104 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



the Carpenter of Nazareth* The graphic description 

 given us by the Synoptic writers^ has enabled us to see 

 Him as He trod the shores of Gahlee, teaching men to 

 love their enemies ; not only their personal enemies, 

 but the enemies of their country ; the men who trampled 

 under foot their rights and liberties ; the men who, in 

 cold blood, slew their innocent babes ; the men who 

 committed sacrilege and mingled the blood of the 

 worshippers with their sacrifices. All these were to be 

 loved because God, the Father of all men, loved good and 

 bad alike, and sought to win them by undiscriminating 

 beneficence ♦ But not only did Christ teach this universal 

 love ; He lived it. He healed the servant of the foreign 

 War-Lord, who was keeping His fellow-countrymen in 

 subjection. He refused to punish the Samaritan village 

 that refused to entertain Him, He even healed the ear 

 of the man who had come to arrest Him, and to carry 

 Him to His doom. 



But Christ did even more than live out His doctrine : 

 He died for it. And on the Cross He prayed for the brutal 

 Roman soldiers, '' Father, forgive them, for they know 

 not what they do,'' And in all this we see revealed the 

 Infinite Love of God to the very worst of men. 



But I have no wish to limit the channels through 

 which the Vision may come. Before ever Christ was 

 born, men had visions of God's goodness ; to some it 

 came through the Hebrew Prophets ; to some it came 

 through the Buddha and through other saints and sages 

 of antiquity. But to many it came, and still comes, 

 direct from God himself, for God has never left Himself 

 without a witness. And just now, when the apostasy 

 of the Churches has alienated so many from the Master, 

 this direct Revelation of God is more than ever note- 

 worthy. Many of the conscientious objectors said that 

 they were not Christians, Nevertheless, they have 

 had a Vision of God and have been willing to face 



