker's "Discourses by Elias Hicks," p. 60-61.
+
+In the sermon "just referred to," we find the following:
+
+  "We are on a level with all the rest of God's creatures. We are not
+  better for being white than others for being black; and we have no
+  more right to oppress the blacks because they are black than they
+  have to oppress us because we are white. Therefore, every one who
+  oppresses his colored brother or sister is a tyrant upon the earth;
+  and every one who strengthens the hand of an oppressor is a tyrant
+  upon earth. They have turned from God, and have not that powerful
+  love, which does away all distinction and prejudice of education, and
+  sets upon equal grounds all those that have equal rights."[65]
+
+[65] The same, p. 79.
+
+Of the "essays" on the slavery question written by Elias Hicks, one has
+survived, and is bound in the volume, "Letters of Elias Hicks." The
+pamphlet in question, though small, like many "ancient" productions,
+had a very large title, viz.: "Observations on the Slavery of the
+Africans and Their Descendants, and the Use of the Produce of Their
+Labor."[66] It was originally published in 1811, having been approved
+by the Meeting for Sufferings of New York Yearly Meeting. Nearly half
+of the "essay" is made up of a series of questions and answers. When
+printed it made six leaves the size of this page. On the subject of the
+product of slave labor, decided ground was taken, the claim being that
+all such produce was "prize goods." The reason for this claim was that
+the slaves originally were captives, practically the victims of a war
+of capture if not conquest. Among other things the essay argues the
+rightfulness and justice of any State to pass laws abolishing slavery
+within its borders.
+
+[66] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 9.
+
+While the arguments presented in this document are of general value, it
+is probable that the pamphlet was in the main intended for circulation
+among Friends, with a view to stimulating them to such action as would
+forward the cause of freedom. This essay by Elias Hicks antedated by
+five years the address by Benjamin Lundy, already referred to, and
+was probably one of the first publications in the nineteenth century
+actually advocating the abolition of slavery.
+
+In studying the slavery question it is necessary to remember that
+before the invention of the cotton gin, about 1793, a considerable
+but unorganized and ineffective anti-slavery sentiment existed in the
+country. But after that invention, which rendered slave labor very
+remunerative, sentiment of this sort subsided so that the Friends, who,
+like Elias Hicks, advocated abolition during the first quarter of the
+nineteenth century, were really pioneers in the attempt which resulted
+in the freedom of a race.
+
+At one time church organizations, even in the South, especially the
+Baptists, passed resolutions favorable to the abolition of slavery.
+Churches North and South in the decade between 1780 and 1790 were well
+abreast of Friends in this particular. Touching this matter Horace
+Greeley remarked: "But no similar declaration has been made by any
+Southern Baptist Convention since field-hands rose to $1,000 each, and
+black infants at birth were accounted worth $100."[67]
+
+[67] "The American Conflict," by Horace Greeley, Vol. I, p. 120.
+
+We could make copious extracts from the anti-slavery utterances of
+Elias Hicks, but our object is simply to give the scope of his thinking
+and purpose in regard to this matter. Few men at certain points were
+more altruistic than he, and as an altruist he could not do other
+than oppose the great social and economic iniquity of his time. From
+his standpoint slavery was utterly and irretrievably bad, and to bear
+testimony constant and consistent against it was part of the high
+calling of the Christian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Various Opinions.
+
+
+Elias Hicks had very definite ideas on a great many subjects. While
+in many respects he was in advance of his time, at other points he
+was conservative. At any rate he was not in unity with some of the
+prevalent social and economic arrangements. On the question of property
+he entertained some startling convictions. Just how much public
+expression he gave to these views may not be positively determined.
+That he believed that there were grave spiritual dangers involved in
+getting and holding great wealth, is abundantly attested in his public
+utterances, but we must look to his private correspondence for some of
+his advanced views on the property question.
+
+In a letter addressed to "Dear Alsop," dated Jericho, Fifth month 14,
+1826, he deals quite definitely with the matter of property. After
+claiming that the early Christians wandered from the pure gospel of
+Jesus after they ceased to rely on the inward teacher, he makes a
+declaration on the subject as follows:
+
+  "But did we all as individuals take the spirit of truth, or light
+  within, as our only rule and guide in all things, we should all then
+  be willing, and thereby enabled, to do justly, love mercy, and walk
+  humbly with God. Then we should hold all things in common, and call
+  nothing our own, but consider all our blessings as only lent to us,
+  to be used and distributed by us in such manner and way as his holy
+  spirit, or this inward teacher, may from time to time direct. Hence
+  we should be made all equal, accountable to none but God alone, for
+  the right use or the abuse of his blessings. Then all mankind would
+  be but one community, have but one head, but one father, and the
+  saying of Jesus would be verified. We should no longer call any man
+  master, for one only has a right to be our Master, even God, and all
+  mankind become brethren. This is the kind of community that I have
+  been labouring for more than forty years to introduce mankind into,
+  that so we might all have but one head, and one instructor and he
+  (God) come to rule whose only right it is, and which would always
+  have been the case, had not man rebelled against his maker, and
+  disobeyed his salutary instruction and commands."
+
+Touching the "cares and deceitfulness of riches," he had much to say.
+He tells us that on a certain day he attended the meeting of ministers
+and elders in Westbury, and sat through it "under great depression
+and poverty of spirit." There was evidently some confession and not
+a little complaining, as there is now, regarding the possession
+and exercise of spiritual gifts on the part of Friends. But Elias
+affirmed that the "cloud" over the meeting was not "in consequence of
+a deficiency of ministers, as it respects their ministerial gifts, nor
+from a want of care in elders in watching over them; but from a much
+more deep and melancholy cause, viz.: the love and cares of this world
+and the deceitfulness of riches; which, springing up and gaining the
+ascendency in the mind, choke the good seed like the briars and thorns,
+and render it fruitless; and produce such great dearth and barrenness
+in our meetings."[68]
+
+[68] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 233.
+
+Elias Hicks apparently believed that labor had in itself a vital
+spiritual quality. In fact he held that the famous injunction in
+Genesis "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" "was not a
+penalty, but it was a divine counsel--a counsel of perfect wisdom and
+perfect love."[69] It was his opinion that all oppression, slavery and
+injustice, had their origin in the disposition of men to shirk the
+obligation to labor, thus placing burdens on their fellows, which
+they should bear themselves.
+
+[69] Sermon preached at Abington, Pa., Twelfth month 15, 1826. The
+"Quaker," p. 155.
+
+Every exhortation touching labor he religiously followed himself. He
+records that at the age of sixty he labored hard in his harvest field,
+and remarks with evident pride and satisfaction as follows:
+
+  "I found I could wield the scythe nearly as in the days of my youth.
+  It was a day of thankful and delightful contemplation. My heart
+  was filled with thankfulness and gratitude to the blessed Author
+  of my existence, in a consideration of his providential care over
+  me, in preserving me in health, and in the possession of my bodily
+  powers, the exercise of which were still affording me both profit
+  and delight; and I was doubly thankful for the continued exercise
+  of my mental faculties, not only in instructing me how to exert and
+  rightly employ my bodily powers, in the most useful and advantageous
+  manner, but also in contemplating the works of nature and Providence,
+  in the blessings and beauties of the field--a volume containing more
+  delightful and profitable instruction than all the volumes of mere
+  learning and science in the world.
+
+  "What a vast portion of the joys and comforts of life do the idle and
+  slothful deprive themselves of, by running into cities and towns,
+  to avoid labouring in the field; not considering that this is one
+  of the principal sources that the gracious Creator of the universe
+  has appointed to his creature, man, from whence he may derive
+  great temporal happiness and delight. It also opens the largest
+  and best field of exercise to the contemplative mind, by which it
+  may be prepared to meet, when this mortal puts on immortality,
+  those immortal joys that will ever be the lot of the faithful and
+  industrious."[70]
+
+[70] Journal of Elias Hicks, p. 185.
+
+It will probably be disputed in our time, that those who labor and
+attempt to live in cities enjoy lives of greater ease than those who
+till the soil.
+
+While Elias recognized the obligation to labor, and believed it was a
+blessed privilege, he had learned in the school of experience that an
+over-worked body and an over-worried mind tended to spiritual poverty.
+We quote:
+
+  "The rest of this week was spent in my ordinary vocations. My farming
+  business was very pressing, and it being difficult to procure
+  suitable assistance, my mind was overburdened with care, which
+  seldom fails of producing leanness of spirit in a lesser or greater
+  degree."[71]
+
+[71] Journal, p. 151.
+
+As offset to this we quote the following:
+
+  "What a favor it is for such an active creature as man, possessed of
+  such powers of body and mind, always to have some employment, and
+  something for those powers to act upon; for otherwise they would be
+  useless and dormant, and afford neither profit nor delight."[72]
+
+[72] Journal, p. 184.
+
+The building of railroads in this country had fairly begun when Elias
+Hicks passed away in 1830. Projects had been under way for some time,
+and certain Friends in Baltimore, then the center of railroad activity,
+had become interested in the enterprise. In a letter to Deborah and
+James P. Stabler,[73] written in New York, Sixth month 28, 1829, Elias
+expresses himself quite freely regarding the matter. He says: "It was a
+cause of sorrow rather than joy when last in Baltimore to find my dear
+friend P. E. Thomas[74] so fully engaged in that troublesome business
+of the railroad,[75] as I consider his calling to be of a more noble
+and exalted nature than to enlist in such low and groveling concerns.
+For it is a great truth that no man can serve two masters, for he
+will either love the one, and hate the other, or hold to the one, and
+despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The railroad in this
+case I consider mammon."
+
+[73] Deborah Stabler was the widow of Dr. William Stabler, the latter
+being a brother of Edward Stabler, of Alexandria, the well-known
+preacher, and close friend of Elias Hicks. Deborah was a recorded
+minister. James P. was her son. He was chief engineer of the Baltimore
+and Susquehanna Railroad in its early construction, and was the
+first general superintendent and chief engineer of the Baltimore and
+Ohio, and built part of the line from Baltimore to Frederick. He was
+the author of a small pamphlet entitled, "The Certain Evidences of
+Practical Religion," published in 1884. He resided at Sandy Spring, Md.
+
+[74] Philip E. Thomas, for many years sat at the head of the Baltimore
+meeting. He was the son of Evan Thomas, of Sandy Spring, who was a
+recorded minister. Philip E. was an importing hardware merchant, a
+most successful business man, and the first president of the Baltimore
+and Ohio Railroad. In the construction and operation of that line of
+railroad, he was associated with the leading business men of Baltimore.
+He was for many years an elder of Baltimore meeting.
+
+[75] The railroad thus referred to by Elias Hicks was undoubtedly
+the section of the Baltimore and Ohio which ran from Baltimore to
+Ellicott's Mills, a distance of 15 miles. It was begun in 1828, and
+opened in Fifth month, 1830. Horses were at first used as motive power.
+This was the first railroad built in the United States.
+
+The following is an extract from the same letter:
+
+  "It afforded me very pleasing sensations to be informed of dear
+  James' improvement in health, but it excited some different feeling
+  when informed that he had taken the place of Assistant Superintendent
+  of the railroad company, a business I conceive that principally
+  belongs to the men of this world, but not to the children of light,
+  whose kingdom is not of this world; for when we consider that there
+  are thousands and tens of thousands who are voluntarily enlisted in
+  works that relate to the accommodation of flesh and blood which can
+  never inherit the kingdom of heaven."
+
+The objection to railroads is one of those unaccountable but
+interesting contradictions which appear in the lives of some
+progressive men. By a sort of irony of fate, Valentine Hicks, the
+son-in-law of Elias, a few years after the death of the latter, became
+very much interested in the railroad business. The charter of the Long
+Island Railroad Company was granted Fourth month 24, 1834. In this
+document Valentine Hicks was named one of the commissioners to secure
+the capital stock, and appoint the first Board of Directors. While not
+the first president of that company, he was elected president Sixth
+month 7, 1837, and served in that capacity until Fifth month 21, 1838.
+
+Elias Hicks at points anticipated the present theory of suggestion
+touching bodily ailment, if he did not forestall some of the ideas
+regarding mental healing, and Christian Science. Writing to his
+son-in-law, Valentine Hicks, from Easton, Pa., Eighth month 15, 1819,
+he thus expressed himself:
+
+  "And indeed, in a strict sense, the mind or immortal spirit of man
+  cannot be affected with disease or sickness, being endued with
+  immortal powers; therefore all its apparent weakness lies in mere
+  imagination, giving the mind a wrong bias and a wrong direction,
+  but it loses more of its real strength, as to acting and doing.
+  For instance, if at any time it admits those false surmises and
+  imaginations, and by them is led to believe that its outward
+  tabernacle is out of health and drawing towards a dissolution, and
+  not being ready and willing to part with it, although little or
+  nothing may be the disorder of the body, yet so powerfully strong is
+  the mind under the influence of these wrong surmises that there seems
+  at times to be no power in heaven or earth sufficient to arrest its
+  progress, or stop its career, until it brings on actual disease, and
+  death to the body, which, however, had its beginning principally in
+  mere imagination and surmise. Hence we see the absolute necessity
+  of thinking less about our mere bodily health, and much more about
+  the mind, for if the mind is kept in a line of right direction, as
+  it is that in which all its right health and strength consisteth, we
+  need not fear any suffering to the body. For, if while the mind is
+  under right direction, the body is permitted to fall under or into
+  a state of affliction or disease, and the mind is kept in a state
+  of due arrangement, it will prove a blessing and be sanctified to
+  us as such, and in which we shall learn by certain experience that
+  all things work together for good to those whose minds are preserved
+  under the regulating influence of the love of God, which love casteth
+  out all fear."
+
+Elias Hicks was a firm opponent of the public school system, and
+especially the law which supported such schools by general taxation.
+His views regarding this matter are quite fully stated in a letter
+written Fifth month 24, 1820. It was written to Sylvanus Smith, and
+answered certain inquiries which had evidently been directed to Elias
+by this Friend. His objection to public schools, however, was partly
+based on what he considered moral and religious grounds. He said he had
+refrained from sending his children to any schools which were not under
+the immediate care of the Society of Friends. Observation, he said, led
+him to believe that his "children would receive more harm than good by
+attending schools taught by persons of no religious principles, and
+among children whose parents were of different sects, and many very
+loose and unconcerned and vulgar in their lives and conduct." He also
+assumed that in the public schools his children would be demoralized
+"by the vicious conduct of many of the children, and sometimes even
+the teachers, which would be very degrading to their morals, and
+wounding to their tender minds." From his standpoint Friends could not
+consistently "take any part in those district schools, nor receive any
+part of the bounty given by the legislature of the state for their use."
+
+Touching the question of parental authority and individual freedom,
+Elias Hicks also had opinions prejudicial to the public schools. In the
+letter under review he said:
+
+  "Believing the law that has established them to be arbitrary and
+  inconsistent with the liberty of conscience guaranteed by the
+  Constitution of the United States, and derogatory to right parental
+  authority; as no doubt it is the right and duty of every parent to
+  bring up and educate his children in that way he thinks is right,
+  independent of the control of any authority under heaven (so long
+  as he keeps them within the bounds of civil order). As the bringing
+  up and right education of our children is a religious duty, and
+  for which we are accountable to none but God only, therefore for
+  the magistrate to interfere therewith by coercive means is an
+  infringement upon the divine prerogative."
+
+The observance of Thanksgiving Day, outside of New England, had not
+become a common thing in the time of Elias Hicks. Evidently about 1825,
+the Governor of New York issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation, which
+caused Elias to write an article. It was addressed to _The Christian
+Inquirer_,[76] and bore heavily against the whole thanksgiving scheme,
+especially when supported by the civil government. In his opinion
+wherever the magistrate recommended an observance of Thanksgiving Day,
+he was simply playing into the hands of the ecclesiastical power. We
+quote:
+
+[76] The _Christian Inquirer_ was a weekly newspaper in New York,
+started in 1824. It was of pronounced liberal tendencies. A good deal
+of its space was devoted to Friends, especially during the "separation"
+period.
+
+  "Therefore the Governor's recommendation carries the same coercion
+  and force in it, to every citizen, as the recommendation of the
+  Episcopal Bishop would to the members of his own church. In this view
+  we have the reason why the clergymen in our state call upon the civil
+  magistrate to recommend one of their superstitious ceremonies. It is
+  in order to coerce the citizens at large to a compliance with their
+  dogmas, and little by little inure them to the yoke of ecclesiastical
+  domination. I therefore conceive there is scarcely a subject that
+  comes under our notice that lies more justly open to rebuke and
+  ridicule than the thanksgiving days and fast days that are observed
+  in our country, for there is nothing to be found in the writings of
+  the New Testament to warrant such formality and superstition, and I
+  fully believe in the way they are conducted they are altogether an
+  abomination in the sight of the Lord, and tend more abundantly to
+  bring a curse upon our nation than a blessing, as they too often end
+  with many in festivity and drunkenness."
+
+In closing his communication Elias says that in issuing his
+proclamation the Governor was simply "doing a piece of drudgery"
+for the clergy. The following, being the last paragraph in the
+communication referred to, sounds very much like the statements put
+forward by the extreme secularists in our own time:
+
+  "And has he not by recommending a religious act united the civil and
+  ecclesiastical authorities, and broken the line of partition between
+  them, so wisely established by our enlightened Constitution, which
+  in the most positive terms forbids any alliance between church and
+  state, and is the only barrier for the support of our liberty and
+  independence. For if that is broken down all is lost, and we become
+  the vassals of priestcraft, and designing men, who are reaching after
+  power by every subtle contrivance to domineer over the consciences of
+  their fellow citizens."
+
+It is not at all surprising that Elias Hicks was opposed to Free
+Masonry. On this subject he expressed himself vigorously. This
+opposition was based upon the secret character of the oath, and
+especially a solemn promise not to divulge the "secrets of Masonry,
+before he knows what the secrets are."
+
+The anti-masonic movement, being the outcome of the mysterious
+disappearance of William Morgan from Batavia, New York, was at its
+height during the last years of Elias Hicks. It was claimed that Morgan
+was probably murdered because of a book published by him in 1826,
+exposing the secrets of Masonry. Some of the rumors connected with
+this disappearance account for statements made by Elias Hicks in his
+criticism of the organization.
+
+Touching the matter of exclusiveness on the part of Friends, Elias
+Hicks was a conservative of the conservatives. To keep aloof from
+things not connected with the Society he considered a virtue in itself.
+In referring to a meeting he attended in Goshen, Pa., he said:
+
+  "Had to caution Friends against mixing with the people in their human
+  policies, and outward forms of government; showing that, in all ages,
+  those who were called to be the Lord's people had been ruined, or
+  suffered great loss, by such associations; and manifesting clearly
+  by Scripture testimony, and other records, that our strength and
+  preservation consisted in standing alone, and not to be counted
+  among the people or nations, who were setting up party, and partial
+  interest, one against another, which is the ground of war and
+  bloodshed. These are actuated by the spirit of pride and wrath, which
+  is always opposed to the true Christian spirit, which breathes 'peace
+  on earth, and good will to all men.' Those, therefore, who are in the
+  true Christian spirit cannot use any coercive force or compulsion by
+  any means whatever; not being overcome with evil, but overcoming evil
+  with good."[77]
+
+[77] Journal, p. 76-77.
+
+In the article in which he condemned Masonry, Elias Hicks spoke
+vigorously in criticism of the camp meetings held by some of the
+churches. He called them "night revels," and considered them "a very
+great nuisance to civil society." He thought they were promoters of
+"licentiousness, immorality and drunkenness," and were more or less
+reproachful to the Christian name, "giving much occasion for infidels
+to scoff."
+
+While at Elizabeth, in New Jersey, Elias wrote a letter[78] to a young
+man named Samuel Cox. It seems that this person contemplated studying
+for the ministry; that his grandmother was a Friend, and Elias labored
+with the grandson on her account. He said that "human study or human
+science" could not qualify a minister. In fact to suppose such a thing
+was to cast "the greatest possible indignity on the Divine Being, and
+on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Of course it was asserted that
+ministry came only by the power of the Spirit, and much Scripture was
+quoted to prove it. There is little in the writings of Elias Hicks to
+show that he considered that equipping the natural powers was helpful
+in making the spiritual inspiration effective.
+
+[78] Letter was dated, Fifth month 12, 1813.
+
+It is evident, however, that Elias was not indifferent to his own
+intellectual equipment. He was fond of quoting from books the things
+which fortified his own position. The following shows how he stored his
+mind with facts, from which he drew certain conclusions:
+
+  "Indisposition of body prevented my attending meeting. I therefore
+  spent the day quietly at home, and in reading a portion of Mosheim's
+  Ecclesiastical History of the Fifth Century, and which is indeed
+  enough to astonish any sensible, considerate man, to think how the
+  professors of that day could be hardy enough to call themselves
+  Christians, while using every artifice that their human wisdom could
+  invent to raise themselves to power and opulence, and endeavoring to
+  crush down their opposers by almost every cruelty that power, envy
+  and malice could inflict, to the entire scandal of the Christian
+  name; and changing the pure, meek, merciful and undefiled religion
+  of Jesus into an impure, unmerciful, cruel, bloody and persecuting
+  religion. For each of those varied sects of professed Christians, in
+  their turn, as they got the power of the civil magistrate on their
+  side, would endeavor, by the sword, and severe edicts, followed
+  by banishment, to reduce and destroy all those who dissented from
+  them, although their opinions were not a whit more friendly to real,
+  genuine Christianity than the tenets of their opposers; for all were,
+  in great measure, if not entirely, adulterated and apostatized from
+  the true spirit of Christianity, which breathes peace on earth, and
+  good will to men."[79]
+
+[79] Journal, p. 224.
+
+Elias Hicks believed that there was a sure way of determining conduct,
+whether it was from "one's own will," or whether it proceeded from the
+divine leading. In regard to this matter, he said:
+
+  "But the great error of the generality of professed Christians lies
+  in not making a right distinction between the works that men do in
+  their own will, and by the leadings of their own carnal wisdom, and
+  those works that the true believer does, in the will and wisdom of
+  God. For although the former, let them consist in what they will,
+  whether in prayers, or preaching, or any other devotional exercises,
+  are altogether evil; so on the contrary those of the latter, let
+  them consist in what they may, whether in ploughing, in reaping,
+  or in any handicraft labor, or in any other service, temporal or
+  spiritual, as they will in all be accompanied with the peace and
+  presence of their heavenly Father, so all they do will be righteous,
+  and will be imputed to them as such."[80]
+
+[80] Journal, p. 218.
+
+His contention regarding this matter is possibly more clearly stated in
+the following paragraph:
+
+  "The meeting was large, wherein I had to expose the danger of
+  self-righteousness, or a trust in natural religion, or mere morality;
+  showing that it was no more than the religion of Atheists, and was
+  generally the product of pride and self-will; and, however good
+  it may appear to the natural unregenerate man, is as offensive in
+  the divine sight as those more open evils which appear so very
+  reproachful to the eyes of men. I was favored by the spirit of truth,
+  in a large, searching testimony, to the convicting and humbling many
+  hearts, and comfort of the faithful."[81]
+
+[81] Meeting at Uwchlan, Pa., Tenth month 22, 1798. Journal, p. 76.
+
+This is not unlike statements often made in modern revivals, touching
+the absolute uselessness of good works, without the operation of divine
+grace, in bringing salvation.
+
+A broader view of goodness and its sources seems to have been taken by
+Clement, of Alexandria[82] who said: "For God is the cause of all good
+things; but of some primarily, as of the Old and New Testament; and of
+others by consequence, as philosophy. Perchance, too, philosophy was
+given to the Greeks directly and primarily, till the Lord should call
+the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to bring 'the Hellenic mind,'
+as the law, the Hebrews 'to Christ.'"[83]
+
+[82] Titus Flavius Clemens, called sometimes St. Clement, and Clement
+of Alexandria in Church history, was born either at Athens or
+Alexandria about A. D. 153, and died about A. D. 220. He early embraced
+Christianity, and was among the most learned and philosophical of the
+Christian fathers.
+
+[83] "Ante-Nicene Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Some Points of Doctrine.
+
+
+Elias Hicks had ideas of the future life, salvation, rewards and
+punishments, sometimes original, and in some respects borrowed or
+adapted from prevalent opinions. But in all conclusions reached he
+seems to have thought his own way out, and was probably unconscious
+of having been a borrower at all. He believed unfalteringly in the
+immortality of the soul, and held that the soul of man is immortal,
+because it had its origin in an immortal God. Every sin committed "is
+a transgression against his immutable and unchangeable law, and is an
+immortal sin, as it pollutes and brings death on the immortal soul
+of man, which nothing in heaven nor in the earth but God alone can
+extinguish or forgive, and this he will never do, but upon his own
+righteous and merciful conditions, which consist in nothing more nor
+less than sincere repentance and amendment of life."[84]
+
+[84] From letter addressed to "A Friend," name not given, written at
+Jericho, Second month 22, 1828.
+
+It will be noted that this statement was made near the close of
+his career, and has been purposely selected because it undoubtedly
+expressed his final judgment in the matter. In all probability the
+words used were not meant to be taken literally, such for instance as
+those referring to the "death" of the soul. There is little, if any
+reason to think that Elias Hicks believed in the annihilation of the
+sinner.
+
+Touching sin he further explained his position. Whatever God creates
+is "immutably good." "Therefore if there is any such thing as sin and
+iniquity in the world, then God has neither willed it nor ordained
+it."[85] His position regarding this point caused him to antagonize
+and repudiate the doctrine of foreordination. From his standpoint
+this involved the creation of evil by the Almighty, a thoroughly
+preposterous supposition. Again, he held that if God had, "previous
+to man's creation, willed and determined all of his actions, then
+certainly every man stands in the same state of acceptance with
+him, and a universal salvation must take place: which I conceive
+the favorers of foreordination would be as unwilling as myself to
+believe."[86]
+
+[85] Journal, p. 161.
+
+[86] From funeral sermon delivered in 1814. Journal, p. 161.
+
+Three years after the declaration quoted above, Elias Hicks wrote
+a letter[87] to a person known as "J. N.," who was a believer
+in universal salvation. In this letter he revives his idea that
+foreordination and universal salvation are twin heresies, both equally
+mischievous. This letter is very long, containing nearly 4,000 words.
+The bulk of it deals with the theory of predestination, while some of
+it relates to the matter of sin and penalty. At one point the letter is
+censorious, nearly borders on the dogmatic, and is scarcely kind. We
+quote:
+
+[87] Letter dated Baltimore, Tenth month, 1817.
+
+  "Hadst thou, in thy researches after knowledge, been concerned to
+  know the first step of wisdom--the right knowledge of thyself--such
+  an humbling view of thy own insufficiency and entire ignorance
+  of the Divine Being, and all his glorious attributes, would, I
+  trust, have preserved thee from falling into thy present errors.
+  Errors great indeed, and fatal in their consequences; for if men
+  were capable of believing with confidence thy opinions, either as
+  regards the doctrine of unconditional predestination and election,
+  or the doctrine of universal salvation, both of which certainly and
+  necessarily resolve in one, who could any longer call any thing he
+  has his own? for all would fall a prey to the villains and sturdy
+  rogues of this belief. And, indeed, a belief of these opinions
+  would most assuredly make thousands more of that description than
+  there already are; as every temptation to evil, to gratify the
+  carnal desires, would be yielded to, as that which was ordained to
+  be; and of course would be considered as something agreeable to
+  God's good pleasure; and therefore not only our goods and chattels
+  would become a prey to every ruffian of this belief, but even our
+  wives and daughters would fall victims to the superior force of the
+  abandoned and profligate, as believing they could do nothing but
+  what God had ordained to be. But we are thankful in the sentiment
+  that no rational, intelligent being can possibly embrace, in full
+  faith, these inconsistent doctrines; as they are founded on nothing
+  but supposition; and supposition can never produce real belief, or a
+  faith that any rational creature can rely upon."[88]
+
+[88] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 28.
+
+We make no attempt to clear up the logical connection between the
+doctrine of foreordination and the theory of universal salvation, for
+it is by no means clear that the two necessarily belong together.
+From the reasoning of Elias Hicks it would seem that he considered
+salvation a transaction which made a fixed and final condition for the
+soul at death, whereas the Universalist theory simply provides for a
+future turning of all souls toward God. Surely the supposition that
+the holding of the views of "J. N." would bring the moral disorder
+and disaster outlined by his critic had not then been borne out by
+the facts, and has not since. Neither the believers in foreordination
+or universal salvation have been shown worse than other men, or more
+socially dangerous.
+
+"Sin," he says, "arises entirely out of the corrupt independent will
+of man; and which will is not of God's creating, but springs up and
+has its origin in man's disobedience and transgression, by making
+a wrong use of his liberty."[89] As the sin is of man's voluntary
+commission, the penalty is also to be charged to the sinner, and not to
+God. On this point Elias Hicks was clear in his reasoning and in his
+conclusions:
+
+[89] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 30.
+
+  "Hence those who make their election to good, and choose to follow
+  the teachings of the inward law of the spirit of God, are of course
+  leavened into the true nature of God, and consequently into the
+  happiness of God. For nothing but that which is of the nature of God
+  can enjoy the happiness of God. But he who makes his election, or
+  choice, to turn away from God's law and spirit, and govern himself
+  or is governed by his own will and spirit, becomes a corrupt tree
+  and although the same justice, wisdom, power, mercy and love are
+  dispensed to this man as to the other, yet by his contrary nature,
+  which has become fleshly, by following his fleshly inclinations, he
+  brings forth corrupt fruit."[90]
+
+[90] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 33.
+
+Manifestly the idea that the Almighty punishes men for his own glory
+had no place in the thinking of the Jericho preacher.
+
+The theory of sin and penalty held by Elias Hicks necessarily led him
+to hold opinions regarding rewards and punishments, and the place
+and manner of their application, at variance with commonly accepted
+notions. In fact, the apparent irregularity of his thinking in this
+particular was one of the causes of concern on his behalf on the part
+of his captious critics and some of his friends. One of the latter had
+evidently written him regarding this matter, and his reply is before
+us.[91] From it we quote:
+
+[91] Letter dated Jericho, Third month 14, 1808.
+
+  "As to the subject relative to heaven and hell, I suppose what gave
+  rise to that part of my communication (although I have now forgotten
+  the particulars) was a concern that at that time as well as many
+  other times has sorrowfully impressed my mind, in observing the
+  great ignorance and carnality that was not only prevailing among
+  mankind at large, but more especially in finding it to be the
+  case with many professing with us in relation to those things. An
+  ignorance and carnality that, in my opinion, has been one great
+  cause of the prevailing Atheism and Deism that now abounds among
+  the children of men. For what reason or argument could a professed
+  Christian bring forward to convince an Atheist or Deist that there is
+  such a place as heaven as described and circumscribed in some certain
+  limits and place in some distant and unknown region as is the carnal
+  idea of too many professing Christianity, and even of many, I fear,
+  of us? Or such a place as hell, or a gulf located in some interior
+  part of this little terraqueous globe? But when the Christian brings
+  forward to the Atheist or Deist reasons and arguments founded on
+  indubitable certainty, things that he knows in his own experience
+  every day through the powerful evidence of the divine law-giver in
+  his own heart, he cannot fail of yielding his assent, for he feels as
+  he goes on in unbelief and hardness of heart he is plunging himself
+  every day deeper and deeper into that place of torment, and let him
+  go whithersoever he will, his hell goes with him. He can no more
+  be rid of it than he can be rid of himself. And although he flies
+  to the rocks and mountains to fall on him, to deliver him from his
+  tremendous condition, yet he finds all is in vain, for where God is,
+  there hell is always to the sinner; according to that true saying of
+  our dear Lord, 'this is the condemnation of the world that light is
+  come into the world, but men love darkness rather than the light,
+  because their deeds are evil.' Now God, or Christ (who are one in
+  a spiritual sense), is this light that continually condemns the
+  transgressor. Therefore, where God or Christ is, there is hell always
+  to the sinner, and God, according to Scripture and the everyday
+  experience of every rational creature, is everywhere present, for he
+  fills all things, and by him all things consist. And as the sinner
+  finds in himself and knows in his own experience that there is a
+  hell, and one that he cannot possibly escape while he remains a
+  sinner, so likewise the righteous know, and that by experience, that
+  there is a heaven, but they know of none above the outward clouds
+  and outward atmosphere. They have no experience of any such, but
+  they know a heaven where God dwells, and know a sitting with him at
+  seasons in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
+
+It will be remembered that Elias based salvation on repentance and
+amendment of life, but the bulk of his expression would seem to
+indicate that he held to the idea that repentance must come during this
+life. In fact, an early remark of his gives clear warrant for this
+conclusion.[92] He does not seem to have ever adopted the theory that
+continuity of life carried with it continuation of opportunity touching
+repentance and restoration of the soul.
