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“In These Hours of Probation”, August 1
I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 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.
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