THE EXAMPLE OF QUAKERS, OR SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.
The Quakers have generally received credit for being a peace-loving
and peace-making Society of Christians; and we are compelled to admit,
and have great pleasure in doing so, that they have always sustained
the character. They have always been known as the opponents of
slavery; but their modes of protest and remonstrance have been
conducted in the spirit of Christianity. They have never broken the
public peace, directly or indirectly, in this conflict of principle;
they have never outraged public feeling by obtruding their opinions in
a violent way; they have not sought to raise mobs against themselves,
and thus get the advantage of a cry of persecution; but they have
published their principles in a quiet, and in that way, most
influential manner. All the world has known, that the Society of
Friends have been opposed to slavery, as well as to war; but society
has never been battered by their artillery, by violent and
uncharitable denunciation, by defamation, by exaggerated and
fictitious stories, by inflammatory appeals, by threatening to
overthrow a fabric which they cannot conscientiously support, by
undermining the authority of Government and proclaiming it forfeited,
and by sowing the seeds of servile insurrection and popular violence.
It is known, that a Quaker will not eat sugar or molasses made by a
slave; that is a fact that tells--sets people to thinking. It is the
silent, insinuating action of principle on society and into the minds
of men. The Quakers will do nothing, directly or indirectly, to
countenance and support slavery, so far as they can avoid it. Their
precepts are known, and their example is seen. They are a living
epistle before the world, on this and some other subjects. They use
freedom of speech and of the press; they employ persuasion and
remonstrance in a Christian like way; they give “line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little;” but they do
no violence. They are faithful and true to their principles, and
consistent in practising as well as preaching them; but they assume
not the responsibility of disturbing others in the use of a privilege
which is so important and dear to themselves. They seem to understand
the rule: “Do unto others, as ye would that others should do unto
you.” Hence the Quakers never disturb the peace of society. They are
good neighbours, good citizens, good, we presume, in domestic and
private life, and as we hope, good Christians.
Such is the legitimate action of Christianity, and such is the
strongest possible proof, that a man is actuated by Christian
principle. Such was the example of Christ and his Apostles. There is
not a single intimation, nor fair inference from any fact, that they
ever made war upon the existing fabric of society, any farther than
the silent action of their principles would _gradually_ operate a
change in the social state and in social institutions. Such is the
Divine superiority of Christianity: silent, but effective and
irresistable in its march--irresistable, _because_ it is never
violent--because, veritas valebit, truth will prevail.
But, alas! how utterly opposed to all this are the measures and
movements of the Abolitionists! They seem as if they would take heaven
and earth by storm; but if they happen to raise a storm over their own
heads, they demand impunity from its effects. Stirrers-up of mischief,
they deny the right of its re-action on themselves. It is ridiculous,
absolutely. If a man will be a fool, he must _reap_ his folly; if “he
sows the wind,” he must be content, if the elements in their natural
workings should so decree, “to reap the whirlwind.”
If, indeed, we have given more credit to the Quakers than they
deserve, we hope, if any of them have got out of the way into the
Abolition ranks under their present flag, they will see the propriety
of getting back again as fast as they can, for the good reputation of
their own Society, that hereafter there may be no exception among them
as a good example worthy of imitation in all such matters.