CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 924 083 733 877 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924083733877 
 
Quakerism 
 
 O. Edmatd Janney, M.D. 
 
Quakerism 
 
 and its Application to Some 
 Modern Problems 
 
 Based on a course of lectures on Quaker Ideals, given 
 
 at Woolman School for Social and 
 
 Religious Education 
 
 O. Edward Janney, M. D. 
 
 Author of "The White Slave Traffic in America," "The Gateway 
 to the Kingdom," "The Making of a Man," etc. 
 
Walter H. Jenkins, Publisher, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
5 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. PRELUDE 9 
 
 II. THE COMING OF THE PROPHET i6 
 
 III. FRIENDS IN THE AMERICAN COLO- 
 
 NIES 31 
 
 IV. MODERN QUAKERISM— ITS PRINCI- 
 
 PLES 39 
 
 V. THE SUPREME BEING 43 
 
 VL THE BIBLE 55 
 
 Vn. THE DIVINITY OF JESUS 59 
 
 Vm. THE INNER LIGHT 67 
 
 IX. APPLICATION OF RELIGION TO 
 
 MODERN PROBLEMS 75 
 
 X. THE FAMILY 85 
 
 XL EDUCATION— THE SCHOOL loi 
 
 XIL THE CHURCH 114 
 
 Xin. INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS 129 
 
 XIV. THE GOVERNMENT 142 
 
 XV. THE PRESS 152 
 
 XVL WARFARE 162 
 
 APPENDIX 174 
 
 V 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Religious Society of Friends, commonly 
 known as Quakers, while respected by the 
 world, is, after all, little known. It has been 
 regarded as an association of somewhat pecu- 
 liar people, who keep to themselves, and make 
 little effort to gain converts. Very few out- 
 side of this body of people have any conception 
 of the views, ideals and customs of Friends. 
 
 This religious body has had a history of two 
 and a half centuries of honorable existence, 
 during which period it has exercised on man- 
 kind an influence for good far exceeding its 
 limited numbers. 
 
 The Society has met many difficulties, yet 
 has endured despite the fact that since 1700 
 circumstances have favored its extinction. Its 
 work is not wholly of the past. Its continued 
 existence would seem to prove that it still 
 has work to do for humanity. What that 
 work is, what message Quakerism has for the 
 
 vii 
 
viii Preface 
 
 men and women of today, is set forth in the 
 pages of this book, so far as it is in the power 
 of the author to do so. A course of lectures 
 on Quaker Ideals, at Woolman School for 
 Social and Religious Education, at Swarth- 
 more, Pennsylvania, gave the impulse and 
 basis for this book. If this course was found 
 useful to those who received it, the ideas 
 therein expressed may be valuable to a larger 
 circle. 
 
 If there are those who are not satisfied with 
 the creeds they have adopted; if there are those 
 who have not yet found a faith that is accept- 
 able; for these this book may have a message 
 of comfort, hope and faith. 
 
QUAKERISM 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRELUDE 
 
 The Mountains of Lebanon raise their ma- 
 jestic forms to the north, their rocky summits 
 piercing the heavens. About their bases sweep 
 forest of cedar, clothing the rugged sides of 
 the mountains in a mantle of dark green. 
 
 In the depth of the narrow gorges that cut 
 the mountain sides rivulets flow, joining to 
 form the head-vt^aters of the River Jordan, 
 their banks clothed with narrow strips of living 
 green. 
 
 In one of these narrow valleys, by the side 
 of a spring, from which a silver stream issues, 
 may be seen a group of men, who are resting 
 about the spring and drinking of its living 
 water. 
 
 They are a rugged group for the most part ; 
 men who have been used to work on water and 
 
 9 
 
lo Quakerism 
 
 on land ; yet on the faces of all is an expression 
 of earnestness and exaltation not often seen 
 among such men. One of them sits a little 
 apart from the rest, yet not so as to separate 
 himself from them, but as if the others had 
 respectfully withdrawn. Him they know as 
 "Master." They had but recently arrived at 
 Caesarea Philippi, after a journey together 
 through the towns and villages in the lowlands 
 and hills to the west. In that section the 
 Master had given his message of light and 
 gladness, but with little success. 
 
 So, as they recline about the spring on this 
 quiet evening, the Master, turning his eyes from 
 the contemplation of the hills and valleys, 
 speaks to those about him, "You have been 
 with me now three years, and have known me 
 intimately and have heard my teachings, who 
 do you think I am?" And one of the group, 
 Peter, answers, "Thou art the Christ of God." 
 Then the Master, "Blessed art thou, Simon, 
 for flesh and blood hath not revealed this 
 unto thee, but God. On this rock of im- 
 mediate revelation I will build my church and 
 
Prelude 1 1 
 
 all the forces of evil shall not prevail against 
 it. Arise, let us go hence." 
 
 The scene changes. In one of the courts of 
 the beautiful temple in Jerusalem the Master 
 stands, surrounded by a group of eager listen- 
 ers who hang upon his glowing words. One 
 of these, a young man of earnest countenance, 
 evidently by his dress a lawyer, works his way 
 among the others until he catches the eye of 
 the great Teacher. Then he asks the question 
 that has been long pressing upon his mind, 
 "Master, which is the greatest of all the com- 
 mandments?" And the Master, looking upon 
 him, and recognizing his honesty in asking the 
 question, replies: "The Lord our God, the 
 Lord is one; and thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
 strength. The second is this, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbor as thyself. There are 
 no other commandments greater than these." 
 And the young man replies, "Of a 
 truth. Master, thou hast well said that he is 
 one; and there is none other but he; and to 
 
12 Quakerism 
 
 love him with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 understanding, and with all thy strength, and 
 to love his neighbor as himself, is much more 
 than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 
 And Jesus seeing that he answered discreetly, 
 looking upon him with loving eyes, says unto 
 him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
 Once again are the disciples gathered about 
 the Master ; this time in a room in Jerusalem. 
 They are sad, because they have come to real- 
 ize at last that the days of their companionship 
 with their beloved leader are about to end. So 
 they are gathered to sit at his feet for the 
 last time, to partake of their last meal together 
 and to receive his final loving message. 
 
 One of them departs and the eleven draw 
 nearer to Jesus and listen with the closest at- 
 tention to the words that fall from his lips. 
 Many wonderful thoughts he expresses to 
 them, but the words that give them the most 
 relief are these : "I will pray the Father, and 
 He will send you another Comforter, even the 
 spirit of Truth, that will lead you into all 
 
Prelude 13 
 
 Truth. This is the foundation other than 
 which no man can lay. Behold, the Spirit of 
 God which has been with me, shall be with 
 you, even to the end of the world." 
 
 When Jesus has finished his sayings and 
 has prayed to the Father that they may have 
 His guidance and intimate presence, they 
 sing a hymn, and all depart for the Garden of 
 Gethsemane. 
 
 It is the audience room in the palace of 
 Pontius Pilate. The Roman governor, with 
 the stern look and cropped hair of the Roman 
 soldier, with his scarlet robe gathered about 
 him, sits in judgment on the tall slender figure 
 of the prisoner standing before him, who also 
 wears a scarlet robe, thrown about his 
 shoulders in derision, and on his head is a 
 crown of thorns. 
 
 It is a dramatic moment. The Roman re- 
 presents all the power of that wonderful em- 
 pire that has conquered the world by force of 
 arms. The other, although a prisoner, despised 
 and rejected of men, represents a mighty 
 spiritual force that is destined to permeate and 
 
14 Quakerism 
 
 finally conquer the Roman empire, and extend 
 its influence over the world. 
 
 Gazing on him earnestly, Pilate speaks to 
 his prisoner: 
 
 "The charge against thee is that thou claim- 
 est to be a King. Art thou a King?" 
 
 "I am a King," comes the reply, "but my 
 kingdom is not of this world." 
 
 "What is it then that thou intendest to do ?" 
 
 "To this end was I born," was the reply, 
 "and for this cause came I into the world — to 
 bear witness to the Truth." 
 
 "What is Truth ?" asks the Governor, but no 
 reply comes from the lips of the prisoner. Then 
 Pilate calls in the rulers of the Jews and offers 
 to release Jesus to them, but they reject the 
 offer. And Pilate, strong in physical, but lack- 
 ing in moral, courage, sends his prisoner out 
 to be crucified. 
 
 Centuries pass and the Church which the 
 Master founded has fallen from the high 
 standard he set. Those who control its des- 
 tinies, while they call themselves after the 
 
Prelude 15 
 
 name of Christ, do not the things which he told 
 them to do. 
 
 At length, in the middle of the seventeenth 
 century, a man named George Fox arose in 
 England, and strove to bring men back to the 
 religion taught by Jesus. The fact that God 
 speaks directly to the soul of man, that true re- 
 ligion consists in love to God and love to man, 
 that the Spirit that was in Jesus is that which 
 still leads men into all truth, and that an im- 
 portant part of the truth to which Jesus came 
 to bear witness is the fact of immediate Divine 
 revelation: — these great principles, so clearly 
 taught by the Master, George Fox en- 
 deavored to bring to the attention of the men 
 and women of his day. In this way arose 
 Quakerism, and Quakerism is a sincere en- 
 deavor to manifest Christianity in daily life, 
 the Christianity of Jesus Christ. Quakerism 
 had a message for the people of the Seven- 
 teenth Century; may it not have also a mes- 
 sage for those of today? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE COMING OF THE PROPHET 
 
 In the summer of 1652, a young man could 
 have been seen wending his way among the 
 hills of Lancashire, in the northwestern cor- 
 ner of England, towards the island-like dis- 
 trict of Furness, his object being to reach the 
 hospitable shelter of Swarthmore Hall. Any- 
 one meeting him, as he steadily pursued his 
 way, must have been stjjuck by the vigorous 
 form, the evident energy and earnestness of 
 the man, his quiet costume not serving to con- 
 ceal the evidences of good breeding, empha- 
 sized by his courteous bearing towards every- 
 one whom he met. 
 
 His countenance, while somewhat grave, 
 was lighted up when conversing, the most 
 noticeable feature being the eyes, which were 
 large and gray, and which, when he was under 
 16 
 
The Coming of the Prophet \y 
 
 excitement, had a peculiarly bright and pierc- 
 ing quality which impressed everyone. "Do 
 not pierce me so with thy eyes ; keep thy eyes 
 off me!" cried a Baptist deacon at Carlisle. 
 Such was George Fox when, at the age of 
 twenty-eight, he first crossed the threshold of 
 Swarthmore Hall. 
 
 He was already a prominent figure in Eng- 
 land. Born in July, 1624, at Fenny Drayton, 
 in Leicestershire, almost in the centre of Eng- 
 land, of Christian parents in moderate circum- 
 stances, George Fox early manifested that 
 earnestness of nature, that integrity, purity, 
 sobriety, and courage which characterized him 
 throughout life. When not more than seven- 
 teen years old, disgusted and heart-sick with 
 the immorality of many of the people about 
 him, he sought, like Bunyan, some sure 
 road that would lead him from the City of 
 Destruction to the Heavenly City, but unlike 
 the Christian of Pilgrim's Progress, was not 
 obliged to carry a burden of youthful sins upon 
 his back, for he had been enabled to keep un 
 tainted his purity of character. 
 
 It was indeed a troublous time. A time of 
 
1 8 Quakerism 
 
 many religious sects, of constant discussion 
 vipon justification and predestination, rather 
 than right living; a time when many pastors 
 were mercenary and corrupt, and were closely 
 followed by their flocks ; when the "priests" as 
 George Fox always called them, made not less 
 than a tdtal of $6,(X)o,ooo a year from the 
 tithes they gathered and the Bibles they sold. 
 "The black spirit of the priest wounded my 
 life," says George Fox in his journal; "and 
 when I heard the bell toll to call the people to- 
 gether to the steeple house, it struck at my life ; 
 for it was just like a market-bell to gather 
 people together that the priest might set forth 
 his wares to sale. Oh, the vast sums of money 
 that are gotten by the trade they made of 
 selling the Scriptures and from their preach- 
 ing, from the highest bishop to the lowest 
 priest! What one trade else in the world is 
 comparable to it?" 
 
 The widespread brutality, licentiousness and 
 hypocrisy under the restored Stuart line is 
 made evident by the terrible indictment of 
 Macaulay — "Then came these days of servi- 
 tude without loyalty, and sensuality withovit 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 19 
 
 love, of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, 
 the paradise of cold hearts and narrow minds, 
 the golden age of the coward, the bigot and 
 the slave. The government had just ability 
 enough to deceive, and just religion enough to 
 persecute. The principles of liberty were the 
 scoff of every grinning courtier, and the 
 Anathema Marantha of every fawning dean." 
 No wonder that George Fox in his search 
 for truth and peace of mind was forced to turn 
 from man and flee to the field, where he could 
 "look through nature up to nature's God." 
 Then began those two years of journeys and 
 seeking, his "wanderjahr ;" when, with the 
 Bible his constant companion, he passed from 
 place to place, from person to person, in the 
 vain hope of gaining from man that which 
 would satisfy his yearning soul. Suddenly, as 
 he was walking in the fields, his spirit bowed 
 with sorrow, the dawn began to break, and 
 "The Light struck over him." He seemed to 
 hear a voice which spoke these words. "There 
 is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy 
 condition." He came to realize that all per- 
 sons, not a favored few, were open to con- 
 
20 Quakerism 
 
 version and service, and that "being bred at 
 Oxford or Combridge was not enough to fit 
 and qualify men to be ministers of Christ ;" at 
 which he marveled, for the opposite was the 
 belief of the period. Another time, in think- 
 ing upon the text, "God, who made the world, 
 dwelleth not in temples made with hands," he 
 came to understand that the temple of the Lord 
 is the soul of that man who is dedicated to His 
 service. Thenceforth, to George Fox, a church 
 edifice was no holy place, but a "steeple-house" 
 composed of "bricks and stones and mortar." 
 From these small beginnings the light in his 
 soul became brighter and brighter, illuminat- 
 ing one point after another, and clearing up 
 problem after problem, making him into the fit 
 instrument in God's service, which was his 
 destiny. "In George Fox we have a striking 
 illustration of his own tenet, that a learned 
 education was not, of itself, either necessary 
 or sufficient to make men ministers of the gos- 
 pel ; for, unaided by advantages of this sort, his 
 reading was confined almost exclusively to the 
 sacred volume, studying it with a fervent de- 
 sire to be guided by the same spirit that gave 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 21 
 
 it forth, to the comprehension of its meaning; 
 and not daring to draw any conclusions 
 founded on his own judgment, he waited with 
 deep huniility and earnest prayer for what he 
 considered to be the openings of divine grace 
 in his heart respecting the duties it inculcates. 
 He exhibits in his own example that the at- 
 tainment of sincere and spiritual piety, is far 
 more profitable than the learning and knowl- 
 edge required to maintain the controverted 
 points of religious practices. And since noth- 
 ing short of this divine grace can effect in us 
 a saving regeneration, its inward guidance, 
 therefore, is the most important principle of 
 the gospel dispensation, and is the surest rule 
 for our faith and practice." * 
 
 In the year 1649, came a further illumina- 
 tion to the soul of George Fox ; the fuller con- 
 sciousness of the Inner Light. It became clear 
 to him that there is a Divine Laght in the re- 
 generated soul, which, if followed truly and 
 honestly, will show the way to God without the 
 aid of church ceremonies or ordinances. 
 
 * Marsh, 
 
22 Quakerism 
 
 It was this Light and Spirit which filled the 
 soul of the Master and enabled him to perform 
 his acts and speak his words and live his life. 
 This Light or Inspiration is the Rock on which 
 the Church of Christ is founded, and which, 
 forever and forever more, is the Power of God 
 unto salvation. 
 
 When once this great truth was received and 
 accepted by George Fox he never wavered, but 
 realizing that God, who had revealed this prin- 
 ciple to him, had also commissioned him to 
 spread the glad tidings abroad, he devoted the 
 rest of his life to that service. It is to be re- 
 membered that he was now but twenty-five 
 years of age, strong and active in mind and 
 body, yet none too strong for the terrible or- 
 deal that was before him. 
 
 It was indeed a welcome message that he 
 brought to the people, and of which we are 
 the heirs. No gloomy message of predestina- 
 tion was his, but of hope to the sinner ; not of 
 darkness but of light ; not of the wrath of God, 
 but of His love. People learned for the first 
 time, that the clergy was not an essential to 
 salvation; that the open Bible and a contrite 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 23 
 
 heart put one on the road to the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, and that there was ever a Light to 
 guide the pilgrim's feet. Little wonder that 
 this simple yet beautiful gospel was received 
 so gladly into the hearts of the many earnest 
 seeking people in Great Britain, who with up- 
 lifted faces were waiting for the dawn of 
 truth. 
 
 So George Fox fared forth to give his mes- 
 sage of light and love. He was destined in this 
 service to travel over England many times, to 
 visit Scotland and Wales, the Continent of 
 Europe, the West Indies and America. He was 
 to be exposed to dangers by land and flood ; to 
 suffer the rough buffetings of mobs; persecu- 
 tion at the hands of magistrates and priests ; 
 to be torn from his dear ones ; to be immured 
 for months and even years in prisons so 
 foul as to baffle description; to suffer pain, 
 sickness and privation, and finally to pass away 
 at the age of sixty-six. And yet, through it all, 
 he was enabled to show a patience, courage, 
 loyalty and tenderness, that could have been 
 possible only to a true servant of God. 
 
24 Quakerism 
 
 On the other hand, he was destined to see 
 his message received by many thousands of 
 people who were to manifest in their lives the 
 value of the truths he taught ; he was to direct 
 the organization of a religious society whose 
 influence for good has been great and so con- 
 tinues. "No grander thing was ever done," 
 says Carlyle, "than when George Fox, stitch- 
 ing himself into a suit of leather, went forth 
 determined to find truth for himself, and to do 
 battle for it against all superstition, bigotry 
 and intolerance." Once having found that 
 truth, his whole life was one continual battle 
 for liberty to follow it. There is no doubt 
 about it, if George Fox and his followers had 
 failed in their mission, or shirked their respon- 
 sibilities, the world would be a much worse 
 place to live in than it is today. 
 
 "Light of conscience would soon have been 
 a thing of the past, and religion would have 
 been hopelessly and inextricably mixed up with 
 politics. But George boldly defined the inner 
 sanctuary of the soul. With its secrets no 
 stranger might intermeddle. The Voice that 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 25 
 
 only he could hear speaking to him there, he 
 would and did obey." * 
 
 George Fox was to be permitted to see the 
 fires of persecution die down to smouldering 
 embers and to see the right to worship God 
 according to any form granted. He was to 
 make hosts of friends amongst all classes, 
 from the humblest toiler to the great Protector 
 and the King on their thrones, and he was 
 upon his departure to leave behind him the 
 reputation of a saint. 
 
 That he was a theologian of a simple and 
 pure type, is evident. That he was a statesman 
 is proved by his suggestion of the gradual 
 emancipation of African slaves, his manner of 
 treating the Indians, his successful appeal to 
 the authorities in 1688 for the release of 
 Friends from prison, and also by his skill and 
 originality in the organization of the Society 
 which he founded. The formation of Monthly, 
 Quarterly and Yearly Meetings is much the 
 same now as when planned by George Fox. To 
 attempt to hold meetings for worship without 
 
 * Douglas. 
 
26 Quakerism 
 
 a minister or form of service was so original 
 in that age of formal worship as to be start- 
 Hng. Yet it succeeded then and has continued 
 to do so for two hundred and fifty years. The 
 thought that marriage might be performed 
 without the presence and sanction of an or- 
 dained minister was indeed new, yet the me- 
 thod wrought out by George Fox is employed 
 by Friends today without material change 
 from the original. That he had a legal turn 
 of mind is evident from the manner in which 
 he repeatedly put to confusion his accusers in 
 court and oftentimes his judges, by his method 
 of solemnizing marriages, and by his success- 
 ful effort to substitute the affirmation for the 
 oath. 
 
