17.

Let the new people, therefore, who are called to an eternal inheritance, use the word of the New Testament, and say, "Our Father who art in heaven," ¹ i.e. in the holy and the just. For God is not contained in space. For the heavens are indeed the higher material bodies of the world, but yet material, and therefore cannot exist except in some definite place; but if God's place is believed to be in the heavens, as meaning the higher parts of the world, the birds are of greater value than we, for their life is nearer to God. But it is not written, The Lord is nigh unto tall men, or unto those who dwell on mountains; but it is written, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart," ² which refers rather to humility. But as a sinner is called earth, when it is said to him, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return;" ³ so, on the other hand, a righteous man may be called heaven. For it is said to the righteous, "For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." ⁴ And therefore, if God dwells in His temple, and the saints are His temple, the expression "which art in heaven" is rightly used in the sense, which art in the saints. And most suitable is such a similitude, so that spiritually there may be seen to be as great a difference between the righteous and sinners, as there is materially between heaven and earth.