When I compiled a collection of extracts from John Woolman’s writings with some comments of my own, it was my contention that the wisdom of John Woolman was still relevant to the problems of the twentieth century. It is my intention today to try to show by examples of present day applications how true that contention was. I want to begin, as I believe John Woolman would have begun himself, at a very personal and intimate level. I want to begin, as John Woolman so often did begin, with the mind of a child.
I am happy to say that I do not write as a “disciple” of John Woolman or of Mahatma Gandhi or of any of those great teachers who have helped me to understand more about God and Man – and myself. The world will be no better for people who can recite chunks from Woolman’s Journal, even if they try to apply them to personal and social problems, unless they have drunk from the spring which was the inspiration of Woolman’s life. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” is not a counsel of “other-worldliness,” but a simple suggestion that you may as well get your bearings if you intend to reach the harbor.
