An Ordinance presented to the Honorable House of Commons, by Mr.
Bacon, a Lawyer in Suffolk, and Mr
Taet, both of them Members of the same House, and by their means was twice read, and referred to a COMMITTEE.
For the preventing of the growing and spreading of Heresies.
BE it ordained, That all such as shall from and after the Date hereof, willingly preach, teach, print, or write, publish and maintain, any such opinion contrary to the Doctrines ensuing;
Viz. That God is present in all places, That God Is, or that he is One in three Persons, Or doth know or fore-know all things; Or that he is Almighty, Or that he is perfectly Holy, Or that he is Eternall. Or that shall in like manner publish, That Christ is not God coequall with the Father; Or shall deny the Manhood of Christ, Or that the Godhead and Manhood of Christ are severall Natures, Or that the Manhood of Christ, is pure, unspotted of sin; Or that shall publish, That Christ did not die, or rose from the dead, nor ia ascended into Heaven bodily, Or that his death is meritorious in behalfe of Beleevers. Or that shall publish or maintain, as aforesaid, that Christ is not the Son of God, Or that the Holy Ghost is not God, Or that the Scriptures are not the Word of God, Or that the Bodies of Men shall not rise after they be dead, Or that there is no day of judgement after death.
Such publishing with obstinacie, shall be judged Felony: Such persons shall by two witnesses be bound over by two Iustices unto the Gayl-delivery, and the Delinquent shall be indited for Felony; and upon finding the same inditement, and that the party bee found guilty, and shall not abjure his said error, he shall suffer the pains of death, without benefit of Clergy: But upon abjuring of the said error, he shal upon two sufficient Sureties be bailed.
And be it further ordained, that if after abjuring the said errours, he shall publiish it again, he shall be indited and put to death.
And be it further ordered, that if any person shall wittingly and presumptuously, or contrary to admonition, blaspheme the Name of God, or any of the holy Trinity, or shall impugne the Word of God, such offences shall be adjudged Fellony, & the Offender committed without Bayl or Mainprize; and the party being found guilty shall be branded in the left Cheek, with the Letter B. and upon the like offence the second time shall suffer death.
And be it further ordained, that all persons who shall publish any of the severall errours hereafter ensuing, viz. That all men shal be saved; that a man by nature hath free wil to turn to God; That God may be worshipt by Pictures or Images; or that the soule of any man after death goes neither to Heaven nor Hell, but to Purgatory; or that the soule of man dies or sleepes when the body is dead; or that the revelations or workings of the Spirit, are a rule for a Christians life; though divers from or contrary to the written Word of God; or that a man is bound to believe no more then by his reason he can comprehend; or that the Morrall Law contained in the Ten Commandements is no rule of a Christian life; or that God sees no sinne in the justified; or that a Believer need not repent nor pray for the pardon of sinne; or that the two Sacraments of Baptisme, and the Lords Supper, are not Ordinances commanded by the Word of God; or that the Baptizing of Infants is unlawfull; or that such Baptizing is void, and of none effect; or that such persons are to be Baptized again: and in pursuance thereof, shall baptize any person formerly baptized: or that the observation of the Lords Day, as it is injoyned by the Ordinances and Lawes of this Realm, is not according, or contrary to the Word of God, or that it is not lawfull to joyn in Publique, or Family Prayer, or to teach Children to pray; Or that the Churches of England are not true Churches; Or that the Ministers or Ordinances, are not true Ministers or Ordinances; Or that the Church government by Presbytery, is Antichristian, or unlawfull; or that the Magistracy, or power of the Civill-Magistrate by Law established in England, is unlawfull; or that all the use of Armes for Publique defence (be the Cause never so just) is unlawfull.
And in case the party so accused for any of the said errours, be committed before two Justices, the party so committed shall be ordered to renounce his said errour in the publike Congregation of the Parish Church whence the complaint comes; and in case he refuses or neglects the same at or upon the day, time, and place appointed by the said Justices, that he shall be committed to prison by the said Justices, untill he shall find two Sureties, of subsidy men, that he shall not publish or maintain the said errour or errours any more.
⟨London⟩10 Sept: 1646