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to others to be instructed. Now the result has not been desirable, where it has been designed that such children should be continued members. For, how is a poor solitary Quaker-boy to retain the peculiarities belonging to his religious profession in the face of the whole school? Will not his opinions and manners be drowned as it were in the torrent of the opinions and manners of the rest? How can he get out of this whirlpool pure? How on his return will he harmonize with his own Society? Will not either he or his descendants leave it? Such

an education may make him, undoubtedly, both a good and an enlightened man,-and so far one of the most desirable objects in life will have been accomplished, but it certainly has a tendency to weaken the peculiar institution of Quakerism,

The education, which is afforded in the Society itself, is divisible again into two kinds; into that which is moral or religious, and into that which is literary or philosophical.

It must undoubtedly be confessed, in looking into that which is moral or religious, that sufficient care is not always taken

with regard to youth. We sometimes see fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters, so different in their appearance and deportment, that we should scarcely have imagined them to be of the same family. I am not now speaking of those parents, who may live in the towns, and who may be more than ordinarily devoted to the Mammon of the world, but of some who, living both in town and country, give an example of a liberal and amiable spirit, and of a blameless conduct to the world. That the former should neglect and lose sight of their offspring, when their moral vision is clouded by an undue eagerness after money, is not to be wondered at; but that the latter should do it, is surprising. It is certainly true that some of these are too indulgent in their families, contrary to the plan and manner of their own education, or that they do not endeavour to nip in the bud all rising inconsistencies. The consequence is, that their children get beyond control in time; when they lament in vain their departure from the simplicity of the Society. Hence the real cause of their disownment, which occasionally follows, is not in the children run

ning out of bounds, but in the parents running out of bounds in the manners of their children. And here I may add, that some parents, dwelling too much on the disuse of forms in religion, because such disuse is inculcated by their own doctrines, run into the opposite extreme, and bring up their children in too much ignorance of the general plan of Christianity, as it is laid down in the letter of the Scriptures.

With respect to education, as far as it is literary or philosophical, it is frequently sufficient for those, upon whom it is bestowed. But it does not appear to me to be carried to its proper extent in the case of the children of the rich, when I consider how friendly it might be made towards the promotion of virtue. Some, we know, growing wealthy, have had children when they were poorer, and, when in this poorer state, they have given them an education which was suitable to it, not calculating upon their future rise in life. But their children, having had such a limited education, have not had that, which has been proper for their subsequent station. Others, again, who have been born in better circumstances, have, on account of

an undue depreciation of human knowledge, educated their children as improperly for their station as the former. The children, then, in both these cases, have not had an education sufficient, with the prospect of riches before them, to keep them out of the way of harm. They have not had, in addition to any religious instruction, that taste given them for sublime pursuits, which should make them despise those which were frivolous. Thus many of the corruptive opinions, fashions, and amusements of the world have charmed them. Giving way to these, they have been overcome; when overcome, they have run into excesses; and for these excesses they have been disowned. But, with a better education, they would probably have thought all such corruptive opinions, fashions, and amusements as below their notice, and unworthy of their countenance and support.

CHAP

CHAPTER IV.

Supposed remedies for the diminution of some of these causes-Regulations in the case of mixed marriages-Measures to be adopted in the pursuit of trade-Education, as it is moral or religious, to be more strictly enforced in some families— as it is literary or philosophical, to be carried to a greater extent among the children of the rich -Object of this latter education-nature of it, as consisting both of knowledge and prohibitions -how it would operate against the fascinating allurements of the world, or to the end proposed.

I PURPOSE now to suggest, as briefly as I can, such remarks as, if adopted, might possibly operate as remedies to some of the evils, which have been described. In doing this, I am aware of the difficulties that await me. I am sensible that I ought not to be too sanguine as to the result of all my observations upon this subject, and yet I cannot but think that I may be successful in some of them. Arduous, however, as the task, and dubious as my success may be, I am encouraged,

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