PRICE TWO SHILLINGS. 
 
 THE 
 
 IBERNIAN ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THEIR DECLENSION. 
 
 BY A FRIEND OF THE FRIENDS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 ETT, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT 
 
 1859. 
 
BAT 
 
 WW* 
 
THE HIBERNIAN ESSAY 
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
V 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 W. BENNETT, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT, 
 LONDON. 
 
THE 
 
 HIBERNIAN ESSAY 
 
 MAY 11 1918 
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS^ , fiJMlst( 
 
 AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR DECLENSION. 
 
 BY A FRIEND OF THE FRIENDS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 A W. BENNETT, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT. 
 
 1859. 
 
The following advertisement will sufficiently explain the circum- 
 stances under which this Essay was written : — 
 
 " SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 " Prize Essay. 
 
 " A Gentleman who laments that, notwithstanding the popula 
 tion of the United Kingdom has more than doubled itself in the 
 last fifty years, the Society of Friends is less in number than at the 
 beginning of the century ; and who believes that the Society at one 
 time bore a powerful witness to the world concerning some of the 
 errors to which it is most prone, and some of the truths which are 
 the most necessary to it ; and that this witness has been gra- 
 dually becoming more and more feeble, is anxious to obtain light 
 respecting the causes of this change. He offers a prize of one 
 hundred guineas for the best Essay that shall be written on the 
 subject, and a prize of fifty guineas for the one next in merit. 
 
 u He has asked three gentlemen, not members of the Society of 
 Friends, to pronounce judgment on the Essays which shall be sent 
 to them. They have all some acquaintance with the history of the 
 Society, and some interest in its existing members, and as they are 
 likely to regard the subject from different points of view, he trusts 
 that their decision will be impartial ; that they will not expect 
 to find their own opinions represented in the Essays, and that they 
 will choose the one which exhibits the most thought and Christian 
 
vi 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 earnestness, whether it is favourable or unfavourable to the Society; 
 whether it refers the diminution of its influence to degeneracy, — to 
 something wrong in the original constitution of the body, — to the 
 rules which it has adopted for its government, — or to any extraneous 
 cause. 
 
 " Kev. F. D. Maurice, Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn ; Professor 
 J. P. Nicholl, Glasgow ; and Eev. E. S. Pryce, Gravesend ; have 
 agreed to act as adjudicators ; to whom the Essays may be sent 
 postage free, to the care of C. S. King, Esq., Messrs. Smith and 
 Elder, Cornhill, on or before 1st October, 1858. Each Essay to 
 be accompanied by a sealed letter containing the name and address 
 of the writer ; the Essay and letter to bear the same motto. The 
 MSS. of the unsuccessful Essays will be returned, on application, 
 with their letters unopened, and successful Essays become the pro- 
 perty of the Donor. " 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE L 
 
 ON THE PAST AND PRESEFT STATE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Design of the Creator to advance his knowledge in the earth — This work a 
 gradual one — Instances from history, sacred and profane — Spreading of 
 Christianity — Luther and the reformation — The Friends in their turn called 
 to take a part in this work — Their " witness to the truth " — Their moral 
 practices and habits — Their position in the days of the Stuarts and Cromwell 
 — The Puritans — Extension of the Society during its first century — Their 
 state after that time— Their present greatly reduced numbers in the 
 United Kingdom — The Society not only diminished but degenerated — 
 Light become feeble, how far? — Surrounding darkness not so great now as 
 at their rise — Great weakness and falling off still apparent — Exhibited by 
 the present state of their ministry — Their meetings for worship and discipline 
 — Their peculiar habits — Late indications of improvement 1 
 
 CHAPTEE n. 
 
 ON THE CAUSES OF THEIR DEGENERACY AND DECLENSION. 
 
 Possibihty of imperfection in their original constitution — Instances of this 
 in other similar cases — Individuals and societies prone to retain traces of 
 their former state after reformation — Quakerism tinctured with some of the 
 imperfections of Puritanism — Religious causes of degeneracy — Want of 
 clearness — Instances from Barclay's " Apology " — Errors in education 
 arising from this cause — Present weak state of their ministry — Causes to 
 which this may be assigned — Elders and their duties — Friends' public 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 worship — Want of a sufficient ministry, how far injurious — Limited extent 
 of an edifying ministry at present— Their non-observance of "the Sacra- 
 ments " — Great importance of individual faithfulness in a society so consti- 
 tuted — Want of this a great cause of degeneracy — Moral habits and peculiar 
 practices of the Friends — Errors arising out of overstraining their "pecu- 
 liarities" — Excellence of their system of Church government or "discipline" 
 — This still capable of improvement — "Disowning" too frequent — Injury 
 arising from want of lively interest — Defects in their rules considered — 
 Marriage laws — Present social state — Scarcity of marriages — Appeal to 
 their young men respecting this — The construction of their rules respecting 
 " plainness of speech, behaviour, and apparel " — want of unanimity in their 
 present ideas as to the payment of "tithe rent-charge" — Oversight — 
 The " overseers " and their duties — Excellent advices of the Society on this 
 point — Private oversight inculcated — Want of attention to this important 
 point — The two elements of well constituted societies, the conservative and 
 the progressive — Too great a preponderance of either injurious — How far 
 the Friends have suffered from this during the past half-century — Increase 
 of riches assigned by some as a cause of declension — Is it so ? — Should it be 
 so ? — Has the " narrow way " been made narrower than designed in best 
 wisdom ? — In the road to wealth he many temptations — Summary of the 
 arguments and causes of declension — Means of restoration — Conclusion 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF THE SOCIETY OF 
 FRIENDS. 
 
 If we take an expansive review of the great events of the world's 
 history, from the earliest ages of man down to the present time, and 
 then, with a full faith in God's promise, allow the mind's eye to 
 glance forward to that glorious day assuredly coming, " when the 
 knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the 
 seas," we cannot but recognise an Omniscient and Omnipotent 
 Hand, controlling those events, and directing them from a^e to a^e 
 to the fulfilment of those grand issues, which He in His excellent 
 wisdom conceived " before the mountains were brought forth." Yes ; 
 the Great Creator and Designer of all has ever held the reins of 
 human events in His hands ; and from the day when our first parents 
 were sent forth from His presence, with all the penalties of their 
 fallen nature attached to them and their posterity, He has ever 
 been mindful of His creature man, and ever carried forward His 
 work according to His inscrutable will. His glorious and beneficent 
 design, that the knowledge of Him should yet spread and cover the 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FBIENDS, 
 
 earth ; becomes apparent at many prominent points in the history of 
 the past. We see it exhibited in the preservation of Noah, in the 
 separation of Abraham as the progenitor of a chosen people, and in 
 the whole history of the Jews to the coming of His Son, to redeem 
 the world from sin and its consequences, to do away with the forms 
 and ordinances, at first wisely designed for that peculiar people, but 
 now fulfilled in his coming, to teach to the world a pure and perfect 
 morality and to preach to universal man such a religion as man 
 had never yet known, — the ever-blessed and simple truths of 
 Christianity, — to lay down his life for the sins of the world, and to 
 bequeath to us his precious Spirit, " to lead us into all truth." 
 
 And do not the events of General History also meet our 
 view, and so touch on these as to contribute to the great end? 
 We see kingdoms and empires rising into wonderful power and 
 influence : Nineveh and Babylon, Egypt and Assyria, Greece, 
 Rome, and Carthage, spreading their wings far and wide, advancing 
 from the rudeness of barbarism to' a high state of civilization, ful- 
 filling each its destiny upon earth and then sinking into obscurity 
 as its purpose was accomplished ; but all so worked together that 
 the world was to a wonderful degree prepared for the appearance of 
 the Saviour when his day arrived. The wise men from the East 
 saw his star, and came to worship him in Bethlehem. The Roman 
 Empire was tottering to its fall. The East and the West were 
 prepared for the " stone cut out without hands" which the proud 
 ruler of Babylon saw in his dream, and " which brake in pieces the 
 iron, the brass and the clay," and which " became a great moun- 
 tain, and filled the whole earth. "* 
 
 Was the world "filled with the knowledge of the Lord" on the 
 day when Christ Jesus its Saviour commanded his disciples to "go 
 teach and preach in all nations V No ; but a very small part of 
 the world knew even His name then. Has it progressed since? 
 
 * Dan. ii. 34, 35. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 3 
 
 Assuredly it has. The "stone" has, by the power of God, been 
 becoming " a great mountain," but the day is yet far distant when 
 it will "fill the whole earth nevertheless that day is certainly 
 approaching. 
 
 The followers of and believers in Jesus the Christ were at 
 first a poor, despised, and bitterly persecuted sect, but firm in 
 their hold of the truth they had received, and proving their faith 
 with their lives. Then the great superintending Power inclined 
 the ' hearts of kings and potentates and nations to receive the 
 knowledge of His Son, and Christianity became a name and 
 took its place amongst the religions of the world. Xext followed 
 a long course of ages, during which the pure and simple truths 
 committed by our Lord to his disciples became more and inore con- 
 taminated and corrupted by priestly influence and various inventions 
 devised by the selfishness or the pride of man. But even in this 
 corrupted state it continued to spread. The conquerors of nations 
 introduced their religion to the conquered people, and a corrupted 
 priesthood, in their lust of power and self-aggrandizement, intro- 
 duced the blessed name of Christ where it had not ere then been 
 heard. At length God wills that another great onward movement 
 should be made. He has prepared the world to receive it. Luther 
 appears, Bible in hand, telling the nations that the religion of 
 Rome has become impure, defiled, unchristianized. He takes the 
 Book containing the written words and will of God and the history 
 and doctrine of Christ, from the seclusion of the monastic library, 
 hands it to mankind and maintains the glorious truth that it is 
 theirs. The history of the Reformation is but the account of this 
 great forward movement. !Xext we have a number of what may 
 be called sub-Reformers, arising out of the spirit of religious 
 freedom evoked by the acts of Luther and his co-workers. "We 
 have Whitfield and Knox, and Wesley and Calvin, Fox, Penn and 
 Barclay ; the Puritans and the Independents, the Episcopalians and 
 the Presbyterians, the Methodists and the Quakers, each seeing 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 in its own strong light some particular religious tenet. These had 
 each, doubtless, some wise purposes to fulfil in the great course of 
 events, although we cannot say that any had attained to a perfect 
 apprehension of Christianity, in its full purity and simplicity. 
 Each and all were tinctured, more or less, by the spirit of the age 
 in which they lived. 
 
 The mission of the founders of the Society of Friends seems 
 peculiarly to have been, to put still more prominently forward 
 the Spirituality of the Christian Religion. Whilst other sects, or 
 professions, each assumed as its property some particular article 
 of faith, or practised its religion in some* particular form, the 
 Friends (or Quakers, as they were then called in derision), dis- 
 carding religious observances, endeavoured to place faith and good 
 works in their true relation to each other, asserting that religion 
 was the result of God's work on the soul, by and through His 
 Spirit — that from this influence good could alone spring (Rom. 
 vii. 18), worship could alone be rightly performed (John iv. 23), 
 Ministry alone be true, the Bible alone be properly understood and 
 appreciated (Rom. ii. 11, 12), — in short, salvation be alone accom- 
 plished (John iii. 1-21). They considered the institutions of Water 
 Baptism, and the partaking of bread and wine under the name of 
 the Lord's Supper, unnecessary forms ; believing true Baptism to be 
 that of the Spirit (Matt. iii. 11), and the Lord's Supper to be the 
 spiritual partaking of his body and blood (John vi. 51-63). They 
 refused on conscientious grounds to partake of these church 
 observances, to pay for the support of a religion opposed to their 
 own, to pander to the vanity of those in power, by addressing 
 them in a flattering manner ; and in many other ways firmly, yet 
 quietly, persisted in acting out their own belief of right. 
 
 In thus upholding the purity and freedom and spiritual nature 
 of true Christianity, did they not at that time indeed " bear a 
 powerful witness to the world concerning some of the truths which 
 are most necessary to it V 9 For are they not great truths and 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 5 
 
 necessary to be known for the regeneration of man and for the 
 forwarding of the knowledge of God upon earth, that the life of 
 the soul results from His transforming power thereupon ; that 
 religion is His work, that His Spirit is the source of all good, 
 that His teachings are perceptible by us, and if submitted to and 
 united with, will lead into a true and saving knowledge and 
 feeling of our state, of the character and offices of Christ our 
 Saviour and of the means of salvation from sin and its conse- 
 quences, which He has, in infinite mercy and beneficent wisdom, 
 provided for us ? 
 
 But besides these more important religious truths, the early 
 Friends preached to the surrounding world, and themselves prac- 
 tised despite much persecution, a stricter and higher and more 
 truly Christian morality than was then known. They upheld the 
 peaceable character of the religion of Christ, literally understood 
 and acted on his command against swearing, refused to countenance 
 or encourage the vain and demoralizing amusements of the age, 
 advocated a plain and simple attire and mode of address and con- 
 versation, and strongly insisted on truthfulness at all times and 
 strict justice in all their dealings. They were amongst the first to 
 proclaim the grievous wrong of man holding his fellow-man in 
 bondage and slavery and have by precept and example ever advo- 
 cated temperance and moderation. 
 
 At an early period of their existence as a separate religious 
 society, they arranged for their government an admirable system of 
 Church Discipline, which still continues in full operation amongst 
 them, and which has ever formed a powerful medium of unity 
 amongst themselves and of usefulness abroad wherever they have 
 thought proper to direct their energies. 
 