 The life of George Fox could not be termed 
 picturesque. "It is too crowded for that, too 
 full of events, to enable one to get an artistic 
 whole. On the other side there is the steady, 
 unebbing calm of his spiritual life, once he had 
 grasped the truth he sought for. His life was 
 full of the Christ spirit. It was pure and 
 childlike. His faith both in God and human 
 nature was unbounded; his one desire, the 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 27 
 
 extension of the Kingdom of Heaven. His 
 charity and unselfishness all acknowledged. His 
 means were far from large, but on them he 
 supported himself, and even after he was mar- 
 ried he refused to partake of his wife's riches. 
 As to his private character, none, even his 
 enemies, ever seriously attacked that. His 
 preaching, we are told, was not remarkable, 
 either for eloquence or charm. Even those 
 who loved and admired him most cannot say 
 that preaching was his. strongest point; But 
 one element was never lacking in all his dis- 
 courses, and that was the Holy Spirit. It was 
 that, combined with his earnestness and enthu- 
 siasm, that enabled him to sway the masses, as 
 he undoubtedly did. But if he was not eloquent 
 in speech, he was in prayer. Here he excelled, 
 and when the Spirit moved him to pray, it was 
 as if an angel spoke !" * 
 
 Thomas Elwood, his friend and admirer, 
 speaks of him as being "Valiant for the truth, 
 bold in asserting it, patient in suffering for it, 
 unwearied in laboring in it, steady in his testi- 
 
 * Douglas. 
 
28 Quakerism 
 
 mony to it, unmovable as a rock. Graceful was 
 he in countenance, manly in personage, grave 
 in gesture, courteous in conversation, free from 
 affectation in speech or carriage. A severe re- 
 prover of hard and obstinate sinners, a mild 
 and gentle admonisher of such as were tender 
 and sensible of their failings, not apt to resent 
 personal wrongs, easy to forgive injuries, but 
 zealously earnest where the honor of God, the 
 prosperity of the truth, the peace of the 
 Church, were concerned. Very tender, com- 
 passionate and pitiful was he to all that were 
 under any kind of aiifliction, free of brotherly 
 love, full of fatherly care. Beloved was he of 
 God, beloved of God's people, and (which was 
 not the least part of his honour) the common 
 butt of all apostates' envy, whose good, not- 
 withstanding, he earnestly sought." 
 
 His end was peaceful. "As some vessel, full 
 freighted, rides into harbor on the calm bosom 
 of a spring tide, so he was borne into the King- 
 dom." On the fourteenth of November, 1690, 
 after a few diys of illness, he closed his eyes 
 and passed into the presence of his Master. 
 "Never heed," he had said, "the Lord's power 
 
The Coming of the Prophet 29 
 
 is over all weakness and death." His last ad- 
 monition to his beloved people was, "Friends, 
 mind the Light !" 
 
 Such, in brief, were the life and character 
 of the founder of the Society of Friends. The 
 religious Society which he founded, known to 
 the world as Quakers, has striven for two hun- 
 dred and fifty years, and is still endeavoring, 
 to live the simple, practical Christian life. It 
 aims also to impress upon the world the plain 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ethical princi- 
 ples taught by him. 
 
 There have always been men and women of 
 earnest nature and sincere convictions who are 
 attracted by the simple faith of Friends. It 
 is to these thoughtful individuals that Friends 
 make their appeal; it is these that will receive 
 the message of George Fox. 
 
 John Wilhelm Rowntree speaks of George 
 Fox in these terms : 
 
 "George Fox was born in the Leicestershire 
 village of Drayton in the Clay. The elusive 
 inwardness of the mystic, the fervid piety of 
 the cultured cleric, the prophetic grandeur of 
 the poet, the Ishmaelite, the ecclesiast, the 
 
30 Quakerism 
 
 Puritan, these are types of an age torrential in 
 its spiritual energy, and yet with its quiet 
 reaches of culture, its back-waters of mystic 
 calm. 
 
 It was the age in which Fox lived, nay! in 
 which he moved, mighty, magnetic, a storm 
 centre, travelling from over great spiritual 
 deeps to enrich parched lands with heavenly 
 rain . . . the great seventeenth century 
 antagonist of sacerdotal pretension. 
 
 "We must remember how the battle was ar- 
 rayed, if we are to understand the man, his 
 message and his success. A knowledge of the 
 issues explains the spiritual strife waged in 
 hollow trees and desert places, which ceased 
 only with the conviction that there was one, 
 even Jesus Christ, who could speak to his con- 
 dition. Had this Leiscestershire shepherd 
 never wandered in despair to find at last the 
 divine knowledge, as he says, 'experimentally,' 
 we had never been here, never learned to call 
 each other Friends." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FRIENDS IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES 
 
 The first Friends to establish themselves in 
 America appeared in the Western and Eastern 
 shores of Maryland in 1657, about the same 
 time as in Rhode Island and Long Island. The 
 central point of these settlements appears to 
 have been in Talbot County, near the present 
 town of Easton. Some of these were on the 
 Third Haven or Tred Avon River, and nearly 
 all the travel and traffic was by water. Nor 
 could they have touched upon a more delightful 
 spot. With widespreading forests growing in 
 rich soil, a climate midway between the heat of 
 the South and the rigors of the North, abun- 
 dance of fish and oysters in the near-by waters, 
 and game just at hand, with access to the 
 mother country by water, it is not to be won- 
 dered at that numbers of Friends were induced 
 
 31 
 
32 Quakerism 
 
 to settle in that vicinity, until, when George 
 Fox visited them in 1672, he found them set- 
 tled along both the Eastern and Western 
 shores of Chesapeake Bay from its headwaters 
 to Virginia and North Carolina, and so numer- 
 ous as to justify the holding of a General or 
 Yearly Meeting not only on the Eastern shore 
 but also at West River, in Maryland, west of 
 Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 But the Friendly invasion touched also at 
 points farther north. By 1657 Friends had es- 
 tablished themselves in West Jersey, New 
 York and New England. In Massachusetts, 
 however, they were far from welcome. Al- 
 though the Puritans had fled to this country to 
 escape persecution, the idea of entire freedom 
 of worship had not yet been accepted. The re- 
 ligious views of Friends were too advanced 
 for ready acceptance by those educated in the 
 rigid tenets of the Massachusetts colonists. 
 They therefore looked upon Quakers as danger- 
 ous heretics, and, actuated by the intolerant 
 spirit of the times, not only refused them hos- 
 pitality but persecuted them even unto death. 
 
 It was in 1656 that two women, Mary Fisher 
 
Friends in the American Colonies 33 
 
 and Anne Austin, attempted to land at Boston, 
 but were forced to depart without having had 
 a chance to speak. A Httle later eight other 
 Friends were similarly treated. Discouraged, 
 they traveled to Rhode Island, where they were 
 kindly received, and to New York. One of the 
 party, Mary Clark, returned to Boston with 
 the intention of warning the authorities. She 
 was imprisoned in bitter cold weather, after 
 having received twenty lashes on her bare back. 
 So far from being restrained in his cruelty by 
 the warning received, Governor Endicott en- 
 deavored to keep out the Quakers by means of 
 active persecution. Friends had their ears cut 
 off, tongues bored with hot irons; they were 
 jailed, banished, and sold into slavery. Whit- 
 tier's touching poem, "Cassandra Southwick," 
 is based upon the last event. Finally in 1659, 
 two men, Marmaduke Stephenson, and Wil- 
 liam Robinson, and one year later, a woman, 
 Mary Dyer, were hanged on Boston Common. 
 These cruel acts of the authorities caused such 
 a reaction among the people that persecution 
 grew rapidly less, although it cannot be said 
 
34 Quakerism 
 
 that Friends, even then, were welcome in 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Their influence in New England became 
 thenceforth steadily greater, not only in the 
 religious life of those colonies, but also in the 
 social and political institutions of the people. 
 Friends increased rapidly in numbers through 
 convincement and immigration and several 
 thousand attended their annual gatherings. 
 For a long time the Governors of Rhode Island 
 were Quakers. As time went on Friends took 
 an important part in the history of New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 But the most interesting as well as the most 
 fruitful invasion of the new country by 
 Friends, was that of William Penn and his fol- 
 lowers, in the settlement of Pennsylvania. 
 Penn's life was full of incident and the trou- 
 bles of a man who is ahead of his time. Born 
 in London in 1644, at the time when Fox was 
 beginning to preach, he lived through seventy- 
 four strenuous years. Although he firmly 
 founded a vast commonwealth in a new land, 
 which was to be the model of forty-eight new 
 states and to give form to the constitution of 
 
Friends in the American Colonies 35 
 
 the United States, he was destined to die a 
 disappointed man, broken in health and for- 
 tune. 
 
 When at fifteen Penn went to Oxford, he 
 found his companions among the more radical 
 element and, for open opposition to the author- 
 ities, was expelled. His father sent him 
 abroad and later to Ireland, where he came un- 
 der the influence of Thomas Loe,* a Quaker 
 preacher. So supreme was this influence that 
 Penn decided to throw in his lot with Friends, 
 and from this resolution he never wavered, al- 
 though it met the stern opposition of his father. 
 Admiral Penn, whose disappointment at 
 the decision of his talented and handsome son 
 was extreme. 
 
 When in 1680, Penn, in lieu of a debt owing 
 his estate, received a royal grant to the tract 
 now known as Pennsylvania, he at once pro- 
 ceeded to plan a form of government for his 
 new province, and to gather about him a group 
 of emigrants who would proceed to the new 
 colony. Two years later, the ship Welcome 
 
 Penn had previously heard Thos. Loe preach at Oxford. 
 
36 Quakerism 
 
 started on her memorable voyage across the 
 desolate Atlantic, carrying William Penn and 
 one hundred of his friends. On the way small- 
 pox broke out, and thirty of the party were 
 buried in the sea. 
 
 And now began the interesting experiment 
 of a colony whose fundamental principle was 
 brotherhood, and whose ideal was peace. Penn 
 brought no arms with w:hich to subdue the 
 savage — he thought he knew a better way. 
 The terrible red man, who had given so much 
 trouble to other colonies, and the quarrels with 
 whom had caused so much bloodshed, was, ac- 
 cording to Penn, to be conquered by kindness 
 and pleasant relations, maintained through just 
 dealing. 
 
 So Penn gave to the Indians what they 
 deemed a fair equivalent for the right to oc- 
 cupy their lands, and the treaty signed under 
 the great elm at Shackamaxon, was the only 
 one, it is said, that was never sworn to and 
 never violated. Well would it have been for 
 us, happy for the red man, if the same princi- 
 ples of good will and justice had ever since 
 been carried out in our relations with the In- 
 
Friends in the American Colonies 37 
 
 dian. We should then have avoided what 
 Helen Hunt has truly called "a century of dis- 
 honor." It is a significant fact that during the 
 seventy years that Friends kept control in 
 Pennsylvania, not an unarmed Friend was in- 
 jured by the Indians. 
 
 Attracted by the good government, climate, 
 rich soil, and other advantages of the new 
 colony, immigrants arrived in large numbers, 
 and the peace-loving Friends soon saw the reins 
 of government slipping from their hands. Un- 
 able to check the tide, and unwilling to com- 
 promise their principles, they voluntarily with- 
 drew from the control of the colony, the his- 
 tory of which thenceforth was similar to that 
 of the other colonies. It must have been with 
 keenest regret that the Friends withdrew from 
 active government in Pennsylvania. They 
 were unwilling, however, to be held responsible 
 for measures which they could not approve, 
 and rather than do so they gave up the political 
 Control which they had wisely administered 
 for seventy years. But Penn was a statesman, 
 and had laid broad and deep the everlasting 
 foundation of his great commonwealth. The 
 
38 Quakerism 
 
 fortunate influence of this group of Friends 
 in the work they did in the establishment of 
 Pennsylvania will endure. Pennsylvania was 
 the model for the other states as they were 
 formed and then, as has been stated, of the 
 general government, of the republics to the 
 south of us, of France, China and Russia ; and 
 even in monarchies the rule of the common 
 people has come into force. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MODERN QUAKERISM — ITS PRINCIPLES 
 
 We come now to the consideration of mod- 
 ern Quakerism and find it remarkable among 
 all other forms of religion, in that it has found 
 it necessary in the course of two hundred and 
 fifty years to make no important change in its 
 principles or methods. The revelation of the 
 guiding Spirit or Inner Light that flashed upon 
 the mind of George Fox as he walked in the 
 fields, is being accepted by a steadily increasing 
 number of people, under the name of the Di- 
 vine Immanence. It is one of the distinctive 
 characteristics of Friends that they possess no 
 written creed, in which they all profess a be- 
 lief. But this is in full accord with a belief in 
 a power which leads men into truth. Accept- 
 ance of a written creed creates a static faith 
 and strangles the growing conception of truth. 
 
 39 
 
40 Quakerism 
 
 No thoughtful man beHeves today exactly as he 
 did yesterday. The potent influences of every 
 hour tend to vary the shades of one's faith. 
 Every word heard, every new sight, every sen- 
 tence read, may change the point of view. How 
 then is it possible to subscribe to a written 
 creed? And it would seem all the more im- 
 possible to do so when the creed was written 
 ages ago, at a period when men's thoughts and 
 ways of life differed greatly from those of the 
 present. It is comparable to a mariner who, 
 finding at a certain instant that his compass 
 showed his vessel to be on its proper course, 
 should nail down the needle and sail by the 
 static compass, only to realize that the first 
 wave, or breeze or current would make the 
 fixed compass an unsafe guide. 
 
 Friends have never adopted the historic 
 creeds, although some of thern have made 
 "statements of faith." Although no formal 
 creed has been accepted, it would be a serious 
 mistake to say that Friends are unable to make 
 a clear statement of their belief. But such a 
 "creed," if such it may be called, is fluent, not 
 static, possessing the power to accept new 
 
Modern Quakerism — Its Principles 41 
 
 truths and to profit thereby. This is in accord 
 with the explanation of the function and power 
 of the divine Spirit, in "leading into all truth," 
 as the Master said. It follows therefore, that 
 each person creates his individual creed, which 
 may or may not agree with those of his friends. 
 "To his own Master he standeth or falleth." 
 While this is true, yet it is a fact that certain 
 fundamental principles may be stated, which 
 are accepted as necessary to the faith of a 
 Christian, as understood by the body holding 
 them. It is not impossible, therefore, to explain 
 the views that are held by members of the 
 Society of Friends, allowance being made for 
 divergence in minor points, and for a dif- 
 ferent interpretation of all points. 
 
 The belief of the Religious Society of 
 Friends may be stated in the form of the fol- 
 lowing principles : 
 
 1. Belief in God. 
 
 2. Belief in the Bible. 
 
 3. Belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. Belief in the Inner Light or Guiding 
 Spirit. 
 
 5. Love as an active principle. 
 
42 Quakerism 
 
 Active belief in these principles leads to 
 righteous living. 
 
 These propositions will be considered in the 
 following chapters. 
 
 15 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SUPREME BEING 
 
 Belief in God is characteristic of every form 
 of religion that exists among men. Called by 
 a great variety of names, and credited with 
 many differing qualities, He is acknowledged 
 by all sects, and even by persons who, like Her- 
 bert Spencer, knew Him as "The First Great 
 Cause," or Matthew Arnold, who speaks of "A 
 Power not of ourselves, that makes for right- 
 eousness." 
 
 He is the Creator who made this world and 
 the starry orbs, "the work of His fingers," and 
 made all to move in such harmony that among 
 the myriads of suns that glow in their orbits, 
 not any collide, but all take their part in the 
 great astral symphony, "Still quiring to the 
 mild-eyed cherubins." 
 
 He created this beautiful Earth on which we 
 
 43 
 
44 Quakerism 
 
 Ih'^e, and in the course of untold ages made it 
 fit for the habitation of mankind. It is per- 
 haps not claiming too much to say that this 
 planet was created for man's dwelling place. 
 Everything points in that direction ; earth, air 
 and water, seed-time and harvest, yielding 
 abundance of food, the great forces like steam 
 and electricity, the appeal to our sense of 
 beauty which is made by forest and meadow, 
 mountain and valley, river and sea, — all unite 
 in providing the necessary elements for a 
 home for the human race. 
 
 And when in the process of evolution the 
 moment had arrived for man to appear ; "God 
 breathed into man the breath of life, and he 
 became a living soul." "For God so loved the 
 world (man)" that long before his creation 
 God had him in mind, and prepared this world 
 whereon he should dwell and carry out the pur- 
 pose of his creation. 
 
 We come to realize, therefore, as we seek to 
 know God and study his relation to man, that 
 the idea so prevalent in the infancy of the race 
 and still common among children that God sits 
 upon a throne in the heavens above and from 
 
The Supreme Being 45 
 
 there conducts human affairs, must be given 
 up. God is a spirit, immanent in His creation. 
 Creation is not finished; God is still at work. 
 The outward world does not change much, but 
 mankind changes, "moving upward, working 
 out the beast, letting the ape and tiger die." 
 There are many back currents and discourag- 
 ing reactions, but on the whole and in the long 
 run there is progress. 
 
 But God is not only the Creator; He holds 
 a nearer relation than that, He is our Father ; 
 "Like as a father pitieth His children, so the 
 Lord pitieth those who love Him." As a 
 father holds his children dear, has an abiding 
 interest in each, and inspires to noblest living, 
 so does He. This relationship draws us closely 
 to Him; He is, no longer a far-away or absent 
 God, but close to us, within us indeed, our 
 Guide, Companion, Consoler and Friend. 
 
 It is impossible for the human mind to have 
 any adequate conception of a spirit, yet we 
 come to know God through His manifestations, 
 and through that part of us which is spirit and 
 of divine origin and nature; for "in Him we 
 live and move and have our being." "It being 
 
46 Quakerism 
 
 impossible," says Samuel M. Janney, "for a 
 finite creature, chiefly conversant with the ob- 
 jects of sense, to comprehend fully the being 
 and attributes of an infinite Spirit, He is pre- 
 sented to us in the Scriptures under various 
 figures or symbols borrowed from terrestrial 
 forms. To show His power to save, He is 
 represented as a tower of strength, a fortress 
 of safety, a rock of salvation: his tenderness 
 and love are portrayed under the figure of a 
 shepherd who leads his flock in green pas- 
 tures." 
 
 The scientist recognizes the existence of "an 
 energy from which all things are derived," and 
 acknowledges that a transcending Intelligence 
 created the universe. Many such recognize no 
 personality in deity. To him God "appears as 
 incessant workman, as universal servant, as 
 tireless, omniscient energizer." * But Jesus 
 said "God is love." From whence came love 
 and joy and peace and tenderness and sympathy 
 and kindness and sacrifice and the desire to 
 serve, if not from God? These qualities must 
 
 * C. W. Eliot. 
 
The Supreme Being 47 
 
 have been derived from a divine source and are 
 therefore qualities of God. They are personal 
 qualities, and therefore God is personal. He 
 is not only the Creator, not only "the First 
 Great Cause," not only "The power not our- 
 selves that makes for righteousness," — He is 
 OUR FATHER. 
 
 Is it within the bounds of possibility to re 
 concile and harmonize the scientific and the 
 personal views of God? Alfred Tennyson, 
 walking along a roadway, sees a little flower 
 growing in a crevice of a wall, takes it in his 
 hand and apostrophizes — 
 
 "Flower in the crannied wall, 
 I pluck you out of the crannies, 
 I hold you here root and all in my hand. 
 Little flower — but if I could understand 
 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
 I should know what God and man is." 
 
 No flower ever grew in just such a place be- 
 fore, the situation was unusual; yet God (or 
 nature) brought special influences to bear to 
 make it grow there. The birds of the air are 
 fed, and they could not live unless the means 
 of life were provided, and we are told that not 
 
48 Quakerism 
 
 a sparrow falls without the knowledge of our 
 Father. If then God so provides for the little 
 flower and the puny sparrow, will he not all 
 the more provide for the development of the 
 soul of Man, his highest creation ? 
 
 But some one may ask if God is love and 
 cares for his creatures, why does He allow so 
 much sin and suffering? Ah, if we knew the 
 mind of God and could comprehend all his 
 great plan, we could then answer this question. 
 We know that we are in the midst of a great 
 conflict and can see but a little way through 
 the smoke. God's law is perfect, but all do 
 not observe it, and so suffering follows. 
 The righteous suffer because of the sinning 
 of the unrighteous; if all did right, sin 
 and its consequence would vanish. Perhaps, 
 too, God needs our help to conquer wrong; and 
 as we do not give the help, or give it but feebly, 
 the evil continues. 
 
 Some influence there undoubtedly is that 
 works in us, that makes it possible for the best 
 forms of character to develop, that throws 
 about us a protecting power, that lifts us out 
 of the mire and sets us on the Mount of Trans- 
 
The Supreme Being 49 
 
 figuration. For, "as many as are led by the 
 Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." 
 