+
+[92] See page 23 of this book.
+
+From the twentieth century standpoint views like the foregoing would
+scarcely cause a ripple of protest in any well-informed religious
+circles. But eighty years ago the case was different. A material place
+for excessively material punishment of the soul, on account of moral
+sin and spiritual turpitude, was essential to orthodox standing in
+practically every branch of the Christian church, with possibly two or
+three exceptions. Elias Hicks practically admits that in the Society
+of Friends not a few persons held to the gross and materialistic
+conceptions which he criticised and repudiated.
+
+The question of personal immortality was more than once submitted to
+him for consideration. After certain Friends began to pick flaws with
+his ideas and theories, he was charged with being a doubter regarding
+nearly all the common Christian affirmations, immortality included.
+There was little reason for misunderstanding or misrepresenting him
+in this particular, for, however he failed to make himself understood
+touching other points of doctrine, he was perfectly clear on this
+point. In a letter to Charles Stokes, of Rancocas, N. J., written
+Fourth month 3, 1829, he said:
+
+  "Can it be possibly necessary for me to add anything further, to
+  manifest my full and entire belief of the immortality of the soul of
+  man? Surely, what an ignorant creature must that man be that hath
+  not come to the clear and full knowledge of that in himself. Does not
+  every man feel a desire fixed in his very nature after happiness,
+  that urges him on in a steady pursuit after something to satisfy
+  this desire, and does he not find that all the riches and honor
+  and glory of this world, together with every thing that is mortal,
+  falls infinitely short of satisfying this desire? which proves it to
+  be immortal; and can any thing, or being, that is not immortal in
+  itself, receive the impress of an immortal desire upon it? Surely
+  not. Therefore, this immortal desire of the soul of man never can
+  be fully satisfied until it comes to be established in a state of
+  immortality and eternal life, beyond the grave."[93]
+
+[93] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 218.
+
+There are not many direct references to immortality in the published
+sermons, although inferences in that direction are numerous. In a
+sermon at Darby, Pa., Twelfth month 7, 1826, he declared: "We see
+then that the great business of our lives is 'to lay up treasure in
+heaven.'"[94] In this case and others like it he evidently means
+treasure in the spiritual world. In his discourses he frequently
+referred to "our immortal souls" in a way to leave no doubt as to his
+belief in a continuity of life. His reference to the death of his young
+sons leave no room for doubt in the matter.[95]
+
+[94] "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 127.
+
+[95] See page 61 of this book.
+
+In speaking of the death of his wife, both in his Journal and in his
+private correspondence, his references all point to the future life.
+"Her precious spirit," he said, "I trust and believe has landed safely
+on the angelic shore." Again, "being preserved together fifty-eight
+years in one unbroken bond of endeared affection, which seemed if
+possible to increase with time to the last moment of her life; and
+which neither time nor distance can lessen or dissolve; but in the
+spiritual relation I trust it will endure forever."[96]
+
+[96] Journal, p. 425.
+
+During the last ten years of the life of Elias Hicks he was simply
+overburdened answering questions and explaining his position touching
+a multitude of views charged against him by his critics and defamers.
+Among the matters thus brought to his attention was the miraculous
+conception of Jesus, and the various beliefs growing out of that
+doctrine. In an undated manuscript found among his papers and letters,
+and manifestly not belonging to a date earlier than 1826 or 1827, he
+pretty clearly states his theory touching this delicate subject. In
+this document he is more definite than he is in some of his published
+statements relating to the same matter. He asserts that there is a
+difference between "begetting and creating." He scouts as revolting the
+conception that the Almighty begat Jesus, as is the case in the animal
+function of procreation. On the other hand, he said: "But, as in the
+beginning of creation, he spake the word and it was done, so by his
+almighty power he spake the word and by it created the seed of man in
+the fleshly womb of Mary." In other words, the miraculous conception
+was a creation and not the act of begetting.
+
+In his correspondence he repeatedly asserted that he had believed in
+the miraculous conception from his youth up. To Thomas Willis, who was
+one of his earliest accusers, he said that "although there appeared
+to me as much, or more, letter testimony in the account of the four
+Evangelists against as for the support of that miracle, yet it had
+not altered my belief therein."[97] It has to be admitted that the
+miraculous conception held by Elias Hicks was scarcely the doctrine of
+the creeds, or that held by evangelical Christians in the early part
+of the nineteenth century. His theory may be more rational than the
+popular conception and may be equally miraculous, but it was not the
+same proposition.
+
+[97] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 179.
+
+Whether Elias considered this a distinction without a difference we
+know not, but it is very certain that he did not consider the miracle
+or the dogma growing out of it a vital matter. He declared that a
+"belief therein was not an essential to salvation."[98] His reason
+for this opinion was that "whatever is essential to the salvation of
+the souls of men is dispensed by a common creator to every rational
+creature under heaven."[99] No hint of a miraculous conception, he
+held, had been revealed to the souls of men.
+
+[98] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 178.
+
+[99] "Letters of Elias Hicks," p. 178.
+
+It is possible that in the minds of the ultra Orthodox, to deny the
+saving value of a belief in the miraculous conception, although
+admitting it as a fact, or recasting it as a theory, was a more
+reprehensible act of heresy than denying the dogma entirely. Manifestly
+Elias Hicks was altogether too original in his thinking to secure his
+own peace and comfort in the world of nineteenth-century theology.
+
+When we consider the theory of the divinity of Christ, and the theory
+of the incarnation, we find Elias Hicks taking the affirmative side,
+but even here it is questionable if he was affirming the popular
+conception. Touching these matters he put himself definitely on record
+in 1827 in a letter written to an unnamed Friend. In this letter he
+says:
+
+  "As to the divinity of Christ, the son of the virgin--when he had
+  arrived to a full state of sonship in the spiritual generation, he
+  was wholly swallowed up into the divinity of his heavenly Father,
+  and was one with his Father, with only this difference: his Father's
+  divinity was underived, being self-existent, but the son's divinity
+  was altogether derived from the Father; for otherwise he could not
+  be the son of God, as in the moral relation, to be a son of man,
+  the son must be begotten by one father, and he must be in the same
+  nature, spirit and likeness of his father, so as to say, I and my
+  father are one in all those respects. But this was not the case with
+  Jesus in the spiritual relation, until he had gone through the last
+  institute of the law dispensation, viz., John's watery baptism, and
+  had received additional power from on high, by the descending of
+  the holy ghost upon him, as he came up out of the water. He then
+  witnessed the fulness of the second birth, being now born into the
+  nature, spirit and likeness of the heavenly Father, and God gave
+  witness of it to John, saying, 'This is my beloved son, in whom I
+  am well pleased.' And this agrees with Paul's testimony, where he
+  assures us that as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the
+  sons of God."[100]
+
+[100] "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 284.
+
+Just as he repudiated material localized places of reward and
+punishment, Elias Hicks disputed the presence in the world of a
+personal evil spirit, roaming around seeking whom he might ensnare and
+devour. In fact, in his theology there was no tinge of the Persian
+dualism. Satan, from his standpoint, had no existence outside man. He
+was simply a figure to illustrate the evil propensity in men. In the
+estimation of the ultra Orthodox to claim that there was no personal
+devil, who tempted our first parents in Eden, was second only in point
+of heresy to denying the existence of God himself--the two persons
+both being essential parts in the theological system to which they
+tenaciously held.
+
+Touching this matter he thus expressed himself: "And as to what is
+called a devil or satan, it is something within us, that tempts us to
+go counter to the commands of God, and our duty to him and our fellow
+creatures; and the Scriptures tell us there are many of them, and that
+Jesus cast seven out of one woman."[101]
+
+[101] From letter to Charles Stokes, Fourth month 3, 1829. "Letters of
+Elias Hicks," p. 217.
+
+He was charged with being a Deist, and an infidel of the Thomas Paine
+stripe, yet from his own standpoint there was no shadow of truth in any
+of these charges. His references to Atheism and Deism already cited in
+these pages afford evidence on this point. In 1798 he was at Gap in
+Pennsylvania, and in referring to his experience there he said:
+
+  "Whilst in this neighborhood my mind was brought into a state of
+  deep exercise and travail, from a sense of the great turning away
+  of many of us, from the law and the testimony, and the prevailing
+  of a spirit of great infidelity and deism among the people, and
+  darkness spreading over the minds of many as a thick veil. It was a
+  time in which Thomas Paine's Age of Reason (falsely so called) was
+  much attended to in those parts; and some, who were members in our
+  Society, as I was informed, were captivated by his dark insinuating
+  address, and were ready almost to make shipwreck of faith and a good
+  conscience. Under a sense thereof my spirit was deeply humbled before
+  the majesty of heaven, and in the anguish of my soul I said, 'spare
+  thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach,' and
+  suffer not thy truth to fall in the streets."[102]
+
+[102] Journal, p. 70.
+
+Touching his supposed Unitarianism, there are no direct references to
+that theory in his published works. A letter written by Elias Hicks
+to William B. Irish,[103] Second month 11, 1821, is about the only
+reference to the matter. In this letter he says:
+
+[103] William B. Irish lived in Pittsburg, and was a disciple of Elias
+Hicks, as he confessed to his spiritual profit. In a letter written
+to Elias from Philadelphia, Eleventh month 21, 1823, he said: "I tell
+you, you are the first man that ever put my mind in search of heavenly
+food." Whether he ever united with the Society we are not informed,
+although Elias expressed the hope that he might see his way clear to do
+so.
+
+  "In regard to the Unitarian doctrine, I am too much a stranger to
+  their general tenets to give a decided sentiment, but according to
+  the definition given of them by Dyche in his dictionary, I think it
+  is more consistent and rational than the doctrine of the trinity,
+  which I think fairly makes out three Gods. But as I have lately
+  spent some time in perusing the ancient history of the church, in
+  which I find that Trinitarians, Unitarians, Arians, Nestorians and
+  a number of other sects that sprung up in the night of apostacy, as
+  each got into power they cruelly persecuted each other, by which
+  they evidenced that they had all apostatized from the primitive
+  faith and practice, and the genuine spirit of Christianity, hence
+  I conceive there is no safety in joining with any of those sects,
+  as their leaders I believe are generally each looking to their own
+  quarter for gain. Therefore our safety consists in standing alone
+  (waiting at Jerusalem) that is in a quiet retired state, similar to
+  the disciples formerly, until we receive power from on high, or until
+  by the opening of that divine spirit (or comforter, a manifestation
+  of which is given to every man and woman to profit withal) we are led
+  into the knowledge of the truth agreeably to the doctrine of Jesus to
+  his disciples."
+
+In regard to the death and resurrection of Jesus, Elias Hicks
+considered himself logically and scripturally sound, although his
+ideas may not have squared with any prevalent theological doctrines.
+In reply to the query, "By what means did Jesus suffer?" he answered
+unhesitatingly, "By the hands of wicked men." A second query was to the
+effect, "Did God send him into the world purposely to suffer death?"
+Here is the answer:
+
+  "By no means: but to live a righteous and godly life (which was
+  the design and end of God's creating man in the beginning), and
+  thereby be a perfect example to such of mankind as should come to
+  the knowledge of him and of his perfect life. For if it was the
+  purpose and will of God that he should die by the hands of wicked
+  men, then the Jews, by crucifying him, would have done God's will,
+  and of course would all have stood justified in his sight, which
+  could not be." ... "But the shedding of his blood by the wicked
+  scribes and Pharisees, and people of Israel, had a particular effect
+  on the Jewish nation, as by this the topstone and worst of all their
+  crimes, was filled up the measure of their iniquities, and which put
+  an end to that dispensation, together with its law and covenant.
+  That as John's baptism summed up in one, all the previous water
+  baptisms of that dispensation, and put an end to them, which he
+  sealed with his blood, so this sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ,
+  summed up in one all the outward atoning sacrifices of the shadowy
+  dispensation and put an end to them all, thereby abolishing the law
+  having previously fulfilled all its righteousness, and, as saith the
+  apostle, 'He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances, nailing them
+  to his cross;' having put an end to the law that commanded them,
+  with all its legal sins, and abolished all its legal penalties, so
+  that all the Israelites that believed on him after he exclaimed on
+  the cross 'It is finished,' might abstain from all the rituals of
+  their law, such as circumcision, water baptisms, outward sacrifices,
+  Seventh-day Sabbaths, and all their other holy days, etc."[104]
+
+[104] All of the extracts above are from a letter to Dr. Nathan
+Shoemaker, of Philadelphia, written Third month 31, 1823. See "Foster's
+Report," pp. 422-23.
+
+Continuing, he says: "Now all this life, power and will of man, must
+be slain and die on the cross spiritually, as Jesus died on the cross
+outwardly, and this is the true atonement, of which that outward
+atonement was a clear and full type." For the scriptural proof of
+his contention he quotes Romans VI, 3:4. He claimed that the baptism
+referred to by Paul was spiritual, and the newness of life to follow
+must also be spiritual.
+
+The resurrection was also spiritualized, and given an internal, rather
+than an external, significance. Its intent was to awaken in "the
+believer a belief in the sufficiency of an invisible power, that was
+able to do any thing and every thing that is consistent with justice,
+mercy and truth, and that would conduce to the exaltation and good of
+his creature man."
+
+  "Therefore the resurrection of the dead body of Jesus that could not
+  possibly of itself create in itself a power to loose the bonds of
+  death, and which must consequently have been the work of an invisible
+  power, points to and is a shadow of the resurrection of the soul that
+  is dead in trespasses and sins, and that hath no capacity to quicken
+  itself, but depends wholly on the renewed influence and quickening
+  power of the spirit of God. For a soul dead in trespasses and sins
+  can no more raise a desire of itself for a renewed quickening of
+  the divine life in itself than a dead body can raise a desire of
+  itself for a renewal of natural life; but both equally depend on the
+  omnipotent presiding power of the spirit of God, as is clearly set
+  forth by the prophet under the similitude of the resurrection of dry
+  bones." Ezekiel, 37:1.[105]
+
+  [105] "The Quaker," Vol. IV, p. 286. Letter of Elias Hicks to an
+unknown friend.
+
+  "Hence the resurrection of the outward fleshly body of Jesus and some
+  few others under the law dispensation, as manifested to the external
+  senses of man, gives full evidence as a shadow, pointing to the
+  sufficiency of the divine invisible power of God to raise the soul
+  from a state of spiritual death into newness of life and into the
+  enjoyment of the spiritual substance of all the previous shadows of
+  the law state. And by the arising of this Sun of Righteousness in the
+  soul all shadows flee away and come to an end, and the soul presses
+  forward, under its divine influence, into that that is within the
+  veil, where our forerunner, even Jesus, has entered for us, showing
+  us the way into the holiest of holies."[106]
+
+[106] "The Quaker," Vol. IV, pp. 286-287. Letter of Elias Hicks to an
+unknown friend.
+
+We have endeavored to give such a view of the doctrinal points covered
+as will give a fair idea of what Elias Hicks believed. Whether they
+were unsound opinions, such as should have disrupted the Society of
+Friends, and nearly shipwreck it on a sea of bitterness, we leave for
+the reader to decide. It should be stated, however, that the opinions
+herein set forth did not, by any means, constitute the subject matter
+of all, or possibly a considerable portion of the sermons he preached.
+There is room for the inquiry in our time whether a large amount of
+doctrinal opinion presented in our meetings for worship, even though it
+be of the kind in which the majority apparently believe, would not have
+a dividing and scattering effect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Before the Division.
+
+
+No biography of Elias Hicks could be even approximately adequate which
+ignored the division in the Society of Friends in 1827-1828, commonly,
+but erroneously, called "the separation." While his part in the trouble
+has been greatly exaggerated, inasmuch as he was made the storm-center
+of the controversy by his opponents, to consider the causes and
+influences which led to the difficulty, especially as they were either
+rightly or wrongly made to apply to Elias Hicks, is vital to a study of
+his life, and an appreciation of his labors.
+
+We shall not be able to understand the matter at all, unless we can in
+a measure take ourselves back to the first quarter of the nineteenth
+century, and as far as possible appreciate the thought and life of that
+time. We must remember that a system of dogmatic theology, unqualified
+and untempered by any of the findings of modern scholarship, was the
+central and dominating influence in the religious world. Authority
+of some sort was the source of religious belief, and uniformity of
+doctrine the basis of religious fellowship.
+
+The aftermath of the French Revolution appeared in a period of
+religious negation. Destructive, rather than constructive criticism was
+the ruling passion of the unchurched world. The conservative mind was
+burdened with apprehension, and the fear of a chaos of faith possessed
+the minds of the preachers, the theologians and the communicants of the
+so-called Orthodox Christian churches. The Unitarian uprising in New
+England had hopelessly divided the historic church of the Puritans,
+and the conservative Friends saw in every advance in thought the
+breaking up of what they considered the foundations of religion, and
+fear possessed them accordingly.
+
+But more important than this is the fact that Friends had largely lost
+the historic perspective, touching their own origin. They had forgotten
+that their foundations were laid in a revolt against a prevalent
+theology, and the evil of external authority in religion. From being
+persecuted they had grown popular and prosperous. They therefore
+shrank from change in Zion, and from the opposition and ostracism
+which always had been the fate of those who broke with approved and
+established religious standards. Without doubt they honored the heroism
+and respected the sacrifices of the fathers as the "first spreaders
+of truth." But they had neither the temper nor the taste to be alike
+heroic, in making Quakerism a progressive spirit, rather than a final
+refuge of a traditional religion.
+
+An effort was made by the opponents of Elias Hicks to make it appear
+that what they were pleased to call his "unsoundness in doctrine,"
+came late in life, and somewhat suddenly. But for this claim there is
+little if any valid evidence. His preaching probably underwent little
+vital change throughout his entire ministry. Turner, the English
+historian, says: "But the facts remain that until near the close of his
+long life Hicks was in general esteem, that there is no sign anywhere
+in his writings of a change of opinions, or new departure in his
+teaching."[107]
+
+[107] "The Quakers," Frederick Storrs Turner, p. 293.
+
+There is unpublished correspondence which confirms the opinion of
+Turner. This is true touching what might be called his theological as
+well as his sociological notions.
+
+In a letter written to Elias Hicks in 1805, by James Mott, Sr.,[108]
+reference is made to Elias having denied the absolutely saving
+character of the Scriptures. In this connection the letter remarks:
+"I conceive it is no matter how highly people value the Scriptures,
+provided they can only be convinced that the spirit that gave them
+forth is superior to them, and to be their rule and guide instead of
+them."
+
+[108] This James Mott was the father of Anne, who married Adam, the
+father of James, the husband of Lucretia. James Mott, Sr. died in 1823.
+
+In 1806, in a sermon at Nine Partners, in Dutchess County, New York,
+as reported by himself, he declared that men can only by "faithful
+attention and adherence to the aforesaid divine principle, the light
+within, come to know and believe the certainty of those excellent
+Scripture doctrines, of the coming, life, righteous works, sufferings,
+death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our blessed pattern; and that
+_it is by obedience to this inward light only_ that we are prepared for
+admittance into the heavenly kingdom."[109]
+
+[109] Journal, p. 122.
+
+It seems, however, that Stephen Grellet,[110] if we may take the
+authority of his biographers, Hodgson[111] and Guest,[112] as early
+as 1808, was fearful of the orthodoxy of Elias Hicks, and probably
+based his fear on extracts like the passage cited above. Whatever may
+be imagined to the contrary, it is pretty certain that at no time for
+forty years before his death did Elias Hicks preach doctrine that
+would have been satisfactory to the orthodox theologians of his time,
+although he did not always antagonize the dogmas of the churches.
+
+[110] Stephen Grellet, born in Limoges, France, Eleventh month 2,
+1773. A scion of the French nobility. Became interested in the Society
+of Friends when about twenty years of age. Came to America in 1795,
+and was recorded a minister in Philadelphia, in 1798. Became a New
+York business man in 1799. Made extensive religious visits in various
+countries in Europe, and in many American states. Was also active in
+philanthropic work. He died at Burlington, N. J., in 1855. In his
+theology he was entirely evangelical.
+
+[111] "Life of Stephen Grellet," Hodgson, p. 142.
+
+[112] "Stephen Grellet," by William Guest, p. 73.
+
+If Stephen Grellet ever had any personal interview with Elias Hicks
+regarding his "unsoundness," the matter was ignored by the latter. In
+Eighth month, 1808, some months after it is claimed the discovery was
+made by Grellet, the two men, with other Friends, were on a religious
+visit in parts of New England. In a letter to his wife, dated Danby,
+Vt., Eighth month 26, 1808, Elias says: "Stephen Grellet, Gideon
+Seaman, Esther Griffin and Ann Mott we left yesterday morning at a town
+called Middlebury, about eighteen miles short of this place, Stephen
+feeling a concern to appoint a meeting among the town's people of that
+place." Evidently no very great barrier existed between the two men at
+that time.
+
+In any event no disposition seemed to exist to inaugurate a theological
+controversy in the Society of Friends, or to erect a standard of
+fellowship other than spiritual unity, until a decade after the claimed
+concern of Stephen Grellet. It appears that in 1818, Phebe Willis, wife
+of Thomas Willis, a recorded minister of Jericho Monthly Meeting, had a
+written communication with Elias, touching his doctrinal "soundness,"
+Phebe being an elder. That the opposition began in Jericho, and that it
+was confined to the Willis family and one other in that meeting, seems
+to be a fairly well attested fact. In 1829, after the division in the
+Society had been accomplished, Elias Hicks wrote a letter to a friend
+giving a short history of the beginning of the trouble in Jericho, from
+which we make the following extract:
+
+  "The beginning of the rupture in our yearly meeting had its rise
+  in our particular monthly meeting, and I have full evidence before
+  me of both its rise and progress. The first shadow of complaint
+  against me as to my doctrines was made by Thomas Willis, a member and
+  minister of our own preparative meeting. He manifested his first
+  uneasiness at the close of one of our own meetings nearly in these
+  words, between him and myself alone. 'That he apprehended that I,
+  in my public communication, lowered down the character of Jesus and
+  the Scriptures of truth.' My reply to him was that I had placed them
+  both upon the very foundation they each had placed themselves, and
+  that I dare not place them any higher or lower. At the same time the
+  whole monthly meeting, except he and his wife, as far as I knew, were
+  in full unity with me, both as to my ministry and otherwise, but as
+  they were both members of the meeting of ministers and elders they
+  made the first public disclosure of their uneasiness. Thomas had an
+  ancient mother, likewise a minister, that lived in the house with
+  them; they so far overcame her better judgment as to induce her to
+  take a part with them, although she was a very amiable and useful
+  member, and one that I had always a great esteem for, and we had been
+  nearly united together in gospel fellowship, both in public meetings
+  and those for discipline, for forty years and upward."[113]
+
+[113] Letter to Johnson Legg, dated Jericho, Twelfth month 15, 1829.
+
+The meeting, through a judicious committee, tried to quiet the fears
+of Thomas Willis and wife, and bring them in unity with the vastly
+major portion of the meeting, but without success. These Friends being
+persistent in their opposition, they were suspended from the meeting of
+ministers and elders, but were permitted to retain their membership in
+the Society.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+First Trouble in Philadelphia.
+
+
+Transferring the story of the opposition to the ministry of Elias Hicks
+to Philadelphia, it would appear that its first public manifestation
+occurred in 1819. During this year he made his fifth somewhat extended
+religious visit to the meetings within the bounds of Philadelphia
+Yearly Meeting. Elias was attending the monthly meeting then held
+in the Pine Street meeting-house, and obtained liberty to visit the
+women's meeting. While absent on this concern, the men's meeting did
+the unprecedented thing of adjourning, the breaking up of the meeting
+being accomplished by a few influential members. For a co-ordinate
+branch of a meeting for discipline to close while service was being
+performed in the allied branch in accord with regular procedure was
+considered irregular, if not unwarranted. The real inspiring cause for
+this conduct has been stated as follows by a contemporary writer:
+
+  "An influential member of this meeting who had abstained from the
+  produce of slave labor came to the conclusion that this action was
+  the result of his own will. He therefore became very sensitive and
+  irritable touching references to the slavery question, and very
+  bitter against the testimony of Elias Hicks. It is believed that this
+  was one of the causes which led to the affront of Elias Hicks in the
+  Pine Street Meeting aforesaid."[114]
+
+[114] "A review of the general and particular causes which have
+produced the late disorders and divisions in the Yearly Meeting of
+Friends, held in Philadelphia," James Cockburn, 1829, p. 60.
+
+It was claimed in the famous New Jersey chancery case[115] by the
+Orthodox Friends, that there was precedent for adjourning a meeting
+while a visiting minister in proper order was performing service in a
+co-ordinate branch of the Society. Be that as it may, the weight of
+evidence warrants the conclusion that the incident at Pine Street was
+intended as an affront to Elias Hicks. The conservative elements in
+Philadelphia had evidently made up their minds that the time had come
+to visit their displeasure upon the Long Island preacher.
+
+[115] Foster's report, many times referred to in these pages, is a
+two-volume work, containing the evidence and the exhibits in a case in
+the New Jersey Court of Chancery. The examinations began Sixth month
+2, 1830, in Camden, N. J., before J. J. Foster, Master and Examiner in
+Chancery, and continued from time to time, closing Fourth month 13,
+1831. The case was brought to determine who should possess the school
+fund, of the Friends' School, at Crosswick, N. J. The decision awarded
+the fund to the Orthodox.
+
+The incident referred to above must have occurred in the latter part
+of Tenth month. Elias says in his Journal, after mentioning his
+arrival in Philadelphia: "We were at two of their monthly meetings and
+their quarterly meeting."[116] He makes no mention of the unpleasant
+occurrence.
+
+[116] Journal, p. 382.
+
+There seems to have been no further appearance of trouble in the
+latitude of Philadelphia until Eighth month, 1822. This time opposition
+appeared in what was evidently an irregular gathering of part of the
+Meeting for Sufferings. At this meeting Jonathan Evans is reported to
+have said: "I understand that Elias Hicks is coming on here on his way
+to Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Friends know that he preaches doctrines
+contrary to the doctrines of our Society; that he has given uneasiness
+to his friends at home, and they can't stop him, and unless we can stop
+him here he must go on."[117] This statement was only partially true,
+to say the most possible for it. But a small minority of Elias' home
+meeting were in any way "uneasy" about him, whatever may have been the
+character of his preaching. It stands to reason that had there been a
+general and united opposition to the ministry of Elias Hicks in his
+monthly meeting or in the New York Yearly Meeting at any time before
+the "separation," he could not have performed the service involved
+in his religious visits. It will also appear from the foregoing that
+the few opponents of Elias Hicks on Long Island had evidently planned
+to invoke every possible and conceivable influence, at the center of
+Quakerism in Philadelphia, to silence this popular and well-known
+preacher. At what point the influence so disposed became of general
+effect in the polity of the Society only incidentally belongs to the
+purpose of this book.
+
+[117] "Foster's Report," pp. 355-356.
+
+Out of the unofficial body[118] above mentioned, about a dozen in
+number, a small and "select" committee was appointed. The object was
+apparently to deal with Elias for remarks said to have been made by him
+at New York Yearly Meeting in Fifth month of that year, and reported by
+Joseph Whitall.
+
+[118] "Foster's Report," 1831, Vol. I. See testimony of Joseph Whitall,
+p. 247. Also testimony of Abraham Lower, pp. 355-356.
+
+The minute under which Elias performed the visit referred to above
+was granted by his monthly meeting in Seventh month, and he promptly
+set out on his visit with David Seaman as his traveling companion. He
+spent nearly three months visiting meetings in New Jersey and in Bucks,
+Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, reaching
+Baltimore the 25th of Tenth month, where he attended the Yearly
+Meeting. This appearance and service in Philadelphia, he states very
+briefly, and with no hint of the developing trouble, as follows:
+
+  "We arrived in Philadelphia in the early part of Twelfth month, and I
+  immediately entered on the arduous concern which I had in prospect
+  and which I was favored soon comfortably to accomplish. We visited
+  the families composing Green Street Monthly Meeting, being in number
+  one hundred and forty, and we also attended that monthly meeting and
+  the monthly meeting for the Northern District. This closed my visit
+  here, and set me at liberty to turn my face homeward."[119]
+
+[119] Journal, p. 394.
+
+It will thus be seen that the charge of unsoundness was entered in
+Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings soon after Elias started on his
+southern visit, but the matter was held practically in suspense for
+four months. In the meantime Elias was waited upon by a few elders,
+presumably in accordance with the action of the Meeting for Sufferings
+held in Eighth month. This opportunity was had when the visitor passed
+through Philadelphia en route to Baltimore. There is reason for
+believing that Elias succeeded in measurably satisfying this small
+committee. But there was evidently an element in Philadelphia that did
+not propose to be satisfied.
+
+In Twelfth month, when Elias arrived in Philadelphia from his southern
+trip, and began his visits among the families of Green Street Monthly
+Meeting, a meeting of the elders of all the monthly meetings in the
+city was hastily called. A deputation from the elders sought an
+"opportunity" with Elias, and insisted that it be _private_.[120]
+His position was that he was not accountable to them for anything he
+had said while traveling with a minute as a minister. Elias finally
+consented, out of regard to some particular Friends, to meet the elders
+in Green Street meeting-house, provided witnesses other than the
+opposing elders could be present. Among those who accompanied Elias
+were John Comly, Robert Moore, John Moore and John Hunt. When the
+meeting was held, however, the elders who opposed Elias said they could
+not proceed, their reason being that the gathering was not "select." In
+connection with this controversy letters passed between the opposing
+parties. One was signed by ten elders of Philadelphia, and is as
+follows:
+
+[120] "Foster's Report," pp. 359-360. "Cockburn's Review," p. 66.
+
+  "TO ELIAS HICKS:
+
+  "Friends in Philadelphia having for a considerable time past heard of
+  thy holding and promulgating doctrines different from and repugnant
+  to those held by our religious society, it was cause of uneasiness
+  and deep concern to them, as their sincere regard and engagement for
+  the promotion of the cause of Truth made it very desirable that all
+  the members of our religious society should move in true harmony
+  under the leading and direction of our blessed Redeemer. Upon being
+  informed of thy sentiments expressed by Joseph Whitall--that Jesus
+  Christ was not the son of God until after the baptism of John and the
+  descent of the Holy Ghost, and that he was no more than a man; that
+  the same power that made Christ a Christian must make us Christians;
+  and that the same power that saved Him must save us--many friends
+  were affected therewith, and some time afterward, several Friends
+  being together in the city on subjects relating to our religious
+  society, they received an account from Ezra Comfort of some of thy
+  expressions in the public general meeting immediately succeeding the
+  Southern Quarterly Meeting lately held in the state of Delaware,
+  which was also confirmed by his companion, Isaiah Bell, that Jesus
+  Christ was the first man who introduced the gospel dispensation,
+  the Jews being under the outward or ceremonial law or dispensation,
+  it was necessary that there should be some outward miracle, as the
+  healing of the outward infirmities of the flesh and raising the
+  outward dead bodies in order to introduce the gospel dispensation; He
+  had no more power given Him than man, for He was no more than man;
+  He had nothing to do with the healing of the soul, for that belongs
+  to God only; Elisha had the same power to raise the dead; that man
+  being obedient to the spirit of God in him could arrive at as great,
+  or a greater, degree of righteousness than Jesus Christ; that 'Jesus
+  Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God; neither do I
+  think it robbery for man to be equal with God'; then endeavored
+  to show that by attending to that stone cut out of the mountain
+  without hands, or the seed in man, it would make man equal with God,
+  saying: for that stone in man was the entire God. On hearing which it
+  appeared to Friends a subject of such great importance and of such
+  deep welfare to the interest of our religious society as to require
+  an extension of care, in order that if any incorrect statement had
+  been made it should as soon as possible be rectified, or, if true,
+  thou might be possessed of the painful concerns of Friends and their
+  sense and judgment thereon. Two of the elders accordingly waited
+  on thee on the evening of the day of thy arriving in the city,
+  and although thou denied the statement, yet thy declining to meet
+  these two elders in company with those who made it left the minds
+  of Friends without relief. One of the elders who had called on thee
+  repeated his visit on the next day but one, and again requested thee
+  to see the two elders and the Friends who made the above statements
+  which thou again declined. The elders from the different Monthly
+  Meetings of the city were then convened and requested a private
+  opportunity with thee, which thou also refused, yet the next day
+  consented to meet them at a time and place of thy own fixing; but,
+  when assembled, a mixed company being collected, the elders could
+  not in this manner enter into business which they considered of a
+  nature not to be investigated in any other way than in a select,
+  private opportunity. They, therefore, considered that meeting a clear
+  indication of thy continuing to decline to meet the elders as by them
+  proposed. Under these circumstances, it appearing that thou art not
+  willing to hear and disprove the charges brought against thee, we
+  feel it a duty to declare that we cannot have religious unity with
+  thy conduct nor with the doctrines thou art charged with promulgating.
