EOF06A The Eye of Faith, A History of Ohio Yearly Meeting Conservative. Chapter 6 Part A, Ministry of the Golden Age

Four vivid portraits of conservative Quaker ministry show how conviction, plainness, and silent worship shaped a people under pressure from modern life. We trace their outreach, leadership, and struggles with change as Ohio Friends carry inner continuity toward 1917.• Elwood Conrad’s solemn preaching on salvation and conscience• James Henderson’s home meetings, missions work, and presidential visits• Cyrus Cooper’s rigorous plainness, opposition, and intuitive friendships• Carl Patterson’s gentle leadership, clerking, and magnetic presence• Quietism’s strengths and limits within a changing economy• The hedge of plainness fading while inner bonds endure• Education, eldering, and the cost of fear of change• Readiness for war-time testing and reconstructionA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

We trace the tension between strict preservation and bold outreach among Ohio Friends from 1874 to 1917. Asa Branson’s authority, Hannah Stratton’s journeys, and the Fowlers’ service reveal how discipline, humility, and risk shaped a quieter but wider ministry.• Asa Branson’s plainspoken authority and resistance to sociability and standard time• Deference to elders creating distance from youth and leadership roles tied to plain dress• Reports of renewed ministry and young Friends entrusted with gifts• Hannah Stratton’s humility, release to travel, and contested reception in Britain• John and Esther Fowler’s service for children in Ohio and Cairo• influence of an unprogrammed meeting in Japan on local Friends• The move from preservation toward outreach without abandoning core testimoniesA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

We trace the character of Ohio Yearly Meeting’s “Golden Age” ministry, where quietist discipline met public witness in prisons, schools and streets. Stories of Anne Branson, Elwood Dean and Daniel Mott reveal the cost of obedience, the power of silence and the risks of over-editing holiness.• Quietism shaping tone, restraint and obedience• Prophetic sensitivity alongside activist outreach• Anne Branson’s severe integrity and tender counsel• Elwood Dean’s musical preaching and human warmth• Daniel Mott’s prayerful gentleness and nearness of eternity• Decline of ministers after 1890 and likely causes• A call to keep speech brief, weighty and aliveA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

John 11:38–57 We study this part of John with clear attention to Greek terms that reshape belief as trust and signs as pointers beyond miracles. Lazarus’s raising, the council’s response, and the approach to Passover reveal how language, liberation, and wholehearted faith meet in practice.• Belief as trust and confidence, not mere assent• Christos as title Anointed, not a surname• Names like Yeshua, Iakobos, Ioudas shifting across testaments• Lazarus raised, unbind him as liberation motif• Jesus deeply moved, nuance of Greek verbs• signs pointing beyond miracles to God’s glory• Council fear, Caiaphas’s unintended prophecy• Children of God, adoption and unity• Passover approaching, Jesus’s withdrawal to EphraimA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

John 11:1-37We read John 11 with attention to language, source questions, and the inward Light, moving from Lazarus’s death to Jesus’s tears and the claim “I am the resurrection and the life.” We contrast Martha’s presumption with Mary’s surrender, and explore how glory means God’s manifest presence, not spectacle.• ethical framing against gambling and exploitation• John 11 context, Bethany near Jerusalem• name meanings and linguistic notes in Greek and Hebrew• “glory” as manifested presence of God• light “in” a person vs external light• sleep vs death and Johannine misunderstanding motif• “I am the resurrection and the life” and zoe vs bios• Martha’s doctrine vs Mary’s inward posture• Johannine community, late dating, and source theories• Jesus’s emotions, “deeply moved,” “troubled,” and “Jesus wept”• early heresies: Docetism and the full humanity of Christ• Quaker emphasis on inward life, peace beyond understandingA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

