Chapter Eleven

¹ And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say, Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. The disciple of Christ emulates the disciples of John; wherefore he also seeks to be taught a manner of prayer. The Savior therefore teaches, not rejecting the request of the disciple. Our Father, he says, which are in heaven. Observe the power of the prayer. Straightway it leads you up on high, and persuades you, since you name God Father, not to fall altogether short of the likeness, but to be earnest to be made like to the Father. And he said not, My Father, but, Our Father, rousing you to brotherly love, and constraining you to love all, as common brethren. And by saying, Which are in heaven, he circumscribes not God there, but leads the hearer up to the heavens, and draws him away from earthly things. Hallowed be your name — that is, glorified; that is, make our life to be to your glory. For as the name of God is blasphemed because of the wicked, so it is glorified because of those that have a good life. Your kingdom come. The sinner deprecates the kingdom of God, not wishing it to come, because of the tribunals there; but the righteous man, on the contrary, prays that it may come quickly, that, being delivered from the temptations here, he may rest. And let your will be done — as in heaven by the angels, so also by us men on earth. For the angels all do all things according to the will of God. And he teaches us to seek the daily bread only — that is, that which is for our being, and contributes to the constitution of life — not the superfluous altogether, but the necessary. And the words, not to enter into temptation, signify not to leap into temptations. For we ought not to entreat God that he cast us into temptation, but to deprecate this; but when it comes, to bear it nobly. And it may be said that the kind of temptations is twofold. For some are voluntary; such as drunkenness, murder, adultery, and the other passions; for into these temptations we cast ourselves willingly. And involuntary temptations are those to which tyrants and violent men subject us. From the voluntary temptations, then — that is, from the passions — we ought to flee, and to deprecate these, and to say, Lead us not — that is, suffer us not to fall into temptation, that is, into voluntary passion; but deliver us from evil. For this one brings both the involuntary and the voluntary temptations. Wherefore, being not voluntarily tempted, deprecate not the temptation, but the evil one. For he it is that works it.

² And he said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give you. I say to you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs. The Lord speaks a certain parable and example, teaching us to pray without slackness. What then does the parable signify? By midnight some say is meant the last things of life, in which men, having come, attain to a perception of the good, and run to God. For this is the friend, who loves all, and wishes all to be saved. Many, then, draw near at midnight — that is, in the last part of life — to God, as to a friend, and say, Give three loaves, the faith in the Trinity. For a friend is come — that is, the angel who receives the soul. And a friend is every angel, even as the Lord also says, There is joy in heaven over the salvation of a man. And the children resting upon the bed are those who have been turned, and become as little children, and counted worthy to rest together with the Lord. And by importunity he means the prayer intensified with endurance. And understand also otherwise: by midnight the height, and the very middle, of temptations. For every temptation is night, and midnight is altogether the midst of temptations. When, then, one is in the midst of temptations, he draws near to God who loves us, and says, Lend me three loaves, the salvation of the body, and of the soul, and of the spirit. For from temptations there is fear lest these three be endangered. And who is the friend that is come from the journey? Surely the Lord, who tests us in temptations, and wishes to eat of our salvation. And he has nothing to set before him who has fallen into the temptations, and is too weak of himself to withstand them, and to serve God. And the shutting of the door signifies this, that we ought before the temptations to be made ready; but when we have fallen in, the door of preparation is shut, and, being found unprepared, unless God help, we are in danger. And the children, as was before set forth, would be those who have become sons of God through virtue, and recline and rest in God.

³ And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him! Observe the exactness of the expression. He said not, Ask once, and it shall be given, but, Ask — that is, seek continually. For everyone that asks receives. Does, then, the one who asks unprofitable things receive? No; for, first, the asking of unprofitable things would not even be called an asking toward God. For he who prays to God ought to ask the things which God gives. But when one asks the unprofitable things, he makes not his request toward God; for he gives not unprofitable things. Then hear also of the Lord himself, how he teaches us to ask the things we ought. For a son, he says, asks bread, and a fish, and an egg. As, then, these are food for a man, so also our requests ought to be profitable and conducing to our benefit. And understand me, that bread he asks who asks that the faith in the Trinity be revealed to him, and the rightness of doctrines; for bread is these things, as strengthening the heart. And a fish he asks who, being in the sea of this life, seeks the help that is from God, that in the midst of the temptations he may be kept unsubmerged, and living like a fish. And an egg he asks who asks that there be given to him the offspring of the virtuous souls, that, taking wings, they may be likened to the heavenly, and rise on high in the spirit.

