Quaker, this English word means trembler ; it is the odious nickname given by some to a peaceful sect whose religious doctrine was time and again mocked and whose morality eventually forced respect. As regards its dogmas and even more so its behavior, it is utterly unlike the 16th century German Anabaptists who were a repulsive bunch of rustic and ferocious men who carried their fanaticism as far as human nature can go when abandoned to its passions.

The Quakers I am referring to appeared in England in the midst of the wars of Charles I’s reign. George Fox was born in a Leicester county village, the son of a simple artisan. Touched by the evils endured by his country, he started preaching without any formal education: morality, mutual charity, the love of God, a simple cult, and the necessity of being inspired by the Holy Spirit to merit salvation. He blamed the self-serving views of Anglican ministers, condemned war as a furor and oaths as an insult to God. Cromwell had him arrested together with his wife but persecution only multiplied the number of his disciples and followers. They were mistreated, prosecuted, ridiculed on the stage; they remained undaunted by ill-treatments, prisons and satires.

The sect made the most rapid headway; Cromwell was forced to fear and respect it. Because he saw its membership kept increasing, he offered money to attract them to his side but they remained true to their principles; and he eventually had to admit that they were the only sect he could not win over with guineas.

The established principles of their religious doctrine are 1) frugality, temperance, modesty and contemplation; 2) ministers are chosen by congregations; 3) they followed Anabaptists regarding baptism and sacraments; 4) they proclaim that all men are equal by nature; 5) that they all share the necessary lights to gain salvation through good behavior; 6) that we will all be justified unto God by his justice; 7) that God’s spirit is within every man who does not quell it; 8) finally, to avoid any risk of lying or flattery, they decided that thou should be used to address kings and charcoal makers alike; that all men should be treated with charity and laws with respect.

Such are the main tenets of this sect, you can always brand Quakers as fanatics, they will still be highly respectable ones. I cannot help declaring that in my opinion they are a great people, full of virtue, industriousness, intelligence, and wisdom. They are the people driven by the most comprehensive principle of benevolence who ever appeared on the face of the earth. Their charity extends to the whole human race and they deny to no one the divine mercy of the gods. They publicly acknowledge that everyone is entitled to freedom. They disapprove of taxes but ungrudgingly pay them. Finally they very well could be the only Christian sect whose members constantly act according to their principles. I willingly concede that I have read and reread with singular pleasure Robert Barclay’s apology of Quakerism ; he convinced me that everything taken into consideration, it is the most reasonable system and the most perfect ever imagined.

Barclay’s work appeared in 1675. The dedication to Charles II does not contain base flatteries but bold truths and sensible advice.

About that time appeared the illustrious William Penn who brought the power of Quakers to America and would have made them honored in Europe too if only men could respect virtue under ridiculous appearances. He was the only child of a knight, Penn, who was the English vice-admiral and a favorite of the duke of York since the reign of James II. He was born in 1644 and received a thorough education at Oxford University. He studied there with a young Quaker who turned him into a most ardent disciple of Quakerism .

When he returned to the house of his father, the vice-admiral, instead of kneeling in front of him and asking for his blessing as is the English custom, he met him with his hat on his head and told him, “I am glad to see thee in good health.” The vice-admiral thought his son had gone mad but he soon realized that he had simply become a Quaker . He gently tried every means possible to have him change his ways; the young man’s only answer was to exhort him to become a Quaker himself. Eventually his father gave up and only required of him that he visit the king and the duke of York with his hat under his arm and not say thou to them. William answered that his conscience forbade him doing so and that it was better to obey God than men. In despair, his father turned him out of his house. The young Penn thanked God that he was already suffering for his faith. He started preaching in the City where he converted many. As he was handsome, well-built, quick-witted, and naturally eloquent, women of all ranks flocked to listen to him devoutly. Because of Penn’s reputation, Fox traveled across England to meet him in London. They sailed together to Holland and Germany in 1677 to make converts to Quakerism .

They were successful in Amsterdam but what honored them most and most tried their humility was the manner in which they were greeted by Elisabeth, the princess Palatine, the aunt of George I king of England. She was famous for her wit and her knowledge and Descartes had dedicated his philosophical novel to her.

