Quaker Wisdom

“The Kingdom of Heaven did gather us and catch us all, as in a net, and God’s heavenly power at one time drew many hundreds. We came to know a place to stand in and what to wait in; and the Lord appeared daily to us….And our hearts were knit unto the Lord and one another in true and fervent love, in the covenant of Life with God; and that was a strong obligation or bond upon all our spirits, which united us one unto another. We met together in the unity of the Spirit and of the bond of peace, treading down under our feet all reasoning about religion. And holy resolutions were kindled in our hearts as a fire—which the Life kindled in us—to serve the Lord while we had our being. And mightily did the Word of God grow among us and the desires of many were after the Name of the Lord. O happy day! O blessed day! And thus the Lord, in short, did form us to be a people for his praise in our generation.”
-- Francis Howgill, Quaker (1618–1668)