God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."[1] "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief;"[2] and yet the Lord expressly says that such would be the manner of His coming. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."[3] "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ."[4] To Timothy, also, Paul writes, "I give thee charge that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."[5]
This array of passages, which could easily be extended, seems to show with great certainty that the impressions and expectations of the Apostles concerning the Lord's second coming were such as led them to speak of that event as about to occur within the limits of their own age. Indeed, Paul leaves no room for hesitation on this point, for he plainly says, "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."[6] Dr. Doddridge tells us that this passage "hath been interpreted by many as an intimation that the Apostles expected to be found alive at the day of judgment; and on that interpretation, some have urged it as an instance of their entertaining, at least for a while, mistaken notions on that head, as if the day of the Lord were nearly appearing." Dr. Macknight informs us that Grotius, Locke, and others, have taken this view of the case. So also did Whiston. And surely that is the unforced meaning of the passage, notwithstanding the feeble arguments which have been employed for the purpose of refuting it. Some of the Thessalonians to whom it was addressed appear so to have
