Joseph Sturge, the founder of the Adult School movement, once wrote: “It seems to be the will of Him who is infinite in wisdom, that light upon great subjects should first arise and be gradually spread through the faithfulness of individuals in acting up to their own convictions.” This personal witness for truth, based upon a living experience of it, is the great duty laid upon each member of the Quaker Church. It carries with it the necessity for self-sacrifice. We know how the self-sacrifice of our Lord on the cross was the atonement of [54] ]the world, and the self-sacrifice of men and women, in the spirit of Jesus Christ, has still redemptive force.
We see before the Society of Friends, as it renews its spiritual communion and its warmth of fellowship, a great service for which it has been wonderfully prepared—a service for the revival of vital, prophetic religion and for its expression in righteousness of life—but the service will be fruitful through discipline and suffering; if it is to be redemptive of society it will cost much; those of us who have seen the vision of the future that may be will find our eyes filled with light and our hearts with peace, and our souls will know the springings-up of everlasting life and power, but at the same time our feet must be treading the way of the Cross with our Lord.
[Footnote 1: ] Burrough, Preface to “Great Mystery.”] [Return to text]
[Footnote 2: ] “The Way, The Truth, The Life,” p. 183.] [Return to text]
[Footnote 3: ] Cambridge Journal, i, 343.] [Return to text]
PART II[ [55]
THE CONTRIBUTION OF FRIENDS TO THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE CHURCH
BY HENRY T. HODGKIN, M.A., M.B.
Secretary of the Friends Foreign Mission Association, of London, England
Introductory Words
After a general introduction I shall refer briefly to some ways in which Friends in the past have made a contribution to the Church’s life and work. I shall then set forth under seven heads the distinctive mission which I believe the Society of Friends has to our own generation both in Western lands and in the awakening nations of the East. In closing we may pause to consider what is required in order that this message may be believed in its fullness and power.