dentem, ità erit et adventus Filii Hominis.

28. "Ubicumquè fueri corpus, illic congregabuntur et aquila.

peareth even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

28. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.

There is a small ray of consolation in the midst of this fearful calamity. The terrible carnage will not last very long. The distress and extreme measures to which the unfortunate besieged will be driven will soon be over. Neither will the Jews be utterly exterminated. If the Zealots had not caused the provisions to be destroyed, and had not given wrong counsel otherwise, the city might have held out for years. Titus himself was surprised, when he entered, to see how easily he had taken the place. The unfortunate people slaughtered each other, and they set fire to the temple also. Thus were these harrowing scenes shortened for the sake of the elect, i.e.. many Jews who were in bonâ fide, and many more who believed in Our Lord when they saw His prophecies coming true.

1No flesh saved.-If the Jews held out, as they might, and were not blinded by Heaven, it is supposed an edict of Vespasian would have gone forth for their utter extermination. Then the living proof they give now of the truth of Christianity-by their very existence-would have been lost. Many a chosen vessel came to us from their numbers since then.

This has reference to the persecution of Antichrist.

2False Christs.-Several of them arose, because the Jews of that day knew the time was come.

3-4Some imitated John the Baptist and some our Lord.

"Lightning.-Our Lord's coming at the last day will be unmistakable. Like a flash of lightning.

"The body.-There are various interpretations of this, and some of them very curious and fanciful. The natural one seems to be that it was a proverb. The eagles found their way to a carcase by instinct and at great distances; so shall the elect find out without trouble the real Messias.

32. "Ab arbore autem fici discite parabolam. Cùm jàm ramus ejus tener fuerit et folia nata, scitis quia propè est æstas:

33. "Ità et vos, cùm videritis hæc omnia, scitote quia propè est, in januis.

34. Amen dico vobis quia non præteribit generatio hæc donec omnia hæc fiant.

35. "Cœlum et terra transibunt, verba autem mea non præteribunt.

32. Now learn a parable from the 'fig-tree: when its branch is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh.

33. So also you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34. Amen I say to you. this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

35. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my word shall not pass away.

What is read in these verses is supposed to refer altogether to the Day of Judgment, although many (amongst whom Lingard) explain the whole thing in a figurative sense, as applying merely to the destruction of Jerusalem. Everyone can see that its primary meaning refers to the Judgment Day, although its secondary applies to the other. So Catholic commentators and nearly all Protestant ones.

The disturbance of the elements will be physical and out of the usual order. The sun and stars will seem astray, and the seasons will be quite changed. Then shall appear the Cross in the heavens, and the whole people shall mourn-even the good for sheer joy and trembling-and then the Angels awake the dead.

1Immediately. This may be an interval of thousands of years in the Scripture phraseology, because the tribulations at Jerusalem are yet continuing to appear from time to time.

2The sun.-Some give a metaphorical explanation of these signs.

The sign of the Son of man.-All suppose this to be the Cross, whether the real Cross, or a glorious one, cannot be settled now.

4Great power.-To contrast with the Crucifixion.

"Trumpet. This will be a real genuine trumpet of wonderful power. Some give reasons why it ought to be a metaphorical one. There are too many texts of Scripture for a real one.

Parts of heaven.-From Purgatory and Hell and everywhere the souls The bodies will be gathered also.

come.

'Fig-tree.-Be as wise in supernatural as you are in natural.

This generation.-The people then living as far as Jerusalem is concerned. The Jewish race to be preserved from the ruin. The Christians then forming a generation or people of their own.