William Penn Lecture
1936
The Basic Necessity for
Spiritual Reconstruction
Delivered at
Arch Street Meeting House
Philadelphia
by
Howard W. Hintz
Professor of English, Brooklyn College
The Basic Necessity for Spiritual Reconstruction
I
Did our own immediate observation and experience
not convince us that we are living in a disordered world
which is rapidly approaching a period of acute crisis in its
social evolution, we should he brought to the realization of
the fact by the increasing numbers of the prophets of
doom who are predicting the imminent collapse of our
entire Western Civilization. Some years ago, Oswald Spengler
in that highly provocative and deeply discomforting book,
The Decline of the West, anticipated the more recent school
of social and economic critics in asserting the
inevitable certainty of the doom that awaits us within the next
half century. Last year, in a book entitled, Was Europe
a Success?, Joseph Wood Krutch, one of the more
temperate of the modern critics sang the requiem for Europe
without regarding his post-mortem as being in the slightest
degree premature. Recently, H. G. Wells, joined in the chorus
of dire predictions in another one of his
characteristic imaginative flights into the future called
On the Shape of Things to Come. Not long ago I listened to a lecture by
Dr. John Haynes Holmes, eminent New York clergyman
and author, on the subject "Civilization at the Cross-Roads."
He asserted that civilization was now facing the third of
its three great crises of the last two thousand years and
that the question of whether Western Civilization would
survive or not would he decided by the present generation.
But the most widely-known and perhaps the most profound and stimulating of the more recent studies of
the impending social and economic crisis is John
Strachey's The Coming Struggle for Power. Mr. Strachey sees the
lines of class struggle throughout the Western world drawing
more and more sharply to an inevitable climatic crisis the
issue of which will be the emergence of either Fascism
or Communism as the dominant force. The battle to the
death of the privileged and the underprivileged, in other words,
is almost upon us and revolution of sweeping proportions
is the one certain prospect of the immediate future
according to Mr. Strachey's carefully considered analysis.
There are a host of other recent studies of the
present critical situation in world affairs. They represent
a bewildering variety of social and economic theories:
they approach the various aspects of the chaos and
uncertainty of modern society from every conceivable angle of
sociological and philosophical interpretation. One thinks readily of
the writings of such distinguished commentators as
Stuart Chase, Charles A. Beard, John Dewey and dozens of
others, representing all shades of theory and opinion. Each has
a diagnosis and a remedy to propound, and the analyses
and solutions when considered as a whole represent a medley
of absolutely irreconcilable and contradictory points of view.
One point of agreement emerges, however: the world
is in chaos, it is in dire need of basic reconstruction, and
the road ahead whatever the direction it takes, will be a
long and difficult one. And of these truths we do not have to
be reminded by the critics; they impress themselves upon
our consciousness at every turn. Dictatorship, of one form
or another dominates half of Europe today; the nations
seem to he drawing closer to the brink of another
major catastrophe with the passing of each week. In the Far
East the picture is no less discomforting. And even in
those nations where theoretical democracy still prevails,
human starvation and misery, injustice and oppression,
class hatreds, economic and social disorders, and the
evidences of spiritual as well as social disintegration are
becoming more rather than less prevalent.
In our own country, despite the few indications
here and there of superficial economic recovery, the number
of the unemployed remains relatively undiminished.
Human misery and hardship is as extensive and acute as at
any period in our history. Persecutions and injustices are
inflicted with increasing intensity. Class hatreds, race hatreds,
party hatreds are being engendered with growing vehemence.
The stop-gap economic remedies of an admittedly
floundering governmental administration become daily more futile
and ineffective and seem to he doing little more than putting
off the inevitable day, while the counter-proposals of
the political opposition appear to be largely negative and equally
as indefinite, superficial and ineffective.
Signs Of Moral And Spiritual Disintegration
But perhaps the most serious aspect of the
whole picture of contemporary chaos is presented in the
increasing indication of moral and spiritual disintegration.
The traditional moral and social standards upon which
Christian civilization is based are being questioned and nullified
on every hand. Skepticism and cynicism are the
intellectual fashions of the day; skepticism which denies the
integrity and dignity of the individual human spirit; skepticism
which mockingly ridicules the sanctity of marriage vows;
skepticism which questions the validity of all human virtues and
which casts into the discard of outmoded illusions the
established concepts of human honesty, integrity and Christian
charity; skepticism which scoffs at all notions of spirituality
and idealism as basically inherent elements in the
constitution of man.
