Support for Christianity
CHAPTER 67 Have Peter founded the Roman church! [1] What would the Augustine want to tell us and what shall he let us see? Nothing but what is important to us. We are with him; listen therefore what he shall tell us and how he receives us. His words sound as follows: [2] Be a thousand times welcome, dear friends and brothers, in the name of the mysterious trinity, in the name of the blessed virgin Mary, of the holy Joseph and of the patron of our church, the holy Augustine, who was a true apostle and follower of our Master Jesus Christ! May I, being your subject servant, ask you which pious purpose have brought you to this God-alone approved temple? Have you perhaps come here out of my order, being new arrivals, or have you perhaps come here as pious spiritual penitents for the waiving of the daily sins to escape purgatory? Are you maybe in search of the eternal rest and the eternal light, or the true spiritual living bread of the angels? Or do you wish to finally even be initiated into the higher mysteries of the trinity? To be short: whether it be one or the other which brought you here, you shall find sufficient satisfaction here for both the one or the other. For you shall very well know that there are no salvation or blessedness to be found outside of this church. [3] When Christ the Master has founded His church, He gave the keys to the heavenly kingdom to Peter alone. Our church is built upon the rock of Peter, is thus founded by Peter and by him has she been granted the power for times of all times, to save or to doom. You shall know that Christ has given the church the right to doom through the texts: “You shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” There is also written: “and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Once again it has been written: “Receive the Holy Ghost: Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.” There are even more such texts in which the Master have given all power to Peter over humans. It can therefore not be doubted in the least that the Roman Catholic Church, founded by Peter himself, is the only sanctifying church according to the unchangeable counsel of God.
[4] When you would without a doubt belong to this church, you can only here find the gate to heaven. If you would not belong to this church, you can easily see for yourself what fate would await you, for it is written in Scripture: “whoever do not believe in this church and is not baptized in her, shall be damned!” [5] Now I tell him: listen, best friend, you have now asked us about everything and told us the most important texts from Scriptures pertaining to your church. I nevertheless must inform you beforehand that we did not come with any intention related to your questions, and secondly, that the texts which you quoted, do not concern us in the least. [6] You now put on a somewhat dumbfounded face and think to yourself: what then are they coming to do here if they came here without the intentions indicated by me and are even of the intent to negate the text which I quoted, which clearly indicate that the church of Rome is the only sanctifying church. But look, this is how it is and can be no different. [7] What would you think of it if we would come here only for a purely scientific reason, to see and hear one and the other from you? With such a purpose, would we not be welcome with you? [8] The monk says: Many appreciated friends, have you never heard upon earth that the sciences bear no fruit anymore in the spiritual world, but that only the Roman Catholic faith does that if it were alive through works? I say: Oh yes, we have often heard that, but we also heard that man would get light about all earthly doubts in the spiritual world. Such a light could then very well be called a spiritual science, is a coming into bright consciousness of Godly mysteries. If there are in the spiritual world, just like in the previous natural world, masoned monasteries and churches, decorated with various pieces of art, why then would there not exist in the spiritual world any science anymore, which were already more spiritual upon earth than the masonry of a monastery and of a church with all her statues and woodcarvings? [9] The monk says: Listen, you! As I can gather from your words, you seem to be filled with heretic and objectionable ideas. For whom would regard anything pertaining to the holiest service of God not purely spiritually, but materially, openly testifies that he is, in word and deed, forever a doomed into the deepest hell, heretic. If you are serious about what you have said, we shall be forced to cast you forever from this purest temple of God into eternal perdition. For it is written: “you shall avoid a heretic person” and furthermore: “such a heretic you shall remove from the congregation” and, as Paul has said, “give him over to the devil”. Do you not know that the one who goes beyond the institutions of the Church of the Holy Spirit, commits the most sinful sin against the Holy Spirit which can never be forgiven? Therefore, explain yourself more clearly to this sacred place, lest eternal condemnation befalls you. For to us, the