Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-07-05
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06yS a I0CSuJ WlltSI 0utcluG VI Ink
denomination, Processing Quakers
are undoubtedly declining in numbers
yet Quakerism was never SO strong.
The Quakers are disappearing, because
the world is annually growing nearer
to the principles for which, during a
century and half they suffered and
died. The better men become, the
more they become Quakers uncon-
sciously, and the younger members of
the society finding the worlds best
sentiments so closely in touch with
their traditions and their creed, have
come to meet their fellows half way
in the concession of outward symbols,
and gradually disappear in the great
er army of those who are striving for
the betterment of mankind, and incul-
eating the daily and hourly, as well
as the Sunday practice of Christianity.
From the middle of the seventeenth
century when George Fox founded the
society of Friends in England, as a
protest against the existing forms of
] Christian teaching, and laid the cor
ner stone of a system of reformation,
second to none that had marked the
development of religious warfare the
Quakers more nearly than any other
sect, have exemplified in their daily
| life the teachings Of Christ. Their
faith was based upon the equality and
brotherhood of man. the unrestricted
| federation of every other religious
l-opinion and form of worship, the ut
most plainness and simplicity in living,
unfaltering opposition to immortality
in every form, to war even in self de-
fence, to slavery an dto oppression OF
| every kind.
Their creed like every true creed,
has survived persecution, exile and
death. Their organization negative in
its force, has not merely shaped the
advance of civilization, it was genera
lions ahead of its period, and has
waited patiently for the world to
catch up with it. AS the world adj
vanced to the doctrines of Quakerism,
the rising generations Of Quakers,
have been more and more absorbed
in the general march, abandoning the
distinctive cut of their garments, adj
hitting the elevating mission of music
and throwing down the barriers be-
tween the sexes in the houses of Wor-
ship. Every society of ethical cul-
ture, every home mission society,
every charitable organization, every
society of Christian Endeavor, the
Kings Daughters and kindred bodies,
the mutual tolerance of all Christian
denominations the uplifting Of the
black man and the red man, the grow
ing favor of international arbitration,
and every project, local or cosmopoli-
tan that makes for universal peace
and justice, the stamping out of i'm
morality in thought and deed, the abb
horrence of barbarism in all its hideous
phases, and the substitution OF practi-
cal Christianity for theology as a rul-
ing force, is a positive step toward
Quakerism's strongest and best.
Paradoxically as it may seem, the
Quakers are disappearing because we
are all gradually becoming akers.
The great principles, which the early
apostles of the sect were the first to
adopted by thousands and tens Of
thousands who we're not aware to
what source they we're indebted for
them. These principles have gained
ground rapidly and must continue to
widen their dominion over the hearts
of men, as society advances to the
true Christian standard, for they lie
at the very foundation of all true
moral, intellectual and political re-
forms The millennium is not yet in
sight but we are much nearer to it
than when the society of Friends be-.
gan to teach how best to live
| have never had membership with
the Society of Friends, but l grew up
with them, and affiliated with them.
| loved their ways of industry, fru-
gality and order, their social and fra
ternal usages, and / imbibed from
daily contact with them the principles
which shaped and ruled my life con-
duct, but it is source of great salts
faction to me now, in my declining
years that / never allowed my lovy
for the Quaker ways and their doc.
trines to prejudice me in the least
against any other religious society. |
never could diyest my mind of the
thought that each one of them like
myself, had an equal right to the full
lest enjoyment of his opinions and
way of thinking; for we are all more
or less the creatures of education or
accidental circumstances. One of my
neighbors is a Catholic and thinks
Ii Jill lis otcbAO RttiAS, tAAebI ~ AZ AAANtAAA
bent upon him to repair to Mass and
to confess to his priest. Now, if I
had been educated as he had been,
doubtless I would do just the same.
Another neighbor believes that out
ward baptism with water is spiritually
essential, and so would I, if had been
so trained from my youth. Herein
lies the great need for us all to have
due consideration for the opinions of
others, however much they may vary
from our own. This is rational and
Christian. I care not what religious
belief any man may entertain, if his
life conduct shows that he has con-
/ formed to Christs commands. II he
has gone through the ordeals of life
and kept his integrity by dealing hon
estly, lending helping hand to the
afflicted and distressed, and in other
ways doing his part to promote the
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