The pervading note in the characteristic philosophy
and literature of our day is one of negation and despair.
Mr. Robinson Jeffers, one of the most technically capable of
our modern poets shuts himself up in his stone tower
and lugubriously contemplates the tragic and lonely destiny
of man. Some of our ablest and most promising novelists
such as Mr. Faulkner and Mr. Caldwell carry the method
of "naturalism" into the realm of violence and
distinguish themselves by their vivid depiction of every known form
of human depravity and degradation. Quite inevitably,
the economic and social chaos of our postwar world with
its multiplicity of miseries, injustices, persecutions, hatreds
and basic uncertainties has driven many men to despair
and hopelessness to the point where they have lost faith in
God, in themselves and in their fellow men.
The Proponents Of Materialistic Theories Of Recovery
Not all have been driven to despair. There is
another school of thought, more admirable because it is
courageous enough to face the issues rather than to run away
from them, which honestly seeks a cure for the prevailing ills
of society and sets its eyes hopefully to the future. It
proceeds upon an avowedly materialistic interpretation of
human experience. It calls its philosophy, deriving its
main inspiration of Karl Marx, "dialectic materialism." It sees
man and society strictly in terms of its economic or
materialistic needs and satisfaction. It has a definite and
constructive program to offer and it puts forward as a solution to
the disruptions of contemporary society, the establishment of
a Socialistic or Communistic state. As an economic and
social doctrine it has elements in it which are so
thoroughly consistent with basic Christian principles that
Christians cannot afford to dispose of the whole idea as
summarily and dogmatically as this school, on its part, disposes
of spirituality, Christianity and religion as a whole. Its
major, and to my mind, fatal defect is its basic and
predominant materialistic foundation.
But the Marxian approach to the economic and
social dilemmas of modern society is not the only one of the
current theories for the solution of our problems which
proceeds upon a purely materialistic basis. That school of
economic theory which stands diametrically opposed to
Communist dialectic is likewise rooted in essential materialism. In
the last analysis, however divergent opinions within its
own ranks may be as to the best means of attaining the end,
it seeks the return of "prosperity," which is simply the
converse of "depression." And prosperity means in plain terms,
profits; more money, more goods, more material possessions. If
the social philosophy of Karl Marx is grounded in
secularism and materialism so is that of Adam Smith and
Jeremy Bentham.
Ever since the eighteenth century our social
organ-ization has become more and more firmly rooted in
the principle of the production of goods, first for profits
and second, for use. It has tended increasingly to measure
human success in terms of material possession, and to
substitute material for spiritual values. And now once again,
despite the bitter consequences of one period of mad
extravagance and blind lust for luxury and wealth, we are seeing
new evidence of revived efforts to create in the masses of
people desires for things which they cannot afford and
tempting them with enticements to the unrestrained indulgence
of material appetites. We are urged to satiate our desires
to the creation of new discontents and more acute poverties
of mind and spirit. The very fabric of our civilization has
became dyed with the purple of secular and material motivation.
With the steady evanescence of spiritual values it
is not surprising that modern states should be tending
more and more toward dictatorial forms of government with
the consequent nullification of all democratic principles.
The loss of individual integrity leads naturally to the
devaluation of the individual. Men become pawns to be
regimentated into mass formations at the bidding of the few who can
usurp power and use them in the attainment of their own
selfish ends. Individual dignity is effaced; human life
becomes cheap; persecution, injustice, tyranny are the
logical concomitants. Such is the fate of half of the peoples of
Europe today. Such may be the fate of America tomorrow.
The Necessity For A Spiritual Basis Of Recovery
In foreseeing such a possibility I am not joining
the chorus of the prophets of doom. On the contrary, I am
firmly convinced of the absolute validity of the prophecy of
Jesus that "the law and the prophets" will ultimately be
fulfilled. The rule of love in the Kingdom of God on earth will
someday prevail. But before that day dawns man will first need
to attain to the highest wisdom of recognizing that the
one basic, eternal and universal principle of all human
experience is the spiritual essence of his being. The spiritual laws
of the universe are, of all its laws, the most fundamental
and immutable. This truth, which transcends all truths is
the one which man finds it most difficult to comprehend in
its ultimate reality, for the understanding and fulfillment
of that law represents the highest possible development of
his being.
