258 FRIENDS’

REVIEW.

 

-your benefit, dear children, before I go hence.
{f was born in 1724, and can remember, from
about the tenth year of my age, the different
manner which then prevailed with Friends in
their plain, simple and frugal living, forming a
great contrast with the present. In 1747, I
married and became. master of a family. The
manner of living was then somewhat changed,
but I fully believe that for every shilling then
expended for eating and drinking, and for dress,
more pounds are spent at the present time,
which is no otherwise necessary than to comply
with the pride and luxury of the times. This
increase of expense renders necessary an in-
creasing labor and care to supply those demands
of pride and fashion, which, it appears, there is
not sufficient Christian humility to withstand.
One gives way a little and sets an example for
another to go further. Thus it is that we have
got'to such a length, that the simplicity, which
in years past so fully distinguished our Society,
is so far lost that many of our members have
not the least appearance of being such. Others
of the elder ranks are too full of the cares of
this life to take a proper care for the next, and
their minds are unprepared to watch over and
guard the youth, many of whom are left to follow
their own inclinations, and by too many parents
are even promoted in them. To such an extent
have these deviations gone, as to become a sor-
row to many solid Friends, who regard the dis-
ease as beyond the power of the Society to
remedy. ‘This appears to me to be indeed the
case, and that nothing short of a diving inter-
position will bring about a change. How a
plicable the text, ‘Ofall the families of the
earth, you have I chosen, and you will punish.’”

After making due allowance for the gradual
changes which unavoidably follow the course of
generations and the increase of wealth and
civilization, as a country once rural and sparsely
populated becomes crowded with cities and
magnificent villas, it must be confessed that
the modern Quaker has yielded, to an extent
much greater than was necessary or wise, to the
encroachments of luxury and fashion ; renoun-
cing (so to speak) his birth-right to the immu-
nities of modest and rational simplicity. Would
that our younger members could appreciate the
privilege they might possess, in an exemption
from the tyranny of fashion. And,in the pres-
ent time of peril; when so many of our members,
on a just plea of conscience, are excused from
hardships and danger to which other citizens
are subjected, how important it is that Friends
(young and elder) should evince the sincerity
of their profession by gravity and Christian con-
sistency, “redeeming the time, because the
days are evil.” | ye

Hearing of the illness of his daughter, M.
Allinson, and being unable to go to her,
D..C. writes to her, Fifth month 6th,
1792: “How pleasant would it be, did

 
 
  
   
  
    

our situation admit of our often seeii
other, to sympathize together, and
each to each, a little comfort under aff
thus strengthening the feeble mind to
after fortitude and calming resignation to hoh
appointment. This I have often fow nee
ingly necessary, under my close provings, bu
never equally so with the present day. How
aptly does the language of Job apply to me:
‘Oh that I were as in months past! mn Gs
As in the days when God preserved me;
When His candle shined upon my head, a
And when by His light I walked through darkness!’
But I wish not to add grief to thy sorrow. I
trust we are often in each other’s remembrance.
Let our breathings be that our faith fail not,
but that it be strengthened so to bear what is
still behind, as not ‘to offend. * * * May
thy dear children be preserved in innocency,
increasing in that wisdom of which the fear of
the Lord is the beginning, growing up as a
family, indeed beloved of the Lord, who will
delight to do you good; be your shield and rock
of defence, and give you to sing both of his rod
and of his staff. Dear Martha, often remember
Joshua’s resolution: ‘As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.’ Then will. peace be in
your dwelling.” ° ose
The entries in his diary having now almost
ceased, there is little record of his movements.
It appears by the following passage in a letter
written Sixth month 30th to,his daughter, who
continued in ill health, that he visited her after
the date of the above extract: “Since I was

with you, I have at times thought myself bet-

 
   
   

ter, but this has been of short continuance. I
enjoyed myself more at thy house than I have
done of late, and hadst thou been in good health

it would have pleased me to continue there
longer. But wherever I am in this world, seems
but like pausing at an inn, whilst I am has!
to my journey’s end, my home, the «
where comfort for me is to be expected.
_ [Diary.] Eighth month 22d,1792. “TI hi
felt, at times, for upwards of two years, a cover-
ing of love, and a desire once more to sit with
Friends in their Preparative Meeting a
grove, though my state of health gay
room to expect it. As their meeting in tl
month drew near, it was so much in my mind
that I thought I dare not omit the endeavor.
On Fourth-day afternoon, my son, Paul, took me
in his wagon to George Colston’s. Next day I
attended their meeting, where they had much
business. ‘The queries were all answered. The
building of a school house on their lot was
much urged, but not fully agreed upon. A pro-
posal to hold the Monthly Meeting alternately
at that place and at Salem, was agreed to be laid
before the Monthly Meeting, &c. There was
much feebleness in transacting their business ;
too little of that living zeal, that for Zion’s sake

   
   
 

  
   

 

and for Jerusalem’s cause, cannot be. silent.