History of Baltimore Yearly Meeting
- Quakers in Maryland and Virginia
- Compensation of Native Americans
- Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction
- "Quietism," Division, and Reunion
- Statement on Spiritual Unity, 1964
- Early Quaker Testimonies
- Enforcement of Testimonies
This History is the "Historical Sketch" section of the Baltimore
Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice.
The seventeenth century was a time of political and religious ferment
in the British Isles. The formalism of the Church of England had
become a hindrance to many spiritual seekers, and new sects were
coming into being. The Church itself was in some confusion between
Puritan and anti-Puritan tendencies. In mid-century the Puritans
prevailed, both politically and religiously. They dethroned and
beheaded King Charles I and instituted the Commonwealth, which ruled
the British domain for more than a decade. It may have been significant
in the religious controversies that the "authorized" version of
the Bible, the so-called "King James" Bible of 1611, had made the
Scriptures available to more English-speaking people than ever before.
George Fox, who initiated the gathering of the people later called
Quakers, was born in Leicestershire in 1624. He was an unusually
serious boy. As a teenager he troubled his parents by refusing to
attend Sunday services, preferring to spend the time in Bible reading
and solitary meditation. From the age of nineteen, George Fox went
on frequent walking journeys over the midland counties of England,
talking about spiritual matters with those he met along the way.
Clergymen were often confounded by his incisive interpretation of
scripture, and could provide little guidance for the young man.
After much searching and despair, he heard an inner voice that said:
There is One, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy
condition.
Here and there he found kindred spirits, and he continued to experience
"openings," such as:
I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there
was an ocean of darkness and death, and an infinite ocean of light
and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that I also
saw the infinite love of God.
(George Fox, 1647)
And again:
[I saw] that every [one] was enlightened by the Divine
Light of Christ ... and that they that believed in it came out of
condemnation and came into the Light of Life, and became children
of it.
(George Fox, 1648)
Such revelations led to a belief in a "seed" of the Divine in every
human being, usually called by Friends the Inner Light, or the Light
of Christ. Fox taught that those who led their lives in strict obedience
to God's will would come to "walk cheerfully over the world, answering
that of God in everyone." No clergyman, no intercessor, no liturgy
or ritual was required. The only need was to experience the Divine
Presence -- nothing else mattered. That Presence became so real
to the early Quakers that they marveled that "Christ has come to
teach his people himself." They also discovered that divine revelation
came equally to women, men, and children. Some of the most active
and intrepid ministers were women.
At first Fox and his followers called themselves Children of Truth,
or Children of Light, or sometimes Friends of Truth. Because of
persecutions they were often in courts and prisons. Judge Bennett
of Derby first dubbed them Quakers in 1650 because in their earnestness
they bade him tremble. So they came to be known as Quakers, although
they eventually adopted the name Society of Friends, or the Religious
Society of Friends. The name "Quaker" first given in derision has
become a badge of honor and is used interchangeably with "Friends."
On a journey northward in 1652, George Fox climbed Pendle Hill
in Lancashire near the border of Yorkshire and saw a vision of "a
great people to be gathered." He continued northward about thirty
miles to Preston-Patrick Chapel. There he found the people, congregations
of "seekers" who had been gathering for worship. These people, including
their ministers, responded to Fox, and within two years he had sparked
the emergence from the area of more than sixty Quaker ministers,
men and women, on fire with an old faith become new. Within two
more years their gospel had been carried to every county of England,
to Wales, to Scotland, to Ireland, to several countries of Europe,
and to such distant places as Constantinople and the American colonies.
Margaret Fell, wife of Judge Fell, was "convinced of the truth"
in 1652. Swarthmore Hall, the Fells' home on the northwest coast
of England, became a meeting place and refuge from persecution for
George Fox and other Quaker ministers. Margaret Fell corresponded
extensively with Friends everywhere and helped sustain the equality
of women with men in the Society of Friends.
1. Quakers in Maryland and Virginia
The first Quaker known to visit the colonies of Maryland and Virginia
was Elizabeth Harris, who came in 1655 or 1656 and found an immediate
response. She was followed by a stream of others traveling in the
ministry of the new faith. Many people of Maryland and Virginia
joined the new movement. Although few early records of Virginia
Yearly Meeting exist, it appears that George Fox initiated the first
movement toward organization in that colony during his visits in
1672 and 1673.
