QUAKERS. 



fidcrable learning, George Keith, after aflociating with 

 them for near thirty years, became the author of a Ichifm, 

 the eircumilances of whkh it will be proper to notice. 

 Kcitii was a native of Scotland, and educated at Aberdeen ; 

 he was iraprifoned, as a Quaker, in 1664, and in 1675 

 alTided Barclay in a public difputation againit tiie ftudents 

 at Aberdeen : he wrote much in defence of the prin- 

 ciples of the Quakers, whicli he thoroughly luidcrltood, 

 and was employed in the education of their youth ; but is 

 thought by them to have indulged too much in curious 

 and ufelefs fjieculations, which Iiis ijrethren did not encou- 

 rage. Being again repeatedly imprifoned, about 1684 he 

 removed to America in difguli:. Here, after fome previous 

 general cenfure of his friends, he acculcd ieveral, in parti- 

 cular, of grofs error in dottrine ; tlie pretext for which 

 was, their holding (as he himfelf had done) that the know- 

 ledge and belief of the hiilory of Chrill is not neeellary for 

 the falvution of thofe who h^ve no poffible means of ac- 

 quiring it. His complaints againft individuals leading to 

 more general contention, the Friends in England interfered, 

 and the parties were heard before the yearly meeting in 

 London, which decided the caufc againft Keith, and he re- 

 mained under the " difownment" pronounced againft him 

 in America. He now fet up a feparate Quakers' meeting 

 in .London, attacked the principles he had foriiierly de- 

 fended, (on which occafions the Quakers replied by quo- 

 tations from his own works,) and finally entered into the 

 church of England. He was foon after ordained prieft, 

 and made a raiflionary to America, to bring over his former 

 brethren. But his efforts, though for a while troublefome 

 to the Quakers, were attended with very little fuccefs : 

 he returned to England, funk into obfcurity on a fmall living 

 in Suffex, and his party gradually difappeared. 



The jeopardy in which the Quakers almoil conftantly 

 flood on account of their principles, very early introduced 

 them to an immediate intercourfe with the throne ; and they 

 thus acquired the privilege, which they ftill excrcife, of pre- 

 fenting public addrell'es to the king, by a deputation from 

 their body, in a manner which does not violate their con- 

 fcientious fcruples. The accefTion of a new fovereign, the 

 conclufion of a peace, or an impending war, have commonly 

 drawn from them addreffes, in which fentiments not unworthy 

 of their Chrillian profeflion, are conveyed in llmple but re- 

 fpeftful language. And very recently (1814), they availed 

 therafelves of the prefence in this country of the emperor of 

 RulTia, and the king of PrufTia, to addrefs each of thefe 

 monarchs in favour of a perfeft toleration in their re- 

 fpeftive dominions : in which they met with a favourable 

 reception. Another great and intercfting object, the aboli- 

 . tion of the (lave trade, has frequently brought them forward 

 to government in this way. In the caufe of humanity, as it 

 regards the opprefied Africans, they have proved themfelves 

 ftrenuous and indefatigable : the reproach, even of holding 

 a fellovvf man in flavery, was wiped away from the members 

 of this fociety many years before the abolition of the trade 

 was decreed, either in England or America. This was ef- 

 fefted by their difcipline ; and it was made a part of this, in 

 confequence of that view of Chriftianity, which regards 

 every individual of the human race as a fit objeft of its 

 benefits, and as entitled to the charitable regard which it 

 inculcates. Much was done on the Negroes' behalf, in 

 America, by Anthony Benezet, whofe character is well 

 known to the world ; and by ,Tohn Woolman, a minifter of 

 the fociety, whofe writings difcover a mind of uncommon 

 purity, fimplicity, and tendernefs. 



The Quakers as a body have been long relieved from aftual 

 perfecution : yet they are Hill involved by their principles in 



occafional trouble as individuals. The refufal to bear arms, 

 or to pay military fines, fubjefts them to legal diftrjrint on 

 their goods, and if noue of thefe be found, to imprifonment. 

 Tithes and other eccleliaftical claims, enforced upon them, 

 likewife render dillraiiit a very common, and fometimes an op- 

 prefTive occu.rence : and it the prolecutor be more rigorous, 

 they may be imprifoned for an indefinite time. In America 

 they are exempt from ecclefiallical but not from ruilitary 

 feizures ; by which, during the war for independence, many 

 of them were impovcrifhed. It is obvious that, refuling to 

 f wear, thev cannot fill any office of profit Or trufl under go- 

 vernment. Except for thefe purpofes however, for ferving 

 on juries, and in cafes of criminal profccution, their folema 

 afBrmatiou before the magiftrate has the legal force of an 

 oath. 



The Quakers are difperfed over the united kingdom, and 

 moft of the flates of North America; from the fouthern 

 ftates of the latter they have moflly emigrated of late to 

 the Ohio. In America they are chiefly engaged in agricul- 

 ture ; and for a feries of years have been making judicious 

 and fuccefsful efforts to introduce this, with the other arts, 

 and the manners of civilized life, among the Indian natives. 

 There are a few Quakers in Germany, and their principles 

 are entertained by fome perfons in France. 



In this country they are found chiefly in the middle clafj 

 of citizens, and in trade or manufafture. Their general de- 

 reliction of agriculture feems to have refulted from the im- 

 pediments offered by the tithing fyftem : a yoke which, under 

 their fcruple, become.s doubly heavy on the farmer. There 

 is a- greater approach to equality in the civil condition of the 

 Quakers, than obtains in almoft any other body : the children 

 of fuch as become very rich are apt to quit the fociety, either 

 by marrying perfons not in its communion, or for the fake 

 of liberties wluch it prohibits : and the children of the poor 

 commonly get a plain but folid education, fuperior to their 

 condition, by means of which they rife in civil fociety to a 

 higher level. They have feveral excellent eftablifhments for 

 this purpofe : the principal of which, iituated at Ackworth 

 in Yorkfhire, contains, of both fexes, three hundred children, 

 and was founded in 177S, at the inftance of Dr. Fothergill. 

 With provifion for mathematical and claffical learning, the 

 Quakers, though they have fome good private fchools, are 

 but flenderly furnifhcd ; and they have in confequence few 

 accomphfhed men in thefe branches. They are by no means 

 deficient in general information, and of late years many of 

 them have cultivated natural philofophy with fuccefs. The 

 fociety in its earlier ilage, including many men of regular 

 fcholaitic education, who had joined it on principle, had of 

 courfe the advantage, in point of theological knowledge, 

 over the modern Friends, who chiefly inherit their profefTion, 

 and whofe education has but of late begun to include 

 fyllematic inlfruftion in the dcftrines of Chriftianity at 

 large. 



In morals they are allowed to excel : their youth is 

 watched over in this refpeft with more ttian ordinary care ; 

 and when grown up, their difcipline prohibits, to alt condi- 

 tions, thole amufemeiits which offer to the mind the ready 

 means of diflipating ferious impreiTions. Habitual offenders 

 againll their peculiar regulations forfeit their memberfhip, as 

 well as thofe who violate the more obvious rules of juftice 

 and morality : their moral charafter, and confiltency as a 

 body, ai-e thus kept up. But it is alleged, that they are 

 not equally well guarded againft a money-getting fpirit ; 

 which is apt to grow upon thofe who intently profecute trade 

 and commerce to the exclufion of all other purfuits. From 

 the occafional tenor of the fociety's advices to its members, 

 it fliould feem that this is in a certain degree true ; and that i; 

 Y 2 behoves 



