Quaker History
Emerson and Quakerism (review)Robert E. Spiller
Quaker History
Friends Historical Association
Volume 57, Number 2, Autumn 1968
pp. 120-121
10.1353/qkh.1968.0022
Review
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120Quaker History Beamish seriously questions the direct influence of Continental Quietism as a cause of decline in Quaker ministry during the eighteenth century. She suggests many other causes, the most interesting of which is negative reaction to Methodist revivalism. George Whitehead had begun the century on a note of caution and a vision of smallness. Samuel Fothergill tended to throttle new ministry by his proselyting for strict discipline and supervision of ministers by elders. But Beamish suggests that the enthusiastic emotionalism of the Methodists and their resort to "creaturely" methods enhanced sharply the Quaker mistrust of both. Paradoxically, as the last appendix shows, while the fear of "creaturely appearances " in the ministry and the number of men ministers decreased during the century, the number of Quaker women in the ministry rose sharply! The nineteenth century saw evangelical Methodist influence break through the Quaker defenses by the convincement to Quakerism of outsiders who had been active in the revival, such as Mary Stokes Dudley, David Sands, and Thomas Shillitoe. Beamish is satisfied with none of these but makes a real hero of Stephen Grellet who in her judgment restored the apostolic vision, balance, and joy to Friends ministry which had been declining throughout the eighteenth century. Grellet's exuberance is expressed in his words to London Yearly Meetmg in 1834: "When some of us were fainting under the load of exercise and fear, trembling like Eli for the ark of the testimony of God, the shout of the King eternal and immortal was heard in our camp, and the name of the Lord was proclaimed." Lucia Beamish concludes by stoutly defending Fox's vision and concept of free gospel ministry under the immediate inspiration and guidance of the Spirit insisting that the eighteenth-century decline in Friends ministry was not due to any inherent weakness in the vision but to the lack of faithfulness by Friends in putting it into effect. If you are concerned about the recovery of an effective redemptive ministry among Friends, this book is a must. Wilmington CollegeT. Canbt Jones Emerson and Quakerism. By Yukio Irie. Tokyo, Japan: Kenkyusha. 1967. 150 pages. Copies can be obtained from Pendle Hill, Wallingford, Pa. Dr. Yukio Irie of Tokyo and of Pendle Hill has done a very great service both to Friends and to Emersonians by this study of the common ground of these two forms of religious experience.
The advantage of his analysis over those of some other Quaker-Emersonian scholars lies in his thorough study of the unpublished manuscripts of many of the early sermons, in addition to the better known lecture on George Fox and the known facts of his reading of Quaker books and his friendships with New Bedford Quakers. Dr. Irie's main point is unassailable: that both Transcendentalism and Quakerism rest finally on the capacity of each human soul to enter into immediate communication with the Divine soul by calling upon the aid of the "Inner Light." This is a primary similarity, and it is not surprising that Emerson thought him- Book Reviews121 self "more of a Quaker than anything else." But, as Dr. Irie also points out, Emerson could not be "anything else" (that is, commit himself exclusively to any sect) because with him this is an experience of the individual and can only be achieved in "solitude," whereas the Quaker thinks of it as a group experience which is intensified by being shared and which incites to group rather than individual action. Dr. Irie traces the growth of this common emphasis on a self-reliance which is in effect a God-reliance from Emerson's earliest days at Harvard to the point of his purest transcendentalism, 1836-1838, and then argues that his position was very little if any changed between then and 1860 when he wrote his more complex and often apparently skeptical essays and lectures. He aims his attack mainly at Whicher, Carpenter, and others who have argued for a fundamental psychological and theological change in Emerson's position and personality during a major crisis between 1838 and 1844. Particularly telling are his point that Emerson experienced periods of acute self-distrust and despair at various times throughout his life...
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ISSN
1934-1504
Print ISSN
0033-5053
Pages
pp. 120-121
Launched on MUSE
2012-04-04
Open Access
No