 "It is God who rolls the stars in the heavens, 
 who lifts the sun up in the morning and guides 
 the moon at night; who causes the wheat and 
 corn, the trees and flowers to grow ; who brings 
 the birds back from the South in the spring; 
 who makes the little lambs frolic and the kit- 
 tens play; who makes children happy and 
 grown people kind and patient. Wherever you 
 find LIFE and GOODNESS and GREAT- 
 NESS you may know that GOD is there." * 
 
 But some one may say. If I am a part of 
 God, how is my individuality preserved: Am 
 I not, at death, absorbed in God? To this we 
 may reply. Is not Chesapeake Bay a part of the 
 great ocean from which the tides flow in ? And 
 has it not an individuality of its own? So 
 flows the tide of God's great love into the 
 individual soul. The Spirit within us is divine, 
 and I cannot think that we shall ever lose our 
 personality. 
 
 In the illustration of the vine and its 
 
 * Frank Crane. 
 
50 Quakerism 
 
 branches the Great Teacher explains that each 
 branch Hved its own Hfe and bore its own ap- 
 propriate fruit, but yet was a part of the vine 
 whose sap was the life of the branch. God is 
 the vine, we are the branches; and it is only 
 by abiding in Him that we may fulfill our high- 
 est destiny. 
 
 It is quite possible that the idea of the 
 Trinity was an inheritance from those who be- 
 lieved in the existence of many gods, and that 
 the belief in monotheism could not be fully 
 comprehended by the minds of many primitive 
 Christians, who therefore sought to reconcile 
 the two ideas through the doctrine of three 
 gods in one. Since this is a conception im- 
 possible to the reason, imen came to accept 
 the thought of God as the Father, Jesus as the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit as a vague divine 
 Person. Many religious persons .'have thus 
 come to worship two Gods and some of them 
 three. 
 
 At the present day there is a movement, in- 
 creasing in strength, apparently, which urges 
 the worship of Mary. The movement is quite 
 logical. If there be two Gods, or three, why 
 
The Supreme Being 5 1 
 
 not many? Why not deify each attribute of 
 God, and thus come into sympathy with Gre- 
 cian theology? 
 
 From these theories it is a rehef to turn to 
 the idea of the One True God that runs 
 through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. 
 Let us stand firm in the faith of Jesus Christ, 
 as stated by himself, "Thou shalt worship 
 THE LORD THY GOD and Him only shalt 
 thou serve." Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
 God, not any other. We are on sure ground 
 here, for to worship the One True God is re- 
 ligion. It is reasonable to take a stand here, — 
 we "can no other." What the world has lost 
 through the failure of the early theologians, 
 and their successors in modern times, to grasp 
 the beauty and truth and power of a belief in 
 one God can never be estimated. Certainly it 
 is true that more and more this thought of one 
 God is reaching the minds of men and women 
 who show their love to God by obedience to 
 the impressions made by Him upon the soul. 
 
 And so, while we bow in humility before the 
 grandeur of the Creator, still we feel that 
 there is something within us that is divine in 
 
52 Quakerism 
 
 its essence ; that "in Him we live and move and 
 have our being," and that He exerts a power 
 over the individual soul that brings us into 
 such close communion with him that we can 
 call him OUR FATHER. 
 
 "Religion is not an acceptance of a creed, or 
 a burden of commandments, but a personal 
 secret of the soul, to be attained each man for 
 himself. It is the experience of the nearness 
 of God, the mysterious contact of the divine, 
 and the consciousness that we stand in a special 
 individual relationship with Him. The first 
 state of exaltation, when the knowledge burst 
 upon the soul, cannot of course, last; but its 
 effect remains in inward peace, and outward 
 impulse towards nobler life. 
 
 "All devout men that have ever lived have 
 lived in the light of this communion. All re- 
 ligious experience has had this in common, that 
 somehow the soul is so possessed of God that 
 doubt of His existence ceases and the task of 
 life becomes to keep step with Him so that 
 there may be correspondence between the outer 
 and the inner conditions of life. Men have 
 known this communion to such a degree that 
 
The Supreme Being 53 
 
 they have been called preeminently the Friends 
 of God." * 
 
 This idea of the Supreme Being, faint and 
 weak reflection of His glory as it is, would 
 seem to accord with reason, and may perhaps 
 serve to satisfy the scientific mind and also 
 the loving heart. 
 
 And O, what a sense of joy and comfort and 
 peace and divine companionship comes to the 
 soul when we realize that Grod is "nearer to us 
 than breathing, closer than hands and feet'" 
 This feeling seems to come, sooner or later, to 
 every earnest, seeking soul with a varying de- 
 gree of vividness. "For the first time clearly 
 he felt a Presence of which he had thought 
 very many times in the last few weeks, a Pre- 
 sence so close to him that it was behind his 
 eyes and in his brain and hands. It was no 
 trick of his vision ; it was a feeling of immedi- 
 ate reality .... It was the Master, the 
 Captain of Mankind, it was God, there present 
 with him, and he knew it was God. It was as 
 if he had been groping all this time in the dark- 
 
 * Hugh Black, M. A. 
 
54 Quakerism 
 
 ness, thinking himself alone amidst rocks and 
 pitfalls and pitiless things, and suddenly a 
 hand, a firm strong hand, had touched his own. 
 And a voice within him bade him be of good 
 courage. There was no magic trickery in that 
 moment ; he was still weak and weary . . . 
 but he was no longer lonely and wretched, no 
 longer in the same world with despair. God 
 was beside him and within him and about him. 
 It was the crucial moment of Mr. Britling's 
 life. It was a thing as light as the passing of 
 a cloud on an April morning; it was a thing as 
 great as the first day of creation." * 
 
 * H. G. Wells, in "Mr. Britling Sees It Through." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE BIBLE 
 
 The Bible was written by inspired men, and 
 was intended "for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness, 
 that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works." It was not 
 intended to teach geology or geography, and 
 its history is illuminated by imagination. Its 
 preservation through all the vicissitudes of the 
 centuri^ seems a miracle. 
 
 The real purpose of the Bible is to teach 
 righteousness, not dogma, and it does this for 
 the most part, through the fascinating method 
 of biography. The Bible depicts, by a few 
 broad strokes, the lives of many noble char- 
 acters, their words and actions. It shows 
 God's way with men; His part in human life. 
 The Bible characters are by no means perfect. 
 
 55 
 
56 Quakerism 
 
 They strive and fail; sin and repent; but 
 throughout their lives they demonstrate the 
 potent influence of God's directing power. 
 They are of those who ever strive towards the 
 ideal ; they are men of the Spirit. These char- 
 acters all point towards that perfection which 
 they themselves never attained, but which 
 found its complete fulfilment in Jesus Christ. 
 The influence of the Bible on civilization has 
 been indescribably great. It is a rich source 
 of wisdom, inspiration and comfort. No 
 wonder it is called The Bible, the Book of 
 books. This wonderful book has given in- 
 spiration, comfort and courage to multitudes. 
 The poetical passages to be found in the 
 Psalms and in the writings of the Prophets 
 are of the highest order. The history of the 
 Hebrew people in their rise from slavery in 
 Egypt is a thrilling record of progress in re- 
 ligious ideals; from idolatry to the belief in 
 one God. 
 
 In the New Testament may be found those 
 teachings of which the world most stands in 
 need. The Sermon on the Mount is the text- 
 book of social and religious progress. These 
 
The Bible 57 
 
 writings reveal the marvelous figure of Jesus 
 Christ, whose influence continues dominant in 
 the history of mankind through victorious love. 
 The Bible is often called the Word of God, 
 but this term would certainly seem to mean 
 something very different, for "In the begin- 
 ning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God and the Word was God." It would be 
 more correct to speak of the Bible as the words 
 of God and inspired by Him. To speak of the 
 Bible, as some do, as "the only infallible rule 
 of faith and practice," is far beside the mark, 
 for it attributes to the Bible the power to serve 
 as a spiritual guide on each and every occasion 
 in life, which power belongs alone to the in- 
 dwelling Spirit of God. On this point Charles 
 Stelzle says that modern ideas of religion "do 
 not demand an absolute acceptance of the in- 
 spiration of the Bible, in the narrow sense that 
 some men insist upon. It asks principally that 
 the man who wishes to become a Christian 
 shall bring his life into conformity with the 
 life and purpose of Christ." As a river cannot 
 rise higher than its source, so the Bible, which 
 was written through inspiration, cannot be 
 
58 Quakerism 
 
 superior to the power that created it. The 
 same power resides today in each human soul, 
 and inspires many minds to write beautiful 
 and helpful thoughts. 
 
 "Slowly the Bible of the race is writ. 
 And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone; 
 Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it. 
 Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan. 
 While swings the sea, while mists the mountains shroud, 
 WJiile thunder's surges burst on cliflfs of cloud, 
 Still at the prophets' feet the nations sit." 
 
 — J. Russell Lowell. 
 
 t. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE DIVINITY OF JESUS 
 
 No religious subject, probably, has caused 
 more discussion, or given rise to so much dis- 
 sension as the divinity of Christ. It is hoped 
 that the view of the nature of Jesus offered 
 here will meet with approval and there is ex- 
 pectation of its gaining the acceptance of those 
 who approach the subject with an unprejudiced 
 mind and a desire to learn the truth. It may be 
 confidently stated that Friends have a full and 
 beautiful belief in the divinity of Jesus. 
 
 "It is the belief of the Religious Society of 
 Friends that God manifested Himself in Jesus 
 Christ, and that the Spirit that was in Jesus is 
 revealed in the human soul and constitutes the 
 Rock on which the Church is founded." * The 
 spiritual force emanating from God Himself 
 
 * Baltimore Discipline. 
 
 59 
 
6o Quakerism 
 
 found its concrete and noblest expression in 
 Jesus; this force, also manifested by his fol- 
 lowers, is effective according to their faithful- 
 ness and capacity. 
 
 Belief in Jesus may be defined as belief in 
 the God who sent him, and whose purposes he 
 carried out. "He that believeth on me, believ- 
 eth not on me, but on him that sent me." His 
 great mission consisted in giving to mankind 
 a truer conception of God, in teaching man how 
 to live a nobler, freer life, in opening the gates 
 to a life of loving service, and in bringing man 
 into such direct relations with the Father that 
 each one might manifest the Spirit of God in 
 himself, even as did Jesus. "In this he became 
 not only a perfect example of the effect of 
 obedience to the Divine Will, but a perfect il- 
 lustration of what God designed the normal 
 state of man to be." * 
 
 "With the manner of his birth, or the effects 
 of his death and resurrection as a means of 
 salvation, Quakerism leaves each individual to 
 form his own conclusions from the recorded 
 
 t J. J. Cornell. 
 
The Divinity of Jesus 6i 
 
 testimony, or in accordance with the revelation 
 of truth in his own mind.* Every healthy in- 
 fant is born of God, for there is implanted in 
 its nature from its very first moment of life, 
 from its conception, in fact, a divine element. 
 The older writers called this "the Seed of God," 
 which, developing with the growth of the 
 child, enables it to come to know good and evil, 
 and to respond to divine impressions. This is 
 a direct inheritance from God, for as Jesus 
 said, "He is our Father." Every mother may 
 claim, therefore, that the power of the Highest 
 has overshadowed her, and therefore, that 
 which is born of her is a holy thing. "We are 
 children of God; and if children, then heirs; 
 heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." So 
 we all come into kinship with him. 
 
 After his birth in Bethlehem, he was taken 
 to Nazareth, and began there the course of 
 life common to all Hebrew boys. We are 
 justified in the belief that he was much more 
 intelligent than others, because his after life 
 shows a mental and spiritual power that was 
 
 ♦John J. Cornell. 
 
62 Quakerism 
 
 unique. Evidences of these powers were 
 clearly shown when, at twelve years of age, 
 he went with his parents to Jerusalem and 
 there had his interesting interview with 
 the learned men in the Temple. There is 
 little doubt that already he had experienced 
 a fore-shadowing of his life work, but his 
 hour was not yet come, and he returned 
 to Nazareth, where "he grew in favor with 
 God and man." During this period of de- 
 velopment and waiting, the thought that God 
 was calling him to the performance of his great 
 work must have taken firm root in his mind. 
 Then one day he went out to be baptized by 
 John, and feeling that the hour of final 
 decision had come, was led by the Spirit 
 of God into the wilderness, far from the 
 haunts of men, to be tested and to decide his 
 future course. 
 
 The mind delights to dwell upon those days 
 when Jesus communed with God, his mind 
 becoming filled with wisdom and his heart with 
 love and pity for children of men whom God 
 was sending him to help, that "they might not 
 perish but have everlasting life." He returned 
 
The Divinity of Jesus 63 
 
 from the wilderness full of the Spirit and 
 power of God and began to preach the Father- 
 hood of God and the Brotherhood of Man ; to 
 teach that love is the fulfilling of the law; to 
 prove that it is possible to live without sinning, 
 through obedience to the indwelling power of 
 God, and to bear witness to the truth even unto 
 death. 
 
 Listen to the statement of his mission in the 
 synagogue at Nazareth : 
 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
 Because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the 
 
 poor, 
 He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, 
 To preach deliverance to the captives, 
 And recovering of sight to the blind, 
 To set at liberty them that are bruised; 
 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." 
 
 That Jesus depended wholly upon the in- 
 dwelling Spirit is shown by his words and ac- 
 tions. His powerful preaching, his calling 
 upon God in prayer, his wonderful miracles, 
 his patient endurance of insult and suffering, 
 are to be attributed, to the Spirit of the Lord 
 which dwelt in him, for he said, "The Father 
 
64 Quakerism 
 
 that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. I can 
 of myself do nothing; as I hear I judge, and 
 my judgment is just, because I seek not mine 
 own will, but the will of the Father, which 
 hath sent me." Could anything be more con- 
 vincing than this evidence? Could any other 
 view of his character and mission be more 
 reasonable ? 
 
 The way in which Jesus received the words 
 of Mary in the Garden of Gethsemane is il- 
 luminating. When he said to her "Mary!" 
 she, recognizing him and falling at his feet, 
 replied "Master." And then he gave her two 
 lessons ; first he gave her something to do. She 
 was to carry a message to the disciples. The 
 second lesson was conveyed in the use of the 
 word brethren. "Go tell my brethren." He 
 was still the Elder Brother, not any other per- 
 son, and so remains today. He has not been 
 "taken away." Mary found him near at hand, 
 and he remains and always will remain for us 
 a source of inspiration and the object of our 
 love and gratitude. 
 
 One of the most valuable lessons that we de- 
 rive from a study of the life of Jesus is that 
 
The Divinity of Jesus 65 
 
 it is possible to live a blameless life when 
 obedient to God. Henceforth no one could 
 truly say, "It is impossible to be virtuous," be- 
 cause such a life has been lived. And the same 
 Spirit that enabled Jesus to resist temptation 
 is the possession of every human being, for 
 there is "a Light that lighteth every man that 
 Cometh into the world." We regard him then, 
 with Whittier, as the "Highest possible mani- 
 festation of God in man." 
 
 The divinity of Jesus Christ, then, is the 
 spiritual force which he possessed and which 
 came from God, and on which he declared he 
 depended. 
 
 We may say of him in the words of Dr. 
 Hooykass, "Thy triumph is secure. Thy 
 name shall be borne on the breath of the 
 winds through all the world and with that 
 name no thought except of goodness, noble- 
 ness and love shall link itself in the bosoms 
 of thy brothers who have learned to know 
 thee and what thou art. Thy name shall 
 be the symbol of salvation to the weak and 
 wandering, of restoration to the fallen and 
 guilty, of hope to all who sink in comfortless 
 
66 Quakerism 
 
 despair. Thy name shall be the mighty cry of 
 progress in freedom, in truth, in purity — the 
 living symbol of the dignity of man, the epi- 
 tome of all that is noble, lofty and holy upon 
 earth." 
 
 The constant and immediate need of every 
 soul is salvation. The Spirit of God operating 
 in the soul is the saving power; there can be 
 no other; and Jesus bore witness to this over 
 and over again. "I will pray the Father, and 
 He will send you another Comforter, even the 
 Spirit of truth which will lead you into all 
 truth." We need to be saved from the com- 
 mission of sin, and also from the consequences 
 of wrong doing. Happily we were not placed 
 in this world without such a provision, every 
 person is endowed with an indwelling divinity, 
 the "Christ within, the hope of glory." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE INNER LIGHT 
 
 When the revelation came to George Fox, 
 as he was walking in the field, that the truth 
 is revealed directly to the mind of man by God, 
 he had reason to rejoice, since for the first time 
 since the founding of Christianity its central 
 truth was recognized by a prophet who gave it 
 forth to the world. Clearly stated by Jesus on 
 many occasions and announced by him as the 
 most important truth to testify to which he 
 came into the world, and on which power he 
 relied to perform his work and express his 
 thoughts, it was but dimly appreciated by his 
 disciples, though followed by Peter, John and 
 Paul. 
 
 Through the long period when the church 
 was rich, powerful and corrupt the guidance 
 of the Divine Spirit by those in authority was 
 
 67 
 
68 Quakerism 
 
 neither followed nor desired. The church be- 
 came a worldly institution and lost most of its 
 divine character. Thus it was that men came 
 to rely upon the dictates and guidance of 
 church officials, — Popes, Bishops, and Councils 
 — rather than upon God, who was ever ready, 
 through impressions made upon the mind of 
 man, to guide him aright. So, in the time of 
 George Fox, the Light gleamed again. 
 Brighter and clearer than that which was 
 shown in the teachings of Augustine, Luther, 
 Calvin and Wyclifif, the Light that glowed 
 in the soul of Fox, was that true light 
 that lighteth every man that cometh into 
 the world," — the Light of Christ, the force 
 that enabled Jesus to teach and act, the Power 
 that saves, the "Saviour," the "Christ within, 
 the hope of glory." 
 
 Once this thrilling thought was made clear 
 to George Fox, he saw that it solved all his 
 difficulties and answered all his doubts. Here 
 was the way, the truth and the life. And not 
 for Fox only, but for all men. So he lived in 
 the Light and showed others how to receive it 
 also. 
 
The Inner Light 69 
 
 That the principle of divine inspiration is 
 fundamental in Christianity, regardless of 
 sect, is proved by the universal employment of 
 prayer. If there be no immediate access to 
 God, why pray? Why resort to prayer unless 
 God hears and answers prayer ? Therefore, if 
 all the forms and ceremonies, all the barnacles 
 that have adhered to the church through the 
 ages, could be cleared away, with a return to 
 the simplicity of the early church, it would be 
 perceived that the one principle on which the 
 church is founded, "other than which no man 
 can lay," the rock on which Jesus said he 
 would build his church, is revelation or the 
 Light within; "For," said Jesus, "flesh and 
 blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my 
 Father which is in heaven." 
 
 Friends have always acknowledged the 
 Light to be universal ; but they, more than most 
 others, lay special emphasis upon it as the only 
 power that will keep men from doing wrong, 
 and that is able to restore them when they 
 have sinned. The power to save and restore 
 which the evangelical faith attributes to Jesus, 
 Friends have claimed comes direct from God, 
 
70 Quakerism 
 
 through impressions on the soul of man. 
 There is an uneasiness which, "reduced to 
 its lowest terms, is a sense that there is 
 something wrong about us as we naturally 
 stand. The solution is that we are saved from 
 the wrongness by making connections with the 
 higher powers." * 
 
 It is quite likely that some will say at this 
 point, "But I have never experienced this in- 
 fluence. No such voice has spoken to me, no 
 Light illumined my soul !" 
 
 Everyone has felt a thousand times a 
 prompting to perform a right action; has 
 resisted some temptation. This is God's 
 method of guidance. He makes an im- 
 pression on the consciousness strong enough to 
 be felt. This is Arnold's "power, not of our- 
 selves, that makes for righteousness," but 
 operating within ourselves. If there is any 
 doubt as to what these impressions indicate, 
 gather into silence, balance the matter in the 
 mind, pray for guidance, and the scale will 
 turn finally towards the right. 
 
 * Wulliam James, in "Varieties of Religious Experience." 
 