In Fourth Month 1672, John Burnyeat, who was about to return to
England after a lengthy ministry, called a General Meeting (to last
several days) on West River, south of present-day Annapolis, for
all Friends in the Province of Maryland. It happened that George
Fox and several other English Friends had been visiting in Barbados
and Jamaica, and arrived in Maryland in time for that historic meeting,
which marks the beginning of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends.
In his Journal George Fox recorded this event:
Then there was a meeting appointed by John Burnyeat about
three score miles off, which held four days, which we went to though
we were weary. And there came to it ... many considerable people
of the world, and a glorious meeting we had. After the public meeting
there were men's and women's meetings [for business] and I opened
to Friends the service thereof and all were satisfied.
(George Fox, 1672)
Although little opposition was met in Maryland, which tolerated
any Christian sect, the situation was different in Virginia, where
only the established Church of England was allowed. There was much
persecution, particularly on the Eastern Shore, forcing the Quakers
to migrate northward into Maryland. Elsewhere in Virginia, the Quaker
movement prospered in spite of opposition.
By 1700 there were about 3000 Quakers in Maryland, possibly the
largest religious body in the colony at that time. The Yearly Meeting
for Maryland held two sessions annually, one at West River and the
other at Third Haven (now Easton) on the Eastern Shore. After 1774
sessions were held but once a year, alternating between the eastern
and western shores of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1785 the western shore
meeting place was transferred from West River to Baltimore.
With the building and improvement of roads on the Eastern Shore,
Friends there were drawn toward Philadelphia as a center of commerce.
At the same time the Friends from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting who
were migrating to Northern Virginia, Western Maryland and adjacent
parts of Pennsylvania and establishing meetings there, found Baltimore
to be their urban magnet. In 1790, by mutual agreement of the two
yearly meetings, all Maryland's Eastern Shore meetings were assigned
to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and all meetings in Northern Virginia,
Western Maryland, Nottingham Quarter and meetings farther west in
Pennsylvania were assigned to Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
2. Compensation of Native Americans
Unlike Friends settling with William Penn, who purchased their
land fairly with freely signed deeds, those moving into the Shenandoah
Valley found no natives remaining with whom to negotiate. As early
as 1738, Quaker settlers in that area were pricked by their conscience
as to how their lands had been procured, and by 1778 many of them
had subscribed to a fund designated "for the benefit of the Indians,
who were formerly the Native Owners of the lands on which we now
live, or their descendants if to be found, and if not, for the benefit
of other Indians." Likewise, English Friends of tender conscience
helped add to the fund. In 1795, Baltimore Yearly Meeting first
appointed an Indian Affairs Committee, one of its charges being
to administer these funds. This endowment remains to this day, as
does the concern of these early Friends, and the effort for mutual
understanding and cooperation continues to be actively pursued.
3. Slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction
Many Friends in the southern colonies, and some in the north, were
slave owners. However, through the labors of John Woolman (1720-1772)
and other concerned Quakers, members of the Society gradually became
convinced that it was contrary to the love exemplified by Jesus
that any human being should be held in bondage. Baltimore Yearly
Meeting in 1777 concluded that any members holding slaves were to
be disowned; Virginia Yearly Meeting made the same decision in 1784
after Friends persuaded the Virginia legislature to pass a law permitting
manumission, and by 1790 nearly all Quaker slave-holders had indeed
freed their slaves. Life in slave states became difficult for those
who had freed their slaves. For this and other reasons, many Quakers
from Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and some from Maryland migrated
west. The Society disappeared in Georgia and South Carolina and
became greatly reduced in North Carolina and Virginia.
As a result of the westward movement, Baltimore Yearly Meeting
set off Ohio Yearly Meeting in 1812, the first Friends Yearly Meeting
west of the Alleghenies. In 1844 the remnant of Virginia Yearly
Meeting decided to become a Half-Year's Meeting within Baltimore
Yearly Meeting, Orthodox.
During the Civil War Baltimore Yearly Meeting Friends suffered
not only because of their refusal to participate, but also because
many of their farms and homes were in the path of the fighting.
Young men faced disownment by their Meetings if they enlisted in
the army, or imprisonment if they refused to be drafted or hire
a substitute. In the North, President Lincoln's understanding of
the dictates of conscience moderated the persecution somewhat, but
in the South many Friends died in prison because of their refusal
to join the army.
