Lucretia Mott: Her Complete Speeches and Sermons (review)

REVIEWS Edited by Edwin B. Bronner BOOKS Lucretia Mott: Her Complete Speeches and Sermons. Edited by Dana Greene. (Studies in Women and Religion, v. 4). New York & Toronto, The Edwin Mellen Press, 1980. 401 pp. $24.95. This collection contains most of the extant addresses and sermons made by Lucretia Mott, the 19th century American Friend best known for her labors on behalf of abolition and woman's rights. Tireless and forthright, she was much sought after as a speaker. The 34 speeches and 15 sermons gadiered here are from the period 1841-1878. By 1840 Lucretia Mott was well known on both sides of the Atlantic, for in that year she attended the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London. As a result of being refused a seat on the floor because of her sex, though she was a delegate from Pennsylvania , she became, upon her return home, one of the founders and active participants in the Woman's Rights movement. As she was a prominent person in the vanguard of reform, her public utterances, even in Friends meetings for worship, were frequently taken down in shorthand; few were published . By bringing these discourses together in chronological order, Dana Greene performs a useful service: a century after Lucretia Mott's death her own words show us her beliefs and how she attempted to persuade her hearers. The woman thus revealed is a clear-thinking individual with a strong sense of justice. "Truth" came to her through direct revelation; she was unconcerned with theological beliefs and arguments. She was thoroughly familiar with the Bible and its origins and could demolish an opponent's position based on Scriptural authority. On one occasion she said: "The Bible has been quoted to authorize nearly every wrong in which the people have been found." She claimed to revere the Bible and to read it with profit, but realized that the book represented not the direct word of God, but rather, the dictums and interpretations of mere mortals; she could not accept the Bible as authority. Her oft repeated motto, "Truth for Authority, not Authority for Truth" is the basis of all her reasoning. She considered the divinity of Christ an error of theology. She saw theological belief as an impediment to Christ-like living and to Christian action: "Our fruits and not our opinions will finally judge us." She believed that man is innately good and that "divine spirit breathes in all God's children the world over." Like most reformers, Lucretia Mott was an optimist. She encouraged her listeners by calling attention to the progress made by abolitionists, to the new spirit of a universal church which she prized above secrtarianism. Always with faith that Truth would prevail, she reasoned and exhorted in a simple, unadorned style, quoting freely from Scripture and occasionally from the Unitarian leader, William Ellery Channing. Her message: abolish the institution of slavery; give woman a chance to enlarge her sphere so that she may be recognized as a moral human being, with mental capacity and 118 Reviews119 rights equal to those of men. Mott called attention to the need to promote peace by curbing the desire for revenge and by giving children non-war-like toys. She spoke out for self-development of the Native Americans; she supported the temperance movement; she decried capital punishment and exploitation in industry. Her goals are still valid; her work is unfinished. This book can usefully serve students of Lucretia Mott's period and today's activists. In the Introduction the editor has provided a good analysis of Lucretia Mott's motive-power. There is also a reference list identifying persons mentioned in the text. A helpful addition would have been a similar identification of the groups before whom Mott spoke. Mohonk Lake, N.Y.Jane R. Smiley Pendle Hill: A Quaker Experiment in Education and Community. By Eleanore Price Mather. Pendle Hill, Wallingford, PA, 1980. 118 pp. Index. $7.00. The historian dealing with the first fifty years of a living institution has chosen a difficult task. Almost everything conspires to prevent coming to firm critical judgments on events. One has both too much and too little material. Great masses of...