The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 487

full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked. Thus
the great plan of redemption will reach its accomplishment in the final
eradication of sin and the deliverance of all who have been willing to
renounce evil.
At the time appointed for the judgment—the close of the 2300 days,
in 1844—began the work of investigation and blotting out of sins. All
who have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass its
searching scrutiny. Both the living and the dead are to be judged “out of
those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
Sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned
and blotted out of the books of record, but will stand to witness against
the sinner in the day of God. He may have committed his evil deeds
in the light of day or in the darkness of night; but they were open
and manifest before Him with whom we have to do. Angels of God
witnessed each sin and registered it in the unerring records. Sin may be
concealed, denied, covered up from father, mother, wife, children, and
associates; no one but the guilty actors may cherish the least suspicion
of the wrong; but it is laid bare before the intelligences of heaven. The
darkness of the darkest night, the secrecy of all deceptive arts, is not
sufficient to veil one thought from the knowledge of the Eternal. God
has an exact record of every unjust account and every unfair dealing. He
is not deceived by appearances of piety. He makes no mistakes in His
estimation of character. Men may be deceived by those who are corrupt
in heart, but God pierces all disguises and reads the inner life.
How solemn is the thought! Day after day, passing into eternity,
bears its burd en of records for the books of heaven. Words once spoken,
deeds once done, can never be recalled. Angels have registered both the
good and the evil. The mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call
back the record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our most
secret motives, all have their weight in deciding our destiny for weal or
woe. Though they may be forgotten by

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