22 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



unnatural* Yet, in spite of unnatural surroundings, 

 nature constantly re-asserts herself* This is most 

 often seen amongst the poor, whose kindly generosity 

 so often amazes us* Their lives are, in many ways, 

 more natural than our own ; and their dependence on 

 mutual aid, though no more real, is far more obvious* 

 When the breadwinner falls ill, or out of work, the family 

 would ** go under ** were it not for the kindly help of 

 their neighbours* But even among the very rich. Nature 

 not unfrequently asserts herself, and we see revealed 

 that spontaneous generosity, which she meant to have 

 been the unvarying routine of our lives* It is really 

 man's selfishness that should surprise us ; not his 

 generosity* His generosity is natural ; his selfishness 

 artificial* 



One of the most striking things in the teaching of 

 Jesus is His marvellous faith in human nature* His 

 religion is founded on the assumption that human 

 nature is good ; that man's natural instincts are true and 

 trustworthy* ** Why judge ye not of yourselves what 

 is right?'' He asks* And again, '' Which of you having 

 an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave 

 the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that 

 which is lost, until he find it ? " He takes it for granted 

 that,if left to himself, man will do the kindly and generous 

 thing* Indeed, His religion is a religion of natural and 

 spontaneous benevolence, as opposed to the religion of 

 conventional piety, by which He was surrounded, and 

 by which we are equally surrounded* The Good 

 Samaritan was not a religious man in the ordinary sense 

 of the word* To the Jew, he was far worse than an 

 infidel* But he did the right thing, simply because he 

 followed the natural impulse towards kindliness and 

 generous benevolence ; and that, notwithstanding the 

 fact that the wounded man was an enemy of his country* 

 The priest and the Levite were religious men, and they did 



