Word: quaker
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...bring about the reunion, the Quakers had set up a joint body-the Philadelphia General Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends-and invited Quakers from far & near to attend. The Hicksites' red brick, wide-eaved meetinghouse was filled, to near capacity (1,400) with sober Friends. On its cushioned brown benches they "centered down" before each session in the vibrant silence characteristic of Quaker worship...
They worked slowly but smoothly through their business meetings in traditional Quaker fashion-without votes or minorities...
...long silence of worship which began the Meeting, Quaker Patriarch Rufus M. Jones, 83, rose to utter words which must have echoed in the meditations of the many who heard him: "I am thrilled with a sense of joy at something triumphant that has happened toward the end of my long life. . . . My heart is filled with thanksgiving and high rejoicing that we are met as we have met, completely in one spirit, under one Father, as brothers and sisters...
...plain country meetinghouses, Quaker farmers and their families still worshiped according to the precepts of their 17th Century English founder George Fox, waiting in "living silence" for the Inner Light to quicken in them direct awareness of God's will. They felt no need of dogmas, ritual, or "hired priests." They studied their Bibles for spiritual inspiration rather than as final, unchangeable authority as to the nature and will...
...this surcharged situation a fervent voice suddenly spoke out. For most of his life Elias Hicks, a Long Island farmer, had been a respected though not particularly distinguished Quaker minister.* But in 1815, at the age of 67, he was moved to preach against the evangelistic doctrines which he felt were threatening Quaker mysticism.† At the Yearly Meeting of 1827, differences were too deep even for Friendly reconciliation: country Quakers withdrew to form a separate meeting. Though they never formally accepted the teachings or leadership of Elias Hicks, the seceders were known as "Hicksites" for want of a better...