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476 Tetter i by a Popular Writer , on the Discipline of the Quakers .
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ORIGINAL LETTER , BY A POPULAR WRITER ON THE DISCIPLINE OF THE QUAKERS * .
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To the Editor of the Monthly Repository ,
sir , Londo ? i , June *! , 1808 . The following letter , written by an atithor of . eminence to a mem-£ > er of the Society of friends ^ having fallen into my hands , I deem it sufficiently important , both as to matter and argument , to occupy a nlace in vour
valua-1 •/ L «/ ble Repository . It may possibly ' lead to some further interesting discussion , which the nature of the subjects may well justify ; but should that be the case ., it . is to be hoped that any opposing sentiments will be conveved in a stvle ¦
— W ^ M — M of clearness , candour , and regard to truth , of which the letter itself is a fair example . I suppress the navies of the different parties , as of small consequence to the public , while the subject itself remains wholly unaffected by that omission . A CONSTANT HEADER .
Esteemed Friend , I received your letter on the subject of a passage in my third volume , and I have no objection to deliver you my sentiments candidly upon it .
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I am of opinion , that , where any religious society hold it right to establish a discipline among them , which may occasionally lead to disownment , they ought to be particularly careful respecting what they consider to be crimes . It becomes them not to swell the number of these unnecessarily , but to make
wise distinctions concerning them . For , except this be done , many evils may arise . * Members may occasionally be turned out of such a Society , who may be men of a more amiable spirit than even others , who may remain in it . The hearts of the upright may also be grieved . And there may be laid inevitably in the constitution of such a Society the seeds of its own dissolution .
I have long lamented that the Society of Friends , whom I have had so much occasion to love and esteem , should not have made long ago a proper distinction between ecclesiastical and impropriate tithes . I have lamented it , because it is evident a man may see good reasons for withholding the payment of the ecclesiastical , who may see none for withholding that of t ! c other kind . I have
lamented it again , because it must be obvious , that a man may consent to the payment of the latter , and yet be a virtuous man , and a good Christian . And I have lamented it lastly , because it must always be a matter of deep regret , that there should be in any virtuous society any unnecessary cause of its decline .
* We have been favoured with this letter by an unknown Friend . We demurred at first , as to its publication ; but on learning that it had been circulated amongst the Friends in print , / oiir scruples were removed . We trust this circumstance will justify us in the eyes of the amiable writer , who , it is unnecessary to say , is Mr . Clarkson , author of the 4 * Portraiture of Quakerism" and of the f < History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade . ' E » .
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* by a temporary indisposition , and had procured , unknown to the parishioners , a neighbouring minister to officiate for him ^ / This
unexpected occurrence was so awkward , and so very unpropitious to the Quaker ' s claims of inward light s that the conference
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closed , and the congregation was allowed to depart .
With every good wish for the success of the Monthly Repository , I am , Sir , ' Your ' s , &c S . . P .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1808, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2396/page/20/
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