<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>1-7-10</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Added TEMPHEAD, checked ID, and added TYPEs to DIVs in order to validate. Checked for N=""s. Checked for GROUP tags. Proofed title. Checked ^s. Reviewed structure; removed Q; added DIV1. Checked placement and completeness of PBs; removed a PB. Checked for damage GAPs, #s, @s, oes, --s, and UNCLEARs. Corrected [dollar]s. Checked for &amp;cs with incorrect spacing. Checked for LBs. Check for startqs and endqs, qs, abq's, Ae's, and Qs. Check italic I / J and U / V. Checked for missing page GAPs. Checked for EPIGRAPHs and ARGUMENTS. Checked proofsheets and made corrections. Checked CLOSERs, TRAILERs, SIGNEDs, OPENERs, SALUTEs, BYLINEs. Sample: 2 minutes. Proofing: 10 minutes. Tag review and corrections: 10 minutes. DONE.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A94594">
<STC T="W">T1609</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.22[14]</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99870082</BIBNO>
<VID>163597</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>To the right Honourable, Our right vvorthy and grave Senatours, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of Lon|don in Common Council a&s;&s;embled, The mo&s;t humble Petition and Addre&s;s of divers young men, on the behalf of them&s;elves and the APPRENTICES in and about this honourable City,</HEAD>
<OPENER>Mo&s;t humbly &s;heweth,</OPENER>
<P>_IT hath plea&s;ed the good and onely wi&s;e GOD for our and the Nations crying &s;ins to manife&s;t his di&s;plea&s;ure for many years toge|ther again&s;t the&s;e once flouri&s;hing, now &s;adly divided, di&s;tracted, and almo&s;t ruined Nations: and yet ble&s;&s;ed be God, this Honoura|ble City hitherto hath been no proportionable &s;harer in the calamities which our Brethren in other parts of the&s;e now mi&s;erable Na|tions have &s;uffered, which are now aggravated by our divi&s;ions, and &s;uch a generall decay of trading, as doth exceed the wor&s;t of for|mer times; all which we look upon, as a mo&s;t &s;ad pre&s;age of &s;ome heavy &amp; di&s;mal judgment very near at hand, if not our &s;udden ruin: together with the de&s;truction and utter di&s;&s;olution both of Church and State, which will inevitably en&s;ue as a ju&s;t reward upon our multipli'd provocations, under the mo&s;t &s;ignal manife&s;tations of Gods mo&s;t gracious pre&s;ence &amp; the mo&s;t engaging mercies that ever people did enjoy (unle&s;&s;e it plea&s;e our mo&s;t gracious GOD who&s;e name hath been exceedingly di&s;honoured by the violation of many &s;acred and &s;olemn Oaths) among&s;t us to work our deliverance out of this contexture of dangerous mi&s;chiefs, into which we have already wound our &s;elves: or which as the inundations of mighty waters may &s;uddenly break in upon us: and being &s;adly &s;en&s;ible of the calamities, under which the three Nations groan for want of a well ordered and e&s;tabli&s;hed Government. We being members in the &s;ame politicall body cannot but &s;ympathize with the re&s;t of our Brethren: and fora&s;much as your endeavours may contribute very much thereto, and the well or ill management of your Talents, in the di&s;charge of your Tru&s;ts may now make the&s;e Nations happy or el&s;e leave them irrecoverably mi&s;erable. We hold our &s;elves obliged in con&s;cience to GOD and our Countrey, both by the Lawes of GOD and the Land, in the behalfe of our &s;elves, and all good and peaceable people in the Land, and the many thou|&s;ands that know not their right hand from their left; and in the behalfe of the Children unborn who in time to come, may have cau&s;e to ble&s;&s;e or cur&s;e the day of their birth for your &s;akes, do make this humble Addre&s;&s;e to you, as the onely means under GOD now left us to redre&s;&s;e the&s;e growing mi&s;|chiefs which make us and the three Nations in the&s;e times of our great trouble cry unto you (as tho&s;e of <HI>Macedonia</HI> did in the Apo&s;tles Vi&s;ion) <HI>Come and help us.</HI> And we be&s;eech you, our mo&s;t Grave and Worthy <HI>Senatours,</HI> as you tender the welfare of the&s;e bleeding Nations to &s;tand in the wide gap of our breaches, with your prayers, improving your Councils, and every Talent (which God hathrepo&s;ed in you) for the honour of God, and the peace of his Church by a reall reformation, and we que&s;tion not but our mo&s;t gracious GOD will then break through the thick Clouds of the&s;e black and dark providences, and return unto us <HI>our Iudges as at the fir&s;t, and our Coun&s;ellours as at the beginning,</HI> with the abundance of the ble&s;&s;ings of peace, that <HI>Iudge|ment may run down our &s;treets, and righteou&s;ne&s;se as a mighty &s;tream.