The Message and Mission of QuakerismBraithwaite, William C. (William Charles)
Religion
The Message and Mission of Quakerism
Braithwaite, William C. (William Charles)
Society of Friends
When we turn our eyes to the non-Christian world, the danger becomes
more startlingly apparent. Here are the “child races” filled with that
sense of the mystery and awe which the little child, even in our
materialistic modern world, still has. The savage thinks of God as
infinitely near, or at least he thinks that the spirits of the
departed are. It needs no carefully stated argument to demonstrate the
existence of an unknown world. It lies all about and around. He is
reminded of it by the thunder and the lightning. And to him there
comes our modern education explaining away all the beautiful or the
dreadful mystery of life, and, before he knows what has happened, he
is losing his sense of God. The old sanctions are loosened as the old
fear is removed, and he has got helplessly adrift into the mid-stream
of a barren rationalism.
What are we to do for him and what are we to do for the modern man in
our midst? We shall not have to go very far to search for those who
still find the remedy in an elaborate and beautiful religious
ceremonial; who will tell us that it is foolish to build our religious
conviction upon mere personal experience: that we are rather to turn
back to the experience of the Christian Church. We are to observe its
ordinances perfectly. There are to be stated seasons of prayer: there
are to be stated means of grace: and through these, whether you
_feel_ any better for it or not, you will be brought into line with
the experience of the Catholic Church and become partakers of Heavenly
grace. I am far from denying that beautiful forms of worship, that
stated seasons of prayer, or that time-honored ritual may have a real
place in the spiritual experience of very many. Doubtless, these
things have been of value in bringing numbers of souls into the
Kingdom of God, and will still be so. To me it seems, however, that
they are fraught with great danger. Especially at the present time,
when men intensely desire reality, they are apt to become impatient
with the forms of a bygone age, however zealously they may be followed
by some of their contemporaries. And, on the other hand, there are
those who are too readily content with the outward and allow the mere
forms of religion to salve the uneasy conscience. Was there, I wonder,
ever a time when men needed more than they do to-day a clear summons
into a life of spiritual reality and of personal intimate knowledge of
God? Can we summon them back as did our forefathers? Have we the
message that they had? Can we say, as did Francis Howgill, “The Lord
appeared daily to us to our astonishment, amazement and great
admiration, insomuch that we often said one to another with great joy
of heart, ‘What! Is the Kingdom of God come to be with men?’” The
message sent forth by the Edinburgh Conference to the whole Church of
Christ called her to realize that “God is demanding of us all a new
order of life ... that He is greater, more loving, nearer and more
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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