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<DATE>2007-12-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B071023.apex.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A83023">
<STC T="W">E1810</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.9[20]</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99870855</BIBNO>
<VID>161118</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="Parliamentary ordinance">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 4 -->
<HEAD>AN ORDINANCE OF THE Lords and Commons A&s;&s;embled in Parliament.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>BEING An Exhortation to all His MAJESTIES good Subjects in the Kingdome of <HI>England,</HI> and Dominion of <HI>Wales,</HI> to the duty of Repentance and Humiliation, with an earne&s;t confe&s;&s;ion of particular and Nationall &s;innes. <HI>For the obtaining a firme and happy Peace, now in agitation.</HI> To be u&s;ed privately in Families, but e&s;pecially publikely in Congregations.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>_THat flouri&s;hing Kingdoms have bin ruin'd by Impenitent going on in a cour&s;e of <HI>Sinning,</HI> the Sacred Sto|ry doth plainly tell us; and how neere to &s;uch a Ruine our &s;inful <HI>Nation</HI> now is, the pre&s;ent lamentable Face of it doth too apparently &s;hew. And though we &s;hould feele the heavy &s;troakes of God, yet &s;even times more, It is our duty to accept the puni&s;hment of our Iniquity, and to &s;ay, <HI>Righteous art thou O Lord, and ju&s;t are thy Judgements.</HI></P>
<P>Yet becau&s;e the Lord who is ju&s;t, is al&s;o Mercifull, and in his infinite Mercy hath left the excellent and &s;ucce&s;&s;efull re|medy of Repentance to <HI>Nations</HI> brought neere to the Gates of de&s;truction and de&s;paire, O let not <HI>England</HI> be negligent in the application of it. Humble addre&s;&s;es of a penitent People to a mercifull God have prevailed with <HI>Him.</HI> They prevai|led for <HI>Nineveh</HI> when the &s;entence &s;eemed to be gon out again&s;t her, and may al&s;o prevaile for <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>It is therfore thought mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary by the Lords &amp; Commons in Parliament, that all his Maje&s;ties Subjects in this Kingdom of <HI>England,</HI> be excited and &s;tirred up, &s;peedily to lay hold upon this only and unfailing Remedy of Repentance; freely acknowledging, and heartily bewailing even with the deepe&s;t humiliation, godly &s;orrow, and dete&s;tation, &s;ecretly and in Families, but e&s;pecially publikely in <HI>Congregations,</HI> both their owne per&s;onall &s;ins, and chiefly tho&s;e &s;ins that are and have bin the &s;ins of this <HI>Nation:</HI> A confe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Nationall Sins</HI> being mo&s;t agreeable to the Nationall Iudgments, under which the Land Groanes, and mo&s;t likely to be effectual for the removing of them.</P>
<P>Neither ought this confe&s;&s;ion to &s;leight or light, when there is &s;o heavy a weight of Sins, infinite in number, and hai|nous in nature, that lies upon this <HI>Nation.</HI> Such are the high Contempt of Gods holy Ordinances, and of Holine&s;&s;e it &s;elfe: Gro&s;&s;e and affected Ignorance, under the glorious light of the <HI>Go&s;pell</HI> cleerely &s;hining among us; unfruitfulne&s;&s;e under the precious meanes of Grace, Ingratitude for Mercies, Incorrigiblenes under Iudgments, multitudes of Oathes, and Bla&s;phemies, wicked Prophanations of the Lords Day, by Sports and Gamings, formerly encouraged even by Authority; All &s;orts of uncleanne&s;&s;e; <HI>Luxury,</HI> and <HI>Exce&s;&s;e</HI> in Eating and Drinking; Vanity, Pride, and Prodigality in Apparell; Envy, Contention, &amp; unnaturall Divi&s;ions, Oppre&s;&s;ion, Fraud, and Violence; From diver&s;e of which Sins, &amp; many other, not one Per&s;on throughout the whole <HI>Nation,</HI> can &s;ay that he is wholy free; but all mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e that they have contributed toward the great Stock of <HI>Nationall Sins;</HI> And &s;o have increa&s;ed the Trea&s;ure of <HI>Wrath,</HI> again&s;t the&s;e daies of <HI>Wrath;</HI> and therefore &s;ince, according to the Language of the Holy Gho&s;t, we are a &s;infull <HI>Nation,</HI> a People laden with Iniquity, and that from the &s;ole of the Foot, to the Head, there is no &s;oundne&s;&s;e in Vs, we may ju&s;tly expect the de|&s;olations that are denounced again&s;t &s;o great and generall a corruption.</P>
