160 CHRIST ALONE THE HEADOF THE CHURCH. was of greater repute, or wrote in any case more solemnly and seri- ously), havegiven to the pretences of his successorssodeadlyawound that no balm of sophistical interpretation can be able to heal it. We see that, according to St Gregory M. [the Great], our Lord Christ is " the one only head of the church; "1 to whom for company let us adjoin St Basil .M. [the Great], that we may have both Greek and Latin for it, who says that, according to St Paul, "we are the body of Christ, and members one of another, because it is manifest that the one and truly sole head, which is Christ, binds and connects each to another for mutual concord."2 To decline these allegations of Scripture theyhave forged distinc- tions of several kinds ofchurches, and several sorts of heads; [of] which evasions I shall not particularly discourse, seeing it may suffice to observe, in general, that no such distinctions have any place or any ground in Scripture, nor can well consist with it, which simply repre- sents the church as one kingdom, a "kingdom of heaven," a " king- domnot of thisworld" (John xviii. 36), all the subjects whereof have "their eroXirevickm in heaven," or are considered as members of a city there (Phil. iii. 20, Heb. xii. 22), so that it is vain to seek for a sovereign thereof in this world; which also, to the catholic church sojourning on earth, usually imparts thename and attributes properly appertaining to the church most universal, comprehensive of all Chris- tians in heaven and upon earth, because that [on earth] is a visible representative of this [in heaven], and we, by joining in offices of pietywith that, do communicate with this (Acts xx. 28; Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. xii. 28, xv. 9; Gal. i. 13) : whence that which is said of one, con- cerning the unity of its king, its head, its pastor, its priest, is to be understood of the other; especially considering that our Lord, accord- ing to his promise (Matt. xxviii. 20), is ever present with the church here, governing it by the efficacy of his Spirit and grace, so that no other corporeal or visible head of this spiritual body is needful.' Vid. P. Pelag., Ep. iii. 2.xpeemnlens anxavín zai cvvaárm,Jon, ïx ,eve, r ä.1a.á ori4 ó¡cóvnav mks 04,äc se J ¡cóvyp dxniJc xspex;is, ;;re iomnv ó xpe'íc.Bas. M. de Ind. Div., tom. ii. p. 261. Totus Christus caput et corpus est; caput unigenitus Dei Filius, et corpus ejus ecclesise, sponsus et sponsa, duo in carne una. Quicunque de ipso capite ab Scripturis sanctis dissentiunt, etiamsi in omnibus locis inveniantur in quibus ecclesia designataest, non aunt in ecclesia, &c. Aug. de Unit. Eccl., cap. iv. Vid. contra Petit. iii. 42. "Whole Christ is thehead and the body; the head, the only begottenSon of God, and his body the church, the bridegroom and the spouse, two in one flesh. Whoever disagree about thehead itself from the holy Scriptures, though they are found in all places in which thechurch is designed, they are not in the church," &c. It was unhappily expressed by Bellarmin;Ecclesia secluso etiam Christo unum caput habere debet De Pont. R. L 9 § Ac ne forte. " The church, even Christ himself being set aside, ought to have one head." 3 Christus arbitrio et nutu ac præsentia sua et preepositos ipsos, et ecclesiam cum praepositis gubernat.Cypr., Ep. lxix. " Christ, by his own arbitrament, and power, and presence, governs both the bishops themselves, and the church with the bishops."
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