The history of popery, or, Pacquet of advice from Rome the fourth volume containing the lives of eighteen popes and the most remarkable occurrences in the church, for near one hundred and fifty years, viz. from the beginning of Wickliff's preaching, to the first appearance of Martin Luther, intermixt with several large polemical discourses, as whether the present Church of Rome be to be accounted a Church of Christ, whether any Protestant may be present at Mass and other important subjects : together with continued courants, or innocent reflections weekly on the distempers of the times.

Of the first pretended Act of Parliament that ever was in England against professors of Religion, how it was forg'd by the Prelates, and soon after Repeal'd. The bloody Statute of 4. Hen. 2. ca. 15. for Burning of Hereticks.

WE have pursued the Papal History beyond the Seas, down to the Council of Constance, and burning of Hus and Mr. Jerome, that is, to about the year of our Lord 1415. which answers to the Third year of the Raign of our King Henry the Fifth. 'Twill therefore now be necessary to look back and ga∣ther what Observables occurr'd in England relating to our Sub∣ject not already mention'd, during the Raigns of King Richard the Second, and Henry the Fourth. We gave you before the Relation of Wickliff, whose Doctrines spread so fast, that the incens'd Prelates finding their Spiritual Thunders unable to re∣press them, bethought themselves to pray in aid of the Secular Arm, and to that purpose the King being young and dissolute, so extravagant to his Favourites, that he always wanted Money, the Bishops either by fair words, or the Bait of a Benevolence to be given him by the Clergy, prevail'd with him in the Fifth year

of his Raign to consent to an Ordinance of their framing, in these words following.

For as much as it is openly known, that there be divers evil persons within the Realm going from County to County, and from Town to Town, in certain Habits, under dissimulation of great Holiness, and without the License of the Ordinaries of the places, or other sufficient Authority, preaching daily, not only in Churches and Church-yards, but also in Markets, Fairs, and other open places, where a great Congregation of people is, divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors, to the great emblemishing of the Christian Faith, and destruction of the Laws, and of the Estate of the holy Church, to the great peril of the Souls of the people, and of all the Realm of England, as more plainly is found, and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Fa∣ther in God the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops and other Prelates, Masters of Divinity, and Doctors of Canon and Ci∣vil Law, and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm especially assembled for this cause; which persons do also preach divers mat∣ters of Slander, to engender Discord and Dissention betwixt divers Estatés of the said Realm, as well Spiritual as Temporal, in ex∣citing of the people, to the great peril of the Realm: Which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places, there to answer of that, whereof they be impeached, will not obey to their Summons and Commandments, nor care for their Moni∣tions nor Censures of the Holy Church, but expresly despise them. And moreover by their subtle and ingenious words, do draw the people to hear their Sermons, and do maintain them in their Er∣rors by strong Hand, and great Routs: It is ordained and assented in this present Parliament, That the King's Edmmissions be made and directed to the Sheriffs and other Miuisters of our Sove∣raign Lord the King, or other sufficient persons Learned, and ac∣cording to the Certifications of the Prelates thereof to be made in Chancery from time to time, to arrest all such Preachers, and also their Faitors, Maintainers, and Abettors, and to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison, 'till they will justifie them according to the Law and Reason of Holy Church. And the King wills and commandeth, That the Chancellor make such Commissions at all times, that he by the Prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required, as is aforesaid

This was the first pretended Statute that ever was in England for imprisoning Christians for Religious opinions, and by colour thereof, the Bishops committed great Cruelties, I call it preten∣ded Statute; for tho it be enter'd in the Parliament Rolls, yet it was no Legal Act, for it never pass'd the Commons: And there∣fore at the next Parliament in Michaelmas Term following, the Commons preferr'd a Bill, ••eciting the same, and constantly affir∣med, That they never assented thereunto, and therefore desired, that the said supposed Statute be annull'd, and made void, for they prote∣sted, That it was never their intent, that either themselves, or such as shall succeed them, should be farther subject, or bound to the Pre∣lates, than were their Ancestors in former times. And to this the King gave his Royal Assent, in these words: Il plaist au Roy, The King is pleas'd that it be so. Cook, 3 Instit. fo. 40. Foxes Acts and Monuments, fo. 406.

