Prosecutions for Sunday Labor.
IN view of prosecutions which have been instituted in various places against observers of the seventh day for quietly laboring in their legitimate callings on the first day of the week, and other prosecutions of a like nature which are impending, the question what course it would be proper for those to pursue who are involved in these prosecutions, came before the session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists which convened in Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 18, 1885. The question having been referred to the undersigned committee, they submitted the following report, which was unanimously adopted by the delegates present, and also by the entire congregation. Your committee to whom was referred the matter of arrests of our brethren for laboring on the first day of the week, and of considering what is proper to advise them in cases of arrest, deem it advisable to set before the people some of the reasons of our practice, and of our advice in this matter. 1. The commandment of God, one of the ten commandments spoken and written by Jehovah himself, says: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." As servants of God, recognizing and bowing to his authority, we have no option in this matter. By a precept which is plain in every particular, we are in conscience bound to keep the seventh day. But God, who rested from the work of creation upon the seventh day and reserved that day to himself as his Sabbath, and sanctified it as his holy day, also gave to man six days wherein to labor. If it be denied that we are commanded to work six days, it cannot be denied that the commandment contains a permission to work six days, and the permission has all the authority of the law and the Lawgiver. This permission is very dear to us, because it is often absolutely necessary to the proper support of ourselves and our families. 2. We not only hold it to be a most solemn duty to obey the precept of the law, but we claim it as a God-given right to avail ourselves of the permission contained in the law. As no man, no community of men, and no earthly Government has a right to forbid us to obey the law of Him who is "Supreme moral Governor," and who styles himself the "Governor among the nations," so no earthly power has a right to deprive us of the privileges and permissions specifically given to us by Jehovah himself. Our time is our choicest capital. While we confess our duty to pay tribute and custom for the support of the Government (and this we have always done willingly), we deny the right of any Government to deprive us of one-sixth of our time, our income, our property, for that which does not increase the revenues of the Government—does not add to its support in any particular; which is only an infringement upon our civil and religious privileges—a violation of the dearest rights of moral agents. The enforcement of these laws deeply injures us, while it benefits nobody.745 3. When laws are enacted which deprive us of the rights which God has given us, and which are used for the purpose of hindering us from keeping his law, we have the authority of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and the approved example of the servants of God of all ages, to obey him, to keep his precepts, even if we have to suffer the penalties of human enactments. Daniel prayed to the God of Heaven, when the law of the land strictly forbade his doing so, and when the penalty was to be thrown into a den of lions. His three brethren refused to worship the image which the king had set up, though the law requiring such worship was very specific in its terms and its penalty most terrible. They appealed to God from the decree of the king. The apostles said: "Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." And they suffered stripes and imprisonment rather than to disobey God. But God approved them all, and vindicated them in their actions. 4. While we have no desire to criticise the action of the courts, we feel compelled to express our dissent from a decision rendered in one of these cases, which was as follows: "The law forbidding all labor on Sunday is no infringement upon the religious rights of any. The State requires all her citizens to keep the first day; and if they choose, in addition to this, to keep the seventh day, that is a sacrifice to their religion, with which the State does not interfere." Against this we refer to the defense of rights which we have already given. The same ruling might have been made against the three Hebrews in Babylon, thus: The king required them to bow down and worship the image which he had set up. If they chose, in addition to this, to bow down to their God and worship him, the king did not interfere with such worship. Such laws are not merely extra, or outside of reference to the law of God, but are actually against the law of God. Worship of God forbids the worship of anything besides him. The Sunday institution was designed as a substitute for the Sabbath of the Lord; and it is impossible to keep aright the Sabbath of the Lord as he has commanded, and to keep a human substitute for it at the same time. "No man can serve two masters." We have already shown that it is an infringement upon our rights to compel us to keep the first day; that we cannot properly support ourselves and our families and rest two days of the week. And therefore compulsion to rest the first day is equivalent to compulsion to labor on the seventh day, or to be deprived of the bounties which God has mercifully bestowed upon us. Its direct tendency is to deprive us of our religious rights, or to cause us to suffer pains and penalties if we insist upon our rights. 