THis Book , entituled [ The History of the Reformation of the Church of ENGLAND ] having been perused and approved by Persons of eminent Quality , and several Divines of great Piety and Learning , who have recommended it as a Work very fit to be made publick , as well for the Usefulness of the Matter , as for the Industry and Integrity the Author hath used in compiling of it ; the Honourable Mr. SECRETARY COVENTRY doth therefore allow it to be Printed and Published .

THere is no Part of History better received than the Account of great Changes , and Revolutions of States and Governments , in which the Variety of unlooked-for Accidents and Events , both entertains the Reader and improves him .

Of all Changes , those in Religion that have been sudden and signal , are enquired into with the most searching Curiosity : where the Salvation of Souls being concern'd , the better sort are much affected ; and the Credit , Honour , and Interest of Churches and Parties draw in these , who though they do not much care for the Religious part , yet make noise about it to serve other Ends. The Changes that were made in Religion in the last Century have produc'd such effects everywhere , that it is no wonder if all persons desire to see a clear account of the several steps in which they advanced , of the Counsels that directed them , and the Motives both Religious and Political that enclined men of all conditions to concur in them . Germany produced a Sleidan , France a Thuanus , and Italy a Frier Paul , who have given the World as full satisfaction in what was done beyond Sea as they could desire . And though the two last lived and died in the Communion of the Church of Rome , yet they have delivered things to Posterity , with so much Candour and Evenness , that their Authority is disputed by none but those of their own Party .

But while Forreign Churches have such Historians , ours at home have not had the like good fortune : for whether it was , that the Reformers at first presumed so far on their Legal and calm proceedings , on the continued Succession of their Clergie , the Authority of the Law , and the Protection of the Prince , that they judged it needless to write an History , and therefore employed their best pens , rather to justifie what they did , than to deliver how it was done ; or whether by a meer neglect the thing was omitted , we cannot determine . True it is , that it was not done to any degree of Exactness , when matters were so fresh in mens memories , that things might have been opened with greater Advantages , and vouch'd by better Authority , than it is to be expected at this distance .

They were soon after much provok'd by Sanders History , which he published to the World in Latine : yet either despising a writer , who did so impudently deliver falshoods , that from his own Book many of them may be disproved , or expecting a Command from Authority , they did not then set about it . The best account I can give of their silence is , that most of Sanders Calumnies being levelled at Queen Elizabeth , whose birth and parents he designed chiefly to disgrace , it was thought too tender a point by her wise Counsellors to be much enquired into : it gave too great credit to his Lies , to answer them ; an answer would draw forth a Reply , by which those Calumnies would still be kept alive ; and therefore it was not without good reason thought better to let them lie unanswered and despised . From whence it is come that in this age that Author is in such Credit , that now he is quoted with much assurance : most of all the writers in the Church of Rome , relie on his testimony as a good authority . The Collectors of the General History of that Age , follow his thred closely , some of them transcribe his very words . One Pollini a Dominican , published an History of the Changes that were made in England , in Italian at Rome Anno. 1594. which he should more ingenuously have called a Translation , or Paraphrase of Sanders History : and of late more candidly , but no less maliciously , one of the best pens of France has been employed to translate him into their language , which has created such prejudices in the minds of many there , that our Reformation , which generally was more modestly spoken of , even by those who wrote against it , is now look'd on by such as read Sanders , and believe him , as one of the foulest things that ever was .

Fox for all his Voluminous Work , had but few things in his eye when he made his Collection , and designed only to discover the Corruptions and Cruelties of the Roman Clergie , and the Sufferings and Constancy of the Reformers . But his work was written in haste , and there are so many defects in it , that it can by no means be called a Compleat History of these times ; though I must add , that having compared his Acts and Monuments with the Records , I have never been able to discover any errors or prevarications in them , but the utmost fidelity and exactness . Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury , designed only in his account of the British Antiquities , to do justice and honour to his See , and so gives us barely the life of Cranmer , with some few and general hints of what he did . Hall was but a superficial Writer , and was more careful to get full informations of the Cloaths that were worn at the Interviews of Princes , Iusts , Tournaments , and great Solemnities , than about the Counsels , or secret Transactions of the time he lived in . Holingshead , Speed , and Stow , give bare Relations of things that were Publick , and commit many faults . Upon their scent most of our later Writers have gone , and have only collected and repeated what they wrote .

