Convocation Book of MDCVI, Commonly Called Bishop Overall's Convocation Book

Excerpt from The Convocation Book of MDCVI, Commonly Called Bishop Overall's Convocation Book: Concerning the Government of God's Catholic Church and the Kingdoms of the Whole World King James the First, on his accession to the throne of England, adopted temperate and conciliatory measures towards the adherents of the Church of Rome. In the speech which he made at the opening of his first parliament he assured them that he was not of a persecuting temper; and that, if the judges had formerly pressed the punishment for recusancy further than the laws intended, ii.was his desire that a better remedy should be adopted for that grievance. Shortly before this, he had declared himself much indebted to Clement the Eighth, the reigning pontiff, for his kind offices and private temporal carriage towards him in many things; and that he would be ever ready to requite the same towards him as bishop of Rome in state and condition of a secular prince. But the Gunpowder Plot (hastened, probably, by the severities inflicted upon the Romanists under colour of a recent Act of Parliament) altered the aspect of affairs. Upon its discovery the parliament passed a statute requiring that all should participate in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the parish church at least once in the year, under a penalty of Ł20. for the first year's neglect, Ł40. for the second, and Ł60. for the third. It gave to the king the option of receiving from each recusant either a penalty of Ł20. monthly, or two thirds of his lands. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.