But that you may more fully understand the fraud and sub∣tlety of their Reverences in this Affair, you must understand, That before the invention of Printing, the usual way of pub∣lishing Acts of Parliament, was to engross them in Parchment, and send them with the King's Writ into every County, com∣manding the Sheriff to proclaim them. Now John Braibrook Bishop of London, being then Lord Chancellor of England, he by a Writ dated 26 May, Anno Regni Regis R. 2. quinto, sent down the before recited Ordinance of the King and Prelates, amongst the Statutes that were then lately pass'd: But no less knavishly left out in the next Parliamentary Proclamation the said Act of Revocation, whereby the said supposed Statute was made void, by which means afterwards the other still pass'd as an Act, and was printed continually as such; but the Act that disannull'd it was by the Interest of the Prelates from time to time kept out of the Prints, the better to give colour to their imprisoning of the Laity at their pleasure.

And farther, to make sure work, Henry the Fourth having usurp'd the Crown, to gratifie the Clergy who had chiefly assi∣sted him therein, in the second year of his Raign, he at their Instigation procured the following cruel and wicked Law to be Enacted, commonly call'd, The Statute Ex Officio, which that the Reader may the better observe the Spirit of Popery and Perse∣cution, and compare the Times and Actings of Men in past and more modern Times, I hope it shall neither be thought tedious

nor unuseful to recite the same at large Verbatim, it not being now extant in Kceble, or any of our Common Statute Books.

ITem, Whereas it is shewed to our Soveraign Lord the King, on the behalf of the Prelates and Clergy of this Realm of England in this present Parliament, That altho the Catholick Faith builded upon Christ, and by his Apostles and the holy Church sufficiently determi∣ned, declared, and approved, hath been hitherto by good, and holy, and most noble Progeni••ors of our Soveraign Lord the King in the said Realm amongst all the Realms of the World most devoutly ob∣serv'd, and the Church of England by his said most noble Progeni∣tors and Ancestors, to the honour of God and of the whole Realm aforesaid, landably endow'd, and in her Rights and Liberties sustain'd, without that that the same Faith or the said Church was hurt or grie∣vously oppressed, or else perturbed by any perverse Doctrine, or Wicked, Heretical, or Erronious Opinions: Yet nevertheless di∣vers false and perverse people of a certain new Sect, of the Faith of the Sacraments of the Church, and the Authority of the same dam∣nably thinking, and against the Law of God and of the Church, usurping the Office of Preaching, do perversly and maliciously in di∣vers places within the said Realm, under the colour of dissembled Ho∣liness, preach and teach these days openly and privily divers n••w Do∣ctrines, and wicked, Heretical, and Erronious Opinions, contrary to the same Faith and blessed Determinations of the holy Church. And of such Sect and wicked Doctrine and Opinions they make unlaw∣ful Conventicles and Confederacies, they hold and exercise Schools, they make and write Books, they do wicked••y instruct and inform people, and as much as they may excite and stir them to Sedition and Insurrection, and maketh great strife and division among the people, and other Enormities horribly to be heard, daily do perpetrate and commit, in subversion of the Catholick Faith and Doctrine of the holy Church, in diminution of God's honour, and also in destruction of the Estate, Rights and Liberties of the said Church of England; by which Sect, and wicked and false Preachings, Doctrine, and Opi∣nions of the said false and perverse people, not only most great peril of the Souls, but also many more other hurts, slanders, and perils (which God prohibit) might come to this Realm, unless it be the more plenti∣fully and speedily holpen by the King's Majesty in this behalf; namely, whereas the Diocesans of the said Realm cannot by their Jurisdiction Spiritual, without Aid of the said Royal Majesty, sufficiently cor∣rect the said false and perverse people, nor refrain their Malice,