The Inner Light 71 
 
 But here someone will object that this is 
 only conscience acting. It would have been 
 better if the word "conscience" had never been 
 coined, for it but adds confusion. It is stated 
 by the psychologist that the conscience is 
 created and developed by the conflict in the in- 
 dividual between right and wrong desires. 
 But what starts the process, whence comes the 
 idea of right and wrong? Prior to the origin 
 of the "conscience" must have been the idea 
 of right, and this idea God has implanted 
 within man. When, therefore, anyone experi- 
 ences the desire to do a right act or recognizes 
 the impropriety of a wrong act, these impres- 
 sions are of God. This is the inspeaking Voice, 
 the Light within, the Power which, as Jesus 
 promised, would lead into all truth. As we 
 come to depend upon it, it becomes more 
 clearly recognized, and as it is followed the 
 higher life within us develops; for "As many 
 as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 Sons of God." Moreover, it may truly be said 
 of the conscience, that it is of the past, not the 
 future. New ideas, new duties, come through 
 revelations from God. 
 
72 Quakerism 
 
 "The perception of moral truth seems to de- 
 pend upon a faculty of spiritual vision belong- 
 ing to our human personality, an eye of the 
 soul, on whose sensitized retina the truth im- 
 ages itself by virtue of its own light . . . 
 It is upon this developed sensitiveness to spirit- 
 ual light that Friends have always relied as the 
 chief instrument for discerning truth. The 
 sensitiveness was, I think, cultivated . by the 
 first Friends mainly in two ways, both of which 
 under the changed conditions of our own time 
 still retain all their old value. They sought 
 to make their souls receptive and their vision 
 clear, and in the second place they coveted not 
 only a vision, but an experience." * 
 
 "It is in this sense that I believe the term 
 Inner Light may still express the mission of 
 iQuakerism. There are many difficulties in 
 properly defining its relation to the intellect, 
 to the Bible, and to the collective judgment of 
 Friends. But in so far as it expresses the em- 
 phasis on the reality of religion, on the per- 
 sonal and immediate appeal of inspired con- 
 
 * William Charles Braithwaite, in "Spiritual Guidance in 
 Quaker Exoerience." 
 
The Inner Light 73 
 
 viction, and on the primacy of ideals in human 
 Hfe, it is in accord with that movement away 
 from externals to the authority of the Spirit, 
 which is the hope of Christianity." f 
 
 An objection to entire dependence upon the 
 Inner Light might arise in the practical diffi- 
 culty of always knowing the right thing to do 
 at the moment of decision. In that case it is 
 best to do what, on the whole, seems right at 
 the time. Paul was performing his duty, as 
 he saw it, when he started out for Damascus 
 to destroy the Christians there ; but when fuller 
 light was given him as he travelled, his per- 
 ception of duty completely changed. Nor does 
 he ever seem to have afterward failed to fol- 
 low the Light. When, in the course of his 
 journeys "he was minded to go into Bithynia, 
 the Spirit prevented him." When it called 
 him to go into Macedonia he went. When it 
 told him to travel to Jerusalem and to Rome, 
 he hesitated not, although he felt that im- 
 prisonment, many dangers, and even death 
 awaited him. 
 
 t Henry J. Cadbury. 
 
74 Quakerism 
 
 A study of the Master's life clearly shows 
 that it was on this power that he relied, and he 
 endeavored in many ways and on many occa- 
 sions, to impress this fact on the minds of his 
 followers. "Of myself I can do nothing." "I 
 and my Father are one" (in harmony). Fur- 
 thermore Jesus promised that that which en- 
 abled him to speak and act, is the same power 
 that would enable his followers to live right- 
 eously. "Behold, I am with you even to the 
 end of the world." "I AM" is an ancient He- 
 brew name for God. Moses was told to say to 
 Pharoah "I AM hath sent me." * 
 
 So it may properly be claimed that the Inner 
 Light is the Light of Christ; is of God and is 
 God. 
 
 "Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise 
 From outward things, whate'er you may believe 
 There is an inmost center in us all, 
 Where truth abides in fullness." 
 
 — Browning. 
 
 * Exodus 3: 14. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 APPLICATION OF RELIGION TO MODERN 
 PROBLEMS 
 
 A subject of absorbing interest is the rela- 
 tion of religion to the great social forces that 
 affect humanity. It is a matter of interest, 
 not alone because it has to do with the deepest 
 feelings of humanity, as well as the welfare 
 of the race, but also because of its practical 
 possibilities. Every thoughtful person has an 
 overpoweririg desire to know something of his 
 relation both to divinity and to his fellowman. 
 It is his desire furthermore to become helpful 
 during his life-time. Nothing, perhaps, can 
 so further this desire as a study of the relation 
 of religion to social movements. Such an en- 
 deavor is useful because it will accomplish sev- 
 eral things that are of distinct value. 
 
 In the first place it familiarizes one with the 
 nature of the great social forces, such as edu- 
 
 75 
 
76 Quakerism 
 
 cation, industrial conditions, government, etc. 
 One comes to know the nature and possibilities 
 of these forces, the conditions which surround 
 them, the agencies that affect them for good 
 and evil, and how the good elements may be 
 developed and the evil diminished or banished. 
 
 In the next place it may be possible to realize 
 how far the spirit of Christianity has become 
 a factor in the social forces and whether it is 
 possible to make the spirit of Christ dominant 
 in them. In other words how to Christianize 
 the social forces that sweep humanity along. 
 Then, having gained some intimacy with these 
 forces, the next step will be to ascertain the 
 means through which they may be made useful 
 to mankind. 
 
 Such an aim as this, while it may seem am- 
 bitious, is not too much so in reality. It is 
 just in line with the tendency of modern 
 thought. Moreover we may use just as much 
 of these forces as comes within our capacity. 
 Electric force is powerful enough to move 
 great machinery; yet it is within the power of 
 any one to ring an electric doorbell. Familiar- 
 ity with the characteristics of these great 
 
Application of Religion yy 
 
 energies will make it possible to utilize them 
 for the benefit of humanity. 
 
 Henry W. Wilbur used to remark that there 
 is much "loose sentiment" floating about, 
 which, like loose steam floating about, is of no 
 practical value. Force that steam into the 
 cylinder of a locomotive, however, and heavy 
 trains may be moved at great speed. So the 
 "loose sentiment," placed where it may become 
 a force, will apply itself to social welfare. To 
 meet the earnest wish of an increasing group 
 of thoughtful people, whose purpose in life is 
 to become efficient social helpers, such study 
 becomes imperative. 
 
 We are no longer satisfied with the methods 
 of the past; new ideas are eagerly welcomed. 
 This is true in all departments of life. There 
 was a time when men cut wheat and barley 
 with the sickly, and threshed it out with the 
 feet of oxen ; but today, the farmer gathers his 
 grain with a self-binder, and the occupation of 
 Ruth the Gleaner is gone. 
 
 We have come to realize that innocence is 
 not sufficient as a protection, nor ignorance as 
 a shield. To meet the problems of today, to 
 
78 Quakerism 
 
 utilize social forces for good, to prevent doing 
 harm when acting from the best motives, we 
 have come to know that ignorance must be sup- 
 planted by knowledge and innocence trans- 
 muted into virtue. 
 
 At the threshold of our investigation we are 
 met with the inqury. What is religion? and 
 what are social forces? To the first question 
 each person will either have his own answer, 
 or else religion is to him a vague idea, 
 floating in the boundaries of his thoughts. 
 The well-known statement that religion is 
 "Morality tinctured with emotion," does not 
 seem to meet the case, for religion is more than 
 morality and emotion. Reduce the many defi- 
 nitions of religion to their simplest form, and 
 we would have something like this : — Religion 
 is a belief binding the spiritual nature of man 
 to a spiritual Being, on whom he is conscious 
 he is dependent. Man is said to be "incurably 
 religious." On the whole face of the earth 
 there is said to be no tribe or nation that has 
 risen above the brute, which has not possessed 
 some idea of religion. 
 
 The form of religion that most nearly con- 
 
Application of Religion 79 
 
 cerns us is Christianity. But what is Chris- 
 tianity? Our Romanist friends would say he 
 is a Christian who belongs to the Roman 
 Catholic Church; an Episcopalian would re- 
 gard those not of his fold as "dissenters." Let 
 us then get "back to Jesus" and try to find out 
 his idea. On one occasion he said, "Not every- 
 one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth 
 the will of my Father which is in heaven." 
 
 Let us make a definition broad enough to 
 meet the ideal of the Master, even if not ac- 
 ceptable to every one. 
 
 He is a Christian, who seeks to know the 
 will of God, and strives to follow it in the spirit 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But some one may say that this definition 
 might include Mohammedans, Buddhists and 
 other so-called heathens. Very well, we are 
 still in accord with Jesus, who said, "For who- 
 soever shall do the will of God, the same is my 
 brother and my sister and my mother." And 
 again he said that all the law and prophets 
 hang on the two great principles, "Thou shalt 
 love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 
8o Quakerism 
 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
 with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thy- 
 self." All such have entered into the kingdpm 
 of heaven, even though they are known by some 
 other religious name, while some who reside 
 in so-called Christian nations, have no claim to 
 this title, because they do not meet the require- 
 ments laid down by the founder of Christian- 
 ity. "To be like Christ, then, is to be a Chris- 
 tian." * 
 
 The power of God, manifested and acting 
 through the souls of men, is religion; and all 
 the progress that mankind has made in civili- 
 zation must be attributed to this power. 
 Whenever men have been obedient to the will 
 of God, as made known in their consciousness, 
 civilization has advanced; when the voice of 
 God has not been heeded, the dark ages have 
 come upon men. Religion, then, is a great im- 
 pelling force in the lives of men, and must be 
 considered as fundamental in any study of 
 mankind. 
 
 "Our human strength grows weak, but the 
 
 ♦William Penn. 
 
Application of Religion 8i 
 
 spirit of our God is infinite. If we as churches 
 can make ourselves co-workers with him, r-eal- 
 izing that God's own ultimate reliance is upon 
 spiritual rather than physical power, that the 
 Kingdom of God which he establishes is to be 
 a kingdom of the spirit, we may with untiring 
 effort face these tasks, not in our own strength, 
 but in the strength of him who is mighty to 
 save." * 
 
 What relation does religion bear to the 
 other forces that operate upon mankind ? This 
 is a question of vital interest and importance, 
 and one that may well hold our attention. 
 
 What are some of these "other forces ?" It 
 is possible to consider in this volume only those 
 that are social in their nature, and only the 
 most important of these. Among them are 
 family life, education, business, government, 
 the church, recreations and war. 
 
 Whatever influences humanity for good or 
 evil is a social force. Since men and women 
 are not perfect, their institutions cannot be per- 
 fect. All social forces therefore have in them 
 
 * Professor Shailer Mathews. 
 
82 Quakerism 
 
 both good and evil elements. Not a single one 
 is wholly bad, although some come close to 
 that line, and none is wholly good. 
 
 Our purpose in making the present study, 
 should be to get into position to minimize the 
 evil elements and emphasize the better, thus 
 utilizing for the benefit of humanity the great 
 powers and opportunities that God has placed 
 in our hands. 
 
 "The religious life of the Friends is so dis- 
 tinctive that unusual reactions on social life 
 can justly be expected and demanded. The 
 religious life of all the older Christian bodies 
 is dominated by external authority of some 
 kind, either of the Bible, of credal documents, 
 of historic tradition, or of the organized 
 church. However this authority is applied, it 
 almost invariably works in the direction of 
 conservatism, by tying the living individual up 
 to the dead past. It also checks and inhibits 
 the free initiative of inspired individuals, by 
 imposing the average will of the deader mass 
 upon them. 
 
 "The Friends, on the other hand, by locating 
 the highest authority in the Inner Light, have 
 
Application of Religion 83 
 
 made the impelling power in religion superior 
 to the forces of stability. They have to that 
 extent emancipated the inspired religious per- 
 sonalities from the control of the past, and 
 from the control of the inert masses. We 
 should therefore expect a far greater spiritual 
 impact and nobility from them. A "harmless" 
 Quaker, and still more a harmless Quaker de- 
 nomination, is an aggravated case of salt that 
 has lost its savour. If there is neither vision 
 to create unrest, nor spiritual power to com- 
 municate unrest to others, the Inner Light 
 must be moon-light. 
 
 "The Friends ought above all to furnish in- 
 dividuals who have a vision and a testimony, 
 together with modern common sense; fearless 
 individuals, who will have their community be- 
 hind them. Such religious personalities are a 
 great dynamic in society. 
 
 "I think the Friends in their beginnings, by 
 inspired intuition, bore powerful testimony in 
 four directions at least : 
 
 "i. Against luxury and for simplicity. 
 
 "2. Against aristocracy and for democratic 
 fraternity. 
 
84 Quakerism 
 
 "3. Against war and all bloodshed and for 
 peace. 
 
 "4. Against unclean incomes and for hon- 
 esty." * 
 
 * Walter Rauschenbusch, in a private letter, printed in 
 "Friends Intelligencer." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE FAMILY 
 
 The family — the most ancient of human in- 
 stitutions — constitutes a social force of the 
 first magnitude. 
 
 That the family and home exist at all must 
 be credited to the baby. No other creature 
 born into the world is so helpless as the human 
 infant; and because of this helpless infancy a 
 home had to be provided for shelter, nursing 
 required much of the mother's time, the father 
 must needs provide food for the mother, child 
 and himself, and protect all. Thus the home 
 and family came about because of helpless in- 
 fancy. The family developed into the group, 
 tribe, state and nation; for the nation is only 
 a family grown large. In the early days the 
 father governed his family with despotic 
 power. As he was the hunter and warrior his 
 
 85 
 
86 Quakerism 
 
 control over the family was absolute and un- 
 questioned. The wife and mother, having been 
 acquired by conquest or purchase, was the hus- 
 band's property. He could repudiate or divorce 
 her without restraint from anyone, but the 
 wife had no similar right. He had the power 
 of life and death over his own children, as in- 
 stanced in Abraham's proposed sacrifice of 
 Isaac. Thus in ancient days those who were 
 capable of doing so gathered about them sons 
 and daughters, their wives and husbands, many 
 servants and followers and became "patri- 
 archs." The story of Abraham illustrates this 
 process, for Abraham became not only a patri- 
 arch, but a great chief and prince. As time 
 went on, the power of the head of the family 
 lessened, while that of the wife increased in in- 
 fluence and dignity. The former has come to 
 rule not so much through brute force as 
 through kindness and justice, although in too 
 many instances the old tyrannous spirit is 
 shown even yet. 
 
 In the ideal family the forces that control 
 are love, cheer, peace, kindness, gentleness, for- 
 bearance, patience, temperance, service; but 
 
The Family 87 
 
 these are also "the fruits of the spirit." It is 
 evident, then, that the family has come under 
 the rule of religion, that it is Christianized. It 
 is in fact, the most Christianized of all human 
 institutions, more so even than the church, 
 since the evidence of spirit of love manifested 
 by Christ is present in the family to a greater 
 degree than elsewhere. 
 
 The purpose for which the Creator estab- 
 lished the family was primarily the perpetua- 
 tion of the race. This is fundamental, al- 
 though in the course of the refinements that 
 developed with civilization, it is often looked 
 upon as incidental. Whatever tends to lessen 
 the productiveness of healthy parents is 
 against the best interests of civilization and of 
 the family itself, for the ideal family is com- 
 posed of father, mother and several children. 
 There is perhaps nothing so truly educational 
 as the influence brought to bear in a family by 
 its own members. It constitutes a little world 
 in itself, and forms a fine preparation for that 
 larger world into which its members must 
 sooner or later enter. 
 
 Whatever tends to establish the conditions 
 
88 Quakerism 
 
 that make for the welfare of the family, such 
 as proper support, a home, habits of industry, 
 economy, and the exercise of such sentiments 
 as kindness and justice, that ought to rule 
 amongst the members, should be encouraged 
 to the utmost. 
 
 It must be acknowledged, however, that 
 many sinister influences are brought to bear 
 upon the family to its injury. One of these is 
 easy divorce. The laws that make it possible 
 for a husband or wife to obtain a divorce by 
 simply living apart for a few months or a year, 
 present a serious menace to the integrity of 
 the family. In this country there is one divorce 
 in sixteen marriages. One cannot say that a 
 divorce should never be granted, but for the 
 sake of society and the best interests of hu- 
 manity it would seem that a divorce should be 
 granted only for unfaithfulness or cruelty. 
 The example shown by some so-called "Society 
 people" in obtaining frequent divorces is most 
 pernicious, for because of their wealth and 
 prominence, their marital difficulties are widely 
 heralded, and their bad example often fol- 
 lowed. 
 
The Family 89 
 
 Charles Foster Kent, Professor of Biblical 
 Literature in Yale University, says, "On one 
 point at least Jesus took absolute issue with 
 modern anarchistic socialism, as well as with 
 powerful tendencies in the Roman and Jewish 
 world of his. day. He declared that the mar- 
 riage relation was of divine origin and that 
 under no conditions should its claims be set 
 aside. Here for once he departed from his 
 usual method and laid down a definite law. 
 This fact indicates how important was the 
 place that he attributed to the family in the de- 
 velopment of the individual and of society. 
 Back of his teaching lay centuries of human 
 experience. The wisdom of his conclusions is 
 confirmed by modern sociology, which recog- 
 nizes in the family the historical and actual 
 basis of all stable society. Today the prevail- 
 ing disregard of the rights and duties of the 
 family is demonstrating anew their supreme 
 importance. Leaders in modern thought are 
 beginning to see clearly that the only final solu- 
 tion of our gravest political, social and eco- 
 nomic problems must come through the faith- 
 ful and efficient training of the individual in 
 
90 Quakerism 
 
 the home. The shame of our divorce courts 
 and of our modern social system is slowly but 
 surely preparing the present generation to 
 listen attentively to Jesus' strenuous teaching 
 regarding marriage. He declared that the 
 marriage bond is sacred because it rests upon 
 the innate characteristics and needs of man 
 and woman, and, therefore, of society. It is 
 no more to be set aside than the relation be- 
 tween parent and child. It is, indeed, more 
 divinely sacred and inviolable than that close 
 natural bond." 
 
 Great wealth, when it results in luxurious 
 living, with its tendency towards selfishness 
 and disregard for the wishes arid welfare of 
 others, injures family life. The proportion of 
 children in that part of Fifth Avenue, where 
 the houses of the very rich are located, is very 
 small, as compared with sections of New York 
 occupied by the less wealthy. Each member of 
 such a family has his own special interests 
 apart from the others, and this tends to break 
 up family unity. 
 
 On the other hand extreme poverty is hurt- 
 ful in many ways. The want of the necessities 
 
The Family 91 
 
 of life, the over-crowding, the constant toil on 
 the part of the parents that prevents their look- 
 ing after the children, are some of the in- 
 fluences that extreme poverty exercises on the 
 family. Over-crowding is fatal. In cases 
 where the parents and children, and perhaps 
 a man or two as boarders, are compelled to 
 occupy one or two rooms, it is quite evident 
 that there can be no adequate home life. Even 
 the ordinary morality, which depends upon 
 well ordered family life, vanishes. 
 
 Nearly all wage earners have hanging over 
 them the awful dread of losing their jobs. 
 Should this occur to the bread winner of the 
 family, the latter drops at once below the line 
 of sustenance, and if no other member of the 
 family can go to work, it will become scattered. 
 The same thing will happen in the case of the 
 death of the father, for then the mother is 
 often forced to seek employment away from 
 home, thus leaving the children uncared for 
 during her absence, and exposed to all sorts of 
 malign influences and dangers. The happiest 
 of all conditions of home life so far as support 
 
92 Quakerism 
 
 is concerned, are present when a moderate but 
 adequate family income is fairly assured. 
 
 Vice stands at the door of every home, seek- 
 ing entrance, and fatal is its influence when al- 
 lowed to enter. This is especially true of so- 
 cial vice. Nothing will destroy the happiness 
 of a home more surely than for one or the 
 other parent to break the sanctity of the mar- 
 riage vows. This is the cause of a vast amount 
 of unhappiness in married life, leading some- 
 times to divorce. Whether the state of affairs 
 becomes known to the children or not, the pres- 
 ence of the evil will cast its baleful influence 
 over their lives. Were men and women able to 
 look into the future and realize the results of 
 their sinning, they would never enter upon this 
 path. The familiar instance of David illu- 
 strates this point. Because of his sinful rela- 
 tions with Bathsheba, there resulted David's 
 murder of Uriah, Absalom's rebellion and 
 death, the degeneration of Solomon's char- 
 acter, the division of the kingdom into two 
 parts, and its final disappearance as a nation. 
 
