Introduction

HISTORICALLY, as Friends conducted their business and drew up their minutes, they noted points where they were able to see clearly how to proceed. These records did not become inflexible rules, but were revised as needed. Guidance from within could always open Friends’ eyes to a new sense of direction. Over the years they created documents that served both as records and as guides. Such a document was often called a “Book of Discipline.”

The word “discipline” in this context has two meanings. The first relates to how one lives a religious or spiritual life by following one’s inner leadings and adhering to practices or teachings to which one is committed. It was in this sense of loyalty and commitment that Jesus’ followers were known as his Disciples.

The other meaning of the word “discipline” relates to the conduct of the affairs of the religious body, i.e., corporate rather than individual discipleship. Such discipline describes the system of order by which the religious body seeks to remain true to its principles, and to help its adherents remain true. It is a system of order chosen as a conscious alternative to the religious anarchy which can occur when impulse is the basis of decision and individuals or groups move on their own tangents without benefit of the discoveries and procedures that have been tested over time.

A Quaker book of discipline, also called Faith and Practice, reflects both of these meanings as it sets forth the attitudes and experiences of Friends as guideposts to be considered prayerfully and carefully, and the practices which Friends Meetings have tested and revised over the years. Each such book reflects the attitudes, the experiences, and the unique approach to Quakerism of a given body of Friends at a particular time and place.

Faith and Practice is an evolving document, reflecting the growing experience of Friends in North Pacific Yearly Meeting as we seek to know and follow the Inner Light. This second edition reflects change in the discipline of Marriage and Committed Relationships in our Yearly Meeting. Members and attenders are urged to study, use and evaluate the book in the spirit of the Inner Light. Suggested changes which arise from individuals or committees are to be forwarded to the Discipline Committee. After consideration, they are seasoned through the actions of Monthly and Quarterly Meetings and the Yearly Meeting. They may be incorporated in a future edition.

In 1656 the elders of the Meeting at Balby in Yorkshire, England, drafted a collection of advices to which they added a postscript:

Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

Modern Friends still aspire to use Faith and Practice with this attitude in mind. In 1954 Jan Palen Rushmore spoke similarly, but in a different metaphor: “The teachings of our Quaker forefathers were intended to be landmarks, not campsites.”

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History

A Brief Overview

That which people had been vainly seeking without, with much pains and cost, they by this ministry found within, where it was they wanted what they sought for, namely the right way to peace with God. For they were directed to the light of Jesus Christ within them, as the seed and leaven of the kingdom of God.

— William Penn, 1694

THE MOVEMENT which resulted in the Religious Society of Friends arose in seventeenth-century England after the height of the Puritan revolution. In this period of great religious ferment and seeking, when old church forms were being questioned and many people were reading the Bible for the first time, Quakers sought through direct inward experience to find again the life and power of early Christianity.

George Fox was born in 1624 in the hamlet called Drayton-in-the-Clay, located in Leicestershire in the heart of the Midlands. His parents were Christopher and Mary (Lago) Fox, both Puritans. Christopher was a church warden and his trade was weaving. George was apprenticed to a shoemaker who also dealt in-sheep and cattle. From his boyhood resolution to be honest in all things, George went on to reject all double standards of living. After much Bible study and travel about the country seeking help and comfort from ministers and members of established religious sects, he had an experience at the age of twenty-three which he later described in his Journal:

As I had forsaken all the priests, so I left the separate preachers also, and those called the most-experienced people. For I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, then, O then, I heard a voice which said, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,” and, when I heard it my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord did 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 pre-eminence, who enlightens, and gives grace and faith and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall let it? And this I knew experimentally. My desires after the Lord grew stronger and zeal in the pure knowledge of God and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spoke of Christ and of God, yet I knew him not but by revelation, as he who hath the key, did open, and as the Father of life drew me to his Son by his spirit. And then the Lord did gently lead me along, and let me see his love, which was endless and eternal.

During the next five years, as George Fox traveled about England, small groups of like-minded people began to gather. These early Quakers had a remarkable sense of mission: having found a personal encounter with Christ, they felt compelled to share it with all who would listen. By the year 1700, George Fox and the Valiant Sixty had traveled all over England and to Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Holland, Germany, and France were visited by Friends, and Mary Fisher went to see the Sultan of Turkey. Thousands of Friends had been imprisoned and hundreds had died in prison.

Beginning in 1655 many Quakers visited Barbados and the English colonies. They won the struggle for religious toleration in New England and Virginia, thousands settled, and meetings were established in all the colonies. George Fox and twelve other Friends made a trip in 1672, visiting Barbados, arriving in Maryland and traveling to all of the important Quaker centers. Colonies of Friends settled in New Jersey in 1675 and 1677, and in Pennsylvania after 1681, when William Penn received the grant from King Charles II.

The first Yearly Meeting met in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1661 and this was followed by the establishment of Yearly Meetings in Dublin, London, Baltimore, Virginia, Philadelphia (including New Jersey), New York, and North Carolina. As the distances were great, Friends continued to look to England more than to the neighboring colonies.

The first minute of advice against the slave trade was written in 1688 by Germantown Friends, near Philadelphia.

In the eighteenth century there was continued visiting by Friends in the traveling ministry, who sometimes spent as long as a year visiting meetings and families. This intervisitation was supplemented by letters and epistles and had a unifying effect. The writings of the founders of the Society were widely circulated and read. These early Friends saw no need for higher education and, given the rigors of frontier life, there was at this time a decline in educated leadership. However, because so much attention was paid to establishing elementary schools in Quaker communities, the general literacy level was raised above that of the colonies in general.

As John Woolman and other concerned Friends aroused the consciences of many, Meetings became more and more uneasy about slavery. The subject was brought up again and again, until in 1784 the Society was united in refusing membership to any who held slaves. Friends continued to work for universal abolition.

The first Meeting for Sufferings in the colonies was established in 1756 by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to extend relief and assistance to Friends on the frontiers who might suffer from the Indians or others; to represent the Yearly Meeting; and to look out for the interests of the Society, but not to “meddle with matters of faith or discipline.”

The Yearly Meetings’ comparatively informal rules of order were reduced to writing, and manuscript copies were made for the use of the Quarterly Meetings. Parts were printed from time to time, and eventually an official Extracts from the Minutes and Advices was published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and distributed to its constituent monthly meetings.

Withdrawal of Friends in America from government, and from society generally, began with the trials of the years of the French and Indian Wars (1754-1763). Naval actions in the Napoleonic wars and the war of 1812 cut off opportunity for travel for both American and British Friends.

Friends had come to rely upon tradition and the truth that had been revealed to previous generations, rather than remaining open to new revelation. At the same time Americans, including Quakers, were being influenced by the democratic ideas of the Declaration of Independence, rationalism, and the more liberal religious philosophy of the French Revolution and a religious movement of evangelism. A struggle developed between Friends who emphasized the outward historical events recorded in Scripture and those who emphasized inward mystical experience. It began as a controversy over the authority of the elders, but became a theological controversy between the followers of the historic Christ (Orthodox) and followers of the Inward Christ (Hicksite). Each emphasized a portion of the message of early Friends and rejected the rest as they saw it interpreted by the other group.

The first separations came in 1827 in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and 1828 in New York Yearly Meeting, with two-thirds of the membership, particularly those in the country, forming Hicksite Meetings. There were no separations in New England, Virginia, or North Carolina Yearly Meetings. Baltimore Yearly Meeting separated but the Orthodox group was very small. Ohio Yearly Meeting, established in 1813, separated into groups of equal size. Indiana Yearly Meeting, established in 1821, had a much larger Orthodox group. London Yearly Meeting chose to recognize the Orthodox Yearly Meetings and ignored the Hicksite Yearly Meetings until 1915.

