" A person may come to see the beauty
of virtue, when his constitution has been shattered by vice. But many
will perish in the midst of so hazardous a trial.[13]
[Footnote 13: Though no attempt is to be made to obtain knowledge,
according to the Christian system, through the medium of customs which
may be of immoral tendency, yet it does not follow that knowledge,
properly obtained, is not a powerful guardian of virtue. This important
subject may probably be resumed in a future volume.]
SECT. II.
_Quakers contend, by may of farther reply to the objections, that their
education has been practically or experimentally beneficial--two facts
in behalf of this assertion--the first is that young Quakers get earlier
into the wisdom of life than many others--the second, that there are few
disorderly persons in the society--error corrected, that the Quakers
turn persons out of the society, as soon as they begin to be vicious,
that it may be rescued from the disgrace of a bad character._
The answers, which have hitherto been given to the reader, may be
considered as the statement of theory against theory. But the Quakers,
would say farther upon this subject, that they have educated upon these
principles for a hundred and fifty years, and that, where they have been
attended to, their effects have been uniformly beneficial.
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