"
And every person holding, at the time the amended constitution took
effect, any of the offices, trusts, or positions mentioned, was
required, within sixty days thereafter, to take the oath; and, if
he failed to comply with this requirement, it was declared that his
office, trust, or position should _ipso facto_ become vacant.
No person, after the expiration of the sixty days, was permitted,
without taking the oath, "to practice as an attorney or
counsellor-at-law," nor, after that period could "any person be
competent as a bishop, priest, deacon, minister, elder, or other
clergyman, of any religious persuasion, sect, or denomination, to
teach, or preach, or solemnize marriages."
Fine and imprisonment were prescribed as a punishment for holding or
exercising any of "the offices, positions, trusts, professions,
or functions" specified, without having taken the oath; and false
swearing or affirmation in taking it was declared to be perjury,
punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary.
Mr. Cummings of Missouri, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, was
indicted and convicted in one of the Circuit Courts of that State, of
the crime of teaching and preaching as a priest and minister of
that religious denomination without having first taken the oath thus
prescribed, and was sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars
and to be committed to jail until the same was paid.
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