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Note: You should know about Quaker church organization. Early Friends Meetings werec onducted without a paid pastor (some still are). They were un-programmed. The c ongregation met in silence. Any one could be moved to briefly address the mee ti ng. The topic was usually of a religious nature, although not necessarily s o. This is the simple meeting for worship. Several of those meetings could be a pa rt of a larger meeting that met monthly. The Friends call thesemeetings th e Mo nthly Meeting. This latter meeting is the parent body and looks after the spiri tual and financial needs of the subordinate meetings. TheMonthly Meetin g is p resided over by a leader that they call "Clerk." Thereis also an assist ant Cle rk whose principal function is to record the decisions of the Monthly M eeting. These recordings are our famous "Minutes." TheQuakers begin the Mon thly Mee ting by presenting a question. They call this their queries. There ar e usually twelve, one for each month in the year. A typical query could be --- "Are love and unity maintained among you? "Do you manifest a forgiving spi rit and a care for the reputation of others? "When differences arise, are end eavors ma de to settle them speedily and in a spiritof meekness and love? After the query of the day is answered, committees are heard from. The committe e represen ts the functioning body. There is a committee on religious life. A c ommittee th at keeps in contact with the members. Other committees look into di fferent conc erns of the meeting.Although Friends are democratic in their activ ities, they m ust live up to a set of rules that they call their Discipline. Ot her than that, the members may have extreme views. You might think this liberal approach wou ld lead to disunity, but such is not the case. The self-criticis m in the querie s acts as a governor. Several Monthly Meetings in an area join together and me et four timesa year, to discuss and act on matters that concer n their area. Thi s is a Quarterly Meeting. And annually, all meetings in a lar ger area meet toge ther in a "Yearly Meeting." All the meetings (except the me eting for worship) keep records of their proceedings. These are our precious Qu aker records. Qu aker marriage ceremonies are unique. When the couple decide s to marry, they pre sent a request to their Monthly Meeting. A committee is ap pointed to look into the request and see that there have been no previous engag ements or anything th at would prevent the marriage. At the next succeeding Mo nthly Meeting, the cou ple make a second request. The committee is heard from a nd if the committee rep orts favorable, they are "passes," that is, they are pe rmittedto marry. The ti me is left up to the couple, when they shall appear at a public meeting, usuall y called for the purpose, and each will make a publi c declaration, after which the certificate of marriage is signed by all who witness the ceremony. The sig ned certificate is not immediately given to the coup le, but is handed to the "R ecorder,"who will copy it in the marriage book. Ov er the years, certivicates o f marriage have taken on a slightly different word ing. There is no marriage cer tificate recorded for Valentine Hollingsworth's m arriage to Ann Ree. Lurgan, Ir eland, Monthly Meeting, Births and Deaths, says that he married Ann Ree on the "seventh day of the fouerth month, Anno Domini , 1655." Ann Ree died on the "f irst day of the second month, Anno Domini, 1671 ," according to the same records . Valentine's second marriage, to Ann Calvert, is recorded in the Lurgan (Co. A rmagh), Ireland, Marriage Book, and is as fol lows: Signed by those below. Th is is to certify the truth to all people tha t Valentine Hollenworth in ye psh o f Sego in ye county of Armagh, and Anne Cal vert of the same psh having intentio ns of marriage according to the ordinances of God, and Go
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