The Lord Herbert judged it unworthy of him to trifle as others had done , and therefore made a more narrow search into Records and original Papers , than all that had gone before him ; and with great fidelity and industry , has given us the History of King Henry the Eighth . But in the Transactions that concern Religion , he dwells not so long as the matter required , leaving those to men of another Profession , and judging it perhaps not so proper for one of his condition to pursue a full and accurate Deduction of those matters .

Since he wrote , two have undertaken the Ecclesiastical History , Fuller and Heylin . The former got into his hands some few Papers , that were not seen before he published them ; but being a man of fancie , and affecting an odd way of writing , his work gives no great Satisfaction . But Doctor Heylin wrote smoothly and handsomly , his Method and Stile are good , and his work was generally more read than any thing that had appeared before him : but either he was very ill informed , or very much led by his Passions ; and he being wrought on by most violent prejudices against some that were concerned in that time , delivers many things in such a manner and so strangely , that one would think he had been secretly set on to it by those of the Church of Rome , though I doubt not he was a sincere Protestant , but violently carried away by some particular conceits . In one thing he is not to be excused , That he never vouched any Authority for what he writ , which is not to be forgiven any who write of Transactions beyond their own time , and deliver new things not known before . So that upon what grounds he wrote a great deal of his Book we can only conjecture , and many in their guesses are not apt to be very favourable to him .

Things being delivered to us with so much alloy and uncertainty , those of the Church of Rome do confidently disparage our Reformation . The short History of it , as it is put in their mouths , being , That it was begun by the lusts and passions of King Henry the Eighth , carried on by the Ravenousness of the Duke of Summerset , under Edward the Sixth , and confirmed by the Policy of Queen Elizabeth and her Council to secure her Title . These things being generally talked and spread abroad in Forreign parts , especially in France , by the new Translation of Sanders , and not being yet sufficiently cleared , many have desired to see a fuller and better account of those Transactions than has yet been given ; so the thing being necessary , I was the more encouraged to set about it by some persons of great Worth and Eminence , who thought I had much leisure and other good Opportunities to go through with it , and wished me to undertake it . The person that did engage me chiefly to this work , was on many Accounts much fitter to have undertaken it himself , being the most Indefatigable in his Industry , and the most Iudicious in his Observations , of any I know , and is one of the greatest Masters of Stile now living . But being engaged in the service of the Church , in a station that affords him very little leisure , he set me on to it , and furnished me with a curious Collection of his own Observations . And in some sort this work may be accounted his , for he corrected it with a most Critical Exactness ; so that the first materials , and the last finishing of it , are from him . But after all this , I lie under such restraints from his Modesty , that I am not allowed to publish his name .

I had two Objections to it , besides the knowledg of my own unfitness for such a work . One was my Unacquaintedness with the Laws and Customs of this Nation , not being born in it : the other was the Expence , that such a Search as was necessary , required , which was not easie for me to bear . My acquaintance with the most ingenious Master William Petyt Councellour of the Inner-Temple cleared one difficulty , he offering me his assistance and direction , without which I must have committed great faults . But I must acknowledg my self highly obliged by the favour and bounty of the Honourable Master of the Rolls , Sir Harebottle Grimstone , of whose Worth and Goodness to me I must make a large digression , if I would undertake to say all that the Subject will bear : The whole Nation expressed their value of him , upon the most Signal Occasion , when they made him their Mouth and Speaker in that Blessed Assembly which called home their King , after which real evidence all little Commendations may be well forborn . The Obligations he has laid on me are such , that as the Gratitude and Service of my whole life , is the only equal return I can make for them ; so as a small tribute I judg my self obliged to make my acknowledgments in this manner , for the leisure I enjoy under his Protection , and the Support I receive from him ; and if this work does the world any service , the best part of the Thanks is due to him , that furnished me with particular Opportunities of Carrying it on . Nor must I conceal the Nobleness of that Renown'd Promoter of Learning Master Boyle , who contributed liberally to the Expence this Work put me to .

