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The Early Quaker Literature of Defense

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

M. G. F. Bitterman
M. G. F. Bitterman
Affiliation:
project administrator and research associate in history in the Hawaii Environmental Simulation Laboratory, University of Hawaii
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Extract

Faced with suspicion, hostility and repression, yet small in number and dedicated increasingly to peaceful principles, the early Quakers had recourse to the press. They published detailed accounts of their persecutions and a large number of purely theological treatises which are relatively well known. They also published a literature of defense which, although widely cited, has not until now been the subject of systematic study. In these tracts they refuted charges that they were emissaries of Rome and enemies of the established order; justified their refusal to do “hat honor”, to take oaths, to pay tithes and to participate in the rituals of an established church; pleaded for liberty of conscience; threatened their opponents with God's wrath; and encouraged each other to stand fast in adversity. The literature of defense grew rapidly in the decade before the Restoration and declined steadily in the decade or so thereafter.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 1973 , pp. 203 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1973

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References

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84. R. H., op. cit., pp. 13–14.

85. Naylor, Dewsbury, Stubbs, Fox the Younger, John Whitehead and Richard Hubberthorn, all had been soldiers.

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87. Ibid., p. 105.

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90. Cole concluded from his study of the Commonwealth period that the Quakers' “attitude towards the use of the sword depended largely on the use to which it was put.” See Cole, William Alan, The Quakers and Politics, 1652–1660 (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 1955), p. 65.Google Scholar

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120. R. H., op. cit., pp. 2–4.

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124. J. S., , The Case of the Quakers relating to Oathes (London, 1675)Google Scholar; and Smallwood, Allan, A Reply to a Pamphlet called, Oaths no Gospel-Ordinance (York: Stephen Bulkley, 1667).Google Scholar

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126. Crook, , The Case of Swearing, p. 14Google Scholar. Crook was not yet prepared to take a stand on the problem of killing but his inclinations are clear: “Woe be unto them,” he warned, “that brings a Christian to such a necessity, that he must swear, as woe attends them that necessitates a Christian to kill” (p. 14).

127. Crook, , The Case of Swearing, p. 6.Google Scholar

128. Benson, , A Second Testimony concerning Oaths, p. 8.Google Scholar

129. Bishop, A Vindication of the Principles.

130. Crook, , The Case of Swearing, p. 11.Google Scholar

131. Crook, The Case of Swearing; Penn, William and Richardson, Richard, A Treatise of Oaths, containing Several Weighty Reasons, why the People, Call'd Quakers, Refuse to Swear (London, 1675).Google Scholar

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133. Burrough, , A Just and Righteous Plea, p. 5.Google Scholar

134. Anon., The Innocency and Conscientiousness of the Quakers asserted (London, 1664), p. 11.Google Scholar

135. Ibid., p. 9.

136. Crook, , The Case of Swearing, p. 16.Google Scholar

137. Anon., The Innocency and Conscientiousness, p. 10.Google Scholar

138. Burrough, , A Just and Righteous Plea, p. 3.Google Scholar

139. Crook, , Some Reasons why the People called Quakers, p. 7.Google Scholar

140. Burrough, , A Just and Righteous Plea, p. 4.Google Scholar

141. Ibid., p. 5.

142. Burrough, Edward, The Case of the People Called Quakers (London: Robert Wilson, 1660), p. 10.Google Scholar

143. Hubberthorn, Richard, Answer to the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacie from the People called Quakers (London, 1660)Google Scholar; Burrough, The Case of the People called Quakers; Burrough, A Just and Righteous Plea; and Crook, The Case of Swearing.

144. Burrough, , The Case of the People called Quakers, p. 10.Google Scholar

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146. Penn, William, The Guide Mistaken and Temporising Rebuked (London, 1668), p. 45.Google Scholar

147. Burrough, The Case of the People called Quakers; Crane, Richard, The Cry of Newgate (London, 1662)Google Scholar; Crook, Some Reasons why the People called Quakers; and Picton, James, A Just Plea against Swearing and against the National Worship of England (London, 1663).Google Scholar

148. The ministers condemned the Quakers for not subscribing to the traditional form of marriage. R. H. wrote that the Quaker consummated “his Marriage before it is solemnized; for so soon as the Spirit begins to yield to the rebellion of the flesh, and his Bowels yearn to be multiplying, he and his willing Doxy never wait the Parsons leisure, but take each others word and so to Bed” (The Character of a Quaker, p. 11). The Quakers refused to participate in the prescribed wedding ceremony because they believed that only God could join a man and woman in marriage. They considered a minister unnecessary and the use of a ring vain and heathenish.

149. Anon., A Paper sent forth, p. 2.Google Scholar

150. Naylor, , Wickedness Weighed, p. 13.Google Scholar

151. Burrough and Parker, op. cit., p. 10.

152. Anon., A Paper sent forth; Burrough and Parker, op. cit.; Crook, Some Reasons why the People called Quakers; Fox, Old Simon the Sorcerer; Naylor, Wickedness Weighed; and Whitehead, A Brief Treatise.

153. T. D., , A Brief Manifestation or the State and Case of the Quakers presented to all people (London, 1664), p. 80Google Scholar. See also Crane, Cry of Newgate; and Crook, Some Reasons why the People called Quakers.

154. Farnsworth, Richard, A Tolleration Sent down from Heaven to Preach (London, 1665), p. 19.Google Scholar

155. Ibid., p. 35.

156. Whitehead, John and 35 others, This to the King and His Councel (London: Robert Wilson, 1660)Google Scholar; Farnsworth, Richard, The Quakers Plea with the Bishops (London, 1663)Google Scholar; and Penn, The Guide Mistaken.

157. Wastfield, Robert, The Great Objection concerning the Quakers Meetings fully answered (London, 1662), p. 2.Google Scholar

158. Whitehead, , The Conscientious Cause, p. 8.Google Scholar

159. Farnsworth, Richard, Christian Tolleration: Or, Simply and singly to meet upon the Account of Religion (London, 1664)Google Scholar; and Farnsworth, A Tolleration sent down from Heaven.

160. Whitehead, , The Conscientious Cause, p. 10.Google Scholar

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162. Burrough, A Just and Righteous Plea; Burrough, The Case of the People Called Quakers; T. D., op. cit.; Farnsworth, Richard, Christian Religious Meetings Allowed (London, 1664)Google Scholar; Farnsworth, A Tolleration sent down from Heaven; P. H., op. cit.; Smith, Some Clear Truths; Taylor, Loving Exhortation; and John Whitehead et al., This to the King.

163. P. H., op. cit., p. 10.

164. Anon., A Few Sober Queries upon the late Proclamation, For enforcing the Laws against Conventicles (London, 1668), p. 3Google Scholar. Although anonymous, this tract has been credited to Penn.

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217. This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to Bryn Mawr College in 1971. The author is indebted to Caroline Robbins, under whose direction the dissertation was written, and to Mary Maples Dunn, who made valuable suggestions. Frederick B. Tolles of Swarthmore College helped with the early definition of the project. The work would not have been possible without the cooperation of Dorothy F. Harris and Eleanor Mayer of the Friends' Reference Library at Swarthmore College; Mary Isabel Fry of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; Richard H. Dillon of the Sutro Library in San Francisco, California; and Edward H. Milligan of the Friends Reference Library in London.