The Close of Probation by Jos. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 31, 1870

The Close of Probation.

By Jos. Clarke

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander, from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Amos 8:11, 12.

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11.

The human race are upon trial. The time given us, is a time of trial. We are probationers; or it may be said that we are now undergoing trial.

What makes this subject of more intense interest to the race now than it was a thousand years ago, is, that the term of man's probation has nearly closed.

We are living in the time of the end, this side of the close of the 2300 days, the longest prophetic period given by Daniel. We live in the time spoken of in Daniel 12:9, “the time of the end.” The angel of Rev. 10 has sworn that time should be no longer; and the church has experienced the disappointment alluded to in that chapter. We stand in a time of unspeakable interest. To say with the poet that it is “a grand and awful time,” is using only such words as the occasion demands.

Zechariah, in the 9th chapter, 12th verse, styles the family of man, “prisoners of hope;” a term well chosen for us probationers held to trial.

As the trial proceeds to its close, the interest deepens, as eternal things and lasting consequences are at stake. Angels look on with the deepest solicitude. None are careless as to the result, but the prisoners themselves, who have fallen in love with their prison, who laugh at the clanking of their own chains, and fondly imagine their place of imprisonment a paradise, and their Judge to be like themselves.

God's law they despise, and insult the Lawgiver, by inserting a clause of their own. As if mere rebellion were insufficient, they thus add supreme contempt.

Prisoners of hope, probationers; yet who would suppose that men were prisoners, awaiting the decision of a court?

To those who wait anxiously for their Lord, this is a weighty matter. As they look forward to the final decision of the court of Heaven, they are moved to watchfulness and prayer. A spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them, and they cry out for a preparation of heart, for that dread day in which the hearts of all men will be made known.

At this moment, the trial is progressing. Our acts are all recorded, and all our words and motives. Nothing is hidden from our Judge. On the character of this record, our cause will be decided. Have we anything to plead? Can anything but the blood of Christ cleanse us from these stains? Can anything else save his intercession, serve to blot out the shameful record? Shall it not be our daily cry to him to plead for us? Is any sacrifice too great to make, that we may manifest our loyalty to his cause? Shall we shrink from his work, while we ask his intercession?

JOS. CLARKE.