FRIENDS. 



be taken as the starting-point for any new investiga- 

 tions. This conference met at Alexandria, where it 

 has been sitting for a month. Invested with a purely 

 consultative character, it will judge of the legitimacy 

 of the complaints which have been made to us and 

 of the value of the reforms suggested. The powers 

 have, nevertheless, reserved to themselves entire 

 liberty as regards their ultimate determinations. The 

 Emperor's advisers are too conscious of the grave 

 responsibility which attaches to the settlement of 

 this important question, not to act with all the pru- 

 dence and circumspection, called for by the complex 

 interests involved. In concert with the English Cab- 

 inet, we have, besides, made known at Constanti- 

 nople that, in consenting to the inquest proposed by 

 the Khe'dive, we had no intention of concluding any 

 arrangement independently of the Turkish authori- 

 ties, or in opposition to the Sultan's rights. 



FRIENDS, a religious denomination, com- 

 monly called Quakers. This epithet was given 

 to the Friends " in derision, because they often 

 trembled under an awful sense of the infinite 

 purity and majesty of God." The name has 

 been submitted to rather than accepted by 

 them. Their proper designation is the " Re- 

 ligious Society of Friends." From the time 

 of the settlement of "William Penn in Pennsyl- 

 vania, in 1680, the spread of the society in 

 North America was rapid. Before that, in 

 1672, George Fox found an established colony 

 of Friends in Perquimans County, N. 0., which 

 was the beginning of one of the largest and 

 most influential yearly meetings in the United 

 States.. It has constantly borne testimony 

 against slavery and war, and for the freeness of 

 the Gospel, often at the cost of persecution and 

 loss of substance. During the late war the 

 members firmly maintained the consistency of 

 their testimony by refusal to bear arms. 



The organization of the society in essential 

 matters is the work of George Fox. " The 

 yearly meetings," says Mr. Allinson, "are in a 

 sense diocesan, having each a defined territorial 

 jurisdiction, and independent of each other in 

 their government and law-making powers, 

 while by a sort of common law there are 

 principles of discipline sacred to all, and mem- 

 bership in any meeting involves a connection 

 with the society wherever existing, and may 

 be transferred by certificate when the person 

 claiming such credential is not liable to church 

 censure." The transaction of the business of 

 these meetings is regarded as the Lord's work, 

 and it is held to be necessary in them for all 

 minds to be turned to Him. In the ministry 

 of the word no Friend is expected to speak 

 " without feeling a direct call and movement 

 of the Holy Spirit for the service." It is the 

 duty of the elders "to counsel, foster, and aid 

 the ministers," and encourage or restrain them 

 according as they are or are not believed to be 

 called of God. They admit no system of theo- 

 logical training. Favoring education, they re- 

 gard it " as the exclusive province of the Holy 

 Spirit to select His own ministers and instruct 

 them what they shall say." The study of the 

 Holy Scriptures is, however, enforced with 

 great stress. The privilege and duty of prayer, 

 both secret and vocal, are regarded as of the 



highest importance. They consider, however, 

 a reverent spirit as an essential quality in all 

 cases, and believe that vocal prayer should not 

 be offered without a direct movement of the 

 Holy Spirit; that it ought not to be "formal 

 or customary " in style ; and that many words, 

 repetitions, and reiterations of the name of God 

 or His attributes should be avoided. 



1. AMERICA. The great division in American 

 Friends which took place in 1827 rested upon 

 differences of opinion respecting the divine 

 character of Christ, like those which distin- 

 guish the Trinitarian and Unitarian denom- 

 inations. Both divisions claim and use the 

 simple title of Friends, the terms orthodox 

 and Hicksite not being recognized officially, 

 but only used as a means of popular defini- 

 tion. 



The orthodox Friends, while they avoid the 

 use of the word Trinity, claim to be in accord 

 with the orthodox churches on the general 

 points of Christian doctrine. They "rever- 

 ently believe in the Holy Three ; the Father, 

 the Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten of 

 the Father, by whom are all things, who is 

 the mediator between God and man ; and the 

 Holy Spirit, who proceedeth from the Father 

 and the Son ONE GOD, blessed for ever. They 

 accept in its fulness the testimony of Holy 

 Scripture with regard to the nature and offices 

 of Christ, as the promised Messiah, the "Word 

 made flesh, the atonement for sin, the Saviour 

 and Redeemer of the world. They have no 

 reliance on any other name, no hope of salva- 

 tion that is not based upon His meritorious 

 death on the cross. "They so fully believe 

 in the Holy Spirit of Christ, that without the 

 inward revelation thereof they feel that they 

 can do nothing to God's glory, or to further 

 the salvation of their own souls. They believe 

 that baptism is only of the spirit, and hold it im- 

 possible that an outward ablution should wash 

 from the spirit of man the stains of sin." It 

 is also^by the spirit that the true Supper of the 

 Lord is to be partaken. They believe also 

 fully in the resurrection of the dead, and in the 

 final judgment. 



The Hicksite Quakers, as the other branch 

 are currently denominated, believe also in the 

 authenticity and divine authority of the Holy 

 Scriptures, acknowledging them as the only fit 

 outward test of Christian doctrines, and as- 

 signing to them " all the authority they claim 

 for themselves." They likewise believe in the 

 immediate communion of the Holy Spirit, that 

 " there can be no saving knowledge of Christ 

 but from immediate revelation." Their views 

 on the original and present state of man, ac- 

 cording to Samuel L. Janney, author of the 

 " History of the Friends," are that 



It is a Scriptural doctrine that neither righteousness 

 nor unrighteousness can be transmitted by inheritance, 

 but every man shall be judged according to his deeds. 

 "When man 



away from the Holy Spirit, he ceased to partake of 



