existing between the colonial church and state. On October 31, 1671, for instance, Christopher Wheaton and Martha his wife were sentenced in Boston to make an acknowledgment "in publique at Hull to ye Satisfaction of ye Congregation, & pay twenty Shillings fine," on pain of being whipped ten stripes each by the constable.[584] An elaborate "church confession," found among the Middlesex Files, would seem to prove that in another case the decree of the court was obeyed; and that the written acknowledgment made before the congregation was returned to the court for record.[585]
The files and records of the same two counties, supplemented by the record of the superior court, may next be examined for the period of the second charter. The impression made by their contents is decidedly disagreeable and depressing. The coarser and more heinous sexual crimes are growing more frequent, although due allowance must be made for the increase of population. Indeed, the bulk of the records of the general sessions appears to be concerned with sexual immorality of almost every kind.[586] Inquiry is, however, here restricted to the two classes of cases thus far considered. For convenience the material is treated chronologically in two divisions. The first division covers the period ending in 1725; and the second the years 1726-80. Within the former period (Table IV) the records of the general sessions of Suffolk for the years 1702-25, inclusive,
TABLE IV
Summary of Fornication Cases Before the General Sessions of Suffolk County, 1702-25, and the General Sessions of Middlesex County, 1692-1725
Between 1702 and 1725 the following cases brought conviction before the general sessions for Suffolk county:
| Cases of fornication where the woman alone was sentenced | 104 |
| Cases of conception before marriage with fine, and in a few cases fine or whipping for husband, or both husband and wife | 48 |
| Cases of woman fined or whipped, and putative (or acknowledged) father sentenced to maintenance of child | 44 |
Between 1692 and 1725 there were the following convictions before the general sessions for Middlesex county (each case stands for both man and woman if both were tried):
| Cases of fornication | 135 |
| Cases of fornication and conception before marriage | 155 |
yield forty-eight cases of conviction of married couples for pre-nuptial misconduct, as compared with 148 cases of single women sentenced for the same offenses.[587] The corresponding records of the general sessions of Middlesex for the years 1692-1725 contain the extraordinary number of 155 cases of the first class, as compared with 135 of the second. In a great many instances the husband or both husband and wife appear "freely and voluntarily" and confess their guilt.