Byways in Quaker History. A Collection of Historical Essays by Colleagues and Friends of William I. Hull (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Byways in Quaker History. A Collection of Historical Essays by Colleagues and Friends of William I. Hull. Edited by Howard H. Brinton. Wallingford, Pennsylvania, 1944. 246 pp. $2.50. THE COLLECTION of essays contained in Byways in Quaker History is indeed a fitting memorial to William I. Hull, who himself would have delighted in reading them. The opening essay is a sketch of the life and work of William I. Hull, penned in the charming style of Janet P. Whitney. It gives due tribute to his persistence, both in advocating his ideals for a better world and in his pursuit of historical research. His life was good proof of the fact that the idealist can mix in and influence the affairs éf the world and is not necessarily one who shuts himself off from the current of life in an ivory tower. Several of the essays deal with fields of thought in which William I. Hull was especially interested, namely, religion, social and political problems and historiography. In the first field are Rufus M. Jones's "Whittier's Fundamental Religious Faith," D. Elton Trueblood's "The Career of Elias Hicks," Brand Blanshard's "Early Thought on the Inner Light," and Howard H. Brinton's "Dreams of Quaker Journalists." In discussing Whittier's faith Rufus Jones stresses its catholicity and describes it basically as consisting of "the yeasty doctrine of immanence in sane balance with the equally important fact of transcendence." He believes that Howard Bushnell had an unknown influence on Whittier's religious thinking. Elton Trueblood gives a clear and succinct evaluation of Elias Hicks's influence on the Society of Friends and the as yet unborn poet in the young Whitman. In accounting for the religious difficulties which Hicks encountered, he declares : "The truth is that Hicks was not a theologian at all, but a rustic poet. . . . Being a poet, he stated his message in bold and vigorous, rather than careful language." He feels that in the long view Hicks's influence on Walt Whitman is more important than his rôle in the Society of Friends. With some of Brand Blanshard's criticisms of the early Quaker doctrine of the Light Within I cannot agree. His approach to the problem seems to be too rationalistic without sufficient understanding of the basis and spirit of the ideas of the early Friends. Nor does he give due consideration to the religious background out of which they came and against which they were in many ways revolting. Howard Brinton presents an interesting analysis of dreams recounted by Quaker journalists at various times and shows how they represented the inner religious struggles through which these Friends were passing. Vol. 34, Spring 194536 BOOK REVIEWS37 At the same time he points out the caution with which these Quakers regarded their dreams and with which they accepted any of them as significant revelations. The second group includes "Whittier, the Quaker Politician," by C. Marshall Taylor, and Thomas E. Drake's "Elihu Coleman, Quaker Anti-Slavery Leader." One only wishes that C. Marshall Taylor had gone further with his subject, which has pertinent bearing on our own time. One also wonders whether or not participation in politics in Whittier's time may not have been easier and more effective because of the simpler social structure of the period. The social aspect of Quaker ideals is dealt with in Thomas E Drake's essay on Elihu Coleman of Nantucket. A person heretofore practically unknown to the general reader, he represents the spirit of the prophetic Quaker reformer and gives added emphasis to New England's place in the early leadership against the system of slavery. The historiographical field is presented in "Whittier as a Quaker Historian," by Henry J. Cadbury. One of the most interesting facts brought out in this essay is that Whittier projected a poetic history of Quakerism, although never coming to the point of writing one. Henry Cadbury feels that Whittier should be considered as an "interpreter" rather than an historian of Quakerism. Charles M. Andrews's essay, "The Quakers in London and Their Printers There," shows how the early Quaker printers were veritably Publishers of Truth, despite loss of property...