Now, as I have said, the to-day' of my text was the epoch of the generation which the writer was addressing; and in one very blessed sense to-day' for each of us is the whole period of our earthly lives, during which sounding on for ever will be the pleading of Jesus Christ's voice. And so men say, It is never too late to mend.' Yes, perfectly true; but is not the other side as true: It is never too soon to mend? Whilst the to-day' of my text, thank God, lasts as long as the day of life, there,is a very real sense in which the more ordinary meaning of it is applicable to this matter. I do not need to remind you how in all regions of life there is nothing more deleterious to character nor more fatal to success than the habit of putting off doing plain duty. In your business you are trained to promptitude. The man that does not let grass grow under his feet in ordinary matters will be half way on his journey whilst another man is thinking of getting his boots on. And promptitude is no less important--in some aspects it is even more so--in regard to listening to the voice of Jesus Christ, and obeying His commandments. So I want to plead with you, dear friends, to that effect. That thou doest do quickly,' if it be a right thing. That thou doest drop quickly,' if it be a wrong thing. But let there be no hesitation in regard of the one course or the other. As Elijah said, How long halt ye between two opinions?' or in the very picturesque word of the original, How long do you hobble along upon both knees,' resting now upon one and then upon the other. If the Lord be God,' then plain common sense says follow Him'; if Baal, then follow Him.'
And this is the more needful, because impressions or convictions stirred by the voice of Christ are apt to be very evanescent. They are delicate; they require prompt fixing, or they fade off the sensitive plate. They are like the images of a dream--very clear at the moment we wake, ten minutes afterwards irrecoverable. Do not trifle with what may be a fleeting inclination to eternal duty.
And they are very hard to reproduce. I am sure I am speaking to some who were once on the verge of taking Christ for their Saviour, and then something within said,' Yet a little more sleep and a little more slumber,' and the disposition has never come back again. Felix sent for Paul many a time after the first time, and talked with him, but he never trembled' any more, but talked comfortably with his prisoner about the possibility of screwing a ransom out of him. I say nothing about other reasons for prompt action, such as that every moment makes it harder for a man to turn to Jesus Christ as his Saviour. The dreadful power of habit weaves chains about him, thin at first as a spider's web, solid at last as an iron fetter. Associations that entangle, connections that impede grow with terrible rapidity. And if it is hard for you to turn to your Lord now, it will never be easier, and will certainly be harder.
And, dear friends, to-day '--how long is it going to last? Of course I know that all the deepest reasons for your being a Christian remain unaffected if you were going to live in the world for ever. And, of course, I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is as good to live by as it is to die by. But, notwithstanding, common sense says that if our time here is so uncertain as we know it to be, there is no time to put off. You and I have to die, whether we find a convenient season for it or not. And perhaps we have to die before we find Felix's convenient season' to send for Paul or Paul's Master. So in the narrowest sense of the word, To-day … harden not your hearts.'
But I dare say some of you, and especially some of you young people, may be kept from accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and serving Him, by a vague disinclination and dread to make so great a change. I beseech you, do not give a feather's weight to such considerations. If a change is right, the sooner it is made the better. The shrinking all passes when it is made, just as a bather recovers himself when once his head has been plunged beneath the water.
And some of you may be kept back because you know that there are sins that you will have to unveil if you become Christians. Well, do not let that keep you back either. Confession is healing and good and sweet to the soul, if it is needful for repentance. Sins that men have a right to know hurt as long as they are hid, and cease to hurt when they are acknowledged, like the fox beneath the Spartan boy's robe, that gnawed when it was covered up, and' stopped biting when it was revealed.
So, dear friends, you hear Christ speaking to you in His Word, in His servants, in the depths of your hearts. He speaks to you of a dying Saviour, of His infinite love, of His perfect sacrifice, of a complete salvation, a cleansed heart, a blessed life, a calm death, an open heaven for each if we will take them. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.'
