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

But let us trace this species of mourning farther, and let us now more
particularly look at the example of our own country for the elucidation
of the point in question. The same Gazette, which gave birth to this
black influenza at court, spreads it still farther. The private
gentlemen of the land undertake to mourn also. You see them accordingly
in the streets, and in private parties, and at public places, in their
mourning habits. Nor is this all. Military officers, who have fought
against the armies of the deceased, wear black crapes over their arms in
token of the same sorrow.

But the fever does not stop even here. It still spreads, and in tracing
its progress, we find it to have attacked our merchants. Yes, the
disorder has actually got upon _change_. But what have I said? Mourning
habits upon change! Where the news of an army cut to pieces, produces
the most cheerful countenances in many, if it raises the stocks but an
half per cent. Mourning habits upon change, where contracts are made for
human flesh and blood! Where plans that shall consign cargoes of human
beings to misery and untimely death, and their posterity to bondage, are
deliberately formed and agreed upon! O sorrow, sorrow! what hast thou
to do upon change, except in the case of commercial losses, or
disappointed speculation! But to add to this _disguised pomp_, as the
Quakers call it, not one of ten thousand of the mourners, ever saw the
deceased prince; and perhaps ninety nine in the hundred, of all who
heard of him, reprobated his character when alive.

CHAP. III.

_Occupations of the Quakers--Agriculture declining among them--Probable
reasons of this decline--Country congenial to the quietude of mind
required by their religion--Sentiments of Cowper--Congenial also to the
improvement of their moral feelings--Sentiments of William
Penn--Particularly suited to them as lovers of the animal creation._

The Quakers generally bring up their children to some employment. They
believe that these, by having an occupation, may avoid evils, into which
they might otherwise fall, if they had upon their hands an undue
proportion of vacant time. "Friends of all degrees, says the book of
extracts, are advised to take due care to breed up their children in
some useful and necessary employment, that they may not spend their
precious time in idleness, which is of evil example, and tends much to
their hurt."

The Quakers have been described to be a domestic people, and as
peculiarly cherishing domestic happiness. Upon this principle it is,
combined with the ties of their discipline and peculiar customs, that
we scarcely find any of this society quitting their country, except for
America, to reside in foreign parts. If it be a charge against the
Quakers, that they are eager in the pursuit of wealth, let it at least
be mentioned in their favour, that, in their accumulation of it, they
have been careful not to suffer their knowledge to take advantage of the
ignorance of others, and to keep their hands clear of the oppression,
and of the blood of their fellow-creatures.

In looking among the occupations of the Quakers, we shall find some, who
are brought up as manufacturers and mechanics; but the number of these
is small.

Others, but these are few, follow the sea. There may be here and there a
mate or captain in the coasting employ. In America, where they have
great local and other advantages, there may be more in the seafaring
line. But, in general, the Quakers are domestic characters, and prefer
home.

There are but few also, who follow the professions. Their education and
their religion exclude them from some of these. Some, however, are to be
found in the department of medicine: and others, as conveyancers, in the
law.

Several of the Quakers follow agriculture. But these are few, compared
with the rest of the society, or compared with the number of those who
formerly followed a rural life. Almost all the Quakers were originally
in the country, and but few of them in the towns. But this order of
things is reversing fast. They are flocking into the towns, and are
abandoning agricultural pursuits.

The reasons, which may be given for this change, may be the following.
It is not at all unlikely but that tithes may have had some influence in
producing it. I am aware, however, it will be said, that a Quaker,
living in the country, and strongly principled against these, would
think it a dereliction of his duty to leave it on this account, and
would remain upon the principle, that an abode there, under the annual
exercise of his testimony, would, in a religions point of view, add
strength to his strength. But it must be observed; on the other hand,
that where men are not obliged to remain under grievous evils, and can
get rid of them, merely by changing their occupation in life, and this
honourably, it is in human nature to do it. And so far tithes, I
believe, have had an influence, in driving the Quakers into the towns.
Of later years, as the society has grown thinner in the country, I
believe new reasons have sprung up; for the Quakers have had less
opportunity of society with one another. They have been subjected, also
to greater inconvenience in attending their religious meetings. Their
children also have been more exposed to improper connexions in marriage.
To which it may be added, that the large and rapid profits frequently
made in trade, compared with the generally small and slow returns from
agricultural concerns, may probably have operated with many, as an
inducement to such a change.

