Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/354

334 and desperate, determined to assume for a time the power which Henry VIII. had claimed for the sovereign authority in every State and country. A free council might ultimately meet. Meanwhile, and until that happy consummation, a scheme of doctrine, known as the Interim, was composed and submitted to representatives of the different parties, and was finally on the 15th of May, laid before the Diet.

The Catholic faith was asserted, but in 'ambiguous formularies,' which would leave the conscience free while they seemed to bind it. On points where evasion was impossible, such as the restitution of Church property, the marriage of the clergy, and communion in both kinds at the eucharist, the first of these critical questions was untouched; in the two other points the Protestant innovations were condemned in words and were tolerated in fact.

At Rome the intrusion of the secular power upon sacred ground appeared but as the confirmation of the dread which the extreme Catholics had long affected to feel—that Charles would at last imitate the usurpations of his uncle of England. A copy of the Interim was sent to the Pope for approval. The Pope replied by requiring the instant restitution of the abbey lands, the withholding of the cup from the laity, and