Of the truth of this opinion, some have adduced as a proof, that the quarterly meetings have been reduced to three fourths of their original number.  But this is not to be considered as a certain criterion of the fact.  For it is by no means uncommon to find, if the Quakers decrease in one county, that they increase in another.  It has also been adduced, that many particular meetings have been broken up, or that meeting-houses in the country are standing deserted, or without Quakers to worship in them.  But neither can this be considered as any infallible proof of the point.  For it frequently happens, that if the Quakers become less numerous in any particular village, they become more so in some of the towns of the same county.  Thus no true judgment can be formed upon these principles.  The Quaker population, in this respect, on account of its movements, resembles the sea, which, while it loses on one part of its shores or boundaries, gains upon another.

There are, however, considerations, which may be more decisive of the fact.

In the time of George Fox the number of those converted to his principles was immense.[46] This number, if we consult all the facts that might be adduced on the occasion, continued to be large in after times.  Now it must be observed, that the Quakers are a sober and temperate people, that they generally marry at a proper age, and that they have large families.  It is therefore impossible, if the descendants of the early Quakers had continued in the society, that their number should not have been much larger than we find it at the present day, and, if so, there must have been a secession or an expulsion, amounting, notwithstanding all influx by conversion, to a decrease.

[Footnote 46:  Although the remark may be just, that in the time of George Fox “a great number were converted to his principles,” yet a small portion of those were actually received into membership, and the same remark may correctly be made even in the present day:  as it is believed that immense numbers are convinced of the truth as held by the Quakers, but owing to their “not being willing to undergo an ordeal of suffering on account of their principles,” a small portion of those apply to be admitted into the society.  AMERICAN EDITOR.]

It is obvious again that the Quakers, in consequence of their industry and their frugal habits, must almost unavoidably grow rich.  Now if the descendants of the early Quakers had remained in the society, we should have seen more overgrown fortunes in it, than among others in proportion to their numbers.  But this is contrary to the fact.  The very richest, as the world now goes, would not be considered to be particularly rich; and it is a truth that those who are affluent among them have generally been the founders, by means of their industry and integrity, of their own fortunes.

It is, again, a matter of observation among the Quakers, now grown into a truth, that if men grow rich in the society, their grand-children generally leave it.  But surely this amounts to a confession, that in a particular part of the society there are the seeds of a regular and successive decrease.