Quakers in California. The Effects of 19th Century Revivalism on Western Quakerism (review)

BOOK REVIEWS129 Quakers in California. The Effects of 19th Century Revivalùm on Western Quakerism. By David C. LeShana. Newberg, Oregon: The Barclay Press. 1969. 186 pages. $4.95. Both scholars and amateur students of religious history will find David LeShana's book on Quakers in California an illuminating volume. This is the first time that any scholar has attempted an objective study and analysis of the divergent paths followed by the two elements of Quakerism on die west coast. While LeShana has limited himself to California, die differences between Pacific Yearly Meeting and Northwest (formerly Oregon) Yearly Meeting would follow the same pattern. LeShana points out that Joel Bean reacted strongly against die innovations growing out of revivalism and felt that he was preserving traditional Quakerism by his writing and speaking. In turn, the product of die Beans' work at San Jose, California, the Pacific Coast Association of Friends, produced distinctive innovations of its own in twentieth-century Quakerism. After two chapters in which he outlines Quaker history from its beginning through the nineteenth-century separations, the author describes what he calls the Third Great Awakening and the impact which it had upon midwestern American Quakerism. He believes that there was a true awakening in the Society at this time, in contrast to the way in which Friends had ignored die awakening in the eighteenth century and the one at die beginning of the nineteenth. He feels the revivalism and the pastoral system which grew out of it are products of a true awakening in the Society and suggests that the Quaker migration to California was a result of this new spirit. At the same time he recognizes the economic motivation of many, and points out that the Bean family migrated to San Jose with the hope of escaping the conflicts which had arisen in Iowa between those who accepted the awakening and those who held to what they felt was traditional Quakerism. Joel Bean objected to innovations which he felt made midwestern Quakerism more Protestant at the expense of its Quakerism. Specifically he objected to sanctification, perfectionism, and the outward celebration of the ordinances . Bean continued to emphasize the idea of a Divine Spark within each human being, sometimes called the Christ Within or the Inward Light. LeShana makes it clear that Joel Bean advocated a Quakerism which was acceptable in London Yearly Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox ) , and among traditional Friends in the Gurneyite bodies. For this reason it is ironic that the Friends who continued the Pacific Coast Association developed an interpretation of Quakerism which stressed tolerance to the point where one scarcely needed to accept any traditional beliefs in order to be received as a member. Many who joined the Pacific Coast Association did so as a reaction against traditional Protestantism, and thus found it difficult to have any understanding of a Quakerism which had become increasingly Protestant. LeShana has written a useful chapter on the migration of Friends to California which includes a full discussion of the ministry of Robert and Sarah Lindsey as well as others in the period before the 1880's. It is interesting to note that the British Lindseys carried their ministry to Hicksites as well as to the Orthodox on the west coast. 130QUAKER HISTORY After a long period in which Quaker historians have largely ignored thè nineteenth century, several books have appeared which shed much light on that period. Undoubtedly there was a reluctance to discuss the separations and other controversial elements in Quaker history—a resistance to "washing our dirty linen in public." Today Friends are more willing to face differences and discuss them openly than in previous generations and perhaps enough time has elapsed to make it seem reasonable to attempt dispassionate examinations of the nineteenth century. Errol Elliott's Quakers on the American Frontier is largely focused on that period and other volumes have appeared or are about to appear. This book is a welcome addition to such studies. It is unfortunate that the editors did not provide a bibliography in addition to the thorough notes found in the back of this volume. Such a bibliography would have been useful to future students. The reviewer...