Show the restrictive law of wp abe olden men time we were reading I 1 recently a history of connecticut t from its first settlement pett lement under george fenwick down io the revolution the volume eolune wap originally published in ia london in i and sad preprinted reprinted at new ha R a ven hemn in 1829 and we found some curious enactments therein hoeard Ho here eare are some som of the laws I 1 whoever wears clothes trimmed with sold go id silver or bone lace above two shil lings engsby by the yard shall be presented by tb the grand jurors and the selectmen shall tva the offender at estate I 1 A debtor debter in in i prison swearing he hath no estate shall be let out and sold to make satisfaction no one shall read the books of common prayer keep christmas or saints days make minced pies dance play cards or oi play on any of music except the drum dram trumpet and Jew sharp 1 the sabbath day shall begin at sunset on saturday an no woman shall kiss her children on the sabbath or fasting day I 1 no one shall run oi on the sabbath day or walk in his garden or elsewhere except reverently verent ly to and from meeting I 1 no one to cross a river but authorized zed sed ferryman 1 no food or lodging shall be afforded to a quaker Ad amito or other heretic every male shall have his lair oat cut round according to a cap etc etc y we find the following accost of a punishment inflicted for entertaining heretics on one deacon potter whom cotton mather says was very guilty and that he had a fair legal and candid trial and was convicted on good and scriptural evidence 4 deacon potter says leather atar was waa hanged for heresy and apostal apos apo stac which consisted in bowing showing hospitality to strangers who came to his honse in the night among whom were quakers anabaptists and adamites Ada 1 his wife betra betrayed ed him for hiding the spies spies and sending zm them away away in in peace 0 ace there was also a political offe of fence ice tle the remedy for which is ig worth noticing i no manashall man shall hold office who is not sound in the faith and faithful to this dominion and whoever gives a vote to such saah a person shall ball pay a fine of one pound for a second of fence he shall be franchised disfranchised dis the rev georte george whitfield in one of his hie sermons gives me t e people of connecticut the following character the hey are ra the wisest of any upon the continent the best friends and the worst ene mies liea t they h ey are hair brained bigots on all alla sides and they may be compared with horses andrules and mules without bit and bridle in other colonies I 1 have paid for my food and lodging but never could spend one penny in in fruitful connecticut whose banks now with milk and honey boney and whose sons and daughters never fail to feed and refresh the weary traveler without money and without price on saturday evenings the people look sour and sad and on the sabbath they appear to have lost all their dearest friends and are almost speechless and walk softly A quaker preacher once told them with much truth that they worshiped the sabbath and not the god of the sabbath these hospitable people without charity condemned the quaker as a blasphemer of the holy sabbath find jed tarred and feathered him put a rope around his neck and plunged him into the sea but he escaped with his life though he was above seventy years of age |