Within the Orthodox Yearly Meetings, there began to be one group which was increasingly attached to Quaker tradition and belief in the inward life as supported by John Wilbur, while another group was sympathetic to the ideas of Joseph John Gurney with increasing emphasis on the importance of Biblical authority. In 1845, in New England, a small group of Friends formed a separate Yearly Meeting with John Wilbur, while in Ohio Yearly Meeting the Wilburites were the larger group in a separation. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting avoided another division by stopping all communication with other Yearly Meetings, a situation which persisted until 1910. Lack of communication and the resulting isolation deprived some Friends of a steadying conservative influence and others of the stimulus of liberal and progressive movements.

Later, in the 1870’s, as Orthodox Yearly Meetings accepted the pastoral system in Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas, and in 1903 in North Carolina, new Conservative yearly meetings were established.

Another major nineteenth-century development was the establishment of Quaker colleges. Haverford was founded in 1833 and Earlham in 1847. In the years between 1864 and 1900 there were founded Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Wilmington, Penn, Guilford, Whittier, Pacific (now George Fox), Friends University, and Nebraska Central.

There were various gatherings of Friends for cooperative effort and greater unity of purpose and practice. These resulted in the establishment of Friends General Conference in 1900 and, in 1902, Five Years Meeting (now Friends United Meeting). Ohio Yearly Meeting did not join Five Years Meeting, and Oregon Yearly Meeting withdrew in 1926, Kansas Yearly Meeting in 1937. In 1957 Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting separated from Nebraska Yearly Meeting. These four Yearly Meetings formed the Evangelical Friends Alliance in 1965.

The reunion of Yearly Meetings began in New England in 1945 with the joining of the Orthodox and Wilburite Yearly Meetings and two independent Monthly Meetings. In 1955 the Hicksite and Orthodox Meetings joined in both New York and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings. Three bodies joined to become Canadian Yearly Meeting.

Before 1900 many Friends had moved to the western states. Joel Bean and his family had arrived in San Jose, California, from Iowa in 1882. In 1889 they and other Friends formed the College Park Association of Friends. It was unique because it was made up of Friends from different backgrounds and had no formal recognition by any Yearly Meeting.

Friends from Iowa organized the first west coast Monthly Meeting at Newberg, Oregon, in 1878, and in 1893 Oregon Yearly Meeting (now Northwest) was established by Iowa Yearly Meeting. California Yearly Meeting was established in 1895, also under Iowa Yearly Meeting. Friends Memorial Meeting in Seattle was organized in 1905, part of Puget Sound Quarterly Meeting of Indiana Yearly Meeting. Friends from this Meeting formed University Friends Worship Group, which became a Preparative Meeting in 1938 and a Monthly Meeting in 1940.

Pacific Coast Association of Friends was formed and met for the first time in 1931. Friends came from Corvallis, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia to meet with California Friends from San Jose, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Riverside, and Pasadena. Participation increased over the years until the need was felt for the organization of a Yearly Meeting. The decision was made after much discussion, and the first session of Pacific Yearly Meeting was held in 1947.

Friends in Corvallis began to meet as a worship group in 1927. They and other Friends in the Willamette Valley began to worship together each month in Salem. In 1948 these Friends formed Willamette Valley Monthly Meeting, a part of Pacific Yearly Meeting. They also became a part of Northwest Half-Yearly Meeting, which included University Monthly Meeting and British Columbia and Alberta Quarterly Meeting.

The Eugene Worship Group became a Preparative Meeting in 1949 and a Monthly Meeting in 1956. Portland Friends became Multnomah Preparative Meeting in 1951 and a Monthly Meeting in 1957. Corvallis Worship Group became a Preparative Meeting in 1954. In 1962 Willamette Valley Monthly Meeting divided into Corvallis Monthly Meeting and Salem Monthly Meeting. In 1958 these Meetings formed Oregon Quarterly Meeting which became Willamette Quarterly Meeting in 1962. Washington and Canadian Friends continued as Pacific Northwest Half-Yearly Meeting (now called Northwest Quarterly Meeting).

In Washington, the Tacoma Worship Group began in 1951 and became a Preparative Meeting in 1952 and a Monthly Meeting in 1958. Eastside Friends began to meet as a Worship Group in 1956, became a Preparative Meeting in 1957 and a Monthly Meeting in 1961. Olympia Friends began a Worship Group in 1972, became a Preparative Meeting in 1977 and a Monthly Meeting in 1979. Pullman-Moscow Friends met as a Worship Group for many years, became a Preparative Meeting in 1971 and a Monthly Meeting in 1982.

Oregon and Washington Friends began to feel that they could no longer host Pacific Yearly Meeting and that their numbers had increased enough for a Yearly Meeting in the Northwest. After a joint Quarterly Meeting in 1971 and a trial gathering in 1972, they met as North Pacific Yearly meeting in 1973. This now includes Friends in Idaho and in Montana, where Billings Monthly Meeting was established in 1984.

Between 1986 and 1993, we had continued growth in the Yearly Meeting: In Idaho, Boise Valley; in Montana, Heartland and Missoula; in Oregon, Rogue Valley; and in Washington, Salmon Bay became Monthly Meetings. In addition to the fifteen Monthly Meetings, we have one Preparative Meeting (Walla Walla) and twenty-four worship groups throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

In 1972 Canadian Friends decided to limit their activities to Canadian Yearly Meeting rather than to join North Pacific Yearly Meeting.

The Meetings in Arizona and New Mexico left Pacific Yearly Meeting and joined with Colorado Friends to become Intermountain Yearly Meeting in 1975.

North Pacific and Intermountain Yearly Meetings continue to cooperate with Pacific Yearly Meeting in Friends Bulletin and some committees.

Recent Development: The Evolution of Faith and Practice

In 1986 the first edition of Faith and Practice was presented at Annual Session of North Pacific Yearly Meeting. Many were deeply concerned with the first sentence of the Marriage section, which read, “In a marriage, a man and a woman enter into a covenant with each other and with God.” A lengthy discussion ensued. Out of the expressions of pain and searching, the Meeting minuted:

North Pacific Yearly Meeting accepts its newly published Faith and Practice as a gift and as a living, evolving document. We are unable to reach unity on whether a marriage is ‘a covenant between two persons and God’ or ‘a covenant between a man and a woman and God’. We urge Meetings to discuss these varied views during the next year.”

Although many Meetings discussed the issue, no action was taken until the 1990 Yearly Meeting. By that time, some change had taken place and it was minuted:

“Yearly Meeting finds that the first sentence in the chapter on marriage in Faith and Practice does not reflect the state of the Yearly Meeting and directs the Discipline Committee to begin its revision process of that sentence, at least.”

The Discipline Committee began working on the task in November, 1990. They met (using telephone conference calls) frequently over the next two and one-half years. The new section on Marriage and Committed Relationships evolved through five drafts of the material. Each of the draft documents went to the Steering Committee and then was sent to the Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups for seasoning, comments and concerns. Friends shared a great deal of feedback which the committee attempted to incorporate into the material. At the 1991 and 1992 Yearly Meetings, drafts were presented and Friends met with the Discipline Committee.

In the process of working on the section and learning more about and from gay and lesbian members and attenders, many Monthly Meetings within the Yearly Meeting minuted their clearness to take both heterosexual and homosexual couples under their care.

In the spring of 1993, the Steering Committee approved the section on Marriage and Committed Relationships and directed the publication of this second edition of Faith and Practice .

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Friends’ Beliefs

FOR MANY UNFAMILIAR WITH QUAKERS, the way we speak of our faith and the diversity of belief found among us may be perplexing. Even those who have been among Friends for a while may find it challenging to sort out our theology. This difficulty arises in part from the fact that the Society of Friends is not a single, homogeneous group but a large spiritual family with several branches that have evolved in different directions over the past three centuries. Another part of the challenge in understanding Quaker faith derives from our attitude toward creeds or other formal statements of faith. Friends do not make a written creedal statement the test of faith or the measure of suitability for membership.

