schism and the undermining of church order. Anglican polemic against the intruders turned repeatedly to the accusation that by coming uninvited into parishes the itinerants brought schism to the heart of Christian society. The charge of schism did not simply imply the introduction of divisions into the church, it also embraced the concept of a valid ministry. It was no coinci-dence that most of the Anglican strictures against village preaching issued from high churchmen. For them, even in the days prior to the Oxford Movement, any departure from a strict respect for apostolic ordination rep-resented a fatal compromising of the church’s integrity. In a sermon delivered in 1792 in four of the Oxford churches, Edward Tatham, rector of Lincoln College, warned against the contemporary spate of ignorant and self-ordained teachers ‘who, under the appearance of religion, would disturb our happiness in this world by undermining the Church which is apostolical’ and who ‘instead of a Catholic faith uniformly professed, would introduce Heresies and Schisms’. Elaborating on this theme Richard Mant, rector of

DOI link for schism and the undermining of church order. Anglican polemic against the intruders turned repeatedly to the accusation that by coming uninvited into parishes the itinerants brought schism to the heart of Christian society. The charge of schism did not simply imply the introduction of divisions into the church, it also embraced the concept of a valid ministry. It was no coinci-dence that most of the Anglican strictures against village preaching issued from high churchmen. For them, even in the days prior to the Oxford Movement, any departure from a strict respect for apostolic ordination rep-resented a fatal compromising of the church’s integrity. In a sermon delivered in 1792 in four of the Oxford churches, Edward Tatham, rector of Lincoln College, warned against the contemporary spate of ignorant and self-ordained teachers ‘who, under the appearance of religion, would disturb our happiness in this world by undermining the Church which is apostolical’ and who ‘instead of a Catholic faith uniformly professed, would introduce Heresies and Schisms’. Elaborating on this theme Richard Mant, rector of

schism and the undermining of church order. Anglican polemic against the intruders turned repeatedly to the accusation that by coming uninvited into parishes the itinerants brought schism to the heart of Christian society. The charge of schism did not simply imply the introduction of divisions into the church, it also embraced the concept of a valid ministry. It was no coinci-dence that most of the Anglican strictures against village preaching issued from high churchmen. For them, even in the days prior to the Oxford Movement, any departure from a strict respect for apostolic ordination rep-resented a fatal compromising of the church’s integrity. In a sermon delivered in 1792 in four of the Oxford churches, Edward Tatham, rector of Lincoln College, warned against the contemporary spate of ignorant and self-ordained teachers ‘who, under the appearance of religion, would disturb our happiness in this world by undermining the Church which is apostolical’ and who ‘instead of a Catholic faith uniformly professed, would introduce Heresies and Schisms’. Elaborating on this theme Richard Mant, rector of