ABSTRACT
On 2 October 1654, itinerant ministers Edward Burrough and Thomas Howgill wrote to Margaret Fell at her home, Swarthmoor Hall. Their message from the road included insights into why they and others like them wrote of their travels:
Dear hart wee have received thy lines which was noe little refreshment to us; we are well kept, and preserved in the liveing powerfull truth of god, yea truly the powerful eternall living word of the lord hath sounded through us to this Citie, and many thousands hath hard it, and many tall cedars hath fallen, and many Gyant hath been brought downe in the sight of all … in fear and trenbling, and many a tear, and bearing the Iniquity of the people, the same Christ as ever was, doth bear the Iniquity of the people, but being kept still and could suffer as fooles, the pure powerfull eternall word of life hath uttered forth itselfe yea the mouthes of Lyons have bene stopped and all chained by it … our burthen hath bene great. 1
This passage highlights many of the key components of early, itinerant Quakerism. First, the faithful met much opposition in their efforts to proselytize to the unconverted. Second, they suffered greatly as a result of that opposition. And third, they wrote about their travels and suffering to like-minded brethren. These were the essential characteristics of the early faith. Fundamentally, the early group of people who would come to be known as Quakers was not a fully formed church in the 1650s. The initial Quaker movement was essentially a letter network, organized first in England and then throughout the Atlantic World. While many wrote that they felt physically separated from fellow Quakers, the sharing of ideas and news from far away enabled them to remain informed and therefore to participate in their religious community.