Upon these encouragements I set about it , and began with the Search of all Publick Records and Offices , the Parliament and Treaty-Rolls with all the Patent-Rolls , and the Registers of the Sees of Canterbury and London , and of the Augmentation-Office . Then I laid out for all the MSS. I could hear of , and found things beyond my Expectation in the famous Cotton Library , where there is such a Collection of Original Papers relating to these times , as perhaps the World can shew nothing like it . I had also the favour of some MSS. of great value , both from the Famous and eminently Learned Doctor Stillingfleet , who gave me great Assistance in this work , and from Mr. Petyt and others . When I had look'd these over , I then used all the Endeavours I could , to gather together the Books that were printed in those days , from which I not only got considerable hints of matters of Fact , but ( that which I chiefly look'd for ) the Arguments upon which they managed the Controversies then on foot , of which I thought it was the part of an Ecclesiastical Historian to give an Account , as I could recover them , that it may appear upon what motives and grounds they proceeded .

The Three chief Periods of Henry the Eighth his Reign , in which Religion is concerned , are , First , From the beginning of his Reign , till the Process of his Divorce with Queen Katharine commenced . The Second is from that , till his total Breaking off from Rome , and setting up his Supremacy over all Causes and Persons . The Third is from that , to his Death .

When I first set about this Work , I intended to have carryed on the History of the Reformation to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth , in which it was finished and fully setled ; but I was forced to change that Resolution . The chief reason , among many others , was , that I have not yet been able to discover such full Informations of what passed under the Succeeding Reigns , as were necessary for a History ; and though I have search't the publick Registers of that time , yet I am still in the dark my self in many particulars . This made me resolve on publishing this Volume first , hoping that those in whose hands any Manuscripts or Papers of that time lie , will from what is now performed , be encouraged to Communicate them : or if any have made a considerable Progress in those Collections , I shall be far from envying them the honour of such a work , in which it had been inexcusable Vanity in me to have medled , if the desires of others , who have great Power over me , had not prevailed with me to set about it . And therefore , though I have made a good Advance in the following part of the Work , I shall most willingly resign it up to any who will undertake it , and they shall have the free use of all my Papers . But if none will set about it , who yet can furnish materials towards it , I hope their zeal for carrying on so desired a Work , will engage them to give all the help to it that is in their Power .

There is only one passage belonging to the next Volume , which I shall take notice of here , since from it I must plead my Excuse for several defects , which may seem to be in this Work . In the Search I made of the Rolls and other Offices , I wondred much to miss several Commissions , Patents , and other Writings , which by clear evidence I knew were Granted , and yet none of them appeared on record . This I could not impute to any thing but the omission of the Clerks , who failed in the enrolling those Commissions , though it was not likely that matters of so high Concernment should have been neglected , especially in such a Critical time , and under so severe a King . But as I continued down my search to the Fourth year of Queen Mary , I found in the Twelvth Roll of that year , a Commission , which cleared all my former doubts , and by which I saw what was become of the things I had so anxiously searched after . We have heard of the Expurgation of Books practised in the Church of Rome , but it might have been imagined , that publick Registers and Records would have been safe ; yet lest these should have been afterwards Confessors , it was resolved they should then be Martyrs ; for on the 29th of December , in the 4th year of her Reign , a Commission was issued out under the great Seal to Bonner Bishop of London , Cole Dean of St. Pauls , and Martine a Doctor of the Civil Law , which is of that importance , that I shall here insert the material words of it : Whereas it is come to our knowledg , that in the time of the late Schisme diverse Compts , Books , Scrolls , Instruments , and other writings were practised , devised , and made , concerning Professions against the Popes Holiness , and the See Apostolick ; and also sundry infamous Scrutinies taken in Abbeys and other Religious houses , tending rather to subvert and overthrow all good Religion and Religious houses , than for any truth contained therein : Which being in the Custody of divers Registers , and we intending to have those writings brought to knowledg , whereby they may be Considered and ordered according to our will and pleasure ; thereupon , those three or any two of them are empowered to cite any persons before them , and examine them upon the Premisses upon Oath , and to bring all such Writings before them , and certifie their diligence about it to Cardinal Pool , that further order might be given about them .

When I saw this , I soon knew which way so many Writings had gone : and as I could not but wonder at their boldness , who thus presumed to raze so many Records ; so their ingenuity in leaving this Commission in the Rolls , by which any who had the Curiosity to search for it , might be satisfied how the other Commissions were destroyed , was much to be commended . Yet in the following Work , it will appear that some few Papers escaped their hands .

