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Why should Charles Voysey
be supported?
A LETTER TO A FRIEND,
FROM
A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.
It may be well to inform the reader that neither the writer
nor his correspondent are connected with
Manchester Meeting.
LONDON:
PROVOST & CO., HENRIETTA ST., COVENT GARDEN.
1871.
��WHY SHOULD CHARLES VOYSEY
BE SUPPORTED?
Friend,
I thank thee for thy letter received a few days
ago. It is always interesting and useful to have a plain
honest opinion and judgment, especially when they
differ from our own. I fully agree with much that
thou says, but not by any means with all.
It seems to me that Charles Voysey is a man who
has sacrificed every outward consideration for the sake
of his religious convictions, that he is able to say as few
men of the present generation can—“ I have left all,
and followed Thee.” More than this, there is abundant
evidence that he is a man of a deeply earnest religious
spirit. This is amply sufficient to command the sym
pathy of all who really value religious liberty, and
freedom of religious thought; and who believe it to be
the highest duty and privilege of man to follow that
Light which is revealed in his own soul, and the Guide
which speaks to him there. This alone ought to be quite
sufficient to command the sympathy of every Quaker.
It is not needful to enquire whether there is a theo
logical agreement before extending sympathy and help.
By so doing we assist in keeping up the old and still
prevalent idea that Dogma and Creed must be the basis
of religious fellowship. This idea is the basis of sec
tarianism and the parent of all that intolerance and
My
dear
�4
TF7?y should Charles Voysey be supported I
want of charity, which have more or less disgraced the
history of every organized church and ecclesiastical
body.
Thou says thou art ignorant of my “ theological
position,” and enquires if I “ share Charles Voysey’s
opinions”; and thou “regrets to think of my name
being cast in with his.” As a matter of fact, there are
many points on which I differ widely from him, more '
widely probably than thou dost. In my apprehension,
he looks at many passages in the Bible, and at much
of its teaching, from a partial point of view, and
mistakes its real character.
Much reference has been made to the manner in
which Charles Voysey treats the character of Jesus
Christ. I understand the position he takes to be this.
If certain things which the New Testament records
concerning the sayings and doings of our Lord are true,
then His character cannot have been what it is asserted
to have been. Hence the conclusion is that the Bible
records have, in these respects, come down to us incor
rectly or imperfectly.
This is such an important item in the accusations
made against Voysey, that, at the risk of seeming
tedious, I must quote some illustrations from his
writings. The following beautiful passage speaks for
itself:—
“ If my temper towards some chief priests in my own
age makes me read with delight those revilings of the
chief priests by Jesus, and feel glad at the abuse poured
upon them, it reveals to me the fact that I am stirred
by revengeful or, at least, very angry feeling—that I
am in a state of hatred. But if I prefer to think of
Jesus as one who did no sin, neither was guile found
in His mouth, who, when He was reviled, reviled not
again, when He suffered, He threatened not, I am aware
that my temper is improved, and that I prefer the more
gentle and patient picture by reason of my own pro
gress. In this way, if we do not actually make our
�Why should Charles Voysey be supported ?
n
own image of Jesus, we at all events change it at will,
taking away features that we have ceased to reverence
and admire, and adding others that we have learned to
consider still more noble than we have ever worn.
Whatever is to us loveliest, purest, gentlest, most
loving, most manly, that is to us our Christ; and so
long as His name is cherished in the hearts of men,
and taken up adoringly on their lips, it will surely
stand as a sign or symbol of what God wishes us to be ;
and His loving life and loving death will be to us the
example of what He wishes us to do. In any case, we
must own that, if St. Peter’s account of Jesus be the
truest, few, if any, of our race have yet reached so high
a perfection. He is still the firstborn among many
brethren, and none can dispute His right to be called
the 1 Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.’ ” *
The nature of Voysey’s belief in Christ as our Saviour
appears in the next passage :—
“ God’s work of salvation is never ended; for, as we
rise higher and higher, the attainments we thought so
good become hardened into habits, and cease to be vir
tuous ; while the weaknesses which we once excused
are regarded no longer with leniency, but must be con
quered and trampled down as sins. And God uses
men and women to help Him in his work of salvation.
