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Cranmer. At last the other four Sacraments were "found again," and a
settlement agreeable to both parties arrived at and embodied in a
treatise known as /The Institution of a Christian Man/. It consisted
of four parts, the Apostle's Creed, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten
Commandments, and the Our Father and Hail Mary. Two separate articles
dealing with justification and purgatory taken from the Ten Articles
previously issued were appended. The bishops submitted /The
Institution/ to the judgment of the king, inviting him as supreme head
of the Church to correct whatever was amiss with their doctrine, but
Henry, anxious to hold himself free to bargain with the Lutheran
princes if necessary, refused to take any responsibility for the work
beyond ordering that it might be read in the churches for three years.
Hence it was called the /Bishop's Book/.[38]

Against this and as a concession to the reforming party in England
Henry was pleased to approve of a translation of the Bible presented
to him by Cranmer, and to order copies of it to be provided for the
use of the faithful in every parish church (1537-38). William Tyndale,
who had fled from England to Wittenberg, set himself to complete a
translation of the Bible, which translation was published and smuggled
into England in 1526. The translation was in itself bristling with
errors, and the marginal notes were stupidly offensive. The bishops
made desperate attempts to secure its suppression, but despite their
efforts the obnoxious translation and even many of the more
objectionable works written by the same author continued to find their
way into England. The king, though nominally supporting the bishops,
was not sorry that such works should be spread amongst the people, as
a warning to the Pope of the consequences of a refusal to comply with
the royal wishes. In 1530, however, he took counsel with the bishops
and learned men to see what might be done to procure a good English
translation of the Bible. They agreed that the reading of an English
version of the Bible was not necessary for salvation, that, though the
Scriptures in the vulgar tongue might be useful in certain
circumstances and for certain people, they were more likely to be
harmful at a time when erroneous books and heretical books were being
propagated. Furthermore they advised that a proper correct translation
should be made and placed in the king's hands, so that he might order
its publication whenever he thought that a favourable moment had
arrived for such a work.

Cromwell was, however, determined to push forward the new religious
teachings. He was in close correspondence with an apostate Augustinian
friar named Coverdale, who had been obliged to leave the country on
account of his heretical opinions. At Cromwell's instigation Coverdale
set himself to prepare a new translation of the Bible, and it was
completed and published about 1535. Unlike that of Tyndale, who had
gone to the Greek and Hebrew originals, Coverdale's Bible was made
from the Vulgate with the aid of the German Lutheran translation. It
was if anything even more objectionable than Tyndale's, but Cromwell
intended to force it upon the clergy in the /Injunctions/ drawn up for
their guidance in 1536, though apparently on further consideration he
doubted the prudence of such a step, and the clause regarding the
English Bible was omitted.[39] In 1537 Cranmer presented the English
Bible to Cromwell for approval. It was supposed to contain "the Old
and New Testament, truly and purely translated into English by Thomas
Matthew," but in reality it was only a compilation of the works of
Tyndale and Coverdale made by one John Rogers. Though very
objectionable from the point of view of Catholic doctrine it was
approved by Cromwell as vicar-general, and copies were ordered to be
placed in every church (1538). Nearly two years later Coverdale's
"Great Bible" with a preface by Cranmer was published.[40]

The results of the free use of such translations were soon apparent in
the religious discussions that took place in many parts of England.
Henry began to fear that he had acted unwisely in allowing the people
to make their religion for themselves, and besides, as Cromwell had
fallen, the conservative bishops like Gardiner of Winchester were in
the ascendant. In the Convocation of 1542 grave objections were raised
against these various translations, and with the approval of the king
it was resolved to undertake a revision of them; but while the
committee appointed for this revision was at work, a messenger arrived
from the king forbidding Convocation to proceed further, as His
Majesty had decided to take the matter out of the hands of the bishops
and submit it to the universities. The bishops protested against this
order, but their protests were unheeded, and an English Bible, that