 Furthermore, as a common result of immor- 
 ality before marriage or of unfaithfulness af- 
 
The Family 93 
 
 terwards, social disease is brought into the fa- 
 mily. This usually produces long-continued 
 illness, even more disastrous in the case of the 
 wife, resulting sometimes in her death, often- 
 times in serious and possibly fatal operations, 
 and in sterility. It frequently produces blind- 
 ness, especially in children. The children are 
 often rendered defective physically, mentally 
 or morally. 
 
 Disease of any kind, if long continued, con- 
 stitutes a serious drain upon family resources, 
 and may pull the home to pieces when the in- 
 come is small. Sanitation therefore must be 
 carefully maintained and health preserved. 
 Take, for instance, the matter of ventilation. 
 How little care is taken in most homes, during 
 the winter season, to allow fresh air to enter, 
 yet oxygen is our most important food, not 
 meat and vegetables, the chief purpose of the 
 latter being to make up the mineral waste. 
 Oxygen and sunshine are the great enemies of 
 disease, yet we shut out the one and shade out 
 the other. Around every country and suburban 
 house is plenty of light, and yet many of the 
 rooms are dark. They often have such dark 
 
94 Quakerism 
 
 dining rooms as almost to require artificial 
 light at noon, with the sun pouring down its 
 golden and health-bearing beams outside. 
 
 The law of inheritance must be borne in 
 mind. Fortunately for the human race very 
 few diseases are thus transmitted, but mental 
 defects are quite sure to descend from one gen- 
 eration to another. Insanity and imbecility 
 thus "run in families." Should a man marry 
 a woman of feeble mind, some of their off- 
 spring will be defective in some way; and 
 should both parents be feeble-minded it is al- 
 most certain that all their offspring will be de- 
 fective in mind and often in body. The pres- 
 ence of a person of low mentality as a member 
 has a strong tendency to destroy the welfare 
 of the family. It is far better for the other 
 members of the family, and also for the indi- 
 vidual affected, for the latter to be placed in 
 an institution provided for the care of such un- 
 fortunates, even though the tender solicitude 
 of parents shrinks from so doing. The con- 
 stant care required by such a one, the humiha- 
 tion on the part of the other children, the added 
 expense, and sometimes the actual dangers in- 
 
The Family 95 
 
 cident to the presence of such a defective, all 
 make public care imperative. 
 
 It is no longer considered by the medical 
 profession that tuberculosis is inherited. 
 Every case is contracted from some other, 
 through the agency of the tubercle bacillus. It 
 is true that the consumptive parent may trans- 
 mit a weakened constitution which is less able 
 to resist infection, but many such cases, with 
 proper precautions, escape. The germs collect 
 on the walls, floor, and crevices within a house 
 which a consumptive has occupied, and the 
 house becomes the transmitter to other mem- 
 bers of the family, or to those who may later 
 occupy the dwelling. The welfare of the fa- 
 mily, then, depends in large degree, on thor- 
 ough and intelligent sanitation. 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, is so destructive to family 
 life as the use of intoxicating liquor by one or 
 more of its members. The diversion of money 
 that should be used for the support of the fa- 
 mily, the degeneration in character of the user, 
 with the pernicious influence on the family, 
 caused by such degeneration, the cruelty often 
 exercised on the weaker members, and the final 
 
96 Quakerism 
 
 inevitable breaking up of the ' family, mark 
 drinking as one of its most active enemies. 
 
 Some investigations by Dr. C. W. Saleeby 
 of London on the transmitted effects of alcohol 
 quoted in his work on Parenthood and Race 
 Culture are instructive. Dr. Saleeby quotes 
 authorities as follows : "Of 600 children born 
 of 120 drunken mothers, 325, or 55.8 per cent, 
 died in infancy, or were born dead; several of 
 the survivors were mentally defective, and as 
 many as 4.1 per cent, were epileptic. The 
 death rate among the children of sober mothers 
 of the same group was 23.09 per cent, against 
 55.8 per cent, of the drunken mothers. It was 
 further observed that in the drunken families 
 there was a progressive rise in the death rate 
 from the earlier to the later born children." * 
 
 "It is my strong conviction that a large per- 
 centage of our mentally defective, including 
 idiots, imbeciles and epileptics, are the descend- 
 ants of drunkards." t 
 
 Many organized agencies are now at work 
 
 *Dr. W. C. Sullivan, in "Alcoholism, a Chapter in 
 Social Pathology." 
 
 t Dr. Fleck, an English authority. 
 
The Family 97 
 
 in the laudable endeavor to restore the broken 
 family, in the conviction that every such fa- 
 mily is a distinct loss to the community. 
 Therefore every available means should be 
 taken to keep the family intact, or when it has 
 become separated, restored to its integrity. It 
 is an important act in the interest of good 
 citizenship to convert a man from the habit of 
 drinking to sobriety; for, in the one case such 
 a man and his family will sooner or later fall 
 into the dependent or criminal class, to be sup- 
 ported at high cost by the public. On the other 
 hand, a change of habits on his part will re- 
 store the self respect of the man and his fa- 
 mily, with the result that he and they will be- 
 come valuable units in the community. In this 
 light the temperance reform becomes a species 
 of patriotism and good citizenship. 
 
 To insure that the family will perform its 
 proper function and constitute the centre about 
 which human affections twine, it must rest 
 upon a basis of religion. We have seen that 
 the principles which characterize the ideal 
 home are those of religion, and there can be 
 no other safe foundation. Love — to God and 
 
98 Quakerism 
 
 for the members of the family — is the cement- 
 ing force that holds it together, and the only 
 force that can be depended on for this purpose. 
 In every family, therefore, there should be 
 Bible reading, and the attention of all the 
 members should be called to divine things. 
 
 The value of home life in forming and es- 
 tablishing a living faith cannot be too highly 
 estimated. When the father and the mother 
 are believers, and carry out their principles in 
 their daily lives, the Spirit of God which in- 
 spires and animates them will, without doubt, 
 come to inspire their children. This is more 
 certain to occur if a close sympathy and in- 
 timacy be maintained between parents and 
 their children, an intimacy so close that the 
 deepest feelings and inmost thoughts of the 
 child will be communicated to the parent. In 
 such a congenial atmosphere as this, the fair- 
 est fruits of the spirit will be produced; and 
 if the reasonable desires of the child be satis- 
 fied, and the children are not repelled by ob- 
 serving inconsistencies of conduct close at 
 hand, their religious life will, in most instances, 
 take firm root. From such homes there need 
 
The Family 99 
 
 be little fear of young people going to swell 
 the ranks of the depraved and fallen, for their 
 strongest protective influence is that home 
 training which changes ignorance into knowl- 
 edge and innocence into virtue. 
 
 From such homes come the young people 
 who, instructed sufficiently as to the evils and 
 dangers all about them, have within them- 
 selves that protecting power which enables 
 them to resist temptation. 
 
 "To be ever conscious of my unity with Gk)d, 
 to listen to his voice and to heed no other call : 
 
 "To keep my mental home a sacred place, 
 golden with gratitude, white with purity, 
 cleansed from the flesh; 
 
 "To send no thought into the world that will 
 not bless or cheer or purify or heal; 
 
 "To have no aim but to make earth a fairer, 
 holier place, and to rise each day into a higher 
 sense of Life and Love ;" that is religion. 
 
 What humanity needs more than anything 
 else — ^what it indeed is suffering and dying for 
 — is a religion based on a Faith in God that 
 cannot be moved ; a Reasonableness which will 
 appeal to the intelligent mind; a Justice that 
 
loo Quakerism 
 
 will reach every man, woman and child ; and a 
 Kindness that would lift the weight from every 
 burdened heart. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 EDUCATION — THE SCHOOL 
 
 The system of general education which we in 
 this country enjoy, and which to us seems much 
 a matter of course, is, after all, a thing of very 
 recent origin. 
 
 Indeed, up to quite recent times, education 
 belonged only to the fortunate few. Schooling 
 was conducted by the church or by private tu- 
 tors, who were usually clericals. The medieval 
 church did not favor general education, for 
 education has a tendency to make men think 
 for themselves, and this was in opposition to 
 the supposed interests of the church of that 
 day, whose officials believed that they could the 
 better keep the masses in subjection. 
 
 As late as the time of Charles I of England, 
 the aristocratic classes were doing well if they 
 could write their names. Even to this day 
 
 lOI 
 
I02 Quakerism 
 
 Great Britain has its gefieral education con- 
 ducted by the Church of England, and non- 
 conformists are often compelled to send their 
 children to private institutions. Back of the 
 English system, probably, is the idea that there 
 should be a strong infusion of religious teach- 
 ing in secular education. The attempt to dis- 
 tinguish between things secular and those that 
 are religious leads to confusion. Whatever 
 acts are right are religious. Considered 
 rightly, going to church or reading the Bible is 
 no more a religious act than ploughing a field 
 or preparing a dinner. Much depends upon the 
 spirit in which the act is performed and the 
 motive that inspires it. 
 
 This is eijiinently true of education. When 
 truth is taught, when the judgment is trained to 
 appreciate right and wrong, whether through 
 the study of history, ethics or other branches, 
 this should tend to develop the moral nature. 
 Indeed, the purposes of education and of re- 
 ligion are identical: the development of good 
 character. It is proper to say that the right 
 kind of education is essentially religious, and 
 
Education — The School 103 
 
 the distinction between secular and religious 
 education should no longer be maintained. 
 
 Notwithstanding this fact, sectarian schools 
 are conducted by certain classes of people, be- 
 cause they are depended on to maintain the 
 sect. It has been stated that the church of Eng- 
 land has so far kept control of public education 
 in England. It is also well to know that the Ro- 
 man Catholics have a very extensive system of 
 parochial schools. From the days when the 
 Society of Friends arose it has conducted 
 schools taught by its own members. At first 
 this was the only way to educate their children, 
 and Friends have always insisted upon educa- 
 tion. For, according to the tenets of Friends, 
 any one of their members may feel a call to 
 preach, and it follows from this that all must 
 become educated, if satisfactory results are to 
 be gained. 
 
 In this country, as the system of education 
 has improved, there does not seem to be the 
 same necessity for schools conducted by 
 Friends as formerly; and in the states west of 
 the Alleghenies, Friends Schools, with the ex- 
 ception of a number of colleges and special 
 
I04 Quakerism 
 
 schools, have disappeared. In some of the At- 
 lantic States, however, they flourish. 
 
 Whether the continuance of sectarian 
 schools is justifiable is a burning question. In 
 this country the only large sect that continues 
 the practice is the Roman Catholic, and from 
 the standpoint of true public policy, this sys- 
 tem is not to be commended. Since the system 
 of free public schools is now universally main- 
 tained, it would seem better for all the children 
 in republican America to mingle on the same 
 footing in school — the rich and poor alike. 
 Furthermore the withdrawal of the Catholic 
 interest from the public schools creates an un- 
 fortunate situation. There is a tendency for 
 the Catholic authorities to oppose the public 
 school system, not only because of added taxa- 
 tion, but because they desire to control the edu- 
 cation of their children. 
 
 Is it justifiable, then, for the Society of 
 Friends to longer maintain its Schools? In 
 order to have a reason for their existence. 
 Friends' Schools must be better than others, 
 and the support that they receive from an in- 
 telligent public would seem to prove that they 
 
Education — The School 105 
 
 are superior. And herein lies an excellent 
 reason for their maintenance — they may serve 
 as a model to others. For if they are excellent 
 and advanced in methods they stand for defi- 
 nite value in the community. 
 
 "Sectarian schools are out of place as soon 
 as the public schools become adequate. Friends 
 must turn their schools over to the public as 
 soon as the public system is human enough and 
 flexible enough to do well by all. Meanwhile 
 Friends may have the privilege of leading the 
 way, giving instructions in morality and in 
 those fundamental religious principles on 
 which there is general agreement." * 
 
 Let us now consider the relation of the pub- 
 lic schools to religion. 
 
 It is an unfortunate fact that at present 
 teachers in the public school system do not 
 have that honorable position that their work 
 warrants. Young men take up teaching as a 
 stepping-stone to some profession or occupa- 
 tion which will bring them the wealth and 
 honor that they cannot gain from teaching, for 
 
 ♦George A. Walton. 
 
io6 Quakerism 
 
 even positions in college are paid poorly in con- 
 trast with business opportunities. Many girls 
 teach until they marry and then drop out. 
 
 To get the best work from teachers it must 
 be arranged that teaching be elevated into a 
 well-paid as it is already an honorable profes- 
 sion, into which a young person may enter with 
 the same confidence that he would inl^ medi- 
 cine or law, making it his life-work, and not a 
 mere gateway to better things. 
 
 It follows that a teacher should receive an 
 adequate salary in place of the small amount 
 now coming to him, one which will enable him 
 to live well and be able to lay aside sufficient 
 to provide for the years when he can or 
 should no longer teach. For as a principle it 
 would seem better to provide a good income, 
 and allow a man to save for his old age, rather 
 than to provide a salary on which a family may 
 with difficulty be supported, and promise a pen- 
 sion for the time when he is worn out. Be- 
 sides, an adequate salary will permit the leisure 
 for study and travel essential to the continu- 
 ance of good teaching, and in this way will be 
 more than justified. 
 
Education- — The School 107 
 
 No doubt some one will raise the objection 
 that the cost will be too great, that taxes are 
 already too high. It would be possible, how- 
 ever, by lopping off useless offices, and the pre- 
 vention of waste and graft, to amply provide 
 for the necessary outlay. Congress might well 
 make large appropriations, the amounts to be 
 divided among the states, to advance educa- 
 tion; for it is a higher form of patriotism to 
 so educate our youth as to insure peace and 
 develop the civilization that can come alone 
 through peace, than to train them in the hand- 
 ling of instruments that mean the destruction 
 of their fellowmen. Better, far better, to so 
 educate them that their trained minds may 
 discover an adequate substitute for warfare, 
 than to spend vast sums in perpetuating war- 
 fare, which nearly all men abominate and con- 
 demn. 
 
 Once education has been placed on a par 
 with other professions young men will enter it 
 as a life-work, and its problems will be at- 
 tacked and solved through the continued loy- 
 alty of devoted teachers. At present, owing to 
 the small salaries given to teachers they are 
 
io8 Quakerism 
 
 called upon to contribute much of their service 
 free, and it is to their honor that so much of 
 this is done. The system is unfair to both 
 teacher and pupil. 
 
 One disadvantage that our public school 
 system has to endure is that so many of them 
 are under the control of politicians, who utilize 
 their positions on the school board for their 
 own advantage. It is not an unheard-of thing 
 for teachers to be appointed through political 
 influence rather than for fitness. And it is 
 quite true that men are often appointed to 
 school boards who know much more about the 
 manipulation of votes and voters than about 
 methods of education. 
 
 It is acknowledged that women make admir- 
 able teachers, and it would seem wise for 
 women to be appointed on school boards. The 
 wisdom of such appointments becomes more 
 apparent when it is recalled that more women 
 have leisure than men, and could therefore give 
 more actual service in perfecting methods of 
 education. 
 
 A weak spot in our system of education, 
 which is almost universal, is the failure to 
 
Education — The School 109 
 
 teach sex hygiene. There are no problems 
 more perplexing to boys and girls than those of 
 sex, no temptation so persistent and no danger 
 so great as those which arise from the rela- 
 tions of the sexes. And yet, on this vital sub- 
 ject, not a word of warning, rarely a line of 
 instruction, reaches a boy or girl during school 
 life. It is not difficult for any intelligent and 
 thoughtful teacher to learn in a few hours all 
 of the information necessary to impart to the 
 pupil, although if the teacher has had the ad- 
 vantage of an adequate course in social hy- 
 giene, all the better. There are, however, only 
 a few essential facts that a boy or girl should 
 know, biit these are essential. Only thus may 
 they be saved from mental and moral suffer- 
 ing and loss. 
 
 It is not advised that on this delicate subject 
 text-books on sex hygiene be placed in students' 
 hands, but that teachers, having been in- 
 structed themselves, will in turn instruct their 
 pupils, so that no boy or girl will leave school 
 without having received the necessary infor- 
 mation. 
 
 No doubt some one will say that this is the 
 
no Quakerism 
 
 duty of the parent, rather than of the teacher, 
 but the fact is that not more than one child in 
 twenty is so fortunate as to receive such home 
 instruction. Because parents have not been 
 so taught when young they do not feel com- 
 petent to teach their children. Some, further- 
 more, have the idea that more harm than good 
 would come of it, not realizing that many 
 children are corrupted and have received false 
 notions before they are four years of age. 
 Since parents do not teach sex hygiene, the 
 teachers must do so, if the rising generation is 
 to be saved. Such instruction, wisely im- 
 parted, must therefore form a part of the sys- 
 tem of education. 
 
 In reviewing the relation of religion to edu- 
 cation as a social force, it becomes evident that 
 efforts on the part of the church to control pub- 
 lic education cannot be tolerated; but, such is 
 the influence of education on the morals of the 
 people that the church should exert its active 
 influence in every community to insure that 
 adequate school buildings, with proper sanitary 
 arrangements, be provided, and capable teach- 
 ers secured. How few of those who take a 
 
Education — The School 1 1 1 
 
 deep interest in the moral welfare of the com- 
 munity, concern themselves as to the kind of 
 instruction the children of that community are 
 receiving, or what direct and indirect influence 
 is being exercised on them by their teachers. 
 
 How many actually know, from personal ob- 
 servation, how their own children are being 
 taught ? The Sunday School does not give the 
 needed religious instruction adequately. Its 
 bare hour a week of desultory work, if work 
 it may be called, often under untrained 
 teachers, does not compare with the opportun- 
 ity of the trained teacher of the public school, 
 who has the children under care for twenty- 
 five hours a week. 
 
 As things are at present, it does not seem 
 possible to teach religion by any direct method 
 in our public schools, owing to the fear which 
 is felt by many people of the teaching being 
 sectarian. Thus, the only teaching on religion 
 beyond the casual Scripture reading sometimes 
 allowed or required is derived from the indirect 
 influence of the teacher, which is often very 
 effective; together with the lessons that come 
 
112 Quakerism 
 
 to the mind of the pupil through a study of 
 history, Hterature, geology, etc. 
 
 "The schools could do no better service to 
 children than to help them to discover for 
 themselves the everlasting principles of right 
 and wrong. There is no infallible "system of 
 moral duties." What is right at one time is 
 wrong at another ; what is right for one person 
 is wrong for another. It is impossible to- say, 
 'Thus shalt thou do,' on all occasions, regard- 
 less of conditions. What is important for 
 children to learn is that each has to be respon- 
 sible to a voice that comes from within him- 
 self. Increasing wisdom and experience will 
 cause this voice to speak in gradually changing 
 accents, but the one thing worth while is that 
 the urge to righteousness comes from within 
 and be never imposed from without. The child 
 who learns this will find his own religion, and 
 it will be a better one than any else can give 
 him." * 
 
 In this connection it may not be out of place 
 to suggest that a text-book be prepared, which 
 should contain those fundamental religious 
 
 * Elma Dame in New York Globe. 
 
Education — The School 113 
 
 principles on which all sects would agree, which 
 when approved by the powers that be, should 
 be made a part of the curriculum of all schools. 
 
 In such a movement the church might well 
 take a leading part. A commission, composed 
 of one representative from each sect, together 
 with some leading educators, could well under- 
 take such a work. 
 
 Such a movement would probably exert an 
 influence much wider than in the public schools. 
 The coming together of such a body, so repre- 
 sentative, for one common purpose, would tend 
 greatly towards unity. If this effort should, 
 through the blessing of God, prove successful, 
 all sects would come to realize that agreement 
 as to the basic principles of religion is possible. 
 It would throw the emphasis on essentials, and 
 make the differences less important. It would 
 make all feel the force of the ancient motto "In 
 essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in 
 all things, charity." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 The purposes for which the Church was 
 founded have been thus well stated: "The 
 churches are the socialized expression of the 
 religious life of men. They awaken the re- 
 ligious instinct in the young of the race, teach 
 them spiritual conceptions of life, put them 
 into historical continuity with the holy men of 
 the past, hand down the socialized treasures of 
 religion, the Bible, the prayers, the hymns of 
 the church, and give the people an opportunity 
 to connect their religious impulses with the ser- 
 vice of men. Presumably the religious instinct 
 would live on even if the churches perished, 
 but in many it would sta;rve by neglect or re- 
 lapse into barbaric forms if deprived of the 
 social shelter given by the church. But with- 
 out some light of religion in our lives our 
 114 
 
The Church 115 
 
 spiritual nature would vegetate in an arctic 
 night, and many of us would fall a prey to 
 vice, discouragement and moral apathy. Even 
 those who do not believe in the reality of what 
 the churches teach will acknowledge that re- 
 ligion has been the most potent form of ideal- 
 ism among the great masses of men through- 
 out history." * 
 
 Immediately after the crucifixion the fol- 
 lowers of the Master formed themselves into a 
 community, wherein each helped the other, 
 "had all things common, no one lacked." It 
 was characteristic of them that they followed 
 not their own judgment, but sought to know 
 the will of God through prayer ; and God made 
 known His will to them through impression on 
 their minds. 
 
