prisoned? No class of Christians understood them, neither the Episcopalians, nor the Presbyterians, nor the Independents; no ruler, no judge, no clergyman comprehended them; neither Cromwell, nor Sir Matthew Hale, nor Sir Harry Vane, nor any of the lights of that intensely active age. They only seemed to be the enemies of all sects, of all creeds, of all forms, of all institutions, a most conceited set of men, unpractical, visionary, almost madmen, claiming to be alone right, while all the rest of the world was wrong.

So seemed Fox to the men of his generation, especially the wealthy, the learned and the great. But not so to all the people of his age. It is impossible that any genius, sincere and earnest, should not find followers and friends. It is even impossible for a man to declare absurdity with enthusiasm and audacity and not find apologists, as illustrated by the whole history of error, especially if some great elements of truth are blended with plausible sophistries. And the first disciples will be generally from among the people, who have no pride of reason or of position to sustain, whether truth or error is preached. The history of Fox is an illustration of this fact. The common people, having strong religious wants, and equally strong disgust of what seemed imposture and selfishness, heard him gladly. To them, whenever he had a hearing from them at all, he seemed like an ancient prophet. When they listened to his eloquence, they too felt the fire within. His frame of prayer appeared the most fervent and reverent ever known. His harangue had all the force of inspiration. seemed possessed of superhuman wisdom. There was no resisting his popular declamation. It had truth enough in it to challenge controversy, while the errors mingled with the truth were so subtle and refined as to baffle their powers of analysis. They could not unravel his sophistries, they were warmed by the ardor of his zeal. They were flattered by his recognition of their discernment, and stimulated by his appeals to their conscience. They fancied that the Spirit had also enlightened them as to the meaning of the profoundest truths. Glorying in supreme intellectual independence, they could break all the fetters of authority. No hireling priest, no ambitious ruler, no worldy sage should hereafter control their minds. God had

He

emancipated them from all forms of worldly bondage, and they would be bound by no restraints, except what he himself imposed. But all the converts of Fox were not among the poorer classes. Some men of considerable social position joined his ranks, men who were captivated by novelties, as well as those who loved to contemplate abstract truths, and men who had great logical power as well as intellectual boldness. Among them were James Naylor, William Dewsbury, Francis Howgill, John Audland and Samuel Fisher, who became celebrated preachers. Judge Tell attended their meetings and gave them a shelter. The wife of Justice Benson was so moved that she protested she would eat no meat but what she should eat with George Fox at the bars of the dungeon window. But the most eminent of the converts to the principles of Fox were Robert Barcklay and William Penn. The former was descended from one of the oldest and most respectable families in Scotland, received all the advantage of the most finished education, and early distinguished himself for great attainments. He became one of the most zealous and able defenders that Quakerism ever had; and was the author of that famous apology, which is still a text-book among the members of the Society. William Penn was still more distinguished for truth and social position, the son of Admiral Sir William Penn who had rendered great services to his country, and whose ample possessions descended to the illustrious founder of Pennsylvania. But no rank or condition could screen the Quakers from persecution, and the illustrious and ignoble equally shared disgrace and suffering. They were imprisoned in the foulest jails, they were whipped in the pillory, they were fined, mutilated and executed. Twice George Fox narrowly escaped death. If Cromwell or Charles released him from prison, he was again immured in a filthy and noisome dungeon. When discharged by the judge on account of the illegality of the warrant, he was again indicted. His sufferings were often most intense. He was kept in winter without fire, annoyed by smoke, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather as well as to the filth of prisons. His whole life was a protracted martyrdom. And so of others belonging to his sect, four thousand Quakers died in prison among his own contemporaries. There was no shelter to which

