Book Reviews
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BOOK REVIEWS William Penn and Early Quakerism. By MELVIN B. ENDY, JR. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. viii, 410 p. Bibliography, index. #17.50.) It is indeed refreshing to read a book which modifies the recent efforts to explain seventeenth-century Quakerism in terms of left-wing Puritanism, and begins to move back toward the mystical emphasis enunciated by Rufus M. Jones, and, to a lesser degree, William Charles Braithwaite and John Wilhelm Rowntree, at the beginning of this century. We have known for more than two decades that Jones went too far in seeking to tie early Friends to continental mystics and pietists, but few have been willing to challenge the neo-orthodox swing of the pendulum, started by Geoffrey Nuttall, which replaced the mystical interpretation with one attaching Quakers firmly to Puritanism. Melvin Endy, while not wholly rejecting the Puritan influence among early Quakers, has stressed what he has called spiritualism or the spiritualist emphasis, which sounds somewhat akin to the positive mysticism put forward by Rufus Jones in the Rowntree series, beginning with Studies in Mystical Religion (London, I9°9)- Endy defines spiritualism or a spiritualist theology as one which rests exclusively upon the Holy Spirit, upon direct, immediate inspiration from the divine. The spiritualist tended to reject the present world, and to look toward the Millennium; he also rejected existing churches, depending instead upon the invisible church. The spiritualist accepted the separation of the human from the divine, and believed that a total conversion experi- ence could change a person from a sinner into a saint. Endy has listed Seekers, Familists, and Ranters with the Quakers as part of the spiritualist group, and has even included a few of what he terms "spiritual puritans." The volume is much more than a study of William Penn's religious beliefs; it is actually a careful analysis of seventeenth-century Quaker theology, placed, in turn, within the context of English religious thought for the same period. Endy began with an examination of the theological patterns found in England in the 1640s at the time George Fox began to preach and attract a modest following. In addition to discussing the writings of Fox, he has also considered those of Edward Burrough, Samuel Fisher, James Nayler and Isaac Penington in the early period. Penn, who did not join the Quakers until 1667, scarcely appears in the first 100 pages of the volume. It is clear that Penn's theology was more unconventional in his early years as a Quaker than later in life. He got into trouble over The Sandy 250 1974 BOOK REVIEWS 251 Foundation Shaken (1668) because he attacked the traditional concept of the Trinity, and other early writings led to vigorous attacks from Quaker opponents. Endy has described the changes made in his The Christian Quaker . ., first printed in 1674 (wrongly listed as 1673), when it was reprinted in 1699, in order to make it more acceptable to readers. The two other well-educated Friends who were writing in the Restoration period, the Scotsmen Robert Barclay and George Keith, were more ortho- dox in their theology. Furthermore, Penn was more strongly influenced by the rising rationalism of his day than most other Quakers. In fact, he found it difficult to reconcile the spiritualism of his Quaker beliefs with new, rational tendencies. Endy described the wide range of theological views expressed by various Friends, but pointed out that they all had one thing in common, despite the variations in belief; when a man or woman became a Friend, he or she was a transformed person. Life had a new meaning, the relationship between the individual and God was entirely different, and the experience was akin to changing from darkness to light. He wrote, "they were con- vinced that being a Christian was primarily a matter of living and acting in relation to God and their fellowmen rather than affirming beliefs'* (p. 264). This is an important point to remember when considering the varieties of theological beliefs held by early Friends. In eighteenth-century Philadelphia too many Quakers cherished toleration of varieties of beliefs without holding on to the necessity for a transforming religious experience. Endy's book is a tough, penetrating examination of the theology of early Friends and of the other left-wing Protestant sects of the period. While it is well written, it does not make easy reading, for the issues he has considered are very complicated and need to be studied carefully if they are to be fully understood. Although it covers much of the same territory taken up in Hugh Barbour's volume, The Quakers in Puritan England, it begins with a different premise, and, in the end, produces different conclusions. Barbour, in collaboration with Arthur Roberts, has just published a volume entitled Early Quaker