not the Bishop without the People nor the People without the Bishop but both conjunctly constituted that Supreme Tribunal which censured Delinquents and Transgressors as will be evident from what follows All the Power that any Church-Court exerted was derived from that Promife and Commission of Christ in Matth. 16. 18 19. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Now this Power some of the Ancients mention as given to the Bishops Thus Origen writes That the Bishops applyed to themselves this Promise that was made to Peter teaching That they had received the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven from our Saviour that so whatsoever was bound that is condemned by them on Earth was bound in Heaven and whatsoever was loosed by them was also loosed in Heaven which says he may be Orthodoxly enough applyed to them if they hold Peter's Confession and are such as the Church of Christ may be built upon And so also says Cyprian The Church is founded upon the Bishops by whom every Ecclesiastical Action is governed Others of the Ancients mention this Power as given to the whole Church according to that in Matth. 18. 15 16 17 18. If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his Fault between thee and him 〈◊〉 if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy 〈◊〉 but if he will not hear thee take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every Word may be established and if he shall neglect them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican Verily I say unto you Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven By the Church here is to be understood the whole Body of a particular Church or Parish unto which some of the Fathers attribute the Power of the Keys as Tertullian If thou fearest Heaven to be shut remember the Lord gave its Keys to Peter and by him to the Church And Firmilian The Power of remitting Sins is given to the Apostles and to the Churches which they constituted and to the Bishops who succeeded them Now from this different attribution of the Power of the Keys we may infer this That it was so lodged both in Bishops and People as that each had some share in it The Bishop had the whole Executive and part of the Legislative Power and the People had a part in the Legislative tho' not in the Executive As for the Executive Power by which I understand the formal Pronunciation of Suspensions and Excommunications the Imposition of Hands in the Absolution of Penitents and such like that could be done by none but by the Bishop or by Persons in Holy Orders Deputed and Commission'd by him as the Sequel will evince But as for the Legislative Decretive or Judicatorial Power that 〈◊〉 both to Clergy and Laity who conjunctly made up that Supreme Consistorial Court which was in every Parish before which all Offenders were tried and if found Guilty sentenced and condemned Now that the Clergy were Members of this Ecclesiastical Court is a thing so evidently known and granted by all as that it would be superfluous to heap up many Quotations to prove it so that I shall but just confirm it after I have proved that which may seem more strange and that is That the Laity were Members thereof and Judges therein being Sharers with the Clergy in the Judicial Power of the Spiritual Court And this will most evidently appear by the consideration of these following Testimonies The first shall be out of that place of Clemens Romanus where he writes Who will say according to the Example of Moses If Seditions Contentions and Schisms are hapned because of me I will depart I will go wheresoever you please and I will do what are enjoyned me by the People so the Church of Christ be in Peace So Origen describes a Criminal as appearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before the whole Church And Dyonisius Bishop of Alexandria in his Letter to Fabius Bishop of Antioch speaks of one Serapion that had fallen in the Times of Persecution who had several times appeared before the Church to beg their Pardon but no one did ever take any notice of him But Cyprian is most full in this matter as when two Subdeacons and an Acolyth of his Parish had committed some great Misdemeanors he professes that he himself was not a sufficient Judge of their Crimes but they ought to be tried by all the People And concerning Felicissimus the 〈◊〉 he writes to his People from his Exile that if it pleased God he would come to them after Easter and then that Affair should be adjusted according to their Arbitrement and Common Counsel And in another place he condemns the rash Precipitation of some of his Presbyters in admitting the Lapsed to Communion because of some Pacificatory Libels obtained from the Confessors and charges them to admit no more till Peace was restored to the Church and then they should plead their Cause before the Clergy and before all the People And concerning the same matter he writes in another Letter to the People of his Parish That when it should please God to restore Peace to the Church and reduce him from his Exile that then it should be examined in their Presence and according to their Judgment So that the Consistory Court was composed of the People as well as of the Bishop each of whom had a negative Voice therein On one side the Bishop could do nothing without the People So when several returned from the Schism of Fortunatus and Bishop Cyprian was willing to receive them into the Churches Peace he complains of the unwillingness of his People to admit them and the great difficulties he had to obtain their Consent as he thus describes it in his Letter to Cornelius Bishop of Rome O my dear Brother if you could be present with me when those Men return from their Schism you would wonder at what pains I take to perswade our Brethren to be patient that laying aside their Grief of Mind they would consent to the healing and receiving of those that are sick I can scarce 〈◊〉 yea I extort a Grant from my People that such 〈◊〉 received to Communion And on the other side the People could do dothing without the Bishop as when one of the three Bishops that 〈◊〉 Ordained Novatian came back to the Church and desired admission the People alone could not receive him without the Consent of the Bishop 〈◊〉 for else they would