5. That these arrests are not only actually, but intentionally, religious persecution, we have evidence which we here present for the consideration of our fellow-citizens:— (1) By inquiry we have learned that the arrests of our brethren have been instigated by professed Christians, who thus forfeit their own standing as Christians by violating the "golden rule" of our Saviour, which requires of all that they should do unto others as they would that others should do unto them. Not content in the enjoyment of all the rights of conscience themselves, they endeavor to deprive their fellow-men and Christians of the same rights. We hesitate not to say that their position as related to those whom they are persecuting is similar to that of Cain to Abel, as represented by the apostle John, who says: "And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Why do they seek to deny the precious rights of conscience to their brethren? Because their brethren keep the commandment of God, and they do not. We believe their action springs entirely from prejudice and religious bigotry, not from zeal for the truth of God. For this we give the following further reason:— (2) We are also informed that where these arrests have been made, the attention of the prosecutors and of the grand jury has been called to the cases of the reckless and the profane who were constantly and openly violating the Sunday law, working at a great variety of businesses, shooting, fishing, etc., on the first day of the week. But the cases of such have been ignored, and indictments presented only against those who labor on the first day, because they keep the seventh day "according to the commandment." Facts evident to every one compel us to believe that these our brethren who have been arrested and fined, would not have been arrested though they worked on first day in common with many of their neighbors, if they had not also rested on the seventh day. This marks the proceedings unmistakably as religious persecution. And it proves that those religious zealots who are instrumental in causing these arrests, are not moved by any high regard for the human law which requires the observance of the Sunday, but they are actuated by enmity against the divine law, which requires the observance of the seventh day. If they really wished to protect the Sunday, there are plenty of violators of the law besides those conscientious Christians who keep the seventh day out of respect to the divine precept. But the former are not disturbed; the latter are fined, and may be imprisoned. 6. We object to being classed with the Mormons (as we have been by some), who practice immorality under the guise of religion, and say they are persecuted if restrained in their practices. We affirm that our case is no parallel to theirs. Polygamy was never commanded in the Scriptures. It was never practiced as a part of anybody's religion, but as a matter of choice. It was and is a violation of God's original institution of marriage. It is contrary to the comments or instruction of the Saviour upon the marriage institution. God created man male and female, not male-and females; the Saviour said a man shall cleave unto his wife, not unto his wives; he said they two shall be one flesh, not they three or they five. It was permitted—as many other things were permitted in that dispensation—but not in any precept, as man is permitted to work six days. Not a sentence can be found in the Bible proving that it is an ordinance of God. Now, because polygamy is a matter of human choice, and not of Bible precept, we deny that it is religious, in any proper sense of that word. And because it is contrary to the original marriage ordinance of God, we declare that it is an immorality. To the contrary, the seventh day was set apart by God himself at creation, and incorporated into his commandment as given at Mount Sinai. No one dare say that it is an immorality to keep any and all of the ten commandments. It is morality itself; for the ten commandments are the moral law. Surely it is a great injustice to us and to the law of God to class us with them, or to compare our practice with theirs. In view of all these considerations, we feel constrained to advise our brethren in those States where they are being persecuted, or wherever they may be persecuted for their devotion to the commandment of God, as follows:— 1. Continue, in a peaceable and quiet manner, to obey God in keeping the seventh day, and to exercise your natural and religious right to work six days. We call it a religious right, because it is inseparably connected with the observance of the Sabbath, and is confirmed unto us in the law of Him who is the only true object of worship. 2. In case you are prosecuted therefor, obtain the best counsel you can to represent you in the court. Be sure that your counsel is a man of ability and standing; a man of known integrity, who will not resort to any cavils and trickery, but will command the respect of the court and of the people. 3. If you are convicted, take an appeal to the Supreme Court of your State. 4. If the conviction is affirmed in the Supreme Court, then avoid paying fines if it is possible, and suffer imprisonment instead. We believe that it will have a good moral effect to suffer imprisonment rather than to pay fines. Not that it is our desire to have our brethren imprisoned, but this will most forcibly call attention to the injustice of the law, and also lead all classes to consider well the motives of those who instigate persecution against quiet and inoffensive Christian citizens for 'conscience' sake—for their adherence to their faith in and practice of the law of the Most High. 5. If the decision against you in the lower court is affirmed in the Supreme Court, then it will be quite unnecessary to contest any other cases in that lower court. Let the case go by default, and thus save trouble, and submit to imprisonment without murmuring or complaining. But as the ruling may be different in different courts, we advise that in other parts of the same State, and in other lower courts, cases be contested, as test cases, as an opportunity will thus be presented of getting the truth before the people in a forcible manner. But if conviction follows, then it will be useless to appeal a second time to the same Supreme Court. And we entreat you, dear brethren, to exercise a meek and quiet spirit in all your lives. Be not boastful, and avoid giving offense; let it be said of you as was said of Daniel: "We shall not find any occasion against him, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Remember the words of inspiration: "If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." Everything indicates that the struggle in vindication of the great principles of the Reformation is to be re-enacted in the United States. Our reading of the prophetic word has enabled us to foresee these things; for years we have looked for them. And if we shall be counted worthy to have a part in this work, and to suffer for the sake of the precious truth of God, let us walk after the example of Him who suffered for us, and who will crown his faithful followers with glory and immortality. Respectfully submitted,—
J. H. WAGGONER,
U. SMITH,
O. A. OLSEN,
J. FARGO,
WM. COVERT,
Committee.