334 MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS.

future rise in life. But their children, having

ha

24

the word, or for visiting from house to house; and so far from
giving them countenance, he commands them with quietness
to work and eat their own bread," instancing his own example.
And no man was bolder in maintaining his own rights than
Paul, both as a Roman citizen, and as a minister of Christ;
but it is clear that no such idea ever entered his mind, as that
ministers in a stationary capacity should receive their 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, or £700 per annum, (and as bles the ministers to be cha-
people will give, because it
much more, of course, as the
ritable), which is the argument of the Christian Witness. One
might suppose the author had paid a visit to Rome, and had ob-

tained such theology from and the

for it is quite in character,
find it in the bull of some Pius Pope; but that it should be
we shoulwebs of the Vatican;
naturally expect to
found in a periodical assuming the title of the Christian Wit-
ness, is sufficient to create the suspicion that it is not entirely
conducted by the witnesses of Christ; but I will not judge thus,
but put the best construction I can upon it, and in the exercise
of that charity which hopeth all things, I will imagine that
these witnesses were asleep, when the enemy scattered these
few tares, and introduced this antichristian leaven. Such doc-
trine was not learnt from Christ, or Peter, or Paul, for it is as
opposed to their doctrine, as recorded in the New Testament,
as darkness is to light.

We do not find men desiring the office of exclusive teacher
over a church wholly unable to pay, and there is little jealousy
as to the infringement of the office, where no money is to be
obtained. of

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 familiesas 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 opinions 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,

8

couraged, on the prospect of being but partially useful, to undertake it.

On the first of the original and immediate causes which have been mentioned, I mean mixed marriages, I shall have but little to say. I do not see how it is possible, while the Society means to keep up a due subordination among its members, not to disown such as may marry out of it. In mixed families, such as these marriages produce, it is in vain to expect that the discipline can be carried on, as has been shown in the second volume. And without this discipline the Society could hardly keep up, in the extensive manner it does, the character of a moral people. I think, however, that some good might be done by regulations to be universally observed. Thus, they who are deputed to inform the disowned of their exclusion from membership, should be of the most amiable temper and conciliatory manners. Every unqualified person should be excluded from these missions. Permission should be solicited for both the married persons to be present on such occasions. It is difficult to estimate the good effect which the deputed, if of sweet and tender dispo

sitions,

sitions, or the bad effects which the deputed, if of cold and austere manners, might have upon those they visited, or what bias it might give the one in particular who had never been in membership, for or against the Society. Permission also might be solicited, even when the mission was over, for future friendly opportunities or visits, which would show in the Society itself a tender regard and solicitude for the welfare of its former members. It is not at all improbable, from the impression which such apparent regard and solicitude might occasion, that the children of the visited, though not members, might be brought up in the rules of membership. And, finally, it appears to me to be desirable that the disowned, if they should give proof, by their own lives and the education of their children, of their attachment to the principles of the Society, and should solicit restoration to membership, should be admitted into it again, without any acknowledgment of past errors, and wholly as new and convinced members.

With respect to the second of the imme diate and original causes, which is to be found in tithes, I may observe, that it is,

VOL.

VOL. III.

as

as far as I can collect, but a small and an inferior one; few being disowned on this account, and still fewer now than formerly. It would be desirable, however, few as these instances may be, to prevent them. But I fear that no remedy can be pointed out, in which the Quakers would acquiesce, except it could be shown that a distinction might be made, between the payment of ecclesiastical and lay tithes, which would not interfere with the Great Tenets of the Society on this subject.

A third cause of disownment, but this belongs to the original and remote, was shown to be the pursuit of trade, connected as it is with the peculiar habits of the Society, and a residence in the towns. I may propose as remedies for this: First, that parents should be careful to exhibit a good example to their children. Secondly, as I have before observed, that they should prescribe to themselves moderation in the acquisition of wealth, either by relinquishing trade at a given time, or by dealing out the profits of it more liberally than common in the way of benevolence, so that their children, in each case, may never have the misfortune of

the