It cannot be denied that in a multitude of places, the judgment advent of the Lord is so represented in the Scriptures that the duty of watching and living in readiness for it, is everywhere commanded or encouraged. So evidently did St. Paul speak of it as a subject of expectation and present concern, that the Thessalonians needed to be cautioned against expecting it until after certain other events had occurred. There are very many references to the coming of the day of God which seem to have been calculated to impress the mind that it might come upon them unawares, at almost any moment. Hence, the Saviour's exhortation to take heed, to watch, and to pray because they did not know when the time would be. From this we learn three things: 1. Character of the event. It will be a matter of solemn and decisive influence upon all. The guilty are to look for it with fearful apprehension; the righteous with joyful anticipation. It will be something besides the gradual, peaceful, and finally universal extension of christianity abroad in the earth. This would indeed be a subject of gladness to the Christian; but why the uncertainty of the time of its occurrence should be a reason for all generations of Christians to live in watchfulness and prayer, is beyond the power of any man to explain. And if this is what is meant by the coming of the Lord, who can tell why it should be a subject of fearful apprehension to the wicked? No, the character of the event is far otherwise. It is of such a nature that if we be found off our guard, or not watching for our Lord, he will come upon us unawares and appoint our portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. 2. We learn likewise the character of the coming. It will not be a gradual passing away of night, and the slow dawning of the millennial day. It will be sudden, and to many unlooked for and unprepared for. Hence, the necessity of unceasing watchfulness because we know not when the time is. And the coming will be so sudden that there will be no opportunity to prepare for it after the event begins. So that we should live in constant readiness for it. 3. Finally, we learn the utter absurdity of the supposition, that the Lord is not to come until after a thousand years of uninterrupted righteousness and peace. For with what propriety could Christ and the apostles so constantly refer to this judgment-coming as a reason for unceasing watchfulness, lest it overtake them unprepared? With what propriety could they knowingly and intentionally produce the abiding and operative impression that the day of the Lord might come at any time, and thus keep the church in all ages in a degree of expectation of it, if they knew that it would not and could not come at all, until there had first been a millennium of universal peace? Christ and the apostles certainly must have known whether the Judgment-advent was pre-millennial or not. And if as is generally now supposed, the second coming is to be after the millennium, how they could with any degree of propriety speak of it as if it were liable to come at any time during all the ages of the gospel dispensation, so that it would be the duty of all to be watching for the coming of the Lord, and watching and praying to be kept in readiness for that day;—how they could by parables, admonitions, warnings and encouragements designedly influence the church to be impressed with the conviction that the day of the Lord might come upon them even during the present life in a world of sin, is more than any man can explain so as to satisfy a rational mind. It is just as certain as language can make it, that the coming of that day is always represented in a way that is calculated to leave the impression on the mind that it may come now. And it is never described in a way that is calculated to produce the impression that it will be preceded by a millennium of peace; or in a way that is calculated to produce the impression that all who live previously to the millennium, or during the millennium, need not be watching and preparing for it. How can those who believe that the second advent will be post-millennial, explain these things so as to leave the Lord and the apostles an appearance of common honesty? It has never yet been done. Can the man be found to undertake it?—Our Lord's Great Prophecy, pp. 399, 400.