The lack of a creed has sometimes led to the misconception that Friends do not have beliefs or that one can believe anything and be a Friend. However, most Quakers take the absence of a creed as an invitation and encouragement to exercise an extra measure of personal responsibility for the articulation of faith. Rather than rely on priests or professional theologians, each believer is encouraged to take seriously the personal disciplines associated with spiritual growth. Out of lives of reflection, prayer, faithfulness, and service flow the statements of belief, both in word and in deed, which belong to Friends. The reader will find many such examples in the sections which-follow.

As one reads the statements of Friends in Faith and Practice and in the wealth of Quaker literature, of which these quotations are only a small sampling, patterns of belief appear. But it is only in careful, sustained observation of our work and ministry as individuals and as a community of faith that an understanding of Friends’ beliefs emerges with fullness and clarity. The brief generalizations offered here are no substitute for thorough study and reflection; at best they offer a few signposts which will draw one into a richer journey and remind one of deeper insights.

One central area of belief which has received considerable attention over the years is the relationship of Quakerism to Christianity. Whether one interprets the Quaker movement as a strand within Protestantism or as a third force distinct from both Protestantism and Catholicism, the movement, both in its origin and in the various branches which have evolved, is rooted in Christianity. However, from its inception it has offered both a critique of many accepted manifestations of Christianity and an empathy with people of faith beyond the bounds of Christianity. Some Friends have placed particular emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while others have found more compelling a universal perspective emphasizing the Divine Light enlightening every person. One of the lessons of our own history as a religious movement is that an excessive reliance on one or the other of these perspectives, neglecting the essential connectedness between the two, has been needlessly divisive and has drawn us away from the vitality of the Quaker vision at its best.

In yearly meetings such as ours, the concern of Friends is not that members affirm a particular verbal formulation of this faith but that it be a living and transforming power within their lives. Challenged by the words of Jesus as quoted in Matthew 7:21—“lt is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven”--we do not place emphasis on the naming of God. Instead we encourage one another, in John Woolman’s phrase, “to distinguish the language of the pure Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart.” In the course of following this spiritual path, many Friends do come to find great depths of meaning in familiar Christian concepts and language, while others do not. Although sometimes perplexing to the casual observer, this phenomenon does not trouble many seasoned Friends who have discovered a deep unity with one another in the Spirit.

Another area of Quaker belief and experience that deserves attention is the attitude of Friends toward the Bible. Friends find the Jewish and Christian writings which make up the Bible to be a rich and sustaining source of inspiration and a record of God’s revelation over many centuries. TheQuaker movement began at a time when the Bible had recently come into wide circulation in England, and Friends drew greatly from it. George Fox and others knew the Bible well, studied it earnestly, and quoted it often. The inspiration of the scriptures was affirmed, but a distinction which has remained important to this day was also emphasized by early Friends. In Henry Cadbury’s words: “Divine revelation was not confined to the past. The same Holy Spirit which had inspired the scriptures in the past could inspire living believers centuries later. Indeed, for the right understanding of the past, the present insight from the same Spirit was essential.” Thus, in emphasizing the power which gave forth the scriptures and the accessibility of this same power to us today, Friends have avoided making written records alone a final or infallible test. Instead we are invited to be drawn into that same spirit which gave forth the Bible, both in order to understand its contents and to be led in a continually maturing discovery of the ways of God.

Such discovery is fostered through the study, contemplation, and work of each individual, and these private acts of devotion and service in turn prepare us for the experience of corporate worship. Quaker worship in itself is a reflection of many of the most cherished beliefs of Friends. It is set in silence and thus reflects the importance we give to stilling ourselves and being centered in the Divine Presence. It emphasizes the immediate experience of the Divine in a community whose members share in a common journey and a common opportunity for participation and ministry. When we are blessed with a sense of gatheredness we often find the strength for approaching worshipfully the variety of tasks and challenges to which we return. Living worshipfully is an aim of recurring importance.

The absence of outward rites and ceremonies in Friends worship is a result of our emphasis on the reality of the inward experience. Desiring to avoid symbolism that may tend to supplant substance, we do not observe the traditional Christian sacraments. Instead Friends seek to view all of life as sacramental. In the pages which follow, the reader will find discussion of several other practices and testimonies which are of importance to Friends: simplicity, sincerity and integrity, equality and social justice, peace, and others. These outward testimonies flow from our faith and are in a sense fruits of the spirit. Our very name, the Religious Society of Friends, finds its source in Jesus’ statement (John 15:14-15) that “You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.” The inseparability of faith and practice is a truth which pervades both our past and our present.

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Statements of Friends’ Experiences

OVER THE YEARS--in journals, in spoken ministry, and in other ways--Friends have put into words what they have experienced spiritually. Friends have never been restricted by dogma and thus have been free to embrace new knowledge as it shed light on their own evolving spiritual understanding. This growing understanding is reflected in the statements by Friends which follow.

Spiritual Experiences

George Fox, 1647

There was something revealed in me that the Lord would teach his people himself; and so I waited, and many things opened in me of a time at hand…. And as I did give up all to the Judgment, the captive came forth out of prison and rejoiced, and my heart was filled with joy, and I came to see him whom I had pierced, and my heart was broken … and then I saw the Cross of Christ, and stood in it … and so eternal life was brought in through death and judgment; and then the perfect gift I received … and the holy law of God was revealed unto me, and was written in my heart.

Francis Howgill, 1665

At last after all my distresses, wanderings and sore travels, I met with some writings of this people called Quakers, which I cast a slight eye upon and disdained, as falling very short of that wisdom, light, life and power, which I had been longing for and searching after…. After a long time, I was invited to hear one of them…. When I came, I felt the presence and power of the Most High among them, and words of truth from the Spirit of truth reaching to my heart and conscience, opening my state as in the presence of the Lord. Yes, I did not only feel words and demonstrations from without, but I felt the dead quickened, the seed raised; insomuch as my heart, in the certainty of light and clearness of true sense, said: “This is he; this is he; there is no other; this is he whom I have waited for and sought after from my childhood, who was always near me, and had often begotten life in my heart, but I knew him not distinctly nor how to receive him, or dwell with him.” …

But some may desire to know what I have at last met with. I answer, “I have met with the Seed.” Understand that word, and thou wilt be satisfied and inquire no further. I have met with my God, I have met with my Saviour, and he hath not been present with me without his Salvation, but I have felt the healings drop upon my soul from under his wings.

Isaac Penington, 1667

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 the 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, hungering more and more after the increase of this power and life, whereby I might feel. myself perfectly redeemed.

Robert Barclay, 1676

In a time of sickness with the pleurisy, a little upward of two years and a half ago, I was brought so near the gates of death that I forgot my name. Being then desirous to know who I was, I saw a mass of matter of a dull gloomy color between the South and the East, and was informed that this mass was human beings in as great misery as they could be, and live, and that I was mixed with them, and that henceforth I might not consider myself as a distinct or separate being. In this state I remained several hours. I then heard a soft melodious voice, more pure and harmonious than any voice I had heard with my ears before; and I believed it was the voice of an angel who spoke to other angels. The words were, John Woolman is dead. I soon remembered that I was once John Woolman and being assured that I was alive in the body, I greatly wondered what that heavenly voice could mean…. At length I felt Divine power prepare my mouth that I could speak, and then said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live in the flesh is by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Then the mystery was opened, and I perceived that there was joy in heaven over a sinner who had repented, and that that language, John Woolman is dead, meant no more than the death of my own will.