But whatever reasons may have induced them to quit the country, and to
settle in the towns, no temporal advantages can make up to them, as a
society, the measure of their loss. For when we consider that the
Quakers never partake of the amusements of the world; that their worldly
pleasures are chiefly of a domestic nature; that calmness, and quietude,
and abstraction from worldly thoughts, to which rural retirement is
peculiarly favourable, is the state of mind which they themselves
acknowledge to be required by their religion, it would seem that the
country was peculiarly the place for their habitations.

It would seem, also as if, by this forsaking of the country, they had
deprived themselves of many opportunities of the highest enjoyment of
which they are capable as Quakers. The objects in the country are
peculiarly favourable to the improvement of morality in the exercise of
the spiritual feelings. The bud and the blossom, the rising and the
falling leaf, the blade of corn and the ear, the seed time and the
harvest, the sun that warms and ripens, the cloud that cools and emits
the fruitful shower; these, and an hundred objects, afford daily food
for the religious growth of the mind. Even the natural man is pleased
with these. They excite in him natural ideas, and produce in him a
natural kind of pleasure. But the spiritual man experiences a sublimer
joy. He sees none of these without feeling both spiritual improvement
and delight. It is here that he converses with the Deity in his works:
It is here that he finds himself grateful for his goodness--that he
acknowledges his wisdom--that he expresses his admiration of his power.

The poet Cowper, in his contemplation of a country life, speaks forcibly
on this subject.

"O friendly to the best pursuits of man,
Friendly to _thought_, to _virtue_, and to _peace_,
Domestic life, in rural leisure pass'd!
Few know thy value, and few taste thy sweets;
Though many boast thy favours, and affect
To understand and choose these for their own
But foolish man _forgoes his proper bliss_,
Ev'n as his first progenitor, and quits,
Though plac'd in Paradise, (for earth has still
Some traces of her youthful beauty left,)
_Substantial happiness_ for _transient joy_.
Scenes form'd for _contemplation_, and to _nurse_
The _growing seeds of wisdom_, that suggest
By every pleasing image they present,
Reflections, _such as meliorate the heart,
Compose the passions, and exalt the mind."_

William Penn, in the beautiful letter which he left his wife and
children before his first voyage to America, speaks also in strong terms
upon the point in question.

"But agriculture, says he, is especially in my eye. Let my children be
husbandmen and housewives. This occupation is industrious, healthy,
honest, and of good example. Like Abraham and the holy ancients, who
pleased God, and obtained a good report, this leads to consider the
_works of God_, and _nature of things that are good_, and diverts the
mind from _being taken up_ with the _vain arts and inventions of a
luxurious world_." And a little farther on he says, "_Of cities and
towns, of concourse beware_. The _world is apt to stick close_ to those,
who have _lived and got wealth there_. A _country life and estate_, I
like best for my children. I prefer a decent mansion of a hundred pounds
a year, to ten thousand pounds in London, or such like place, _in the
way of trade_."

To these observations it may he added, that the country, independently
of the opportunity it affords for calmness and quietude of mind, and the
moral improvement of it in the exercise of the spiritual feelings, is
peculiarly fitted for the habitation of the Quakers, on account of their
peculiar love for the animal creation. It would afford them a wide range
for the exercise of this love, and the improvement of the benevolent
affections. For tenderness, if encouraged, like a plant that is duly
watered, still grows. What man has ever shown a proper affection for the
brute creation, who has been backward in his love of the human race?

CHAP. IV.

SECT. I.

