{"id":255,"date":"2016-08-15T18:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/bhla\/?p=255"},"modified":"2023-06-15T21:19:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T21:19:07","slug":"james-quinter-and-the-creation-of-the-modern-church-of-the-brethren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/hiddengems\/james-quinter-and-the-creation-of-the-modern-church-of-the-brethren\/","title":{"rendered":"James Quinter and the Creation of the Modern Church of the Brethren"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By William Kostlevy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Few dates in Church of the Brethren history are more important than February 1, 1816 for that is the date of the birth of James Quinter. The son of a day laborer, Quinter was raised in poverty and after his father\u2019s untimely death became the sole supporter of a family of 4. As chance or providence would have it he found employment near Phoenixville, PA at a store owned by Brethren Isaac Price. Too reserved to be a storekeeper, Price found Quinter employment on a farm owned by a young married couple Isabel and Abel Fitzwater. It was to the influence of this family that Quinter attributed his 1831 conversion in Brethren endorsed evangelistic meetings in a neighboring school house.Known as the \u201cboy preacher\u201d Quinter\u2019s circle that included the noted women preacher Sarah Righter Major pioneered in the use of such innovative religious strategies as protracted or revival meetings, Sunday schools, prayer meetings, publishing, foreign missions, higher education, supported the temperance movement, and opposed slavery. In 1856 he became the English language editor of the semi-official denominational periodical the Gospel Visitor<\/em> and he edited the first hymnal. Quinter, the quintessential Brethren insider, served on the Standing Committee of Annual Conference and for nearly thirty years as writing clerk for Annual Conference. Quinter\u2019s death while in prayer at Annual Conference in North Manchester, Indiana in 1888 seemed to provide virtual divine sanction for the remarkable transition of Brethren from a peculiar and sectarian people to an evangelical Protestant denomination with a few distinctive, albeit Biblically sanctioned, worship practices.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church that buried Quinter was very different from the one he had joined in 1831. It was now a transcontinental religious community complete with colleges and foreign missions. Its language was largely English. Its membership was infatuated with higher education and foreign travel. Yet it was still a unique ethno-religious subculture. In 1888, few would have confused Brethren with their Methodist neighbors. Brethren maintained distinctive rituals of community formation, perpetuation and maintenance. Although aggressively evangelistic, their dress remained unique. They refused to bear arms, rejected oaths, and spurned litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quinter passionately defended the traditional ordinances of the Brethren. The proper mode of believer\u2019s baptism was trine immersion. If baptism was the rite of passage into the faith community, the three part Brethren love-feast was the glue that unified what was now a widely dispersed trans-continental body of believers. The unity of the movement was reinforced by visiting preachers and an annual gathering open to all members.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an innovator who believed that \u201cthe church should avail itself of every lawful means\u201d to achieve its mission, including \u201cenlargement of its dominion and conversion of sinners,\u201d Quinter freely employed novel means such as evangelistic meetings and the written word to enlarge the Dunker domain. Among the most controversial was the subdued but still too obvious use of elements of Protestant revivalism. In 1862, C. H. Balsbaugh, who would later do a complete about face about such matters, wrote in the Gospel Visitor<\/em> \u201cI regard this movement as an unjustifiable and intolerable departure from the established order of the Brethren, and a pitiable, mawkish imitation of the most superficial and odious of all religious innovations.\u201d Quinter himself was aware that excessive emotionalism could undermine the church\u2019s evangelical task. As he wrote in 1874, \u201cThere is no proper distinction often made between a proper degree of excitement and excessive excitement.\u201d Further Quinter saw that too much evangelical preaching aimed merely at \u201cexciting the feelings.\u201d But this misuse of revival technique was no excuse for lack of evangelical zeal. \u201cPerhaps,\u201d Quinter wrote, \u201cthere is as much failing in not feeling enough, as there is in feeling too much.\u201d Or as he later wrote, \u201cThe heart of the sinner must be broken and subdued and this work is accompanied at times with strong emotions of distress, which are frequently followed by emotions of unspeakable joy.\u201d For Quinter and his generation revivalism was a primary means for evangelical outreach.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revivalism, for Quinter, was a tool not exclusively for the salvation of individuals but for the integration of new converts into the faith community. As adopted by Quinter, revivalism, in effect, served already existing community-building rituals. Those moved by Quinter\u2019s evangelistic appeals were added to the church through trine immersion. Trine immersion meanwhile was not merely one among a series of correct initiation rites into the Kingdom of God, it was the gospel mode. This was, in part, because he shared the traditional Brethren emphasis that Baptism had less to do with personal salvation than with becoming a member of the body of Christ. In fact, following traditional Brethren teaching Quinter insisted that personal salvation and church membership were inseparable. As he wrote \u201cSalvation is only promised in the gospel to those in the church of Christ.\u201d Effectively using arguments based upon the meaning of the Greek prepositions, Quinter approvingly quoted Timothy Dwight, \u201cAll persons are baptized not in but into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: that is, they are in this ordinance publicly and solemnly introduced into the family and entitled in a peculiar manner to the name of God.\u201d6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second distinctive ordinance was the love-feast. In nineteenth century Brethren context its function was to reaffirm baptismal vows in the context of Christian community. Quinter and other evangelists subtle redefined it in evangelical terms. As Brethren moved toward the end of the nineteenth century special evangelistic services were culminated in baptisms by trine immersion followed by the three part love-feast. The full love-feast now celebrated the inclusion of evangelically converted folks, often but not necessarily teenagers from Brethren homes, into the faith community. But if individual conversion in the altered settings of revival meetings were an innovation love-feast itself continued to highlight Brethren insistence that the Christian religion was communal. For Quinter the Lord\u2019s Supper was a real meal because it symbolized a new reality, namely the creation of a new family renewed in the image of the image of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quinter\u2019s deep concern with personal and even social behavior emerged out of his belief that even as Brethren experienced new physical environments, Scripture properly understood provided the faithful with real ethical guidance. In an essay entitled, \u201cThe Adapting Power of the Gospel,\u201d Quinter wrote, \u201cif principles contained therein are well studied, the examples there given wrought out, then the disciples of Christ will be qualified to solve all the moral questions which they will meet with involving their highest interests as immortal beings.