A close-up of the cover of 'Steven Crisp and Gertrude: Quaker Travelling Ministers' by Rosalind Thomas. Photo: Courtesy of Rosalind Thomas.
Steven Crisp and Gertrude: Quaker Travelling Ministers by Rosalind Thomas
A review by Stuart Masters
The stories we inherit about the genesis of new religious movements tend to focus on the role of one or two dominant characters. These become regarded as founding figures. But for every George Fox and Margaret Fell, there are always many other influential individuals whose faithful ministry and steadfast witness become neglected or forgotten. In this new book, Rosalind Thomas of Colchester Meeting shines a light on one such figure, and the two important women in his life. The book offers an accessible and interesting insight into the lives, joys and sufferings of our founding mothers and fathers in the seventeenth-century, and the Quaker communities that they established and sustained, often in very difficult circumstances. In particular, it highlights the contribution of one important Quaker minister whose impact stretched well beyond his own country.
Steven Crisp (1628-1692) and his family were converted to the Quaker faith in 1655 as a result of the preaching of James Parnell, who, in the following year, became the first Quaker martyr. The family lived in the historic town of Colchester which, although known for its dissenting culture and support for the Parliamentary side during the English civil wars, was occupied by Royalist forces and then held under siege by the Parliamentarians in 1648. The people of Colchester faced great suffering, both during the war, and later as a result of an outbreak of plague in the mid-1660s. During this period, it became a centre of Quakerism within the region. Due to its geographical location, the town had close links with the Netherlands. This connection was to shape an important dimension of the story.
Steven was a weaver by profession. He was a radical puritan whose spiritual journey followed a recognisable route. His journal describes a series of events and experiences; these are similar to other Quaker convincement narratives of the time. In his early life he experienced a keen sense of sin, self-loathing and existential anxiety. This led to a period of searching, ending with his encounter with James Parnell and the Quaker message in 1655. He was soon recognised as a minister by his community and, from 1659 onwards, was constantly active in pursuit of this ministry.
In addition to the general persecution experienced by Friends at the time, Steven also endured the rigours of the travelling ministry, and the ill health associated with frequent beatings and imprisonments. He travelled widely within England, but also became a significant presence among Dutch and German Friends, helping to establish new Quaker communities in the Low Countries, where he acted as a respected missionary, guide and trouble-shooter. His preaching and writing provided both spiritual counsel and practical guidance (for example, about the dangers of getting into debt). In the following passage, he offers advice to his readers and draws on the apostle Paul’s teaching about the diversity of gifts and their vital contribution to the creation of a vibrant faith community (in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31): ‘And Friends, have a Care in your Meetings, to give due Honour unto every Member in the Body, remembering none are useless, but stir up one another to their proper Service in the House of God; and let not the Foot be troubled that it is not a Hand, nor the Hand that it is not an Eye; but everyone give Thanks, that by the Grace of God you are what you are; and be Faithful in your Place and Service, that he may witness Growth.’
Steven married Dorothy Hix (1625-1683) in 1648. Although she had become a Quaker along with the rest of her family, and was a faithful Friend for the rest of her life, the prospect of Steven becoming a travelling minister seems to have caused her great anguish. It is even suggested that Steven feared that Dorothy was seeking to tempt him away from God’s call. Not surprisingly, her misgivings were validated. She experienced the loneliness and anxiety associated with being the wife of a travelling minister. Often alone, she kept the home going and the family together, provided hospitality for visiting Friends, and cared diligently for Steven when he returned home exhausted and in poor health. Throughout all this, however, it seems that she was sustained by her Quaker community, and actively contributed to the work of the Colchester Women’s Meeting. After her death Steven wrote: ‘[She] had been a meet help and a faithful and loving wife to me about five and thirty years, and had with a firm Faith trusted in God, and had her Eye to him in all our Sufferings, Tryals and Tribulations and seen before her departure how all had wrought for good unto us, and was satisfied I his Will… and had made her so great a comfort to me in all my Afflictions.’
Although Dorothy had relatively humble origins, Steven’s second wife, Dutch Quaker Gertrude Derix Niesen (?-1687) came from a wealthy Amsterdam family. When they married in 1685, Gertrude was already a well-respected Quaker minister in her own right. Like Steven, she wrote letters of spiritual counsel to members of her community. In the following quotation from a letter to Friends published in 1680, she emphasises the importance of following divine guidance and being faithful in the small things: ‘…the reason and cause why many don’t feel the weight of the visitation and the love of the Lord is because they don’t take into consideration and don’t obey to what they know of God in their hearts… And although such persons may wait for the great appearance, and complain of a shortage of might, as such persons often do, it is in vain: for the promise is to the ones who are faithful in the small and who see the value of small things.’
Although they only had a short time together as husband and wife, Steven clearly valued Gertrude’s spiritual weight and steadfast faithfulness, and the fact that they shared the a common ministry. After she died he wrote: ‘She slept with the Faithful in the Lord, in a perfect Resignation to his will, making a blessed end, to my great joy and consolation. For although it was hard for Flesh and Blood to part in my old age… Yet feeling fellowship with her in the joy into which she entered, gives me great satisfaction…’
This book offers a fascinating insight into the lives and ministry of a number of less well-known seventeenth-century Friends, and provides interesting information about the development of Quaker communities in the Low Countries. It inevitably prompts questions about why these communities did not survive in the long term, despite of the guidance and support of Quaker ministers such as Steven Crisp.
Given the apparent early Quaker commitment to spiritual equality, it is interesting to note that the relationships between Steven, Dorothy and Gertrude show the continued influence of gender and social status on the opportunities and life experiences of these Friends. It is also likely that the degree of power and influence exercised by ministers like Steven Crisp would be resisted by many Liberal Friends today. Recent debates and disagreements about the desirability of reintroducing the recording of ministers reveals how issues of leadership and authority have been a source of division and conflict within Quaker communities throughout our history. Given that this book is available in paperback, it should be attractive to both individual Friends and for Meeting house libraries.
