My Part in the Quaker Adventure

To the Teacher, the Pupils and Their Families

The exploration into Quaker history which follows in these pages is really a joint product of the teacher, pupils and their families in a small Meeting in the midwestern section of our country. Some of these families had joined Friends very recently, others were not members of the Society, and many of the children had little Quaker background with which to begin this study. We realized very soon that one hour on First-day mornings was a short time in which to gain an understanding of what makes Quakers tick, so we tried whenever possible to bring the families into the adventure. Some would have a weekly hour in which the week’s lesson was read aloud by the whole family group and dis- cussed by them. For parents familiar with Quakerism it was a time of rediscovery of ideas long taken for granted, and for those new to Quakerism it was an opportunity to learn along with their children. The best training in the world cannot substitute for the value of talking things over at home.

This is an invitation, then, to the families to join in our study project. We found in our own First-day School that we gained much from a potluck meal held at the home of the teacher for all the families of the class. (It could just as well be in the home of one of the members of the class). Here the plan for the year was discussed jointly by parents, teacher, and children, for children very often have better ideas than parents on these matters. Suggestions were made as to what type of home activity could supplement the First-day morning class study, and ways of planning reading aloud and family worship were considered. Since religious development is as much a family matter as an individual matter, we should like to feel that we are growing as whole families together. Instead of letting the First-day School and the Meeting divide us into separate groups of adults and children, we should each of us try to share with one another the experiences of the First-day School and the Meeting.

The readings suggested at the end of each lesson can be used in the family, and it is hoped that they will encourage oral reading of Quaker literature in the home. Most of the books suggested ought to be part of any First-day School library, and some may wish to make them part of their home libraries too. Where Journals are suggested, we should like to encourage reading from the Journals themselves rather than from digests and compiled selections. While we all use and appreciate the condensations at times, it is good for all of us, children and adults, to get away once in a while from a kind of Reader’s Digest version of religious experience, and give reverence to the way in which an author has chosen to present his own experiences. Even if we read only short passages to begin with, once we have seen the books from which they come, we may return and read more later.

We should be very happy to hear from any classes that do experiment with family participation in the study of this or any other First-day School course. Through the common sharing of experiences along this line may we be able to strengthen the religious education programs of our meetings.

To the Teacher

These lessons on Quaker history are being offered for twelve to fourteen-year-olds because we have found in our personal teaching experience that this age group is eager for and receptive to this type of material. While it is dangerous to over-estimate the background and capacity of this age group, it is equally dangerous to underestimate these factors and fail to challenge the children sufficiently. For one group of children you may find it necessary to fill in a little more background and to go more slowly than at a lesson-a-week pace. In another group you may find the children already ahead of you and brimming over with ideas and responses. Every teacher has to adapt herself to her group; but in general the straight, uncluttered thinking of which this age is capable, when presented with issues, will be a delight and a challenge to you.

Although in the first two sections the beliefs and testimonies of Friends are presented in their historical setting, it is very important for the children to relate these ideas to their own lives, and the discussion questions suggested at the end of each lesson aim at helping them to do just that. The class will frequently have questions of their own to raise, but the printed questions are there as a guide, if needed. Most Friends Meetings, and most churches, are finding considerable difficulty in holding the interest of their young people as they move into high school. Section IV is designed to meet this problem by helping this group to see the importance of their own role in their local Meeting and in the whole Society of Friends, and to get them started in interesting activities that will carry through into high school.

The readings suggested for the lessons should not be assigned as homework. If the family reading projects mentioned in this Introduction are undertaken, it will be an easy matter to plan the home reading in such a way that a child can be prepared briefly to retell an appropriate story. In our class all the books used belong to the First-day School and each child chose one book which he kept at home from one to four weeks. There is no value, however, in making home reading compulsory for those who may not enjoy reading. In some cases you may find it better to tell the supplementary stories yourself.

There are many activity suggestions. However, it is not expected that every class will undertake all the suggested projects. There are far more than any one class could possibly handle. If you will look through all the suggested projects before the class begins its study, then you can guide the classes through as many or as few projects as they wish to undertake during the year. Class activities will naturally depend on the interests and responsiveness of the class.

We suggest that the boys and girls make notebooks at the beginning of the course and keep them through the year. In this way they can keep a record of the readings they do at home, of the projects they undertake, and they will have a special place to record any ideas or questions that come to their minds. Original poems, stories, drawings and meditations should be encouraged if you happen to have a class that enjoys that type of creative activity. An excellent way to make the children conscious of the current importance of the beliefs they are studying would be to encourage them to look for newspaper and magazine clippings on issues that relate to the topics being studied. They should also be encouraged to make collections from AFSC material and Friends periodicals on any pertinent subject. You can help the class with its collections by bringing in clippings yourself each week to distribute among the children, since your reading will be much more diversified than theirs. The “Round the World Quaker Letters” published by the Friends World Committee for Consultation will provide valuable supplementary material for these lessons although addressed to younger readers. They should be included in the notebooks

In choosing our lesson materials, we have had one idea in mind above all others: to give the children an understanding of Quakerism so that they may be helped to find a place for themselves in the Society of Friends. The history is valuable only insofar as it leads the boys and girls to develop their own personal beliefs, and the survey of contemporary Quakerism is intended as a kind of map on which they can spot the road they would personally like to travel. Or, they may decide as they go through the course that these are not the roads they would like to use. You, as the teacher, will be aware of the importance of letting the children think for themselves on the basis of the material presented, and will not compel conclusions from the group, particularly in such areas as pacifism, which they are not personally able to accept. If you meet your children where they are, in terms of their interests and capacities, and have faith in their ability to think for themselves, you are bound, all of you, to grow as a result of your work together.

Ch. 1 – An Imaginary Letter from George Fox

Dear Young Friends:

It has come to my attention that there are still people called Quakers about, three hundred years after the time when I first received my openings and began my preaching. I have been using the privilege of a brief visit to earth to go around and visit all the meetings of these people wherever I can find them. I confess that I am both puzzled and distressed. Not only are their language, their dress and their customs strange to me, but I find so many different kinds of groups all calling themselves Friends. They all seem to know something of my writing and teaching, and of the teaching of those who so valiantly worked with me. But how differently our words sound in these new mouths! A Friend in London makes them mean one thing; a Friend in Philadelphia, another; in Indiana, a third meaning emerges. And as for the Friends on the other side of the world — Africa, India, Japan, there’s no end to the meaning of these words of ours, written so long ago. And here you are, a small group of young people wanting to find out about the Society of Friends, to see if it has anything for you.

I am taking the trouble to write to you because I want you to know that it does have something for you. I am afraid that if you don’t find out anything more about Quakers than what the Friends in your particular group are preaching and doing today, you will miss something very important. Because the strangest thing about all these different groups is that in a way I feel at home in all of them, and yet each of them seems to lack something, too. If I could only mix them all together in one big Meeting, I think I should see coming out of this mixture a Quakerism that I could recognize from my own experience. It is a Quakerism that could set the world on fire, and it’s the kind of Quakerism I’d like you to see.

You are young, and you could set the world on fire, if you could have the kind of experience that I and my Valiant Sixty had three hundred years ago. In our time we made a good start at changing the world. People came to us by the hundreds even though such affiliation meant imprisonment, persecution, being hated and despised and suspected of every evil from immorality to treason by the good citizens of our day. People treated us just about the same way that the “good citizens” of today seem to be treating Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since then, the world has come to understand somewhat better what we were trying to do, and today I find Quakers are very respectable indeed. But a lot of the old fire has gone out of them. Not that these modern Friends don’t find the Light and do some really fine work. I have heard ministry in some of their meetings as powerful and moving as any preaching of my day, and I take pride in much of what I have seen of your mission work and the activities of the American Friends Service Committee.

But there are too few Friends who really do anything, too many who sit around being proud of a name that was earned through lifetimes of devotion, work and prayer. And a lot of them don’t even suspect the real meaning of the name they bear — that when we called ourselves Friends, we meant Friends of Christ, and that our work was his work, begun 1600 years before our day. We didn’t think we were inventing a new religion. We were only rediscovering an experience and a way of life already lived and taught by Jesus, and forgotten by most of the people of our time who called themselves Christians. And now I find this experience in danger of being forgotten again! I’m talking to you because I think you have a better chance of understanding what I’m driving at than a lot of older Friends who may have sat through many more meetings for worship than you have. Your great advantage is that, being young, you are not going to accept the religious convictions of anyone else. You will want to know for yourself. This wanting to experience God for yourself lies at the very heart of the Quakerism I helped to found. It is a religion of experience, and unless you have felt it in your own heart it means nothing, no matter how many passages from the Bible (or my Journal!) you know by heart. The Quaker children of my day discovered this experience and after all their parents had been imprisoned, were able to carry on public meetings for worship by themselves, even though they were beaten by the police (or such activities.

It seems to me that the best way for you to find out what this religion of experience is all about is to find out for yourselves just what it was that we got so excited about three hundred years ago, and what we did about it. We first Quakers aren’t the only ones worth investigating. There have been Quakers here and there who were on fire with the Light ever since our day, and there are Quakers like that to be found today, too, if you look for them. If you really want to understand Quakerism, look at our experiences and our actions, and check them against your own. Don’t be carried away by words alone, because the thing that is important is the experience that words stand for.

If our experience makes sense to you, then you will find yourself translating it into your own experience. Of course, won’t look just like ours — and it shouldn’t, because you want to make it your own. The same Spirit that has led us will lead you, but it may lead you to places of which we never dreamed. That’s why knowing a lot of good Quaker Ianguage isn’t enough. You have to be very sure of your Light before you can have the courage to follow it. I hope and pray that as you study about those of us who helped to build (he Society of Friends and to make known the way of life for which it stands, you will find your own place in that Society and your own special way to live its life.

Sincerely your friend,
George Fox

Questions for Discussion:

For this first meeting, rather than a discussion, we suggest that you make a list in your notebook of all the questions that come to your mind, either as a result of the letter you have just read or as a result of what you have heard about Quakerism in the past. What are the things you would like to find out about Quakerism? We hope that most of your questions will be answered in the lessons that follow. When we have finished our study of Quakerism, it would be fun to check back to the questions you have written today to see how many of them you can answer, or how many of them you would ask differently after you know more about the Society of Friends.

Suggestions for Home Reading:

• “The Children of Reading Meeting,” A Book of Quaker Saints, p. 217.
• “George Fox,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 3.

Section I: The Beginnings of Quakerism

Ch. 2 – The Openings of George Fox

England in the year 1624 was very much like the Europe of today, torn by terrible quarrels between different political groups and full of corruption. Into this bloody world came baby boy, born to a humble and unlearned weaver’s family. The boy’s name was George Fox, and he grew up into quiet lad who thought a great deal about all the evil he in the world about him. The king and his court lived a rowdy life of pleasure. Thousands of English laborers slaved in order to pay taxes for the king’s cake and had nothing left with which to buy bread for themselves. Men who owed money were shut up in jail for years, and any free man was in danger of being kidnapped and forced to serve as sailor in the king’s navy. Anyone who protested against the king’s rule was beheaded. There was a national church which supported the king, and for the most part, its ministers lived comfortably on their incomes and worried very little about the physical and spiritual misery of the poor people in their churches.

When George Fox was nineteen he left his family and friends and set out upon a search for “The Truth.” He wanted to know how he and his fellow men everywhere could be saved from the evil and corruption he saw all around him. He visited many men who were known for their wisdom and learning, but the best advice any could give him was to try to forget his troubles by using tobacco and singing songs.

One First-day morning, as he walked through the countryside feeling very discouraged, it suddenly occurred to him, (and these are his own words) “that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge [the two great English universities of the time] was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ, and I wondered at it, for it was the common belief of the people.” When he realized that God did not necessarily speak through the learned men who had gone to college and knew the Bible so well, he stopped seeking out the wise men, and wandered on alone, in deep discouragement. “When all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, … then, oh then, I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,’ and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy.”

Now at last George Fox had his great message, which he went forth to preach to all the world: “I showed them that God was come to teach His people by His Spirit, and to bring them off from all their old ways, religions, churches and worships; for all their religions, worships and ways were but talking with other men’s words; but they were out of the life and spirit which they were in who gave them forth.” The preachers of the Church of England fought him bitterly and tried to keep him from entering their churches. To one such preacher who tried to push him out of his church, he said, “Alas, poor man! dost thou call the steeplehouse the church? The church is the people, whom God hath purchased with His blood, and not the house.” And so George Fox preached in the fields and in barns, in taverns and on the streets, anyplace where people would gather to listen to him.

The heart of Fox’s message, that “God has come to teach His people by His Spirit,” has come to be known as the doctrine of the Inward Light. This Inward Light is God speaking to the heart of each one of us; and if we will look into our hearts to see what the Light shows us, we shall find what God’s will for us is, just as if we look into the light which a flashlight throws on a dark path, we shall see the way and be able to avoid rocks, branches and roots that may lie before us.

The Light showed George Fox many things about how ought to live and what he ought to do, and it showed these same things to many others as he went about England felling people to “look to the Light within.” For the next weeks we shall be studying about what happened to these people who to the Light.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What was the opening that led George Fox to begin preaching and finally to found the Society of Friends?
2. Have you ever known anyone whose religion seemed to merely a “talking with other people’s words”? What is wrong with that kind of religion?
3. It has often been said that the religion of the Inward Light is a religion of experience, as to the religion of authority, which is based entirely on the words of the Bible. What do the terms “religious experience” and “Inward Light” mean to you? Are these ideas necessarily opposed to the idea of reading the Bible and knowing it well? George Fox and his followers felt that the Scriptures confirmed their own religious experience.)

Home Readings:

• The Journal of George Fox (any edition) Chapter 1.
• “The First Quaker,” Quakers Courageous, p. 1.
• “George Fox,” Rebel Saints, p. 21.
• “The Children Meet a Hero,” Colin Writes to Friends House, p. 20.

Class Project:

Read aloud from The Journal of George Fox — pp. 7, 8, and 19. (Page numbers are from the Revised Edition edited by John L. Nickalls. Cambridge University Pres England, 1952.)

Would you like to keep a notebook that can serve as record of the things that you have learned and the thoughts you have had about Quakerism this year? You can keep record of the books and stories that you read at home in the notebook. You can also paste in any pictures, articles o newspaper items you come across that seem to have some connection with Friends concerns. You may want to cut out pictures and stories that interest you from AFSC bulletins and from Friends magazines. You may even want to write a story, poem or meditation of your own or draw a picture that you would like to keep in the notebook. You can also keep a record of your class projects. Keeping a record of your own in this way will make the study of Quakerism more real and personal to you, and less like something in a history book. You might begin your notebook by choosing a quotation you like from the passages you have read aloud in George Fox’s Journal and writing this quotation on the first page of the notebook.

Ch. 3 – The Valiant Sixty

As George Fox went preaching around the countryside, it was not the wealthy or the learned or the famous who listened to him, although there were a few like William Penn who gave up fashionable society life to follow the leadings of the Light. For the most part, it was the working people and the farmers of England who received his message so eagerly. No one could receive this message and live as he had lived before, because the Light called him to live in the same spirit in which Jesus lived. “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus had said (Matt. 5:48). Most of us believe today that no human being can perfect, but if we tried to be as good as knew how to be, with God’s help, we might be able to make quite a change in our lives, might we not? These people were literally trying to be as good as they knew how to always, of course, with the help of God. As we study the testimonies of early Friends, we shall see how this earnest striving changed their lives.

They could not rest content with perfecting their own lives, however. Jesus had also said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation,” (Mark 16: 15), and George Fox himself said to his followers that they should “walk cheerfully over the earth, answering to that of God in every man.” So it was that many of these first followers felt called upon to go and tell people in every corner of England and many far parts of the world about the religious experience they had had. But neither George Fox nor any of his followers were thinking of starting another church when they set out to teach their message. They called their message “primitive Christianity revived,” and called themselves “publishers of truth.” They felt that they had rediscovered the true religion which Jesus came to teach, about which most of the so-called Christians around them knew nothing. They wanted to share this discovery with everyone, to let all people know that they were all children of one Father, who would teach His children Himself by speaking in their hearts, and who would lead them to love one another and live together in if they would but listen to Him. In later years they gradually realized that they could not quickly convince the whole world of this truth, and they came to be increasingly persecuted for their teachings. It was then that they formed a society, in order to strengthen and help one another and carry on the work of the teaching.

Among the many who gathered around George Fox in the early years of his preaching, 1650 and 1660, was a group called the Valiant Sixty. This was a group of dedicated men and women who felt called to travel to the far places Ot the earth to deliver the message of the Light of Christ. They were farmers, shopkeepers, carpenters, servants and housewives. None of them had been to college but they had heard the voice of God in their hearts, and they were given the strength and the wisdom to lead others to this voice. Some traveled to America and were hanged on Boston Common, martyrs to the cause of religious freedom. Some traveled to the Barbados and were enslaved on the plantations there. Others went to Spain and Italy and were imprisoned and executed by the Inquisition. Others saw their message bear fruit in Holland and Germany, and a servant maid, who journeyed on foot to Turkey, was received by the Sultan with state honors and her message was reverently received.

The light which sent these people into such far place was certainly a mighty lantern. Some of them could neither read nor write, but they were not afraid to speak to kings. They never worried about what they were going to say, you or I might worry about what we would say to the President of our country if we had an interview with him. The depended on the Spirit to help them find the right words at the right time. If no words came, they would sit in silence with the person they had come to see. It is not difficult to imagine that their hearers may have been as impressed by an unexpected and reverent silence as by any words that might have been spoken. It was the courage and devotion of the Valiant Sixty, and of the hundreds of other early Quakers who stayed at home and really translated their beliefs into their daily lives, that made Quakerism into something more than another little group that was dissatisfied with the official church religion of their day.

The world laughed at them and called them “Quakers,” a name first used by a judge who made fun of George Fox when Fox told him to tremble before the Lord; but they called themselves Friends, as Jesus had said to his followers, “No longer do I call you servants … but I have called you friends.” “Quaker” has long since lost its sting, and the term has somehow stuck with us. But the name that describes our group best is the one chosen by Fox and his followers, “Society of Friends,” which really means “Friends of Jesus.”

Questions for Discussion:

1. When George Fox said to his followers, “Walk cheerfully over the earth, answering to that of God in every man,” why do you suppose he used the word answer, instead of speak? What is the difference between these two words?
2. The Quakers who stayed at home often felt just as much of a “call” as those who went traveling, but their call was to change their daily lives right where they were at home. Can you imagine any call that might make you change your daily life right at home? What kind of changes would you have to make in your life to live up to the highest ideals you have right now?
3. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “No longer do I call you servants; for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15.
4. Do you feel that you know Jesus well enough to be his friend? How can you get to know him better?

Reading:

The Bible, John 15, entire chapter.

Project:

On the outline map of the world, mark the countries visited by the Valiant Sixty.

Ch. 4 – The Quaker Testimonies: Peace

As George Fox and the early Friends listened to the voice God in their hearts, and as they tried to follow Jesus’ command “to be perfect,” their lives began to change. Th found that they could no longer do things which man people around them took for granted. One of the things they found they could no longer do was to fight in the army.

Now when George Fox began his teaching, the commo people of England were forming an army under the leadership of Cromwell to overthrow the oppressive rule of King Charles. George Fox preached against oppression, and one of the reasons that he was thrown into jail so often was because he said that the common people were just as good as the king in the sight of God. Naturally the soldiers thought that he would be glad to fight with them to overthrow the king, and a group of them asked him to be their captain. To their surprise, however, he refused: “I told them that knew whence all wars arose, even from men’s lusts … and that I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars.” At another time, when other soldiers wanted him to lead them, he said again, “I was brought off from outward wars.” The first quotation has become one of the favorite sayings of Friends when talking about peace, and yet the full meaning of either statement is not easy to understand. Certainly one of the things he meant was that there is an inward war which is far more important than any outward war, the war between good and evil in our own hearts. When we have won the victory over evil in our hearts, then we shall feel and act in such ways that there will be no reason for fighting, no reason for wars. He was not just saying that he was against war. He was saying that he was for living in such a way that wars would become unnecessary. This idea is at the root of the peace testimony in the Society of Friends.

The problem that bothers you and me is that lots of people have not overcome the evil in their hearts, and even best of us is not perfect. While there is war, what are we to do? Must we fight with the same weapons our enemies use? Almost everyone would agree that peace is better than war and that killing is not a good way to settle arguments. Joseph Hoag, an American Friend who lived in Civil War days, once discussed this matter with a Colonel in the Southern army. The colonel said that he agreed with Joseph that wars were bad and should be stopped, but as long as the enemy was fighting, he would have to fight too. Joseph replied that the Colonel evidently wanted to be the last man on earth to be good, while he, Joseph, wanted to be the first. The same problem exists today. Most of us agree that wars are bad. But pacifists aim at being “the first to be good.”

William Penn was one of the early Friends who had to wrestle with the problem as to whether or not he should fight with the weapons of the enemy. His father was an Admiral of the British Navy, and Penn moved in court circles and wore a sword, as all upper class men of his time did. Penn had discovered an inward voice that was leading him away from the court and into the valiant band of early Quakers. He wasn’t sure whether he could continue to wear his sword. He asked Fox about it, and George Fox said to him, “Wear thy sword as long as thou canst.” He didn’t tell Penn that it was wrong to fight. He only told Penn to do What the Inward Light led him to do. Penn soon gave up wearing his sword, as he came to understand the “life and power” that Fox spoke about, a life and power of love. He found that love can do things that guns could never do. We all know something of the story of how Penn, when he came to this country, was able to make friends with the Indians and live with them in peace because he dared to love them. The early settlers had lived for some time in a state of war with the Indians and were in constant danger of being scalped because they thought the only way they could control the Red Man was with guns. The Indians responded to the guns with their bows and arrows, but were just as quick to respond to the love and trust which Penn offered them with a warm friendship. Friends never suggested, however, that anyone should give up using guns until the person felt so sure inside of the power of love that he no longer wanted or needed a gun.

Today, Friends still say to one another and to all people, “wear thy sword as long as thou canst.” While we support our members who can take a strong pacifist stand, including those who go to prison for conscience sake, we do not condemn those who go into the army for a cause in which they believe. We say only that each man must seek to serve God and work for His peace in the best way that he knows. As long as we remember that all people everywhere are part of God’s family, we shall never rest content with the idea that war is the ultimate solution to the problem of living together in harmony, even though, at the moment, there are those who see no other way of dealing with the evil that faces them.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Is there any use in a few individuals refusing to be soldiers as long as everyone else is fighting? Why be “the first to be good”?
2. It is often said that pacifists are just giving in to evil and letting others carry their share of the burden. Was this true of George Fox and William Penn? Is it true of Quakers today?
3. Suppose that here in this group we decide to “live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars.” Concretely, what would this mean in our daily lives?

Home Readings:

• “An Ill Wind” and “The White Feather,” The Friendly Story Caravan, p. 17 and p. 126.
• “The Children Make New Friends,” Colin Writes to Friends House, p. 146.
• “The Gay Story of Thomas and the Pirates,” Quakers Courageous, p. 79.
• Blow the Man Down, by Charles Vipont.
• “Victories without Violence,” pamphlet by A. Ruth Fry.

In Your Notebook:

Jot down some of your personal ideas about question 3.

Ch. 5 – The Quaker Testimonies: Equality and Community

When Friends discovered that God spoke in the heart of any man who was willing to listen to Him, and not just to people with a college education, they also made the fundamental discovery that all men were equals in God’s sight. If God played no favorites, then neither would Friends. They insisted on treating every one of their fellow men with the same respect and courtesy, whether he were king or beggar. Certainly Friends did not originate the principle of equality, but the fact that it is written into our American Constitution is due, in part at least, to the fact it was adopted in the constitution for the Colony of Pennsylvania written by William Penn. The Quaker settlers of that colony practiced equality in their relationships both with whites and Indians.

