Revolutionary Roots of Quakerism

by Peter Blood

This was originally offered as a course at Mt Toby Friends Meeting in 2016 and later at other meetings, as a retreat at Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center, and as a workshop at Friends General Conference summer gatherings.

Overview of course
Handout #1: The World Turned Upside Down (background & beginnings)
Handout #2: This I Knew Experimentally (ideas about God & the Bible)
Handout #3: The Silent Assemblies of God’s People (a whole new form of worship)
Handout #4: Constructing “Gospel Order” (as a way of living with each other)
Handout #5: This Is Our Testimony to the World (the “testimonies” & sufferings)

Course Overview

Purposes of course:

To enrich Friends’ knowledge and understanding of the first generation of Friends
To use this understanding to help Friends today enter a similarly radical living relationship with
God as a faith community
To facilitate meetings using this understand as a springboard to talk about key issues in the life of the faith community including theology, worship, the testimonies, and radical witness

Leadership style: It is particularly helpful (although not essential) in this curriculum to have a teacher/retreat leader who has considerable knowledge of early Quakers. This being said it is important to keep in mind that the leader’s primary role should not be transferring information or a changing

Friends practice based on a preconceived agenda. She or he is seeking to provide an opportunity through this course or retreat to encourage Friends to reflect on their own faith journey today and to explore key issues in the corporate life of Friends today with each other.

How time is spent:
20-25% Presentation/communication of ideas/information
20-25% Work alone or in two’s or three’s (can be great prep for sharing in the group as a whole)
50-60% Various forms of sharing in the community as a whole – e.g. sharing response to a question
around the circle, worship/sharing in response to a brief quotation or query, open discussion

Setting the agenda: The facilitator explores with the group requesting the retreat or course (e.g. Ministry and Counsel Committee, Adult Religious Education Committee).

Find out some of the key reasons why the requesting group is interested in having this course
Learn the “lay of the land” in the meeting (theological language, places of brokenness, etc.)
Discern together which of the 6 possible topics listed below will be covered in this program

Format: This can be run as either a course taught over a number of weeks or months or as a one day or weekend retreat. Each module requires a minimum of 50 minutes (as a class session or section of a retreat — preferably 75-90 minutes. I would not recommend trying to cover more than 3 or 4 topics in a
single day (i.e. morning and afternoon) retreat.

Modules (class or retreat sessions):

#1 The World Turned Upside Down (historical background & beginnings of new movement)

#2 This I Knew Experimentally (ideas about God)

#3 The Silent Assemblies of God’s People (a whole new form of worship)

#4 This Is Our Testimony to the World – Part 1: Integrity & Sufferings

#5 This Is Our Testimony to the World – Part 2: Simplicity, Peace, Equality, Unity with Nature [Note: #4 and #5 can be combined in a 5 session course or workshop.]

#6 Constructing “Gospel Order” as a Way of Living with Each Other

Note: The module on worship is designed for meetings with unprogrammed worship. There is a modification of this course intended for use in programmed/pastoral Friends meetings.

Although the first 3 modules are particularly important in terms of understanding early Friends, the modules on integrity and simplicity can lead to particularly rich discussions as to how to live out some of these same principles in the present time. The module on faith/theology can also help sharing among participants about their own beliefs and ways of talking about them with others.

Creating a “a safe container” for the course or retreat: Many Friends meetings today encompass a wide range of beliefs and approaches to Quaker practice. It is critical that participants in this program approach these sessions with a deeply respectful attitude towards other participants. The goal of this
program is to encourage participants to share openly with each other their heart-felt responses to what is being learned about early Friends and to explore ways it can impact our own shared life today.

In the first session the facilitator should take time to discuss how important this is and work to create an atmosphere of trust, vulnerability, and mutual respect going into this shared journey of exploration.

