[Footnote 1: _Acts_ ii. 17, iii. 19, and following; 1 _Cor._ xv. 23,
24, 52; 1 Thess. iii. 13, iv. 14, and following, v. 23; 2 Thess. ii.
8; 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Tit. ii. 13; Epistle of James v. 3, 8;
Epistle of Jude 18; 2d Epistle of Peter, iii. entirely; _Revelations_
entirely, and in particular, i. 1, ii. 5, 16, iii. 11, xi. 14, xxii.
6, 7, 12, 20. Comp. 4th Book of Esdras, iv. 26.]

[Footnote 2: Luke xvii. 30; 1 _Cor._ i. 7, 8; 2 Thess. i. 7; 1 Peter
i. 7, 13; _Revelations_ i. 1.]

[Footnote 3: _Revelations_ i. 3, xxii. 10.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xi. 15, xiii. 9, 43; Mark iv. 9, 23, vii. 16; Luke
viii. 8, xiv. 35; _Revelations_ ii. 7, 11, 27, 29, iii. 6, 13, 22,
xiii. 9.]

[Footnote 5: 1 _Cor._ xvi. 22.]

[Footnote 6: _Revelations_ xvii. 9, and following. The sixth emperor,
whom the author represents as reigning, is Galba. The dead emperor,
who was to return, is Nero, whose name is given in figures (xiii.
18).]

[Footnote 7: _Revelations_ xi. 2, 3, xii. 14. Comp. Daniel vii. 25,
xii. 7.]

[Footnote 8: Chap. iv., v. 12 and 14. Comp. Cedrenus, p. 68 (Paris,
1647).]

Jesus never indulged in such precise details. When he was interrogated
as to the time of his advent, he always refused to reply; once even he
declared that the date of this great day was known only by the Father,
who had revealed it neither to the angels nor to the Son.[1] He said
that the time when the kingdom of God was most anxiously expected, was
just that in which it would not appear.[2] He constantly repeated that
it would be a surprise, as in the times of Noah and of Lot; that we
must be on our guard, always ready to depart; that each one must watch
and keep his lamp trimmed as for a wedding procession, which arrives
unforeseen;[3] that the Son of man would come like a thief, at an
hour when he would not be expected;[4] that he would appear as a flash
of lightning, running from one end of the heavens to the other.[5] But
his declarations on the nearness of the catastrophe leave no room for
any equivocations.[6] "This generation," said he, "shall not pass till
all these things be fulfilled. There be some standing here, which
shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his
kingdom."[7] He reproaches those who do not believe in him, for not
being able to read the signs of the future kingdom. "When it is
evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red. And in
the morning, It will be foul weather to-da