The Influence of Phoebe Worrell Palmer
By Patricia R. Litten
A Woman of Power
Phoebe Worrell Palmer was a woman of power. Described by historians as a theologian, a revivalist, a feminist, and a humanitarian, denounced by critics as a fanatic, a mystic, and a heretic, eulogized by disciples as a "synonym for holiness" and "a Mother in Israel," Phoebe Palmer saw herself simply as a "laborer in the vineyard." But she had power! She advocated power. She promised power. She preached power. She pointed the way to power. She proclaimed, "Holiness is power!"
In the mid-nineteenth century when a woman’s "proper place" was in the home, Palmer authored eighteen books, co-owned and edited a leading Christian magazine, preached widely on two continents, counseled extensively, and mentored men as well as women. Her Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness, conducted weekly for over forty years, is deemed by one historian to be the most significant agency for promoting the holiness revival of that century.1 Always an innovator in evangelistic techniques, her "altar theology" became indispensable to later holiness revival preachers. Her practice of training lay evangelists, when adopted by Dwight L. Moody, transformed urban revivalism. She preached abroad in the company of Moody, Charles Finney, and a handful of select transatlantic revivalists. She engaged in a lifelong course of social work, initiating, directing, or funding various relief organizations As a prolific writer, particularly on the topic of Christian perfection, she has been called her "the greatest among--propagandists for the doctrine" of holiness. Her revised interpretations of John Wesley’s theology has significantly influenced modern holiness denominations’ doctrines of Entire Sanctification. She played a noteworthy role in shaping the lives and ministries of such women as Catherine Booth, Frances Willard, and Amanda Smith.
How many men’s and women’s lives she inspired, how much social change she affected, how much impact she had on the evangelical church, is difficult to determine. "That she addressed thousands in an age when some thought it unseemly for a woman to speak, that she wrote theological works when some thought it impossible for a woman to reason, and that she established a mission in the slums when some thought it unsafe for a woman to venture too far from the home, we do know."2
Phoebe Palmer was a vital catalyst in the nineteenth century holiness movement which swept through America and spilled over into Europe and Great Britain. According to biographer Harold Raser, "she was no sect maker, playing out a minor role in some side street of history."3 She was a woman to whom thousands looked for leadership and instruction, in an age when women were not commonly permitted positions of authority in American culture, especially the church. Her life directly impacted "nineteenth century religious thought, the role of women in American religion, and some of the dynamics of American culture generally."4
Many of her contemporaries agreed. The author of an 1874 article in The Guide to Holiness claimed no other minister or layperson of that time to have been so influential for good.5 She was called by one well-known pastor the "Columbus of the higher life,"6 and by another the "Priscilla who taught many an Apollos the way of the Lord more perfectly."7
Phoebe Palmer’s considerable contributions to nineteenth century feminism, humanitarianism, revivalism, and holiness theology easily earn her a place among the influential women of that century. What was it that shaped this Mrs. Palmer - a moderately affluent, God-fearing Methodist matron - into the dynamo that elicited superlative praise and more than a little controversy? What factors allowed her such a far-reaching sphere of influence? Phoebe Palmer’s own answer would have come readily: "Holiness is power!"
At nine o’clock in the evening, July 26, 1837, she experienced the "power" that changed her life in a dramatic way. As she resolved to surrender to God everything she held dear, and willingly take any step of obedience that He required, she became convinced that God had accepted her "living sacrifice." She then realized that she had experienced the entire sanctification her Methodist heritage had taught her to expect. The balance of her life was to become a working out of the implications of that evening when she devoted herself entirely to God.
Her life became the model for what she often referred to as "the beauty of holiness." For her, holiness always manifested itself in the "endowment of power, by which you may be fitted to bear fruit."8 According to Palmer, holiness, happiness, and usefulness are inseparably linked. She professed and preached holiness as a gift of power whereby one might "affect the tone of evangelical thought and the spirit of active philanthropic enterprise."9
In the same way that justification by faith had affected Martin Luther’s life, freeing him from self-justification, so Phoebe Palmer’s doctrine of entire sanctification by faith freed her energies for service to others. She believed that the same power that energized the disciples after Pentecost was available to empower every Christian who receives the Holy Spirit in entire sanctification, enabling them to pour out their lives in serving God and working for the betterment of society. She practiced what she preached.
