em, they will bunch-into excess. A great river may be kept in its
course by paying attention to its banks, but if you make a breach in
these restrictive walls, you let it loose, and it deluges the plains
below.

In short, whether we turn our eyes to the Quaker society, or to the
world at large, we cannot consider an affluent independence as among the
temporal advantages of youth. And as they, who only leave their children
a moderate portion of substance, so that they shall see the necessity of
relying upon their own honest endeavours, and the Divine support, act
wisely in their own generation, so they act only consistently with the
religion they profess. For what does the religion of the Quakers hold
out to them as the best attainment in life? Is it not spiritual
knowledge? Is it not that knowledge, which shall fit them best for the
service of their Maker? But such knowledge is utterly unattainable while
a money-getting spirit exists; for it has been declared by the highest
authority, that we cannot serve God and mammon.

CHAP. XIV.

_Another trait is that of a want of animation or affection--This an
appearance only, and not a reality, arising from a proper subjugation of
the passions--from the prohibitions relative to dress--and address--and
the amusements of the world._

It is said next of the Quakers, that they are a cold and inanimate
people; and that they have neither the ordinary affection, nor the
gradation of affection, of other people.

I may immediately pronounce upon this trait, that it is merely an
outward appearance. The Quakers have as warm feelings as the rest of
their countrymen. Their love of their fellow-creatures, more conspicuous
in them than in many others, as has been amply shewn, gives them a claim
to the possession of warm and affectionate feeling. The Quakers too have
the character of a domestic people; but surely, if they do not possess
affection, and this in a very high degree, they must have miserable
homes. There is indeed a want of gradation in their affections, which
may be traced upon some occasions. In making their wills, for example,
they are not apt to raise up an eldest son to the detriment of the rest
of their offspring. And this certainly is a proof, that they do not
possess the gradation of affection of many other people! Happy is it
for their own comfort and the welfare of their families, that they give
this proof to the world of this equal affection for their childre