\u201d Far from being merely a personal ethical code Christianity required active social engagement. This finds clear expression in one of Quinter\u2019s most important sermons, \u201cThe Servant of God Is a Servant of His Age.\u201d Moving far beyond the cultural isolation of early Brethren Quinter urged Brethren to serve their age in a three-fold manner. They were \u201cto remove every cause of evil; labor to establish right principles among those to whom their influence extends; [and] labor to get people to practically accept Christian principles.\u201d7<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of his desire to serve his age in many ways Quinter remained a traditionalist. For him the first principle of Christian ethical formation was nonconformity to the world. \u201cChristianity,\u201d Quinter wrote, \u201cis of necessity the inexorable foe of every wrong, every abuse, every law, custom, usage, or institution, that tends to injure or debase mankind.\u201d Becoming specific Quinter noted that these included \u201cslavery, polygamy, war, dueling, alcoholic beverages, or anything else \u2026inconsistent with Christianity.\u201d Likewise Quinter remained a decided champion of traditional Brethren dress. In 1865 acknowledging that many Brethren favored abandoning traditional Dunker dress requirements, Quinter drawing on the insights of Methodist founder John Wesley, \u201cNon-conformity to the world, simplicity of manners, meekness of spirit, and plainness of dress, are among the peculiarities of the apostolic church\u2026 and where they do not exist the church does not exist.\u201d Although admitting that he had once voted in a presidential election Quinter insisted that in a nation that employed capital punishment and repeatedly elected soldiers to high political office non-resistant Christians should not vote. Even in a world where Christians were urged to serve their age as light and salt Brethren remained a people apart. \u201cChristianity,\u201d Quinter wrote is not a mere profession\u2014not a name, it is a life regulating principle.\u201d 8<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brethren shared nineteenth century America\u2019s preoccupation with Christian millennial expectation. Their frequent debates with the followers of Alexander Campbell were not merely over baptismal forms but also reflected differing views of the end times. In one of the few Brethren publications from the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Benjamin Bowman attached the false post-millennial eschatology of the Stone-Campbell tradition. As Bowman argued Christ would establish his own kingdom without the misguided preparatory work of humankind. 9<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a premillennialist, Quinter believed that the universal kingdom of God was a future event. But a foretaste Christ\u2019s final eschatological victory was already present in Christ\u2019s body, the church. A person born through water and the Spirit \u201cnot only sees the Kingdom of God,\u201d Quinter wrote, \u201cBut is admitted into it.\u201d For Quinter both future and present dimensions of the Kingdom were important. As he wrote in 1857, \u201cwe literally here expressly state our belief in a literal and future millennium on earth. But we believe it is the privilege of Christians to enjoy now a foretaste of the happiness which they will enjoy in that regenerated or millennial state of the world.\u201d In fact Quinter insisted that the Dunker\u2019s most distinctive rite, the love-feast, was profoundly eschatological. \u201cThis feast of love,\u201d he maintained, \u201cmay be regarded as a representation of the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which is to take place when the Savior comes, and his people shall gather themselves together and sit down in the Kingdom of God.\u201d For Quinter the chief value in millennialism lay not in speculations about the future but in the heighted ethical concern in the present. The immediate responsibility of the church was to prepare itself for the age of the coming Christ. In effect Brethren millennial expectation sharpened immediate moral and ethical concerns.10<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closely related to their heightened millennial thrust Brethren longed for the reconciliation and reunification of humanity. The masthead of the Gospel Visitor described the periodicals purpose as \u201cto promote Christian union, brotherly love, and universal charity.\u201d The tenacity of this view was repeatedly reasserted by Annual Conference rulings that \u201cthe Holy Kiss\u201d was to be extended across racial lines.\u201d Quinter himself rejected pleas that the Brethren support the colonization of American-Americans in Africa on the grounds that racial separation was inconsistent with the catholic nature of the Christian faith. Further Quinter\u2019s passion for world missions was built upon a similar conviction that the gospel was no respecter of political and ethnic boundaries. As an early champion of Brethren international mission Quinter saw the church as a community that transcended ethnic and racial boundaries. The desperate locations of early Brethren missions in Denmark (1877), Sweden (1885) and India (1894) point to an understanding of missions as an invitation to discipleship and not a strategy to export Western culture. \u201cThe object of missionary work,\u201d Quinter claimed, is to apply the death of Christ with all its accompanying truths to the saving of men from perdition.\u201d For Quinter and most nineteenth century Brethren,\u201d all the accompanying truths\u201d were the rituals of a primitive non-resistant Christianity. For them, even as the churches boundaries expanded to include Indians, Danes, Swedes, and non-German stock Americans, the practices of the church remained closely tied to the rituals formulated by German Pietist immigrants to colonial Pennsylvania. Although willingly employing the new measures commonly associated with the great Evangelist Charles G. Finney and learned from their Methodist, Evangelical and United Brethren neighbors, Dunkers remained a distinct even if increasingly Evangelical Protestant denomination.11<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1<\/sup> A version of this paper was published in Stephen L. Longenecker, editor The Dilemma of Anabaptist Piety: Strengthening or Straining the Bonds of Community?<\/em> (Bridgewater, VA: Penobscot Press, 1997).<\/p>\n

