103 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



And now once more the problem of suffering has 

 become acute. Indeed, during the last six years it has 

 been more acute than it has ever been before in the 

 history of the world* Never was there so much unmerited 

 suffering ; so much unpunished crime. We have seen 

 innocent lads driven forth by wicked and unscrupulous 

 governments to murder and be murdered, and that under 

 circumstances of indescribable horror : whilst many of 

 those who have been largely responsible for the making 

 and continuance of the war, have been reaping rich 

 harvests from the sufferings of their fellow-men. Every- 

 where men are asking the question, '' How doth God 

 know ? Is there knowledge with the Most High ? 

 Behold these are the wicked and being always at ease 

 they increase in riches.'' Nor is it the wicked and 

 unscrupulous who begin to doubt whether there be a 

 God. Far otherwise. The wicked and unscrupulous 

 go to Church and Chapel in full assurance of Divine 

 favour. These questions are being asked by the tender 

 and kind-hearted ; those who are in truth the very salt 

 of the earth. And all that conventional piety has done, 

 has been to throw a cloak of righteousness over villainy, 

 and to give religious sanction to the very worst of 

 devilries. Of a truth the most soul-destroying thing 

 under God's sun is conventional piety. Indeed I 

 have no hesitation in saying that if there had been no 

 Churches or Chapels, so that men had been compelled 

 to judge for themselves what was right, the world would 

 have been a sweeter and better place to live in. Peace 

 will once more be preached from our pulpits when peace 

 is popular ! 



To whom then must we turn in our search for some 

 solution to this awful problem of suffering ? It is 

 obviously no use to turn to conventional piety. Eliphaz, 

 Bildad, and Zophar, with their pious platitudes, can no 

 more help us than they could help Job* 



