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This memoir tells the story of a man's life, particularly his spiritual journey as a minister in the Religious Society of Friends. Lloyd Lee Wilson began keeping a journal when he was eight years old, and he has kept journaling his entire life. This book contains descriptions of events taken from the journals, including recountings of vocal ministry and prayers; other writings by Lloyd Lee (and the writings of others); and Lloyd Lee's reflections on events and his inward journey as well as his inward state today as he looks back on his life.Lloyd Lee writes in his introduction to this book: "e;A wise Friend once said that since Friends have no creeds to define us, we have to tell our stories in order to remember who we are as a particular people of faith. These stories from my own life are shared as insights into who Friends have been in the places and times I have occupied, to help us remember. They are an account of my trying to be faithful to a call into public ministry among Friends and others and of my consequent struggles to find the support and accountability among my faith community to answer that call faithfully."e;It is the intent of the publisher to bring this book into print for the benefit of the reader so they might use it in reflecting on their lives and discerning choices and possible calls laid before them. The spiritual journey that leads to putting God at the center of one's life is the beginning point for doing good works in the world.Lloyd Lee Wilson has been active in the public ministry since his youth on the eastern shore of Maryland, becoming a Methodist certified lay speaker at age fourteen. He encountered Quakers while attending MIT in the late 1960s and soon became fully committed to the faith and practice of Friends. His service to Friends includes time spent as general secretary of Friends General Conference, serving on various Friends United Meeting boards and commissions, and yearly meeting appointments in New England, Baltimore, and most recently North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), where he has been presiding clerk and clerk of the yearly meeting of ministers, elders, and overseers. Lloyd Lee has written a great deal on Quaker faith and practice as well as given talks and lectures and led workshops and retreats. He has been a recorded minister in four different monthly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends.

The Religious Society of Friends arose as a passionate missionary movement in the 1650s and suffered through decades of persecution before gaining legal toleration in 1689. The new religious sect questioned the fundamental values and underlying principles of English society, pointedly challenging the social, political, and religious status quo. From its inception, members of the Society felt divinely called to model a God-centered alternative to the surrounding culture. Outwardly, this was manifested by such things as distinctive ways of dressing and unique forms of speech. Inwardly, Friends were characterized by their faithful dependence on the immediate direction of the Inward Light of Christ in all aspects of their lives. As the years passed, the outward forms dropped away and the peculiarities of the Quaker way of life gradually disappeared. While in some ways Friends today continue to resist "e;the world's ways,"e; they have largely accommodated themselves to the forms, customs, and standards of the peoples they live among. * Primitive Quakerism Revived challenges contemporary Friends in each of the Society's branches to reexamine their fundamental beliefs and practices, to identify the changes and additions that have been made in the past three and a half centuries, and to acknowledge which of those are unacceptable compromises that need to be abandoned. This book is a plea to reclaim the essential Quaker principles and mission by modeling a joyfully faithful community of God.

David Johnson asks, "e;How did early Quakers pray?"e; and draws on early Quaker and other writings to answer this question. A Quaker prayer life arises from a life of continuing daily attentiveness. The first generation of Quakers followed a covenant with God, based on assidious obedience to the promptings of the Inward Light. This process did not require the established churches, priests or liturgies. Quaker prayer then became a practice of patient waiting in silence. Prayer is a conscious choice to seek God, in whatever form that Divine Presence speaks to each of us, moment to moment. The difficulties we experience in inward prayer are preparation for our outward lives. Each time we return to the centre in prayer we are modeling how to live our lives; each time we dismiss the internal intrusions we are strengthening that of God within us and denying the role of the Self; every time we turn to prayer and to God we are seeking an increase in the measure of Light in our lives.

For 175 years, the prevailing image of Elias Hicks has been a false one. His opponents in the Religious Society of Friends have successfully misrepresented him as denying Christ and the scriptures. In his last year of life, Hicks reluctantly penned a reply to these charges, recounting in his journal how God had ordered his life. But the published Journal was edited into a bland portrayal of one of the most dynamic figures in Quaker history. Paul Buckley has meticulously compiled a new edition of The Journal of Elias Hicks from the original manuscripts - most in Hicks' own handwriting - that restores more than 100 pages of missing material.