Good fathers and good mothers, good husbands and
good wives, faithful friends, and good masters and good
servants, are all saviours, as much and more so to us
than the noble army of martyrs and the glorious com
pany of apostles and prophets. So too, only in the
highest degree, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour,
enlightening the world by His own beautiful life, and
by the good news of a Heavenly Father’s love, which
He brought into the darkness of a despairing world.
Whatever helps to reveal the constant love of God the
Sermons, vol. iii. pp. 231, 232.
�6
II hy should Charles Voysey be supported 1
Father for us all—whatever helps to rekindle our dying
love for Him, and for each other—that, in the best
sense, is a means of salvation. And wherever men and
women are, in however slow a degree, amending their
lives, and becoming more and more a blessing and hap
piness to those around them, whatever be their creed,
there surely is the Almighty and Most Merciful God
at work ‘redeeming their lives from destruction, and
crowning them with loving-kindness and tender
mercies.’ ” *
Voysey constantly expresses the highest reverence
for the character of Christ, and his aim is to remove
blemishes which he believes the Scriptures themselves
place upon it. Whether the passages in question are
susceptible of a different meaning and complexion than
that which he gives to them is another matter alto
gether.
Thy letter specially refers to the conclusion of Voysey’s
recent “ Lecture on the Bible,” where he comments on
Jesus saying to His mother, “Woman, behold thy Son.”
Even if we admit the adjectives which he applies to
this scene, it is perfectly clear from the context that
Voysey looks upon the account as false, and in no way
accuses Christ of acting in a manner which he so
deprecates.
I cannot resist again quoting from his writings, to
show how Voysey endeavours to teach men to follow
Christ:—
< Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross, and follow me.’ We call ourselves the dis
ciples and followers of our Lord . . . but the majority
of us Christians are about as ignorant of the character’
and work of Christ as the apostles were. Few ever
think of Him as ‘ one who came to bear witness unto
Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 10, 11.
�Why should Charles Voysey be supported I
7
the truth,’ and as one whose great object was thereby
to deliver men’s souls from bondage, and to save them
from their sins. Most of us Christians either forget or
do not even know the meaning of Christ’s coming to
bear witness unto the Truth, to live and die for it;
while many of those who contemplate the death and
passion of our Lord regard it only as a means of deliver
ance from everlasting punishment............. God’s call is
to speak the truth boldly, let the consequences be what
they may ; man’s advice is to be very cautious, and not
at all bold, and to be guided entirely by reference to
the consequences. This is the Church of to-day, and
I deliberately, but sorrowfully, say, we neither under
stand Christ, nor follow Him. If any will truly come
after Him, at however humble a distance, he can only
do so by ‘ denying himself and taking up his cross.’ . . .
I have been speaking much, if not altogether, in refe
rence to the clergy—to the following Christ in teaching
unpalatable truth. But there is even a far more im
portant following of Him than this, to be done day by
day, by each and all of us, in our own homes, where
every one ought to give way and to deny himself that
he may do better for others. The crosses of life are
not always heavy, but they are daily and constant, and
it just makes all the difference between a true and a
false following of Christ, whether we systematically
refuse to bear our own cross, laying it or trying to lay it
upon some one else instead, or take it up submissively
and cheerfully, as something doubly precious and sanc
tified, as sent by God for the good of our souls, and as
sent also by Him as a means of comforting and saving
the lives of others. . . . Our true reward, our highest
happiness on earth as well as in heaven, depends on
our following Christ, not merely in the great and rare
struggles of the human mind after truth and liberty,
but also, and most of all, in our daily living in a spirit
of true self-denial, and seeking only the peace and
welfare and happiness of those around us. Let us pray
then that, both in our public and private callings, the
�8
JP7z?/ should Charles Voysey be supported ?
same mind may be in us which was also in Christ
Jesus. For, £ if any man have not the spirit of Christ,
he is none of His.’ ” *
“ They rightly judged that God had reversed the
ignorant judgment of men—that Him whom men had
rejected and crucified, God had exalted to highest
happiness above, and to the position of Prince and
Lord in the hearts of His followers. They rightly
judged that ‘ God had highly exalted Him, and given
Him a name which is above every name’—subject only
to God Himself, who is, and was, and will for ever be,
our all in all. This is right and proper loyalty to
Jesus Christ as the noblest of the Sons of God whom
the eyes of men had ever seen.”!
