waste away; and I saw my mother was fast
sinking into a state of need. The building and the paper were insured
for a thousand dollars, and when I was twenty years old I set fire to
the building, and obtained the thousand dollars, and gave it to my
mother. For twelve years that sin has been haunting me. I have tried
to drown it by indulgence in pleasure and sin; I have cursed God; I
have gone into infidelity; I have tried to make out that the Bible is
not true; I have done everything I could: but all these years I have
been tormented." I said, "There is a way out of that." He inquired
"How?" I said, "Make restitution. Let us sit down and calculate the
interest, and then you pay the Company the money." It would have done
you good to see that man's face light up when he found there was
mercy for him. He said he would be glad to pay back the money and
interest if he could only be forgiven.

There are men to-day who are in darkness and bondage because they are
not willing to turn from their sins and confess them; and I do not
know how a man can hope to be forgiven if he is not willing to
confess his sins.

Bear in mind that _now_ is the only day of mercy you will ever have.
You can repent now, and have the awful record blotted out. God waits
to forgive you; He is seeking to bring you to Himself. But I think
the Bible teaches clearly that there is _no repentance after this
life_. There are some who tell you of the possibility of repentance
in the grave; but I do not find that in Scripture. I have looked my
Bible over very carefully, and I cannot find that a man will have
another opportunity of being saved.

_Why should he ask for any more time?_ You have time enough to repent
now. You can turn from your sins this moment if you will. God says:
"I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth; wherefore turn,
and live ye" (Ezek. xviii. 32).

Christ said, He "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." Are you a sinner? Then the call to repent is addressed
to you. Take your place in the dust at the Saviour's feet, and
acknowledge your guilt. Say, like the publican of old, "God be
merciful to me a sinner!" and see how quickly He will pardon and
bless you. He will even justify you and reckon you as righteous, by
virtue of the righteousness of Him who bore your sins in His own body
on the Cross.

There are some perhaps who think themselves righteous; and that,
therefore, there is no need for them to repent