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    March 4, 1897

    “Religious Coercion is Antichristian” American Sentinel 12, 9.

    E. J. Waggoner

    “Present Truth.” (London, Eng.)

    Why is it that those who have passed under the name of Christian, and whom the world at large accounts as representative of Christianity, have, so universally, sought temporal power?AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.1

    He who is really Christian follows in the footsteps of Christ, does he not? But Christ avoided even the slightest assumption of temporal authority. He even refuse to be an arbitrator in a simple dispute as to the division of property, saying to the one who sought his intervention, “Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?”AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.2

    The persistent and fatal error with which so many of His personal followers were possessed was that He was about to set up an earthly kingdom. But Christ combated this error continually, taking every occasion of reproving them for their worldly ambitions, and of setting before them the contrast between the futility of all earthly things and the eternal stability of the mansions of that kingdom eternal in the heavens, which He went to prepare.AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.3

    The follower of Christ must follow Him in truth, or else he is not a disciple and a follower, but a pretender and a traitor. Christ sought no temporal authority over men. He strenuously referred even the smallest opportunity for the exercise of such power. Is it then consistent with the life and example of the Master, for those who claim to be His disciples, to seek to dominate over their fellow-men?AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.4

    If the example of Christ is followed, those who carry His Gospel will use no authority in religious things, other than the persuasion of the Word. Christ judges no man. He Himself said so. He permits all men to judge themselves, to choose that which they will, whether it be life or death. This being so, it is impossible for men who claim to speak for Christ, and exercise authority from Him, to coerce men into accepting and receiving eternal life. Spiritual coercion is futile. It even goes beyond futility, it defeats itself, and becomes an active agent in the opposite direction to that in which it purports to work.AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.5

    The fact that this is so marks the origin of this great deception, and its masterly development to the present hour, as coming from the arch-enemy of God and mankind. When the teachings of the Word of God, and the example of Christ, are so plain, and the evidences of the destructive working of Satan’s deceptions so evidently seen, it is indeed a “mystery of iniquity” that man should choose the antichristian way and call it Christian.AMS March 4, 1897, page 139.6

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