A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume II (of 3) by Thomas Clarkson
T >>
Thomas Clarkson >> A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume II (of 3)
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 A PORTRAITURE OF QUAKERISM, VOLUME II
Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners,
Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of
the Society of Friends
by
THOMAS CLARKSON, M.A.
Author of Several Essays on the Slave Trade
New York: Published by Samuel Stansbury, No 111, Water-Street
1806
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
CHAPTER I.
SECT. I.--Marriage--Regulation and example of George Fox, relative to
Marriage--Present regulations, and manner of the celebration of it among
the Quakers.
SECT. II.--Those who marry out of the society, are disowned--Various
reasons for such a measure--Objection to it--Reply.
SECT III.--But the disowned may be restored to membership--Terms of
their restoration--these terms censured--Reply.
SECT IV.--More women disowned on this account than men--Probable causes
of this difference of number.
CHAPTER II.
SECT I.--Funerals--Extravagance and pageantry of ancient and modern
funerals--These discarded by the Quakers--Plain manner in which they
inter their dead.
SECT II.--Quakers use no tomb-stones, nor monumental inscriptions
--Various reasons of their disuse of these.
SECT. III.--Neither do they use mourning garments--Reasons why they thus
differ from the world--These reasons farther elucidated by
considerations on Court-mourning.
CHAPTER III.
Occupations--Agriculture declining among the Quakers--Causes and
disadvantages of this decline.
CHAPTER IV.
SECT. I.--_Trade--Quakers view trade as a moral question--Prohibit a
variety of trades and dealings on this account--various other wholesome
regulations concerning it._
SECT. II.--_But though the Quakers thus prohibit many trades, they are
found in some which are considered objectionable by the world--These
specified and examined._
CHAPTER V.
_Settlement of differences--Abstain from duels-and also from law--Have
recourse to arbitration--Their rules concerning arbitration--An account
of an Arbitration Society at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Quaker-principles._
CHAPTER VI.
SECT. I.--_Poor--No beggars among the Quakers--Manner of relieving and
providing for the poor._
SECT. II.--_Education of the children of the poor provided
for--Observations on the number of the Quaker-poor--and on their
character._
RELIGION.
INTRODUCTION.
_Invitation to a perusal of this part of the work--The necessity of
humility and charity in religion on account of the limited powers of the
human understanding--Object of this invitation._
CHAPTER I.
_God has given to all, besides an intellectual, a spiritual
understanding--Some have had a greater portion of this spirit than
others, such as Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets, and
Apostles--Jesus Christ had it without limit or measure._
CHAPTER II.
_Except a man has a portion of the same spirit, which Jesus, and the
Prophets, and the Apostles had, he cannot know spiritual things--This
doctrine confirmed by St. Paul--And elucidated by a comparison between
the faculties of men and of brutes._
CHAPTER III.
_Neither except he has a portion of the same spirit, can he know the
scriptures to be of divine origin, nor can he spiritually understand
them--Objection to this doctrine-Reply._
CHAPTER IV.
_This spirit, which has been thus given to men in different degrees, has
been given them as a teacher or guide in their spiritual concerns--Way
in which it teaches._
CHAPTER V.
_This spirit may be considered as the primary and infallible guide--and
the scriptures but a secondary means of instruction--but the Quakers do
not undervalue the latter on this account--Their opinion concerning
them._
CHAPTER VI.
_This spirit, as a primary and infallible guide, has been given to men
universally--From the creation to Moses--From Moses to Christ--From
Christ to the present day._
CHAPTER VII.
Sect. I.--_And as it has been universally to men, so it has been given
them sufficiently--Those who resist it, quench it--Those who attend to
it, are in the way of redemption._
Sect. II.--_This spirit then besides its office of a spiritual guide,
performs that of a Redeemer to men--Redemption outward and
inward--Inward effected by this spirit._
Sect. III.--_Inward redemption produces a new birth--and leads to
perfection--This inward redemption possible to all._
Sect. IV--_New birth and perfection more particularly explained-New
birth as real from "the spiritual seed of the kingdom" as that of plants
and vegetables from their seeds in the natural world--and goes on in the
same manner progressively to maturity._
CHAPTER VIII.
SECT. I._--Possibility of redemption to all denied by the favours of
"Election and Reprobation"--Quaker-refutation of the later doctrine._
SECT. II._--Quaker refutation continued._
CHAPTER IX.
