A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1: Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of FriendsClarkson, Thomas
Religion
A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1: Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of Friends
Clarkson, Thomas
Society of Friends
_Discipline of two kinds--as it relates to the regulation of the
internal affairs of the society--or to the cognizance of immoral
conduct--difficulty of procuring obedience to moral precepts--this
attempted to be obviated by George Fox--outlines of his system for this
purpose--additions made to his system since his time--objections to the
system considered--this system, or the discipline of the Quakers, as far
as this branch of it is concerned, the great foundation-stone on which
their moral education is supported._
The discipline of the Quakers is divisible into two parts. The first may
comprehend the regulation of the internal affairs of the society, such
as the management of the poor belonging to it, the granting of
certificates of removal to its members, the hearing of their appeals
upon various occasions, the taking cognizance of their proposals of
marriage, and the like. The second may comprehend the notice or
observance of the moral conduct of individuals, with a view of
preserving the rules, which the Quakers have thought it their duty to
make, and the testimonies which they have thought it their duty to bear,
as a Christian people. It is to the latter part of the discipline that I
shall principally confine myself in the ensuing part of my work.
Nothing is more true than that, when men err in their moral practice, it
is not for want of good precepts or of wholesome advice. There are few
books from which we cannot collect some moral truths; and few men so
blind, as not to be able to point out to us the boundaries of moral
good. The pages of revelation have been long unfolded to our view, and
diffusively spread among us. We have had the advantage too of having
their contents frequently and publicly repeated into our ears. And yet,
knowing what is right, we cannot pursue it. We go off, on the other
hand, against our better knowledge, into the road to evil. Now, it was
the opinion of George Fox, that something might be done to counteract
this infirmity of human nature, or to make a man keep up to the precepts
which he believed to have been divinely inspired, or, in other words,
that a system of Discipline might be devised, for regulating, exciting,
and preserving the conduct of a Christian.
This system he at length completed, and, as he believed, with the divine
aid, and introduced it into the society with the approbation of those
who belonged to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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