⁴ And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spoke; and the people wondered. But some of them said, “He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.” And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. Dumb is said for the most part of one who speaks not, but might be said also of one who hears not; and more properly of one who neither hears nor speaks. And those who from birth hear not, neither speak; for this befalls them of necessity. For we speak those things which through hearing we learn. When, then, one hears not, fittingly neither does he speak, unless perchance one has afterward, through some affliction, been harmed in his hearing; for such a one nothing hinders from speaking. He, then, who was brought to the Lord was both — dumb both in tongue and in ears. And this man is a symbol of the human nature, which, held fast by demons, neither endured to hear the words of God, nor much less was able to speak them forth. But the Lord, having come, and driven out the demons — the passionate and demonic deeds — made us to speak, and to preach the truth. For we ought not only to hear the words of God, but also to speak them to others. Let us therefore hear, we who have in ourselves the demonic deeds, yet suppose that we also teach others, and desire to be called Rabbi by men. For when the demon is gone out, then the true speech, that is, the teaching, comes to be; but so long as the working of the demon is within us, though we seem to speak, we speak not. But the Pharisees slander the wonder, and insult the Lord as a sorcerer. For having, they say, the prince of the demons as a friend, by his working he casts out the demons. To whom the Lord says, How is it possible for a demon to cast out another demon? For this would be a dissolution of his kingdom. For if they themselves count it a kingdom and a rest to dwell in men, but their ruler casts them out, it is plain that he dissolves himself. For indeed every kingdom divided and at strife is dissolved, and a house divided falls. And whether you understand by the house the building, well; for the building, so long as it keeps its continuity, stands; but when the walls part from one another, it falls; or whether you understand by the house those in the house, these too, so long as they are at peace, hold together; but when they part against one another, they fall. But be it that I cast out the demons by Beelzebub; your sons — that is, the apostles — by whom do they cast them out? Or is it not plain, by my name? How then say you of me that I cast out by Beelzebub, as having need of his power, where your own sons, that is, the apostles, cast out in my name? Therefore they shall judge you. For it is plain that, if those cast out in my name, I have no need of another’s power. With the finger of God, then — that is, with the Holy Spirit — I cast out, and not with an evil spirit. And he calls the Spirit a finger, that you may learn that, as the finger is consubstantial with the whole body, so also the Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. And perhaps, since the Son is called the hand of God, and upon him rested the sevenfold workings of the Spirit — not as being wrought upon, but as being consubstantial with the Spirit. And one of the gifts and workings of the Spirit is to heal; for this reason it is said that with the finger of God he casts out the demons — that is, with the spiritual gift. For as the finger is a part of the hand, so also the spirit of healings was a part of the spirits which Jesus had, that is, of the workings of the Spirit. If, then, I cast out the demons, he says, by a divine working, the kingdom of God is come upon you, and the kingdom of the devil is dissolved, and God reigns.

⁵ When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathers not with me scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return to my house whence I came out. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. Then goes he, and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Before my coming, he says, Satan was strong, and kept his own palace — that is, he held the human nature firmly and securely; but when I came, who am stronger than he, and have overcome the world, and his whole armour wherein he trusted, which is all the kinds of sin — for these are the weapons of the devil, and trusting in these he prevailed against men — this his armour, then, I broke, being found sinless; and from then he grew weak. And his spoils — that is, the men whom he held as plunder — I tore away from him, and divide them, one to one, another to another, to a faithful guardian angel, that, instead of the demon by which he was tyrannized, the angel may have him. And in another sense: What fellowship have I with Beelzebub? My work is to gather together the scattered children of God; his work is to scatter the gathered. How then reason you such things concerning me, that I have fellowship with Satan? But truly such a reasoning befell you from your being yourselves the more possessed of demons. For you had, even of old, the unclean spirit dwelling in you, when you worshipped idols, and slew the prophets; then it seemed to go out of you, and now, returning to its own house — that is, to your souls — with seven spirits, that is, many (for seven is taken in Scripture for many) — it made your last things worse than your first. Inasmuch as then, when you served idols, you slew the prophets, and yet did not openly insult the Son of God, who had appeared to you in the flesh. But now what hope of salvation is there, when, the Son having been incarnate, and working wonders among you, you stand in the same thanklessness and insolence? And dry places are the souls of those who have nothing watery or dissolute, but are dry and careful, in which the spirit of uncleanness finds no rest. Since, then, in such souls the evil one has no place of dwelling, he turns to the Jews, and their last things become worse than their first. For no longer are there prophets among them, for they slew the word; no longer is there anointing, for they crucified the Christ.

