paper credit. If a member becomes bankrupt, a committee is appointed to inspect his affairs. If his insolvency is reported to have been produced by misconduct, he is disowned, and cannot be received back till he has paid his whole debts, even although he may have been discharged on a composition. If he has failed through misfortune, he continues in the society, though no contributions are received from him till his debts are fully paid.

When Quakers difagree, they feldom fcold; and never fight or go to law. George Fox recommended them to fettle all their differences by arbitration; and they have adhered to this practice ever fince. Where the arbitrators are puzzled about the law, they are to agree on a cafe, and confult counfel. When a Quaker difagrees with a perfon out of the fociety, he generally propofes arbitration in the first inftance; if this be refused, he has no fcruple of going to law.

We should now proceed to give fome account of what Mr Clark fon has called the four Great Tenets of the Quakers; but the length to which we have already extended thefe remarks must confine our obfervations to very narrow limits. The first is, That the civil magiftrate has no right to interfere in religious matters fo as either to enforce attendance on one mode of worship, or to interdict any other which is harmlefs. In this, certainly, their doctrine is liable to very little objection. Their fecond great tenet is, That it is unlawful to fwear upon any occafion whatsoever. We have not leifure now to difcufs this point with Mr Clarkson; indeed, from the obftruction which this fcruple has fo often occafioned to law proceedings, it has been difcuffed much oftener than any of the reft. Those who want to fee a neat and forcible abftract of the Quaker reafoning on the fubject, had better look into Barclay at once, instead of wading through the amplification of Mr Clarkson. Their third great tenet is, That it is unlawful to engage in the profeffion of arms. This is founded. entirely upon a literal interpretation of certain texts of fcripture, requiring men to love and blefs their enemies, and to turn one cheek to him who had fmitten the other, &c.. It is, commonly fuppofed, we believe, that thefe expreffions were only meant to fhadow out, by a kind of figure, that amicable and gentle difpofition by which men fhould be actuated in their ordinary intercourfe with each other, and by no means to be made the formal directors of their conduct through life. In any other fenfe, indeed, they would evidently amount to an encouragement to all forts of violence and injustice, and would entirely difable and annihilate all civil government or authority among men. If evil is not to be refifted, and if the man who takes a cloke is to be preffed to a coat alfo, it is plain that the punishment of thieves and robbers must be just as unlawful as the refifting of invaders. It is remarkable,

markable, indeed, that the Quakers do not carry their literal fubmiffion to the fcripture quite this length. They would ftruggle manfully for their clokes; and, inftead of giving the robber their coats alfo, would be very glad to have him imprifoned and flogged. If they can get rid of the letter of the law, however, in any cafe, it does appear to us, that there are occafionally ftronger reafons for difpenfing with the fuppofed prohibition of war than with any of the others. If they would be juftified in killing a wild beast that had rushed into their habitation, they must be justified in killing an invader who threatens to fubject them and the whole community to his brutal luft, rapacity, and cruelty. We must call it a degrading fuperftition that would withhold the hands of a man in fuch an emergency. The laft great tenet is, That it is unlawful to give pecuniary hire to a gospel ministry. This, again, is entirely a war of texts, aided by a confused reference to the hiftory of tythes, from which the following most logical deductions are made.

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Firft, that they are not in equity dues of the Church-fecondly, that the payment of them being compulfory, it would, if acceded to, be an acknowledgment that the civil magiftrate had a right to use force in matters of religion-and, thirdly, that, being claimed upon an act which holds them forth as of divine right, any payment of them would be an acknowledgment of the Jewish religion, and that Chrift had not yet actually come. ' III. 141.

After perusing all that we have now abstracted, Mr Clarkson's readers might perhaps have been presumed capable of forming some conclusion for themselves as to the Quaker character; but the author chooses to make the inference for them, in a dissertation of 150 pages, to which we must satisfy ourselves, for the present, with making this general reference. We must use the same liberty with the miscellaneous particulars, which fill nearly as many pages with an attempt to prove that the Quakers are a very happy people, that they have done good by the example of their virtues, and that those who have thoughts of leaving the society, had better think twice, before they take a step of so much consequence.

We come now to say a few words on the subject of their interior government, which appears to us to be formed very much upon the. model of the Presbyterian churches established in this part of the kingdom. The basis of the whole system is, that every member of the society is not only entitled, but bound in duty, to watch over the moral and religious deportment of any other whom he has an opportunity of observing, and to interfere for his admonition and correction when he sees cause. Till the year 1698, this duty was not peculiarly imposed upon any individual; but, since

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that time, four or five persons are named in each congregation, under the title of overseers, who are expected to watch over the conduct of the flock with peculiar anxiety. The half of these are women, who take charge of their own sex only. Four or five congregations are associated together, and hold a general monthly meeting of deputies, of both sexes, from each congregation. Two or more of each sex are deputed from these monthly meetings to the general quarterly meeting, which reunites all the congregations of a county, or larger district, according to the extent of the Quaker population; and those, again, send four of each sex to the great yearly meeting or convocation, which is regularly assembled in London, and continues its sitting for ten or twelve days.

The method of proceeding, where the conduct of a member has been disorderly, is, first, by private admonition, either by individuals, or by the overseers; where this is not effectual, the case is reported to the monthly meeting, who appoint a committee to deal with him, and, upon their report, either receive him back into communion, or expel him from the society by a written document, entitled, A Testimony of Disownment. From this sentence, however, he may appeal to the quarterly meeting, and from that to the yearly. These courts of review investigate the case by means of a committee; of which none of those who pronounced the sentence complained of, can be members.

