‘I doubt whether we can sustain the peak experience for very long.’ Photo: by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
Thought for the Week: Paul Hunt is a man of the moment
‘To him it represented hope.’
In 1659, Thomas Ellwood met a group of old friends who, as was the custom of the time, greeted him with elaborate gestures and sentiments. He did not respond in kind, and this amazed them: ‘At length, the surgeon… clapping his hand in a familiar way upon my shoulder and smiling on me said, “What, Tom, a Quaker!” To which I readily, and cheerfully answered, “Yes, a Quaker.” And as the words passed out of my mouth, I felt joy spring in my heart, for I rejoiced that I had not been drawn out by them into a compliance with them, and that I had strength and boldness given me to confess myself to be one of that despised people’ (Quaker faith & practice 19.16). Ellwood experienced a defining or identifying moment, just as we occasionally do in our century.
