Wesley Corpus

I had once designed to consider all the oaths which are cus tomarily taken by any set of men among us. But I soon found this was a work too weighty for me; so almost in inft nitum are oaths multiplied in England: I suppose, to a degree which is not known in any other nation in Europe. What I now propose is, to instance only in a few, (but those notof small importance,) and to show how amazingly little regard is had to what is solemnly promised or affirmed before God. 6. This is done in part to my hands by a late author. So far as he goes, I shall little more than transcribe his words:-- “When a Justice of Peace is sworn into the commission, he makes oath,-‘that he shall do equal right to the poor and to the rich, after his cunning, wit, and power, and after the laws and customs of the realm and statutes thereof made, in all arti cles in the King’s commission to him directed.” What those articlesare, you will find in thefirst Assignavimus of the commis sion: ‘We have assigned you and every one of you, jointly and severally, to keep, and cause to be kept, all ordinances and statutes made for the quiet rule and government of our people, in all and every the articles thereof, according to the force, form, and effect of the same, and to chastise and punish all persons. offending against any of them, according to the form of those statutes and ordinances.’ So that he is solemnly sworn to the execution of all such statutes as the legislative power of the nation has thought fit to throw upon his care. Such are all those (among others) made against drunkenness, tippling, pro fane swearing, blasphemy, lewd and disorderly practices, and profanation of the Lord's day. And it is hard to imagine how a Justice of Peace can think himself more concerned to suppress riots or private quarrels, than he is to levy twelve-pence on a profane swearer, five shillings on a drunkard, ten shillings on the public-house that suffers tippling, or any other penalty which the law exacts on vice and immorality. The same oath binds him both to one and the other, laying an equal obligation on his conscience.