ANALYSIS. but because the spirit within him, the Inner Light, testifies its ac cordance with the immutable principles of all truth. "The Scrip ism. tures," says Barclay, "are a declaration of the fountain, and not 1. The creed the fountain itself." "The creed of the Quaker avoids hypothesis of Quaker and speculation; rejecting the subtleties with which philosophers and divines have alternately established and overthrown the doctrines of liberty and necessity, foreknowledge and fate, Unity and Trinity, it rests for its exposition and authority on the Inner Light, which, as a fountain of immortal truths, is believed to well forth the waters of eternal light and life in all the purity, clearness, and simplicity of nature. 2. Some of the denials, of 115. 2Quakerism insists that it maintains Christianity in its clans, and primitive simplicity, free from the intolerance of bigotry or the Quakerism. follies of skepticism; it claims emancipation from the terrors of superstition; it rejects witchcraft as a delusion, and denies the origi nal existence of evil spirits, as inconsistent with the harmony of creation. 3. Appeals to fear. 4. Utilitari anism of Quakerism. 5. Intellectu al freedom eration: re religious tol sistance to tyranny: aversion to toar. 6. Forms and prayer: the Quaker habits. 116. The Quaker rejects appeals to fear as an unworthy incitement to devotion, and as tending to obscure the divine ray by the clouds of human passion. The Inner Light should be allowed to burn freely. The Quaker maintains that disinterested virtue is itself happiness, and that purity of life is demanded, not from any arbitrary, unmeaning requisition, but because it is essential to the welfare of society. Thus the system of Quakerism is decidedly utilitarian in its results; and utilitarianism, although not the motive to duty, is a proper criterion of right conduct where the promptings of the Inner Light are not clear. The tendency of the system is, therefore, the greatest good of the greatest number-a principle which, it is maintained, will ever be found in beautiful harmony with the requirements of revelation. 117. 5Quakerism claims the highest intellectual freedom as man's birthright, and as the only means of individual and social progress; it pleads for universal toleration in matters of religion, because of the sacredness of conscience, the medium through which God speaks to man: it resists tyranny by reason and by appeals to conscience, and not by violence; it protests against war, and, confident in the power of justice to defend itself, renounces the use of the sword, without absolutely denying to others the right of defence; and adopting the language of the divine author of Christianity, it proclaims "PEACE on earth, and good will to man." 118. The Quaker rejects forms and ceremonies, even baptism ceremonies and the sacrament, and instead of common prayer, which he seldom Sabbath, &c. engages in, holds secret communion with the spirit of Light within General him; he keeps the Sabbath as a day of rest, for the ease of creation, plainness and simplicity of and not as a holy day dedicated to religious worship; he wears no outward emblems of sorrow for the dead; he regards a judicial oath as a superstitious vanity; he cultivates plainness and simplicity of speech, disregarding the artifices of rhetoric; he enjoins modesty of apparel, without prescribing an unchanging fashion; he distrusts the fine arts-music and painting-without positively rejecting their culture, jealous of their liability to perversion by their inter ference with the nobler pursuits of science, and their tendency to lead the mind astray from the more worthy contemplation of Deity and his works. 7. Political viero of 119. 7Viewed in a political light, Quakerism is a perfect democracy. Quakeriem. Regarding all men as alike by creation, the Quaker wears his hat in the presence of kings, as a symbol of equality-a constant proclamation that he is the equal of the proudest peer in Christen. dom. He refuses homage to his fellow man, and bows to God alone. CHARLES IL He scorns any nobility but that of mind and virtue. 1660-1685. 120. From the foregoing it will be seen that there is much phi-1. Philosophy losophy about Quakerism-much that is calculated to elicit deep of Quakerthought and reflection, however much the extravagances of some of 18772. its early members might induce a contrary supposition. But what 2. Other sects. religious sect can be named, some of whose members have not incurred a like reproach? Many who delight to dwell on the excesses of the early Quakers, wonld do well to remember the irregularities of some of the fanatical members of other Puritan sects. have arrived. 121. We have thus given what we believe to be a faithful, though 3. The result brief exposition of Quakerism, as gathered from the professions of at which we its own teachers. As the opposers of the sect have ever ascribed to its members, as a body, an undoubted honesty of faith and purpose, we may therefore safely assert that, if we have not erred in our analysis, such were the true principles and character of the founders of Pennsylvania. ker colonization. 