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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55303	A discourse of schism by that learned gentleman Edward Polhill, Esq. ...	Polhill, Edward, 1622-1694?	1694 (1694)	Wing P2752; ESTC R3219	41,361	113

Books Published by Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex Esq And Sold by Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over-against the Stocks-Market PRecious Faith considered in its Nature Working and Growth In 8vo. Speculum Theologiae in Chricto Or a view of some Divine Truths which are either Practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence In 4to. Christus in Corde Or the Mystical Union between Christ and Believers consider'd in its Resemblances Bonds Seals Privileges and Marks In 8vo. A Discourse of Schism A DISCOURSE OF SCHISM By that Learned Gentleman EDWARD POLHILL Esq Late of Burwash in Sussex LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over-against the Stocks-Market MDCXCIV TO THE READER 'T IS not the design of this Preface to commend the Author of the ensuing Treatise his own Works do that sufficiently He was a very Learned Gentleman and a Justice of the Peace of very great esteem among all men in his own Countrey where he lived in full and constant Communion with the Church of England And therefore being no Clergy-man either of one sort or t'other he is the more likely to write impartially about Schism and being no Frequenter of any of the Dissenters Meetings he cannot reasonably be supposed to be byass'd in their favour But yet on the other hand he was far enough from entertaining any of those Prejudices against their Persons or Assemblies which it hath been the great endeavour of some to infuse into the minds of all men but especially of the Magistracy and Gentry He was zealously concerned for Truth and Serious Religion not for a Party On all occasions he shew'd himself to be one of a truly Christian that is of a Catholick Temper and was a sincere lover of all good men of what Persuasion soever He was fully convinced and so wilt thou too if thou diligently perusest and readest the following Discourse that Bigotry is the dangerous Schism the guilt whereof a man is not necessarily involved in or secured from by the bare being of this or that Party among us CHAP. I. The Church-Catholick two-fold The very mystical Body of Christ or The totum integrale made up of all the Particular Churches The Vnity of the Church a Divine thing Doth not consist in Human Rites in a Liturgy Diocesan Episcopacy or the Civil Laws of Magistrates It s true Vnity in its internal Essence and external Communion A particular Church CHristians as high motives as they have to Unity are yet divided not only by the existence of Schism but about the notion of it The Papist charges it on the Protestant one Protestant charges it on another and the Reason is because they differ in their measures of Church-Vnity Some require more to it than others the Papist will have the Unity of a Visible Head some Protestants will have an Unity of Human Rites and Modes Hence there comes a Schism about Schism The very notion divides us In this case it is worth the while to enquire into the true nature of Schism in the doing of which two things must be premised Something must be spoken of the Church and something of the Vnity of it First Something must be spoken of the Church In the Old Testament we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a word derived from Congregating in the New we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a word derived from Evocating or calling out The Jewish Church being shut up in one Nation could meet all together in one place the Christian Church being spread over the World cannot indeed meet all together in one place but they are coetus evocatus a company called out of the World to the Worship of God The Church may be considered as Catholick or Particular The Catholick Church may be taken either as the very mystical Body of Christ or as a totum integrale to all the particular Churches on Earth As the mystical Body of Christ it is invisible made up only of real Saints all of them are internally united to Christ the Head all are animated by the Holy Spirit all have the Joints and Bands of Grace all have the effectual working in their hearts This is the Church-Catholick in the Creed this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Assembly of the first-born Hebr. 12.23 This is in Clemens Alexandrinus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Congregation of the Elect. Here are no damnata membra as St. Austin speaks As Christ's natural Body did consist all of pure Members so this mystical Body doth consist of true Believers As in every Member of the natural Body there is an Human Spirit so in every Member of the mystical Body there is the Spirit of Christ Such is the Catholick Church as it is the mystical Body of Christ But as it is a totum integrale made up of all the particular Churches on Earth so it is as its parts are visible and made up of good and bad Some are living Members Partakers of the Spirit of Christ some are dead ones Some are in internal conjunction with Christ some are in external only Some are in the Church really and before God some are in it only apparently and before men Thus the Church is a Field which hath Wheat and Tares a Net which hath good Fish and Bad a Floor which hath Corn and Chaff In Isaac's Family there was an Esau in the Colledge of Apostles a Judas in the visible Church there are foolish Virgins as well as wise some have only the Lamps of Profession whilst others have the Oyl of Grace This may serve for the Church-Catholick Now particular Churches are but partes similares Ecclesiae Catholicae similar parts of the Catholick Church visible The Catholick Church is as the whole Tree Particular Churches are but Branches That is the main Ocean these are but Arms and Creeks of it To that as Mr. Hudson observes the Promises and Privileges primarily belong to these they belong in a secondary way That is the first receptacle of Ordinances these derive them from that In every particular Church there is as St. Cyprian speaks Plebs Pastori adunata a People joined to a Pastor for the performance of Divine Worship Here the Word is preached the Sacraments are administred 2dly Something must be spoken of the Vnity of the Church The Unity of the Church is that whereby the Church is one There are many Members but one Body many Sheep but one Fold many Stones but one Building The Apostle reckons up many Unities appertaining to the Church There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all Here is unit as principii one God that calls the Church Vnitas termini one Heaven that is hoped for by it Vnitas mediorum one Faith one Baptism to join men to Christ and the Church Vnitas Capitis one Lord Jesus who

