402 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO CHAP. XI. whom do your sons castthem out? thereforeshall they be yourjudges. 20. But ifI withthefingerofGod castout devils, no doubt thekingdom ofGod iscome upon you. Chrys. CHRYS. The suspicionof the Phariseesbeing utterlywith- m°Matt. out reason,they dared not divulgeit forfearof the multi tude,but pondered itin theirminds. Hence it issaid,But He, knowing theirthoughts,said unto them,Every kingdom dividedagainstitselfwillbe brought to desolation.BEDE. He answered not theirwords but theirthoughts,that so at leastthey might be compelled to believein His power, who Chrys. saw intothe secretsof the heart. CHRYS. He did not an- ubisup. swer them from the Scriptures,sincethey gave no heed to them, explainingthem away falsely;but He answers them from things of every day occurrence. For a house and a cityifit be dividedisquicklyscatteredto nothing; and likewisea kingdom, than which nothing is stronger. For the harmony of the inhabitantsmaintains houses and king doms. If then, says He, I cast out devilsby means of a devil,there is dissensionamong them, and theirpower perishes. Hence He adds,But if Satan be dividedagainst himself,how shallhe stand? For Satan resistsnot himself, nor hurts his soldiers,but rather strengthenshis kingdom. It isthen by Divine power alone thatI crush Satan under my feet. AMBROSE. Herein also He shews His own king dom to be undivided and everlasting.Those then who pos sessno hope in Christ,but think that He castsout devils through the chiefof the devils,theirkingdom, He says,is not everlasting. This also has referenceto the Jewish people. For how can the kingdom of the Jews be ever lasting,when by the peopleof the law Jesus is denied,who is promised by the law ? Thus in part does the faithof the Jewish people impugn itself;the glory of the wicked is divided,by divisionis destroyed. And thereforethe king dom of the Church shallremain for ever,because itsfaith isundivided in one body. BEDE. The kingdom alsoof the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,is not divided,because it is sealedwith an eternalstability.Let then the Arians cease to say that the Son is inferiorto the Father,but the Holy