pure servants of God, it is more pleasant that the whole world is condemned than that the holiness of heaven should be stained by the least sinner. Here all grace and mercy end. He who is not pure in the true sense of the church as the sun in heaven shall never be allowed into the kingdom of God. [10] Now I say to him: Friend, you have certainly not understood the word of God from the mildest side, but indeed from the most strict, judgmental viewpoint. But I should like to ask you a question, and you can then give me an answer, but you must assure me in advance that you will not owe me the answer. The monk said: If it is not of a purely devilish nature, I will answer thee well. But you know that you do not owe the devil an answer. I say to him, "Well, well, I'll ask you a question. If you can prove to me that this is the devil, you may well retain your answer; but if you cannot do this thoroughly, you will not come from this place until you have answered me. Beware, however, of every lie, for this might cost you dearly. So, however, my question is: [11] How can you prove to me from the Holy Scriptures that the Roman Catholic Church was truly founded by the apostle Peter? To my knowledge, there is not the slightest mention in the whole of the present Scripture. That Paul taught in Rome and preached the gospel of the Lord, is well-known; but that Peter truly has founded the papacy in Rome, I cannot remember one syllable of throughout the whole of the Holy Scriptures. If you wish to bind me to your ecclesiastical right of condemnation, you must first prove to me whether the Roman Church was really founded by Peter, to whom the Lord would have given such a right. If you cannot prove this to me, and indeed from the Holy Scriptures, you shall have a staunch opponent in me. [12] See, our monk puts on a rather pitiable face and search from one corner to the other to find a suitable answer. He now thinks of a clever excuse, but it shall not help him much. He beckons us to listen to him and this we shall do. He (the monk) says: O you abominable devil, that is the most hellish question, and is so tremendously heretical, and so very contrary to the Holy Spirit, that for such a heretic, a thousand of the most abominable of hells, with a thousand-fold eternal damnation, would be still too good. Should I give an answer to such a question, that all devils should come together to get me? I shall let that be. [13] The Roman church not founded by Peter!? He who has taught himself for three years in Rome and have set up his chair there and have died a martyr’s death on an upside down cross! Besides, his imperishable body is until this day in the crypt of his church in Rome and his chair is still today the mighty throne of the pope! And you, infernal devil, dare to ask such a question and dare to tread so completely to a pure servant of God, an anointed priest? I entreat you in the name of the triune God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joseph, and in the name of all the holy apostles, disciples, martyrs, in the name of all the other saints, and in the name of the entire Roman Catholic Church, that you, abominable devil, leave this holy place with your hellish, damned company! Otherwise, I will summon all my brethren, who are resting in paradise and in heaven, so that they may persecute and veil you and your condemned companions with three highly consecrated crucifixes, and with other highly ecclesiastical insignia, until this place becomes more miserable than that the devilish devil, you unchristian devil, you deceiver of all men, the eve of the seventh day of creation, the ever-damned creature of God, away, away, away from here! (The Spiritual Sun vol. 1, chap. 67) CHAPTER 68 Dispute with an Augustine. Peter and Paul. [1] Now I say: Listen, my dear friend, your extraordinarily ruthless exorcism certainly has no ecclesiastical power; For as you see, we all stand, your three subterranean devils, still uninjured and completely unhurt in front of you. You can be assured in advance that we will not flee from your whole convent, a thousand crucifixes, and a hundred water buckets of holy water. For as long as we do not know the true reason on your part, as evidenced by the Scriptures, that your church is founded by Peter, we shall not be moved from here. On the contrary, we are now very much inclined to penetrate deeper into your monastery, and not to be deterred by any exorcist violence. To this end, I urge you to serve us and lead us into the chambers of your equally nonsensical brethren, as you yourself are one among them. [2] The monk speaks while making three crosses before him: God help me! I have often heard that the temptations of the devil in the spiritual world are a thousand-fold worse than in the natural world and that in the spiritual world one really gets a true idea of the great violence of the devil. What I have read about it in the sacred books, written by pious and godly men, is now literally in front of me! But I tell you, you eternally abominable devil, you persistent deceiver of God and all humans, do you think God is deceiving himself? You're wrong! But as little as