 The true Christian Church in the apostolic 
 age was distinguished by the following char- 
 acteristics : a pure -spiritual worship ; a free 
 gospel ministry; religious freedom; a testi- 
 mony against war and oppression ; a testimony 
 against oaths; a testimony against vain fash- 
 
 * Rauschenbusch, in "Christianizing the Social Order." 
 
ii6 Quakerism 
 
 ions, corrupting amusements, and flattering 
 titles. All these characteristics of the church 
 in the apostolic age are cardinal principles of 
 modern Christianity. 
 
 As long as the early church depended upon 
 the guidance of the Spirit it flourished, increas- 
 ing in numbers at a marvelous rate, even in 
 the midst of cruel persecution. So active be- 
 came the efforts of their enemies that in some 
 instances, as in Rome, they dug out refuges for 
 themselves in the soft rock, and in these under- 
 ground passages, miles in extent, sought the 
 quiet and safety necessary for their existence. 
 And yet the Christians increased in numbers 
 and influence, until at length in the reign of 
 Emperor Constantine, three centuries from 
 the date of their origin, Christianity became 
 the state religion. 
 
 While this event would seem to have been a 
 triumph, it was gained at terrible cost. The 
 church now became rich, powerful and corrupt. 
 It began that long career of compromise with 
 wrong, that willingness to employ evil that 
 good might come of it, that has ever since been 
 its curse, and which has prevented its universal 
 
The Church 117 
 
 acceptance, giving occasion for such move- 
 ments as Mohammedanism. The church 
 adopted at the Council of Nice the doctrine of 
 the trinity, the vote having been largely in- 
 fluenced by political considerations. This was 
 a concession to those who came into the church 
 from paganism, who were unable at once to 
 accept the pure monotheism of Jesus, whose 
 consistent advocacy of the one true God and 
 His immediate revelations to men, constitute 
 the rock on which he founded his church. 
 Therefore those who were in authority in the 
 fourth century decided to adopt, as a principle, 
 the utterly illogical and incomprehensible 
 dogma of the trinity, or three gods in one. 
 Ever since then the church has had to carry 
 this heavy weight, with how much loss it is im- 
 possible to estimate. Had the church adhered 
 to religion as taught by Jesus Christ, there is 
 little doubt that by this time it would have 
 been universally accepted by mankind; peace, 
 order, love, beauty, and truth would have cov- 
 ered the earth like a mantle of Glory. But 
 alas, instead of this, we have seen the world, 
 after 1900 years of Christianity, involved in a 
 
ii8 Quakerism 
 
 cruel and relentless war, with violation of 
 every principle that Jesus taught. 
 
 And yet so vital is the principle that was 
 committed to the church that, notwithstanding 
 its failings, it has held within itself the in- 
 terests of civilizaton. Through many centur- 
 ies the church had charge of education; it es- 
 tablished hospitals and dispensed charity. 
 More than all, the church has ever held before 
 men, however imperfectly, the thought that 
 man is dependent upon God. The Reformation 
 gave a tremendous impetus to independent 
 thinking, and together with the printing of the 
 Bible in the languages of the people, gave ori- 
 gin to the many religious sects that arose in 
 the 1 6th and 17th centuries, and opened a way 
 for a truer conception of religion and of man's 
 relation to God. 
 
 The church, however, as a body, has never 
 regained its original communistic or demo- 
 cratic character. It became, through the cen- 
 turies, distinctly aristocratic and still remains 
 so. On the whole, it is out of touch with a 
 large number of wage earners, and quite apt 
 to range itself on the side of the wealthier 
 
The Church 119 
 
 class. So true is this that great numbers of 
 persons have been ahenated from the church, 
 while, on the other hand, the church has suf- 
 fered a loss of spirituality which has interfered 
 greatly with its usefulness. 
 
 "The churches have to make their appeal to 
 the spiritual nature of men, which is but slen- 
 derly developed even in the best of us, com- 
 pared with the powerful instincts of hunger, 
 sex and pleasure. They are always like engines 
 pulling a train on an upgrade, and they feel 
 it if the brakes are set in addition. In every 
 industrialized community the churches have 
 had a hard time of it. They are weakest where 
 capitalism is strongest. If this does not sug- 
 gest a casual connection, our mind is duller 
 than it might be. Of course the decline of the 
 churches is due to a combination of causes. 
 They have lost force through their own faults, 
 through traditionalism, narrow ecclesiastical 
 interests, and opposition to science and demo- 
 cracy. But to a large extent they are victims 
 of the same influences which have crippled all 
 the other noble forms of social life. Instead 
 of chastising the churches, those who believe 
 
I20 Quakerism 
 
 in the spiritual values of life might inquire 
 sympathetically why the strongest and most 
 ancient institution, devoted to higher ends, 
 languishes wherever industrialism grows. We 
 are not so rich in fraternal and spiritual insti- 
 tutions that we can afford to laugh while any 
 of them die." * 
 
 In order to regain its power over men, the 
 church must come to feel a real interest in their 
 welfare. Its chief concern must be, not to save 
 men from torture in the next world, but to 
 make this present world a safer, saner and hap- 
 pier place in which to dwell. To do this it 
 must receive a new baptism of the spirit, and 
 come to possess, a greater and truer love for 
 men, even men who are unlovely. It must drop 
 all Pharisaism and hypocrisy and resist the 
 temptations and dangers that accompany 
 wealth. It will busy itself in seeking the 
 causes of poverty, crime, misery, and bend it- 
 self to the task of removing these causes, and 
 so change the conditions under which men, 
 women and children live and labor, that it will 
 
 * Rauschenbusch. 
 
The Church 121 
 
 be easy for them to live righteous lives, instead 
 of impossible to do so, as in many cases, at 
 present. 
 
 "The man who believes that the gospel is a 
 power of salvation, rather than mere rescue, 
 believes that whatever is injurious is wrong. 
 He believes that his Christian message is pro- 
 phylactic as well as ameliorative. A church 
 that conceived of its mission simply as rescue 
 will be a parasite upon social evolution. A 
 church which believes in Christian salvation 
 will not only turn multitudes from their sins, 
 but will also turn social evolution in the direc- 
 tion of the Kingdom of God." * 
 
 "Democracy is only a new word for sacrifice 
 in the interest of mutual justice. We need to 
 make men feel that the ideals of Jesus Christ 
 are sufficiently worthy to warrant the sacrifice 
 of anything lower, whether it be comfort, or 
 wealth, or social privilege, or economic advan- 
 tage, or life itself. It is one of the functions 
 of the church to persuade people to practice 
 this democracy of the Kingdom of God. The 
 
 *The Biblical World. 
 
122 Quakerism 
 
 ordinary world of business insists upon the at- 
 titude of acquisition, modified by some regard 
 for the rights of others. The church should 
 stand for the paramount obligation to recog- 
 nize the rights of others even at the expense of 
 one's own privileges." t 
 
 The following declaration, made in 1908, 
 stands today as the united ideal of the Protes- 
 tant Churches of America : 
 
 "We deem it the duty of all Christian people 
 to concern themselves directly with certain 
 practical industrial problems. To us it seems 
 that the church must stand — 
 
 For equal rights and complete justice for all 
 men, in all stations of life; 
 
 For the right of all men to the opportunity 
 for self-maintenance, a right ever to be wisely 
 and strongly safeguarded against encroach- 
 ments of every kind ; 
 
 For the right of workers to some protection 
 against the hardships often resulting from the 
 swift crises of industrial change; 
 
 + Shailer Mathews. 
 
 "A 
 
 'v. 
 
The Church 123 
 
 For the principle of conciliation and arbitra- 
 tion in industrial dissensions ; 
 
 For the protecton of the worker from dang- 
 erous machinery, occupational disease, injuries, 
 and mortality ; 
 
 For the aboHtion of child labor ; 
 
 For such regulations of the conditions of 
 toil for women as shall safeguard the physical 
 and moral health of the community; 
 
 For the suppression of the 'sweating system,' 
 
 For the gradual and reasonable reduction of 
 the hours of labor to the lowest practical point, 
 and for that degree of leisure for all which is 
 a condition of the highest human life ; 
 
 For a release from employment one day in 
 seven ; 
 
 For a living wage as a minimum in every in- 
 dustry, and for the highest wage that each in- 
 dustry can afford ; 
 
 For the most equitable division of the pro- 
 ducts of industry that can ultimately be de- 
 vised ; 
 
 For suitable provision for the old age of the 
 workers and for those incapacitated by injury ; 
 
 For the abatement of poverty; 
 
124 Quakerism 
 
 To the toilers of America and to those who 
 by organized effort are seeking to lift the 
 crushing burdens of the poor, and to reduce the 
 hardships and uphold the dignity of labor, this 
 Council sends the greeting of human brother- 
 hood and the pledge of sympathy and of help 
 in a cause which belongs to all who follow 
 Christ." 
 
 The Christian Church, in its efforts to ad- 
 vance its principles, meets constantly with con- 
 ditions which hinder its progress. While its 
 first and great work must ever be the effort to 
 increase the religious life in the souls of men, 
 yet to establish the Kingdom of God on the 
 earth requires the removal of those obstacles 
 which stand in the way. 
 
 One of these evils is the use and sale of al- 
 coholic beverages. The true Christian way to 
 overcome this evil is to convince individuals 
 that it is their duty to abstain, and when a suf- 
 ficient number of persons in a community have 
 been so convinced, the sale of liquor will be 
 abandoned for want of patronage. Unfor- 
 tunately, this process is a slow one, and while 
 the church is persuading one man to abstain. 
 
The Church . 125 
 
 the saloon extends its baneful influence over 
 many. Therefore the church has fovind it ne- 
 cessary to combine all its forces against the 
 saloon, and to advocate with all the power at 
 its command, the passage and enforcement of 
 laws intended to destroy this evil. 
 
 In the matter of recreations the force of the 
 church should be exercised with "consecrated 
 common sense." Recreation is essential to 
 mental balance and sound physical health. The 
 health and happiness of the people require that 
 on the one day that most of them are freed 
 from their regular work — Sunday — opportujti- 
 ities for proper amusements should be fur- 
 nished by the civil authorities, nor opposed by 
 the church. 
 
 Thus (?n Sunday afternoons and evenings in 
 cities, all parks, museums, libraries, play- 
 grounds and other places where no fee is 
 charged may well be opened to the public. Not 
 only would the public taste be thus healthfully 
 educated, but many would find less attraction 
 towards amusements and places of a pernicious 
 character. 
 
 The church has a right to expect from its 
 
126 Quakerism 
 
 members a gentleness of manner and a quiet- 
 ness of dress which comports with a certain 
 sobriety of mind and purity of heart consistent 
 with a Christian spirit. Therefore the tend- 
 ency, among even thoughtful women towards 
 immodesty in dress, is greatly to be deplored. 
 
 Notwithstanding its many failures and im- 
 perfections, the church possesses the love of 
 millions of men, and has immense power over 
 their minds. On its wisdom, integrity, devo- 
 tion, humility and obedience to the voice of 
 God depends the future welfare of the human 
 race. Those who are to guide its destinies will 
 need to ponder deeply those two command- 
 ments so emphasized by the Master: "Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God and Him only shalt 
 thou serve." "Thou shalt worship the Lord 
 with all thy heart, and love thy neighbor as 
 thyself." 
 
 "Pure spiritual worship consists in striving 
 to be pleasing to God through the operation of 
 His Holy Spirit, and obedience to His mani- 
 fested will. It is entirely irrespective of 
 creeds, sects, external forms and ceremonies, 
 or professions of religious belief. 'God is a 
 
The Church 127 
 
 Spirit, and they that worship Him must wor- 
 ship Him' in spirit and in truth'." * 
 
 Its place is wherever there is a human soul. 
 We are, however, social beings, and as the 
 Spirit acts upon the soul it sometimes seems in 
 an assembly to flow from one to another, bap- 
 tizing all in divine love, so that a stronger and 
 sweeter spiritual influence is felt from the 
 sympathetic commingling. Furthermore, the 
 more closely the seeking ones are brought into 
 fellowship the stronger ^ill be the mutual feel- 
 ing of interest and affection. In the silence 
 also, we may draw near to God by humbly turn- 
 ing our minds to Him with an earnest desire 
 to love and serve Him. 
 
 Out of the silence may come prayer and 
 thanksgiving, or a message that has arisen in 
 the mind of some one present, who feels that 
 it is of God and should be uttered for the bene- 
 fit of others. "The true Gospel can proceed 
 from the overflowing of the Divine life in the 
 soul of the speaker, the stream of which pro- 
 ceeds to refresh, cleanse, strengthen and com- 
 fort those within its influence." f 
 
 ♦ Handbook of Friends Principles. 
 
128 Quakerism 
 
 Let us find ourselves in agreement with 
 Prof. Shailer Mathews, when he says, "Chris- 
 tianity will never have its full influence in the 
 world until the church does thus train its mem- 
 bers to distinguish between the eternal and the 
 transitory values of life and to be ready to 
 sacrifice in the interest of whatever is worthy 
 of immortal souls. And after it has taught 
 men thus to sacrifice, it must bring to them the 
 glorious good news that most potent among 
 the supreme good of life is the love it incul- 
 cates; that whoever truly loves is born of God; 
 and that whoever goes into the world in the 
 spirit of love, undertaking to give justice to 
 his neighbor as well as to follow righteousness, 
 is working with the will of the infinite God." 
 
 t Benjamin Hallowell. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS 
 
 Industry is a power that affects every man, 
 woman and child, directly or indirectly. Every- 
 one must work or be worked for. It is the 
 greatest of all the social forces, since on it de- 
 pends not only our comfort and health, but 
 life itself. 
 
 But if "Business is business," what has 
 Christianity to do with it? Well, since busi- 
 ness is so important a factor in every life, and 
 occupies so much time, effort and thought, 
 there is, or ought to be, a very close relation 
 between these two important forces. If they 
 work not in harmony, then life becomes a ter- 
 rible and cruel conflict; but if they may be 
 made to harmonize, there will be an order, a 
 beauty, a comfort, utility, and peace that now 
 we can only think of as an iridescent dream. 
 
 1 29 
 
i^O Quakerism 
 
 For, as things are, industry and Christianity- 
 are, at many points, at variance. Of the great 
 social movements industry is the least Chris- 
 tianized. The old evil influences of selfishness 
 and greed and lust for power are still dominant 
 in trade, and when the Christian attempts to 
 apply the "Gkjlden Rule" to business it doesn't 
 seem to work. But when he studies the matter 
 more deeply he finds that the reason it doesn't 
 seem to work, is because of the conditions un- 
 der which, as a rule, business is conducted. He 
 then comes to understand that it is not the rule 
 that is at fault but the conditions. 
 
 "Christianity puts the obligation of love on 
 the holiest basis and exerts its efforts to create 
 fraternal feeling among men, and to restore it 
 when broken; Capitalism has created world- 
 wide unrest, jealousy, resentment, and bitter- 
 ness, which choke Christian love like weeds. 
 
 "Jesus bid us strive for the reign of God 
 and the justice of God, because on that spirit- 
 ual basis all material wants too will be met; 
 Capitalism urges us to strive first and last for 
 our personal enrichment, and it formerly held 
 
Industrial Conditions 131 
 
 out the hope that the selfishness of all would 
 create the universal good. 
 
 "Christianity makes the love of money the 
 root of all evil, and demands the exclusion of 
 the covetous and extortioners from the Chris- 
 tian fellowship; Capitalism cultivates the love 
 of money for its owns sake and gives its larg- 
 est wealth to those who use monopoly for ex- 
 tortion. 
 
 "Thus two spirits are wrestling for the mas- 
 tery in modern life, the Spirit of Christ and 
 the spirit of Mammon. Each imposes its own 
 law and sets up its own God. If the one is 
 Christian, the other is antichristian. Many of 
 the early Christians saw in the grasping, crush- 
 ing hardness of Roman rule a spiritual force 
 that was set against the dominion of Christ 
 and that found a religious expression in the 
 cult of the genius of the Emperor. The con- 
 flict between that brutal force and the heavenly 
 power of salvation was portrayed in the Reve- 
 lation of John under the image of the Beast 
 and the Lamb. If any one thinks that conflict 
 is being duplicated in our own day, he is not 
 far out of the way. 
 
132 Quakerism 
 
 "Whoever declares that the law of Christ is 
 impracticable in actual life, and has to be su- 
 perceded in business by the laws of Capitalism, 
 to that extent dethrones Christ and enthrones 
 Mammon. When we try to keep both en- 
 throned at the same time in different sections 
 of our life, we do what Christ says cannot be 
 done, and accept a double life as the normal 
 morality for our nation and for many individ- 
 uals in it. Ruskin said: 'I know no previous 
 instance in history of a nation's establishing a 
 systematic disobedience to the first principles 
 of its professed religion.' " * 
 
 For the old heathen ideas still prevail in 
 business. Herein is to be found all the ele- 
 ments that exist in warfare, — deceit, cruelty, 
 injustice, force, even the taking of life. One 
 great difference that stands out boldly is that 
 those conquests of industry which are evil are 
 gained under the forms of law, and are there- 
 fore the more difficult to combat. 
 
 There are some forms of industry that are 
 carried on with the intention of dealing justly, 
 
 * Rauschenbusch. 
 
Industrial Conditions 133 
 
 and many who are in charge are desirous of 
 conducting their business in accordance with 
 Christian principles. All honor to them. May 
 their tribe increase ! But it must be admitted 
 that many great business enterprises are not 
 so conducted. Some years ago, when Upton 
 Sinclair wrote "The Jungle," the world was 
 startled and disgusted that men would manu- 
 facture meat products under conditions so un- 
 speakably foul. Under pressure from the gov- 
 ernment, much greater care and cleanliness 
 were secured, but what about the "speeding 
 up" of the workman ? Is that any less ? 
 
 The conditions under which men are com- 
 pelled to work in many industries make life so 
 little worth while that it is a wonder they con- 
 tinue to endure it. 
 
 The provision of safety appliances has us- 
 ually been strenuously opposed by employers, 
 and the number of men injured or killed in 
 great manufacturing plants is appalling. 
 Shorter hours of work and increase in wages 
 are wrung from the owners only through the 
 aid of strikes or act of legislature. On the 
 other hand the spirit often shown by the em- 
 
134 Quakerism 
 
 ployed is far from Christian. They have fre- 
 quently, however, the excuse of ignorance, 
 which those who are wiser and better trained 
 should take into account. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, business, intended 
 for man's well-being, is often the cause and 
 promoter of evil. The department store has 
 sometimes been the supporter of the house of 
 vice because the inmates of the latter brought 
 valuable custom. Trust and insurance com- 
 panies have employed funds recklessly and 
 brought ruin to widows and orphans ; large and 
 powerful concerns have ;crushed Itheir com- 
 petitors; they have brought crooked methods 
 to bear on legislative bodies, perhaps on some 
 judges ; they have produced a vast quantity of 
 poorly made goods; and have fastened the 
 drink habit upon people, through the stimulated 
 sale of liquor. 
 
 Much of this evil comes from competition in 
 trade, which may well be called organized sel- 
 fishness. It may have had a place in the origin 
 and early days of industry, but better and more 
 Christian methods must now be employed, if 
 trade and religion are to harmonize. It would 
 
Industrial Conditions 135 
 
 seem that co-operation must take the place of 
 competition and the sharing of profits in some 
 form, by those employed. When a man has a 
 share in the business, he is not likely to strike, 
 or injure it in any way. 
 
 When both capitalist and workingman" come 
 to realize that they are equal parts of one 
 whole, that are working together to provide for 
 the needs of the community, with the deter- 
 mination on the part of each to treat the other 
 justly, and the endeavor to conduct the business 
 not only for their own benefit, but that of the 
 community, a long step in the right direction 
 will have been taken. 
 
