with one foot already in it : and all, sooner or later, make it their long ho-me.
From hence arise two very powerful arguments for enforcing diligence in the concerns of the soul. In the grave,
J. There is " no work" to be done — [This life is the time for work : the next life is the time for recompence. The works needful to be done are, to " repent and believe the Gospel :" but in the eternal world there is no opportunity for performing either.
fFe cannot repent. — A kind of repentance indeed there will be among those who have perished in their sins : they will " weep, and wail, and gnash their teeth" with anguish: they will be sorry, not that they sinned, but that they subjected themselves to misery : sin will a2)pear formidable to them on account of its consequences, but not hateful on account of its malignity. If they were restored to another state of probation, they would in a little time resume their former courses. As now on a bed of sickness they promise to amend their lives, but, when restored to health, become as careless as ever, so it would be with them if they returned even from hell itself: their hearts are unrenewed, and consequently their disposition to " wallow in the mire" of sin would infallibly lead them into their former habits of worldliness and sensuality. They must for ever remain the same obdurate sinners, because the Spirit of God will never descend into their hearts to renew them unto repentance.
We cannot believe in Christ.— Those who have perished will, it is true, believe many things which now they disbelieve : they will believe that Christ is a Saviour, and that he is the only Saviour of sinful men : but they will never believe in him for salvation, because he will never again be offered to them as a Saviour. No tidings of redemption will ever be heard in those dreary mansions. Never will they hear such words as those, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heav}' laden." No promise of acceptance is given them ; and therefore there can be no scope for the exercise of faith : nor, if there were an opportunity to believe, would they be able to embrace it ; because " faith is the gift of God ;" and they who reject his offers of it in this world, will never have it ofi'ered to them in the world to come.
This argument cannot but have the greatest weight with every considerate mind ; and the rather, because it is urged by our Lord himself; " Work while it is day ; for the night cometh wherein no man can work''."]
^ John ix. 4. c c 2