Prosecuted for Sabbath-Keeping
FROM the Canadian Union Messenger we take the following account of the trial of the two brethren who were arrested under the Sunday law of Ontario, as mentioned in our last issue:— “On Monday, August 15, Brethren Charles Sweeten and Fred Boettger, who for more than a year past have been employed on the Lornedale Academy farm, were summoned to appear before the magistrate in answer to a complaint made against them for working on ‘the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday, in violation of the law.’ The summons was made returnable on Friday, August 19, at 2 P. M., at Cooksville. “At the time set for trial the brethren were present, and when the case was called by the magistrate, the crown’s attorney being present, Brother Sweeten requested the case adjourned, and offered as a reason that the counsel employed for their defense had not appeared. The crown’s attorney demanded of the defense his pay for a day’s attendance, and pay for the attendance of the witnesses, of whom a large number had been called, as a condition on which adjournment could be obtained; but Brother Sweeten did not wish to comply with this demand, and, therefore, the case proceeded. Elder Eugene Leland, being present, assisted the brethren in their defense. A plea of ‘not guilty’ to the charge was made by the brethren. “In the case of Brother Boettger the complaint specified that the work was on Sunday, July 24, but when the prosecution put their first witness on the stand, he could not testify to seeing the defendant at work on that date, and after a hurried investigation of the witnesses called by the prosecution, it was decided by the attorney for the crown that an amendment of the charge must be made, and although objected to by Elder Leland, this was done, and one or two witnesses testified to seeing the defendant picking berries on Sunday, and, strange as it may seem, one testified that he knew they were being ‘picked for shipment, for the reason that he saw them ship berries the next morning.’ “In the case of Brother Sweeten three witnesses were sworn, but none of them could say positively that they saw Brother Sweeten at work, but they thought they saw him in the berry patch, and they thought that he was at work. The only witness put on the stand who could bear positive testimony was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church, a young girl who had been employed at the farm, picking berries, who reluctantly testified that Brother Sweeten was in the patch on the day specified, and was carrying berries. “Elder Leland’s defense was that the law under which this charge is made was enacted in 1845, and does not include ‘farmers’ in the class prohibited by its enactment from Sunday labor, which is proved by the enactment of what is known as ‘the Ontario act’ of 1885, which was made to include farmers, and the word ‘farmers’ was specifically mentioned. But this act had been declared invalid by the privy council of England, and therefore there was no law except the one of 1845 on the subject of Sunday labor, and that did not include farmers in its scope. Both Brother Boettger and Brother Sweeten were put on the stand, and testified that they were farmers. After a few remarks, in which Elder Leland set forth some principles involved in Sunday laws in general, and showed that there is no Bible authority for Sunday observance, the case rested, and the magistrate adjourned till the 25th ult. for a decision, which decision we have not heard at the time of going to press, but from the remarks made by the magistrate in adjourning the case, we do not expect anything but a conviction, as he said that while he sympathized with ‘this people’ because he thought them sincere, yet he ‘did not believe that anybody had a right to set a day apart different from the majority of people, on which to worship, but should conform to the day on which the majority worshiped.’ “Thus it can readily be seen that an influence is at work to enforce the ‘worship of the beast,’ and to war against those who ‘keep the commandments of God.’ Shall we not all be faithful, trusting to him who said: ‘Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled’?”