Further steps were the reform of the Canon Law and the publication of the Forty-two Articles of Religion.

These were drawn up by Cranmer on the basis of thirteen articles agreed upon by a conference of three English Bishops, four English doctors, and two German missionaries, Boyneburg and Myconius, in {314} May, 1538.
Cranmer hoped to make his statement irenic; and in fact it contained some Roman and Calvinistic elements, but in the main it was Lutheran.
Justification by faith was asserted; only two sacraments were retained.
Transubstantiation was denounced as repugnant to Scripture and private masses as "dangerous impostures." The real presence was maintained in a Lutheran sense: the bread was said to be the Body of Christ, and the wine the Blood of Christ, but only after a heavenly and spiritual manner.

It was said that by Christ's ordinance the sacrament is not reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.
A reform of the clergy was also undertaken, and was much needed.

In 1551 Bishop Hooper found in his diocese of 311 clergymen, 171 could not repeat the Ten Commandments, ten could not say the Lord's Prayer in English, seven could not tell who was its author, and sixty-two were absentees, chiefly because of pluralities.
The notable characteristic of the Edwardian Reformation was its mildness.

There were no Catholic martyrs.