John Woolman, 1772

I was not “christened” in a church, but I was sprinkled from morning to night with the dew of religion. We never ate a meal together which did not begin with a hush of thanksgiving; we never began a day without “a family gathering” at which my mother read a chapter of the Bible, after which there would follow a weighty silence…. My first steps in religion were thus acted. It was a religion we did together. Almost nothing was said in the way of instructing me. We all joined together to listen for God, and then one of us talked to him for the others. In these simple ways my religious disposition was being unconsciously formed and the roots of my faith in unseen realities were reaching down far below my crude and childish surface thinking.

Rufus M. Jones, 1926

The night before landing in Liverpool I awoke in my berth with a strange sense of trouble and sadness. As I lay wondering what it meant, I felt myself invaded by a Presence and held by the Everlasting Arms. It was the most extraordinary experience I had ever had. But I had no intimation that anything was happening to Lowell [his eleven-year-old son]. When we landed in Liverpool a cable informed me that he was desperately ill, and a second cable, in answer to one from me, brought the dreadful news that he was gone. When the news reached my friend John Wilhelm Rowntree, he experienced a profound sense of Divine Presence enfolding him and me, and his comfort and love were an immense help to me in my trial…. I know now, as I look back across the years, that nothing has carried me up into the life of God, or done more to open out the infinite meaning of love, than the fact that love can span this break of separation, can pass beyond the visible and hold right on across the chasm. The mystic union has not broken and knows no end.

Rufus M. Jones, 1947

Whenever we are driven into the depths of our own being, or seek them of our own will, we are faced by a tremendous contrast. On the one side we recognize the pathetic littleness of ephemeral existence, with no point or meaning in itself. On the other side, in the depth, there is something eternal and infinite in which our existence, and indeed all existence, is grounded. This experience of the depths of existence fills us with a sense both of reverence and of responsibility, which gives even to our finite lives a meaning and a power which they do not possess in themselves. This, I am assured, is our human experience of God.

John MacMurray, 1967

There is indeed One that speaks to my condition, but that One may not announce a name, or even speak a word; it may reveal itself as Light, or inner peace, or compassion for humanity. But whatever its manifestation, there is only One. If that One is perceived as a King, then that is a true perception; if it is perceived as a Mother, then that is also a true perception. If I call God “Holy Mother” and you call God “Divine King,” does that mean there are two Gods? No, there is only One.

That of God within every person is sometimes recognized as the Spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit, or the Inner Light. As Friends we accept and respect that Spirit, however perceived, in all people, and particularly in each other. We

can give testimony to our own experience, as honestly and faithfully as possible, but we cannot alter another’s spiritual condition. Let us receive Light as it is given to us, and share it as we are able, and trust in the One that can speak to the condition of all people, to care for and guide us all.

Helen Park, 1979

When we turn inside or beyond ourselves to grasp some understanding of the divine, we discover through encounter that what we need to find we will find: a Something creative and renewing, overwhelmingly strong and passive, completely wise and innocent, living and dying, feminine and masculine.

Our father, our mother, our light, which is in heaven and earth, holy is your name. Come.

Patrice Haan, 1983

I am just now beginning to feel comfortable with the realization of a Feminine Spirit as a personal presence. I will continue to work toward centering in Worship, to be open to the Light, its peace and comfort, and maybe then, its message through her voice. I do not search for her. I just know her as the source of my Light.

Molly Barnett, 1983

Faith

Now the Lord God opened to me by his invisible power, that every man was enlightened by the divine light of Christ, and I saw it shine through all; and they that believed in it came out of condemnation to the light of life, and became the children of it, but they that hated it, and did not believe it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ. This I saw in the pure openings of the Light, without the help of any man, neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures, though afterwards, searching the Scriptures, I found it. For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth, and which led the holy men of God to give them forth, that all must come to that Spirit, if they would know God or Christ or the Scriptures aright.

George Fox, 1648

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 in the 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 is 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. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It’s conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it, nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal life.

James Nayler, 1660

Friends, the cross is the power of God. When you flee the cross, you lose the power…. Though the cross seems foolishness, stand in it … though it be a stumbling block to the wise, stand in it…. And this is not for you to be exercised in only for a time, as at your first convincement; but, daily, even to the death.

Priscilla Cotton, 1664

Conscience follows the judgment, doth not inform it; but this light as it is received, removes the blindness of the judgment, opens the understanding, and rectifies both the judgment and the conscience. The conscience is an excellent thing where it is rightly informed and enlightened; wherefore some of us have fitly compared it to the lantern, and the light of Christ to the candle; a lantern is useful, when a clear candle burns and shines in it, but otherwise of no use. To the light of Christ then in the conscience, and not to man’s natural conscience, it is that we continually commend men.

Robert Barclay, 1676

That which the people called Quakers lay down as a main fundamental in religion is this, that God through Christ hath placed a principle in every man to inform him of his duty, and to enable him to do it; and that those that live up to this principle are the people of God, and those that live in disobedience to it are not God’s people, whatever name they may bear or profession they may make of religion. This is their ancient, first, and standing testimony. With this they began, and this they bore and do bear to the world.

William Penn, 1693

The unity of Christians never did nor ever will or can stand in uniformity of thought and opinion, but in Christian love only.

Thomas Story, 1737

In the love of money and in the wisdom of this world, business is proposed, then the urgency of affairs push forward, nor can the mind in this state discern the good and perfect will of God concerning us. The love of God as manifested is graciously calling us to come out of that which stands in confusion; but if we bow not in the name of Jesus, if we give not up those prospects of gain which in the wisdom of this world are open before us, but say in our hearts, “I must needs go on, and in going on I hope to keep as near to the purity of Truth as the business before me will admit of,” here the mind remains entangled and the shining of the light of life into the soul is obstructed.

John Woolman, 1772

There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages hath had different names. It is, however, pure and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion, nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes

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root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren in the best sense of the expression.

John Woolman, 1774

They fail to read clearly the signs of the times who do not see that the hour is coming when, under the searching eye of philosophy and the terrible analysis of science, the letter and the outward evidence will not altogether avail us; when the surest dependence must be on the light of Christ within, disclosing the law and the prophets in our own souls, and confirming the truth of outward Scripture by inward experience.

John Greenleaf Whittier, 1870

While seeking to interpret our Christian faith in the language of today, we must remember that there is one worse thing than failure to practice what we profess, and that is to water down our profession to match our practice.

Friends World Conference, 1952

The best type of religion is one in which the mystical, the evangelical, the rational, and the social are so related that each exercises a restraint on the others. Too exclusive an emphasis on mysticism results in a religion which is individualistic, subjective, and vague; too dominant an evangelicalism results in a religion which is authoritarian, creedal, and external; too great an emphasis on rationalism results in a cold intellectual religion which appeals only to the few; too engrossing a devotion to the social gospel results in a religion which, in improving the outer environment, ignores defects in the inner life which cause the outer disorder. In Quakerism the optimum is not equality in rank of the four elements. The mystical is basic. The Light Within occasions the acceptance or rejection of a particular authority, reason, or service.

Howard Brinton, 1952

Experienceis the Quaker’s starting-point. This light must be mylight, this truth must be mytruth, this faith must be my very own faith. The key that unlocks the door to the spiritual life belongs not to Peter, or some other person, as an official. It belongs to the individual soul, that finds the light, discovers the truth, that sees the revelation of God and goes on living in the demonstration and power of it.

Rufus M. Jones, 1927

For God canbe found…. There is a Divine Center into which your life can slip, a new and absolute orientation in God, a Center where you live with him and out of which you see all life, through new and radiant vision, tinged with new sorrows and pangs, new joys unspeakable and full of glory.

