CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

 Introduction 1

I. Organization 6

II. The Inner Light 20

III. Worship 51

IV. Free Ministry 91

V. Special Testimonies 118

VI. Our Calling 157

 Appendix 199

QUAKER STRONGHOLDS.

INTRODUCTION.

Whether Quakerism be, as some Friends believe,destined to any considerable revival or not, itseems at least certain that any important revivalof religion must be the result of a fresh recognitionand acceptance of the very principles uponwhich the Society of Friends is built. What theseprinciples and the practices resulting from themreally are, is a subject on which there is a surprisingamount of ignorance amongst us, consideringhow widely spread is the connection withand interest about Friends amongst the membersof other persuasions. One seldom meets any onewho has not some link with the Society, and yetit is rare to find any one not belonging to it atall accurately informed as to its point of view orits organization. The notorious disinclination ofFriends to any attempts at proselytizing, andperhaps some lingering effects of persecution, probably2account for the very common impressionthat Friends’ meetings are essentially private—mysteriousgatherings into which it would beintrusive to seek admission. Many people, indeed,probably suppose (if they think about it at all)that such meetings are no longer held; that theSociety is fast dying out, and the “silent worship”of tradition is a thing of the past—impracticable, andhardly to be seriously mentioned in these days oftalk and of breathless activity.

Some such vague impression floated, I believe,over my own mind, when, some seventeen yearsago, I first found myself within reach of a Friends’meeting, and, somewhat to my surprise, cordiallymade welcome to attend it. The invitation cameat a moment of need, for I was beginning to feelwith dismay that I might not much longer be ableconscientiously to continue to join in the Churchof England service; not for want of appreciationof its unrivalled richness and beauty, but fromdoubts of the truth of its doctrines, combined witha growing recognition that to me it was as thearmour of Saul in its elaboration and in the sustainedpitch of religious fervour for which it wasmeant to provide an utteranc

BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!

Sitemize Üyelik ÜCRETSİZDİR!