This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

William Penn (1644-1718) was founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, Philadelphia was planned and developed. The democratic principles that he set forth in the Pennsylvania Frame of Government served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution. As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply. He wrote a comprehensive, detailed explanation of Quakerism along with a testimony to the character of George Fox, in his introduction to the autobiographical Journal of George Fox. In effect, Penn became the first theologian, theorist, and legal defender of Quakerism, providing its written doctrine and helping to establish its public standing. In 1668, Penn was imprisoned in the Tower of London after writing a follow up tract entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken. Although after Penn's death Pennsylvania slowly drifted away from a colony founded by religion to a secular state dominated by commerce, many of Penn's legal and political innovations took root.

Work a beautiful Quaker-style sampler using just two shades of red embroidery floss. The use of just two colors makes it easy to change the colors to suit your own décor. The design is worked in quadrants using basic cross stitch and back stitch on evenweave linen.

But don't stop with the sampler! The individual designs can be used on a myriad of items. Use the motifs for smaller framed art pieces, work the borders on table linens or bookmarks, or make ornaments.

Work a beautiful Quaker-style sampler using just two shades of red embroidery floss. The use of just two colors makes it easy to change the colors to suit your own décor. The design is worked in quadrants using basic cross stitch and back stitch on evenweave linen.

But don't stop with the sampler! The individual designs can be used on a myriad of items. Use the motifs for smaller framed art pieces, work the borders on table linens or bookmarks, or make ornaments.

"The most valuable aspect of religion," writes Robert Lawrence Smith, "is that it provides us with a framework for living. I have always felt that the beauty and power of Quakerism is that it exhorts us to live more simply, more truthfully, more charitably."

Taking his inspiration from the teaching of the first Quaker, George Fox, and from his own nine generations of Quaker forebears, Smith speaks to all of us who are seeking a way to make our lives simpler, more meaningful, and more useful. Beginning with the Quaker belief that "There is that of God in every person," Smith explores the ways in which we can harness the inner light of God that dwells in each of us to guide the personal choices and challenges we face every day. How to live and speak truthfully. How to listen for, trust, and act on our conscience. How to make our work an expression of the best that is in us.

Using vivid examples from his own life, Smith writes eloquently of Quaker Meeting, his decision to fight in World War II, and later to oppose the Vietnam War. From his work as an educator and headmaster to his role as a husband and father, Smith quietly convinces that the lofty ideals of Quakerism offer all of us practical tools for leading a more meaningful life. His book culminates with a moving letter to his grandchildren which imparts ten lessons for "letting your life speak."

During a traditional Quaker meeting, the Friends sit in silent meditation. No one speaks unless they are moved to do so through the "still, small voice" of God within. As a result, spoken words are often spare, clear, and wise. A Quaker Book of Wisdom reads like the voice of a Sunday morning meeting. Author Robert Lawrence Smith is a lifelong Quaker and former headmaster of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. (Chelsea Clinton's former alma mater). Reflecting on topics such as silence, simplicity, business, and family, Smith offers guidance on how to "let your life speak"--an important premise to the Quaker life of service. Smith's humble self-disclosures make this slim book especially endearing and accessible. In the chapter "Conscience," he divulges battlefield horrors that rival those in Saving Private Ryan--images that still haunt him long after he chose to fight fascism during World War II instead of becoming a conscientious objector, as many Quakers did. In the next chapter, "Non-Violence," Smith writes of an eye-opening shopping trip to Toys R Us where the action-figure warmongers are far more attractive to his grandson than the checkers game they were planning to purchase. In the final chapter, Smith offers "Ten Life Lessons" that he wishes someone had shared with him when he was growing up. Indeed, these lessons are even more valuable and certainly more provocative than the ones we learned in kindergarten. --Gail Hudson

Sometimes you have to go a little bit crazy to discover the life you were meant to live.

Heather Curridge is coming unhinged. And people are starting to notice. What's wrong with a woman who has everything--a mansion on a lake, a loving son, a heart-surgeon husband--yet still feels miserable inside?

When Heather spends the summer with two ancient Quaker sisters and a crusty nun running a downtown homeless shelter, she finds herself at a crossroads. Life turns upside down for Heather in a Quaker Summer.

"One of the most powerful voices in Christian fiction, Samson delivers …a staggering examination of the Christian conscience."

 -Publishers Weekly

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Quakers/ Anecdotes/ Juvenile literature; Quakers/ Biography/ Juvenile literature; Society of Friends/ Anecdotes/ Juvenile literature; Juvenile Nonfiction / Religion / General; Biography

A man discovers that the past follows him, no matter how far he travels.

A man discovers that the past follows him, no matter how far he travels.

Most of us living in this complex and time-pressured era have moments when we wish we were living simpler, more meaningful lives. Sometimes these wishes are fleeting desires, but for many today the search for a life of greater simplicity and meaning has developed into a deep longing.

There are many routes to simplicity. This book focuses on and provides direction to the gimmick-free spiritual path followed by Quakers.

For over three centuries Quakers have been living out of a spiritual center in a way of life they call "plain living." Their accumulated experiences and distilled wisdom have much to offer anyone seeking greater simplicity today.

Plain Living is not about sacrifice. It's about choosing the life you really want, a form of inward simplicity that leads us to listen for the "still, small voice" of God.

This book goes beyond the merely trendy to make the by now well-worn Quaker path to plain living accessible to everyone.

Catherine Whitmire's book of contemporary and historic Quaker voices reads like an antidote to consumer-driven despair. We all know the spiritual downfall of compulsively acquiring material goods (or what Quakers refer to as "cumber"); how it leads to a frantic-paced lifestyle built around working long hours so we can buy more stuff. In assembling Plain Living, a collection of paragraph-long quotes, Whitmire offers readers a simple and soothing alternative--the path that Quakers call "plain living." "We have chosen lives that crowd our appointment books, fill our email boxes, and overload our answering machines, even as we long for a plainer way of living--one that will free us from the strain and activity of these times," writes Whitmire. "The Spirit is speaking through the whirlwind of modern life, and if we listen quietly to the cool, calm Center within, there is an invitation to plain living awaiting us."

In the early chapters readers will find inspiration for laying down their interior and exterior cumber. The book's wisdom eventually expands into other important Quaker values, such as "Parenting and Mentoring," "Practicing Non-Violence," and "Listening to the Earth." Ultimately, this is a book with a long shelf life, offering timeless quotations on living the life worth living. --Gail Hudson

An elderly Quaker widow living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Elliot investigates the brutal slaying of a wealthy Quaker to save an innocent man from being unjustly convicted of the crime.