[65] who had before been ordained a Prief, be employ'd to prove there was, in the Opinion of the Compilers of that Form, no fuch Order as Bifhops in the Church, all meer Presbyters and nothing more ; not only the Order but the very Office the fame. Since Mr. N. has thought fit to intro- duce the Reformers as Patrons of his Notion of Parity, i , may not be im- proper to lay before the Reader Bithop Burnet's Account of the Authors ofHit&. Refor. that Opinion. " In the ancient Church vol. I. P.366. cc they knew none of thefe Subtilities cc which were found out in the latter " Ages. 'Twas then thought enough that a Bebop was to be dedicated to " his F.untion by a new Impofition of " Hands, and that levered Offices could " not be perform'd without Bifhops " fuch as Ordination, Confirmation, `t &c. , But they did not refine in thefe " Matters, fo much as to enquire whe, " ther Bithops and Priefis differ'd in Order and Office, or only in Degree. " But after the Schoolmen fell to exa- `c mine Matters of Divinity with logical and unintelligible Niceties ; and the cianonifts began to comment upon the Rules of the ancient Church, they " "died to make Bfhops and Prießs `S feem very near one another ; fo that "the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=