An Expojition of the Epiftle ~ Chri!l:, than of the things whence the fimilitude is drawn. Is he called a Vine? Sermon He is tl;c true Vine, the other is but a !alfc Vine in comparifon. Is he called a XXXV. Htad, and the Church his Body? There is more reality and nearnefs betwixt ~theChurch and him, thanbetween the Natural Head and theBody; that other is but a lhadow of this. Only be is not a Natural Head, though the Gmilitude be drawn thence; but he is a My!l:ical, a Spiritual Head. I cannot now enter into all the particulars Jor which Jefus Chri!l: is called a -Head. I will mention only one. It is proper to a head of a body to be b~t one, Natural reafon will tell you fo much; for the Gmilitude is drawn here from the Natural body, The Church (faith he)which is hiS body, If there were ma– ny heads to a body, it would be a Mon!l:er, Do but look upon Popery a little, whatdoth it? It clappeth another head up– on the Umverfal Church, the Pope, makes htm a Head of the Church, It is the greate!l: derogation from our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chri!l: that can be, to make or name any other head of the Church, buthimfelf. Magi!l:rates are heads in the Church; but to make any man a head of the Church is the greate!l: dero– gation to Chri!l: that may be. That he that bathatt undtr hiS jut,( fo it is afore,) God bathgiven him over att to be a Head; above all priviledges elfe this is the greate!l:, that he is a Head to his Church, it is the chiefe!l: flower of his Crown, How can this therefore be given to a vile Man, as the Pope is? In ColojJ. 1. 18. it is reckoned there, among the great Prerogatives of Jefus Chri!l:, among the flow– ers of his Crown, that he is the Head of the Body the Church, who is (faith he) the begimti1tg, th•firfl-bornfrom the dfad; He is, faith he, •dnt, lp(e, He, and he alone, as the Greek emphafis is. And if the Popecan fay, that he is the be– ginning, and the firjl-6or1Jfrom the dead, let him challenge it and wear it, that he is the head of the Body the Church: But He, he Chrifi, is the 6•gilming, the ftrjl-born from I he dead, He is the Head of the Body the Church. I will give you another place, Ephef+ 11,1 2, where you have all the greatell: Officers that ever were upon Earth, the Rulers of a Church mentioned, He bath given fame Apof/les; certainly here is Peter mentiG>ned, from whom the Pope claimeth his Supremacy, To what end was this? Read verfe 12. For the edify– ing of thf Body of Chrijl; and verfe I~· That we maygr.w up to him that is the Head. My Brethren, They themfelves, though they fay the Pope is the beadof the Church, dare not fay, which u hu body. They fay he is a head for External go– vernment; they dare not fay, that theChttrch is his body. They dare not fay, he is Lordof the Church, that is Chrifi's title only, for 1 Cor.12.1 ~· There is but one Lord, namely to the Church. They dare not fay, he is the 8ruba11d of the Church, for then they would make the Church that cleaveth to him a Whore; for there can be but one Husband of the Church. But to be the he,,dof thf Church is more than this; it is a nearer relation, and will they go and give him this then? It is CrimmCapita!e, a Capital crime, and all the di!l:indions they can make will never acquit them of high Treafon again!l: our Lord Jefus Chrifr. It is a wonder, that ever men of Learning fl1ould give this title to the Pope; there can be no reafon given of it but one, and that is this, It wa.Jto make ttp a complfat Chara/Jer that he is A11tichrifi, I hell thf Scriptttrf migbt befulfilled. Ignorant times did give him this title, and it hath been long the unhappinefs of the world, that what the Ignorance of former Ages hath faid and cfrablilhed, that the Learning of fucceediog Ages mull: maintain ; therefore the learned'fr Wits of the World, the J ejitits , have gone about to maintain ti:Us title of the Popf. You know, when I opened thofewords, That Chrift is advanced far abave all Priucipatitin andPowfrs, I told you, that that was it that made the Pope Antichrif/, becaufe he was an imitation of Chri!l: in this, and took on him the Power which was pcrfonal in Chri!l: alone. As Jcfus Cb ri!l: is faid to{lt at God's right h.md, fo he jitteth i1t tht Temple of God; as Chn!l: IS over aiiPrmCipalt– tus and Powers, fo likewife doth the Pope fit abovt all that is called God, 2 The[[.2. Afterwards I g've you a profped of all the glory of Chri!l:; I put all together out of this Chapter. I will g1ve you a profped of all the glory of A11tichri0 as it is parallel with that of Chri!l:'s, fet forth in tl1is Chapter. You 1 '' !hall
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