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    Untitled Article

    yet , if there are , as Philo asserts , 44 fanatics in every profession , whether civil , political , or religious , for whose extravagancies their sober and reasonable

    brethren , can never pretend to be accountable / ' it will only prove , that their members partake of the common weaknesse&of human nature / Unless be / can show , that

    such failings arc more prevalent among them , than among others , or that their peculiar tenets have a natural tendency to produce ^ or Encourage such infirmities . . .

    Neither of these positions has Philo attempted to establish , and his twO-fold accusation , on the very face of it , if well-founded , : exonerates the Quakers from one error of no small magnitude in many other churches , viz . a pertinacious adherence to all their

    ancient maxims and . dogmas , which have been sanctioned by law , and splendid establishments secured to their defenders . But the Quakers having no such inducements to defend all their .

    ancient maxims , seem equally to have displeased Philo * by relax - ing from them ( as ho imagines ) in some instances , and by adhering to them in others .

    , He should have inquired of the worthy family of that denomina .. tion of Christians , in whose acquaintance he is so happy , whe ,-ther there was any just reason to impute any sinister or unworthy motive to the society , for this exercise of its discretion , in the

    retention or modification of its ancient maxims ; or whether it might not be rather attributed to an unbiassed love of truth , and a desire to promote the religious welfare of thevsociety .

    Untitled Article

    Had Philo consulted Barclay ^ well-known Apology , he might have seen the error of his stated ment , that the Quakers w origi . nally carried the maxim of not

    returning evil for evil to sucot a length , as not only to abstaiu from resenting injuries personally , but even from applying to our courts of law for protection froni them , much less for the punish *

    ment of those who liad been either guilty of abuse of their persons , or plunder of their property . " From the first establishment of the

    society , its members have been always at liberty , unshackled by any rule to the contrary , toexer * cise each individual for himself , the discretionary power of appeal * , ing to the law of the land for pro *

    tection against injuries committed on their persons or property , by any who were not members of the society . And against those that were , on shewing sufficient cause , and obtaining the permission of the meetings to which the parties belonged .

    Even George Fox , the founder of the society , as appears by his Journal , frequently remonstrated in strong terms , with such magistrates as he conceived had been

    neglectful of tfreir duty , in repressing and punishing evil doers On one occasion of this kind , he says , p . 294 * And ye

    magistrates who are to do justice , think ye not that the hand of the Lord is against you—who do not look after these things , and stop them with the law . —\ $ > not the law to

    preserve men ' s lives and estates , c doing unto all men as they would men should dp unto them ?* For all men would hav < 3 ( heir lives and estates preserved , therefore

    Untitled Article

    1 ft On tie Consistency of the Quaktrs .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1810, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2400/page/12/