CHAPTER III.

General opinion, that the Quakers are on the decline as a Society-observations upon this subject— opinion believed upon the whole to be true-causes of this supposed declension-Mixed marriages tithes pursuit of trade as connected with the peculiar habits of the Society, and a residence in the towns education.

I HAVE often heard it suggested as matter for conversation, whether the Quakers were increasing or decreasing in their number; and the result has always been an opinion that they were a declining body.

When we consider the simplicity and even philosophy of the Quaker-religion, the preservation it affords from the follies and difficulties of life, and the happiness to which it ultimately leads, we shall wonder that the progress of the Society in point of number has not been greater than we find it. And when we consider, on the other hand, how difficult it is to be a Quaker, how much it is against the temper and disposition of man to be singular, or to resist the tide of custom and fashion, and to undergo an ordeal of suffering on these accounts, we shall wonder that it has not been long ago extinct.

That many are disowned by the Society, in consequence of which its numbers are diminished, is true. That others come into it from other quar

ters, by which an increase is given to it independently of its own natural population, is true also. But whether the new members exceed the disowned, or the disowned the new, is the question to be resolved. Now no people have had better opportunities of ascertaining this point than the Quakers themselves. By means of their monthly meetings they might with ease have instituted a census on a given day. They might have renewed such a census. They might have compared the returns in every case. But as no such census has ever been made, they themselves, though they have their ideas, cannot speak with particular accuracy on this subject.

The general opinion however is, and the Quakers, I apprehend, will not deny but lament it, that those, who go out of the Society, are so much more numerous than those who come into it by convincement; that its natural population does not counterbalance the diminution thus occasioned; and therefore that there is, upon the whole, a decrease among them.

Of the truth of this opinion some have adduced as a proof, that the quarterly meetings have been reduced to three-fourths of their original number. But this is not to be considered as a certain criterion of the fact. For it is by no means uncommon to find, if the members decrease in one county, that they increase in another. It has also been adduced, that many particular meetings have been broken up, or that meeting-houses in the country are standing deserted, or without members to worship in them.

But neither can this be considered as any infallible proof of the point. For it frequently happens, that if they become less numerous in any particular village, they become more so in some of the towns of the same county. Thus no true judgment can be formed upon these principles. The Quaker-population in this respect, on account of its movements, resembles the sea, which, while it loses on one part of its shores or boundaries, gains upon another.

There are, however, considerations, which may be more decisive of the fact.

In the time of George Fox, the number of those converted to his principles was immense. This number, if we consult all the facts that might be adduced on the occasion, continued to be large in after times. Now it must be observed, that the Quakers are a sober and temperate people; that they generally marry at a proper age, and that they have large families. It is therefore impossible, if the descendants of the early members had continued in the Society, that their number should not have been much larger than we find it at the present day; and, if so, there must have been a secession, or an expulsion, amounting, notwithstanding all influx by conversion or population, to a decrease.

It is obvious, again, that the Quakers, in consequence of their industry and their frugal habits, must almost unavoidably grow rich. Now if the descendants of the early Quakers had remained in the Society, we should have seen more overgrown fortunes in it than among others, in proportion to their numbers. But this is contrary to the fact.

The very richest, as the world now goes, would not be considered to be particularly rich; and it is a truth, that those, who are affluent among them, have generally been the founders, by means of their industry and integrity, of their own fortunes.

It is, again, a matter of observation among the Quakers, now grown into a truth, that if men grow rich in the Society their grand-children generally leave it. But surely this amounts to a confession, that in a particular part of the Society there are the seeds of a regular and successive decrease.

causes

That the Quakers, then, upon the whole are a declining body, there can be no doubt.* While I state it, I lament it. I lament that there should be any diminution of number among those, who have done so much good in the world, and who have so justly obtained the reputation of a moral people. This consideration will lead me to inquire into the of this decline. It will impel me also to inquire into the means of remedy. How far I may be successful in the latter attempt, I am unable to say. But it will always be a pleasing consideration to me, to have tried to prevent the decrease of a virtuous people.

With respect, then, to the causes of this decline,

*

Against this decrease we cannot set off any great increase by admission into membership. The dress, the language, the fear of being singular, the discipline with its various restraints, the unwillingness of men to suffer where suffering can be avoided-these and other circumstances are great impediments in the way of an entrance into this Society; and to this I may add, that applications for admission into it are not always complied with.

to which I shall confine myself in this chapter, they will be found in the causes of Disownment. Now of these some may be called original and immediate, and others original and remote.

Of original and immediate, the first is what the Quakers call Mixed Marriage. It has been before stated, that those, who marry out of the Society, are disowned, and the reasons for such disownments have been given.

A second will be found in Tithes. They, who pay these, are ultimately disowned. They are disowned as well for the payment of lay-tithes as of those, which are ecclesiastical.

Of the original and remote, a very prolific cause is the pursuit of Trade, connected as it is with the peculiar habits of the Society, and a residence within the towns.

To show this, I must observe, first, that the poor, comparatively speaking, are seldom disowned, for they know that they shall never be so well provided for in any other Society.* I must observe, again, that the members of the middle classes are also, comparatively speaking, but seldom disowned. These must live by trade; but if so, they cannot be better off than as Quakers. The direct conclusion then from these observations will be, that the greater number of those, who are disowned, will be found among the rich, or among such as are growing rich. Hence it appears that, as far as this original and re

* I by no means intend to say that the poor do not remain in the Society from an attachment to its principles, but that the other may be a political motive also.