1st. Schismatical Separation is intentional, and perfectly voluntary. Thus the [Greek or Hebrew], those that separate themselves, Jud. 19. do by their own voluntary act put themselves out of the bounds of the Church. Thus they that went out of the Apostolical Church, 1 Joh. 2.19. did it intentionally and freely. It is the observation of Aquinas, That as in natural things,1 that which is by accident doth not constitute the Species: So in moral, not that which is besides the intention, for that is accidental; hence he infers, Peccatum Schismatis proprie est speciale peccatum, ex eo quod intendit se ab unitate separare quam charit as facit. Proprie Schismatici dicuntur, qui propria sponte & intentione se ab unitate Ecclesiae separant. The sin of Schism is a special sin, in that it intends to separate from that unity which charity makes. Schismatics are properly those, who of their own accord and intention do separate themselves from the unity of the Church. It's true, every Schismatic doth not say as Marcion did, Ego sindam Ecclesiam, I will cleave the Church ⟨p. 38⟩in two; yet this is that which he means in his Separation. As in our Common-Law, when we would know whether an entry amount to a disseisin, we enquire,2 quo animo fecerit, with what mind it was done. So in Theology, if we would know whether a Separation amount unto Schism, we must enquire with what mind it was done. Schism, saith Dr. Hammond, is a voluntary dividing. The Schismatic is he that divides himself from the Church; not he that is cut off from it, but he that goes out, and recedes of his own accord. He condemns himself, being out of the Church, not by Censure, but suo arbitrio, by his own free Choice. The Donatists were in their minds and wills so set upon their own way,3 that after a long series of Debates and Hearings, they were still the same as before. A right Schismatic makes it his business to divide;4 A Matre Filios segregat, Oves à Pastores solicitat; He severs the Sons from the Mother, he entices the Sheep from the Pastor. This is the first Character.
1st. Schismatical Separation is intentional, and perfectly voluntary. Thus the 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, those that separate themselves, Jud. 19. do by their own voluntary act put themselves out of the bounds of the Church. Thus they that went out of the Apostolical Church, 1 Joh. 2.19. did it intentionally and freely. It is the observation of Aquinas, That as in natural things,1 that which is by accident doth not constitute the Species: So in moral, not that which is besides the intention, for that is accidental; hence he infers, Peccatum Schismatis proprie est speciale peccatum, ex eo quod intendit se ab unitate separare quam charit as facit. Proprie Schismatici dicuntur, qui propria sponte & intentione se ab unitate Ecclesiae separant. The sin of Schism is a special sin, in that it intends to separate from that unity which charity makes. Schismaticks are properly those, who of their own accord and intention do separate themselves from the unity of the Church. It's true, every Schismatick doth not say as Marcion did, Ego sindam Ecclesiam, I will cleave the Church ⟨p. 38⟩in two; yet this is that which he means in his Separation. As in our Common-Law, when we would know whether an entry amount to a disseisin, we enquire,2 quo animo fecerit, with what mind it was done. So in Theology, if we would know whether a Separation amount unto Schism, we must enquire with what mind it was done. Schism, saith Dr. Hammond, is a voluntary dividing. The Schismatick is he that divides himself from the Church; not he that is cut off from it, but he that goes out, and recedes of his own accord. He condemns himself, being out of the Church, not by Censure, but suo arbitrio, by his own free Choice. The Donatists were in their minds and wills so set upon their own way,3 that after a long series of Debates and Hearings, they were still the same as before. A right Schismatick makes it his business to divide;4 A Matre Filios segregat, Oves à Pastores solicitat; He severs the Sons from the Mother, he entices the Sheep from the Pastor. This is the first Character.
- 12, 2ae. quaest. 39. Art. 1. c.
- 2Cro. lib. 3. Blunden.
- 3Aust. Epist. 162.
- 4Cypr. de Unit. Eccl.
