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Methodists Accused of Proselyting

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 10, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 10.

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Methodists Accused of Proselyting

By K. C. Russell

K. C. RUSSELL
The Washington Times of Feb. 7, 1910, states that former Vice-President Fairbanks was denied an audience with Pope Pius X. This refusal was caused by Vice-President Fairbanks' publicly announcing that he would address the American Methodist Church in Rome, which the Pope regards as proselyters among Catholics. This act on the part of the so-called successor of St. Peter will doubtless receive a merited rebuke from the Methodist Church.
The Methodists have a perfect and legitimate right to convert Roman Catholics to their views, and for this they should not be stigmatized as proselyters by the Pope of Rome or any other prelate or member of that church. The same principle obtains in the work of Seventh-day Adventists with Methodists. They have a right to present their doctrines and views to every Methodist in the land, or to the members of any other church, providing such members desire to read or listen to their doctrines.
God has created men and women free moral agents, and above every other thing in this world they should have a right to exercise their freedom in matters of religious faith and practise. It is time that churchmen abandon the idea that they have control over the souls of men and women because they are communicants in their church. It is true that they have a right and a duty to counsel and encourage them in every Christian way to remain loyal to the tenets of the particular church to which they belong, but beyond this they have no authority.
It is not surprising that the Roman Catholics should regard Methodists who may be seeking converts from their church, as proselyters. That is an old characteristic of theirs which reaches back to Luther's time during the Reformation. But it is to be regretted that any professed Protestant church should adopt the same cry that has been made by the Roman Catholic Church in all ages. There never would have been any Protestant church if those who had separated from the Catholic Church had not sought to win converts to the light which God had given them. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.”
Takoma Park, D. C.