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My Spiritual Autobiography: Or, How I Discovered the Unselfishness of God
Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith (1832 – 1911) was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She was also active in the Women's suffrage movement and the Temperance movement.
In this book she writes:
"After more than seventy years of life I have come to the profound conviction that every need of the soul is to be met by the discovery I have made. In that wonderful prayer of our Lord's in John 17, He says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." This used to seem to me a mystical saying, that might perhaps have a pious esoteric meaning, but certainly could have no practical application. But every year of my religious life I have discovered in it a deeper and more vital meaning; until now at last I see, that, rightly understood, it contains the gist of the whole matter. To know God, as He really is, in His essential nature and character, is to have reached the absolute, and unchangeable, and utterly satisfying foundation, upon which, and upon which only, can be reared the whole superstructure of our religious life.
"To discover that He is not the selfish Being we are so often apt to think Him, but is instead really and fundamentally unselfish, caring not at all for Himself, but only and always for us and for our welfare, is to have found the answer to every human question, and the cure for every human ill."
I. Introduction
II My Parents
III My Quaker Childhood
IV Quakerism
V Quaker "truth" And Quaker "ministry"
VI Quaker "Opportunities"
VII Quaker Guidance
VIII Quaker "Queries"
IX The "Sugar-scoop" Bonnet
X The '' Hat Testimony"
XI "Plainness Of Speech"
XII Friends's "testimonies" Against Fiction, Music And Art
XIII Quaker Scruples
XIV The First Epoch In My Religious Life (the Awakening)
XV My Search
XVI Eclipse Of Faith
XVII A Renewed Search
XVIII Second Epoch In My Religious Life (restoration Of Belief)
XIX The Assurance Of Faith
XX The Romance Of The Religious Life
XXI Questionings
XXII The Third Epoch In My Religious Life (the Restitution Of All Things)
XXIII The Unselfishness Of God
XXIV Effect Of My Views On My Public Work
XXV The Fourth Epoch In My Religious Life (the Life Of Faith)
XXVI The Way Of Escape
XXVII A Discovery, Not An Attainment
XXVIII The Secret Of A Happy Life
XXIX The Life Of Faith, Quaker Doctrine
XXX Holiness Camp Meetings
XXXI The Lovely Will Of God
XXXII Old Age And Death
This book originally published in 1903 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
In this book she writes:
"After more than seventy years of life I have come to the profound conviction that every need of the soul is to be met by the discovery I have made. In that wonderful prayer of our Lord's in John 17, He says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." This used to seem to me a mystical saying, that might perhaps have a pious esoteric meaning, but certainly could have no practical application. But every year of my religious life I have discovered in it a deeper and more vital meaning; until now at last I see, that, rightly understood, it contains the gist of the whole matter. To know God, as He really is, in His essential nature and character, is to have reached the absolute, and unchangeable, and utterly satisfying foundation, upon which, and upon which only, can be reared the whole superstructure of our religious life.
"To discover that He is not the selfish Being we are so often apt to think Him, but is instead really and fundamentally unselfish, caring not at all for Himself, but only and always for us and for our welfare, is to have found the answer to every human question, and the cure for every human ill."
I. Introduction
II My Parents
III My Quaker Childhood
IV Quakerism
V Quaker "truth" And Quaker "ministry"
VI Quaker "Opportunities"
VII Quaker Guidance
VIII Quaker "Queries"
IX The "Sugar-scoop" Bonnet
X The '' Hat Testimony"
XI "Plainness Of Speech"
XII Friends's "testimonies" Against Fiction, Music And Art
XIII Quaker Scruples
XIV The First Epoch In My Religious Life (the Awakening)
XV My Search
XVI Eclipse Of Faith
XVII A Renewed Search
XVIII Second Epoch In My Religious Life (restoration Of Belief)
XIX The Assurance Of Faith
XX The Romance Of The Religious Life
XXI Questionings
XXII The Third Epoch In My Religious Life (the Restitution Of All Things)
XXIII The Unselfishness Of God
XXIV Effect Of My Views On My Public Work
XXV The Fourth Epoch In My Religious Life (the Life Of Faith)
XXVI The Way Of Escape
XXVII A Discovery, Not An Attainment
XXVIII The Secret Of A Happy Life
XXIX The Life Of Faith, Quaker Doctrine
XXX Holiness Camp Meetings
XXXI The Lovely Will Of God
XXXII Old Age And Death
This book originally published in 1903 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 1988
About the author
Hannah Whitall Smith
196 books35 followersHannah Whitall Smith, 1832-1911
Hannah Whitall Smith was a speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. She was also active in the Women's suffrage movement and the Temperance movement, helping found the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Hannah was no stranger to the difficulties of life. Although she had seven children in all, only three survived to adulthood.
