the time by the want of a fixed purpose.  The various parts of the movement were so skilfully linked together, that partial opposition to it was impossible; and so long as the people had to choose between the pope and the king, their loyalty would not allow them to hesitate.  But very few men actively adhered to Cromwell.  Cromwell had struck the line on which the forces of nature were truly moving—­the resultant, not of the victory of either of the extreme parties, but of the joint action of their opposing forces.  To him belonged the rare privilege of genius, to see what other men could not see; and therefore he was condemned to rule a generation which hated him, to do the will of God, and to perish in his success.  He had no party.  By the nobles he was regarded with the same mixed contempt and fear which had been felt for Wolsey.  The Protestants, perhaps, knew what he was, but he could only purchase their toleration by himself checking their extravagance.  Latimer was the only person of real power on whose friendship he could calculate, and Latimer was too plain spoken on dangerous questions to be useful as a political supporter.

The session commenced on the 15th of January.

The first step was to receive the final submission of convocation.  The undignified resistance was at last over, and the clergy had promised to abstain for the future from unlicensed legislation.  To secure their adherence to their engagements, an act[678] was passed to make the breach of that engagement penal; and a commission of thirty-two persons, half of whom were to be laymen, was designed for the revision of the Canon law.[679]

The next most important movement was to assimilate the trials for heresy with the trials for other criminal offences.  I have already explained at length the manner in which the bishops abused their judicial powers.  These powers were not absolutely taken away, but ecclesiastics were no longer permitted to arrest ex officio and examine at their pleasure.  Where a charge of heresy was to be brought against a man, presentments were to be made by lawful witnesses before justices of the peace; and then, and not otherwise, he might fall under the authority of the “ordinary.”  Secret examinations were declared illegal.  The offender was to be tried in open court, and, previous to his trial, had a right to be admitted to bail, unless the bishop could show cause to the contrary to the satisfaction of two magistrates.[680]

This was but a slight instalment of lenity; but it was an indication of the turning tide.  Limited as it was, the act operated as an effective check upon persecution till the passing of the Six Articles Bill.