enthusiasm of Irving spread to other groups and found firm support among the Plymouth Brethren movement. J. N. Darby (1800–1882), an early Plymouth Brethren leader, articulated the dispensationalist understanding of premillennialism. He described the coming of Christ before the millennium as consisting of two stages: the first, a secret rapture removing the church before the Great Tribulation devastates the earth; the second, Christ’s coming with his saints to set up the kingdom. He also believed