Page:John Huss, his life, teachings and death, after five hundred years.pdf/300

 ducing laymen—seculares—to perpetrate sacrilege, and subversive of the liberty of the church.“

II. The pope.—In regard to jurisdiction, the Roman pontiff has authority over the particular Roman church, which is the company of the faithful in that particular communion, as the Antiochan church is the company of the faithful under the bishop of Antioch. The church is both universal and particular and the bull of Boniface—Unam sanctam—was wrong in representing that all the sheep were committed to Peter’s care. The other Apostles were equally intrusted with the care of Christ’s flock.

The pope is not the rock on which Christ said he would build his church, Matt. 16: 18. As Augustine in his Retractations had said, Christ is the Rock. He is the foundation. “Petra—the Rock—said to Petro Peter: I say unto thee that thou art Peter—that is, the confessor of the true Rock, which is Christ—and on this Petra—Rock—whom thou hast confessed—that is, upon me, I will through strong faith and perfecting grace build my church.” The foundation with which the church is built on the Rock is faith, faith rooted in love. That Christ is the Rock is plain from Scripture. Paul and Peter call him the foundation, the rock, the corner-stone. Likewise. Christ presented himself as the foundation which, in time of storm, will not be moved. Our love and faith are placed in Christ, not in Peter. To Christ, and not to Peter, did the prophets look forward. Peter did not dare to assert that he was the head of the holy Catholic church. Christ alone is the head of the body, imparting life and sensation to its members. To the two passages, Matt. 16: 18 and John 21: 15, which, it will be remembered, are emblazoned on the base of the dome of St. Peter’s, Huss devotes elaborate exposition.

The pope is fallible and may be a reprobate and heretic—papæ falli et fallere possunt. This is proved from Scripture