⁶ And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bare you, and the paps which you have sucked.” But he said, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, “This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. While the Pharisees and scribes were slandering the wonders, the woman commends the guileless and simple thing. And where are those who say that the Lord appeared in phantasy? For behold, he is testified even to have sucked the breasts. But he calls blessed those who keep the word of God, not casting his Mother out of the blessing — far from it — but showing that not even she would be profited from bearing and suckling him, unless she had also all the other virtue. And at the same time he says these things also with reference to the moment. For since the envious and disobedient to his words were slandering those that heard, he, on the contrary, blesses those that hear. And perhaps he says these things also because of the dumb man who was healed, that he too, having heard, might keep the word, and that the power of hearing might not become to him to condemnation. And when the people were gathered thick together, the Lord began to reprove the thankless. For since there were certain among them who sought a sign from heaven to be done by Jesus — for they said, that, Whatever signs he does are from earth, and he does these by Beelzebub the world-ruler, as having authority of the earth, but from heaven he is unable to do, as not being the Son of the heavenly Father — since, then, there were certain who said these things, for this cause the Lord reproves them, and says, that, A sign shall be given you, which shall show me to be the true Son of the heavenly Father. What is this? That of Jonas, that is, of the resurrection. For as he made three days in the belly of the whale, so I too, having made three days in the belly of the whale, the great beast, Hades, shall rise again. But to Jonas, preaching after his coming back to life as it were out of the whale, the Ninevites were persuaded; but in me, even when I am risen, this generation shall not believe; wherefore they shall be condemned, that they imitated not the Ninevites, though a greater than Jonas is here. For both my dignity and the kind of my preaching show much difference. I am Master, he was a servant. I preach the kingdom of heaven, he salvation from the overthrow. I with wonders, he without doing any wonder. In like manner also the queen of the south shall condemn this generation, that she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And understand me also every soul prevailing and standing firm in the good as a queen of the south. What I mean is this: the north in Scripture is blamed, as being the place of the adversary; for it is cold, and death-dealing, and benumbing; but the south is praised, as a warm and life-giving wind, and cherishing the benumbed members. Wherefore also the bride in the Song of Songs, driving away the north, says, Awake, O north wind; and come, you south. And again the prophet says, And him that is from the north will the Lord utterly destroy — meaning Satan. The soul, then, reigning in the south — in the good part and the spiritual life, and having dominion through the practical — comes to hear the wisdom, which is to ascend to contemplation. For the wisdom of our God is contemplation, to which one cannot otherwise come, save by the spiritual life, and by gaining dominion through the practical.

⁷ No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in you be not darkness. If your whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle does give you light. Since the envious Jews, seeing the wonders, slandered them out of wickedness, for this reason the Lord says these things: that men, having received from God a candle — the grace of the mind, by which we see, as a light given to us — hid this discernment of the mind, and, darkened by envy, see not the wonders and the benefits. And yet for this we received the mind, that we may set it upon the candlestick, that others also may see the light. And he seems to me to say this: O Pharisee, you have knowledge — this is the candle. You ought to have used this knowledge to the recognition of the wonders, and to have shone and shown to others these things, that they are works of the Son of God, and not of Beelzebub, that they which come in — that is, the beginners and learners — might see the light. For the wise man has already journeyed, but he who is still learning is journeying. But you Pharisees willed not this, but made the eye of the soul, the mind, which is single, crooked and perverse. For as the eye of the body, however it be disposed, so makes the body also; if it be luminous, the body too will be in light, but if dark, that too will be in darkness — in the same way the soul also is disposed according to the mind. And the eye and light which it received from God, if it find this darkened, either by envy or by love of money, and, to speak simply, by love of glory, it too is darkened.