Undeclared Feminist
The opening statement of Phoebe Palmer’s book, Promise of the Father, reads: "Do not be startled, dear reader. We do not intend to discuss the question of ëWomen’s Rights’--"10 She then proceeds to sprinkle throughout the book heartfelt sentiments that belie the opening claim. In chapter 18 she writes, "Might is right, and man, wholly depraved, manifests his supreme selfishness by making woman his slave."11 Like many latter-day Biblical feminists, she was ambivalent about just what the role of a woman in the home should be. She espoused belief that "woman has her legitimate sphere of action, which--differs from that of a man."12 She believed that a woman should be submissive to her husband even if he were unwise or less intelligent than she. Nevertheless, she did not hold that wifely submission entailed male dominance or female inequality. Her marriage relationship to Dr. Walter Palmer was atypical for the times, which may account for the ambivalence. Walter supported and encouraged Phoebe in her own endeavors, and they demonstrated great affection for each other. Interspersed among her other writings are many poignant love letters to her husband. In one letter she wrote to Walter: "If I have been in any degree useful, it has been greatly owing to the fact that the Lord has given me a husband who seems ever to have appreciated me beyond my worth and whose encouragements have been--absolutely needful to me, in the prosecution of the work to which the Lord has called."13 Perhaps the key to their remarkable relationship was their mutual understanding of the spiritual life: in their commitment to the Lord and His Church, Phoebe and Walter were kindred spirits.
A devoted mother of six, Palmer believed that "early motherly training" of children shaped the destiny of the world, a responsibility committed to women as a high and holy trust. She advocated, however, that the family have a "united head" where husband and wife are "mutual helpers in rearing a family for the abodes of immortality."14 One biographer claims the Palmers had "one of the quietest, happiest, and most orderly homes in Christendom--with a single eye to the glory of God--"15
Phoebe’s overriding philosophy that life be "in all its particulars, a power for God, and -- a practical demonstration of the ëbeauty of holiness,’"16 played itself out with interesting consequences, not only for herself, but for those she influenced. Having wholly consecrated to the Lord everything she loved, including her family, Palmer did not consider motherhood justification for not using one’s God-given talents in the world. Nor did she believe household cares ought to displace the Lord’s work as the primary function of a woman’s life. She committed much of the work of her own household to servants, believing it to be the right thing to do. When her own children were young, their care did not prevent her from traveling extensively to speak at campmeetings. She either took the family with her, or left them in the care of her sister. On one occasion, Palmer rebuked a woman of means as "laying up treasures on earth," because she laid aside her writing talent in order to care for her home and family full-time. Phoebe’s concern was that the woman not only neglected her own God-given abilities, thereby depriving the world of the good she could have done, but she also denied employment to a poor woman of the neighborhood who could have been hired for the task.
The rationale for her radical stance on family life was deeply rooted in her development of an "altar theology," a highly controversial revision of Wesley’s sanctification theology calling a believer to "lay one’s all on the altar" and offer one’s life as a living sacrifice. Author Rosemary Reuther believes it was this consecration of everything to God, renouncing as it were any attachment to possessions and family, that allowed women a certain distance from, and perspective on, domestic responsibilities that they had not previously experienced.17 Unlike many other mid-century feminists, Palmer’s struggle against traditional female boundaries did not arise from Enlightenment theories of natural rights, but from her interpretation of her Wesleyan heritage, and her biblical understanding of Pentecost and sanctification.
