Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/510

 498 FRIENDS FRIES the ministry, composed of ministers and elders, the latter being prudent religious Friends chosen especially to have the care of the min- istry. To monthly meetings belong the requi- site care for the reception of persons into the society, the application for that purpose being first made to the overseers ; also the granting of certificates of membership to Friends mov- ing from their limits, the allowance and over- sight of marriages, the free education of the children of the poor, and the maintenance of such members as are unable to support them- selves. When a member believes himself or herself divinely called to speak in the religious meetings of Friends as a minister, after a suffi- cient time has been allowed to make proof of the call, if the preparative meeting of ministers and elders unite in the judgment that a gift of gospel ministry has been committed to the individual, it so reports to the monthly meet- ing ; and if this comes to a like decision, it forwards the case to the quarterly meeting of ministers and elders ; and when it also unites in the conclusion of the others, the person is recorded as an approved minister. In 1827 a rupture occurred in the society of Friends in the United States, caused principally by the preaching and influence of Elias Hicks, who had been a noted preacher in the society since the commencement of the revolutionary war. He was a man of great energy, purity of char- acter, and natural eloquence. He travelled extensively in the United States and Canadas, and everywhere his preaching, at first mainly practical and devotional, attracted a crowd. He gradually devoted more attention to the discussion of doctrinal points, and his views in regard to the divinity of Christ and the nature of the atonement were regarded by a large por- tion of the society as inconsistent with the doc- trines of orthodox Christianity. His opinions became the subject of animated discussion. Parties were formed, pamphlets written, and periodicals established by his adherents and opponents, the former maintaining that his doctrines were in accordance with those of the early founders of the society, the latter that they were not only contrary to the original doctrines of the Friends, but to the generally admitted doctrines of orthodox Christianity, and tended to total unbelief. The opponents of Hicks charged him with " denying, or at least holding lightly, a belief in the true divin- ity of Christ while incarnate, and in the ato-' ning, cleansing, saving efficacy of his blood which was shed for us." In the statements of their belief in regard to the nature of Christ there seems to be on the part of the supporters of Hicks a manifest leaning to Socinianism ; but they contended that they were in strict accordance with the teachings of Fox, Penn, and Barclay. In regard to the atonement Mr. Janney, one of their most prominent men, says : "The doctrine that God cannot or will not for- give sins without a compensation or satisfac- tion, and that man not being able to make this satisfaction, it was made by Jesus Christ, who was appointed or given up to be killed for this purpose, is so inconsistent with the divine char- acter that it cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Son of God." After the dis- cussion had lasted many years, the first separa- tion^took place in 1827, when Hicks was near- ly 80 years old. Six of the ten yearly meet- ings then existing in the United States were rent asunder, the followers of Hicks, about one third of the whole society, forming six new "meetings." Both parties claimed to be the true representatives of the society and continued to call themselves "Friends," but they are generally known by the names "Orthodox" and "Hicksites." The division never extended beyond the United States, and was greatly regretted by the members of the society in other countries. In England, of late years, there has been a growing ten- dency among the Quakers to relax the rigidity with which they adhered to mere outward peculiarities, and to conform more and more to the customs of the rest of the world in dress, language, and manners. Large numbers of them encourage the practice of vocal music, and even allow dancing in their families. Many favor the arts of painting and sculpture, pur- chasing such works as they have satisfied themselves are of a strictly moral tendency. The Quakers have probably never at any one time exceeded 200,000 in number. But the purity of their lives and their constant out- spoken testimony against all immorality, war, intemperance, and especially against slavery, have exercised an influence over the opinions and practice of the civilized world altogether greater than that of any other body of men of no greater numbers that has existed in modern times. The number of Quakers in the United States is probably at present about 100,000, and in all other countries about half as many. They are increasing in numbers, though not rapidly. They have many excellent schools, and pay especial attention to their first-day schools. In 1868 a foreign missionary society was formed, and established missions in India and Madagascar. They have also been active in the establishment of schools among the freedmen and in their efforts to ameliorate the condition and infuse a more Christian spirit into the treatment of the American Indians. FRIES, Elias, a Swedish botanist, born Aug. 15, 1794. He was appointed adjunct professor of botany at Lund in 1819, and professor in 1828. In 1834 he was called to the chair of economy at Upsal, to which in 1851 that of botany was attached, and in 1853 he was made rector of the university. As director of the museum and botanical garden of the university, he introduced important improvements. He has reputation not only as a botanist, but as an orator, and has twice represented the uni- versity of Upsal in the diet. His most valuable work is Summa Vegetabilium Scandinamce (2 vols., Upsal, 1846-'8). He has also published