Man's struggle for freedom from the world's
bondage, his progress from one stage of civilization to another
is synonymous with his quest of this ultimate reality of
spiritual truth. The line of this progress toward civilization,
for "culture," in Matthew Arnold's sense of "Sweetness
and Light," is marked by a jagged course of peaks and
valleys, with periods of great light and periods of great
darkness. Mankind has endured and triumphed over many
obstacles in its struggle toward the light. It has recovered from
many crises. It is facing at the present moment another one
of these critical stages in its growth. Its world is a harried
one, sorely wanting fundamental and thoroughgoing
re-construction.
Society has been brought to its present impasse, as
we have seen, because men have ignored the basic law of
their being. How much deeper modern society will be
plunged into misery and despair in its present crisis before it
again begins the ascent to new plains of light will depend
entirely on how readily and effectively the forces of
spiritual reconstruction can be set in motion. In numbers
and influence they are today far overshadowed. Of all the
myriad and diverse remedies for the diseases of the modern
world being propounded today only a scattered few, and
those relatively inconspicuous, carry with them any indication
of an understanding of that one aspect of the problem
which is fundamental to all others. I submit that the
only reconstruction of our disrupted social order which can
be in any wise thoroughgoing or permanent is the
re-construction that begins and ends with the spirit of
the individual man. Spiritual reconstruction is therefore a
prime requisite, an essential necessity in any valid
reconstruction of society as a whole.
II
Realism And Idealism In The Present Crisis
The proposition we are here stating, that the only
sound and ultimate basis of human relationships is spiritual,
will be challenged on every hand. Those of us who assert it
must be ready to meet the familiar accusation of being
committed to an illusion of "impractical idealism." The phase
has become so hackneyed that the adjective has
become inseparably associated with the noun. The label will
be affixed to us with equal promptness by the defenders of
the existing economic system as well as by the
revolutionary groups.
To affirm that idealistic motives of man are
stronger than his predatory impulses, that love is more powerful
in the creation of social organisms than jealousy and
hate, that charitableness and reasonableness is more
permanently effective in the eradication of evil than violence
and bloodshed; _ these are regarded as fantastic
self-deceptions. The self-styled realists look upon those of us who
harbor them, with amused toleration, expressing an admiration
for our motives and an unexpressed pity for us and a
contempt for the ideals themselves.
Well, I believe it is high time that those of us who
accept the label of Christian, clarify our own thinking on
this question of the efficacy and practicability of the
principles of the Sermon on the Mount. Christianity in the
spiritual, not in the organic sense stands or falls on the
premises there set forth. Do we or do we not accept them,
entirely and unconditionally? Now the fact is that though
millions of people in every age since the advent of Christianity
have verbally, and perhaps even sincerely attested to
an acceptance of them, no considerable proportion of
Christians in any age has ever taken them seriously enough even
to attempt to apply them thoroughly.
Now the only essential difference between the
teachings of Jesus and the doctrines of hundreds of other
prophets and philosophers both before and after His time lies in
the uncompromising extremism and absolutism with which
He both stated and applied them. If we as His affirmed
followers do not or cannot accept them with the same
uncompromising absoluteness that He maintained and do not make an
honest effort to apply them to the practical issues
of human affairs, then we have no conceivable right to apply the
label "Christian" to ourselves. In all honesty we should
call ourselves "Neo-Christians," or "Half-Christians" or
"All-But-Christians."
"Love your enemies, and pray for them that
persecute you.": "Resist not him that is
evil."; "whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."; "No
man can serve two masters. . . . ye cannot serve God
and Mammon."; "But seek ye first His kingdom and
His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto
you." Re-examine the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety.
On that premise unconditionally do we rest the proposition
of the essential necessity for spiritual reconstruction. Here
are contained the most far-reaching and radical
assumptions ever propounded in human history. Do we or do we
not accept and believe them in their entirety and with all
of their implications? "For He taught them as One
having authority."
I do not see how there can be any halfway
acceptance of these principles, how there can be any middle
ground. They are either all true or not true at all. Nor do we need
to be reminded, I trust, that the founders of our Society
saw no middle ground. To George Fox and his spiritual
successors it was all or nothing. And the traditional distinction of
the Friends today in the eyes of the world is their
persistent and uncompromising testimony with respect to some of
these tenets at least.
The Inadequacy Of Prevailing Theories And Institutions
Let us indeed be realistic. The world today is sorely
in need of complete and thoroughgoing realism. When
realistic analysis and an honest examination of fundamental as
well as surface facts is applied to the theories and
ideologies upon which most of our modern social and
economic institutions are based, their logical fallacies and
intrinsic inadequacies become glaringly apparent. Has
the "enlightened self-interest" principle of our
Nineteenth Century economic philosophers worked to the advantage
of the masses of men? Has it provided a sound and
just foundation for our social and economic order? A glance
at the chaos of the modern world answers the question.
