nishment of the offenders. Then follows yer. 22. If a damfel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city and lie with her, then shall ye bring them both into the gate of that city, and ye fhall ftone them with stones that they die : the damfel becaufe fhe cried not, being in the city and the man, because he HATH HUM- :

BLED HIS NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE.

Such is the law of THE MOST HIGH against adultery, or the defilement of a man's wife. Yet it is not the object of our municipal law as any public offence whatsoever. › The injured husband may bring a civil. action for private damages; but neither the adulterer, nor the adulterefs, can be indicted or punished, * as a public offender, by any one ftatute throughout our whole

code

"In the year 1650, when the ruling powers "found it for their intereft to put on the femblance "of a very extraordinary ftrictnefs and purity of mo

rals; not only incest and wilful adultery were made* "capital crimes, but also the repeated act of keep"ing a brothel, or committing fornication, were "(upon a fecond conviction) made felony without "benefit of clergy. But at the reftoration, when "men, from an abhorrence of the hypocrify of the "late times, fell into a contrary extreme of licenti"oufnefs, it was not thought proper to renew a law "of fuch unfashionable rigour. And thefe offences "have been ever fince left to the feeble coercion of "the fpiritual court, according to the rules of the canon law; a law which has treated the offence "of incontinence, nay even adultery itfelf, with a

6.6

66 great

code of laws. How far this is feen to be for the comfort of society, and the honour of a Chriftian nation, let others determine; I can only fay, that, if the law of GOD (which by the way is as clear and pofitive a law as can be conceived) took place, we fhould hardly hear of fuch daily offences against it, as now difgrace, difhonour, and defile the land. Such however is the confiftency of our ftatute laws, fuch their conformity to the law of God, that they make a man a felon, and, but for the benefit of clergy, liable to fuffer death, if he have two wives of his own; but he may feduce and debauch as many wives of other people, as may fall in his way, and he is free from punishment, except, as I said before, by way of civil action for the wrong done

to the husband.

It is faid indeed, that "our law confi"ders marriage in no other light but as a civil contract, and leaves the holiness "of the marriage-state to the ecclefiaftical 66 courts;"

great degree of tenderness and lenity; owing per"haps to the celibacy of its first compilers. The. "temporal courts therefore take no cognizance of the.

crime of adultery, otherwife than as a private in"jury." Blackstone vol. iv. p. 64. Id. vol. i. 433.

Bishop Burnet, in his hiftory of the Reformation, fpeaking of the ftate of the church before that period. faith--"The unmarried ftate both of feculars and "regulars gave infinite feandal to the world; for it

"appeared

"courts;" but furely in a Christian land; "the holiness of the marriage-ftate" ought to be an object of the municipal laws, as of infinitely greater confequence to the public, and to the peace and welfare of fociety, than many other offences, which are properly deemed objects of their utmost severity. For, what are the confe-. quences of adultery, even in a temporal view? All its evils cannot be reckoned - but only to mention a few:-It must introduce a total confufion as to the offspring, a defeating of rightful heirs, an utter obscurity as to family defcents and pedigrees; for where adultery is, no man can know his own children, or even oftenfible brothers and fifters afcertain their relation to each other: for which, as well as for many other wife causes, doubtlefs it was (as well as to preferve the fanctity of the marriage-inftitution) made capital by the DIVINE LAWGIVER. This we may humbly prefume to be the cafe; for this offence is introductory of that kind of diforder, which muft, in the very nature of it, tend to deftroy every bond of civil and

"appeared that the reftraining them from having "wives of their own, made them conclude that they "had a right to all other men's: and the inferior "clergy were no better, &c." See Crit. Hiftory of England, p. 141.

VOL. I.

F

religious

religious fociety, and make the world, in a moral sense, a mere chaos.

Why then is adultery, notwithstanding it is fo condemned by the pofitive law of GOD, fo frequently, fo fhameleffly, fo openly practifed? It is because the law of GOD being difregarded in the confcience, and not enforced by the laws of the land in all its terror, its importance is not adverted to: for though outward laws may not reach the heart, yet, they frequently, by restraining the outward actions of men, may lead them to view fuch offences in a different light, than when there is no punishment attending them. Such is the depravity of mankind, that we find the faying of the Preacher generally true: Becaufe fentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the fons of men is fully fet in them to do evil. Eccl. viii. 11. Impunity begets fecurity; and this must produce and multiply tranfgrefion.

As to thofe reliques of the Pope's tyranny in this country, commonly called the ecclefiaftical courts *, their power is but.

very

* An inftance of the oppreffion of thefe courts, and the tyranny they exercife where they can, may appear from the following cafe: -Ann Jenkinson was prefented at the primary vifitation of the Archbishop of York, 1777, for fornication, the being with child

by

very feeble; for which I and every free Proteftant ought to be thankful. This fort of imperium in imperio, which excludes trials by juries in criminal matters, and substitutes paper depofitions in the place of viva voce evidence, is too abhorrent from every principle of our free constitution to be endured; and I am aftonished, that at the Reformation, their very being was not annihilated, as that of the ftarchamber was afterwards, 16 Car. I. These * courts, however, have cognizance of the crime of adultery, for which they can fet the offender on a joint ftool in a white sheet, under title Penance; unlefs, under title + Commutation, he or she can buy off their

fin

by C. D. a fingle man. The cafe was, that the man had promifed her marriage, not only privately to herfelf, but also before the Justice, when the fwore C. D. to be the father of the child. He foon after married another woman. The fpiritual court proceeded against the poor girl, thus abandoned by the man, and without ever citing her, fent an excommunication down, which was red and returned accordingly. Another was cited on fuch an account, but could not take out her penance, because she could not pay a certain fum of money which was demanded.

* In antient times, the King's courts, and efpecially the Leets, had power to enquire of and punish fornication and adultery; but by 13 Ed. I. Stat. 4. called the statute of circumfpecté agatis, these matters were turned over to the ecclefiaftical courts. See 1 Burn, 662, 663. Alfo 2 Burn, 144, 145.

+ All this wicked traffic of penance and commutation