Iowa
History Project
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The term “Quaker Meeting”, which has long since passed
into our language as describing any occasion of a quiet of solemn character, is
little understood by the present generation, or even by most of the Friends
themselves. There are only a few secluded spots where the real Quaker meeting
can now be seen in Iowa, for such meetings belong to a day that is gone.
Fifty
years ago, or even less, there might have been seen here and there scattered
over Iowa the old-time Quaker meeting-houses, uncrowned by belfry or steeple;(404) but now such houses of worship are all but gone. Those
quaint old buildings had an architecture all their own. Of long, low,
rectangular form, with plain glass windows and two plain doors (the right one
for men and the left for women), they were more suggestive of peace and quiet
than are the more ornate and imposing structures which have of late years so
generally taken their places. There was the old-time “hopping block” of pioneer
days, or the long board platform extending half-way round the house, for the
convenience of those who wished to enter direct from their wagons. The
meeting-house on the inside was altogether plain. The interior consisted of an
open room which was divided by a half partition and sliding shutters into two
equal parts, the one for the men and the other for the women. The seats, plain
and straight, were set on a level floor. At the front there was a raised
platform on which were placed seats in tow or more rows, each a step higher
than the other, for the use of the ministers and elders. No organ, no pictures,
no lamps,(405) and no ornaments of
any kind were there to attract the eye or disturb meditation and worship.
As
the Friends gathered from far and near they entered the meeting-house with
their hats on and took their places in silence, each occupying his accustomed
seat as allotted by the committee usually appointed for that purpose.(406) During the service no
opening hymns were sung, there were no announcements, no scripture reading, no
morning offering;(407) but silence
prevailed, and in this silence each one present was expected to listen to the
bidding of the “still, small voice”, unaided by the active contrivances of his
own mind and heart. Many times throughout the entire meeting they sat thus in
worship without a word being spoken. If, however, some one, either man or
woman, felt moved of the Holy Spirit to speak, he slowly arose, removed his
hat, and in a peculiarly melodious, half sing-song manner proceeded with his
exhortation, which was usually unstudied and with little sequence of thought,
but touched with a spiritual freshness and beauty seldom found in the stereotyped
discourses of the professional clergy. When the exhortation ended, silence
again prevailed, unless another felt moved to continue the exhortation or to introduce
a audience arose, the men removing their hats and turning their backs to each
other until the petition, usually of a highly figurative character, ended, when
all were again seated.
Thus
the old-time Quaker meeting for worship proceeded until he who sat at the “head
of the meeting” and was known as the “timer”, felt that the hour had arrived
for the meeting to close. Whereupon he would turn to his neighbor and shake
hands—this being the sign for a general greeting—and in this manner the service
“broke”.
At
stated times a business session followed the meeting for worship, in
preparation for which the sliding “shutters” were closed so that the men and
women were as effectively separated as though they were in two entirely
different rooms. A clerk for each body then took charge; and for the handling
of matters of mutual concern, “messengers” were appointed to pass back and
forth with written or oral messages through a door in the partition. With
peculiar phraseology and a minuteness evolved through generations, each item of
business, when passed upon by common consent (the Quakers did not vote on
matters of business in their meetings), was entered on record in the “Minutes”;
and when all was finished, by order of the clerk the meeting “solemnly
concluded”.
Almost
every Quaker custom has had its origin in some important struggle or “testimony”.
With their teaching of the “inner light” and the leading of the Holy Spirit,
the Quakers were obliged to recognize the ministry of women; for God, so they
believed, was no respecter of race or kind and spoke His messages through male
and female alike.(408) Again, as
early as 1668 the custom of separate meetings for men and women was established
and received the approval of Fox, apparently on two substantial grounds,(409) namely, the ability of women to better care for the
concerns of their sex in separate meetings and the desire to free the Society
from the slanderous charges of immorality early brought against it by its
enemies. Strange as it may seem, the custom of separate meetings obtained in
the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Orthodox Friends until 1893, when it was formally
abandoned.(410)
Notes
404- With the most fiery bitterness Fox attacked the formality
of the “steeple-house” and the bells that called men to church.
405- Not until of late years, with the holding of
evangelistic meetings at night and of regular night services under the pastoral
system, have the Friends had need of lamps in their churches, it being their
earlier practice to have regular meetings only in the morning, with an
occasional “appointed meeting” in the afternoon.
406- In like manner there was a committee appointed to grant outsiders
“the right to sit”, if way seemed clear, in business meetings; such meeting
being otherwise closed to all non-members.
407- The church expenses among the Iowa Quakers were early met
by proportioning and collecting the same outside of the meeting. At the present
time morning offerings are taken in most of the Orthodox congregations.
408- Gurney’s Observations on the Distinguishing Views and
Practices of the Society of Friends (New York, 1856), Ch. VIII.
409- The Friends’ Library, edited by William and
Thomas Evans (Philadelphia, 1837), Vol. I, pp. 117, 118.
410- Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting of (Orthodox) Friends,
1893, p. 35.