p. 372 | Untitled article by K. C. RUSSELL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · December 1, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 47

Would Our Forefathers Blush?

By K. C. RUSSELL

THE following dialogue is said to have taken place between an artist and a Catholic priest while the former was painting the pictures of Paul and Peter on the walls of a grand cathedral:—

Priest.—And Patrick, why do you put so much red on the cheeks of the apostles?

Artist.—Because I imagine as they look down upon their successors how they must blush!

As I have contrasted the sentiments of Wesley and others with their successors of to-day on the subject of religious liberty I have thought, if the pictures of the former were to be painted, that it would take a good deal of red paint on their cheeks to produce the required blush.

Let those who think the language too strong compare the spirit of those who are boycotting, oppressing and imprisoning, like felons, devoted and God-fearing Christians who differ from them religiously, with the spirit voiced in the following words by John Wesley:—

Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind of degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you can not reason or persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the Judge of all.

Dr. Clarke, the Methodist commentator, says in his notes on “Compel them to come in,” Luke 14:23:—

No other kind of constraint (than prayers, counsels, entreaties, etc.) is ever recommended in the gospel of Christ. Every other kind of compulsion is anti-Christian, can only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce nothing but hypocrites.

Persecution is so far from being encouraged by the gospel, that it is most directly contrary to many of its precepts, and indeed to the whole genius of it; it is condemned by the example of Christ who went about doing good; who came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them; who waived the exercise of his miraculous power against his enemies, even when they most unjustly and cruelly assaulted him, and never exerted it to corporal punishment, even of those who most justly deserved it.

From all this we may learn that the church which tolerates, encourages, and practices persecution, under the pretence of concern for the purity of the faith, and zeal for God’s glory, is not the church of Christ; and that no man can be of such a church, without endangering his salvation.

Would that the words of these godly men might be indelibly stamped upon the heart of every Methodist and every other person in the land; then there would be no need of their forefathers blushing were they to look upon their successors.

K. C. RUSSELL.

Northumberland, Pa.