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tempe * an (* peaceable deportment . Their continued and decided testimony against war and their firm refusal to lift the instrument of destruction against their fellow-men , have rendered them venerable ^ md lovely in the eyes of every true disciple of
the Prince of Peace , And they have endeared themselves to the friends of liberty and the rights of man , by their repeated and finally successful efforts in the cause of injured Africa . In the abolition of the Slave Trade
they led the way , and both England and America were admiring witnesses of their benevolent exertions , In addition to this , the Christian who knows the value of the Protestant maxim that " the Bible , the Bible
only' is the standard of religious truth , will see much to praise in their rejection of all creeds , and in their general adherence to the use of scriptural language in the expression of religious sentiments . After contemplating the fair picture which this view of their
character as a body presents , it is painful to find , on a closer examination , that it is disfigured with foul blots . A perusal of the volume before us affords ample proof , that in the internal regulations of Friends * encroachments
are sometimes made on the province of conscience , and shackles imposed on the exercise of private judgment , which are directly contrary to the liberty of the gospel , and which ill comport with the peaceable character and Christian professions of the Sor ciety . In this Narrative are recorded
instances of intolerance which have surprised and grieved us . The spirit manifested against Mr . Foster is the very same that , armed with fire and sword , has presented to the world the mournful and tragical scenes of the ttomiah Inquisition . If the proceedings whiclv led to the disowament of lvJ
r . roster may be considered as sanctioned by the Society at large , l ° f which , however , there seems some reason to doubt , ) they will fix a stain upon its character that can never be effaced . In order to justify these as-• ertions , we hasten to put our readers to possession of the leading circumstance * of Mr . Foster ' s case , *
premia-, Foster ' s case was laid before our Sf V vii , 343 , 374 , 523 ; viii . 109 , ^ 306 , 373 , 645 i ix . 105 , 152 , 219 .
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ing that our prescribed limits will only admit of a very brief statement , which we shall preface by giving Mr . Foster ' s account of the constitution of the Monthly , Quarterly and Yearly Meetings amongst Friends , in which the business of the Society is conducted .
" ' In the Society of Friends , the members of one , or , in most cases , of several congregations , constitute a Monthly Meeting for discipline . The members of all the Monthly Meeting's in one , or several adjacent counties , form a Quarterly Meeting * lo which representatives are appointed , from each of the Monthly Meeting's within
its district , yet no member is excluded , and they are generally expected to attend . Each Quarterly Meeting in Great Britain , " is directed , annually , to depute four representatives to the Yearly Meeting held in London , hut the county of York , in consideration of its extent , is allowed to send eight , and London twelve . Any member of the Society may be present at its
sittings , and partake in its deliberations . This Meeting possesses the supreme legislative and judicial power in all matters of discipline , for the whole Society throughout Great Britain , and in matters of faith and principle ^ for Ireland also , from , whence representatives are annually deputedy by the national Yearly Meeting " held in Dublin . Book of Extracts , p . 4 . 6
" Two or more Faithful Friends , ' are directed to be appointed by every Monthly Meeting , as overseers in each particular Meeting , and those Meetings are earnestly recommended to be' careful to choose such as aie themselves of upright and unblame ~
able conversation , that the advice they shall occasionally administer to other friends , may be the better received , and carry with it the greater weight andforce on the minds of those whom they shall be concerned to admonish . ' 1752 . Ibid , p . 109 . * ' Pp . xxxv , xxxvi .
The follovring extract wiJl shew in what manner the judgment of these meetings in disputed cases is expressed . u members of the Society are not only allowed but advised to be
presentand may express their opinions on any subject under discussion ; but when the collective sense of the Meeting * js pretended to be taken , no skew of hands is called foty no counting of numbers is permitted / but the clerk records what he takes to be
the sense of those whom he esteems to \ m the most weighty friends present , and thi * passes , and is recorded , as the g * eneral sense of the assembly , and , in cases that admit of difference of sentiment , without any rational evidence of the fact . Those who from diffidence or other cauie * do not
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Review—Foster ' s Narrative . 247
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1815, page 247, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1759/page/47/
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