And all Friends take heed of jars and strife, for that is it, which will eat out the Seed in you; therefore let not that harbour in your bosoms, lest it eat out the good in you, and ye come to suffer in your own particulars, Therefore dwell in love and life, and in the Power and Seed of God, which is the honourable, royal state.
George Fox, 1656
Where any have received offence from any other, first to speak privately to the party concerned, and endeavour reconciliation between themselves; and not to whisper or aggravate matters against them behind their backs, to the making parties, and the breach wider.
Yearly Meeting in London, 1692
True Godliness don’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
Creeds are milestones, doctrines are interpretations: Truth, as George Fox was continually asserting, a seed with the power of growth, not a fixed crystal, be its facets never so beautiful.
John Wilhelm Rowntree, 1904
True silence...is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
William Penn, 1699
Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand.
Isaac Penington, 1667
If the shoe fits, wear it.
Winnie The Pooh, 1948
Peter
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Hymn of Promise
In the bulb there is a flower,
in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise:
butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter
there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
Natalie Sleeth