 In the adoption of those religious principles, and in the practice 
 of the morality which appeared to them as their natural result, they 
 firmly believed that they were led and guided by the Holy Spirit of 
 God. And are any prepared to assert, that in thus bearing such a 
 
6 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FBIENDS, 
 
 witness to the world of those great and important truths, in thus 
 condemning the serious errors to which the surrounding world was 
 then, and still is, so prone, they were only led by their own learn- 
 ing or enthusiasm ? Can we suppose for a moment that a few men, 
 comparatively ignorant and unenlightened, should appear and pro- 
 claim of their own accord, and without Divine assistance, a purer, 
 a more unformal, a simpler, and a more spiritual religion, than had 
 been proclaimed to the world since the earliest days of Christianity? 
 Was it their own pride or stubbornness that enabled them to bear 
 a long and bitter persecution, fines, imprisonment, shame and 
 reproach, even martyrdom itself, in the cause they professed? Nay, 
 rather must we not believe and admit they were sustained through 
 these sore sufferings by the Divine Arm on which they relied for 
 strength ; that it was not their own knowledge, wisdom, or inven- 
 tion, that led them to draw together as a people ; but that the same 
 Divine Power which had hitherto guided and led forward the world 
 to a larger and wider knowledge of Him, was pleased through them 
 to let in another ray of heavenly light, — a ray whose brightness 
 should not be quenched, even though the medium through which it 
 was at first admitted might in course of time become obscured ? 
 
 Assuming then that in thus upholding the spiritual nature of 
 the Christian religion they were indeed led by the Great Superin- 
 tending Power another forward step toward the important end 
 ever in view, it still would not follow that they should rest for 
 ever satisfied, that they should therefore conclude they had attained 
 to the perfection of knowledge, and that the changes ever tending 
 onwards were to cease in them. We cannot assert that such is or 
 has been a principle of their belief ; but assuredly any tendency 
 towards such a conclusion would be an error of no small magnitude ; 
 and there is ground to apprehend that in a prevalence of some such 
 feeling may be found one remote cause of their present low state. . 
 
 Previous however to entering on the consideration of those 
 causes, we must endeavour to arrive at a correct estimate of the 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 7 
 
 state of the Society, not only as to its past and present position, but 
 also as regards its present innate strength. 
 
 In looking at the origin and rise of Quakerism we must bear 
 in mind the very extraordinary circumstances, religious and poli- 
 tical, which surrounded its birth. The middle of the seventeenth 
 century was marked by one of the most important phases of 
 English history. The monarch then on the throne ere long fell 
 a sacrifice to the spirit of the age ; Feudalism was in its dying- 
 throes ; the star of Puritanism was in the ascendant, and reigned 
 paramount for a time. We see a discontented aristocracy and 
 a people struggling for a freedom of which they yet knew not 
 either the nature or the value ; and in the midst of and per- 
 vading all this a most excited and earnest element of religious 
 feeling. Society became divided and, when the effervescence sub- 
 sided, resolved itself into its two strongly-marked constituents. 
 On the one hand, we see the gay licentious cavaliers, and a 
 populace pleasure-seeking, careless of religion, and but too ready 
 to take example by the follies and vices of the Court, and imitate 
 them as they best could : on the other side, we have the deep and 
 earnest Puritan, firm yet enthusiastic in his adherence to his 
 faith, ready and willing to do battle, even to lay down his life, for 
 what he considered the cause of God. Such contending elements 
 could scarcely otherwise than result in bloodshed ; long and bitter 
 was the civil war which ensued, and many were the atrocities 
 committed on both sides. Amongst such scenes and in the midst 
 of feelings such as these, Quakerism spent its early days. A religion 
 of stem self-denial, yet of brotherly fellowship, distinguished by its 
 distrust for and abnegation of the gaieties and vanities of one of 
 the great sections of society at that day, it shows from its earliest 
 date strongly marked characteristics of its relationship to the 
 Puritanic element. But whilst possessing much of the good and 
 of the true contained in that name, — its sincerity, its earnestness, 
 its strong faith, — Quakerism went still farther, or rather say was 
 
8 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 led into yet purer paths, by the Spirit from which emanates every 
 good and perfect work. It proclaimed " Peace on earth and good- 
 will to men/' It renounced, on the one hand, the warlike and 
 bitter spirit of the Puritans ; and on the other the vain customs and 
 fashions and amusements of the Court and times of Charles II. To 
 the Puritan it said, " Put up thy sword into its sheath to the 
 vain world around, iC Come out from amongst them, and be ye 
 separate, saith the Lord ; touch not the unclean thing ; and I 
 will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my 
 sons and my daughters, saith the Lord." (2 Cor. vi. 17.) 
 
 In the earlier days of the Society of Friends it indeed was " a 
 poor and despised sect." The few humble individuals who first 
 advocated its principles were subjected to much persecution. Con- 
 tempt and ridicule were heaped upon them ; but they -patiently 
 endured all for the sake of the truth they professed. Despite of 
 legal enactments passed against them, and the enforcement of 
 stringent laws of a former age, they firmly persisted in the 
 endeavour to keep a conscience void of offence toward God, and 
 hesitated not, both in season, and frequently out of season too, to 
 declare both publicly and privately, in preaching and in writing, the 
 truths they had received, and which they believed themselves bound 
 to uphold to the world. Gradually the knowledge of their principles 
 spread and they were accepted by others, and the commencement of 
 the eighteenth century saw meetings of Friends established through- 
 out most parts of the United Kingdom. The peculiar tone of 
 religious feeling in the days of the Protectorate was particularly 
 favourable to the spread of Quakerism. In Ireland, at the present 
 day, the ancestors of many of the oldest and largest families were 
 amongst the settlers who went there at the time of CromwelPs 
 invasion of that country j and throughout England large numbers 
 can trace their names back to the ranks of the Roundheads. The 
 Pilgrim Fathers, who founded a home on the shores of America, and 
 spread and increased, and became more or less amalgamated with 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 9 
 
 the surrounding inhabitants, introduced to that then far distant 
 land their self-denying and earnest faith, and although they after- 
 wards proved they had not left in their old home the angry and 
 bitter spirit with which their religion was tinged, yet they contri- 
 buted largely to swell the numbers of the Friends after a settlement 
 was made there by William Penn, whose name still lives in the title 
 of the great Quaker province of Pennsylvania. 
 
 During the eighteenth century the principles of the Society 
 continued to spread, and the records of various meetings show the 
 number of convincements from time to time to have been very 
 considerable. Persecution gradually ceased ; many of the laws 
 which worked against them were either modified or repealed; not 
 a few enactments favourable to them were passed ; and from that 
 time to the present day each year has seen the people more and 
 more inclined to appreciate and respect them as a religious sect, the 
 Government more and more willing to remove their grievances and 
 recognise their right to perfect liberty of conscience, and to all the 
 other benefits which the truly free and enlightened constitution of 
 Great Britain can grant to any religious community within its 
 borders. 
 
 According to the disciplinary rules every child born "in the 
 Society/' — that is, whose parents are both in membership at the 
 time of its birth, — is itself a member, is taken cognizance of by the 
 meeting to which it belongs, and is expected and required to be 
 educated in the principles and according to the habits of the 
 Society. 
 
 Might it not then be naturally expected that such a sect, con- 
 stantly augmented by births within its own borders, and surrounded 
 by a population disposed increasingly to appreciate its claims as 
 a religious body, should go on increasing its numbers largely? 
 And in an age proverbially an inquiring one, in which numbers, 
 dissatisfied with the forms or the absurdities in which they were 
 educated, are anxiously inquiring " What is Truth V s why should 
 
10 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 not the principles, which the Friends believe to be the pure and 
 simple truths of Christianity, be laid before seeking minds, and, 
 might we not reasonably suppose that convincements would follow 
 in a largely increasing ratio ? But what is the fact ? Speaking for 
 the United Kingdom only* (for the subject of our inquiry does not 
 extend further), we apprehend, that during the last half-century, 
 the Society, so far from adding to itself even in the same increasing 
 ratio as the rest of the population, has considerably decreased in 
 numbers. 
 
 In the absence of any general statistical account, — none such 
 being kept by the Society,' — we are compelled to deduce our con- 
 clusions as to its numerical strength from such other means as are 
 within our reach. The best means then afforded us is by ascertain- 
 ing whether all the meetings once established are still kept up, and 
 whether the numbers belonging to them are as large as formerly. 
 If not, whether the discontinuance is consequent on the decrease of 
 numbers, and whether such decrease can be accounted for by a 
 corresponding augmentation in any other meetings. We find that 
 throughout the kingdom many meetings have been altogether 
 discontinued ; that in many places where they are still held the 
 numbers are greatly reduced ; and that, although in a few of the 
 larger meetings a considerable increase has taken place, almost 
 entirely by the removal of Friends to reside there, yet that even this 
 is by no means equal to the diminution throughout the country. t 
 We are thus safely warranted in the conclusion that a considerable 
 
 * It has been stated, and we believe truly, that the Society is on the 
 increase in America. The cause of this difference may be an interesting 
 subject of inquiry ; but it is not our present business. The circumstances 
 of social life are widely different in the two countries, and good reasons 
 could easily be shown for the different results. 
 
 t The number of Friends who have emigrated either to America or 
 Australia during the past half-century is comparatively very small, and 
 would not by any means account for the deficiency. 
 
* 
 
 AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 11 
 
 decrease has occurred. The number now united to the Society by 
 convincement is exceedingly small. 
 
 But our review of the present state would be very incomplete 
 indeed did we only glance at their comparative Numbers. The 
 important question remains as to their Internal Vitality. Are the 
 simple truths of Christianity which were introduced and upheld by 
 Fox, Penn and Barclay, as strong and as flourishing principles of 
 mind and of action as they were in the early days of Quakerism ? 
 Have these principles been thoroughly understood and carried out 
 during the past half or the past whole century ? Do the Friends 
 now bear the powerful witness to the world that they once did con- 
 cerning many of its errors, and do they still cease not to teach and 
 to preach the truths they received ? Is their light becoming feeble ? 
 — has its brightness indeed become dull ? To answer these inquiries, 
 to see how far the gold has become dim, and to discover and unfold 
 the causes of the change, is the next subject for our consideration. 
 
 To enable us to form an impartial judgment of the comparative 
 brightness of the light which the early Friends believed themselves 
 called upon " to let shine before men/' and that now held up to the 
 world by them, we must again call to mind the wide difference 
 which exists between the religious and moral tone of society in that 
 day and at the present time. Behold, on the one hand, the intrigues 
 and the exactions of the Court and Government of the unfortunate 
 Charles I. ; the zealous plottings of Cromwell and his compatriots 
 to overturn the enemies and the systems opposed to their ideas of 
 right; the licentious gaieties of the days of Charles II. ; and com- 
 pare the circumstances of those times with the vastly advanced and 
 still advancing state of things during the long reign of good old 
 King George ; and even though perfection was far from being reached, 
 either then or during the regency and succeeding reign, yet there 
 has been a powerful tendency during the present century towards a 
 more healthy action of the " higher powers and from the commence- 
 ment of the reign of our present sincerely and deservedly beloved 
 
12 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 Sovereign, we hesitate not to assert that we have not hitherto 
 known in any Court such an example of high and true and earnest 
 moral and religious feeling, united to domestic virtues of the 
 highest order, and a liberality and beneficence of thought and of 
 action which entitle our thus endeared Queen Victoria to the love 
 and the admiration of every mind capable of appreciating the good, 
 the true and the beautiful. And is it not well known that the 
 masses take the lead from those above them ? Certainly, the 
 state of general society at those times formed no exception to this 
 rule. Society plunged in civil war, with all its horrors and 
 atrocities, or even just recovering from its debasing effects, is a very 
 unhealthy soil indeed for the existence or growth of a pure 
 Christianity. As one instance, let us revert for a moment to the 
 state of our metropolis at that day. Look at the narrow and 
 ill-paved and unlighted streets reeking with filth, of which the 
 spreading of the great Plague was, in no small degree, the conse- 
 quence, and for the removal of which the great Fire was a blessing. 
 Look at the insecurity for life and property. See the citizen of 
 London guarded to his home at night by his apprentices with torch 
 in one hand and bludgeon in the other, and his own "trusty rapier" 
 by his side. See his wife and his daughters exposed to the 
 unbridled licentiousness of a corrupt aristocracy ; himself threat- 
 ened with the secret terrors of the Star Chamber. 
 
 Any one read in English history cannot but see the compara- 
 tive darkness of that time. Where were then the institutions 
 which now exist for the progress or the happiness of the people 
 — for the education of the young, for the reformation of the 
 criminal or the drunkard, for the care and recovery of the lunatic, 
 for the freedom of the slave, for the cultivation of the arts, for 
 the advancement of science, or for the many other objects for 
 which good and true men in these days combine their energies, 
 whether such objects be religious, moral, or political, or apper- 
 taining to the spread of intelligence or taste ? It, indeed, needs 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 13 
 
 no extraordinary stretch of intellect to see that the present is an 
 age of enlightenment compared with the early days of the Society 
 of Friends. Supposing, then, the Christian truths advocated at 
 first by them to be now upheld with equal earnestness and sin- 
 cerity, would they appear in as strong relief as they did against 
 the darker background of the past ? Would their light burn so 
 brightly now in the opening dawn of a better day as it did in the 
 deep shadows which surrounded its first appearance ? Naturally we 
 admit it would not appear so, even supposing the light to have 
 burned all the time with equal brightness. Therefore we must not 
 conclude that its present apparent feebleness is altogether as great 
 as would at first sight appear to be the case. Further, we see that 
 not a few of the peculiar ideas of their early days are now no longer 
 peculiar to them, having been, in the course of an advancing tide of 
 knowledge and Christian feeling, accepted and adopted, more or less, 
 by the good and the true of many other sects. The advocacy of the 
 cause of the slave, of the undeniable right of liberty of conscience, 
 of the wrong of enforcing the payment of tithes, is now no longer 
 left to them alone. The good sense and good taste of avoiding a 
 vain and superfluous style of dress, the disuse of insincere and 
 flattering language, and the denial of participation in amusements 
 of a hurtful or debasing character, are no longer the peculiarities of 
 a sect, but some amongst the healthy moral principles which an 
 improved state of society has confirmed and which now govern the 
 acts of well-thinking and sensible people throughout the kingdom. 
 And although as much cannot be said for the spread of their 
 Religious Principles, yet we apprehend that their great fundamental 
 doctrine of the Spirituality of the Kingdom of Christ, and of the 
 necessity of the Influence of His Spirit to lead into the path of 
 salvation, is, almost unconsciously to the world, becoming more and 
 more felt to be amongst the realities of religion. 
 
