PROCEEDINGS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA YEARLY MEETING OF Progressive Friends, HELD AT LONGWOOD, CHESTER COUNTY, FIFTH MONTH, 1856. NEW YORK: JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 377 & 379 BROADWAY, CORNER OF WHITE STREET, 1856. CONTENTS. CORRESPONDENCE: Ohio Yearly Meeting, 65; Waterloo Yearly Meeting, 66; Friends of Progress in North Collins, N. Y., 67; L. Maria Child, 68; Charles K. Whipple, 71; William Lloyd Garrison, 73; James Richardson, Jr., 74; Nathaniel H. Whiting, 75; Samuel Longfellow, 76; Moncure D. Conway, 77; Sarah B. Dugdale, 77; John G. Fee, 78; Octavius B. Frothingham, 79; William Henry Fish, 80; Richard Mendenhall, 81; Thomas J. Mumford, 82; The Hutchinson Family, 82; Gerrit Smith, 82; Daniel S. Whitney, 82; Robert Hassall, 83; Melissa Dawes, 83; Henry Charles, 84; D. Vines, 84; Lucy Stone, Address of the Clerks. JOSEPH A. DUGDALE, Hamorton, Chester Co., Pa. } OLIVER JOHNSON, 188 Nassau Street, New York. SCHWEICKART ON First-day morning, the 18th of Fifth month, 1856, THE PENNSYLVANIA YEArly Meeting of Progressive FRIENDS convened in the meeting-house at Longwood, Chester County. The house was densely crowded, and hundreds, unable to get within the walls, remained on the adjoining grounds. Prayer was offered by JOSEPH A. DUGDALE, after which the Call issued by the Committee of Arrangements was read, as follows: Upon the undersigned devolves the pleasant duty of inviting the friends of Truth, Purity, and Progress, without distinction of sect or name or nation, to attend the FOURTH ANNUAL CONVOCATION OF PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS, to be held in the meeting-house at Longwood, Chester Co., Pa., commencing on First-day, the eighteenth of Fifth month, 1856, at 10 o'clock, A. M., and continuing as long as circumstances may seem to require-probably for three days. The Progressive Friends have no creed as a basis of association. Their object is not to build up a Sect, armed with ecclesiastical power, and endowed with Lauthority to define the boundaries of thought and restrain the freedom of speech and action, but to unite persons of every shade of theological opinion, in ONE SPIRIT OF LOVE, to "do good unto all men as they have opportunity;" to cultivate in themselves whatsoever is pure, generous and ennobling; to worship God in the service of Humanity; to investigate those questions of individual and social duty, which the experiences of daily life and the conflicts of sects, parties, classes, and nationalities, are perpetually evolving; to vindicate the primordial rights of man, and plead the cause of the poor, the ignorant, the degraded, and the oppressed; to testify against those systems of popular wickedness which derive their support from a false Church and a corrupt Government; to promote the cause of "pure and undefiled religion," by a firm resistance to the impositions of Church-craft and Priest-craft; to elevate the standard of public morals, by teaching men to revere, as paramount to all human codes, the law written by the finger of God in their own minds and hearts; to exemplify the spirit of Universal Brotherhood, and to proclaim the evangel of " Peace on earth, good will to men." All those who desire to co-operate with us, and those we represent, in this work of beneficence and love, are earnestly invited to meet with us, at the time and place above named. Nay, more-in the language of the Hebrew prophet, "Whosoever WILL, let him come." we say, JOSEPH A. DUGDALE congratulated the meeting in view of the propitious circumstances under which it had convened, and introduced SAMUEL J. MAY, minister of the Unitarian Church, Syracuse, New York, who read the following hymn, asking all who could do so, to unite with him in singing it: After the singing, in which several friends joined, SAMUEL J. MAY delivered a very impressive discourse upon "FALSE IDEAS OF GOD AND HIS GOVERNMENT," which was heard with close attention and deep interest. LUCRETIA MOTT also uttered an earnest testimony on the same subject. AFTERNOON SESSION. JOSEPH A. DUGDALE, in view of the unusual amount of business upon the table and of his own feeble health, asked that OLIVER JOHNSON might be permitted to assist the Clerks in the discharge of their duties. The request was complied with. The meeting was then briefly addressed by WILLIAM LLOYD. Epistles were read from the WATERLOO (N. Y.) and OHIO YEARLY MEETINGS OF FRIENDS OF HUMAN PROGRESS-bodies formed on principles the same as ours-and from the FRIENDS OF HUMAN PROGRESS in North Collins, Erie Co., N. Y. These communications conveyed cheering intelligence of the progress of religious and social reform, and breathed a spirit of fraternal affection and sympathy, which made them peculiarly welcome. EDWARD WEBB, RUHANEY WAY, PHILENA HEALD, ELIZABETH JACKSON, LEA PUSEY, PRISCILLA BARNARD, and JOHN G. JACKSON, were appointed a Committee to prepare replies. Letters, expressing a warm interest in the objects of our association. and a hearty concurrence in the anti-sectarian and progressive principles upon which it was formed, and containing messages of fraternal affection, were received from the following absent friends, viz: Grateful for the timely words of sympathy and counsel received from these beloved friends, the Meeting directed the Clerks to send to each of them a copy of its proceedings. The letters were referred to the Committee of Publication, with instructions to publish them, or such portions of them as they may deem advisable. The reading of these letters elicited remarks from DAVID A. WASSON, (Minister of the Free Church in Groveland, Mass.), LUCRETIA MOTT, EUSEBIUS BARNARD, and E. FISH. Committees were appointed as follows: On Slavery.-SIMON BARNARD, THOMAS WHITSON, JACOB HARVEY, THOMAS HAMBLETON, HANNAH M. DARLINGTON, ALICE JACKSON, LYDIA COX, EPHRAIM WILSON, CASTNER HANWAY, WM. H. SNOWDEN. Temperance.-FRANKLIN DARLINGTON, JAS. C. JACKSON, AMELIA JACKSON, SARAH PRESTON, SUSANN CHAMBERS, SAMUEL PENNOCK, WILLIAM WALTERS, SARAH M. BARNARD, REBECCA TAYLOR, PETER WILSON, JOHN AGNEW, SARAH A. ENTRIKEN, M. D.; HENRY SMITH, JOHN HAZLETON. Treatment of Criminals.—SIQNEY PEIRCE CURTIS, HANNAH PENNOCK, JACOB T. STERN, MARY A. W. JOHNSON, Dr. I. D. JouNSON. Woman's Rights.—MARY A, W. JOHNSON, SARAH BARNARD, DINAH MENDENHALL, SAMUEL J. MAY, JOSEPH A. DUGDALE, AGNES SANDERS, FREDERICK W. EVANS, DAVID A. WASSON, JANE KNIGHT, DEBORAH PENNOCK. Evils of Tobacco.-RUTH DUGDALE, MARTHA CHAMBERS, MIRIAM WORRell, R. HENRY LAMBORN, JOHN WILSON, ESTHER HAYES, SALLY PUSEY, J. WILLIAM COX, DANIEL BONSALL, DINAH MENDENHALL, JACOB T. STERN. On Limiting the Acquisition of Property.—SAMUEL J. MAY, WILLIAM CHASE, |