After the war Friends responded to the overwhelming need of the
freed slaves for food, clothing, and education. They also provided
aid to Quakers in the devastated states of the South, particularly
North Carolina, during the Reconstruction Period.
4. "Quietism," Division and Reunion
Through the 18th and part of the 19th centuries the Society changed
from a vital movement of convinced Christians bent on spreading
the Light of Truth, to a group feeling threatened by contamination
from an indifferent world. The emphasis shifted to discipline for
survival, so that the Truth as seen by their forebears would not
be lost. Marriage outside the Society or before a "priest," being
seen in a church, participation in war or militia drill, failure
to attend meeting, incurring debts, drunkenness, brawling and fornication
were typical grounds for the disownments which greatly reduced the
Society.
But new ideas inevitably crept through the walls built around the
Quaker communities. Tensions arose between Friends: sometimes between
younger and older, rural and urban, or wealthy and less well-to-do
Friends. Sometimes there were divisions even among Meetings in a
Yearly Meeting. Theological controversy arose over Christian authority.
Which should have primacy -- the direct revelation of the Inner
Light, or the Scriptures? One's direct experience of God, or personal
salvation through Christ's sacrifice? Elias Hicks became the apostle
of Christian authority through the Inner Light.
In 1827 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting split into "Hicksite" and "Orthodox"
Yearly Meetings, and the following year Baltimore and several other
Yearly Meetings did likewise. Four-fifths of the constituency in
Baltimore became Hicksite. This controversy did not divide the small
Virginia Yearly Meeting, which remained Orthodox.
A further division occurred in the 1840's and 1850's between a
conservative branch of Orthodox Friends associated with the name
of John Wilbur, and a more evangelical branch of Orthodox Friends
who had come under the influence of traveling evangelists, notably
Joseph John Gurney from England. This Gurneyite movement partly
accounts for the existence today of Friends with an evangelical
theology. The Wilburite group long maintained the testimonies of
plain dress and speech, and continued the traditional worship based
on silence, as did all Hicksites. After 1870 a number of Meetings
adopted a programmed form of worship and engaged the services of
pastors. This movement only slightly influenced the two Baltimore
Yearly Meetings, though it is still widespread elsewhere.
Feelings ran high between the two principal groups, and Meetings
not inclined to divide were eventually forced to choose sides. Not
until 1866 were the two Baltimore Yearly Meetings able to appoint
committees to work together amicably on the sale of the Yearly Meeting
pasture land in the city. The fact that two members of the Janney
family, each representing one of the separated Yearly Meetings,
served on these committees, illustrates the depth of the division.
With the passing of years, the early bitterness between the two
Baltimore Yearly Meetings gradually became less acute. Both Yearly
Meetings participated in service groups such as the Associated Committee
of Friends on Indian Affairs and the American Friends Service Committee.
Eventually the annual sessions of the two Yearly Meetings were held
simultaneously, enabling them to have some joint sessions and to
appoint some joint committees. After World War II some new Monthly
Meetings affiliated with both Yearly Meetings, and most divided
local Meetings reunited, taking dual affiliation with both Yearly
Meetings.
In 1957 the two Baltimore Yearly Meetings began holding their sessions
jointly in the same location. Finally, on January 1, 1968, after
140 years of separation, including three years of intense planning
for reunion, the two Baltimore Yearly Meetings became again one
Yearly Meeting.
5. Statement on Spiritual Unity, 1964
During the process of reuniting, the following statement from the
Committee of Ten, 1964, was accepted:
The Committees appointed by the two Baltimore Yearly
Meetings to study together the question of what in our religious
experience would justify the union of the Yearly Meetings see that
much spiritual basis for unity now exists among us. This is evident
in the uniting of a number of local meetings, so that at present
almost half the membership of the two Yearly Meetings is in united
Meetings; in our Young Friends movement; in the joint work of our
committees; in our cooperative efforts of many kinds; and in many
shared experiences of worship. All these joint activities obviously
would not exist without some measure of unity of spirit.
Our two Yearly Meetings have a wide, rich, and diverse heritage,
chiefly from historic Christianity interpreted by Quakerism. We
not only tolerate diversity, we encourage and cherish it. In every
local Meeting we struggle, usually patiently, with the problems
that arise from our divergent convictions; and we usually find
ourselves richer for our differences. In most if not all of the
Monthly Meetings within the two Yearly Meetings will be found,
successfully co-existing, persons as far apart in religious vocabulary
and practice as there are anywhere in the Yearly Meetings. Yet
these Friends worship together every Sunday, and share nourishment
for their spiritual life. Such association is beneficial and even
necessary.
