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Untitled Article
tvn the pleasure of witnessing their mutual happiness , and the Quaker was disowned . " These facts are I doubt not , correctly stated by Philo ; but he is in error when he speaks of disownrnent u for marrying out of the connexion / ' its merely a " modern custom / ' the rules of the Society having , for much
more than a century , subjected parties so marrying to disownment . The propriety and wisdom of the regulation is another question ^ equally open to examination as when it was first made ;
a period much more remarkable for sectarian distinctions and mutual acrimony , thap for a . just estimate of those great principles of Christian truth , on which the
contending parties were agreed . The object it aimed at , was ' however undoubtedly good ; that is , to discourage the union of its members With those who were
from the influence of education , or otherwise , of discordant sentiments . I imagine Philo will grant that a general accordance , between a man and his wife , on the most
important points of religious faith and practice , is highly desirable , not only for the promotion of their own comfort through life , but still more eminently for the religious welfare of their offspring . At the same time , it is obvious that no regulation of this nature ,
can secure any person from the consequences of such diversity of sentiment in a husband or wife , as is to be found among the members of the same religious society . And accordingly the Quakers very properly leave all inquiry into the religious sentiments of their members , who intend to
Untitled Article
marry each "' other , to the panics themselves , their parents or guar- * dians . The most salutary in ode in which a religious Society can influence its members , respecting marriage is , I should thin £ , by giving them , as an important part of their education , jirst ideas on the subject , generally before they have formed such engagements
and thereby enable them ta chuse wisely for themselves . Instead of which , as far as my observation has extended , the zeal and exertions ofUhe Society have hitherto been principally directed towards
admonishing the parties nor to marry contrary to the rules of the Society , when it was too late , their honour and affections being both engaged ; and in ' excluding
them from religious fellowshi p for being married to persons of another persuasions Yet there may often be in . such unions , a , much nearer approximation of religious sentiments , between the
parties , and even with thjp society disowning them , than is frequently to be found between those who are married according to its rules , and still continue members of the society . From Philo's sketch of the
character and mutual happiness of his worthy friends * subsequent to their marriage , it is probabletheir tinion affords one instance of the justice of the above observation *
To persons of such mental at * tainmeats as I imagine Philo ' s friend possesses ^ exclusion for such a cause from the society
may not be esteemed any great hardship . But I have known persons disowned for a similar caufce , whose general attachment to the doctrines uud discipline of
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On the Consistency of Quaker ^ 7 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1810, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2401/page/31/
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