BE IT ENACTED, by the right honourable the Lord Proprietor, by and with the advice and consent of his lordship's Governor, and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the authority of the same, That if any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly maliciously and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curse God, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the son of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the Three Persons, or the Unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any the Persons thereof, and shall be thereof convict by verdict, or confession, shall, for the first offence, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds sterling to the lord proprietor, to be applied to the use of the county where the offence shall be committed, to be levied on the offender's body, goods and chattels, lands or tenements, and in case the said fine cannot be levied, the offender to suffer six months imprisonment without bail or mainprise; and that for the second offence, the offender being thereof convict as aforesaid, shall be stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B, and fined forty pounds sterling to the lord proprietor, to be applied and levied as aforesaid, and in case the same cannot be levied, the offender shall suffer twelve months imprisonment without bail or mainprise; and that for the third offence, the offender being convict as aforesaid, shall suffer death without the benefit of the clergy.
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