12. So much must suffice for the present on the
subject of the adorable and holy Trinity. It is not now possible
to extend the enquiry about it further. Do ye take seeds from a
humble person like me, and cultivate the ripe ear for yourselves, for,
as you know, in such cases we
look for interest. But I trust in God that you, because of your
pure lives, will bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred
fold. For, it is said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.
Matt. v. 8. And, my
brethren, entertain no other conception of the kingdom of the heavens
than that it is the very contemplation of realities. This the
divine Scriptures call blessedness. For “the kingdom of
heaven is within you.” Luke xvii. 21, ἐντὸς
ὑμῶν. Many modern commentators
interpret “in your midst,” “among
you.” So Alford, who quotes Xen., Anab. I. x. 3
for the Greek, Bp. Walsham How, Bornemann, Meyer. The older
view coincided with that of Basil; so Theophylact, Chrysostom, and
with them Olshausen and Godet.
To the objection that the words
were said to the Pharisees, and that the kingdom was not in
their hearts, it may be answered that our Lord might use
“you” of humanity, even when addressing Pharisees. He
never, like a merely human preacher, says
“we.”