I know it is needless to make great Protestations of my sincerity in this Work . These are of course and are little considered , but I shall take a more effectual way to be believed , for I shall vouch my Warrants for what I say , and tell where they are to be found . And having copied out of Records and MSS. many Papers of great importance , I shall not only insert the substance of them in the following Work , but at the end of it shall give a Collection of them at their full length , and in the Language in which they were originally written : from which as the Reader will receive full Evidence of the truth of this History ; so he will not be ill pleased , to observe the Genius and way of the Great men in that time , of which he will be better able to judge , by seeng their Letters and other Papers , than by any representation made of them at second hand . They are digested into that order , in which they are referred to in the History .

It will surprize some to see a Book of this Bigness , written of the History of our Reformation , under the Reign of King Henry the Eighth : since the true beginnings of it , are to be reckoned from the Reign of King Edward , the 6. in which the Articles of our Church , and the Forms of our Worship , were first compiled and set forth by Authority . And indeed in King Henry's time the Reformation , was rather conceived than brought forth , and two Parties were in the last 18 years of his Reign strugling in the Womb , having non and then advantages , on either side , as the unconstant humour of that King changed , and as his Interests , and often as his passions swayed him .

Cardinal Wolsey had so dissolved his mind into pleasures , and puffed him up with Flattery and servile Compliances , that it was not an easie thing to serve him ; for being boisterous and impatient naturally , which was much heightned by his most extravagant vanity , and high conceit of his own Learning and Wisdom , he was one of the most uncounsellable persons in the World .

The Book which he wrote , had engaged him deep in these Controversies , and by perpetual flatteries , he was brought to fancie it was written with some degrees of inspiration . And Luther in his answer had treated him so unmannerly , that it was only the necessity of his Affairs , that forced him into any correspondence with that Party in Germany .

And though Cranmer and Cromwel improved every advantage , that either the Kings temper , or his Affairs offered them , as much as could be ; yet they were to be pitied , having to do with a Prince , who upon the slightest pretences threw down those whom he had most advanced ; which Cromwel felt severely , and Cranmer was sometimes near it .

The faults of this King being so conspicuous , and the severity of his proceedings so unjustifiable , particularly that heinous violation of the most sacred Rules of Iustice and Government , in condemning men without bringing them to make their Answers ; most of our Writers have separated the Concerns of this Church from his Reign : and imagining that all he did , was founded only on his Revenge upon the Court of Rome , for denying his Divorce , have taken little care to examine how matters were transacted in his time .

But if we consider the great things that were done by him , we must acknowledge that there was a signal providence of God , in raising up a King of his temper , for clearing the way to that blessed Work that followed : and that could hardly have been done , but by a man of his humour ; so that I may very fitly apply to him the witty Simile of an ingenious writer , who compares Luther to a Postilion in his waxed Boots and oiled Coat , lashing his horses through thick and thin , and be spattering all about him .

This Character befits King Henry better ( saving the Reverence due to his Crown ) who as the Postilion of Reformation , made way for it through a great deal of mire and filth . He abolished the Popes Power , by which not only that Tyranny was destroyed , which had been long an heavie burthen on this oppressed Nation ; but all the Opinions , Rites , and Constitutions , for which there was no better Authority than Papal Decrees , were to fall to the ground ; The Foundation that supported them being thus sapped . He suppressed all the Monasteries ; in which though there were some inexcusable faults committed , yet he wanted not reason to do what he did . For the Foundation of those Houses being laid on the Superstitious Conceit of Redeeming Souls out of Purgatory , by saying Masses for them ; they whose Office that was , had by counterfeiting Relicks , by forging of Miracles , and other like Impostures , drawn together a vast wealth , to the enriching of their Saints , of whom some perhaps were damn'd Souls , and others were never in being . These arts being detected , and withal their great Viciousness in some places , and in all , their great abuse of the Christian Religion , made it seem unfit they should be continued . But it was their dependence on the See of Rome , which , as the state of things then was , made it necessary that they should be supprest . New Foundations might have done well , and the scantness of those , considering the number and wealth of those which were suppressed , is one of the great blemishes of that Reign . But it was in vain to endeavour to amend the old ones . Their numbers were so great , their Riches and Interests in the Nation so considerable ; that a Prince of Ordinary mettal would not have attempted such a design , much less have compleated it in Five years time . With these fell the Superstition of Images , Reliques , and the Redemption of Souls out of Purgatory . And those Extravagant Addresses to Saints that are in the Roman Offices were thrown out , only an Ora pro nobis was kept up , and even that was left to the liberty of Priests , to leave it out of the Litanies as they saw cause . These were great preparations for a Reformation . But it went further , and two things were done , upon which a greater Change was reasonably to be expected . The Scriptures were Translated into the English tongue , and set up in all Churches , and every one was admitted to read them , and they alone were declared the Rule of Faith . This could not but open the eyes of the Nation , who finding a profound silence in these writings about many things , and a direct opposition to other things that were still retained , must needs conclude , even without deep Speculations or nice Disputing , that many things that were still in the Church had no ground in Scripture , and some of the rest were directly contrary to it . This Cranmer knew well would have such an operation , and therefore made it his chief business to set it forward , which in Conclusion he happily effected .

