Hfiory ofthe Puritans, exarnin'd. 24z Stillingfleet gives a Curious Account of the Chore- pfcopi, to which I refer the * Reader. Neal, p. 407, He tells us in a Note from Bax- ter's Life, That the Primate of Ireland [Archbjrop. Ufher] in anfwer to Mr. Baxter,. rays; That the King having asked him at the Ilk ofWight, whether he found in Antiquity that Presbyters ordain'd any, he reply'd yes ; and that he could Jhew his Majefty more, even where Presbyters alone fuccevely or-' dain'd, Big crops, and inftanced in Hierom's Words,. Epift.. ad Evagrium, of the Presbyters of Alexan- dria chufrng andmaking their own Bops, from the Days of Mark, till Heraclas and Dionyfius. Baxter's. Life, p. 206. And Granting that ArchbifhopUfher did fay fo, (which I very much queftion, it beingdirectly contrary to . his former Sentiments ;) his fingle Authority could not have a%Eted the Caufe of Epifcopacy. Mr. Bingham has fully clear'd up this Paífageof St. ye-. rome, relating to the Presbyters of Alexandria t. Some (fays he) urge the Authotity of St. 7erome, ' to prove, that the Presbyters of Alexandria or dain'd their own Bifhops, from the Days ofSaint Mark, to the Time, of Heraclas and .Dionyfius and others think the fame Words prove, That he had no new Ordination at all: But they both miftake Saint .7erome's Meaning, who fpeaks not of the Ordination of the Bifhop, but of his Election ; who was chofen by the Presbyters out of their own Body, and by them placed upon the Bifhop's Throne, which in thole Days was no more, than a Token of his Election, and wás fometimes done by the People : But the Ordina- ' tion came after that, and was always referved to ' Bi(hop Stillingfieet'sMifcellaneous Difcourfes, Chap. 14. p. 242, &c. t Bingham's Origincs Ecclefaftic e, Vol. I. B. 2, p. 83. R. ` the
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