The outstanding Friend of this kind in the late nineteenth century was my grandfather by marriage, Bevan Braithwaite, a barrister by profession, and a Greek and Latin scholar. But in each generation traveling Friends (and often one Friend in particular) arise, who by personal magnetism, a contagious faith, and a devotion to an occasional, voluntary, itinerant ministry, act as a living cement to fix the whole Society together comparable to the blood which was said to be the unknown ingredient in ancient Roman cement. Even London Yearly Meeting, the parent of all other Yearly Meetings and the oldest in the world, has no authority beyond Great Britain. ll consists ol autonomous groups called Yearly Meetings whose boundaries have been fixed by geography and custom. It has no pope, no bishop, no moderator, no head executive assembly, council or committee, or central governing body. The Religious Society of Friends depends in an extraordinary way on person to person influence. Rufus Jones just twirls his thumb And makes all Quakerism hum. A witty Friend once made a catchword about him:. For to all Quakers in all countries Rufus Jones was a living symbol of Quakerism. At the close of the morning’s session a tall, lean man with scanty reddish hair and a mustache rose up in one of the seats in front of me, turned round and held out both his hands and look mine, and said, “Thee’s welcome here! I’m Rufus Jones.” I was put on the highest bench behind the desk of the presiding officers, and a, big banner on the wall above me read “London” in large letters because I was a fraternal delegate from London Yearly Meeting. In the large meetinghouse delegates from sixteen American Yearly Meetings had assembled to do business, with “fraternal delegates” from Philadelphia and London as guests. Maple trees roofed every street with gold, and the fallen leaves made a carpet of gold underneath. I had just come to this country as a young bride, and my American husband took me out to a large Quaker gathering called the Five Years Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. He lived another ten years, continuing to be active in writing, speaking and service to the Religious Society of Friends and the broader community.I FIRST met Rufus Jones in the autumn of 1917. Robert Yarnall to Germany to see if a peaceful means of dealing with Nazis could be reached. In that same year, he participated in a mission with George Walton and D. In 1938 he traveled to South Africa, meeting with General Jan Smuts and returning via China and Japan. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Haverford Emergency Unit (a pre-cursor to the American Friends Service Committee) that prepared members for relief and reconstruction work in Europe after World War I.Ī world traveler (it is said he traversed the ocean 200 times), Rufus Jones met with Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram in India, and spoke with religious leaders in China and Japan during a trip in 1926. This work bore fruit in the 1950s with the reunification of American Quaker Meetings. Rufus Jones had as a key life mission the healing of the 19th century split in American Quakerism. His scholarship, writings and teaching helped to popularize mysticism in the era between the two World Wars. The author of over 50 monographs, Rufus Jones was especially known for his work concerning mysticism. Wistar Brown chair in philosophy in 1934. He taught at Oakwood Seminary (1886-7), and Friends School, Providence, was principal of Oak Grove Seminary (1889), was recorded as a minister (1890), served as editor of the American Friend from 1893 to 1912, sat on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College from 1898 to 1936, and became an instructor in philosophy at Haverford College (1893), retiring in the T. degrees from his alma mater in 1886 and from Harvard in 1901. Rufus Matthew Jones, (1863-1948) philosopher, mystical scholar, Quaker historian and social reformer, graduated from Haverford College in 1885 and received M.A. The Rufus Jones collection is housed in the Haverford College Library. Chosen from this well-known Quaker’s writings by his daughter, Mary Hoxie Jones.
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