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

And it prevailed so far, that Cranmer himself, the Primate of all England, Embraced it. Yea, •it was not long before it was owned by public Authority; and in, The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man, a Book then published by Authority, as the Doctrine of the Church of England, it is in Express Terms affirmed, That of these Two Orders only [Presbyters & Deacons] the Scripture makes Express mention. The Declaration about the Institution of Bishops & Priests, then also subscribed by the Lord Cromwell, & the Archbishops of Canterbury, & York, & other Bishops and Civilians, denied any Superiority of a Bishop above a Presbyter to be found in the New-Testament, and allowed unto a Presbyter the Power of Ordination & Excommunication. In the very first Year of K. Edward the Vith's Reign, there was an Act of Parliament, which as Heylin complains, forced the Episcopal Order from their strong hold of Divine Institution, & made them no other than the Kings Ministers only. Poinet then writing against Gardiner, shows, that the Reformers in those Days were willing, even to lay aside the Name of Bishop, & say Elder instead of it. And Cranmer in his Resolutions to the King's Questions, approved by other Bishops, has these Words, The Bishops & Priests were not two distinct Things, but both one Office in the Beginning of Christ's Religion: ⟨p. 203⟩And he further makes it Manifest, That the Great Reformers owned not Episcopacy as a distinct Order from Presbytery, to be of Divine Right; but only as a prudent Constitution of the Magistrate, for the better Governing of the Church. Beaton also, a famous Refugee in Q. Mary's Time, in his Catechism, dedicated unto both Archbishops, puts the Question, What difference is there between a Bishop & a Presbyter? And answers, None at all; Their Office is the same, their Authority and Power is one. It is most certain, That upon the Revival of the Reformation, at Q. Elizabeth's coming to the Crown, the most acknowledged and celebrated Writers of the Church of England, still made the very same Concession. Yea, Archbishop Whitgift, himself speaking of the Government of the Church of England by Bishops, in his Time, says, It is well known, that the Manner & Form of Government, used in the Apostles Time, & expressed in the Scripture, is not now observed.

And it prevailed so far, that Cranmer himself, the Primate of all England, Embraced it. Yea, •it was not long before it was owned by public Authority; and in, The necessary Erudition of a Christian Man, a Book then published by Authority, as the Doctrine of the Church of England, it is in Express Terms affirmed, That of these Two Orders only [Presbyters & Deacons] the Scripture makes Express mention. The Declaration about the Institution of Bishops & Priests, then also subscribed by the Lord Cromwel, & the Archbishops of Canterbury, & York, & other Bishops and Civilians, denied any Superiority of a Bishop above a Presbyter to be found in the New-Testament, and allowed unto a Presbyter the Power of Ordination & Excommunication. In the very first Year of K. Edward the VIth's Reign, there was an Act of Parliament, which as Heylin complains, forced the Episcopal Order from their strong hold of Divine Institution, & made them no other than the Kings Ministers only. Poinet then writing against Gardiner, shews, that the Reformers in those Days were willing, even to lay aside the Name of Bishop, & say Elder instead of it. And Cranmer in his Resolutions to the King's Questions, approved by other Bishops, has these Words, The Bishops & Priests were not two distinct Things, but both one Office in the Beginning of Christ's Religion: