Religion Gets Him in Jail

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 26, 1907

Religion Gets Him in Jail

UNDER the above heading the following dispatch from Berlin, Germany, dated September 14, appeared in the Washington (D. C.) Herald of Sept. 15, 1907, bringing down to date the case of Brother Muegge, dealt with so fully in the article by Elder Conradi on page 12:—

“A private soldier named Muegge, belonging to the Thirty-first Regiment of Infantry, has been sentenced here to seven months' imprisonment by a court-martial for refusing to obey the commands of his superiors. Muegge belongs to the sect of Adventists, who sternly forbid the performance of any sort of work between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday. Their Sabbatarianism, in fact, is stricter than that of the strictest order of Jews.”

“It is by no means the first time that Muegge has received a similar punishment. He entered the army last autumn, and since then he has been practically all the time in jail, for no sooner has one term of imprisonment expired than his refusal to obey fresh commands on Saturday brings with it fresh punishment.”

“Muegge declares that he will die rather than commit the sin of desecrating the holy day. The military authorities are equally determined not to yield.”

The statement in the above quotation, that Adventists “sternly forbid the performance of any work” on the Sabbath, is, of course, incorrect. The Lord himself has given the command concerning the Sabbath, and each individual must decide for himself whether he will obey; and his obedience is not to a “sect,” but to the Lord of the Sabbath.