“Seeing the Spirit inwardly nourisheth, when he giveth not to speak words, the inward sense and nourishment is to be waited for, and received as it was given when there are no words. Yea, the ministry of the Spirit and life is more close and immediate when without words, than when with words, as has been often felt, and is faithfully testified by many witnesses.”
“What is spiritual silence? It is not just the absence of talk. Silence has substance. It is the presence of something.
If we can stay in this place of silence without rushing to fill it up in some way, we are humbled to know even for a little while that we in our own power do not have all the answers. We become more willing to listen. Meanwhile, God has always been communicating. Listening to the Inward Teacher is the foundation of Quaker spirituality.”
“Open spaces are the analogue of the silences in a meeting for worship. Too full for articulate expression, the glory and fullness of the Infinite can only be portrayed by the unbroken silence.
Unhurried, unharried, we feel our way back to the world’s Mother, as the child feels its way to its parent’s arms. And there the Unspeakable is enough, fuller than expostulations and assurances. Yet again and again from out of that background emerge words, outthrusts of the Divine Life, a few sentences uttered in time yet pronounced from Eternity, a daily matter is set in cosmic frame. Resumption of silence is but the continuation of silence; unbroken space extends behind crag and cascade and river.”
“What is spiritual silence? It is not just the absence of talk. Silence has substance. It is the presence of something.
If we can stay in this place of silence without rushing to fill it up in some way, we are humbled to know even for a little while that we in our own power do not have all the answers. We become more willing to listen. Meanwhile, God has always been communicating. Listening to the Inward Teacher is the foundation of Quaker spirituality.”
“If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”
“Friends, as events unfold in the world around us, I very much fear that we are on the eve of a new and terrible global war. Even now it could be stopped, but there is not the will to stop it. There is rather the will to threaten and to fight, either by design or lack of thought, blundering forward in a manner reminiscent of the events that led up to World War I. The consequences of the war now beginning will bring immense suffering to many peoples. We as Friends need to do what we can to stop the wars that are already spreading or intensifying. But we also need to be prepared to be Quakers in wartime — never an easy experience.”
“The early church gathered not around Scripture, creed, or liturgy but around the presence and the experience of God in their midst. They trusted that God is what they needed to live and find their way through the empire. These new followers created seedbed communities called the Ekklesia—meaning called-out assembly or congregation—in which they could experience the presence of God within.”
“Love silence, even in the mind; for thoughts are to the mind as words are to the body, troublesome; much speaking, as well as much thinking, spends [….]
True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. It is a great virtue; it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids disputes, and prevents sin.”
“We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.”
“In the stillness and silence of the power of the Almighty dwell, which never varies, alters, nor changes, but preserveth over and out of, and above all the changeable worships, religions, ministers, churches, teachings, principalities, and powers, with the power of God, which keepeth over all this, to the kingdom of Christ, that is everlasting, in which there is no changing, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
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