Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

no earthly superior, such had from ancient times --
that is, from the days of Wicliffe; for it was the
spirit of Wicliffe that was about to take hold of the
priests -- been the law of England; that law the
cardinal had transgressed, and only by obtaining
the king's pardon had he escaped the consequences
of his presumption. But they had not been
pardoned by the king; they were under the
penalties of Praemunire, and their possessions and
benefices were confiscated to the crown. This view
of the matter was maintained with an astuteness
that convinced the affrighted clergy that nothing
they could say would make the matter be viewed in
a different light in the highest quarter. They stood,
they felt, on a precipice. The king had thrown
down the gauntlet to the Church. The battle on
which they were entering was a hard one, and its
issue doubtful. To yield was to disown the Pope,
the fountain of their being as a Romish Church,
and to resist might be to incur the wrath of the
monarch.
The king, through Cromwell, next showed
them the one and only way of escape open to them
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