In the monthly meetings, all presentations of marriages are received, and births and funerals registered ;-contributions and arrangements are made for the relief of the poor;-persons are disowned, or received back ;-and cases of scruples are stated and discussed. They likewise prepare answers to a series of standing queries as to the state and condition of their congregations, which they transmit to the quarterly meeting. The quarterly meeting hears appeals,-receives the reports in answer to these queries, and prepares, in its turn, a more general and comprehensive report for the great annual meeting in London. This assembly, again, hears appeals from the quarterly meetings, and receives their reports; and finally, draws up a public or pastoral letter to the whole society, in which it communicates the most interesting particulars, as to its general state and condition, that have been collected from the reports laid before it,-makes such suitable admonitions and exhortations for their moral and civil conduct, as the complexion of the times, or the nature of these reports have suggested, and recommends to their consideration any project or proposition that may have been laid before it, for the promotion of religion, and the good of mankind. The slave-trade has, of late years, generally formed one of the

topics of this general epistle, which is printed and circulated throughout the society. In all their meetings, the male and female deputies hold their meetings, and transact their business, in separate apartments, meeting together only for worship, or for making up their general reports. The wants of the poor are provided for by the monthly meetings, who appoint certain overseers to visit and relieve them: the greater part of these overseers are women; and whatever they find wanting in the course of their visits, money, clothes, or medicines, they order, and their accounts are settled by the treasurer of the monthly meeting. Where it happens that there are more poor in any one district than can easily be relieved by their more opulent brethren within it, the deficiency is supplied by the quarterly meeting to which it is subjected. The children of the poor are all taught to read and write at the public expense, and afterwards bound apprentice to trades;-the females are generally destined for service, and placed in Quaker families.

• Such, fays Mr Clarkson, with a very natural exultation on the good management of his favourites, fuch is the organization of the difcipline or government of the Quakers. Nor may it improperly be called a government, when we confider, that, befides all matters relating to the church, it takes cognifance of the actions of Quakers to Quakers, and of these to their fellow-citizens; and of thefe, again, to the ftate; in fact, of all actions of Quakers, if immoral in the eye of the fociety, as foon as they are known. It gives out its prohibitions. It marks its crimes. It impofes offices on its fubjects. It calls them to disciplinary duties. This government, however, notwithstanding its power, has, as I obferved before, no prefident or head, either permanent or temporary. There is no first man through the whole fociety. Neither has it any badge of office, or mace, or conftable's staff, or fword. It may be observed, also, that it has no office of emolument by which its hands can be ftrengthened, neither minister, elder, clerk, overfeer, or deputy, being paid: and yet its adminiftration is firmly conducted, and its laws are better obeyed than laws by perfons under any other denomination or government. I. 246, 247. We have nothing now to discuss with these good people, but their religion and with this we will not meddle. It is quite plain to us, that their founder George Fox was exceedingly insane; and though we by no means suspect many of his present followers of the same malady, we cannot help saying that their doctrines are a little too high-flown for our humble apprehension. They hold that God has at all times communicated a certain portion of the spirit, or word, or light, to mankind; but has given very different portions of it to different individuals: that, in consequence of this inward illumination, not only the antient patriarchs and prophets, but many of the old heathen philosophers,

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were very good Christians: that no kind of worship and preaching can be acceptable or profitable, unless it flow from the immediate inspiration and movement of their inward spirit; and that all ordination, or appointment of priests, is therefore impious and unavailing. They are much attached to the Holy Ghost; but are supposed to reject the doctrine of the Trinity; and openly reject the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, with all other rites, ordinances, and ceremonies, known or practised in any Christian church. These tenets they justify by various citations from the New Testament, and the older fathers; as any one may see in the works of Barclay and Penn, with rather more satisfaction than in this of Mr Clarkson. We enter not at present into these disputations.

Upon the whole, we are inclined to believe the Quakers to be a tolerably honest, painstaking, and inoffensive set of Christians. Very stupid, dull, and obstinate, we presume, in conversation; and tolerably lumpish and fatiguing in domestic society: active and methodical in their business, and narrow minded and ill informed as to most other particulars: beneficent from habit and the discipline of the society; but cold in their affections, and inwardly chilled into a sort of Chinese apathy, by the restraints to which they are continually subjected: childish and absurd in their religious scruples and peculiar usages, and singularly unlearned as a sect of theologians; but exemplary, above all other sects, for the decency of their lives, for their charitable indulgence to all other persuasions, for their care of their poor, and for the liberal participation they have afforded to their women in all the duties and honours of the society.

We would not willingly insinuate any thing against the general sincerity of those who remain in communion with this body; but Mr Clarkson has himself noticed, that when they become opulent, they are very apt to fall off from it; and indeed we do not recollect ever to have seen either a Quaker gentleman of fortune, or a Quaker day-labourer. The truth is, that ninety-nine out of a hundred of them are engaged in trade; and as they all deal and correspond with each other, it is easy to see what advantages they must have as traders, from belonging to so great a corporation. A few follow the medical profession; and a still smaller number that of conveyancing; but they rely, in both, on the support of their brethren of the society. It is rather remarkable, that Mr Clarkson has not given us any sort of estimate or calculation of their present numbers in England, though, from the nature of their government, it must be known to most of their leading members. It is the general opinion, it seems, that they are gradually diminishing.

ART.