Thou uses the expression—££ follower of Charles
Voysey.” There is nothing which he himself would
more strongly deprecate. In a private letter, written a
few months ago, he says :—“ Truly I am glad I am
what I am ! A poor and undignified country parson.
Had I been a Bishop, what shoals of worldly, frivolous,
pandering followers I might have had, men whose souls
were barren, dry, and empty, and as really irreligious
as the blind devotees of the Stock Exchange or the
Race-course. As it is, all my work is simply the con
quest of Truth over prejudice, error, ignorance, and
every worldly influence. The man is forgotten in what
he says. And so it should ever be; for all the Truth
he utters is God’s, and not his at all. I cannot accept
the title of Guide. All I want is to lead men to their
only Guide—the God of Truth and of Love, and to
regard those who are privileged to speak Truth, as only
fellow-labourers, full of faults and errors —£ earthen
vessels ’— into which some little Divine Treasure has
been poured. It has been the great mistake of humanity
* Sermons, vol. iv. pp. 99—104.
+ Sermons, vol. iv. pp. 35, 36.
�Why should Charles Voysey be supported ?
9
to surround the teacher with a halo which serves to
conceal his imperfections, and at the same time to
dazzle the observers. For this reason, Paul the Apostle
left on record his painful humiliation, which, for want
of an interpreter, has never had its due weight in keep
ing his followers from regarding him as infallible. The
whole blunder and perversion of Christianity to-day,
has been o'wing to the calling of Jesus ‘ Lord, Lord,’
instead of doing God’s will as He directed us. I have
a horror of being thought to be more than I am, or of
standing even for one moment on my own authority,
as a dictator to the minds and hearts and lives of my
fellow-men.”
We may well say, “How are the mighty fallen,”
when such a man as this does not receive the united
moral support of the Society of Friends. The real
reason of this is, that the Society of Friends has become
one of the Churches and Sects, out of which it was
George Fox’s mission to call the Children of God. It
is impossible that thy “ liberal Friend correspondent,”
whose letter thou quotes, can have any comprehension
of Voysey’s spirit when he says, “We are to cease to
listen to Christ, and hearken to the Rev. Charles
Voysey.” The spirit of Quakerism teaches us to follow
no man, neither Fox, Penn, Barclay, nor Voysey.
William Penn, in his Preface to George Fox’s Journal,
speaking of the first “ Friends,” says :—
“ They directed people to a principle by which all
that they asserted, preached, and exhorted others to,
might be wrought in them, and known through expe
rience to them, to be true. Which is a high and dis
tinguishing mark of the truth of their ministry. Both
that they knew what they said, and were not afraid of
coming to the test. For as they were bold from cer
tainty, so they required conformity upon no human
authority, but upon conviction. And the conviction
of this principle, they asserted, was in them that they
preached unto. And unto that they directed them, that
�10
TJ'Vzz/ should Charles Voysey be supported?
they might examine and prove the reality of those
things which they had affirmed of it, as to its mani
festation and work in man. And this is more than the
many ministries in the world pretend to. . . . Which
of them all pretend to speak of their own knowledge
and experience ? or ever directed men to a Divine prin
ciple or agent, placed of God in man, to help him?
And how to know it, and wait to feel its power to work
that good and acceptable will of God in them.”
