Pilate said to them, Take Him yourselves and judge and sentence and punish Him according to your [own] law.

The Jews answered, It is not lawful for us to put someone to death. John 18:31 Amplified Bible    

When men indulge this accusing spirit, they are not satisfied with pointing out what they suppose to be a defect in their brother. If milder means fail of making him do what they think ought to be done, they will resort to compulsion. Just as far as it lies in their power they will force men to comply with their ideas of what is right. This is what the Jews did in the days of Christ and what the church has done ever since whenever she has lost the grace of Christ. Finding herself destitute of the power of love, she has reached out for the power of the state to enforce her dogmas and execute her decrees. Here is the secret of all religious laws that have ever been enacted, and the secret of all persecution from the days of Able to our time. Christ does not drive but draws men unto Him. The only compulsion which He employs is the constraint of love. When the church begins to seek for the support of secular powers, it is evident that she is devoid of the power of Christ - the constraint of divine love.

Source:

Mount of Blessing by E.G. White

The Stanborough Press Limited

ISBN# 1-904685-06-4

Pages 126-127