Testament of Our Lord

tr. Cooper and Maclean, 1902

3. Book I, Chapter 3

And Jesus answered and said:—In the time when I was in the world,¹ I spoke unto you before I should be glorified, of signs that the end is near, thus:—that there shall be on earth famines and pestilences,² tumults, and commotions, risings of nations against nations, and those other things whereof I have told you. But I commanded you to watch and pray.³ And now hear, ye children of the light; for My Father who hath sent Me to His inheritance hath predetermined⁴ in His foreknowledge,⁵ that in the last days, out of the latest generation, there should be vessels⁶ [of grace] holy, and honoured, and elect. Wherefore I make known unto you exactly [what are] the things which are about to be, and when he shall arise,⁷ that Son of Perdition,⁸ the Enemy, the Adversary,⁹ and what he is like.

Notes

Lit.: in the time of my age (or world). S. reads: in my time; C.: at the time of my persecution.
St. Matt. xxiv. 7. The Syriac words for “tumults,” “commotions,” not as Pshitta.
St. Matt. xxvi. 41.
Or (as C.): hath predetermined His inheritance. Copto-arab.: My Father, foreknowing the calamities which shall be in the last days, hath predetermined His inheritance and honoured vessels . . .
Lit.: foreknowing.
Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21; Acts ix. 15. C. reads: men.
Lit.: ariseth.
Lit.: destruction. 2 Thess. ii. 3; St. John xvii. 12.
2 Thess. ii. 4.