THE PASSING OF THE QUAKER.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Will you allow me to reply to "A Man in the Street " ? I only saw his letter of May 6th a day or two ago. I don't think that Quakerism has suffered from its members going out of uniform. Men's dress is now exceedingly simple, and I do not think that lady members of the Society spend much on theirs as a rule. It was felt that keeping up out-of-date fashions did not make people any better, and that it might become almost a source of pride. My opinion is that Quakerism has declined for other reasons—one is the absence, at present, of persecution. When seizures for tithes took place it had the effect of drawing together those who felt that they had a testimony to bear against ecclesiastical dominance. Absence of persecution allows individuals to remain nominal Quakers who are not in real sympathy with the body. Then, again, I think that Friends have of late made almost a religion of some political ideas, and that this is at the bottom of some of the newspaper difficulties which you have been attacking in your paper. Friends in England are industriously pushing forward Home Rule for Ireland without in the least knowing what it may mean to their co-religionists here. A. third cause of weakness is that just now Friends feel deeply the social troubles men suffer under, but they have not much sense of sin and the misery and trouble it brings. The Salvation Army realizes the fact of sin, and endeavours first to induce men to give up their wills—to throw down their arms, to be converted. With all this, I am sure the Quakers have a future and have still to be reckoned with. Is it quite fair that you should seemingly hold all the Quakers responsible for mistakes a few may be making P—I am, Sir, &c., [Nothing is further from our wish than to condemn the Quakers as a whole for the faults of individuals. If we have un- wittingly conveyed such an impression we regret it extremely. —En. Spectator.]
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