CHAPTER XVII 



THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN FOTHERGILI/S EARLY DAYS 



L'heretique d'aujourd'hui est 1'orthodoxe de 1'avenir. 



The Christians dwell in the cities of the Greeks and of the Bar- 

 barians, each as his lot has been cast ; and while they conform to the 

 usages of the country, they yet show a peculiarity of conduct wondrous 

 to all. They inhabit their native country but as strangers. They 

 take their share of all burdens. They are in the flesh, but they live 

 not after the flesh. They tarry on earth, but their citizenship is in 

 Heaven. They love all and are persecuted by all. Epistle to Diognetus, 

 second century A.D. 



WHEN Fothergill was born in 1712, two generations had 

 passed since the Society of Friends was founded. George 

 Fox had been dead for more than twenty years, but Penn 

 was living in happy second childhood at Ruscombe, 

 Ellwood in studious retirement at Hunger Hill, and 

 George Whitehead, the grand old man of Metropolitan 

 Quakerism, who pleaded its cause before five British 

 sovereigns, was yet vigorous. The fervour of the earlier 

 Friends had cooled, and with it the robust life that 

 put forth constant action ; the society had become a 

 united and settled community, and already the voice of 

 lamentation for declension from its pristine virtue was 

 often heard. The dictates of a strong objective faith 

 had given place to the quiet pursuit of godly ways. The 

 Epistles issued by the Yearly Meeting bear witness to the 

 spiritual change. There is a note of triumph in the 

 earlier letters, much mention of " the power of God," the 

 " arm of power," and praise is offered for the support 

 given to " the children of the kingdom." When the 

 eighteenth century begins, Friends dwell more on good 

 order, on concord and unity, on " inoffensive conduct," 



235 



