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A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume I (of 3) by Thomas Clarkson

T >> Thomas Clarkson >> A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume I (of 3)




To sum up the whole. The prohibitions of the Quakers, in the first
place, may become injurious, in the opinion of these philosophical
moralists, by occasioning greater evils, than they were intended to
prevent. They can never, in the second place, be relied upon as
effectual guardians of virtue, because they consider them to be founded
on false principles. And if at any time they can believe them to be
effectual in the office assigned them, they believe them to to be
productive only of a cold or a sluggish virtue.




MORAL EDUCATION.

CHAP. IX.... SECT. I.

_Reply of the Quakers to these objections--they say first, that they are
to be guided by revelation in the education of their children--and that
the education, which they adopt, is sanctioned by revelation, and by the
practice of the early Christians--they maintain again, that the
objections are not applicable to them, for they pre-suppose
circumstances concerning them, which are not true--they allow the system
of filling the mind with virtue to be the most desirable--but they
maintain that it cannot be acted upon abstractedly--and, that if it
could, it would be as dangerous, as the philosophical moralists make
their system of the prohibitions._


To these objections the Quakers would make the following reply.

They do not look up either to their own imaginations, or to the
imaginations of others, for any rule in the education of their children.
As a christian society, they conceive themselves bound to be guided by
revelation, and by revelation only, while it has any injunctions to
offer, which relate to this subject.

In adverting to the Old Testament, they find that no less than nine, out
of the ten commandments of Moses, are of a prohibitory nature, and, in
adverting to the new, that many of the doctrines of Jesus Christ and the
apostles are delivered in the form of prohibitions. They believe that
revealed religion prohibits them from following all those pursuits,
which the objections notice; for though there is no specific prohibition
of each, yet there is an implied one in the spirit of christianity,
Violent excitements of the passions on sensual subjects must be
unfavourable to religious advancement. Worldly pleasures must hinder
those, which are spiritual. Impure words and spectacles must affect
morals. Not only evil is to be avoided, but even the appearance of evil.
While therefore these sentiments are acknowledged by christianity, it is
to be presumed that the customs, which the objections notice, are to be
avoided in christian education. And as the Quakers consider these to be
forbidden to themselves, they feel themselves obliged to forbid them to
others. And, in these parcticular prohibitions, they consider themselves
as sanctioned both by the writings and the practice of the early
christians.

In looking at the objections, which have been made with a view of
replying to them, they would observe first, that these objections do not
seem to apply to them as a society, because they presuppose
circumstances concerning them, which are not true. They presuppose
first, that their moral education is founded on prohibitions solely,
whereas they endeavour both by the communication of positive precepts,
and by their example, to fill the minds of their children with a love of
virtue. They presuppose again, that they are to mix with the world, and
to follow the fashions of the world, in which case a moderate knowledge
of the latter, with suitable advice when they are followed, is
considered as enabling them to pass through life with less danger than
the prohibition of the same, whereas they mix but little with others of
other denominations. They abjure the world, that they may not imbibe its
spirit. And here they would observe, that the knowledge, which is
recommended to be obtained, by going through perilous customs is not
necessary for them as a society. For living much at home, and mixing
almost solely with one another, they consider their education as
sufficient for their wants.

If the Quakers could view the two different systems abstractedly, that
of filling the heart with virtue, and that of shutting it out from a
knowledge of vice, so that they could be acted upon separately, and so
that the first of the two were practicable, and practicable without
having to go through scenes that were dangerous to virtue, they would
have no hesitation in giving the preference to the former; because if
men could be taught to love virtue for virtue's sake, all the trouble of
prohibitions would be unnecessary.

But the Quakers would conceive that the system of filling the mind with
virtue, if acted upon abstractedly, or by itself, would be impracticable
with respect to youth. To make it practicable children must be born with
the full grown intellect and experience of men. They must have an innate
knowledge of all the tendencies, the bearings, the relations, and the
effects of virtue and vice. They must be also strong enough to look
temptation in the face; whereas youth have no such knowledge, or
experience, or strength, or power.