122. 4The first notice of Quaker colonization in America occurs 4. First noin the history of New Jersey, when, in 1676, William Penn, Gawen tice of Qua Laurie, and Nicholas Lucas, members of the society of Friends, became the assignees of Edward Byllinge for the western half of New Jersey. The form of government established by them, under 5. The "Con the title of "Concessions"-the first essay of Quaker legislation, guarantied that perfect civil and religious freedom which might have been expected from the liberality of Quaker principles; imitating and rivaling, in the simplicity, wisdom, and justice of its provisions, the free institutions of Rhode Island. 123. The civil polity of Rhode Island was based upon the principle that all the powers of government were in the hands of the people,' and 'that God alone should be respected as the ruler of conscience." "The Concessions of West New Jersey," said Penn and his colleagues, "lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as men and Christians, that they may not be brought in bondage but by their own consent, for we put the power in the people." The clause in the Concessions, securing religious freedom, was prefaced by a general declaration, "That no men nor number of men upon earth have power to rule over men's consciences in religious matters." Roger Williams and William Penn are entitled to no small share in the honor of planting political and religious liberty in America. 7As peculiarities in the Quaker legislation of West Jersey, imprisonment for debt was disallowed; the helpless orphan was to be educated by the state; the rights of the Red men were to be protected; courts were to be managed without attorneys or counsellors; and all persons in the province were declared to be forever free from oppression and slavery. cessions." 6 The gov ernments of Rhode Island and West New Jersey: Roger Will- 7. Peculiari ties of Qua ker legisla tion. sylvania charter :sketched by Penn-revised by chief justice North. 124. A few years later William Penn became the proprietary of 8. The PennPennsylvania, a charter for the settling and governing of which he obtained from Charles the Second in 1681. This instrument was originally sketched by Penn himself, from the liberal charter of Maryland, but was afterwards revised by chief-justice North, who inserted clauses more effectually guarding the sovereignty of the king, securing free worship for the English church, and reserving to the British parliament the power of taxing the inhabitants of the colony. of the Penn 125. These particular stipulations, by which this charter was 9 Particular distinguished from all preceding ones, were doubtless the offspring stipulations of the disputes in which the crown had long been involved with the colony of Massachusetts. Effectually to establish and guard British sylvania charter. ANALYSIS. ascendency in the new colony, the Navigation Acts were to be en. forced by the stipulated penalty of the forfeiture of the charter; and that laws might not grow up inconsistent with royal and par liamentary prerogatives, all provincial enactments were to be submitted to the crown for approbation or dissent-a requisition, how. ever, which was never complied with; and an agent of the colony was required to reside in London, who was to be held responsible for the acts of his colonial constituents. With these exceptions, if they may be deemed such, the charter of Pennsylvania was as lib. eral to the colonists as the most favorable that had yet been granted. 126. 'That important clause, reserving to the English parliament the right of taxation, has given rise to much discussion, and has been viewed in very different lights by English and American 2. How view statesmen. The Pennsylvanians appear ever to have regarded the ed by the exercise of this power on the part of parliament as based upon the Pennsylva nians. condition of an admission of colonial representatives in the councils 3. Dr. Frank of the English nation. Nearly a century later, these views were lin's views on expressed by Dr. Franklin in his celebrated examination at the bar as expressed of the British House of Commons. Being asked how Pennsylvain his examinians could reconcile a pretence to be exempted from parliamentary bar of the taxation, with that clause in their charter to which we have alluded, British house he replied, "They understand it thus:-By the same charter, and of Commons. otherwise, they are entitled to all the privileges and liberties of 1. Clause respecting taxation this subject, nation at the 4. Pennsylva nia mainly liberties. Englishmen. They find in the great charters, and in the petition and declaration of rights, that one of the privileges of English subjects is, that they are not taxed but by their common consent; they have, therefore, relied upon it from the first settlement of the province, that the parliament never would, nor could, by color of that clause in the charter, tax them till it had qualified itself to exercise such right by admitting representatives from the people to be taxed.” 