She had retired to The Hague where she saw the friends as they were then called in Holland. She had several meetings with them, they often preached at her residence and if they did not make a perfect Quakeress out of her, they at least admitted that she was not too far from the kingdom of heaven. The friends also attempted to plant their seeds in Germany but the crop was meagre: the custom of addressing everyone by thou did not catch on in a country where one must use the terms Highness and Excellency all the time.

Penn soon returned to England. He had heard that his father was ill. Penn’s father tenderly welcomed his son, reconciled with him and died in his arms. Penn inherited a large fortune, partly consisting in royal debts resulting from loans made by his father the vice-admiral to the king on the occasion of some maritime expeditions. In 1681, in lieu of money, the government granted to William Penn and his heirs property and sovereignty over a septentrional province of America bound to the north by the Iroquois, to the east by New Jersey and the Oniasontkes country, to the south by Maryland. A Quaker had become king.

He left for his new domain followed by two ships loaded with Quakers . Thereafter the country was known as Pennsylvania after Penn . He founded the city of Philadelphia which is now very prosperous. He began by making an alliance with his American neighbors; it is the only treaty between these peoples and Christians which was never sworn, and never broken. The new sovereign was also the lawgiver of Pennsylvania: he handed them very wise laws, none of which has ever been changed. The foremost was that no one ought to be mistreated because of their religion and that all those who believed in a God should be regarded as brothers.

No sooner had he established his government than several American traders came to live in his colony. Instead of running away to the forest, the natives of the country grew accustomed to the peaceful Quakers without even realizing it. They loved the newcomers as much as they hated the other Christians who were the conquerors and destroyers of America. In little time these so-called savages came in great numbers to ask Penn to consider them as his subjects. It was indeed a new sight: a sovereign everyone addressed by thou, to whom everyone spoke with their hats on their heads, a government without priests, a people without weapons, citizens who were equals but for the holding of public office and neighbors without envy. William Penn could boast that he had brought on earth the much spoken of golden age which probably only ever existed in Pennsylvania.

Penn went back to England on matters related to his new country after the death of Charles II. King James, who had loved the father, transfered his affection to the son and did not consider him anymore as an obscure sectarian but as a very great man. In this, the policy of the king followed his inclinations. He wanted to flatter the Quakers by abolishing the laws against non-conformists so as to take advantage of this new liberty to introduce Catholicism. All the English sects saw through the maneuvre and were not deceived. But they later willingly received from William III the very liberty they would not receive from the hands of King James. That is how Quakers started to enjoy all the legal privileges that are theirs today. After having at last seen his sect established unhindered in the country of his birth, in 1700 he went back to Pennsylvania for a visit with his wife and family.

His own people and the Americans greeted him with tears of joy as a father returning to his children. All his laws had been religiously observed during his absence which had only ever happened to Lycurgus before him. He remained in Philadelphia but for a couple of years and only reluctantly left for London to petition for new advantages in favor of the trade of Pennsylvanians. He never saw them again. Queen Ann greeted him with much consideration and often asked him to come to her court. But the air of London injured his health. He retired in the province of Buckingham where he died in 1778 at the age of 74.

This founder and legislator of Quakers in America and their principal supporter in Europe can be revered for having formed a people among whom probity is as natural as bravery was among Spartans. Mr Penn was a veritable Lycurgus and despite the fact that the former had peace as his goal and the latter war, they have in common the singular paths along which they led their peoples, their ascendancy over free men, the prejudices they vanquished, the passions they overcame.

Quakerism maintains itself in Pennsylvania even though it is true that it is losing much ground in London. M. de Voltaire who provided most of the material for this article judiciously remarks that in all countries the dominant religion, when it does not persecute them, eventually absorbs all the others. Quakers cannot receive honors, military rewards, be members of parliament, nor hold any public office because they condemn war and would have to take an oath of allegiance when they think that they should not. Therefore they are restricted to business. Children, enriched by the industry of their fathers, want to enjoy their wealth, share in honors, public positions and offices. They are ashamed to be called Quakers and become Protestants to be fashionable and satisfy their ambition.