Both of the Same Root

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 16, 1915

Both of the Same Root

ONE prominent correspondent to the Catholic Western Watchman speaks of the persecution and slaying of Roman Catholic priests in Belgium, monstrous and cruel if the reports are true. No man should be persecuted for his faith, whether Catholic or Protestant. Every Christian should forever repudiate such actions. But in the same paper, another equally prominent correspondent tells with satisfaction that “the statue of Giordano Bruno is destitute of decorations other than the stale vegetables which the pious huckster women throw at its base. This is as it should be.”

Now it is the same spirit and principle which moved the Italian women to do what they did to show contempt for Bruno, that moved the “Protestant” soldiers to slay Belgian priests. The difference in the deeds was not in spirit but in degree. The Spirit of Christ would do neither.