body was that day to be broken and mangled by Roman soldiers. But the thief himself was to be with Christ.

Maldonatus, the Roman Catholic commentator, struggles in vain to show that the passage before us does not disprove purgatory. He maintains that the thief must have believed in purgatory, from the fact of his praying to be remembered when Christ came in His kingdom, and not before! Such arguing shows the straits to which a man is reduced by an unscriptural theory.

[In paradise.] The word so translated is only found in two other places in the New Testament. (2 Cor. xii. 4. and Rev. ii. 7.) Parkhurst says, "This is without controversy an oriental word. The Greeks borrowed it from the Persians, among whom it signified a garden, park, or inclosure, full of all the valuable products of the earth. In this sense the word is found in Herodotus, Xenophon, and Diodorus. In the New Testament the word is applied to the state of faithful souls between death and the resurrection, when like Adam in Eden, they are admitted to immediate communion with God in Christ, and to a participation of the true tree of life."

Brentius maintains that the passion of Christ opened Paradise, which had been closed since Adam fell, and that these words proclaimed the opening.

It is clear from the whole narrative that the penitent thief died unbaptized. To avoid this difficulty some writers of Romish tendency have actually caught at the idea, suggested by Augustine, that he was baptized with the blood and water which came from our Lord's side, when it was pierced with a spear! This baseless and gratuitous assertion shows the absurdities into which men may be driven to maintain their theory of baptismal regeneration. It is clear that the thief was born again. It is equally clear that he was never baptized. It follows therefore that a man may be born again without baptism.

The general remarks made by all the best commentators on the case of the penitent thief are very striking. It would be impossible to give them all. Cornelius á Lapide collects many good things from the Fathers, and Gerhard is peculiarly full of good matter in considering the whole narrative.

Heinsius remarks that Christ never wrought a greater or more illustrious miracle than He did in saving the penitent thief.

The Church of England Homily of Good Works, quotes Chry sostom, saying, "I can show a man that by faith without works lived and came to heaven: but without faith never man had life. The thief, that was hanged when Christ suffered, did believe only, and the most merciful God justified him. And be

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cause no man shall say, that he lacked time to do good works, for else he would have done them, truth it is, I will not contend therein but this I will surely affirm that faith only saved him.” Luther, quoted by Stier, says, This is a comfortable symbol and example for all Christians, how that God will never let faith in Christ and a confession of His name go down. If the disciples as a body, and those otherwise related to Christ, confess not and lose their faith, deny Him in fear, are offended and forsake Him, this malefactor and murderer must come forward to confess Him, to preach Him to others, and teach all men who He is and what consolation all may find in Him." Rollock, on the Passion, says, I say of this man, to the glory of God, that he shamed all that stood by. He shamed the apostles and made them cast down their faces. He shamed all men who will not believe, when they see Christ not crucified as He saw, but glorified in the heavens, and sitting at the right hand of Majesty.' The Lord raised him up on the gallows to be a teacher of faith and repentance, of hope, of patience, of love, and of all graces, Think no shame to learn of him."

Baxter says, "The thief's example showeth us what election freely doeth in calling one, while another is passed by. Christ would give this present proof of the virtue of His sacrifice to call and justify sinners. True conversion is never too late to the obtaining of mercy and salvation. True repentance and faith. however late, will have its fruits. This man was not saved without good works."

LUKE XXIII. 44-49.

44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

47 Now when the centurion saw

what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous

man.

48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

LET us observe in these verses, the miraculous signs which accompanied our Lord's death on the cross. We are told that there was a darkness over all the earth" for three

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hours.

"The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst."

It was meet and right that the attention of all around Jerusalem should be arrested in a marked way, when the great sacrifice for sin was being offered and the Son of God was dying. There were signs and wonders wrought in the sight of all Israel, when the law was given on Sinai. There were signs and wonders in like manner when the atoning blood of Christ was shed on Calvary. There was a sign for an unbelieving world. The darkness at mid-day was a miracle which would compel men to think.-There was a sign for the professing Church and the ministers of the temple. The rending of the veil which hung between the holy place and the holy of holies, was a miracle which would strike awe into the heart of every priest and Levite in Jewry.

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Signs like these, on special occasions, let us remember, are a part of God's ways in dealing with man. knows the desperate stupidity and unbelief of human nature. He sees it necessary to arouse our attention by miraculous works, when He brings in a new dispensation. He thus compels men to open their eyes whether they will or no, and to hear His voice for a little season. He has done so frequently in the days that are past. He did so when He gave the law. He did so in the passage before us when He brought in the Gospel. He will do so once more when Christ comes again the second time. He will show a sneering, unbelieving world that He can suspend the laws of nature at His pleasure, and alter the framework of creation as easily as He called the earth into being. He will yet

fulfil His words, "Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens." "The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion." (Heb. xii. 26; Isaiah xxiv. 23.)

Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, the remarkable words which our Lord spoke when He died. We read that "When he had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

There is a depth of meaning, no doubt, in these words, which we have no line to fathom. There was something mysterious about our Lord's death, which made it unlike the death of any mere man. He who spoke the words before us, we must carefully remember, was God as well as man. His divine and human nature were inseparably united. His divine nature of course could not die. He says Himself, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John x. 17, 18.) Christ died, not as we die when our hour is come,-not because He was compelled and could not help dying,—but voluntarily, and of His own free will.

There is a sense, however, in which our Lord's words supply a lesson to all true Christians. They show us the manner in which death should be met by all God's children. They afford an example which every believer should strive to follow. Like our Master, we should not be afraid to confront the king of terrors. We should regard him as a vanquished enemy, whose sting has been

taken away by Christ's death. We should think of him as a foe who can hurt the body for a little season, but after that has no more that he can do. We should await his approaches with calmness and patience, and believe that when flesh fails our soul will be in good keeping. This was the mind of dying Stephen; "Lord Jesus," he said, "receive my spirit." This was the mind of Paul the aged, when the time of his departure was at hand. He says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." (Acts vii. 59; 2 Tim. i. 12.) Happy indeed are those who have a last end like this!

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, the power of conscience in the case of the centurion and the people who saw Christ die. We are told that the centurion "glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." We are told that the people who had come together to the sight, "Smote their breasts and returned."

We know not exactly the nature of the feelings here described. We know not the extent to which they went, or the after-fruit which they brought forth. One thing, at all events, is clear. The Roman officer felt convinced that he had been superintending an unrighteous action, and crucifying an innocent person. The gazing crowd were pricked to the heart by a sense of having aided, countenanced, and abetted a grievous wrong. Both Jew and Gentile left Calvary that evening heavy-hearted, self-condemned, and ill at ease.

Great indeed is the power of conscience! Mighty is the influence which it is able to exercise on the hearts of