God can be deceived, I cannot be deceived by you as an ever-faithful servant of God, and rather than surrender to you, I will resist you with the aid of God and with the help of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, until your patience in fighting with me shall fail you. Therefore, you can do what you want; You will not make me forsake my church! [3] Have you not heard what the Church requires according to the authority given to her by Christ, that one must absolutely believe what she prescribes one to believe, without asking whether it is written or not written, which is also a most reasonable demand of the Church? For if the church is in possession of the Holy Spirit, and He speaks through the church, who would not believe Him if he is a sincere and true Christian? But if one were to enquire after all the principles of the Church as you do, then you should also ask, "Where then was that written what Moses and the prophets had said of God? Behold, you filthy devil, what they have said, went out from the Holy Spirit, and therefore it is and remains an eternal truth. [4] So, the Church also has the Holy Spirit. This, however, is not limited to what has already been written before; But He can always speak and teach freely, and the children of the Church must acknowledge this as an irrefutable truth at all times. [5] If then, the Church expresses himself historically that Peter really taught in Rome, where he had set up his chair, and died there also the death of the cross, this is indeed a guaranteed truth, because the Church is in full possession of the Holy Spirit - Now you have your required proof. Now remove yourself as you have said! I shall not be guilty of giving you this instruction, but I have done it to cause you an even greater condemnation. [6] Now I say, "Good, my friend, and truly sullen, grim brother!" I ask you, since you have given me the ecclesiastical Holy Spirit so clearly (apparently), how is it possible that the Holy Spirit regarding this Petrine statement by the various ecclesiastical historians, who all certainly have spoken and written, according to your statement, "by the Holy Spirit", could have been so terribly wrong in this historical statement about the presence of Peter in Rome? For you have just claimed Peter's presence in Rome for three years. But I can assure you that in this respect I am not aware of any historical letter written about Peter. [7] If by the way, you are only a little versed in this church history, you will surely have discovered the difference between twenty-four years and your three years. Also, the year of the death of this apostle in Rome is very different, and one should call it luck if only one variant of one year is discovered in these writings. That this is my statement is correct, you can see from the various historians, for your library is the most fortunate to possess all these writings. But now tell me, which one do you fully give your faith? [8] The monk speaks: This is already a devilish poser. What should I give you for an answer? I tell you, the true, obedient Christian believes everything and does not ask for the historically incorrect data. But the ponderer, who is a heretic, ponders all things. There are also similar contradictions in the Holy Scriptures! Should we not believe it? But if you do not know how the Holy Spirit speaks, I tell thee that He always speaks with inner wisdom, and such statements have a very different meaning, which, of course, is not understood by a devil; But we the theologians know this sense and know what we believe. So, I have also answered you this question, so to render you even more condemnation! [9] Now I say, "Well, my friend, if this is correct, I do not at all understand the reason why it has pleased the Holy Spirit to relate about the Apostle Paul in the faithfully written Acts of the Apostles; yet, about the holy Peter, as you call him, was never anything in this respect mentioned, while he was personally called to establish the Church of Christ. [10] Paul was called as an apostle for the Gentiles; nowhere is written that the Lord also called Peter for the Gentiles. Moreover, Peter knew the excellence of the Apostle Paul and did not consider it necessary to be a follow-up apostle where Paul founded a Christian church. It is well-known from Scripture, and indeed from Paul himself, that he once rebuked Peter; But an opposite situation is not mentioned. [11] But since Peter, as the first visible head of the Church, had already been rebuked by Paul regarding an error and been made accountable, the Holy Spirit has not really helped him, or rather, he forgot the Holy Spirit a bit - then one might assume that such historical data, which vary so much from each other, had either willfully been taken out of the air, or else could the Holy Spirit be blamed of infidelity. [12] But I know that Christ the Lord gave the same power to all the apostles; and when He returned after His resurrection, according to John, He commanded Peter to follow Him, the disciple John also followed. When Peter made a remark about it, the Lord said to him, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" - Which