We believe that the second coming of Christ is personal and imminent; that He will descend from Heaven in the clouds of glory with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and that at this hour, which no man knoweth beforehand, the dead in Christ shall rise, then the redeemed that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and that so shall they ever be with the Lord; that also seeing that a thousand years is as a day with the Lord, and that no man knoweth the hour of His appearance, which we believe to be near at hand, each day should be lived as though He were expected to appear at even, yet that in obedience to his explicit command, "Occupy till I come," the work of spreading the gospel, the sending forth of missionaries, and the general duties for the up building of the church should be carried on as diligently, and thoroughly, as though neither ours nor the next generation should live in the flesh to see that glorious day.