+
+  "Signed, Twelfth month 19, 1822.
+
+                                        "CALEB PIERCE,
+                                        "LEONARD SNOWDEN,
+                                        "JOSEPH SCATTERGOOD,
+                                        "S. P. GRIFFITHS,
+                                        "T. STEWARDSON,
+                                        "EDWARD RANDOLPH,
+                                        "ISRAEL MAULE,
+                                        "ELLIS YARNALL,
+                                        "RICHARD HUMPHRIES,
+                                        "THOMAS WISTAR."
+
+To this epistle Elias Hicks made the following reply, two days having
+intervened:
+
+  "TO CALEB PIERCE AND OTHER FRIENDS:
+
+  "Having been charged by you with unsoundness of principle and
+  doctrine, founded on reports spread among the people in an unfriendly
+  manner, and contrary to the order of our Discipline, by Joseph
+  Whitall, as charged in the letter from you dated the 19th instant,
+  and as these charges are not literally true, being founded on his
+  own forced and improper construction of my words, I deny them, and I
+  do not consider myself amenable to him, nor to any other, for crimes
+  laid to my charge as being committed in the course of the sittings
+  of our last Yearly Meeting, as not any of my fellow-members of that
+  meeting discovered or noticed any such thing--which I presume to
+  be the case, as not an individual has mentioned any such things to
+  me, but contrary thereto. Many of our most valued Friends (who had
+  heard some of those foul reports first promulgated by a citizen
+  of our city) acknowledged the great satisfaction they had with my
+  services and exercise in the course of that meeting, and were fully
+  convinced that all those reports were false; and this view is fully
+  confirmed by a certificate granted me by the Monthly and Quarterly
+  Meetings of which I am a member, in which they expressed their full
+  unity with me--and which meetings were held a considerable time
+  after our Yearly Meeting, in the course of which Joseph Whitall has
+  presumed to charge me with unsoundness of doctrine, contrary to the
+  sense of the Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings of which I am a
+  member, and to whom only do I hold myself amenable for all conduct
+  transacted within their limits. The other charges made against
+  me by Ezra Comfort, as expressed in your letter, are in general
+  incorrect, as is proved by the annexed certificate; and, moreover,
+  as Ezra Comfort has departed from gospel order in not mentioning his
+  uneasiness to me when present with me, and when I could have appealed
+  to Friends of that meeting to justify me; therefore, I consider Ezra
+  Comfort to have acted disorderly and contrary to the discipline, and
+  these are the reasons which induce me to refuse a compliance with
+  your requisitions--considering them arbitrary and contrary to the
+  established order of our Society.
+
+                                        "ELIAS HICKS.
+
+  "PHILADELPHIA, Twelfth month 21, 1822."
+
+As already noted the charges in the letter of the ten elders were based
+on statements made by Joseph Whitall, supplemented by allegations
+by Ezra Comfort, as to what Elias had said in two sermons, neither
+of which was delivered within the bounds of Philadelphia Quarterly
+Meeting. The matters complained of are mostly subject to variable
+interpretation, and scarcely afford a basis for a religious quarrel,
+especially considering that the alleged statements were at the best
+garbled from quite lengthy discourses.
+
+On the same day that Elias replied to the ten elders, three members
+of Southern Quarterly Meeting issued a signed statement regarding the
+charges of Ezra Comfort. It is as follows:
+
+  "We, the undersigned, being occasionally in the city of Philadelphia,
+  when a letter was produced and handed us, signed by ten of its
+  citizens, Elders of the Society of Friends, and directed to Elias
+  Hicks, after perusing and deliberately considering the charges
+  therein against him, for holding and propagating doctrines
+  inconsistent with our religious testimonies, and more especially
+  those said by Ezra Comfort and Isaiah Bell, to be held forth at a
+  meeting immediately succeeding the late Southern Quarterly Meeting,
+  and we being members of the Southern Quarter, and present at the
+  said meeting, we are free to state, for the satisfaction of the
+  first-mentioned Friends and all others whom it may concern, that we
+  apprehend the charges exhibited by the two Friends named are without
+  substantial foundation; and in order to give a clear view we think
+  it best and proper here to transcribe the said charges exhibited
+  and our own understanding of the several, viz., 'That Jesus Christ
+  was the first man that introduced the Gospel Dispensation, the Jews
+  being under the outward and ceremonial law or dispensation, it was
+  necessary there should be some outward miracles, as healing the
+  outward infirmities of the flesh and raising the outward dead bodies
+  in order to introduce the gospel dispensation;' this in substance
+  is correct. 'That he had no more power given him than man,' this
+  sentence is incorrect; and also, 'That he had nothing to do with
+  the healing of the soul, for that belongs to God only,' is likewise
+  incorrect; and the next sentence, 'That Elisha also had the same
+  power to raise the dead' should be transposed thus to give Elias's
+  expressions. 'By the same power it was that Elisha raised the dead.'
+  'That man being obedient to the spirit of God in him could arrive at
+  as great or greater degree of righteousness than Jesus Christ,' this
+  is incorrect; 'That Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal
+  with God,' with annexing the other part of the paragraph mentioned by
+  the holy apostle would be correct. 'Neither do I think it robbery for
+  man to be equal with God' is incorrect. 'Then endeavouring to show
+  that by attending to that stone cut out of the mountain without hands
+  or the seed in man it would make men equal with God' is incorrect;
+  the sentence for that stone in man should stand thus: 'That this
+  stone or seed in man had all the attributes of the divine nature that
+  was in Christ and God.' This statement and a few necessary remarks
+  we make without comment, save only that we were then of opinion and
+  still are that the sentiments and doctrines held forth by our said
+  friend, Elias Hicks, are agreeable to the opinions and doctrines held
+  by George Fox and other worthy Friends of his time.
+
+                                        "ROBERT MOORE,
+                                        "THOMAS TURNER,
+                                        "JOSEPH G. ROWLAND.[121]
+
+  "12 mo., 21, 1822."
+
+[121] "Cockburn's Review," p. 73.
+
+First month 4, 1823, the ten elders sent a final communication to Elias
+Hicks, which we give in full:
+
+  "On the perusal of thy letter of the 21st of last month, it was not a
+  little affecting to observe the same disposition still prevalent that
+  avoided a select meeting with the elders, which meeting consistently
+  with the station we are placed in and with the sense of duty
+  impressive upon us, we were engaged to propose and urge to thee as a
+  means wherein the cause of uneasiness might have been investigated,
+  the Friends who exhibited the complaint fully examined, and the whole
+  business placed in a clear point of view.
+
+  "On a subject of such importance the most explicit candour and
+  ingenuousness, with a readiness to hear and give complete
+  satisfaction ought ever to be maintained; this the Gospel teaches,
+  and the nature of the case imperiously demanded it. As to the
+  certificate which accompanied thy letter, made several weeks after
+  the circumstances occurred, it is in several respects not only
+  vague and ambiguous, but in others (though in different terms) it
+  corroborates the statement at first made. When we take a view of
+  the whole subject, the doctrines and sentiments which have been
+  promulgated by thee, though under some caution while in this city,
+  and the opinions which thou expressed in an interview between Ezra
+  Comfort and thee, on the 19th ult., we are fully and sorrowfully
+  confirmed in the conclusion that thou holds and art disseminating
+  principles very different from those which are held and maintained by
+  our religious society.
+
+  "As thou hast on thy part closed the door against the brotherly
+  care and endeavours of the elders here for thy benefit, and for
+  the clearing our religious profession, this matter appears of
+  such serious magnitude, so interesting to the peace, harmony, and
+  well-being of society, that we think it ought to claim the weighty
+  attention of thy Friends at home."[122]
+
+[122] "Cockburn's Review," p. 76. As the signatures are the same as in
+the previous letter, repeating them seems unnecessary.
+
+One other communication closed the epistolary part of the controversy
+for the time being. It was a letter issued by twenty-two members of
+Southern Quarterly Meeting, concerning the ministerial service of Elias
+Hicks, during the meetings referred to in the charge of Ezra Comfort:
+
+  "We, the subscribers, being informed that certain reports have
+  been circulated by Ezra Comfort and Isaiah Bell that Elias Hicks
+  had propagated unsound doctrine, at our general meeting on the
+  day succeeding our quarterly meeting in the 11th month last, and
+  a certificate signed by Robert Moore, Joseph Turner and Joseph G.
+  Rowland being read contradicting said reports, the subject has
+  claimed our weighty and deliberate attention, and it is our united
+  judgment that the doctrines preached by our said Friend on the day
+  alluded to were the Truths of the Gospel, and that his labours of
+  love amongst us at our particular meetings as well as at our said
+  quarterly meeting were united with by all our members for aught that
+  appears.
+
+  "And we believe that the certificate signed by the three Friends
+  above named is in substance a correct statement of facts.
+
+                                        "ELISHA DAWSON,
+                                        "WILLIAM DOLBY,
+                                        "WALTER MIFFLIN,
+                                        "DANIEL BOWERS,
+                                        "WILLIAM LEVICK,
+                                        "ELIAS JANELL,
+                                        "JACOB PENNINGTON,
+                                        "JONATHAN TWIBOND,
+                                        "HENRY SWIGGITT,
+                                        "MICHAEL OFFLEY,
+                                        "JAMES BROWN,
+                                        "GEORGE MESSECK,
+                                        "WILLIAM W. MOORE,
+                                        "JOHN COGWILL,
+                                        "SAMUEL PRICE,
+                                        "ROBERT KEMP,
+                                        "JOHN TURNER,
+                                        "HARTFIELD WRIGHT,
+                                        "DAVID WILSON,
+                                        "MICHAEL LOWBER,
+                                        "JACOB LIVENTON,
+                                        "JOHN COWGILL, JUNR.
+
+  "LITTLE CREEK, 2 mo. 26th, 1823."
+
+  "I hereby certify that I was at the Southern Quarterly Meeting in
+  the 11th month last, but owing to indisposition I did not attend
+  the general meeting on the day succeeding, and having been present
+  at several meetings with Elias Hicks, as well as at the Quarterly
+  Meeting aforesaid, I can testify my entire unity with the doctrines I
+  have heard him deliver.
+
+                                        "ANTHONY WHITELY."[123]
+
+[123] "Cockburn's Review," p. 78.
+
+All of these communications, both pro and con, are presented simply
+for what they are worth. When it comes to determining what is or is
+not "unsound doctrine," we are simply dealing with personal opinion,
+and not with matters of absolute fact. This is especially true of
+a religious body that had never attempted to define or limit its
+doctrines in a written creed.
+
+The attempt of the Philadelphia elders to deal in a disciplinary way
+with Elias Hicks on the score of the manner or matter of his preaching
+was pronounced by his friends a usurpation of authority. It was held
+that the elders in question had no jurisdiction in the case, in proof
+of which the following paragraph in the Discipline of the Philadelphia
+Yearly Meeting was cited:
+
+  "And our advice to all our ministers is that they be frequent in
+  reading the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; and if any
+  in the course of their ministry shall misapply or draw unsound
+  inferences or wrong conclusions from the text, or shall misbehave
+  themselves in point of conduct or conversation, let them be
+  admonished in love and tenderness by the elders or overseers where
+  they live."[124]
+
+[124] Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 62.
+
+It is undoubtedly true that a certain amount of encouragement came to
+the opponents of Elias Hicks in Philadelphia from some Friends on Long
+Island, and from three or four residents of Jericho, but they did not
+at that time at least officially represent any meeting of Friends at
+Jericho, either real or pretended. This far in the controversy the
+aggressors were confined to those who at that time were considered the
+"weight of the meeting," and who at best represented only the so-called
+"select" meeting and not the Society at large. At the beginning at
+least the trouble was an affair of the ministers and elders. It later
+affected the whole Society, by the efforts of the leaders on both sides.
+
+Incidents are not wanting to show that up to the very end of the
+controversy the rank and file of Friends had little vital interest in
+the matters involved in the trouble. It is related on good authority
+that two prominent members of Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting in
+Dutchess County, New York, husband and wife, made a compact before
+attending the meeting in Eighth month, 1828, feeling that the issue
+would reach its climax at that time. They agreed that whichever side
+retained control of the organization and the meeting-house would be
+considered by them the meeting, and receive their support. We mention
+this as undoubtedly representing the feeling in more than one case. The
+fact that it took practically a decade of excitement and manipulation,
+to create the antagonisms, personal and otherwise, which resulted in an
+open rupture, shows how little disposed the majority of Friends were to
+disrupt the Society.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Time of Unsettlement.
+
+
+Between the trouble related in the last chapter and the culmination
+of the disturbance in the Society of Friends, in 1827-1828, there was
+an interval of four or five years. This period was by no means one of
+quiet. On the other hand it was one of confusion, in the midst of which
+the forces were at work, and the plans perfected which led up logically
+to the end.
+
+It will be remembered that the last communication of the Philadelphia
+elders sent to Elias Hicks was dated First month 4, 1823. They had
+manifestly failed to silence the preacher from Jericho, or to greatly
+alarm him with their charges of heresy. Just eleven days after the
+epistle in question was written, the Meeting for Sufferings of
+Philadelphia Yearly Meeting assembled. This meeting issued a singular
+document,[125] said by the friends of Elias Hicks to have been intended
+as a sort of "Quaker Creed," but this was vigorously denied by those
+responsible for its existence. The statement of doctrine, which was as
+follows, was duly signed by Jonathan Evans, clerk, "on behalf of the
+meeting:"
+
+[125] The title of the production was as follows: Extracts from the
+Writings of Primitive Friends, concerning the Divinity of Our Lord and
+Saviour, Jesus Christ. Published by the direction of the Meeting for
+Sufferings, held in Philadelphia. Solomon W. Conrad, printer.
+
+  "At a Meeting for Sufferings held in Philadelphia the 17th of the
+  First month, 1823, an essay containing a few brief extracts from the
+  writings of our primitive Friends on several of the doctrines of the
+  Christian religion, which have been always held, and are most surely
+  believed by us, being produced and read; on solid consideration they
+  appeared so likely to be productive of benefit, if a publication
+  thereof was made and spread among our members generally, that the
+  committee appointed on the printing and distribution of religious
+  books are directed to have a sufficient number of them struck off and
+  distributed accordingly, being as follows:
+
+  "We have always believed that the Holy Scriptures were written by
+  divine inspiration, that they are able to make wise unto salvation
+  through faith which is in Christ Jesus, for, as holy men of God
+  spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, they are therefore
+  profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
+  in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
+  furnished unto all good works. But they are not or cannot be
+  subjected to the fallen, corrupt reason of man. We have always
+  asserted our willingness that all our doctrines be tried by them,
+  and admit it as a positive maxim that whatsoever any do (pretending
+  to the Spirit) which is contrary to the Scriptures be accounted and
+  judged a delusion of the devil.
+
+  "We receive and believe in the testimony of the Scriptures simply as
+  it stands in the text. 'There are three that bear record in heaven,
+  the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.'
+
+  "We believe in the only wise, omnipotent and everlasting God, the
+  creator of all things in heaven and earth, and the preserver of all
+  that he hath made, who is God over all blessed forever.
+
+  "The infinite and most wise God, who is the foundation, root and
+  spring of all operation, hath wrought all things by his eternal Word
+  and Son. This is that Word that was in the beginning with God and was
+  God, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not anything
+  made that was made. Jesus Christ is the beloved and only begotten
+  Son of God, who, in the fulness of time, through the Holy Ghost, was
+  conceived and born of the Virgin Mary; in him we have redemption
+  through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. We believe that he
+  was made a sacrifice for sin, who knew no sin; that he was crucified
+  for us in the flesh, was buried and rose again the third day by the
+  power of his Father for our justification, ascended up into heaven
+  and now sitteth at the right hand of God.
+
+  "As then that infinite and incomprehensible Fountain of life and
+  motion operateth in the creatures by his own eternal word and power,
+  so no creature has access again unto him but in and by the Son
+  according to his own blessed declaration, 'No man knoweth the Father
+  but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.' Again, 'I am
+  the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but
+  by me.' Hence he is the only Mediator between God and man for having
+  been with God from all eternity, being himself God, and also in time
+  partaking of the nature of man; through him is the goodness and
+  love of God conveyed to mankind, and by him again man receiveth and
+  partaketh of these mercies.
+
+  "We acknowledge that of ourselves we are not able to do anything that
+  is good, neither can we procure remission of sins or justification
+  by any act of our own, but acknowledge all to be of and from his
+  love, which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance.
+  'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that
+  whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
+  life.'
+
+  "We firmly believe it was necessary that Christ should come, that by
+  his death and sufferings he might offer up himself a sacrifice to
+  God for our sins, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on
+  the tree; so we believe that the remission of sins which any partake
+  of is only in and by virtue of that most satisfactory sacrifice and
+  not otherwise. For it is by the obedience of that one that the free
+  gift is come upon all to justification. Thus Christ by his death and
+  sufferings hath reconciled us to God even while we are enemies; that
+  is, he offers reconciliation to us, and we are thereby put into a
+  capacity of being reconciled. God is willing to be reconciled unto us
+  and ready to remit the sins that are past if we repent.
+
+  "Jesus Christ is the intercessor and advocate with the Father in
+  heaven, appearing in the presence of God for us, being touched with
+  a feeling of our infirmities, sufferings, and sorrows; and also by
+  his spirit in our hearts he maketh intercession according to the will
+  of God, crying abba, Father. He tasted death for every man, shed his
+  blood for all men, and is the propitiation for our sins; and not for
+  ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He alone is our
+  Redeemer and Saviour, the captain of our salvation, the promised
+  seed, who bruises the serpent's head; the alpha and omega, the first
+  and the last. He is our wisdom, righteousness, justification and
+  redemption; neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no
+  other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved.
+
+  "As he ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things,
+  his fulness cannot be comprehended or contained in any finite
+  creature, but in some measure known and experienced in us, as we are
+  prepared to receive the same, as of his fulness we have received
+  grace for grace. He is both the word of faith and a quickening spirit
+  in us, whereby he is the immediate cause, author, object and strength
+  of our living faith in his name and power, and of the work of our
+  salvation from sin and bondage of corruption.
+
+  "The Son of God cannot be divided from the least or lowest appearance
+  of his own divine light or life in us, no more than the sun from
+  its own light; nor is the sufficiency of his light within set up
+  or mentioned in opposition to him, or to his fulness considered as
+  in himself or without us; nor can any measure or degree of light
+  received from Christ be properly called the fulness of Christ;
+  or Christ as in fulness, nor exclude him from being our complete
+  Saviour. And where the least degree or measure of this light and life
+  of Christ within is sincerely waited in, followed and obeyed there is
+  a blessed increase of light and grace known and felt; as the path of
+  the just it shines more and more until the perfect day, and thereby
+  a growing in grace and in the knowledge of God and of our Lord and
+  Saviour Jesus Christ hath been and is truly experienced.
+
+  "Wherefore we say that whatever Christ then did, both living and
+  dying, was of great benefit to the salvation of all that have
+  believed and now do and that hereafter shall believe in him unto
+  justification and acceptance with God; but the way to come to that
+  faith is to receive and obey the manifestation of his divine light
+  and grace in the conscience, which leads men to believe and value
+  and not to disown or undervalue Christ as the common sacrifice and
+  mediator. For we do affirm that to follow this holy light in the
+  conscience and to turn our minds and bring all our deeds and thoughts
+  to it is the readiest, nay, the only right way, to have true, living
+  and sanctifying faith in Christ as he appeared in the flesh; and
+  to discern the Lord's body, coming and sufferings aright, and to
+  receive any real benefit by him as our only sacrifice and mediator,
+  according to the beloved disciple's emphatical testimony, 'If we walk
+  in the light as he (God) is in the light we have fellowship one with
+  another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all
+  sin.'
+
+  "By the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ without us we, truly
+  repenting and believing, as through the mercy of God, justified from
+  the imputation of sins and transgressions that are past, as though
+  they had never been committed; and by the mighty work of Christ
+  within us the power, nature and habits of sin are destroyed; that
+  as sin once reigned unto death even so now grace reigneth through
+  righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."[126]
+
+[126] "The Friend, or Advocate of Truth," Vol. I, pp. 152-154.
+
+This deliverance is almost as theological and dogmatic as the
+Westminster Confession. It scarcely contains a reference to the
+fundamental doctrine of George Fox. It is not too much to say that if
+it was the belief of the "primitive" Friends, there was little reason,
+touching points of doctrine, for the preaching of Fox, or the first
+gathering of the Society. All the ground covered by this doctrinal
+statement was amply treated in the Articles of Religion of the Church
+of England, and the Confession of the Presbyterians.
+
+The above document was issued without quotation marks, or any
+indication as to what "primitive" Friends were responsible for the
+sentiments contained in its various parts. By careful examination it
+will be seen that one sentence, at least, is from Barclay's Apology,
+"but it proves to be a garbled quotation." We refer to the following
+sentence in the second paragraph in the above article, relating to the
+Scriptures: "But they are not or cannot be subjected to the fallen,
+corrupt reason of man." Barclay's complete statement is here given:
+
+  "Yet, as the proposition itself concludeth, to the last part of
+  which I now come, it will not from thence follow that these divine
+  revelations are to be subjected to the examination either of the
+  outward testimony of Scripture or of the human or natural reason of
+  man, as to a more noble and certain rule or touchstone; for the
+  divine revelation and inward illumination is that which is evident
+  by itself, forcing the well-disposed understanding and irresistibly
+  moving it to assent by its own evidence and clearness, even as the
+  common principles of natural truths to bend the mind to a natural
+  assent."[127]
+
+[127] "Barclay's Apology." Edition of Friends' Book Store, 304 Arch
+Street, Philadelphia, 1877, p. 68.
+
+It will be seen clearly that the reference in the document issued by
+the Meeting for Sufferings was not only a misquotation from Barclay,
+but also misrepresented his meaning. The latter is particularly true if
+we refer to the top of the same page that contains the above extract,
+where he says: "So would I not have any reject or doubt the certainty
+of that unerring Spirit which God hath given his children as that
+which can alone guide them into all truth, because some have falsely
+pretended to it."[128] It will thus appear clear that Elias Hicks, and
+not the Meeting for Sufferings, was supported by Barclay.
+
+[128] "Barclay's Apology." Edition of 1877, p. 68.
+
+The reference in the third paragraph in the foregoing "declaration" to
+the "three that bear record in heaven" is a quotation from 1 John 5:7.
+It is entirely omitted from the Revised Version, and thorough scholars
+in the early years of the nineteenth century were convinced that the
+passage was an interpolation.
+
+The statement of belief prepared by the Meeting for Sufferings was not
+approved by the Yearly Meeting, so nothing was really accomplished by
+the compilation, if such it was.
+
+Considering the order of the events recorded, it is hard not to
+conceive that the attempt to promulgate a "declaration of faith" by the
+Yearly Meeting was really intended for personal application to Elias
+Hicks. Had the plan succeeded, the elders could easily have attempted
+to silence the Jericho preacher in Philadelphia, on the ground
+that he was "unsound" touching the doctrine promulgated by the Yearly
+Meeting.
+
+The task of detailing all of the doings of this period would be too
+difficult and distasteful to be fully recorded in this book. That the
+unfriendly conduct was by no means all on one side is painfully true.
+Still, as the determination of the Philadelphia elders to deal with
+Elias Hicks, and stop his ministry if possible, was continued, the
+effort cannot be ignored.
+
+In First month, 1825, the elders presented a charge of unsoundness
+against Elias Hicks in the Preparative Meeting of Ministers and Elders,
+the intent being to have the charge forwarded to the monthly meeting,
+but this action was not taken. With phenomenal persistence one of the
+elders introduced the subject in the monthly meeting, and secured the
+appointment of a committee to investigate the merits of the case. This
+committee made a report unfavorable to Elias Hicks, which report, his
+friends claimed was improperly entered on the minutes. A vigorous,
+but by no means a united effort was made to get this report forwarded
+to Jericho Monthly Meeting, but this failed. One of the incidents of
+this attempt against Elias Hicks was the disownment of a member of the
+Northern District Monthly Meeting, for remarks made in Western District
+Monthly Meeting. The report of the committee against Elias was under
+consideration, when the visitor arose and said: "If it be understood
+by the report--if it set forth and declare, that Elias Hicks, the
+last time he was in this house, preached doctrines contrary to the
+Holy Scriptures, or contrary to our first or primitive Friends, being
+present at that time, I stand here as a witness that it is utterly
+false."[129] Although this Friend was disowned by his monthly meeting
+he was reinstated by the Quarterly Meeting. It should be said that the
+report of unsoundness referred to, contained this specific charge: "We
+apprehend that Elias Hicks expressed sentiments inconsistent with the
+Holy Scriptures, and the religious principles our Society has held from
+its first rise."
+
+[129] "Cockburn's Review," p. 95.
+
+The trouble in Philadelphia was renewed in an aggravated form in First
+month, 1827, when Elias Hicks appeared in the city on another religious
+visit. Of course the atmosphere had been charged with all sorts of
+attacks regarding the venerable preacher. Under such conditions no
+special advertising was necessary to get a crowd. The populace was
+curious, not a few wanted to hear and see, for themselves, this man
+about whom so many charges had been made. As a matter of course the
+meeting-houses were crowded beyond their capacity. It was alleged by
+Orthodox Friends that the meetings were disorderly, which may have
+been literally true. But the tumult was increased by injecting an
+element of controversy, into the First-day afternoon meeting in Western
+meeting-house, on the part of an Orthodox elder. All the evidence goes
+to show that Elias attempted to quiet the tumult. He seems to have
+been willing to accord liberty of expression to his opponents. The
+matter was taken into Western Monthly Meeting, a committee entering the
+following charge: "That a large and disorderly concourse of people were
+brought together, at an unseasonable hour, and under circumstances that
+strongly indicated a design to preoccupy the house to the exclusion
+of most of the members of our meeting, and to suppress in a riotous
+manner any attempt that might be made to maintain the doctrine and
+principles of our religious society, in opposition to the views of
+Elias Hicks."[130]
+
+[130] "Cockburn's Review," p. 100.
+
+The literal truthfulness of this charge in every particular may be at
+least mildly questioned. It must be remembered that of the Friends in
+Philadelphia at that time, the Orthodox were a minority of about one
+to three. The majority of Friends felt that much of the trouble was
+personal, and they undoubtedly flocked to hear the traduced preacher.
+The outside crowd that came could not rightfully or wisely have been
+kept from attending public meetings. Both parties had been sowing
+to the wind, and neither could validly object to the whirlwind that
+inevitably came. Still Western Monthly Meeting proposed to deal with a
+visiting minister from another yearly meeting, on points of doctrine,
+and there can be little doubt that arbitrary proceedings of this sort
+had quite as much, if not more, to do with kindling the fires of
+"separation," as the preaching of Elias Hicks.
+
+Rapidly the trouble ran back to the opposition raised by the elders
+in 1822. Eventually Green Street Monthly Meeting became the center of
+Society difficulty. It will be remembered that in the year last written
+that monthly meeting had enjoyed a family visitation from Elias Hicks,
+and had subsequently given him a minute of approval. After this one of
+the elders, who acquiesced in this action, joined the other nine in
+written disapproval of Elias Hicks. The major portion of the monthly
+meeting proposed to take the inconsistent conduct of this elder under
+care, and the matter was handed over to the overseers. In thus hastily
+invoking the discipline, Green Street Monthly Meeting made an apparent
+error of judgment, even admitting that the spirit of the transaction
+was not censurable. This brought the Quarterly Meeting of Ministers
+and Elders precipitously into the case. Finally Green Street Monthly
+Meeting released the Friend in question from his station as elder. A
+question arose on which there was a sharp discussion as to whether
+elders were independent of the overseers in the exercise of their
+official duties. A long line of conduct followed, finally resulting
+in the Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and Elders sending a report to
+the general quarterly meeting, amounting to a remonstrance against
+Green Street Monthly Meeting. This appeared to be a violation of
+Discipline, which said: "None of the said meetings of ministers and
+elders are in anywise to interfere with the business of any meeting for
+discipline."[131] These matters, with the remonstrance of the released
+Green Street elder, would therefore seem to have been irregularly
+brought before the quarterly meeting. It was claimed by the friends of
+Elias Hicks that he had broken no rule of discipline; that the charge,
+that he held "sentiments inconsistent with the Scriptures, and the
+principles of Friends," was vague as to its matter, and purely personal
+as to the manner of its circulation. Up to this point it should be
+remembered, the controversy was almost entirely centered on Elias Hicks.
+
+[131] Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 67.
+
+This matter dragged along, a source of constant disturbance, appearing
+in perhaps a new form in the Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and Elders
+in Eighth month, 1826. The immediate action involved appointing a
+committee to assist the Preparative Meeting of Ministers and Elders
+of Green Street Monthly Meeting, the assumed necessity in the case
+being the reported unsoundness of a Green Street minister, a charge to
+this effect having been preferred by one member only. The situation,
+however, caused an abatement in answering the query relating to love
+and unity. While these transactions were going on among the ministers
+and elders, Green Street Monthly Meeting took action which removed
+two of its elders from that station in the Society. The two deposed
+elders took their grievances to the general quarterly meeting. While
+the quarterly meeting would not listen to a statement of grievances,
+yet a committee to go over the whole case was appointed. The committee
+thus appointed, without waiting any action by the quarterly meeting,
+transformed the removal of the aggrieved elders into an appeal, and
+then demanded that Green Street Monthly Meeting turn over to that
+committee all the minutes relating to the case of the two elders.
+This the Green Street Meeting refused to do. Although the case had
+never been before the quarterly meeting, the committee of inquiry
+reported to the full meeting, that all of the action of Green Street
+Monthly Meeting relating to the two elders should be annulled. It was
+claimed that, by virtue of the leadership which the Orthodox had in
+the quarterly meeting, a precedent had been established which gave
+committees the right to exceed the power conferred upon them by the
+meeting which appointed them. The committee had not been appointed to
+decide a case, but to investigate a complaint.
+
+Following this experience, after much wrangling, and in the midst of
+manifest disunity, and against what it was claimed was the manifest
+opposition of the major portion of the meeting, the quarterly meeting
+in Eleventh month, 1826, appointed a committee to visit the monthly
+meetings. This committee was manifestly one-sided, but could have
+no possible disciplinary service from extending brotherly care.
+Nevertheless at the quarterly meeting in Fifth month, 1827, this
+committee, for presumed gospel labor, reported that the large Green
+Street Monthly Meeting should be laid down, and its members attached
+to the Northern District Monthly Meeting. It is not necessary to enter
+into any argument as to the right of a quarterly meeting, under our
+system, to lay down an active monthly meeting, without that meeting's
+consent. The laying down of Green Street Monthly Meeting followed, the
+"separation" in the yearly meeting. It should be said that in Second
+month, 1827, Green Street Monthly Meeting, attempted to secure consent
+from the quarterly meeting to transfer itself to Abington Quarterly
+Meeting, and subsequently this was done.
+
+The claim was made, and with some show of reason, that the various
+lines of conduct taken against Green Street Monthly Meeting, were
+incited by a desire to punish this meeting for its friendly interest in
+Elias Hicks.
+
+We are rapidly approaching the point where the Society troubles in
+Philadelphia ceased to directly relate to Elias Hicks. It will be
+remembered that there was trouble touching the preaching of Elias
+coming by way of Southern Quarterly Meeting in 1822. The facts indicate
+that a majority of that meeting was quite content to let matters rest.
+It seems, however, that two members of the Meeting for Sufferings
+from that quarter had misrepresented their constituency in the Hicks
+controversy. Therefore in 1826 that quarterly meeting discontinued the
+service of the two members of the Meeting for Sufferings, supplying
+their places with new appointments. This action was objected to by the
+full meeting, the majority holding that members could not have their
+service discontinued by the constituent bodies which appointed them.
+An attempt was made to convince Southern Quarterly Meeting that it
+was improper and illegal to appoint new representatives, if the old
+ones were willing to serve. It was also claimed that it was "never
+intended to release the representatives from a quarterly meeting to the
+Meeting for Sufferings, except at their own request."[132] Surely the
+Discipline then operative gave no warrant for such an inference.[133]
+Assuming that the above contention was valid, the Meeting for
+Sufferings would simply have become a small hierarchy in the Society,
+never to be dissolved, except at its own request.
+
+[132] "Cockburn's Review," p. 170.
+
+[133] Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in
+Philadelphia, 1806, p. 54-55.
