It is an homage due to Quakerism; for genuine Quakerism will
always produce such instances. No true Quaker will remain in any
occupation, which he believes it improper to pursue. And I hope, if
there are Quakers, who mix the sale of objectionable with that of the
other articles of their trade, it is because they have entered into this
mixed business, without their usual portion of thought, or that the
occupation itself has never come as an improper occupation before their
minds.
Upon the whole, it must be stated that it is wholly owing to the more
than ordinary professions of the Quakers, as a religious body, that the
charges in question have been exhibited against such individuals among
them, as have been found in particular trades. If other people had been
found in the same callings, the same blemishes would not have been so
apparent. And if others had been found in the same, callings, and it
had been observed of these, that they had made all the beautiful
regulations which I have shown the Quakers to have done on the subject
of trade, these blemishes would have been removed from the usual range
of the human vision. They would have been like the spots in the sun's
disk, which are hid from the observation of the human eye, because they
are lost in the superior beauty of its blaze. But when the Quakers have
been looked at solely as Quakers, or as men of high religious
profession, these blemishes have become conspicuous.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72