Chapter XXVI.—From St. Luke’s Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator. The Lord’s Prayer and Other Words of Christ.  The Dumb Spirit and Christ’s Discourse on Occasion of the Expulsion. The Exclamation of the Woman in the Crowd.

When in a certain place he had been praying to that Father above,2207 looking up with insolent and audacious eyes to the heaven of the Creator, by whom in His rough and cruel nature he might have been crushed with hail and lightning—just as it was by Him contrived that he was (afterwards) attached to a cross2208 at Jerusalem—one of his disciples came to him and said, “Master, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”  This he said, forsooth, because he thought that different prayers were required for different gods! Now, he who had advanced such a conjecture as this should first show that another god had been proclaimed by Christ. For nobody would have wanted to know how to pray, before he had learned whom he was to pray to. If, however, he had already learned this, prove it. If you find nowhere any proof, let me tell you2209 that it was to the Creator that he asked for instruction in prayer, to whom John’s disciples also used to pray.  But, inasmuch as John had introduced some new order of prayer, this disciple had not improperly presumed to think that he ought also to ask of Christ whether they too must not (according to some special rule of their Master) pray, not indeed to another god, but in another manner. Christ accordingly2210 would not have taught His disciple prayer before He had given him the knowledge of God Himself. Therefore what He actually taught was prayer to Him whom the disciple had already known. In short, you may discover in the import2211 of the prayer what God is addressed therein.  To whom can I say, “Father?”2212 To him who had nothing to do with making me, from whom I do not derive my origin? Or to Him, who, by making and fashioning me, became my parent?2213 Of whom can I ask for His Holy Spirit? Of him who gives not even the mundane spirit;2214 or of Him “who maketh His angels spirits,” and whose Spirit it was which in the beginning hovered upon the waters.2215 Whose kingdom shall I wish to come—his, of whom I never heard as the king of glory; or His, in whose hand are even the hearts of kings? Who shall give me my daily2216 bread? Shall it be he who produces for me not a grain of millet-seed;2217 or He who even from heaven gave to His people day by day the bread of angels?2218 Who shall forgive me my trespasses?2219 He who, by refusing to judge them, does not retain them; or He who, unless He forgives them, will retain them, even to His judgment? Who shall suffer us not to be led into temptation? He before whom the tempter will never be able to tremble; or He who from the beginning has beforehand condemned2220 the angel tempter? If any one, with such a form,2221 invokes another god and not the Creator, he does not pray; he only blasphemes.2222 In like manner, from whom must I ask that I may receive? Of whom seek, that I may find? To whom knock, that it may be opened to me?2223 Who has to give to him that asks, but He to whom all things belong, and whose am I also that am the asker? What, however, have I lost before that other god, that I should seek of him and find it.  If it be wisdom and prudence, it is the Creator who has hidden them. Shall I resort to him, then, in quest of them? If it be health2224 and life, they are at the disposal of the Creator. Nor must anything be sought and found anywhere else than there, where it is kept in secret that it may come to light. So, again, at no other door will I knock than at that out of which my privilege has reached me.2225 In fine, if to receive, and to find, and to be admitted, is the fruit of labour and earnestness to him who has asked, and sought, and knocked, understand that these duties have been enjoined, and results promised, by the Creator. As for that most excellent god of yours, coming as he professes gratuitously to help man, who was not his (creature),2226 he could not have imposed upon him any labour, or (endowed him with) any earnestness. For he would by this time cease to be the most excellent god, were he not spontaneously to give to every one who does not ask, and permit every one who seeks not to find, and open to every one who does not knock. The Creator, on the contrary,2227 was able to proclaim these duties and rewards by Christ, in order that man, who by sinning had offended his God, might toil on (in his probation), and by his perseverance in asking might receive, and in seeking might find, and in knocking might enter. Accordingly, the preceding similitude2228 represents the man who went at night and begged for the loaves, in the light of a friend and not a stranger, and makes him knock at a friend’s house and not at a stranger’s. But even if he has offended, man is more of a friend with the Creator than with the god of Marcion. At His door, therefore, does he knock to whom he had the right of access; whose gate he had found; whom he knew to possess bread; in bed now with His children, whom He had willed to be born.2229 Even though the knocking is late in the day, it is yet the Creator’s time. To Him belongs the latest hour who owns an entire age2230 and the end thereof. As for the new god, however, no one could have knocked at his door late, for he has hardly yet2231 seen the light of morning. It is the Creator, who once shut the door to the Gentiles, which was then knocked at by the Jews, that both rises and gives, if not now to man as a friend, yet not as a stranger, but, as He says, “because of his importunity.”2232Importunate, however, the recent god could not have permitted any one to be in the short time (since his appearance).2233 Him, therefore, whom you call the Creator recognise also as “Father.” It is even He who knows what His children require.  