_Trade--Trade seldom considered as a question of morals--But Quakers
view it in this light--Prohibit the slave-trade--Privateering
--Manufactories of weapons of war--Also trade where the revenue is
defrauded--Hazardous enterprises--Fictitious paper--Insist upon
punctuality to words and engagements--Advise an annual inspection of
their own affairs--Regulations in case of bankruptcy._

I stated in the last chapter, that some of the Quakers, though these
were few in number, were manufacturers and mechanics; that others
followed the sea; that, others were to be found in the medical
profession, and in the law; and that others were occupied in the
concerns of a rural life. I believe with these few exceptions, that the
rest of the society may be considered as engaged in trade.

Trade is a subject, which seldom comes under the discussion of mankind
as a moral question. If men who follow it, are honest and punctual in
their dealings, little is thought of the nature of their occupations,
or of the influence of these upon their minds. It will hardly, however,
be denied by moralists, that the buying and selling of commodities for
profit, is surrounded with temptation, and is injurious to pure,
benevolent, or disinterested feelings; or that where the mind is
constantly intent upon the gaining of wealth, by traffic, it is
dangerously employed. Much less will it be denied, that trade is an
evil, if any of the branches of it through which men acquire their
wealth, are productive of mischief either to themselves or others. If
they are destructive to the health of the inferior agents, or to the
morality of any of the persons concerned in them, they can never be
sanctioned by Christianity.

The Quakers have thought it their duty, as a religious body, to make
several regulations on this subject.

In the first place they have made it a rule, that no person,
acknowledged to be in profession with them, shall have any concern in
the slave-trade.

The Quakers began to consider this subject, as a Christian body, so
early as in the beginning of the last century. In the year 1727, they
passed a public censure upon this trade. In the year 1758, and
afterwards in the year 1761, they warned and exhorted all in profession
with them "to keep their hands clear of this unrighteous gain of
oppression." In the yearly meeting of 1763, they renewed their
exhortation in the following words: "We renew our exhortation, that
Friends every where be especially careful to keep their hands clear of
giving encouragement in any shape to the slave-trade; it being evidently
destructive of the natural rights of mankind, who are all ransomed by
one Saviour, and visited by one divine light in order to salvation; a
traffic calculated to enrich and aggrandize some upon the miseries of
others; in its nature abhorrent to every just and tender sentiment, and
contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel."

In the same manner, from the year 1763, they have publicly manifested a
tender concern for the happiness of the injured Africans, and they have
not only been vigilant to see that none of their own members were
concerned in this impious traffic, but they have lent their assistance
with other Christians in promoting its discontinuance.

They have forbidden also the trade of privateering in war. The Quakers
consider the capture of private vessels by private persons, as a robbery
committed on the property of others, which no human authority can make
reconcileable to the consciences of honest individuals. And upon this
motive they forbid it, as well as upon that of their known profession
against war.

They forbid also the trade of the manufacturing of gun-powder, and of
arms or weapons of war, such as swords, guns, pistols, bayonets, and the
like, that they may stand clear of the charge of having made any
instrument, the avowed use of which is the destruction of human life.

They have forbidden also all trade, that has for its object the
defrauding of the king either of his customs or his excise. They are not
only not to smuggle themselves, but they are not to deal in such goods
as they know, or such as they even suspect, to be smuggled; nor to buy
any article of this description, even for their private use. This
prohibition is enjoined, because all Christians ought "to render to
Caesar the things that are Caesars," in all cases where their
consciences do not suffer by doing it: because those, who are accessory
to smuggling, give encouragement to perjury and bloodshed, these being
frequently the attendants of such unlawful practices; and because they
do considerable injury to the honest trader.

They discourage also concerns in "hazardous enterprises," in the way of
trade. Such enterprisses are apt to disturb the tranquillity of the
mind, and to unfit if for religious exercise. They may involve also the
parties concerned, and their families, in ruin. They may deprive them
again of the means of paying their just debts, and thus render them
injurious to their creditors. Members, therefore, are advised to be
rather content with callings which may produce small but certain
profits, than to hazard the tranquillity of their minds, and the
property of themselves and others.