+
+It would seem, however, that the rules governing the Meeting for
+Sufferings were especially made to guard against just such an exercise
+of power as has been mentioned. The Discipline under the heading,
+"Meeting for Sufferings," contained this provision: "The said meeting
+is not to meddle with any matter of faith or discipline, which has not
+been determined by the yearly meeting."[134] This will make it plain
+why there was such an anxiety that the statement of doctrine issued
+in 1823,[135] should be endorsed by the yearly meeting, and when that
+failed, how utterly the statement was without authority or binding
+force on the Society in general or its members in particular.
+
+[134] The same, p. 55.
+
+[135] See page 139 of this book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Three Sermons Reviewed.
+
+
+We have reached the point where it would seem in order to consider the
+matter contained in some of the sermons preached by Elias Hicks, in
+order to determine, if we can, what there was about the matter or the
+manner of his ministry, which contributed to the controversy, personal
+and theological, which for several years disturbed the Society of
+Friends.
+
+The trouble was initiated, and for some time agitated, by comparatively
+few people. Two or three Friends began talking about what Elias said,
+from memory. Later they took long-hand notes of his sermons, in either
+case using isolated and disconnected sentences and expressions. Taken
+from their association with the balance of the sermon, and passed from
+mouth to mouth by critics, they assumed an exaggerated importance, and
+stood out boldly as centers of controversy.
+
+All of the evidence goes to show that little attempt was made to give
+printed publicity to these discourses, until the preacher had been made
+famous by the warmth and extent of the controversy over the character
+of his preaching.
+
+A volume of twelve sermons preached by Elias Hicks at various points in
+Pennsylvania in 1824 was published the following year in Philadelphia
+by Joseph and Edward Parker. These discourses were taken in short-hand
+by Marcus T. C. Gould. Two years later, in 1827, Gould began the
+publication of "The Quaker," which contained sermons by Elias, and a
+few other ministers in the Society. In his advertisement of the first
+volume of this publication, after stating the fact of the controversy
+which was rapidly dividing the Society of Friends in two contending
+parties, Gould says:
+
+  "At this important crisis, the reporter and proprietor of the
+  following work was employed by the joint consent of both parties, to
+  record in meeting the speeches of the individual whose doctrines were
+  by some pronounced sound, and by others unsound. Since that period he
+  has continued to record the language of the same speaker, and others
+  who stand high as ministers in the Society, and the members have
+  continued to read his reports, as the only way of arriving at the
+  truth, in relation to discourses which were variously represented."
+
+It is not our purpose in this chapter to give sermons or parts of
+sermons in detail. On the other hand, to simply review a few of these
+discourses as samples, because at the time of their delivery they
+called out opposition from Orthodox Friends. It may be fairly inferred
+that they contained in whole or in part the points of doctrinal
+offending in the estimation of the critics of Elias Hicks.
+
+The first of the series of sermons especially under review, was
+delivered in the Pine Street meeting house, Philadelphia, Twelfth month
+10, 1826. At the conclusion of this sermon Jonathan Evans arose, and
+spoke substantially as follows:
+
+  "I believe it to be right for me to say, that our Society has always
+  believed in the atonement, mediation, and intercession of our Lord
+  and Saviour Jesus Christ--that by him all things were created, in
+  heaven and in earth, both visible and invisible, whether they be
+  thrones, principalities, or powers.
+
+  "We believe that all things were created by him, and for him; and
+  that he was before all things, and that by him all things consist.
+  And any doctrine which goes to invalidate these fundamental doctrines
+  of the Christian religion we cannot admit, nor do we hold ourselves
+  accountable for.
+
+  "Great efforts are making to make the people believe that Jesus
+  Christ was no more than a man, but we do not believe any such thing,
+  nor can we receive any such doctrine, or any thing which goes to
+  inculcate such an idea.
+
+  "We believe him to be King of kings, and Lord of lords, before whose
+  judgment seat every soul shall be arraigned and judged by him. We
+  do not conceive him to be a mere man; and we therefore desire, that
+  people may not suppose that we hold any such doctrines, or that we
+  have any unity with them."
+
+  Isaac Lloyd said: "I unite with Jonathan Evans--we never have
+  believed that our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, came to the
+  Jews only; for he was given for God's salvation, to the ends of the
+  earth."[136]
+
+[136] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 72.
+
+To these doctrinal statements Elias Hicks added: "I have spoken; and I
+leave it for the people to judge--I do not assume the judgment seat."
+
+It may be informing in this connection to examine this sermon
+somewhat in detail, to see if we can find the definite doctrine which
+aroused the public opposition. The text was, "Let love be without
+dissimulation." Having declared that there could be no agreement
+between hatred and love; and that love could not promote discord, he
+indulged in what may be called a spiritual figure of speech, declaring
+that a Christian must be in the same life, and live with the same blood
+that Christ did, making the following explanation: "As the support of
+the animal life is the blood; so it is with the soul: the breath of
+life which God breathed into it is the blood of the soul; the life of
+the soul; and in this sense we are to understand it, and in no other
+sense."
+
+He referred to the reprover of our sins, said that it is God who
+reproves us. "Now, here is the great business of our lives," he
+remarked, "not only to know this reprover, but to know that it is a
+gift from God, a manifestation of His own pure life, that was in his
+son Jesus Christ." Continuing he said:
+
+  "As the apostle testifies: 'In him was life, and the life was the
+  light of men; and that was the true light, which lighteth every man
+  that cometh into the world.' Now can we hesitate a single moment, in
+  regard to the truth of this declaration? No sensible, reflecting mind
+  can possibly do it."[137]
+
+[137] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 51.
+
+Touching the outward and written as compared with the inner law of
+life, he affirmed:
+
+  "Here is a law more comprehensive than the law of Moses, and it is
+  clear to every individual of us, as the law was to the Israelites.
+  For I dare not suppose that the Almighty would by any means make
+  it a doubtful or mysterious one. It would not become God at all to
+  suppose this the case--it would be casting a deep reflection upon
+  his goodness and wisdom. Therefore I conceive that the law written
+  in the heart, if we attend to it and do not turn from it to build up
+  traditions, or depend on anything that arises from self, or that is
+  in our own power, but come to be regulated by this law, we shall see
+  that it is the easiest thing to be understood that can be, and that
+  all our benefits depend on our complying with this law.
+
+  "Here now we see what tradition is. It is a departure from this law;
+  and it has the same effect now that tradition had upon the followers
+  of the outward law; as a belief in tradition was produced they were
+  bound by it, and trusted in it. And so people, nowadays, seem to be
+  compelled to believe in tradition, and thus they turn away from the
+  gospel dispensation, or otherwise the light and life of God's Spirit
+  in the soul, which is the law of the new covenant; for the law is
+  light and the commandment a lamp to show us the way to life."[138]
+
+[138] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 51.
+
+Using the term, "washed clean in the blood of the lamb," he proceeded
+to explain himself as follows:
+
+  "And what is the blood of the lamb? It was his life, my friends; for
+  as outward, material blood was made use of to express the animal
+  life, inspired men used it as a simile. Outward blood is the life of
+  the animal, but it has nothing to do with the soul; for the soul has
+  no animal blood, no material blood. The life of God in the soul is
+  the blood of the soul, and the life of God is the blood of God; and
+  so it was the life and blood of Jesus Christ his son. For he was born
+  of the spirit of his heavenly Father, _and swallowed up fully and
+  completely in his divine nature, so that he was completely divine_.
+  It was this that operated, in that twofold state, and governed the
+  whole animal man which was the son of Abraham and David--a tabernacle
+  for his blessed soul. Here now we see that flesh and blood are not
+  capable of being in reality divine; for are they not altogether
+  under the direction and guidance of the soul? Thus the animal body
+  of Jesus did nothing but what the divine power in the soul told it
+  to do. Here he was swallowed up in the divinity of his Father while
+  here on earth, and it was this that was the active thing, the active
+  principle, that governed the animate earth. For it corresponds, and
+  cannot do otherwise, with Almighty goodness, that the soul should
+  have power to command the animal body to do good or evil; because
+  he has placed us in this probationary state, and in his wisdom has
+  set evil and good before us--light and darkness. He has made us free
+  agents, and given us opportunity to make our own election.
+
+  "Here now we shall see what is meant by election, the election of
+  God. We see that those who choose the Lord for their portion and
+  the God of Jacob for the lot of their inheritance, these are the
+  elect. And nothing ever did or can elect a soul to God, but in this
+  choice."[139]
+
+[139] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 62.
+
+It is not easy to see how any one can impartially consider the
+foregoing, especially the words printed in _italics_, and continue to
+claim that Elias Hicks denied the divinity of Christ. Near the end of
+this sermon we find the following paragraph:
+
+  "I say, dearly beloved, my soul craves it for us, that we may sink
+  down and examine ourselves; according to the declaration of the
+  apostle: 'Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your
+  own selves; know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in
+  you except ye be reprobates?' Now we cannot suppose that the apostle
+  meant that outward man that walked about the streets of Jerusalem;
+  because he is not in any of us. But what is this Jesus Christ? He
+  came to be a Saviour to that nation, and was limited to that nation.
+  He came to gather up, and look up the lost sheep of the house of
+  Israel. But as he was a Saviour in the outward sense, so he was an
+  outward shadow of good things to come; and so the work of the man,
+  Jesus Christ, was a figure. He healed the sick of their outward
+  calamities--he cleansed the leprosy--all of which was external and
+  affected only their bodies--as sickness does not affect the souls of
+  the children of men, though they may labour under all these things.
+  But as he was considered a Saviour, he meant by what he said, a
+  Saviour is within you, the anointing of the spirit of God is within
+  you; for this made the ways of Jesus so wonderful in his day that
+  the Psalmist in his prophecy concerning him exclaims: 'Thou hast
+  loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God
+  hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' He
+  had loved righteousness, you perceive, and therefore was prepared
+  to receive the fullness of the spirit, the fullness of that divine
+  anointing; for there was no germ of evil in him or about him; both
+  his soul and body were pure. He was anointed above all his fellows,
+  to be the head of the church, the top stone, the chief corner stone,
+  elect and precious. And what was it that was a Saviour? Not that
+  which was outward; it was not flesh and blood; for 'flesh and blood
+  cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven'; it must go to the earth from
+  whence it was taken. It was that life, that same life that I have
+  already mentioned, that was in him, and which is the light and life
+  of men, and which lighteth every man, and consequently every woman,
+  that cometh into the world. And we have this light and life in us;
+  which is what the apostle meant by Jesus Christ; and if we have not
+  this ruling in us we are dead, because we are not under the law
+  of the spirit of life. For the 'law is light and the reproofs of
+  instruction the way to life.'"[140]
+
+[140] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 68.
+
+Unless the so-called heterodox doctrine can be found in the foregoing
+extracts, it does not exist in the sermon under discussion.
+
+Two other sermons were evidently both considered offensive and
+objectionable by the orthodox. One was preached at the Twelfth Street
+meeting, Twelfth month 10, 1826, and the other the 12th of the same
+month at Key's Alley, both in Philadelphia. At the Twelfth Street
+meeting, amid much confusion, Thomas Wistar attempted to controvert
+what Elias Hicks had said in certain particulars. While this Friend was
+talking, Elias tried to persuade the audience to be quiet.
+
+At Key's Alley, when Elias had finished, Philadelphia Pemberton, in
+the midst of a disturbance that nearly drowned his voice, gave an
+exhortation in support of the outward and vicarious atonement. When
+Friend Pemberton ceased, Elias Hicks expressed his ideas regarding
+gospel order and variety in the ministry, for which Friends had always
+stood, in which he said:
+
+  "My dear friends, God is a God of order--and it will do me great
+  pleasure to see this meeting sit quiet till it closes. We have, and
+  claim gospel privileges, and that every one may be persuaded in his
+  own mind; and as we have gifts differing, so ought every one to have
+  an opportunity to speak, one by one, but not two at once, that all
+  may be comforted. If any thing be revealed (and we are not to speak
+  except this is the case), if any thing be revealed to one, let others
+  hold their peace--this is according to order. And I desire it, once
+  for all, my dear friends, if you love me, that you will keep strictly
+  to this order: it will be a great comfort to my spirit."[141]
+
+[141] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 125.
+
+Speaking of the fear of God, he said that he did not mean "a fear that
+arises from the dread of torment, or of chastisement, or anything of
+this kind; for that may be no more than the fear of devils, for they,
+we read, believe and tremble." His theory was that fear must be based
+on knowledge, and the fear to displease God is not because of what he
+may do to us, but what, for want of this knowledge, we lose.
+
+Again, he practically repeated what was evidently considered a truism:
+"My friends, we are not to look for a law in our neighbor's heart, nor
+in our neighbor's book; but we are to look for that law which is to be
+our rule and guide, in our consciences, in our souls; for the law is
+whole and perfect." Continuing he remarked:
+
+  "Now, how concordant this is with the testimony of Jesus, when he
+  queried with his disciples in this wise: 'Whom do men say that I the
+  son of man am?' They enumerated several characters, according to the
+  views of the people in that day. But until we come to this inward,
+  divine law, we shall know nothing rightly of that manifestation;
+  for none of us have seen him, nor any of his works which he acted
+  outwardly. But here we find some are guessing, one way, and some
+  another way, till they become cruel respecting different opinions
+  about him, insomuch that they will kill and destroy each other for
+  their opinions. This is the effect of men's turning away from the
+  true light, the witness for God in their own souls; it throws them
+  into anarchy and confusion."[142]
+
+[142] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 94.
+
+In the opinion of Elias Hicks, it was not the man Peter that was to
+constitute the rock upon which the church was to be built, but rather
+the inner revelation, which enabled the disciple to know that the
+Master was the Christ. "When a true Christian comes to this rock, he
+comes to know it, as before pointed out; and here every one must see,
+when they build on this divine rock, this revealed will of our Heavenly
+Father, there is no fear."
+
+Touching the vital matters of salvation, we make the following extracts
+from this sermon:
+
+  "Nothing but that which is begotten in every soul can manifest God
+  to the soul. You must know this for yourselves, as nothing which
+  you read in the Scriptures can give you a sense of his saving and
+  almighty power. Now, the only begotten is what the power of God
+  begets in the soul, by the soul uniting with the visitations of
+  divine love. It becomes like a union--the soul submits and yields
+  itself up to God and the revelation of his power, and thus it becomes
+  wedded to him as its heavenly husband. Here, now, is a birth of the
+  Son of God; and this must be begotten in every soul, as God can be
+  manifested by nothing else.
+
+  "Now, what was this Holy Ghost and spirit of truth, and where are we
+  to find it? He did not leave his disciples in the dark--'He dwelleth
+  with you, and shall be in you.' Mind it, my friends. What a blessed
+  sovereign God this is to be to the children of men--a God who has
+  placed a portion of himself in every rational soul--a measure of his
+  grace sufficient for every purpose, for the redemption of the souls
+  of men from sin and transgression, and to lead them to the kingdom
+  of heaven. And there is no other way. Then do not put it off any
+  longer; do not procrastinate any longer; do not say to-morrow, but
+  immediately turn inward, for the day calls aloud for it--everything
+  around us calls for us to turn inward, to that which will help us to
+  do the great work of our salvation."[143]
+
+[143] "The Quaker," Vol. I, p. 97-98.
+
+There seems to have been little, if any, public demonstration against
+the preaching of Elias Hicks in meetings where he was present, except
+in Philadelphia. That is especially true before the coming of the
+English preachers, and the strained conditions that existed just
+preceding and during the various acts of separation. It will thus be
+seen that the concern and purpose of the ten men elders of Philadelphia
+remained persistent until the end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The Braithwaite Controversy.
+
+
+One of the marked incidents during the "separation" period was the
+controversy between Elias Hicks and Anna Braithwaite,[144] and the
+still more pointed discussion indulged in by the friends and partisans
+of these two Friends. From our viewpoint there seems to have been a
+certain amount of unnecessary sensitiveness, which led both these
+Friends to exalt to the dignity of an insult, and positive impeachment
+of integrity, matters which probably belonged in the domain of
+misunderstanding. It was apparently impossible for either to think in
+the terms of the other, and so the contest went on and ended.
+
+[144] Anna Braithwaite, daughter of Charles and Mary Lloyd, of
+Birmingham, England, was born Twelfth month, 1788. She was married
+to Isaac Braithwaite, Third month 26, 1809, and removed to Kendal
+immediately after. She sailed for America on her first visit, Seventh
+month 7th, 1823. She attended three meetings in New York, and then the
+Quarterly Meeting at Burlington, at which place she seems to have been
+the guest of Stephen Grellet. She made two other visits to America, one
+in 1825 and the other in 1827. She returned to England after her first
+visit to America in the autumn of 1824. The last two visits she made
+to America she was accompanied by her husband. Anna Braithwaite was a
+woman of commanding presence, and was unusually cultured for one of her
+sex at that time. She was something of a linguist, speaking several
+languages. Her visits in America were quite extensive, taking her as
+far south as North Carolina. She died Twelfth month 18th, 1859.
+
+We shall let her friends state the beginning and progress of Anna
+Braithwaite's religious labor in America, and quote as follows: "She
+arrived in New York in Eighth month, 1823. For seven months she met
+with no opposition. True, she always preached orthodox doctrines, but
+she had made no pointed allusions to the reputed sentiments of Elias
+Hicks."[145]
+
+[145] "Calumny Refuted; or, Plain Facts _versus_ Misrepresentations."
+Being reply to Pamphlet entitled, "The Misrepresentations of Anna
+Braithwaite in Relation to the Doctrines Preached by Elias Hicks,"
+etc., p. 2.
+
+It is interesting to note that the positive preaching of "orthodox
+doctrine," on its merits, caused no opposition, even from the friends
+of Elias Hicks, the trouble only coming when a personal application was
+made, amounting to personal criticism. This is a fine testimony to the
+ministerial liberty in the Society, and really a confirmation of the
+claim that spiritual unity, and not doctrinal uniformity, was the true
+basis of fellowship among Friends. We quote again:
+
+  "She visited Long Island in the spring, and had some opportunities
+  of conversing with Elias Hicks on religious subjects, and also of
+  hearing him preach. They differed widely in sentiment, upon important
+  doctrines, and she soon had to conclude that his were at variance
+  with the hitherto well-established principles of the Society. With
+  these views, she returned to New York, and, subsequently, about the
+  time of the Yearly Meeting, in May, she considered it an act of duty
+  to warn her hearers against certain specious doctrines, which were
+  gradually spreading, and undermining what she believed to be the
+  'true faith.'"[146]
+
+[146] The same, p. 6.
+
+It seems that Anna Braithwaite was twice the guest of Elias Hicks in
+Jericho, dining at his house both times. The first visit was in First
+month, 1824, and the other in Third month of the same year. They were
+both good talkers, and apparently expressed themselves with commendable
+frankness. The subject-matter of these two conversations, however,
+became material around which a prolonged controversy was waged. Before
+Anna Braithwaite sailed for England, she wrote a letter to an unnamed
+Friend in Flushing relative to the interviews with Elias Hicks. The
+letter was dated Seventh month 16, 1824.
+
+After Anna Braithwaite's departure from this country, the letter
+referred to, with "Remarks in Reply to Assertions of Elias Hicks," was
+published and extensively circulated. It bore the following imprint:
+"Philadelphia: Printed for the Reader, 1824."[147] In this collection
+was a letter from Ann Shipley, of New York, dated Tenth month 15,
+1824, in which she declares she was present "during the conversation
+between her [Anna Braithwaite] and Elias Hicks. The statement she
+left was correct." While Ann Shipley's letter was published without
+her consent, it seemed to fortify the Braithwaite statement, and both
+were extensively used in an attempt to cast theological odium on
+the venerable preacher. The possibility that both women might have
+misunderstood or misinterpreted Elias Hicks does not seem to have
+entered the minds of the Anti-Hicks partisans.
+
+[147] Most of the controversial pamphlets and articles of the
+"separation" period were anonymous. Except when the articles were
+printed in regular periodicals, their publishers were as unknown as
+their authors.
+
+This particular epistle of Anna Braithwaite does not contain much
+material not to be found in a subsequent letter with "notes," which
+will receive later treatment. In her letter she habitually speaks of
+herself in the third person, and makes this observation: "When at
+Jericho in the Third month A. B. took tea with E. H. in a social way.
+She had not been long in the house, when he began to speak on the
+subject of the trinity, which A. B. considers a word so grossly abused
+as to render it undesirable even to make use of it."[148] One cannot
+well suppress the remark that if a like tenacity of purpose regarding
+other theological terms had been held and followed by all parties to
+the controversy, the history of the Society of Friends would have been
+entirely different from the way it now has to be written.
+
+[148] "Remarks in Reply to Assertions of Elias Hicks," p. 7.
+
+Touching the two visits to Elias Hicks, we have direct testimony from
+the visitor. We quote:
+
+  "I thought on first entering the house, my heart and flesh would
+  fail, but after a time of inexpressible conflict, I felt a consoling
+  belief that best help would be near, and I think that every opposing
+  thing was in a great measure kept down.... He listened to my views,
+  which I was enabled to give with calmness. He was many times brought
+  into close quarters; but when he could not answer me directly, he
+  turned to something else. My mind is sorrowfully affected on this
+  subject, and the widespread mischief arising from the propagation of
+  such sentiments."[149]
+
+[149] "Memoirs of Anna Braithwaite," by her son, J. Bevan Braithwaite,
+p. 129-130.
+
+In another letter, written to her family, she thus referred to her
+interview with Elias Hicks:
+
+  "I have reason to think that, notwithstanding the firm and honest
+  manner in which my sentiments were expressed, an open door is left
+  for further communication. We met in love and we parted in love. He
+  wept like a child for some time before we separated; so that it was
+  altogether a most affecting opportunity."[150]
+
+[150] The same, p. 140.
+
+While these two Friends undoubtedly were present in the same meeting
+during the subsequent visits of Anna Braithwaite to this country, their
+relations became so strained that they never met on common Friendly
+ground after the two occasions mentioned.
+
+After the publication of the communication and comments referred to,
+Elias Hicks wrote a long letter to his friend, Dr. Edwin A. Atlee, of
+Philadelphia.[151] This letter became the subject of a good deal of
+controversy, and may have been the exciting cause of a letter which
+Anna Braithwaite wrote Elias Hicks on the 13th of Eleventh month,
+1824, from Lodge Lane, near Liverpool. This letter, with elaborate
+"notes," was published and widely circulated on this side of the
+ocean. The letter itself would have caused very little excitement, but
+the "notes" were vigorous causes of irritation and antagonism. The
+authorship of the "notes" was a matter of dispute. It was claimed that
+they were not written by Anna Braithwaite, and the internal evidence
+gave color to that conclusion. They were not, in whole or in part,
+entirely in her spirit, and the temper of them was rather masculine.
+There were persons who believed, but, of course, without positive
+evidence, that Joseph John Gurney was their author.
+
+[151] The text of this letter will be found listed as Appendix B in
+this book.
+
+The letter of Anna Braithwaite contains few points not covered by the
+"notes." She charges that Elias had denied that the Scriptures were a
+rule of faith and practice, and it was also claimed that he repudiated
+"the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
+This, she affirmed, was infidelity of a most pronounced type.
+
+The "notes" attached to this letter constitute a stinging arraignment
+of the supposed sentiments of Elias Hicks. They were considered by his
+friends such an unwarranted attack as to call for vigorous treatment,
+and in numerous ways they became points of controversy. They were mild
+at first, but personal and almost bitter at the last. The first "note"
+in the collection briefly, but fully, lays the foundation for arbitrary
+authority in religion. It says:
+
+  "It is a regulation indispensably necessary to the peace of society,
+  and to the preservation of order, consistency and harmony among
+  Christians, that the members of every religious body, and especially
+  those who assume the office of teachers or ministers, should be
+  responsible to the authorities established in the church, for the
+  doctrines which they hold and promulgate."[152]
+
+[152] A letter from Anna Braithwaite to Elias Hicks, on the Nature of
+His Doctrines, etc., p. 9.
+
+There is critical reference to a statement which Anna Braithwaite said
+Elias Hicks made in the Meeting of Ministers and Elders in Jericho,
+touching spiritual guidance in appointing people to service in the
+Society. She says that Elias declared that "if each Friend attended to
+his or her proper gift, as this spirit is endued with prescience, that
+no Friend would be named for any appointment, but such as would attend,
+and during my long course of experience, I have never appointed any one
+who was prevented from attending either by illness or otherwise."[153]
+
+[153] The same, p. 4.
+
+In his letter to Dr. Atlee, Elias states his expression at the meeting
+as differing from Anna Braithwaite's in a material way. This is what
+he declares he said: "That I thought there was something wrong in
+the present instance, for, as we profess to believe in the guidance
+of the Spirit of Truth as an unerring Spirit, was it not reasonable
+to expect, especially in a meeting of ministers and elders, that
+if each Friend attended to their proper gifts, as this Spirit is
+endued with prescience, that it would be much more likely, under its
+divine influence, we should be led to appoint such as would attend on
+particular and necessary occasions, than to appoint those who would not
+attend?"
+
+We make these quotations not only to show the difference in the two
+statements, but to also make it plain what small faggots were used to
+build the fires of controversy regarding the opinions of Elias Hicks.
+It looks in this particular citation like a case of criticism gone mad.
+The following extracts are from the "notes":
+
+  "We shall now notice the comparatively modern work of that
+  arch-infidel, Thomas Paine, called "The Age of Reason," many of the
+  sentiments of which are so exactly similar to those of Elias Hicks,
+  as almost to induce us to suspect plagiarism."[154]
+
+[154] The same, p. 23-24.
+
+  "We could adduce large quotations from authors of the same school
+  with Paine, showing in the most conclusive manner that the dogmas
+  of Elias Hicks, so far from being further revelations of Christian
+  doctrines, are merely the stale objections to the religion of the
+  Bible, which have been so frequently routed and driven from the
+  field, to the utter shame and confusion of their promulgators."[155]
+
+[155] The same, p. 26.
+
+Those who defended Elias Hicks saw in these criticisms an act of
+persecution, and a veiled attempt to undermine his reputation as a
+man and a minister. The latter effort was read into the following
+paragraph, which was presented as an effort at justifying the criticism
+of the Jericho preacher. We quote:
+
+  "It was both Friendly and Christian to warn them of the danger of
+  listening with credulity to one whose high profession, reputed
+  morality, and popular eloquence, had given him considerable
+  influence; and if his opinions had been correct, the promulgation of
+  them would not have proved prejudicial to him."[156]
+
+[156] The same, p. 21-22.
+
+The references to Thomas Paine will sound singularly overdrawn if
+read in connection with the reference of Elias Hicks to the same
+person.[157] It may be asserted with some degree of safety that it is
+doubtful if either Elias Hicks or his critics ever read enough of the
+writings of Thomas Paine to be really qualified to judicially criticise
+them.
+
+[157] See page 117 of this book.
+
+When Anna Braithwaite visited this country the second time, in 1825,
+she found matters much more unsettled than on her first visit. Her
+own part in the controversy had been fully, if not fairly, discussed.
+As showing her own feeling touching the second visit, we quote the
+following from a sermon preached by her:
+
+  "I have thought many times, while surrounded by my family and my
+  friends, and when I have bowed before the throne of grace, how very
+  near and how very dear were my fellow-believers, on this side of
+  the Atlantic, made unto my soul. It seemed to me, as if in a very
+  remarkable manner, their everlasting welfare was brought before me,
+  as if my fellow-professors of the same religious principles with
+  myself were in a very peculiar manner the objects of much solicitude.
+  How have I had to pour out my soul in secret unto the Lord, that he
+  would turn them more and more, and so let their light shine before
+  men, that all being believers in a crucified Saviour, they may be
+  brought to know for themselves that though 'Christ Crucified was to
+  the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto
+  them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God
+  and the wisdom of God.' I say my soul hath been poured out before
+  the Lord, that their light might shine in a still more conspicuous
+  manner, through their hearts being brought into deep prostration of
+  soul, that so their works might glorify their Father which is in
+  heaven. My heart was enlarged toward every religious denomination;
+  for surely, the world over, those who are believers in Christ have
+  one common bond of union--they are the salt of the earth--the little
+  flock to whom the Father in his good pleasure will give the Kingdom.
+  I have often greatly desired to be with you, while I am well aware
+  that to many it must appear a strange thing, that a female should
+  leave her home, her family, and her friends, and should thus expose
+  herself to the public, to preach the glad tidings of salvation
+  through Jesus Christ; yet I have thought, my beloved friends, that
+  though all may not see into these things, yet surely there is no
+  other way for any of us, but to yield up our thoughts unto the
+  Lord."[158]
+
+[158] Sermon and prayer by Anna Braithwaite, delivered in Friends'
+Meeting, Arch Street, Philadelphia, October 26, 1825. Taken in
+short-hand by M. T. C. Gould, stenographer, p. 4-5.
+
+There seem to have been some Friends desirous of producing a meeting
+between Anna Braithwaite and Elias Hicks during this visit. In Tenth
+month, 1825, she wrote him from Kipp's Bay, Long Island. She informed
+him of her arrival, and then stated "that if he wishes to have any
+communication with her, she is willing to meet him in the presence of
+their mutual friends, or to answer any letter he may write to her;"
+then she adds these remarkable words: "Having written to thee sometime
+ago, what I thought was right, I do not ask an interview."[159]
+
+[159] "Christian Inquirer," new series, Vol. I, 1826, p. 57.
+
+To this communication Elias Hicks made a somewhat full reply. He says
+that her notes of the conversation, "divers of which were without
+foundation," led him to wonder why she should even think of having any
+future communication with him. He then says:
+
+  "That I have no desire for any further communication with thee,
+  either directly or indirectly, until thou makest a suitable
+  acknowledgment for thy breach of friendship, as is required by the
+  salutary discipline of our Society; but as it respects myself, I
+  freely forgive thee, and leave thee to pursue thy own way as long as
+  thou canst find true peace and quiet therein."[160]
+
+[160] The same, p. 57.
+
+It has to be said regretfully that during Anna Braithwaite's second
+visit to this country, she met with both personal and Society rebuffs.
+In some meetings her minute was read, but with no expression of
+approbation in the case. The Meeting of Ministers and Elders at Jericho
+appointed a committee,[161] to advise her not to appoint any more
+meetings in that neighborhood during her stay. A good many Friends
+objected to her family visits, and, taken altogether, her stay must
+have been one of trial.
+
+[161] The same, p. 59.
+
+She came again in the early part of the year 1827, and was here when
+the climax came in that year and the year following.
+
+The English Friends, who were so much in evidence in our troubles, went
+home to face the Beacon controversy,[162] then gathering in England.
+The Beaconite movement caused several hundred Friends to sever their
+connection with the Society. But it did not reach the dignity of a
+division or a separation. Whether the English Friends profited by the
+experiences suffered by the Society in America is not certain. At any
+rate, they seem to have been able to endure their differences without a
+rupture.
+
+[162] This controversy took its name from a periodical called the
+"Beacon," edited by Isaac Crewdson. In this evangelical doctrines
+and methods were advocated. The Beaconites were strong in advocating
+the doctrine of justification by faith, and practically rejected
+the fundamental Quaker theory of the Inner Light. From the American
+standpoint, the Beaconite position seems to have been the logical
+development of the doctrines preached by the English and American
+opponents of Elias Hicks.
+
+After the English trouble had practically subsided, in 1841, Anna
+Braithwaite made the following suggestive admission, which may well
+close this chapter:
+
+  "Calm reflection and observation of passing events, and of persons,
+  have convinced me that I took an exaggerated view of the state of
+  society with reference to Hicksism.... We have as great a horror of
+  Hicksism as ever, but we think Friends generally are becoming more
+  alive to its dangers, and that the trials of the last few years have
+  been blessed to the instruction of many."[163]
+
+[163] "J. Bevan Braithwaite; a Friend of the Nineteenth Century," by
+his children, p. 59-60.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Ann Jones in Dutchess County.
+
+
+In Fifth month, 1828, a year after the division had been accomplished
+in Philadelphia, a most remarkable round of experiences took place
+within the bounds of Nine Partners and Stanford Quarterly Meetings, in
+Dutchess County, New York. Elias Hicks was past eighty years of age,
+but he attended the series of meetings in the neighborhood mentioned.
+George and Ann Jones, English Friends, much in evidence in "separation"
+matters, were also in attendance, the result being a series of
+controversial exhortations, mingled with personal allusions, sometimes
+gently veiled, but containing what would now pass for bitterness and
+railing. The "sermons" of this series were stenographically reported,
+and form a small book of ninety-eight pages.
