Iowa
History Project
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The Rise of Evangelism in Iowa
In Iowa to-day few
are the places where one can sit down in an old-fashioned Quaker meeting. So
great have been the changes among the Orthodox Friends that in manner of
worship—not to say in worship itself—little real difference longer exists
between them and the other evangelical denominations, aside from the religious
rites which the latter in some cases observe. The stranger finds little that is
distinctive or peculiar and nothing t embarrass him in the modern Friends
meetings. So completely have the ancient Quaker characteristics been
obliterated, that those few members of the ancient or conservative body who
still live in Iowa insist that their Orthodox brethren should no longer call
themselves “Friends”, but that they should adopt some name more consistent with
their modernized tendencies. It is of interest therefore to trace the
conditions which have produced this new form of Quakerism.
The changes
in western Quakerism are due to forces which have been brought to bear upon it
both from within and from without. The introduction of the Sunday or “First-Day
scripture Schools”, the common patronage of the public schools, the adoption of
evangelical methods of church activity, and the transition from the isolation
of rural communities to modern social conditions and town life, have been
powerful factors in the breaking down of that conservatism which in the early
days hedged the Friends about on every side. It would be incorrect to single
out any one of these forces as being the important factor in producing
present-day conditions, for all of them have acted and interacted one upon the
other. The one factor, however, which stands out most prominently and which
best lends itself to investigation is the rise and development of evangelism.
The presence of so large a number of young people in the Orthodox body to-day
is the result of this force. Evangelism was the one solution to the great
problem of filling up the yawning gaps in the membership of the Society due to
the westward migrations, and in it may be found the origin of these forces
which to-day dominate and control the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Orthodox Friends.
To imagine that
the rise of the spirit of modern Quakerism as expressed in its evangelistic
tendencies was spontaneous and the product of a single event at some given
place would be a grave mistake. As is the case with all great movements, its
origin is to be found in deep-seated and widespread causes.
For many years
there had been a growing apathy on the part of the Friends toward a careful and
regular study of the scriptures. The belief had become prevalent that people
would involuntarily be led into such religious exercises as were in accord with
the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and that to have a set time for such acts of
devotion was strongly tinctured with an unwholesome formalism, always extremely
obnoxious to the Friends. The first step in the modification of this belief, as
it prevailed in Iowa, was the appointment of a committee by the Salem Monthly
Meeting in January, 1841, to visit each family of the membership and find out
how many were “Destitute of the scriptures”.(139) The nine families not possessing a copy of the Bible were early
supplied, and then committees were appointed to continue the visitations in
order that “parents and heads of families may be encouraged to the daily
practice of calling their families together, and after a solemn pause, let a
portion of the Holy Scriptures be read.”(140)
This breach
having been made in the old order of things, the next step was the setting
apart of a special time and place for a group study of the scriptures by both
children and adults. Herein is to be found the origin of the “First-Day
Scripture Schools” (Sunday schools). Until this time the religious instruction
of Quaker children had been almost entirely ignored. This new departure,
therefore, was of great importance, for the first Sunday school established at Pleasant
Plain in June, 1844,(141) was the basis
upon which a very large part of the superstructure of modern Quakerism rests.
The next evidence of internal awakening was the
appearance of a spirit of revival in the Quaker schools, not only in Iowa, but
throughout the whole field of Quakerism west of the Allegheny Mountains.(142) In the spring of 1865 “The Christian Vigilance Band” was
organized among the students of Center Grove Academy, about two miles north of
Oskaloosa, with remarkable results;(143) and in
1869 a similar student organization was formed at Whittier College(144) at Salem. Here and there in various parts of the Iowa Yearly Meeting
similar manifestations of evangelistic tendencies appeared, only to be speedily
frowned down by those in authority. Then, almost before the Society at large could
realize what had happened, there came an upheaval which all but overturned the ancient
order. Such men as John Henry Douglas, Jeremiah A. Grinnell, Dr. Ely Jessup, Benjamin
B. Hiatt, and John Y. Hoover stepped forward to champion the new movement. In some
places rash and unseemly scenes occurred. But the lost regrettable attending result
was the splitting off of the conservative element into a separate and distinct organization
in 1877.
The Iowa Yearly
Meeting of Friends was thus brought face to face with its internal condition in
1877, when the older and more conservative members refused longer to submit to breaches
which were being made in the ancient faith. Then, freed from their restraining
influence, the Yearly Meeting responded vigorously to the new movement of
evangelism. At the annual gathering in 1883 a committee of forty-two of the
strongest members from all parts of the Iowa field was appointed to take into
its care the evangelistic work of the Society.(145) The committee organized before the close of the Yearly Meeting by
the appointment of a president, secretary, and treasurer. The whole field was
divided into four districts as follows, with an evangelistic superintendent in
each district; 2nd, Winneshiek, Minneapolis, and Springdale
Quarters; 3rd, Bangor, Honey Creek, Greenville, and Mt. Vernon
Quarters; 4th, Ackworth, Bear Creek, and Lynn Grove Quarters.
