And the word carpenter which is likewise a family-name,
ought to be objected to, if the person so called should happen to be a
smith. And, in this case, men would be obliged to draw lots for numbers,
and to be called by the numerical ticket, which they should draw."
"It is objected again to the Quakers, that, by attempting to steer clear
of idolatry, they fall into it. The Quakers are considered to be genuine
idolaters, in this case. The blind pagan imagined a moral being, either
heavenly or infernal, to inhere in a log of wood or a block of stone.
The Quakers, in like manner, imagine a moral being, truth or falsehood,
to exist in a lifeless word, and this independently of the sense in
which it is spoken, and in which it is known that it will be understood.
What is this, it is said, but a species of idolatry and a degrading
superstition?"
The Quakers would reply to these observations, first, that they do not
charge others with idolatry, in the use of these names, who know nothing
of their origin, or who feel no impropriety in their use.
Secondly, that if the principle, upon which they found their alterations
in language, cannot, on account of existing circumstances, be followed
in all cases, there is no reason, why it should not be followed, where
it can.
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