A55303:26
A discourse of schism
A discourse of schism by that learned gentleman Edward Polhill, Esq. ...
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1694
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4thly. It doth not stand in the Civil Laws of Princes. When Magistrates were Pagans, there was yet a Church, and an Unity in it. When they became Christians, the Unity was the same, the Joints and the Bands were as before, sacred, not civil; from Christ the Head, not from the Magistrate. It's true, the Church hath an external help and guard from good Laws, but its Unity doth not consist in them. Neque quia regna dividuntur, 1ideo & Christiana unitas dividitur, cum in utraque part inveniatur Catholica Ecclesia, saith St. Austin, Kingdoms may be divided, but Christian Unity is not; in both parts the Catholic Church is found. Should the Unity of the Church consist in the Laws of Magistrates, ⟨p. 18⟩then the Laws being dissolved, there would be no Unity; the Laws being altered, the Unity must vary, and turn about to every point, as the Laws do. That which now is Unity, under a contrary Law must be Schism; that which now is a Schism, under a contrary Law may be Unity. Under the Emperor Valentinian, the Orthodox may be the Church; under Valens, the Arians may be it. Nay, as the Magistrate may be, you shall not know by him where the Church or the Truth is. In that great Schism, when the Bishops of the East and West fell out about the Council of Chalcedon, some would not part with a syllable of it, some utterly rejected it: The Emperor Anastasius, 2Aulicâ Sapientiâ usus, banished some of both Parties, equal praemium veritas & mendacium tulêre, Truth and Falsehood were alike rewarded. Hence it appears, that the Unity of the Church doth not stand in Humane Laws, the true Unity is founded only in Scripture.
4thly. It doth not stand in the Civil Laws of Princes. When Magistrates were Pagans, there was yet a Church, and an Unity in it. When they became Christians, the Unity was the same, the Joints and the Bands were as before, sacred, not civil; from Christ the Head, not from the Magistrate. It's true, the Church hath an external help and guard from good Laws, but its Unity doth not consist in them. Neque quia regna dividuntur, 1ideo & Christiana unitas dividitur, cum in utraque parte inveniatur Catholica Ecclesia, saith St. Austin, Kingdoms may be divided, but Christian Ʋnity is not; in both parts the Catholick Church is found. Should the Unity of the Church consist in the Laws of Magistrates,