_Recapitulation of all the doctrines advanced--Objection that the
Quakers make every thing of the Spirit and but little of Jesus
Christ--Attempt to show that Christians often differ without a just
cause--Or that there is no material difference between the creeds of the
Quakers and that of the objectors on this subject._
CHAPTER X.
SECT. I._--Ministers of the Gospel--Quakers conceive that the spirit of
God alone can qualify for the ministry--Women equally qualified with
men--Way in which ministers are called and acknowledged among the
Quakers._
SECT. II._--Quaker-ministers, when acknowledged, engage in family
visits--Nature of these--and sometimes in missions through England--and
sometimes in foreign parts._
CHAPTER XI.
_Elders--Their origin and their office--These are not to meddle with the
discipline of the church._
CHAPTER XII.
SECT I._--Worship--is usually made to consist of prayer and
preaching--But neither of these are considered by the Quakers to be
effectual without the aid of the spirit--Hence no liturgy or studied
form of words among the Quakers--Reputed manner and character of
Quaker-preaching--Observations upon these._
SECT. II--_Silent worship--Manner of it--Worship not necessarily
connected with words--Advantages of this mode of worship._
SECT. III.--_Quakers discard every thing formal and superstitious from
their worship--No consecrated ground--No priest's garments--No
psalmody--No one day esteemed by them holier than another--Reasons for
these singularities._
CHAPTER XIII.
_Miscellaneous particularities--Quakers seldom use the words "original
sin," or "Trinity," and never "the word of God" for the
Scriptures--Believe in the manhood and divinity of Christ--In the
resurrection--Their ideas on sanctification and justification._
CHAPTER XIV.
_Quakers reject baptism and the Lord's supper--Indulgence solicited for
them on account of the difficulties connected with these subjects--These
difficulties explained._
CHAPTER XV.
SECT. I.--_Two baptisms, that of John and of Christ--That of John was by
water--and a Jewish ordinance--John the prophet left under the law._
SECT. II.--_Baptism of Christ was by the Spirit--This the baptism of the
Gospel--Authorities on which this distinction between the two is
founded._
SECT. III.--_Quakers conceive it was not the baptism of John which Jesus
included in the Great Commission, when he ordered his disciples to go
into all nations, and to teach them, baptizing in the name of the
father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost--This shown from
expressions taken from St. Peter and St. Paul--and from the object and
nature of this baptism._
SECT. IV.--_But that it was the baptism of Christ--This shown from a
critical examination of the words in the commission itself--And from the
commission, as explained by St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. Paul._
SECT. V.--_Practice of Jesus and the Apostles a confirmation of this
opinion._
CHAPTER XVI.
Sect. I.--_Two suppers, the one instituted by Moses, the other by Jesus
Christ--The first called the passover--Ancient and modern manner of its
celebration._
Sect. II.--_Second, enjoined by Jesus at Capernaum--This wholly, of a
spiritual nature--Way in which this may be enjoyed._
Sect. III.--_Quakers say that Jesus instituted no new supper distinct
from that of the passover, and which was to render null and void that
enjoined at Capernaum, at a rite of the Christian church--No such
institution to be collected from St. Matthew, St. Mark, or St. John._
Sect. IV.--_Nor from St. Luke--St. Luke only says, that all future
passovers of the Disciples with Christ were to be spiritual--but if, as
Jews, they could not all at once abdicate the passover to which they had
been educated, they were to celebrate it with a new meaning--But no
acknowledged permission of it to others._
Sect. V.--_Nor from St. Paul--St. Paul only says that the passover, as
spiritualized by Jesus, was allowed to his disciples, or to the Jewish
converts, who could not all at once lay aside their prejudices
concerning it, but that it was to last only for a time--Different
opinions about this time--That of the Quakers concerning it._
Sect. VI.--_Had a new supper, distinct from that of the passover, been
intended as a ceremonial of the Christian church, it would have been
commanded to others besides the disciples, and its duration would not
have been limited--Reasons from St. Paul, to show that he himself did
not probably consider it as a Christian ordinance--Whereas the supper
enjoined at Capernaum, was to be eternal--and universal--and an
essential with all Christians._
PECULIAR CUSTOMS
OF THE
_QUAKERS_.
(CONTINUED)
VOL. II B.
