THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT - The University of Texas at Arlington

Beginning with Indiana Yearly Meeting in the fall of 1827, each Orthodox yearly
meeting issued a statement about Hicks and his doctrines and emphasized the evangelical
tenets of the Orthodox Quakers. In 1829, Orthodox Yearly Meetings met in Philadelphia
to review their position after the schism, assert their claim to be the only Society of
Friends, and ultimately set down their statement of belief. The Testimony of the Society
of Friends on the Continent of America was the first doctrinal statement produced by
American Friends and reflected the influence of evangelicalism on members of the
Society of Friends. Most likely written by Elisha Bates, clerk of the Ohio Yearly
Meeting, Testimony included Orthodox Quakers’ views of the Fall, the Atonement, the
divinity of Christ, the authority of the Scriptures, and the Inner Light. 13
The post-schism conferences held by Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers demonstrate
the impact questions of belief and authority had on the divisions among American
Quakers. In 1800, Hannah Barnard’s critical reading of the Old Testament contributed to
her silencing and disownment by Friends in Britain and the United States. By the 1820s,
evangelical Quakers in both countries were emphasizing the divine authority of the
Scriptures. Hicks and his supporters compared doctrinal conformity to slavery and
tyranny and instead emphasized individual interpretation of the Inner Light. 14 Two years
desolating spirit of infidelity, which has produced so much devastation amongst us, will not be permitted to
gain an entrance there, and divide and scatter the flock.”
13 Hamm, Transformation of American Quakerism, 18-19; Drake, Quakers and Slavery in
America, 134-135; Jones, Later Periods of Quakerism, I: 482-484; The Testimony of the Society of Friends
on the Continent of America (Philadelphia: n.p., 1830). Elisha Bates was the focus of Donald Good’s
dissertation. See Good, “Elisha Bates: American Quaker Evangelical in the Early Nineteenth Century,”
Ph.D. diss., University of Iowa, 1968.
14 Bronner, “The Other Branch,” 2-4; Hamm, The Transformation of American Quakerism, 17-18.
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