Hifi ory ofthe Puritans, examines 57 were unwilling to admit, for fear of the Confequences among their own Countrymen, &c. Bancroft there- fore yielded, That where Bithops could not be had, Ordination by Presbyters mutt be .valid ; otherwife the Charaaer of molt of the Reformed Churches might be quellion'd. Abbot Bop of London ancr others were of Opinion, That there was no necef- fty of pang through the Inferiour Orders of Dea- con and Prief. ; but that the Epi/cópal Charatler might be convey'd at once, as appears from the Exam- ple of Saint Ambrofe, Nedarius, Eucherius, and others, who from mere Laymen were advanc'd at once into the Epifcopal Chair. * Collier in the very place referr'd to bÿ- Mt. Neal, contradi&s him. ' But after all, as the learn- ' ed Heylin {p. 382.) reprefents the Matter ; Ban- ' croft went upon a much more defehfible Princi- ple: he argued, there was no necefiïty the .Scotch Bilbops fhould pafs through the intermediate Or- ' ders of Deacon and Prieft, for that the Epifco- pal Character might be fully convey'd at a hnglc Confecration : atld for thishe cited fome confider- ' able Precedents in the ancient Church.' So that it appears, that what Mr. Neal mentions as Bi fhop Abbot's Opinion, fron Collier,' 'was not Ab- bot's, abut Bancrcft's Opinion. A fmall Inaccuracy in Hiftory, fcarce worth Notice. Neal, p. 92. Lord Clarendon pays, That he [Ba ncroft] underflood the Church excellently well; that he had almoft refcued it out of the hands of the -Calvinian Party, and very much fsbdued the unruly Spirits of the Nònconformifts, and that he countenan- ced.Men ofLearning. -1- Lord Clarendon adds, ' That he difpofed the Clergy to a more folid Courfe ofStudy, than they had been accuftomed to.', * Collier's Hitt. p. 701. Flifory of the Rebellion, Vol. I. Fol. p. 68, Neal,
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