And he always refused to allow any such use of the Bible in connexion with Penitents as has been usual in Inquiry Rooms, where the people have been taught that if they only believed the words of some text, all would be well with them.  The faith to which The General desired all who came to the Penitent-Form to be led is not the mere belief of some statement, but that confidence in God’s faithfulness to all His promises, which brings peace to the soul.

Nothing could be more unjust than the representation that by the use of the Penitent-Form an attempt is made to work up excitement, or emotion.  Experience has proved, everywhere, that nothing tends so rapidly to allay the painful anxiety of a soul, hesitating before the great decision, as the opportunity to take at once, and publicly, a decisive step.  We often sing:—­

    Only a step, only a step,
    Why not take it now? 
    Come, and thy sins confessing,
    Thou shalt receive a blessing;
    Do not reject the mercy
    So freely offered thee.

But the Penitent-Form is no modern invention, nor can it be claimed as the speciality of any set of religionists.  Even heathen people in past ages have provided similar opportunities for those who felt a special need either to thank their God for blessings received, or to seek His help in any specific case, to come forward in an open way, and confess their wants, their confidence, or their gratitude, at some altar or shrine.

Shame upon us all that objection should ever be made to equally public avowals of penitence, of submission, of faith, or of devotion to the Saviour of the world.  The General, at any rate, never wavered in demanding the most speedy and decisive action of this kind, and he probably led more souls to the Penitent-Form than any man who has ever lived.

In Germany especially it has frequently been objected that the soul which is “compelled” to take a certain course has in that very fact manifested a debased and partly-destroyed condition, and that nothing can excuse the organisation of methods of compulsion.  With any such theory one could not but have considerable sympathy, were it not for the undeniable fact that almost all “civilised” people are perpetually under the extreme pressure of society around them, which is opposed to prayer, or to any movement of the soul in that direction.

To check and overcome that very palpable compulsion on the wrong side, the most desperate action of God’s servants in all ages has never been found strong enough.  Hence there has come about another sort of compulsion, within the souls of all God’s messengers.  It could not but be more agreeable to flesh and blood if the minds of men could more easily be induced to turn from the things that are seen to those which are invisible.  But this has never yet been the case.  Hence all who really hear God’s voice cannot but become alarmed as to the manifest danger that His warnings may remain entirely unheeded.  When once any soul is truly enlightened, it cannot but put forth every devisable effort to compel the attention of others.