tical Opinions; yet he arrogantly and wilfully perfifteth and continueth in the fame. We there fore, according to our regal Function and Office, minding the Execution of Justice in this Behalf, and to give Example to others, left they should attempt the like hereafter, have determin'd, by the Affent of our Council, to will and require, and do hereby authorize and require you, our faid Chancellor, immediately upon the receipt hereof, to award and make out, under our great Seal of England, our Writ of Execution, according to the Tenór in thefe Prefents enfuing. And these Presents fhall be your fufficient Warrant and Discharge for the fame.

The WRIT de Hæretico comburendo.

REX Vic Civitatis noftra Lich' falutem. Cum Reverendus in Chrifto Pater Richardus providentia Divina Coventr❜& Lich' Epifcopus nobis fignificaverit, quod ipfe contra & adverfus quendam Edwardum Wightman Parochia de Burton fuper Trent Coventr

Lich'Diocef. de fuper nephandis Harefibus Ebionis, Cerinthi, Valentiniani, Arri, Macedonii, Simonis Magi,Manetis, Manechiorum, Photini & Anabaptiftarum aliorumq; Hærefiarcharum, & infuper de aliis execrandis opinionibus inftinetu Satana excogitatis & antehac inauditis, juxta Canonum Ecclefiafticorum legumque & confuetudinum hujus Regni noftri Angl' exigentiam judicialit' procedens, pradictus Edwardus Wightman coram præfato Reverendo Patre ac aliis Theologis & Jurifperitis fibi in judicio affiftentibus comparens, pradicta nephanda crimina Hærefes ac alias deteftandas blafphemias & Errores contumaciter & ex quadam pertinacia fcienter, maliciofe,animoq; obdurato publi cavit, defendebat, & diffeminabat, per fententiam defini tivam ejufdem Reverendi Patris cum confenfu Theolo gorum & Jurifperitorum pradictorum jufte Legitime &

Canonice

Canonice contra eundem Edwardum Wightman in ea parte latam Hæretic' adjudicat & pronunciat' exiftit; & ideo tanquam ovem morbidam e grege Domini, ne fubditos noftros fua contagione inficiet, ejiciendum & eliminandum fore decreverit Cum igitur Sancta Mater Ecclefia non habeat quod ulterius in hac parte facere & exequi debeat, idem Reverendus Pater eundem Edwardum Wightman, ut Blafphemum & damnatum Hæreticum, brachio noftro feculari reliquit, condigna animadverfione plectend', prout per Literas Patentes præfati Reverendi Patris Epifcopi Coventr& Lich' in hac parte fuperinde confect Nobis in Cancellar' noftram certificat' eft. Nos igitur ut zelator juftitia & fidei Catholica defenfor, vo lentefque Ecclefiam Sanctam ac jura & libertates ejufdem & fidem Catholicam manutenere & defendere, ac bujufmodi Hærefes & Errores ubique (quantum in nobis eft) eradicare & extirpare, ac Hæreticos fic convictos animadverfione condigna puniri, attendentefq; hujufmodi Hæreticum in forma pradicta convictum & damnatum juxta leges & confuetudinem Regni noftri Anglia in hac parte confuet' ignis incendio comburi debere; Tibi præcepimus quod dict Edwardum Wightman in cuftodia tua exiftent' in aliquo loco publico & aperto infra Civitatem pradict' ex caufa pramilla coram populo publice igni committi, & ipfum Edwardum Wightman in eodem igne realiter comburi fac' in hujufmodi criminis deteftationem aliorumque Chriftianorum exemplum manifeftum, ne in fimile crimen labantur. Et hoc fub periculo incumbente nullatenus omittas, Tefte, &c.

Henry Hibirte.

This containeth a Warrant to be granted by your Majesty unto the Lord Chancellor of Eng land, for the awarding of a Writ, under the Great Seal of England, to the Sheriff of the City of Lichfield, for the burning of Edward Wightman who is convicted of divers horrible Herefies, be

fore

fore the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and by his Sentence left to the fecular Power, as is by the faid Bishop certified to your Majesty into your Highness's Court of Chancery.

And is done by Force of your Majesty's Commandment to me given under your Highness's Sign Manual.

Henry Hibirte

The WRIT for burning an Heretick in English.