They would consider also the system of filling the mind with virtue, as
impossible, if attempted abstractedly or alone, because it is not in
human wisdom to devise a method of inspiring it with this essence,
without first teaching it to abstain from vice. It is impossible, they
would say, for a man to be virtuous, or to be in love with virtue,
except he were to lay aside his vicious practices. The first step to
virtue, according both to the Heathen and the Christian philosophy, is
to abstain from vice. We are to cease to do evil, and to learn to do
well. This is the process recommended. Hence prohibitions are necessary.
Hence sub-causes as well as causes are to be attacked. Hence abstinence
from vice is a Christian, though it may be a sluggish, virtue. Hence
innocence is to be aimed at by an ignorance of vice. And hence we must
prohibit all evil, if we wish for the assistance of the moral governor
of the world.

But if the system of filling the heart with virtue were ever practicable
of itself, that is, without the aid of prohibitions, yet if it be to be
followed by allowing young persons to pass through the various
amusements of the world which the Quakers prohibit, and by giving them
moral advice at the same time, they would be of opinion, that more
danger would accrue to their morality, than any, which the prohibitions
could produce. The prohibitions, as far as they have a tendency to curb
the spirit, would not be injurious, in the opinion of the Quakers,
because it is their plan in education to produce humble, and passive,
and obedient characters; and because spirit, or highmindedness, or high
feeling, is no trait in the Christian character. As far as the
curiosity, which is natural to man, would instigate him to look into
things forbidden, which he could not always do in the particular
situation of the Quakers, without the admission of intrigue, or
hypocrisy, or deceit, prohibitions would be to be considered as evils,
though they would always be necessary evils. But the Quakers would
apprehend that the same number of youth would not be lost by passing
through the ordeal of prohibitory education, as through the ordeal of
the system, which attempts to fill the mind with virtue, by inuring it
to scenes, which may be dangerous to its morality; for if tastes are to
be cultivated, and knowledge to be had, by adopting the amusements
prohibited by the Quakers, many would be lost, though some might be
advanced to virtue. For parents cannot always accompany their children
to such places, nor, if they could, can they prevent these from
fascinating. If these should fascinate, they will suggest repetitions.
But frequent repetitions, where you accustom youth to see, to hear, and
to think, what ought never to be heard, seen, or thought of by
Christians, cannot but have the effect of tinging the character in time.
This mode of education would be considered by the Quakers as answering
to that of "dear bought experience." A person may come to see the beauty
of virtue, when his constitution has been shattered by vice. But many
will perish in the midst of so hazardous a trial.[13]

[Footnote 13: Though no attempt is to be made to obtain knowledge,
according to the Christian system, through the medium of customs which
may be of immoral tendency, yet it does not follow that knowledge,
properly obtained, is not a powerful guardian of virtue. This important
subject may probably be resumed in a future volume.]


SECT. II.

_Quakers contend, by may of farther reply to the objections, that their
education has been practically or experimentally beneficial--two facts
in behalf of this assertion--the first is that young Quakers get earlier
into the wisdom of life than many others--the second, that there are few
disorderly persons in the society--error corrected, that the Quakers
turn persons out of the society, as soon as they begin to be vicious,
that it may be rescued from the disgrace of a bad character._


The answers, which have hitherto been given to the reader, may be
considered as the statement of theory against theory. But the Quakers,
would say farther upon this subject, that they have educated upon these
principles for a hundred and fifty years, and that, where they have been
attended to, their effects have been uniformly beneficial. They would be
fearful therefore of departing from a path, which they conceive their
own experience and that of their ancestors has shewn them to be safe,
and which after all their inquiries, they believe to be that which is
pointed out to them by the Christian religion.

I shall not attempt to follow up this practical argument by any history
of the lives of the Quakers, but shall content myself with one or two
simple facts, which appear to me to be materially to the point.