 If then it be true, as we have endeavoured to show, that 
 Quakerism did at first take a considerable stride in advance, yet if 
 
14 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 it then stood still, whilst surrounding society gradually came up 
 with it, can we wonder that it does not now stand as prominently 
 forward as it then did ? But, after making all due allowance for 
 the improved state of society at the present day, the questions still 
 remain, Have they really stood still and firmly held the ground 
 they once occupied ; have they advanced and gone on from strength 
 to strength ; or have they retrograded ? Is their light becoming 
 dim ; has their witness to the truth become feeble ? Whilst willing 
 to do them full justice on the one side, yet impartiality compels us 
 to acknowledge on the other that the evidence of their retrogression, 
 in many ways, is too strong to admit of any doubt. 
 
 First, then, let us look at the present state of the Ministry 
 amongst them. In numberless meetings silence reigns from one 
 end of the year to the other, except when broken by a visit from 
 an occasional travelling minister. Whilst we do not here enter 
 into the question whether true worship cannot be performed without 
 the interposition of a preacher, yet we hesitate not to assert that 
 the want of a plentiful supply of earnest and powerful Gospel 
 ministers was neither felt by the earlier Friends, nor can we 
 believe they ever contemplated such a falling off. Then it is 
 not only in this want that we see an evidence of weakness, but 
 in the quality or force of the ministry itself. Read some of 
 the fine, sound, earnest old sermons, still preserved in print, 
 of the worthy pioneers of the cause — George Fox and Stephen 
 Crisp and William Penn, and many others. And even where we 
 have not the whole sermons, read in the journals of many of the 
 early Friends what " they felt called upon to testify unto the 
 people see the powerful convictions they produced, and the 
 convincements and adhesion to the cause which followed such a 
 ministry. And compare these with the effusions which many of 
 the "acknowledged ministers" now indulge in. From thus pro- 
 nouncing what we believe to be the present painful reality, it is a 
 pleasing relief to turn to the brighter side, and freely to admit that 
 
AND THE CAUSES OE ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 15 
 
 there still are amongst them, as there have ever been, a few noble and 
 earnest servants of Christ, who themselves set free and made strong 
 by his precious Spirit, are true ministers of his word, instruments 
 of power and of blessed usefulness in his hand, to the awakening 
 of many slumbering souls and to the bringing home the Bread of 
 Life to many who have been " hungering and thirsting after righte- 
 ousness." But whilst we rejoice in thus testifying to the presence 
 of a living and true ministry still amongst them, the numbers of 
 these are so few that their presence cannot be considered an evidence 
 of increased strength in the body at large. 
 
 The comparative weakness of later times is further seen in the 
 flatness and dulness of their meetings for "Worship ; so widely different 
 indeed from those we read of, held in the midst of opposition and 
 difficulties, when the love of Christ flowed as a tide amongst them 
 and souls were refreshed and comforted by the very communicable- 
 ness of the vivid religious feeling which then prevailed. 
 
 Again, look at the working out and carrying forward of their 
 excellent and admirable system of Discipline. Instead of a full 
 attendance of their Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and of a 
 lively interest being felt and manifested by all for the healthy 
 maintenance of their little church, these affairs are, in many 
 localities, left entirely to the management of a few, who endea- 
 vour to get through the usual routine in the manner most agreeable 
 and easy to themselves, and least likely to disturb the harmony 
 of their quiet and peaceable habits. 
 
 And with regard to their cherished " Peculiarities" of Dress and 
 of Language, we are not quite clear they have adhered to first 
 principles. Has not the spirit of the principle been too much 
 sacrificed to the form ? However that may be there is certainly 
 great diversity, both of opinion and of practice, now amongst them 
 in these respects. Other circumstances of their state during the 
 past fifty years might be mentioned, if needful; but we consider 
 enough has now been said to shew that the Society has lost no 
 
16 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 inconsiderable share of its original vigour and strength; that its 
 light has indeed become dim ; that it has retrograded rather than 
 advanced with the ever-flowing current ; and that without some 
 radical change for the better it is not likely to exercise that influ- 
 ence to which its principles would undoubtedly lead, did its members 
 more clearly understand and more faithfully act upon the duties 
 prescribed to them by their profession. 
 
 A review of their present state would however be incomplete, 
 did we omit to mention that cheering indications have been 
 exhibited during the past few years of the possibility of such 
 a change. An increased degree of interest in the cause appears, in 
 many places, amongst the younger members. The system of educa- 
 tion has received a large amount of attention and is getting more 
 and more on a satisfactory basis. The formal habits into which 
 some principles, however excellent in themselves, have gradually 
 degenerated, have been questioned, and their useless, if not posi- 
 tively hurtful, tendency pointed out. There is an increasing 
 disposition to discover and amend the causes of their weakness. In 
 short, the Friends have begun to find fault with themselves ; and it 
 has been wisely said " that when we find out our faults and set 
 about repairing them, we are on the surest road to improvement f 
 for so long . as we rest satisfied with a contented self-complacency, 
 and nourish in secret our pride or our exclusiveness, we have but 
 little chance of ever seeing our real state, and are very unlikely 
 indeed to make any progress towards a more healthy state of 
 things. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OE ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE CAUSES OF THEIR DEGENERACY AND DECLENSION. 
 
 We believe that, on an impartial examination, it will be found 
 that tbe declension in numbers of the Society of Friends in the 
 United Kingdom is not attributable to any one reason in particular, 
 but is rather the result of several causes, arising in part from their 
 degeneracy, in part from imperfection in their original constitution, 
 and in part from external circumstances. 
 
 It appears to us a fundamental error to suppose, that as a conse- 
 quence of any one being moved or impelled by the Influence of the 
 Spirit of God on their minds to the performance of what is right and 
 good, it must necessarily follow that all the acts of individuals whose 
 feelings are thus aroused must therefore be infallible and perfect. 
 We have abundant evidence to the contrary in the Holy Scriptures, 
 in the records of the history of good men in all ages, and indeed in 
 the early writings of the very Society whose cause we are now dis- 
 cussing. The sun ever shines in all its intensity and purity, 
 although the intervening clouds may obscure its brightness. The 
 medium through which its light reaches us is more or less obscure 
 or imperfect. And just as reasonable would it be in us to doubt 
 the existence of the sun when his rays are so obscured, or to suppose 
 that whenever he shines his beams must fall in their full and entire 
 intensity, as to conclude that the result of such Influence is imme- 
 diate and invariable perfection. No : for wise purposes the Great 
 Dispenser of all has placed the clouds and the atmosphere between 
 us and Him ; and doubtless it is in unerring wisdom also that it 
 pleases Him to advance his work amongst men through the medium 
 
 C 
 
18 ' ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 of imperfect man himself. One bright, pure, perfect ray, the world 
 has indeed beheld, "unclouded by human weakness, uncontaminated 
 by sin ; even Jesus, the Saviour of man, the Lamb of God without 
 blemish and without spot. The Scriptures of Truth were written 
 by holy men who " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost/'' 
 and these blessed writings we must also accept in their full integrity. 
 And yet we see instances in the lives of many of these good 
 men where weakness and imperfection were exhibited. In the 
 Acts of the Apostles after the ascension of our Lord, and in the 
 Epistles to the early Christian Churches, we see that although 
 strong both in faith and good works, yet in many cases they had to 
 be taken to task for errors retained or fallen into. In the lives of 
 those noble martyrs and servants of Christ, the ancient fathers of 
 the Church, many of whom were the instruments of conveying his 
 blessed name throughout the old world, we still see the clouds 
 of human weakness through which the knowledge of the Sun of 
 Righteousness reached our forefathers. Pass on to the time of the 
 dauntless Luther and the gentle Melancthon and the host of 
 reformers who then appeared, and where do we find an absolute 
 perfection of character, notwithstanding that these good men were 
 doubtless led and impelled by the influence of Divine Grace on their 
 minds to be what they were, and to come thus boldly forward as 
 shining lights in their day, to declare his name and his truth to the 
 dark world around ? 
 
 And do the Friends mean to claim for their founders an exemp- 
 tion from the laws to which human nature has been subject in all 
 ages ? Can they conclude that, because they were led into a still 
 clearer perception of the truths of religion, into the adoption of 
 principles higher or purer than others, and into the practice of a 
 morality better than their neighbours, they had attained the sum 
 and substance of all perfection ?— that their doctrines were incapable 
 of further elucidation, and their moral code unsurpassable in its 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 10 
 
 excellence, and suited to the circumstances and requirements of all 
 ages to come ? And although we are not aware that any such belief 
 has been recognised by the Society, either in its principles or by its 
 writings, yet there is ground for an apprehension that many amongst 
 them have entertained some such feeling ; and doubtless wherever 
 it exists it must inevitably form a dangerous impediment to 
 progress. 
 
 Assuming then the possibility of imperfection in their original 
 constitution, we shall proceed to consider, whether at the time of 
 their being called into the possession of purer gold than any they 
 had yet known, they retained with it any of the dross. 
 
 Look at the past history of any religion, and we shall see it more 
 or less tinctured at its rise with some of the peculiar conditions of 
 the state of society out of which it sprang. Peter hesitated to 
 convey the blessings of the gospel to the Gentiles* until he was 
 warned, in a special vision, that what God had cleansed he should 
 nQt call common or unclean. The Hebrew Christians had to be 
 warned by Paulf against the continuance of their accustomed 
 formalities and dependence on their laws and sacrifices, and ex- 
 horted to the law of faith in Christ : the Eomans J against 
 doubtful disputations and pride in their calling and election : the 
 Corinthians against the dissensions § and scholastic disputes of the 
 worldly-wise Greek of that day. And the seven Churches of Asia, || 
 by John the beloved disciple, were each plainly, though beautifully 
 and tenderly, dealt with for faults they had committed or errors 
 they had retained or crept into, even at that early period of their 
 existence. But our time and space would fail us thus to run 
 through the events of Church history. Did the stalwart pioneer 
 of Protestantism himself come off quite clear of the slime out of 
 
 * Acts x. 28. t Hebrews ii.-xi. % Eomans xiv. 1 ; xi. 1-36. 
 
 § 1 Cor. iii. 18-20 ; ii 1-16 ; i. 17-31. || Eev. i. 5 to iii. 22. 
 
 C 2 
 
20 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 which he struggled? And is it to be disputed that Quakerism 
 unconsciously retained some small portion of the unhealthy elements 
 existing in the Puritanism from the midst of which it took its rise I 
 We believe that such was the case, and shall endeavour to show 
 that in this retention may be found one source of errors in their 
 original constitution. But as the errors which may be referred 
 more directly to this cause come under the head of Moral arrange- 
 ments and practices, we shall leave them for after-consideration, 
 and first proceed to see whether any imperfection existed in the 
 Religious Principles set forth by them. 
 
 This is a question which we might very naturally expect to find 
 answered by every one according to his own particular faith. Any 
 man " fully persuaded in his own mind," of course thinks his own 
 conclusions the best ; and we cannot, therefore, look for such a 
 definite reply as will satisfy the many and various apprehensions of 
 Christian truth which prevail in the present day, and which will 
 undoubtedly continue long hence, and only come to be blended into 
 one pure and perfect faith according as the full knowledge of the 
 Lord shall advance in the world. 
 
 But we are quite willing to meet the Friends upon their own 
 ground, and to grant them all they can reasonably require. We 
 have before not only admitted, but endeavoured to shew, that they 
 were indeed called forth by the Divine Power, in the midst of com- 
 parative darkness, to bear to the world a witness to brighter and 
 purer truths, and to a " more perfect way," than it had yet known. 
 Granting, therefore, the correctness of their Religious Principles, we 
 look for any element of imperfection in the want of a full and clear 
 reception of these Truths by themselves, and in the misconceptions 
 which might arise from any failure in their setting them forth with 
 entire clearness to the world. Far be it from us to call in question 
 the lives or the conduct of those truly good and pious and zealous 
 servants of God. But they were men ; and if we see in their 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 21 
 
 writings or teachings anything referable to the inherent weakness of 
 man, we must conclude, that however largely redeemed from the 
 spirit of the world, yet they were still subject to like passions as we 
 are, and so expect that the light transmitted through them to us 
 would be tinged by their imperfections. 
 
 To enter, then, more fully into particulars, we would ask, in the 
 first place, have they themselves fully understood and set forth the 
 nature and extent of the Spiritual guidance which, after all, forms 
 the basis of their superstructure, and at the time of their foundation 
 was their great distinguishing tenet ? We believe it will be found 
 that want of clearness on this important point has ever left them 
 open to an undue influence from a fervid or excited imagination on 
 the one hand, and from the leadings of an unenlightened human 
 conscience on the other. It will naturally be objected by them that 
 there can be no want of clearness here ; and they will insist that all 
 their writings, from their rise to the present day, teem with allusions 
 to this great principle, and fully explain its efficacy. Doubtless 
 they are full of the subject ; and we further grant them that not 
 only those writings, but the acts and the lives of their authors, and 
 of many others amongst them but incidentally known to the world, 
 and no doubt of thousands known only in their own individual 
 circle of private life, exhibit the most undeniable evidence that 
 they were indeed both right and clear in their own minds ; that, 
 belonging to the fold of the True Shepherd, " they knew his 
 voice from the voice of a stranger. "* But it is one thing to 
 feel and another to understand ; one thing to be ourselves con- 
 scious, another to explain and set before others the nature of that 
 consciousness. We are far from supposing, that to experience in 
 ourselves the blessed effects of this Divine influence on the heart, it 
 is by any means needful we should either understand or be able to 
 explain its precise nature. And we fully admit that looking for 
 knowledge instead of submitting to the feeling may be most injurious 
 * John x. 1-18. 
 
