The king, having obtained what he desired, condescended in his great mercy to pardon the clergy for their unpardonable offence of having recognized Wolsey as papal legate. At the request of the commons this amnesty was extended to all England. The nation, which at first saw nothing in this affair but an act enfranchising themselves from the usurped power of the popes, showed their gratitude to Henry; but there was a reverse to the medal. If the pope was despoiled, the king was invested. Was not the function ascribed to him contrary to the Gospel? Would not this act impress upon the Anglican Reformation a territorial and aristocratic character, which would introduce into the Reformed Church the world with all its splendor and wealth? If the royal preëminence endows the Anglican Church with the pomps of worship, of classical studies, of high dignities, will it not also carry along with it luxury, sinecures, and worldliness among the prelates? Shall we not see the royal authority pronounce on questions of dogma, and declare the most sacred doctrines indifferent? A little later an attempt was made to limit the power of the king in religious matters. ‘We give not to our princes the ministry of God’s Word or sacraments,’ says the thirty-seventh Article of Religion. Footnote 109: ‘They ought to take notice of the constitution at their peril.’—Collyers, ii. p. 61. Burnet, p. 108. Footnote 110: ‘Regia majestas nostrum caput atque anima.’—Collyers, _Records_, p. 8, 30 July, 1530. Footnote 111: ‘Ecclesiæ protector et supremum caput.’—Collyers, ii. p. 62. Footnote 112: ‘Seeing this Gordian knot, to play the noble Alexander.’—Foxe, _Acts_, v. p. 55. Footnote 113: Strype’s _Memorials_, i. p. 111. Footnote 114: Tytler, _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 312. Footnote 115: ‘Qui tacet consentire videtur. Itaque tacemus omnes.’—Collyers, p. 63. Footnote 116: The act is given in Wilkins, _Concilia_, iii. p. 742, and Rymer, _Fœdera_, vi. p. 163. Footnote 117: ‘Ne ab ecclesia catholica dissentire videar, expresse dissentio.’—Wilkins, _Concilia_, iii. p. 745. Footnote 118: Collyers, ii. p. 64. CHAPTER X. SEPARATION OF THE KING AND QUEEN. (MARCH TO JUNE 1531.) The king, having obtained so important a concession from the clergy, turned to his parliament to ask a service of another kind,—one in his eyes still more urgent.