Has science, practical and applied, brought about the Utopia
_ the solution to all of man's problems, which not very
many years ago was confidently expected of it? A generation
or two ago, Macaulay in singing the praises of Francis
Bacon, the reputed founder of modern science, saw science as
the inevitable avenue of release to mankind from all of
its bondage.
At the present moment it is merely platitudinous
to say, that despite all of the comforts and conveniences it
has brought and the advances it has made in the relief
of suffering and the prolongation of life, it has on the
other hand created social and economic problem, far more
intense and complex than society has ever before faced.
So completely has it gotten out of hand in our present
economic order that increasing efforts are being made on every
hand to thwart its progress in the industrial realm and to
find ways of limiting and diminishing its growing power
to produce goods quickly and efficiently. It has almost
become a menace to its own creators. And as our social
disorders grow more acute, science seems completely incapable
of providing the solution which will really provide man with
a fundamental security and happiness. Realistically then
once again, science does not seem to be the answer to our
problem of reconstruction.
To proceed a little further with our realism, let us
look at the forms of government and economic states which
have been developed in Europe within the past few years
to supplant or take the place of political democracy. Of
the two types of state which have been established,
Fascistic and Communistic, though they are diametrically
opposite in basis and theory, certain common elements
characterize both. Both types are completely and avowedly
dictatorial and autocratic. Both are aggressively anti-religious and
anti-spiritual, and therefore, again admittedly, materialistic
in concept. Both at the present time abrogate the first
principles of individual freedom and integrity. Both were created
by the usurpation of power through force, violence
and bloodshed _ and persistently and necessarily
maintain themselves by these methods.
It is important, at this point that we recognize the
basic distinction between these two types of state and that
we further recognize that of the two, the Communistic
theory is motivated by unquestionably social and idealistic
aims as compared with the viciously imperialistic, autocratic,
and nationalistic aims of the other, and that the one is by
the general admission of competent observers, providing a
social order far more beneficial to the great masses of people
than is the other.
But it is important likewise to recognize the fact
that Communism, with all of its challenging progress
in eliminating the inequalities and oppressions which
mark capitalistic societies, is nevertheless at the present
moment rooted in violence, maintained by autocratic methods
and dialectically committed to a completely
materialistic interpretation of life and to the primal theory of class
hatred and struggle. It recognizes the violence of revolution as
the unfortunate but inevitable means of attaining its ends.
Let me quote a few short sentences from
Strachey's The Coming Struggle for Power:
"A working-class dictatorship can alone open the way to communism. The assumption of
power by the workers can occur by means of a
revolution alone; by means, that is, of an event which
takes place over a limited number of years, and of
which there may be a critical moment such as the conquest of the existing state apparatus in
a capital city which can be `dated' to a given week
of a given month of a given year."
Mr. Strachey goes on to explain that the
Communists do not advocate violence; they merely accept it as
inevitable, for violence will be used against them and violence must
be met with violence. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Naturally, Mr. Strachey does not accept the
spiritual interpretation of experience. In one chapter of his book
he completely and summarily disposes of religion. In the
entire chapter, Jesus Christ is not even once mentioned! It
was Jesus who said, "He who lives by the sword shall die by
the sword." Realistically again, there has never been an
instance in all human history in which that axiom has not been
proved true. The ultimate basis of reconstruction does not lie
in that direction.
The Place Of Organized Christianity In The Present Crisis
We have been emphasizing thus far the necessity
of basing any sound program of social reconstruction
upon the spiritual foundations of essential Christianity. What
is the place of organized Christianity, of the Christian
Church in the present state of the world? Are people turning to it
for an answer to these dilemmas with the confident
expectancy of an adequate solution? Is it assuming a position
of leadership among the forces seeking the way out of
our difficulties?
As a matter of fact there are increasing evidences
that it is steadily declining in power and influence.
Numerically it has been virtually standing still for a whole
generation. From the standpoint of its direct influence upon the
thoughts and lives of people, its effectiveness is rapidly
diminishing. Contemporary critics are predicting its
imminent disintegration. Such commentators as V. S. Calverton,
John Strachey and others of the same school declare that it
has already ceased to be an important factor in modern
society. They quote statistics to clinch the argument and cite
factual evidence to prove that its place in modern life is
less conspicuous than it has been at any time within the
past one hundred years. Such observations are by no
means confined to critics outside of the church.