+
+The first meeting was held at Nine Partners, First-day, Fifth month
+4th. Elias Hicks had the first service in the meeting. After he had
+closed, Ann Jones made the following remarks:
+
+  "We have heard considerable said, and we have heard, under a
+  specious pretence of preaching, the Gospel, the Saviour of the world
+  denied, who is God and equal with the Father. And we have heard
+  that the Scriptures had done more hurt than good. We have also
+  heard the existence of a devil denied, except what arises from our
+  propensities, desires, &c."[164]
+
+[164] "Sermons" by Elias Hicks, Ann Jones and others of the Society of
+Friends, at the Quarterly Meeting of Nine Partners and Stanford, and
+first day preceding in Fifth month, 1828. Taken in short-hand by Henry
+Hoag, p. 20.
+
+After this deliverance, Elias Hicks again arose and said:
+
+  "I will just observe that my friends are acquainted with me in these
+  parts, and know me very well when I speak to them. I came not here as
+  a judge, but as a counsellor: I leave it for the people to judge. And
+  I would hope to turn them to nothing but a firm and solid conviction
+  in their minds. We may speak one by one, for that becometh order.
+  I thought I would add a word or two more. When I was young, I read
+  the Scriptures, and I thought that they were not the power, nor the
+  spirit, and that there was but very little in them for me; but I was
+  vain. But when I had once seen the sin in my heart, then I found that
+  this book pointed to the Spirit, but never convicted me of sin.
+
+  "I believe that this was the doctrine of ancient Friends; for George
+  Fox declared that his Saviour never could be slain by the hands of
+  wicked men. I believe the Scriptures concerning Jesus Christ, and
+  David, too, and a host of others, who learned righteousness and were
+  united one with another. I believe that Jesus Christ took upon him
+  flesh made under the law, for all people are made under the law, and
+  Christ is this Light which enlighteneth every man that comes into the
+  world. And now, my friends, I would not have you believe one word of
+  what I say, unless by solid conviction."[165]
+
+[165] The same.
+
+It will be in order to find out what was said by Elias Hicks which
+called for the personal allusion made by Ann Jones. We are not able
+to find in the remarks of Elias Hicks on this occasion anything that
+would justify the strong language of his critic, especially as to the
+Scriptures having done more hurt than good. It would seem that the
+supplementary statement quoted must be accepted as containing his
+estimate of the book which he was charged with repudiating, rather than
+the critical assertion of his doctrinal opponent.
+
+There are various statements in the Hicks sermon which denied some of
+the material claims of popular theology, but they did not class him
+with those who denied the existence or spiritual office of Christ. In
+the meetings under review, and at other times, the evidence is abundant
+that his critics either did not want to or could not understand him. He
+dealt with the spirit of the gospel, and with the inner manifestation
+of that spirit in the heart. They stood for scriptural literalness,
+and for the outward appearance of Christ. It is not for us to condemn
+either side in the controversy, but to state the case.
+
+We produce a few sentences and expressions from the sermon by Elias
+Hicks, which might have created antagonism at the time. Speaking of the
+"Comforter" which was to come, he said:
+
+  "And what was this Comforter? Not an external one--not Jesus Christ
+  outward, to whom there was brought diseased persons and he delivered
+  them from their various diseases.... Here, now, he told them how to
+  do: he previously made mention that when the Comforter had come,
+  he would reprove the world of sin--now the world is every rational
+  soul under heaven. And he has come and reproved them. I dare appeal
+  to the wickedest man present, that will acknowledge the truth, that
+  this Light has come into the world; but men love darkness better than
+  light, because their deeds are evil; yet they know the light by an
+  evidence in their hearts."[166]
+
+[166] The same, p. 9.
+
+Near the end of this discourse he elaborated his idea as to the
+ineffectual character of all outward and formal soul cleansing, in the
+following language:
+
+  "Now can any man of common sense suppose that it can be outward blood
+  that was shed by the carnal Jews that will cleanse us from our sins?
+  The blood of Christ that is immortal, never can be seen by mortal
+  eyes. And to be Christians, we must come to see an immortal view.
+  After Christ had recapitulated the precepts of the law, 'Is it not
+  written in your law, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
+  but I say unto you, if a man smite thee on one cheek turn to him the
+  other also: and if a man take thy coat from thee, give him thy cloak
+  also.' Don't we see how different the precepts of the law of God are?
+  He tells us how we should do--we should take no advantage at all. The
+  Almighty visits us, to get us willing to observe his law; and if all
+  were concerned to maintain his law, all lawyers would be banished;
+  we should have no need of them; as well as of hireling Priests. We
+  should have no need of them to teach us, nor no need of the laws of
+  men, for each one would have a law in his own mind."[167]
+
+[167] The same, p. 17.
+
+The other points in Dutchess County visited, and involved in the
+reports of sermons under consideration, were Chestnut Ridge, Stanford
+and Oblong. At some of these meetings the preachers spoke more than
+once. It does not appear that in the brief communications of George
+Jones he either directly or indirectly referred to statements made by
+Elias Hicks, or particularly sought to antagonize them. Ann Jones,
+however, was not similarly considerate and cautious. Either directly
+or by inference, she quite generally attempted to furnish the antidote
+for what she considered the pernicious doctrine of her fellow-minister.
+Speaking at Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting, Fifth month 7th, she said:
+
+  "I believe it to be right for me to caution the present company
+  without respect of persons--how they deny the Lord that bought
+  them--how they set at nought the outward coming of the Lord Jesus
+  Christ who died for them: they will have to answer it at the awful
+  tribunal bar of God, where it will be altogether unavailing to say
+  that such a one taught me to believe that there was nothing in this.
+  Oh! my friends! God hath not left us without a witness; Oh, then it
+  is unto the faithful and true witness, 'the testimony of Jesus, which
+  is the spirit of prophecy.' I am engaged in gospel love to recommend,
+  and to hold out unto you, that you meddle not with the things of God;
+  and that you cry unto him for help. For what hope can they have of
+  present or future good, or of everlasting happiness, if they reject
+  the only means appointed of God to come unto the Father through Jesus
+  Christ, the messenger of God, and of the new covenant?"[168]
+
+[168] The same, p. 60.
+
+At this meeting Elias Hicks followed Ann Jones in vocal communication.
+He made no direct reference to what she said, the short sermon being
+largely a reiteration touching the inner revelation to the souls of
+men, as the reprover of sin, and the power which kept from sinning,
+as against the outward, sacrificial form of salvation. In closing his
+remarks, Elias Hicks made this statement:
+
+  "I do not wish to detain this assembly much longer, but I want
+  that we should cast away things that are mysterious, for we cannot
+  comprehend mystery. 'Secret things belong to God, but those that are
+  revealed (that are understood), to us and our children.' And those
+  that are secret can never be found out by the prying of mortals. Do
+  we suppose for a moment--for it would cast an indignity upon God to
+  suppose that he had laid down any name except his own by which we can
+  have communion with him. It is a plain way, a simple way which all
+  can understand, and not be under the necessity to go to a neighbor,
+  and to say, 'Know thou the Lord? for all shall know me, from the
+  least of them unto the greatest of them,' as said Jeremy the prophet.
+  It is bowing down to an ignorant state of mind, to suppose that there
+  is no other power whereby we can come unto God, but by one of the
+  offspring of Abraham, and that we have need to go back to the law
+  which was given to the Israelites, and to no other people. He has
+  never made any covenant with any other people, but that which he made
+  with our first parents. That is the covenant that has been made with
+  all the nations of the earth.
+
+  "He justifies for good and condemns for evil. And although every
+  action is to be from the operation of his power, yet he has given us
+  the privilege to obey or disobey; here now is a self-evident truth;
+  as they have the liberty to choose, so if they do that which is
+  contrary to his will, and so slay the Divine life in the soul: and
+  thus they have slain the innocent Lamb of God in the soul, which is
+  the same thing. All that we want, is to return to the inward light
+  in the soul. The Lord had declared beforehand unto them in plain
+  characters, that none need to say, 'Know ye the Lord? for I will be
+  merciful to them, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
+  their sin no more.' This was equally the case until the law was
+  abolished: until he blotted out the handwriting of the law, and put
+  an end to outward ordinances. The law was fulfilled when they had
+  crucified him, then it was that that law was abolished that consisted
+  in making their atonements which all had to make.
+
+  "The people could not understand the doctrine delivered in the sermon
+  on the mount, although plainly preached to them. Jesus, when about
+  to take leave of his disciples, left this charge with them: 'Tarry
+  at Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost come upon you'; and then, and not
+  till then, were they to bear witness unto him. He told them that it
+  would bring everything to their remembrance: everything which is by
+  the preaching of the gospel brought to your remembrance; therefore he
+  says: 'All things shall be brought to your remembrance.' They would
+  not then be looking to anything outward, because he had filled them
+  with the Spirit of truth. What is this, but this Comforter which
+  reproves the world of sin? All that will obey the voice of this
+  reprover in the soul are in the way of redemption and salvation.
+  'By disobedience, sin entered into the world and death by sin:
+  but life and immortality is brought to light by the gospel.' I am
+  willing to leave you, and I recommend you to God, and the power of
+  his grace, which is able to build you up, as you are faithful to its
+  operation."[169]
+
+[169] The same, p. 71.
+
+The last meeting of the series was held in connection with Nine
+Partners Quarterly Meeting, Fifth month 9th. This was evidently the
+closing session of the Quarterly Meeting. From these published sermons
+it would seem that Elias Hicks and George Jones were the only Friends
+who engaged in vocal ministry that day. There was nothing specially
+relevant to the controversy going on in the Society in either of these
+short discourses.
+
+In reading this collection of sermons one cannot avoid the conclusion
+that, apart from dissimilarity in phraseology, and the matters involved
+in interpreting Scripture, these Friends had much in common. Had they
+been minded to seek for the common ground, it is quite probable that
+they would have found that they were really quarreling over the minor,
+rather than the major, propositions.
+
+In Eighth month, 1828, Elias Hicks was on his last religious visit to
+the Western Yearly Meetings. The "separation" in the New York Yearly
+Meeting had taken place in Fifth month, the trouble then passing to
+the Quarterly and particular meetings. It reached Nine Partners at the
+Quarterly Meeting held as above. Ann Jones attended this meeting, the
+last sermon in the little volume from which the extracts given in this
+chapter are taken having been preached by this Friend. There was little
+new matter in this sermon. Much, by inuendo, was laid at the door of
+those who were pronounced unorthodox, and who constituted a majority of
+the meeting.
+
+So far as the charge of persecution is concerned, it was repeatedly
+employed by Elias Hicks and his sympathizers in describing the spirit
+and conduct of the orthodox party. In this particular, at least, the
+disputants on both sides were very much alike. Ann Jones' reference
+to throwing down "his elders and prophets" contains more touching the
+animus of the controversy than the few words really indicate. As will
+be somewhat clearly shown in these pages, the trouble in the Society
+quite largely had reference to authority in the church, and its
+arbitrary exercise by a select few, constituting a sort of spiritual
+and social hierarchy in the monthly meetings. It was this authoritative
+class which had been "thrown down," or was likely to be so repudiated.
+
+We would by no means claim that with the "separation" an accomplished
+fact, the body of Friends not of the orthodox party thus gathered by
+themselves became at once and continuously relieved of the arbitrary
+spirit. The history of this branch of the Society from 1827 to 1875,
+and in places down to date, would entirely disprove any such claim.
+It would seem that wherever the Society lost ground numerically, and
+wherever its spiritual life dwindled, it was due largely because some
+sort of arbitrary authority ignored the necessity for real spiritual
+unity, and discounted the spiritual democracy upon which the Society of
+Friends was based.
+
+The "separation" in the Quarterly Meetings in Dutchess County was
+perfected in Eighth month, 1828. Both Anna Braithwaite and Ann Jones
+were in attendance, and evidently took part in the developments at
+that time. Elias Hicks was on his last religious visit to the "far
+west." Informing partnership letters were sent to Elias, then in Mt.
+Pleasant, Ohio, by Jacob and Deborah Willetts,[170] under date of
+Eighth month 18, 1828. Jacob gave brief but explicit information as
+to the division in the several meetings. For instance, he says that
+in Oswego Monthly Meeting one-sixth of the members went orthodox. At
+Creek, about one-fourth left to form an orthodox meeting, about the
+same proportion existing at Stanford. Nine Partners seems to have
+been the center of the difficulty, the orthodox leadership apparently
+having been more vigorous at that point. Still, about three-fourths of
+the members refused to join the orthodox. A very brief appreciation
+of the transatlantic visitors is given in Jacob's letter. He says:
+"The English Friends are very industrious, but I do not find that it
+amounts to much. Friends have generally become acquainted with their
+manoeuvring."
+
+[170] Jacob and Deborah Willetts were friendly educators in the first
+half of the nineteenth century. Jacob became principal of Nine Partners
+boarding school in 1803, when only 18 years of age, and Deborah Rogers
+principal of the girl's department in 1806, when at the same age.
+Jacob Willetts and Deborah Rogers were married in 1812. At the time of
+the "separation," Nine Partners' school passed into the hands of the
+Orthodox, and Jacob and Deborah resigned their positions, and started
+a separate school, which they conducted successfully for nearly thirty
+years. Jacob was the author of elementary text books of arithmetic and
+geography, and Deborah was an accomplished grammarian, and assisted
+Gould Brown in the preparation of his once well-known English Grammar.
+
+Deborah's letter was both newsy and personal, and threw interesting
+sidelights on the "separation" experiences. At the close of a sermon by
+Ann Jones, Eighth month 5th, she made reference to the sudden death of
+a woman Friend of the orthodox party, which is thus referred to in this
+letter:
+
+  "Perhaps thou wilt hear ere this reaches thee of the death of Ann
+  Willis. She died at William Warings on her way home from Purchase
+  Quarterly Meeting, in an apoplectic fit. At our Quarterly Meeting Ann
+  Jones told us of the dear departed spirit of one who had lived an
+  unspotted life, who passed away without much bodily suffering, and
+  whose soul was now clothed in robes of white, singing glory, might
+  and majesty with angels forever and ever: which amounted nearly to a
+  funeral song."
+
+We make the following extract from the letter of Deborah Willetts
+because of its interesting references and statements:
+
+  "A week ago I returned from Stanford Quarterly Meeting held at
+  Hudson. All the English force was there save T. Shillitoe with a
+  large re-enforcement from New York, but they were headed by 15 men
+  and 25 women of the committee of Friends, and a great many attended
+  from the neighboring meetings, Coeymans, Rensalaerville, Saratoga,
+  &c. The city was nearly full. Anna Braithwaite and suite took
+  lodgings at the hotel. It was the most boisterous meeting I ever
+  attended. The clerks in each meeting were orthodox, but Friends were
+  favored to appoint others who opened the meeting. Anna Braithwaite
+  had much to say to clear up the charges against her in circulation
+  that their expenses had been borne by Friends, which she said was
+  false, and never had been done but in two instances, and mentioned
+  it twice or three times that her dear husband felt it a very great
+  pleasure to meet all expenses she might incur, and she would appeal
+  to those present for the truth of what she had said, and then Ann
+  Jones, Claussa Griffin, Ruth Hallock, Sarah Upton and some others
+  immediately attested to the truth of it. Oh, how inconsistent is all
+  this in a Friends' meeting. She also gave a long statement of the
+  separation at Yearly Meeting, but she was reminded of her absence at
+  the time, but she replied Ann Jones had informed her. She accused
+  Friends of holding erroneous doctrine and said Phebe I. Merritt did
+  not believe in the atonement for sin. Phebe said she denied the
+  charge, when Anna turning and looking stern in her face said, 'Did
+  thou not say, Phebe Merritt, all the reproof thou felt for sin was
+  in thy own breast?' Phebe then arose and was favored to express
+  her views in a clear way with an affecting circumstance that she
+  experienced in her childhood that brought such a solemnity over the
+  meeting that almost disarmed Anna of her hostile proceedings. She
+  stood upon her feet the while ready to reply but began in a different
+  tone of voice, and changed the subject, and very soon after, Ann
+  Jones made a move to adjourn when they could hold Stanford Quarterly
+  Meeting, which was seconded by several others and Friends in the
+  meantime as cordially and silently uniting with them in the motion.
+  They then retired without reading an adjournment, I afterwards
+  learnt, to the Presbyterian Conference room. I dined in company with
+  Willett Hicks, who said he was surprised to see so few go with them
+  after such a noble effort."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Experience with T. Shillitoe.
+
+
+The first day after his arrival in America, Thomas Shillitoe[171]
+attended Hester Street Meeting, in New York. He tells that "it
+was reported that he had come over to help the Friends of Elias
+Hicks."[172] As this Friend came into collision with Elias several
+times, and was second to none in vigor and virulence among his
+antagonists, either domestic or foreign, it seems proper to review his
+connection with the controversy, because some added light may thus be
+thrown on the spirit and purpose of the opposition to Elias Hicks.
+
+[171] Thomas Shillitoe was born in London "about the Second month,
+1754," Elias Hicks being six years his senior. His parents were not
+Friends. At one time his father kept an inn. Joined Grace Church Street
+Monthly Meeting in London about 1775. Was acknowledged a minister at
+Tottenham in 1790. He learned the grocery business, and afterward
+entered a banking house. Finally learned shoemaker's trade, and had
+a shop. Was married in 1778. Came to America in 1826, arriving in
+New York, Ninth month 8th. While here traveled extensively, visiting
+certain Indian tribes. In 1827 he had an interview with President
+Andrew Jackson. He left New York for Liverpool in Eighth month, 1829,
+having been in this country nearly three years. Thomas Shillitoe died
+in 1836.
+
+[172] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 150.
+
+Of the experience on that first meeting in America the venerable
+preacher says: "I found it hard work to rise upon my feet, but
+believing that the offer of the best of all help was made, I ventured
+and was favored to clear my mind faithfully, and in a manner I
+apprehended would give such of the followers of Elias Hicks as were
+present a pretty clear idea of the mistake they had been under of my
+being come over to help their unchristian cause."[173]
+
+[173] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 151.
+
+He had not been seen at that time to converse with a single friend of
+Elias Hicks, and there is no evidence that during the three years he
+was in America he mingled at all with any Friends who were not of the
+so-called orthodox party.
+
+During the week following his arrival in this country, Thomas Shillitoe
+visited Jericho by way of Westbury. Regarding his visit he says:
+
+  "We took our dinner with G. Seaman; after which we proceeded to
+  Jericho, and took up our abode this night with our kind friend,
+  Thomas Willis. In passing through the village of Jericho, Elias
+  Hicks was at his own door; he invited me into his own house to take
+  up my abode, which I found I could not have done, even had we not
+  previously concluded to take up our abode with T. Willis. I refused
+  his offer in as handsome a manner as I well knew how. He then pressed
+  me to make him a call; I was careful to make such a reply as would
+  not make it binding upon me, although we had to pass his door on our
+  way to the next meeting. I believe it was safest for me not to comply
+  with his request."[174]
+
+[174] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 154.
+
+G. Seaman, mentioned above, became the first clerk of the Orthodox
+Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho, organized after the
+"separation," and Thomas Willis was the Friend who should probably be
+called the father of the opposition to Elias Hicks. Had the English
+visitor determined from the start to hear nothing, and know nothing but
+one side of the controversy, he could not have more fully made that
+possible than by the intercourse he had with Friends on this continent.
+
+To show how bent he was not to be influenced or contaminated by those
+not considered orthodox, it may be noted that while in Jericho he was
+visited by Friends in that neighborhood, who urged him to call on them.
+He was at first inclined to acquiesce, but after "waiting where the
+divine counsellor is to be met with," he changed his mind, remarking,
+"I afterwards understood some of these individuals were of Elias
+Hicks's party."[175]
+
+[175] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 154.
+
+The New York Yearly Meeting of 1827 was attended by all of the
+ministering Friends and their companions from England, viz: Thomas
+Shillitoe, Elizabeth Robson, George and Ann Jones, Isaac and Anna
+Braithwaite. There seems to have been a foreshadowing of trouble in
+this yearly meeting. Elizabeth Robson asked for a minute to visit men's
+meeting, which met with some opposition, and was characterized by
+confusion in carrying out the purpose. Elias Hicks says nothing about
+the matter in his Journal, and no reference was made to this Friend in
+his personal correspondence. The English Friends left New York before
+the close of the Yearly Meeting, to attend New England Yearly Meeting.
+
+It is not our purpose to follow the wanderings of Thomas Shillitoe
+in America. He was at the New York Yearly Meeting again in 1828, at
+the time of the "separation." Touching this occasion, the minutes of
+the meeting in question furnish some information, as follows: "Thomas
+Shillitoe, who is in this country on a religious visit from England,
+objected to the company of some individuals who were present with us,
+and members of a neighboring yearly meeting, stating that they had
+been regularly disowned," etc.[176] For thus dictating to the yearly
+meeting, Thomas Shillitoe presented this justification:
+
+[176] From Minute Book of New York Yearly Meeting, session of 1828.
+
+  "I obtained a certificate from my own monthly meeting and quarterly
+  meeting, and also one from the Select Yearly Meeting of Friends held
+  in London, expressive of their concurrence with my traveling in the
+  work of the ministry on this continent, which certificates were read
+  in the last Yearly Meeting of New York, and entered in the records
+  of that Yearly Meeting; such being the case, it constitutes me as
+  much a member of this Yearly Meeting as any other member of it."[177]
+
+[177] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 311.
+
+This may have been according to good society order and etiquette eighty
+odd years ago, but would hardly pass current in our time. For a visitor
+in a meeting to object to the presence of other visitors, on the ground
+of rumor and with no regular or official evidence of the charges
+against them, would probably put the objector into disfavor. But we
+are not warranted in passing harsh judgment in the nineteenth-century
+case. The English Friends, right or wrong, came to this country under
+the impression that they were divinely sent to save the Society of
+Friends in America from going to the bad. At the worst, it was a case
+of assuming the care of too many consciences.
+
+Soon after the close of the New York Yearly Meeting of 1828, both
+Thomas Shillitoe and Elias Hicks started on a western trip. Elias seems
+to have preceded the English Friend by a few days. The two men met at
+Westland.[178] At this place Thomas says that Elias denied that Jesus
+was the son of God, until after the baptism, and opposed the proper
+observance of the Sabbath.[179] Of course, the statements of Elias were
+controverted by his fellow-preacher, or, at least, an attempt to do
+so was made. It should be understood that Elias denied that Jesus was
+the son of God in the sense in which Thomas conceived he was, and he
+undoubtedly antagonized the observance of the Sabbath in the slavish
+way which considered that man was secondary to the institution.
+
+[178] See page 47 of this book.
+
+[179] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 328.
+
+Part of the mission of our English Friend from this time seems to
+have been to oppose Elias Hicks, and turn the minds of the people
+against him. They both attended Redstone Monthly Meeting. Here Elias
+presented his minute of unity and the other evidences of good faith
+which he possessed. At this point Thomas says: "Observing a disposition
+in most of the members of the meeting to have these minutes read
+in the meeting, I proposed to the meeting to consider how far with
+propriety they could read them; after their Meeting for Sufferings
+had given forth a testimony against the doctrines of Elias Hicks. But
+a determination to read his minutes being manifested, Friends were
+obliged to submit."[180]
+
+[180] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 330.
+
+Taken altogether, this is a remarkable statement. The "testimony"
+referred to was the "declaration of faith"[181] published by the
+Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings. This document did not mention
+Elias Hicks, and failed to secure the approval of the Yearly Meeting,
+before the "separation." It is evident that "most of the members"
+were with Elias Hicks on this occasion. Only the few opposers were
+"Friends"; so the statement infers.
+
+[181] See page 139 of this book.
+
+The two preachers are next heard from at Redstone Quarterly Meeting,
+where Thomas was disposed to practice an act of self-denial. He told
+the meeting that he preferred his own minute should not be read, if
+Elias Hicks's was received. We have some evidence from Elias Hicks
+himself regarding this incident, in a letter written to Valentine
+and Abigail Hicks, from Pittsburg, Eighth month 5, 1828, stating the
+proposition of Thomas Shillitoe regarding his minute. Elias says:
+"Friends took him at his word, and let him know that they should not
+minute it, but insisted that mine should be minuted, expressing very
+general satisfaction with my company and service, and reprobated his
+in plain terms, and charged him and his companion with breach of the
+order and discipline of the Society, and insisted that the elders and
+overseers should stop at the close of the meeting and see what could be
+done to put a stop to such disorderly conduct."
+
+Thomas then says that he exposed Elias Hicks as an impostor "in
+attempting as he did to impose himself upon the public as a minister
+in unity with the Society of Friends; the Society having, by a printed
+document, declared against his doctrine, and himself as an approved
+minister."[182] Evidently this was another reference to the much-lauded
+"declaration of faith," although this did not represent an actually
+authoritative declaration of the Society. At its best, Philadelphia's
+Meeting for Sufferings was not the Society of Friends; but the people
+still wanted to hear Elias. They apparently preferred to interpret him
+at first-hand.
+
+[182] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 331.
+
+Thomas Shillitoe tells us that when they crossed the Ohio River he
+talked with the woman at the ferry, who protested against the ideas of
+Elias Hicks, and then remarks: "She kept a tavern, and I left with her
+one of the declarations, requesting her to circulate it amongst her
+neighbors."[183] Evidently the publican, in this case, was sound in the
+faith as held by the English preacher.
+
+[183] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 332.
+
+Mt. Pleasant was next visited by both Friends, preceding and at Ohio
+Yearly Meeting. They do not seem to have come personally into collision
+at this point, and insofar as either makes reference to the occurrences
+there, they are in substantial agreement.[184] Thomas Shillitoe bears
+mildly veiled testimony to the desire of the people to hear Elias
+Hicks, in the following statement: "From the great concourse of people
+we passed in the afternoon on the way to Short Creek Meeting, where
+Elias Hicks was to be, I had cherished a hope we should have had a
+quiet meeting at Mt. Pleasant."[185] But the contrary was the case; to
+whom the blame was due, the reader may decide.
+
+[184] For other reference to this matter, see page 49 of this book.
+
+[185] "Journal of Thomas Shillitoe," Vol. 2, p. 343.
+
+It is to be presumed that these two Friends, both of whom performed
+valuable service for the Society, according to their lights and gifts,
+never met after their western experience. For the want of understanding
+each other, they went their way not as fellow-servants, but as
+strangers, if not enemies. The unity of the spirit was obliterated in a
+demand for uniformity of speculative doctrine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Disownment and Doctrine.
+
+
+The "separation" was accomplished in most meetings in the East by the
+withdrawal of the orthodox party, after which they set up new meetings
+for worship and discipline. In a minority of meetings the orthodox held
+the property and the organization, and the other Friends withdrew. At
+Jericho and Westbury the great majority of the members remained, and
+continued to occupy the old meeting-houses. The orthodox who separated
+from the Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meetings organized the Monthly
+Meeting of Westbury and Jericho, as has already been mentioned.
+
+In 1829, when the new monthly meeting was formed, the membership of
+Westbury Monthly Meeting was as follows: Westbury Preparative Meeting,
+193; Matinecock Preparative Meeting, 121; Cow Neck (now Manhassett),
+65; total, 379. Of this number, accessions to the orthodox were: From
+Westbury Preparative Meeting, 32; Matinecock Preparative Meeting, 2;
+Cow Neck Preparative Meeting, 5; total, 39. In Jericho the members of
+the monthly meeting, Fifth month, 1829, numbered 225. Of this number,
+nine left to join the Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho, and
+five were undetermined in their choice. Giving the latter meeting the
+benefit of the doubt, and assigning to it the five uncertain members,
+the meeting that disowned Elias Hicks was composed of fifty-three
+members, of whom thirteen were minors and five of only mild allegiance.
+
+A simple mathematical calculation will show that the Monthly Meeting
+of Westbury and Jericho contained 10 per cent. of the Friends who had
+been members of the two original monthly meetings, which meetings still
+survived, retaining 90 per cent. of the members. These figures will
+throw suggestive light on what follows.
+
+It was the Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting which, on the 29th of
+Fourth month, 1829, adopted the "testimony against Elias Hicks," called
+his disownment. It contained specified charges, which may be condensed
+as follows: He denied the influence or existence of an evil spirit;
+doubted the fall of man, and his redemption through Christ; endeavored
+to "destroy a belief in the miraculous conception of our Lord and
+Saviour Jesus Christ"; also rejected a "belief in his holy offices, his
+propitiatory offering for the redemption of mankind; and has denied his
+resurrection and ascension into heaven"; "he also denied his mediation
+and intercession with the Father." He was charged with too much
+industry in promulgating his views, causing great numbers to embrace
+them, "and has at length become the leader of a sect distinguished by
+his name." He was also charged with meeting with, and countenancing by
+his presence and conduct, those who had "separated" from Friends. This
+had reference to many meetings of a large majority of the Society held
+at various places in 1828. The "testimony" also alleges that he had
+many times been tenderly admonished and advised, but that he and his
+friends "prevented the timely exercise of the discipline in his case."
+It all, without doubt, sounded very formidable to the little company of
+Friends who formulated and issued the document.
+
+This was a remarkable document in more ways than one. The meeting which
+issued it assumed an authority in conduct hard now to understand, and
+asserted as facts mere assumptions, and yet we are bound to believe
+that, in the main, they thought they were performing God's service.
+It must be remembered that the orthodox Friends, in 1829, everywhere
+operated on the theory that those who considered themselves "sound in
+doctrine," no matter how few in numbers, were the Society of Friends,
+in direct descent from the founders of the faith. It was their
+religious duty to excommunicate all whom they considered unsound, even
+though those disowned might constitute the overwhelming portion of the
+meeting. That this was the sincere conviction of the orthodox Friends
+all through the "separation" period, and also before and after it, is
+a demonstrable fact of history. There was also a marked disposition
+to adhere to tradition and to cling to former precedents. If there
+had ever been a time when Friends had been disowned on account of
+theological opinions, the practice should be kept up, and practically
+continued forever.
+
+That there was a considerable amount of precedent for disowning
+Friends on points of doctrine is undoubtedly true. In the famous New
+Jersey Chancery trial, Samuel Parsons gave several cases of such
+disownment.[186] They involved cases in half a dozen monthly meetings,
+and included charges as follows: Denying the miraculous conception;
+denying the divinity of Jesus Christ; denying the authenticity of the
+Scriptures; promulgating the belief that the souls of the wicked would
+be annihilated.
+
+[186] "Foster's Report," Vol. I, p. 171.
+
+The orthodox Friends might have done still better, and cited the case
+of John Bartram,[187] the father of American botany, who was disowned
+by Darby Monthly Meeting in 1758, for deistical and other unorthodox
+opinions. It has been supposed that Bartram was disowned by Friends
+for placing the following inscription over his door:
+
+[187] John Bartram, born near Darby, Pa., Third month 23, 1699. Was
+the earliest native American botanist. He died Ninth month 22, 1777.
+Bartram traveled extensively in the American colonies in pursuit of
+his botanical studies and investigations. He established the Bartram
+Botanical Gardens near the Schuykill River, which are still often
+visited.
+
+  "'Tis God alone, Almighty Lord,
+  The Holy One by me adored.
+      John Bartram, 1770."
+
+As this sentiment is dated twelve years after the disownment,[188] it
+is evident that it was not the primary cause of the action taken by
+Darby Monthly Meeting.
+
+[188] "Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall," by William
+Darlington, 1849, p. 42.
+
+During the period of repression in the Society, lasting from about
+1700 to 1850, it was not hard to find precedent for disowning members
+on almost any ground, so that the treatment of Elias Hicks, on account
+of alleged "unsound" doctrine calls for no complaint on the score of
+regularity. Disowning members for that cause in one branch of Friends
+to-day would be practically inconceivable. Its wisdom at any time was
+doubtful, and, in spite of precedents, the practice was not general.
+
+The main point in this transaction, however, is that the meeting which
+issued the "testimony" against Elias Hicks had no jurisdiction in
+the case. As a matter of fact, he was never a member of the meeting
+in question, unless it be assumed that 10 per cent. of two monthly
+meetings can flock by themselves, organize a new meeting, and take over
+the 90 per cent. without their knowledge or consent.
+
+In the main, we do not care to consider or discuss the points in the
+"testimony" under consideration. Those who have followed the pages
+of this book thus far will be able to decide whether the main causes
+as stated by those who prepared and approved the document were true
+in fact, and whether they would have constituted a sufficient reason
+for the action of the Monthly Meeting of Westbury and Jericho, had it
+possessed any authority in the case.
