On the Supreme Good, etc.

And if this monk of ours Fludd is referring to his intellectual rival, the French scholar and priest Marin Mersenne. should deny this, he will commit apostasy against the sacred scriptures; and conversely, if he should establish this according to the laws of the Holy Bible, then we shall hold it as granted that Christ does not only address the individual Cephas Aramaic for "Rock," the name given to the Apostle Peter. in that thread of discourse—"upon this rock I will build my church"—but indeed all Christians equally, according to that saying: "What I say to you, I say to all." But if Christ addressed everyone, then he also founded his church upon the rock of all Christians—which is why it is called "Catholic" Fludd uses "Catholic" in its etymological sense of "universal" or "whole."—and consequently not upon the individual Cephas or the stone of the Apostle Peter alone. Thus it is clear that whichever way Mersenne turns, he falls into Scylla while desiring to avoid Charybdis A classical metaphor for being trapped between two equally dangerous options.. And the sole reason for this is that he is fundamentally ignorant of this unique Stone original: Aben of the Patriarch, or Rock original: Cephas. For when that is ignored, it is inevitable that the aforementioned words of the Savior remain hidden to the ignorant man, namely: Upon this rock I will build my church.

But some will perhaps reply and say that those were the days of old, but they are no longer; and that the things reported by you occurred in the times of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, whereas now we believe through faith and are governed according to the statutes and dictates of the Roman Church; concluding that in this day and age, this kind of earth or such a Stone original: Aben or Lapis is not to be found at all.

To this I will reply: it seems to such people that this occurs because of their lack of faith, for they have not understood this true Stone original: Aben.

For that ancient axiom of the church teaches us that such a land and such a rock exist even to this day: Whatever God has assumed, He has never dismissed.

But perhaps Mersenne might concede even this, while meanwhile denying that it exists in such a way that it can be touched and possessed by men, as it was with Moses. But he is deceived in his own imagination and seems to be "wide of the mark" original: toto caelo aberrare, literally "to wander by the whole sky." since we find many places in the sacred pages that oppose this opinion.

1 Corinthians 3:16

For first, the Apostle teaches us that all Christians are true Israelites; wherefore Moses and the Prophets address us in this age just as they did the children of Israel in ancient times, as is clear from the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, published for our use, where we read: They have Moses and the Prophets, etc.

Since, therefore, Moses and the prophets speak to us even to this day, let us hear what the prophet Isaiah says:

"Listen," he says, "and look back to the Rock from which you were hewn." original: Attendite ait respicite ad Petram ex qua excisi estis

This command would be given in vain if that rock were not still with us, and we derived from it.

But we also have this confirmed by the abiding promise of the living God, made in several places in the Holy Bible in this same series of words.

Leviticus 26:11. Isaiah 37:27. Fludd likely intends Ezekiel 37:26-27 here, as the quote follows that text. 2 Corinthians 6:16. Luke 17:21.

For first, Jehovah said: I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you away. And elsewhere: I will place my sanctification in the midst of them forever, and my tabernacle shall be in them, and I will be their God. But this same point is also clearly, though briefly, described by the Apostle: You are the temple of God, as God says, for I will dwell in them and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And elsewhere: You are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in you, etc.

Even human reason itself cannot deny this, if it rightly considers that Jesus Christ is in the kingdom of the Father, and therefore wherever the kingdom of God is, it necessarily follows that Christ is there. But truly, as the sacred scripture testifies: The kingdom of God is within you. Shall we then be so unworthy, or rather so impious, as to try to exclude Christ? Hence we are warned by Christ,