PERSUASION OR FORCE by Alonzo T. Jones

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 15, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 46.

PERSUASION OR FORCE.

By Alonzo T. Jones

THE Gospel of Jesus Christ is founded in freedom—the freedom of the individual.

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," is not a command, but an invitation. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely," recognizes the right of human choice in the matter of worship. If any one had the right to compel worship, it would be our heavenly Father, but those words last quoted are His words, spoken by His Son for Him.

There is a command in reference to the promulgation of the Gospel. It reads: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature;" but the command ceases there, and is given only to those who have voluntarily become members of the household of faith. The Gospel of Jesus Christ recognizes the freedom, equality, and brotherhood of man.

But there is another method of the promulgation of religious belief. It is as old as Paganism, and its principles are utterly subversive of the righteous principles of the Gospel of Christ. We may term it "the gospel of force." Each is the antipode of the other in purpose, in conception, in the process by which it accomplishes its object, and in the object itself when it has been worked out. Jesus said, "If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." But the "gospel of force" judges, condemns, executes. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches, invites, convinces, and wins men, in order that eternal life may be bestowed upon them. The "gospel of force" beats down, compels, drives, brow-beats, and even kills some, in order that its eminence may be recognized by those that remain, its greatness be acknowledged by men, even at the expense of the lives of some of the men. And that has been done even in our own day; and the spirit that would permit it has not yet been eradicated from our midst by any means. In that is manifest the pagan heritage of all its principles and modes of operation.

In the imperial nations which call themselves Christian the "gospel of force" is the chief tenet in the creed of national progress. He who does not bow to that creed is disloyal to his country. In Russia he who forsakes the orthodox faith is looked upon as disloyal to his emperor and his country. It is a punishable offense; it is not permitted under prevailing Russian law in spite of the manifestoes of religious liberty. What the new order of things may bring about in Russia we can not as yet tell. If it shall accomplish the separation of church and state, then it will have gone to the very root of religious liberty and of all liberty, for a people are not free until they have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience. In view of this fact the people of this country should look with alarm upon the very first experiment in the matter of religious legislation. They should look with alarm upon the position taken by our Supreme Court in declaring that this is a Christian nation. They should look with alarm upon the growing sentiment among religious bodies toward the enactment of Sunday laws, or even laws for the closing of saloons on Sunday. The latter are not in the interests of temperance, but in the interest of Sunday alone, a religious institution.

The "gospel of force" is not confined to one empire or one nation. The principle is the same wherever found. In the pagan mind religion and the sword are closely related, and it was not an uncommon thing for one heathen nation to conquer another, and force the conquered nation to worship the gods of the conquerors. The "gospel of force," the "gospel of powder and ball," the gospel of "the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other," is based upon the same idea. The principle of the Christian religion is, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." It is a matter of free choice. The principle underlying that false system is, Choose the religion we bring, or feel the fury of the sword or the penalty of law.

Between the latter principle and the underlying principle of the Gospel of Christ there is a great gulf fixed which no man can bridge. On the one side of that gulf is the throne of everlasting Love; on the other is the throne of the arbitrary despot, on which sits Lucifer, the fallen lightbearer. His church is the church of force; his ministers the mailed warriors who carry "the Bible in one hand" and the implements of death and destruction in the other. But God, who has warned men against an unequal yoking with unbelief, has never yoked Himself with the proponents of any such cruel and ghastly policy. The ministers of the "gospel of force" smite with the mailed fist; the ministers of the Gospel of Christ turn the fist into an open hand for the bestowal of blessings. The one bruises; the other binds up whatever bruising the other has done. The one wields the sword; the other binds up its wounds. The one compels enmity; the other wins hearts and souls.

Force and Christianity, imperialism and the kingdom of Christ, are as far apart as the east and the west, as death and life. The "gospel of force" has been tried in every nation, and has proved a bane to the people and to the true cause of God. There is a better way; there is a purer, kinder Gospel; there is a King who never does nor will oppress. That way is the way He trod with bleeding feet; that Gospel is the Gospel of love and brotherhood; and that King is the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father, whose home is the habitation of love, whose throne is set in the hearts of those who are His. Into His service oppression never comes, and out of His hand go none of the carnal arrows that wound the hearts of men. Let us enlist in that service of love; let us preach that Gospel of peace; and then triumph in that victory that uproots all things that bruise, and oppress, and misrepresent the mission of our Father in the earth. S.