Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum. A faithful account of the discipline professed and practised; in…

Bebelius, a Professor in the University of Strasburgh, but a few Years ago, publishing a Book of Ecclesiastical Antiquities, wherein he undertakes to prove, That there is no Distinction by a Divine Right between a Bishop & a Presbyter, he quotes Jerome as countenancing his Opinion: But then he adds, Torquent sese Pontificii et Hierarchici in Anglia ut hunc virum nobis eripiunt, the Papists, & English Prelatists, torture themselves ⟨p. 201⟩in vain to take off this Man from us. Yea, our Juel delivers not only his own private Opinion, but also the Sense of The Church of England, in the Apology for it, when he recites the Opinion of Jerome, and adds, This is the Thing that we Defend. At the same time he quotes Erasmus, who speaking of Jerome's Time, says, Id temporis idem erat Episcopus, Sacerdos et Presbyter. And unto this Testimony of Jerome, our Juel adds that of Austin; That the Office of a Bishop is above the Office of a Presbyter, not by Authority of the Scripture, but after the Names of Honour which the Custom of the Church has now obtained. It gives a notable Strength to the Doubts raised in the Minds of Millions in our Nation, concerning the Diocesan Episcopacy, when they find the Church of England it self denying a Divine Right unto it; & they are certain that the Divine Right thereof was never publicly owned, till King James came to be King of England, who upon the Enchantments of a well known Prelate, first yielded unto That, which his Predecessors would never have endured. And yet that very Gentleman, with his Brethren, would not Reordain the Scottish Presbyters, when they were to be made Prelates: His Conscience compelling him to give that Reason for it; For to doubt of the Validity of Presbyterian Ordination, was to doubt whether there was any Lawful Vocation in most of the Reformed Churches. Without going back as far as the more early Days, of King Elfrick, when the Church of England plainly denied Bishops & Presbyters to be distinct Orders, they find, that in the Dawn of the Reformation, by such ⟨p. 202⟩Witnesses of our Lord as Tyndale, & Lambert, and Barnes, and, how many more of our glorious Martyrs? — this Position was vigorously advanced, That the Apostles following the Rule of CHRIST ordained in His Congregation only those Two Officers, A Bishop which is the same with a Presbyter, & a Deacon.

Bebelius, a Professor in the University of Strasburgh, but a few Years ago, publishing a Book of Ecclesiastical Antiquities, wherein he undertakes to prove, That there is no Distinction by a Divine Right between a Bishop & a Presbyter, he quotes Jerom as countenancing his Opinion: But then he adds, Torquent sese Pontificii et Hierarchici in Anglia ut hunc virum nobis eripiunt, the Papists, & English Prelatists, torture themselves