no proceſs againſt him; the writ de haeretico comburendo being not a writ of courſe, but iſſuing only by the ſpecial direction of the king in council[1].
But in the reign of Henry the fourth, when the eyes of the chrſtian world began to open, and the ſeeds of the proteſtant religion (though under the opprobrious name of lollardy[2]) took root in this kingdom; the clergy, taking advantage from the king's dubious title to demand an increaſe of their own power, obtained an act of parliament</ref>2 Hen. IV. c. 15.</ref>, which ſharpened the edge of perſecution to it's utmoſt keenneſs. For, by that ſtatute, the dioceſan alone, without the intervention of a ſynod, might convict of heretical tenets; and unleſs the convict abjured his opinions, or if after abjuration he relapſed, the ſheriff was bound ex officio, if required by the biſhop, to commit the unhappy victim to the flames, without waiting for the conſent of the crown. By the ſtatute 2 Hen. V. c. 7. lollardy was alſo made a temporal offence, and indictable in the king's courts; which did not thereby gain an excluſive, but only a concurrent juriſdiction with the biſhop's conſiſtory. Afterwards, when the final reformation of religion began to advance, the power of the eccleſiaſtics was ſomewhat moderated: for though what hereſy is, was not then preciſely defined, yet we are told in ſome points what it is not: the ſtatute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 14. declaring, that offences againſt the ſee of Rome are not hereſy; and the ordinary being thereby reſtrained from proceeding in any caſe upon mere ſuſpicion; that is, unleſs the party be accuſed by two credible witneſſes, or an indictment of hereſy be firſt previouſly found in the king's courts of common law. And yet the ſpirit of perſecution was not then abated, but only diverted into a lay chanel. For in ſix years afterwards, by ſtatute 31 Hen. VIII. c. 14. the bloody law of the ſix articles was made, which eſtabliſhed the ſix moſt conteſted points of popery, tran-
