The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

For there shall arise false Christs , &c. Signs, wrought by art magic, by the power of the devil, whom many heresiarchs have had as a familiar spirit, as I have shown in 1 Tim. iv. 1. Such was their great prince Simon Magus, who deluded Nero and the Romans, so that they erected a statue to him at Rome; but at length he himself flying through the air by the aid of the devil, was dashed down to the earth by the prayers of S. Peter, and falling upon a stone, broke his knees, “ so that he who had attempted to fly was not able to walk; and he who had taken wings, lost his legs,” as S. Maximus says (Horn. 5, de SS. Petro et Paulo 78 So as to deceive — even the elect Understand this of final falling away, in such a sense that the elect should finally fall from grace, and be lost For there is no surer sign of reprobation than that any one should apostatize from the faith. Falsely, therefore, does Calvin infer from this passage that the elect cannot sin. They do sin, but they repent and rise again. If it were possible. So great shall be the tribulation and the temptation of the false Christs and heretics, their power, deceit, guile, and speciousness, that, if such a thing were possible, even the elect would be seduced by them, and come over to their errors and heresies, and so fall from the faith and be damned. But this can never happen, because of God’s more powerful protection, and His infallible predestination, as S. Augustine says (de Civ. xx. 19), and according to Christ’s own words, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall not perish eternally: and no one shall pluck them out of My Father’s hand,” S. John x. 28 (Vulg.). For it is not possible that the elect should fall away so as to become reprobate. I do not speak of any physical or absolute necessity, but of that moral foreknowledge and predestination of God, by which He so works, and so disposes it, and combines it with the issue of future events, that there is necessity in a composite sense, as Theologians say. For although the elect are free, and free to sin, to go astray, and be lost, nevertheless, inasmuch as it has been laid down that God has predestinated and foreseen that they cannot sin, go astray, and be damned, it is impossible that they should sin, go astray, and be damned. For the predestination of God is most sure, and cannot fail. These two things, therefore, cannot co-exist, that a man should be predestinated, and yet be damned; that God should foreknow that such a man will die in His grace, and be saved, and also foreknow that he will die in sin, and be damned. In a similar manner S. John speaks of the Jews (xiL 39), “ Wherefore they could not believe, because Isaiah saith again, He hath blinded their eyes:” not as though Isaiah’s prophecy were the cause why the Jews did not believe in Christ, but because bis ELECTION AND FREE-WILL. 79 prediction of the incredulity of the Jews was incompatible with their believing in Christ And S. Paul says (i Tim, ii. 19), “The foundation of God (concerning the elect) standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” Moreover, those Theologians who say that the elect unto glory are persons who have been elected independently of all prevision of their works, ascribe the force of this election, this necessity of their being saved, to the Divine decree ; but the others, in order not to take away man’s free will, must take the matter in a composite sense. They must combine the constancy and perseverance of the elect with God’s decree to bestow this perseverance upon them, in such manner as not to interfere with their free will, and with His carrying this out in time, that is to say, by giving them in time grace of congruity and grace efficacious, whereby they may effectually, but of their own free will, resist heretics, and persevere in the faith and grace of God. Nor is it more wonderful that those cannot fall whom God wills not to fall (for who hath resisted His will ?), than that they cannot fall whom God has foreseen will not fall. For God’s prescience and His will are both infallible. Some by the elect in this place understand those who are especially beloved and chosen of God, and who, on that account, are wont to suffer dreadful things from the devil and heretics and wicked men ; but they bravely and constantly resist and overcome them. It is meant, that so great shall be the temptation, that even most holy men, religious and apostolic, who are especially dear to God, would fall away from the faith, if such a thing could be, and the more powerful grace and sure election of God did not prevent it

And then shall appear the sign , &c. You will ask, what is the sign of the Son of Man, that is to say, of Christ Incarnate ? I answer, it is the Cross. For this is the sign, because it is the standard (vexillum) of Christ, and the cause of the victory of believers. And as it was beforetime the scandal of unbelievers and the impious, so will it be in the Day of Judgment their condemnation and their torment So the Fathers, almost passim . Yea, the Church herself gives this meaning her sanction, when she sings in the office for Holy Cross Day, “This sign of the Cross shall be in heaven when the Lord shall come to judgment” There are three reasons why the Cross shall then appear. 1st To signify that Christ by the Cross has merited this judicial power and glory. 