Transvaal Puritanism

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 30.

Transvaal Puritanism

The Boer people of the Transvaal have been likened to the Puritans, and here is a characteristic feature in the Sunday law of the South African republic:—

“Article 1. Every person guilty of desecration of the Sabbath (Zondagschending) shall be punished for every contravention with a maximum fine of five pounds, or a term of imprisonment not exceeding one month, as under: (a) He who executes field or garden work on Sunday, except in cases of urgent necessity, and for maintenance of field or other fruit; (b) he who fires a gun or other firearm, unless legally or otherwise entitled to do so; (c) he who hunts wild or other animals with dog or other animals; (d) a transport rider, or the director of a transport wagon, who invades the boundaries of a village on a Sunday, or who causes such to be done.”

“For all the under-mentioned offenses there shall be inflicted a fine penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds (£100), or an imprisonment penalty not exceeding six months: (a) The person who sells or offers for sale on a Sunday, any goods, merchandise, cattle, or other live stock; (b) the person who keeps open a shop, warehouse, or other premises on a Sunday with intent to sell or to trade; (c) the person who works, or causes work, on Sunday with steam and other machines.”

This is certainly worthy of a place alongside of the Puritan blue laws, and is in perfect harmony with what our Sunday reformers are enforcing in some states, and endeavoring to obtain in others, in the American republic. Five hundred dollars for selling a loaf of bread or a yard of print! And yet Georgia’s Sunday law, sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States, makes the death sentence possible.