24 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



piety has never yet led men right* It will^ to be sure, 

 follow in the paths of righteousness, but only when 

 public opinion has proved that further opposition is 

 hopeless* The Institutions popularly known as ** The 

 Churches/^ have always opposed every scientific approach 

 towards Truth, from the days of Galileo to those of 

 Darwin ; and they have always opposed Social Reform, 

 from the days of ** The Peasant Revolt '' to the days of 

 the ** Conscientious Objectors/^ The great reformers 

 and prophets have all been followers of the Light Within, 

 while their most bitter opponents have always been the 

 followers of conventional piety* 



It is safe, therefore, to say that science and experience 

 alike teach us that the Light Within is not a theological 

 dogma ; it is a biological fact* Science has traced its 

 evolution, and experience has proved its value* More- 

 over, I have no hesitation in saying, that, because the 

 doctrine of the Light Within is a biological fact, the 

 religions of the future are certain to be forms of Quakerism, 

 modified so as to adapt themselves to the varying needs 

 of mankind. 



In Kropotkin*s little book, to which I have 

 already alluded, he shows how, in the mediaeval 

 cities, miracles of Art and Literature were produced 

 by mutual aid, rather than by competition* The 

 Guilds of the Craftsmen ruled out selfish individ- 

 ualism* But the system broke down because the 

 co-operation was too limited in its scope* It did not 

 include the surrounding peasantry or the neighbouring 

 towns, and so the co-operation of the city had to give 

 place to a larger unit, that of the nation* In this larger 

 unit the Art was, on the whole, far less noble, because 

 initiative was crushed by despotism. Art and Literature 

 must have freedom for their growth and development* 

 But this national unit, too, is breaking down, and that 

 for the same reason : the co-operative unit is not wide 



