Revelation 1:7
Why Read This
Paper
This is one of the classic works,
originally published in 1864, against a view that was then called the “secret
rapture of the church.” It was written by a churchman and scholar well
acquainted with the circumstances of this view's origin and early dissemination
in the Nineteenth Century. Today the “secret rapture” view is called
pretribulationism. It teaches that Jesus will remove the church from the earth
before the Great Tribulation begins. Unfortunately, most who hold to
premillennialism today accept this view. Historically, that was not the case.
Read the answers that Tregelles gives against the arguments used, and still
used, to support pretribulationism.
Description
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
(1813-1875) was a Nineteenth Century scholar of the highest order. His works
include, The Englishman's Greek
Concordance, The Englishman's Hebrew
and Chaldee Concordance, and an English translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon. His book, The Hope of Christ's Second
Coming, is short, and we here present the entire book. It discusses the
origin of pretribulationism, answers its arguments, and presents the biblical
teaching of the Second Advent of Christ from a premillennial standpoint.
For some years past
this valuable Book--the first edition of which was issued in the year 1864--has
been out of print; and it now appears to be a duty, in response to the request
of many who greatly value it, to issue a second edition. This is the more
needful as the errors of a prophetic teaching which it was written to meet,
have suffered no decadence, but, on the contrary, have developed ampler
proportions, and extended over a wider sphere of influence than could have been
supposed possible at first by those who, like Dr Tregelles, were acquainted
with the circumstances of their origin and early dissemination. It is not,
however, surprising when we remember that every day is bringing us nearer to
the “end of the age”--the period when right prophetic instruction will be most
needed by the people of God, and when also the delusive power of the great
Adversary shall be most put forth. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith” (1 Timothy 4:1.) “For that day shall not come
except there come the apostasy (Greek, apostasia) first, and that
Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition...whose coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish” (2 Thessalonians 2:3,9,10.)
The duty of
preparing these pages for the press has been committed to me; and it is with
feelings of the deepest gratitude to God, and, under Him, to the human
instrument, that I have undertaken it. For this pamphlet was the means first
used, now eighteen years ago, to deliver my mind from the influence of much
false prophetic teaching, and to guide me to the Scriptures for instruction
upon these subjects.
This Edition is a reprint of the former one. An
Appendix has been added, containing a few notes on points upon which it seemed
desirable to enlarge because of more recent developments of the original
errors. For these notes the Editor alone is responsible.
Cecil Yates Biss.
London, W.
October,
1886.