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Constitution Discipline Unity Worship OF THE Primitive Church That Flourished within the First Three Hundred Years after CHRIST Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages By an Impartial Hand LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Design of the following Treatise is in general to represent the Constitution Discipline Vnity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourish'd within the first Three Hundred Years after Christ but more particularly and especially to describe their Opinions and Practices with respect to those things that are now unhappily controverted between those of these Kingdoms who are commonly known by the Names of Church of England-men Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists for which reason it comes to pass that to those Points concerning which there is no difference amongst us I have not spoken so largely as otherwise I might have done and some other Customs of theirs I have not mentioned at all because now neglected and disused by us What I have written as to this Subject I have wholly collected out of the Genuine and unquestionably Authentick Writings of those Ages that are now extant making use of no other Writings whatsoever except the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius which was writ in the beginning of the Fourth Age and relates only those Affairs that were transacted in the Three former beyond the Period of which time this Enquiry doth not reach but is wholly limited thereby and confined thereunto That which hath been thus collected has been done I hope with the greatest Impartiality and Fidelity without any prepossession of Mind or any fraudulent dealing whatsoever which the Reader may the sooner believe and the easier be convinced of since for the clearer Demonstration of my Faithfulness and Vnprejudicedness herein I have taken care to print in the Margent the Original Words of all the Passages that I have cited at least of all that are necessary together with the very Pages whence I fetch'd them that so the Reader turning to the Pages mentioned in those Editions that I use which Editions I shall set down at the end of this Preface and finding it according to my Quotations may the more readily be perswaded that throughout this whole Tract I have been every way honest and unbyass'd And as I have faithfully and impartially collected these Observations so I have as modestly and unconcernedly represented them avoiding all Words or Speeches that might seem to carry the least sharpness or Reflection in them and have as nakedly expressed them declining all affected or pompous Expressions contenting my self with those Terms that most naturally serve to render the Truth more perspicuous and evident according to the Observation of Clemens Alexandrinus He that would deliver the Truth ought not studiously to affect an Elegancy of Expression but only to use such Words whereby he may render what he means intelligible Whether all or some or none of the following Primitive Customs may be changed by the Civil Magistrate or by a Convocational Assembly I pretend not here to handle my Design at present is only to search into matter of Fact to find out what were the Vsages of the Ancient Church within the first Three Hundred Years after Christ for as was said before no lower do I intend to go which after the most impartial and serious Enquiry I find to be according to the ensuing Treatise in the penning whereof I have avoided all Prolixity and Tediousness and for that end omitting to answer several Objections that I know may be made against several things which I have here asserted mine Intention being briefly and perspicuously to prove what I judge to be the true Practice of the Primitive Church as to those Points now disputed by us As for the Occasion of my Publishing this Treatise it cannot be imagined to proceed from a Spirit of Vanity or Ambition since I so far conceal my Name as that even my Bookseller knows not who I am much less I hope will it be construed by any to proceed from a Spirit of Contention and Animosity from an ill Design to foment and increase our present Feuds and Divisions since I assure the whole World our unnatural Quarrels do so much afflict and trouble me as that I would sacrifice not only this Book but also all that I either am or have if thereby I might be an happy Instrument to compose and heal them But amongst other Reasons these two were the chiefest that swayed me hereunto To inform others and To inform my self To inform others what the Practices of the Primitive Apostolick Churches were if any shall be inquisitive and desirous to know them or if I am mistaken as who is without his Errors to be better informed my self which I must needs confess was that which I chiefly designed in the Publication hereof wherefore without