2d. To show that Christ was crucified for the salvation of all men, and that therefore they are ungrateful and without excuse who have neglected so great grace and love. 3d. To show that all worshippers of Christ crucified shall be then exalted with Him to Heaven, and all who hate and despise Him cast down to hell. From this saying of Christ it is extremely probable that the actual cross on which He was crucified shall appear in heaven at the Day of Judgment, for the consolation of the Saints, who have been saved by it, and who therefore have striven to conform themselves in their lives, by patience and self-denial, to Christ crucified; and for the condemnation of the wicked, who have despised the Cross of Christ, and who have ungratefully preferred pleasures to self-mortification. This is the opinion of S. Chrysostom {Horn, de Cruce et Latrone ). The Sibyl predicts the same thing (lib. 6) — “ Whereon God hung, O blessed Tree I Not earth alone, but heaven hath thee. When lightning-crown’d God’s face we see." S. Anselm is of a different opinion, viz., that at the Day of Judgment it will not be the actual Cross of Christ which will appear in the air, but a symbol, or image of it, formed by the angels. The expression sign is in favour of this. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. 91 Moreover, SS. Chrysostom and Augustine and S. Cyril teach that this standard of the Cross will be borne by the angels before the face of Christ, coming to judgment, as a trophy of victory, and a royal banner of supreme power and dignity. Our Salmeron also says, “The doctors of the Church believe that, together with the Cross will appear the pillar, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the nails, the sponge, the spear, and the rest of the instruments of the Passion.” So, too, S. Thomas ( Opusc . ii. cap . 244). This is probable, but not certain, because nowhere expressly declared Lastly, at that time the sign of the cross shall appear on the foreheads of all the elect, according to what is said in Apoc. vil 3, “ Let us sign the servants of our God on their foreheads ” ( Vulg .) ; and Ezek. ix. 4, in an allegorical sense, “ Sign Tau, ie. f the sign of the Cross, upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry ” ( Hebr . and Vulg). Hear S. Augustine (Serm, de temp . 130), “ Hast thou considered how great is the virtue of this sign of the Cross ? The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light ; but the Cross shall shine and shall obscure the heavenly luminaries. When the stars shall fall, it alone shall send forth radiance, that thou mayst learn how the Cross is more luminous than the moon and more glorious than the sun. For like as when a king enters into a city, his soldiers go before him, bearing upon their shoulders the royal arms and standards, and all the pomp of military array, to proclaim the monarch’s entry ; so when the Lord descends from Heaven, the angel hosts shall go before Him, bearing upon their lofty shoulders that sign which is the ensign of triumph, to announce to the inhabitants of earth the approach of the King of Heaven.” And then shall all the tribes , &c. That is, many of every tribe, viz., all the reprobate and the damned, because they have neglected their salvation, to procure which Christ was crucified. But the elect will rejoice and sing, because they will see that they have been saved and blessed by the Cross. S. Augustine gives the cause of this weeping, “All the tribes of the earth shall mourn. 92 because they shall see their accuser, that is, the Cross itself; and at the sight of this reprover they shall acknowledge their sin. Too late, and in vain shall they confess their impious blindness. And dost thou marvel that when Christ cometh He will bring His Cross, since He will show His wounds also?” S. Chrysostom also, “ Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn , because they shall perceive that they gained nothing by His death, and that they crucified Him who ought to be adored.” And S. Jerome, “Rightly doth He say, The tribes of the earth; for they shall mourn who have no citizenship in Heaven, but whose names are written in the earth.” Again, hear S. Chrysostom on this passage (Horn. 77), “ He brings with Him the Cross, that their sin may be condemned without accusation, as though a man who had been struck with a stone should produce the stone itself, or the bloodstained clothes as a witness of the deed.” Moreover, they shall mourn , because (as Auctor Imperf , Horn. 77, says) Christ will then reprove the wicked thus, “For your sakes I became man, was bound and crucified. Where is the fruit of all My sufferings ? Behold the price of My blood, which I paid for the redemption of your souls ! Where is your service, which you owe Me as the price of My blood ? I valued you above My own glory, when, being God, I appeared in fashion of a man ; and yet ye accounted Me of less worth than any of your possessions. For ye loved every vile thing upon earth more than My justice and faith.” And shortly afterwards he adds, “Deservedly shall they mourn, because then neither shall money profit the rich to do alms withal ; nor righteous parents be able to intercede for their children; nor the angels themselves to say a word, as is their wont, for men, because the nature of judgment accords not with mercy, as neither the time of mercy with judgment As saith the Prophet, ‘I will sing of mercy and judgment;' of mercy in the first Advent, of judgment in the second.” Heat S. Bernard mourning, yea, trembling with horror ( Serm . 16 in Cant.), “ I am afraid of hell ; I fear the face of the Judge, before whom the heavenly hosts themselves tremble. I tremble ELOQUENT WORDS OF S. BERNARD. 93 at His almighty wrath, at the crash of a falling world, at the conflagration of the elements, at the horrible tempest, at the voice of the archangel, and the dreadful words. I tremble at*the teeth of the infernal beast, at the belly of hell, at the lions roaring for their prey. I dread the gnawing of the worm, the fiery torrent, the smoke and vapour, the brimstone, and the spirit of tempests. 