Carried away by a zeal which modern Friends do not always feel, the first Quakers applied this principle of equality to their every act, and were often jailed by their outraged “betters” for their pains. They refused to give what they called hat-honor, that is, they would not remove their hats as a sign of respect before judges or other supposedly superior persons, not even the king. They said “thee” an “thou” to everyone because in those times thee and thou were used only to children, servants and inferiors, and “you” to superiors. Quakers were not willing to make this distinction.

The equality of the women with the men was established among them many years before women were given equal rights before the law. In the Quaker marriage a woman was not given away by her family into the keeping of her husband. Rather, each partner gave himself to the other, without the aid of a minister, as they may still do to this day, each promising to be a loving and faithful mate as long as they both should live. Because women at that time were brought up always to accept men’s opinions and were often afraid to voice their own, separate business meetings were set up for the women to make sure that they would have every encouragement to express opinions and help make decisions about the various concerns of the Society.

The testimony on equality also led Friends to oppose slavery long before most people were aware of its evils. They had many exciting adventures helping slaves to escape into free country in the days of the underground railway before the Civil War in America. Later we shall be studying more about this and shall read about John Woolman, a real Quaker-style hero, who showed how slaves could be freed through love for the slaveholders instead of by violence against them.

The testimony of community was an expression of the Quaker that the whole world was part of God’s family. They felt responsible for all God’s children everywhere, and the travels of the Valiant Sixty which we have already read about show how strongly they felt that responsibility. It led them to be concerned for the lot of the poor laborers in England, who often did not have enough to eat, and it particularly led them to do something about the conditions of the prisons, about which they knew from painful first-hand experience. Friends today continue to feel a strong sense of responsibility for all men, members of the local, national and international community. They are concerned for the unemployed and distressed in their own home town; they are concerned about the discrimination against Negroes, Jews, Orientals and other minority groups in the nation, and they are concerned for the starving and oppressed people of all nations. The work of the American Friends Service Committee and the Five Years Meeting Board of Missions and Board of Peace and Social Concerns has been an important expression of this feeling that we all belong to the same family. When we feed a hungry man in India, or give medicine and the teachings of Jesus to a sick, frightened superstitious man in Africa, we are saying that we care about these men, that they are our brothers. We can’t feed all the hungry people of the world, or bring medicine for body and soul to all those that need it, but it is important that wherever we do go, we let people know that we care about them. If there were more caring, there would be less suffering in the world.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Today many Friends no longer use “thee” and “thou” and many men don’t wear hats. Are all Americans learning that each man is as good as the next one?
2. Can you think of any examples from your own experience or from that of others where a man has been denied what we think of as “rights” because of the color of his skin or the nature of his religion?
3. Should we feel responsible for other people outside of our own families who are sick, hungry, out of a job or in some other kind of trouble? What about the people all over the world whom we don’t know and probably never will know? How should we feel about their troubles?
4. Why do you think Friends had such a different kind of marriage ceremony?

Readings:

• Thee, Hannah!, Marguerite de Angeli.
• Stories of the Underground Railroad, Anna L. Curtis.
• “Martha Schofield,” Quaker Torch Bearers, p. 116.
• Chapters on Prison Work, Elizabeth Fry, Janet Whitney, p. 190.

Project:

If you have minority groups in your community, try to find out if there are any ways in which, in your opinion, they are being treated unfairly. Try to plan a way in which you might express friendliness towards them. Make a record in your notebook of what your class does.

Try to find for your notebook a newspaper item about good race relations or one on discrimination of some kind, on grounds of race, religion, economic position or sex.

Ch. 6 – Quaker Testimonies: Simplicity

The first Quakers were born into a corrupt society in which most people who could afford it ate and drank heavily, dressed lavishly, and lived for pleasure. Protesting this way of life, Friends developed a testimony of simplicity which cut like a knife through this extravagant living. At one of the early gatherings of Friends, in 1691, a letter was written to all Friends everywhere which said, in part: “It is our tender and Christian advice that Friends take care to keep to truth and plainness, in language, habit, deportment and behaviour; that the simplicity of truth in these things may not wear out or be lost in our days, nor in those of our posterity; and to avoid pride and immodesty in apparel, and all vain fashions of the world.”

The testimony of simplicity was a result of the effort not only to speak, but to live the truth. Living truthfully seemed simple enough at first, but it got them into all kinds of trouble when they began applying their principle to actual situations. They would not take oaths, because taking an oath implies that you are not necessarily telling the truth when you are not under oath. Corrupt judges who refused to believe that anyone would be honest except where he had to be, sent them to prison by the dozens. Honesty led the Friends to charge a fixed price for every article of goods in their stores at a time when people bargained and haggled over the price of every pound of sugar they bought. The custom was for the seller to name a price higher than he expected to receive, and for the buyer to name a price lower than he expected to give. This made every purchase a battle of wits to see who would get the better end of the bargain. Since the fixed price idea was practical and saved a lot of time for everyone, it has since been adopted by business generally.

The effort to speak the simple truth on all occasions must have made the conversation of early Friends seem dull at times. There could be no tall stories for them, no unnecessary description of exciting events. There are some amusing stories of the extremely cautious statements made by Quakers in their attempts to speak only the truth. Perhaps you can find some in the book Friendly Anecdotes.

Another aspect of the testimony on simplicity was the attitude of Friends towards the sacraments, particularly Baptism and Communion. Many Christians believe that by eating the bread and drinking the wine of the communion service they are sharing in a very real way the actual flesh and blood of Christ or at least partaking of his spirit. Friends felt that every meal, every day, was a communion and that Christ’s spirit flowed through them in every period Of worship, if they opened their hearts to God. Instead of having a special outward baptism ceremony to mark the beginning of the Christian life, Friends felt that the real beginning was a baptism of the spirit when a person decided to let God rule his life. The baptismal ceremony in which a baby was dedicated to Christ seemed of doubtful value to Friends who believed that all parents should daily dedicate themselves and their children. Friends also felt that no one time could be more holy than any other, since all time was God’s time and should be spent in His service. Jesus was not especially loved and remembered at Christmas and Easter, but lived in their hearts every day of the year. Friends were guarding against substituting ceremonies at special times! for daily goodness and devotion and for inward experience. The “Sunday Christian,” or even the “Christmas and Easter Christian” is not unknown today!

In trying to live simply, Friends found that they could not go along with every change in the fashions and buy new clothes when their old ones were still good. Besides the women were so concerned with their great mission that they had no time to think of frills and fancy dresses. On the other hand, they weren’t trying to look ugly. They believed that simplicity was beautiful, and artists today would agree with them. The world has to some extent come around to the Quaker view, since clothes are much simpler today than they were three hundred years ago. Although the Quaker dress began as a testimony of simplicity, it soon became a symbol of a way of life. Everyone knew that a person who wore that dress stood for Quaker principles, and it was a helpful reminder to Friends that they had high standards to live up to. There is a small group of Friends in this country who still wear what is called the “plain dress.” In a recent discussion among some parents in this group as to whether their children should wear the plain dress, one father said that he felt the dress built a hedge around his children to remind them of where they should walk. Another parent, disagreeing, said she would rather show her children a path than build them a hedge. Most Friends today have chosen path-finding rather than hedge-building, but we have not always done as well as we should in the path-finding.

Simplicity for early Friends meant that they did not spend much money on fancy furniture or special food, or on having a good time. They were very strict about keeping most forms of art — painting, music, dancing, theater, “worldly” literature — out of their lives. They regarded these things as distractions, devices that would lead them astray from the life of love and service to which they felt called. Today many Friends feel that God can speak through art and music as well as in times of prayer. But it is easy to see how these things might lure people away from God when they are badly used, and the attitude of early Friends is a good reminder to us to use them rightly.

Although Quaker homes of two or three hundred years ago had no paintings on the walls, and although tunes were rarely sung and there was no dancing, life was not dull. Clarkson, a historian who lived in the nineteenth century and described the Quakers in great detail, said that they had the happiest family life of any group of people in England. When people seek simplicity for its own sake it becomes severity and leads to dull, ugly lives. But simplicity, beauty and happiness go together if they are a by-product of a concern for something more important than ourselves.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Today, partly as a result of Quaker agitation, any citizen has the right to “affirm” (make a simple statement without any special guarantee of truth) rather than to swear when an oath is required, as in court. Do you feel that the distinction made by early Friends between swearing and affirming is still important? Do you think it important that we continue to use our right to affirm rather than swear?
2. Do you ever feel the need of a kind of reminder to be good such as the plain dress was for early Friends? What kind of reminders might we develop for ourselves, if we want them?
3. What are the good points in the attitude of the Quaker parents who wanted to build a hedge around their children, and what are the bad points? Discuss in the same way the attitude of showing children a path instead. Which method would you use with your children if you were a. parent?
4. Can you give examples of kinds of art, music, and recreation that left you feeling a better person, and kinds that left you with a restless, dissatisfied or let-down feeling? Do you think it is important to try to discriminate and choose the good kinds, or is it more important just to experience everything?
5. What is meant by the word “worldly” as it is used in this lesson?

Home Readings:

• “Our Word Is Our Keeper,” The Friendly Story Caravan, p. 121.
• “William Edmundson,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 34.
• Thee, Hannah!, Marguerite de Angeli.

Ch. 7 – Quaker Doctrine: The Queries

Friends did not establish a creed or doctrine which all members of the Society were forced to accept. They felt that the Spirit would show each individual the Way that he should go. At the same time, however, they felt that following the Light would lead Friends to similar kinds of actions. They did not expect it to be contradictory and to lead people in opposite directions. So, in order to remind Friends of the kind of life they should be living if they were following the Light, a central committee of outstanding concerned Friends, called ministers and elders, made a practice of sending out from time to time a letter of “Advices” to all Meetings. In (the early days, these letters were informal, and usually accompanied by the query, “Does truth prosper among you?” Later, the Society of Friends grew larger and took into membership many families who wanted to serve God by continuing with their own work in their homes and communities rather than by traveling to far places. The committees of ministers and elders began to realize that these stay-at-homes needed helps and reminders about living the way of life they had chosen by becoming Friends. The Advices were made more detailed and a list of Queries worked out. These Queries were to be read regularly in each Monthly Meeting, and each Friend was to answer these queries in his own heart, on the basis of his past conduct. In addition, each Meeting answered the queries in writing on the basis of the conduct of the group as a whole. Today, some Meetings have discontinued the practice of writing answers to the Queries, but in many places they are still read, and answered silently by each Friend for himself and for the group, as they are read. The Queries are revised from time to time as Friends become aware of new problems and new weaknesses. It is a good practice to try to make up queries that really find out whether we are living according to the Light of Christ. Below are some of the queries that English Friends use, which can be compared with the Queries which your Meeting uses:

1. Do you cherish that of God within you, that His power growing in you may rule your life? Do you seek to follow Jesus who teaches us the Way?
2. Do you “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us”? Do you cherish a forgiving spirit? Are you careful of the reputation of others; and do you avoid and discourage tale-bearing and detraction?
3. Is your manner of life worthy of your calling as a follower of Jesus Christ and are you watchful against accepting any lower standard of conduct? Are you on your guard against the love of ease and self-indulgence? Do any of your outward concerns unduly absorb your time and energy to the hindrance of your growth in grace and your service for God?
4. Do you come faithfully to our meetings for worship with heart and mind prepared, entering into fellowship one with another, seeking reverently to know communion with God and refreshment of spirit? Are you obedient to the Divine call, whether your service be through words or in silence?
5. Do you make a place in your daily life for inward retirement and waiting upon God, that you may learn the full meaning of prayer and the joy of communion with Him? And do you live in daily dependence upon His help and guidance?
6. Do you gather daily in your families for worship and for reading from the Bible and other chosen books in a devotional spirit, giving opportunity for prayer or praise?
7. Are you endeavoring to make your home a place of friendliness, refreshment and peace, where God becomes more real to all who dwell there and to those who visit it?
8. Are you striving to develop your mental powers and to use them to the glory of God? Are you loyal to the truth, and do you keep your mind open to new light, from whatever quarter it may arise?
9. Do you, as disciples of the Lord Jesus, take a living interest in the social conditions of those around you? What place do you give to personal service, and do you undertake this in the spirit of friendship? Do you seek to understand the causes of social evils and to take your right share in the endeavor to remove them?
10. Are you faithful in maintaining our testimony against all war as inconsistent with the spirit and teaching of Christ? Do you live in the life and power which takes away the occasion of all wars? Do you seek to take your part in the ministry of reconciliation between individuals, groups and nations and in the breaking down of class barriers? — From the Book of Discipline, London Yearly Meeting.

Questions for Discussion:

1. If your Meeting belongs to a Yearly Meeting, read aloud the Queries from your Book of Discipline. If not, use the London Discipline or any other of your choice. Then read aloud the Apostle’s Creed.

   Some people think that Friends don’t believe in anything because they have no formal creed. Go through the Queries again carefully and see if you can make a list of things Friends believe from these questions. What is the difference between the kind of belief stated in the Apostle’s Creed and the kind of belief implied in the Queries?

2. Why do you think Friends ask themselves questions about their conduct instead of laying down a set of rules? Do you think it would be better if we had a set of rules?

Readings:

• “Advices and Queries,” Book of Discipline, Part III, p. 39, London Yearly Meeting.
• Queries and Advices or related readings from your Yearly Meeting Discipline.

Class Project:

Make a list of Queries that would be useful to the young people of your First-day School. Your class might write a new Query that it feels it could try to answer.

Ch. 8 – Application of the Testimonies: Meeting for Business

As the Society of Friends grew and new Meetings sprang up all over England and in the American Colonies, the Quakers were faced with two problems. One was what might be called the pastoral care of the members of the Society; the other was the problem of carrying out in practice their concern for the spiritual and physical needs of “The World” — people outside the Society of Friends.

Back in the earliest days of the Society, before there was any formal membership, Friends set up “Meetings for Sufferings.” These meetings were given this name because at first their main business was to care for Friends who were sent to jail because of their principles, and to look after the families of these Friends. Apparently the meetings for sufferings were really business meetings, but as they became better organized they served as an instrument through which Friends could regulate their outward lives in order to serve God better. The meeting for worship revealed to the group what God’s will was, and the meeting for business helped the group to plan how to do God’s will.

Because these meetings had such a holy purpose, they were not conducted as ordinary business meetings. They began with a period of worship, and when the clerk felt that the meeting was sufficiently “gathered” he would begin the business. The entire business meeting was conducted in a spirit of worship, and there was no voting. Each item that required a decision was considered in worshipful silence, after which there would be several vocal expressions on the matter. When the clerk felt that agreement had been reached, he would write a minute, or statement, on what he felt was the “sense of the meeting.” Sometimes Friends could not agree on a course of action, and there was no sense of the meeting. In that case decision would be postponed to another meeting and if the matter was important, it was brought up again and again, and each time the discussion was followed by a period of silent waiting while the group tried to find God’s will. Finally, Friends would find a solution which satisfied everyone, and the meeting could act, or it might be decided that there was no clear “right” course for the meeting and the matter would be dropped. This method proved itself through the years, and its only major breakdown resulted in the tragedy of the separations, about which we shall read later.

Friends still conduct their meetings in this way. They do not vote, because in voting there is often a minority who do not agree with the decision of the majority. A majority decision assumes that when a lot of people believe something, it is the right thing for everybody. Friends assume that every sincere seeker has something to contribute to a decision, no matter what his point of view, and that a final decision must take into account all points of view and produce something that will meet everyone’s needs — and not just the needs of the majority. This type of unanimous decision is not always possible in political life, especially when the opinions of millions of citizens are involved. A group which is truly seeking God’s guidance can almost always find a course of action that will seem right to everyone; if they cannot, it is better not to act than to have bitterness in the group. If a minority is compelled to do something by a majority, it is not always possible for them to do it with love in their hearts.

A good example of the method of unanimous agreement lies in the effort toward abolition of slavery. A few Friends had this concern when most Friends were still holding slaves. Year after year the concerned Friends brought the subject up in meetings for business. Each year, as the matter was prayerfully considered, more Friends became convinced that slaveholding was wrong and privately gave up their own slaves. One hundred years after the concern was first expressed, Friends made a public statement saying that slavery was wrong and advising all people to give up their slaves. If the anti-slavery Friends had tried to force the pro-slavery Friends to give up their slaves before the latter came to see for themselves that it was wrong, they would have freed their slaves with hatred instead of love. It is now one hundred years since the Civil War, at the end of which the Northerners forced the Southerners to free their slaves. Many Southerners still dislike all Northerners and look down upon all Negroes today. Can you see why “majority rule” was not used by Friends?

The meeting for business is concerned not only with social evils, but with the care of the members of the Meeting. The details of organization vary from one Friends group to another, but in general, meetings for business take care of the following functions. They have overseers who care for the needy of the Meeting and are responsible for helping the members of the Meeting to live up to their beliefs and ideals in their daily lives. The overseers give counsel to individual members when necessary. Ministers and elders watch over the spiritual life of the Meeting, and are concerned with encouraging those who have a gift in the ministry. It is also their responsibility to assist in the spiritual growth of all members of the Meeting. Religious education, both of children and adults, is a responsibility of one or more committees of the Meeting. This includes, besides forums and First-day School programs, the supporting of Friends schools and the holding of public meetings so that interested people can learn more about Friends. Social concerns are expressed partly through direct activity in the local community and partly through supporting the work of the American Friends Service Committee, the missionary work of the Five Years Meeting, and other projects which have become the concern of the many scattered groups of Friends in this country and abroad. As we look at these activities, we can see that a good meeting for business is a translation of the meeting for worship into daily life.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Does it seem practical to you to conduct a business meeting in a spirit of worship, or do you think “business should be business”?
2. Do you think Friends were right in waiting one hundred years to state their testimony on slavery, or do you think it should have become an “official” testimony when a majority agreed with it? What would have happened to the Society of Friends, do you think, if they had been content with a majority decision instead of waiting for agreement on slavery?
3. One principle behind the “sense of the meeting” is the same as the principle behind political arbitration — that when two groups each want different and conflicting things, there is a third answer which is ultimately more satisfactory and closer to the truth of the situation than what either of the disagreeing parties wanted. This principle has been successfully applied many times to arbitration between labor unions and management and in arbitration, by the United Nations and the old League of Nations, between countries which were almost ready to go to war over their disagreements. Can you think of any examples from your own personal experience, in school, in a club to which you belong or in your gang, when a “sense of the meeting” resulted from conflicting points of view, thereby dissolving a lot of bad feeling?

Readings:

• Description of duties of officers and committees of meeting, Book of Discipline of your Yearly Meeting.
• “Sense of the Meeting,” Finding the Trail of Life, p. 94.
• “Guide to Quaker Practice,” Howard H. Brinton.

Project:

Invite the clerk of your Meeting to visit your class and describe how your Meeting is organized to carry on its business, and particularly how it plans for the young people of the Meeting. Follow this up with a class visit to a meeting for business to see how it operates. Afterwards, if you are interested, you might draw up a little report for the meeting for business with suggestions as to how it might better meet the needs of the young people. Be sure to keep a copy of such a report in your notebook.

Ch. 9 – The Wellspring of Quakerism: Meeting for Worship

We have seen how the story of Quakerism began with the “openings” of George Fox, and we have come to see how the people called Quakers had their lives changed as a result of obeying the Voice of God. The life of Quakerism depends on people continuing to turn to and obey this Voice. Today there are people who are Quakers for no better reason than that their parents were. These people may do some or even all of the things that Quakers are supposed to do, but they do them only because everyone does them, not because of an inner conviction. Such people are sometimes called “traditional Quakers.” If everyone became a traditional Quaker and no one listened to God any more, pretty soon people would become bored with doing what Quakers do. They would be especially bored with sitting for an hour in meeting for worship each First-day and might often go to sleep. They would forget why war was evil and why they were supposed to care as much for people of any color in any part of the world as they do for themselves and their own families. Then, because it is troublesome to be good and hard to fight evil, they would stop trying to live this Quaker way of life, and there would be no more Quakers. Or maybe there would just be a sort of historical society to preserve Quaker meeting houses, books and costumes.

You see, then, that the most important thing Quakers do listening to the Inward Voice. In this way they learn how to live, and what is even harder, how to love. Almost anyone can love his friends and do the decent neighborly things that everyone else around him is doing. But only God can help us do the decent things that our neighbors may think are bad because they do not look at the world in the same way we do, and only God can help us to love people who seem to do very evil things. Meeting for worship gives us our best chance to learn from God and be strengthened by Him, (or in Meeting we are all seeking together, and through speaking and praying aloud, as well as in silent, wordless worship, we share the things that God puts in our hearts. It hard to describe exactly what happens in meeting for worship, because it is never the same for two different people, nor is it the same for any one person every First-day. Sometimes we feel that God has helped us and sometimes we haven’t felt His Presence at all. When we haven’t felt anything it is often because we have been too tired or busy or miserable really to listen for Him. If often helps to begin the silence by thanking God for the good things that have come to us during the week, and asking His help in our troubles. But if we just keep thinking of our own troubles, there will be no room for God’s thoughts to enter. We can prepare the way for God’s message by turning our minds aside from ourselves and praying for other people — our family, our friends, and people in far-away lands. Then, last of all, we can just listen. We do not need to use any words at all in our minds towards the end of the worship period, if we are really trying to let God into our hearts. When we are entirely quiet, then God’s spirit enters in and fills us with love and peace. We may not be given answers to problems in so many words, but God’s spirit will strengthen us so that suddenly we shall be able to go back to our family, our friends, the school and the world, equipped to do things better, be kinder and more loving than we were before.

Sometimes a poem can say more about an experience that is hard to describe than ordinary writing can, because poetry helps us to understand feelings that prose can only talk about. Here is a sonnet by Kenneth Boulding, a Quaker of today, who is the father of four small children and knows something about how hard it is to use the meeting silence well:

FRIENDS MEETING

When I reflect what graceless fancies throng
The arena of my mind, even as I wait
On Thee, and outwardly I meditate,
I am amazed that any heavenly song
Can pierce the uproar: for how much I long
Soever for true silence, a wild spate
Of cares, lusts, whims engulf me, which abate
For moments only, then return as strong.
But in those moments! when the world is still,
A light breaks forth, and a new voice is heard
From plumbless depths of the Eternal Word,
Calming the shallow storms of human will.

So have I hope, that one day, in Thy sight,
My mind’s eye shall be one, and full of light.

Questions for Discussion:

1. The “Inward Light” has been interpreted in different ways by different people. For some it is the voice of God, for others it is Christ, for still others it is literally a light which helps them to see and understand both the world around them and the world inside them; for some it means chiefly, conscience. What does it mean to you?
2. Your group has probably had some differences of opinion as to what the Light is. Is it important or necessary that we have one exact definition upon which all can agree? Why, or why not?
3. After you have attended a full-length meeting for worship, describe your experiences. What things helped you in concentrating on worship? What things distracted you?
4. What does the sonnet on Friends Meeting say to you?

Readings:

• “First-day Thoughts,” poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.
• “Ministry and Silence,” Finding the Trail of Life, p. 84.
• “Going to Meeting,” Leonard S. Kenworthy. (Leaflet may be secured from Friends General Conference.)
• Colin Writes to Friends House, pp. 63-68, 74-80.

Project:

Some classes will have had the experience of attending meeting regularly for a short period each First-day morning, others may never have attended. If you have already been accustomed to attending for short periods, plan to stay for the full hour next First-day and try to enter as fully as possible into the worship. If your class has never attended meeting, a half hour’s visit might be a better introduction to the adult meeting.

After Meeting write in your notebook your reaction to the silence and what thoughts you had. Be honest!

Section II: The Early Days of Quakerism in America

Ch. 10 – The Quakers Come to America

We have learned that early Friends were not content to live according to their new light and ignore the world around them. Their message was a burning one, to be published all over the world. The story of how the message was published in and of how Friends gradually established their way of life in the new world is exciting. It is also a grim reminder that following the Light of Christ may bring danger and death even at the same time that it brings inward peace.