Sample session (class or retreat segment – timing will vary depending on the length of each session):

Opening prayer / waiting worship (5 mins.)
Introduction of the subject by leader (5-20 mins.) — It is best of the leader knows the material well enough to talk extemporaneously. Using a flip chart or dry erase board to outline key points can be help people absorb what’s being talked about — e.g. key dates and names on history session, drawing the different forms of revelation on the theology session.
You may want to leave some time for answering questions. (Others in group may know the answer better than the leader!)
Hearing voice of early Friends. Choose several readings from handout to be read out loud (5 mins.)
Response to readings. Can be done individually via reflection/journaling on queries, sharing in pairs or threes, and/or reflective worship-sharing around the circle. (5-15 mins.)
A skit or 2 on topic. Breaks up the flow and uses a different part of the brain/heart. (10 mins.)
Exploring what this means to Friends today. A period of worship sharing and/or open discussion on the implications early Friends’ experience, belief, and practice has for key issues facing us in our local
and yearly meetings in the 21st century. Try to simply ask evoking questions and then just listen! (15-30 mins.)
Closing prayer / worship (5-10 mins.)

Early Quakers quiz: This is something fun to do in first session. Although some of the multiple choice options are humorous, the correct answers are all accurate. Have people take the quiz and then go through answers together as a group.

Skits: This curriculum includes skits for several of the sessions. These can break up the flow of the session and capture a bit of the feel of the 17th century.

Get 2 or 3 volunteers to play the parts and give them each their own script. The 21st century skit on simplicity helps to bring the issues around this to the
present day.

You are welcome to utilize or edit these materials freely but please note that the materials were originally developed by Peter Blood-Patterson. You can contact me at inwardlight1@gmail.com.

Handout #1 The World Turned Upside Down (background & beginnings)

Quakerism was born in the mid-17th century in England. This was a period of enormous political and religious turmoil. This period has been compared to the late 1960’s in the U.S. The country was wracked by 3 civil wars between 1642 and 1651. After King Charles I was tried and executed in 1649, England entered its only period as a republic, rather than a monarchy.

There were many different small religious sects that sprang up at this time. A few of these survived (as Friends did) but most disappeared. Son of a weaver, George Fox was born in 1624 in a strongly Puritan village about a hundred miles north of London. He was apprenticed to a sheep owner and carpenter. He went through a period of seeking and spiritual turmoil at age 18. He began public preaching at age 23 and gathered a handful of followers. An older woman, Elizabeth Hooten, is often considered Fox’s first collaborator in building a new religious movement.

There was an informal movement in the late 1640’s and early 1650’s in Northern England known as the Westmorland Seekers. They rejected many of the structures of the church at the time and were looking for a
rebirth of a more vital spirituality. In 1652, Fox had a vision looking northward from the top of a steep hill called Pendle Hill of a “great people to be gathered.” He continued traveling northward to the area where the Seekers held their gatherings.

On June 13, 1652, he preached extemporaneously for three hours to an outdoor gathering of a thousand members of this group in a windy open field called Firbank Fell. Many leaders of the Seekers became “convinced” by the spiritual power of Fox’s message, and the Quaker movement was born.

Quakers sent out preachers (many of whom were women), known as “The Valiant Sixty,” throughout the British Isles, as well as to the Continent and the American colonies. About 3000 Friends suffered imprisonment, with hundreds dying due to very unsanitary conditions, including several of the movement’s most outstanding leaders. Four were executed in Massachusetts Colony. The movement grew rapidly from 1652 through the Act of Toleration in 1689, when Friends in England numbered roughly 1% of the population (50,000 people).

Characteristics of the early Quaker movement: They…

Were “evangelical” — i.e., they actively recruited others into their movement, interrupting church services, preaching in market places, etc. (and were very critical of most other Christian groups at the time)
Considered themselves to be returning to a form of primitive form of Christianity as practiced in the age of the apostles (the time of James, Paul, Phoebe, etc. during the 1st century after Jesus’ birth)
Rejected programmed worship, outward sacraments, and paid clergy
Insisted on the rightness of women playing an active leadership role in the new movement, rejecting arguments that it was wrong for women to preach or participate in church decision-making. Roughly 12 of the
key first leaders known as the “Valiant Sixty” were women. Many of these women wrote extensive tracts.

Reflection questions:
1. How would you respond if a charismatic spiritual leader such as George Fox spoke to you today?
2. Do you find the writings of early Friends exciting? Strange? Moving? Disturbing?
3. Why do you think Friends grew so quickly and won so many adherents, in spite of terrible persecution?
4. Why do you think established church leaders (both Puritans and Anglicans) were so enraged and threatened
by the Quaker message?
5. How do you think Friends today are or are not practicing the same kind of religion as 1st generation Quakers?

