pose them all, if you will, to be thus absolved, this does no way alter the nature of the thing: it will still continue to be sinful; and this will be no warrant for any man to enter into a schism, or to continue in it, under the confidence that he shall eventually escape condemnation. Indeed I will venture to say, that, in some respects, schismatics appear to be more directly sinful than heretics, or even than infidels. They have less to say for themselves. Their conduct seems particularly wanton and without cause. That I may not appear more rash and singular than is necessary, let me be allowed here to plead the authority of some of the most respected fathers of the church, whose very sentiments and almost language I have used. They say directly that schism is as bad or worse than heresy, or than idolatry; and one of them asserts that the prevalence of it is the reason why the power of working miracles had ceased in the church.

3 The reader who doubts this may refer to Hammond on schism, c. 1. 1 will add a few passages from Austin and Chrysostom. The former in his Treatise contra Epistolam Parmeniani, Tom. ix. p. 13. ed. Antwerp, as well as elsewhere, adduces and relies upon that opinion of Cyprian, that a schismatic could not be a real martyr, and he reasons from our Lord's words in Matt. v. 10. "Blessed are "they who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake;" which he denies to be the case with schismatics. "Ideo," says he, "Dominus, ne quisquam in hâc re nebulas offenderet imperitis, et in suorum "damnatione meritorum laudem quæreret martyrum, non generaliter

C

But this was not only the language of remote antiquity it continued to be the doctrine of

ait, beati qui persecutionem patiuntur: sed addidit magnam diffe “rentiam, qua vera sacrilegio pietas secernatur. Ait enim, beati *qui persecutionem patiuntur propter justitiam. Nullo modo autem "propter justitiam, qui Christi ecclesiam diviserunt, etc." So in Libro de Baptismo contra Donatistas, he calls it "sacrilege" repeatedly; "nefariæ divisionis sacrilegium," p. 49. "Schismatis "sacrilegio," p. 50 "Sacrilegia schismata," ibidem. "Sacrilegium "schismatis, quod omnia scelera supragraditur," p. 10. And he says none can be guilty of it "nisi aut superbiæ tumore furiosos, "aut invidentiæ livore vesanos, aut sæculari commoditate corruptos, "aut camali timore perversos," p. 50. That schismatics are worse than idolaters he argues from their punishment in the Old Testament; that the one was slain with the sword, while the other was swallowed up alive in the earth. "Idololatras enim in populo "Dei gladius interemit, schismaticos autem terræ hiatus absorbuit," p. 57. And he expressly ascribes the origin of schism to the want of charity. "Nulli schismata facerent nisi fraterno odio non ex"cæcarentur," p. 59. And after citing 1 John ii. 11, he says, "An "non in schismate odium fraternum? Quis hoc dixerit, cum et origo et pertinacia schismatis nulla sit alia nisi odium fratris ?" ibidem. Chrysostom in his homily on Ephes. iv. cites with approbation that saying of Cyprian with respect to martyrdom. He says too that nothing so contributes to cause divisions in the church as ambition; and nothing so provokes the anger of God as for his church to be divided. σε Οὐδὲν ὄντως ἐκκλησίαν δυνήσεται

διαιρεῖν, ὡς φιλαρχία· οὐδὲν ούτω παρεξύνει τὸν θεὸν, ὡς τὴν "Exλnolar diaigyvai." And he adds that though we should do a thousand good works, “ καν μυρία ὦμεν ἐργασάμενοι καλά we should not escape the punishment due to a breach of the unity of the church. Tom. xi. p. 86. Ed. Bened. See also what he says afterwards of schism not being a crime at all inferior to heresy, διά τούτο λείω και διαμαρτύρομαι, ὅτι του εἰς αιρεσιν ἐμπεσεῖν τὸ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν χίσαι οὐκ ἔλατῖόν ἑςι κακόν, p. 88. And in Tom. vii. p. 375 in his homily on Matt, x. 16. he points out the reason

the church at large, through succeeding ages. It was the strong and declared opinion of our national church in particular, at that period to which we are all in the habit of looking, when she virtually, nay, actually separated from the church of Rome; when therefore she might have spared herself and the rest of the reformed churches much trouble, when she and they might at once have set themselves above the reach of obloquy and censure, if they could have maintained the broad ground, that there was no guilt in schism, and that neither churches nor individuals were bound to have fellowship with each other in matters of religion. She still, however, maintained the old doctrine, she still reproved and taxed with guilt all those individuals who separated from their proper churches, and all those churches who refused to communicate with each other

why miracles have ceased to be, lest any man having such extraor dinary powers should thereby be puffed up and led to separate himself from the church: since he says, this is even now the case with those who are eminent for other gifts, εἰ γὰρ οὐ Γινομένων σημείων οἱ πλεονεκτήμασιν ἑτέροις κομῶντες, οἱονεὶ λόγω σοφία, ἢ ἐυλαβείας ἐπιδείξει, κενοδοξούσιν, ἐπαίρονται, ἀπ' ἀλλήλων χίζονται εἰ και σημεια ἐγένοντο, που οὐκ ἂν ἐγένετο ρήματα; and he alleges as a proof what happened among the Corinthians. It is remarkable too that Chrysostom rather goes out of his way to give this opinion, as his text only required him to speak generally of the blessings of peace; which shews the more strongly how much he was impressed with the idea that ambition and vanity were the prevalent causes of schism.

without the most evident and weighty reasons. She, as well as the rest, held it to be incumbent upon those who so separated to shew that the terms of communion imposed by the church from which the separation was made were actually sinful; either as being in themselves contrary to the word of God, or as by manifest consequence directly leading to evil. Of both these sorts of terms there were numberless and gross instances to be found in the practice and discipline of the Romish church. The schism therefore lay not at their door, but belonged to those, who, by admitting and giving currency to such enormous abuses had made it both dangerous and sinful to remain in their society.

Such were the allegations of the church of England at that memorable time, when, by the grace of God, she was enabled to tread back her steps, and disencumber herself of that load of superstition, under which, in common with the great body of Christians, she had so long groaned; and when she shook off the yoke which under the most impudent and fraudful pretences, had been imposed upon her by a succession of artful and designing usurpers. When afterwards a number of her sons, having been driven by persecution into foreign countries,. had unfortunately imbibed a partiality for other forms of discipline in preference to those which she had adopted, and caused the first schism

which took place amoug protestants in this kingdom, neither did these very men contend for that unbounded latitude of every man's worshipping God after his own way. They professed to act upon scruples of conscience; to be persuaded that the Reformation had not gone far enough; that much of popish abomination vet remained behind, of which it was necessary that the church should be purged; and which they assigned as the cause why they could not join in her communion. This was carried so far, and so acted upon by these puritans, that when, in the time of the great rebellion, they came to have the upper hand, they fully shewed themselves to have been in earnest. For they

not only established for themselves a mode of worship more devoid of ceremonies and more plain in every respect: not only they destroyed, as far as related to its temporal existence, the hierarchy of the church, by voting bishops to be useless, but they absolutely forbad under considerable penalties any man's making use of our liturgy. To popery and prelacy, which they most unwarrantably yoked together, they denied that toleration, which they were not disinclined to extend, and which was in fact extended to all other, even the most extravagant sects, By the very persecution which they carried on against the church, they declared in the plainest terms, though in a way