⁸ And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. You fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean to you. The Lord knew the perverseness of the Pharisees, but nevertheless he eats with them for this very reason, that they were wicked, and had need of amendment. For he eats with them, that he might take hold of an occasion, and better their characters. As also now, deriding their senseless custom — I mean the cleansing of themselves before eating — he teaches that the soul ought to be cleansed by good works, since the washing with water cleanses not the soul, but the body. For those senseless men supposed that, together with the body, their soul also is cleansed by the bathing and washing of the body. The Lord, then, uses a graceful example, that of the cup. For since it was the time of the table, he makes mention of the cup and the platter, bringing his testimony from the things lying before the eyes, and persuading the Pharisee that, as it is no profit for the cup to be clean without, but full of all filth within, so neither for the body to be washed, while the soul is full of all uncleanness, such as ravening and wickedness. And he hinted at the two passions that prevailed among the Jews — covetousness, by the ravening, and envy, and the things from envy, by the wickedness. It is no profit, then, when the soul is thus disposed. You fools, did not he that made the body, which you count worthy of much care, make also the soul? Suffer, then, this also to be cleansed. Then he teaches them how the inward part is cleansed. By alms, he says. And observe me how he heals their two passions, envy, I mean, and ravening, by setting before them alms. For he that has mercy truly will not seize the things of the one pitied, nor will he envy the one pitied. Since, then, he reproached these two passions, by one medicine he levers them out, that of alms, which is the first door of the deifying love; and, love being present, where is covetousness and envy? Of such things as you have, then — that is, of the things that you possess. And well he said, of such things as you have, and said not, that are, because riches are within in the heart of the lover of money, and sit there; wherefore David also says not to set the heart on riches — that is, not to nail it to them and bind it fast.

⁹ But woe to you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe to you, Pharisees! for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” Then answered one of the lawyers, and said to him, “Master, thus saying you reproach us also.” And he said, “Woe to you also, you lawyers! for you lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! for you build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: truly I say to you, It shall be required of this generation. The Pharisees, that they might not, forsooth, transgress the law, tithed even the least things; and if anyone perchance blamed them as being scrupulous about trifles, they brought forward the law, which commanded tithes to be offered to the priests from all things. The Lord therefore says, that, As you are not careless of these, so you ought to have provided also judgment and the love of God. For since they were unjust, and slew the widow and the orphan, he says, that, You ought to have judgment — that is, righteous judgment. And since they were also despisers of God, undertaking the sacred works indifferently, for this reason he charges them to have the love of God. For he that loves God undertakes his works not contemptuously. And perhaps it seems to me that, since there are two kinds of love — that toward God, and that toward the neighbour — he hints at these two: by saying judgment, intimating the love toward the neighbour; for to judge the neighbour righteously, and not to oppress him, comes from loving him. And by saying the love of God, signifying altogether the whole disposition toward God. And when one loves the neighbour not for any worldly thing, or shameful passion, but according to God, this too might be called the love of God — that is, that which God commands, and accepts. And they wished to be honored by every man, and to be addressed as teachers in the markets; for this is the greeting, the address. You are like, then, he says, to graves, which are full of all rottenness, but without shine with marbles; which men seeing know not where they walk, for else they would have loathed the abomination within. But the lawyer senselessly subjects himself to the reproof. Now the lawyers were other than the Pharisees. For the Pharisees seemed to be ascetics, and cut off from the rest; but the lawyers were scribes and teachers, loosing for those who wished the questions of the law. The lawyers, then, laded men with heavy and grievous burdens, enjoining on them the hard-to-keep observances of the law, but themselves touched not the burdens with their finger — that is, they themselves did nothing of the things they laid on others. For when the teacher does the things he teaches, he lightens the burdens, giving himself as a pattern, and making comfort for the taught. But when he does nothing of what he says, then truly the burdens seem heavy to the taught, as being not even able to be accomplished by the teacher. And the Lord shows the Jews to be descendants and heirs of the wickedness of Cain, by saying that all the blood shed from Abel to Zacharias shall be required of this generation. For, he says, you too slew the prophets, who were your brethren, as that one slew Abel. Whence not unreasonably some understood Cain of the people that slew the prophets, of whom sevenfold vengeance was taken — that is, with a lighter punishment; and Lamech of those who slew Christ, wherefore also seventy times sevenfold vengeance was taken, being scattered into a captivity without return. And who, then, was Zacharias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar? Some say the ancient Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, whom they stoned, as may be learned from the book of Kings; others, the father of the Forerunner, in that he set the Theotokos among the virgins after she had borne Christ, and stood her in the place where the virgins stood — and that place was between the temple and the altar that was outside — bearing witness that a virgin had borne, which they turned away from; for they wished to be without a king.

