A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 2: 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 2: 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
_Management of the poor--Quakers never seen as beggars--George Fox began
the provision for the Quaker-poor--Monthly meetings appoint
overseers--Persons passed over are to apply for relief and the
disorderly may receive it in certain cases--Manner of collecting for the
poor--If burthensome in one monthly meeting, the burthen shared by the
quarterly--Quakers gain settlements by monthly meetings, as the other
poor of the kingdom, by parishes._
There are few parts of the Quaker-constitution, that are more worthy of
commendation, than that which relates to the poor. All the members of
this society are considered as brethren, and as entitled to support from
one another. If our streets and our roads are infested by miserable
objects, imploring our pity, no Quaker will be found among them. A
Quaker-beggar would be a phenomenon in the world.
It does not, however, follow from this account, that there are no poor
Quakers, or that members of this society are not born in a dependent
state. The truth is, that there are poor as well as rich, but the wants
of the former are so well provided for, that they are not publicly seen,
like the wants of others.
George Fox, as he was the founder of the religion of the Quakers, I mean
of a system of renovated Christianity, so he was the author of the
beautiful system by which they make a provision for their poor. As a
Christian, he considered the poor of every description, as members of
the same family, but particularly those, who were of the household of
faith. Consistently with this opinion, he advised the establishment of
general meetings in his own time, a special part of whose business it
was to take due care of the poor. These meetings excited at first the
vigilance and anger of the magistrates; but when they came to see the
regulations made by the Quakers, in order that none of their poor might
become burthensome to their parishes, they went away--whatever they
might think of some of their new tenets of religion--in admiration of
their benevolence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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