George Fox's 'Book of Miracles' (review)

Book Reviews George Fox's 'Book of Miracles' Edited with an introduction and notes by Henry J. Cadbury. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1948. 162 pp. $6.50. TO WRITE an index from a completed book is a commonplace performance but to write a book from an index is a unique undertaking . This is what Henry J. Cadbury has done as a result of researches at the Library in Friends House, London where he discovered the table of contents of George Fox's lost and as yet unrecovered Book of Miracles. The Annual Catalogue of George Fox's Papers, made in 1694 to 1698 and published in part by Henry J. Cadbury in 1939 was accompanied in the same volume by an alphabetical index. By picking out from this index of approximately 15,000 entries those marked with a special symbol which indicated reference to the Book of Miracles, he succeeded in reconstructing an outline of the contents of the book. Under each key word in the index are the beginning words and ending words of the passage in which the word occurred. With this strategic information, supplemented by the fact that most of the 171 episodes in the lost book were indexed under more than one word, Henry Cadbury was able to identify many of the miracles as related in Fox's Journal or in other manuscripts. In most cases where no identification was possible considerable information is given by Henry Cadbury concerning the persons referred to in the index. The original plans for publishing all of Fox's writings were abandoned when three large folio volumes, «the Journal, 1694, the Epistles, 1698, and the Doctrináis, 1706, were produced. Why was the Book of Miracles not only not printed, but even "lost"? There are references to it in the Journal manuscript, but these belong to dates later than 1675 when most of the Journal was written. Thomas Ellwood in editing the Journal omitted these references and many of the miracles as well as many of the dreams, visions, prophecies and other supernatural phenomena, but he allowed twelve miracles to remain, being careful to attribute the power to the Creator rather than the creature. The increased reserve of Friends regarding events which might expose them to ridicule and whose truth often rested on insecure foundations was part of the effort to preserve their new-won status after a long hard struggle which ended with the Act of Toleration. The first "breaking forth of Truth" was accompanied by a fiery zeal resulting in extravagances of various kinds. Geoffrey Nuttall's pamphlet Studies in Christian Enthusiasm (Pendle Hill, 1949) gives evidence of this, and Henry Cadbury's introduction to the Book of Miracles corroborates it. As in early Christianity this great new outpouring of the spirit so affected the Quakers that to one was given "the gifts of healing by the Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy." (I Cor. 12:9-10) 41 42Bulletin of Friends Historical Association Two-thirds of Henry Cadbury's book is given over to a Foreword by Rufus M. Jones and an Introduction by the author. This Introduction exhibits Henry Cadbury's unrivaled knowledge of Quaker history in all its details. It is common knowledge that the Seekers of the 17th century were looking for prophets and that they found them in the Quakers, but it is not generally realized that many persons of that time assumed that a claim to prophetic inspiration would be substantiated by the ability to work miracles. To speak for the Lord was to possess miraculous power which could heal bodies as well as souls. A few Quakers tried to live up to this expectation with unfortunate results. Others, notably Fox, possessed the powerful personality which could sometimes prevail over physical or mental disability. There is no reason to doubt Fox's extraordinary power. Ample evidence survives of actual cases of spiritual healing. However, we know that Fox's exuberant enthusiasm might have led him to an unintended exaggeration in relating events years after they happened. There was never at any time an opposition among Friends to the medical profession as there has been with some faith-healing...