The Message And Mission Of Quakerism - free ebook by William C. (William Charles) Braithwaite

The message and Mission of Quakerism

By WILLIAM C. BRAITHWAITE and HENRY T. HODGKIN, M.A., M.B. PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF THE FIVE YEARS MEETING [Publisher's device: an open Bible] PHILADELPHIA The John C. Winston Company 1912 [ 2 ] Copyright, 1912, by The John C. Winston Co....

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Foreword

The two addresses which compose this book were delivered at the Five Years Meeting of the Society of Friends held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from October 15th to 22nd, 1912. They were listened to with profound interest and appreciation, and were approved by a Minute which also ordered their publication, in order that the wider group of Friends, and all others who are interested in the message and mission of a religion of this type, might have the opportunity to read them. It is a plain duty of an

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Part I

“Seekers” were especially receptive to the message of George Fox Edward Burrough’s description of experience The heightened personality that came to the “Children of the Light” Quakerism a religion of the prophetic and apostolic type, in contrast with the priestly and institutional type The Church should be a living fellowship of disciples at work for the Kingdom of God, plus Jesus Christ Himself, in whose Spirit they become together “one flock, one Shepherd” [ 6 ] The vital nature of such a fel

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Part II

THE CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE CHURCH BY HENRY T. HODGKIN, M.A., M.B. Personal experience of co-operation with other denominations in west China and elsewhere An ideal of Christian unity The Society of Friends in relation thereto That which the Society holds in common with others The attitude in which the contribution can be made Summary of some contributions Friends have already made. Need of first-hand experience—Religious toleration—Brotherhood of all races—High busin

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Introductory Words

In other words, the inner life of a religious movement remains, although the expression of that life will greatly vary under changing conditions of time and place....

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I.

In order to get at the essentials of Quakerism, we do well to go back to the beginnings, to those first years of nascent energy which carried the Quaker message through the English-speaking world. Whenever a new truth starts to life, it is intensely dynamic and vital; it masters every opposing circumstance; it flings itself victoriously against a stubborn world. It is a thing of life and movement, and I believe it will be found that a live truth in motion is the mightiest of all forces. But, a g

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II.

The centering of life on the realities of inward intercourse with God is the great mark of the prophetic and apostolic type of religion and is in sharp contrast with religion of the priestly or institutional type. The prophet was a man who knew [ 22 ] what it was to have converse with Jehovah and sure knowledge of His will. He became a Seer, a man of insight and foresight, aware of the true values of things, the true values as weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. He became thereby a great so

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III.

So then the question comes: How can we foster this life? How can the Church [ 27 ] continue, through a succession of generations and amid manifold changes of circumstance and thought, not merely its name and organization, its tradition of the fathers and its orthodoxy of language, but a living body of Christ, which shall embody Him, as He would make Himself known to each age? That is the supreme question. Unless the Church does that, it misrepresents its Lord and hinders the coming of His Kingdo

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IV.

In vital Quakerism then, the form has continually to be subordinated to the life. The life must be allowed free expression from time to time and place to place according to the varying needs and circumstances. In a word, the form must be kept plastic. This should be as much a fundamental of religious biology as it is of physiology. The physiologist tells us that living matter is always soft and jelly-like. It is matter in a jelly-like state, permitting of the free play of molecular interchanges,

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V.

I have now sought to show that Quakerism at its best is always the product of [ 48 ] vital forces, and is always producing vital relations. I say “at its best”; that is the necessary qualification. This brings me to my last point. What is needed besides the life of the Spirit, the life of Jesus Christ in the Church? Surely what we need is an earnest dedication on the part of those who are seeking to know Jesus Christ. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. I

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VI.

What then shall groups of Friends, who have reached the vital experience of which I have been speaking, do with their experience? Surely there are great demands confronting them to-day, great duties and convictions to be entered upon, great Messianic hopes stirring in the world. This world of change is also a world that is fertile in the promise of richer life. There is the passionate craving after truth. Surely we are to stand for reality in religion and life. There is the fresh sense that is c

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I.

During the time that I spent in China as a missionary, it was my privilege to be associated with the members of other Christian bodies who were working alongside of Friends in the Province of Szechwan. For a number of years there has been a large measure of co-operation in the missionary work in that province, in some directions of a more thorough character than in any other part of the mission field. The province was mapped out thirteen years ago between the various missions, and by this means

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II.

