S 4

Swartbmore Xecture.

Quakers, as guardians of a spiritual religion,without creed, or priest, or visible sacrament,know that they will remain a small group. Butthey hope to achieve a " peaceful penetration " oftheir environment. They sow their seeds widely.They frankly co-operate with the churches of alldenominations. At the same time they appeal tothe so-called free-thinkers who do not believe inGod but in mankind and progress, both, at theroot, religious conceptions. They gather aroundthem a wider Quaker fellowship, in many landsand of all creeds, the so-called " Friends of theFriends," to make them better protestants, bettercatholics, better socialists, without separatingthem from their present spiritual affiliation. InAmerica they are in touch with numerousscientists who, having moved far away from thedogmatic formulas of the past, at heart haveremained believers. Quakers do not try to bottleup the truth in old forms, but try to use thelanguage of the present day, open to whateverof modern thought seems valuable and essential.For indeed every age speaks of God in its ownlanguage.

Let me give a few instances. A short timeago a communist miner, who enthusiasticallyaffirms Moscow atheism, wrote to me, that hedenied God and believed in " the good that wasevident in itself." I answered that he had in thosewords given perhaps the most fitting definitionof God for our age. Whether he used two " o's "or one " o," was a matter of complete indifference.It is a peculiar path which is leading a disciple of