What does ìQuakerî mean?

ìQuakerî was the nickname given to the followers of George Fox in seventeenth-century England when, at a certain trial he bid the magistrates tremble at the name of the Lord.

Early Quakers called themselves ìChildren of the Lightî and ìFriends in the Truth.î Many of those who became Quakers were ìSeekers,î for they were searching for religious truth. Quakers arose as a group in the century after Martin Luther and carried the Protestant Reformation to its logical conclusion.

Richmond P. Miller, What the Quakers Believe

Coffee and Covered Dish for November
Finance Committee

Upcoming Events

November 2 ó AFSC Annual Public Gathering

1:30 PM at Friends Center, 15th and Cherry Streets. See article on page 6.

November 2 ó Singing City Choir Concert:
Sacred Bridges

8 PM at Arch Street Meetinghouse. Musical expressions from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. There will be a preconcert panel discussion with representatives of all three faiths at 7 PM. Tickets are $20 (students, seniors and groups of 10 or more, $16) and are available at the door.

November 6 ó Gathering of Friends Working in Philadelphia Public Schools

5ñ8 PM, Russell Byers Charter School, 2100 Spring Garden St., 2nd floor, Philadelphia. RSVP 215-972-1700, ext. 224.

November 7 ó Council of Churches 29th Annual Fall Fellowship Luncheon

Christ the King Church, 12:30 PM. The speaker will be evangelist Jim Hughes. Tickets are $8. For tickets or more information, contact Scott Buchheit.

November 7ñ10 ó FCNL Annual Meeting

Washington, DC. This is an opportunity to become more informed about the critical issues facing the nation and the world and enhance your ability to effect change. See fcnl.org for details.

November 9 ó Tuition Aid Workshop

The Education Granting Group of PYM is sponsoring this workshop to support Meetings in guiding families through the process of securing financial aid for their childrenís Friends education. 9 AMñnoon, Arch Street Meetinghouse. For information, contact Tom Hoopes, 215-241-7224 or e-mail tomh@pym.org.

November 13 ó Vietnam Today: Working for Womenís Health and Environmental Safety

Cosponsored by AFSC and Veterans for Peace, this evening will highlight the long-term consequences of war. Speakers will be Nguyen Thi Ngoc Toan, MD, and Pham Song, MD, both Vietnamese physicians who will speak on womenís health and reproductive rights issues in that country. 6:30 PM at Friends Center.

November 17 ó Fall Clean Up

Bring your gardening gloves, rakes and other tools and help beautify the Meeting property. We will begin after covered dish. Sponsored by Property Committee. Raindate: December 1.

November 17 ó Inquirersí Meeting

7 PM at the Meetinghouse. See article on page 6.

November 22ñ24 ó Open the Door, Light the Light

An Inter-Yearly Meeting workshop on inreach,
outreach and local Meeting advancement. To be held at Powell House, a New York Yearly Meeting conference center near Albany, NY. For information or
registration, call Powell House at 518-794-8811,
e-mail info@powellhouse.org or see their web site,
www.powellhouse.org.

Upcoming Young and Middle School Friends Events

Middle School Friends
Nov. 8ñ9 ó Circle of Girls Gathering, Green Street Friends Meeting, Philadelphia, PA

Nov. 22ñ24 ó Simplicity Gathering, Wellsboro Friends Meeting, Wellsboro, PA

Young Friends
Nov. 22ñ24 ó Bus Trip to Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC. Overnight at Woodstown.

For information on these events, contact Cookie Caldwell at cookiec@pym.org or check out the Young Friendsí website at www.pym.org/youngfriends.

September 2002 Monthly Meeting
for Business

Monthly Meeting for Business was held on October 11. Connie Brookes and Louise Senopoulos filled in for Clerk Bob Brookes, who was away.

A query from PYM regarding the Meetingís covenant giving to Quarterly Meeting was referred to the Finance Committee. The application for membership of the Werner family, held over from last month, was approved. The Senopoulos family will visit them.

Bill Schmidt reported for the School Committee (see report below).

David Eldridge, the interim headmaster for the school, spoke. After a brief biographical sketch, he talked about the new building, the curriculum developed for the 7th grade and the new all-school digitized schedule. Future projects include ongoing issues of planning and zoning with the borough and replacing ìmath nightî with ìhistory nightî, with a panel discussing
the history of the school and Meeting.

David also reported that a 4th edition of George Foxís journal was found while cleaning out an office in the school. It is dated 1800. The school is getting estimates on having it restored.