Friends in our two Yearly Meetings are clear on certain principles
which are so basic and essential that we tend to take them for
granted and forget that they are essential and probably the only
essentials. We all are clear that religion is a matter of inward,
immediate experience. We all acknowledge the guidance of the Inner
Light--the Christ Within--God's direct, continuing revelation.
All our insights are subject to testing by the insight of the
group, by history and tradition, and by the Bible and the whole
literature of religion. All the Meetings for Worship of our Monthly
Meetings aspire to openness to God's communication directly with
every person. Worship is primarily on the basis of expectant waiting
upon the Spirit, a communion with God in which mediators or symbols
are not necessary. We are all clear that faith is directly expressed
in our daily living. We all seek to move toward goals of human
welfare, equality, and peace.
We have a profound, often-tested, durable respect for each individual's
affirmation of his own religious experience, which must be judged
not only by his words but also by his life. From the stimulus
of dissimilarity, new insights often arise. Each Friend must,
as always, work out for himself his own understanding of religion;
and each Monthly Meeting must, as always, fit its practice to
its own situation and the needs of its members.
The consolidated Baltimore Yearly Meeting continued affiliation
with both Friends General Conference (FGC) and Friends United Meeting
(FUM), two organizations founded near the turn of the century by
the two main branches of Quakerism, Hicksite and Orthodox respectively.
The Yearly Meeting office was moved from Baltimore to Sandy Spring,
Maryland.
6. Early Quaker Testimonies
The testimonies of Friends are a witness by which principles of
the Society are translated into a mode of behavior sometimes contrary
to the prevailing customs or law. While some of the testimonies
adopted in the vastly different culture of seventeenth century England
may seem quaint or obscure now, others are as vital today as when
they were adopted. Some testimonies emerged later as Friends responded
to conditions in a changing world which tended to deny the presence
of God in every person or in which complete truthfulness or openness
was being avoided. That every individual possesses a seed of the
divine is the basis for most Quaker testimonies. In addition to
the testimony against slavery, there are others which should be
noted here.
One of the first testimonies articulated by Fox and adopted by
early Quakers was that of equality of men and women before God.
The testimony was evident in their marriage ceremony where both
parties recited identical vows, their encouragement of women as
ministers of the gospel, and the setting up of separate women's
meetings for business. The latter was resisted by many at first,
but ultimately adopted because it was felt that women would not
speak in a mixed meeting. Women, along with the men, suffered imprisonment
in the early years for their adherence to the testimonies and sometimes
for simply having meetings for worship. Although women Friends have
been recognized ministers throughout the last 300 years, the testimony
of equality of both sexes has been fragile. The separate women's
meetings were rarely equal to the men's, and paralleled Quaker women's
status in their homes. The actions of the women's business meetings
were subject to final approval by the men while the men's business
meetings controlled the money and property. Inspired by the original
testimony, Quaker women in the nineteenth century rose to the forefront
of the antislavery, women's suffrage, and temperance movements,
often evoking the express disapproval of their meetings. In Lucretia
Mott's words:
Let women then go on -- not asking as a favor, but claiming
as right, the removal of all the hindrances to her elevation in
the scale of being -- let her receive encouragement for the proper
cultivation of all her powers, so that she may enter profitably
into the active business of life. ... Then, in the marriage union,
the independence of the husband and wife will be equal, their dependence
mutual, and their obligations reciprocal.
(Lucretia Mott, Discourse on Woman, 1849)
In response to a plea that "the entire equality of women be recognized,"
the Hicksite branch of Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 1870 restructured
its committees to allow fuller participation by women. In 1890 the
Orthodox branch deemed separate women's meetings to be no longer
needed, and by 1903 the Hicksite branch had also merged the separate
meetings for business.
It was the practice in the 17th century for men to remove their
hats in the presence of their social superiors and even of their
peers, but not of their inferiors. Friends refused hat honor in
the presence of anyone, a practice which caused them much trouble,
especially when they went before the king with their petitions.
The practice in meetings for worship was to sit with hats on, but
to remove the hat while speaking or praying.