Information relative to needs and opportunities was gathered from every meeting.
Arrangements were made for financing the work, and the entire strength of the
Yearly Meeting was enlisted with an enthusiasm which gave promise of success.(146)
For many years
the disconnected local and itinerant ministry had labored in the field of Iowa Quakerism
with results that were all but imperceptible. The first report of the above
committee indicates the effectiveness of the new movement. It reads in part as
follows:
In a large
number of our meetings there have been revival meetings held, varying from a
few days to four weeks in length, in which about 2,200 persons have been
converted, renewed, or sanctified…Of the number converted or otherwise blessed,
many were our birth-right members; but in some instances our revival meetings
have been largely made up of people from outside our church membership, a
number of whom were members of other churches and many unconverted.
Such a report
was very pleasing to the Yearly Meeting. It recalled the days of George Fox and
the ingatherings of his time. With redoubled energy the committee again set to
work. In the reports which came up to the Yearly Meeting for the two successive
year of 1885 and 1886 the results were again gratifying—1310 and 1888 conversions,
renewals, and sanctifications, respectively.(147) These reports mark the end of the first stage of the new era, and
indicate the beginnings of that new life and vitality which were to gain for
the Society of Friends a place among the more progressive religious
denominations of the present time.
The second stage
of this evangelistic development not only brought into play the personal
supervision of one of the most interesting and powerful ministers that American
Quakerism has ever produced, but it is also marked by the adoption of that form
of organization under which the Yearly Meeting still conducts its evangelistic
and church extension work, and which has served as the pattern for nearly all
of its other activities. At the Yearly Meeting held in 1886 the unit of
evangelistic activity was transferred from the district to the Quarterly
Meeting, each Quarter being requested to appoint an evangelistic superintendent
for itself, while a “General Superintendent” was placed over the whole field.(148) Fortunate indeed was the Iowa Yearly
Meeting of Friends in having at this time such a man as John Henry Douglas for
so responsible a position. Some idea of the field thus brought under the
direction of one man may be gained from the General Superintendent’s report in
1887, which reads as follows:
We have
churches in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Nebraska, Oregon,
Washington Territory, California, and Texas, and individual members scattered
in all the great Northwest…We have about one hundred churches, with an average
membership of one hundred. We have about one hundred and forty ministers; some
fifty of these in the active work.(149)
That John
Henry Douglas entered upon his task with vigor is evinced by the fact that
immediately upon his appointment as General Superintendent he opened up
correspondence with the ministers and Christian workers in every part of the
field, at the rate of “a hundred letters per month”. During this the first year
of his superintendency he says: “I have received invitations to hold union
meetings from a large number of cities and towns, not more than one-tenth of
which I was able to respond to.” Under his own preaching he saw during that
year the “conversion of over six hundred souls”, some people coming form “fifty
to sixty miles” across the plains in covered wagons with four-horse teams to
attend his meetings. During the four years which he devoted to the supervision
of this work in Iowa there were 7430 recorded conversions and 2595 persons
added in membership by this means to the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Orthodox
Friends.
Since the
incumbency of John Henry Douglas there have been four successors to the office
of General Superintendent, namely: Isom P. Wooten, Z. L. Martin, W. Jasper
Hadley, and Harry R. Keates. During the twenty-three years that have since
passed away the ardent vigor of the earlier evangelical movement has gradually
subsided, and the problems confronting these men have been increasingly those
of the organization of the fields already occupied and of promoting a more
healthy and permanent church extension in those communities where already a
sufficient number of Friends have settled to constitute new Quaker congregations.
The evangelistic meetings still play an important part in the growth of the
Orthodox Yearly Meeting, but this factor has given place to that much more
powerful institution which grew directly out of it, the pastoral system.
The two main contributions, then, which the evangelistic movement made to the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends are: first, a new vision of both the nature and the purpose of the Quaker message; and second, that thorough organization which characterizes the work of the Yearly Meeting to-day.
Notes and References
139- Minutes
of Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends, 1 mo., 30th, 1841, p. 58.
140- The
Discipline of the Society of Friends of Indiana Yearly Meeting, 1854, p. 87.
141- Minutes
of Pleasant Plain Monthly Meeting of Friends, 6 mo., 26th, 1844, p.
39.
142- For a
sketch of the beginnings of this revival, see Autobiography of Allen Jay, pp.
110-112.
143- From a
sketch of Center Grove Christian Vigilance Band, prepared by Pliney Fry at the
request of the writer.
144- Minutes
of Salem Quarterly Meeting of Friends, 8 mo., 13th, 1870.
145- Minutes
of Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends, 1883, p. 26.
146- Minutes
of Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends, 1884, p. 8; 1885, p. 15; 1886, p.
24.
147-Minutes of
Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends, 1884, p. 8; 1885, p. 14; 1886, p.
24.
148- Minutes
of Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends, 1887, p. 12.
149- Minutes
of Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends, 1887, pp. 13, 14.