The Problem of Basing Your Religion on Feelings: Hannah Whitall Smith’s Story, Part 2
![](https://media.faithalone.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/28132323/The-Problem-of-Basing-Your-Religion-on-Feelings-Hannah-Whitall-Smiths-Story-Part-2-930x780.jpg)
When Hannah Whitall Smith grew up among the Quakers of Philadelphia in the 1830s, she found that their legalism and emphasis on inward feelings and impressions combined to make a perfect formula for religious doubt: The sort of introspection I had imbided from my Quaker teaching was calculated to lead to constant self-examination of the