The first Quakers to land in America were two women, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, who came in 1656. It was no small part of the Quaker message that God called women as well as men to a special service. They came to Boston and were immediately shut up in jail. All their books were burned and their possessions confiscated, and the windows of the jail were boarded up so no Bostonians could be contaminated by the sight of the wicked Quaker women! What was it about the two lone women Friends that so frightened those Pilgrim fathers who had come to found the “sweet land of liberty”? The answer is an old one in history. The Pilgrims wanted liberty for themselves, to worship as they thought right, but they were not ready to grant that liberty to others who had a different idea of God’s will. The Pilgrims felt that the Quakers were the most dangerous of all the religious groups existing at that time, because they maintained that God could make His will known directly to them without having that will translated into high-flown and frightening language by the clergy. Also, the Quakers did not regard the Bible simply as a law-book, but as the product of a religious experience which any man who sincerely desired it could have. They felt that it was just as important, in fact more important, to feel the religious experience represented by much of the writing in the Bible than to study and memorize the Bible itself. The Pilgrims, on the other hand, did not think that it was necessary for people to figure out religion for themselves. People should accept what the clergy and the rulers of the colony said was right, and study the Bible as one would study a set of rules of conduct.

The rulers of Massachusetts Colony got rid of these two women very easily by putting them on the ship by which i they had come and ordering the captain to take them back; but they didn’t get rid of Quakerism that easily. There were many Friends who felt called to bring the message of the i Light to the dark colony, and they came again and again, braving severe floggings and every kind of physical punishment, even death. Each one of these Friends who came felt divinely led. Otherwise, they could scarcely have gone to I meet the sufferings that faced them.

One of the amazing stories of divine guidance in connection with the “invasion” of Massachusetts is concerning the voyage of the ship Woodhouse. She was built by an English Quaker shipmaster as an ordinary channel boat, much too small for ocean voyages. But as he was building her, the word of the Lord came to him, “Thou hast her not for nothing. She is needed for the Service of Truth.” After much struggling with his conscience, the owner put the tiny boat at the disposal of a group of English Friends who were trying to get passage to Massachusetts to bear their testimony there. No ordinary ocean-going boat would take them because the punishment for captains who brought Quakers to Massachusetts was severe. The Woodhouse successfully completed the journey across the Atlantic under incredible conditions, without a trained crew, and in great danger from hostile warships. The Quakers sailed literally under divine guidance, depending each day on the words spoken by the Lord in their hearts. When enemy ships approached, the Lord’s word was, “Cut through and steer your straight course, and mind nothing but me!” After a long and trying voyage they arrived safely in America.

Friends went right on steering their straight course to Massachusetts even after four of them were hanged on Boston Common for daring to return there after they had been banished, and in the end the power of love triumphed over the power of hate and fear. A humble shoemaker named Samuel Shattuck, after he had been driven from Massachusetts for being converted to Quaker ways, journeyed to England to tell the story of the persecutions and the hangings in Boston. King Charles himself received the information and wrote an order to the governor of the colony that no more Quakers should be imprisoned or put to death in Massachusetts, but that the accused be sent to England to be tried there. This order he sent to the governor by the very man whom the governor had just banished, Samuel Shattuck. It was a bitter day for the haughty governor when he had to receive in his mansion as a king’s messenger a man whom he had shipped away in disgrace a short time before. The King’s order did not end the persecution, but it made it less evident. In time the Quakers were able to settle in Massachusetts and demonstrate to the colony a kind of religion which produced love instead of hate.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why were the Pilgrims afraid of the Quakers?
2. Can we think of any groups of people in this country today who are treated somewhat as the Quakers were treated in the early days? Why are they so treated?
3. When most people around us disagree with us, is it possible to stick to our own beliefs and still be respected and liked by everyone?

Home Readings:

• “Mary Dyer,” Rebel Saints, p. 215.
• “The Marvelous Voyage of the Good Ship, Woodhouse,” A Book of Quaker Saints, p. 283.

Ch. 11 – William Penn: The “Worldly” Quaker

One of the most interesting chapters in the history of American Quakerism is the settlement of Pennsylvania. This is in large part the story of a man who happened to be a prominent Quaker and also an important figure at court. He was presented by the king with a tract of land in the New World almost as big as all of England. The man was William Penn, and he was given a completely free hand to set up a “holy experiment,” as the Quakers themselves called it.

The actual building up of the colony of Pennsylvania is not the only interesting part of this story. The life of William Penn himself is, in a way, of even greater personal interest to us as Friends than the records of his deeds which have found their way into the history books. The reason is that Penn, unlike many early Friends, was “respectable,” and at the same time managed to do a great many of those disreputable things for which early Quakers were always being imprisoned. We know how Friends of his time went around seemingly asking for trouble by refusing to extend to important people what in those days seemed like the commonest of courtesies — removing their hats and saying “you” instead of “thee.” These same uncompromising Quakers often denounced their persecutors in violent street-corner speeches, and sometimes even paraded naked through city streets — a procedure that was intended to be “a sign” that God’s wrath was sure to come upon evildoers. Remembering these things, it is hard for us to identify ourselves with these fiery ancestors of our faith. We have sometimes an uneasy feeling that if we were living in those times we wouldn’t be among the excited soap-box orators, but rather among the well-dressed scoffers in the audience. And if one of these unconventional followers of George Fox were to appear in our midst today, might be rather embarrassing. In some respects, he would (it into a gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses or “Holy Rollers” more naturally than into a sedate assembly of well-dressed modern Quakers. A Friend recently wrote an imaginary account of what happened in a local Friends Meeting — it might have been our own — when George Fox suddenly appeared and began to preach. She wrote that Friends were so embarrassed and ashamed that they evicted him bodily from the meeting house.

William Penn was as different as a man could be from George Fox, the untidy, self-educated man who wore leather breeches and had the equivalent of a backwoods accent. His father was an admiral in the British navy, wealthy and influential. Penn had had a gentleman’s education, both in England and on the continent. He was something of a dandy in his dress, and he spent a part of his youth at court and knew how to behave there. But when he was a student at ford he accidentally heard the preaching of Thomas Loe, a powerful Quaker minister, and was led to think seriously about a religion based on inward experience instead of on outward forms. However, he did not immediately become a Quaker. When his worldly father began to detect signs of his son’s serious interest in Quakers, he made great efforts to distract him by sending him on trips to the continent and giving him important political jobs to do. These distractions succeeded for a time, but then young Penn heard Thomas Loe preach again. The theme of his sermon was “There is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the world.” Penn realized that the “world” I was rapidly overcoming his faith, and from that moment on he threw in his lot with those of a stronger faith, and became a Quaker.

In taking this step, Penn did not turn his back on the fashionable world of the court in which he had been brought up. He was the sort of person who always remained loyal to old friends. Although this quality in him sometimes led him to do foolish things, it enabled him to keep some of his influence with the king and the court even while, as a Quaker, he was breaking the king’s laws and being sent to prison. Again and again, petitions from Penn to the king and other powerful persons resulted in the release from prison of various persecuted Friends. Only his court connections could have made possible the tremendous grant of land which made Pennsylvania a reality instead of a dream. Since he never wavered in his support of the Quaker testimonies, such as refusing to take an oath, giving hat honor, wearing the sword, and so on, it took great tact and gentleness to carry out these testimonies without giving offence to his royal friends. He was careful never to let superficial differences divide him from his friends whenever there was a possibility of a deeper unity. When James II, the Catholic king, asked him one day what the differences were between the Catholic and Quaker religions, we are told that “Penn pointed to their hats which were exactly alike except that the king’s was covered with feathers and ribbons. ‘The only difference,’ said Penn, ‘lies in the ornaments which have been added to thine.’ ” It would have been easy to enter upon a denunciation of the Pope at that moment, and George Fox would almost certainly have felt called upon to do so, but Penn chose to see the deeper unity. Men who choose the path that Penn chose, of reconciling two worlds, are sometimes called hypocrites and criticized by peopIe of both sides. It is true that their allegiance is in some sense divided and they cannot have the evangelical zeal characteristic of the person who identifies himself with one cause alone. Penn in particular made many mistakes, as we shall see when we study what happened in Pennsylvania. But we must not forget that as a result of the particular path he (hose he also made many fine contributions, both to Quakerism and the world. It is important that, as each of us strives to follow the Light, we recognize that some of us may be called to a very different kind of service from that of others.

One of Penn’s best-known contributions to the English-speaking world, aside from the founding of Pennsylvania, is the precedent established when he was tried, in England, for having spoken at a public meeting for worship. The judge tried to compel the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty of inciting the people to violence. The jury, however, was sympathetic to the peaceable Quakers, knew they had not been guilty of inciting to violence, and refused to bring in such a verdict. The jury was locked up without food or any convenience for four days, but refused to be starved into submission to the judge’s will. Thus the precedent was set for the right of the jury to bring in a verdict independent of the judge’s advice. Penn’s two leading contributions to the world of religious thought were books written during two lengthy imprisonments, one at the beginning of his Quaker ministry and one towards the end of his life. The first is called, No Cross, No Crown, and the second, Some Fruits of Solitude. They do not make easy reading today but they carry the heart of the message for which Penn was willing to give up the easy life of a cavalier and become a member of a despised lower-middle-class sect called Quakers.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Do you think Penn was right in giving the answer he did to King James when he was asked about the difference between the Quaker and the Catholic religions? Why, or why not?
2. Politics and corruption are often thought to go hand in hand in this country. Can you think of any people today, not necessarily Quakers, who are known for their unusually fine character and religious convictions and yet have managed to stay in a position of high political power and prestige without compromising their convictions?
3. If you were asked to give a talk about Quakerism to a group of young people from a wealthy and fashionable background, such as the audience Thomas Loe must have faced when Penn first heard him at Oxford, what would you choose to tell them about Quakerism in order to hold their interest?
4. Where should we conform today, and where not conform?
5. If most Friends are considered “respectable,” is this a danger or an advantage for Quakerism?

Readings:

• “William Penn,” Rebel Saints, p. 136.
• “About William Penn,” Quakers Courageous, p. 107.
• “William Penn,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 48.
• William Penn, Founder and Friend, Virginia Haviland.
• Penn, Elizabeth Janet Gray.
• Some Fruits of Solitude, William Penn.
• Peaceful Heroes, Rosalie Regen.

Project:

Some Fruits of Solitude contains some very pithy sayings that can be enjoyed today as much as when they were first written. Perhaps one member of the class and his family would like to go through at least part of the book and make a collection of sayings to bring to the class. Such a collection might also be shared with the adult members of the Meeting and made permanent in an attractive notebook for the Meeting library, for few adults in the Society of Friends today are familiar with this book.

Ch. 12 – The Holy Experiment — I

The much-persecuted Friends of Penn’s day had often thought longingly of the possibility of establishing in the new world a settlement of their own where they would have freedom to live peacefully according to their principles. Such a venture, however, would have required political power and financial resources far beyond what the humble Quakers had at their disposal. When Penn became one of them, these obstacles were overcome, for Penn had both wealth and power. In 1681 Charles II gave a large land grant to Penn in payment of an old debt owed to his Admiral lather, and Pennsylvania was born. Penn wished to call it simply “Sylvania,” the land of forest, but the king wished to honor old Admiral Penn and requested that it be named Pennsylvania. Penn did not feel that he could refuse this request, but was somewhat embarrassed at the thought that many would conclude that he had named the province in his own honor rather than in his father’s.

Here was a rare opportunity. A despised religious sect was given the chance to rule a tract of land in accordance with their own Christian principles. What would they do with this opportunity? The Puritans who settled Massachusetts made that colony a haven of liberty only for their own kind, and severely punished any who deviated from their own beliefs. Friends must have been sorely tempted to make Pennsylvania chiefly a refuge for Quakers and an example to the world of what the Quaker way of life could accomplish. It would have been easy to set up certain restrictions to ensure Quaker dominance in the new colony, such as permitting only Quakers in good standing to hold political office. But Penn and the leading Friends in the new venture were clearly determined in their minds that the colony was to offer religious and civil liberty to all people, regardless of race, color or creed. The only stipulation made for office-holding, and one they had to make under English law, was that the office-holder be Christian. No attempt was made to gain special privileges for Quakers, and all immigrants, from whatever country or of whatever religion, were made welcome there.

This principle of liberty and justice for all was written into the colony’s charter by Penn and was later incorporated into our federal constitution. We tend to take it for granted today, but at that time the idea existed nowhere in the colonies except in Rhode Island, and certainly was not to be found in England. It is probably the most important contribution the Quakers have made to the development of this country. Pennsylvania prospered greatly as a result of z. this gift of freedom to its citizens. It grew more rapidly “I than any of the other colonies; and at the time of the revolution Philadelphia was, according to the historians, the largest, best governed and most progressive city of the new world. It produced many distinguished scientists as well as states. men, for science thrives on the opportunity to think, talk and act freely.

The holy experiment was not a complete success, however, in spite of the high principles upon which it was founded. Their new-found power went to the heads of some of these early Friends who had been so severely persecuted in England, and they tended to stand too much on their rights in insignificant matters. They became “too governmentish,” as Penn put it. In a democracy, individual rights must always be balanced by a strong sense of group responsibility. Friends were not always able to see their individual rights in the perspective of the welfare of the community. The biggest source of difficulty was that after the colony was established their leader, Penn, had to spend most of his time in England and leave Pennsylvania in the hands of a deputy governor. Since the deputy governor had certain military obligations to fulfill for the king, no Friend could take that position. Penn needed to find a nori-Quaker who was sympathetic and willing to work cooperatively with a predominantly, though not exclusively, Quaker group. In spite of the freedom extended to all immigrants, Friends were definitely in the majority for the first few years, and held a majority in the legislature for the first seventy years. The problems that arose in the colony through unwise choices of deputy governors on Penn’s part will be discussed in the next lesson.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Were the Quakers right in opening their colony to all settlers regardless of conviction when this meant letting people into Pennsylvania who might want to fight the Indians and might tend to undermine the good work the Quakers were doing with them?
2. In Penn’s day, it was not possible to receive a grant of land from the king without undertaking certain military obligations such as contributing to the king’s army. Many of the troubles the Quakers had in Pennsylvania stemmed from this obligation. Would it have been better never to have tried to found the colony at all than to have founded it with these handicaps?
3. Do you think it is ever possible, even in our own day, to follow our ideals without ever coming in conflict with the “world’s” ways? Is this conflict always a bad thing?
4. We are losing rather than gaining freedom in our day by the increasing power of the government to declare certain research “secret,” thereby taking away the personal freedom of scientists to work as they choose, and by the government’s practice of conscription for military service, taking away the freedom of the individual to choose in which way he will serve his community. In what ways are Quakers again fighting for the freedom of conscience for which Penn stood?
5. Why does power often “go to the head” of a leader? Do you think it possible to have humility in leadership?

Home Readings:

• “The Long Step,” Quakers Courageous, p. 185.
• Little Wolf Slayer, Donald E. Cooke.

Ch. 13 – The Holy Experiment — II

Unfortunately, most of the deputy governors appointed by Penn were not able to understand and work with Friends, and because of this many difficulties arose. Furthermore, Penn chose as his steward, or administrator of financial affairs, a man who turned out to be completely dishonest. Penn was busy with too many affairs to set this matter right when he should have, and this mistake caused the colony as a whole and Penn personally endless trouble, including a term in debtor’s prison for Penn. Among his greatest faults were an inability to judge character and a sometimes misplaced sense of loyalty. For these reasons, and because of the continual demands made upon the colony by the king for contributions to the perpetual French and Indian wars, there was a good deal of surface political tension in Pennsylvania. Basically, however, the colony prospered while Friends were in the majority, for underlying all their activity was a strong sense of religious concern. Their effort to live in and with the world by incorporating so many non-Quaker elements into the colony was in itself no small testimony to the strength and breadth of their convictions. The meeting for worship was the focus for all community life, and created a sense of spiritual unity which carried Friends through many political disagreements. Also, the legislative sessions were begun with a period of silent worship and were often conducted in the worshipful spirit of the Friends meeting for business.

With all the freedom they had in their new colony, Friends still had endless trouble because of their peace testimony. They were always trying to find a polite way out of requests for money and arms to fight the king’s wars, requests which the king had a legal right to make. Being true to their testimony of freedom for all, they did not feel free to deny non-Friends the right to fight, yet they did not feel free to raise an official army. The solution was usually for Friends to encourage those who wished to fight to volunteer on their own initiative, and to appropriate money for the king’s use for non-military purposes. They had a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the positive side of their peace testimony in their relationships with the Indians, and as long as Friends policies prevailed in the treatment of the Indians, there was complete friendship on both sides. During this period, Pennsylvania was the only colony free from Indian massacres. They followed the simple policy of treating the Indians as they treated white men. They made fair treaties, paid fair prices for land, made the law courts equally available to Indians and to white men, and stipulated that Indians must serve on the jury when an Indian was to be tried. “Fire-water,” the deadly liquor with which white men long had destroyed the morals and health of the Indians, was not allowed to be sold. Penn himself spent much time with the Indians, getting to know them well, and entertaining them freely in his own home. They in turn loved and revered him. After his death one of his ne’er-do-well sons began the destruction of that fine relationship by defrauding the Indians of some land in the infamous “walking purchase.” By an earlier treaty the Indians had granted to Pennsylvania as much land in a certain section as a man could walk in a day and a half. Penn’s son hired trained runners and sent out scouts to clear a path through the designated territory so nothing would hinder the runners’ speed. As a result the runners covered twice as much land as had been intended by the original treaty, and the Indians felt bitter resentment. As the colony grew and Friends became increasingly a minority group such things happened oftener, and finally the Indians retaliated with a massacre. But Friends were still powerful and as a result of intensive work and a very generous expenditure of money, they were able as a group of private and concerned citizens to undo much of this damage. They persuaded the state government to acknowledge the harm done to the Indians and to re-establish friendly relationships with them.

In 1756, after seventy-five years, the issue of a state army could no longer be avoided, and Friends as a body made the decision to retire from political life rather than sit in a I legislature in which the majority was determined to make certain military moves. The influence of the Quakers in the government of Pennsylvania remained for many years, however, and for a long time afterwards the territory was a stronghold of freedom and liberal thought. There are many non-political ways in which a concerned citizen can serve his government, and Friends gave unstintingly of their time and money to those causes for which they were concerned. Their special concern for the Indians has continued until the present day.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What was the great counterbalancing force that held the Quakers together and saved them from the dangers of being too individualistic in their political action?
2. Do you think it might have been better if the Quakers had not granted equal freedom to all the citizens of the colony, so they would not have had to come to the point of stepping out of the state legislature when they became a minority group? If they had kept all political power in their own hands, do you think that Pennsylvania might still be a really Quaker state today, demonstrating to all the world how the Quaker way might be applied to local, national and international relations?
3. Do you think the Quakers were right in stepping out of the legislature voluntarily rather than remaining there as a minority group obliged to support the will of the majority in raising a state army?

Readings:

• “A Ride Toward War Paint,” “The White Feather,” and “The Latch String,” The Friendly Story Caravan, pp. 85, 126 and 142.
• “Fierce Feathers,” A Book of Quaker Saints, p. 347.
• “William Penn,” Rebel Saints, p. 160.
• Friends and the Indians, Rayner W. Kelsey.

Class Project:

Friends long continued concern for the Indians is carried on today by the Committee on Indian Affairs. Perhaps the class would like to write to this committee at 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa., for information about their present activities. Friends at present support four mission centers among the Oklahoma Indians. Information can also be secured from the Friends Board of Missions, Quaker Drive, Richmond, Indiana. The American Friends Service Committee, through its offices, is also working with Indians and you should ask them for information.

If your class is looking for a service project, you might think of “adopting” one of the Friends mission stations after you have learned more about them. Some of them are very poor and will welcome toys and clothing for children. It might also be possible to correspond with a First-day School class of Indian boys and girls of your own age.

Ch. 14 – Quakers in Politics

We sometimes hear excited discussions today on the question of whether it is ever right to make compromises for an ideal, or whether, regardless of consequences, one should take whatever course of action seems right. In the Society of Friends there have always been individuals belonging to both schools of thought. It is interesting to see how Friends handled the problems of following their ideals in the American colonies during the early days when they had political power and had to cope with a constant succession of wars.

In two of these colonies, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, the Quakers held the major political power for many years and for a time they held the highest offices in the Carolinas. The years during which they had this power were troubled times. The King of England was engaged in a constant succession of wars with the Indians, with the French and with the Spanish. We have seen how the Quakers in Pennsylvania managed to get around the various demands for military help made upon them by the king. It was relatively easy to evade demands for help during the French and Spanish wars, but not so easy to stay out of the Indian wars. It is true that wherever Quakers settled they established friendly relations with the Indians. But they could not live entirely unto themselves. The Quaker settlements were but small islands of peace in a group of colonies that on the whole wished to exterminate the Indians from the land. The friendly attitude of the Quakers could not outweigh the hostile and often despicable acts of many of the other settlers in the new world. Friends often had to suffer the consequences of the hostile acts of others during the frequent wars with the Indians.

Rhode Island was not originally settled by Quakers, but its first inhabitants were exiles for conscience sake from intolerant Massachusetts, and they were very close to Friends. Quakers soon settled there in large numbers and many of the original exiles joined the meetings they established. This group ruled the colony wisely and well for one hundred years, until finally thrown out of power on the military issue. But it is interesting that for one hundred years they were voted into office, with their convictions fully known, by an increasing majority of non-pacifist voters. These people evidently had more faith in the wisdom of the peaceable Quakers than in their own more belligerent methods, and their faith was well justified. The colony prospered greatly during these years.

Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were two islands of relative peace and security in very troubled times, and this because there was a substantial number of Quakers who were willing to hold public office at the risk of occasionally having to compromise their convictions. Their aim was to help maintain a government that in its most important functions was true to the Quaker principles of equality, reconciliation, and freedom of conscience. Many of these prominent officeholders literally wore themselves out in their endless task of trying to reconcile the inconsistent military demands of the king and the other colonies, with their peaceful principles. When on numerous occasions they were requested by royal authority to send militia, they almost always avoided doing so and often on the basis of rather bare-faced and amusing excuses, such as that the weather was too bad. When pressed too hard, they would send money or goods instead of men.

While on the one hand they staved off the demands of the military, on the other hand they worked constantly to improve relations with the Indians. They were also peace makers for the quarreling factions in the colonies, and between the colonies and the king. A rowboat full of leading Rhode Island Friends arrived unarmed at the military camp of the Indian King Philip on the eve of the worst Indian war of colonial history, to try to persuade King Philip to submit his case against the English to arbitration. The Indian king was friendly and appreciative of their efforts, but pointed out that the Indians would never receive justice in such an arbitration. The Friends knew in their hearts that he was right and sadly rowed away again. When the war broke out, Friends knew it was a direct result of the injustices done to the Indians by other colonists, and refused to raise an army against them. Instead, they requested that all settlers who desired safety should take refuge in Rhode Island, which they then maintained as a barricaded sanctuary. Any settlers who did not wish to do this, obviously risked massacre, and there was naturally much bitterness against the Quakers on the part of more aggressively minded settlers. The way of reconciliation is not always easy or successful, particularly in the midst of a world which is deaf to the spirit of reconciliation.

Quakers never submitted to injustice; they simply believed in meeting it with constructive instead of destructive action. When England tried to tax the colonies, it was the Quaker politicians of Rhode Island who led the ‘ ‘no taxation without representation” movement. These same Friends also drew up the first proposal for a continental congress and appointed the first delegates to that congress when it was finally ready to meet. Their contribution was as great as Penn’s to the founding of the American republic.

There was never a very large settlement of Friends in the Carolinas, but at one time they became politically prominent and supplied good leadership through a period of great internal strife. At one time the colony was torn apart by three different sets of overlapping quarrels: between the French Huguenots and the English settlers, between the colony and the Indians, and also between the colony and the king. At this critical period there was chosen a Quaker governor who was able to reconcile many of the most bitter differences and to lay good groundwork for future settling of other issues. In most cases, when the world’s people gave the Quakers a chance to use the way of love and reconciliation, Friends seem to have used their opportunities well.

There came a time, however, when all three of the colonies we have been talking about were no longer willing to give the Quaker way a chance, and war-minded people came into power. Friends lost their offices almost always on the war issue, although sometimes through being voted out, and sometimes through resignation when it became obvious that they would be too directly involved in military operations. The fact that the Quaker way was not able to win out politically, even when the Quakers started out in the majority, is discouraging to those of us who feel that, if only we had more intelligently peace-minded men in our government in Washington today, we could do a much better job of working for international peace. The Quakers had their chance, but the United States is hardly a pacifist country today. Yet did they ever really have a chance? As we have said, the Quaker settlements were really tiny islands in a sea of war, and they could not shut themselves off from the world around them. In the same way, we cannot shut ourselves off from the world around us, no matter how strongly we believe in the power of love and the ways of peace. We must all be prepared to reap the grim harvest of wars in which we try not to participate. This is what Christ did when he died on the cross. He was reaping the harvest of all the sins of mankind, and redeeming them through his love. This is not “success” as we are taught to judge success. Transforming something evil into something good, through love, is more important to the Christian than success. It is at the heart of Christ’s teaching of God’s will for us.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why weren’t the Quakers more successful in stopping the constant wars with the Indians in colonial days?
2. Perpetual compromise on military policy was the price the Quakers had to pay for the privilege of staying in political office and upholding the principles of freedom of conscience, justice and liberty for all. Were the results worth the compromises? Were they right in resigning from office when they finally felt that their compromises were destroying the principles for which they stood, or should they have tried to keep political power at any price?
3. What is there about political action which comes into basic conflict with the Quaker way of making and acting on decisions? In the light of this conflict it would be possible to argue that Friends should never be active in politics. (Some religious groups in this country such as certain branches of Mennonites abstain from all political activity, including voting.) Do you think that Quakers should keep out of all political activity? If not, why not?

Readings:

• “The World as the Quakers Changed It,” Rebel Saints, p. 313.
•  “Israel Pemberton,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 269.

Project:

Although at the present time, Quakers in the United States are few in number, they have an influence in Washington out of all proportion to their numbers through an organization called the Friends Committee on National Legislation. If you would like to know more about this modern type of Quaker political activity, in which Friends work as private citizens rather than as political office-holders, write to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, 104 C St., N.E., Washington 2, D. C., and ask for material describing its activity. Get enough copies so everyone in the class can have something about the FCNL in his notebook.

Ch. 15 – Friends and Slavery

In the early days of this country there were many fine Christians who had slaves and treated them well, never thinking that there might be anything wrong in owning slaves. The Friends were no exception, but some of them who were very sensitive to the Inward Voice soon came to feel that slavery was not consistent with their Christian beliefs. For they realized that though different in color these slaves were none the less God’s children. Why then should they be confined in the homes of Friends and treated more or less like cows and horses? Why should they be regarded as personal property rather than as independent human beings to whom God’s spirit could also speak?

So it was that the first anti-slavery statement of which we have a record in the American colonies came from a Friends monthly meeting in Philadelphia, back in 1688. It took nearly one hundred years from the time of that first statement to bring the Society of Friends to a complete acceptance of a testimony against slavery. By 1786 all Yearly Meetings in America had gone on record against slavery. That one-hundred-year period is a splendid example of how Friends work at their best. There was very soon a majority of Friends convinced of the wrongness of slavery, but there was no effort on the part of the majority to force the minority to give up their slaves. Instead there were patient and loving visits and discussions with slaveholders, continuing year after year, until the slaveholders were able to see for themselves the evils of slavery. Some Friends became impatient with these slow methods and became active in the fiery abolition movement which aroused tremendous emotion, both for and against slavery, and precipitated many riots in the course of its activity. The majority of Friends believed in a slower surer way that did not arouse such violent emotions. The abolition movement led to the civil war, and today in this country we are still paying the price of that violent attempt to secure justice. The Quaker method of not taking action until the entire group was united behind the action led to the voluntary freeing of slaves on the part of practically every slaveholder in the Society. (One or two Friends did not free their slaves until the Yearly Meetings felt ready to make a pronouncement against slavery, but neither did they oppose the action of the Yearly Meetings.) It should also be said, however, that many Friends did a splendid service in the more aggressive abolition movement, helping to awaken the conscience of many Americans to the evils of slavery.

The Friends who lived in the southern states often suffered economically as a result of obeying their conscience in regard to slaves. One Friend, Edmund Peele, set free one hundred and twenty-five slaves. He took them to Liberia, Africa, at his own expense and gave each one $25.00 to start life in his new home. When he returned home he was a poor man, and had to live much more simply than before. One of the evils of slavery was that it made people feel that it was degrading to work with their hands. Anyone who did manual labor was considered “no better than a nigger,” and so it was impossible for a man to hire free people to do farm work in the southern states after he had set his slaves free. This meant that Friends had to limit their farming to what they could do with their own hands, and accept not only a reduced income but a low social status in the eyes of their neighbors. Life became increasingly difficult for them, and finally the Friends in Georgia, South Carolina and lower North Carolina emigrated by entire Meetings to the “free” states of the middle west. Since the great emigration, and up until very recently, there have been no Quakers at all in these parts, except in North Carolina.

A number of Friends were active in the Underground Railroad, an informal but effective organization for helping slaves escape to free territory. There are many exciting tales about the railroad and the clever ways in which the Quakers hid the fleeing slaves from the masters who pursued them. They were hidden in schoolhouse attics, in hay mows, between feather beds in Quaker ladies’ bedrooms, and other unlikely places. The Underground Railroad received its name from a group of slaveholders who chased their slaves as far as the home of a prominent Quaker named Levi Coffin. (The home may still be seen today in Fountain City, Indiana.) These men declared that they could find no trace of their slaves above ground after they reached Levi Coffin’s house, so there had to be an underground railroad of which he was president. Levi Coffin did indeed deserve the title of president of the railroad, for he probably helped free more slaves than had any other individual. He and his wife never knew, when they went to bed at night, how many times they might be roused by a gentle tap at the door to find anywhere from one or two to twenty slaves needing food and a place to rest in hiding until they could continue their journey to freedom. Not all Friends approved of helping runaway slaves to escape, even though they opposed slavery. There was never any doubt in Levi Coffin’s mind, however. Once some slaveholders had him brought to court on a charge of helping runaway slaves to escape. The story in Southern Heroes, an interesting book on the experiences of southern Friends before and during the Civil War, goes as follows: “He promptly confessed that a party of seventeen colored people had stopped at his home. They were hungry and he had fed them as his Master had bidden him do. They said they were slaves fleeing from their masters, but the word of a slave was not accepted as evidence in that court.” The judge could do nothing but dismiss the case.

Another Friend who did much to help the cause of the slaves was John Greenleaf Whittier, the poet. While still a very young man, he laid aside his plans for a life devoted to literature when he received a call from William Lloyd Garrison to help in the abolition movement. He did not actually help to set runaway slaves free as did Levi Coffin, but his pen had a mighty influence on the minds of men and did much to further the cause of freedom. He was sometimes carried away by the fire of his own moral indignation over the wrongs the slaves suffered, and was teased for trying to drive brotherly love into other people’s hearts with a hammer, but he was a real apostle of peace at a time when feelings were running high. Referring to the fact that freedom for the slaves was gained through war, he writes sadly,

“We prayed for love to loose the chain,
‘Twas shorn by battle-axe in twain.”

A poem by Whittier called “First-day Thoughts” was mentioned in the readings for the lesson on the meeting for worship. The beautiful poetry that grew out of his profound religious experience on the one hand, and the inspired writing in the cause of freedom for the slaves that grew out of his social convictions on the other hand, combine to make a contribution both to Quaker thought and to American thought that is fine and lasting.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What problems did southern Quakers face when they had freed their slaves? Do you think they did right to move to the middle west rather than continue to struggle to do their own farming without help in unfriendly southern communities?
2. If you had been living in pre-civil war days, would you have helped with the Underground Railway? Try to imagine some of the arguments that the conservative Friends in your Meeting might have used to try to persuade you that it was wrong to help slaves to escape from their masters.
3. For many years Friends have been interested in securing justice for Negroes; why are so few Negroes members of the Society of Friends?

Readings:

• Stories of the Underground Railroad, Anna L. Curtis.
• “David Allen — Quaker,” The Friendly Story Caravan, p. 159.
• “A Little Black Boy at the Gate,” and ‘ ‘Friend Jabez Brown and the Runaway Slave,” Quakers Courageous, p. 173 and p. 179.
• “Martha Schofield,” Quaker Torch Bearers, p. 116.
• Complete Poems, John Greenleaf Whittier. (Read some Of the anti-slavery poems.)
• Southern Heroes, the Friends in Wartime, Fernando G. Cortland. Chapters 3, 4 and 5. (This book is probably available only in a few meeting libraries well stocked with older Quaker books.)

Project:

Today the Negro still suffers a good deal of injustice in lack of opportunities for jobs, places to live, education and recreation, and Friends have not always done as much as they might have to continue their concern for them. Find out what your own Meeting, or your Yearly Meeting is doing to remove these injustices. If there is a Friends school near you, find out whether it accepts Negro students. If yours is an Independent Meeting with no Yearly Meeting affiliation you might write to the American Friends Service Committee, 20 S. 12th Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa., or to your nearest regional office, to find out what they are doing in the field of race relations.

What can you do in your own town?

Ch. 16 – John Woolman: Quaker Saint

John Woolman was a popular lad in the crowd in which he grew up. He had the knack of always saying and doing the right thing in a group, and making everyone feel at home. He was in great demand for all school occasions, and he dearly loved a good time. The Spirit spoke to John Woolman with peculiar intensity, and it kept flashing him warning in the midst of the festivities he most enjoyed. It would remind him that his life did not belong only to himself and was not to be used purely for his own pleasure, but that it belonged to God, Who had much work for him to do. The same sensitivity which made him such an understanding and sought-after friend in his own group also made him aware that there was much evil and suffering in the world at large. He tried to keep his conscience quiet by going faithfully to meeting, and by reading the Bible, but he knew in his heart that the Lord wanted more from him than that. For a long time he wrestled with himself, torn between his love of good times and the feeling that God was calling him. To many people, who read his Journal in which he has beautifully recorded the account of his life and inward struggles, this seems like an unreal dilemma. The good times about which he felt so guilty were certainly innocent enough. Many, perhaps most good Christians are able to enjoy wholesome pleasures as long as such fun is well balanced by the practice of prayer and service. A few people in every generation seem to be equipped with such sensitivity that for them just being an ordinary good Christian isn’t enough. They sense the world’s suffering so keenly that they must dedicate their entire lives, their every thought and action, to a sharing and relieving of that suffering. If one of us is called to that kind of life, we shall never have any inward peace until we are obedient to the Light. Woolman found a way, not without struggle, to obey this Light. The fruit of that obedience was one of the most beautiful lives that has ever been lived. That is why he is often spoken of as the Quaker Saint.

He felt the call to speak in meeting for the first time when he was still a very young man. He suffered over this experience for weeks after, because he felt that he had not “kept close to the Divine opening, and said more than was required of him.” After that first experience of letting words run away with him, he was very careful to “keep close” to the openings as they came. He began his life-long training in listening carefully to what the Inward Voice required of him, and obeying it.

The opening which was to change the course of Woolman’s life and to help bring about the eventual abolition of slavery came quite unexpectedly when the shopkeeper to whom he was apprenticed asked him to write a bill of sale for a slave. He wrote the bill with some uneasiness, not having the courage to refuse; but in the following weeks, the very idea of keeping fellow human beings in life-time bondage filled him with horror. He was concerned, not only for what slavery did to the slaves themselves, but for the way in which it corrupted the souls of the slaveholders. For the rest of his life he devoted much of his time to the work of opening the eyes of slaveholders to the evils of slavery. At this time there was no general Quaker testimony against slavery. Many wealthy Friends held large numbers of slaves, simply taking the custom for granted, as did the non-Friends of that time. Woolman traveled widely over the country visiting Friends meetings, since his gift in the ministry was recognized and encouraged by Friends. On his trips he was often entertained in the homes of wealthy Quaker slaveholders. He was a sensitive and well-bred man, and the thought of criticising his friendly, well-to-do hosts to their faces was agonizing to him, but he felt that he must make them aware of the evil consequences of slavery. Again and again he compelled himself to do this, writhing inwardly at his breach of good manners. We know that the effect of his few diffident words, so gently and hesitantly spoken, was great. He often left his hosts in a thoughtful and softened state of mind which ultimately led them to free their slaves. The results were not always successful, however, and we can imagine how unhappy Woolman felt when the slaveholder became angry with him. Sometimes he felt like ignoring his call to do this difficult task, but the Lord always gave him strength when he needed it. He knew that it was only selfishness that made him want to be liked by every. body. On one occasion he wrote, “I saw at this time that if I was honest in declaring that which truth opened in me, I could not please all men; and I labored to be content in the way of my duty, however disagreeable to my own inclination.”

Because of his winning ways, when Woolman finally went into business for himself, the customers flocked to his shop, and he soon found that his business was taking up all his time. This gave him no time for the Lord’s work, and he was also uneasy about what he should do with all the money he was earning. Unlike most of us, he felt his income was more than he needed to live on. He finally decided to close up his shop and do just enough tailoring, a trade he had learn. ed, to support his family. Imagine how surprised his customers must have been when he told them, one by one, to find another store to shop in because he was earning too much money and wanted to close his business! At that time he wrote in his Journal, “I saw that an humble man, with the blessing of the Lord, might live on a little, and that where the heart was set on greatness, success in business did not satisfy the craving; but that commonly with an increase in wealth the desire of the wealth increased.” Most of us can testify to the truth of this: no matter how many things we have, we can always think of more things that we want.

Woolman was not content to choose a special project, like working against slavery, as his way of serving God. He examined everything he did in the light of God’s will and the world’s need. So, for example, he found that he could not use rum and molasses because they were by-products of the slave trade. He also came to the conclusion that he could not wear dyed cloth, partly because of the poor working conditions of those who dyed the cloth and partly because the color of the dye helped to hide the dirt in clothes and was apt to be a substitute for cleanliness! This particular testimony of Woolman’s caused him great trouble, because at the time it became fashionable for rich young men to wear white hats. Friends who didn’t know him were apt to assume that he was trying to dress in worldly fashion, when his intention was the exact opposite! Wherever he went and whatever he did, Woolman was always identifying himself with those who had to labor hard and under unpleasant conditions, or who were suffering in some way. He himself was not strong physically, and was often ill, and for this reason he was all the more sympathetic with those who had to labor with their hands. By identifying himself with such people, he brought the injustices which they suffered to the attention of a world which tended to ignore them, and often gave real comfort to the laborers as well. When in the ministry, he felt called to visit England, he traveled steerage with the sailors. He was violently seasick and suffered severely from the crowded, smelly quarters and bad food, but he bore his discomfort with such courage that the sailors, a rough and uncouth lot, were forced to respect and admire him. His genuine love and concern for them pierced through the differences in their manners and Ianguage, and they were able to have good and serious talks together.

His trip to England was his last service in the ministry. There is a story concerning his arrival at London Yearly Meeting, his first appearance among English Friends. The Friends were so disturbed by his singular appearance, dressed all in “fashionable” white from head to toe, that one Friend suggested right in Meeting that he return to America by the next boat! The sensitive Woolman was struck dumb by this unfriendly reception, but turned humbly to his Inward Guide. In the silence that followed, the Lord gave him words to say that spoke straight to the hearts of all his hearers, so that they could not help recognizing that he was a true minister of the gospel. The Friend. who had first stood up to suggest that Woolman might con. sider returning, rose again, this time to confess that he had been in error and now felt in full unity with the message that the visitor had to give. Once again, the spirit of love in the heart of the man who was willing to be a fool for God’s sake was able to reach across all barriers and enter the hearts of those around him.

Woolman died of smallpox on this visit to England, but not before he came to be known and loved by English Friends. He suffered a great deal in his last illness, but he never lost the sense of Divine Guidance. When he was no longer able to speak, he managed to hold a pen in his hand long enough to write, “I believe my being here is in the wisdom of Christ; I know not as to life or death.” Thus in his last words we have the secret of the life that has inspired so many seekers since his time. His one concern was that everything he did should be in God’s wisdom, not in his own. His own life or death was of no matter to him. The fruit of this amazing life was the humble yet mighty spirit which still lives on in the hearts of all those who have come to know him through reading his Journal.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Have you ever had to choose, as John Woolman did, between going with the gang and being popular, or doing something which they would think queer but you knew was right? What did you do and how did you feel?
2. Woolman was concerned over the evil slavery did to the slaveholder and to the slave. Does this make sense to you? Why?
3. Do you think Woolman was right in shutting down his business and earning only enough to cover the bare necessities for his family? Most of our parents earn considerably more than Woolman thought was necessary. Do you think everyone is called upon to live as Woolman lived? If not, why not?
4. If, following the example of Woolman, we started examining every part of our lives, what things would we change?
5. Can you explain why so many of the slaveholders to whom Woolman spoke changed their attitudes toward slavery instead of becoming angry with him? Have you ever spoken to a friend about something he did which you felt was wrong? How did you approach it and how did he react?
6. What is the use of trying to be as nearly perfect as is humanly possible, in the Woolman way?

Home Readings:

• John Woolman: Child of Light, Catherine Owens Peare.
• John Woolman, American Quaker, Janet Whitney.
• The Journal of John Woolman, Janet Whitney.
• “John Woolman,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 8.

Class Project:

Present the play, “Master John” Peaceful Heroes by Rosalie Regen.

Ch. 17 – The Traveling Ministry

We have been studying Friends in action for the last few weeks, watching how they have translated their principles and beliefs into daily living. When we remember that the early Society of Friends had no paid ministers or professional religious workers, but operated entirely as a group of inspired ordinary people who were at the same time farmers, domestic servants, blacksmiths, and so on, the growth and activity of this little group of Christians is surprising. What was it that kept Quakers ticking?

The real source of strength for Friends, as for any religious group, lay in their worship. The vocal expressions in worship that would guide and assist the individual members of the Meeting, however, had to come from the members themselves. The busy housewife, the tired farmer, the careful business man, were themselves God’s ministers. There was no one else to give His messages. But relatively few people have the gift of expressing religious thoughts well in words, and not every meeting was fortunate enough to have people who could inspire others with their messages. AIthough very powerful religious experiences can occur in a completely silent meeting, everyone needs at some time to learn and be strengthened by hearing about the religious experiences of others. Also, each one of us knows that our thoughts usually become much clearer when we try to put them into words for someone else. Often things that we never try to express in words remain vague in our minds. If we allow religious experience to remain so vague, it may evaporate altogether and others may never catch it from us.

What saved Friends from falling into dead silence and vagueness was the custom of the traveling ministry and intervisitation. Those who were gifted in the ministry did a great deal of visiting in other Meetings, and Friends often traveled to other Meetings whether they spoke in the ministry or not. This meant that most Friends had an opportunity to hear things discussed by people who had experiences different from their own. Friends don’t travel to other Meetings nearly so much today as they did a hundred years ago, even though traveling by car is much easier and faster than journeying was on horse-back. Whereas we rarely have even a day to spare for visiting distant Meetings, early Friends would arrange for farm or business to be cared for by someone else and depart for a two-months’ trip to visit other groups. Besides these special trips that Friends made from time to time, there were the regular events of Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings — occasions which gave them a wider variety of experience than their neighborhoods offered. These Meetings enriched the lives of Friends in many ways. The meetings for worship which preceded the business sessions were times of spiritual uplift. The business meetings were opportunities to share concerns and to learn what was going on within the Society and in the larger world. The abundant meals that followed were plain good fun — Quaker style.

One of the finest customs earlier Friends had (which has almost died out today) was what was called the “religious opportunity.” Whenever a Friend from out of town was visiting in a community, he would arrange to hold gatherings in the homes of Meeting members, and often Friends of the same Meeting would visit in one another’s home and have such an opportunity. A religious opportunity really means a kind of meeting for worship held right in your own living room with just the family and the “company.” It might begin with a little Bible reading and a period of silence, and then the visitor would speak what was on his mind. This might lead to discussion or to more silence. Many Friends have told how much such occasions meant to them as children, and some had their whole lives changed by a few words spoken by a particularly inspired visitor. The visitors were sometimes very sensitive to people’s states of mind, and if the family were troubled by conflict, (as sometimes occurs in the happiest of families) they were often able to speak words that helped to make peace, even though they had been told nothing of the trouble.

Today the thought of sitting down in the living room with guests and settling into silence and worship, instead of carrying on an animated conversation, seems strange and almost embarrassing to many of us. Friends of a hundred years ago would not think much of the superficial conversations we carry on with our friends most of the time. To them life was too important to waste on trivialities. “Know ye one another in that which is eternal” said one early Friend. Can you imagine what it would be like if, the next time you met and said “hello” to Mary Smith, you suddenly thought of her as God’s child in a world He has made, and put that feeling into your “hello”? How much of what we think about, and speak of and do with our friends really matters? The Society of Friends is a small and timid organization today compared with what it once was, because so many Friends have forgotten what really matters.

Questions for Discussion:

1. How many of you have ever visited other Meetings? Tell us about your experience.
2. You have all experienced periods of silence — in meeting, in groups of all kinds, at parties, in the middle of a conversation with a friend, or just at home with the family. Can you put your finger on the difference between a “dead” and a “living” silence? How does the kind of silence affect our relationship with the people we are with?
3. What does the phrase, “Know ye one another in that which is eternal,” mean? Is it possible to do this without going around with gloomy faces? Is it a good idea, or is it too impractical in our kind of world?

Home Readings:

• Journal of John Woolman — numerous passages relating to visits to Meetings.
• “The Ends of the Earth Come to Our Home,” Finding the Trail of Life, p. 73.
• “Samuel Fothergill,” and “Stephen Grellet,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 88 and p. 122.
• (Any Quaker Journals that are available in the Meeting library or in home libraries are likely to have numerous descriptions of visits to other Meetings and to gatherings in private homes as well.)

Class Project:

What Meetings are close enough to your own for a First-day visit? Would you like to try to plan a visit as a class to one of these Meetings? If there is a First-day School class the other Meeting, you might visit the class and then invite them to your own Meeting in return.

A Play – Christmas Eve in a Quaker Family One Hundred Years Ago

Characters:

Father, Mother, Mary, Hannah, John.

Scene:

Father is reading to himself from a Quaker Journal, Mother is knitting. The children are sitting on the floor, knitting, whittling, reading. Mother and girls wear shawls, Father wears suit and shirt but no tie. John is dressed as a boy of today, though with conservative colors. There should be no gay colors in any of the clothes. After the family group is assembled on the stage, or after the curtain goes up if there is one, announcer comes in.

Announcer: We are presenting a Quaker family of one hundred years ago, gathered around the fire after supper on Christmas Eve.

(For a moment or two all is silence as each person reads, knits, etc.)

Mary: Hannah, has thee seen the Christmas tree with all the lighted candles at the Schmidt’s house next door?

Hannah: Yes I have! What a beautiful sight! Everyone is following the new German custom! (Spoken with great enthusiasm)

Father: (gravely) Every one, Hannah?

Hannah: (In a more subdued voice) No, father, not every one. Nobody in the Meeting has one.

Father: Thee must be more careful in thy speech, Hannah, and never say more than what is true.

Hannah: Yes, father.

John: The boys were out gathering holly leaves this afternoon and dragging Yule logs home to burn in their fireplaces tonight.

Mary: There were a lot of young people at the steeple house this afternoon practicing carols. Why doesn’t God like music, mother?

Mother: It isn’t that God doesn’t like music, dear. But he doesn’t like us to sing words with our lips that we don’t mean with our hearts. A lot of those young people who were singing songs about the birth of our Lord this afternoon probably were not thinking of our Lord at all, but about what presents they would be receiving tomorrow.

John: But other people have so much fun at Christmas. I don’t see why we always have to be different from everybody else!