Writings (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1973). One wonders whether Melvin Endy would select quite a different set of documents and essays if he were to illustrate his interpre- tation of seventeenth-century Quakerism. Haverford College EDWIN B. BRONNER Puritanism in America: New Culture in a New World. By LARZER ZIFF. (New York: The Viking Press, 1973. xiv, 338 p. Index. $10.00.) A dozen years ago Larzer Ziff produced one of the best modern studies of Puritanism, The Career of John Cotton: Puritanism and the American 252 BOOK REVIEWS April Experience, Now he has written, in his words, "the first book that attempts to synthesize the special concerns of intellectual, social, and economic history into a single account of the American Puritans." ZifFs study begins in sixteenth-century England and ends in mid-eighteenth-century America at the time of the Great Awakening. All of the most important develop- ments in American Puritanism are discussed here: the antinomian contro- versy, the banishment of Roger Williams, relations with the Indians, Negro slavery, the declension of the 1670s and '80s, the witchcraft craze, the founding of the Brattle Street Church, and the like. On nearly every topic that he treats, Ziff sheds new light. Especially helpful is his examina- tion of the relationship of Puritanism to the needs of people in a new land. Thus he notes that the Puritans "pioneered in the field of education as the means of shaping the individual to a psychological acquiescense in the norms of his community, to educating him, as it were, for citizenship." Ziff even sees such aberrations as Salem witchcraft in the context of needs: it demonstrated the dissatisfaction of children, females, and servants with their powerlessness. Puritanism in America is that ideal book, one that can be profitably read both by the general reader, for whom it is doubtless the best first book on the subject, and by the specialist, since Ziff is never merely ele- mentary. But to commend the book so is not to say that it is without weaknesses. And, unfortunately, the weaknesses will reduce its usefulness to both kinds of readers. The nonspecialist will find the book, especially the first two chapters, very hard going. Despite its central theme, the book lacks adequate continuity; one seldom feels drawn ahead. More important, Ziff's expository style is too demanding. Though always clear, it often lacks needed emphasis. The book is so full of information and commentary that even the specialist yearns for the leisure to digest that might be provided by a telling example. Perhaps because, as Edmund Morgan has written, the understanding of Puritanism has reached "a level unattained in any other branch of intel- lectual history/' this book is for the scholar something less than the promised synthesis. One whole element is strangely missing: the contribu- tions of the recent town historians, Powell, Greven, and Lockridge. What they have discovered about the relationship of the generations in Puritan Massachusetts Bay, for example, is too important for Ziff to have over- looked. Other valuable contributions seem to have been ignored also: that model of Puritan scholarship, Morgan's Visible Saints; John S. Coolidge's Pauline Renaissance in England (a book too often overlooked); Rutman's American Puritanism; Pope's Half-Way Covenant. Because of these gaps, Puritanism in America is out-of-date despite the fresh ground that Ziff breaks. I find especially regrettable Ziff's adoption of Perry Miller's view that the covenant is the key to early American Puritan thinking; Michael McGiffert's review essay on Puritan studies in the 1960s ought, I judge, 1974 BOOK REVIEWS 253 to have prevented further acceptance of Miller's oversimplification. I regret also that Ziff chose not to take up at any length what Robert Middlekauf calls "the invention of New England/' the creation by the second genera- tion of a myth about the mission of the Puritan fathers, and a closely related phenomenon, the flourishing of that branch of theological exegesis known as typology. So much is known about American Puritanism that the task of synthesis is unusually difficult. How can one synthesize the brilliant work on Puritan high culture of Perry Miller and his followers and successors with the recent demographic, social, and economic studies? Moreover, important specialized studies in intellectual history are just appearing or soon to appear—the work of people like Sacvan Bercovitch, Emory Elliott, and James W. Jones—and their existence suggests that some time will pass before we can expect a definitive general study. In the meanwhile, Larzer ZifF's book is the best we have—and it will contribute significantly to that future richer synthesis. University of Massachusetts, Amherst EVERETT EMERSON The Marquis: A Study of Lord Rockingham, 1730-1782. By Ross J. S. HOFFMAN. (New York: Fordham University Press, 1973.