plying wholesome training and noble occupation for the bodies and minds of our children. It is Let the light shine! The little ones' queries about the origin of human life are entitled to straightforward, satisfying answers. right and proper for them to ask; it is also right and proper for their elders to teach them the truth,-simply, clearly, yet reverently and tenderly. Let the first, which are usually the abiding impressions,let them come fresh and sweet from the wise and good, not foul and poisoned from some ignorant and vicious source. Let us seek to learn the Truth,—the Truth which maketh free; to teach it by our words, to acknowledge in our lives, and thus,-gaining the mastery over ourselves in purity and honor, abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,-live not in uncleanness but in holiness. OLIVER JOHNSON TO THE YEARLY MEETING. To the Progressive Friends, who will meet at Longwood, on the 11th, 12th and 13th of June, 1874. BELOVED FRIENDS: My connection with the Society of Progressive Friends, from the time of its organization, twenty-one years ago, until now, has been so intimate and responsible, and productive of so much happiness to myself, that I very deeply regret my inability to meet with you this year. I am bound to you by ties at once so tender and so strong, and by memories so richly freighted, that to be denied, even for once, the privilege of participating with you in the labors and delights of the Yearly Meeting, is a trial to which I could not submit except at the imperious call of duty. But if I must be absent in body, I shall nevertheless be present in spirit, and my pen will convey to you my message of love and good-will, my congratulations in view of the past, and my word of hope and cheer for the present and the future. My official relations to the Society will now terminate too late, I fear, rather than too soon for its welfare. Although I took a laborious and responsible part in the organization of our Society, it was with no expectation or desire to serve it in any official capacity. From the very beginning, the labor of preparing its proceedings for the press and overseeing their publication has devolved upon me; and, eighteen years ago, I was called to the Clerk's table, where I have been kept by your sufferages until the present time. It has been my duty not only to record your doings, but to preside over your deliberations, to prepare the call for each successive Yearly Meeting, and, on your behalf, and in your name, to invite speakers from abroad to your platform. Whether I have performed these multifarious and delicate duties well or ill, is not for me to say but I may claim, without impropriety, to have acted according to my best judgment; to have sought in good faith to promote the efficiency and usefulness of our Society, by keeping ever before it the noble principles on which it is founded; and to have been, at least in intention, just and impartial in my official acts, and kind, generous and affectionate in my personal relations with its members. As you well know, I have at all times been ready to surrender my post to younger and more competent hands, and for some years past I have hoped that a way would be opened for my release. I cannot but think that the change, which my enforced absence now makes necessary, will be for the good of the Society, by giving it a new departure under better guidance, and by inducing the young people, in Chester County, to take a more active and earnest part in its affairs. As I turn over the volume of our proceedings and recall the scenes and labors of the past twenty-one years, I am impressed with the conviction, first, that the reasons for forming a new religious Society were sufficient; and, secondly, that it was founded upon the principles of permanent value, and according to the plan best adapted to meet the wants of the community in which it was to exist. It has done, as I believe, a noble work, and if from this hour its existence shall cease, the influence it has exerted in Eastern Pennsylvania, to say nothing of any other portion of the country, will be visible for generations to come. It has educated thousands to higher and purer views of religion and morality, to a sweeter sense of every human obligation and every social tie, to a deeper hatred of oppression in every form, and to a more deeply-rooted faith in God and in our common humanity. Its influence has been exerted, and most beneficially too, not alone upon those who have been identified therewith, but upon those who belong to other religious societies, and who may at times have regarded it with aversion and dread. Our free criticism of the sects around us has worked for the good of their members, by delivering them in a greater or less degree, from the bondage of forms, and inspiring in them a truer conception of the nature of religion and of the worth and sacredness of humanity. The founders of the Society did not concern themselves with the question, whether or not it would have a permanent existence. They sought merely to make such an organization as would meet their own immediate wants, leaving those who should come after free to perpetuate or dissolve it according their own unbiased judgment. Recognizing, however, the law of human progress, they so framed their association that it might readily be modified to meet the wants of each succeeding generation. Their bond of union was in no sense ecclesiastical or sectarian, but, in their own words, "identity of object, oneness of spirit in respect to the practical duties of life, the communion of soul with soul in the common love of the beautiful and true, and a common aspiration after moral excellence;" and they expressly said, "when they shall die out in our hearts, nothing will remain to hold us together; and those who shall come after us will not be subjected to the trouble of tearing down a great ecclesiastical edi fice, constructed by our hands, before they can make provision for the supply of their own religious wants." Dear friends, the principles of our Society, as set forth in the 'Exposition of Sentiments," adopted in 1853, seem to me as true and important now as they were then. If they were binding upon our consciences then, they are no less so now; and if we still need an association as a means for their promotion, and the present one no longer answers the purpose, let us unhesitatingly cast it aside and make another that shall be better suited to our wants. It can be no other than a false pride that should lead us to adhere to an organization for a single hour after it has ceased to be useful. I have heard with regret that the First day and Monthly meetings of Progressive Friends have been given up, and some of the members have attached themselves again to the Society of Friends, from which they seceded more than twenty years ago. It is not in my heart to censure these friends, or even to assume that in view of all the circumstances, they have not done what is best. That they were invited to resume their former relations to the old Society, without any confession of wrong on their part in leaving it, is certainly a gratifying evidence of the abatement of sectarian prejudice and animosity; and if in that Society