PECULIAR CUSTOMS
OF THE
QUAKERS.
CHAP. I.
SECTION I.
_Marriage--Quakers differ in many respects from others, on the subject
of Marriage--George Fox introduced Regulations concerning it--Protested
against the usual manner of the celebration of it--Gave an example of
what he recommended--Present regulations of the Quakers on this
subject._
In the continuation of the Customs of the Quakers, a subject which I
purpose to resume in the present volume, I shall begin with that of
Marriage.
The Quakers differ from others in many of their regulations concerning
this custom. They differ also in the manner of the celebration of it.
And, as they differ in these respects, so they experience generally a
different result. The Quakers, as a married, may be said to be a happy,
people. Hence the detailers of scandal, have rarely had it in their
power to promulgate a Quaker adultery. Nor have the lawyers had an
opportunity in our public courts of proclaiming a Quaker divorce.
George Fox suggested many regulations on this subject. He advised, among
other things, when persons had it in contemplation to marry, that they
should lay their intention before the monthly meetings, both of the men
and women. He advised also, that the consent of their parents should be
previously obtained, and certified to these. Thus he laid the foundation
for greater harmony in the approaching union. He advised again, that an
inquiry should be made, if the parties were clear of engagements or
promises of marriage to others, and, if they were not, that they should
be hindered from proceeding. Thus, he cut off some of the causes of the
interruption of connubial happiness, by preventing uneasy reflections,
or suits at law, after the union had taken place. He advised also, in
the case of second marriages, that any offspring resulting from the
former, should have their due rights and a proper provision secured to
them, before they were allowed to be solemnized. Thus he gave a greater
chance for happiness, by preventing mercenary motives from becoming the
causes of the union of husbands and wives.
But George Fox, as he introduced these and other salutary regulations on
the subject of Marriage, so he introduced a new manner of the
celebration of it. He protested against the manner of the world, that
is, against the formal prayers and exhortations as they were repeated,
and against the formal ceremonies, an they were practised by the Parish
Priest. He considered that it was God, who joined man and woman before
the fall; and that in Christian times, or where the man was truly
renovated in heart, there could be no other right or honourable way of
union. Consistently with this view of the subject, he observed, that in
the ancient scriptural times, persons took each other in marriage in the
assemblies of the Elders; and there was no record, from the Book of
Genesis to that of Revelations, of any marriage by a Priest. Hence it
became his new society, as a religious or renovated people, to abandon
apostate usages, and to adopt a manner that was more agreeable to their
new state.
George Fox gave in his own marriage, an example of all that he had thus
recommended to the society. Having agreed with Margaret Fell, the widow
of Judge Fell, upon the propriety of their union as husband and wife,
he desired her to send for her children. As soon as they were come, he
asked them and their respective husbands,[1] "If they had any thing
against it, or for it, desiring them to speak? and they all severally
expressed their _satisfaction therein_. Then he asked Margaret, if she
had fulfilled and performed her husband's Will to her children? She
replied, the _children know that_. Whereupon he asked them, whether, if
their mother married, they should not lose by it? And he asked Margaret,
whether she had done any thing in lieu of it, which might answer it to
the children? The children said, _she had answered it to them_, and
desired him to _speak no more about that_. He told them, that he was
plain, and that he would have all things done plainly; for he sought not
any outward advantage to himself. So, after he had acquainted the
children with it, their intention of marriage was laid before Friends,
both privately and publicly;" and afterwards a meeting being appointed
for the accomplishment of the marriage, in the public Meeting-house at
Broad Mead, in Bristol, they took each other in marriage, in the plain
and simple manner as then practised, and which he himself had originally
recommended to his followers.
[Footnote 1: G. Fox's Journal, Vol. 2. p. 135.]
The regulations concerning marriage, and the manner of the celebration
of it, which obtained in the time of George Fox, nearly obtain among the
Quakers of the present day.
When marriage is agreed upon between two persons, the man and the woman,
at one of the monthly meetings, publicly declare their intention, and
ask leave to proceed. At this time their parents, if living, must either
appear, or send certificates to signify their consent. This being done,
two men are appointed by the men's meeting, and two women are appointed
by that of the women, to wait upon the man and woman respectively, and
to learn from themselves, as well as by other inquiry, if they stand
perfectly clear from any marriage-promises and engagements to others. At
the next monthly meeting the deputation make their report. If either of
the parties is reported to have given expectation of marriage to any
other individual, the proceedings are stopped till the matter be
satisfactorily explained. But if they are both of them reported to be
clear in this respect, they are at liberty to proceed, and one or more
persons of respectability of each sex, are deputed to see that the
marriage be conducted in an orderly manner.