any Ostentation or challenging but unfeignedly and sincerely to prevent Mistakes in my younger Years I humbly desire if the Request be not too bold and shall heartily thank any Learned Person that will be so kind as to inform me if he knows me to have erred in any one or more Particulars which he may do either Publickly or if he thinks fit Privately by Letter to my Bookseller who will convey it safely to my Hands and if any one that finds me deceived in any one or more Points will favour me so far as to undertake such a trouble I should desire these few things of him That he would be pleased as I have done to use only those Writings that were composed within my prescribed time and if possible the same Editions and not only to form Objections against what I have written but also to answer or rather to give me another Sense of those Passages which I have cited and then I promise if my Mistakes are fairly shewn I will not pertinaciously and obstinately defend them but most willingly and thankfully renounce them since my Design is not to defend a Party but to search out the Truth I have but one thing more to add in this Preface and that is that when I first resolved on the printing of this Treatise I designed to have published my Observations on the fourth general Head propounded in the Title Page to be enquired into viz. The Worship of the Primitive Church as well as now I have done those on the three former but for some Reasons I have reserved this for a particular Tract by its self which probably though I do not absolutely promise it may in a little time more be also published and that the rather because in this Part I have made two or three References thereunto which I thought good to acquaint the Reader with that so if he cannot find some things that I have referred to in this Treatise he may be assured they are to be met with in the ensuing one The Primitive
a Collection of many particular Churches who mentions in the Singular Number the Church of God in Africa and Numidia Else I do not remember that ever I met with it in this Sense in any Writings either of this or the rest of the Fathers but whenever they would speak of the Christians in any Kingdom or Province they always said in the Plural The Churches never in the Singular The Church of such a Kingdom or Province Thus Dyonisius Alexandrinus doth not say the Church but the Churches of Cilicia And so Irenaeus mentions The Churches that were in Germany Spain France the East Egypt and Lybia So also Tertullian speaks of the Churches of Asia and Phrygia and the Churches of Greece And so of every Country they always express the Churches thereof in the Plural Number V. The Word Church frequently occurs for that which we commonly call the Invisible Church that is for those who by a Sound Repentance and a Lively Faith are actually interested in the Lord Jesus Christ According to this signification of the Word must we understand Tertullian when he says that Christ had espoused the Church and that there was a Spiritual Marriage between Christ and the Church And that of Irenaeus That the Church was fitted according to the form of the Son of God And in this Sense is the Word oftentimes used in others of the Fathers as I might easily shew if any one did doubt it VI. The Word Church is frequently to be interpreted of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church In this Sense Irenaeus prays That the Hereticks might be reclaimed from their Heresies and be converted to the Church of God and exhorts all sincere Christians not to follow Hereticks but to fly to the Church Upon which account Hereticks are said to have left the Church as Tertullian told Marcion that when he became an Heretick he departed from the Church of Christ and their Heresies are said to be dissonant from the Church as Origen writes that the Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls was alien from the Church There are yet several other Significations of this Word though not so usual as some of the forementioned ones nor so pertinent to my Design so that I might justly pass them over without so much as mentioning them But lest any should be desirous to know them I will just name them and then proceed to what is more material Besides then those former Significations the Word according to its Original Import is also used for any Congregation in general sometimes it is applyed to any particular Sect of Hereticks as Tertullian calls the Marcionites the Church of Marcion At other times it is attributed to the Orthodox in opposition to the Hereticks as by the same Tertullian Sometimes it is appropriated to the Heathen Assemblies as by Origen at other times in Opposition to the Jews it is ascribed to the believing Gentiles as by Irenaeus In some places it is taken for the Deputies of a Particular Church as in Ignatius In other places it signifies the Assembly of the Spirits of just Men made perfect in Heaven which we commonly call the Church Triumphant as in Clemens Alexandriaeus Once I find it denoting the Laity only in opposition to the Clergy And once signifying only Christ as the Head of the Faithful § 2. But the usual and common Acceptation of the Word and of which we must chiefly treat is that of a Particular Church that is a Society of Christians meeting together in one place under their proper Pastours for the Performance of Religious Worship and the exercising of Christian Discipline Now the first thing that naturally presents its self to our Consideration is to enquire into the Constituent Parts of a Particular Church or who made