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
In examining this charge, it must certainly be allowed, that though the
principle "of no respect of persons" is no where carried to a greater
length than in the Quaker Society, yet we may reasonably expect to find
a drawback from the full operation of it in a variety of causes. We are
all of us too apt, in the first place, to look up to the rich, but to
look down upon the poor. We are apt to court the good will of the
former, when we seem to care very little even whether we offend the
latter. The rich themselves and the middle classes of men respect the
rich more than the poor; and the poor show more respect to the rich than
to one another. Hence it is possible; that a poor man may find more
reluctance in entering the doors of a rich man to admonish him, than one
who is rich to enter the doors of the poor for the same purpose, men,
again, though they may be equally good, may not have all the same
strength of character. Some overseers may be more timid than others, and
this timidity may operate upon them more in the execution of their duty
upon one class of individuals, than upon another. Hence a rich man may
escape for a longer time without admonition, than a poorer member. But
when the ice is once broken; when admonition is once begun; when
respectable persons have been called in by overseers or others, those
causes, which might be preventive of justice, will decrease; and, if the
matter should be carried to a monthly or a quarterly meeting, they will
wholly vanish. For in these courts it is a truth, that those, who are
the most irreproachable for their lives, and the most likely of course
to decide justly on any occasion, are the most attended to, or carry the
most weight, when they speak publicly. Now these are to be found
principally in the low and middle classes, and these, in all societies,
contain the greatest number of individuals. As to the very rich, these
are few indeed compared with the rest, and these may be subdivided into
two classes for the farther elucidation of the point. The first will
consist of men, who rigidly follow the rules of the society, and are as
exemplary as the very best of the members. The second will consist of
those, who we members according to the letter, but not according to the
spirit, and who are content with walking in the shadow, that follows the
substance of the body. Those of the first class will do justice, and
they will have on equal influence with any. Those of the second,
whatever may be their riches, or whatever they may say, are seldom if
ever attended to in the administration of the discipline.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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