¹⁰ Woe to you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.” And as he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. The key of knowledge the Lord named the teaching, and the guidance through the law that was able to bring men to Christ. For the law is altogether a guide to Christ. The lawyers, then, who seemed to interpret the law, held the key of knowledge with a willful malice, and opened not the doors of the law, that through them they themselves and the people might enter in to Christ. For the law is a door to Christ; only this door is shut, unless one make plain and open the obscurity of the law. For the Lord said, If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. And again, Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of me, and you will not come to me. As, for instance, to show it by one example: a lamb was slain by the Jews, the door-posts were anointed, and they ate the flesh, and this was for them a victory over the destroyer. And this whole thing made plain the mystery of Christ, who, like an unblemished and spotless lamb, being slain, our door-posts — wrath and desire, and the lintel above them, the reasoning — were anointed; and we ate the flesh of the Son of man, and overcame the one who destroys our soul-powers. And the more part of the law hinted at Christ. The law, however, was shut by the obscurity of the letter, as by a door. And if one had been entrusted with teaching, this man had the key of knowledge; and if he willed, he would have opened, and himself entered in, and become a guide to others; which the lawyers did not, but took away the key of knowledge — that is, hid it, made it vanish — and thereupon, as the key being taken away from the midst, that is, the interpretation of the law, its door remained shut. And you may understand by the key of knowledge also faith. For through faith comes the knowledge of the truth; and so the prophet Isaiah says, And, Unless you believe, neither shall you understand. The lawyers, then, took away from the midst the key of this, that is, faith, and hid it. For they suffered not any to believe in Christ, the Savior of all. He wrought wonders, and the people, believing through the wonders, were about to recognize him as God; but they said that he wrought the wonders by Beelzebub. Do you see how they took away the key of knowledge, not suffering men to believe in him through whom the knowledge was to come to them? He taught in the synagogues the will of God, but they said, You have a devil and are mad; why hear you him? They took away, then, in very truth the key of knowledge, and themselves entered not in, and hindered others, and these such as were entering in — that is, who were fit for the knowledge of God. And while he was yet saying these things, those men, as if bearing witness to his words, when they ought to have recognized their own weakness, showed themselves forsooth wiser than he, and began to provoke him to speak off-hand — that is, to question him thickly, and to perplex him. For provoking to speak off-hand comes to pass, when many question one about other and other matters. For then, not being able to answer all, he gives to the senseless an appearance of being at a loss. This, then, those accursed ones contrived against Christ. For many questioning one seemed to provoke him to speak off-hand, and to bring him to perplexity, as one not able to answer them — which fittingly came not to pass; for how can one answer many asking other and other things? And the provoking to speak off-hand may also be understood thus, instead of, to ensnare him, and to hold him fast by his mouth. For when one is caught by the things he says, he seems to be provoked off the mouth — that is, to be dragged by the mouth, and condemned. And the words following make this plain. For, seeking, he says, to catch something out of his mouth; for that which a little before he called provoking to speak off-hand, this now he calls catching something out of his mouth. And they questioned him, sometimes concerning the law, that they might convict him as a blasphemer accusing Moses (for this they suspected), sometimes concerning the things of Caesar, that they might denounce him as a seditious and tyrannical man — and, in a word, such things as wicked souls, full of all malignity, might devise.