They  did  not  form  any  visible  sect,  and  do  not  appear  to  have
felt  the  temptation  to  nonconformity.  Their  object  was  to
deepen  and  purify  the  spiritual  life  of  their  members,  a  purpose
for  which  the  devotional  forms  of  the  Church  were  accepted  by
them  as  adequate.  But  as  they  did  not  desire  to  draw  upon
themselves  the  notice  of  the  Inquisition,  they  designedly  threw
an  air  of  secrecy  over  their  proceedings,  and  in  the  Church
laistory  of  the  time  come  and  go  in  a  mysterious  fashion,  which
up  to  a  quite  recent  period  concealed  their  true  character.
Their  leader  is  usually  supposed  to  have  been  Nicholas  of
Basel,  the  layman  who,  in  a  well-known  narrative,''  now  be-
hoved to  have  been  written  by  himself,  appears  as  comiag
to  Tauler,  rebuking  him  for  his  Pharisaic  self-sufficiency,  and
condemning  him  to  a  two  years'  abstinence  from  preaching.
There  are  others  of  the  Friends  of  God  whose  names  deserve
1  Videii/e  aiid  Sermons  of  Br.  John  Tauler,  ed.  Susanna  Wiukworth,  p.  1  etseq.
