Chap. L ?he HISTORYoft&PURITANS. 465 great feal to the bifhops of London, Ely, Bath, and Wells, and Rocker, Kin86aoesI. requiring them to proceed to the confècration of the abovementioned bi- fhops according to the Englifh ordinal : Andrews bifhop of Ely was of o- pinion, that before their confecration they ought to be made prie/ls, be- caufe they had not been ordained by a bifhop. This the Scots divines were unwilling to admit, through fear of the confequences among their own countrymen ; for what mutt they conclude concerning the minifters of Scotland, if their ordination as prefbyters was not valid ? Bancroft therefore yielded, that wherebithops could not be had, ordinationby prefbyters muff be valid, otherwife the characeer of the minitlers in molt of the reformed churches mightbe queftioned. Abbot.bifhop ofLondon and others wereof opi- nion, that there was no neceflity;of palling through the inferior orders ofdea- con and prieft, but that the epifcopal character might be conveyed at once, as y s appears from the exampleof St. Ambrofe, Nalarius, Euclserius, and others, P7" who frommere lay-men were advanced at once intothe epifcopal chair. But whether this fuppofition does not rather weaken the arguments for bifhops, beinga diflin& order from prefbyters, .I leave with the reader. However the Scotch divines were confecrated in the chapel at London-hoofe, [O5tober Calderwood, 21, s6ro] and upon their return into Scotland conveyed their new cha- P.644. rafter in the farnemanner to their brethren. Thus the king, by an ufurped fupremacy over the kirkof Scotland, and other violent and indiredi means, fubverted their ecclefiaftical conftitution; andcontrary to the genius ofthe people, and the proteflation of the general affembly, the bifhops were made lords of council, lords ofparliament, and lord commoners in caufes ecclefìa/lical ; but with all their high titles they fat uneafy in their chairs, being generally hated bothby the ininifters and people. About ten daysafter this confecration, Dr. Richard Bancroft archbifhop Ilrcbbt b of Canterbury, departed this life ; he was born at Farnworth in Lancd!hire, Bancroft'ss 1544 and educated in fetus College Cambridge. He was firft chaplain to ohara!3er: Cox bithop of Ely, who gave him the re&ory of Toyer/ham near Cambridge. In theyear ¡585 he proceeded D. D. and being ambitious of preferment got into the fervice ofSir Chri/iopher Hatton, by whofe recommendation he was made prebendary of Weftmin/ler. Here he fignalized himfelf by preaching againft the Puritans; a fure way to preferment in thofe times. He alfo wrote againft their difcipline; and was the firft in the church of England who openly maintained the divine right of the order of bifhops. While he fat in the high commiflion, he diftinguifhed himfelf by an un- common zeal againft the non-conformißs, for whichhe was preferred, firft to the bifhopriek of London, and upon Whitgift's deceafe to the fee of Canterbury ; how he behaved in that highElation has been fufficiently re- lated. This prelate left behind him no extraordinary character for piety, learning, hofpitality, or any other epifcopal quality. He was of a rough, Vol,. I. 0oo in-
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