 There are certain moral tests that, when ap- 
 plied to business, show whether the industry is 
 being carried on in accordance with Christian 
 principles : 
 
 Does the way in which the business is con- 
 ducted make for sound physique? 
 
 Does it improve the moral character? 
 
 Does it make it easy to do right and difficult 
 to do wrong? 
 
 Does it make for human brotherhood? 
 
 Is it a benefit to the community? 
 
136 Quakerism 
 
 Does it provide for the welfare^ improve- 
 ment, recreation and safety of employees? 
 
 Does it seek profits at the expense of man- 
 hood, womanhood or childhood f 
 
 These tests are searching, and yet not too 
 severe, when the gravity of the situation is 
 considered. If the world is ever to be Chris- 
 tianized, if the "Gospel is to be preached to 
 every creature," if the Kingdom of God is ever 
 to be established on the earth. Christian prin- 
 ciples must find their place and exert their 
 power in business affairs. 
 
 There are some bright rays of hope, how- 
 ever. An ever increasing number of employers 
 are looking after the welfare of their workers. 
 Shops are being improved, kept cleaner, more 
 light afforded. Facilities for recreation are 
 being provided. Wages are increasing, shorter 
 hours secured, social secretaries engaged, 
 safety appliances provided, workmen's compen- 
 sation acts enforced, child-labor restricted, and 
 an era of co-operative stores and profit-sharing 
 entered. 
 
 Most encouraging of all, is the evidence that 
 a better mutual understanding between the em- 
 
Industrial Conditions 137 
 
 ployer and the worker is dawning, and that a 
 more active sense of responsibiHty to the pubUc 
 is beginning to be shown by both. Selfishness 
 and greed are still dominant, and will yield 
 their power grudgingly and slowly, but the 
 power of Christianity, now that it has been in- 
 troduced, will do its noble work, and patiently 
 but surely, will conquer this last stronghold of 
 greed. 
 
 The wealth that is produced by industry 
 should rightly be regarded by those who pos- 
 sess it as held only in stewardship; not to be 
 used wholly for the pleasure of the holder, but 
 intended to be employed in providing for the 
 welfare of humanity in general. 
 
 In order to effect this with a hope of gain- 
 ing the best results, wealth must have been 
 rightly earned. All of the parties who took 
 part in its production should have received 
 their fair share, for wealth produced through 
 oppression or injustice seldom carries with it 
 the crowning glory of helpfulness. 
 
 At no previous period have such great sums 
 of money been bestowed on enterprises in- 
 tended to benefit humanity as the present. Col- 
 
138 Quakerism 
 
 leges, libraries, and hospitals are endowed; 
 social welfare societies receive funds, enorm- 
 ous in the aggregate, necessary for their varied 
 activities ; the suffering war victims of Europe 
 have been fed and clothed ; while private dona- 
 tions run in thousands of channels known only 
 to those concerned. Wealth thus employed is 
 a means of usefulness and not in itself an ob- 
 ject ; not to be used to foster pride, selfishness 
 or ostentation, but as a power that may ad- 
 vance "the art of being kind." 
 
 Perhaps the best use that may be made of 
 wealth is to advance true religion. In order 
 to do this Christian principles must find place 
 in the mine, the factory, the store, the farm, 
 and wherever wealth is produced. The best 
 possible kind of social service is to conduct 
 one's business so as to do justice to all con- 
 cerned, and to show consideration to the pro- 
 ducers. 
 
 The greatest need of the world would seem 
 to be extension of Christian principles to all the 
 people and their incorporation into all enter- 
 prises. Herein, perhaps, lies the field for the 
 most efficient use of wealth. The gospel of 
 
Industrial Conditions 139 
 
 Christ, spreads, it is true, through the contact 
 of one consecrated, God-inspired soul with an- 
 other ; but wealth can do much to set such torch 
 bearers at liberty to let their light shine. 
 
 The young men of Europe have been accus- 
 tomed to give from a few months to a few 
 years to military training. This they have been 
 willing to do from motives of patriotism. 
 Would it not be a far finer kind of patriotism 
 for young men to give a year of service in 
 studying conditions throughout the country, 
 with a view of relieving suffering, removing 
 oppression, lifting men to higher realms of 
 thought and activity, and thus increase com- 
 fort, the blessing of liberty and the joy of liv- 
 ing? This would be to create the "Army of 
 the Commonweal," whose motto would be 
 "Life, more abundant." 
 
 And wealth could help here mightily. To 
 put 5000 earnest enthusiastic young men into 
 such work would cost less than one super- 
 dreadnaught, and this band of apostles would, 
 without much doubt, constitute an influence for 
 good that is most needed in the world today. 
 To combine the power of wealth and the power 
 
140 Quakerism 
 
 of the gospel, not to build fine churches or con- 
 struct windows of stained glass, but to make 
 possible the active preaching of righteousness 
 to those who need it most, to endow ministry 
 rather than the minster, would seem to be the 
 way for the world to receive that new baptism 
 of the Spirit, of which it stands so much in 
 need. Herein lies the opportunity for wealth 
 to consecrate its power to help bring the King- 
 dom of God on the earth. To accomplish this 
 would in reality be the second coming of Christ, 
 and the "greater works" that he said should be 
 performed. 
 
 Says Walter Rauschenbusch, in a friendly 
 letter, "The gravest historic failure of the 
 Friends, perhaps, has been that they have failed 
 to keep pace with the increasing insight of our 
 day into the extent and terribleness of dis- 
 honest gain. The most common, the most de- 
 structive, and the most unrecognized sin is the 
 taking of gain by means of some economic 
 coercion, without full exchange in service. 
 Only a modernized conscience will even under- 
 stand what I mean. Extortion has become a 
 nation-wide sin and the basis of our distribu- 
 
Industrial Conditions 141 
 
 tion of wealth. The Quaker conscience must be 
 brought up to date, so that proper testimony 
 can be made. 
 
 "Have the Friends in their past history ever 
 felt the power of the Kingdom ideal? That is 
 the true supplement of the religious individ- 
 ualism of the Friends. If they send the in- 
 spired individual out to labor for the Kingdom 
 of God, and against the kingdom of organized 
 and socialized and institutionalized injustice 
 and coercion, they will give religion its proper 
 outlet. Without that outlet it will either ex- 
 plode the soul in spiritual catastrophes, or turn 
 on its own pivot in simple mysticism, or grow 
 cold and die. A religious vision of the King- 
 dom of God as the reign of righteousness and 
 love, and a scientific social definition of what 
 the Kingdom would mean under modern condi- 
 tions, that is what the Friends (and all other 
 Christians) need to complete the electric cir- 
 cuit of religion." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 In days of old the state and religion were 
 combined, and this is still true of most of the 
 European countries. It was only after many 
 bitter struggles that these have been shaken 
 apart ; and in this nation, at least, the state and 
 the church are not united. 
 
 What then has religion to do with Govern-, 
 ment? Is there no relation, when they have 
 been sundered by the Constitution ? 
 
 The government is made up of an aggrega- 
 tion of individuals. As the individual man 
 must be moral in order to fulfill the purposes 
 for which he was created, so must be the gov- 
 ernment, which is composed of men and wo- 
 men. It should act honestly, justly, and have 
 as its object the welfare of the people. But 
 these are also the aims of religion, and the 
 142 
 
The Government 143 
 
 latter must constantly endeavor to improve the 
 character of politics and create in the minds of 
 statesmen the highest and noblest aims. 
 
 Government is a power that affects every 
 man, woman and child within its jurisdiction. 
 Many do not recognize this influence and yet 
 a little reflection will prove the point. All ex- 
 cept the poorest pay taxes. Because of import 
 duties, the clothing we wear and many other 
 articles that all use cost more. The Govern- 
 ment carries our letters. It looks after the 
 sanitation of the community; it helps to develop 
 better methods of farming. In times of war it 
 claims the right to call all men to the colors, 
 and thereby seriously affects the home and all 
 kinds of industry. 
 
 Every person, therefore, must be concerned 
 that our government be wisely administered. 
 Government exists, not that it may make men 
 good, primarily, but to insure to every man, 
 woman and child, an equal opportunity. It is 
 only with limitations that it may be claimed 
 that all men are born free and equal; many 
 are not born free, owing to the conditions that 
 surround them, and certainly not all are equal 
 
144 Quakerism 
 
 in mental vigor or physical force. But whether 
 weak or strong, bond or free, a good govern- 
 ment will insure that every one shall have an 
 opportunity to make the most of whatever 
 powers he may possess. This is its chief func- 
 tion. 
 
 Gladstone's definition still stands good, "The 
 purpose of government is to make it easy to do 
 right and difficult to do wrong." It may read- 
 ily be seen how a bad government or a bigoted 
 government would hinder the progress of re- 
 ligion. Spain, for example, is under the rule 
 of the Catholic Church, and is also one of the 
 most backward of countries. Education for 
 the masses does not exist ; manufacture is very 
 limited, while agriculture is conducted as it 
 was in the days of Moses. Plowing is still 
 done with an iron-shod crooked stick, while in 
 the fields may be seen the paved floor where the 
 grain is threshed out by the feet of mules and 
 oxen, and winnowed by throwing it up in the 
 air. As late as 1910, no Protestant church was 
 allowed to open its doors publicly in Spain. 
 Since then conditions have slightly improved. 
 Mexico is another illustration. 
 
The Government 145 
 
 Thus government may limit the free exercise 
 of rehgion, or actually crush it out; and here 
 again it is evident what an interest religion has 
 in good government. Governments as such 
 are not Christian, but pagan. There are in 
 every civilized government multitudes of 
 Christian people, but the governing power is 
 based, for the most part, not on those principles 
 recognized as Christian. 
 
 Governments have claimed that they are 
 based on force, military force. And so they 
 were once, and so some of them are yet. But 
 this is no longer true of republics and modified 
 monarchies like Great Britain. The basis of 
 government in these is public opinion. So long 
 as a nation depends upon military force instead 
 of moral force for its sustenance, it rests upon 
 an insecure support. In saying this, reference 
 is not made to a police force; for so long as 
 there are unruly men who will not be otherwise 
 controlled, a police force would seem to be 
 necessary. Our government rests not upon 
 military force but upon law, and law upon pub- 
 lic opinion and will. 
 
 Diplomacy was formerly conducted on the 
 
146 Quakerism 
 
 theory of deception, and he was the best diplo- 
 matist who could more thoroughly deceive his 
 antagonist; it is the same way now in some 
 countries ; and even solemn treaties may be re- 
 garded as "scraps of paper." America has led 
 a movement for a higher kind of statesman- 
 ship. The diplomacy now employed by us 
 consists in a plain straightforward statement 
 of our desires, without evasion. This is in ac- 
 cord with Christian ethics, and is a distinct ad- 
 vance on former methods, and tends to bring 
 this nation into cordial relations with all 
 others ; relations that will not be broken, in all 
 probability, when the method comes into use 
 by all nations. 
 
 In many instances, ethical principles are not 
 observed in what we call politics, in the ap- 
 pointment of men to office, or in the manner in 
 which some of these carry on their duties, in 
 our treatment of Indians in the past, and in 
 permitting child labor. No government can 
 claim exemption from selfishness and injustice. 
 
 Slowly, very slowly, the principles of Chris- 
 tianity are being brought into place in our gov- 
 ernment, and such instances as the present 
 
The Government 147 
 
 kindly treatment of the Indians, the return of 
 the surplus of the Chinese indemnity to that 
 people, the giving back of Cuba to the Cubans, 
 the adoption of prohibitory laws and woman 
 suffrage in many parts of the Union — all these 
 events show that this Government is adopting 
 and depending on those principles of right and 
 justice which, after all, constitute the true 
 foundations of a civilized State. We cannot 
 approach a realization of the highest ideals of 
 government while one-half of the people — the 
 women — are deprived of the full opportunities 
 of citizenship. 
 
 An event that constitutes a marked instance 
 of the welcome appearance of an infusion of 
 Christian principles into statesmanship is the 
 address of President Woodrow Wilson to Con- 
 gress on January 22, 19 17. In this address, 
 among other statements, the President said, 
 "In every discussion of peace that must end 
 this war it is taken for granted that that peace 
 must be followed by some definite concert of 
 power which will make it virtually impossible 
 that any such catastrophe should overwhelm us 
 again. Every lover of mankind, every sane 
 
^4° Quakerism 
 
 and thoughtful man must take that for granted. 
 It will be necessary to lay afresh and upon a 
 new plan the foundations of peace among the 
 nations ; a peace that will serve the several in- 
 terests and immediate aims of the nations en- 
 gaged," and "guarantee peace and justice 
 throughout the world. 
 
 "Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable 
 Europe. There must be not a balance of 
 power, but a community of power; not organ- 
 ized rivalries, but an organized common peace, 
 a peace without victory. 
 
 "Victory would mean peace forced upon the 
 loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the van- 
 quished. It would be accepted in humiliation, 
 under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and 
 would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter 
 memory upon which terms of peace would rest, 
 not permanently, but only as upon quicksand. 
 Only a peace the very principle of which is 
 equality and a common participation is a com- 
 mon benefit. The right state of mind, the right 
 feeling between nations, is as necessary for a 
 lasting peace as is the just settlement of vexed 
 questions of territory or of racial and national 
 
The Government 149 
 
 allegiance. The world can be at ease only if 
 its life is stable, and there can be no stability 
 where the will is in rebellion, where there is not 
 tranquility of spirit and a sense of justice, of 
 freedom and of right. . . . It is a prob- 
 lem closely connected with the limitation of 
 naval armaments and co-operation of the nav- 
 ies of the world in keeping the seas at once 
 free and safe. And the question of limiting 
 naval armaments opens the wider and perhaps 
 more difficult question of ' the limitation of 
 armies and of all programs of military prepara- 
 tion. Difficult and delicate as these questions 
 are, they must be faced with the utmost candor 
 and decided in a spirit of real accommodation 
 if peace is to come with healing in its wings 
 and come to stay. Peace cannot be had without 
 concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense 
 of safety and equality among the nations if 
 great preponderating armaments are hence- 
 forth to continue here and there to be built up 
 and maintained. The statesmen of the world 
 must plan for peace and nations must adjust 
 and accommodate their policy to it as they have 
 
150 Quakerism 
 
 planned for war and made ready for pitiless 
 contest and rivalry. 
 
 "May I not add that I hope and believe that 
 I am in effect speaking for liberals and friends 
 of humanity in every nation and of every pro- 
 gram of liberty? I would fain believe that I 
 am speaking for the silent mass of mankind 
 everywhere, who have as yet had no place or 
 opportunity to speak their real hearts out con- 
 cerning the death and ruin they see to have 
 come already upon the persons and the homes 
 they hold most dear. 
 
 "These are American principles, American 
 policies. We can stand for no others. And 
 they are also the principles and policies of 
 forward-looking men and women everywhere, 
 of every modern nation, of every enlightened 
 community. They are the principles of man- 
 kind and must prevail." 
 
 To construct legislation that contains "mal- 
 ice towards none, but charity towards all," is 
 more and more the aim of modern statesman- 
 ship. When this tendency becomes sufficiently 
 strong to leaven the lump of politics, then mod- 
 ern Christian thought shall have taken its 
 
The Government 151 
 
 proper place in our government, and our "na- 
 tion shall, under God, have a new birth of 
 freedom." 
 
 "At the birth of each new Era, with a recognizing start, 
 Nation wildly looks at nation, standing with mute lips 
 
 apart. 
 And glad Truth's yet mightier man-child leaps beneath the 
 Future's heart." Lowell. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE PRESS 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, distinguishes our present 
 civilization from that of former days so clearly 
 as the growth of the press. From the few in- 
 significant sheets of a century ago publications 
 have grown so that every large village has its 
 daily, and cities many of them, whose editions 
 run into the thousands each, all of which are 
 eagerly read by the people, who peruse their 
 chosen paper as regularly as they eat their 
 breakfasts. 
 
 The hand press of Franklin has been re- 
 placed by the complicated steam press of Hoe 
 and others, which not only prints the paper, 
 but puts the sheets together and folds them. 
 In the immense plants which produce the popu- 
 lar monthlies, one may see the entire process 
 from the great roll of white paper, through a'l 
 152 
 
The Press 153 
 
 the varied manipulations, until the journal has 
 been printed, folded and stitched, its colored 
 cover attached, the whole placed in a wrapper, 
 directed and dropped into the mail pouch. 
 
 To a considerable extent the daily and 
 weekly press, going into every home of intel- 
 ligence, has taken the place of the pulpit as an 
 agent in forming public opinion, and even in 
 the development of character. After school 
 life is over men go to school to their news- 
 papers, depending on them not only for the 
 news of the day, but also to afford the means 
 of continuing their education. The newspapers 
 do indeed bring the world to one's doorstep, 
 and render every intelligent person a citizen of 
 the world. 
 
 About the middle of the last century arose 
 a group of great editors whose influence in 
 some instances reached to the boundaries of 
 the country. Such were Horace Greeley, 
 James Gordon Bennett, Samuel A. Bowles and 
 Henry J. Watterson. The writings of these 
 and other editors were accepted by great num- 
 bers of people as oracles. Now, however, this 
 personal influence has waned. The great 
 
154 Quakerism 
 
 papers and journals have been taken over by- 
 syndicates, and, for the most part, have become 
 advertising media, while the editorial page, 
 with the personal element eliminated, exerts 
 greatly lessened influence. The reader now-a- 
 days looks for news, forming his own opinion 
 on the information received. Yet the journal 
 continues to exercise a vast influence over the 
 minds of men in the formation of public opin- 
 ion. The information furnished extends over 
 so wide a field as to cover the entire world. In 
 one issue of the daily paper, may be found facts 
 brought from the poles to the equator, and 
 from every continent. Thus the mind of the 
 ■reader is kept alert and in touch with the condi- 
 tions in every country and in every grade of 
 society. In this way the press performs an es- 
 sential service to mankind, and owing to the 
 remarkably intelligent minds in control, this 
 service is, for the most part, carried out most 
 efficiently. 
 
 A most important result of the wide circula- 
 tion of newspapers is that the country is thus 
 helped to become and remain homogeneous. 
 When New York papers are eagerly read, not 
 
The Press 155 
 
 only in the east but in the south and west, when 
 the circulation of certain valuable journals is 
 almost as great in far distant states as in that 
 of publication, the nation tends to become a 
 unit in thought and in action. Taken together 
 with the mail, the telephone, the telegraph and 
 the railroads, the press exerts a powerful in- 
 fluence in binding togther our far-flung people 
 into one harmonious whole as a nation. 
 
 Moreover the press encourages patriotism. 
 In the apparent decay of oratory, the press has 
 become the chief agency whereby the American 
 ideal is kept before our people. The love oi the 
 flag inculcated in our children in the public 
 school is continued in later life through the 
 press, with an amplification of all that the flag 
 stands for. Thus the press performs another 
 most important duty in keeping in the minds of 
 our citizens those traditions and principles in- 
 corporated into our government. No other in- 
 fluence can so effectively transform the immi- 
 grant, fresh from the old world, with his old 
 world ideas, into an American citizen. In the 
 life of Carl Schurz, the influence may be 
 readily traced. He learned to read and under- 
 
156 Quakerism 
 
 stand the English language by a study of news- 
 papers. From them also he learned American 
 ideals, whose absorption into his own mind 
 helped to make him the American general, 
 public man, and admirable writer that he be- 
 came. 
 
 No influence, other than the press, is so pow- 
 erful in the promotion of good causes. When 
 the newspapers of a community unite for the 
 promotion of a movement, it generally suc- 
 ceeds. Let it appeal to the readers for the suf- 
 fering poor of the community, the money at 
 once begins to flow in. The millions of dollars 
 and the shiploads of food that have gone to- 
 ward the relief of the starving people in Bel- 
 gium, Poland, and Armenia, would not have 
 been sent had it not been for the appeals made 
 through the press. 
 
 Religion has now become a matter of news, 
 and the daily press universally devotes large 
 space to the doings of the churches, the pro- 
 ceedings of religious gatherings and reports of 
 sermons. Here again may be seen how the 
 press, while it has not usurped the office of the 
 pulpit, has immensely increased its publicity. 
 
