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much modified, owing, probably, to the influence of
Cranmer. But it continued in force until the end
of Henry's reign. Cranmer's pliancy, and the personal
regard which the king entertained for him,
saved him from suffering under its lash, though his
sympathies were all along with the reforming party.
Bishops Latimer and Shaxton, who were not so timeserving,
and far more honest and outspoken, were
imprisoned.
The work that was done in Henry's reign as regarded
the reformation of the Church may be briefly
summed up under three general heads :—
(i) the
effort
that was made by Cranmer to procure recognition
for the reading of the Scriptures in the vernacular;
(2) the publication of certain manuals of
doctrine ; and (3) of the primers, or manuals of devotion.
It was in the year 1534 that Cranmer induced
the convocation of the southern province to join
in a request to the king that an English version of
the Bible might be authorised for general distribution.
Tyndale's translation of the New Testament was
divided by the archbishop into several parts, which
were distributed amongst the bishops for correction.
This was favourably received by most of them, of
whom Gardiner was one. But Stokesley, Bishop of
London, entered a strong protest against the project,
on the ground that the reading of the Scriptures
" doth nothing else but infect the laity with heresy,"
and Cranmer's design at that time fell to the ground.
In the following year the whole Bible was privately
printed by Coverdale, and in 1536 the convocation
again appealed to Henry on the subject. In 1537