It  was  impossible,  however,  for  the  Church  of  England
to  maintain  exactly  the  place  which  it  had  occupied.
There  was  some  stirring  of  Reformation  life  in  the  land.
Cranmer  had  been  early  attracted  by  the  writings  of
Luther;  Thomas    Cromwell  was    not  unsympathetic,  and,

*  Gee  and  Hardy,  DocnvhCJifs^  etc.  p.  251.  '  Ilrid.  \\  256.
\


THE  TEN   ARTICLES  833

besides,  he  had  the  idea  that  there  would  be  some  advantage
gained  politically  by  an  approach  to  the  German  Pro-
testants. There  was  soon  talk  about  a  set  of  Articles
which  would  express  the  doctrinal  beliefs  of  the  Church  of
England.  It  was,  however,  no  easy  matter  to  draft  them.
While  Cranmer,  Cromwell,  and  such  new  Bishops  as
Latimer,  had  decided  leanings  towards  the  theology  of
the  Beformation,  the  older  Bishops  held  strongly  by  the
mediaeval  doctrines.  The  result  was  that,  after  prolonged
consultations,  little  progress  was  made,  and  very  varying
doctrines  seem  to  have  been  taught,  all  of  which  tended
to  dispeace.  In  the  end,  the  King  himself,  to  use  his  own
words,  "  was  constrained  to  put  his  own  pen  to  the  book,
and  conceive  certain  articles  which  were  agreed  upon  by
Convocation  as  catholic  and  meet  to  be  set  forth  by
authority."^  They  were  published  in  1536  under  the
title,  Articles  devised  by  the  Kyng's  Highnes  Majestic  to
staUysh  Christen  quietneSy  and  were  ordered  to  be  read
"  plainly  "  in  the  churchea*  They  came  to  be  called  the
Ten  Articks,  the  first  doctrinal  symbol  of  the  Church  of
England.
According  to  the  preface,  they  were  meant  to  secure,
by  royal  authority,  unity  and  concord  in  religious  beliefs,
and  to  repress  and  utterly  extinguish  all  dissent  and  discord.
