Quaker Beginnings

“Quakers need to know our history because we are human and human beings are storytelling animals. In prehistoric times, we sat around campfires and shared stories—stories of spirits, of ancestors, of tribal triumphs and defeats…”

“The Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give Him all the glory; for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief, as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the preeminence, who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall hinder it? and this I knew experimentally.”

“We are a people that follow after those things that make for peace, love and unity; it is our desire that others’ feet may walk in the same, and do deny and bear our testimony against all strife, and wars, and contentions that come from the lusts that war in the members, that war in the soul, which we wait for, and watch for in all people, and love and desire the good of all… Treason, treachery, and false dealing we do utterly deny; false dealing, surmising, or plotting against any creature upon the face of the earth, and speak the truth in plainness, and singleness of heart.”

“We are a people that follow after those things that make for peace, love and unity; it is our desire that others’ feet may walk in the same, and do deny and bear our testimony against all strife, and wars, and contentions that come from the lusts that war in the members, that war in the soul, which we wait for, and watch for in all people, and love and desire the good of all… Treason, treachery, and false dealing we do utterly deny; false dealing, surmising, or plotting against any creature upon the face of the earth, and speak the truth in plainness, and singleness of heart.”

“Not by strength of arguments, or by a particular disquisition of each doctrine, and convincement of my understanding thereby, came [I] to receive and bear witness of the truth, but by being secretly reached by this life; for when I came into the silent assemblies of God’s people, I felt a secret power among them, which touched my heart, and as I gave way unto it, I found the evil weakening in me, and the good raised up, and so I became thus knit and united unto them.”

“Throughout the writings of early Friends runs one all-pervading, overpowering thought – that of the Light within. In every human heart, they tell us, there speaks the voice of God, and we have heard Him. The Light of Christ shines still for all men in the inmost of their souls, and in obedience to its influence lies hope… The Gospel of early Quakerism was a religion universal and real.”

“Give over thine own willing, give over thy own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything and sink down to the seed which God sows in the heart, and let that grow in thee and be in thee and breathe in thee and act in thee; and thou shalt find by sweet experience that the Lord knows that and loves and owns that, and will lead it to the inheritance of Life, which is its portion.”

“There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thoughts to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; and takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind.”

Can I, imprisoned, body-bounded, touch / The starry garment of the Oversoul, / Reach from my tiny part to the great / Whole, / And spread my Little to the infinite Much, / When Truth forever slips from out my clutch, / And what I take indeed, I do but dole / In cupfuls from a rimless ocean-bowl / That holds a million million million such?

“‘The Power of the Lord’ had multiple meanings for Fox and other early Friends, but the most common use of the phrase was to refer to a sensible, divine power or energy. Friends would experience this power surrounding them or flowing through their bodies under a variety of conditions, but most often at the point of convincement, when facing a trial, or during meeting for worship. An experience of the power was often associated with some kind of involuntary physical or mental phenomenon. When seized by the power, some Friends quaked, vocalized, or fell unconscious to the floor, while other Friends saw brilliant light, had visions, experienced healing, or felt a force emanating from them that was capable of subduing an angry and hostile mob…”

“Quakerism is mystical. Sitting in silence is mystical. And yet you won’t find any Quaker guide to mystical experience. We offer no gurus who will guide you on a path of advancement. We are all on our own together. There are good reasons for this. But I suspect that something is missing from contemporary Quakerism. Something that the early Quakers had in spades. Early Quakers were flagrant mystics.” 

“We are also to be witnesses for God, in the world: to be instruments in his hands, to bring others out of death and captivity into true life and liberty. We are to fight against the powers of darkness everywhere, as the Lord called us forth. And this we are to do in his wisdom, according to his will, in his power, and in his love, sweetness, and meekness.”

“How were our hearts melted as wax, and our souls poured out as water before the Lord, and our spirits as oil, frankincense and myrrh, offered up unto the Lord as sweet incense, when not a word outwardly in all our assembly had been uttered!”

“What would it look like if Friends revived the essential principles of seventeenth-century Quakerism? The contemporary religious environment and civil structures are quite different from those of the 1600s, but… these still support a social order that is in many ways diametrically opposed to the values that animated early Quakerism. Our calling as a people of God has not been fulfilled.”

“And now, persecution coming fast on, and many Friends being in prison, and sufferings growing sharp and great in most places; I could no longer keep back, or conceal myself: but a necessity came upon me to come forth, and show myself, and take my part and lot with the sufferers… Thus were the bonds and sufferings of faithful Friends made a means to confirm, and embolden me to profess the Truth.”

“Our Society originated, grew stronger, and flourished under persecution, and the members were united in the strong bonds of mutual love and affection, which qualified them to deeply feel for each other, and made them willing to share in each other’s sufferings. In this state nothing but force or ill health kept them from their meetings.”

“The English Fryar [in the prison] was wrath, and shewed us his Crucifix, and bid us look there. We said, ‘The Lord saith, “Thou shalt not make to thyself the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow to them nor worship them, but I the Lord thy God only.”‘ 

“You Magistrates of the City and County of Gloucester, who have been active in this unchristian work of Persecution against an In­nocent People, if this should come to your Hands, I entreat you to read it with Moderation, and take Counsel in time, for as I have sometime said to some of you, Good Counsel will not hurt you, or any Man. Oh, that I may prevail with you to take Counsel of the Lord, and obey the Light of his Son Christ Jesus in your own Hearts, that will teach you to do as you would be done by, and not to continue in such an unchristian frame of Mind, still to Oppress the Poor…”

“Imagine yourself back in 1650 England. For much of the year, it’s dark by 4 PM. Imagine walking to another Quaker’s home for an evening meeting for worship. Maybe the moon is full or maybe it’s absent. Maybe the moon is shining, but maybe its light is obscured by an overcast sky. Perhaps you carry a candle or an oil lantern, but its light isn’t very bright and it doesn’t extend very far. It’s very dark. It’s that darkness that’s key to understanding a major difference between how early Quakers related to the Light and how we do today.”

“The Love I bear to the Souls of all Men makes me willing to undergo whatever can be inflicted on me.”

“If you neither hear nor obey the Lord nor his servants, yet will he send more of his servants among you, so that your end shall be frustrated, that think to restrain them, you call cursed Quakers, from coming among you by any thing you can do to them; yea verily, he has a seed here among you, for whom we have suffered all this while, and yet suffer; whom the Lord of the harvest will send forth more laborers to gather (out of the mouths of the devourers of all sorts) into his fold, where he will lead them into fresh pastures, even the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”