Further reading:
Journal of George Fox: Testimony of Margaret (Fell) Fox concerning her late husband George Fox…
Journal of George Fox, Chap 6: A New Era Begins 1651-52 (on Pendle Hill vision & Firbank Fell)
Leonard Kenworthy, “Quakerism in the 17th Century: George Fox & the Early Friends”

Handout #2 This I Knew Experimentally (ideas about God & the Bible)

It is controversial what early Friends believed. They wrote thousands of tracts and their ideas were not systematic. It is possible to read a number of different interpretations into their writings. It seems clear to me, however, that early Friends held the following beliefs:

Direct revelation. Each person has active revelation directly from God in the present time.

The testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed.
—Robert Barclay, Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Quotations from George Fox’s Journal:
…I declared Truth amongst them, and directed them to the light of Christ in them; testifying unto them that God was come to teach His people Himself, whether they would hear or forbear. I directed the people to their inward Teacher, Christ Jesus, who would turn them from darkness to the light.
Therefore I exhorted the people to come off all these things, and directed them to the spirit and grace of God in themselves, and to the light of Jesus in their own hearts, that they might come to know Christ, their free Teacher, to bring them salvation, and to open the Scriptures to them.

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, Oh 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 pre-eminence, who enlightens, and gives grace, faith, and power.

Thus, when God doth work who shall let [prevent] it? And this I knew experimentally.

I told them the gospel was the power of God, which was preached before Matthew, Mark, Luke and John or any of them were printed or written; and it was preached to every creature (of which a great part might never see or hear of those four books), so that every creature was to obey the power of God;
for Christ, the spiritual Man, would judge the world according to the gospel, that is, according to His invisible power. When they heard this, they could not gainsay, for the truth came over them. I directed them to their teacher, the Grace of God, and shewed them the sufficiency of it, which would teach them
how to live, and what to deny; and being obeyed, would bring them salvation. So to that grace I recommended them, and left them….

Immediately it arose in my mind, that if I would know whether that was truth [the Quakers] had spoken or not, I must know what I knew to be the Lord’s will. What was contrary to it was now set before me, as to be removed: and I must come into a state of entire obedience, before I could be in a capacity to perceive or discover what they laid down for their principles.” — Mary Penington

After…I was invited to hear one of them [Friends]… 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. Yea, 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 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.’ ”
—Isaac Penington (1667) Fuller original text

Role of the Bible. Although the Bible is a very important source of religious truth, it is not the highest source — but was secondary to the kind of inward knowledge described above. In fact they believed it was impossible to
understand the meaning of biblical passages unless one was living in the “life and power” in which the scriptures were given forth. (They believed, as a result, that their religious opponents misunderstood important parts of the
Bible because they were not living in this same direct, living relationship with God.)

See: Jack Smith (a recorded minister of Ohio YM Conservative) The Scripture as Understood & Used by Conservative Friends, at talk at QuakerSpring in 2007.

Universal priesthood. Everyone has access to this experience. It is not restricted to an ordained priesthood or to those who receive formal religious training.

Universalism. They felt that the “Seed” (inward presence of God) acted even in the lives of those like Muslims or Native Americans who had no formal knowledge about Christ or the Bible.
See account of Mary Fisher’s trip to Sultan

Active relationship with God. They experienced God as touching and shaping their lives in many, many diﬀerent ways.

The Offices of Christ: They had a rather strange-sounding term for referring to the way in which God touched their lives in the present time: the “oﬃces of Christ”. These “oﬃces” (or roles) included prophet, counselor, comforter, shepherd, redeemer, mediator, reconciler, teacher, etc. These are all ways of talking about how God worked in their lives in their own time, not just via a great saving act sixteen centuries years earlier related to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

The point was that they believe that God spoke to them, guided them, led them, upheld them, healed them, lifted them up when they were discouraged, reproved them when they were on the wrong path.

Role of Christ. Fox and other Friends referred to this direct experiential relationship with God using many diﬀerent terms: Inward Christ, Inward Light (though not “Inner Light”), The Seed, and “leadings”
.
The word Christ is the Greek for “messiah” or savior. Early Quakers believed that the living Christ was one with God from the beginning of time and still present in their midst in the present — teaching, healing, transforming,
liberating, and leading the Quaker community. They made no distinction between their present-time inward relationship with Christ and the historical Jesus. Many Friends today use the word Christ to refer to God’s spirit at
work in their lives, but do not see this as identical with Jesus.