Churchmen themselves are aware of the
unmistakable signs of decline, and are attributing the fact to a variety
of causes chief among which is the growing secularism
of society. This secularism may be rather an effect than a
cause, however. It is a truism that the world becomes more
secular as religious institutions decline.
Why has the church permitted secularism to
displace spirituality? Is it not a fact that the church has
permitted itself to become secularized? Recently a group of
clergymen and laymen representing the Catholic wing of the
Anglican Church issued a statement demanding the
complete withdrawal of the Anglican Church from Protestantism.
They desired this separation for the specifically alleged
reason that Protestantism had become "spiritually,
intellectually and morally, bankrupt." This, remember, from a group
of nominal Protestants. That Protestantism as a whole is
today disunited and floundering in an eddy of confused
and indefinite objectives there can be no doubt.
Fundamentalism, constituting the major element in evangelical
Protestantism, with its insistence upon scriptural and theological
dogmas founded upon outmoded cosmologies, is
becoming intellectually and morally impossible for increasing
numbers of people.
Liberal Christianity on the other hand has tended
to evolve more and more into a despiritualized humanism
with little more to offer than a high-minded ethical system. As
a religious influence it has steadily waned because it has
lost hold of a spiritual dynamic. Organizationally the
Church has been imbued with a growing secularism in every
phase of its activity, and spiritually it has been emasculated
by almost complete identification with materialistic interests.
Ever since the Seventeenth Century the Church
has tended increasingly to become aligned with the forces
of social privilege and vested interest. It has in many
instances not only condoned, but even attempted to justify
flagrant social and economic injustices. And even in the midst of
the misery and poverty, the persecution and the
intolerance, the greed and injustice of the present day, does
organized Christianity, except for isolated and exceptional
instances, raise its voice in protest and take its stand
unequivocally on the side of moral and social righteousness? All in all
the evidence clearly leads us to the conclusion that the
Christian Church today, though it is the logical heir and trustee
of the spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ, and
therefore contains within its essence the answer to the ills of
modern society, is nevertheless not consistently or
effectively purveying that answer to the world.
III
The Position And Responsibility Of The Society Of
Friends In The Present Crisis
To what extent are these reflections on tile
organized church as a whole specifically applicable to the Society
of Friends? That they are pertinent to some degree all
will admit. Numerically, despite the fact that it has
given indication of an upward trend within the past ten years,
it is far weaker than it was at earlier periods in its
history. The numerical factor is the least important one,
however. What of the influence of the Society? What marks is it
leaving on the modern world? Is it maintaining the vigor and
sweep of its traditional testimony? Is it remaining true to
its birthright? Is it justifying in the modern world, the
enviable height of its historical reputation?
Let us of this generation of Friends answer
these questions honestly and courageously and put aside
the question of how much or how little the decline of
modern Christianity applies to us specifically. Such a
question involves the comparison of ourselves with others which it
is both unbecoming and unnecessary to make. Let it be
granted that we have had our serious short-comings; that too
many of our birthright members have failed to recognize to
the full both the challenge and the responsibility of that
privilege; that in many quarters leadership and therefore a
vital ministry has been sorely lacking; that our testimony on
many of the tenets of our faith has been weak and ineffective;
that some of our meetings have tended to become historical
rather than religious societies, that other of our meetings
have become mere social groups, or societies of ethical
culture. By all means, let us grant these things, and recognize
the seriousness of the implications. But since they revert
to yesterday or even to today let us not dwell upon them.
Let us turn to the more vital question of what the state of
our Society will be tomorrow.
The Society of Friends today occupies a
strategic position in Christendom. In a very definite sense it is
not and has never been just another sect. Its founders
were clear on that point as far as their own intentions
were concerned. Sects are founded upon creeds and dogmas,
and the Society of Friends has neither. It started out simply as
a body of Seekers for the reality of spiritual experience.
That is what it must continue to be if it is to be true to its
own inception. Never having been committed to
theological dogmas or conceptions of scriptural infallibility, it
is completely unaffected by changing theories of the origin
or nature of the universe.
On the other hand, in accordance with its traditions
it can never be satisfied with the pursuance of a merely
ethical system of conduct. It is grounded in the principle of
the Inner Light _ which signifies the reality of God as
revealed in the divine nature of man and expressed in
spiritually motivated living. Its historical distinctiveness lies in
its affirmation of the transcendent sanctity of the
individual spirit which rests alone on the authority of its own
direct relationship to God. This is our traditional testimony in
a world, which we have seen, is herding man into
mass formations and nullifying at every turn the integrity of
the individual.
