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A96097 The arch-rebel found, or An answer to Mr. M. H.'s Brief enquiry into the true nature of schism By T.W., citizen of Chester ... T. W. 1690 (1690) Wing W111A; ESTC R43946 21,021 35

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by holding Communion with the particular Church wherein they live that Church not being Schismatical all the particular Churches through all the World being the Members that make up the Mystical Body of Christ the one Catholick Church Sir having shewed you as clearly as I can the true Notion of the Catholick Church and Communion of Saints Schism is so clearly unmasked that a man may though not from the same impulse yet with as much certainty pronounce and declare you a Schismatick as the Prophet Nathan did King David's Sin when he said Thou art the Man For it is most manifest that all who pretend Christianity and wilfully refuse Communion with the Catholick Church do cut themselves off from and cease to be Members of the Body of Christ for he hath but one Body that is his Church and this in the Language of the Scriptures and the Judgment of the Fathers in the Primitive Times is Schism And this agrees too with the Nature and Signification of the Word Sir though it be above my Education yet since I undertook your Enquiry I have made search and do give you this following account of these Fathers whose Judgments are against you St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lugdunum Lib. 4. adver Her cap. 43. who was Cotemporary with Policarpus a Disciple of St. John who must in Reason be allowed to know the Primitive Apostolick notion of Schism better than you or any who are of your Faction exhorts all Christians to harken to those Presbyters who were in the Communion of the Catholick Church and that they might not be deceived describes them Qua propter is qui in Ecclesia sunt Presbyteris obaudire oportet iis qui Successionem ha●ent ab Apostolis c. Wherefore they are oblig'd to obey those Presbyters who are within the Pale of the Church who as we have shown are the Successors of the Apostles who have received the sure gift of Truth together with an Apostolical right of Succession according to the De●ree of the Father● Reliquos vero qui abs●stunt a principali Successione quocunque loco colliguntar c. As for those who renounce the Apostolical Succ●ssion and Assemble themselves in any place whatsoever suspect and esteem them as Heretical and Damnable Opinions who flatter themselves with hope of Lucre and Vain Glory but as for them who rend and tear in pieces the Unity of the Church they shall receive punishment of God as Jeroboam did St. Ignatius the Second Bish●p of Antioch from St. Peter in his Ep. ad Tralian●s ad Smyrnen●es and in those to the Phil●ippians c. frequently charges 'em to keep in the Unity of the Christian Church by a regular obedience to the Bishops and by Communicating with those Presbyters who were set over them by Authority of Episcopal Order that to disobey those Bishops and their Presbyters and to separate from them is in those Epistles charged with Schism St. Athanasius brands Ischyras for a Schismatick and gives this Reason for it that Ischyras did Usurp a Ministerial Authority without regular Ordination from the Bishops of the Catholick Church and gather'd to himself a Congregation separate from the Bishop of Alexandria in whose Province he liv'd St. Cyprian Ep. 4. ad populum Carthaginensem de quinque Presbyteris exhorts them to have no Communion with those who had divided themselves from their Bishops assuring them that to be sine Episcopis was to be extra Ecclesiam And in his Book De Vnitate he gives this Notion of Schism Contemptis Episcopis Derilictis Dei sacerd●tibus constitu●re aliud Altare aut Conventicula diversa constituere That it was Schism to dispise and forsake the Bishops and Priests of God and to set up another Alter or to set up distinct Conventicles Sir though I pretend not to the Originals yet having found these Instances produced by men of unquestionable Sincerity and great Learning I presume to present you with them I have more of this kind before me but these Testimonies are sufficient to shew how different from and far short your discription of Schism is from the Notion of Schism the Fathers had in the Primitive times and that in their Judgment you are Guilty of Schism Sir you cannot by this time but see your Guilt and though you as Criminals usually before our Tribunals plead not Guilty 't is your own phrase yet I beseech you consider your Trial must be before that Tribunal which cannot be deceived or bassled you had better try and judge your self now that you be not judged To live in Schism you ingeniously acknowledge is a black and hanious Crime to promote and patronize it as you do must then be a great agravation of it it is to be out of the Catholick Church and Communion of Saints out of which there is no ordinary means nor any firm ground to fix any hope of Salvation its plain Acts 2.47 The Lord dayly added to the Church such as should be saved no being added to the Church no being saved there is no other way revealed by which you may be saved And it concerns you highly to consider how you can answer for all those many poor Souls that you seduce into Schism and so industriously keep out of Christs Fold I caution you in all Meekness and Christian Charity and out of a sincere desire of your eternal welfare and if you have that preparedness of mind that Meekness and Sel●-denial which the Holy Jesus requires in the Gospel you will no longer contend with Flesh and Blood but immediately surrender your self into the Communion of that Church where if you will not be wanting to your self you will find all the satisfaction that a Christian can desire there being all things exhibited to you that appertain to Life and Salvation Having thus finished what I designed as sufficient to shew you the true Notion of Schism and your mistake in the Nature of it I proceed to make some Remarks upon your Brief Enquiry c. THe Scope of all you say till your Instance of Eldad and Medad amounts to no more but that Schism is an Arch-Rebel c. a deformed Brat c. a Crime so black no body will plead Guilty to the Indictment And then comes another Law term Hue and Cry c. 't is an hanious Crime but 't is very difficult and scarce possible to find it it cannot be described All I need say to this is the difficulty is removed I have plainly shew'd you how to describe it and so to make a true Judgment who are Guilty whether they plead Guilty or not Guilty The Instance of Eldad and Medad is nothing to the purpose of Schism for they were not if I mistake not to administer in Holy things not any thing of the Priest-hood but that Spirit of Prophecy which they received was to qualifie them for the ease of Moses in the Civil Government and a Crime in the State is Sedition not Schism Yet they did