will say just as much as if he wants to follow Me like you, let him. Why then? Because the Lord wanted to show that this disciple was to follow the Lord, like Peter, in the constitution unalterably and continually. So he should continue forever despite the objection of Peter in such a state of mind, following the Lord. [13] I also know that the Lord once defended a certain unreasonably accused John before the apostles, who was not called by Him and thereby brought the minds of His jealous apostles to rest. There is also no syllable to be found about Christ ordaining an apostle to build any temple building, neither of a later ordinance by the Holy Spirit. [14] Christ has indeed said, "preach this My Gospel everywhere;" But that He would have said, "Built Me a house of prayer", is nowhere, even slightly, mentioned. But we know that He has spoken to the woman of Jacob's fountain: [15] There will come a time, and it is already here, where the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth, and neither the temple of Jerusalem will be needed, nor the mountain of Gerizim, but people shall be able to do this everywhere, in spirit and in truth. "(Joh.04) [16] We also know that the Lord has commanded those who pray, to go alone into their chamber; but He did not tell the Apostles, "Lock yourselves into the convents, but: "Go out into all the world, and preach the gospel to all of creation." [17] If you, however, want to empower your ecclesiastical power play by the Holy Spirit, you make Christ either a liar or a fraudulent teacher, who did not, during the time of His teaching, know what is necessary for His doctrine, and had to secretly correct it afterwards, according to conflicting historical data. He did not foresee that monasteries and churches would be necessary for the spreading of His teaching; He has not understood that Peter would have to found his church in Rome and that an immense house of prayer and an even more immense residence will be built for his successors. [18] Thus, Christ also could not have seen that in the course of time great rankings under the priesthood of His Church will be necessary for the spreading of His doctrine, for if He had seen this during His time of teaching, how could He have answered the apostles when they asked Him who should be the leader: "None of you is the Master. This is I, but ye are all brethren together. " [19] But his ignorance goes even further. Not knowing this, He said: "No one is good, for God alone. You shall not call anyone father; For only One in heaven is your Father. Therefore, no one is holy, for God alone." Now every apostle is holy, and the successor of Peter is even a" holy father! " [20] If you, my dear friend, take this very seriously, then you must accuse Christ of the ecclesiastical order, and, if you believe in His Godhead, also say: God also sees as a weak man, He only comes to know over time which would be better, and is compelled to surrender to His creatures, putting to risk His eternal truth and infinite wisdom. [21] We do know that the Lord established the Jewish Church through Moses and through the prophets as a prefiguring to the Lord in all its parts. But He did it literally through Moses. But no mention was ever made that the Lord, on His appearance in the highest person of Christ, had established a ceremonial and figurative church. Yet, He laid the foundation of His doctrine nothing but love towards one's neighbor, and, being indispensable in the foreground, love towards God by saying: " love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another." [22] So, He also said that His Apostles and disciples should not condemn anyone and judge no one, that they might not be condemned and judged. Indeed, the Lord even said of Himself that He had not come to judge the world, but to save and seek that which is lost. [23] How, then, have you been able to judge against this explicit doctrine of Christ, and have you even obtained the temporal and eternal condemnation and death sentence? [24] Could not in this context, Christ's text be applied to you, where He, excited in Himself, speaks to those who would like to say to Him: "We have preached in your name, prophesied, and exorcised devils, the following: depart from Me, you doers of evil, I never knew you; For it is you who always resisted the Holy Spirit! " [25] So I tell you, judge these words exactly in yourself and give me an answer. But I will show you the power of another exorcism, which will open your blind eyes, and you will see the abyss which awaits you if you remain in your stubbornly folly. [26] Behold, the Lord had pity on you and sent me here for your salvation. If you will hear me, you shall be saved; but if not, I also have the power to throw you at once in the right place which the Lord have appointed for you. [27] Behold, the monk begins to become intensely upset, and he can no longer advise or help himself. So, he turns around and retreats to his company. Let us also follow him, that you may see how such errors develop in the spiritual world. (The Spiritual Sun vol. 1, chap. 68)
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