[Footnote*:Thiswas，infact，anintegralpartoftheJewishnotionoftheMessiah，fromwhichthemindsoftheapostlesthemselveswerebutgraduallydetached。SeeBertholdt，ChristologiaJudaeorum，concludingchapters—M。]
[Footnote60:Thisexpectationwascountenancedbythetwenty—fourthchapterofSt。Matthew，andbythefirstepistleofSt。PaultotheThessalonians。Erasmusremovesthedifficultybythehelpofallegoryandmetaphor；andthelearnedGrotiusventurestoinsinuate，that，forwisepurposes，thepiousdeceptionwaspermittedtotakeplace。
Note:Somemoderntheologiansexplainitwithoutdiscoveringeitherallegoryordeception。Theysay，thatJesusChrist，afterhavingproclaimedtheruinofJerusalemandoftheTemple，speaksofhissecondcomingandthesingswhichweretoprecedeit；butthosewhobelievedthatthemomentwasneardeceivedthemselvesastothesenseoftwowords，anerrorwhichstillsubsistsinourversionsoftheGospelaccordingtoSt。Matthew，xxiv。29，34。Inverse29，weread，\"Immediatelyafterthetribulationofthosedaysshallthesunbedarkened，\"&c。TheGreekwordsignifiesallatonce，suddenly，notimmediately；sothatitsignifiesonlythesuddenappearanceofthesignswhichJesusChristannouncesnottheshortnessoftheintervalwhichwastoseparatethemfromthe\"daysoftribulation，\"ofwhichhewasspeaking。Theverse34isthis\"VerilyIsayuntoyou，Thisgenerationshallnotpasstillallthesethingsshallbefulfilled。\"Jesus，speakingtohisdisciples，usesthesewords，whichthetranslatorshaverenderedbythisgeneration，butwhichmeanstherace，thefiliationofmydisciples；thatis，hespeaksofaclassofmen，notofageneration。Thetruesensethen，accordingtotheselearnedmen，is，IntruthItellyouthatthisraceofmen，ofwhichyouarethecommencement，shallnotpassawaytillthisshalltakeplace；thatistosay，thesuccessionofChristiansshallnotceasetillhiscoming。SeeCommentaryofM。PaulusontheNewTest。，edit。1802，tom。iii。p。445，—446。
—G。
Others，asRosenmullerandKuinoel，inloc。，confinethispassagetoahighlyfigurativedescriptionoftheruinsoftheJewishcityandpolity。—M。]