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

absolution to all heretics who sought it penitently;
to pardon all repentant clergymen their
irregularities; to soften, by a wise use of the
dispensing power, the yoke of ceremonies and fasts
to those who had now been for some time
unaccustomed to it; and as regarded the abbey
lands, which it had been foreseen would be the
great difficulty, the legate was instructed to arrange
this matter on wonderfully liberal terms. Where he
saw fit, he was empowered to permit these lands to
be detained by their present holders, that "the
recovery of the nation and the salvation of souls"
might not be obstructed by worldly interests. These
terms being deemed satisfactory on the whole by
the Parliament, it proceeded to restore in full
dominancy the Papal power. An Act was passed,
repealing all the laws made against the supremacy
of the Pope in the reign of Henry VIII; the power
of punishing heretics with death was given back to
the bishops; and the work of reconciling the realm
to Rome was consummated by the legate's
summoning before him the Parliament and the two
Houses of Convocation, to receive on their bended
knees his solemn absolution of their heresy and
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