Congregational or Progressive Friends: A Forgotten Episode in Quaker History

Abstract

By the very nature of the stand taken by the adherents of Elias Hicks in 1828 and afterwards, there was not among them the same reasons for divisions and separations as among the Orthodox. The latter held that belief on doctrinal points was essential; while the Hicksites considered it of slight importance. So long as there was a general agreement on most points, exact statements were uncalled for, as they would interfere with the liberty of the spirit. But as time went on, it became evident that this very freedom from restraint was leading to divisions and separation. The average human mind needs something tangible or definite or both to satisfy it. No extreme spiritual or mystical body has ever succeeded either in gathering or holding any very great number of adherents.1 Among the Hicksites the differences arose chiefly in two fields —Church organization, and Church practice. In the first the younger and the more active members of the body made the same complaints against the Meetings of Ministers and Elders which