because the said false and perverse people do go from Diocess to Dio∣cess, and will not appear before the said Diocesan; but the same Diocesans, and their Jurisdiction Spiritual, and the Keys of the Church, with the Censures of the same, do utterly contemn and de∣spise, and so their wicked Preachings and Doctrines doth from day to day continue and exercise, to the hatred of Right and Reason, and utter destruction of Order and good Rule. Ʋpon which, Novelties and Excesses above rehearsed, the Prelates and Clergy aforesaid, and also the Commons of the said Realm being in the same Parlia∣ment, praying our Soveraign Lord the King, That his Royal High∣ness would vouchsafe in the said Parliament to provide a convenient Remedy, the same our Soveraign Lord the King graciously conside∣ring the premises, and also the laudable steps of his most noble Pro∣genitors and Ancestors, for the Conservation of the said Catholick Faith, and sustentation of God's Honour, and also the safeguard of the Estate, Rights, and Liberties of the said Church of England, to the land of God, and merit of our said Soveraign Lord the King, and prosperity and honour of all his said Realm, and for the eschew∣ing of such Dissentions, Divisions, Hurts, Slanders, and Perils, in time to come, and that this wicked Sect, Preachings, Doctrines, and Opinions, should from henceforth cease to be utterly destroyed, by the Assent of the States, and other discreet Men of the Realm, being in the said Parliament, hath granted, stablished, and ordained from henceforth firmly to be observed, that none within the said Realm, or any other Dominions subject to his Royal Majesty, presume to preach openly or privily, without the License of the Diocesan of the same place first required and obtained, Curates in their own Churches, and persons hitherto priviledged, and other of the Canon granted, only except. Nor that none from henceforth any thing preach, hold, teach, or instruct openly or privily, or make or write any Book contrary to the Catholick faith or determination of the holy Church, nor of such Sect and wicked Doctrines and Opinions shall make any C••nven••••cles, or in any wise hold or exercise Schools. And also that none from henceforth in any wise favour such Preacher or maker of any such or like Conventicles, or holding or exercising Schools, or making or wri∣ting such Books, or so teaching, informing, or exciting the people, nor any of them maintain, or any wise sustain, and that all and singular having such Books, or any Writings of such wicked Doctrine and Opi∣nions, shall really with effect, deliver or cause to be delivered all such Books and Writings to the Diocesan of the same place within 40 days,

from the time of the Proclamation of this Ordinance and Statute. And if any person or persons, of whatsoever kind, estate, or condition, that he or they be, from henceforth do or attempt against the Royal Ordinance and Statute aforesaid in the premisses, or in any any of them, or such Books in the form aforesaid do not deliver, then the Diocesan in the same place in his Diocess, such person or persons in this behalf defamed or evidently suspected, and every of them, may by the authority of the said Ordinance and Statute cause to be arre∣sted, and under safe custody in his Prisons to be detained, 'till he or they, of the Articles laid to him or them in this behalf, do Canonically purge him or themselves, or else such wicked Sect, Preachings, Do∣ctrines, and heretical and erronious Opinions do objure, according as the Laws of the Church do require, so that the said Diocesan by him∣self or his Commissaries do openly and judicially proceed against such persons so arrested, and remaining under safe custody to all effect of the Law, and determine that same business according to the Canonical Decrees within three months after the said Arrest, any lawful Impediment ceasing. And if any person in any case above expressed be before the Diocesan of the place, or his Commissaries canonically Convict, then the same Diocesan may do to be kept in his Prison the said person so Convict for the manner of his default, and after the quality of the Offence according aud as long as to his discretion shall seem expedient, and moreover to put the same person to the Secular Court (except in cases where he according to the Canoni∣cal Decree ought to be left) to pay to our Soveraign Lord the King his peculiar Fine, according as the same Fine shall seem competent to the Diocesan, for the manner and quality of the Offence, in which case the same Diocesan shall be bound to certifie the King of the same Fine in his Exchequer by his Letters Patents sealed with his Seal, to the effect, that such Fine by the King's Authority may be required and levied to his use of the Goods of the same person so convict. And if any person within the said Realm and Dominions, upon the said wicked Preachings, Doctrines, Opi∣nions. Schools, heretical and erroneous Informations, or any of them, be before the Diocesan of the same place, or his Commissaries, after the Abjuration made by the same person pronounced, fall into Relapse; so that according to the holy Canons be ought to be left to the Secular Court, whereupon Credence shall be given to the Dio∣cesan of the same place, or to his Commissaries in this behalf, then the Sheriff of the County of the same place and Mayor and Sheriffs or Sheriff, or Mayor and Bayliffs of the City, Town, or Borough of the same County next to the same Diocesan, or the said Commissaries shall be personally present in preferring of such sentences, when they by the same Diocesan or his Commissaries shall be required: And they the same per∣sons and every of them, after such sentence promulgate, shall receive; and them be∣fore the people in an high place do to be burnt, that such punishment may strike in fear to the minds of others, whereby no such wicked Doctrine, and heretical and erroneous Opinions, nor their Authors and Fautours in the said Realm and Dominions against the Catholick Faith, Christian Law, and determination of the holy Church (which God prohibit) be sustained, or in any wise suffered, in which all and singular the pre∣mises concerning the said Ordinance and Statnte, the Sheriffs, Mayors, and Bayliffs of the said Counties Cities, Boroughs, and Towns, shall be attending, aiding, and supporting to the said Diocesans and their Commissaries.