Father: Thee ought to know that we don’t do things just to be different, John. Perhaps thee doesn’t understand our testimony about the time called Christmas. I happened to read last night in this Journal of thy Greataunt Sophia about the celebration of special times and seasons, and she explains it very well. Mother, will thee read this passage aloud to us?

Mother: Yes, indeed. (Pauses to find place on the page of the open book father has handed her.) Here we are. “Today is the time called Christmas, and all the so-called Christians are going to steeple houses to celebrate the mass of Christ. What folly for those who have not given a single thought to our Lord for a year, to think that God can be pleased with them for making a great noise and rejoicing on this one day! I do not know which vexes me more, the great show of worshiping Christ in people who never think of him as they lead their daily lives, or the strange heathen customs with which they pretend to celebrate his birthday — the wassailing, the burning of the Yule log, and other pagan practices. I can only pray that Christ will be born daily in our hearts and that we may rejoice daily in His coming. There is certainly no day more holy than another. God requires love, devotion and service of us at all times, not on special days. I do believe there are some honest-hearted people who do special homage to Christ at Christmas time and yet rejoice in his presence daily, but I fear greatly that for most people the special Christmas ceremony is an excuse for not having turned to the Inward Christ during so-called ordinary days. The ceremony is a danger even for the honest-hearted, for it is easy to be distracted by the outward forms of the ceremony and forget its inner meaning. I must confess to being secretly moved this afternoon upon hearing a group of carolers singing ‘Adeste Fidelis,’ but I know full well that some who were singing, ‘Oh, come let us adore him were not adoring him in their hearts. As I have so often heard George Fox say, we must avoid outforms lest we become so fond of them that we forget the Truth behind them.”

Father: I feel the danger of this Christmas celebration very strongly, and yet, Friends are not holding to their testimony against it. Right here in our own Meeting there are families who have a special gathering on Christmas Eve to read the story of the nativity from the Bible, with some feasting and giving of gifts afterwards.

Mother: Yes, children, by the time you are grown and have families of your own, perhaps most Friends will have adopted the world’s custom of celebrating Christ’s birthday. You need not feel that the celebration in itself is wrong. People all over the world, of many different languages and customs but children of the same heavenly Father, are celebrating this birthday each year. If we can make this rejoicing an act of true worship, then this is a way in which we can feel unity with all of God’s people everywhere. The different customs and different languages cannot divide us for we are rejoicing over the birth of the same savior, Christ Jesus the Lord.

Section III: Quakerism Today

Ch. 18 – The Separations

We know something now of how Quakerism came to be born in the days of George Fox, what early Friends believed, how they came to America and what they did there. Now we want to find out what Quakers are like today. How different are we from the Quakers of three hundred years ago? What do Friends believe today, and what sort of things do they do?

We can see at once that Quakers today are obviously not just like Quakers of three hundred years ago. For one thing, we dress and speak differently. This is not surprising to us, because we are all used to quick changes in fashions from year to year. But a few of the other changes are harder to understand. Some of you will belong to a Meeting which has a regular minister, an organ and a choir. You may wonder how your Meeting came to be so different from the kind of Friends Meeting we have been studying. Some of you may know of or live in places where there are two meeting houses, side by side. Perhaps one stands empty and the other is used, or they may both be used. You wonder why there should be two so close together.

The answer to these questions lies in the saddest story of Quaker history — the story of the separations. Early Friends were so much on fire with their message of the Voice of God that spoke to every man, and so busy carrying out God’s commands to them, that they had little time to spend discussing fine details about the Bible or exactly what they should wear and how they should live. But the early fire quieted down to a small but steady flame, and between 1700 and 1800, Friends came to feel that it was their job to look after their own Society rather than to go out and change the world. There were still individual Friends who felt called to great public services, such as Elizabeth Fry who did so much to improve the prison conditions in England, but the main emphasis had changed. One result of this was that much more attention was paid to the details of life than to the spirit in which the life was lived. The elders, who had the responsibility for seeing that the members of the Meeting lived good Christian lives, became more powerful, and in some cases became more concerned with regulating exactly what people did and said, than with encouraging a spirit of love in all members. Friends were very often “eldered” because their clothes were too fancy, or their behavior too frivolous, or because they did not sit quietly enough in meeting, or bring their children up just right. While the elders grew more powerful, meeting for worship was at the same time becoming duller and more formal. Contacts outside the Society were discouraged, and many people who were still loyal to Friends principles were “disowned” because they did not conform to the very rigid standards set by the elders. (Disownment meant that the Meeting publicly announced that a person was no longer in membership there.) People were disowned, for instance, who married non-Friends.

Many sincere people resented this increasing power of the elders, and felt that the spiritual life of the group was being sacrificed to unimportant details. The pioneers who moved westward and lived under the hard conditions of frontier life felt that the elders were being petty and found them hard to bear. During this period, too, two different attitudes toward religion developed among Friends. Most of the elders and the Friends who followed their way of thinking emphasized more and more the importance of outward authority — the Meeting, and the Bible as the revealed word of God. At the same time some protesting ministers began to move to the other extreme in emphasizing the importance of inward authority. They maintained that the Bible itself was unimportant. They wanted also to get away from the endless formal rules the elders were imposing and to revive, what to them seemed most important, religion in the hearts of men. Today we feel that both the Bible and personal religious experience are needed. The Bible, especially the story of Jesus, helps us to understand our own personal experience. The inward and the outward do not oppose, but complement each other. But a hundred and fifty years ago there were many Friends who could not see this. For some time the division of opinion grew rather quietly. Then about 1820 an elderly minister from Long Island, Elias Hicks, began preaching very eloquently on the Inward Light and saying that God could speak directly to each of us. Many thought he said there was no need to read the Bible, although really his point was that God did not speak through the Bible alone. As a traveling minister he preached his message in Friends meetings all over the country, and those who rebelled against the authority of the elders and liked the emphasis on the Inward Light, were attracted by him. After some years the elders of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting began actively to oppose him, and Meetings became divided between the followers of Elias Hicks and the followers of the elders. In 1827 each of the two groups tried to have its own nomination for clerk accepted by the Yearly Meeting. Since neither group would give way to the other, they divided into two separate Yearly Meetings. One was known as the “Hicksite” Yearly Meeting and the other was known as the “Orthodox” Yearly Meeting. The same sad story was repeated in New York, Baltimore and Ohio Yearly Meetings.

Once people start insisting that everyone accept certain opinions as the only right ones, it is easy for more and more disagreements to arise. This is just what happened among the “Orthodox” groups. The custom of the traveling ministry, which had helped to retain the vitality of local Meetings, was also the channel for the spreading of opposing religious opinions. In the middle of the nineteenth century a charming and wealthy English Quaker, Joseph John Gurney, came to America and visited many of the Meetings in this country. He preached with great power a way of thinking which emphasized the evangelical side of Quakerism. His opponents felt that he was more concerned with theories about the life and the death of Jesus than he was about the work of the Spirit in the hearts of men. The leading Friends minister who opposed Gurney was John Wilbur, a simple, earnest teacher who preached return to the old Quaker ways. The trouble with the old ways was that the ministry had been getting very dull and the silences too long and heavy in meetings for worship. The exciting, lively religious doctrines preached by Gurney were especially appealing to the young people. The elders supported Gurney, who put greater emphasis on the Bible and less on the Inward Light, and strongly upheld the authority of the church. In 1845 a new separation began in the New England Yearly Meeting, again over the issue of which party should name the clerk. The “Wilburite” Meetings today are the most conservative, following the traditional Quaker form of worship with some of the members using the old ways of speech and are rarely dull. They have to a dress. Their silences great extent been able to carry on a vital and inspired vocal ministry that would sound less strange to George Fox’s ears than any other type of Quaker ministry today. The “Gurneyite” Meetings, on the other hand, became more like the other Protestant churches. The preaching of Gurney prepared the way for the influence the Great Revival was to have on Friends, especially in the midwest. Near the time that Gurney visited in America there was a great religious awakening and many people were gathered into the churches in great revival meetings. Friends beG1rne rest. less as they watched this and soon felt that they ought to reach out to people who had no religious faith; they felt guilty, too, because they had not done this sooner. Friends who traveled in the ministry began to hold revivals at Friends Meetings and then, in order to make the revivals more effective, singing was introduced. When large numbers of new converts were brought into the Meetings, the local leaders began to feel the need of someone to work regularly with these people and nurture them in their new faith. To meet this need they began to ask evangelists to stay on after the revival meetings were over and so the pastoral system was born. As this system grew, it became less and less common for members of the Meeting other than the pastor to take part in the vocal ministry and the worship became more and more programmed.

The Hicksites were not touched by the Gurneyite-Wilburite separation, which occurred only in the Orthodox group. There have been other minor separations, but the three main groups today are Friends General Conference, Five Years Meeting, and Independent Yearly Meetings. The latter group is, again, divided into liberal, evangelical, and conservative Yearly Meetings. The real tragedy of the separations is that each of these three groups has something which the others lack in some degree. All three groups have continued to emphasize the need for religious experience, but General Conference Friends have tried especially hard to be open to the Light of Christ, have developed a sensitivity to the needs of others and have pioneered in working against social injustices. The Five Years Meeting and some independent Yearly Meetings have known the great enthusiasm and missionary spirit of early Friends. The Conservative Yearly Meetings have a spiritual peace, which envelops, almost in a physical sense, any visitor who comes to one of their meetings. Of course social consciousness, missionary spirit and a deep prayer life can be found to some extent in all three groups. But in a way it is as if each of the three groups, without realizing it, specialized in one of these things and somewhat neglected the other two. Today many of those who travel among all three groups of Friends feel strongly that each has a message for the others.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What were the main causes of the disagreements that led to the separations?
2. Many Friends Meetings today contain members with many different attitudes toward religious experience, yet who feel drawn toward the principle of the Inward Light and the Friends way of worship. Some frankly say they cannot live up to the peace testimony. Are these differences good or bad? Why?
3. Suppose your Meeting were suddenly to find itself divided into two opposing groups, one insisting that all Friends be pacifists, the other claiming that the first group, in trying to impose its views on other people was being untrue to the principle of the Inward Light, and that its members therefore were not good Quakers. Leaders of each group are threatening to leave the Meeting. Imagine that you are a committee appointed by this Meeting to try to reconcile the two groups. What would you do?

Class Project:

Construct a diagram of the separations as they affected the Yearly Meeting to which you belong. You may need the help of an older Friend in the Meeting who is well acquainted with its history. If you belong to an Independent or Friends World Committee Meeting, choose the Yearly Meeting nearest you geographically, and discuss why you don’t belong to it.

Ch. 19 – Friends Meetings Around the World Today — I

Many of us have never visited any other Friends Meeting beside our own, but in reality the Society of Friends is today a world-wide community. This is true in spite of the fact that the separations have introduced many different attitudes and ways of worship into various groups of Friends Meetings. Suppose we were suddenly transported into an enormous hall containing the children from the “junior high” group of all the First-day schools of all the Friends Meetings in the world, and each class was asked to tell the rest what they thought it meant to be a Quaker. The words of most of the children would sound very strange to us. Not, however, because of the strangeness of the ideas, but because they would be speaking languages we could not understand. Not only their language, but their manners, their dress, the games they would want to play and the songs they would sing would be completely unfamiliar to us. We should have to spend a lot of time together, learning one another’s language and way of doing things before we could even begin to explain to one another our ideas about Quakerism.

Now suppose that everyone decided to learn English and this great international meeting on Quakerism is finally held in English. The great hall is filled with children, and it is announced that the meeting will begin with a period of worship. There is a moment of quiet and some heads are bowed as a few of the children prepare to settle into the silence to which they are accustomed during worship. Then up pops a lively African Negro from the middle of the auditorium and announces in a loud voice, “We will open by singing hymn number 35 in the red books. Let’s all stand and I want to be able to tell from the singing that you are glad to be here.” Before the first line is finished two thirds of the children are shouting the song along with him, while the remaining children sit in surprised silence.

As the last note dies out, some of the children begin looking around at one another with embarrassed and startled expressions, as if to say, “We must have gotten into the wrong room. We don’t belong here!” In another minute, however, a tall quiet-looking boy has the floor and begins to speak with an Irish accent. The embarrassed-looking children begin to relax under the sound of the low and measured words, delivered with the dignity to which they are accustomed. But then wondering glances are exchanged again as some children realize that the speaker is using very strange words that they do not understand: “justification,” “sanctification,” “the second blessing.” This is not like the messages back home at all!

At last the worship period is over and it is time for representatives from the different First-day School classes to explain what Quakerism means to them. The first speaker is a young girl from a class in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and she begins to speak about the “Inward Light,” “that of God in every man” and “the Quaker way of life.” Now it is the turn of the children who participated so heartily in the singing to look puzzled. What do these phrases mean? What is she talking about?

We finally realize that although we are still speaking the same national language we are not speaking the same religious language. It might make us feel that we are the only true Quakers but if we stop and think a minute we remember that God loves His children regardless of the way in which they worship. They are all part of His family.

Does everyone in your family think the same way about everything? In most families each person has his favorite foods, his favorite hobbies, his favorite books, his pet ideas, and they are usually different from everyone else’s in the family. Sometimes we tease the others in our family about their peculiarities; sometimes we even quarrel with them. But on the whole we get along, love one another, and have fun together. We certainly understand one another better than we understand the people in the family across the street, although they are our friends too.

Perhaps we can try to think of the Society of Friends as a big family, with lots of cousins who grow up in communities very different from our own. Most of us don’t get to visit these cousins very often, but when we do, we will do our best to understand and enjoy them. And of course, the more we do visit these cousins, the better we shall under. stand and like them. The other churches that we come in contact with are like the other families of our neighborhood. They too are our friends, and sometimes or often we do things together. But just as each person needs his own family to fall back on when the going gets rough, so many people feel the need of their own respective churches to give them understanding and support. Our next project will be to find out just where all the distant “cousins” of our Quaker family live, and what branches of the family they belong to.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why are there so many different kinds of Christian churches and customs of worship when all Christians read the same Bible, worship the same God, and call themselves followers of the same Jesus Christ?
2. Do you think that the different branches of Quakerism should try to understand one another better and do more work together, or do you wish that some of the branches would choose other names and not call themselves Quakers?
3. If it were agreed that only one branch of Quakerism should be allowed to bear the name of Society of Friends, who would decide which branch should keep that privilege?

Ch. 20 – Friends Meetings Around the World Today — II

Let us begin today by locating the world community of the Society of Friends on the outline map. In order to get the idea of what kinds of Friends live where, we will mark them on the map according to the type of meeting for worship they have. We explained in the lesson on the separations that most of the Meetings where Gurney had influence became pastoral Meetings; that is, they now have paid ministers. Many of the present-day differences between Friends revolve around the fact that these Meetings do have ministers and a formal program of church worship planned in advance by the minister. Most other Friends hold unprogrammed meetings on the basis of silence, during which Friends are expected to share with the group any special messages that come to them during the worship. Therefore, we will mark each Yearly Meeting on the map according to whether it is programmed (X) or unprogrammed (O). There is, however, definite change in some of the Gurneyite Meetings which were once conducted by paid ministers on a programmed basis. Some of these Meetings are partially programmed, while others are entirely unprogrammed. In such cases the paid minister with responsibility for planning the worship, may have been replaced by a paid secretary who helps to carry on the pastoral and social concerns of the Meeting. A number of unprogrammed Meetings also have paid secretaries to carry on Meeting work for which individual members do not have time. Therefore, we are not dividing the Yearly Meetings according to whether they have paid ministers or not but according to whether they have formal programmed worship. In the cases where a Yearly Meeting is a mixture of programmed and unprogrammed Meetings, we will mark it (X).

Most of the groups we are listing are Yearly Meetings. These are regional associations which meet yearly to transact business and share concerns with and for all the local Meetings of the region connected with them. However, some of them are mission Meetings, maintained by a Yearly Meeting in another country but listed separately because of their size and distance from the “mother Meeting.” The full name is given for those that are not Yearly Meetings.

Programmed Meetings (Mark X on map)

Africa
Burundi Quarterly Meeting (Kansas Yearly Meeting)
East Africa (Five Years Meeting)
Madagascar
Pemba

Asia
Bundelkhand (in India) Mid-India

The Americas
Alaska Quarterly Meeting (California Yearly Meeting)
Bolivia and Peru Annual Conference (Oregon Yearly Meeting)
Cuba (Five Years Meeting)
Guatemala Annual Conference (California Yearly Meeting)
Honduras and Salvador Annual Conference (California Yearly Meeting)
Jamaica (1 or 2 unprogrammed Meetings — Five Years Meeting)

United States
Yearly Meetings Affiliated with Five Years Meeting:
California
Indiana (1 or 2 unprogrammed Meetings)
Iowa
Nebraska
North Carolina
Western (2 or 3 unprogrammed Meetings)
Wilmington (1 or 2 unprogrammed Meetings)

Independent Yearly Meetings:
Central
Kansas
Ohio (Damascus)
Oregon
Rocky Mountain

Unprogrammed Meetings (Mark O on map)

Africa
Ghana (Hill House Meeting, Accra, London Yearly Meeting)
Southern Africa (includes So. Africa, the Rhodesias, and Nyasaland)

Asia
Hong Kong Preparative Meeting (London Yearly Meeting)
Japan (1 Meeting programmed)
Korea — Seoul Friends Meeting

The Americas
Canadian (Friends General Conference and Five Years Meeting)
Costa Rica — Independent Meeting at Monteverde

United States
Yearly Meetings Affiliated with Friends General Conference:
Baltimore (Stony Run)
Illinois
Indiana
Philadelphia
South Central

Independent Yearly Meetings:
Iowa, Conservative
Lake Erie (Yearly Meeting and Association, of which one Quarterly Meeting is affiliated with Friends General Conference)
North Carolina, Conservative
Ohio, Conservative (Barnesville)
Pacific
Southeastern

Independent Meetings and Worship Groups reporting to Friends World Committee, American Section:
Includes Missouri Valley Association, Southern Appalachian Conference, and scattered Meetings or Worship Groups.
Europe
Austria Quarterly Meeting (Germany Meeting)
Denmark
Finland Monthly Meeting (Sweden Meeting)
France
Fritchley General Meeting (England)
Germany
Ireland
London
Netherlands
Norway
Spain (Meeting at Barcelona, France Yearly Meeting)
Sweden
Switzerland

Oceania
Australia
New Zealand

Part Programmed, Part Unprogrammed (Mark X on Map)

The Americas
Mexico General Meeting (part affiliated with Five Years Meeting, part with Pacific Yearly Meeting)

United States
Baltimore (Five Years Meeting)
New England (Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference)
New York (Five Years Meeting and Friends General Conference)

Asia
Near East (Lebanon and Jordan)

You will have noticed, in marking the programmed Meetings on the map, that many of them belong to an organization called the Five Years Meeting. This Meeting, which now meets every three years, was organized in 1902 and drew into closer unity those Yearly Meetings which had had many followers of John Gurney. Although each member Yearly Meeting is independent, they all cooperate through this organization to carry on Christian education work, missions, activities in the field of peace and social concerns, and in several other areas of concern.

You will also have noticed that a number of the unprogrammed Meetings in the United States belong to Friends General Conference. This organization, formed in 1900 to draw into Closer unity those Meetings which followed Elias Hicks at the time of the separations, has an ongoing program of religious education and encourages Friends from groups to share their social and spiritual concerns with one another. (When you find a Yearly Meeting with the same name listed twice, it means that the separations split all the Meetings of that geographical region in two, so there are two Yearly Meetings where there was originally only one.)

In 1955 several Yearly Meetings united: Canada and New York are affiliated with both Friends General Conference and Five Years Meeting, Philadelphia only with Friends General Conference. New England Yearly Meeting is a United Yearly Meeting formerly affiliated only with Five Years Meeting, which took on affiliation with Friends General Conference, too, in 1959.

There are three types of Yearly Meetings which do not belong to either of the two main bodies of American Friends — Five Years Meeting or General Conference. One is the programmed independent Meeting, such as Kansas and Oregon. Chey represent the strongly evangelical branch of Friends and are probably the group least known and understood by the rest of the Society of Friends. The second type is the unprogrammed Meeting marked “conservative.” These were the followers of John Wilbur, and while they do “correspond” with each other and do a great deal of intervisitation, they have never felt the need of a formal organization. Their fine but quiet contribution to the Society of Friends has always been on the basis of a very personal call to the ministry, and they have been reluctant to undertake any group action that does not have deep spiritual roots. The third type is the independent Yearly Meeting such as Pacific Yearly Meeting which has not as yet become a part of a larger grouping.

Independent Meetings which are springing up in many of our university towns throughout the country are, also, unprogrammed. The people who come to these meetings wish to be Quakers because they believe in the things that Quakers have always stood for and they find the unprogrammed worship with the emphasis on the responsibility of everyone for the act of worship more suitable for them than the forms of worship of other churches. They regard the separations as a sad occurrence with which they hesitate to identify themselves in any way. Therefore, rather than “take sides” by joining one of the established Yearly Meetings, they put themselves under the care of the Fellowship Council which was established in 1936 to help bring all Friends together from all parts of the Society.

Many Friends from all branches of the Society share the concern expressed by the Friends World Committee and feel that Friends should be brought together to work and worship in closer harmony. Today the pastoral system is becoming less of a barrier between Friends than it was. On the one hand, Friends whose Meetings have remained unprogrammed are beginning to realize the value of “liberating” certain Friends in their Meeting who to serve as meeting secretary or for some other special assignment, by making money available to them so they are free to serve the community in their own way and still support their families. On the other hand, Friends in the programmed Meetings have come to realize that they have sometimes depended too much on their pastors both in worship and in good works and are re-emphasizing the belief that every man is called to some sort of ministry, whether it be of words or deeds. Many of these Meetings have a period of silence during the worship program, with opportunity for vocal participation by any Friend in the meeting who feels he has a message.

On the other hand, Friends in unprogrammed Meetings are gaining a new appreciation of the value of a paid staff member in some situations. They appreciate the American Friends Service Committee a great deal and understand its need for some paid workers as well as for people who will give volunteer service. This fact, plus the practice of paying Meeting secretaries, represents movement made by the unprogrammed Meetings toward common ground for all Friends. In addition, we are finding that it is possible for both programmed and unprogrammed Meetings to work together in the same Yearly Meetings. In some of the Yearly Meetings that belong to the Five Years Meeting this is happening now. In both kinds of Meetings people are thinking and searching for the best ways to build an ideal Friends Meeting, an active worshiping fellowship in which no one is passive and everyone feels a responsibility to share in the work of ministry.

As Friends of all groups are gaining a new vision of what kinds of service are required of them, they are also gaining a new insight into the nature of worship. They are finding that in spite of differences in forms and words, the same Inward Christ speaks to the individual condition of all who listen to his Inward Voice. As the common ground between the groups thus increases, a number of Yearly Meetings are healing the bitterness of the old separations by re-uniting. This has already been done in New England, New York, Philadelphia, and Canada. The more we worship and work together, the faster the healing can take place, among all groups of Friends.

Questions for Discussion:

1. If you belong to a Meeting which has a programmed worship service, try to explain in what ways the music, the reading, the prayers and the sermon help you feel closer to God. Would you like a period of silence during the service? What would you do in such a period of silence if you had one?
2. If you belong to an unprogrammed Meeting, try to explain in what ways the silence helps you feel closer to God. Would you like a planned program for a part of the meeting hour, such as singing or reading from the Bible? In what ways do you think such a program would help you?
3. In what ways can a paid, full-time minister help a Meeting and the individuals in it to be better Friends and Christians?
4. How does a secretary differ from a pastor?
5. How is it possible for most unprogrammed Meetings to carry on weekly worship and do the work of the Meeting and service projects too, without any paid help, when most churches depend on specially trained people to direct these activities?

