The Quaker Preacher

Welcome to Celebrate poe  - Episode 390 - The Quaker Preacher

Today I want to talk about Elias Hicks - a fascinating person who greatly influenced Walt Whitman.

Greetings, Mr. Bartley.

Hello, Mr. Whitman.   Now today I want to talk about Elias Hicks.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - you mean the Quaker preacher.r  

Yes, Mr. Whitman - the one and the same.

Yes, I find the subject of Elias Hicks to be a most fascinating one.  And you know that I greatly enjoy learning about the ancestry of various individuals who were important to my life.  

Yes, Mr. Whitman - it seems that family history was an integral part of one’s identity for individuals living during your lifetime.

Exactly, Mr. Bartley, in the case of Elias Hicks, his family was descended from Robert Hicks, who, in 1622 at 42 years of age, arrived on the ship Fortune in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Transcript

Mr. Whitman - Italics

Mr. Bartley - plain

Welcome to Celebrate Poe  - Episode 390 - The Quaker Preacher

Today I want to talk about Elias Hicks - a fascinating person who greatly influenced Walt Whitman.

Ghost sound

Greetings, Mr. Bartley.

Hello, Mr. Whitman.   Now today I want to talk about Elias Hicks.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - you mean the Quaker preacher.

Yes, Mr. Whitman - the one and the same.

Yes, I find the subject of Elias Hicks to be a most fascinating one.  And you know that I greatly enjoy learning about the ancestry of various individuals who were important to my life. 

Yes, Mr. Whitman - it seems that family history was an integral part of one’s identity for individuals living during your lifetime.

Exactly, Mr. Bartley, in the case of Elias Hicks, his family was descended from Robert Hicks, who, in 1622 at 42 years of age, arrived on the ship Fortune in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

That is relatively early in the history of the United States.

Mr. Bartley - please let me continue.

Ah, Mr. Whitman - by all means.

Now Robert’s son John, continued the family wanderlust and became one of the founders of Hempstead, Long Island. Elias Hicks, a descendant of John Hicks, was born March 19, 1748, and he remained a lifelong resident of Long Island.  One must remember that Elias Hicks worked as a Quaker preacher and therefore traveled tens of thousands of miles around the country moving audiences with his kindness and oratory.

Mr. Whitman - he must have been a spellbinding speaker.

Permit me to tell you about the first time that I heard him.  It was an unforgettable experience.

Please do relate that encounter, Mr. Whitman.

It was November of 1829, and I heard Elias Hicks, by then 81 years old, speaking before a huge crowd in the ballroom of Morrison's Hotel in Brooklyn. Years later, writing of the experience, I recalled that his words were very emphatically and slowly pronounc'd, in a resonant, grave, and melodious voice:

What is the chief end of man? I was told in my early youth it was to glorify God, and seek and enjoy him forever."

I will never forget Elias Hicks, in the midst of religious fervor, taking "the broad-brim hat from his head, and almost dashing it down with violence on the seat behind, [then continuing] with uninterrupted earnestness... Many, very many, were in tears.  Later I said, “Always Elias Hicks gives the service of pointing to the fountain of all naked theology, all religion, all worship, all the truth to which you are possibly eligible—namely in yourself and your inherent relations. Others talk of Bibles, saints, churches, exhortations, vicarious atonements—the canons outside of yourself and apart from man—Elias Hicks points to the religion inside of man's very own nature. This he incessantly labors to kindle, nourish, educate, bring forward and strengthen.”

Mr. Whitman, it is obvious that you were very impressed by Elias Hicks, and I am sure that his words influenced your thinking.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - he was a most spellbinding thinker and speaker.  Elias Hicks was described by his contemporaries as a tall, spare man, clean-shaven and simply dressed, who stood straight and spoke forcefully. With his expansive forehead, prominent eyebrows and piercing dark eyes, he was a most impressive figure. Mr. Hicks had a reputation for scrupulous honesty and vigorous intellect. Never pretentious, he would argue the most critical national and spiritual issues by powerful reasoning in accordance with everyday common sense. Though neither of my parents were formal Quakers, their admiration for Elder Hicks—and the broader Quaker milieu—shaped the spiritual and democratic ethos that permeated my life and work.

And from what I understand, Elias Hicks placed a great deal of importance on the legitimacy of the Quaker meeting and the ministry.

Yes, I later read one of his letters that addresses that very concern:

To-day was the quarterly meeting of discipline. It was large, and I
think in the main a favored instructive season, although considerably
hurt by a pretty long, tedious communication, not sufficiently
clothed with life to make it either comfortable or useful. So it
is, the Quaker Society is in such a mixed and unstable state, and many who presume to be teachers in it, are so far from keeping on the 
original foundation, the light and spirit of truth, and so built up
in mere tradition, that I fear a very great portion of the ministry
among us, is doing more harm than good, and leading back to the weak and beggarly elements, to which they seem desirous to be again in bondage.

