An Ordinance presented to the honourable 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 foreknow all things; Or that he is Almighty, Or that he is perfectly Holy, Or that he is eternal. Or that shall in like manner publish, That Christ is not God coequal with the Father; Or shall deny the Manhood of Christ, Or that the Godhead and Manhood of Christ are several 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 jam ascended into Heaven bodily, Or that his death is meritorious in behalf of believers. 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 obstinacy, shall be judged Felony: Such persons shall by two witnesses be bound over by two justices unto the jail-delivery, and the Delinquent shall be indicted for Felony; and upon finding the same indictment, and that the party be 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 shall upon two sufficient Sureties be bailed.  
And be it further ordained, that if after abjuring the said errors, he shall publiish it again, he shall be indicted 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 impugn the Word of God, such offences shall be adjudged felony, & the Offender committed without bail or mainprise; 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 several errors hereafter ensuing, viz. That all men shall be saved; that a man by nature hath free will to turn to God; That God may be worshipped by Pictures or Images; or that the soul of any man after death goes neither to Heaven nor Hell, but to Purgatory; or that the soul of man dies or sleeps 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 than by his reason he can comprehend; or that the moral Law contained in the Ten commandments is no rule of a Christian life; or that God sees no sin in the justified; or that a Believer need not repent nor pray for the pardon of sin; or that the two Sacraments of baptism, and the Lord's Supper, are not Ordinances commanded by the Word of God; or that the baptising of Infants is unlawful; or that such baptising is void, and of none effect; or that such persons are to be baptised again: and in pursuance thereof, shall baptize any person formerly baptised: or that the observation of the Lord's Day, as it is enjoined by the Ordinances and laws of this Realm, is not according, or contrary to the Word of God, or that it is not lawful to join in public, 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 unlawful; or that the Magistracy, or power of the gavel-magistrate by Law established in England, is unlawful; or that all the use of arms for public defence (be the Cause never so just) is unlawful.  
And in case the party so accused for any of the said errors, be committed before two Justices, the party so committed shall be ordered to renounce his said error in the public 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, until he shall find two Sureties, of subsidy men, that he shall not publish or maintain the said error or errors any more.  
London10 Sept: 1646