Chapter I 



THE BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF 



QUAKERISM 



I DO not think that anyone will dispute the fact that the 

 distinguishing and fundamental doctrine of Quakerism 

 is the Doctrine of the Light Within. Before ever the 

 Society of Friends was known by that name the early 

 Friends were wont to call themselves ** Children of the 

 Light/' In so far as it can be said that the Society of 

 Friends was built up on a doctrine, and in large measure 

 it was so, that doctrine was undoubtedly the doctrine 

 of the Light Within ; but I fancy that very few, even 

 of our own members, realise what a profound spiritual 

 revolution this doctrine meant, and for that matter 

 still means, to the majority of Christians brought up 

 within the narrow limits of conventional religious 

 thought, 



Quakerism arose in the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, and at that time two doctrines were regarded by 

 the Reformed Churches as indisputable dogmas. There 

 was the doctrine of the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, 

 and the doctrine of Original Sin, Let us consider 

 these two doctrines separately and see how the doctrine 

 of the Light Within cuts straight across both of 

 them. 



The doctrine of Verbal Inspiration arose immediately 

 after the Reformation, Curiously enough it was not 

 held by the Reformers themselves, Luther was a 

 Higher Critic of no mean order. He spoke of the Epistle 



