Those years forming the transition period between childhood and womanhood are filled with wonderful interest and attractiveness, for there is nothing of more beauty and grace than the budding and blossoming of girlhood. But the young feet that travel this way are often fearful and uncertain, or willful and bold. Each and all have need of guidance; they need a helping hand along the way. This book is sent forth with a sencere desire to be a blessing.

This life of Fox was written, not primarily for those who are his followers and disciples in name and faith, but rather for that wider group of persons who are only remotely acquainted with him as a 17th century figure in leather breeches, the founder of the Quakers and an apostle of the divine in man.

This book is an attempt to study historically and critically the religious movement inaugurated in the New World by the Quakers, an important movement both for the history of the development of religion and for the history of the American Colonies, and to present it not only in its external setting but also in the light of its inner meeting. At the time of original publication in 1911, Rufus M. Jones, M.A., D.Litt., was Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College; Isaac Sharpless, D.Sc., was President of Haverford College; and Amelia M. Gummere, was author of The Quaker - A Study in Costume.

This book investigates the historical context, meaning, and expression of early Quaker pacifism in England and its colonies. Weddle focuses primarily on one historical moment--King Philip's War, which broke out in 1675 between English settlers and Indians in New England. Among the settlers were Quakers, adherents of the movement that had gathered by 1652 out of the religious and social turmoil of the English Civil War. King Philip's War confronted the New England Quakers with the practical need to define the parameters of their peace testimony --to test their principles and to choose how they would respond to violence. The Quaker governors of Rhode Island, for example, had to reconcile their beliefs with the need to provide for the common defense. Others had to reconcile their peace principles with such concerns as seeking refuge in garrisons, collecting taxes for war, carrying guns for self-defense as they worked in the fields, and serving in the militia.
Indeed, Weddle has uncovered records of many Quakers engaged in or abetting acts of violence, thus debunking the traditional historiography of Quakers as saintly pacifists. Weddle shows that Quaker pacifism existed as a doctrinal position before the 1660 crackdown on religious sectarians, but that it was a radical theological position rather than a pragmatic strategy. She thus convincingly refutes the Marxist argument that Quakers acted from economic and political, and not religious motives. She examines in detail how the Quakers' theology worked--how, for example, their interpretation of certain biblical passages affected their politics--and traces the evolution of the concept of pacifism from a doctrine that was essentially about protecting the state of one's own soul to one concerned with the consequences of violence to other human beings.

From 1940 to 1946, Roger Cowan Wilson was General Secretary and Travelling Commissioner of the Friends Relief Service. Soon after his wartime experience, in 1949 he delivered the Swarthmore Lecture, and applied his clear thinking and his understanding of Quaker processes to examine how a religious concern can be made manifest in practical work, and what needs to be considered so that this can be organised. 'The true "concern" is a gift from God, a leading of his Spirit which may not be denied.' How is the authority for this held by a human organisation? What kind of people does it need to lead and carry out its work? Subtitled 'A study in motive and administration in Quaker relief work', Authority, Leadership and Concern was soon recognised as an essential book, was reprinted in 1970, and is still valuable in the next century.

Amid the spiritual and intellectual turmoil of seventeenth-century England, the Quakers emerged and grew into a distinct and enduring religious movement. This book offers a fresh and striking insight into early Quaker history through a study of their distinctive ways of speaking, which, together with their use of silence, served as a specific identifying feature of the movement.

Using the combined perspectives of the ethnography of speaking, symbolic anthropology, and the historical sociology of religion, Richard Bauman shows that for the very early Quakers speaking and silence were key symbols, providing both a vocabulary for conceptualizing their principles as well as a vehicle for carrying these principles into action. Silence was not merely an abstention from speaking or an empty interval between utterances, but an act as richly textured and multidimensional in its meanings as speaking. Both unified thought and action. Professor Bauman discusses many instances of the operation of speaking and silence, including, among other central elements of early Quaker belief and practice, the contexts and settings of Quaker religious communication, the patterns and functions of Quaker "plain language," and the Quaker testimony against the swearing of oaths. In particular, he examines the role of the minister, both as a dynamic speaker who played out the tension between speaking and silence, and as a link between the outside world and the Quaker inner community. He also uses the role of the minister to trace the changes in speaking, and, correspondingly, the direction of the Quaker movement, during the seventeenth century.

This book is unique in that it comprehends both the cultural and social aspects of Quaker history by explicating their construction of meaning through their use of language. Its unified approach will make it of interest to sociolinguists, social historians, symbolic anthropologists, and sociologists of religion.

Joseph John Gurney, who influenced the development of evangelical Quakerism, offers his observations on the distinguishing elements of the Quakers/Religious Society of Friends.

