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to be destroyed, but also that one stone should not be left upon another.
Wherefore it goes on: "And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?
there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Now some may endeavour to prove that Christ's words were false, by saying that many ruins
were left, but this is not at all the point; for though some ruins had been left, still at the
consummation of all things one stone shall not be left upon another. Besides it is related, that
Aelius Adrian overturned [p. 255] the city and the temple from the foundation, so that the word of
the Lord here spoken was fulfilled.
Bede: But it was ordered by Divine power that after that the grace of the faith of the Gospel was
made known through the world, the temple itself with its ceremonies should be taken away; lest
perchance some one weak in the faith, if he saw that these things which had been instituted by
God still remained, might by degrees drop from the sincerity of the faith, which is in Christ Jesus,
into carnal Judaism.
Pseudo-Jerome: Here also the Lord enumerates to His disciples the destruction of the last time,
that is of the temple, with the people, and its letter; of which one stone shall not be left upon
another, that is, no testimony of the Prophets upon those, to whom the Jews perversely applied
them, that is, on Ezra, Zerubbabel and the Maccabees.
174
Bede: Again, when the Lord left the temple, all the edifice of the law and the framework of the
commandments were destroyed, so that nothing could be filled up by the Jews; and now that the
head has been taken away, all the limbs fight one against the other.
3. And as He sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John
and Andrew asked Him privately,
4. "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be
fulfilled?"
5. And Jesus answering them began to say, "Take heed lest any man deceive you:
6. For many shall come in My name, saying, 'I am Christ;' and shall deceive many.
7. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must
needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings
of sorrows."
[p. 256]
Bede: Because the Lord, when some were praising the buildings of the temple, had plainly
answered that all these were to be destroyed, the disciples privately enquired about the time and
the signs of the destruction which was foretold.
Wherefore it is said: "And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and
James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us when shall these things be? and what
shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?"
The Lord sits upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, when He discourses upon the
ruin and destruction of the temple, so that even His bodily position may be in accordance with the
words which He speaks, pointing out mystically that, abiding in peace with the saints, He hates
the madness of the proud. For the mount of Olives marks the fruitful sublimity of the Holy Church.
Augustine, Epist., cxcix, 9: In answer to the disciples, the Lord tells them of things which were
from that time forth to have their course; whether He meant the destruction of Jerusalem which
occasioned their question, or His own coming through the Church, (in which He ever comes even
unto the end, for we know that He comes in His own, when His members are born day by day,) or
the end itself, in which He will appear to judge the quick and the dead.
Theophylact: But before answering their question, He strengthens their minds that they may not
be deceived.
Wherefore there follows: "And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man
deceive you?"
And this He says, because when the sufferings of the Jews began, some arose professing to be
teachers.
Wherefore there follows: "For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many."
Bede: For many came forward, when destruction was hanging over Jerusalem, saying that they
were Christs, and that the time of freedom was now approaching. Many teachers of heresy also
arose in the Church even in the time of the Apostles; and many Antichrists came in the name of
Christ, the first of whom was Simon Magus, to whom the Samaritans, as we read in the Acts of
the Apostles, listened, saying, "This man is the great power of God." [Acts 8:10]
Wherefore also it is added here, "And shall deceive many."
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Now from the time of the Passion of our Lord there ceased not amongst the [p. 257] Jewish
people, who chose the seditious robber and rejected Christ the Saviour, either external wars or
civil discord.
Wherefore it goes on: "And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled."
And when these come, the Apostles are warned not to be afraid, or to leave Jerusalem and
Judaea, because the end was not to come at once, nay was to be put off for forty years.
And this is what is added: "for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet," that is,
the desolation of the province, and the last destruction of the city and temple.
It goes on: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom."
Theophylact: That is, the Romans against the Jews, which Josephus relates happened before
the destruction of Jerusalem. For when the Jews refused to pay tribute, the Romans arose, in
anger; but because at that time they were merciful, they took indeed their spoils, but did not
destroy Jerusalem. What follows shews that God fought against the Jews, for it is said, "And
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines."
Bede: Now it is on record that this literally took place at the time of the Jewish rebellion. But
"kingdom against kingdom," the pestilence of those whose word spreads as a canker, dearth of
the word of God, the commotion of the whole earth, and the separation from the true faith, may all
rather be understood of heretics who, by fighting one against the other, bring about the triumph of
the Church.
9. "But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues
ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony
against them.
10. And the Gospel must first be published among all nations.
11. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall
speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye:
for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
12. Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall
[p. 258] rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
13. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved.
Bede: The Lords shews how Jerusalem and the province of Judaea merited the infliction of such
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