A Blessing and a Benediction – Margaret Fell

I’ve been reading “Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell” for school the last week or so and have found many gems in her writing. Margaret Fell is an early force within Quakerism often called the mother of Quakerism and the mother of feminism. One of the things I really love about what she writes is how thoroughly worshipful it is. Here are two that are worth sharing.

Here is a blessing she opens a letter to her children with (I have modernized the spelling):

“…that you may be kept and preserved by the arm of his power and the dear love and life and unity of the eternal spirit in which you are baptized, that there you may put on Jesus Christ the Righteousness and live in him and unto him and unto his praise forever, whose goodness reach unto you and shine upon you as the Morning light. The God of life and glory bless, preserve and keep you, and his blessing rest upon you, and the light of his Countenance shin upon you forever” (311).

And here is a closing from a letter to “To Brethren and Sisters 1658,”

“So in this love, the Eternal God preserve you all, for this love is the fulfilling of the Law, and stand firm for your freedom in the truth, which is of great price, which is not purchased with Corruptible things, but by the blood of the son of God, which blood, if you walk in the light, and dwell in the light, will cleanse you from all sin, and so you will dwell in fellowship one with another, so here abide continually, and hold fast that which you have, let none take your Crown from you, and the God of power and life keep you and preserve you by his power to stand fast in the liberty wherewith he hath made you free” (261).