22 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 to the individual mind. But on the other hand, when we come to 
 set forth any truth before others, it is to their understandings or 
 sense we have to address ourselves. They read with their eyes, or 
 they hear with their ears, and they reflect upon what they see and 
 hear, and compare, and inquire, and recollect, and combine ideas in 
 the mind, and the truth of a principle becomes thus seen and 
 received where the manner in which it is stated is such as to induce 
 its reception. If it were otherwise, where would be the use of even 
 writing or printing, or setting forth in any way, our own faith or our 
 own ideas for the participation of others ? True, an address to the 
 heart (as it is called) may arouse feelings, or excite good sensations ; 
 but it is through the rightly-disposed understanding we receive the 
 innate conviction that truth is truth. Again, we admit that, in 
 the unsearchable wisdom of Him who thus led his servants' from age 
 to age, it may have been his design, whilst largely endowing them 
 with the feelings, not to grant them any further or clearer under- 
 standing on the subject. We have already shown that the unfold- 
 ings of His knowledge to the world are very gradual, and only as 
 the world is prepared to receive it ; and we are far indeed from 
 raising a question on the perfect wisdom exhibited in His design of 
 extending thus much and no further in that day to those who, 
 themselves strongly feeling the blessed effects of his Spirit, 
 endeavoured, as far as lay in their power, to set it before others. 
 On the contrary, we consider it affords another convincing proof of 
 great and admirable wisdom when we for a moment consider how 
 unwilling the surrounding world was then, and even long after, to 
 receive the intimation of the very existence of such an Influence. 
 
 But the admission of all this does not, we conceive, in the least 
 overturn our original position — that there was a ivant of clearness 
 on this point, not only in the Friends' own conception of it, but 
 more particularly in their writings. Let us take, for instance, their 
 standard work — " Barclay's Apology f* or, as the title-page has it, 
 " An Apology for the True Christian Divinity: being an Explana- 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 23 
 
 tion and Vindication of the Principles and Doctrines of the People 
 called Quakers. Written in Latin and English by Robert Barclay, 
 and since translated into High Dutch, Low Dutch, French and 
 Spanish, for the Information of Strangers." That from which we 
 now quote is the " eighth edition in English, published a.d. 1780." 
 It was written in 1675. (In fifteen propositions.) 
 
 His first proposition is to the effect that the true knowledge of 
 God is that which is most necessary to be known and believed in 
 the first place. With this we can have no fault to find, except that 
 the terms in which he states it, appear at first sight to want 
 simplicity, and clearness. The second declares "that the testimony 
 of the Spirit is that alone by which this knowledge is attainable ; 
 that these Divine inward revelations neither do nor can ever con- 
 tradict the Scriptures or right or sound reason ;" yet that " from 
 thence it will not follow that they are to be subjected to the 
 examination either of the Scriptures or of the natural reason of 
 man, as to a more noble or certain rule or touchstone; for this 
 Divine revelation or inward illumination is that which is evident 
 and clear of itself, forcing by its own evidence and clearness the 
 well-disposed understanding to assent, irresistibly moving the same 
 thereunto," &c. &c. 
 
 Now, all this may possibly appear clear enough to those who 
 can understand it; but we cannot say it is likely to be very con- 
 vincing to ordinary minds. The " revelations," we are told, cannot 
 contradict the Scriptures or reason, yet they are not to he tested by 
 either ; they are to force the understanding to assent, and so forth. 
 Is not this very like " reasoning in a circle ?" Is it a sound and 
 clear exposition of a Fundamental Principle ? 
 
 Now let us hear what our " Apologist " has to say on other 
 important matters. His seventh proposition " on Justification " 
 runs thus: "As many as resist not this light, but receive the 
 same, in them is produced a holy, pure, and spiritual birth, 
 bringing forth holiness, righteousness, purity, and all these other 
 
24 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 blessed fruits which are acceptable to God : by which holy birth (to 
 wit, Jesus Christ formed within us, and working his works in us,) 
 as we are sanctified so are we justified in the sight of God, 
 according to the apostle's words, — 4 But ye are washed, but ye are 
 sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
 by the Spirit of our God V Therefore, it is not by our works 
 wrought in our will, nor yet by good works, considered as of them- 
 selves, but by Christ, who is both the gift and the giver, and the 
 cause producing the effects in us ; who, as he hath reconciled us 
 while we were enemies, doth also in his wisdom save us, and justify 
 us in this manner ; as saith the same apostle elsewhere,— c Accord- 
 ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost/ " 
 
 We are not going to join issue with the Friends as to the sound- 
 ness of this principle ; we have stated we would grant them their 
 own ground ; but we ask any one is it clear ? is this such an 
 explanation of such an important Christian tenet as may satisfy a 
 seeking mind ? Is it comprehensive ? Does it betray clearness on 
 the subject in the writer himself, more particularly as he nowhere 
 else alludes to the subject of Sanctification, so we may take this 
 proposition to include both these subjects. Now pass we on 
 to the next (8th) proposition — " Concerning Perfection/' " In 
 whom this holy and pure birth is fully brought forth, the body 
 of death and sin comes to be crucified and removed, and their 
 hearts united and subjected unto the truth, so as not to obey any 
 suggestion or temptation of the evil one, but to be free from actual 
 sinning and transgressing of the law of God, and in that respect 
 perfect. Yet does this perfection still admit of a growth ; and there 
 remaineth a possibility of sinning where the mind doth not most 
 diligently and watchfully attend unto the Lord." It appears to us 
 that the term Perfection has here been misplaced. We do not 
 suppose anything perfect or complete which could admit of a 
 growth in perfection or completeness. It would be neither one nor 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 25 
 
 the other if it was less than the term implies. But the misplacing 
 of the term was, we think, a grave error, and has led to serious 
 consequences. 
 
 Time would fail us to go through the whole of the fifteen propo- 
 sitions, but perhaps enough has been mentioned for our purpose. 
 There is much that is good and admirable in this remarkable work, 
 and instances have been adduced of convincement of the principles 
 having succeeded its perusal ; but we think it cannot be denied 
 that its pages contain much that is difficult to be understood, and 
 that, to ordinary minds, it is by no means " a clear explanation" 
 as its title imports, of the " True Christian Divinity." 
 
 Abundant instances might be brought forward from other writings 
 of the early Friends, of this same want of clearness, both as to their 
 own want of fully apprehending their principles, and their inability 
 to set them convincingly forth for the information of others. Our 
 space is, however, limited, and we shall not therefore unprofitably 
 fill our pages with what can be so easily pointed out should its 
 correctness be questioned. 
 
 In a Society dependent for its support and increase on either 
 convincement or birthright, it would appear particularly needful for 
 its strength that parents should themselves clearly understand, so as 
 to be able to instruct their children, and that the principles should 
 be set clearly before others, so as to become convincing. And 
 although many circumstances conspired to form the Society, and add 
 to its numbers during its first century, yet we cannot but conclude 
 that the want of clear instruction of the young thus arising, each 
 succeeding age thence becoming weaker than the last, has been one 
 important cause of the internal degeneracy which is the subject of 
 our inquiry. 
 
 "VVe have before adverted to the present state of the Ministry 
 amongst the Friends. It now remains for us to see if we can point 
 out any cause for this decided symptom of degeneracy. It is 
 important for us to do so, as it is not only a symptom, but a 
 
26 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 consequence of something wrong ; and becomes again a serious cause 
 of further weakness. The decline in their number of ministers 
 may, we believe, be assigned to three principal causes. Firstly, 
 want of submission to the inciting power of God in their own 
 minds ; secondly, to timidity of thus coming publicly forward 
 (which timidity may be referred to several reasons) ; and, thirdly, 
 to a fear that if they do so, it will take so much time and attention 
 from their worldly callings that themselves and their families may 
 get into pecuniary difficulties. We must take such reasons at their 
 just value. The first bespeaks want of vigour in the religious 
 mind ; — the second, ungodly fear, want of the true Christian 
 courage that clear conviction and heartfelt zeal for the cause of 
 God should confer ; — the third shews an absence of confidence in 
 the superintending care of God to provide all things needful for 
 those who are engaged in his work. And yet we doubt if the 
 Friends have been wise in their arrangement of laying on their 
 ministers the whole burden of trade, with all its harassing cares 
 and anxieties. Christ himself told the ministers of his mission 
 when he sent them forth,* " to take neither purse nor scrip, for the 
 labourer was worthy of his meat and the apostle Paulf expressly 
 lays down that the minister should be supported by the Church, and 
 although he himself abstained (whilst at Corinth for a time under 
 peculiar circumstances) from demanding this right, yet he after- 
 wards states X "that he took wages of other Churches, to do them 
 service, and to avoid being burdensome to them." 
 
 The Friends support and pay all the charges of their " approved 
 ministers," whilst travelling about from place to place "in the love 
 of the gospel but they do not in such cases take into any con- 
 sideration whatever the requirements of the preacher's business, or 
 his domestic expenses ; and the local minister who does not travel 
 is left entirely to his own resources to make out a livelihood for 
 himself and family. We think they would do well seriously to 
 
 * Mark vi. 8 ; Luke x. 4. t 1 Cor. ix. 7-14. % 2 Cor. xi. 7-9. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 27 
 
 re-consider these arrangements. In any case, we believe it has 
 operated as one cause tending to reduce the number of ministers 
 amongst them. 
 
 With regard to the second reason assigned, — that of timidity, — it 
 appears to arise partly from the natural hesitation most people feel 
 thus suddenly to attract public attention to themselves. They fear 
 they may not speak well, or may break down, or that they may not 
 be "good enough" to undertake so responsible an office. But 
 besides these minor difficulties, which may soon be got over, is the 
 more important one of not " being approved" when they do surmount 
 them and commence to preach in their meetings. The u Elders," 
 who are selected by the subordinate meetings, and confirmed in 
 their office by a superior meeting, are the appointed judges, in the 
 first instance, of the worth or value of the ministry of those who 
 may thus come publicly forward. It is their particular duty to 
 dissuade from any preaching which may appear to them not to bear 
 the right stamp, and to afford all due encouragement to any which 
 they consider of sterling value. It will thus be seen what a 
 responsibility rests upon this particular body, and how much 
 depends upon the clearness and correctness of their judgment. 
 And although on their approving of a minister, such approval 
 must be confirmed both by the inferior and superior meetings, 
 yet instances are seldom, if ever, known of their judgment being 
 reversed. It therefore mainly depends upon them, and if they 
 discourage or put down any who might afterwards become true and 
 useful preachers of the Word, they do a direct injury, not only by 
 depriving the Society of the benefit of such service, but in a tenfold 
 degree, by the discouragement it gives to others who might feel so 
 inclined. The injury in such case to the individual immediately 
 concerned cannot be calculated. And on the other hand, if they 
 approve of and bring forward any whose preaching subsequently 
 proves unworthy so high a profession, see how the whole tone or 
 character of their " approved ministry" may be lowered thereby. 
 
28 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 Now, whilst we can feel how difficult a duty rests upon them, and 
 desire to be far from censorious, yet, judging by results, and seeing 
 the character of much of the ministry of the present day, we are 
 unavoidably compelled to the conclusion that the Elders have not 
 proved fully equal to their responsible task, and that the arrange- 
 ments as to the selection of their ministers or elders are in some way 
 in want of improvement. We most fully admit that all these fears 
 and reasonings in the minds of those who believe themselves called 
 to the Ministry may and should be overcome by the love and the 
 fear of their Divine Master; and that a full confidence in His pro- 
 tecting power may, perhaps, be but confirmed by having to pass 
 through these trials of their faith and their strength. But does it 
 not still remain true, that these things are, and have been, serious 
 discouragements to many who, under better arrangements,- would be 
 well qualified to engage in this great and useful work ? 
 
 The way in which public worship is observed in any religious 
 sect not only affords evidence of its state, but contributes in a very 
 high degree to its present and future strength or weakness. We 
 have already stated that in numerous places the Meetings for 
 Worship held by Friends are totally silent. We cannot here enter 
 as fully as we should wish into the consideration of this deeply 
 important subject. We entirely agree with them that all True 
 Worship consists in the communion of the immortal spirit of man 
 with his great Creator ; that " God is a spirit, and they that worship 
 Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" And that this privi- 
 leged state may be enjoyed in silence we fully admit. But that silent 
 worship is the best mode of public worship is quite another question. 
 Is not this communion of spirit induced and encouraged and 
 enlivened by a true ministry, by vocal prayer? Do not the im- 
 parting and the receiving of exhortation, and of instruction in the 
 things of God, or of encouragement in the way of salvation, form a 
 part of the duty of Public Worship ? — and is not the united exercise 
 * John iv. 23, 24. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLEXSION. 29 
 
 of His praise, and of solemn and sincere prayer to Him, involved in 
 its requirements and to be counted amongst its benefits ? We cannot 
 think that Public Worship thus held in silence bespeaks a healthy 
 state of things, or is conducive to an increase of strength. In the 
 present day it is well known, that in many localities where no 
 ministry exists amongst them, many of their members, more parti- 
 cularly the younger ones, who, attached to the Society and desirous 
 of retaining their membership, attend their silent meetings on the 
 morning of the Sabbath, proceed in the afternoon to the congrega- 
 tion of the local preacher. Such facts speak loudly for themselves. 
 Do we need to look for a cause of degeneracy whilst such things 
 exist? Debarred from such instruction at home, they seek it 
 elsewhere, of those very willing to give it ; and is it to be wondered 
 at if their attachment to their own profession is thus weakened, and 
 a new love aroused in their minds ? How different, how widely 
 different, was it in the early days of the Society ! And although a 
 living ministry still exists, yet how small is its supply ! " The 
 harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few/'' We cannot 
 avoid the conclusion that according as, from age to age, the supply 
 of sound Gospel Ministry, from whatever cause, became gradually 
 less, the increasing want was followed by increasing weakness, 
 inducing poverty of feeling in their Meetings for Public Worship, 
 thus involving another important cause of their religious dege- 
 neracy. 
 
 We have before stated, amongst other peculiar religious tenets 
 held by the Society of Friends, their belief that the observances of 
 Water Baptism, and the partaking of the bread and wine, under the 
 name of the Lord's Supper, are institutions not required by the 
 Christian dispensation, nor commanded them by the Holy Scriptures. 
 We also see that they object to the use of set forms of Prayer, either 
 in public or private. Relinquishing thus, as they do, outward Reli- 
 gious Observances of almost every kind, it follows that if the life 
 and light of religion exists not in their hearts, inducing in them the 
 
30 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 purest of all faith, and that practical excellence of character and 
 conduct which would appear as the " fruits of the Spirit j" if they 
 have not this, they possess neither the Form nor the Power, and may 
 be said, perhaps even more than others, to live " without God in the 
 world." How very important must it be therefore, to the members 
 of a sect professing such high and spiritual principles, to be Indi- 
 vidually alive to their state, to their responsibilities, and to their 
 duties. It would be supposing their original constitution perfect to 
 say that absolute perfection of life and conduct would follow Indi- 
 vidual Faithfulness to their profession ; but, however this may be, 
 we are quite clear that in the want of a true and sincere desire to 
 know, and duly to feel, the importance of their great principle, — that 
 of the teaching and guidance of the Spirit of Truth, — in the non- 
 encouragement of the feelings prompted by this Spirit -in their 
 minds, (which, if followed, would, as Christ himself declared, " lead 
 into all truth,") and in the consequent failure of such inestimably 
 valuable experience ; may perhaps be found, after all, the chief and 
 most important cause of their gradual retrogression, and their 
 present weakened state. 
 