In the first place I may observe that it is an old saying, that it is
difficult to put old heads on young shoulders. The Quakers, however, do
this more effectually than any other people. It has often been observed
that a Quaker boy has an unnatural appearance. This idea has arisen from
his dress and his sedateness, which together have produced an
appearance of age above the youth in his countenance, or the stature of
his person. This, however, is confessing, in some degree, in the case
before us, that the discretion of age has appeared upon youthful
shoulders. It is certainly an undeniable fact, that the youth of this
society, generally speaking, get earlier into a knowledge of just
sentiments, or into a knowledge of human nature, or into a knowledge of
the true wisdom of life, than those of the world at large. I have often
been surprised to hear young Quakers talk of the folly and vanity of
pursuits, in which persons older than themselves were then embarking for
the purposes of pleasure, and which the same persons have afterwards
found to have been the pursuits of uneasiness and pain.

Let us stop for a while, just to look at the situation of some of those
young persons, who, in consequence of a different education, are
introduced to the pleasures of the world, as to those, which are to
constitute their happiness. We see them running eagerly first after this
object, then after that. One man says to himself "this will constitute
my pleasure." He follows it. He finds it vanity and vexation of spirit.
He says again "I have found my self deceived. I now see my happiness in
other pleasures, and not in those where I fancied it." He follows these.
He becomes sickened. He finds the result different from his
expectations. He pursues pleasure, but pleasure is not there.

[14]"They are lost
In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd,
And never won. Dream after dream ensues;
And still they dream, that they shall still succeed
And still are disappointed."

[Footnote 14: Cowper.]

Thus after having wasted a considerable portion of his time, he is
driven at last by positive experience into the truth of those maxims,
which philosophy and religion have established, and in the pursuit of
which alone he now sees that true happiness is to be found. Thus, in
consequence of his education, he looses two thirds of his time in tedious
and unprofitable, if not in baneful pursuits. The young Quaker, on the
other hand, comes, by means of his education, to the same maxims of
philosophy and religion, as the foundation of his happiness, at a very
early period of life, and therefore saves the time, and preserves the
constitution which the other has been wasting for want of this early
knowledge. I know of no fact more striking, or more true in the
Quaker-history, than this, namely, that the young Quaker, who is educated
as a Quaker, gets such a knowledge of human nature, and of the paths to
wisdom and happiness, at an early age, that, though he is known to be a
young mariner by the youth displayed in his countenance, he is enabled to
conduct his bark through the dangerous rocks and shoals of life, with
greater safety than many others, who have been longer on the ocean of this
probationary world.

I may observe again, as the second fact, that it is not unusual to hear
persons say, that you seldom see a disorderly Quaker, or, that a
Quaker-prostitute or a Quaker criminal is unknown. These declarations,
frequently and openly made, shew at least that there is an opinion among
the world at large, that the Quakers are a moral people.

The mention of this last fact leads me to the notice, and the
correction, of an error, which I have found to have been taken up by
individuals. It is said by these that the Quakers are very wary with
respect to their disorderly members, for that when any of them behave
ill, they are expelled the society in order to rescue it from the
disgrace of a bad character. Thus if a Quaker woman were discovered to
be a prostitute, or a Quaker man to be taken up for a criminal offence,
no disgrace could attach to this society as it would to others; for if,
in the course of a week, after a discovery had been made of their
several offences, any person were to state that two Quaker members had
become infamous, it would be retorted upon him, that they were not
members of the society.

It will be proper to observe upon the subject of this error, that it is
not so probable that the Quakers would disown these, after the discovery
of their infamy, to get rid of any stain upon the character of the
society, as it is that these persons, long before the facts could be
known, had been both admonished and disowned. For there is great truth
in the old maxim "Nemo fecit repente 'turpissimus;" or "no man was ever
all at once a rogue."