Thomas R. Kelly, 1938

The Inward Light is a universal light given to all men, religious consciousness itself being basically the same wherever it is found. Our difficulties come when we try to express it. We cannot express; we can only experience God. Therefore we must always remember tolerance, humility, and tenderness with others whose ways and views may differ from ours.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1953

We must be alert that the warm coziness which we find enveloping us at Yearly Meeting and in our Monthly Meetings does not snare us into imagining that this is all of Quakerism. A vital religion is one which goes from an encounter with the love of God to an encounter in service to that love, no matter how hopeless the situation may be.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1967

This central affirmation, that the Light of the Christlike God shines in every person, implies that our knowledge of God is both subjective and objective. It is easy to misconstrue “Inner Light” as an invitation to individualism and anarchy if one concentrates on the subjective experience known to each one. But it is an equally important part of our faith and practice to recognize that we are not affirming the existence and priority of your light and my light, but of the Light of God, and of the God who is made known to us supremely in Jesus. The inward experience must be checked by accordance with the mind of Christ, the fruits of the Spirit, the character of that willed caring which in the New Testament is called Love.

It is further checked by the fact that if God is known in measure by every person, our knowledge of him will be largely gained through the experience of others who reverently and humbly seek him. In the last resort we must be guided by our own conscientiously held conviction--but it is in the last resort. First, we must seek carefully and prayerfully through the insights of others, both in the past and among our contemporaries, and only in the light of this search do we come to our affirmation.

L. Hugh Doncaster, 1972

For the mystery of faith is held in a pure conscience, that you may be led, guided, taught, and governed by this which cannot err, but is pure and eternal, and endureth for evermore.

Margaret Fell, 1668

The Scriptures

Concerning the Holy Scriptures, we do believe that they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God, through the holy men of God, who (as the Scripture itself declares, 2 Peter 1:21) “spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” We believe they are to be read, believed, and fulfilled (he that fulfills them is Christ) and they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16)….

George Fox, 1671

And so he went on and said, How that Christ was the Light of the world and lighteth every man that cometh into the world; and that by this Light they might be gathered to God, etc. And I stood up in my pew, and I wondered at his doctrine, for I had never heard such before. And then he went on, and opened the Scriptures, and said, “The Scriptures were the prophets’ words and Christ’s and the apostles’ words, and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed and had it from the Lord.” And said, “Then what had any to do with the Scriptures, but as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth. You will say, Christ saith this, and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say?” … This opened me so that it cut me to the heart…. And I cried in my spirit to the Lord, “We are all thieves, we are all thieves, we have taken the Scriptures in words and know nothing of them in ourselves.”

Margaret Fell, 1652

How much the Bible has to teach when taken as a whole, that cannot be done by snippets! There is its range over more than a thousand years giving us the perspective of religion in time, growing and changing, and leading from grace to grace. There is its clear evidence of the variety of religious experience, not the kind of strait jacket that nearly every church, even Friends, have sometimes been tempted to substitute for the diversity in the Bible. To select from it but a single strand is to miss something of its richness. Even the uncongenial and the alien to us is happily abundant in the Bible. The needs of men today are partly to be measured by their difficulty in understanding that with which they differ. At this point the Bible has no little service to render. It requires patient insight into the unfamiliar and provides a discipline for the imagination such as today merely on the political level is a crying need of our time.

Further the Bible is a training school in discrimination among alternatives. One of the most sobering facts is that it is not on the whole a peaceful book--I mean a book of peace of mind. The Bible is the deposit of a long series of controversies between rival views of religion. The sobering thing is that in nearly every case the people shown by the Bible to be wrong had every reason to think they were in the right, and like us they did so. Complacent orthodoxy is the recurrent villain in the story from first to last and the hero is the challenger, like Job, the prophets, Jesus, and Paul.

Henry Joel Cadbury, 1953

Prayer

Prayer releases energy as certainly as the closing of an electric circuit does. It heightens all human capacities. It refreshes and quickens life. It unlocks reservoirs of power. It opens invisible doors into new storehouses of spiritual force for the person to live by and, as I believe, for others to live by as well. It is effective and operative as surely as are the forces of steam and gravitation.

Rufus M. Jones, 1918

One of these deep constructive energies of life is prayer. It is a way of life that is as old as the human race is, and it is as difficult to “explain” as is our joy over love and beauty. It came into power in man’s early life and it has persisted through all the stages of it because it has proved to be essential to spiritual health and growth and life-advance. Like all other great springs of life, it has sometimes been turned to cheap ends and brought down to low levels, but on the whole it has been a pretty steady uplifting power in the long story of human progress. The only way we could completely understand it would be to understand the eternal nature of God and man. Then we should no doubt comprehend why he and we seek one another and why we are unsatisfied until we mutually find one another.

Rufus M. Jones, 1931

As taught and practiced by Jesus, prayer is communion with God, in which mind and heart become open to his sustaining power and gladly and humbly submissive to his directing will.

The Lord’s Prayer is an example of the simple directness of the prayers of Jesus. One can meet God without an elaborate chain of words, even in the rush and tension of everyday life.

Prayer may be response to the beauty or grandeur of nature; to the courage and goodness sometimes revealed by the human spirit; to a desperate sense of need. Prayer may be inspired by joy and sorrow, illness and health, birth and death. Prayer may be without words or in the simplest phrases. Through prayer, daily or special, he who prays can find serenity, humility, strength, courage and direction amid the stresses as well as the joys of life.

Prayer is an exercise of the mind and spirit. Its efficacy is increased by conscious practice. Prayer can work miracles by making individuals sensitive to the will of God and, through obedience, strong to accept or surmount the natural conditions of life.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1972

Stewardship

Of the interest of the public in our estates: Hardly any thing is given us for our selves, but the public may claim a share with us. But of all we call ours, we are most accountable to God and the public for our estates: In this we are but stewards, and to hoard up all to ourselves is great injustice as well as ingratitude.

John Woolman, 1720

The important thing about worldly possessions, in fact, is whether or not we are tied to them. Some, by an undue love of the things of this world, have so dulled their hearing that a divine call to a different way of life would pass unheard. Others are unduly self-conscious about things which are of no eternal significance, and because they worry too much about them, fail to give of their best. The essence of worldliness is to judge of things by an outward and temporary, and not an inward and eternal standard, to care more about appearances than about reality, to let the senses prevail over the reason and the affections.

London Yearly Meeting, 1958

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Our Faith In Practice

FOR FRIENDS, faith and practice are inseparable. Friends seek to apply this ideal to their personal lives and their lives in the wider world.

Our Personal Lives

Simplicity, Sincerity, and Integrity

At the first convincement, when Friends could not put off their hats to people, or say You to a single person, but Thou and Thee; when they could not bow, or use flattering words in salutations, or adopt the fashions and customs of the world, many Friends, that were tradesmen of several sorts, lost their customers at the first; for the people were shy of them, and would not trade with them; so that for a time some Friends could hardly get money enough to buy bread. But afterwards, when people came to have experience of Friends’ honesty and truthfulness, and found that their Yea was yea, and their Nay was nay; that they kept to a word in their dealings, and that they would not cozen and cheat them; but that if they sent a child to their shops for anything, they were as well used as if they had come themselves; the lives and conversations of Friends did preach, and reached to the witness of God in the people.

George Fox, 1653

It’s a dangerous thing to lead young Friends much into the observation of outward things, which may be easily done, for they can soon get into an outward garb, to be all alike outwardly, but this will not make them true Christians: it’s the Spirit that gives life. I would be loath to have a hand in these things….

Margaret Fell Fox, 1698

My mind through the power of Truth was in a good degree weaned from the desire of outward greatness, and I was learning to be content with real conveniences that were not costly; so that a way of life free from much Entanglements appeared best for me, tho’ the income was small. I had several offers of business that appeared profitable, but saw not my way clear to accept of them, as believing the business proposed would be attended with more outward care & cumber than was required of me to engage in. I saw that a humble man, with the Blessing of the Lord, might live on a little, and that where the heart was set on greatness, success in business did not satisfy the craving; but that commonly with an increase of wealth, the desire for wealth increased. There was a care on my mind so to pass my time, as to things outward, that nothing might hinder me from the most steady attention to the voice of the True Shepherd.

