WHereas divers Ministers in the severall Counties of this Kingdome for notorious Scandals and Delinquency, have beene put out of their Livings by Authority of Parliament, and Godly, Learned, and Orthodox Ministers placed in their roomes: And whereas the said Scandalous and Delin­quent Ministers by force, or other wayes, have entred upon the Churches, and gained the possession of the Parsonage-houses, Tithes, and Profits thereunto belon­ging, and have obstructed the payment of the Tithes and other Profits due by the Parishioners unto the Ministers placed in the said Churches by Authority aforesaid.

The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do therefore Order and Ordaine, and be it Ordained by the said Lords and Commons, That all Sheriffes, Mayors, Bailiffes, Justices of the Peace, Deputy-Lieutenants, and Committees of Parliament in the severall Counties, Ci­ties, and places within this Kingdome, doe forthwith ap­prehend, [Page 2] or cause to be apprehended all such Ministers as by Authority of Parliament have beene put out of any Church or Chappell within this Kingdome, or any other person or persons who have entred upon any such Church or Chappell, or gained the possession of such Parsonage-houses, Tithes, and Profits thereunto belong­ing, or have obstructed the payment of the Tithes and other profits due by the Parishioners to the said Mini­sters there placed by Authority of Parliament, or Se­questrators appointed, where no Ministers are setled to receive the same, and all such persons as have beene Aiders, Abetters, or Assistors in the Premises, and com­mit them to prison, there to remain untill such satisfaction be made unto the severall Ministers placed by the said Authority of Parliament for his or their damages sustained, as to the said Sheriffes, Mayors, Bailiffes, Ju­stices of the Peace, Deputy-Lieutenants, or Committees of Parliament, or any two of them shall appeare to be just, upon hearing and proofe made upon the Oath of two sufficient Witnesses (which they or any two of them are hereby authorized to administer) who are likewise required to restore, settle, and quiet the pos­session in such Ministers as have beene placed by the said Authority of Parliament, and they or any two of them have hereby power to raise Trained Bands, or any other Forces within the said severall Counties, Cities, and places to put this Ordinance in execution, and the said Sheriffes, Mayors, Bailffes, Justices of the Peace, Depu­ty-Lieutenants, and Committees of Parliament respe­ctively, are hereby required to take effectuall course according to the severall Orders and Ordinances of Par­liament in that behalfe made, that all men do pay their [Page 3] Tithes or Profits due unto the said respective Ministers. And it is hereby further Ordered and Ordained, That the Committee appointed for plundered Ministers, have power to see this Ordinance put in execution. And it is further Ordained, That the Committee of complaints do give the like remedy to all such Ministers put in by the said Authority of Parliament, and Sequestrators of the profits against whom any Action shall be brought by any such Delinquent, or scandalous Ministers, or any other clayming by or under them, for their Livings, Tithes, and Profits, as they are authorized unto by any Order or Ordinance in other cases.

It is Lastly Ordered and Ordained, That if any such scandalous or Delinquent Minister, put out as aforesaid, their Aydors, or Abettors, shall at any time hereafter disturbe, molest, or hinder such Minister as is put into such Church or Chappell as aforesaid, in the exercising of the Office of his Ministery, upon proofe thereof made upon the Oath of two Witnesses, before the said Sheriffs, Mayors, Bailiffs, Justices of Peace, Deputy-Lieutenants, or Committees of Parliament, or any two of them; it shall and may be lawfull to and for the said Sheriffes, Ma­yors, Bailiffes, Justices of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenants, or Committees of Parliament, or any two of them, to commit such Offendor or Offendors, to prison for one Moneth, so often as he or they shall so offend.

BE it Ordered and Ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That where­as in the late Ordinance of Parliament, made the 16. of Novemb. Anno Dom. 1646. it is appointed that the Purchasers of any Bishops Lands shall pay the latter moiety of Purchase money within six moneths af­ter the sealing of the Assurance; And whereas divers Pur­chasers have before the sealing of the Assurance obtained the possession of the said Purchased Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, in all such cases the said six moneths where in the latter moyety of the Purchase money ought to be payed, shall be reckoned from the time of the Con­tract, and not from the sealing of the Assurance; and that in lieu thereof the Purchaser shall have and enjoy all the meane profits which he hath had, or received in the meane time; And that the Treasurers for Bishops Lands shall allow, and rebate to any Purchaser, who hath any money due by the said Ordinance, the interest which shall be due unto him, together with the principall, the same to be defaulked at the times of payment of his Pur­chase money; and that all Assignees of any monies due by the said Ordinance, may defalke the same upon Pur­chasers [Page 5] in like manner as the lenders themselves might doe. And the Contractors, Trustees, Treasurers, and all others imployed in the sale of Bishops Lands, are hereby required, and enjoyned to perfect and seale the respective Conveyances or Assurances with all possible expedition.

VVHereas the City of Chester is grievously infected, and visited with the Plague of Pestilence in every Parish and part thereof, very few Families being cleare, by reason whereof almost all the Persons of abili­ty have left the said City, and there are remaining (for the most part) only the poore that have no meanes of subsistence, being altogether deprived of Trading, which if they be not presently releeved in an extraordinary way, are like to perish for want, and to endanger the infecting the adjacent Counties. And whereas the County of Che­ster is exceedingly impoverished by the late War, where­by they are disabled for affording them any considerable reliefe; It is therefore Ordered by the Lords and Com­mons assembled in Parliament, That the respective Mi­nisters of every Parish, and Congregationall Church within the Cities of London and Westminster, the Lines of Communication, and weekly Bills of Mortality, and [Page 6] within the Counties of Chester, Kent, Sussex, Surry, South­hampton, Middlesex, Essex, Hertford, Cambridge, Suffolke, and Norfolke, doe upon the next Lords day after re­ceipt of this present Ordinance, or the Copy thereof, publish the distressed condition of the poore Inhabitants of the said City of Chester, and earnestly move their peo­ple to contribute to so charitable a worke, and that the summes so collected be paid by the Collectors thereof unto William Drink-water, and Robert Wilding, Citizens of London, their Deputy, or Deputies. And the said William Drink-water, and Robert Wilding are hereby re­quired forthwith to send such monies as they shall receive unto the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffes of the said City of Chester. or any two of them, to be by them distributed to the poore inhabitants of the said City; and the said William Drink-water, and Robert Wilding shall take Ac­quittances for such summes of money as they shall up­on this Collection pay to the said Mayor, Aldermen, She­riffes, or any two of them under their hands; which Ac­quittances shall be a sufficient discharge to them for the same. And it is further Ordained, That the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffes, or any two of them shall certifie unto the Committee of Accompts the totall summe which shall be received by them by vertue of this present Ordinance.