"When

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sity of a change for the future. the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness," saith he by his prophet, "and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive 1." "Cast away from you your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord, therefore turn yourselves and live ye 2." Here then is a law laid down by the mouth of him who cannot lie, that all men, upon their sincere repentance, which repentance necessarily implies a change of life for the future, shall be accepted by him, provided they gratefully lay hold on his terms, and do not wilfully refuse his gracious offers.

But because it is he who is all just, and inviolable who proposes this; whose laws are immutable, and whose will cannot change; therefore the case of the

1 Ezek. xviii. 27.

2 Ibib 31.

penitent thief must have come within the compass of these laws, or else he could not have been accepted by him, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning; that is he must have repented upon the first opportunity offered him of knowing and of being conscious of his sin, and as far as time was permitted him, have embraced a newness of life.

That we may understand this the better, let us consider what was the mode of living which this man had probably followed, and when it was likely that he first saw and heard our blessed Saviour.

He is called indifferently a thief and a malefactor; which in those times, when rapine and violence were more usual, signify rather what we term a robber; one who hides himself from society, but who comes forth secretly and suddenly to commit his deeds of darkness against his fellow men. Such a mode of life as this would necessarily keep him out of cities and places of usual resort; it would make him, as much as possible, avoid intercourse with the generality of men; and

consequently must necessarily be supposed to have prevented him from obtaining any certain information concerning our blessed Lord. It is possible that during his life of rapine and plunder he might never even have heard of him at all; but if by chance he did, it is still more likely that he only considered him as one in whom, and in whose actions he was no way concerned, and with whose pretensions to be the king of the Jews, and with whose personal character he had but little to do.

If this conjecture be correct, the first time that this malefactor saw, or at least took notice, of our blessed Lord, was when he came to be a fellow-sufferer with him in the same dreadful death. Here then was the earliest opportunity which he had of having the eyes of his understanding opened, and the lamp of his faith enlightened. When led to death it was that. he first heard the word of God, and saw before him the vision of the Almighty. He saw one who was with him in the same condemnation, assuming to himself

the name of the Son of God. He saw him reviled by the chief priests, on account of this claim, in which they were joined by the ignorant and unthinking multitude. He saw this person who demanded as his due so exalted a station, meek under his afflictions, and gentle and mild under his sorrows. He heard him, when he was followed with lamentations by his mourning and despairing followers, kindly tell them " to weep not for him, but for themselves and for their children 1." He heard him, even in death itself, pouring out his last words in supplications to his heavenly Father for his very murderers; "Forgive them for they know not what they do." He heard, he saw all this, and he believed. The sight of "the man of sorrows 2," patiently enduring his sorrow, convinced him; the words of truth prevailed, and with the centurion, he exclaimed, truly this is the Son of God." That his conviction was effected in some such way as this, and during the

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1 Luke xxiii. 28. 34.

2 Isaiah liii. 3.

course of the crucifixion, we learn from St. Matthew', who tells us, that at first both the thieves who were crucified with him, joined in the sneers which were cast on him; and it must have been subsequent to this behaviour of his, and, therefore, in the midst of their mutual torments, and it is reasonable to suppose, from some observation which he was able to make on the conduct of his fellow-sufferer, that the penitent was brought to an acknowledgement of his divinity. But he did not profess only to believe, but he shewed by his actions, that he did so. His was no pretended, no barren or unfruitful faith; but it exhibited itself, as much as any one in his situation was capable of expressing it, in word and in deed.

For if we consider how little, at that time, the Gospel truths were generally understood, how little the very disciples themselves apprehended them, we shall perceive that there was an extraordinary amount of real faith in this malefactor,

1 Matt. xxvii. 44.