According to Quaker faith and practice, simplicity is one of their tenets
Basically what it means is time is spent LISTENING to God in worship, rather than always reading, sermonising, singing, or other such programmed things.
I think a lot of wealthy, christians became quakers and were 'convinced' they had too much wealth and so used it for good works, like they would wear plain dress, stop trying to amass wealth and help the needy. They also refused to go to war or take up arms although this kind of split them apart when they advocated abolishing slavery, as some of them had owned slaves.
In the early days of quakerism, the church in England (which was the only church allowed at the time) was extremley fancy and wealthy and the clergy got fat and very rich. It was similar to the catholic church in many respects except its head was not the pope, but the monarch (King or Queen)
there were other splinter groups that broke away from the COE like baptists, puritans, methodists, salavtion army (they were all called 'non comformists' and 'dissenters' and ran away to america so they could worship how they pleased and not have to pay taxes to the already wealthy royal family. So they had a more 'simple faith' but as time went on it became more complicated as the 'heads' of those independent churches soon became their own kings and queens living off the tithes of their congregants.
Basically what it means is time is spent LISTENING to God in worship, rather than always reading, sermonising, singing, or other such programmed things.
I think a lot of wealthy, christians became quakers and were 'convinced' they had too much wealth and so used it for good works, like they would wear plain dress, stop trying to amass wealth and help the needy. They also refused to go to war or take up arms although this kind of split them apart when they advocated abolishing slavery, as some of them had owned slaves.
In the early days of quakerism, the church in England (which was the only church allowed at the time) was extremley fancy and wealthy and the clergy got fat and very rich. It was similar to the catholic church in many respects except its head was not the pope, but the monarch (King or Queen)
there were other splinter groups that broke away from the COE like baptists, puritans, methodists, salavtion army (they were all called 'non comformists' and 'dissenters' and ran away to america so they could worship how they pleased and not have to pay taxes to the already wealthy royal family. So they had a more 'simple faith' but as time went on it became more complicated as the 'heads' of those independent churches soon became their own kings and queens living off the tithes of their congregants.
