ii8 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



not to the sinner, but to the innocent ; and most of all, 

 as a rule, to those who are nearest and dearest to the 

 sinner ; and so perhaps, most of all to God Himself* 

 But I wish to keep close to the facts of experience, which 

 we all know enough to verify. It is in the nature of 

 sin to bring suffering* It was sin that nailed Jesus 

 Christ to the cross of Calvary* It was sin that placed 

 upon His brow the crown of thorns* It was sin that 

 pierced His side* Nor was Christ alone crucified for 

 sin* Every pure and noble soul that ever trod this 

 earth has, in a sense, been crucified for sin* Every noble 

 brow has worn its crown of thorns, and that because of 

 sin* Every tender heart that has ever throbbed in 

 sympathy for its fellows has been pierced, and pierced 

 by sin* And if we could but hear the world's great 

 cry of anguish as it ascends up to the throne of God, 

 we should never again speak lightly, or think lightly, 

 of sin* 



We hear, it may be, the satisfied chuckle of the 

 shareholder as he receives his dividend* God hears the 

 cry of the labourer who is striving to bring up his family 

 respectably on less than a living wage* 



We hear, it may be, the coarse jest, the foul oath, 

 and the ribald laughter of the pot-house* God hears 

 the cry of women and children for bread* 



We hear, it may be, the loud and vulgar laugh of 

 the woman in the street* God hears the bitter cry of 

 the girl's mother weeping for a daughter worse than 

 dead ; and it may be He hears also the low moan of the 

 stunted and diseased infant who has been damned 

 rather than born into a world of wickedness and vice* 

 And I have longed that the world's great cry of suffer- 

 ing may reach our ears also, and may so touch our 

 hearts as to make us willing to drink of the cup that 

 Christ drank of, even if need be, to the bitter dregs of 

 death* 



