Jewish synagogue, as St. Paul testifies, was the type and figure
of the Christian Church; for "all these things happened to them (the Jews)
in figure."(154) We must, therefore, find in the Church of Christ a
spiritual judge, exercising the same supreme authority as the High Priest
wielded in the Old Law. For if a supreme Pontiff was necessary, in the
Mosaic dispensation, to maintain purity and uniformity of worship, the
same dignitary is equally necessary now to preserve unity of faith.

Every well-regulated civil government has an acknowledged head. The
President is the head of the United States Government. Queen Victoria is
the ruler of Great Britain. The Sultan sways the Turkish Empire. If these
nations had no authorized leader to govern them they would be reduced to
the condition of a mere mob, and anarchy, confusion and civil war would
inevitably follow, as recently happened to France after the fall of
Napoleon III.

Even in every well-ordered family, domestic peace requires that someone
preside.

Now, the Church of Christ is a visible society--that is, a society composed
of human beings. She has, it is true, a spiritual end in view; but having
to deal with men, she must have a government as well as every other
organized society. This government, at least in its essential elements,
our Lord must have established for His Church. For was He not as wise as
human legislators? And shall we suppose that, of all lawgivers, the Wisdom
Incarnate alone left His Kingdom on earth to be governed without a head?

But someone will tell me: "We do not deny that the Church has a head. God
himself is its Ruler." This is evading the real question. Is not God the
Ruler of all governments? "By Me," He says, "kings reign, and lawgivers
decree just things."(155) He is the recognized Head of our Republic, and
of every Christian family in the land; but, nevertheless, there is always
presiding over the country a visible chief, who represents God on earth.

In like manner the Church, besides an invisible Head in heaven, must have
a visible head on earth. The body and members of the Church are visible;
why not also the Head? The Church without a supreme Ruler would be like an
army without a general, a navy without an admiral, a sheep-fold without a
shepherd, or like a human body without a head.

The Christian communities separated from the Catholic Church deny that
Peter received any authority over the other Apostles, and hence they
rej