Quakers, the Bible, and the British and Foreign Bible Society

Quakers, the Bible, and the British and Foreign Bible Society Roger H. Martin* I. Theirpresencewasunexpected. Fortheprecedingtwoyearsevangelicals ofall theological stripes and denominational backgrounds including Anglicans , Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Methodists had been planning the largest ecumenical venture of all time. They were about to unveil the British and Foreign Bible Society, which, because of the simplicity ofits design—to distribute the Authorized Version ofthe Bible "without note or comment"—would command the support of all rightminded Christians who believed in the primacy of God's Holy Word. But at the Society's inaugural meeting at the London Tavern on March 7, 1804, the unanticipated happened. In a room crowded with an assembly of people representing most of the British ecclesiastical spectrum, John Owen, the Anglican incumbent of Fulham near London and future Bible Society secretary, and Lord Teignmouth, soon-to-be president, were surprised to see three men wearing broad-brimmed hats and sombre black coats (Owen 1: 38). They were Quakers, the least expected to support the distribution of Bibles, let alone attend a meeting of evangelicals. Owen expressednotonlyhis astonishment atthepresence ofthesepeople, butalso a commonly-held notion that Quakers did not have a very high opinion of Scripture. "It has long been an opinion current in the world," he later wrote, ". . .that this class ofChristians entertained only a qualified respect for the letter ofScripture, and that consequently the Bible was very little read and recommended among them. Participating in the influence of this popular prejudice [I] could not contemplate the appearance of Quakers in such a connection without feeling a sort ofastonishment. . ." (1 : 39). Teignmouth added: "I. . .was pleased and surprised to find Quakers as well as Dissenters attending our committee. I doubt ifhuman ingenuity could devise another principle for uniting Christians of various Denominations" (Shore 7Of). The appearance of Quakers in 1804 at the inauguration of the Bible Society and their subsequent deep involvement in the Society's affairs illustrates how compelling the concept of Bible distribution was to all evangelical Christians. But Quaker membership created somewhat of an enigma for the Bible Society. While these Christians shared with their coadjutors in the Bible Society a common love for scripture, they were still unorthodox enough theologically to raise eyebrows. They rejected a "hireling" ministry, refused to bear arms, dressed in a most unusual way, *Roger Martin is President of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 14Quaker History spoke as the prophets of old and focused their theology on a mysterious "inner light" which they claimed to be God's presence in every human being. Were these Quakers still radical sectaries as they had been during the Interregnum, bent on leveling society and destroying the Established Church? Might they be French agents working in collusion with Roman Catholics? While the Quakers mighthave beenwarmly embraced by fellow evangelicals in the London Tavern on March 7th, not everyone was so sure that this unusual coalition was a good thing. II. It is easy to understand why Lord Teignmouth and John Owen might have thought that the Quakers were anti-Scripture. For most of the eighteenth century, the guidance of the "Inner Light"—of direct revelation— was the primary source ofreligious knowledge, not the Bible (Isichei 22). But in the early years of the Quaker movement, the Bible played a very central role in Quaker worship and belief. An understanding ofthese early seventeenth-century Quaker roots will shed light on why, a century later, Quakers could patronize the Bible Society. The seventeenth-century Friends were steeped in Scripture. Not only did they draw from the Bible key phrases such as "the Light" and "Children of Light," but even the term "Friends" was received from the Bible (Barbour 157; Nuttall 652). Seventeenth-century Quaker worship, whether in meeting or in the family, also drew heavily on Scripture. Quakers believed that the Bible was divinely inspired, and, therefore, it was customary in most Quaker families collectively to read a chapter of Scripture each day (Barbour 121; R.M. Jones 2: 885ff). Of course, early Quakers held a view of Scripture that was considered highly unorthodox by many of their contemporaries. Most seventeenthcentury Puritans believed that the Bible was the only way ofknowing God. Quakers, on the...