Skipton Meeting House

Skipton Friends’ Meeting House is a simple, compact little vernacular meeting house from the late seventeenth-century. Its builders kindly lent a helping hand with its dating, inscribing 1693 above the doorway. The door was locked when I called but I have previously gained entry. The insides are plain and typical, as are the well-tended gardens, a refuge from the busy town a stone’s throw away.

Facing the little path which passes the gate, a sign has been erected:

Think it possible that you might be mistaken!

This may be helpful to any individuals passing by who have foolishly made up their minds without aforethought. Yet how do we determine whether we be mistaken? Should we engage in further, deeper thought? Seek counsel from wider, more varied sources? Dismiss any objective truth as unhelpful, and being satisfied with subjective, fluid views?

Few modern Quakers would bind themselves to Scripture, but we who love the Lord of the Word must needs obey His expressed commands. Theology, ethics and opinions based upon experiences, philosophy, human wisdom and inherited views are prone to error and blunder. Obeying God’s word, and being bound thereto, is the smartest and wisest thing we can do, even if there are those who look down on us and lend us their patronising pity.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15