406 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO CHAP. XT.
My effortsto resist,supplyMe with power ? CHRYS. But if
in°MHit.he w^o does not work with Me is My adversary,how much
more he who opposesMe? It seems however to me that He
here under a figurerefersto the Jews, ranging them with
the devil. For they also acted against,and scatteredthose
whom He gatheredtogether.
24. When theuncleanspiritisgone out ofa man,
he walketh through dry places,seekingrest; and
findingnone,he saith,I willreturnunto my house
whence I came out.
25. And when he cometh,he findethitswept and
garnished.
26. Then goethhe,and takethto him sevenother
spiritsmore wicked than himself;and theyenterin,
and dwellthere: and the laststateof that man is
worsethan thefirst.
CYRIL. Afterwhat had gone hefore,our Lord proceedsto
shew how it was that the Jewish people had sunk to these
opinionsconcerning Christ,saying,When the uncleanspirit
isgone out of a man, $c. For that this example relatesto
Matt.12, the Jews, Matthew has explained when he says,Even so
*5' shallit be also unto thiswicked generation. For all the
time that they were livingin Egypt in the practiceof the
Egyptians, there dwelt in them an evil spirit,which was
drawn out of them when they sacrificedthe lamb as a type
of Christ,and were sprinkledwith itsblood,and so escaped
the destroyer.
AMBROSE. The comparison then is between one man and
the whole Jewish people,from whom through the Law the
unclean spirithad been castout. But because in the Gen
tiles,whose heartswere firstbarren,but afterwardsin bap
tism moistened with the dew of the Spirit,the devilcould
findno restbecause of theirfaithin Chiist,(forto the un
cleanspiritsChristisa flamingfire,)he then returnedto the
Jewish people. Hence itfollows,And findingnone,he saith,
I willreturnto my housewhence / came.