On December 17, 1876...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., preached a sermon, of which the following notes survive:

Signs of the Second Advent

1. Sign of our Lord's coming, though we don't know the day, viz. an apostasy or revolt—[ho anomos] [the lawless one, 2 These. ii. 8]; Antichrist [cf.] [he anomia], Matt. xxiv. 12.

2. Give circumstances of St. Paul saying so—belief that our Lord was then to come when St. Paul wrote.

3. Our Lord says, Matt. xxiv. [9, 'Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake']—contrast of prosperity, ib. 38, ['For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking ... so also shall the coming of the Son of man be'], and persecution, the greatest persecution, as holy men have anticipated.

4. But why will they not persevere, as [the] first Christians [did]? Want of faith (vide verse 12). We can do all things by faith if we have faith; but false reason cuts at the root (vide verse 24, false prophets).

5. Sophistry and false reason—even the elect.

6. This all is opening on us—like the last age.

7. But as sun shining through clouds, or as a dying man kept alive by prayer, always going and never gone, so (for the chance of more conversion and more elect), the world ever dying.

8. Alas! the next generation—young people, I fear for you!

9. Let us at this time of year pray that as Christ on His first coming came with preparation, so we may be prepared for His second coming.