However ambivalent she may seem about a woman’s role in marriage and the family, there was no uncertainty regarding her opinion of the role of women in the Church. Calling the issue "the most important that can, in these days, claim the attention of the religious world,"18 she decried men who would prohibit women from preaching, teaching, or holding leadership roles. "It is humiliating to refer to the manner in which female gifts of the highest order, and most manifestly entrusted by Christ, have been slighted and ultimately rejected,"19 she wrote. Palmer admonished "pious men--who have kept the Christian female in bondage [by] putting a seal upon lips which God has commanded to speak."20 In rebuke of the policies of the majority of Protestant churches, she said, "O what serious responsibility does it involve for a church not to be in sympathy with its Head--"21
Phoebe Palmer’s book, Promise of the Father, inspired by the story of a woman who was refused the right to give public testimony in church, is an apologetic, loosely based on Acts 2:17-18, for the God-called ministry of women. One historian noted that "in a perspicacious, forcible, and graceful style--she moves through difficult questions of Biblical interpretation with considerable facility, drawing easily from a variety of sources, and building a sustained and cogent argument--from the Bible, history, logic, and practical experience."22 An outspoken nineteenth century biographer claimed there was no escape from "the grip of Mrs. Palmer’s inexorable logic" for the "silentist Episcopalians" nor the Presbyterians whose "iron hand of Calvinism has choked the voice of feminine witness for Christ."23
Palmer’s treatise does not call for women preachers and female leadership in the church to be normative, nor does she address general social reform for women, but argues rather that "it is in the order of God that woman may occasionally be brought out of the ordinary sphere of action, and occupy in either church or state positions of high responsibility."24 She cites such examples Deborah the Judge, the Old Testament prophet Huldah, and England’s Queen Victoria, exhorting that "it is always right to obey the Holy Spirit’s command, and if that is laid upon a woman--it is a duty that she cannot neglect without falling into condemnation."25 Her emphasis remained always on one’s "responsibilities as a child of God, an heir of immortality, a witness for Jesus."26
Phoebe Palmer felt no conflict over a woman’s speaking out in public when the church forbade it. In her own words, "When any human organization, even the church, conflicts with Christ, one must obey God rather than man."27 Palmer, holiness was the answer to the problem of inequality. She had personally seen many men’s "wonderful transformations of opinion" regarding women when they "received the Holy Ghost."28 She believed equality for women "will be the true state of things in the Christian church [when]--holiness becomes the general experience of the Christian ministry and membership."29
The Tuesday Meetings for the Promotion of Holiness reinforced the legitimacy of personal religious experience and provided channels for sharing one’s faith with others in a context not previously available to most women. Women were able to thus define their faith in their own terms and, according to Ruether, "declare their theological independence from male systematic categories."30 According to historian Melvin Dieter, "It was the theology of the movement and the essential nature of the place of public testimony in the holiness experience [as promoted by Palmer] which gave many an otherwise timid woman the authority and the power to speak out ëas the Holy Spirit led her.’"31
As a result, women began to assume leadership roles in new organizational structures both within and without the church. Although one might assume that Palmer added a feminine touch hitherto missing, there is no question that she was following a Methodist tradition of sanctioning women’s leadership in public that goes back to Wesley’s own era. She "fit precisely the Wesleyan expectation that dedicated women would participate in the public aspects of evangelism."32 Nonetheless, Palmer’s ministry was considerably removed from established Calvinism and her personal experience was often outside the mainstream of Methodism. Therefore, she did not become a normative model among Protestant women, and gained little for those within the traditional church, despite her recognition and popularity. She was, however, a key factor in the Holiness Revival of 1857-58. While she was not herself sectarian, she greatly impacted the sectarian evangelicals of the late nineteenth century, even to the point of being a spiritual mother to those groups that later became holiness denominations.
Phoebe Palmer’s advocacy for women did not rest merely on the fact that in following her teaching many women took the lead in the spiritual lives of their families, converting husbands and brothers to holiness. Her life came at a crucial time in women’s history. Just by her preaching and writing, Palmer promoted the cause of women’s rights She sought by thought and example to resist the forces at work in the mid-nineteenth century which were restricting women’s roles. She made a viable case for women’s leadership in the church, demonstrating that women could speak with power, think with clarity, and act with effectiveness. Wheatley declared her to have "incisive, comprehensive, tenacious good sense--on educational, domestic and business matters--A calm, wise, and wholly practical Christian."33. In an undated letter to a woman friend, Phoebe wrote, "It is my solemn conviction, before God, that women have a work to do, beyond what they are now doing."34 Work done; work begun.
Reluctant Theologian
Phoebe Palmer never thought of herself as a theologian. She did not attempt to be one. To her, theology signified a "complex man-made substitute for God’s simple truth." Palmer enjoyed depicting herself as "a simple believer in contrast to erudite theologians."35 No mention is ever made in her writings of having attended a female seminary or women’s academy, and no college in America admitted women until after she was already active in ministry. Gifted with an obviously bright intellect, she nevertheless was undoubtedly limited to the elementary education typical for women of the early nineteenth century. While not well-versed in philosophy or classical literature, Palmer had a mastery of sources important within her sphere of work: the Bible, Bible commentators, and religious classics important to Methodism, including The Works of John Wesley, and the writings of John Fletcher. She was also well-read in the diaries of earlier Christian women such as Lady Maxwell and Hester Ann Rogers.
