The Faith and Practice of the Quakers

EDITOR’S PREFACE

A WORD of explanation seems to be needed in regard to the title and the sub-title which have been chosen for this series.

There is one faith, says St. Paul; but the title of the series indicates more than one. A difficulty unquestionably exists at that point. It has not been overlooked.

Had the promoters of this series adopted the former point of view and called it the Faith instead of the Faiths, they would have answered in advance an important question which the series itself should be left to answer. But, equally, by calling the series the Faiths, instead of the Faith, have they not prejudged the question in another way?

Of the two positions the latter seemed the less dogmatic. Let us take the world as we find it, in which the Faiths show themselves as a plurality, and then, if they are really one, or many varieties of the same, or if only one is true and the rest false, let the fact appear from the accounts they give of themselves.

On no other terms could full liberty have been accorded to the writers who contribute to the series; on no other terms could the task of editing the series be fairly carried out. It would have been obviously unfair to demand of each of the contributors that he should exhibit the faith that is in him as ultimately identical with the faith that is in each of his fellow contributors. It would have been obviously unfair to deny to any contributor the right to exhibit his own faith as the only true faith and all the rest as false. It would have been obviously unfair to assume that faith is necessarily singular because St. Paul so describes it. For the degree of authority to be attributed to the words of St. Paul is precisely one of the points on which the contributors to the series must be allowed to differ and to speak for themselves.

The same considerations apply to the sub-title of the series—Varieties of Christian Expression. It may be that Christianity has only one mode of expression, and that it ceases to be Christianity when expressed in any other way. But to take that for granted would ill become the editor of such a series as this, and it would become him still worse if he deliberately planned the series so as to lead up to that conclusion. Again we must take the world as we find it. Among those who claim to be Christians many varieties of expression unquestionably exist which may or may not be only different ways of expressing the same original truth. So far as the editor is concerned this must be left an open question. If to some writers in the series it should seem good to deny the name of Christian to those whose modes of expression differ from their own, they must not be precluded from doing so, and the reader will judge for himself between the claim and the counter-claim. Certainly the hope is entertained that from the presentation of differences in this series there may emerge some unities hitherto unsuspected or dimly seen; but that will be as it may. The issue is not to be forced.

To present a complete logical justification of our title and sub-title is perhaps not possible, and such justification as we have here offered will probably commend itself only to the pragmatic mind. But objections taken to these titles will be found on examination to be objections to the series itself. How, we might ask, can any earnest and eminent Christian, believing his own variety of Christian expression to be better than the rest, logically justify his co-operation, in such a series as this, with other earnest and eminent Christians whose beliefs in that matter run counter to his own? None the less they are here co-operating.

That such co-operation has been found possible may be reckoned one of the signs of the times. The explanation of it lies, not in logic, but in charity.

L. P. JACKS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

THERE have been many transition periods in the long history of the Christian Church, and this is not the only such period that has seemed to the thoughtful observers of the tithe to be critical for religion. But there are many sound reasons for the judgment that this is at least one of the most momentous of all the transition epochs through which the Church has ever passed. It can well be predicted, I think, that when the Church emerges from this period of transition, it will come forth more profoundly transformed than was the case at the Reformation, or at any other epoch since Pentecost. If that profound transformation here predicted does not occur, it will be because something much more serious than transformation has happened. If the Church is too deeply intrenched in its ancient system and dogma to adjust to the new situation which confronts us and to the expansion of truth and light now going on, then the Church will become a congealed and rigid institution, out of contact with the onward march of life and thought, left behind in the unfolding process and useless as an organ of the Spirit—a withered branch. The hundred per cent. conservative may think that he is saving the Church by his resistance to progress, but he is saving it only by a method of shrinkage and arrested development, which looks very much like another form of losing it. Failure to adjust to the progress of expanding life is only another way of spelling death.

The issue now before us is not merely one between the scientific interpretation of the universe and the Biblical interpretation of it. If it were solely that, it could in time be settled by the gradual process of thought, for the mind can in the end answer the questions which the mind asks. If one answer is right and the other answer is wrong, some day the right position will conquer the wrong, and truth will drive error from the field.

The difficulty confronting us is deeper than that. Some of the foremost scholars of the age and some of the greatest living scientists of our time are in the Church, so that we are not confronted with an array of non-Christian scientists lined up against a Church composed of untrained and ignorant men who are defending superstitions. The disturbing thing is the present widespread attitude of mind in the world around us toward organized religion. There is a serious loss of interest in it. It is treated as negligible by a great many persons who, except for this attitude, are thoroughly good persons. It seems obvious, however, at the same time that there is no slackening of interest in vital religion, in a religion of life. When a book appears which presents in a fresh and living way the essential features of religious faith, or which interprets the personality of Jesus Christ in warm and appealing fashion, it immediately becomes the best seller. The rank and file of people are keenly interested as soon as a famous writer, or a prominent person in any field, tells about his personal religion. It is always good copy. Any fresh note on the old subject is hailed with enthusiasm. Any person who shakes himself free from conventions and breaks forth with a straightforward and sincere interpretation of practical religion gets all the hearing he wants. There is a good deal of evidence that religion is a live topic in our busy world of to-day and that it holds its place of high importance as a real issue of life to fully as great a degree as in any one of the last nineteen centuries. If it is true, as I believe it is, that religion as a fundamental trait of human life is still quick and vital, while there is at the same time a prevailing lack of interest in the organized Church, in its ministries, its offices and its services, there is good reason for supposing that the Churches of our time need to undergo a profound transformation, if they are to interpret God and if they are to minister to life in the world to-day.