Cindy Kolaski spoke about the Leavenhouse Neighbors Program, which she and Tom Knocke started in 1997 and Cindy has been running since then. She asked,
for organizational purposes, to be placed under the care of one of the committees in the Meeting. She was referred to Peace and Social Concerns Committee.

Diane Snyder reported for Overseers that we had two recent marriages ó Eric Smith and Jill Figlozzi (under the care of Easton Meeting) and Dan Kurtzman and Joan Alexander at Haddonfield Meeting. The wedding of Steve Berryhill and Tracy Carpenter will be held early next year.

Haddonfield Friends Meeting Annual
School Committee Report 2001-2002

Statistical Information is as follows:

2001-2002 2000-2001

Enrollment 218 206

Tuition K-6 $7,350 $7,160

Financial Aid

Meeting Children $27,038 $28,644

Other Children $70,489 $76,266

This past year we had ten children from the Meeting, all of whom received aid. The prior year figure was thirteen children, with twelve recipients of aid.

Two years ago Diana McGraw, team leader of the Accreditation group, spoke to us about what she referred to as ìdefining momentsî in the life of a school. It is fair to say that we had plenty of defining moments last year, beginning with Meeting for Business in August, which resulted in the approval to begin 7th grade as well as approval to negotiate the purchase of the 65 Haddon Avenue property.

The process of the successful purchase of the property and subsequent requests for zoning variances took the better part of the school year. As a result of this delay, we were really unsure as to whether we would be in
a position to begin 7th grade this fall. After some lengthy and healthy sharing of opinions and feelings, we made the commitment to begin this fall. Our only caveat was that we would need enrollment of at least four students. We ended up with six students, four returning students and two new students.

Pat Williams, Steve Senopoulos, and Steve King ably handled the negotiating process for the purchase of the building. We also thank Rich Hluchan, Mark Schuster, Jack Perry and Paul Shallers for successfully steering us through the zoning approval process. One of our 5th graders, Emalyn Feittshans, also contributed to our success with a very thoughtful request for the Zoning Boardís approval.

The other ìdefining momentî in our year was the announcement by Paul Shallers that he was going to step down at the end of the year. Paul knew he was leaving at a time when the school was in tremendous shape. Enrollment was at record levels and the community was anxiously awaiting the addition of 65 Haddon Ave and the 7th grade. We owe so much
to Tr. Paul. One way of saying thanks was the creation of the Nancy and Paul Shallers Art Enrichment Endowment. It is our hope that in time this fund will provide financial aid for students interested in our music program, and to provide funds for class trips to cultural events in our area. Paul and Nancy shared such a love for music, the arts, and HFS. This seems to be an appropriate way for us to express our gratitude.

Paulís departure led us to commence an immediate search for an interim Head of School. We created a search committee with representatives from the Meeting, School Committee, Faculty and Parents.
It was agreed to focus on the interim post, and to
defer the search for a permanent head until some future point. It was also agreed that whoever was appointed as interim would have the opportunity
to apply for the permanent position.

A typical interim position is one where the Interim Head is just a caretaker for what is already in existence. Our situation was vastly different in that our interim head was asked to finalize the formation of a new grade, hire the necessary teachers, supervise the creation of the curriculum and oversee the necessary renovations in 65 Haddon Ave. in addition to assuming all the other normal responsibilities.

The Search Committee interviewed four candidates.
All were very talented, capable, and members of the Religious Society of Friends. The Search Committee
recommended to the School Committee that David Eldridge be offered the position. It was, and he accepted.

In last yearís report I mentioned that Cindy Quinton had resigned. In this yearís report I can share that she has rejoined our community. During the past year Bernadette Hunter did a superb job of handling all of our fundraising endeavors. This was in addition to her other responsibilities of teaching 5th grade, running the after-school program and the summer camp. Total money raised was in excess of $75,000. I am never sure where Bernadette finds the time to do all these things so well.

We also initiated a new music instructional program last year, with over 60 children enrolled for individual instruction. This program was a result of the vision
of Tr. Marcy Grossman-Pollak, and it will certainly continue to grow.

We are very fortunate to have such a talented and
dedicated faculty. They are a big part of what makes
us such a special institution, particularly in this time
of transition and change.

Service projects are a big part of the life of our school. As in other years, we have class specific projects and school wide projects. Two big school wide projects were the Heifer Project International and Pedals for Progress. Our Student Council contributed to local charities as well as supporting gIobal charities such as buying a peace garden in Sarajevo and purchasing olive branch seedlings for farmers in Pakistan. Every child in every class is involved in service work throughout the year, led by our wonderful faculty and volunteer parents.