T

HE King to the Sheriff of our City of Lichfield, greeting. Whereas the Reverend Father in Chrift, Richard, by divine Providence, of Coventry and Lichfield, Bifhop, hath fignified unto us, that he, judicially proceeding, according to the Exigence of the Ecclefiaftical Canons, and of the Laws and Customs of this our Kingdom of England, against one Edward Wightman of the Parish of Burton upon Trent, in the Diocess of Coventry and Lichfield, of and upon the wicked Herefies of Ebion, Cerinthus, Valentinian, Arrins, Macedonius, Simon Magus, of Manes, Manichees, Photinus, and of the Anabaptifts, and other Arch-Hereticks; and moreover of other curfed Opinions belched by the Inftinct of Satan excogitated and heretofore unheard of, the aforefaid Edward Wightman appearing before the aforefaid Reverend Father, and other Divines, and learned in the Law, affifting him in Judgment, the aforefaid wicked Crimes, Herefies, and other deteftable Blafphemies and Errors, ftubbornly and pertinaciously, knowingly, maliciously, and with a harden'd Heart, publifh'd, defended, and difpers'd, by definitive Sentence of the faid Reverend Father, with the Confent of Divines, learn

ed

ed in the Law aforefaid, juftly, lawfully and canonically against the faid Edward Wightman in that part brought, ftands adjudged and pronounced an Heretick, and therefore, as a difeafed Sheep out of the Flock of the Lotd, left our Subjeas he do infect by his Contagion, he hath decreed to be caft out and cut off. Whereas there

fore the holy Mother Church hath not further in this Part what it ought more to do and profecute, the fame Reverend Father, the fame Edward Wightman, as a blafphemous and condemn'd Heretick, hath left to our fecular Power to be punifh'd with condign Punishment, as by the Letters Patents of the aforefaid Reverend Father the Bifhop of Coventry and Lichfield, in this Behalf thereupon made, is certified unto us in our Chancery. We therefore, as a Zealot of Justice, and a Defender of the Catholick Faith; and willing that the Holy Church, and the Rights and Liberties of the fame, and the Catholick Faith to maintain and defend, and such like Herefies and Errors every where, fo much as in us lies, to root out and extirpate, and Hereticks fo convict to punish with condign Punishment, holding that fuch an Heretick, in the aforefaid Form, convict and condemn'd according to the Laws and Customs of this our Kingdom of England, in this part accuftom'd, ought to be burnt with Fire; We command thee that thou caufe the faid Edward Wightman, being in thy Cuftody, to be committed to the Fire, in fome publick and open Place, below the City aforefaid, for the Caufe aforefaid, before the People, and the fame Edward Wightman, in the fame Fire, caufe really to be burnt, in the Deteftation of the faid Crime, and for manifeft Example of other Chriftians, that they may not fall into the fame Crime; and this no ways omit, C

under

under the Peril that fhall follow thereon. Wit nefs, &c.

Expedit' apud Wefim Nopo die Martii Anno Regis Jacobi Angl' &c. Nono. 1611.

per Windebank.

Mr. Collier, in his Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, rightly obferves, that the primitive Fathers did not think thefe fevere Proceedings against erroneous Opinions agreeable to the Chriftian Inftitution,

Non eft Religionis Religionem cogere: Titution,

lief of Opinion was no Forfeiture of Life: And that St. Martin and St. Ambrofe refufed to communicate with those who mov'd for the Execution of the Heretick Prifcillian: This roafting Men to Orthodoxy, and enlightning them with Fire and Faggot, was not a Difcipline understood in thofe early Ages.

TE

HE firft who was burnt for Herely in England was Sir William Sawtre (or Soutre) Anno 1401, if we may credit Fox, who fays, That King Henry IV, who depofed King Richard II, was the first of all English Kings that began the unmerciful burning of Chrift's Saints.

His CHARACTER.

Mr. Collier obferves of Soutre, that notwithstanding the Mistakes in fome of his Conclufions, he was certainly a Man of Principles, and had great Strength of Mind to act up to them; for (fays he) He that voluntarily encounters the King of Terrors, must be ftrongly penetrated with the Belief of another World. No Body will part with an Interest in hand, and throw up his prefent Being without the Profpect of a Confideration. To fubmit to Extremity of Torture, is a fair

Proof