<r2r:ml lang="en"><p class="abstract" dir="ltr">This paper aims to analyze the occurrences of the corporal metaphor in one of the most significant sixteenth century political works from England, Richard Hooker's <em>Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie</em>. After the Elizabethan Settlement from 1559 built the foundations of what later will be called the Anglican Church, the new organization came under severe attacks from Catholics and Puritans for its perceived deviations from what both considered the "true faith". The Puritan challenge to the Settlement had been by far the most troublesome and Hooker's work was mostly addressed to them. In making his argument, Hooker occasionally resorted to the already traditional method, employing the tried and tested corporal metaphor in order to be as convincing as possible. In order to prove the weakness of the Puritan argument, Hooker argued that the human law upon which the Church of England was established during the reign of Elizabeth I was legitimate and the Puritans should conform, otherwise they could cause harm to the body politic they claimed they were trying to save.</p></r2r:ml>