opinions on the disputed articles were wholly those contained in the body of the Act. He had argued laboriously in their maintenance,[1] and he had himself drawn a sketch for a statute not unlike that which passed into law; but he had added two clauses, from which the bishops contrived to deliver themselves, which, if insisted upon, would have crippled the prosecutions and tied the hands of the Church officials. According to Henry's scheme, the judges would have been bound to deliver in writing to the party accused a copy of the accusation, with the names and depositions of the witnesses; and, if there was but one witness, let his reputation have stood as high as that of any man in the State, it would have been held insufficient for a conviction.[2]
- ↑ On the 9th of June Marillac writes to Francis:—'The bishops have had a grand struggle. Part desired to maintain the mass complete, part to make a new service. The majority were with the conservatives, who have carried the day. The King, as the leader of this party, said all which ought to have been said. He maintained that the Holy Sacrament ought to be believed and adored, and to be honoured with the ceremonies observed in the Church from immemorial time. Evil speaking, therefore, against the sacrament is prohibited under pain of death; and priests, to the great displeasure of the ambassador of Saxe, are forbidden to marry—so angry was he that he went off two days since in the worst imaginable humour.'
- ↑ 'The judge shall be bouuden, if it be demanded of him, to deliver in writing to the party called before him, the copy of the matter objected, and the names and depositions of the witnesses … and in such case, as the party called answereth and denyeth that that is objected, and that no proof can be brought against him but the deposition of one witness only, then and in that case, be that witness never of so great honesty and credit, the same party so called shall be without longer delay absolved and discharged by the judge's sentence freely without further cost or molestation.'—The Six Articles Bill as drawn by the King: Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 848.
