.[383] But this position, natural as
it was, became difficult to maintain when they were called upon not only
themselves to consent to the changes, but to justify their consent to
their congregations, and to explain to the people the grounds on which
the government had acted. The kingdom was by implication under an
interdict,[384] yet the services went on as usual; the king was
excommunicated; doubt hung over the succession; the facts were
imperfectly known; and the never-resting friars mendicant were busy
scattering falsehood and misrepresentation. It was of the highest moment
that on all these important matters the mind of the nation should if
possible be set at rest; and the clergy, whose loyalty was presumed
rather than trusted, furnished the only means by which the government
could generally and simultaneously reach the people. The clergy
therefore, as we have seen, were called upon for their services; the
pope's name was erased from the mass; books; the statute of appeals and
the statute of succession were fixed against the doors of every parish
church in England, and the rectors and curates were directed every week
in their sermons to explain the meaning of these acts. The bishops were
held responsible for the obedience of the clergy; the sheriffs and the
magistrates had been directed to keep an eye upon the bishops; and all
the machinery of centralization was put in force to compel the
fulfilment of a duty which was well known to be unwelcome.

[Sidenote: The order for preaching. Every preacher to deliver one sermon
against the papal usurpation.]

[Sidenote: The archbishop's sentence to be held a thing of mere verity,
not to be again called in question.]

[Sidenote: The clergy are forbidden to preach upon disputed points of
doctrine.]

That as little latitude as possible might be left for resistance or
evasion, books were printed by order of council, and distributed through
the hands of the bishops, containing a minute account of the whole
proceedings on the divorce, the promises and falsehoods of the pope, the
opinions of the European universities, and a general epitome of the
course which had been pursued.[385] These were to be read aloud to the
congregations; and an order for preaching was at the same time
circulated, in which the minuteness of the directions is as remarkable
as the prudence of them. Every preacher was to deliver one sermon at
least ("and after at his liberty") on the encroachments and us