as used; the rest was by Coverdale. The work was dedicated to
the king, and, as Cromwell had already been considering the
advisability of authorizing the English Bible, this was not an
unwelcome thing. But as the government was as yet unprepared to
recognize work avowedly based on German Protestant versions, [Sidenote:
1537] they resorted to the device of re-issuing the Bible with the name
of Thomas Matthew as translator, though in fact it consisted entirely
of the work of Tyndale and Coverdale. [Sidenote: 1538-9] A light
revision of this work was re-issued as the Great Bible, [Sidenote:
October 11, 1538] and Injunctions were issued by Cromwell ordering a
Bible of the largest size to be set up in every church, and the people
to be encouraged to read it. They were also to be taught the Lord's
prayer and creed in English, spiritual sermons were to be preached, and
superstitions, such as going on pilgrimages, burning candles to saints,
and kissing and licking relics, were to be discouraged.

At the same time Cromwell diligently sought a _rapprochement_ with the
German Protestants. The idea {301} was an obvious one that, having won
the enmity of Charles, England should support his dangerous intestine
enemies, the Schmalkaldic princes. In that day of theological politics
it was natural to try to find cement for the alliance in a common
confession. Embassy after embassy made pilgrimages to Wittenberg,
where the envoys had long discussions with the Reformers [Sidenote:
January, 1536] both about the divorce and about matters of faith. They
took back with them to England, together with a personal letter from
Luther to Cromwell, [Sidenote: April] a second opinion unfavorable to
the divorce and a confession drawn up in Seventeen Articles. In this,
though in the main it was, as it was called, "a repetition and exegesis
of the Augsburg Confession," considerable concessions were made to the
wishes of the English. Melanchthon was the draughtsman and Luther the
originator of the articles.

This symbol now became the basis of the first definition of faith drawn
up by the government. Some such statement was urgently needed, for,
amid the bewildering acts of the Reformation Parliament, the people
hardly knew what the king expected them to believe. The king therefore
presented to Convocation a Book of Articles of Faith and Ceremonies,
[Sidenote: July 11 The Book of Articles] commonly called the Ten
Articles, drafted by Fox on