Jim Fussell
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QUAKER TESTIMONY: INTEGRITY
I believe there is something in the mind, or in the heart, that shows its approbation when we do right. I give myself this advice: Do not fear truth, let it be so contrary to inclination and feeling. Never give up the search after it: and let me take courage, and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates, if it leads me to be a Quaker or not . . . I look not to myself, but to that within me, that has to my admiration proved to be my present help, and enabled me to do what I believe of myself I could not have done.
Elizabeth Fry, 1799 & 1811
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If our inward leading is to be "doers of the truth", then integrity needs to be at the center of our being, at the center of our consciousness, and at the center of our outward witness.
Wilmer Cooper, 1991, ‘The Testimony of Integrity’
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Hearken to his Voice within you, his Witness and Testimony which he hath given you, which testifies against all Sin, and all Unrighteousness, and all Unbelief, and Hard-heartedness, and Uncleanness; and this testifies against all Oppression and Wrong; there is that in your Hearts which tells you, that you should do unto all Men, as ye would they should do unto you:
This is Just, this is Righteous, this is Equal.
Margaret Fell
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Mind the light of God in your consciences,
which will show you all deceit;
dwelling in it, guides out of the many things into one spirit,
which cannot lie, nor deceive.
Those who are guided by it, are one.
George Fox, Epistle 4
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You can't decide how you're going to die. Or when. What you can decide is how you're going to live now.
Joan Baez
There is that near you which will guide you. O wait for it and be sure you keep to it.
Isaac Penington, 1678
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Now is where we live, now is where the past must be overcome, now is where we meet others, now is where we must find the presence of God.
Carol Murphy, 1993
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And the third step in holy obedience, or a counsel, is this: If you slip and stumble and forget God for an hour, and assert your old proud self, and rely upon your own clever wisdom, don’t spend too much time in anguished regrets and self-accusations but begin again, just where you are.
Thomas Kelly, 1941
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Art thou in the Darkness?
Mind it not, for if thou dost it will fill thee more, but stand still and act not, and wait in patience till Light arises out of Darkness to lead thee.
Art thou wounded in conscience?
Feed not there, but abide in the Light which leads to Grace and Truth, which teaches to deny, and puts off the weight, and removes the cause, and brings saving health to Light.
James Nayler 1618-1660
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For what is the substance and intent of an oath? Is not the intent of it to bind to the speaking or performing of truth? And what is it that binds? Is it the shadow or the substance? Is it the words of an oath, or the sense and weight of the thing upon the spirit?
Isaac Penington, 1661
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Moral man is he who is opposed to injustice per se, opposed to injustice wherever he finds it; the moral man looks for injustice first of all in himself.
Bayard Rustin, 1948
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The want of faith in the word and power of God within, and the neglect of hearing the still, small voice thereof, is the ground and cause of all ignorance, errors, darkness, and confusion among men, of all sects and sorts of religion upon the face of the whole earth.
William Shewen, 1631-1695
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Knowledge becomes really such only when it is assimilated in the mind of the learner and shows in his character.
Inazo Nitobe, 1899
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But Cain, Nebuchadnezzar, and Haman were full of fury, envy, and wrath, who persecuted the righteous people of God, that kept their integrity and their obedience to God, with whom they were accepted; which condition of each people are recorded for example, and for learning of the good, and shunning the evil, and the way of the wicked gf Truth's Triumph In The Eternal Power
So let your lives preach, let your light shine...
George Fox
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Those written Words (for Scripture signifies a Writing) they are Publications in Testimony of that creating Word of Power, by which the Worlds were framed, (Heb. xi. 3.)
yet they do not declare that the World was made by them, but by that Eternal Word which was in the Beginning, as it's recorded, John i. 1.
the same is that which liveth and abideth for ever, 1 Pet. i. 23. which Word is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged Sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit, and of the Joints and Marrow, and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart;
neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight, but all Things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do, even as it is written, (Heb. iv. 12, 13.)
This is that Word to whom the Scriptures directs us, as a Light unto our Feet, and a Lanthorn unto our Paths, to guide our Feet into the Way of Peace; the very Entrance of which giveth Light; yea, it giveth Understanding to the Simple.
Elizabeth Bathurst, 1679
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There is the same variety in truths that there is in certain seeds and plants. Some of them are of a hasty growth and soon offer their fruits to the hand that cultivated them, while others, like the trees of the forest, require many years to bring them to maturity... You are perhaps planting seeds for the next generation, but your labor is absolutely necessary to secure a harvest to your posterity.
James Pemberton, 1787
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The likeness we bear to Jesus is more essential than our notions of him.