Another sign of inequality of the times was in the use of personal
pronouns. The flattery of the plural forms you and your was regularly
used in address to a single person of equal or higher rank, but
to one of lower rank the terms thou, thee and thy were used. Friends
used the singular, more familiar "plain speech" to all. This practice
set them apart in succeeding centuries as the rest of the English-speaking
world took the other course and came to use the plural forms indiscriminately.
The peace testimony was stated in 1660*
in England when Friends declared they would not fight for any cause
whatsoever. This testimony of non-participation in war in any form
has been maintained by the Society of Friends ever since. In a world
in which social, economic and political conditions often lead to
conflict and war, the peace testimony remains central to the broad
structure of social concern.
The testimony of plainness in speech and living was adopted from
the beginning. Friends wore clothes that were merely modest and
functional, avoiding ostentation and decoration. The same principle
carried over to their homes, meetinghouses and furnishings. Art,
music, drama, and dancing were considered vanities which took the
minds of Friends away from the sober, godly life or were a reminder
of the excesses of the established church. Since the period of Quietism,
when plainness was a badge of a "peculiar people" and a hedge against
an evil world, the emphasis has shifted to simplicity and informality.
A testimony against the taking of oaths came directly from the
New Testament, Matthew 5:34-37 and James 5:12.
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither
by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath; but
let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
(James 5:12)
Speaking the truth on all occasions has been a cardinal Quaker
principle, and Friends believe the practice of taking oaths implies
that a person might be telling lies on other occasions. This testimony
caused Friends much distress, for in the first half-century of Quakerism,
a neighbor could accuse a Quaker of being disloyal to the crown
and have the accused taken into court and asked to swear the oath
of allegiance. Refusal to take the oath might be followed by forfeiture
of property, half going to the informer. In spite of such consequences,
the testimony against taking oaths was generally observed. Most
jurisdictions today acknowledge anyone's right to affirm rather
than swear.
Friends were always aware of the evils resulting from the consumption
of alcohol. Drunkenness was considered to be a condition in which
a person was not his or her true self. Friends became part of the
temperance movement in the nineteenth century and maintained committees
on temperance until recent times. Temperance meant abstinence, which
was felt by many to be the only sure way to avoid addiction.
George Fox reminded Friends that the days of the week and the months
of the year are named for pagan gods and ancient Roman emperors.
As Christians they should not pay homage to these gods in the conduct
of their everyday lives. Thence developed the custom of numbering
the days of the week as First Day, Second Day, etc., and the months
as First Month, Second Month, etc.
Holidays, Friends maintain, are no more holy than other days. Some,
particularly Christmas and Easter, had retained many of the trappings
of the pagan holidays which had occurred at nearly the same time
of year as the Christian ones, so Fox admonished Quakers to conduct
their business on the supposedly holy days as they ordinarily would,
and some Friends schools continued to hold classes on Christmas
into the twentieth century. Gradually, however, recognition of major
Christian holidays has become accepted by most Friends.
Many other activities commonly engaged in by the rest of humanity
have been considered to be contrary to the testimonies of Friends.
One example is gambling and speculation, because the gains therefrom
are not earned through one's own labor and can cause serious loss
to others; another is membership in secret societies because they
are not open in their activities, are exclusive, and may tend to
encourage the formation of conspiracies or may reduce sympathy for
some portion of society.
Another corollary of the fundamental Quaker belief that there is
the seed of God in every person is the testimony against paid ministry.
George Fox in his early searching found the established clergy to
be both corrupt and incompetent in spiritual matters. The Society
recognized from its early times that some members possessed gifts
of ministry, but abhorred any monetary reward for the practice of
ministry as a trade rather than a calling. Friends might be released
to travel in the ministry by provision for expenses and support
of their families, but any sort of salary for such service was unheard
of until the late nineteenth century.
7. Enforcement of Testimonies
During the earliest period little need was felt for formal enforcement
of the observance of the testimonies, although many controversies
about them did arise among Quakers in the 17th century. But in the
18th and 19th centuries, conformity was enforced by threat of disownment,
a measure often carried out. At the same time, rather than creedal
statements to which members were required to assent, "Queries"--a
set of penetrating questions-- were used to remind Friends of the
tenets of their faith. In the 20th century there has been considerable
variation in the use of queries.
For further information about the history of Baltimore Yearly Meeting,
see A History of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends, the
tercentenary volume by Bliss Forbush. (Published by Baltimore Yearly
Meeting of Friends, 17100 Quaker Lane, Sandy Spring, MD 20860, 1972,
155 pages.)
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