and so they came to separate and divide themselves from others calling the common people populum terrae the people of the earth and saying to Sinners ne attingas me touch me not The Jewish Ceremonies troubled the Galatians Gal. 1.7 Circumcision ceasing to be Divine any longer became Concision renting the Church and the Doctors that mixed it with the Gospel were as Dogs tearing asunder the unity of it When Victor urged a necessity of conformity in the observation of Easter-day Irenaeus reproves him for this tanquam pacis perturbatorem as 〈◊〉 troubler of the Churches peace and indeed there was a horrible breach between the Eastern and Western Churches about it When Images a mere Human Invention were brought into the Church what fierce Contentions were there about it The Green Emperors Leo Isaurus Constantinu● and others opposing them in the East And on the other side the Bishops of Rome Gregory the Second Gregory the Third and others stish upholding them in the West In the Council at Constantinople they were solemnly condemned Spond Ann Anno Dom. 754. Crab. Conc. Tom. 2. and the people cried out hodie salus mundo In the Council of Nice they were advanced again even to veneration and Eusebius for speaking against them is said to be delivered over to a reprobate mind and his Books are anathematized What an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vehement Contention was there between the Greek and Latin Churches about levened and unlevened bread in the Eucharist the Greeks calling the Latins Azymitae and the Latins the Greeks Fermentarii Ceremonies and Human Inventions in Worship however they may be intended for Unity are the occasions of Contention Hence Melancton tho he conformed to the Rites and Ceremonies in the Interim yet wished with tears that they were removed because as long as they remained there would be contention in the Church and the reason of this is evident The minds of men are not all alike or of an equal temper Some Pious and Learned Men allow of Ceremonies other Pious and Learned Men cannot receive them In such a case as this Anselm ad querelas Vaeler auni fol. 149. the urging of Uniformity is the loss of Unity Anselm enquiring whence the various Customs in the Church arose gives this Answer Nihil aliud intelligo quam humanorum sensuum diversitates I know nothing but this that men have different sentiments of things that which one man thinks very apt in the Worship of God that another thinks is not so When such a necessary thing as Unity is placed in unnecessaries it is lost but when it is placed in things like it self I mean in necessary things then it is preserved The Apostles who as well understood and as much desired Unity in the Church as any would lay no other burthen on Christians than necessary things Act. 15.28 St. Paul lays down a great many Unities One body one spirit one hope one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all Eph. 4.4 5 6. but there is not a word of one Ceremony Those Bishops took the right course for Unity who being met together in Council made a Canon which they called Adiaphoron Socrat. Hist lib. 5. c. 20. because they left the observation of Easter-day indifferent as men would themselves Were indifferent things left in their indifferency the Unity of the Church would be much greater than it is Thus much may suffice touching the Ceremonies only because there are two Pleas for their innocency I must consider them The one is this The Ceremonies are only for decency and order and so within that Apostolical Precept Let all things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 I answer Were the Ceremonies within that Precept I should beg my pardon and pronounce them innocent but I take it they are not within it and to clear this I offer these things The Evangelical Sacraments which are God's own Ceremonies are in themselves and without any Human dress worthy of all reverence Nostra Sacramenta tam praeclara sunt ut etiamsi nuda nullis Sacramentalibus suffulta proponerentur omni essent veneratione digna Medina in Aquin. 1 2. Q. 108. Art 2. the Institution hath put a glory upon them Human Ceremonies which are as much below them as a Cloud is below the Sun are more apt to darken than illustrate them When Sacraments are in their pure simplicity then the splendour of the Holy Signs shines forth but when they are muffled up in Human Rites then the Divine Beauty is obscured And if Divine Ceremonies need Human to put a decorum upon them much more do Human Ceremonies need an addition of further Ceremonies for that end and so there may be Ceremonies upon Ceremonies in infinitum Our Lord Christ who knew better than all men what Decency is never instituted any such Ceremonies The Apostles who gave the Rule of Decency never used them They did administer Ordinances decently but without them Hence it appears that their Precept never extended to them for had it done so they would not have omitted them but had practised that Precept which they had given The Worship of the Apostles which was without Ceremonies was either decent or undecent for Decency and Undecency are privatively opposite and between privative opposites there is no medium of abnegation in subjecto capaci If the Apostles Worship void of all Ceremonies be decent then Decency doth not consist in Ceremonies if undecent they did not which cannot be imagined observe their own Rule of Decency and act as they taught Order and Decency in the Worship of God are things necessary not merely by a positive Law but by a natural Not only the Apostolical Precept but the very dictate of Nature is that the Service of God should be performed in an orderly and decent manner The Heathen Oracle could say That in the Worship of God men should follow morem optimum the best manner Nat. Quaest l. 7. c. 30. Seneca out of Aristotle tells us That when men have to do with the Gods they should be verecundiores compositi modest and composed in their demeanour The Light of Nature teacheth us that we should serve God in a way suitable and congruous to his Divine Majesty Thus Order and Decency are necessary but so are not Ceremonies Hence it appears that the difference between them is as great as between necessary and unnecessary Order is nothing but a right disposition of things Decency is nothing but the seemliness of Order Order and Decency require not Vide Ames Medul l. 2. c. 13. that some Holy things should be newly ordained but that those which are ordained by God should be used in a way congruous to their dignity The Ceremonies which are new Appointments appertain not to Order and Decency The institution of somewhat new is one thing and the right and seemly disposition of that which is instituted is another The other Plea is this The