We trace how Ohio Wilburite Friends built a “guarded education,” from printed minutes and women’s records to a brick-by-brick boarding school culture that survived fire, standardized primary schools, and balanced conviction with modernization. A story of plain speech, strict standards, aid associations, and a networked push for quality.• women’s minutes printed and epistles included alongside men’s• boarding school built at Barnesville with local bricks and pride• guarded culture of plain dress, thee and thou, strict discipline• bans on baseball and careful curation of reading material• high academics with limited salaries and leadership turnover• aid associations and alumni organizing to raise funds and standards• tuition increases and building upgrades amid cultural unease• 1910 fire, rapid rebuilding, improved safety and infrastructure• primary schools revived, subsidized, and gradually standardized• custom readers published to align texts with Quaker testimonies• education associations set courses, exams, and reporting norms• cross-yearly meeting cooperation to supervise and improve schoolsA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

John 10:1-42 We read John 10 with attention to the gate, the Good Shepherd, and what it means to recognize a voice that leads to life. Greek insights on “amen amen,” voice and calling, and zoe versus bios deepen a conversation about obedience, abundance, and union with the Father.• historical context of shepherding and danger in the fields• the gate as a real threshold for discernment and salvation• voice recognition versus noise and false guides• good shepherd versus hired hand and motive under pressure• free will, temptation, Gethsemane, and chosen obedience• other sheep, one flock, universality without relativism• feast of dedication and the claim “The Father and I are one”• works as witness when belief feels hard• eternal life as zoe, the life of the ages, now• kingdom as divine state, not territory• practical prayer: making space to listen and followA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

A turning point in 1874 becomes a season of rebuilding, wider correspondence, and confident witness among conservative Friends, culminating in shared fundamentals and a stronger print and school culture. We trace how harmony, service, and publishing shaped a subculture that held firm as modern pressures rose.• relocation to Barnesville and renewed harmony• conservative separations forming new yearly meetings• circle of correspondence and tendered epistles• Philadelphia ties in funds, visitors and publications• tract associations, libraries and home reading• Indian concerns and service at Tunesassa• expanding memorials, journals and peace pamphlets• 1911–1913 synopsis of conservative principles• the Great War’s pressure on a rural subcultureA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

John 9:1-41We walk through John 9 and watch blame give way to purpose as a blind man sees, confronts power, and becomes a witness. Along the way we unpack signs vs miracles, the Sabbath dispute, Siloam as “sent,” and how spiritual sight grows from trust and humility.• cultural belief in generational sin vs Jesus’ reframing toward God’s work• “light of the world” as a thread through John 8–9• healing with mud on the Sabbath and social controversy• signs rather than miracles as Johannine theology• fear of synagogue expulsion and late-first-century context• Origen on spiritual truth and narrative arrangement• the healed man’s rising testimony against entrenched authority• movement from physical to spiritual blindness and the nature of belief• practical picture of spiritual sight as humility, readiness, and obedienceWe welcome feedback on this or any of our podcast episodes. We can be contacted through our website at Ohio Yearly Meeting.orgA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.

The scorching summer of 1854 became a crucible of division for Ohio Yearly Meeting as Thomas Gould's controversial presence catalyzed a long-brewing theological conflict between Wilburite and Gurneyite Quakers. What began as tension over recognizing a visiting minister culminated in the dramatic establishment of competing clerks and separate meetings that would divide Quaker communities for more than a century.• Thomas Gould represented the "smaller body" of New England Yearly Meeting, seen by Gurneyites as insubordinate and by Wilburites as upholding traditional Quaker principles• The yearly meeting of 1854 took place during extreme heat, drought, and cholera epidemics• Benjamin Hoyle, the clerk, found himself caught between factions while trying to prevent separation• The breaking point came Tuesday when Jabiz Coulson nominated Jonathan Benz as a competing clerk• After Hoyle read a minute of adjournment, the Gurneyites remained behind while Wilburites had to wait outside• The separation caused deep personal grief, as recorded in diaries of Friends like Aaron Frame• The division reflected fundamental differences over Quaker identity, with Wilburites emphasizing plainness and tradition while Gurneyites viewed these as "small matters"• Local meetings throughout Ohio were eventually forced to choose sides, creating painful divisions in communities and familiesA complete list of our podcasts, organized into topics, is available on our website. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups. Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website. Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline. We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes. Contact us through our website.