up and composed such a Church In the general they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elect the Called and Sanctified by the Will of God And in innumerable places they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Brethren because of their Brotherly Love and Affection and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faithful in opposition to the Pagan World who had no Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ nor in the Promises of the Gospel But more particularly we may divide them into two Parts into the People that composed the Body of the Church and those Persons who were set apart for Religious and Ecclesiastical Employments Or to conform to our ordinary Dialect into the Clergy and Laity which is an early distinction being mentioned by Clemens Romanus and after him by Origen and several others § 3. Each of these had their particular Offices and both together had their joynt Employments to all which I shall distinctly speak in the ensuing Tract as they naturally resolve themselves into these Three Particulars I. The Peculiar Acts of the Clergy II. The Peculiar Acts of the Laity III. The Joint Acts of them both By the Resolution of which three Questions some Discovery will be made of the Constitution and Discipline of the Primitive Church and of their Practice with respect to many Points unhappily controverted amongst us § 4. I begin with the first of these What were the Peculiar Acts of the Clergy Now here must be consider'd the Functions of every particular Order and Degree of the Clergy which we may say to be three viz. Bishops Priests and Deacons whose Employments we shall severally handle as also several other Points which under those Heads shall offer themselves unto us I shall begin first with the Bishop but for the better understanding both of him and the rest it will be necessary first of all to consider the condition of the whole World as it was before the Preaching of the Gospel in a state of Paganism and Darkness having their Understandings clouded with Ignorance and Error alienated from God and the true Worship of him applauding their own bruitish Inventions and adoring as God whatever their corrupted Reason and silly Fancies proposed to them as Objects of Adoration and Homage Into this miserable state all Mankind except the Jews had wilfully cast themselves and had not Christ the Son of Righteousness enlightned them they would have continued in that lost and blind condition to this very day But our Saviour having on his Cross Triumph'd over Principalities and Powers and perfectly conquered the Devil who before had rul'd effectually in the Heathen World and being ascended into Heaven and sat down at the Right Hand of the Father on the day of Pentecost he sent down the Holy Ghost on his Apostles and Disciples who were then assembled at Jerusalem enduing them thereby with the Gift of Tongues and working Miracles and both commissionating and fitting them for the Propagation of his Church and Kingdom who having received this Power and Authority from on high went forth Preaching the Gospel First to the Jews and then
not have so earnestly press'd him 〈◊〉 his permission as we find they did Thus then we have viewed the Members of the Spiritual Court and have proved that they were all the Members or the whole Body of the Church Clergy as well as Laity and Laity as well as Clergy 〈◊〉 one without the other but both together But now forasmuch as the People were encumbred with earthly business and it was not possible that they could constantly give their attendance and narrowly search into every thing that should be brought before them Therefore we may suppose that the Members of the Presbytery who as was said before under the Head of Ordination were to be free from all Worldly Cares and Employments were appointed as a Committee to prepare matters for the whole Court An instance whereof we meet with in Maximus Vrbanus Sidonius and some others that had joined in the Schism of Novatian who being sensible of their Fault Came into the Presbytery and desir'd the Churches Peace the Presbytery accepted of their Submission and proposed it to the whole Church who readily embraced it So that the Presbytery prepared matters for the whole Court which Court was the Supreme Tribunal within the Limits of that Parish before whom all matters that there occurred were tried and by whom all were judged only when any great and difficult points were decided 't is probable it was the custom to desire the Bishops of the neighbouring Parishes to come over and assist there in presence that so their Censures might be the freer from any imputation of Partiality or Injustice Thus when a nice Affair was to be determined at Rome Cornelius desired five Bishops to assist that so what they did might be firm and indisputable § 4. Having thus found out the Members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal the next thing to be consider'd is the manner and Form of their Proceedings in the Exercise of their Judicial Power and Authority which by Tertullian is described to be after this manner When at their general Assemblies the other parts of Divine Worship were ended then followed Exhortations Reproofs and a Divine Censure for the Judgment is given with great weight as amongst those that are sure that God beholds what they do and this is one of the highest Preludiums and Forerunners of the Judgment to come when the Delinquent is banished from the Communion of Prayers Assemblies and all Holy Commerce Approved Elders preside there who obtained that