 How important, again, is Individual Influence, for good or for 
 evil ! (t A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." — " The path of 
 the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect day." 
 
 What a glorious state it is to be redeemed from the spirit of the 
 world by the Spirit of Christ ; to walk with Him, feeling that through 
 Him we have been born into a new life, and become the sons and 
 daughters of God, and heirs of salvation : to be made free from the 
 laws of sin and death ; to feel, and to rejoice, and to " stand fast 
 in the glorious liberty wherewith Christ has made us free ;" — then, 
 indeed, has the world lost for us its sinful charms and its weakening 
 fears ; our love to the Beneficent One is to us the first and most pre- 
 cious commandment of all ; our love to our fellow-man is ever alive, 
 and blossoms in ardent desires and untiring exertions for his good 
 
axd the Causes of its declexsiox. 
 
 31 
 
 and his happiness ; self is of no account ; Christ becomes all in all ; 
 death has lost its sting, the grave its victory ; and we look forward 
 with a blessed hope to an eternity of bliss, which " eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived," and which 
 God has promised to those that love him. 
 
 And if such are the results of the work of the Grace of God, how 
 important does it appear that the earliest intimation of His Spirit 
 should be carefully heeded and encouraged. It is this which awakens 
 the first living, secret, sincere desire after God • and whatever 
 external causes may have tended to induce such a feeling, or under 
 whatever circumstances it may have become apparent ; whether it 
 be in the storm, or in the calm ; in the enjoyment of life, or in the 
 prospect of eternity ; whether in the midst of pleasure, or under the 
 pressure of affliction ; let us at that moment feel that we have 
 " found the pearl of great price,"* and grasp it carefully, and guard 
 it tenderly, and be willing to sell all that we have that we may 
 retain its possession ; for it is indeed the seed f of the kingdom of 
 God, which Christ declared was at first the smallest of all seeds, but 
 which, when it was grown, became a great tree, so that the birds of 
 the air came and lodged under its branches. This is the first ap- 
 pearance of the Spirit of Truth, which would in God's own way and 
 time lead unto all truth, if allowed so to grow and have its due 
 influence. It is this which inclines the heart to God ; which 
 purifies the affections, and enlightens the conscience ; shines upon 
 the understanding, and elevates the reason ; leads us to see our 
 sinful state, and to feel the need of a Saviour ; creates within us a 
 true and living Faith, and enables us to look hopefully forward to a 
 happy immortality. It is what the great apostle has so compre- 
 hensively termed " the grace of God, which bringeth salvation,"J 
 But to produce these blessed effects, its operations must be unbiased 
 by prejudice, uncontaminated by pride or selfishness, undisturbed by 
 
 * Matt. xiii. 45, 46. f Matt. xiii. 31, 32. J Titus ii. 11, 12. 
 
32 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 fearfulness. We must receive it as " a little child," and go on from 
 strength to strength ; until, from babes in Christ, " nourished with 
 the sincere milk of the Word," we come to be strong in the Lord 
 and in the power of His might ; valiant for His cause in the earth, 
 faithfully filling our allotted stations, whatever these may be ; and 
 by our example and conversation amongst men, if not in any 
 more conspicuous way, thus doing our part towards spreading His 
 true knowledge abroad in the world. 
 
 But, however deeply interesting these truths may be, we must not 
 now dwell much longer on them, and therefore revert to the more 
 immediate subject of our inquiry. The duty of Individual Faith- 
 fulness to the manifestations of the Spirit in the heart was what we 
 had before us ; and we may again repeat our conclusion, that, had 
 this faithfulness been preserved in the degree it existed in the early 
 days of the Society, so far from a retrogression having taken place, 
 there would have been an advancement in all that was truly and 
 purely good ; that any clouds or dimness which may have overhung 
 their first appearance, would in due time have gradually cleared 
 away ; that their light would have indeed shone before men, to the 
 glory of the Great Head of the Church, and to the convincing and 
 converting of precious souls throughout the world from the powers of 
 darkness, and from the fetters of sin, to the " glorious liberty of 
 the children of God/' 
 
 We next proceed to the consideration of the Moral Habits and 
 Practices of the Society of Friends, and to see whether anything in 
 these can in any way have tended either to religious degeneracy or 
 to the declension of their numbers. 
 
 It is ever an ungracious task to oppose a cherished error ; to 
 unveil a secret canker ; to stir up the still water, and find it 
 muddy underneath ; to bring to the light a hidden treasure, 
 and find it mouldered away, and covered with dust and rub- 
 bish. But the days are come when the truth must be looked 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 33 
 
 at " straight in the face/' and nothing but sterling coin be allowed 
 to pass. 
 
 Much do we admire the high moral character cf the Society. 
 Justly have they gained it, and justly do they still hold it. Their 
 love of truth speaking and justice in dealing, their brotherly kind- 
 ness towards each other, the mild but sincere courtesy which marks 
 their intercourse with others, their care of their own poor, their 
 attention to the education of their youth, the order and regularity 
 of their internal and domestic arrangements, and the general cor- 
 rectness and uprightness of their walk amongst their fellow-men, 
 have justly gained them the respect and esteem of those with whom 
 they are brought into connexion. Yet we must confess that there 
 is much remaining under this head ; many things to be found 
 amongst what are called " the peculiarities" of this sect, that have 
 proved far from beneficial to the growth of religious life amongst 
 them, and decidedly preventive to the spreading of their principles. 
 
 The " Peculiarities" most apparent to the world, are those of 
 language, deportment, and dress, or, as they themselves term them, 
 " speech, behaviour, and apparel." 
 
 We see in the history of almost all religious societies, that there 
 exists a tendency, sooner or later, to fall into the form, to the neglect 
 of the substance. 
 
 If the ideas of the Friends upon these subjects did really, as they 
 profess to do, arise from, and were required by, the law of Christ, 
 then, if the world chose not to accept them, the fault would not be 
 theirs, but the world's ; but on the other hand, if we have grounds 
 to apprehend that they have somewhat overstrained the require- 
 ments of true religion in these respects; that in falling into the 
 form, the original principle has not been sufficiently kept in view ; 
 that they have cultivated the "hedge" to the injury of the precious 
 flowers within, and to the growth, in their place, of the unhealthy 
 weeds of pride and exclusiveness, (which ever flourish vigorously 
 
 D 
 
34 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 in such shade) ; — if we see reason to believe that grave errors, such 
 as these, have crept in among them, then we cannot but include 
 them also in the causes which have led to poverty of religion and 
 prevention to increase. 
 
 In looking at this question, we must ask the Friends for once to 
 try and " see themselves as others see them." We can obtain but 
 a very imperfect view of a house by looking out of its own windows, 
 and certainly cannot by doing so at all judge of its effect in the 
 landscape. Not that our clear feelings of what is right should be 
 guided by the judgment or opinion of others ; but if we desire to 
 know the effect of our acts upon the world, we must enter into the 
 feelings of those who regard them from a very different point of 
 view. And, in the present question, this is quite necessary, as we 
 cannot judge how far others are justified in their distaste for these 
 things, unless we take their views and feelings into consideration. 
 We must endeavour to view the subject with a perfectly impartial 
 eye, that, on the one hand, our judgment may not be unduly biased 
 by prejudices in their favour, nor, on the other, be in any degree 
 influenced by a desire to allow a greater freedom than would be 
 warranted by a healthy state of religious feeling. 
 
 It is here particularly needful that we should again recollect the 
 circumstances of the age out of which these arrangements took their 
 rise. If we do so, we can scarcely fail to see, that, whatever degree 
 of truth may have existed in their early ideas on these subjects, they 
 were still, in no small degree, tinged with the spirit of Puritanism. 
 And further, many objections that might in that day be rightly 
 and reasonably urged to their uniting with the habits and practices 
 of society, would of course lose their force according as their causes 
 would disappear. And that they have so disappeared to a wonderful 
 extent, that " the world" has become wiser and more rational, in 
 many ways, is very apparent. Take, for instance, its costume — its 
 " apparel." Where is now the feathered and jewelled hat, the 
 
AND THE CAUSES OE ITS DECLENSIOK 
 
 35 
 
 satin and cloth of gold slashed and puffed doublet, the long silken 
 hose, the jangling spurs and rapier of the gallant of the days of 
 Charles II.? Or where can we find the huff coat and half armour, 
 the trunk hose, the helmet and caliver and broadsword of Cromwell 
 and his zealous host ? There was need then for pure-minded men 
 to avoid the extremes which prevailed on either hand ; to " testify 
 against them" by their example in adopting a principle and a style 
 of " plainness" and moderation. Their doing so made them 
 " peculiar" in those days. But where now exists the necessity of 
 keeping up a singularity of costume, more expensive, more difficult 
 to be procured, less comfortable and convenient, and in reality less 
 u plain" in not a few particulars, than that of an ordinary Christian 
 Englishman at the present day? We admit there is still "much 
 room for improvement amongst the " daughters of England" in this 
 respect ; but we ask, would not a move in the right direction be 
 more likely to proceed from an example of moderation and of true 
 taste (which is ever chaste and simple), combined with suitability 
 and comfort, which are not discarded by any true religion, than by 
 the adoption of a certain style of bonnet, or a particular preference 
 for shades of drab or fawn colour. It is painful to us to be obliged 
 even to allude to such things, but we feel our duty would be incom- 
 plete without exposing what we consider has, out of some good, 
 grown into a great evil. We cannot believe the original principle 
 ever contemplated the adoption of a form, or ever denied the right 
 to change as often as the comfort, or the convenience, or the taste of 
 the wearer desired it. 
 
 To observe plainness and moderation in our apparel — to avoid 
 adopting superfluous and ridiculous fashions — to let our dress and 
 appearance be such as will invorVe no undue amount of time or 
 thought, to keep as far as possible from all incitements to pride and 
 vanity : these are healthy and good moral sentiments and principles 
 of action, approved by all good men, confirmed by scripture, and 
 pointed out as Christian duties by the Spirit of all good; but 
 
36 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 carried to excess, or beyond the required bounds, or degenerated 
 into meaningless form, they become not only useless, but positively 
 hurtful to the cause of true religion, and to its spread upon the 
 earth. For weak human nature is so prone to catch at the form 
 instead of the substance. It is so easy to appear, but so hard to 
 be " transformed by the renewing of our minds." 
 
 With regard to their adoption of a style of Language slightly 
 different from that in general use, there is also something to be said. 
 Their objection to use the idiomatic plural " you," in addressing one 
 person, instead of the more grammatically correct singular " thou," 
 is based on the assumption that the plural term, so applied, involves 
 flattery and untruth, by supposing the person addressed to be equal 
 to two or more. They also object to use the English names of the 
 days of the week and the months of the year, as Monday, Wednesday, 
 January, December, &c, asserting that these were terms derived 
 from the names of heathen deities. They decline addressing a 
 gentleman as Mr., or a lady as Mrs. or Miss, on the assumption 
 that this also involves untruth, he not being their master, and so 
 forth. 
 
 Now there is certainly a stringency of conscience exhibited in 
 these objections, which may be admired by some for its precision, no 
 less than for the firmness with which its defenders upheld it in the 
 midst of suffering and ridicule in their early days ; but of their 
 truth and usefulness in the present day we have by no means a 
 high opinion. Is it really the faet that the term " you/' as now 
 commonly used, conveys the feeling to any one we so address, that 
 we mean to compliment or flatter him by thus inferring that we 
 consider him equal to two or more persons ? Does the term Mr. 
 really involve the conclusion that we believe the person so addressed 
 our master ? Does he take it so, or understand it so, or feel it so, 
 or do we so mean it ? And if it be not the fact, is it not a kind 
 of practical absurdity to act on the supposition that it is ? 
 
 Again, is it not a little strange that the Friends have not the 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 37 
 
 slightest scruple to call the planets Jupiter, and Venus, and Saturn, 
 (who were, to say the least of it, quite as objectionable characters as 
 Thor, or Woden, or Friga) ? We do not think any amongst them 
 would object to call the beautiful constellation Orion by the same 
 title given it in the book of Job, although its name is quite as much 
 derived from a " heathen deity" as June or July, (which latter, by 
 the way, as well as the remaining five months, are not derived from 
 such names at all). Surely, if the principle be a sound one, it is 
 worth carrying out. 
 
 There are some other arguments adduced by them for thus 
 adopting a singularity of language, but, as this is not a controversial 
 work, we can scarcely be expected here to enter into them. W'e 
 doubt not an impartial and truth-seeking examination would shew 
 them to be quite as sound and substantial as those we have already 
 quoted. However, we must now leave the question to the decision of 
 the Christian world. We desire not to wound the tender consciences 
 of those who believe it right to adopt these usages ; but we cannot, 
 injustice to the work before us, decline expressing our conviction 
 that these singularities of language have added to the formalism 
 which has weakened the religious vigour of the Society, have tended 
 to a hurtful exclusiveness, and have been important preventives to 
 the increase or extension of their valuable principles. 
 
 Their objection to Music we cannot find borne out either by 
 Scripture or "right reason;" and their stringent rules against 
 amusements of any kind, exhibit, we think, stronger signs of 
 Puritanic ascetism than of true Christian wisdom. It is an unsafe 
 principle for the good to relinquish anything not wrong in itself 
 because it is abused by the bad. To do so but increases the evil ; 
 for by so leaving it to the bad only, they make it worse ; whereas, 
 had the good remained and done their duty by it, their efforts 
 would tend to remove the abuse, the evil would be lessened instead 
 of increased, and the bad would be raised by the improvement, 
 instead of being further debased by being left to themselves. 
 
