, 1879-05-18

IL may serve 10 l41lSIAAe nuua u t1Ao b4Ao-
ders into which preachers who make ser
mons on sSabbath- Breaking" habitually fall
if we give brief synopsis of English laws
upon the subject, from the earliest times
down to the date of the American Revolu-
ton.
Prior to the statute Of 1876, any act done
on Sunday, except in proceedings of Courts,
was of the same binding force as if per-
formed on any other day. Parliament sat On
that day, for in the reign Of EDWARD T., in
1878 and 1905, three statutes were made On
Sunday. Nor did the first restraining laws:
make any distinction batween Sundays and
other holy days. Thus, the statute of 28
EDWARD Ill, Cap. "A, in 1857, says: "shew-
ing of woods e. e., by merchants] shall be
made at the staple every day in the week
except the Sunday and solemn fcasts OF the
year" No further enactment was made
touching the matter in question for nearly
100 years; but in :1445 was passed the
act of 81 HExnx: VI, Cap. 5, en-
titled, "Certain. days wherein fairs
aud markets ought not to be kept,
which sets forth that *'The King hath or
dained that all manner Of fairs and markets
in said principal .feasts Cof Ascension, Corpus
Christi, Assumption, and All Saints and
Sundays and Good Friday shall clearly
cease from all showing of any goods or
merchandises. (necessary victual only ex-
cept)"; but in recognition of the fact that
there had previously been no such restric-
ton, it is provided that " Nevertheless, of
his special grace [the King] granted to them
power which Of old time had no day to hold
their fair or market, but only upon the festi-
val days aforesaid, to hold the same authori-
ty and strength Of his old grant within three
days next before said feasts or next after"
The act Of 4 EDWARD w., Cap. Z, in l464,
seems, to have been occasioned by come spe-
cial Irritation from the dishonesty of leather
dressers and shoemakers; for, after sundry
stringent provisions applying to them gen.
orally, it is provided that No person, cord
yaiuer; or cobler, within the City Of London
upon any Sunday in the year, or in
the feasts of the Nativity or Ascension Of our
Lord, or in the fenst Of Corpus Christi, shall
sell or command or do to be sold any shoes,
huseaus, or galoches, or upon the Sunday, or
any Of said feasts, shall set or put upon the
feet or legs of any person any shoes, hu.
seaus, or galoches This statute was re-
poaled in 1922, but re-cnacted in part in
1904. Z
In 1862 was passed "An act for Keeping
holy days and feasting days u and Edw.
w., Cap: -, the preamble Of which is an IN
structive example of the pains taken by oil
Christians, Catholic and Protestant, prior to
the seventeenth century, to deny that Sun
day, or any other holy or feast day, pos
sessed Of itself nn3 sacredness or any higher
claim to observance than TINT OF convenience
for the purpose of uniformity III worship.
It runs thus: "Forasmuch Bs at all times
men be not so mindful to lnud and praise
Con Us their bounden duty doth
require: therefore, to call men to remem-
branco Of their duty and help their infirmlty,
it hath been wholesomely provided that
there should be some certain times and days
appointed wherein the Christian should
cease from all kinds Of 1abors; :.
neither is it to be thought that there is
any certain time or def mite number
of days prescribed in Holy Scripture,
but that the appointment, both OF time and
also OF the number Of the days, is left by the
authority of COPS word to the liberty Of
Cun1sr's Church to be determined and as
signed orderly in every country by the d1s-
cretion of the rulers and ministers thereof
as they shall judge most expedient for the
true setting forth of GoDs glory and the
edifcation of their people: be it therefore
enacted, that hll the days hereafter men
toned [to-wit, Sundays, the Feast OF the
Circumcision, and, twenty-five other feast
days that arc named, and Mondays and Tues
days in Easter Week: and Whitsuns Week
shal1 be kept and commanded to be kept
holy days, and none other" 1t:wss further
provided, "That it shall be lawful to every
husbandman, laborer, fisherman = :
upon the holy days aforesaid IN harvest OF
at any other time Of the year when necessity
shall require, to labor, ride fish, or
work any Kind .of work at their FREQ
wills and pleasure" This. Protestant
law. was repealed the next year by the
Catholic Government of Macy, aud restored
in 1904 IN the first year Of JAMES L 1t Is
-E f~%s