The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction by Pink Dandelion

Author:Pink Dandelion [Dandelion, Pink]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: REVELATION, Very Short Introductions Series
ISBN: 9780199206797
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009-10-04T18:07:20+00:00

15. Quaker Meeting in Philadelphia, 19th century s er

ak

And as the bodies of men and women subjected unto and guided by u

the spirit of God are the temple of God; therefore the Spirit of God The Q

may speak in and through them; and as the Lord is the teacher of his people he may be the speaker in them and through them. (Bauman, 1983, p. 25)

In these ways, Quaker talk in the 1650s was spiritualized, deemed to come from beyond the speaker. Small talk or worldly talk was seen as superfl uity and inappropriate. Thus, from the very beginnings, Quakers were wary of saying too much, but most importantly, were concerned to make sure what they did say came from the right place. As we have seen in Chapter 3, this is still a primary concern for those who minister in open worship. Later conventions, about length and frequency of ministry, protect the silence from misuse and help remind Friends that the ministry they give is not theirs, but God’s.

As well as preformed modes of worship, the early Friends were also highly concerned about a theology built on 74

‘notions’ – profession without possession. The experience of God breaking into their lives had given them new insight into the empty forms and words of other Christians. As Fox concluded, refl ecting on his 1647 experience, all were ‘shut up in unbelief ’

as he had been, even whilst they claimed, as he had, to be good Christians. Only the direct experience of Christ released the believer from captivity. Margaret Fell’s convincement carried a similar message, that the inward was authentic, and that erstwhile reliance on the outward had been a deception.

In the year 1652 it pleased the Lord to draw him [George Fox]

toward us ... My then husband, Thomas Fell, was not at home at that time, but gone the Welsh circuit, being one of the Judges of Assize, and our house [Swarthmoor Hall] being a place open to entertain ministers and religious people at, one of George Fox Theology and language

his friends brought him hither, where he stayed all night. And the next day, being a lecture or a fast-day, he went to Ulverston steeplehouse, but came not in till people were gathered; I and my children had been a long time there before. And when they were singing before the sermon, he came in; and when they had done singing, he stood up upon his seat or form and desired that he might have liberty to speak. And he that was in the pulpit said he might. And the fi rst words that he spoke were as followeth:

‘He is not a Jew that is one outward, neither is that circumcision which is outward, but he is a Jew that is one inward, and that is circumcision which is of the heart’. 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.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.