FOREIGN MISSIONARY WORK.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized at Bradford, Mass., June 29, 1810. At the close of its seventy-fifth year, the Board had 22 missions, 83 stations, 826 out-stations, 156 ordained missionaries (6 of them physicians), 10 physicians not ordained (including 4 females), 4 other male missionaries, 248 female assistant missionaries (147 of them wives); making a total of 422 American laborers. There were of native helpers, 147 pastors, 212 preachers, 1,310 teachers, 505 other helpers— a total of 2,183. There were 292 churches with 23,392 members, 3,008 having been added within the preceding year. There were 90 high-schools and colleges with 3,671 pupils, 803 common schools with 30,941, the total number under instruction being 35,561. During the seventy-five years the Board had sent out 786 male and 1,080 female missionariesa total of 1,866. There had been added to the churches under its care 94,985 members, while as nearly as can be ascertained 399,353 persons had been under instruction. The aggregate of receipts were $21,113,168.31. The pages issued by mission presses, so far as recorded, numbered 1,690,194,403 pages.

The following were the Missions, with the dates of their organization: East Central Africa, 1883; Zulu Mission, 1835; West Central Africa, 1880; European Turkey, 1858; Western Turkey, 1819; Central Turkey, 1847; Eastern Turkey, 1836; Maratha, 1813; Madura, 1834; Ceylon, 1816; Hong Kong, 1883; Foochow, 1847; North China, 1854; Shanse, 1882; Japan, 1869; North Japan, 1883; Micronesia, 1852; Western Mexico, 1872; Northern Mexico, 1882; Spain, 1872; Austria, 1872; North Pacific Institute, 1872.

HOME MISSIONARY WORK.

The American Home Missionary Society was organized in New York City, May 10, 1826. In 1885 it had eleven auxiliary associations. The number of missionaries employed in

CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES.

549

its fifty-ninth year (1884-'5) was 1,447,-993 of them in States and Territories west and south of New York. They preached regularly in 2,990 stations, and at frequent intervals in many hundreds more. The number of Sunday-school and Bibleclass scholars was 118,000. The additions to the churches were 8,734; 4,848 of them on confession of Christ. Churches organized, 155; reached self-support, 50.

CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES.

The "Year-Book" of 1886 gave the following statistics of these churches: Number of ministers in the United States, 4,043; churches, 4,170; Sunday-school officers, teachers, and scholars, 510,339; communicants, 418,564; amount of contributions for church purposes, $4,567,731.81; for mission work, $1,700,235.17.

The educational institutions were: Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary (opened 1808); Bangor (Me.) Theological Seminary (chartered 1814); Chicago (Ill.) Theological Seminary (opened 1858); Hartford (Conn.) Theological Seminary (opened 1834); Department of Theology in Oberlin (Ohio) College (opened 1835); Pacific (Oakland, Cal.) Theological Seminary (opened 1869); Theological Seminary of Yale (New Haven, Conn.) College; besides which there were eighty-five colleges in affiliation with the churches.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

George Fox and his Labors-Articles of Belief-The Orthodox Friends in the United States-The Hicksite Friends-Statistics and Institutions of the Friends.

GEORGE FOX AND HIS LABORS.

or

THE Friends, or Quakers, owe their origin to George Fox, who was born in Leicestershire, Eng., about the year 1624. At an early age he became apprentice to a shoemaker. While in this situation, he devoted himself with great diligence to the perusal of the Scriptures, and, as opportunity presented, was wont to exhort his fellow-shoemakers, from whom, however, he received no great encouragement. As he was one day walking alone in the fields, reflecting, according to custom, on the disorderly lives of men, and considering the most proper means to reform them, for the glory of God and their own temporal and eternal happiness, he thought he heard a voice from heaven, or rather he felt one of those sudden impulses, which the Friends receive as special motions from the Holy Spirit. Considering that he had received a call from heaven, he lived in a closer retreat than before. He searched narrowly into the state of his conscience, retrenched whatever he found superfluous, and followed his trade no further than was necessary for his subsistence. He went about preaching from place to place, and boldly entered into disputes with divines and ministers, trusting solely to and being guided only by what he considered to be that divine voice which interiorly speaks to the heart and draws men

as it pleases. This caused Fox to be looked upon as a seditious person, on which account he was seized at Nottingham, in 1649, and imprisoned. This first imprisonment occurred when he was twenty-five years of age. On being released from Nottingham jail, he preached in other places, where he was roughly handled by the mob for his eccentric behavior, and the boldness with which he interrupted the ministers in their sermons. At Derby he was shut up for six months in a house of correction, and when he came out of it, in order to be examined by Jeremy Bennet, a justice of the peace, the name of Quaker was given to him and his disciples, because, in his answers and public exhortations, he often said quaking and trembling were necessary dispositions to hear the word of God with profit.

The Quakers, as they were then called, flattered themselves with the hope of enjoying some quiet at the restoration of Charles II.; but refusing to take the oath of allegiance to that monarch because in their opinion all oaths are forbidden, a grievous persecution was raised against them. While some of the Protestants earlier organized, as the Presbyterians and Baptists, met the force of the persecution, the Friends sustained the severest shocks. It is estimated that during the winter of 1662 between 4,000 and 5,000 of their number were incarcerated in English jails. While suffering these persecutions, they were considerably strengthened by the accession to their fraternity of the well-known William Penn, who, on account of his talents and ample fortune, soon acquired no small influence and reputation among them. In 1686, when partly through his influence a proclamation was issued by the king releasing all persons who were imprisoned on account of religion, among those set at liberty were 1,490 Friends. About the same time the persecution against them abating, they employed themselves in reducing their views to a more regular system, and in adopting rules according to which they were to govern themselves. These we shall briefly notice.

DISCIPLINE OF THE FRIENDS.

Discipline is maintained on certain principles: 1. That Christ is the Supreme and only Head of his church; 2. That Christians are to minister to the temporal and spiritual needs of each other, in privacy and love; 3. Elders and overseers are to be guardians of the flock, in addition to those who preach; 4. No one (or class) is to make himself a lord over God's heritage, which power belongs to the people in their collective capacity; 5. The Holy Spirit has immediate control of all affairs in the church, from the time that the church was established by a most extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

The form of the church government was settled as early as 1666, under the lead of George Fox, who advocated the setting up of women's meetings, which very soon were held as regularly as those of the brethren. The chief authority is in the yearly meeting of the body at large, by their representatives, men and women meeting separately. Minor matters are arranged at the monthly meetings, such as the care of the poor, visiting of the afflicted and in prison, marriage and burials, births and deaths, education, and the settlement of legal matters (appeals to courts not being allowed). There are also quarterly meetings, composed of monthly meetings.

ARTICLES OF BELIEF.

The Society of Friends has never formed a creed after the manner of other religious bodies. They accept the doctrines of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and of his atonement for the sins of men. Christ is the true light, which enlightens all men. This is performed by an immediate inspiration, and not alone by the outward doctrine of the gospel, which Christ has preached to men as a rule of their belief and practice; which outward preaching of evangelical truths is not the only method used by God to enlighten mankind; but he sends to each person interior inspirations. This interior light is to be adored, as being Christ himself and God himself.