‘These people were willing to risk all for the Truth.’ Photo: iStock composite.
‘These people were willing to risk all for the Truth.’
Early Quakers expected the world to be transformed. Ivan Hutnik looks at what galvanised them.
Would we be comfortable in the company of early Quakers? They worshipped in silence, as we do, and it is clear that, although their testimony was not codified in this manner until relatively recently, their lives spoke to truth, equality, simplicity and peace. They challenged hypocrisy, spoke straightforwardly, did not doff their hats, did not pay tithes or swear oaths, and believed all were equal before God. Unlike almost every other religious group of the time, women were not only allowed to speak but played a leading role in spreading their message and organising their activities – Margaret Fell was the lynchpin of early Quakerism and twelve out of the ‘Valiant Sixty’ were women. Although this did not result in equality, it was a definite step towards it.