So in the case of these persons, as of all others, they must have been
vicious by degrees: they must have shewn symptoms of some deviations
from rectitude, before the measure of their iniquity could have been
completed. But by the constitution of Quakerism, as will appear soon, no
person of the society can be found erring even for the first time,
without being liable to be privately admonished. These admonitions may
be repeated for weeks, or for months, or even for years, before the
subjects of them are pronounced so incorrigible as to be disowned. There
is great reason therefore to presume, in the case before us, though the
offenders in question would have undoubtedly been disowned by the
Quakers, after they were known to be such, yet that they had been
disowned long before their offences had been made public.

Upon the whole it may be allowed, that young Quakers arrive at the
knowledge of just sentiments, or at the true wisdom of life earlier than
those, who are inured to the fashions of the world; and it may be
allowed also that the Quakers, as a body, are a moral people. Now these
effects will generally be considered as the result of education; and
though the prohibitions of the Quakers may not be considered as the only
instruments of producing these effects, yet they must be allowed to be
component parts of the system, which produces them.




DISCIPLINE OF THE QUAKERS.


CHAP. I.... SECT. I.

_Discipline of two kinds--as it relates to the regulation of the
internal affairs of the society--or to the cognizance of immoral
conduct--difficulty of procuring obedience to moral precepts--this
attempted to be obviated by George Fox--outlines of his system for this
purpose--additions made to his system since his time--objections to the
system considered--this system, or the discipline of the Quakers, as far
as this branch of it is concerned, the great foundation-stone on which
their moral education is supported._


The discipline of the Quakers is divisible into two parts. The first may
comprehend the regulation of the internal affairs of the society, such
as the management of the poor belonging to it, the granting of
certificates of removal to its members, the hearing of their appeals
upon various occasions, the taking cognizance of their proposals of
marriage, and the like. The second may comprehend the notice or
observance of the moral conduct of individuals, with a view of
preserving the rules, which the Quakers have thought it their duty to
make, and the testimonies which they have thought it their duty to bear,
as a Christian people. It is to the latter part of the discipline that I
shall principally confine myself in the ensuing part of my work.

Nothing is more true than that, when men err in their moral practice, it
is not for want of good precepts or of wholesome advice. There are few
books from which we cannot collect some moral truths; and few men so
blind, as not to be able to point out to us the boundaries of moral
good. The pages of revelation have been long unfolded to our view, and
diffusively spread among us. We have had the advantage too of having
their contents frequently and publicly repeated into our ears. And yet,
knowing what is right, we cannot pursue it. We go off, on the other
hand, against our better knowledge, into the road to evil. Now, it was
the opinion of George Fox, that something might be done to counteract
this infirmity of human nature, or to make a man keep up to the precepts
which he believed to have been divinely inspired, or, in other words,
that a system of Discipline might be devised, for regulating, exciting,
and preserving the conduct of a Christian.

This system he at length completed, and, as he believed, with the divine
aid, and introduced it into the society with the approbation of those
who belonged to it.

The great principle, upon which he founded it, was, that every christian
was bound to watch over another for his good. This principle included
two ideas. First, that vigilance over the moral conduct of individuals
was a christian duty. Secondly, that any interference with persons, who
might err, was solely for their good. Their reformation was to be the
only object in view. Hence religious advice was necessary. Hence it was
to be administered with tenderness and patience. Hence nothing was to be
left undone, while there was a hope that any thing could be done, for
their spiritual welfare.

From this view of the subject he enjoined it to all the members of his
newly formed society, to be watchful over the conduct of one another,
and not to hesitate to step in for the recovery of those, whom they
might discover to be overtaken with a fault.

He enjoined it to them again, that they should follow the order
recommended by Jesus Christ upon such occasions.[15] "If thy brother
shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and
him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if
he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but, if he neglect
to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a Heathen-man or a
Publican."

[Footnote 15: Matt. 18. 15, 16, 17.]

