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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 367
23. St. John of Damascus tells us the reason the soul of
Christ had not a different subsistence from his body, as it
was the one Person alone which sustained both :
"
Neque enim
unquam aut Anima, aut Corpus peculiarem atque a Verbi sub-
sistentia diversam subsistentiam habuit" (5). On that account,
he says, as it was one Person which sustained the soul and body
of Christ, although the soul was separated from the body, still
the Person of the Word could not be separated from them :
"
Corpus, et Anima simul ab initio in Verbi Persona existentiam
habuerant, ac licet in morte divulsa fuerint, utrumque tamen
eorum unam Verbi Personam, qua subsisteret, semper habuit."
As, therefore, when Jesus descended into hell, the Word
descended, likewise, with his soul, so, while his body was in the
sepulchre, the Word was present, likewise ; and, therefore, the
body of Christ was free from corruption,
as David foretold :
"Nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption" (Psalm,
xv, 10). And St. Peter, as we read in the Acts (ii, 27), shows
that this text was applied to our Lord lying in his tomb. It is
true, St. Hilary (6) says, that, when Christ died, the Divinity
left his body ; but St. Ambrose (7) explains this, and says, that
all the Holy Doctor meant to say was, that, in the Passion, the
Divinity abandoned the humanity of Christ to that great desola
tion, which caused him to cry out: "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me" (Matt, xxvii, 46). In his death, there
fore, the Word abandoned his body, inasmuch as the Word did
not preserve his life, but never ceased to be hypostatically united
with him. Christ never, then, could cease to be the Son of God
in the sepulchre, as Berruyer teaches ; for it is one of the axioms
of all Catholic schools (8) :
"
Quod semel Verbum assumpsit, nun-
quam misit" The Word, having once assumed human nature,
never it gives up again. But when Berruyer admits, then, that
the Word was united in the beginning
in unity of Person with
the body and soul of Jesus Christ, how can he afterwards say
that, when the soul was separated from the body, the Word was
no longer united with the body? This is a doctrine which
surely neither he nor any one else can understand.
(5) St. Jo. Damasc. 1. 3, dc Fide, (7) St. Ambros. I. 10, in Luc. c. 13.
c. 27. (8) Cont. Tournely, de Incarn. t, 4,
(6) St. Hilar. r. 33, in Matth. part 2, pag. 487.