Home Readings:

• “Handbook of the Religious Society of Friends,” 1962 (Reference Book).
• “Trends in American and Canadian Quakerism, 1925-50,” (Reference Book).
• “Quakerism in Japan,” Edith F. Sharpless.
• “Friends in Kenya, Africa.”
• “Friends in Jamaica.”
• “Friends in Jordan.”
• “Friends Work in Africa,” Douglas and Dorothy Steere.
• Quaker Torch Bearers, Jonathan W. Plummer,” p. 173 (describes Friends General Conference), “Henry W. Wilbur.” p. 202 (describes advancement work in Friends General Conference).

Class Project:

It would take a whole year of studying just to understand what Friends Meetings are like in different parts of the world today. If you are interested in finding out more about Friends in other countries, you might choose one country and find out everything you can about the Friends in that country. If you Choose one of the countries for which a pamphlet is listed above, you can start by reading that pamphlet. If you choose India or one of the European countries, you can look up that country in the “Handbook of the Religious Society of Friends” and write to the Friend or Center listed in the Handbook for that country for more information about the Yearly Meeting. Most of the European Yearly Meetings publish their own periodicals. It would be fun to send for a copy of one and then find someone in the Meeting or in the community who could translate part of it for you.

Ch. 21 – The American Friends Service Committee: How It All Started

The year was 1917 and America had just entered the first World War. American Friends were recovering from the bitterness of the separations, and had been living quietly, comfortably, somewhat sleepily through a period of prosperity and peace. No one had been bothering them, and they had been bothering no one. Suddenly, thousands of young Quaker boys were faced with the draft, and the peace-loving Society of Friends realized that they were in the middle of war, whether they wanted to be or not. The army had no patience with pacifists, and many young boys went bravely off to prison rather than wear a uniform or carry a gun. This was not easy, for not only were they cruelly mistreated and abused, but many of them wanted to be doing something good and constructive that might help end the war, instead of sitting idle in prison cells for endless months and years.

In this way it came to pass that a gathering of leading American Friends took place in Philadelphia to try to find a way to help these young boys to work for peace in time of war. If possible, they should work on the Very battlefields on which their soldier brothers had wrought such terrible destruction and suffering. The American Friends Service Committee was born out of this concern. For the Society of Friends came to realize that in what had been started as a temporary organization to help young Quakers and other peace lovers to find constructive work in the midst of war, they had actually built a new instrument for carrying out a concern long talked of but little acted on, that all men should live together in peace and love. Now, every year brings to the American Friends Service Committee new opportunities, new concerns, new young people full of eagerness to serve. How is it that an organization born at such an unpromising time, when Quakers were hated and called cowards for refusing to fight and defend their country, was able to grow into an instrument which is today loved and respected and supported financially by many who do not go by the name of Friends or even believe in the rightness of pacifism?

Let us move forward thirty years from 1917 to another war. The country is China, and the Communist army is rap. idly advancing from the North, while the Nationalist army is rapidly retreating to the South. But although the line of fighting is constantly moving, there is an invisible iron curtain all along that line, dividing North and South. No man can get through that curtain and live, say the frightened people on both sides of it. But here are four young men crossing the invisible line in an old U.S. army truck — Americans, but not in uniform and not carrying guns. They are crossing it the wrong way, too. They are going from the Nationalist side, which is friendly to Americans, to the Communist side which hates the Americans. The truck moves slowly, and the young men watch the sides of the road carefully, looking for hidden soldiers who might try to ambush them. But they do not look afraid!

Where are they going? What are they trying to do? They are workers for the American Friends Service Committee who are trying to make contact with Communist relief headquarters and offer to assist them — not in the work of destruction, but in the relief of suffering. Everyone has warned them how fierce and ruthless the Communists are. They will never come out alive! “But these men are human, too!” the young men keep saying to themselves as they crawl over the now dangerously quiet countryside. “They are, underneath, like us. Like us, they love their homes and their families.”

After what seemed like hours of traveling without seeing a single Communist soldier, the men finally see a well-kept white horse, obviously belonging to a soldier, tethered to a tree. They inquire of a nearby villager, who tells them that the horse does indeed belong to a Communist soldier, and promises to take them to see him. How relieved and happy they are! At last they can start making their contact with Communist relief headquarters and begin their work of friendship.

Up until this moment they have been constantly reminding themselves that these so-called enemies are human and can be appealed to as fellow men. Two of the men now go forward on foot, full of friendly feelings. Let one of the men tell the story from here in his own words. The narrator is Lewis Hoskins, who later became executive secretary of the Service Committee, but who at that time was only one of many volunteer workers abroad: “But I had forgotten to put myself in the other fellow’s place at this time. We approached the hut from a brightly lighted courtyard; inside was deep shadow. The soldier, awakened from siesta by the call of the peasant, sprang to his feet, reached for his rifle, and with fear written all over his face, came charging out the door at the two of us in the sun’s blinding spotlight. He obviously thought he had been surrounded, caught away from his headquarters by the entire Nationalist and American armies. He was so frightened that he was completely unpredictable and irresponsible. He ordered us to back out of the compound, our hands in the air, and to turn and face the wall. We followed instructions except for the last which we pretended not to understand and continued trying to explain who we were and what we wanted. But we were so nervous and our teeth chattered so much that we got nowhere. Our pass of identification carried no weight with him. He couldn’t read. He ordered his horse readied and prepared to escape the trap, perhaps expecting to shoot his way out as he fled. I remember noticing how very young he was, not over sixteen.

“Finally, with perspiration pouring out of all three of us, we managed to get a few points across to the young soldier. The village headman intervened on our behalf. The Communist agreed at last to sit down and talk about it. We explained our mission and our objectives — to discuss with their relief authorities our impartial medical services in this area. He inquired about the numbers in our party and was surprised to find that we were only four and that we were in a vehicle. He admitted that he did not know exactly where his headquarters was. Finally, however, he agreed to lead us towards its likely location. He held me as hostage while my fellow worker (Henry) went back to fetch the rest of the fellows and the truck. I made feeble conversation as fast as my limited knowledge of Chinese permitted, while we waited. I showed him pictures of my family.” At last, when the truck reaches them with the rest of the party and the soldier sees that they really have been telling the truth, he takes them to the field headquarters of General Wei where they meet with a friendly reception and are able to accomplish their mission. They have a safe and uneventful trip back to the other side of the iron curtain again.

There are plenty of people in the world who are willing to go half-way in being friendly. But here were four young men who had already gone one hundred percent of the way, you might say, with no encouragement from the ‘ ‘enemy” and then, just as they were about to complete their deed of friendliness, they came very close to being shot with no chance to explain who they were or why they were there. Even at this point they did not lose courage or faith. They were still able to remember that the young Communist soldier was a child of God, and they understood and forgave his wild fright. It is this kind of faith, courage, love and understanding which has made the Service Committee what it is today. It is not a matter of doing easy good deeds that makes the conscience feel better, but of daring to walk with love into the very midst of hate and fear. Only as we, in the Society of Friends, continue to produce young people who have enough faith in that of God in every man to dare to befriend the “enemy” will the Service Committee be able to continue to work for the brotherhood of man.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What was the original concern which caused the American Friends Service Committee to be organized?
2. Why did the Quaker relief team want to do relief work in the Communist part of China? Our government was doing everything it could to help fight Communism by sending military aid to Nationalist China at that time. Also, it was easy to see that the Communists opposed almost everything for which the Quakers stand. Do you think it was inconsistent or wrong of the Quakers to want to give medical help in Communist territory just as they were doing in China?
3. When Service Committee relief workers are operating in territory where fighting is going on, they refuse not only to carry guns to protect themselves, but also to let soldiers from the army stationed where they are working go with them to protect them, although they are almost always offered such military protection. Why do they do this? Do you think they are right?

Home Readings:

• “Committee Meeting” and “Into the Room of Suffering,” Swords into Ploughshares, pp. 3 and 87.
• “Quakers in Wartime” and “Quakers Always in the Paths of Peace,” Quakers Courageous, pp. 193 and 201.
• Quaker Adventures, edited by Edward Thomas (Browse around in this.)

Class Project:

Find out if you have people in your Meeting who went overseas with the American Friends Service Committee when it was a brand-new organization in the first World War. If you do, invite them to come and tell you about their experiences and show their pictures and souvenirs, if they have saved any.

Ch. 22 – AFSC: At Work Overseas

There is something exciting about crossing the to help people in trouble in far-away lands. We saw in the last lesson how the Service Committee started because people were in difficulty on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and America had plunged into the trouble by getting into the first World War. For the first seven years Friends were so busy just trying to keep as many people as they could from starving to death or dying of disease for lack of food, clothing, shelter and medicine that they had very little time to sit down and think about what they were doing. In Russia there was famine, and people were dying in the streets by the thousands. The Service Committee sent in workers and food for as long as the new Communist government would allow them to do so. In Germany, where Tor lack of food, some twelve-year-old children looked no bigger than six-and-seven-year-olds, the Committee undertook a mass feeding program for children from the ages of two to fourteen, for two years, feeding children from 2,271 kitchens all over Germany. In large parts of Poland every house, tree and fence had been utterly demolished by war, and Quaker workers went in to help, patiently, at the very beginning. Not only housing and food had to be provided, but a tremendous program of giving baths, a cake of soap and a set of clothes to each individual in whole communities had to be undertaken, to prevent the spread of disease. Some of the older peasants didn’t take too kindly to the baths, either.

But the seemingly endless crises of widespread starvation and disease in Europe finally came to an end, although suffering on a smaller scale, of course, remained. At last, in 1924, the Service Committee had time to draw its breath and think about the future. They had started as an emergency relief committee. Now that the emergency was over, should they close up shop and all go home? Some of the relief workers in the group had been almost constantly on the job for the last seven years, living a rugged and uncomfortable existence under much the same conditions as the suffering thousands they were trying to help. Surely they would think that enough had been done, that now it was time to go back home and start normal living again.

Yes, indeed, home and normal living loomed ahead as good to these workers. But they could not forget what they had seen. They knew that while many of those they had helped were no longer sick and hungry and cold in their bodies, their hearts were still bitter. There was still much hatred and injustice in Europe, too little food, too few jobs and too many wanting them. Did not the seeds of a new war lie in this situation? If Quakers really cared about peace, how could they stand by and watch the seeds of war grow up again? Then some people began to ask, what about our own country? Are there not seeds of war on our side of the Atlantic, too? Are there not hatred and injustice in our own country? Are there not hungry and jobless people here, too? Friends saw once more the old vision that George Fox saw, about building a life that took away the occasion of all war. They saw that they would have to work at building that life wherever the way opened for them, both in this country and in countries overseas.

In this way the permanent American Friends Service Committee was born. The world is very big and very full of trouble, and the Service Committee is very small indeed. with little money and few workers compared to the need. But ever since the first World War, whenever the committee has seen an opportunity to demonstrate a way of peace and reconciliation in a place where there was conflict and trouble, they have taken that opportunity in so far as money and workers were available.

In recent years the Service Committee has tried to work at this task by getting all sorts of programs underway in many parts of the world, sometimes in cooperation with the English Friends Service Council, which is the English Service Committee. There are AFSC programs in such places as Geneva, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Delhi (India), Dacca (Pakistan), Tokyo, Mexico City, Algeria, Togo, Hong Kong, Rhodesia, Washington, D. C, and New York City. Here, usually with the help of local people, efforts are made to remove the causes of war. Sometimes this means dealing with government officials, and sometimes taking part on local community service projects, such as running a nursery in Hong Kong, providing milk for Algerians who are being resettled in their homeland after the war, or giving opportunity to people of different backgrounds and beliefs to share ideas. Also the Service Committee is sending workers to villages in some of the poorer countries of the world to help the peasants build a better life for themselves and their respective countries.

Many young Friends have gone abroad to help the Service Committee in its work for peace, volunteering for a two-year period of service. One of the biggest needs overseas today is for young people who can go into the so-called “backward underdeveloped areas” where the people, for lack of education and for many other reasons, don’t do things as well as they could if they were taught how. Farmers can be helped to grow more food by being taught more about crop rotation, fertilizing and so on. People can be better fed if the farmers are encouraged to plant nourishing foods about which they do not know. Housewives can be taught to cook these foods to retain valuable vitamins and minerals.

Many people need to learn very elementary facts about keeping themselves clean in order to avoid disease and they must learn too how to build sanitary outhouses; toilets would be an unheard of luxury in many parts of the world. In many countries a large number of babies die each year for lack of proper care, and girls are needed who can teach mothers to care for babies and children. Countries such as India have thousands of homeless children wandering the streets who could be gathered up into schools and homelike centers if only there were trained people who could run such schools and centers. Recreation has a place in the lives of many people, and children and adults both need to be taught to play. Because there are so few schools, there are not nearly enough trained people to do all the jobs that need to be done to establish for all a standard of living that will mean healthy, well-nourished bodies, happy spirits and active minds. One of the most discouraging things about living in a country where there is never enough to eat is that you cannot think well when you are always hungry. Undernourished people often appear to be stupid when they are not at all.

If you think you would like to spend one or two years of your life working with those who have so much less than we do (and you can do that in this country, too — you don’t have to cross the ocean to find suffering) then think about studying subjects that will prepare you to help others. Not only farmers and teachers, but carpenters, mechanics, engineers, scientists of every kind can be used. Almost any. thing you want to do can be used to help others, if you plan it that way. And just remember that it is through young people just like yourselves, only a little older, that the Serv. ice Committee does the greater part of its work. These young people have always found, too, that they have learned far more than they have taught, that they have received far more than they have given. For while the people they help may not have food, health, strength or “book learning” they have courage, patience and an ability to survive hardships that most of us do not have. Often, too, their religious faith has much to teach us. Anyone who has ever worked for the Service Committee has found the work to be much more a process of mutual sharing than a one-way giving.

Questions for Discussion:

1. When working in underprivileged countries why isn’t it enough just to feed people when they are starving and leave them to help themselves when they can get food again?
2. Much of the Service Committee work is done by young people who volunteer their services for a two-year period during which time they get no pay. Many of them could get. paying jobs elsewhere. What do you think makes them want to do this kind of work? Why would you want to do it? 3. For every one person the Friends are able to help, there are thousands they will never be able to help. Is this fair? Is the work worth the trouble when we cannot seem to do enough to make it likely that the world will change in our lifetime?

Home Reading:

Current Annual Report of the AFSC.

Class Project:

The Service Committee “Educational Materials for Children” suggests a number of projects that First-day School classes can do. Do you have a ‘ ‘Tricks or Treats” Hallowe’en project in your First-day School? Mitten tree project? If you are already using these ideas, think about ways in which you might get other children of your community to join you in one of these projects. If you are not doing anything along these lines, plan to start something this year.

Your class might like to get information from the American Friends Service Committee about its work in America.

Find out if anyone in your Meeting has worked for the Service Committee in recent years. If there is someone, ask him to tell you about the project on which he worked. Find out if your Meeting supports any particular project of the Service Committee and whether there is anything your class can do to help.

Ch. 23 – AFSC: At work for Peace in World War II

Quakers were not asleep when America entered the Second World War. Since the Service Committee was organized in the First World War, it had never stopped working for peace and now it was once more faced with working for peace in the midst of war. How was it going to do its job this time?

When the law drafting all young men of military age into the United States Army was passed, there was a special sentence which said that no one had to fight if his religious beliefs made him feel it was wrong to fight. These people were still drafted, however, and it was up to Friends to help their young men find a way to do constructive work during their period of service. Two other churches with a historic peace testimony, the Mennonites and the Brethren, felt the same concern. These three churches cooperated in working out with the government an arrangement whereby they would organize and run civilian public service camps for all conscientious objectors who were drafted.

The churches felt that by running the camps themselves they could be certain of giving the boys an opportunity to do real work for peace. Everyone was very conscious of the fact that it sounded negative to call oneself a “conscientious objector,” as the pacifists were called. Quakers, young and old, didn’t care nearly so much about objections against war as they did about showing a better way to handle conflict than by fighting. American Friends felt exactly as did English Friends, who made a public statement saying, “We as much as they (the government) desire to defend and promote justice and liberty but we are unable to take part in the national war.”

The civilian public service camps were intended to do the kind of constructive work for our own country that is carried on in peace time but neglected in war time. They were also planned as training centers to prepare young men to go overseas and do reconstruction work wherever fighting had caused destruction. They were to work for peace both at home and abroad.

However, it is never easy for pacifists to work with nation. al governments in wartime. Friends first learned this as far back as the days of William Penn, and the American Friends Service Committee soon found that it was still true. The government gave the. churches so little freedom to plan their programs that they were never able to send any boys overseas as long as they were serving in camps under the draft, and in this country they were able to set up only a few of the reconstruction programs that they would have liked to undertake. Some young men chose to go to prison in a protest against the lack of freedom to choose in what way they should serve their country. Others felt they might do more good in the army as non-combatants than as workers engaged in planting trees for a couple of years. And we must also remember that a good many Quaker boys felt that they had to go into the army as regular soldiers. Both the pacifists and the soldiers among the Quakers wanted to serve their country in the best way they could, but they did not agree on how to serve. While some Friends Meetings may have wished that more of their boys would want to uphold the Quaker peace testimony, most Friends loved and supported pacifists and soldiers alike. They were confident that each boy’s conscience would lead him to the course of action that seemed right to him at that time.

In spite of all the limitations set by the government, however, the young men in Civilian Public Service did some very fine work. A number were able to get assignments away from the regular camps to special service units. Some of the unsung heroes of the war worked in these special service units. One group volunteered to be subjects for a starvation experiment so that the effects of starvation on the human body could be better understood. The men knew that the results of the experiment would be very important after the war in helping to build up the strength of the starving people of Europe and Asia, but it was still no fun to be slowly starved to a shadow of yourself for a period of months. Others offered themselves as guinea pigs in medical experiments to determine the effects of pneumonia, malaria, jaundice and other diseases. The remarkable thing about these experiments was the good humor with which the boys put up with extreme personal discomfort.

Perhaps one of the most lasting contributions that Civilian Public Service has made to the welfare of our country was through the special units at some of the mental hospitals in various states. There was a tremendous shortage of attendants at mental hospitals all during the war, and most hospital superintendents were glad to have the help of the CPS men in caring for their patients. The attendants in a mental hospital are the people who are closest to the patients and most constantly with them, caring for their every need except those involving special medical or craft skill. Yet they have always been among the most poorly educated and poorly paid workers at any institution. Through and lack of interest they abused and mistreated their mentally ill patients, and certainly did not help them to get well. When CPS boys came to take these positions, they brought with them good education, frequently college degrees, and a sympathy and desire to help their patients which many of the older attendants had noticeably lacked. Violence had been common in handling the mentally ill. The new attend. ants were pacifists, and felt that love and understanding could work as well with these patients as with any “enemy.” They proved to themselves and to many workers in mental hospitals that they were right. As a result of their work, permanent changes in the status, training and working conditions of the attendants have come about in many mental hospitals, and substantially less violence is used in handling difficult patients. Tranquilizing drugs have helped.

Other special service units were assigned to agricultural experiment stations, and here the men were able to assist with the experimental work on farms and in laboratories. In the regular camps men worked at fire-fighting, forest and soil conservation, road building, carpentering, and many other kinds of jobs that needed doing but for which no one else had time during the war.

Although the work they did was important, few of the young men were really doing what they most wanted to do, and there was at least as much rejoicing among CPS men as among soldiers when they were released from the draft. Many CPS men, however, immediately volunteered to go overseas with the Service Committee, to do at last the reconstruction work on the battlefields of Europe and Asia that they had been wanting to do all through the war.

Once more the emergency relief work is past, and once more the Service Committee is trying to plan long-term projects that will somehow get at the seeds of war. India, Pakistan, Israel, Italy and Mexico have groups of Quaker workers, some of them ex-CPS men, in one or more villages helping the natives to build better lives for their families and their communities in the future.

Building for peace is a job in which every man, woman, and child everywhere should want to help. It is clear now to everyone, soldier and pacifist alike, that little but evil and suffering can come out of war. But after a war most people want to forget all about the suffering and go back to normal living. Quakers, because of the historic peace testimony, have a special responsibility to continue the work for peace. It isn’t just a job for grownups. It is a job for everyone, even very small children. We can build for peace at home, in school and in our play. All our daily actions count and help to make the kind of world we live in. Are you helping to build for peace?

Questions for Discussion:

1. Do you think that Friends are right in feeling that in wartime they can do a better job of “defending and promoting justice and liberty” through civilian rather than through military service?
2. If you had been in CPS, which of the kinds of work described in this lesson would you have chosen? Why?
3. Imagine that you are a project director of the Civilian Public Service Camps during wartime, and the government has promised that you may do anything you want. What kind of project would you choose for the CPS boys in order to give them the best possible chance to build for peace in this country?
4. Do you agree with the statement at the end of the lesson that all our daily actions count and help to make the kind of world we live in? If so, try to think of some specific things that we as individuals do each day that affect those around us. How could we make these actions help to “build for peace”?

Class Project:

There is very little written about Civilian Public Service Camps that is interesting to read, but nearly every Friends Meeting has members who have served in a camp. Ask one of the ex-CPS men in your Meeting to tell you about his experiences in CPS.

Ch. 24 – Working for Peace by Going to Prison

The title of this lesson may sound strange to you. Who ever heard of working for peace by going to prison? And yet, if you stop to think about it, this is exactly what Friends have been doing ever since the days of George Fox. Only, i! is easier to imagine people of long ago like George Fox and William Penn going to prison than it is to imagine our own friends and relatives, or ourselves being sent there.

The concerns of Friends still lead them to prison at times. Perhaps you know the story of the Golden Rule. This thirty-foot sailing ketch attempted to cross the Pacific Ocean to enter a zone set aside for atomic bomb tests. The voyage was made as a protest against these tests which endangered the lives of all of us through the release of dangerous radiation. When the vessel stopped at Honolulu the crew was ordered to end the voyage. They sailed anyway, and the crew members were sentenced to sixty days in jail. Three of the four men were Friends.

Have you ever been inside a prison? Probably not. What do you imagine it’s like? Rows of dark, tiny, filthy cells, damp and cold and full of rats? Men and women huddled in these holes, living on bread and water? This is what prisons were like in the days of George Fox, and there are still some like that in many parts of the world, even in this country. But the big state and federal prisons are clean and light, warm in winter and cool in summer. They serve food in rooms not unlike your school cafeteria, and the food tastes much the same as in your school cafeteria (not as good as at home, of course). There are chapels, libraries, shops for woodworking, and classrooms where you can continue your education in the evenings after the day’s work is done. And during the day the men and women go to work, some in offices, some in the small prison factories and shops, some on the prison farm and in the prison hospital. They have regular working hours, just as most of your fathers do.

Of course, there is another side to life in prison. When you get up in the morning, you have to stand in line to be counted. Every time you go to eat you are counted. And in the dining room you must eat everything on your plate, whether you like it or not. Before you go to bed you are counted again. You are always being locked in and out of rooms. There are few open doors through which you can walk freely. And everywhere there are guards standing over you, watching you, reminding you that you are a prisoner and cannot choose where you want to go or what you want to do. Although good prisons try to give you work that is suitable for one of your training and interest, once you are ordered to do something, you must obey. Sometimes if you feel that the order is unfair or wrong and that you cannot obey, you are sent to solitary confinement. at means darker cell, not being let out, perhaps being fed the famous “bread and water,” not seeing anyone except a guard, and sometimes, although it is against prison rules, being beaten.

While prison life is not exactly pleasant, its hardships are certainly not as great as the hardships of army life, where you also have to obey orders and are not free to come and go as you choose, and where you daily risk being wounded or killed. In other words, you do not have to have a lot of physical courage to go to prison. Nevertheless, the thought of being in prison fills most of us with horror. Prison is a place for “bad” people. It is full of murderers, thieves, sinister men and women who belong to the underworld and do things every day that nice people would never dream of doing. It is a place where people are punished for being bad and at the same time (we hope) reformed into good people. Why should Quakers go to prison?

