p. 10 | A True Stand

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 11, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 23.

A True Stand

A CATHOLIC canon in France condemned from the pulpit, according to the Western Watchman, a school manual which he believed contained deadly error. For this he was haled before the court. Among other things in his defense he said:

“To you, judges, the interpretation of the civil law, the punishment of crimes, belong. But above the human code is the code of God. . . . I do not obey, but I yield to, the law. What is my crime? A teacher made his pupils read and study the manual of Calvet, which manual has been condemned by the bishops of France. This manual has pages of error against the truths of religion and faith. I am a priest; and because I am one, I said to the children, ‘You can not keep that book.’ This I had to say. Perhaps my mission is not to preach truth and to struggle against error and lies. Had I kept silent, I should not to-day be forced to appear before you. But the Supreme Tribunal, that which is Truth, and a Judge from whom there is no appeal, should make me hear an inexorable word, a word of terrible reproach and condemnation. Therefore, better obey God than men, and in the choice I prefer to be condemned by men than by God.”

Now entirely apart from the priest’s religious views, he took the only stand possible for a man of conscience to take. All such controversies lie properly and always outside of civil jurisdiction. A conscientious priest was made a criminal because of religious opinion. He was fined fifty francs. Neither France nor any other government can afford such prosecutions.