1787 ANNE EMLEN MIFFLIN. Rare Unpublished Pastoral Letter by Female Quaker Preacher & Abolitionist.

 

Anne Emlen Mifflin [1755-1815] was born to a prominent Philadelphia family and her brother was a signatory to the of Canadaigua [1794]. Having been an earnest Quaker from a young age, she had long held abolitionist sympathies and was a highly regarded traveling preacher and epistolary author in and to Quaker communities by the time she met her husband. In 1788 she married her widowed-husband, Warner Mifflin in 1788, and together they made the spiritual renewal of Quakerism and the plight of Africans and of Native Americans their causes.

Warner and Anne together entreated the Society of Friends to allow African adherents full fellowship, were friendly with Anthony Benezet, and supported the development of the very first anti-slavery society in America, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. This was the society of which Benjamin Franklin served a term in leadership and who he represented to the Continental Congress in unsuccessful resistance to the 3/5s language. 

Her life and writings have recently been spotlighted by the publication of Our Beloved Friend: The Life and Writings of Anne Emlen Mifflin by Gary Nash and Emily Teipe [2023]. 

Their short biography is as follows: 

"Born into one of the wealthiest families in Philadelphia and raised and educated in that vital center of eighteenth-century American Quakerism, Anne Emlen Mifflin was a progressive force in early America. This detailed and engaging biography, which features Anne’s collected writings and selected correspondence, revives her legacy. 

Anne grew up directly across the street from the Pennsylvania statehouse, where the Continental Congress was leading the War of Independence. A Quaker minister whose busy pen, agile mind, and untiring moral energy produced an extensive corpus of writings, Anne was an ardent abolitionist and social reformer decades before the establishment of women’s anti-slavery societies. And at a time when most Americans never ventured beyond their own village, hamlet, or farm, Anne journeyed thousands of miles. She traveled to settlements of Friends on the frontier and met with Native Americans in the rough country of northwestern Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada."

Addressed to Catherine Wister [Wistar] - Birmingham.

Middletown, 6mo 20th '87

Esteemed Friend,

Being prevented from calling at your house, agreeable to my intention, I set down to visit thee in writing, as it's like I shall not now Personally, from my expectation of soon returning to Town. 

On the first time of my seeing thee, I conceived a regard for thee, from an apprehension there was a tender part in thee I wished might be encouraged, & kept alive, so as to grow into dominion - from further acquaintance I continue of the same mind, that there is a part which draweth my regard: - I wish this cherished, and hope those impressions of good thou hast heretofore had, may be studiously maintained. And that, thro the heavenly aids of divine power, seeking thereunto by prayer for help, thou may be preserved on the Watch Tower - yea, under the sweetening, humbling influence of pure spiritual worship; acknowledging the Father of all our mercies, in some degree of the beauty of holiness, as under thine own Vine and own Fig Tree, where nothing of a perishing temporal nature will ever be able to make thee afraid.

This worship we know is not performed by any outward observation of our own projecting, but in simple dedication of soul unto him, who is the Author of every good word & work, by which we bring forth good fruits of obedience unto the dictates of his pure Spirit: for every branch in his holy house that at all bringeth forth good fruit, he pruneth it, that it may bring forth more good fruit; - the chastenings of the Lord, being at the moment of tryal not joyous, but to the natural part of the fleshly mind crucifying; nevertheless, if rightly profited under, they work for us a far more exceeding & eternal weight of glory than any thing this world, or the perishing friendships of it, can ever possibly produce. 

I feel myself interested in the advancement of a Christian Testimony on earth, against the pernicious use of spiritous Liquors. - I conceive all meddling with them, except in the case of medicine, chiefly in outward application, is not the use but the abuse of them. - I send thee a book containing a piece on that subject. Thou mayest find a service in showing it to any, whether professor or profane, who are in danger of being ensnared thereby; - as well as in strengthening the hands of those inclined to a virtuous self-denial therein, tho they may have a relish for it; tho for my part I wonder any should.

- I think there is a needless unwise use or abuse of it in times of harvest. I wish thy Father, as well as many others, may be strengthened to debuse it. If they give their men proportionably as much more wages - they might have as much done & more carefully & with more Christian Satisfaction & peace of mind. - Those who will not do without it are unfit to have on a farm or be employed in a family, their example being corruption & converse poisonous to the Lads there, as well as to the Lasses also, if not on their guard. 

I speak my sentiments with freedom as they occur, looking for the same freedom of thy part when thou seest occasion. And with regard to your Family, particularly thyself, conclude thy friend, Ann Emlen.

Complete, but fair condition. Tears and folds reinforced with archival tape, lower 1/3 of the address leaf lacking, not affecting any text.