6o QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



And he wandered away and away 



With Nature^ the dear old nurse^ 

 Who sang to him all the way 



The songs of the universe. 



And whenever the way seemed long^ 



Or his heart began to fail, 

 She would sing a more wonderful song> 



Or tell a more marvellous tale. 



To such a system of education there is no finality. 

 We cease to be students only when we cease to be. 



And what is true of Nature is equally true of Art. 

 Some time ago^ a lady came to the Manchester School 

 of Art and said that she wanted ** finishing lessons.** 

 The Principal of the School^ whom she addressed, 

 happened to be talking to Walter Crane at the time ; 

 the two smiled at each other, and informed the good 

 lady that they did not feel themselves qualified to give 

 ** finishing lessons/* and that to get them she would 

 have to go elsewhere. Whereupon the poor lady turned 

 away, grievously disappointed ! And if there be no 

 finality in Art, still less is there finality in religion. 



And now for the application of what I have been 

 saying : Let us first turn to the views of religious truth 

 commonly held by other religious denominations. And 

 here let me remind you, that I am not speaking of 

 individual members but of the denominations as 

 denominations. They have their creeds and dogmas, 

 their Thirty-nine Articles, their Westminster Confes- 

 sions, their Longer and Shorter Catechisms, and the 

 like. All which, mark you, contain a large amount of 

 Greek theology and metaphysics, and comparatively 

 little of the Christianity of Christ. And when these have 

 been understood and believed and accepted as true, then 

 salvation is assured ; the end of religion has been 

 attained. As though, forsooth, salvation could ever be 

 attained by holding certain theological opinions about 

 Christ, however sound those opinions might be. 