Another thing was also established , which opened the way to all that followed : That every National Church was a Compleat Body within it self , so that the Church of England , with the Authority and Concurrence of their Head , and King , might examine and Reform all Errors and Corruptions , whether in Doctrine or Worship . All the Provincial Councils in the ancient Church , were so many Precedents for this , who condemned Heresies , and Reformed abuses as the occasion required . And yet these being all but parts of one Empire , there was less reason for their doing it , without staying for a General Council , which depended upon the pleasure of one man ( the Roman Emperor ) than could be pretended , when Europe was divided into so many Kingdoms : By which a common Concurrence of all these Churches was a thing scarce to be expected ; and therefore this Church must be in a very ill Condition , if there could be no endeavours for a Reformation , till all the rest were brought together .

The Grounds of the new-Covenant between God and man in Christ , were also truly stated , and the terms on which Salvation was to be hoped for , were faithfully opened according to the New-Testament . And this being in the strict notion of the word , the Gospel , and the glad tidings preached through our Blessed Lord and Saviour , it must be confessed that there was a great Progress made , when the Nation was well instructed about it ; though there was still an alloy of other Corruptions , embasing the Purity of the Faith . And indeed in the whole progress of these changes , the Kings design seemed to have been to terrifie the Court of Rome , and cudgel the Pope into a Compliance with what he desired : for in his heart he continued addicted to some of the most extravagant Opinions of that Church , such as Transubstantiation and the other Corruptions in the Mass , so that he was to his lives end more Papist than Protestant .

There are two Prejudices , which men have generally drunk in against that time . The one is , from the Kings great Enormities , both in his personal Deportment and Government , which make many think , no good could be done by so ill a man , and so cruel a Prince . I am not to defend him nor to lessen his faults . The vastness and irregularity of his Expence procured many heavy Exactions , and twice extorted a publick Discharge of his debts , embased the Coin , with other Irregularities . His proud and impatient Spirit occasioned many cruel proceedings . The taking so many lives , only for denying his Supremacy , particularly Fisher's and More 's , the one being extreme old , and the other one of the Glories of his Nation , for Probity and Learning : The taking advantage from some Eruptions in the North , to break the Indempnity he had before proclaimed to those in the Rebellion , even though they could not be proved Guilty of those second disorders : His extreme Severity to all Cardinal Pool's Family : his cruel using , first Cromwel , and afterwards the Duke of Norfolk and his Son , besides his un-exampled Proceedings against some of his Wives ; and that which was worst of all , The laying a Precedent for the subversion of Iustice , and oppressing the clearest Innocence , by attaining men without hearing them : These are such remarkable blemishes , that as no man of ingenuity can go about the whitening them ; so the poor Reformers drunk so deep of that bitter cup , that it very ill becomes any of their followers , to endeavour to give fair Colours to those red and bloody Characters , with which so much of his Reign is stained .