When one looks back upon the past 250 years and attempts to estimate the value of Friends to the Christian life of England and America, there are certain outstanding features which at once arrest attention. [ 66 ] Amongst the chief contributions which the Society has been successful in making hitherto to the Christian life of England and America are the following: 1. At a time when religion was in danger of becoming, to a large extent, formal, ceremonial and external, the early Friends succeeded

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III.

In whatever direction we look to-day, we see the danger of an invading materialism. By this I do not mean any philosophic position. In fact, I do not believe that what might be called philosophic materialism is gaining ground at the present time. It does seem to me, however, that a practical agnosticism is making itself felt in very many quarters. The vague sense that God is responsible for the Universe, that at one time some great Cause operated to bring it all into being and that, in some way,

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IV.

No one can be blind to the way in which every detail of our life is being modified by the many new inventions which accelerate the rate of living. We crowd into a single day more than our forefathers could put into a week. The express train, the telegraph and the telephone, the typewriter, the multiplied devices for saving time—all these things are speeding up life to the point at which the time for meditation and quiet is crowded out. This is surely a great and growing danger of which none of u

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V.

One of the most notable features of the last century has been the progress of the democratic movement. Every one who has watched that movement must realize the great danger of the tyranny of majorities. It is true that this danger seems to most of us to-day a smaller one than the [ 84 ] danger of the tyranny of a bureaucracy or of an autocrat. But, whichever way we look at it, it does not seem that we have found the true solution. Is it not possible that the pendulum has swung too far and that w

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VI.

Next to the danger of materialism or practical agnosticism in the Church of Christ comes perhaps the danger of opportunism. I suppose to the end of time there will be difference of opinion on the question of compromise. That a certain element of compromise must come into human life, as it is now arranged, seems to me inevitable. Much as we chafe against it, we are bound to accept it, owing to the limitations of our existence here. To take one of many examples: I suppose there is no one of us who

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VII.

Another outstanding feature of to-day, to which the Society of Friends ought to [ 96 ] have a special relation, is that which is spoken of as the Women’s Movement. This undoubtedly expresses much more than a political or social aspiration. It corresponds in some measure to the democratic movement and indicates the stirring of spiritual aspirations. Its symptoms are seen not only in the movement for women’s suffrage, and not only in Western countries. A recent book, published by the wife of one o

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VIII.

If the women’s movement expresses, as it undoubtedly does, a spiritual aspiration, I think the same may be said with perhaps equal force of the labor movements in Western countries. That many working-men have been practically unable to develop the higher side of their nature, on account of the conditions of labor, is generally admitted. The movement for higher wages and better conditions of work is, after all, something more than the expression of a grievance against capital. There is the deep y

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IX.

There is one other direction in which my own experience leads me to believe that Friends have a position of peculiar advantage and responsibility, and I cannot close this address without making some reference thereto. We are all well aware of the great difficulties which have been faced and are still being faced by the Church of Christ to-day through the advent of the historical criticism of the Bible. On the one hand there are those who believe that the Bible should be treated exactly as any ot

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X.

In conclusion, let me say a few words upon the meaning of all this to ourselves. Much that I have said to you will be familiar, and perhaps even of the nature of platitudes to many of you; but it is worth saying if it does no more than bring us all to the same point for facing the tasks that are before us to-day. We come to this point recognizing that, whether at home [ 110 ] or abroad, the Society of Friends is called to play a part, to make a contribution of permanent worth to the Church of Ch

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Bibliography

J. S. Rowntree : “ Friends—Their Faith and Practice. ” T. E. Harvey : “ Rise of the Quakers. ” Elizabeth B. Emmott : “ Story of Quakerism. ” Rufus M. Jones : “ A Dynamic Faith. ” “ Social Law in the Spiritual World. ” “ Quakerism a Religion of Life. ” (Swarthmore Lecture.) W. C. Braithwaite : “ Spiritual Guidance in Quaker Experience. ” (Swarthmore Lecture.) “ Beginnings of Quakerism. ” Allen C. Thomas : “ History of Friends in America. ” Rufus M. Jones : “ A Dynamic Faith. ” “ Social Law in the

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