Another Brother Fined under the Maryland Sunday Law by W. A. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 22, 1907

Another Brother Fined under the Maryland Sunday Law

By W. A. C.

For tacking in a window in a shed on the back part of his lot on Sunday, August 11,—a task requiring about ten minutes’ work and the driving of half a dozen nails,—Brother H. J. Mulholland, of the Washington Memorial church, who lives at Mt. Rainier, Md., a suburb of Washington, D. C., was arrested and summoned to appear the next day before Justice Stickell, when he was tried and fined five dollars and costs under the Maryland Sunday law.

At his trial Brother Mulholland stated that being an observer of the seventh-day Sabbath, he regarded Sunday only as a working day, and claimed the right therefore to work on the first six days of the week according to the commandment. He told the justice that it seemed rather strange that he should be singled out while others working on the railroads, running street-cars, and doing other kinds of work on Sunday almost constantly should be passed by without notice.

The justice stated that others had been prosecuted for working on Sunday, and that as long as Brother Mulholland remained in the State, he must obey the laws of the State. He said that many complaints had been coming in about Sunday work, and that it was his duty to enforce the law.

Before passing sentence, the justice permitted the writer to speak a few moments. We called his attention to the fact that as a people we respected civil government, believing it to be ordained of God; that we respected our neighbors, and would not knowingly or intentionally annoy or disturb them on any day; but that we did not believe civil government was ordained to direct men in religious matters; that Sunday laws were religious, and their enforcement meant religious persecution. We pointed out that the present Sunday law of Maryland was simply the old Maryland Sunday law of 1723 slightly altered, which was modeled after the English Sunday law of Charles II, of 1676,—one hundred years before the Declaration of Independence,—which law could be traced back for its origin to the old Roman Sunday law of Constantine, in 321 A. D. Such laws, we told him, were out of harmony with the spirit and character of American institutions, the Sunday law of Maryland itself being contrary to the constitution of the State of Maryland, which declares that “as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore, no person ought, by any law, to be molested in his person or estate on account of his religious persuasion or profession, or for his religious practise.” The best thing, therefore, that could be done, we said, would be to repeal such laws, and the next best thing would be

to let them remain, as they have remained largely, dead letters. To enforce them meant a step backward, a return to the days when church and state were united, and religious persecution was carried on. George Washington had well said that a man was accountable to God alone for his religious faith and practise. We cited the fact that California has no Sunday law, and that the general government had gotten along very well for a century and a quarter without such a law. Moreover, there was a conflict between this law and that law which is above every human law, the law of God. The Maryland law calls Sunday the Sabbath, while the law of God declares, in plainest terms, that the seventh day is the Sabbath. Finally, we asked what real crime this man had done in the work he had performed; who had he molested, harmed, or injured in any way?

The justice expressed his appreciation of the facts presented, but, holding that he was obliged to enforce the law, imposed the fine, as stated, whereupon Brother Mulholland appealed the case to trial by jury in the county court.

Upon leaving, we gave the justice a copy of the last number of Liberty and some religious liberty leaflets to read.

W. A. C.