Says the old hymn:
While the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.
An old Saxon king had some serious trouble with his subjects: they murmured against him and at last rose up in rebellion. The king set out to subdue them, and soon the well-disciplined troops won a decided victory over the tratterdemalion horde opposing them. Having conquered, the king determined to show mercy. He adopted the novel expedient of placing a candle in the window of his castle and proclaiming that all should be pardoned who returned "while the candle burns."
There is but a limited amount of time for "the vilest sinner" to return to the rooms of our Father in heaven, to be given the mercy of Christ's cross. Soon Jesus will return and pass judgement over the living and the dead. Come sinner, while His candle still burns bright.
