15. The Church of God is one body, in which there is a diversity of members; but so it is in the material body, that all members are subject to and obey one principal member, namely the head: therefore so it will be in the spiritual body, that all spiritual members ought to be subject to one as to the principal head. But this is accomplished through obedience: therefore, etc.
16. Likewise, the Church has order according to ministries, just as also according to charisms and gifts of graces; but the inflowing of charisms and graces is from one head, namely Christ: therefore also the derivation of ministries and jurisdictions ought to be from one head, namely the Supreme Pontiff. But this cannot be without the obedience of all with respect to one: therefore, etc.
17. Likewise, the Church is one hierarchy: therefore it ought to have one preeminent and supreme hierarch, since the unity of the principate ought to descend from the unity of the prince; but the one and supreme hierarch must be obeyed by all: therefore, etc.
18. Likewise, the Church is conformed to the heavenly hierarchy; but all spirits minister and obey one supreme Spirit: therefore also all men in the Church ought to obey one man. But this is the Supreme Pontiff: therefore, etc.
19. Likewise, the union in the being of grace is greater than in the being of nature; but all men have one bodily father: therefore they ought to have one spiritual father. But a father must be obeyed by all his children: therefore, etc.
20. Likewise, in the lesser world it is so, that all inferior powers ought to obey one, namely reason or free will: therefore also in the ecclesiastical order all ought to obey one man; but this is the Supreme Pontiff: therefore, etc.
21. Likewise, in the greater world we see that all movable things and all movers are regulated according to the first mover and the first mobile: therefore similarly in the ecclesiastical order all principalities and powers ought to be regulated according to some one and sole principal mover: but this is done by obeying the Supreme Pontiff: therefore etc.
22. Likewise, the Church is one bride, therefore she ought to have one bridegroom; but all particular Churches are reduced to one Church: therefore all bridegrooms established in the place of Christ, namely the bishops, ought to be reduced to one, who principally holds the place of Christ. But she would not have one bridegroom unless one were to be obeyed by all: therefore etc.
23. Likewise, every temporal controversy must be terminated by one temporal judge; but if there were two or more who were to be obeyed equally, judgments could not be terminated: therefore it is necessary, for the termination of judgments in the Church, that there be one to whom obedience is owed by all.
24. Likewise, "in any genus there is one first thing, by which all things that are in that genus are measured and to which they are reduced": therefore in the genus of human powers one supreme and principal power is to be posited, according to which all other powers are measured and regulated: but this is done by obeying and complying with it: therefore etc.
But to the contrary: 1. Matthew twenty: Whoever will be greater among you, let him be your minister: and whoever will be first among you, shall be your servant : therefore it belongs to the first and greater to serve rather than to command: therefore he ought rather to obey all than all obey him, according to the dictate and command of the evangelical law.
2. Likewise, Matthew twenty-three: Call none your father upon earth: it is clear that he does not mean the carnal father, therefore he means the spiritual father: therefore it is against the dictate of the evangelical law that one should be called father by all, and that the rest should obey him as a father.
3. Likewise, Galatians two: I withstood him to the face: the Gloss says: "as an equal." "For he would not have dared to do this unless he knew himself not to be unequal": therefore Paul was equal to Peter; by equal reasoning the other Apostles also: therefore the successors of the Apostles are also equal to the successor of Peter according to the institution of the Lord's law: therefore it does not belong to the Christian religion that all should obey one.
4. Likewise, Cyprian says, and it is found in Causa twenty-four, question one: "The other Apostles were what Peter was, endowed with an equal share of both honor and power": if therefore all the Apostles are equal, then also all the successors of the Apostles: therefore one is not more bound to obey another than conversely: therefore it is not of divine law that all should be under one head.
5. Furthermore, that same thing which is said to Peter in Matthew 16, I will give to you the keys, and whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, etc., is also said to the other Apostles in Matthew 18: Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, etc. Therefore it seems that the power of Peter and of the other Apostles was equal; therefore according to the dictate of the evangelical law it is not necessary that all be reduced to one head, whom they are bound to obey.
6. Furthermore, on that passage in Matthew 16, Whatsoever you shall bind, etc., the Gloss says: "The other Apostles indeed have the same judiciary power, to whom after the resurrection he says: Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall remit, " etc. If therefore the same judiciary power exists in the other Apostles, then it does not seem that it principally resides with one person.
7. Furthermore, in Distinction 93, Jerome writes to Evangelus the priest: "If authority is sought, the world is greater than the city. Wherever a bishop may be, whether at Gubbio or at Rome, he is of the same merit and priesthood." Therefore all bishops, according to Jerome, are of equal dignity; therefore it is not necessary according to the dictate of God's law that all obey one.
8. Furthermore, the governance of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is divided into royal power and priestly power; but it is not necessary for salvation that all kings obey one king; therefore by equal reasoning it seems that it is not necessary that all obey one priest.
9. Furthermore, he who has ordinary power and jurisdiction can entirely commit it to another; but when the Supreme Pontiff establishes bishops, he grants them ordinary power throughout the world; therefore it now seems that he has transferred jurisdiction to others; therefore it does not seem that it is necessary to obey him any further.
10. Furthermore, all priests are equal in the power of consecrating; therefore by equal reasoning also in the power of binding and loosing; therefore it does not seem that all are subject to one.
11. Furthermore, after Peter, universal power cannot exist in anyone except through an election made concordantly by many; therefore the power of Peter has devolved more immediately to the college than to one person; therefore it does not seem that according to the derivation of that power all must be subject to one.
12. Furthermore, either Peter, the first pastor of the Church, had in himself the fullness of authority and power, or he did not. If he had it fully, then the Supreme Pontiff writes superfluously that he acts as he does by the authority of the Apostles Peter and Paul, since the fullness of authority was in Peter alone; but if it was not in Peter, much less is it in his successors.
13. Furthermore, if all must obey one, then that one must provide for all; but to provide for all is not within human power, but within divine power alone; if therefore to provide for all belongs to God alone, all ought not to obey any one except the Lord alone.
14. Furthermore, if all ought to obey one person, it is either as an immediate prelate or as a mediate one. If as an immediate prelate: then the others are superfluous; if as a mediate one: but in every genus, the immediate is more powerful and more excellent than the mediate: therefore according to this, the authority in that one person will be minimal or none, and the others are least bound to comply with him.
15. Furthermore, if all are bound to obey one person as a prelate, then he seems to be as it were a common prelate, and therefore a universal one: but a universal cause cannot produce an effect except through a particular one, just as the sun cannot produce a man except through a man: therefore according to this, if there is one Supreme Pontiff, it seems that he can do nothing except through others: therefore it seems that the others are least bound to be subject to one person.