The Message and Mission of Quakerism

FOREWORD [3]

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 any religious body to put its truths into circulation, and to reinterpret again and again the vital principles by which its members live and work. Here in this little book will be found in convenient form a fresh and illuminating expression of the truths, principles and ideals of present-day Quakerism and some of the practical problems confronting the modern world which the application of these truths, principles [4] and ideals might solve. The reader will discover that the writers live in the Twentieth Century and that they are “speaking to the condition” of the age.

Rufus M. Jones.

Haverford, Pennsylvania
12th mo. 9th, 1912

ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS [5]

PART I

THE ESSENTIALS OF QUAKERISM

BY WILLIAM C. BRAITHWAITE

	PAGE
Introductory	11
The early Quaker movement	13
Its two great characteristics,—intense sincerity and the experience of the living presence of Christ	14
“Seekers” were especially receptive to the message of George Fox	14
Edward Burrough’s description of experience	16
The heightened personality that came to the “Children of the Light”	20
Quakerism a religion of the prophetic and apostolic type, in contrast with the priestly and institutional type	21
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”	23
[6]The vital nature of such a fellowship	24
Our position not negative but positive	25
Quakerism a “religion of life”	25
The supreme question for the Church, How can we foster life?	26
Cheap substitutes for life	29
A religion of life must devote itself to vital processes and vital relations; chiefly,
Loyal discipleship	30
Inspired leadership	31
Warm fellowship	33
Loving service	35
Steady spiritual growth	36
Methods and machinery, organization and Church discipline have only a subordinate value to these prime factors of health	37
The life must be allowed free expression; the form must be kept plastic	38
The physiologist tells us that living matter is always soft and jelly-like, permitting of the free play of molecular interchanges	38
Fit the clothes to the man, not the man to the clothes	40
Expansion that comes where the Spirit of God has been allowed freely to work upon groups of disciples without being limited by organization and tradition, e. g. Foreign Missionary Work, Adult School movement, Quakerism in Western States	40
[7]Church-arrangements, important in themselves, should be regarded as machinery through which the life can work,—the life of the individual which we call personal responsibility, of the group, which we call fellowship, and above all the Divine vitality, which we call spiritual power and spiritual guidance	41
Above conclusion illustrated from the way in which these vital forces come into play in the various forms of Friends’ meetings	42
The evangelistic service and its needs	43
The meeting for worship, its great value and its needs	44
The teaching meeting and its needs	46
Quakerism, at its best, always the product of vital forces and the producer of vital relations	47
Its dependence upon the earnest seeking spirit	48
Craving to-day for reality in religion and life	49
Atmosphere of large-hearted charity and brotherly confidence needed	50
Quakerism, essentially, a religion of sincerity, answered by the incoming of the living Christ	51
Hopes confronting us to-day,—the craving after truth, the meaning and worth of personality, woman’s place in the world, the reign of law in international affairs, the regeneration of social conditions, the hope of Christ for the whole world	52
[8]The Quaker Church called to be in the vanguard of progress with respect to all these	53
Duty of personal witness for truth, based on a living experience of it	53
Conclusion	54

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	56
An ideal of Christian unity	57
The Society of Friends in relation thereto	58
That which the Society holds in common with others	62
The attitude in which the contribution can be made	63
Summary of some contributions Friends have already made. Need of first-hand experience—Religious toleration—Brotherhood of all races—High business standard—Practical philanthropy	66
Contribution of Friends to modern life. Direct personal intercourse with God—Modern drift to materialism—The greater danger in the child races—Proposed remedies—The positive message of Friends	69
[9]The quiet heart. The rush of modern life—The sense of need felt at home and abroad—Worship as a united inspired act—A high ideal to be reached	76
The leadership of the Spirit. From autocracy to democracy—The nationalist spirit in the East—The Quaker meeting for discipline—A theocratic ideal	83
Idealism. The danger of opportunism—Solution of the race problem—Place of the idealist	89
Woman’s contribution. The Woman’s Movement to-day—The emancipation of women in the East—The failure of the Church to respond—The experience of Friends	95
A non-professional ministry. The labor-movement an aspiration—Difficulty of the organized Churches—Danger abroad—Freedom of the ministry	99
The spirit of tolerance. Modern scholarship and the Bible—Suggested solutions of the difficulty—A grave peril—Where Friends can help	104
How the message is to be delivered. A fresh conviction—A fuller consecration—Large sympathy with others—A corporate sense of mission—Apostles	109