In the exercise of those callings which are deemed lawful by the
society, two things are insisted upon: first, that their members "never
raise and circulate any fictitious kind of paper credit, with
endorsements and acceptances, to give it an appearance of value without
an intrinsic reality:" secondly, that they should be particularly
attentive to their words, and to the punctual performance of their
engagements, and on no account delay their payments beyond the time they
have promised. The society have very much at heart the enforcement of
the latter injunction, not only because all christians are under an
obligation to do these things, but because they wish to see the high
reputation of their ancestors, in these respects, preserved among those
of their own day. The early Quakers were noted for a scrupulous
attention to their duty, as Christians, in their commercial concerns.
One of the great clamours against them, in the infancy of their
institution, was, that they would get all the trade. It was nothing but
their great honour in their dealings, arising from religious principle,
that gave birth to this uproar, or secured them a more than ordinary
portion of the custom of the world in the line of their respective
trades.

Among other regulations made by the Quakers on the subject of trade, it
is advised publicly to the members of the society, to inspect the state
of their affairs once a year. And lest this advice should be
disregarded, the monthly meetings are directed to make annual
appointments of suitable Friends to communicate it to the members
individually. But independently of this public recommendation, they are
earnestly advised by their book of extracts, to examine their situations
frequently. This is done with a view, that they may see how they stand
with respect to themselves and the world at large; that they may not
launch out into commercial concerns beyond their strength, nor live
beyond their income, nor go on longer in their business than they can
pay their debts.

If a Quaker, after this inspection of his affairs, should find himself
unable to pay his just debts, he is immediately to disclose his affairs
to some judicious members of the society, or to his principal creditors,
and to take their advice how he is to act; but to be particularly
careful not to pay one creditor in preference to another.

When a person of the society becomes a bankrupt, a committee is
appointed by his own monthly meeting, to confer with him on his affairs.
If the bankruptcy should appear, by their report, to have been the
result of misconduct, he is disowned. He may, however, on a full
repentance, (for it is a maxim with the society, that "true repentance
washes put all stains,") and by a full payment of every man his own, be
admitted into membership again; or if he has begun to pay his creditors,
and has made arrangements satisfactory to the society for paying them,
he may be received as a member, even before the whole of the debt is
settled.

If it should appear, on the other hand, that the bankruptcy was the
unavoidable result of misfortune, and not of imprudence, he is allowed
to continue in the society.

But in either of these cases, that is, where a man is disowned and
restored, or where he has not been disowned at all, he is never
considered as a member, entitled to every privilege of the society,
till he has paid the whole of the debts. And the Quakers are so strict
upon this point, that if a person has paid ten shillings in the pound,
and his creditors have accepted the composition, and the law has given
him his discharge, it is insisted upon that he pays the remaining ten as
soon as he is able. No distance of time will be any excuse to the
society for his refusal to comply with this honourable law. Nor will he
be considered as a full member, as I observed before, till he has paid
the uttermost farthing; for no collection for the poor, nor any legacy
for the poor, or for other services of the society, will be received
from his purse, while any thing remains of the former debt. This rule of
refusing charitable contributions on such occasions, is founded on the
principle that money, taken from a man in such a situation, is taken
from his lawful creditors; and that such a man can have nothing to give,
while he owes any thing to another.

It may be observed of this rule or custom, that as it is founded in
moral principle, so it tends to promote a moral end. When persons of
this description see their own donations dispensed with, but those of
the rest of the meeting taken, they are reminded of their own situation,
and of the desirableness of making the full satisfaction required. The
custom, therefore, operates as a constant memento, that their debts are
still hanging over them, and prompts to new industry and anxious
exertion for their discharge. There are many instances of Quakers, who
have paid their composition as others do, but who, after a lapse of many
years, have surprised their former creditors by bringing them the
remaining amount of their former debts. Hence the Quakers are often
enabled to say, what few others can say on the same subject, that they
are not ultimately hurtful to mankind, either by their errors, or by
their misfortunes.

SECT. II.

