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One of the groups that emerged from the turmoil of the English
Reformation in the mid-seventeenth century was the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers). Friends did not believe that Christians must rely on
a paid priestly class for guidance. Rather, they sought guidance from
their own inner light, from the "Christ within," that could lead them
toward God's will. In the famous words of early Friend George Fox at Ulverston, England, in 1652: You will say Christ saith this, and the
apostles say this, but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of Light
and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou spaekest is it
inwardly from God?
Early Meetings - The distinctive unprogrammed meeting for worship evolved as an expression of Quaker reliance on the Christ within. During meeting, worshippers waited on the Lord in silence, unless one or more worshippers felt moved to speak -- in Quaker terms, felt a "leading" to speak. The Testimonies - Gradually, through prayerful discussion and through deliberate set proceedings, Friends came to adopt some leadings as shared, communal convictions. A leading that progressed in this way became a published "testimony." Friends testimonies against slavery, for equality, and against violence greatly influenced the abolitionist, women's rights, and peace movements in the United States and elsewhere. New World - William Penn, a prominent English Friend, founded a colony in the New World only twenty-nine years after Fox had challenged the Ulverston gathering with "What canst thou say?" Friends could settle in Pennsylvania without fear of the persecution they often suffered in England and in other parts of the American colonies. Central North Carolina - In the mid-eighteenth century, certain Friends from Pennsylvania emigrated to Cane Creek Valley in central North Carolina, where Spring meeting was among the first of many Quaker meetings established in the area. |
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