And that the same justices shall, upon their examination, punish the offenders according as their offences shall appear, upon the accusement and examination, by their discretion, either by open punishment or "by good abearing."[*] In some respects this tyrannical edict even exceeded the oppression of the inquisition, by introducing into every part of government the same iniquities which that tribunal practises for the extirpation of heresy only, and which are in some measure necessary, wherever that end is earnestly pursued.
But the court had devised a more expeditious and summary method of supporting orthodoxy than even the inquisition itself.

They issued a proclamation against books of heresy treason, and sedition, and declared, "that whosoever had any of these books, and did not presently burn them, without reading them or showing them to any other person, should be esteemed rebels, and without any further delay be executed by martial law."[**] From the state of the English government during that period, it is not so much the illegality of these proceedings, as their violence and their pernicious tendency, which ought to be the object of our censure.
* Burnet, vol.iii.p.

246, 247.
** Burnet, vol.ii.p.

363.

Heylin, p.