In the case of second marriages, additional instructions are sometimes
given; for if any of the parties thus intimating their intentions of
marrying should have children alive, the same persons, who were deputed
to inquire into their clearness from all other engagements, are to see
that the rights of such children be legally secured.
When the parties are considered to be free, by the reports of the
deputation, to proceed upon their union, they appoint a suitable day for
the celebration of it, which is generally one of the week-day meetings
for worship. On this day they repair to the Meeting-house with their
friends. The congregation, when seated, sit in silence. Perhaps some
minister is induced to speak. After a suitable time has elapsed, the man
and the woman rise up together, and, taking each other by the hand,
declare publicly, that they thus take each other as husband and wife.
This constitutes their marriage. By way, however, of evidence of their
union, a paper is signed by the man and woman, in the presence of three
witnesses, who sign it also, in which it is stated that they have so
taken each other in marriage. And, in addition to this, though, it be
not a necessary practice, another paper is generally produced and read,
stating concisely the proceedings of the parties in their respective
Meetings for the purpose of their marriage, and the declaration made by
them, as having taken each other as man and wife. This is signed by the
parties, their relations, and frequently by many of their friends, and
others present. All marriages of other Dissenters are celebrated in the
established churches, according to the ceremonies of the same. But the
marriages of the Quakers are valid by law in their own Meeting-houses,
when solemnised in this simple manner.
SECT. II.
_Quakers, marrying out of the Society, to be disowned--That regulation
charged with pride and cruelty--Reasons for this disownment are--That
mixed Marriages cannot be celebrated without a violation of same of the
great Principles of the Society--That they are generally productive of
disputes and uneasiness to those concerned--and that the discipline
cannot be carried on in such families._
Among the regulations suggested by George Fox, and adopted by his
followers, it was determined that persons, belonging to the society,
should not intermarry with those of other religious professions. Such an
heterogeneous union was denominated a _mixed marriage_; and persons,
engaging in such mixed marriages, were to be disowned.
People of other denominations have charged the Quakers with a more than
usually censurable pride, on account of their adoption of this law. They
consider them as looking down upon the rest of their fellow-creatures,
as so inferior or unholy, as not to deign or to dare to mix in alliance
with them, or as looking upon them in the same light as the Jews
considered the Heathen, or the Greeks the Barbarian world. And they have
charged them also with as much cruelty as pride, on the same account. "A
Quaker, they say, feels himself strongly attached to an accomplished
woman; but she does not belong to the society. He wishes to marry, but
he cannot marry her on account of its laws. Having a respect for the
society, he looks round it again, but he looks round it in vain. He
finds no one equal to this woman; no one, whom he could love so well. To
marry one in the society, while he loves another out of it better, would
be evidently wrong. If he does not marry her, he makes the greatest of
all sacrifices, for he loses that which he supposes would constitute a
source of enjoyment to him for the remainder of his life. If he marries
her, he is expelled the society; and this, without having been guilty of
an immoral offence."
One of the reasons, which the Quakers give for the adoption of this law
of disownment in the case of mixed marriages, is, that those who engage
in them violate some of the most important principles of the society,
and such indeed as are distinguishing characteristics of Quakerism from
the religion of the world.
It is a religious tenet of the Quakers, as will be shown in its proper
place, that no appointment of man can make a minister of the gospel, and
that no service, consisting of an artificial form of words, to be
pronounced on stated occasions, can constitute a religious act; for that
the spirit of God is essentially necessary to create the one, and to
produce the other. It is also another tenet with them, that no minister
of a christian church, ought to be paid for his Gospel-labours. This
latter tenet is held so sacred by the Quakers, that it affords one
reason among others, why they refuse payment of tithes, and other
demands of the church, preferring to suffer loss by distraints for them,
than to comply with them in the usual manner. Now these two principles
are essentials of Quakerism. But no person, who marries out of the
society, can be legally married without going through the forms of the
established church. Those therefore who submit to this ceremony, as
performed by a priest, acknowledge, according to the Quakers, the
validity of an human appointment of the ministry. They acknowledge the
validity of an artificial service in religion. They acknowledge the
propriety of paying a Gospel-minister for the discharge of his office.
