"In
These Hours of Probation"
I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Cor. 6:2.
We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon coming. This is not a fable
to us; it is a reality. We have no doubt, neither have we had a doubt for
years, that the doctrines we hold today are present truth, and that we are
nearing the judgment. We are preparing to meet Him who, escorted by a retinue
of holy angels, is to appear in the clouds of heaven to give the faithful
and the just the finishing touch of immortality. When He comes He is not to
cleanse us of our sins, to remove from us the defects in our characters, or
to cure us of the infirmities of our tempers and dispositions. If wrought
for us at all, this work will all be accomplished before that time. When the
Lord comes, those who are holy will be holy still. Those who have preserved
their bodies and spirits in holiness, in sanctification and honor, will then
receive the finishing touch of immortality. But those who are unjust, unsanctified,
and filthy will remain so forever. No work will then be done for them to remove
their defects and give them holy characters. The Refiner does not then sit
to pursue His refining process and remove their sins and their corruption.
This is all to be done in these hours of probation. It is now that this work
is to be accomplished for us.
We embrace
the truth of God with our different faculties, and as we come under the influence
of that truth, it will accomplish the work for us which is necessary to give
us a moral fitness for the kingdom of glory and for the society of the heavenly
angels. We are now in God's workshop. Many of us are rough stones from the
quarry. But as we lay hold upon the truth of God, its influence affects us.
It elevates us and removes from us every imperfection and sin, of whatever
nature. Thus we are prepared to see the King in His beauty and finally to
unite with the pure and heavenly angels in the kingdom of glory. It is here
that this work is to be accomplished for us, here that our bodies and spirits
are to be fitted for immortality.
From Maranatha - Page 222
