Sowing the Seed of Truth: Orthodox Quaker Sermons of Murray Shipley (1873–1876)

Edited by Sabrina Darnowsky. Friends United Press, 2024. 156 pages. $22/paperback.

In Sowing the Seed of Truth, Sabrina Darnowsky has curated 35 brief sermons by a Friends minister who lived and participated in the transformation of American Quakerism that was gathering steam in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Murray Shipley (1830–1899) was a dry goods merchant in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Friends from New York. His gift in the ministry was minuted in the traditional way in 1868 when he was nearly 40, and Cincinnati Friends noted his diligence in ministry and in social action of many kinds in his community. Though he had not much formal schooling, he was a steady reader all his life, and so he was informed and reflective without any of the formality of a trained scholar.

Thomas Hamm’s foreword and Darnowsky’s helpful introduction tell us that Shipley became an enthusiastic participant in the reforms and revivals that swept into Orthodox Quakerism in the 1870s. He and his meeting were active in evangelizing both within Friends meetings and in the wider community. Friends ministers in every era have been led to preach to non-Friends. With the reforms within Quakerism associated with Joseph John Gurney and later developments such as the holiness movement, this sort of outreach naturally had the flavor of its own times, and these sermons provide an inkling of the sound of that gospel message.

Friends today may be surprised to learn that there are a lot of very old Quaker sermons to read, stretching back to the late 1600s. Until the latter half of the 1800s, these were generally taken down in shorthand by non-Friends who were curious about, or impressed by, the preaching of Friends or of one Friend in particular. Mostly (but not always), the minister, speaking extemporaneously, was not involved in the project and sometimes voiced disapproval of the whole enterprise. In the later part of the 1800s, however, in some parts of Quakerdom, sermons were composed as in other denominations and were published in periodicals or separate volumes.

But, as both Hamm and Darnowsky remind us, almost no Orthodox Quaker sermon manuscripts from the mid-nineteenth century have survived, so Shipley’s collection is quite rare and adds to our knowledge of that turbulent period in American Quaker history.

At some point early in his ministry, Shipley started a notebook in which he recorded the substance of messages given in meeting for nearly three years, and these notes with accompanying comments and background are the content of this book. At first, it seems likely that his notes were the sort of post hoc record that many ministers across the century have made, as part of their reflection and spiritual growth in their concern for the ministry. Soon, however, Shipley’s notes seem more likely to be preparatory for messages to be delivered when occasion called them forth, and at least sometimes, the same message was used more than once. Most are brief, plainspoken, earnest, and warm in tone. Darnowsky has grouped them thematically rather than chronologically, including personal anecdotes; dramatic narratives; parables, allegories, and analogies; and explications of important concepts (e.g., “knowledge and power,” “holiness,” “the love of God”).

A present-day reader who imagines themself in the room where these messages were delivered may catch an echo of Shipley’s living voice and the concern under which a particular message came forth, spoken to particular people in a particular time and place. Throughout, one hears Shipley’s love for those he is speaking to and his heartfelt desire for their spiritual flourishing, such as this passage from a sermon about the moral courage of school-age children:

To desire to be rather than to seem to be should be the motto of all. And in such a moment amid the trials, provings, and sorrows of life, my heart listens to, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy” [Luke 2:10], angelic message of good tidings from a far country to thirsty souls.

His own seeking continued throughout his life, though the full story is yet to be recounted. (Darnowsky is preparing a biography that will surely be valuable for understanding the development of Shipley and of American Quakerism.)

Not long after the conclusion of his notebook (and thus the contents of this book), Shipley traveled under concern to the British Isles, and while there, he underwent baptism and participated in a communion service (to the disapproval of his home meeting). Were these ecumenical gestures? An experiment by a confirmed Friend who wished to better understand the traditional forms of Christianity? A chance to better understand Friends testimony on the sacraments? The sermons in this book do not provide answers, but they do suggest that a committed Friend, though firm in his faith in the Christian message, remained an active seeker after truth.

---

Brian Drayton is a member of Weare (N.H.) Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, and a Friends minister. His most recent book will appear in 2025 from Inner Light Books of Barclay Press: The Gospel in the Anthropocene: Letters from a Quaker Naturalist.