The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-05-22
THE FIRST QUAKER AND HIS Fol.
VnWERS

LOWERS,
Two hundred and fifty years ago there
was only one Quaker in the world and he
had not then been called by the name.
He was a siXteen-year-Old boy, a shoe
makers apprentice, working in a shop
in Leicestershire, England. He had not
begun to preach, and it is not likely that
he had formulated in his own mind those
peculiar doctrines that afterward made
nim famous, and yet do not hesitate to
say that he was a Quaker then, and even
before that time, for he said of himself
when only eight years old in book
which he afterward wrote, even in
those, my young years, when l have seen
old men carry themselves wantonly
toward each other, dislike thereof hath
risen in my heart. l have said, within
myself, If ever | come to be man.
surely l should not do so, nor be so wan
ton.'n
This sensible boys name was George
Fox, His first occupation had been tend
ing sheep, and doubtless while so EN-
plOyed he had found much time for medi.
tatiOn. Whether he liked shoemaking
or not l cannot say, but before he was
nineteen years of age he abandoned that
Iavocation and began to wander about the
country dressed i'll a leathern .doublet
which he had made, and absorbed in
reveries. He says: ~ tasted much,
walked abroad in solitary places many
days, and often took my Bible and sat
in hollow trees and lonesome places till
night came ON, and frequently in the
night walked mournfully about by my
self; for was a man of sorrow in the
time of the first workings of the Lord in
me.n
1t was at the period in England's his
tory when bigotry, fanaticism and perse-
cution of all who failed to conform in
belief with the members of the estab-
lished church, were seen on every side.
William Laud, Archbishop of Canter'
bury, was causing the ears to be cut of
and the noses slit open, of those who
ventured TO express the opinion that
Bishops and Archbishops were not or
dained of God. He was also insisting
upon those forms and ceremonies, the
use of robes, candles and images, which
caused many to declare that the Protes-
tant Episcopal Church was no longer
Protestant, but was surely returning to
the Church of Rome,
A few members of the sect called Puri-
tans had, more than twenty years before,
been forced to seek a refuge in The Wild
erness of America where they could,
without molestation, entertain their own
religious views and in their turn perse-
cute those who disagreed with them, but
they were growing SO strong that i'll a
few years more one of their leaders, the
redoubtable Cromwell became Lord Pro
tector of the Commonwealth.
d. L.. kl,n,s
differed in belief from the established
Church, were still too formal to suit
George Fox. The result of all his medi-
tation and the study of the Bible inthose
"hollow trees and lonesome places" was
a firm conviction that man must depend
upon the word of the Lord for guidance,
and that in order to receive that word
the truth must not be distorted by the
lusts of caTnal heart. So he must live
on simple food and dress in plain gar
ment. He must not conform to the ways
of the world for they were not the ways
of God. Cleanliness and chastity must
be observed, for God would not dwell in
an unclean temple, but to one whose life
was pure and virtuous, the word of the
Lord would come in its full strength and
must be obeyed implicitly, whatever it
directed. This doctrine of the elmer
light" which he claimed should be the
guide of every man in speech as well as
action led naturally to the other that
learning was useless for the work of the
He held that if man preach
es that which his intellect or learning
has gathered it is the work of mere hui
man intelligence and not of Divine in
spiration. He also argued that if man
receives wages for preaching the word
of the Lord, he debases it and his heart
is turned to the benefit of himself rather
than to the exaltation of religion. He
said that men build fine and snowy
houses and call them churches or houses
of God and are consumed with worldly
pride at their beauty and cost and thus
their hearts are turned from heaven to
the world. So he and his followers, for
as soon as he began to preach many fell
in with his views, looked upon ministers
as false prophets and blasphemers, and
did not hesitate to enter churches during
the hour of worship and as soon as the
service was through would denounce in
strong and expressive language the min
lister and his congregation. Here is an
example of this practice which | will
give in the words of Fox himself, SO that
the report cannot be doubted. First let
me explain that all ministers he called
priests" and all church members PRO
fessorsh:
II went into the steeple-hOuse and
staid till the priest had done. The words
which he took for his text were these:
'Ho, every one that thirstetli come We to
the waters; and he that hath no money
come We, buy and eat; yea, come, buy
wine and milk without money and with
out price Then was moved of the
Lord to say to him, Come down, thou
leceiver; dost thou bid the people come
freely and take the water of life freely,
and yet thou takest three hundred
pounds year of them for preaching the
Scriptures to them!''
1t was 1913, when Fox was "a years old,
that he began to preach, and the excite
ment which he caused was so great that
he was thrown into prison at Manchester
as a disturber of the peace. When he
was released he began to travel through
the inland countries of England, exhOrt-
ing the people to forsake all vicious
such as swearing, drunken
ness, unchasity and gambling. His man
ner was winning and extremely earnest
and many were converted to his belief.
He and his followers called themselves
Friends" but it was only two years
after he began to preach that Justice
Bennett of Derby named them "Quakers"
because Fox babe him quake at the word
Of the Lord. .. ...E|
Great crowds gathered to to hear him
preach but not until the Lord opened
his lips would he speak to them. Here
is sample description of one of those
Dccasions:
II passed to another town, where was
another great meeting, and there came
many professors of several sorts to it. /
sat in a hay-stack and said nothing for
some hours, for l was to famish them
from words. At last was moved of the
Lord to speak; and they were struck by
the Lords power. The word of life
reached them, and there was general
amongst them"
The Quakers were very harmless, but
it cannot be said that they were molten
sive people. 1t was against their prin-
ciples to injure any one, even in self de-
fence, and they were often beaten and
for they were so plain spoken
and even bitter in their denunciation of
everything which seemed to them sinful
or immoral that they made many enc
mics, who unlike them, had no conscien-
tious scruples against the use of violence.
Fox himself was. nearly killed on more
than one occasion, and says: st was
the manner of the prosecutors of that
country for twenty or forty to fall upon
one man. They fell so upon Friends in
many places, so that they could hardly
pass the highways, stoning, beating and
breaking their heads"
The Friends were also prosecuted by
those who pretended to be executing the
laws of the land. They We're fined and
imprisoned, their meetings were broken
up by force, and often they were publicly
scourged in the streets and compelled to
leave the towns in which they were