The Highest Good

Treatise

...who is the fullness in all things, the head of the church, and the prince of all dominions, and consequently, the stone of the Patriarch Referring to the stone Jacob used as a pillow, which Fludd interprets as a symbol of the divine presence., since it is the house of a spirit so Universal original: Catholici. Fludd uses "Catholic" in its original Greek sense of "universal" or "all-encompassing.", in truth, and is to be held solely as the universal church.

But indeed, to arrive at the second member, namely the Microcosmic stone or rock, we say that just as the human body is called by Job Job 10:9-10 describes the body being fashioned like clay and curdled like cheese. dust, earth, and a fabric made of clay, which is joined and hardened into thickness like cheese, so also the external man himself can be called a stony temple of God, insofar as the Holy Spirit has claimed his seat within him from the beginning.

For the name Cephas Aramaic for "Rock," translated into Greek as Petros or Peter. does not belong to Simon Peter alone—as if Peter came from the rock (for Cephas signifies a rock)—but this name Cephas belongs to us and to every believer equally with Peter. We shall attempt to prove this with very few words and demonstrate it clearly; and consequently, that both the Macrocosmic Aben Hebrew: "Stone." of the Patriarch and the Microcosmic Cephas (though they differ in outward form or figure) agree with one another in essence and matter. Consequently, I have not erred in the least in this assertion of mine: namely, that the house of God is always one and the same. This, therefore, is the reason why both Rocks—namely the Macrocosmic and Microcosmic—are joined together by an admirable sympathy of union.

Hence it was that the Patriarch, considering the nature of his stone, said, truly God is in this place, and I did not know it Genesis 28:16.. So also the Holy Scriptures testify that the Word and Christ are within the "living rock." Again, Jacob conceived divine and admirable things upon his stone; likewise in man, or the Cephas (who is not only a true Microcosm, but also the image of the living God), much greater things are conceived and miraculously produced into effect, as you also have confirmed by the Holy Page. Therefore, we say that those who are ignorant of what is internal within it labor in vain concerning the Aben or the Cephas.

Nor indeed do we think that Mersenne Marin Mersenne (1588–1648), a French philosopher and mathematician who was a fierce critic of Robert Fludd’s mystical and alchemical theories. would be so ready to pass judgment on others if he had known himself rightly; if this (I say) had been well perceived by him, he would not have plunged so headlong into the correction of others' works, since his own works are observed to swarm with errors on every side. For if he had known himself rightly, he would perceive that he himself, along with Peter and the rest of the believers, is most exactly called a Cephas or a stone.

And although this will appear harsh to him and some others at first glance—namely, that he should be called Cephas along with Peter—nevertheless, if they look into the matter with a slightly more accurate gaze, they will perceive that the matter is very clear. First, therefore, anyone who would deny this would declare himself a rebel against Holy Scripture.

For we are admonished by Saint Peter to approach like living stones that spiritual or living Rock of Moses, of which the Apostle says, The Rock was Christ 1 Corinthians 10:4.. And the Prophet says, Listen to the Rock, look to the Rock from which you were hewn Isaiah 51:1.. That precept would be given in vain if that rock were not still with us, and we were not made from it. And the Apostle says, that Christ is one body having many members, and elsewhere he teaches that as the head of Christ is God, so in another place he says Christ is the head of every man. Wherefore (he says elsewhere) Christ who speaks in me is not weak in you, but is powerful in you. 2 Corinthians 13:3.

But the spiritual rock is Christ filling all things; therefore we are members of the spiritual rock and consequently living stones, hewn from that Universal Rock. Wherefore the name Cephas belongs not to Peter alone, but to every Christian man.