<P>And as it is our duty to humble our &s;elves and to give glory to God, the &s;earcher of all Hearts, by confe&s;&s;ing all Sins; So ought we to be affected and humbled with deepe&s;t &s;ence of &s;orrow, for tho&s;e mo&s;t crying Sins, which now we find, by too &s;ad Experience, to have a more immediate Influence upon the De&s;truction of a Kingdome; &s;ome of which are Ido|latry and Blood&s;hed.</P>
<P>That of Idolatry, as it was the Sin of our Ance&s;tors, &s;o it is the &s;preading Sin of the&s;e latter times, while by a gene|rall connivence, and almo&s;t Tolleration, it hath beene &s;everall wayes Fomented and encouraged: The grievous Effects whereof this Kingdome of <HI>England</HI> now begins to feele, from multitudes of Armed <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> and their Abettors, and the Kingdome of <HI>Ireland</HI> far more heavily hath felt, being brought almo&s;t to utter Ruine, by the Inte&s;tine Warres of Ro|mi&s;h Idolaters.</P>
<P>And for that other crying and cruell Sin of Blood&s;hed, that cals aloud for Vengeance (be&s;ides many Murders not expiated, and the blood-guilty pardoned) did it not goe hand in hand with that abhominable Idoll of the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> in the dayes of Queene <HI>Mary,</HI> and &s;ome of her Predece&s;&s;ors, when many hundreds of the deere Martirs and Saints of God lo&s;t their precious Lives in flames and pri&s;ons? And though &s;everall Acts by which that Innocent blood was &s;hed, have beene repealed by Parliament: yet to this very day, was never ordeined &s;uch a &s;olemn Publique and Nationall acknow|ledgment of this Sin, as might appea&s;e the wrath of that Iealous God again&s;t whom, and again&s;t who&s;e People, with &s;o high a hand it was committed.</P>
<P><HI>Now</HI> that all the Sin and Mi&s;ery of this Polluted and Afficted <HI>Nation</HI> may be bitterly &s;orrowed for, with &s;uch griefe of heart, and preparedne&s;&s;e for a thorow Reformation, as God may be plea&s;ed graciou&s;ly to accept: It is required and Ordeined by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, That every Mini&s;ter and Preacher of Gods Word, in the King|dome of <HI>England</HI> and Dominion of <HI>Wales,</HI> in their &s;everall Auditories and Congregations, e&s;pecially upon the Fa&s;t daies, &s;hall mo&s;t earne&s;tly per&s;wade and Inculcate the con&s;tant practice of this publique acknowledgement and deepe humiliation, for the&s;e, and all our Nationall and crying &s;innes, and likewi&s;e the nece&s;&s;ity of a Per&s;onall and Nationall Reformation, and &s;hall publi&s;h this Ordinance concerning the &s;ame: That &s;o at length we may obtaine a firme and happy Peace both with God and man, That Glory may dwell in our Land, and the pro&s;perity of the Go&s;pell, with all the priviledges accompanying it, may Crown this <HI>Nation</HI> unto all &s;ucceeding Ages.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="license">
<P>ORdered by the Lords and Commons a&s;&s;embled in Parliament, that this Ordinance &s;hall bee forthwith Printed and publi&s;hed, and read in all Pari&s;h Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdome of <HI>England</HI> and Dominion of <HI>Wales,</HI> by the Par&s;ons, Vicars, and Curates of the &s;ame.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>John Brown, Cler. Parliamentorum.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
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<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>John Wright</HI> in the Old-baily. <HI>Febr.</HI> 11. 1644.</P>
</DIV1>
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