38 - ESSAY ON. THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 We desire not to dwell too long upon these subjects : it will be 
 somewhat new, and, doubtless, painful to many amongst the Friends, 
 to have the decisions of the Society thus called in question ; but we 
 are persuaded that honest impartial investigation cannot hurt any 
 really good cause, and if injury has arisen from undue stringency, 
 the sooner the cause of it is done away with, the better. 
 
 To take a general review of the whole question of these " pecu- 
 liarities" in their bearing on the immediate subject of this essay, 
 we cannot but conclude that the Friends have failed to convince the 
 public mind of the correctness of their opinions and practices in 
 these respects ; that their attention to and persistence in them have 
 rendered their peculiar profession very distasteful, not only to many 
 true-minded Christians throughout the religious world, but, to a wide 
 extent, to their own young people also, many of whom have left the 
 Society, or been disunited from it, from not being able to see the 
 correctness of these ideas, or the necessity of their conforming to the 
 practices arising out of them. And if they have thus lost numbers 
 from their own rank, how many more have been prevented joining 
 them from the same reason ? Do we not thus see in these 
 peculiarities, another important cause of their declension and of the 
 non-spreading of their principles ? 
 
 "We enter on a far more pleasing path of inquiry, when we turn 
 to the consideration of the discipline of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Their system of internal government is republican in principle. 
 They acknowledge Christ only as the head of the Church, and all 
 the members as brethren one of another. The expenses of the 
 Society are all met by voluntary contribution. Each locality where 
 Friends become established has its own meetings, both for public 
 worship and for the conducting of the discipline, in which every 
 member is expected to take his or her proper part. 
 
 These smaller meetings submit certain reports and information of 
 their state, from time to time, to larger or provincial meetings, held 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 39 
 
 quarterly or half-yearly, as the case may be ; and these again, in 
 their turn, are in the same way subordinate to the great annual 
 assemblages held in the metropolitan towns. The Yearly Meeting 
 of London has the final right of appeal (in matters of doctrine) for 
 the United Kingdom, and as to it come reports from the head 
 meetings of Ireland and Scotland, we may consider it as represent- 
 ing the high court of parliament for quakerdom. 
 
 The objects of the discipline are manifold and excellent. The 
 support of their principles and " testimonies n in all their integrity, 
 the government of the unruly, the reformation of the erring, the 
 encouragement of the weak and wavering, the provision for their 
 poor, the education of their young, are but a few of the heads 
 amongst the many admirable arrangements which enter into this 
 excellent system of civil and religious policy. 
 
 From the hour of his birth until he is laid in his last narrow 
 resting-place, every member of the Society is the object of the care 
 and thoughtfulness of the body politic. His birth is registered 
 in the books, and his name entered on the list of the members of 
 his place of residence. His parents are recommended " to exercise 
 a watchful care over his infant mind " and budding faculties, to 
 guide them aright, and direct them to the best of purposes. His 
 education is provided for : excellent schools have been established, 
 where, for an amount proportioned to the ability and circum- 
 stances of the parent, the children are cared for and taught. In 
 his early youth he is the object of the kind and tender care of 
 more matured minds. In his removal to any other place, special 
 care is taken, and certificates are forwarded, stating that he is, a 
 member, and recommending him to the " Christian care " of those 
 amongst whom he is going. In his marriage, the Society have 
 wisely set guards against hasty or imprudent steps ; indeed, their 
 recommendations and advices on this subject are such as, if attended 
 to, can scarcely fail to procure a high degree of happiness. In his 
 
40 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 life-long intercourse with his fellow-men, the important duties of 
 justice in dealing, punctuality in the fulfilment of engagements, 
 truth speaking and uprightness at all times and in the minutest 
 matters, are strongly urged upon him, and enforced by the discipline 
 in case of failure. If he believes himself called to fill the great and 
 solemn duties of a minister of the Gospel, he is encouraged to be 
 faithful to the promptings of the Spirit of God in his mind ; and if 
 his ministry be considered to proceed from the right source, and not 
 from the excitement or workings of his own imagination, he enjoys 
 the kindest sympathy and warmest attachment and assistance of his 
 friends. 
 
 But it would indeed be in vain in a work of this kind, to attempt 
 to convey anything like a fair idea of the many excellences of these 
 arrangements, nor is it our present object to do so. -We must 
 therefore be content with what has been pointed out, and, in 
 summing up, again to express our opinion that the rules and 
 arrangements comprised in the discipline of the Friends, are sur- 
 passingly wise and good, and well worthy of the admiration and 
 imitation of many societies of far more extended influence and 
 higher consideration in the religious world at the present time. And, 
 recollecting that in its first establishment it was neither the con- 
 trivance nor the invention of the worldly wise or the learned, may 
 we not conclude that the minds of its founders were indeed impelled 
 by the love of God, and their understandings enlightened and their 
 energies directed by his Spirit to those excellent arrangements ? 
 
 Whilst, however, fully conceding this, we cannot but believe, 
 that, like all other institutions, no matter how high their origin, or 
 how good their object, in the establishment of which man has been 
 an agent, it, like them, partakes more or less of the imperfection of 
 human nature. We must still believe it capable of further improve- 
 ment. And if in itself it be not quite faultless, how much more 
 may there be faults, and weakness, and want of due zeal in carrying 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 41 
 
 out its requirements in the spirit in which they were conceived and 
 established ! 
 
 It might naturally be expected, that, according as the Society 
 degenerated in religious strength, a corresponding relaxation would 
 take place in the conducting of the discipline. This is to a con- 
 siderable extent very true. When, however, we come to look at the 
 larger convocations of the body — these Yearly Meetings — we find 
 them ever largely attended by those on whom the work rests in the 
 remoter localities. It is through these that any alteration or 
 modification in their system of Church government is made, and 
 when we seek in their proceedings, from time to time, for any 
 indication of retrogression or of advancement, we cannot perceive any 
 decided symptoms of the system itself having suffered. Although 
 many of their minutes and advices, issued from year to year, betray 
 consciousness of their weakness, yet the spark was ever kept alive 
 and bright, existing faults were strongly and forcibly dealt with, 
 and we can plainly distinguish here and there no small traces of 
 improvement. 
 
 But when we come to later times, we have increasing evidences of 
 advancement. In fact, it would have been almost impossible for any 
 well-constituted Society to resist the onward march of thought, the 
 tide of which we see swelling with irresistible power in the present 
 day. But, however interesting it might be to glance at the state 
 of the Friends' discipline at the different stages of the Society's 
 existence, and to see how far its administration was affected by their 
 weakness, we cannot here do so. We can only speak from general 
 conclusions, and from evidence derivable from such documents as 
 the Society publish from time to time, their proceedings farther than 
 these being very properly kept to themselves. 
 
 We therefore now turn to the more immediate question, whether 
 the declension of the Society is in any degree attributable to the 
 rules or arrangements it has adopted for its guidance or government. 
 
42 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 We think, then, that a comprehensive review of the past state 
 the Society would lead to the conclusion, that lnkewarnmess and 
 want of due zeal in carrying fully into effect the spirit of the dis- 
 cipline has far more tended to degeneracy than the imperfections we 
 may find in the actual rules. 
 
 This weakness would, we believe, be found to manifest itself in 
 several different ways; such as too great stringency in the con- 
 struction of the letter of the Law, without duly bearing in mind 
 the spirit of the Gospel, resulting in too hastily cutting off or dis- 
 uniting from the body such as might have infringed its rules ; the 
 gradual falling into a lifeless formal manner of conducting the pro- 
 ceedings ; an undue partiality towards any particular members, or an 
 undue severity towards some particular class of offences ; and last, but 
 assuredly not least, an overweening fear of difficulties in the way. 
 
 We desire to avoid a censorious disposition, and do not by any 
 means wish it to be inferred that these are faults of universal 
 occurrence ; but still we think the Friends themselves will see and 
 feel that (more particularly in their smaller meetings) much of what 
 we have pointed out has existed amongst them. If there be 
 meetings happily exempt from any of these failings in the due 
 administration of the discipline, we rejoice with them, and trustfully 
 hope they may be long preserved in such a happy state. There 
 may be others not yet awakened to a due sense of the presence of 
 such weakness amongst them. May their eyes be opened to see 
 these things in their true light ! Many there doubtless are, who 
 can feelingly acknowledge the picture as too true — who have been, 
 and still are, crying like the prophet of old, "Woe is me, my 
 leanness, my leanness !" By such may the strong weapon of " all 
 prayer"* be remembered. May they be encouraged and made 
 strong to their day's work by the precious promises of Christ to the 
 
 * See u Pilgrim's Progress." Christian's passage through the Valley of 
 the Shadow of Death. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 43 
 
 humble and contrite ones. Let them cast away "the hindering; 
 things," and press forward with courage and hope in their allotted 
 path of dutv, remembering that the Lord's cause in the earth is as 
 dear to Him as to us, and in his own good time He will carry it 
 forward. And let each and every one endeavour to be a willing 
 instrument in his Divine hand, to do his good pleasure in whatever 
 way He may require. 
 
 But, besides the existence of weakness in carrying out the require- 
 ments of the discipline in its full spirit and integrity, we have to 
 consider whether there is, or has been, any imperfection in the rules 
 themselves, which can have tended to the results in question. 
 Many slight alterations have been made in these from time to time, 
 as the circumstances of the age developed new wants, or did away 
 with the necessity for previous arrangements, or as the means of 
 modification or simplification became manifest. Still there is work 
 to be done, and it is a very pleasing feature of things amongst them 
 at the present day, that there appears an increasing interest felt for 
 the removal of imperfections that may have existed, and the substi- 
 tution of better arrangements. 
 
 The attention of the collective body has been directed to the 
 reconsideration of their marriage laws, and to the present construc- 
 tion of their rules respecting "plainness." They have found 
 during later years no small difficulty in unanimously carrying out 
 their " testimony," as to the payment of ecclesiastical demands, 
 chiefly in consequence of certain alterations in the laws of the land 
 affecting these matters. 
 
 Respecting the first of these, we believe the Society has done 
 wisely in taking the matter into serious consideration. Many 
 thoughtful and truly religious young minds have been lost to the 
 Society from time to time in consequence of non-compliance. For 
 instance, if a young person of either sex forms an attachment for 
 
4i 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 another not a member, the parties are precluded by the rules from 
 marrying in the Society, and the member is cut off for " marrying 
 in a manner contrary to the rules." Thus not only is the indi- 
 vidual lost to the Society, but possibly his partner also, and almost 
 certainly any offspring resulting from such marriage. 
 
 We think them morally and physically wise in their strong objec- 
 tions to the marriage of "first cousins but whether they should 
 make this a ground of total disunity — whether they are warranted 
 either "by Scripture or right or sound reason,"" in cutting off from 
 religious communion, under all circumstances, any who offend in this 
 respect, is a very different question. We are aware there is a strong 
 feeling gaining ground towards the most liberal construction of these 
 rules, and two cases have been lately reported, in which one of the 
 parties (first cousins) was retained in membership, and the other 
 " disowned." This occurred where the cousins were members of 
 different meetings ; that of which one was a member adhering to 
 the usual custom of " disowning," whilst the other, considering the 
 circumstances warranted their putting the more liberal construction 
 on the rules, retained their member. This is, to say the least of it, 
 an unpleasant position for husband and wife to be placed in. We 
 will express no opinion as to the wisdom of the severer course. 
 We presume it was done in all " Christian love and tenderness," 
 which the Society is desired to exercise in all such cases. We leave 
 thoughtful minds and Christian hearts to judge what results are 
 likely to follow. 
 
 We shall not, however, here enter very deeply into the considera- 
 tion of the marriage question. It is one which we are pleased to 
 see the Friends have taken up, and trust their decisions as to future 
 arrangements will be marked by Christian wisdom, and in accord- 
 ance with that spirit of love and tenderness which should exhibit 
 itself in active endeavour to gather all into the fold of the Good 
 Shepherd. But, as far as affects their numbers at the present day, 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 45 
 
 we are clearly of opinion, that the rules hitherto existing on the 
 subject have tended much more to their diminution than their 
 increase. 
 
 In connexion with this subject is another observable fact, which 
 must by no means be passed over ; and that is the Numbers of 
 Unmarried of both sexes in the Society. Many of these have far 
 passed the meridian of life. But, looking at the younger members, 
 we are really surprised at the great proportion of marriageable and 
 yet unmarried. Now, why is this \ Is it a right state of things ? 
 Most certainly not. " It is not good that man should be alone." 
 The great duties of life require marriage for their fulfilment, and 
 the greatest happiness attainable on this earth is only to be found 
 when all the good and excellent feelings and faculties which a 
 beneficent Creator has given us for wise purposes, can find their 
 appropriate field of action. 
 
 The position of woman in the social scale precludes her from 
 taking the initiative in this important step. It is therefore to the 
 state of feeling amongst the young men that we must look, and to 
 them we address ourselves for a solution of the question. 
 
 Why then, young men, is it so ? You intend to marry late in 
 life, do you, when you are rich enough ? We tell you thousands 
 have split upon this rock ; you pursue a bubble you may never 
 reach, and neglect the true riches which the blessing of heaven 
 confers on the fulfilment of duty, and " whereunto no sorrow is 
 added." But you are quite rich enough, are you. and would willingly 
 marry if you met one "just suited to your mind?" Go to : — Do 
 you imagine heaven will rain down its most precious gifts upon your 
 heads ? No ; it is a good old saying, that " God helps those who 
 help themselves." You must know before you can rightly esteem 
 and love. Extend your acquaintance, then ; prune away a little of 
 your superfluous pride ; act like true men. Do your duty in the 
 
46 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 fear of God and the desire to please Him, and much mistaken we 
 are if you do not soon find your reward. 
 
