SCHISM, a Word formed from the Greek Word Schisma, which signifies Rupture, 1 Cor. i. 10.or Division. St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to live in Union together, that there may be no Schisms among them: Joh. ix. 16.That there be no Divisions among you. St. John says, that the Jews were divided among themselves concerning Jesus Christ, some affirming, that he was a true Prophet, and others, that he was a Deceiver. And there was a Division (or Schism) among them. When Jeroboam revolted against Rehoboam, and was acknowledged as King of the Ten Tribes, he made a Schism, and separated from the Religion of the Lord, forsook the Communion of the Tribe of Judah, and no longer frequented the Temple, which was the chosen and appointed Place, to offer to the Lord the Worship that was due to him. The Cuthites, otherwise called Samaritans, who came from beyond the Euphrates, to settle in the Cities of the Ten Tribes, continued also in Schism, ‘till the Establishment of the Christian Religion. The Jews at this Day look upon the Caraites as Schismaticks, because they do not receive their Traditions.
We have seen several Seditions in the Christian Church, from its Original to this Day. The Difference they make between Schism and Heresy, is this, that Heresy is founded upon Capital Errors, which the Heretick maintains obstinately, and in Contempt of the Censures and Thunders of the Church. Schism, on the contrary, is not merely founded upon the Errors of him that separates from the Church, but upon his Obstinacy in not acknowledging its true Head, or in continuing separate from its Communion. Thus we have often seen Schisms in the Churches of the West, because some obeyed one Pope, and some another, when there were several Competitors that claimed the Popedom. The Greeks, and the greatest part of the Christians of the East, are still Schismaticks to this Day, because they acknowledge not the Authority of the Pope, and do not communicate with the Latin Churches.