</HI> And we humbly de&s;ire the two great Pillars of the Land <HI>Magi&s;tracy</HI> and <HI>Mini&s;try</HI> may be a&s;&s;erted and encouraged: in order unto which, we humbly pre&s;ent to your Grave and &s;erious Con&s;iderations;</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, the Priviledges of the Go&s;pel which we do enjoy at this day in the faithfull preaching &amp; di&s;pen&s;ing of Gods holy Word and Sacraments, together with the labours of &s;o many of his faithfull &s;ervants in the Mini&s;try, and the libertie of the&s;e &s;acred Ordinances being the be&s;t and choi&s;e&s;t of our National ble&s;&s;ings; in re&s;pect of which, we may well &s;ay (with holy <HI>David) God hath not dealt &s;o with any Nation:</HI> which with thankfulne&s;&s;e we de&s;ire to acknow|ledge as a great mercy to this Land: And &s;hould the Lord remove his Candle&s;tick out of his place (as we have ju&s;t cau&s;e to fear he will, unle&s;&s;e we do repent.) Then may we indeed complain with <HI>Phineas</HI> his Wife, <HI>the glory is departed from</HI> our <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and a dark and di&s;mal night of black and gloomy Ignorance, Error and Prophanenef&s;e will invelope our valley of vi&s;ion. And to th'end that this choice Ble&s;&s;ing (which we account more precious then our lives) may be conveyed to Po&s;terity. We mo&s;t humbly de&s;ire the Mini&s;try may be countenanced and encouraged, the Univer&s;ities upheld and maintained, which have nur&s;ed many famous Preachers for piety and learning in this and former ages, and your Authourity u&s;ed for the terrour of evil doers, but the prai&s;e of them that doe well.</P>
<P>Secondly, we e&s;teem and a&s;&s;ert as our undoubted birth right, the freedome and priviledges of our Parliaments, as being the great Charter of the peo|ple of England, which we account equally dear with our lives, in the enjoyment of which we yet hope under GOD to &s;ee a happy and la&s;ting &s;ettlement both in Church and State. Therefore we mo&s;t humbly de&s;ire that a new election may be made, or el&s;e that tho&s;e worthy Gentlemen cho&s;en to &s;erve as members in the late free Parliament, may be re&s;tored to their priviledges, and &s;it without di&s;turbance or force from the Army. That they may con&s;i|der in this evil time, what <HI>England, Scotland</HI> and <HI>Ireland</HI> ought to doe, which (with &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to your Grave judgements) we humbly conceive to be the mo&s;t probable means under GOD to e&s;tabli&s;h the true Prote&s;tant Religion, reform the Lawes, &s;ecure our Liberties and pre&s;erve our lives and out|ward concernments, to promote Learning, and encourage Virtue, whereby peace with our neighbour Nations may be renewed and e&s;tabli&s;hed, the Ar|my &s;atisfied, their Arrears paid, and Trading re&s;tored. In all which, mo&s;t Grave and worthy <HI>Senatours,</HI> your own concernments (as well as ours) are &s;o deeply engaged, that we per&s;wade our &s;elves you will be in&s;trumentall to further our de&s;ires, by all peaceable and lawfull means, and we hope it will put an end to our divi&s;ions, which (if GOD in mercy prevent not) may &s;oon break out into another civil War, and render us as a prey to a forreign enemy, For <HI>a Kingdome divided again&s;t it &s;elf cannot stand.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Now we leave it unto you our mo&s;t grave and worthy Senatours, duely to con&s;ider if you part with the&s;e our great National ble&s;sings, whether you will not di&s;cover a palpable breach of tru&s;t, and leave your names for a reproach to the generations following, who will in the ages to come ri&s;e up and call you ble&s;|&s;ed, if you be carefull to pre&s;erve them now, and convey them to Po&s;terity: And now We be&s;eech the Lord to &s;trengthen both your hearts and hands; and give you wi&s;edome from on high to direct you in all your Con&s;ultations, as may be mo&s;t for the honour of God, the peace of his Church throughout the World, and the &s;ettlement, &s;afety, and happine&s;&s;e of the&s;e poor Nations; And by his a&s;si&s;tance we re&s;olve to &s;tand by you and with you to the utmo&s;t hazard of our lives and all that is dear unto us, to promote the &s;ame.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="disposition">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE>Munday 5. <HI>December.</HI></DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>This day the Lord <HI>Mayor, Aldermen</HI> and <HI>Common Council</HI> being a&s;&s;embled, the fore-recited <HI>Petition</HI> was pre&s;ented by &s;everal young men and Apprentices, in the behalf of them&s;elves and &s;everal thou&s;ands which have &s;ub&s;cribed the &s;ame; the which being received, was ordered to be read, and thereupon a Committee cho&s;en to con&s;ider thereof, and to give their &s;peedy report unto the next Court concerning the &s;ame.</P>
<P><HI>At the &s;ame Court it was like wi&s;e Ordered, that the Lord General</HI> Fleetwood <HI>&s;hould be de&s;ired to draw off the Souldiers unto their &s;everal quarters; it being then al&s;o Ordered that every</HI> Common Coun|cil man <HI>in his &s;everal precinct, &s;hould give notice to the Hou&s;e-keepers within the &s;ame, that they &s;hould keep their Servants and Apprentices at home, thereby to pre&s;erve the peace of the City.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