Although George Fox and the thousands of early Quakers who went to jail were imprisoned on all sorts of excuses, the real reason was because their belief in the Inward Light often compelled them to disobey the laws. Believing that the Inward Light was to be found in every man, they felt that all men must be equal. That meant that they could not bow down to those who were supposed to be better than they, and in authority over them. Even more important, it meant that they believed that God would lead each person to that course of action which was right for him and that if the government asked any person to do something he felt was not God’s will, then he was not obliged to obey the government.

This is exactly the position in which some Friends find themselves today. True, the government does not command people to fight if they have religious objections to war. (However, Selective Service Boards do not always classify people correctly.) But it does assume the power to command every citizen to leave the work of his own choosing and do something else because the government thinks that something else is more important. This is called conscription. Our government and many American citizens are so frightened of what the future may bring in the way of action by Russia and other “enemies” that they feel we must be prepared at all times to spring into immediate military action. They no longer dare to leave it up to the individuals to decide what is the best way in which they can serve the community. Not only that, but they are so concerned with preserving America that they are giving very little thought as to how to preserve the world community.

Many Friends believe that our government and the many citizens who do support its actions are wrong in choosing these military methods to preserve America’s safety. They also feel a real allegiance to, and responsibility for, the world community that most Americans do not seem to feel. While they recognize that everyone who wants to defend himself and his country with the sword has the right to do so, they feel that they must work in other ways for peace. And yet, here is the government standing in their way, saying “You don’t have to carry a gun, but you do have to go and work on a farm, or in a mental hospital, or in a forestry camp, for as long as your soldier brothers are serving in the army.” Now there is no harm in working on a farm, or in a mental hospital or in a forestry camp, if you feel that that is the way in which you can make your best contribution to peace. But suppose you have a very different idea of the job you should be doing. Suppose you have the training and the concern to work among Africans or Asians, helping them to develop their agricultural and industrial resources so that they won’t feel that they have to “go communist” in order to get enough to eat, as many peoples of the world already feel. It has often been said that food is a more powerful weapon than guns and that is one reason why Quakers have always been so concerned with feeding people.

The power to conscript is the power to keep people from following their Inward Light. There are many Christians and even many Quakers who feel that there are times when they must lay aside their personal wishes and obey the government, as long as they are not required to do something which is morally wrong, such as killing. In other words, they will accept conscription and cheerfully do whatever alternative service is required of them. For them, this is the right course of action. But others feel that they must testify against the evil of the State assuming the power that belongs to God alone, of calling people to the type of work which they ought to do. They ask, “Is not this the first step in becoming like totalitarian Russia, or Hitler Germany?” These are the people who go to prison, for no one can disobey the government and remain free. Those who go to prison are not only refusing to obey what they believe is a bad law, but in so doing are trying to make others realize that it is a bad law, and that it should be changed. They hope that the citizens of this country will, in the end, take away from the government its power of conscription. Also they have found a very important work to do in prison, helping the prison authorities understand the needs of prisoners and getting better treatment for prisoners. The way of love can work in prisons, too.

Each one of you will have to decide for yourself, when (and if) the time comes, whether you will be able to accept conscription or not. Most Friends will stand behind you, whichever course you choose. Only be careful that you do not base your decision on a fear of prison, or on a fear of not being “respectable.” Many Friends through the ages have found that a prison may seem like a glorious place if you go there knowing you have followed your light.

Questions for Discussion:

1. It is generally understood that people who disobey laws because of their religious beliefs are not in the same category as ordinary criminals. Then how would you explain the fact that the government treats such people exactly as if they were ordinary criminals? Could they do anything else?
2. Have you known personally, or heard discussion about, anyone who has gone to prison for conscience’ sake? How have you felt about this person? How have others felt about him?
3. What is your opinion about conscription? Do you think this is a power the government should have?
4. If you were faced with conscription today, what do you think your decision would be: regular army service, non-combatant service, alternative service or refusal to cooperate with conscription although that would probably mean a prison sentence?
5. Do you think it does any good for people who are opposed to conscription to go to jail?
6. Can you think of circumstances when Friends might disobey laws, other than conscription laws, for reasons of conscience?

Home Readings:

• “Conscientious Objectors in Prison,” Mulford Sibley and Ada Wardlaw, Pacifist Research Bureau. O.P. Check libraries.
• A Field of Broken Stones, Lowell Naeve.
• “Handbook for Conscientious Objectors,” edited by George Willoughy. Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors. 1962. Resource for teacher.
• ‘The Draft Law and Your Choices,” Friends Peace Committee. 1961.
• “Why I Am Sailing This Boat Into The Bomb-test Area,” Albert S. Bigelow. 1958.
• Diary of a Self-Made Convict, B. Alfred Hassler.

Section IV: Where Can I Fit Into the Society of Friends?

Ch. 25 – Friends Schools

Have you ever visited a Friends school? If you live around Philadelphia, where there are a number of Friends day schools, you may be attending one. If you were members of East Africa Yearly Meeting you would all be attending Friends schools for they are the only schools available. Many of you, however, live in communities where there are no Friends schools, and probably you have not thought much about them. You are used to the fact that the older young people in your family, your Meeting and your community often go away to attend college. You may even be looking forward to going away to college yourself some day. But have you ever thought about going away to a Quaker boarding school for your high school years? Some of you may have plans for attending one next year, but most of you may not even have dreamed of going away to high school.

“What’s the matter with the high school in our town? That’s where all my friends are going and of course I want to go there too.” As a matter of fact, the great majority of you will go to the high school in your own town and some of you won’t go to any college. There are so few Friends high schools that there would not be room in them for more than a few of all the young people of high school age in the Society of Friends. But why do Quakers bother to have any high schools at all, when we have such a good system of public schools in our country, and why do we have Quaker colleges? If Quaker schools do offer something special such as you couldn’t get anywhere else, then perhaps some of you will want to think about what advantages you might have in attending one.

If Quakerism means anything at all, then Friends schools ought to be translating the testimonies of the Society of Friends into educational experience, and this is exactly what they are trying to do. In the old days Quakers used to call this type of education a “guarded education.” The thought behind this phrase is that Quaker children have to be guarded so they will be exposed only to the right kinds of influences. But one of the things that Friends and educators in general have learned in recent years is that both children and young people are capable of doing a lot more thinking for themselves and of making much wiser choices than people used to realize. For Quakers, this has meant having the courage to trust -that the Light of Christ would guide young people just as they have always believed that it would guide adults. Modern Quaker education, then, instead of guarding you so that you can walk down only one certain path, will try to show you what paths there are. Even more important, it will help you to be aware of God’s guidance as you try to find the best path. A complete map of all the roads in the world won’t do you much good if you don’t know where you want to go.

Every school, good or bad, public or private, gives its pupils a kind of map of the world. Some give better maps than others, of course. The picture of the world that you get in our public schools, for example, often makes the United States seem bigger and wiser and more important than it actually is. And the job of strengthening the Inward Light, or even discussing it, is forbidden to the public schools, by the law which prohibits religious instruction in the schools. It is perhaps right that it should be forbidden, since one of the basic freedoms of our country is the right of each individual to seek for truth in his own way. The job of helping seekers is left to the home and the church. On the other hand, one of the basic Quaker beliefs is that religion is a way of life. We are not satisfied simply to think about our souls in meeting, to be domestic at home, to learn the three R’s in school, to be good sports on the athletic field, the life of the party at social gatherings, and so on. We want to live every part of our lives in the Light, and we want our study, our work and our play to be as much a part of our service to God and to our world family as our prayers are. Through Friends schools, the Society of Friends has the opportunity to teach the same educational skills the public schools teach, but as a part of the whole way of life in which Friends believe. These schools are open to all young people who like Friends ways and want to learn more about them, whether they are Friends or not.

One of the ways in which Friends schools are different from many other schools is in the different standards of “success” which they hold. Although every Quaker boarding school which is in good standing in the Society of Friends also has a good academic rating compared to other secondary schools and sends students to the best colleges in the country, none of them places a great emphasis on “marks.” At least one of these schools gives no marks at all, but writes reports for each student on the basis of which the student is accepted in college. The teacher’s concern is not so much that the graduates of these schools be successful in business or gain acclaim, but rather that each pupil learn to develop his own special gifts to the fullest extent and then proceed to use these talents in service to the community.

Another way in which Friends schools differ from most public schools is in the emphasis on the international community. Not only is international understanding taught in the classroom, but it is practiced in the school community. For example, as this was being written, Oakwood School, reports that it has students from twelve different countries on its campus, and that it has a teacher from India, one from China and one from Holland on the teaching staff.

Several of the Friends schools are participating in the School Affiliation program of the American Friends Service Committee. This means establishing a special relationship with another high school in a foreign country — a contact that can lead to all kinds of interesting activities depending on the interests of the pupils of the two schools. In addition to sharing ideas and exchanging samples of creative work, often through a special common newspaper, it may mean exchanging individual teachers and pupils for a year at a time. George School planned a work camp in Germany together with its affiliate school in that country. None of the American students, who have spent a summer working side by side with their German high school Friends helping to rebuild what the war destroyed, will ever forget that experience.

Not least among the contributions of the Quaker schools is discovering the joy of work. Important in the Quaker way is learning how to weave the every-day chores and all manual work into the daily fabric of life — so that far from being a burden, they actually enrich each day. The schools vary in the amount of emphasis they give to the work program, but they all find a place for it in some way. The school which has perhaps the greatest feeling for the joy of work is Scattergood, a school supported by Iowa Yearly Meeting.

The most important thing which Friends schools have to offer is the opportunity for spiritual growth. Bi-weekly meetings for worship are central in the life of all Friends schools. Since there are few adults present at these meetings, they offer a special kind of opportunity for students to ‘ ‘find themselves”; and few students go through boarding school without having been moved to make some kind of vocal expression in meeting, at least once. A bulletin from Westtown School, in Pennsylvania, which has some elementary day students as well as a boarding high school, describes a recent meeting for worship in which three fourth-graders gave “very short but very acceptable messages.” A sense of both personal and group guidance comes, not only from the meetings for worship, but from the spirit in which student government and all school meetings are conducted. Teachers are chosen for the spiritual as well as the academic light they can contribute, and underlying all activity is a sense of seeking, of sharing, and of belonging to God’s family.

Friends aim high in the goals which they have set for themselves in the education of their young people, and their standards are not the same as the world’s standards. If these goals seem right to you, they can be your own, with the help of your family and your Meeting, whether you attend a Friends school or not. This is how Barnesville (Olney), a school supported by Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative), expresses these goals: “Olney desires to produce men and women of power, who will have lives of radiant joy and peace. Such lives can be made efficient and full only by constant but unstrained attention to the Light within all creation.”

Questions for Discussion:

1. Describe some of the ways in which a Friends school is different from the public schools you know.
2. Some people maintain that all private schools motivated by religious or other special considerations, are bad, because young people are not learning how to get along with the wide variety of people they will have to live with in the world after they graduate from school. Do you think they are right? Why, or why not?
3. What appeals to you most about Friends schools as they have been described here, or as you may know them from other contacts? Would you like to go to one?
4. Many parents think that thirteen or fourteen is too young for children to go away to school, that they belong with their families at least until they are ready for college. How do you feel about this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of going away from home at this age? How do you think your parents would feel about it?

Home Readings:

• “Benjamin Hallowell” and “Joseph S. Walton,” Quaker Torch Bearers, pp. 99 and 145.
• Catalogue and bulletin from the secondary school associated with your Yearly Meeting or nearest you.

Other Friends Schools:

• Olney Friends Boarding School, Barnesville, Ohio.
• George School, George School, Pennsylvania.
• Oakwood School, Kingwood Park, Poughkeepsie, New York.
• Friends Academy, Locust Valley, Long Island, New York.
• Scattergood School, West Branch, Iowa (Conservative).
• Westtown School, Westtown, Pennsylvania.
• Friendsville Academy, Friendsville, Tennessee.
• The Meeting School, Rindge, New Hampshire.
• Argenta Friends School, Argenta, British Columbia.

Class Project:

If your meeting library does not contain catalogues from all the above schools, write for them as a class and then arrange for the Meeting a display of all the information you have been able to collect about Friends schools. You could also include Friends colleges.

If you wish, after you have seen all the catalogues, choose the school in which you are most interested and write for your own personal catalogue.

Find out more about the School Affiliation Service by writing to the American Friends Service Committee. If you would like your school to participate in this project, choose a committee from the secondary school class to ask for an interview with your school principal. Bring him the information about the project that you have collected and ask if your school could have a foreign affiliate.

Ch. 26 – American Friends Service Committee National High School Seminars

Two or three times a year the AFSC sponsors week-long seminars at the United Nations and Washington, D.C. These are national seminars in that the participants come from all sections of the United States representing a variety of social, racial and religious backgrounds. Any student in the sophomore, junior or senior year of high school may apply. The week starts in New York City where the students share in a group living experience while studying and examining the seminar topic at an international level; the latter part of the week is spent in Washington where it is viewed from the national point of view. Approximately twenty students are accepted for each seminar, but no more than two from any one school.

Why do the young people come, and what do they do when they get there? They come because somewhere back home they have been encouraged to ask questions about our country’s activities, both in national and world affairs. Perhaps the family, the school, the church or some club in their community has given them this encouragement. The Service Committee has made it possible for them to bring their questions to the people who are in some way involved in trying to work out answers. In Washington, they talk with congressmen, government officials, newspaper men, economists and lawyers. In New York, at the United Nations, they talk with the men and women who represent the United States and the other member countries of the UN, see special commissions at work, talk with specialists on various types of international problems, and watch how international diplomacy operates at general sessions. In the week-long Regional National Seminars conducted in other cities, they talk with local authorities on industry, agriculture, human relations and world conditions. They talk on the spot with people who are involved in problems in factories, on farms, and in union halls.

You may ask, “How is it that all these busy and important people are willing to take time out to talk to teen-agers, and how on earth do these teen-agers know what kinds of questions to ask? Even though I think war is wrong for example, I’d feel awfully dumb trying to talk to my congressman about Korea. I just don’t know enough about it to ask an intelligent question, let alone make an intelligent commend” It is perfectly true that you would feel “dumb” if you were completely unprepared, but it doesn’t happen that way. Each seminar is built around a certain theme, such as: “The Changing Face of Latin America” or “Disarmament or Destruction: Which Will It Be?” As soon as you register for a seminar you are sent a little packet of literature with which to prepare yourself on the subject of the seminar. This is not a course for which you must cram, but something to start you thinking.

As you read, you will discover that you know more and have thought more about these things than you had realized. The seminar staff has yet to meet with any group of teenagers who have not been able to get a good discussion going, make intelligent comments and ask good questions, once they were given the chance. Perhaps people around you have been belittling your ideas for so long that you yourself believe that you don’t know much about anything. These seminars have proven that teen-agers’ ideas are worth something. Many a congressman who has very grudgingly promised to see a bunch of high school kids for a couple of minutes has ended up by spending several hours with them, delighted with their ideas and interest, and has then begged them to come back again.

Because Friends believe that there is another Source of enlightenment beyond books, ideas and people, each day of these seminars opens with a period of quiet meditation. Attendance is not compulsory and many of the students attending the seminars have had no previous experience with silent worship. In spite of this, many young people have found this quiet period at the beginning of the day to be the crucial experience which gave meaning to all the other activities of the seminar. Being bombarded with so many new ideas and experiences, they found the meditations a way of getting their mental camera focused so they could get a good picture.

If teen-agers bring many questions to these seminars, they go home with a great many more. There are no easy answers to the kinds of problems that we face today as individuals, as a country and as a world. But these seminars have given countless teen-agers a sense that they are facing the problems. Along with a sense of facing problems comes a feeling of direction and of purpose to life which many felt they had lacked before. And they no longer feel alone, because they have shared their deepest thoughts with young people from countries all over the world, of every skin color and religious belief. They have slept and eaten with these young people, joked, worshiped and argued with them.

If they come home wanting to change the world, they have learned at the same time that the world cannot be changed overnight. One group of students at the close of a seminar said just that, but added, “But by doing as much as we can each day and by quietly yet persistently influencing people around us we can be a powerful force in the struggle for our ideal.”

This experience will be possible to you when you are fourteen. At the very least, it will open new doors for you. At the most, it may move you as it moved one student: “When I returned to school I was still throbbing inside from the seminar…. The seminars have also left me with ambitions for putting my services into direct application…. I think I’ve found my life’s work.”

Questions for Discussion:

1. We have already studied some of the work of AFSC. Why do you think the Service Committee sponsors seminars like this? Can you see any way in which they might help to “build for peace”?
2. Why do you think congressmen and world affairs experts have enjoyed talking so much with the teen-agers at these seminars?
3. Imagine that you are in Washington and can have an appointment with anyone in the capitol. Whom would you like to see? What would you ask? What comments would you make?
4. Would you like to attend one of these seminars? What do you think you might get out of it?

Home Readings:

• “Let’s Join the Human Race,” pamphlet by Stringfellow Barr.
• American Friends Service Committee literature on high school seminars.

Class Project:

Send away for the AFSC literature on these seminars. Get enough copies so you can each have something in your notebook on the seminars.

If anyone in your Meeting has attended a seminar, ask him to come and tell about it. If there are fourteen-year-olds in your class, discuss the possibility of sending a representative from your class to a seminar.

Ch. 27 – American Friends Service Committee High School Work Camps

There is a little settlement in the Ozark mountains in Missouri, called Shannondale Community Center. Have you ever heard of it? Probably not. Very few people have. The people who live around there are all farmers, and because the soil is poor, they don’t see much cash from one year to the next. But they all love Shannondale County, and they wouldn’t dream of moving away. It has always been home, and the neighbors are all their own kind — good, solid, friendly people. Just a few years ago, life was much harder in Shannondale County than it is now. Between the settlement and the main highway was a little river called Barren Fork. Although there was a road fording the river, most of the year the water was so high that it was impossible for either car or truck to cross. People had to go fifty miles around over winding rocky mountain roads to get to the highway. Fire-fighting equipment couldn’t ford the river either, and a lot of timber and farmland could be burnt over while forestry trucks were bumping over those extra fifty miles to get to Shannondale County.

The county had no money for bridgebuilding, and the busy farmers had no time. What was to be done? A concerned district forester consulted with the minister at the Shannondale Community Center, who in turn consulted with the American Friends Service Committee. The following summer, nineteen teen-age campers of different races and religions came to help build a bridge across Barren Fork. Not only did no one pay them to work on the bridge, but each camper paid $175 or had it paid for him in the form of scholarship help, for the privilege of being in the work camp.

When school is out, you probably like to sleep late in the morning, don’t you? It’s fun to be lazy and to putter around and to have time for your favorite hobbies. Most people feel that way, teen-agers or not, but maybe teen-agers like to sleep even more than children or grownups! The teen-agers who went to Shannondale that summer weren’t very different from you or your friends, but this is how they spent each day for six weeks: up at 6: 15 (earlier for the one on KP), breakfast at 6:30, quiet meditation at 6:50 for twenty minutes, followed by an hour for camp chores. Then everybody was off to work on the bridge until 11:45, and at twelve lunch was served. At one, back to work on the bridge, at three o’clock tools were put away for the day. Between 3:00 and 5:15, when dinner was served, there was time for swimming, reading, writing and resting. After dinner and clean-up, at 6: 15, there was an hour and a half for soft ball games, hikes and similar activities. From 8:00 to 9:15, there was time for a campfire, discussions, folk dancing, or whatever evening program the young people wanted. By 9:30 they were more than ready for bed.

Not only did the campers work on the bridge, but they found time after work hours to help out a sick farmer with his chores, do baby-sitting for the farmer’s wives when they needed extra help, visit around in the homes of the neighborhood and get to know and have fun with the teen-agers who lived in the community.

How did the Ozark folks feel about having a bunch of teen-agers come down to do their work for them? Didn’t it encourage these hillbilly farmers to be lazy, which “everybody knows they are anyway”? After the camp was over, a member of the staff went around asking people in the community how they had felt about the camp. One of the questions he asked was: “Would the bridge have been built without the campers’ help?” Here is a typical answer: “I don’t think so. The people of our community never have time to leave their own work and donate all of their time to a project. When the campers started it, we were willing and anxious to help all we could.” Other farmers commented on the fact that never before had the community gotten together and worked so well on a common project. In other words, the campers did not build this bridge alone. Farmers left their fields whenever they could to come down and give a hand for an hour or two. The bridge was not entirely finished when the campers had to leave at the end of the summer, but the local people pitched in to finish it in the fall, with the help of a weekend work camp from a nearby city church.

That bridge is not the end, but the beginning of a story. It has not only provided a road for fire trucks and farmers’ cars between the city and country, but it has provided a road for understanding and friendship between teen-agers of all races and religions, many of them city-bred, and farm families in a remote and little-respected corner of our country. These southern farmers could not have been more proud of the campers if they had been their own children, and many of them learned for the first time to respect and like young people of other races. The teen-agers discovered fine qualities in the “hillbillies” and their way of life which they would never have found from reading the comics. And last but not least, the work camp left behind a spirit of community feeling and co-operation in Shannondale that has kept on growing to this day. These mountaineers were indeed helped to help themselves.

Shannondale is only one of hundreds of work camps that have been organized all over the country ever since that summer in the thirties when the AFSC undertook the first work camp to help the miners in Pennsylvania. Work camps are no longer a peculiarly Quaker kind of activity. Many churches and civic organizations sponsor them now. There are work camps for teen-agers, work camps for older young people, family-style work camps where all ages work together. There are work camps in the arctic circle in Norway, in Germany, France, Italy, in India, and other parts of the world. The very fact that the idea has spread around the world as it has is proof of the fact that it does make sense to a lot of people to pay for the privilege of helping others to help themselves.

In spite of war, race prejudice, class discrimination and religious persecution, most people are capable of acting like brothers if they are given the right kind of chance. Work camps, which allow no barriers because of race, class, religion or nationality give people that kind of chance. Sometimes that kind of living together is as much of a new experience for the campers as it is for the community in which they work, and all learn together. It is not always easy, and sometimes, things do go wrong because people have not understood one another well enough. But everyone who has ever come to a work camp wanting to serve and wanting to learn, who has sat prayerfully in the daily morning worship circle and who has kept on hammering or digging or carrying or lifting, even after he was tired, because he wanted to finish a job right, has come away with a new understanding of the meaning of brotherhood. One teenage camper wrote: “We learned about people. We could not have seen people in such a way if not at work. When we work together, we are all alike — language, clothes, education, age, religion, nationality, race make no difference.” Here is an opportunity which is meant for young people like yourselves. In First-day school we can discuss brotherhood, but in work camps we can practice it. Would you like to take up this challenge?

Questions for Discussion:

1. Although the Service Committee has some scholarship funds available for work campers, it requests every one who can to pay his own way, even though the work he will do at the camp will be more than worth his room and board. Why does the Service Committee do this?
2. Some older young people will take a paying summer job one year in order to save up enough money to pay the Service Committee for the privilege of being in a work camp and working for nothing the next summer. Why do you suppose they do this? Does it make sense to you? Would you do it?
3. Do you think the principle of helping others to help themselves is sound, or do you think it would be better to let people sink or swim?
4. Have you ever had any experience with helping someone to help himself? If you have, describe the experience.

Home Readings:

American Friends Service Committee publications on work camps, including work camps for teen-agers.

Class Project:

1. Find out whether it might be possible for one of your group to attend a summer work camp for teen-agers next summer or the summer after.
2. Does your meeting sponsor any week-end work camps? Week-end work camps make it possible to do on a small scale in your own community what summer work camps do in other communities. A number of Meetings and local AFSC offices sponsor them. If you do not have one nearby, explore the possibility of setting one up. This would involve choosing a good community project and getting the cooperation of the people in the community that would be involved. The camp could be for teen-agers, for older young people and teen-agers combined, or it could be a family style camp. You can get advice about setting up week-end camps from the Social Order Committee of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Pennsylvania.
3. Arrange with the Social Order Committee to borrow and show their documentary sound film on work camps, “This Way Out.”
4. Send away to AFSC for enough copies of their literature on work camps to enable each member of the class to have something on work camps in his notebook.