The Quakers, therefore, consider those who marry out of the society, as
guilty of such a dereliction of Quaker-principles, that they can be no
longer considered as sound or consistent members.
But independently of the violation of these principles, which the
Quakers take as the strongest ground for their conduct on such an
occasion, they think themselves warranted in disowning, from a
contemplation of the consequences, which have been known to result from
these marriages.
In the first place, disownment is held to be necessary, because it acts
as a check upon such marriages, and because, by acting as such a check,
it prevents the family-disputes and disagreements which might otherwise
arise; for such marriages have been found to be more productive of
uneasiness than of enjoyment. When two persons of different religious
principles, a Quaker for example, and a woman of the church, join in
marriage, it is almost impossible that they should not occasionally
differ. The subject of religion arises, and perhaps some little
altercation with it, as the Sunday comes. The one will not go to church,
and the other will not go to meeting. These disputes do not always die
with time. They arise, however, more or less, according to
circumstances. If neither of the parties set any value upon their
religious opinions, there will be but little occasion for dispute. If
both of them, on the other hand, are of a serious cast, much will depend
upon the liberality of their sentiments: but, generally speaking, it
falls to the lot of but few to be free from religious prejudices. And
here it may be observed, that points in religion also may occasionally
be suggested, which may bring with them the seeds of temporary
uneasiness. People of other religious denominations generally approach
nearer to one another in their respective creeds, than the Quakers to
either of them. Most christians agree, for example, in the use of
Baptism in some form or other, and also in the celebration of the Lord's
Supper. But the Quakers, as will be shown in this volume, consider these
ordinances in a spiritual light, admitting no ceremonials in so pure a
system as that of the Christian religion.
But these differences, which may thus soon or late take their rise upon
these or other subjects, where the parties set a value on their
respective religious opinions, cannot fail of being augmented by new
circumstances in time. The parties in question have children. The
education of these is now a subject of the most important concern. New
disputes are engendered on this head, both adhering to their respective
tenets as the best to be embraced by their rising offspring. Unable at
length to agree on this point, a sort of compromise takes place. The
boys are denied, while the girls are permitted, baptism. The boys,
again, are brought up to meeting, and the girls to church, or they go
to church and meeting alternately. In the latter case, none of the
children can have any fixed principles. Nor will they be much better off
in the former. There will be frequently an opposition of each other's
religious opinions, and a constant hesitation and doubt about the
consistency of these. There are many points, which the mothers will
teach the daughters as right, or essential, but which the fathers will
teach the sons as erroneous or unimportant. Thus disputes will be
conveyed to the children. In their progress through life other
circumstances may arise, which may give birth to feelings of an
unpleasant nature. The daughters will be probably instructed in the
accomplishments of the world. They will be also introduced to the
card-room, and to assemblies, and to the theatre, in their turn. The
boys will be admitted to neither. The latter will of course feel their
pleasures abridged, and consider their case as hard, and their father as
morose and cruel. Little jealousies may arise upon this difference of
their treatment, which may be subversive of filial and fraternal
affection. Nor can religion be called in to correct them; for while the
two opposite examples of father and mother, and of sisters and brothers,
are held out to be right, there will be considerable doubts as to what
are religious truths.
The Quakers urge again in behalf of their law against mixed marriages,
that if these were not forbidden, it would be impossible to carry on the
discipline of the society. The truth of this may be judged by the
preceding remarks. For if the family were divided into two parties, as
has been just stated, on account of their religion, it would be but in a
kind of mongrel-state. If, for instance, it were thought right, that the
Quaker-part of it should preserve the simplicity of the Quaker-dress,
and the plainness of the Quaker-language, how is this to be done, while
the other part daily move in the fashions, and are taught as a right
usage, to persist in the phrases of the world? If, again, the
Quaker-part of it are to be kept from the amusements prohibited by the
society, how is this to be effected, while the other part of it speak of
them from their own experience, with rapture or delight? It would be
impossible, therefore, in the opinion of the Quakers, in so mixed a
family, to keep up that discipline, which they consider as the
corner-stone of their constitutional fabric, and which may be said to
have been an instrument in obtaining for them the character of a moral
people.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19