It is well for us to be reminded frequently of these
basic tenets of our faith, because by their very form and
nature we stand traditionally and constitutionally prepared to
play a leading and vital part in the spiritual reconstruction
of our age. For this reason our position is a strategic
and challenging one. Our responsibility is so much the
greater because of the uniqueness of our opportunity.
Modern Implication Of The Principle Of The Inner Light
A reexamination of the fundamental principles
upon which our Society is founded in the light of their
implications in a changing world will help us to see more clearly
our responsibility to discover effective ways of fulfilling
this responsibility, in the modern world. At the very center
of our testimony stands the principle of Inner Light. Just
what do we as modern Friends understand that term to mean?
Basically we understand it to mean what George
Fox and all of our other predecessors understood by it. But
it finds new applications today. It represents the
spiritual motivation of all human experience, which implies
among other things the ascendancy of the law of love in all
human relationships. It represents faith in God and man. It
implies an idealistic philosophy of life.
But the fact is that these concepts in themselves
are not peculiar to the Quakers, to the ideal of the Inner
Light, or even to Christianity itself. Platonism, for
instance, represents the most complete expression of abstract
idealism ever propounded. Most of the major philosophical
systems recognize same sort of God and imply some sort of faith
in the spirit of man. John Dewey, the leading modern
exponent of pragmatism, in a recent book, affirms a belief in
God. But he defines God as human idealism and
aspiration supported by definite action directed toward
the improvement of man's well being.
Now that idea is a provocative and valuable one,
and excellent as far as it goes. John Dewey also believes in
the principle of charity, of community of feeling, of love as
the basis of human relationships. And his interpretation of
this concept of collectivity of interest achieved
through enlightened individualism constitutes the core of
pragmatic philosophy and provides a reason able and practical
basis for social reconstruction.
In a recent article in "Christendom," Dr. Gregory
Vlastos of Queens University, Ontario, defines love as
"mutuality," and admittedly derives the main lines of his thought
from the pragmatic collectivist theories of John Dewey. Love
in its truest and highest sense is not pure egotism
intrinsically selfish in its motivation, as some of the modern
mechanistic philosophers would have us believe. Neither is
itself abnegating altruism as certain sentimental religionists
would have us believe. It is best defined as "Mutuality,"
which represents a rational and realistic combination of the
natural instinct for self-fulfillment and the idealistic impulses of
men to contribute to the welfare of other men so that all may
live in a peaceful, just and well-ordered society. Love thus
defined is the most realistic of all human concepts.
An analysis and definition of this kind is sorely
needed by society in its present critical stage. I think it is
entirely consistent if not synonymous with Jesus' conception of
the idea. It utterly confirms our present thesis that the
only adequate basis for reconstruction is the spiritual one.
But there is something lacking, I think, in
this philosophy. It remains essentially philosophical and fails
to include the religious element. And this is where the
concept of the Inner Light enters in with greater
validity, than ever. We are back once again with the problem of a
devitalized ethic. John Dewey defines God as Idealism
supported by Social Action, but our whole civilized history has shown
that Idealism, as a purely intellectual concept, is not in
itself capable of translating hope into achievement. Action
toward the attainment of rational ideals, in order to function at
all, needs a propelling and motivating force. The philosophy
of pragmatism, sound as it is in most other respects, does
not provide that inner propulsion. Ethical systems generally
are totally inadequate as practical agents for
social reconstruction for the precise same reason. By their
very unspiritual and unreligious nature they lack the inner
drive without which no action can be developed. That is
why religion is the indispensable foundation for any
ethical philosophy.
Now the religious or spiritual basis upon which
our Society is founded is represented completely in the
concept of the Inner Light which provides the God-motivation
and dynamic which alone can convert ethical idealism
into practical fulfillment. The principle of the Inner Light
is derived from the feelings as well as the mind, and
therefore contains in its essence that all important emotional
drive. It is the mystical force which translates idealism into
specific action and execution. It stands for a faith, and not a
mere intellectual affirmation; a faith in the reality of God as
a living personal entity who is manifest in the spirit of
every individual man. And it is faith, not mere belief, which
has moved and will continue to move men and mountains.