And he also wrote regarding his own particular labor in the ministry -

Meetings are generally large and well-attended, although in the
midst of harvest. I have continual cause for deep humility and
thankfulness of heart under a daily sense of the continued mercy of
the Shepherd of Israel, who when he puts his servants forth, goes
before them, and points out the way, when to them all seems shut
up in darkness.

Nevertheless as my whole trust and confidence is in the never-failing
arm of divine sufficiency, although I am thus emptied, I am not cast
down, neither has a murmuring thought been permitted to enter, but
in faith and patience, have had to inherit the promise, as made to
Israel formerly by the prophet. 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee.' This my dear, I trust will be the happy lot of all those who
sincerely trust in the Lord, and do not cast away their confidence,
nor lean to their own understanding.

And I would assume that being Quaker, Elias Hicks would have been comfortable with silence.

Oh, yes. Mr. Bartley. Elias Hicks was not one of those ministers who always spoke when he attended a meeting. Many times he was silent; this being especially true when in his home meeting. When on a religious visit he generally spoke, but not always. That his willingness to "famish the people from words,” tended to his local popularity, is quite certain.

Mr. Whitman - how would you describe his speaking style?

With grave emphasis he pronounced his text: 'What is the chief end
of man?' and with fiery and eloquent eyes, in a strong, vibrating,
and still musical voice, he commenced to deliver his soul-awakening
message. The fire of his fervor kindled as he spoke of the purpose of human life; his broad-brim was dashed from his forehead on to one of
the seats behind him. With the power of intense conviction his whole presence became an overwhelming persuasion, melting those who sat before him into tears and into one heart of wonder and humility under his high and simple words.

Mr. Whitman, can you estimate the length of his sermons?

Ah, Mr. Bartley - The printed sermons of Elias Hicks would indicate that at times he was quite lengthy, and seldom preached what is known as a short, ten-minute sermon. Estimating a number of sermons, we find that they averaged about 6500 words, so that his sermons must have generally occupied from thirty to forty-five minutes in delivery. Occasionally a sermon contained over 8000 words, while sometimes less than 4000 words.

Mr. Whitman, I know at a one time there were some negative opinions of Elias Hicks in the Quaker congregation.  You had some rather famous words in reply to their criticisms.

Ah, yes Mr. Bartley, I said that the group thought that Elias Hicks had a large element of personal ambition as though he wanted to establish aperhaps a sect under his own name. But the basic foundation of Elias was undoubtedly genuine religious fervor. He was like an old Hebrew prophet. He had the spirit of one, and in his later years looked like one.

Mr. Whitman - could you tell us a little bit about Elias Hicks the man - the individual apart from the Quaker faith.

Ah, yes, Mr. Bartley - in 1771, when Elias Hicks married Jemima Seaman, his fame was yet to come. They had met at the Westbury Quaker meeting, and they settled on the prosperous Seaman farm in Jericho in what is now called the Elias Hicks House, built circa 1740.

In those days, the village of Jericho was fast becoming a popular stopover point for travelers along the Jericho Road. Rather than see bars and grog houses set up in their village to accommodate transients, Elias and Jemima Hicks opened their home to wayfarers. In addition to the growing Hicks family, this simple, two-story dwelling often housed as many as 20 guests at a time. Travelers were served simple meals--stews, fish, meat, home-baked bread--and invited to spread their bedrolls near the hearth to sleep. But the family never accepted any form of payment from their overnight visitors.

The family increased rapidly: seven daughters and four sons were born to Elias and Jemima Hicks. Sadly, only a handful of the children grew to adulthood. Their second daughter died young of smallpox, and the youngest daughter was stillborn. All four of the sons, their father wrote, "were of weak constitutions, and were not able to take care of themselves, being so enfeebled as not to be able to walk after the ninth or tenth year of their age." None of the boys survived beyond their teens.

Fascinating, Mr. Whitman.

Mr. Bartley, you might find it interesting that Elias Hicks had been trained in carpentry, and in 1787, helped build the Jericho Quaker Meetinghouse. At first reticent about speaking in public, by 1778 he had become a "Public Friend," a preacher who, traveling widely, carried the Quaker message. Over the remaining 52 years of his life, Elias Hicks toured the country by carriage and horseback, addressing huge crowds of followers and admirers.

He preached religious ideas that were at odds with established Quaker beliefs. He and his followers, called Hicksites, held that "the entire work of salvation is within man," that it was not Satan abroad in the world who destroyed mankind, but rather the weaknesses and unbridled passions of human beings themselves.

Mr. Whitman, I can see where some believers might consider such views to be heretical.

