esides investing him anew with that dignity,
pretended to abrogate by a bull, the sentence which the great council
of England had passed against him. Henry, after attempting in vain to
procure a conference with the pope, who departed soon after for Rome,
whither the prosperous state of his affairs now invited him, made
provisions against the consequences of that breach which impended
between his kingdom and the apostolic see. He issued orders to his
justiciaries, inhibiting, under severe penalties, all appeals to the
pope or archbishop, forbidding any one to receive any mandates from
them, or apply in any case to their authority; declaring it treasonable
to bring from either of them an interdict upon the kingdom, and
punishable in secular clergymen, by the loss of their eyes and by
castration, in regulars by amputation of their feet, and in laies
with death; and menacing with sequestration and banishment the persons
themselves, as well as their kindred, who should pay obedience to any
such interdict; and he further obliged all his subjects to swear to
the observance of those orders.[*] These were edicts of the utmost
importance, affected the lives and properties of all the subjects, and
even changed, for the time, the national religion, by breaking off all
communication with Rome; yet were they enacted by the sole authority of
the king, and were derived entirely from his will and pleasure.

The spiritual powers, which, in the primitive church, were, in a great
measure, dependent on the civil, had, by a gradual progress, reached
an equality and independence; and though the limits of the two
jurisdictions were difficult to ascertain or define, it was not
impossible but, by moderation on both sides, government might still have
been conducted in that imperfect and irregular manner which attends
all human institutions But as the ignorance of the age encouraged the
ecclesiastics daily to extend their privileges, and even to advance
maxims totally incompatible with civil government,[**] Henry had thought
it high time to put an end to their pretensions, and formally, in a
public council, to fix those powers which belonged to the magistrate,
and which he was for the future determined to maintain. In this attempt
he was led to reestablish customs which, though ancient, were beginning
to be abolished by a contrary practice, and which were still more
strongly opposed by the prevailing opinions and sentiments of the age.

[* H