]ohnWoolman, c. 1744

I wish I might emphasize how a life becomes simplified when dominated by faithfulness to a few concerns. Too many of us have too many irons in the fire. We get distracted by the intellectual claim to our interest in a thousand and one good things, and before we know it we are pulled and hauled breathlessly along by an over-burdened program of good committees and good undertakings. I am persuaded that this fevered life of church workers is not wholesome. Undertakings get plastered on from the outside because we can’t turn down a friend. Acceptance of service on a weighty committee should really depend upon an answering imperative within us, not merely upon a rational calculation of the factors involved. The concern-oriented life is ordered and organized from within. And we learn to say No as well as Yes by attending to the guidance of inner responsibility. Quaker simplicity needs to be expressed not merely in dress and architecture and the height of tombstones but also in the structure of a relatively simplified and coordinated life-program of social responsibilities. And I am persuaded that concerns introduce that simplification, and along with it that intensification which we need in opposition to the hurried, superficial tendencies of our age.

Thomas R. Kelly, 1941

For some there is a danger that care for the future may lead to undue anxiety and become a habit of saving for its own sake, resulting in the withholding of what should be expended for the needs of the family or devoted to the service of the Society. The temptation to trust in riches comes in many forms, and can only be withstood through faith in our Father and his providing care.

London Yearly Meeting, 1945

Poverty does not mean scorn for goods and property. It means the strict limitation of goods that are for personal use. It means the opposite of the reckless abuse and misuse of property that leaves our country spotted with the graveyards of broken and abandoned machinery. It means a horror of war, first because it ruins human life and health and the beauty of the earth, but second because it destroys goods that could be used to relieve misery and hardship and to give joy. It means a distaste even for the small carelessnesses that we see prevalent, so that beautiful and useful things are allowed to become dirty and battered through lack of respect for them. We have in America in this day the strange spectacle of many comely and well-equipped small homes kept in a state of neglect and disorder that would shock peasants anywhere.

Mildred Binns Young, 1956

Simplicity is cutting away all that is extraneous. Sincerity is being without sham. Integrity is being all of a piece. All of these are important parts of the Quaker testimony on simplicity.

A life centered in God will be characterized by integrity, sincerity, and simplicity. It need not be cloistered and may even be a busy life, but its activities and expressions should be correlated and directed toward the simple, direct purpose of keeping one’s communication with God open and unencumbered by that which is unessential. Simplicity is best approached through a right ordering of priorities.

Simplicity consists not in the use of particular forms but in avoiding self-indulgence, in maintaining humility of spirit, and in keeping the material surroundings of our lives directly serviceable to necessary ends. This does not mean that life need be poor and bare or destitute of joy and beauty. All forms of art may aid in the attainment of the spiritual life, and often the most simple lines, themes, or moments, when characterized by grace and directness, are the most beautiful.

Integrity, essential to all communication between one and another and between one and God, has always been a basic goal of Friends. Great care should be observed in speech. Factual statements should be as accurate as possible, without exaggeration or omission.

Friends regard the custom of taking oaths as not only contrary to the teachings of Jesus but as implying the existence of a double standard of truth. Thus, on all occasions when special statements are required, it is recommended that Friends take the opportunity to make simple affirmations, thus emphasizing that their statements are only a part of their usual integrity of speech.

Sexuality

Quakers, like others, in recent years have experienced a growing understanding and appreciation of human sexuality and its important role in our lives. In the words of the British Friends who wrote Towards a Quaker View of Sex:

Sexuality, looked at dispassionately, is neither good nor evil--it is a fact of nature and a force of immeasurable power. But looking at it as Christians we have felt impelled to state without reservation that it is a glorious gift of God. Throughout the whole of living nature it makes possible an endless and fascinating variety of creatures, a lavishness, a beauty of form and colour surpassing all that could be imagined as necessary to survival.

Revised edition, 1964

In contrast to this recognition of vibrancy and beauty, there are lingering misunderstandings and ignorance about sexuality, especially in relation to our specifically sexual needs and urges. This can be harmful to people of all ages. Fuller knowledge and understanding are sorely needed. Sex education is therefore important for everyone. Readily available information and open discussion of human sexuality are to be encouraged for both children and adults.

People experience their sexuality from the beginning of life and need to learn what this means to them. Parents and the Meeting can encourage children in their exploration of this meaning by constructively supporting the child’s natural interest in his or her own sexuality and in that of others. Parents teach their children primarily by the example of their lives together. Ideally they demonstrate mutual love, affection, consideration, and trust in a lasting relationship that includes sexual gratification and joy.

One aspect of sexuality which we are only beginning to understand is sexual orientation. Even as we begin to recognize that both heterosexual and homosexual orientations are a matter of fact, we affirm that all persons are valuable in the sight of God.

We are challenged to discipline our sexual behavior in the light of our growing awareness of overall sexuality. This concept includes keeping sexual behavior in the context of the total interpersonal relationship, rather than treating sexual activity as an end in and of itself. Casual, exploitative, or promiscuous sexual behavior can produce emotional and physical suffering and harm. In dealing with sexual matters, care and concern for others is no less important than care and concern for oneself.

The mystery of sex continues to be greater than our capacity to comprehend it, no matter how much we learn about it. We engage in it, in often too frantic efforts to enjoy it but, more subtly, also to try to fathom its ever recurring power over us. Surely this power and its mystery relate to the mystery of God’s relationship to us. The mistake we have made throughout the ages has been to load onto sex the incubus of success or failure of marriage, to look upon sex as a resolution, an ending. In reality it offers us, if we could only see it, a fresh beginning every time in that relationship of which it is a part.

Mary S. Calderone, 1973

Recreation

Recreation promotes spiritual well-being; it brings a needed balance into life and contributes wholeness of personality.

Simplicity directs the individual to choose those forms of recreation that rest and build up the body, that refresh and enrich mind and spirit. One should consider the proper expenditure of time, money, and strength and the moral and physical welfare of others as well as oneself. Healthful recreation includes games, sports, and other physical exercise; gardening and the study and enjoyment of nature; travel; books; the fellowship of friends and family; and the arts and handicrafts which bring creative self-expression and appreciation of beauty. Recreations in which one is a participant rather than merely a spectator are particularly beneficial.

Home and Children

Parents are the child’s first teachers. It is in the home that Friends’ principles first become practices. The home is founded upon love and depends constantly upon loving sympathy, understanding, and cooperation. Love binds the family together and yet allows freedom for each member to develop into the person he or she is meant to be. Loving guidance, constructive rather than authoritarian or possessive in its attitude, will help children discover their own potentialities and interests. Love reaches further than words and is understood long before words have meaning. The love of parents for God, for each other, and for their children, brings stability and security. This outpouring of the spirit creates the religious atmosphere of the home.

Hospitality in the home is a vital force in spiritual nurture. The contacts of parents with their children’s companions, and the child’s association with adult guests, are important influences. Parental attitudes toward neighbors and acquaintances are often reflected in the children. Family conversation may determine whether or not children will look for the good in the people they meet, and whether they will be sensitive to that of God in everyone.

The organization of the business of living so that there is time for companionship, for sharing the beauty and the wonder of small, everyday happenings, is an important responsibility of parents. A home that is not cluttered with too many possessions, where there is orderliness without a sense of constraint and where there is time for the family to enjoy one another, will help to develop well-integrated lives.

The home provides an opportunity for devotional reading and prayer. Many parents feel the need for times of daily worship. Children may not consciously feel this same need, but in everyday happenings they are often keenly aware of the closeness of the Divine Spirit. Family worship is especially appropriate in hours of joy, sorrow, or special difficulty.

