John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807-September 7, 1892) was an American poet. He was known as the "Quaker Poet," as his faith was exhibited in his life and poetry.
He wrote Panorama, in 1856, which included the favorites "Barefoot Boy," and "Maud Muller."
His other renowned works include: Song of the Vermonteers, 1779; Lays of My Home and other poems, 1843; Voices of Freedom, 1846; Snowbound, 1866; Justice and Expediency; Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.
He was the editor of the American Manufacturer, the Essex Gazette, The Pennsylvania Freeman, and the National Era.
He bitterly opposed slavery, to the extent that once he was mobbed and severely beaten during a speaking tour.
Later his office in Philadelphia was burned.
John Greenleaf Whittier, one of the first to suggest the creation of a Republican Party, wrote:
<I believe in the Scriptures because they repeat the warnings and promises of the indwelling Light and Truth; I find in them the eternal precepts of the Divine Spirit declared and repeated. They testify of Christ within....
My ground of hope for myself and for humanity is in that Divine fullness which was manifested in the life, teachings, and self-sacrifice of Christ. In the infinite mercy of God so revealed, and not in any work or merit of my own nature, I humbly, yet very hopefully, trust.> 1807JW001
In 1876, one hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and shortly after the Civil War had ended, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote his Centennial Hymn:
<We meet today, united free,
And loyal to our land and Thee,
To thank Thee for the era done,
And trust Thee for the opening one.
O make Thou us, through centuries long,
In peace secure, in justice strong;
Around our gift of freedom draw
The safeguards of Thy righteous law:
And, cast in some diviner mould,
Let the new cycle shame the old!> 1807JW002
In poetic verse, John Greenleaf Whittier expressed:
<THE WORD OF GOD
Voice of the Holy Spirit, making known
Man to himself, a witness swift and sure,
Warning, approving, true and wise and pure,
Counsel and guidance that misleadeth none!
By Thee the mystery of Life is read;
The picture writing of the world's gray seers,
The myths and parables of the primal years,
Whose letter kills, by thee interpreted
Take healthful meanings fitted to our needs,
And in the soul's vernacular express
The common law of simple righteousness.
Hatred of cant and doubt of human creeds
May well be felt the unpardonable sin
Is to deny the Word of God within!> 1807JW003
<OUR MASTER
We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down;
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For Him no depths can drown.
O Lord and Master of us all!
Whate'er our name or sign,
We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call,
We test our lives by Thine.
Deep strike Thy roots, O heavenly Vine,
Within our earthly sod,
Most human and yet most Divine,
The flower of Man and God!> 1807JW004
On December 25, 1881, the American poet Lucy Larcom (1824-1893) wrote from her home at 627 Tremont Street, Boston, to John Greenleaf Whittier:
<My Dear Friend, Alone in my room this evening, I feel just like writing a Christmas letter to you, and I follow the impulse.
This day always brings back old times and old friends to memory, but never with sadness to me, because the one idea of the day is hope and joy for all souls, the possibilities of infinite help, unending progress.
Whenever I enter deeply into the thought of Christ, whenever I feel Him the one Reality inseparable from my own being, then I feel that I have my friends safe, and that they are to be my friends forever.
To me, He is the one Divine Friend in whom human friendships can alone be real and permanent, because He draws us into sympathy with what is best, with what is eternal, the love of goodness, the consciousness of God in us and around us, and the solemn gladness of human life into which God had entered, and where He still is.
God with us still, the Spiritual Presence of One who is more real than any other person can be to us, through whom indeed we receive our personality, - this idea, so grand as at times to seem almost impossible, grows more definite and clear to me.
It is the 'So I am with you alway' of Christ.
The with this idea, that of those whom we love unseen, our friends who have disappeared from sight, becomes more definite also.> 1807JW104
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1807JW001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Greenleaf Whittier. Samuel T. Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, pp. 264, 265. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 501-502. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, Inc., 1991), 4.22.
1807JW002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Greenleaf Whittier, 1876, in his poem Centennial Hymn. Patriotic Anthology, p. 395. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 12.14-15.
1807JW003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Greenleaf Whittier. Samuel T. Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, pp. 264, 265. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 501-502.
1807JW004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Greenleaf Whittier. Samuel T. Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, pp. 264, 265. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 501-502.
1807JW104. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Greenleaf Whittier. December 25, 1881, letter from American poet Lucy Larcom (1824- 1893) from her home at 627 Tremont Street, Boston, to John Greenleaf Whittier: Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, ed., The friendly craft: a collection of American letters, (NY: MacMillan Company, 1908), p. 359-360.