For when they asked for bread, He gave them manna from heaven; and when they wanted flesh, He sent them abundance of quails—not a serpent for a fish, nor for an egg a scorpion.2234 It will, however, appertain to Him not to give evil instead of good, who has both one and the other in His power. Marcion’s god, on the contrary, not having a scorpion, was unable to refuse to give what he did not possess; only He (could do so), who, having a scorpion, yet gives it not. In like manner, it is He who will give the Holy Spirit, at whose command2235 is also the unholy spirit. When He cast out the “demon which was dumb”2236 (and by a cure of this sort verified Isaiah),2237 and having been charged with casting out demons by Beelzebub, He said, “If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?”2238 By such a question what does He otherwise mean, than that He ejects the spirits by the same power by which their sons also did—that is, by the power of the Creator?  For if you suppose the meaning to be, “If I by Beelzebub, etc., by whom your sons?”—as if He would reproach them with having the power of Beelzebub,—you are met at once by the preceding sentence, that “Satan cannot be divided against himself.”2239 So that it was not by Beelzebub that even they were casting out demons, but (as we have said) by the power of the Creator; and that He might make this understood, He adds: “But if I with the finger of God cast out demons, is not the kingdom of God come near unto you?”2240 For the magicians who stood before Pharaoh and resisted Moses called the power of the Creator “the finger of God.”2241 It was the finger of God, because it was a sign2242 that even a thing of weakness was yet abundant in strength. This Christ also showed, when, recalling to notice (and not obliterating) those ancient wonders which were really His own,2243 He said that the power of God must be understood to be the finger of none other God than Him, under2244 whom it had received this appellation. His kingdom, therefore, was come near to them, whose power was called His “finger.”  Well, therefore, did He connect2245 with the parable of “the strong man armed,” whom “a stronger man still overcame,”2246 the prince of the demons, whom He had already called Beelzebub and Satan; signifying that it was he who was overcome by the finger of God, and not that the Creator had been subdued by another god.  Besides,2247 how could His kingdom be still standing, with its boundaries, and laws, and functions, whom, even if the whole world were left entire to Him, Marcion’s god could possibly seem to have overcome as “the stronger than He,” if it were not in consequence of His law that even Marcionites were constantly dying, by returning in their dissolution2248 to the ground, and were so often admonished by even a scorpion, that the Creator had by no means been overcome?2249 “A (certain) mother of the company exclaims, ‘Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked;’ but the Lord said, ‘Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.’”2250 Now He had in precisely similar terms rejected His mother or His brethren, whilst preferring those who heard and obeyed God.2251 His mother, however, was not here present with Him. On that former occasion, therefore, He had not denied that He was her son by birth.2252 On hearing this (salutation) the second time, He the second time transferred, as He had done before,2253 the “blessedness” to His disciples from the womb and the paps of His mother, from whom, however, unless He had in her (a real mother) He could not have transferred it.

CAPUT XXVI.

Cum in quodam loco (Luc. XI) orasset ad Patrem illum superiorem, satis impudentibus et temerariis oculis suspiciens ad coelum Creatoris, a quo tam aspero et saevo, et grandine et fulmine potuisset elidi, sicut et Hierusalem suffugi ab eo potuit; aggressus eum ex discipulis quidam: Domine, inquit, doce nos orare, sicut etJoannes discipulos suos docuit; scilicet quia alium Deum aliter existimaret orandum. Hoc qui praesumpserat , prius est probet alium Deum editum a Christo. Nemo enim ante voluisset orare nosse, quam didicisset quem oraret. Igitur si 0425B didicerat, proba. Si nusquam usque adhuc probas, scito illum in Creatorem formam orationis postulasse, in quem etiam discipuli Joannis orabant. Sed quia et Joannes novum aliquem ordinem orationis induxerat, ideo hoc et a Christo discipulus ejus postulandum non immerito praesumpserat, ut et illi de proprio magistri sui instituto, non alium, sed aliter Deum orarent. Proinde nec Christus ante orationis notitiam discipulo contulisset, quam Dei ipsius. Ita et ipse in eum docuit orationem, quem discipulus usque adhuc noverat. Denique sensus orationis quem Deum sapiant recognosce. Cui dicam, Pater? Ei qui me omnino non fecit? a quo originem