Quakerism
Introduction
Quakers are a religious society that is also referred to as the Society Friends. This movement was founded in England in the 17th century by George Fox. Quakerism spread across Britain during the 1650s, and by 1660 there were about 50,000 Quakers.
Quakers beliefs were radical, such as the idea that women and men were spiritual equals, and women were able to give their opinion during worship. Quakers didn't have official ministers or religious rituals.
Based on how they interpreted the Bible, Quakers were pacifists and refused to take legal oaths. The center of their beliefs was the idea that everyone had the Light of Christ within them. Thousands of Quakers were persecuted and jailed because of these beliefs during the 1680s.
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George Fox
In the 1640s, George Fox left his home in the English Midlands and traveled around the country on a spiritual quest. During this time, religion was in great distress in England, and people were seeking reform of the Church of England or starting their own competing churches.
During Fox's journey, he met others searching for a more direct spiritual experience. He came to believe that the presence of God was found in people rather than in the churches. He experienced his "openings", which is when he felt God was talking directly to him.
Fox, then went around and shared his beliefs with others and spoke to large gatherings of people, which only continued to grow. His ideas were viewed by many as a threat, and for that he was jailed in 1650. Even though he was jailed, along with many others who shared similar beliefs, the religious group continued to grow. By the late 1660s the term Quaker came to be for Fox and the people with the same spiritual beliefs.
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Quaker Beliefs
Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality
These are the foundational ideas of Quakerism. Quakers have long been concerned about the rights of others. In American colonies, they wanted to protect Native Americans' rights. They were also early abolitionists. In 1758, Quakers in Philadelphia were demanded to stop buying and selling slaves. By 1780s, all Quakers were forbidden from owning slaves. In the 19th century, a number of leaders of women's suffrage movement in the U.S. were Quakers.
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<Laura Redienns>
The Type of Religion Quakerism is
The movement that George Fox started got people thinking the type of religion.
Quakerism, as a type of Christianity, was mystical and prophetical.
<William Charles Braithwaite, "The beginning of Quakerism">
Mystical Christianity
Mysticism is a type of religion as rich and many-sided as life itself. It is life itself at its highest inward unity and its most consummate attainment of Reality. This type of religion is one among many other theoretical systems of religious thought, to reduce it to a metaphysic and to leave the the impression on the mind of the reader. The term mystical is properly used for any type of religion which insists upon immediate inward revelation of God in the sphere of personal experience.
<William Charles Braithwaite, "The beginning of Quakerism">
Prophetical Christianity
Through experiences of this first-hand type that the Quaker movement was initiated, and all the primitive leaders of it were recipients of experiences which convinced them that God reveled himself directly and immediately within themselves. George Fox was given a very simple and impressive account of the experience which ended his long search for somebody who could "speak to his condition" and give him authoritative direction to a religion of verity and reality".
<William Charles Braithwaite, "The beginning of Quakerism">
Isaac T. Hopper as a Quaker
Isaac T. Hopper was born in Deptford Township, near Woodbury, West New-Jersey, in the year of 1771, on the third day of December, which quakers referred to as the Twelfth Month. His grandfather was of Christian denomination, but lost his membership in society when he married someone from another sect. Isaac's father always attended their meetings, but never became a member.
Isaac T. Hopper was about twenty-two years old, when he was received as a member of the Society of Friends. It was the pleasantest period of his existence. Love and religion were the two deepest and brightest experiences of human life that were met together, and put into his soul in one full stream.
He felt perfectly satisfied that he had found the one true religion. The plain mode of worship suited the simplicity of his character, while the principles inculcated were peculiarly well calculated to curb the violence of his temper.
Duties towards God and the men that stood before him came forth in plain sight to him in the light that was shown so clearly in his awakened soul. Later on in Isaac Hopper's life her refers to his early religious experiences as a sweet season of peace and joy.
<Lydia Marie Childs, "Issac T. Hopper's A True Life,": 36-48>
The removal of Isaac T. Hopper from the Quaker Community
Isaac T. Hopper is charged with being concerned in the support and publication of a paper which has a tendency to excite discord and disunity among us.
After hearing this Isaac T. Hopper rose graciously and stated that he is growing old. That he loves the Society of Friends and everything that is incorporated with it. He most importantly loves the doctrine of the Inward Light, which he endeavored to make the rile of his life. He then goes on to say how he has been committed to coming to meetings throughout his years as a Quaker and that he grateful for every last bit of being a Quaker. He humbly accepted the charges brought before him and didn't deny them at all. He accepted being kicked out of being a Quaker because he was happy for the years he had and didn't think he was going to be around a lot longer.
The Committee on Isaac T. Hopper's appeal report, that after patient deliberation thereon, we find that eighteen of our number are in favour of confirming the judgement of the quarterly Meeting, fifteen for reserving it, and three declined giving judgment in the case.
<"Narratives of Proceedings": 11-37.>
Present Day Quakers
In the present day world there are more than 300,000 Quakers around the world, with the highest percent active in Africa.
There are different groups of Quakers, "programmed" worship services that are led, while other practices were "unprogrammed"worship that was done in silence without the guidance of a pastor.
Unprogrammed Friends refer to their congregations as meetings, while programmed Quakers use terms meeting and church to refer to their congregations. A lot of Quakers consider themselves christians but not all of them do.
Shakers are another group that Quakers consider themselves. They were pacifists like the Quakers and Amish that came to America and lived in communal places and were celibate. This group is no longer.
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