+
+Just what Elias Hicks thought regarding the matter of Society and
+disciplinary authority in his case, we have documentary evidence. In
+a private letter he said: "For how can they disown those who never
+attended their meetings, nor never had seen the inside of their
+new-built meeting-houses, and who never acknowledged their little
+separate societies? Would it not be as rational and consistent with
+right order for a Presbyterian or a Methodist society to treat with and
+disown us for not attending their meetings, and not acknowledging their
+creed?"[189]
+
+[189] Letter to Johnson Legg, Twelfth month 15, 1829.
+
+There is one point in the "testimony" which cannot so easily or
+reasonably be ignored. It says that Elias Hicks "has at length become
+the leader of a sect, distinguished by his name, yet unjustly assuming
+the character of Friends." From the assumed standpoint of those who
+made this statement of fact, it had no warrant. That body of Friends
+in, at least, the Yearly Meetings of New York, Philadelphia, and
+Baltimore, which at the time of the "separation" housed two-thirds of
+all the members, was as much entitled to be called Friends, and assume
+their "character," as the minority. The distinguishing epithet was not
+of their selecting or adoption, and those who applied it could scarcely
+with propriety force it upon those who did not claim it or want it. As
+for leadership, the outcome in 1827-28 was accomplished without either
+the presence or assistance of Elias Hicks in a majority of cases. If
+those who left the parent meetings and set up meetings of their own
+were the "separatists," then, in a majority of cases, the name belonged
+to the party that opposed Elias Hicks, and not to that body of Friends
+who objected to the Society being divided or perpetuated because of the
+personality or the preaching of any one man.
+
+It has to be said that the disowning at the time of the "separation"
+was not all on one side. Jericho Monthly Meeting "testified against"
+at least four of the orthodox party. But in every such case, so far
+as we are aware, no charges regarding doctrine were made against any.
+The disownments took place because the persons involved had become
+connected with other meetings, and did not attend the gatherings of
+that branch of Friends who issued disownments. Both sides undoubtedly
+did many things at the time which later would have been impossible.
+
+Elias Hicks evidently approved the general order of the Society in
+his time touching disownments. In a letter directed to "My Unknown
+Friend," but having no date, he deals with the disownment question. He
+goes on to say that it had been the practice of the Society to disown
+members for more than a century, when such members had deviated "from
+the established order of Society," and he reaches the conclusion that
+not to follow this course would lead to "confusion and anarchy." He
+then says: "These things considered, it appears to me the most rational
+and prudent, when a particular member of any society dissents in some
+particular tenet from the rest of that society, if such dissent break
+communion and render it necessary in the judgment of such society that
+a separation take place between them, that it be done in the same way,
+and agreeable to the general practice of such society in like cases."
+
+It is quite certain, however, that Elias Hicks did not think that
+disputed points of doctrine offered a sufficient ground for disownment
+in the Society of Friends. In a letter to David Evans, written at
+Jericho, Twelfth month 25, 1829, he says: "I apprehend that if the
+Friends who took part in the controversy on the side of the miraculous
+conception, and those on the opposition, will fully examine both
+sides of the question, they will find themselves more or less in
+error, as neither can produce sufficient evidence to enforce a
+rational conviction on others.... Surely, then, we who believe in the
+miraculous conception ought not to censure our brethren in profession
+for having a different opinion from ours, and especially as we have no
+knowledge of the subject in any wise, but from history and tradition.
+Surely, then, both parties are very far off the true Christian
+foundation for keeping up the controversy, inasmuch as it never has had
+the least tendency to gather on the one hand or the other, but always
+to scatter and divide, and still has the same baneful tendency."
+
+The reader will not fail to consider that at this late period Elias
+Hicks reiterates his personal belief in the miraculous conception,
+although the "testimony" of disownment against him charged that he
+was "endeavoring to destroy a belief in that doctrine." Whatever may
+have been his belief regarding the matter, it is clear that he did not
+consider acceptance or rejection of the doctrine a determining quality
+in maintaining a really Christian fellowship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+After the "Separation."
+
+
+A letter dated Solebury, Pa., Sixth month 21, 1828, told of some
+experiences on his last western trip. It was addressed to his
+son-in-law, Valentine Hicks. On the journey from Jericho to New York,
+Elias was very much annoyed, if not vexed, by the crowds of "vain and
+foolish people coming from the city and its suburbs to see horses
+trot." "How ridiculous and insignificant," he says, "is such foolish
+conduct for professed rational beings! I can scarcely conceive in
+thought an epithet degrading enough to give a just estimate of such
+irrational conduct."
+
+The "separation" had just been accomplished in the New York Yearly
+Meeting, and as this was the first visit he had made to the local
+meetings and Friendly neighborhoods since that event, it is a matter
+of interest to learn from his own hand how he was received by Friends
+in the meetings. Rose and Hester Street Meetings, in New York, were
+attended the First-day after leaving home. Elias says, in the letter
+mentioned: "They were both large, solemn meetings, showing evidently
+the comfort and benefit Friends have derived from the orthodox
+troubles, (they) having separated themselves from us." This may have
+been the superficial view of many who were prominent in sustaining
+Elias Hicks. They failed to see, as did their opponents, that the
+"separation" no matter which side went off, was a violation of the real
+spirit of Quakerism. It was an unfortunate acknowledgment that "unity
+of the spirit" was a failure, if it required absolute uniformity of
+doctrine for its maintenance.
+
+Passing over to New Jersey, he reports universal kindly treatment. In
+this particular he remarks:
+
+  "Indeed we have found nothing in the least degree to discourage or
+  impede our progress, unless it be an excess of kindness from our
+  friends, who can hardly give us up to pass on, without favoring
+  them with a visit in their own houses. And not only Friends, but
+  many who are not members manifest much friendly regard and respect.
+  On Fourth-day we attended Friends' Monthly Meeting for Rahway and
+  Plainfield held at Plainfield, Friends having given their neighbors
+  notice of our intention to be there, it was largely attended by those
+  of other professions, and some of the orthodox Friends', contrary
+  to the expectation of Friends also attended. It was truly a very
+  solemn and instructive good meeting, in which truth reigned. I was
+  truly comforted in the meeting for discipline in viewing Friends'
+  order, and the unity and harmony that prevailed, and the brotherly
+  condescension that was manifested in transacting their business."
+
+Elias Hicks evidently possessed what might be called a grain of humor.
+In Eleventh month, 1828, when practically all of the "separations" had
+been accomplished, he wrote to his wife from Redstone, Pa. He had not
+been getting letters from home as he desired, and especially was that
+true regarding the much-valued missives from Jemima. He, therefore,
+says, toward the end of this particular epistle: "If I do not
+receive some direct account from home at one or both of these places
+(Alexandria or Baltimore), I shall be ready to conclude that my friends
+have forgotten me or turned orthodox."
+
+Evidently there had been a readjustment of society conditions in this
+neighborhood. He says: "Divers friends, whose names I have forgotten,
+and some who have never seen thee, but love thee on my account, desired
+to be affectionately remembered to thee. Indeed, love and harmony so
+abound among Friends in these parts, and the more they are persecuted,
+the more love abounds, insomuch that I have observed to them in some
+places, that if they continued faithful to the openings of truth on the
+mind, that they would so exalt the standard of love and light, that the
+old adage would be renewed, 'See how the Quakers love one another.'"
+
+Returning from the long western trip, considered in Chapter VI, Elias
+was met in New York by his wife and daughter Elizabeth, where Westbury
+Quarterly Meeting was attended. Many near and dear Friends greeted the
+aged minister, inwardly, if not outwardly, congratulating him upon his
+safe return home, and the labors so faithfully performed. In mentioning
+the event, Elias says: "It was truly a season of mutual rejoicing,
+and my spirit was deeply humbled under a thankful sense of the Lord's
+preserving power and adorable mercy, in carrying me through and over
+all opposition, both within and without. He caused all to work together
+for good, and the promotion of his own glorious cause of truth and
+righteousness in the earth, and landed me safe in the bosom of my dear
+family and friends at home, and clothed my spirit with the reward of
+sweet peace for all my labor and travail. Praises, everlasting high
+praises be ascribed unto our God, for his mercy endureth forever."[190]
+
+[190] "Journal," p. 425.
+
+Dark days were approaching, and the heavy hand of a great sorrow was
+about to be laid upon this strong man, who had buffeted many storms,
+and who seemed now to be feeling a period of calm and quiet. But we
+shall let Elias Hicks tell the details in his own words:
+
+  "Soon after my return from the aforesaid journey, I had to experience
+  a very severe trial and affliction in the removal of my dearly
+  beloved wife. She was taken down with a cold, and although, for a
+  number of days, we had no anticipation of danger from her complaint,
+  yet about five days after she was taken, the disorder appeared
+  to settle on her lungs, and it brought on an inflammation which
+  terminated in a dissolution of her precious life, on the ninth day
+  from the time she was taken ill. She had but little bodily pain, yet
+  as she became weaker, she suffered from shortness of breathing; but
+  before her close, she became perfectly tranquil and easy, and passed
+  away like a lamb, as though entering into a sweet sleep, without sigh
+  or groan, or the least bodily pain, on the 17th of Third month, 1829:
+  And her precious spirit, I trust and believe, has landed safely on
+  the angelic shore, 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the
+  weary are at rest.' To myself, to whom she was a truly affectionate
+  wife, and to our children, whom she endeavored, by precept and
+  example, to train up in the paths of virtue, and to guard and keep
+  out of harm's way, her removal is a great and irreparable loss: and
+  nothing is left to us in that behalf, but a confident belief and an
+  unshaken hope, that our great loss is her still greater gain; and
+  although the loss and trial, as to all my external blessings, are
+  the greatest I have ever met with, or ever expect to have to endure,
+  yet I have a hope, that, though separated, I may be preserved from
+  mourning or complaining; and that I may continually keep in view
+  the unmerited favour dispensed to us, by being preserved together
+  fifty-eight years in one unbroken bond of endeared affection, which
+  seemed if possible to increase with time to the last moment of her
+  life; and which neither time nor distance can lessen or dissolve; but
+  in the spiritual relation I trust it will endure for ever, where all
+  the Lord's redeemed children are one in him, who is God over all, in
+  all, and through all, blessed forever. She was buried on the 19th,
+  and on this solemn occasion, the Lord, who is strength in weakness,
+  enabled me to bear a public and, I trust, a profitable testimony to
+  the virtues and excellences of her long and consistent life."[191]
+
+[191] "Journal," p 425.
+
+Regarding the funeral of Jemima Hicks, and its aftermath, rumor has
+been more or less busy. That Elias spoke on this occasion is certain.
+It was his eighty-first birthday. His remarks were undoubtedly in
+harmony, both as to the matter and the hope of a future reunion, with
+the extract printed above. There is in existence what purports to be
+matter copied from a Poughkeepsie newspaper relating to this event. The
+statement is supplemented by a "poem," entitled "Orthodox Reflections
+on the Remarks Made by Elias Hicks at His Wife's Funeral." These verses
+are both theological and savage. Elias is assured that, because of his
+belief, he cannot hope to "rest in heaven," or meet his wife there.
+What is strange, however, is that verses, signed "Elias Hicks," and in
+reply to the poetical attack, are also given. The first-mentioned rhyme
+may be genuine, as it voices an opinionated brutality and boldness
+which was not uncommon in dealing with the future life eighty years
+ago. But we can hardly imagine Elias Hicks being a "rhymster" under any
+sort of provocation. If the two "poems" were ever printed, touching the
+matter in question, some one besides Elias, undoubtedly is responsible
+for the rejoinder.
+
+Near the 1st of Sixth month, and a little more than three months after
+the death of his wife, Elias Hicks started on his last religious
+visit. His concern took him to the meetings and neighborhoods within
+the limits of his own Yearly Meeting. Nothing unusual is reported on
+this visit until Dutchess County was reached. All of the meetings
+were reported satisfactory. Of the meetings at West Branch, Creek and
+Crum-Elbow, Elias says:
+
+  "Although it was in the midst of harvest, such was the excitement
+  produced amongst the people by the opposition made by those of our
+  members who had gone off from us, and set up separate meetings, that
+  the people at large of other societies flocked to those meetings
+  in such numbers, that our meeting-houses were seldom large enough
+  to contain the assembled multitude; and we had abundant cause for
+  thanksgiving and gratitude to the blessed Author of all our mercies,
+  in condescending to manifest his holy presence, and causing it so to
+  preside as to produce a general solemnity, tendering and contriting
+  many minds, and comforting and rejoicing the upright in heart."[192]
+
+[192] "Journal," p. 428.
+
+Proceeding up the Hudson, arriving at Albany on Seventh-day, Eighth
+month 1st, that evening a large meeting was held in the statehouse.
+Those present represented the inhabitants generally of the capital
+city. Many meetings were attended after leaving Albany, which have now
+ceased to exist. In fact, few, if any, meetings then in existence were
+missed on this journey. The 17th of Eighth month he was in Utica. Of
+the meeting in that city, and at Bridgewater, he says:
+
+  "These were not so large as in some other places, neither was there
+  as much openness to receive our testimony as had generally been the
+  case elsewhere. Our opposing Friends had filled their heads with
+  so many strange reports, to which they had given credit without
+  examination, by which their minds were so strongly prejudiced
+  against me, that many in the compass of these two last meetings
+  were not willing to see me, nor hear any reasons given to show them
+  their mistakes, and that the reports they had heard were altogether
+  unfounded: however, I was favored to communicate the truth to those
+  who attended, so that they generally went away fully satisfied, and I
+  left them with peace of mind."[193]
+
+[193] "Journal," p. 430.
+
+In 1829, under date of Seventh month 9th, in a letter written at
+Oblong, in Westchester County, New York, he expresses the feeling that
+the meeting at Jericho sustains important relations to the branch of
+Friends with which he was connected. The letter was written to his
+children, Valentine and Abigail Hicks. In it he says:
+
+  "Although absent in body, yet my mind pretty often takes a sudden and
+  instantaneous excursion to Jericho, clothed with a desire that we
+  who constitute that monthly meeting, may keep our eye so single, to
+  the sure and immovable foundation of the light within, so as to be
+  entirely preserved from all fleshly reasonings, which if given way
+  to, in the least degree, ever has, and ever will, have a tendency to
+  divide in Jacob and scatter in Israel. I consider that much depends
+  upon the course we take in our monthly meeting, as we are much looked
+  up to as an example and if we make but a small miss, it may do much
+  harm."
+
+Twelfth month 15, 1829, Elias Hicks wrote to his friend Johnson Legg,
+evidently in reply to one asking advice in regard to his own conduct
+in relation to the "separation." In this letter Elias says: "In the
+present interrupted and disturbed state of our once peaceful and
+favoured Society, it requires great deliberation and humble waiting on
+the Lord for counsel before we move forward on the right hand or the
+left. Had this been the case with our brethren of this yearly meeting
+who style themselves orthodox, I very much doubt if there would have
+been any separation among us. For although the chief cause thereof is
+placed to my account, yet I am confident I have given no just cause for
+it."
+
+This statement undoubtedly expresses the real feeling of Elias Hicks
+regarding the "separation." He could not see why what he repeatedly
+called "mere opinions" should cause a rupture in the Society. It will
+be noted that he still refers to the other Friends as "our brethren,"
+and he, apparently, had no ill-will toward them. The letter from which
+this extract was taken was written only about two months before his
+death, and was undoubtedly his last written word on the unfortunate
+controversy, and the trouble that grew out of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Friendly and Unfriendly Critics.
+
+
+Few men in their day were more talked about than Elias Hicks. The
+interest in his person and in his preaching continued for years after
+his death. While the discussion ceased to be warm long years ago,
+his name is one which men of so-called liberal thought still love to
+conjure with, without very clearly knowing the reason why. Some clearer
+light may be thrown upon his life, labor and character by a brief
+review of opinions of those who criticised him as friends, and some
+of them as partisans, and those who were his open enemies, for the
+theological atmosphere had not yet appeared in which he could be even
+approximately understood by the men of the old school.
+
+We shall begin the collection of criticisms by quoting Edward
+Hicks,[194] who wrote a comparatively judicial estimate of his friend
+and kinsman. After stating that even the apostles had their weak side,
+that Tertullian "was led into a foolish extreme by the fanatical
+notions of Montanus;" and that Origen "did immense mischief to the
+cause of primitive Christianity by his extreme attachment to the
+Platonic philosophy, scholastic divinity and human learning," he
+remarks:
+
+[194] Edward Hicks, a relative of Elias Hicks, was born in Attleboro,
+Pa., Fourth month 4, 1780. His mother passed away when he was an
+infant, and he was cared for in his early youth by Elizabeth Twining,
+a friend of his mother. When a young man, he became a member of
+Middletown Monthly Meeting in Bucks County by request. He began
+speaking in meeting when about thirty years of age, and was a little
+later recorded as a minister. Edward Hicks for many years carried on
+the business of carriage maker and painter at Newtown, Pa. Although
+much more orthodox in doctrine than his celebrated kinsman, he was one
+of the most ardent friends and defenders of Elias Hicks.
+
+  "Therefore, it is among the possible circumstances that dear Elias
+  was led to an extreme in the Unitarian speculation, while opposing
+  the Trinitarian, then increasing among Friends, and now almost
+  established among our orthodox Friends. But I have no recollection
+  of ever hearing him in public testimony, and I have heard him
+  much, when his speculative views or manner of speaking, destroyed
+  the savour of life that attended his ministry, or gave me any
+  uneasiness. But I have certainly heard to my sorrow, too many of his
+  superficial admirers that have tried to copy after him, pretending
+  to wear his crown, without knowing anything of his cross, make
+  use of the naked term, Jesus, both in public and private, till it
+  sounded in my ears as unpleasant, as if coming from the tongue of
+  the profane swearer; and on the other hand, I have been pained to
+  hear the unnecessary repetition of the terms, our Lord and Saviour
+  Jesus Christ, from those I verily believed Elias's bitter enemies,
+  especially the English preachers, and have scarcely a doubt that
+  they were substantially breaking the third commandment. And I will
+  now add my opinion fearlessly, that Elias was wrong in entering into
+  that quibbling controversy with those weak Quakers, alluded to in
+  his letter, about the marvellous conception and parentage of Christ,
+  a delicate and inexplicable subject, that seems to have escaped the
+  particular attention of what we call the darker ages, to disgrace the
+  highest professors of the nineteenth century."[195]
+
+[195] "Memoirs of Life and Religious Labors of Edward Hicks," p. 92.
+
+An independent, and in the main, a judicial critic of Quakers
+and Quakerism is Frederick Storrs Turner, an Englishman. Some of
+his estimates and observations of Elias Hicks, are both apt and
+discriminating. Of his preaching Turner says:
+
+  "His great theme was the light within; his one aim to promote a
+  true living spiritual, practical Christianity. He was more dogmatic
+  and controversial than Woolman. There seems to have been in him a
+  revival of the old aggressive zeal, and something of the acerbity
+  of the early Quakers. 'Hireling priests' were as offensive in his
+  eyes as in those of George Fox. He would have no compromise with the
+  religions of the world, and denounced all new-fangled methods and
+  arrangements for religious work and worship in the will of man. He
+  was a Quaker to the backbone, and stood out manfully for the 'ancient
+  simplicity.'"[196]
+
+[196] "The Quakers;" a study, historical and critical, by Frederick
+Storrs Turner, 1889, p. 292.
+
+With still deeper insight Turner continues his analysis:
+
+  "This was his dying testimony: 'The cross of Christ is the perfect
+  law of God, written in the heart ... there is but one Lord, one
+  faith, and but one baptism.... No rational being can be a real
+  Christian and true disciple of Christ until he comes to know all
+  these things verified in his own experience.' He was a good man, a
+  true Christian, and a Quaker of the Quakers. His very errors were
+  the errors of a Quaker, and since the generation of the personal
+  disciples of George Fox it would be difficult to point out any man
+  who had a simpler and firmer faith in the central truth of Quakerism
+  than Elias Hicks."[197]
+
+[197] The same, p. 293.
+
+Regarding some of the bitter criticisms uttered against Elias Hicks
+at the time of the controversy in the second decade of the nineteenth
+century, and repeated by the biographers and advocates of some of his
+opponents, Turner says:
+
+  "This concensus of condemnation by such excellent Christian men would
+  blast Hicks's character effectually, were it not for the remembrance
+  that we have heard these shrieks of pious horror before. Just so did
+  Faldo and Baxter, Owen and Bunyan, unite in anathematizing George Fox
+  and the first Quakers. Turning from these invectives of theological
+  opponents to Hicks's own writings, we at once discover that this
+  arch-heretic was a simple, humble-minded, earnest Quaker of the old
+  school."[198]
+
+[198] The same, p. 291.
+
+James Mott, Sr., of Mamaroneck, N. Y., was among the friendly, although
+judicial critics of Elias Hicks. In a letter written Eighth month 5,
+1805, to Elias, he said: "I am satisfied that the master hath conferred
+on thee a precious gift in the ministry, and I have often sat with
+peculiar satisfaction in hearing thee exercise it." He then continues,
+referring to a special occasion:
+
+  "But when thou came to touch on predestination, and some other
+  erroneous doctrines, I thought a little zeal was suffered to take
+  place, that led into much censoriousness, and that expressed in
+  harsh expressions, not only against the doctrines, but those who had
+  embraced them.... I have often thought if ministers, when treating on
+  doctrinal points, or our belief, were to hold up our principles fully
+  and clearly, and particularly our fundamental principle of the light
+  within, what it was, and how it operates, there would very seldom be
+  occasion for declamation against other tenets, however opposite to
+  our own; nor never against those who have through education or some
+  other medium embraced them."
+
+This would seem to be as good advice at the beginning of the twentieth
+century as it was in the first years of the nineteenth.
+
+In the matter of estimating Elias Hicks, Walt Whitman indulged in
+the following criticism, supplementing an estimate of his preaching.
+Dealing with some opinions of the contemporaries of Elias Hicks, he
+says:
+
+  "They think Elias Hicks had a large element of personal ambition,
+  the pride of leadership, of establishing perhaps a sect that should
+  reflect his own name, and to which he should give special form and
+  character. Very likely, such indeed seems the means all through
+  progress and civilization, by which strong men and strong convictions
+  achieve anything definite. But the basic foundation of Elias was
+  undoubtedly genuine religious fervor. He was like an old Hebrew
+  prophet. He had the spirit of one, and in his later years looked like
+  one."[199]
+
+[199] "The Complete Works of Walt Whitman," Vol. 3, p. 269-270.
+
+It is not worth while to deny that Elias Hicks was ambitious, and
+desired to secure results in his labor. But those who carefully go over
+his recorded words will find little to warrant the literal conclusion
+of his critics in this particular. He probably had no idea at any time
+of founding a sect, or perpetuating his name attached to a fragment
+of the Society of Friends, either large or small. He believed that he
+preached the truth; he wanted men to embrace it, as it met the divine
+witness in their own souls, and not otherwise.
+
+Among the severe critics of Elias Hicks is William Tallack, who in his
+book "Thomas Shillitoe," says that "many of Elias Hicks' assertions
+are too blasphemous for quotation," while W. Hodgson, refers to the
+"filth" of the sentiments of Elias Hicks. But both these Friends use
+words rather loosely. Both must employ their epithets entirely in a
+theological, and not a moral sense. Having gone over a large amount of
+the published and private utterances of the Jericho preacher, we have
+failed to find in them even an impure suggestion. The bitterness of
+their attacks, simply illustrates the bad spirit in which theological
+discussion is generally conducted.
+
+The fame of Elias Hicks as a liberalizing influence in religion seems
+to have reached the Orient. Under date, "Calcutta, June 29, 1827," the
+celebrated East Indian, Rammohun Roy,[200] addressed an appreciative
+letter to him. It was sent by a Philadelphian, J. H. Foster, of the
+ship Georgian, and contained the following expressions:
+
+[200] Rammohun Roy was born in Bengal in 1772, being a high-class
+Brahmin. He was highly educated, and at one time in the employ of the
+English Government. In comparatively early life he became a religious
+and social reformer, and incurred the enmity of his family. He
+published various works in different languages, including English. In
+1828 he founded a liberal religious association which grew into the
+Brahmo Somaj. Roy visited England in 1831, and died there in 1833.
+
+  "My object in intruding on your time is to express the gratification
+  I have felt in reading the sermons you preached at different
+  meetings, and which have since been published by your friends in
+  America.... Every sentence found there seems to have proceeded
+  not only from your lips, but from your heart. The true spirit of
+  Christian charity and belief flows from thee and cannot fall short of
+  making some impression on every heart which is susceptible of it. I
+  hope and pray God may reward you for your pious life and benevolent
+  exertion, and remain with the highest reverence.
+
+                    "Your most humble servant,
+                                        "RAMMOHUN ROY."
+
+
+A copy of what purports to be a reply to this letter is in existence,
+and is probably genuine, as the language is in accordance with the
+well-known ideas of Elias Hicks. Besides, an undated personal letter
+contains a direct reference to the East Indian correspondence. From it
+we quote: "I take my pen to commune with thee in this way on divers
+accounts, and first in regard to a letter I have recently received from
+Calcutta, subscribed by Rammohun Roy, author of a book entitled, 'The
+Precepts of Jesus, a Guide to Peace and Happiness.'"[201]
+
+[201] From letter written to William Wharton of Philadelphia.
+
+A request is made that William Wharton will find out if the
+ship-master, Foster, mentioned above, would convey a letter to
+Calcutta. Then Elias expresses himself as follows:
+
+  "I also feel a lively interest in whatever relates to the welfare and
+  progress of that enlightened and worthy Hindoo, believing that if he
+  humbly attends to that hath begun a good work in him, and is faithful
+  to its manifestations that he will not only witness the blessed
+  effects of it, in his own preservation and salvation, but will be
+  made an instrument in the divine hand of much good to his own people,
+  and nation, by spreading the truth, and opening the right way of
+  salvation among them, which may no doubt prove a great and singular
+  blessing not only to the present, but to succeeding generations. And
+  also be a means of opening the blind eyes of formal traditional
+  Christians, who make a profession of godliness, but deny the power
+  thereof, especially those blind guides, mere man-made ministers, and
+  self-styled missionaries, sent out by Bible and missionary societies
+  of man's constituting, under the pretence of converting those, who
+  in the pride of their hearts they call Heathen, to Christianity,
+  while at the same time, judging them by their fruits they themselves,
+  or most of them, stand in as great, or greater need, of right
+  conversion."
+
+Among the present-day critics of Elias Hicks, is Dr. J. Rendell Harris,
+of England. In his paper at the Manchester Conference in 1895, this
+quotation from Elias Hicks is given: "God never made any distinction
+in the manifestation of his love to his rational creatures. He has
+placed every son and daughter of Adam on the same ground and in the
+same condition that our first parents were in. For every child must
+come clean out of the hands of God."[202] Doctor Harris says Elias
+Hicks "was wrong not simply because he was unscriptural, but because
+he was unscientific."[203] Doctor Harris prefaces this remark by the
+following comment on the quotation from Elias Hicks: "Now suppose such
+a doctrine to be propounded in this conference would not the proper
+answer, the answer of any modern thinker, be (1) that we never had
+any first parents; (2) we were demonstrably not born good."[204] We
+do not at all assume that Elias Hicks had no limitations, or that he
+was correct at all points in his thinking, measured by the standards
+of present-day knowledge or any other standard. But we must claim that
+in holding that we had first parents, he was scriptural. The poor
+man, however, seems to have been, unconsciously, of course, between
+two stools. The orthodox Friends in the early part of the nineteenth
+century claimed that Elias was unsound because he did not cling to
+the letter of the scripture, and his critic just quoted claims that
+he was unscientific although he used a scriptural term. Doctor Harris
+then concludes that "a little knowledge of evolution would have saved
+him (Hicks) all that false doctrine." But how, in his time, could he
+have had any knowledge of evolution? A man can hardly be criticised
+for not possessing knowledge absolutely unavailable in his day and
+generation. We are then informed "that the world at any given instant,
+shows almost every stage of evolution of life, from the amoeba to the
+man, and from the cannibal to the saint. Shall we say that the love of
+God is equally manifested in all these?"[205] To use the Yankee answer
+by asking another question, may we inquire, in all seriousness, who is
+qualified to say with certainty that it is not so manifested? Who has
+the authority, in the language of Whittier, to
+
+  ... "fix with metes and bounds
+  The love and power of God?"
+
+[202] "Report of the Proceedings of the Conference of Members of
+the Society of Friends, held by Direction of the Yearly Meeting in
+Manchester," 1895, p. 220.
+
+[203] The same, p. 220.
+
+[204] We do not hesitate to say that had Elias Hicks made this
+statement he would have suffered more at the hands of the Philadelphia
+Elders in 1822 than is recorded in this book.
+
+[205] Report Manchester Conference, pp. 220-221.
+
+Elias Hicks was given to using figures of speech and scriptural
+illustrations in a broad sense, and those who carefully read his
+utterances will have no trouble in seeing in the quotation used
+by Doctor Harris simply an attempt to repudiate the attribute of
+favoritism on the part of the Heavenly Father toward any of his human
+children, and not to formulate a new philosophy of life, based on a
+theory of the universe about which he had never heard.
+
+The special labor of Elias Hicks, as we may now dispassionately review
+it, was not as an expounder of doctrine, or the creator of a new
+dogmatism, but as a rationalizing, liberalizing influence in the field
+of religion. He was a pioneer of the "modern thinkers" of whom Doctor
+Harris speaks, and did much, amid misunderstanding and the traducing
+of men, to prepare the way for the broader intellectual and spiritual
+liberty we now enjoy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Recollections, Reminiscences and Testimonies.
+
+
+Many statements which have come down to us from the generation in which
+Elias Hicks lived, warrant the conclusion that he was a natural orator.
+He possessed in a large degree what the late Bishop Simpson, of the
+Methodist Episcopal Church, called "heart power." We are able to give
+the personal impression of a venerable Friend[206] now living, who as a
+boy of eleven heard Elias preach twice.
+
+[206] Dr. Jesse C. Green, of West Chester, Pa., now in his 93d year.
+Doctor Green almost retains the sprightliness of youth.
+
+One of the sermons was delivered at Center, Del., on the 8th of Twelfth
+month, 1828, and the other the day before at West Chester. This was on
+his last long religious visit, which took him to the then "far west,"
+Ohio and Indiana.
+
+Doctor Green says that the manner of Elias Hicks when speaking was very
+impressive. In person he is described by this Friend "as above medium
+height, rather slim, and with a carriage that would attract universal
+attention." He wore very plain clothes of a drab color.
+
+With no education in logic, and no disposition to indulge in forensic
+debate, he was, nevertheless a logician, and had he indulged in public
+disputation, would have made it interesting if not uncomfortable for
+his adversary.
+
+If he occasionally became involved, or got into verbal deep water, he
+always extricated himself, and made his position clear to his hearers.
+Doctor Green tells us that he had an uncle, not a member of meeting,
+but a good judge of public speaking, who considered Elias Hicks the
+most logical preacher in the Society of Friends. On one occasion he
+heard Elias when he became very much involved in his speaking, and as
+this person put it, he thought Elias had "wound himself up," but in a
+few minutes he came down from his verbal flight, and made every point
+so clear that he was understood by every listener.
+
+Henry Byran Binns, Whitman's English biographer, gives the following
+estimate of the preaching of Elias Hicks:
+
+  "With grave emphasis he pronounced his text: 'What is the chief end
+  of man?' and with fiery and eloquent eyes, in a strong, vibrating,
+  and still musical voice, he commenced to deliver his soul-awakening
+  message. The fire of his fervor kindled as he spoke of the purpose of
+  human life; his broad-brim was dashed from his forehead on to one of
+  the seats behind him. With the power of intense conviction his whole
+  presence became an overwhelming persuasion, melting those who sat
+  before him into tears and into one heart of wonder and humility under
+  his high and simple words."[207]
+
+[207] "A Life of Walt Whitman," Henry Byran Binns, p. 16.
+
+We have another living witness who remembers Elias Hicks. This Friend
+says that she, with the members of her family, were constant attenders
+of the Jericho meeting. Speaking of Elias she remarks: "His commanding
+figure in the gallery is a bright picture I often see in my mind. His
+person was tall, straight and firm; his manner dignified and noble
+and agreeable; his voice clear, distinct and penetrating--altogether
+grand."[208]
+
+[208] Extract of letter from Mary Willis, of Rochester, N. Y., dated
+Ninth month 7, 1910. This Friend is 92 years old. The letter received
+was entirely written by her, and is a model of legible penmanship and
+clear statement.
+
+We quote the following interesting incidents from the letter of Mary
+Willis:
+
+  "One other bit I recall was a talk, or sermon, to the young
+  especially. He related that once he threw a stone and killed a bird,
+  and was struck with consternation and regret at killing an innocent
+  bird that might be a parent, and its young perish for the need of
+  care. He appealed feelingly to the boys to refrain from giving
+  needless pain.
