Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/495

1555.] which had been performed during the same period; and, finally, would consent that all property, of whatever kind, taken from the Church, should remain to its present possessors—'so as all persons having sufficient conveyance of the said lands, goods, and chattels by the common laws, or acts, or statutes of the realm, might, without scruple of conscience, enjoy them without impeachment or trouble, by pretence of any general council, canon, or ecclesiastical law, and clear from all dangers of the censures of the Church.' The petitions, both of clergy and Parliament, the Act went on to say, had been considered by the Cardinal; and the Cardinal had acquiesced. He had undertaken, in the Pope's name, that the possessors of either lands or goods should never be molested either then or in time to come, in virtue of any Papal decree, or canon, or council; that if any attempt should be made by any bishop or other ecclesiastic to employ the spiritual weapons of the Church to extort restitution, such act or acts were declared vain and of none effect. The dispensation was pronounced, nor could the legate's protests avail to prevent it from appearing in the Statute. He was permitted, only in consideration of the sacrifice, to interweave amidst the legal technicalities some portion of his own feeling. The impious detainers of holy things, while permitted to maintain their iniquity, were reminded of the fate of Belshazzar, and were urged to restore the patines, chalices, and ornaments of the altars. The impropriators of benefices were implored, in the mercy of