XXXIV.
And the churches, too, will wail with a mighty
lamentation, because neither “oblation nor incense” is attended to, nor a
service acceptable to God;1969
| 1969 [The
reference is to Mal. i.
11, and incense
is expounded spiritually by the Ante-Nicene Fathers generally.
See Irenæus, vol. i. p. 574, Tertullian, iii. p. 346 and
passim.] |
but the sanctuaries of the
churches will become like a
garden-watcher’s hut,
1970
and the holy body and
blood of
Christ will not be shown in those
days. The
public service of
God shall be extinguished, psalmody
shall cease, the reading of the Scriptures shall not be heard;
1971
| 1971 [The
public reading of Scripture-lessons is implied, Acts xv. 21. See Hooker, Eccl.
Pol., book v. cap. xix.] |
but for men
there shall be
darkness, and lamentation on lamentation, and woe on
woe. At that time
silver and
gold shall be cast out in the
streets, and none shall
gather them; but all things shall be held an
offence. For all shall be eager to
escape and to
hide themselves,
and they shall not be able anywhere to find concealment from the
woes
1972
| 1972
παθῶν. B reads παγίδων,
snares. |
of the
adversary; but as they carry his mark about them, they shall be readily
recognised and declared to be his. Without there shall be
fear,
and within trembling, both by
night and by day. In the
street and
in the
houses there shall be the dead; in the
streets and in the
houses
there shall be
hunger and
thirst; in the
streets there shall be
tumults, and in the
houses lamentations. And
beauty of
countenance shall be withered, for their forms shall be like those of
the dead; and the beauty of women shall fade, and the desire of all men
shall vanish.
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