"A mystic is one who has had the experience that the divine Ultimate and the essence of the individual Self are fundamentally one and the same." In his maturity George Fox dictated a vivid account of his profound mystical experience, which transformed him from an unhappy questing youth into a charismatic spiritual giant. Unlike some other mystics he resolved to share his experience with others. This became his life s work, and resulted in establishing the community known today as the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. He did this by travelling widely, addressing crowds, and by an amazing output of documents. Hugh McGregor Ross made an intensive study of these documents in the majestic Quaker Library in London. He there identified that Fox s record of his spiritual awakening, which involved what in the seventeenth century was regarded as a blasphemy, had been tampered with. Here it is restored to its original form. It is followed by a great number of the documents Fox created to guide and support hisfollowers, all given in his own words but edited sensitively for the modern reader. This is a unique record of the awakening of a mystic in the Christian tradition, and of living out that experience in his way of life.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

In Come Pray, the author draws on her years in the mission field, her ministry stateside, biblical prayers, and insights from contemporaries for a clear guide to maturing in prayer. Each chapter includes a summary and list of resources. Useful for individual or group study.

From a lifetime of seeking, Harvey Gillman explores a way to respond to what remains, in spite of everything, a very beautiful and sacred universe. This is a journey through language, using poetry, philosophy, and insights from different religions, graced with the song of a blackbird, who accompanied the author as he wrote the work. Pandemics, civil wars, religious extremism, spilling of blood in the name of sacred and secular causes, destruction of our environment... Why write a book on spirituality and language? Don't we need calls to action, positive plans to change the world? But the way we speak, the way we search for meaning, the way we declare our truths - these are often at the root of such political and spiritual 'dis-ease'. The driving force behind this book is how we can use difference compassionately and with integrity.

Published By Direction Of The Five Years Meeting.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Quaker author of fiction and non-fiction, Daisy Newman writes of the role Quakers have had in befriending Indians, opposing slavery, providing humane treatment for prisoners and the mentally ill, and opposing war and capital punishment. This is history in its most readable form, as the author's sense of detail gets beneath the facts to give the reader the sense of place and emotion in each event.

Published By Direction Of The Five Years Meeting.

A important book which gives a comprehensive view of the message and vision of George Fox and the Early Friends, and how there is an urgent need to recover that vision.

Beth Allen offers her understanding of faithful discipleship, starting with how we experience and think about God. She explores how we can think and worship today in integrity to our inner selves and to our knowledge of the world, and takes a practical approach to theological and philosophical concepts, from her Quaker and Anglican experience. We need a solid foundation to ground us as we reach for the ideals, the actions which will make peace and justice real today. For Quakers, this starts with the meeting for worship, and continues with the experience of God found in words from Quaker and other traditions. The cool stillness of the Spirit is the source of enormous, exuberant life.

Outlining a life of discipleship in Christ, William Penn addresses topics relevant today such as daily bearing the cross, worship and our inner character. Selleck's modern English translation makes this classic (written in 1668) easily readable in the 21st century.

Where do we stand on lived witness, on social testimony? Both in the essay by Jonathan Dale, which carries forward ideas expounded in his Swarthmore Lecture of 1996, and the short contributions from many Friends, we get a glimpse of other people's experience of the living truth. As Jonathan Dale says, 'The more the Light is followed, the deeper the joy and the readier we may be for the next step'. Quaker Books hopes that this book will inspire readers to think more on how we live out our testimonies in our lives, to develop a culture of mutual accountability, and to share the lessons from our own journeys. When we say that God is love, the integrity of our claim is known by the degree to which it is lived out in our lives. The examples given here should provide much to stimulate further action by us all.

If the holy potential is in each of us, and we recognise it, our behaviour towards others must be deeply affected. How could we abuse or treat them as enemies? Must we not try to heal relationships fractured by anger, fear and incomprehension, making use of the universal capacity for peace making that flows from 'that of God'? To do so effectively involves understanding the nature of unpeaceful relations and recognising that there are different types depending on the power balance of the protagonists. But some methods are always appropriate: recognising and responding to the good in the other, establishing and maintaining a relationship of trust, listening, perseverance. There is no box of magic peace making tricks. All depends on love and concern informed by experience and understanding.

Are Quakers Christian? Is it possible for Quakerism to be both Christian and Universalist? These are just two of the questions which form the starting point for this book. In exploring them, it becomes clear that they cannot be answered in isolation for they are linked to a whole complex of questions about Jesus, God and the nature of human living. So it becomes necessary to engage in theology. But for Quakers this must be from a distinctively Quaker standpoint which seeks to be both undogmatic and concerned with practical issues. Most of all it must be grounded in our corporate experience of God. Janet Scott attempts to begin this process. She explores what we may say about Jesus and about God, sets out one way in which Quakerism may be both Christian and Universalist, and points out areas needing further discussion.

The secret of Woolman's purity of style is that his eye is single, and that conscience dictated his words. This Quaker preacher and tailor was a man of wisdom and true philosophy. These pages are filled with insight and messages for our time. A major classic of American spirituality.