238 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS CHAP.XVH 



devoted themselves, unpaid and seldom free from the 

 cares of a trade, facing labour and hardship, and not 

 sparing life itself, if need be, in the pursuit. The training 

 for the ministry was drawn from no college course, but 

 from years of patient and humble exercise in the regular 

 meetings of Friends, until a man's or a woman's spirit 

 for the women ministers were probably the more numerous 

 at this period was brought under control, and made the 

 vehicle of a divine message ; when this was recognised 

 by his brethren he was recorded or acknowledged as a 

 minister. Such recording only assumed a definite form 

 in FothergiU's later years. It is true that the theory of 

 immediate inspiration was so followed as to limit the use 

 of the intelligence, and the addresses even of the abler 

 ministers, unless these were by nature orators, were often 

 lacking in coherence and order. The manner of speaking 

 was often conventional and sometimes peculiar, and the 

 range of thought was narrowed. Yet in these messages 

 there was a sincerity and force, born of silent meditation, 

 which reached the hearts of many hearers. The calling 

 of a minister had now become recognised ; these members 

 occupied the " gallery " of the meeting-house, and con- 

 trary to their own desire the responsibility of the vocal 

 exercises came to depend more upon them, and less, as 

 at first, upon the congregation at large. Elders were 

 appointed in 1727 to advise the ministers. 



It was in such an atmosphere that young FothergiU's 

 boyhood was passed. His father, as we have seen, was a 

 highly esteemed minister in the society, and travelled 

 widely in that service. Of his younger brother, Samuel 

 Fothergill, some account will be given in the next chapter. 



