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A45577 A charge given at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the county of Surrey holden at Dorking on Tuesday the 5th day of April 1692, and in the fourth year of Their Majesties reign / by Hugh Hare. Hare, Hugh, 1668-1707.; England and Wales. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Surrey) 1692 (1692) Wing H760; ESTC R25410 29,639 42

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Sabbath for though the Law of Moses prohibited all manner of work to be done on that day under the penalty of Death to the Children of Israel which was Executed on the Man who gather'd Sticks on the Sabbath Day for the supply of his Necessities yet our Blessed Saviour who was the Lord of the Sabbath wholly abolished the Ceremonial part of this Law that being peculiarly appropriated to the Jewish Nation and continued the Moral part of it in its full Force Allowing both by his Example and by verbal Permission any work of Necessity or Charity to be done on that day Thus Scripture and Reason teach us and this likewise do the Laws of England permit though at the same time they are very strict against all those Profanations of the Lord's Day which proceed either from Mens Covetousness or their Licentiousness Thus all Carriers Waggoners Carters Wain-men and Drovers are prohibited to Travel with any Horse Waggons Carts or Cattell on the Lord's Day under the Penalty of forfeiting Twenty Shillings to the Poor of the Parish where the Offence shall be Committed All Butchers that Kill or Sell or cause to be Killed or Sold any Meat on the Lord's Day or are Privy or Consenting to such Slaughter or Sale forfeit in like manner Six Shillings and Eight Pence for every Offence The Offence must be proved before any one Justice of the Peace by the Oaths of two Witnesses or by the Confession of the Party unless the Fact were done in the View of a Justice of the Peace and then the Law requires no farther Proof The Offenders must be Prosecuted within six Months after the Offence is committed and the forfeitures are recoverable either by Distress and Sale of the Offender's Goods or by Bill Plaint or Information Prosecuted at the Quarter Sessions for the County And where any Parish shall rather chuse this last Method for recovering their Money you must be ready Gentlemen on your Parts as we shall be on Ours to give all possible incouragement to these Prosecutions unless they shall plainly appear to be Malicious Nor Gentlemen are these the only Profanations of the Lord's Day that our Laws take Cognizance of but by a Statute of a later Date All Persons that shall on the Lord's Day or any part thereof Sell or expose any thing to Sale shall forfeit the Goods so sold or exposed to Sale to the Poor of the Parish where the Offence is Committed Thus also whosoever being of the Age of Fourteen Years or upwards shall on the Lord's Day or any part thereof exercise any worldy Labour Business or Work of his ordinary Calling shall in like manner forfeit for every Offence the summ of Five Shillings Thus all Drovers Horse-Coursers Waggoners Butchers Higlers or any of their Servants who shall Travel or come into their Inn on the Lord's Day or any part thereof shall in like manner forfeit for every Offence the summ of Twenty Shillings The Offences against this Act must be prosecuted within ten days after and the View of a Justice of the Peace the Oath of one Witness or the Confession of the Party Offending made before any one Justice of the Peace is a sufficient Proof And in Cafe as it may sometimes happen the Offender hath no Goods to be Distrained and Sold and is not able to pay these Forfeitures he is then to be set publickly in the Stocks by the space of two Hours And besides these Penalties this Statue exempts the Hundreds from answering the losses which may happen by Robbery to those who Travel on the Lord's day since such Journeys are not supposed to be undertaken out of necessity but choice Thus far our Laws restrain and punish those Profanations of the Lord's Day which a covetous desire of gain is apt to induce Men to Nor is the penal Prohibition of those Disorders which proceed from an Irreligious Licentiousness less severe For to the end that these Profanations of the Lord's Day and the ill Consequences attending them may be prevented our Laws strictly prohibit all Meetings and Assemblies of People out of their own Parishes and all concourse of them within their own Parishes for all unlawfull Sports and Pastimes under the Penalty of three Shillings and four Pence for every Offence to be forfeited to the Poor of the Parish where the Offence is committed the Penalty is leviable by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and in default of sufficient Distress the Offender is to be set publickly in the Stocks by the space of three Hours The Prosecution must be within a Month after the Offence and the Oath of one Witness or the Confession of the Party before any Justice of the Peace or the View of any one Justice of the Peace is a sufficient proof to convict the Offender This was a good Law but yet too liable to many Evasions and Abuses therefore a farther provision hath since been made by a later Act That all Persons shall on every Lord's Day exercise the Duties of Piety and true Religion under the penalty of Five Shillings in like manner forfeited to the Poor of the Parish for every Offence which is to be Prosecuted within ten Days after and proveable as aforesaid by one Witness upon Oath and if the Offender be not able to satisfie the Penalty then he must be set Publickiy in the Stocks by the space of two Hours And nothing can exempt any Man from falling under the Censures of this Act but works of Necessity and Charity which as I observed before both Reason and Scripture allow of For Sports and Pastimes Revellings and Disorders are certainly inconsistent with the duty of the Day as Buying and Selling or exercising any Trade or Calling The fourth Immorality which our Laws endeavour to suppress is Drunkenness A Vice on which one of our Statutes fixes this infamous Character That it is Odious and Loathsom that it is the Root and Foundation of Blood-shed Stabbing Murther Swearing Fornication Adultery and such like enormous Sins to the dishonour of God and of our Nation the overthrow of many good Arts and Manual Trades the disabling of divers Workmen and the general Impoverishment of many good Subjects abusively wasting the good Creatures of God This charge though it may seem severe yet is it as our Experience informs us a very true and lively Description of the sad Consequences and Fatal Effects of this brutish Immorality Therefore for the repressing this Vice our Laws have provided a Punishment not only for the Drunkards but also for the Inn-keepers and Victuallers that Harbour Entertain and Encourage them For as the Preamble to one of the Statutes relating to this matter informs us The Ancient True and Principal use of Inns Ale-Houses and Victualling-Houses is for the Receit Relief and Lodging of Travellers and for supply of the wants of those who are not able to Buy in their Provisions of Meat and Drink by greater Quantities but