Lucretia Mott, 1793-1880
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“You going in your gold and silver, yea in your very shoes laced, and the poor want bread, want stockings and shoes; and you your many dishes, change of dishes, and that you call novelties, and the poor cannot get bread;
spare one of your dishes, and let it be carried to the place for the poor, and do not let them come begging for it neither, but let them have a place where they may be kept, and that will be for your honour and renown;
for consider what abundance of riches is in this city, and what good you might do with it, or how soon you may be taken from it, or it from you, by fire, or sea, and yet for all this ye will not consider
your poor brethren, which are made of the same blood and mould, to dwell upon the face of the earth;
therefore mind truth, that makes free from deceit, and from all cozening and dissembling, and will bring you to a word in all your common occasions, and to so say, and so do, and to worship God in the truth, and to worship God in the spirit...”
George Fox, 1658
I give myself this advice: Do not fear truth, let it be so contrary to inclination and feeling. Never give up the search after it: and let me take courage, and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates, if it leads me to be a Quaker or not.
Elizabeth Fry, 1799
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Words may help and silence may help, but the one thing needful is that the heart should turn to its Maker as the needle turns to the pole. For this we must be still.
Caroline Stephen, 1834-1909
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And now dear Friends, in all your words, in all your business and employments, have a care of breaking your words and promises to any people. Consider beforehand, that you may be able to perform and fulfill both your words and promises to people, that your Yea be Yea and Nay, Nay in all things, which Christ has set up instead of an oath.
Therefore all are to consider afore-hand, before they speak their Yea, Yea, what they are able to perform. It will preserve you out of all rash, hasty words and promises, for such kind of inconsiderate and rash speaking is not in the everlasting covenant of light, life, and grace.
George Fox, Letter 380
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I have been learning. . . that when we accept our finiteness realistically and without bitterness, each day is a gift to be cherished and savored. Each day becomes a miracle. I am learning to offer to God my days and my nights, my joy, my work, my pain and my grief. I am striving to keep my house in order, and my relationships intact. I am learning to use the time I have more wisely…. And I am learning to forget at times my puritan conscience which prods me to work without ceasing, and instead, to take time for joy.
Elizabeth Watson, 1979
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The love of God again makes us free, for it draws us to set a low value on those things wherein we are subject to others – our wealth, our position, our reputation, and our life – and to set a high value on those things which no man can take from us – our integrity, our righteousness, our love for all men, and our communion with God.
Kenneth Boulding, 1942
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I know how frail we all are, may we not be utterly cast off; may we in the end prove our integrity and all be given up to follow the good alone, in the newness of life.
Elizabeth Fry, 1808
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I have felt great Distress of Mind, since I
I came on this Island, on Account of the
Members of our Society being mixed with the World in various Sorts of Business and Traffick, carried on in impure Channels... worked in Superfluities, and
bought and sold them;
and thus Dimness of Sight came over many: At length, Friends got into the Use of some Superfluities in Dress, and in the Furniture of their Houses; and this hath spread from less to more, till Superfluity of some Kinds is common amongst us.
In this declining State, many look at the
Example one of another, and two much
neglect the pure Feeling of Truth.
Of late Years, a deep Exercise hath attended my Mind, that Friends may dig deep, may carefully cast forth the loose Matter, and get down to the Rock, the sure Foundation, and there hearken to that divine Voice which gives a clear and certain Sound;
and I have felt in that which doth not deceive, that if Friends, who have known the Truth, keep to that Tenderness of Heart, where all Views of outward Gain are given up, and their Trust is only on the Lord, he will graciously lead some to be Patterns of deep Self-denial in Things relating to Trade and Handicraft-labour; and that some, who have plenty of
the Treasures of this World, will example
in a plain frugal Life, and pay Wages, to
such as they may hire, more liberally than is now customary in some Places.”
John Woolman, 16th of Sixth month 1772
Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks—we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.
Parker J. Palmer, 2015
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There has always been in the Society of Friends a group of persons pledged unswervingly to the ideal. To those who form this inner group compromise is under no circumstance allowable. If there comes a collision between allegiance to the ideal and the holding of public office, then the office must be deserted. If obedience to the soul's vision involves eye or hand, houses or lands or life, they must be immediately surrendered.
But there has always been as well another group who have held it to be equally imperative to work out their principles of life in the complex affairs of the community and the state, where to gain an end one must yield something; where to get on one must submit to existing conditions; and where to achieve ultimate triumph one must risk his ideals to the tender mercies of a world not yet ripe for them.
Rufus Jones, 1911
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God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What God requires of us is that we not stop trying.
Bayard Rustin, 1987
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Now I find that in a state of pure obedience the mind learns contentment in appearing weak and foolish to that wisdom which is of the world; and in these lowly labors, they who stand in a low place and are rightly exercised under the cross will find nourishment.
John Woolman, 1772
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"If our inward leading is to be "doers of the truth", then integrity needs to be at the center of our being, at the center of our consciousness, and at the center of our outward witness."
~ Wilmer Cooper, 1991, ‘The Testimony of Integrity’
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