Honour by Testimony not by Price So that when the Consistory was sat the Bishop and his assisting Presbyters here called Approved Elders but commonly the Presbytery presided and moderated all things there proposed and debated Then the Offenders if possible were actually brought before them tho' the non-appearance of the Criminals was no impediment to their Proceedings for notwithstanding they condemned them and censured them not only for those Crimes for which they were cited to appear but also for their Contumacy and Stubbornness as Cyprian writes the Proud and Obstinate are killed with the Spiritual Sword whilst they are cast out of the Church and those that are stubborn and fear not God but go off from the Church let no Man accompany But yet I say if possible the Offenders personally appeared that so their Crimes might be objected to them to which they were to plead as Cyprian says that the Lapsed were to plead their Cause before the Clergy and the whole Church Then the Court consider'd the Defendant's Plea as Cyprian writes that all things were debated in common amongst them And if the Bishop and Majority of the Court judged their Defence insufficient they were voted by their common Suffrage to be condemned and censured as Cyprian writes that whoever was excommunicated it was by the Divine Suffrages of the People The Delinquent being thus cast or found Guilty the next thing that succeeded was the formal Declaration of the Sentence of the Court which was pronounced as Tertullian intimates in that fore-quoted Passage by one of the presiding Elders that is either by the Bishop or a Presbyter Commission'd by him the manner of which Pronunciation seems also from that Passage to be thus He that passed the formal Sentence on the Criminal first began with Exhortations that is as we may reasonably suppose he exhorted the Faithful to use all diligent Care and Fear to avoid those Sins and Crimes which had brought the Offenders before them to so lamentable and fatal Condition Then followed Reproofs which were sharp Rebukes and Reprehensions to the Delinquents for their foul Miscarriages and enormous Practices setting forth the Evil Villany and Misery of them That they were provoking to God grievous to the Faithful scandalous to Religion and in fine ruining and pernicious to themselves in that it rendred them obnoxious to that Divine Censure which then immediately as the Conclusion of all he formally pronounced on them Which brings me to the Consideration of the Fourth Query viz. What the Primitive Censures were of which in the following Section § 5. Now in answer hereunto as the Church so her Arms were Spiritual her Thunderbolts 〈◊〉 in Suspensions and Excommunications in ejecting and throwing out of the Church her scandalous and rotten Members not permitting a re-induction of them till by visible signs of Repentance they had satisfied for their Crimes and Villanies Various are the Appellations that are given to the Sentence of Excommunication in the Writings of the Ancients By Dionysius Alexandrinus it is called A driving away from the Church By Tertullian A casting out from the Churches Communion and a driving from Communion By Cyprian A Separation from the Church An Ejection out of the Church A killing with the Spiritual Sword and many other such like Terms occur in the Fathers all tending to describe the Fearfulness and Misery of an Excommunicated State So tremendous was it that whosoever was in that condition was look'd upon as accursed by God and really was so by Men who esteem'd him as a Limb of Satan and a Member of the Devil shunning his Company as they did the Plague or any other infectious Disease Those says Cyprian that are Proud and fear not God but go off from the Church let no Man accompany And therefore Irenaeus speaking concerning the Hereticks who were all Excommunicated says that according to the Command of Paul we must avoid them and John forbids us so much as to wish them God speed since by so doing we communicate with their Evil Works And Tertullian in that forementioned place writes That the Delinquent was banished from the Communion of Prayers Assemblies and all holy Converse being look'd upon as one unworthy of humane Society cast out of the Church of God here and if impenitently dying in that condition as certainly excluded the Kingdom of God hereafter For as Origen writes on Matth. 18. 18. on which Text Excommunication is founded
he will contradict all other Writers it being avouched by all that Synods did depose all those Bishops that were guilty of criminal and scandalous Enormities as Privatus Bishop of Lambese was deposed by a Synod of Ninety Bishops for his many and heinous Crimes § 7. But now excepting these three Causes of Apostacy Heresie and Immorality it was Schism in a Parish to leave their Minister or to set up another Bishop against him for tho' they at first chose their Bishop yet their Bishop being on their Choice approved and confirmed by the neighbouring Bishops they could not dethrone him without truly assigning one of those forementioned Causes for this was to gather a Church out of a Church to erect a new Altar and a new Bishop which could not be in one Church for as Cyprian writes God is one Christ is one the Church is one the Rock on which the Church is built is one wherefore to erect a new Altar and constitute a new Bishop besides the one Altar and the one Bishop is impracticable whosoever gathers here scatters so to do is adulterous impious sacrilegious mad and wicked From hence says Cyprian Schisms do arise that the Bishop