A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1 | Page 9

was considered

both by friends and enemies, as irreproachable in his life.
Such was the character of the founder of Quakerism, He was born in
July 1624, and died on the thirteenth of November 1690, in the
sixty-seventh year of his age. He had separated himself from the word
in order to attend to serious things, as I observed before, at the age of
nineteen, so that he had devoted himself to the exercises and services of
religion for no less a period than forty-eight years. A few hours before
his death, upon some friends asking him how he found himself, he
replied "never heed. All is well. The seed or power of God reigns over
all, and over death itself, blessed be the Lord." This answer was full of
courage, and corresponded with that courage, which had been
conspicuous in him during life. It contained on evidence, as manifested
in his own feelings, of the tranquillity and happiness of his mind, and
that the power and terrors of death had been vanquished in himself. It
shewed also the ground of his courage and of his confidence. "He was
full of assurance," says William Penn, "that he had triumphed over
death, and so much so, even to the last, that death appeared to him
hardly worth notice or mention." Thus he departed this life, affording
an instance of the truth of those words of the psalmist, "Behold the
upright, for the end of that man is peace."

PREFATORY ARRANGEMENTS
AND
REMARKS.

PREFATORY ARRANGEMENTS AND REMARKS.
QUAKERISM, A HIGH PROFESSION--QUAKERS GENERALLY
ALLOWED TO BE A MORAL PEOPLE--VARIOUS CAUSES OF
THIS MORALITY OF CHARACTER--THEIR MORAL
EDUCATION, WHICH IS ONE OF THEM, THE FIRST SUBJECT
FOR CONSIDERATION --THIS EDUCATION UNIVERSAL
AMONG THEM--ITS ORIGIN--THE PROHIBITIONS BELONGING
TO IT CHIEFLY TO BE CONSIDERED.
* * * * *
George Fox never gave, while living, nor left after his death, any
definition of Quakerism. He left, however, his journal behind him, and

he left what is of equal importance, his example. Combining these with
the sentiments and practice of the early Quakers, I may state, in a few
words, what Quakerism is, or at least what we may suppose George
Fox intended it to be.
Quakerism may be defined to be an attempt, under the divine influence,
at practical christianity as far as it can be carried. Those, who profess it,
consider themselves bound to regulate their opinions, words, actions,
and even outward demeanour, by christianity, and by christianity alone.
They consider themselves bound to give up such of the customs, or
fashions of men, however general, or generally approved, as militate, in
any manner, against the letter or the spirit of the gospel. Hence they
mix but little with the world, that they may be less liable to imbibe its
spirit. Hence George Fox made a distinction between the members of
his own society and others, by the different appellations of Friends, and
People of the world. They consider themselves also under an obligation
to follow virtue, not ordinarily, but even to the death. For they profess
never to make a sacrifice of conscience, and therefore, if any
ordinances of man are enjoined them, which they think to be contrary
to the divine will, they believe right not to submit to them, but rather,
after the example of the apostles and primitive christians, to suffer any
loss, penalty, or inconvenience, which may result to them for so doing.
This then, in a few words, is a general definition of [3]Quakerism. It is,
as we see, a most strict profession of practical virtue under the direction
of christianity, and such as, when we consider the infirmities of human
nature, and the temptations that daily surround it, it must be
exceedingly difficult to fulfil. But, whatever difficulties may have lain
in the way, or however, on account of the necessary weakness of
human nature, the best individuals among the Quakers may have fallen
below the pattern of excellence, which they have copied, nothing is
more true, than that the result has been, that the whole society, as a
body, have obtained from their countrymen, the character of a moral
people.
[Footnote 3: I wish to be understood, in writing this work, that I can
give no account that will be applicable to all under the name of Quakers.
My account will comprehend the general practice, or that which ought
to be the practice of those, who profess Quakerism.]
If the reader be a lover of virtue, and anxious for the moral

improvement of mankind, he will be desirous of knowing what means
the Quakers have used to have preserved, for a hundred and fifty years,
this desirable reputation in the world.
If we were to put the question to the Quakers themselves for their own
opinion upon it,