_But though the Quakers have made these regulations, the world find
fault with many of their trades or callings--Several of these
specified--Standard proposed by which to examine them--Some of these
censurable by this standard--and given up by many Quakers on this
account, though individuals may still follow them._

But though the Quakers have made these beautiful regulations concerning
trade, it is manifest that the world are not wholly satisfied with their
conduct on this subject. People charge them with the exercise of
improper callings, or of occupations inconsistent with the principles
they profess.

It is well known that the Quakers consider themselves as a highly
professing people; that they declaim against the follies and vanities of
the world; and that they bear their testimony against civil customs and
institutions, even to personal suffering. Hence, professing more than
others, more is expected from them. George Fox endeavoured to inculcate
this idea into his new society. In his letter to the yearly meeting in
1679, he expresses himself as follows: "The world also does expect more
from Friends than from other people, because they profess more.
Therefore you should be more just than others in your words and
dealings, and more righteous, holy, and pure, in your lives and
conversations; so that your lives and conversations may preach. For the
world's tongues and mouths have preached long enough; but their lives
and conversations have denied what their tongues have professed and
declared." I may observe, therefore, that the circumstance of a more
than ordinary profession of consistency, and not any supposed immorality
on the part of the Quakers, has brought them, in the instances alluded
to, under the censure of the world. Other people, found in the same
trades or occupations, are seldom noticed as doing wrong. But when men
are set as lights upon a hill, blemishes will be discovered in them,
which will be overlooked among those who walk in the vale below.

The trades or occupations which are usually condemned as improper for
Quakers to follow, are numerous. I shall not therefore specify them all.
Those, however, which I purpose to select for mention, I shall accompany
with all the distinctions which equity demands on the occasion.

The trade of a distiller, or of a spirit-merchant, is considered as
objectionable if in the hands of a Quaker.

That of a cotton manufacturer, who employs a number of poor children in
the usual way, or in a way which is destructive to their morals and to
their health, is considered as equally deserving of censured.[4]

[Footnote 4: Poor children are frequently sent by parishes to
cotton-mills. Little or no care is taken of their morals. The men, when
grown up, frequently become drunken, and the girls debauched. But the
evil does not stop here. The progeny of these, vitiated by the
drunkenness and debauchery of their parents, have generally diseased and
crippled constitutions, which they perpetuate to a new generation; after
which the whole race, I am told, generally becomes extinct. What
Christian can gain wealth at the expense of the health, morals, and
happiness of his fellow-creatures?]

There is a calling which is seldom followed by itself: I mean the
furnishing of funerals, or the serving of the pall. This is generally in
the hands of Cabinet-makers, or of Upholsterers, or of woollen-drapers.
Now if any Quaker should be found in any of these occupations, and if he
should unite with these that of serving the pall, he would be considered
by such an union, as following an objectionable trade. For the Quakers
having discarded all the pomp, and parade, and dress, connected with
funerals, from their own practice, and this upon moral principles, it
is insisted upon, that they ought not to be accessary to the promotion
of such ceremonials among others.

The trade of a printer, or bookseller, when exercised by a Quaker, has
not escaped the animadversions of the world. A distinction, however,
must be made here. They who condemn this calling, can never do it
justly, but in supposed cases. They must suppose, for example, that the
persons in question follow these callings generally, or that they do not
make an exception with respect to the printing or selling of such books
as may convey poison to the morals of those who read them.

A Quaker-tailor is considered as a character, which cannot consistently
exist. But a similar distinction must be made here as in a former case.
The world cannot mean that if a Quaker confines himself to the making of
clothes for his own society, he is reproachable for so doing; but only
if he makes clothes for every one without distinction, following, as he
is ordered, all the varying fashions of the world.

A Quaker-hatter is looked upon in the same light as a Quaker-tailor. But
here a distinction suggests itself again. If he make only plain and
useful hats for the community and for other Quakers, it cannot be
understood that he is acting inconsistently with his religious
profession. The charge can only lie against him, where he furnishes the
hat with the gold and the silver-lace, or the lady's riding-hat with its
ornaments, or the military hat with its lace, cockade, and plumes. In
this case he will be considered as censurable by many, because he will
be looked upon as a dealer in the superfluities condemned by his own
religion.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19