See: Sandra Cronk (co-founder of the “School of the Spirit”), Gospel Order: A Quaker Understanding of the Faithful Quaker Community, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #297, 1991. (see espec. pp.17-20 on the “oﬃces of Christ”)

Friends found these concepts in the Bible, especially in the Gospel of John (often called the “Quaker Gospel”):

“In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1)
The Comforter or Holy Spirit that God promised to send after Jesus’ death. “I shall always be with you, even to the end of time.”
“Emmanuel” (“God-with-us”), as “living water” (John 4:10)
“the Light of the World”
“true vine” (John 15).

Reflection questions:
1. When (if ever) have you experienced God touching you or speaking to you directly? Was this a comforting experience or a disturbing one?
2. What verbs would you use to describe your experience of God/The Spirit touching or influencing your life?
3. In your experience of other faith communities besides Friends, do you feel this idea of the Inward Christ is similar to or diﬀerent from the ideas about God at the heart of those other faiths?
4. If this immediate relationship with God is at the heart of all Quaker practice (e.g. Meeting for Worship, Meeting for Business, Testimonies), do you see this as being true in your experience of Quaker practice in your local meeting?
In your yearly meeting?

Further reading: Robert Barclay, Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1676): 2nd proposition (on immediate revelation) and & 3rd proposition (on scripture)
Samuel Caldwell, The Inward Light: How Quakerism Unites Universalism & Christianity (Phila.YM Religious Education Committee, 1997)
Thomas Kelly: A Testament of Devotion (the first chapter on “The Light Within”).
Colin Saxton “Christ Has Come to Teach Us Himself” (QuakerSpeak interview)

Handout #3: The Silent Assemblies of God’s People (a whole new form of worship)

There is a fair amount of controversy today as to what early Friends worship services were actually like. It appears clear to me several things:

Many of their worship gatherings involved a lot of silent waiting
They believed strongly that any spoken messages delivered should be spontaneous and guided by God’s spirit rather than being prepared in advance
They rejected outward rituals like communion, water baptism, and the singing of psalms, seeing communion and baptism as inward spiritual experiences rather than ceremonies. (Some have suggested, however, that there was spontaneous singing by individuals during worship.)
The ability to deliver spirit-vocal ministry was based on inward teaching rather than formal religious training at a university or being formally ordained by ecclesiastical authority.

The early Quaker theologian Robert Barclay says that he was won over to the Friends movement primarily by the power of its worship. He writes:

I myself… who not by strength of arguments, or by a particular disquisition of each doctrine, and convincement of my understanding thereby, came to receive and bear witness of the truth, but by being secretly reached by this life; for when I came into the silent assemblies of God’s people, I felt a secret power among them, which touched my heart, and as I gave way unto it, I found the evil weakening in me and the good raised up, and so I became thus knit and united unto them, hungering more and more after the increase of this power and life, whereby I might feel myself perfectly redeemed.

The first that enters into the place of your meeting…turn in thy mind to the light, and wait upon God singly, as if none were present but the Lord; and here thou art strong. Then the next that comes in, let them in simplicity of heart sit down and turn in to the same light, and wait in the spirit; and so all the rest coming in, in the fear of the Lord, sit down in pure stillness and silence of all flesh, and wait in the light…. Those who are brought to a pure still waiting upon God in the spirit, are come nearer to the Lord than words are; for God is a spirit, and in the spirit is he worshiped…. In such a meeting there will be an unwillingness to part asunder, being ready to say in yourselves, it is good to be here; and this is the end of all words and writings—to bring people to the eternal living Word. —Alexander Parker, 1660

And this is the manner of their worship. They are to wait upon the Lord, to meet in the silence of the flesh, and to watch for the stirring of his life, and the breakings forth of his power amongst them. And in the breakings forth of that power they may pray, speak, exhort, rebuke, sing, or mourn, and so on, according as the spirit teaches, requires, and gives utterance. —Isaac Penington 1681