For the carrying of this system into execution in the order thus
recommended, he appointed Courts, or meetings for dicipline, as the
Quakers call them, with the approbation of the society, where the case
of the disorderly should be considered, if it should be brought to the
cognizance of the church; and where a record should be kept of the
proceedings of the society respecting it. In these courts or meetings
the poor were to have an equal voice with the rich.--There was to be no
distinction but in favour of religious worth; And here it is to be
remarked, that he was so desirous, that the most righteous judgment
should be pronounced upon any offender, that he abandoned the usual mode
of decision, in general so highly valued, by a majority, of voices, and
recommended the decision to be made according to the apparent will of
the virtuous, who might be present.--And as expulsion from membership
with the church was to be considered as the heaviest punishment, which
the Quakers, as a religious body, could inflict, he gave the offender an
opportunity of appealing to meetings, different from those in which the
sentence had been pronounced against him, and where the decisive voices
were again to be collected from the preponderant weight of religious
character.

He introduced also into his system of dicipline privileges in favour of
women, which marked his sense of justice, and the strength and
liberality of his mind. The men he considered undoubtedly as the heads
of the church, and from whom all laws concerning it ought to issue. But
he did not deny women on that account any power, which he thought it
would be proper for them to hold. He believed them to be capable of
great usefulness, and therefore admitted them to the honour of being, in
his own society, of nearly equal importance with the men.--In the
general duty, imposed upon members, of watching over one another, he
laid it upon the women, to be particularly careful in observing the
morals of those of then own sex. He gave them also meetings for
dicipline of their own, with the power, of recording their own
transactions, so that women were to act among courts or meetings of
women, as men among those of men. There was also to be no office in the
society belonging to the men, but he advised there should be a
corresponding one belonging to the women. By this new and impartial step
he raised the women of his own community beyond the level of women in
others, and laid the foundation of that improved strength of intellect,
dignity of mind, capability of business, and habit of humane offices,
which are so conspicuous among Female-Quakers at the present day.

With respect to the numerous offices, belonging to the discipline, he
laid it down as a principle, that the persons, who were to fill them,
were to have no other emolument or reward, than that, which a faithful
discharge of them would bring to their own consciences.

These are the general outlines of the system of discipline, as
introduced by George Fox. This system was carried into execution, as he
himself had formed it, in his own time. Additions, however, have been
made to it since, as it seemed proper, by the society at large. In the
time of George Fox, it was laid upon every member, as we have seen, to
watch over his neighbour for his spiritual welfare. But in 1698, the
society conceiving, that what was the business of every one might
eventually become the business of no one, appointed officers, whose
particular duty it should be to be overseers of the morals of
individuals; thus hoping, that by the general vigilance enjoined by
George Fox, which was still to continue, and by the particular vigilance
then appointed, sufficient care would be taken of the morals of the
whole body. In the time, again, of George Fox, women had, only their
monthly and quarterly meetings for discipline, but it has since been
determined, that they should have their yearly meetings equally with the
men. In the time, again, of George Fox, none but the grave members were
admitted into the meetings for discipline, but it has been since agreed,
that young persons should have the privilege of attending them, and
this, I believe, upon the notion, that. While these meetings would
quality them for transacting the business of the society, they might
operate as schools far virtue.

This system of discipline, as thus introduced by George Fox, and as thus
enlarged by the society afterwards, has not escaped, notwithstanding the
loveliness of its theory, the censure of the world.

It has been considered in the first place, as a system of espionage, by
which one member is made a spy upon, or becomes an informer against
another. But against this charge it would be observed by the Quakers,
that vigilance over morals is unquestionably a Christian duty. It would
be observed again that the vigilance which is exercised in this case, is
not with the intention of mischief, as in the case of spies and
informers, but with the intention of good. It is not to obtain money,
but to preserve reputation and virtue. It is not to persecute but to
reclaim. It is not to make a man odious, but to make him more
respectable. It is never an interference with innocence. The
watchfulness begins to be offensive only, where delinquency is begun.

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