As always, our subcommittees worked hard in their various areas of responsibility. Religious Education supervised the cataloging of all appropriate material
in the Meetingís library. Thanks to Molly Katancik
for her help in this effort. This committee also created ìQuaker Backpacksî for our kids to take home. Patterned after our Reading Rainbow backpacks,
these have relevant and age appropriate information about Quakerism. Finance and Personnel handled all budgetary issues, employee related issues, and began work on creating an investment policy document.
The Development subcommittee began the preliminary work to prepare for the capital campaign related to the purchase of 65 Haddon Ave. as well as our typical annual fundraising efforts. Financial Aid judiciously allocated our available scholarship funds. It was also at their suggestion that we altered our policies somewhat to recognize that families sending more than one child to our school need to have their qualifications measured in a different fashion.

Joyce Howell finished her second term with us this year. Clerking the Financial Aid Committee was her responsibility, and she did a magnificent job. As we remind all departing members, they are able to return after a one-year hiatus.

Our PTO is an incredible source of support and enthusiasm every year. Their gift this past year (in excess of $20,000) was what they referred to as a ìwish list.î Each teacher was asked what he or she would love to have in his or her classroom, but couldnít afford. The PTO took care of it from there. It is impossible to describe the energy and support the PTO provides to our community.

This is a recap of our ìdefiningî year. We will face many new challenges this year, but at all times we remain focused on the mission of the school, and what is in the best interest of our children. During Tr. Paulís departing comments he spoke of his great love for our school and community, and although there is always change, the uniqueness of the school remains a constant.

Our Committee is a dedicated, enthusiastic, hard working group. I want to thank them for all they have done.

William C. Schmidt, Clerk

News from HFS

Haddonfield Friends School Holiday Bookfair

Thursday, November 7, 2002, 3:00 PM ñ 9:00 PM.
Come shop at the Marlton Route 70 Barnes and Noble/HFS Holiday Bookfair! Look for our Library Wish List Table, and purchase and donate a much-needed book to our school!

20% of sales goes to HFS/PTO, which directly
benefits our children, so come prepared to shop!

Brownie and Girl Scout News

The 4th Grade Junior Girl Scout Troop and the 5th/6th Grade Junior Troop along with all the First Graders are working together on a service project.
They are collecting teddy bears that will be distributed to local law enforcement officers by the South Jersey Survivors of Violent Crimes. The bears will be given to children who have been traumatized as the result of an accident, crime or other significant event. The bears will assist police officers by helping to calm children who are affected by a tragic event. Donated bears can be no larger than 17" and they must be new due to health issues. If you would like to help, there will be drop-off boxes in the Meetinghouse foyer as well as in the school foyer. If you want to donate a bear but you donít have a new one, Kohlís department store is selling adorable teddy bears for only $5.00 each. The best part is that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of those bears will be going directly to the Childrenís Hospital of Philadelphia! What a great opportunity to help two wonderful organizations that are helping so many children. If you have any questions about the collection, just contact Barb Genovese bgenovese@hotmail.com. All the Scouts and First Graders thank you for your support!

FIRST DAY SCHOOL

ìIt Takes a Meeting to Raise a Friend.î
ìYe have no time but this present time.î G. Fox

Submitted by Flora McKinney and Francie Pagell

Christ invites us into the communion of simplicity.

ìI give you a new commandment: love one another
As I have loved you, so must you love one another.î

John 13:34

Christ calls us to the essential love. Christ invites us to enter into communion with God by loving one another. This requires placing people before things. Our culture is materialistic: we are preyed upon as consumers of companies who want to sell us things we donít need and canít afford. Our call as parents is to live in radical refusal to the idols of comfort and luxury. This means identifying and shedding excess. Then we experience the freedom of a life focused on people, relationships and love. But simplicity isnít only about money and possessions. Itís about time and energy.

In recent years, our family has been working on living within our limits, living within ìmarginî ó as describes Richard A. Swenson, M.D., in The Overload Syndrome. ìon the unsaturated side of our limits, we can be open and expansive.î Warning signs that Iím living in ìoverload,î beyond my limits, are anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability, restlessness, feeling and acting ìbrittleî. For my family that is really bad news. As a doctor, Swanson is concerned that living without
margin causes pain and can undoubtedly kill us.

