SERMON IV.

CHRIST SHEWING MERCY TO THE

PENITENT THIEF.

(SECOND SERMON ON THE TEXT)

LUKE XXIII. 42, 43.

HE SAID UNTO JESUS, LORD REMEMBER ME, WHEN THOU COMEST INTO THY KINGDOM. AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, VERILY, I SAY UNTO THEE, TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.

ALL the passages of our Saviour's life, while they testify the earnestness with which He went about doing good, under the strong influence of that Spirit of love which rested upon Him without measure, seem to have been preparations for the execution of that great priestly office which He exercised, when He offered Him

self upon the cross, as the substitute for sinners, and the atonement for their sin. Accordingly, as He advances towards the hour of crucifixion, we behold more and brighter tokens of his glory, "the glory, as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," than even in the earlier stages of his ministerial progress. And when we stand by Him, as it were, on the mount of crucifixion, where the Lord made his soul an offering for sin; while we cry with Pilate, in the view of his sufferings, "Behold the man!” that faith, which receives the holy record concerning his demeanour in his last agony, hath an ear to admit, and heart to embrace Him in the prophet's announcement, "Behold your God!" The case of the penitent thief is one of those bright gems in the manifestations of our Lord's dying love, which make the sufferings of his cross the crown of his mediatorial glory. Having already endeavoured to lay before you the spirit of the dying

malefactor's prayer I have now to describe,

II. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS RECEIVED BY HIM WHOM IT OWNED AS LORD AND CHRIST. "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." And surely they who have sat at Jesus' feet, to hear his word, and to learn, even, which were the first principles of the oracles of his truth, will acknowledge, that the leading idea conveyed by this answer connected with the circumstances of the individual to whom it was addressed, displayed,

(1.) The absolute freeness of our Saviour's grace. That doctrine which teaches, that a man, before he is made partaker of the Holy Spirit, may do works making him meet to receive grace, or to deserve it of congruity, is as entirely inapplicable here, as it is repugnant to the whole tenor of the word of God. This malefactor's life had been, in all probability, a life

of iniquity, from the moment in which he was nailed upon the cross, to that in which he owned the dying Saviour, and put his whole soul into the prayer, "Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom." He had most probably been a reviler and blasphemer of the Son of God; and amidst his own sufferings, had joined the cry of those who mocked and dishonoured the Lord of life and glory. Here was one, who had daringly trampled upon all the laws of God and man; who was as the offscouring of all things; the object of universal dislike or dread; one, in short, who was most plainly and palpably without merit to deserve the favour of Jesus Christ ;-one who was without any predisposition of heart to seek his mercy;-one who had no service to offer; -one who had enjoyed no ordinance that was calculated to lead him to Christ;one who had possessed no means of grace, which, through the grace of means might have taught him the excellency of salva

tion, and the love of Christ Jesus to sinners. And yet, in a moment, the mouth, which was scarcely closed from reviling, is opened to acknowledge the Lord as Christ, and to plead for that Saviour's mercy and remembrance, when he should come into the kingdom of which faith saw Him hold the sceptre, and reign over it, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What then, except the riches of our Lord's free mercy could have produced this change? That it was thus produced, wholly independent of any will on the part of the malefactor, as impenitent-as obdurate as his fellow to the very moment, when he justified God, defended the innocence of the Redeemer, and cast the cause of his soul by faith into that Redeemer's hands for its salvation ;-that Christ by his Spirit was all in all to this mighty transformation there can be no doubt, except indeed that tremendous character of doubt, which wilful infidelity delights to indulge and to publish, if thereby the Saviour may be