2<\/sup>On Quinter\u2019s life see Mary N. Quinter, Life and Sermons of Elder James Quinter<\/em><\/a> (Mt. Morris, IL: Brethren\u2019s Publishing House, 1891, 1-78. Also very helpful is H. R. Holsinger, History of the Tunker or Brethren Church<\/em> (Lathrop, CA: by the author, 1900), 358-365.<\/p>\n

3<\/sup>On the meaning of baptism for Brethren see Dale W. Brown, \u201cA Baptismal Theology with implications for Evangelism, Conversion, and Church Growth,\u201d Brethren Life and Thought<\/em> 28 (1983), 151-160. On the distinctive rites of the Brethren see Carl Bowman, The Cultural Transformation of a \u201cPeculiar People\u201d<\/em> (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 52-76.<\/p>\n

5<\/sup>James Quinter, \u201cInaugural,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> June 1856, 105, C. H. Balsbaugh, \u201cThe Anxious Bench,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> June 1862, 164-167 and James Quinter, \u201cThe Excess and Want of Feeling in Religious Service,\u201d Christian Family Companion and Gospel Visitor<\/em> 20 October 1874, 666-667. The final quotation is from James Quinter, \u201c\u201dOur Journey to Miami County\u2014An Interesting Revival,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> April, 1866, 123.<\/p>\n

6<\/sup>James Quinter, \u201cIs There Salvation Out of the Church\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> June 1861, 161. The second quotation is from James Quinter, A Vindication of Trine Immersion as the Apostolic Form of Christian Baptism<\/em> (Elgin, IL: Brethren Publishing House, 1898), 21-22.<\/p>\n

7<\/sup>James Quinter, \u201cThe Adapting Power of the Gospel,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> December 1859, 354 and Quinter, life and Sermons<\/em>, 209-212.<\/p>\n

8<\/sup>Quinter, \u201cThe Adopting Power,\u201d 356. James Quinter, \u201cChristian Apparel and non-Conformity to the World,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em>, November 1865, 324. James Quinter, \u201cRemarks\u2014The Other Side,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> April 1966, 101-114.<\/p>\n

9<\/sup>A brief quotation from Bowman\u2019s work is found in \u201cB Bowman on the Millennium,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> March 1862, 49-52.<\/p>\n

10<\/sup>James Quinter, \u201cThe Kingdom of God\u2014No. 1,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em> November 1856, 294. James Quinter, \u201cMillennium of the Soul,\u201d Gospel Visitor<\/em>, April 1857, 99. Quinter quoted in Bowman, Brethren Society, 63.<\/p>\n

11<\/sup>On the Holy Kiss, see Bowman Brethren Society, 66-73; \u201cOur Danish Mission,\u201d Gospel Messenger<\/em>, 28 August 1883, 121-122. On Brethren Missions, see Donald F. Durnbaugh, Fruit of the Vine: A History of the Brethren1708-1995<\/em> (Elgin, IL: Brethren press, 1997), 343-362.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By William Kostlevy Few dates in Church of the Brethren history are more important than February 1, 1816 for that is the date of the birth of James Quinter. The son of a day laborer, Quinter was raised in poverty and after his father\u2019s untimely death became the sole supporter of a family of 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3,2,10,63,5,56],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-gems","tag-bhla","tag-brethren-historical-library-and-archives","tag-hidden-gem","tag-james-quinter","tag-pennsylvania","tag-the-gospel-visitor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/bhla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}