Her doctrine of holiness was rooted firmly in scripture. Experiential truth was always to be tested by conformity to the Word of God. Scriptural truth was to be illustrated by personal experience. In every work by or about Palmer, there is some variation of the theme that "the Bible, the blessed Bible, is the textbook. Not Wesley, not Fletcher, not Finney, not Mahan, not Upham, not Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, but the Bible-- The Bible is the standard, the groundwork, the platform, the creed."36 Her all-consuming desire was not to be an evangelist or a theologian, but a "Bible Christian." She considered herself a student of the Bible, and felt compelled to challenge the church on any doctrine she thought was non-biblical. She wrote that she was "deeply convinced of the danger of stepping aside in the smallest degree from the Written Word, assured that such a removal, however small, is getting on Satan’s ground--carrying us away with every wind of doctrine."37
Despite her adamant denouncement of those who looked to mystics, instead of the Bible, for guidance, she did not recognize any inconsistency in accepting the validity of her own several extrabiblical experiences. The key to this conundrum seems to be the strain of benign mysticism running through the female line of John Wesley’s evangelical Anglicism, revealed in the diaries of Lady Maxwell, Hester Ann Rogers, and Mary Bosanquet Fletcher. Regardless of her oft-spoken insistence on the authority of scripture alone, Palmer evidenced an unequivocal doctrine of experience rooted in the influence of Methodist female saints.
In spite of her own disclaimers, many of her disciples esteem Phoebe Palmer as a theologian of sorts. Not a systematic theologian like Calvin, nor an occasional theologian like Luther, nor a pastoral theologian like Wesley, nonetheless, her various ideas regarding biblical truth, particularly the experience of entire sanctification, have been formed into a consistent pattern which thousands of her followers ñ even to the present day ñ have found adequate to explain their faith. Palmer presupposed the basic tenets of Protestant orthodoxy, so she seldom addressed the classical issues such as Christology, but concentrated her concern on the practical Christian life. She modified and popularized John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian perfection, bringing it more in line with Finneyite revivalism. In answer to those who challenged her holiness teachings as a "theological aberration built on a few proof texts," she replied that entire sanctification is "the great crowning doctrine of the Bible."38 A lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, she disavowed that holiness was merely the dogma of a sect, calling it the doctrine committed to the Methodists’ trust. She further claimed that if Christian perfection were her "specialty" it was because God had ordained it as His specialty.
Phoebe Palmer articulated a clear theology of revival. She systemized the methodology of frontier Methodist revivalism, particularly emphasizing lay ministry and holiness preaching, assuring their place in the American revival tradition. She believed that getting one person sanctified was as good as getting twenty persons saved because with holiness comes a new concern for evangelism. Her emphasis on the role of the laity was one of the factors that transformed revivalism from the clergy-centered campaigns of small towns to lay-oriented crusades in large cities.
Powerful Preacher
Palmer claimed not to be a preacher. She viewed much of the preaching of the day to be "metaphysical hair-splitting," "oratorical displays," and "pulpits of pedestal eminence."39 She stood behind a pulpit, expounded on biblical topics and drew larger crowds than most of the male preachers with whom she shared meetings. But she perceived that what she did was not preaching, but merely explaining, edifying, exhorting, and comforting from scripture. From her influence emerged a new style of preaching that gained popularity, called "Bible readings." The speaker would read a passage of scripture and intersperse appropriate comments and explanations. A fellow preacher wrote, "She was unique and peculiar, not copying anyone’s style, yet possibly reminding one of Mr. Wesley whom she so admired-- I shall never forget the effect produced on both head and heart-- Breathless attention was given--that not a word might be lost."40 Not even Palmer herself could deny her ability as a revivalist. Her speaking, whether called preaching or not, is said to have won more than 25,000 converts in the United States, some 17,300 in Britain, and several thousand more in Canada. Her answer to the success of her campaigns would again be a simple "Holiness is power!"
In truth, Phoebe Palmer was a forerunner, not only as a model for women preachers, but in the expository style of preaching. A work well done; work begun.
Enthusiastic Humanitarian
Palmer’s life could be said to emulate earlier Methodist women: the mystic quality of Lady Maxwell’s devotional life, the "fire and light" of Mary Bousanquet Fletcher in her preaching, and the practical compassion of Hester Ann Rogers, who cared for the sick and the poor. It was Palmer’s particular concern that the ethereal concept of Christian love be worked out in very existential ways. Sanctified women and men were to "prove" the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives by bearing fruit, bettering society, and being a "spade in the hands of the Lord." The evidence of perfect love, according to Palmer, was a valuing of persons at every level of society as "priceless gems," particularly esteeming the poor and the down-trodden as recipients of God’s special favor.