Yes, that was a considerable problem for some of the believers.  But Elias Hicks was surrounded by controversy as a result of his firm belief in the equality of all God's creatures, Elias Hicks spoke forcefully against slavery and was an early leader in the anti-slavery movement. "We are not better for being white, than others for being black," he preached. One of the tales told about him concerns a Virginia planter who vowed to blow Elias Hicks' brains out if Hicks ever set foot near his plantation. With quiet courage, Hicks went to the man's house, introduced himself, and humbly spoke of his religious beliefs. "Tell me if thou canst, how this Gospel can be truly preached without showing the slaves that they are injured, and without making a man...feel as if they were encouraged in rebellion." The two men talked and argued late into the night, and at parting the slaveholder invited the Quaker to visit again. They met several times in subsequent months, and before a year had passed, the Virginian emancipated all his slaves.

Elias Hicks must have been a very charismatic individual.

Yes, Mr. Bartley - he certainly was. In 1811, his pamphlet against slavery was published. He encouraged his followers to join in a boycott against the products of slavery and would not himself use rice, sugar or cotton. It is said that even on his deathbed, his right arm paralyzed from a stroke that also left him unable to speak, he would not abide the blanket that someone had used to cover him, but instead kept trying to throw it off--until a friend realized it was made of cotton and replaced it with one made of wool.

Elias Hicks died in February 1830, at the age of 81, having continued actively to travel and preach and espouse his liberal views until his final illness. He is buried in the graveyard at the Quaker Meeting House he helped build.

And Mr. Bartley, later this passage was included in Volume 3 of The Complete Works of Walt Whitman - It is not worth while to deny that Elias Hicks was ambitious, and desired to secure results in his labor. But those who carefully go over his recorded words will find little to warrant the literal conclusion of his critics in this particular. He probably had no idea at any time of founding a sect, or perpetuating his name attached to a fragment of the Society of Friends, either large or small. He believed that he preached the truth; he wanted men to embrace it, as it met the divine witness in their own souls, and not otherwise.

Mr. Whitman, we are running out of time here, but I would like for you to briefly summarize the beliefs of Elias Howe regarding Jesus Christ.

Certainly, Mr. Bartley - and I will attempt to be brief.  Elias hicks firmly believed that Jesus was the savior of the Jewish people by replacing the law put forth by Moses. He also argued that Jesus provided the path to salvation for all people exemplified by his life, which was perfectly and entirely guided and united with the Holy Spirit through his inward light. To Elias Hicks, Jesus divinity by being united with God and the Holy Spirit occurred at two points of Jesus’ life, his divine conception and his baptism by John the Baptist.

Thank you, Mr. Whitman

Mr. Bartley - permit me to point out that the person who was the most significant influence on my life was my dear mother, and the most significant influences on her was Elias Hicks and the Quaker faith.  The radicalism of elder Hicks, his willingness to challenge orthodoxy, and his faith in the “light within” provided a template for my own embrace of individualism, egalitarianism, and the celebration of the body and soul. Elder Elias Hicks deeply influenced my thinking resulting in a lifelong embrace of spiritual individualism, egalitarianism, and a poetic style that echoed the rhythms and emotional candor of Hicks’s preaching—core elements that defined my Philosophy and literary works.

Walt, from your personal point of view, what did you feel were the basic teachings and beliefs of Elias Hicks.

Ah, George, Elias Hicks was a central figure in the liberal wing of Quakerism, known for his doctrine of the "Inner Light"—the belief that every individual possesses an immediate, direct connection to the divine, independent of external authorities like the Bible or church hierarchy. His sermons emphasized that true religion and salvation come from obeying this inward light, rather than adhering to creeds, laws, or social conventions.

The radical egalitarianism of Elder Hicks—his insistence that all people have access to the divine light—was central to his opposition to slavery and his advocacy for social justice. I admired this democratic spirit, referring to Hicks as "the most democratic of the religionists—the prophets". Literary historians have noted that Hicks’s influence is evident in my emotional candor, optimism, and my vision of a fair society rooted in equality and the sacredness of every individual.

Now, if you will excuse me, I must depart.

Farewell, Mr. Bartley.

Goodbye, Mr. Whitman.

GHOST SOUND

Join Celebrate Whitman for episode 391 - sojourn in the south - where the young Walt Whitman moves to the relatively wild atmosphere of New Orleans

Sources include: The Life and Labors of Elias Hicks by Henry W. Wilbur, Observations of the Sermons of Elias Hicks by Robert Wain, The Complete Works of Walt Whitman, especially Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman by Ivan R. Dee, Walt Whitman: A Life by Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself by Jerome Loving, and Walt Whitman by James E. Miller.

Thank you for listening to Celebrate poe.