138 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



** Be ye therefore perfect/^ Why ? ** Because your 

 Father which is in Heaven is perfect/^ With such a 

 parentage it surely behoves us to show some signs of 

 family resemblance, ** Noblesse oblige.*^ So we see 

 that the whole of Christ*s argument rests upon the Uni- 

 versal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood 

 of man. Nor could I wish that my own argument 

 should rest upon any better foundation. 



Now I have often heard it argued that such passages 

 of Scripture were never intended to be taken literally. 

 But I do not ask that they should be taken Hterally, 

 Take them metaphorically. Take them spiritually, 

 I care not how they are taken. Twist them and turn 

 them as you will. In order to make such teaching 

 harmonise with war, you must call white, black ; and 

 light, Egyptian darkness. 



Then, again, I am quite willing to admit that if these 

 were isolated texts, and out of harmony with the rest 

 of Christ^s teaching, they would prove nothing. You 

 can prove anything you like by the misapplication of 

 isolated texts. But I would submit it to your judgment, 

 and I do so with absolute confidence, that these are not 

 isolated texts, they are perfectly characteristic extracts 

 from the teaching of Jesus, In them there breathes the 

 very spirit of the Master, whose whole life was in 

 perfect harmony with that which He taught. Thus He 

 Himself refused the help of physical force when that 

 help was available, and, apparently, much to be desired. 

 For example, when Simon Peter drew his sword and 

 smote the servant of the High Priest, striking off his 

 ear, our Lord rebuked him with the words, ** Put up thy 

 sword in its place, for they that take the sword shall 

 perish with the sword,^' Yet the action of Peter was 

 bold in the extreme, and if ever the use of the sword 

 was justifiable it was justified then. Was the sword 

 ever drawn in a nobler cause than that of protecting our 