+
+  "He was guardian to my mother, sisters and brother, and they and
+  their mother returned his loving care with warm affection, always, as
+  did my father.
+
+  "One of his characteristics was his kindness to the poor. Not far
+  from his home (three miles, perhaps) was a small colony of colored
+  people on poor land, who shared his bounty in cold, wintry weather,
+  in his wagon loads of vegetables and wood, delivered by his own hand."
+
+Probably one of the most appreciative, and in the main discriminative
+estimates of Elias Hicks, was made by Walt Whitman. The "notes (such
+as they are) founded on Elias Hicks," for such the author called them,
+were written in Camden, N. J., in the summer of 1888. Elias Hicks had
+been dead nearly half a century. Whitman's impressions of the famous
+preacher were based on the memory of a boy ten years old, for that
+was Whitman's age when he heard Elias Hicks preach in Brooklyn. But
+personal memory was supplemented by the statements of his parents,
+especially his mother, as the preaching of their old Long Island
+neighbor was undoubtedly a subject of frequent conversation in the
+Whitman home.
+
+As to the manner of the preacher Whitman says: "While he goes on he
+falls into the nasality and sing-song tone sometimes heard in such
+meetings; but in a moment or two, more as if recollecting himself, he
+breaks off, stops, and resumes in a natural tone. This occurs three or
+four times during the talk of the evening, till he concludes."[209]
+
+[209] "The Complete Works of Walt Whitman," Vol. 3, p. 259.
+
+The "unnamable something behind oratory," Whitman says Elias Hicks had,
+and it "emanated from his very heart to the heart of his audience,
+or carried with him, or probed into, and shook or aroused in them a
+sympathetic germ."[210]
+
+[210] The same, p. 264.
+
+There are a good many anecdotes regarding Elias Hicks current in
+Jericho, going to show some of his characteristics. It is stated that
+at one time he found that corn was being taken, evidently through the
+slats of the crib. One night he set a trap in the suspected place.
+Going to the barn in the morning he saw a man standing near where the
+trap was set. Elias passed on without seeming to notice the visitor. On
+returning to the house he stopped, spoke to the man, and released him
+from the trap. Elias would never tell who the man was.
+
+Illustrating his feeling regarding slavery, and his testimony against
+slave labor, the following statement is made: Before his death, and
+following the fatal paralytic stroke, he noticed that the quilt with
+which he was covered contained cotton. He had lost the power of speech,
+but he pushed the covering off, thus indicating his displeasure at the
+presence of an article of comfort which was the product of slave labor.
+
+There is an anecdote which illustrates the spirit of the man in a
+striking way. He is said to have had a neighbor with whom it did not
+seem possible to maintain cordial relations. One day Elias saw this
+neighbor with a big load of hay stalled in a marsh in one of his
+fields. Without a word of recognition Elias approached the man in the
+slough and hitching his own ox team to the load in front of the other
+team proceeded to pull the load out of the slough. It was all done in
+characteristic Quaker silence. The result was the establishment of
+cordial relations between the two neighbors.
+
+In bestowing his benefactions, he was exceedingly sensitive, not
+wishing to be known in the matter, and especially not desiring to
+receive ordinary expressions of gratitude. His habitual custom was
+to take his load of wood or provisions, as the case might be, leave
+them at the door or in the yard of the family in need, and without
+announcement or comment silently steal away.
+
+During the Revolutionary War, Elias Hicks, in common with other
+Friends, had property seized in lieu of military service or taxes. The
+value does not seem to have been great in any of the cases which were
+reported to the monthly meeting. We copy the following cases from the
+records:
+
+  "On the 28th of Eighth month, 1777, came Justice Maloon, Robert
+  Wilson, Daniel Wilson, and Daniel Weeks, sergeant under the above
+  Captain (Youngs) and took from me a pair of silver buckles, worth
+  18 shillings; two pair of stockings worth 15 shillings; and two
+  handkerchiefs worth 5 shillings, for my not going at the time of an
+  alarm.--Elias Hicks, Jericho, 24th of Ninth month, 1777."[211]
+
+[211] Westbury Monthly Meeting: "A Record of Marriages, Deaths,
+Sufferings, etc.," p. 231.
+
+The "silver buckles" were either for the shoes or the knees. They were
+evidently more ornamental than useful, and how they comported with the
+owner's rather severe ideas of plainness is not for us to explain.
+The price put on these stockings may surprise some twentieth century
+reader, but it should be remembered that they were long to reach to the
+knees, and went with short breeches called in the vernacular of the
+time, "small clothes."
+
+  "The 3d of Twelfth month, 1777, there came to my house George Weeks,
+  sergeant under said Captain (Thorne) with a warrant, and demanded
+  twelve shillings of me toward paying some men held to repair the
+  forts near the west end of the island, and upon my refusing to pay,
+  took from me a great coat, worth one pound and six shillings.--Elias
+  Hicks."[212]
+
+[212] The same, p. 234.
+
+We continue the "sufferings," only remarking that the "great coat" was
+an overcoat, the price at the equivalent of about six dollars and a
+half was not overdrawn.
+
+  "The Sixth month, 1778, taken from Elias Hicks by order of Captain
+  Daniel Youngs, for refusing to pay toward hiring of men to work on
+  fortifications near Brooklyn Ferry, a pair of stockings worth 5
+  shillings; razor case and two razors, worth 4 shillings."[213]
+
+[213] The same, p. 242.
+
+The next record of "suffering" is more than ordinarily interesting in
+that it shows that the seizures of property were very arbitrary, and it
+also gives the price of wheat on Long Island at that time. We quote:
+
+  "About the middle of Tenth month, 1779, came George Weeks, by order
+  of Captain Daniel Youngs, and I being from home demanded from my wife
+  three pounds, for not assisting to build a fort at Brooklyn Ferry,
+  for which he took two bags with three bushels of wheat, worth one
+  pound, ten shillings."[214]
+
+[214] The same, p. 254.
+
+At this rate the market price of wheat was $2.50 per bushel. Possibly
+this was during the period of scarcity, referred to in the introduction.
+
+In 1794 Elias Hicks was influential in establishing in Jericho an
+organization, the scope of which was described in its preamble as
+follows: "We, the subscribers, do hereby associate and unite into a
+Society of Charity for the relief of poor among the black people, more
+especially for the education of their children."[215]
+
+[215] This organization has been in continuous existence since its
+inception. Meets regularly every year, and distributes the proceeds of
+an invested fund in accordance with its original purpose.
+
+This society was almost revolutionary at the time of its inception,
+showing how far-seeing its projectors were. Its constitution declared
+that the society was rendered necessary because of the injustice and
+lack of opportunity which the colored people suffered. The hope was
+expressed that the time would come when the black people would cease
+to be a submerged and oppressed race. It was provided that in case the
+original need for the society should disappear, its benefits might be
+distributed in any helpful way. It may be interesting to note that at
+the meetings of the society the scarcity of colored children attending
+the school was mentioned with regret. So far as we know, the Jericho
+society was the first organized Friendly effort in negro education.
+Elias Hicks contributed $50 to the invested funds of the organization.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+Putting Off the Harness.
+
+
+During the series of visits, reported in the twenty-second chapter,
+Elias was ill a number of times, and was forced to rest from his
+labors. On the return trip from central and western New York, he
+visited for the last time the Hudson Valley meetings which he attended
+on his first religious journey in 1779.
+
+He arrived in New York the 8th of Eleventh month, attending the
+mid-week meeting at Hester Street that day. On First-day, the 15th,
+he attended the Rose Street meeting in the morning and Hester Street
+in the afternoon. Second-day evening, the 16th, a largely attended
+appointed meeting was held in Brooklyn. He then proceeded toward
+Jericho, arriving home on Fourth-day, the 18th of Eleventh month, 1829.
+
+The "Journal" is singularly silent regarding this Brooklyn meeting.
+Henry Byran Binns, on what he considers good authority, says, "Elias
+Hicks preached in the ball-room of Morrison's Hotel on Brooklyn
+Heights." To this statement he has added this bit of realistic
+description:
+
+  "The scene was one he (Whitman) never forgot. The finely fitted
+  and fashionable place of dancing, the officers and gay ladies in
+  that mixed and crowded assembly, the lights, the colors and all the
+  associations, both of the faces and of the place, presenting so
+  singular contrast with the plain ancient Friends seated upon the
+  platform, their broad-brims on their heads, their eyes closed; with
+  silence, long continued and becoming oppressive; and most of all,
+  with the tall, prophetic figure that rose at length to break it."[216]
+
+[216] "A Life of Walt Whitman," p. 16.
+
+Whitman's own reference to this meeting is still more striking. He says
+that he, a boy of ten, was allowed to go to the Hicks meeting because
+he "had been behaving well that day." The "principal dignitaries of the
+town" attended this meeting, while uniformed officers from the United
+States Navy Yard graced the gathering with their presence. The text
+was, "What is the chief end of man?" Whitman says: "I cannot follow the
+discourse, it presently becomes very fervid and in the midst of its
+fervor, he takes the broad-brim hat from his head and almost dashing
+it down with violence on the seat behind, continues with uninterrupted
+earnestness. Though the differences and disputes of the formal division
+of the Society of Friends were even then under way, he did not allude
+to them at all. A pleading, tender, nearly agonizing conviction and
+magnetic stream of natural eloquence, before which all minds and
+natures, all emotions, high or low, gentle or simple, yielded entirely
+without exception, was its cause, method and effect. Many, very many,
+were in tears."[217]
+
+[217] "The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman." Issued under the
+editorial supervision of his Literary Executors, 1902, Vol. 3, p. 258.
+
+With the account of this journey of 1829 his narrative in the "Journal"
+closed. This paragraph formed a fitting benediction:
+
+  "The foregoing meetings were times of favor, and as a seal from the
+  hand of our gracious and never-failing helper, to the labor and
+  travail which he has led me into, and enabled me to perform, for the
+  promotion of this great and noble cause of truth and righteousness in
+  the earth, as set forth in the foregoing account, and not suffering
+  any weapon formed against me to prosper. 'This is the heritage of
+  the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith
+  the Lord.' For all these unmerited favors and mercies, in deep
+  humiliation my soul doth magnify the Lord, and return thanksgiving
+  and glory to his great and excellent name; for his mercy endureth
+  forever."[218]
+
+[218] "Journal," p. 438.
+
+It should be remembered that Elias Hicks was then past his eighty-first
+year. He started on this last long religious visit, Sixth month 24th,
+and was therefore absent from home one week less than five months.
+He says himself, in the last sentence of the "Journal": "We traveled
+in this journey nearly fifteen hundred miles." These are words as
+impressive as they are simple.
+
+During this trip many families were visited from the Valley of the
+Genesee to the City of New York, where he tarried several days that he
+might see his friends in their homes. Whatever may have been their mind
+in the case, he doubtless felt that they would look upon his face no
+more.
+
+But Elias Hicks was not yet free from his religious concerns, for on
+First month 21, 1830, he asked for a minute, which was granted by
+Jericho Monthly Meeting, and is as follows:
+
+  "Our beloved Friend, Elias Hicks, presented a concern to make
+  a religious visit to the families of Friends and some Friendly
+  people (as way may open), within the compass of this and Westbury
+  Monthly Meeting, which claimed the solid attention of this meeting,
+  was united with, and he left at liberty to pursue his prospect
+  accordingly."
+
+This is the last minute ever asked for by Elias Hicks. But evidently
+the visits contemplated were never undertaken, for about that time he
+had a slight attack of paralysis, which affected his right side and
+arm. Still the next day he attended a meeting at Bethpage, and a little
+later quarterly and monthly meetings in New York. In both he performed
+ministerial service with his usual power and clearness. From a little
+brochure printed in 1829, we quote:
+
+  "In the Monthly Meeting, he took a review of his labors in the city
+  for many years; and then expressed a belief that his religious
+  services were brought nearly to a close.
+
+  "After adverting to the great deviations that had taken place in the
+  Society, from that plainness and simplicity into which our principles
+  would lead us, he added, 'but if I should live two or three years
+  longer, what a comfort it would be to me to see a reformation in
+  these respects.' He then spoke in commemoration of the goodness of
+  his Heavenly Father, and closed with these memorable words: 'As
+  certainly as we are engaged to glorify him in all our works, he will
+  as certainly glorify us.'"[219]
+
+[219] "Life, Ministry, Last Sickness and Death of Elias Hicks,"
+Philadelphia, J. Richards, printer, 130 North Third Street.
+
+But the time of putting off the harness was near at hand. On the 14th
+of Second month, 1830, he suffered a severe attack of paralysis which
+involved the entire right side, and deprived him of the use of his
+voice. When attacked he was alone in his room, but succeeded in getting
+to his family in an adjoining apartment. He declined all medical aid.
+In a condition of helplessness he lingered until Seventh-day the 27th,
+when he quietly passed away. Although he could only communicate by
+signs, consciousness remained until near the end.
+
+The funeral was held in the meeting house at Jericho, on Fourth-day,
+Third month 3d. Without a storm raged in strange contrast to the
+peace and quiet within. A large company braved the elements, to
+pay their respects to his worth, as a man and a minister, while a
+number of visiting ministering Friends had sympathetic service at the
+funeral, after which the burial took place in the ground adjoining the
+meeting-house, where he had long worshipped and ministered.
+
+The last act performed by Elias Hicks before the fatal stroke came, was
+to write a letter to his friend Hugh Judge,[220] of Barnesville, Ohio.
+Between the two men a singular sympathy had long existed, and to Hugh,
+Elias unburdened his spirit in this last word to the world. In fact the
+letter fell from the hand of the writer, after the shock. It was all
+complete with signature and postscript.
+
+[220] Hugh Judge was born about 1750 of Catholic parents. Joined
+Friends in his young manhood in Philadelphia. Removed to Ohio in 1815.
+Died Twelfth month 21, 1834. He died while on a religious visit to
+Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Was buried at Kennett Square.
+He was a recorded minister for many years.
+
+This letter really summarizes the doctrine, and states the practical
+religion which inspired the ministry and determined the life and
+conduct of this worthy Friend. It may be well, with its suggestive
+postscript, to close this record of the life and labors of Elias Hicks:
+
+
+                                   "Jericho, Second month 14th, 1830.
+
+  "Dear Hugh: Thy very acceptable letter of the 21st ultimo was
+  duly received, and read with interest, tending to excite renewed
+  sympathetic and mutual fellow-feeling; and brought to my remembrance
+  the cheering salutation of the blessed Jesus, our holy and perfect
+  pattern and example, to his disciples, viz: 'Be of good cheer, I have
+  overcome the world.' By which he assured his disciples, that, by
+  walking in the same pathway of self-denial and the cross, which he
+  trod to blessedness, they might also overcome the world; as nothing
+  has ever enabled any rational being, in any age of the world, to
+  overcome the spirit of the world, which lieth in wickedness, but the
+  cross of Christ.
+
+  "Some may query, what is the cross of Christ? To these I answer, it
+  is the perfect law of God, written on the tablet of the heart, and in
+  the heart of every rational creature, in such indelible characters
+  that all the power of mortals cannot erase nor obliterate. Neither is
+  there any power or means given or dispensed to the children of men,
+  but this inward law and light, by which the true and saving knowledge
+  of God can be obtained. And by this inward law and light, all will
+  be either justified or condemned, and all be made to know God for
+  themselves, and be left without excuse; agreeably to the prophecy
+  of Jeremiah, and the corroborating testimony of Jesus in his last
+  counsel and command to his disciples, not to depart from Jerusalem
+  until they should receive power from on high; assuring them that they
+  should receive power when they had received the pouring forth of the
+  spirit upon them, which would qualify them to bear witness to him in
+  Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth;
+  which was verified in a marvellous manner on the day of Pentecost,
+  when thousands were converted to the Christian faith in one day. By
+  which it is evident that nothing but this inward light and law, as
+  it is heeded and obeyed, ever did, or ever can make a true and real
+  Christian and child of God. And until the professors of Christianity
+  agree to lay aside all their non-essentials in religion, and rally
+  to this unchangeable foundation and standard of truth, wars and
+  fightings, confusion and error will prevail, and the angelic song
+  cannot be heard in our land, that of 'glory to God in the highest,
+  and on earth peace and good will to men.' But when all nations are
+  made willing to make this inward law and light the rule and standard
+  of all their faith and works, then we shall be brought to know and
+  believe alike, that there is but one Lord, one faith, and but one
+  baptism; one God and Father, that is above all, through all, and
+  in all; and then will all those glorious and consoling prophecies,
+  recorded in the scriptures of truth, be fulfilled. Isaiah 2:4. 'He,'
+  the Lord, 'shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; and
+  they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears
+  into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
+  neither shall they learn war any more.' Isaiah 11. 'The wolf also
+  shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
+  kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together;
+  and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall
+  feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall
+  eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole
+  of the asp, and the weaned child put his hand on the cockatrice's
+  den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for
+  the earth,' that is our earthly tabernacles, 'shall be full of the
+  knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'
+
+  "These scripture testimonies give a true and correct description
+  of the gospel state, and no rational being can be a real Christian
+  and true disciple of Christ until he comes to know all these things
+  verified in his own experience, as every man and woman has more or
+  less of all those different animal propensities and passions in their
+  nature; and they predominate and bear rule, and are the source and
+  fountain from whence all wars, and every evil work, proceed, and
+  will continue as long as man remains in his first nature, and is
+  governed by his animal spirit and propensities, which constitute the
+  natural man, which Paul tells us, 'receiveth not the things of the
+  spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
+  them, because they are spiritually discerned.' This corroborates the
+  declaration of Jesus to Nicodemus, that 'except a man be born again
+  he cannot see the kingdom of God;' for 'that which is born of the
+  flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.'
+
+  "Here Jesus assures us, beyond all doubt, that nothing but spirit
+  can either see or enter into the kingdom of God; and this confirms
+  Paul's doctrine, that 'as many as are led by the spirit of God are
+  the sons of God, and joint heirs with Christ.' And Jesus assures us,
+  by his declaration to his disciples, John 14:16-17; 'if ye love me
+  keep my commandments; and I will pray the Father and he shall give
+  you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the
+  spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive;' that is, men and
+  women in their natural state, who have not given up to be led by
+  this spirit of truth, that leads and guides into all truth; 'because
+  they see him not, neither do they know him, but ye know him, for he
+  dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.' And as these give up to be
+  wholly led and guided by him, the new birth is brought forth in them,
+  and they witness the truth of another testimony of Paul's, even that
+  of being 'created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works,' which God
+  had foreordained that all his new-born children should walk in them,
+  and thereby show forth, by their fruits and good works, that they
+  were truly the children of God, born of his spirit, and taught of
+  him; agreeably to the testimony of the prophet, that 'the children of
+  the Lord are all taught of the Lord, and in righteousness they are
+  established, and great is the peace of his children.' And nothing can
+  make them afraid that man can do unto them; as saith the prophet in
+  his appeal to Jehovah: 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
+  mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.' Therefore let
+  every one that loves the truth, for God is truth, 'trust in the Lord
+  forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength.'
+
+  "I write these things to thee, not as though thou didst not know
+  them, but as a witness to thy experience, as 'two are better than
+  one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.'
+
+  "I will now draw to a close, with just adding, for thy
+  encouragement, be of good cheer, for no new thing has happened to
+  us; for it has ever been the lot of the righteous to pass through
+  many trials and tribulations in their passage to that glorious,
+  everlasting peace and happy abode, where all sorrow and sighing come
+  to an end; the value of which is above all price, for when we have
+  given all that we have, and can give, and suffered all that we can
+  suffer, it is still infinitely below its real value. And if we are
+  favored to gain an inheritance in that blissful and peaceful abode,
+  'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest,'
+  we must ascribe it all to the unmerited mercy and loving kindness of
+  our Heavenly Father, who remains to be God over all, blessed forever!
+
+  "I will now conclude, and in the fulness of brotherly love to thee
+  and thine, in which my family unite, subscribe thy affectionate
+  friend,
+
+                                        "ELIAS HICKS.
+
+  "To Hugh Judge:
+
+  "Please present my love to all my friends as way opens."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+A
+
+DESCENDANTS OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+The only lineal descendants of Elias Hicks are through his daughters,
+Abigail and Sarah. Abigail's husband, Valentine, was her cousin, and
+Sarah's husband, Robert Seaman, was a relative on the mother's side.
+
+
+Descendants of Valentine and Abigail Hicks.
+
+CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE.
+
+GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.--Caroline, married Dr. William Seaman;
+Phebe, married Adonijah Underhill (no children); Elias Hicks, married
+Sarah Hicks; Mary (unmarried).
+
+GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+CHILDREN OF DR. WILLIAM SEAMAN AND CAROLINE HICKS.--Valentine Hicks
+Seaman, married Rebecca Cromwell; Sarah Seaman, married Henry B.
+Cromwell; Samuel Hicks Seaman, married Hannah Husband.
+
+CHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS AND SARAH HICKS.--Mary, married Peter B.
+Franklin; Elias Hicks (unmarried), deceased; Caroline (unmarried),
+deceased.
+
+GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+CHILDREN OF VALENTINE H. AND REBECCA C. SEAMAN.--William, married
+Addie W. Lobdell; Caroline (infant);[221] Henry B.,[222] married Grace
+Dutton; Edwin H. (infant); Howard (unmarried), deceased; Valentine H.
+(unmarried); Emily C. (unmarried); Frederic C., married Ethel Lobdell.
+
+[221] Note--Those marked "(infant)" died in infancy. Those without
+notation are under age and living.
+
+[222] Henry B. Seaman is a graduate of Swarthmore College, class
+of 1881, and received degree of C. E. in 1884. Was for three years
+Chief Engineer of the Public Service Commission of Greater New York.
+He resigned this position Tenth month 1, 1910, because he could
+not approve estimates desired by the authorities. Since then these
+estimates have been held up as excessive.
+
+CHILDREN OF HENRY B. AND SARAH SEAMAN CROMWELL.--George[223]
+(unmarried); Henry B. (unmarried), deceased.
+
+[223] When Greater New York was incorporated George Cromwell was
+elected President of the Borough of Richmond. Although this borough
+is normally Democratic in its politics, George Cromwell has been
+re-elected, and is the only president the borough has ever had. He and
+Henry B. Seaman are double first cousins.
+
+CHILDREN OF SAMUEL H. AND HANNAH H. SEAMAN.--Joseph H. (unmarried);
+Caroline Hicks, married William A. Read; Mary T. (unmarried); Franklin
+(unmarried), deceased; Sarah, married Lloyd Saltus.
+
+CHILDREN OF PETER B. AND MARY HICKS FRANKLIN.--Anne M., married Walter
+A. Campbell.
+
+GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+CHILDREN OF WILLIAM AND ADDIE SEAMAN.--Howard L. (unmarried); Jessie M.
+(unmarried).
+
+CHILDREN OF HENRY B. AND GRACE D. SEAMAN.--Ayres C.; Henry Bowman.
+
+CHILDREN OF FREDERIC C. AND ETHEL L. SEAMAN.--Esther....
+
+CHILDREN OF WILLIAM A. AND CAROLINE SEAMAN READ.--William Augustus;
+Curtis Seaman; Duncan Hicks; R. Bartow; Caroline Hicks; Bancroft
+(infant); Bayard W.; Mary Elizabeth; Kenneth B. (infant).
+
+CHILDREN OF LLOYD AND SARAH SEAMAN SALTUS.--Mary Seaman; Ethel S.;
+Seymour; Lloyd.
+
+CHILDREN OF WALTER ALLISON AND ANNE M. FRANKLIN CAMPBELL.--Franklin
+Allison; Mary Elizabeth.
+
+
+Descendants of Robert Seaman and Sarah, Daughter of Elias Hicks.
+
+CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE.
+
+GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.--Phebe (died); Hannah, married Matthew
+F. Robbins; Willet (died); Elizabeth, married Edward Willis; Elias H.,
+married Phebe Underhill; Willet H., married Mary Wing; Mary H., married
+Isaac Willis.
+
+GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+CHILDREN OF HANNAH AND MATTHEW F. ROBBINS.--Caroline, married Sidney W.
+Jackson; Walter, married Sarah E. Hubbs.
+
+CHILDREN OF ELIZABETH AND EDWARD WILLIS.--Sarah R.; Mary S. (died);
+Caroline H. (died); Henrietta, married Stephen J. Underhill.
+
+CHILDREN OF ELIAS H. AND PHEBE SEAMAN.--Mary (died); Samuel J., married
+Matilda W. Willets; Sarah (died); Anna; Robert, married Hannah W.
+Willets; William H., married Margaret J. Laurie; James H., married (1)
+Bessie Bridges; (2) Florence Haviland.
+
+CHILDREN OF WILLET H. AND MARY SEAMAN.--Edward W.; Willet H.; Frank W.
+
+CHILDREN OF MARY H. AND ISAAC WILLIS.--Henry, married June Barnes;
+Robert S.
+
+GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+SON OF CAROLINE AND SIDNEY W. JACKSON.--M. Franklin, married Annie T.
+Jackson.
+
+CHILDREN OF WALTER AND SARAH E. JACKSON.--Caroline J., married William
+G. Underhill; Annie H., married Thomas Rushmore; Cora A., married John
+Marshall.
+
+CHILDREN OF HENRIETTA AND STEPHEN J. UNDERHILL.--Edward W., married
+Emeline Kissam; Hannah W.; Henry T., married Dorothy Vernon; Arthur.
+
+CHILDREN OF SAMUEL J. AND MATILDA W. SEAMAN.--Mary W., married Leon A.
+Rushmore; Samuel J., married Ethelena T. Bogart; Anna Louise; Frederick
+W.; Lewis V. (died).
+
+DAUGHTER OF ROBERT AND HANNAH W. SEAMAN.--Phebe U.
+
+CHILDREN OF WILLIAM H. AND MARGARET L. SEAMAN.--William Laurie; Faith
+Frances (died).
+
+CHILDREN OF JAMES H. AND BESSIE B. SEAMAN.--George B.; Elias Haviland.
+
+CHILDREN OF JAMES H. AND FLORENCE H. SEAMAN.--Bertha Lucina; Willard
+H.; Helen U.
+
+GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ELIAS HICKS.
+
+DAUGHTER OF M. FRANKLIN AND ANNIE T. JACKSON.--Marion F.
+
+CHILDREN OF CAROLINE J. AND WILLIAM G. UNDERHILL.--Mildred; Irene;
+Margaret.
+
+CHILDREN OF ANNIE H. AND THOMAS RUSHMORE.--Lillian A.; Elizabeth A.
+
+SON OF CORA A. AND JOHN MARSHALL.--John W.
+
+DAUGHTER OF HENRY T. AND DOROTHY UNDERHILL.--Winifred.
+
+SON OF MARY S. AND LEON A. RUSHMORE.--Leon A.
+
+
+B
+
+Letter to Dr. Atlee.[224]
+
+[224] See page 164 of this book.
+
+Copy of a letter from Elias Hicks to Dr. Edwin A. Atlee, of
+Philadelphia:
+
+
+                                        "JERICHO, Ninth mo. 27, 1824.
+
+                                        "MY DEAR FRIEND:
+
+  "Thy very acceptable letter of the 29th ultimo came duly to hand,
+  and I have taken my pen not only to acknowledge thy kindness, but
+  also to state to thee the unfriendly and unchristian conduct of Anna
+  Braithwaite toward me, not only as relates to that extract, but in
+  her conversation among Friends and others, traducing my religious
+  character, and saying I held and promulgated infidel doctrines,
+  etc.--endeavoring to prejudice the minds of Friends against me,
+  behind my back, in open violation of gospel order. She came to my
+  house, as stated in the extract thou sent me, after the quarterly
+  meeting of ministers and elders at Westbury in First month last.
+  At that meeting was the first time I saw her, which was about five
+  or six months after her arrival in New York. And as I had heard
+  her well spoken of as a minister, I could have had no preconceived
+  opinion of her but what was favorable, therefore, I treated her with
+  all the cordiality and friendship I was capable of. She also, from
+  all outward appearance, manifested the same; and, after dinner, she
+  requested, in company with A. S., a female Friend that was with her,
+  a private opportunity with me. So we withdrew into another room,
+  where we continued in conversation for nearly two hours. And being
+  innocent and ignorant of any cause that I had given, on my part, for
+  the necessity of such an opportunity, I concluded she had nothing
+  more in view than to have a little free conversation on the state of
+  those select meetings.
+
+  "But, to my surprise, the first subject she spoke upon, was to call
+  in question a sentiment I had expressed in the meeting aforesaid,
+  which appeared to me to be so plain and simple, that I concluded the
+  weakest member in our society, endued with a rational understanding,
+  would have seen the propriety of. It was a remark I made on the
+  absence of three out of four of the representatives appointed by
+  one of the preparative meetings to attend the quarterly meeting.
+  And I having long been of the opinion, that much weakness had been
+  introduced into our society by injudicious appointments, I have
+  often been concerned to caution Friends on that account. The remark
+  I made was this: that I thought there was something wrong in the
+  present instance--for, as we profess to believe in the guidance of
+  the Spirit of Truth as an unerring Spirit, was it not reasonable
+  to expect, especially in a meeting of ministers and elders, that
+  if each Friend attended to their proper gifts, as this Spirit is
+  endued with prescience, that it would be much more likely, under its
+  divine influence, we should be led to appoint such as would attend on
+  particular and necessary occasion, than to appoint those who would
+  not attend?
+
+  "This idea, she contended, was not correct; and the sentiments she
+  expressed on this subject really affected me. To think that any,
+  professing to be a gospel minister, called from a distant land to
+  teach others, and to be so deficient in knowledge and experience, in
+  so plain a case, that I could not well help saying to her, that her
+  views were the result of a want of religious experience, and that I
+  believed if she improved her talent faithfully, she would be brought
+  to see better, and acknowledge the correctness of my position. But
+  she replied, she did not want to see better. This manifestation of
+  her self-importance, lowered her character, as a gospel minister,
+  very much in my view; and her subsequent conduct, while she was
+  with us, abundantly corroborated and confirmed this view concerning
+  her. As to her charge against me, in regard to the Scriptures,
+  it is generally incorrect, and some of it false. And it is very
+  extraordinary, that she should manifest so much seeming friendship
+  for me, when present, and in my absence speak against me in such an
+  unbecoming manner. Indeed, her conduct toward me, often reminds me of
+  the treachery of Judas, when he betrayed his Master with a kiss. And,
+  instead of acting toward me as a friend or a Christian, she had been
+  watching for evil.
+
+  "As to my asserting that I believe the Scriptures were held in too
+  high estimation by the professors of Christianity in general, I
+  readily admit, as I have asserted it in my public communications
+  for more than forty years, but, generally, in opposition to those
+  that held them to be the only rule of faith and practice; and my
+  views have always been in accordance with our primitive Friends on
+  this point. And at divers times, when in conversation with hireling
+  teachers, (and at other times) I have given it as my opinion, that
+  so long as they held the Scriptures to be the only rule of faith
+  and practice, and by which they justify wars, hireling ministry,
+  predestination, and what they call the ordinances, viz: water
+  baptism and the passover supper, mere relics of the Jewish law,
+  so long the Scriptures did such, more harm than good; but that the
+  fault was not in the Scriptures, but in their literal and carnal
+  interpretation of them--and that would always be the case until they
+  came to the Spirit that gave them forth, as no other power could
+  break the seal, and open them rightly to us. Hence I have observed,
+  in my public communications, and in conversation with the members of
+  different denominations, and others, who held that the Scriptures are
+  the primary and only rule of faith and practice--that, according to
+  the true analogy of reasoning, 'that for which a thing is such--the
+  thing itself is more such'--as the Spirit was before the Scriptures,
+  and above them, and without the Spirit they could not have been
+  written or known. And with this simple but conclusive argument,
+  I have convinced divers of the soundness of our doctrine in this
+  respect--that not the Scriptures but the Spirit of Truth, which Jesus
+  commanded his disciples to wait for, as their only rule, they would
+  teach them all things, and guide them into all truth, is the primary
+  and only rule of faith and practice, and is the only means by which
+  our salvation is effected.
+
+  "The extract contains so much inconsistency, and is so incorrect,
+  that, as I proceed, it appears less and less worthy of a reply, and
+  yet it does contain some truth. I admit that I did assert, and have
+  long done it, that we cannot believe what we do not understand. This
+  the Scripture affirms, Deut. xxix. 29--'The secret things belong
+  unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto
+  us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this
+  law'--and all that is not revealed, is to us the same as a nonentity,
+  and will forever remain so, until it is revealed; and that which
+  is revealed, enables us, agreeably to the apostle's exhortation,
+  to give a reason of the hope that is in us, to honest inquirers. I
+  also assert, that we ought to bring all doctrines, whether written
+  or verbal, to the test of the Spirit of Truth in our minds, as the
+  only sure director relative to the things of God; otherwise, why is
+  a manifestation of the Spirit given to every man if it not to profit
+  by; and, if the Scriptures are about the Spirit, and a more certain
+  test of doctrines, why is the Spirit given, seeing it is useless?
