SEEKER

member of any of numerous small groups of separatist Puritans in 17th-century England seeking and waiting for new prophets revealing God's true church. They subscribed to the principles enunciated by such reformers as Kaspar Schwenckfeld of Lower Silesia, Sebastian Franck of Swabia, and Dirck Coornhert of the Netherlands, who denied the effectiveness of the sacraments, Baptism, and the Scriptures as a means of salvation. Their services were silent meetings at which one spoke only when inspired to do so. The Seekers gave rise to the Society of Friends (Quakers). Persecuted in Europe, many settled in Rhode Island, whose founder, Roger Williams, professed Seeker ideas and advocated absolute religious freedom for all.