CHAP. not in the winter. 19. For in those days shall be

XIII. 14-23.

Quotation from Eusebius.

affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20. And except that the Lord had shortened these days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. 21. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, Lo, He is there; believe him not: 22. For false christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

I take this opportunity of inserting a passage from the Christian historian Eusebius. The chapter is headed The Predictions of Christ. After having described in the previous chapter some of the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, he adds, "To these accounts it may be proper to add the infallible prediction of our Saviour, in which He foretold these very events as follows: But woe to them that are with child and those that give suck in those days; but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath. For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The historian (Josephus) adding up the whole number of those slain, says, that eleven hundred thousand perished

hope he buys the house, he has brought forth his child, and is amongst those who give suck. Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck! Woe to those who fix their hopes upon this present world, woe to those who are bound up with the things of this world which their hopes have brought forth!"

In verse 15 the same father interprets the Lord's words spiritually of being tempted to descend from a spiritual to a merely carnal life, and of looking back in our Christian course.

XIII.

14-23.

by famine and the sword, and that the rest, the factious CHAP. and robbers, mutually informing against each other after the capture, were put to death. Of the young men, the tallest, and those that were distinguished for beauty, were preserved for the triumph. Of the remaining multitude, those above seventeen were sent prisoners to labour at the mines in Egypt; but great numbers were distributed to the provinces, to be destroyed by the sword or wild beasts in the theatres. Those under seventeen were carried away to be sold as slaves. Of these alone there were as many as ninety thousand. All this occurred in this manner, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, according to the predictions of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by His divine power foresaw all these things as if already present at the time, who also wept and mourned at the prospect, as the holy Evangelists shew in their writings. These give us the very words that He uttered, when He said to this same Jerusalem, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee. Afterwards he says of the people: For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And again, When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then know that the desolation is nigh."

CHAP. XIII. 24-37.

S. Matt.

xxiv. 29-51. S. Luke

24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26. And then shall

powers

xxi. 25-36. they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.1 28. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

I

29.

So ye

in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30. Verily say unto you, That this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away. 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his

1 The Greek names for the four points of the compass happen to begin with the letters A, D, A, M. Hence S. Augustine sees in the expression, shall gather together from the four winds, a promise of the bringing together again of the scattered fragments of the body of Adam. He says: "Adam himself is scattered through the whole world. He was originally in one place, but he fell, and was in a certain sense reduced to fragments which filled the whole earth; but the mercy of God has brought the fragments together again, and has blown upon them with the fire of love, and made that one which was broken. He knew well how to do the work; let no one despair: it is a great work doubtless, but consider who is the workman. He who made can remake; He who formed can reform."

ye

work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35. Watch therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: 36. Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. 37. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

CHAP.

XIII.

24-37.

tural method

doctrines.

I have remarked in discussing the parallel place of The scripS. Matthew on the language of S. Mark with respect to the of teaching Son: neither the Son, but the Father. I would only observe here, in addition, that this is an example of the general scriptural method of dealing with doctrine, and as such is worthy of our deep attention. Divines are tempted to put doctrines in a very compact and logical form, to say that such or such a statement is heretical, because it is opposed to some other which is orthodox; and of course there are statements which are heretical, and there are orthodox doctrines to which they are opposed; but when a doctrine has confessedly and in its very nature two sides, we are very likely to err if we say that a statement of one side of the doctrine cannot be true because it is opposed to an acknowledged truth contained in the statement of the other side. Had not the words been recorded in Scripture and ascribed to our Lord Himself, I believe that the statement concerning the Son, contained in verse 32, would have been regarded by many orthodox divines as inconsistent with the Catholic faith.

warning

to all.

S. Mark reports the prophetical discourse of our Lord The Lord's as concluding with an emphatic application of the words applicable which He had been speaking to all who should hear them. It is manifest that the Lord intended His warnings of the approaching judgment to go beyond those four disciples to whom they were addressed. He

CHAP.

24-37.

was giving a prediction of things about to come to pass XIII. which was to prove the safety, and did prove the safety, of the whole Christian body; and I apprehend that the primary intention of the concluding words of the prophecy was to give a general warning to the whole body of the disciples. But the Lord's words have an application far beyond this: they declare the general character and spirit of all His words, and indeed of all the words of Scripture dictated by the co-equal Spirit: they are not of private interpretation; the message of God is not to this man or that, but to the whole human family: what God says to one He says to all. And with regard to the special message contained in this concluding warning of our Lord, how fitting a message it is for all! Who is there that needs it not? who is there who would not be the better for bearing in mind carefully that a day is coming upon him, as upon all flesh, when he must stand before a judgmentseat, and that he knows neither the day nor the hour when the summons will come?1

1 S. Augustine remarks, in speaking of the second coming of Christ, "Why does He say to all that which concerns those only who are here when He comes? Because that day will virtually come to each of us, when the day comes in which we shall depart from this world such as we shall be when we are judged in that day. Therefore every Christian ought to watch, lest the day of the Lord find him unprepared; and that day will find him unprepared if the last day of his life find him so."