Friends (quakers)

The Quaker rejection of formalism and ceremony in worship extended to the observances of the church calendar. Resistance to formalism remains today, although Evangelical Quakers celebrate portions of the Christian year. Quakers have historically rejected symbolism, the observance of special days, and other ceremonies and forms as human inventions. They regard such ceremonies and forms as unnecessary when individual believers can experience the Spirit of God directly. In addition, they believe avoidance of such externals protects believers from the idolatry into which humankind so easily falls. Early Quakers reacted strongly against the formalism of the Anglican church, maintaining that the Reformation had stopped short, leaving Protestant worship ceremonial and ritualistic. Robert Barclay, in his Apology, stated the case forcefully: "For we find many branches lopped off by them [the reformers], but the roote yet remaining; to wit, a worship acted in and from man's will and spirit, …