The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-06-09
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1859.

u,horo hoe been established for some few years
mast nc many of our readers are doubtless aware
IN o9sboot from the primitive Quaker stock which,
under the title of Progressive Friends" has its
hoodouarters in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and
q, INFLATED societies in the States of New York
Ohio, and Indiana. These Progressive Friends are
profound admirers of WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON
and THEODORE PARKER, and are avowed haters of
every species of philanthropy that does not accord
with their peculiar notions of what is just hui
name and charitable. All their angels are of an
ebony color, and all their noble army of MARTYRS
is composed of the descendants of HAM. With the
'mode Quakers' of Pennsylvania, all the establish
ed usages of society, its religious creeds its code of
ethics its laws, its charities, its institutions and
constitutions, are radically wrong. With them as
with HAMLET the Dane, ''the world is out of Joint"
but unlike that philosophic prince they are dis
posed TO congratulate each other upon the fact that
they born to s'set it right" But before it is
possible to build up anew it is necessary to tear
down, and these egotistcal iconoclasts have set
about the work of destruction in right good
earnest. The customary Yearly Meeting of the
Association closed its session of four DAYS on Mon
day of last week. On the day preceding, we are
told that from five to six thousand persons were
present, most of whom, we presume, were attract
ed thither from West Chester and the surrounding
country by motives of curiosity, rather than from
any sympathy with the opinions of the speakers
The subjects discussed during the session were:-
"rhe Relations of Capital and Labor, Slavery,
''War, lntemperance, Tobacco, Education,
&c Morr
"Sectarianism, The Rights and Wrongs of the In
''dians, and the Prejudice against Color''-all of
which were taken up seriatm, and disposed of
satisactoriyhat is to say, to the satisfaction of the
delegates themselves. OF the Testimonies, which
received The sanction of the Yearly Meeting, only
those on Slavery, Marriage, Physical Education
and Sectarianism have been, as yet, made public;
but if the opinions that expressed in the 'stesti-
t'monies'' which have not yet seen the light, are
similar to those to which precedence has been
given, the world would hot be much the
loser if the entire batch of them had been
consigned to the flames. In the introduce
ton to their protest against Slavery-which
is denounced as ''the sum of all vlanies''-
the Progressive Friends complacently declare,
s'that the constant preaching of truth and right
''eousness must have It's effect upon error and sin"
which is subverting an acknowledged truism into
an egotstical assumption, inasmuch as they init
mate in their subsequent testimony concerning
sectarianism, that they alone are qualified to be-
come expounders of what is truthful and what is
righteous. The Constitution of the UNITED
STATES, interpreted by the Supreme Court is
pronounced 10 be abhorrent to the moral sense
and every party, and every individual acting
under it, partakers in the wrong it inculcates.
On the subject of Marriage they start out with
an acknowledgment that it is sacred and divine |
institution; but Immediately afterwards proceed
to claim for woman 'the supreme control of her |
Gown person." thereby annulling all her marital
obligations; turning her loose upon society, and
permitting her to play the chartered libertine"
according TO her sovereign will and pleasure
But it is in treating of "Sectarianism" that these
Chester county phanthropsts most arroganty |
assume to themselves all the virtues Obvious
of the fact that they themselves are nothing but
a sect, composed of radicals and dsorganisers |
they start out by renewing their protest against
''sectarianism." ave further protest." they say,
against the idolatry which would substitute
''book, a man. for that Inner Light which light
eHeth every HAN, ana lney proceed forthwith to |
patronize Him, at the mention of whose Name, |
nations rise to do him reverence" as a gentle
manly sort of Nazarene who in his day and gene
ration, might have been accounted a wise teacher, |
and some of whose doctrines are worthy of being |
cherished even by the superior intelligence of those
whose mission it is to proclaim a new Acatar in
Chester county, Pennsylvania.
In plain words, these so called Progressive |
Friends regard the Bible as nothing more than a |
history of the twelve tribes of Israeli and the Chris
tan religion as founded upon an obsolete superst-
ton. They are-if not openly and avowedly, yet
secretly and neutrality-suspicious. nor less than
inhdels and are all the more dangerous, because of
their advocacy of a spurious philanthropy, under
cover of which they seek to sap the morals of those
with whom they are brought in contact These
are they who witness approvingly the indiscrimi-
nate mixing up of the at Berlin heights; who
encourage the establishment of Untary Households
who eulogse the bold-faced women that shame
lessly proclaim themselves converts to the theory
of Gree Love-" and who respect no one as "a
imam and BROTHER who does not regard the
odour Ct the negro superior in point of fragrance
to that of the Magnolia.