 " Ah ! but/' say a third class, " neither of these views suit 
 our case : we long for the day which may put it in our power 
 prudently to undertake the responsibilities of married life.-" Well, 
 for some, perhaps many amongst you, prudence may be very well 
 for the present. To such we say, look that you extend your very 
 commendable " prudence" to your present outlay; defer not the 
 wished-for day by your trifling (?) extravagances, or your want of 
 industry and diligence ; see that you fulfil all your present duties ; 
 seek for best help and guidance in your endeavours, and for His 
 blessing on all you undertake, and in due time your day of rejoicing 
 will come. 
 
 Again, others will plead, " we have tried hard and really can't 
 get on : we fear we shall never be able to marry." It might be well 
 for you to consider that woman was given as a " helpmeet" to man. 
 Perhaps if you had a true helpmeet she might much assist and 
 forward your exertions. It is a well-known fact, that many women 
 are literally " the better halves.'" We do not recommend you hastily 
 to rush into marriage for such a reason ; but it might do no harm 
 for you to look at it in this light, and try then and see whither 
 your duty to Heaven and yourself would lead you. 
 
 We have before, more than once, spoken on the subject of 
 " Plainness so that, with reference to the action of the discipline 
 in this direction, it only here remains to say, that we believe the 
 right principle has been overstrained and formalised, (if we may 
 use such a term,) to a degree hurtful to the religious vigour of the 
 Society, and preventive to the spreading of its influence ; and we 
 think it a pleasing feature of their present state, that they are now 
 eno-a^ed in the endeavour to bring their rules more into accordance 
 with the real requirements of a sincere and unformal " Christian 
 profession." 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 47 
 
 Since the earliest days of the Society, its members have borne a 
 firm, though passive, resistance to the payment of tithes and other 
 ecclesiastical demands, believing that the ministry of the Gospel 
 should be free and unpaid for. Their rules on this subject require 
 their members to suffer in any way rather than compromise this 
 " testimony." Recent changes in the laws of the land, (for instance, 
 the substitution of a (t rent charge " for the direct payment of 
 " tithes,") have placed some difficulty in the way of fully carrying 
 out the rules which applied to a previous state of things ; and at 
 present there prevails no small want of unanimity as to what is a 
 compromise of the principle, and what is not. On this subject the 
 rules should be very clear and explicit. If the principle be a good 
 one, it ought certainly to be carried out, and if not, the sooner 
 it be changed the better. If it be impracticable to carry out the 
 present arrangements, they ought to be brought into accordance 
 with existing circumstances, without compromising the principle. 
 We think these rules require reconsideration and amendment; 
 and it has long been our decided conviction, that had the Friends 
 exhibited half the amount of energy and Christian determination in 
 rational and constitutional attempts to do away with what millions 
 object to as well as themselves, that they have done in this passive 
 submission to the sufferings entailed on them by this cause, it would 
 have gone much farther in removing the evil. 
 
 Before passing away from the consideration of the discipline, there 
 is one more duty involved in its requirements which we cannot pass 
 over in silence, as we deem it one of much importance, the neglect 
 of which would be an immediate and serious cause of degeneracy, 
 and the honest and conscientious discharge of which would doubt- 
 less te»d in a very high degree to the strengthening of the weak, 
 the encouragement of the humble, and the general health and vigour 
 of religious life amongst the members. We mean the subject of 
 " Oversight." The rules and advices under this head are exceed- 
 
48 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 ingly valuable, and breathe a spirit of true Christian earnestness 
 and of heartfelt desire for the religious welfare of all its members. 
 
 In each meeting there are certain members specially appointed as 
 the " Overseers" of the flock in that particular place. The duties 
 allotted to them* are, "to extend Christian care to the unfaithful'' 
 amongst those " professing the same truth as themselves to 
 inform the ignorant ; to strengthen the weak ; to encourage the 
 tender ; to seek out the scattered ; to warn the unruly ; to caution 
 the unwary ; to deal firmly, yet in love and meekness, with any 
 who may act in opposition to the required "testimonies;" to 
 administer private counsel and admonition where needful, and where 
 that appears ineffectual, to report the case to the Church/" 
 
 In other religious sects, duties such as these are required of the 
 paid ministers of the body, who are also expected to visit the sick 
 and administer consolation to the afflicted, and to attend at the bed 
 of death. But in a society constituted as that of Friends, such an 
 appointment as this is absolutely indispensable, and the full discharge 
 of the useful offices involved appears to us to be of vital consequence 
 to its health and vigour. 
 
 But the advices on this subject extend much further ; they 
 recommend that " all Friends watch over one another for good," 
 and say most truly, " that the exercise of Christian care in 
 this way tends to strengthen the bands of fellowship, and is useful 
 both to those who give and to those who receive it." They 
 " earnestly desire that every appearance of good may be cherished, 
 that counsel and encouragement may be extended to the young and 
 inexperienced, and a parental care exercised over those who appear 
 to be in danger of wandering from the fold of Christ." 
 
 Now, were these important duties fairly carried into practice ; 
 earnestly entered into, from the impelling power of the love- of God, 
 and his cause in the heart j — from a desire to help on a brother in 
 the way so blessed to ourselves ; — from a deep sense that each and 
 * Book of Minutes, "Oversight," p. 178. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 49 
 
 every one has his part to act in promoting the knowledge of the 
 Lord in the earth, — were considerations such as these the motives, to 
 an oversight for good such as has been pointed out, what increase 
 of strength would it not give to the body at large ! 
 
 We may now query : Have these duties been fully carried out ? 
 Has the Society gained all it might, firstly, by the public and 
 recognized care of its appointed "overseers and secondly, by the 
 brotherly interchange of Christian watchfulness between all its 
 members ? Or has it lost by want of sufficient attention to this sub- 
 ject ? Is the weakness it has experienced in any degree attributable 
 to the imperfect fulfilment of this highly important duty ? 
 
 Much we fear that clear answers cannot be returned to these 
 questions. 
 
 Has it been the living and active concern of the overseers 
 throughout the body, to "inform the ignorant," to "strengthen the 
 weak/' " to encourage the tender," and to " seek out the scattered V 
 or has their attention been too much given to the cultivation and care 
 of " the hedge to the repairing of "breaches in the walls and 
 too little to the culture of the precious flowers within, (which might 
 have been the stronger for a little more sun and wind ;) too little to 
 the building up and perfecting of the city itself, which being "set 
 upon an hill could not be hid, 1 ' and which being founded upon a 
 rock, the gates of hell could not prevail against it. 
 
 In conclusion, we cannot but assign the want of a more full and 
 perfect Oversight, both official and private, as one of the causes of 
 weakness amongst Friends. 
 
 Connected with the subject of the discipline, is a matter which 
 may be of some assistance to us in forming a clear idea of the 
 general question before us. 
 
 In every healthy state of society — whether religious, social, or 
 political — where individual opinion is allowed right and free ex- 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 pression, it is generally found that the minds of its active members 
 belong to either of two classes : those who are satisfied with the 
 present arrangements, and wish them to continue ; or those who, 
 desiring a better state of things, work towards what they consider 
 improvement. We may call the first of these the Conservative, the 
 second the Progressive, element. It is in deep and true wisdom that 
 society is thus constituted. These two powers working together act 
 as a healthy check on each other. Were the Progressive element 
 alone to reign, it would be too much sail and too little ballast. Did 
 the Conservative alone exist, stagnation would be the result. Society 
 is most likely to experience the benefit of a lively and rational 
 improvement, where the two powers are well balanced. 
 
 Now, we think, even a general review of the working of the Friends' 
 discipline, for a century previous to the last few years, will lead to 
 the conclusion that the Conservative element was in a decided 
 ascendancy. Here we find another not very remote cause of the 
 non-advance of the Society. We have, however, said, " wdthin the 
 last few years;" and here we may once more allude to the change 
 that has taken place, and the evident and most pleasing signs of 
 improvement that of later years have been developing themselves. 
 
 Self-complacency once done away with — spiritual pride subdued — 
 the idea that " I am holier than thou," felt to be sinful and false — 
 the belief that God's blessed Spirit extends over all his church, and 
 may and does impel the pen, or the acts, or the words, of other 
 ministers than their own, (who truly and prayerfully seek its help 
 and presence,) and incites truly good men to truly good w r orks all the 
 world over, — this unselfish liberality of feeling and principle opens 
 the eyes to self-weakness, and is an evident symptom of an im- 
 proving state. The inquiry, What is Truth ? abounds throughout 
 all society at the present day. The Friends have not escaped. 
 Old principles are narrowly questioned and looked into ; old pre- 
 judices are called up for judgment ; old habits and practices are 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 51 
 
 desired to give an account of themselves, and state their claims to 
 our regard. There is a general inquiry, Are we perfect ? Can we 
 improve ? What are abuses ? Whence is weakness ? God's com- 
 mand is, " Cry aloud and spare not " Speak to my people that 
 they go forward !" Forward from deadness to liveliness, from 
 weakness to strength, from lukewarmness to holy zeal, from empty 
 formalism to Christian truth and liberty ! 
 
 Apart from subjects coming under either the head of religious 
 doctrine or church discipline, there is one which has been some- 
 times put forward as a reason for the declension of Friends. We 
 allude to the idea that it has been in no small degree consequent on 
 the increased affluence of many amongst them. It is true that the 
 habitual industry, diligence, and sobriety of the Friends have been 
 attended with their usual reward, and from time to time many 
 families amongst them have risen from a comparatively humble 
 position in life to the enjoyment of a large income, and in some 
 cases to the possession of considerable riches. It has been asserted 
 that a rich family seldom continues for more than three generations 
 in the Society. Now we know not what degree of truth there may 
 be in such an assertion ; but to conclude therefrom that true 
 Quakerism is incompatible with an independent position in the 
 world, argues, in our opinion, a very low estimate of what true 
 Quakerism really is or ought to be. " How hardly shall they that 
 have riches enter into the kingdom of God !*'* This was said of the 
 rich man who turned away sorrowful when he was told to go and sell 
 all he had, and to come and follow Him, the Saviour of men. The 
 words of the Redeemer continue true now as then, and truly the 
 rich, ever supplied with the ready means of gratifying their passions, 
 and of indulging the weakness of their nature, are specially liable to 
 be led away by an undue love of this world and its enjoyments, 
 
 * Mark x. 23. 
 
52 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 from the self-denying requirements of a true and pure Christianity. 
 But He that thus pointed out the difficulty, added the consoling 
 antidote, that " with God all things are possible"* — thus shewing 
 that if they abide in Him, they are equally the objects of his care 
 and guidance. Are we then to believe, that because the way is 
 difficult, the rich must necessarily fall therein ? — that because it is 
 narrow, they cannot walk in it ? Are we quite certain, that in the 
 pride and bigotry of man — in the meddlesomeness and " creaturely 
 activity"" (as it is called) of sectarian feeling — or, to speak mildly, in 
 the weakness of narrow-minded (though perhaps well-meaning) 
 religionists — the way has not been " narrowed" much more than was 
 ever designed by the Blessed Founder of a pure and lovely Chris- 
 tianity. Has it not occurred in these later times, that men have 
 bound "heavy burdens grievous to be borne," and laid them on 
 their own shoulders, and then gone on through life mourning and 
 lamenting because they could not carry them ? We firmly believe 
 that true and enlightened views of wherein true religion really 
 consists, will clearly shew that such has been and is the case. Many 
 are the " stumbling-blocks" still lying in the way, which were 
 never placed there by the Author of all good. Is it not a libel on 
 Divine wisdom to say in one breath, that " the diligent hand maketh 
 rich/' or, that " He blesses the endeavours of the industrious with 
 success ;" and in the next, that the way which He has cast up 
 is too narrow for them to walk in ? It cannot be so. Facts are 
 against it. Quakerism has received some of its brightest sunbeams 
 through its richer members. Religion exists amongst rich as 
 amongst poor. Poverty has its impediments to progress in the true 
 path as well as riches. 
 
 But in the road to wealth lie many dangers. Of these let all 
 beware who aspire to the name of followers of the Just and True 
 One. Let strict truthfulness and integrity continue j let the golden 
 
 * Mark x. 27. 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 53 
 
 rule, " Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you," 
 he ever borne in mind : let the glory of God and the fulfilment of 
 his will, and the spread and increase of his knowledge, be the deep 
 under-current of our motives in our intercourse with the world. 
 Let all carry into the practice of their lives the recommendation of 
 Him who came into the world " that through Him we might have 
 life," that we should " seek first the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness, and all these things should be added unto us."* 
 Let all rely in confidence on the fulfilment of that promise, if they 
 observe the condition. Thus would the poor be made rich indeed 
 in a holy and peaceful confidence in their Heavenly Caretaker; 
 thus would the rich be preserved from falling into temptation ; 
 thus would all be built up together, " as lively stones, into a 
 spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up sacrifices acceptable 
 to God through Christ Jesus."f 
 
 Having now considered, although in the very cursory manner 
 required by a work of this kind, the various subjects involved in the 
 question of the declension of >the Society of Friends, it only remains 
 for us, before concluding, to pass in review the course of our argu- 
 ments, that by thus looking at them in a more condensed form, we 
 may the more easily see their bearing on the general enquiry. 
 
 Assuming, then, in the first place, that it is the design of God, in 
 omniscient wisdom, that the knowledge of Him and His will should 
 yet " cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas," and that this 
 work is a gradual one, we extract events from the pages of history, 
 both sacred and profane, shewing prominent points where the 
 development of this design becomes apparent. "We see light 
 admitted little by little up to the appearance of Christ our 
 Saviour, and his truth spread more and more by God's working 
 through human instrumentality up to the present day. We have 
 
 * Matt. vi. 33. 
 
 t 1 Peter ii. 5. 
 
54 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 endeavoured to shew that the Society of Friends were, in. their turn, 
 entrusted with a high and important mission in this great work, 
 namely, the development of the spiritual nature of true religion, 
 and of its practical effects upon the lives, conduct, and morality of 
 man ; and further, that whilst in their early days they proved them- 
 selves strong and vigorous servants of Christ in forwarding this 
 work, yet that after a time they became weaker, and that at the 
 present time, when the surrounding world has so far advanced in 
 much that is really good and true, they, as a Society, instead 
 of having spread and increased in proportion to the general increase, 
 have actually diminished in numbers, and by no means occupy the 
 position, or possess the influence in the religious world, that the 
 truth of their principles should entitle them to, were they less 
 hampered with formalities, and more clearly understood and practised 
 by those who profess them. 
 
