missionary activity of the early Friends has, perhaps, only been equaled in modern times by the Jesuits.

In a 66

General Epistle" dated 1660, “Germany, America, Virginia, and many other places, as Florence, Mantua, Palatine, Tuscany, Italy, Rome, Turkey, Jerusalem, France, Geneva, Norway, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Antigua, Jamaica, Surinam, and Newfoundland," are mentioned as having been visited by Friends. It is true that there was no systematic missionary effort, but even if, as was often the case, the visits were made singly, or two by two, the extensive service and the great expense, which was borne by the membership at large, show the true spirit of missionary enterprise.' The fact that little or no record remains of many of these visits does not show that they were made in vain.

It is clear that for some time no formulated statement of doctrine was made. "The purport of their doctrine and ministry," says William Penn, "for the most part is what other professors of Christianity pretend to hold in words and forms."

heart and soul by the men just named, as well as by many others, such as Isaac Penington, Samuel Fisher, Margaret Fell, who with a hundred more would have adorned any Christian body. Some of his followers had been "priests." In the earlier years there seem to have been very few wage-earners among the converts. 1 William Beck, "The Friends," London, 1893, p. 92. "Epistles," etc., London, 1858, p. ix., where a detailed account of receipts and expenditures is given, the latter amounting to £490 13s. 5d. (date, about 1659). See also Bowden, vol. i., p. 58.

2 Preface to Fox's "Journal," p. xiii.; "Rise and Progress,"

66

But to this was added a belief in the direct revelation of Christ to the soul. Now the Lord hath opened to me by his invisible power how that every man was enlightened by the divine Light of Christ, and I saw it shine through all. And they that believe in it came out of condemnation, and came by the light of life, and became the children of it; but they that hated it and did not believe in it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ."1 "Now I was sent," Fox says, "to turn people from darkness to light, that they might receive Christ Jesus; for to as many as should receive him in his light I saw that he would give power to become the sons of God, which I had obtained by receiving Christ; and I was to direct people to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by which they might be led into all truth and so up to Christ and God, as they had been who gave them forth. . . . I saw that the grace of God which brings salvation had appeared to all men, and that the manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every man to profit withal."

He and his followers saw that whenever there was a human soul, Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, had called that soul, and by his Spirit had visited it, that he might bring it to himself. We can imagine what a wonderful discovery this must have been to men brought up to believe

1" Journal," p. 22.

2" Journal," p. 22.

in a limited salvation, open only to an elect few, or "discontented with second-hand truths."

What wonder that they felt constrained to tell all men that God was seeking their salvation, not their destruction, and that He was personally calling each one to himself. They thus presented an entire different picture of God from that presented by the Puritans, and their zeal was such in those early days that the term Quaker meant, in the minds of a large numbers of outsiders, a people who were a terror to their religious opponents, an unanswerable puzzle to the magistrates, and whose "frenzy" neither pillory, whipping-post, jail, nor gallows could tame. It was this sense of the universality of the work of the Holy Spirit, and of the completeness of the salvation for each individual man through Jesus Christ, which not only made them so hopeful for the whole race, but also so ready to work for the bettering of mankind.

There was no one too high to be spoken to, no one too low to be considered. Thus we find Oliver Cromwell, the Pope, the Sultan visited, and the slave and Indian pleaded for. Absolute unhesitating obedience to what was believed to be the will of God was characteristic of Fox and his associates, and a knowledge of this fact will explain many things otherwise inexplicable. Matters which might to an outsider seem of little moment were held of supreme importance if believed to be required or forbidden as the case

might be. Expediency was a word that hardly possessed any meaning for them.'

2

He soon gathered a band of those who felt they were called to preach and exhort. There was no ordination, there was no formal recognition of their position, for there was no church organization; but by 1654 there were "sixty ministers "" traveling up and down. Many of these missionaries were young in years,3 few beyond the prime of life. There seems to have been no organized arrangements for these ministers; they went wherever they believed the Lord sent them, whether it was to a neighboring county or to a distant land, though not infrequently counsel was taken with George Fox, when practicable, or with other Friends. The adhesion of Margaret Fell, the wife of Judge Fell of Swarthmoor Hall, near Ulverstone, was a great support. She was a woman of remarkable attainments, great executive

1 George Fox on one occasion when a pardon was offered him, refused to be released from a prison in which he had been confined for seven months, though he was very ill. He says: "I was not free to receive a pardon, knowing I had not done evil. . . . For I had rather have lain in prison all my days than have come out in any way dishonorable to truth." ("Journal," p. 405.)

2 Journal," p. 124; Sewel, p. 78. See also "First Publishers of Truth," London, 1904.

3 James Parnell, James Dickinson, and William Caton began to preach at eighteen, the first dying in prison after most cruel treatment at nineteen; Edward Burrough died in prison at twenty-eight.

4"Journal" of John Taylor (1657), York, 1830, p. 85 (a reprint of ed. 1710); "Journal" of John Banks, London, 1712, pp. 6568; "Truth Exalted," etc., John Burnyeat, London, 1691, pp. 21,

24, 27, etc.

ability, and excellent judgment. Her husband, Judge Fell, though he never joined the Society, was a powerful friend to it. Margaret Fell was a woman of property and position, and used both liberally in aid of the new movement.1 She has been compared, and not without reason, to Lady Huntingdon among the early Methodists, Her house soon became the headquarters of the missionary band, her advice was sought and given, and though comparatively few of her own letters have been perserved, very many of those addressed to her are still in existence,' over four hundred being in the Devonshire House collection alone. There is no doubt also that at Swarthmoor Hall contributions were received for the expenses of those traveling and for the relief of those suffering for their principles. The funds thus received were distributed as occasion required. Many of the early preachers came from the neighborhood of Swarthmoor, which fact also helps to account for Margaret Fell's great influence.3

1" The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," Maria Webb, 2d. ed., London, 1867, pp. 70 ff.; see also "Brief Collection," etc., Margaret Fox, London, 1710.

2" Letters of Early Friends," John Barclay, p. 25, note, London, 1841; M. Webb, p. 82. See Margaret (Fell) Fox's Testimony concerning George Fox prefixed to his " Journal also "Brief Collection," etc., Margaret Fox, London, 1710.

3 Barclay, in his "Inner Life" (already referred to), pp. 268 ff., has sought to prove that Fox acted much like a modern missionary society in supplying ministers where they were needed, and in displacing those who were unsuitable. He also endeavors to show that there was a system of itinerant preaching nearly as complete as that of the later Wesleyans. Barclay appears to have made up his mind on these points and then to have set out to