New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-21
TIE BpOOKLYy OUIKER REVIrAL.

TIE BROOKLYN QUIKER REVTTAL
The very name of Quaker revival is
paradox. In most of our minds the idea Is so
firmly established on the one side of grave
Friend with his charity, benignant rs the sun
shine and his justice. and beliefs immovablc
az iron and on the other of revival, with
it's spasmodic fcryor, cOntOrtions, agonics,
and trumplH, whose forced fruits of grace
may last for ages, or wther in day, that
tho title given to- the conference now IN
progress in Brooklyn appears to everybody
misnOmcr. For many years the sect or
Friends has been gradually suffering deca-
dence both in numbers and in power, partly
owing to their rule never to make active ef-
forts at prosclytism, and partly to the natural
disposition Of the youthful mind to
slip out of the narrow fold outlined by
the inner light, plain language, and shad-
bellicd coats, toward color, music dancing,
the world the flesh, and-thcir consequences.
Pretty young Quakcrcsscs first curl their hair,
then put rose in it, then marry "Out OF
meeting" TacliS est descenSuS Arerni. Even
in Philadelphia, their peaceful stronghold,
over which the ghostly broad brimmcd hat OF
Penn even yet casts IFS shadow and in whose
streets they throngcd, ten years ago. like
troops of the shining ones" a drab gown is
now the exception, not the rule.
In all the great humanitarian movements OF
tho day, the Quakcrs, silent. mild, unbelg-
erent as they are, have led the fororn hope
and conquered They were the only Christian
sect who opposed solid front against Slavery.
They arc now inaugurating higher and
I,, ,,o1;cy, thav ba ronlvp1 them
selves within a year in the very foremost
principles of Temperance and they have
ALWAYS preached the plain common sense
doctrine, that when men partake more
of the nature of reasoning beings
than OF brutcs, their disputes can
be settled by reason and not brute
forcc-a principle which England and Amer
lea have once, at least, put successfully to the
proof. Yet while they have thus kept their
ideas in advance of modern progress, their
mode of presenting those ideas has fallen fur
Their and further out of the modern habits. or
even atmosphere. What can be more alien to
the hourly Earring and contemplating of mind
on mind among the worlds folk, the eager
ness with which every man runs with his
political or religious opinion to rub it as flint
on steel against his neighbours, than Quaker
meeting full of the communicating mute
mess of fishes" those "deeps of silence call
cling unto deeps" which Lamb delighted
inf Those feeble, disjOinted rhapsodies
to which the spirit is wont to move
the female preachers in Yearly Meeting, the
inconsequent stringing together Of texts, and
informing them with a holy nasal twang-how
oddly they sound beside the sledge- hammer
blows of COyer, or of Beecher, or tho efforts
of smaller divines, who bling the Almighty
into their sermons with as jaunty familiarity
~ if He were their next door neighbOr. The
Friends themselves begin to be conscious of
their primeval air, and have grown tired of
playing The role of Ancient Mariner among the
wedding guests. The Brooklyn meeting is as
we understand, only the beginning of an
effort by which the sect, with its testimony "
and habits unchanged, will yet enter into
closer tics of brotherhood with other
Christian denominations, and, by "joning
with them in active evangelical work,
"infuse new life into their own body"
Doubtless our Shaker friends think this move
ment iudicious, but Fox or Penn would regard
it with grave suspicion, and so do We. The
very silence of their ancient meetings preached
rare sermon of submission to human brother
hood, and willingness to learn. Where. out
side of Quaker meeting, will yon find silence
in the United States or a man who will bear
contradiction in his opinions patiently for ff-
teen mnutcs7 Besides, the itch for talking is
more contagious than the smallpox: in two
years shall we not have every grave Friend
among us making weekly sensational hits, a la
Talmage and will not silence have disap-
peared forever from off the face of the earth
We confess to an affection for the country g
old household gods; we cannot see without a
twinSe these modern tailOrs shipping and re-
shaping ancient crecds and forms to suit the
fashion of the times. We fOresee miching
mallechO in these REVEALS; they will leave us
not one solitude where we can shut Tammany
thieves and talk outside and "bathe in still
mess" at our will; the queer old coats and
bOnnets and the friendly "thee and thou"
eloquent Of strange and heroic histories, will
disappear from off the streets. Then may Rip
himself dye his white hair, throw off his mil
dewed hunting shirt, and take the stump as
n ward DOlitcian