they could fly for protection. The most upright judges in that age showed them no mercy. The most enlightened of juries of that age regarded them as unfit to live. If they sought the wilderness of America they were not safe. If they penetrated even to the most secure retreats where our New England ancestors professed the principles of unbounded toleration, they were still imprisoned, or banished to yet more lonely wilds; so few there were who could appreciate their doctrines, even among persecuted sectarians; so slow is man to practice a toleration which, in the abstract, he commends. But all the sufferings and persecution to which the Quakers were subjected were borne in patience. No class of persecuted men ever exhibited, under suffering, more rare and exalted magnanimity. They would pray for their tormentors even when led to execution; they would seek to convert them while confined in dungeons; they would declare the plainest truths to them even when seated on the judgment seat of power. Nothing could break their spirit. Nothing could seduce them into resistance or rebellion. They made no combinations to extort their rights. They would take no part with others who fomented treason. Like lambs they were led to the slaughter. Like the first martyrs to the Christian faith, they were serene when heart and flesh do ordinarily fail. They indulged no imprecations on their enemies. They manifested hardly bitterness or animosity. They were indignant, but faithful to their principles of love and non-resistance. Nothing but the most exalted virtues and the most soaring faith could have sustained them in such a general storm of obloquy, hatred and persecution. Nothing could be brought against them but tenacity in adhering to opinions which the world condemned as false, or bold denunciation against those whom they considered to be wicked or tyrannical. For they never ceased to condemn iniquity and sin wherever they beheld it, or to remind the thoughtless and impure of the judgments of the world to come. Never were there more faithful preachers of righteousness, or more stern rebukers of an ungodly world. Never were men more loyal to their consciences, or more consistent followers of the truths which they professed. They seemed to have at heart the spiritual interests of mankind. They were indifferent to wealth and honor. They

labored most assiduously in whatever duty dictated, unmindful of reproach, and deaf to the expostulation of their worldly friends. They put to shame all other parties and schools of piety by the disinterestedness of their labors, and their fidelity to the end to all those great ideas which alone, in their opinion, were to regenerate the world. They sought a heavenly and not an earthly crown, and were animated, even in the hour of martyrdom, by the most glorious hopes. Even Oliver Cromwell, whom they rebuked, and who never liked them, was forced to say, "Now I see there is a people arisen, that I can not win with gifts, honors, offices, or places, but all other sects and people I can." They would not eat his bread nor drink his wine. Nor did they refrain from giving him, even when in the possession of unbounded power, the plainest and most unpalatable rebukes, couched in no courtier language, but in that of simplicity and severity.

In all their ordinary actions and conversations they seemed to be animated by high religious considerations. Their system also recognized some great and important truths which had been before overlooked; and yet, with these we are constrained to mention what we consider to be some radical errors, which, if generally embraced, would do great evil in society.

In alluding to the system of Fox and his followers, we are aware that we tread on a ground so delicate as almost to be forbidden. But as we shall strive to do this with no partizan or combative spirit, simply to unfold the agitating opinions of a great intellect of a former age, we hope we shall have the indulgence even of any who may not accept our conclusions.

George Fox was doubtless one of the boldest thinkers of his age or nation, and attempted to carry out his reforms to the full extent which his abstract principles would admit, wishing to unite theory with practice, and produce that perfection in human life which we fear will never be attained; making but little allowance for human infirmity, yielding nothing to the long-settled institutions of society, taking no cognizance of the laws of expediency and discarding everything which the inward Light did not reveal, or which was not supported by the literal word of God, or the principles of abstract truth.

The central principle of his system has much in it that is

beautiful, original and plausible, even the authority of the "Inner Light," only it bears rather too close a resemblance to the mystic and transubstantial doctrines of the Pythagoreans, and other ancient sects, to claim so Christian an origin as is manifested by those who have embraced it. Fox was a rebel against every form of worldly authority, and had no respect for any accumulation of human experiences, when not in accordance with his views of truth. He was disgusted with all his teachers, and despised venerated names. He fancied they could teach him nothing. They only blinded his mind. He had nothing to learn from man, and very little from any human exposition of divine truth. He earnestly sought his soul's salvation, but the first dawn of light did not break in upon his mind from the perusal of the sacred writings, as was the case with Luther, but from a revelation which he supposed to come to his soul direct from God; not opposed to any declaration in the Scriptures, but higher than that declaration, inasmuch as the fountain is greater than the stream which issues from it, "for," says Barcklay, the great expounder of the creed of Fox, "these divine inward revelations, though they may not contradict the outward testimony of the Scriptures, or right and sound reason, yet are not to be subjected to the test, either of the outward testimony of the Scriptures, or of the natural reason of man, for this divine revelation and inward illumination is that which is evident and clear of itself, and forces the assent of the well disposed understanding." And again, in reference to the Scriptures; "because they are only a declaration of the fountain, and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all truth, nor yet the adequate primary rule of faith and manners. They are only a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit, from which they have all their excellence and certainty." Thus it was that Fox and his followers made the authority of the Scriptures subordinate to the teachings of the Spirit; opening a door for delusion and infatuation and spiritual arrogance; for-euch is the infirmity of human nature-it is not difficult to believe that many things are the promptings of the divine, when in reality. they are or may be, the suggestions of an evil spirit. We grant that Fox and the early members of his Society had such a pro-