127. 4The liberties enjoyed by Pennsylvania, however, were owindebted to ing less to the stipulations of the royal charter, than to the benev Penn for its olent concessions of William Penn, the proprietary. In undertak ing the work of framing a political constitution for the people of his province he says, "For the matters of liberty and privilege, I purpose that which is extraordinary, and leave myself and successor no power of doing mischief, that the will of one man may not hinder the good of a whole country.?" 5. General the latos of Pennsyl vania repressing pauperism 123. The general character of the laws submitted by Penn to character of the colonists for their free adoption or rejection, has already been explained, and only one or two of their provisions require our farther notice. For the purpose of repressing pauperism and de6. Labs for pendence, and promoting habits of industry, it was enacted "that all children within the province, of the age of twelve years, should be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end that none might be idle, but that the poor might work to live, and the rich, if they be7. New prin came poor, might not want." "A law more enduring, and wider in ciple in the the operation of its beneficial influences, was the adoption of a new principle in the penal code, by the conversion of prisons into workhouses, whereby prisoners might be reclaimed, by discipline and instruction, to habits of industry and morality. penal code. 8. Remarks on this subject. 129. Thus was it reserved for Quaker legislation to institute one of the most noble reforms in prison discipline-to temper justice with mercy in the treatment of criminals-and to declare that the penalty of violated law performed but half its duty, if, in or daining the punishment, it did not provide also for the reformaCapital of tion of the offender. The Pennsylvania code recognized but two fences. capital crimes, treason and murder, while at the same time, in Eng Land, nearly two hundred offences were declared, by various acts of CHARLES IL parliament, to be worthy of the punishment of death. 130 Having passed over that important period in our history which is connected with the reign of Charles the Second, we now proceed to give a sketch of such cotemporary events in English and American history as occurred during the reign of the succeeding English sovereign. 1660-1685. 1685-1688. 1. General character of his reign. 131. We have stated that, on the death of Charles the Second, JAMES 11. in 1685, the duke of York, the king's eldest brother, acceded to the throne with the title of James II. His reign was short and inglorious, distinguished by nothing but a series of absurd efforts to render himself independent of parliament, and to establish Popery in England, although he at first made the strongest professions of his resolution to maintain the established government both in church and state. 132. He began his reign by levying taxes without the authority of parliament: in violation of the laws, and in contempt of the national feeling, he went openly to mass: he established a court of ecclesiastical commission with unlimited powers over the Episcopal church: he suspended the penal laws, by which a conformity had been required to the established religion: and although any communication with the Pope had been declared treason, yet he sent an embassy to Rome, and in return received a nuncio from his Holiness, and with much ceremony gave him a public and solemn reception at Windsor. In this open manner the king shocked the principles and prejudices of his Protestant subjects, foolishly confident of his ability to reestablish the Catholic religion, although the Roman Catholics in England did not comprise at this time the one-hundredth part of the nation. 2. Unpopular measures at ning of his the begin reign. 3. Rebellion the duke of Monmouth. 133. An important event of this reign was the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles II. who hoped, of through the growing discontents of the people at the tyranny of James, to gain possession of the throne; but after some partial successes he was defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded. After the rebellion had been suppressed, many of the unfortunate 4. Severities. prisoners were hung by the king's officers, without any form of trial; and when, after some interval, the inhuman Jeffries was sent to preside in the courts before which the prisoners were arraigned, the rigors of law were made to equal, if not to exceed, the ravages of military tyranny. 5The juries were so awed 5. Inhuman by the menaces of the judge that they gave their verdict as hety of Je dictated, with precipitation: neither age, sex, nor station, was ed by the spared: the innocent were often involved with the guilty; and the king himself applauded the conduct of Jeffries, whom he afterwards rewarded for his services with a peerage, and vested with the dignity of chancellor. ries Reinard 6. king. William of Orange in vited to England. 