4058. The subject in previous verses of this chapter in Matthew has been the progressive ruination of the Church, which took place as follows: First of all people ceased to know what good or truth was, and instead began to argue with one another about these. In a second phase they treated them with contempt; in a third they did not in their hearts acknowledge them; and in a fourth they profaned them. These phases were the subject in verses 3-22 of this chapter. And because the truth of faith and the good of love would continue to exist at the centre, that is, with some called 'the elect', the state of the truth of faith as this will be at that time is dealt with in verses 23-28, and the state of the good of charity and love as that will be then, and also the beginning of a new Church, are dealt with in the verses which have just been quoted [in 4056].