Now I was come up in spirit through the flaming
sword, into the paradise of God. All things were new; and all the creation
gave unto me another smell than before, beyond what words can utter. I know
nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness; being renewed into
the image of God by Christ Jesus, to the state of Adam, which he was in
before he fell. The creation was opened to me ....
George Fox, Journal, p. 97
So then, there is the sweet communion .... the sweet joy and refreshment
in the Lord our righteousness, who causeth righteousness to drop down from
heaven, and truth to spring up out of the earth. And so our Father is felt
blessing us, blessing our land, blessing our habitations, delighting in
us and over us to do us good; and our land yields its increase to the Lord
of Life, who hath redeemed it and planted the precious plants and seeds
of life in it ....
Give over thine own willing, give over thine own running,give over thine
own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God
sows in thy heart and let that be in thee, and grow in thee, and breathe
in thee, and act in thee, and thou shalt find by sweet experience that the
Lord knows that and loves that and owns that, and will lead it to the inheritance
of life, which is his own portion.... There is a continual praying unto
God. There is a continual blessing and praising of his name, in eating or
drinking or whatever else is done.
Isaac Penington (1617-1679)
It would go a great way to caution and direct people in the use of the world,
that they were better studied and known in the Creation of it. For how could
Man find the Confidence to abuse it, while they shoud see the Great Creator
stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?
William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1692
...As the mind was moved by an inward principle to love God as an invisible,
incomprehensible Being, by the same principle it was moved to love him in
all his manifestations in the visible world. That as by his breath the flame
of life was kindled in all animal and sensible creatures, to say we love
God as unseen and at the same time to exercise cruelty toward the least
creature moving by his life or by life derived from him was a contradiction
in itself.
John Woolman (1720-1772), Journal (Grummere edition), pp 156-157
Our Gracious Creator cares and provides for all his creatures. His tender
mercies are over all his works, and as far as his love influences our minds,
so far we become interested in his workmanship and feel a desire to take
hold of every opportunity to lessen the distresses of the afflicted and
increase the happiness of the creation. Here we have the prospect of one
common interest...to turn all that we possess into the channel of universal
love becomes the business of our lives.
John Woolman (1720-1772) , A Plea for the Poor or
A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich
I have known landholders who paid Interest for large sums of money, and
being intent on paying their debts by raising grain, have by too much tilling,
so robbed the earth of its natural fatness, that the produce thereof hath
grown light.
To till poor land requires near as much labor as to till that which is rich,
and as the high interest of money which lieth on many husbandmen is often
a means of their struggling for present profit, to the impoverishment of
their lands, they then on their poor land find greater difficulty to afford
poor laborers who work for them, equitable pay for tilling the ground.
The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious Creator to the inhabitants,
and to impoverish the earth now to Support outward greatness appears to
be an injury to the succeeding age.
John Woolman (1720-1772)
Conversations on the True Harmony of
Mankind and How it May be Promoted
The fulness of the godhead dwelt in every blade of grass.
Elias Hicks (1748-1830), Quoted by D. Elton Trueblood, in West, The Quaker
Reader
The Peaceable Kingdom paintings:
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God,
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9
In the foreground, the animals play, wolf and lamb, leopard and kid, calf,
lion, and fatling. The cow and the bear are there, and so is the child,
with his hand unharmed on the den of the adder. In the middle distance is
the living historical expression of this vision -- William Penn standing
with the Indians, concluding his treaty of friendship.
T he Peaceable Kingdom, paintings by Edward Hicks (1780-1849),
prints hang in many Quaker meetinghouses
(Description: John Punshon, A Portrait in Grey)
Only when we see that we are part of the totality of the planet, not a superior
part with special privileges, can we work effectively to bring about an
earth restored to wholeness.
Darkness is no less desirable than light. It is rather, a rich source of
creativity... First there is the darkness of the earth in which the seeds
wait all through the winter. Second, there is the darkness of the womb in
which the young mammal grows into sufficient viability to be born and take
its place on earth, as a separate being.... And third, there is the darkness
of night, when the garish sun has gone down and the things of earth are
blotted out, and we may glimpse the vastness of the universe of which we
are part...
We say that God is the Inner Light, but I want to affirm that also the Inner
Darkness, and I do not mean desolation or evil, but a quiet waiting and
creativity. "The darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth
as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
Elizabeth Watson, "Your God is Too Small", 1996
Green vegetation and the ground on which we step are bathed in sunlight
-- but not plant roots, not our own Inner Light. They work in blessed darkness.
Francis Hole, 1996
Friends General Conference workshop
It is as if the Divine Presence Said to us, "Ever seek balance....You
are to love and appreciate yourself, other persons, plants and creatures
around you, stars, earth, snow rocks. Do not "fall in love" with
any of these to be possessed by them and swallowed up; neither turn away
from them, nor renounce them. In the balance that you attain, keep me ever
in view. Each of you is my unique darling, as is everyone and everything
around you. Will you whisper to me with your last breath?
The nature of the Divine Presence is to give. As the sun gives light and
warmth, as the plants give foliage, fruits, roots in abundance, so the Presence
gives life to us, and death, too. Death and life are interwoven. When I
die, it will not be true that the Presence will have reversed Itself, stopped
giving, and will have taken away my life. Sister Death, as St. Francis called
her, is a part of continual giving, which has meant change all along.
Francis Hole, A Little Journal of Devotions out of Quaker Worship, 1995
When I steward the earth, I believe I am caring for God's body.
Ju dith Brown 1998, "God's Spirit in Nature," , Pendle Hill Pamphlet
336
compiled by Rachel Findley <[email protected]>
Strawberry Creek Meeting, Berkeley, CA