Dominical

The Dominical Prayer, and the Apoſtolical Creed, (vvhereof there vvas ſuch a hot diſpute in our laſt converſation) are tvvo Acts tending to the ſame object of devotion, yet they differ in this, that vve conclude all in the firſt, and ourſelves only in the ſecond, […]

VVhereas 'tis clear, that Rome obſerved the firſt day of the vveek, becauſe 'tvvas the Dominical day, the day of our Lord's Reſurrection; vvhereas the proper Paſchal-day vvas tvvo or three days before the Lords day: […]

[A]t the firſt Intervievv vvith Mrs. Heartfree, Mr. VVild had conceived that Paſſion, […] vvhich is indeed no other than that Friendſhip vvhich, after the Exerciſe of the Dominical Day is over, a luſty Divine is apt to conceive for the vvell-dreſt Sirloin, or handſome Buttock, vvhich the vvell-edified 'Squire, in Gratitude, ſets before him, and vvhich, ſo violent is his Love, he is deſirous to devour.

And vvho knovvs not the ſuperſtitious rigor of his Sundays Chapel, and the licentious remiſſneſs of his Sundays Theater; accompanied vvith that reverend Statute for Dominical Jigs and Maypoles, publiſht in his ovvn Name, and deriv'd from the example of his Father James.

So far, therefore, the dominical and Sabbatarian are at one; save that the ground of exemption, in exceptional cases, which the dominical seeks to establish by general reasonings of his own, the Sabbatarian finds established to his hand by the words of Christ. It is true that the dominical may differ from the Sabbatarian on the question, What is a real case of "necessity and mercy," such as will justify a departure from the letter of the law? But so may a Sabbatarian differ from a Sabbatarian. So may a dominical from a dominical: […]

Mr. Moore, in opening his case, stated that a custom obtained in this city [Exeter] of paying an annual amount of 4s. 8d. to the officiating clergyman of different parishes, which was termed dominicals. […] [T]he custom had existed for a long while in the parish of paying these dominicals, which might be taken in light of personal tithes, payable on land covered by houses.

[D]ominicals, as I understood, were payments in the nature of tithes, in respect of houses built upon land originally subject to tithe, which view was supported by the fact that in some of the parishes in the city both tithes and dominicals were payable, but in no instance that I was aware of was the same property subject to both.

A largely attended meeting was held on Friday night in Exeter, to protest against the custom of levying dominicals, which is being enforced in several parishes in the city. It seems that London, York, and Exeter are the only three cities in which the custom exists.