Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/234

 they seem to have regarded as a fulfilment of the promise of His coming, they said unto Him, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" The reply is deserving of particular remembrance: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." This perfectly agrees with what the Lord had taught upon the same general subject on another occasion, namely, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Notwithstanding those forcible statements, we find instances in the epistles of the Apostles, in which they speak of the Lord's coming as an event near at hand, and to be expected in their own time.

Doubts, indeed, may be raised as to whether that is the actual meaning of the terms they use; it may be said that prophetical language frequently speaks of things distant as if they were present; and so it may; but it does not appear that the Apostles were prophesying in the case before us; it seems plain that they are stating their impressions concerning the Lord's declarations on the subject. At all events, the structure of their language and the effect of it upon those to whom it was originally addressed, show very clearly that they thonght the second coming was a phenomenon about to be realized in their own time. This is no special opinion of ours; it is a conclusion at which some of the most distinguished commentators have arrived.

It may, however, be useful to notice a few of the evidences on which the conclusion rests. Jesus plainly taught that certain calamities would prevail as a prelude to the event. The Apostle declares that it would not come except there came a falling away first. It is also spoken of as the "last times" and "days." John writes, "Little children,