MFT35

This is an interesting perspective of the founding of Friends from a non-Friends point of view.

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C H R I S T I A N H I S T O R Y

Web site: http://ChristianHistory.net/

AOL Keyword: ChristianHistory

WHEN PACIFISTS ATTACK

350 years ago, George Fox launched a powerful, peace-loving

movement with an assault on established Christianity.

Elesha Coffman

For a pacifist, George Fox sure knew how to deliver a

(figurative) slap to the face. The speech he delivered at

Sedbergh, Cumbria, 350 years ago this week -- a speech often

cited as the beginning of the Friends, or Quaker, movement --

stung every church in England. In his Journal, Fox recalls the

1,000-member assembly on June 13, 1652, like this:

"I declared unto them that the Lord God had sent me to preach

the everlasting gospel and Word of life amongst them, and to

bring them off from all these temples, tithes, priests, and

rudiments of the world, which had been instituted since the

apostles' days, and had been set up by such as had erred from

the Spirit and power the apostles were in. Very largely was I

opened at this meeting, and the Lord's convincing power

accompanied my ministry, and reached the hearts of the people,

whereby many were convinced; and all the teachers of that

congregation (who were many) were convinced of God's

everlasting truth."

Fox's attack on established churches, which he derisively

called "steeple-houses," had begun about four years earlier.

Through visions and other ecstatic experiences, he had become

convinced that most supposed Christians of his day,

particularly clergy members, lacked the vital connection to

God that he powerfully felt.

For example, when Fox prayed at a meeting of professors at

Mansfield in 1648, "some of the professors said it was now as

in the days of the apostles, when the house was shaken where

they were." When a professor prayed, though, it "brought

deadness and a veil over them." Fox's teaching to a

congregation in Leicester "set them all on fire"; the pastor's

negative reaction led to a pew-clearing brawl. Fox knew what

his spiritual sense destined him for: "I was sent to turn

people from darkness to the Light."

The Light, or "inner light," a metaphor given Fox by the

Spirit but also drawn from John 1:9, is a sort of spark of

divinity resident in all people. Quaker doctrines and

practices flow from belief in this light. Quakers

traditionally believe that the Spirit who inspired the Bible

also inspires every believer, and that this direct

inspiration, which cannot mislead, trumps all other forms of

guidance. Quakers eschew violence, because assaulting another

person means assaulting the light in him. They also believe

strongly in social equality, because all people are

spiritually equal. They make decisions by consensus rather

than majority.

Classical Quakers have no appointed clergy or worship leaders,

because the light shines in every man, woman, and child.

Classical Quaker services consist of silence punctuated by

prayers and utterances from whomever feels led to share.

Services also sometimes included ecstatic outpourings, hence

the name "Quakers."

Fox's disparagement of English clergy earned him many enemies,

but he and his followers got into more trouble for disparaging

social hierarchy. Contrary to seventeenth-century custom,

Quakers called everyone, including their social "superiors,"

by the familiar "thou" rather than the formal "you." Quakers

also refused to remove their hats in deference to elites. This

really caused problems.

"Oh, the blows, punchings, beatings, and imprisonments that we

underwent for not putting off our hats to men!" Fox wrote.

"Some had their hats violently plucked off and thrown away, so

that they quite lost them. The bad language and evil usage we

received on this account are hard to be expressed, besides the

danger we were sometimes in of losing our lives for this

matter; and that by the great professors of Christianity, who

thereby discovered they were not true believers."

Over the past 350 years, Quakers have earned recognition for

their unswerving commitment to pacifism, opposition to

slavery, and leadership in social reform (especially, in the

nineteenth century, prison reform). They have generally toned

down Fox's rhetoric against other churches. Some Quaker groups

have even become essentially evangelical, holding structured

services in addition to (or instead of) the traditional silent

ones and deeming Scripture, not personal revelation, the

ultimate authority in matters of faith. Many Christians still

feel the intrinsic rebuke of Fox and his followers, though,

whenever they are faced with questions of war, poverty,

injustice, and abuse of authority.

from CHRISTIANITY TODAY.COM

I found this article to be very informative and challenging for today's Quakers. To bad we don't live up to Fox's expectations.

Earl J Prignitz