14 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



heard a voice which said to him, '* There is One, even 

 Christ Jesus, can speak to thy condition/^ and when 

 he heard that voice, he tells us, ** his heart did leap for 

 joy/* Never did he again look to outward authority 

 for the help he needed ; he had found within himself 

 the true Teacher which alone could lead him into all 

 Truth — the Light Within ♦ From that day forth this 

 inward illumination grew brighter and brighter, and his 

 whole life was lived in its joy and gladness* 



And now let us consider the question whether the 

 doctrine of the Light Within has any scientific basis* 

 The men who promulgated the doctrine were certainly 

 not scientific men in the usual sense of the word ; and yet 

 their methods were scientific, in so far as they fell back 

 upon first-hand experience, and refused to accept any 

 creeds or dogmas that they had not experimentally proved 

 to be true. Instinctively they used the ** inductive ** 

 method of reasoning. Indeed, I would suggest that 

 the Society of Friends is the only religious organisation 

 which has ever applied the scientific method to theology. 

 Let us see, then, whether their method misled them, or 

 whether it guided them into truth. Is the Light Within 

 a biological fact ? Or is it a theological fiction ? Is 

 man really altogether born in sin, or is he the highest 

 point reached in a long process of evolution towards 

 perfection ? 



In order that we may be able to answer this question 

 intelligently, it is necessary for us briefly to study 

 Evolution ; its history, its meaning, and its methods 



History of Evolution, 



The theory of Evolution was first published to the 

 world in 1859, in Charles Darwin's epoch-making book. 

 The Origin of Species. Like so many discoverers, he 

 was anticipated. He was anticipated by the Greeks 