Hannah Whitall Smith was a speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. She was also active in the Women's suffrage movement and the Temperance movement, helping found the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Hannah was no stranger to the difficulties of life. Although she had seven children in all, only three survived to adulthood.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 9, 2018
Feelings in all things must always depend upon facts. Quotes from Hannah Whitall Smith's writing is timeless. It has raised many questions about how I see my faith and how I see God?? I pray studying her writing will give me a better revelation of my personal truth. It will teach how to put things in perspective so I can walk this Christian walk on a daily basis.
I am enjoying this book almost as much as the Christians Secret to a Happy Life. Her writing is totally timeless and very practical.
I am enjoying this book almost as much as the Christians Secret to a Happy Life. Her writing is totally timeless and very practical.
January 29, 2017
A wonderful and encouraging book. Hannah Smith is one of my favorite Christian/spiritual authors! Every page is full of encouragement in how to trust a trustworthy God.
January 31, 2025
If you're reading this book (and you should) please be sure not to miss these three chapters, which were omitted from the edition I read, but can be found here: https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&...
Oddly, those were the three chapters I first read, amid a glorious ramble through the dated but earnest Tentmaker website, and the ones which sent me looking, several years later, for this book to fulfil a Brighter Winter reading challenge: Read a book about a woman you admire.
I found it a difficult challenge; I don't think about who I admire so much as I think about who I see Christ in. And Hannah Smith is hardly the obvious latter. She is often sweet, relentlessly passionate, and occasionally annoying. The page can obscure Christ, and I never met Hannah in person. It's how we relate to real live people that tells who lives in our hearts.
Anyone recommend a good biography of her?
Reading Smith's memoir in conjunction with present-day preacher Sarah Bessey's—Miracles and Other Reasonable Things—made for some intriguing comparisons.
Overall, it's good book, and one I recommend. But I did (being also occasionally annoying and sometimes passionate) print off the three excised chapters above, and stuck them, looseleaf, into the copy of the book I was reading. Here's hoping that the local library will let them remain there. Publishers shouldn't so casually burglarize such integral chapters in a woman's story.
Oddly, those were the three chapters I first read, amid a glorious ramble through the dated but earnest Tentmaker website, and the ones which sent me looking, several years later, for this book to fulfil a Brighter Winter reading challenge: Read a book about a woman you admire.
I found it a difficult challenge; I don't think about who I admire so much as I think about who I see Christ in. And Hannah Smith is hardly the obvious latter. She is often sweet, relentlessly passionate, and occasionally annoying. The page can obscure Christ, and I never met Hannah in person. It's how we relate to real live people that tells who lives in our hearts.
Anyone recommend a good biography of her?
Reading Smith's memoir in conjunction with present-day preacher Sarah Bessey's—Miracles and Other Reasonable Things—made for some intriguing comparisons.
Overall, it's good book, and one I recommend. But I did (being also occasionally annoying and sometimes passionate) print off the three excised chapters above, and stuck them, looseleaf, into the copy of the book I was reading. Here's hoping that the local library will let them remain there. Publishers shouldn't so casually burglarize such integral chapters in a woman's story.
May 15, 2017
This is Hannah Whitall Smith's spiritual autobiography and focuses largely on her discovery of how Christ daily sanctifies us.
August 10, 2020
This is Hannah Whitehall Smith's spiritual diary of how she was raised in the Quaker faith, came to saving faith in Christ, and was led on to experience the rest of faith.
February 6, 2026
Well-written, engaging read. The first half of the book details a lot about her Quaker background and was informative and the second half is more about her personal journey of faith and was encouraging / convicting!
February 23, 2025
En meget inderlig, åndelig selvbiografi, af en af de største kvinder i Amerika, og i kristendommen i de sidste tohundrede år. Læste med ekstra opmærksomhed på hendes opdagelse af den universalistiske lære i Det Nye Testamente, der af hendes oplæg blev censureret i årene efter hendes død. Blev noget lang i spyttet til sidst, der blev meget repeterende, i det hun også opdagede helliggørelsen i dette liv.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews