CHRISTIAN LIFE, FAITH, AND THOUGHT.*
THE pronouncements of the Society of Friends strike a note unfamiliar in ecclesiastical utterances—that of religion. The interminable disputes over ritual and ()reeds which distract the National Church, though her wiser members turn aside from
them, according to their temperament, either with weariness or contempt, are unknown among these quiet sectaries ; the hubristics of Catholicism, the self-assertiveness of Noncon- formity, belong to another world than theirs. What a relief to turn to this, the earliest advice on Christian practice issued by any general body of Friends (1656) :- " Dearly beloved Friends, those things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided ; and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not in the letter ; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."
Or to Isaac Penington (1616-1679) :— " All truth is a shadow except the last—except the utmost, yet every Truth is true in its kind. It is substance in its own place, though it be but a shadow in another place (for it is but a shadow from an intenser substance) ; and the shadow is a true shadow, as the substance is a true substance."
Or to William Penn (1644-1718) :- " It is not opinion, or speculation, or notions of what is true, or assent to or the subscription of articles or propositions, though never so soundly worded, that . . . makes a man a truo believer or a true Christian. But it is a conformity of mind and practice to the will of God, in all holiness of conversation, s.ecording to this Divine principle of Light and Life in the soul, which denotes a person truly a child of God."
It is like coming out of the heat and noise of the street on to
an open hillside ; we " have reached a purer air." Nor do the yearly meetings of our own time show any falling off from
this level ; their temper and point of view are the same. This work contains extracts from the Yearly Meeting Epistles from 1736-1920 ; to which additional matter from the writings of individual Friends and from various Society documents
have been attached. " It is hoped that the book, with its emphasis throughout on vital experience, may prove an inspira- tion not Only to our own members, but to many in other sections of the Church universal and to seekers after Truth everywhere."
It should do so. The Churches have much to learn from " the Religious Society of Friends."
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