134. As the king evinced, in all his measures, a settled purpose of invading every branch of the constitution, many of the nobility and great men of the kingdom, foresceing no peaceable redress of their grievances, finally sent an invitation to William, prince of Orange, the stadtholder* of the United Dutch Provinces, who had 7 Invasion of England by married the king's eldest daughter, and requested him to come William, and over and aid them by his arms, in the recovery of their laws and liberties. About the middle of November, 1685, William landed in England at the head of an army of fourteen thousand men, and flight of James. a Nov 15, new style. * From stadt, a city, and houder, holder: the chief magistrate of the United Provinces of Holland. ANALYSIS. was every where received with universal satisfaction. James was abandoned by the army and the people, and even by his own children, and in a moment of despair he formed the resolution of leaving the kingdom, and soon after found the means of escaping privately to France. Feb. 1689. ment of the Orown. 135. In a convention parliament, which met soon after the flight 1. New settle of James, it was declared that the king's withdrawal was an abdication of the government, and that the throne was thereby vacant; and after a variety of propositions a bill was passed, settling the crown on William and Mary-the prince and princess of Orange; the succession to the princess Anne, the next eldest daughter of the late king, and to her posterity after that of the princess of Orange. To this settlement of the crown a declaration of rights was annexed, by which the subjects of controversy that had existed for many years, and particularly during the last four reigns, between the king and the people, were finally determined; and the powers of the royal prerogative were more narrowly circumscribed, and more exactly defined than in any former period of English history. 2. Declara tion of Rights. 3. Relations of James with 136. In his relations with the American colonies, James purthe American sued the policy which had been begun by his brother. The charcolonies. ter of Massachusetts having been declared to be forfeited, James 4. Establish at first appointed a temporary executive government, consisting new govern of a president and council, whose powers were to extend over ment in New Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Plymouth; and ment of a England. 5. His proceedings against ticut. soon after he established a complete tyranny in New England, by combining the whole legislative and executive authority in the persons of a governor and council to be named by himself. Sir Edmund Andros rceived the office of governor-general. 137. 5It being the purpose of James to consolidate all the British colonies under one government, measures were immediately taken Rhode Island for subverting the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut, both and Connec of which colonies were now charged with making laws repugnant to those of England. Writs of quo warranto were issued against them, but the eagerness of the king to accomplish his object with rapidity, caused him to neglect to prosecute the writs to a judicial issue, and the charters were thereby saved from a legal extinction, but Andros arbitrarily dissolved the institutions of these colonies, and by the authority of the royal prerogative alone assumed to himself the exercise of supreme power. 6. Character ment of Andros. 138. The government of Andros, in obedience to the instrucof the govern- tions of his royal master, was exceedingly arbitrary and oppressive, and he often took occasion to remark that the colonists would find themselves greatly mistaken if they supposed that the privileges of Englishmen followed them to the ends of the earth; and that the only difference between their condition and that of slaves, was, that they were neither bought nor sold.' 7 Proceedings of James 8. Insurrec 139. In 1688 New York and New Jersey submitted to the against other jurisdiction of Andros. A writ of quo warranto was issued against colonies, ar the charter of Maryland also, and that of Pennsylvania would rested by the doubtless have shared the same fate had not the Revolution in English Revolution. England arrested the tyranny of the monarch. When some vague intelligence of this event reached New England, the smothered rage of the people broke forth, and a sudden insurrection over threw the government of Andros-sent him prisoner to England and restored the ancient forms of the charter governments. 140. The important events in England, of which the new settlement of the crown and the declaration of rights are the closing fected by it. scenes, are usually designated as the English Revolution, or, the tion in New England 1. Revolution of 1688: changes ef |