The Quakers (review)

BOOK REVIEWS87 government and the English Friends toward the continuation of political activity by the Pennsylvania Quakers. When their English brethren pressed for the abstention of the Friends in Pennsylvania from politics in 1756, it was Israel Pemberton who cooperated in achieving a partial fulfilment of this request. In this way he helped to forestall threatened action against the Friends by the British government. After having left the political arena himself, Pemberton turned to Indian affairs. Here provincial, proprietary, and Quaker interests became inextricably intertwined, with unfortunate effects for the Friends. A moving spirit in the founding of the "Friendly Association," Israel Pemberton tried to persuade the provincial government to compensate the Indians for past injuries and for a time was partially successful. The idea of a proclamation line barring settlers from Indian domains was strongly advocated by him. But frontier, trading, imperial, and proprietary interests together with the outburst of Pontiac'« rebellion combined to defeat most of Pemberton's plans for fair and just treatment of the Indians. The Proclamation Line of 1763 was about the only idea that he backed which was finally adopted. One cannot escape the feeling that in the atmosphere of the time, it was impossible for the Quaker ideal in this respect to be achieved. The book concludes with an account of Pemberton's experiences during the Revolution, dealing chiefly with his exile to Virginia and his death soon afterward. Mr. Thayer's book is well documented and well written and makes a real contribution to the history of Pennsylvania for the time of which it treats. The outstanding shortcoming, however, is that it does not fulfil at all well one qualification of good biographical literature. There is little if any sense or inner development in the character under consideration. On finishing this book one feels that he has seen Israel Pemberton moving about in a multitude of activities of his time. That, however, is only the outer Pemberton which he has seen, and the inner Pemberton remains veiled. In other words, one has seen the outside man, but one does not come away with the feeling that he came to know another person. William Penn College.Arthur J. Mekeel The Quakers, by Otto Zarek. Translated by E. W. Dickes. London. Andrew Dakers, Limited, 1943. 214 pp. THIS little volume is written by a German non-Quaker in England, who already has over a dozen volumes of history, biography, fiction, and drama to his credit. It offers a readable and convenient narrative of the main currents of Quakerism from Fox to the present time. As is almost inevitable in such a rapidly moving account by one who has had only a short time to acquaint himself with a large field, there are some inaccuracies in detail. Moreover, the author has not had occasion to read Vol. 33, Autumn 1944 88 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION very widely off the beaten track of the chief historical figures. Nevertheless , the book gives a useful and clear account of the development of the Society of Friends, of its problems in England and America, and of the influence exerted upon it by Quietism, Methodism, Evangelicalism, Mysticism, and Rationalism. Its brevity will in these days recommend it to those who seek much information in little space. Haverford College.William W. Comfort A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Rufus M. Jones. Compiled by Nixon Orwin Rush. Waterville, Maine. Colby College Library, 1944. 54 pp. $2.75. NOT only has Mr. Rush given us an accurate and complete bibliography of the writings of Rufus Jones, together with an appropriate foreword and a well-selected brief outline of Dr. Jones's life, but this little book represents the summing up of one of the most remarkable literary careers of American men of letters. Unless one has seen the ever-expanding "yardage" of Dr. Jones's works, and judged them by the tests of the soul and learned to know their high quality, it is difficult to realize that any one man could have done so much in a lifetime—and there are still more to come. Scholarly and accurate, yet lucid and with deep insight for truth, Dr. Jones's many...