can; but this you will best do by your own example, as the offence is punishable in a judicial way before a Magistrate. Nor should I mention it here, was I not sensible that I am speaking in the presence of a great number of peace-officers, whose immediate duty it is to apprehend such miscreants, and carry them before a Magistrate; and who are not only blameable, but punishable, for the neglect of this duty.
"The last offence I shall mention on this subject is, the breach of the Sabbath; a practice as shameful as it is common: but, as these are unworthy members of the Church, and not only disgraceful, but noxious members of society, they will therefore, I doubt not, meet with the detestation of all honest and pious men, and consequently with every punishment due to such an insolent crime, which it may be in your power to inflict; for this sort of impious neglect partakes of the deepest ingratitude from the creature to the Creator."
With regard to offences committed against the Publick in general; "Of these (says this diligent Magistrate) there are a great variety, but I shall confine myself to the three following, viz. public lewdness, bawdy-houses, gaming-houses. And first, as to public lewdness:
"It is the observation of a moral writer of eminence, 'That there is some degree of virtue in a man's keeping his vices to himself:' for, as
example is allowed to be more efficacious than precept in recommendation of virtue, where men act as it were in opposition to the depravity of human nature, how must the open and public example of lewdness draw men into the tide of wickedness, when their own passions and inclinations serve as winds to carry them down the stream! Men like these deserve punishment as public as their crimes. But, as this offence belongs to none but the most abandoned mind, I thank God it is not common; and perhaps it would be much less seen, were those persons punished, who exposed to sale the most abandoned prints of lewdness, and the most infamous books of bawdry, which are considerably bought by curious youths, to the danger of their modesty, the hazard of their morals, and too often to the total destruction of their virtue.
"As to bawdy-houses, they are the receptacles of those who still have some sense of shame left, but not enough to preserve their innocence.
"These houses are all sufficiently injurious, and do great mischief. But those I would particularly point out to your attention, are the open, avowed, low, and common bawdy-houses, where vice is rendered cheap, and consequently within the reach of the common people, who are the very stamina of the constitution.
"These are the channels through which rottenness is conveyed into the bones of the artificer,
labourer, soldier, and mariner; by this means weakness and distemper are entailed on their offspring, whose utility to the publick depends on their health and strength. These are the houses that harbour and protect undutiful children, idle servants, and disobedient apprentices. Let me then intreat you, as fathers, as masters, and as tradesmen, to put an end to these sinks of vice in your respective neighbourhoods.
"Let not that common vulgar error, of being afraid of these people, because they are litigious, desperate, and full of threats (for these fears are groundless, and should not, nay, I hope will not) deter you from this particular duty. You present; and we will punish.