Those therefore who submit to this ceremony, as
performed by a priest, acknowledge, according to the Quakers, the
validity of an human appointment of the ministry. They acknowledge the
validity of an artificial service in religion. They acknowledge the
propriety of paying a Gospel-minister for the discharge of his office.
The Quakers, therefore, consider those who marry out of the society, as
guilty of such a dereliction of Quaker-principles, that they can be no
longer considered as sound or consistent members.
But independently of the violation of these principles, which the
Quakers take as the strongest ground for their conduct on such an
occasion, they think themselves warranted in disowning, from a
contemplation of the consequences, which have been known to result from
these marriages.
In the first place, disownment is held to be necessary, because it acts
as a check upon such marriages, and because, by acting as such a check,
it prevents the family-disputes and disagreements which might otherwise
arise; for such marriages have been found to be more productive of
uneasiness than of enjoyment. When two persons of different religious
principles, a Quaker for example, and a woman of the church, join in
marriage, it is almost impossible that they should not occasionally
differ. The subject of religion arises, and perhaps some little
altercation with it, as the Sunday comes.
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