Remarks upon the Knowledge of the Lord (review)

Remarks upon the Knowledge of the Lord, the Only True God

written by Job Scott

edited by John Jeremiah Edminster

reviewed by Joseph Snyder

Job Scott was a “Quietist” New England Friend of the late 18th century whose call to public ministry led him, before his untimely death in 1793, to travel extensively among Friends throughout that land that was becoming the United States. This essay, his “Remarks upon the Knowledge of the Lord,” was published a generation after his death. However, it was well known among Friends before formal publication.

John Jeremiah Edminster has updated some of the dated prose of the original. Nevertheless, if you venture into this essay, be prepared for some long 18th-century sentences, an abundance of male pronouns, and a few stereotypes that will make you cringe. I believe Edminster made a wise decision not to “correct” these, leaving that to the reader. They reveal to us where we have been, but do not undermine the powerful theme of the essay if we are able to “listen in tongues.”

Scott asserts that knowledge of God arises from our inward Guide and Teacher, Christ Jesus. He draws a distinction between the saving (transformative) knowledge of God and intellectual knowledge about God. Example: “[God] never was, or can ever be savingly known, but by immediate revelation . . . in and by the shinings and manifestations of his own light.” It is delightful and revelatory to follow Scott’s 18th century language and “reasoning” through this explication.

While almost every sentence in the essay includes reference, direct or indirect, to the Bible, Scott continuously insists that scripture alone, if read without the “inshinings” of the Light of Christ, is insufficient and perhaps even deadly in our search for true knowledge of God. Contemporary Friends may resonate with this:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock!” (Rev. 3:20) – Is this only through the Scriptures? By no means, it is universal, at the door of all hearts, in all ages of the world. Burn the Bible and He still will knock. Though we heartily bless God for the use of the Scriptures, in our own language, and are highly edified and comforted in reading them, when opened by the light of Christ, but we may be deprived of these. Many good Christians have been so all the days of their lives, and many others for many years, by one circumstance or other; but no man, no circumstance, or complication of circumstances, can deprive us, if we love God, of the true light that enlightens all. (John 1:9)

To demonstrate how our reasonings and human inventions about faith interfere with the inshinings of divine Light, Scott takes on the doctrine of the Trinity, among others. His critique is a fascinating and, to me at least, sometimes comical window into his time and context. He calls out error strongly, even resorting to ridicule. Many of us have forgotten how passionate our Quaker forebears were about proclaiming and defending Truth, even in this so-called Quietist period.

The essay concludes with an addendum on perseverance, a refutation of the Calvinist “once in grace, always in grace” doctrine. This bit exemplifies Scott’s application of scripture and rhetorical style to his reasoning. Although it adds little to his main theme of “the saving knowledge of God,” it reminds us of Friends’ longstanding concern to “walk perfectly before the Lord.”

The very root and foundation of our Quaker Faith, the availability to all direct inshinings of the Spirit of Christ, is opened to the reader in this remarkable essay. Many thanks to John Jeremiah Edminster for reviving it.

You can find this essay at: westernfriend.org/library/job-scotts-remarks-on-the-knowledge-of-the-lord/ ~~~

Joe Snyder is a retired country veterinarian and a member of Multnomah Monthly Meeting in Portland, Oregon (NPYM).