y could scarcely
supply their families with bread. But this deviation from the general
practice, though it still characterizes the members of this society, is
no longer a source of suffering. Magistrates sometimes take care that
their hats shall be taken gently from their heads on public occasions,
and private persons expect now no such homage from Quakers, when they
meet them.

There is, however, a custom, against which the Quakers anciently bore
their testimony, and against which they continue to bear it, which
subjects them occasionally to considerable inconvenience and loss. In
the case of a general illumination, they never light up their houses,
but have the courage to be singular in this respect, whatever may be the
temper of the mob.

They believe that the practice of general illuminations cannot be
adopted consistently by persons, who are lovers of the truth. They
consider it as no certain criterion of joy. For, in the first place, how
many light up their houses, whose hearts are overwhelmed with sorrow?
And, in the second place, the event which is celebrated, may not always
be a matter of joy to good minds. The birth-day of a prince, for
example, may be ushered in as welcome, and the celebration of it may
call his actions to mind, upon which a reflection may produce pleasure,
but the celebration of the slaughter or devastation of mankind can
afford no happiness to the Christian.

They consider the practice again, accompanied as it is with all its
fiery instruments, as dangerous and cruel. For how many accidents have
happened, and how many lives have been lost upon such occasions?

They consider it again as replete with evil. The wild uproar which it
creates, the mad and riotous joy which it produces, the licentiousness
which it favours, the invidious comparisons which it occasions, the
partial favour which it fixes on individuals who have probably no moral
merit, the false joys which it holds out, and the enmity which it has on
some occasions a tendency to perpetuate; are so many additional
arguments against it in the opinion of the Quakers.

For these and other reasons they choose not to submit to the custom, but
to bear their testimony against it, and to run the hazard of having
their windows broken, or their houses pillaged, as the populace may
dictate: And in the same manner, if there be any other practice, in
which the world may expect them to coincide, they reject it, fearless of
the consequences, i