where any compliance with them becomes a positive offence. The Quakers,
in consequence of the vast power they have over their members by means
of their discipline, lay a great stress upon the latter. They consider
their prohibitions, when duly watched and enforced, as so many _barriers
against vice_ or _preservatives of virtue_. Hence they are the grand
component parts of their moral education, and hence I shall chiefly
consider them in the chapters, which are now to follow upon this
subject.




MORAL EDUCATION OF THE QUAKERS.




CHAP.I.


_Moral Education of the Quakers--amusements necessary for youth--Quakers
distinguish between the useful and the hurtful--the latter specified and
forbidden._

When the blooming spring sheds abroad its benign influence, man feels it
equally with the rest of created nature. The blood circulates more
freely, and a new current of life seems to be diffused, in his veins.
The aged man is enlivened, and the sick man feels himself refreshed.
Good spirits and cheerful countenances succeed. But as the year changes
in its seasons, and rolls round to its end, the tide seems to slacken,