is not obeyed and it is not considered that there ought to be but one Bishop and one Judge in a Church at a time And this is the Rise and Source of Schismaticks that through their swelling Pride they contemn their Bishop and so they go off from the Church so they erect a profane Altar and so they rebel against the Peace of Christ and the Ordination and Vnity of God And again From thence proceed Schisms that the Bishop who is but one and presides over the Church is contemned by the proud Presumption of Men and he that was thought worthy by God is esteemed unworthy by Men. And again The Church is the People united to their Bishop and the Sheep adhering to their Pastour the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop whosoever are not with the Bishop are not in the Church and those do in vain flatter themselves who having not Peace with God's Priests creep about and privately communicate with some as they think when the Catholick Church is not divided but connexed and coupled together by the Vnity of its agreeing Bishops Whosoever therefore should causelesly desert his Bishop and solicit others so to do was a true Schismatick since in so doing he divided a Portion of the Flock with the Bishop separated the Sheep from their Pastour and dissipated the Members of Christ. From these Quotations then it is apparent that the Primitive Schism respected only a particular Church and consisted in a Person 's Separation from Communion with his lawful Bishop without a just and authentick Cause when any one should set up a particular Church in a particular Church in opposition to the lawful Bishop thereof and should draw away the Inhabitants of that Parish from the Communion of their legal Minister setting up distinct Meetings and Conventicles as Cyprian calls them This was true Schism for as Ignatius says whosoever so assembled were not congregated legally according to the Command And whosoever officiated without the Bishop sacrificed to the Devil § 8. This Notion now of Schism gives us a clear Reason why we find in Ignatius so frequent and Pathetick Injunctions of Obedience to and Unity with our respective Pastours of avoiding all Divisions and closely adhering to them because a deserting of them or a separating from them was a Commission of this horrid and detestable Sin of Schism as will appear from these following Exhortations and Instructions of his with which every Leaf almost of his Epistles are fraught and furnished All you of the Church of Smirna obey your Bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father and the Presbytery as the Apostles and honour the 〈◊〉 according to the Command of God Let nothing of Ecclesiastical Services be done without the Bishop let that Communion only be esteemed valid which is performed by the Bishop or by one permitted by him Wherever the Bishop is there let the People be as where Jesus Christ is there the Catholick Church is it is not lawful without the Bishop or one permitted by him to baptize or celebrate the 〈◊〉 this is pleasing unto God that so whatsoever is done may be firm and Legal Have respect unto your Bishop as God hath respect unto you My Soul for theirs that obey their Bishop Presbyters and Deacons and with them let my part in God be Let us not resist our Bishop lest we be found Resisters of God I exhort you to do every thing in the Vnity of God the Bishop presiding in the place of God and the Presbyters in the place of the Council of the Apostles and the Deacons persorming the intrusted Ministry of Jesus Christ let there nothing be in you that may divide you but be united to your Bishop and Presidents As therefore Christ did nothing without the Father being united to him neither by himself nor by his Apostles so do you nothing without the Bishop and Presbyters nor privately withdraw from them but assemble together having one Prayer one Supplication one Mind and one Hope Flee all Division where the Pastour is there as Sheep follow for there are many 〈◊〉 Wolves that seek to carry you away but let them have no place in your Vnity Whoever are God's and Jesus Christ's they are with the Bishop and whosoever repenting shall come to the Vnity of the Church those shall be God's that they may live according to Jesus Christ. Be not deceived my Brethren if any one follows a 〈◊〉 or one that causeth Division and Separation he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Respect the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without the Bishop Keep your Flesh as the Temple of God Love Vnity Avoid Schisms be followers of Jesus Christ as he was of his Father Where Division and Wrath is God dwells not God therefore pardons all Penitents if they penitentially return to the Vnity of God and the Presbytery of the Bishop And some other such like Expressions there are in the 〈◊〉 of this Father which evidently demonstrate Schism to be nothing else than a causeless Separation from our Parish Bishop or Minister and a wandring after or an Adhesion to another false and pretended Pastour § 9. But for the clearer Proof that this was what the Father 's meant by Schism it may not be altogether unnecessary to add unto these Quotations an Example or two for Examples more convincingly 〈◊〉 than bare Testimonies and Citations And here let us first view the Schism of Felicissimus in the hurch of Carthage as it is related in the 38th 40th and 55th Epistles of Cyprian and we shall find it respecting only that particular Church or Parish When Cyprian was elected Bishop of Carthage Felicissimus and others of his Faction opposed him but