From the archive: Oh, when the saints…

Janet Scott continues her series on the Friend and the first world war. In January 1918 the conflict entered its final year.

by Janet Scott 26th January 2018

The Friend published its first issue of 1918 on 4 January. An editorial on ‘Quaker Sainthood’ was inspired by the charm and fascination of Violet Hodgkin’s Book of Quaker Saints. It opened with a reference to the old Quaker records:

…they tell of one of the glorious chapters of human history and human struggle, they have a fragrance and a richness no art of literature and no craft of science can supply, they speak with pentecostal tongues of the deepest hunger of the soul and of the bread of life. For they tell of the earnest seeking and happy finding, of the faithful living and courageous dying, of the saintly forefathers of Quakerism.