358 



FRIENDS. 



operation of extirpation of the larynx, as pro- 

 posed by the German physicians at the begin- 

 ning of the disease, and for his treatment of 

 the case after it had been placed under his 

 care. Not long afterward the Scotch specialist 

 published a book entitled "The Fatal Illness 

 of Frederick the Noble" (London, 1888), in 

 which he answered the charges made against 

 him by the Germans, and in his turn made 

 serious accusations against them, alleging that 

 the diseased growth may have been benign in 

 the beginning, and cancer have been induced 

 by frequent electro-cauterization before he 

 took the case, and that death was hastened by 

 the clumsy recklessness of Dr. von Bergmann, 

 who made a false passage in inserting a tra- 

 cheotomy tube. For a portrait of the Emperor 

 Friedrich Wilhelm, see "Annual Cyclopedia " 

 for 1887, frontispiece. 



FRIENDS. The number of members of the 

 Society of Friends in America, as computed 

 by 0. W. Pritchard, editor of the "Christian 

 Worker," from the minutes of the yearly meet- 

 ings for 1887, is 72,968. This shows an in- 

 crease in two years of 3,493, of which the 

 yearly meetings west of the Alleghany Mount- 

 ains are credited with 3,271, and the Eastern 

 yearly meetings with 222. 



Standards of Faith. Although the Society of 

 Friends has, as a body, refused to adopt a 

 formal creed, its standards of faith are well 

 defined and frequently promulgated. Its doc- 

 trines are illustrated in the writings of Robert 

 Barclay, George Fox, William Penn, and other 

 early Friends ; and for more than two hundred 

 years the yearly meetings of the Society have 

 added what has seemed to be needed, in the 

 way of exhortation, reproof, and elucidation. 

 The views of American Friends who most 

 closely adhere to the primitive features of 

 belief and practice are expressed, with state- 

 ments of the principles and arguments on 

 which they are based, in epistles and special 

 declarations that have been issued from time 

 to time by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. 



Orthodox Divisions. Mention has been made 

 in previous volumes of the "Annual Cyclope- 

 dia" of the growth of divisions among Friends 

 respecting doctrines and forms of worship, and 

 particularly respecting the tolerance of certain 

 outward forms of ritual, such as vocal prayer, 

 singing, baptism, and the observance of the 

 Lord's Supper, against which the earlier Friends 

 bore testimony. The origin of these divisions 

 may be traced back to the year 1830, when 

 doctrinal views were first preached and pub- 

 lished in England by members of the Society 

 tending to exalt the sacrifice of the cross rath- 

 er than the inward work of the Holy Spirit, as 

 the chief element of the covenant of salvation. 

 A small separation took place in England on 

 account of these preachings ; and the doctrines 

 spreading to America, the Philadelphia Yearly 

 Meeting, in 1836, remonstrated with the Lon- 

 don Yearly Meeting upon the subject. In 

 1843, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting issued a 



pamphlet entitled " The Ancient Testimony 

 of the Society of Friends, commonly called 

 Quakers, respecting some of their Christian 

 Doctrines and Practices." It contained ex- 

 tracts from the declarations and writings of 

 the earlier Friends, concerning the one true 

 God, divine revelation, the fallen state of man, 

 the universality of the light of Christ, the Holy 

 Scriptures, justification, baptism and the Sup- 

 per, divine worship, ministry, prayer, war, 

 slavery, trade and lying, and parents and chil- 

 dren and urged that those testimonies be main- 

 tained. In 1845, the advocates of the later 

 views had obtained the preponderance in the 

 New England Yearly Meeting, and it was di- 

 vided. In 1836 the Ohio Yearly Meeting in- 

 vited the attention of the London Yearly Meet- 

 ing to the agitation, and urged it to take action 

 for the removal of the " cause of complaint." 

 That meeting failing to respond satisfactorily 

 to its request, the Ohio Yearly Meeting, though 

 not without objection, adopted a pamphlet that 

 had been issued in the previous year by the 

 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting corresponding in 

 spirit with the " Ancient Testimony " already 

 mentioned entitled " An Appeal for the An- 

 cient Testimony of the Society of Friends," to- 

 gether with the testimony that had been adopted 

 in 1830 by the eight yearly meetings then exist- 

 ing in America. The Ohio Yearly Meeting was 

 divided in 1854, the party adhering to the old 

 order retaining about two thirds of the mem- 

 bers. Upon the reception of the usual epistle 

 from this body, the Indiana Yearly Meeting de- 

 clined to correspond with it, and gave its fel- 

 lowship to the other meeting bearing the same 

 name. The latter is the body which has been 

 described in previous volumes of the " Annual 

 Cyclopedia " as the Ohio Yearly Meeting, and 

 which, in 1878, changed its discipline in regard 

 to marriage and other subjects, and refused in 

 1885 and 1886 to reaffirm the testimony of the 

 society against the outward rites of baptism and 

 the Lord's Supper. Divisions have also taken 

 place in Western, Canada, Kansas, and Iowa 

 Yearly Meetings, one branch of each of which, 

 together with the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 

 where no separation has occurred, are in unison 

 in support of the ancient order. None of these 

 conservative meetings took part in the Gen- 

 eral Conference of Friends that was held in 

 Richmond, Ind., in 1887. 



These divisions are in no way related to 

 the separation that resulted about 1822 from 

 the preaching of Elias Hicks. 



Doetrinal Statements. The declaration of 

 faith that was adopted by the General Con- 

 ference of Friends that was held in Richmond, 

 Indiana, in September, 1887 (see " Annual 

 Cyclopedia " for 1887), was considered, but not 

 approved, in the Dublin and London Yearly 

 Meetings. The Dublin Yearly Meeting adopted 

 a minute declaring that it did not see its way 

 formally to adopt the declaration ; but was 

 willing to receive it as a valuable outcome of 

 the conference. The minute of the London 



