The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-07 00:00:00

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to whom it-was iorofane to render theefia* tri--
to _God. alone., To him they would t,)I4COA --
although-they would 'be among the la _ ta:4,
ekfeC__
orderly of his subjects, hydreason of i' ..
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of peace and non-resistaikel -They Would ckiii'ieari;
but only solemnly affirm. They- le ft CIA e
superstitious, fanatical, and worldly to makeen i
vocation to the Deity an instrument of gele
government—to raise a distinction between the ob-
ligation every man owes to truth, and the *er of his
own miserable bacon by an incantation dined an.
oath—to-teach men-that they might lie-as-much as
they pleased with impunity,but that they m tist not lie
after kissing a book under pain of transportation.
The3r would not pay tribute for what they regarded
as the interests of untruth and tyranny, au& there-
fore,' ever protested against church rates. They
would not sign or assent to what they did not be-
lieve or did_not know, and, therefore, they resisted
all those forms of the world which mean koniething
else than they bear, or mean nothing. They
eschewed the loose language of the world--that
language used to conceal, not unfold, the thoughts
—those hollow professions which are uttered with-
out meaning and heard with incredulity—
Mouth honour—breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare not.
We read, at this day, with wonder, the intuitive
sagacity with which they scout the pretensions to
ascendency and infallibility of the independent
Presbyterians and Anglican Churchmen, with
which they conclude that by the adoption ,f their
policy-of passive resistance and sincere pretest, the
civil war might be prevented, the King saved, and.
_yet_nationalliberty achieved. -We see them ever
on the side of liberty—ever asserting, amid pains
and penalties, religious and civil equality—tver in
advance of the most enlightened progress and intel-
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[puce. We see them daring to put their prin-
ciples to the test in the treaty of Penn :With the
Indians--in the labours of Clarkson agiiist the
slave-trade—in the profuse, the lavish bounteous-
tiess of their humanity in popular distress ttr famine
in investigating the state of lunatics and prisoners
—in schemes of education. And, day by day as
the world rolls on, it will be proved to society how
right and wise, how intuitively foreseeing the
Quakers are—how, by taking great principles for
their guide, knowing not whither they would lead
them—confounded, often, at the consequences ap-
parently flowing from their applicatiOn—they yet
have it proved to them that they are in harmony
with the economy of the universe, and that they
turn out to be the best policy, and the most con-
summate expediency. Were Quakers as good as
their principles—if they really intelligently -under-
stood and resolutely applied them, it is our opinion
that they would regenerate the world. At the
very moment when events, time, society are coming
to them, we almost grieve to learn that they feel
inclined to fall away from their inexpressibly
exalted theory of religion, their ineffably excellent
system of ethics. The waves of earth, the billows
of worldly life, steal upon them too, and Quakerdom
threatens. to abandon its noble battle with the lies,
phantasms, and hollow speciosities of the world.
Let Quakers, however, do what they may,
Quakerdom will never die ; nay, it will, in this
critical, subtle, innovating age, have a reaction
set in on its behalf, to which society will do
homage. Men will get sick of calling the rascal
they long to kick " Dear Sir," and receiving
the assurance that the fellow who is under-
mining them is yet " Yours faithfully." Peti-
tioners will not " Ever pray" they know not
what ; " Humbly show" when they feel no humi-
lity. W omen of sense will regard the empty compli-
ments of a fool as an insult ; and men of sense will
begin to inquire whether . plain inoffensiveness of
speech, and sincere simplicity and tit* lness of
manner and utterance, are not, after,-)411;- more
expressive, agreeable, rational—aye,itt-trTefined,
than the heartless platitudes and hollow euphuisms
in which the intercourse of even the best circles is
carried on. Will our jurisconsults, also, not at last
discover that the power of truth is weakened m the
popular mind by that wretched quack remedy for
judicial lying called an oath, or formal invocation
to the Deity ?—that swearing on every trivial or
trite occasion would be wisely superseded by the
maxim " Swear not all?" Is it not better in the
graver form of writing to discard unmeaning and
untruthful verbiage, and to refuse to indite any-
thing we do not truly mean ? We do not want a
drab-coloured world in the room of the varied
beauty of that which God has given us ; but are
crinoline and balmorals, fantastic hats, high heels,
short petticoats, peg-tops, all rounds and medieval
coats, with endless ribbons and jewels, waistcoats
and stocks—addressed not to utility, good taste,
convenience, or grace, but really to the featherhead
vanity, the coquetry, the pruriency, the very ero-
tism of society—are these so very superior to the
sobrieties of Quakerhood that we can afford to ri-
dicule the oddness and eccentricity of those who
think that clothes were meant for decency, comfort,
and convenience ? Go among Quaker women, mark
their sober cheerfulness, their self-possessed good
sense, their healthy-mindedness, their virtue, their
high principle--you will find that they are in constant
employment, always industrious, active, not above
the most menial duties of a female, going about
everywhere doing good. Who ever heard of a
Quaker trim. con., the elopement, the clandestine
marriage, the light behaviour of a Friend ? By
clearing their heads of the vanities of life they fill
it with its realities—by eschewing Almacks, Vanity
Fairs, and promenades, the insincerities of flirta-
tions, the imprudences of coquetry, the fantasies of
dress and personal display, they become useful
wives, mothers, and citizens, rendering more real
service to society than all the injury inflicted on it
by the entire " Court Guide."
Quakerism means no church rates, no state hier-
archies, no political endowments of exclusive creeds,
no religious or civil disabilities, no artificial distinc-
tions of the orders of society, no oppression, no
persecution ; it means human equality, spiritual
independence, non-intervention, no litigation, peace;
it means temperance, the extension of intelligence,
freedom, truth, punctuality. of engagement—in a
word, it means every good cause with which the
progress of the age is identified. British society
can ill afford to part with the Society of Friends
—at least it would largely profit by the adoption
of their principles.