It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). When a man dies in his sins he passes for ever out of the sphere where God's goodness is active. There may be remorse in the regions of the lost, but no repentance. On the contrary, the weeping and the wailing is accompanied by "gnashing of teeth," which is a very different thing from repentance. There is nothing in hell to change a man's heart. Scripture is clear that "now is the day of salvation." It is in this life that our eternal destinies must be fixed.

In Luke 16 the rich man in hell is represented as desiring that his brethren should be warned. He says, "If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." But he never says such a thing as "I will repent." The lost in hell realize that the day for their repentance is gone for ever.

—H.P. Barker