Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/41

Rh It was a mistake in the Quakers to believe that man has sufficient of this inner light in himself, nay of his own strength, to attain to perfection, and it still remains a mistake to this day. For this reason they make too little use of prayer, too little of the Lord's Supper, too little of all those means which the All-good Father has afforded to His children, in order to bring them into connection with Him, and Him with them, that He might impart to them His life and His strength, and which therefore are so properly called means of grace. Therefore is it also, that they are deficient in that reliance and freedom with which a child of God moves through the whole circle of his creation, regarding nothing as unclean, and nothing as hurtful, which is enjoyed with a pure mind. They look with suspicious glances upon all free beauty and art, and are afraid of joy; nay, they mistrust even the beauty of nature, and are deficient in that universal sense which belongs to the Scandinavians—though it sometimes a little oversteps itself with them—and which made your somewhat eccentric acquaintance, L., say, “one should eat in God; one should play and sing in God; nay, one should dance in God.”

But peace be with Quakerism! It has accomplished its mission, and borne the torch of light before mankind for a season, during its passage “out of darkness, and through the shadows to the light.” It has had its time. There is an end of the earlier power of the sect. But its influence still exists, and is in force in the New World, especially as the principle of stern uprightness and public benevolence, and it will yet, by this, open new paths for the people of the New World. The doctrine of the inner light died not, but seeks a union with another higher light. It has, especially in its declared equality of man and woman, a rich seed which must germinate through a wider sphere. How little danger there is in this avowed equality, and how little outward change is produced by it