"He was a constant Catholike,
All Lollard he hatyt, and Hereticke."--(vol. ii. p. 419.)

It was during his administration, that the first Martyr of the Reformed
religion was committed to the flames at Perth, for alleged heresy, in
the year 1406 or 1407. This was eight or nine years previously to the
death of John Huss, that "generous and intrepid Martyr and confessor of
Christ," as Luther justly calls him.

Walter Bower, the continuator of Fordun, is probably the only original
historian who has preserved an account of Resby, of which the following
is an extract:--

"LIB. XV. CAP. XX. DE COMBUSTIONE JACOBI RESBY HAERETICI APUD PERTH.

"Eodem anno [MCCCCVI] die combustus est JACOBUS RESBY, Presbyter
Anglicus de schola Johannis Wykliff, haereticus condemnatus in concilio
cleri sub magistro Laurentio de Lundoris, inquisitore haereticae
pravitatis, solidissimo clerico et famoso theologo, vitae sanctitate
quamplurimum collaudato. Qui quidem Jacobus, quamvis interdum
celeberrimus reputabatur simplicibus praedicatione, periculosissimas
tamen conclusiones intersperserat in sua dogmatizatione. Quarum prima
fuit, quod Papa de facto non est Christi vicarius. Secunda, Nullus est
Papa, nec Christi vicarius, nisi sit sanctus. De consimilibus, vel
pejoribus, tenuit quadraginta conclusiones. Cujus tam Scripta quam
auctorem Inquisitor confutavit, et ad ignem applicavit et incineravit.
Hujusmodi errores excerpti sunt de haeresibus dicti Johannis Wykliff
haeresiarchae, damnati Londoniis in Anglia, anno Domini MCCCLXXX, per
primatem Angliae, et tredecim episcopos, ae magistros in sacra theologia
triginta, ex dialogo, trialogo, et aliis suis libris. Conclusiones et
libelli istius haeretici adhuc a nonnullis Lolardis habentur in Scotia,
et curiose servantur, ex instinctu Diaboli, per tales quibus aquae
furtivae dulciores sunt, et panis absconditus suavior."--(Vol. i. p.
441.)

The several abbreviates of the Scotichronicon notice Resby's fate. Law's
MS. places it in 1406; but the larger "Extracta ex Cronicis Scocie,"
gives the year 1407, nor omits the circumstance "De talibus et pejoribus
xl. Conclusiuncs; _cujus liber adhuc restant curiose servantur per
Lolardos in Scocie_." Among later writers who mention Resby, Spotiswood
says, "John Wickliffe in England, John Hus and Jerome of Prague in
Bohemia, did openly preach against the tyranny of the Pope, and the
abuses introduced in the Church; and in this countrey, one called
Joannes [Jame