A Quaker Cupboard: Bible Verses, Queries and Friendly Voices in Prose and Poems on The Quaker Testimonies of Spices

Quakers have sometimes abbreviated our basic testimonies as “SPICES” – Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship of the Earth. The word ‘testimony’ is used by Friends to describe a witness to the Living Truth Within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life. It is not a form of words, but a mode of life, based on the realization thatthere is “that of God in everyone,” that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative but may lead to action that runs counter to certain practices currently accepted in the society at large. Testimonies reflect the corporate beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends, however much individual Friends may interpret them differentlyaccording to their own light. They are not ‘optional extras’ but fruits that grow from the tree of faith.