After Meeting for Worship on Sunday, November 17thwe gathered together to see what wisdom could be gathered from the reading and discussion of an epistle of William Dewsbury written in 1660 while imprisoned in York Tower, England for his Quaker beliefs.
Though the language used is dated, its tone is intimate and has the sound of a message given in a very gathered meeting for worship. The words and phrasing feel akin to poetry such that there are two messages; the message read or heard, and the message felt. Dewsbury makes a direct appeal to listen to the inward message of God moving in the hearts of his F/friends to support the spiritual strivings of the community whether they be strong in their faith or new.
Sitting with this after meeting, many of us were struck with the realization that we do not consistently nurture this kind of inward listening. If we attend to our inward listening there arise opportunities to move through our days enacting, in a myriad of ways, the love we felt.
We talked of how this in turn can make all the difference to our being open to spiritual guidance in our Meeting for Worship, and to the seeing and nurturing of the spiritual gifts given for service within our many communities.
The nurtured spirit within moves us beyond the listening of individuals into a listening that is more than a sum of the individuals present.
William Dewsbury Epistle 1660
Dear Friends and Brethren
Called and chosen of God, to wait upon him in his Light, every one in particular feel the Power and Life of God, exercising you in his Service, whatever he calls unto, when the Lord fills the Heart of any of you with his Presence, and in his Life moves thee, quench not the Spirit, I am commanded to lay it on thee, whosoever thou art, from the least to the highest growth.
All, dear Friends, wait to be kept in the Bond of the Spirit, obedient to its motions, to cease and stay when it moves not, as well as to begin any exercise when it moves. And dear and tender little Babes, as well as strong Men, retain the pure in every particular, and let not any thing straiten you, when God moves.
And thou faithful Babe, though thou stutter and stammer forth a few words in the dread of the Lord, they are accepted; and all that are strong serve the weak in strengthening them, and wait in wisdom, to give place to the motion of the Spirit in them, that it may have time to bring forth what God hath given.
And dear Brethren, feed the Lambs, and loose the Tongue of the Dumb, that Praises may arise in and amongst you all, to the glory of God, that in him you may be a wellspring of Life one to another, in the Power of the endless Love of God, in which the Lord God keep you all.
From York Tower, the 10th day of the 12th month, 1660
W.D.
(Works pg. 185)