non traho? An ei qui me faciundo et instruendo generavit? A quo Spiritum sanctum postulem? A quo nec mundialis spiritus 0425C praestatur? An a quo fiunt etiam angeli spiritus? cujus et in primordio spiritus super aquas ferebatur? Ejus regnum optabo venire, quem nunquam regem gloriae audivi? an in cujus manu etiam corda sunt regum? Quis dabit mihi panem quotidianum; qui nec milium mihi condit, an qui etiam de coelo panem angelorum quotidianum populo suo praestitit? Quis mihi delicta dimittet; qui ea non judicando non retinet, an qui si non dimiserit, retinebit ut judicet? quis non sinet nos deduci in tentationem; quem poterit tentator non timere, an qui a primordio tentatorem angelum praedamnavit? Hoc ordine, qui alii Deo supplicat et non Creatori, non orat illum, sed infamat. Proinde a quo petam, ut accipiam? apud quem quaeram, ut inveniam? ad quem pulsabo, ut 0425Daperiatur mihi? Quis habet petenti dare, nisi cujus omnia, cujus sum etiam ipse qui peto? Quid autem 0426A perdidi apud Deum illum, ut apud eum quaeram et inveniam? Si sapientiam atque prudentiam, has Creator abscondit; apud eum ergo quaeram. Si salutem et vitam, et has apud Creatorem. Nihil alibi quaeretur ut inveniatur, quam ubi latuit ut appareat. Sic nec aliorsum pulsabo, quam unde sum functus . Denique, si accipere et invenire et admitti, laboris et instantiae fructus est illi qui petiit, et quaesivit, et pulsavit; intellige haec a Creatore mandari et repromitti. Ille enim Deus optimus, ultro veniens ad praestandum non suo homini, nullum illi laborem, nec instantiam indixisset. Jam enim non optimus, si non ultro daret non petenti, et invenire praestaret non quaerenti, et aperiret non pulsanti. Creator autem potuit indicere ista per Christum, ut quia delinquendo 0426B homo offenderat Deum suum, laboraret, et instantia petendi acciperet, et quaerendi inveniret, et pulsandi introiret. Sic et praemissa similitudo, nocturnum panis petitorem amicum facit, non alienum; et ad amicum pulsantem, non ad ignotum. Amicus autem etiamsi offendit, magis Creatoris est homo, quam Dei Marcionis. Itaque ad eum pulsat, ad quem jus illi erat, cujus januam norat, quem habere panes sciebat, cubantem jam cum infantibus quos nasci voluerat. Etiam quod sero pulsatur, Creatoris est tempus. Illius et serum, cujus saeculum et saeculi occasus. Ad Deum autem novum, nemo sero pulsasset, tantum quod luscescentem. Creator est, qui et januam olim Nationibus clauserat , quae olim pulsabatur Judaeis; is et exurgit et dat, et si jam non quasi amico, non 0426C tamen quasi extraneo homini, sed quasi molesto, inquit. Molestum autem tam cito Deus recens neminem pati potuit. Agnosce igitur et Patrem, quem etiam appellas Creatorem. Ipse est qui scit quid filii postulent. Nam et panem petentibus de coelo dedit manna, et carnem desiderantibus emisit ortygometram, non serpentem pro pisce, nec scorpium pro ovo. Illius autem erit non dare malum pro bono, cujus utrumque sit. Caeterum, Deus Marcionis non habens scorpium, non poterat id se dicere non daturum, quod non habebat; sed ille qui habens et scorpium, non dat. Itaque et Spiritum sanctum is dabit, apud quem est et non sanctus. Cum surdum daemonium expulisset (ut et in ista specie curationis Esaiae (Is. XXIX, 3) occurrisset in Beelzebule dictus ejicere daemonia: Si ego, inquit, in 0426DBeelzebule ejicio daemonia, filii vestri in quo ejiciunt? Hac quid magis portendit, quam in eo ejicere se, in quo 0427A et filii eorum? In virtute scilicet Creatoris. Nam si putas sic accipiendum, Si ego in Beelzebule ejiciodaemonia , filii vestri in quo? quasi illos sugillaret in Beelzebule ejicientes, resistet tibi prior sensus, non posse Satanam dividi adversus semetipsum. Adeo nec illi in Beelzebule ejiciebant; sed, ut diximus, in virtute Creatoris: quam ut intelligi faceret, subjungit: Quod si ego in digito Dei expello daemonia, ergone appropinquavit in vos regnum Dei? Apud Pharaonem enim venefici illi adhibiti adversus Moysen, virtutem Creatoris digitum Dei appellaverunt (Exod. VIII): Digitus Dei est hoc; quod significaret etiam modicum, validissimum tamen. Hoc et Christus ostendens, commemorator, non obliterator vetustatum, scilicet suarum, virtutem Dei digitum Dei dixit non alterius intelligendam, 0427B quam ejus apud quem hoc erat appellata. Ergo et regnum ipsius appropinquaverat, cujus et virtus digitus vocabatur. Merito igitur applicuit ad parabolam fortis illius armati, quem validior alius oppressit, principem daemoniorum, quem Beelzebulem et Satanam supra dixerat, significans digito Dei oppressum, non Creatorem ab alio Deo subactum. Caeterum, quomodo adhuc staret regnum ejus in suis terminis, et legibus, et officiis, quem licet integro mundo vel sic potuisset videri superasse validior ille Deus Marcionis, si non secundum legem ejus etiam Marcionitae morerentur, in terram defluendo, saepe et a scorpio docti non esse superatum Creatorem. Exclamabatmulier de turba, Beatum uterum qui illum portasset, et ubera quae illum educassent. Et 0427C Dominus: Imo, beati qui sermonem Dei audiunt, et faciunt. Quia et retro sic rejecerat matrem aut fratres, dum auditores et obsecutores Dei praefert. Nam nec hic mater assistebat illi. Adeo nec retro negaverat, ut ne tum cum id rursus audit; rursus proinde felicitatem ab utero et uberibus matris suae transtulit in discipulos; a qua non transtulisset, si eam non haberet.