what power doest thou this?"[1] but by a question on His own side, put them to utter confusion; by His thus not replying, according to their interpretation, He showed the unutterable nature of the Father. Moreover, when He said, "I have often desired to hear one of these words, and I had no one who could utter it,"[2] they maintain, that by this expression "one" He set forth the one true God whom they knew not. Further, when, as He drew nigh to Jerusalem, He wept over it and said, "If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace, but they are hidden from thee,"[3] by this word "hidden" He showed the abstruse nature of Bythus. And again, when He said, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, and learn of me,"[4] He announced the Father of truth. For what they knew not, these men say that He promised to teach them.
3. But they adduce the following passage as the highest testimony,[5] and, as it were, the very crown of their system:—"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Even so, my Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knoweth the Father but the Son, or the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him."[6] In these words they affirm that He clearly showed that the Father of truth, conjured into existence by them, was known to no one before His advent. And they desire to construe the passage as if teaching that the Maker and Framer [of the world] was always known by all, while the Lord spoke these words concerning the Father unknown to all, whom they now proclaim.