Children have much to teach us. If we cultivated the habit of dialogue and mutual leaming, our children could keep us growing, and in a measure could bring us into their future, so that in middle age we would not stand on the sidelines bemoaning the terrible behavior and inconsiderateness of the younger generation.

Elizabeth Watson, 1975

Fulfilling the Later Years

The fulfillment of the later years depends in part on realizing that this time of life brings its own conditions, potentialities, and rewards, different from those of youth and of middle life. “Youth is for learning, the middle years for doing, and old age for enjoying” is the way one aged Friend put it. The later years are a time to relinquish some responsibilities, yet to accept others; to give up some activities but perhaps to discover new ones. It is a time to do things that had to be foregone earlier: to travel, develop a latent skill or avocation, explore an absorbing interest of the mind. It is a time to become freshly aware of the quiet fulfillment that lies in simple, everyday things: in making a well-ordered home; in meals shared; in the rewarding care of the bit of nature about one’s dwelling.

Yet the needed readjustments of this period of life can be very trying. It is hard to give up a long-time occupation, to fit our activities into a diminished allotment of strength, to bear with grace a wearing affliction. It is painful to move from an accustomed home to smaller quarters, able to accomodate only a portion of one’s familiar possessions. It takes deep faith and trust to readjust one’s life to the absence of a beloved partner.

Whatever our present trials or limitations, it is well to remember that the greatest goal and good of life remains always open to us: to love and enjoy God forever and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

In its role as an “extended family,” a Meeting can do much to help its members meet and fulfill their later years. Older Friends often have more time than younger Friends to devote to Meeting needs. The Meeting should make full use of their experience, wisdom, and concern.

The relationship of older Friends to the Meeting does not end when they are no longer able to attend meetings. Older Friends, through the telephone, letter-writing, and prayer, may often continue to contribute vitally to the Meeting and to society. Through personal visits, as well as through these other ways, Friends, in turn, can keep older members in touch with the life of the Meeting. A Meeting will be rewarded by a mutual relationship in which younger Friends appreciate the presence and worth of the older Friends in their midst, and older Friends know that they are remembered, needed, cared for, and loved.

Living in the World

Throughout our history Friends have testified that our lives are not meant to conform to the ways of the world but that we are meant to contribute to the transformation of the world through the light of truth.

Let all nations hear the sound by word or writing. Spare no place, spare no tongue nor pen, but be obedient to the Lord God; go through the world and be valiant for the truth upon earth; tread and trample all that is contrary under…. Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.

George Fox, 1656

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…. Our weapons are not carnal, but spiritual…. And so we desire, and also expect to have liberty of our consciences and just rights and outward liberties, as other people of the nation, which we have promise of, from the word of a king…. Treason, treachery and false dealing we do utterly deny; false dealing, surmising or plotting against any creature on the face of the earth; and speak the Truth in plainness and singleness of heart; and all our desire is your good and peace and love and unity.

Margaret Fell, 1660

My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man; I have no need to fear, God will make amends for all.

William Penn, 1668

Answer the Witness of God in every man, whether they are the heathen that do not profess Christ, or whether they are such as do profess Christ that have the form of godliness and be out of the Power.

George Fox, 1672

The Cross of Christ … truly overcomes the world, and leads a life of purity in the face of its allurements; they that bear it are not thus chained up, for fear they should bite; nor locked up, lest they should be stole away; no, they receive power from Christ their Captain, to resist the evil, and do that which is good in the sight of God; to despise the world, and love its reproach above its praise; and not only not to offend others, but love those that offend them. . . . True godliness doesn’t turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it; not hide their candle under a bushel, but set it upon a table in a candlestick.

William Penn, 1682

Every degree of luxury of what kind soever, and every demand for money inconsistent with divine order, hath some connection with unnecessary labor…. To labor too hard or cause others to do so, that we may live conformable to customs which Christ our Redeemer contradicted by his example in the days of his flesh, and which are contrary to divine order, is to manure a soil for propagating an evil seed in the earth.

John Woolman, c. 1763

Love was the first motion, and then a concern arose to spend some time with the Indians, that I might feel and understand their life and the spirit they live in, if haply I might receive some instruction from them, or they be in any degree helped forward by my following the leadings of Truth amongst them….

Afterward, feeling my mind covered with the spirit of prayer, I told the interpreters that I found it in my heart to pray to God, and I believed, if I prayed right, he would hear me, and expressed my willingness for them to omit interpreting, so our meeting ended with a degree of Divine love. Before our people went out I observed Papunehang (the man who had been zealous in laboring for a reformation in that town, being then very tender) spoke to one of the interpreters, and I was afterward told that he said in substance as follows: “I love to feel where words come from.”

John Woolman, 1763

For Friends the most important consideration is not the right action in itself but a right inward state out of which right action will arise. Given the right inward state right action is inevitable. Inward state and outward action are component parts of a single whole.

Howard Brinton, 1943

As Friends, we need to develop our spiritual lives so that we may become increasingly able to speak to “that of God” in those with whom we come in contact and to point out to them by our lives as well as our words that there is a power and a spirit within them that can make war impossible. We should show by our lives that they as well as we are responsible to this authority within, and none other.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1950

In site of our varying degrees of emphasis on how our Peace Testimony should be expressed, there are many ways to peace. There are:

Those who feel that we must seek inward peace first, as self purification.

Those who are moved to radical personal and group action, and need the support of Meetings.

Those who feel that as citizens of governments we still have opportunities to influence events.

We support Friends who are led to walk in any of these ways to peace…. We differ, yet we love each other.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1959

It is thought that realizes will. Only a thinking man can live. Only a thinking people can create history. Only a thinking kind can live in the midst of the dead.

The future always belongs to us. It is neither the working of nature, nor that of fate. It comes by our resolution.

Only a person who resolves not to be enslaved enjoys freedom.

Only a person who resolves not to assert his own enjoys freedom.

Only the person who resolves to love even at the cost of his own life can win love.

The first ingredient of life is courage.

The problem of today is not that of knowledge or technology. It is a spiritual problem. It is a question which requires a revolution in our outlook on life, on history, and on the nation.

The world today does not require an increase in technology, nor an easier access to its store of learning. It requires faith and spirit to overcome the present hurdle. The age calls for a new religion.

Ham Sok Hon, 1965

Equality and Social Justice

The principle of human equality before God is a cornerstone of Friends belief. Friends pioneered in recognizing the gifts and rights of women. Women were members and leaders of the early meetings, listened to and respected. Friends came more slowly to recognize the evil of slavery and of discrimination in general, and have often been guilty of the prejudices of the broader society. In recent years, however, they have taken increasingly clear stands against all forms of discrimination. As we continue to seek the light, habits and attitudes of a less sensitive past must increasingly give way to new understandings that affirm the value of all human beings.

And thus the Lord Jesus hath manifested himself and his Power, without respect of Persons; and so let all mouths be stopt that would limit him, whose Power and Spirit is infinite, that is pouring it upon all flesh.

Margaret Fell, 1666

How healing to come into the Religious Society of Friends, whose founder saw clearly that the Light of God is not limited to the male half of the human race. Membership and participation have helped me grow toward wholeness, as I have followed my calling into a ministry that embraces all of life. Though I believe deeply in women’s liberation, I cannot put men down or join in consciousness-raising activities that foster hatred of everything masculine. I have loved the men in my life too deeply for that kind of betrayal.

As women gain rights and become whole human beings, men too can grow into wholeness, no longer having to carry the whole burden of responsibility for running the affairs of humankind, but in humility accepting the vast resources, as yet not very much drawn on, and the wisdom of women in solving the colossal problems of the world;

Elizabeth Watson, 1975

Friends believe that everyone is a child of God and should relate to one another in those terms. Everyone must be regarded as of infinite worth and must be treated as a person who can be drawn by love to live a full and worthwhile life which manifests respect and consideration for others. When Friends are at their best, that love leads to unity in their meetings. It can also be effective in relations among all people.

