WHereas the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, have been necessitated to take up and anticipate severall great sums of mony for the service of the Parlia­ment, upon the credit of the receipts of the Excise established and still in force by severall Ordinances of Parliament, And upon occasion of such loanes made unto them, have declared that they would continue the same Receipts of the Excise; untill Principall and Interest were fully discharged, which cannot be yet com­passed, by reason that the Receipts of the Excise have for many Moneths past been very much obstructed, and so fallen very much short of what was expected, if the same could have been duly levied; And foreseeing, that besides the satisfying of those Engagements, it will be necessary to continue the same Receipts of the Excise the better to inable them to goe through the great work of establishing the Peace of the Kingdom, upon which they are at present ingaged; And for the better easing of the People, upon whom the Charge of so great a Work must otherwise lye, and be raised with much difficulty and inconvenience, and in a farr more burthensome manner; The Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled doe hereby Ordain, That the severall Receipts of the Excise and New-Impost now in force, formerly appointed by Ordinance of the 11. of Sep­tember, 1643. commonly called the Grand Excise; so much of the Ordinance dated the Ninth of January, 1643. concerning Forain made Salt imported; the Additionall Excise and New-Impost appointed by Ordinance dated the Eighth of July, 1644. And the last Additionall Ordi­nance for the levying Excise upon Lead, Gold, Silver, and Copper thread, Gold, Silver, and Cop­per wyer, &c. dated the Four and twentieth of November, 1645. And all other Orders, Decla­rations and Ordinances of Parliament now in force, made in Explanation, or for the better Regu­lating all and every the said Receipts, be yet continued, from, and after the Nine and twentyeth day of September in the yeare of our Lord 1648 untill the Nine and twentyeth day of September, which shall be in the year of our Lord God 1650. to be managed by such Persons, and in such manner as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit; whereof, as all persons whatsoever are hereby required to take due notice and yeeld obedience thereunto accordingly, so, the said Lords and Commons doe Declare, That whensoever they shall find the Affairs of this Kingdom to be in such a condition (which they shall especially and earnestly endevour) as may admit of the utter abo­lishing or lessening thereof, they will upon all occasions embrace the same, and shew how ready they are to give all possible ease unto the people.