When we seriously ask what is the matter with the Churches, we raise a question which cannot receive any easy, simple answer. We are confronted, as I have said, not alone by an intellectual issue, but by a more or less inarticulate attitude of mind. To use the famous phrase of George Fox, the Churches do not speak to the condition of the time. They are organized and equipped for a different generation than the one that happens just now to be here. It is something like an army with bows and arrows suddenly called upon to meet an army furnished with mauser rifles, machine guns and big Berthas; or like a teacher prepared for teaching multiplication and subtraction who is unexpectedly confronted with a class of students wanting to learn calculus, or fluxions. The debates which occur in most Church conferences and councils show how little the leaders comprehend the situation. They contend over matters which seem to the onlookers from without to be trivial and futile. It looks from an outside point of view like a Lilliputian battle over the question of whether eggs should be opened at the big end or the little end—a contest between big-endians and little-endians. Brought up, as so many theologians and churchmen are from their earliest days in a certain atmosphere and habit of thought, they find it well nigh impossible to stand off and to see the situation from the outside, or to get that first-hand feel of the utter inadequacy of these Church issues, which is so strong a feature in the lives of the great majority of people to-day.

In the first place, the Churches are bound to face, in a more adequate way than has yet been done, the intellectual reinterpretation of the universe. Christianity is, of course, vastly more than a theory of the universe. But at the same time, it cannot be right to hamper the freedom of the spiritual life of man by trying to keep it fitted into the intellectual framework of apostolic ages, or dark ages, or middle ages, or the reformation age. What one is asked to believe, or to think, or to hold, must fit in with and conform to one’s whole system of thinking. Religious truth must always first of all be truth. It must not be determined by the views which prevailed in religious circles in some particular former century, any more than medical truth, or truth in physics, should be so determined. Every truth that has been discovered, verified and demonstrated, is thereby orthodox. Truth in this sphere and field, as in all other fields, grows, expands and enlarges. It must not be limited to what was in stock in the ages when creeds were formed. It is not enough, then, to debate a change of phrase here and there in an ancient formulation of faith. The person who is to be genuinely religious, who is to be a follower of Christ, must be free to believe what his deepest being finds to be true and he must not be asked to say that he believes what he cannot square with the facts of his universe, or with the testimony of his soul.

Every spiritual experience which those great Christian souls before our day have passed through, every word of prophetic insight which has come from them to us, is still precious and will assist us to find our way onward toward the fullness of truth and life, but the thoughtful person of this age feels that he should not be called upon to take over unchanged their world outlook or their intellectual findings. We need a type of Christianity that is brave enough to crown and mitre the individual in his search for truth and light, and which will use the conclusions and formulations of the past only as historical illustrations of the great spiritual adventure and as marked stages in the progress of the soul.

There is very widespread dissatisfaction with the type of preaching which for the most part prevails. It is built too much on antiquated medals. It does not speak to the times. The sermon usually begins with a Scripture phrase or incident, and a large amount of time is often spent expounding the phrase or the incident. This may be done in a way that is valuable, but it is very apt to be dull and trivial. Where the dramatic issues of life stand out, or where great human traits come to light, or where the work of God through men of an earlier time is clear and vivid, then the exposition positively counts, but how often it is abstract or wooden! Where, as in many instances, the preacher leaves exposition of Scripture and turns to deal with social or economic problems, the gain is slight. It often ceases to be preaching and becomes lecturing, and often enough it is lecturing by one who is ill-equipped for the field with which he is dealing. Men are not going to the churches in this busy world, crowded with calls and interests, to hear weak lectures. Nor are they going to Church to be entertained. As soon as a Church drops to the level of purveyor of entertainment, its doom is near and mene is written on it.

The Church, if it is to hold men, and keep its influence in the march of life, must be nothing less than a revealing place for God. It is prophetic ministry that serious people want—prophetic in the deepest sense. I mean by that a ministry that reveals God and interprets life in its nobler and diviner possibilities. People everywhere, especially young people, are confused in their thought of God. They have lost their sense of His reality. They discuss and seek and grope and doubt. They have little guidance and help. The old-fashioned answers and evidences do not convince. The problems are new ones. The questions come in different form. They cannot be answered by formula or by phrases. The young seekers want honest, sincere guides who understand the issues, who have travelled through the fog and the shadows and who have come out on the hill-top into the light.

A minister ought to be to all of us in our religious strivings what the artist is to those who are eager for beauty, or what the musician is to those who love music. The artist interprets beauty. He presents it in its convincing reality.

Art was given for that;

God uses us to help each other so,

Lending our minds out.

And what is true of the artist’s mission is no less true of the minister’s. His business is making God real to men here—not entertaining them, or giving them a theory of society. It is no easy mission, that is clear enough, but it is the greatest one on earth, and there are many persons who have divine gifts for it. Let the Church become a revealing place and it will no longer need to apologize or advertise, its standing will be immediately settled.

I did not intend to speak slightingly of the social mission of the Church. The social mission is, and must always be, a great feature of real Christianity, only it must not take the place of the primary function, which is revealing God. There have been two marked tendencies in Christianity. On the one hand, the central concern has been to set forth a doctrine of salvation; on the other, to