The Lord of Heaven and earth we found to be near at hand, and, as we waited upon him in pure silence, our minds out of all things, his heavenly presence appeared in our assemblies, when there was no language, tongue nor speech from any creature. The Kingdom of Heaven did gather us and catch us all, as in a net, and his heavenly power at one time drew many hundreds to land. We came to know a place to stand in and what to wait in; and the Lord appeared daily to us, to our astonishment, amazement and great admiration, insomuch that we often said one unto another with great joy of heart: ‘What, is the Kingdom of God come to be with men? And will he take up his tabernacle among the sons of men, as he did of old? Shall we…have this honour of glory communicated amongst us, which were but men of small parts and of little abilities?’ And from that day forward, our hearts were knit unto the Lord and one unto another in true and fervent love, in the covenant of Life with God; and that was a strong obligation or bond upon all our spirits, which united us one unto another. We met together in the unity of the Spirit, and of the bond of peace, treading down under our feet all reasoning about religion. And holy resolutions were kindled in our hearts as a fire which the Life kindled in us to serve the Lord…and mightily did the Word of God grow amongst us.
—Francis Howgill (one of the Westmoreland Seekers), 1663

Early Friends seemed to have made a distinction between two forms of worship:

Threshing Meetings. These consisted in public preaching, often at great length, by Friends who were recognized as having a special gift of prophetic vocal ministry. These sermons (which could last an hour or more) were often delivered in public places such as fairs or markets. They delivered entirely spontaneously without pre-planning, believing that God (or the inward motion of Christ) would provide the words needed. Although the person delivering such a spoken message would usually be accompanied by other Friends, the purpose of this kind of worship was largely to carry the truth that Friends had discovered to those not yet part of the Quaker movement.
Retired Meetings. These gatherings were primarily (although not exclusively) for those who had already become “convinced” of the truth of the Quaker message. They might be held in homes or barns in public buildings such as pubs. It seems likely from quotes such as Parker above that Friends gathered in silence and took some period of time to allow the meeting to become “gathered” before anyone felt moved to speak. Messages still may have been considerably longer than what we are accustomed to today. There is abundant evidence, however, that Friends felt it was important that messages be limited in simplicity to what the leading of the Spirit, and that there was a danger of “running beyond one’s Guide” – i.e. speaking one’s own thoughts or ideas rather than what the Inward Teacher required to be spoken.

Reflection questions:
1. Do Alexander Parker’s words (“sit down in pure stillness…”) resonate with your own experience of turning into a deeper place during the beginning of worship and helping it to become “gathered”?
2. How often do you feel you have experienced deeply “gathered worship” in your meeting? In meetings elsewhere?
3. Have you experienced a similar sense of the tangible presence of God in settings other than Meeting for Worship such as during personal prayer, in nature, a cathedral, a concert, a wedding or funeral?
4. To what extent do you experience vocal ministry in your meeting as being led or directed by the Living Spirit?
5. Do you ever feel powerfully “called by the Spirit” to speak? How did you respond?

Further Reading:

Lewis Benson, On Being Moved by the Spirit to Minister during Public Worship
Excerpts from various YM disciplines on the subject of Spirit-led Vocal Ministry
Peter Blood “Biblical Roots of Quaker Worship” (based on Robert Barclay’s 11th Proposition concerning Worship)

Handout #4: Constructing “Gospel Order” as a Way of Living with Each Other

“Gospel Order” is an old-fashioned Quaker term for the radical transformation and re-ordering of lives and relationships that results from the relationship between the Quaker community and the Living God. Consistent with Matthew 18, gospel order attempts to preserve loving relationships within the faith community while moving towards a shared understanding of God’s will.

“Order” refers to the many concrete changes that are made in lives and relationships – not just an inward feeling but a way of life expressed in virtually every area of living.
“Gospel” refers not to a creed or dogma, but to a real living relationship with God. The central focus is not right beliefs or right actions but life and power in God.

As Fox says:

Many have had the letter but lost the life, the notion but lost the possession, the profession but lost the substance, Christ Jesus.” This is the “true sap” which Jesus describes so vividly in John 15 (which, significantly, is also the chapter from which “Friends” took their name for themselves.) Fox: “Therefore take heed of the world’s fashions, lest ye be moulded up into their spirit, and that will bring you to slight truth, and lift up the wrong eye, and wrong mind, and wrong spirit, and hurt and blind the pure eye, and pure mind, and quench the holy spirit.