 We have considered in detail what we regard as defects or im- 
 perfections, — firstly, in their apprehensions of religious principle ; 
 next in their moral arrangements ; then in the working out of their 
 church discipline ; and, lastly, glanced at some of the external cir- 
 cumstances which may be assigned as tending to the result in 
 question. 
 
 It is very difficult indeed, within the limits of an essay such as 
 the present, to enter fully into the discussion of so many important 
 matters, or to anticipate and meet the many objections that may 
 be made to our conclusions. There is scarcely a subject we have 
 broached, that would not afford matter for a volume. But the duty 
 set before us, and which we have endeavoured to fulfil, was a simple 
 one, to state what appears to us to be the causes of the past dege- 
 neracy and the declension in numbers of the Society of Friends in 
 the United Kingdom. 
 
 If we have succeeded in doing so truly and clearly, we have but 
 to trust that the effort will be blessed to those for whom it may be 
 intended, and to make the humble and sincere acknowledgment, 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 55 
 
 that such success has been by the assistance and blessing of that 
 Power which is ever ready to respond to our prayers for its availing 
 help, in accordance with the encouraging promise of our gracious 
 Lord, " Ask and it shall be given unto you, 
 
 "seek and ye shall find."* 
 
 Although the discovery and statement of these Causes was the 
 direct task assigned us, yet we cannot take leave of our readers 
 without offering a few suggestions as to what appears to us the best 
 means of removing the imperfections and weakness pointed out, of 
 strengthening the cause of truth, and promoting the knowledge of 
 the Lord and the kingdom of Christ in the earth. 
 
 As regards the religious principles of the Society of Friends 
 (considered in their purity), we believe them to be so far identified 
 with " the good and acceptable and perfect will of God,"-f- that its 
 members, in clearly apprehending, and being individually faithful to 
 those principles, may add to their collective strength, may recover 
 from past feebleness, may yet occupy their right position in the 
 world, and, instead of having to complain of degeneracy and declen- 
 sion, may yet have to rejoice in being led forward from strength to 
 strength. 
 
 We do not mean to depreciate in the least from the claims of 
 other professions, far from it ; these, too, have, doubtless, important 
 places designed for them by the Great Head of the Church, and are 
 the objects of his care and guidance, as well as the Society whose 
 cause we have had before us. We only desire to repeat our convic- 
 tion, that there is nothing in these principles which would disqualify 
 their adherents from filling a most useful place in the universal 
 Church of Christ — it may be, from becoming as shining lights in 
 the world — did knowledge keep pace with truth, and faithfulness 
 with knowledge. 
 
 * Matt. vii. 7. 
 
 + Eom. xii. 2. 
 
06 
 
 ESSAY OX THE SOCIETY OF FKIENDS, 
 
 How, then, is this most desirable result to be brought about ? 
 How is this perfect health and vigour of the body to be attained ? 
 
 The body is composed of many members, and unless each and 
 every member be in health, the body suffers. This appears very 
 simple, and is, doubtless, very true ; but it will take a little calm 
 consideration to be more clearly and fully apprehended. Many will 
 say, " Oh ! it is just coming to the old argument of individual 
 faithfulness again." Well, granted, and a very sound good argu- 
 ment it is too. The only question about it is — faithfulness to 
 ■what ? Is it faithfulness to the prevalent customs, and habits, and 
 ideas, and practices of the Society ; or is it faithfulness to our own 
 honest convictions of duty to our Heavenly Father and Friend, to 
 our ever-blessed Saviour and Redeemer ? 
 
 But how indignantly will many amongst them repudiate the idea 
 that these can possibly be in any degree antagonistic. Well, if not, 
 so much the easier for the faithful, say we ; but how many in the 
 present day can feelingly testify to the contrary . Surely nothing is 
 so easy as to act as we have been accustomed to act ; no lesson so 
 difficult as to unlearn what we have been taught as true. No self- 
 denial so painful as to oppose ourselves to the approbation and good 
 opinion of those we love and esteem. But here the very means of 
 renovation consists in the repudiation of abuses, the substitution of 
 a purer faith, and of a practice more in accordance with the increas- 
 ingly well-known institutions of Divine wisdom. 
 
 To what, then, you inquiring ones, are you to be faithful ? 
 
 Give good heed, and dwell upon, and encourage, the very first or 
 faintest desire after good. Pray earnestly to your Father above to 
 open your eyes to see his pure truth. Come to Him " as little 
 children* for instruction — knowing nothing — having no prejudice, or 
 expectation, or will, as to how or where that truth may lead you — 
 not believing beforehand that you will find it in accordance with any 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 1-3. 
 
AND TILE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 57 
 
 preconceived ideas ; but as a blank page, ready to be inscribed by 
 the Divine hand — making no mental reservation — having no wish, 
 save only that the writing there may be God's own blessed truth, in 
 such measure as he may be pleased to grant it to you. Thus will 
 your hearts be inclined by Him to receive his law and to know his 
 will ; thus, by his free grace, by the influence of his Spirit in your 
 hearts, will you become aware of your sinful state, and thus be 
 induced, in the humble sincerity of true repentance, to utter the cry 
 which angels ever rejoice to hear, " God be merciful to me, a 
 sinner ;"* aud, like the poor publican, you will feel the assurance 
 of being "justified rather than the other, "f For, when you thus 
 come to feel the need of a Saviour, his love will run to meet you, as 
 did the father of the other poor prodigal " when he yet saw him a 
 great way off." J Thus you will come to behold glorious things out 
 of his law. You will delight to meditate in the inspired record of 
 his will and of his works ; and thus will your understandings be 
 opened rightly to interpret and appreciate these divine writings. 
 Christ will become precious to your souls. For you will feel and 
 realize that in Him there is life, and through Him there is forgive- 
 ness and plenteous redemption. "With such a faith pervading your 
 minds, and exhibiting its power in your acts, how strong would you 
 come forth to join with the mighty in forwarding the Lord's cause 
 in the earth in accordance with his will ! Before an army thus 
 furnished with the " sword of the Spirit," and " the shield of faith," 
 and the " breastplate of righteousness/'§ how soon would abuses fall 
 and prejudices fade away ! how soon would truth take the place of 
 error, fearfulness give way to Christian courage ! One would indeed 
 "chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." || But 
 there must be sincerity, there must be faith, there must be patience, 
 there must be obedience. 
 
 Let all then seek to feel the importance of individual endeavours 
 
 * Luke rviii 13. f Ibid. 14. t Ibid. xv. 20. 
 
 § Eph. vi. 14 17. || Deut. xxxii. 30. 
 
58 
 
 ESSAY ON THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 after right and truth,.of individual faithfulness in acting out fully 
 and honestly their convictions of duty, and of individual influence 
 amongst their fellow-men. Thus would wrong be set right, imper- 
 fections removed, degeneracy exchanged for advancement, declension 
 for increase — religion made practical, delightful, beautiful, and 
 simple — and the love of God and the knowledge of Christ spread 
 abroad more and more throughout the world. 
 
 In the attainment of this great result, there may, however, be 
 collateral aids, which we must not omit to consider. Amongst 
 the most important of these we would name, a rightly and freely 
 exercised Social and Religious Intercourse. We desire the Friends 
 may put the question to themselves, — how far this exists, and 
 how far an increase of it might be useful to them as- a society. 
 Do those who consider themselves the more " orthodox " or " con- 
 sistent 93 amongst them, really carry out the spirit of the discipline 
 in " strengthening the weak" and "encouraging the tender?" 
 Are they ever ready to " give an answer of the hope that is in 
 them," to young inquiring minds? Do they, by their manner and 
 habits, encourage a healthy confidence in the " little ones V Is 
 there too much " caste'' still amongst them ? Why should the 
 Society be divided into " consistent Friends," and " nominal 
 Friends ? " And is the line of division a right one ? Are the 
 " nominal" Friends likely to be made " consistent" by the example 
 and practice of the others ? Are not the terms, " consistency 11 and 
 " plainness " misapplied ? Is "simplicity" so great a virtue, so 
 important and so desirable a state, as is sometimes supposed ? We 
 do not find it so much as named amongst the " fruits of the 
 spirit," (Gal. v. 22). We think, did a healthier intercourse, both 
 social and religious, but particularly the latter, exist between the 
 old and the young, the " orthodox" and the yet unconvinced, the 
 fathers and the children, that the result would be highly beneficial 
 to all parties. It would tend to remove misunderstanding on either 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION. 
 
 59 
 
 side ; youth might learn from the wisdom of age, and age be cheered 
 by finding unsuspected worth in youth. It would soon show that far 
 more good would come from " consistency " holding out a helping 
 hand to " inexperience," than by wrapping itself up in a cloak of 
 exclusiveness. It would discover how much of truth and goodness 
 lay on the outside of the " hedge," so carefully cultivated, the thick- 
 ness and closeness of which had hitherto concealed the rich harvest 
 that the All-merciful had been raising outside it. Yes, the hearts 
 of many sincere ones would be gladdened by knowing this, could 
 they but encourage a kindly confidence in those around them, and 
 lay aside a little of their unprofitable fear of laying open their faith 
 and their hope to the view of those who, in the right order of things, 
 would naturally look to them for instruction, help, or encourage- 
 ment in their Christian course. 
 
 Another powerful medium for the dissemination of knowledge 
 and the interchange of opinion, has until lately been taken com- 
 paratively very little advantage of by the Society. We, of course, 
 allude to the Press. True, they have from time to time published 
 lives and travels, and tracts, and " approved writings" of Friends ; 
 but in the circulation of a periodical literature of their own, and in 
 the possession of a means for the eliciting and discussion of topics of 
 interest to themselves, they have been sadly deficient ; indeed, as 
 far as we can learn, it is only of comparatively recent date, that such 
 has at all existed amongst them, and it is still of very limited extent. 
 However, such as it is, we must say we consider it likely to be of 
 very great benefit. It extends to remote places information of the 
 proceedings of the body at head-quarters, and thus tends to create 
 an interest not previously felt. It deals with prevalent abuses and 
 elicits opinion on both sides. It takes cognizance of many subjects 
 which the regular discipline may not have yet got hold of, and tends 
 to draw out, or it may be in degree to direct, public opinion. And 
 were such a literature to be of a character, and conducted in such a 
 manner, as to induce a more extended and general interest, how 
 
60 
 
 ESSAY OX THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 much would it not tend to set the Society right with the public ! 
 Doubtless, even in this present " enlightened age" much ignorance 
 and misunderstanding prevail regarding the Society and its prin- 
 ciples. Would not their truths be thus more likely to be cleared 
 away from the excrescences which conceal them from the view of 
 many anxious inquirers, and their usefulness made a blessing to 
 many ? And if anything of error lurking in them thus came to 
 light, so much the better say we. Let them fear not for Truth : it 
 stands on a firm basis — it will bear the light. Set not your caDdle 
 under a bushel : let it shine before men. 
 
 One more powerful accessory to religious advancement before we 
 conclude. It is that of Family Worship or Prayer. 
 
 Have the Friends, in their attempts to spiritualize religion and 
 to avoid the empty form, taken too much from the practical means 
 within their reach — means which doubtless tend to growth in 
 religious life, and afford certain opportunities for the exercise of 
 many important Christian gifts and duties ? We are aware it 
 is their habit to "sit still" before meals, and to read a small 
 portion of Scripture once or twice daily, in the families of most 
 Friends. But is there no further duty required at their hands 
 in this way ? Would it not be well if families came together 
 daily to unite in their petitions to their Heavenly Protector ? when 
 the parent might lead the child to the Throne of Grace, or instruct 
 it in the way of wisdom ; when the hearts of husbands and wives, 
 brothers and sisters, masters and servants, might, thus gathered 
 together in His name who promised to be with the two or three, 
 enjoy for a few brief moments a sense of His presence, and receive 
 from His hand a portion of that " daily bread" which would nourish 
 and strengthen the new life within them. What an opportunity 
 would such a time afford for a sound exposition of the Scriptures 
 from experience to youth, for sincere and open enquiry from youth 
 to wisdom ! and how would wisdom discover its weakness and be 
 
AND THE CAUSES OF ITS DECLENSION". 
 
 61 
 
 afresh incited to progress, that it might meet the demands thus 
 made upon it ! Would not there be " pastors and teachers" then 
 found ? Would not the gift of " exhortation to edifying in love" 
 be far more freely exercised amongst them ? Let those who wish to 
 grow in grace and in the kingdom of God and his Christ, and in the 
 experience of his blessed Spirit, think seriously of these things, and 
 see what duty may be required at their hands. 
 
 And if not only the Society, whose cause these pages have dis- 
 cussed, but all who feel the importance of such considerations, were 
 thus, individually and collectively, sincerely and earnestly to endea- 
 vour to carry out the designs of the ever-blessed Founder of our 
 most precious faith, would not their labours indeed tend to the 
 " perfecting of the saints, to the work of the ministry, to the 
 edifying of the body of Christ ; till we all come in the unity of the 
 faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
 unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ V* 
 
 * Eph. iv. 12, 13. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : Printed for Alfred W. Bennett 5, Bishopsgate Street Without. 
 
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 and Language. 
 
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 Crown 8vo., 6d. 
 
 The Principle of Ancient Quakerism con- 
 
 sidered with Reference to the Supposed Decadence of the Society of 
 Friends. 
 
 XII. 
 
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 A Letter to a Friend ; being an Examination 
 
 of a Pamphlet entitled " The Principle of Ancient Quakerism con- 
 sidered with reference to the Supposed Decadence of the Society of 
 Friends." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 12mo., sewed, 2d. 
 
 Ancient Testimony of the Religious Society 
 
 of Friends, commonly called Quakers, respecting some of their 
 Christian Doctrines and Practices. 1844. 
 
 ALL SUPPLIED FREE OF CARRIAGE. 
 
I 
 
 BX7676 .H62 
 
 The Hibernian essay on the Society of 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00039 5402 
 
 HIBERNIAN "ESS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR DECLEN 
 
 BY A FRIEND OF THE FRIENDS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 A. W. BENNETT, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WIT! 
 
 1859.