this poor thief did not forsake Him even in death, but confessed Him
to be the Lord of heaven in the presence of all those armed men. Who
can do justice to the merits of this man? Who taught him so quickly
that faith of his, and his clear knowledge of all the virtues, save
the very Wisdom of the Father, Jesus Christ, who hung near him on
the Cross? Him whom the Jews could not or would not know, in spite
of the promises made to the patriarchs, the fulfilment of
prophecies, the teaching of the Scriptures, and the interpretation
of allegories, this poor thief learned to know by repentance. He
confessed Christ to be the Son of God, though he saw Him full of
misery, want, and torment, and dying from natural weakness. He
confessed Him at a time when the apostles, who had seen His mighty
works, denied Him. The nails were holding his hands and feet fixed
to the cross; he had nothing free about him, except his heart and
his tongue; yet he gave to God all that he could give to Him, and,
in the words of Scripture, "with his heart he believed unto
righteousness, and with his tongue he made confession of Christ unto
salvation." O infinite and unsearchable mercy of God! For what
manner of man was he when he was sent to the cross, and what when he
left it? (Not that it was his own cross, that wrought this change,
but the power of Christ crucified.) He came to the cross stained
with the blood of his fellow-man; he was taken down from it cleansed
by the blood of Christ. He came to the cross still savage and full
of rage, and while he was upon it he became so meek and pitiful that
he lamented for the sufferings of another more than for his own. One
member only was left to him, and at the eleventh hour he came to
work in God's vineyard, and yet so eagerly did he labour that he was
the first to finish his work and receive his reward. Indeed he
behaved like a just man; for he first accused himself and confessed
his sins, saying, "and we, indeed, justly, for we receive the due