From the archive: Yearly Meeting 1918
Janet Scott describes an ‘ever-memorable’ gathering
On 31 May the Friend reported on the fourth wartime Yearly Meeting. There was a reduced attendance, because more and more Friends were away on war or relief service either overseas or at home, although a few of these were on furlough. Also, railway restrictions were in operation. Nevertheless, the Friend said that this Yearly Meeting would be ‘ever memorable in our annals’. The report continued:
…the uniforms of the FAU [Friends Ambulance Unit] and War Victims’ Relief workers were generally in evidence. Pleasant also it was to see men recently in prison able to take part in our annual gathering, even though… in many cases their release implied an impaired constitution. The strain of the present times was evident on many faces, perhaps most of all on those of the mothers of sons in danger in the fighting forces or in prison; but there was uplift in the sense of solidarity with which we were again and again able to feel that we were going forward together, even though the path prove dark and difficult.
At the opening session the same clerks – John Henry Barlow, Edith J Wilson and Roger Clark – were appointed. The clerk welcomed A Barratt Brown who was present on his way to prison. His escort had allowed him to come to the meeting. The Friend reported:
Elizabeth Cadbury drew attention to… the tendency to remain seated when vocal prayer was offered. It had been our habit to rise when God was being vocally addressed, and she would regret if we surrendered that practice in favour of the usual custom among other Nonconformists of remaining seated at such a time.… [She] hoped that mention of her concern in the Meeting would encourage Friends to revert to their earlier practice.
The clerk supported this plea. The intended business of the first session was delayed when the clerk announced that three members of the Service Committee – Harrison Barrow, Edith M Ellis and Arthur Watts – were summoned under the Defence of the Realm Act to appear the next day at the Guildhall:
The incident was felt to be of such importance that a deputation of Friends was appointed to attend at the Court, and it was decided that business should be suspended at 12 o’clock next day, the hour of the trial, to allow of Friends who could not go to the Court supporting those who were there by earnest prayer and waiting upon God.
The Friend commented that this time was felt by many to be one of the most precious periods of worship during the whole Yearly Meeting. There was much living silence, words were few, and the divine presence was felt in a very real sense.
The deputation included the clerks, and the Meeting was left in the care of Mary Jane Godlee. When the clerks returned they said that the trial would be continued at two o’clock on the following day, and the same arrangement was made for their absence, though this time the Meeting continued its business. The three Friends on trial were convicted of issuing a leaflet without submitting it to the censor. The men were each sentenced to six months in prison, and Edith Ellis to a fine or alternatively three months in prison. She chose prison. The long report in the Friend stated:
When the magistrate retired to consider his decision, John H Barlow invited the considerable number of Friends present to unite in silent prayer… In the words of the Manchester Guardian, “the scene… was like a throw-back to the seventeenth century.” The magistrate, on returning, said he deeply deplored having before him on a criminal charge three members of the Society of Friends…
Although he respected their principles, the magistrate said that he had no alternative, in view their refusal not to repeat the offence, but to impose a severe penalty.
Foundations of a true social order
The Friend on 31 May reported that two sessions were devoted to social order, the first to the ‘eight points’ which were accepted, and the second to the relations between employers and employees. Mary King Emmott, introducing the subject, said that it was fundamental to all that the Meeting was considering:
What should we say of a Christian country which, after all these centuries of Christianity, had evolved nothing better than the present relations between Capital and Labour, between competitors in the same business, between different classes of society, between men and women? Everywhere we were confronted by the inconsistency of a social order founded on a materialistic and not a spiritual basis… wherever human relations were determined by force and not by reason the essential conditions of war were present.
Meeting, minute and matters
The 21 May issue of the Friend reported on a minute from London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting that stated:
We feel that while Truth is unchanging and unchangeable the words in which we seek to set it forth need to be reviewed from time to time in order that the Truth may stand forth with such living force that it may arrest the attention of those who hear it today and carry conviction to their hearts. We ask the Yearly Meeting to appoint a Committee carefully to revise Part I of the Book of Discipline.
The Meeting had a long discussion, which recognised that the section of the Book of Discipline dealing with doctrine was inadequate. It was finally decided that a revision could not be carried out yet but that Quarterly Meetings be asked for suggestions as to the lines on which the revision should be carried out. Other matters, noted in the 7 June edition of the Friend, concerned the Special Premises Committee, which reported that:
…an eligible site which seems particularly suitable for the new premises of the Society was in view, and steps were taken to secure the financial assistance necessary to enable the Committee to proceed with their negotiations.
There was also a reference to Carl Heath’s plea for ‘Quaker Embassies’ to be set up in Europe. The Friend reported that he wanted these to be:
…places not only for the promotion of international peace, but of the Quaker outlook on life – centres where the passion for power might be replaced by the passion for service.
Dare we be Christians?
The epistle, addressed ‘To All Who Bear the Name of Friend’, was also published in the Friend on 7 June. It included:
In the early years of our Society men and women were called of God to be Publishers of Truth… Perils of land and sea were as nothing to them; the violence of the mob, scourging and imprisonment did not daunt them. The inward compulsion could not be resisted. To us there has come a similar call… It is no light call; the consequences of obedience may be far greater than we can see. Let us nevertheless “spare no place, spare no tongue nor pen, but be obedient to The Lord God.” We cannot publish the Truth unless we know the Truth… Today’s needs have only deepened our conviction that Christ Jesus our Lord is the solace for the world’s sorrow, the food for every hungry heart, the remedy for sin, the power by which we may all be brought into a new and purer life…
We may fail but the Cross bids us go on, never despairing… We need to be so fully possessed by the love of Christ as to enter into fellowship with His sufferings… The service into which we are called has no limits set upon it. Dare we be Christians?
The epistle reflected on this profound question:
To profess Christianity and yet to evade Christ’s teaching on any plea of expediency must always bring our faith into contempt… Only a life lived as a great adventure of love can capture the imagination and convince the heart. That we may so live we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit… setting our hearts aflame to win men and to build in our own and other lands the fair walls of the the new Jerusalem…Wherever they come from, let us welcome those who have been taught by the Spirit. From prison cell, from binding up the wounded, from befriending the outcast and from the terrible experiences of war itself, they will come with their fresh baptism of the Spirit of Love… Open wide the doors of heart and home and meeting-house…
In Christ there can be neither white nor black, friend nor enemy, bond nor free, male nor female… Love knows no frontiers… Christ’s teachings ought to be the practical politics of His followers today… it may bring us into conflict with the law of the land… With great boldness then and with great gladness may we today be Publishers of Truth.