Only gradually did I come to recognize the pain I was creating for myself by boxing myself in with so many volunteer responsibilities and enrichment activities for my children. I would never have called it ìpain.î I had a sense that that we could do it all. Whatís more, if I had anything left in me, I had to use it to help others. As a result of living beyond my limits, I had pain I wasnít even conscious of feeling, and I was
taking it out on my loved ones. In spite of my best efforts to change my behavior, as long I was depleted and short on time, I found it impossible to be more respectful, kind and patient. I was weary with regret and guilt over conflict in relationships. It seemed even prayer was no help.

I would venture that any parent has experienced such periods, particularly those who remain home to care for children.

In time, I saw our family interactions stagnate in unpleasant, potentially destructive patterns. God is good and gently brought me to a place where I ask for help. People suggested saying ìnoî more often. They ask me: Do you want to be a ìhuman doingî or a ìhuman beingî? Slowly I decided to feel the pain of having to choose between valuable, worthwhile activities, rather than act out the pain of living in overload. Our family has hardly begun on the road toward margin, but now it is easier to see cause and effect. When our schedules fill up, someone becomes ill, when we travel, or if we experience other kinds of stress, then we find ourselves back in the old patterns of behavior.

Elaine St. James, a popular writer on the quest for simplicity, says ìMaintaining a complicated life is a great way to avoid changing it.î Keeping busy can mean keeping a wall up between ourselves and others ó even God, slowing down leaves room for God to work in us, causing us to change and grow in new directions. Living with margin requires vigilance and discipline. Swensonís prescriptions for living with margin include: move less often; own fewer things; eliminate debt;
sleep more; ignore the phone and e-mail sometimes; limit time at work. Most of this wisdom is familiar to Friends, but we can all help create communities that make it easier to sustain these values.

We can set aside time for our family to rest. Jean Vanier and others affectionately call it ìwasting timeî and itís almost always time shared with others. What does ìwasting timeî look like for families? Do we spend any time being idle and aimless together? Our society values productivity, efficiency, power. Do we ever engage in activity that is not goal oriented or focus on an outcome or product? The good news is that learning to rest and live with margin increases self-esteem and well-being. When we live with margin, we focus on being rather than doing, and we experience happiness from our relationships rather that from the products of our work. When we do that for ourselves itís good; when we model that for our children, itís excellent. We all enjoy the benefits of margin now, and our offspring leave home with tools to navigate a culture that demands ever more and better.

In simplicity, Christ invites us into communion as a family, and with margin we have time and space to respond to that call.

From the Pendle Hill pamphlet Bringing God Home
by Mary Kay Rehard. The rest of the pamphlet is just as challenging. From Pendle Hill, 338 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, PA 19086-6099, 1-800 742-3150, ext 2

Adult First Day School for November

November 3rd will be the final installment of Bible Study with Tony Prete.

Nov. 10th and 17th -óìThe Simple Pathî is a two-part program which will explore and clarify values and identify practical methods for simplifying your life. Group activities and discussion will allow participants to share their own thoughts and experiences with one another and to clarify attitudes and perceptions about traditional Quaker simplicity in a complicated world.

November 24th will be an intergenerational activity.
We will be decorating Thanksgiving placemats to donate to Leavenhouse. Young and older Friends are invited to the auditorium after Meeting for Worship to uncover their hidden artistic talents.

There will be no First Day School on December 1st. Instead, we will have an extended coffee hour.

AFSC Annual Gathering

The Annual Public Gathering of the American Friends Service Committee will be Saturday, November 2, beginning at 1:30 PM at Friends Center, 15th and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia.

The keynote address will be given by Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, South Africaís deputy minister of defense. She is a Quaker with a long history in the womenís movement. Her address will be followed by three simultaneous panels about AFSCís work promoting peace, working in conflict and post-conflict situations, and protecting civil liberties.

The Annual Public Gathering is free and open to the public. The building is wheelchair accessible and the keynote address will be amplified through the Friends Centerís new hearing assistance system and also interpreted in American Sign Language.

In conjunction with the AFSCís annual events, on Friday, November 1, the documentary film Rufus Jones, A Luminous Life will be shown at noon and a concert will be held at 7 PM. The concert features When the Peace Comes, a new work for viola and voice written for violist Judith Geist by Hannibal, who provides the narrative. Also on the program ó Faith and Practice,
a folk group from Doylestown (PA) Meeting. Both events take place at Friends Center and are free and open to the public.

