The Quaker Practice of Discernment

[Ava]

My friend posted this on her blog:



"Discernment is the core technology of Quakerism."

I found it really interesting, especially since I spend every Christmas with my husband's Quaker relatives.

They communicate differently than most people. 

I think they believe that they should always be listening for that "still, small voice" inside, to guide them about what to say and not say. Often they say nothing at all. One branch of the family is almost eerily silent. One girl who married into that side was very bubbly and vivacious at first, but over time has grown silent like them. Can't say they look happy or healthy but maybe it's an internal thing. 

Now, at the funeral for their matriarch, this tendency to listen for the higher self, it seemed to inspire some of the most beautiful and touching eulogies I ever heard. One by one, the people stood to talk about the woman who died. I thought, "This is the best and most sincere funeral I've ever attended. I want this, when I die." I won't get it, I'm not Quaker, but I just want to say, I have the highest respect for their way of honoring a life, after it's over. 

They are very, very careful with their words. 

Please don't quote

[FruityLlama]

I had a lecturer who is a Quaker. I don't know much about it to be honest, but its surprising that this is a doctrine. They were careful with their words, but their research is in linguistics so that's quite funny.

[Deleted]

I admire quakers for their tolerance and inclusivity. In the UK, they have centres called 'Friend's Meeting House' which are open for use for community activities and healing sessions run by the HealingTrust. Historically they have been known for their philanthropy and championing social justice issues, such as abolition of slavery and prison reform.

[justjuni]

Sufi`s practice discernment as a part of their being.

That still quiet voice gives the soul a moment to discern what is necessary for the situation.

Action, reaction or non-action.

All life situtations are based on that single choice made.

[justjuni]

Goodness, I didn`t mean to kill the thread

[glaucus]

When I connected with my maternal grandmother's side of the family over 5 years ago, I found out that some of my maternal grandmother's ancestors were Quakers.

My Quaker ancestors lived in Bucks county, Pennsylvania.

William Cooper was my 10th Great Grandfather, and he was a Quaker that emigrated from Low Ellington, Yorkshire, England to Pennsylvania in 1699.
  He arrived in Pennsylvania as a widower with a lot of children. 
His daughter, my 9th Great Grandmother Elizabeth was married to my 9th Great Grandfather Henry Huddleston Sr who was a non-Quaker, and that marriage got William into trouble. 

He got into more trouble after his daughter, my 9th Great Grandaunt Sarah had an affair and child with an African American slave and publicly received 21 lashes on her bare back as punishment for that!

Her original punishment was actually a fine. Her fine didn't get paid, and so she got whipped instead. Her lover received 21 lashes too.

No information about what happened to their child.


This pdf file has some information on Quakers in Masham , and it includes my Cooper ancestors

The Cooper family

• William Cooper, of Low Ellington, had been a member of the Anglican church, he

and his first two children were baptized in that church.

• His second wife, Thomasine Porter, was born about 1656 in Low Ellington,

Yorkshire, England, and was the daughter of Patrobus Robti Porter and

Thomazinae

• William's date of marriage to Thomasine is unknown. Since she is not listed as the

mother of Elizabeth and Henry in the Quaker birth records, they were probably

married in 1675.

• William and Thomasine’s children are recorded in the Quaker Register of Births

• William was fined 2/6d in 1690, probably for failure to pay a tax to the

established church. Nine years later he emigrated with his family from Low

Ellington to Pennsylvania, after obtaining a „certificate of removal‟ from the

Masham Monthly Meeting dated [first month/ March]1699.

The Sick Ship

• The ship Brittannia was commissioned by Lancaster Quakers to take Quakers to

Philadelphia in the summer of 1699

• William and Thomasine had with them their 8 children ages 13-26. This ship had

an outbreak of smallpox or typhus with 50 people dying on the trip over. The ship

was seriously overcrowded with a passenger list of over 200 and yet a safe load of

only 140.

• William may have lost his wife Thomasine on the ship since no later mention is

made of her in Quaker records or his will of 1709.

• When they arrived in Philadelphia, they were not allowed to disembark.

Philadelpha already had a yellow fever epidemic raging in 1699 (most deaths

were in Sept that year), so the ship landed across the river in Salem County, NJ.

• Christopher Atkinson died on board the ship and after his death his wife sold 500

acres in Buckingham township to William Cooper for £30.

New world settlers

• William deposited the Anglican and the Friends certificates at the

Middletown Monthly Meeting where he also entered the births of his

other children

• In 1700 The Quakers gave permission for the Buckingham Friends to hold a

weekly meeting at William Cooper’s house.

• In the Bucks Quarterly Meeting Register the actual certificate of removal

from the Middletown meeting to the Bucks county meeting for William

states:

"To the Monthly Meeting at the Falls in Bucks Co., Pa. Greeting. Whereas William Cooper

who hath been a member of our Meeting since his coming from the Old England and now

being desirous to join himself to your Monthly Meeting at the Falls hath acquainted us

therewith, requesting of us a certificate for his removal. We therefore after due

consideration of the matter do hereby certify that he hath been a laborious man amongst

his family since coming amongst us, and also hath been and is in unity with Friends."

This wasn’t the end for the Cooper’s

in America. Not only were the family

significant in the development of

Buckingham, Falls Meeting House –

one of the oldest in the US – their

descendants played a part in politics,

law and literature from the founding

of Cooperstown to James Fenimore

Cooper who wrote ‘Last of the

Mohicans’

www.mashamhistory.com/uploads/1/2/2/2/12227498/quakers_in_masham.pdf


Link on info on 10th Great Grandfather William Cooper
wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=merrygo&id=I3765

[Ava]

Sept 20, 2018 17:19:33 GMT justjuni said:

Goodness, I didn`t mean to kill the thread

Oops, sorry! I was bad at replying on this one.

I mean....um....taking a really long time to hear my still, silent voice about what to say next.  

[Ava]

glaucus

Thanks for sharing that history! Very interesting.

The actor Bradley Cooper is from Montgomery County, right next to Bucks County, so at first I thought, maybe he's a distant relative. Then I realized his father's ancestry is Irish, not English.