1 dread the outer darkness.” Then he adds, “ Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, that by my tears I may prevent the weeping and gnashing of teeth, the hard chains for hand and foot, the weight of the fetters that press and bind and burn without consuming? Woe is me, my mother I Wherefore hast thou brought me forth, a child of sorrow? a child of bitterness, of indignation, of weeping without end? Why did the knees prevent me, and the breasts that I sucked, that I should be bom for burning and for fuel of fire?” And they shall see the Son> &c. ist. That the clouds may temper the exceeding brightness of the Body of Christ, which otherwise would blind the eyes of the reprobate, ad. Because a cloud is the symbol of the hidden Deity. 3d. Because the cloud is the seat, as well as the vehicle and covert, of Christ’s glory. Hence, constantly in the Old Testament, God appeared to Moses and the Prophets in a cloud ( See Ezek. i. 4, and Ex . xix. 9-18.) There is an allusion to Daniel (vii. 13), “And lo, one like unto the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven.” With power , &c. (Vulg.), with great virtue or strength and majesty . For as Christ at His first Advent came in great infirmity of the flesh, in poverty and contempt, so He hath thereby deserved to come in His second Advent with great strength, glory, and majesty. His power and strength shall appear in that at His command all the dead shall arise in a moment ; in that all men, angels, and devils shall behold and worship Him as their God, their Lord, and their Judge ; in that He shall pass sentence upon all according to their deserts, and shall execute His sentence, so that none shall dare to gainsay or resist His majesty shall appear in the infinite splendour of His body, in the multitude and 94 S. MATTHEW, C XXIV. brightness of all the angels surrounding Him, and in His garments of radiant clouds

And He shall send His angels ; &c There is an inversion of order in this passage ; for Christ shall previously send His angels with a trumpet, or rather with many trumpets, throughout all the world, to wake the dead and summon them to judgment. For when this trumpet sounds very many angels shall gather together the ashes of every one of the dead, and from them form the semblance of human bodies, which God shall organize and animate. And after life has been restored to those bodies, He shall, if they be those of the holy and elect, glorify and bless them. Wherefore also the Blessed themselves shall, by the gift of swiftness, with which they shall be endowed, immediately transfer themselves in the company of the angels from all parts of the world to the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judgment But the reprobate, because they shall lack the gift of swiftness, shall be dragged thither by the devils, or rather by the angels. From the four winds, i.e., from the four quarters of the world, from whence the four chief winds blow. Whence he adds by way of explanation, from one end of Heaven to the other . The Greek is anew fa; i.e., from extremity to extremity , from one terminus of heaven and earth to their other terminus, from the east to the west For &x(a signifies any extreme limit , whether above or below, whether to the right or to the left. Mark has (xiii. 27), from the height of earth to the height of heaven (Vulg.), by which is meant the same thing as in S. Matthew, from one extreme of earth to the other extremity of heaven and earth. For the earth at its extremities seems to be joined to the sky. This is at the horizon. There is no reason why extremity of heaven (Vulg.) in this place should not be taken literally, meaning that the angels shall gather together the elect wherever they may be, whether in heaven or earth. For the bodies of the Patriarchs, who rose again with Christ, are in Heaven. Wherefore they shall descend from Heaven to the valley of Jehoshaphat at the time of the Last Judgment PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE. 95 But the former sense seems to be the best Learn a parable. Take a similitude from the fig-tree. Learn from the analogy of the fig-tree what I have spoken concerning the signs of the destruction of the world, when it is nigh at hand. Christ makes mention of the fig rather than of other trees, because the fig-tree only puts forth its leaves and fruit under the influence of heat, because its sap is exceedingly sweet, and therefore concocted ; and for that there is need of the heat of summer. Hence Aristotle {lib. 9, Bistor. Animal.) says that the fig is the food of bees, which only fly and make honey in summer. They make honey from the fig, for it is indeed a purse of honey. Again, ne says that cattle grow fat upon figs. Again, the fig does not flower, but produces fruit immediately from the leaves, and brings it to maturity. Whence Pliny says (15. 