O Spirit of that early day, /
So pure and strong and true, /
Be with us in the narrow way /
Our faithful fathers knew. /
Give strength the evil to forsake, /
The cross of Truth to bear, /
And love and reverent fear to make /
Our daily lives a prayer!
“Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings us to new life.”
“To see the failings of our friends, and think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, and still carry a face of friendship, this tends to undermine the foundation of true unity.”
“The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world.”
“That none be busy-bodies in other’s matters, but each one to bear another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ; that they be sincere and without offence, and that all things which are honest be done without murmurings and disputings; that they may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, amongst whom they may shine as lights in the world.”
“Early Friends called themselves many things. One of the labels that they gave to themselves was ‘Publishers of Truth’. They meant that in the most basic form of making truth public. It could mean being what was called in the 17th century a ‘public Friends,’ one who was led to preach, to public ministry, to declare the word of the lord anywhere they could find an audience.”
“From the earliest days, Quakers were known for speaking truth as they experienced it inwardly in their meetings for worship. They didn’t make a distinction between belief and action. Truth was almost more of a verb than a noun; it was something which you ‘did’ as you experienced it.”
“I believe there is something in the mind, or in the heart, that shows its approbation when we do right. I give myself this advice: Do not fear truth, let it be so contrary to inclination and feeling. Never give up the search after it: and let me take courage, and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates, if it leads me to be a Quaker or not.”
February 2026: For the first time, our monthly theme is based on one quote: “Truth will not lose ground by being tried.” Isaac Penington wrote these words in a letter to a friend in 1670, encouraging her that truth will always prevail, saying, “Darkness is afraid of the light, because it has a secret sense that it cannot stand before it.” In this moment when the truth seems under attack, we explore what it means to live truthfully, to seek Divine truth, and to share it with others.
“Oh come! be not wedded to your own ways, nor prejudiced against what God hath taught others; but let things be fairly scanned, that all things may be proved, and that which is good held fast; for truth will not lose ground by being tried; but darkness is afraid of the light, because it has a secret sense that it cannot stand before it.”
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