Phoebe Palmer’s own charitable work demonstrates the progression of nineteenth-century evangelical efforts to help the poor, from overwhelmingly evangelistic motivations to concentration on humanitarian aid. Palmer pioneered the transition from visiting the poor to living among them The list of relief ministries personally organized, led, or sustained by Palmer is extensive. One of them, the Five Points Mission in New York’s red light district, became a model for later rescue missions and settlement houses. In addition, she participated in planting several churches in deprived neighborhoods. She played an instrumental role in the founding of Drew Theological Seminary and Garrett Biblical Institute. And whenever needed, she used her considerable influence and persuasive abilities to raise funds from Christian men of the "privileged classes." One biographer attributed much of the mindset and spirit of social activity among Christians to the public and private endeavors of Phoebe Palmer. She was a powerful female forerunner, a model of servant leadership.
Enduring Power
Richard Wheatley summed up the life of Phoebe Worrell Palmer thus: "No license to preach, no ordination, no pastoral charge, no ecclesiastical power did this true wife and mother request of the church-- She only asked and received the liberty to speak for Christ-- And so effectively did this Spirit-baptized handmaid of the Lord exercise her liberty that--ever will be borne in the heart of the American church--the honored name of Phoebe Palmer."41 And yet the reality is that today few, even within her own tradition, would recognize the name of Phoebe Palmer. That would not have disturbed her, for she did not seek celebrity. Indeed, she feared that earthly renown would detract from her heavenly reward. Her goal was "faithful endurance," walking by faith and not by sight, "as seeing the invisible."
Perhaps that nineteenth-century biographer and disciple of Phoebe Palmer was not entirely wrong in his assessment of her importance to posterity. For he did not predict that her name would remain on the lips of the church, but rather in the heart of the church. Is there not, after all, at the very heart of the American evangelical church a demand for biblically-based theology? Is there not at the heart of the church a struggle to discover an appropriate stance for holy living in relation to both God and other people? Is there not at the heart of the church an underlying concern for one’s fellow humanity? Is there not at its heart a tension between the mystical, the rational, and the practical? Is there not at the heart of the Wesleyan tradition a recognition of the responsibility of each believer to answer in some way the call of God?
Methodologies change, doctrinal boundaries shift, cultural accommodations are made, history moves on, but the power of the Holy Spirit working in the world through His Church remains. If not in the cognitive consciousness of the American church, then perhaps at its heart, the spirit of Phoebe Palmer lives on. She would have been pleased; she did not seek fame, only power: holiness power!
End Notes
1 Raser, Harold E., Phoebe Palmer, Her Life and Thought, The Edwin Mellen Press, Leiston, 1947, p.8.
2 White, Charles Edward, The Beauty of Holiness: Phoebe Palmer as Theologian, Revivalist, Feminist, and Humanitarian, Francis Asbury Press, 1986, p.200.
3 Raser, p.2.
4 Raser, p.3.
5 Raser, p.1.
6 IBID.
7 White, p.200.
8 Wheatley, Richard, The Life and Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984, p.570.
9 Wheatley, p.569.
10 Palmer, Phoebe, Promise of the Father, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, p.1.
11Palmer, p.361.
12 Palmer, p.1.
13 Wheatley, p. 144
14 Palmer, p.12.
15 Wheatley, p.159.
16 Wheatley, p.131.
17 Reuther, Rosemary, and Eleanor McLaughlin, Women of Spirit, Simon and Schuster, 1979, p.241.
18 Palmer, p.v.
19 Palmer, p.361.
20 Palmer, p.13.
21 Palmer, p. 361.
22 Raser, p.29.
23 Wheatley, p.614.
24 Palmer, p.2.
25 IBID.
26 Wheatley, p.133.
27 White, p.190.
28 Palmer, p.362.
29 Palmer, p.364.
30 Reuther, p.215.
31 Reuther, p.242.
32 White, p.vii.
33 Wheatley, p.106.
34 Wheatley, p.569.
35 White, p.105.
36 Reuther, p.244.
37 Wheatley, p.603.
38 White, p.120.
39 Raser, p.78.
40 Wheatley, p.635.
41 Wheatley, p.619.
About the Author
Rev. Patricia R. Litten, ordained minister, pastors the Fillmore, California, Church of the Nazarene, having served as associate pastor in two previous churches and as a public social services administrator. Having attended PC/PLNU and holding an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, she is also currently an instructor for Nazarene Ministerial Development Centers, and a member of Los Angeles District Nazarene Board of Ministerial Studies/Credentials. She has been active on other district boards, and a past chapter chairperson for Christians for Biblical Equality. Her close family includes husband Wallace, two adult sons, and five grandchildren. She occasionally writes "Meditations" for her local newspaper