Much fear, hatred and misunderstanding arise from thinking, talking, and acting in terms of groups--national, racial, religious, social, and others--rather than in terms of unique and precious individuals. The existence of groups is a fact; the Society of Friends is one. But just as diversity among Friends is vital and healthy when we approach each other in a spirit of caring and humility, so it should become clear that diversity in the world as a whole can be healthy and vital if it is similarly accepted.

Each person should be free to cultivate individual characteristics and a sense of belonging to a group, so long as doing so does no violence to others. Identity with a group can be vitally important to an individual’s sense of worth and may allow the spirit to be freed and capacities to be developed. Similarly, groups must be free to develop characteristic differences, whether of religion, culture, language, or other valued distinguishing features--just as within the Society of Friends individual members are encouraged to develop their own abilities and beliefs, while feeling responsibility for encouraging similar development in others. When, however, differences become the basis for feelings of superiority or inferiority, they become barriers of hate and fear and keep people apart.

Group contacts begun in moods of fear, hostility, or exploitation have tended to become institutionalized in patterns that perpetuate domination and subjugation, injustice, and lack of respect. This is a source of the bitter problems of oppressed minorities of all kinds. As Friends wrestle with these problems, they are increasingly aware of the hampering effect of habitual patterns of thought and emotions, which frustrate their efforts to achieve right relations with fellow human beings in other groups. Friends must consciously strive to see the humanity in all persons and to cooperate with efforts to overcome handicaps and injustices.

Friends have worked with groups who have been victimized by prejudice and exploitation. This work has been difficult because of resistance by the prejudiced and by the exploiters, some of whom are included in the membership of the Society of Friends. Friends should recognize that prejudices are very prevalent and that the problem of prejudice is complicated by advantages that have come to some at the expense of others. Exploitation impairs the human quality of the exploiter as well as of the exploited.

Enunciation of the principle of equality among human beings in the sight of God is important and necessary, but it is not sufficient. Realization of equality involves such matters as independence and control of one’s own life. Therefore, Friends must aid the efforts of the exploited to attain self-determination and social, political, and economic justice, and to change attitudes and practices formerly taken for granted.

The goal of good human relations is a community in which each individual and each group can feel sure of opportunities for selfdevelopment, full realization of potential, and rewarding relations with others.

Peace

Friends’ peace testimony arises from the power of Christ working in people’s hearts. Since there is that of God in every person, Friends believe that every person is worthy of infinite respect. Our words and lives should testify to this belief and should stand as a positive witness in a world still torn by strife and violence. The Society of Friends has consistently held that war is contrary to the spirit of Christ and stated its position clearly in the Declaration to Charles II in 1660:

We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatsoever; this is our testimony to the whole world…. 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 certainly know, and 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…. Therefore, we cannot learn war any more.

We base our peace testimony on a fundamental conviction that war is wrong in the sight of God.

So the keeper of the House of Correction was commanded to bring me up before the Commissioners and soldiers in the market place; and there … asked me if I would not take up arms for the Commonwealth against the King. But I told them I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars, and I knew from whence all wars did rise, from the lust according to James’ doctrine (James 4:1). . . . But I told them I was come into the covenant of peace which was before wars and strifes were.

George Fox, 1651

Since our first allegiance is to the God of love, we must obey the law of God rather than human law when this allegiance is challenged by the demands of the state. We support those who oppose war by performing work as conscientious objectors and those who resist any cooperation with the military. We hold in love, but disagree with, those of our members who feel that they must enter the armed forces. We recognize that the entire military system is inconsistent with Jesus Christ’s example of love. We work toward the day when armaments and conscription will no longer be tolerated.

Since our peace testimony is not only opposition to active participation in war but a positive affirmation of the power of good to overcome evil, we must all seriously consider the implications of our employment, our investments, our payment of taxes, and our manner of living as they relate to violence. We must become sensitive to the covert as well as the overt violence inherent in some of our long-established social practices and institutions, and we must attempt to change those elements which violate that of God in everyone.

Our historic peace testimony must be also a living testimony as we work to give concrete expression to our ideals. We would alleviate the suffering caused by war. We would refrain from participating in all forms of violence and repression. We would make strenuous efforts to secure international agreements for the control of armaments and to remove the domination of militarism in our society. We would seek to be involved in building national and transnational institutions to deal with conflict nonviolently.

The almost unimaginable devastation that results from modern war makes ever more urgent its total elimination.

The Individual and the State

We affirm our unchanging conviction that our first allegiance is to God, and if this conflicts with any compulsion of the State, we serve our countries best by remaining true to our higher loyalty.

Pacific Yearly Meeting, 1953

The attitude of Friends toward the state is conditioned by the fact that the state presents two different aspects. When it acts as a coercive agency resorting to violence, it does not conform to Quaker principles. On the other hand, as a necessary instrument for maintaining an orderly society with justice under law for all and for meeting human needs, the state commands respect and cooperation.

Friends are not opposed to all forms of coercion. Proper police activities, incidental to carrying out the rightful purposes of the state and directed solely against persons who refuse to abide by the law, seem necessary and helpful. From its earliest days, however, the Society has held that war is contrary to the will of God, and it has counseled its members to refuse to bear arms or to accept membership in military forces.

As the state becomes more and more responsible for advancing human welfare, members of the Society are increasingly called upon for a variety of civic duties, especially in those areas that have long been among their chief concerns. Through the ballot, by public witness, and in many other ways, Friends may contribute to an enlightened and vigorous public opinion, thus helping to direct public policy toward the fulfillment of Quaker principles. Men and women of intelligence, high principle, and courage are needed to combat the ignorance, self-interest, and cowardice that impede the wise solution of national and international problems.

Integrity and diligence are of the utmost importance in the holding of public office. Qualified Friends should not allow matters of preference or convenience to deter them from this service. The seeming necessity for action by public authorities, however, may sometimes present difficult problems to the officeholder who seeks to be single-minded in loyalty to God. While a prayerful search for divine guidance may lead to a suitable adjustment, it may become necessary, as Friends have sometimes found in the past, to sacrifice position to conscience and expediency to principle.

For those not holding public office, there is a wide field for voluntary public service in agencies and organizations that work for civic betterment.

From their earliest days Friends have counseled obedience to the state except when the law or ruling involved appears to be contrary to divine law. Therefore, when they have engaged in civil disobedience they have done so as a matter of conscience.

Obedience to the state is subject to the religious principle that primary allegiance is to God. The state has no claim to moral infallibility. If its command appears to be contrary to divine law, Friends can only take prayerful counsel to arrive at a Quaker decision. This usually involves testing one’s proposed action by the judgment of the Meeting. When the decision is to refuse obedience to a law or order of the state, in accordance with the dictates of conscience, it is usual for Friends to act openly and to make clear the grounds of their action.

If the decision involves incurring legal penalties, Friends generally have suffered willingly and fearlessly for the sake of their convictions. Friends not personally involved strengthen the Meeting community by supporting their fellow members with spiritual encouragement and, when necessary, with material aid.

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Advices and Queries

It is not opinion, or speculation, or notions of what is true, or assent to or the subscription of articles and propositions, though never so soundly worded, that … makes a man a true believer or true Christian. But it is a conformity of mind and practice to the will of God, in all holiness of conversation, according to the dictates of this Divine principle of Light and Life in the soul which denotes a person truly a child of God.

William Penn, 1692

FRIENDS BEGAN TO USE QUERIES to ascertain the state of Society only a few years after its founding in England. The first set of such questions to be asked of monthly meetings