All Quakers should know from our history that William Penn, being of an aristocratic and military family, carried a sword as part of his family's investiture. So when Penn became a Quaker, he asked George Fox if he should "quit" it, as the expression went. Contrary to the staunch image that many ascribed to Fox, George told William to carry his sword until he could no longer do so.

Am I wrong to equate Quaker evangelicals with this account of William Penn? Are you not of a noble and strong heritage that carries the word of God as a sword? Do you not claim the right to address God as both lord and father, and boldly petition God for your inheritance? And are you not clothed in the righteousness of your altar call and invested with the Scriptures?

You pray: "Lord and Father God, look upon your servant in my need and deliver me from my oppressors. Let us who are faithful to Your word, in the midst of earthly plight and woes, see Your glory and goodness to us." Now quoting from the 8th Psalm, you continue: "What are we that You should consider us; mere mortals that You care for us? Jesus -  be our refuge and our might in the day of battle against the wiles of the Evil One. Let us share in the victory to come; for Thine be the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen"

But I tell you, as if George Fox himself said it, pray your prayer until you can live it; and carry the Scriptures until you don't need to depend any longer on them. Be the one to whom your own workers and congregants say: "Boss/Pastor, look upon your servants in their need and deliver them from economic and religious exploitation. In the midst of poverty-level living and a woeful lack of education/training, show your goodness and help us. For what are workers and congregants that you pay any mind to us or care for those who are dispensable in your sight? Let your words and deeds be our refuge and our might in the free-market battle and against the wiles of self-righteousness. Let us share in your good fortune and in your kingdom here on earth. Amen?"

In the words of C.H. Hopkins' "The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism", "It isn't enough to pray for a man on Sunday and prey on him the rest of the week"; or the concern of F.D. Maurice: "This is the heresy of our age... We are turning the Gospel into one of the religions of the world... to be better than other religions, when, if it is a Gospel of God, it should meet all other religions; it should satisfy all their craving...." Truly, a reservoir is redundant in times of flood(ing grace), just as an evangelical gospel is when Quakers have the everlasting one.