Questions should be addressed to Tony Heriza at
215-241-7057 or theriza@afsc.org or Janis Shields at 215-241-7060 or jshields@afsc.org.

From Quarterly Meeting 10-20-02

It was approved to try the recommendation brought
by the ad-hoc committee on ìstructureî, as follows:
ìCreate a Clerkís Support committee to handle the ongoing business of the Quarter and work with the Clerk in ensuring that the leadings and instructions of the Quarterly Meeting for Business are carried out.
This committee is to be made up of one or two representatives from each Monthly Meeting, but open to all, and the Quarter Clerk.î The Meeting is being asked to name two people for this committee.

Persons from this Meeting who served on the ad-hoc committee were Flora & Howard McKinney and
Gary Smith.

PYM and Ramallah Friends Meeting

Howard McKinney

At a meeting at Medford Leas on Friday (10-18) Thom Jeavons announced the $45,000 has been transferred to an account in the West Bank so that work can begin on the restoration of the Ramallah Friends Meeting House. It is hoped to have a new roof before the beginning of the rainy season (early December). He also reported
that PYM has committed $2,000 to Friends United Meetingsí effort to raise funds to support a couple
as Friends in Residence for the next six months in Ramallah. Presumable they will work with the Friends School and the Meeting as ìway may openî, perhaps they also will identify some ideas for further exploration of programs for PYM. For more information, ask Howard McKinney

Inquirersí Meeting

Have you ever wondered what Quakers do during worship? How Quakers make decisions during business meeting? What a clearness process is? What Overseers, Worship and Ministry, Friendship, Memorial and Graveyard, Childrenís Inclusion or other committees do? What are Quaker testimonies and queries? How do Quakers marry and bury? How Quakers vary across the world? What is Yearly Meeting, Quarterly Meeting and Monthly Meeting? What happens at Tri-Quarter retreat or residential Yearly Meeting or Friends General Conference? How your children could get involved in Young Friends or Middle School gatherings? If you have these or other questions about Quakerism or Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, please come to an Inquirers Meeting on Sunday evening, November 17
at 7 PM. Refreshments and childcare will be provided. Please RSVP to David Smith.

The Story of George Fox on Pendle Hill
and Firbank Fell, in 1652

(Excerpted from Elfrida Vipont, George Fox and the Valiant Sixty, London, 1975; recently republished by Friends General Conference, and available from the QuakerBooks of FGC at www.quakerbooks.org)

Late in the month of May, in 1652, George Fox was travelling on foot with Richard Farnsworth. He was in a strange mood, bordering on exhilaration, and he had eaten and drunk little for several days. As they walked, he saw in the distance a great hill, curiously shaped, with a humped back, standing solitary in a hilly countryside. The traveller cannot miss Pendle Hill. From every viewpoint it stands out, like some prehistoric monster brooding over the landscape.

It was here that George Fox made one of the momentous decisions of his life.

ìI was moved of the Lord to go atop of it,î he said.

It is difficult for us in modern days to realize what a strange decision this was. Only the good north country word ìdaftî can describe it. It was not just that seventeenth-century travellers did not climb hills for fun; to turn aside in order to climb Pendle Hill was deflecting George Fox from the object of his journey, which was to ìdeclare truth.î His mission was to the little towns and villages and isolated farmhouses, not to a bare hilltop haunted by the cry of the peewit and the rippling call of the curlewÖ

As he reached the summit, George Foxís exhilaration mounted. ìAnd there, atop of the hill, I was moved to sound the Day of the Lord: and the Lord did let me see atop of the hill in which places He had a great
people to be gathered.î

He saw these people again during a restless night at the little inn where he and Richard Farnsworth were staying. In a sleep drawn paper-thin with exhaustion, he seemed to see ìa great people in white raiment by a riverside coming to the Lord.î

ÖThere would seem to be little doubt that in the vision on Pendle Hill God gave George Fox his marching orders. To identify the river would not be difficult; it was the Lune, the lovely salmon river which runs from its source in the fells down the broad valley of Lunesdale, unspoilt to this day, to reach the sea beyond Lancaster. George Foxís route through the dales puzzles many of those familiar with the district; either he must have travelled circuitously, like a hound circling about to pick up the scent, or his memory proved faulty when he dictated his journal more than twenty years later Ö At last George Fox reached Brigflatts, a little village of flax weaversólarger than it is todayó on the west bank of the Rawthey, just above the point where it joins the Lune, and a little to the southwest of Sedbergh, on the road to Kirby Lonsdale. Somewhere in his journey through the Dales, he had been given a name to ask forÖthat of Richard Robinson of Brigflatts. It was at this point, so near to his goal, that he was conscious of having lost his way. ìI asked a man which was Richard Robinsonísî he recorded in his Journal. ìHe asked me from whence I came, and I told him ëfrom the Lord.íî