Ch. 28 – Practicing Quakerism at Home

We have talked a good deal in all these lessons about how Quakers try to practice the brotherhood of man because we believe that we are all part of God’s family. We have talked about practicing this brotherhood in India and China and Europe, in our own southern mountains, and right in our own home town. The one thing we haven’t talked about is practicing the brotherhood of man in our own families. Perhaps it seems too obvious even to talk about and yet, if we are honest, we must admit that it is sometimes harder to get along with our parents and our brothers and sisters than with people of other races, religions and nationalities.

Of course there is a good reason for this. When we are working, worshiping and playing with people outside the family circle, we don’t see them for very long at a time. If we do get irritated with someone, we can always go home and blow off steam. We can avoid becoming intimate with people in our community when we don’t particularly like them. But as has been said many, many times, we can choose our friends, but we can’t choose our relatives. We are stuck with our families, for better or for worse. It is for better, a good part of the time, because after all our families do understand our peculiarities and make allowances for them in ways that other people are not willing to do. The very fact that we have such a phrase as “company manners” indicates that at home we expect to be able to get away with behavior that would not be accepted anywhere else. In a way, this is what families are for. Everyone needs a place where he can relax, blow off steam and generally let go, without losing the love and respect of those around him.

The reason why we need such a place is that growing up is hard work. Grownups are still at it, and they are still finding it hard work. But we have set a terrific pace for growing in our country, so that the school, the Scouts, the Y’s, the community organizations and often the churches, too, are always pushing and offering prizes for the one who does the most, the best, the fastest. This makes growing up even harder than it needs to be. Your particular gang may be saying, “Hey, we don’t want to go that fast. We have our own lives to live. Leave us alone.” Your school may not see it that way, and your family may not see it that way. Then trouble may start. On the other hand, there are some ways in which you want to grow faster than your family will let you. You may want to make your own decisions about how late you should stay out, what clothes you should buy, how much spending money you should have, what you should do around the house, and all this, before your family is ready to respect your opinions on these subjects. On the one hand you may feel pushed and driven, on the other hand you feel you are being held down with an iron hand. What can you do?

If you are caught in a series of disagreements with your parents about who can do what, and about where, when and how it should be done, try talking things over with your parents in the fashion of a Quaker meeting for business. One of the most important things about a Quaker meeting for business, you may remember, is that no one can outvote anyone else. It is the sense of the meeting as a whole which determines the decisions which are made. Have you ever tried taking the sense of the family in deciding problems at home? Some of you may already be in the habit of attending regular family councils at home, where everyone gets a chance to speak up and present his point of view. For others, this may be a new idea. The main thing is that it gives you a chance to see how the others in the family really feel about something that is important to you, and at the same time it gives them a chance to see how you feel about it. It is not playing fair if each person just throws in his opinions, and then sits back without listening to anyone else. Each one of you ought to understand the point of view of each one of the others on the problems under discussion well enough to repeat it back to him in such a way that he is satisfied that you do understand it. Try this in a family council, if you have one, in regard to the amount of your weekly allowance. In most cases the very effort each of you puts forth makes it possible to arrive at some kind of mutual agreement.

“But,” you might say, “if home is where we can let our hair down and relax, why should we have to be bothered with the problems of everyone else in the family? Especially, why should we bother about our parents’ problems? Isn’t it their job to understand us and make a happy home for us?” And here we arrive at something pretty important about family life. You remember it was said earlier that it isn’t just the children in a family who are growing. Parents, too, are still growing. The only way to stop growing is to die. Every kind of growing has its own kind of growing pains. Quaker parents may have more kinds of growing pains than a lot of parents because they feel torn between their desire to spend enough time at home, in getting to know their children and doing the things they know need doing in the community. They have spiritual growing pains too. They are still asking themselves, “Am I the kind of parent I should be? Am I doing God’s will? How can I be serene, patient and loving when everyone is jumping on everyone else at home?” And no matter how sure a parent is that he has chosen the right way of life for himself, there are times when he asks himself, “What do the neighbors think?”

When the going gets rough for parents, and none of the answers to the questions they are asking themselves come out right, they may need to blow off steam, too. They may get so unreasonable that they can’t see your point of view. When that happens, try to remember all the times when you weren’t seeing their point of view. This is what is meant by the “give and take of family life.” If you are going to give it, you’ve got to have your turn at taking it. There comes a time in the life of every human being (and parents are human beings) when they are so utterly miserable and mixed up inside that they must blow off in some way, and this is the time when they most need to be loved and understood. The real art of family living is loving that member who at the moment is the most unlovable. He is the one who needs it, and it may be your mother or father, as well as your brother or sister. Fortunately, it rarely happens that everybody in the family gets that way on the same day. But it does happen once in a while, and the best thing to do is to try to see the funny side of it and weather the day as best you can.

This may all sound very reasonable, but how do we get to the point where we can act this way? We can’t just say to ourselves, “I will now be a loving and understanding person whenever someone else in the family starts acting up” and suddenly be that way. The answer to this question is perhaps the same as to the question, how do people get to be Quakers? Obviously it doesn’t just come from going to meeting for business and serving on committees and doing good. It comes on the one hand from heeding our own Inward Light, and on the other hand from recognizing that of God in those around us. Meeting for worship on First-day morning helps us to do this. But First-day is only one day out of seven. Is it possible to turn to the Light at home, and see that of God in our mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers? Early Friends knew very well that if they didn’t turn to the Light each day, they would find it much harder to turn to it on First-days, and they also knew that if parents couldn’t demonstrate at home through their own love something of what the love of the Heavenly Father was like, children would have a hard time understanding what the love of God meant. These Quaker parents also understood their own limitations well enough to know that they could not demonstrate much about love in the family circle without God’s help. This is why daily family worship was felt to be as necessary to the Quaker family as daily bread. Seeking God’s help together, the family was able to draw on Divine Love and Understanding in loving and understanding one another. On the strength of this family experience they were able to go out, first into the Meeting and then into the world, speaking to that of God in every man.

Family worship seems old fashioned and meaningless to many people today. But we know that worship doesn’t need to be that way. Try discussing with your family ways in which you might meet together for a daily period of worship, however short, that would be meaningful to all of you. Try to rediscover the meaning of the term “God’s Family” in your own family circle.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why is it sometimes harder to get along with your own family than with your friends?
2. Do you think your own parents are still growing? If they don’t seem to you to be growing, why do you think they are not? In what ways might they be growing of which you would not be aware?
3. Have you ever thought about the fact that much Christian experience is expressed in terms of family life: God, the father, Jesus, the elder brother, we, God’s children? Why do you think God and Jesus are so often described in this way?
4. If any of you have family councils regularly at home, describe to the group how they work. If you do not, do you think it is a good idea to have one? If so, why?
5. Do you think it would be possible to plan in your home a family worship period that everyone would want to attend? Do you think it a good idea to plan one? How would you go about starting this in your family?

Home Readings:

• “Childhood and School,” John Woolman, Chap. 3.
• “The Family at Earlham,” Elizabeth Fry, Chap. 1.
• Lucretia Mott, Girl of Old Nantucket, Constance Buel Burnett.
• Finding the Trail of Life, Chap. 2.

Class Project:

If your families are willing, each of you might try to plan a daily worship period with your families for a couple of weeks, and then report back your feelings about the experience to the group.

Ch. 29 – Junior Yearly Meeting

For some of you “Junior Yearly Meeting” may be a brand-new phrase that you have never come across before. Others of you may actually belong to a Junior Yearly Meeting already and have attended its sessions. If there is a special part of the Society of Friends for junior Friends, then why hasn’t it been mentioned before in this history of Quakerism? The reason it hasn’t been mentioned before is because it is a very recent and new idea in Quakerism.

Through most of its history the Society of Friends has expected children, young people and adults to share in the same activities, each participating according to his age and ability. Meeting for worship was for everyone from the newborn baby to the oldest grandmother.

There were fewer special activities for children than there are today. For the most part children were expected to go along with the activities of the grown-ups. This arrangement was taken for granted as there seemed to be no other way.

Many changes have taken place in the Society of Friends as well as in the world in general. The First-day School has built up a world of activities for children and teen-agers which sometimes seem to be quite separate and apart from the adult meeting. Many children reach their late teens without ever having sat in meeting for worship for more than fifteen minutes at a time and without ever having been to a business meeting. In the old days, Friends may have expected too much from their children and may not have given them enough chance to learn and to grow at their own rate of speed, nor allowed them enough time for plain good fun. Today, however, Friends are apt to forget what children and teen-agers can do if given a chance. They often take the attitude. “Let the kids have their fun — they’ll have the work and the responsibility soon enough.” But suppose that one of you, having reached the age of 21, without ever having attended a meeting for business, is appointed clerk of such a meeting. What would you do? Suppose at the same time the rest of you — likewise without any first-hand knowledge of a meeting for business, and without ever having sat through a whole meeting for worship or participated in a meeting project, were suddenly appointed overseers, ministers or elders responsible for worship, personal conduct or social concerns, what would you do? Of course it wouldn’t really happen that suddenly, but it does come all too suddenly for many young Friends.

The purpose of Junior Yearly Meeting is to build a bridge between the world of the Quaker child and teen-ager and the Quaker adult. At Yearly Meeting time you have the opportunity to conduct your own business meeting in the manner of Friends, appointing your own clerks, raising your own concerns, receiving and writing epistles to other young Friends in other Yearly Meetings of your own age. You also have the opportunity of holding your own meetings for worship in which you may feel freer to speak than you do in the adult meeting. One or two adults are usually present to give guidance when wanted, but these meetings should be your own, planned and conducted by you. You may want to share concerns with and make reports to the adult meeting, and you may wish to ask them to make a similar report to you. In this way, you will gain experience and confidence and begin to take your place in the Society of Friends today instead of at some distant future date. A few local Meetings also have junior monthly meetings, which operate in the same way on a monthly basis within the local First-day School and, in some cases, share in a good bit of the planning for the First-day School. These activities, of course, need to be combined with visits to the adult monthly meeting for business and the adult meeting for worship if they are to be meaningful both to the young and the old in the Meeting.

Many Yearly Meetings now have Junior Yearly Meetings, and some regional associations of meetings which do not belong to the regular Yearly Meetings, such as the Lake Erie Association, are now trying to get Junior meetings started. Some have separate sessions for children, Junior-high age and teen-agers, some lump them all together. Find out all you can about how your own Junior Yearly Meeting works if your Yearly Meeting has one. If it is new, it will need your ideas, enthusiasm and active interest. If it has been going for some time, find out if the young people are really doing the job themselves. Sometimes, when enthusiasm for an organization like this flags, adults will step in “just to keep the thing going.” This, of course, defeats the purpose of the Junior Yearly Meeting. This may be your chance to step in and show that you can carry your share of the load. If you have no Junior Yearly Meeting, it may be your job to start the ball rolling in your area in order to get one organized. Remember that the Society of Friends started as a movement of young people. Not only do you belong to it — it belongs to you. Prove it.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Do you think the idea of a Junior Yearly Meeting is a good one? Why or why not?
2. If you have a Junior Yearly Meeting in your area, is it as good as it could be? In what ways would you like to change it?
3. Why does the Society of Friends need young people to be active in it? Why isn’t it good enough to let people go to meeting until they are forty or fifty and then let them begin carrying responsibility for the meeting?

Home Readings:

• “The Martyred Children,” Rebel Saints, p. 258.
• “The Children of Reading Meeting,” A Book of Quaker Saints, p. 217.
• “Sergei Thomas,” Builders of the Quaker Road, p. 214.
• Finding the Trail of Life, p. 102.

Class Project:

You will probably want to work on either establishing or strengthening a Junior Yearly Meeting in your area. If you have no Junior Yearly Meeting, you may want to send a letter from your First-day school to the other Friends First-day Schools of the area to find out if they would be interested in starting one. You might then help it get started by planning the first meeting. If you already have one, find out all you can about its activities and what you might do to improve or strengthen it.

Another good project would be to start a regular monthly meeting for business for the older classes of the First-day School. Think about what kinds of concerns you could bring and how you could plan First-day School activities through it.

Keep a record of the Junior Yearly Meeting activities of your class in your notebook.

Ch. 30 – What Do I Want the Society of Friends to Stand For?

This last lesson really has to be written by you, because you are the only ones who can answer the question, “What do I want the Society of Friends to stand for?” If your class does not already have a clerk or secretary, choose one now to write down the statements on which you are able to agree as a class.

If you have read the lessons carefully, discussed them thoughtfully, undertaken some of the suggested class projects and done some of the home readings with your family, you should now have as good an understanding of Quakerism as some of the adult Friends in your Meeting. If this statement surprises you, remember that there were Quaker ministers in George Fox’s day “publishing the truth” who were twelve and fourteen years of age. Now that you have had a good look at it, what do you think of Quakerism and where do you want it to go from here?

Let us stop for a few minutes to review the testimonies and see if they still make sense. Turn back to Section I in the book and each of you choose one of the following lessons to glance through quickly for review: Peace, Equality and Community, Simplicity, the Queries, Meeting for Business and Meeting for Worship. After you have glanced through each chapter to refresh your mind, try to make a statement to the class as to how important to the present-day Society of Friends you consider the testimony or practice which is the subject of that lesson to be. Ask for a general discussion after each of your statements and have the clerk write the final opinion (or lack of opinion of the class) on each testimony or practice.

Has anything been left out for which the Society of Friends ought to stand and does not? You have some idea of present-day Quaker activities from the lessons on “Quakerism Today.” Is there anything Friends ought to be doing that they are not doing? What is it? Are we giving lip-service to testimonies that we are not really practicing? Which are they, and what can we do about them?

The answer to these questions is up to you, for in a few short years you will represent the main body of the Society of Friends. You will determine the direction in which Quakerism will move. Is there anything you can do about Quakerism now, besides thinking and talking about it? You have thought about opportunities that lie before you in Meeting activities, through Junior Yearly Meeting, in the American Friends Service Committee, in seminars and work camps for teen-agers. But these are relatively localized activities. Is there anything you can do for and in the Society of Friends as a whole? Is there any way for teen-agers to be active in Quakerism today as the teen-ager James Parnell was active three hundred years ago?

Yes, there is. Almost every Yearly Meeting has its own active young Friends group for senior high and college-age young people. Through national and regional conferences, young Friends have helped to draw together some of the different branches in ways that older Friends alone might never have done. It is no exaggeration to say that wherever two Yearly Meetings that once underwent separation are now in the process of coming together again, there is an active young Friends group somewhere in the background helping to bring this about. There is still much to be done in developing better understanding among Friends, and young Friends can do this better than anyone else. They are not hemmed in by the walls of habit and preconceived opinions and ideas of long standing, as older Friends sometimes are. There is a job, not only in this country, but in the world Society of Friends.

You have seen now what lies behind the Society of Friends. You may have some ideas of your own about what lies before it. The path which it will take may depend in part on you. Will you choose to become a Quaker and help to make that path? Even if you have grown up in a Quaker family and gone to meeting ever since you can remember, the decision as to becoming a Quaker is still one that you yourself must make. It doesn’t mean a name on a membership roll — it means a way of life. Elizabeth Fry, who had been brought up in a Quaker family, suddenly discovered at the age of seventeen that the word Quaker, far from being a mere label to be taken for granted, actually called for a serious personal decision on her part. She wrote in her diary, “l know now what the mountain is I have to climb. I am to be a Quaker…a light to the blind, speech to the dumb and feet to the lame.” When she wrote that, she had no inkling of the great work in prison reform to which she was later to be called. But she did know that she had chosen to climb a mighty mountain, that she couldn’t be a Quaker and just coast along on the level plains of life.

The Society of Friends needs hundreds and thousands of young people who will feel as Elizabeth Fry felt. In spite of all man’s cleverness and inventiveness, the world is in very great need today — in spiritual need. Different people will be called to meet that need in different ways, according to their gifts. But whatever the outward activity, it will come to nothing if it does not grow from a heart that is tuned to the presence of God and from a mind that is following the Light. Here is your challenge. You may not yet know the answer to the following question, but carry it in your thoughts and meditations until you have found the answer: Do you know yet what the mountain is you have to climb?

Questions for Discussion:

1. The real question in this lesson, “What do I want the Society of Friends to stand for?” will be answered if as suggested at the beginning of this lesson, you follow the procedure of reviewing and discussing each of the testimonies.
2. Discuss any feelings you may have about the question at the end of the lesson. Do you want to be a Quaker? If you want to be one, what are you going to do about it, besides having your name on the membership roll of the Meeting?

Class Project:

If you have kept notebooks, ask your class clerk to prepare copies of the statement on the testimonies of the Society of Friends that you have just worked out, so that each of you has one for your own notebook. The Meeting would enjoy seeing these notebooks, so plan to make a display of them next First-day and invite Friends to look at them after meeting for worship.

Bibliography

Books for Family Reading

These books may be borrowed from Lending Libraries at: 1515 Cherry St., Phila., Pa. and 101 Quaker Hill Dr., Richmond, Ind. 47374

*Books for young readers.
O.P. = Titles out of print.

Reference to a portion of the book by page number; otherwise the entire book to be used.

• *Blow the Man Down. Charles Vipont. J. B. Lippincott Co., 1952.
• *Book of Quaker Saints. A. L. Violet Hodgkin. Longmans, Green Co., 1917. O.P.
• Builders of the Quaker Road. Caroline N. Jacob. Henry Regnery Co., 1953. O.P.
• Church Government, Part III of Christian Discipline of the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. Friends Book Centre, 1931. O.P. Being revised.
• *Colin Writes to Friends House. Elfrida Vipont. Friends Book Centre, 1934.
• Complete Poetical Works. John Greenleaf Whittier. Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1895.
• Elizabeth Fry, Quaker Heroine. Janet Whitney. George G. Harrap Co., Ltd., 1937. O.P.
• Faith and Practice. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, a book of Christian Discipline, 1961.
• Field of Broken Stones. A. Lowell Maeve, Libertarian Press, 1950.
• *Finding the Trail of Life. Rufus M. Jones. Macmillan co., 1926. O.P.
• Friendly Anecdotes. Irvin C. Poley and Ruth Verlenden Poley. Harper & Bros., 1950. O.P.
• *Friendly Story Caravan, The. Anna Pettit Broomell. Paperback. Pendle Hill. 1962.
• Friends and the Indians, 1655-1917. Rayner W. Kelsey. Associated Executive Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs, 1917. O.P.
• John Woolman, American Quaker. Janet Whitney. Little, Brown & Co., 1942. O.P.
• Journal of George Fox, The. Revised Edition by John L. Nickalls. Cambridge University Press, 1952.
• Journal of John Woolman. Edited by Janet Whitney. Henry Regnery Co., 1950.
• John Woolman, Child of Light. Catherine Owens Peare. Vanguard Press, 1954.
• *Little Wolf Slayer. Donald E. Cooke. John C. Winston co., 1952. o.P.
• *Lucretia Mott, Girl of Old Nantucket. Constance Buel Burnett. Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1951.
• *Penn. Elizabeth Janet Gray. Viking Press, 1938.
• Quaker Adventures. Edward Thomas. Fleming H. Revell Co., 1928. O.P.
• *Quaker Torch Bearers. William W. Price et al. Friends General Conference, 1943.
• *Quakers Courageous. Frances Margaret Fox. Lothrop, Lee & Shepherd Co., 1941. O.P.
• Rebel Saints. Mary Agnes Best. Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1925. O.P.
• Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims. William Penn. David McKay Co. 0.1).
• Southern Heroes, the Friends in Wartime. Fernando G. Cartland. Riverside Press, 1895. O.P.
• *Stories of the Underground Railroad. Anna L. Curtis. Island Workshop Press Co-op., 1941.
• Swords Into Ploughshares. Mary Hoxie Jones. Ma co., 1937.
• *Thee, Hannah! Marguerite de Angeli. Doubleday, Do Co. 1941.
• *William Penn, Founder and Friend. Virginia Havi Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1952.

Pamphlets

• “Annual Report of the American Friends Service Committee.” American Friends Service Committee
• “Conscientious Objectors in Prison.” Mulford and Ada Wardlaw. 1945. Pacifist Research Bureau
• “The Draft Law and Your Choices.” Friends Peace Committee. 1961
• “Friends in Kenya, Africa.” American Friends Board of Missions
• “Friends in Jamaica.” American Friends Board of Missions
• “Friends in Jordan.” American Friends Board of Missions
• “Friends Work in Africa.” Douglas and Dorothy Steere. 1957. Friends World Committee for Consultation
• “Going to Meeting.” Leonard S. Kenworthy. Friends General Conference. Free leaflet
• “Guide to Quaker Practice.” Howard H. Brinton. 1950. Pendle Hill
• “Handbook for Conscientious Objectors.” Edited by George Willoughby. 1957. Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
• “Handbook of the Religious Society of Friends.” 1962. Friends World Committee for Consultation
• “Let’s Join the Human Race.” Stringfellow Barr. 1950. University of Chicago Press
• *Peaceful Heroes, Rosalie Regen. 14 Quaker plays. Friends General Conference
• “Quakerism in Japan.” Edith F. Sharpless. 1944. Friends World Committee for Consultation
• “Quakerism in Switzerland.” Irene Pickard, Bertram Pickard, Blanche W. Shaffer. 1943. Friends World Committee for Consultation. O.P.
• “Trends in American and Canadian Quakerism, 1925-1950.” Friends World Committee for Consultation
• “Victories Without Violence.” A. Ruth Fry. Published by the author. Third Edition. 1950
• “Why I Am Sailing the Boat Into the Bomb-test Area?” Albert S. Bigelow. 1958. Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons

Friends Offices

Sources of Information and for Pamphlets

• American Friends Service Committee, 160 North 15th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
• Associated Executive Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs, Lindley J. Cook, Central City, Nebr.
• Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, 2006 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103
• Friends United Meeting (previously known as Five Years Meeting of Friends), 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, Ind. 47374. American Friends Board of Missions, Board on Christian Social Concerns, also other Boards.
• Friends Book Store, 302 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106
• Friends General Conference, 1520 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
• Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002
• Friends World Committee for Consultation, American Section, 152A North 15th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
• Social Order Committee, 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
• Friends Peace Committee, 1520 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102

Elise Biorn-Hansen was born in Oslo, Norway in 1920. Her family moved to the United States when she was three years old. She and her family were greatly affected by the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of Norway. Elise became strongly convinced by living through the World War II years that violence was not the answer to the world’s problems and that if even her peaceful homeland was at risk, violence was truly a systemic world concern. In her youth, she became active in anti-war activities and converted to a historic peace church, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It was at a Quaker meeting in May 1941 that she met her future husband, Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993), a respected English economist who would collaborate extensively with Elise on her peace work.

The Bouldings raised five children, with Elise serving as both homemaker and activist. Her writing on the foundations of peace would reflect her valuation of women, children and family in the peace process. She believed the family unit, and especially the role of women within that unit, was crucial to the global peace movement. After working at Iowa State College (where she received her master’s degree in sociology) and at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she and Kenneth were invited to become scholars in residence at Dartmouth College after Elise completed her PhD in sociology at the University of Michigan. While at Dartmouth, she chaired the Sociology Department and developed the nation’s first Peace Studies program there. She is credited with greatly advancing the academic study of peace through her work at Dartmouth.

Boulding held many leadership positions in peace- and social justice-related groups, from chairing the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to creating the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) to work with the United Nations through UNESCO and the University of the United Nations. She is considered to be one of the most influential peace researchers and activists of the 20th century. On June 11, 2000, the Peace Abbey, in Sherborn, Massachusetts, awarded Elise Boulding the Courage of Conscience award for her lifelong commitment and contributions to peace and justice, envisioning the Peaceable Kingdom as a shared reality.

To create peace, Boulding believed that we must all become teachers and develop new learning communities. Everyone, old and young, will teach. Age groups will teach each other from their respective generations. How we perceive events unique to our generation shapes the lens through which we each see later events. We need to know what the world looks like to young and old alike. Boulding believed all will be teachers.