25、分散在全球各地、被称为一个团契的教会也是这样，因为它就像一个头下面的一个身体。众所周知，头可随意支配它下面的身体；因为理解力和意愿居于头脑；身体受理解力和意愿驱使进入行为，以致身体无非是一个顺从的仆人。正如身体离了头脑中的理解力和意愿什么也做不了，教会离了神照样什么也做不了。身体看似自己行动，如手脚看似自己活动，或口舌看似自己口齿清晰；而事实上，它们丝毫不是凭自己行动，而是凭头脑中意愿的情感和随之理解力的思维行动。假如一个身体有数个头，每个头都照自己的理解力和自己的意愿自由行动，这样的身体能持续存在吗？因为一个头所具有的那种一致性绝无可能存在于数个头之间。教会是这样，由无数天使构成的天堂也是这样。所有天使若非仰望同一位神，就会彼此分离，天堂也会分崩离析。因此，天堂天使仅仅思及多神，就会立刻被分离出去；事实上，他会被扔到天堂的最边缘，然后沉下去。
25. It would be the same in the church that is spread throughout the world, which is called a communion because it is like a single body under a single head. It is recognized that the head governs the body beneath itself at will. The head is after all the locus of our discernment and our volition, and the body acts at the behest of our discernment and volition to the point that the body is pure obedience. The body is incapable of doing anything except at the behest of the discernment and volition in the head; and in similar fashion we of the church can do nothing apart from God. It does seem as though the body acts on its own--as though hands and feet move of their own accord when we do something, as though mouth and tongue vibrate of their own accord when we say something--and yet nothing whatever is done "on its own." It is prompted by the stimulus of our volition and the consequent thinking of the discernment in the head.
Just think. If one body had many heads, and each head had its own agenda based on its mind and its volition, could the body survive? There could be no unanimity among them the way there is with a single head.
It is the same in the heavens, which consist of millions of angels, as it is in the church. Unless every single angel focused on one God, one angel would move away from another and heaven would fall apart. So an angel who even thinks about many gods instantly disappears, exiled to the very edge of heaven, and collapses.
25. The same would be the case in the church extending throughout the entire world, in the church called the communion of saints, and this for the reason that it is as one body under one head.
People know that the head directs the body under it to do its bidding; for in the head reside the intellect and will, and the body is impelled into action by the intellect and will, so much so that the body is simply an obedient servant. The body is incapable of doing anything unless impelled by the intellect and will in the head; so neither is a person of the church capable of doing anything unless impelled by God.
It does appear as though the body acts of itself. For example, it appears as though the hands and feet in functioning move of themselves, and as though the mouth and tongue in speaking articulate of themselves. Yet in fact they do so not at all of themselves, but in response to an affection of the will and a consequent thought of the intellect in the head.
Think then what it would be like if the same body were to have more than one head, and if each head were to operate independently in accord with its own intellect and its own will. Could the body survive? The heads could not possibly have between them the kind of unanimity possessed by a single head.
As the case is in the church, so also in heaven, which consists of millions of angels. If each and every angel did not look to the same one God, they would fall away from one another and heaven would disintegrate. Consequently, if an angel in heaven merely thinks of more than one God, he immediately vanishes; for he is banished to the outmost perimeter of the heavens and falls downward.
25. It would be the same in the Church scattered throughout the whole world which is called a communion from its being like one body under one head. It is well known that the head rules the body under it at command. For the understanding and the will reside in the head, and from the understanding and the will the body is put in motion, even to the extent that the body is only an obedience. The body can do nothing except from the understanding and the will in the head.
Similarly, the man of the Church can do nothing except from God. It appears as if the body acts from itself, thus as if the hands and feet in acting are moved from themselves, and as if the mouth and tongue in speaking vibrate from themselves, when in fact they do not a whit from themselves, but from the affection of the will and hence from the thought of the understanding in the head. Consider, then, if one body had several heads and each head were independent from its own understanding and will, whether the body could continue in existence. Among several heads there could be no unanimity such as belongs to one head. As it is in the Church, so it is in the heavens which consist of myriads of myriads of angels. Unless they, each and all, looked to one God, one would fall away from another and heaven would be dissolved. Consequently, if an angel of heaven but thinks of many gods he is at once separated, for he is cast out into the outermost boundary of the heavens, and falls down.
25. So would it be with the church scattered throughout the whole globe, which is called a communion, because it is as one body under one head. It is known that the head rules the body under it at will; for understanding and will have their seat in the head; and in conformity to the understanding and will the body is directed, even to the extent that the body is nothing but obedience. As the body can do nothing except from the understanding and will in the head, so the man of the church can do nothing except from God. The body seems to act of itself, as if the hands and feet in acting are moved of themselves; or the mouth and tongue in speaking vibrate of themselves, when, in fact, they do not in the slightest degree act of themselves, but only from an affection of the will and the consequent thought of the understanding in the head. Suppose, now, one body to have several heads and each head to be free to act from its own understanding and its own will, could such a body continue to exist? For among several heads singleness of purpose, such as results from one head would be impossible. As in the church, so in the heavens; heaven consists of myriads of myriads of angels, and unless these all and each looked to one God, they would fall away from one another and heaven would be broken up. Consequently, if an angel of heaven but thinks of a plurality of gods he is at once separated; for he is cast out into the outmost boundary of the heavens, and sinks downward.
25. Simile foret in Ecclesia per universum terrarum orbem sparsa, quae Communio [sanctorum] vocatur, ex eo quod sicut unum Corpus sub uno Capite sit: notum est, quod Caput regat Corpus sub se ad nutus, in Capite enim residet intellectus et voluntas, et ex intellectu et voluntate agitur corpus, usque adeo ut Corpus sit modo obedientia: corpus non potest agere aliquid nisi ex intellectu et voluntate in Capite, similiter homo Ecclesiae nisi ex Deo; apparet sicut corpus agat ex se, ut sicut manus et pedes in agendo moveant se ex se, et sicut os et lingua in loquendo vibrent se ex se, cum tamen ne hilum ex se, sed ex affectione voluntatis et inde cogitatione intellectus in Capite. Cogita tunc si uni corpori plura capita forent, et unumquodvis caput sui juris esset ex suo intellectu et ex sua voluntate, an subsistere possit corpus; inter illa unanimum non dabile est, quale est unius capitis. Sicut est in Ecclesia, ita est in Coelo, 1 quod ex myriadibus myriadum angelorum consistit; nisi omnes et singuli spectarent ad unum Deum, decideret unus ab altero, et Coelum dissolveretur: quare si angelus Coeli modo cogitat de pluribus diis, illico disparatur, ejicitur enim in ultimum finem coelorum, ac decidit.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: Coelis,