It is a religious tenet of the Quakers, as will be shown in its proper place, that no appointment of man can make a minister of the gospel, and that no service, consisting of an artificial form of words, to be pronounced on stated occasions, can constitute a religious act; for that the spirit of God is essentially necessary to create the one, and to produce the other.  It is also another tenet with them, that no minister of a christian church, ought to be paid for his Gospel-labours.  This latter tenet is held so sacred by the Quakers, that it affords one reason among others, why they refuse payment of tithes, and other demands of the church, preferring to suffer loss by distraints for them, than to comply with them in the usual manner.  Now these two principles are essentials of Quakerism.  But no person, who marries out of the society, can be legally married without going through the forms of the established church.  Those therefore who submit to this ceremony, as performed by a priest, acknowledge, according to the Quakers, the validity of an human appointment of the ministry.  They acknowledge the validity of an artificial service in religion.  They acknowledge the propriety of paying a Gospel-minister for the discharge of his office.  The Quakers, therefore, consider those who marry out of the society, as guilty of such a dereliction of Quaker-principles, that they can be no longer considered as sound or consistent members.

But independently of the violation of these principles, which the Quakers take as the strongest ground for their conduct on such an occasion, they think themselves warranted in disowning, from a contemplation of the consequences, which have been known to result from these marriages.

In the first place, disownment is held to be necessary, because it acts as a check upon such marriages, and because, by acting as such a check, it prevents the family-disputes and disagreements which might otherwise arise; for such marriages have been found to be more productive of uneasiness than of enjoyment.  When two persons of different religious principles, a Quaker for example, and a woman of the church, join in marriage, it is almost impossible that they should not occasionally differ.  The subject of religion arises, and perhaps some little altercation with it, as the Sunday comes.  The one will not go to church, and the other will not go to meeting.  These disputes do not always die with time.  They arise, however, more or less, according to circumstances.  If neither of the parties set any value upon their religious opinions, there will be but little occasion for dispute.  If both of them, on the other hand, are of a serious cast, much will depend upon the liberality of their sentiments:  but, generally speaking, it falls to the lot of but few to be free from religious prejudices.  And here it may be observed, that points in religion also may occasionally be suggested, which may bring with them the seeds of temporary uneasiness.