+  But this doctrine, that the Scriptures are the only rule of faith
+  and practice, is a fundamental error, and is manifested to be so
+  by the Scriptures themselves, and also by our primitive Friends'
+  writings. It would seem that Anna Braithwaite has strained every
+  nerve in exaggerating my words, for I have not said more than R.
+  Barclay, and many others of our predecessors, respecting the errors
+  in our English translation of the Bible. Hence it appears, that she
+  was determined to criminate me at all events, by striving to make
+  me erroneous for saying that the Gospel handed to us, was no more
+  authentic than many other writings. Surely a person that did not
+  assent to this, must be ignorant indeed.
+
+  "Are not the writings of our primitive Friends as authentic as
+  any book or writing, and especially such as were written so many
+  centuries ago, the originals of which have been lost many hundred
+  years? And are not the histories of passing events, written by candid
+  men of the present age, which thousands know to be true, as authentic
+  as the Bible?
+
+  "Her assertions, that I asked if she could be so ignorant as to
+  believe in the account of the creation of the world, and that I had
+  been convinced for the last ten years, that it was only an allegory,
+  and that it had been especially revealed to me at a meeting in
+  Liberty Street about that time; that I asked her if she thought Adam
+  was any worse after he had eaten the forbidden fruit than before, and
+  that I said I did not believe he was; and also her asserting, that I
+  said that Jesus Christ was no more than a prophet, and that I further
+  said, that if she would read the Scriptures attentively she would
+  believe that Jesus was the son of Joseph: these assertions of hers,
+  are all false and unfounded, and must be the result of a feigned
+  or forced construction of something I might have said, to suit her
+  own purpose. For those who do not wish to be satisfied with fair
+  reasoning, there is no end to their cavilling and misrepresentation.
+  As to what she relates as it regards the manner of our coming into
+  the world in our infant state, it is my belief, that we come into
+  the world in the same state of innocence, and endowed with the same
+  propensities and desires that our first parents were, in their
+  primeval state; and this Jesus Christ has established, and must be
+  conclusive in the minds of all true believers; when he took a little
+  child in his arms and blessed him, and said to them around him that
+  except they were converted, and become as that little child, they
+  should in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Of course, all
+  the desires and propensities of that little child, and of our first
+  parents in their primeval state, must have been good, as they were
+  all the endowments of their Creator, and given to them for a special
+  purpose. But it is the improper and unlawful indulgence of them that
+  is evil.
+
+  "I readily acknowledge, I have not been able to see or understand,
+  how the cruel persecution and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, by the
+  wicked and hard-hearted Jews, should expiate my sins; and never
+  have known anything to effect that for me, but the grace of God,
+  that taught me, agreeably to the apostle's doctrine, to deny all
+  ungodliness and the world's lusts, and do live soberly, righteously,
+  and godly in this present world; and as I have faithfully abode
+  under its teachings, in full obedience thereto, I have been brought
+  to believe that my sins were forgiven, and I permitted to sit under
+  the Lord's teaching, as saith the prophet: 'that the children of
+  the Lord are all taught of the Lord, and in righteousness they are
+  established, and great is the peace of his children.' And so long
+  as I feel this peace, there is nothing in this world that makes me
+  afraid, as it respects my eternal condition. But if any of my friends
+  have received and known benefit from any outward sacrifice, I do not
+  envy them their privilege. But, surely, they would not be willing
+  that I should acknowledge as a truth, that which I have no kind of
+  knowledge of. I am willing to admit, that Divine Mercy is no doubt
+  watching over his rational creation for their good, and may secretly
+  work at times for their preservation; but, if, in his infinite wisdom
+  and goodness, he sees meet to hide it from us, as most consistent
+  with his wisdom and our good, let us have a care that we do not, in
+  the pride of our hearts, undertake to pry into his secret counsels,
+  lest we offend; but be content with what he is pleased to reveal to
+  us, let it be more or less, and, especially, if he is pleased to
+  speak peace to our minds. And when he graciously condescends to do
+  this, we shall know it to be a peace that the world cannot give, with
+  all its enjoyments, neither take away, with all its frowns.
+
+  "I shall now draw to a close, and, with the salutation of gospel
+  love, I subscribe myself thy affectionate and sympathizing friend and
+  brother.
+
+                                        "ELIAS HICKS."
+
+  To Edwin A. Atlee.
+
+
+C
+
+The Portraits.
+
+The cut facing page 121 is a photograph from the painting by Henry
+Ketcham. This was sketched by the artist who was in the public gallery
+of the meeting house at different times when Elias Hicks was preaching,
+his presence being unknown to the preacher. It was originally a
+full-length portrait, but many years ago was injured by fire, when it
+was cut down to bust size. For some time it was in the home of the
+late Elwood Walter, of Englewood, N. J. For many years it has been in
+the family of Henry B. Seaman. It is believed that the pictures made
+under direction of the late Edward Hopper, had this portrait as their
+original. The engravings in the "History of Long Island" and in the
+"Complete Works of Walt Whitman," are probably based on this portrait.
+They have passed through such a "sleeking-up" process, however, as to
+lack the individuality of the more crude production.
+
+The frontispiece is from a photograph of the bust of Elias Hicks, by
+the sculptor, William Ordway Partridge, and was made for Henry B.
+Seaman. In making the bust the artist used the oil painting referred
+to above, and all of the other pictures of Elias Hicks in existence,
+including the full-length silhouette. He also had the bust, said to
+have been taken from the death mask, and from them all attempted to
+construct what may be termed the "ideal" Elias Hicks.
+
+
+D
+
+The Death Mask.
+
+Much has been written about the death mask of Elias Hicks, from which
+the bust in Swarthmore College, in the New York Friend's Library and
+other places was made. That such a mask was taken admits of no doubt,
+and the only clear statement regarding the matter is given below. The
+bust is in the possession of Harry B. Seaman. The issue of "Niles
+Register" referred to was published only six weeks after the death of
+Elias Hicks.
+
+  "We understand an Italian artist of this city, has secretly
+  disinterred the body of Elias Hicks, the celebrated Quaker preacher,
+  and moulded his bust. It seems he had applied to the friends of
+  the deceased to take a moulding previous to his interment, but was
+  refused. Suspicion being excited that the grave had been disturbed,
+  it was examined, and some bits of plaster were found adhering to the
+  hair of the deceased. The enthusiastic Italian was visited, and owned
+  that, as he had been denied the privilege of taking a bust before
+  interment, he had adopted the only method of obtaining one. We have
+  heard nothing more on the subject, except that the bust is a most
+  excellent likeness."[225]
+
+[225] Quoted from New York Constellation, in "Niles Weekly Register,"
+April 10, 1830, p. 124.
+
+
+E
+
+A Bit of Advertising.
+
+As showing the way the presence of ministering Friends was advertised
+in Philadelphia eighty-eight years ago, we reproduce the following,
+which appeared in some of the papers[226] of that period:
+
+[226] The Cabinet, or Works of Darkness Brought to Light. Philadelphia,
+1824, p. 33.
+
+  "Arrived in this city on the 7th inst., Elias Hicks, a distinguished
+  minister of the gospel, the Benign Doctrines of which he is a
+  faithful embassador, has for many years past practically endeavored
+  (both by precept and example) to promulgate in its primeval
+  beauty and simplicity, without money and without price. Those who
+  are Friends to plain truth and evangelical preaching, that have
+  heretofore been edified and comforted under his ministry, will
+  doubtless be pleased to learn of his arrival, and avail themselves of
+  the present opportunity of attending such appointments as he, under
+  the direction of Divine influence, may see proper to make in his tour
+  of Gospel Love, to the inhabitants of this city and its vicinity.
+
+                                        "A CITIZEN."
+
+  PHILADELPHIA, December 9, 1822.
+
+
+F
+
+Acknowledgment.
+
+The author of this book acknowledges his indebtedness in its
+preparation to the following, who either in furnishing data, or
+otherwise assisted in its preparation: William and Margaret L. Seaman,
+and Samuel J. Seaman, Glen Cove, N. Y.; Robert and Anna Seaman,
+Jericho, N. Y.; Henry B. Seaman, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Dr. Jesse H. Green,
+West Chester, Pa.; Mary Willis, Rochester, N. Y.; Ella K. Barnard and
+Joseph J. Janney, Baltimore, Md.; Henry B. Hallock, Brooklyn, N. Y.;
+John Comly, Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+
+G
+
+Sources of Information.
+
+In making this book the following are the main sources of information
+that have been consulted; which are referred to those who may wish to
+go into the details of the matter involved:
+
+  Journal of Elias Hicks, New York, 1832. Published by Isaac T. Hopper.
+
+  The Lundy Family. By William Clinton Armstrong. New Brunswick, 1902.
+
+  The Quaker; A Series of Sermons by Members of the Society of Friends,
+  Philadelphia, 1827-28. Published by Marcus T. C. Gould.
+
+  A Series of Extemporaneous Discourses, etc., by Elias Hicks.
+  Philadelphia, 1825. Published by Joseph and Edward Parker.
+
+  Letters of Elias Hicks. Philadelphia, 1861. Published by T. Ellwood
+  Chapman.
+
+  An Account of the Life and Travels of Samuel Bownas. Edited by J.
+  Besse. London, 1756.
+
+  Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. II. Buffalo, N. Y., 1885. The Christian
+  Literature Publishing Company.
+
+  The Quakers. By Frederick Storrs Turner. London, 1889. Swan,
+  Sounenschein & Co.
+
+  A Review of the General and Particular Causes Which Have Produced the
+  Late Disorders in the Yearly Meeting of Friends Held in Philadelphia.
+  By James Cockburn. Philadelphia, 1829.
+
+  Foster's Report. Two volumes. By Jeremiah J. Foster, Master and
+  Examiner in Chancery. Philadelphia, 1831.
+
+  Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends Held in
+  Philadelphia, 1806.
+
+  The Friend; or Advocate of Truth. Philadelphia, 1828. Published by M.
+  T. C. Gould.
+
+  An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, etc. By Robert Barclay.
+  Philadelphia, 1877. Friends' Book Store.
+
+  Memoirs of Anna Braithwaite. By her son, J. Bevan Braithwaite.
+  London, 1905. Headley Brothers.
+
+  The Christian Inquirer. New York, 1826. Published by B. Bates.
+
+  J. Bevan Braithwaite; A Friend of the Nineteenth Century. By His
+  Children. London, 1909. Hodder & Stoughton.
+
+  Sermons by Elias Hicks, Ann Jones and Others of the Society of
+  Friends, etc. Brooklyn, 1828.
+
+  Journal of Thomas Shillitoe. London, 1839. Harvey & Darton.
+
+  Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall. By William
+  Darlington. Philadelphia, 1849.
+
+  The American Conflict. By Horace Greeley. Hartford, Conn., 1864. O.
+  D. Case & Co.
+
+  Memoirs of Life and Religious Labors of Edward Hicks. Philadelphia,
+  1851.
+
+  Life of Walt Whitman. Henry Bryan Binns.
+
+  Complete Works of Walt Whitman. 1902.
+
+  History of Long Island.
+
+  Proceedings of the Manchester Conference. 1895.
+
+  Stephen Grellett. By William Guest. Philadelphia, 1833. Henry
+  Longstreth.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Abolitionists, Garrisonian, 87
+
+  After the "Separation," 195
+
+  Aldrich, Royal, reference to, 69
+
+  Ancestry and Boyhood, 17
+
+  Apostolic Christian, an, 7
+
+  Appendix, 226
+
+  Apprenticeship of E. H., 22
+
+  Atlee, Dr. Edwin A., E. H.'s letter to, Appendix B;
+    reference to, 166
+
+
+  Baltimore Y. M., E. H. attends, 44
+
+  Baptists, Southern, reference to, 94
+
+  Barclay's Apology, quotation from, 143-144
+
+  Bartram, John, reference to, 190;
+    sketch of, 190;
+    his supposed deism, 190-191
+
+  Beacon Controversy, the, 169-170
+
+  Berry, Mary, at Easton, Md., 37
+
+  Binns, Henry Byran, describes E. H.'s preaching, 212-218
+
+  Black people commended, 37
+
+  Bownas, Samuel (note), 18
+
+  Braithwaite, Anna, referred to, 49;
+    sketch of (note), 161;
+    writes to E. H., 162;
+    writes to Friend in Flushing, 163;
+    writes to E. H. from England, 165;
+    writes to E. H. from Kipp's Bay, 168;
+    advised by Jericho ministers and elders, 169;
+    late reference to "Hicksism," 170
+
+  Braithwaite, Isaac, reference to (note), 161;
+    reference to, 179-183
+
+  Braithwaite, J. Bevan (note), 164-170
+
+
+  Camp meetings, E. H. condemns, 104
+
+  Carpenter. E. H. apprenticed as, 22
+
+  Christ, Divinity of, 115, 116, 156
+
+  Christ as saviour, 156-157
+
+  Clarkson, Thomas, receives Hicks' pamphlet, 90
+
+  Clement of Alexandria, reference to, 106
+
+  Conflict, The American (note), 94
+
+  Cotton gin, invention of, 94
+
+  Court Crier, E. H. imitates, 62
+
+  Cropper, James (note), 89;
+    letter from E. H., 90
+
+
+  Dancing, opinion of, 22
+
+  Discipline, E. H.'s regard for, 29
+
+  Disownment and doctrine, 188
+
+  Disownments for doctrine, 190;
+    E. H. on, 191-193;
+    during slavery agitation, 87-88
+
+  Division, before the, 121
+
+  Doctrine, statement of by Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings, 139
+
+  Dutchess County, separation in, 178
+
+
+  Early labors in ministry, 32
+
+  Easton, Md., letter from, 37
+
+  Election, E. H. on, 110
+
+  Evans, Jonathan, opposes E. H., 127;
+    clerk Meeting for Sufferings, 139;
+    expounds orthodox doctrine, 153
+
+  Exeter, Pa., E. H. writes letter from, 38
+
+
+  Family, the Hicks, 71;
+    E. H.'s statement about, 71;
+    children in, 72-73
+
+  First Trouble in Philadelphia, 126
+
+  Fisher, Samuel R., entertains E. H., 44
+
+  Flushing, O., E. H. meets opposition in, 50;
+    also (note), 50
+
+  Free Masonry, E. H. on, 103
+
+  Friends, Progressive (note), 88
+
+
+  Garrison, William Lloyd, on Society of Friends, 87
+
+  Gibbons, James S., is disowned, 87
+
+  Goldsmith, Oliver, extract from "Deserted Village," 68
+
+  Gould, Marcus T. C., publisher "The Quaker," 152-153
+
+  Greeley, Horace, quotation from, 94
+
+  Green, Dr. Jesse C., reference to, 211;
+    recollections of E. H., 211-212
+
+  Green Street Monthly Meeting, center of difficulty, 147-149
+
+  Grellett, Stephen, sketch of (note), 123;
+    questions orthodoxy of E. H., 123
+
+  Gurney, Joseph John, reference to, 165
+
+
+  Harris, Dr. J. Rendell, criticises E. H., 208
+
+  Heaven and hell, E. H. on, 110-111
+
+  Hicks, Abigail, daughter of E. H., 72;
+    picture of, facing, 97
+
+  Hicks, David, son of E. H., 72
+
+  Hicks, Edward, sketch of (note), 202;
+    estimate of E. H., 203
+
+  Hicks, Elias, apostolic Christian, 7;
+    his type of Quakerism, 7;
+    reading Scriptures, 12;
+    reference to old folks, 13;
+    objects to flower bed, 13;
+    sells wheat at low price to neighbors, 14;
+    favors disciplinary equality for women, 15;
+    birth, 18;
+    reference to parents, 11, 19;
+    death of mother, 20;
+    reference to singing and running horses, 20;
+    apprenticed to learn carpenter's trade, 22;
+    on dancing, 22-23;
+    on hunting, 23-24;
+    reference to possibly lost condition, 23;
+    statement regarding his marriage, 24;
+    marriage application in monthly meeting, 25;
+    takes up residence in Jericho, 26;
+    a surveyor, 27;
+    appears in the ministry, 28-29;
+    regard for discipline, 29;
+    recorded a minister, 30;
+    passes through military lines in Revolutionary War, 31;
+    makes first long religious journey, 32;
+    visits Nine Partners, Vermont, etc., 34;
+    visits New England, 35;
+    visits Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings, 36;
+    first sermon against slavery, 36;
+    letter from Easton, Md., 37;
+    visit to states south of New York, 38;
+    visit to Canada, 40;
+    visit New England meetings, 42;
+    goes to Ohio, 43;
+    at Baltimore Y. M., 44;
+    starts on last long religious journey, 46;
+    meets opposition at Westland, 47;
+    experience at Brownsville, 47;
+    at Mt. Pleasant, O., 48-49;
+    attends Ohio Y. M., 49-50;
+    disturbance at Flushing, O., 50;
+    attends Indiana Y. M., 52;
+    trouble at West Grove, Pa., 53;
+    extent of his travels, 56;
+    ideas about the ministry, 57;
+    speaks of his own ministry, 58;
+    against premeditation, 59;
+    measuring the ministry, 60-61;
+    imitates court crier, 62;
+    advice touching meetings and ministry, 63;
+    is frequently indisposed, 64;
+    his Jericho property, 69;
+    statement about his wife, 71;
+    as a father, 72;
+    letters to his wife, 76-83;
+    on the slavery question, 84-94;
+    various opinions, 95;
+    on the joys of labor, 97;
+    ideas regarding railroads, 98;
+    ideas about Thanksgiving, 102;
+    opposes Freemasonry, 103;
+    some points of doctrine, 107-120;
+    has trouble in Philadelphia, 126-128;
+    writes letter to Philadelphia elders, 132;
+    in the time of unsettlement, 139-151;
+    three sermons reviewed, 152-160;
+    is visited by Anna Braithwaite, 162;
+    writes to Dr. Atlee, 164;
+    writes to Anna Braithwaite, 169;
+    in Dutchess County with Ann Jones, 171-176;
+    contact with T. Shillitoe, 184-185;
+    at Mt. Pleasant and Short Creek, O., 186-187;
+    disowned by Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting, 189;
+    ideas about disownment, 193-194;
+    at Rose and Hester Streets, New York, 195;
+    remarks on reception by Friends, 196;
+    assumes the humorous role, 196;
+    received by Friends after long western trip, 197;
+    death of wife, 198;
+    visits Dutchess County, 199;
+    preaches in statehouse, Albany, 200;
+    letter to Johnson Legg, 201;
+    his dying testimony, 204;
+    critics of, 202-210;
+    a logical thinker, 211;
+    his kindness to poor, 213-214;
+    deals with corn thief, 214;
+    his dying testimony against slavery, 214;
+    sufferings for peace principles, 215-216;
+    helps organize charity society, 216-217;
+    putting off harness, 218-225;
+    his last traveling minute, 220;
+    attends his last monthly meeting, 220-221;
+    suffers stroke of paralysis, 221;
+    his death, 221;
+    his funeral, 221;
+    last letter to Hugh Judge, 222
+
+  Hicks, Elias, Jr., son of E. H., 73
+
+  Hicks, Elizabeth, daughter of E. H., 72;
+    picture of, facing, 97 ...
+
+  Hicks, Sir Ellis, reference to, 17
+
+  Hicks Family, the, 71
+
+  Hicks, Jonathan, son of E. H., 73
+
+  Hicks, John, son of E. H., 72
+
+  Hicks, Jemima, wife of E. H., estimate of, 74-75;
+    letters to, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82;
+    death of, 198;
+    funeral of, 198-199
+
+  Hicks, Martha, daughter of E. H., 72;
+    picture of, facing, 97
+
+  Hicks, Sarah, daughter of E. H., 72
+
+  Hicks, Judge Thomas, great-grandfather E. H., 18;
+    befriends S. Bownas, 18
+
+  Hicksville, reference to, 66
+
+  Hicks, Valentine, son-in-law of E. H., reference to, 66;
+    President Long Island Railroad, 100;
+    picture of, facing, 97
+
+  Hodgson, W., reference to E. H.'s sentiments, 206
+
+  Home at Jericho, the, 66
+
+  Hopper, Isaac T., reference to disownment of, 87
+
+  Humor, E. H. indulges in, 196
+
+
+  Immortality, E. H. on, 112-114
+
+  Indiana Y. M., E. H. attends, 51
+
+  Inquirer, The Christian (note), 102
+
+  Introduction, 11
+
+
+  Jackson, Halliday, arrested at Ohio Y. M., 49;
+    statement about (note), 49
+
+  Jericho, home at, 66
+
+  Jericho Monthly Meeting, members at time of "separation," 188;
+    E. H. advises, 200
+
+  Jesus, death and resurrection of, 118-120
+
+  Johnson, Oliver, on abolition claims of Friends, 88
+
+  Jones, Ann, in Dutchess County, 171;
+    extracts from sermons, 171-172
+
+  Jones, George, reference to, 174-176
+
+  Judge, Hugh, sketch of (note), 221-222;
+    reference to, 221;
+    E. H.'s letter to, 222-225
+
+
+  Keith, George, sketch of (note), 19
+
+  Kennett Monthly Meeting, extract from minutes, 88
+
+  Kingston, Canada, E. H. writes letter from, 40
+
+
+  Labor, ideas about, 96-98
+
+  Lamb, blood of, 155
+
+  Lewis, Evan (note), 89
+
+  Liberator, the, quotations from, 87-88
+
+  Lloyd, Isaac, statement by, 154
+
+  Lost condition, reference to, 23
+
+  Lundy, Benjamin, sketch of (note), 86
+
+
+  Manchester Conference, proceedings of (note), 208;
+    quotation from, 208
+
+  Marriage of E. H., 25
+
+  Marriott, Charles, his disownment, 87
+
+  Meeting ministers and elders, a visiting committee, 36
+
+  Meeting for Sufferings, to control membership, 150
+
+  Merritt, Jesse, travels with E. H., 54;
+    is homesick, 54
+
+  Mifflin, Daniel, emancipates slaves, 84
+
+  Mifflin, Warner, emancipates slaves, 84;
+    presents memorial to Congress, 84;
+    reference to, 85
+
+  Mind, effect on body, 100
+
+  Minister, E. H. recorded as, 30
+
+  Ministry, E. H.'s first appearance in, 28;
+    ideas about, 57;
+    speaks of his own, 58;
+    measuring the, 60-61
+
+  Minute, E. H.'s last traveling, 220
+
+  Miraculous conception, the, 114, 194
+
+  Monthly Meeting, E. H. attends his last, 220-221
+
+  Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, reference to, 105
+
+  Mott, Adam (note), 35
+
+  Mott, James, Sr., reference to (note), 35;
+    writes E. H., 123;
+    criticises E. H., 205
+
+  Mott, James and Lucretia, reference to, 35
+
+  Mt. Pleasant, O., disturbance in meeting at, 48-49;
+    Yearly Meeting 1828 at, 49-50;
+    E. H. and T. Shillitoe at, 186
+
+
+  New England Y. M. visited by E. H., 35;
+    attended by English Friends, 183
+
+  New Jersey, Friends in, approve E. H., 196
+
+  New York Y. M., attended by English Friends, 183;
+    by T. Shillitoe, 1828, 183;
+    extract from minute of, 183;
+    T. Shillitoe objects to visitors in, 183
+
+  Nine Partners, sermon at, 123
+
+
+  Ohio Y. M. attended by E. H., 48-49, 186
+
+  Osborn, Charles, prays and preaches two hours, 50
+
+
+  Paine, Thomas, referred to, 117;
+    E. H. on, 117;
+    E. H. compared with, 167
+
+  Parker's, Hicks's sermons, extracts from, 92-93
+
+  Philadelphia Elders write E. H., 130-131
+
+  Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings starts charge of E. H.'s
+      unsoundness, 129;
+    issues statement of doctrine, 139-143
+
+  Pine Street Monthly Meeting offers affront to E. H., 126-127
+
+  Property, E. H.'s views about, 95-96
+
+
+  Quakerism, type of, 7
+
+  Quaker," "The, extracts from, 91, 96
+
+  Quaker creed, a sort of, 139, 143
+
+
+  Railroad, E. H. opposes, 99;
+    the Long Island, 99;
+    Baltimore and Ohio, 98-99;
+    the first (note), 99
+
+  Recollections, reminiscences and testimonies, 211-217
+
+  Religious journeys in 1828, 46
+
+  Routh, Martha, writes letter to E. H., 90
+
+  Roy, Rammouhan, sketch of (note), 206;
+    writes E. H., 207
+
+
+  Salvation, universal, 108-109
+
+  Salvation, vital, 159
+
+  Satan, 116
+
+  Schools, public, ideas about, 101
+
+  Seaman, Gideon, reference to, 50, 182
+
+  Seaman, Jemima, reference to, 24;
+    marries E. H., 25
+
+  Seaman, Captain John, moves to Long Island, 26
+
+  Seaman, Jonathan, father of Jemima, 26
+
+  Seaman, Lazarus, Puritan divine, 26
+
+  Sermons, length of, 65
+
+  Shillitoe, Thomas, reference to, 47;
+    sketch of (note), 181;
+    declines to visit E. H., 182;
+    refers to his traveling minute, 183-184;
+    goes west, 184;
+    converses with ferry keeper, 186;
+    at Mt. Pleasant, 186
+
+  Sin and transgression, 107
+
+  Singing, reference to, 20
+
+  Slavery, first sermon against, 36
+
+  Slavery question, the, 84-94;
+    Friends on, 85-94;
+    pamphlet by E. H. on, 93
+
+  Southern Q. M. members of, on E. H., 133-136
+
+  Stabler, Deborah and James, sketch of (note), 98
+
+
+  Tallack, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, 206
+
+  Thanksgiving, E. H. on, 102-103
+
+  Thomas, Philip E., reference to, 98;
+    sketch of (note), 98
+
+  Three sermons reviewed, 152
+
+  Time of unsettlement, 139
+
+  Titus, Daniel, traveling companion of E. H., 40
+
+  Turner, Frederick Storrs, reference to, 122;
+    on E. H., 203-204
+
+
+  Unitarianism, E. H. on, 117;
+    in New England, 121
+
+  Unsoundness, charge of, 146
+
+
+  War, Revolutionary, E. H. passes military lines, 31;
+    E. H.'s "sufferings" during, 215-216
+
+  Westbury Monthly Meeting, members at the time of "separation," 188
+
+  Westbury and Jericho Monthly Meeting (note), 50;
+    orders E. H. home, 50;
+    reference to, 188;
+    membership of, 188;
+    disowns E. H., 189
+
+  Wharton, William, reference to, 207
+
+  Wheat, E. H. sells at low price, 14
+
+  Whitall, Joseph, reports E. H. unsound, 128
+
+  White, George F., influential in disownment of Isaac T. Hopper, 87;
+    on slave labor, 87;
+    attacks various organizations, 87
+
+  Whitman, Walt, estimation of E. H., 205;
+    reference to, 218-219;
+    hears E. H. preach, 219;
+    describes E. H.'s preaching, 213
+
+  Willets, Deborah (note), 178;
+    extract from letter, 179-180
+
+  Willets, Jacob (note), 178;
+    statement about division in meetings, 178
+
+  Willets, Joshua, son-in-law of E. H., 70
+
+  Willis, Edmund, traveling companion of E. H., 38
+
+  Willis, John, traveling companion of E. H., 32
+
+  Willis, Mary, reference to, 212;
+    her recollections of E. H., 212-213
+
+  Willis, Thomas and Phebe, oppose E. H., 124;
+    dealt with by Jericho Monthly Meeting, 125;
+    reference to, 182
+
+  Women, equality of, 15
+
+  Woolman, John, on slavery, 84
+
+  World, the, against mixing with, 103-104
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+  A, Descendants of Elias Hicks, 226-228
+
+  B, Letter to Dr. Atlee, 229-233
+
+  C, The Portraits, 234
+
+  D, The Death Mask, 234
+
+  E, A Bit of Advertising, 235
+
+  F, Acknowledgment, 235
+
+  G, Sources of Information, 236-237
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.
+
+
+Alphabetization has been fixed in the index and page order in the List
+of Illustrations was also fixed; however no content was changed, and
+the changes are not noted in the detailed changes.
+
+Archaic, unusual and inconsistent spellings have been maintained as in
+the original. Obvious typos have been fixed, as detailed below.
+
+  Page 4:     Transcriber's Note
+  Added to Table of Contents by Transcriber.
+
+  Page 25:    "At a monthly meeting held in the meeting house
+  Originally: "At a monthly meting held in the meeting house
+
+  Page 25:    appearing to obstruct their proceedings in
+  Originally: appearing to obestruct their proceedings in
+
+  Page 29:    kept sweet and clean, consistent with
+  Originally: kept sweet and clean, consitent with
+
+  Page 36:    some present who were slaveholders were
+  Originally: some present who were slave-holders were
+
+  Page 53:    which had divided the Society of Friends.
+  Originally: which had divided the Soicety of Friends.
+
+  Page 65:    his willingness to "famish the people from words,"
+  Originally: his willingess to "famish the people from words,"
+
+  Page 66:    from cellar wall to ridge-pole
+  Originally: from celler wall to ridge-pole
+
+  Page 72:    She passed away in 1871.
+  Originally: She passed away in 1781.
+
+  Page 76:    one wishes for more description, relating to the
+  Originally: one wishes for more discription, relating to the
+
+  Page 86:    Of this Address, Horace Greeley says,
+  Originally: Of this Address, Horace Greely says,
+
+  Page 97:    more delightful and profitable instruction
+  Originally: more delightful and profitable instructtion
+
+  Page 101:   Observation, he said, led him to believe
+  Originally: Observation, he said, lead him to believe
+
+  Page 106 (note): "Ante-Nicene Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.
+  Originally:      "Anti-Nicene Fathers," Vol. II, p. 305.
+
+  Page 122:   from change in Zion.
+  Originally: from change in zion
+
+  Page 128:   in the early part of Twelfth month,
+  Originally: in the early part of Twefth month,
+
+  Page 129:   believing that Elias succeeded in measurably
+  Originally: believing that Elias succeeded in measureably
+
+  Page 131:   who made the above statements which
+  Originally: who made the above statments which
+
+  Page 131:   "THOMAS WISTAR."
+  Originally: "THOMAS WISTER."
+
+  Page 133:   within the bounds of Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting
+  Originally: within the bounds of Philadelphia Quartely Meeting
+
+  Page 141:   satisfactory sacrifice and not otherwise.
+  Originally: satisfactory sacrifice and no otherwise.
+
+  Page 160:   is to be to the children of men
+  Originally: is to be the children of men
+
+  Page 165:   the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour
+  Originally: the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Savious
+
+  Page 171 (note):  Taken in short-hand by Henry Hoag, p. 20.
+  Originally:       Taken in shorthand by Henry Hoag, p. 20.
+
+  Page 173:   The blood of Christ that is immortal
+  Originally: The blood of Chirst that is immortal
+
+  Page 179: acquainted with their manoeuvring
+  Originally the oe ligature was used.
+
+  Page 206:   many of Elias Hicks' assertions are too blasphemous
+  Originally: many of Elias Hick's assertions are too blasphemous
+
+  Page 206 (note): and incurred the enmity of his family.
+  Originally:      and incurred the emnity of his family.
+
+  Page 209: from the amoeba to the man
+  Originally the oe ligature was used.
+
+  Page 224:   his disciples, John 14:16-17;
+  Originally: his diciples, John 14:16-17;
+
+  Page 231:   the Spirit given to every man if it not to profit by;
+  Originally: the Spirit given to every man if it it not to profit by;
+
+  Page 233:   undertake to pry into his secret
+  Originally: undertake to prey into his secret
+
+  Page 235:   Acknowledgment.
+  Originally: Acknowledgement.
+
+  Page 240:   Marriott, Charles, his disownment, 87
+  Originally: Marriot, Charles, his disownment, 87
+
+  Page 241:   Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, reference to, 105
+  Originally: Mosheim's Ecclesiatical History, reference to, 105
+
+  Page 241:   Tallack, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, 206
+  Originally: Tallock, William, refers to E. H.'s assertions, 206
+
+  Page 242:   E, A Bit of Advertising, 235
+  Originally: E, A Bit of Advertisting, 235
+
+  Page 242:   G, Sources of Information, 236-237
+  Originally omitted from index.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks, by 
+Henry Watson Wilbur
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