JESUS CHRIST came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Neither did He use force to compel them. The nature of His earthly work was fivefold. In Isaiah He says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." This He faithfully did for three and a half years, without once appealing to the State for protection, notwithstanding the whole pagan system and Jewish theocracy were against Him; and if there was ever a time when deception, intrigue, and the clamor for innocent blood would justify the use of force, it was in Gethsemane, on that memorable night of His betrayal. But hear His words to Peter at this time, "Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Christ was a living example of the principle, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." He is the Christian's perfect pattern, our example in all things. The only power that God can use and be God, or that He has ever delegated to any one, is love. The power of force tends to murder, and this is of Satan. John 8:44. Whether it be by man, organization, or nation, whenever and wherever the blade of steel is used for the spread of the Gospel and the protection of the cause of Christ, it has and will prove a failure; and, tho those who resort to this method may be zealous and clamorous, as was Peter, in vowing allegiance to the Master's cause, yet the record stands to all eternity—that night "Peter followed afar off."
I would that there were more Pauls to-day who, through a daily death, could say, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." And, what was more beautiful, he lived it, and so became not only a noted preacher, but an instructor, not alone to old, but to the young! Hear his advice to Timothy, "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season." What advice! What an instructor! What qualifications Paul, were he living to-day, would have for secretary of the Epworth League of the great city of New York, we do not presume to say, but feel certain that he would not seek to tickle President McKinley's ears as they may have been tickled at the Ocean Grove camp-meeting on August 27, when a visit from the President called forth the following remarks from Dr. A. E. Schell, of New York, corresponding secretary of the Epworth League.
"The church militant salutes the nation militant and recognizes that their mission and duty is to-day identical,—the civilization and evangelization of the world."
He further says:—
"There are more than one million young men in the Epworth League alone. No Alexander or Caesar ever had an army like that. We aspire to be the tenth legion for any campaign."
These remarks need no comment. The religious decay and moral decline are too apparent. These misguided souls have a zeal that is not according to knowledge. The wielding of the sword in behalf of religion is an old principle, but it is of heathen origin. The Romans fought to establish their religion, and Gibbons, in his "History of Rome," speaking of the conquered, says, "To resist was fatal, and to fly was impossible." Constantine, who, in A.D. 311, secured the support of the church by espousing its cause, successfully used the sword to extend his new belief; but his whole career was that of a hypocritical despot, who murdered many, even of his own household; and at the time of his death, in A.D. 337, his hypocrisy had been so subtle that both Christians and pagans each claimed him as their convert and leader.
Clovis, king of the Franks, secured the title of "Most Holy King," because, in a hard-pressed battle with the Allemanni, he, as a last resort, invoked the blessing of his wife's god. He gained the battle, and compelled thousands of his army to be baptized, and with his Christian army stoutly defended the new faith.
The rapid spread of Mohammedanism was due to the undaunted courage of its followers, inspired by their aspiring leaders. The favorite battle-cry of one of these was, "Fight, fight, paradise, paradise." We look with contempt on the work of the Crusaders, in which hundreds of thousands of the youth of Europe perished, and which almost ruined the country, because they tried to extend God's kingdom by the sword. Yet in this enlightened age Mr. Schell says, "He [the President] has our prayers to-day; he can have our money tomorrow; and the whole million will enlist the day after if we are needed." Why?—Because the "mission and duty of the Epworth League and the President are identical to-day,—the civilization and evangelization of the world."
O that we had men like Roger Williams, who could define the rights of the State, and the privileges of the Christian, but, alas, his followers are drilling soldiers right in the church! Why does the church need a brigade when the Lord says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4: 6)? Where are the followers of the humble Wesley, the saintly Fletcher, and the eloquent Whitefield? Have they finished the Gospel work, so that from henceforth their attention must be turned to national affairs? Listen: "Humanity, honesty, virtue, reason, liberty, civilization, and Christianity demand the expulsion of this last consummate specimen of the criminal cruelties of a Latin civilization from the island whose shores are touched by the same ideas that wash the coast of this republic." From the report of the committee on national affairs rendered yesterday at the New York Methodist Conference,N. Y. Journal, April 6, 1898.
Reader, be not deceived. The voice of God comes not in the roar of booming cannon, the rattling of musketry, nor the thundering of America's artillery, but it was the still small voice that caused Elijah to cover his head; and every one may hear that same voice, "Stand still, and know that I am the Lord."