they are found faithful to their progressive principles, I shall heartily rejoice. But I confess my fear that they will be under a very strong temptation to abate something of their former earnestness in the cause of religious and social reform, and that they have taken a position in which they must almost necessarily, sacrifice much of the influence they had gained in the last twenty years over multitudes who cannot be expected to follow them in the step they have just taken. On this subject, however, it becomes me to speak with great modesty and deference. I cannot but deem it unfortunate that the Meeting-house, at Longwood, is no longer to be opened on the First day of the week; and, for the sake of the community, in the midst of which it stands, I wish that some arrangement might be made to secure preaching there at least part of the time. It does seem to me that a grand opportunity for usefulness will be lost if this is not done. There certainly ought to be Liberal preaching there constantly-preaching so attractive and adapted to the wants of the neighborhood as to secure a large audience. It is my firm belief that if a dozen persons could be found with faith and courage enough to undertake to secure this, and with a spirit of self-sacrifice worthy of the occasion, they would meet with success. It ought to have been done years ago, but it is not yet too late. I believe that a large congregation and a flourishing First day school might be gathered there, and that the influence of the movement upon the whole surrounding region would be of incalculable value. The continuance of the Yearly Meeting, however, is a separate question. It will be better every way, if it must die, to kill it outright, rather than permit it to expire by a lingering process. A halfalive religious association is of little or no value, not worth its cost. So. But the Longwood friends, if they prize the meeting as an agency for good among themselves and their neighbors, are abundantly able to maintain it in more than its pristine vigor, and I hope they will do Although my official relations with it are now closed, I am as ever interested in its prosperity; and if my life is spared, I hope to be with you in future years, to assist, as far as I can, in promoting a movement endeared to me by the fondest recollections of my past life, and consecrated in my thought by the tenderest affection for the living and the sacredest memories of the beloved dead. That your meeting may be blessed by the quickening and inspiring influences of the Divine Spirit, that the peace of God may fill your minds and hearts, that love may reign in your midst, and that grace may be given you to utter noble testimonies for truth and righteousness, is the desire and prayer of your affectionate fellowlaborer, 244 East Thirteenth St., New York, June 8th, 1874. OLIVER JOHNSON. THE YEARLY MEETING TO OLIVER JOHNSON. To Oliver Johnson, the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, returns greeting: YOUR letter, addressed to this meeting, announcing the termination of your official connection therewith, and expressing your unabated interest and confidence in the principles and movement which this Meeting represents, is deemed worthy, not only of a place in our Proceedings, but also of a reply which shall in some part express our grateful recognition and personal regard. In saying that you have been a good and faithful servant, your associates here can only echo the approval which must have been pronounced in your own breast, by that spirit of wisdom and truth whose counsels you have diligently sought to follow. Your voice, which has summoned us so many times to these annual gatherings, and has so wisely guided our deliberations, will still and ever be more than welcome, whether it speaks in tones of congratulation or reproof. While listening to your communication, many minds were led to a thoughtful retrospect of the history of this organization and of the times in which it has borne a part; many by-gone days and vanished faces seemed to live again; we heard once more the voices of ascended prophets and counsellors; we recalled the painful antislavery struggle "The weary hours, the night of time, When few and weary, faint and worn, Side by side with the long strife which ended with the downfall of slavery, we recalled the still slower progress of our mightier moral warfare for the emancipation of ourselves and of mankind from the bondage of selfishness, superstition, sectarianism and error. We shared also your forward look of hope. Careless of the fate of institutions, even of our own, which has become so dear for what it has brought and may bring,-we yet watch earnestly for the victories of righteousness and peace, and for the wider triumphs of that "LOVE TO GOD AND MAN" which has so often formed the inspiring motto on our white banner of progress. You rightly affirm that the need of our movement was never greater than now; and we feel also that if there shall be raised up a continuous succession of enlightened and consecrated men and women, worthy to carry forward, with growing wisdom and fidelity, a work so sacred, the grandest achievements are yet to come. The face of human affairs and the facts of the moral situation are continually changing: alas for ourselves and for the world, if there should be none to heed that clear, calm Voice which teaches us how to apply to the new times the old, everlasting, unchanging law of righteousness. What you say of our future work, of the problem of our continued existence, and of the relations of some of our number with the Society of Friends, certainly springs from brotherly concern for those whose hand your own has so often clasped; and we would receive it and reply to it in the same free and faithful spirit. Some diversity of feelings and views are made manifest by that portion of your letter; but there is among us no sign of inharmony; and certainly there is no sign of apostacy from principle-no weakening of purpose-no lowering the standard, in order to make peace with any form of ecclesiasticism. We shall all stand fast in the precious liberty which we have enjoyed as Progressive Friends, and were never more unwilling to be entangled in any yoke of bondage. The discontinuance of First day Meetings, at Longwood, need give you no great pain, as of late those meetings have given us no great pleasure. If we could sit with you and listen to Octavius Frothingham, it would certainly, judged from this distance, seem preferable to anything within our reach; as it is we must find our supply of spiritual instruction and fellowship wherever each chooses to seek. It has never been held, by us nor by you, that membership in the Society of Friends, or in any other religious body, is inconsistant with most cordial relations to this Yearly Meeting. The liberty exercised by our brethren, at a distance, of joining with any assembly of workers or worshippers of their own election, seems equally to belong to those who dwell in the neighborhood of Longwood or Kennett. To keep up the Yearly Meeting in its old spirit, and if possible with more than its old usefulness, will be our purpose and joy; and we believe many of the members of Kennett and other Meetings, |