Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/235

 it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time." Peter also said, "The end of all things is at hand;" and that scoffers should come in the last days, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation;" and then he goes on to say that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and exhorts the people to all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God. James, likewise, contemplated the event as being near, for he said, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord—for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." Paul to the Philippians said, "The Lord is at hand;" and to the Hebrews, "Exhort one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." To the Romans, also, he said, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." But his epistles to the Thessalonians are remarkable both for the frequency and strength of observations tending to show that he considered the Lord's coming as an event nigh at hand. "Ye," says he, "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before