Yes, as successors of George Fox, we as Friends
need above all else, especially in the light of the spiritual
poverty of our present world to re-examine, to re-cultivate and
to re-affirm that testimony of the Inner Light. Such
re-affirmation can become valid only through the renewed
and conscientious application of discipline to our thought
and conduct; through worship, public and private,
through learning and intellectual growth, through absolute
dedication to active concerns, through the development of an
effective and functioning ministry, through the daily practice of
the presence of God in all of our relationships to men,
direct and indirect.
The Principle Of The Concern Re-interpreted In The
Light Of Changing Conditions
Once the Inner Light begins to glow within us the
vision and the drive for the dedication of ourselves and our
Society to vital and active concerns will inevitably follow. For
there is an inseparable dovetailing between these basic
principles of our Friendly Testimony; the Inner Light, the
Concern, the Free Ministry and the Discipline. No one of these
can function without all of the others. When they do
function they necessarily do so in unison. It is not within the
province of this lecture to enumerate the possible concerns in
this troubled day in which we live, to which our Society
might dedicate itself. Their number is legion. It is not a
question of finding them, but of finding the means and the people
to serve them effectively. It is definitely within our
province, however, to suggest the main lines along which
present concerns must be pursued more zealously and new
concerns developed if our Society is to assume its true share
of responsibility to the modern world.
It is vitally important that we see anew the
teachings and character of Jesus in all their fullness, and that
we realize thereby that he revealed and appraised
man's knowledge of God entirely in terms of man's relationship
to other men. We are now living in a world in which
applied and technical science within the past thirty years has
knit us so closely together that we are forced as never before
in history into relationship, direct or indirect with millions
of our fellow men. And by the inescapable demands of
our own Friendly testimony we are committed to a
personal responsibility to each and all of those with whom we
have relationship. That fact tremendously complicates, in the
light of changing conditions, our problem of social concern.
But the complexity of the problem does not relieve us of
the responsibility of meeting it.
Now it is my conviction that under the present organization of society the indirect or institutional
concerns are more important than the direct or personal ones. I
am my brother's keeper _ and that applies to all of my
brothers. I am not very fearful of the quality of the
personal relationships of the members of our Society, or of
Christian believers in general. I am confident of the personal
integrity, honesty in private dealings, readiness to give aid to a
beggar at the doorstep or a neighbor next-door, and
straight-forwardness and righteousness in private business
dealings, of most of our members. I am confident too of the
relative purity and dignity of the moral character of the great
majority of our constituency.
But there is a righteousness which for us must go
beyond the righteousness of the Scribes and
Pharisees. What are we doing, individually or collectively about the
institutional, the social, the political, the economic injustices which
are being inflicted upon men in so many quarters of our
world today? We have a concern about the man who is doomed
to the butchery and savagery of war and we have
been outspoken and unabashed in our testimony of it for
nearly three hundred years. What is our concern for the
millions of men who are doomed to die of slow starvation because
of the flagrant injustices pressed upon them by other men?
In what respects do we tacitly approve of the
persecutions, deprivations, injustices and the abrogations of all
principles of human integrity, by our direct or indirect support of
those institutions and forces which perpetrate them?
Just one case in point: if I buy a dress for my little
girl because I can get it cheaply, and I know I can get it
cheaply because it is made in a sweatshop, I am by my
purchase helping to support the sweatshop and to condone
the oppression it represents. Such is the nature of our
indirect relationships to millions of other men. The implications
of the spiritual reconstruction of society center definitely
upon the social and economic disorders of modern society
and devolve upon us the clear responsibility to dedicate
ourselves unequivocally to a concern directed toward the uprooting
of the fundamental evils creating these disorders.
Somehow, as a Society and as individual Friends we must get ourselves into the main stream of the currents
of justice and righteousness and entirely out of
the crosscurrents of selfishness and greed. And the
pursuance of this major spiritual concern must be specific rather
than general, active rather than passive. It cannot rest with
the alleviation of suffering after it has been inflicted; it
must work to the elimination of the basic causes of that suffering.
Specifically, the practical fulfillment of that concern
may involve our active participation in such a challenging
program as that presented by the Cooperative Movement which
has so completely enlisted the support of that great
Japanese Christian leader, Kagawa, and seems at the present
moment to be the one definite scheme for social and
economic readjustment which is consistent with Christian
idealism. It is at least our duty to learn more about it.
