When preaching in the free states, he earnestly called upon all to abstain from slave-produce, and thus in a measure wash their own hands from participation in a system of abominable wickedness and cruelty.  His zeal on this subject annoyed some of his brethren, but they could not make him amenable to discipline for it; for these views were in accordance with the earliest and strongest testimonies of the Society of Friends; moreover, it would have been discreditable to acknowledge such a ground of offence.  But the secret dissatisfaction showed itself in a disposition to find fault with him.  Charges were brought against his doctrines.  He was accused of denying the authority of Scripture, and the divinity of Christ.

It was a departure from the original basis of the Society to assume any standard whatsoever concerning creeds.  It is true that the early Quakers wrote volumes of controversy against many of the prevailing opinions of their day; such as the doctrine of predestination, and of salvation depending upon faith, rather than upon works.  All the customary external observances, such as holy days, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, they considered as belonging to a less spiritual age, and that the time had come for them to be done away.  Concerning the Trinity, there appears to have been difference of opinion among them from the earliest time.  When George Fox expressed a fear that William Penn had gone too far in defending “the true unity of God,” Penn replied that he had never heard any one speak more plainly concerning the manhood of Christ, than George Fox himself.  Penn was imprisoned in the Tower for “rejecting the mystery of the Trinity,” in a book called “The Sandy Foundation Shaken.”  He afterward wrote “Innocency with her Open Face,” regarded by some as a compromise, which procured his release.  But though various popular doctrines naturally came in their way, and challenged discussion, while they were endeavoring to introduce a new order of things, the characteristic feature of their movement was attention to practical righteousness rather than theological tenets.  They did not require their members to profess faith in any creed.  They had but one single bond of union; and that was the belief that every man ought to be guided in his actions, and in the interpretation of Scripture, by the light within his own soul.  Their history shows that they mainly used this light to guide them in the application of moral principles.  Upon the priesthood, in every form, they made unsparing warfare; believing that the gifts of the Spirit ought never to be paid with money.  They appointed committees to visit the sick, the afflicted, and the destitute, and to superintend marriages and funerals.  The farmer, the shoemaker, the physician, or the merchant, followed his vocation diligently, and whenever the Spirit moved him to exhort his brethren, he did so.  The “First, and Fifth Day” of the week, called by other denominations Sunday and