ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. _eschape_ or _escape_, from the O. Fr. _eschapper_, modern _echapper_, and _escaper_, low Lat. _escapium_, from _ex_, out of, and _cappa_, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. [Greek: ekduesthai], literally to put off one's clothes, hence to slip out of, get away), a verb meaning to get away from, especially from impending danger or harm, to avoid capture, to regain one's liberty after capture. As a substantive, "escape," in law, is the regaining of liberty by one in custody contrary to due process of law. Such escape may be by force, if out of prison it is generally known as "prison-breach" or "prison-breaking," or by the voluntary or negligent act of the custodian. Where the escape is caused by the force or fraud of others it is termed "rescue" (q.v.). "Escape" is used in botany of a cultivated plant found growing wild. The word is also used of a means of escape, e.g. "fire-escape," and of a loss or leakage of gas, current of electricity or water. ESCHATOLOGY (Gr. [Greek: eschatos], last, and [Greek: logos], science; the "doctrine of last things"), a theological term derived from the New Testament phrases "the last day" ([Greek: en te eschate hemera], John vi. 39), "the last times" ([Greek: ep eschaton ton chronon], 1 Peter i. 20), "the last-state" ([Greek: ta eschata], Matt. xii. 45), a conception taken over from ancient prophecy (Is. ii. 2; Mal. iv. 1). It was the common belief in the apostolic age that the second advent of Christ was near, and would give the divine completion to the world's history. The use of the term, however, has been extended so as to include all that is taught in the Scriptures about the future life of the individual as well as the final destiny of the world. The reasons for the belief in a life after death are discussed in the article IMMORTALITY. The present article, after a brief glance at the conceptions of the future of the individual or the world found in other religions, will deal with the teaching of the Old and New Testaments, the Jewish and the Christian Church regarding the hereafter.