Specifically again, it is our responsibility in the further pursuance
of this larger social concern to keep alive the principles
of political democracy and to commit ourselves to
its preservation and ultimate fulfillment. Here again, in the
light of our testimony for individual integrity, we must keep
in the mainstream, and resist the forces which are seeking
to destroy that principle. These are the main directions, it
seems to me, in which our sense of concern and our ministry
must be impelled if we are to advance the program of
spiritual reconstruction.
IV
The Need For The Spirit Of The Prophets
The road we have to travel if we are to remain
faithful to our testimony and our heritage, will be at best a
difficult one. We shall need the vision, the courage and the faith
of the prophets _ of the prophets who were "not without
honor save in their own country." We must develop the
spiritual and moral strength to hold fast to our faith and
testimony, though the heavens fall. "Blessed are ye when men
shall reproach you and persecute you and say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad: for so persecuted they the prophets that were
before you."
So persecuted they such undaunted spirits as
Amos and Micah and Jeremiah and hosts of others of their
spiritual strain. These men stood virtually alone in their
respective times and places in their vision of the ultimate reality
of spiritual experience and in their testimony of the truth
they had to publish. Jeremiah, suspected and persecuted by
all parties, accused of being a traitor to his nation because
he remained steadfast in his insistence upon the necessity
of spiritual reconstruction in the face of the
degenerately materialistic temporal powers of the day, was cast into
the dungeon. And still he held firm to his testimony of
God against Mammon. From the beginning of his ministry to
the end Jesus walked directly toward Calvary, and his faith
in God and man waxed stronger as he neared the Cross.
Inevitably the clash between the sharply
divided interests and forces so rapidly aligning themselves
with growing hatred and intolerance will come. Whether that
crisis will be accompanied by such violence and bloodshed as
to completely disrupt our present civilization no one can
say. It may be that the children of light will prevail over
the children of darkness at least far enough to mitigate the
force of the shock and to lessen the violence, the persecution
and the oppression. It may even be that the forces of
spiritual righteousness will muster, before it is too late,
sufficient strength to achieve by peaceful and gradual steps,
the reconstruction of the world in time to avert an
intervening period of physical strife. Such an issue is devoutly to
be wished for.
But if the crisis comes in our day, if violence and
hate and falsehood surround us on every hand, what will be
the measure of our spiritual stature? Will we be afraid of
our isolation in the pronouncement of our testimony of
Christian love? Will we fall victims to one or the other of the
currents of mob hysteria eddying around us, lose our faith and
our courage, and under pressure of incited prejudices,
ourselves resort to measures which utterly betray our spiritual
trust? Such is the test, in greater or less degree, which
Friends must face within the next generation or two.
Among us there will be prophetic spirits who will
grow in stature and in strength as the lines close in. And no
matter what the price they have to pay in personal suffering,
no matter how they are maligned and reviled, they will
remain firm in the faith. For the race of the prophets is a
hardy one. Through every age and crisis of history they
have prevailed. They represent the most real and
solid substantiation of our faith, for their spirits and the
truths they uttered still prevail over all other truths. Amid
the changes and the disruptions of present institutions
which the coming years will see, we must remain true to
the conviction that this inexorable law of absolute love, this
one fundamental truth of human experience transcends all
other truths. We must continue to affirm it, more insistently
than ever, and to maintain that the spiritual reconstruction
which proceeds from this basis must underlie and pervade
every social or economic theory upon which any new society is built.
The Renewal Of Our Own Spiritual Vitality
As in the past, so in the future, though nations
and peoples and kingdoms pass, the prophets will prevail.
For us, as Friends, the simple question is: shall prophets
spring from our midst? Have we sufficient spiritual vitality
to produce them? We are faced with the challenge of a
crucial test. It is wonderful to live in days which prove one's
mettle. Let us "rejoice and be exceeding glad" that there
is bequeathed to us that bold adventure of faith upon
which we can set forth. Friends may be living in an age at
this moment in which they will be put to the test of
preserving their spiritual identity under conditions similar to those
faced by the early Friends. We must gird our loins and put oil
in our lamps. We are faced with the necessity, in this work
of larger spiritual reconstruction, of reconstructing our
own spiritual foundations, of finding anew the full meaning
of the Inner Light as it applies to our own times, of
putting renewed emphasis upon our worship, of
rededicating ourselves to our traditional concerns, of reaching
untouched areas in our fulfillment of the free ministry, and of
applying in our daily living, in all of our direct and indirect
human relationships, the rigid discipline of personal
righteousness, "to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with
our God." And persistently we must ask ourselves this
one question so profoundly challenging in our present world,
"What Think Ye of Christ?"