Handout #5 This Is Our Testimony to the World (the “testimonies” & sufferings)

For though various infirmities and temptations beset me, yet my heart cleaveth unto the Lord, in the everlasting bonds that can never be broken. In his light do I see those temptations and infirmities: there do I bemoan myself unto him, and feel faith and strength, which give the victory. Though it keeps me low in the sense of my own weakness, yet it quickens in me a lively hope of seeing Satan trodden down under foot by his all sufficient grace. I feel and know when I have slipped in word, deed, or thought; is my advocate, and have recourse to him who pardons and heals, and gives me to overcome, setting me on my watch-tower: and though the enemy is suffered to prove me, in order more and more to wean me from any dependance but upon the mighty Jehovah, I believe he will never be able to prevail against me. Oh! that I may keep on my watch continually: knowing, the Lord only can make war with this dragon. Oh! that I may, by discovering my own weakness, ever be tender of the tempted; watching and praying, lest I also be tempted. Sweet is this state, though low; for in it I receive my daily bread, and enjoy that which he handeth forth continually; and live not, but as he breatheth the breath of life upon me every moment.
—Mary Penington, Some Account of Circumstances in the Life of Mary Penington (manuscript left for her family)

Early Friends did not divide up testimonies as is often done today. Nonetheless, all early Friends lived a way of life that was radically separated from non-Friends around them, leading initially to severe persecution.

Integrity. The most radical differences between Friends’ lifestyle and non-Friends — and what led them to being persecuted — primarily falls under what we refer to today as the Testimony on Integrity. (John 12:35-6)

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 everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.
—Statement of 1656, from The Works of George Fox (1831)

Friends strongly emphasized the necessity of living in a manner that was radically in keeping with their beliefs.

Speaking truth was extremely important. The admonitions to avoid oaths (Matthew 5:33-37) got them in trouble when they were asked to either swear that they did not support the king or (later) to support the king. Friends like Fox were often administered such loyalty oaths at their release, landing them right back in prison again. The Letter of James also talks about limiting what we say to what is really essential.

Other applications:

They believed it was wrong to use “plural address” to refer to persons of higher social status (i.e. addressing people with “ye” or “you” rather than “thou” and “thee”. They considered this a form of lying.
They insisted on holding their worship services in public rather than in secret (as some dissenting groups did), which often led to imprisonment.
They felt it was wrong to pay tithes to support hired clergy they rejected. Their property was often seized.
Charging fixed prices for goods rather than reaching a price via bargaining
Friends (and also often Puritans) felt it was wrong to use the names of pagan gods that they didn’t believe in to refer to days of the week and of the month.
They also shared with Puritans a rejection of church holidays such as Christmas and Easter which were not specifically mentioned in scripture. They did, however, honor the Sabbath as a day of for rest.

Simplicity. Friends believed it was important to discern if clothing, other possessions or recreation get in the way of being able to hear God’s voice. Margaret Fell Fox wrote that she felt the objection to brightly colored clothing was a “silly gospel”. (Matthew 6:19-34)
Friends and Puritans rejected use of musical instruments, plays, and probably dancing.

Peace. Friends made a public declaration in 1660 that they rejected outward fighting as a way of distinguishing themselves from the Fifth Monarchist religious insurrection. Some Friends definitely were enlisted in the army or navy. 1660 Declaration to King Charles II

Note: Margaret penned an earlier declaration on this subject six months before fox did so. See also: Robert Barclay on War as contrary to the Spirit & Christ’s doctrine.

Equality. Friends were extremely ahead of their time in encouraging women to take active leadership in the faith community. They not only allowed women to preach but wrote tracts justifying this.

Many Friends in the American colonies apparently owned slaves, including William Penn. Even before the time of John Woolman (mid-17th century) the large majority of Friends at least outside of the the southern colonies had come to feel that slaveholding was inconsistent with being a Friend. 1688 Germantown Statement against Slavery

Reflection Questions

Do you at times push the limits at times of what is really honest on your income taxes?
Does your meeting discuss issues of personal ethics together?
Would you ever tell a friend that you disagree with something she or he has done that is dishonest or unethical?
Is being scrupulously honest as important today as it was in the 17th century?
Where might you not be strictly committed to truth-telling (e.g. hiding runaway slaves, Anne Frank)?
Do you think Friends still have a public reputation for honesty?
Can you think of modern day relevant ways we might learn from 17th century Friends’ concerns about Christmas? Plays? Music-making? Plain dress?

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Faith in Community: Core practices of Quakerism

Witness: Transforming our lives & the world around us

Transformation: Deepening and healing our lives in God

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