In George Fox’s writings he constantly testifies to
the same thing :—That “ the Light which every man
that cometh into the world is enlightened with, is the
salvation to the ends of the earth”; that “ this was
Christ’s doctrine,” that “ this Light is Christ, the sub
stance, the righteousness of God.” He says
“ How
is man’s salvation wrought out hut by the power of
Christ within ? How is the old man destroyed but by
Christ within? . . . Who feels Christ within feels
salvation.” *
And Charles Voysey says :—
“ God or Love is the Father of the Divine Nature of
Jesus and of men. He has begotten us all, and as
children of Him we possess part of His own life and
spirit. ... I know there is plenty of wickedness
amongst us, quite enough even in the best of us to
say—1 Father, I have sinned against Thee, and am no
more worthy to be called Thy Son,’-—to make us echo
the Apostle’s graceful apostrophe, 1 Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God ! ’ But then how could
we tell that God is so good, and that we are unworthy
of His Fatherhood, if it were not that God is already
dwelling in us and revealing Himself to us ? No book,
nor word of man, nor word of Jesus, could of itself
make us feel what God is, and why we are unworthy
of our high calling as His Sons. This is only and
* See many passages, especially in vol. iii. of G. F.’s Works,
American edition.
�Why should Charles Voysey he supported ?
11
solely due to God’s indwelling-—to the Spirit which He
Himself has begotten in us. Therefore as God was in
Christ, so in like manner, though not yet in like degree,
He is in us, or we should never have been able to learn
any truth about Him, or to feel our sonship, or to bewail
our own unworthiness. . . . Let us thankfully accept
at the lips of Jesus the assurance of a tie between our
selves and our Heavenly Father which nothing can ever
break. For if Jesus dwells eternally in the bosom of
the Father, so also do we; for His Father is our Father,
and His God is our God.” *
It is to my mind an entire perversion of the true
facts of the case, to speak of “the disastrous effects
which the support given to Charles Voysey has had at
Manchester.” Rather should we speak of the disastrous
effects produced by the undue assumption and exercise
of ecclesiastical power,—the same old story, and the
same old temptation, into which Churches have ever
fallen.
I hope thou wilt excuse the extreme plainness with
which I have written, and that my meaning is also
plain. I hope also I do not lose sight of the dangers
from which thou warns me;—that it may be quite
possible, even with the best intentions, to pursue a
mischievous course, and one which is prejudicial to the
cause we have most at heart. At the meeting which
I attended in London, I expressed the belief that the
worst thing we could do would be to take any action
which would tend to form a “ sect of Voyseyites.” This
feeling was united with by the meeting. So far as I
can understand the spirit which is now guiding Charles
Voysey’s line of action, it may be summed up in the
following extract from one of his later sermons :—
“ If a man is convinced that he has found a faith
more true, more helpful, more consoling, than other
Sermons, vol. iv. pp. 206, 208.
�12
Why shoiddXhharles Voysey be supported ?
faiths which are common in his time, it is surely that
man’s duty to try and teach that faith to his fellow
men. In proportion as he himself has found it to be
more elevating, more comforting, more consistent with
reason and experience, so surely he ought to be more
eager and constant in proclaiming his own faith, and in
doing what he can to lead others to embrace it also.
I am one of those who think they have found a nobler
faith, and I feel sure that my faith is to be found
in the Bible, and that it was taught by the Hebrew
Prophets and Psalmists, and by Jesus of Nazareth most
of all.” *
The great need of the present time seems to me to be
the preaching of a religion of Life—not of doctrine—
not of belief. That God is the Father of all men, and
will instruct all men in the way in which they are to
walk. This is the substance of Charles Voysey’s teach
ing. He is at the present time its representative man.
Therefore he must be supported; notwithstanding he
may at times be mistaken, and even say harsh, weak,
or bitter things. I have felt and do feel it a privilege to
have rendered him some little moral and material help,
and to have been the means of conveying to him
from others, both material and spiritual expressions of
sympathy.
I am, thy friend sincerely,
* * # # *
1, viii. 1871.
* Sermons, vol. iv. p. 3.
�
Dublin Core
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
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Title
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Why should Charles Voysey be supported? A letter to a friend, from a member of the Society of Friends
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Scribbled marks in ink on last page.
Publisher
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Provost & Co.
Date
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1871
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CT3
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A Member of the Society of Friends
Subject
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Heresy
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Why should Charles Voysey be supported? A letter to a friend, from a member of the Society of Friends), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
Language
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English
Charles Voysey
Conway Tracts
Heresy
Quakerism
Society of Friends