Yet after all this sad enumeration , it was no new nor unusual thing in the methods of Gods Providence , to employ Princes who had great mixtures of very gross faults , to do signal things for his Service . Not to mention David and Solomon , whose sins were expiated with a severe Repentance ; it was the bloody Cyrus that sent back the Iews to their Land , and gave them leave to re-build their Temple . Constantine the Great is by some of his Enemies , charged with many blemishes both in his Life , and Government . Clovis of France under whom that Nation received the Christian Faith , was a monster of Cruelty and Perfidiousness , as even Gregory of Tours represents him , who lived near his time , and nevertheless makes a Saint of him . Charles the Great ; whom some also make a Saint , both put away his wife for a very slight cause , and is said to have lived in most unnatural lusts with his own Daughter . Irene whom the Church of Rome magnifies , as the Restorer of their Religion in the East , did both contrary to the Impressions of Nature , and of her Sex , put out her own Sons eyes , of which he died soon after , with many other execrable things . And whatever Reproaches those of the Church of Rome cast on the Reformation , upon the account of this Kings faults , may be easily turned back on their Popes , who have never failed to court and extol Princes that served their ends , how gross and scandalous soever their other faults have been . As Phocas , Brunichild , Irene , Mathildis , Edgar of England , and many more . But our Church is not near so much concerned in the persons of those Princes , under whom the Reformation began , as theirs is in the persons of their Popes , who are believed to have far higher Characters of a Divine Power and Spirit in them , than other Princes pretend to . And yet if the lives of those Popes , who have made the greatest advances in their Iurisdiction be examined , particularly Gregory the Seventh , and Boniface the Eighth , vices more eminent , than any can be charged on King Henry , will be found in them . And if a leud and wicked Pope may yet have the holy Ghost dwelling in him , and directing him infallibly ; why may not an ill King do so good a Work as set a Reformation forward , And if it were proper to enter into a dissection of Four of those Popes , that sate at Rome during this Reign , Pope Julius will be found beyond him in a vast Ambition , whose bloody Reign did not only embroil Italy , but a great part of Christendome . Pope Leo the Tenth was as extravagant and prodigal in his expence , which put him on baser Shifts , than ever this King used , to raise money ; not by embasing the Coin , or raising new and heavie taxes , but by embasing the Christian Religion , and prostituting the pardon of sin in that foul trade of Indulgences . Clement the Seventh was false to the highest degree ; a vice which cannot be charged on this King . And Paul the 3d. was a vile and lewd Priest , who not only kept his whore , but gloried in it , and raised one of his Bastards to an high Dignity , making him Prince of Parma and Piacenza ; and himself is said to have lived in Incest with others of them . And except the short Reign of Hadrian the Sixth , there was no Pope at Rome all this while , whose example might make any other Prince blush for his faults ; so that Guicciardine , when he calls Pope Clement a good Pope , adds , I mean not Goodness Apostolical , for in those days he was esteemed a good Pope , that did not exceed the wickedness of the worst of men .

In sum , Gods ways are a great deep , who has often shewed his Power and Wisdom , in raising up unlikely and unpromising instruments , to do great services in the World ; not always employing the best men in them , lest good Instruments should share too deep in the Praises of that , which is only due to the Supreme Creator and Governour of the World . And therefore he will stain the pride of all Glory , that such as Glory may only Glory in the Lord . Jehu did an acceptable Service to God , in destroying the Idolatry of Baal , though neither the way of doing it be to be imitated , being grosly insincere , nor was the Reformation compleat , since the Worshipping the two Calves was still kept up ; and it is very like , his chief design in it , was to destroy all the Party that favoured Ahab's Family ; yet the thing was good and was rewarded by God : So whatever this Kings other faults were , and how defective soever the Change he made was , and upon what ill motives soever it may seem to have proceeded ; yet the things themselves being good , we ought not to think the worse of them because of the Instrument , or manner by which they were wrought ; but are to adore and admire the paths of the Divine Wisdom , that brought about such a Change , in a Church , which being subjected to the See of Rome , had been more than any other part of Europe most tame under its Oppressions , and was most deeply drenched in Superstition : And this by the means of a Prince , who was the most devoted to the Interest of Rome of any in Christendome , and seemed to be so upon knowledg , being very learned ; and continued to the last much leavened with Superstition , and was the only King in the World whom that See declared , Defender of the Faith . And that this should have been carried on so far , with so little Opposition , some risings though numerous and formidable being scattered and quieted without Blood ; And that a mighty Prince , who was Victorious almost in all his undertakings , Charles the 5th. and was both provoked in point of Honour and Interest , yet could never find one spare season to turn his Arms upon England , are great Demonstrations of a particular Influence of Heaven in these Alterations , and of its watchful care of them .

But the other prejudice touches the Reformation in a more vital and tender part ; and it is , That Cranmer and the other Bishops , who promoted the Reformation in the Succeeding Reign , did in this comply too servilly with King Henry's humours , both in carrying on his frequent Divorces , and in retaining those Corruptions in the worship , which by their throwing them off in the beginning of King Edward's Reign , we may conclude were then condemned by them ; so that they seem to have praevaricated against their Consciences in that Complyance .