36 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



of a Kingdom of God in which the poor should 

 have their rights, and the widows and fatherless should 

 have full justice done them, had been implicit and 

 often explicit, in the teachings of the prophets of Israel 

 for eight hundred years, and in theory the Pharisees 

 accepted it. What was most original in the teaching 

 of Jesus was the way in which the revolution was to be 

 brought about* It was to be accomplished by meeting 

 all wrong and injustice with active good will and 

 benevolence ♦ '' If a man smite thee on the one cheek, 

 turn to him the other also/' '* If a man take away thy 

 coat, let him have thy cloak also/' *' If a man compel 

 thee to go a mile, go with him twain/* 



The saying of Jesus concerning the second mile is 

 made all the more striking when we remember that the 

 men who imposed compulsory service were the Romans, 

 the enemies of the nation. Thus by love were the Jews 

 to conquer their conquerors ! 



Some years ago, a Hindu Professor of Philosophy 

 said to me, '' Christianity is an Oriental religion, and you 

 Western nations utterly fail to understand it. If you 

 would only send us the Gospel without the European we 

 should take to it like fish to water. Thus when Jesus 

 tells you to turn the other cheek, to give to every thief 

 and to lend to every would-be borrower, you explain 

 it all away as metaphor ; but that was the bread and 

 butter of His teaching. When however Jesus does speak 

 in the language of metaphor, as when He says that He 

 gives His life a ransom for many, you take it literally 

 and convert it into a dogma of the Church.*' 



And truly my Hindu friend was right. Centuries 

 of battling against the material forces of Nature has made 

 us Western nations grossly materialistic. Materialism 

 is bred in our bones. The ethics of our Western religion 

 might be summed up in one word. Honesty. The greatest 

 flight of our imagination rarely soars higher than 