ÖOn the next day, June 6, George Fox went with his host to a meeting of the Westmoreland Seekers and knew that this was the very place where he had seen the ìpeople in white raiment.î The Westmoreland Seekers were people who, like the young George Fox, could not find their spiritual home in any of the established churches of their day, neither in those which were at that time in the ascendant, the Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists, nor in those which were proscribed, the Anglicans and the Roman Catholics. Though puritanical in outlook, the Seekers could not accept Puritan doctrines and observances, but met
separately in little groups for prayer and meditation and the reading of the Scriptures, always with the hope that fresh light would someday be revealed to themÖ

It was the time of Whitsuntide and on Wednesday,
June 9, the great Whitsuntide Fair was to be held in Sedbergh. This was a hiring fair for the whole district, when farm servants poured into the little grey town and stood about in the narrow streets waiting to be hired, and when farmers and their wives came in to hire their labor for the year. Naturally it was a great social occasion, when people from the remote dales could meet their friends and relations, and when young people could look forward to enjoying themselves with their contemporariesÖGeorge Fox walked through the crowds of country people, declaring the Day of the Lord. He was a striking figure, young and tough, with a fine physique tempered by many miles of rough walking and exposure to sun, wind and rain. He wore serviceable travelling clothes, with leather breeches, and a broad brimmed white hat, from under which his fair hair curled to his shouldersóshowing that he was no puritanical, close-cropped ìRoundhead.î When he moved into the churchyard and placed himself under a great yew tree, the people followed himÖHe declared the message of Jesus Christ, Christ as a living force in the world of his day, Christ as a living presence in their hearts, and steadfastly assured them that the barriers were down between human beings and God, that they needed no human intermediary, that Christ was come
to teach his people himself.

Ö George Fox stayed at Draw-well over the following Sunday in order to attend a gathering of the Seekers which was to be held at Firbank Chapel, a little unpretentious place of worship high up on the shoulder of Firbank FellÖ Two preachers had been engaged for the morning: Francis Howgill, whom George Fox had already met, and John AudlandÖ He could hear the voice of the man who was preaching in the chapel but he did not go in. He did not even draw near. It was as if the crowded church and people thronging outside the door had unsettled him and made him long for solitudeÖ [He] found the peace and quiet he sought on top of a great crag near the chapel. The congregation poured out to mingle with the crowd. Some went home for a meal and others picnicked in the open.
All the time the lovely landscape was astir with people making for Firbank Chapel on foot or on horseback. As George Fox watched them from the top of a crag, he must have realized that this was to be one of the great opportunities of his life.

Today, as people read the memorial tablet on the
crag and learn that over a thousand Seekers gathered
in that place to hear George Fox preach, they almost inevitably ask where such a multitude can have come from. There is scarcely a human habitation to be seen, unless you cross to the brow and see the little farmhouses on the other side of the Lune. The explanation lies partly in the shifting population. The Industrial Revolution, which drew the population from the
villages into the towns, came after George Foxís day. Mainly, however, it lies in the hiring fair. The people who heard George Fox preach under the yew tree outside the Sedbergh Church took back the news to those of their neighbors who had stayed at home, together with the information that he would be preaching at the meeting of the Seekers to be held on June 13 at Firbank Chapel. Few Seekers would choose to remain behind that day.

The message preached by George Fox on Firbank Fell was the very one the Seekers were hungering and thirsting for, the gospel message of the eternal, living Christ. Again he declared that the barriers were down between human beings and God and that no human intermediary was necessary; that Christ was a living presence, not a dead fact, and that He would be their teacher, their leader and their prophet; that the house of God was not built with hands but that their bodies must be His temple; that the Bible which he and they loved so dearly was not the be-all and end-all of truth, for the spirit which inspired it was still at work in the world of their day, to inspire them and lead them into fresh truthÖIt was a call to a living faith: it was a challenge to the sacramental life.

ÖìThe Kingdom of Heaven did gather us, and catch us all, as in a net,î wrote Francis Howgill, ìand His heavenly power at one time drew many hundreds to land, that we came to know a place to stand in and what to wait inÖî