Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-02-18
The Society of Friends.

The following interesting sketch of
the society of Friends-the causes Oh
division between them and the history
of the Mt. Pleasant School difficulty is
furnished us by one of the acting COM
mittee of the school. 1t is meant for a
refutation to an allusion which appeared
in our columns few weeks since, to a
certain bitterness of feeling" which
prevailed on account of the difficulty
regarding the School. Our item was
written upon information furnished US,
and not from knowledge of our own.
AS some of the members Of the above
named people feel aggrieved by an ar
ticle in the CHRONICLE of the 2lst ult.,
in relation to the burning of the Board
ing School House at Mt. Pleasant, the
following statement is offered for pub
IicationNhoping that it may remove
unfounded preiudices against US from
whatever sources they may have aris-
en-.
About the beginning of the present
century some of our members in Great
Britain manifested q leaning towards
Episcopacy, but chose rather todintro-
duce 80 much Of its doctrines an GER
emonies into their own system as they
thought would improve it, than to join
themselves to the State Church. This
leaven operated gradually but surely
so that in spite of warning from many
watchmen so .maLy were affect
ed with it that a committee was ap-
pointed to labor in the matter; of
which committee j. ], Gurney was
one, and as he was the most efficient
agent in disseminating the innovations,
Of course the committee was considera-
bly, neutralized.
About 1890 attempts to Introduce
Unitarian doctrines commenced in Ire
land and spread to America, where
separations occurred in several of the
Yearly Meetings in 1927 and 1928, the
resulting bodies being known as Or
thOdOx and liicksite. The former still
kept their connection with London
Yearly Meeting, aud with those Year
ly Meetings wherein there had been
no separation, viz: New England, Vir-
ginia and North Carolina.
Not long after the convulsion caused
by the last named innovation had ceas-
ed, the first-named having crossed the
Atlantic, spread apace, and in several
of the Yearly Meetings 80 many of the
leading members imbibed the new
doctrines that for the time being they
controlled their respective Organiza-
tiOns.
A separation occurred in few of the
Yearly Meetings from 1S45 TO 1854.
Of the resultant bodies in Ohio Year
ly Meeting those adhering to the origi-
nal doctrines found themselves in pos
session of the Boarding School, but af-
ter nearly fourteen years the other bo-
dy entered suit for it, and being up
held by those in other Yearly Meetings,
who had unity with them, three of the
Judges of the Supreme Court were of
the opinion they were entitled to 1t.
The other two dissented. Although
the defendants felt they were wrong
ed, in order to avoid further litigation,
they appointed two suitable persons to
inform the plaintiffs that they would
vacate the premises, and leave them
besides much valuable apparatus,
books, beds, &C., which were not given
them by the decree, and had not been
in litigation; but would remove such
articles as had been placed there since
the separation; thus fulfilling the pre-
cept of Matthew ". 40.
The said defendants left for the plain
tiffs more than they thus promised,
and otherwise treated them well.
Where was the bitterness. j. @.