Letters - 17 February 2023

From ‘That of God’ to The Peace Testimony

‘That of God’

When citing ‘that of God in every man’, Friends should not think that George Fox used the phrase only once in his epistles. It occurs at least a dozen times, most often in the form ‘every man and woman’ or ‘every one’. 

He often prefixed it with ‘answer’ or ‘answering’, but not always. For instance in Epistle 79 he writes, ‘Mind that of God which is in you… to guide you…’; and in Epistle 200, ‘Do rightly, justly, truly, holily, equally to all people in all things. That is according to that of God in every man and the… wisdom… and life of God in yourselves’.

It’s a pity if we interpret his thought too narrowly.

John Lampen

Farfield Meeting House

I was delighted to find a picture of Farfield Meeting House in the Friend (27 January) and to see Friends reminded that this quiet, unassuming old Meeting house was chosen to represent Quakers and other nonconformists in the ‘Faith and Belief’ section of Historic England’s History of England in 100 places.

But Friends may not know how close this building came to being lost to Friends. My father, David Butler, had a life-long interest in Quaker Meeting houses. When he was a young man he heard that Farfield Meeting House was advertised for sale, to be turned into a holiday cottage, so he and two friends clubbed together to buy it to save it from this fate!

As we lived the nearest, Dad was responsible for keeping an eye on the place, so during my childhood we often camped there for weekends and did maintenance work like scything the long grass and mending leaky gutters. Later the three owners gave the Meeting house to the Historic Chapels Trust which currently looks after it and keeps it open [but see news, 10 February], with Quaker literature available, for passing walkers and others to visit.

Christine Sutherland

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