Coercion Cannot Win Souls
By Editor
We do not blame men who are engaged in this Men and Religion Forward Movement for their earnestness, their zeal, their purpose to do something. We grant that they are sincere, honest men, but we do condemn their methods along inquisitorial and political lines. Coercive methods never won souls. They may seem to be successful for a little time, but they will never come to full Gospel fruition. As one of their speakers remarked, Jesus Christ was one of the broadest teachers that the world ever knew. That is true, but He never resorted to political methods. He never resorted to coercive methods. His appeal was always to the heart and to the conscience. He knew that no soul was truly God's soul unless it was willingly so. That has been the great lesson for the church to learn through all the ages. It is a basic principle in religious liberty, and he who ignores it is bound to go astray. Numbers will not make wrong right, nor will they develop out of a bad principle that which is good.