30 Swartbmore Xecture.

Chapter II

THE HISTORIC MISSION OF THE QUAKERS

It was the Quakers who became the trustees ofthe Reform of the Reformation. They developedit into democracy and social reform. Theythereby form the connecting link between the ageof religious heroism and the political and socialideals of our own day, of which we are too aptto forget the religious descent.

Refusing the use of weapons, the Quakersattempted to build up the world from withinoutwards in a more effective manner than waspossible by the method of force, which could butwin a transitory success and would recoil on itsuser. The goal of their endeavour remained,however, the same as before, the Kingdom of Godupon earth, and wherever it was vividly felt, itinvolved that millenarian ardour which had adeep influence on the origins of modern socialism.

It was first of all within the bounds of theSociety of Friends that conceptions of democracyand social reform made their public debut, whichbore in it the promise of the future. What theQuakers undertook to realise on the narrow basisof their little community was taken up one totwo hundred years later on the world-wide stageof history with all humanity at work in the under-taking.