18), “Wonderful is the haste of this fruit, one in all things hastening to maturity by the art of nature.” Again, “ the fig is the sweetest of all fruits, devoid of all acidity, and therefore most tasty and wholesome. Moreover, the fig-tree is extremely fruitful, so much so that there are fig-trees in Hyrcania, each yielding a yearly produce of 70 bushels,” as Pliny affirms in the same book. He adds that Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf under a fig-tree, and therefore that the fig was worshipped at Rome in the forum. Symbolically , therefore, Christ would intimate that His Saints and elect ought to bring forth most sweet and abundant fruits of good works, that so they may deserve to taste in the summer of the Resurrection the abundant sweetness of celestial glory. Lastly, a fig was the cause of the destruction of Carthage. For when Cato, as Pliny tells us, was exclaiming in the Senate that Carthage must be destroyed, he brought one day into the Senate house a very ripe fig which had been grown in Africa. Showing it to the Senators, “ I ask you,” said he, “ to guess how long ago it is since this fig was plucked from the tree.” All allowed that it must have been but recently gathered. “ Yes,” he said, “ I would have you know that it is but three days since it was plucked at Carthage; so near is the enemy to your walls.” Immediately 96 afterwards the third Punic War, in which Carthage was destroyed, was begun. In like manner those signs which Christ compares to a fig-tree shall be the cause of the destruction of the world. When her branch , &c. For the reason already mentioned, inasmuch as the sap of the fig-tree is most sweet, it lies dormant during the winter in the root, but being drawn out by the heat of summer, it rises into the branches, and comes out in leaves and fruit. It is like the mulberry tree (rnorus), which does not germinate until the cold is all gone. The mulberry is called for that reason or “a fool/' because it is anything but foolish, but the wisest of trees

So likewise ye , &c. Near: it is as though Christ, the Judge, and His glorious Kingdom, and your redemption, as Luke has it, that is, the resurrection and everlasting glory, were entering the earth, as it were by a door. For redemption signifies deliverance from all evils and miseries. This will be the summer. And after the winter, there shall come this most joyful summer to all the elect, as this parable intimates. As when the fig comes into leaf summer is nigh, which causes to be brought forth most sweet figs and other fruits ; so when ye shall behold the elect to flourish with such great patience in the winter of such great tribulations as shall befall them at the end of the world, know ye that the reward of your patience is nigh at hand, the summer of a joyful resurrection, which shall heap upon you the fruit of every good gift, when Christ the Judge shall bless and glorify you. Verily 1 say, &c. This generation, that is to say, 1. of all men, or this age, which shall last until the end of the world. So S. Jerome. As though Christ had said, “ Before the end of the world all these things shall come to pass.” 2. Origen, Hilary, and Chrysostom take generation in a more restricted sense, to mean the generation of believers of Christians, that were now sprung from Christ, to whom Christ was speaking in the person of His Apostles, according to the words in Ps. xxiv. 6, “ This is the generation of them that seek the Lord.” Aa DURATION OF THE WORLD. 97 though the Lord had said, “The Christian religion which I have instituted shall not come to an end until Christians, who faithfully serve Me, are rewarded by Me, and crowned in the Day of Judgment.”

Who then is a faithful and wise servant , &c Who then t Gr. r/c aga ; Vulg. Who thinkest thou l At first sight there might seem to be a hiatus here, or a question without an answer. But it is not so. The sentence should be disposed as follows: “Who, thinkest thou, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord hath set over His family, to give them of His household food in due season?” He assuredly is faithful and prudent who performs that for which he is appointed, who does give every member of the family their food in due time. He distributes, that is, to the servants and domestics, their proper portion of victuals, as the price of their labours. For in ancient times, when money was scarce, the wages of servants were paid in rations of food. This saying of Christ has special reference to Bishops and Pastors. For on them it is incumbent to feed the Church, which is their family, indeed Christ’s family, that they should distribute the food of holy doctrine according to the capacity of every one to receive it Wherefore it behoves them to be vigilant in this matter, prudent, and faithful. Thus, S. Hilary saith, “Although He exhorts every one of us in common to betake ourselves to unwearied watchfulness, yet He gives a special charge of solicitude to the princes of the people, that is, to the Bishops, in expectation of His Advent For He signifies that he is a faithful servant, and a prudent overseer of His family, who is careful about the profit of the people committed to his charge; who hears the word and obeys it ; who in opportunity of doctrine and truth strengthens the weak, establishes the fallen, converts the depraved, and dispenses the word of life as the eternal food for nourishing the family.” This question, Who thinkest thout intimates that such servants, such Bishops and Pastors as are wholly faithful to Christ in the care of His flock, are few. Whence the saying of S. Jerome, “Priests many, Priests few.” Also that of S. Boniface, io 6 Apostle of Germany, and Martyr, “ Formerly Priests of gold celebrated in chalices of wood; now Priests of wood celebrate in chalices of gold.” Blessed is that servant ... so doing: that is, assiduously and continually until death, and the day of particular judgment, and so, by consequence, of the general Judgment, namely, that he should distribute to all the faithful of his Church such food as is suitable for each, the word and Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, to nourish their souls in faith and piety. Blessed therefore is the Bishop who doth this, because, not only on account of his own holiness shall he receive of Christ the crown of righteousness, but shall obtain as many crowns as there are faithful people whom he has nourished and profited, according to the w'ords of Daniel, “They that instruct many to justice shall shine as the stars for perpetual eternities ” (Vulg.)