The Press i57 
 
 A sermon may have been delivered to a few 
 hundreds in a church, but when published the 
 next, morning, it reaches tens of thousands. In 
 this respect, therefore, the press has become a 
 strong ally of the church. Account must also 
 be taken of the religious press proper. Every 
 denomination has its organs, which, circulating 
 as they do among the adherents of a particular 
 sect, conserve loyalty to that faith. There is 
 also an important group of journals which, 
 without any sectarian bias, endeavor to lead 
 the people in the way of right thinking and 
 right action. The influence of this group of 
 publications is increasingly uplifting. In ad- 
 dition to all these is the enormously large num- 
 ber of trade journals which circulate chiefly 
 within their own fields. Chief among these are 
 the agricultural journals, whose circulation 
 runs into the miillions. All of these touch not 
 only our trade and commerce, but exert an ex- 
 cellent influence in the field of morals. 
 
 It should be said to the credit of the news- 
 paper that it may usually be depended on to 
 suppress the worst forms of political evils. The 
 public press is the demogogue's despair. Pub- 
 
158 Quakerism 
 
 licity is the only power dreaded by the man 
 whose ways are dark and secret. When an in- 
 fluential paper sets out to destroy a political 
 boss, his days are numbered. 
 
 Thus much and more may well be said in 
 praise of the press. Unfortunately this does 
 not tell the whole story. There is a darker 
 side. One serious evil in the press is its politi- 
 cal bias. It stands for the party and its candi- 
 dates, right or wrong; and in doing this the 
 spirit of fairness is often lost. Men, therefore, 
 who, as a rule, read only the paper of their 
 political party, entirely lose their perspective, 
 and come to regard their party as wholly in the 
 right, and their political opponents as possessed 
 of entirely erroneous ideas. This goes so far 
 in the course of a political campaign as to tend 
 to deprive opponents of all reputation for wis- 
 dom, honesty of purpose or political capacity. 
 
 Moreover the exigencies of party fealty may 
 seem to require the advocacy on the part of the 
 press of movements designed for party success, 
 but not for the good of the people. Thus, in 
 campaigns for the elimination of any evil in a 
 state, the papers are often opposed to the move- 
 
The Press 159 
 
 ment from political reasons. It can hardly be 
 denied that on many occasions the press has 
 opposed movements that would have tended 
 towards the improvement of the community. 
 While allowance must be made for an honest 
 difference of opinion, yet, such is the influence 
 of the heavy advertiser, the editor often 
 surrenders to the business manager, with the 
 result that the paper throws its influence on 
 the wrong side, as viewed at least, by a large 
 element of the community. In a movement for 
 the destruction of the liquor traffic, for the ex- 
 tension of suffrage, for closing houses of 
 vice, for bold improvements in political condi- 
 tions, those who are fighting for these and 
 similar causes have often had to struggle 
 against a press united in opposition. Here, it 
 would seem, the press has not exercised its 
 duty of public leadership, but has fallen into 
 the ranks of those who would mislead the pub- 
 lic. 
 
 Reference may be made to a modern in- 
 stance. Nearly every paper in the United 
 States stood for an enormously increased army 
 and navy, and for compulsory military train- 
 
i6o Quakerism 
 
 ing of our youth. Whether such a plan be 
 wise or not, the influence of the press is seen in 
 the willingness of the American people to 
 adopt measures which but a short time be- 
 fore were unthought of, and would have been 
 resolutely opposed as out of sympathy with our 
 republican form of government. 
 
 When the potent influences that are brought 
 to bear on the daily press by business and po- 
 litical interests be considered, it is very ques- 
 tionable whether the term "free press" is ap- 
 propriate. Is a press free that succumbs to 
 wrong influences? Has not a community a 
 right to urge that the press exert a leadership 
 that shall make for the good of the community i* 
 Does not the press, like the church, business, 
 and the government, need to be Christianized? 
 
 Pferhaps the practical solution of this prob- 
 lem is to be sought in the establishment of an 
 independent daily in each city that would be 
 free from the influence of party politics and 
 unwholesome business interests; and which 
 would print "all the news that is fit to print," 
 and become a leader of thought, purpose and 
 action in every true cause. This however, is 
 
Press i6i 
 
 expensive enterprise, as a large sum of 
 ley is required to conduct a metropolitan 
 y. But this is also true of colleges, and 
 men give great sums to carry them on. In 
 :ry real sense a great daily does work quite 
 ine with a college. Why, therefore, should 
 
 men of means endow a newspaper as well 
 a college? It is better to endow all such 
 
 movements, than to put money into bricks 
 
 mortar. 
 
 "he influence of such a moral and educa- 
 lal power as a daily paper of this character, 
 ;ach of our chief centres, would seem great 
 ugh to warrant an endowment, or some 
 ular plan, that would make this vision be- 
 le a reality. 
 
 /leanwhile it is cause for thankfulness that 
 gious news and teaching form so large a 
 t of the "news of the day," giving reason 
 lope that this influence will extend until it 
 y be truly said that the press has become 
 ristianized. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 WARFARE 
 
 No student of history can well deny that the 
 progress of civilization has, to some extent, 
 been advanced by war. Together with many 
 evils, some good has emerged. On the other 
 hand many thoughtful people are agreed that 
 whatever may thus have been effected, any use- 
 fulness of warfare as a civilizing agency is 
 passing rapidly. The world is reaching the 
 conclusion that the time has come when an ef- 
 fective substitute for warfare must be found, 
 the philosophy of Nietzsche, Treitschke and 
 Bernhardi has received a fatal blow in the 
 great war; for the utmost preparation of the 
 German people, united to carry out their phil- 
 osophy of war has not resulted in an extension 
 of their ideas to other peoples. The era of mili- 
 tary force is passing, and there is coming to 
 162 
 
Warfare 163 
 
 take its place the far stronger power, — moral 
 force. 
 
 In the past, governments were formed and 
 continued in power by military force. Men 
 came to believe that government rested ulti- 
 mately upon such force. We now know that, 
 so far at least as republics are concerned, gov- 
 ernment rests upon law, and law upon public 
 opinion, while force is only a weapon used to 
 carry out the will of the people. In the main 
 public opinion is self-enforcing, for good citi- 
 zens obey the law from choice and compulsion 
 is for the unruly. Consider the small number 
 of policemen in a large city, an average of oiie 
 to six hundred citizens, a force wholly inade- 
 quate to cope physically with a whole city, yet 
 proved to be sufficient, because the great ma- 
 jority of citizens desire order. A part of the 
 force is even employed as traffic officers who 
 wear gloves to keep from soiling the clothing 
 of the ladies whom they assist. "His white 
 glove, rather than his club, has become his 
 symbol of power." 
 
 The attitude of the church towards warfare 
 has been one of compromise. Acknowledging 
 
164 Quakerism 
 
 generally the inconsistency of warfare with the 
 teachings of the Master, with the exception of 
 the first three centuries it has acquiesced in the 
 employment of military force. The attitude of 
 Jesus as to warfare cannot well be misunder- 
 stood. Leaving out one or two incidents that 
 may easily have been mis-stated or not fully 
 stated, the whole life and teachings of Jesus 
 indicate clearly that he was unwilling to resort 
 to military force under any circumstances. 
 Thus, at the very time in his career, when from 
 the "common sense" point of view, when, ap- 
 parently, the entire work of his life was about 
 to fall into cureless ruin ; when, if ever, a man 
 would be justified in calling to his aid the mul- 
 titudes that had acclaimed him, and stood ready 
 to fight for him, he resolutely refused to call 
 upon force. He even went so far as to heal a 
 wound made in his defense, saying, 'He that 
 taketh the sword shall perish by the sword." 
 He knew a better way to gain his ends than by 
 the sword — through good will to men, through 
 love. "No man hath greater love than this; 
 that a man lay down his life for his friends:" 
 and so Jesus preferred to lay down his life 
 
Warfare 165 
 
 rather than consent to substitute any other 
 force for love. 
 
 In time of war the position of the Friend is 
 most difficult. Devoted to his country as he is, 
 his loyalty to the principles of peace which 
 he considers fundamental to his religion, pre- 
 vents his bearing arms. He recalls the words 
 of the "Discipline," that Friends "be religiously 
 guarded against approving or showing the least 
 connivance at war." 
 
 There are some members who are not in 
 complete sympathy with this principle, and who 
 feel it to be their duty to support the govern- 
 ment's war policy, but the Society of Friends, 
 as a body, consistently continues its opposition 
 to all warfare. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 
 in May, 191 7, adopted the following statement, 
 without any expressed opposition: "Philadel- 
 phia Yearly Meeting of Friends, now in session 
 at Fifteenth and Race Streets, declares that it 
 is uncompromisingly opposed to all wars, be- 
 lieving them to be evil and ineffective methods 
 of advancing human interests." 
 
 The exemption of Friends from active mili- 
 tary service, granted by our government, is a 
 
1 66 Quakerism 
 
 striking tribute to our consistent attitude in 
 this matter. This exemption, however, carries 
 with it a serious responsibility. It requires, in 
 the first place, that we be true to our principle 
 concerning war. If a large number of our 
 members support war, we should no longer ask 
 for exemption. But if the Society continues 
 to oppose war, it should accept this exemption, 
 which has been obtained by long years of suf- 
 fering and persistent effort. 
 
 Those who reason that because non-Friends 
 who are conscientiously opposed to all war are 
 not exempt. Friends themselves should refuse 
 exemption, should remember the struggles 
 through which our Society has passed to gain 
 this point. So far from giving it up Friends 
 should endeavor to prevail upon other religious 
 bodies to take similar ground and thus add 
 greatly to the ranks of those who are relig- 
 iously opposed to war. 
 
 In the next place exemption requires that 
 Friends enter into the work of relieving the 
 suffering that results from warfare. This 
 they must do with the utmost energy and at 
 whatever sacrifice may be required. We 
 
Warfare 167 
 
 would naturally do this because of our philan- 
 thropic instincts, but should realize also our 
 obligations to do everything within our power 
 to assist our government as far as we can with- 
 out violating our religious convictions. 
 
 During war-time faith in our principles is 
 most strongly tested. It is easy to advocate 
 peace in times of peace, but when war comes, 
 with its many strong appeals, then it is that 
 the man who is strong in the faith that was 
 manifested in Jesus Christ, will stand firm at 
 all hazards. Many, both in this country, and 
 in England, have done this. The "conscien- 
 tious objectors," not all, by any means, mem- 
 bers of the Society of Friends, are those who, 
 believing that all wars are wrong, refuse to 
 support war in any way. Such a position is 
 logical if based on Christian principles; and 
 these men and women have demonstrated to 
 the world, through the endurance of suffering, 
 that there is a reality in religion; that funda- 
 mental principles must not be set aside for tem- 
 porary emergencies, no matter how pressing 
 and apparently expedient. Only a very few 
 religious associations so stand, and it would 
 
1 68 Quakerism 
 
 be a distinct loss to the world if the Society of 
 Friends should yield this point. It is but a 
 small body, but it may become part of the 
 leaven which, with God's assistance, will serve 
 to instill a new spirit into the Christian church, 
 and thus help to establish the Kingdom of God 
 on the earth. 
 
 Whatever may be the judgment of Christian 
 people in regard to war (and it is realized that 
 a wide charity for differences of opinion must 
 be exercised), yet the church must not fail to 
 preach the Gospel of Peace. It must show the 
 people everywhere that when the laws of God 
 are obeyed, and men come to be governed by 
 good will and love instead of greed and hate, 
 that war and all its attendant evils will disap- 
 pear. 
 
 The ideal of Christianity is love in action, 
 a love that looks beyond the struggles and fail- 
 ures and apparent successes of the present, to 
 a future in which love shall rule and wars shall 
 cease. But how may love be brought into ef- 
 fective action in time of war? Chiefly, per- 
 haps, through the relief of the many forms of 
 suffering caused by war. The organized work 
 
Warfare 169 
 
 of Friends for the relief of alien enemies, that 
 of reconstruction in devastated territories, that 
 of caring for families made dependent by war, 
 that of producing and conserving needed food, 
 and of supplying clothing, are some practical 
 ways of helping. All this must be done in a 
 spirit of brotherly kindness that, after all, is 
 the only way to win and conquer. To bring 
 the minds of the people into agreement with 
 this idea is the glorious mission of Christianity. 
 
 "In spite of the Gospel, in spite of Quaker- 
 ism, in spite of Tolstoi, you believe in fighting 
 fire with fire, in shooting down usurpers, lock- 
 ing up thieves, and freezing out vagabonds and 
 swindlers. 
 
 "And yet you are sure, as I am sure, that 
 were the world confined to these hard-headed, 
 hard-hearted, and hard-fisted methods exclu- 
 sively, were there no one prompt to help a 
 brother first, and find out afterwards whether 
 he were worthy; no one wiUing to drown his 
 private wrongs in pity for the wronger's per- 
 son; no one ready to be duped many a time 
 rather than live always on suspicion; no one 
 glad to treat individuals passionately and im- 
 
170 Quakerism 
 
 pulsively rather than by general rules of pru- 
 dence; the world would be an infinitely worse 
 place than it is now to live in. The tender 
 grace, not of a day that is dead, but of a day 
 yet to be born somehow, with the golden rule 
 grown natural, woulcl be cut out from the per- 
 spective of our imaginations." * 
 
 "The thing which we need clearly to realize 
 ourselves and to induce the churches to induce 
 humanity to realize is the unswerving confi- 
 dence that Christ-like socialmindedness, the 
 superiority of giving justice to fighting for al- 
 leged rights, the truth that by the immutable 
 will of God human life grows more personal by 
 growing more loving, are applicable to the re- 
 lations of nations just as truly as to the rela- 
 tions of individuals." t 
 
 Let all work together for the institution of 
 better and more Christian methods for the 
 settlement of disputes between nations, for in 
 this way, surely, we can most effectively work 
 for the establishment of the Kingdom of God 
 on earth. 
 
 * William James, 
 t Shailer Mathews. 
 
Warfare 171 
 
 "Trumpeter, sound for the splendor of God! 
 Sound the music whose name is law, 
 Whose service is perfect freedom still, 
 The order august that rules the stars! 
 Bid the anarchs of night withdraw. 
 Too long the destroyers have worked their will. 
 Sound for the heights that our fathers trod. 
 When truth was truth and love was love. 
 With a hell beneath, but a heaven above. 
 Trumpeter, rally us, rally us, rally us, 
 On to the City of God." 
 
 Such, SO far as the vision has come to one 
 soul, is the message of Quakerism to the men 
 and women of today. It would seem to be a 
 vital message. If heeded, the foundations of 
 evil will be shaken, and the Kingdom of Light 
 and Love established on the earth. 
 
 "Deep below as high above. 
 Sweeps the circle of God's love.' 
 
 Whittier. 
 
 "These may well be our keywords — LOVE 
 and LIGHT — the qualities they represent 
 creating the atmosphere in which we shall 
 reason together about the weighty matters of 
 life, even Justice, Mercy and Truth. 
 
 "Our Father, thou who art the Father of 
 
172 Quakerism 
 
 our spirits and the lover of our lives, we ask 
 that thou wilt so keep us in the light that we 
 shall always see some part of the divine mind. 
 We thank thee that we have come together 
 with various minds and various capacities and 
 various inclinations. Will thou abide in our 
 hearts, and inspire the purpose of every one 
 of us, leading us into the way of thy service, 
 and opening up the vistas of an immortal hope, 
 as we journey onwards tovi^rds the setting 
 sun. 
 
 "We ask thee for a place anywhere in the 
 world's work, where human hopes are centered, 
 where the influence of thy spirit exerted may 
 be strengthened and upheld by the great power 
 of thy spiritual life and light. If there are any 
 among us who feel disappointed, depressed, 
 discouraged, wilt thou lift the burden and let 
 us see the Light, and may thy love be the solace 
 for all our troubles. For all the men and 
 women who have borne the burden and heat 
 of the day, whose heads are wearing the silver 
 crown, we thank thee; wilt thou be light and 
 leading to them as their feet falter, and their 
 eyesight fails, as they go their way. Wilt thou 
 
Testimony from the Bible 173 
 
 restore to this people the love of the early days 
 that made them peculiar because of their love 
 for each other? Wilt thou build up in us 
 hearts of most exalted praise ? Wilt thou make 
 us bend low to hear the smallest voice and to 
 be quick and ready to answer the most feeble 
 demand upon our sympathy and our heart- 
 strings? Lead us and guide us by thy spirit, 
 as we go up over the hills of the morning to- 
 ward the final day. Wilt thou enable us to see 
 beyond the mists of that morning into the day- 
 dawn of that life which shall never end. And 
 thine shall be the kingdom and the power and 
 the glory for ever. Amen." — Henry W. 
 Wilbur. 
 
 Spirit of God, supreme, sublime, 
 Xfaker of earth, the sun, the stars. 
 Nature accepts with joy Thy sway. 
 Dwell Thou within my heart of hearts. 
 Rule, Lord, my spirit as Thou wilt. 
 So shall ray life enwrapped in Thine, 
 Become enobled, rich, divine. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TESTIMONY FROM THE BIBLE 
 
 The following passages from the Grospels 
 give full support to the statements made in 
 Chapters V, VII and VIII. 
 
 FROM IvIATTHEW 
 
 Then saith Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence, 
 Satan; for it is written, "Thou shalt worship 
 the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou 
 serve." 4: 10. 
 
 And whosoever shall speak a word against 
 the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, 
 neither in this world, nor in that which is to 
 come. 12: 32. 
 
 Simon Peter said "Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God," and Jesus said unto 
 him, "Blessed art thou Simon Barjonah; for 
 flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
 174 
 
Testimony from the Bible 175 
 
 but my Father which is in Heaven. Upon this 
 rock I will build my church; and the gates of 
 Hades shall not prevail against it." 16 : 16-17. 
 
 And behold a voice out of the clouds, saying, 
 This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased; hear ye him. 17: 5. 
 
 Why asketh thou me concerning that which 
 is good? None is good save one, God. 19: 17. 
 
 Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the 
 Lord; Hosanna to the son of David. 21:9. 
 
 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
 thy mind. This is the great and first command- 
 ment. And the second like unto it is this. Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 22 : 37-39. 
 
 FROM MARK 
 
 And he said. Father all things are possible 
 unto Thee; remove this cup from me; howbeit, 
 not what I will, but what Thou wilt. 14: 36. 
 
 FROM LUKE 
 
 If ye then being evil, know how to give good 
 gifts unto your children, how much more shall 
 
176 Quakerism 
 
 your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to 
 
 them that ask him? 11 : 13. 
 
 Be not anxious how or what ye shall say ; for 
 the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour 
 what ye ought to say. 12: 12. 
 
 The parable of the prodigal son. 15 : 11. 
 
 Behold I send forth the promise of my 
 Father upon you ; but tarry ye in this city, until 
 ye be clothed with power from on high. 24 : 49. 
 
 ! 
 
 FROM JOHN 
 
 For the Father loveth the son and showeth 
 him all things that Himself doeth. 5 : 20. 
 
 He that heareth my words, and believeth 
 Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh 
 not into judgment, but hath passed out of 
 death into life. 5 : 24. 
 
 I can of myself do nothing; as I hear, I 
 judge; and my judgment is righteous; because 
 I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him 
 that sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my 
 witness is not true. 5: 30-31. 
 
 I am come in my Father's name. 5 : 43. 
 
 I do nothing of myself, but as the Father 
 
Testimony from the Bible lyy 
 
 taught me, I speak these things. And He that 
 sent me is with me ; He hath not left me alone ; 
 for I do always the things that are pleasing to 
 Him. 8: 28-29. 
 
 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that has 
 told you the truth, which I heard from God. 
 8: 40. 
 
 The words that I say unto you, I speak not 
 from myself; but the Father abiding in me 
 doeth His works. 14: 10. 
 
 The word which ye hear is not mine, but 
 the Father's who sent me. 14: 24. 
 
 Chapter 15. 
 
 The spirit of truth which proceedeth from 
 the Father, He shall bear witness of me. 15 : 26. 
 
 The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom 
 the Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
 you all things. 14: 26. 
 
 When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He 
 shall guide you into all the Truth. 16: 13. 
 
 T glorified Thee on the earth, having accom- 
 plished the work which Thou hath given me 
 to do. 17: 4. 
 
 I have given them Thy word. 17: 14. 
 
 Thou didst send me into the world. 17: 18. 
 
178 Quakerism 
 
 I made known unto them Thy name. 17 : 26. 
 
 And Jesus saith unto her, Go to my brethren, 
 and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father 
 and your Father, and my God and your God. 
 20: 17. 
 
George School 
 
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